Friday minutia

Last work vacation day of my holiday-vacation week. In the time leading up to it I had started a list of possible things I wanted to do, some more specific then others. I was up to 26 items when I left work last Friday... so far I've done 2 and a half. I'm at a lost how to explain it but I'm not surprised, even my annual camp vacation works out that way. One of the done items is I started my terrarium hobby. It has only been a year since coming up with that idea. After mentioning it I received Christmas gifts of a how to book about starting a terrarium and a gift card for a local greenhouse to buy plants and materials. A year later and I made some of those purchases and yesterday did my first "desert" open top terrarium. Needs a little work and I need the practice. In the long run I'll gravitate to more woodsy types. The other full item was to donate blood, did that Tuesday. They were giving out long sleeve American Red Cross T-shirts and I'll get a $10 for going in the day that I did. I would have gone in anyway seeing how I had the time but had the chance to pick a day that it was offered. The half part was just kind of a whiff of several things from the list. Not on the list was a given - read the latest Expanse book "Persepolis Rising" by James S. A. Corey. I think it's the 7th book in the series. Great read though I doubt I'll finish it before return to reality next week.

Since Tuesday the temperatures have dropped to the single and negative digit cold with wind chills adding another negative 10 to 20 below. Yesterday I bundled up to clear ice and snow that had fallen over the weekend onto my truck - took at least 2 hours including breaks to go in to warm up to keep the fingers and toes from getting frost bitten. This morning with a fairly de-iced truck and two 5-gal buckets I drove to the town salt barn to replenish my supply of salt and sand depleted after Saturday's freezing rain used on the driveway and parking area. Good to go for the next ice storm that I hope we don't have.

Ian and Ali will be arriving here in a couple of hours or so to spend the weekend with us. Time to peel the shrimp for scampi. Tomorrow it's off to the postponed Christmas get together for my side of the family so we'll close the book on that. As usual where does the time go when you are on vacation?

Christmas week vacation

Been on holiday/vacation since Saturday and finally doing a blog. Going back in time a little to mid December it seemed the stars were lined up for an incredible run on extended family Christmas get togethers finishing with a quiet Christmas at home. Saturday with my side at Mom's apartment facility's function room that we reserved for the occasion. Sunday brunch with Carol's side at our house. Unusual to be able to schedule all this on consecutive days. So the week preceding this the forecast for Saturday became an all day freezing rain. Well my siblings and I hedged at postponing as our sons, daughters, nieces and nephews and their families turnout was looking to be very good. Then Friday morning we received news that our niece Jen who was pregnant with twin boys and husband Adrian had gone into labor early, by a month and a half! Doing well. So brother Dave and Carolyn would be staying close to Jen, Adrian and the twins who are in Massachusetts. At that point between their family's absence and the deteriorating road conditions that would take place on Saturday we decided to postpone to the following Saturday with whoever can make it breaking up the dream weekend.

Sunday was a beautiful day, bright and sunny, the yard and driveway were icy. Ian had come up from Kittery the night before, Ali staying at her parents for family/church activities. After breakfast Ian and I were out breaking up ice and sanding down the driveway before the guests arrived and Carol preparing some cooking and setting up the dining, etc. Once everyone was here much talking, munching, drinks ensued followed by a sit down feast of a variety goodies from everyone with several favorites that are yearly staples.

Gift exchanging came afterward, lots of fun there, always a great time. After everyone had left Carol, Ian and I had our own gift exchange between ourselves with Ian leaving soon after to rejoin Ali for Christmas at his in-laws.

Christmas Day, Carol, the cat and me. Pretty low key, checked out the gifts we received, some Facebook time. Did not do our usual day long movie trilogy, just weren't feeling it this year. Maybe this weekend. Snowed about 12" from early morning into late afternoon. Nice not to have to travel. Once it stopped snowing we went out to clean up the driveway, deck and pathways. Ian and Ali are coming up to spent the weekend with us. Saturday is a go for my side of the family to get together. Looks like we will dodge a storm system coming toward the coast.

A lot to be thankful for: family, well being, job issue settled, a white Christmas. The twins are in a special care unit for about a month as their lungs develop otherwise in great health, made from good stuff.

