Random thoughts, with occasional song bits tossed in

Phew! 2

2012-01-16T15:15:00.000-05:00

Finally getting back to writing more about our trip home after I left off here. We left San Diego on Friday and headed for Las Vegas to see an old friend. We met in high school, roomed together for some of college (she finished, I didn't) and mostly keep in touch meeting in R.I. when she comes back to visit her mom. I was excited about seeing Karen and Tom in their home and mildly disappointed when their son opened the door and said neither parent was home yet. However, it turned out Karen needed emergency surgery that night and we never got to visit at all. Very disappointing but so glad she is recovering just fine!

We left early to get out of their hair and headed north through Utah. We decided to take the slightly longer road through Zion National Park, which was beautiful and well worth it.

However. The road started to wind up again, as we saw this tiny opening in the cliff ahead.

Ameranth hopped out to check out a marker and told us that:

I hadn't had any problems with the mountain roads so far, despite my pre-trip worries. This, though, this could be a problem. I didn't think I could drive across some bridge to get to that hole in the wall and started anticipating the humiliation of doing a U-turn and driving back all those miles through the park. Imagine my relief when we saw this ahead:

That tiny hole we saw? Turned out to be a 'window' opening in the tunnel. When I uploaded photos later, I found that Ameranth might have eased my mind had she read the plaques as she snapped the pics.

We zipped through Utah, managing a glimpse of Salt Lake as we drove by and got to Idaho, which is remarkably flat in the south.

We headed northwest through Oregon to Washington, for a special meeting on Tuesday in Bellevue. (It was very geekily exciting for us, but I am not at liberty to write about it yet)

Cattle, windmills and mountains.

Just after driving into Washington, we had to pass through a dust storm which luckily didn't cover the road for long.

As we left the plains behind and headed over Snoqualmie Pass towards Seattle the weather changed a bit.

Soon we were driving in whiteout conditions which really slowed us down. We made it safely to Bellevue with just enough daylight to scope out our top-secret destination for the next day and get to a motel.

****very fun Tuesday which will only be interesting to us, then headed east out of town*****

We stopped after crossing the Columbia River to get a picture of the Vantage Bridge Wild Horses Sculpture.

We also stopped for gas in Ritzville and got a couple of nice pictures as we drove through the small town.

Our next goal was Kalispell, Montana and my cousin Steve's house. I think I've mentioned that I hadn't seen him for about 30 years and had never met his wife Lisa, or their son Dalton, but thanks to the family emails it was like seeing old friends.

Montana was beautiful and I hope I get to visit again in warmer weather- and for longer. Ameranth and I were off in the morning, sadly leaving Sally there to stay over Thanksgiving, then fly home to Florida. We had a lot of fun with her on the road.

I'll try not to take as long with the final leg of the trip- I know certain relatives and friends have been waiting!

Cutting it short

2012-01-04T10:30:00.000-05:00

We listened to the TV news about the Iowa Caucus yesterday as I gave J a haircut. We don't usually discuss politics much as we have different viewpoints and don't enjoy arguing for argument's sake.

But, he asked me who I liked and then expressed disbelief at my answer. After I gave him my reasoning, he paused, then said "I don't want to talk politics while you're cutting my hair".

Smart man.

You talkin' to me?

2011-12-09T15:42:00.001-05:00

Bits of talkytalk at our house recently:

Ameranth (checking on her new recipe in the oven) : "Yummy smell! And it even made extra muffins!"

Me: "You mean extra muffins just spontaneously appeared as it baked? That is a good recipe!"

Ameranth: ".......yeah"

_________________________________

As I passed by Ameranth on the way to the bathroom, she's explaining how she asked her Internet friends for soup recipes.

Me: "Hold that thought"

As the door closes, I hear : "oh, that's not going to happen"
_________________________________
Spoiler Alert!

Last night J watched the movie Hanna, and I came into the room for the last 45 minutes. The title character is a young girl who (from what I saw) is on the run across Europe trying to evade bad guys and get to her supposed father. Bred in a lab and trained to be a fighting machine, she lives (although her father kills and is killed) and the final scene is her finishing off the bad guy boss lady.

J explains the significance of the scene, which echoes the beginning scene, and he states that it was a good movie.

Me: "But what happens now? Everyone she knows is dead- how will she live? What will she do?"

J looks at me in astonishment " I don't care"

And that is why we don't usually watch movies together.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-07T18:57:00.001-05:00

Dumb Luck

2011-12-04T09:40:00.001-05:00

This is my desktop background right now. I really like the bright colors and the way the colors fade slightly from the upper left to the bottom right. Not tooting my own horn here- between bifocals and sun glare, I just pointed the camera at what I hoped was the cactus flower and I got lucky.

Travel Tidbits

2011-12-02T17:18:00.001-05:00

Here are some random photos from our road trip. Things I can't see fitting into a "regular" post except maybe "each of these things is not like the others", to paraphrase Sesame Street.

How frustrating is this? Riding in the car and getting a rogue tab that refuses to do its job. I used my handy-dandy Leatherman tool to beat the can into submission.

Too bad it was dark when I found a place to sleep my first night out. I chose the Dutch Motel, then the next morning saw a beached steamboat across the highway at the Scottish Inn. Maybe that was the motel. I'll never know.

This "love you" was in the sand outside a New Mexico rest stop. I have nothing to add.

Ameranth and Anna- just a pair of rebels!

This crack is one of many resulting from the drought in Texas. #2 had to put a board across one of the larger ones near his house.

I just like this speckled cow. She had the biggest horns, and definitely kept her eye on us when we got out of the truck. I kept an eye on her as well!

A little too happy, you think? This was just in Utah and we had at least another week ahead of us. I wonder why we didn't get a happy face from Sally? She may have been ignoring us, or just checking on Bertie.

Travels with my Aunt

2011-12-01T12:31:00.001-05:00

I was lucky enough to have my aunt Sally volunteer to ride with me when I drove out to San Diego to pick up Ameranth last month. So I headed south first to Pensacola to pick her up, after a two hour detour in Alabama to visit a former neighbor of ours. It has been 10 years since I saw her (the neighbor, not my aunt) and I wasn't about to get that close and not stop by. That same reasoning led Sally and me first to Texas to visit my brother and see his small ranch. And that really was right on the way west.

Sectaurs had offered the use of his GPS and thank goodness he did! I hadn't stopped to think that all my previous trips had included a human navigator as well as the driver. I was a little wary of the device and its British lady voice that I dubbed Alberta (because she seemed cold and distant-ha) but Sectaurs was right about the placement of the map being very similar to that of one in a video game. I grew particularly fond of the speed limit info she displayed, especially since the light bulb behind the speedometer konked out on us midway through the trip.

The first day covered familiar territory and I had no trouble until I was driving through Hartford. I had glanced at a map and discussed with Ms. M which roads to take to avoid driving too close to NYC. Alberta seemed to be sending me south when I wanted to go westward. I took the plunge, rejected her turn and got my first cool "recalculating" as she desperately gave me alternate paths to go her way. I won that battle and the pink route line went my way. Shortly after that I saw signs for the Tappan Zee bridge and couldn't remember if that was the way I wanted or not. Pulling over to check the map proved the GPS was right so we were even at one each. She became Bertie and we settled into a good working relationship for the rest of the trip. I miss her now.

Sally insisted that she was 'just along for the ride" and that I decide the route and the stops, etc. She and her late husband had driven out west several times and she had been the navigator and liked having the atlas open on her lap. I liked that too, since it gave me the 'big picture' of where we were. She was familiar with the roads and a little doubtful at first about some of Bertie's choices but in the end she was trying to justify needing her own GPS.

I looked for pictures for this post, and am sadly lacking ones with humans in them. I waited for Sally to turn around at the beach, but had to settle for this one.

She was looking for rocks, which she does everywhere, mailing them home to herself in those flat-rate boxes. I remember thinking "Great, we're waiting for Ameranth to show up, and Sally's going to fall off these rocks!" But she didn't.

Here's another shot of her in the background in Texas. #2's driveway is paved with sandstone (I think) that is chock full of fossilized seashells and Sally was checking that out.

We had a lot of fun, getting pretty silly sometimes. Our drive was carefully planned so that we had plenty of gas and no reason to have to stop in El Paso. Although we laughed at ourselves, we were a little nervous and cautious about where we stayed and being in a motel before it was too late at night. I think it was crossing into California where we passed through a Agricultural Inspection station. A stern lady asked if we had any fruit in our cooler, but the grapes we had were okay. We confessed to having an apple and orange and were told they had to be checked. Of course, I couldn't find them. Finally I handed them over, she confiscated them and we were free to go.

A few miles down the road and still joking about the fruit lady, Sally pointed out that we were very close to the Mexican border, according to the atlas. Looking to the left, we could see a long fence wending its way across the sand dunes. We wanted a picture, but the numerous signs citing emergency stops only easily convinced me to keep driving. But when I saw an exit and overpass, I thought that would be a good way to get closer for a photo. We saw a closed gate and a sign stating that the road ended and all vehicles needed a permit to go farther. Of course, I turned around, but since Sally was chiding me for not going closer, I stopped and told her she could get out and get the picture if she wanted. She did.

If this picture were larger, you could see that the white Border Patrol vehicle that was parked at the gate is now driving towards us. Sally hopped in the car and we took off. Slowly. I stopped at the sign and carefully turned onto the highway. No need to stop me, officer, I have no interest in the border fence, none at all. He followed us. We were very relieved when the car passed us....until I saw the sign for the upcoming border stop. Laughing nervously, I said he was warning them about us and Sally wondered who we should use our one phone call on? We drove up to the heavily armed soldiers and waited for the interrogation. What we got was 'Have a good day, drive through'. Whew!

A few miles later, Bertie took us through the desert west of San Diego, after we checked that we had enough gas for wherever she was taking us. Another few miles us that road, we surprised several men lounging at the side of the road at another border checkpoint. One came over and said pleasantly that we had snuck up on them since they hadn't heard us coming. He commented on my Maine license plate and asked where we were going. When I told him that I was going to San Diego to pick up my daughter, who had walked across the country, he straightened up and asked sharply, "She walked across the border??" No, no, let me give you her card and I hastily explained what she was doing. So, sorry Ameranth, if you ever get a call from the border patrol, it was my fault.

We stopped later when I saw a wind sock in the middle of the desert and wanted a picture. Sally hunted for rocks and I worried about rattlesnakes under the bushes.

The plane circled a few times while we made up stories about aerial surveillance but it landed with no attempt at contact with us.

I did get one of the 3 4 of us later in Zion Park after we ~~escaped certain death~~ enjoyed the drive through the canyons and switchback roads.

Jumping ahead in our trip (yes, Grampa, I'll write more another day) we drove to Kalispell MT where we left Sally to stay with her younger son and his family before she flew home. It was nice to get a chance to go there since Ameranth was a baby the last time I saw Steve, and I had never met his wife and son. But thanks to our family emails I felt as if I knew them and it was a fun visit.

Thank you Sally for coming with me- you made what could have been a very tedious drive a lot of fun.

Phew!

2011-11-26T11:23:00.001-05:00

I'm back home again. Well, okay, actually I've been back since Tuesday night, but I've been busy relaxing, then having Thanksgiving dinner here and enjoying our company, who all left this morning. Back to relaxing, right?

But no, my father sent a gentle reminder that he has had no new reading material here lately, so I figured I'd indulge him with a post.

My road trip was hectic, tiring and extremely enjoyable. Between Nov 1st and 22nd, I covered almost 9000 miles, through 31 states. I drove down to FL, where my aunt Sally joined me in visiting my brother and sister-in-law in TX and then out to San Diego to greet Ameranth and Anna as they finished their 6 month walk across the US.

I did not know that geese don't sleep when it's dark like most birds. #2's 30 geese live outside his door and honk quite a bit throughout the night, and day, for that matter. He explained that they are on roughly a six hour cycle and pointed out that they were all sleeping at 2 the next afternoon. I found myself regarding them with the same irritation that new mothers have towards their napping darlings- "Why now? Why not when I want to sleep too?"- except minus the love.

He also raises beef cattle, and they were more interesting- especially the new calf, and his longhorns.

On we drove, enjoying the decorations found on southwestern overpasses and welcome centers. I had to go back with my camera when I visited this Texas rest stop.

This was the New Mexico welcome center and I did check for snakes, although I am sure it was too cold for them to be a danger to me.

I also wondered about this shrine-like collection of plastic flowers. Did someone face the ultimate penalty for overstaying here?

Trying to make good time on those 80 mph speed limit highways, we found ourselves looking for a motel in a long barren stretch of Arizona one evening. We came to Gila Bend and spied this possibility.

This Space Age motel had a very quirky '60's theme but alas, the man ahead of us snagged the last room. (at an overheard room rate that made us rethink whether we would have stayed there anyway). Going back to the tourist info station at the end of town, we were told that lodgings were scarce due to a construction boom and Prince Harry being in town. Smiling politely, we left the crazy lady and drove on, discovering the next day that the Prince really was in the area, for military training.

The next day we took a secondary road though desert west of San Diego and met Ameranth and Anna where they had been staying with Sally's granddaughter and her family, waiting for us. It was funny to see Anna leaping in excitement when she recognized her (Ameranth's) car, and she was beside herself when I got out. I think she was done with the walking and ready to ride!

She did have a few more days to go, but finally it was Nov. 11 and the last 5 miles of the Big Trek.

Sally and I drove to Dog Beach and waited for them to get there.

Ms. M had sent their info out to local news stations and one came down to interview Ameranth. My cousin saw it on her news that night, but we haven't been able to find a link yet. It was very exciting to be there when Ameranth finished and Sally and I were so glad we made the trip. We talked to a few dog owners as Ameranth approached and they joined in the cheering and congratulations. Lots of fun, and what a sense of accomplishment! Go Team Adventure!!

I have lots more to write about our trip, but this is enough for one day.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T19:25:00.001-04:00

Well, at least taking them down and putting them all away will keep him busy while I'm gone!

Ending October

2011-10-30T20:49:00.003-04:00

This is what we woke up to this morning:

Yes, that's about a foot of wet, way-too-early snow. The leaves are still on the trees, for heaven's sake!

Oh, we also woke up to no power. And 3 house guests. The good news is the guests were our children, so the no water, no flush situation was slightly less awkward.

Plus, we were enjoying the socializing so much that we totally blew off the whole stocking-up-on-water, and parking-the-cars-in-the-appropriate-order-of-removal-in-the-driveway aspects of storm preparation. I don't know what we were thinking. I really hate shoveling that has to be done to get cars out today when I know the snow will melt by tomorrow. We did have enough gasoline for the 10 hours we needed the generator today.

Oh well, it was a nice weekend anyway. Sectaurs is lending me his GPS for my trip, I am going to visit friends of ours in Alabama that we haven't seen in 10 years, and when I get to Florida, my aunt will join me for the trip out to San Diego. And the weather ~~better~~ should be much warmer! The only downside is missing J for the 3 weeks I'll be gone.

I'll be leaving Tuesday, so tomorrow will be dedicated to laundry, packing and panicking.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-26T10:23:00.001-04:00

I'm gonna do it!

2011-10-25T14:51:00.001-04:00

After much deliberation, I have made my decision- I am going to drive out to San Diego to see Ameranth finish her walk. And then bring her back home. Because otherwise I think she might wander about there for a while.

Work is slow, so I can take the time off and J nobly says it's all right to leave him alone for 3 weeks, although he is not very happy about it. But Boomer will keep him company. I plan on leaving early next week, to be sure that I get out there before Ameranth hits the Pacific Ocean.

I got a lot crossed off my to-do list today: Two new tires installed; oil change scheduled for tomorrow; some Swedish Fish and Lifesavers bought for snackage, found (empty) gel caps so I can taper off one prescription and on to a more affordable choice; got some maps from AAA; checked insurance coverage for Ameranth driving our car, realized that I needed to pickup an absentee ballot and did so, and ta da, bought a cell phone!

I know, who doesn't have cell phone in this day and age? Us, that's who.

Although J has been craving one with all the bells and whistles, we just didn't need one, until this trip came up. So I now have a pre-paid, least you can get, basic cell phone which the nice lady at the store set up for me. I had to sign an agreement that I wouldn't use it for terrorism and I told her I would barely be able to make a phone call, so no worries about that.

I have a loose plan- drive south to FL to visit an aunt, then head west. My brother lives east of Dallas, so that will be another stop, then depending on the time frame, I may be able to visit friends in Las Vegas before intercepting Ameranth and Anna in CA. I am looking forward to my part of her adventure!

Oh, and there was a very cool article about their trip in our paper yesterday.

Bookshelves!

2011-10-21T13:45:00.000-04:00

My new bookshelves are done (except for some trim, as usual).

The bottom shelf is large for all of those awkwardly sized books that never fit anywhere, most of which are still downstairs. We thought we were so smart, using one of my hardcover books to measure and decide how tall to make the other shelves. Unfortunately, it turned out that I did not use the largest ones I have, sooo I had to juggle collections according to where they fit, not by genre. J and Ameranth were really pushing for neat divisions.

I did discover a few more duplicate copies which will go to the library book sale next week.

We also have our front lawn back in place, and the excavator man was kind enough to place the huge rock in front of our steps for us. It's been raining since, so we haven't neatened it up yet.

Work is very slow for me right now, since new training classes have to get their hours in and business doesn't usually pick up until mid-November. So, I have been thinking of driving out to meet Ameranth as she heads for the west coast and the end of her walk. I'd like to do it, but am weighing cost, driving time, etc.

My Girl

2011-10-16T14:07:00.002-04:00

I have a lot of time to think while working and today it was about Ameranth and her journey across the U.S., projected to end on November 12, on a beach in San Diego.

From Friday's email from my father: "My summer's escapade, following her on Facebook and twitter, will soon be over! I must find something else to rush to the computer for! It has been as enjoyable for me following the twists and turns, the ups and downs, as I imagine it was for her to be actually experiencing the journey."

