Hiya

Good Monday morning to ya!  (Okay, I know it's *your* Wednesday morning, but it's *my* Monday morning.)

I spent much of my Saturday (your Monday - is everyone totally confused now?!) working here at home on a new website for a client.  The deadline we set is tomorrow (end of March), and I'll have a couple more hours to spend on it today.  Then I'll be ready to present it to the client and meet with her tomorrow.  I'm happy with the way it's shaping up.  Definitely a step up from her current site's design.


I know that it's natural for me to say that the (MY) new design is better than any old one, but that's not always true.  Case in point, I'll be starting a new one next week, and when I had my initial meeting with that client, I honestly told her, "I don't think I can make a new one look much better than your current one!"  But, it wasn't an updated look she's going for:  it's ease of use.  The way the current one is built, she can't even access it to make changes!

Many web designers do that on purpose so that THEY can always get the customer's business when it comes to changes / updates.  HOWEVER, what ends up happening is that the client DOESN'T bother them with those changes / updates (either because they're so minor and/or they don't want to suffer high fees for the edits) and just ends up getting more and more frustrated and unhappy.

The platform *I* use for designing the sites allows me to hand it over to the client once the guts of it have been built.  Then (if they wish), they can take over the administration of it.  Of course, if they WANT to keep me on retainer to make the edits, I'm more than happy to do that.  Just seems to be easier, on so many levels, to make the website user-friendly.  And that, in turn, makes customers happier, I think.


Geez, soapbox much?

I spent lots of saddle-time in the car yesterday.  Had a check-up with my shrink who informed me that I'm going to be one of the rare few who only need to check in with her annually . . . unless I "need" her before then, of course.  It gives me confidence and confirms my good / solid? mental state when that happens (especially given these last two - four weeks).  The same happened, years ago and following the realization that I couldn't have kids, when my once-a-week-for-a-year therapist (prescribed by above shrink) told me that I didn't need to reschedule for the following week.  I laughed and asked, "What, you think I'm cured?"  She, a relaxed Brit raised in Ireland, smiled her gentle smile and said, in her wonderful lilting tone, "Yes, luv, you are."  :)

So, three hours in the car down, and three hours in the car back.  Saw 3 adult bald eagles, 2 juveniles, and another which was either a huge hawk (I'm horrible at identifying them) or a small, immature baldy.  When I told my folks that last night while picking up the dogs, Mama Pea asked, tongue-in-cheek, "How did you know they were juveniles?"  Picking up her meaning, I responded, "'Cause they were drinking and smoking and flying recklessly."  Yuk, yuk, yuk.

Anyway, since I've been a Single here on the homestead, my big city trips have been more sensible:  either I'll schedule an overnight to get everything done (and not drive home in the wee hours of the morn', exhausted) or I'll make shorter trips.  Plus, with my folks being Maisy & Tucker's doggie day-care providers, I don't want to make the days too long for them (meaning my folks).  So, I only did minimal running around yesterday after my appointment, and got all the way home here to Swamp River Ridge at 6:00!

There was plenty of warm sunlight left, so, while I was out doing chores, I tackled the job of cleaning out the bee hive.  This winter was the first I'd tried to over-winter honey bees here, and it wasn't a successful venture.  The colony was alive and well during the mid-February thaw when I popped the hive open for a look-see but then the cold snaps following did 'em in.  They didn't starve to death:  there was still uncapped honey in 9 of the 20 frames.  They froze to death.

Bee keeping up here is a fairly losing prospect, but the rewards are so great that we keep at it.  The key is over-wintering.  And no one has discovered this key yet, unfortunately.  But, hopefully, with time and trial-and-errors, we'll* figure it out.  (Mind you, I really know NOTHING about bee keeping.  I just do what Papa Pea tells me to do!  But, I hope to gain knowledge & experience as the years pass and I keep at this new aspect of homesteading.)

* Year-before-last, a few folks got together and organized a very informal local bee association.  While the core group remains the same, more and more people show interest in joining each year.  Also, there's a new documentary coming out about the environmental importance of honey bees and the wide-ranging (world ranging!) Colony Collapse Disorder.  Anyway, go here to learn about the documentary, Queen of the Sun.

Now for some pictures.


I put a bungee on the sunflower seed can last night, but, as you can see, it did no good.

Raccoon, 1 / Chicken Mama, 0.  I'll devise a better plan to foil him/her tonight.

The view of downtown from my office building door.

