Greetings From Pennsylvania

Sorry about the lack of picture, I am a guest on my sister's computer.We left Wednesday after work - I ran through my visits and got done at 3:30. We made really good time,we were here around 8pm or so, David only carped for the first 150 miles or so - in his world NO ONE travels at night and he would have preferred everyone up at 4 am - yuck. We got to see the redecorated house - they did a great job and you half expect Martha to appear out of the kitchen - minus the prison garb of course.Diane cooked a way too big Thanksgiving dinner and it was great - I especially liked the whipped sweet potatoes and could've eaten a potful of those. It's fun seeing them and visiting, I think Jackson and I will visit in January when all the good clearance sales are going on. Here Black Friday is very big and I think even thinking about shopping isn't a good idea. Janet and Diane were supposed to have gotten up and gone to Walmart at 5am this morning, but the temp outside is about 10 and thier bedroom door is still shut, so I don't think they went anyhwere. I probably will be off the computer for the rest of the week into Wednesday, David brought our computer to Best Buy the we left and we did indeed have a very bad virus in our computer. I can't wait to get back and see the dogs and cats, I hope they're all ok!

 

Getting Ready For The Holidays

Our computer is probably headed for the shop - and OF COURSE it's the holidays. A few days ago I turned on the computer and recieved a message that system 32 had been modified. I said something to David and he said "oh that" - apparently that message had been coming up for a week and he just clicked it off before preceeding. That would explain all the mysterious goings on - AOL is completely kaput (I have to access it through MSN) and had to actually restore the computer this morning just to get to my email. But we'll get to it at some point, we leaving for my sister's for Thanksgiving and it snowed last night - not too much but enough and the temp has dropped a good bit also. I hope it's warmer in Pennsylvania!!

The Real Estate Game

West Virginia takes a bit of getting used to I suppose. David has developed an intense dislike of mobile homes, especially since the leaves are all gone, pretty much exposing everything we couldn't see before. We now, for instance, have a most excellent view of the mobile home park on the hilltop directly across from ours. I don't mind it myself, I actually find it interesting at how much more I can see and find myself driving slower down the road being a major Nosy Parker. I love the dilapidated old buildings, the singlewides with the chimney pipes coming out of them, it's all neat to me. I think the most annoying thing about these roads are no shoulders most of the time which makes it difficult - if not impossible on occasion - to take the pictures I really want to. Sometimes if I can see down the road I'll just stop and take the pictures out the window, but most of the time I can't because of all the winding road it's too dangerous. Work has gotten more stressful - my manager leaves at the end of the week and no one has said what my responsibilities will be. The whole thing just sucks.

Who Says We Have No Class

Claw sits like this all the time - she looks pretty bizarre, doesn't she? She likes to keep that big white tummy of hers super clean. Vincent likes to attack her when she's sitting like that because she goes completely bugshit, not to mention it peeves Claw to no end. I also  told Jackson I'll stop referring to her as a "Bear Snack" he finds that upsetting.  I've been having trouble with my pictures today, I've gotten the message I have a stackoverflow on line 216 or something, I have no idea. If it doesnt resolve itself  I'll just do what I always do which is A) turn the computer on and off a few times, B) poke around a bit without actually doing anything to see if I can jostle something loose or C) ignore it until it becomes an actual annoyance or problem. My face is a problem today too, I bought a bar of face soap and when I did, I had a feeling I shouldn't, but couldn't remember why. It's probably because this particular soap is fine for about two days and then the skin will suddenly disappear from my face leaving behind a tight, red itchy thing that hurts if you touch it. My face is so red I could be a substitute stop sign at the moment, but if I remember correctly, that should resolve itself by tomorrow. David's finished spackling the dining room and we are picking out a color. I considered red but the room would be way too dark so it's going to be a cream color. We are of course keeping the plastic chandelier - I think David would like me to stop telling everyone it's plastic but I find it hilarious. It's technically lucite I think and you can't tell unless you  touch it - I'm sure it was expensive when it was new.I finished knitting a hat to match the poncho THAT NO ONE WANTS YET - if no one volunteers I'll just keep adding accessories to it I guess. We're going out to Sam's Club in Clarksburg and skipping church this week, I've very excited. Not about Sam's club. About the AC Moore right next to it!! Whoo hoo can ya feel the yarn!!