I am sure we are not the only family members or friends who feel that way. Over the past 5 months, I realized my attitude has changed from "Wow, walking across the country is a neat idea, but do you really want to do that?" to taking it nearly for granted that she is making the almost 3000 mile trek. Walking. From Maryland to California.

Ameranth started the journey expecting to have a good time and meet friendly people, and she has. Others have told her that her good experience is due to her being female, so people are nicer to her. I believe it's her attitude that is responsible for the positive interactions she has. She used to have crazy-colored hair and a lip ring, but removed the ring and let her hair grow out before she left, to help that important first impression. She didn't consider that "selling out" but common sense. And, despite this trip, she has a lot of common sense.

She's been vegetarian for 10 years, but let that go too, starting with not hurting an elderly lady's feeling by rejecting her pasta and meat sauce, and realizing that she needed to eat differently (for now) for more energy and making the most of limited choices.

I have been amazed (and impressed) by this trip. This girl who went into our basement for the first time last year (we moved here in 1987) walked through this tunnel, among others.

This girl who is afraid of the dark not only went through those tunnels, but 'stealth' camped by herself along trails and cornfields when she couldn't get any yard camping. And speaking of yard camping, this girl who would have her English papers done, but would turn them in a day late and lose a letter grade so she wouldn't have to read them out loud in class, walks up to strangers and asks if she can sleep in their yard. In most cases, they offer a spare bed, a hot meal and a shower. Of course, the shower may be as much for their benefit as hers.

This girl who loves her computer, TV shows and video games has walked 20 and 30 miles a day, in heat waves and snowstorms, dodging thunderstorms and tornado warnings.

This girl who has ADD and gets sidetracked oh so easily, planned her route, finances and supplies, and has dealt with any problems as they arise, including Anna wearing down the pads on her paws, and the added financial cost that has caused. This independent girl decided to team up with another walker for safety over the Rockies, and through the desert, although it meant changing her route and walking style.

This girl shouldn't be called a girl any more, but I'm her (very proud) mother and I can do that. Now, just one more month to go and she'll be walking right into the Pacific Ocean. Then who knows what she'll be doing after she gets home again?
(Of course, she has to get home, and this girl hasn't figured out how she's doing that yet!)

P.S. If anyone lives in the San Diego area, Ameranth would love it if you came down to the beach to welcome her to the finish line!

*All photos except the green hair one, are from her Adventure Awaits Facebook page and you should definitely check out all of the photos there.

J's in love

2011-10-10T09:12:00.000-04:00

This came to uncover our septic tank and a broken pipe yesterday and J covets it. At $68,000 he isn't getting one for his birthday next month! It was left here for a few days until the work is done, then it will move the mound of dirt back in place.

We had uncovered the cleanout access on top of the tank, but had to call in the machinery when the repairs were needed. Our tool doesn't compare to The Claw!

Those big rocks were dug up when we had the tank installed and were placed around it. We have decided that we just want grass there- no messy garden that I never keep up with- so I'm not sure what we'll do with the rocks now. That 4 foot long one would look nice in front of our steps, so maybe we'll ask that it be moved over there.

The weather has been beeyootiful this weekend, up near 80 yesterday and perfect for outdoor work. We did have two nights of frost last week though, so the gardens are done. J picked his pumpkins and I have repotted my plants that are going back indoors for the winter. I have too many spider plants, but I can't stand to throw any out.

J got an early birthday present and finally has the drill press he has wished for. He loves that and he loves getting his ghouls out for Halloween.

(He doesn't love it when I say they look friendly)

September ends

2011-09-30T13:20:00.001-04:00

This might be the last time this happens this year.

I hope I get to hang out the clothes a few more times, but it's doubtful. (I do not trudge out in the cold and snow for a principle)

You can see the sunflowers and the pumpkin vines are browning in the background. J ended up with 7 pumpkins, I think, and he has been offering to let coworkers with little kids come and choose one for their family. That's why he grows them- to give away.

Weird Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T14:10:00.001-04:00

Where does the time go?

2011-09-27T19:00:00.000-04:00

Why haven't I written more lately?

Well, first we worked on this:

Then we started here:

(this is still in progress)

Next we took him with us

to MA to deliver a day bed to a daughter and pick up two chairs from a son.

We also demolished part of this,

and then painted the remainder.

And planted these.

Vacation was over, so we went back to work, then I drove to R.I. to visit my brother and s-i-l who were visiting from TX. Since the five of us only get together every few years, I made sure to take my camera. Sadly, I forgot to use it.

No worries, I have this one of us from another summer....

almost 50 years ago.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-21T12:20:00.001-04:00

Eye yi yi

2011-09-07T08:44:00.001-04:00

We have vacation and projects galore next week, so of course, we are falling apart this week! J has a bruised arm and a sore rib from a coworker dropping his end of a generator they were lifting down at work on Sunday. Nothing serious though, thank goodness.

He was planning on returning to work on Tuesday, but the night before I had flashes of light in one eye, and figured I'd better have it checked out. Since I had to be dilated, J drove me to the Dr and the later to the retinal specialist she sent me to. Good news- although the gel inside my eyeball is shrinking, that is a normal age-related happening that does not affect eyesight, and the hole she thought she saw turned out to be a wrinkle in my retina.

The specialist got a little peeved with me and my very strong blink reflex. He's not the first eye doctor to do so, either. I tried my best and was congratulating myself on looking in the right direction, when he told me I was squeezing so hard it made it difficult for him. This from the man who was probing around my eyelid with what looked like a crochet hook! Anyway, all's well that ends well.

There was a humorous moment, as we patients were all dilating in the hallway, the 'regular' eye Dr. came in to say hello to the specialist who uses this office one afternoon a week.

Dr to specialist : How are you doing? It's been awhile since I've seen you.

Specialist: Well, it's our second day of being empty nesters. All three kids are in college.

Dr: Oh ho- Sex in the living room!

Moment of silence, then Specialist: Well, we better get blinds on the windows first.

Oh no you didn't!

2011-09-05T10:22:00.001-04:00

I've read quite a few blogs lately lamenting the end of summer, or celebrating the advent of autumn. Coincidentally, all the writers either have, or teach children. Well, I have offspring, but not at home and no one is in school any more, so Labor Day is not the end of my summer.

September can be beautiful in Maine, and quite often we have semi-heat waves as the kiddos sit in their schoolrooms. I am counting on this happening again. J and I have arranged for days off next week, and have many plans for that time. Plans that mostly involve having warm, dry weather. Fall does not officially start until the 21(or 22nd?) and by gum I want my summer to be warm to the end, and beyond!

As it is written, so shall it be.

Did you see that one, deah?

2011-08-31T12:47:00.000-04:00

Life is back to as close to normal as it gets around here. We got our power back after about 25 hours without it, and I immediately washed the bathroom and did the dishes. Since we have a well, we don't have water when we have no power, so it was a bathtub of water and manual flushes for us. And the "man" should be taken out of manual because neither one of them could grasp the concept of 'half a bucket held waist high and pour into the bowl'. I would hear water pouring and then "huh" and more water.

Shoeshine is back in CO and we are missing his help today while finishing the cleanup. We were smart enough to get the heavy stuff done while he was here though.

We did our grocery shopping early while we waited for the dew to dry, and saw a few amusing signs along the way. One homemade one advertised "kiddling" wood for sale- that's just embarrassing. Then there was the "glow in the dark mini golf", which at first glance seemed like a fun idea. But, mini golf usually involves kids- kids with golf clubs- kids with golf clubs in the dark? Hmm.

The one I liked best was posted outside a hall: GRANGE SUPPA.
Ayuh, this is Maine.

We have the power!

2011-08-28T19:35:00.000-04:00

Well, Hurricane Irene is now dying over New England, but keeps having last gasps. Some very strong gasps at that.

We prepared by picking up the yard and getting gas for the cars and the generator, making sure the rechargeable batteries were charged, and setting our solar/windup lights out in the sun on Saturday. The wind coming from the southeast meant that our porch was on the protected side of the house and we spent a lot of time out there watching the trees bend and sway. I was very happy to have the satellite dish work for most of the time, and we didn't lose power until 2:30.

All three of us happened to be in the living room when that happened, and we sat staring at the black screen, willing the TV back on. I complained that I wouldn't be able to read my book if we didn't get the power back within a couple of hours.

J said proudly, " No, we have lights, and candles, and a generator...... hey, we have a generator!"

It only took us about 10 minutes to remember that.

Sweating by the Oldie

2011-08-23T07:54:00.000-04:00

Last week I was scheduled to work 5 days, this week none! That works out very nicely since Shoeshine is coming to Maine for a friend's wedding and will be visiting for a few days. So instead of walking several miles and sweating profusely in a warehouse each day, I can choose my chores and sit down at my computer when I get too hot. And have time to visit with Shoeshine.
Much better. Less money, but still better.

One hot afternoon after we both got home from work, we moved some blocks from inside the dog yard to a garden that I have been revamping. I think it turned out pretty well- just enough for the part I wanted to wall off.

If you look at the right side you can see used-to-be-lovely white phlox lying on the ground. I uncharacteristically planted it right after purchasing, so we of course got a severe thunderstorm and three of the four stems snapped off. It really did look good.

I've been up for a couple of hours since I didn't sleep well, and I just ran barefoot out back to take that picture. The dew was heavy and cold, and my feet are covered with grass, since I mowed the lawn yesterday and it looks like we should be baling the results.

Ameranth has gotten to Colorado and is visiting Shoeshine in Boulder. She had a nice writeup in a local Nebraska paper last week. Now she is trying to decide how to get over the Rockies. I am pushing for getting a ride, but I fear she is thinking that would be wimping out. Bah-it's all an adventure and why not be safe about it? Silly independent ~~children~~ people!

J is up now- he has the day off so we will be hitting the dump and getting some more projects done today, maybe tackling the bulkhead walls that we need to rebuild before installing a door.

Last night I walked into the kitchen to see J staring at a frozen pizza on the stove and saying "I'll eat it, but this looks far beneath the quality I am used to."

Winter is coming

2011-08-11T12:53:00.000-04:00

I've just finished reading A Dance with Dragons and I'm not happy. George R R Martin, I read each book as they were released, waiting 6 years for this last one, and I have this to say to you: A) Stop killing off the good guys- you're running out of them and B) Not everyone who appears to be killed in this book, better really be dead! (See A)

Back to reality, as my job coach said to me this morning when I went back to work after a lovely week and a half off. Not only is "winter is coming" the motto of the tragic and noble Stark family in the above mentioned book, it is the unofficial motto of Maine. It was dark all the way into work this morning. No lovely start of sunrise at 5 AM and the lightening of the sky that I have been used to. Sad face.

But we are prepared for the inevitable. We have our new oil tank, our new furnace and as of Saturday, we will have our new liner in our chimney. Oh yes, and a new bulkhead door for the cellar. We also have a new empty bank account.

My preciousssss

2011-08-07T20:23:00.000-04:00

Sleep.

I love sleep. Always have. Laying (lying?) down and relaxing on crisp cotton sheets in hot weather, or cuddling under flannel and a warm comforter in winter, what a great feeling.That lovely feeling of stretching out and relaxing. Mmmmm.

Then I had kids. Although they were all pretty accommodating and slept through the night by 6 weeks old, it still meant I had to get up early but that was okay, I just went to sleep earlier. No problemo.

Until I went back to work and ended up on second shift, finishing up anywhere from 11pm to 1:30 am. And had to get 4 kids up and out for the bus before 7. My firmly held belief that once I was up, I was up for good crumbled and vanished. I learned to wake children, make lunches, find homework and watch for the bus without being fully awake and falling back to sleep as soon as they were out the door. By the time just the younger two were left in high school, I was taking a prescription for fibromyalgia that helped me sleep without waking every hour or so, and I told them that they had to get themselves up and out- which they did, thank-you-very-much.

J and I worked out differences in waking methods- he liked using the radio as an alarm, and snoozing for 10 minutes. I hated the country music waking me after 2 hours of sleep. He learned to use the buzzer instead and I used my pillow to block the light. It killed him when I would sleep until 10 on his days off- it killed me when he 'tiptoed' in to get a shirt and accidentally woke me up at 8.

I recently changed meds to one that gives me a lot more energy during the day and coincidentally gives me insomnia, just at the same time that I started work again. Having to go to sleep when it's light out doesn't help. The good news is that J and I are both getting up at the same time on the days I work. The bad news is we go to bed at the same time.

J is hot. I mean, literally. It's like being in bed with a radiant heater. I'm pretty much over hot flashes, but if I get too close, I can feel my temperature rising. He takes this personally, and I don't like to hurt his feelings, but pretty soon I have to start flapping sheets and hanging my feet out the side of the bed. And that's scary- you don't have your foot out there unprotected at night- everyone knows that.

The end result is that I crave my precious sleep, nine hours is perfect, but I can make do with eight. But what's even better is when I wake up myself, no help from anyone or anything, no dreams being rudely interrupted. No kids, no dog, no man, no phone, just let me wake up on my own. We got back yesterday from a trip to RI, and I reminded J to let me sleep this morning- he agreed.

I woke up first and turning over, popped the poor man right in the nose!

Sorry, honey, you must have been too close.

What, me wrong?

2011-07-31T18:23:00.000-04:00

Okay. After 50 years I must admit that perhaps #3 was right- when the bunny goes around the tree and down the hole the other way, the shoelaces may work better. (I can say that now because I don't think she reads this)

Though it sure is hard changing at this point, I do like it when they lie down across my foot, and not go up my ankle to bug me. I guess I've never worn sneakers with shorts as much as I have this summer at work.

With that out of the way, I guess I could mention some other times I've been wrong, but don't get comfortable- it will be an awfully short post! Hardy har har.

Well, getting a two month old puppy when you already have a four month old puppy because "it will be easier to housebreak them together" is not a good idea. The housebreaking was fine, but having two wily, willful husky puppies made it difficult to get through to them that humans are supposed to be the bosses.

If we ever buy another house, listen to J when he wants to offer less than full price. Duh.

Consider carefully when you try to teach your children to be questioning, caring, nature-loving, wondering, unique adults- they just might turn out to be all that and become independent people who grow up and have lives of their own, away from their parents. Just like you did.

(And of course that last one was no mistake. We wouldn't change any of them. It just stinks a little)

Holy Heatwave, Batman

2011-07-22T09:33:00.000-04:00

The heat is not the only reason I have not posted- it's just the latest good excuse. We don't usually get an extended stretch of hot days here in Maine, and this is starting to interfere with my life. Which, of course, will not do. Ha.

J has been kept busy tending his pumpkin patch, weeding, making sure they have water and taking pictures. He's got jack o'lantern pumpkins, little white ones and gourds planted, with sunflowers scattered amongst them, along with his gargoyles. He's also busy recording its progress.

Last Sunday was our 34th anniversary and it was as hot and sticky was it was that day in 1977. I had to work in the morning, but J made a nice steak dinner for us and we enjoyed it and a slight breeze on our porch. He gave me a little duck statue for the porch, and I had given him a whirligig earlier, that I found at the employee store. (You may have picked up on the fact that we're pretty down to earth about celebrations) No picture of the duck yet, but here's his little fisherman.

When J takes pictures, I upload them to the computer and do the resizing and saving. And editing. It used to kill me when we used film and he took multiple shots- thank goodness for digital cameras! I never know what I'll find. Like 6 shots of this in the middle of his lighthouse shots.

Artsy? or trying to figure out the closeup function?

Say what?

2011-07-11T08:38:00.001-04:00

On their recent visit, Minnie mentioned how strangely Sectaurs writes up a grocery list; "He puts down 'snakes'- what is that supposed to mean?" J and I started laughing, since J has been doing this for years. I routinely shop for things like snakes and logs- snacks and ziti, although I must admit sometimes I cannot figure out what he meant and the joke loses him an item.

So I wasn't all that surprised last night to pull out some meat to thaw and find my label of 'pork' had changed to 'pork Sallie Annie'.*

Suuuuch a funny man.

* for those of you not in our age group

A state of flux

2011-07-09T16:00:00.000-04:00

I like my life to be like a Lazy River ride, but lately the family tempo seems to be picking up speed- I hope we don't end up in Splash Mountain instead! Nothing crucial, just little changes, except for Ameranth hiking cross-country- that's a big change. In the last 6 months or so, some of the 'kids' started new jobs; one's company was bought out and that job will be changing; another has applied to a new company and that may bring about a move; and one has moved into a new apartment and relationship. So many things to think about as I pick items off the shelves!

And me working again is another recent change that I am slowly getting used to. It is nice seeing sunrises again. At least it is when the fog isn't covering the early morning ground, which it was 4 out of 5 days this week. I must admit the weather has been nicer and it finally feels like summer. In fact, Friday I finally wore shorts to work which made it much easier to deal with the heat in the warehouse. Next week we move up to 8 hour days, but I only work 3 days so that should be doable!

Boomer has done well dealing with the change to his schedule, but he was giddy today when I stayed home with him. He had a walk, went to the post office with me and helped me hang out the laundry and weed the garden. Then as a bonus he got to bark at and jump on the satellite TV repairman. Good day for a dog. And perhaps a reminder for me to take each day as it comes and not worry about what I can't control.

Holiday weekend

2011-07-03T19:00:00.001-04:00

We had a very nice visit with Ms M, Mr C, Sectaurs and Minnie this weekend. They did get caught in the holiday traffic coming up on Saturday so were a little later than we expected, but the weather was wonderful. We played bocce and croquet then we cooked hotdogs over the fire. Well, Mr C and I did, everyone else had hamburgers. Anyway we were so busy that no one took any pictures, unfortunately.

However, someone in the family had a picture taken, and it appeared in today's paper in Logansport, IN.

