and YIPPEE! It's almost February. I don't like wishing my life away, and can't really complain about this winter's harshness, but it will be nice to be that much closer to spring, then summer. We had several nights of -10 or so, but also plenty of days in the 20's, so all in all we haven't suffered too much. Got more snow yesterday but had lost a lot of snow during rainy days last week. There's plenty of snow now.
My friends Duncan and David are in Hawkeye right now--arrived Thurs., and will leave tomorrow. They come for Extreme Workfest every January. Like it if conditions are tough, so were a bit disappointed this year when temps were mild and there wasn't an extreme amount of snow. They skied Whiteface, then later climbed Whiteface. They reported that there was about 6' of snow on the trail up the mountain. I wasn't surprised, really--when it's raining everywhere else it's snowing on Whiteface.
I had dinner with them twice, and good visits both times. Duncan likes to call me and have long phone conversations, which we did, too. It's always nice to see the two of them--their friendship is life-long, and they remind me of my brother and his friends from Illinois. Those boys used to gather often and have really nice visits.
Not much else going on. We've started the ice-out pool (though D & D reported open water by the brook, so thought the "out" part was bogus). I have no idea when the ice will go out--the lake froze right around Christmas, which is pretty normal. I know everyone is commenting on how mild this winter is, but we still have 2 months to get through. Last year in March we had 5 feet of snow in 2 snowfalls, so anything's possible. So far I've only had my driveway plowed twice, and sanded once. I hope he plows today.
Still fussing with e-readers at work. Big meeting today, got lots of input from member library directors about the whole project. I had a headache by the end of the discussion.
Dogs are fine, cat is too. Chances is about the same but scratches a lot with her hind legs--don't know if this is just because she CAN, or if she's really itching. It's great to see her use her legs for more than just walking, a real improvement. Tess is doing all right, but she & Treasure seem to take long walks together without telling me where they go. I tracked them the other night, they go down the hill toward the lake, at least--not out toward the hardtop. They were gone for a couple of hours yesterday, which makes me uneasy, but if I'm going to let them run loose I have to suffer the consequences. Then, later in the day when they were out again only Treasure came back--no Tess. She appeared in a little while, but it's worrisome. With my luck I'll end up with just Chances Are.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Treasure. She likes to pose about as much as Tess does
Lousy picture of a pretty dog. Walking with her isn't as much fun as walking with Tess & Chances--Treasure sticks to my heels and won't go ahead, or explore, or anything. Maybe she will eventually. Maybe she thought I was taking her deep into the woods and would leave her there. She didn't seem to enjoy herself very much. But then, how would I know? She was behind me the whole time.
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This is what the bog looks like these days. Not too much snow for walking on, just enough for effect
Size 7.5 bun-bun
That's a BIG bunny. We have snowshoe hares (varying hares--so called because they change color with the seasons), and they love the bog. Plenty of bun-bun tracks. This one has big feet.
Red squirrel
And this is a little red squirrel's track. There used to be A LOT of red squirrels in my yard, at the birdfeeders, but now I rarely see one. Someone is eating them ...
Snow on a Sunday--we got about 6"
It was dry, fluffy powder, and ended up being very pretty. It sort of snuck up on us, we didn't realize how much snow we were getting at first.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Cold winter weather
Yes, it's been cold. And my house was miserably cold but I did manage to warm it up to the low 60's, which is warm by my standards. I hate to go into specifics, lest people think I'm really crazy for living the way I do, but it was cold inside when it was below zero outside. I do need a new wood stove, and I need a better heating system. I think maybe a thermal heater, kerosene seems preferable, with an outside tank. That's for when I get too old to burn wood. So should I sink money into a new wood stove, or should I go straight for the Monitor? Decisions, decisions.
I had a nice weekend, all THREE DAYS. Sunday I hosted our neighborhood gathering for snacks. A small group, but we had fun. Bill brought a quiche, I furnished wine & other goodies. I got the house relatively warm and all had a good time. Fred bonded with Treasure and invited her to summer camp at his place this year. Said he could teach her some manners and tricks. Which he no doubt would be better at that I am being.
