KnitKnacks
Curios from the cluttered mind...
This ought to be a wake up call to telemarkers!!!! The Do Not Call Registry is effective today and I can't seem to manage to get to the site because of high volume of traffic ...........
That and interrupting one to ask "what are you wearing?" ought to be some sort of deterrent to the pesky callers.
*Poor woman was on her way to work with the back of her dress half zipped.
*Code Red ozone alert for second day in a row...ride the buses for free.
* Some guy took the free ride thing a little too far last night and landed his car on the 3rd (Hot) rail of the metro in Silver Springs. Hhhmmm still not sure how he "accidentally" plowed through a locked gate and launched his car over a cement ditch to get there but that's his story and he's sticking to it.
*The U-turns around here still amaze me...yesterday it was a cop and this morning it was an 18-wheeler....interesting.
*Hey Lady, I know the AC can get a bit much sometimes but do you really think you need that three piece pant suit outfit with the long coat in this heat? Slaves to fashion.........
*A garbage truck was leaving the sanitation landfill site spewing trash all over the road...excuse me...didn't you just dump the load??? The 50 gallon trash bag across the windshield was disconcerting...guess I should be thankful it wasn't full.....AND that it was on someone else's windshield.
...and it's not even 8:30.
I was shocked when the alarm went off at 4am this morning...I could have sworn I was still trying to get to sleep! I do recall some very weird Harry Potter type dream where a word puzzle was filling itself in and I had no clue what the game was never mind how to play it. This may be a very long dream week.
At anyrate...we arrived in MD safe and sound with no airline issues...traffic was moderate but moving. Hertz gave us a white Mitsubishi Gallant this time. I guess it's ok. Non-descript is good. The pool doesn't open here until 10:30am...how weird is that AND they have a lifeguard on duty. That's unusual too as far as what I've seen. I'll have time to unpack and get my groceries without feeling like I'm missing pooltime. It's suppose to be pool weather all week...we'll see. Theres a nice breeze out there at the moment too.
Now that I've read my mail and such...had to make sure the connections were good ( snort)...time to move on to the grocery store. Have a good day all.
* Missed wishing you all a Happy Summer yesterday...it was a beautiful day here, the green was lush on the hills between here and Montpelier; very pretty; very Vermont.
*It rained overnight into this morning...I think it has stopped for the moment. I guess this is what makes those Green Mountains so lush....I still don't like it.
* I left way too many things to do until today before leaving for Maryland tomorrow morning..bright and early....hhmm I'm not so sure bright is applicable; I'll check to see when sunrise is...I think we leave before it.
*Went to a Thai restaurant in Montpelier with Granny Morna and Greg's cousin Claudia and her husband yesterday. Everything was excellent and it didn't hurt having our asian food experts along to help with selections.
*Montpelier is pretty funky as far as capitals go...I would still call it small town vs city. It has a little bit of everything where the crunchy granola types can buy their Birkenstocks along side those right wing Regimental ties. Where the local hardware store is still doing business right next door to the regional franchaise hardware store (....the "big box" places are up the road a piece near the big city of Burlington.) The art movie theater is just as likely to sell out for a showing as the contemporary one...yes The Savoy is quite popular. They still have drive-ins dispensing greasy food and creemees and the New England Culinary Institute up on the hill has at least one practical training restaurant in town for the more sophisticated palate. The Coffee Corner is where things really get done and there is NO McDonald's in sight of the sity limits..... I suspect t'wont never be neithah. It's worth a visit but you better not stay, heayah?
I'm waiting for Harry Potter to arrive...I wonder what time "they" start delivering ... *I* know what Brown can do for me today and that's get Harry at my door soon. I do have to admit I actually thought about going to Barnes & Noble at midnight BUT I was too sleepy. Would we really cart two 879 page tomes to Maryland with us? You betcha.
Apparently some homes in the neighborhood were broken into this week, including the one right next door to us (not Duane and Tonie's). So much for Neighborhhod Watch.....one of the signs is located right in front of my neighbors house! Oh my...did you know that shadowy figure on the sign is named Boris the Burglar? Boris? Hello? The cold war is over! The USSR has been deunified! Shouldn't it look more like a stereotypical burglar ( black watch cap/skimask and turtle neck/) than a spy (trench coat and fedora)? Oh well...I've seen neither in the neighborhood lately.....just that stranger dude in jeans with the screen cutters in his hand.
