Over the last week or so things have settled down and I am falling back into the old routine. I am, right this minute, sitting in the friends of the library bookstore doing my volunteering. It has been a busy night with lots of traffic and lots of sales. Nice to see the business.
I have managed to pick up some more part time hours from the same place I worked last year. Still nothing else happening on the job front. Apply, resume disappears into a void, move on to the next job posting. The advent of the computer has facilitated the application process by shortening the voyage from application to file 13. If I sound a little bitter it is cause I am. Bit frustrated as well, it would be nice to hear an occasional "thanks but no thanks." Half the time I wonder if I followed the correct process in submission, or emailed the resume to the right address, or one of a dozen other worries.
This morning I was out in the backyard digging away at my garden. I now have one 4x16 plot, one 4x12 plot, and plans for a few more if I can maintain the digging enthusiasm. I would like to do at least another two 4x12 plots before stopping. I did plant some taters yesterday, though I am not sure they will survive. Bit early here. The last frost is still a month and a half away.
I also spent some time this morning mowing the lawn, front and back. I had not cut the back since we moved in, though with the drought and the cold it had not been doing much. It was rather overgrown this morning, but it looks great now.
Carol's brother in law is still in the hospital, still not doing well though not as bad as he was. Angie is settling in and I think she is going to be boss kitty of the house pretty soon. She won't back down for no one and has no fear. The other cats are less pushy and will let her get away with being boss. She may be difficult to keep inside, she has been wanting out lately.
I am craving spring something fierce. Which is part of my motivation for digging. I suspect we are still booked for a spell of winter (we had a nasty snow storm/cold snap around the super bowl last year), but I have hopes. I am going to have some fun planning what to plant. Already, I have roughly 4 times the garden we had at the old place. My only real concern is the amount of sun available. Given the large apartment building and large trees to the south, there may not be enough light to ensure proper growth, but it will be fun trying.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The Trips:
The first trip up began at six am in the dark. We have been living here in Denton for 2.5 years, yet this was the first time heading north on I35, so everything was new. The biggest, and most pleasing discovery was the Turner Falls Area roughly 1.5 hours north of Denton. It is hilly country with the highway actually cut through rock in a few places. We will likely make a day trip up that way one of these days and spend time exploring/photographing the sites. The Flint Hills in Kansas were also rather interesting, though exploring them would require at least an over night stay and more likely a weekend.
We arrived in Missouri around three, making our first journey nine hours. At least half an hour of that was spent zigzagging through Kansas/Oklahoma roads by accident. Way back when, I had set my gps to avoid toll roads as it was always sending me down toll roads nearby when there were other roads that did not cost money. Once I got onto the Kansas Turnpike, the trip went smoothly.
I am not sure what I was expecting of the scenery through Kansas and Missouri, but it was different than I expected. The area we drove through varied from prairie (some appears to have the old prairie grasses), to farm land (big fields with real tractors not the wee ones seen near Denton), to pasture land (large pastures through the Flint Hills). The rock through a lot of the area appears to be only inches below the top soil. I saw places where a tree was rooted on top of a wee hill and right below (an inch or two) the shale/limestone was visible.
The trip back the next day was less interesting, though that was primarily due to the fact that I left at 3 am. I woke up, new I would have trouble sleeping, so off I went.That trip took roughly 8 hours with only three stops. The rest of the week was spent recovering and preparing for the return. We did have a nice, much needed, rain Monday and Tuesday. As I was heading through Oklahoma City, I saw a half-truck with both left wheels up on a cement divider (about four feet high). Somehow the driver had managed to climb the divider, plow down 4 lights before coming to rest against the fifth. Given that I spent ~34 hours on the highways I felt that seeing only one accident was pretty good.
The return on Friday started at six again, but this time I stopped at a nearby Starbucks for a coffee. This may not have been the best choice as I was forced to stop to use bathrooms every hour on the hour. I did discover some decent washrooms that I can visit the next time I travel the area. It took me nearly nine hours to get up to MO this time though. I did have to deal with some rush hour traffic passing through Oklahoma City, but it was nothing major.
Carol's bil is still not doing well. To make matters worse, his mother is in end stage COPD and is in the hospital as well. She has three cats, well, had three cats. Carol offered to give one of them, the younger one, a home. Her name is Angel, she is some kind of pure breed long haired white kitty. Once we get her looking good (needs some more combing), I will take a photo. The trip home was not bad, she only mewed for the fist half hour or so, after that she was quiet an resigned to her cramped conditions. The next day we gave her a bath (which she allowed, including a shampooing) to get rid of the stink from the journey (cramped in a small cat carrier she was forced to do her business and not be able to get away from it though Carol did her best to clean up the carrier every time we stopped). So far the three other cats and Angel are not on friendly terms though they are speaking in growls and rowrs. No blows have been landed, though a few face-offs have occurred.
Today, I drive Carol to Dallas so she can attend a professional conference. She will be there until Friday sometime. Fortunately, the time she has to arrive will allow me to avoid much of the rush hours.
In other news, I am mostly over the cold I collected at Christmas time. I felt well enough yesterday that I went out and raked the front lawn. I managed to collect 16-17 bags of leaves! I need to do something with the back yard, but I may just dig out the mulcher attachment for the mower and remove the bag. The front lawn needs a good mowing as well. I also need to go do some work in the garden. Radishes, turnips, and beets need thinning. The weather should be nice enough to allow me to do that.I am still not sure if they will survive the winter, but they are doing ok at the moment.