Ameranth reported that a very nice local man invited her to dinner at the pizza parlor with his extended family, then insisted she go home with one to sleep indoors when a thunderstorm arrived with tornado warnings nearby. She has met some very nice people along her way and I appreciate all they have done for her.

What # day was it for rest?

2011-06-29T13:09:00.002-04:00

It's been a bit busy around here, and blogging fell to the bottom of the list, along with making dinner, vacuuming and washing dishes. I had my annual physical last week (and yay for not needing intimate-lady-exam until 2012)-changed the prescription I take to help with pain, and sleep, and I am slowly getting used to it. The first few days were nauseous and sleepy, and then I started work on Monday!

I received a letter from my former employer inviting me back for seasonal work and went for the hiring interview, expecting to start in the fall again. Much to my ~~chagrin~~ ~~dismay~~ surprise, I was told there was a class starting June 27th, and since I had no good reason to say no, here I am, back filling orders at the warehouse. Thank goodness for 'work hardening' because I need to ease into this! 4 hour days this week, 6 hours next week, then on to 8 hour days when the work is there.

This means I have to be up at 3 AM again (J gets up 15 minutes earlier) and that's bad enough , but it also means J and I go to bed by 7 PM at the latest and surprise- it's light outside! Our bedroom faces west so it's pretty darn light out and the birds are singing. I got up last night to let a surprised Boomer out to pee because the silly catbird outside our window can whine just like he does.

We've also been busy getting some little projects done before the kids come up for the weekend. J's got one of his horseshoe pits reclaimed from the jungle but ran out of the bargain play sand he had stashed away.

So, one down and one to go.

We've also been weeding flower gardens and trying to keep up with the lawn.

The old van is gone and I am driving Ameranth's Taurus station wagon, which is an evolving adjustment. At least once each day I hit the stupid alarm button instead of unlocking the doors, and I had to go to the manual to figure out the heat/ac digital array. It's been a hectic 7 days. Oh yeah, we started work on another bedroom upstairs!

In the good news department, I snagged some more Ladyslipper photos from her mother's Facebook site. In the bad news side, she and Shoeshine will not be able to visit this summer as hoped, due to financial constraints. She's finally getting hair!

Hay-O!

2011-06-21T12:11:00.001-04:00

I read an article in this morning's paper referencing an article from 1940 about haymaking. The author wrote about using a scythe to cut grass, and the art of tossing the loose hay into the wagon correctly so that it would be easier to offload to the haymow. He mentioned the different rakes used, and the progression to the balers and mechanical ramps used later, and it all brought back memories of summers helping my grandfather with haying.

It was in the '60s, not the '40's and he had a tractor, but no baler- just the tedder to spread and toss the grass to dry, and the infamous hay rake with which he terrorized his 'help'. His help being the five of us grandkids and his youngest son, Chuck, who is just 3 years older than me. As far as I remember, #2 and I started helping at the same time, and the younger ones took our places as they grew- and we escaped.

My grandfather was a big, no-nonsense farmer/school bus driver who could laugh as loudly as he yelled- but he seemed to yell a lot more often. I don't know how often I heard "If something's worth doing, it's worth doing right" and "There's two ways to do this, the wrong way and the right way" with the right way being his way, of course. He was Mr. 'my way or the highway'.

So it was pretty scary when you got tall enough to ride the hay rake.

The type he used was a dump rake. Those big jangly teeth were lowered to catch the hay and sweep it together, then a foot lever was used to raise the prongs, leaving the hay in a line. They would be lowered again and sweep the next batch of hay back to the be dumped next to the first, making one long line of hay to be picked up later. Ideally, that is how it worked.

Now take another look at that rake. Ten feet wide, rattling, bouncing teeth, a little metal seat with nothing to hang onto as you bump across the field, stretching out your foot poised to push the trip pedal that you barely reached when it was was up, never mind depressed. There was always a delay between the stomp and the rise of the rake, and timing that was the tricky part. Anticipating Papa O's bellow of "now!" and getting the muscle twitch reaction right made for a stressful ride. And, looking back, how the hell much difference did it make if the lines wobbled a bit? A lot apparently. (see paragraph above describing my grandfather)

After that came the gathering of the hay, with 3 tine forks and more directions. If I remember correctly, he had a stake body truck to carry the hay to the barn and my brother and I weren't too much help after the hay got to a certain height in the truck. I think we used hand rakes to help gather the loose hay.

I think he had a lift in the barn to get the hay from the truck up to the haymow, sort of like the claw used in those machines to grab a stuffed toy? except using ropes, not machinery. I don't remember clearly, but we weren't allowed in the barn while they unloaded, so we stayed out of the way.

As far as I know, there are no photos of our 'haydays', it was not a time when recording daily activities was as easy and usual as it is now. (Hence the "I think"s and "I don't remember"s I used a lot.) The part of me that loves looking at old photos and marveling at the moments captured wishes there were pictures, but another part enjoys the mental snapshots that are mine alone. My siblings and I shared the same events, in the same places but not all the same times. Although the angles of our memories are all different, I'm pretty sure Papa O figures prominently for us all in those conjured up by the smell of fresh hay.

June 15th and it's sunny!

2011-06-15T09:57:00.001-04:00

I know, that shouldn't be news, right? Overall it has been a nasty wet cold spring in Maine and I am sick of it. I admit we have had some nice days but not enough when you consider we only get 5 months of warm here. But it's sunny here today and I will be outside as soon as the overgrown grass has dried up a bit., so enough whining.

Enough whining about the weather, anyway. We are still dithering about our vehicle woes. Well, I'm dithering-J has set his mind on a new van. Our mechanic looked it over and we can't justify the cost of fixing it when it will probably last only one more year. Next up is Ameranth's car, which is registered (in MA) but not inspected or insured. We'll have that looked at and hope that it doesn't need anything major- I have power of attorney for her for just this situation. (I have had an uneasy feeling about our car for some time now).

Speaking of Ameranth, after 3 weeks of walking, she is now in Ohio and much relieved to get out of the claustrophobic hills of western Pennsylvania. She didn't realize that was the problem until she was into a more open, rolling hills type landscape. The stroller she is using has been a big improvement over last year. Although pushing it up the side of mountain roads has been challenging, her back, knees and feet thank her every night. In fact, Anna is pooping out first these days- something I never would have expected! She has stayed with and talked to a lot of friendly people, including a passing policeman who gave her some pepper spray on a key chain. I thank the nice people who gave her rides around towns they didn't think she should be walking through, who fed her veggie food and offered her showers and yards to camp in.

Boomer says 'hey'.

Oh, Yeaaaahhh

2011-06-08T14:34:00.000-04:00

I dug out the old Kool-Aid pitcher and my stash of raspberry flavor envelopes and made some bug juice, as J calls it. It's just replacing a couple of cups of water with orange juice, which gives a nice tang. A good drink for a hot humid day and it comes with memories- always a bonus.

When I researched to find the Kool-Aid tag line, I found this roundup of old ads on You-Tube. Not the best quality but they work. I was surprised to see the Monkees on there, and noticed that there were only 3- what, was Peter Tork too cool for Kool?

In other news :) I saw the second team of mosquito fighters last night- the bats were flying as I put Boomer to bed. It was just before 9, not quite dark, and I heard the scrabble of tiny claws and 2 bats flew out from under the old shed's metal roof. Every minute or so a few more came out and swooped overhead to look for dinner. I didn't even try to get a picture, just stood there and watched for 15 minutes or so, enjoying the quiet and making sure that none of the scrabbling was coming from our attic!

Our rototiller is out for first aid- we hope to get it back soon so our poor potted veggies get a chance to spread their roots out. J got his weed whacker going and cleaned up some edges while I raked and trimmed rosebushes. And now, since I have cooled off, I should get back out there.

Dragonfly ho!

2011-06-05T12:01:00.000-04:00

The dragonflies are here!

I am amazed that I was able to get a picture of one, and disappointed that my little camera couldn't capture the dozens swooping over our yard. I've read that some dragonflies may migrate while others hatch in bunches- I don't know which group ours belong to, but they show up suddenly. One day nothing, the next a flitting swarm of prehistoric-looking dive bombers are hunting mosquitoes. The sun glints off the wings so the back yard almost sparkles.

I heart dragonflies.

It's been an up and down week

2011-06-04T11:16:00.001-04:00

Some of Ms. M's flowers and baby birds in her yard.

Was it only last weekend I was in MA? No, no that's not right, I was there just 3 days ago too. Sectaurs and Minnie rearranged furniture, bought some new, and wanted to swap out a stored loveseat for one of his his big comfy bachelor-days couches. He offered the couch to us, knowing ours had seen better days (most of them with him reclining on it). J had Wednesday off, so we took his truck down and hauled the couch back- missing the tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, thank-you-very-much. (spellcheck insists there is an 'e' in the plural for tornado, but it looks strange) By the way, that tornado was headed right for Mr C but fortunately died when it reached the next town over. Ms M was in D.C. for work and missed the excitement.

Anyway, we have a very nice new-to-us sofa and Boomer has been told he is not allowed up there. The old one is living in J's shed until Salvation Army can pick it up.

So, that was a good day, until J found what we assume was a deer-tick-bite-gone-bad on his leg. The Dr. wasn't sure what caused it, but she said it was infected so he's on antibiotics for 10 days. He had to go back yesterday for a 5 minute followup "yes, it's still there" visit which cost another copay.

The tailgate lift handle broke while I was at Ms. M's- well, the handle didn't break, it just pulled out of the crunchy rust around it. And our registration and inspection is this month, so a decision has to be made soon. Do we fix it or not? We drove it to a neighbor's collision center and he checked it out for us. Verdict is he wouldn't spend the money, considering that the rust we see is the final journey of corrosion that started inside and underneath. Plus the mileage, which was an elderly, but visually pleasing 171717 when I got home.

It could get fixed enough for inspection and hope to get another year out of it, but with our luck something mechanical would go next month. For sure, now that I've said that! It sure has been nice not having any car payments for the last few years. We have reluctantly started looking at buying a car.

We bought a Grand Caravan in 1987 when they first came out and had that for 13 years. It was wonderful having plenty of room and a window for each kid,even if nothing was powered then. The Caravan we have now is a 2000 model and boy howdy, have things changed! The new ones don't have keys! The nice saleslady showed us the remote starter, power doors and unlocker buttons and then offered the little black contraption to J so he could start the engine. Baffled, he held it out to me and asked where the key was? All I saw was a little red bump at the end, which she told us to insert in the hole on the dashboard. Son of a gun, it worked! Then the gear shift is on the dashboard as well, up behind and to the side of the steering wheel. We felt like bumpkins- old, out of touch bumpkins. We'll ease into this slowly and will test drive it another day.

Anything else this week? Oh yes, Shoeshine had hoped to bring Ladyslipper to RI to meet the rest of the family in July, but moving to a new apartment has gobbled up his budget. They might make it later, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. But on the up side, here's the latest photo he sent via phone. Ladyslipper was "reading" out loud to herself.

That sweet, sweet smell of .....manure?

2011-05-31T15:43:00.000-04:00

Our lilacs are in full bloom, but sadly cannot overpower the manure being spread on neighboring fields.

And I'll spare you the second visual.

Friday, Friday

2011-05-27T14:07:00.000-04:00

It’s Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Gettin’ down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekendTomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after...wards
I don’t want this weekend to end.

Oh come on, it was only a matter of time before I used that! (Most of my relatives are probably wondering what this is and what's wrong with me - Google Rebecca Black if you must- that will help with the 'what this is' part)

It is indeed Friday, and I am heading down to MA to flower shop and plant with my peeps. Ms M and Minnie, to be precise. Both have little experience with gardens so I offered to help them out and am looking forward to it. Ms M wants color now and perennials for no fuss and less future planting so I have been digging up lots of mine to share. Sectaurs and Minnie have a very small yard and the previous owner put in lovely perennials; they just need annuals for some color out front.

The big question is was "will I take Boomer down with me?" Right now, I think no. He would love to go for a ride and visit Mabel, although sometimes they irritate each other, but usually the passenger diverts his attention from annoying the driver, and J is staying home. I've got an hour or so to decide.

Speaking of J, he is a happy camper since he has the day off and has finally fixed our lawn tractor. Turns out it needed a new sparkplug and air filter, but the biggest thing was a new fuel filter and clearing out the clogged gas line. And boy did we need the grass cut. We only managed it once when we had our one sunny day in May, and that was two weeks ago. We are finally getting our warm spring days but it jumped right to muggy hot weather. But I am definitely not complaining!

Ameranth is fighting the mosquitoes and humidity in Maryland on the Great Allegheny Gap trail, and walking about 10 miles each of the first two days. Anna is not as happy to be back hiking since she can't run loose as she did on stretches of the Erie Canal. Besides being all brush and woods, Ameranth is worried about poisonous (venomous?) snakes lying in wait for her precious pup. She saw one (not poisonous- she thinks) crossing the road in front of them and it reached from one side to the other- about 6 feet, I believe. I suggested she whack two sticks together for safety, ala The Parent Trap. She was not amused.

J just came in so he'll cut my hair, I'll take a shower and head south even though Weatherbug just warned me of a severe thunderstorm watch. Ms M is on the phone with J and she warned me traffic would be bad since I was leaving so late. I told her I couldn't leave any earlier now, har har.

She's on her way!

2011-05-24T13:25:00.001-04:00

I drove Ameranth and Anna down to R.I. this weekend to visit family, then over to Connecticut on Monday to my cousin Marlow's house. He's her ride to Maryland as he had to drive to PA for business and generously offered to take her down today. Thanks again!

On Saturday we went to a beach a couple of miles from my folks to get a photo of the pair on the Atlantic Coast, midway up the Narragansett Bay. This area used to be the Quonset Naval Air Station, developed during WWII and closed in the 70's. The airport is still there, but it's mainly small private jets now and much quieter than it was when I was a kid. Most of it is an industrial park, with new cars coming in on huge container ships, and other businesses of varying sizes. The town got the golf course, and has opened several beaches, a boat launch and a very nice bike/walking path. Blue Beach was deserted on Saturday so Anna was able to run free to chase the seagulls.

Ameranth reported the water to be freezing, and the day was not terribly warm, but at least it was sunny. We had not seen the sun in Maine at all, for the past week. Of course, it rained again Monday. Hopefully the weather will finally dry up and she won't be soggy all day as she starts her walk on Wednesday.

Small Target Audience Alert- aka Geekery ahead!

2011-05-19T10:59:00.000-04:00

As Ameranth planned her trip she thought about what she wants to accomplish. Her goal evolved from a coast-to-coast jaunt to wanting to explore the back roads and find interesting people and places as she wanders westward. I mentioned before that the Rockies combined with bears has convinced her that she doesn't want to walk that part of the map. Not that she couldn't, but that she doesn't want to. I totally support that conclusion.

After she decided to find quirky, famous or historic sites to visit along the way, she thought it would be fun to record them as accomplishments as in an MMO(massively multiplayer online) game with quests and waypoints on the way to the completing the mission or endgame. So Ameranth has her website set up with her mission and her character sheet. She has some beginning quests and is open to suggestions as to other places she should visit. She'll collect a souvenier or take a picture at each quest marker, and record them in her journal as well as online.

I mentioned that it made me think about comparing her trip to Guild Wars, the game we both play. There are some similarities in the GW landscape and the areas she will be walking through.

Guild Wars starts off with a tutorial set in a beautiful pastoral setting. This area teaches new characters how to use their skills, travel and level up.

I figure the Erie Canal trip serves as her pre-searing area and that she is ready to hit the 'real' game now. In Guild Wars the first area is an arid, ugly, burnt version of pre-searing and it's a shock to end up there after the lovely beginning of the game.

Since Ameranth really has no desire to walk through highly populous southern New England, and even less desire to hit NYC or Baltimore, I'm considering that area Old Ascalon, and she's getting a 'run' (being run through a game area by another player instead of fighting your way there yourself) to western MD. Here she'll be crossing the Appalachian Mountains, which would correspond to the Northern Shiverpeaks in GW.

(Although we certainly expect that there will be no snow) After swinging by Pittsburgh and touching base with a cousin there, she'll head west and in game than means she would be hitting Kryta, another green part of the Tyrian world. We hope that the flooding will have subsided by the time she gets there, and that she doesn't end up under water.

It will depend on her route and quests how far south she gets. Since she and Anna don't like the heat, she will probably not get to an equivalent of the Maguuma Jungle, although there are arid parts there too. Though the mission chain in GW goes further west, it is possible to skip that part of the game and walk to the jumpoff mission to get overseas to the desert areas.

Here you will probably hit level 20, the highest level and complete your attribute points. You're a seasoned player, but the hardest gameplay is still to come. As in 'real' life, it's much easier if you have learned to play well with others and cooperate to reach goals by this point.

The game hits the mountains again and finishes in the Ring of Fire islands. Ameranth has yet to decide how and where she'll finish up- but she's got plenty of time! A quest she would like to achieve would be to visit the office of Arenanet, the company who made Guild Wars, in Bellevue, Washington. (How geeky, eh? But we've been playing this game for 6 years and counting, and are impatiently waiting for Guild Wars 2 to be released.) It's just those darn grizzlies and those very high mountains that stand in her way.

I may have stretched this analogy a bit, but I'm having fun with it and look forward to adventuring vicariously with her, as a commenter said earlier.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2011-05-17T14:37:00.002-04:00

So we are experiencing an "extended stretch of ugly weather" as the Sunday paper's weather forecast put it. It's raining now, has been raining and looks like it will rain forever, world without end, amen. Unless that Rapture thing happens. J and I were talking about that and I said I think 'they' (the Rapture-ites) are going to be very disappointed- or the rest of us are going to be very surprised. J voted for the disappointment having the better chance of happening.