Guess we're off to Montpelier today...have a good day all. (I offered to pick up a copy of Harry for Morna but she doesn't need one...has her own)
I see that Oprah has revived her Book Club with a John Stienbeck novel. I think I like the idea of her picking only "classics" instead of contemporary works. Nothing like a little cultah for the masses... Ahem...can't say I've ever read East of Eden either. Maybe. I didn't generally read Oprah's picks mainly because they were pretty dark to begin with; the few that weren't were ones I read before they became Oprah's picks....of course I was thrilled with that.
I finished all of Lorna Landvik's past and present books so now I'm back to some of the old familiar authors: Stuart Woods' Blood Orchid, John Grisham's King of Torts and presently reading Susan Grafton's Q is for Quarry. I know I read something else in there but I just can't remember what it was...must have been nothing extraordinary. Old friends...cozy sweaters.....comfortable reads. Oh yeah....J.A.Jance's Kiss of the Bees.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix arrives on Saturday...of course I pre-ordered him.....guess we'll be lugging him to Maryland with us. *I* will have to find other book I'm dying to read while Greg is reading Harry. of course Greg will have to do that pesky work during the day so I'll have possession of the book, BUT it's too hard to share in the evening. I think this is why we had 2 copies of the last one. I hope we aren't last on the delivery route...I dislike waiting for things....that is again how we ended up with 2 of the last Harry Books; we went to Costco the last time I pre-ordered Harry and lo and behold, there it was sitting there for the grabbing.
At any rate, I do have a stash of books waiting for me under the stairs....a new Kellerman...a Fannie Flagg. I think I should go through those again...seems I just bought the paperback of Standing in the Rainbow to go along with the hard cover I already had....and hadn't read yet.
Hehehe... at least I can remember if I've read a book or not before I'm more than half way through it; most of the time.
However, TODAY is my hair appointment....have a good one all.
Someone has a week off this week....well, a none traveling week that is. I've managed to line up all sorts of doctor, dentist, optometrists appointments to keep him amused least he get to sit still for more than 5 minutes.
Today is Demian's Birthday!!!!! Happy Birthday Demian....yikes! 31!! How the heck did that happen?? Just seems like yesterday he was riding his bike...without a care in the world...right into the back end of a parked car.........;-D
I ripped out two broken from snow dumps but still living overgrown shrubs from next to the front steps yesterday. Ok, not exactly ripped out...I chopped off all their little limbs and now they are nothing but bloody stumps. I really like lopping off twigs and branches. It's times such as this when the neighbors start getting nervous...once those clippers are in my hands, no branch is safe. As a matter of fact Tonie called last night to lament the demise of the "maple bush" out front. (shoots growing out of a stump, it was not attractive)
Hhhhmmm I think I have a hair appointment today...I also think it may overlap with my dentist appointment...this ought to be interesting.
Friday the 13th. Guess I'm not concerned since any day of the week I'm likely to trip over a big black cat crossing my path while I'm climbing ladders because I'm too darn short to reach anything.
It's stopped raining long enough for the poplar tree scat to float around in the air. It looks like it's snowing. eeewww wet poplar tree scat is gross. I feel like slinking around the neighborhood because WE are the only ones now who even have a poplar tree on their property.
Isn't scat a great word? I just think it works on so many levels. However there are plenty of words that don't...ie SWILL. I don't like that word...must be it has something to do with the frequency with which my father used it and to what he was referring. " Baby, get this swill off the table" referring to clearing the table after dinner. Swill?? Five minutes ago it was dinner?
I've accomplished a lot this week including doctor, dentist ,vet appointments, tire rotations, travel reservations, ordering products, bookkeeping; BUT I have NOT managed to get a simple pill down Knoel's throat. I hope he has eaten enough of the food I crushed it into to help rid him of his wormy friends. But what's the point if he is going right back out there to hunt down some other wormy morsel. Sorry for that digression...gross.
