All in a Garden Green

Maybe even Christmas Eve... J is working from home today, so once we get the car cleaned out, we can re-load it with gifts, and clothes for the weekend, and us, and away we go to New Hampshire. Going to call the boss as a courtesy before we go, probably against my better judgment, but better than him calling an empty house and me coming back to no job.

Lunch and catchup with Hoobiewan was wonderful yesterday. We must, my friend, try to do this again before next Christmas. A year between visits is far too long. :) Driving was not bad, weather-wise, but traffic was awful. I think I may have spent equal time in parking lot and in-town Portland as I did on the highway. My own fault, that last bit, for trying to save a few bucks in tolls... agh.

The little tickle in my throat has turned into a Christmas cold, as per my usual. Advil Cold & Sinus, do your stuff... please...

J and I had Christmas here last night, after watching The World's Fastest Indian. Good film. Lots of lovely gifts, including a TomTom GPS from his parents... oi. Wow. No more getting lost for J now. :)

Merry Christmas to all, and a (slightly belated, but I still have 6 more days... ;) ) Happy Hanukkah to sprirtwolf. :)

I... win?

Guh. Zombified. Saw the sun rise at LL Bean this morning, yet again. Is it sad that that felt "right"? When I was there the other night at 8:30 PM for snow clean-up, I kept expecting the sky to lighten, and it didn't... This morning we were treated to a lavender sky in the early hours, dotted with snowflakes (which have finally stopped falling). Was pretty.

Had planned on getting a few hours of sleep after the Burlesque (which was pretty good), ended up taking Syd home in 4WD (as the roads were awful), while J drove her car, came back to find a message of "helloooooooo???? Where are youuuuu?" on the answering machine, from about 20 minutes prior. Dang, was hoping he wouldn't call till 3 or so... Didn't even listen to the whole thing, not gonna. Good little employee that I am, I called right away, let him know I was on the way to the shop, and I would meet Michelle (my new shovel buddy...) there. Oh goody. Off to Portland about 20 minutes later.

Thank heaven for light, fluffy snow, even if it was several inches more than we'd expected. And drifty. And 8 degrees, with OHMYGODCOLD windchill for the entire morning. Just a few minutes into our routine, the familiar ache in my back and shoulders returned... ah yes... we remember this now... it's been what, 2 days? There was a new attraction on our snow shoveling tour as well... a huge, brightly lit, white statue of the Virgin Mary on the roof of the building next to the church near the Rite-Aid. I don't remember her being there previously, and coming around the corner to do the side steps, it was a little bit too close to Dr. Who for me. I cleared those steps faster than I ever have before, and got the heck out of there.

Otherwise did OK till we got to LL Bean, and then could not get the snowblower going. Did what shoveling we could, by the time we were done, Dennis had gotten there and started it for us (the boss had given me incorrect directions. Small wonder.). I had never used a snowblower before, and do not wish to again. Self propelled is great, if you have the body mass and strength to get it to go where you want it. I have neither on the best of days, less so after already doing 6 hours of shoveling. Stupid thing. I honestly don't think we saved any time at all using it, because we had to go back around and scrape the sidewalks afterward. Stupid thing. I will shovel 15 inches of snow before I attempt to use that machine again. The vibration killed my hands and arms, I spent an.. hour? I don't even know how long it took me... inhaling exhaust fumes, which did wonders for my sleep-deprived brain, and we had to go back and shovel afterward anyway. The wind did nothing to help us, blowing the snow right back over where we'd just shoveled it.

( Here's where I get grumpy )

Went to bed at 10:30 this morning. I had been up since about 8 AM. Friday. Yes, my own darned fault. But I don't think that 3 or 4 hours of sleep would have helped a whole lot with tiredness after 8 hours of shoveling. Woke up at 5:30. Felt... kinda rested. Glad I staggered to the bank before heading home this morning, though I don't really remember the trip. Went to bed when it was light, got up when it was dark... that's not how this is supposed to work, is it?

It's going to snow more tomorrow, and on Wednesday, and on Christmas. Will I get to go home? Will I tell my boss to shove it and find another job? No... I'll stick it out... because there's not much else out there... But I do not think I will be doing this next winter. I can't control the weather, but I can take control over my own happiness and sanity.

BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL, WE HAVE POWER!

RIP one minnow... just got too cold, I think. No power for about 12 hours, it's back now.

Amazing what one can do on just 20 minutes of sleep. Knew the phone was going to ring last night, just didn't expect it to ring so early... dropped off to dreamland around 12:45, phone rang at 1:05. Oh boy, time to shovel. hnrrrgghhh... took about an hour to get dressed, clean off the car (yay ice!), slide down to the shop, warm up the truck and get IT loaded with all the STUFF we needed, and slide out of the driveway to go pick up Jess. 4-wheel drive is a Good Thing.

