It hasn’t stopped raining all day. Generally, I rather like rainy days but I prefer them when I can stay home, be lazy, listen to the rain and snuggle with the dogs. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days and, instead, I had to venture out into the wet landscape to go to work as usual.
The pups don’t like rainy days. It’s actually quite funny to see them. They get so excited when they get up in the mornings and I let them outside. They run out the back door and then…they stop. You can almost hear their little legs grinding to a halt as they realize it’s raining.
The unfortunate part is that they generally turn around and come back inside. This is fine if they’ve been out recently but when they just wake up after a night’s sleep, generally you’d think they had to go outside.
Even if they do, their desire to stay dry apparently overrules a full bladder. Since they’re completely housebroken and that they’re pretty smart, I used to assume that if they really needed to go, they’d go. Unfortunately, I discovered that this was the case only they decided to go indoors after I went to work.
This only happened once. Since then, I’ve found ways to get them to go outside. The meanest way I have is to trick them. It works well, I must admit. It’s pretty simple: I have two doors that lead to the back garden. They are in the same room, the Tuscan sunroom I redecorated earlier this year. The back doors face one another on opposite walls. One leads out to the patio. The other leads to the side of the house. On a normal day, I open up the door that leads to the side of the house and the pups run out.
On rainy days when they refuse to go out, I simply open up the other door. I step out onto the patio which has a slight overhang that keeps me dry. My loyal little pups follow, curious to see what I’m doing. Then, when they’re out, I quickly go back inside, shutting the door behind me. Meanwhile, I’ve left the other back door open. This means that they must go outside to get back into the house which inevitably leads to them realizing they might as well go to the bathroom since they’re already wet.
Yes, this is a mean trick. However, when I’m in a hurry and I have to get to work and I can’t coax them out any other way, it’s the best method to ensure they go outside. Also, they don’t seem to mind and come to greet me when they come back inside, trying to rub their little wet bodies against my legs- a small price to pay for my slightly cruel trick.
My nicer, kinder method to getting them to go outside is to simply go out with them. If it’s not raining too hard, I step outside for a minute. They follow. Then I go back under the overhang so I stay dry. They’re ok if they know I’m out there. If this doesn’t work, I have been known to stand out in the rain with an umbrella. They like it a lot more if I hold the umbrella over them too but, let’s face it, that’s just a little too indulgent. They seem content to be in the rain if they know I’m out there too.
If it’s not raining too hard, they don’t mind going out. It’s only when they get soaked that they mind. Of course, this is all dependent on their mood. There are times when they run out in the rain anyway. It seems that once they’re soaked, they figure that it doesn’t matter if they stay outside- they’re already wet. They tend to stay out for a while in this case. The bad part is that they’re soaked when they come in and if I’m not quick enough with the towel, they divebomb the carpet, rolling with glee as they get the beads of water off themselves.
Today was a day when they didn’t want to go out. In the morning, I had to resort to my cruel trickery. At lunch, I stood out there with them. This evening, well, I left the door open enough so that when the rain slowed and they really had to go out, they could go.
The only downside is that like young children, the dogs get bored if they’re stuck inside. Rory will lie on the floor and stare at me. When I look at her, she barks at me as if to say, “HUMAN! AMUSE ME! NOW!” Sookie, meanwhile, has given up and decided to resort to her favourite activity- sleeping. When I decide that playing with Rory on the floor is the best way to amuse her, Sookie automatically sprints up to join in. She does NOT like to miss out on fun. Usually, all I have to do is grab a squeaky toy and play tug-of-war with Rory and bam! Sookie is suddenly there, wanting to play too. Eventually, I try to sneak away and let the two play tug-of-war but this doesn’t last long and before I know it, Rory is woofing at me again.
It’s a vicious cycle. Last year, I resorted to those toys that are supposed to occupy dogs for a while- you stuff treats inside and the dogs are supposed to figure out how to release the treats. Unfortunately, my dachshunds tag-team and figuring it out takes half the time it should because one holds it down and the other sticks her tongue inside, forcing the treats out.
I suppose I should be happy that I have smart dogs. The problem is that they’re not quite smart enough that I can sit them down with a book or jigsaw puzzle.
Still, while they might get bored when it’s rainy, their presence ensures that I never do. Besides, when they do come inside and they’ve dried themselves on the carpet, it is rather pleasant to have them snuggle up beside me even though I know it’s 50% love and 50% need to warm up/dry off by using me as a human towel.
Besides, I think I owe them for tricking them into going outside. I always feel a little guilty about that.
Happy Wednesday and have a great Thanksgiving holiday!
Showing posts with label rain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rain. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The Other Side of Autumn
Well, we finally got the rain that was threatening us the last time I blogged. It’s pretty much been raining steadily ever since. I don’t mind although it’s a little colder than I expected. I even had to turn on the heat this morning since the pups and I were on the verge of shivering. I had the two of them curled up next to me under the covers last night since it was so chilly- they don’t like their noses to be cold. I’ve noticed they’re a lot cuddlier in the cooler months than in the summer.
It’s definitely another side to Autumn, this weather. Instead of getting to walk through the crisp, multicoloured fallen leaves, we get to see them pounded flat against the pavement in soggy clumps.
I don’t mind the rain though. It gives me an excuse to stay inside, put my pajamas on a little earlier than normal and curl up on the couch with the dogs. They’ve accepted there will be no walks in the rain. While it wouldn’t kill us to go out in the wetness, we all prefer not to if we can avoid it. Rory, especially, dislikes getting wet. She runs outside and then, when she realizes she’s getting wet, she quickly runs back to shelter and looks at me as if to say, “What on earth did you DO?”
It is supposed to stop raining this weekend though. I’m hoping to spend the weekend doing splendid autumn things with my family. My sister mentioned a pumpkin patch but our backup plan is pumpkin carving or something equally Halloweeny at home just in case it’s still raining. Also, her rather odd looking puppy had to have surgery this week to correct a problem with her legs and the poor thing is immobile at the moment so we may have to stay home with her. I don’t mind. I think I can be in the autumn spirit if we go out or not.
Still, before the weekend, there’s a Friday to get through. They’re usually pretty quiet around here. People tend to leave early or find an excuse to be out of the office. I’d like to skedaddle a little early to be able to get on the road to my parents a little early. I’m don’t mind driving in the dark but it makes for a long day now the days are getting shorter. I’m actually looking forward to the clocks changing though- it would be rather nice to get up in the morning and have it not still be dark out there. At the moment when my alarm goes off at 6:45 a.m., it still looks like nighttime and trying to persuade two slumbering dachshunds that it really is time to get out of bed is proving difficult. Sookie doesn’t mind so much but for the past several mornings, I’m greeted with loud groans from Rory who refuses to move until she’s ready.
I actually don’t mind the clocks changing so much in the autumn because we get an extra hour of sleep and that’s never a bad thing. Spring is harder because we lose sleep and I’m a Monkeypants who needs her sleep. Even though I think we really don’t need to change the clocks, the extra hour in the Fall is like Autumns way of giving us a little present- a way of saying “Here, have an extra hour to do something with- you can use it for anything but I recommend sleep!”
I know I’ve been waxing poetical about Autumn in a lot of my blogs lately but for me, it’s that time of year. The world slows down a little and starts to die back readying itself for Winters season of recharge and recuperation. There’s colour everywhere. Suddenly the idea of a bowl of hot soup sounds much more appealing than a caprese salad which, only a month before, was a summer treat.
The rainy days we’re dealing with are simply another side of Autumn. It can’t all be crisp leaves, bonfires and balmy breezes. Winter, after all, is coming and Autumn is simply guiding us into that season as gently as she knows how with a little taste of it here and there until finally, she’s ready to step aside and let Winter have his say.
For now, though, Winter is still in the wings and I’m hoping we have quite a few more crisp leaf-apple cider days to go.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
Happy Friday!
It’s definitely another side to Autumn, this weather. Instead of getting to walk through the crisp, multicoloured fallen leaves, we get to see them pounded flat against the pavement in soggy clumps.
I don’t mind the rain though. It gives me an excuse to stay inside, put my pajamas on a little earlier than normal and curl up on the couch with the dogs. They’ve accepted there will be no walks in the rain. While it wouldn’t kill us to go out in the wetness, we all prefer not to if we can avoid it. Rory, especially, dislikes getting wet. She runs outside and then, when she realizes she’s getting wet, she quickly runs back to shelter and looks at me as if to say, “What on earth did you DO?”
It is supposed to stop raining this weekend though. I’m hoping to spend the weekend doing splendid autumn things with my family. My sister mentioned a pumpkin patch but our backup plan is pumpkin carving or something equally Halloweeny at home just in case it’s still raining. Also, her rather odd looking puppy had to have surgery this week to correct a problem with her legs and the poor thing is immobile at the moment so we may have to stay home with her. I don’t mind. I think I can be in the autumn spirit if we go out or not.
Still, before the weekend, there’s a Friday to get through. They’re usually pretty quiet around here. People tend to leave early or find an excuse to be out of the office. I’d like to skedaddle a little early to be able to get on the road to my parents a little early. I’m don’t mind driving in the dark but it makes for a long day now the days are getting shorter. I’m actually looking forward to the clocks changing though- it would be rather nice to get up in the morning and have it not still be dark out there. At the moment when my alarm goes off at 6:45 a.m., it still looks like nighttime and trying to persuade two slumbering dachshunds that it really is time to get out of bed is proving difficult. Sookie doesn’t mind so much but for the past several mornings, I’m greeted with loud groans from Rory who refuses to move until she’s ready.
I actually don’t mind the clocks changing so much in the autumn because we get an extra hour of sleep and that’s never a bad thing. Spring is harder because we lose sleep and I’m a Monkeypants who needs her sleep. Even though I think we really don’t need to change the clocks, the extra hour in the Fall is like Autumns way of giving us a little present- a way of saying “Here, have an extra hour to do something with- you can use it for anything but I recommend sleep!”
I know I’ve been waxing poetical about Autumn in a lot of my blogs lately but for me, it’s that time of year. The world slows down a little and starts to die back readying itself for Winters season of recharge and recuperation. There’s colour everywhere. Suddenly the idea of a bowl of hot soup sounds much more appealing than a caprese salad which, only a month before, was a summer treat.
The rainy days we’re dealing with are simply another side of Autumn. It can’t all be crisp leaves, bonfires and balmy breezes. Winter, after all, is coming and Autumn is simply guiding us into that season as gently as she knows how with a little taste of it here and there until finally, she’s ready to step aside and let Winter have his say.
For now, though, Winter is still in the wings and I’m hoping we have quite a few more crisp leaf-apple cider days to go.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
Happy Friday!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Bringing it Down to Toadstool Town
This week has gone by quite quickly. This is probably because I’m leaving for my trip to London in less than a week and I’ve had a lot to do both at work and at home in preparation.
I don’t mind when weeks go fast. This has been a bit of a rainy week, actually. Ever since Sunday, we’ve had showers or the threat of them every day. Since it’s not officially autumn yet and summer hasn’t completely left, this has resulted in somewhat sticky, muggy conditions.
This has also resulted in my garden being turned into Toadstool Town. The problem with our area of Cincinnati is that we were actually built on a spring. This means that not only are we unable to have basements in our houses because of the water table level or what have you but, also, it means that we have pretty bad drainage and a lot of dampness when it rains.
Which is why I now have a Toadstool Town on my lawn. Our area is highly prone to different types of fungi popping up everywhere. Normally, it’s just a couple after it’s rained. I mowed my lawn on Sunday. Since then, toadstools have been popping up like triffids. Each day since then that I’ve woken up, there have been toadstools popping up that are increasingly larger than they usually are. They’re also getting closer and closer to the house.
My current project is to identify the toadstools. I want to make sure they’re not deathly toxic or anything like that. The dogs don’t seem interested in them and just seem to run right over them but still, as a paranoid dog-mother, I’m going to check anyway.
I’m not too thrilled about the toadstools. They’re a little like dandelions in the spring- a badge of shame in the neighbourhood. Many of my neighbours are prodigious in caring for their lawns. They measure the height of the mower, make sure they edge the lawn regularly and, of course, spray for dandelions.
As a still somewhat newish homeowner, I haven’t quite got the hang of dandelions yet. I tend to, uh, well…let them grow until I mow their pretty heads off.
That’s probably part of my problem too. I quite like dandelions. I know they’re nuisances and they take over the lawn and cover up the green glory with their yellow obnoxiousness but, well, I find them to be friendly little flowers. Which is probably another issue- I think of them as flowers rather than weeds.
I know there are botanists out there who for centuries have documented plant life, carefully segregating it into genus and species and all that scientific class stuff. I know that there is a line between weed and cultivated plants but I find it to be a little rude to some of the weeds. After all, some plants that are classified as weeds are far prettier and decorative than cultivated plants. Take hostas for example.I know they have their place and are shade plants and la-de-da and all that but, well, I am not a fan of hostas. I also find pampas grass to be rather unattractive which is why I ripped it up from my front garden and replaced it with butterfly bushes and zinnias.
Anyway, back to my point…I find dandelions to be cute and fun when they’re in their flower stage. I don’t like them when they turn into the dandelion clocks because they’re quite ugly then. Also, that’s when you start getting the death stares from the neighbours who care a lot about their lawn and do NOT want the dandelion clocks spreading their nasty seeds on their pretty lawns. This is the stage at which I do a lot of mowing. Granted, I’m well aware that by mowing the dandelions, the seeds are going into the air and probably spreading themselves anyway but, well, it comes down to a case of hiding the evidence. If I have no dandelion clocks on my lawn, fingers can’t be pointed at me if they grow on the neighbour’s lawns.
Toadstools are a little like dandelions except that they grow even quicker. They have that same shaming quality though where you feel like people in the neighbourhood are seeing the toadstools and secretly labeling me the FUNGUS ENABLER.
Yes, I know this is probably unlikely and a bit dramatic. However, this is why I’m grateful that my front yard is toadstool free and the fungus are solely in the back yard.
My solution has been to kick the Toadstool Town daily and take out the little buggers. Unfortunately, this does not stop them growing again overnight. I could mow them but my grass really doesn’t need it. Also, it’s quite wet so I’d rather not mow if I can avoid it. After google-ing “toadstool cures”, apparently I can buy some fungicide to kill them off but, well, frankly, to quote Ned Stark while simultaneously sending a shudder down my mother’s spine, “Winter is Coming.”
Thus, it seems a bit of a waste to fungicide the lawn now when in a few weeks, we might have a frost which will solve the problem. (Sorry mum…just being realistic).
Therefore, it seems the pups and I will have to deal with Toadstool Town for now. I’m going to actually dispose of the kicked-over toadstools in hopes that it stops their demon spores from reproducing. Sadly, this probably won’t help but it will make me feel better. Also, it will make me feel better if they’re away from the dogs just in case their some Highly Toxic Toadstool though I suspect their much more run-of-the-mill than that.
I’ll figure it out. In the meantime, I’ll remain disappointed that I have boring old Toadstools-Who-Shall-Be-Named-Eventually instead of something more useful that likes damp conditions such as chanterelle mushrooms or morels which would cost over $12/pound in the grocery store.
Ah well, it could always be worse. They could spread to the front yard.
Happy Friday!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Accidental Early Starts...DirecTV and Other Weekendness
This has been another of those weekends that has just flown by. It was one where I had few plans other than to stay home on Saturday morning and wait for the DirecTV man to come. Since it was time to renew my contract, I called them up to cancel with a secret hope they'd lure me to stay by offering me some free goodies. Since I bought an HDTV after I'd subscribed to my original service, I was hoping for a free HDTV upgrade. Lo and behold, my threat of leaving their service guaranteed me a free HDTV receiver and free service for 24 months.
Thus, that was my plan for Saturday morning- to stay home and wait for Mr. DirecTV to come. My window of time was 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. I was pretty sure they wouldn't be there at 8 a.m. but, just in case, I planned on getting up by 7:30 a.m. to be ready. Well, that was a fine idea. I set my alarm for 7 a.m. so I could doze for 30 minutes. When it did go off at 7 a.m., I changed the alarm so it'd go off in another 30 minutes. At least I thought I had.
I dozed. Then my phone rang. It was an automated message from DirecTV reminding me that I had someone coming at 8 a.m. I glanced at the clock- it was almost 8:15 a.m.! I flew out of bed and got dressed quickly. I didn't fancy the DirecTV man coming while I was still in my pajamas.
I let the pups out and ran around and cleared up. Then, finally, I sat down. I glanced at the clock in my living room. I blinked. It appeared to say it was not quite eight a.m.