In other depressing news, Boomer is a dog without a pack, and he's not happy about it. Ameranth has been in MA since Thursday, dogsitting, and Boomer has been an only dog, oh what a lonely boy. I thought he might be happy without another dog to share our attention, but no. He wants more, more, more. The rainy weather has made walks shorter and less frequent as well. The first day I brought him to the pasture, he ran to the water, then looked around, a little lost. It's not as much fun running when you don't have someone to chase.

You probably can't tell but in that second picture, he is shaking himself as he runs and there is a mist of water surrounding him. He likes to sideswipe me and soak my pants leg as his next step, leading to a circling dance of avoidance.

Behind him is a willow tree that we transplanted soon after we moved here. It was an offshoot of a tree that my parents had in their yard, planted when I was small. I remember my great-grandfather helping, and that the hole seemed huge when I got to stand in it. Maybe that's a false memory, but I like it. I like the connection between generations that I see when I look at the willow now.

I got this wisteria from my mother as well- the wisteria from hell- It has never bloomed in over 20 years, and has tried to take over the nearby spruce trees. Last year we cut it down- we thought- but it refuses to yield. I spotted this new growth and I guess we have to make the effort to uproot it soon.

We also need to tackle the new sumac popping up in the white violets. This is back where our extended chicken yard will go.

We've had some changes recently, some good like finally getting that bedroom finished and some sad like losing Rosie. But the biggest change to come will be later this week, when Ameranth and Anna take off on their next adventure.

Since their trip last year hiking the Erie Canal in New York from Albany to Buffalo went well, she has decided to go forward with her big trip- walking cross country. Ameranth has spent the last year working and living here to save money for this. I'm driving her down to R.I. to visit with family, then to CT where a cousin has very kindly offered her a lift to MD, where she will start her walk westward.

She will be loosely following the American Discovery Trail. Despite her love of symmetry (or, a leetle touch of OCD) she decided that she doesn't have to start at the trailhead in Delaware, which would have her walking through several large cities. I believe the plan is to dip their toes in the Atlantic Ocean (via the Narragansett Bay) and hope to do the same ultimately in the Pacific. Common sense dictated the decision to not walk across the Rockies and bear country, so Yay for that! As of now, the goal is getting to Shoeshine in Boulder, CO and making further decisions then.

I've been asked why I am supporting her in this. First of all, Ameranth is an adult and has been planning this for several years now. I gave up pointing out reasons not to do it, and confine myself to pointing out what I think are sensible ways to stay safe and making sure she has what she needs- or what I think she needs. Secondly, it is a pretty cool idea and I think she's going to have quite an adventure. She's footloose and fancy-free right now and knows the opportunity might never come again. She wants to do this before "settling down and being a grownup for real".

The house may be less cluttered, and may be a little quieter, but we'll miss having her here. Her, and her little dog too.

Not a good idea

2011-05-14T22:51:00.000-04:00

So, in case you've ever wondered- it's not a good idea to finish up a thriller about a psychotic serial killer at 10 PM when the only light on in the house is the lamp you're using in the living room. Then, don't walk into the dark kitchen and wonder why that frog sounds so darn loud. But especially, don't turn around to find the back door ajar. Because it might scare the bejeebers out of you.

(I naturally decided Boomer needed to go out to pee, so I woke him up. He checked the perimeter for me, plus found a missing ball. All's well.)

Color ME spring-y

2011-05-14T13:52:00.000-04:00

That's the view I have while sitting at my computer. Even with the gray skies it cheers me up. Maine changes colors slowly from winter's white and spruce green. Maybe it seems a tease to some, but I think nature is afraid of stimulus overload so eases us into happiness after the cabin fever blahs.

After the bright neon greens of the maple and birch leaves, we get kelly green grass and the yellows of tulips, daffodils, forsythia and dandelions.

(That bush needs trimming, but there are always birds nesting in it, so it goes wild)

It seems like everyone in town has azaleas, with good reason; the pinks they add are beautiful. Ours buzzes with bumblebees.

Speaking of pink, we are just a few warm days away from apple blossoms.

Next will be the purple of the lilacs and the red/pink/purple of rhododendrons, still all tightly closed buds. I look forward to them, then onto the orange and scarlet and white of daisies, zinnias and poppies. But I am content to wait for them as our glorious summers pass all too quickly.

A Trike and a Tick

2011-05-12T12:51:00.000-04:00

The trike is good.

We grabbed this at the employee store on our trip to Freeport yesterday. Yes, it's much too big for a one year old, and yes, she lives in Minnesota but, hell yes, it was a great bargain! How could we pass it up? We'll figure something out. J thinks it's so cool that it even has Ladyslipper's initial on it, and he ignored Ameranth when she told him it probably stood for Schwinn.

The ticks are bad.

Don't worry- I do not have a photo of the tick I found on my leg last night! This is the worst year for ticks since we moved here in 1987. (Well, worst for us, a banner year for the ticks themselves) We rarely found a tick on our first dog, Lizzie, but it seems Boomer is a tick magnet. I don't understand how they manage to jump aboard, since he rarely stands still, but they are evil little bugs.

And I changed my mind. I am going to post this picture labeled "tick waiting for victim" (image taken from royalty free site all legal-like). They wait on grass blades and jump aboard as hosts pass by.

They have to be Super Tick to jump on Boomer as he flies by and to stay on him as he jumps in and out of the water. Maybe that's their secret: Super powers.

But they're not cool ones like this guy :(

What a dingdong!

2011-05-06T12:19:00.002-04:00

Why did I find myself singing this earlier?

Clang, clang, clang went the trolley
Ding, ding, ding went the bell
Zing, zing, zing went my heartstrings
From the moment I saw him I fell

Well, we have a string of 3 bells on our door, so we- and the dogs- are alerted whenever it's opened. (They were actually Christmas decorations years ago and we liked them, so they stayed) I started to go out this morning to get the paper and Boomer went on high alert. But, I saw the cats waiting outside and I went to the other door to feed them before letting the dog out. Hence the bell song.

By the time I brushed my teeth I had segued into a different tune:

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong! the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.

When I realized the connection my mind immediately hopped again. I could have gone two ways, but I didn't pick the Judy Garland trail, choosing to go straight to Chuck Berry instead.

Oh my ding a ling, Everybody sing
I wanna play with my ding a ling a ling
Oh my ding a ling, my ding a ling
I wanna play with my ding a ling a ling.

Hmm, how many other songs do I know with dinging in them? Not many. The only other one was:

Ding dong merrily on high,
In heaven the bells are ringing.

Oops, now I'm singing this one:

All the chapel bells were ringing
In the little valley town
And the songs that they were singing
Was for baby Jimmy Brown

You wanna stop the madness.
Stop the madness now
Stop the madness
Stop the madness now.

PS. Check out this video - I think it's safe to say it is the only music video you'll see with Nancy Reagan, David Hasselhoff and Arnold Schwarzeneggar making appearances.

PPS. You don't have to thank me for the earworm music!

Misty May

2011-05-04T10:46:00.001-04:00

It's such a misty, gray day here that the maple buds keep catching my eye like lights on the porch.

Dogs

2011-05-03T16:20:00.001-04:00

Since losing our wild child Rosie, we have changed our routine a bit. Besides trying to get out on the road walking to help Anna get into shape for her upcoming trip, we have been letting the two dogs loose in our back yard. Our back yard that is an 8 acre pasture and two ponds. 8 Acres that has only electric fencing for the horses that visit in the summer.

It's been going pretty well. They zoom out of the gate and run down to check for ducks in the little puddle by the road, then run after them to the pond in the opposite corner.

This picture taken last fall, is of the seasonal pool in the middle that usually dries up completely in the summer. Right now it is filled with little tadpoles and growing grass that fools Boomer into thinking he can run across the far end. He chased Anna yesterday and it was like watching Wiley Coyote. Full tilt run from solid ground into a foot of water. I think he actually skimmed the surface for a second!

Anyway, the dogs have been surprisingly good, and we were pleased...until yesterday. We called them back and Boomer showed up to be rubbed down and put in the back yard, but Anna disappeared, only to be seen running across the street to visit Snowball, the elderly lab next door. Snowball, the perfectly behaving dog that never leaves her yard. They had a brief sniff and visit and I brought Anna home.

Today we drove down to the library and took them for a walk from there, a brand-new experience for Boomer. He usually runs right out to the car, so we had only Anna leashed as we left. Big mistake. He charged up to the two cats lounging out front and the scuffle resulted in 2 indignant cats escaping quickly, leaving Boomer with a mouthful of loose fur and a bleeding nose. Lesson learned? I hope so, but doubt it.

Since they were excited about the trip this morning we decided we would skip the pasture excursion today. Boomer goes out with me every morning to get the paper and is always very good. Out, pees on the way down the driveway, and back inside with me. Anna always sniffs him as he modestly comes back, trying not to rub his freedom in her face, but managing to convey his satisfaction with his solo outing.

Today he wanted to go out when I got the mail. I checked outside and no cats, so I let him out. Big mistake # 2. Down to the mailbox and halfway back was fine. Then I see him pause, prick up his ears and take off down the road. After an older gentleman with a baby in a stroller and a huge dog on a leash! I think I may have mentioned Boomer's lack of social skills before- he snarls and charges up to any dog he meets, the bigger the better. As I ran the hundred feet to retrieve him, I see him launch himself at the dog, who lunges to meet him, pulling the man sideways, tipping the stroller! Thank goodness his dog was well behaved (since mine isn't) and no one was hurt. He didn't have much to say, as I breathlessly apologized while trying to grab my obnoxious beast. Boomer knew I was annoyed and it took a minute for me to grab him. Then trying to lead him back while bending over to hold his collar, roughly a foot above the ground, was a treat. He twisted himself out of the collar but had the grace to accompany me home. He knew he was in disgrace and kept a low profile for the next hour or so. Bad dog, bad bad dog.

Anna was on the chair in the living room watching out the front window and she gave me a look when I came in which was easy to read. "That's what you get for letting that little dip out, and not me."

Happy Birthday, Ma!

2011-04-29T23:03:00.000-04:00

There is a nice lady named Fran,

Who took a shine to my old man.

If she hadn't, I fear

I wouldn't be here-

Just one reason I'm a huge fan!

The Paradoxical Commandments

2011-04-29T17:12:00.000-04:00

Blog hopping yesterday, I came across a reference to this list written by Kent Keith in 1968, when he was 19, as part of his first booklet for high school student leaders. I like them, so I am sharing.

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

What's Your Stanza?

2011-04-28T12:34:00.000-04:00

Poetry. Be ye for it or agin it?

Poetry was the subject of discussion in our house this morning and I have no idea how it started. Generally speaking, I don't enjoy reading poetry. Well, I mostly don't like reading the kind of poetry that doesn't rhyme. I do like Shakespeare, Robert Frost and Dr. Seuss, for example.

I read for content and story, more than intellectual ideas and feelings, maybe that's it? Hm, that sounded shallow, didn't it? I mean that I enjoy the story and like to get the message sort of subliminally, not get hit over the head with it. My first reaction to a poem is "here's a hammer, waiting to fall". I kind of look at 'free form' poetry as speed bumps on the road to a conclusion. Which may be just what is intended.

Ameranth has several good friends who write poetry and one told her that there are indeed rules and that she enjoys fitting her ideas inside those parameters. I don't know what the rules are though. Maybe if I did, I would appreciate poems more.

I wonder what makes certain people Poets? Of the non-rhyming type, that is. I daily make up songs and rhymes as I feed the dogs, do the laundry etc. I often wrote poems parodying seasonal songs for my coworkers' amusement, but I dismiss what I do as doggerel. Shoeshine writes Poetry, and J did too, when he 'wore a younger man's clothes'.

It is just an individual taste, as in music. I like clear words and rhymes in my music as well. I like Billy Joel because his songs tell a story and he has such clever rhymes. I know many people denigrate his work for just those qualities. Why should I feel apologetic because I like pop music and fantasy novels over heavy metal and free verse? The answer is I shouldn't and I really don't.

There is no real point to this post, just random thoughts, like the name says.

                                Hey, maybe I
             should have written
                                            it like this.
                                      And I could have it both ways.
                                        *Shrug*

Quick, before I forget this

2011-04-26T11:32:00.000-04:00

Ameranth stomped by from her computer, declaring "I am going to get dressed because I am angry at something on the Internet!"

Me:" Oh, it's going to be a good day"

A: "Yes, yes it is!"

Me: "I was being sarcastic, but if you want we can go that way- Yes, it will be good"

A few minutes later, after explaining what ticked her off:
"Oh, the world is so not my oyster"

Me: "Instead of a pearl, you have grains of sand?"

A: "Stinky, stinky fish-smelling grains of sand"

Another few minutes later I hear singing: "Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee" so I guess the day is looking up.

Week end

2011-04-22T16:41:00.000-04:00

J has today off so we spent a few hours running errands, then finished up with grocery shopping. It's been a pretty blah week here at the Crazy household, so it felt good to get something done. We had a canvas tote bag filled with shoes to bring to the Salvation Army, but this tote has been riding in the van for several weeks and we forgot to transfer them to a plastic bag before we left. We pulled up intending to ask them for one, but a large bag blew over to us as we got out. Just the right size for the loot, so that was nice.

Since we were in the area, we stopped at the ReStore place. Lo and behold! They had tile there. Enough 4 inch tiles to do around our shower and in a neutral enough color to please us both. We counted out tiles, divided by 9 and multiplied by the 25 cents per square foot for a grand total of $7.25, plus tax. You can't beat that!

When we got home, J put air in my bike tires and adjusted the handlebars for me. This was a Christmas gift that we just brought home from R.I. on our last visit. His brother helped him track down and buy this old bike for a bargain price. I wanted 3 speeds and I wanted fenders. Do you know how hard it is to find that combo? J polished the chrome and it looks great. Just what I wanted.

You probably can't tell in this picture, but we do have little daffodils blooming. And the grass is green, and wait for it.......the snow is gone!

To finish up, a little dialogue.

J comes in and hands me a pen (clearly one he found somewhere)

"Try this pen out- do you like it?"

Me: "Yes, it's very nice"

J (with a grand gesture): "Keep it"

Me: "Oh mercy, what a man!"

J: "The least I could do for my little woman"

Ameranth: "You two are weird"

Goodbye to Rosie

2011-04-19T09:56:00.000-04:00

Rosie died yesterday afternoon, leaving a big hole in our lives. She was a sweetie with a hidden wild side and we'll miss her.

Never Again

2011-04-16T14:46:00.000-04:00

"Never again, dammit. Never again!" we vow to each other as we tramp up the pasture a hundred yards behind our stupid, wily, racing-away-pretending-to-be-deaf huskies, while Boomer wears himself out running back and forth between us and the bad doggies.

But Ameranth and I are optimists. (What's that definition of an optimist? Performing the same actions and expecting a different result? Wait, I think that may be the definition of mental illness. Never mind.) The dogs love running in the pasture and the woods sooo much that we hate to deny them that release. We take them on leashes down the road to the gate and let them loose, and they soar over the grass, stretching out low to the ground, Boomer's little legs moving twice as much, but he keeps up with them through sheer determination.

Or they race over the packed-down track of the snowmobile trail and we try to catch up and turn them around before they continue into the distant cow pasture. This is so much better than just walking up and down our roadside! After being denied freedom for a few days or weeks, depending on just how bad the last outing was, we think "this time will be better- they will know if they behave we can do it again." And they do come back and we are happy and satisfied.

So we try it again. And then we see the dreaded circle of gathering occurring. Anna starts running around our group, faster and wider, swooping the other dogs into her orbital pull and then straightening out, leading them out to the road and leaving us in her dust.

While Anna likes to explore forbidden places, such as other people's garbage cans and dog yards, Rosie usually slips into the woods and sneaks past the house. Anna will head for the cat shed and we can get her inside from there, while Boomer comes when called (what a concept!) Then I am left standing on our steps, calling to Rosie is who is slinking past the barn across the street, about 100 feet from me-well within earshot. She pauses, looks at me and visibly makes up her mind to ignore me, lowering her head in her wolf mode and continues on. If we can get her cornered well enough she gives up and waits for us to walk over and get her. Note she doesn't come to us- we still have to walk over and grab her collar, then she's all sunshine and light, expecting a reward when we get home.

Other than the running away, Rosie is a pretty mellow dog. She's big and gawky and looks silly when she tries to jump and play with the others, and she never did think fetch made any sense. Except for a soft little red ball that was a nose on a stuffed toy, I think. It's a little smaller than a ping pong ball, and she loves to pull it in her mouth, then roll it out on her tongue like a magician's trick. She flicks it at me and waits for the toss back. Silly, silly dog. She doesn't stand when she can sit, and doesn't sit when she can lie down. She has taken over our couch, though she doesn't mind sharing, as long as she gets her end.

She was a goofy puppy and grew up to be a gentle sweet dog who can be sly and ninja-silent while rearing up to the counter and stealing food left within reach.

Who knows where to sit for the treats, and if we don't notice or get there soon enough, lifts her butt off the floor and sit again with a noisy thump.

She's a big dog with a shiny coat and soft brown eyes and adrenal glands that don't work anymore. When we discovered this last fall, we spent money we couldn't afford on her diagnosis and treatment. Her hair fell out and she wasn't herself anymore and we decided the best course was not to continue the medication. She regrew her winter coat and recovered her appetite and we hoped she would be alright for awhile. And she was, until two weeks ago. She stopped asking for and eating treats. She stopped eating her food. We tried a change and she gobbled it down for four or five days, then that was no good either. Canned pumpkin or eggs, raw or cooked, bread, even table scraps-all previous favorites- were ignored. We knew this would happen, her system will slow down, her blood pressure will drop and heart rate will slow and stop. She's not in pain, though we are. This is Rosie's favorite place to lie in the summer, so that's where we'll put her.

