Things are going all right. Chances is improving, now takes about 3 steps before losing her balance & falling down. This is a huge improvement, but isn't enough. She's gotten way better in the last week, and goes to the vet tonight for her follow-up. Don't know what the vet will say, but I'm figuring to bring her home after the appointment, giving her more time to heal. She's doing really well, her desire to walk is powerful. She moves really quickly, walks on her hind knees if I don't grab her hind end quickly enough. She can really motor and seems very cheerful. I don't know how much better she'll get, but I'm willing to wait a while.
I closed the boat house yesterday, finally. It wouldn't be right if I weren't wearing a down vest--I don't think I've closed it in recent years much before November 1. So I was early this year. It was very pretty and not terribly cold. It doesn't take much time to close (if you do it the way I do), just strip the beds, take the towels home, take the garbage home, empty the fridge, move furniture in off the porch., shut off the power & lock up. Bingo, all done. I sat in the sun a while, drank a bit of Wild Turkey and enjoyed the scenery. It was incredibly peaceful. Even Tess lay in the sun with me.
I visited a friend in Burlington last week, she's there for chemo for her second case of leukemia. This is very sad and difficult. She's in good shape so far but has just started her chemo. She's very discouraged at having it again, after 8 years. My trip was not particularly interesting, I just took the ferry, drove to the hospital, visited Betsy, then came home. No, no shopping or anything interesting. I was tired when I got home, around 8.
Had a good weekend, all told. Saturday I came into town for lunch with Fred and my friend Donna. We last saw each other last November, so it was a nice reunion. We visited for a couple of hours, I bought some flowers for Pat's birthday, got some birdseed, then went home. I stopped to see Pat (her birthday) for a bit, then on home to set up the bird feeders. Only blue jays so far. I don't know how they figure out so quickly that there's food in the feeder, but there they were.
I took some stuff in off the deck, getting ready for winter. The dirt in the pots was frozen, though, so I have to keep them in the living room for a few days to thaw out before I can dump them. I wouldn't know how to do it any other way. I should have emptied the wood stove but I kept it going all day Sat., then it was still hot yesterday. So I put that off. Lazy.
I resurrected a blanket I started knitting a few years ago, had the urge to knit. Everyone should have a project like that, something that's simple but pretty and can go on forever. And when it's a blanket, you keep yourself warm while knitting. Kitty likes to sit on my lap when it gets cold, which complicates the knitting process.
I watched the Martin Scorsese documentary on George Harrison, which was excellent. The Beatles were amazing, and it was fun to see the decades of changes they went through. How cute were those boys?
Back to work today. Halloween. Means nothing to me. This year I bought no candy--I haven't had a trick or treater for more than 25 years, no reason to believe this year would be different. I always buy candy and eat it before Halloween. So no this year. I still need to love the 5 pounds I gained during the summer. I'm struggling but haven't put forth my full effort yet. I keep putting it off. Something comes up. Like, now I'm stressed out because of my dog. And Saturday I went out for lunch. And this week, well, I have no excuses. Back to cottage cheese and olives. And pickles. Lots of pickles.
Tomorrow I get to go to Saranac Lake to catalog stuff in the Adirondack Room there. Always a treat. I'm setting up a plan to visit or at least speak with all 30 member library directors in the next year. Yikes, that's a lot of traveling and talking. I need to find out what types of "special" collections they have. This is a project near & dear to the director's heart, and I like visiting the libraries so it's a good mesh.
Monday, October 31, 2011
002
Waiting for rain. I've always heard that, when cows lie down like this, they're expecting it to rain. This was before the big snowstorm, which missed us entirely. This was a false alarm--it didn't rain at all. These cows are outside of Peru, near the orchard where I stopped to buy a whole bunch of apples. Half a bushel for $10, mix & match a zillion different kinds. Yum.
003
Tess has no patience for any animal that lies with its head upside down. These two were lying next to the wood stove in the sun. Two of their favorite environmental conditions. First being a bowl full of food.
