Ready for the beach.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
110813 wakefield 009
Jenica and her auntie, eating like little pigs at Champlain's, home of the best seafood.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Catching up
Boy it's been a while. I didn't realize how far away from 7/22 we'd gone. It's August now, many of my friends at the lake are saying summer is over. Well, the end is coming soon I suppose. I'm about to embark on my 2 week vacation trip to Rhode Island, which is wow-ily exciting for me. My sister is now in Rhode Island and will come here to the North Country on Thursday. I guess I'll pick her up at the Burlington bus station, though travel plans are not totally firmed up yet. She'll be here for our annual family meeting, which is Saturday morning. Jenica will come for it, too, dutiful Rogers that she is. Molly will stay until Monday or Tuesday, when we'll drive to RI together. In my new car.
Yes, I bought a new car. Another Civic. I think this is my 6th Civic. It's a 2012, not that I wanted such a new one because they've redesigned the car almost completely this time. Anyway, it's pretty and it's new. I got a fairly ok trade-in for my old car--a 2008 Civic with 67,000 miles on it and some body issues. I needed new tires and knew it wouldn't cost that much extra to have a new car, so I opted for the new car. Now I get to worry about messing up this car. I got it on Friday and so far: wet dogs have ridden in the back seat; I've taken garbage to the dump in it; I'm still trying to figure out how to make everything work but I finally figured out how to turn the radio on (or even more, how to turn it off); I'm trying to figure out why the colors on the dashboard display change from blue to green to bluish green; I've driven it to the boat house without doing any (apparent) damage to it; I'm still trying to figure out how to make it stop locking all the doors when it goes forward and/or stops. My sister reminded me that, when I got my previous Civic I complained that it had too many complicated things to figure out. Mostly it was the digital speedometer, which I now much prefer. I'll probably never figure out how or why to use the USB port and who knows if I'll ever have a cell phone or MP3 player. But it's always good to be prepared, no?
Work is moving along, nice calm pace. Home life not so much. There are many people in Hawkeye right now, all wanting to get together, eat, drink, be merry. I hosted a cocktail party for about a dozen people on the boat house porch, which got others in the mood to do more of the same. Last week I had dinner with 3 cousins, with much reminiscing about the past. Sunday at noon we had round 2 of the Hawkeye Chicken Wars, hosted by Joe & Martha. They served Vietnamese food, which was tasty. Participants have to rate the chicken-based meal on taste and presentation. I'm not at all competitive, so it's hard for me to participate in this part. What will I cook when it's my turn? Yipes I have no idea. I'm hoping my sister can help me come up with something Italian and interesting.
I stopped at Linda's last night, briefly, and friends from Baltimore were there. Other friends are hosting a duck dinner one night this week and a wine & cheese tasting on another night. I should take an evening off to get the dogs to the vet before leaving for RI. This will interfere with my social AND financial lives, but I think it would be a good thing to do. That would be tomorrow night. Hmmmm. I'm undecided about this. One reason for doing it now is that they would get their Lyme vaccinations, and we're heading into prime Lyme country. Kitty will be incarcerated for 2 weeks (more animal expense). See? I couldn't afford new tires at all.
I have tons of lilies blooming in a few different places around the house. I like lilies and have usually stuck to Asiatic lilies, but I bought a bunch of lily-combo packs and stuffed the bulbs in the ground. Right now there are tiger lilies blooming, along with the day lilies, of course. I was supposed to get married when I was 19 and the year before the scheduled wedding my mother planted a yardful of lilies for my outdoor wedding. The wedding never happened, but she said the lilies were spectacular. Sorry I missed it, huh.
I go to the dentist on Thursday to have my permanent retainers put in. Right now I'm wearing plastic removable ones that are so horrible I can't wait. This is the final (I hope) installment of my Tooth Drama. So far they're still lined up as well as they were when I got my braces off. As they should be.
Yes, I bought a new car. Another Civic. I think this is my 6th Civic. It's a 2012, not that I wanted such a new one because they've redesigned the car almost completely this time. Anyway, it's pretty and it's new. I got a fairly ok trade-in for my old car--a 2008 Civic with 67,000 miles on it and some body issues. I needed new tires and knew it wouldn't cost that much extra to have a new car, so I opted for the new car. Now I get to worry about messing up this car. I got it on Friday and so far: wet dogs have ridden in the back seat; I've taken garbage to the dump in it; I'm still trying to figure out how to make everything work but I finally figured out how to turn the radio on (or even more, how to turn it off); I'm trying to figure out why the colors on the dashboard display change from blue to green to bluish green; I've driven it to the boat house without doing any (apparent) damage to it; I'm still trying to figure out how to make it stop locking all the doors when it goes forward and/or stops. My sister reminded me that, when I got my previous Civic I complained that it had too many complicated things to figure out. Mostly it was the digital speedometer, which I now much prefer. I'll probably never figure out how or why to use the USB port and who knows if I'll ever have a cell phone or MP3 player. But it's always good to be prepared, no?
Work is moving along, nice calm pace. Home life not so much. There are many people in Hawkeye right now, all wanting to get together, eat, drink, be merry. I hosted a cocktail party for about a dozen people on the boat house porch, which got others in the mood to do more of the same. Last week I had dinner with 3 cousins, with much reminiscing about the past. Sunday at noon we had round 2 of the Hawkeye Chicken Wars, hosted by Joe & Martha. They served Vietnamese food, which was tasty. Participants have to rate the chicken-based meal on taste and presentation. I'm not at all competitive, so it's hard for me to participate in this part. What will I cook when it's my turn? Yipes I have no idea. I'm hoping my sister can help me come up with something Italian and interesting.
I stopped at Linda's last night, briefly, and friends from Baltimore were there. Other friends are hosting a duck dinner one night this week and a wine & cheese tasting on another night. I should take an evening off to get the dogs to the vet before leaving for RI. This will interfere with my social AND financial lives, but I think it would be a good thing to do. That would be tomorrow night. Hmmmm. I'm undecided about this. One reason for doing it now is that they would get their Lyme vaccinations, and we're heading into prime Lyme country. Kitty will be incarcerated for 2 weeks (more animal expense). See? I couldn't afford new tires at all.
I have tons of lilies blooming in a few different places around the house. I like lilies and have usually stuck to Asiatic lilies, but I bought a bunch of lily-combo packs and stuffed the bulbs in the ground. Right now there are tiger lilies blooming, along with the day lilies, of course. I was supposed to get married when I was 19 and the year before the scheduled wedding my mother planted a yardful of lilies for my outdoor wedding. The wedding never happened, but she said the lilies were spectacular. Sorry I missed it, huh.
I go to the dentist on Thursday to have my permanent retainers put in. Right now I'm wearing plastic removable ones that are so horrible I can't wait. This is the final (I hope) installment of my Tooth Drama. So far they're still lined up as well as they were when I got my braces off. As they should be.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Friday post
and it's Friday at last. Long, hot week. I'm no good in humid summer heat. Feel all wilted and sweaty. The best place to be is: at work, where it's air-conditioned ; or: on the boat house porch where there's always a breeze. I stayed at home last night, even though it was 84 in the living room at 10 p.m. The dogs panted all night--or at least they were panting every time I woke up. I'm sure they slept some. I did. I slept well, actually. Went to bed early, very tired from my Weds. travels.
I went to Utica--everyone has heard plenty about this. I left home at 5 a.m., got to the Utica Pub. Lib. around 8:30, plenty of time for the 9:00 session. The program lasted until 3, when I was totally ready to leave and was wearing my rude bored face while the last speaker spoke (endlessly). It took about 4 hours to get home, just enough traffic to screw me up. I was exhausted when I got home--I think I may be too old for these marathon drive-meet-drive days. Also, I was up too late the night before. Oh well, age is what age is. I pretty much enjoyed the trip, many lake communities, but the drive home was endless. I much prefer the 5-8 a.m. travel time.
I haven't done much this week, just work and home stuff. Saw Jim one night (Pat wasn't there) in his air-conditioned comfort. He has COPD so he can't do hot humid weather. After that I went to Linda's, where I ended up staying for delicious dinner and visit with newly arrived friends. Yesterday I stopped there again, having left work at noon. Nice visit with Linda on her porch, though there's not much breeze on her porch so it was a little stifflling.