The last thing she ate was part of a hotdog, 3 days ago. Just before we took the dogs to the pasture and let them loose. She could still run a little, and sniff around for mice, and drink the pond water, while circling 25 feet out of her way to avoid getting her feet wet. We didn't have any trouble catching her and releashing her for the slow walk home. I think she had a good time. I hope so, because it was the last time.

Never again.

Dammit.

This and That

2011-04-14T17:05:00.000-04:00

Despite traveling to a funeral last week, J and I had several funny moments, ~~some~~ ~~many~~ most of which were at my expense. Often when I get tired, my fibro can make it difficult to grab the word I want - sometimes I know the first letter and a few seconds wait gets the right word, but other times I think everything's going smoothly and the wrong word pops out.

Like while we were waiting in the car at the cemetery for the escort vehicle and I asked J if he wanted a 'bucket' of water from the cooler. He and Shoeshine thought that was pretty good, but really liked it when I asked him where (in the cemetery) his mother was 'parked'.

Later that night, we were recapping the day for my parents and described the nice wooden chest that the cremated remains were put in at the church for the service. J and his youngest brother had been asked to carry it up to the altar and did a great job, except that it was a little lopsided. T seemed to be lifting his end up and J had his (bad) arm straight. So I asked him if it was heavy. Without missing a beat, he said "no, he wasn't heavy, he's my brother"!

We talked about the plans for the next day, which included J hanging a screen door, and me cleaning the gutters. J asked if my parents had gloves. Now, he was facing away from my father, who has some hearing loss, which may explain why Pa promptly answered: "We do, but the skunks take care of them". After a quick mental picture of a skunk handing out work gloves, I explained it was "gloves, not grubs" that J asked about.

And speaking of gutters and doors, we enjoyed helping them out with that, as well a few other chores. My three sisters who live in R.I. do a great job of dealing with any house, car or medical issues that arise, so we are always happy when we can share some of that when we are visiting.

On our way home, we stopped at Ms. M and Mr C's house to drop off Shoeshine for his ride to the airport later that day. They had several questions about home and garden issues, so we answered the ones we could, and plan to go down in a few weeks to help with some repairs.

Then the plan changed and we packed up Shoeshine and took him a couple of exits further up 495 to Sectaur's house, and he drove him to a bus station later.We got to visit a bit and I borrowed a book from him so that worked out very well.

The book is Steven Erikson's The Crippled God, which is the final book of a very good, but long and complicated series. I have just started it and am trying to remember just where everyone fits in. Oh, and I recently read this book:

It looked so pretty and was such a hefty book, that I was afraid it wouldn't live up to its cover- but it did. I must say that a little way into it, I was afraid it was turning into a vampire romance (of which I am not a fan) but it turned out to be okay. Not your standard vampire or witch book- a nice solid read. However- Spoiler Alert-

It seems to be the first in a series- poo! I still recommend it, especially to anyone who likes Diana Gabaldon.

I think that's about it for the mish-mash in my head today.

Long weekend

2011-04-12T10:51:00.001-04:00

It's been stressful around here for the last week. We went to R.I. for the memorial service and burial of J's brother, who died just before Christmas. His sister who lives in Florida called to say they would like to visit while they were in New England, hence the rush to finish Ameranth's/guest room. We told them it would have to be after the funeral, not before (or I would have had a meltdown) and ~~luckily~~ unfortunately they had to be back to work and couldn't make it. We're hoping they can make it another time.

Saturday went well, both the mass and the military ceremony at the Veteran's Cemetery in Exeter. Quite a few family members were able to come, so that was nice. Between the 10 siblings there are 21 cousins and then 9 cousins (so far) in the 3rd generation.

Shoeshine made a quick trip out from Boulder so it was nice to see him. Ameranth stayed home with the 3 dogs, and Ms. M and Mr. C came down but had to leave early since Mr. C had the duty phone from work and needed to go back to solve some problems. No pictures before they left.

Reviewing these pictures I feel the need to point out that everyone dressed up for the service and changed into comfy clothes afterwards, knowing it would be a long day. There are lots of jokes about Irish wakes but the truth is that they know how to celebrate life and laughter. They cry easily but laugh just as easily, drink and dance and eat and joke. It's a good way to remember a loved one.

One ongoing joke was that J's brother (being the eldest) had often proclaimed himself the patriarch of the family- a statement made only half in jest. Saturday the next oldest, (the Florida sister) declared herself the matriarch, to which J jumped in and pointed out that he was now the oldest son, hence he was the new patriarch. I think this photo shows how seriously his sisters took that.

It was a very nice weekend.

Ta da!

2011-04-05T15:36:00.000-04:00

Although we ran into some warpage with the closet door that needs to be addressed before we can call the bedroom completely redone, it has reached our benchmark level of "good enough". Ameranth will sleep in there tonight.

Let's take a little journey through the wayback machine to last summer to maximize our enjoyment of the final result.

We like it.

Okay then

2011-04-02T10:29:00.000-04:00

I don't write (much) about my political stands or religious beliefs but I cannot ignore this today. So fair warning- you may want to skip this since I just need to vent.

WTF Terry Jones ?!?

"In a statement, Mr. Jones demanded that the United States and United Nations take 'immediate action' against Muslim nations in retaliation for the deaths (in Afghanistan in protest of his burning of the Quran). 'The time has come to hold Islam accountable,' he said."

Really?

Accountable. Would he like Muslim nations to retaliate directly against him and his church members for the Quran burning? No, of course not, no one would, that's crazy. As crazy as the Westboro Baptist Church disturbing military funerals with signs saying the deaths were direct signals from God that gays are bad. Who can believe that crap? Who would want a god that is that vengeful and disturbed and angry?

I have no problem with anyone believing in and worshiping whatever form of god (or gods) they choose. As long as it's a peaceful worship. I understand that many people honestly believe their way is the only way, and that they are helping others to achieve salvation through conversion. I can appreciate the concern, but No means No. If someone doesn't want to convert from (or to) a thousands-of-years-old brand, then go away graciously. Mind your own business.

And by minding your own business, I mean live your life the best you can- don't hurt other people, with words or stones, or bombs or bullets. Help others as much as you can, as often as you can. If you just can't bring yourself to do either, then just stay quiet. If everyone did that, I think your deity would be happy, and I know the world would be better off.

Live and let live.
That should be the golden rule.

Just.... stop

2011-04-01T16:13:00.000-04:00

10th day of spring, tra la

2011-03-31T18:21:00.000-04:00

Look, we have brave little crocus buds:

Sadly, they will be under 12 inches of snow tomorrow if the weather forecast is accurate.

We have been trying to get the painting done in the bedroom so Ameranth can move in before she moves out for her trip. We sanded the floor lightly, just to remove dirt, vacuumed and rinsed it off. Then it got two coats of paint, which turned out to be a shade very close to that in the other two rooms in the house that had old floor paint. We finally decided on the color for the drawers and nightstand and did those last night. They need a second coat, then we need to do all the touchups where little spatters and drips have landed.

The true color is darker, like the frame in the background. The nightstand is from a bedroom set that was J's aunt's in the 60's and was a horrible aged French Empire yellow. Much better now.

Last big thing to be painted was an old brass bed. It was rusted in places and worn in others. So we used Rustoleum spray paint to give it new life, and I think the gray hammered metal will go nicely with the other colors in the room.

It's killing me that I only bought 2 cans and will have to get another to add a second coat to this. And if J doesn't get into work tomorrow, I'll have to wait until Saturday to finish the paint. Then 48 hours before we can put it together.

I shake my fist at you, possible April snowstorm! And yes, I bite my thumb at you as well.

Nature vs Nurture

2011-03-23T13:13:00.000-04:00

I am once again using my family emails as a source of fun. I do enjoy our sense of humor and have to believe a lot of it is in our genes, reinforced by family interactions. Our first reaction to just about any situation is a joke and a laugh, which is not a bad thing, I think. So here we go, starting off with my father's email earlier this week.

Grampa Bob: Surprising. Several days ago Ma fished out five dead frogs from the pond, laid them in the garden nearby. Picked them up yesterday; they were flat, black and dry. Took them out back and laid them out on some firewood; thought they were too neat to throw away.. She desires to tack them up on trees, whether as trophies or as a warning, I do not know.

Me: LOL- And I wouldn't buy the leprechaun tree face yesterday for J because I thought it was too much! Reminds me of the time Sectaurs found a hen head and foot after a weasel raid and kept that for awhile. (not indoors)

#2: How about making dead frog wind chimes?

Griz (Montana cousin) : Use the frogs and get Sectaur's chicken head and foot. Call it a native american spirit chime and it could be worth a lot of money.

Grampa Bob: Post Script

   Ma and I have been outside, our pickup duties we were doing and have done.
    I got my first glimpse of her 'saved' frog bodies just moments ago.
    Naw....they wouldn't make good chimes - even with a chicken head and leg.
    Be lucky to get a husky rasp out of them.
    Any other bright ideas??
    But thanks, anyway!

Me: I don't know- if you added a few more bones/feet for the noise and used the frogs as the part hanging down to catch the wind? Or frog whirligigs!

#5 : Okay, here are the frogs we are talking about - it is a little macabre to say the least... but if you put little bells on their feet maybe some wind chimes.....

Me: I think the worst part would be sticking holes to hang them up. Yuck.

FLAyankee (aunt in FL) : we're at chat and your father just said they are empty shells...........I think a burial is in order..................

#2: If you had another you could arrange them on toadstools like they were playing cards.

#3: OK I say just reconstitute them! you know like instant frog soup or something!
actually a little bright colored paint and they would be objects de art.

Ok big news for me (or I am terribly excited about it!-and dead frogs leads me right into it!!)
M and I attended a fund raiser for nursing scholarships last night and I bid and won a gator hunt in Tx! I am soooo excited about this- it is on my birthday weekend to boot- which leads me into-hmmm- purse, shoes or if big enough? boots? and then what color?

so anyways- I also get the head and feet- and also plan on bringing meat home too-so if we can combine the gator and frogs- well I think- jeez- no wait Gumbo!

#3 again: ya know I am also seriously regretting that last year when I had 5-6 big dead frogs that I, too, did not save and dry them. Oh well.
....................................................................................

Patience, Young Grasshopper

2011-03-22T10:25:00.001-04:00

Friday was a wonderful day. The temp was in the mid-50s and the snow visibly disappeared, hour by hour. Saturday morning it snowed a little, and was raw and windy. No problem, Spring was starting Sunday and that was one last mess.

Sunday was another nice day, and the hens were let out of their coop to get their feet in the dirt. Their yard is still snow covered, so we opened the big door on the other side.

Oops, you can see our Christmas tree now too! Doing the dishes later, I glanced out to see a mound of brown at the edge of the yard. It took a few seconds to realize it was hens dustbathing, not a dead bear or deer! I know, I know, but it was one of those brain-clicking-into-gear moments.

I tried to get a picture, but by then hens were up and jockeying for position.

So that was Sunday. Winter is done. Another season over and a new one begun. Monday it snowed.

Tuesday, it was still snowing, just a little more to top off the 5 inches we now have on the ground.

The hen dirt bath is in the center of the photo above. Oh well, spring snow disappears quickly. It better because I will not get the snowblower out again. (Unless we have a freak storm in April like we did that one year) As I was taking these pictures, I heard the snow sliding off the roof (not onto the step I had just shoveled and was standing on, thank goodness) and tried to snap a photo in time. You can see chunks going by the chicken coop window if you look closely. Metal roofs are why we ~~have~~ had those massive heaps of snow along the house-they really are 3 feet shorter now, since the snow used to cover that nearest window.

Since our neighbors are still snowcovered right along with us, I wouldn't really mind knowing we get spring a little later up north here if I could pretend everyone was in the same boat. But thanks to our family emails, I know Texas has been dry and in the 70s, as has Florida. My aunt has been weeding (!) and my brother has been figuring out how to calibrate his spreader for the proper chicken manure distribution. Colorado has had warm weather too, though Shoeshine has been too busy to appreciate it. A cousin in Montana went camping this past weekend, but at least had the grace to also have snow out there. Connecticut did get a little snow, and so did Rhode Island, but it was very little. My parents have been out cleaning up the lawn and installing a new pump in their little stream! And my poor little 2 inch tall daffodil sprouts are back to hibernating. As am I.

Can't forget this- Happy Birthday, Grampa Bob!

It's the laughter we will remember

2011-03-20T12:34:00.000-04:00

I've been busy cleaning out a file cabinet and a desk, both of which have had papers stuffed in them for years with minimal sorting. Three bags of 20 year old tax returns, partial-year report cards and repair records for cars long gone were taken to the dump today. I now have ~~overstuffed~~ neat folders for each of us with papers and memorabilia that I wasn't ready to throw out yet. The kids will each be presented with theirs and they can decide to keep it to show their children or dump it now. (Well, the two that have houses - I'll hold on to the others for a bit)

I saved the notes and pictures to the Easter Bunny and Santa and the homemade birthday cards, or course. It was fun looking through the school reports, with the notes from the teachers about each child. Not so much fun with some of the later notes, when some started having trouble, or causing trouble. Reading the "Needs Improvement" categories now just screams ADD- why didn't we pick up on it then? (Though I did bring it up, believe me. At the time it seemed if your child didn't have the H for hyperactive, he/she didn't qualify, though both were diagnosed later when they were in their 20s).

The best stuff was the notes and letters we have- a birthday poem for J from Ms M when she was in the Peace Corps, letters from Shoeshine written from his post in Kosovo, and the newsletters my father used to mail out before the transition to the family emails.

When Ameranth was in elementary school she had to take medicine, which started as a liquid since she had trouble swallowing pills. A few years later the prescription changed and she had to start with the capsules. What drama! I was impatient with her and she was stubborn- not a good combination for success. (Later a new dentist told us that she has "tongue thrust" or infantile swallowing- some kids never grow out of it and she was one- she still needs to wear her retainer to keep her teeth from moving forward) Anyway, Grampa Bob sent a helpful note:

I shot the Grawl...

2011-03-14T12:00:00.003-04:00

but I did not shoot the video.

PAX East 2011 is officially in the past- we left at 1, met Ms. M and Mr. C in Waltham for lunch and got home just before 6:30 last night. We had a good time, which is good since I think it is safe to say that will be my one and only gaming convention experience.

Google directions got us through Boston safely, although I was not thrilled to cross a toll bridge in the middle of town (I expected trolls underneath, and I was sad I had no bigger goats to offer them) and worse, a tunnel! A tunnel under water, I fear. The worst sort. It was short however and traffic was light so no panic ensued. Since we made it to the hotel with almost 2 hours before check-in, we tried out my directions to the Convention Center. We missed a left turn, since the street sign was well off to the side, but we got there anyway, scoped out the parking lot, then headed back to the hotel.

Not so simple as backtracking, however. Thank you so much, Boston one way streets. D Street goes right down the side of the Center and should be a straight shot back towards the hotel. BUT- it turns into a one way street, for one friggin' block! Why? We strayed a little too far south and got near some scary (to us hicks) neighborhoods. Luckily Ameranth had just upgraded her phone and we had access to GPS so a nice lady voice showed us the way to go home. After maneuvering past school busses parked in one lane of the street (??) and having to pull over for an ambulance in a five way intersection, we were directed to the shopping mall behind our hotel because the front entrance is on a (you guessed it!) one way street.

Good news- no bedbugs! I did do the mattress check :) The hotel is being renovated and everything in the room looked new, and smelled new too, which sounds good, but gets a little irritating after awhile. Also, one bed rooms do not get the advertised microwave and mini-fridge as advertised, but the staff was very nice and I would stay there again.

PAX. It was big, noisy, crowded, and lots of waiting in lines. Since we really wanted to get a chance to play the Guild Wars2 demo, we got there early Friday morning. Not as early as some, who were waiting there when the doors opened at 8AM. That is, the doors opened at 8 to let you into the queue room to line up for the real doors opening at 10. It was a room bigger than a football field and got crowded quickly.

I'm not tall enough to get a good shot of how many people were there, but it was lots. The yellow caution tape separated the crowd into lines about 10 feet across, and then each line waited for their turn to go in. Not spontaneously, there were Enforcers with red shirts, directing traffic with light wands. Everyone cooperated nicely. The crowd was easily a 90/10 male female ratio and ranged from plenty of teenagers to people older than me- at least they looked older than me :P

(Alert- geekery ahead) We enjoyed the GW2 developers' demonstration of the Thief, the newest profession release and we scored Guild Wars2 bandanas and water bottles, but did not get to play hands on, since there were so many in line and we had panels we wanted to attend. Too late at the Meet and Greet that night too, and Saturday was even more crowded than Friday.

We decided to get there as early as we could on Sunday and made a dash for the booth. There were several hundred people ahead of us in the queue line to get into the exhibit hall, but we were each able to be third in line to try the game. Yay!

I was very self-conscious about playing this, since the gameplay was also shown on large overhead monitors. Plus my station was a laptop and had no working audio, but I decided just to enjoy it and ignore the people watching me go in circles and forget to pick up my trophies to get the rewards. I explored a bit and found a cave of grawl that needed to be demoralized, so we stole their food and killed them. That would demoralize me!

I was so pleased after trying the game that I actually went up to one of the Community Managers and introduced myself to thank him! Now, I wish they would just announce a release date for this!

More thoughts another day.

Out of Sorts

2011-03-09T17:38:00.001-05:00

We go to Boston tomorrow, leaving J and the dogs at home to deal with each other until we get back Sunday night. We have our Pax East badges, our hotel reservation, snacks and a car full of gas, so I should be happy. I'm not. I'm grumbly and edgy and nothing is going quite the way I want and everyone is annoying me, starting with the dogs this morning right up to J asking nicely if I have everything I need to bring. I blame PTS (pre-trip syndrome) and I don't have chocolate, having eaten it all last night. Not a good thing.

I worry about driving in Boston traffic, the rain/snow we are expecting for tomorrow, how to get to the convention center from the hotel, bedbugs, expensive food, looking silly at a gaming convention at my age and looking sillier trying the demo in front of other players.

