Archive for the ‘Musings’ category
December 8, 2014
Today is so bitingly cold I didn’t even bother to go out to chase the red spawn off the deck away from the birdseed. I did watch from the window and thought of ways to discourage it now that I haven’t the hose. The potato gun is still in the top spot, and one of those blaster squirt guns has made the list. My poor birds can’t get at the feeder so I am determined to rid my yard of this vermin.
The weather is cold, dark, damp and ugly and will stay ugly all week as we’ll have rain for the next few days, and winter rain is seldom welcomed. Even running to the car means getting wet and being cold. The roads get icy. Stopping often means sliding. I sometimes slide right by my street as the icy corner is difficult to maneuver.
I hate scraping my windshield. Sometimes the ice is so thick it takes a monumental effort to clear. Two of the best reasons to retire are not having to scrape the windshield or leave in the dark for work.
I remember when we used to decorate the picture window with snowflakes, stars and snowmen. My mother usually bought the kit which had paper stencils and a spray can of fake snow. One of us would hold the stencil while the other sprayed. We’d take turns. It was a popular decoration when I was a kid, and most houses in my neighborhood had snowflakes on their windows.
My father always decorated the bushes in front of our house with strings of lights. The bulbs on those outside strings were huge and bright. We’d watch my dad from the windows and when he was finished, we’d all run outside to see the lights. My house at Christmas was always beautiful to me. Candles with orange bulbs were in the single windows and a five bulb holder was in the picture window. The bases of all those candles were white plastic, and my mother sometimes had to tape the bases to the windowsills so they wouldn’t fall. Every year we’d pull the old yellow tape off before using the new tape.
Darkness was the best time. We’d plug in the outside lights then run to the windows to turn on the bulbs. That was done by hand, turning each bulb until it lit. Christmas always brought light to the darkness.
Categories: Musings
Tags: blaster squirt gun, decorated bushes, icy roads, orange bulbs, picture stencils, potato gun, red spawn, scraping the windshield, snowflakes, stars and snowmen, window candles, winter rain
Comments: 8 Comments
December 7, 2014
The wind is howling and the trees are swaying and bending, especially the tall pines. I expect limbs to snap and fall. The brown dead oak leaves hanging from the ends of the smaller branches almost look frantic as they blow. The rain has stopped but a cold, grim day has taken its place. The wind is from the north, never a good thing.
Today has no list, no errands. I did bring the laundry down, but it has been known to sit by the cellar door for days. I think, though, that it may end up being washed as I need to go downstairs to get my Christmas cards. Because I’m going anyway, I might as well haul down the laundry. Yesterday I brought up my first decoration: the ugly fake scrub pine I always put in my dining room. It is decorated with old, vintage ornaments and on the top is a plastic lit up star from the 50’s. Two of the ornaments hanging from the tree are small square candy boxes. They have a white string for carrying and scenes on both sides, of the Nativity and the kings. The boxes were filled with hard Christmas candies which usually stuck together. The nuns always gave each of us one as a Christmas gift. Last night I lit the tree for the first time this season, rearranged a few of the ornaments and straighten some branches. To me the tree looks beautiful.
My outside lights aren’t synced too well even though I did set them to come on at the same time. One side of the front is first followed a few minutes later by the other side and then a while after that the deck lights come on. The two front timers are the same kind on the same setting so I’m bewildered as to their idiosyncratic lighting. The back is different, and I’m okay with the later lighting as you can’t see it from the front.
Lots of houses are already lit. Soon enough it will be time for my annual light tour. Gracie gets to come, and I give her a running commentary on the houses we see. A few are must visits every year. One of my favorites is the simplest. A lit tree sits in the middle of a cranberry bog. It is take your breath away beautiful.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bent branches, decorated candy box, furiously blowing leaves, hard candy box, howling wind, laundry day, light ride, light timers, light tour, north wind, outside lights', scrub pine tree, vintage Christmas decorations
Comments: 12 Comments
December 6, 2014
The rain started last night and continued into this morning. The day is dark, the sky a pale grey. It’s a stay at home day. I’m thinking I’ll do my Christmas cards and maybe bring up a few decorations from the cellar. Last night I was able to get all the outside lights to work with the timers. One comes on just a few minutes later than the other, but I can live with that. My street looks beautiful as so many houses are decorated with lights. One house has a lighted train car on its lawn which looks as if it’s moving as the lights flash around the wheel.
