KnitKnacks
Curios from the cluttered mind...
The last two weeks in Vermont have been not so nice weatherwise...sure has "greened" up the state though. Lookin' good VT. But enough already with the rain and yuck. Funny how I had been resisting sweaters and socks and jeans...just too darn cold BUT I refuse to get out a jacket!
So all my "landscaping" efforts have gone for naught.......yeah the plants are still there but all my newly placed topsoil floated away into the driveway. Looks like a real washout...leaving rocks in it's wake. Geesh. Maybe this is why I don't do that gardening thang.
In other news....Looks like Phish's summer 3 day concert in Coventry, VT will be it's last ever.......again.
Further news......I think I am finally done with all the check-ups and ins and outs and arounds now. Somehow I was not encouraged yesterday at radiology as I was being pulled and stretched and mauled all the while being apologized to by the technician as she complained she has to rush us all through because of the 7 minute scheduling between patients. If I have to go back for rescreening because of their haste, I will NOT be thrilled.
Summer tires are on my car...oil change, State inspection done AND a new water pump...that ought to keep him happy for a while. Cars like to get attention from time to time.
hrumph.....I'm not doing well on eBay lately. Didn't help that our ISP was down last night when I needed to make that last minute bid.
Update on our Tivo ........ I think I'm liking it. Thanks to Maura I'm already used to the remote and it's workings from being at their house. We've got some Dora the Explorer, Oswald and Blue's Clues all recorded for their visit. We also watched "24" Season finale last night then popped over to watch the second half of the movie "Reversible Errors" that we were recording...ended up only a half hour delayed once we skipped over the commercials. I liked that. ;-D
Time to get a move on...have a fine day all.........
Interesting............... Do tell, the whole state!?! Endangered?
Quite honestly, I liked it when Vermont was the only state without a Wal-Mart... sneaky bastards slipped into Brattleboro when no one was looking. Of course, there are those who would claim Brattleboro isn't exactly IN Vermont any more than Chittenden County is, but be that as it may, someone is looking out.
So Liz and I went to a few places yesterday to get some plants. Our "new" porch is looking a little naked with just dirt and rocks around it, so I thought a few posies would be an improvement. I bought some shade types (impatiens) and a hanging basket of yellow straw flowers to compliment the yellow spots on the front door. while there I saw some herbs...yeah right, like I could keep them alive long enough to get benefit from them but what the heck, they smell good in the meantime. I bought some basil and some sage and just for fun, I found catnip for the boys.
Let's just say that the boys found the catnip within minutes of my unloading it onto the porch. Someone tore it to shreds..it was a nice healthy looking little plant! I won't accuse anyone in particular but ~Elmo WAS seen stalking something in the yard and he never was much of a hunter before. Pathetic.
Coffee of the day: Panama boqette...still
It can stop raining any time now, thank you. I dislike rain and besides, I feel sorry for the UVM grads and parents who have to sit out there in it for commencement ceremonies this morning.
Huggies Baby wipes dry up after a year and a half.......imagine that? I'm trying to get the upstairs ready for visitors next weekend; the door to that bedroom wasn't open for more than 5 minutes when a little kitty cat was found sound asleep curled up in the corner of the crib. ggeesh. Oooooo we'll get to take "Kieran in the duck" photos! (photo is Maura Jan 2002) I think someday I'd like to make an album of Kids in the Duck photos through the years. I might have mentioned before that that duck was given to my brother by our Grandfather Whitten when he was a baby ... um that baby turned 64 in March. Not only my brothers and I and our children were in the duck, but my 19 cousins and theirs kids (upwards of 50)have been in the duck. Anyone who ever went to visit my parents with kids in tow were in the duck. Even I can think of several babies I've had in that duck in the years since I've had the duck here. I think it's worth a try. Hey Cori...send it on the Ryan in the duck photo!
In the meantime, I had to go downtown yesterday to get a new water filter for our coffee maker; it was then I realized it was commencement weekend. All those groups of threes (parents with offspring) clogging up the sidewalks and mallways. You'd think after being here for 4 years, someone would know where they are going! Anyway, I found my filter..who would have thought that William-Sonoma sells it for $3 LESS than Pier One Imports.
I'm getting an itch for a dumpster again........wonder why being in Morgan's room does that to me. ........or going into the basement...or the laundry room, or the dark room...or the living room ...or the bedroom..or the guestrooms....the porch.......sigh.
I ordered the pie safe. At least the coffee will have a container....well some of it will.
Maura Johnston - January 2002
Jack Monte - December 2001
Aidan Robitaille - September 2003
Coffee of the Day: Panama Boqette..again.
