Thanksgiving came and went. There was a food fight (Good aims so no mess on the floor or table ... of course, Sparky-dog may have been on vacuum patrol.) Much hollerin' about the "turkey hole" being covered[1] and a proclamation that "this was the best Thanksgiving I've every had!" All very nice but I have a sneaking suspicion that people were drunk.
Got the Tree-of-Trek up. Forgot a box of ornaments, they will go on tonight. Must sort through 5 boxes of miscellaneous decorations I don't use ... toss, donate, whatever. Time to de-clutter the storage items.
Hopefully by the end of the week I will have all cards done and mailed and the house decorated (I am a minimalist, but still, have stuff to put out) and will be able to relax.
Then it is onto the important stuff: WRITING. I. Must. Get. Disciplined!!
Passed up the opportunity to spend the day with a DAW author (in honor of those other DAW authors I know.) Her fault. Too much wind scared her off two weeks ago and I was pre-dated to spot a friend who was chain sawing a tree in her yard. (A wise move on her part. More than once I had to suggest she move before cutting as the branch would land where she was standing.)
Hope everyone had a pleasant holiday and a less-than-hectic holiday season ahead. Pause. Breathe deep. Enjoy the sensations of the season.
Love ya all.
[1] The turkey hole is that space where the turkey platter sat before it was passed around. Since it went last, it's space was filled in by peas, corn and mashed squash bowls.
This past summer a pair of door-to-door salesmen from Owens-Corning came by and I bought blown-in insulation. I waited until now to have it done so all the birds in the attic were gone. (They are fixing the soffets, too, so no more birds. I may invest in bird houses.) They blew the stuff in this morning and as I sat at the computer, warm warm warm air flowed down. Immediate difference. They should finish up soon and after this week, which promises to be COLD, I will try to decrease the thermostat a degree at all settings. (Have it higher than I might keep it because my mother, who is near 90, gets cold.)
Next is installing those under-the-door draft stoppers (as seen on TV ... and are waiting for me), and weatherstripping on said doors, and plastic on the screens on the screen doors and getting some insulated drapes up. (Have the drapes, need the rods.) So, we shall see what this does to reducing the heating bill. The installation dude said savings range from 28% to 68%. I'll take any of the above.
I feel the chill, but am not sure if it's just a factor of the weather or a result of the flu shot I got yesterday. I suspect it could be both as I have a cough, sore throat and would love to take a nap. (The Commonwealth has free flu shots for employees. I signed up, but didn't wait as I would be notified some time NEXT month when I could go for it ... and have to drive to Norristown's state facility to get it. I was at my doctor last night, he assured me it would be covered under my plan, I assured him I wasn't so sure but the shot alone can't be all that pricey. They're giving them at the local drug stores for $24. I have no problem paying for convenience.)
Live in the moment. Changes in the seasons remind me of how I don't do that. As the dog days roll in, I'm thinking of migrating geese; as the leaves turn golden, I'm dreading shoveling snow and dreaming of fleece blankets, hot tea and good books by lamp light. Years ago I was sitting at work and fussing "wish it were quitting time." A co-worker chastised me, "Don't wish your life away." What? Yeah, don't wish your life away. If we spend every waking moment wishing for the next one to come along, guess what, we don't experience life at all, only the ghost of what life might be ... so, live in the moment.
Moving along ... read Jim Hine's re-post of self-publishing, and the link that prompted it. What strikes me most is how so many people miss the point of self-publishing. It isn't about freedom of speech, artistic voices and their right to be heard ... it's about business. A writer, writes. They need only be concerned about the craft of writing and what that means. (Attention some of my friends who fancy themselves writers!) Publishing is not about writing, it's about business. It's a business that employs those who procure writings (editors -- wanting what they believe will sell, or perhaps just believe in and hope will sell; producers of books -- a technical thing involving printers and layout people and so on; marketing -- people promoting those books.) If you want to self-publish, you become a business person. You must become an editor, a supervisor of production, and a marketing agent. You may not be capable of being all these things ... and while a writer must learn something of self-editing, many writers are too close to their own work to do so effectively.
