Archive | Uncategorized RSS feed for this section

The Addicts

11 Jan

The Squire went up to the gym this afternoon and swung into the library on his way home.  He noticed a David Weber book, Through Fiery Trials on the “New Books” shelf. “Oh, I think we’ve read this one”, sez he, and put it back.

When he got home, he went upstairs to see if it was on our shelf (we’ve purchased all of the others, normally via AbeBook.com) and didn’t find it. Hmmm. I suggested he go back up and get it, but he said he’d survive without it.  A bit of research and we discovered it was indeed, a new book, just out on January 9. It was out on loan at all of the other branches, but I did put in a request at our local branch.

He settled in to read the books he had in hand, but about a half an hour later he came into the den and told me he was going to go after it anyway. “It’s supposed to snow tomorrow” and that was really all the explanation I needed.

I understand perfectly. Two people, snowed in, and not enough books to go around. Oh, the horror!

Tags: , ,

Never a Dull, part 2

10 Jan

My car had a leak in the pipe that goes from the gas cap to the tank, so I left it at the garage the other night. This morning The Squire dropped me off at church for knitting while he went to the dermatologist. I was quite early, so I went into the church and set up the altar for Sunday morning.  The flowers that were there for last week were not fit to be seen for a second week, so I stuffed them into a garbage bag and headed for the dumpster.

Just as the church door closed behind me I realized I had A) locked the door behind me when I went inside, and B) I’d unlocked the sacristy door and my keys were hanging in the knob.  Today is the coldest we have had so far this winter, and blowing a gale.  Lovely.  Fortunately, I had dropped my cell phone into my pocket when I left the house this morning. I don’t normally carry it, and I hadn’t bothered with a purse either because The Squire was driving.

Normally Mac’s wife opens the building for knitting, but both of them are home sick today. I hated to drag her out of bed, but she kindly put on her bedroom slippers and drove over to rescue me. Talk about feeling idiotic!

I did learn that the incident Tuesday night involved a group of teens – a young man and two females – goofing around in the early evening. He had climbed a tree, and the branch had broken, dropping him to the ground.  Crews had come back in the daylight, and the entire tree was dead – and on private property, clearly marked with “No Trespassing” signs.

 

Tags: , ,

Never a Dull . . .

9 Jan

I went over to church early yesterday evening as I had a couple of things to take care of before the Vestry meeting started.  I’d just come inside when I heard emergency vehicles in the distance; they stopped just outside the church parking lot, blocking the entrance. I went out to the end of the sidewalk, but I didn’t see anything and I figured I’d only be in the way anyway, so I went back in and got busy.

A bit later I noticed they had come onto the parking lot, and then one of the crew came in and asked if I had a key to the chain blocking the lot from the field. I did, but it was in the car; another member of the Vestry came into the lot as I was heading to my vehicle, and she had a key on her key ring. The fellow told her they’d gotten a call about an injured person “out there”. Now, “out there” can mean simply the field, or the woods – part of the State Park System – that surround our property.

The emergency crew was outside for about an hour  and our Senior Warden saw them taking a small boat – he called it a Swamp Gator – headed for the river. Goodness knows what that was all about.  Rumor has it that somebody fell out of a tree.  Deer hunting season ended January 6th. Last night was the 8th. Whatever you were doing out there in the dark, buster, it was probably no good.

We shall see. We’ll probably hear all about it at knitting in the morning.

Tags: ,

Weather – or no

3 Jan

The Squire ran into an old acquaintance in the grocery store yesterday afternoon, and Frank proceeded to tell him exactly why we’re having such dreadful weather.

All those years we had lovely weather, and the factories were pumping all sorts of stuff into the atmosphere, y’see, but recently the Democrats made them stop filling the skies with fluorocarbons and  mercury and CO2, so now it rains all the time. The Squire didn’t bother to point out the fact that President Obama passed laws to remove the pollutants, and we had eight years of sunny weather. It is a Republican president who has started filling the skies with pollutants, and the heavens have been weeping ever since.

Frank wouldn’t have believe him, anyway.

Tags: , ,

Off to See Santa

23 Dec

Carolina Granddaughter took Butch and the Princess to visit Santa a few days ago, and they had aSanta 1 grand time!  Butch sat quietly while the Princess told Santa what she wanted for Christmas, and then she did the same. So often, little children are terrified of Santa, but this obviously wasn’t the case here!Santa 2

Then three of them shared a quick bit of story time.

Later on, the kids and their Mimi went on a carriage ride through Charleston to see the lights and decorations.

And a good time was had by all!

