Nothing A Good Chinook Couldn't Fix

Help is on it's way, tomorrow & the next couple of days are supposed to reach into the 40's, meanwhile when it reaches slightly above 32 then drops, refreezes and starts all over again, we get this....

Kinda cool looking, but....

No, just NO!

-

You're In My Space

Padwon & I have an agreement. She's the horse. I'm the human. She weighs 1000 lbs. I weigh...ahemmm, somewhat less. So she needs to respect my space and not be on top of me.

That works - fairly well. I tap her chest, she backs up. When gently pressed on her side or patted on her hip she shifts over/away. But being blessed with the horse sized version of a Kardashian butt?

Girl friend, we're gonna have to get you rear view mirrors. 'Cause if you're at the south end of this north bound horse when she decides to turn, she can really clear the deck.

We've discussed this & I'm working on getting more of a response than the horsie equivalent of, "Oophs, my bad?"

Still, overall she's fairly responsive to me.

But...enter #1 Daughter.

We put the hay into the stall this year. Padwon prefers not to go in there, and it is more convenient to feed under the loafing area anyway. I've never had a problem with her following me into the stall and she waits, somewhat impatiently, for her food to be put in her bucket. But the Daughter, allowed (encouraged her?) to follow her into the stall.

That's when a light bulb went on in that little horse head. Grass/Alfalfa mix hay? Spare alfalfa leaves falling onto the ground? Storehouse of alfalfa leaves in the stall?

Yippee!

Since Thanksgiving, I now open the door to the stall and a little blond head is hot on my heels, her muzzle hits the ground and methodically siphons the alfalfa leaves off the ground. In mere moments she looks like a chipmunk. One of these days I'm going to step back, with an armful of hay, and end up tripping and sitting on her ears.

She's like a dang vacuum cleaner.

Anyone want to rent her?
-

Man Bashing

You heard it here first!!!

Well, maybe not. You may have already read the paper...but today in "Dear Abby" a woman writes -

DEAR ABBY: My husband has a tendency to "almost" complete things, but seldom actually does. The discards make it as far as the counter above the trash container where they belong. The hose carrier gets put back two feet from where it's supposed to go. He'll leave his jacket on the chair right next to the coat closet. Get the picture?

My husband is a great guy and he does a lot around the house. It's just that these "almosts" are so consistent that I'm curious about whether they're symptomatic of a kind of disorder. - Maine Observer

DEAR OBSERVER: With the understanding that I am not licensed in any state of the Union to make a definitive diagnosis, it appears that your husband is either easily distracted or a wee bit...lazy. - Abby

Bwahaha. ROTFL. "Disorder", indeed. Yeh, Observer, him and his legion of brothers!!!

'Nuff said.
-

Justify Your Existence

Ah the best laid plans...

Started the day @ 5:15am again, hopped out of bed, showered, fixed breakfast for The Youngest, and just finished reading scriptures when the phone rang.

6:10am...my plans for the day (such as they were, and what there was of them) were toasted. I was called in to cover for co-worker who wasn't feeling well. So much for TGIF. Scrambled thru the slush & yuck for way too many hours. What's not to like about a 10 hour work day in those driving conditions? Still was going to get done in time to pick The Youngest up from swim practice. First tho, I had to do a little "off the clock" work and help my friend on the other route, who was swamped, deliver a few extra packages. (Gotta work on those brownie points my good deeds!) 

Fetched the kid, brought him home, fixed dinner & fed him, cleaned the kitchen, did two loads of wash, then headed to the church to do our share of cleaning for the week. Had to do it at nite because he and I would be gone in the morning when the rest of the crew would come in... An hour and a half later, after vacuuming up a small mountain of cracker crumbs (grazing appears to be the primary activity for a majority of the kids on Sundays) it's time to go home, fold clothes, pay bills, pick up the house, make sure The Youngest is ready to go to his swim meet tomorrow and that order from Emergency Essentials that just arrived today? Ummm, I think I'll inventory & deliver it - later, much later.

Because the energizer bunny just died.

A lovely day of serving my family, friends, community & church has come to a dead halt. Nothing dramatic happened today, just taking care of "stuff" and trying to leave things in as good as shape as I found them or better, still I'm a whipped pup.

And in six hours....

I get to get up and start all over again.

I can hardly wait!

-

C-CCC-CC-C-OLD.

Long story short?

Friend & I ran out the other night, in her rig, to do a service project. One of those quick in and outs. So I threw on my crocs & a fleece shirt and we went. Tip-toed thru the ice & snow then dashed back to the SUV.