I am also excited about going to Boston, experiencing a gaming convention, maybe meeting some other forum members as well as meeting the developers from Arenanet who are making Guild Wars 2, and seeing and playing the demo! We shall also see Sectaurs and Minnie there, and plan to meet Ms. M and Mr. C one of the days, maybe lunch on Sunday.

Off to do laundry after I decide what to bring. Will it be warm because of all the people (all the people!!) or cool because AC will be on to deal with all the people? I can't look cool so I'll settle for comfortable, which is more important to me anyway. No one will care what I look like anyway, so comfort it is. And maybe just a little coolness? *sigh* No. There will be no coolness. But that's okay- I will be surrounded with coolness!

Enough babbling.

It will be fun times. IT WILL BE FUN TIMES.

"Make it so"

Nothing is happening

2011-03-01T19:13:00.000-05:00

I got nothing, people.

J's new schedule started this week, so he no longer has weekends off, which stinks. If he's lucky he will get two days in a row, but that isn't guaranteed. It does happen this week and he will be home the next two days, so we have plans to finish up the construction upstairs. Today I bought more Kilz and another gallon of the wall paint color, as well as the rest of the molding we need. There may be pictures in the near future.

It snowed last Friday, and Sunday, and Monday so I am feeling the aftereffects of using the snowblower.

Oh, I did do laundry- how exciting, right? But lots of it was fabric that I got at the employee store last week. There was a box of "swatches" for .50 each- who could resist that? The so-called swatches ranged from a yard and a half of fleece to the best score: 10 yards of stretchy material, the kind athletic shirts and shorts are made of. Of course, it's neon yellow, but still, how could I pass up that deal? Now to think of some use for it. :)

If nothing else, J thinks it will make some pretty snazzy ghosts for Halloween. They will practically glow in the dark.

The only pictures I've taken recently:

J does snowblowing too.

Doesn't that make you want to give her a home?

Close the door

2011-02-25T10:09:00.002-05:00

Ameranth and I ran errands yesterday and just as I pulled onto the highway, I noticed I had not closed my door tightly.

Me: "Shoot, my door isn't closed right, but I don't like fixing it on the highway."
A: "No, not on the highway- you never know what could happen."
Me: "I know, the wind could catch the door-"
A: "And pull it wide open and-"
Me: "I wouldn't be able to grab the handle again-"
A: "then a car would come by and tear it off the hinges and suck you out-"
Me: "my feet and head would be flailing while the seatbelt and my deathgrip on the steering wheel keep my torso inside..."
A: "Exactly! Not a good idea."
..........
Me :"We feed each other's paranoia."
A: "I prefer 'imagination'."

Poster child for PITA

2011-02-22T11:29:00.000-05:00

(as in Pain In The A**)

Rosie told me she had to go out, realllly bad, noooowww. It was 11:30 and I was ready for bed, and didn't want to go out in the below freezing temps to hold the leash for her. Big mistake.

She did her business as I watched from the door and when she suddenly looked at the woods and raised her head, I stepped out to call her in. Unbeknownst to me, Anna had come downstairs and was right behind me. She slipped out the door and the game was lost. The two raced for the fence and disappeared into the moonlit night.

For the next hour I periodically went to both doors and called the dogs, trying to sound sweet and loving through gritted teeth. At 12:30 I opened the door just in time to hear thundering paws on the frozen dirt road and see them sailing past me down the hill. Some of our neighbors have horses, but those two will leave them alone and they wouldn't be out at night anyway. I just hoped no one's cat would be taken by surprise. If only Anna hadn't been out there, I would have given up then, but I didn't want to explain to Ameranth how I lost her dog.

Half an hour later, my luck turned. Anna was in the driveway! I called to her and she stopped but kept her head turned towards the darkness in the front yard where I knew Rosie was taunting her: "Pussycat! Go home to Mama instead of running free with the big dogs!" Anna caved and came inside.

I gave Rosie until 1:30 then left a note for J and went to bed. He reported that she jumped back inside the fence and was at the back door about 3. She slept most of the next day and has not been out off-leash since. I may be slow but I have learned my lesson!

That devil dog cannot be trusted. (No offense intended to the tasty snack cake)

Goin' out on the town!

2011-02-19T21:12:00.000-05:00

Well, not right away, but in March I am! Our passes came today.

Ameranth and I are going to PAX East in Boston- that's right, we're going to a gaming convention. In the middle of a city, which is sort of scary to me. I am definitely a small town person and would never attempt this on my own, but Ameranth has had experience in the convention area, and will keep me company. We are going for all 3 days and may even have to take the subway, since our hotel is 2 miles away from the activities. Not only that, but we have to change subwaylines! I am hearing the Charlie song in my head:

Did he ever return?

No he never returned

And his fate is still unlearn'd

He may ride forever

'neath the streets of Boston

He's the man who never returned.

I don't know if this trip officially makes me a geek or a nerd (nerd, I think, because geek implies more knowledge than I possess) but am looking forward to seeing a demo of the new Guild Wars 2 game that will be available there. Sectaurs and Minnie are going as well so that will be added fun.

[I was going to update with some pictures of the bedroom rehab, but since this is my 300th post and a little past my second blog-iversary, I figured I'd go with something a little special]

Wednesday roundup of rambulations

2011-02-16T15:55:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed how automatic brushing your teeth is? No, because that's the point- you don't think about it, even when you want to. The tooth that was removed last week was an in-between one on the side, not a molar in the back that you can easily skip. I had to look at my face in the mirror to direct my hand manually Not To Hit The Sore Spot. I couldn't even zone out while brushing the right side and front, because then my hand automatically zips over to the left side- and I am an enthusiastic brusher! Anyway, no ~~horrendus horrondis~~ painful mistakes were made and we are well on the way to normalcy. Or what passes for it in my mouth.

Speaking of that (and I realize that no one wants to know any more about this, but tough) I still have 22 of the original issuance of 32 teeth, which Ameranth thought sounded terrible. I pointed out that was 2/3 of the total and I have lived roughly 2/3 of my life and while that really makes no sense, it made her feel better. And it's better than not having any-although family members have told me otherwise. Strong teeth genes do not run in my family. Sad face. Thank goodness we have an excellent dentist, who had better not retire before my teeth are completely gone! I worry because she has already started cutting back on her work week.

Rosie is still being let out back only on leash, since she has realized that she can get over the fence anywhere at this point. Anna could too but has not attempted it- indeed she barked at Rosie and herded her away from the fence during some off-leash experimental outings.

Ameranth is still working and has 40 hours scheduled this week, so she is happy. Tax refunds will swell her coffers and get her to the point she needs to start her across America trek this spring. Oh Goody.

Speaking of swelling coffers, Ameranth introduced me to Assassin's Creed II and I am spending way too much time on the XBox. I like the running around on rooftops and finding the items needed to fill collections, but some of the quests are timed and that is not good. I run off the roof and bump into guards and stab people I am supposed to be only tackling. Oops, sorry Borgia courier. The game is pretty and very historical feeling, starting out in Da Vinci's Florence. Today, we were walking through the Sears TV department and heard "home of the templars" and both stopped, thinking we would see the game playing, but it was a History show. When we saw the city shot, Ameranth said. "Oh it does look like..." and I agreed. Much to our surprise, a salesman behind us asked "What does it look like?" and after jumping we explained, feeling slightly dorky, but he knew the game and agreed as well.

Finally, did anyone watch Jeopardy last night , with the computer Watson playing? I only saw Final Jeopardy, but Watson had around $35,000 and the two men had $5000 or less. The category was US Cities and they both got it right, while Watson entered "What is Toronto?????" (The question marks were Watson's, not mine) Really Watson? Toronto? Not in the US, buddy. However the wily machine bet only $947 so he won that round anyway. Not having watched the whole show, my question is how did they adjust for the machine's (assumed) fast response time to click in? The knowledge might be fairly even, but the computer reflexes have to be faster, don't they?

And hey, we got Valentine M&Ms at half price today- Score!!

Winter Fun

2011-02-11T10:14:00.000-05:00

One of the bloggers I follow, Kelly from In Real Life, is training for a marathon and showed lovely pictures of her outdoor run. In the winter. In Canada. I salute her energy and determination, and I look forward to following her progress.

My own interactions with winter have had their highs and lows this year. The 'highs' I showed last week as I conquered Mt. Porchroof and cleared the slopes.

We left the ladder in place, partly in case we needed to rake the roof again, but mostly because we didn't feel like wrestling it out of the snow bank. The snow bank that I had made much bigger and that the dogs have decided is their preferred route on and off the porch.

They also like to pose up there, pretending to be Yukon King watching for Sgt. Preston, I presume. While I had to help that snow off, (thanks to us messing up the pitch while building the darn roof) a nearby shed roof took care of itself, unnoticed until ...dun dun dun..the Great Escape! Sitting at my computer facing the porch window, I saw a flash of black from the corner of my eye. I looked up to see Boomer running towards the corner of the yard- the corner of the yard where the shed roof meets the fence!

It was still too high for Boomer, but the other two were already out of sight. Anna and Rosie were on their way to the local sushi bar, right across the street. Jack Traps sells bait fish during the winter and I don't know if he dumped his dead fish, or customers left them, but there were frozen fish all around his giant ice trap flagpole, from minnow size to 5 or 6 inches long. Anna rolled, Rosie gulped.

I grabbed a shovel and went to move a mountain of snow while Ameranth headed out to get them. Then she walked over the fence to tackle the other side. (That's a six foot fence, by the way) The 2 inch crust of ice that let the dogs stay on top was not enough to keep us from plunging thigh deep in snow as we shoveled. I trenched further along the fence as well, since I was there and I knew the successful escape would have Rosie trying again.

Sure enough, when we took them out back the first thing they did was run to the corner, then Rosie prowled the perimeter, raising her nose to assess the height. We thought she couldn't make it out and we were sorely mistaken. A few minutes later the other two let us know Rosie had flown the coop. Rosie now has her bathroom breaks on a 20-foot leash and I am hoping we have a thaw soon.

Ameranth and I had a hard time not taking this personally, seeing that we had all just come back from an off-leash walk in the woods. An off-leash walk that ended with the two huskies running into a low part of the field, out of sight, then popping up to cross the road into a neighbor's yard. Thank goodness the house is empty, since they were right up on the steps making themselves at home.

Once more, we swore that they could never be allowed off leash again. At least not together- Anna is good at listening to Ameranth when she's alone. Rosie gets her 'wolf look' and starts slinking away, pretending she doesn't hear a thing. Later she rests her head on my leg and promises she will never stray again. She needs a 12 step program. Actually, that's what she's on right now- she can take just about 12 steps on that 20-foot lead!

The drugs wore off

2011-02-08T21:52:00.000-05:00

Hmm, after reading the comments I got on this morning's post, I thought I should clarify a minor point. I did get a free milkshake, but not directly from the oral surgeon- he didn't whip it up for me himself. I got a coupon and we stopped at Mickey D's on the way home. But it was free and welcome after the whole "nothing to eat after midnight" rule.

Ameranth was kind enough to be my designated driver and did warn me she was not very good with drugged people. (Perhaps I should have asked more about that, come to think of it) When the nurse told us I could go (which I have no memory of) Ameranth asked me if I was all set, and believed me when I said yes. But she did come back to take my arm when she saw me tilting against the wall, and gingerly escorted me across the slushy parking lot. She took my coupon and fetched my milkshake, warning me not to drive off while she was inside. I do remember thinking about turning the van on for the heat, but refraining because I thought she might panic and run out without the milkshake.

Anyway, the tooth is gone and the estimate they had given me was high, so I paid less than expected (Yay!) It was about as good as a day at the oral surgeon gets.

At least I know it's Tuesday

2011-02-08T10:02:00.001-05:00

Hah, I am proud of myself for being able to grab Keely's Random picture thingy this time. Especially since I just got home from having a tooth out and am still minorly spacy. I love general anesthesia. No feeling the dentist yanking to get some stubborn totth, no tensing up in anticipation of pain. Just some goofiness, oh and a free milkshake courtesy of the dentist. Yum Yum, spooning in the chocolaty goodness past the gauze in the tooth gap.

I better go sit down,but before I go, a random convo from Ms.M. while X and Shoeshine were visiting last week. X was apologizing in advance for any noise the baby might make and hoping that their sleep would not be impacted.

Mr C: Don't worry- I can sleep through anything.
Ms M: Yeah, he's spent time with lots of men on a boat- nothing bothers him.
Mr. C: I was in the Navy! And it's a ship, not a boat!"

Cleaning up

2011-02-05T20:24:00.000-05:00

This is what I did this afternoon.

Because we are getting more snow tonight. This is a once-in-a-lifetime shot of me on a roof (I don't do heights) but there was so much snow everywhere it really wasn't scary. And much easier than using the roof rake. The east and south sides of the roof are bare- thank you metal roof-and-sun combo!

J went inside for a break after I assured him I would not go near the edge while alone. I took my breather up there because once I got down, I was not returning. As I sat there, I realized just how fast my heart was beating and decided that I a) better slow down the shoveling and b) not try to clear the entire thing because I didn't want to be the person in the news article that had a heart attack after shoveling and you say "What was she thinking?"

So now we have a huge pile of snow between the ladder and the railing which gave the dogs a great place to play this afternoon. But I found that Boomer thinks that it makes a handy peeing target as well. Just a step away from the door, how handy!

Our company left Thursday and the house is much quieter now. Sigh. We had a nice shopping trip on Tuesday to L.L. Bean and found a cute pair of boots with a colorful sea turtle design and a matching raincoat for Ladyslipper. Trying to get her to model them was quite an exercise for her parents, who modeled their Mad Bomber Hats too.

One more and I think this may be my favorite one.

Not much else going on around here. Back to life as usual with J. While out and about this morning, he mentioned he was hungry, then a few moments later:

J: " No hotdog vendors out, huh?"

Me: "Are you kidding? they would freeze their buns off! hohoho.......oh come on, that was funny"

J: "Okay that was funny" but he didn't sound like he meant it.

We bought groceries and ate some French bread on the way home.

Last night we actually went to bed at the same time, an unusual happening since J's bedtime is around 7 pm. I had my flannel pajamas and fleece socks on, since I'm always cold. I normally pull the sheet over the top of my head, since my hair doesn't keep me warm (plus then J can't breathe down the back of my neck)but J complains that he gets tangled up in it. I thought we were all arranged and ready to snooze and then I hear: " Mmmhmmmm, I wish you were naked"

My reply: "Mmmhmmmm, I wish you were asleep".

News Flash- a Baby can be very tiring!

2011-01-31T16:30:00.000-05:00

Duh, right? I know, I know, I had 4 of the little buggers around me for years! This is just a confirmation of one of my child-rearing theories: whatever age your kids are at any certain time, that is the age of other people's kids that you can tolerate.

When we had toddlers, anything OP's babies did was fine. Pre-teens? those active little guys and gals were just great, but man those little tots cried kind of loudly, didn't they? Teenagers? Well, we had problems with ours but I could totally understand the group mentality and really, they weren't like the elementary years- you could have conversations with them and they liked to sleep late. And of course, when our offspring turned into adults (at various ages) I just could not understand those parents who started over again with a baby after they made it through the teenagers! What were they thinking?

Now we are grandparents and babies are adorable again- well, they always were adorable, but 15 minutes with one was just fine. So, I don't expect many readers to be interested in this post, but most of this stuff is written for me anyway. (By the way, Shoeshine, X and Ladyslipper are out visiting friends, so I am not ignoring them to be online!)

I know this might be hard to believe, but Ladyslipper is the brightest little girl I have seen for years. And the cutest. How amazing that she just happens to be related to us, right?

I think what has made J the happiest is finding another person who enjoys this cookie jar as much as he does.

When the head is lifted, Mr T's voice snarls "Get your hand out of my cookie jar!" and the lion roars. At first she opened it by lifting at the nose, but after seeing me use the ear, Ladyslipper wanted to do it that way as well.

We put her tiny snacks inside and she reaches in to sweep her barely-long-enough arm around to grab one. She doesn't want any help with this either.

Before she got here, she was taking 3 or 4 steps by herself, but she's stretching that now- mostly because she tries to get to the various remotes and controllers before someone can stop her. Her feet get a workout on the keyboard as well. Except for the electronics the house was pretty well baby-proofed and things have gone fairly smoothly. Except that one night when she was inconsolable between 2 and 4 am, and the runny nose and drooling from a new tooth she's working on. And the constant battle to keep dog hair off her. Which apparently I am fighting alone- no one else seems worried by it.

And, speaking of dogs, how have they taken this invasion, you ask? Well, Anna is fine- she's the only one who has been exposed to children before, and she doesn't think they're special at all. Not aggressive at all, just passively ignores them.

Boomer was the one I worried about, but he has been fine; interested but not bouncy, friendly but not hyper. It's Rosie that's the problem child. She was terrified by the tiny being, scurrying around the edges of the room and startled into growling whenever 'it' moved. I held her collar anytime they were in the same room (which wasn't often) just in case she got scared and bowled the baby over. Rosie is feeling pretty sorry for herself because people are sitting on 'her' couch and a playpen is in front of her dogbed. Anna hopped into an open chair yesterday and Rosie decided she would join her, even though there wasn't room.

Anna did not welcome her and refused to scootch over. To fully realize how much Rosie suffered, check the view from the other side.

Pitiful.

But everybody else is having a grand old time!

Waiting for Friday and some Ladyslipper time!

2011-01-27T14:33:00.000-05:00

I have been not-very-productive so far today, although I did make up the guest bed. We've got the Moonlight Grey on the walls, and primer on everything else, a rug on the floor and bed and nightstand in place. This afternoon I get the high chair and crib that we are borrowing from our neighbor and we will be good to go.

