This morning I put on my winter coat that I've been wearing for about a week. For some reason I stuck my hand deep into a pocket, past the glove and hat that live there.

Found something... crumbly. What could that be? Birdseed.

The glove seemed fine, but when I pulled the hat out, it had been a bit chewed, and birdseed was embedded all over its fuzzy surface. Dusted it off, stuck it in the laundry, emptied the pocket of (mostly eaten) birdseed...

They've gotten into a zipped up bag containing one of my crochet projects. They ate my entire stash of Hershey's Cherry Cordial Kisses. I don't yet know if the hat is still usable. And worse, I don't know if the "pocket" is old, or if it was done within the last week... or even within the last 10 hours.

As I make my (admittedly very slow) progress on cleaning the house, I dread what I might find. Now _there_ is incentive for you!

Today I needed to get to work "early". I need to do some prep, and be ready to hit the ground running well before 9, when a long day of work would start.

Wednesday we discovered we had MacGyver Mouse. I went to look for the trap in the pantry & it was gone! I eventually found it shut, and about a foot away from where it had been, upside down and behind a few things.

Well, this morning, of course, the trap was full. Couldn't afford the time to walk the 20 minutes to deposit it in a wild place, so I drove (and it only cost me about 10).

This very large-bottomed mouse had not turned around yet -- don't know if it could have -- and I had to shake and tap the opened trap in order to get it out. It DID land front paws first, and in a very dignified manner scampered up a nearby tree.

I'm pretty sure that I have now caught 3 different mice. Of course, if they're smart enough to find their way back to the house, they're probably smart enough to not get caught the same way twice.

This morning I went downstairs looking for breakfast. Heard a noise, a scrabbling. Opened the pantry door and it stopped. I noticed that the mouse-trap had closed.

Decided to put on clothes and do a walk, letting it go part-way. Spouse joined me. I was really hoping it would be a different mouse than the last time, because if it's the same one, after one more try, dropping it off a car-drive away, I was going to have to consider killing it. Relief -- it was different. A medium grey, much smaller critter. And very, very scared. The trap was vibrating as I carried it.

For the past couple of weeks, we've had a large hole in one of the walls of the house as construction was being done -- but middle of last week that was finished -- so I was considering taking the traps down. Guess that is not to be.

I don't know this person, but he is a friend of a friend of an acquaintance-whom-I-trust and this seems to be a worthy cause:

Save Dave's House

I was on the pager, but it's usually quiet, so I didn't think much about stepping out -- had the pager, had my cell. After breakfast I headed over to Forest Hills Cemetery for one of the last tours to be held there. I've been here 30 of the 32 years he's been doing this and never made it. I poked around a bit before folks showed up. Costs $10, takes over 3 hours. There were over 85 people in the group I was in. Worth doing. Wish I'd done it before -- could have made it an annual event. Yeah, he tells corny jokes, but he had a lot of good stories.
( That was the good part. The bad beneath the cut )

And I'm tired and achy and am going to decide that over 4 hours of walking and standing and whatnot in the cold is worth something and I just don't need to spend 45 more minutes on the treadmill.

Wednesday 10/7/2009 -- very frustrating morning.

( Whining inside )

( watch mbumby install stuff without a mouse )

Now to find out if this computer is burly enough to drive the scanner, and if it has enough room on it to save images...

Thursday, just before 9:30, my internet stopped working.
( It finally works again -- story beneath cut )

Spouse acquired. Home achieved. I go to exercise. And then to bed.

Labor Day weekend:

Overall it was a good weekend, (WorldCon didn't compete with the Mackinac Bridge Walk -- yay!) but there were frustrations.

The weekend was a long one, as is my post -- so it's behind a ( cut. )

I can't get no...
Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping...

Home. Exhausted. More later perhaps.

Spouse rang. While neither "home" nor at "home base", he's back in the country. So far so good.

I needed to mow today, so when I got home from work I started to do that. While mowing down some of the weeds that are growing in the plot that has no grass due to grubs last year I saw something and stopped the mower. 'Twas a ToadFrogThing. I herded hir off of the area to be mowed and kept going -- looking a bit sharper. The 2nd one was gutsier, and didn't move until the mower was on top of hir. But I saw, and lifted the blades, and then herded this one off as well. All in all, I didn't kill 4 TFTs today. So I guess it's a good day for them.

