SUMMING UP SUMMER

I have been too busy partying all summer to blog. now I have to try to make some order out of the pictures I've taken all summer long. I'll try to do this chronologically, and not get sidetracked into any confusing stream of consciousness ramblings about each picture.

I've been trying to get this post and pics up for a couple of days. Unfortunately, the sporadic nature of my blogging means I'm not learning any new, or retaining any old, blogging skills.

Here's a picture of Derm, at the begining of summer, when he would come by for coffee more often, while building Debbie's deck next door, and giving Terry a hand on the shed. He does great work, and complies with all building codes and zoning ordinances.

4th of July was a great weekend here. The fireworks would be considered spectacular at any one of the Finger Lakes...pretty amazing for little old Horseshoe Lake. Thanks to Judy, Rita, the Roths, and the association for the awesome, seemingly endless display . I had pictures on my cell phone, which went thru the washer...grrr. Nyway, here's a picture of Jake during that weekend, with his catch of the day.

Sarah and Derek came in mid July - fun Isaac days of endless stair climbing and toddling between Debbie's, the top of the hill and the dock. Oh and "goofywalking", something like how a very pregnant zombie would walk.

David and Matt came to stay at Horseshoe Lake for the summer and are now quasi-permanent residents. We celebrated Matt's birthday in August, at Rita and Judy's lakeside bar.

Then there were puppies.
So, for now, this is summer in a nutshell. I'm glad just to have gotten this much done at this point. But now, I'm going to really, really, really, blog more frequently. Really.

PROLIFIC BLOGGING

I wish I could keep my blog as current and updated as Sarah. I told a friend (who is also coincidentally downsized) about mine, and realized later if he did check it out, he would think I had a pretty lame blog. SO again, I'm inspired to try harder.

Let's see, summer vacation is here for Jake, and the challenge is on to keep him from turning into a video game vegetable. I enlisted Shelly Taylor to watch him for a couple of days, then Leslie was swindled into taking him a couple of days early next week. I'd say at this point in his life, Leslie's is his favorite place to be, so it's a relief that she (and Eric) are willing to have him. Boy Scout camp and Sarah's will take up some more days, and hopefully we'll all keep him from ruining his attention span any further.

Here's all recent blogworthy events - which if I updated daily, I would probably have provided more detail about.

1 - We cleaned the beach with many Horseshoe Lake friends, and had a great time at a followup pot luck.

2 - Jake was in a play, and it was really well done, and all the kids (55 of them!) did a great job. The breakout star was a little girl who played a pirate and did an adorable "pirate-speak" throughout the play.

3 - I planted an herb pot and a tomato/hot pepper/basil pot on the end of the dock, the only sunny spot at 5518 East Lake Rd.

4 - I still suck at piano, and wonder what compels me to keep at it sometimes.

5 - Sarah is firming up her plans to come to NY- we can't wait to see Isaac, and I am hoping there is a big improvement in the weather by that time.

6 - The big 4th of July celebration will be the 5th of July this year - should be awesome, with everyone at the lake planning to celebrate, our friends Keith and Linda renting the cabin next door, and Debbie on the other side - we're really lucky to have so many friends. Hopefully my long lost brother will decide it's worth a trip to Batavia.

7 - I'm pretty bored at work - don't get me wrong - it's a great place to work, stress free, great bosses and I get to work with a good friend, but I feel pretty unchallenged. Trying to think of a solution to that, other than blogging on company time.

8 - This weekend is: Friday eve - chaperone a party with the Taylor's for 30 Middle School graduates, Saturday - check out garage sales in the AM, probably clean the ElDebo party boat, cocktails on the beach at 5, then a party at Krista Glows to see the Stinson's and commemorate Frank Glow's birthday. Sunday I hope to finish a lot of little jobs around the shanty. Hopefully GiGi will be around a bit.

Later I plan to blog about my struggle with nicotine addiction. It will be riveting.

