sunday night bird blogging... ?

I have 2 cats. I've been meaning to post pics on Fridays, but I just haven't gotten there yet.

I got these pics from my mom and they are too beautiful not to share. Just another benefit of mountain living...


cardinal



downy woodpecker


blue jay

twilight

football blues

I am going through Steelers withdrawal. Don't get me wrong...I'll watch the Superbowl (loudly rooting for the Eagles to get creamed). But today, only NFL films to watch. While I saw a bunch of brilliant footage of Superbowl XIV, it just wasn't enough.

If you look closely at this picture, you'll see Mr. Independent's snow angel on the left and the sled run down the "hill" that he built for Sunfish behind the skinny maple tree. She's a snow lover too.


Special thanks to Ski for sending me this pic... It's just too funny not to post.

No way...

I shake my head constantly. How could this be happening? Are bloggers and satellite radio stations the only ones paying attention?

Where is the attention of the mainstream media? Isn't this more important than the Clinton BJ? Where is the air time? I continue to grow more and more cynical about the TV network media. Totally sold out.

I agree with Guy..."I am against torture and I am against Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General Of The United States."

Pardon my giggle

Veeeeery interesting...

Third columnist caught with hand in the Bush till

Thanks to Skippy for leading the way.

moment of zen ...

TGIF...

Yes, I know "TGIF" is cliche', but...I just must say... TEE GEE EYE FUCKING EFF!

[okay, got that outta my system...my work week has just concluded]

Last night I went to bed just after I posted. Seriously...at 8:45pm, I was in bed, asleep by 9:00pm. I feel better today, but still sick. The pills are wearing off, so...sniff.

I must say that I'm pleased with this blog so far. There's still a bunch of needed changes, which I'm trying to figure out how to make, but I'm growing more comfortable.

Anyone have any suggestions?

sniff, sniff

i'm sick. not flu, more sinus. my eyes are watering and my nose is running and I can't stop sneezing.

i want a cup of hot cocoa and a big thick comforter.

Does anybody really care?...

About fonts? Seriously...help me out. Do they really matter? Is Ariel really easier to read than Times New Roman? Should I take the time to change from this default?

I AM SERIOUS!! You have no idea how much time I spend fretting about this, both here on the bloggity and at work.

So come on...help a girl out...give me your two cents.

Tribute...

Molded by memories

This article was written by one of Hubby's cousins. Today I have been stuck multiple times by the sadness of his loss. A thought keeps coming back....we've lost a great man. I know the impact of his life on ours will continue, but I can't help but feel that there was still so much that I could learn.

Is today a full moon?

Okay, someone has got to tell me if the world was full of insanity today, or if it was just my miserable life... I was fully reminded today of why I have to find a new job. I really don't know how much more I can take.

So I've decided... I'm going to start taking college classes again. It's stupid not to. I need to a degree to get the job I really want. Plus, Hubby's a prof so I don't have to pay tuition.

Wow, the last time I was in a college class I had a "Flock of Seagulls" up-swept hairdo and thought I was cool in my fluorescent pink izod (with the turned up collar of course) and 4 bangles on my wrist.

Blogging

Read a few articles about blogging today. Wow, didn't know I was part of such a revolution. I thought it was just something that the kids do these days.

snow pics

Those piles are in the middle of the road. There's LOTS of snow. Enough to satisfy the "big snow" part of my brain, but not enough to make life miserable. Now if only the wind would stop!

Here's the front patio:


Why do I have teenagers?
One for the front yard...


And one for the back...


Why do I live in the mountains?
Where else could I turn the corner and see this...

Sad day today...

House is quiet.

Kids are still asleep (school closed due to snow). Except Sunfish. She's playing with some stuff she acquired at her cousins house yesterday.

I'm gonna get some hot chocolate and wrap up in an afghan to get the morning chill out. Plus..I gotta get the camera from the 1st floor. We need a dumb waiter in this house.

One day...several losses

We went to Pop's memorial today. [sniff]

Johnny Carson, late-night TV legend, dies at 79.

and much less important...

Steelers run out of time.
Lose 41-27 to Patriots.

Bummers all around.

Pop would have loved today. Crisp, sunny and white all around. Several snowmobile stories were told.

I got some fun snow pics on the trek north. I'll post them tomorrow.

StormWatcher Update - YIPPEE!!

5 PM:

16 degrees. About 4" fallen in 5 hours. Not quite what they predicted.


Everyone is home and tucked in for the evening.
Dinner (meatloaf, baked potato, corn and salad) is almost ready.


Be back in a few hours...

9 PM:

About 6". Still snowing, fine but steady. I cleaned off all 3 vehicles in about 20 minutes. The snow is too frozen to stick together. You can literally blow the snow off the glass. It's supposed to be very windy tonight. I should have let Mother Nature take care of it for me.

THANK YOU JUDY!

I am going to the supermarket, buying a Vanity Fair magazine and getting a subscription.

Judy Bachrach is my new hero. She was a guest on Fox News and made a fool of the newscaster, who's name I cannot track down.

StormWatcher

About 3 hours in...


