It's Me Again!

Yes, I know I already posted, but there's so much going on! I took Pearl walking this morning at the river and we did the usual barking, growling, etc.. thing. I cut the walk short, we got a late start and that meant more peopleon the trail. I was going to go home but decided to try walking her in town. What a surprise, no aggression at all, quite the opposite - she went up to people, everyone that stopped got a vizsla hug. So later I went in a dog chat room trying to figure out what the difference is to her - it's very sad that I will never learn to stay away from Dog Chat. Instead of any insight I got an earful from the Head Loony who told me I should put her to sleep and then got called a dumbass for disagreeing. I was told my dog was unstable and would grow worse in time. I found it amusing that someone who was a self proclaimed "trainer" would be so rude, but I have a funny feeling the only dogs this person has ever trained is her own. I told Pearline I would have to have her unstable self put down but she didn't seem too concerned so I just left it at that. We took Ray into town today and we just walked around and browsed a bit, then went to the Beanery for a long lunch which he very much enjoyed. After we went to Barnes and Nobles, the grocery store and then home. David is laying down now and Ray's taking a shower as they'll be leaving around 8 to go get Adam from the airport. We are getting so excited! Tomorrow we're planning on dinner and a movie and then home for the New Year, what a great way to start it, with both Adam and Ray here!

We Are All Assembled

Ray arrived yesterday afternoon, amidst the sunshine and blue skies. David kept telling me he wouldn't come - he never does in winter, but I knew he would and kept yelling invites everytime he called. And here he is! The tempetures predicted for the rest of the week are in the 50's and yesterday I'm sure it was closer to 60. So he arrived around 3pm - I made a pot of coffee and then we went out to Applebee's for dinner. We picked Jackson up afterwards and hit Books A Million - I bought a new knitting book called "Naughty Needles" and it's really got some hilarious patterns - if anyone needs me to knit them some bondage equipment let me know because I have the Power. Anyhoo, David,Ray and Jackson will be heading up to Pittsburgh tonight to get Adam, I'll be home watching Pearl The Girl and being there Just In Case. Adam called last night from the airport around 1 am to let us know he was there and getting ready to board the plane, but I think he was just as excited as we are and wanted to yack with Jackson, The Boy Who Never Sleeps. I'm off from work for  almost two whole weeks, I had a half day yesterday and it just seemed to drag on forever - but the day before vacation is the longest day of the year, isn't it? I actually have to stop in and drop off paper work on Tuesday and the baby scale but I'll bring Pearl in to wreak havoc in the office which is always fun. She loves the office and slings around the desks. The last time she went in I was helping the boss look for some papers - I looked while Tammy blocked Pearl from creating more lost paper work.  We're going walking today, I'm trying not to regain all that I lost, but with the holidays, Ray, Jackson's birthday, Adam coming home and of course heading off to sunny Pennsylvania Where All Your Dreams Come True, it's going to be a rough road!

Guess Who's 17 Today!

Can you believe it, one more year and I will have two adult children! We took him out to look for his birthday present last night, but since he couldn't think of much for Christmas, he could think of less for his birthday. He does want a new trench coat but we couldn't find one, so when we go to my sister's he can get one there. Other than that it's money again. We'll be taking him out to dinner and then home for cake - it's a bit harder this year too with Adam due home in a couple of days, it's all we can think about! I try not to get too excited as until he's here anything can happen, but it's hard not to. He called us the other morning which was nice, he and the girlfriend are back on AGAIN, I just ignore the whole thing until I hear one thing or another. I've got two more days of work to go before I'm off, today I'm being sent out to Bridgeport so there'll be no walking .Yesterday I was able to get out of here early and got in an hour. Now that I've taken most of the weight off that I want to, maintaining it really is the hard part. I lost a bit extra before the holidays as I knew I was going to gain a few pounds (I like to think of it as "buffer weight") so it's not a huge tragedy but I wish it was as easy to lose it as it is to gain it. But since I'll be off for a couple of weeks I'll be able to walk and perhaps take Pearl The Destroyer with me.

The Day After...........

....is never pretty. You've eaten too much, the house is a mess and it's back to work for most of us poor slobs. I wasn't even able to go walking this morning as we're back to rain and wind. Yesterday it poured buckets as I predicted it would (for the record The Crack Weather Team predicted snow flurries, haha), but then it suddenly cleared up and warmed up. So I took the dogs out so they could chase sticks and so forth. We did eat Christmas dinner in as I threatened we would and it was a lot more fun than we thought it would be. We had candles and everything, then we did dessert (cheesecake) in front of the fire downstairs. Now of course I have to get started with Jackson's birthday (the 28th) followed by Adam's arrival (the 30th), but I'll be on vacation after Adam gets here. We're going to Janet's for a weekend, hopefully the weather will hold. David has to rent a hotel room, Adam has booked a flight that arrives at 1:30 am and David is not much for driving around in the dark - I would rather they spend the extra money and be safe. Adam will be arriving home for New Year's Eve, what a great way to start the year!

Merry Christmas!

It's not even 10 am and I've already eaten almost an entire box of chocolate covered cherries, played in the yard, had 3 cups of coffee and a doughnut and just in general had a good time. I love being home for the holidays and not working the overnight shift!! We didn't go overboard in the gift giving dept with each other this year, even Jackson was having a hard time coming up with stuff he wanted. I did manage to get him an unexpected and perfect present - when we were in the bookstore I spotted a book called "Plucker" - there was just one copy sitting by itself in the wrong place. I don't know why I even bothered to look at it, but when I took it down and paged through it's intricately detailed pages, I knew it was perfect. The story is completely demented - it's a dark bloody tale of childhood toys, the Jack in the box carries a sword and the doll is posessed  - right up Jackson's alley. He's had his nose in it all morning and I have no doubt he'll have read the entire book twice by tomorrow. Don't you love when that happens? Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone - I hope Santa brings you what you asked for. I know he will bringing me what I asked for as I picked it out and handed it to him myself. On Friday I was out and about past Holbrook and realized I was only about 3 miles from Hixie's General Store out in New Freeport. At Hixies you can get: automotive and plumbing supplies, hunting and fishing equipment plus any license, carry out pizza, souveniers, gift items, groceries, gas, all in the middle of nowhere. It's way bigger than it looks, it appears over the years it's been added to so it kind of rambles around, one section leading into another. I did indeed get a souvenier which is what I was after,  a little cedar box with an indian on it, tastefully done of course. We are still working on Christmas shopping, we're going out today to finish up and will be eating dinner out, but staying in for Christmas. Very few restaurants are open and the pickings are slim so we've opted to make our own. The weather continues to refuse to co-operate, staying up in the 50's and raining, but it does that every year, doesn't it? We all get this picture postcard of a snow covered holiday, but honestly, how often does that happen? In reality most holidays are soggy grey affairs with the occasional ice storm or oddly warm weather. Jackson is enjoying his vacation, cheerfully counting his chickens before they're hatched as he tends to get alot of cash. Some of it will be deposited in his CD which matures on the 18th, but he knows this and doesn't object. Over the years I've taken the excess and deposited in a little account so just from extra birthday and Christmas money he'll have over a thousand dollars when he turns 18. I did the same with Adam who prompty blew the entire amount in a few months, but at that age I would've done the same thing.

Let It Snow Dammit.

Well, the tempetures remain in the 50's - it's hard to feel christmassy when you're wearing a sweater and carrying an umbrella, but we are trying. David put up his beloved $10 tree, I was even impressed with it. I've got the lights on (after being tough and pitching out the 5 sets that DON'T work and never will no matter how long I save them) and the top, tomorrow we'll finish decorating it. David mailed off the presents today, I apologize to the Recipients ahead of time. Work continues to be busy and yes, I'm working extra again tomorrow, but can't complain. I can't complain because my boss gave me off from the 30th to the 11th for Adam's trip home. And YES he really is coming home this time! I've been trying not to get too excited as we've been through this  a few times and it hasn't panned out but he has the tickets so we'll finally get to see him. I wish he had enough time to get back to LI but maybe next time. Sometimes I find it weird that I have a 23 year old son that lives on his own in Japan no less , who would've thought?  I was thinking the other day about how when I was kid I thought how neat it was that my grandparents had been alive before space travel, etc - and now I'm in the same boat. I was microwaving and for some reason thought of Aunt Karen. Microwaves are so commonlplace now you don't even think about them.but way back when she had one of the 1st ones I'd ever seen - it had a dial, was about the size of a small refridgerator and very impressive. The reason I remember it so clearly is she always had to do things to the limit. Everyone else was popping corn, heating tea - Aunt Karen cooked us a 25 lb turkey in that sucker. And it was rather ghosty white if I remember correctly! Isn't it strange the things you remember?

Bah. Humbug

I was supposed to have a half day on Thursday due to all the extra work I did last week but ended up cancelling it as there is too much going on at work and sometimes, even if you don't want to, you have to be the grown-up. I got home today a bit late with a screaming headache and rolling stomach - no, I'm not sick. A lot of people around here have propane heaters that are set in the wall and old fireplaces. They're very economical because you can heat the rooms you are in, but the rooms you are in tend to be overheated and there is something about them that give me a headache especially if I'm doing a long infusion. So I got home and was a big Crankypants with David who ran back outside to continue clearing the two acres down below with Pearl in tow. Apparently some people prefer a Brush Hog to a House Crab. Anywhoo, I got the rest of christmas gifts wrapped and ready to be mailed tomorrow and now we just have to shop for each other. David got our tree today too, on my way home I saw that at Southern Supplies they had all the trees for $10 apiece - and NICE trees to boot!! So he was happy and excited, no matter what happens over the holidays the thing that makes Christmas for David is a cheap tree, go figure.

Is It Still Monday?

