What do you do with a talking husband?

What do you do with a speaking spouse?
What do you do with a prattling partner?
Early in the morning!

We are driving down to MA this morning to install steps and a light for Ms. M and Mr. C. It's about a 3 hour drive so I need to get up earlier than usual. (J gets to sleep a couple hours later than his usual).

I can take conversations like me asking J "Did you take a longer shower than average because I totally ran out of hot water? Or,  "I really wish you had either let the dogs out or shut the bedroom door when you got up, so I could have slept 20 minutes more".

But when I am getting ready to eat breakfast and read the paper, I am not Chatty Cathy.  This conversational gambit annoys me: "So, what's the weather supposed to be today?" as he heads to the computer to check it out. He's already read the paper and the news for two days has been about how warm and nice the weather will be this weekend. It's a little foggy right now, as it often is in Maine and he should know that because he is always awake at this time and I am not!

Although I do, of course, politely answer him "You know what the weather is going to be. Nice! Warm!", he seems to sense I am out of talky and it is blissfully quiet.

Until he bustles through just now saying "It seems a little chilly out" as though it's my fault he needs to add a flannel shirt.

B*tch slap from Mother Nature

I guess the biting of my thumb yesterday may have been a mistake. The flurries continued all afternoon, but this morning the sun was out and it is relatively mild again. However, don't think Mother Nature is backing down-no, she is just making it so the arctic blast we get tonight is that much more painful. Is it too late to say I'm sorry?

But weather aside, today has been a good day. First and foremost, it's Ms. M's birthday!  Hooray for a daughter who is smart, polite, funny, lovely and chose a great guy to marry. (Not denigrating any of my other kids- it's not your birthday- be quiet).

She sent pictures today of the new fence they just had installed. She is so happy that they can just let their dog out now, and I think Mabel is happy too.

Next, I was able find exactly what I wanted for Ms.M's present, so that was very nice, after the disappointment of my first shopping trip. In the course of my search, I also found a great buy on a snowman kit. It's a nice wooden box, with all you need to build a snowman except the snow. Felt hat and scarf, and wooden carrot, buttons, and pipe. For 17 cents each. Yes, that's right!  J had seen similar kits and though they were great, but we would never have paid full price.  Now, I wish I had gotten more than 3 of them. I was lucky to get that many, since one shopper was filling a cart with them.

 I also dropped off a job application, and filled one out online, which I thought was pretty good, until I came to the second part. I had to take a test, one of those that test your common sense and honesty and social skills, with "strongly agree or disagree", "slightly agree or disagree" and the middle one I love "I'm not sure". 

So everyone knows how to answer those questions, right, and I was scooting right along until I got to the honesty ones. I think anyone who knows me would say I am pretty darn honest, but my problem is that I start thinking too much about the answers.  Do they want me to strongly agree that there is never a good reason to lie? Really, never? I did agree, but then comes "It's all right to tell an occasional white lie" Well, yes it is, if it's "your hair looks good", when it doesn't, so much. 

Telling the truth is just so much easier in the long run. You don't forget what you've told people, or who you've told what to, and the truth always comes around to bite you in the ass anyway. Don't lie, just shut up.

So, I probably messed up the test by thinking too much, although I do think I did okay on the 'best choice/worst choice' of actions to be taken in hypothetical situations. Unless "ask the manager" isn't the right pick all the time. Ha! 

Good thing I'm not going for a manager's job.

Nooooooooo

I read this at In Real Life a week ago, and told her to keep it to herself, and Canada. But no, I just looked up and saw white stuff flying through the air sideways. It's the dreaded flurries and they are here!

And the sun was weakly shining an hour ago.  Oh, I am a sad panda today.

However, I shall pull my cock-eyed optimism out from under the bedclothes and say boldly: "It is 36 degrees outside and snow cannot stick. This is a aberration and shall not prevail. It is spring, darn it!"

*whispers* "It is getting heavier and the hens all ran back to the coop. If I look to the west, the trees are hidden behind a wall of white."

Mother Nature, I shake my fist at you!  I will get all Shakespearean and bite my thumb at you!

(I'll let you know how that goes)

Droopy Dawg week

Well, another Friday has come and I have not done a whole heck of a lot. I did get good news today, in the form of an email from my book club informing me that they are sorry about the defective book I have and telling me they are sending a replacement today. So I got a few magazines and a romance from the library to fill the time until it comes. I can't read any other series until I get this one done.

