prof20336's Journal
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
[Friends]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
prof20336's LiveJournal:
[ << Previous 20 ]
| Friday, January 16th, 2009 | | 5:20 pm |
Warming My Heart on a Cold Day
Today at the library I saw a young mom with 2 girls (5?, 6?) load up a rolling suitcase with books and other media. Way to go, Mom! Kasey, the cocker, had minor surgery today to remove two "growths" that are probably benign but were not too nice to look at. (The bill was far from minor.) Schlepping him off to the vets at 8 am was not pleasant on this, the coldest day we've had in 13 years. We are "attending" the inauguration from the comfort of our den. No cold weather and crowds for us, thank you. Book count so far for 2009 - five. Things are sure to slow down now that rehearsals are starting up. I'm trying to get a "reserve" built up for those weeks I will be too busy to read. | | Sunday, January 4th, 2009 | | 7:03 pm |
| | Friday, January 2nd, 2009 | | 11:02 am |
Who Said Old Dogs Can't Learn New Tricks!
Pfeffer, the 16 1/2 yo dachshund, has developed a number of medical problems over the past few months. One result is difficulty in walking so she is now carried up and down stairs and outside to do her business. She also gets cold and wants to cuddle, particularly under blankets during the evening TV watching/book reading sessions and insists on spending the night along side a warm human body under the covers in bed. Her eyesight is also pretty much gone - old age and cataracts. With DS and DD and families visiting over the holidays, she pretty much had 24/7 cuddles. No dumb bunny, she has developed a way to get what she wants. She woofs - a single woof, waits a few seconds, woofs again, and continues this until some human responds. Last night, DH was watching football downstairs and I was watching Emma upstairs. Pfeffer was snuggled in her bed (which the cocker had tried to take over during the week Pfeffer was snuggling with humans). About 10 pm, DH says she sat up and woofed, expecting someone on the sofa to reach down and pick her up. Except there was no one on the sofa. DH took pity on her and the two of them were warm and toasty under a throw in a comfy chair. Pfeffer may be an old dog but she certaInly has managed to teach her humans some new tricks! | | Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 | | 4:20 pm |
One Book Short of the Goal
Final count for 2008 - 59 books (14 from the 1001 books list) and 11 plays. The goal was 60 books. Finished the 59th book this afternoon and just can't get one more read before midnight. Am setting the same goal for 2009. With 4 weeks planned for the cottage this summer, I should be able to do it this time. A blurb in the Post a couple of days ago said that Bush had read 91 books in 2006 (but only 47 for 2008). Guess he has plenty of time to read since he doesn't seem to do very much IMO. All of the family, including baby Ryan (now 10 1/2 months old) have been visiting over the holidays. Ryan and parents left this morning. It's mighty quiet around here. Happy New Year, Everyone. | | Monday, November 10th, 2008 | | 9:31 am |
Season's End
Apparently, the first frost of the season hit while we were away. Nearly all the dahlias were brown as were most of the basils. The maples, ablaze with color when we returned, seemed to drop their leaves overnight. DH and I spent the weekend cleaning up the lawn and garden. There are now about 20 or more big bags of leaves and garden waste waiting for pick up. And, yes, there's stuff in the compost pile, too. It's always a bit sad to put the garden to bed for the winter. Six months is a long growing period but it's still hard to pull those straggly tomatoes and overgrown flowers and see bare earth. With the trees now bare, I can see the neighbors' houses. The little enclave of greenery we enjoy in the summer is gone except for the hollies that grow bigger every year.. Next step, bring in the furniture from the gazebo and turn off the outside water. But not quite yet. There's still some warm afternoons when the outdoors beckons. On another note, I auditioned for Colonial Players on Saturday and did seem to be considered for a role. But it's now Monday, there's been no phone call, so I'm just waiting for the "thanks for auditioning" email. Not that I'm lacking in things to do. I'm doing props for 2 shows in December, need to work on plans for Alice... and still have 2 more auditions (long shots both) coming up. I'll just have to accept the fact that I'll be working behind the scenes for a while. | | Thursday, November 6th, 2008 | | 9:09 am |
| | Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 | | 2:25 am |
After Effects
