This was the view from the foot of the lake last night. I couldn't shoot it so the power line was out of the picture. Really makes you appreciate underground lines, doesn't it.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Play Misty for me
It's been foggy and misty the past few days. I love it when we have that, and it doesn't happen very often. When I lived in Rhode Island we'd get that all the time, especially since I lived near the ocean. Now the novelty makes it special. Last night when I got home the fog muffled every single sound and it was completely quiet at my house. I loved it. It helped that it was really warm.
This is the bluffs at the back of Silver Lake Mountain. The mist is formed because the ground is colder than the air.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
Reality check
Back to normal now, after 5 days of a different reality. Left for Rhode Island Wednesday morning. Tuesday night I stopped at Ken's and my friends Rush and Annie (also called Rush'nAnnie) were there so I had a quick visit with them. I'd had a long talk with Rush on the phone the night before. He's thrilled with the election results, and not just his (he won handily, 65% to 35% in New Jersey's Congressional race). He's very optimistic and says the Republicans are now dealing with members of the minority party in a completely different way. Dorks.
Anyway, I left for RI at 9 and had a good trip, sunny but not too bright. Instead of trying to listen to a book all the way and being put to sleep by it I listened to music CD's, which make time go faster and are less soporofic. I started listening to a book I downloaded to CD from the New York Public Library's collection, after we had a demonstration by the vendor. It's pretty cool--you can download the books to your computer, then burn them to CD's. Takes lots of CD's for long books but it's free and opens up a whole new collection for me. Anyone in NY State can get a NYPL card so I'm all set.
Got to RI at 3, had a nice visit & dinner, up early Thursday morning. We worked hard all day, company arrived at 1 and dinner was at 2. There were 9 of us--Mark's sister and her entourage. That group of people is in the middle of a seriously crazy time so it wasn't the most relaxing visit, but they only stayed a few hours, then thankfully the kids had to go to their mother's family Thanksgiving so they left. We collapsed and talked about them a lot.
Friday Mark worked and Liza and I went to the pottery & art sale we always go to, done by the regional art association. Lots of really nice pottery this year--I found something for my Secret Santa gift here at work. I hate Secret Santa stuff a whole lot but can no longer object. I bought a very pretty little bowl, which is really queer but too bad. We stopped at Mark's work and I had a latte. We went to the drugstore and I got some chewable zinc because I was coming down with a cold. Predictably, later in the weekend Chances chewed much of the chewable zinc while we were out. She only ate a few pieces, then chewed the flavored outside part off of several pieces before discovering that the flavor was only on the outside layer. Blech, blech she said and spit them out on the rug.
Lots of turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. The people where Mark works told him he'd need 10 lbs of mashed potatoes for 9 people. They were wrong. Very wrong. We did our best but only ate about 2/3 of what he made. They'll freeze the rest. We ate slightly more than half of the 17-lb bird, which was a really good bird. And I made the mistake of saying we didn't have enough squash, so Mark got more and we ended up with waaaay too much of that. Mostly we had so much left over because the kids had to eat another dinner so ate very little at our house.
Our walk on the beach on Sat. was wonderful. It was sunny and warm and the water was a beautiful color. We walked and walked and the waves never caught me.
I left yesterday at 10:30, uneventful trip home. I listened to both discs of The Beatles White Album and some of the book I'm listening to. When I got home the house was 54 degrees, about what I expected. I got a good fire going, discovering that part of the woodpile is drier than I'd thought (saints be praised!) so I actually got a HOT fire going. I heard a thump at one point and discovered the dogs had tipped over my new burn barrel to lick the grease off the bottom of it. I'm afraid this will go on for a long time--the barrel was used to store cooking oil by the man Ken got it from. He runs his car on oil rather than gasoline. When Ken and I first lit paper in the barrel it became a 10' high torch, burning on the inside and outside, very dramatic. Now it still sizzles when I burn papers in it, but the outside doesn't burn. Guess there's still fat on the bottom, though.
And today I've already finished the juvenile books for Peru that we'll return to them on Weds. when we go back to barcode again. I'm ready to start with the huge collection of Adirondackiana from our collection that I'm giving to Plattsburgh Public. They claim not to have most of it so I need to check our database and create records for anything that's not in there. I suspect there will be a fair amount of cataloging, since most of the stuff is not barcoded. Ah, entertainment. My ancestors are in some of these books.
It's warm here during the day, but the small ponds have a thin layer of ice on them and the ground has just started to freeze. There's ice on the rock cliffs in the mountains. We're getting ready for winter, it just hasn't come yet. OK by me!
Back to normal now, after 5 days of a different reality. Left for Rhode Island Wednesday morning. Tuesday night I stopped at Ken's and my friends Rush and Annie (also called Rush'nAnnie) were there so I had a quick visit with them. I'd had a long talk with Rush on the phone the night before. He's thrilled with the election results, and not just his (he won handily, 65% to 35% in New Jersey's Congressional race). He's very optimistic and says the Republicans are now dealing with members of the minority party in a completely different way. Dorks.
Anyway, I left for RI at 9 and had a good trip, sunny but not too bright. Instead of trying to listen to a book all the way and being put to sleep by it I listened to music CD's, which make time go faster and are less soporofic. I started listening to a book I downloaded to CD from the New York Public Library's collection, after we had a demonstration by the vendor. It's pretty cool--you can download the books to your computer, then burn them to CD's. Takes lots of CD's for long books but it's free and opens up a whole new collection for me. Anyone in NY State can get a NYPL card so I'm all set.
Got to RI at 3, had a nice visit & dinner, up early Thursday morning. We worked hard all day, company arrived at 1 and dinner was at 2. There were 9 of us--Mark's sister and her entourage. That group of people is in the middle of a seriously crazy time so it wasn't the most relaxing visit, but they only stayed a few hours, then thankfully the kids had to go to their mother's family Thanksgiving so they left. We collapsed and talked about them a lot.