The one thing about being on call all weekend and working is you keep thinking it's Monday. Then when it IS Monday you feel like it should be the weekend. We went out to dinner last night at Applebee's - I like to eat there because you can sustitute a veggie burger so eating isn't a problem. We did want to go to Garfields but learned very quickly there was no way we were getting near any restaurant near a shopping center - the Christmas shoppers were out in force last night, I have no idea where they all come from. The college students should be leaving after this week and then we'll have the town back until the end of January. It's funny how I grew up in a resort town where everything's quiet over the winter and you come to dread summer when you're up to your ears in summer people. Here the summer is great but the fall brings the crowds. Jackson's last day of school is Thursday, thier vacation isn't very long because they need to save for snow days but if they don't use them, then spring vacation gets extended. We still dont' know if Adam is coming home or not, but I'm going to make sure I have the time off just in case.

Hot Child In The City

The temps are finally strarting to drop down a little - I think we made it into the 50's today -and yes I know! when it gets back into the 20's I'll be grousing about that. I took Jackson shopping today, David was supposed to but he faked sleeping so I ended up taking him after I got back from working. We are running very late this year and are still not done, but we do soldier on, don't we? I was trying to get it done this week but I keep ending up doing extra at work and didn't get a thing done. Shopping was crowded but not overly bad - they actually hire enough help around here to get you in and out, unlike LI. I think it might be because the competition is a bit steeper here and people have to drive further (unlike LI where everything is 3 feet apart). We also had to go to Sam's Club for groceries and had a minor crisis when Jackson couldn't find the Cracker Barrel cheese assortment - apparently nations will fall if you can't find that.(yes, we did find it, thank you for your concern.) Then he spent an embarrassing amount of time hanging around the free sample guy for the cheesecake and managed to glom a total of 4 samples off of him. He got his own cheesecake that I'm avoiding like the plague as it has 500 calories a slice and according to the box it has 12. In my world I think there might be 3 slices per cake, 4 if I'm feeling generous. However, that also means in my world there are about 2000 calories per serving. When we got home David was out chopping down trees so we came in to start dinner. The bathroom door was shut and no one remembered shutting it - I hate when you come home and there's something different that you didn't do. I mean the reasonable me KNOWS the dog might have pushed it or something but the unreasonable me (LOOK OUT HE HAS A KNIFE) gave a little squeek when David encountered some resistance before getting it open. Happily enough there was no psycho killer hiding in the loo so we could eat our french toast and sausage in peace.

Is It Indian Summer Again?

So, we had one week of cold weather complete with a bit of snow and now we are back to the springlike temps. It's actually that weird temp that it's too cold for a sweater and too warm for a coat so you spend all day removing and adding clothes, never quite comfortable in whatever it is you have on. I've heard from Adam who is still planning on coming home so I guess I'll start arranging things on my end. I'm trying to keep it level since the last two times he was supposed to come it got cancelled. I was looking at the pictures we took, how different everything is now! David and I managed to get half a day of Christmas shopping in yesterday, I'll finish up on Friday and then spend the weekend packing it up. With the warm weather it's hard to get into the spirit of things and of course David has that stinking tradition of putting the tree up on Christmas Eve which I have changed a bit over the years but not much. I HATE THAT - like you don't have enough to do on Christmas Eve and then the person who swears it's his family's tradition refuses to help since apparently his MOTHER traditionally did the whole thing while the rest of them sat on thier butts and watched. This would be how the tree thing got moved a week up since I told him if it was his tradition to knock himself out decorating. La la. And to add to the mix we now have two potential tree-wreckers to keep an eye on - Pearl of course and Vincent who considers it his playground. I'm on call this weekend which is alright - at least it's only every 3 weeks

Eek! How Many More Days??

David finally put up some Christmas lights outside yesterday so we can participate a bit in the nightly lightshow. We cannot compete with our neighbor who at this point has an entire snow people family, full size nativity (with a 5 foot cross), reindeer, sleigh, santas, and has outlined his entire house and yard in lights. It's fun to look at but I'm glad I'm not the one who will be taking that all down. David and I are going shopping today and will hopefully get everything off by this weekend. I haven't heard from Adam whether he'll be coming home or not for sure which is driving me crazy as I do NOT want to take the rest of my vacation in the beginning of January if he's not coming home, that would suck. David has still not been paid by that woman - he's sent her a couple of bills by registered mail so he has gone to plan B. He called a lawyer he'd done work for and asked if he could write a letter to Maureen (someone had told him they do that for a nominal fee). The lawyer replied he would be more than happy to - he had a few small jobs around his house and if David would do them he would not only write the letter, but go to court with David and get his money. It's a pretty good trade - David is kind of between a rock and a hard place because if he takes her to small claims court she can drag this out and he can end up losing more money. So he's happy with bartering services. Charger has been improving weekly with his medications, he can now get up on the bed in the morning and sit with everyone which he hasn't done for months and go outside for hours with David while he clears the lot and not suffer for it later. We are very happy about that! It's amazing what pain relief can do, isn't it?

Damage Control

I have first of all removed the christmas CD from my car that contains the song "Percy The Christmas Poinsetta" as the second I hear it, it gets stuck in my head for weeks. It contains  poetic verses such as "even a plant with no uncle or aunt shouldn't spend Christmas Eve by himself". I have no clue as to how that song exists or the fact that anyone would owe up to writing it. I'm showing the pictures I sent to the adjuster the other day of the "damage" to my car - the only thing that happened as far as I can see is I'm missing a deer whistle. How anyone could sustain injury is beyond me and I've come to the conclusion that my car is sort of like one that people refer to as a "chick magnet". Except mine is an "Asshole magnet" and as you can see, I am still wracked about it. We've been having a quiet weekend, I was watching tv with Jackson last night which I find intriguing as  his viewing choices are sort of erratic. First we watched Histories Mysteries! and learned all sorts of ancient mummy facts. Then we saw an hour of the Exhibits Of The Smithsonian including a history of the benefactor. This was followed by the highbrow movie "Conan The Barbarian" featuring Arnold in his heyday. I wanted to see "Mean Girls" and Jackson quickly claimed he'd seen it already - I said Really? YOU sat and watched Mean Girls? That would be when I discovered Jackson will claim to have seen something in order not to - pretty slick.

Still In The Woods

I got a call from the insurance company today - sigh. I figured since I hadn't  heard anything for the past week  and there was no damage to either car I was out of the woods but alas, that is not so. They just hadn't gotten the paperwork yet. She hasn't talked to the two women in the car I bumped but said when she called one she got the husband who said he'd give her the message when she got "back from therapy"  and had a laundry list so the adjuster said her gut reaction is they will be making claims. I am just disgusted with these people, I really didn't bump them that hard, but I guess a free hand out is a free hand out. It's upsetting that every little accident around here ends like this - David and I have never claimed for something that didn't happen so I guess we expect the rest of the world to be honest. On the upside my wrist is finally feeling better and I'm leaving the splint off for  now. Maybe I should sue Pearl. We still haven't gotten the house decorated, maybe this weekend. The temps are back up in the 50's but are expected to drop down and then possible snow for the weekend. We're having the usual shinanigans going on in the office, I could use a break from that too.

The Deep Freeze

The weather around here is killing me - we broke the record on the weekend with a high of 74 degrees. Then that cold wind blew in and we are stuck in the 20's. I went walking early yesterday and will need to dress better - the trail on the river is very cold. This morning the wind is howling so there will be no walking this morning. I do have a treadmill but have been unable to convince David to install SOMETHING - he doesn't seem to get it's a bit boring to walk on a treadmill in a dark corner of the basement facing the sump pump. Gold's Gym it is NOT. My wrist continues to hurt but is less swollen. I had them give me a velcro splint so I could get it on and off easily for my work but the movement I have to do for infusions is aggrevating it. Yesterday after starting the infusion I borrowed the ice pack from the medication which made the patient laugh as she felt the nurse was in worse shape than she was. I've shown my wrist to Pearl The Ungrateful who doesn't feel she should be made to feel guilty about it. Jackson has been home for the past two days - he's got the flu so he wont be back in school until tomorrow at the earliest. Vincent the cat has been taking great advantage of the situation and not getting out of bed all day - he is such a rat. 

Down On The Farm

Yesterday we finally went out and saw Susan and Roger's farm - it's pretty far (over an hour away) and it's way WAY in the backwoods. The view is spectacular and they have about 150 acres all told, including outbuildings and a pond. They had a couple of benches and the old oak flooring from the funeral home in Mannington they're giving away. David took one bench and is going to measure the back room(the former hot tub room) he's currently working on for the flooring. The whole farm is beautiful, they have a log cabin on it that they're currently rehabbing slowly and at the present, it's used for hunting. We should've brought Pearl, but didn't but they had Buddy with them who was having a grand time bouncing around the place. David will be going back to help them put in a couple of windows upstairs and will get the flooring then. In other news I might have to seek medical attention and Pearl will most likely be doing some time in obedience school. She is still leaping at people when we go walking and yesterday I had the leash wrapped around my wrist and she decided to put a little extra "umph" into her leaping routine. Ouch. Work has been getting increasingly hairier but Susan will be back on Monday and things will go a bit smoother then!

An Update: I did go to the doctor's today and got a nifty black brace for my sprained wrist and a prescripton of naprosyn - I am unable to knit so I'm considering just perhaps lying down and passing away gently into the night. However, since I have to work tomorrow that will not be possible. Damn.

Pearl As An Artform

David must've read my blog and the decorations are down from the attic. Of course the tempeture has gone up again so it will most likely be yet another balmy day. This does not do too much for the Christmas spirit, does it? I finally took the CD out and replaced it - it's hard to get into Jingle Bells when you're wearing sunglasses and the windows are rolled down. Work has gotten quite busy, I'm starting to transistion into the office but am currently wearing two hats which makes things a bit difficult. Today I don't have to start until 11 so Pearl and I will be down by the river being our usual menacing selves. I'm not oncall this weekend and am planning on doing not too much beside cleaning out my car and swamping out the bathrooms. Charger is doing very well these days, since we started him on the rimydyl he's been pretty much painfree - he hasn't yipped or done that awful screaming in a couple of weeks and we've noticed he gets up much easier. I've got to get started on holiday shopping, I think everyone will be getting gift certficates this year - as I get older I think I prefer them myself because you can get twice as much in after holiday shopping sales.

