How are ya? I’ve been on a cleaning and organizing tear lately. We’ve been in this house a little over 5 years now and I suddenly decided that things need cleaning. So, I am going with the cleaning bug for a while to see how much I can get done before it departs.

The most interesting thing now clean and organized… 2 kitchen junk drawers. I found stuff dating back to 2005 when we moved in… a calendar, several notices from our trash collectors about schedules for 2005 thru 2008. Not to mention 5 rolls of Scotch tape, 2 rolls of electric tape, 3 nearly empty rolls of masking tape 1 roll packing tape (why all the tape? who knows - I think it breeds while the drawer is closed). 2 “plumber’s candles”, a large box of wood matches. A set of 5 screwdrivers, 2 pair plyers, several small octagonal things for those weird screwheads, a utility knife, a gerber all in one tool. Many many wine corks. Scissors, a wine screwpull, a bottle opener, 2 flashlights, large measuring tape, an old knife with a broken tip used to open delivery boxes. Many many many pens and pencils. Many different types of note paper, local menus from restaurants. Stamps of all sorts, return address labels with flowers, small animals and various years decorating them. Manuals from the washer, dryer, oven, the garage door openers and the programmable thermostat. And that’s just what I remember. I threw out a ton of other stuff.

I can’t believe I could get the drawers closed… heh.

In other news we still have a hole in our front yard. Apparently the health inspector isn’t all that worried about the overall health of our front yard or our septic system because he hasn’t managed to make time to come inspect the work we had done (that the government insists needs a permit - for our safety dontcha know…). Tomorrow I will be on the phone - AGAIN. I will not be happy. Friday marks 2 weeks since the digging commenced. If he doesn’t get here soon I’ll fill the damned hole myself because I’m tired of looking at it. If the rate of road work is anything to go by, I could be waiting for years before he decides to show up and do his job. Sheesh.

Oh well, here’s a pic of some flowers on a tree in Boston.

Maybe we’ll have sun tomorrow.

Posted by: Teresa in Life Stuff at 11:11 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Those are so pretty!  Wonder what they are..?

I have two junk drawers like that in my kitchen... and we've lived here for 8 years.  And yes, there are several kinds of tape within... why do we do that?

As soon as I can get youngest daughter's furniture over to her -slated for June- the spring cleaning will commence!  Almost looking forward to it...

Posted by: pam at May 11, 2011 10:54 AM (i3Kno)

2 I'm not sure either but I know little about flowers except they are pretty and easy to take pictures of... LOL. Cherry blossoms maybe?

Posted by: Teresa at May 11, 2011 12:16 PM (xE2iU)

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Last Sunday we headed down to Boston for the day. The Boston Sailing Center had an open house with a free sail for those interested. Fun!

After signing up and looking at the large number of people, we figured we would have at least an hour to wait very likely two hours. So we sat down to take in the harbor view. The woman who was trying to get people assigned to boats happened to say to someone within our hearing “would you mind going on a smaller boat, or do you want to go out on one of the larger boats?” (smaller being a J24, larger being a C&C38 )

We immediately told her we would love to go out on a smaller boat! She was delighted. Almost everyone wanted to be on the larger boats. This meant we were able to sail immediately. (woohoo - no lines no waiting!) Our boat had 4 people. One of the instructors (a delightful young woman who apparently has sailed her entire life), another man who was an experienced sailor, my husband, and me. My husband has sailed his sister’s Dolphin sailboat (a very small centerboard boat instead of a keel boat - marginally larger than a Sunfish). I was the only one with no experience other than being a passenger.

I should say here, the extent of my sailing has been either idling on a lake in the middle of Missouri without a breath of wind or being capsized in one of the few brisk windy days they ever have down there. By comparison a J24 is huge and extremely stable. Considering my previous sailing encounters, I brought a change of clothes in the car just in case I was klutzy enough to fall off the boat.

There was a nice brisk wind, the sun was out, all in all it was a terrific day for sailing around the inner harbor of Boston.

Some wonderful views of the city too.

At the end of our (far too short) excursion, we had to be “rescued” after all. In a comical turn of events, once we brought the sail down, the outboard refused to start. We were very near the neighboring dock. However, it was “open house” the center had people out on the water looking for such contingencies in power boats. We were nearly ready to catch on and tie up where we were when the rescue boat sped up and gave us a tow. All in all a fun trip.

After all that, how dull it would have been to go out on the large boat on the inner harbor. If the larger boat had sailed out of the harbor it would have been worth it, otherwise we were happy to give it a pass this time. Nice boat, but just not as fun in those circumstances.