Friday Mark worked and Liza and I went to the pottery & art sale we always go to, done by the regional art association. Lots of really nice pottery this year--I found something for my Secret Santa gift here at work. I hate Secret Santa stuff a whole lot but can no longer object. I bought a very pretty little bowl, which is really queer but too bad. We stopped at Mark's work and I had a latte. We went to the drugstore and I got some chewable zinc because I was coming down with a cold. Predictably, later in the weekend Chances chewed much of the chewable zinc while we were out. She only ate a few pieces, then chewed the flavored outside part off of several pieces before discovering that the flavor was only on the outside layer. Blech, blech she said and spit them out on the rug.
Lots of turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. The people where Mark works told him he'd need 10 lbs of mashed potatoes for 9 people. They were wrong. Very wrong. We did our best but only ate about 2/3 of what he made. They'll freeze the rest. We ate slightly more than half of the 17-lb bird, which was a really good bird. And I made the mistake of saying we didn't have enough squash, so Mark got more and we ended up with waaaay too much of that. Mostly we had so much left over because the kids had to eat another dinner so ate very little at our house.
Our walk on the beach on Sat. was wonderful. It was sunny and warm and the water was a beautiful color. We walked and walked and the waves never caught me.
I left yesterday at 10:30, uneventful trip home. I listened to both discs of The Beatles White Album and some of the book I'm listening to. When I got home the house was 54 degrees, about what I expected. I got a good fire going, discovering that part of the woodpile is drier than I'd thought (saints be praised!) so I actually got a HOT fire going. I heard a thump at one point and discovered the dogs had tipped over my new burn barrel to lick the grease off the bottom of it. I'm afraid this will go on for a long time--the barrel was used to store cooking oil by the man Ken got it from. He runs his car on oil rather than gasoline. When Ken and I first lit paper in the barrel it became a 10' high torch, burning on the inside and outside, very dramatic. Now it still sizzles when I burn papers in it, but the outside doesn't burn. Guess there's still fat on the bottom, though.
And today I've already finished the juvenile books for Peru that we'll return to them on Weds. when we go back to barcode again. I'm ready to start with the huge collection of Adirondackiana from our collection that I'm giving to Plattsburgh Public. They claim not to have most of it so I need to check our database and create records for anything that's not in there. I suspect there will be a fair amount of cataloging, since most of the stuff is not barcoded. Ah, entertainment. My ancestors are in some of these books.
It's warm here during the day, but the small ponds have a thin layer of ice on them and the ground has just started to freeze. There's ice on the rock cliffs in the mountains. We're getting ready for winter, it just hasn't come yet. OK by me!
Thanksgiving bar
This is what the pre-dinner bar looked like. Mark doesn't do things half-way when it comes to entertaining.
Thanksgiving table
This is what the table looked like before dinner. There were 9 of us, including 4 teenagers. The teenagers were wonderful, very charming and easy to be with. They were in an awkward situation--their parents (Mark's sister and her boyfriend) had left their spouses to be together and the whole situation is really chaotic right now. I'd hoped for a quiet 3-person Thanksgiving meal but my mother warned me this might not happen. Mark's centerpiece was beautiful, as usual.
Liza's yard
This is what Liza's backyard looks like right now. It's still pretty green but the woods are pretty monochromatic. No leaves on the oak trees but the laurel bushes are green all winter.
Walking pair
We went for a wonderful walk on the beach on Saturday. Here are Liza and Mark galloping on ahead. Liza has a very purposeful stride here.
November beach
This is the beach we walked on--Liza's town beach. We walked to the very end, the point, as far as you can see in the picture. It was a really long walk but very nice. It was hot and sunny. There weren't many people there. There were some people there with 3 dogs. Liza renamed their dogs: the small beagle became Winky Dink, the medium sized long-haired dog was Foxy and the big dog was Bear. Winky Dink made cute little pawprints in the sand and Bear made huge wolf-like prints.
Facing east
This was a group of gulls that was just standing by the water, looking out at the ocean. They seemed to know exactly how close to the edge they could stand without getting their feet wet in the waves. When people would walk into them they would part like the Red Sea. Mark told me I was walking too close to the waves and the undertow would pull me under and I would be dragged out into the ocean to the other side and I'd end up some matador's bitch. Needless to say that didn't happen. Ole.
Nice house
This is the house at the tip of the point. There are three houses, two of which have guest houses (or carriage houses, maybe) all close together and surrounded by a huge lot with no buildings on it. They're right on the beach and are really nice, old houses.
Liza in the sun
It was really sunny and warm. Liza took a rest while Mark investigated the really nice houses in the compound. We made up a story about the great-grandparents and the houses they built for their children as they got married and had children.
Lobster dinner
And it wouldn't be a visit to Rhode Island without a lobster dinner. This time I cooked the ceremonial dinner--Mark and I decided Liza had done enough work (and more) so we got dinner ready. I cooked and he made the salad. Liza wouldn't let us leave her out of it totally, of course, so she set the table. The lobsters were delicious, nice and sweet as they usually are in colder winter waters.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Cabin & Outhouse
This is the cabin that Ann and Kathy, the two women from Baltimore who visit Ken (and the neighborhood) stay when they come in the summer. The cabin is called The Warbler and was originally built as a place for a woman named Eva to play her music in. It's way up on a hill in back of Ken's house. There's an outhouse right next to it, which you can barely see in the picture. The cabin has electricity but no running water. The women love staying there and have a refrigerator and hot plate. It doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun to me but then I suppose if I lived in suburban Baltimore and it were my only access to the Adirondacks I might feel differently. It is a beautiful spot. That's Chances, who loves going there because it offers a great spot for an uninterrupted run.
