Does This Make My Butt Look Fat?

So, no takers on the scarf? It's made with that furry yarn! Not much going on this week, David is still on LI and will probably be back either Friday or Saturday now. He got held up with the roof he's doing due to the rain and his sister Maryann and her husband Scott will be up from Florida this week. That's been terrible for them, they moved to Florida around the same time we moved and they've had nothing but problems - not to mention hurricanes!! - ever since.  I've got two days left of dayshift, I can't wait for this to be over! I am so tired of being up around 4 am 5 days a week I could just scream. And of course the second I hit the door when I come home half the zoo wants to fed, the other half has to go OUT NOW. Jackson seems to be enjoying the morning bus, he's come home with a few names and is trying to figure out who lives near us. The carpet guy's coming on Saturday so we can finish Jackson's room downstairs and he can move in finally. We'll finish the rest of the basement over the winter I think.

Does This Color Bring Out My Eyes?

Copper, part dog, part plaything. That's the scarf I just finished the other day, not sure what I'll do with it. Anyone want it? I just started making a sweater since I've got an entire dresser crammed with yarn and am trying to use it up before I pass away. I think that will be possible if I can manage to live to the ripe old age of  214.  The rain is coming down in sheets this morning, Jackson will have to stay home. David is still in NY and there's no one to drive him. I would make him walk, but the bus stop is over a mile from the house and he's just getting over being sick, not to mention he would have to spend the day in school with wet clothes. I'm sure it will break his tiny heart. I'm on my last week of dayshift orientation and it couldn't go any slower. Even my preceptor thinks it's stupid - I'm orientating for a shift I won't be on and all the things I'm mastering I won't be doing. I'm trying hard not to be a slacker but I just want this over with. Cats are fine, Vincent hasn't been out in two days. I'm not sure if he was formerly an inside cat or has just simply had enough of the Great Outdoors. I think our neighbors are back - they were on LI too visiting thier daughter out in Aquabogue - they're originally from Levittown themselves. Things are very quiet in the hideout and we are getting to the downside of the beautiful autumn leaves which would be the Not So Beautiful Autumn Leaves All Over The Yard.

Fall is in the air....

The leaves are already turning, I'm sure in the next two weeks they'll be spectacular.I had to pick up a  CD I'd ordered in Honesdale and since Jackson wouldn't get out of bed, went by myself. I was probably  better off as he tends to complain a lot and finds none of the late 18th century architecture quaint, he refers to them as a "bunch of boring old buildings". The temp if just a bit chilly today but the sky was a blue as it could be and the scenery is right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Jackson and I are hanging in there, but I've got to admit even after 3 months I wish we'd never left WV. Jackson has not made one friend and neither have I, Scranton and Wilkes Barre are dangerous in some areas and we're not familar enough to know where not to go and no one here is overly friendly. Moving closer to home was a big waste of time since no one has visited us yet - I think we saw more people when we lived further away.  I suppose there's no point in whining about it - we can't undo it, but I wish we could.

What Do You Mean I'm Not The Queen!

 I can't believe it's almost October already! David left FINALLY for Long Island on Thursday, it was one delay after another for him. First Ray's accident and then Jackson getting sick - he didn't think he'd ever get out of here. He's already gone bass fishing with his father and was a bit overwhelmed by all the changes that've taken place since we've left. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since he's been home. Things went smoothly after he left for about 18 hours - Friday 5:30 am I found a message on my machine from Verizon stating I owed over $150 on my phone bill and I needed to call them right away. I got the automated thing which only repeated I needed to address the issue right away and nothing more. Nothing like a little extra stress in the morning. Jackson got up for me alright but then there was the worry of him not making the school bus, if the dogs would be alright since no one was going to be home to let them out for 10 hours and now this thing with Verizon. Work was busy, I'm still on orientation due to policy but since no one needs to actively watch me my prececptor the nurse educator ditched me Wednesday so I'm with one of my co-workers now. I've got one more week on the dayshift floor, the next week I sit telemetry for a week and then I go on nights - and get precepted for FOUR MORE WEEKS. According to them, policy is policy. I called Verizon when I got home(after worrying all day about what was wrong) and it turned out I hadn't paid my bill for two months because they'd been sending it to the wrong address. Jackson and I went to the chinese buffet which was fun then came home and played with all the various animals. Vincent is pretty much all better and has turned into quite the couch potato. David said all he wants to do is eat and sleep, but I pointed out he and Dr. Davis had taken away his other activities. From what I can see Vincent is just happy to be HERE, when you walk by him he just starts purring! Mr. Lee likes him, they both sleep on the loft now and Claw continues to despise everyone. She just sits and growls at him and Mr. Lee, luckily she's too lazy to make the effort to back it up. She's such a pill.