Well, it turned out that Silly Captain Monkeypants had accidentally adjusted the time on her clock rather than the alarm and my dozing which I thought had lasted an hour had in actuality only been about five minutes of dozing. Yes, i had been up since 7:10 a.m.
Mr. DirecTV came at 9:30 a.m. He had a bit of trouble with my old dish. Apparently there was a hornet's nest up there and he was deathly allergic so he didn't want to take it away like he was supposed to. Instead, he put a new dish up and left the old one so now I have two dishes. I think when the weather cools and the wasps die off, I may have them come and remove it just because I really don't want two dishes.
The installation of HDTV took quite a while. By the time he left, I was quite glad. He was a nice enough technician but he had been working outside in the heat and he was a little stinky. Also, he put those plastic footie things over his shoes so he didn't mess up my carpet and he ended up wearing right through the plastic so his shoes were only covered at the top. I didn't care but i thought it was a little pointless wearing the footie things. Also, the dogs were penned up in the kitchen/Tuscan room area and they don't like strangers in the house. Sookie likes to have a good woof. I call it her "STRANGER DANGER" bark.
I finally freed the dogs around noon. I immediately headed off to a local farmer's market. I'd made the mistake of spending the morning reading Bon Appetit and it had a ton of recipes for fresh veggies, particularly tomatoes so I really, really wanted some fresh tomatoes.
In the end, my Saturday ended up flying by and it was Sunday. Today, I spent most of the day getting "Emmy Goes to Hell" ready to be published as an e-book. It's a lot of work because you have to be very, very specific regarding format. The format for e-books is pretty much the complete opposite of print books so it's all rather tedious.
I perservered and the book is in the final approval status by my publisher. Once it gets approved, Emmy will be on sale for the low price of $2.99 on every electronic device out there. It's also available from Amazon as a hard copy, just in case you don't own a Kindle, Nook, etc. And yes, that was another shameless plug.
All in all, it's been a good weekend so far. The girls and I are currently enjoying a thunderstorm that brought some wonderful, much-needed rain. It's been pouring for a while and I can already see that my parched garden is drinking it up and appreciating every drop. Even when you water with a hose, it's never the same as organic rain. I expect my vegetables to grow a little more quickly for a while.
I love weekends like this where I have no real plans. I only really had the plan of waiting for DirecTV and possibly seeing "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" again. I didn't end up seeing Harry but that was intentional. I do want to see it again quite badly but I decided that if I wait another week, I'll appreciate more again because it won't be quite so fresh.
For the rest of the weekend, I plan of spending some time with the neglected pups. They hate it when I sit at my desktop and work because I'm ignoring them and despite her best efforts, Sookie is just not a lapdog. I love having her on my lap but the length of a dachshund is not really conducive to comfort or convenience while trying to simutaneously type on a keyboard.
I also plan to go outside in a few minutes and spend a little time dancing in the rain because it's been so long since it rained and it's just so pleasant to feel those drops falling down and cooling everything down. I think that sounds like a lovely way to wind up a weekend, don't you?
Thanks, as always for reading. I hope you had a great weekend. Happy Monday!
Thus, that was my plan for Saturday morning- to stay home and wait for Mr. DirecTV to come. My window of time was 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. I was pretty sure they wouldn't be there at 8 a.m. but, just in case, I planned on getting up by 7:30 a.m. to be ready. Well, that was a fine idea. I set my alarm for 7 a.m. so I could doze for 30 minutes. When it did go off at 7 a.m., I changed the alarm so it'd go off in another 30 minutes. At least I thought I had.
I dozed. Then my phone rang. It was an automated message from DirecTV reminding me that I had someone coming at 8 a.m. I glanced at the clock- it was almost 8:15 a.m.! I flew out of bed and got dressed quickly. I didn't fancy the DirecTV man coming while I was still in my pajamas.
I let the pups out and ran around and cleared up. Then, finally, I sat down. I glanced at the clock in my living room. I blinked. It appeared to say it was not quite eight a.m.
Well, it turned out that Silly Captain Monkeypants had accidentally adjusted the time on her clock rather than the alarm and my dozing which I thought had lasted an hour had in actuality only been about five minutes of dozing. Yes, i had been up since 7:10 a.m.
Mr. DirecTV came at 9:30 a.m. He had a bit of trouble with my old dish. Apparently there was a hornet's nest up there and he was deathly allergic so he didn't want to take it away like he was supposed to. Instead, he put a new dish up and left the old one so now I have two dishes. I think when the weather cools and the wasps die off, I may have them come and remove it just because I really don't want two dishes.
The installation of HDTV took quite a while. By the time he left, I was quite glad. He was a nice enough technician but he had been working outside in the heat and he was a little stinky. Also, he put those plastic footie things over his shoes so he didn't mess up my carpet and he ended up wearing right through the plastic so his shoes were only covered at the top. I didn't care but i thought it was a little pointless wearing the footie things. Also, the dogs were penned up in the kitchen/Tuscan room area and they don't like strangers in the house. Sookie likes to have a good woof. I call it her "STRANGER DANGER" bark.
I finally freed the dogs around noon. I immediately headed off to a local farmer's market. I'd made the mistake of spending the morning reading Bon Appetit and it had a ton of recipes for fresh veggies, particularly tomatoes so I really, really wanted some fresh tomatoes.
In the end, my Saturday ended up flying by and it was Sunday. Today, I spent most of the day getting "Emmy Goes to Hell" ready to be published as an e-book. It's a lot of work because you have to be very, very specific regarding format. The format for e-books is pretty much the complete opposite of print books so it's all rather tedious.
I perservered and the book is in the final approval status by my publisher. Once it gets approved, Emmy will be on sale for the low price of $2.99 on every electronic device out there. It's also available from Amazon as a hard copy, just in case you don't own a Kindle, Nook, etc. And yes, that was another shameless plug.
All in all, it's been a good weekend so far. The girls and I are currently enjoying a thunderstorm that brought some wonderful, much-needed rain. It's been pouring for a while and I can already see that my parched garden is drinking it up and appreciating every drop. Even when you water with a hose, it's never the same as organic rain. I expect my vegetables to grow a little more quickly for a while.
I love weekends like this where I have no real plans. I only really had the plan of waiting for DirecTV and possibly seeing "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" again. I didn't end up seeing Harry but that was intentional. I do want to see it again quite badly but I decided that if I wait another week, I'll appreciate more again because it won't be quite so fresh.
For the rest of the weekend, I plan of spending some time with the neglected pups. They hate it when I sit at my desktop and work because I'm ignoring them and despite her best efforts, Sookie is just not a lapdog. I love having her on my lap but the length of a dachshund is not really conducive to comfort or convenience while trying to simutaneously type on a keyboard.
I also plan to go outside in a few minutes and spend a little time dancing in the rain because it's been so long since it rained and it's just so pleasant to feel those drops falling down and cooling everything down. I think that sounds like a lovely way to wind up a weekend, don't you?
Thanks, as always for reading. I hope you had a great weekend. Happy Monday!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Rain Mower
I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. I live in a nice neighbourhood but I have some odd neighbours.
Sometimes, I feel as though I’m acting like my grandmother because I like to stand at the window and watch what the neighbours are doing. It’s an inherited trait. My mother does it too. Whenever there’s any excitement or, even, something ‘different’ going on, we all go to the window and have a peer out to see what’s going on.
This morning, for example, I noticed the lady across the road was rearranging her rubbish bins. She was taking bags out of one dustbin and putting them in another. This may not seem too odd but she was doing it while the trash collectors were literally waiting to take them from her to empty. I couldn’t figure out why she was doing this. At first I thought she’d dropped something that she didn’t want to get thrown out with the trash but from my perspective, it simply looked like she was playing “Rearrange the Trash Bags.” What was even more strange is that in the end, the Rumpke dustman took both cans and emptied them into the back of the garbage truck which null and voided her rearranging.
I don’t know that lady very well. When I first moved in, she left me a note saying how she’d been friends with the old lady who sold me my house and that she’d love to meet me. We did finally meet when she came over and made a point of telling me how half the plants in my garden had been transplanted from hers. She was nice but aside from her taking me to her church once, she’s pretty much avoided me ever since. I think this may have to do with the fact that I came home one day shortly after the church outing and discovered a neighbour had kindly unlocked my front door to put a package from UPS inside for me. Since I don’t like the idea of strangers having a key to my house, I changed the lock. I think it was Trash Rearranging Lady. I probably offended her. I’m not terribly upset about it, honestly.
The other odd occurrence last night was Dog Whisperer. He truly baffled me.
You see, when I got home from work last night, I decided to take advantage of the fact it wasn’t raining in order to cut my lawn. Lately, it’s been raining a lot and my lawn had become very unruly. I managed to get my lawn mowed just as thunder began to rumble in the sky.
Just as I finished mowing and was pushing my lawnmower back into the shed, I heard a lawnmower start up next door. Dog Whisperer was mowing his front lawn.
Since it was clearly going to rain, I thought that it might have been wiser to wait but, well, sometimes, I guess the urge to mow the lawn is strong. I did have a rather silly minor moment of guilt in wondering if, in my efforts to make my front lawn look nice, I’d made his lawn look even longer and ugly and so he had to go even it up in order to make it match the cut of my grass. We do have a shared strip that runs between our houses. I cut one side, he cuts the other. It makes it pretty obvious when one lawn has been mowed and the other hasn’t.
Of course, I realized my guilt was rather silly since it wouldn’t be the first time our lawns didn’t match and, really, I’m quite sure it had nothing to do with his sudden urgency to mow.
I left him to it and decided to attempt to grill the steak for my tacos quickly before the rain started to come down. By this time, Dog Whisperer had moved to his back yard. I had just pulled the steak off the grill and was trying to lightly grill the tortillas before it started to pour. Quickly, I shut the grill off, sheltered my food and went inside.
Dog Whisperer continued to mow. As I sat down to eat my dinner, the rain started to really come down. And yet, I could still hear the thrum of the lawnmower in Dog Whisperer’s yard. He was determined to mow, no matter what.
As I continued to eat, the rain got harder. It was that really, really heavy type of rain that actually bounces up again after it hits the pavement because of the force at which it is hitting. It’s the type of rain that stings and soaks you in less than 10 seconds.
And yet….the mowing continued. I got up to make sure Dog Whisperer hadn’t had a horrible mowing accident in which he slipped on the wet grass and managed to mow himself in half. I realize that this is an impossibility because you need to be holding the bar thing on the handle to keep the mower going and as soon as you release it, the mower dies. However, I have a dark imagination and I was concerned anyway.
Nope. He was still upright and mowing. He was soaked to the skin. He was hunched over. The rain was coming down so hard it couldn’t have been easy to see and yet….he didn’t give up.
I did worry a little about his mower. I know they’re waterproof to some degree but when it’s raining that hard, surely the water can’t be good for it. Also, wet grass is hard to cut because it clings and the suction of the mulching function causes the grass to clog up. In addition, it was lightning. Mowing the grass in a thunderstorm didn’t strike me as…sensible, per se. Finally, wet grass is slippery and I was a wee bit concerned that he might slip and accidentally cut off his foot. Hey, that one could actually happen.
Wet grass or no, he kept going.
I should commend his determination. I mean, he’s not a quitter. It’s just that…well….truth be told, it seemed a little daft. I couldn’t figure out why he was still going. I understand wanting to finish something up but if it had been me, I would have stopped the mower and waited out the rain.
Well, actually, if it had been me, I wouldn’t have started mowing after it was clearly starting to storm. When I did mow my lawn, the clouds were starting to roll in but it was clear that I had enough time.
Yet even though the rain came down with solid force and the world was soaking wet, Dog Whisperer was the Little Mower that Could. He didn’t give up. He kept mowing. When he wheeled his mower into the shed, he was so wet, I knew he was squelching. He’d abandoned his white t-shirt mid-mow and was mowing bare chested. If it had been ridiculously hot and he wanted to cool down, it might have made sense but, alas, it was actually quite chilly with the rain.
Still, he got his lawn mown and I guess that was important to him. I did notice today that his diagonal lines weren’t quite as straight as usual and were even a little wavery in patches but I suppose when the rain is coming down so hard that you can’t see, that’s bound to happen.
I admit, I probably shouldn’t have been quite so nosy but I was both fascinated and surprised at his dedication to his mowing. I’m quite glad he didn’t get struck by lightning. I’m also glad he didn’t mow over his foot. I am, however, quite baffled about his lawn mowing obsession. Perhaps all will reveal itself in time. Maybe he’s having a garden party directly after work tonight and it was the only mowing time he had. Of course, after the rain stopped last night probably would have been smarter, but what do I know?
Ah well, I’m sure he has his reasons and I’m sure I’ll never learn them. I suppose I could ask but, well, that might reveal me to be a nosy neighbour. It’s one thing to be a nosy neighbour and another thing to have people know you’re one.
And I’d rather do my lurking in secret. You learn more about your neighbours that way. Or, at least, you can watch them do some odd things.
Happy Friday!
Sometimes, I feel as though I’m acting like my grandmother because I like to stand at the window and watch what the neighbours are doing. It’s an inherited trait. My mother does it too. Whenever there’s any excitement or, even, something ‘different’ going on, we all go to the window and have a peer out to see what’s going on.
This morning, for example, I noticed the lady across the road was rearranging her rubbish bins. She was taking bags out of one dustbin and putting them in another. This may not seem too odd but she was doing it while the trash collectors were literally waiting to take them from her to empty. I couldn’t figure out why she was doing this. At first I thought she’d dropped something that she didn’t want to get thrown out with the trash but from my perspective, it simply looked like she was playing “Rearrange the Trash Bags.” What was even more strange is that in the end, the Rumpke dustman took both cans and emptied them into the back of the garbage truck which null and voided her rearranging.
I don’t know that lady very well. When I first moved in, she left me a note saying how she’d been friends with the old lady who sold me my house and that she’d love to meet me. We did finally meet when she came over and made a point of telling me how half the plants in my garden had been transplanted from hers. She was nice but aside from her taking me to her church once, she’s pretty much avoided me ever since. I think this may have to do with the fact that I came home one day shortly after the church outing and discovered a neighbour had kindly unlocked my front door to put a package from UPS inside for me. Since I don’t like the idea of strangers having a key to my house, I changed the lock. I think it was Trash Rearranging Lady. I probably offended her. I’m not terribly upset about it, honestly.
The other odd occurrence last night was Dog Whisperer. He truly baffled me.
You see, when I got home from work last night, I decided to take advantage of the fact it wasn’t raining in order to cut my lawn. Lately, it’s been raining a lot and my lawn had become very unruly. I managed to get my lawn mowed just as thunder began to rumble in the sky.
Just as I finished mowing and was pushing my lawnmower back into the shed, I heard a lawnmower start up next door. Dog Whisperer was mowing his front lawn.
Since it was clearly going to rain, I thought that it might have been wiser to wait but, well, sometimes, I guess the urge to mow the lawn is strong. I did have a rather silly minor moment of guilt in wondering if, in my efforts to make my front lawn look nice, I’d made his lawn look even longer and ugly and so he had to go even it up in order to make it match the cut of my grass. We do have a shared strip that runs between our houses. I cut one side, he cuts the other. It makes it pretty obvious when one lawn has been mowed and the other hasn’t.
Of course, I realized my guilt was rather silly since it wouldn’t be the first time our lawns didn’t match and, really, I’m quite sure it had nothing to do with his sudden urgency to mow.
I left him to it and decided to attempt to grill the steak for my tacos quickly before the rain started to come down. By this time, Dog Whisperer had moved to his back yard. I had just pulled the steak off the grill and was trying to lightly grill the tortillas before it started to pour. Quickly, I shut the grill off, sheltered my food and went inside.
Dog Whisperer continued to mow. As I sat down to eat my dinner, the rain started to really come down. And yet, I could still hear the thrum of the lawnmower in Dog Whisperer’s yard. He was determined to mow, no matter what.
As I continued to eat, the rain got harder. It was that really, really heavy type of rain that actually bounces up again after it hits the pavement because of the force at which it is hitting. It’s the type of rain that stings and soaks you in less than 10 seconds.
And yet….the mowing continued. I got up to make sure Dog Whisperer hadn’t had a horrible mowing accident in which he slipped on the wet grass and managed to mow himself in half. I realize that this is an impossibility because you need to be holding the bar thing on the handle to keep the mower going and as soon as you release it, the mower dies. However, I have a dark imagination and I was concerned anyway.
Nope. He was still upright and mowing. He was soaked to the skin. He was hunched over. The rain was coming down so hard it couldn’t have been easy to see and yet….he didn’t give up.