Mountain View
This is the view of Silver Lake mountain from the cabin. This mountain looks different from every angle, yet everyone who sees it has such a feeling of ownership and recognizes it from any angle. It's such a landmark in the community.
Steely lake
This is the view of the foot of the lake from in front of the cabin. Very pretty. Ken spends a huge amount of time mowing the field. He cuts the wildflowers, which Ann really minds. This is a very peaceful spot.
Catamount snow
And then I came home. This is my road with Catamount in the background. There's snow on the mountain and it looks colder than it actually is. Each morning the ground is covered with a dusting, but it melts pretty much right away. This morning the ground was crusty, the first sign that it's starting to freeze. I suppose that's to be expected by the end of November. That's the bog parking lot on the right.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
November scene
I worked at the Peru library yesterday and took the back roads home. Here's a typical scene. That's a mountain in the background, covered in fog. As I've said, I love November. It's sort of monochromatic except for the conifers, but I think it's beautiful.
What's up
This is a beautiful work horse I passed along the way. She was absolutely wonderful and really wanted to know what I had for her. I don't know what breed she was--I used to know all the breeds of horses, as did my sister. We'd pour over books and pictures and memorize them all. Now it's dog breeds I've memorized. Anyway, this was a beautiful horse.
I'm coming
So then her partner joined her. He wasn't thrilled, didn't rush right over, but his curiosity got the best of him. I particularly like the abandoned pickup in the background. Such typical North Country lawn art.
Then there were two
And finally they both were together, wondering what I might have for them. I was embarrassed to have nothing to offer, and when I walked away their disappointment was obvious (at least to me). A simple carrot would have done the trick.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Vicious fighters
Mean vicious fighting dogs, is what I have. This is what they look like just before they glom onto each other and make mean-sounding growling noises. Then they tear around the living room at incredible speeds. They are 2 of the sweetest creatures on the planet.
Ear sucker
This is one of Tess' favorite pastimes. I hate it and as soon as I hear the sucking sound I yell at her to stop. She stops for a second then switches to the other ear. Sometimes I wonder if it's really any of my business what they do to each other--Chances doesn't seem to mind having her ears sucked on. It makes them really yucky to pet, though and I bet she'd mind that if she figured it out.
Monday, November 13, 2006
November bog
I went for a bog walk on Friday. I had hoped to go alone with my dogs but some friends came in behind me ("Is that Elizabeth?") so I walked in with them, but then turned around and sped out in front of them. There's still plenty of green in there--the conifers and sphagnum moss are nice and green.
Chances the Cow
Although she's a very pretty dog, Chances sometimes stands sort of like a cow. She's hiding her head behind a balsam here.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Endless week
For some reason this week has dragged on and on. It's a 4-day week, so we can celebrate Veterans' Day tomorrow. Why do we have a holiday for veterans? Didn't it used to be called Armistice Day--or was that another day? Who can remember. Anyway, this week has been endless, and each day took forever to get through. I spent my evenings dozing on the couch, full of ennui I suppose.
Last night I took the dogs for a walk in the darkness of night when I got home from Ken's at 8. I used my super-bright little flashlight, which shoots a beam about 40 feet ahead. It was really grand and I hope I continue to do this. My body desperately needs to spend more time in a vertical position than it currently does. The dogs were thrilled by the walk and were incredibly wonderful to share the experience with. Tess did her usual thing of running ahead, then coming back to check on me and let me know what lay ahead. Chances, who doesn't see well at night, seemed to enjoy it all, romping ahead of the light. Temp was great, no snow, just a perfect November evening. As I say, I hope I make this a habit. Perhaps tomorrow and Sat. I can make myself take the dogs for walks--although I say that every weekend.
Had dinner with Ken last night. When I got there he was sleeping so soundly in his chair that I couldn't wake him--I tried, speaking loudly, slamming things on the table. Finally I decided to let him sleep, so I read the paper on the couch and waited. He slept for about 15 minutes more, then woke. It took him a really long time to come to, and I did my usual "It's a good thing to take naps, and you wouldn't go to sleep unless your body wanted you to." He was still embarrassed. We had a nice dinner of ham steak, frozen fries (a staple) and peas. I introduced the concept of green vegetables and it seemed to go over well. Tues. night when I stopped for my traditional post-voting visit he was cooking a venison burger. He had me taste it to see if it was cooked enough (blech--suppose it hadn't been?). Since the deer came from around here it tasted very gamey. No, thank you I don't want any for dinner. I sat with him while he ate and drank my whiskey.
I need to stop drinking so much whiskey--that's one of the reasons I spend so much time supine on my couch. I have one huge drink every time I'm at Ken's. It tastes so good! And mellows me out, of course. But I must stop. It decreases the effectiveness of my meds, for one thing. Once, for training for her volunteer work at a crisis center my mother had to go to an AA meeting. They called on her and she said "My name is Liza and I don't think I'm an alcoholic." I laughed when she told me that because of course that's what all alcoholics say at least once in their lives. She's not an alcoholic, though. Her children run a greater risk--there are generations of alcohol abuse as a heritage for us. Anyway, I'm not an alcoholic, but alcohol seems to be very appealing to me right now. Not good.
And today I'll do authority work, which I enjoy (like Cat's cleaning her dirty catalog). Peaceful and productive, even if I get very frustrated by the messes the member libraries make.