It started about 3 hours before they predicted. Hubby and I have both gone driving in it. We have a Subaru (which kick ass in snow). Since it's so cold (currently 5 degrees) the fine snow packs really hard. Slippery.

Went to KMart on my little trek. Bought Sunfish new snowboots. We'll take her out later to frolic. I'll take more pictures.

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

My husband is not upset about getting older. But he is deeply saddened today.

Sad day indeed. Worsened considerably by the extravagance. Well said Tony.

Visitors...

Mountain Man is in for a visit. Always good to have Mountain Man around. I'll probably have a humorous story to post somewhere along the weekend.

4-8" of snow predicted over the weekend. tee hee hee.

Today was better

Yesterday was horrible. But at least I have a story to tell...

I have a 12 mile trek to work. About half way there, while sitting at a stop light, I noticed steam curling up from under the hood of my vehicle. There wasn't a lot, but I immediately looked at the temp gauge...smack dab in the middle of NORMAL. Phew. I didn't see any more steam so I wrote it off to the frigid temp and the wind swirling the exhaust from the car in front of me. I continued to watch the temp gauge as I drove further away from home. It didn't budge. About 4 miles from my office, I stopped at another light. This time I saw a lot of steam. There was no denying it...something was going horribly wrong. I fought my way across 2 lanes of traffic and pulled over. By the time I put it in Park, I could smell the last thing I wanted to smell at that moment...coolant. I believe my exact words were, "Aw, crap." I opened the hood and peered inside while on the cell phone leaving a message for Hubby. Then I saw it...a puddle of green liquid pooled on one of the crossbars under the engine. I looked in the coolant reservoir and there was only about 1" remaining. I muttered to myself, "Okay, that's good. There's still some coolant left and I didn't overheat the engine. Score one for me."

Unfortunately, I have a bit of experience with this type of problem. I've had to replace head gaskets in two vehicles that I've owned, a 1990 Chevy Cavalier (absolutely the best car I ever owned...heavy as a mack truck and could drive through any snow storm without even a shudder) and the very vehicle that I was currently cursing. I looked again at the puddle and traced the leak back to the side of the engine block. Damn. I couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from, but I was definitely getting a funny feeling in my gut. Either the head gasket had failed me again, or I had inhaled too much coolant steam.

Since it was 10 degrees, and I had a gallon of coolant in the van (always be prepared!!), I decided to take my chances. I called Hubby and left another voicemail that I was going to continue on to work. I think I watched the temp gauge more than the road (considerably dangerous since I was driving through center city). But I made it to work with the temp gauge just a nudge higher than the norm. Score two for me.

Towards the end of the day, Hubby arrived and arranged for the auto club to tow the bastard to our favorite garage. The owner loves us. We only buy used cars and we drive them until they have over 200,000 miles. At times I think we keep the mechanic in business. The tow truck arrived, put the van on the roll back and off he went...at about 3:45pm. I finished my work day and Hubby and I drove back to our quaint little hamlet and picked up Sunfish from pre-school. At this point, it was about 5:30pm.

We decided to drive past our favorite garage on our way back to our house. Now here's where the law of averages decided to kick our ass. The beast wasn't there. We drove past two other local garages to see if the tow truck driver has left it at the wrong place of business, but didn't see our vehicle anywhere. We stopped at the garage and Hubby asked if the van was out for a test drive...the owner replied, "I haven't seen it yet." Hubby returned to the car to break the bad news. Remember, I live 12 miles from my work. It was now close to 2 hours from the time the tow truck left with my van.

Now here's where the conversation turned amusing (I can say that now, at the time it was anything but funny):
"Okay," I said. "What's the name of the towing company?"
"I don't know," said Hubby. "Shorty something."
"Well where's the paperwork?" I asked.
"He didn't give me anything. Come to think of it, he didn't ask me for my Triple A card."

At this point my mind was racing. I had it all figured out. Some jerk-off intercepted the scanner dispatch and with his fake Triple A shirt, STOLE MY VAN!!! I was convinced.

We got home, and Hubby jumped on the phone to call Triple A and report the problem. Of course, he immediately got the hold muzak. After about 3-4 minutes I remembered that the tow truck driver called me on my cell phone when he got to my office. I whipped out the cell phone, looked up my recent calls and there was the number. Gotta love Caller ID!

I called the number and could barely contain myself when the driver answered, "Hi Honey!"
"No, this is NOT your honey. This is [weenus] and you picked up my van today in the city." While I'm sure that my voice was short of shrill, I can only imagine what I sounded like.
"Uhhh, yea" was the answer from the jerk-off.
"WHERE DID YOU PUT MY VAN? Cuz it certainly isn't where you were told to take it!"
"Um, I'm just now dropping it off. The traffic was really bad."

Now I could have really busted this idiots balls. I don't care how bad the traffic is...it doesn't take 2 hours to drive 12 miles. Maybe in Philadelphia, or Atlanta, but not around here. I could have ripped him to shreds, but I was just thrilled that my van was accounted for (Hubby quickly drove to the garage and confirmed the arrival). My only consolation is the gulp that the jerk-off had to swallow. Now I just chuckle when I think of him anticipating a sweet chat with his "honey" only to end up with a very pissed off soccer mom.