I'll wait until tomorrow for the final vacuuming etc since there is no use trying to get rid of the dog hair too far in advance. Ms M is driving Shoeshine, X and Ladyslipper up tomorrow and they will be here until Wednesday. We are looking forward to finally holding our granddaughter! Expect picture spam soon.

Ready to paint- finally!

2011-01-23T09:14:00.000-05:00

With our deadline of the 28th fast approaching, we've picked up speed in the bedroom makeover. Today we prime the entire room. It even looks possible that we can get the final color on the walls in time too. We felt like we would never make it while we were sanding.

As Ameranth said "Damn those old people and their hundred year lead paint!" That was one thick layer of paint that clung tenaciously to the wood, and if it hadn't been chipped, I would have happily left it in place and covered it up. Even after using a gel stripper (and yes we ventilated well, ie. opened the window) and sanding (yes, we used masks) we didn't get every last bit off. But it feels smooth and is good enough for us.

There will be molding along the top to cover those gaps. In the next picture, a closet will be built to the right of the drawers, and shelves put back into the space on the left, the one the looks like a doorway. We've never figured that out because if it were a door, it would open onto the 3rd step of the staircase.

Obviously, the closet portion will be done after Shoeshine's visit next weekend. But this room will be clean and able to be slept in, which is all I ask for now.

I joked on Facebook yesterday about J running out to pick up some stripper. Later, speaking to Ms. M, I told her "I'm going upstairs to strip now" as I handed the phone to her father. She told him that was high on the list of "things you never want to hear your mother say".

Style, you say?

2011-01-20T17:25:00.000-05:00

A fellow blogger has given me a lovely Stylish Blogger award and I wish I knew how to reproduce it here! Kelly at In Real Life is being very generous in linking my blog with the word 'style' and I appreciate it. Now I am supposed to tell you 7 things about myself and I don't think I can keep it style-themed as she and Knitwit did, but I'll try.

1. One thing is the same as Kelly's list and that is a love of jeans. I've been wearing them (not the same ones- I wish the size was the same though) since the 1960's and I will keep on into my 60s and beyond.

2. My favorite winter coat is a down-filled wonder that was rejected by Ms. M when she entered the Peace Corps. "Mom, I would look like the Michelin Man"
As if Moldova was the fashion center of the third world! Her loss, my gain.

3. My feet are too big to have a wonderful shoe collection. I am happy if I get some sneakers and boots that fit and let me have room to twinkle my toes.

4. I had braids and long hair until I entered high school and got a Twiggy pixie cut, just in time in time for hippies and long hair to be the style. Then it was Dorothy Hamill cuts and perms until I got fed up with it and went with a buzz cut. I love the ease but my head gets cold now so I wear hooded sweatshirts a lot in the winter.

5. To help nice salespeople from feeling bad when they call me sir (see short hair above) I finally got my ears pierced when I was 55. Very good decision, I like earrings.

6. I like color. And big patterns. And soft, swirly fabrics. And I wish I were 5'9" and looked as good for real as I imagine I would wearing some of that stuff, instead of, you know, jeans and sweatshirts.

7. I do use my house as an outlet for the colors and appreciate J being as easygoing as he is about that. (as in "Yes, that color looks fine to me. Whatever you want") So we have one room that has coppery stripes in flat and glossy paint, and we have fun fish wallpaper in our kitchen.

This ended up being a fun list to make- thanks again.

Oh well

2011-01-16T21:22:00.001-05:00

The football game I watched tonight did not end as hoped, so I thought I would post a bright spot from earlier today.

J and I left a store and noticed the truck was wet as if it had rained, but it was much too cold and sunny for that. A ray of sun shone on J as silvery sparkles of snow swirled around him and I stepped into the Disney-esque moment with my arms raised in delight. My prince spoke. "It's just blowing off the roof, let's go".

It's been that kind of day.

Fun Times

2011-01-15T09:39:00.000-05:00

Ameranth: "Daaaavvy, Davy Crockett.................."

Me: "King of the wild frontier- finish it, dammit"
Ameranth: "I was waiting for people to join in"
Me: "You didn't know the rest, admit it"

Last night, J kept tossing and turning trying to get his arm comfortable, and jarring me awake every time I started dozing off. I couldn't figure out why I kept thinking of Peter Pan, until I realized his wrist (with watch) was next to my head.
Tick Tock, Tick Tock.

When I mentioned that to him this morning, he said all he knew was he was having trouble pulling the blankets up to his head and then realized he had grabbed his new fleece sleep pants instead.

Delurkers Welcome

2011-01-14T16:57:00.000-05:00

I am here to tell you that someone decided this is National Delurking Day, which means every blog reader is encouraged to leave a comment today. No prizes for doing so, strictly peer pressure.

Unfortunately, that means I need to write something that can elicit said comment(s).

Let's see....my trip to the endodontist yesterday started off great. I walked in at 8:25 congratulating myself for being early and the receptionist said she had expected me at 8. I wrote the date and time on the calendar while I was on the phone with her and the last thing I said was "okay, I will see you at 8:30 on the 13th" so I was 99.9% sure the error was not on my end. She glanced at her official computer schedule and sweetly remarked "Isn't that strange?" and insisted it made no difference. Maybe not, but 5 minutes later she was sticking a sharp proby thing into my abscessed gum. Coincidence? I think not.

Then we needed X-rays. Several X-rays. She was finally happy after angling the raygun part into my cheek with the plastic target circle jammed into my eyelid "That's right, keep your eye closed"- It was impossible to move it, thank you very much.

To cut to the chase, the Dr. said there's been bone loss and the infection is at the gumline and the only way to see if there is a fracture is surgery, blah blah, cadaver bone, blah blah, 50/50 odds that the tooth can't be saved, blah, blah $1300.

I will be going for option 2, removal of said tooth, and was told that I needed to decide before having it out whether I wanted an implant or bridge. I didn't tell her that I would be choosing "hole".

Later, our friendly mechanic told us it was a seal that was responsible for our oil leak. Of course half the engine has to be removed to get to it to see exactly what needs to be replaced so it's not a cheap fix. The good news is that it's not the head gasket which J gloomily predicted it would be. We hope to get that done in a week or so. After the money magically appears in our bank account to pay for it.

Oh, and the harmonic balance needs to be fixed at the same time. I don't know what that is, but it sounds like a damn good thing to have working. Can my life get a new harmonic balance? It would be so worth it.

Tuesday Twaddle

2011-01-11T14:06:00.000-05:00

Not much excitement here, just trying to fight off the winter blues, and the winter poundage.

Ameranth has a head cold and is being quite generous with it, bless her soul.

The van is gulping oil and then drooling it out on the driveway overnight, so it will be checked out on Thursday. After I drive it to the oral surgeon to see if my root is fractured or not. I am hoping for the 'not'.

Looking on the bright side of not being very energetic, I have gotten a lot of reading done lately. I enjoyed "Towers of Midnight" by Brandon Sanderson, who is finishing the Wheel of Time series after Robert Jordan died. Only one more book to be published to complete this storyline, which I started reading in 1990 with the first book. It's been a long wait!

Today I finished the four volume Tiffany Aching and the Wee Free Men young adult series by Terry Pratchett. Very entertaining.

It's been awhile since we had one of Mr. Crazy's movie reviews, so I'll finish up this rambling sort-of-news with this recent offering.

(The movie is Jennifer's body and here's the description from Wikipedia-
A newly possessed cheerleader turns into a killer who specializes in offing her male classmates. Can her best friend put an end to the horror?)

Here you go:

She did have a nice body I must admit, but a bit of an over bite. I think it should be watched about one time and then put into the archives. Still, it was a good movie. Sorta like a drum roll, starts out quiet, gets louder and in the end you hear the boom! For the body I give it 3 pops and for the movie 2 corns. Enjoy!

Better late

2011-01-06T16:30:00.000-05:00

Here's a few end of the year photos that I just got around to editing.

J is responsible for decorating the house, since he enjoys it so much. I do have to check on it afterward though. Here his tribal men are saluting Father Christmas, or getting ready to roast him, I don't know which.

Our lovely tree-topper, which my kids think should be retired. He is getting a little tattered, but he was a gift from my grandmother so he stays. (She didn't make him, but got him at a craft sale and probably my grandfather wouldn't let her use him!)

J's new kitchen TV, which was supposed to fit into the space above the microwave to replace the tiny one we had. It was just an inch too tall to squeeze in, so I had to do some minor surgery on the rack.

Our first major snowfall which gave us our white Christmas. It was so gray that day that the photo looks like it is black and white.

The TV and this were J's favorite gifts I think, although Ameranth did give him his caliper he was wishing for.

Ms M gave him this, along with some paper soda jerk hats which he wouldn't model for me, saying "I never know where your pictures will show up".

Ameranth found Mr C his special gift, a Snoopy sno-cone maker, but I didn't get a picture of that either. I got some lovely earrings and Wii Fit Plus, as well as Donkey Kong Returns for the Wii. It brings back memories of the old Nintendos we had when the kids were teens, especially since I am still having Ameranth bail me out of the hard parts!

The Wii Fit is fun, but harder than I expected. Could it be that I am out of shape? Pshaw. Although it does tell me that my BMI is too high and it made my Mii blow up like the Michelin man. Not funny, Wii.

New Rule

2011-01-05T17:40:00.000-05:00

New cosmic rule suggestion: Any tooth that has had a root canal and a crown is not allowed any more problems. Ever.

Auxiliary rule: Pharmacists should not go to lunch mid-afternoon and their helper people should feel guilty when told you cannot wait 45 minutes for the antibiotics and you have to pick it up tomorrow so my infection can just rage on another 12 hours or so, not have a happy face that you are leaving!

Tertiary rule: Nobody wants to call an oral surgeon's office, so when your message says my call is important to you, and you will call me back, do so. Don't make me call 45 minutes later to hear that you are closed for the day.

I'm up too late, and other odd turns of events

2010-12-31T23:15:00.000-05:00

A year ago, I would not have said 10 pm was way too late to be awake, but now it is.

A year ago, I would not have thought I would attempt a new job, learn the skills and do a good enough job to get a letter saying they would rehire me. Or that I would accept the fact that others would do the job faster than I could, but that was okay.

A year ago, I enjoyed the anticipation of a grandchild and then found out how much I can love a little person that I haven't met yet. And I watched my son discover the same thing and realize that his life has been forever changed.

A year ago, I worried about my parents' health and watched as my father's failing kidney slowed him to a crawl. Then I watched as dialysis has given him a new lease on life, removing fluid and returning color to his face.

A year ago, we had just lost a brother-in-law and a sister-in-law was fighting breast cancer. She successfully finished treatment and has enjoyed her son's new wife, cute stepson and brand new baby boy. One of our nephews got engaged, his sister got married and their father recently died, the first of J's 9 siblings to be lost.

A year ago, Ameranth was planning the first part of a dream of hers- to walk across the US- and she took that first step in Albany NY and walked the Erie Canal to Buffalo NY. No one was sure if she would actually do it, including her, but she did. ~~Unfortunately~~, that success led her to planning the bigger walk this year!

A year ago, we enjoyed seeing Sectaurs as well as Ms. M and Mr. C move into their first houses. We had fun helping each of them with some projects this year and it's been interesting seeing their different styles emerge. When Ameranth moved out, Minnie moved in with Sectaurs, and we got to know her this year. She's a keeper!

A year ago we had plans, J and I, as we do for each year. Some of the things happened just as we hoped, some were canceled or postponed and some awesome unplanned stuff got done. That will happen again this year, and next year, and the next and I look forward to all of it, enjoying life with J and our families, wild and crazy as they are.

Happy New Year.

Finally- Home and online

2010-12-30T13:36:00.002-05:00

My 'vacation' from blogging lasted longer than planned, as did our trip to Rhode Island, thanks to a dead modem and a blizzard. This was the first time in many years that I have not had to work on Christmas Eve, so yay for having extra time off and enjoying the pre-holiday. We were busy busy cleaning for Sectaurs and Minnie, who came up on the 23rd to join us. That was nice- the visit, not the cleaning!

They drove home on the 25th and we headed to R.I. as we have for years. My birthday is on Christmas and my parents always had my party Christmas night, to keep it separate from the morning festivities. Over time, this evolved into a holiday tradition that moved to #5's house after my folks felt they weren't up to hosting the noise and confusion any more.Last year #5 and spouse moved to an apartment and #3 offered her large home for the get together.

Which was good in some ways- #3 has the largest family and she's closer to CT for those relatives, but not-so-good in others- It's a whole 25 minutes or so to get there (That's a JOURNEY for Rhode Islanders) and the road to her house is narrow, windy and hilly. A few years ago my father tipped his van over there. Yes, that's right, hit a rock growing out of the roadside and slowly tipped over.

Anyway, I upset the apple cart this year by deciding I couldn't do the party this year. We get up Christmas morning and open our presents, have our cinnamon rolls that we can only have this one day out of the year (OCD kids grow up to be OCD adults), then we drive 4 hours to my parents' house. Ms M and Mr C come down to meet us, we go to visit J's family gathering for a few hours, then we head back to my side's party. It's exhausting and I felt like I wasn't getting to spend much time with our kids. I made the executive decision that we were cutting the day short(er).

When my father sent an email saying he and my mother would not be going to #3's either, since his dialysis had been moved to early Sunday morning, it caused an uproar. There had been some family drama already and #3 felt we were canceling Christmas, as did a few others. I did some explaining, and after #4 juggled her work schedule, we decided on a Sunday afternoon party instead. All was well.

Then, the Blizzard came. Cue the ominous music.

Yes, the snow stole Christmas. J and I drove my dad to his dialysis since the flakes started swirling early, and we thought my mother shouldn't drive. We drove the back way home and came up through Narragansett to check out our old house and the beach.

Not our old house- the Towers and Narragansett Beach. We saw several people walking to their cars, carrying beach chairs. Odd. Maybe they were watching the sun rise, although it didn't show up as this eastern view shows.

It wasn't that bad at 7:30, but it slowly started building up, and the party was called off. In hindsight we should have driven home Sunday ahead of the snow, but we didn't and had to wait until Tuesday to ~~make our escape~~ leave. But I believe the gathering is planned for this weekend (we won't be there) so all's well that ends well.

Ameranth would say that the worst part of the trip was the actual drive down. Anna is always a very good traveler and we give Rosie a pill for her car sickness, so she sleeps most of the time. Boomer naps for maybe an hour then starts yelping a high-pitched bark that pierces the brain. Usually right behind the driver. We took out the middle seat and put a dog bed on the floor, thinking that perhaps sharing the seat and getting more attention might help him be quiet.

Can you see the demon light in his eyes? He did not want to to sit still.

I give Ameranth a lot of credit for not actually harming him, showing great restraint. That's one dog that does not take a hint.

Thank you to my parents for putting up with our dogs (and us). We had a great time, as always.

Winter begins

2010-12-21T17:15:00.000-05:00

Winter is not a very happy time for me- I miss the sun too much. But after today, the days start getting longer again, and that's a good thing.

We had good news, sort-of bad news and very bad news today. Ameranth was asked to stay on longer at work, so she was very happy about that. I was not asked to stay on longer and after 5 minutes of chagrin at never quite making the units-per-hour goal, I was relieved that the 3 o'clock mornings would end in two days. I won't miss those though I will miss the extra paycheck.

But when we got home we heard that J's eldest brother had died today, at age 68. We knew he had been admitted to the hospital yesterday with kidney failure, so it wasn't completely unexpected, but still it was a shock. He had diabetes for years and (in his relatives' opinions) had never taken care of it properly so we got annoyed each time we heard of the complications which came along. The kind of annoyed you get when someone you care about does stupid things.

Music that gets me through my day

2010-12-16T17:34:00.000-05:00

I listen to my music as I work and am amazed at how much clearer the lyrics are with earbuds and no distractions (other than picking the correct item, of course!) Some of them inspired this post which I worked on mentally as I walked, hoping that I would remember some of it when I got home.

I'll amuse myself by listing the songs at the end, so you can amuse yourselves by guessing the sources. Warning- old fogie songs ahead.

I need this encouragement in the morning:

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door.

And it hasn't snowed a lot yet, but boy, has it gotten cold! Because we get so warm working, I can't wear my normal winter outfit of long underwear, turtlenecks and hooded sweatshirts. The walk from the parking lot is made very quickly and I try not to let my jeans touch my skin until I am inside. Hard to do.

I look around, leaves are brown now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

We've had several days of torrential rain and wind this week- the good thing about that was that it thawed out the frozen heap of dirt that needed to go back in the hole over the septic tank.

I hear hurricanes ablowing.
I know the end is coming soon.
I fear rivers over flowing.
I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

Here's an easy one that I think of when I'm waiting to log in my work and go home:

Daylight come and me wan' go home
Stack banana till the mornin' come
Daylight come and me wan' go home Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana
Daylight come and me wan' go home

Now, I am not religious at all but I do enjoy the rhythm of this song- It makes me want to dance down the aisles, unfortunately, not quickly because the beat is more like the jazz bands for a New Orleans funeral.

Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
Then to finish up with songs that probably only J and the kids will know. First a song that Shoeshine has sung for his phone answering message and is a family favorite:

I'm a rambler I'm a gambler
I'm a long ways from home.
And if you don't like me well leave me alone.
I'll eat when I'm hungry and I'll drink when I'm dry,
And if moonshine don't kill me I'll live till I die.

Finally, one line that makes me think of J:
For the merry-hearted boys make the best of old men.

(And yes dear, I know you're not old)

Random Rosie picture:

Finished guessing? Here are the titles for anyone who's gotten this far.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town- Claymation movie- Mickey Rooney singing
Simon and Garfunkel
Bad Moon Rising- CCR
Banana Boat Song- Harry Belafonte
Anne Murray- (I can't quite figure out why some of the images were used in this video)
Moonshiner- Makem and Clancy Brothers
The Bard of Armagh, an Irish Ballad- sung by Tommy Makem

Oh, day off, you went so fast!