Jealousy Will Get You Nowhere

This is NOT my house, my house is a bleak, undecorated barren desert of despair. David has been asked repeatedly to get the decorations down - the attic door sticks something awful and I can just about dangle off the pull cord to no avail - and he has been doing the passive-aggressive thing. Saying he will get them down and then just simply not doing it. So Christmas is still in my attic even though both Halloween AND Thanksgiving have passed. The house in the picture is one on our road and I just about vomit with envy everytime I pass it - all we have for decoration is three stupid pumpkins which I threw in the woodpile yesterday in an effort to get Scrooge off his butt and up in the attic. In other news Adam has written and let us know he is most likely going to get leave after Christmas - but they're only allowing from Dec 30th to the 11th which is not enough time to do everything he wants. Right now the tentative game plan is him landing in Philly so he can see Aunt Janet and Aunt Diane and then here to WV for the rest of the time. We've been jiggering around with it, but I think in the end landing in NY and then attempting a 10 hour drive followed by a flight back to Japan might be too much. And we really want him to see our house and his old pets, especially Mr. Lee. But most of all I just want to see him.

My Fender Did Not Bender......

......but that didn't keep the yahoos in the car from hollering neck pain when I rear ended them .I got caught in stop and go traffic last night on the way home and unfortunately I Goed when I should've Stopped. I braked as hard as I could but bumped the car in front of me. I got out to make sure everyone was alright and the woman driving announced she was alright but her passenger was not. I called 911 right away for an ambulance and cop (they also sent a firetruck for some strange reason) - I was pretty shaken up. I had my head lights on her bumper and after I calmed down realized there wasn't even a dent, I couldn't have been going anymore than 15 miles an hour or so BEFORE I hit the brakes. The ambulance got there and both women refused EMS, then the fire truck came with about 4 or 5 firefighters (it's a small town). Then the two cops arrived and took all the information. They all stood around and gossiped for a few minutes with the EMS and then the ambulance and firetruck left.  The cop told me he had to include the injury on the report because they were both now complaining of neck pain, although he said since there was no visable damage he thought that was a crock. I didn't even get cited as there was no damage but I'm sure they'll get something. Everyone David has talked to sighs and says they will - even the insurance company wasn't surprised! And OF COURSE my camera was home sitting by the computer which is why there are only pictures of a fallen house which is pretty cool, isn't it? I had a bit of problem getting to it as it sits on the side of a highway with high steep ground. Getting up to it was less of a problem than leaving as it was steep downhill  so I had to be careful not to flop on the road on the way down.  I love these old falling down dilapidated houses, they're so interesting. I'm hoping to get out walking today - the temps are already warm (it's supposed to be up the 60's today) but it's also sort of cloudy and wet looking so Pearl-ine and I may be hanging out on the couch today

Is It Spring Already?

The weather this weekend has been amazing. And no one is visiting of course to see it. The sun is sunny and the temps yesterday were in the 60's with a warm breeze. I had one job to go to and then the dogs and I kicked back in the yard and relaxed. Charger has been back to stick chasing but we try not to over do it. Pearl of course over does everything without even thinking about it. We only went out to the grocery store for a bit and came back to a big mess, courtesy of Pearl The Destroyer. All the books say we need to be consistent with her, but I have to say she is NOT consistent with us. She doesn't always tear up the house, most of the time lately we come back to a good dog, but every once in awhile she goes crazy. We heard from Adam the day after Thanksgiving, he spent it with a friend of his - his ship is back by the way so playtime is over for him. He doesn't think he can come back for the holidays again this year, but we're used to that. I was kind of hoping he'd be able to though, it's been two years since we've seen him and I miss him a great deal. We have to start getting the decorations for Christmas down, our neighbors are way ahead of us - some even decorated the day after Halloween which I find a bit unsettling as the other neighbors still had jack-o-lanterns and witches out. I like one holiday at a time.

Did We All Have A Good Time?

As in tradition we made way too much food, ate way too much food and will continue eating leftovers until we never want to see them again. Even though there was just three of us we did the whole sha-bang - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, whipped sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, glazed carrots and gravy for David to drown it all. And last but not least the Cranberry Sauce, the kind that slides out of the can and maintains the can shape to the very end. Jackson had made some tiny noise about going over to Becky's but that didn't fly as it would've killed off a full third of the guest list. I also made him drink a little red wine even though he was announcing he only likes white and then we toasted to bad parenting....in the event you're wondering Jackson is allowed a little wine with company if he wants it and he usually passes. David built the first fire of the year which was nice but he had to let it die down in the afternoon as the sun came out and then the temps went up. I took Pearl for a 7 mile hike first thing in the morning (and yes we really did walk that much, the trail we use has markers) but she was still very excited by the whole turkey thing. Charger took it in stride and horsed down as much turkey as he could get quietly so Miss Thing wouldn't horn in on his action. So it was a pretty nice day for us. I have to go to work today, I hate holidays in the middle of the week because being off makes it feel like Friday and then going to work the next day is an unpleasant surprise. I'm on call this weekend and hope it doesn't get too hairy....

No Cats On The Table!

That's what I say when we have company and then I act surprised when they are prancing about on it - I pretend they never ever do that and I just can't believe it! Works for me. Anyhoo, we are eating IN for Thanksgiving this year, can you believe it?? David finally rebelled after all these years of chinese and japanese food (that's what's open on the holidays). When I mentioned which restaurant I wanted to go to he was like AARRGGHH!! and then had a little turkey related meltdown in which he declared he did NOT want a Thanksgiving dinner that involved soy sauce. So we went thanksgiving dinner food shopping where he indulged in all of his Fowl Fantasies - carrot glaze, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and CoolWhip. He was like a Holiday Whore getting two of everything and shopping like best of them. So we have too much food - of course - and he has his turkey defrosting in the oven. Charger is looking foward to it - he's doing so much better now that we have him on pain medication - who would've thought? He takes one in the morning ( we were giving him one at night too but it made him too sleepy) and he's good for the day. He's back to chasing any stick you toss and romping around the yard. He also secretly goes on Deer Poop Eating Missions at night when he thinks I don't know what he's doing, we just give him a biscuit to decrease the "bouquet" and ignore him as best we can

Deja Vu

Yes, I know you think you've seen this picture  before - eerie, isn't it? Oh alright, I just didn't get a chance to take any pictures this weekend, I kept leaving my camera where ever I wasn't. And when I did have it the weather was just too crappy, however  despite the fact that none of this was recorded for posterity, we did have a very good time. Saturday it rained off and on so Cooper's Rock or walking around town was out, so David took Kim to the gun range and I took Sue and Grace to the number one attraction, Gabriel Brothers. We went to the new one and they loved it so much I thought I would have to call security to have them removed. I turned my back on them for one minute and the next thing I knew we had a cart full. They both made out very well and that killed off most of the afternoon. I wouldn't let anyone eat, only tiny things because we were taking them out to the Golden Corral Buffet which is a good place for groups as you can get your own stuff and not have to wait. You can also feed six people for under $70 which is also attractive. We did the book store after and then home as they were planning on an early departure this morning. They were very stressing about directions, they made it to Sheetz before calling the house and getting back on thier way. They just got home a few minutes ago, they stopped at Cabela's in PA and then promptly got lost upon leaving. But they're home and we were glad they came to visit us finally.

A Full House

Well, I guess I was off on my timing - I didn't think they would get here until at least 4 pm but they made it here by 1. I was working so David gave them the short tour, they were pretty tired from thier long trip so no one was looking for anything to do. I had made dinner the day before - lasanga, garlic bread and apple pie for dessert so all David had to do was throw it all in the oven. I had an infusion yesterday afternoon so David was the host again, they had a great time - David drove them all over, they went to some of the shops and out to the Boston Beanery for a late lunch. I got home around 5:30 and no one was hungry so we all had tea and then out to the movies. We saw Borat which was way funnier than I had thought it would be - we laughed all the way home! That was good because Pearl was very angry at being left behind and made a HUGE mess in the living room. She's actually been pretty good lately, she was down to just taking one or two things and leaving it in the livingroom but last night! She found a 20 pound bag of potatoes and threw them all over the living room and foyer, she ripped a roll of paper towels up, found my knitting bag and chewed up a pair of $25 knitting needles (WHY DON'T YOU JUST RIP OUT MY HEART YOU LOUSY HOUND DOG) and chewed up the hat I'd started, arrgh! And all in front of the company! No one was amused and Pearl spent the rest of the night hiding under the dining room table. Today is supposed to be nice so David is taking Kim to the shooting range and Sue, Grace and I are heading off to the shops - Gabriel Brothers of course and I might take them to Cooper's Rock to take pictures if the day is clear.

Waiting

David's mother has decided not to come after all, he called her the other day and told her it was alright so to please stop picking fights with everyone (she'll say she's coming and then start a big fight and then announce she cannot possibly get in a car with that person). But the rest of the crew is on thier way as of 4 am - David said Grace seems to think they will be here by noon. Haha. I still have to work but I made up dinner ahead of time so David just has to throw the whole mess in the oven and we're set. We got a second bed for the second guest room so Jackson and Vincent can stay put (Vincent has decided he and Jackson are roommates). I took Charger to the vet yesterday, he was his usual self - he positions himself in front of all doors so someone will let him get back in the car. Dr. Kenny said he's got severe arthritis and that's probably why he can't go more than a few feet at a time because of the pain. She sat on the floor  to examine all of his tumors and Charger plopped his butt right in her lap as he assumed he was getting a back rub and a hug which he did get. While waiting for the blood tests Charger amused himself by sticking his nose in the crack of the door and snorting as loudly as possible the entire time. We are doing nothing for the tumors - aside from his age even if we did decide to have them biopsied or removed there's very little chance he would even survive the ansethisia. So he's on pain medication for now, she ran liver enzyme tests to start but that will be it - right now the goal is to simply keep him comfortable. I've got to work today and was going to ask for some personal time tomorrow but there's an infusion to be done tomorrow and no one else to do it so I didn't ask - Tammy's been very good about any time I've ever needed so I try not to make it hard for her.