This will be just the second but last picture for today.  I've spent too much time here on my arse and need to get ON WITH IT!  I took the above on Sunday.  Still lots of dirty snow in town although it's melting every day.  Here at Swamp River Ridge, there's still TONS of snow!  Heck, my folks (who live just outside of town) even have grass showing!  It will be WEEKS before that happens here!  I'll take some pictures outside today to show you that Old Man Winter is still holding strong.  :)

Back Home

Good morning, friends!

I’m writing from the sunroom as I drink my morning coffee.  I’m watching the cats watching the five new finches I bought yesterday to FINALLY stock the aviary!  I was awoken at 6:00 AM by the strange sounds of both the cats AND Tucker attacking the beautiful piece of furniture.  I was expecting that from the cats, but not Tucker!  After some quick fortification of the aviary to ensure they couldn’t get the door open, I stumbled back upstairs and to bed for another four hours.)

I got three zebra finches and two Bengalese (aka society) finches.  In finches, it’s always good to have odd numbers (at least, that’s what I think I remember reading years ago).  Making it my last stop at the end of an exhausting trip and once I was out in the car yesterday, I transferred them from their five individual boxes into a small cage I’d brought with me to the “big city” of Duluth (where I’ve been the past two days), and they’re still in that, sitting in the bottom of the aviary, waiting for me to finish setting up the big unit and then release them.  It was a comedy in PetCo yesterday as two of them escaped while we were getting them from their cages into the boxes, but, between to PetCo employees and myself, we managed to catch them both.  So, there are no finches living in the rafters of PetCo today, as is an apparently fairly common situation.  :)

So, finishing the aviary set-up on my list today as well as wood work, snow plowing, and unloading the car . . . before going to friends’ house for dinner.  And, speaking of snow removal, this, indeed, seems to be turning into the year that Winter Never Ended.

It was snowing buckets when I left on Monday (not exactly the best weather to be driving 3+ hours), and I had to delay my noon start by two hours in order to plow (the 8+ inches of snow that had fallen) enough to get out.  I was somewhat apprehensive about what conditions I would discover last night upon returning to my Swamp River Ridge.

The loggers, who are working again about a mile down the winter driveway, had plowed in to their logging site, but I was greeting by a snowbank as their plow had curved off the road and into their site.  A snowmobile had broken through the snowbank and so, uttering an oath that rhymed with “Spit!” I aimed for that hole (although not as wide as the car) and punched the accelerator.  I made it up and over the pile of snow but landed in what was, in all practicality, now nothing more than a snowmobile trail.  The track I’d plowed out the day before wasn’t even noticeable anymore.  Propelled by nothing more than sheer determination (I did NOT want to have to walk home, fire up the truck, and then drive back to retrieve the birds, etc. after such a long, two day shopping trip), I kept the little Yaris moving over the snowmobile tracks.  Had I stopped, that would have been IT.  Amazingly enough, I made it all the way up the hill to the base of the driveway.  (I’m not sure how!)

While plowing on Monday and seeing that there was still that glare ice underneath the snow I shoved around, I’d wisely left a 5 gallon bucket of ashes at the bottom of the driveway, thinking I might need to use it coming home last night.  Without getting out to spread the dirty stuff, I made my first attempt up the driveway’s hill.  Nope.  Second attempt.  Nope.  Third attempt.  Nope.  Dammmit!  I did NOT want to get out of the packed car until I was in the yard!  Determined (and knowing I had the back-up of the ashes, which helped), I backed down and gave it a final, good ol’ college try.  Annnnnnd, spinning, spinning, but making inches of progress . . . AHHHHH!  We crested the hill!  “Yayyyyy!” I told the dogs, “We made it!” 

I’ll take pictures today, but, when I got out of the car, I could see we’d been draggin’ trow:  the new snow was at least 6” deep.  So, what’s that?  Upwards of 14” of new snow.  I had to shovel the deepest parts of the yard-to-the-house path so that I could transfer the bare essentials (birds) from the car into the house.  This winter’s been crazy:  snow, snow, and MORE SNOW!

So, with this limited post (but it’s all I have time for), I’ll sign off and suit up for a day of work . . . but rewarding work!  It was SO wonderful, as always, to arrive home last night.  Even though it means so much more work, I’ll take the pristine white of the deep, deep snow that’s still found once one turns north and off the dirtiness of late winter on Lake Superior’s North Shore!  Is it easy to get around in town now?  Yep, but it sure is DIRTY and ugly!  I wouldn’t trade my pure white surroundings for that ease ANY day of the week!  :)

Here I Am!