A Hazy Shade Of Winter

Well, lets see. First it was cold. Then it was in the 70's which would have been far more enjoyable without the thunderstorms and wind I might add. The winds were so high they ripped off part of the barn which David was going to remove anyhow so I guess it saved him a bit of work. David had cleared out the garage after the last windstorm in case we needed to put the cars in. The trees around here are all over 25 feet high and with all the rain soaking the ground we're a bit leery of them falling over. After a day or so of this the tempeture dropped 40 or so degrees and that freaked everyone out, especially our Crack Weather Team that was frantically trying to pretend they'd known all about this and were busy taking the "high 50's with occasional scattered showers" off the tv and replacing it with "a low of 19, tornado watch and dangerous thunderstorm lines".  I had class last night and she let us out EARLY - wow! Knock me over with a feather. Jackson is still on restriction but is working on his grades. David's been busy - he's been getting more calls on his ad and in between that continues to work on the house. He sheetrocked and spackled the dining room - I just couldn't stand it anymore with the dark Bradybunch paneling - and hopefully we'll be painting it this weekend. Next week I work til Wednesday and then we're off to Janet's and Diane's for Thanksgiving, and then back here on Friday, Kim, Stephen and family will be here Saturday and they're off to Boston on Sunday so we have a full week planned. Yesterday in Kingwood I stopped a local store and bought a whole bunch of stuff - it was pretty neat because it was local so they had buckwheat flour, sassafrass drops, etc. But there was one item I couldn't figure out what it was - pork pudding???

Just For The Record.

1) The ACLU has never opposed military prayer (ACLU by the way, is an acronym for American Civil Liberties Union - you know the Freedom of speech people)

2) Your cell phone number IS not about to be handed over to telemarketers The cell phone companies are compiling a 411 book, so if you want you can just register with the Do Not Call list just in case.

3) There is NO secret phone number that your college age daughter can call that will immediately get in touch with the state police when a mass murderer is following her.

4) Woman who wear ponytails are no more likely to be raped than anyone else

5) If Swiffer WetJet is toxic to pets, I REALLY could've used one last week when it rained and the dogs hopped all over the couch full of mud

6) There is no band of car thieves that put stickynotes on your rear view mirror in the hopes that you'll get out and they can all hop in and zip off.

7)There is no missing child by the name of Penny Brown

8) No matter how many people you annoy with that email Bill Gates/McDonalds/Abercrombie and Fitch will NEVER send you money or a coupon.

Pass it on.

Finished!

I finally finished my latest project, a poncho and even Copper agrees it came out much better than my last attempt. Of course it's homeless (it has a possible home), as are most of my projects so feel free to volunteer! Yesterday we were out driving around after dropping off Jackson to Becky's(he gets one day on the weekend) so I was taking pictures of the old victorians in town. Most have been renovated and are painted the historic colors and are so far beyond our budget it's mindboggling. Not that David would live there anyhow - like most of the post-civil war towns the houses are close to the road and about 3 feet apart. But they are fun to look at. After shopping we stopped at Petco to buy Mr. Lee a new toy, she's been bored lately and has been darting around to amuse herself and making everyone crazy. I bought her a laser light - somewhere between move 2 and 3 we lost the one she had - and she's been harassing everyone ever since to play with it. You would think she's almost 16 now and would just want to lay around being an old cat, but I don't  think that'll ever happen. She's sleeps a bit more and tires out more easily, but other than that she's the same cat she's always been. I think when she goes, we're going to be lost without her. Oh - while I'm thinking of it. Adam didn't recieve most of his birthday gifts, he said all he got was our present, David's parents and a gift from Henry. If anyone sent him a check and it's been cashed - let me know because ADAM didn't  cash it.

How Now Brown Cow

I have a bit of a mystery going on in my car - I was eating poptarts on the way out to Kingwood this morning(YES I KNOW I shouldn't be eating them but they do have 8 vitamins and minerals...). I only ate one and put the other on the front seat....and now I can't find it. I looked under the seats, the car mats,down the side of the consol - no pop no tart. I shouldn't be that concerned - after all it's not like they go bad and will start to smell. I think they have a half life of 50 years or so. Since I can't find it I'm designating it "emergency rations" so hopefully if I end up in a Donner-like situation it will suddenly appear and save the day. Jackson is under partial house arrest - he got 3 D's, one E, one B and one A so he is restricted Becky-wise. She was over today though since it was a holiday and the alternative is to have him moping all day and making everyone crazy. David has fired up the fireplace which also happens to be in what serves as Jackson's bedroom these days and it's working fine. We have tons of wood from the dead trees so that'll help with the heating.

Thou Shalt Not Make Unto Thee Any Graven Images...

