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.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Bullets

• This weather is making me very crabby and grumpy.  I’m sick of rain.  I’m sick of mud.  I’m REALLY sick of cold, cold wind.  Right now it’s snowing.  Hard.  This is the total opposite of last year’s most wonderful spring.  That being said, my grass needs cutting already.

 

• We’ve had two family birthdays this month already and one more coming at the end of the month… April is a happy, but expensive month around here!

 

• I’ve been feeling hopelessly lazy lately.  I have so many things that I want to get done, but when I have the time, I just don’t feel like doing any of them.

 

• Most of The Ladies are laying every day now, which is a good thing.  One of the adopted ladies is still eating some of the eggs tho’ – I caught her again today.  They all seem to be getting on OK now, except for the  Polish chicken - she is still getting picked on badly.  I have the stuff to build her own private place, but I would like to have some nice weather to get it put together…

 

• It cost me over $65 to fill my gas tank today.  Do you know how many hours I have to work for that?  A lot 

 

• I love OK GO – they are especially creative with their videos… they never fail to disappoint me!

 

Wordless Wednesday

Thursday Bullets

• I finally caught whatever it is going around.  It’s not too horrible yet… it started with the sore throat thing and has progressed to the whole stuffy head thing.  Hopefully it will start the going-away thing instead of the getting-worse thing 

 

• I had my six-month checkup at the dentist today.  No cavities, but I need a filling replaced.  Pretty much the same thing in my book 

 

• After the dentist, I had some extra running around to do, which led me to take the Expressway home during rush hour.  I got on at Union near Genesee and thought it quite interesting that the overhead electronic board at that entrance gave the minutes to the 198 and the 190.  That’s the first time I’ve seen that and I think it’s a good idea – especially if you travel that route daily… it’s nice to know how heavy traffic is.

 

• I’m sick of the rain.

 

• Why is it that all day long I think of things that I want to blog about, but when I sit down at the computer at night, I can’t remember most of them?

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.

 

Wordless Wednesday

I Need a Money Tree

News sure has been slow around here and what there is, isn’t great…

• It looks like The Ladies are starting to molt… I’m finding more and more feathers all over the place.  And Nugget has a big one hanging from her butt, but it won’t fall off yet.  I tried getting a good picture, but I think it would be easier nailing jello to a tree…  The Ladies aren’t really looking any different yet, but I’ve seen pictures of chickens that have gone through some really ugly molts.  We’ll see how nasty-looking my Ladies will get 

 

• The Jillmobile is in the shop.  So far, it’s costing me three weeks pay to get it fixed.  I can’t wait to see the total bill tomorrow     If it’s even ready tomorrow.  I guess it’s time to start thinking about looking for a new vehicle.  I don’t know how I’m going to be able to manage a car payment every month…

 

• My tractor is broken, too.  It steers left, but not right and there’s a whole lot of fluid leaking.  I was able to replace the starter myself, but I don’t think that this is something that I can fix.  I need to find a reasonable tractor repair person somewhere - So far I haven’t had any luck…

 

• My chainsaw is starting to act up, too – I’m hoping it’s just a bad fuel mixture 

 

• Boy, it’s hot out 

 

• Here’s an interesting observation from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:

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 

Happy Winter

Tomorrow is the first day of winter. Yesterday we got our first real snow of the season. Buffalo broke the snowfall record from 1985, but it wasn't so much the snow that was bad - it was the wind. Visibility was very poor most of the day. It was slow driving home from work - which took even longer as I had to take a roundabout route because of an accident.

I really don't mind bad weather once I'm home and don't have to go anywhere. I didn't even mind clearing out the nine inches of snow from the driveway today. But it's weather like we had yesterday that I don't miss driving a truck for a living :) Coming home from visiting tonight, the Christmas lights on all the houses looked so much prettier with the snow around.

We had a day of quiet today. Tomorrow we're supposed to get another storm.

I found out today that I may have to get flood insurance. Ugh. Flood insurance is notoriously expensive, and something that I really don't need on my plate right now. Evidently FEMA is redoing the flood plain maps in our area, and where I live may be affected. I tried to find out for sure, but the links on the FEMA webpage we were given don't work. I'm going to have to try to get down to the town hall and look at the map they have there. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed, but I'm bracing myself for the worst. Stupid FEMA.

Does anyone know if Robert Forster - the actor who plays Arthur Petrelli on Heroes is the same guy who does the voice for the latest Hyundai commercial? I can almost swear it is, but can't be 100% positive. I wish IMDb included commercials with the actors'/actresses' credits.