That's it, my sporadic post for June 26 2008

QUARTERLY BLOG ENTRY

I haven't been very good at blogging...I am going to commit myself more to it starting today.

We finished our hillscaping project and are pretty happy with ourselves. Terry used up the hemlock we had planned to use for siding the "house" to build a recycling bin, side our wood shed, and build me a lamppost for a solar lantern. He and our buddy Derm finished the shed roof last Saturday, and I painted it on Sunday. Terry nearly fell off the roof once - he was pretty quiet for awhile after that.

So now we can work on other things without the lumber and sawhorses and saws taking up most of the deck. We have to: get the party boat working, finish floor trim around pellet stove, put in new woodstove, finish trim and steps and doors on the 'shed' (which we are now calling the barn due to its size relative to the house) stain the recent railing spindles and railings and trim around decks, put the screen door up on the back door, and numerous one and two hour jobs that probable add up to two weeks. We're getting there.

Here's a picture of our finished east side - I am waiting for the buterflies to start flying around and all the bunnies to come hopping through.

My New Favorite Comedian

I have found the funniest (to me) comedian since Mitch Hedburg. Funny is a curious thing, because this guy's comedy, like Mitch Hedburg's, is very hard to describe to someone, and I wonder what type of person it amuses. I mean, Kevin James or Brian Regan, who I also love, would probably make my Aunt Eleanor and my dad laugh at times, being universally appealing. This guy...probably not making my dad laugh.

Anyhow, this guy is the best...here he is, ladies and gentlemen... Demetri Martin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-h_XfVaLK8

There's lot of him on You Tube.

RIP

It's a sad day because Frank Glow died last night. He's been through a long and pretty merciless illness, and I guess the stock thing to say at times like these is "at least he's not suffering any longer." But that doesn't ever really address why people have to suffer at all, and seems to overlook the fact that a few more years of no illness or suffering would be the most preferable alternative.
Anyway, the thing that always struck me the most about Frank Glow was how he just seemed to move forward every day on a totally even keel. Never saw him mad, or frustrated, or even sick, before this thing. I attribute that to his being a tunnel rat in Vietnam, and having been shot in the head, taking out his eye. I think after that, you get a lot of perspective and wisdom about what is trivial and what's not. The probability that his illness was a long festering result of exposure to Agent Orange is a damn shame, too. But the very saddest part of all is that he won't get to see his baby grandaughter that Krista is going to have in June.

Snowed In (Sort Of)

Well, another storm is upon us, I think. It's hard to tell by looking out the windows, as it is finely sleeting, and doesn't really look bad. But the weather channel says we'll get another 8 inches or so of snow and the winds are supposed to pick up.

We are supposed to go to a wine tasting, which I have been expecting to be cancelled, but so far it is still on, and we have the tickets for ourselves and our friends so we have to go. Big problem is our snowplow guy hasn't been able to get his plow up here. We should get out ok, but i expect to park at the bottom of our hill to walk up when we get home.

Here are some pictures I took this morning on my walk. I hope as I post them it will remind me of why I like it here the other 99% of the time.

Not So Icy Ice Storm

The ice storm predicted for last night was much milder than predicted, though it wasn't a total miss by the forescasters this time. I was watching the 4:00 am news (I can't believe Hillary Clinton pulled the comeback she needed...I totally don't get it) when the electricity went out. I berated myself for not doing the prep work I said I would do (showering in particular) and got Terry going to get a fire started. We then listened to a little transistor radio to hear the school closings. It reminded me of some old sci-fi movie, listening to a crackling radio to hear whether we were the last survivors on earth, rather than just trying to find out if school was out.

Well, school wasn't out, the electric came back on after just two hours, and it actually snowed more than anything. So I'll give two stars out of five to the weather forecasters.

