Friday, and I even get paid

The weather is good now, after some rain and cloudy, cool days.  It's supposed to be 80 and sunny this weekend, which is certainly perfect for reading on the dock.  I have chores to do and hopefully will get up early enough to finish in the morning.  Mostly it's 3 things: mow the lawn, go to the dump and plant a bunch of flowers in pots on my deck.  Mowing and planting need to be done in the early morning because the black flies are out in full now and it's not pleasant.  I did spend some nice time on Linda's dock, where there was a bit of an evening breeze that kept the bugs at bay (mostly).  That was nice.

Fairly busy weekend, neighborhood events.  Tomorrow is the Belmont and we're all hoping for a Triple Crown winner.  There's lots of doubt about Calif. Chrome, though, and whether he'll be able to go the distance.  I have come to hate horse racing for the cruelty and horrible treatment of the horses, but the animals are truly beautiful so I watch these 3 races.  There's a Belmont party at J&M's, which will be fun. 

Sunday is the start of our Sunday dining season and we'll be at Linda's for a locavore brunch.  I have to pick up some NY State wine on my way home tonight to complete the meal.

I may stay in the boat house, but it's still sort of cool at night so it's not as pleasant.  Still great, just a tad cool.

Spectacular evening at the boat house after a storm.  I slept there because it was too hot at home, but a front came through during the night and I was wicked cold when I woke up at 5.  The dogs are happy to be at camp--as long as there's food there for them.

And what a week it was

Boy did I have a grand time last week!  I was on vacation and got to spend the entire time at home doing whatever I felt like doing.  I can't remember every doing that before, I always have traveled or entertained family during vacations.  This was really wonderful.  I got a lot of projects done, including painting the kitchen cupboards (black--Linda said "Didn't you just paint them?"  and yes, I did, I painted them white and they looked awful), clearing out stuff from the library, moving the dog cage, planting lots of flowers, opening the boat house, filling the car for the dump 3 times, and more.  It was grand.

Jenica, Justin, Gwyn and Malcolm came Memorial Day Sunday and we had a good time on the boat house porch.  The baby is very cute and smiles a lot.  She looks like Jenica, who looks like my brother, so it's very sweet to see her.

I spent quite a bit of time with Linda and that was nice.  We ran the roads a couple of times, and went to a favorite small greenhouse for a few things.  I went to the big nursery and bought not too many flower plants for my deck.  I've planted almost half of them but had to buy a new container.  Now I should be able to finish the planting.  I planted morning glory seeds and they're up.  I bought bigger geraniums for the cemetery this year and what a difference that made!  The graves usually look as if someone remembered to plant something but didn't really feel committed to the project.  This year they look as if someone actually cares.  It's very sad for me to see my brother's grave, it always makes me say "Oh Henry, why did you die?"  I dreamed about him last night, he was in a wheelchair.  He sure wouldn't have liked that.  He's always cheerful in my dreams (I dream of him often) and sometimes I know he's going to die, other times he's just fine.  I like having good dreams about him.

Now I'm back at work (and writing my personal blog on company time?  Oh the shame).  It was hard to start up at my desk yesterday after being so free from the workplace for so many days, but today it's a normal thing.  The usual tasks and requests and chores.  I'll place a big book order tomorrow, which will be entertaining and challenging.  A favorite part of every librarian's job.

I'll go to RI in 2 weeks for a memorial service for my uncle.  The service is in Lexington, Mass.--this was my mother's brother-in-law, my last surviving uncle.  My aunt has Alzheimer's and my mother is always saying "I miss my sister."  I refrain from saying "At least she's not dead."

My poor mother had water issues over the weekend and ended up having plumbers install a new pump yesterday.  There was a wiring issue in her pump and apparently the plumbers felt the best thing to do was replace the whole pump.  That was a surprise but my mother could pay for it and now feels secure in her ability to provide water when company comes.

The dogs are great although Tess is really showing her age.  She's 12 and now moves more slowly and sometimes needs a boost getting in the car or onto the bed.  I try to imagine life without her, and think I won't get another dog when she dies.  WHAT?  Only have one dog?  Yes, that would be simpler.  And cheaper.

Spring mountain, with baby oak leaves in the foreground.  My father planted the oak tree next to the boat house, and he died in 1981 so it's an old tree.  At one point my mother cut it down because it was blocking the nice spot on the big rock.  It wouldn't quit, though, and grew big stump shoots so now we still have an oak tree next to the boat house.  Some things just don't go away.