Fred & I had drinks on his porch last evening--he has a breeze and it was quite pleasant. I want a screened in porch at my house--I'd love to sleep there. I tried a bunch of times to put up a screened gazebo but there was never a floor so it was not nice for sleeping on. Someday, someday. Or else I'll hold out for a screened-in tree house. That would be way cooler. After drinks F. & I went to Big Daddy's diner, where we go just because it's bad. He always has a turkey club and I always have a cheeseburger. I love cheeseburgers. yum. Anyway last night we had good food (for B.Daddy's) and a really nice time.
This weekend? There are cousins in camp whom I'll visit with. I still have much firewood to stack, and temps are supposed to drop a lot by Sunday so hopefully I'll be productive that way. I did some cleaning yesterday, proudly in the heat. I still have too much clutter but at least I got the laundry done. Now I have to change beds in the boat house & wash those sheets. Oh it doesn't end. But how lucky am I to have that problem?
I went to Utica--everyone has heard plenty about this. I left home at 5 a.m., got to the Utica Pub. Lib. around 8:30, plenty of time for the 9:00 session. The program lasted until 3, when I was totally ready to leave and was wearing my rude bored face while the last speaker spoke (endlessly). It took about 4 hours to get home, just enough traffic to screw me up. I was exhausted when I got home--I think I may be too old for these marathon drive-meet-drive days. Also, I was up too late the night before. Oh well, age is what age is. I pretty much enjoyed the trip, many lake communities, but the drive home was endless. I much prefer the 5-8 a.m. travel time.
I haven't done much this week, just work and home stuff. Saw Jim one night (Pat wasn't there) in his air-conditioned comfort. He has COPD so he can't do hot humid weather. After that I went to Linda's, where I ended up staying for delicious dinner and visit with newly arrived friends. Yesterday I stopped there again, having left work at noon. Nice visit with Linda on her porch, though there's not much breeze on her porch so it was a little stifflling.
Fred & I had drinks on his porch last evening--he has a breeze and it was quite pleasant. I want a screened in porch at my house--I'd love to sleep there. I tried a bunch of times to put up a screened gazebo but there was never a floor so it was not nice for sleeping on. Someday, someday. Or else I'll hold out for a screened-in tree house. That would be way cooler. After drinks F. & I went to Big Daddy's diner, where we go just because it's bad. He always has a turkey club and I always have a cheeseburger. I love cheeseburgers. yum. Anyway last night we had good food (for B.Daddy's) and a really nice time.
This weekend? There are cousins in camp whom I'll visit with. I still have much firewood to stack, and temps are supposed to drop a lot by Sunday so hopefully I'll be productive that way. I did some cleaning yesterday, proudly in the heat. I still have too much clutter but at least I got the laundry done. Now I have to change beds in the boat house & wash those sheets. Oh it doesn't end. But how lucky am I to have that problem?
Monday, July 18, 2011
Long Monday
And today seems like the Day that Won't END. The clocks have stopped, I'm sure. So I'm turning to my blog instead of going into the stacks to inventory more books about how to improve yourself. Turns out I/we bought a slugload of those, for the correctional facilities I imagine. Of all of the 160,000 residents of our service area, I would bet the inmates could most benefit from the 158's.
I had a good weekend, very nice. Weather was dock-worthy, so I spent both days on the dock. The water is pretty warm, though I swam briefly this morning and it fell colder after last night's rain. Ah, who knows, maybe it's just cold at 6:30 a.m.
Saturday I went to camp in the morning, visited with ex-husband's brother, someone I've always liked. He & his girlfriend + her kids were there for the day. And felt free to use anything they came across, including my canoe & my kayak (even though they had to go searching through the boat house--MY boat house--to find paddles. Personal space? what's that?). I cared only because it's a throwback to my former self, though I do prefer to have people ask if they can use things I own that cost hundreds of dollars. Oh well, the kids had fun with the kayak and no one liked the canoe, it was too tippy. Tough. I sat on the dock & finished the book group book (The lace reader), which I enjoyed. Both the sitting and the book, that is.
Saturday night I had company at the boat house for cocktail hour--the Nadals, good friends who are here for the summer. He's recently semi-retired from his glass-blowing business, she's a nurse. Or was, maybe she's retired too. I don't know--all I know is that I'm surrounded by retired people which should make me feel young but instead makes me feel as if everyone else is on a fun ride and I'm not. Patience, dear, patience. It hopefully won't be long. A few years. The Nadals & I spent a long time watching the adult loons feed the baby loons. whatever they're called. loonlets. loonettes. who knows. Anyway, there were 2 babies but one was much bigger than the other & the parents only fed the big one, leaving Little to bob in the waves alone. This upset Jim, though he finally agreed that nature is cruel. The lions kill the baby wildebeests. Crocodiles kill baby lions.
Saturday night Jenica & beau came, which was really nice. We had a good visit. I stayed in the boat house, they stayed in the nifty cabin that's right on the water. Nice chats during the day on Sun., lots of time when Jenica & I were on the dock together, reading & chatting. It was hot, too hot to be anywhere else. I tried going home to be productive and stack wood, but I turned right around & ended up back on the dock. Dogs were entertained. I still have many cords to stack and am not making progress at all.
Last night I had dinner with Jenica & Justin (she cooked) then we went to Hot Dog Man for ice cream with Fred. Apparently I've reached my weight plateau because my weight's been the same for 2 weeks now. Or maybe it's 3, who knows. Anyway, I'll stay this way through the summer (as long as I don't gain weight, that is) and may try losing more weight in the fall. I've lost nearly 30 pounds in the last year so I feel good. So does my doctor. He's very proud & says I might not have to take my cholesterol meds anymore. Of all the meds I take, that's the least invasive, but I guess it's good to get rid of anything I can.
I spent 2 days on the road last week--one day in Keene and one in Tupper Lake. Both were fine, though Keene was really hot and humid and the collection is pretty depressing. Too many old books. Tupper Lake is a long drive from my house. Wednesday afternoon I went to the calling hours for Ken's brother-in-law. Calling hours are a must, no matter what you thought of the person, whether you liked the person, whether you barely knew the person, etc. It's what you do. So I did it. Check that one off my list. The dearly departed was 88 and had been ill, but he really wanted to live, poor man. Congestive heart failure, all too common.
This week I'm in Plattsburgh except for Weds., when I have to drive to Utica for a seminar/workshop/meeting. YUCK. I have to be there at 9, didn't want to spend the night because then I'd have to board the dogs. So it'll be lots of driving, but I hope the meeting lasts at least as long as the driving takes. But I doubt that it will. 7 hours of driving.
Work is going along. It's too slow, after a huge flurry of work needing to be done. Now we're moving smoothly along through the summer hustle. I need to spend more time doing the inventory--I'm supposed to have half the collection done by Dec. and I'm far, far from reaching that point.
Tonight I'll stop at Linda's to give her the NY TImes I bought this morning. I haven't seen her much, need to take advantage of her presence here while I can. Sometimes I just feel as if I'm being pulled in a zillion different directions. The first event of our Chicken Wars was yesterday but I opted out. The plan is to have each person cook a chicken recipe for one Sunday dinner, and have us all judge the recipe. I'm not competitive, nor do I have a fantastic chicken recipe, so I'm not really up for the whole thing. There are scorecards and categories (presentation is one category--dear god help me). I may pass on the whole thing, since I'll be gone for 2 weekends in August anyway.
Now some time has passed, I can tell. The hands on the clocks have actually moved. I'll head into the stacks for a bit.
I had a good weekend, very nice. Weather was dock-worthy, so I spent both days on the dock. The water is pretty warm, though I swam briefly this morning and it fell colder after last night's rain. Ah, who knows, maybe it's just cold at 6:30 a.m.
Saturday I went to camp in the morning, visited with ex-husband's brother, someone I've always liked. He & his girlfriend + her kids were there for the day. And felt free to use anything they came across, including my canoe & my kayak (even though they had to go searching through the boat house--MY boat house--to find paddles. Personal space? what's that?). I cared only because it's a throwback to my former self, though I do prefer to have people ask if they can use things I own that cost hundreds of dollars. Oh well, the kids had fun with the kayak and no one liked the canoe, it was too tippy. Tough. I sat on the dock & finished the book group book (The lace reader), which I enjoyed. Both the sitting and the book, that is.