To catch up: Monday's was from New Guinea and Tuesday's was from Mexico.
I need a pie safe for the kitchen to hold all these coffee beans and other paraphenailia. hhhmmm...I thought I needed a pie safe but today's deliveries brought 2 more vacuum pump coffee pots and some more beans. I notice these things even when I was indisposed during their arrival. Anyway, maybe we need more than just a piece of furniture.
Weight loss tips:Have a "delicate intestinal condition" for a week followed by one day of normalcy followed by one day of liquid diet with a chaser of Fleets Phospho-soda. Hello, colonoscopy?
Katie Couric will be pleased with me today but I can NOT for the life of me understand how I bought into agreeing to having this "procedure" done in the first place. Next week's mammogram will be a picnic compared to this one. Yeah, there are biopsy results to wait for so technically it was a good thing to have done. Drugs are good, drugs are our friends.
So I had to take my trusty old Dakota suitcase in for a little repair today. It sort of reminded me of the time when I was five and had to drop my favorite doll off at the doll hospital after the dog ate off her fingers and toes. Stupid dog...Friskie was his name and as I recall he came with that name which should have been a clue to our parents. Needless to say, he didn't stay long enough for me to form any attachment to him. Eating "Betsy" certainly didn't endear him to me much....oh pardon me...I digress...you never know when a "therapy story" will rear it's head. Anyway, the point was that it made me feel sad leaving my trusty suitcase, just as I had felt leaving my doll.
Back to my suitcase. Lessons learned...when buying quality, repairs are usually under some warranty. It may take a couple of weeks, by it looks like my suitcase will be back all restored by the manufacturer. ahhhh.
However, while in the shop the owner informs me that the new TSA Locks are in and available! As if I'm supposed to be excited. "Ohhh?", I say. He goes on to explain that these lock s are especially designed with a keyhole in the end for special keys held by TSA agents! Oh Happy Day........
So let me get this straight... if I lose my key or forget my combination, all is not lost, I don't have to cut off my lock...any of several thousand TSA agents in the US has the ability to get into my suitcase with their "special tools and combinations"
Ooooooo, that just makes me go squishy all over........
Each lock features the Travel Sentry™ logo, which alerts TSA personnel that they may open this lock without destroying it
Each TSA screening location has a secured set of passkeys with special codes to open locks, and will relock them after inspection
The Travel Sentry™ logo on the locks help the TSA to efficiently screen bags and prevent damage to checked baggage, 4 dials for extra security,Resettable combination
The lock can be opened at checked baggage screening stations operated by TSA at more than 400 commercial airports across the country
If a checked bag with this TSA lock needs to be opened and inspected, the screener will use a combination of codes and secured tools to unlock the lock. Following the inspection, the screener will re-lock the bag and send it on its way
The system will ensure that passengers using the locks will not have to worry about a lock being broken or a locked bag being damaged if it is selected for hand inspection. It will also mean more peace of mind for passengers worried about reports of increased pilferage from unlocked bags
The T.S.A. mandated screening of all checked bags starting last Dec. 31. Since then, most of the estimated 1.5 million bags checked daily in domestic airports have been inspected by bomb-detecting machinery - but about 10 percent of checked bags are opened and inspected by hand
You decide.....
There's a Salvation Army Store across the street from my grocery store. It's closed on Sundays and often people will drop stuff off outside their back door when no one is around. Today I noticed a minivan there and a couple picking through the bags and boxes of things left....
Why am I even thinking that this purloined stuff is going to show up at a flea market or someone's perpetual yard sale ......
*We're back in Vermont.
*I'm feeling better after having been in a delicate condition for the past 3 days... eeeww...it just wipes one out! I had to rest a few times after crossing the room to let the cats out.
*Morgan and Nora are back home safe and sound.....they had fabulous experiences in Italy on their honeymoon.
*The kitties missed us as evidenced by being part of their "sandwiches" in the bed....I doubt they could get closer without OUR experiencing hairballs.
* I've yet to manage to unpack or clean up much of the coffee deliveries since we got home....it wasn't as much as I thought.
Have a good Sunday all......
.....this must be New London. Too bad it was foggy this morning; the Holland America Cruise ship The Maasdam went by and docked in New London around 7am. Wish I could have seen it cruise on by but I did see it in dock when I took Greg to work; maybe I'll see it depart around 2pm..;-D Seems strange to me that someone would book a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Montreal...stranger still that cruise ship GOES to Montreal. Oh well....I saw tons of banners out this week welcoming them, so I hope the people have a good time.
I'm packing up this morning...getting ready to travel on home today/night; I'm pretty darn excited about spending some time there. Need to hug my kitties. Need to check the mail and open boxes of coffee stuff.