The first trip up began at six am in the dark. We have been living here in Denton for 2.5 years, yet this was the first time heading north on I35, so everything was new. The biggest, and most pleasing discovery was the Turner Falls Area roughly 1.5 hours north of Denton. It is hilly country with the highway actually cut through rock in a few places. We will likely make a day trip up that way one of these days and spend time exploring/photographing the sites. The Flint Hills in Kansas were also rather interesting, though exploring them would require at least an over night stay and more likely a weekend.
We arrived in Missouri around three, making our first journey nine hours. At least half an hour of that was spent zigzagging through Kansas/Oklahoma roads by accident. Way back when, I had set my gps to avoid toll roads as it was always sending me down toll roads nearby when there were other roads that did not cost money. Once I got onto the Kansas Turnpike, the trip went smoothly.
I am not sure what I was expecting of the scenery through Kansas and Missouri, but it was different than I expected. The area we drove through varied from prairie (some appears to have the old prairie grasses), to farm land (big fields with real tractors not the wee ones seen near Denton), to pasture land (large pastures through the Flint Hills). The rock through a lot of the area appears to be only inches below the top soil. I saw places where a tree was rooted on top of a wee hill and right below (an inch or two) the shale/limestone was visible.
The trip back the next day was less interesting, though that was primarily due to the fact that I left at 3 am. I woke up, new I would have trouble sleeping, so off I went.That trip took roughly 8 hours with only three stops. The rest of the week was spent recovering and preparing for the return. We did have a nice, much needed, rain Monday and Tuesday. As I was heading through Oklahoma City, I saw a half-truck with both left wheels up on a cement divider (about four feet high). Somehow the driver had managed to climb the divider, plow down 4 lights before coming to rest against the fifth. Given that I spent ~34 hours on the highways I felt that seeing only one accident was pretty good.
The return on Friday started at six again, but this time I stopped at a nearby Starbucks for a coffee. This may not have been the best choice as I was forced to stop to use bathrooms every hour on the hour. I did discover some decent washrooms that I can visit the next time I travel the area. It took me nearly nine hours to get up to MO this time though. I did have to deal with some rush hour traffic passing through Oklahoma City, but it was nothing major.
Carol's bil is still not doing well. To make matters worse, his mother is in end stage COPD and is in the hospital as well. She has three cats, well, had three cats. Carol offered to give one of them, the younger one, a home. Her name is Angel, she is some kind of pure breed long haired white kitty. Once we get her looking good (needs some more combing), I will take a photo. The trip home was not bad, she only mewed for the fist half hour or so, after that she was quiet an resigned to her cramped conditions. The next day we gave her a bath (which she allowed, including a shampooing) to get rid of the stink from the journey (cramped in a small cat carrier she was forced to do her business and not be able to get away from it though Carol did her best to clean up the carrier every time we stopped). So far the three other cats and Angel are not on friendly terms though they are speaking in growls and rowrs. No blows have been landed, though a few face-offs have occurred.
Today, I drive Carol to Dallas so she can attend a professional conference. She will be there until Friday sometime. Fortunately, the time she has to arrive will allow me to avoid much of the rush hours.
In other news, I am mostly over the cold I collected at Christmas time. I felt well enough yesterday that I went out and raked the front lawn. I managed to collect 16-17 bags of leaves! I need to do something with the back yard, but I may just dig out the mulcher attachment for the mower and remove the bag. The front lawn needs a good mowing as well. I also need to go do some work in the garden. Radishes, turnips, and beets need thinning. The weather should be nice enough to allow me to do that.I am still not sure if they will survive the winter, but they are doing ok at the moment.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Carol's brother-in-law collapsed earlier this week and had to be rushed to the hospital. Today, we are heading off to Missouri so that C can take care of her sister for a week. The bil is still in critical condition, not conscious and needing additional surgery (sepsis in a knee as well as pneumonia I guess). I will drive C up that aways bright and early this am (9 hour drive), spend Sunday there setting her up, and then drive back Monday. Next Saturday I will dive up thataways, pick C up and come home Sunday.
Bad as all this is, I will be able to add three more states to the visited column (Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri). I am looking forward to the trip, though I do wish it were for better reasons.
Bad as all this is, I will be able to add three more states to the visited column (Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri). I am looking forward to the trip, though I do wish it were for better reasons.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
I hope everyone is doing well and having a good new year so far.
Our journey east went without a hitch, Christmas was great and everyone had a good time. I, unfortunately, came down with a cold just as we were about to leave, and I have spent the last two weeks trying to beat it into submission. I do believe I am gradually winning, but it has been tough.
After getting home from Arkansas, I spent the whole week sleeping/coughing/snotting/fevering. It was a bit depressing as the weather was very nice with highs in the 50s. Even now, the weather is nice. We may even approach 70 tomorrow. I am sure we will pay for the beautiful weather, but it is nice to know it exists even if I can't get out and enjoy it.
The reason for my lack of posts has been my illness. Other than the cold nothing exciting has occurred in the past few weeks.
Our journey east went without a hitch, Christmas was great and everyone had a good time. I, unfortunately, came down with a cold just as we were about to leave, and I have spent the last two weeks trying to beat it into submission. I do believe I am gradually winning, but it has been tough.
After getting home from Arkansas, I spent the whole week sleeping/coughing/snotting/fevering. It was a bit depressing as the weather was very nice with highs in the 50s. Even now, the weather is nice. We may even approach 70 tomorrow. I am sure we will pay for the beautiful weather, but it is nice to know it exists even if I can't get out and enjoy it.
The reason for my lack of posts has been my illness. Other than the cold nothing exciting has occurred in the past few weeks.
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