Next up - sailing lessons this summer. But we’ll start with a Soling instead of the larger J24. I can’t wait!

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 09:53 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Bitten! Good for you!

Posted by: Joan of Argghh! at May 06, 2011 05:46 AM (rOaFw)

2 You made the right choice. J-24s rawk! I've sailed many small and large boats, but I've got about a million hours on J-24s...If you get em' trimmed right and tight, they'll almost plane to weather. Off wind in a good blow you can produce a rooster tail. We raced 'em all over the place, and had the same crew for about fifteen years. After that much time together, you can anticipate each others thoughts. Kinda like being married. Seriously, teamwork. Some of the most exciting times of my life were spent on 24s, and I have the scars to prove it. Stories as well.

Too much fun.

Sailing is good for the soul.

Soling's are nice boats...great way to learn. It's not about the size, it's all about the wind and sails. If I can, I would recommend Sail Power by Wallace Ross. If you can't find a copy at a reasonable price, I'll lend you mine for as long as you need it. It is a must read...a must read. Just tell me where to send it. If you read it, your sailing lessons will make more sense, and you'll be ahead of the game...so to say. Trust me on this.

http://www.amazon.com/Sail-Power-Complete-Guide-Handling/dp/0394727150

Sailing is a GREAT thing. Go for it.

Posted by: Yabu at May 06, 2011 07:45 AM (RDdNW)

3 LOL - Yabu you recommended it last time I posted a sailing post and I now own my very own copy.  It is however way way over my head at the moment. 

What I need to do first is learn the very basics - be out on the water and see how it's done, fumble my own way through a few times, then the book will start to make some sense to me. At the moment even the basic learn to sail book I have from the Center (which I got when we signed up for the classes) has stuff that just isn't going to make sense until I see it in action.  I really do need hands on for it to make sense, then the reading afterward works to reinforce it for me.

The thing I like about this place is that they also work on navigation skills and charts even in the intro class. During the winter they offer a navigation class that looks very useful.  Depending on how this summer goes, I may just do that next year. (always keeping in mind they may ask me to leave for running their boats aground or something)  

Posted by: Teresa at May 06, 2011 09:21 AM (xE2iU)

4 At least you didn't have to make a radio out of coconuts.

Posted by: Laura at May 06, 2011 11:47 AM (ua7hq)

5 Don't get me wrong...navigation is big time important, but you need to feel confidant so you don't have use Wilson for advice.

Posted by: Yabu at May 06, 2011 03:12 PM (RDdNW)

6 LOL - Laura I was planning on bringing my own coconuts but they told me it wasn't necessary.

Yabu - you're right,  I'm sure Wilson would not talk to me.  The guy who wrote the Learn to Sail book did say in his intro that many people just learning think he spends too much time on how to trim sails properly.  He contends it's one of the best skills a beginner can learn. 

For me the nav thing is all about the fact that once we get out away from the dock I quickly lose my bearings.  Of course if one can find land - it's all good... it's just that I'd like to figure out how to get back to where I started without having to call for help because I'm lost.

Posted by: Teresa at May 07, 2011 03:31 PM (xE2iU)

7 looks like a good time and a beautifully sparkly day

Posted by: patti at May 08, 2011 04:24 PM (cQvBX)

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Saw this story today at Cnet and thought it might be time to once again remind people... beware of trojans - no matter what type of computer you use.

New MACDefender malware discovered for OS X

Naturally we have the people who hate Apple all saying with that lovely little sneer... "I thought Apple people said there is no malware for Mac."   

Ho-hum.  I have never said that.  However, this is not a virus.  It is a trojan that is using phishing techniques to get onto systems.  Anyone with any computer is susceptible to phishing scams. 

This is a multistep process that you have to allow and even enter your system password and give it permission to install itself.  So it's not like you open a website or an email and "bam" you have something.

While this threat is a new attack attempt on OS X users, its threat level is relatively low because it does require a fair amount of user interaction to install the malware. You have to first provide the correct search terms to the search engine, and then proceed with the installation by manually clicking the buttons in the installer window. As long as you avoid doing this for software you have not purposefully downloaded, then you should be good to go.

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 11:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Whoever pulled the trigger - Thank You!***

I doubt much will change in the larger world because of this, but it does make me very happy. Especially the "is he or isn't he" every year or so when he released some tape or other from his hidey-hole. That was most tiring.