Guess I'm done. My knees hurt. Must sleep. Must work first. Bye.
Am in sight of paying off completely. Will move to my bank card, which, if I use it as a "credit card", though it is a check card, will pay my bank (card fees from stores) and pay me bonus points for usage.
Run-aways! On Sunday, Clark-the-cat escaped out the back door. Not good as he runs low and fast. He was captured by my neighbor Kathy_the_Geek (wow, he's big ... and soft) and tossed inside. More on this later.
I thought I had a break-through with Sparky dog recently. Had him out back with me, untethered (no leash.) The first two attempts were good. He stayed in eye sight, ate a few tomatoes, peed on the neighbor's fence, wandered about. Then Monday, it all changed. He took off for the highway and wouldn't even look back when I called his name. Argh!
I suspect it had to do with an earlier-that-day encounter with Molly-the-Maltese, his girlfriend. I think he was going to trot on down to her house. Normally I might trust him to do this, but he's easily distracted by shiny things with wheels: cars, bikes, skateboards ... and will chase them into the road if allowed.
Finally caught him, tossed him into the house, and Clark-the-cat slipped out (again!) Yikes! Small dogs who may or may not come when called are bad enough, cats who are indoor creatures and come-for-nothing are horrible. Fortunately, Clark is not used to the great outdoors and pauses. Visitors held him at bay until I could toss him inside. (Because he is, indeed, big.) Second day in a row for that big soft plug. Not liking this trend.
Next day, we did it all over again, only I had no shoes on and there was no one around to chase one while I chased the other. (Both Sparky AND Clark slipped out in tandem. I chased Clark first, as he comes-for-nothing, hollering to Sparky, "mom's going in now", and having him pause on his way to the highway.) Eventually they were both tossed inside and locked in their rooms. Yes, Sparky has his own room. Clark uses mine.
Now, Sparky I understand. He's a dumb dog who goes out everyday and would love to wander. What concerns me is why Clark is all-of-a-sudden deciding he needs to run away.
At this point in my career with the commonwealth I do not get oodles of vacation time. (Time off is equivalent to corporate persons. That will change in a year or two and I can't wait.) Because of this, I must plan, because I need to hold some off-time for bad weather days (as I travel.)
Part one of my vacation was a few days off in July to attend Shore Leave. Part two was a few days off to go to Atlantic City and see Thunder Over the Boardwalk, the big AC air show featuring the Thunderbirds.
The vacation started with a trip to the Franklin Institute to see the Star Trek Exhibit. As many of you may know, Star Trek: the Exhibit, began life as Star Trek: the Tour. It was a huge exhibit based first in Long Beach, California. Due to financial difficulties, it died and the props were put into storage. Last year at this time I went with some colleagues from my Trek group to Vegas to see the death throes of Star Trek: the Experience (worth the visit) and because the Tour, now named the Exhibit, had re-opened in San Diego, we took a day trip to the Air and Space Museum there to visit. I enjoyed it. It was small, and had too many models for my taste (as opposed to the others going who went FOR the models), but really liked some of the sets that were included: the original bridge, officer's quarters complete with corridor, Guardian of Forever, and the transporter pads from one of the series. We were told that this was only a portion of the whole from the Tour, that the exhibit had been broken into two-to-four parts (depending on the person you spoke with) and that the rest of the tour would be going out along its own roots.