...or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Hmm. Unless thou art a Catlicker and attend Our Lady Of The Loopholes, then you can put those bad boys all over, can't ya? The best thing about catholics they are SO easy - when they send me those silly letters for donations I send em back and write they can buy thier own alter boy - it's not my fault if they broke the ones they have! Speaking of flinging dirt, it rained like crazy for the past two days and due to all the digging, we are awash in mud from one end to the other. (excellent segueway, wasn't it?). I'm probably going to have to rent a steam cleaner for the carpets but we're waiting until everything dries up a bit. I'm busy hating my medical coding teacher, she once again held the class over, at 20 after 9 last night she pretended she didn't realize the class had ended 20 minutes ago and wanted to know if we wanted to continue! Considering it's already a 3 hour class it was a big resounding NO and she got really beaned and assigned a monster chapter which no one could possibly finish.(especially no one who is currently playing on the computer). And I recieved yet ANOTHER false email today concerning ACLU making a stink about marines praying. CRAP. Here is the link in case anyone else got it -  unlike others I ACTUALLY READ THEM BEFORE I SEND THEM ACLU Objects to Marines Praying - Netlore Archive

There Is No Road Not Travelled

I know this because I have travelled it. I've driven on cobblestones, gravel, mud, CEE-ment, what was left of the tar, rocks, grates, and Barely There. I do love the back roads so I took them all the way to a patient's house yesterday. She and her husband were laughing, especially when they found I had been on Turkey Hollow Rd. I told them it took my teeth about 5 minutes to stop vibrating after I got out of the car. And of course, being a glutton for punishment, I took them all the way back. You have to go slower, but I've found you get to see a lot of stuff that you would've missed - like the covered bridge or the steel pipe entrance to Grinnage. I saw goats, pigs, ducks, log cabins. So, it made for a fun afternoon. Our pal Jackson is in trouble for skipping homeroom - apparently that Becky person told him it was ok to do that. Strangely it was not ok with the school so David called and now he will be attending home room. In all fairness, the guidence counseller did tell him that they're cracking down on it this year, in the past they've just ignored it. We're waiting for his report card next week so we'll see if he'll be a free man or a prisoner.

A Room With A View.

David has been getting a few more responses to his ad in the paper, he has another estimate to give this week. Yesterday he did a small moving job for a woman who had called on Saturday, grousing all the way to Bruceton Mills that "stray cats, stray people - they all seem to find me". The woman lived down the road from us and all of her things fit in the back of the truck and her car. David loaded up the truck,drove 25 miles to Bruceton Mills, carried the furniture including a heavy sleeper sofa up a narrow stairway to a 2nd floor apartment - and when he got in the truck to leave I started laughing. He asked me what was so funny and I said "You didn't charge her a dime, did you?".  That was ok, I wouldn't have taken money from her either. Her mom had just passed away so she was moving in with her niece, she herself has just been diagnosed with liver cancer and had no one to help move what little she had. We did luck out - about 5 minutes after we left the hail started pounding down, followed by torrents of rain so at least none of her stuff got ruined. Today David is continuing with the water main and he's still a busy bee with the room in the back - when it's done it's going to be spectacular and is already letting in tons of light. The only thing is the bigger hot tub doesn't fit in there. I was teasing David and told him to do what everyone else does in WV - get a little plywood and tarpaper and just tack an "addition" on - just like they do on the trailers around here.

Don't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

Copper has been needier than usual the past week, he and Charger were at the vet last week so there's nothing new going on as far as I know - but he's been tagging behind everyone 24/7 and doing a bit more whining than usual. It's hard not to feel sorry for him - with Adam gone and Jackson growing up, he no longer has his boys to hang out with and pay attention to him. So he's at loose ends and some days there's nothing we can do to make him feel any better. We've been playing with him and David takes him outside with him when he goes out, but there's a certain sadness that we just can't touch. I suppose it's a part of life, as much as David and I talk about not getting anymore animals and the zoo passing on, as we all know it's one thing to talk about it and whole other ball of wax when it happens. Mr. Lee, Copper and Charger are all geriatric with Claw not far behind, after all these years with a house full of pets I don't know if we can handle not having  dogs and cats around. As much of a pain in the butt Copper can be, there's a  certain comfort in having a dog following you around, watching tv with you, or just wandering the yard while you do other stuff. I think when they pass on, it will be very hard to resist the temptation to run out and replace them right away. And this year, both dogs have been showing signs of slowing down, Copper has some fairly large tumors which are worrisome, but not treatable. So far he doesn't seem to notice and they're not giving him any physical problems so we're just leaving him alone until they do. Last night he woke us up around 1 am with the most mournful howling, we have no idea why - he wasn't in any pain or distress. So perhaps he was dreaming of what no longer is.