Excuse Me, Someone Left Thier Cat On The Couch

Isn't that hilarious? Everytime Copper comes across Vincent he either points him or sits and stares like he's seeing an alien or something. Otherwise they're  fine and occasionally share the couch like old friends. Vincent continues to improve, he's walking on 4 legs now and the ear seems to be healing up fine. We've been letting Claw outside - David was so mad at her the other night he threatened to give her a gravy rub-down before he put her out. She likes to bite our feet while we're sleeping and that doesn't improve her popularity around here. Jackson's recovering, he does have a cold and complains but still had to go to school. David will be leaving tomorrow in the am but isn't sure how long he'll be staying. Work is ok, I neither like it nor hate it but am getting increasingly tired of the next shift running late. Tomorrow I'm being given the whole group so we'll see what happens. I'm off for the weekend - it'll be just me and Jackson which should be fun. We've already made plans to go out to the chinese buffett on Saturday - anyone interested in joining us?? Let me know!

There Are Some Things You Just Can't Make Up

I saw this sign and had to take a picture - do you think anyone stood back and actually READ this before they put it up?? I would've loved to have stolen this sign but there were too many people around and I would hate my first crime in Pennsylvania to be for stealing a GAS sign. Jackson's been home from school for the past two days - I think he has a cold and he thinks he's terminal or at least good to stay home for a few more days. Since he was able to play his video games and go on the computer I think he will be ix-nay to school tomorrow. David will be leaving for LI either Wed or Thursday, I'm thinking Thursday since he seems totally unprepared today. Jackson will have to catch the morning bus instead of the dad driving him but I'm figuring he'll survive. Work was tough today, I'm still on orientation, my 2nd day of being on the floor as the RN - the nurse educator Warren is my preceptor for now. I had half the group today and they were a rough crew, not to mention I'm not used to working days when they're all being shipped off for surgery or off to various tests so I was running most of the day. It's all paperwork and protocol that's buggering me up. But on the upside I did get lunch and was only 5 minutes past when I was supposed to leave so it's not all bad. David's been busy all day painting, he left the paint lid on the kitchen table and when he came back there were tiny white footprints all over. Mr. Lee size I might add. Not to mention the evidence of that her toes are all white now instead of black.

Holy Rubber Ducks Batman!

Boy did we get rain yesterday! 5 inches were reported in this area. The 2nd picture (do view larger) is a manhole cover that's  floating, the water is running so hard out of it. Anyhow, the reason we were out is we had to get our licenses changed  for our insurance and I could only go Saturday.. Before we left I asked David if he had all the papers and he said yes. We got there right after they opened, were the 2nd in line where I discovered David had brought only Jackson's birth certificate, not ours. So, back home we went in the pouring rain. We got Jackson up and got back to the DMV around 11 am -  it was packed so instead of being done in 15 minutes it took almost 2 hours. It gave me time to practice my Glaring Skills on David in any case. And of course there was the Requisite Retard holding up the line. You know, the person that brings all the wrong papers but refuses to get off the line until she's exhausted everyone by having them make phone calls and faxes? And it's always so much fun to be the person after them when they've totally cranked out the person behind the desk. Jackson was the only one who had a good time because they were doing the motorcycle testing in the parking lot next door and now he wants a motorcycle. David dropped Jackson and I off at Boarders after while he went to Home Depot and I got Jackson his own Latte since the last time Jackson ordered an italian soda that he hated and drank all my coffee.Then we went to Sam's Club to stock up on supplies for Skinny Boy. Speaking of boys-  Vincent came back yesterday morning, we're trying to get it through our heads that he survived without us for months so a night out does not mean he's dead. But we really love him - he's such a sweet cat and of course there's the $65 we spent on him - plus he's still recovering from his injuires. But the swelling on his leg is down and he used it a little this morning so he's better. Jackson's very much into reading now, he's a big fan of Poe naturally! I'm back to work tomorrow, the educator told me I've got to do 3 more weeks on days before I go to my shift. I'm still trying to finish up a scarf I started, I was considering putting it aside and knitting something else for awhile, but I know if I do that it'll sit in a drawer making me feel guilty until it's done.

