Middle of the night

Or early morning, whichever you choose.  I woke at 2 a.m. and finally just got up at 2:30.  The dogs were pleased, they seem to think a snack and trip outside are appropriate for this time.  I'm a sucker and eager to please so they get what they request.  Some of the time.

I'm all fussed about the car, I've tried everything to clean the backseat with no success so I have an appointment to have it detailed.  This is really embarrassing, the car is disgusting and I hate to have anyone have to deal with it.  Then I remind myself that they've probably seen worse and had to deal with more disgusting things.  But still... I hate to be the one to make people deal with unpleasant things.  But still.. it's what they do for a living.

I'm watching The Baroness von Sketch Show, which is very funny VERY funny women's humor, short vignettes by a women's comedy troupe.  Some of these make me laugh out loud.

A group of us had lunch in Plattsburgh to celebrate Pat's 79th birthday.  79!  Wow, next year she'll turn 80, amazing.  Of course that used to seem so old but now, oh no, it's not old at all, we'll all soon be in our 70's then 80's.  We had a good time, there were 8 of us so it was festive.

Our weather was nice yesterday, supposed to be even nicer today with maybe even some sunshine.  That would be pleasant.  It was in the 40's and drizzly but actually quite a nice day.  I went to the dump in the morning before driving to Plattsburgh for lunch.  There is still some color in the woods, the beeches and birches, aspens still have darkish gold leaves.  They're clinging to their leaves all right, it's almost November and we still have a nice bit of brightness out there.  Of course it's snowing right now but we're not supposed to have much.

A week? really?

Didn't realize it had been so long.  Maybe I had a busy week.  but probably not.

I had to go to Plattsburgh Monday, then to a meeting in Keene that evening before dinner with friends who were here for the weekend.  A lot of driving.  Tuesday was a work day and that was fine.  Wednesday I spent a few hours at the thrift store, got to do bagging instead of receiving because they needed help out front.  Nice work, bagging--the only decision you have to make is what size bag (or maybe a box?) to put things in as they're paid for.  I love it.

The dogs ran off one afternoon and were gone long enough to find someone else's food to eat.  It was better food than they usually get, or at least richer food because on Thursday SOMEONE (hello Bear) had explosive diarrhea in the car.  What a spectacular mess.  A real shitstorm.  Oh what a disgusting thing that was and the car still stinks because it's all over the seatbelt, carpet, seat, dashboard, etc.  I did some cleaning but it was all frozen so too tough to get everything cleaned.  It still stinks only now it smells like poopy Odoban.  I'll take the car in to be detailed as soon as I can. 

Yesterday was a day at home and a pretty productive one.  I did a ton of laundry, I closed the boat house, I tidied up a bit in prep for book group, which I'm hosting tomorrow night.  I put plastic on one window (two more to go).  I dumped some deck pots and did a little clearing of the deck.  Of course the dirt in the pots is frozen so I have to bring them in a couple at a time to thaw out.  I love me.  I pretty much have to do this every year because I don't get the pots dumped early enough.

Today I walked with friends this morning then went to the thrift store.  I only stayed a couple of hours, receiving was well staffed and I didn't feel like staying.  It's been snowing here for 3 hours but it's only just starting to stick.  This is supposed to be a huge and complicated storm with sleet, rain, ice, snow, a wintry mix.  They like that term, the weather people, a wintry mix.  It's pretty windy but not what was really predicted yet.  Maybe later.

Tomorrow I'm making dinner for book group although book group consists of 3 of us in the winter season.  That's OK, we have a nice time and sometimes even talk about the book.

It got cold and we survived

It even snowed, just a dusting and it's long gone now.  Today it's 50, sunny but windy.

I had planned to volunteer at the thrift store today but on the way home from our bog walk this morning the dogs ran off.  They were gone for 1 1/2 hours before my friend called from her house FOUR MILES away to tell me that the dogs were there.  They've never been inside her house and have only been there in the car, never been out of the car there.  Did they know it was her house?  or did they just get lucky?  or what?   I didn't know whether to laugh or cry--she lives on top of a mountain down the road from the hardtop at the end of my road.  Did they follow the power line?  Did they run down the road, which is so so dangerous it makes me crazy?  I just don't know what to think but am struggling with this.  I guess the solution is to always have a leash and put one of them on a leash on the way back from any walk.  BAD dogs BAD BAD dogs.  Poor Treasure is exhausted but Bear sill has plenty of energy.  Oh this is a big problem.

Other than that I'm fine.  I had a good enough week but went all the way to Plattsburgh yesterday to get meds which were "not ready until Monday" at the pharmacy.  Pissed me off but I did get some errands done so it wasn't a totally wasted trip.  Just partly.

So what will I do today?  Hopefully I'll get off the couch and put plastic on the windows at the back of the house.  Go to the dump.   Go to the bank.  Be productive.  I'm exhausted emotionally though.  A tracking collar would only work if I had cell reception at home.  The nearest hot spot is miles away.

I put up the suet feeder for the woodpeckers who keep hanging around and I filled the birdfeeder.  Chickadees, finches, blue jays, nuthatches.  Friends are here with company this weekend.  There were 5 of us walking yesterday morning but only 2 today.

