Murder Most Foul

The first corpse of the year was discovered on my living room floor on this night known as "Mischief Night," the night before Halloween. It really wouldn't be Halloween without a dead body, would it? It was premeditated murder, of this I'm sure. The body was stashed away until good and ripe, then placed where it would be found, next to my seat. I wasn't there when the body was moved; the perpetrator didn't want his heinous act curtailed. In fact I might have stepped on it had I not paused when I detected that sickly odor that denotes death. Looking down I saw what was left of the rotting corpse and stumbled back in horror. I did the only thing I could: run for the phone and call my husband to come remove the body as soon as he could! The Evil One responsible may have been confused when his offering of a Halloween treat was misconstrued as a trick instead, however I'm inclined to believe he knew precisely what night it was and was hiding behind the sofa, snickering into his whiskers as he watched the effect of his crime.

Tonight the spirit of a vengeful mouse may well be walking the halls of this house.

On The Greatness Of Pringles

Randy has introduced me to my current Favorite Snack Of All Time: Pringles Fat Free Original potato crisps.^* It would be churlish of me to point out that they can't really be "original" because these are fat free. However I know what they meant and I love them, so I'll roll with the spirit of the thing.

They only have 70 calories -0 calories from fat- per serving (serving= 15 crisps) and taste as great as the real original. I bite into heaven when I bite into a Pringle.

I need to be careful who I say the latter to; we have a lot of men with the surname "Pringle" around here.

^*yes, I know I should watch my sodium intake. But they're so yummy!

Here's What Happened

It began with a desire to secure my blog from the pernicious programs which shall not be named for fear of calling them down on my head again. Let's just say that their name is also a dubious meat product.

I wanted to use a plugin to prevent their invasion, but the plugins were all for newer versions of MT. I thought that the only MT upgrades were the ones you had to pay for since the company took off a few years ago, and I didn't feel like shelling out the $70 or so it would cost. I tried WordPress but I couldn't make it work. To be honest my attempts were a bit half-hearted because I hate change and MT and I are kind of used to each other. In desperation I took another look at MT and found to my delight that in fact they do have a free version available as long as it's for a non-commercial site and as long as you don't want the extra tech support that comes with a paid version. "This," I thought "is perfect! I'll just use their manuals and figure out how to do an upgrade. It shouldn't be too hard."

It really shouldn't have been, you know.

I read the installation/upgrade manual, and found a tutorial on the MT site that would make the transition safer in terms of lost content. I created a new MySql database as the woman who wrote the tutorial suggested. She thought it was wise to create whole new databases and directories so nothing was lost in transit, and that made perfect sense to me. So, database set up and configured, software downloaded. Then I discovered that my WinZip was just the evaluation version and wasn't properly opening up the file. I bought Winzip and opened the file. Then I found out I really needed FileZilla to upload everything to my server. Thankfully it's a free program. So I uploaded the files to their new directory. So far, so good. I configure them according to the tutorial. One or two things seemed a little off but it was working. I should mention here that my cpanel (where everything is stored and organized on my server for those who have no idea what I'm talking about) was actually very disorganized. Someone else had originally set up my blog and I had shifted around some files and filepaths over the years since. I had no idea really what most of that stuff was. I knew a day of reckoning would come, and it finally did when I tried to configure my upgraded site and things wouldn't work properly. I'm here to tell you that the past couple of days has been an education! I finally got my MT Publishing Platform up and running. I had used the handy "Export" button on my older version to download all of the old posts and comments, so I tried to import them into my upgrade. First I had to parse the file down because 2 years' worth of blog entries makes for a very large file. So I imported it and the program told me it had imported successfully. The problem was, it wasn't showing up on the blog! I had managed to configure my index and stylesheets to create the same appearance, but I couldn't for the life of me get the old entries.

In the midst of all this I discovered that my comments box didn't work either. It was just that blank white screen. I spent about 3 hours on the import thing, and closer to 10 on trying to make the comments work correctly. I've read the documents, I tried various codes, trolled the support forums until I almost had them memorized. My archives were gone to and in an attempt to get them back in the interim until I could fix all the bugs, I coded each and every month back to July 2004 in html in the index template. I saved, and they disappeared. I got them back, and the old entries and comments, by reconnecting to the old database and getting rid of the 2nd directory suggested by the tutorial.

The comments were the sticking point.