Saturday night I had company at the boat house for cocktail hour--the Nadals, good friends who are here for the summer. He's recently semi-retired from his glass-blowing business, she's a nurse. Or was, maybe she's retired too. I don't know--all I know is that I'm surrounded by retired people which should make me feel young but instead makes me feel as if everyone else is on a fun ride and I'm not. Patience, dear, patience. It hopefully won't be long. A few years. The Nadals & I spent a long time watching the adult loons feed the baby loons. whatever they're called. loonlets. loonettes. who knows. Anyway, there were 2 babies but one was much bigger than the other & the parents only fed the big one, leaving Little to bob in the waves alone. This upset Jim, though he finally agreed that nature is cruel. The lions kill the baby wildebeests. Crocodiles kill baby lions.
Saturday night Jenica & beau came, which was really nice. We had a good visit. I stayed in the boat house, they stayed in the nifty cabin that's right on the water. Nice chats during the day on Sun., lots of time when Jenica & I were on the dock together, reading & chatting. It was hot, too hot to be anywhere else. I tried going home to be productive and stack wood, but I turned right around & ended up back on the dock. Dogs were entertained. I still have many cords to stack and am not making progress at all.
Last night I had dinner with Jenica & Justin (she cooked) then we went to Hot Dog Man for ice cream with Fred. Apparently I've reached my weight plateau because my weight's been the same for 2 weeks now. Or maybe it's 3, who knows. Anyway, I'll stay this way through the summer (as long as I don't gain weight, that is) and may try losing more weight in the fall. I've lost nearly 30 pounds in the last year so I feel good. So does my doctor. He's very proud & says I might not have to take my cholesterol meds anymore. Of all the meds I take, that's the least invasive, but I guess it's good to get rid of anything I can.
I spent 2 days on the road last week--one day in Keene and one in Tupper Lake. Both were fine, though Keene was really hot and humid and the collection is pretty depressing. Too many old books. Tupper Lake is a long drive from my house. Wednesday afternoon I went to the calling hours for Ken's brother-in-law. Calling hours are a must, no matter what you thought of the person, whether you liked the person, whether you barely knew the person, etc. It's what you do. So I did it. Check that one off my list. The dearly departed was 88 and had been ill, but he really wanted to live, poor man. Congestive heart failure, all too common.
This week I'm in Plattsburgh except for Weds., when I have to drive to Utica for a seminar/workshop/meeting. YUCK. I have to be there at 9, didn't want to spend the night because then I'd have to board the dogs. So it'll be lots of driving, but I hope the meeting lasts at least as long as the driving takes. But I doubt that it will. 7 hours of driving.
Work is going along. It's too slow, after a huge flurry of work needing to be done. Now we're moving smoothly along through the summer hustle. I need to spend more time doing the inventory--I'm supposed to have half the collection done by Dec. and I'm far, far from reaching that point.
Tonight I'll stop at Linda's to give her the NY TImes I bought this morning. I haven't seen her much, need to take advantage of her presence here while I can. Sometimes I just feel as if I'm being pulled in a zillion different directions. The first event of our Chicken Wars was yesterday but I opted out. The plan is to have each person cook a chicken recipe for one Sunday dinner, and have us all judge the recipe. I'm not competitive, nor do I have a fantastic chicken recipe, so I'm not really up for the whole thing. There are scorecards and categories (presentation is one category--dear god help me). I may pass on the whole thing, since I'll be gone for 2 weekends in August anyway.
Now some time has passed, I can tell. The hands on the clocks have actually moved. I'll head into the stacks for a bit.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Back for more
OK, so it's been a while since I've posted. I write long letters to my mother each week, which seems to scratch my need for reporting itch. I'll try to bring things up to date. Mostly I've been visiting with summer friends and working.
Biggest news from me is that I got my braces off. Very exciting. My teeth look great, just the slightest hint of a space between my front teeth. I wear a plastic retainer until I have a permanent one put in in August. I live in mortal fear that my teeth will float apart, but if that happens it happens. I have good teeth and am lucky for that. The whole braces thing was a big experiment anyway. An expensive one, but an experiment. My thinking was that, when I turn 60 next year I'll be thin, have straight teeth and long hair. So far I've lost weight, my hair is about shoulder-length, and my teeth are pretty good looking.
My Midwestern friends are planning a gathering next year (for our 60ths). So far 17 people are planning to be there (I'm one). It's to be at a lake in southern Wisconsin. Midwestern lakes are so way different from Adirondack/Northeastern lakes. They tend not to be spring fed, which makes them warmer and with more vegetation. They're also pretty shallow, generally, and not terribly clear. All of this sounds not attractive, but some lakes are nice. The Great Lakes are fantastic. We used to swim in funky little lakes when we lived in southern Illinois. There was no good lake for swimming in Rockford, but I think they now allow swimming in the lake where we used to hang out. Never was sure why you couldn't swim there...
I had a good 4th of July. Linda is here for the summer, and she had her annual 4th of July cookout. Delicious steaks cooked on the campfire. Her friends from Mich. were there too, a couple I really like visiting with. I got to spend time on the dock with my dogs, one of my all-time favorite things. My Icky Cousin was in camp and bellowed at my dogs so I stayed away from there until they left last week. Except for the day they went golfing & shopping, when I could relax with dogs & enjoy being there. I've slept in the boat house a few times but this year I seem to be more comfortable at home. Go figure. Tonight I think I'll stay down there, it's supposed to be pretty warm. I had bad dreams last night at home, woke twice and finally got up at 5:00.
I've been swimming a couple of times--the lake is very warm this year, thought it was a bit colder yesterday, who knows why. I had a fantastic dock day yesterday--went to camp around 10:30 and stayed until I could stay no more, around 2:30 or so. Went home to make dessert for book group, which Linda hosted last night. We had a good crowd, though no one really like the book (The big house). Good food, very nice people. This month we're reading The lace reader, which I know nothing about, nor do I know how I happened to have a copy to offer as a choice.
I saw the loons the other day. Two adults and two tiny ducklets. Ducklets swam a little, then rode on ma's back for a while. Very cute. Mostly boats and jet skis left them alone, let's hope that trend continues.
I've seen lots of summer friends--the Holts were here for a week so I had dinner with them twice. Their Slovenian grandsons were here and were lots of fun to visit with. 9 and 12, excellent English. We also had our Hawkeye Conserva. road clean-up and picnic (again, hosted by Linda). I got to partner with Fred & Bill for the clean up, which was fun. F. won't go in the tall grass because there might be snakes, and Bill is color blind so misses a lot of the garbage. We managed to collect plenty, which made Fred feel it was worth the time.
Tomorrow I spend the day in Keene, barcoding and adding records to the data base. It's a small, quiet library with a shy director. Am I looking forward to this? Well, sort of. It's nice to be out of the library from time to time. Weds. I spend in Tupper Lake cataloging their local history collection. Another nice group of people. Tupper Lake is way far away from everything. Takes an hour to get to from home.
I survived Kim's week-long vacation before the 4th. Man did I hustle. Her work has to be done every day, and right away every day, so I had plenty to do. Other than cataloging I've been ordering books like a mad food for a grant we got. $30,000 for member libraries to purchase books with, all orders placed by me and processed by Kim. There are huge piles of boxes waiting to be unpacked & have the books distributed. whew. So far about 15 (half) of the libraries have sent in their orders so we're making progress.
It's hot and sunny this week. Very nice. I try to stack some firewood every day, and will do so even in the unpleasantness of hot humid weather. I have a friend's son mow my lawn every week and last week he stacked some wood while he was there. Unfortunately the stack he built tipped over--chaos ensued. It took me a while to straighten it out & restack the wood. Too frustrating, handling the wood one more time and not being ahead of the game when I was finished. It doesn't take much to convince me that stacking firewood can be postponed. Though it can't--this wood won't really be dry enough to burn this winter, but it's the best I can do. 8 cords, about 1.5 cords stacked so far. It does dry when piled the way it is now, but not as well as when it's neatly stacked with lots of air circulating through it. Blech.
Dogs are fine, cat is fine. Dogs are shedding a lot and look very motly. I comb them every day, taking a quart of fur from each of them. There's always more, though, and plenty of it ends up on the floor. Yesterday kitty delivered a bird--a finch, I think--way more alive than dead. I picked up birdie & it flew away as soon as I took it outside. Whew! A close call. I found a baby shrew on the bedroom floor recently. Kitty doesn't like regular old rodents, she prefers something a little more interesting.