Sunday afternoon friends stopped by while they were running the roads, stayed at my house for a while then decided we should go out for dinner. They picked me up around 6:30 and we headed to Wilmington (Wilderness--which some people like, some people DON'T like, and some people are indifferent about). We ate in the bar, where they like to hang out, and it was a nice but quiet visit. They live in Union Falls, splitting time between their house and their camp, which has a fantastic view of Whiteface Mtn. and the water.
I got to travel for work yesterday, which was nice in spite of the weather. It rained mostly, getting icy only at the end of the day. I started out in Keene Valley, working with their huge map collection, then drove to Lake Placid to work with their archives. Lk Placid has tons of great stuff, including the papers from the Lake Placid Club. Way fun to work with. Wish I could spend time processing or cataloging collections like that, but my director wouldn't find that appropriate use of my time I fear.
Today I have a training phone call on collection development of our soon-to-appear e-book collection. I've been playing with the readers but haven't made a lot of progress toward becoming an expert or even someone who's adept at their use. Must step up the pace on this.
What's up for the rest of the week? Not much. I have a cold, which is irritating but not (so far) debilitating. Sunday I may go out for dinner with Bill & Fred, for perch (get it while you can). Must go to the dump. Must go to Holt's to do more laundry (no, my washer is still not working). Must spend more time outdoors.
I had a nice weekend, all THREE DAYS. Sunday I hosted our neighborhood gathering for snacks. A small group, but we had fun. Bill brought a quiche, I furnished wine & other goodies. I got the house relatively warm and all had a good time. Fred bonded with Treasure and invited her to summer camp at his place this year. Said he could teach her some manners and tricks. Which he no doubt would be better at that I am being.
Sunday afternoon friends stopped by while they were running the roads, stayed at my house for a while then decided we should go out for dinner. They picked me up around 6:30 and we headed to Wilmington (Wilderness--which some people like, some people DON'T like, and some people are indifferent about). We ate in the bar, where they like to hang out, and it was a nice but quiet visit. They live in Union Falls, splitting time between their house and their camp, which has a fantastic view of Whiteface Mtn. and the water.
I got to travel for work yesterday, which was nice in spite of the weather. It rained mostly, getting icy only at the end of the day. I started out in Keene Valley, working with their huge map collection, then drove to Lake Placid to work with their archives. Lk Placid has tons of great stuff, including the papers from the Lake Placid Club. Way fun to work with. Wish I could spend time processing or cataloging collections like that, but my director wouldn't find that appropriate use of my time I fear.
Today I have a training phone call on collection development of our soon-to-appear e-book collection. I've been playing with the readers but haven't made a lot of progress toward becoming an expert or even someone who's adept at their use. Must step up the pace on this.
What's up for the rest of the week? Not much. I have a cold, which is irritating but not (so far) debilitating. Sunday I may go out for dinner with Bill & Fred, for perch (get it while you can). Must go to the dump. Must go to Holt's to do more laundry (no, my washer is still not working). Must spend more time outdoors.
Bird feeders at -11
A pretty Sunday morning, but looks can be deceiving. It was cold. Nice winter sun but still cold.
Poor Teddy
Sisters tugging on poor Teddy. Teddy lost most of his stuffing after this, and the tiny plastic balls that filled his body were sprinkled all over the living room floor. Treasure does NOT like to have toys filled with anything. They should be flat, I guess. She's a chewer, all right, and won't be sitting solo in my car any time soon. I learned my lesson (though it took 2 cars) about having a dog that chews being left alone in the car.
58 OHR at -11 with a warm fire and bright sunshine
This is what it's like at my house on winter weekends. I stoke the fire and the dogs lie next to it. Kitty is usually on the other side, or sometimes she fits herself into the pile o'hounds.
Sisters warming by the stove
Do they know they're sisters? I don't know, but they sure do things the same way and look alike.
Christmas tree 2011
Pretty scrawny, but not bad looking all in all. I keep postponing taking it down, not sure why, but I like having the lights on.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Post for the new year
Someone told me I needed to post something because I hadn't done anything since last year. Well, heck, last year wasn't so long ago. Although I guess 2 weeks is sort of long.