My biological clock is all messed up. I got up around 4:30 Tuesday morning, stayed up all day although Pfeffer & I did try to nap to no avail, and crashed on the couch after dinner. I heard bits and pieces of election results until DH retired around 8:30, then nothing until I woke up around 12:30 - just in time for the end of Obama's election speech. So, after watching the tube for a while, I decided to do some paperwork, surf the web, read email, etc. It's now 2:30, DH just appeared (his clock is also off) and I'm not sure whether to try to so to bed or stay up a bit more. I'm not alert enough to read or work on clients' stuff but not sure I can sleep. I usually don't have trouble adjusting after a trip to Europe. Must have been the 24 hours of being awake. Guess I'll try some Sleepy Time tea and see if that does anything. Current Mood:  confused | | Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 | | 5:48 am |
Along the Blue Danube
DH and I just returned from a 16 day trip along the Danube River. It was awesome, although the last day was a killer, awake for 24 hours as we came home from Bucharest. The trip was a river cruise on the Viking Neptune. The Viking team did a tremendous job - from arranging the air flight and transfers to great on board staff including an energetic and charismatic program director and a hands on maitre d', to nearly daily sightseeing tours, in English. The food was great (too bad for our waistlines) and there was some good "local" entertainment though most of this was during the daily tours. We traveled from Nuremberg to Bucharest with a side trip to Varna and the Black Sea. The first week was Old World Europe - lots of churches and monasteries, some castles and such. In Vienna, DH and I picked up tickets to a Mozart Ensemble concert. They played in "the oldest concert hall in Vienna" where Mozart was supposed to have composed and played. He did spend about 6 weeks living in the residence so could easily have written several dozen pieces. The hall was small and had excellent acoustics. The group was very talented. We really enjoyed them. The second week was former socialist countries - lots of gray. The Soviet era buildings were hard to miss and the countries have economic problems to be sure. But all the people we met were very warm and friendly and the guides were very knowledgeable. Most of these countries are Eastern Orthodox so the churches we saw were quite difference from the baroque and gothic ones we saw the first week. We spent a bit more time on buses since the "sights" were inland from the ports of call but the drive through the countryside was interesting, too. It might be nice to come back and see some more of these countries but getting around is more difficult since they use Cyrillic alphabet and a Slav, not Roman, based language. Also, Euros are not accepted except in some tourist areas (all are now EU or on the way to becoming EU countries) so currency exchange is a must. The infrastructure (roads, etc.) needs improvement and good hotels are hard to find except in big tourist areas. Varna, a Black Sea city and resort, seemed to have a lot of places to stay. DH took lots of pictures, we made some new friends, and we are very happy with the experiences on this trip. We are already thinking about the next river cruise - maybe China or Antwerp to Basel. Oh yes, the Danube is not blue (Strauss must have been high on something) and the Black Sea is not black. But we did cruise on both and I touched the water of the Black Sea. Current Mood:  tired | | Thursday, October 16th, 2008 | | 7:23 pm |
This and That
Well, from all accounts, Sunrise at Campobello was a very well done show and Dick and I did a bang up job - or so I've been told. I did 2 shows with a full blown case of laryngitis - and could still be heard. But that's over now and it's back to beating the audition boards - without much success. Ride the top - plunge to the bottom. Just to keep involved I agreed to do props for 2 shows going up in December. DH and I are off in 2 days for the long awaited birthday bash trip down the Danube. Tickets are in hand, bags are being packed, dogs are off the the kennel and email is being forwarded to a little used account that DDiL has agreed to monitor. I don't think I'll really relax until the plane leaves the ground. | | Friday, October 3rd, 2008 | | 3:15 pm |
Wii are not fit - part 2
After one week, albeit missing 4 days for being sick, I have made minimal progress toward my weight loss goal. DH has made some progress but men always seem to lose weight easier than women. I'm a bit frustrated because I spent several days hardly eating a thing. I am, however, getting a little better on the balance games and I love the aerobics section. Last Friday we opened Sunrise at Campobello - and on Saturday morning I woke up with a full blown case of laryngitis. I managed to somehow croak my way through the next two shows. I was never quite sure I would get the next line out but apparently, I has heard and understood and did a fine job of acting, too. Or so I've been told. Luckily, the reviewers were there on Friday (see ShowBizRadio.net) The voice has recovered, TG, since there's a show tonight, but I've a new problem - conjuntivitis. I felt it coming on yesterday, couldn't get a doctor's appointment so ended up spending 3 1/2 hours in the ER. But I was right - viral conjunctivitis. I have eye cream that is helping and I just picked up some Visine to "take the red out". Putting on makeup is going to be interesting. Luckily, I wear minimal eye makeup. Also, I have a hacking cough that seems to get worse as soon as the sun goes down. For that I picked up Vicks 44 Cold and Cough. And I've been popping Dayquil quite regularly. I'm a walking OTC pharmacy. We leave for the river cruise in two weeks. Have to start figuring out what to pack. It's likely to be a bit nippy. Current Mood:  sick | | Thursday, September 25th, 2008 | | 4:42 pm |