This past summer I had not-much-time to mow -- It would often be dark when I got home, or I'd get tired quickly, or the electric mower would run out of juice. This enabled the Queen Anne's Lace to take over. Not wanting to risk the ire of the neighbors, I mowed most of it down -- but have left a small plot (in the middle of the yard) that I'm thinking of expanding into a wildflower garden. (The spouse may have other ideas.)

There was another section I didn't mow -- there were 2 suspicious flowers there -- about knee-high, with a complicated green mass behind the bright yellow flowers. Just below the bird feeder. I'm glad I shot that lousy picture with my phone, because when I went out there last night there were no more flowers. I know Debbie would suspect the squirrels, but I know I've got lots of critters, and none of them were caught red-handed.

My flight home from worlcon was delayed about 4 hours -- as the plane that I was supposed to get on was delayed in Detroit due to mechanical difficulties. That plane never flew; they sent a replacement. I just got mail from the General Manager of Customer Care at NWA, giving me 2500 bonus frequent flyer miles and a personal apology. Wow.

Today I went to the park in the morning to walk with a group I never found, so I walked for an hour by myself. Didn't bring a jacket, and it was kind of chilly. The dark clouds above not angry, but were rather sullen. My mother taught me how to tell if it would clear up -- and those signs said "yes", but the clouds said "but we might dump on you first", so to hedge against the humor of the fates I brought my umbrella. About half way through my walk, a woman looked at my brolly and commented that it was a good thing that I was preventing the rain from falling on us all.

Later I was walking in the opposite direction from a father and a son-on-a-trike. The youth watched me with his mouth hanging open, and as I went past, he came to a stop, put his head down on his handlebars and just looked. I exchanged some words with the father about seeing the most unusual things while walking. Started taking stock of myself, wondering just what it was that was so unusual.

My next stop was a birthday party at a local restaurant. When I recounted the encounter with the child, the blue-tooth flashing in my ear was mentioned as being a likely candidate.

I didn't photograph it, since I was running late, the pump was set up so I needed to stand at it, and there were people waiting.

Prepay in advance.

Just turned off "my guests" so I'll not trace who comes here.

Went to a reenactment (troops from just about everyone you can think of... I was confused about who was fighting whom) today out at Kensington Metropark. Ran into not only a bunch of friends, but also a co-worker and his family. Was going to joke that the cup I got at Tim Horton's on my way over must be insulated really well, because my coffee was still hot when I got back to the car.

Am woefully behind in all of my sites, as usual. 5 days away from a computer will do it to me. Hopefully I'll be caught up before NEXT year's worldcon. I worry about that. :-)

Got to speak to an old friend for about 4 hours last night. Yay! (On the cell phone, not during cheap hours. Boo!)

Am getting good service from my car insurer, but it took about an hour on the phone with... someone who was not the sharpest... ("What kind of car is it?" "Corolla... that's a Toyota". "... ... ... ... That's a _car_?" "Yes, a Toyota Corolla IS a car." and so on. Maybe she was hard of hearing, or the connection was bad... She called my main branch to get my policy number, but couldn't get it to work. Told me they'd call me back within the hour to let me know it was approved. If an hour were a Bajoran day, that would have been honest.)

Had something else I wanted to mention when I came over here... but do not remember what it is. Hope everything is going well for you-who-are-reading-this.

Anticipation: WorldCon trip 2009, Montréal, Canada
Not going to give a con report, but I will type in all sorts of randomness, and if you actually read it, and some aspect of it strikes your fancy, I will be happy to elaborate on request.

( Ok... this was a lot longer than I expected. )

So yeah... home safely, 5 pounds heavier. Woefully behind in mail and anything internetish.

If you have any interest in electric vehicles &/or scooters, check this out!

( Missed a concert due to work ) ( My desktop computer poops ) ( My brain poops )

Good morning all.

Busy at work. Busier at home. Computer acting up. Might have a trojan. If it's a false positive (which I expect), I have no explanation for the evil computer activity.

Art fair and Greenfield Village Ragtime festival (where an old friend is playing) and other music and work conflicted with camping trip a day's drive away this weekend, so camping lost out.