She dropped me at home, I stepped out & just as I was closing the door she hesitantly asked a question.

Oh.

She needed to talk and it was one of those kind of things where you don't want to climb back in because you know she doesn't want to go into this big, long discussion and yet you don't want to impatiently wave the door back and forth and look like you're just dying to get gone....

Instead I just stood with the door open, leaning into the warmth of her rig for over an hour, with my backside hanging out, in the dark, in 25 degree weather, in my summer crocs - you know the ones with ALL the holes in them and no socks...

Oh yeah.

Don't get me wrong. I love this woman. Freezing my tail off is the least I could do for her. I don't regret that but I had to smile when she finally gave a start and realized how much time had passed, then put her rig into gear saying "I'm so sorry, it's sooo cold!"

"Not a problem," I said as I bid her good night and headed into the house.

And really it wasn't. My toes had quit hurting ... when they had gone numb ... about 20 minutes before. ;)
-

Aloha!

My theory has always been that the temperature should stay around 75-80 degrees 24/7. Day in and day out. I'll concede that it would be nice to have snow on Christmas Eve but I'm pretty sure it should all be melted by Christmas Day afternoon when everyone wants to get to their holiday meal.

That's part of the reason I like living in the Tri Cities. No, we don't meet the above requirements but for being in the Pacific Northwest we do enjoy a longer than average growing season and winters are generally mild. Once every 7 or so years we get snow that sticks and stays but most of the time it's bearable.

Unfortunately it's lookin' like it's going to be one of "THOSE" years. In times past, I've had day lilies that have bloomed at Thanksgiving. (Unusual but not impossible) And  a red, red rose tried to bloom on Christmas Eve once. (Okay, I was, and still am, surprised at that!)

But this year? If these pictures I took yesterday are any indication of what it's going to be like, all I have to say is...

Bah humbug!
-

Counting to 10 - Slowly

It has been noted that someone in our household is a bit of a slob.

He can turn in a pretty good performance if he thinks someone he wants to impress is watching. Otherwise, ummm...not so much.

This morning he needs an envelope. He goes to my desk. I can hear him rummaging around.

????

You see it is "my" desk because that is where I pay the bills & file them. It could be our desk if he helped pay the bills or would even discuss a budget with me, but no, that stresses him out. He has enough stress in his life he says and refuses to deal with the bills. He likes to do the "Make it so #1." 

Jean Luc Picard he is not.

Therefore, in my opinion, he has forfeited the right to rummage about, mess up the piles, remove or rearrange items on the desk. He is well known for his ability to stop and drop things all about the house and I don't need to find an overdue bill under the sofa or anywhere else he may have dropped it and then forgotten about it. (I have a hard enough time misplacing things myself without additional help from him, thank you very much!)

Back to my story. He comes back with his envelope and two (2) invoices which he throws on the table with the dirty breakfast dishes.

He is oblivious to the 'look' I give him.

"One of these should be for the radiator for your van," he says.

One?

Should?

"Put it in the van with the rest of the receipts," he says.

Oh dear.

Would this be the receipt that he left laying on the kitchen counter yesterday? The one he emailed me about? Then phoned about? The one I put on my desk for safe keeping until I found other information that I wanted to put in the van along with it?

And if he is going to rummage thru the desk, and has to have it put in the van NOW... then why do his feet not just keep moving and walk the extra 30 feet to the vehicle into which he so greatly desires it to be? Instead he throws it into the sticky ring of apple juice that his glass has left on the table?

I watch his retreating back, then pick the receipts up. Replace the one that still needs to be on my desk, wipe the apple juice off the radiator receipt and go to the garage.

There is a neat little drawer under the front passengers seat. In it are maps, a phone directory, Les Scwab envelopes & a large manila envelope in which I keep all other receipts related to the vehicle. They should be in the 8x10 envelope in chronological order, oldest to newest.

Or not.

Should being the key word here...

I see why he didn't want to put the radiator receipt out here. Apparently the last time he needed a receipt (battery replacement/warranty?) he pulled them all out of the envelope, shuffled through them, then threw the envelope and all receipts back in the little compartment... Only the receipts didn't make it back into the envelope.

It was just like playing 52 card pick up.

Insert annoyed 'smiley face' here.

I didn't like playing that game when I was a kid.

Still don't now.

Must be cold in the garage - small sizzles of steam make a halo around my head.

And I'm left wondering - how do I tell him, in the nicest possible way....

Touch the desk - and die.

???
-