Rain Rain Go Away

That's yet another picture I took of the inside of a gopher hole a few days ago - I find it fascinating for some reason. Jackson swears one of these days I'm going to get bitten but I have a feeling these tunnels must go on for quite awhile and I doubt the denizens of the underworld sit right at the entrance. Jackson's been feeding the horses apples right out of his hand so we can see them peeking over the stone wall in the evening looking for him. David usually loads him up with a pie pan full of cut up apples for them and he has an instant audience. David replaced the hot water heater yesterday, he was still in the process when I  got home which caused me to stomp up the stairs. After a full week of orientation followed by the prospect of crappy weather for the weekend I was in no mood for him to be playing with the plumbing. The rain's been cascading down all night and the t.v.s been blaring flash flood warnings all morning. We've got to go get our licenses this morning too in Troop so I might bring my bathing suit just in case! Vincent went out yesterday before it started raining so we haven't seen him all night, I'm sure he's holed up somewhere but I wish he was back here, after all he is our $65 investment now. I'd told David to put Claw out yesterday, not Vincent as she needs more exercise than to the food bowl and back. But he forgot and let Vincent out instead.

At Least Vincent Van Gogh Only Lost An Ear....

Poor Vincent had such a rough day today. David took him to the vet's since the leg and the ear weren't any better. Remember I said our vet was a REAL no nonsense  country vet?  First David tried to wrestle him into the cat carrier, no luck so he just popped the cat in the truck and off to the vets. Dr. Davis had to sedate Vincent with David as the assistant and shaved his leg first. It's not broken but it's a bad bite. Then he proceded to clean the wounds and give poor cat a series of all the shots and vaccinations plus an antibiotic shot for the leg. During this time David and the vet are chatting with Vincent three sheets to the wind and Dr. Davis asked David if he'd consider having the cat fixed, since the cat was already sedated. David thought that was a good idea so Dr. Davis flips Vincent over, straps down his legs, gets a scalpel out AND POPS THE CAT'S TESTICLES OUT AND PUTS THEM ON A NAPKIN ON THE COUNTER.  I sincerely doubt Vincent agreed to any of this. Not to mention I think David would have preferred to ix-nay out of the room before the fixin' part. Vincent is still a bit bleary and I'm sure rethinking his decision to come in our house. That's what he gets for taking candy from strangers! oh, and cough cough. The total cost for shots, fixin' and exam - $65.

Just Me, The Status Quo

Well, Vincent disappeared AGAIN the other day and just as suddenly reappeared this morning.  David's been hunting for our cat carrier as he's probably going to take him to the vet.Poor Dr. Davis will never have a moments peace now that we've found him. But Vincent still won't use one of his front legs and that ear looks a bit worse for wear so we're once again running around with our open hearts and open checkbooks. I'm just hoping this will move us up the Karma ladder and I won't have to come back as a beetle or something equally icky. Work  continues to be work, I got out of Six O'Clock Jail and can come in at seven, but there's the flip side of that when everyone leaves at 2:30 and I've got to stay til  3:30.David's making plans  to come back to LI next week which works out better for everyone. Our friend Ray was in an accident - he wasnt' hurt but the Neon was and will be in the shop until friday. Ray's been feeling down lately since his sister passed away (he's now the sole remaining sibling of a family of 5) and I told David if the car wasn't fixed in time and he couldn't come it would just make him feel worse. Besides, it's supposed to rain this weekend anyhow. Jackson will have to catch the morning bus which he's not looking foward to but he'll survive. Adam's fine in Japan, we got another "urgent" phone call from the Navy Federal Risk Center for him - I panicked the first time I got one but now I know that the "urgent" is just a nice way of saying he's over his limit again. Thank goodness he's got a fairly tiny limit. I called them back to let them know I would get in contact with him and told them to feel free to cancel his stinkin card anyhow. He has to use us as his home address  so we can keep track of his evil ways and put him on the lecture circuit if need be. And Mr. Lee is dandy in case anyone was wondering, David found her laser light so we've been playing with her with that all week, she can chase it for hours!!