Tonight I'll go shopping on my way home (now food--that's something I have a problem with. Cannot control my desire to eat, eat, eat). I'm soooo looking forward to that moment when I drive up the hill and first spot my house. That means the end of the day, and in this case it means 3 full days of enjoying my home, my dogs, nature, etc. I have a DVD of the first episodes of Weeds, so I can watch that and knit to my heart's content. Must start cleaning house, however, and read book in prep. of next week's book group meeting. It's at my house and there are many, many tasks to be completed before I can allow anyone inside. I need to plant the bulbs I so ambitiously ordered, tucking them in odd spaces and smashing them into the dirt to hurry up and get the chore done. I'll be really happy to have done that when they all bloom in the spring. Lots and lots of crocuses and plenty of narcissus. I'm running out of places to put them, however. Last year I dug up some well-established bulbs my mistake when I was desperately looking for a place to plant new ones.
There are several pre-winter projects I have optimistically put on my BIG list, my SERIOUS list of things to do. Plastic on windows, plastic skirting around the house (it's built on posts, so there's a big space underneath it which the winds whips through. The dogs whip through it too, it's one of their favorite places. I hate going under there, it's wet, dank and once I put my hand on a rotting dead mouse while crawling on my hands and knees. That's all I needed to convince me that I should avoid going there at all costs). I should get some rolls of insulation and stuff them under there, what we did 13 years ago is hanging in a very unkind way, leaving the living room floor un-insulated and cold. I so often feel that I don't treat my house with the respect it deserves.
Now to work.
For some reason this week has dragged on and on. It's a 4-day week, so we can celebrate Veterans' Day tomorrow. Why do we have a holiday for veterans? Didn't it used to be called Armistice Day--or was that another day? Who can remember. Anyway, this week has been endless, and each day took forever to get through. I spent my evenings dozing on the couch, full of ennui I suppose.
Last night I took the dogs for a walk in the darkness of night when I got home from Ken's at 8. I used my super-bright little flashlight, which shoots a beam about 40 feet ahead. It was really grand and I hope I continue to do this. My body desperately needs to spend more time in a vertical position than it currently does. The dogs were thrilled by the walk and were incredibly wonderful to share the experience with. Tess did her usual thing of running ahead, then coming back to check on me and let me know what lay ahead. Chances, who doesn't see well at night, seemed to enjoy it all, romping ahead of the light. Temp was great, no snow, just a perfect November evening. As I say, I hope I make this a habit. Perhaps tomorrow and Sat. I can make myself take the dogs for walks--although I say that every weekend.
Had dinner with Ken last night. When I got there he was sleeping so soundly in his chair that I couldn't wake him--I tried, speaking loudly, slamming things on the table. Finally I decided to let him sleep, so I read the paper on the couch and waited. He slept for about 15 minutes more, then woke. It took him a really long time to come to, and I did my usual "It's a good thing to take naps, and you wouldn't go to sleep unless your body wanted you to." He was still embarrassed. We had a nice dinner of ham steak, frozen fries (a staple) and peas. I introduced the concept of green vegetables and it seemed to go over well. Tues. night when I stopped for my traditional post-voting visit he was cooking a venison burger. He had me taste it to see if it was cooked enough (blech--suppose it hadn't been?). Since the deer came from around here it tasted very gamey. No, thank you I don't want any for dinner. I sat with him while he ate and drank my whiskey.
I need to stop drinking so much whiskey--that's one of the reasons I spend so much time supine on my couch. I have one huge drink every time I'm at Ken's. It tastes so good! And mellows me out, of course. But I must stop. It decreases the effectiveness of my meds, for one thing. Once, for training for her volunteer work at a crisis center my mother had to go to an AA meeting. They called on her and she said "My name is Liza and I don't think I'm an alcoholic." I laughed when she told me that because of course that's what all alcoholics say at least once in their lives. She's not an alcoholic, though. Her children run a greater risk--there are generations of alcohol abuse as a heritage for us. Anyway, I'm not an alcoholic, but alcohol seems to be very appealing to me right now. Not good.
And today I'll do authority work, which I enjoy (like Cat's cleaning her dirty catalog). Peaceful and productive, even if I get very frustrated by the messes the member libraries make.
Tonight I'll go shopping on my way home (now food--that's something I have a problem with. Cannot control my desire to eat, eat, eat). I'm soooo looking forward to that moment when I drive up the hill and first spot my house. That means the end of the day, and in this case it means 3 full days of enjoying my home, my dogs, nature, etc. I have a DVD of the first episodes of Weeds, so I can watch that and knit to my heart's content. Must start cleaning house, however, and read book in prep. of next week's book group meeting. It's at my house and there are many, many tasks to be completed before I can allow anyone inside. I need to plant the bulbs I so ambitiously ordered, tucking them in odd spaces and smashing them into the dirt to hurry up and get the chore done. I'll be really happy to have done that when they all bloom in the spring. Lots and lots of crocuses and plenty of narcissus. I'm running out of places to put them, however. Last year I dug up some well-established bulbs my mistake when I was desperately looking for a place to plant new ones.
There are several pre-winter projects I have optimistically put on my BIG list, my SERIOUS list of things to do. Plastic on windows, plastic skirting around the house (it's built on posts, so there's a big space underneath it which the winds whips through. The dogs whip through it too, it's one of their favorite places. I hate going under there, it's wet, dank and once I put my hand on a rotting dead mouse while crawling on my hands and knees. That's all I needed to convince me that I should avoid going there at all costs). I should get some rolls of insulation and stuff them under there, what we did 13 years ago is hanging in a very unkind way, leaving the living room floor un-insulated and cold. I so often feel that I don't treat my house with the respect it deserves.