Ladies slipper in bud.  Should be blooming very soon.  Trillium has gone by, twin flower is blooming, bunchberry coming along, sheep laurel in the bog is blooming, with Labrador tea not far behind.  It's still spring green but that won't last much longer, it's getting darker, like summer green.

Graceful ferns in the bog.  There are several (well, at least a few) different types of ferns there and they're all growing at different rates.  I think this is a cinnamon fern but I'm sure no expert.

I found an ovenbird's nest on the way to camp.  I doubt the eggs are still there now, even my dogs would eat them.  Usually ovenbirds build nests that are better hidden than this (in a nest shaped like an oven, oddly enough)

The camp road last week.  Oh, the green!

Spring forward

Busy time in Hawkeye.  Summer people are arriving, camps are being opened, docks put in.  I'm excited because I'm taking all of next week off and am not going anywhere except the dump and maybe Plattsburgh.  This is the first time I've ever vacationed at home so it will be grand.  I have a long list of projects and chores, but what gets done is OK and what doesn't get done is OK too.  Some of the things really need doing.  I need to get the contractors' garbage bags that are full of insulation from last fall and look like alien pods at the foot of my deck stairs to the dump.  Annie is bringing her truck today, though, so maybe we can kill that with her help.  I would love to do a major truck dump run but need a BIG truck for that.

Celebrated Linda's birthday on Weds. night, a delicious pork roast.  She knows how to cook a pork shoulder, boy howdy.  It was really good.  Nice company--J&M, Bill too.  It was a nice evening.

It's been rainy lately and feels cold today.  We needed the rain.  I need to plant my flowers, bought last weekend with Lin, in pots on the deck.  I bought dirt (how stupid is it to have to buy dirt?) and think I have enough big pots to use.  There's only one way to find out...

Nice meeting in Lake Placid yesterday, the annual meeting of our umbrella library system.  A good friend won a special award, which was a surprise to her so that was fun.  The lunch was not very good, a disappointment because it was at a fancy place.  Even the soda was flat.  REALLY!!!  Shame on them.

It feels very strange not to have specific plans for next week.  I guess it's good practice for retirement.  I'm so undecided about retiring--it's a hard decision to make.  One day I can't see doing anything but retire, another day I don't have the courage and am sure I can't afford it anyway and I like my job and what would I do?  On it goes.

Family coming to camp this weekend, though camp is not yet opened.  My cousins will no doubt put the furniture out on the porch, and my other cousin's wife will complain that they did it too soon and it will all be covered with pine pollen.  I just listen.  People do what they do.

Dogs are still restless, apparently.  They find something to mess with every day.  Yesterday they turned the oven on.  I think I have to resume caging Treasure.  She figured out how to get out of the Veri-Kennel but I have a wire cage that should work.  She won't like it but isn't that just a shame.  Oh poor girl.  I don't think Tess gets into as much trouble without Treasure's help.  I'll switch the cages next week and see how it goes.

I'll stop at P&J's tonight--it IS Friday, after all.  Saw them earlier in the week but didn't go there Sunday.  Now that I have good Internet at home I can blog more often.  Oh boy!

Sweet dogs, very sweet dogs

I wandered home late the other night, stopping to visit with P&J, then having dinner with Linda & Erdvilas to celebrate their arrival in Hawkeye.  The dogs don't usually seem to care what time I get home (as long as I DO get home, and feed them when I do).  I don't know if what they did was because I was so late or if they did it during the day out of general boredom and interest in something new and different.

They went into the pantry, grabbed a new, full 5 pound bag of sugar, ripped it open and ate it.  All of it.  Then they drank a lot of water.  Then they threw up.  Then they drank some more water.  Then they threw up again.  Repeat as many times as they can in a single day.  what a mess.  I was too tired to do much about it when I got home, so cleaned it up the next day.  Sheets were all stuck together (oh yes, they threw up on the bed and floor and chair).  Floor just a tad sticky.  It's the kind of scene you come upon and want to turn around and close the door behind you.  But I had to laugh.  Why would dogs want to eat sugar?  We ate butter & sugar sandwiches when we were kids, but how do dogs know about sugar?  Anyway, they suffered no permanent damage and were just fine and happy to see me when I got home.  Sheepish?  Not a bit.

Last night Tess re-connected with some people who turned out to be old bogging friends.  They own a camp at the end of my road and have some special-needs kids, one of whom LOVED Tess ("and Tess loves me and wants to be with ME, and one time she jumped right in our car").  Honestly I have to be better about tracking these animals.  I didn't cable Tess because she was just lying on the deck and I wasn't thinking there would be any bog walkers this early in the season.  I guess I forgot that it's Memorial Day and the summer season is revving up.  Thanks for the reminder, Tess.