The Philadelphia exhibit, called second on Memory Alpha, the only place to comment on the differences in tours, was indeed different. It seemed smaller, but could be a function of spacing at the museum. It included the Next Gen bridge, engineering and sick bay. It also had a wealth of costumes. I believe this is why I liked it better. It even had costumes from the new movie. Now, Kathy_the_Geek pointed out something very interesting (pays to go with a costumer.) The material used for the shirts and tunics in the new movie appeared to me to be some sort of waffled material. She noticed that it wasn't mere waffling, those waffles were mini trek insignia. Way cool. I also noticed that the actors for the new Trek seem larger, judging by the costumes, more normally sized. Some of the original series dudes were minuscule in comparison. (Note, noticed the same thing with the Star Wars costumes ... those people were about the size of my great grandmother, and I was wearing her dresses when I was nine--and I was a skinny-minny in my youth.) So, overall, happy. (Though no more simulators. Same story only they used the fighter pilot pod.)
The trip to AC was uneventful. I don't use the normal route and therefore avoided much traffic. The weather was perfect for the air show and we had a great location on the beach (under an umbrella with two chairs!) The room was fine but the people on our floor did not sleep, kept their TVs on all night and there was a whole lot of banging and yelling and you name it. The chair rental dude said we need to call the front desk in the future and they would move us. I hollered loud and insulted them. (I don't think they were in the rooms at that time, though they still left the TV on.)
Came home. Did laundry. Dog was happy to see me, but we are finding he needs to be sequestered during the day as when he gets tired, he gets over-stimulated and goes berserk. Cat went to the vet, is on injected pred (as he spits out pred pills) and his wheezing has stopped.
Head much improved. Guess the blood-on-brain is drained, or draining, the neurosurgeon seemed happy with the MRI. Nose bleeds today, more headaches. Must be sinuses. Oh well. Must make tomato soup with tomatoes in garden. Cook baby cook.
Now I visit LiveJournal (two sites including my own) and peruse the friends page for information.
Jim van Pelt posted about being overwhelmed with books and what to do with the overflow. Got me thinking ... Kathy_the_Geek ... is there some sort of clearing house of used, to-be-donated books out there? It seems that in these days of budget short-falls, and how libraries are often victim to budget cuts, a good, free-to-library program might be a good idea. List the books, the category of book (ie HC SF= Hard cover, science fiction) and book condition (E, G, or F ... anything less than fair should probably be tossed unless it falls into the rare book category.)
Which leads me to tossed books. We all hate to do that, but, is there an environmentally good way to clear these things out? Like shredding? Can book paper turn to methane with ease?
Done musing for now.
Not feeling well. That's the biggest excuse. About a month ago, started to get very bad headaches. Followed a swollen lip, felt like a tooth-gone-bad, shooting right up into my sinuses. Went to the dentist. X-rays, bite-this, tap-tap-tap, nothing. Went to the doctor. Let's try a sinus infection. Antibiotics, a new nasal spray. No change. (Well, the spray did do something. Twice my sinus let loose with a gush of much liquid.) Actually, pain got worse. Let's try prednisone and here, have a CAT scan. Got a call back the next day. Stop the prednisone and see a neurologist and have another CAT scan in a week or two. There was fluid on my brain.
Pain got worse, so I sent to the ER. Another CAT scan and they told me to see a neurosurgeon, and here, take these pain pills. I took one. It really didn't take away the pain, and I felt like double crap. No more pills, decided that maybe I was sleeping too much (I get brain buzz if I sleep too much) and the pain subsided. Resumed taking coffee in the morning (had stopped at doctor's request) and that also helped. Saw the neurosurgeon. There is still fluid on the brain. The first CT scan showed bleeding, but that was gone by the second. The fluid pool had not grown, and is consistent with head trauma. Alas, there is no recollection of trauma. I will be getting an MRI and an MRA and some blood work. After the neurosurgeon goes over his list of "maybe this" I suppose it will be an ENT guy who will evaluate me for sinus issues.
90-in-90 update: Okay, got 45 in 90. Brain exploded, but the story has not come crashing to a halt. There is story percolating inside my head and I will resume shortly, perhaps 90-in-180 instead.