Time to hunker in for a long winter.

It's starting to look a lot like...

Winter but if it was a couple of weeks from now I'd say Christmas. Snow started falling around 1 pm, I was able to get a few remaining items around the yard to where they will spend the winter. Finally dragged out the snowthrower, reset the shoes, put some gas in and fired it up. Forgot to check the oil level so I'll need to do that after it's warmed up in the morning when I go into snow removal mode. The best things about this snowfall is that it's the weekend and we did not have a need to go out and drive somewhere, did that earlier today. After breakfast tomorrow the snow will have pretty much come to an end and I can begin the cleanup and finish up in plenty of time for Carol to meet up with her sisters and mother for a trip to the Ikea in Massachusetts. By then the roads between here and there should be in good shape. Cherish the timing because more often than not most snowfalls happen on work days.

Back to the cube farm

So it's nice being back at work not that I wouldn't mind taking another week off. That will have to wait for Christmas week. In the meantime I have a conference poster to finish, in-house holiday do-das to create, two retirements coming up that I'll work up some sort of photo montages of them through the years for their years of employment here (buggers are younger than I am for Christmas sake). Large format cubical wall calenders that a lot of the staff like to pin to a cube wall and plan out their projects and schedules on. Then there may be some sort of holiday staff party that will need banners and such. Who knows I may even get some project and/or proposal work to do. December usually does get a little wacky.

The rest of the story

Paid Holiday No. 1 and 2 Friday leading into Saturday. Ah, Thanksgiving Day for us was at Ali's parents Mandy and Victor home in New Hampshire along with her brother Victor John, our Ian and Victor's extended family. Carol and I drove the two hour trip earlier afternoon, checked in at a local hotel and arrived by 2:30. Social time in the rec room with appetizers and hors d'oeuvres galore, a pool table, beers/wine/Scotches and the first of three football games on television. Good conversations, multiple partnered pool games, dinner was ready around 5:30, very well done by Mandy. Multiple pies and ice cream selections before a card game was started. I watched that, couldn't remember the name and didn't catch on with the playing of it. Very enjoyable visit and the time to catch up with Mandy and Victor who we'd last seen at Christmas. Afterward it was back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep before driving to Boston Friday to visit the Fine Arts Museum there.

Up somewhat early, took the time to take in a very nice complementary breakfast buffet at the hotel then made the one and a half hour drive into Boston. It as been a long time since the last time we were in one of the great metropolitan museums (London, 2001). Quite overwhelming and of course a lot of ground to cover. We were able to see most of it with a break for lunch but after two floors of the Arts of America we were toast for the last two. There were a couple of smaller exhibits we didn't get to either.

From there we drove to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and spent the night there. Pretty crazy place as they had a tour bus full of people from New Brunswick, Canada on a Christmas shopping spree staying overnight. Talked with some of them, they did this trip every year. Another nice complementary breakfast buffet yesterday morning then we headed for the business district for a little Christmas shopping of our own followed by the trip home.

It's been a pretty good week, should do it more often.

Dancing in the rain

Paid day off No. 3, the last for the week, tomorrow and Friday I move into paid holiday status. Today's activities began at the dealership where bought my car from. I brought new snow tires and had them installed. Arrived at the scheduled time of 7am, was told it would take an hour and half. Should have asked when I scheduled it, might have had the shuttle service drop me off some where. Well I'd brought a book with me so that didn't seem to be too bad. I also was having nitrogen installed in the tires. A little after two and half hours the work was done. I like reading but not that long in a waiting room thank you very much. Paid up and took off, rain that had been forecasted had started, grabbed a snack and coffee for the drive to the gym, got a good workout then went in search of a winery I heard had an excellent cranberry wine to purchase for Thanksgiving day dinner Carol and I are attending. I reach the region where I thought the winery was I could not find the landmarks or sign that I had passed several times over the last 10 years or more - turned out to having gone out of business. Not helpful. Called it a day then went home. Looking forward to some sunny weather tomorrow and into the weekend.