Just Shoot Me

My boss gave me most of the day off today - it's my half day but I have David's family coming tomorrow night and Charger is pretty bad off today. So I only have to see one patient and then can use a few hours of sick time up - I'm fortunate to have a good boss as Charger has a vet's appt at 10:30 this morning and now I can take him. He's been getting progressively worse over the past couple of weeks, but the past few days he's had a rapid decline. We're hoping it's just muscular or something but last night when I touched his back to get him up to go out - he just started lurching around and screaming, it was awful. Touching him made it worse. We let him be for a few minutes and I gave him some dog pain medication I had from the last incident and this morning he's not great, but better. So we will see. In the meantime I have to cook, clean, do wash, shop, set up a guest room, etc....Thing have been overwhelming at times - work has been stressful as we have new people and I've had to do alot of things I normally don't do. But our census is down this week so it's given the whole office time to catch up and get things done. I also got on the computer and revamped one of our systems for the forms so that instead of typing the same thing over and over again we can just cut and paste it. Of course without thinking I set the whole thing up on my computer, not the one that needed it. But one of my co-workers suggested I email it to the computer and cut and paste it so it all worked out. But I have to admit I've been enjoying myself, it's fun to do other things and more fun when it's not really your job and you get to be a Helper Bee.

A Weekend Visitor

Unfortunately the weather decided to be rather icky, it rained (in sheets at times!) pretty much all day Saturday and then today was cold, grey and drizzled all day. So yesterday we took Janet shopping and out to dinner, avoiding town as the Big Game was being played and it was it's usual mayhem. Pearl was the Hostess Dog making sure Janet was  quite often greeted. She was greeted upon waking, after all trips to the bathroom, coming and going, getting a soda and of course just a few random Commando Style greetings. Janet suggested we start yelling "Incoming" when she started launching herself just to alert the guest. Janet also wisely stored all of her belongings in the closet and kept her door shut - she always was a fast learner. We had dinner at Garfield's - we went early due to the game and when we left around 6 pm there was big line. Janet left around noon today and will hopefully be home in time for dinner. In other news - I finished the blanket!! Never saw that one coming did you? It seems like I've been working on it forever and just a little while ago I put in the last binding stitch. And then threw it in the washer - it's been dragged around for a few months and even had a little mud on it so it needed a wash. How nerve wracking is that let me tell you - after all that time and effort I had visions of it unraveling in the washer and my opening it to a tub full of knots and string. So I shortened the wash cycle to ONE MINUTE while I listened for loose yarn noises and then yanked out a whole blanket thank goodness that's over. Now it's busy flopping around the dryer, since it's a baby blanket one of the requirments is it needs to be washable - there's nothing more useless than baby items knit in hand spun wool whatever, unless of course the baby is banned from touching it.

Hmmm

While watching early morning tv today we saw that commercial for Relecore that apparently is specifically targets Unsightly Belly Fat. It's annoying because a) they play it all the time b) the person in the commercial is very emphatic and strange and c) is there such a thing as Sightly Belly Fat? I do have to admit, I've picked up those diet pills in CVS and have been very tempted to short cut the whole deal but then the first thing that pops into mind is that woman in Stony brook that was a patient of mine. She'd been taking Stackers which was quite popular at the time (and still might be) and the good news was she'd lost 8 pounds in under 2 weeks. The bad news was she woke up one morning and couldn't move her left side which would be why she ended up in the stroke unit. That particular patient has never left me so every time I pick up one of those bottles it pretty much goes right back on the shelf as Unsightly Belly Fat probably isn't the end of the world.  I guess that would be it for the Unsightly Belly Fat Commentary this morning. In other news, Janet arrived here in good time last night about 7 pm - Pearl was strangely well behaved for a few minutes. We had sausage heroes and apple pie for dinner. Janet's room has been completely de-catted and she was warned to shut the door tightly to avoid any midnight visitors since the cats are not happy about someone not only being in their room but denying them access to it. I'm not sure what we're doing today, we have to stay out of town as the Mountaineers are playing Cincinnati and that of course is of Utmost Importance. So activities will either be out of town or at the movies. Pearl has barked at Janet's car everytime she's been out since it might be a Threat, she does need to stop

Walking On The Chain Gang

We took the advice of strangers - well, I did,Pearl would've preferred not to - and invested in a choker collar. We had great sucess with it, apparently having consequences to one's behavior improves it. Pearl did make some half hearted leaps but not like the other day. Yesterday was fairly overcast, but warm so we walked for about two hours. I was going to go home to clean the house, but it was so nice out and this time of year is precarious - the weather could change at any time so I took advantage. My paitent population is down this week so I'm getting stuff done in the office and like the weather that could also change at anytime so I'm taking advantage of that also. My sister is coming down for the weekend and then the week after David's relatives are coming. And no we haven't heard anything further from the loony person that owes David money, he's decided he's just going to go down to the courthouse in the next week or two, file for a hearing and let it go. I actually have all sorts of things I should be doing, cleaning, sorting, yada yada - unfortunately none of that holds much interest for me. Walking the dog and hiking, playing fetch, shopping - now that's interesting. That doesn't get much done around the house does it?

Screaming MeeMees

Sigh, David is STILL tangling with Maureen - if you recall from the 31st he was starting to wrangle with her and we got that charming phone call around 11 pm -

http://journals.aol.com/jlester961/YarnsandTallTails/entries/2006/10/31/happy-halloween/2490

Well, it goes on. Last week she said to come today at 3 pm. Jackson was off from school so David took him too just to be there. Maureen answered the door at 3 pm and announced it was her daughter's birthday. Hmm. David said he just had to put on one door knob and he was done. She then said she had to take a shower. He said it would only take 5 minutes and then she said no good, come back tomorrow. So he went home and called her and she announced that she had expected him to wait for her to CALL at some point on Tuesday and then come over - David pointed out she had said to come on Tuesday at 3 and then told her enough. He also informed her he was charging her for all the visits he's made - and then she started screaming into the phone for him to SHUT UP and he didn't LISTEN - David said he laid the phone down on the coffee table. He and Jackson sat and listened to this woman shrieking for about 5 minutes before she realized there was no one on the other end and then she hung up. So we will be taking her to court. I'm sure we've all been entertaining fantasies of kicking out her windows, keying her car - seeking revenge. But we will be letting the courts handle it - I'm sure we'll never see a dime of the money she owes and I'm beginning to wonder if maybe she has it at all, but it's gotten to the point it's simply not worth the stress of trying to collect it. But I still hope she catches it right in the teeth.

No pain, no gain

I have to admit that yesterday what I wanted to do was go home, make a cup of coffee and park it on the end of the couch. But what I did was wrestle Pearl into her halter, found a hat, scarf and gloves and off to the river we went for a 2 hour walk. When the weather first starts getting cold is the hardest time for me to get motivated - when it's really winter I still walk alot and spend a great  deal of time outdoors, but this weather - arrgh! - just makes me want to sit and watch tv. But given how hard it's been for me to lose this weight I don't want to start backsliding now so I make myself. Pearl of course is always up for it.  We aren't doing a whole lot this weekend, I have some paperwork to catch up and phone calls, I have one visit for tomorrow and I'm on call so I can't stray too far from the house. Adam called me yesterday morning, it was so nice to hear his voice. He's still on land at the moment - the Gary went out a few weeks ago and won't be back for a few more, so he's enjoying himself. He might be coming home in December which I would love - we haven't seen him for two years. But he's doing fine for now. And no - he still hasn't gotten any birthday gifts, he thinks thier probably on the ship.

Thursday Already

Not that it matters too much to me, I'm on call this weekend and lately we've been getting called alot. I've been busy discharging patients this week, my cases seem to run in cycles, I'll get a bunch and then discharge them all at once. Yesterday was my half day and I had planned on taking Pearl to the river but it decided to rain all day so that was out. Pearl was really bad yesterday too - everytime we went out she ran through the house destroying things and made a big mess all over. She's been pretty good lately - just taking items out and leaving them in the livingroom but yesterday even when we went out for an hour she went to town. David and I went to the supermarket to get a few things, I wanted to buy some brown sugar. Now, did you know that Splenda makes a substitute brown sugar? It said half the sugar, half the carbs, etc... So I compared the two. Regular has 15 calories per teaspoon, 4 grams of sugar. Splenda has 10 calories and 2 grams. Then I looked closer and it said per HALF a teaspoon. Which means the substitute not only has the same amount of sugar in it, it somehow manages to have more calories. Which goes to show you should always read the label. That's what gets me is how these "low calorie" products are just lower volume. Egg Beaters is 30 calories per serving, but thier serving is only a quarter of a cup. I'm sure if I measured an egg out it would come to more than that so how can that be a full serving?

How Many Days Until Christmas?

We got a total of 4 trick or treaters, 2 little ones and a somewhat drunken teenager and his rather mortified girlfriend but that was it. I put Pearl in Jackson's room but Charger got to stay out and "protect" me - poor old boy. He was growling a bit but looking off to the right of everyone, his vision is pretty poor and I think he gets upset because he can't really tell where - or who - anyone is. He has aged rapidly over the summer, now when we play fetch I wait til he's a respectable distance from me and toss the stick about 4 feet in front of him. We pretty much let him do what he wants these days and he gets his peanut butter dog cookies a few times a week. Work has been interesting lately, I find if you have anymore than two people in an office there's going to be trouble brewing somewhere! I like to sit back and watch it play out. David has gone back to his real customers - the nice ones and I guess he'll deal with the weasel girl when he gets to it. I've been walking more lately - yesterday the weather was very warm - in the 70's which I think is just odd this time of year. I don't enjoy it but it seems to be cooling back down again.

Happy Halloween!