I'm heading to RI in August, which I'm really looking forward to. My sister arrives in America in 2 weeks, stays for a month. I don't know if they'll come here this year--it's impossible to know ahead of time what my mother will want to do. If they're here, I'm here. They wouldn't be here for more than a few days anyway.
Back to work. Must come up with call numbers for DVDs about teen suicide, pelicans, yoga, etc. Aw heck, who cares what their call numbers are, just make something up.
Biggest news from me is that I got my braces off. Very exciting. My teeth look great, just the slightest hint of a space between my front teeth. I wear a plastic retainer until I have a permanent one put in in August. I live in mortal fear that my teeth will float apart, but if that happens it happens. I have good teeth and am lucky for that. The whole braces thing was a big experiment anyway. An expensive one, but an experiment. My thinking was that, when I turn 60 next year I'll be thin, have straight teeth and long hair. So far I've lost weight, my hair is about shoulder-length, and my teeth are pretty good looking.
My Midwestern friends are planning a gathering next year (for our 60ths). So far 17 people are planning to be there (I'm one). It's to be at a lake in southern Wisconsin. Midwestern lakes are so way different from Adirondack/Northeastern lakes. They tend not to be spring fed, which makes them warmer and with more vegetation. They're also pretty shallow, generally, and not terribly clear. All of this sounds not attractive, but some lakes are nice. The Great Lakes are fantastic. We used to swim in funky little lakes when we lived in southern Illinois. There was no good lake for swimming in Rockford, but I think they now allow swimming in the lake where we used to hang out. Never was sure why you couldn't swim there...
I had a good 4th of July. Linda is here for the summer, and she had her annual 4th of July cookout. Delicious steaks cooked on the campfire. Her friends from Mich. were there too, a couple I really like visiting with. I got to spend time on the dock with my dogs, one of my all-time favorite things. My Icky Cousin was in camp and bellowed at my dogs so I stayed away from there until they left last week. Except for the day they went golfing & shopping, when I could relax with dogs & enjoy being there. I've slept in the boat house a few times but this year I seem to be more comfortable at home. Go figure. Tonight I think I'll stay down there, it's supposed to be pretty warm. I had bad dreams last night at home, woke twice and finally got up at 5:00.
I've been swimming a couple of times--the lake is very warm this year, thought it was a bit colder yesterday, who knows why. I had a fantastic dock day yesterday--went to camp around 10:30 and stayed until I could stay no more, around 2:30 or so. Went home to make dessert for book group, which Linda hosted last night. We had a good crowd, though no one really like the book (The big house). Good food, very nice people. This month we're reading The lace reader, which I know nothing about, nor do I know how I happened to have a copy to offer as a choice.
I saw the loons the other day. Two adults and two tiny ducklets. Ducklets swam a little, then rode on ma's back for a while. Very cute. Mostly boats and jet skis left them alone, let's hope that trend continues.
I've seen lots of summer friends--the Holts were here for a week so I had dinner with them twice. Their Slovenian grandsons were here and were lots of fun to visit with. 9 and 12, excellent English. We also had our Hawkeye Conserva. road clean-up and picnic (again, hosted by Linda). I got to partner with Fred & Bill for the clean up, which was fun. F. won't go in the tall grass because there might be snakes, and Bill is color blind so misses a lot of the garbage. We managed to collect plenty, which made Fred feel it was worth the time.
Tomorrow I spend the day in Keene, barcoding and adding records to the data base. It's a small, quiet library with a shy director. Am I looking forward to this? Well, sort of. It's nice to be out of the library from time to time. Weds. I spend in Tupper Lake cataloging their local history collection. Another nice group of people. Tupper Lake is way far away from everything. Takes an hour to get to from home.
I survived Kim's week-long vacation before the 4th. Man did I hustle. Her work has to be done every day, and right away every day, so I had plenty to do. Other than cataloging I've been ordering books like a mad food for a grant we got. $30,000 for member libraries to purchase books with, all orders placed by me and processed by Kim. There are huge piles of boxes waiting to be unpacked & have the books distributed. whew. So far about 15 (half) of the libraries have sent in their orders so we're making progress.
It's hot and sunny this week. Very nice. I try to stack some firewood every day, and will do so even in the unpleasantness of hot humid weather. I have a friend's son mow my lawn every week and last week he stacked some wood while he was there. Unfortunately the stack he built tipped over--chaos ensued. It took me a while to straighten it out & restack the wood. Too frustrating, handling the wood one more time and not being ahead of the game when I was finished. It doesn't take much to convince me that stacking firewood can be postponed. Though it can't--this wood won't really be dry enough to burn this winter, but it's the best I can do. 8 cords, about 1.5 cords stacked so far. It does dry when piled the way it is now, but not as well as when it's neatly stacked with lots of air circulating through it. Blech.
Dogs are fine, cat is fine. Dogs are shedding a lot and look very motly. I comb them every day, taking a quart of fur from each of them. There's always more, though, and plenty of it ends up on the floor. Yesterday kitty delivered a bird--a finch, I think--way more alive than dead. I picked up birdie & it flew away as soon as I took it outside. Whew! A close call. I found a baby shrew on the bedroom floor recently. Kitty doesn't like regular old rodents, she prefers something a little more interesting.
I'm heading to RI in August, which I'm really looking forward to. My sister arrives in America in 2 weeks, stays for a month. I don't know if they'll come here this year--it's impossible to know ahead of time what my mother will want to do. If they're here, I'm here. They wouldn't be here for more than a few days anyway.
Back to work. Must come up with call numbers for DVDs about teen suicide, pelicans, yoga, etc. Aw heck, who cares what their call numbers are, just make something up.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Friday afternoon
Close to quitting time, but another hour for me. I'm working until 5 today, the last day we need coverage to 5 until Labor Day.
I was running early this morning, had my day all planned around a long lunch when I could accomplish a lot & get my errands all done. Sure, that worked fine until I got to Saranac, when I realized I'd forgotten my purse at home. How girly girl, a purse. Anyway, I went back for it, was on the road from 7:15 to 8:45, when I finally got to work. So I didn't take a very long lunch, and I cut out some of the errands I'd hoped to do, but it all worked out. I guess. I went grocery shopping, for just a few things (cheese & crackers for the former in-laws to have on the boat house porch this weekend). Every Canadian in the country is in America for their 3-day weekend. Stay off the roads, it's not worth it. They're all driving campers & towing cars. It's a nightmare. Plus tonight is high school graduation so all hell is breaking loose out there. People people everywhere, all going crazy.
I'll have a busy weekend. Tonight I'm meeting Linda in AuSable at the farmers' market. It's the first time AuSable has had one, so it's important for us all to go to support it. After hanging around there a bit we'll go to dinner, who knows where. Maybe the diner in AuSable. yum. grease. I thought I'd been eating pretty carefully, but I gained 2 pounds this week. Back to where I was after LAST weekend, when I ate too much of the wrong things. A slippery slope. I have to be vigilant all summer.
My friends the Blue Heron Boys (sounds like a musical group, but they're former campers who own a camp down from my house) are here for a week. They're great fun to be with. Each year they have this week together ("workfest") when they open camp and get lots of things done. And climb some mountains. They always have a Theme Dinner Night, and it's a surprise so you don't know ahead of time what to expect. I've no idea what it will be this year, but it'll be this weekend.
I have to walk the dogs this weekend, I've been neglecting them terribly. They practically had to introduce themselves to me this morning, and I realized then that I haven't been with them much, and I certainly haven't been walking them. oops. Seems I mostly walk on the weekends, which is not what I'd hoped for myself.
There will be people in camp this weekend--my ex-husband's parents (cousins). We got along really well for years but then we had a bit of a problem and things have not been great for a while. I try, and we relax after a while of being together, but it's not what it used to be. Which I suppose is to be expected. And though I sort of miss them, my life is simpler now. Busy, but simpler.
My colleague/clerk is on vacation next week. Yikes, this means I'll be doing 2 jobs next week. Or just doing hers. Her work is the sort that needs to be done every day by a certain time. I don't like her job, but she rarely takes time off so I can't complain. She's heading to S.Carolina with her son & parents, is looking forward to being on the ocean. I don't blame her, I'd like to be on the ocean, too. I'll be in RI for 2 weeks in August. That seems like a long time from now.