And speaking of that, the library had a new fantasy book that looks good- "Last Argument of Kings" by Joe Abercrombie. BUT, this is book three of a trilogy and the first two books are checked out. The nice librarian lad offered to reserve them for me- he said the person who has them is a fast reader and they should be returned soon. So, do I wait on the new book, and hope it's available when I get and read the others? Or do I take it and hope that I get the others before this one is due back. Because you're not supposed to be able to renew 'new' books. If you guessed I took it and said screw the poor person who is reading the first two, you win! Maybe he already read this one-yeah, like people read them out of order-who could do that?

The weather has been pretty wet and gray all week, hindering my intent to walk the dogs every day. Although I am not complaining about the (heavy) rain- just a few miles to the north and west it was a foot or more of snow.  The sun actually came out today and it is 45. Then J came home and told me we're supposed to get up to 5 inches of snow this weekend! Bummer. He didn't have to tell me that.

EDIT- I just got a call from library lad and ran down to get the first 2 books. I don't even have to feel bad about keeping the 3rd, because the other person didn't want it. (I did ask)

Home again, home again jiggity jig

I made it. Through a week of cleaning, driving, hosting, visiting, shopping, driving, more visiting, and more driving. That's about 10 times my normal activity. If I were an animal, I would be a cat, not a dog, that's for sure.

It was very nice having my folks up here to visit and to go to our reunion. And, with great timing, an old school friend who lives in Las Vegas was in RI visiting her mother, so we were able to get together on Tuesday after I drove my parents home. Another friend, Eleanor, came as well, and we went through our high school yearbook comparing memories and updates. Karen's teenage boys were amazed at how long we "gabbed". Although we don't talk frequently, we always pick up where we left off with no problem. Now that Karen has been dragged into the 21st century, as she described getting a personal email address, we can keep in touch more often, I hope.

The dogs did not appreciate being in the yard all day while J was at work, nor the 2 hour delay in getting their dinner. Rosie told us this by chewing the arm off a living room chair, while J was out mowing the lawn. Bad dog.

Oh hey, we did get our bed problem fixed, sort of. We returned the skyscraper rails and got the basic metal frame that attaches to any headboard. Hah! not ours of course. The screw spaces in the frame do not lineup with the predrilled holes in the headboard. Easy enough to fix, sometime. For now, the headboard is braced against the wall, and the footboard is held in place by a desk we had there. We don't need the footboard, but we like it, both for looks and practicality. The afghan can be hung over the end and our towels hung on the posts.

In weather news, we have had sunshine. That's it- 6 sunny days in August- amazing, eh? My mother kept saying, "at least everything is lush and green". Yes, and that includes our gravel driveway which has almost completely disappeared from view, thanks to the rain forest climate we've had. I wonder how folks in the Northwest deal with the constant gray drizzlies? I couldn't take it for months, never mind year after year. I saw on the news that Seattle area stores had sold out of fans and air conditioners due to the steady sunshine and intense heat wave. Some residents seemed baffled that summer should be so hot. We're baffled that it could be so wet.

same old, same old

You know what? It's raining. And about 55 degrees outside right now.

So, on July 8, 2009, I turned my freakin' heat on! Yeah, that's right, you heard me. The heat is cranked up to 65. And I am wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up. Did I mention it is JULY?!

Okay, okay, I know that if I were up and cleaning my house, I would not need the heat on, so that is what I will do. Bah, humbug.


Remember this? I thought so.



That's what I have ^

This is what I want:

Tricksy weather

I don't believe this! The sun came out a couple of hours ago and it finally felt like summer. July 3rd. Well, I figured I should make up for my grouching and post a happy thought. I went to the kitchen to get a decongestant, and looked happily out at the flowers. Walked back to the computer and gazed out at the backyard, awash in sunshine....and rain! It is raining in my backyard, defying the sun! It has been a good five minutes and the west side is the only place it is raining- talk about scattered showers. My house is not that big, people. I feel like that guy in the comics with a black cloud over his head. Oh well, at least the sun is still shining.

In other good news, I found my bank account had an extraordinary amount of money in it this morning! For us, that is. My pension made it to me, so I spent a short period of time paying off bills today. That felt nice. Now we have some money in the bank, and no more credit card bills at all. The car and the truck are both paid for, and hopefully will last quite a few more years.

Plus the new water conditioner is paid for. Oh, didn't I mention that? We have a lot of iron in our well water and had to get a whole house conditioner so that we could drink it, not to mention be able to have white clothing that stayed white. We bought one in 1996, and it died two weeks ago. It went quietly, no fanfare, just an off taste creeping into the water. J and I took it apart and found the motor was kaput, so called the company, hoping they were still in business. They were and sent a repairman last week, the day I went down to MA. After Sectaurs and I looked at houses, he mentioned that Dad had called and bought a new conditioner for $2600. I thought he was joking, until he mentioned that Dad loved the remote.

