I have some projects I need to work on here at the Weather Report.
- I still haven’t gone through all the posts I imported from Blogger and fixed the dates. WordPress converted all the times posts to GMT, so anything I wrote after 6pm is labeled with the date following. Not really a big deal, but I’m anal and it bugs me. Every now and then it is among the great number of things I think about when I can’t get to sleep at night.
- Those same posts have yet to be categorized. Once I decided the question of whether to categorize or not, I decided I needed to be comprehensive and consistent about it, if only for my own entertainment. I would like to be able to look back and see what I have written on particular subjects over the years.
- I need to change “Navarre” to “Blizzard.” At least those posts only go back to last October. Sometimes in my mind I still refer to him as Navarre, but that name still annoys me. If he wants to be Blizzard, he is Blizzard. A very appropriate pseudonym for a fellow to have on a “weather report.” He does love snow.
Speaking of Blizzard, he’s decided to buy a new car. And he’s keeping his current car. Which means I will have use of a very nice car without having to actually purchase a car myself :) So my real-life-survival to-do list is down one item. I wasn’t really looking forward to the scooter-and-a-poncho option.
Another item checked on our to-do list is wood cutting. Phase 1 is complete - the logs have all been cut into stove-length pieces. Now on to the splitting phase. And trying to figure out where to put all that split wood. I really am very impressed with that man of mine. That pile was huge. Now that pile is gone and we have two new piles of smaller pieces of wood.
Categories: Adventure · Blizzard · Blogging · House
I took the past two days off from work for a “Girls’ Weekend” at the beach down in Gloucester. With six busy schedules, it just worked out better to get together in the middle of the week. And even though the weather was not ideal for hanging out on the beach, we had a great time. The real adventure of it is the children. One friend is eight months pregnant. Another has two boys aged four years and fifteen months. Two have new baby boys, aged four months and three months. I got in lots of baby cuddles and hide-and-go-seek. They are are wonderful adorable little boys and I had so much fun with them and their moms.
The ladies in this particular group of friends are my best friends from high school. I’ve been slumber-partying with some of them since seventh grade, nearly twenty years ago. I’m really grateful that we are all still in touch and enjoying each others company after all these years. We’ve passed through so many of life’s stages together, including the awkward teenage ones, and the not-so-awkward engagements and weddings (all but me, that is). I love that I now get to see my friends as mothers. Long journeys are the most rewarding.
Categories: Adventure · Friends
Jody tagged me. I’ll play along, though I’m too shy and lazy to pass on the love.
Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog; some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
Here are seven things about me you never needed to know:
1: I didn’t learn how to whistle until I was 18 years old.
2: On my first report card even I got a big “U” for unsatisfactory due to my inability to handle scissors.
3: I’m kind of sneaky, even when there is absolutely no need for subterfuge - it’s fun!
4: Back in the day I saw Nine Inch Nails in concert three times, twice in Massachusetts and once in Utah.
5: I was a soprano in the choir in high school, but after a bout with mono senior year I became an alto.
6: I can play two recorders at a time with my nose, my favorite selection being a duet of “Jingle Bells”
7: The last time I saw my brother before he died we hung out and got stoned, and when I left I forced him to hug me.
Categories: Edmund · Meme · Music · Silliness
I never know what I’ll see when I look out the window!
I really need to hurry up and get myself a car because the rental car I’ve been driving has Massachusetts plates. In this part of the world, Mass. plates call out to the local police, “pull me over! pull me over! give me a ticket!” At least when I was pulled over this morning the police officer realized I was a local when I showed my drivers license. I got a warning. But still, I was five minutes late to work.
Not much else going on. I was down with a cold a few days, but am feeling much better today as I have been able to breathe out of both nostrils. I have the next two days off from work and will be having an adventure involving very young boys.
“Marketplace” is on. Blizzard and I are apart this evening but I know exactly what he’s doing right now.
Categories: Adventure · Blizzard · Health · Weather
It’s hot and kind of muggy. A breeze blows from time to time. In between blows of breeze I feel sweat creep across my skin like a parasitic monster.
I’m driving a rental car until I get around to getting a new car. It has all sort of fancy features that the Escort did not have, like remote keyless entry, automatic door locks and windows, and cup holders that actually hold cups. I sketched out my monthly budget yesterday and did not like what I saw. I don’t know how all this is going to work out, but it will.
I spent the middle part of the day at Old Home Day in a local village. It was hot. There was a parade, and a used book sale (we picked up a few things). The best part was Blizzard in a dunk booth - I sunk him twice!