When I was a kid, I didn’t care about the weather except for snow. I remember getting excited watching the first few flakes. They were usually small and took their time falling to the ground. Every kid wanted those small flakes to get bigger and multiply to cover the ground with inches of snow. It wasn’t just for a snow day but for the fun the snow would bring. We could make caves, have snowball fights and go sledding down our street, a giant hill. The TV didn’t list closed school announcements in those days. The fire department blew their no school signal around seven, and it could be heard all over town. I swear the shouts of joy right after could also be heard all over town. If the snow was still heavily falling, we waited inside until my mother would let us out. I remember when the snow finally stopped and the sun came out. The world was at its most beautiful. The snow was untouched, no footprints, no car tracks. The sun glistened off the snow and lights twinkled and shined from the tops of drifts as if diamonds had been strewn about.
It didn’t take long before the snow had footprints and the marks of sled rails. The first few sled marks were rusty but the snow quickly cleaned them. We all had wooden sleds with metal steering in the front you could turn left and right. You took off running and jumped stomach down on the sled, legs from the knees down in the air and you hoped for the ride of your life.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Christmas lights, lighted train car, no school announcements, rain, Sledding, Snow, snow day, snow fun, snowball fights, the sun, twinkling drifts
Comments: 12 Comments
December 5, 2014
I have already been out and about this morning and will go back out later. The day is chilly but not cold, in the mid 40’s. On my journey, I saw people wearing all sorts of outer garb including puffy jackets, sweatshirts, vests, just plain shirts and one guy in a t-shirt. I was among the vest wearers.
Gracie just brought me the most disgusting chew I’ve seen in a long while. It was crusted in dirt. She obviously had buried it in the backyard and now had a hankering to eat it. She dropped it at my feet, a gift of sorts I suppose. I took it in the kitchen and scrubbed it. The dirt swirled in the sink then went down the drain. I dried it as best I could and gave it to Gracie who wouldn’t take it. Maybe without the dirt it had lost its appeal. A bit later she went back and smelled it and decided it was okay. She is now eating it beside me on the couch. When I put things away for safe keeping, they often end up lost for good. I should have Gracie bury them for me. She never forgets.
The tree always went in the same corner, where the TV usually was. My father would lie on the floor to turn the screws on the tree stand while one of us tried to hold the tree straight and upright. He’d say let go, and when we did, the tree would sometimes lean. We’d hold it again, and he’d try to tighten the screws even more, this time with a screw driver to turn the metal loops. When the tree stayed straight, it was time for the lights. My dad always had tangled lights, and they always drove him crazy. It would take him a while to untangle the mess of all those sets. He was never patient. Once he’d finished that, he’d check to see if the strands would light. If they didn’t, he’d try to figure out which bulb had died. He was smart about that and would replace all the bulbs then check the ones he’d removed one at a time. When it was time to put them on the tree, he was always haphazard about it. My mother would say let the lights drape from branch to branch, but my father never did. He just walked around the tree and put the lights wherever. His only Christmas responsibilities, the outside lights, the tree and inside lights, were complete. He’d then watch TV. The rest was up to us.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bulbs, buried treat, chilly day, Christmas tree, dirty treat, dog chew, puffy coats, screws, tree lights, tree stand, vests
Comments: 16 Comments
December 4, 2014
Yesterday I had a vision of the post-apocalyptic world, and very few had survived. There were only four cars at the dump, a miracle as it was closed for the two days prior to yesterday. I went to Benny’s for lights and cords, and it was near empty. I was almost tempted to buy a million batteries for when the lights go out. In front of my coffee-sandwich store there were several parking places right in front. I was the only customer at the counter. The roads were nearly empty, and I had no trouble crossing two lanes of traffic. It was cold out yesterday, and it did start to rain but not until I was nearly home so the weather wasn’t a deterrent. Where were the people?
This morning an uninvited cat was sitting outside on my front steps. It looked quite at home. I was upstairs as was Gracie. That was a good thing because Gracie doesn’t like cats other than her own, and she’s not even sure about them. Gracie would have gone through the glass to get at that cat daring to invade her yard. I made noise and the cat just turned and looked at me and didn’t move. Finally I went down the stairs halfway and the cat scooted. Gracie never saw it. Catastrophe averted.
My outside Christmas lights look lovely. I added some white lights on top of the fence which look as if they are emanating from the giant star, and I outlined my sled and the skates hanging from it in colored lights. I put ball ornaments in a basket on the front step. My neighbor called last night to tell me how wonderful my house looks. Now I just have to get inside decorated. That will be a multi-day project but one which brings me joy and even wonder as I remember the history of the ornaments especially the ones from our family tree.
This afternoon I will finish the deck lights and call it a day. That book is waiting.