I called home and sure enough, J had indeed committed to that much money(half again the price paid originally) and his first comment was "But, it comes with a remote". It did make a lot more sense to buy new technology, and I have to say, that remote is pretty cool. It tells us when we'll run out of salt, how much good water we have left, and how much water we have used each day. Plus the water tastes good again. But it was a relief to know we had money coming. And going.

The shower moved north without ever getting the driveway wet, and the weatherman says we should have mostly sun for the weekend. After a wet start, the week should get better, and we should be in summer mode in no time. Yay.

I'll change my rainy picture to a better one for July.

I'm melting, melting....

Or at least I'm feeling moldy. We may get some sunshine on Saturday. Woo hoo.

This is getting as bad as winter- I am sinking into a morass of despair and depression. Well, maybe not, but I am disgruntled, disgusted and disinclined to do anything.

So, I am pushing my chair back, getting off the computer and going upstairs to do some sewing.... now, I mean it......ok, I'm going.

Guess what? It's raining! duh

This is so getting old- we had 2 days of sun, sort of, and now it's pouring rain again, with the next 5, FIVE, days projected to be the same. When did Maine become the Amazon jungle? This isn't what I signed up for. I endure November to April in order to enjoy the other 6 months. Where is my heeeeat?

Whew, that felt good. Okay, what's been going on? Wednesday was a quick trip down to MA to look at houses with Sectaurs- nothing good found yet. I drove down to RI and spent the night with my folks, who are doing well. Grandma's coumadin levels are behaving now, and Grandpa's getting procrit shots for his anemia. I also visited with Re, who is starting chemotherapy soon. 20 weeks of that, then radiation. She is taking suggestions for wig looks. Red seems to be popular with the family, so far.

J and I worked on our timeout place for the dogs- all done except the gate, which admittedly is a key ingredient. This will be a place to shut them in when we have to open the gates to mow, etc. Boomer gets a little frantic if they are in the house and we are out in 'their' yard. It's about 12 feet by 8 feet, so plenty of room for the two of them for short-term stays.

Oh, yes, I have a free quart of paint coming courtesy of Glidden. June 25 - July 2 they are giving away a quart of paint at www.glidden.com. Ameranth let me know about it. I chose Softest Juniper which I think will be great for the bookcase in my computer room.

Finally, I had my ears pierced yesterday- took me 55 years to make up my mind. Well, I guess really only about 40, since I didn't even consider it before high school. My two girls had their ears pierced, as well as Shoeshine- his lasted only a little while. Ameranth doesn't wear them any more, and Ms.M has added several more holes to the original two. Anyways, this time when it popped into my head, the little voice that always firmly said "No", was a little ambivalent. I went to the mall, checked out the earring kiosk, and listened: no voice saying "what are you, crazy?"

So, after warning the nice young woman that I would be upset if they were not even, I signed the release and paid my money. She understood the OCD issues, and admitted to having similar tendencies herself, which I assured her was a good thing in this case.
Excellent job done- much less pain then expected, but oh, that sound! Ugh. J was very surprised to see them, but thinks they look "cute". I got little sparkly flowers, instead of the plain silver balls, or the tiny birthstone ones. December is not my favorite stone, and since I won't be able to change them before my niece's wedding, I went with the white fake diamond look. They don't bother me at all, in fact I forget I have them until my hand brushes them and I think it's a fly.

Cold and wet

The weather has sucked big time this week. Okay, we could use the rain, maybe, but it is cold! I don't like the cold- I put up with it in the winter, because you have to in Maine. But May is supposed to keep getting warmer, not revert to frosts and temps in the 40s! We've had to turn the heat back on and I'm still cold. Bah.

J has to work this Saturday again, why, I do not know- his boss has decided to torture him I guess. He usually works from 6- 2:30, now his hours are going to be 5- 2. He likes just a half hour lunch, but has to take an hour off. To be into work at 5, means he gets up at 3:30, so goes to bed at 7:30 or 8. Ridiculous, I say!

Anyway, he had Wednesday off- it rained all day, so we still do not have our garden rototilled, and our pumpkin babies are outgrowing the peat pots. The dogs get filthy, and I don't take them for a walk in the rain. Sorry, but I don't, not in cold rain. They have a big yard to run around in and get filthy.