I was running early this morning, had my day all planned around a long lunch when I could accomplish a lot & get my errands all done. Sure, that worked fine until I got to Saranac, when I realized I'd forgotten my purse at home. How girly girl, a purse. Anyway, I went back for it, was on the road from 7:15 to 8:45, when I finally got to work. So I didn't take a very long lunch, and I cut out some of the errands I'd hoped to do, but it all worked out. I guess. I went grocery shopping, for just a few things (cheese & crackers for the former in-laws to have on the boat house porch this weekend). Every Canadian in the country is in America for their 3-day weekend. Stay off the roads, it's not worth it. They're all driving campers & towing cars. It's a nightmare. Plus tonight is high school graduation so all hell is breaking loose out there. People people everywhere, all going crazy.
I'll have a busy weekend. Tonight I'm meeting Linda in AuSable at the farmers' market. It's the first time AuSable has had one, so it's important for us all to go to support it. After hanging around there a bit we'll go to dinner, who knows where. Maybe the diner in AuSable. yum. grease. I thought I'd been eating pretty carefully, but I gained 2 pounds this week. Back to where I was after LAST weekend, when I ate too much of the wrong things. A slippery slope. I have to be vigilant all summer.
My friends the Blue Heron Boys (sounds like a musical group, but they're former campers who own a camp down from my house) are here for a week. They're great fun to be with. Each year they have this week together ("workfest") when they open camp and get lots of things done. And climb some mountains. They always have a Theme Dinner Night, and it's a surprise so you don't know ahead of time what to expect. I've no idea what it will be this year, but it'll be this weekend.
I have to walk the dogs this weekend, I've been neglecting them terribly. They practically had to introduce themselves to me this morning, and I realized then that I haven't been with them much, and I certainly haven't been walking them. oops. Seems I mostly walk on the weekends, which is not what I'd hoped for myself.
There will be people in camp this weekend--my ex-husband's parents (cousins). We got along really well for years but then we had a bit of a problem and things have not been great for a while. I try, and we relax after a while of being together, but it's not what it used to be. Which I suppose is to be expected. And though I sort of miss them, my life is simpler now. Busy, but simpler.
My colleague/clerk is on vacation next week. Yikes, this means I'll be doing 2 jobs next week. Or just doing hers. Her work is the sort that needs to be done every day by a certain time. I don't like her job, but she rarely takes time off so I can't complain. She's heading to S.Carolina with her son & parents, is looking forward to being on the ocean. I don't blame her, I'd like to be on the ocean, too. I'll be in RI for 2 weeks in August. That seems like a long time from now.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
001
The boardwalk, looking a little old and sad. It is old.
I like it when the ferns get so big they hang over the boardwalk. There haven't been too many peope in the bog lately--not even Tess is tempted to join the few groups there have been on the weekends. Now that it's almost July I bet business will pick up. Let's see how Tess does this year. She has a new tag on her collar that says, basically "I'm Tess the Bog Dog, I live next door" Hoping that will help people relax and not feel so intense about driving her home or leaving me phone messages reporting my missing dog. People have always been really nice like that, but it's gotten tiresome over the years. Mostly I have Tess cabled, but she runs off every now & then.
I stayed in the boat house last night, it was a pleasant night. Temp around 50. I read on the porch for a long time. There's nothing else to do in the evening there, which is one reason I like going there. Unplug me from the TV. The cat sometimes joins us but last night she stayed home. So she could act irritated with me this morning.
My favorite fern
I like this fern a lot. There's only one of it in the whole bog. I think it's called a Victoria fern. or something like that.
005
Baptisia (false inidigo). This is a great plant but it's getting old. Or rather, IS old. My mother got it for me more than 20 years ago. It used to be a huge shrub, now it's a more modest bush.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Where have I been?
I haven't blogged in a long time, obviously. I've been sending long letters to my mother, which seems to leave me all written out. She likes getting mail (who doesn't, probably) so I try to send her a long chatty letter every week. Not hard for me to be chatty, but I don't like repeating myself in a blog or email, so my mother usually gets the best efforts. She's doing well, enjoying the season pretty much but tired of the rain. She doesn't complain, just comments. She, like me, has a bunch of little plantlets to put in the ground. Most of my flowers have been planted and are doing all right. I never planted the marigolds, which were free seeds so I never felt too attached to them. The cosmos acre is coming along nicely. I'm soaking my morning glory seeds so I can plant them, maybe tonight. My nasturtiums didn't do very well, quite a disappointment. I'm hoping enough will survive and thrive so that I'll be able to pick flowers later on. I like a small bouquet of nasties next to my bed. It's a nice smell.
Work is going well, no big adventures. Trip to Tupper Lake last week, which was a nice thing. There's a rooster across the street from the library and it crows all day. I like the sound but I can see that you might get tired of it. My mother told me that we had chickens in Turkey and that our rooster crowed so much the neighbors got annoyed so we had to get rid of him. Wonder how ... We had finches, too. My father always liked having birds. He bred canaries at one point. We had a male (orange) and female (brown--sparrow-like) who hatched 3 eggs. One was orange and beautiful, one looked just like the female and the third was piebald, orange and brown, not attractive. My sister and I each picked one of the pretty ones and played with the baby birds until they died. We played them to death. Anyway, the survivor turned out to be a male who lived for 11 years and sang beautifully. He was in my sister's room for years but she got tired of him & he moved to my room. I liked having him and was sad when he died. We lived in 3 different places while we had him.
I've got the boat house pretty much opened up, but there's cleaning I need to get done. I did sweep the floor, in prep. of book group. There are a bunch of magazines, from many years, which I seem to leave there every year. This will be the year I'll get rid of them. I'll also wash the refridgerator and empty the garbage. Tonight I'm picking up a comforter, king-sized, and some sheets. Freecycle. Let's see how groaty they are, but maybe they'll be ok to use in the b.house.
I've been pretty busy having a social life. And it's just the beginning. Some friends were up a couple of weekends ago and I saw them. Joe & Martha are in residence and I stop there often. Jim & Pat are around, of course, and I see them often. Linda is here and I see her once in a while. Fred is in residence and I try to see him often. We've been out to dinner a couple of times--we bravely went to Big Daddy's restaurant in Clayburg. It's quite an experience. It's an old biker bar and the door to the restroom is heavy metal and all dented. Lends an air of authenticity to the place, no?
I got a lot done during my May vacation. Painted the windowsills in the living room, though the color wasn't what I'd hoped it would be. It matched the chip perfectly, just looked different than I'd expected. Brown. They look better than before, when they were dirty white, but it's an odd color, I think. I primed the kitchen cupboards/doors. Now I have to pick out a color for them. Some sort of gray-ish something. Not the black I had intended, I know now that would make the room seem even smaller than it is. Big goal is to paint the living room. Now THERE'S a big goal. How would I ever decide what color to paint it? Something that goes with a strange shade of brown.
Work is going well, no big adventures. Trip to Tupper Lake last week, which was a nice thing. There's a rooster across the street from the library and it crows all day. I like the sound but I can see that you might get tired of it. My mother told me that we had chickens in Turkey and that our rooster crowed so much the neighbors got annoyed so we had to get rid of him. Wonder how ... We had finches, too. My father always liked having birds. He bred canaries at one point. We had a male (orange) and female (brown--sparrow-like) who hatched 3 eggs. One was orange and beautiful, one looked just like the female and the third was piebald, orange and brown, not attractive. My sister and I each picked one of the pretty ones and played with the baby birds until they died. We played them to death. Anyway, the survivor turned out to be a male who lived for 11 years and sang beautifully. He was in my sister's room for years but she got tired of him & he moved to my room. I liked having him and was sad when he died. We lived in 3 different places while we had him.
I've got the boat house pretty much opened up, but there's cleaning I need to get done. I did sweep the floor, in prep. of book group. There are a bunch of magazines, from many years, which I seem to leave there every year. This will be the year I'll get rid of them. I'll also wash the refridgerator and empty the garbage. Tonight I'm picking up a comforter, king-sized, and some sheets. Freecycle. Let's see how groaty they are, but maybe they'll be ok to use in the b.house.
I've been pretty busy having a social life. And it's just the beginning. Some friends were up a couple of weekends ago and I saw them. Joe & Martha are in residence and I stop there often. Jim & Pat are around, of course, and I see them often. Linda is here and I see her once in a while. Fred is in residence and I try to see him often. We've been out to dinner a couple of times--we bravely went to Big Daddy's restaurant in Clayburg. It's quite an experience. It's an old biker bar and the door to the restroom is heavy metal and all dented. Lends an air of authenticity to the place, no?
