Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Thanks for Thanksgiving

Had a good trip to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving, got to take Weds. off and drive there in the morning.  Got there early afternoon, which was nice--traveling in daylight.  Jenica arrived that night and we were complete.  Mark & I walked the dogs in the park on Thanksgiving morning, then we had our usual ceremonial breakfast of fresh bagels and lox.  Yum.  Dinner was at 3:30, supposed to be at 4 but the bird was done early.  Good food--mashed potatoes, lima beans (2 kinds), boiled onions, stuffing, squash, gravy, turkey.  Did I leave anything out?  I made 2 pumpkin pies, using fresh pumpkin puree from Lin and Martha Stewart's really good recipe.  We hadn't finished the second one when I left on Sunday.

We spent a lot of time visiting in the living room--Jenica and I were knitting, Liza and Mark were reading.  I went through TV withdrawal.  We watched To Kill a Mockingbird, which I bought for Liza because she'd never seen it.  All stayed awake for it, which was pretty amazing.

We went on a long beach tour to see hurricane damage.  We had lobsters and clams.  We slept well.  The weather was OK, not too cold.  The dogs had a good time, especially because there's a pen there and when they come in from the pen they gets BISCUITS.  They traveled well, didn't chew anything in the car either day.

I came home on Sunday, leaving early because there was rumored to be heavy traffic (10% of Americans traveled more than 50 miles--or some combination of those figures).  The traffic was fine, though, and I made good time, getting home by 3.  Snow on the ground and a cold house (44) when I got home, but I could at least warm the house.  Can't do anything about the snow.  It's been snowing every day since then, but we only have a couple of inches on the ground.  It's supposed to get colder this week, down to 8 with a wind chill of zero.  If you believe in wind chill.  I've been having great luck with my firewood, keeping the fire going day and night.  It's great.

I got up at 2 this morning, couldn't sleep so figured I might as well get up.  What did I do with this "found" time?  NOTHING.  The dogs ran off to Dead Deer Alley and I finally dozed for an hour or so before getting ready for work.  I hate to do housework in the dark, which is why I did NOTHING.

005

005 by woodsrun
005, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Here's a peaceful, resting trio. We spent a lot of time visiting and sitting around the living room. This is Liza trying to take a nap while sharing the couch with the dogs.

Mother at the beach

Mother at the beach by woodsrun
Mother at the beach, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

That's my mother. Isn't she cute? It was a cold, windy day with just a litle sun now & then. We went to about 5 beaches to survey damage done by Hurricane Sandy. The movement of the sand/beach was incredible.

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027 by woodsrun
027, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Our favorite breakfast place (Jim's Dock), now on I-beams with no deck or place to eat outside. They're rebuilding the deck, though, and will doubtless put the building back. It doesn't look as if it suffered too much damage.

pavillion at Town Beach--no more pergola

There used to be an elevated walkway and places to sit on the front of this building. There also used to be a beach in front of it.

Carpenter's

Carpenter's by woodsrun
Carpenter's, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Random damage. Some of the cottages in the front row of this place were washed away.

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057 by woodsrun
057, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

This house is a landmark--much like Silver Lake Mtn., and it's photographed as often. They're going to tear it down, though, it's just not feasible to keep it. It used to be on the beach but not ON the beach.

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061 by woodsrun
061, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Random damage.

Only damage to this one was lost stairs

This is a nice house but it's too close to the water. They fared OK, though.

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069 by woodsrun
069, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

The house in the middle of the picture used to be about 8' closer to the ground. The ground moved.

Surf's up--way up

Surf's up--way up by woodsrun
Surf's up--way up, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

I like this picture. It looks like something an artist might try to paint a picture of. The wind was whipping and the surf was up. Pretty cool.

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087 by woodsrun
087, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Happy Lake Girl at the beach

SHE WENT IN THE WATER!

SHE WENT IN THE WATER! by woodsrun
SHE WENT IN THE WATER!, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Treasure would absolutely NOT go in the water at Silver Lake all summer. On our beach walk, though, she was chasing Tess and they ended up in the pond next to the beach. WOW! She ran way in but when it got so deep she had to swim she turned around. I don't think she realized what she was doing, but she didn't seem to mind. Come on, Treasure, you're a WATER DOG.