Now... can I leave my shoes on when walking through airport security? Please.

*** yes I fully realize a mere thank you is completely insufficient.

PS - I have a nice hole in my yard where you can plant him. A septic field seems to be appropriate for the job. Ha!

Posted by: Teresa in Military at 11:18 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 I did the happy dance here with Monkey.  I only wish it had happened sooner, and been a lot more painful for him than a mere shot to the head. 

Posted by: LeeAnn at May 01, 2011 11:46 PM (dioqO)

2 Happy Happy Dance. SEALS! But it does concern me that they dumped his body at sea. Seems to open up way too much room for trouble. Hope they reserved some significant DNA - like maybe his head?! Either way, at the end of the day - Oh Yeah! p.s. septic field sounds perfect to me...

Posted by: patti at May 02, 2011 05:27 AM (98/6k)

3 Seal Team Six!! 

We ought to stick his head on a pike at Ground Zero.  Sometimes we're too civilized for our own good...

Posted by: pam at May 02, 2011 08:37 AM (i3Kno)

4 And throw in some bacon bits before he's buried.

Posted by: Laura at May 02, 2011 11:54 AM (ua7hq)

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I suppose if one has to be digging up septic systems, a little rain doesn’t matter.

First they dropped off the equipment.

Then the guy who did all the work got there. I liked him, he was all business and didn’t waste time. He got right to work and got things fixed. He only needed one piece of pipe and about an hour as it turned out the original pipe had broken and over time had filled with sand and dirt until it was completely blocked.

However they had to leave it open so the inspector could see it. So I still have a hole in my yard.

As I told my neighbor… they better get it inspected and closed soon or some burglar is gonna come stalking my house, fall in the hole, and sue me for damages. heh.

Posted by: Teresa in House Blogging at 09:45 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Beautiful scape, in spite of the hole. 

I prayed for rain and we got it yesterday... along with a leak in the roof!  If it's not one thing, it's another...! LOL

Posted by: pam at April 30, 2011 09:12 AM (i3Kno)

2 Only one pipe? GOOD. I'm glad that's all it was. Could have been a lot worse.

Posted by: Rev. Paul at April 30, 2011 10:42 AM (y+0ce)

3 Pam - oh no!!! Roof problems. We have to do our roof - probably next year. I dread it - we haven't had good past experience with roofers. I hope you have better luck! Rev Paul - yes I was very happy to hear it turned out to be so simple. Whew - dodged a bullet there. Also he told me we should be good for quite some time on this system so maybe it will last us as long as we live here - I hope so!

Posted by: Teresa at April 30, 2011 10:53 AM (xE2iU)

4 I did my roof last year, and the only advice I can offer is to ensure someone is home while their working. I'm serious.

Posted by: Yabu at May 01, 2011 06:18 PM (RDdNW)

5 Oh I'm always here so that wouldn't be a problem. However, me being around doesn't seem to make any difference. *sigh*. Last time they left off roof vents even after I stood right outside, pointed at the roof before they shingled and said... "you're going to put the vents in... right?" They said, "certainly we are, that's next". Of course they didn't do it. I was trying to work and didn't have time to stand out there for the entire job. They were morons. ARG!

Posted by: Teresa at May 01, 2011 08:44 PM (xE2iU)

6 Their...instead of they're...I must be losing my shit. Sorry about that. In my neck of the woods...roofers are known to scope out houses, and come back later and steal your stuff.

Posted by: Yabu at May 02, 2011 07:15 AM (RDdNW)

7 Yes I've heard of that happening.  Of course most everyone who works on the house finds out immediately that I work at home and I'm here nearly all the time.  Have no idea if it's a deterrent or not... LOL.

Posted by: Teresa at May 02, 2011 08:29 AM (xE2iU)

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Today the mystery water returned to the downstairs bathroom.  This time with a difference.  The shower tray was completely full of water.  The floor was all wet, the closet was all wet, the unfinished room was all wet... 

Time to call someone.

My husband suggested we start with the septic people instead of plumbers.  They very quickly got someone out here (I was impressed - excellent service).  And yes, it is the septic system. 

It was full of water.  Lovely.

First he had to pump it out - about 1500 gallons.  Then he scoped it out with a camera.  Turns out the pipe leading to the leach field had collapsed.  Water goes in, can't get out.   We don't know why - there is nothing heavy moving over that portion of the yard (even when the trees were taken down, they weren't near that section).  They may figure it out when they dig it up, or it may remain a mystery.