I tried everything from fudging the codes I had to trying to write a new code myself with varying degrees of unsatisfactory results. I copied one template out and saved it, then tried to plug something in that I thought would work. It didn't so I removed it again and pasted the old thing back in. It wouldn't work, though it was the exact same thing. That comments file was corrupted somehow. Next thing I new, the main file for this blog was corrupted and the site that was almost restored was completely gone again! I started deleting everything- I had made a backup before all of this began! - and began again from scratch. It took a couple of tries but I finally got everything uploaded correctly, in the right place, streamlined with all of the old jumble gone (by now I did know what all of those files meant, intimately) and it should have worked. I clicked on the mt-cgi link and it brought me to my MT Publishing Platform. But when I went to view my homepage, there was a huge MT message on it instead! This brings me to 6:05 pm this evening. I had had it. I stormed out of my office, flounced out into the living room and dropped dramatically down on the sofa next to Randy, growling as I did so just in case he missed just how aggravated I was. He noticed. I wouldn't talk, I just sulked. He had to leave at 6:30 and so obsessed had I become that a part of me couldn't wait for him to go so I could get back to work on fixing my blog. He left and even before he was completely out the door I was off the couch and heading back into my office. I came back here to my site and started going over everything again. Then, I don't even know why, I checked my configuration settings here in the blog and discoverd the problem:

I hadn't changed the path from here to the new directory. I had only to delete 2 letters and my blog was restored, better than ever. All old entries and comments appeared, archives were restored without loss, categories created and restored themselves and even the comments worked without any help from me.

I might have cried but was too overjoyed. There's a part of me that's still waiting for the blog to crap out on me again, just because.

I've slept 10 hours in the last 48, and almost every waking moment was spent on fixing these things. I was obsessed. My OCD can't manifest as a strong desire to clean. Oh no. It has to drive me create and fix things I really shouldn't have meddled with in the first place.

On the upside:
- I have a spiffy new upgraded version of my blog that you can't see but I can. It's all back here in the control area. I like control, and having all of these extra options regarding permissions has left me a little giddy.

- I have more options now to stop those parasites that kicked off this whole odyssey in the first place, though

- I am less likely to be attacked by them at the moment because my site was down.

- I've learned a lot about databases, cpanel, directories and files, and coding.

It's been a trip, and I'm still pulling clumps of hair from between my fingers where it got tangled and stuck during the ripping out process. But that's ok, because all is well now.

And I remembered to take my meds, so nobody got hurt in the midst of all this. ;0)

Can It Be True? It Works!

Is my blog really working? If so, to hell with the 3 lost entries from the past couple of days. I'm not screwing around with this anymore.

Update:
It seems to be, and the comments too. I will never upgrade again!

Update 2:
The only thing is that if you click on the monthly "Archives" found on the bottom left of this blog, they won't show up if you're using IE, so if you're using IE, isn't it time to switch to Firefox? It works perfectly with the flaming vulpine.

You know, that last bit just doesn't sound right somehow...

Behind The Curtain

Sorry for my absence. I've been working on upgrades for this site, which will be followed by plugins which will hopefully help fight the persistent parasites of the internet: spambots.

Gnashing Of Teeth

It's taken the spammers about 6 months to remember that this blog exists, but they're back and as annoying as ever. All comments prior to 10/20 have been shut off. Sorry! I spent altogether too much time today banning IP's, deleting "comments" and closing down old ones. However they rarely break through for long, so my fingers are crossed.

I'm also wearing my teeth down to nothing over The Illuminator, the annoying book I mentioned in my last post. I sat down today and finished the second half of this book. Here and there were glimpses of a good story, and this kept me going. What a colossal waste of my time! The author- Brenda Rickman Vantrease- would set up some interesting situation for her characters and then completely drop the ball. I swear she wrote her characters into corners and then, realizing what she'd done and how hard it would be to get them out again, she just started killing them off instead. Idiotic. To be fair this was her first novel, and it shows. I'm rather hoping it's her last.

Next up is Gregory Maguire's Son Of A Witch, as both LazyGal and Jenni have requested my thoughts on it when I'm through. :0)

Now as long as I'm linking to other bloggers, here's a fun little bit that ties into Lord Bargain's post regarding other people sharing your name. My thanks to my friend Leo for this link. Enjoy!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 4 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I'm Generic

It was a day for book-shopping. I haven't gone on a book-shopping spree in a very long time. The book I'm currently reading (and have been for a couple of months now) is very frustrating. The Illuminator has got a great premise and should be good, but overall it's not. There are too many anachronisms for my taste. As much as I keep thinking that I should set it aside, my touch of OCD kicks in with books and I almost never put a book away until I've read it all. There's just enough interest in this one to keep me going, but not enough to compel me to pick it up very often. I've spent more time with it today, though, because I now have several books queueing up that I really want to read. In addition to the recent purchase of The Kite Runner, I now have:

1. 2007 Writer's Market, because I'm going to have to do something with my NaNoWriMo novel when it's completed at the end of next month.

2. My Name Is Red by Nobel Prize Winner Orhan Pamuk

3. An autographed copy of O' Artful Death by Sarah Stewart Taylor. I didn't realize it was autographed until just now. Somehow the large "Autographed Copy" sticker on the cover eluded me. I guess that just demonstrates the glazed ecstatic stupor I fall into when surrounded by books.