I did worry a little about his mower. I know they’re waterproof to some degree but when it’s raining that hard, surely the water can’t be good for it. Also, wet grass is hard to cut because it clings and the suction of the mulching function causes the grass to clog up. In addition, it was lightning. Mowing the grass in a thunderstorm didn’t strike me as…sensible, per se. Finally, wet grass is slippery and I was a wee bit concerned that he might slip and accidentally cut off his foot. Hey, that one could actually happen.
Wet grass or no, he kept going.
I should commend his determination. I mean, he’s not a quitter. It’s just that…well….truth be told, it seemed a little daft. I couldn’t figure out why he was still going. I understand wanting to finish something up but if it had been me, I would have stopped the mower and waited out the rain.
Well, actually, if it had been me, I wouldn’t have started mowing after it was clearly starting to storm. When I did mow my lawn, the clouds were starting to roll in but it was clear that I had enough time.
Yet even though the rain came down with solid force and the world was soaking wet, Dog Whisperer was the Little Mower that Could. He didn’t give up. He kept mowing. When he wheeled his mower into the shed, he was so wet, I knew he was squelching. He’d abandoned his white t-shirt mid-mow and was mowing bare chested. If it had been ridiculously hot and he wanted to cool down, it might have made sense but, alas, it was actually quite chilly with the rain.
Still, he got his lawn mown and I guess that was important to him. I did notice today that his diagonal lines weren’t quite as straight as usual and were even a little wavery in patches but I suppose when the rain is coming down so hard that you can’t see, that’s bound to happen.
I admit, I probably shouldn’t have been quite so nosy but I was both fascinated and surprised at his dedication to his mowing. I’m quite glad he didn’t get struck by lightning. I’m also glad he didn’t mow over his foot. I am, however, quite baffled about his lawn mowing obsession. Perhaps all will reveal itself in time. Maybe he’s having a garden party directly after work tonight and it was the only mowing time he had. Of course, after the rain stopped last night probably would have been smarter, but what do I know?
Ah well, I’m sure he has his reasons and I’m sure I’ll never learn them. I suppose I could ask but, well, that might reveal me to be a nosy neighbour. It’s one thing to be a nosy neighbour and another thing to have people know you’re one.
And I’d rather do my lurking in secret. You learn more about your neighbours that way. Or, at least, you can watch them do some odd things.
Happy Friday!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thinking of Seattle...
I won’t whine about the rain anymore. Granted, it’s raining again but I’ve convinced myself that this is what it’s like to live in Seattle and to celebrate, I drank a lot of coffee.
I’ve actually always quite fancied going to Seattle. It just seems like an interesting place. I think it might be because it’s supposed to be a lot like England but, also, it just seems to be pretty nifty. Plus, my good friend Saz was there on a business trip last week and she said they have an awesome market called Pikes’ Place Market where you can pretty much buy every ingredient known to man.
Also, I like coffee. Seattle has coffee. I think that means I should go there someday.
I used to travel a lot more when I was a bit younger. This is partly because I had a job as an International Market Research Analyst so I got to travel. I didn’t do too much international travel there. This was because when we had to do an international market research study, we’d figure out what country we needed to do our study in and then hire another market research company to do all the work. Then we’d slap our logo and label on the report and give it to our client. I did get to go to twice though. Since I was the token British person, my boss would send me. I liked that. I was supposed to go to Paris once because I’d sort of exaggerated the fact that I spoke French when I’d applied for that job. Fortunately, it fell through and I went to London instead. I was relived. I had been studying French by using tapes but I hadn’t progressed much past the “Where are the toilets?” and “Where is the wine?” stage of my education.
I also travelled a bit with my family. When I was in college, my dad went through a road warrior phase and bought an RV. My younger siblings and I would go with him and mum on trips down south. My older brother never went because he didn’t want to and my parents thought he was responsible enough to stay home alone. Since he was over 18 at this point, it made sense.
Still, I got to go. Mostly, it was quite fun at first. There was the time when we got stuck in an RV park in Alabama during a minor hurricane. That was a wee bit alarming because an RV isn’t exactly the most sturdy and weatherproof place to be. However, by the time we got to Alabama, we were told that it was too late to miss the hurricane so the best thing to do would be batten down the hatches and wait it out.
We did. It was very windy and rainy and loud. Fortunately, we didn’t blow away. I’m glad it was just a minor hurricane.
Then there was the time we went to Texas and didn’t get to the RV until after dark. When we woke up the next day and went outside, there were these sand dunes all over the place and lots of scorpions and scary spiders.
Then there was the time when I was interning in Maine during my college years and my family went camping in the RV to Florida without me. They went to Disneyworld. Naturally, I wasn’t there for that trip even though I had been wanting to go there for years. It’s ok mum, I’ve mostly forgiven you all for that. I mean just because when I went in the RV with you and the rest of the family, we went to Florida but didn’t go to Disney World, it’s ok.
Just kidding. I’m over it. Besides, I moved to L.A. and got to go to Disneyland a lot. It wasn’t quite the same but it did make up for it.
Then, of course, there was the time I actually did move to L.A. and my parents and I drove out there and then, when I came home, my friend and I drove back to Indiana. This means I saw a lot of the U.S. I had never seen before. Combined with my internships in Maine, one to which I drove rather than flew, I’ve pretty much seen most of the country.
Except Seattle. Which is the whole point of this blog today. Actually, I’ve never seen the Pacific Northwest at all. When I was actually working for the market research company, my friend Saz had to do a report on the Salmon of the Pacific Northwest for a legislative-y type of job she had and it inspired me to write a story about the Salmon of the Pacific Northwest but, well, that’s pretty much the closest I’ve come.
Although I’ve eaten plenty of salmon since then. I’m a big fan of salmon.
I also watch “Grey’s Anatomy” which is set in Seattle. However, watching “Grey’s” doesn’t exactly inspire you to live there because if you believed that show, it would be the single most important place for rare medical events ever. Just to name a few: trees growing in lungs, babies that grow in intestines without any fluid, men who eat doll heads, people who get little fishes that swim up their penises and live inside the human body, people who literally turn into fossilized trees and people who a) get impaled by a tree, b) fall out of trees or c) get knocked out of trees because they’re staging a protest. In the world of “Grey’s Anatomy,” trees are evil.
So, I’ll ignore the “Grey’s” take on Seattle and just keep it on my list of places to go to someday. After all, I’m experienced with rain and I drink coffee. I drink a lot of coffee.
Which, actually, you can probably tell from reading this blog. Note to Captain Monkeypants: Do not drink so much coffee when blogging, it inspires randomness.
However, at least I’m not complaining about the rain.
Still...maybe I do need more coffee.
Happy Wednesday!
I’ve actually always quite fancied going to Seattle. It just seems like an interesting place. I think it might be because it’s supposed to be a lot like England but, also, it just seems to be pretty nifty. Plus, my good friend Saz was there on a business trip last week and she said they have an awesome market called Pikes’ Place Market where you can pretty much buy every ingredient known to man.
Also, I like coffee. Seattle has coffee. I think that means I should go there someday.
I used to travel a lot more when I was a bit younger. This is partly because I had a job as an International Market Research Analyst so I got to travel. I didn’t do too much international travel there. This was because when we had to do an international market research study, we’d figure out what country we needed to do our study in and then hire another market research company to do all the work. Then we’d slap our logo and label on the report and give it to our client. I did get to go to twice though. Since I was the token British person, my boss would send me. I liked that. I was supposed to go to Paris once because I’d sort of exaggerated the fact that I spoke French when I’d applied for that job. Fortunately, it fell through and I went to London instead. I was relived. I had been studying French by using tapes but I hadn’t progressed much past the “Where are the toilets?” and “Where is the wine?” stage of my education.
I also travelled a bit with my family. When I was in college, my dad went through a road warrior phase and bought an RV. My younger siblings and I would go with him and mum on trips down south. My older brother never went because he didn’t want to and my parents thought he was responsible enough to stay home alone. Since he was over 18 at this point, it made sense.
Still, I got to go. Mostly, it was quite fun at first. There was the time when we got stuck in an RV park in Alabama during a minor hurricane. That was a wee bit alarming because an RV isn’t exactly the most sturdy and weatherproof place to be. However, by the time we got to Alabama, we were told that it was too late to miss the hurricane so the best thing to do would be batten down the hatches and wait it out.
We did. It was very windy and rainy and loud. Fortunately, we didn’t blow away. I’m glad it was just a minor hurricane.
Then there was the time we went to Texas and didn’t get to the RV until after dark. When we woke up the next day and went outside, there were these sand dunes all over the place and lots of scorpions and scary spiders.
Then there was the time when I was interning in Maine during my college years and my family went camping in the RV to Florida without me. They went to Disneyworld. Naturally, I wasn’t there for that trip even though I had been wanting to go there for years. It’s ok mum, I’ve mostly forgiven you all for that. I mean just because when I went in the RV with you and the rest of the family, we went to Florida but didn’t go to Disney World, it’s ok.
Just kidding. I’m over it. Besides, I moved to L.A. and got to go to Disneyland a lot. It wasn’t quite the same but it did make up for it.
Then, of course, there was the time I actually did move to L.A. and my parents and I drove out there and then, when I came home, my friend and I drove back to Indiana. This means I saw a lot of the U.S. I had never seen before. Combined with my internships in Maine, one to which I drove rather than flew, I’ve pretty much seen most of the country.
Except Seattle. Which is the whole point of this blog today. Actually, I’ve never seen the Pacific Northwest at all. When I was actually working for the market research company, my friend Saz had to do a report on the Salmon of the Pacific Northwest for a legislative-y type of job she had and it inspired me to write a story about the Salmon of the Pacific Northwest but, well, that’s pretty much the closest I’ve come.
Although I’ve eaten plenty of salmon since then. I’m a big fan of salmon.
I also watch “Grey’s Anatomy” which is set in Seattle. However, watching “Grey’s” doesn’t exactly inspire you to live there because if you believed that show, it would be the single most important place for rare medical events ever. Just to name a few: trees growing in lungs, babies that grow in intestines without any fluid, men who eat doll heads, people who get little fishes that swim up their penises and live inside the human body, people who literally turn into fossilized trees and people who a) get impaled by a tree, b) fall out of trees or c) get knocked out of trees because they’re staging a protest. In the world of “Grey’s Anatomy,” trees are evil.
So, I’ll ignore the “Grey’s” take on Seattle and just keep it on my list of places to go to someday. After all, I’m experienced with rain and I drink coffee. I drink a lot of coffee.
Which, actually, you can probably tell from reading this blog. Note to Captain Monkeypants: Do not drink so much coffee when blogging, it inspires randomness.
However, at least I’m not complaining about the rain.
Still...maybe I do need more coffee.
Happy Wednesday!
Monday, May 16, 2011
I Need Sunshine on a Cloudy Day
I miss the sun.
It’s funny- I always complained that there was too much sun when I lived in L.A. and I missed non sunny weather too much. Now it seems, I’m unable to be content and now I’m complaining that I don’t like the rain.
The thing is, I do like rain. I like it a lot. It has a place. It’s necessary to make things grow. I’m just a little fed up of it. We haven’t had a real spring sunny day in a very long time. Last week, when the sun did actually shine it was on a very hot, muggy day that didn’t feel very springlike at all.
Today, we have a constant drizzle. It’s grey. It’s cold. It’s very un-Maylike. I’m a little sad about that. I like spring because it’s refreshing and pretty and green.
This spring, so far, has been grey, wet and green. It hasn’t been very refreshing.
I keep trying to see the bright side of all the rain. It’s not that it’s even good for the garden because the garden is so saturated, there’s nowhere for the rain to go. I’d say that it was nice to have an excuse to stay inside but I don’t want an excuse to stay inside.
Still, whining doesn’t help the fact that the sun isn’t supposed to shine much this week and, so far, the weather for the weekend is yet more rain.
It also doesn’t help the fact that I think everyone in this corner of the world feels the same way. Still, things could always be worse. Given the flooding down south and the tornadoes in Alabama, I think we’re pretty lucky.
It’s actually amazing how much the weather affects our moods though, isn’t it? In October, we welcome the first real ‘cold snap’ of the year and the dropping temperatures and welcome the autumn chill so we can start wearing warmer clothes, drinking hot beverages and enjoying the pumpkin-infused Fall. Then, by the beginning of January after the glow of the holidays is over and all that’s left is a stark new year, we’re longing for warmth and sunshine.
After a period of greyness like we’ve had, I’ve noticed that almost everyone feels the same way: sluggish, slightly crotchety and irritated that we’re being deprived of time outdoors. After all, here in the Midwest, we spent December through March inside because it was too cold and snowy/rainy to go outside. By April, we want to embrace the springtime.
It was ok in April. Though we got fed up of rain, the saying goes “April Showers Bring May Flowers.”
It’s just that May seems to have forgotten the flowers and is continuing with the showers.
I feel like a toddler that has been trapped inside too long. I want to run around, tilt my face up to the sunshine and smell the lilacs. Instead, my lilac bush appears to have given up and died because the roots got too wet. I’m sad about that. I had about two days of blossoming lilacs and they the bush started to go a rather alarming shade of dying green. I want to sit outside on my patio and feel the cool Spring evening start to move in on the warmth of the day.
Still, there is one bright side to all this rain: There’s always hope for a sunny tomorrow. When the sun does shine, we appreciate it more. This is why, in my neighbourhood, at the mere hint of sunshine, the cacophony of a hundred mowers rises into the air.
In the meantime, some people actually have decided that drizzle and light rain is a perfectly acceptable accompaniment to mowing and the sound of a lone mower often accompanies the greyness. The kids on my street have started playing outside when the rain is light, wearing raincoats and playing their normal games. I suppose there comes a time when you realize that the rain isn’t going to stop but it shouldn’t stop you.
Maybe that’s what I need to take from this. I need to get myself a pair of non-leaky wellington boots and a rain jacket and ignore the fact that the rain is coming down. After all, when it’s wet, the weeds come up a little easier and it’s easier to dig.
After all, that’s how the world has functioned through the centuries, right? By adapting and evolving. So, maybe I’ll adapt and evolve and pretend that I live in Seattle where it rains a lot.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep up that hope that, maybe, just maybe, it won’t be raining tomorrow.
Happy Tuesday!
It’s funny- I always complained that there was too much sun when I lived in L.A. and I missed non sunny weather too much. Now it seems, I’m unable to be content and now I’m complaining that I don’t like the rain.
The thing is, I do like rain. I like it a lot. It has a place. It’s necessary to make things grow. I’m just a little fed up of it. We haven’t had a real spring sunny day in a very long time. Last week, when the sun did actually shine it was on a very hot, muggy day that didn’t feel very springlike at all.
Today, we have a constant drizzle. It’s grey. It’s cold. It’s very un-Maylike. I’m a little sad about that. I like spring because it’s refreshing and pretty and green.
This spring, so far, has been grey, wet and green. It hasn’t been very refreshing.
I keep trying to see the bright side of all the rain. It’s not that it’s even good for the garden because the garden is so saturated, there’s nowhere for the rain to go. I’d say that it was nice to have an excuse to stay inside but I don’t want an excuse to stay inside.
Still, whining doesn’t help the fact that the sun isn’t supposed to shine much this week and, so far, the weather for the weekend is yet more rain.
It also doesn’t help the fact that I think everyone in this corner of the world feels the same way. Still, things could always be worse. Given the flooding down south and the tornadoes in Alabama, I think we’re pretty lucky.
It’s actually amazing how much the weather affects our moods though, isn’t it? In October, we welcome the first real ‘cold snap’ of the year and the dropping temperatures and welcome the autumn chill so we can start wearing warmer clothes, drinking hot beverages and enjoying the pumpkin-infused Fall. Then, by the beginning of January after the glow of the holidays is over and all that’s left is a stark new year, we’re longing for warmth and sunshine.
After a period of greyness like we’ve had, I’ve noticed that almost everyone feels the same way: sluggish, slightly crotchety and irritated that we’re being deprived of time outdoors. After all, here in the Midwest, we spent December through March inside because it was too cold and snowy/rainy to go outside. By April, we want to embrace the springtime.
It was ok in April. Though we got fed up of rain, the saying goes “April Showers Bring May Flowers.”
It’s just that May seems to have forgotten the flowers and is continuing with the showers.
I feel like a toddler that has been trapped inside too long. I want to run around, tilt my face up to the sunshine and smell the lilacs. Instead, my lilac bush appears to have given up and died because the roots got too wet. I’m sad about that. I had about two days of blossoming lilacs and they the bush started to go a rather alarming shade of dying green. I want to sit outside on my patio and feel the cool Spring evening start to move in on the warmth of the day.