Categories: Musings
Tags: a bit of shopping, Christmas lights, colored lights, decorations, post-apocalyptic world, stars, the dump, uninvited cat, white lights
Comments: 16 Comments
December 2, 2014
My house smells of rosemary. I just came from Agway. I needed dog biscuits, and I ended up also buying two wreaths for outside, a rosemary plant for here, two small poinsettias, and I scooped some greens off the cutting area for my outside bowl. It is definitely beginning to look like Christmas. I went outside last night and admired my lights. They are lovely. I’ll take pictures, but I am so bad at posting. A bunch are sitting in my camera.
After 60˚ yesterday, we have a raw, cold day today. I was out before ten as I had PT then I had a list of places to go and things to get. I made it to all six places, and it took me two trips to bring everything into the house. Most are for decorating though I did buy myself a new pair of shoes. My physical therapist kept telling me I needed new shoes as even the treads were gone on my old ones. At the shoe store the clerk told me I had certainly gotten my money’s worth from the old ones. The new ones feel great.
Cats tend to throw up. Sometimes it is just hairballs, gross I know but not gag worthy. Fern will sometimes eat too much too fast and then get sick. This is the story of one cat and her throw up. I got up during the night to go to the bathroom and in the darkness I stepped in cat vomit and was totally grossed out. I tried to walk without using the affected foot, but ended up with a weird limp.I cleaned both me and the floor then went back to bed. This morning I went to put my slippers on and saw that Fern had left her mark on one of them. I cleaned the slipper but didn’t choose to wear it.
I have one small errand to do later, but I’m going to read a bit and have lunch. My book is a Clive Cussler. I find his fun to read. I don’t have to think a lot about the plot or the characters. They are perfect for when I put my feet up, brew a new pot of coffee and just relax.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Agway, cats and throw up, Clive Cussler, cold day, gross jobs, new shoes, outside lights', poinsettias, raw, rosemary, wreaths
Comments: 5 Comments
December 1, 2014
You might wonder where I have been all day. It is quite a story. The guys came to put up the lights. First thing was they broke the floodlight by dropping it on the floor in the hall. They couldn’t find the dustpan, but I was assured they had cleaned up the shards without it. I was skeptical for good reason as later I found several pieces, and I also found the dustpan they couldn’t. It was on the stairs, and they went right by it several times. The next problem was an order I had placed on-line with Amazon. I love Amazon and have bought many items from them, and this is the first glitch. Yesterday they verified my order by e-mail. Today I found another e-mail from Macy’s that they had sent my order. I hadn’t ordered from them. They were sending similar items, not quite the same and not the right number and the cost was higher. I called Amazon. They are flummoxed. The man I spoke to for a long time said that order was not given to Macy’s and is coming directly from Amazon. All the information I had given Amazon was there. The guy thought it could be a scam, and I have a virus. The e-mail was not a scam, and I explained about my MAC, but the tech guy just couldn’t figure out why the Macy’s order and wanted me to run a virus scan. I had to download Norton and am running it now, but there won’t be a virus. Amazon is on this as they haven’t ever seen anything like it before. They told me to have my sister, the recipient of the order, refuse the Macy’s order. I had an another problem with a different company but that was far more easily solved. I’m exhausted and I haven’t done a darn thing.
Today is beautifully warm with muted sun. I’ve been on the deck a couple of times just to enjoy the day and will go out again to fill the feeders. Gracie has been outside a good part of the day. She didn’t even take her morning nap.
I am so excited my Christmas lights will be lit tonight. I’ll go outside just to admire the house. Later I’ll bring up the dining room tree, the scraggly scrub pine I always put in the corner and decorate with vintage ornaments. The house will be a multi-day task, a few things at a time. I get excited when this time of year rolls around. Like so much of my family I am a Christmas bug as my mother used to say. We all caught it from her, and we’ll all glad we did.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Amazon, broker bulbs, Christmas lights, on-line shopping problems, outside lights', warm day
Comments: 10 Comments
November 30, 2014
Yesterday I gave the local economy quite the boost as did so many others. Some shops were filled with people. One store, a small one, had too many shoppers. You could barely move or even get close to the displays, but I still managed to find a few treasures and some unique gifts including the perfect one for my friend. I also found small ornaments to dress the wrapped packages. I do that every year. It’s a small gift, a remembrance for the tree. The book store was a wonderful stop. I got help in choosing just the right books for my 8-year-old grand-nephew and a couple for the 2-year-old. I also bought myself one. Gracie and I were out for almost three hours. She napped in the backseat between trips to the stores and watched for me whenever I parked. I napped when we got home and so did she. Today I have a few things to get: cat food, coffee filters and candle bulbs for the windows, nothing fun, just utilitarian. I’ll go before the football game.
Today is still grey, but it’s warm, in the 50’s, and will be for the next few days. I called my factotum about putting my lights up, and he hopes to be here tomorrow. Last year it was in the teens when he was doing the lights.