So why is today better?
Well, I was braced for the worst case scenario (blown head gasket) but ended up with just a leaky hose. Still a $113 jolt to my checking account, but at least not a $1500 jolt.

Also, I taught a great class today. The one student that attended (love the 1:1 ratio) was interested, participated and by the end of class, grateful for what she learned.

And finally, we've got significant snowfall. It's been snowing on and off all day. We have about 3-4" on the ground and I'M A KID IN A CANDY STORE!! I know it's boring when I talk about the weather, but I cannot help myself...I'm a snow freak and now I'm happy as a clam. Best of all, the temp is not supposed to rise so the snow will stick around for a while. AND...more snow over the weekend. I'm absolutely giddy. Go ahead... call me crazy.

i'm back

Wow... 11 days since the last post. Shame on me. Too much going on. I think I'm back on track now.

Lots to report... some good... some bad.

First and foremost: Steelers 20, Jets 17
I have just one word to post about that game... PHEW!

Second: Attorney meets the 'jury pool from hell'
This has got to be the funniest article I've read in quite a long time. My favorite part is the quote from a member of the jury pool about an undercover officer... "I should have known something was up," he said. "She had all her teeth."

Third: I must take a moment to pay tribute to a man who passed away on Friday (1/14). "Pop" was Hubby's grandfather, and I must say the greatest and most inspirational human I've had the privilege to personally know. He died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 92.

He was a master carpenter by trade and served proudly in the Philippines and the Pacific Theater during WWII. He was a big NASCAR and Bill Elliott fan. At the age of 83 he was climbing ladders, hammering nails and building stairs & walls as he helped us remodel our then newly purchased fix-er-up home. He attended the races at the local speedway and hunted until he was about 85. He tended his own big garden and lawn until his late 80s. That's impressive enough, but consider that this man did all of this having injured his back in the 1950's which made it impossible for him to stand up straight. He spent the rest of his life bent over at about a 60 degree angle. But he never quit. Life kept going on, and so did he.

He always had a warm smile and a great story to tell. He always came to the aid of anyone who needed or asked for help. He has left behind many, many hand-made gifts. Every child, grandchild and great-grandchild has a bookshelf (or two), a cedar chest, a gun cabinet or numerous other treasures. My Sunfish is the privileged great-grandchild that inherited the beautiful bedroom furniture that Pop made for his bride as a wedding gift. Above one of the dressers is a picture of Pop holding Sunfish at 5 days old.

He will be sorely missed, but he will continue to be part of our lives.

Big Ben

The Man of Steel
I ran across this article while bouncing around on CNN.com. Suffice it to say that I too have high hopes for the playoffs. I'll be holding my breath for the next two weeks.

Football has been a huge part of my life. Growing up in coal country you were completely immersed in football. Like every other boy in northeast PA, my brother played from midget league on up. Like every other girl, I was a cheerleader. That is, until high school... then I became a majorette. In either case, every Saturday was filled with local football, and every Sunday was reserved for the NFL.

The family, often including grandparents, would gather in the living room to watch a game on one of the three channels that we could pull in on the antennae (cable didn't come to our area the boonies until the 1984). It didn't matter which teams were playing. What mattered was that football was on. Life outside the living room ceased to exist. We'd cheer, we'd yell, we'd scream, we'd jump up and down. There was nothing more exciting than a great play.

I have always been a Steelers fan. Bradshaw & Swan were my heroes. I don't recall ever wanting to root for any other team. Why the Steelers? No idea. Mom was a Dolphins fan, Dad a Pats fan, bro was a die-hard Dallas fan. Of course that meant many fights between the two of us. Whenever the two teams would play against one another, we'd be at each others throats. I can remember the night before one particular game, I prayed for the Steelers to win. I begged god...please, please, please let them win. I promised a year of perfect behavior. Strangely enough I cannot remember which team won.

mother nature is a bitch

It is January 5th for christ's sake! And all I can get from Mother Nature is sleet?!? It actually snowed here for all of 15 minutes, enough for a slight ground cover. Then, ho hum, it turned to that wonderful "wintery mix." My commute in the morning is going to be hell.

What's worse it that little Weather Channel icon in my system tray keeps blinking red at me... taunting me... teasing me... with promises of a winter storm... 2-4 inches of snow with a quarter inch of ice on top. Oh if only I could believe...

great story...

If you're a hockey fan, and like me, is a bit depressed about the strike, go listen to this story.

The Hockey Sweater

It's around 20 minutes to listen to both, but the second passage is worth the wait.

I miss hockey. I want it to come back. I'm not a round ball fan so when NFL is over, I've got a considerable void until racing starts up again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

While expanding my collection of links to foreign newspapers, I ran across this article.

Bush second time around

It's always interesting to see what the people from different continents think of us.

---------------

The party is just about over here. At one point we had about 10 teenagers (age 17-19) downstairs. There was a game of Texas Hold 'em in the kitchen, Xbox on the tv sitting on the couch in the living room, and DDR on the main tv in the living room. (Luckily, me, Hubby & Sunfish could retreat to the 3rd floor.)

aaaaahhh, the life of a teenager.