Meeting of the historical society in Keene on Monday followed by dinner with friends.  Otherwise a quiet week I think.  But then I always think that and it doesn't turn out that way.

Run for cover! It's coming!

They're predicting a cold night and colder morning for tonight and tomorrow.  OH NO!   Wind chills will make temps in the teens (maybe) and we'll have a hard frost (maybe).  My friends are nervous because the water in their camps has yet to be taken out.  There's not much I can do to help but I check on things.  Some friends are coming for the weekend but they'll have a lot of guests so maybe I won't see them (which would be all right).

I went to Plattsburgh on Monday, haircut and lunch with a good friend.  Again, I don't have any friends who AREN'T good...

Yesterday I got chilled at work, the heat in the library wasn't working and it was a day like today, 40's with wind and rain.  brrrr.

This morning I worked at the thrift store for 3 hours, things were a mess there because it was very busy on Saturday but there was only one person working in receiving.  We got things in pretty good shape but then a bunch of donations came in plus it started to rain so we had to move everything inside where there wasn't enough room.  Yikes, what a mess.  I felt bad leaving but there were enough people working there and I had chores to do for friends.

Tomorrow I'm working in the Archives and I volunteered to stuff envelopes at the Adk Land Trust.  Why did I do that?  I need to save time for my friend who has company coming tomorrow night, we need to make beds and arrange furniture.  I'll get it all done but I'll be tired.  whew.

We have some yellow leaves left but there sure is a lot of brown in the hills now.  I think I'd rather have winter than this weather, it's just damp and chilly and uncomfortable.  In January I'll remind myself that I wrote that.

Brighter woods

I forget how much brighter the woods become when they're naked of leaves--I can see Silver Lake Mtn. (sort of) now and can look into the forest in a way that I haven't been able to for months.  I like that.  Yes, I miss the bright green of spring, the warmth of summer and the brilliant fall colors, but I do enjoy change and change is what's happening now.

It was 33 this morning, up to 42 4 hours later and expected to be 50 today.  Bright fall sunshine, a blue blue sky.  Just wonderful.  I walked with my friend and my dogs, such a nice visit with her and fun watching the dogs.

I have a good fire going--have yet to turn on the heat.  That's amazing and wonderful and totally unusual for this late.  I'll take it!

Dinner last night with good friends (summer people), dinner tonight with another couple of summer friends, then it will officially be the end of the season.  I'll put my lawn mower in the shed down the driveway, I'll start feeding the birds, I'll start closing the boat house and this week I'll order my snow tires and have them installed.  SNOW TIRES???!!!  Yes, it's time for that.  There was snow in the mountains yesterday, just a dusting for effect.  We always have that in October, just a harbinger of winter.

Life is good.  No, life is VERY good, I'm happy and enjoying the days.  Do I wish summer would last longer?  Not this year, we had a long extension of the season.  I live here because I like having 4 different seasons (well, that's only one reason I live here, there are more).  It was time for a change and that's what we have.

Uh-oh, past peak today

I think maybe yesterday was peak (boy do I sound obsessive about this).  Today there are way fewer leaves on the trees and the mountains are starting to have the purple-gray they have when they're empty of leaves.  I had a really nice walk yesterday in the warm oh-so-warm weather of these 2 days.  I went to work yesterday, that was easy and nice, and the drives there and home were truly spectacular.  Some fog, cloudy but that helps deepen the colors in a way that bright sunshine does not.  Today it's 76 with bright blue sky and hot sun.  I was at the thrift store for a while but came home sort of early.  Had coffee this morning at a friend's camp with others, our final gathering on the porch.  Man was it nice, what a gorgeous morning.

Here are images from my walk yesterday.

Naturally the camera doesn't do justice to the brightness of the colors but you get the idea.

Must be peak by now

It's hard to tell, there's heavy fog out there.  Can't see the far shore or the mountains.  I was hoping to go on a photo-taking tour today but nooooo, there's not a view to be found in the fog.

It's been a relatively quiet Columbus Day weekend, not as many people visiting Hawkeye as in some years.  I had visits with friends, cooked a dinner for friends, and tonight will go to a pork dinner with friends.  The weather has been less than ideal but that doesn't upset me.  I'd like to take the dogs for a bog walk but there are 4 cars at the bog right now so I won't do that.  Maybe later on, dinner tonight isn't until 6 so I can go in the late afternoon.  maybe.

Meanwhile my pump/well is not behaving well.  Last night the pump was acting strangely so I showered at a friend's house and shut off the pump.  Today I turned it back on and it spit and sassed and finally spit out dirty water so I'm conjecturing that we've hit the bottom of the well.  Rats, why did I insist on doing a lot of dishes AND doing the laundry yesterday?  I've been being very careful about water use lately.  I suppose it was inevitable anyway, there's just been very little rain this year.  I'll leave the pump off for a while (days) and see what happens.  I have access to the Holts' house where there's unlimited water and that's great consolation.