Went wild at art fair when I got out of work at 19:15 last night. Stopped at 5 booths. Bought 4 things at 3 of them, and got 2 free gifts and saw 1 friend from 30 years ago.

Watched a woman write a check for a single item, for about 3 times the complete balance in my checkbook, or 9 times the amount I spent at all the booths combined. Guess I spent more at one of the booths than she spent in tax, but YEEPERS!

Decided that 2 hours of walking, half of an hour of it (broken down into 2 roughly 15 minute intervals) at speed counted as exercise, so I actually managed to get to bed at 00:30 this morning rather than 45 minutes later.

Have now tried out the Burrito Borimex (on State) and they were pretty tasty.

Have needed to mow the lawn for most of a week, but due to getting home after dark or rain or exhaustion, it hasn't happened. And that's just the front lawn. The back lawn is about a foot thick now ... hope nobody calls the city on me.

Have seen some cute wild strawberries in the yard. Haven't harvested any yet, but if they're still there when I mow I will. Should shoot them first.

I'm quite the sucker, so spouse and I have an agreement to NOT agree to give out money over the phone. That's worked for a while, but the number of calls coming in is ramping up, and I'm getting annoyed. After getting home and hearing the phone ring while my key was in the lock, running to answer it, and having it be nobody, I am almost to the point that I'd rather let it ring, but I just can't do that yet.

Within the last week, though, I've gotten... more crotchety. I'm trying to balance my desire to be honest, my desire to not be rude, and my desire to control with whom I speak. "May I speak to mbumby?" "No you may not." Yesterday the person who called just asked "mbumby?" I said "Sorry" and was hanging up as they continued to speak.

I'm hoping that if the chaplain or my dentist calls, they'll identify themselves before asking to speak to someone. I'm hoping that the spouse & I can come to another agreement about how to handle these invaders from a unified front.

But it's not only the Verizon phones that are being called -- I recently got the following: hottyjoy897 wants to contact you on Skype
Here's their message: "howdy buddy join my cam @ let's play over here [url elided] can't wait to talk!"

Oh good. I just can't wait long enough.

( Spam received recently )
( Comfortable Discomfort -- in the scary mind of the mbumby )
There was a third thing I wanted to chat about (no, not the fact that I'm "skip=750 and struggling") but it disappeared.

I knew there were several things I wanted/needed to do yesterday -- and I figured they'd take up much of the day, but I hoped that today I'd be able to get some stuff done. Bed at midnight last night, and up at 10, I finally realized that I wasn't going to be able to do it all. Wanted to do some cleaning, to do my "daily" tasks, to close the month of May (figure out what I owe the house) before it's time to close June, catch up on FB and LJ (I'm not quite 1000 behind, so it's still "easy").

Also, it's Sunday, and I have missed for several years going to the UM Ballroom Dance classes -- I went for a while -- spouse & I were actually members -- and I even bought shoes (which I can't find) -- so I considered that.

Then I got tired, and at 2pm went down for a nap. Woke up at 6pm. Showered and ran in to Ann Arbor. Left my phone on purpose, since I didn't want to lose or break it -- and thus I managed to miss a phone call from the spouse. Oh drat and double-drat.

( Saturday -- outside & computers, fighting with the gremlins )

It's tempting to just blow it all off and drink heavily, but I need to leave in just over 2 hours, so I guess that notion is right out. :-)

In a win, I spent way too much on champagne cork pliers, but since I've been defeated by those before, often at the cost of bodily harm to myself, I am happy to report that they work! I dug into some n/a bubbly we've had for over a dozen years, and it is yummy!

( Yesterday after work )
Went home, processed mail, did my exercises, took my bath, and was probably in bed by 10:30. Didn't get anything accomplished other than that.

I think I needed the sleep, because this morning I had odd, disturbing dreams, and couldn't get out ot bed until 8am.
( This morning )

( Desktop )
( Laptop )
( New Hardware, new software )
( But why can't I... )
( Ubuntu )

Anyhow, here it is, evening on the 3rd day of a 3-day weekend, I don't feel I've gotten anything completely done, and I'm running back and forth between installing upgrades on the laptop, doing a virus scan on the desktop &/or defragging it, and putting time in trying to out-process the snail-mail I've received in the last month or so... not quite thrashing ... but overall I think I'm happy with the changes to the laptop. My Guru will give me a command to let me know if the flash (which worked!) of the Bios has solved my "it's not all there" problem, and in the next weeks/months/years I'll work on finding all the items I had installed on my laptop and putting them back. Although, when I do the Garmin software, I think I'll request it change my language to Russian.