Spring comes to Hawkeye

Fuzzy little fiddleheads, so cute.  This was my morning walk at 6 a.m., into the bog with the dogs.  Tamaracks are coming out and there are small leaves on alders, bigger leaves on poplars.  It's greening up a lot, very quickly.

Yesterday the dogs ate a 5 pound bag of sugar they found in the pantry.  They opened it, ate a bunch of it, spread some of it around, drank a lot of water, threw up, and repeated the process.  Oh they're little darlings all right.  Now Tess has a sugar-coated head and Treasure has a sugary sweet tail.

Sunday eve

I just lost a post.  Oh I love Windows 8.  I can't figure out how to do much of anything with it.

Anyway.  It was a good weekend.  Yesterday was a banner day.  I went to the dump, what would a Saturday be without biscuits for the dogs at the dump and a visit with Dump Man?  I read on my deck for a while, but had a sudden hankering to spend money on plants so took off for Lamoys, picking up Lin along the way.  What a nice time we had there.  I didn't go overboard, spent a respectable amount and bought nearly enough for my containers.  Some new things this year as well as the old standards.  I'll plant my nasturtium and morning glory seeds next week.  Meanwhile we're having frost warnings tonight so I'll have to gather the darling plantlets together and put them near the house, maybe cover them.  Or not.  I doubt we'll have a killing frost but oh how I hate to see dead plants.  Unless they're blackberry bushes.

Today I did a few chores, then visited with Lin and her son Jay while they opened and cleaned Linda's camp--Linda is due to arrive tomorrow, yikes.  Lin & Jay came over for lunch and we had a good time.  I do like having company, especially when I'm not worried about what they think of my living conditions.  The house is in dire need of a thorough cleaning.  GET THAT DOG HAIR OFF OF THE FLOOR.  PUT THOSE CLOTHES AWAY.  At least I did put my winter clothes away.

This week looks pretty good.  Busy enough without being overwhelming.  A meeting on Weds., a gathering on Thursday at the Mirror Lake Inn (yay) that's the annual meeting of our umbrella library system.  That will be good--a big surprise for a friend who's going with me.

And then there's next week.  YAY for next week, a long vacation for me.  I don't think I'll go to RI but may change my mind at the end of the week.  I have a page-long list of tasks (which makes Fred laugh).  I had a visit with Fred this morning on Pinewood's porch.  It was cold but oh I do enjoy being with him.  It was 38 this morning, up to around 60 by afternoon.  What's on my list?  Things that many people do routinely, things that I've wanted to get done for a long time, simple things, dog things, boat house things.  Things, things, things.

Summer starts this week when Linda then Joe & Martha arrive.  Boy it seems early, though the leaves on the trees are mighty small and the shad is just blooming.  Tamaracks are leafing out nicely.  If I want a pet chipmunk I could adopt the one that was eating the sunflower seed on my deck.  He was sooo happy to discover a garbage can full of seed!  He kept chirping and filling his cheeks.  They are cute, chipmunks, but I don't cotton to feeding them the way some people do.

Colts foot in bloom.  One of the earliest wildflowers to show up.  The marsh marigolds are blooming along the roadsides, and I found one lonely trillium.  I had a nice walk with the dogs and they stayed with me.  Until later in the day, when Tess took off and came home a while later, soaking wet.  Where does she go?

Spring view of OHR, taken yesterday afternoon.  It's hot these days, and sunny.  Too hot I think.  It's supposed to rain buckets this weekend.

I have a frog--he's in there somewhere.  I don't remember seeing such a big frog on my land.  Toads, yes, I have plenty of big booger toads, but this one's a frog in a puddle.  My mother and Mark have frogs in their pond and sometimes they have so many--or such big ones--that they catch them and move them to a nearby pond.  Mostly they do that with Molly's help.

Actual leaves on poplar trees

Communicating at last

I didn't realize how long it's been since I've posted anything.  Why, there was snow on the ground then!  Our snow is all gone, and my daffodils and crocuses are blooming away.  There are tiny leaves on trees in the Champlain Valley, and buds on the poplars in Hawkeye.  It's happening, this spring thing.  The ice went out the 3rd, or maybe the 1st or 2nd, but officially (according to Jim) on the 3rd.  Does it matter WHEN?  No, only that it did happen.  The lake has been very rough, lots of whitecaps for the past several days, with high winds.  It only warmed up yesterday, really.  Saturday was OK but there was a cold wind and it was cloudy at times.  I went to the dump, then to the grocery store in Plattsburgh.  Took the dogs along and they had a grand time.  Yesterday I was very tired, spent some time reading on my deck and some time napping on the couch.  It was a beautiful day, as is today.