I haven't had a chance to write since last Friday when I told you about the calendars (C, yours should arrive today or tomorrow, and yours, LH, will go out on Saturday).  And, Susan, you had asked about the new header image which I said I'd used in a past calendar?  Well, at least I knew I'd used it:  it's December in the new 2011 calendar!  :)

I worked a long, 10-hour day nannying on Saturday and then visited Bundle of Joy and her mama for a short time on my way home that night.  I felt as bad as I EVER have about the dogs that day:  aside from a few jaunts out of the truck to get a little exercise and relieve themselves, they'd spent the WHOLE DAY in the back seat.  When I nanny for Baby Girl, the dogs play well with the resident Black Lab, but it was so cold that I couldn't leave all three out all day.  I'm kind of in the market for a Suburban (I need a truck with more room . . . as well as a second truck for the wintertime when the 1-ton is hooked up to the plow), and I'll feel slightly better about leaving them for those long hours when they have more space in which to stretch out . . . and maybe even play or chew on bones.  Yes, I know I could leave them at home, but then their bladders would burst . . . and, I know that they are so used to being with me constantly that they get a little upset (Maisy, especially) when they're away from me.

I can't remember what I did during the early part of Sunday, but I think I had to run into town that afternoon & evening to do some work at the office.  Anyway, it was another day that zipped by with me feeling like I had nothing much to show for it.

I woke up when the alarm went off at 6:30 on Monday morning feeling like death.  I was scheduled for some car work and my first eye exam in the big city, some 3+ hours away, and my first appointment was at 11:00.  During the night, I'd dreamed that, while the doctor said that I did, indeed, need an eye glass prescription, what he was more concerned about was my heart.  And, oh, how my chest ACHED once I finally did get up - psycho-somatic, huh?!  Anyway, I let myself sleep about two more hours and then finally DRAGGED myself up out of bed.

I switched my 11:00 car appointment to 4:00, but I was still going to be about 30 minutes late for the eye appointment.  I called, trying to bump it back, but there were no openings, so, when I did arrive there, we filled out paperwork instead and rescheduled the visit.  When I'd dropped the dogs off at my folks' on the way out of town (thanks, again!), they both asked me if I felt okayaQQQQ==E (that, from Bonzi, the cat).  Obviously, how I WAS feeling was fairly clear.

Too, I'd asked Mama & Papa Pea if there was a chance they'd take Maisy & Tucker overnight that night:  my list was, LITERALLY, 3 full pages - typed (!), and I'd been thinking about staying overnight to get everything done.  After the visit to the optometrist, I called around for some motel rates.  And, here is where I got a good lesson in honesty.

The Days Inn's most inexpensive room was $84.95.  "May I ask what you're in town for?," the desk clerk politely queried.  Instantly, my hackles went up.  Even though she sounded genuinely interested, my gut reaction was, "What business is it of YOURS?"  Instead, I said, "Ohhh, I just have some appointments."  She said, "Ma'am, by any chance are any of those doctors' appointments?"  Me (again, bristly, but wondering if this line of questioning was "going" somewhere):  "Yes, but just an eye doctor."  Receptionist, "Oh!  Well, in that case, ma'am, may I offer your our Medical Stay Special?  We can give you that room for $52!"

My mood instantly changed, and I said (literally), "Holy Moly, Rocky!  (I'm such a nerd.)  Uhhh, YES, I'd love that!"  So, the deal was done:  I would stay overnight.

I zipped right over to the motel and got an early check-in.  Then, with fast food to-go in hand, I settled in, determined to make the rest of my Monday better than the first part.  45 minutes later, feeling (and looking - thank you, makeup!) MUCH better, I headed across the state line to my auto appointment in Wisconsin.  Thanks to Target having begun their holiday hours (open 'til midnight) that very day, I shopped straight through 'til about 11:30 PM, following the car appointment (where I ordered 2 new rims & Blizzaks for the rear of the Yaris AND scheduled a repair to the hatchback for the car . . . both parts & labor [which was going to be between $200 and $300] 100% covered thanks to the platinum warranty the ex and I had purchased when we bought the car.)

More fast-food in hand for dinner (what else is open at that time of night?!), I tiredly returned to my motel room just before midnight.  (And was reminded why I don't have TV:  with so many channels, there was literally NOTHING to watch . . . not even a cheesy reality show.  I ended up watching a documentary about Area 51 in the desert.  Hmph.  So much for catching up on junky TV!)