He seems to be awake from his nap now.
Categories: Adventure · Blizzard · Books · Weather
Yesterday Blizzard and I enjoyed half of a scenic ride through the countryside on our way to my parents’. My car started to sputter after I made a left turn off of 123 in East Alstead village. The car sputtered, sputtered, then stopped. It did not start again. Blizzard pushed the car off the road and I called Mom to rescue us. It was a rather nice spot to be stranded. A nice breeze was blowing through the quiet little village.
Today the car was towed to Gilsum and diagnosed with $600-$700 worth of problems, which the mechanic does not think are worth fixing. So that’s that. I found myself oddly wistful and sad after receiving the news this afternoon at work. I bought that car brand new on January 4, 1997. We were not quite to 120,000 miles. The end of an era. I don’t know if I can picture me in any other car. It will be very weird.
The real problem is that I now need a new car and I have no money. I’m borrowing my mom’s truck for now. Blizzard suggested I rent a car few a couple weeks and we could do some car shopping in that time. The money that I had set aside for this very predictable eventuality was spent on the woodstove so I’ve managed to make him feel responsible in part for the purchase of a new vehicle.
The old Escort had a good last weekend. Blizzard’s car needs new tires so we took my car down to Salem, MA Friday evening. It got us there and back safely. On the way down we stopped for gas and I calculated 35.7 miles per gallon. Its last fill-up. No more ‘Scort 
Categories: Adventure · Blizzard · Family · Woe Is Me
Muggy days accented by thundering downpours, growing things overgrown. I came home to find one of my lilac plants (are they trees or bushes?) lying horizontal on the grass, a great hollow spot where it should be attached to the ground.
At least I am home tonight. My house is more bearable than Blizzard’s apartment in this weather. Mucky weather exasberates the uncomfortableness of the old futon he uses as a bed. Oh how I missed my bed as I was tossing and turning last night. But tonight I will miss Blizzard.
This afternoon at work we heard a crash of thunder then the fire alarm went off. We had to evacuate the building in the midst of a downpour. I stopped by my car on the way out and retrieved a large umbrella. The back parking lot was a sea of small groups of people huddled under umbrellas with backs getting wet. The pants I wore today are generally light and comfortable even in hot weather, but they are not so comfortable when they are soaking wet. Turns out the alarm was malfunctioning. All the wet people went back to work as the alarm and the strobe lights kept going off. Very exciting.
It’s raining now. If I move too much I will sweat. Pasquale is on the third stare, pressing his face against the space between the spindles and looks very uncomfortable. He probably wants mommy hugs. As unpleasant as it can be to hold a heavy furry cat in my arms in this weather, I will do so.
Categories: Blizzard · Kitties · Weather · Work
Sunday evening and I have to go back to work tomorrow after a week off. I am looking forward to spending the day in air conditioning with the predictability of a day at my desk. This past week has been exhausting. I need some dullness!
I finally mowed my lawn Friday and everything outside looks so much better now, civilized and peaceful. That evening I went up to Blizzard’s. Though we didn’t go out to see fireworks, a neighbor across the road set off a bunch which we watched from the living room window. Yesterday we spent almost ten hours at a party at the lake. It was a perfect day to be on the lake. Blizzard water-skied as I watched from the boat (my attempts at water-skiing result only in water up my nose). Once it got dark the party host and others set off about a thousand dollars worth of fireworks. I’ve never had such a close view of that kind of fireworks extravaganza. It was fun, though quite loud, and I breathed in too much sulfur. In the end, I drank too much cheap beer and didn’t sleep well last night.
We went for a walk this morning then headed over to my parents’ house for yet another party. I was on margarita duty though I didn’t drink any myself, just sips from Blizzard’s cup. He napped in a living room chair while all the rowdy people were outside being rowdy.
I’ve had too much sun, though no sun burns. I am home alone with my two kitties. I brought Betty home from my parents’ house today. The windows are open and birds are tweeting and chirping. I look forward to a good sleep in my comfortable bed with my kitties purring nearby.
Tomorrow is my brother Edmund’s birthday. He would have been twenty-nine. It’s hard to imagine him as old as that. He is forever seventeen.
7/9 addendum: It seems Edmund’s Keene High classmates are having their tenth reunion this weekend. It’s amazing to see what these “kids” have done with their lives so far. I really wish we’d had the chance to see what Edmund would have done with his.