Frozen

Yay! We didn't get all the snow that we had the potential of getting. I like snow, but I'm not ready for real snow yet. Tuesday morning there was snow on the grass and on my truck, but it was only 1/4" - if that. It sure was cold tho'. The forecast looks really nice for the next few days, relatively speaking. Yay again!

It was really cold overnight, and the water in the chickens' waterer was frozen this morning. It was funny watching the babies trying to get a drink. They now know what ice is :) And yes - I gave them fresh water.

Channel 4 is back - I'm actually watching Survivor on the TV instead of my computer monitor. I think I would rather watch it on my computer and keep the free HBO.

Why is it when I go grocery shopping, and there are only five people in the whole store, no matter what it is I am looking to purchase, one of those five people is standing *exactly* where I want to be???? Why can't I have that kind of luck when it comes to the lottery?

I hope I don't forget to turn my clock back Saturday night.

Channel 4

I'm down to my last five tomatoes. I picked them right before I left for Philadelphia. While I was away we had a really hard frost, and I wasn't able to cover the plants so they all died. All I have left now is five tomatoes' worth of vBLT's. ~sigh~ Maybe the price of tomatoes will come down at the supermarket. Maybe they would even taste good. Probably not. I already can't wait for fresh tomatoes next year :)

The weather guys are saying that we have a chance of a couple feet of snow early next week. I guess it's a small window of 'opportunity', but it's there. There are still a lot of leaves on the trees, so here's hoping we don't have another event of October Storm infamy...

Speaking of snow, the New York State Golden Snowball Award site is back into action for the season :)

I think that LIN Television really blew it when they tried to bully Time Warner. The longer I don't have Channel 4, the more I don't miss it. The shows they air that I like (The Amazing Race, Survivor, etc.) I can see either on the Canadian channels or online. Plus, while Channel 4 and 23 are off the air, I get free HBO from TW. Channel 4 can stay off the air as long as it likes!

I am curious to see how this is all going to get resolved. LIN Television is probably going to end up begging TW to take them back. Wouldn't it be ironic if it ended up costing them money, instead of them making the extra they wanted in the first place?

Frosty Chickens Who Don't Know Where They are Going

OK not really, but the title covers most of the post :)

Last night we had the first frost of the season. I was really glad that I covered my tomato plants. The parts of the plants they were sticking out from under the tarp don't look so good, but most of them still look OK. I am definitely not ready to give up my (veggie) bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches quite yet, so I hope that I'll be getting tomatoes for a while yet. From the time that my tomatoes start ripening up until the time when the plants stop producing, I gorge myself on vBLT's. Tomatoes from the store just don't taste very good, not to mention that they are waaaay too expensive, so this is the only time of year I allow myself to indulge in the yumminess of the vBLT. And I take full advantage of fresh tomatoes from the garden - Mmmmm!

Every morning, when I let the chickens out of the coop for the day, I like to watch them for a while before I have to get ready for work. They are very entertaining, and it's interesting watching the baby chicks grow. Today I noticed something I didn't really think about before - one of the chicks looks an *awful* like the bantam I have. I'm willing to bet that Mama Chicken wasn't sitting on only her eggs - I think that the bantam snuck one of her eggs in clutch! Time will tell :)

My GPS officially died over the weekend. It was in it's death throes the last few times I've used it, but the inevitable finally happened. I don't use it every day, but I do feel lost without it. I needed to do some maintenance on one of my caches over the weekend, and of course that's when my beloved Garmin Legend decided to bite the dust. Fortunately my brother-in-law loaned me his GPS so I could take care of business. I have a new Legend CX ordered and can't wait for it to get here. I have a travel bug that I need to moving, so that will be the christening when I get it.

I know that it's been blogged to death already, but to put in my two-cents worth I hope that Time Warner doesn't give in to Channel 4. I definitely have my issues with Time Warner, but they are definitely in the right here . LIN Television’s side of the story is here and Time Warner’s side is here. Time Warner had better not cave in on this.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I know that rain is good for the flowers and the trees, but I need a break already. It seems like it's been raining almost everyday for the past month. I know we've had days in between that were rain-free, but I need a nice stretch of good weather to get the things done outside that I need to. I'd also like some dry days left over to relax and enjoy some good mosquito-free time. That's not too much to ask, is it?

What's been weird too, is the kind of rain we've been getting. We've had a lot of hard fast rains. I also don't remember ever having thunder/lightening storms in such abundance and so close together. And crazy clouds. I'm going to have to make a point of keeping my camera handy to get pictures of them.

I'm betting the weather forecasters love this kind of weather :)

More Changes

The past bunch of weeks have been tumultuous to say the least. Not in a bad way, but chaotic nonetheless. After spending at least a decade in the same routine, things in my life have and are changing in ways I never would have imagined. And for the most part, it's good. Along with more adventures, I am anticipating being able to fall into more of a routine so that I will be able to blog on a more regular basis. My problem wasn't that I didn't have anything to blog about - the problem was that I didn't have the time to blog!

