Back for a Visit

I’m so tired at the end of the day lately, I just don’t have the energy to write any posts… it’s been so long, I doubt anyone reads this anymore (not that many did to begin with!).  This update is (obviously) pretty much for me.

 

• The heat has been awful this summer, but it’s not any worse than summers I remember as a kid.  I remember all the summers being hot and humid in July and August.  Maybe we’ll have an old-fashioned winter this year too.

 

• I’ve been seeing a *lot* of young deer with antlers.  I never see deer with antlers, so deer sightings have been a whole lot more interesting.

 

• Two of The Ladies can’t decide if they want to sleep in the coop at night or not.  Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.  On the nights they don’t, I have to wander around the yard to collect them and lock them up 

 

• I’m still getting baby robins… Robin #2 produced three fledglings while Robin #1 is currently raising #’s 7, 8 and 9… she’s a busy mom!

 

• I cat-sat a week for a friend.  One of the few pets I never had growing up was a cat.  I can definitely say that I am a dog person and I wouldn’t ever get a pet cat.  I think that dogs are way easier to take care of and definitely cleaner around the house!

 

• …and speaking of dogs, my sister’s dog is growing up so fast.  She is going to be such a great dog when she’s all grown up.

 

• I was stunned last week when the guy I work next to asked me what the new guy’s name was.  The ‘New Guy’ has been working with us for over three months and works within 20 feet of us 

 

• I went on a field trip with my Mom and sisters to Lily Dale.  My Mom and one of my sisters had a reading – I wish I had had the $$$ to have one too… it was pretty interesting to hear what the mediums had to say – they were on the mark with a lot of stuff.

 

• Just about every street I take going to work has a car counter on it.  I just know that construction on every one of those streets is going to start on the same day.  And it’s going to take forever to get to work when it does.  And it’s going to go on for months.  Ugh.

 

• There has been a family of Guinea fowl hanging around my house – they are so cool.  I hope they make it through the winter, but I’m not too optimistic as they aren’t native to cold climates    I wish my camera had a better zoom.

 

• I’m not very excited about my garden this year.  Because the spring was so wet, everything had too much of a late start.  The only thing that is looking OK is my tomatoes – everything else is either super small or non-existent.  Corn, beans and peas never happened.  Maybe we’ll have a mild fall and I’ll get something from the rest of what I planted.  We’ll see.

 

I can’t believe that tomorrow is the first day of August.  Ugh.

Frustration Is…

…Going to the Clarence Post Office and being the *only* person in line with three people behind the counter, each at their own register and having to wait a full minute before being recognized.  Just stop reading and look at the clock for a full minute – go ahead, I’ll wait.  Back?  Yeah.  That’s a long time to be ignored by three people.

 

…Having to work all day next to someone with ADD.

 

…Having plans with an out-of-town friend to hike down to the Eternal Flame rained out.

 

… Always seeming to get stuck driving behind really slow people or people that can’t keep a constant speed.

 

…Taking a ride down to Zoar Valley to get pictures of the autumn leaves changing only to get there and find that they haven’t started yet.

 

Good Day

Today I found out that the place I’ve been temping at wants to hire me on permanently.  I think I had given in to the idea that I wouldn’t be finding a permanent job for a long, long time (like not until Obama got out of office)…

I am very happy with the company.  Everyone there is really nice, the hours are great and the location is really good. 

And I like the job itself 

Here’s to getting settled and getting my life back to normal!

Last

• Yay!  Today I took my last antibiotic pill for my kidney infection    I’m feeling a million times better than I did a week and a half ago - I never want to go through that again.  I’m still not eating normally yet, but I’m getting there.

 

• I’m working a temporary job in downtown Buffalo.  It’s nice to know that I’ll have another mortgage payment or two covered.  The building I’m in affords me a great view of the city and lake.  Today while on break, I was able to witness a bird’s eye view of the storm coming in off the lake – that was cool!  I wish my phone had a camera in it so I could have taken pictures…

 

• The chickens have learned over the past couple of days what winter really is.  When I went to see them after work today, they were not happy campers at all - especially Banana.  She was complaining from the moment I saw her until the moment I went back to the house – she wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise    Well, maybe now they will listen to me when I tell them to appreciate the nice weather when we have it 

Better

The good news is that my back is way better than it was Saturday - thank goodness! Sunday I was able to move again and yesterday and today I've been improving. I'm still sore, but hopefully by the end of the week I'll be back to normal - normal for me anyway. I am so glad that I didn't hurt myself more seriously. Thank you to the Guardian Angel looking out for me!

