An Insane Amount of Work

Good morning, all!

The amount of computer work I need to do today is flat-out comical.  Which, of course, is why I'm here - procrastinating!  ;)  Well, that and the fact that I actually feel like posting this morning, and I KNOW I won't want to spend my break times back at the computer later today.  So, you get my attention now!

First, a bit of phenology.  I took a walk up the driveway to the trapper cabin and then back through the woods two weeks ago today.  Even though these images are that old, springtime has not progressed hardly at all since then.

Blooming catkin on some scrub by the chicken house.

The woods are still brown for the most part.  Nearer the mild temperatures by the lake, some of the trees have started leafing out - but not so much that there is "green in them thar hills" yet.  Along the roads, there is some green grass trying to get a foot-hold but not even enough for a picture yet.

This was a very teeny (you can see the dried leaves on the right-hand side for size reference) mound of PRETTY moss/lichen starting its springtime push.  If I had the time today, I'd enjoy researching to find out just what kind it is!  (That's the kind of stuff I LIKE to do vs. the stuff I HAVE to spend my day doing.)

Here were the remnants of one of last year's goose eggs (I'm assuming) that a raven had liberated from the "laying barrel" in the poultry yard.

At work, it was a busy, busy week of orders coming in.  Even though our old-fashioned five-and-dime is not exactly what you would consider a "head shop", we are the only game in town for incense . . . and our county does boast a good number of ol' hippies.  So, enjoying such things myself, I had a fun time placing the order with this company for the first time (that I did it).  I was a little leery that I'd spent too much money and ordered too much fun stuff, so it was with serendipitous relief that the boxes arrived on a day that the bosses weren't in!  ;)  But, I was up to my eyeballs in incense for two solid days, unpacking and pricing and stocking, and I SWEAR I got high off it all!  I mean, how could that much strong sensory invasion NOT affect you???  At any rate, it's pretty much all finished, and, even though I chose the best ones to buy myself, I'm HAPPY to be done with it for now!  I was so stinky both Friday and Saturday nights when I drove to Mama & Papa Pea's to pick up the dogs that scent-sensitive Mom couldn't even hug me!

Then, my evenings have been chock-full of visits with friends (it was Bunny Boy's 1st birthday on Wednesday), computer work, property/house-searching and pretty much passing out due to exhaustion.

Regarding the property & house-searching, I have been combing the real estate ads in an effort to find myself and the critters an affordable new home whose owners will consider a Contract for Deed.  Due to my financial situation, I know I will end up with something that is not ideal for whatever reason (no water or no electricity or super small or ______), but better to be looking NOW vs. nearer the end of my stay here at Swamp River Ridge.

It's very interesting, thinking about where - in the county - I may end up.  I'll go wherever the housing option is the best, my only requirement that it be no farther from town than my current drive of one hour.  But, given the size of the HUGE county that we live in (just under 3,500 square miles!!!), I could end up living two hours and 65 miles south of where I am now!  (There's a neat house at that location that my realtor is checking on to see if the owners would consider a C for D.)  So, in some ways, possibilities like this make the move more exciting since it would basically be like moving to a new town!  But, time will tell.  At this point, I have NO idea where I'll end up . . . the stress of which is MUCH reduced by the knowledge that I can ALWAYS (thanks to incredible kindness and generosity) "fall back" on the little cabin just outside of town should I find nothing before I need to be out of here.

But, with that, I REALLY need to get going on the day's insane amount of computer work.  The platform that I've built the majority of my clients' websites on has been made redundant, and Microsoft is NOT transferring the websites over to their new platform.  And tomorrow night at midnight is the deadline for having all the webpages moved and when they will be deleted from their current homes on the Internet.  It's absolute B.S. and only results in a HUGE amount of busy work for web designers.  Sure, I'll be getting paid from my clients for the work (except for the three websites that I administer myself - my high school reunion site, the local arts festival's, and my business website), but it's (SHOULD be) completely unnecessary.  It's just absolutely ridiculous.  But, remember, computers are here "to make our lives EASIER"!  Grumble, grumble, grumble.