And since I'm now off the pager, I may take a bike ride. And if I ever finish the mail, I may even see how far I've fallen behind in LJ-land.

I've finally completely used up the old bar of soap and started using my xmas 2007 gift -- a "lump of coal" -- peppermint flavored soap in a black lump. It's really yummy.

( Aches & pains, shattered, mbumby whines )

Last Saturday, when I went out to pick up the mail, a pretty grey cat wandered over and let me say hello. A short while later I was going out the back onto the deck (ironically to feed the birds), and was a little surprise to see him out there asking to come in. That I did not allow, but I spent some quality time scritching a Walter-cat.

I read a lot as a child. I talked a lot too, and I think early on my parents got me to "figure it out from context" when I'd encounter a new word.

They must have done that as well, as I was taught by their usage that to "lie" meant to say something that was not true. e.g. -- I lied, I'll take the coke not the iced tea.

In some cases, my guess was close, and I was in my 30s when I met an inconsistency and looked up ambivalent. I thought it meant to simply not care between 2 or more choices.

Yesterday (I'm no longer pulling 40, but rather pushing 50) I encountered "erstwhile" in a *blink* *blink* context. My childhood reading of that had indicated that it meant ardent, fervent, tenacious. e.g. -- Meanwhile, her erstwhile lover braved snowy mountain passes and hungry dragons in order to rescue the princess. *ahem* Not quite.

It's been a good day. I've gotten nearly nothing done, but it's been a very good day.

( Sleeping & talking & eating & people & mowing & pictures & riding )

Not again!

I'm still 10 days behind, skipping about 800 entries. Con this past weekend didn't help that. Didn't turn on the computer at all. Had a good con. Had a great time with friends. Got home 9-ish, was in bed 10-ish, woke up exhausted this morning. All standard post-con.

Taking a breather at work, signed into that _other_ social networking site I've been spotted on -- the one where less in-depth commentary happens, where I can skim more, so I don't fall as far behind -- and if I do, it's hard to catch up, so I just don't...

And started seeing reference to the death of an acquaintance -- one with whom I had a good conversation, not at this most recent con, but at the one before that. He was not yet a friend, but maybe after a few more cons he would have been.

I'm shy. It's hard for me to get to know new people. Heck, it's sometimes hard for me to talk to people I know well.

I have no words. I have no energy. And dammit, I'll miss him. Farewell John.

Home safely from FKO. Missing everyone. Skip=950 not barely enough...

My super-power is that ( things last )

I think of this now because I just had to throw away a Dish-washing liquid container -- there was no recycle marking on it.

( Can't buy me yarn )
I hate shopping. Especially when it's unsuccessful.

Drove down to a convention with a friend -- Good conversation on the way, both down and back.

( Read more )

And I suppose with all the good food available, it's a wonder that I only put on 2 pounds!

Ok, I've been tagged

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Put a # by those you've started but not finished.
5) Tally your total at the bottom.

( Books I've read, etc. )

A pathetic finish:

Read: 27 (Loved: 18) Started but not finished (and want to read): 5
Started and wil never finish: 1 Want to read (but not started): 11

Not going to tag anyone...

Most of this week I've been leaving for work while it's dark or very foggy, and leaving for home after dark.

Today I stopped at the Post Office, and when I got back to my car I groaned aloud.

My door, and the one behind it looks like I dragged a tree through the garage right next to my car.

I've not parked in the lot where I was vandalized thrice since the last time. I've been parking semi-randomly between 4 or 5 other lots. It almost doesn't look like a keying -- there's so much. If I'd been parked outside last night I'd have blamed it on the violent wind, but I was inside.

And all I can know is that it happened after Monday evening.

Left work early today. Got home 5:45. Managed to extricate my huge pole-thing with a saw and branch-clipper from the side of the garage that is full of junk. (Long story; don't ask.)