Garden: Yup, planted way too much in a small space. Have zucchinis and tomatoes now, and the squash is growing. I think all the lettuce went to seed and ate some beans (I ate the beans, not the lettuce ate the beans.) Peppers are tall, but no little peppers.
Shore Leave: Just returned. Went with low expectations and was not disappointed. Picardo and Phillips were very entertaining, but the rest, well, not exciting. The science panels were good. Sat in on one about the Japanese mission to an asteroid. There are some exciting things afoot there. Ann Crispin had a free writer's panel which I attended. Very informative, and it gave me the incentive to get my novel whipped up, at least the first chapter. I was able to work out how to get the thing started. She is doing a book (commissioned by Disney) about Jack Sparrow's start as a pirate. Read some. Very entertaining.
Missed my friends Bev and Paula. For years Paula has been talking about quitting her vendor gig and finally, this was the year. The garden room was not the same without her. Actually, it was nothing like I remember, none of the specialty vendors were there. (Generic vendors, well, they all look the same to me.) Actually, attendance was greatly down. I think the recession had something to do with it, and frankly, a lot of the fans are getting way old and infirm. Oh well.
Did get to relax (not swim, sadly, water way too cold this year.) Back to the grind tomorrow.
First, I'm in awe of those people who post daily, or more so. I just don't have the energy. I'm trying to get the energy to do the stuff I've set out to do, like ...
Writing. The 90 in 90 has screeched to a halt. Not a dead stop, as in stopping, but a slow down as my brain readjusts. I think a lot of it has to do with discipline. I need some. The writing process has been good to date and I am amazed at how much my brain starts to percolate when I exercise its creative muscles.
Gardening. Got a lawn mower. It's very nice except it arrived gimpy. One of the height adjustment levers is bent and won't engage so the right rear wheel drops to the lowest setting. A real mess for mowing high grass as it gives my lawn a beveled cut and I can't use the mulching feature. Right now it's set on low setting all around and the grass is low enough to not clog the thing. The new parts have arrived and hopefully this weekend will see a correction to the problem.
Also, got a raised vegetable garden in. Got two 2x12x12 planks and created a 3x6 foot garden. It is crammed full of tomatoes, sweet peppers, radishes, lettuce, herbs, bush beans, zucchini and winter squash. Still waiting for the squash to come up. Have a mini greenhouse going with lettuce, brussel spouts and more winter squash. Hope to also get a second garden up this weekend. (Next year I will put in a third and final garden in the space just off the patio, and a 12x12 square at the lower end of the yard for corn and squash.) Right now I'm waiting for the sprouts to get big enough for me to figure out which are plants and which are weeds.
Work. Is going well, but the governor has said that if they don't get a budget by July 1, we will work but not get paid. Not sure how much I like that, I guess it depends on how long the impasse goes on and how fast they make up back pay once a budget does get passed.
Reading. What's that. But, the good news is ... summer. In summer I find more time to sit out back, relax, read, and enjoy the yard. I am amazed at how many people in my neighborhood don't enjoy their yards. The only time I see them out there is when they are mowing. So, what's the point.
Sparky-dog has a girlfriend, a little Maltese up the street. He lets her lick his belly, then sits on her head. True love. They play well together, run a lot, and hopefully wear themselves out, though I have yet to see that. (Lots of panting, not a lot of slowing down.)
Oops, posted this baby before I finished. (I had to pull some trash out of Sparky's mouth. He's a regular goat.)
Star Trek. Saw the movie. Three times. Each time a different venue(?). The first was IMAX. Very crisp, very big, too big and in your face. Could count nose hairs. The sound was crisp also, perhaps the best of all three. Traditional film. What can I say, we've all seen traditional film. DPL, digital projection. Traditional size, but very crisp image. The sound, fine, not as good as IMAX.
Loved the film. After the first viewing, was impressed with the re-introduction of the characters, pleased with how the reboot was handled. For me, reboot is a dirty word. It usually means the new producer/director thinks they know better than the original how to get the story told. Often, they don't. It also suggests that the original was flawed or wrong. Abrams didn't do that. His reboot paid homage to the original, keeping its memory intact and "pronouncing it good." It also offered a new timeline for new stories with old friends.