007
Boy it looks cold, doesn't it? It wasn't really that cold, sunny and 40's. No leaves on trees, no color in the hills. Pretty anyway.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Chances Are update
Many thanks to all of you who have been so supportive and interested in my poor dog's plight. I picked her up at the vet's last night & brought her home. She's incredibly cheerful, wags her tail ALL the time and was very, very happy to be home. Tess was thrilled to have her sister home, wiggled & wagged, licked her, then sat on her. Chances can't walk by herself, I have a sling to hold up her hind end with. She's strong and can move quickly--this morning, when it was DARK and RAINING she ran around the yard looking for the perfect pee and poop spots, I ran after her, which must have looked great. Anyway, she can't use her hind legs but is starting to move them a little. She's got great spirit, ran through the house (again, with me following) to get to her breakfast bowl this morning. She slept in her cage last night, wasn't interested in going into the bedroom. She's in her cage today, and I have a second cage set up for Tess so that C. can have more room. I left the door to the cage open so we'll see where she is when I get home. In the cage, will be my guess. She rarely drags herself around but is capable and doesn't seem to mind.
All else is well. We're supposed to have snow later this week, which is inevitable, but maybe the north won't get as much. or any. I'm leaving work early tomorrow to load up the car at home & head to the Big Dump. I put down a new kitchen rug and need to get rid of the old one, plus there's plenty of stuff that can go. Broken chair, crap on the deck, old glassware I cleaned out when putting down the new rug, just odds & ends. I'm feeling good about cleaning out stuff these days, just wish I had more time (when I felt motivated) to do it. I got some cleansing done over the weekend, getting ready to attack the upstairs in case people really do come visit me this winter. yikes, a daunting thought.
All else is well. We're supposed to have snow later this week, which is inevitable, but maybe the north won't get as much. or any. I'm leaving work early tomorrow to load up the car at home & head to the Big Dump. I put down a new kitchen rug and need to get rid of the old one, plus there's plenty of stuff that can go. Broken chair, crap on the deck, old glassware I cleaned out when putting down the new rug, just odds & ends. I'm feeling good about cleaning out stuff these days, just wish I had more time (when I felt motivated) to do it. I got some cleansing done over the weekend, getting ready to attack the upstairs in case people really do come visit me this winter. yikes, a daunting thought.
Tamaracks in the bog
Very pretty, every fall. The last hurrah. Lots of tamaracks (larches) getting ready to drop their leaves.
Cold morning, 28 degrees and very frosty & foggy.
This was yesterday (Monday). Today it was too dark, way too dark to take any pictures. And it was raining. And so dark.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Friday
It's Friday of an upsetting week. My dog Chances is not doing well. On Sunday she got in front of my car when I was moving it, and I hit her. Not hard, but hard enough to damage her back. She can't use her hind legs now and has been at the vet's since Monday. She showed slight improvement on Tuesday and the vet & I were hopeful, but there's been no progress since then. I went to see her yesterday--the vet and I talked about having me take her home, but we agreed she was probably better off there, where there aren't stairs she has to be carried up & down. It was hard to see her but also really nice. She's in great shape, very perky, wags her tail a lot, eats like a pig and has control of her bodily functions. He's not sure what's wrong, maybe something blocking the blood supply to her hind end. We're going to wait 2 weeks before making any decision, but it doesn't really look very good.
What does Tess think? She thinks her sister should be somewhere in the yard or in the car, and she runs around a lot, then sits on the back of the living room chair staring out the window. Very touching, very sad. I wish I could explain it to her, but maybe she suspects something, since she saw Chances before I took her to the vet. Tess wants my attention all the time, which I suppose is not surprising. She's very sweet but it's hard to see her being so puzzled. She still has her Kitty, and she likes her Kitty.
What else happened this week. Well, must have been SOMETHING. Yes, we had a negotiations meeting on Monday, which resulted in a declaration of impasse by labor. The board rejected our settlement offer 3 times, so our labor relations specialist feels we'll be in good stead with a mediator. We'll see.