Our Costco actually had "fireworks" for sale. yeah sure...they were mostly smoke bombs and snappers but there were some regular sparklers there too...a step up for Vermont. Sparklers used to be illegal even! pppsssttt...I have a nice supply of fountains I received from Lori and Demian for Christmas to use this 4th of July.
You never get over feeling pain at your child's pain and the desire to fix it for them .....RIGHT NOW!
Full day ahead of me today....car stuff and taking the cats to the vet for their checkups. When the vet tech called to confirm their appointment yesterday, she had trouble getting Knoel's name out and downright snickered over ~Elmo's name. (~Elmo is pronounced "Not Elmo" for the uninitiated) Hrumph...the noive...;-D
Monkeypox...now there's a new one. Now I'm not one to scold people for having exotic pets..we've had a few in our day ( bird, cayman, pot belly pig, turtles, house rabbit, assorted vermin)...but don't you think because they are unusual "pets", that new owners might be a little more cautious with them. Especially when it comes to their 3 year old. First the animal exhibits a sickness...then it bites their daughter (hello??)...then it DIES ( do they need to buy a vowel?)...then their daughter starts in with a high fever and they wonder if there is a correlation? DUH? Thank heavens she'd only thrown the animal's carcass into the garage...easily retrieved for testing.
Of course it seems rather simplistic in hindsight and I'm not about to cast too many aspersions their way...I seem to recall a pesky pig mite incident that wasn't detected for what it was right away. (scabies just sounds so much worse)
Have a good day all
Only a 40 minutes drive from Rockville to DCA this time..only a little traffic tie up.
USAIR agent at Reagan National: " Hello folks...and where are you off to today?"
Greg: " Good Evening...we are headed for Burlington VT on flight #4091, thank you."
USAIR agent...fumble fumble...type type type..."hhhmmm"... type type type...fumble fumble...
Greg and Fran...Oblivious of fumbling and Typing...Agent looks up but no eye contact
Fran: "yes we knew we are 5 hours early...only took us 40 minutes instead of 2.5 hours on I-495"
USAir Agent...sighing...not making eye contact...almost wincing...: "It seems you have no reservations on this flight...they were cancel for non payment. You have "so many hours/days" to keep them before payment is required."
Greg's giving Fran the hairy eyeball...Fran is frantically ripping laptop out of computer bag...booting up to show .pdf file of confirmed reservation..... ( smart Fran)
USAir agent makes phone call...he can't help us even with confirmation #..."yes we can acommodate you on this flight; there is room, however, walk up price is $909...a piece. (something like that...Fran isn't listening beyond $900 a piece)"
Greg (calm because Fran had confirmation receipt and knew it could be straightened out) : "Yes I understand" handing over credit card...Agent is flummoxed we haven't gone over the counter at him.
Security Gate people are conducting a special shoe inspection..."All footwear must be removed" Fran, juggling purse, laptop, computer bag and now sneakers which don't usually count anyway, is livid. TSA person likes Fran's new socks from Old Navy...Fran smiles. Smart TSA lady. Greg incurrs wrath of TSA agent when he puts shoes in same bin with laptop...an annoucement is made to make sure laptops are in separate gray bins with nothing on top of them. ( Greg's shoes were next to laptop.) tsk tsk...
Greg and Fran proceed to USAir club; laptops are inspected for confirmation/ cancellation emails regarding original reservations ..nothing.
Greg spends about an hour on the phone with Mike from Gold Preferred member services and Mike speaks with Heather from Sabre travel site. Greg is cheerful and Mike and Heather understand Greg is however, not happy about paying $1800+ for $600 tickets. Sabre woman finally finds our reservation...and Mike tries to explain to Greg how the system works..."there this thing called a queue that the reservation goes into for processing...it fell out of the queue and was never made."
Greg:"Ooooookkkkkkkkkkkk......."
Apparently there is no love lost between USAir agents and Sabre..however; Greg explains he understands that but the system none the less has a USAir logo on it.
One hour later...Greg and Fran have original price reservations and now need to go get new bording passes....after having already cleared security. No we aren't going out there again. USAir club woman just prints new bording passes. We don't discuss how we are where we are with no bording passes.
Fran is thrilled at the real possibility of having to change the back end of these tickets in the near future.