Yes, the plot flaws were abundant. I'd give the movie 3.5 stars out of 4, broken down this way, 6 out of 4 for characters and 1 out of 4 for story.
I wasn't sure I needed to see it again, but I did. I was more impressed the second time around, those characterizations were dead on, loved them, so much so that I didn't care about the plot flaws. Finally, the third time round. Guess what, liked it more and this time, I didn't really CARE about the plot flaws, what flaws, no problems. Now, having said that, I think it might have been a better story line to weave in those pesky Suliban. I don't really like many of the Enterprise era story lines, but since these issues were treated as canon, why not explain this alternate reality WHILE closing the loop on that fiasco?
Oh well. Might see it again.
So, this is my May post. Time to clean the bathroom.
My inspirations:
(1)The 38 Most Common Mistakes Writers Make, mistake #1: they don't write.
(2) NaNoWriMo's spewing forth of 50,000 words in 30 days: losing your inner critic
(3) Holly Lisle's Plot Clinic: ways to wake the muse and make it work for you.
Item (1) suggests 250 words per day (one page of classic MS typing.) This would produce a novel length manuscript in one year. Not a bad output. Problem? It would be a lot of crap and need much revision, evoking that inner critic who sabbotages.
Item (2) demands word production of nearly 1600 words per day. My exercise so far shows that I have limited sprints of 2000+ words, days where my brain says 'wake me in a week', and a word average of 1000-1200 on days I write in a stretch of writing.
Item (3) shows how to structure the plot-thinking process. Holly's questions work well for me, so ...
I spent 30 days writing scene cards. Now, I have NO idea how long my typical scene is, still don't and I've been writing on this a while, but the cards work as an informal outline and I will be forced to come back and evaluate this work based on other questions Holly wants the writer to ask, but I am writing.
So far I have produced 31,000 (comparing this to the 30,000 my plan guide suggests.) Will not celebrate yet, I'm still in the zone and I still have a good idea of where I want to go, but danger lies ahead in getting cocky ... I shall keep on writing.
What I have is 31,000 words of near crap. Some of it is bloat, some of it is wordy outline, all of it moves the story along in some sad, ugly word way. Every now and again, though, there are magical passages, the sort of writing that evokes the sensation of story that I am going for, where words are invisible and you can see the characters moving toward you from the fog. More musing when the next 30K milestone is reached.
Other news: Sparky ate the inedible and needed surgery. They say they also fixed a hernia, but he still looks herniated to me. He will be muzzled indoors when he goes on a vacuum cleaning run. (He is small and gets into tiny tight places. I have found my shoes, which are nearly as big as he, stuffed in areas I can barely reach.)
Clark and Morgan are fine. Clark scared himself by turning on the litter maid while he was in it. Stood on the power button because he didn't want to touch the litter. (It was off for a clean by me.) Clark spends many hours between 10pm and midnite in Sparky's crate because he goes into insane cat mode just as I hit the sack. (Sparky has a bedroom of his own, Clark sleeps with me.) The two hours of chill time in the can calms him down and the meewing and rattling of bars is enough to rouse me so I can turn him loose (and Sparky's crate is much larger than the cat carrier known as Clark County jail, being the toddler crate of my sister's Bernese Mountain dog.)
Ah, what a way to celebrate. Across the country people pay homage to Jim by giving money to the country of his birth.
That IS why we do that, isn't it?
Happy Birthday JIM!
Second, a big grrr to Sparky for hopping on my keyboard as I was typing this and hitting the escape key.
The Neti Pot
I'd first heard of this process 25 years ago. About 15 years ago, my brother expounded on it. Sounded useful, but was never able to figure out how to make it work. A week ago, the local news station did an article on how to reduce the irritation of seasonal allergies, sinus issues, colds, etc, using the Neti Pot ... aha, the solution.