I haven't been doing much, the usual winter-type stuff. I'm trying to keep my fire going all the time, especially since I got my latest electric bill. It's expensive to have no heat in the back of the house because the heaters in the front of the house work harder. I need to find someone to fix the heater, but I hate to bother people. There are a couple of people I could ask (to pay) and I may get desperate enough to do that. I think my washing machine will be fixed soon. That's not a crisis, though, since I can use the Holt's equipment easily. I spent 2 lovely mornings at their house over New Year's while I washed clothes & bedding. Geez, I guess I haven't done any laundry since then. No wonder I have no clean socks.
I spent Saturday night with the Holt's, having dinner then working on the jigsaw puzzle I got for them. It was a map of the world, with pieces shaped like the countries. And lots of oceans & seas. We concluded that we are woefully globally geographically ignorant. Why are there 2 Tropics of Capricorn? What IS the Tropic of Capricorn? and so on.
I've not really been up to much else. Working--time to get the year wrapped up, lots of statistics and conclusions we can reach from the statistics. Or make things up, maybe. I'm still weeding, an endless project. I'm in the gardening books now, which are heavy and not very interesting to look at. And we have tons and tons of them.
We got a grant to buy ereaders and ebooks, so I ordered 6 Nooks, 6 Kindles, 2 Sony readers and still have money left over to buy more. We're all supposed to familiarize ourselves with ereaders so that, when our ebooks subscription kicks in we can help people who have questions and will no doubt call us. Even without the bookmobile. So far I've learned a little about the Sony reader, which is not as nice as the others, but isn't very hard to use. Problem is we can't download books until our subscription is live, so we can't learn how to do that (except for the freebies). Meanwhile I scan the 172-page users manual that's loaded on the reader. yawn. I'll take it home this weekend. Along with the 2nd season of Mad Men. I recorded a bunch of episodes, then watched season 4 (out of order, because I didn't notice that someone had put the discs back in the container out of order). So now I have some awareness of story lines, but there are mystery people who've shown up, and a divorce happened somewhere along the way. I'll also watch Midnight in Paris, because I need to catalog it (OK, I'm not watching it because I have to catalog it, I'm just watching it because I want to) and return it.
Sunday I'm hosting the Sunday Snack Hour. Instead of having a big Sunday dinner the way we did for years and years we get together at Pat's for snacks and a visit. I don't go every Sunday, just once in a while. So I decided to host the event this weekend. Because I cleaned my house for book group last weekend, and I have Monday off so I won't feel cheated out of ME time for the weekend. I can't decide whether to take down my Christmas tree or not. I think probably I should, because it takes up too much room. There was enough room for book group, but there might be more people on Sunday.
We had a good book group meeting. Nice visits, exchanged presents, ate a lot, had a good evening. Next book is Chocolat by Joanne Harris. I liked the movie, especially the Johnny Depp part. I'm reading The poisonwood Bible right now, for the second time. It's very funny in places, and I know I really liked it the first time I read it (many years ago).
Dogs are ok. Chances is in her own special world, not aware of much and not very active. Tess and Treasure are quite a pair. Chances isn't any more mobile but she gets around. Everyone tells me I'll know when it's time to end her life, but so far I've not received such a message. But I'm not sure how much longer she wants to be around for. I had a long conversation with the vet about it and he said as long as the quality of her life is good ("are her eyes bright?" Well, no, she's got congenital cataracts and never could see very well) there's no problem. I don't know how great the quality of her life is. She does very little and falls down a fair amount. And likes to pee on the floor. Which REALLY irritates me. It's not that she's unaware of doing it, either, she does it deliberately on the bathroom rug. Honestly! What about the quality of MY life?
We're getting snow today. I went out at lunch, did grocery shopping so I won't have to stop on my way home. It's supposed to turn from wet snow to ice and/or rain later in the day, so we're closing an hour early. Yippee. Big deal, but nice. It would be nicer if today were Friday and we were getting paid.