My week looks pretty quiet.  Yes, the Archives and the thrift store, plus a meeting of the Cemetery Association one night.  Maybe a trip to Plattsburgh (ugh) to pick up meds.  Lunch with a friend tomorrow after the Archives.  The weather is supposed to improve, 70 degrees on Wednesday.  If one can believe the forecasters.  I have to close the boat house one of these days.  I usually wait until it's cold and unpleasant but maybe, just maybe this year will be the exception to that.  Maybe, I said maybe.

The dogs are fine.  They wanted to run off this morning but I managed to corral them.  Now they're sleeping soundly in the warm living room, where there's a hot fire in the stove.  THEY don't care that there's no running water.

Still not peak yet

Colors are coming along but still haven't reached peak.  Someone at work today said "When do you know it's peak?"  The answer is easy: once it's past peak.  There's a dramatic change just after peak color, the leaves fall and only the yellows and golds are left.

It's been an easy and good week, nothing very dramatic.  I volunteered at the thrift store yesterday, stayed until noon (which is longer than I usually work) because there were only 2 of us in receiving and I didn't want to leave the other worker alone.  Well, I DID leave her alone but only for 1 1/2 hours.  Luckily it wasn't busy with droppers.  There were enough shoppers but we fared well in receiving and were able to keep up with the traffic.  I was thinking of staying home Saturday but that would really be unfair--it will be busy busy busy because of the holiday weekend.  It's not just an American holiday, it's Canadian Thanksgiving as well.  Yikes the region will be packed.  Sort of like peak color, it will be peak tourist season.

Work in the Archives was just fine today.  We did some scanning, laughed a lot and I messed around with images we had emailed to us from a summer person.  Some nice images.

Tomorrow I head to Plattsburgh, get my flu shot in the morning then have made plans to visit with the new director of CEF, where I used to work.  It just felt like a nice thing to do--I'm not eager to meet him, nor do I dread, nor do I particularly care, it just seemed right.  There was a reception for him a while back.  I was invited but didn't go, it was in Plattsburgh one night and I didn't feel like seeing the people who would be there.  This way I can just show that I'm friendly and pretend to care about what happens at the System.

We walked to the mailbox and home with the dogs this morning--that's nearly a mile so we felt pretty righteous.  Too wet to walk in the woods.

Life is good, very good.

Waiting patiently

We're still waiting for peak color, unusual for the 1st of October.  Friends are coming for Columbus Day--some years they get a muted showing because it's past peak, some years they hit it on peak color but this year it looks as if it will be pre-peak.  But beautiful nevertheless.  Not, maybe the brilliance of oranges, yellows and reds we sometimes have but you can't argue that fall color in Hawkeye is a thing of beauty.

I've been busy but winding down my social activities (though someone at book group just asked me if I EVER eat a meal at home)(the answer is yes but not often recently).  Most people have left/are leaving.  I had a delightful and wonderful evening with one of my favorite relatives, my cousin's son and his wife (blonde-haired Betsy) on Saturday.  We always laugh a lot when we're together.  We usually see each other only once a year but we can easily pick up where we left off.  They LOVE my dogs (who wouldn't?).  They were in camp for the weekend so I took the dogs down to see them but OH NO the dogs ran off together.  My fault, I was distracted and having a nice visit.  Turned out the dogs went down the lake and visited with some friends at their camp.  Only Bear wouldn't leave.  Treasure went back to camp but Bear refused to leave.  Of course, their feeding him biscuits and letting him in the camp to play with their dog didn't encourage him to come home.  I waited too long for him to show up at our camp, finally came home 2 hours later to find him in my living room--they left me 2 phone messages and ended up driving him home and letting him in the house.  I'm sure he appreciated the ride.  Anyway I was embarrassed but thankful, now will do something nice for them to repay.  They are nice people and have a wonderful male from the same breeder so we share that.

I'm heading to Plattsburgh today for a doctor's appointment and lunch with a friend (see?  I never really DO eat at home, alone).  This is the doctor who tried convincing me that I do indeed have a soul (this was last year).  No, I do not believe in an afterlife.  But you MUST, declared the doctor, we all have souls.  I KNOW this.  I've FELT the soul of my dead daughter leave her body.  blah blah blah.  Not my circus, not my monkeys.

I worked at the thrift store but only briefly.  People working there seemed to be pretty grumpy so I stayed 2 hours then left, feeling guilty because of the stuff that was piled up outside of receiving, waiting for sorting, cleaning and pricing.  Too bad, I don't volunteer there to be among a bunch of grumbling and suffering fellow volunteers.  I'll return on Wednesday unless something else comes up and one of the grumblers will have left town by then.  We usually have a good time working together, we laugh, we tease each other, we talk and I enjoy the companionship and sharing.  Hopefully that will work out this week.

I'm going on morning walks pretty regularly now, we've been walking on an old logging road with a gorgeous 180-degree view of the mountains.  That only works if my friend can go to work late because it doesn't get light as early anymore, rats.  Today we're heading back to the treadmills at the gym at 7:15.  I think I walk faster on the treadmill.  or maybe not, I can't tell.  Anyway the view isn't as nice but the conversation is still good.