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098 by woodsrun
098, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

They spent a lot of time doing this. Luckily my mother has other places to sit in the living room.

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119 by woodsrun
119, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Oh she's a pretty girl all right

Friday, November 16, 2012

Friday YIPPEE

Not that I have any big plans for the weekend, but I like my time off.  I stayed home until late this morning, using up time.  I love mornings at my house--dont' know why, it's not that much more peaceful than any other time, but it's just nice to be at home and enjoy where I live in the morning.  More than in the afternoon?  I doubt it.

The dogs visited Dead Deer Alley this morning and I had to wander over there to get them.  So far we have a good collection of deer parts--I'm hoping for a full skeleton so I can prop it up in the yard and put lights on it.  not.  I have a ribcage and spinal column to go with the leg Treasure brought home last week.  Yuck.

What's up for the weekend?  Lin & I are planning a trip to Wilmington to visit the gallery of friends, plus make a stop at the world-famous thrift store there.  Will we see Marylou?

It's still cold in the morning, 13 today, with highs in the 40's.  Jacket weather, but NOT winter coat weather.  And sunny, clear and sunny.  Very nice.  I had lunch with Fred, which was a nice, unplanned treat.  We had a lot to say to each other and enjoyed our visit.

Am still weeding the collection here at work, but today I worked on the fiction collection for a change of pace.  Much simpler than the non-fiction, the decisions make themselves.  Now I have to pack up the discards & send them off to a correctional facility.  Inmates will read just about anything.

I'll stop at Pat & Jim's tonight, bur first must get to drug store for drugs, and store for CO2 cartridge for my soda maker.  Cannot make it through a whole weekend without seltzer water.  I had a great time this morning, stopped at the dump on the way in, then went grocery shopping so I don't have to do that this afternoon.  Oh I'm so clever.

Cute pictures from my friend Barb--of her really, really sweet grandchildren.  So many of my friends are now becoming grandparents--there's really a big bunch of them.  And they're all thrilled, just thrilled to have grandchildren.  My mother doesn't remember how excited she was when her first grandchild--or subsequent grandchildren--was born.  She adores her grandchildren now, and was truly thrilled when they were born.  As was I.  I like having nieces and a nephew, it's reallly great to have relatives that you love, really love.

My cousin's son (and ex-husband's brother) has gone to Kuala Lumpur (or however you spell it) from Lake Placid.  He's divorced, had a girlfriend for a long time but apparently met this woman online and has taken off and left his very conventional life behind to be with her.  So far he's happy to be there but boy oh boy is it hard to picture him so far from home.  I hope it all works out for him, he's very excited and is enjoying the experience.  Would I ever do that?  Well, I traveled a thousand miles to be with someone when I was young (very young)--what would I do now?  Doubtful that I'd leave what I have.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Getting colder

It's cool outside right now, much colder than it was yesterday and the day before.  Yesterday was perfectiion--65 and sunny.  What a fantastic day it was.  I spent a lot of time outside with the dogs.  And helped a stranded motorist at the bog (flat tire).  Found out about a closer AAA garage, which might come in handy.  If I ever join again.

I did laundry, lots of laundry.  CANNOT get dog hairs out of comforter.  Note to self: only buy dark-colored bedding. 

I knitted.  Am knitting a scarf that, though very pretty, is too stiff to be comfortable or useful.  But I'm having a good time knitting.

I watched a LOT of music videos.  I love VH1 Classic.  When I was recuperating from a nasty and depressing surgery many years ago a good friend taped hours and hours of music videos for me to watch.  At that time I didn't have access to MTV or VH1 so was bedazzled by music videos.  Now I've rediscovered them, plus some nice other features.  Oh my, I can waste a lot of time with this...

Back to work after 3 days off.  Very nice days off.  I didn't get a whole lot accomplished, but I enjoyed myself and my dogs.  We went for a couple of road trips, which were very nice.  I went out for dinner in Saranac Lake with a friend.  I walked my dogs.  I tidied my house.  And I did NOT have to light any fires.  Until this morning.  And that was to hedge my bets more than anything else.  It's supposed to be pretty cool this week so I'll be back into the fire-making routine.  I kept the fire going for about 5 days last week, using coals to start new fires.  Didn't light a match for days, felt great.