I haven't been doing much, the usual winter-type stuff. I'm trying to keep my fire going all the time, especially since I got my latest electric bill. It's expensive to have no heat in the back of the house because the heaters in the front of the house work harder. I need to find someone to fix the heater, but I hate to bother people. There are a couple of people I could ask (to pay) and I may get desperate enough to do that. I think my washing machine will be fixed soon. That's not a crisis, though, since I can use the Holt's equipment easily. I spent 2 lovely mornings at their house over New Year's while I washed clothes & bedding. Geez, I guess I haven't done any laundry since then. No wonder I have no clean socks.
I spent Saturday night with the Holt's, having dinner then working on the jigsaw puzzle I got for them. It was a map of the world, with pieces shaped like the countries. And lots of oceans & seas. We concluded that we are woefully globally geographically ignorant. Why are there 2 Tropics of Capricorn? What IS the Tropic of Capricorn? and so on.
I've not really been up to much else. Working--time to get the year wrapped up, lots of statistics and conclusions we can reach from the statistics. Or make things up, maybe. I'm still weeding, an endless project. I'm in the gardening books now, which are heavy and not very interesting to look at. And we have tons and tons of them.
We got a grant to buy ereaders and ebooks, so I ordered 6 Nooks, 6 Kindles, 2 Sony readers and still have money left over to buy more. We're all supposed to familiarize ourselves with ereaders so that, when our ebooks subscription kicks in we can help people who have questions and will no doubt call us. Even without the bookmobile. So far I've learned a little about the Sony reader, which is not as nice as the others, but isn't very hard to use. Problem is we can't download books until our subscription is live, so we can't learn how to do that (except for the freebies). Meanwhile I scan the 172-page users manual that's loaded on the reader. yawn. I'll take it home this weekend. Along with the 2nd season of Mad Men. I recorded a bunch of episodes, then watched season 4 (out of order, because I didn't notice that someone had put the discs back in the container out of order). So now I have some awareness of story lines, but there are mystery people who've shown up, and a divorce happened somewhere along the way. I'll also watch Midnight in Paris, because I need to catalog it (OK, I'm not watching it because I have to catalog it, I'm just watching it because I want to) and return it.
Sunday I'm hosting the Sunday Snack Hour. Instead of having a big Sunday dinner the way we did for years and years we get together at Pat's for snacks and a visit. I don't go every Sunday, just once in a while. So I decided to host the event this weekend. Because I cleaned my house for book group last weekend, and I have Monday off so I won't feel cheated out of ME time for the weekend. I can't decide whether to take down my Christmas tree or not. I think probably I should, because it takes up too much room. There was enough room for book group, but there might be more people on Sunday.
We had a good book group meeting. Nice visits, exchanged presents, ate a lot, had a good evening. Next book is Chocolat by Joanne Harris. I liked the movie, especially the Johnny Depp part. I'm reading The poisonwood Bible right now, for the second time. It's very funny in places, and I know I really liked it the first time I read it (many years ago).
Dogs are ok. Chances is in her own special world, not aware of much and not very active. Tess and Treasure are quite a pair. Chances isn't any more mobile but she gets around. Everyone tells me I'll know when it's time to end her life, but so far I've not received such a message. But I'm not sure how much longer she wants to be around for. I had a long conversation with the vet about it and he said as long as the quality of her life is good ("are her eyes bright?" Well, no, she's got congenital cataracts and never could see very well) there's no problem. I don't know how great the quality of her life is. She does very little and falls down a fair amount. And likes to pee on the floor. Which REALLY irritates me. It's not that she's unaware of doing it, either, she does it deliberately on the bathroom rug. Honestly! What about the quality of MY life?
We're getting snow today. I went out at lunch, did grocery shopping so I won't have to stop on my way home. It's supposed to turn from wet snow to ice and/or rain later in the day, so we're closing an hour early. Yippee. Big deal, but nice. It would be nicer if today were Friday and we were getting paid.
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Sleeping beauties. They're getting along really well. Tess and Treasure play (too much, sometimes). They run around a lot outside and chew on each other when they're inside. Treasure, however, chews on other things as well. Like ... socks especially, but soda bottles and cans, anything plastic and all of Tess' soft toys. Toys shouldn't have stuffing in them, apparently, and they shouldn't be made of plastic.
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