Starry Starry Night....

That's from the song "Vincent" which my friend Kim reminded me about .It's by the same guy who sang American Pie and it's actually about Vincent Van Gogh, not Vincent The Cat. And yes, he came back, limping and with a torn ear poor thing. So there was no happy reunion between cat and owner and I'm guessing we are adopting again. He was on the porch when I got home from work today he was meowing and limping - it doesn't seem to be broken so I think we'll wait and see. He's not in any pain and he's certainly eating! And he always meows when we see him, it's a happy noise for him. Claw of course is P.O.ed about the whole thing, she spent part of her afternoon leaning over the loft and glaring at him but no one got scared. It's hard to look scary when you're white, fluffy and have a pink nose. Work was alright - my preceptor figured out rather quickly I'm not new, handed me my phlobotomy basket and sent me on my merry way, ditto the med run. So much for slacking. Jackson is out moving rocks this afternoon, he needed a new controller for his PS 2 and was short on cash so David gave him 8 dollars and now he's got to move the rocks. I told him that's what he gets for taking money from strangers.

Picture Day!

For the past two days I've been taking pictures of all the things I've meant to photograph. #1 is Jackson and Vincent slacking off on Saturday morning - Vincent actually disappeared yesterday but we're suspecting he may have a weekend owner. #2 is Lake Ariel which is the one the Hideout is located on. #3 is the same lake, but if you enlarge it - it just looks wierdly realistic.#4 is a whole bunch of turkeys, #5  is Outdoorsy Dave, #6 is me in Honesdale, if you enlarge it you can see the sign which I LOVE for obvious reasons. #7 is a waterfall that is (I find this strange) located behind #8 the Purple Cow Dairy Store. #9 the requisite Pennsylvania Barn Shot, #10 my arch enemies The Cows, and #11 is the sign for the Buffalo Shoppe, where they also sell ice cream. In other news Jackson announced in the car yesterday that he will be taking on THREE jobs this summer so he can afford :an X-Box, a car and a forge. I was a bit taken aback about the forge - and yes he's talking about a fire and bellows. I told him I didn't think the Hideout Homeowners Association would approve us building our own forge, but he's assured me it will be a small one. Janet was wondering if we would be having Helper Dwarves, but I think we have enough to deal with between the dogs, cats and incidentals without dragging dwarves into the mix. So, probably no dwarves.

Now, Where Did I Leave My Soapbox.....

We did nothing special today to honor those lost on Sept 11th - went to a flea market, Home Depot, I bought yarn at AC Moore's, took The Appetite to the chinese buffet. After all it's not a holiday - but I think the twin towers and the 2749 lives lost were just on the edge of things all day, like something you see out of the corner of your eye but disappears when you look away. I can't believe it's been 3 years since they were blown up - I can still remember being stopped while biking on Dune road by some guy in a pickup truck almost in tears yelling they blew up the towers. I got home and turned on the TV just in time to see the second one fall.  But did you know that the tally of deaths in Iraq, the war that followed, is now up to 1139? And that's just coalition deaths, that number doesn't include the civillian deaths.Those wounded in the war - 6497. As far as I can tell the terrorist threat was always there,but now it's in overdrive. There were no "weapons of mass destruction" though there are some that will still swear the Iraq move them around so we can't find them. Of course we managed to destroy the historic palaces in the effort to find them. And all we have to show for it is some broken down dictator. I've got no problem with the soldiers we sent over there, I admire them for standing up for their country, after all without our armed forces we wouldn't enjoy the freedom we have today  and I'm proud of my son and cousins for serving. But don't you think this war needs to end? We've proved nothing, made a pool of grieving families just that much larger and have gotten our country into a war situation that there's no graceful way of pulling out of. I don't have the answers and won't even hazard a guess - but I do know this war just needs to end. If we truly wish to honor the victims of Sept 11th, we need to find a better way than piling up more bodies.