Thursday they come back to replace that section of pipe.  In the meantime I cleaned the bathroom, my husband got the unfinished part of the basement.  We'll have to call in Service Master to do the carpets properly since they had water in certain areas.  My husband did the shop vac to get rid of most of the water - but they should be properly treated.

As long as it's only the pipe with a problem, we'll have escaped pretty lightly.  If they have to do anything to the leach field... well that would be a really big deal.  We'll find out soon enough.

Are we having fun yet?

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 08:33 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Some more pics from last weekend.

Daffodils which were out in force.

This spiky thing that I keep thinking I should know the name of…

Another visit to the horse farm.

And a rock wall.

And that’s what I’ve got for tonight. Sadly I can't even think up any decent commentary. Oh well.

Posted by: Teresa in Photos at 11:15 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Want to know how they die? Want to know what the pros do to try and recover data? Want to know about flash drives and how good they are? Want to know what you would need to do to be sure your data is not recoverable from an old hard drive?

Then you need to check out this fantastic podcast TMUP 233: Hard Drive Master Class with George Starcher and Scott Moulton. No, it's not all about Macs - it is all about great information. So grab a cup of coffee and a snack and check it out.

Posted by: Teresa in WebTech at 07:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yes, spring is trying to claw its way in. We don’t have snow, but the temps aren’t fantastic only marginally okay. It just started raining this evening again. The trees love it so I guess that’s something.

Our walk this last weekend produced some flowers! The crocus and daffodils have arisen.

The sap is running. These 2 stumps were left last year after a beaver got to the trees. Looks like the roots are still alive and trying to kick it into gear.

I think they must have trapped the beaver and moved it, I see no signs of it in the pond this year.

The trees don’t have leaves yet. But give it another couple of weeks and maybe…

Still, I think I like this pic of the white birch against the other darker trees and of course the rock wall.

Wow - I can’t believe I managed an entire post of pics. It’s been quite a while. I hope to get another up this week.

Posted by: Teresa in Photos at 10:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It's about 4 days between blog posts.

So what's new? How are ya?

Me? Just dandy.

My excitement for the week was reporting my SBUX card missing. Right after I got the email saying they were sending the new one, I found the card. Naturally. I have no recollection of putting it in with the paper money. I have never done that before. Weird.

Speaking of SBUX - I don't know what it is lately, but it seems every day for the last couple of weeks I've gotten in line behind a person reluctant to advance to the register. You know the ones - they leave a HUGE gap between themselves and the person in front of them so you have no idea if they are even in line. I want to take my shoulder and shove them forward.

We did go walking over the weekend. It's on my todo list to upload the pictures tomorrow. I had to spread things out so I can relax a bit.

That's about it for now. Time to get off the computer. I leave you with a pic of a tree with a fuzzy trunk.

Posted by: Teresa in Ummmmm at 10:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Our house has a finished basement. I work down there... or maybe I should say here since I am sitting in the room itself as I type this.  The room (formerly a bedroom for the previous owner's son) has a bathroom attached - en suite if you watch House Hunters International - heh.  The bathroom is an inside room, no walls against the outside of the house.  One wall borders the walk in closet for the room, the other 2 walls border the unfinished part of the basement where the heater lives. 

It's not a large room, toilet, sink with some good counter space, a shower (no tub), and a linen closet.  There is a small rug in front of the sink area. 

I mention the rug because the rug is the first problem I noticed. 

I walked into the bathroom yesterday morning and the rug was laying at an angle in front of the toilet.

Odd.

I knew I hadn't moved it. I figured my husband had for some reason although I couldn't imagine why.  I bent down to pick it up and it was soaking wet.  Wet like someone had taken a pitcher of water and upended it on the rug.  Of course I started looking around.  There was no sign the water had overflowed the toilet. I looked under the sink. The floor of the cabinet was completely dry. I looked around the edges of the sink cabinet.  No sign the water had come out from under the cabinet, the wood was dry.

Freaky. 

That evening I told my husband what happened.  He grabbed a flashlight and headed into the bathroom to look around. He saw no problem with the plumbing on the back of the toilet, no sign either that the sink was leaking. The walls all looked dry and unstained.  Then he looked in the shower. It never occurred to me to look there since there's tray with about a 4 inch edge - how could water get from the shower to the floor?   It didn't seem probable.

Wrong?

Or maybe not. There was a small puddle in the shower and the drain cover was askew... except we don't use that shower so where did the water come from? Why had the drain cover moved?   Then he looked in the linen closet and found the entire floor wet.  I never even thought to look in there. 