I have to admit, I haven't even bought any candy. We live so far off the road if we get one trick or treater it's a miracle. I might pick up a small bag on the way home, one that I won't eat but that will be it. We have other issues going on - David got his first weasel last week - a customer that is doing backflips to get out of paying him. When he started with Maureen  she was nasty but he had promised - given the amount of work he has now he knew better but he had started.... She's a particularly nasty type that we've dealt with before on Long Island - they let you get almost done and then come up with bullshit "complaints". All he needs is to do put up one more piece of trim and a doorknob. So far he's been accused of stealing stain, hanging doors upside down, buying a scratch and dent door (please keep in mind the customer picked out, ordered and paid for the door so how he did that is beyond me), etc, etc and every time he proves her wrong she starts something else. The last of it is he came early to do the doorknob when she said to come. She's told him to come at numerous times and then isn't there, locks up the house,etc. he left her a note and told her to deduct the price of the doorknob and settle up and we were treated to a rather hysterical (and I suspect somewhat drunken phone call) around 11pm at night in which she kept screaming it was her birthday and she didn't have to tell him that because he's not a part of her life. Hmm. So we will be taking her to court - David was upset since he did do the work, but it's not an astronomical amount and next time he'll listen to that little voice inside that says RUN FAR.

This Will Never End. Never.

I've been working on this blanket it seems forever and a day - I had (3) 4 hour infusions this week and brought it along, I knit on it when we went to Pittsburgh and back in the car for the conference. I knit when we go to Clarksburg and every night on the end of the couch I'm faithfully ticking away - well, no ticking noise really since I'm using Addi Turbo German stainless steel with a flexible 60" cable ("why of course they're cheap David!!") but I've been knitting and knitting and it's still NOT done. This weekend the weather has been awful AND there are a slew of horror movies on so I've been putting in real couch time. So far we've watched The Invisible Man, The Werewolf, Village Of The Damned, Pumpkin Head, Mortuary, and The Lost Voyage which had Judd Nelson - does anyone beside me remember him? He was one of the brat pack (16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, St Elmos' Fire) - I don't like him as an actor but I'm mesmorized by his nostrils. They're fairly large and seem to have a life of thier own. Hmm. Definately digressing. SO I'm still knitting on the same thing and my stash is backing up which means there's no way I can sneak another skein into the house since it's already bursting out of the dresser and spilling out of the closet. The weather today has been crazy by the way as I had started saying. First the wind howled, then it rained. Then the sun came out. Then it went back in and a big black cloud blocked out the sun. Then it started snowing. A lot. Then rain. Snow. Rain. Wind sun rain, etc... Oh well, I think Pumpkin Head II is on in a few minutes.....

Let It Snow - EEKK!!

Can you believe this already - SNOW! Ok , so it wasn't a whole lot of it, just a dusting but it's snow already. And no it doesn't usually start this early. I've been cheerfully leaf-peeping all week, it seems like they just start to turn the tiniest bit and then POW, everywhere you look is amazing. I've been doing alot of driving out in Preston county which to me is the most beautiful place and in the fall it's wonderful. I'm still working hard, when there's new people in the office it takes awhile for them to be really up and running. And I'm still working on that stinkin' blanket, I keep telling myself one more line of trees and I'm done, but I've just been at it too long and there's so many other things to make. I was wandering around Michaels the other day and I'm not even interested - what's the point when I'm harnessed to this blanket, day after day, week after week (PLEASE NOT year after year......) I've heard from Adam a few times and he still hasn't gotten any birthday gifts as far as I know - he ship left port without him because he had to testify at a court martial (thank goodness not his!!) and I'm thinking his birthday gifts went with it.

Sunday

Pearl was not a good citizen at Cooper's Rock again - she's good EVERYWHERE else, but there's something about this park she can't deal with. I know part of it was we brought Jackson which made her very happy and we hadn't been out hiking in a couple of weeks, but she couldn't calm down and bounced her way through miles of trail. We were there about 3 1/2 hours, long enough for Jackson to not-so-secretly dispise her for the rest of the day. Today it's very crappy out, cold, grey and rainy so we're in watching Sci-Fi - since it's near Halloween there are a slew of B horror movies. Jackson and I watched "Dagon",a movie about evil fishlike people that skin visitors so they can wear thier skins to  disguise themselves AND also indulge in human sacrifice. There was some other movie we watched last night that was so awful I can't even think of what it was about, let alone the title. I'm STILL working on that baby blanket, I finished the second row of houses and now have only one more row of trees plus the border. I've never knit an entire blanket on size three needles and will be hard pressed to do so again anytime in the near future. I'll be glad when it's finished!

Fear Of Fridays

Once again I was out past my curfew on Friday - and I'm not even on call! It's been a busy week for me workwise. For the first part of the week I had the new nurse in tow to see my patients, she's never done homecare and it's a whole other animal. I've always found that if you're ontime, polite and clean up after yourself that's about 80% of the job. I worked all day Wednesday instead of my usual half day because of the Pennsylvania patients, then Thursday it was off to Pittsburgh for another inservice. We had a flat tire but managed to make it ontime and it rained as usual all the way home. Friday was another full day and I ended up working until 7pm because the nurse oncall got slammed and you do have to be a bit flexible - especially since you might be the slam-ee the next time around. I haven't taken any pictures in the past week - I think about it as I'm racing by the fall foliage and am acutely aware it will be gone very soon so I need to start. But we are heading off to Cooper's Rock today, Jackson is coming along and we have to stop and buy someone a NEW harness as her's got mysteriously chewed. Hmmm. Because I've been working so much Pearl has not been walking for a week and she brought me the harness a few times yesterday and dropped it at my feet. I suppose the chewing up of the harness is some sort of veiled Dog Threat. She's still stealing and chewing things up, but it's slowed somewhat -I'm not sure if she's getting more obedient or we're just getting better at hiding things.

Missing: One Spider

I've not seen the big spider that's occupied my bathroom window all summer for over a week now. Every once in awhile, I go for a few days without seeing it - perhaps it takes little spider jaunts or has a vacation web somewhere else, but I'm thinking perhaps with fall in full throttle it's gone to it's next life. It's very strange how you can get used to something just being there even though it serves no purpose in your own day to day existance. It didn't really do anything for me - I enjoyed seeing if she'd caught anything - and what - admiring what a big spider she was - but she was there when I went to bed and finishing up her night when I got up. I suppose that goes to show what a poor vegetarian I am since I thought the whole process was fairly neat and never did try to save one of her meals. Today I had a new nurse with me - training her for visits and I stopped at McDonalds' so she could get lunch. She asked if I would be offended by her eating meat. Considering I made Jackson come out and step on a mouse last night that the cat hadn't quite killed instead of attempting a rescue and rehab, that I wear leather and fur quite gleefully come winter, that I cook meat fairly well (according to the carnivores in my house) and I'm currently training a hunting dog I would give that a big NO. I sometimes am amazed that PETA has not come by and revoked me entirely.

Hey! Where'd Ya Go?

Well, Pearl has done it now - David could excuse the shoe stealing couch chewing food snitching 5 am ear sniffing and face licking, but Pearl went over the line. David shot over her  - and she ran. David was devestated.(Just for the record in WV you can happily shoot in your yard all day and can take potshots at what ever is crossing the lawn - in the fall there's a guy next door that runs his beagle team around our lower yard. We don't say anything because we like the beagles).  He and Jackson worked with her the other day and she seemed to be getting a bit better but this morning he shot once and she was plastered against the door shaking. I made everyone go to thier corner, but he said enough, she was mine and he wanted nothing to do with her. So I went on the internet and read up on gun shy dogs. When we went to Sam's Club today (they opened the new one in Morgantown) I bought her a box of snacks for training and David despite his announcement it was hopeless - picked up a small case of Vienna Sausages. For the record I CANNOT BELIEVE they are for human consumption - I would rather eat the dog snacks. And for the record they were CHEAPER than the dog snacks. We took the dogs out on leashes and I held Pearl while David shot and then walked her over to him so she could get a sausage. Hmm. You could see the wheels turning. By the 5th sausage I wasn't even holding the leash and she didn't run for the hills -she ran for the training dummy and her beloved Vienna Sausage. I had to laugh though - she's probably the only hunting dog in the world being trained by a vegetarian!

Straight From Fall To Winter

You know how I've been carping all week about how I can't wait for fall, it's too hot, yada, yada? Well, I'm not complaining now! The temps were hot yesterday and this morning a little chilly, but nothing to write home about - but around 10 it started going down. And down. And down - it's now about 40 degrees outside and the wind is whipping away. I could've kicked myself this morning because I forgot my camera AGAIN and the wind of course is stripping the fall leaves off the trees. I told Jackson to locate his winter coat for tomorrow - he stayed home today because he had what I had the other day. He came home early yesterday and today was a toss-up as to how sick he was. But with both of us working we try to err on the side of caution because if he is sick, there's no one to come get him sometimes. But I am enjoying the lower temps - I found my hot chocolate (ok!ok! My sugarfree/fatfree/ 50 calorie hot chocolate, but hey, I'll take it where I can)and my furry slippers so I'm set for life. My dieting continues to do well, I lost a few more pounds, I figure I'll stop when people start worrying about me. Actually, when you get to be older, being overly skinny isn't as attractive as it was when you were 20 - a friend of mine once said you don't look good, you look haggard and I think she's right. BUT it's fun to lose the little extra so when I'm at Garfield's or Applebee's I can order the dessert that employs the words "chocolate" and "monster" in the same sentence and not have to worry about it.

Before And After

Charger got his last haircut of the season - by the time the real cold weather comes back, he'll have enough to keep him warm. Ricky did a good job, didn't she? I'll have to get a better picture, everytime I try to take one Pearl thinks Charger is getting something that she isn't so she parks herself right in front of him in order to be first in line. Work is going better, my paperwork has vastly improved and I got complimented on it! We have to go to the other half of the oasis training in Pittsburgh, this time there'll be three of us going. We finally got the pool covered, things move slowly in WV. They were supposed to have had it done  by the last week in Sept and we were starting to get worried, especially since when David called he got the answering machine- during business hours. But while we were out they came and it's closed for the winter. I asked David if they'd left a bill and he said no, and we'll be paying with the same speed they employ. I'm feeling a bit better today, I had something, not enough to totally lay me out but enough to make me feel like crap and of course, not able to take a day off. I mean, technically I probably could have, but I didn't. I always worry when I call in sick - it makes me anxious so I simply don't do it very often. I've been with Interim for over a year and a half and haven't used one sick day so I hate to break my record over that.