I let myself sleep in on Tuesday morning . . . but so much so that I didn't have time to take a shower before the by-11:00 check-out.  No matter.  I made use of my second day and shopped, straight through (well, I did take 10 minutes to stop at Caribou for a latte and lemon poppyseed cake slice when I'd bonked) from 11:00 until 6:01 when I was heading out of town.  I was E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D.

The car was SO FULL that, in order to get the last purchases to fit , I'd had to break up the box of booze I'd bought at my final stop of the day and leave the cardboard box in the cart at the cart station.  There wasn't a spare inch for that liquor box to fit.  So, instead, bottle of wine were stuffed under the seats and snuggled here and there throughout the load.  I took pictures:  it was pretty hysterical.  (Unfortunately, for illustration's sake, those images are now on my computer at work.)

Well, the computer froze up and I had to reboot . . . but now I can’t access the Internet.  So, I’ll finish my post here on Word and then paste & copy when I can get to the iHighway again.

On my way home, I realized that there was ZERO room for the dogs, so, after a call to my folks to find out if one of their Suburbans was available (neither was, as luck would have it), I called the ex to see if I could unload some of the loot into his Jeep for the night.  I knew we’d both be at the same birthday party Wednesday (last) night, and so I could make the final transfer then.  So, that done and the dogs picked up, we finally returned home about 11:30 Tuesday night.

It was cold out, already below zero and dropping, but did you hear me singing as I made trip after trip to unload the car?  I was SO happy to be home that I bustled back and forth (to stay warm!) and sang a cheery little homemade ditty about “home, home, so good to be home”!  :)  (With the temps so low, there was no option of leaving everything in the car until the light of morning.  Anything liquid would have frozen and burst its packing.  Even at the ex’s we had to haul a couple of very heavy boxes into his apartment for the night to avoid the same problem.

Quick story:  thinking about even the booze freezing reminds me of a New Year’s Eve, some years ago.  We were at friends’ new property (next to where The Peanut now lives, these folks being her aunt & uncle), and their cabin was super, super tiny.  Matter of fact, I don’t even think the stove was hooked up yet.  Anyway, for whatever reason, we were all outside and taking advantage of the snow cover to burn a huge brush pile and try to stay warm.  I’m not sure if that was the same year that it was -25 (F) when we got to the lodge we were all having dinner at or not.  At any rate, it was C-O-L-D.  While we were enjoying other libations, we set a bottle of wine (or was it champagne?) on the tiny deck in preparation for midnight.  As the night passed, one of the women suddenly exclaimed, “Ohmigod, look at the wine!”  Despite its high alcohol content, it had been freezing as we’d been tending the fire, and the cork had pushed up THROUGH the foil wrapper and was a-l-m-o-s-t out!  Now, THAT’S a cold bottle of wine (unfortunately, I think it was a red that SHOULD have been served at room temperature!).  Anyway, it was a fun way to learn (with no harm nor foul) that even booze on the lower end of the alcohol content spectrum, will freeze in cold weather!

After sleeping poorly after my big city trip Tuesday night and waking up yesterday still feeling and looking like death only slightly warmed over, I spent the day trying to unpack a bit, get my head on straight, prep for Bundle of Joy’s first birthday party, and get some business & personal mail ready to go out.  I had a little must-do work at the office, too, and I’d hoped to run in and get that done before the birthday party and dinner . . . but I didn’t.  And, in my focus to get everything ELSE together (some stuff for both the ex and My Girl, who would be at the party, as well as some groceries and party supplies I’d bought for it . . . and the mailings that needed to go out including a stupid busy-work [is this really necessary?!] form for the assessor’s office that needed to be there by the end of the day), I forgot Bundle of Joy’s birthday present.  Oi vey.  What a dum-dum.

Anyway, I got myself into town after the party last night at 9:03 PM.  I finished up at the office around 11:30 and headed home.  That done, I could finally “take the week off” to prep for Christmas – that being my original plan.  Yes, I did have the two days in the big city, and that DID need to be done (both for supplies and in prep for the holiday), but now I’m left with only THREE days– today, tomorrow, and Sunday - to get done what I’d hoped to get done (“week”, my arse).  I’ll go in and have the gallery open all day on Saturday, hoping to catch some last-minute shoppers.  I won’t even bore you with the details of all I’d hoped to do this week:  it’s too unrealistically hilarious.  I’ll leave it at the fact that I still don’t have a SINGLE, SOLITARY Christmas decoration down from storage yet, but I hope to change that by the end of the day.  Oh, and I have given myself a small reprieve:  I’m going to make my Christmas cards be New Year’s cards this year!

Okay, Internet’s back up on my laptop now, so off I go to post this epistle (sorry it’s so long)!