Some stuff that's been going on:

• One of my chickens is missing. I'm trying to be optimistic and I am hoping that she just decided to start a nest somewhere on the property. Best-case scenario: she is hatching baby chicks somewhere (The chickens have taken to not using the nesting box and instead, laying eggs in random places around the property. Weed-whacking the other day, I came across of pile of twelve eggs in a pile amongst the tall grass!) I thought I lost another hen Saturday, but she showed up today. A bit on the bedraggled side, but still in one piece and happy to rejoin the rest of the group. I'm keeping the gang confined for a while. If there is a rogue fox or something roaming around, I don't want to lose any more chickens.

• I learned that I'm too old to play kickball. I was at a cookout a couple of weeks ago and played the first game of kickball I've played in probably 25 years. It was a lot of fun, but I really wasn't a very good player (and that is being kind). I also pulled a muscle, and I'm still sore :(

• I am a huge Indian Jones fan. I was very disappointed in the last movie. Out of the first three movies, Temple of Doom was my least favorite. Temple of Doom was a million times better than the Crystal Skull. I have no idea what they were thinking when they wrote that one.
  

• MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) are a lot of fun! Randy had a bunch and neither of us ever had eaten one before, so we decided to open up a couple and give them a try. I was amazed at how much food they can fit in that small bag. I had the veggie burger meal and Randy had the beef stew. That veggie burger was the best veggie burger I've ever had. Randy said his beef stew was really good too. I forget what belonged to what meal - we kind of mixed and matched - but between the two, there was also a huge chocolate chip stuffed brownie, a couple of really big molasses cookies, a bag of M&M's, a really large amount of dried cranberries, two giant wheat crackers, ice tea mix, a milkshake type drink mix, coffee, creamer, sugar, tabasco sauce, a ton of napkins and a spoon. There might have been something else too, but I can't remember for sure... And of course the heater pack to warm up the meal. I'd be willing to bet that one of the meals could last me a whole day. We had a lot of fun going through everything and it's nice to know that in case of an emergency, we will get to eat good :)

• I don't like the idea of shooting guns on my property. It's so loud and I worry about someone or something getting hurt. That being said, I had a lot of fun target shooting at my sister's house. Don't ask me what guns I was shooting, but there were at least four different kinds. I definitely like some better than others. I can't say I was very good, but I did hit the tin can a couple of times!

• Today we had popcorn-sized hail raining down in the afternoon. I have never seen that before in this area. It was pretty neat to watch, but I thought my truck was going to have marks from it all because it was coming down so hard. Fortunately, my truck was fine. Unfortunately, my garden took a beating :(
  

I am excited to be settling into a new routine and looking forward to a really fun and productive summer. Changes can be good.

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:

Crazy

What another gorgeous autumn day we had today. I think I heard that it was in the 50's. That mixed with no wind made for a perfect day for me. I wish I had had off work today to enjoy it.

Well, with the help of my sister, I think I half of my Christmas chores are figured out. We got the lists pretty much done. The arduous task of the shopping is next. Ugh. But then after that comes the fun part - wrapping. I love to wrap gifts. I know it's kind of weird - most people love to shop and hate to wrap, but I'm the opposite. I don't know why. I guess I just like to make packages look nice. It's probably going to be a while before I wrap tho', because I'm sure that I will be putting off shopping as long as possible :)

Speaking of shopping, I saw a commercial on TV today for a store that will be opening at 4am the day after Thanksgiving. That's crazy. I can't think of a single thing that would on sale at such a great price that would make me want to wake up early enough to wait in line at a store ready to battle a mob of people that early in the morning to purchase. Now don't get me wrong: There are a few things that I don't mind getting up extra early in the morning to do, and I am always looking for a good bargain. However, I don't think that anyone could pay me to go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. Much less at 4:00 in the morning.

Long Weekend!

Wahoo! This is going to be the first long weekend I can remember having in at least twenty years. Except for when I was on vacation, but that doesn't count. I've always had to work holidays. Except Christmas day.

And the weather we are having lately is unbelievable... here it is October already, and I think that they said it got up to 86 degrees today. That's crazy!

I have a lot of projects I would love to get done around the house over the next three days, but I don't know how much I will actually accomplish. I guess I'll just worry about tomorrow first. The one thing I'm excited about doing tomorrow is partaking in the 2007 Tour of Solar Homes and Green Buildings. I won't be visiting all the places, but there are a few that I am especially interested in.

A long weekend... It still doesn't seem real yet!