Thank God It's Friday!

The end of a very long week - I've started calling my job Six O'Clock Jail because I really feel like I'm doing time. I've been getting up at 4 am to be out the door and was facing two more weeks of it but I Whined And Pleaded and even did a little shifty suggesting about possible Greener Pastures (who am I kidding? This is a one horse town if I ever saw one!) and will be sprung early. I've only got to do two more 6am shifts and then I can come in at 7am. This was due partly because the reason for the 6 am is that's when the LPN shift does blood work and RNs have to know how. I DO know how so for the past 3 days I've been stabbing people right and left to get my little score card filled and finished my requirements for that and the only thing left is to put in an IV. I might have been able to get out of the last two shifts, but since they're making an exception I figured it wouldn't be wise to push my luck. Vincent the black cat is still with us, we've been allowing him in for longer and longer periods of time and he's put on quite a bit of weight, he actually has a  bit of a belly now. When he first appeared he was  this bony thing but I'm sure we'll be able to pork him up. We've got to make sure he won't hurt Mr. Lee or have her hiding under the bed from him. Claw of course is fair game since she hates us all anyhow. All you've got to say to her is "Where's Vincent?" and she starts hissing and spitting, such a sweet kitty, sigh. She bites us all the time, she'll let you pet her a couple of times and then SNAPSNAP. , we're very quick cat petters now. I can't figure out why we don't put her out for good, but I guess she's sort of like a nasty in-law, just one of those things in life you put up with.

Get On The Floor? What's A Floor?

If you tell Copper to get off the couch, he moves around in various positions first to see if maybe that's what you want, then he'll lay there until you either give up and sit  somewhere else or push him off. Pushing him off doesn't hurt his feelings either - he just comes back like a bad penny (I guess "Copper" was a good name for him!). Anyhow, I had Monday off and then Tuesday was the last day of orientation. If anyone give you a choice between an 8 hour inservice on Phlebotomy or sticking hot pins in your eyes - tell 'em to fire up the grill. I think even the soles of my feet were numb. The second woman was beyond belief, I thought the guy next to me was going to cry when she did the bit on Phlebotomy Basket Curtesy which after half an hour actually boiled down to just putting back what you used. But some people can go on and on about anything can't they - I myself have been yammering away on this website for months. Today was my first day on the floor - getting up at 3:50 am is a killer, it was actually worse than I thought it would be. I spent the day passing meds and did some blood draws today to get them out of the way. The nice thing was getting out at 2:30pm, but since I've been up before the birds, I'm too much of a Crabby Pants to enjoy it. David took Copper to our new vet today, Dr. Davis, for a rabies booster. David said he called for an appointment and Dr. Davis told him now would be a good time since he was going out in a little while. I think the appointment making depends a great deal on what the vet has planned for today. David's finishing up Jackson's room so hopefully we can get him moved!

I'm Ready For My Closeup, Mr. DeMille....

As you can tell, Jackson has taken to feeding the horses apples. I didn't realize it would come so close and accidently took a flash picture, which neither Jackson nor the horse appreciated. Everyone has gotten over it. Labor Day's a bit busier here than normal, but not much. It's fun to spend the holiday doing other things than hiding in our house from the city people or sitting in traffic. We went out to the Hamlin Diner last night, Jackson's appetitite has returned to it's former unbelievable self, it's almost like a separate - and somewhat pesty - entity. It starts hanging around the kitchen around 4 - ish to see if dinner is ready, it actually knows dinner is NOT ready but seems to feel it can nudge the time up if it makes comments. If it wants to go out, it hangs around David because it knows it's chances of getting a pizza or going out are much higher if it hangs around and pesters Dad. So we took Jackson and his Appetite out for dinner and it had a very large basket of shrimp with mashed potatoes. It would've eaten more but  had  eaten half a dozen Slim Jim's and  some potato chips to sustain it until we could get our shoes on. Of course the most annoying thing about Jackson is even eating all that stuff he can barely manage to maintain what weight he's at now. Charger is much better though he still has yucky elbows and they're all scratching much less. I'm back to work tomorrow, I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact I'll be getting up at 4 am for the next two weeks, but I'll be home by 3pm so there is that to hang onto. This is going to be a long two weeks.