Wii are not fit
DH and I asked for a Wii Fit for Father's Day from the kids. It took some time but DDiL finally scored two on Amazon. Our version arrived yesterday and I tried it today. The good news - I tested 7 years below my age. The bad news - I'm overweight - but then I know that because my clohes are tight. Then I did 15 minutes of "training" starting with aerobics because that's something I do know how to do. It's only been a few hours but already I'm feeling it in some little used muscles. Good thing we have a "rest" night for Sunrise at Campobello. We open tomorrow and for most of the show I'm either on stage or madly making a costume change. I think those muscles are going to tell me all about it tomorrow night. Current Mood:  sore | | Thursday, August 7th, 2008 | | 1:02 pm |
Ah, Libraries
DDiL will agree that libraries are wonderful places. I dropped by the local branch to return a book and decided to browse the 'book store'. Good thing, too. Someone had donated a bunch of plays in hardcover. I got 4 single plays, an anthology of one acts and a regular novel for $3.50. Can beat the price. We all survived the sailing trip on Lake Superior. DH and his sister managed not to kill each other, we got the boat anchored and docked without incident, and we had lots of great food and drink. Only drawback was lack of wind. We had two good sailing days. On the other days we'd get a couple of hours under sail, then had to motor sail the rest of the time. On the last day we just managed to beat a wicked T storm as we headed back to the marina. Small craft advisory, black clouds, lighting in the distance and a parade of boats queued up to enter the channel. No cell phone reception, no internet. Did have a CD player and a marine radio - and lots of good company. We even played games! | | Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 | | 10:29 am |
The Never Ending Projects
Finally, after more than a month, my bathroom is fit to use again - or will be by tomorrow night after the caulking dries. What started out to be a "strip the wallpaper and paint" job turned into a much bigger project. Seems the glass shower stall was pretty badly rusted along the bottom frame (well, it was 20 years old) and needed to be replaced. That involved getting quotes (and trying to get someone to actually come to the house to measure was no easy matter). Yesterday, the new enclosure was finally installed (OK, so it was delayed a week by our being on vacation), there's new paint, a new Roman shade and decorative curtains and I'm ordering a new rug. It's not one of these ultra modern bath remodels but it does look better. Now, if I can just get up the energy to clean out the garage and the storage room.... | | Monday, July 7th, 2008 | | 12:31 pm |
The Live Squeaky Toy
A couple of nights ago, I let Kasey, the cocker, out to do his business. He disappeared into the dark. When I went to bring him in, I heard some "squeaky" noise from the outside stairwell. It sounded like Kasey was playing with one of his numerous toys - but in the stairwell (!?!) Then I realized that the noise sounded more like an animal than a toy. I called Kasey but he wouldn't come so I went to the top of the stairs. K was nosing at something. The noise had stopped. K finally came up the stairs and as he did, I saw something dart and huddle by the door. A rat? But I didn't see the tell tale tail or ears. After considerable calling, I finally got DH to come out. "Kasey got an animal. It's down there. I think it's a bunny." Sure enough, when DH investigated, he found a small bunny, scared to death but not hurt. We guess that K flushed the bunny, he ran down the stairs, then was trapped in a dead end. K probably was just sniffing him but the bunny was squealing in fright. DH put the bunny back in the wooded area (we don't know why. They eat our garden!) and, after a few minutes, he hopped off. So far, we haven't found any bunny carcasses. Stick with playing ball, Kasey! | | Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 | | 10:47 pm |
I'm Thinking of Quitting LJ
According to my home page, I haven't posted in 13 weeks. Haven't visited the site in 3-4 weeks. Don't have anything to say so I'm thinking about closing this blog down. Though I do like to read what my DiL is up to. Dunkin' Donuts Coffee is better than Starbucks?!? You've got to be kidding! DD's coffee is down right foul - at least the stuff around here. And their donuts can be like lead sinkers. I like the donut holes, though. | | Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 | | 9:41 am |
Happy Birthday, shaolin_geek! | | Monday, March 24th, 2008 | | 4:09 pm |
This is not a good milestone!