I had a busy week last week.  Tuesday I drove (with 2 colleagues) to Canandaigua for 2 days of training.  We stayed with the Nadals, which was really wonderful.  We had good visits with them and got to see their wonderful house.  What fun that was.  Oh, the training?  The training was good, too.  Intense and maybe a bit too much theoretical stuff, but some good bones.  We learned how to be good system consultants.  Lots of people thought this was pretty funny, since the three of us have been doing this for many, many years.  There was good information, and I learned what I've been doing wrong for decades--not really WRONG, just not quite right.  Teach them how to solve their own problems, don't solve their problems for them.  Don't be an expert, just know how to find the information/answer.  OK, I can do that.

I boarded the dogs at the Vermontville kennel, where they have 22 Siberian huskies they use for sledding.  Yikes.  How do you keep them straight?  How do you think of enough names?  My dogs like it there and they love my dogs.  YAY!  They were there for 4 days and were happy but not ecstatic to see me when I picked them up Friday night.  Oh they got so many compliments!  They were quite proud.  I stopped on the way home and walked them on the road that goes into the Bainbridge property.  What a nice walk that is.  I've been walking them in different places to avoid the disappearing acts they've been pulling at home.  I haven't walked the bog in a while.  Need to do that, maybe today. 

I'm going home early today and maybe I'll walk the bog then.  I told Annie I'd go down to check on her daffodils so we'll go there.  My daffodils are doing very well, and I finally found some of my crocuses.  The grass is greening up, the goldfinches are very yellow, the loon is back, the flickers are back but we have no peepers yet.  The Nadals had tons of peepers at night, which was really special.

Saturday was full of Mr. Smith.  We sat on the porch at Pinewood for a while, got back to work then went to Big Daddy's for dinner.  Oh so nice to see him!  Fred, not Big Daddy (who is dead).

This week looks pretty quiet.  A meeting on Friday to go over the training.  Maybe a visit to the AuSable library to train the new director.  Mostly I just want to enjoy today's weather.

Sunday bog walk

The dogs and I had a nice bog walk yesterday morning.  It snowed earlier, then rained.  There's still snow in the bog but Tess found open water and took a dip.  They were rat pigs and ran away on the way out of the bog.  I found them later down the hardtop, at Brousseau's a mile away, trotting down the road.  Guess I have to keep a leash with me on every walk and harness one of them on the way home each time.  What creeps.
I stayed home on Friday, sinus and asthma--the maples are blooming which always bothers my allergies.  Bothers my allergies?  Well, I have an allergic reaction to the maples and the birches (which will bloom later).

It sure was nice to be home 3 days in a row, even though I slept for most of Friday.  I had a hot fire going all weekend so I didn't have to turn the heat on.  It was mostly pretty miserable all weekend but at least it wasn't REALLY miserable.  Totally OK.

I had book group last night in Wilmington.  Just 3 of us, the die-hards.  We had a good time and some serious talks.  Even spent a little time talking about the book.  M'lou gave us tons of chocolate, which was very generous and wonderful.  I brought some to work this morning, froze the chocolate rabbits for Linda, and have stashed the rest.  Yum.

Quiet week ahead, not much going on.  There's a board meeting tonight but I don't know if I'll stay for it.  Yes.  No.  Yes.  No.  I like to attend them so they know someone is keeping track, but it won't start until 4:30 and might last a while since they couldn't get a quorum together for last month's meeting.  Oh boards are really something.

Saturday evening I went to a fundraiser for the Upper Jay library.  I went with my friend Julie and we had a good time.  The food was amazing and we actually did know a few of the people there.  It was at someone's house and this woman had put together an incredible spread of all kinds of food.  We wanted to eat like pigs but there were too many people hanging around the food for us to really go to town.

Went to the dump on Saturday, and took the long way home so I could listen to my book.  It's Me before you and is a novel about a quadrepalegic (or however that's spelled).  I'm enjoying it.  I'm almost to the end so will have to come up with another book to listen to.

This posting sounds about as boring as my life is.

Nice walk to the lake yesterday after our bog walk.  The ice is actually going out and there's open water along the shore.  It was a fairly dreary day, with snow in the morning.  Sunnier today but still not very warm.

Bog

No sign of life in the bog but it sure is pretty.