Still, there is one bright side to all this rain: There’s always hope for a sunny tomorrow. When the sun does shine, we appreciate it more. This is why, in my neighbourhood, at the mere hint of sunshine, the cacophony of a hundred mowers rises into the air.
In the meantime, some people actually have decided that drizzle and light rain is a perfectly acceptable accompaniment to mowing and the sound of a lone mower often accompanies the greyness. The kids on my street have started playing outside when the rain is light, wearing raincoats and playing their normal games. I suppose there comes a time when you realize that the rain isn’t going to stop but it shouldn’t stop you.
Maybe that’s what I need to take from this. I need to get myself a pair of non-leaky wellington boots and a rain jacket and ignore the fact that the rain is coming down. After all, when it’s wet, the weeds come up a little easier and it’s easier to dig.
After all, that’s how the world has functioned through the centuries, right? By adapting and evolving. So, maybe I’ll adapt and evolve and pretend that I live in Seattle where it rains a lot.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep up that hope that, maybe, just maybe, it won’t be raining tomorrow.
Happy Tuesday!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Another Rainy Monday
Oh, but it’s a gloomy day out there today.
The sun tried to peek out once around lunch time but before that and after that, the skies have been grey and it’s done little but pour with rain or threaten to pour with rain.
We’ve had so much rain lately that even I’m fed up with it. I usually love the rain. After all, it’s one of the reasons I wanted to move back from L.A. Ironically, it’s quite depressing to have sun all the time and to know without absolute certainty that even though it’s a little cloudy in the months from May-September that it’s not going to rain and, if it does, it’ll be a few raindrops that are just enough to make the dusty cars look terrible. I got fed up with sunshine all the time. I know, I know- readers who are in the wet and soggy Midwest (including my mother) will laugh and say I was crazy. However, try it sometime. It’s like getting to eat your favourite food for every single meal, whenever you like. Eventually, it stops being your favourite meal and you yearn for something different.
This may explain why I’m tired of the rain. For the past two weeks, we’ve had five days of rain to every two that are sunny. It’d be nice if that flipped and we’d have two days of rain and five days that are dry.
Still, as the saying goes, into every life a little rain may fall. In our case, it’s been quite a lot of rain but, well, it makes the grass green, the seeds grow and all that. It also makes my garden a soggy mess and depresses my dogs.
It’s hard to have depressed dogs. They sit around and mope. They sigh a lot. They enter a drowsy state of ennui. It’s actually not a little unlike my mother when it’s been rainy or snowy for a while (sorry, Mum!).
The worst thing is- and my mother does not do this- is that both Sookie and Rory seem to hold me personally responsible for the fact that their outdoor playground has become a mass of soggy muddy puddles and every time they go out, this wet stuff falls from the sky and soaks them.
It’s hard to explain to a pair of dachshunds that I do not control the weather. It’s actually quite hard to explain anything to a pair of dachshunds for any length of time. Rory tries to understand. She looks at me with alert eyes and does that adorable little head cock that dogs do when they recognize a word. In Rory’s case, her favourite word is “treat”. Her second favourite is “dinner.” This would explain why, when I took the girls to the vet on Friday for their annual check up and injections, I discovered that not only was Rory a whole pound heavier than Sookie but if she gets much heavier, I have to put her on a diet.
Rory used to be the smaller of the two dogs. Methinks that her preference for doggie ‘junk’ food over nutritious doggy food is not a good thing. Methinks I have to limit her snacks even more than I already am.
Anyway, back to the rain. The dogs are fed up with the rain. Rory does attempt to stay active. She often runs around and has a good chomp on a toy. Meanwhile, Sookie goes into a state of malaise where she lies on the sofa and refuses to move. She prefers to sit on my lap. I prefer her to sit on my lap except for times when she’s ventured into the rain out of necessity and returns, wet and muddy. These, of course, are the times that Sookie prefers to sit on my lap because it’s warmer.
When it does stop raining and both dogs deign to go outside, they immediately go to the infamous sewer grate. After the rain, there are fun happenings there- there is the sound of water streaming many feet below us and, even more exciting, there is a pipe that is cascading water down from the surface level to the stream below. The dogs find this absolutely fascinating. They find it so fascinating that whenever we go on a walk, Rory must investigate all the sewer drains to see if they, too, are doing interesting things.
I’m a bit tired of sewer drains. Fortunately, if I provide the pebbles, Rory has figured out how to drop them into the drain herself now. It’s weird but I figure it means she’s not Up To No Good. I’m sure the sewer department would disagree but, hey, they haven’t had to chase her after she’s got out of the worlds’ smallest hole in the fence.
It looks like both tonight and tomorrow will continue to be wet so there won’t be much sewer drain activity or any outdoor activity of any kind until at least Wednesday.
It just means that I’ll have a couple of sulky dogs on my hands. I’d like to make them understand that I can’t control the rain but, well, even if I did, they’d still blame me.
They are dachshunds after all.
Happy Tuesday!
The sun tried to peek out once around lunch time but before that and after that, the skies have been grey and it’s done little but pour with rain or threaten to pour with rain.
We’ve had so much rain lately that even I’m fed up with it. I usually love the rain. After all, it’s one of the reasons I wanted to move back from L.A. Ironically, it’s quite depressing to have sun all the time and to know without absolute certainty that even though it’s a little cloudy in the months from May-September that it’s not going to rain and, if it does, it’ll be a few raindrops that are just enough to make the dusty cars look terrible. I got fed up with sunshine all the time. I know, I know- readers who are in the wet and soggy Midwest (including my mother) will laugh and say I was crazy. However, try it sometime. It’s like getting to eat your favourite food for every single meal, whenever you like. Eventually, it stops being your favourite meal and you yearn for something different.
This may explain why I’m tired of the rain. For the past two weeks, we’ve had five days of rain to every two that are sunny. It’d be nice if that flipped and we’d have two days of rain and five days that are dry.
Still, as the saying goes, into every life a little rain may fall. In our case, it’s been quite a lot of rain but, well, it makes the grass green, the seeds grow and all that. It also makes my garden a soggy mess and depresses my dogs.
It’s hard to have depressed dogs. They sit around and mope. They sigh a lot. They enter a drowsy state of ennui. It’s actually not a little unlike my mother when it’s been rainy or snowy for a while (sorry, Mum!).
The worst thing is- and my mother does not do this- is that both Sookie and Rory seem to hold me personally responsible for the fact that their outdoor playground has become a mass of soggy muddy puddles and every time they go out, this wet stuff falls from the sky and soaks them.
It’s hard to explain to a pair of dachshunds that I do not control the weather. It’s actually quite hard to explain anything to a pair of dachshunds for any length of time. Rory tries to understand. She looks at me with alert eyes and does that adorable little head cock that dogs do when they recognize a word. In Rory’s case, her favourite word is “treat”. Her second favourite is “dinner.” This would explain why, when I took the girls to the vet on Friday for their annual check up and injections, I discovered that not only was Rory a whole pound heavier than Sookie but if she gets much heavier, I have to put her on a diet.
Rory used to be the smaller of the two dogs. Methinks that her preference for doggie ‘junk’ food over nutritious doggy food is not a good thing. Methinks I have to limit her snacks even more than I already am.
Anyway, back to the rain. The dogs are fed up with the rain. Rory does attempt to stay active. She often runs around and has a good chomp on a toy. Meanwhile, Sookie goes into a state of malaise where she lies on the sofa and refuses to move. She prefers to sit on my lap. I prefer her to sit on my lap except for times when she’s ventured into the rain out of necessity and returns, wet and muddy. These, of course, are the times that Sookie prefers to sit on my lap because it’s warmer.
When it does stop raining and both dogs deign to go outside, they immediately go to the infamous sewer grate. After the rain, there are fun happenings there- there is the sound of water streaming many feet below us and, even more exciting, there is a pipe that is cascading water down from the surface level to the stream below. The dogs find this absolutely fascinating. They find it so fascinating that whenever we go on a walk, Rory must investigate all the sewer drains to see if they, too, are doing interesting things.
I’m a bit tired of sewer drains. Fortunately, if I provide the pebbles, Rory has figured out how to drop them into the drain herself now. It’s weird but I figure it means she’s not Up To No Good. I’m sure the sewer department would disagree but, hey, they haven’t had to chase her after she’s got out of the worlds’ smallest hole in the fence.
It looks like both tonight and tomorrow will continue to be wet so there won’t be much sewer drain activity or any outdoor activity of any kind until at least Wednesday.
It just means that I’ll have a couple of sulky dogs on my hands. I’d like to make them understand that I can’t control the rain but, well, even if I did, they’d still blame me.
They are dachshunds after all.
Happy Tuesday!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Water, Water Everywhere (Even for Elephants)
It's the eve of Easter Sunday and I can't believe the weekend flew by again. As is usually the case when I visit my parents, I had a very nice weekend but, again, as is usually the case, I wish it were longer.
Still, I shouldn't look ahead to Monday while Sunday is still all around so I'm not going to do so. Instead, I'm going to relish the waning hours of the weekend. It's the perfect night to curl up and relax since it's raining outside and from the look of the giant lake that used to be my lawn, has been for quite some time.
It wasn't raining at my parents. While I would have had a wet Saturday had I stayed home, instead I enjoyed a lovely, windy, warm spring day in Indiana. My parents and I took advantage of it by going out and about, stopping at Menards, the home improvement store and browsing the garden centre. It was the perfect day to be outside, planning the spring garden.
Afterwards, we decided to go see "Water for Elephants" at the cinema. Both my mum and I had read the book and enjoyed it and we were curious to see how it did as a film. My quick review was that...it was ok. It's redundant to say the book was better because nine times out of ten, that's usually the case. The movie version seemed to just lack...something. Perhaps it was dirt and the other signs of a depression era circus. Having been a big fan of HBO's cancelled series, "Carnivale," I was expecting "Water for Elephants" to be more like that which was also set around a travelling carnival. It wasn't a bad movie per se. It was just a little lifeless. I've been trying hard to keep an open mind about Robert Pattinson. Given my intense dislike of "Twilight", I've still tried hard to not judge him solely on that. I liked him as Cedric Diggory in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", after all. Then I recently watched "Remember Me," another movie in which Pattinson stars. I wasn't impressed. Still, I thought perhaps he'd win me over in "Water for Elephants."
Sadly, he didn't. I think it's official: He's just not a very good actor. It's not that he doesn't try. It's just that he lacks charisma and is rather stiff. He seems to work very hard at his acting but it shows that he's working hard. He's a brooder without many interesting qualities. It also didn't help that Christoph Waltz played August, the villain of the movie and was fantastic.
Overall, it was an ok movie but just didn't make me say, "Wow, they did a great job with that." However, given the sad lack of good movies being made, it was definitely one of the better ones I've seen in a while.
The rest of the weekend went by fast. Today, being Easter, was nice and Easter-y and full of family. I got play with my niece who has very strict rules to the games she makes up. We played "Princesses" in which I got to be a fairy godmother to my nieces' princess- I got to make up wishes to give to my niece. It was all rather fun. I love playing with my niece because she's so uninhibited. She loves to dance and sing and she likes me to join in her dancing. Dancing with a four-year-old is fabulous because flailing is encouraged and this happens to be my specialty in dancing.
It was sad to come back home after such a nice day but that's part of being a grownp. The pups and I returned to a deluge of rain, loud thunder and a washed-out back garden. Also, I have a horrible feeling my freezer is broken because all my food was defrosted in there. I'm hoping it's because I was silly enough to leave the door open a crack before I left for the weekend. I've done it before. It's annoying but at least it doesn't require a new freezer. I'm hoping that it starts freezing again but given the rather eerie silence that's usually filled with its buzzing, I'm not holding out much hope. April has not been the best month for me as a homeowner with termites and lawnmowers and perhaps a need for a new freezer.
Still, I'm not worrying about it. I'm fortunate enough to have a little deep freezer where I keep my meat so at least I didn't lose a lot of valuable food- mostly just junk food and such. I'm trying to look on the bright side. After all, there's no point in worrying about it because there's nothing I can do...annoying things happen. It's how we deal with them that matters.
I'm choosing to deal with my freezer by saving the food that I can and throwing the rest away and hoping it's an easy fix. If not, like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll worry about it tomorrow. There's no point in wasting the last of the weekend with worry!
Happy Monday and I hope you had a great Easter!
Still, I shouldn't look ahead to Monday while Sunday is still all around so I'm not going to do so. Instead, I'm going to relish the waning hours of the weekend. It's the perfect night to curl up and relax since it's raining outside and from the look of the giant lake that used to be my lawn, has been for quite some time.
It wasn't raining at my parents. While I would have had a wet Saturday had I stayed home, instead I enjoyed a lovely, windy, warm spring day in Indiana. My parents and I took advantage of it by going out and about, stopping at Menards, the home improvement store and browsing the garden centre. It was the perfect day to be outside, planning the spring garden.
Afterwards, we decided to go see "Water for Elephants" at the cinema. Both my mum and I had read the book and enjoyed it and we were curious to see how it did as a film. My quick review was that...it was ok. It's redundant to say the book was better because nine times out of ten, that's usually the case. The movie version seemed to just lack...something. Perhaps it was dirt and the other signs of a depression era circus. Having been a big fan of HBO's cancelled series, "Carnivale," I was expecting "Water for Elephants" to be more like that which was also set around a travelling carnival. It wasn't a bad movie per se. It was just a little lifeless. I've been trying hard to keep an open mind about Robert Pattinson. Given my intense dislike of "Twilight", I've still tried hard to not judge him solely on that. I liked him as Cedric Diggory in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", after all. Then I recently watched "Remember Me," another movie in which Pattinson stars. I wasn't impressed. Still, I thought perhaps he'd win me over in "Water for Elephants."
Sadly, he didn't. I think it's official: He's just not a very good actor. It's not that he doesn't try. It's just that he lacks charisma and is rather stiff. He seems to work very hard at his acting but it shows that he's working hard. He's a brooder without many interesting qualities. It also didn't help that Christoph Waltz played August, the villain of the movie and was fantastic.
Overall, it was an ok movie but just didn't make me say, "Wow, they did a great job with that." However, given the sad lack of good movies being made, it was definitely one of the better ones I've seen in a while.
The rest of the weekend went by fast. Today, being Easter, was nice and Easter-y and full of family. I got play with my niece who has very strict rules to the games she makes up. We played "Princesses" in which I got to be a fairy godmother to my nieces' princess- I got to make up wishes to give to my niece. It was all rather fun. I love playing with my niece because she's so uninhibited. She loves to dance and sing and she likes me to join in her dancing. Dancing with a four-year-old is fabulous because flailing is encouraged and this happens to be my specialty in dancing.
It was sad to come back home after such a nice day but that's part of being a grownp. The pups and I returned to a deluge of rain, loud thunder and a washed-out back garden. Also, I have a horrible feeling my freezer is broken because all my food was defrosted in there. I'm hoping it's because I was silly enough to leave the door open a crack before I left for the weekend. I've done it before. It's annoying but at least it doesn't require a new freezer. I'm hoping that it starts freezing again but given the rather eerie silence that's usually filled with its buzzing, I'm not holding out much hope. April has not been the best month for me as a homeowner with termites and lawnmowers and perhaps a need for a new freezer.
Still, I'm not worrying about it. I'm fortunate enough to have a little deep freezer where I keep my meat so at least I didn't lose a lot of valuable food- mostly just junk food and such. I'm trying to look on the bright side. After all, there's no point in worrying about it because there's nothing I can do...annoying things happen. It's how we deal with them that matters.
I'm choosing to deal with my freezer by saving the food that I can and throwing the rest away and hoping it's an easy fix. If not, like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll worry about it tomorrow. There's no point in wasting the last of the weekend with worry!
Happy Monday and I hope you had a great Easter!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wet Days and Offended Dachshunds
Today has been a very wet sort of day. We started having thunderstorms around 2 a.m. I know this because I have a little dog who is not fond of thunderstorms and I awoke to find her struggling to find her way under the covers (She tends to get tangled between the sheet and the comforter and can’t figure out how to get under the sheet) while simultaneously trying to sit on my chest. Soon afterwards, I saw a flash of lightning, heard the crash of thunder and discovered that Rory had, in fact, found her way under the covers where she proceeded to burrow down by my knees which is her place of safety.
Sookie, meanwhile, leisurely wriggled herself under the covers where she spooned up against me in her favourite position. Sookie has an amazing ability to wriggle into a comfy position with very little movement. Rory, on the other hand, tends to live up to her middlename of Wrigglebottom and thrashes, wiggles and squirms her way to where she wants to go.