Dare to be boring

Paid day off No. 2 for the week. Fully intended to get to the gym this morning drop off items at thrift store with a followup to the transfer station (actually the bulky waste facility). Fortunately I decided to check the hours of operations and found out that bulky waste was closing at noon. Change of plans, instead of go to gym/thrift store come home load truck, go to bulky waste it was load truck, go to balky waste, come home load items for thrift store, drop off come home, sort more stuff. Nothing too exciting but the weather was splendid and I had nice day with it all. Tomorrow I step up the excitement.

No sunscreen required

Paid day off No. 1 for the week. I may not be going to some exotic getaway but I am being paid for not being in the office and that is special in it's own way. As far as how I spent it, well I began with a quick tasty breakfast, casually prepared and left for the gym for a workout, grabbed a coffee and snack afterward. Stopped at the grocery store for trash bags and a Guinness 6 pack, forgot a bottle of wine. Correct that mistake tomorrow. Arrived at home and began clearing out things to be tossed out on a trip to the transfer station. Mostly from the garage attic. Needed to sort out things I could drop off to the a local thrift store. Also removed and stashed the deck railings for easier snow removal this winter - El Nina is coming don't you know?!? Did get in some quality reading time. Didn't feel like taking a nap though I had planned to. Kind of sounds like training for retirement. Well you can never start too soon.

Rainy Sunday

The streak of fair weather weekends has come to an end with the arrival of precipitation yesterday evening forecasted to continue through the rest of today. Good a time as any for the plans we have. Yesterday Carol picked up her mother, Margaret for the day from Lois' then they went her church's holiday craft fair after which came to our house for the day. I had been doing some of cleanup in the garage and putting away summer outdoor stuff as planned. Plenty more to do over the next several days before Thanksgiving Day. Early in the afternoon Ian and his dog Io arrived for an overnight visit. After some relaxation time we convened for coffee and a snack over a few rounds of Dominoes before Carol returned Margaret to Lois'. Our Netflix DVD movie was "Arrival" starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker. Some good discussions points after. Thumbs up from the three of us. Mostly light stuff to do today, computer time, football games, reading - Ian and Io are doing a wet walkabout in the back field and maybe beyond. No complaints today.

On the brink of sanity, be that as it may

On vacation next week with the Thanksgiving Day holiday approaching. I'll start by meeting up with a buyer for some winter tires we have for a previously owned Subaru. A few bucks in the pocket that will come in handy for some of our plans next week. Still have plenty to do to be ready for winter including buying snow tires for the new car. I'll get those mounted next week. Also need to download a new book. Let me know if you cannot keep up. Trust me there will be more to write about next week.

Nothing to see here, move along

No real accumulation with yesterday's snowfall. Most of it in the driveway and lawn had pretty much melted away. The deck still had about an inch of slush hanging on. Brought the snow scoop out from the garage attic and plowed that off to the side. Maybe some rain and possible flurries later in the week. Still a lot to do to be ready for winter at it's best though the forecast this weekend is on the damp/rainy side but I'm planning on taking the three days before Thanksgiving day off to make it a week plus of time off from the cube farm. Should get caught up with it all by then. Carol and I have some plans for the hoilday part of the week and the weekend that follows. Looking forward to it.

A shot across the bow

Another good year with the deck - had to end sometime...

Late afternoon today and kept snowing lightly into the evening. I could have waited a couple more weeks for the first snow.

Baby it's cold outside

Quite the chill in the air over the past week. Maybe its my age that I went straight to a heavier jacket with an extra layer underneath. Carol ordered me a pair of lined twill cargo pants to get me between warm places, much appreciated. One of those warm places is the office. I've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks and quite challenged at that. Besides some work from in-house staff there has been graphics support work for a couple of proposals in California , two tech conference 8ft x 3ft posters for 2 attendees from Pennsylvania offices. The week before I worked for one of our Australian offices for a government client. A little awkward when I'm coming into the office when they are getting ready for bed. It was a little hectic at times but after having gone through some lean weeks earlier I am not complaining though true be told I did get frustrated at times.