Today I let the chickens outside again for a little while while I did some maintenance on the coop. As soon as I get everything in tip-top shape, the Ladies will be outside on nice days and I'll be bringing them back in only at night. Once they have all their adult feathers they will be outside for good. They zonked out as soon as they got back in again :)

Something is eating my peas. I suspect it's one of the bunnies that inhabit the yard. It's so weird - they never bothered my garden before and now they decide that they want to eat my lettuce and peas. I guess I'll have to start putting fences up. What a pain :(

I hate my work hours. I've said it before and I'll say it again - how do people who work Monday through Friday 9 - 5 (or 9 - 5:30 in my case) manage to get anything done? I have so many things to do that I am so far behind on, I have no idea how I am ever going to catch up. For every project I work on, it seems like three more come up.

On a happier note, Tractor Supply called and the battery for my tractor is in. Now let's hope that a new battery is all my tractor needs. Cross your fingers.

Reflections

Thinking over the past year since I've started this blog, I've had some pretty big things happen during that time...

I had to quit a job I had for almost twelve years, thus having to pretty much start all over in the job market. I've had two jobs since. The first I hated very much. The one I have now I like most of the time. The only problem is that it doesn't pay enough to support myself. It didn't matter when I started the job, but it does now. I'm going to have to find something else that pays better. And soon.

After a bit of a hiatus, I re-entered the dating game. I never thought that I would ever feel this way again, but I am looking forward to finding someone to spend the rest of my life with.

I have a nephew now who is as cute as a button. It's amazing how fast babies grow!

My back is well on it's way to being functional once again. I've been able to get back on track to fixing up the house. Too bad it was such a rainy summer.

I was fortunate enough to be taken on a couple of nice trips this year. I have a smaller one coming up that I am very much looking forward to.

My Dad died, but we were all lucky enough that he was revived. He's doing better than I could ever have hoped. I hope that he keeps on improving.

Looking back, it's been a very busy year with a lot of new experiences and a lot of new people. I like to think that I've grown and learned from them all. There were a lot of things I wanted to accomplish that never happened - this is going to be the year to focus on big projects and get them done!

Where Does the Time Go?

Has over a month past since my last entry????? Yikes!

I need more hours in the day to get done everything that I would like... ~sigh~

What's been going on over the past few weeks:

• I started a new job. I absolutely hated the old one. I've never really hated a job before. So far, I think the new job is a good fit. I'm still getting used to the schedule.
• With some help, some more work got done on the house - I still have miles to go tho'...
• I learned that it takes less time to fly to (and from) Poland than it does to fly to (and from) Idaho.
• I am totally sick of hearing about Hillary and Obama. And the election isn't until November. God help us all.
• I cannot believe that CBS took Jericho off the air.
• Spring must be here. I saw my first robin last Saturday.
• My Mom and sister outdid themselves for Easter dinner - yum!
  
• My nephew is getting bigger and bigger every time I see. I am pleasantly surprised to see that he is a pretty happy baby - he doesn't cry every time I look at him (like most babies do) :)

It seems like every weekend is filled to the brim. This weekend is going to be a fun weekend instead of a We-Have-To-Get-Stuff-Done weekend. Saturday is the art museum and dinner with some friends and I'm hoping for decent weather on Sunday so that we can participate in Maple Weekend.

I usually don't mind winter, but I am just soooo ready for the warm weather to get here already.

Laura sent me this, and I thought it was absolutely great:

What Storm?

This past week at work was very frustrating. Here it is Sunday night, and I'm still not de-stressed (un-stressed?) yet. I am really not looking forward to going in tomorrow morning. I was hoping that the big snow storm we were supposed to get would have given me another day of reprieve so I could further de-stress (non-stress?)... but it doesn't look like I'll be that lucky.

The way the news was hyping up this storm we were supposed to get today, I thought that I was going to be spending my day keeping my house from getting buried. The Weather Channel was calling it a "Monster Storm Watch". Puh-leeze. I may have gotten seven inches of snow. Big deal. It was windy tho'. I was happy to get back in the house after clearing the driveway. Which begs the question: Why does the snowplow guy wait to come down the street just after you get done with the driveway and you're back in the house? You think that is a rhetorical question that someone made up to be funny. Well it's not made up and it's not funny. And I'm not cleaning it up until tomorrow. So there.

Because I was planning on being snowed in today, I was ready to stay put. I enjoyed a pretty relaxing day, notwithstanding the thought of work nagging the back of my brain. I didn't do some of the things that I should have, but I still got some good stuff done.

I saw some great news today: The new season of Jericho is coming out February 12th. Wahoo!!! It's still a long way off, but at least I know it's coming. I can't wait.