A side note: I used a little Merlita Java Joe one cup coffee maker (basically a funnel shaped filter holder that holds a little funnel filter) to "brew" a cup of coffee using water heated on the wood stove. Jake won it as a door prize when we went to the GCC open house last week. (the coffee maker, not the wood stove) It seemed like a really rustic and clever way to have my coffee, but it sucked. It tasted bad and I think only furnished 1/4 of the caffeine. I'll try again with hotter water and see if it's worth giving up cupboard space to store it any longer.

Another False Alarm?

They are predicting a nasty ice storm for tonight, with 1/4 to 1/2 inches of ice expected to down tree limbs and power lines, etc. The last two predicted storms were anti-climatic to say the least... I hope this one is too. A snowstorm is pretty easy to dig out of and get back to business, an ice storm can really put a total stop to life as we know it for a few days. Then again, an ice storm makes for some awesome pictures, which I will post if it is not a false alarm this time.

I think I will go home and make sure I've showered (electric hot water heater) and that the laptop is charged. Terry can make sure there's firewood. I'll also fill up the van with gas - worse case we can go up and stay in there and watch movies and use the laptop.

First Try at Pics (without Sarah)

Here's Jake and me at our snowshoeing adventure at the Genesee County Park. It was a really fun time. A manager from Eastern Mountain Sports brought snowshoes to rent, and together with a park employee presented a history of snowshoes to the 12 or so of us registered for the second of two hiking sessions. It began in the Interpretive Center at the park, which I was surprised to find contains lifelike dioramas of local wildlife, displays of local flora and fauna and ways of identifying them, and a hands on "Discovery Room" for kids. I was impressed with the professionalism of it, and the dedication of the park employees and volunteers (called Acorns)

Here's a link http://www.co.genesee.ny.us/dpt/parks/interpretivenaturecenter.html

I definitely have to make sure I take a camera on walks around the lake. Today (sans camera) Zeke and I disturbed 6 or 7 really large birds high in the tree canopy in the woods at the far south end of the lake. They were maybe turkeys or pheasants (no glasses with me either). I guess I'm surprised that either of those birds would be found as high in the trees as these were, and when they flew off it looked really unnatural - the same way a helicopter looks as though it should not be able to escape gravity and fly.

That's all...now I'm going to try and get my picture here.

Why My Blog Sucks

My blog sucks beacause I have ADD. I am really grateful for all the blogs I've checked out recently, and realize that the ones I enjoy the most are maintained by bloggers with a unique obsessive interest or agenda, and I have too many of these to create a cohesive blog with an ongoing theme and personaltiy that would attract a devoted following of like-minded blog stalkers.

e.g. - here are things I have given a large percentage of my waking thoughts and turned over in my mind as blog worthy based on my fleeting obsession with each over the past couple of months.

1. American Idol

2. Ice fishing

3. Frugal Living (there are tons of single-minded bloggers on the topic)

4. Evolution (and people who really think the earth is only 6,000 yrs old - sorry Derek)

5. Astronomy (check out badastronomy.com to address number 4 and 5)

6. Starting a freelance bookkeeping business

7. Sarah starting a cake making business (which we turn into a multi-million $$ franchise!)

8. The Caring Bridge website which provides a communication line for anyone dealing with with a major health crisis to keep their network of friends and family updated - the most poignant and in-your-face reality check ever - should be required daily reading for everyone. The recent passing of an Iraq war soldier fron injuries sustained in August 2007 is chronicled here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kevinmowl Just sad, and sucks and sucks and sucks.

9. Jake changing so awkwardly into a teenager, and how truly loyal he is - mostly to Julie's ex-boyfriends.

10. Getting Old--Sucks also. Looking around, I'd like to think that growing old gracefully is something that can be chosen, and that recognizing the things that predispose us to problems can help us avoid them. That's just what I like to think so I don't have to feel so bad about other people's issues as they get old, and that's what everyone will think when I get old too.

11. Tha area around Horseshoe Lake - We have taken some pictures, and I will probably put a few up in my next post. It really is beautiful after a fresh snow (which is EVERY DAY lately).

SO, my blog won't have a theme, or a cause, or a topic. I'll just try to make it not suck too bad.