2010-12-11T18:37:00.000-05:00

It's been a tiring week. Dealing with septic problems, working 6 days, shopping madly today and ending up with having the power brush on the vacuum die. Sigh.

Our vacuum was pretty sad anyway and we knew it was not long for this world. Years ago, one of the plastic wheels broke off but it still slid around pretty well. The retractable cord took a few years off from retracting then surprised us one day by slithering wildly into place. Duct tape covers a crack in the hose and last year the other wheel went and the canister was on its belly, but still sucked dust. Now, it just plain sucks.

But enough of this- it's 6:35 and I have to go to bed!

Oh, this is what J and Ameranth did this afternoon while I was shopping (they went together in the morning)

If this is Tuesday, then I'm random

2010-12-07T17:27:00.003-05:00

I really hate my work week starting on Sunday- I keep forgetting which day I am on, but I'm pretty sure it's Tuesday, and that means randomness.

During stretch break at work last week, an announcement from another department came over the loudspeaker. "Mark from replenishment, could you check to see if you're bleeding? Mark, look to see if you have a cut on your hand."
The Black Knight immediately popped into my head as we all looked at each other, wondering exactly what goes on in replenishment?

Red grapes have been my snack of choice for the last year, and I used to share one occasionally with Rosie, until the vet told me grapes were bad for dogs.(lots of grapes, not a few) Rosie has felt quite put upon since. This morning a grape fell to the floor in front of her and we stared at it for a moment, then I told her to go ahead. As she delicately picked it up, Ameranth and I simultaneously sang to her: "Die, if you want to".
Too much Jesus Christ Superstar?

J just came in to ask what I wanted for Christmas. Of course I drew a blank and told him I would think about it and meanwhile he should make his wish list too.
J: I told you I wanted a caliper.
Me: You told everyone you wanted a caliper. You can't tell everyone the same thing.
J: When I was a kid I made a list and my parents took care of sharing it.
Me: This is the opposite of that. You can't tell 5 people the same thing. Do you want to end up with 5 calipers?
J: That would be fine with me!
It would serve him right if he did.

Who needs Roto Rooter?

2010-12-06T18:16:00.000-05:00

You know what's not fun to do after working all day? Digging a two foot deep hole to access your septic tank, opening that sucker up and staring at it to report when 'stuff' starts flowing again. In 28 degree weather with icy winds blowing. And I had the good job!

J is the man! And I mean that in a cool, hip, complimentary way, not the basic gender- stating that means he gets the dirty jobs. (Although it does mean that too) He was in the basement, bravely removing the cap from the sewer pipe and steeling himself for the backflow-which didn't happen, thank goodness. I had excused myself to the yard to watch for developments.

[The back story (see what I did there?) is that the alarm in our septic tank had been going off now and then for the last few weeks. (What? You don't have an septic alarm? You don't have a septic tank? I don't need to hear bragging about city sewers, thank you very much) Since our leach field is on the other side of the driveway and 50+ feet away from our tank, we need a pump to send the fluid out from the tank and the alarm let us know that the pump stopped working. We attributed that to the massive amounts of rain we had and just kept resetting the breaker. Then the alarm stopped going off, and the pipes started backing up. This was Friday afternoon and we figured it was time to call the professionals, who said they would call Monday]

So instead of calling, the pump people showed up bright and early, startling Ameranth who had planned a leisurely arising on her day off, not 2 men asking her questions about the whereabouts of the septic tank. They found a shorted wire and a broken elbow on the floats- word was the pump was fixed. Yay! Until we tried to wash dishes and flush the toilet. Pump people advised that we probably had a blockage and might be able to find it ourselves. Well, we did want showers and a flushable toilet so we dug the hole.

That green box in the middle of the garden is the electrical stuff for the pump. We use that and the two lily clumps to gauge where the other opening should be. I tried not to say too much about the bulbs and plants we dug up today. I sensed it would not go over well.

The plumbing snake was deemed too small (plus we couldn't find it) so he used a 50 foot garden hose to probe the darkness. He got a little perturbed when I pointed out that it looked like he used a good hose, not one of the leaky ones that were going to be thrown away anyway. I reported a lot of water coming through and we thought it was all good but tests soon showed that we still had a problem. That's when Super-J stepped up to the plate. Or down to the hole. He reached his hand into the pipe with a scrap piece of electrical wire and cleared it the rest of the way. I stood there holding the flashlight and thinking "That is some man I have! Thank God I'm married to a handy guy! He certainly deserves the first shower. And everything he's wearing need to be disinfected or discarded."

So much for my sort-of plan to take a nap so I could get up and watch the Patriots-Jets game tonight. Monday night games stink. Hmm, that reminds me, I need a shower too.

Patty-cake Cats

2010-12-04T12:52:00.000-05:00

I saw this on the F***book and had to share. (Voiceover added to cat video)

TGIS

2010-12-04T08:29:00.000-05:00

My goodness, it felt great to wake up on my own, not to an alarm, this morning. Actually, I did have an 'alarm' in the form of Boomer, whining at 2:15 to get out of his crate, but I sent him out to pee, then let him join Rosie in the living room and went back to sleep until 6:45. Lovely.

He stuffed himself full of old tomato sauce at the compost heap after our walk in the field yesterday, so may have had a bit of a tummy upset. Serves him right- we have to catch the others and leash them, but he has always come when called before. The rare chance of food to himself overwhelmed his drive to please.

Deer hunting season is over, so it's safe to take our dogs out in the pasture now. Rosie and Anna spend most of the time with heads buried in grassy tussocks, hunting shrews and mice. It's hard to get pictures since all we see is three curly tails waving madly. (While resizing the photos today I realized that I had overtaxed the zoom, hence the pixelation)

Boomer was perfectly willing to fetch the stick as long as we would throw it. He was throwing it in the air himself here. It started out with broken pieces on either end attached with flaps of bark and when he shook it violently, he was bonking them on either side of his head, which didn't seem to to bother him at all.

Going back to the resizing of pictures, here's few of us trying to time smiles and attitudes to the 10 second camera timer. I left out the one where Sectaurs was trying to get back in time for the 2 second timer.

I'll finish up with some J took about a week ago. It looked like fog at first, but I think it was smoke from a neighbor's wood stove, hanging in the air over the low part of the pasture where our little ponds are.

Random Ameranthness

2010-11-30T17:08:00.000-05:00

Ameranth just got up to yell at the dogs who are outside barking madly. Or so she says. If they're outside, I have no trouble ignoring their shenanigans, but she frets and complains and finally calls them inside. It's obvious she is not a parent.

She had the day off and I didn't. That is so unfair of the scheduling computer, who is making me work 6 days and Ameranth only 4 days this week. I am older and need the downtime. She is younger and needs the money. (I need the money too, but she is still younger).I must say she did do the dishes and make waffle batter between lolling around all day.

I neglected to mention a milestone passed last week. Ameranth won her first Scrabble game- at least she said she had never won before, and why would she lie about that? She had the game well in hand the whole time, and I noticed that she was very quiet as we got closer to the end- I think she was afraid of jinxing herself. She also pointed out that there could be no excuses- it was morning, no one was tired, etc.

I forgot the ibuprofen this morning- bad mistake. Live update- J dramatically exclaimed "You always have tablets here! Why can I not find one?" Since I had just written 'ibuprofen', I immediately thought he wanted pills of some sort, though I had no idea why. He came in and explained that he wanted a notebook to which Ameranth replied " Tablet, Dad? What, are you living in the 14th century? Do you want a quill to go with it?" You know, we really do have civil conversations sometimes. Sometimes.

This was supposed to be a Random Tuesday post, but it ended up being all about Ameranth. Which is apropos since she is very often pretty random herself.

Holy Moley Mackaroly!

2010-11-27T20:01:00.002-05:00

My apologies to anyone whose blogs I follow-I am still reading but haven't had the time or energy to type a nice comment for you. Happy Thanksgiving, wow, snow already? and those were some nice mustaches grown for Movember.

The good news is that my feet and legs are getting used to the walking (anywhere from 5.5 to 7.5 miles per day according to Ameranth's pedometer) but the bad news is that, starting Monday, I will be working 6 days a week. Yuck.

J was concerned last Monday when I went to bed at 3:30- he wanted to know how long I wanted to nap. When I said all night, he said I couldn't sleep 12 hours! Oh yes I could, and did. Mmmmm mmm, it was nice.

Oh and I do have news- Ameranth found her old music thingy and showed me how to use it. What a difference that makes! I did have to restrain myself from singing out loud (though I did whistle that part of "look at the bright side of life" from Spamalot) but it makes the time pass more quickly while not distracting me from checking stock, size and color details. Then, even more news! Ms. M gave me a new MP3 player -this deserves the correct terminology- for an early birthday present. I spent some time today transferring music from CDs to my little jewel of a toy. Plus I have new ear buds in a shiny metallic green. I am stylin'.

Ms. M, Mr C. and Sectaurs joined us for Thanksgiving and we had a lot of fun, eating, talking, playing Wii, Scrabble and Scattergories. We checked out Sectaurs brand new car, which is very nice, and hid the dog food and garbage can from Mabel again. After an intense reunion growlfest, the 4 dogs behaved nicely.

My sister, #5, had an excellent idea about having our family email members send a picture of their holiday gatherings since we are spread about the country. We are only missing one from my brother since his dinner was this weekend not on Thursday. It was nice seeing faces that go with names on our family emails, faces we haven't seen in years or, in some cases, never have met in person.

In fact I think I will post them all here again for all the family members (and friends) that read this from time to time.
First us in ME:

Shoeshine and Ladyslipper in CO last month:

My parents, #3 and her family in RI:

# 4 and family in RI:

# 5 and family in RI:

My aunt and friends in FL:

A cousin and family in CT:

A cousin and family in ME:

A cousin and family in MT:

An uncle and aunt with one of their granddaughters in CT:

A cousin with more of their grandchildren in VA:

An uncle and family in CT, toasting an old friend who died earlier this year:

A lot of people and pictures, right? Good thing J's family didn't do this- there's twice as many of them! But even though they don't do email as ~~well~~ much as we do, relying on phone calls instead, they are a close family too, and J and I count ourselves blessed with relatives that we like, as well as love.

*edit- just got this photo of #2, his wife, and niece and her husband in TX:

Maybe I need a music thingy, too

2010-11-18T17:19:00.000-05:00

It's surprisingly quiet working in the warehouse. Of course there are fans and belts and loudspeaker announcements and cardboard cartons hitting the floor, but the people are pretty quiet overall. I'm used to hearing the hum of voices talking to customers on the phone.

Mostly the people are quiet because they are listening to music players. Ameranth has one too, and she sometimes takes her laptop with us to upload new selections to her player on the drive in. I don't have one ( and wouldn't know how to work one if I did) so now that I have gotten used to the work, my mind is free to wander a bit, tap dancing away from reality and singing my own happy songs. (Not aloud)

Today I kept running in to the same lady as we turned in work and got new assignments, then we chatted a bit during stretch break. We picked stock in the same row once and as she was leaving, I stopped myself from saying "See you on the flip-flop" realizing in time that she was nowhere near my age and would probably not recognize the quote from "Convoy" . Then I amused myself awhile picturing us all in a line with a hopper convoy crashing through stacks of empty cardboard boxes.

The assignments have 12 items on a page and a full one has 10 pages. We fold them in 3 strips of 4 sticky labels and peel off the matching label for each item as we pull it out of a carton. I knelt on the floor and started pulling shirts out two at a time, labeled and threw them in my cart. Turning the page over, I realized that I had more and more of the same shirt, and as it dawned on me that I was going to empty that carton, I found myself saying " You're going in the cart, you're going in the cart and you are all going in the cart!!" in an Oprah voice in my head. Simple mind, simple amusements.

My job coach (this year's term for seasonal leadership) asked me how I was liking the 5AM start time. I paused long enough to make sure I replied politely and said it wouldn't have been my first choice. Later he asked me what time I went to bed and laughed when I said 6:30, 7:00. When I found out he lives 7 minutes away, I remarked that he didn't have to get up at 3 to get here on time. No, he said, I get up at 3 to run with my dogs. Yikes! I work with crazy people! Maybe it's a good thing they have earbuds and don't talk.

Worky McWorky

2010-11-16T16:12:00.001-05:00

I thought I would tell you a bit about my seasonal job but Google failed me in the quest for an image of the carts we use in the warehouse. There are dozens of them lining the main aisle when we come in at 5 AM, but they soon disappear in the stacks only to come back to be emptied down conveyor belts. (They don't do this on their own- if they did, there would be no use for such as I to be hired!)

Ameranth and I are up to a full 8 hour day now in our work-hardening process. Thank goodness they have the progression they do, I think most of us would have quit the first day if we started off at 8! My feet are not complaining as much and I hope my back shuts up pretty soon too.

Getting back to the carts, I am forced to draw one myself, which I did in a hurry and not in hopes of praise for my abilities, as you can see.

(I did take some artistic license in that I really don't move fast enough to leave little dust whirls behind me. And I don't smile that much.)

But the cart does have that nifty little ladder that you use to get to the 4th and 5th shelves. When you step on it, it goes down a few inches and little rubber feet hold everything still. When it's full you line it up with the conveyor belt and release a latch and shove the whole top part out over the chute. There is no bottom in the moving part so the items drop out- unless the belt isn't moving then you have to leave the cart there to empty on it's own and find another one to start all over again.

This is me with a full hopper, and overflow on the bottom shelf and pushing empty cartons in front of me down the aisle. (I really don't get that annoyed though, at least not since I mastered the art of turning a corner with the boxes)

I find the whole warehouse operation to be fascinating. Who thought this stuff up? The belts circling the building, bringing items to be packed; the other belts taking cardboard boxes to be recycled; and the location system. There is no fixed place for each item- the stacks are numbered and when a carton is placed on a shelf and scanned the computer knows where it is and creates assignments. We get a list of locations and the item that is supposed to be there. They are listed sequentially so you could find all of your 120 items within a single 35 foot row, with someone in front of or behind you. Or there could be no one in sight until you climb up to the 3rd little step and you see someone else popping their head up too, 2 aisles over. It's like being a prairie dog.

Twice a day we have stretch breaks where we all meet in the center and do group stretches. (Not like Twister, but all at the same time) All these people come out of the aisles, stretch, then melt away again in every direction. It gives me a little "Children of the Corn" feeling.

It's after 4 now and I only have two hours left to shower, eat and go to bed, so this educational post is now done.I must say though that I am enjoying this experience so far- I've never worked in a warehouse environment before and the time does pass quickly when you are busy, busy and moving all day.

Sometimes the Crazy spreads

2010-11-13T08:24:00.001-05:00

This was the email chain from my family yesterday, starting with a typo from my dad.

(Source): Tis the last day of L and K's 'practice' work week with LLB, while Steve wanders the Little Belt Mountains in Montana in search of freezer filling elf and/or deer and Sal sits in the sunshine admiring her Blue Angels - known here by a different name.

(Steve's wife): I hope he doesn't bring home an elf! :D

(Source):Godfrey Mighty! Mine eyes must be failing or mine finges misbehaving! But....wouldn't an elf be handy around the house?!!

(me): Like a house elf in Harry Potter?

(brother):Be careful though I think they have laws against mounting an elf in most states.

(uncle):Our elf season doesn't start in CT till after 12/25.

(sister): good thinking!!! cover all bases!!!

Still remembering

2010-11-12T13:05:00.000-05:00

I'm not writing much today, just pointing you towards two blog posts that I think worth sharing. Cid is one of several Canadian bloggers I follow and I really liked her post today about the Highway of Heroes. Check it out, I'm sure you'll like it too.

Then, because I am not Canadian, I just had to Google that and find out more details about this grassroot tradition that has grown over the years. I found this interesting column and another video. Watch it- it's good.

It reminded me of our troop greeters in Bangor Maine, and how the unofficial salutes to troops of any nation can often be more moving than official tributes.

Random thoughts, with occasional song bits tossed in

Phew! 2

Cutting it short

You talkin' to me?

Wordless Wednesday

Dumb Luck

Travel Tidbits

Travels with my Aunt

Phew!

Happy Halloween

Ending October

Wordless Wednesday

I'm gonna do it!

Bookshelves!

My Girl

J's in love

September ends

Weird Wordless Wednesday

Where does the time go?

Wordless Wednesday

Eye yi yi

Oh no you didn't!

Did you see that one, deah?

We have the power!

Sweating by the Oldie

Winter is coming

My preciousssss

What, me wrong?

Holy Heatwave, Batman

Say what?

A state of flux

Holiday weekend

What # day was it for rest?

Hay-O!

June 15th and it's sunny!

Oh, Yeaaaahhh

Dragonfly ho!

It's been an up and down week

That sweet, sweet smell of .....manure?

Friday, Friday

She's on her way!

Small Target Audience Alert- aka Geekery ahead!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Not a good idea

Color ME spring-y

A Trike and a Tick

What a dingdong!

You wanna stop the madness.Stop the madness nowStop the madnessStop the madness now.

Misty May

Dogs

Happy Birthday, Ma!

The Paradoxical Commandments

What's Your Stanza?

Quick, before I forget this

Week end

Goodbye to Rosie

Never Again

This and That

Long weekend

Ta da!

Okay then

Just.... stop

10th day of spring, tra la

Nature vs Nurture

Patience, Young Grasshopper

It's the laughter we will remember

I shot the Grawl...

Out of Sorts

Nothing is happening

Close the door

Poster child for PITA

Goin' out on the town!

Wednesday roundup of rambulations

Winter Fun

The drugs wore off

At least I know it's Tuesday

Cleaning up

News Flash- a Baby can be very tiring!

Waiting for Friday and some Ladyslipper time!

Ready to paint- finally!

You wanna stop the madness.
Stop the madness now
Stop the madness
Stop the madness now.