I'm watching the Survivor finale now. The one thing I don't like about the finale shows is the whole "let's-honor-the-past-players" thing. That is one of the most boring parts of the whole season. I also didn't care for some of the new effects they tried this season either - especially that whole stop-motion thing they were using during some of the competitions. Thank goodness they didn't over-do it with that stuff.

As for the end - I'm rooting for Todd, but I wouldn't be sad if Amanda won. I think they both played good, but I think that Todd worked harder at it. I can't believe that Courtney made it to the final four. Being so skinny, I thought that she would have withered away weeks ago. I can't get over how anorexic she looks. Yuk.

I've also noticed lately that CBS likes to use OK Go when promoting new shows. I love OK Go. Good choice CBS :D

Puttering around the house today, I was thinking about the subject of meeting new people. Over the past month or so, I've had the opportunity to meet quite a few new people. I've also had the chance to introduce people to each other. I find it very interesting to see how differently people engage when meeting new people. Out of all the new people I've met lately, I've only observed one person that comes close to the way I react when meeting someone new. It kind of makes me wonder if my approach isn't right. But then again maybe not - I've gotten to know some pretty amazing people.

Cooped Up

I haven't been sick in a long time. Fortunately I'm not really sick - I think I missed the worst of a sore throat, but I'm still sneezing and coughing a lot. If this lasts much longer, I think I'm going to regret not getting a flu shot this year.

To say that yesterday was a stressful day at work is a huge understatement.

My chickens really surprised me this morning when I went out to make sure that they had food and water and to clean out the coop. Since the weather has gotten cold out, they've been pretty much hanging out inside their coop, only venturing outside when I throw them some extra goodies. Except the other day. Mr. Rooster got a little discombobulated. He was funny... he wanted to run out of my way, except he really didn't want to put his feet in the snow. He actually flew quite a bit away, which really surprised me. Their pinions are clipped, so supposedly the chickens can't fly any big distances. Mr. Rooster managed some pretty good flying, tho'. When he landed on top of one of my out-buildings, I really thought that either I wouldn't see him again, or he would be stuck there. In the end, he joined the Ladies as he should have. But he didn't touch much snow :) I feel a lot better now knowing the fact that if a coyote or fox got near them, my chickens would have a fighting chance of getting away - which is good. But anyway, getting back to this morning - I went to get some feed and stuff and lo and behold, there were my chickens wandering around. I think that either they were getting antsy being cooped up all the time (Hee hee - get it? Cooped up? I made a funny!), or they have finally gotten used to the snow and decided that it was OK to walk around in it. Either way, I was really surprised to see them out and about.




And while we are on the subject of the chickens, I am happy to say that their feathers are all filling in rather nicely and aren't so scraggly-looking any more. Except for one of the hens, but I think that she is just behind schedule from the rest of them. Mr. Rooster is turning back to his manly, handsome self again...




It seems like lately I've been doing a lot of stuff, but not really getting much done, if that makes any sense. I really need to work on my prioritizing and accomplishing more things from my Must Do list as opposed to my Want To Do list. That sure doesn't sound like fun. ~sigh~

Blink

It seems like I've blinked my eyes and over a week has gone by. Where does the time go??? It's tough remembering everything that's been going on - but here are some of the highlights, in no particular order:

Brought about by events that happened the day after Thanksgiving, last Monday was a pretty crappy day at work. Fortunately, the situation was pretty much rectified the next day.

We found out that our work schedule will be changing for the two weeks before Christmas. It's going to be a couple of nerve-wracking weeks - I don't feel ready for what we are going to be doing. Ugh.

I am happy to share the fact that postponing my Christmas shopping has paid off... Had I finished all my shopping by now, one of the gifts I would have purchased would have been thwarted. Procrastination does have it's advantages :) That being said, no one should be allowed to buy anything for themselves during the holidays.

I got to tag along on a trip to Brasher Falls (pronounced 'Brazier Falls' - don't ask... I have no idea) this past weekend. I can say that I now actually know someone on the Internet Movie Database in person. Honestly - just how cool is that? Not only was Scott in a movie, but he does stand up comedy. That's why we were in Brasher Falls - to see his show. He's a nice guy and really funny. Randy and I were hoping to do some caching while in the area too, but the weather just didn't cooperate :(

I found out today that the insurance plan I have from my new job has a really sucky prescription plan. I'm still in shock at how much prescriptions cost. The good news is, I found out that I'm really 3/4" taller than I thought I was.

I'm behind watching Survivor and The Amazing Race, but I did catch Heroes tonight. Loved the season finale... I know that it's going to be waaaaay too long before next season starts. Did anyone catch the show that was on after A Charlie Brown Christmas last week? It was definitely a new Charlie Brown show. And it was definitely awful. They should just stick to the classics.

