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September 2009
The Headlines du jour...
Holy crap, must have been a busy summer...it's been months since I updated this!
Well, work has been busy, fraternal orgs have been busy all summer and the baby has kept me hopping. Work...almost got laid off, that was spooky. We lost a few people in our group so we have more to do as usual. Fraternal orgs... summer is always a busy time. this year's renovations at the lodge in Pembroke are almost done...really awesome. The baby...Josette will be 9 months old September 18th. She's getting big and almost mobile.
Garden didn't do so well this year...LOT of rain. Time to chop down more trees...way too much shade too. Berries did ok this year and I added a currant plant to the mix.
The Usual...
On the computer lately: Second Life, mostly in RP sims and occasionally something from the bargain bin. Karen is hooked on Popcap games like Bookworm.
Great story of this month: Bees Hitch A Ride
On the Wii: Back to the old standyby... Wii Sports & Wii Fit with a touch of Guitar Hero - Aerosmith
Latest tunes: A variety of stuff....Dolores O'Riordan (Singer of the Cranberries) has a new solo out. Always checking the Amazon "Deal of the Day".
Latest books: Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris
Final Bee update of last season below. No bees this year... :-)
Alternate Realities...
In Second Life, I am "landed gentry"...just kidding... visit me (and the lodge room I recreated) there in Stanlee. For those of you SLers looking for a cool idea: Check out the Holodeck buildings they sell with actual furniture scenes "stored" until you bring it forward. No longer do you need 1/2 a region to build a 15 room house and support for a 1000 prims (as long as you only need them one room at a time).
The Recent (and not so recent) past events of note in the past...
Been busy with the fraternal organizations. I am now an officer in two of them and joined a third. Yup, I am now a Shriner...fez and all.
Karen has gone back to working Sundays at JoAnn's so she can have some "adult time"
Karen & I got a visit from Christmas stork on the 18th of December 2008.
The New Beekeeper saga of 2007: I went back to Betterbee April 28th, picked up the package of bees. Got them installed later that day...they were settling in nicely till week 3 when a hungry bear came by and knocked everything all out of whack. Put it back up and it was down again three days later. Some bees still there clinging to the frames, quite annoyed, nothing broken but two plastic frames. So I installed a "critter gitter" motion sensor alarm and electric fence. Left them alone to recover for a week while I was away in London. Checked in and we have another issue: no queen activity. I went over to Linden Apiaries in Charlestown, NH for a new queen (ASAP) and put her in. Final update: they just had too small a population to recover. Looks like ants and yellow jackets finished them off. I'll try again next year.
I also have added "Odd site of the month" to the "blogging" area.
Went to Paris again in February 08 for work, took Karen this time. She enjoyed herself. Here's Karen in Paris.
Two ferrets in the house. Oreo and Toffee. Karen didn't want Puff to get lonely (though she just passed away to illness in February). We had to put Spooky to sleep in the middle of May (had an inoperable growth). We lost Cinnamon the ferret the day before Thanksgiving 2006 (about 10 minutes before guests showed up... not good). He was getting up there in age (over 6 years) but it was still a big bummer. It looks like he somehow made it downstairs to the basement (might have slipped by when Karen was getting something out of the freezer) that's where we found him. We were pretty distressed.
Progress status on the big 2006 "to do list":
1) Raised beds and a small greenhouse in the front yard. Got the lumber for the beds, had the area cleared, graded and gravel laid down. The greenhouse was delivered, construction done, pictures soon (Pictures) (2009 update...the ice storm killed the greenhouse this winter)
2) A shed behind the house (too much stuff in the basement). (Pictures) Mostly Done. Still needs trim, caulk and paint.
3) Emergency generator. Done (very useful). (Pictures)
4) A small patio (8x10) near the walkout. Done (T&J Excavating & Carpentry) (Pictures)
5) Stumping and grading the area we cleared of trees last year (a barn soon?). Done. (T&J Excavating & Carpentry)
6) Tidy up the driveway (after the flooding in October and May, it needs a little touch up). Done. (T&J Excavating & Carpentry)
7) Screen in Porch. Done. (T&J Excavating & Carpentry)(Pictures)
8) Replace some furniture (bedroom and living room). Done.
9) Elliptical machine (done) and carpeting for the downstairs (gym area done with foam squares...works as good as carpet for that application). September 07'?
In March 08, I was installed as Senior Warden in my Masonic Lodge (Jewell Lodge #94 - Pembroke, NH). The link now goes to a web site I put up for us.
September 2005 we went on vacation to Arizona was real nice, pictures here. We went to Colorado Springs to visit family for a weekend then over to Phoenix, where we drove to Sedona for a few days. We stayed at a nice B&B, saw the local sites including a jeep tour in the back country. It's really a beautiful area. Then we drove up through Oak Creek Canyon as we headed north. We went through Flagstaff with stops at Walnut Canyon and Lowell Observatory . We ended that day just outside the Grand Canyon park in Tusayan. Thursday morning we headed into the park and met up with our hiking guide at Bright Angel Lodge 8am sharp! We got our equipment loaded up and headed down the South Kaibab trail. Uggh... 7.5 miles of downhill backpacking! We stayed at Bright Angel Campground near the river that night (very nice). Then back up towards the south rim on the Bright Angel trail . We did 4.5 miles to Indian Gardens campground, dumped the packs setup tents and did a hike to Plateau Point for dinner (1.5 miles each way), great views, nice sunset and awesome full moon rise! Our last day finished up the trail around 1pm as we passed all the "hiking tourists" near the rim (they venture down a mile or so...98% of the visitor's to the Canyon never actually enter the canyon itself, how sad!)
Pictures of the trips to Europe 2004 - present (Vienna, Paris, Strasbourg, Baden Baden, Geneva, Windsor and London). Next up...Italy?
Still happy with the house in Sutton, NH. It's about 1500 square feet and it's a log home! Sits on three wooded acres (OK, a little smaller than we originally planned but hey..).
Maybe I can get back to the downstairs project some day, (I keep saying that anyway...photos here) it's 95% done.
My sideline company (M2 Services) is a bit "silent" lately, with the exception of an occasional key dupe or lock replacement at work. Here are the van Pix, (big ones, don't try this with a dial-up!). I'm following my own advice and growing it bit by bit so that some day it'll all be in place.
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This page was last updated on 09/16/09.
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