Snow? Really? Is that necessary?

There was snow on the ground (and on the pansies) this morning, and now it's snowing hard again.  It's been raining for days and is supposed to continue to rain on & off for a zillion more days.  This weather sucks.  It was 30 this morning and I've had a fire going for the last 3 days.  Am I tired of stoking the wood stove?  Why, yes, yes I am.  The wood is all out and uncovered, so it's just getting wet every day, which makes it even more fun to carry in and try to burn.

I haven't been doing much (seems as if that's all I say).  I have been cleaning bit by bit, in prep for Sunday's book group.  We postponed the meeting and it seems as if we haven't been together for a long time--which is because we haven't.  Tonight I'm going with Marylou to a function honoring a friend of ours.  You're supposed to wear a hat.  Ugh.  I'll take my baseball cap and hope there are enough people without hats so I won't feel funny not wearing it.

It was a pretty quiet week.  I did my stint at the Historical Museum yesterday--it takes a lot longer to scan big photos so it was a slow day.  After that I had lunch with Julie.  We always have good visits.  So good that I'm going with her to Blue Mtn. Lake this weekend.  She has to go to an event there because they funded something for CEF.  We always have good road trips so I'm going along for the ride.  And maybe free food when we get there.

Tess is doing pretty well.  Her leg seems stronger but I'm having trouble keeping her quiet.  She ran off this morning, pausing to look back at me before disappearing down the driveway.  Does she know she's supposed to take it easy?  The vet told me to walk her on a leash, just to go to the bathroom, then she's to be back in the house.  Well I try, but meet with limited success.  She doesn't limp as much as she did before and seems to tolerate the anti-inflammatory drug well.  She doesn't like to eat peanut butter from me because I used to swipe the pb on the roof of her mouth.  Now she very delicately takes the wad of pb with her pill buried in it.  She doesn't trust me.  Treasure, on the other hand, seems to love having a big wad of peanut butter stuck to the roof of her mouth.  Well, it's food and she loves food.

I got a call from friends who are getting a puppy from my breeder.  They put a deposit on the pup, the litter is due in 2 weeks I think.  They visited with the breeder and were impressed with the dogs.  They reported that she has a 9-wk old female black Lab and a 6-yr old female black Lab.  Oh I want them both, but mostly I want the older dog.  I resist, however, having maintained for a while that I will not have 3 dogs again.  My friends want a male so didn't take either.  Strong wills, they must have, to resist a 9-wk old puppy.

Both dogs go to the vet next week.  Treasure needs to have her liver functions checked (for $65) and Treasure needs shots and an exam (for how much?  how many hundreds?).

I'm reading a Fay Weldon book about an older woman who moves into an assisted living place in southern Rhode Island.  There's not a whole lot about RI in it, but there are references to places near where my mother lives.  I told my mother I'd be visiting her in June, when black flies are bad here.  I'll skip a visit in May, that's one of my favorite months here.  If we ever get to May and it stops raining and snowing.

I had a conversation with a semi-retired friend recently about what to do in retirement.  He said he made a list of things he wanted to do when he stopped working full-time.  Oh, I did that! I said with glee.  I have things like clean closets, throw out old clothes, clean the master bedroom on my list.  He gave me a funny look and said the his list included going to Italy, taking a course and learning how to SCUBA dive.  Oh my we're very different people, aren't we.

Holy Moles

Although this may look like lots of piles of poop, it's actually mole hills in my yard.  I always have some, but this seems to be a banner year.  I took this picture today (snow is nearly gone) and it gives me the willies thinking about how many moles there are under the lawn.  YUCK.

I had a busy (for me) week, lots of traveling.  I went to Plattsburgh Tuesday morning for a hair cut, then on to Westport in the afternoon to the vet with Tess.  She has a torn ACL, which explains her limping routine.  This is common in Labs and not the first time I've dealt with it--she's the 3rd dog I've had with this.  Vet says she's too old for surgery (yay--I just heard of someone's Lab with the same thing, repaired surgically for $1100) so instead we have anti-inflammatory drug and "take it easy."  Tess doesn't like to take pills and doesn't know what "easy" is.  I've taken to walking her on a leash, which seems very strange to both of us but is necessary--she ran off twice on Weds.so is now grounded.  She's not really much better but it's only been a couple of days.