The Neti pot is a means that allows you to flush your sinuses with a warm saline solution. (Another grrr to Sparky.) One was fairly easy to track down, local drug store, and I used it this afternoon. Miraculous.
Now, I confess to an addiction to nose sprays. Got yelled at by the pharmacist for it once. Sprays can ultimately cause more harm than good, but I also need to breathe, so I ignored the warnings and, yup, found I needed to use the spray more often (and then there are the headaches.) This morning, I did not use any spray, but instead, the Neti Pot and I've been breathing well since.
Well, this is a one day test. Time will tell. My sister, who is much afflicted by allergies, sinus problems, and cannot use sprays as her sinuses are damaged, swears by the Neti Pot. My brother just sniffs water. (That never worked for me.)
So, this is my ode to the Neti Pot.
One of the joys of LJ is that friends lists make keeping track of many people so easy. If someone isn't friended by me, well, I can often find them when I view the friends postings on other blogs. Because Specul8ns is gathering so many of the old RMers, I probably won't add any new friends who are also on Specul8ns because it would be like double-dipping.
Specul8ns' friends listings go back a ways, but as there are so many people added now, it doesn't take long for a post to disappear into the mist. For this reason, I am reposting the following here. It's a reply from Kent to my Twitter post, but it's really for everyone out there. (Might add it to the webpage, tomorrow perhaps.)
"Great to find everybody alive and kicking. You guys all look great, and dang, look at all those sales! I'm so proud I'm a little bit verklempt!
So far all we're doing with Speculations is tracking folks down; most seem to have settled around LiveJournal, with a minority on Twitter. There's absolutely no reason why you should have to mess with Twitter if you don't want to; I've got LJ and Twitter widgets for the Speculations family running on the main page at http://speculations.com right now.
I like Twitter -- see http://twitter.com/speculations -- because it's uncomplicated and reaches a very large audience; I like LiveJournal because it's a much tighter community that allows for greater self-expression. If anything else comes along we'll heat it right up.
--Kent"
Saw Watchmen last night. Parts of it were spectacular, but two thoughts ran through my head. (1)It was as if Neil Gaiman had rewritten the Tick. That might be a bit harsh, and might reflect my "not getting it", which leads me to ...(2)I don't get it. Was there a point? And then I realized that it was missing (to me), the number one thing comic books/graphic novels have ... a theme. Maybe there was one, but I couldn't tell you what it was. Again, parts were spectacular, and even all the violence.
http://twitter.com/home
Of course now I need to figure out how to use Twitter.
Current: Sparky-dog got neutered. He was due and hopefully this will stop his desire to mark his territory (in the house). He's basically house-broken, but new boxes and stuff are invitations to lift the leg.
A Year Ago: Changes. Feb 13 was the date I settled on the new home, Feb 16 we moved in. March 8 the Rumor Mill closed and March 17 my condo sale was final.
The move was a blessing, I love the new house and am glad I no longer live in the old neighborhood. Whenever I need to drive that way I'm overwhelmed by the traffic and the noise. The Rumor Mill closing is another matter. Yes, it has moved me into the modern age of blogging, but one-stop-shopping for my writing needs and writer friends was nice. I look back and realize that my litany of daily internet hits has diminished. Gone is the Rumor Mill, gone is Miss Snark, gone is startrek.com. Right now I hit my blog, read my friends list, hit trek nation, Pub Rants ... and well, email.
5 Years Ago: I was happily working at Tyco (formerly Quad Systems) but aware that those days were numbered. I'd begun researching new career options and packing my desk. (Okay, that was way pre-mature, it was another 2 years before I had to say good-bye ... and a year later that the plant packed up and moved. Have heard that most of those that survived that are also gone, too. It was a good run.)
10 Years Ago: Just began my job at Quad Systems. Hired for a 2 week gig and after the first day was offered a position. It was a good company, with good people. I will remember them always.