Now to work.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
my view
I'm checking out my camera, post-fix. It's ok but there were some strange pictures in its memory--ones I'd deleted long ago, and the ones I'd saved were gone. What the heck? Anyway, this is the view from my desk/cubicle. Not very interesting, is it.
view of me
And this is the view from the back of the building, looking toward me. Yes, those are books. In stacks. Big whoop.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Camera retrieval and four-day week
Makes me feel pretty perky today. I had a really nice weekend, the kind of November weekend I really enjoy. I like the weather in November, it tends to be a month without extremes. It was in the 40's, perfect weather for working outdoors. Which I actually did. I closed the boat house (I make it sound as if it's a really complicated task, but in reality it takes less than half an hour, if you do it the way I did this year). My relatives had shut the power off so the ice cream in the freezer was a moldy mess, but other than that there wasn't much to suffer over in the fridge. I didn't leave the b.h. very clean, but I did take the garbage home. Usually Jenica and I stuff the bedding into plastic bins, but this year I didn't feel like doing that. I hope to wash the comforters, now that I have a neat-o laundromat with King Kong-sized washers. Note to self: do that in spring.
I moved some of the wet wood into the shed, something I've been whining about for a long time. I didn't quite finish and only did a few wheelbarrows full until my back burned, but I got more than half of it done. Yesterday Ken told me it wouldn't hurt if I put even more wood in the shed. Sure, it wouldn't hurt you, but that's not really the sort of thing I'm organized enough to do. I pay attention when he suggests ways I can improve my life, though, so may attempt that. I noted that the wet wood I bought in September (and paid Bill's Boys to stack, oh Lazy Me) is slowly drying. I'll need it by the end of the winter (or maybe the middle of winter) and it won't be ready by then. Shame on me, not looking into my future needs on time. Or not having enough money to buy wood earlier.
I fixed my birdfeeder and screwed it directly into the tree this year. I put sunflower seed on the birdfeeder/platform and filled the fixed feeder. Tess noticed this right away and stood about 3 feed from the feeder, nose in the air. When I called her to come in last night she stood there, looking back and forth from me to the feeder (heaven or hell, heaven or hell). I begged, pleaded, promised Milk Bones, and finally she came in. Rat pig.
I helped Ken and Bill cut up a balsam that had broken off & fallen on the roof of Bill's camp, then helped Bill put up the extension ladder Ken chains to the front of this roof in case he needs to shovel the roof in the winter. I love extension ladders, think they are one of the coolest things ever invented. If I had a way to transport it I would buy one in a heartbeat. Or so I think. The top of the 30-foot balsam would have made a great Christmas tree and Ken must have commented on that at least 10 times. Too bad it's only early November--
I made the call I've been dreading, to someone I hope will be my plowman this winter. I hate asking people for help--really hate it, but paying someone to plow your driveway is really a necessity. He was asleep (he works night at the prison) and will call me back. I hope, hope, hope he agrees to do it. His wife was incredibly chatty, considering I've met her twice--once at the polls when she was working on Election Day. She wanted to talk for a long time--about her dog, a Shnoodle (cross between Shit-Zhu and poodle). She adores her little dog. Anyway, I steeled myself to make that call and am very proud to have done it.
I watched two films--first I watched Failure to Launch, a fluff film but starring Sarah Jessica Parker (whom I got to really like during my Sex in the City phase) and Matthew McCaunahey. Man is he sexy. Anyway, it was not a very good film but had good Eye Candy. Then I watched most of Capote, which was good but not something I particularly enjoyed. I read In cold blood when I was young and it was a very intense read for an adolescent. I was remotely interested in the story, but mostly not. The scenery is great, however, when they're in Kansas. SOOOO Midwestern.
I spent hours and hours knitting. I decided to make myself a blanket, though I sure don't need it, but I wanted to be doing something constructive while watching TV. It's slow going, but I can see some progress. This is a long-term project and certainly simple, so I'm enjoying it without worrying about getting it done. Knit, purl, knit purl endlessly. It's very pretty so far, a nice dark heather green. Won't show brown dog hairs much.
I kept my fire going all weekend, which felt great in the living room but is already a tiresome activity. Oh crap, how will I feel about it by January?
And last night, believe it or not I watched the end of a NASCAR race. I had a good friend and roommate after college who raced Formula 4 cars so I've always been semi-interested in racing. Once we went to the race track in Conn. to watch Paul Newman drive. They snuck me in by piling tires on top of me in the back seat. Ah, youth. Anyway, the race yesterday was fun to watch. Not my heroes from the past--Jackie Stewart and Peter Revson, but a whole different racing culture. My guy won. I don't think I could watch a whole race (400 laps) but I can watch it for 45 minutes or so.
And this week is a 4-day week! Hurray for Veterans! I have high hopes for myself on Friday, a long list of projects to at least get started on. At work I have two 9-5 days, which will be nice in the mornings. Nothing else going on so I'll clean and catalog. I went through a bunch of stuff from our Adirondack Collection on Friday and found some great histories of the Rogers family and the Rogers Company, which were really influential in the area during the last half of the 19th century and 1st half of the 20th century. It's way cool stuff, which I'll photocopy and distribute to my family.
My OCD is no better. It's even invading my dreams now--I had a very disturbing dream Friday night about my ex-husband. I've been dreaming about him a lot lately, which is unnerving. Other than that I'm still suffering from the same symptoms, and this morning I actually heard a voice in my head. Fortunately it wasn't telling me to do anything evil (or do anything at all, thankfully). Needless to say this is a miserable way to live. I'll work it out, though.
Today I pick up my mended camera at Best Buy (repair covered by warranty). It'll be nice to have it back, even if everything is gray and brown right now. I saw two deer in my apple trees Friday night, and they weren't particularly disturbed that I drove to them. Bill gave me a cool camera that you set up at night. It takes pictures of any movement going past it. Although at this point all it'll see will be deer, I want to set it up anyway. The dogs keep running off into the woods, barking very seriously at night. I can hear something rustling through the woods but it doesn't sound like the crashing of a deer. Who knows what it is.