The Hole Nine Yards

I've been bugging David about the water main for the past couple of weeks.David was considering letting the water main thing go until spring - as far as we know it's been leaking all along and it not that bad of a leak. But all I've been able to envision is it blowing mid-February and having to deal with that in the frozen ground. The driveway leak has been there, but since David repaired the one in the lower field I think it's been putting alot of pressure on the leak under the driveway.  This week the leak has gotten noticibly worse, instead of the pothole birdbath it's been running a bit. And it's not repairable there, the driveway was originally cement and been tarred over - we would have to dig up the whole drive just to find it. So yesterday he rented a special ditch digger and has dug for the water line. He didn't thankfully hit the gas line, that would've been bad I think. So over the weekend he'll be laying the line and reconnecting it midway in the lower pasture to where we know it's ok. The other wierd thing of the week is we seem to be suffering from a small insect infestation (picture 5)- of Lady Bugs!! When we moved in here (and the other house in WV) we've found dead ones in the window sills so I think it must be an annual thing and they're not icky so I'm not sure what to do. I certainly don't want to kill them and they seem to be only on the living room ceiling by the picture window so I'll leave them alone. And the last picture is of Charger, The Poo Eater. I warned Jackson and David not to kiss him on the lips since both of the litterpans had been cleaned - and I hadn't done it. (for the record Jackson and David both claim that kissing Charger on the lips is pretty far down on thier list of Things To Do, it's actually on thier list of Things That Will Never Happen)

Enough Of This Sunset Crap Already

It's hard NOT to take pictures of the sky around here, I guess with the mountains and the wide open spaces it looks a lot different than where I'm from and it's hard not to be impressed. Class continues on - the teacher we have would like to turn it into a 4 hour class I think - last night at 8;55pm she asked if we wouldn't mind staying "for a little while longer" to go over the next two chapters! 90% of the class did mind so we'll be doing it on Tuesday. The last fifteen minutes of class normally stretch into hours (or so it seems) without adding on to it, especially since it's an adult class and we've already put in 8 or more hours at work already. She's done this before and it's a never ending source of annoyance. David's getting ready to rent a digger for our water main, he's been looking for someone to do it but has been unsucessful. He's not going to dig up the whole thing, just from the pasture up and will connect it there since we know that half doesn't leak. I don' t care how he does it, just as long as it gets done, I'm tired of the Eternal Birdbath in the driveway.  Report cards come out next week and Jackson has been been preparing us for his english grade. First we heard about how unfair the teacher is. Then how much she doesn't like him. Then how many people don't pass her class and how no one likes her. Hmmm. I'm guessing we won't be seeing that A this semster. And for a little extra stress at work - my manager resigned yesterday which kind of leaves me swinging in the breeze. I've got no idea what's going to happen but am planning on just riding it out and seeing what happens. This whole thing just smells like a whole mess.

Another Day Another Dollar

But at least the weather is nice - we're in the high 60's to low 70's for the next few days which is A-OK with David. The leaves continue to turn but are now falling, so I'm sure winter is right around the corner. Everyone finally has thier power on - after that nasty storm last week some people didn't get thier power back on for a week! I had my midterm last week and did better than I thought I would - I got an 86 which was a relief. I was peeking at some of the grades around me and I did better than some of the people that are already billing in an office. We're continuing to make plans to go to Janet's and Diane's, I made reservations at a kennel for the dogs where they will have a couch and TV (I'm not kidding) and will be roaming around with all the other dogs. They're also going to come check on the cats at the house - 3 days of this all for $90, considering what this would've cost me on LI I'm happy with that number. David continues to work on the new room, the hot tub will be staying outside as it's too huge to come in and would take up almost half. I'll put pictures up tomorrow. I'm more than half finished with the poncho I'm making and it's coming out better than the last one I made.

The Thrill Of The Hunt

Vincent has been mixing it up with Mr. Lee for the past couple of days, but in his defense, she started it. Actually they play all the time, hiding and jumping out at each other, chasing each other around the house. Vincent was shut up in the house for Halloween as was Claw so he was a bit put out to say the least. We've always kept the cats in for Halloween as you never know and I would feel terrible if anything happened to any of them. We only had 5 trick or treaters - none of whom was the cookie girl who is obviously not dumb enough to go to the people she ripped off. Jackson went over Becky's house and handed out candy all afternoon, she lives in a populated area so they get more trick or treater than we do. David's new business of small jobs seems to be going pretty good, he started at one house and while there, was hired by the neighbor across the road. So he's going to keep at it and keep the ad in the paper for awhile longer.