It poured down rain most of the night. Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you, mom and dad, for my rain gear. I was dry for most of the night, till the water started dripping down inside my gloves, soaking the waterproof liner... ick. Didn't work all that well afterwards... On that same train of thought, an inch and a half of slush combined with at least as much rain, which is still falling, is made of SUCK. With suck garnish. and a side of suck.

Saw the new day lighten on glittering tree branches. Branches that were down everywhere. If a little red pickup truck on the side of the road had parked a foot further back, it would have had a rather large tree limb in the bed... Was never really tired, as long as I kept moving. Sore and physically tired, but didn't have fears of falling asleep until we were really, really all done, and I headed back to the office. Returned home at 8:30 to no power, didn't care much. Collapsed into bed, did not move till 2 PM.

Talked to my family, they got it much worse than we did here... Still no power as of the last time we spoke, and the backyard and neighborhood have changed quite a bit. Two BIG oak trees (that have been leaning for years...) came clean out of the ground. Nothing hit their house, but the neighbors have a tree in their kitchen window, and around the block, dad and pet_spider watched a dozen or so trees just collapse on top of each other. What a mess.

Not quite as bad as the Ice Storm of '98 for number of homes without power, but close. Power will be back on for everybody much quicker than it was then, I think.

We have a hurricane lamp and a gazillion candles for light, but we need to remember to keep our emergency batteries charged and ready to run the weather radio. There are bottles of propane for the Coleman camp stove/burner thingy, so if we needed to, we could boil water and make soup. But no real backup heat source. That's the only thing that really makes me nervous. Tons of blankets and quilts to huddle under, but that doesn't keep my fish and plants alive (which in the grand scheme of things, is really the last thing to worry about, but they are mine, and living things, that require my care... I promised them I would take care of them...).

Tomorrow brings an oil change, and then fencing (hopefully) at Dartmouth College. Anssem... if you see this... email me? Is it still happening? Where is it, exactly, on campus? Garb/no garb? What's going on?!? Where am I? Who are you people, anyway?

So... a complete weather flip from Monday, and yesterday. Nearly 60 degrees at 9:30 this morning, pouring rain, and all the snow from yesterday is way, way gone. Probably the piles (that came from the first "snowstorm" of a quarter inch) at Shaw's are gone too, or close.

This means, though, that I am stuck inside today, reading OSHA regs, watching the sky outside get darker and darker as more clouds roll in, and listening to the rain pound on the patio out the back doors. OSHA regs are not terribly interesting. Argh.

Take the boredom while I can, I suppose, as it's going to get a lot less boring later tonight (yay for flash-freezing ice as the temperature plummets) and tomorrow afternoon into Friday, when the cold front moves in, and all this rain turns into snow. There will be shoveling...

My boss does care about us, though. Offered to buy us pepper spray (and hopefully will) for when we have to shovel in the sketch-o section of Portland. We've both told him that no way no how will we go there by ourselves, either, Mace or no Mace. A plow buddy will come down, and help fend off all the drunks and druggies. Fortunately it should be a quick half hour in-and-out, no matter how much snow we get in a storm. sigh. it's going to be an interesting winter...

I cannot remember the last time we've had such constant, pouring rain all day long, combined with horrific wind gusts that are starting to make me nervous, surrounded as we are with tall pine trees. Pines are not the strongest-wooded trees around, but relatively springy, so let us hope that the winds subside before much longer. The clanging of the neighbor's buoy bell has been a near constant too... I like them, but I think any more, and I'll go a bit nuts.

Lost power for a few hours today, which forced me to get away from the computer (but my people! my little people! they NEED me!!), and clean up the sewing room, which I did. And got some sewing done, even. Sydney can have her winter coat back, before winter. I have 5 work shirts now, and a complete set of napkins. Is good. I do think I need a new UPS for the computer, as the power went out, and the computer followed immediately after. Not even 5 minutes. Hm.

Turkey will be cooked Wednesday afternoon, I have decided. Going to brine it tonight, take care of the cooking tomorrow evening. We'll order out for pizza, or have spaghetti, or something that doesn't require the oven. My days off are going away very quickly... aiees...

So... the nasty snowy weather has been moved away from Wednesday/Thursday, thank goodness.

Unfortunately it has been moved to tonight into tomorrow. Tonight, it is possible that I join the legion of zombies. I am fairly certain I will awake to a ringing phone at 3AM, my boss on the other end, telling me to get up and head into work, and then to the shoveling rounds. I am not terribly looking forward to this. The radar does not make me terribly optimistic.