Work has been ok. A little slow, not as interesting as it sometimes is, but I'm probably just distracted. I had an appointment with my psychiatrist this week & told him all about Chances Are. I told him that I no longer think of our appointments as sessions, or of him as my therapist, so it never occurred to me to call him in my time of crisis. I think he wished I still needed him that way. He told me basically the same thing my sister told me: take care of myself. Don't do anything or make any decisions right now. So I'm not. Well, I bought myself a new pair of shoes. That would make my friend Ralph laugh--his partner Lin and I used to go to town every Saturday and I was always buying new shoes. I guess it's what I do when I'm not feeling great, a way to cheer myself up. Pretty much all the shoes I buy look the same, just trail shoes.
Yesterday I went to Wilmington, and I had plenty of time to get there so I went the back way, past the house we bought and sold many years ago, then past the Jay Mountain Range. It was all very pretty and a nice experience. Didn't make me feel bad or sad, I just appreciated how pretty it all was. What I did in Wilmington was weed their non-fiction collection, which, it turned out, is heavily used so we couldn't throw out much stuff. That was both disappointing and encouraging. Good for her to have a collection her community uses. Not very rewarding as a weeding experience.
After that I drove to Westport because I thought I would take Chances home. The drive was pretty but long. An even longer drive home. But I had a nice visit with Chances, who was happy to see me. Tess didn't seem to smell her sister on me when I got home. Was I disappointed or relieved? Yes. Mostly I was just really sad that I didn't get to take her home. Not so much because I want her home, but more that it would mean she was improving.
This weekend I will put down the new rug I bought for my kitchen. No small task, means unloading sets of shelves and moving things around. But I must do it--or why did I buy the rug? I also hope to paint a small chest in my bedroom. My signature black. And Saturday night I'm having dinner with friends from across the lake. I don't know them very well but am getting to know them in recent months. Do I want to do this? Not particularly, but when a neighbor issues an invitation it's polite to accept. What DO I feel like doing this weekend? Not much.
What does Tess think? She thinks her sister should be somewhere in the yard or in the car, and she runs around a lot, then sits on the back of the living room chair staring out the window. Very touching, very sad. I wish I could explain it to her, but maybe she suspects something, since she saw Chances before I took her to the vet. Tess wants my attention all the time, which I suppose is not surprising. She's very sweet but it's hard to see her being so puzzled. She still has her Kitty, and she likes her Kitty.
What else happened this week. Well, must have been SOMETHING. Yes, we had a negotiations meeting on Monday, which resulted in a declaration of impasse by labor. The board rejected our settlement offer 3 times, so our labor relations specialist feels we'll be in good stead with a mediator. We'll see.
Work has been ok. A little slow, not as interesting as it sometimes is, but I'm probably just distracted. I had an appointment with my psychiatrist this week & told him all about Chances Are. I told him that I no longer think of our appointments as sessions, or of him as my therapist, so it never occurred to me to call him in my time of crisis. I think he wished I still needed him that way. He told me basically the same thing my sister told me: take care of myself. Don't do anything or make any decisions right now. So I'm not. Well, I bought myself a new pair of shoes. That would make my friend Ralph laugh--his partner Lin and I used to go to town every Saturday and I was always buying new shoes. I guess it's what I do when I'm not feeling great, a way to cheer myself up. Pretty much all the shoes I buy look the same, just trail shoes.
Yesterday I went to Wilmington, and I had plenty of time to get there so I went the back way, past the house we bought and sold many years ago, then past the Jay Mountain Range. It was all very pretty and a nice experience. Didn't make me feel bad or sad, I just appreciated how pretty it all was. What I did in Wilmington was weed their non-fiction collection, which, it turned out, is heavily used so we couldn't throw out much stuff. That was both disappointing and encouraging. Good for her to have a collection her community uses. Not very rewarding as a weeding experience.
After that I drove to Westport because I thought I would take Chances home. The drive was pretty but long. An even longer drive home. But I had a nice visit with Chances, who was happy to see me. Tess didn't seem to smell her sister on me when I got home. Was I disappointed or relieved? Yes. Mostly I was just really sad that I didn't get to take her home. Not so much because I want her home, but more that it would mean she was improving.
This weekend I will put down the new rug I bought for my kitchen. No small task, means unloading sets of shelves and moving things around. But I must do it--or why did I buy the rug? I also hope to paint a small chest in my bedroom. My signature black. And Saturday night I'm having dinner with friends from across the lake. I don't know them very well but am getting to know them in recent months. Do I want to do this? Not particularly, but when a neighbor issues an invitation it's polite to accept. What DO I feel like doing this weekend? Not much.