Pearl The Backslider

We went to Cooper's Rock yesterday - the weather was perfect for it. We got there a bit later than usual and the first trail we hiked was the Henry Clay Furnace. Pearl was not a good citizen. When I was trying to take pictures of the furnace she wanted to GO NOW and in lieu of that, amused herself by hogtying herself with the leash. Then since it's 6 foot leash wrapped herself around me and then ran, effectively sending us both ass over teakettle and neatly laying us both out. We hiked the rest of the trail and then up to the upper trail which is where we did our backsliding. We've been walking the river trail for weeks and no problems, but I think because she can't see who's coming, we were back to putting our hair up and barking hysterically. I was really done in when she backed off a group of mennonites. And it was just on the trail - when we got back to the park she was back to greeting people and being friendly so I guess we're just going to have to work on it. Jackson had a good weekend too, we took him and Becky to Rich's Farm where they had the annual Fright Farm. This is thier website - http://richfarms.com/frightfarm/

It is THE place to go at Halloween. We were informed on the way there that the "poor people" are forced to attend the Spook-tacular at Stepping Stones because that's all they can afford. I didn't point out that most poor people arent' overly concerned about haunted houses, but then again I'm sure thier view on poverty is a bit different than mine. It's a huge event because everyone really does go there for Halloween, they have a hay ride, they built a haunted mansion on the property and add to it yearly, there's a corn maze and bands playing so it's quite something. When we came to pick them out there were acres covered with cars and a line to get in so I'm glad we dropped them off early.

Race You To The Thermostat!

Brr! The temps have dropped a lot, from the high 70's right down into the 60's and sent us scrambling for the thermostat this morning as it was in the 50's. Pearl had firmly planted herself between us and refused to move, I swear she changes the gravity field around her when you try to shove her off the bed (or at least off the pillow). Charger's a happy camper, anything above 70 is too hot for him. He's going to the groomer's on Monday, his nails are out of control and he needs to be neatened up a bit. He's gotten too fragile for me to lift into the tub anymore, between the lumps,bumps and arthritis there's no way I can do it without hurting him. He's slowed down a great deal over the summer, we try to keep Miss Thing at a low roar, he doesn't mind playing with her but he has his limits. I wish Copper had lived longer, sometimes it's so sad to see him without his friend. I wonder if he misses him or if he sees Copper in his dreams. . They were together for most of thier lives, I know he's a dog but it's got to be hard for him not to have his buddy anymore. Sometimes when Charger and Pearl are outside and I'm calling them in I call "Copper! Charger!" without even thinking about it. I miss Copper still - more than any of our other dogs and sometimes I cry over him when I know no one is looking. I think part of it is because he, Mr. Lee and Charger  are my last connections to Mikio and Setsu - they were so much a part of that time in my life that when Copper passed, it really brought back how much I miss Miki and Sets and how far away they become. Oh geez, I think that's enough of that...........how did I get on this subject?

Is It Thursday Already?

Not much has been going on this week, it's raining again today but hopefully will clear up for the weekend. They're figuring out the call schedule for work - we had a bit of a "snafu"* at work when Ray was down. I got a call from my job telling me I had to work Sunday - I was a little upset. I ended up calling Susan and she agreed - as did Kevin that I was NOT, but apparently it's not written down anywhere between the two offices. The other nurse refused to go out and it was a bit stinky. So now it's been written down and I'm off this weekend and on next which is ok. If it's nice Pearl and I will be out at Cooper's Rock hanging with the bears and squirrels. The next park I'm considering is  this one, doesn't it look just super cool and I CAN bring my dog -http://www.cathedralstatepark.com/

 I know that because I wrote to the park and they said yes you can - I love in WV that if you write to anyone they'll immediately write back and let you know. So we're all clear on that end but the only problem is it's about 60 miles from here and I don't know if Pearl is up to such a big road trip quite yet. She can sit nice for Coopers, but that's only about 15 miles from here. The tempeture finally dropped today - last night was awful - hot and humid. I woke up at midnight soaked, so I threw open the window, threw the comforter off and then ix-nayed the dog to her own bed. I'll be glad when it's really fall and winter.

* Do you know what "snafu" really means? A friend of mine told me it's an old military acronym which stands for Situation Normal All Fucked Up

Who Doesn't Like Buckwheat?!

Ray went home this morning after a fun filled weekend in WV - he did have a good time. We went out to the Buckwheat Festival Sunday morning, I was a little disappointed as Saturday is the big day - with the livestock judging and stuff, but with the weather so iffy, we took what we could get. We got there around 10 and went into the Budwieser Clydesdale team tent - they ARE HUGE - their backs are taller than me! Jackson was petting them, they're beautiful and all perfectly matched. After we made our way to the firehouse for the thing we all came for -buckwheat pancakes. I was glad I hurried everyone along, we had to wait for a few minutes but by 10:30 the line went all the way around the firehouse and out the door. They're very well organized though and it moves right along. The second you get up, the local high school volunteers descend on the table and about 10 seconds later it's ready for the next wave. I gave my sausage to David and Jackson but ate all my pancakes. Ray was a bit taken aback by the whole thing, but I don't think he's ever eaten in a firehouse with several hundred people -  I do try to find things for him to do that he's never done before so he can cross that one off his list. We did the exhibit tent of all the entries and winners and then the arts and crafts where you can buy stuff. Ray was disappointed - his mission was to get REAL buckwheat flour - and they were sold out!! But on the way home we stopped at the rt 7 market in Reedsville and they had it, so the day was saved. We went out to Garfield's for dinner, I havent been there in awhile and Ray really loved it. The food there is pretty good but you've got to be in the mood for it (it's a bit bright) and make sure the tiny shriekers are home and not sitting at the table across from you. Ray left this morning around 8 am and called this afternoon to let us know he's home. But he did have a great weekend - and so did we.

Rained Out

Pearl has not been the best dog this weekend. She's not happy at being left behind and since we put all the shoes up, papers away, etc she's been raiding the kitchen for various things to fling around the house. Yesterday it rained off and on (mainly on) so we decided to go shopping in Clarksburg and out to breakfast. While we were out Pearl found a large bag of sugar. First she put it on the couch to consider where it would look best. Then she poured it all over the middle of the living room and scampered through it a few times. She hid under the coffee table in an effort to make us think perhaps there had been some other hooligan involved or it was an outside job, but we weren't fooled. Later we went out to have dinner, we tried the Japanese hibachi restarant, where they stir fry on a big grill right in front of you. We've never done that and it was different, you sit in a line around the grill with other people. But it was fun and chef was really good - he did this thing where he grilled and flipped shrimp right into people's mouths - Jackson loved it. Our chef had good aim, the other side's chef did not and managed to hit a few people in the face with dead shrimp. Eww. Since this IS West Virginia it could've been worse - he could've been tossing stir fried possums so they should be grateful it was only shrimp. (only kidding!).We did the bookstore and got home around 8pm. Since Pearl had run out of sugar (at least sugar she could get to) she decided to decorate the house with plums and mini peppers  - she did a fairly good job considering she doesn't have much to work with. We also found a pair of scissors on the floor since we hid the steak knives so she couldn't get to them. David would like to start crating her while we go out - which by the way I had wanted to do when she was a puppy and he announced he'd never had a dog he had to crate and never would - I told him at this point it would be very difficult as she's almost a year old. I think it has more to do with the fact we have company this weekend and she's being left behind. Usually we're out hiking and stuff so I think it will be a wait and see until next week.

Pittsburgh, It's A Happening Town.........

.........and it can happen without me! I saw very little of it, had no desire to see anymore. Of course to be fair, we had to be there at 8:30 am so Lisa (the other nurse) and  I met at 6:15 at the office to drive together. I drove and was very glad I had a GPS - when you're rushing in pouring rain it's awful to have to drive in unfamilar territory. The conference was fun and better yet - they gave you lunch. When they don't it sucks since you only have 45 minutes to try and navigate to find somewhere to eat and be able to find your way back. They let us out a bit early so I was home before 6. I had my half day yesterday and was rushing through as Ray was coming and due around 2pm. When he didn't appear by 4 we were starting to get really worried. He refuses to carry a cell phone so we couldn't contact him - I had no idea what we would do as I didn't know his exact route either. Thankfully at 4:30 he arrived, they're doing construction in NJ and there were 3 accidents in PA which was the big holdup. I made him coffee and then we went out to Tiberio's, a family run italian restuarant which we enjoy. This morning is the Buckwheat Festival which should be great! I actually had bought Ray a bag of buckwheat flour but Miss Thing found it and stole it. Since she didn't consider it edible she just flung it around a bit. Last night when we came home we found a small pile of nails, a utility knife blade and duct tape in the living room on the floor. David said he's starting to worry about Charger's safety and what Pearl is plotting. We have no idea where she got that stuff or how she managed not hurt herself with it. We'll just have to make sure EVEYRYTHING is up by the ceiling. Sigh, and to think we PAID for her!!

On The Road To Recovery

Pearl and I took an evening walk along the river - and we did great! Not only did she not have any aggression incidents, she's now getting to the point of going toward people to meet them. Now we have the other problem, the Vizsla Full Body Greeting which involves a great deal of jumping and spinning. We still  have work to do - Pearl doesn't like other dogs besides Charger and she especially doesn't like small toy dogs. As we were coming back from our walk I could see a family with the preteen boy walking what appeared to be a snarling hairball. Pearl started growling and bouncing so I did what I usually do which is grab the back of her harness and give it a little shake and say "No Barking!". Unfortunately for the yarn tangle with eyes I accidently hit the release of the harness and Pearl The Snake was out! She's VERY fast, have I ever mentioned that? She circled around the back but allowed me to get ahold of her collar - thank goodness as we can't afford for her to have such an expensive meal this month! And like most genetically altered Hamster/Dogs this one was no exception and obviously had never been acquainted with the NO BARKING rule. I managed to stuff Weasel-ine back into her shackles and we got by without incident. Tomorrow I'm off to Pittsburgh for an inservice so that should be interesting as I've never been there. And I've started getting ready for Ray's visit, we are so excited!

Reunited And It Feels So Good!