Tags: ,

I Am So Tired of Rain

21 Dec

Noah calledIt has rained.  And rained. And rained some more.

84 Lumber is having a sale on gopher wood. The lower part of the lawn has always been a soggy morass, but now even the upper slope is muddy.

The only saving grace is that it is warm. Today had been pushing 60 º F (15-C) and the rest of the week looks to be the same. Heaven help us if this precipitation had been snow!

Tags: , ,

Using Up the Leftovers

20 Dec

We had our annual Christmas Open House on Sunday. We planned on about fifty people, but the weather was beastly, so only half that many came. It rained buckets both Saturday and Sunday. Monday was lovely, natch. 

So now we have leftovers. Boy, do we have leftovers!

I took most of the leftover cheese and all of the cauliflower from the veggie tray and made mac and cheese on Monday. Yesterday, I took the leftover carrot and celery sticks, added an onion, and made Greek Orzo and Lemon soup. Today, we have a lovely supper of jalapeno poppers, mini chicken rolls, quiches – and a fresh salad. There’s no telling what the rest of the week may bring.

We also have cookies. You may have your choice of Fig Thumbprints, Pistachio and Cranberry, Red Velvet Whoopie Pies, Raspberry Streusel (also known as Those Cookies), Lime-Ginger, Chocolate Crinkle, or sugar cookies decorated to resemble Polar Bears. Or white chocolate fudge, if you prefer.

If you are very, very nice, I might ~ might! ~ share my fruit cake.  (But don’t count on it.)

Tags: , , ,

Music To My Ears

13 Dec

Apparently The Squire lived a sheltered life; he’s never heard any of the good songs. A good while back, I was singing (I guess you can call it that) a little ditty that went this way:

Looking through the knothole in Father’s wooden leg,/Oh, who will wind the clock when I am gone?/Go get the ax; there’s a fly on Baby’s nose,/And a boy’s best friend is his mother.

He accused me of making it up.

A few days ago, he was helping me make Christmas cookies, and complained ~ rightly so ~ that the cat was in the way, winding back and forth underfoot.

Oh, they’re always in the way/The cows eat them for hay./ They hide the dirt on Grandpa’s shirt/Oh, they’re always in the way!

Again, he accused me of making up the whole thing. Now, mind you, he really does have a reason for feeling this way. Last week, El Condor Passa came on the radio, and I began to yodel. I’d rather have a quarter than dime/Oh, yes, I w-o-u-u-ld./ I’d rather have a Quarter than a dime/Just any t-i- m-e.

Yes, that’s one of my songs. As if you couldn’t tell.

 

Tags:

The Water is Rising!

8 Dec

Although the are Some People in High Places who claim not to accept climate change, those of us who live in less rarified places know it for a fact.

My cousin has a sea wall around his home and the water has risen quite a bit since he had the place built. When I take Blazer for a walk in the park, I can see the river encroaching farther up the boat ramps. But mostly, we notice it here at the Rice Paddy. This place has always been a bit of a swamp, but it has gotten progressively worse. By road, we live about 5 miles from the bay, but as the crow flies it’s only a bit over a mile. While there are some valleys to be raised up, and mountains to be laid low between us and the Chesapeake, we are essentially at sea level here.

And we can tell.

Although the ground has always had damp spots – oh, heck! wet spots! – we now have more, and worse. Where once the spring outside the den window only ran in wet weather, now it runs all the time. All the ground around the front porch is soft and squishy – a sort of grab-your-boots- and-pull-them-off-your-feet mud.  It’s really bad when you need waders just to mow the lawn!  Y’know, there’s just a limit to how large a pond we can dig.

We have finally accepted the inevitability of having to move; we hoped to have time to dawdle a bit, but the entire place is beginning to sink into the mire.

Tags: , ,

Dental Blues

4 Dec

I’ve had a toothache for the last couple of weeks, and believe me, ignoring it didn’t make it go away. As a matter of fact, I had not been ignoring it, but was in and out of the hospital and just didn’t have time to get to the dentist. I was on industrial strength painkillers anyway, so I survived.

I trotted off this morning to be there at 8:00 AM, and after a short consultation the dentist and I agreed to pull the thing out. It was the very last molar on the lower right, and sat lower than the other teeth, so I didn’t even know it was there. (I’d actually told the technician it was the tooth directly in front of this one.) We had to use so much Novocain I think the fingers on my right hand are numb, too.

I grew up before Baltimore had fluoride in the municipal water system, and have had well water most of the time since then. Believe me, it shows. The dentist showed me the tooth, and above the gum line, what wasn’t cavity was filling.

Tags: , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →