A very weird cold

Actually that title could refer to both the recent weather and my current health. Mother Nature got confused, and sent April's weather to us last month. We were outside playing catch without needing even a jacket on Thanksgiving, Christmas eve, and New Years Day. It's so nice to be able to play without the clouds of gnats that taunted us so this summer. Despite the light weather, I knew the Starks were right - "Winter Is Coming". And come Jan 2nd, it did. The mountain wind blew down and suddenly it was below freezing all day. The half inch of snow lasted almost 2 days, and the windchill was unmentionably low. Finally! Sweater weather! But today it was back up to the mid 60s. I do still believe that Winter is Coming.

I've also been dealing with an invisible cold this week. I know I have a fever, and the aches and chills that go along with it. But so far I haven't had any other symptoms except a marshmallow brain. I keep waiting for the sore throat and congestion that seem to have passed by. A coworker of mine is pretty sick, and I told him I caught my illness from him. It doesn't matter that he lives in Chicago and we only talked on the phone. I know it's his fault, and apparently so does another person who's also sick now (she's in NY, but that hardly matters).

Gullywasher

Thunderstorm doesn't begin to describe the amount of rain coming down right now. The gutters are literally overflowing and rain is blowing sideways off the trees. There was a long period of thunder before the rains started, and it's been raining at flood-levels for a while now. I can't believe there was this much water in the clouds, given how freakin dry it's been lately. The thunder is deep enough I swear I feel the house shaking. Or maybe that's just Kayla the dog hiding under my desk.

I love playing in the rain, always have. I wonder if my mom still thinks back on those times whenever there's a good storm. In my memory we were always out in the rain except when forced into the basement by tornado warnings. I think we even had rainclothes that were easy to peel out of when drenched. I still love the rain just as much, although one of my favorite things to do now is go running. If I'd known how long this storm was going to last I think I would've played hookie and gone out in it. I told myself it wouldn't last long, then I'd be wet and still have to get back to work. Now I'm regretting it, this is such an awesomely heavy rain.[peeking outside] oh, it's just about finished now. Actually, other than responsibly working, it's probably good I stayed home. Poor Kayla is so thunder-shy she would've been a right mess when I got back. Oh but it would've been FUN! [peeking out again] Dang, the rain is starting up again, teasing me. But the sky is lighter, so maybe it really is ending. Definitely too late now. I'll just sit at my desk and stare out the window wistfully...

Earthqaaaaaaake!

Wow, that was pretty exciting. I had just come in from playing fetch with the dogs when I heard an odd thumping sound. I have a tall mirror leaning against the wall in my room that I have yet to hang up. I glanced over and it was moving to and fro, the glass distorting and looking warped. I couldn't understand what could make the mirror or wall move since no one was in the room, and went outside to see if something was there. Also what could be thumping, I'm the only one home? It was really quiet outside and seemed kind of eerily creepy. I went back inside and a bit later learned it was a 5.9 earthquake in Louisa, VA - about 150 miles away. The dogs didn't seem to have much of a reaction, but they were really underfoot when I saw the mirror shimmying. I wonder if that's the only one or if we might get others. It was kind of creepy not knowing what was going on, but now that I do it's kind of exhilarating.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0005ild.html

We have a PLAN

Last weekend my friend and I officially broke ground in our garden this season. The weather was just gorgeous for being outdoors all day, and perfect for physical tasks that would’ve been much more strenuous in hotter weather. She used this great garden planner program from Territorial Seeds that allows you to plot out everything and make a grand master plan. Based on this plan and our desire to expand the garden, we realized most of the current beds needed to be shifted a few feet to reestablish the walkways. This involved moving a lot of dirt and mulch. Once the dirt was shifted and we went for the first pile of mulch, I suggested finally buying a real wheelbarrow this year, and we dusted ourselves off and headed off to the hardware store. Can I just say, wheelbarrows don’t get enough props for their usefulness. They should be listed among the simple machines kids have to learn about. You remember - screw, lever, pulley, ramp, wheelbarrow! Levers were always my favorite. Their ability to transfer force is so impressive, and it was really a mind-trip to understand how moving the fulcrum altered the force. And who doesn’t like the word fulcrum? We got the current garden beautifully laid out with string denoting beds and chives guarding the corners of the beds. The expansion will involve a lot more mulch – yay more opportunities to use the wheelbarrow!

Our garden has always had a casual idea of what we want to do, and we adopted a very fly by the seat of your pants attitude towards it. Last year it officially became known as the Garden of Lost Tools. But not this year! Now that we have A PLAN our garden is being whipped into shape. And it’s amazing how different it is already, as if it knows there’s no fighting against THE PLAN. Tasks that languished for a full year, such as extending the grape trellis, were easily accomplished in a spare moment. All hail The Garden With A Plan!