The only heartening thing this week was the beef stew I made last night. I am going to have a bowl now, and perhaps warm the cockles of my soul.

At least I won't be whining here anymore.... right now.

Sore Sunday

My goodness, we got a lot accomplished yesterday. We were able to get rid of some ancient monitors and TVs at a hazardous waste/recycle day- Combined with a local one two weeks ago, we safely disposed of 7!

Then we swung by Home Depot to leave eggs for J's coworker and got a bargain on 2 slightly damaged picket fence sections. They will become a little kennel corner of the back yard, for times we want the dogs out of the way while working out there.

Next, J's chain saw was put into action removing a multiflora rose that was way out of control. The Rose That Ate The Hedge! The first year I noticed it, I thought, oh that's pretty, it can stay. The next year, I thought, hmm that thing spreads quickly, doesn't it. Last year, I saw a 12 foot cascade of tiny white flowers that conpletely hid the high bush cranberry that was supposed to make up the hedge.

So, yes we needed a chain saw. The base of one of the roses was a trunk that was 4 inches in diameter! An invasive plant, indeed. Our small pickup was overfilled-twice- with wicked sharp thorns and sprays that were more than 20 feet long in some cases. We had gloves, of course, but I wore a tshirt and look like a wild cat attacked my arms. Not to mention punching myself in the eye when the tiedown slipped out of place. But the front looks much better.

Lastly, we were getting ready to play some Wii tennis (we are both PRO status now, yay!) When we saw a woman running to our door. She told us that one of the pasture horses was grazing the side of the road. We have about 6 acres of pasture that a neighbor keeps 3 or 4 horses on each summer. In return, he cuts that, and an adjacent hay field for us. He keeps most of the hay, and we get a dozen bales for the hens, and banking the house.

Anyway, J gave him a call, while I went down to catch the horse. That was very easy, considering she walked up to me. I think she was hoping for a snack. Anyway, we walked back to the gate, which had a broken post, and I got her back in without the other 2 escaping. The owner showed up soon and they fixed their post, I presume. We went back to our tennis.

So, it rained last night and is still gray today. We are moving slowly today with muscles complaining, at least mine are. Which is why I am writing instead of getting dressed, which I will go do now. sigh.

Spring is sprung

It is spring in Maine- warm days, wet days, and the black flies are out! I wish I had a picture of J and me digging post holes with our netting headgear last Sunday. We still got a few good bites, and for those of you unfamiliar with black flies- those first bites of the season tend to swell, and smart! I hate them getting in my ears and nose the most.

Poor Rosie's big stand up ears get hit hard. She runs when she sees me coming with the bug wipes, but last year the vet had to shave her ears to clean them up. She and I always have clouds of them around us, but Boomer seems to be ignored. Maybe because his ears are smaller and fuzzier?

On a sad note, Saturday night we had a massacre in our backyard, all but two of our hens were killed. When I let the dogs out about 5 am, they were too interested in one portion of the fence. After getting my glasses, I saw a dead hen on the other side, and another body 10 feet away. I trudged out to remove them, and found feathers of all colors strewn about the grass. I suspect a weasel was involved, since the 5 bodies I found had wounds only on their necks, and weasels will just drink the blood. It might have been a joint operation with coyotes or foxes though, since we are missing 6 bodies, after finding two more later on.

Boomer did find a head across the street later on, and only by introducing him to the horses in the field was I able to get him to drop it. Now, in our defense, the hens had been out loose for more than a month, without a problem. I took the old fence down on Saturday, since we are redoing it, and maybe the visual barrier being gone was the final straw. So, two very nervous survivors are still giving us an egg a day each, and we are shutting them up each night.

The pile of carcasses was a problem- these were big hens, and we didn't want to dig a hole that big. When we occasionally lose one(thank you, Rosie) we will take it down to the woods and leave it as takeout for whatever animal wants it. But this was too many to do that, and I wasn't feeling generous. Really- kill one to feed your babies, but all of them?

Anyway, we put them in two garbage bags, then noticed two toes and a beak poking through the black plastic. Doubled that one up, and the toe still threatened to become visible, so we put them in trash cans, and emptied them quickly when we got to the dump- excuse me, transfer station. The workers there like to keep an eagle eye on what goes in the hopper, so we were lucky this was cleanup weekend and they were busy checking stickers and directing traffic. Not that it's against the rules to dump a hen, but still...

Windy, windy day

It got cold, and windy- the kind of wind that knocks you over and freezes your face.

So, of course today's ear worm is a Tommy Makem song:

"In this windy old weather, stormy old weather,"