For the rest of the night, the storms rumbled. I woke up sporadically, as did the dogs. By the time my alarm went off, the thunderstorms had subsided but the rain continued to pour down.
It finally stopped for a while around 1 p.m. We’re supposed to have more storms tonight through tomorrow. I like a good thunderstorm and I love heavy rain. My only problem is that I’m having a wee bit of a problem with flooding in my back garden.
My area of Cincinnati is built on a spring. This means that the water table is high to begin with which is why we can’t have basements or anything. This also means it can get quite wet when it rains because, eventually, there’s nowhere to where the water can drain.
I’m a little sad about my Soggy Lake of Wetness that has taken over the back garden. I planted asparagus last year. It requires a trench to allow the ferns to grow and drop seeds. Unfortunately, this provides a nice place for water to gather, sit and then flood outwards. Since we’ve had a ton of rain already this spring, I’m pretty certain my asparagus is no more.
Also, it means I have little Ponds of Wetness all across my lawn. I watch the dogs try to dodge the Ponds as they do their business. For two dogs that enjoy getting down and dirty when they dig in the mud and who can tear through a giant puddle without thought if a squirrel appears, my two girls are decidedly finicky about rain. They don’t really like it. They do not like to get their feet wet. Being dachshunds, their tummies are quite close to the ground so, chances are, if their feet are getting wet, so are their tummies. Thus, as soon as they tear out the back door and discover the grass is soaked, they stop dead in their tracks, stare disdainfully around and then stare at me reproachfully as if the rain is my fault.
I’d expect nothing less, honestly. Dachshunds tend to take things personally. They sulk if you offend them and you must bribe them to forgive you with either lots of cuddling or with a treat. Usually, it takes both a cuddle and a treat. The problem is that you don’t always know what it is you’ve actually done. Some nights, I’m sitting on the couch with Sookie sleeping draped over the back of the couch and Rory sleeping beside me when, without prompting, Rory will sit up, give me a filthy look and then go sit in her crate in a huff.
The thing is I know I should just ignore her and let her sulk. After all, I haven’t done anything.
It’s not that easy, of course. She usually stays in her snit until I end up laying on the floor with my head in the crate whispering sweet nothings in her ear while petting her. Yes, I am embarrassed to admit this but there you have it. Captain Monkeypants often sticks her head in a dog crate. At least I’m honest.
Anyway, going back to the rain and our soggy back yard. At present, the water has drained a little since it’s not raining. This means that there are still puddles all over the place but the Soggy Lake of Wetness has drained. If I do walk across the grass, there will be squelching and splashing.
Naturally, it doesn’t help that my grass is also a little jungle like at present due to the exploded lawnmower situation. I was hoping to remedy the lawnmower situation soon but, unfortunately, silly Captain Monkeypants trusted that when UPS says a package is "out for delivery", it means it might be delivered. As I write this blog at almost 8:30 p.m., my package is to be delivered by "The End of the Day". I'm not sure how that translates in UPS time but, well, let's just say I figured it'd be here by now and it's not. If it does get here tonight, it's going to be too late to do anything but attempt to get the 100 lb box into my living room. Which is likely to be an adventure unto itself. One that is reliant on UPS. Which is to say...it might not happen. Anyway...moving on...
The sad fact is that even though I have a nice unexploded mower due to be delivered any moment now (or tomorrow, depending on how long UPS "Day" actually is), I can’t use it. I’m afraid if I subjected it to the Soggy Lake of Wetness, I might accidentally explode this mower too. I don’t want to blow up another mower especially a new one.
Thus, my poor dogs have a small reason to give me dirty looks when they have to go outside during wet times at the moment. The grass is about as tall as they are and rather than just get wet tummies, they also just get…wet.
On the plus side, it does deter them from escape attempts and from barking too much at the squirrels and bunnies that taunt the girls by showing themselves and then staying out of reach. It also means I don’t have to keep checking on them to make sure they aren’t Up to No Good because most likely, they’re in the house.
Of course, when they are in the house, they’re generally sulking because the rain means they don’t get a walk and they’re bored.
Have I mentioned that dachshunds take things personally?
Happy Wednesday!
Sookie, meanwhile, leisurely wriggled herself under the covers where she spooned up against me in her favourite position. Sookie has an amazing ability to wriggle into a comfy position with very little movement. Rory, on the other hand, tends to live up to her middlename of Wrigglebottom and thrashes, wiggles and squirms her way to where she wants to go.
For the rest of the night, the storms rumbled. I woke up sporadically, as did the dogs. By the time my alarm went off, the thunderstorms had subsided but the rain continued to pour down.
It finally stopped for a while around 1 p.m. We’re supposed to have more storms tonight through tomorrow. I like a good thunderstorm and I love heavy rain. My only problem is that I’m having a wee bit of a problem with flooding in my back garden.
My area of Cincinnati is built on a spring. This means that the water table is high to begin with which is why we can’t have basements or anything. This also means it can get quite wet when it rains because, eventually, there’s nowhere to where the water can drain.
I’m a little sad about my Soggy Lake of Wetness that has taken over the back garden. I planted asparagus last year. It requires a trench to allow the ferns to grow and drop seeds. Unfortunately, this provides a nice place for water to gather, sit and then flood outwards. Since we’ve had a ton of rain already this spring, I’m pretty certain my asparagus is no more.
Also, it means I have little Ponds of Wetness all across my lawn. I watch the dogs try to dodge the Ponds as they do their business. For two dogs that enjoy getting down and dirty when they dig in the mud and who can tear through a giant puddle without thought if a squirrel appears, my two girls are decidedly finicky about rain. They don’t really like it. They do not like to get their feet wet. Being dachshunds, their tummies are quite close to the ground so, chances are, if their feet are getting wet, so are their tummies. Thus, as soon as they tear out the back door and discover the grass is soaked, they stop dead in their tracks, stare disdainfully around and then stare at me reproachfully as if the rain is my fault.
I’d expect nothing less, honestly. Dachshunds tend to take things personally. They sulk if you offend them and you must bribe them to forgive you with either lots of cuddling or with a treat. Usually, it takes both a cuddle and a treat. The problem is that you don’t always know what it is you’ve actually done. Some nights, I’m sitting on the couch with Sookie sleeping draped over the back of the couch and Rory sleeping beside me when, without prompting, Rory will sit up, give me a filthy look and then go sit in her crate in a huff.
The thing is I know I should just ignore her and let her sulk. After all, I haven’t done anything.
It’s not that easy, of course. She usually stays in her snit until I end up laying on the floor with my head in the crate whispering sweet nothings in her ear while petting her. Yes, I am embarrassed to admit this but there you have it. Captain Monkeypants often sticks her head in a dog crate. At least I’m honest.
Anyway, going back to the rain and our soggy back yard. At present, the water has drained a little since it’s not raining. This means that there are still puddles all over the place but the Soggy Lake of Wetness has drained. If I do walk across the grass, there will be squelching and splashing.
Naturally, it doesn’t help that my grass is also a little jungle like at present due to the exploded lawnmower situation. I was hoping to remedy the lawnmower situation soon but, unfortunately, silly Captain Monkeypants trusted that when UPS says a package is "out for delivery", it means it might be delivered. As I write this blog at almost 8:30 p.m., my package is to be delivered by "The End of the Day". I'm not sure how that translates in UPS time but, well, let's just say I figured it'd be here by now and it's not. If it does get here tonight, it's going to be too late to do anything but attempt to get the 100 lb box into my living room. Which is likely to be an adventure unto itself. One that is reliant on UPS. Which is to say...it might not happen. Anyway...moving on...
The sad fact is that even though I have a nice unexploded mower due to be delivered any moment now (or tomorrow, depending on how long UPS "Day" actually is), I can’t use it. I’m afraid if I subjected it to the Soggy Lake of Wetness, I might accidentally explode this mower too. I don’t want to blow up another mower especially a new one.
Thus, my poor dogs have a small reason to give me dirty looks when they have to go outside during wet times at the moment. The grass is about as tall as they are and rather than just get wet tummies, they also just get…wet.
On the plus side, it does deter them from escape attempts and from barking too much at the squirrels and bunnies that taunt the girls by showing themselves and then staying out of reach. It also means I don’t have to keep checking on them to make sure they aren’t Up to No Good because most likely, they’re in the house.
Of course, when they are in the house, they’re generally sulking because the rain means they don’t get a walk and they’re bored.
Have I mentioned that dachshunds take things personally?
Happy Wednesday!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
The Comfort of a Rainy Day
Today it has been a very rainy day. The pups and I went to bed last night to the sound of pouring rain and…woke up to the sound of pouring rain. Somewhere in between there, I dreamed again about zombies- (note to self: STOP watching “The Walking Dead” before bed!) and got up to let the dogs out in the night.
The problem with it being rainy is that it’s also muddy. This means that when the dogs come in from outside, they’re wet and either must be dried with a towel or go back to bed muddy.
We’re having a lot of rain in these parts lately. All of the rivers are swollen and nearing flood stage. My garden is a bit of a bog. There’s usually one area that floods when it rains but the ground is so saturated, it’s looking rather like wetlands out there.
I actually don’t mind the rain though. I find it soothing, particularly when it comes down heavily. It’s just that it seems a little unbalanced that we have so much rain at this time of year but, come August, we’re having a drought and praying for rain to satiate the parched garden.
Yet for now, the rain is nice. I like to see it splashing down outside. Perhaps it’s growing up on the rainy isle of Britain but whenever it’s murky outside and the windows are covered with raindrops, part of me just sighs with contentment that this is the way it should be at times. I like being driven inside by the wetness and I really like it at night when you can see the rain in the headlights of cars as they sloshily drive along the streets .
The rain appeals to my ‘inside girl’ nature. While working outside in the garden is lovely as is taking a long walk outside on a nice day, as I’ve said many a time, I am not an outdoorsy sort. My favourite activities have always been quiet, indoor activities. Even when the weather is nice, I find that I simply go outside to do the indoor activities such as reading and writing.
I’m actually looking forward to the weather being nice enough to sit outside and read. Last year, I found one of my very favourite things to do was sit outside after I’d mown the lawn in the evening with a cool glass of wine, a good book and the puppies chasing each other nearby.
Still, I’m not looking to the future because I’m not happy with the present. The rainy night means I can hibernate inside, pull the curtains early and spend the evening curled up with the pups even though it means we won’t get to take our evening walk. I’m finding that not only is the walking good to exercise Sookie and Rory but it’s also a good way for me to get exercise. I finally mapped out our normal route and discovered we walk over a mile each night. This is not bad going for a stroll around the neighbourhoods.
On these strolls, I’ve become a very nosy neighbour. I love to look at people’s gardens and houses and to get ideas for how I can landscape my own garden or add some detail to my house. We’ve walked so much that certain houses become landmarks- there’s the one that belongs to someone who is clearly a hippie or identifies with them as the house not only always has a VW bug parked outside but also a sign on the door that says “Hippies go around back.” There’s the house with the cute little statue of puppies underneath a garden bench. There’s the house with the good landscaping, tidy mulch and painstakingly-cared for garden.
Then there are the squirrel houses. These are the places where we almost inevitably find squirrels on our walk. The girls and I have decided that squirrels are dirty rotten cheaters. They come down from their trees, sit on the street as if daring my twin dachshunds to ‘come and get them’ and then they run. We chase them and the girls get excited. Then the squirrel goes up a tree and…game over because my dogs can’t climb the trees. We are of the firm belief that if a squirrel wants to taunt, it shouldn’t be allowed an easy out. However, squirrels appear to have their own rules including not being eaten.
Our evening walks are a great way to relax. This time of year, we don’t see too many neighbours. It’s usually just me, the girls and whatever dog barks at us from behind their fences.
It’s nice to live in a neighbourhood where it’s not only safe to walk but we have a nice route as well. Even though it’s not nice enough to walk every night- particularly nights like tonight when it’s rainy- it’s a lovely feeling to know that as the days get longer and the nights shorter, there will be more and more chances to get out, discover new things about the area and meet new neighbours.
For now, however, I’m just going to enjoy the rain.
Happy Thursday!
The problem with it being rainy is that it’s also muddy. This means that when the dogs come in from outside, they’re wet and either must be dried with a towel or go back to bed muddy.
We’re having a lot of rain in these parts lately. All of the rivers are swollen and nearing flood stage. My garden is a bit of a bog. There’s usually one area that floods when it rains but the ground is so saturated, it’s looking rather like wetlands out there.
I actually don’t mind the rain though. I find it soothing, particularly when it comes down heavily. It’s just that it seems a little unbalanced that we have so much rain at this time of year but, come August, we’re having a drought and praying for rain to satiate the parched garden.
Yet for now, the rain is nice. I like to see it splashing down outside. Perhaps it’s growing up on the rainy isle of Britain but whenever it’s murky outside and the windows are covered with raindrops, part of me just sighs with contentment that this is the way it should be at times. I like being driven inside by the wetness and I really like it at night when you can see the rain in the headlights of cars as they sloshily drive along the streets .
The rain appeals to my ‘inside girl’ nature. While working outside in the garden is lovely as is taking a long walk outside on a nice day, as I’ve said many a time, I am not an outdoorsy sort. My favourite activities have always been quiet, indoor activities. Even when the weather is nice, I find that I simply go outside to do the indoor activities such as reading and writing.
I’m actually looking forward to the weather being nice enough to sit outside and read. Last year, I found one of my very favourite things to do was sit outside after I’d mown the lawn in the evening with a cool glass of wine, a good book and the puppies chasing each other nearby.
Still, I’m not looking to the future because I’m not happy with the present. The rainy night means I can hibernate inside, pull the curtains early and spend the evening curled up with the pups even though it means we won’t get to take our evening walk. I’m finding that not only is the walking good to exercise Sookie and Rory but it’s also a good way for me to get exercise. I finally mapped out our normal route and discovered we walk over a mile each night. This is not bad going for a stroll around the neighbourhoods.
On these strolls, I’ve become a very nosy neighbour. I love to look at people’s gardens and houses and to get ideas for how I can landscape my own garden or add some detail to my house. We’ve walked so much that certain houses become landmarks- there’s the one that belongs to someone who is clearly a hippie or identifies with them as the house not only always has a VW bug parked outside but also a sign on the door that says “Hippies go around back.” There’s the house with the cute little statue of puppies underneath a garden bench. There’s the house with the good landscaping, tidy mulch and painstakingly-cared for garden.
Then there are the squirrel houses. These are the places where we almost inevitably find squirrels on our walk. The girls and I have decided that squirrels are dirty rotten cheaters. They come down from their trees, sit on the street as if daring my twin dachshunds to ‘come and get them’ and then they run. We chase them and the girls get excited. Then the squirrel goes up a tree and…game over because my dogs can’t climb the trees. We are of the firm belief that if a squirrel wants to taunt, it shouldn’t be allowed an easy out. However, squirrels appear to have their own rules including not being eaten.
Our evening walks are a great way to relax. This time of year, we don’t see too many neighbours. It’s usually just me, the girls and whatever dog barks at us from behind their fences.
It’s nice to live in a neighbourhood where it’s not only safe to walk but we have a nice route as well. Even though it’s not nice enough to walk every night- particularly nights like tonight when it’s rainy- it’s a lovely feeling to know that as the days get longer and the nights shorter, there will be more and more chances to get out, discover new things about the area and meet new neighbours.
For now, however, I’m just going to enjoy the rain.
Happy Thursday!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Wet and Soggy Days
It’s a very wet and cold day out there today. From the time I got up to right now, it has done nothing but rain steadily.
It’s the type of rain that his heavily against the windows and steams them up. It’s soothing to hear it and see it dance off the puddles as it cascades down.
It’s also the type of rain that makes you want to go home, make soup for dinner and curl up with two puppies. Of course, the problem with it being wet means that the puppies are also wet. They don’t like to spend too much time outside when it’s raining this hard. It doesn’t help that our back yard floods a lot when we get heavy rain. The storm drain in my neighbour’s garden overflows constantly which means my lovely vegetable garden floods in the summer, drowning my produce. I’ve complained about it to the city but so far, nothing has been done. In winter, however, it just means that we have rather large oceans of puddles in the grass as well as in the mud patches that will eventually evolve back into a vegetable garden.
It’s interesting to watch the puppies. They definitely don’t like to get their feet wet so they avoid the massive puddles. Rory, Mistress of Mayhem, is surprisingly dainty for such a mischief-making canine. She steps cautiously out, looking for the driest spots and seems to tiptoe to where she’s not going to get too wet. Sookie, on the other hand, just stomps out and then stops and looks about as if to say, “dude! What’s all this wet stuff?”