And now to work.
Makes me feel pretty perky today. I had a really nice weekend, the kind of November weekend I really enjoy. I like the weather in November, it tends to be a month without extremes. It was in the 40's, perfect weather for working outdoors. Which I actually did. I closed the boat house (I make it sound as if it's a really complicated task, but in reality it takes less than half an hour, if you do it the way I did this year). My relatives had shut the power off so the ice cream in the freezer was a moldy mess, but other than that there wasn't much to suffer over in the fridge. I didn't leave the b.h. very clean, but I did take the garbage home. Usually Jenica and I stuff the bedding into plastic bins, but this year I didn't feel like doing that. I hope to wash the comforters, now that I have a neat-o laundromat with King Kong-sized washers. Note to self: do that in spring.
I moved some of the wet wood into the shed, something I've been whining about for a long time. I didn't quite finish and only did a few wheelbarrows full until my back burned, but I got more than half of it done. Yesterday Ken told me it wouldn't hurt if I put even more wood in the shed. Sure, it wouldn't hurt you, but that's not really the sort of thing I'm organized enough to do. I pay attention when he suggests ways I can improve my life, though, so may attempt that. I noted that the wet wood I bought in September (and paid Bill's Boys to stack, oh Lazy Me) is slowly drying. I'll need it by the end of the winter (or maybe the middle of winter) and it won't be ready by then. Shame on me, not looking into my future needs on time. Or not having enough money to buy wood earlier.
I fixed my birdfeeder and screwed it directly into the tree this year. I put sunflower seed on the birdfeeder/platform and filled the fixed feeder. Tess noticed this right away and stood about 3 feed from the feeder, nose in the air. When I called her to come in last night she stood there, looking back and forth from me to the feeder (heaven or hell, heaven or hell). I begged, pleaded, promised Milk Bones, and finally she came in. Rat pig.
I helped Ken and Bill cut up a balsam that had broken off & fallen on the roof of Bill's camp, then helped Bill put up the extension ladder Ken chains to the front of this roof in case he needs to shovel the roof in the winter. I love extension ladders, think they are one of the coolest things ever invented. If I had a way to transport it I would buy one in a heartbeat. Or so I think. The top of the 30-foot balsam would have made a great Christmas tree and Ken must have commented on that at least 10 times. Too bad it's only early November--
I made the call I've been dreading, to someone I hope will be my plowman this winter. I hate asking people for help--really hate it, but paying someone to plow your driveway is really a necessity. He was asleep (he works night at the prison) and will call me back. I hope, hope, hope he agrees to do it. His wife was incredibly chatty, considering I've met her twice--once at the polls when she was working on Election Day. She wanted to talk for a long time--about her dog, a Shnoodle (cross between Shit-Zhu and poodle). She adores her little dog. Anyway, I steeled myself to make that call and am very proud to have done it.
I watched two films--first I watched Failure to Launch, a fluff film but starring Sarah Jessica Parker (whom I got to really like during my Sex in the City phase) and Matthew McCaunahey. Man is he sexy. Anyway, it was not a very good film but had good Eye Candy. Then I watched most of Capote, which was good but not something I particularly enjoyed. I read In cold blood when I was young and it was a very intense read for an adolescent. I was remotely interested in the story, but mostly not. The scenery is great, however, when they're in Kansas. SOOOO Midwestern.
I spent hours and hours knitting. I decided to make myself a blanket, though I sure don't need it, but I wanted to be doing something constructive while watching TV. It's slow going, but I can see some progress. This is a long-term project and certainly simple, so I'm enjoying it without worrying about getting it done. Knit, purl, knit purl endlessly. It's very pretty so far, a nice dark heather green. Won't show brown dog hairs much.
I kept my fire going all weekend, which felt great in the living room but is already a tiresome activity. Oh crap, how will I feel about it by January?
And last night, believe it or not I watched the end of a NASCAR race. I had a good friend and roommate after college who raced Formula 4 cars so I've always been semi-interested in racing. Once we went to the race track in Conn. to watch Paul Newman drive. They snuck me in by piling tires on top of me in the back seat. Ah, youth. Anyway, the race yesterday was fun to watch. Not my heroes from the past--Jackie Stewart and Peter Revson, but a whole different racing culture. My guy won. I don't think I could watch a whole race (400 laps) but I can watch it for 45 minutes or so.
And this week is a 4-day week! Hurray for Veterans! I have high hopes for myself on Friday, a long list of projects to at least get started on. At work I have two 9-5 days, which will be nice in the mornings. Nothing else going on so I'll clean and catalog. I went through a bunch of stuff from our Adirondack Collection on Friday and found some great histories of the Rogers family and the Rogers Company, which were really influential in the area during the last half of the 19th century and 1st half of the 20th century. It's way cool stuff, which I'll photocopy and distribute to my family.
My OCD is no better. It's even invading my dreams now--I had a very disturbing dream Friday night about my ex-husband. I've been dreaming about him a lot lately, which is unnerving. Other than that I'm still suffering from the same symptoms, and this morning I actually heard a voice in my head. Fortunately it wasn't telling me to do anything evil (or do anything at all, thankfully). Needless to say this is a miserable way to live. I'll work it out, though.
Today I pick up my mended camera at Best Buy (repair covered by warranty). It'll be nice to have it back, even if everything is gray and brown right now. I saw two deer in my apple trees Friday night, and they weren't particularly disturbed that I drove to them. Bill gave me a cool camera that you set up at night. It takes pictures of any movement going past it. Although at this point all it'll see will be deer, I want to set it up anyway. The dogs keep running off into the woods, barking very seriously at night. I can hear something rustling through the woods but it doesn't sound like the crashing of a deer. Who knows what it is.