It's All Fun And Games Until Someone Loses An Eye

My first day off in a week(more on that later) and I thought I could stay in bed past 7:30 am. No such luck. I looked over at Charger who was licking his elbow, it was bright red and very swollen. I gave it a push and it exploded so at 7:30 instead of sitting in bed and watching TV I was down in the kitchen trying to find a vet on Labor Day weekend. We found one not far that was open and could get us in at 9 am. I was a little nervous, the vet practiced out of his house which was a bit run down and I don't think anyone had redecorated since the cold war. The vet had graduated from Penn in 1951, there were stacks of papers here and there, the medications were piled on the table behind him, and his computer appeared to be DOS. But it was clean and the vet was amazing. Dr. Davis took one look and knew exactly what was wrong and why, got Charger updated on his Rabies vaccination and  he got to the bottom of the dry itchy skin they've been plagued with the past week. (the former residents with the 6 dogs neglected to take thier fleas with them!). Dr. Davis also does large animal and does not tolorate any dog-nonsense. Charger was the best behaved dog I've ever seen - no peeing, no muzzle, no nothing. I think he sensed this man would not hesitate to off him had he indulged in any of his usual shenaningans. He spent an hour with us and including the flea stuff for both the dogs and cats (that was the usual $45 a pop)the total bill was $120. As to my job, I got a rude surprise that I've got to be at work for the next two weeks at SIX AM. How stupid is that, they sort of forgot to mention it. David's been painting like a wild man. I found a picture i took last month (#3) and put it up so you could see the difference in #4. The heater is up and running, those poor guys had to spend half a day taking it out and turning it around. David attempted to describe the problem to me and Jackson why they had to turn it around, but when he used the phrase "sucks and blows" to describe some heater function I'm afraid he lost his audience's ability to be mature. And of course, Jackson had to ask "is that a bad thing?"

All Aboard The Orient(ation) Express

No, I didn't take that picture - it's an official one of my hospital and it was easier to snitch it from the net than to drag the camera down and try to take one myself. I'm completely wiped out and have two more days to go - tomorrow and Tuesday. Hospital Orientation has the same je nois se qua as, hmmm, well, having hot pokers stuck in your eyes. I'll be glad when it over - they spend an entire week of giving you Information You Already Know which is balanced out with Way Too Much Information. Jackson's pretending to not like school, but is having a hoot in shop. They're moving metal around for some reason, it sounds more like unpaid labor, but he enjoys it. They seems to spend an inordinate time in there - for such a small school they have multiple HUGE shops - the autmotive shop has two bay areas and there are two more shops of equal size. David picked up the video game Jackson reserved last week - Pikman 2. When he went in with the reciept the Clerk asked if he was Jackson . David said no, he's my son. The clerk wanted to know why David had the recipt. Then he asked to see David's license. I don't blame the guy, for all he knew poor Jackson was bundled up in a closet weeping into the linens while David was usurping Pikman 2 for his own entertainment. Like they say, you can't be too careful. I'm off for Labor Day - the hospital has no intention of paying time and a half for someone who's not on the floor working - it should be fun without having to deal with the summer people this year! The picture after the hospital one is what it looks like if you stick your camera down a fox hole - sort of neat but I have to work on it. The 3rd (View Larger)  is a grouping of wild turkeys (and you thought it was the Smith Family Reunion I bet!!) that hang around our yard sometimes and the last is the house in progress. The heat guys were here today and have to come back again because they put the unit in backwards - but we will have heat!