This is what our old house looks like now. VERY different from when we lived there.
This is what our old house looks like now. VERY different from when we lived there., a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.
Our house on Green Street, outside of AuSable Forks. It was a junky little house that we bougt for $20,000. Jamie had visions of grandeur, of demolition and fixing it up. He got the demolition part right, but the fixing it up never took place. He took the heater out of the bedroom without telling me he had no intention of putting in a new one. I used to wake up in the winter with my hair frozen, stuck to the window. Oh, weren't those just the good old days.
It is actually a nice little house, on 3 pretty acres. We had some good times there but mostly I conclude (in hindsight) that we didn't really like living there, because we spent as much time as we could elsewhere. We went out for breakfast & dinner every chance we got.
001
Just a pretty scene. This is from the bridge I used to drive across every day--that's the AuSable River.
The chicken coop on the left, now an apartment
The blue building is what we used as a chicken coop. Jamie built it from square logs he cut at the sawmill. It was beech and he built it as an experiment to see how long it would last. The new owner liked the building so much he turned it into an apartment. So far it's lasted 20 years. Not bad, James, not bad.
Hairy cow
Doesn't this cow look great? There were calves in the pasture too, they were dark brown and very cute.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Early report
It's a bit early in the week to be reporting, but I had a busy weekend and will be out tomorrow afternoon, then doing a Google demo on Friday. Besides, I'm taking a break from deleting OCLC holdings of large print books we've discarded. I have a masters degree for this?
It was a really good weekend. The weather was wonderful, sunny and warm, warming up the colors in the woods. The color isn't too great this year, definitely muted, but there are yellows and golds and they do that thing that they do where there's a glow in the woods even when the sun isn't shining on the trees. A really nice effect. We've lost leaves even since the weekend, and I guess we'll lose more in the next few days--rain predicted for the rest of our lives.
There were plenty of people in the neighborhood, enough so that I got totally peopled out. Saturday night I had a cocktail party on the boat house porch, which was very nice. Always is. After that I went out to dinner with a bunch of people, to a nice restaurant with good food. Sunday I got to spend time on my deck, reading, a lot. Very nice. In the evening was a party at the Holts', with 24 people. I wasn't in the mood to socialize much, maybe I'm just ready for the season to end. I visited with people I wanted to see, chatted with others, wanted to leave early but stayed a while anyway. Monday I went out to breakfast with the Nadals, had a very nice time with them. Then I stopped at Fred's to collect a few plants to winter over in my house. Or kill in my house, whatever. He doesn't care, it just seems a shame to let them die when maybe I can keep them alive and they'll look good in my house. or not. Monday night was drinks at Linda's, the last happy hour of the season. That was nice, but again, I was ready to leave. Last night I stopped at Linda's, picked up some food she's leaving behind, and we went to Pat & Jim's to deliver food to them as well. Then I left, saying goodbye to Linda for the year. It's hard to say goodbye, but it is time. Hard to believe we won't see each other for a long time, but spring will come before we expect it to. This morning I saw the Nadals while I was getting my coffee, and visited with them for a while. They hope to come here this winter, planning to stay at my house. Wow that's quite a project for me but it would be great.
And now we get on with the job of living our lives in Hawkeye. Very nice, peaceful (except for hunters). Dogs don't notice a difference, except maybe for the fact that I'm home more so they spend less time in their cage. Me? I notice a difference. I don't have to go anywhere after work today. I can be alone. I may stop at the orchard that has a zillion kinds of apples & get some, I've pretty much finished the last batch I bought.
Tomorrow I head to Burlington for my mammogram. A nice diversion. Maybe I'll go to Gardener's Supply for Christmas presents, but then again I may just turn around & come home.