I got a lot done during my May vacation. Painted the windowsills in the living room, though the color wasn't what I'd hoped it would be. It matched the chip perfectly, just looked different than I'd expected. Brown. They look better than before, when they were dirty white, but it's an odd color, I think. I primed the kitchen cupboards/doors. Now I have to pick out a color for them. Some sort of gray-ish something. Not the black I had intended, I know now that would make the room seem even smaller than it is. Big goal is to paint the living room. Now THERE'S a big goal. How would I ever decide what color to paint it? Something that goes with a strange shade of brown.
003
Silver Lake Mountain, of course. You can just see the brightness of the deciduous trees. Leaves a poppin'.
This is the view from the boat house. I've stayed there a few times but not lately. It was wicked hot so I stayed there, but now it's cooler so I've been staying at home. Will I regret this later? Anyone's guess. I like staying at home when the weather's nice, sleeping with the window open. And getting up to my house/yard in the spring. Summer. Whatever. It feels as if summer is well underway, though the season hasn't really started yet. July, that's when it's really summer. Right now it feels as if it's time to move on to the next season. We've already had a bunch of summer.
This is the view from the boat house. I've stayed there a few times but not lately. It was wicked hot so I stayed there, but now it's cooler so I've been staying at home. Will I regret this later? Anyone's guess. I like staying at home when the weather's nice, sleeping with the window open. And getting up to my house/yard in the spring. Summer. Whatever. It feels as if summer is well underway, though the season hasn't really started yet. July, that's when it's really summer. Right now it feels as if it's time to move on to the next season. We've already had a bunch of summer.
002
I really like the way my driveway looks when it's a little hazy and humid. The forest is incredibly lush right now.
016
Ferns in bloom in the bog. They're getting big, which is what I love. They get huge, as tall as I am, and look really prehistoric. Right now they're an incredibly bright green. They look so happy.
012
Labrador tea. Not leatherleaf. I can't imagine the tea made from these plants would be at all ingestible.
008
Canada mayflower. In June. These are very tiny little things and come up early but take a while to bloom. Not to be confused with foamflower.
009
Bunchberry. Member of the dogwood family. Found everywhere. Very pretty. Red berries emerge when the flowers go by.
002
Clintonia. Named for the governor of New York (DeWitt, not Hillary, who has yet to be a governor). The blossom turns into a huge blue berry-like thing that looks delicious. But DON'T EAT IT. It's poisonous (supposedly).
005
I don't know the name of these tiny plants. Mountain something. Every year I have to look up the name. They're reallly tiny and drape on the ground in a very pretty way.
003
This is what a spruce tree looks like if it's growing, in the spring. New growth on the tips of the boughs. Very pretty effect. These are black spruce trees, which smell like cat pee when they get wet. I have a friend who learned that the hard way at Christmas time.
008
New growth on a balsam. We always had balsam Christmas trees when I was growing up. It was something my father wanted. My 1st (rude) sister-in-law commented on how crappy our Christmas trees looked, so my mother swtiched to a Douglas fir. Now she loves her fir trees and has a full, gorgeous tree every Christmas. I still have balsam trees and try to get them from my own land. Not a philosophical thing, more like I cut it because it's convenient. One year I had a huge pine tree. Never again--I got wicked bad scratched just putting it up, never mind what happened when I decorated it. It was pretty, though.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Over and out
So what day is it? FRIDAY! And it's time for my famous time-to-myself vacation, until next Thursday. Let's hear it for me. I would ordinarily plan to spend forever getting out of town tonight, stopping to do errands galore, but NO. I'm planning to visit Martha in the hospital, then go home. I'm coming back to town tomorrow, hoping to stop at the dump on my way in. I've big purge plans for my time off. Though as Joe pointed out to me, each trip to the dump will cost the minimum ($18), so my approach is not the soundest fiscally. But I have to get rid of some of my things--like broken chairs and broken lamps and an old lawn mower that needs a new carburetor and so on the list goes. We'll see how much headway I make. I've talked and written about it enough, let's hope I actually do something.
Just as important are my plans to paint in the living room and kitchen. I'm really hoping to get my cabinets painted, though I've yet to select a color. I'm so sick of Woods Run Green! I have just 1 piece of furniture left to paint, a small chest, but must must must get to the kitchen. I was going to paint cabinets, etc. black, but I think maybe that's not so wise after all. Very appealing, it would cover the green easily enough, but I guess I'll go for something lighter.
I also have things to plant. Plantlets. My acre of cosmos plantlets is doing well, plants are strong & eager to make their way in the world. I have too many lilies to plant, and some containers yet to fill. I may also get more/better geraniums and get to the cemetery to plant there. No more do I do the aunts & uncles who weren't nice to me or my family, I only do the NICE people now. I was thinking of putting alyssum on Spaulding's & Henry's graves (got the idea from Joe). That would do well without constant deadheading.
It poured and stormed yesterday in Hawkeye--there is debris all over the road, and evidence of a big pine limb down near OHR. Nothing at Woods Run got damaged. Duncan's dock parts arrived without incident, nice delivery man left them covered in plastic to protect from wet. Because docks shouldn't get wet.
The big news for me is that yesterday Joe put up my new mailbox. This is a major deal, I've been trying to figure out how to get it put up for a year or so. My old mailbox had no door and was very sad. I got a Fix It note from mail lady this week, which prompted me to whine about it at Pat's. Joe offered to cut the right size board for mounting it, then took it further yesterday and put the box up. Let's here it for helpful & caring friends. I see a big bottle of Bombay Sapphire in the future. Mail lady left me a note that said "Looks great. Thanks." She's always good about my mail.
I've been working on cleaning up our book collection, starting an inventory of the non-fiction. What a pile of crap I've gone through so far, and I just started this week. We use a PDA to scan the barcodes, then when we're all through Dewey the system will tell us not there that's supposed to be. Swell, how many books have been stolen over the years. Good to clean up the data base, though. So far I haven't even made it to the self-help books. Old books on how to publish your own book (as opposed to someone else's?), important essays of the 20th century (not), Ann Landers, Bill Gates, a huge bunch of old computer books. I've banned Windows 98 from CEFLS. No more help for people using it. Likewise for the Apple IIe. Geez I've been here a long time.
Annie Holt may come this weekend, I don't know for sure. I believe Ann & Kathy are due in from Baltimore for a week to open Sally's camp. Brian & Ginny Ruder will be here. Fred's in camp. Linda? A mystery no one knows the answer to. I'm sure there will be more people I haven't thought of yet, though Memorial Day is not as busy as 4th of July. I hope to stay in the boat house some, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to walk down. The road was a mess before yesterday's storms, I can only guess what it's like now. Boot sucking gravel & mud.
Work is going well. I worked at Plattsburgh Public a bit this week, cataloging some pretty boring stuff. Until I got to the stuff on Junior Plattsburgh. Account of an encampment in the early 20th century. Other things on the Plattsburgh Barracks. Again, the beginning of Dewey is deadly dull. I plod along. I'll go back to Tupper Lake in 2 weeks, then to AuSable to help figure out a classification scheme for her local history collection. And finish up cataloging a few odds & ends there that I missed.
Next week I go to the dentist for new wires for my braces. My second replacement trip--I go every month. My front teeth are amazingly close together--I feel like saying "Take them off, all is as it should be now." But there's more to go. My journalism teacher once told me to never start a sentence with BUT or HOWEVER. Or, of course, AND. And that "over" means above, so you don't say "over 20 people attended," you say "more than 20 people attended." That was in high school, and was such good advice I've kept to it. Anyway, I also have an appointment with my GP next week. He'll be proud of me, I lost more weight. Hopefully have walked away some of the cholesterol in my veins.
Dogs and cat are thriving. All are shedding. Last night I opened the drawer where I keep the furberator (brush) and Tess ran outside to hide. And yet (oh no! did I just start a sentence with "and?") when I finish with Chances, Tess presents herself to me like a gift. Kitty likes being brushed, rolls and purrs. Chances tolerates it, reminding me of someone who's having a procedure done that she knows is good to have done, but must it really be necessary? Last night Kitty appeared in the bedroom in the dark, and just after her arrival I heard Tess crunching something. Yum, delicious rodent. I told her that's how you get tapeworms (don't make that face or your face will freeze that way).