Needless to say, they don’t spend much time outside during heavy rain. It means we can’t take our evening walk either. This means I have bored pups on my hands. When Sookie is bored, she sleeps. When Rory is bored she lies on the floor, glaring at me and Sookie and, finally, begins to “arrrff” at us. This means, “Entertain me!”
It’s hard to entertain a dog for too long. I went to Petsmart on Sunday to see if I could find a toy for them that involved a little bit of a challenge. I ended up with something called an Occupi. This is a rubber device in which you can insert little treats, insert big treats or coat with some type of edible gel. I bypassed the gel because there were only two flavours- Chicken Liverr, which sounded revolting and Peanut butter which neither of the girls particularly like. I did buy the little treats to go inside. Unfortunately, the toy must be smarter than me because there’s nothing to hold them in there. Theoretically, the dog is supposed to roll it and try to get the tiny treats out through the little holes in the side. However, I’ve found that since there’s no stopper on the bottom, they pretty much cascade right out. This is rather silly. Thus, I’ve taken to inserting a healthy treat that’s long and skinny into the toy. It’s hard to get out. Also, it’s fun to watch Rory get a bit stroppy when she can’t get to it. She’ll figure it out eventually but, for now, she’s puzzled. Puzzled Rory=occupied Rory.
For me, I don’t need rubber toys. I just need a good book or something nice on TV with which I can curl up. The book is the best option because it means I can listen to the drum of the raindrops on the window. There’s nothing nicer than that on a chilly night unless it’s lying in bed and hearing the rain.
It’s supposed to get colder later tonight which means the rain will turn to snow. As much as I love snow, I’m hoping it doesn’t stick around. I’m ready for spring now. Target is starting to get their garden décor and supplies in and I’m already planning my landscaping attempts.
However, if it does stick around, it won’t bother me either. After all, there’s not too many weeks left where snow is an option and I’ll miss it when it goes so a few more encounters might not be a bad thing. Either way, snow or rain, I’m happy. It means I get to stay inside and enjoy the warmth and comfort of a cozy home with two (wet) puppies beside me.
Happy Tuesday!
It’s the type of rain that his heavily against the windows and steams them up. It’s soothing to hear it and see it dance off the puddles as it cascades down.
It’s also the type of rain that makes you want to go home, make soup for dinner and curl up with two puppies. Of course, the problem with it being wet means that the puppies are also wet. They don’t like to spend too much time outside when it’s raining this hard. It doesn’t help that our back yard floods a lot when we get heavy rain. The storm drain in my neighbour’s garden overflows constantly which means my lovely vegetable garden floods in the summer, drowning my produce. I’ve complained about it to the city but so far, nothing has been done. In winter, however, it just means that we have rather large oceans of puddles in the grass as well as in the mud patches that will eventually evolve back into a vegetable garden.
It’s interesting to watch the puppies. They definitely don’t like to get their feet wet so they avoid the massive puddles. Rory, Mistress of Mayhem, is surprisingly dainty for such a mischief-making canine. She steps cautiously out, looking for the driest spots and seems to tiptoe to where she’s not going to get too wet. Sookie, on the other hand, just stomps out and then stops and looks about as if to say, “dude! What’s all this wet stuff?”
Needless to say, they don’t spend much time outside during heavy rain. It means we can’t take our evening walk either. This means I have bored pups on my hands. When Sookie is bored, she sleeps. When Rory is bored she lies on the floor, glaring at me and Sookie and, finally, begins to “arrrff” at us. This means, “Entertain me!”
It’s hard to entertain a dog for too long. I went to Petsmart on Sunday to see if I could find a toy for them that involved a little bit of a challenge. I ended up with something called an Occupi. This is a rubber device in which you can insert little treats, insert big treats or coat with some type of edible gel. I bypassed the gel because there were only two flavours- Chicken Liverr, which sounded revolting and Peanut butter which neither of the girls particularly like. I did buy the little treats to go inside. Unfortunately, the toy must be smarter than me because there’s nothing to hold them in there. Theoretically, the dog is supposed to roll it and try to get the tiny treats out through the little holes in the side. However, I’ve found that since there’s no stopper on the bottom, they pretty much cascade right out. This is rather silly. Thus, I’ve taken to inserting a healthy treat that’s long and skinny into the toy. It’s hard to get out. Also, it’s fun to watch Rory get a bit stroppy when she can’t get to it. She’ll figure it out eventually but, for now, she’s puzzled. Puzzled Rory=occupied Rory.
For me, I don’t need rubber toys. I just need a good book or something nice on TV with which I can curl up. The book is the best option because it means I can listen to the drum of the raindrops on the window. There’s nothing nicer than that on a chilly night unless it’s lying in bed and hearing the rain.
It’s supposed to get colder later tonight which means the rain will turn to snow. As much as I love snow, I’m hoping it doesn’t stick around. I’m ready for spring now. Target is starting to get their garden décor and supplies in and I’m already planning my landscaping attempts.
However, if it does stick around, it won’t bother me either. After all, there’s not too many weeks left where snow is an option and I’ll miss it when it goes so a few more encounters might not be a bad thing. Either way, snow or rain, I’m happy. It means I get to stay inside and enjoy the warmth and comfort of a cozy home with two (wet) puppies beside me.
Happy Tuesday!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Slow Moving Days
Today was one of those days that felt like it passed rather slowly. It was probably something to do with the fact that it began to rain heavily last night just as the pups and I were heading to bed and it didn't really stop until this evening. The ground is thick with puddles, the sky was dark all day and it the sun didn't even think about shining.
It's supposed to get cold enough to snow tonight. Naturally, being the snow loving creature I am, this has me a wee bit excited. I love snow and especially the first real snowfall of the season. We had a few dry, cold flakes last week but it was barely enough to notice. What I'm ready for is the first downpour of thick, fluffy flakes that merits breaking out the Williams Sonoma peppermint hot chocolate and seeing in the finery of winter in the right way.
I know, I know...not everyone feels this way. Once again, I can feel my mother cringing in her chair as she reads this, her body already starting to grow cold with the sheer imagining of the snow. I can't help it though. Snow, to me, is something to be celebrated.
Still, it's not snowing yet. Instead we have a soggy day where it was too wet to really be outside. The puppies try to play out there but they come in sodden and muddy and I have to wipe their feet with a towel. They seem to be staring at me accusingly as if to say, "why is it raining? We don't LIKE rain!" To make matters worse, they didn't get their evening walk because I don't have a real raincoat and the idea of traipsing around the block in the rain was not terribly appealing. The pups would agree if they thought about it but, instead, being the creatures of habit, they still wait expectantly for me to say, "Wanna go for a walk?"
It's days like this where I think it might be nice to be a puppy, curled up in my crate in the morning as the rain pours down instead of in my office, looking at my computer. I like my job a lot and it's different every day but no matter how much anyone likes their job, sometimes it's just appealing not to be at work.
Still, the day passed....slow as it was. Now we're ready to relax this evening. I have fennel roasting in the oven, the puppies are lying on the couch, wondering why I'm in my office yet again. They don't like it when I'm in here because they don't understand what's so interesting about this machine I'm always sitting at. It's a shame. I'd quite like to discuss my writing with them but even though Rory cocks her head adoringly like she's actually listening, her vocabularly is still limited to "Biscuit, outside, walk, treat, chicken, cheese," and "sit." It makes for a lousy conversation unless you're talking about Chicken in a Biscuit crackers.
I think the problem is that we're in the holiday season. There's so many things I'd like to be doing. I need to put my tree up. I need to take down my fall decor from outside- the silk leaves I wrap around my little outdoor lamppost and my scarecrows in the garden- and replace it with my Christmas decor. I need to do some shopping. I want to do some baking. There are holiday movies I'd like to watch. There are friends I'd like to see. There's wrapping to do. December is a busy month and sometimes it seems a shame that work has to get in the way.
Of course, without work, it might be hard to have a busy Christmas season because of the need for a paycheck. It's a bit of a Catch 22. Until I become independently wealthy or a mega-million copy selling author, it's off to work I go where I can sometimes squeeze in a little online browsing between looking at resumes.
It's not so bad really. After all, I'm no longer at my old job where, chances are, I'd be debating whether to call in sick so I could do other things. Or, I might be sitting in my cubicle freezing because our area was always freezing and the spaceheater that someone had loaned me when I first started was claimed by another coworker even though I'm almost 100% sure it wasn't hers. These are things I no longer have to worry about. Also, we're allowed to acknowledge Christmas at my current office. We're even going to do...stuff. We're having a party and a happy hour for our consultants. That's not bad going. In fact, I keep waiting for someone to come in and say, "Ha! Fooled you! We're not this nice after all."
It's funny. My current coworkers apologize if they've been 'cranky' and feel like they've snapped at me. In truth, I don't even notice because even at their crankiest, they're still nicer than many of my old coworkers. It's sad, but true. This is the time of year when we're supposed to be thankful for the things in our life and thus, I am thankful that I have a new job that I like with normal people who seem to respect me.
All in all, slow as the day was, it wasn't so bad. It's just like with everything else, no matter how happy we are, we always think we could be happier. For now, however, I get to curl up on a chilly, wet night with two puppies, watch TV, eat roasted fennel with parmesan and enjoy the fact that, for now, thats as complicated as life needs to be.
And maybe, just maybe, it will snow tomorrow.
Happy Wednesday!
It's supposed to get cold enough to snow tonight. Naturally, being the snow loving creature I am, this has me a wee bit excited. I love snow and especially the first real snowfall of the season. We had a few dry, cold flakes last week but it was barely enough to notice. What I'm ready for is the first downpour of thick, fluffy flakes that merits breaking out the Williams Sonoma peppermint hot chocolate and seeing in the finery of winter in the right way.
I know, I know...not everyone feels this way. Once again, I can feel my mother cringing in her chair as she reads this, her body already starting to grow cold with the sheer imagining of the snow. I can't help it though. Snow, to me, is something to be celebrated.
Still, it's not snowing yet. Instead we have a soggy day where it was too wet to really be outside. The puppies try to play out there but they come in sodden and muddy and I have to wipe their feet with a towel. They seem to be staring at me accusingly as if to say, "why is it raining? We don't LIKE rain!" To make matters worse, they didn't get their evening walk because I don't have a real raincoat and the idea of traipsing around the block in the rain was not terribly appealing. The pups would agree if they thought about it but, instead, being the creatures of habit, they still wait expectantly for me to say, "Wanna go for a walk?"
It's days like this where I think it might be nice to be a puppy, curled up in my crate in the morning as the rain pours down instead of in my office, looking at my computer. I like my job a lot and it's different every day but no matter how much anyone likes their job, sometimes it's just appealing not to be at work.
Still, the day passed....slow as it was. Now we're ready to relax this evening. I have fennel roasting in the oven, the puppies are lying on the couch, wondering why I'm in my office yet again. They don't like it when I'm in here because they don't understand what's so interesting about this machine I'm always sitting at. It's a shame. I'd quite like to discuss my writing with them but even though Rory cocks her head adoringly like she's actually listening, her vocabularly is still limited to "Biscuit, outside, walk, treat, chicken, cheese," and "sit." It makes for a lousy conversation unless you're talking about Chicken in a Biscuit crackers.
I think the problem is that we're in the holiday season. There's so many things I'd like to be doing. I need to put my tree up. I need to take down my fall decor from outside- the silk leaves I wrap around my little outdoor lamppost and my scarecrows in the garden- and replace it with my Christmas decor. I need to do some shopping. I want to do some baking. There are holiday movies I'd like to watch. There are friends I'd like to see. There's wrapping to do. December is a busy month and sometimes it seems a shame that work has to get in the way.
Of course, without work, it might be hard to have a busy Christmas season because of the need for a paycheck. It's a bit of a Catch 22. Until I become independently wealthy or a mega-million copy selling author, it's off to work I go where I can sometimes squeeze in a little online browsing between looking at resumes.
It's not so bad really. After all, I'm no longer at my old job where, chances are, I'd be debating whether to call in sick so I could do other things. Or, I might be sitting in my cubicle freezing because our area was always freezing and the spaceheater that someone had loaned me when I first started was claimed by another coworker even though I'm almost 100% sure it wasn't hers. These are things I no longer have to worry about. Also, we're allowed to acknowledge Christmas at my current office. We're even going to do...stuff. We're having a party and a happy hour for our consultants. That's not bad going. In fact, I keep waiting for someone to come in and say, "Ha! Fooled you! We're not this nice after all."
It's funny. My current coworkers apologize if they've been 'cranky' and feel like they've snapped at me. In truth, I don't even notice because even at their crankiest, they're still nicer than many of my old coworkers. It's sad, but true. This is the time of year when we're supposed to be thankful for the things in our life and thus, I am thankful that I have a new job that I like with normal people who seem to respect me.
All in all, slow as the day was, it wasn't so bad. It's just like with everything else, no matter how happy we are, we always think we could be happier. For now, however, I get to curl up on a chilly, wet night with two puppies, watch TV, eat roasted fennel with parmesan and enjoy the fact that, for now, thats as complicated as life needs to be.
And maybe, just maybe, it will snow tomorrow.
Happy Wednesday!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
A Perfect Rainy Night...
It's a soggy night out there tonight. It's been raining non-stop since about 10 a.m. and the daytime feels like it never really arrived.
I don't mind one bit. I'm a fan of precipitation. I'd much rather it rained or even snowed than for it to just look gloomy and grey. It's been so dry this summer/fall that the rain is very welcome. It's a perfect rainy day too. I have dinner cooking in the crock pot and the house is warm and cosy.
The puppies don't like it much, of course. They go out, get soaked and then proceed to do weird, wild dives on the carpet, on the couch, on ever visible surface in an attempt to dry themselves off. If I was a neat freak, this might be a problem but it's just water and, well, they're puppies. I can't exactly make them sit still.
It's the perfect night for cuddling up and enjoying the sound of the rain. I'm trying to be good this week and get some writing done. I've been in a slump lately. I entered The Reluctant Demon in the Writer's Digest Self Published awards and I didn't even get an honourable mention. I confess, I've been a bit down about that. The sales have been going pretty well considering I haven't done any publicity. I've sold 40 electronic copies in the past month. This may seem small but that's not bad going for an indie writer who hasn't done any marketing.
It just bothers me that I'm bothered so much about some stupid awards. It shouldn't matter. It just does.
Still, I've decided it's not worth being so sad/annoyed about that I should let it stop me from writing. So this week, I've decided that I'm going to try to finish my novel by the end of November. I'm ready to move on. It's fun to write the adventures of someone in Hell but I'd also like to write other things too.
So, tonight will be a writing night. I hope the pups don't mind too much. Their usual response to my writing is to ignore me while they play together and then when they're ready to curl up on the couch for the evening, they yip at me to come and join them. Sometimes, they'll come in and lie in the doorway, staring at me with those big sad eyes. It's easy to want to give in to eyes like that. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. If I ignore them for long enough, they trot off, heads down and sit on the couch all alone until I join them.
This time of year is very strange because the days suddenly feel so much shorter. I'm sure the puppies are still bewildered by the change that Daylight Savings Time has brought about. It's dark so early now and they miss out of the daylight because that's when I have to go to work and they go in their crate. I'm experimenting with leaving them out for half a day to see if they can be trusted without supervision. I work a little later now than I used to and if I have to run errands after work, I feel cruel for keeping them crated when it's getting dark. I'm hoping they adjust to being freed from their crate for part of the day so that I can have a little more freedom myself.
On nights like this though, there's nothing more freeing than being home, in your pajamas, listening to the rain fall as the smell of comfort food perfumes the air with a puppy cuddled up on each side of me.
I've missed the rain. I'm glad it's back.
Happy Wednesday.
I don't mind one bit. I'm a fan of precipitation. I'd much rather it rained or even snowed than for it to just look gloomy and grey. It's been so dry this summer/fall that the rain is very welcome. It's a perfect rainy day too. I have dinner cooking in the crock pot and the house is warm and cosy.
The puppies don't like it much, of course. They go out, get soaked and then proceed to do weird, wild dives on the carpet, on the couch, on ever visible surface in an attempt to dry themselves off. If I was a neat freak, this might be a problem but it's just water and, well, they're puppies. I can't exactly make them sit still.
It's the perfect night for cuddling up and enjoying the sound of the rain. I'm trying to be good this week and get some writing done. I've been in a slump lately. I entered The Reluctant Demon in the Writer's Digest Self Published awards and I didn't even get an honourable mention. I confess, I've been a bit down about that. The sales have been going pretty well considering I haven't done any publicity. I've sold 40 electronic copies in the past month. This may seem small but that's not bad going for an indie writer who hasn't done any marketing.