Not quite the Stone Age

A much herald rain and wind event arrived as forecasted overnight Sunday followed by the power going out at 4:15 Monday morning – the wind is the key part in the equation. Power outages were anticipated. Soon after Carol and I got up to get the generator fired up, I had set it up the previous evening night in the breezeway that connects the house to the garage and had the wiring set aside until hooking up when needed. That took care of the fridge, boiler and some general stuff around the house. At 8am there were nearly 80,000 homes in my county without power, 286,000 in southern Maine. By Tuesday we were into the routine of using the generator when we got up in the morning, shutting down to go to work then back up again when returning home. Cleaned out the refrigerator, tossed a lot and put the meats and other perishables in several coolers with ice from the convenience store on the way home that had power. Add in a couple of trips to fill my gas cans to keep the generator running. When Carol returned home Thursday afternoon the power was on – and we were back to civilization again.

Where did they go?

The birds. It seems like about a month and a half ago most of them were gone. The only one around seems to be the Woodpecker. In the last four or five years that I've been feeding them in the back yard there has been a steady population around the core groups being the Morning Doves and the Chickadees. Then there has been some Bluejays stopping by now and then, Cardinals, Hummingbirds, Wrens, Cowbirds, Catbirds, Juncos, Tufted Titbirds etc. Granted some of them are migratory and we did have a couple of early fallest cool spells but the Morning Doves and the Chickadees have been a constant. So I have taken down all the feeders and will give them all a good soak and scrub next weekend then see who shows up as the weather turns cooler with winter approaching.

Anybody here?!?

Hi, thanks for checking in. Excuse the dust, I have been remiss in maintaining the place. Time to clear out the cobwebs and such then we can get on with it.

The recent past - mostly nothing bad. I hope to do some "looking back" blogs for the record.

As for the now I am home alone as Carol, her sisters and mother are in Texas visiting their brother Greg, wife Beverly and their son Johnny as they make their assault thorough some of the wine regions of the Longhorn State. Meanwhile here on Ledge Hill my cat Scotia occasionally deems to grace me with her presence, usually pressing for her breakfast/dinner and with the temperatures still quite mild for the season she spends her evenings and nights outside.

I came home early today to prepare the camper for winter storage at the usual location. That will mark the beginning of six months until we see it again in April. Everything tucked in and hooked up to the truck.

For the weekend I have two Netfix DVD's. Both movies of little or no interest to Carol so it's a good time to catch up on them. Tonight "Resident Evil - The Final Chapter", tomorrow night "Wonder Women". Carol enjoys a lot of action movies with and without women in on the action, these two movies though not so much.

Well, I shouldn't over do it, maybe I'll be back sooner than later.

Labor Day Weekend, with speed bumps

End of the summer so it's off to Southwest Harbor on Mt Desert Island for Labor Day weekend. Same campground as usual, Smugglers Den. Lois and Jim are here also. Carol and I have been looking forward to getting back to Mt Desert Island unfortunately we had a couple of obstacles before making it here. First one appeared before getting out of the yard. After getting most every thing loaded up on board the camper I hopped into the truck to hookup the camper to... tickity, tickity, tickity, tickity... battery dead!?! No time to mess with it - removed the battery got in the car and down into Windham, stopped at auto parts store, swapped the old bought a new one, installed the new one - OK ready to start again. Carol had gotten home from work, a few more things to do and an hour behind schedule but we were on the road. Zipping up the Interstate as much as one can hauling a trailer, making good time a thudding sound catches out attention - glance out the passenger side mirror shows a plume of gray and a chunk of the camper's decorative trim flapping in against the siding. On the verge panic, traffic heavy around us I signal onto the breakdown lane breaking as I go and come to a stop beyond a highway entrance ramp. Cautiously getting out of the cab Carol and I meet at the back end of the trailer cars and trucks whipping by at least doing 70 mph plus feeling the camper sway as the larger vehicles pass by a few feet away. Well, the back tire of  the two on the right side had blown and the piece of loose trim had dragged away some of a slideout's wiring before before disappearing far behind us.

Called our road service, said the RV was not covered on our plan. We had not even thought about before but they sent someone out to change the tire. Something I'd done before but under the circumstances without our heavy duty jack we figured let a pro handle it. The expose wiring turned out not to be damage so I bunged it up to a cross bar. Once that was over we made to the campground after dark and were able to setup enough to call it a day. supped on crackers cheese, hummus and wine then hit the sack.