I also learned this past week that there are uncut clips of Star Blazers on You Tube. Randy and I have been watching the series on DVD. I absolutely loved the series when I was a kid, and we are having a lot of fun rewatching the series. Randy is the first person I have ever come across that had ever heard of Star Blazers before, much less watched it. (How cool is that?) Anyway, as a kid, I never would have guessed that they had cut out parts of the show - and I was surprised to see what they had cut. The show had a lot more violence than they would allow on American TV back then, I guess. Another nice thing I learned was that there are episodes of Prince Planet on You Tube, too - another show I loved as a kid. It's amazing how much anime has changed over the years. The only problem is that I don't have time to keep up with regular TV, much less time to catch up on all this other fun stuff. You Tube is one of mankind's greatest inventions.

Foxy

On the way home from work today, a gray fox was on the road in front of me. What a great siting that was! I knew we had red fox in the area, but this is the first time I've seen a gray one. He didn't seem to know which way to go - I think my headlights stunned him a bit. I was really happy when the car coming from the opposite direction stopped too, so the little guy was able to get out of harm's way.

Sci Fi's Ghosthunters is at Waverly Hills Sanitorium again this year for Halloween. I like it when they go there - they always catch something good there. The Ghosthunters' International show they mentioned sounds like it's going to be pretty good.

I was reminded today that tomorrow will be the beginning of my second month at my new job. I absolutely cannot believe that it's been a month since I've changed employers. And it's funny - in some respects it feels like I've been there a lot longer than a month and in others I think, "Only a month???". What I can say for certain, is that the change was definitely good for me. Health-wise, I haven't felt this good in a long, long time. I've also made new friends. I have more time for myself... All I need now is for better working hours that don't cut into my Geocaching time when Dave is in town :) I really think that my life is heading in a new direction. It looks like things might finally start going my way. I hope.

Ugh. Ewww. Meh.

A bit of a nerve-wracking day at work today. We kind of moved up a little in our training. Having to do something new that I'm not really sure about always makes me anxious. I'm sure I'll settle down as the week goes on, but I'm still feeling a bit uptight. Ugh.

I'm really enjoying this season of Heroes, but I really wish that Nikki would just die or go away or something. Whenever she is on, she is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. Ewww.

You can tell Election Day isn't too far away. Everyday I have more and more political postcards in my mailbox. I've lost count of how many I've gotten in the last week. And they don't even have any impact on who I'm going to vote for. What a waste of paper and postage. If the guys (and ladies) in office actually did something during their term that would benefit the taxpayer, they wouldn't have anything to worry about when it comes to re-election. Meh.

Frustrated

Today was a pretty stressful day at work for me. My brain just stopped absorbing anything. It's a scary feeling not being able to keep up. Especially when you compound that with the fact that we were being prepared for another stage of our training on Monday... Frustrated is an understatement. I hate feeling that way. I know everything will be OK in the long run, but the bumps along the way just aren't fun. Not fun at all.

On a less stressful note... This morning I was working a bit on cleaning up my garden for the winter. Between my back being hurt and the whole job change, I haven't been giving it all the attention that I would have liked to. I didn't even get any broccoli or cauliflower this year because I didn't have the chance tie them up - they both ended up going to seed :(

I am already excited about my garden for next year. I've started to plan what I'm going to plant and where it's all going to go. Chances are I'll change my mind at least a hundred times before next spring, but that's OK. I'm excited about the fact that I should have the time and energy to have the best garden I've had yet.

Change

Training classes at work today and yesterday were sooooo painfully boring. I am really glad that I have a bunch of fun people in my class. If I didn't, I would be very tempted to gouge out my eyeballs with my pen. I hope that things will start to get interesting again. Soon. Pleeeeeeeeze!

Tomorrow will finish up my third week away from my old job. Thinking about it, it already seems like a lifetime ago. Isn't it funny how easy it is to let something that has been such a big chunk of your life slip away? To me, wherever I work kind of becomes a part of who I am - and how can it not? I mean, you really do spend most of your time there - it's like breathing: you don't think about it, you just do it. So when something that big in my life changes, it's weird when it doesn't seem to be a huge impact when it's gone. It really boggles my mind to think about it. It also kind of makes me wonder what would have happened if I had changed jobs sooner.

I also want to say that whenever I see someone doing something stupid while driving, I can almost guarantee that they are talking on a cell phone. I don't care who you are or how coordinated you think you are - people just cannot talk on a cell phone and drive at the same time. I really wish that either everyone would realize this and stop doing it or that the police could be more stricter about enforcing that law. Argh.