It just bothers me that I'm bothered so much about some stupid awards. It shouldn't matter. It just does.
Still, I've decided it's not worth being so sad/annoyed about that I should let it stop me from writing. So this week, I've decided that I'm going to try to finish my novel by the end of November. I'm ready to move on. It's fun to write the adventures of someone in Hell but I'd also like to write other things too.
So, tonight will be a writing night. I hope the pups don't mind too much. Their usual response to my writing is to ignore me while they play together and then when they're ready to curl up on the couch for the evening, they yip at me to come and join them. Sometimes, they'll come in and lie in the doorway, staring at me with those big sad eyes. It's easy to want to give in to eyes like that. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. If I ignore them for long enough, they trot off, heads down and sit on the couch all alone until I join them.
This time of year is very strange because the days suddenly feel so much shorter. I'm sure the puppies are still bewildered by the change that Daylight Savings Time has brought about. It's dark so early now and they miss out of the daylight because that's when I have to go to work and they go in their crate. I'm experimenting with leaving them out for half a day to see if they can be trusted without supervision. I work a little later now than I used to and if I have to run errands after work, I feel cruel for keeping them crated when it's getting dark. I'm hoping they adjust to being freed from their crate for part of the day so that I can have a little more freedom myself.
On nights like this though, there's nothing more freeing than being home, in your pajamas, listening to the rain fall as the smell of comfort food perfumes the air with a puppy cuddled up on each side of me.
I've missed the rain. I'm glad it's back.
Happy Wednesday.
Monday, September 27, 2010
The Devil You Know vs. The One You Don't
Today, it is rainy. It's the first real rainy day we've had in a couple of months. This morning, it was much darker than usual when I went to work and it was quite late before daylight showed up. The rest of the day has been dim and grey.
It was the kind of day where staying home in my comfy clothes, curled up with a book and doing a little writing while preparing something warm and comforting for dinner like beef stew or roast chicken.
Instead, I went to work and appreciated the rain from there instead. Lately, work has been insanely busy. My boss offered me a slightly more elevated role at work last week. Coincidentally, the offer came the day after I had a job interview which I had stupidly scheduled on my cell phone while standing within hearing range of our president's office. That's the problem with having a cubicle and not an office: There's just no privacy.
Then my boss dangles a carrot in front of my nose and though I won't hear from the job interview until tomorrow, my boss's offer is already making me have second thoughts. He's finally offered me more responsibility in a capacity I've been wanting for a while. He's dangled the carrot of a possible pay raise.
Yet what I think it comes down to is that age old argument of the devil you know vs. the one you don't. The people at the office where I had my interview seemed really nice. They seemed happy. They seemed to like their jobs. The only thing I could have seen as a potential issue is that the salary is metric based meaning part of my earnings would be based on commission.
That scares me. Sometimes I have to scrape by with my bills as it is. The idea of making less with only the potential to make more is a little bit worrying.
And yet, it would be a new place.
Sometimes, that's all you really need, anyway.
Happy Tuesday!
It was the kind of day where staying home in my comfy clothes, curled up with a book and doing a little writing while preparing something warm and comforting for dinner like beef stew or roast chicken.
Instead, I went to work and appreciated the rain from there instead. Lately, work has been insanely busy. My boss offered me a slightly more elevated role at work last week. Coincidentally, the offer came the day after I had a job interview which I had stupidly scheduled on my cell phone while standing within hearing range of our president's office. That's the problem with having a cubicle and not an office: There's just no privacy.
The thing is, the job interview last week got me excited. I think it went well. It was for a much different job than the one I have now although related to computers and software. I thought I did well at the interview and I left feeling cheerful and upbeat that I might soon be able to escape the office and the politics of my current job.
Then my boss dangles a carrot in front of my nose and though I won't hear from the job interview until tomorrow, my boss's offer is already making me have second thoughts. He's finally offered me more responsibility in a capacity I've been wanting for a while. He's dangled the carrot of a possible pay raise.
Yet what I think it comes down to is that age old argument of the devil you know vs. the one you don't. The people at the office where I had my interview seemed really nice. They seemed happy. They seemed to like their jobs. The only thing I could have seen as a potential issue is that the salary is metric based meaning part of my earnings would be based on commission.
That scares me. Sometimes I have to scrape by with my bills as it is. The idea of making less with only the potential to make more is a little bit worrying.
And yet, it would be a new place.
But...yet it would be a new place. As I've mentioned several times, I'm a creature who likes her habits. At this current office, even though I spend my share of days wanting to slap a bit of duct tape over certain people's mouths and visualizing stabbing them in the forehead with a pencil when they annoy me, it's comfortable. When I get to do what I enjoy doing, I really like my job. It's only when it slows down and I have to scramble to keep busy that I dislike my job and then I start paying attention to the pettiness that exists around the office and the seeing what others have vs. the stuff I don't have.
But when it goes well, I like my job. I like several of my coworkers. For better or for worse, it's my home away from home.
And, besides, given the changes I've had to roll with since I started working at the company- sales, mergers, moves, etc- I feel like I've earned my battle scars and I belong there.
Then there's the enticement of a new opportunity. Who knows what that would hold? It could change my life.
Well, the nice thing is I don't have to make a decision. I may never have to make the decision if I end up not getting the other job. In a way, a small part of me hopes that happens because having to choose is always hard. The rest of me likes the idea that there could be a way out to new opportunities.
I'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I think I'll enjoy my rainy evening and drown myself in some bad TV.
Well, the nice thing is I don't have to make a decision. I may never have to make the decision if I end up not getting the other job. In a way, a small part of me hopes that happens because having to choose is always hard. The rest of me likes the idea that there could be a way out to new opportunities.
I'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I think I'll enjoy my rainy evening and drown myself in some bad TV.
Sometimes, that's all you really need, anyway.
Happy Tuesday!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Battery Recharging Weekends....
It's already Sunday evening again. I'm sitting here, writing this as storm clouds are rolling in overhead. I'm hoping that means we're in for some rain since we've still be thwarted in our precipitation for nearly a month- aside from the odd short shower or two. It's possible though that the rain may drift over without falling as seems to happen so often lately.
It'd be nice to have a little rain, to curl up on this Sunday evening in front of the TV while the puppies play on the floor. Chances are I'll do that anyway but the sound of the rain on the window always makes it better.
It would be a nice way to end a lovely weekend. It seems that some of the best weekends are those which don't really have any plans. In my case, I headed home to my parents but didn't have too much in mind.
I ended up getting to spend some quality time with my parents and to help my sister study for her national nurses test- the NCLEX- which she takes on Tuesday. Listening to her respond to my quizzing, I have absolutely no doubt she'll do anything but pass but my sister is a worrier and extremely talented at doubting herself. I think once she sits down at the computer terminal to take the test, she'll get in the zone. Until then, moments of panic are rushing at her as so often happens when you're faced with something rather scary.
Still, even with those moments of panic, we managed to have a fun time studying. We were focused on drugs. I would look up the drug in the reference guide she provided and she would attempt to tell me what the drug was far and much more detailed information about it. While she rattled off jargon like she was born speaking it, I couldn't pronounce half the words. I find lipid-reducing medications rather hard to pronounce. Actually, most generic drug names are hard to pronounce.
Equipped with junk food and pumpkin ale, we had a fine study party. My sister proved she knows her stuff and I got to learn fascinating things about drugs. I'm curious about Ambien, a drug for insomnia whose side effects include hallucinations, sleep-driving and 'abnormal thoughts.' More than anything, I'm curious about the abnormal thoughts. That could mean a lot, couldn't it? And by whose standard are they judging the thoughts? I mean, me, for example, have quite a few thoughts that others perceive to be abnormal. I mean, when you're sitting in a meeting and suddenly wondering what would happen if a homicidal jack-in-the-box popped up, that's a little abnormal...right? And yet, that's my thought process. Needless to say, Ambien fascinated me.
I think my sister is in good shape. I can't wait for her to be done with it. I think she'll feel that magnificant sensation of having a weight lifted off her shoulders as soon as she's done and she gets home that evening. Send happy thoughts here way Tuesday though, if you don't mind. I know she'll appreciate it.
Aside from the studying, I did very little at my parents' except relax with them and keep an eye on the puppies. My parents have two nice ponds that have fish in them as well as a plethora of frogs. Rory has decided that she likes to frog-hunt and managed to get rather wet a few times while persuing the frogs. She never caught one but that didn't stop her from plunging her face into the water and coming up with sticks, leaves and rocks. Sookie, meanwhile, nonchalantly stood by, letting her sister do the wet, dirty work and then proceeded to snatch the retrieved sticks, leaves and rocks from Rory. She's sneaky, that Sookie.
All in all, it was the type of weekend I needed. It was the type of weekend that lets you recharge your batteries. Things at work haven't been going spectacularly lately. I'm feeling more and more like no matter what I do, nothing is going to change in my favour and it's hard to deal with the politics. I've spoken to my boss, our current president and also our president who will take over when our current one resigns in December. I still don't feel hopeful that I'll be given more duties that will make me feel useful. I mean, on Friday, my boss told me a large chunk of my job will soon be obselete and then he said, "So what do you want to do instead?"
That wasn't a question I was anticipating. It also wasn't a fair one. I'm very low on the totem pole at work and for my boss, who currently is second in command, asks me to define my own job, I think that's a little unfair. While I like having a say in my work, I do need to feel like I'm there to be useful to my company and I can't help but think it's not my responsibility to figure out what I should do to earn my salary. I mean, sure, I am a self-starter. I am an independent worker but I like a little guidance at first. I did manage to give my boss a couple of potential responsibilities but I admit, I'm a little afraid that this means my job isn't as secure as I'd like.
I was worried on Friday. Then I went to my parents and, as always, my mother had wise words of wisdom. She reminded me that it's just a job. I've said that in my blog before, several times. There have been periods when I fully believe that and while I do the best I can in the office, I don't worry and I don't get caught up in the politics. Then something happens and I stupidly forget that attitude and I start to get caught up in it. I need to step back again.
It is just a job. It's the means to support my writing, my puppies and my horrible Bejeweled Blitz habit. It's the way to support my need to need to splurge and buy fancy cooking ingredients like Maldon Sea Salt and quail eggs.
It's just a paycheck. Sure, it'd be nice to feel that satisfaction in my work that I've felt in other jobs but, for now, this is where I am in life and I can't let it bring me down. Maybe things will improve at this job, maybe I'll have to keep looking for another job elsewhere but for better or for worse, this is where I am...now. I need to just let the annoyances of the office roll off me. I've done it before and I can do it again.
So, even though the weekend is winding down, I feel fine about it. Battery recharging weekends can make you feel like everything's better by the end. In my case, that's definitely true. All it takes is some good family time and being reminded of the important things in life. I got that out of my weekend.
And if even looks like the storm clouds might be yielding their rain to the earth. Things are looking up.
Happy Monday!
It'd be nice to have a little rain, to curl up on this Sunday evening in front of the TV while the puppies play on the floor. Chances are I'll do that anyway but the sound of the rain on the window always makes it better.
It would be a nice way to end a lovely weekend. It seems that some of the best weekends are those which don't really have any plans. In my case, I headed home to my parents but didn't have too much in mind.
I ended up getting to spend some quality time with my parents and to help my sister study for her national nurses test- the NCLEX- which she takes on Tuesday. Listening to her respond to my quizzing, I have absolutely no doubt she'll do anything but pass but my sister is a worrier and extremely talented at doubting herself. I think once she sits down at the computer terminal to take the test, she'll get in the zone. Until then, moments of panic are rushing at her as so often happens when you're faced with something rather scary.
Still, even with those moments of panic, we managed to have a fun time studying. We were focused on drugs. I would look up the drug in the reference guide she provided and she would attempt to tell me what the drug was far and much more detailed information about it. While she rattled off jargon like she was born speaking it, I couldn't pronounce half the words. I find lipid-reducing medications rather hard to pronounce. Actually, most generic drug names are hard to pronounce.
Equipped with junk food and pumpkin ale, we had a fine study party. My sister proved she knows her stuff and I got to learn fascinating things about drugs. I'm curious about Ambien, a drug for insomnia whose side effects include hallucinations, sleep-driving and 'abnormal thoughts.' More than anything, I'm curious about the abnormal thoughts. That could mean a lot, couldn't it? And by whose standard are they judging the thoughts? I mean, me, for example, have quite a few thoughts that others perceive to be abnormal. I mean, when you're sitting in a meeting and suddenly wondering what would happen if a homicidal jack-in-the-box popped up, that's a little abnormal...right? And yet, that's my thought process. Needless to say, Ambien fascinated me.
I think my sister is in good shape. I can't wait for her to be done with it. I think she'll feel that magnificant sensation of having a weight lifted off her shoulders as soon as she's done and she gets home that evening. Send happy thoughts here way Tuesday though, if you don't mind. I know she'll appreciate it.
Aside from the studying, I did very little at my parents' except relax with them and keep an eye on the puppies. My parents have two nice ponds that have fish in them as well as a plethora of frogs. Rory has decided that she likes to frog-hunt and managed to get rather wet a few times while persuing the frogs. She never caught one but that didn't stop her from plunging her face into the water and coming up with sticks, leaves and rocks. Sookie, meanwhile, nonchalantly stood by, letting her sister do the wet, dirty work and then proceeded to snatch the retrieved sticks, leaves and rocks from Rory. She's sneaky, that Sookie.
All in all, it was the type of weekend I needed. It was the type of weekend that lets you recharge your batteries. Things at work haven't been going spectacularly lately. I'm feeling more and more like no matter what I do, nothing is going to change in my favour and it's hard to deal with the politics. I've spoken to my boss, our current president and also our president who will take over when our current one resigns in December. I still don't feel hopeful that I'll be given more duties that will make me feel useful. I mean, on Friday, my boss told me a large chunk of my job will soon be obselete and then he said, "So what do you want to do instead?"
That wasn't a question I was anticipating. It also wasn't a fair one. I'm very low on the totem pole at work and for my boss, who currently is second in command, asks me to define my own job, I think that's a little unfair. While I like having a say in my work, I do need to feel like I'm there to be useful to my company and I can't help but think it's not my responsibility to figure out what I should do to earn my salary. I mean, sure, I am a self-starter. I am an independent worker but I like a little guidance at first. I did manage to give my boss a couple of potential responsibilities but I admit, I'm a little afraid that this means my job isn't as secure as I'd like.
I was worried on Friday. Then I went to my parents and, as always, my mother had wise words of wisdom. She reminded me that it's just a job. I've said that in my blog before, several times. There have been periods when I fully believe that and while I do the best I can in the office, I don't worry and I don't get caught up in the politics. Then something happens and I stupidly forget that attitude and I start to get caught up in it. I need to step back again.
It is just a job. It's the means to support my writing, my puppies and my horrible Bejeweled Blitz habit. It's the way to support my need to need to splurge and buy fancy cooking ingredients like Maldon Sea Salt and quail eggs.
It's just a paycheck. Sure, it'd be nice to feel that satisfaction in my work that I've felt in other jobs but, for now, this is where I am in life and I can't let it bring me down. Maybe things will improve at this job, maybe I'll have to keep looking for another job elsewhere but for better or for worse, this is where I am...now. I need to just let the annoyances of the office roll off me. I've done it before and I can do it again.
So, even though the weekend is winding down, I feel fine about it. Battery recharging weekends can make you feel like everything's better by the end. In my case, that's definitely true. All it takes is some good family time and being reminded of the important things in life. I got that out of my weekend.
And if even looks like the storm clouds might be yielding their rain to the earth. Things are looking up.
Happy Monday!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Waiting for the Rain to Fall...
itIt's another beautiful autumn-like day out there again today. Last night, when I got home from work, we had the hope of a storm. The sky had clouded over, the wind had picked up and then, in the far distance, a rumbling of thunder.
I got excited about that. We haven't had rain in over three weeks. That is not an exaggeration. The ground is dry and cracked. The grass is yellow and brittle. My plants are all drooping even though I water them regularly. Every day I listen to Frank Marzullo and the Fox 19 Stormtracker Weather and hope he says we're going to have rain.
Yet, even when he does, it doesn't rain. I know that's not Frank's fault but I like blaming him anyway.
The storm last night was a storm. For a few moments, lightning whipped across the sky and we had some cracks of thunder that were so earsplitting and loud that Rory, usually unafraid of storms, whimpered and came running over to hide between my legs.
Then it began to rain and I went outside to let it fall on my face. It smelled as it always does after a long, dry period. The smell of dust floats up into the air, the asphalt from the road adds in its acrid odor and the whole world just starts to get wet.