15 Years Ago: I was probably starting a job at CoreStates bank. Again, a temp position where a job was created for me. The day I decided it was the place I wanted to make a career there, the news hit the wire, First Union had bought them and my job would be history within the year.
20 Years Ago: Working at Allegro making computer chips. Whereas Quad/Tyco was a great job, this was, well, I'll quote a co-worker. An agnostic co-worker came to me one day and proclaimed he believed there was a God. I asked him why the change of heart. He turned, pointed, and said, because I have seen Satan and his office is in that corner over there.
25 Years Ago: Lived in Chicago. Enough said. (brrr)
30 Years Ago: Lived in Southern California. Loved it. Not sure why I ever left. Still have good friends there, still have fond memories.
35 Years Ago: Graduated from BU (years are getting approximate now) with a degree in geology and no place to use it.
40 Years Ago: Graduated from high school (ish) ... and that is as far back as I am willing to go.
It was a busy year for me. A good one, too. I entered the year just two months into a new job. The job is going well, I've "graduated" from trainee to real state employee (not a given in this field as my "class" found out.) Even got assigned a second type of tax to audit. My mother went from hospital to nursing home to assisted living to hospital to nursing home to assisted living to hospital, the new year finding her back in a nursing home with no assisted living willing to take her. We got the meds figured out (over-medicated, causing dementia-like behaviors.)
Bought a house. Like the house. Have plans. Love pools so I've been checking them out. Very "cool" trainer spas that could be used year-round ... starting near #30,000. Err, no thanks. I could buy a place in Florida for that. Above ground pools? An option, but still, adding on the township fees, fencing, (decking if I do it the way I'd like), well, pushing $7,000. Still way to pricey for my budget. (Right now my budget is geared toward gaining internal storage/furniture for my de-cluttering scheme and paying off the mortgage. Why give the bank $100,000 in interest over the years when I can give them $10,000. $90,000 can buy a nice house in Florida. Hmm, maybe even a house and not a modular home.) Anyway, found some nice prices on those easy set pools, you know, those big blue "blow up" rimmed pools. Right now I could get a 15' x 4' complete set (pool, ladder, filter, cover, ground cover and maint kit) for #170 at Amazon ... and, it seems they make these salt water filters for them that eliminate the need for daily chemical treatments ... actually, all chemical treatments. Just add table salt. This add-on can be found for $180. Shipping, of course, ups the price by 1/3 but for $500 or so I'll have summer fun in my yard. The down side? Need to prep the lawn. Need LEVEL spot. I have some levelish spots, and I was planning on landscaping, so, auger, hard work and lots of sand (which this clay soil needs anyway) is in my future. (And a floating chair where I can FINALLY read that pile of books that is growing on my nightstand.)
Found a dog. He's adjusting. Sleeps through the night, whining is minimal (at dawn when the cats get fed, he's ready to move -- eat their breakfast.) Cats and he are getting along better, they "play" now. Morgan grows, Sparky circles. Clark chases, Sparky runs to my ankles. I think it will even out over time. Clark wants to play, they need to discover that zone where cats and dogs can think "alike".
Reminder: Rumor Mill link site http://www.geocities.com/ye_olde_rmers
I have created a vanilla, links only, webpage where all interested parties can post links to their webpages and blogs. You can see it here: http://www.geocities.com/ye_olde_rmers
I'll probably twiddle the code for a bit until I'm happy with the look, but it won't be fancy. I am mutually friended to only a few old RMers, so spread the word, and link, and hopefully we can get a full complement up there.
- Mood:
melancholy
Prior to the big day(s), I was doing some wine shopping in New Britain, when I realized just how depressing LAST Christmas was. Of course, last year, I was just too busy to notice.