So I was going to wait until I had some real photos of me and Boni "flying" but they didn't come out very well BUT Fly we did! We went to the Flyaway Indoor Skydiving place while in Las Vegas and had a great experience. The Discovery Channel was doing a feature on the place while we were there and although we were in the session being filmed, we weren't included for the show. boo hiss. We did receive a complimentary video of our "flights" though...funny, I seemed to recall having flown a lot longer than the video shows. Oh well, it was rather exhausting but thrilling...something to certainly check off the old "done that" list. I've wanted to do this wind tunnel thing ever since I first heard about it maybe 15 years ago. Maybe I'll try that SCUBA diving afterall.
In the meantime...have a fine day all and see you from Vermont!
I went for a walk down to the beach today...2 lengths of the boardwalk...2 lengths of the beach = about 2 miles altogether...maybe 1.5. I'll improve. It was windy but oh so very pleasant. Some shells caught my eye...then I had to prove I was there with the beach Mirror project.
This is a view of where we don't live.....but these flowers ARE on the way home from the beach...candy tuffs?
So I had a plan for this morning since I got up a little late and took the time to read Morgan's blog. (Great recap of their time in Italy so far)
The plan was to take Greg to work, then start the laundry, then shower, then finish the laundry. I got as far as taking Greg to work and starting the laundry...........damn those self locking doors.
For the first time since we started renting this place, I didn't see Tom or his truck until 10 am. In the meantime, I did get the laundry done and folded; cleaned out my car. It's amazing how much can be accomplished using an ice scrapper, some old napkins and an old bottle of water.
Guess now I'll see about cleaning up around here...myself included then running a few errands. Have a good day all.
o/'o/'o/'never mind what I wrote about earlier if you read it...I had Greg inspect and he said it wasn't o/'o/'o/' Must be I was hallucinating in my state of being locked out.
...I'm in New London. After this week we get to go home. I'm sure my 3 "harried" days at home a while back count for something this month.
BTW...as I recall, I left you all thinking my PINK shoes ( for the wedding)weren't pink at all...well I finally figured it all out. Even the bridal shop mentioned that they looked fine in their florescent lights...well there in lies the key. They WERE fine in that light but in natural light or incandesant light they were PINK. Not too many churches have florescent lights doncha know. geesh. I WILL be returning them.
Las Vegas was an experience...I don't really need to go back, although I never did manage to see the fountain show at the Bellagio...we were there either too early or it was windy...oh yeah, once we drove by and it was too late. I'll survive.
Wednesday night we went to the older section to see the light show on Fremont Street. I liked that well enough and the atmosphere down there wasn't quite as chaotic as the strip. Of course, I spent quite a bit of time at the Flamingo Hotel...I'll try to find some photos sometime along.
Thursday night, we had a private concert by Bad Company and Paul Rodgers. I hate to keep saying this, but I missed the 70s and 80s! I barely tolerated the music and recognized only two songs they played...one was a Beatles song and the other was Jimi Hendrix...geesh.
I do know that I could have an itty bitty problem when it comes to the slot machines. Not that I expect to win or anything although I did get a $40, a $50 and a $93 win....I also only ended up with maybe $20. I was feeling fine about all of that...I had my entertainment out of that money so I didn't mind not cashing out as one of my cronies, Anita, kept after me to do. Poor Woman...I thought she was going to stroke on me a few times...right Anita? Anyway, what really got to me was today when I got change at Costco....I looked at those quarters in a whole new light!!!!!!!! Yikes...I'm afraid Foxwoods may just be a little too close to me down here.
Happy Mother's Day out there......I woke up in Stamford to the tune of Grandma Fran....come get me. Works for me. I got a great photo album, picture frame and a sand chair to carry with me to the beach down the road. I'm all set.
I also got Tivo......Greg just finished setting it up....we'll see if we like it or not.
Have a fine day all...........
It's not horrible, but it's not my kind of place at all especially here at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino A little Loud...a little garish and a lot young. Oh well....I'm about 35 years late arriving with my bikini/thong/piece of leftover string.
I did win $40 after $2 worth of quarters in the slots....so far I'm probably up by about $25....I've won some others but just enough to keep playing for a bit before I lose totaly...isn't that the way it works...one is buying entertainment?
Tomorrow morning we're going off to the Flamingo Hotel...of course. We were near there yesterday but didn't have time to go in.
More later
I don't have any pictures resized for here BUT you can find a lot posted on Demian's...thank you, son!
It was an amazing few days...it was wonderful and best of all we have a fabulous new daughter!
Thank you Morgan and Nora for a great time......you done good!
xxxooo