Only in our case, then it stopped. We had maybe two minutes of rain altogether. It was if the storm came, decided it was bored and it just stopped.
I was disappointed. I think the puppies were too. In spite of their aversion to baths and, also, getting their paws wet, they have no problem frolicking in the rain. They usually come in, soaked and I have to grab them to towel them off so they don’t attempt to dry themselves on the carpet or, worse, the couch. Of course, as soon as they see the towel, it becomes less of a drying instrument and more of a tug-of-war toy.
So, we never got our rain. Instead, we got a couple of hours of searing heat and humidity before the evening air came and miraculously cooled everything down. Yesterday, it was 93 degrees. Today, it's 78 degrees. I'll take today's weather in a heartbeat, even if the rain never came.
Frank Marzullo said we might have rain Friday night and Saturday. I don’t mind the Friday night rain but Saturday is our neighbourhood's annual garage sale day and I was planning my tour of the sales to hunt for bargains. It's no fun if it's wet.
Still, I think we need rain more than I need more cut-price bargains. Yard sales are a little like having a couple in a grocery store. You don't really need the item you're looking at but since you have a coupon and you're saving so much money, it seems like a crime not to buy it. Never mind that the item will sit in your pantry for ages before you either have to throw it away or try it and realize that you don't like it. This is probably why I have umpteen packets of Lipton Rice and Sauce in my pantry. These days, I prefer to make my own rice rather than the packet mix but when I bought them, it seemed like a good idea.
Yard sales are the same sort of thing. I have several items that I got for less than a dollar that I now wonder what possessed me to buy them. I bought these little candleholder/mini urn things that I thought would look nice with some tapers in them. Well, tapers didn't fit and I couldn't get them to stand up in the holders even by melting the bottom of the candle and trying to use the wet wax as a glue in the candleholder. I finally gave up on the candles since they were so precariously balanced that every time I'd bump the table upon which they stood, they'd fall over.
The candleholders are now, slightly inexplicably, on top of my microwave, sans candles. This means they're also in front of my breadbin. This means every time I reach for my bread from the bin, I knock those stupid candleholders aside. Reason says I should just move them and I keep meaning to but it's just one of those things I never seem to either remember to do or get round to. If I hadn't felt compulsed to buy them for 25 cents at a yard sale, I wouldn't have this problem.
Thus, if I do end up going to the sales on Saturday, I must practice better restraint. Now I've lived in my house for over a year, I have less need for decoration and items to make my house look more cosy. It's quite full already. I really don't need any books although the lack of need will mean nothing if I come across a sale with a good book selection. Books are my biggest weakness. I know that I don't really need any more but I like to have books. Books are the friends that always have time for you, as long as you have time for them. They let you curl up with them and get lost in their pages and let the realities of life slip way for just a few minutes.
But that's the coming weekend, not today. For now, Frank Marzullo says that it's supposed to be cool, sunny and lovely for the next couple of days.
As much as I want rain, I can live with that.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Leaky Roofs and a Plethora of Basil...
It was definitely a Monday today. The day began with me walking sleepily to the bathroom to begin my morning routine and finding a wet spot on my carpet. I was surprised but I was half-asleep and not thinking. As I slowly woke up, I realized that the wet spot was really wet. I looked up and discovered a leak in my ceiling. This meant that my roof was leaking. We'd had some really heavy rain again last night so I should have figured that out sooner. Nevertheless, it still surprised me.I took a quick peek up in the attic to see if I could see where the rain had come in but though I peered and used my handy flashlight, I couldn't see it. Since I had to get to work, I decided that it would have to wait.
I still haven't gone up there though. The ladder I have is very old and very rickety and to get up in the attic, I'd have to use the very last tread on the ladder. Since it wobbles horribly and I have no balance, I have horrible visions of falling off the ladder, knocking myself unconscious and having the puppies attempt to revive me by licking me to death. Even with cute puppies, this wasn't a picture I liked having in my mind.
Since we're not supposed to have any more rain for a while, I think I'm safe. I do think I'm going to have to track down the leak though. This past month has been my first in which I've really learned that being a homeowner means a lot more responsibility than being a renter. I've now replaced a ceiling fan, a kitchen sink and a kitchen faucet, all within the last month.
I'm really hoping that since it's such a little leak, it doesn't merit something so drastic as a new roof. That would be expensive and I quite like the roof I have, anyway- leaky or not.
Regardless of how big or small the leak turns out to be, this was not the way to begin a Monday on a positive note. My day was actually quite busy which was a little annoying since I wanted a day of working slowly and not getting much done. I was thwarted in my attempt.
When I finally made it home from work, I didn't feel like doing anything. Still, I decided to try and cheer myself up with a nice dinner.
I decided to make pesto. Aside from the pine nuts, I have all the ingredients in my pantry or in my garden, particularly the basil. Oh, yes, I have basil. You see, my mother and I have cultivated a love for the herb since we both started cooking properly. In the winter, it's expensive to buy and it's a bit of an extravagance to buy it regularly. Thus, this summer, we both planted basil in our gardens.
The thing with basil is that it grows. I planted some seeds and, when they were little seedlings, I put them in a big tub in my garden, expecting only a few of them to grow. They all grew. I have a large plethora of basil. To make it even more ridiculous, I had assumed my plants weren't going to grow so, since my mother had also ended up with a huge supply of basil plants, I took some of her extras. I now have a tub of growing basil as well as many, many plants scattered through my garden. I'm not complaining; I like basil. I'm just a little afraid of wasting it.
So, tonight, I made pesto. I made a quadruple batch so that I could follow the advice of a recipe site I found and make pesto cubes by freezing the pesto in an ice-cub tray. This way, I would have a supply to last through the winter. I have to ice-cube trays full now and with all the basil I still have, I think I could probably last through several winters.
I'm sure I'll find another use for the tasty herb though. It's just a treat to be able to go and pick what feels like a bushel of basil and still have a garden full. It's also an amazing feeling to be able to eat something you've made from something you grew from seed. This year is really the first year I've done that and it feels nice. Despite the weeds in my garden, it's starting to come along. Thanks to my mother's generosity, I've got far more plants than I expected. I love planting the cuttings and plants she digs up from her garden. I like the feeling of planting them in mine with the soil from her garden still attached- it's like a very organic bond is forming and will continue to grow each summer.
My pesto turned out very nice so Monday is looking up. I still have a leaky roof but since it's not raining, I think there's no need for panic. I need to mow my lawn but it's looking a little like a swamp out there after the rain last night. I should really do something productive but, alas, since it's Monday, I think I'm going to do what I meant to do at work today...pretty much....nothing.
Happy Tuesday!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Product Placement and Stormy Weather
We seem to be stuck in a pattern of intense heat that is interrupted sporadically by severe thunderstorms. Today, we were told by Mr. Fox 19 Stormtracker Weather that we would have temperatures in the 90's today with a chance of a pop-up thunderstorm midday.
Well, I'm actually quite amazed to announce that Mr. Fox 19 Stormtracker Weather was right. For once. Yes, it can happen. Right around the time I leave for lunch to come let the puppies out, the sky, suddenly ominously dark, opened up and the rain began to fall. It was the torrential type of rain that saturates everything within seconds and obscurs your view while you're driving.
I tried to wait out the storm but almost an hour later, I needed to liberate the puppies from their crate for an hour and eat some lunch. Needless to say, I got wet.
Still, the storm did pass and the heat came back and the world is calm again.
The problem with that much rain is that my back garden floods. At the moment if I walk on my grass, it squelches. There are puddles with standing water and my flower/vegetable beds are under a layer of water. I had actually planned on mowing the lawn tonight but, alas, I could only do the front lawn since that's on a slope and the water drains off. It was still wet but at least now it's mowed. It was starting to look rather horrendous.
On the plus side, I would like to endorse a product. I highly recommend that Off Mosquito Fan thingy. Being that I provide rather an attractive bait for mosquitoes, I seem to have the added misfortune of suffering from what I've been told is known as 'skeeter syndrome'. This means that my bites swell to rather large red lumps that look a bit like a tumor and they stick around for a couple of days. I've tried all of the spray on repellents and somehow, the mosquitoes still find a way to snack on my blood.
Not today, however. Thanks to the fabulous Off Mosquito Fan, I mowed my lawn and went out to the garden without one bite. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical of the device. It just seemed a little silly- a fan to repel mosquitoes.
Then, when I went to my parents' this weekend, I discovered my mother had one and she said it worked. I borrowed it and then put it to the test- I went walking around their large garden from which I usually emerge with at least three mosquitoe bites. Not with the Off Fan! That thing is bloody brilliant. It has Captain Monkeypant's seal of approval which, given that I'm a bit of a complainer, is a pretty rare seal to earn.
Anyway, this means that on this hot, buggy, humid evening, I am sitting inside my air-conditioned office with not a single new mosquito bite. It doesn't sound like much but given that I've used almost a whole tube of hydrocortisone over the past 3 weeks, it actually is a lot to me.
I'm hoping that the weather cools down tomorrow but I know it's not likely to get any cooler for most of the week. We're supposed to have the possibility of more storms tomorrow which means my back garden will get even wetter. Even the puppies are finding it a nuisance- it's muddy wherever they walk and they come in with wet feet. It doesn't stop them from going out but it does mean they leave muddy footprints on the kitchen floor. They've been a little naughty tonight, anyway. I lost my phone only to discover that Sookie had 'borrowed' it and taken it outside. She managed to dial my younger brother somehow. She called my mother a couple of weeks ago. Sookie really seems to like the phone. I'd be amused if I hadn't been frantically looking for it.
Still, for a Monday, it hasn't been too bad. I buried my head at work today and got a lot done. The conference attendees came back and were somewhat quiet although my coworker couldn't resist telling me about all the connections she made and how many people wanted to talk to her. That's very nice for her. In the meantime, I have my 'silver' olympic medal hanging up in my cubicle to remind me that we had fun last week too.
Here's hoping that tomorrow isn't quite so soggy.
Happy Tuesday!
Well, I'm actually quite amazed to announce that Mr. Fox 19 Stormtracker Weather was right. For once. Yes, it can happen. Right around the time I leave for lunch to come let the puppies out, the sky, suddenly ominously dark, opened up and the rain began to fall. It was the torrential type of rain that saturates everything within seconds and obscurs your view while you're driving.
I tried to wait out the storm but almost an hour later, I needed to liberate the puppies from their crate for an hour and eat some lunch. Needless to say, I got wet.
Still, the storm did pass and the heat came back and the world is calm again.
The problem with that much rain is that my back garden floods. At the moment if I walk on my grass, it squelches. There are puddles with standing water and my flower/vegetable beds are under a layer of water. I had actually planned on mowing the lawn tonight but, alas, I could only do the front lawn since that's on a slope and the water drains off. It was still wet but at least now it's mowed. It was starting to look rather horrendous.
On the plus side, I would like to endorse a product. I highly recommend that Off Mosquito Fan thingy. Being that I provide rather an attractive bait for mosquitoes, I seem to have the added misfortune of suffering from what I've been told is known as 'skeeter syndrome'. This means that my bites swell to rather large red lumps that look a bit like a tumor and they stick around for a couple of days. I've tried all of the spray on repellents and somehow, the mosquitoes still find a way to snack on my blood.
Not today, however. Thanks to the fabulous Off Mosquito Fan, I mowed my lawn and went out to the garden without one bite. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical of the device. It just seemed a little silly- a fan to repel mosquitoes.
Then, when I went to my parents' this weekend, I discovered my mother had one and she said it worked. I borrowed it and then put it to the test- I went walking around their large garden from which I usually emerge with at least three mosquitoe bites. Not with the Off Fan! That thing is bloody brilliant. It has Captain Monkeypant's seal of approval which, given that I'm a bit of a complainer, is a pretty rare seal to earn.
Anyway, this means that on this hot, buggy, humid evening, I am sitting inside my air-conditioned office with not a single new mosquito bite. It doesn't sound like much but given that I've used almost a whole tube of hydrocortisone over the past 3 weeks, it actually is a lot to me.
I'm hoping that the weather cools down tomorrow but I know it's not likely to get any cooler for most of the week. We're supposed to have the possibility of more storms tomorrow which means my back garden will get even wetter. Even the puppies are finding it a nuisance- it's muddy wherever they walk and they come in with wet feet. It doesn't stop them from going out but it does mean they leave muddy footprints on the kitchen floor. They've been a little naughty tonight, anyway. I lost my phone only to discover that Sookie had 'borrowed' it and taken it outside. She managed to dial my younger brother somehow. She called my mother a couple of weeks ago. Sookie really seems to like the phone. I'd be amused if I hadn't been frantically looking for it.
Still, for a Monday, it hasn't been too bad. I buried my head at work today and got a lot done. The conference attendees came back and were somewhat quiet although my coworker couldn't resist telling me about all the connections she made and how many people wanted to talk to her. That's very nice for her. In the meantime, I have my 'silver' olympic medal hanging up in my cubicle to remind me that we had fun last week too.
Here's hoping that tomorrow isn't quite so soggy.
Happy Tuesday!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The Light at the End of a Gloomy Grey Tunnel of Clouds....
It really has been a gloomy week. The sun did come out today but, by the time we all left the office, it had faded again, the clouds moving thickly overhead and the first sprinkle of rain just falling.
Still, I refuse to complain when I woke up this morning and saw the first sunrise in a week. It was nice to see the sun for a bit, albeit briefly. It even warmed up and the puppies got to frolic in the sunshine during our lunch hour.
The day was a quiet one. It ended with a happy hour after work. I hadn't planned on going since I tend to feel that I spend enough time in the office with my coworkers and I'd rather spend my free time with my puppies. Still, I was persuaded to go by a friend/coworker and I'm glad I did. There weren't too many of my coworkers there and I got to meet a couple of new people. And, in all honesty, as much as I love my puppies, they're not huge on conversation.
Though, when I got in, they were certainly talkative. I got told off, quite firmly, by Rory who hates it when I leave them. Of course, I was also greeted with excitement, enthusiasm and two furry bundles of puppy that dived on me the minute I walked in the house so I can take a little puppy-scolding.
The nicest part of the day is that tomorrow is Friday and that means a weekend. It's supposed to be rainy all weekend but I think that'll be ok. Even though my garden is a weedy mess and my grass grows quicker than I can mow it, there's plenty of stuff to do in the house. Next weekend, I have a houseguest for Memorial Day weekend- my good friend Saz who was supposed to come in February but couldn't make it because of the snow. We're not supposed to have snow next week so I think her trip is a go this time.
It's funny because I know if I don't clean, Saz won't care but there's something about guests that automatically sets off the alarm bells and you start thinking of places to clean that normally don't really exist in the scope of your awareness- the corners of the shower, for example. Are our toilets ever more clean than when guests come and stay?
Still, even if it's just cleaning, the weekend lies ahead like a bright, shiny light at the end of a gloomy tunnel. I intend to enjoy every minute of it and I hope you do too.
Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
Still, I refuse to complain when I woke up this morning and saw the first sunrise in a week. It was nice to see the sun for a bit, albeit briefly. It even warmed up and the puppies got to frolic in the sunshine during our lunch hour.
The day was a quiet one. It ended with a happy hour after work. I hadn't planned on going since I tend to feel that I spend enough time in the office with my coworkers and I'd rather spend my free time with my puppies. Still, I was persuaded to go by a friend/coworker and I'm glad I did. There weren't too many of my coworkers there and I got to meet a couple of new people. And, in all honesty, as much as I love my puppies, they're not huge on conversation.
Though, when I got in, they were certainly talkative. I got told off, quite firmly, by Rory who hates it when I leave them. Of course, I was also greeted with excitement, enthusiasm and two furry bundles of puppy that dived on me the minute I walked in the house so I can take a little puppy-scolding.
The nicest part of the day is that tomorrow is Friday and that means a weekend. It's supposed to be rainy all weekend but I think that'll be ok. Even though my garden is a weedy mess and my grass grows quicker than I can mow it, there's plenty of stuff to do in the house. Next weekend, I have a houseguest for Memorial Day weekend- my good friend Saz who was supposed to come in February but couldn't make it because of the snow. We're not supposed to have snow next week so I think her trip is a go this time.
It's funny because I know if I don't clean, Saz won't care but there's something about guests that automatically sets off the alarm bells and you start thinking of places to clean that normally don't really exist in the scope of your awareness- the corners of the shower, for example. Are our toilets ever more clean than when guests come and stay?
Still, even if it's just cleaning, the weekend lies ahead like a bright, shiny light at the end of a gloomy tunnel. I intend to enjoy every minute of it and I hope you do too.
Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
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