( What did I do? What did I feel? What did I see? )
I don't have a good feeling about this.

You know, I'd really rather have hummingbirds. They're nicer, and they might even be smaller.

Following in others' footsteps

LJ Stats for mbumby

  Created on 2006-09-08 15:36:11
last updated 2008-12-20 21:32:36

Journal Entries Total: 230
                            2006:    50
                            2007:  113
                            2008:    67

Comments Total: Posted=3440 Received=1140
                      2006:                  386                       170
                      2007:                1469                       388
                      2008:                1585                       582

Counts: Frnds: Mut_F: Comm_w: Feed_w:
   2006:    unkn    unkn           unkn       unkn
   2007:     235     unkn                 8             5
   2008:     285       179               14           13

After my failure to be able to hear all of the Tuba Christmas concert in Ann Arbor because I was too cold to sit through the whole thing, when it turned out my friend was playing in another concert in Howell, under an hour away, I decided to go.

It was going to be held outside, with a contingency of an indoor venue in case of inclement weather.

( What did I wear? )
( What did I learn? )

I ate a LOT of Mexican, and pseudo mexican food this past week:

( You say you're a sucker for details? )

I didn't set out to do that, but I was amused.

Well, this particular "Heavy Metal" would have been fine -- it was the WEATHER that defeated me.

A friend was playing in the Tuba Christmas taking place in downtown Ann Arbor on Sunday, so I really couldn't NOT go.

Unfortunately, this was an "outdoors" concert.

( How cold was I )

But the portion of the concert that I heard was really good.

I'm feeling so overwhelmed with "stuff" to do, that I could have stood to have a bunch of extra days at home, but that's not the sort of weekend this is.

Thursday we met some friends for turkey and cranberries and noshies and conversation, and it was all good.

( Friday -- cut for length and whining )
( Saturday )
( Sunday )
( More whining )

I bought a device (motion sensor for the porch light) a while back, and there is one piece attached to another, kind of like a tongue in groove. All plastic.

In the comfort of my living room, with the best possible angle, I was unable to shove the tongue bit all the way into the groove bit. Got it most of the way, but it jammed, and I neglected to realize the problem with this.

Now, mounted above my head, with cold weather surrounding me, I need to replace the batteries. This will either involve removing it, or shoving it the rest of the way in, which _might_ allow the battery cover to open.

Needless to say, I'm currently not able. I tried prying, but (1) I can't get a good angle, (2) the plastic I'm prying against is not tough, and (3) the object isn't moving at all.

I really don't want to unscrew it from the wall, enabling me to bring it all inside, so I'm looking for some sort of lubricant I can spray which will work it's way into the groove and loosen things up. Or other advice.

TIA.

On election day I actually wore my "I Voted" sticker. I usually don't even pick one up, but this time I did.

Ex-boss and I took the campus bus into town, and we sat across from a young man with a "Have you voted?" sign taped to his back. On his front was a sign that read:

Vote for Barack Obama
Vote for John McCain
Write in Darth Vader for all I care
Just vote.

The picture above it was one of Vader.

As we were pulling up to our stop I realized that I had my cell phone with, and had I thought of it sooner, I might have been able to take his picture.

---

And then today there was snow on the ground. And the radio was warning of black ice, and accidents on M-14, I-75, and I-696.

That "Cold Day" that had the student body so energized just took about a week to arrive, I guess.

(1) Composting works. Even if you've had a compost bin for ten years and never gotten a thing out of it, if there's a spot on the deck where leaves collect, and where they ... perhaps ... have not been cleaned up in a few years, you will find some wonderful rich dirt as the bottom layer if you ever do clean them up.

(2) If you're mowing the fallen leaves, mulching them in place as it were, it _is_ possible to run across (heh) a collection of leaves so massive that it will choke the mower and prevent it from starting until you have cleared the blade.

Political thoughts behind the cut, since I expect your friends-page is full of them already. (I'll find out in about a week what everyone else is saying...)

( Read more )

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a non-same-sex marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by those who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

It's been a good day so far.

I got e-mail from my little brother whom I've been out of touch with for a few years.

I got a slice of pumpkin pie.

And I got the cool icon above.