For Thursday, though, I have cranberry sauce, I have pickles (oh, boy, do I have pickles), I have black pearl olives, I have the fixin's for a fine turkey (once it thaws... 4 1/2 hours estimated cook time at 350 degrees... do I do it Wednesday or Thursday morning?), and I have the supplies to make some mighty fine cheesy bread (recipe courtesy of Panera). Hopefully there will be time and energy to get it all done.

November comes cold and raw. A photo from Halloween morning, frosty leaves and grass at work. Couldn't get my fangs to sit right, nor did I have confidence that fake nails would be the best thing to wear when I needed to be chopping back shrubs, so festivity was out... My crazy cat lady costume worked well for the (relocated) party/gathering that night, though. I... have a lot of Beanie Baby cats, I now realize. Heh.

As was evidenced in comments in yesterday's entry, the Great Big Sea concert was AWESOME. So much fun. So much good music. Lots of stuff from their new album, most of the good ones from their older albums (with the noted exception of 'Lukey', much to Sydney's disappointment). Much clapping, dancing and singing happened. Murray entertained us all with a solo Elvis Costello piece, which was simply delightful. Their drummer's name is Chris. He does the backup singing on 'Hard Case', which was nice to see and hear! I got chills when they played 'England'. I think I startled Syd a bit when I burst into tears at the opening of their third (!) encore when it was just Alan, and his acoustic guitar, playing 'Boston and St. John's'... I don't even know exactly why I did... It was beautiful... emotional... gah. Some songs make me cry anyway, I just didn't expect it then.

They're playing in Lebanon, NH tonight, in just under an hour... I don't think I can make it... there is dinner that needs to be made, and laundry to sort...

Had a nice (if yawn-filled, why so tired after 10 hours sleep?) visit with Jon today. Sounds like I missed a good Bare Blade, but it will be there next year.

.HIGH PRESSURE WILL BRING COLD CANADIAN AIR TO THE REGION TONIGHT ALONG WITH CLEAR SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS. THIS WILL ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO FALL QUICKLY ONCE THE SUN GOES DOWN.

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...NORTH WINDHAM... annnd there's all i need to see.

...it was such a beautiful day today, too. Light wafting breezes, lovely sunshine, just enough white puffy clouds moving across the brightest blue sky you've ever seen.

Yup, that means it's fall. Mid-late September, one of my favorite times of the year. Far to early for a frost/freeze warning, but that's what we've got.

/sigh... time to bring in all the veggies that are nearly ripe and make pickles out of them. Sam and the other houseplants that enjoy a nice summer vacation out of doors need to come in too, and I'm considering bringing the strawberry plant inside as well, as it is LOADED with fruit. Some of it turning red! I will have Late-September Strawberries, and they will be delicious.

So... today was Random Thunderstorm Day, apparently. Not that that's a bad thing. Had planned on going to the bank around 1:00, then crawled up from the basement and saw that I had apparently been downstairs longer than I thought, as it was now dusk.

Hm.

Well then.

Trees were whipping from side to side, and the growl of thunder in the distance made me reconsider my plans... It was quite a lovely storm that blew through in the next 45 minutes, rain, wind, lightning and thunder, and only one little bitty hailstone (that I saw), that bounced into my pot of parsley on the back patio.

Went out, got errands (some) done, came home and cleaned up the kitchen/living room, tried out a recipe for Strawberry-ginger-mint Sekanjabin (for Pennsic, if it makes it that far... smells so good...), and repotted some of my houseplants.

5:30 PM brought round 2 of the storm, dark dark dark several hours early, and again all kinds of lightning and thunder. I lit some candles, opened the front door, plunked myself down on the steps (indoors...) and enjoyed the rain and light show. Took some video with my camera out the back door, nearly 6 minutes of constant thunder. Pretty impressive. Might put it on YouTube, might not...

ETA: I must also mention the presence of one very brave but clearly disgruntled hummingbird that sat at the feeder and had dinner through one of the worst parts of the storm... Unfortunately I was not able to capture said birdie, but trust me when I say her feathers were quite ruffled.

And rolls, and rolls, around and around the lake. Beautiful morning, beautiful afternoon, schizophrenic skies from about 3:00 onward. I am sitting here, at work, punched out, because I can't see more than 5 feet past the back glass doors of the office. I'm not leaving till it slows down a bit. Today, of all days, I forgot my raincoat at home, and didn't bother going back to get it at lunch. At least we don't have to water things, and the irrigation pond is refilling as I type... Love the thunder and lightning, though, when I can watch it from safe inside.

The baby birdies were awake more today, and begging for food at every opportunity. I am amazed at how huge they've gotten since Friday! Hopefully mama is sitting over them now, wings spread and streaming water away from her poor downy-feathered babies. Their eyes aren't open yet, but I can see the beginnings of real feathers starting to grow...

Edit, 6:38 PM: Oh, and now there's hail. That's just fantastic... /sarcasm