Five years and 4,000 deaths - not to mention the 1000s of injured. We shouldn't be there, we should never have been there and it's difficult to support the troops - who don't have a choice as to where they are sent - and oppose the war. As a retired military spouse, I go to several spouse events each month. I can't remember the last time anyone spoke about Iraq. Early on, there was talk and those of us against US involvement just kept quiet. Now most everyone keeps quiet. As a club, we support organizations to help the troops and their families - but we've always done that. It's just a bit more directed now. I'm not too optimistic about the future - not with the Democrats tearing themselves apart and McCain just waiting. I hear on the news radio today a blurb about a mother who didn't support the Iraq war until her son died in it. Now she does "so he wouldn't have died in vain." That's just sad. | | Friday, February 29th, 2008 | | 5:58 pm |
| | Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 | | 4:03 pm |
DDiL Woud Be Proud
We ordered some DVDs from B&N for our DSiL's birthday and, by mistake, had them sent to our house. One arrived with a cracked case so I took it to the local B&N store to exchange. No problem. B&N has several tables with "Post Holiday" Sales - 75% off. I picked up 6 books, including a picture book for the BABY, and 3 boxes of holiday cards and decided to break down and pay the $25 to be a member. After all we do shop B&N on line even if I prefer the "Other Guy" for in store shopping (mostly because it's right next to the much frequented Staples). So now I just need to "save" $23 for to pay off my membership. Oh, I then I stopped by Target and bought 2 DVDs - Hotel Rwanda and La Bamba. The new Billy Bookcase bought to bring some order to the CDs and DVS has some open space. And we always have to expand to fill empty space. | | Monday, January 21st, 2008 | | 7:31 pm |
DH activities on a long weekend
This being MLK birthday weekend and a Fed holiday, DH has been home for 3 days. Winter has finally decided to arrive and the temps have been in the 20s with wind chill making it colder still so we are not too eager to leave the house. We did go see The Beard of Avon, an interesting (but too long, it badly needed some judicious edits) take on who really was the writer "William Shakespeare" on Friday and visited a couple of flooring stores on Saturday. We were thinking of putting hardwood in the family room and tile in the kitchen area but today's market news might have us put that decision on hold. Some folks are coming this week to give estimates but that's about as far as we may go right now. Anyway, DH decided that the ginger shortbread he received in his Christmas stocking was very tasty and perhaps it wouldn't be too hard to make. A little Google search and he had several recipes - all requiring crystallized ginger. Yesterday he ventured off to get some (at a grocery. Apparently it is available at Asian food stores at a more reasonable price but we didn't find this out until later.) Anyway, he made his first ever (he says) batch of cookies yesterday and they turned out quite well. Meanwhile, the last piece of the new computer arrived on Sunday and he spent most of the last 2 days setting it up and getting the files transferred. All is supposedly set now - new printer, new hard drive, new monitor. The old system was almost 6 years old - ancient by computer standards. More "winter advisory" weather on tap for tomorrow. Looks like it's here to stay a while. |
[ << Previous 20 ]
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
prof20336's journal