Weds. I went to the doctor for the swell diagnosis that I'm fat.  Great.  Big surprise.  I'm working with my doctor on a weight-loss plan.  Let's see how this goes.  No butter, no sugar, skim milk, vegetables and meat.  Yes, I can eat my quinoa and farro but I need to eat more meat and fewer carbs.  OK, OK, I'll give it my best.  After the appointment I went grocery shopping then met a friend at Starbucks.  Where I had a sugary chai.

Thursday it was back to Plattsburgh for lunch with good friend Barb.  We laughed a lot and had good food.  I ran errands in the morning, including a trip into CEF to pay a bill and say hello to too many people.  It really means nothing to me to be back there but I can't say I enjoy it much.

Today I stayed home.  It was cold this morning but the sun finally came out in the afternoon and it warmed up a bit.  I transplanted some house plants, watched the finches at my feeder, counted my crocuses, and put away the last of my winter coats and boots.  I did see P&J this afternoon for a bit and had a good visit with them.

Tomorrow is dump day, and maybe a Potsdam day--we'll see.  I bought a cordless weed whacker and cannot wait to use it.  Well, wait I will have to because there's no grass tall enough to mow yet.  Oh I love cordless power things.  Must get myself a cordless saw.  A second one--I have a circular saw, which I rarely use.

Now that the snow is pretty much gone I need to retrieve my lawn mower and take it to Wilmington for a tune-up.  It surprises me that I'm even thinking about doing that in April instead of late May.  Great, as long as I do more than just think about it.  I'm parking at the end of the driveway because of the mud.  We're having a very mild mud season so far but it's supposed to rain a lot next week so I may be premature in declaring it mild.  The ice isn't near going out yet though there is a bit of open water along the shore in places.

I have to clean the house for next week's book group.  This will be a good thing.  Apparently I'm one of those people who doesn't think she deserves a clean house and only cleans when other people are coming over.  I've done a bit of sorting and throwing things out but the clutter in my living room is phenomenal.  I did plant my pansies in a pot on the deck, which doesn't really count as cleaning but it is an achievement.

The dogs are well, except for Tess' knee.  They don't ever get to go out together any more because the run off (Tess hops more than runs, but boy that girl can move).  We walk to the car every morning to get the paper.  They go with me almost every time I ride in the car.  Most dogs always want to go for a ride in the car even though they mostly just sit in the car, staring out the window and sleeping.  My dogs are no exceptions.

Spring may come yet

We got 4" of heavy wet snow last night.  Some of it has melted, and temps are due to rise way up high to melt the rest of it.  I had a good trip to RI for Easter, with good visits and delicious food.  I was sick, still suffering from my respiratory illness, but am nearly back to normal now.  The dogs had a good time but didn't get to go for a beach walk--Tess is lame and it was too windy when Mark took Treasure to the beach to check it out.  She felt pretty special to be riding in HIS car but agreed with him that conditions at the beach were hostile.

My trips there and back were fine, I sure do like traveling on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Not much traffic except for trucks and they tend to be well behaved.  We all spent time reading, though I read nothing notable for sure.  Liza and I ran some errands--dump, library, birthday shopping for Mark, grocery store, post office.  There sure is a lot of traffic in Wakefield.  The dogs had a grand time and sure do love Liza's couch.  We had fun dying eggs and sharing the cooking of Easter dinner.  It was all very restful and nice.

There was snow in RI when I got there but none when I left.  What did I come home to?  Plenty of snow still on the ground--no bare ground in my yard, some mud but still snow in the driveway.  Cold nights, snow, now warming.  I may sleep with the bedroom window open tonight, always a highlight of my spring.  It's supposed to rain.  Yay!  I bought some pansies in RI but they got hit pretty hard by frost when I brought them home.  Oops.  There weren't many pansies to be found yet.

I spent yesterday in Plattsburgh, did my volunteer stint, went grocery shopping and had lunch with a friend.  I have to return tomorrow morning to have blood drawn.  Poor planning, I should have done that yesterday.  I don't have much else to do in town.  DON'T spend money, is something.

I had a quiet day today, really did very little.  I went to Pat & Jim's this afternoon and visited with them a bit.  We caught up with each other's news (of which there was little).  Nothing happened in the 'hood while I was gone (or since I've returned).  Life is quiet, peaceful, and good.

Little Rhody Easter

 We still haven't mastered dying eggs but we're making progress.  We couldn't get all the colors to work right, and Mark's rubber bands almost made stripes, but we had fun trying.

 It was a day at the beach.  Liza and Mark at the town beach, checking out the new location of the pavilion.  Oh won't the others be surprised when they see it!

Easter dinner table, flowers by Mark.  He cooked a delicious pork loin with maple glaze.  Yum.