Last year mom was at an assisted living place (near the liquor store, hence the realization.) The day after Christmas, she wound up in the hospital (again ... four hospital visits within 6 months; three stays at nursing homes and two stints in assisted living.) By Christmas she was over-medicated, suffering from a blood infection, wheel-chair bound and totally unmotivated to improve. The $10K/month nursing home fee which came when her medicare ran out in January is what drove me to push my house hunting plans forward. It worked out well. I have a great house on a great lot with, yes, great neighbors.
Mom started to improve within days, going from demanding we push her everywhere in her chair to walking from her bedroom to the living room. Today she walks, with walker, everywhere, cooks, cleans, gets herself in and out of bed, in and out of the bathroom, no special needs. She even was able to walk up the stairs to my sister's house. I think my sister was over-joyed. Last year, my sister was hanging up on me whenever I called to discuss what care mom needed, today she's wishing her mother-in-law would improve. Alas, I sometimes think nursing homes take the path of least resistance ... they medicate the elderly into dementia-like states and insist they use the easiest (for the caregiver) method of mobility, which is often the wheelchair. I'm sure this makes the PT and OT workers insane, as it undermines their work, and it does no good for the elderly. Use it or lose it. A truth.
So anyway, it was a better year all around, but it amazes me that it took me a year to realize how bad last year was. I suppose, when you're out-of-your-mind busy, you don't have time to notice feelings.
Sparky found a kumquat. And lost it under the chair. It sucks to be Sparky. Oh wait, he does suck. He's a vacuum.
He roams the house, nose to floor, sucking up everything in his path. Except dog kibble, of course. He's particularly fond of cat turds from the litter box. The only good thing, from the cat's perspective, is that it forces me to clean the cat box OFTEN.
Now, given that I've already determined that Sparky is 8 pounds of bladder and 1 pound of bladder command and control (he's a nine pound dog), I assume his gullet is some kind of white hole thingy, where stuff goes in and some sort of event horizon compaction comes out.
Onto TV. We are heading into the lull at the end of the year. I must re-evaluate my TV watching because, frankly, the current schedule eats up way too much precious time (for reading and writing). I think for now it'll be Chuck, Suvivor, Biggest Loser, CSI and Numbers and NCIS is OnDemand. I've given up on Heroes. The last episode left me completely confused. I have NO idea what's going anymore, or why, and I don't care. (It's a lesson to all writers about having some idea of the story line BEFORE you get into the story and a lesson to TV writers about the dangers of the "reboot". If you feel the need to reboot, either you had no story to begin with, lost the story you started with, or need to write your own, original, story.)
The holidays loom. Took yesterday off from work mostly because they were promising extreme icing on the highways. There wasn't, not down here, but it worked out. Got all of my Christmas stuff wrapped and this morning finished by obtaining the last two items. Also, got a DENT into the wrapping of my mother's stuff. For weeks now she's been having me get paper and tape and ribbon so she could wrap. Did she? No. She couldn't find the stuff (which was all where she put it the day I brought it home.) So I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped and it's still not done and she has more crap she wants wrapped and, well, she's getting some of the clutter out by handing it off to relatives. (Half the clutter came from same relatives who, rather than giving gifts one could use or consume, gave the very crap she's giving back.)
Have decided NOT to make New Years resolutions, but will make a list of things to do around the house:
OUTSIDE
caulk the brickwork along seams
replace the screening under the eaves to keep the birds out of the attic
landscape (read: wild flowers) the back forty (yards) and put in a dry pond and patio area (primitive, some pavers and maybe a fire pit and chair, under the weeping willow, which is about 6 feet tall now, but should grow)
plant a few more berry bushes
construct a raised garden outside the back door and a corn garden near the back forty (that and the landscaping will be easy if I rent an auger/turner machine and turn peat and sand into the clay.)
INSIDE
obtain/construct some doored storage shelves to act as a partial wall divider in the "cave" (a converted garage)
de-clutter, which will happen quickly if I do the above.
So, there you have it for December. Everyone, have a great holiday season.
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