The rag bag and a couple bags with old bed linens reside on the floor there.  I pulled them out.  Got rid of the dead bugs that had accumulated since I last cleaned it and got to work getting it washed and dried again.  There's a drain clean out down there, but no sign of leaking around it.

In the meantime my husband checked the unfinished part of the basement.  Along the wall, between the shower and the sink, water had leaked out of the bathroom. 

But where did the water come from?  How did it get there?  It had to have happened over night. My husband suspects somehow water backed up into the shower due to a clog which eventually gave way.  He looked closer at the shower drain. It's very possible the drain around the shower leaks.  Since we don't use that shower, we'd never know it.

I suspect our water treatment system did it's weekly back wash, which it does about once a week in the middle of the night, and that's where the water came from.  It backed up into the shower tray and leaked around the drain, soaking the floor.  I might be wrong about that, but it's a theory.

Still... not being 100% sure, it's very unsettling.  We've had many past experiences with water in basements - none of them good.   Because we aren't sure what is going on, we will await events.  If it happens again we'll have to bring in a plumber.

I'm not optimistic.

Posted by: Teresa in Ummmmm at 11:23 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 As Scooby Doo would say, "Ruh-roh!"

Good luck.

Posted by: Jack at April 15, 2011 10:21 AM (VpPTf)

2 Ha! Yes he would say that. So far no new mystery water... stay tuned.

Posted by: Teresa at April 15, 2011 03:20 PM (xE2iU)

3 How very odd.  Hope you find the cause, because that's the sort of thing that can keep one awake at night... or maybe just me...

Posted by: pam at April 15, 2011 04:05 PM (i3Kno)

4 LOL - the threat of water anywhere in the house really does keep us awake at night. We've already had a house that flooded twice so it's not something we disregard. OTOH so far so good... we'll just hope now.

Posted by: Teresa at April 15, 2011 09:15 PM (xE2iU)

5 I've gone through the mystery water before...gotta find the source. Easier said than done. 

Posted by: Yabu at April 18, 2011 08:33 AM (RDdNW)

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I mean the extra hours I need in my day to get to everything. The time is disappearing before I know it! Amazing how that works. Been working quite a bit lately. When you’re trying to pick up some business, it means working extra hours to get things going. It’s always a painful process while everything gets adjusted. Eventually it all shakes out. If it means extra business at the end, then it’s all great and well worth the effort. Sadly, it also means I don’t get around to reading my favorite blogs or even writing any blog posts myself.

Since I have been so neglectful lately, here’s a rock wall for you. Headed off into the woods… no telling where it ends. Rather like most of my days lately.

More later - I hope!

Posted by: Teresa in Photos at 08:02 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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So I went to get my hair done today.  As usual, while waiting for the chemicals to do their cookery on my head (and very likely leach the life from whatever few brain cells I still retain), I sat down to read.  This time I brought my Kindle, yay I remembered my Kindle before walking out the door!  Most of the time I forget to bring it. Thus I end up looking in fascinated horror at the magazines available which consist of things like "People", "Us", "Okay", "Vogue","O", and on and on.  I marvel at the fact that people will actually spend money on them and I marvel even more at the fact that people read them.  Scary.  I look at the pictures and that's enough to freak me out until my next visit.

But I digress.

I was sitting at a table, looking like a radio antenna or some other type of weird receiver with all the aluminum foil on my head, and trying to read.  Unfortunately there was a stylist with her chair close to the table.  She and her client were talking away like mad (perfectly normal).   The problem is trying to concentrate on reading when 2 people right next to you are talking.  Not possible for me.

Then I started thinking of how often the conversations are about dire medical problems. The discussions are detailed and surprisingly graphic as one woman tries to outdo the other.  I have come to the conclusion this is a type of therapy for people. Rather on the cheap side if you think of the cost of seeing a therapist. A bit freaky when you think of how much information people are spewing to the world at large.  The only thing worse is when the lone male "stylist" talks politics with his men customers.  I loathe listening to half baked political theory. I loathe it even more when I can't escape.  I want to walk up to him and ask if I can switch him to the sports station. 

However, I do have a suggestion for the upcoming holiday season.  If you are at a loss as to what to write in your Christmas letter, just head over to your nearest salon.  Do some sort of hair treatment that will tie you down there for about 3 hours.  Take notes.  Instant Christmas letter guaranteed to be remembered by all your family and friends for years to come.

Just sayin...