And now to work.
Friday, November 03, 2006
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak. | |
| The Inland North | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The South | |
| The Midland | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| The West | |
| What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes | |
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop." | |
| The Northeast | |
| The South | |
| The Midland | |
| Philadelphia | |
| North Central | |
| The West | |
| Boston | |
| What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes | |
I stopped calling soda "pop" 35 years ago but it wasn't easy. I thought soda sounded really stupid but now I think "pop" sounds juvenile and silly.
This is exactly the same answer Jenica got, and she's only been out of the Midwest a short time. Does it never leave us?
Thursday, November 02, 2006
This is a lot more interesting than what I got when I tried "Elizabeth"
 |
| 'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com |
All's quiet on the northern front
There's really not much to report. This time of year is quiet and uneventful--nothing going on socially, nothing much happening in the forest. The leaves are pretty much gone, the tamaracks are gold and will be naked soon. I can't take any pictures because my camera broke and has been sent for repair. I miss it, I really like recording my life with it. I got a bunch of prints I had made, some to send to my mother and Mark and some for myself. I'm way behind in organizing my pictures and have just been tossing them in a pile. I'm supposed to be maintaining the family album for camp but haven't had much interest in that since my brother died. Perhaps this winter when I sort my pictures I'll find the ones of my cousins, their children, people in boats and the family group. I'm 2 years behind with this but it's sure not something I give a lot of thought to--I just know how much everyone enjoys looking at all the albums my mother did over the decades.
Work is a bit monotonous today--a whole bunch of large print books for Willsboro, which I just finished. They were a huge drag, totally uninteresting and not at all challenging. Glad to have that done. Not sure what I'll move on to next. I have to catalog 8 decks of cards for kids that were freebies for all the member libraries. Now that's a challenge. I also have part of one book of the Bible on CD for Willsboro. I tried to talk her out of keeping it (naturally it was a donation) but she seemed to think it was vital to her collection. These libraries are so willing to take ANYTHING that's given to them, especially non-print stuff. This means we have to download records for such crap that we really hate spending time on it. We just got Lake Placid's shelf-list for their CD collection. It's huge and will take forever to do. Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart--and each one a specific symphony or whatever. Lots of keyboarding for ones we can't find records for in our other databases. Will keep me busy for weeks and weeks.
I'm going to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving and just noticed that it's 3 weeks away. Amazing! The frenzy of Nov.-Dec. has begun. Now that it gets lighter earlier I don't mind getting out of bed early in the morning, but the dogs want me up ever earlier than I'm interested in getting up. This morning poor Tess was sooooo frustrated. She sticks her face right in mine and cannot, no matter how hard she tries, keep her tongue in her mouth. Maybe she's smarter than I think and knows that if I have to keep yelling "DON'T!" to her eventually I'll get tired of that and get up. That is pretty much what happens. Some mornings, if I'm really careful and don't move but just barely open my eyes I can watch them watching me. It's really cute: they're both sitting up and staring at me the way I stare at the television. Willing me to move. Tess has gotten so she recognizes a smile, something I've always enjoyed in my dogs. If I smile at her across the room she starts to wag her tail. Chances, visually impaired can't read my face. Both dogs seem to be especially energetic these days--as opposed to me. I let them tear around the living room--120 pounds of dog bumping, banging and jumping on each other. I think it's funny, but I appreciate the fact that this can go on endlessly because I live alone. I'm not sure anyone else would be so entertained by it. The only thing I can't stand is when Tess sucks on Chances' ears. Yuck, for some reason I just can't stand that. She chews on them as if they were a piece of rawhide, only gently of course.
I got new fish this week. One rasbora died of old age, I think, and my little orange platy was a casualty of cleaning the tank. I don't know why it died, everyone else was thrilled to have clean water and gravel. Anyway, I bought a rasbora, a lemon tetra and a sunburst platy. The platy had jumped from one tank to the adjacent one at Petsmart, so I figured I would end its loneliness and bring it home. It was swimming vertically, up and down up and down. I thought this was frustration, but guess what--it does the same thing in my tank. At least it's a pretty fish, and I do like movement in the tank. The lemon tetra doesn't look like a lemon tetra at all (the guy who helped me--named Jamie--was totally not into helping me and had just had an incredibly long talk with the woman ahead of me after she'd finished painstakingly choosing her fish), it's huge and swims really, really fast around the tank. My pretty littlel danio with long flowing fins swims really fast too and they seem to race each other (yeah, right--like fish race each other). The small lemon tetra I've had for a while hides in a corner, day after day.
Ken is fine, doing well in this cool but not cold weather. He burns his stove so hot that it's hard to breathe in his house. Last night he had the door open when I got there because it was too hot even for him. By the end of my visit, though, he'd cranked the fire up so it was about 80 inside. And he kept checking on the stove, "Don't want my fire to go out." Well, it sure was never in danger of that, and at one point he put another piece of wood in it and I muttered "Yeah, that's right, let's add some HEAT." Of course he didn't hear me, which makes me wonder why I felt compelled to say it out loud. Why do we do that, anyway? I would have been mortified if he'd heard me, it was really rude to say it.
Not much going on this weekend. At least it's not supposed to snow, or even rain. "They" had predicted 1-3" of snow for elevations above 1000 feet (that's me) but so far no sign of it. I'm hoping for lots of bright sunshine to dry the wood I didn't cover, which has become saturated with rainwater and melting snow. Plan to move the wettest of it into the wood shed this weekend. Yeah, right--plan to close the boat house, too. Have planned to do that every weekend since September, I think. No, this time I really mean it, really, yeah, that's right.