Ta-dah! I've officially lost TWENTY FIVE POUNDS as of this week! David got my winter clothes down this weekend and all of my pants fit, some of them are even a little loose! So - I've cut my hair and lost weight, I did consider trying online dating but I think the Yarn Hater might   disapprove so  I might put that on the back burner. It took me forever, well, since May at least, as I get older the weight I used to drop so effortlessly now feels like I need a blowtorch and chisel. And of the course now the hard part - KEEPING it off. And that might not be too easy,what with the Buckwheat Festival coming up and all. Did I mention Ray will be out for that? David didn't think he was serious but I did and have kept the weekend open. I'm very excited about the whole business. I made stew the other night for the First Day of Fall - everyone was excited about THAT - I've never met two people so crazy for stew. Jackson actually came romping up the stairs to see what smelled so good and then lurked around until it was done. I of course can't eat it, but I do love the smell. There's just something about it that reminds you of the comfort of a warm house in winter, isn't there? And as it happens every year the day after I got all of my winter clothes out and put my summer ones away the tempeture shot up to 85 degrees which sent me digging through all of the carefully folded and packed clothes so they now look like they were put away by schizophrenic on a bad day. Oh well, Happy Fall if you didn't hear me the first time!

Happy First Day Of Fall!

Whoopee! It's FINALLY FALL! I enjoy the other three seasons, but fall is the best as far as I'm concerned. The leaves are already starting to turn and hopefully they'll be well on thier way when Ray comes out next weekend. I love when the moutains turn yellow, green, red and orange! Ray's coming for the Buckwheat Festival in Kingwood - it's one of the biggest events around here and they've been having it for over 65 years. David is calling him tonight to make sure he's coming and then we'll have to "de-cat" the guest room. They don't really do anything in there but lay on the bed, but Ray is very allergic to cat hair so I have to wash all the bedding and vacuum - and then shut the door TIGHT. It's raining today hard so no hiking today I suppose. I'm on call this weekend but my car has to go into the shop to have the brakes checked out so hopefully I'll get it back shortly. I'm going to Pittsburgh on Thursday to an inservice on Oasis - that's the assessment form for medicare patients that I just cannot seem to get right. I've never been to Pittsburgh so it should be interesting.

Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us

I had a rather happy half day the other day - I was back in Bobtown Pa. Not the most happening place I have to admit, unless you want to shop at the BobTown QuikMart or get your hair done in at Sherril's House Of Beauty which is conveniently located in a single wide next to the above mentioned store. BUT I did get to go back and finish trespassing at the Shinnopin Mining Corperation. I went all the way to the back, I have to admit  I was a bit spooked - I guess all those big empty buildings are a bit daunting. It's a shame how all of them have been trashed over the years, the exteriors are all brick and amazingly well preserved, but the interiors have been looted and ransacked by vandals. When I got to the last one way in the back I saw some food wrappers and cans, but the gallon of water sort of threw me - very few teenagers bring water to hang out. So I scadaddled. Charger is still sneezing but we're giving him the pills anyhow - $60 prescription for the dog he'd better take them! They usually do a follow-up call to see how your pet is doing, but I think they won't be calling here since I left in the middle of his appointment yesterday. Jackson is busy these days, he had a problem in english - when he looked on Edline (that's the schools online page where you can check your grades) he saw he had a D. So he arranged a conference and brought in all his paper work and the teacher has changed his grade to a B - we're really proud of him for taking care of it himself!

The Object Of My Infection

Yesterday I went home for lunch to let the dogs out - I hate for them to be in for 9 hours so if I have any patients near I try to schedule them for midday. Charger has been sneezing for the past couple days and I 'd planned on making an appointment today (my half day) - but when I got home he sneezed a few times and there was blood all over his muzzle. Since we 've been through the midnight thing  I called the vet and got an appointment  after 6pm - with the new vet. I should've waited. Not that he's a bad vet - just new and has no time management. We arrived at 6:10 - and waited. And waited. Around 6:45 we got into a room and the new vet came in a bit after. They did the usual but he was so busy I don't think he heard anything I said - the only funny part was when he tried to look into Charger's (aka "Lockjaw's") mouth - the more he pulled the more Charger clamped his teeth together until  he looked like a prissy school teacher. The vet said I guess I won't be able to look so I just reached around and opened Charger's mouth for him, sigh. So he did blood work and said it would be resulted in a few minutes - hmm. I have NEVER waited for bloodwork but I thought it would be done soon. silly me. At 7:40 I got up and took Charger to the front desk to pay my bill - it's not like he's dying and we could certainly wait til tomorrow. when the vet tech came out  I asked for my bill and she got very upset -I told her I was aware they were very busy and I 'd call for the results tomorrow but at this point I'd been there for almost two hours!! and he still wasn't done. And she was argued with me! Then she assured me he would be right out - and disappeared for another 15 minutes. Sigh. She appeared back with meds in hand - Charger's white count was up so he THINKS it MIGHT be an infection. (Insert a very big sigh here). All I know is I sat for over two hours to get a guess and the whole thing cost me $193 for a dog with a bloody nose.

No News Is Good News

I guess I should take a break from pictures of Pearl - but it's been crappy weather-wise so there's not much to take pictures of. David is finishing up a large job today and doing a couple more small ones, this small job business seems to be working out for him. My job has been going alright for the past couple of days and I'm almost sleeping through the entire night. I'm also exercising in the morning and that helps reduce the stress level. I've been walking on the river trail every morning, I have to drop Jackson off at MTech around 7:20 am and that gives me an hour before I have to show up for work. So I walk the trail every morning, it certainly beats sitting in the car. I've heard from Adam a few  times, not much going on in Japan and he seems to be doing much better. And now for the National Week report:

This week is National: Pollution Prevention Week, Singles Week, Dog Week, Handwashing Awareness Week, Spa Week, Recess Week and National Be Nice To Nettles Week.

A Walk In The Park

It was very foggy this morning but I am determined to get Pearl past this aggression thing so we did our hour walk by the river. Yesterday went better than I had expected, well, except for when she terrorized the boy scout troop. I guess I won't be looking for her badge in the mail. A friend of mine at work suggested I try flipping her over on her back and yelling NO BARKING!(or whatever the behavior is as she has several, sigh...) at her. It sounds strange I know!! We tried it at home for one of her favorite offenses which is climbing in my lap while I'm on the computer and sending everything flying - and it worked!! So yesterday leash in hand off we went. We had someone walking towards us right off the bat and when she went into battle mode  I flipped her over and screamed NO BARKING in her face. Not only did it work but it also startled the crap out of the poor guy with the fishing pole. I didn't consider that I would look like I was mugging Pearl and it looks far worse than it is. So now when I see someone I let them know I'll be yelling momentarily and why and it seems to work. At least no one has called the police on me yet. The upside of all of this is that although she's still doing it a little, she stops right away and it's not necessary to flip her over most of the time. We did have a run in with a post, I have no idea what she thought it was, but in her world it was dangerous and unpredictable and it took a few minutes for me to demonstrate that it was not going to get her. But she can now walk past people without any problem most of the time and I'm greatly encouraged by it all.

Bring It On

I think I've finally gotten everything straightened out at work - for the past 3 weeks, I'd gotten wind that my boss was very unhappy with me. I should've done something then, but she hadn't said anything directly to me - everything I heard was secondhand or a note that I was trying to read between the lines. But I didn't, I just stewed and fretted, couldn't eat, went back to being the 2 AM girl - waking up in an instant panic. I don't know why - I'm usually not like that - given the fact that my world tends to have pretty strict rules and I HAVE to know EXACTLY what you mean at any given time this was not a good look for me. So the other day I went right in there and sat down. (so much for office intrigue...) The whole shibang took about 30 minutes, we have the whole thing worked out, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was of course and the 2 AM girl has gone back to her corner. I am still smarting a little, I wish she had said something directly to me at the start - I can never understand why people do that. It's not the first time of course - there was a huge blow up between me and my Uncle's 2nd wife a few years back - same song different chorus. And after all the nasty emails she sent and how bad she made me feel - to this day I still have no clue what it was I did. It'll always bother me, not knowing how it happened. And it was along the same lines but much worse - she was brave enough to write all of those poisonous notes and talk about me to anyone who would listen - but too much of a coward to come to the phone and speak to me directly. I have pretty much put it behind me, I don't miss her or my Uncle, we were never really that close (which made the whole thing even weirder) but I guess it will always bother me that it DOES bother me.

Everyday Is A Day At The Zoo

We have way too many animals. We keep thinking at least one of them might kick off due to age or something, but so far no one has stepped up to the plate. Sometimes it gets difficult - yesterday we both had to work late and Jackson was over Becky's. I managed to get home at lunch and let them out for 1/2 an hour, but then no one was home until 7 pm. Pearl managed to amuse herself by ripping out the last chapter in the book I'm reading and shredding it better than the government ever dreamed of - she truely does have a small and blackened heart. Everyone else was either hanging around the door or the dinner bowls. But I'm home at noon today and then off for the weekend. It's activities out of town this weekend again - there's not one, but THREE major football games at the university and since that's a huge money maker for the town, all the stops are pulled. School was let out at 12:30 yesterday because the busses can't get through the stadium traffic so Jackson went home with Becky. I had to drop off labs after 5pm - what a nightmare! The lab is right down the road from the stadium and I ended up having drive through Sabarton ( a neighboring town) and take all the back roads there. My next job was in Pa which is in the other direction - otherwise I never would've gotten home. For the big games they turn off all the traffic lights and the police direct traffic - and all the charter busses get police escort to the parking areas. If you work at the hospital or in town you need to get a special permit to park - you get used to it. Due to Sept 11th I put off the National list, but here it is -better late than never -

This week is National : Character Counts Week, Poetry Week, Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week, Family Week AND Drive Safely To Work Week (which would of course counteract last week's Red Light Running Week)

Halloween Is Right Around The Corner

I know it's not, but it sure feels like it. It's raining today and the temps are expected to drop down into the 60's tomorrow. Mr. Lee of course wears her Halloween costume year around so she's all set. Mick is coming to close the pool at the end of Sept, I wish David had told him to come sooner. I haven't been in it for a few weeks and when I'm not using it, it's just a pain keeping the leaves and alge at bay. Jackson stayed home yesterday, I think he had a little flu or virus, nothing serious but enough to make him feel bad. I've been working like crazy lately, we've hired two nurses but they don't start for another week or so and I've been driving from one end to the other, some days clocking in over 160 miles a day. Today is a half day for me so hopefully I can catch up on things, I was going to take Pearl out walking but with the rain maybe not. A patient of mine knows a dog trainer so if we can't get past this fear aggression thing I might have to do that. It's just such a hard thing - I'm so afraid she'll bite someone out of fear that I start getting nervous the minute anyone comes toward us and I know that's contributing but it's hard for me to relax. We're also working on proving to Miss Thing that WE are the boss, not her. So far I don't think she believes us.