                                                          

I also discovered how fantastic it feels to garden barefoot. All the soft warm dirt and cool moist mulch underfoot was a treat. And ironically my feet were much cleaner at the end than my mud-caked shoes. I did put my shoes back on when working near the raspberry bushes – I may be crazy but I’m not stupid!

Thirsty dog

It's been hot enough lately that I've avoided taking the dogs on pedestrian adventures.  That's what we say now - they've learned every other euphemism for walk we can think of.  They were really insistent yesterday about wanting to go out in the middle of the day.  I knew it was broiling, and both of them are black.  I wore my runner's Fuel Belt (water bottle belt), hoping if I gave them water during the walk they wouldn't fall over from heat exhaustion.  Windy refused to drink anything, I know she was scouting for open water to swim in to cool off.  I cupped my hand and squirted water into it to see if Kayla would lap it up (she always refuses to drink from travel bowls).  It worked ok, although was somewhat slimy for me.  After a minute like this I put the bottle to the side of her mouth and squeezed, fully expecting her to back away.  She kept up the lapping motion and no water came out of her mouth.  Cool!  My dog can drink from a squirt bottle.  Next water break I just held the bottle to her mouth and squeezed.  She drank 6 oz. of water straight.  The final time I held the bottle to her face and she turned her head so I could squeeze it into the spot she likes.  Hooray!  Now I just have to remember which bottles are hers, and which are mine during outings.

A childhood dream realized

I remember being a kid and seeing Badge-A-Minit ads on TV. Oh, did I want one! I knew it would be the most awesome thing ever if only I could get one. But they were stupidly expensive for a kid, and I didn't get one. When I was in high school I again thought it would be great fun to have, but even with my own money they were still stupidly expensive and I did without. Now that I'm an adult, I again wished I had a B-A-M, decided to buy one, and went to the website. Wow. They're still stupidly expensive. Sure I'd pay 30 bucks now, but 70?? No wonder I never bought one in all the decades I've wanted it. I was telling a friend about my lifelong Badge-A-Minit dream and she opened the website on a whim. Damn if they weren't having a sale on them - the same price they were in 1988! Finally within my justification price range! I ordered it right then and there.

It's a bunch of rainbow color-coded rings and a hand press made out of a sturdy fiberglass-like plastic that reminds me of these weird chunky alphabet blocks we had as kids. The blocks were about twice as big as the classic wooden letter blocks, and hurt like hell if you threw one at someone. I have a imprinted memory of what it feels like to be clipped on the side of the head by one. I think it was yellow.
Anyway, in honor of the 2010 blizzard, I made a pin using my new B-A-M. It's a snowman sledding and he's completely filled with joy. Arms outstretched, heart lifted, smile literally ringing his face. I'm wearing it to work tomorrow.

The insane first snow of the season

Well, I guess all the posts this week will be published from drafts I saved weeks ago and never hit the "publish post" button.

No way was the snow going to be bad. Picture it, Sicily 1925...

Friday morning all the schools are closed because 8 to 10 to 12 to 24 inches of snow is going to start falling sometime around 3-4 pm! I went out at lunch and it neither smelled nor looked like snow. Then at 1:55 someone says it's snowing - no preliminary flakes, just a switch from nothing to a downpour. Our boss (bless him) walked around telling us to wrap things up and go home. After 25 min. on the road (my normal commute time) I was only 2 miles away from work. The road was incredibly slippery and all the cars and trucks in ditches made it look almost like a movie set. The snow was so heavy that I couldn't even call anyone or get a text through. Hey! How dare you think I'm a text-while-driving person? We were as such a dead stop people were playing in the snow on the interstate banks. I finally got a text through to D, tersely insisting he leave work ASAP. My shoulders and neck were painfully tight from keeping control of my car and the fear someone was going to slide into me. After 3 hours I was approaching the turnoff for my street when D called and warned me there were 5 cars skidded out on our street and I should park at the church on the corner a mile from our house. I looked down at my skirt and dress shoes, and out at the ankle-deep snow and knew it was going to be a rough trip...uphill...in the blinding snow...with no pants or real shoes. I bundled up as best I could and headed towards our street. A guy straightened up from putting chains on his tires and asked where I was headed. I vaguely told him up the main street through our neighborhood. He nodded, told me he lived there too, and asked if I wanted a ride. I told him the road was blocked and saw him hesitate. I asked if he wanted to try the back route and he agreed. On the way he commented that he was glad I knew about the back way, since if I was unfamiliar with it I might have worried where this strange guy was taking me. He's not kidding, it's a winding road up a ridge, with all these old scary homes down in hollows. He dropped me off at my door and I was so thankful to still be relatively warm and dry. Tire chains are freakin amazing!