Posted by: Teresa in Ummmmm at 05:13 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 I envy your ability to notice & remember such events. We all have them, but most of us dismiss them a.s.a.p. You capture the essence & annoyance factor so well.

Christmas letter ... heh.

Posted by: Rev. Paul at April 08, 2011 06:31 PM (y+0ce)

2 I know exactly what you mean... of course.  And since I'm due for another cut/highlights session soon, I too will once again be privy to the intimate details of strangers lives.  It's odd but at the same time comforting... there's a sense of family in shared pain, whether it originates from emotions or gallbladders.  I look around the salon and feel that we're all sisters... somehow.

The magazines?  Haven't bought more than 10 since my Cosmo subscription in the 80's.  I wanted ALL the secrets to womanhood! What's sad is that I thought they might have them. 

Posted by: pam at April 09, 2011 09:20 AM (i3Kno)

3 Pam - I'm tellin ya... take notes. At the very least there is a blog post.

Posted by: Teresa at April 09, 2011 10:47 AM (xE2iU)

4 I absolutely cannot imagine staying in a barber shop for three hours...unless I was drinking shots of whiskey. 

Posted by: Yabu at April 10, 2011 08:48 AM (RDdNW)

5 Yabu - I happen to think barber shops are vastly more entertaining than salons. I sat in my share when my son was young since he needed a haircut about every 3 weeks. Far better conversation. LOL.

Posted by: Teresa at April 10, 2011 10:20 PM (xE2iU)

6 I need to start getting my hair done. Blog fodder from other than the CardHole and Monkey would be nicely diverse.  Plus my hair looks like ass right now.
Re: the magazines... I put up in the display racks yesterday SIX big boxes of the suckers. Most of them "How to Be Gorgeous/ Bake the Perfect Pie/ Make a Quilt Out Of Old Hobo Bits/" and "See This Car? If You Had It, Girls Would Believe Your Penis Is Huge"  type magazines.

Posted by: LeeAnn at April 11, 2011 07:26 AM (dioqO)

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A few weeks ago I was at a function manning a table.  Various people from our group had done this over a two day period.  That day it was my turn.  Oh goody. 

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 09:12 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 "He wouldn't like the guy either if they met."

That's not a bad line. Reminds me of Groucho's famous answer to an invitation to join a country club: "I won't belong to any organization that would have me as a member."

Don't worry, T - the list of those who thought of a great line later, after it was no longer needed, is a long one indeed.

Posted by: Rev. Paul at April 06, 2011 03:42 PM (0DZhf)

2 What a beautiful capture!!  Stunning!

I never think of witty retorts until well after the incident.  Sucks.

Love Groucho's quote... but I'd never remember it...

Posted by: pam at April 06, 2011 06:16 PM (i3Kno)

3 Well, there's always:

"I don't know.

I can tell you what our group does, but after that, you'll have to decide for yourself whether you should join and why."

Learned that one from a city bus driver in Vegas, who would say something along these lines to riders who would ask "is this the bus I want?" or "Should I be on this bus?".

Most entertaining bus ride ever, by the way.

Posted by: Harvey at April 10, 2011 07:40 PM (pTueD)

4 Well, the longer version of the story (the part I left out)... while he was being belligerent, he was holding forth on how all the places he goes he sees the same presentations and he wants to see something "new and different". I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling him I couldn't read his mind and therefore had no idea what he would consider to be "new and different". You'll notice at no time did he ever volunteer to join us and help create better meetings... no he'd like those handed to him so he doesn't have to be bothered.

Posted by: Teresa at April 10, 2011 10:25 PM (xE2iU)

5 I have had that happen.  I'm not very good at sales.  My standard line is, "You shouldn't" and I stand there smiling sweetly.  Let them walk off... I don't want trouble makers in any group I'm involved with.

Posted by: Bou at April 13, 2011 08:47 PM (wEvt/)

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Yeah, I’m still around. Been somewhat busy. I keep thinking “I want to blog this…” then I don’t get to it. That should be a story of sorts, but right now it’s boring.

We’ve had snow

But that is mostly melted again. I wonder if that counts when it lasts about a day. I know it does down south. Maybe since my husband had to fire up the snowblower so we could get down the driveway without sliding into the street... Must ponder this question.

This last weekend we walked down to the horse farm. Where this horse was acting very coy.

Today it rained, snowed, rained, and was foggy. Simply delightful. I suppose I should be happy that the temps were in the 40’s. After all it could be colder… couldn’t it? Well, we also saw minor signs of spring on our walk, so there is hope.