Friday I have to do a demo of Google searching. I had such a hard time coming up with a subject to search! Tried lots of things that were too easy, finally came up with the Atlas missile silos here in the Adirondacks. Found a lot of interesting information about them. Pretty scary, what was going on. I've always attributed my lack of faith in the future to the Cold War, along with the farewells we bade to our grandfather at the end of each summer in the Adks. "Good-bye Grampy, see you next year." "If I'm still here." I suppose, once you're in your 90's that's the way you think and talk, but for an impressionable lass it meant we might never see the future. I spent a lot of my adult life feeling that way, but have finally overcome that pessimism. I used to not plant bulbs in the fall because I had no faith that there would be spring. Now I don't plant them because I have so many that I have no more places to put them. Mostly daffodils, but I have some perennial plants too. I like thinking about the future. But am hesitant to think too much about 3 years going by. That would mean I might be able to RETIRE. It's an interesting thing, to be my age and want to get older so I can retire, but hate getting older and being 60. Only 59 this year, 60 is 12/12/12.
It was a really good weekend. The weather was wonderful, sunny and warm, warming up the colors in the woods. The color isn't too great this year, definitely muted, but there are yellows and golds and they do that thing that they do where there's a glow in the woods even when the sun isn't shining on the trees. A really nice effect. We've lost leaves even since the weekend, and I guess we'll lose more in the next few days--rain predicted for the rest of our lives.
There were plenty of people in the neighborhood, enough so that I got totally peopled out. Saturday night I had a cocktail party on the boat house porch, which was very nice. Always is. After that I went out to dinner with a bunch of people, to a nice restaurant with good food. Sunday I got to spend time on my deck, reading, a lot. Very nice. In the evening was a party at the Holts', with 24 people. I wasn't in the mood to socialize much, maybe I'm just ready for the season to end. I visited with people I wanted to see, chatted with others, wanted to leave early but stayed a while anyway. Monday I went out to breakfast with the Nadals, had a very nice time with them. Then I stopped at Fred's to collect a few plants to winter over in my house. Or kill in my house, whatever. He doesn't care, it just seems a shame to let them die when maybe I can keep them alive and they'll look good in my house. or not. Monday night was drinks at Linda's, the last happy hour of the season. That was nice, but again, I was ready to leave. Last night I stopped at Linda's, picked up some food she's leaving behind, and we went to Pat & Jim's to deliver food to them as well. Then I left, saying goodbye to Linda for the year. It's hard to say goodbye, but it is time. Hard to believe we won't see each other for a long time, but spring will come before we expect it to. This morning I saw the Nadals while I was getting my coffee, and visited with them for a while. They hope to come here this winter, planning to stay at my house. Wow that's quite a project for me but it would be great.
And now we get on with the job of living our lives in Hawkeye. Very nice, peaceful (except for hunters). Dogs don't notice a difference, except maybe for the fact that I'm home more so they spend less time in their cage. Me? I notice a difference. I don't have to go anywhere after work today. I can be alone. I may stop at the orchard that has a zillion kinds of apples & get some, I've pretty much finished the last batch I bought.
Tomorrow I head to Burlington for my mammogram. A nice diversion. Maybe I'll go to Gardener's Supply for Christmas presents, but then again I may just turn around & come home.
Friday I have to do a demo of Google searching. I had such a hard time coming up with a subject to search! Tried lots of things that were too easy, finally came up with the Atlas missile silos here in the Adirondacks. Found a lot of interesting information about them. Pretty scary, what was going on. I've always attributed my lack of faith in the future to the Cold War, along with the farewells we bade to our grandfather at the end of each summer in the Adks. "Good-bye Grampy, see you next year." "If I'm still here." I suppose, once you're in your 90's that's the way you think and talk, but for an impressionable lass it meant we might never see the future. I spent a lot of my adult life feeling that way, but have finally overcome that pessimism. I used to not plant bulbs in the fall because I had no faith that there would be spring. Now I don't plant them because I have so many that I have no more places to put them. Mostly daffodils, but I have some perennial plants too. I like thinking about the future. But am hesitant to think too much about 3 years going by. That would mean I might be able to RETIRE. It's an interesting thing, to be my age and want to get older so I can retire, but hate getting older and being 60. Only 59 this year, 60 is 12/12/12.
002
Silver Lake Mountain from the boat house. I had a cocktail party on Sat. and this was the view we looked at from the porch.
