Nothin' Much

Today is one of those days when I feel like I don't have much to write about.  Sure, lots is going on, but how to make the normal tasks of the day interesting enough to deserve a blog post?  Hmph.  So, that said, pardon me while I ramble.

Last Saturday, I FINALLY took the Christmas tree down.  I wanted to get the dining room table all cleared of its clutter, too, but I wouldn't let myself just sweep it all off into a box.  No, it needs to be sorted as I go, every item being dealt with and then put into its proper place.

As a result, the table still looks the same a week later.  Oh, except with even more stuff dumped on it. 

I did get the tree and the few decorations I'd put up this year down, though, although all the boxes are still on the floor of the bedroom, waiting to be hauled up the ladder to the storage area above the walk-in closet.  

Annnnd, the sad tree is on its side in the snow, just out the front door.  That's right, you get nothin' but class up here at Swamp River Ridge!

As you can see in this image, Tucker was a big help last weekend.  

And, speaking of the dogs, Maisy drove me . . . UP . . . the . . . wall . . . last night.  She cried & whined & yipped to go outside 3 separate times.  That means:

• Get up, walk downstairs, let the dogs out ('cause, anywhere Maisy goes, Tucker is sure to follow).
• Walk back upstairs, go back to sleep.
• Wake up 30-40 minutes later when Maisy yips to be let back in, go downstairs, let 'em in.
• Trudge back upstairs to sleep.

Repeat 3x.  Damn dogs.  (I jest.  Kinda.)

The parents of the newest Bundle of Joy have been wonderfully kind in sharing her with me.  I've spent more than a few hours on their couch, holding a zonked-out baby girl in my arms while I play with her loooooooong fingers.  

Here she is, a week or so ago, snuggled up with her daddy.  I haven't been able to snag any super good pictures of her lately, and I'm sure I startled her with the bright flash this time, too.  Poor thing.  ;)

A sweet aside, I am known to this family simply as 'Auntie'.  Now, I know that's not unusual in itself, but what I LOVE is that twice now, once in telephoning one of my nannying jobs to get ahold of me and then another time in introducing me to friends . . . Bundle of Joy's mama has forgotten what my REAL NAME is!  Ha ha!  She's so used to me being 'Auntie'!  During the phone call (fortunately, I was the one who answered and I recognized her voice), the voice on the other end of the line said, "Hi, is . . . uhhhhh . . . is . . . ummmm . . . shoot!"  The in-person introduction was just as good with, "Barb & Jim [not their real names, of course], this is . . . ummmm . . . uhhhh . . . dang!"  You can believe, though, that I don't mind trading my given name for 'Auntie' one little bit!!  :)

When I got home Friday night, I parked the plow truck in the middle of the yard instead of its usual, out-of-the-way spot knowing that I was gonna plow the driveway that leads up to the trapper cabin this weekend.  I haven't done that since the last big snow.  But, yesterday was a GORGEOUS, full-sun day, so I took advantage of that to do more shoveling and small jobs outside as well as higher-electricity-load tasks in here like laundry and vacuuming.  (When you're on solar, you save running the appliances that use more electricity until a nice, sunny day when the solar panels are sucking up as much energy as possible.)

Anyway, the point is that I need to do that plowing today.  Plus, after glancing at Facebook and some local blogs this morning, I saw that we're expected to receive another dumping of snow.*  (Very light stuff is coming down now.)  So, I'll need to get that done this afternoon.

*  I'm often asked, "How did you not hear about that?!" or "It was all over the news!" when there's something I claim ignorance of (i.e. getting another dumping of snow or the recent recall on Toyota brakes, etc.).  Well, we have no TV, so there's that.  Then, when I have a good audio book that I'm listening to (99% of the time), it's that that's taking up the airwaves.  So, unless there's a particular program that I'll tune into local radio or NPR for, I don't often hear news.  I used to have my Internet homepage be a news-based one, but you know what?  99.9% of it is all so DEPRESSING!!!  Unless a person is civilly and/or politically active in their every day life, WHY would you introduce more negativity into your life . . . willingly!  I mean, really.

Moving on . . . .

I know many of you are preparing goodies & snacks for the Super Bowl tonight.  I think I'll make my own Swamp River Ridge Bowl:  a contest between the massive pile of clean clothes waiting on the couch to be sorted & folded . . . and the disaster that lives on the dining room table.  That, and the snow plowing.  May the best man win.