One question remains though… why did the chicken cross the road?

Just wondering…

I have more pics from the last few weeks, but haven’t gotten them processed. We shall see how the week goes.

Posted by: Teresa in Photos at 10:43 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 LMAO!!!  Adore the chicken; that image made me laugh out loud... 

Posted by: pam at April 05, 2011 02:45 PM (i3Kno)

2 Heh - the chicken cracked me up too. There were more of them, but this was the best pic of the lot. Too funny to see them running across the road.

Posted by: Teresa at April 05, 2011 09:15 PM (xE2iU)

3 I LOVE the chicken pic! Great shot. Classic!

Posted by: DogsDontPurr at April 05, 2011 10:01 PM (EiUa9)

4 That's one yoooogly (aka ugly) chicken, and believe me, I've seen some pretty scrawny ones before.  Looks more like a turkey since he doesn't seem to have feathers on his head.

By the way, what kind of camera do you use?  I have a Canon digital SLR that replaced my old film SLR, but the digital SLR needs to have the image sensor cleaned.  Never had to do that with a film camera...

:-/

Posted by: Jack at April 06, 2011 08:37 AM (VpPTf)

5 LOL - yeah a scrawny chicken it is. I wasn't really too close and he was running like mad. I was surprised any of the pics turned out.

I am using a Nikon D300s. I love it. I would like to get a new telephoto lens, but haven't yet. I'm using the kit 18-135mm which I actually love most of the time. So I'll likely get the slight upgrade to it (it's got issues with being too loose) the 18-200 VR... so far haven't managed to talk myself into it.

A tip when changing lenses. I know it's difficult to do, but point the lens opening down toward the ground when changing out lenses. This way there is less opportunity for dust to get on the sensor. I also try to change lenses as little as possible or not at all when the conditions are dusty/heavy pollen/windy. Pollen is the worst since it gets on everything and sticks like glue.

I didn't ever shoot much film - my husband did. He was always very careful about not getting dust in the camera. You're right though - it is more difficult with a DSLR. The higher end cameras have better seals and therefore less sensor dust issues if you're careful.

Posted by: Teresa at April 06, 2011 10:19 AM (xE2iU)

6 Nice camera you have there.  I've got a Canon EOS 20D that I bought back when I was in France 6 or so years ago.  It replaced two film cameras, a Canon AE-1 and a Canon AV-1, but unfortunately the lenses weren't compatible between the film and digital cameras.  I still use the film cameras for astrophotography with my telescope, which I got back in 1984 (as you can see, I keep things for a LONG time....).  I should probably upgrade to a CCD camera for the telescope, but I should probably try to update the telescope mount, too.  Gah!!!  This gets expensive!

The spot I have may be a dead pixel instead of dust, I'm not sure.  It's not bad, and I can use Photoshop to get rid of the problem, but it's still a pain.

Posted by: Jack at April 09, 2011 07:56 AM (VpPTf)

7 LOL Jack we still have our original Pentax K1000 film camera - a total classic! We bought it back in the very early 80's. All the pics of our kids growing up were taken with that baby by my husband (who LOVES film photography). Then when he was laid off in the early 2000's he took up B&W; photography. He even got into a studio where he could do his own film developing. He loved it. I wish he could find something like that here - it's a great hobby for him. He's not really interested in digital so much. I like digital because for me it's so much easier oh and geekier.

Posted by: Teresa at April 09, 2011 10:46 AM (xE2iU)

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There are any number of icy/snow piles hanging around. There was so much snow this winter that a few weeks of mere 50 degree days are not enough to make it all go away. On the whole it is looking much the worse for wear with lots of sand and gravel mixed into any remaining patches.

But if you get a little closer with the camera it can look kinda pretty.

Still, I’m ready for it to be gone.

Unfortunately we’re supposed to get 3 more inches of the stuff tomorrow night. Time to go put on another heavy sweater. sigh

Posted by: Teresa in Photos at 10:33 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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One portion of a usual walk route takes us past some forest land donated to either the city, county or state - still don’t know which. This last year they were thinning out some of the trees. From the previous signs they had up it looks like this is done every 10 years. As we were walking past the other day, we saw this…

On looking a bit closer I had to laugh.

Click for larger but top 2 lines of the sign says:

Forest Care in Progress
Please pardon our appearance

Ha. I think they're sleeping it off somewhere.

Posted by: Teresa in Photos at 09:18 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Cute!