012
There's still some color on OHR--this is looking down the road toward my driveway. That's Catamount in the background, Douglas Mtn in the foreground, Chances Are in front.
We've even lost leaves since I took this on Sat. It's getting pretty naked in the neighborhood.
026
How cute is she? It's strange to look at a picture of yourself like this. So this is what I look like?
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Friday, October 07, 2011
Week's end
It's Friday, 4:30. I'm here until 5 and it's quiet. I spent a lot of time today weeding the non-fiction (we're into the SATs and GREs right now, very boring), and more time deleting our holdings from the national database--huge numbers of large print have been discarded and SOMEONE has to delete the holdings from OCLC. That would be me. I can do it for long stretches, but my back hurts after a while. I like it when it's something hard to find and I have to rely on my searching skills to find the record.
I have to do a presentation on Google next week. I need a good subject search to demonstrate. I just found out that Google was named in error--it was supposed to be Googol, but was misspelled. Just a nugget of information there.
It's Columbus Day weekend and all hell will break loose at Silver Lake. Then Monday afternoon a hush will fall over the land, when everyone leaves. Linda is leaving on Weds., and she's pretty much the last to go. There are a lot of friends here for the weekend (none staying with me--I think I only have friends who have their own homes here) so it will be busy. And beautiful. I'm hoping to get to work on the boat house, get it ready to close. And spend some time reading in the sun. On the big rock next to the boat house. And on my deck at home. And spend time stacking the stoopid wood. I guess I'm having a cocktail party at the boat house some day this weekend, not sure when. Linda and I are hosting, at a time that's convenient for the largest number of people. Whenever that will be. I'm flexible.
I went to Essex yesterday to visit the library there. There's a new director and he's all hot to do stuff like interlibrary loan. Something not normally done in that library, so this is pretty exciting. I spent time with him and looked over the book collection. Which is a big mess and in need of weeding. Which I will return to do in October. I've also scheduled a weeding trip to Wilmington in 2 weeks, I think. I think it's in 2 weeks. I KNOW I've scheduled the visit. For a Weds., so I can hit the thrift store on my way to the library. Because, yes, of course I need MORE STUFF.
Have to feed Julie's fish now, she's in Canada for the long weekend. I only have one goldfish left here at work. Yes, I can even kill goldfish. I have a knack for it.
I have to do a presentation on Google next week. I need a good subject search to demonstrate. I just found out that Google was named in error--it was supposed to be Googol, but was misspelled. Just a nugget of information there.
It's Columbus Day weekend and all hell will break loose at Silver Lake. Then Monday afternoon a hush will fall over the land, when everyone leaves. Linda is leaving on Weds., and she's pretty much the last to go. There are a lot of friends here for the weekend (none staying with me--I think I only have friends who have their own homes here) so it will be busy. And beautiful. I'm hoping to get to work on the boat house, get it ready to close. And spend some time reading in the sun. On the big rock next to the boat house. And on my deck at home. And spend time stacking the stoopid wood. I guess I'm having a cocktail party at the boat house some day this weekend, not sure when. Linda and I are hosting, at a time that's convenient for the largest number of people. Whenever that will be. I'm flexible.
I went to Essex yesterday to visit the library there. There's a new director and he's all hot to do stuff like interlibrary loan. Something not normally done in that library, so this is pretty exciting. I spent time with him and looked over the book collection. Which is a big mess and in need of weeding. Which I will return to do in October. I've also scheduled a weeding trip to Wilmington in 2 weeks, I think. I think it's in 2 weeks. I KNOW I've scheduled the visit. For a Weds., so I can hit the thrift store on my way to the library. Because, yes, of course I need MORE STUFF.
Have to feed Julie's fish now, she's in Canada for the long weekend. I only have one goldfish left here at work. Yes, I can even kill goldfish. I have a knack for it.
Essex ferry to Vermont
My family has always been romantic about the ferries crossing Lake Champlain. We lived in Burlington when I was a kid and visited this side of the lake a lot--my grandfather was in AuSable Fks. I think it must have started then, the big deal about crossing the lake.
008
This is a nicer looking building than our boat house (if you prefer this sort of thing) but I like ours better. We have a better lake, for one thing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)