Now I must get back to the Lost Items Procedure, which will not die no matter how hard I try to kill it. Everyone seems to have something to say about the final version, even though we've met 3 times and all had a chance to comment, suggest, etc. Ah, people.
My mental state is not great these days. I'm troubled by my OCD and it just isn't getting any better. Have been fiddling with meds without much result. I'm to call my psychiatrist next week to report on progress (if any) after changes in meds. I'm not optimistic.
Onward and upward.
There's really not much to report. This time of year is quiet and uneventful--nothing going on socially, nothing much happening in the forest. The leaves are pretty much gone, the tamaracks are gold and will be naked soon. I can't take any pictures because my camera broke and has been sent for repair. I miss it, I really like recording my life with it. I got a bunch of prints I had made, some to send to my mother and Mark and some for myself. I'm way behind in organizing my pictures and have just been tossing them in a pile. I'm supposed to be maintaining the family album for camp but haven't had much interest in that since my brother died. Perhaps this winter when I sort my pictures I'll find the ones of my cousins, their children, people in boats and the family group. I'm 2 years behind with this but it's sure not something I give a lot of thought to--I just know how much everyone enjoys looking at all the albums my mother did over the decades.
Work is a bit monotonous today--a whole bunch of large print books for Willsboro, which I just finished. They were a huge drag, totally uninteresting and not at all challenging. Glad to have that done. Not sure what I'll move on to next. I have to catalog 8 decks of cards for kids that were freebies for all the member libraries. Now that's a challenge. I also have part of one book of the Bible on CD for Willsboro. I tried to talk her out of keeping it (naturally it was a donation) but she seemed to think it was vital to her collection. These libraries are so willing to take ANYTHING that's given to them, especially non-print stuff. This means we have to download records for such crap that we really hate spending time on it. We just got Lake Placid's shelf-list for their CD collection. It's huge and will take forever to do. Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart--and each one a specific symphony or whatever. Lots of keyboarding for ones we can't find records for in our other databases. Will keep me busy for weeks and weeks.
I'm going to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving and just noticed that it's 3 weeks away. Amazing! The frenzy of Nov.-Dec. has begun. Now that it gets lighter earlier I don't mind getting out of bed early in the morning, but the dogs want me up ever earlier than I'm interested in getting up. This morning poor Tess was sooooo frustrated. She sticks her face right in mine and cannot, no matter how hard she tries, keep her tongue in her mouth. Maybe she's smarter than I think and knows that if I have to keep yelling "DON'T!" to her eventually I'll get tired of that and get up. That is pretty much what happens. Some mornings, if I'm really careful and don't move but just barely open my eyes I can watch them watching me. It's really cute: they're both sitting up and staring at me the way I stare at the television. Willing me to move. Tess has gotten so she recognizes a smile, something I've always enjoyed in my dogs. If I smile at her across the room she starts to wag her tail. Chances, visually impaired can't read my face. Both dogs seem to be especially energetic these days--as opposed to me. I let them tear around the living room--120 pounds of dog bumping, banging and jumping on each other. I think it's funny, but I appreciate the fact that this can go on endlessly because I live alone. I'm not sure anyone else would be so entertained by it. The only thing I can't stand is when Tess sucks on Chances' ears. Yuck, for some reason I just can't stand that. She chews on them as if they were a piece of rawhide, only gently of course.
I got new fish this week. One rasbora died of old age, I think, and my little orange platy was a casualty of cleaning the tank. I don't know why it died, everyone else was thrilled to have clean water and gravel. Anyway, I bought a rasbora, a lemon tetra and a sunburst platy. The platy had jumped from one tank to the adjacent one at Petsmart, so I figured I would end its loneliness and bring it home. It was swimming vertically, up and down up and down. I thought this was frustration, but guess what--it does the same thing in my tank. At least it's a pretty fish, and I do like movement in the tank. The lemon tetra doesn't look like a lemon tetra at all (the guy who helped me--named Jamie--was totally not into helping me and had just had an incredibly long talk with the woman ahead of me after she'd finished painstakingly choosing her fish), it's huge and swims really, really fast around the tank. My pretty littlel danio with long flowing fins swims really fast too and they seem to race each other (yeah, right--like fish race each other). The small lemon tetra I've had for a while hides in a corner, day after day.
Ken is fine, doing well in this cool but not cold weather. He burns his stove so hot that it's hard to breathe in his house. Last night he had the door open when I got there because it was too hot even for him. By the end of my visit, though, he'd cranked the fire up so it was about 80 inside. And he kept checking on the stove, "Don't want my fire to go out." Well, it sure was never in danger of that, and at one point he put another piece of wood in it and I muttered "Yeah, that's right, let's add some HEAT." Of course he didn't hear me, which makes me wonder why I felt compelled to say it out loud. Why do we do that, anyway? I would have been mortified if he'd heard me, it was really rude to say it.
Not much going on this weekend. At least it's not supposed to snow, or even rain. "They" had predicted 1-3" of snow for elevations above 1000 feet (that's me) but so far no sign of it. I'm hoping for lots of bright sunshine to dry the wood I didn't cover, which has become saturated with rainwater and melting snow. Plan to move the wettest of it into the wood shed this weekend. Yeah, right--plan to close the boat house, too. Have planned to do that every weekend since September, I think. No, this time I really mean it, really, yeah, that's right.
Now I must get back to the Lost Items Procedure, which will not die no matter how hard I try to kill it. Everyone seems to have something to say about the final version, even though we've met 3 times and all had a chance to comment, suggest, etc. Ah, people.
My mental state is not great these days. I'm troubled by my OCD and it just isn't getting any better. Have been fiddling with meds without much result. I'm to call my psychiatrist next week to report on progress (if any) after changes in meds. I'm not optimistic.
Onward and upward.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)