Just as important are my plans to paint in the living room and kitchen. I'm really hoping to get my cabinets painted, though I've yet to select a color. I'm so sick of Woods Run Green! I have just 1 piece of furniture left to paint, a small chest, but must must must get to the kitchen. I was going to paint cabinets, etc. black, but I think maybe that's not so wise after all. Very appealing, it would cover the green easily enough, but I guess I'll go for something lighter.
I also have things to plant. Plantlets. My acre of cosmos plantlets is doing well, plants are strong & eager to make their way in the world. I have too many lilies to plant, and some containers yet to fill. I may also get more/better geraniums and get to the cemetery to plant there. No more do I do the aunts & uncles who weren't nice to me or my family, I only do the NICE people now. I was thinking of putting alyssum on Spaulding's & Henry's graves (got the idea from Joe). That would do well without constant deadheading.
It poured and stormed yesterday in Hawkeye--there is debris all over the road, and evidence of a big pine limb down near OHR. Nothing at Woods Run got damaged. Duncan's dock parts arrived without incident, nice delivery man left them covered in plastic to protect from wet. Because docks shouldn't get wet.
The big news for me is that yesterday Joe put up my new mailbox. This is a major deal, I've been trying to figure out how to get it put up for a year or so. My old mailbox had no door and was very sad. I got a Fix It note from mail lady this week, which prompted me to whine about it at Pat's. Joe offered to cut the right size board for mounting it, then took it further yesterday and put the box up. Let's here it for helpful & caring friends. I see a big bottle of Bombay Sapphire in the future. Mail lady left me a note that said "Looks great. Thanks." She's always good about my mail.
I've been working on cleaning up our book collection, starting an inventory of the non-fiction. What a pile of crap I've gone through so far, and I just started this week. We use a PDA to scan the barcodes, then when we're all through Dewey the system will tell us not there that's supposed to be. Swell, how many books have been stolen over the years. Good to clean up the data base, though. So far I haven't even made it to the self-help books. Old books on how to publish your own book (as opposed to someone else's?), important essays of the 20th century (not), Ann Landers, Bill Gates, a huge bunch of old computer books. I've banned Windows 98 from CEFLS. No more help for people using it. Likewise for the Apple IIe. Geez I've been here a long time.
Annie Holt may come this weekend, I don't know for sure. I believe Ann & Kathy are due in from Baltimore for a week to open Sally's camp. Brian & Ginny Ruder will be here. Fred's in camp. Linda? A mystery no one knows the answer to. I'm sure there will be more people I haven't thought of yet, though Memorial Day is not as busy as 4th of July. I hope to stay in the boat house some, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to walk down. The road was a mess before yesterday's storms, I can only guess what it's like now. Boot sucking gravel & mud.
Work is going well. I worked at Plattsburgh Public a bit this week, cataloging some pretty boring stuff. Until I got to the stuff on Junior Plattsburgh. Account of an encampment in the early 20th century. Other things on the Plattsburgh Barracks. Again, the beginning of Dewey is deadly dull. I plod along. I'll go back to Tupper Lake in 2 weeks, then to AuSable to help figure out a classification scheme for her local history collection. And finish up cataloging a few odds & ends there that I missed.
Next week I go to the dentist for new wires for my braces. My second replacement trip--I go every month. My front teeth are amazingly close together--I feel like saying "Take them off, all is as it should be now." But there's more to go. My journalism teacher once told me to never start a sentence with BUT or HOWEVER. Or, of course, AND. And that "over" means above, so you don't say "over 20 people attended," you say "more than 20 people attended." That was in high school, and was such good advice I've kept to it. Anyway, I also have an appointment with my GP next week. He'll be proud of me, I lost more weight. Hopefully have walked away some of the cholesterol in my veins.
Dogs and cat are thriving. All are shedding. Last night I opened the drawer where I keep the furberator (brush) and Tess ran outside to hide. And yet (oh no! did I just start a sentence with "and?") when I finish with Chances, Tess presents herself to me like a gift. Kitty likes being brushed, rolls and purrs. Chances tolerates it, reminding me of someone who's having a procedure done that she knows is good to have done, but must it really be necessary? Last night Kitty appeared in the bedroom in the dark, and just after her arrival I heard Tess crunching something. Yum, delicious rodent. I told her that's how you get tapeworms (don't make that face or your face will freeze that way).
Monday, May 23, 2011
Weekend bog
Walked the bog yesterday morning with the dogs. Before the black flies woke up. This is what the tamaracks look like now. They look like conifers but are really deciduous trees. They're tiny leaves look like needles but are soft.
This is Tamarack Green, widely known in the North Country. "That obscene green." Very bright and pretty. Tamaracks (aka larches) turn a beautiful gold in the fall and are just about the last thing to color, when there's nothing else to see.
The black flies are healthy and hungry. I had lots of outdoor time over the weekend & they are fer shure out. My cousins were here and worked on the camp road for hours. Stirring up the mud, which really gets the black flies 'a pumpin'. They couldn't believe how bad it was (the cousins, not the black flies).
I walked to Fred's camp on Saturday and there was enough of a breeze to deter the flies, so it was a really nice walk. We sat on his porch and drank rum while the dogs swam, rolled, poked around under the porch and lay in his lilly beds. oops. He's very proud of his lilies.
I planted a bunch of lilies on Sat., too. I always fall for the 'buy one get one free" deal so I have about 50 lilies to plant. I'm running out of good places to put them. These are Asiatic and oriental lilies, plus a few day lilies (All Summer Long collection). Some of the lilies I planted last year have actually come up this year. Will wonders never cease.
I opened the boat house yesterday. Or started to. The water's not in at camp so I can't wash everything that needs it, will have to bring things home. But the road is a mess and I won't drive on it. So there you go. How industrious will I be? I hung up the hummingbird feeder. Well, I filled it first, of course. I have at least 2 male hummers at home--they fight a lot. Not a relaxing sight.
It's warm enough to sleep in the b.house now. I'm planning to stay there this weekend, at least sleep there.
POISON! POISON!
This is sheep laurel. So named because it's toxic to sheep. Why would they name a plant after the animals it kills when ingested? Like, shouldn't it be Wolf Laurel, or something?
We don't have regular laurel here, but southern RI is known for it's spectacular laurel. It blooms in June,usually late June. My mother's house is surrounded by huge laurel bushes (wild) and it's reallly beautiful when it blooms. I planned my wedding (held in her backyard) around the laurel blooming, but that year there wasn't much that bloomed. The NEXT year, however, was a banner year. Should I have suspected something about the marriage then?
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I don't know what these are, we used to call this fern something having to do with gold. Unless I dreamed it, my father told me that this kind of fern supposedly grew where there was gold. But we KNOW that's not true.
Fiddling heads
Don't they just look as if they're having a conversation, like, at happy hour in a bar? They're growing quickly, won't be long before the bog will be a jungle.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Catching up
And it's the end of the week. May goes by so quickly! Next weekend is Memorial Day, I have 5 days (count 'em 5) in a row to spend in Hawkeye. My annual Mem. Day break. I used to divide the house into zones & try to clean a zone a day, but that plan was never terribly successful. Now I just make a big list of big projects, a bigger list of small projects, and hope for the best. I need to weed my clothes, which is now a priority. I need to weed my garden, which is also a priority. I have annuals & perennials to plant and gardens to re-create. I have blackberry bushes--very mean ones--to kill. Pardon my eco-political incorrectness, but I'm using the strongest weed killer I can find. It works well, but of course leaves bare spots for a couple of years. Which is way preferable to the sticks full of thorns that have taken over way too much territory.
This weekend some cousins are coming to put docks in & open their camp across the lake. Wow. Must be some sort of a record for earliest dock-in. The road to camp was damaged by water so we've had 2 loads (or maybe 1--I love my family) of crushed stone delivered and one cousin will spread the stone with his cute tractor that he's bringing from Syracuse. I have some really nice relatives who do a lot for camp. I have some (nice) relatives who do nothing for camp but use it. Then there's me. I don't do much for camp, but keep an eye on it throughout the year. I guess. I'll open the boat house by next weekend, hoping to spend the nights there. I'd be staying there now if the road were good & I were more industrious (you figure out which is the real reason). It's warm and lovely at night. The black flies are out, yes, but it's still nice.
It's been raining for what seems like weeks. It might even be weeks. This means that spring was slow to start in early May but has now sped full-throttle to become the season in Hawkeye. There still aren't real leaves on trees, but the grass is green (and growing) and the birds are noisy.