Posted by: pam at March 30, 2011 05:30 PM (i3Kno)

2 I have a honey-badger line for this comment -- relating to sleepiness -- but I dare not post it here. I bet you know the one I mean, though. Heh.

Posted by: sheri at March 31, 2011 02:39 PM (zRG4u)

3 LOL - yes and I never thought about that until now. 

Posted by: Teresa at March 31, 2011 08:05 PM (xE2iU)

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It’s been quite a while since I’ve managed to find time to work on pictures so I could post them. I’ve been taking some, just haven’t had the time to do anything with them. Of course now that I’ve had a minute to download to my computer I’m not really thrilled with what I got. But here ya go - the great meltoff from the past 3 weekends.

When things started melting it looked a bit like this…

The next week it looked like this…

Yesterday it looked like this…

There are more pics of course, but I shall have to work on getting them uploaded. We shall see.

Posted by: Teresa in Photos at 09:44 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Oh, I love that first one. What a lovely line in the ice!

Posted by: Julie at March 28, 2011 11:15 AM (F1fO/)

2 It's amazing to see the changes happening so quickly; we're still a month away from the end of our late-winter season, with snow in the forecast for tonight. Thanks for putting up pics of open water ...

Posted by: Rev. Paul at March 28, 2011 01:55 PM (0DZhf)

3 That is so neat!  How are your roses?

Posted by: pam at March 29, 2011 10:22 AM (i3Kno)

4 Spring was rocking along beautifully until the last three or four days here. This morning it was back in the 30s... Hope by the end of the week we are back in the swing of spring. Daffodils are already past their prime. Azaleas are beginning to bloom here and there - forsythia is in full blaze, as are the bradford pears. Next up, dogwood trees. My YouTube problems have cleared themselves up nicely. And thank you for the well wishes for Rose. We just keep trying...

Posted by: patti at March 29, 2011 01:42 PM (GSKiD)

5 Julie - thanks I like that one, just wish it had turned out a bit brighter overall. 

Paul - I'm still cold even thought snow and ice melted.  LOL.

Pam - roses are still hibernating. 

Patti - I'm jealous of your warmer weather.

Posted by: Teresa at March 29, 2011 05:35 PM (xE2iU)

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First we must start out with the badass hero of Japan. Meet Hideaki Akaiwa the man who takes on tsunamis to save people. (if you have language filters at work, you may want to wait until you get home to try reading it).  A true hero indeed.

***

The headline pretty much covers it

Chavez says capitalism may have ended life on Mars

Alrighty then.

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Well, this should cut down on all that extraneous sex... right? Pretty soon it will be considered too dangerous for any legal participation - just wait and see.

Heart Attack Risk: Does Having Sex Really Tax the Ol' Ticker?

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Seems the Dept of Homeland Security is dumping the color coded threat levels.

Color-coded threat system to be replaced in April

(personally I think they'd do better to work on the name of the department rather than worrying about color codes, but that's just me)

Really though, it's being dumped because most people have no idea what the colors mean or what they should do if things change. They should have listened to Frank J back in 2003 and it would all be very clear.

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No wonder there aren't enough iPad2s.

Moscow Catches iPad2 Smugglers

In their suitcases? Really? And this bit:

Officials declined to identify the young men and said they would face administrative violations for bringing in goods worth more than €1,500 without declaring them.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 11:24 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Yesterday we headed to Boston to catch the college Hockey East final game.  It was so fun.  And it was great to get away even for a night. 

We were only a little disappointed because we did root for Merrimack College to beat the powerhouse Boston College, but the game was great even if BC won.  It's  fun to pull for the underdog in these situations.  This was the first time Merrimack had been to the final game and that made them definite underdogs.    

We stayed at the Hotel Marlowe right across the Charles River from the TD Garden.  It was walking distance at least for us (we like walking).  A chance to stretch the legs and move about.

Better yet it has a bar that turned out to be very nice indeed.  Not like other hotels where the bar is dead - there were people at this bar.  Not packed, but pleasantly populated - we like that. Since it was late, we wanted a snack so we ordered their flatbread - perfect choice it was delicious.  When it took a while for our order to get to the table, the waitress brought us a free drink! 

Even better still, this hotel allows dogs.  We met several really terrific dogs while trekking in and out.  Notably a Golden Retriever, a Rhodesian Ridgeback (such a beautiful laid back dog) and a Nova Scotia Duck-Tolling Retriever - just adorable. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Posted by: Teresa in FUN at 05:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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