Barking Up The Wrong Tree

We're making no progress in the fear aggression department but we've been getting plenty of exercise, sigh. Peal and I went to Cooper's state park to hike today. First we went to the Rock City, it was really hard to take pictures because of overhanging rocks and a canopy of trees - I tried so hard because it was amazing! The paths went between these huge rock walls about 20 or 30 feet high on both sides. The path actually went beyond there but I was afraid of getting lost so we turned back. The difference between state parks on LI and state parks in WV are thousands of acres. On LI if you got lost in Sears Bellows Park you would pop out on the highway. Here if you get lost you'll pop out in Oregon or something. We hiked back to the park and I changed into shorts since it was getting warm out. Pearl doesn't like the bathroom either and I was changing fast because I figured someone would think I was beating her the way she was carrying on. Given the mad way she's been barking at people she would be stuck between a rock and a hard place if someone did come to rescue her, wouldn't she? We drove down to the trail for Raven's Rock and parked. First we ran into two teenage boys that we barked and freaked at. Then we ran into thier parents that she barked and freaked at but they wouldn't be put off and Pearl made friends despite her bizarre activities. Raven's rock was a couple of miles and first we saw a huge rock, but disappointing. Then we went a tiny bit further and it was HOLY SHIT time. You would have to see it to really appreciate the view, I stayed about 20 feet from the edge and my knees still wanted to buckle. And like most other places in WV they assume you'll stick to whatever rock you're standing on and not go flinging off the edge. Pearl sensing the party standing behind her was entertaining thoughts of puppy flinging wisely decided to start hiking back NOW. My legs are already aching and I'm sure I'll be paying for it tomorrow but I'm also sure we'll be back to explore the rest of the park.

Dog Days Of Summer

We've discovered our rather expensive dog has a major defect and I'm at a loss as to what I'm going to do about it. She freaks if anyone walks toward her. ANYONE. You can be black, white, short tall, male, female - she's an equal opportunity barker and flipper outer. If you come up behind her, she's ok. When you pass and are walking away, she's wagging her tail and trying to follow. If you kneel down a bit and put your hands out - you're ok and a friend. We dropped Jackson off at his friend's house and I let Pearl out to meet Craig's dad - she immediately put her hair up, tail down, barking like mad and trying to scramble under the car as fast as possible, she even got out of her collar AND harness! They have dogs so he knelt down and showed his hands and she did a complete 360 - tail wagging and trying to climb him. I've taken her down to the river trail a couple of times, since it's a trail people are constantly walking towards us but she didn't give it a rest. She did calm down a bit near the end of our walk but it was so hot by then she might have been hallucinating or something. I guess I'll just have to keep walking her. Or buy her blinders. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

There's No Such Thing As a Free Education

Jackson has been busy perusing the class ring catalog since it needs to be ordered tomorrow. He's decided on one side (welding) but is up in the air about the other, doesn't know if he wants an initial or an object on the stone, antique or natural, scroll work or smooth,etc. And the prices - sigh. The "value" ring is much less, but by the time you add on the "extras" (oh, you wanted it to say something?) it's pretty much in range with the others. We've talked him out of putting Gymnastics, the French flag or Jesus on the side, as hilarious as it would be now in years to come we've reminded him all he'll ever hear is Why did you do that?! Since all of my first born's senior pictures have him with jet black hair that he decided to dye right before the pictures were taken we think a little harder about these actions. We bought school supplies today too, the bag from Aunt Janet came and the check for half is going out tomorrow, and then he needs all sorts of welding equipment for school, not to mention clothing and shoes. I knew there was a reason I go to work! Anyhoo, Pearl has been a good citizen for two days in a row, we've gotten her (and ourselves) more under control. Of course since she is a vizsla it's hard not to laugh sometimes, like when we came home the other day and she'd eaten an entire bag of Honey Nut Cheerios that David left on the counter. Speaking of David, he had to get his state license, silly thing. He's working on a job for a guy that his neighbor doesn't like him. So everytime David sticks a leg out of the truck, the building inspector who's about as old as dirt and twice as friendly (NOT) comes trotting around the corner. The last time he insisted David get a state license. Here's the process - you drive to Clarksburg and HOPEFULLY the person in charge is not at lunch,the doctors,etc. You take the piece of paper (free of charge) to Morgantown and hand it to another person who gives you a different piece of paper. There. You're done. NOT TO MENTION that since there are an inordianate amount of people in West Virginia that put ADDITIONS on singlewides, use campers as a spare bedroom and sometimes build houses that can be best described as "free form" I found it hard to believe they HAVE an inspector!

Happy Labor Day!

I usually lose track of Labor Day due to the fact that school here doesn't start the day after - it starts in August so the holiday kind of gets lost in the sauce so to speak. I got my hair cut finally yesterday, I've been skirting around it for a month or so, I can't believe it hadn't had it cut for over 3 years! That's the longest I think I've ever gone. Jackson got his blue jeans yesterday - I took him to the Gap because that's where I always used to buy mine. I haven't been in there in years and will not be returning. In the entire store there was not one pair of regular jeans, not one! There was acid dyed, some with artfully ripped holes, an entire selection of ones that came with a little rope belt (for that "survivor" look I suppose), etc and they all started at $50 a pair(the on sale ones). Jackson decided they would make too much of a fashion statement for metal shop so we ended up at Sears who does carry Levi regular jeans and at less than half the price to boot. I've been picking through my winter clothes recently with the sudden drop in tempeture - I hate switching over this soon because I know as soon as I do that, the temps will go back into the 90's and I'll be wearing long pants and a sweater while everyone else is running around in shorts. I think we'll be closing the pool soon, all the lower temps and no sun have dropped the water temps to the low 70's high 60's - that's even a bit chilly for me!

And Now For The Yarn Part Of The Program

My latest project is coming along as slow as molasses in January due to needle size. Usually blankets are knit on a size 8 to 10 needle - this is done on a size THREE which means I'll probably be nursing home material before it's finished. And I had to buy the needles special because the cable between them had to be a 40 inch span (as opposed to the regular 26) due to size of the blanket. I did finish the sweater which is a cotton yarn, I'm not sure of course what I'm going to do with it, which tends to be the case with just about everything I make. I just like knitting and if there's no specific goal in mind I can use whatever yarn I want and make what ever looks appealing at the moment. I'll have plenty of time over the weekend to knit on it though, I'm off on Monday (hooray!) and there are two things going on. One is the stinking rain. The other is The Thundering Herd is here this weekend from Marshall University - it's not as big as the Backyard Brawl (that would be when Pittsburgh comes to play)but it's up there. Apparently the Mountineers are planning on stomping them, I'm assuming the Thundering Herd has similar plans. But what this all means to us non-football fans is it makes a mess out of town and don't even think of trying to get through it. We're planning on shopping out of town today - Jackson has a change of fashion and is now wanting Levi jeans with of course a hundred little specifications and thing he will not wear. He's also informed he he will be growing a full beard and moustache which should be interesting since he's A)only 16 and B) very blond. I asked him if he was going to grow a beard like ZZTop and he said "who?". Sigh. I am so old.

National Week, Sept 4th - It will be National: Payroll Week, Suicide Prevention Week, Hearing Aid Awareness, Bowling Week, Breastfeeding At Work Week and my favorite, National Red Light Running Week. Stay well and don't get caught!

Letters To Home

Remember I said  Adam had climbed Mt Fuji? Well, this morning he sent a whole bunch of pictures - he looks so good, doesn't he? I miss him dreadfully sometimes, but I'm glad he's safe and having the occasional good time. He's been down in the dumps lately, he re-upped but I think the reality of what he had done kicked in all at once and he was looking at five more years from the wrong end. But he seems to be on the upswing and hopefully will stay there. I really wish he had come home, it's so hard with him so far away, but it's what he wants to do with his life. Work continues to be busy, but settling down a bit with the occasional miscommunication here and there. Jackson is getting back into the school semester, his Aunt Janet ordered the longed for messenger bag and Jackson very nicely told me that "we" would only have to pay half. I have a sneaking suspicion that the "we" is the one with the checkbook. He put in again for McDonalds and hopefully they'll hire him, he's getting very discouraged but somehow I think it has less to do with him and more to do with lack of a car. He's enjoying the metal shop so far and we have to shop for school supplies this weekend. Ray has been making noise about coming out for the Buckwheat Festival at the end of the month so that will be a lot of fun! I was out swimming in the pool today, I haven't been in for a couple of days due to the weather and it won't be long now til it's time to close up shop.

Pew And Far Between

We finally got the pew this weekend, they are not easy items to find I might add. Unless of course you search high and low for one and find one, then everyone and his brother will have one in thier backyard. That you can have. For free to boot. sigh. But we didn't pay too much for this one (and yes, we did price them!). So we brought it home Saturday, on first glance it looked like it would be a lot of work, but David said no - he just sanded it a little and stained it and good as new! It's solid oak or maple or something of that nature so there was little that needed to be done beyond the cosmetic. Vincent is fascinated with it and has been prancing about on it all weekend. Jackson started school this morning, he didn't mind it as he is a JUNIOR this year, that's like being the Vice President except more people know who you are and hopefully you won't accidently shoot your friends duckhunting. We're still getting stuff together supply wise but we'll be doing that over the weekend. And of course there's the school ring to be bought, senior pictures, etc....