Categories: Adventure · Blizzard · Edmund · Family · House · Kitties
Mom and I flew into Nashville, Tennessee Monday afternoon and flew out first thing this morning. An exhausting whirlwind of a trip, but it was a lot of fun and I’m quite pleased with all the different things we were able to do and see. I did not take any pictures. I had a camera with me but I didn’t use it. I wasn’t in a picture-taking mood, and all the places we visited are already well-documented in postcards. Besides which, with just the two of us we’d have ended up with a lot of pictures of Mom or Foo standing next to something.
I am going to catalog our Nashville activities mostly so that I can remember it all in the future.
Monday:
- Drove through Music Row, where we saw a lot of buildings with names of record companies on them
- Spent way too long cruising up and down 1st and 2nd Avenues looking for the best (i.e. cheapest) parking
- Walked down 1st Avenue where we saw Fort Nash and the Riverfront park, then took the pedestrian bridge half-way across the Cumberland River and had a great view of the city on one side and the Tennessee Titans stadium on the other (yeah, would have been a good camera moment)
- Ate dinner at BB King’s Blues Club. A band started up playing while we were eating. They were fun but too loud for our old ears.
- We then worked off dinner by walking up toward the state government area, and saw a most spectacular sunset from the backside of the Tennessee State Capitol building
Tuesday:
- Toured Belle Meade Plantation and had a lovely lunch in the restaurant they have there.
- Mom then decided she’d like to go to a mall. I looked at the map and chose one a decent distance away as I was in the mood to cruise the countryside. It was indeed very pleasant driving through rolling meadows and pastureland. We passed by a lot of churches, A LOT of churches, and they were big. Mainly Baptist and Presbyterian. I would say they have more churches there than we have Dunkin Donuts up here in New England. Yes, that many. Anyway, when we reached our destination we found not a mall but a series of upscale plazas. Not what we were looking for. We then headed for a different mall up in Nashville. The first one we tried was under construction. Third time was the charm as we found a very nice fancy mall that entertained us for a few hours. I even bought clothes! I haven’t done any serious clothes shopping in about two years, so it was indeed a noteworthy occasion. I also bought a new summer purse to use in place of the one Blizzard hates. He may hate this one too, but as he has said, if he wants me to use a different purse it’s up to him to buy me one
- We then had dinner at Cracker Barrel up near Opryland. I can never get away with not taking Mom to Cracker Barrel when we’re down south, and am fortunate we got away with only one meal there.
- It was then time for the Opry! We attended Tuesday Night Opry at the Grand Ole Opry House. I think the Opry was the highlight of the trip for me. We saw eight performers in the course of two hours. Each did two or three songs. It was a great variety of old country, new country, bluegrass, and comedy, and even a barbershop quartet!
Wednesday:
- In the morning we hit the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum. No, I am not big into country music, but I am interested. What I really liked about the museum was learning about the history and evolution of music from the days of the early settlers, through the 19th century into the age of radio, and up through present day. I like learning about where things come from.
- Our afternoon activity was a visit to The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson. A beautiful old house with lovely grounds and gardens. Another fun trek through history. We spent a lot of time walking around outside on the tour and it was quite a warm day. Mom went wading in a creek to cool off. It did not rain while we were in Tennessee, and while the days were hot and sunny, they were not as oppressively humid as I feared they might be.
- We then visited Opry Mills. We got some ice cream to cool off, then I stunned all assembled by once more shopping for clothes.
- Our evening entertainment was a dinner cruise and show on the General Jackson Showboat. Mom lived out her dream of riding on a paddleboat. It was fun, in a hoaky kind of way. Which I guess is what you could say about most of Nashville.
My lawn is way overdue for mowing and we just had a rain shower. Maybe tomorrow morning will be dry enough to mow. Pasquale was very happy to see me when I picked him up from his vacation home at the vet’s this afternoon. I need to unpack my bags and get ready to enjoy the long 4th of July weekend.
Categories: Adventure · Family · Kitties · Music · Pop Culture · Weather
There’s rain, there’s heat, and more than enough dampness. I haven’t had the opportunity to water my lawn in over a week! The grass is growing well enough, but I haven’t managed to find a dry window in which to mow.
I’m taking this week off from work. I am in the midst of packing for a little adventure with Mom. She’s here now, saying I’m supposed to be packing and she wants a chance to get on the internet 
What else do I need to pack? It’s only four days. I have trouble not overdoing it when it comes to packing. Now I’m just procrastinating. Mom keeps looking around and coming up with stuff I need to do, like unload the dishwasher, water the plants, shut down the DVD player. I’d better get to it.
Categories: Adventure · Family · House · Weather