Meanwhile, the lawn had been mowed twice by Manual Labor..young man next door...the cats had been fed and were fat and happy to see us...home is good and I was amazed there is little traffic here...;-D
Yes!....Friday...packing day....trying to keep myself amused after I've checked out day....AND of course, it's probably the best day of the week (2 weeks) weatherwise.
I didn't keep the car the last 2 days so I was out of practice....I nailed that pothole solid this morning. I was too busy being grossed out by the royal blue PT Cruiser and the purple Ford Escort next to us....add our royal blue Cavelier to the mix and it's a sight no one should have to endure so early in the morning.
Later:...Whew....stuff doesn't go back in the suitcases as easily as they did to begin with....I bought nothing! Thank Heavens they will let me stay the day, it may take me that long to get the stuff wrestled back into the suitcases.
Have a pleasant day...enjoy the sunshine...may hay...;-D
Since Morgan has mentioned it on his blog finally.......I'm getting another Daughter-in-law...yea yippeee. I like getting these daughters all growed and I didn't have to go through much pain and agony, not to mention puberty, to get them. Congratulations to Nora and Morgan....or as some call it....It's about time.
Maybe now they will introduce us to Nora's mother. I wonder who they have been protecting....
Another Monday Morning in Gaithersburg/Rockville. I sucessfully hit "the pothole" yet again on the way to taking Greg to work. I think I'm batting about 95%...you'd think I'd know where it was by now, wouldn't you....I do, I just don't avoid it. Just as I can't/don't avoid the piles of dried up cement that look as if they dropped off the back of a truck on it's way somewhere else, either. BUT I do manage to drive over the fan/altenator belt that has been sitting in the same spot on E. Gude Drive for at least two months now. Hhmmm maybe this is another chance at a stinky meat type experiment. Maybe not since this bet doesn't seem to have changed much...not even position!
Guess Maryland isn't big on road clean-up. Reminded Greg of the dead dog comments when he was working on a job site on the Cheasapeake many moons ago...it had remained on the side of the road soooooo long they began to give directions by it (Take a right at the dead dog)
No black Squirrel on the property this morning but someone did try to drive over the curb, onto the lawn to get a closer look at a little tree out front. Oh well...job security for the sod farmers.
I think I will enjoy the sunshine today...this may be "summer".
Tally Ho! We decided to venture over to Leesburg, VA to visit friends, Risa & Tom, yesterday. Decision: I-495 or rolling countryside. What the heck, since using the interstate was twice as far and looked on the map for all the world like " you can't get there from where you are", we decided to take the direct route through the rolling countryside of Maryland and Virginia. With me at the wheel and Greg navigating with his trusty PC and new and improved GPS from Delorme, we were all set. The chevy Cavelier does NOT drive and steer like my Saab, but we made the best of it inspite of a few curves in the road taken a little wide. We got a prolonged and up close view of Poolesville, MD when we followed the paint trucks making new lines on the road for a mile or two....but hey, what's the hurry!?
" You'll be coming up on a right soon, White's Ferry Road." "Okie, Dokie...here it is"
Rounding the bend..."Welcome to White's Ferry" "Ummmm...Honey, you didn't say anything about a real ferry"...if that's what you want to call that thing being hauled across the Potomac River by cable. By this time, we are snapping pictures....this is NOT your mother's Lake Champlain Ferry by any stretch of the imagination. I expected horses pulling this thing one car at a time across. Never fear; as the woman coming out of the little store exclaimed...." Oh we're expecting big storms and possibly a tornado anytime" implying we're fine til then....oh yeah right...load us up! Looking around for the process to pay for this pleasure, we see none but drive on board none the less. ahhhhh there it is. Needless to say we get a front row seat in the second lane...the wind is picking up.....Morgan is calling on the cell phone. (this could possibly be our last contact in this world.)
Anticlimatic....the cabling was so quiet...we were half away across the river before I realized we were moving. ahem...I was busy taking pictures of the cable as it came up out of the water. (see the cable?)
Anyway, the water was flowing at a good clip but not too choppy at all.
We made our way to Risa and Tom's...had a fabulous dinner and visit. The storms did hit just about the time the meat needed to come off the grill but isn't that what adds that little extra flavor?
We drove back to the hotel by way of the Greenway and I-495.