I spent the day on the road yesterday. Drove to Alexandria Bay (1000 Islands) for a conference. 2.5 hrs each way from home. Not a bad trip. I left at 5:30 a.m., which turned out to be too early, but then left before the luncheon & keynote speaker (who was reporting on the State of Libraries and Librarians, duh). I got home around 3, which was nice. Enough time to walk the dogs in the bog in long shadows of late afternoon. Very pretty. The sun finally came out, which hurt my eyes. Has it really been THAT long? Yes, I think it has.
I planted some containers for my deck last night. Even though I decided not to have as many containers this year, I still bought a bunch of annuals. Not as many as usual, and some are notably absent, but I have 4 or 5 containers planned. Got about half the stuff planted. NOT BAD!! Right, Fred? I do have some perennials in need of dirt, but I also have some perennials I have planted already. And some in pots waiting for attention. All are healthy and will be planted hopefully this weekend.
Work is going well. Much ado about e-books, including one of the programs I went to yesterday and a workshop we had here this morning. We'll be getting a subscription to one vendor's list of e-books by fall, I think. If the vendor pulls through.
I've given up on my aquarium at home. Death toll was way too high. I have 3 goldfish here at work, only 2 of whom appear to be healthy. My 2-year-old goldfish died recently and his partner seemed lonely so I got 2 more (for 13 cents each). Big Man is LARGE, newbies are small. One of the newbies is sort of floating around, not really swimming. Geez, I can't even succeed with new goldfish. Big Man is more than a year old and is doing well. Perhaps I shouldn't have assumed company was wanted.
Dogs and cat are all fine. HUGE chipmunk body on the living room floor the other night when I got home. Yesterday Tess was parading around with a jumping mouse corpse in her mouth. Long tail hanging out, a dead giveaway. Why does Kitty insist on sparing the least desirable rodents? Get me some red squirrels, cat, and a regular mouse or two.
Someone says he's moving into his camp tonight. That would be nice, a destination for long peaceful walks, with a glass of rum at the end of the walk. Lin is cleaning Linda's camp this weekend. We'll have a coffee break, then a glass of wine when she finishes. Oh wait, wine at home, rum down the lane--pick your poison, girlie. Poisons. Which I'll enjoy tonight when I get to Hawkeye, planning to stop at Joe & Martha's.
Life is good but not exciting. Which is pretty much my preference.
This weekend some cousins are coming to put docks in & open their camp across the lake. Wow. Must be some sort of a record for earliest dock-in. The road to camp was damaged by water so we've had 2 loads (or maybe 1--I love my family) of crushed stone delivered and one cousin will spread the stone with his cute tractor that he's bringing from Syracuse. I have some really nice relatives who do a lot for camp. I have some (nice) relatives who do nothing for camp but use it. Then there's me. I don't do much for camp, but keep an eye on it throughout the year. I guess. I'll open the boat house by next weekend, hoping to spend the nights there. I'd be staying there now if the road were good & I were more industrious (you figure out which is the real reason). It's warm and lovely at night. The black flies are out, yes, but it's still nice.
It's been raining for what seems like weeks. It might even be weeks. This means that spring was slow to start in early May but has now sped full-throttle to become the season in Hawkeye. There still aren't real leaves on trees, but the grass is green (and growing) and the birds are noisy.
I spent the day on the road yesterday. Drove to Alexandria Bay (1000 Islands) for a conference. 2.5 hrs each way from home. Not a bad trip. I left at 5:30 a.m., which turned out to be too early, but then left before the luncheon & keynote speaker (who was reporting on the State of Libraries and Librarians, duh). I got home around 3, which was nice. Enough time to walk the dogs in the bog in long shadows of late afternoon. Very pretty. The sun finally came out, which hurt my eyes. Has it really been THAT long? Yes, I think it has.
I planted some containers for my deck last night. Even though I decided not to have as many containers this year, I still bought a bunch of annuals. Not as many as usual, and some are notably absent, but I have 4 or 5 containers planned. Got about half the stuff planted. NOT BAD!! Right, Fred? I do have some perennials in need of dirt, but I also have some perennials I have planted already. And some in pots waiting for attention. All are healthy and will be planted hopefully this weekend.
Work is going well. Much ado about e-books, including one of the programs I went to yesterday and a workshop we had here this morning. We'll be getting a subscription to one vendor's list of e-books by fall, I think. If the vendor pulls through.
I've given up on my aquarium at home. Death toll was way too high. I have 3 goldfish here at work, only 2 of whom appear to be healthy. My 2-year-old goldfish died recently and his partner seemed lonely so I got 2 more (for 13 cents each). Big Man is LARGE, newbies are small. One of the newbies is sort of floating around, not really swimming. Geez, I can't even succeed with new goldfish. Big Man is more than a year old and is doing well. Perhaps I shouldn't have assumed company was wanted.
Dogs and cat are all fine. HUGE chipmunk body on the living room floor the other night when I got home. Yesterday Tess was parading around with a jumping mouse corpse in her mouth. Long tail hanging out, a dead giveaway. Why does Kitty insist on sparing the least desirable rodents? Get me some red squirrels, cat, and a regular mouse or two.
Someone says he's moving into his camp tonight. That would be nice, a destination for long peaceful walks, with a glass of rum at the end of the walk. Lin is cleaning Linda's camp this weekend. We'll have a coffee break, then a glass of wine when she finishes. Oh wait, wine at home, rum down the lane--pick your poison, girlie. Poisons. Which I'll enjoy tonight when I get to Hawkeye, planning to stop at Joe & Martha's.
Life is good but not exciting. Which is pretty much my preference.
Take cover quick!!
From today's NYTimes:
Thousands of people around the country have spent the last few days taking to the streets and saying final goodbyes before Saturday, Judgment Day, when they expect to be absorbed into heaven in a process known as the rapture. Nonbelievers, they hold, will be left behind to perish along with the world over the next five months.
Thousands of people around the country have spent the last few days taking to the streets and saying final goodbyes before Saturday, Judgment Day, when they expect to be absorbed into heaven in a process known as the rapture. Nonbelievers, they hold, will be left behind to perish along with the world over the next five months.
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I drove to Alexandria Bay (in the 1000 Islands) yesterday for a conference. 2.5 hours each way from home, not a bad drive. I went through Ogdensburg, then drowve along the St. Lawrence River. Here's how it looked in the morning, through mist. The St. Lawrence really is a pretty river.
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There were 2 sets of geese with goslings right next to the road. Of course I had to stop and harrass them. They were on the grass but moved into the water as I got closer. What cute fuzzy babies.
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Not such a great shot, but it shows long shadows in late afternoon light, and something approaching greenery. This is the entrance to the boardwalk/bog
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Fiddleheads are up. They hadn't come up yet the last time I walked the bog, but it's been nearly a week.
Monday, May 09, 2011
Mother's Day bog walk
We all walked the bog yesterday--the entire household (fish are all dead). Kitty sometimes goes with us, it's always up to her of course. Yesterday she was quite perky and cheerful. Usually she saunters behind us, complaining and whining. This time she ran ahead and waited for me silently. She never comes out with us, apparently we're not really THAT interesting.
The peepers have started. Very loud in some places, just a few near my house. They'll get louder soon.
Chances waiting, as usual
We went for a walk down the shoreline, too. That's Silver Lake Mountain from across from my driveway. i do like early spring--the woods look bleak to some, but there's enough pink/red to make them seem optimistic to me.
And, of course, that's Chances.
Now you see her,
Whiteface still has snow
You can just see Whiteface over the shoulder of the mountain (Douglas) that's on the other side of the lake.
Monday, May 02, 2011
001
The bog. That's Chances, paitiently waiting for me. It's good walking again and I've been taking the dogs there every day. Today maybe we'll go in the opposite direction, check on some camps down the lake.
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My Weekend Station. Sitting in the sun on the deck. I read 2 books and my skin got pretty pink, but oh what a great time I had.
011
This is what's on the railing right now. Too soon for my containers, but I'm spreading violas throughout a bunch of planters. Strange, but I guess I just want to play with flowers.
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I'm surprised there isn't an indentation on the deck in the shape of Chances' supine body. This is a pose that's very, very common for her. She, too, looks irritated.
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What does kitty do while we're enjoying the fresh air? She sleeps in the living room chair. zzzzzz.
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