Tomorrow I have my snow tires put on--this is incredibly early for me to be doing this, but I have the money right now and will just spend it on something else if I don't do it now.  It's expensive because I only have one set of rims.  How many times have I paid for a second set in charges for putting tires on rims?  Many times I figure.  But that's why I'll never be wealthy--I don't do what's fiscally smart, I do what works for me at the time.  Anyway, good for me to be getting this done in November, before we have snow.

Life is moving at the right pace.  And in the right direction.

One more picture of the mtn.

One more picture of the mtn. by woodsrun
One more picture of the mtn., a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

No particular reason to take this shot, just a random picture of a cold lake on a relatively warm day. I have a friend who suggested I take a picture of the mountain every day for a year. Well, I think we've collectively done just about that. There are times when it really doesn't change much from one day to the next.

Whiteface from Norman Ridge

Whiteface from Norman Ridge by woodsrun
Whiteface from Norman Ridge, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Just a nice sight. Taken on my way home from Saranac Lake Friday afternoon. Not so much snow left on the mountain after the weekend's high temps in 50's and 60's. Wow what a weekend we had.

Lovely ladies

Lovely ladies by woodsrun
Lovely ladies, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

I took about 15 pictures like this, trying to get them to look nice and pose for Christmas cards. This is about as good as it gets. Tess hates to pose & walks away when I take out the camera. Treasure puts her ears back and looks ugly. I guess I do about the same thing.

Such a pretty girl.

Such a pretty girl. by woodsrun
Such a pretty girl., a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

She finally sat still long enough to look nice in a picture.

Friday, November 02, 2012

Drama in Hawkeye

Since the storm offered no drama, my dog Treasure decided to add a little something to our life.  She disappeared on Wednesday night, didn't return with Tess as she ALWAYS does.  I was concerned, but waited a while.  A while turned into hours, so I got hysterical and drove around the neighborhood, calling and calling.  I checked our camp, hoping she had closed herself in on the back porch--nope, that's not where she was.  I slept on the couch, hoping she'd wake me up by banging on the front door.  Morning came and there was no Treasure.  By now I was beside myself, not knowing what to do next.  I walked (with Tess) to each camp in the neighborhood, walked around and called her.  Most of the camps have screen doors that open out so she didn't get in and get stuck anywhere.

This was the pits.  Finally I decided to walk across the land to Fred's camp, hoping she was there.  Well BINGO!  She was in the field across from my house, with her toe caught in a trap.  Very dramatic, the whole thing.  It was hard to open the trap but I did, she freed herself and refused to put any weight on the damaged toe all the way home.  I felt the toe, the leg, the paw--there was no obvious damage.  To her body, maybe, but her psyche suffered considerable damage.  She's barely recovered, limps when she remembers to, moans and whines quite a bit (while wagging her tail).  Tess, ever the jealous one, seems to have dismissed the entire thing.  She knew where Treasure was but wouldn't tell me.  So, Timmy, if you're ever lost in the mine, don't rely on Tess to bring help.  And Treasure was too stupid to make enough noise for me to hear her.  I walked past the gated entrance to the field in my searches, but she didn't respond to my calls.  What a pair they are, those dogs.  The whole thing was awful but did let me know how much Treasure means to me and how important it is for me to keep track of my dogs.  Now when they go out they're only allowed to be loose for about 5 minutes before I call them back in.  This means I'll have to walk them so they'll get at least a modicum of exercise.  But that will be good for me, for sure.

I just walked 20 minutes on the treadmill at work.  I walked so much the other night that I felt very righteous, but since I couldn't think of an errand to run during lunch, I did the right thing and walked.  Good for me.  This is a pitiful attempt at what could barely be called exercise, but it's a start.  I'm still carrying the weight I gained over the summer.

The weekend looks quiet from here.  No big plans, nothing going on.  I should finish the projects I've yet to complete for my friend Barb's grandchildren.  I could always start sorting the crap that fills the master bedroom.  I'll watch a lot of TV.

My mother finally got electricity, this morning at 5:30.  Their power went out after the storm on Monday, so she's been playing Pioneer Girl all week.  She did very well but got really bored and tired of reading by candle light.  Don't blame her.  We agreed that washing dishes and flusing toilets use a lot of water.  Mark did water runs to the Wakefield branch of his bagelry, so at least she didn't have to fuss with that.  She's a peach.