Birds galore at the feeders this morning. There were even a few battles for space. One bird swooped in and the poor bird already perched at the feeder took off in a bit of a fright. I have yet to fill the thistle, and I have a bag of sunflowers seeds to fill the big feeders. From my kitchen window I get to watch the birds. I sometimes stand there for a while drinking my coffee.
Yesterday my Turner Classic movies arrived. I now have 6 different 1950’s science fiction movies to watch. It will be black and white movie heaven. One of the films, Them, is actually a fine movie which always gets 3 stars. The rest I haven’t seen, and they tend to get one or maybe 2 stars: The characters in two movies, Beyond the Time Barrier and The Time Travelers, arrive in futures decimated by plague and nuclear war. Only a handful of normal humans survive. Satellite from the Sky is another one I have never seen. It is about the outer-space detonation of the feared tritonium bomb, but it doesn’t go as planned, of course. I figure a cold night, a howling wind, popcorn and maybe malted milks balls will make for a perfect evening to view those old science fiction B-movies I love.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Bird feeder, bird seed, black and white movies, books, Christmas lights, fun shopping, gits, naps, ornaments, Satellite from the Sky, Science fiction, small shop Saturday, the book store, THEM!, Turner Classic Movies
Comments: 13 Comments
November 29, 2014
When I woke up, it was cloudy and dark. Now the sky is blue and the sun has returned for the first time in days, but it is mostly light and a bit of show. The early morning, even with the sun, was so cold my car windshield had frost for the first time this year.
Last night was the coldest night since March. Gracie got under the spread and stayed there all night which is unusual. Most times she starts to pant from the warmth and uncovers herself again. Right now she is napping, exhausted from barking outside at nothing and from playing fetch down the hall. She is finally back to her chipper self. I was a bit worried.
Today we’re going to the dump then we’ll Christmas shop along 6A. Gracie will be my co-pilot. Once the cold weather arrives, she gets to wait in the car, not something we can do in summer. She always keeps an eye out the closest window for my return.
One of the guest room beds is filled with boxes and bags, all Christmas presents. When something arrives, I just put it upstairs without marking anything down so I need to check and make a list of what I have for whom. Naughty or nice doesn’t count. I do love to Christmas shop, to find just the perfect gift. I never last-minute shop. All year-long I put gifts into my Christmas box. Over time I have learned to buy it when I see a perfect gift no matter the time of year as it might not be there the next time.
The gold finches have taken root at the feeders. They stayed around last winter, and it looks as if they’ll be here again. I did notice a few other sorts of birds in and out, but most take a seed and fly to a branch to eat it. The finches just hang around. A woodpecker stopped at the suet feeder. It stayed a while. I noticed the thistle feeders need to be filled, but I’ill wait for a warmer day.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Bird feeder, Christmas presents, Christmas shopping, cold night, gold finches, makig a list, playing fetch, Suet, sunny day, the dump, the perfect gift, woodpecker
Comments: 8 Comments
November 28, 2014
Last night I was in bed before eleven, most unusual for me the night owl, and I slept until almost ten. I figure I was suffering from a Thanksgiving dinner hangover. My plate was filled with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and squash. I was so filled I had to pass on dessert, on pumpkin pie and chocolate pie. I will have some today after my second Thanksgiving dinner.
Snow flurries fell this morning, but they didn’t last too long and no snow stayed on the ground. Right now it is so very cold and grey, an unpleasant day. Every now and then, though, I see a brightness, a break in the grey. I figure it is from the sun trying to find its way out of the clouds.
Tomorrow I’ll shop and take Gracie to the dump. That means we’re each going on a favorite trip. My trunk is filled. I’d go today, but the dump is closed.
Now is the time for Christmas to move front and center. My factotum needs to come and decorate the outside of my house. I need to go to the garden store and get wreaths. A giant one is hung on the fence and a smaller one on the door. My house always looks so wonderful that I sometimes drive by just to look, just to see the lights. My neighbor across the street tells me she loves looking out her door at my house. She especially loves the old sled with the pair of skates hanging off the steering bar. That sits by my door. On the step is a pottery bowl filled with colored ornaments. One of my favorite decorations is a tree with naked branches decorated with huge ornaments and a flood light shining on them at night. The fence in front of my house is lit as is the back rail and the fence across the driveway.
My neighbor just called and said a flock of wild turkeys is in my yard. I opened the door and one was on the front step but took off at the sound of the door. More were on my lawn. The flock was fourteen turkeys looking plump and healthy. I took pictures.
Today is a relax at home day, one of my favorite way to spend a day.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Christmas lights, cold, decorations, grey day, sleds, snow flurries, Thanksgiving hangover, wild turkeys, wreaths
Comments: 12 Comments
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