Like Memorial Day weekend we had taken Thursday off extending the entire weekend a bit, the weather though has been on the cool side, not bad when we are on the move. Friday dropped off the blown tire with the rim to a local tire shop for replacement. later we met up with Lois and Jim for at a local cafe for lunch where we met Ryan a grandson of a great uncle of Carol and Lois. Later was happy hour at 2nd cousin John and Linda's as is a regular event when visiting the island. While there I received a call that my tire was ready so made the trip to pick it up and put behind us. I'll replace the spare once we get back home. Pretty much the same as Memorial Day weekend.

Yesterday Carol I drove back to the mainland to check out a portion of Acadia National Park on Schoodic Point. Large scenic rocky coastline area where we had brought a packed lunch we enjoyed on the rocks looking out to sea. Cool but not too bad, it was worth the trip.

In the evening it was back to John and Linda's for dinner featuring fresh crab rolls. I ate three, more crab then I've ever eaten at one sitting. Today it's been a lay back day, incoming rainy weather for evening into early tomorrow morning. I set up the grill to cook burgers for us and Lois and Jim then Carol and I have spent the afternoon inside relaxing, doing our projects. Tomorrow we'll pack up and return to our regularly scheduled programing.

Madawaska Lake Vacation 2017

Laid back vacation... here it is Friday, been at the camp since Sunday and I haven't managed to post a blog until today but it's just as well since a roundup does the job in one sitting. Biggest news being here is Carol has been here also. A couple of months ago she was hired on as a regular employee in the facilities engineering department at the semi-conductor manufacturer she had been a contract employee for. They also gave her 5 days vacation to start with hence we are vacationing together at the camp the first time in years. This is also the first time in a while I've been here without a dog for company as E'owyn left us in March. We did bring Scotia our cat which is working fairly well. Plenty of food and beverages and of course plenty of sunset photos.

Monday was a hangout day: reading, some tasks around and in the camp. Later in the afternoon our niece Lena and her husband Jim L. with their kids Sam (3) and Faith (10mos) stopped in. They are back in the US on vacation from the UAE where Jim is a teacher then we took a bicycle ride along the camp road. Good to see them again and we invited them to come for supper Tuesday.

Tuesday morning we took our kayaks out for tour along the western shore to a marshland area and back. Again some reading/tasks and Lean's family arrived making it a lively evening.

Wednesday just stayed around the camp. Strong cool wind most of the day, added a game of cribbage to the day's activities.

Thursday was "adventure day". We drove down to Presque Isle to Aroostock State Park to hike the twin peaks there where we had lunch on the North Peak overlooking the western hills and a backside view of Mount Katahdin.

Today is yet to be fully determined but may involve kayaking / bicycling / walking and most assuredly packing for the trip home tomorrow. Hope we don't forget the cat.

Quick camping

Carol and I hit the road for a short trip (55 minutes) to Hemlock Grove Campground in Arundel. Mostly because we haven't taken the camper out for about two months since spending the Memorial Day weekend in Greenville. Crazy having a RV in the yard and not using it after looking forward all winter to getting it out of storage and do a little weekend traveling. Last year we had added an addition day to a couple of our trips partly because at that time Carol was only working four days a week and I had plenty of vacation time. Recently she has been hired full time where she had been contracting so she needs time to accrue real vacation hours. Definitely an improvement in our lives. We've been to this campground in 2010 when we had taken in a couple of local attractions, Nice place with good sites. We brought our 10 year old cat Scotia along, She has never traveled anywhere other than a trip the vet until this year. She's a little freaked out but we hope she can make the adjustment for future trips.

Taste of camp life.

Returned home from the camp Yesterday. Spend the Independence Day week there. Mixed bag with the weather Some damp and rainy times and when the sun was out it was accompanied by a strong wind that could chill you to the bone. Didn't stop me from enjoying being there. Plenty of family time, Ian and his dog Io came up too. Lots of good food and a bit of beer and wine. I'll be back in August.