4. The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor, in which we learn that Alyss' story was very wrongly reported by Carroll. The concept of telling classic stories from a different perspective was done well by Gregory Maguire when he wrote "Wicked," so perhaps it will be no surprise when I reveal that the last book I bought today was

5. Son Of A Witch, Maguire' sequel to the aforementioned novel.

By now you're probably wondering what any of this has to do with me being generic? I would be if I were you. It's just this:

On my way to the bookstore I stopped at the local convenience store for a cup of coffee. Just ahead of me in line was a man roughly my age, perhaps a little younger. My first thought when I saw his back was that there was something about him that reminded me of Travis, my old fiance. Actually, I know exactly why: he had the same stature, similar hair and earrings. When he turned around his features were a little delicate like Travis', and he had the same amount of scruff. Now, I knew right away that he wasn't Travis, I was just struck by the similarities. Matters weren't helped any when he kept looking at me oddly. Finally he said something along the lines of "I'm sorry. I just can't help but think we've met before. Do I know you?" Not in the sleazy, pick-up line sort of way but genuinely puzzled. I was about to respond in the negative but honestly there did seem something familiar about him. I'm not sure if it was just the resemblance or if we really have met before. We tried asking each other a couple of questions to try to place one another, but came up empty. I was left to draw the conclusion that I merely remind him of someone he once knew. This has happened to me before. Twice I've dated men only to find out that they were with me because I bore a striking resemblance to the women they loved desperately but who had thrown them over and broken their hearts. I was the Substitute Woman, and in both cases it took some of their very uneasy friends to point out the truth to my unsuspecting self. In point of fact, Travis was one of those men. Funny.

Anyway, I guess I'm just a generic sort of woman who is easily mistaken for others, and this Convenience Store Man thought I was someone else. But then, I felt the same way about him, so I guess he, too, is a sort of Everyman.

Except that there really aren't that many men walking around with that particular look and style these days. Hm.

Here's plain old Generic Me:

Clothing Optional Day?

I was dreaming that I was taking care of a white fruit bat and a spider monkey for some conservationists. The animals were wonderful and I was really enjoying the dream, so I was totally unprepared for the abrupt segue into a dream in which an old, naked Larry Hagman was lounging on a blanket trying to ply me with wine in order to seduce me. I couldn't dream that it was a young- I Dream of Jeanie- Hagman; no, it was the man as he is now. Nothing against him, it's just that he's not my first choice. This held true in the dream, thankfully, because he didn't get anywhere with me there either. I know why I had this dream, though. I was watching a recorded episode of Nip/Tuck last night in which he played an aged, disabled pervert. At least I don't have to wrack my brain for an explanation of that one!

The theme of disrobing carried over into my waking life. I went to the store this evening and saw our friend Bill there. Bill is a savant- think Rainman- whose specialty is dates, especially if they're related to US presidents. Anyway, whenever Bill sees a woman he knows he runs up and gives us a hug. He did this to me tonight, lifting me up off of my feet as usual. However tonight when he hugged me the front clasp on my strapless bra popped loose. My shirt wasn't tucked in and I had to quickly pull my arms tight to my body to keep my bra from falling to the floor in the middle of a busy grocery store! I pretended to be cold and folded my arms, rubbing them occasionally to support my ruse. As soon as I could I excused myself and went into the restroom so I could clasp the bra again.

The clasp was broken.

I didn't have my purse with me, just my little organizer; no hope, then, of hiding the bra in my bag. There were other women in the restroom so I hid in a stall until the place was empty, then wadded up the bra and threw it away under the paper towels in the bin. All I can say is thank goodness I was wearing a jacket because my shirt was white and very thin. Shoppers would have gotten more than they bargained for if I wasn't able to cover up! Just another case of all's well that end's well, except that I loved that bra. Women reading this will understand how difficult it can be to find The Perfect Bra, and so how awful it is to lose it.

On the positive side and again in keeping with the clothing theme, I haven't been able to do laundry while I was sick so I was trying to figure out what to wear this morning. On impulse I decided to try on my skinny jeans, though I was sure they'd be too tight. Instead they fit perfectly! I've almost reached my goal size, so I'm pretty happy tonight. Now if only I can stick with it...

One Step Closer To Beauty

As I've already mentioned, the contractors are gone and from here on out my family and I will be finishing up as much as possible. In the past two weeks we've had the dangerous tree taken down, had the electrician completely update our electrical system and install new lights, torn out 30'x6' of windows and replaced them with two bay windows and a new wall, re-sided the front of the house, installed new insulation and sheetrocked the kitchen and livingrooms, both walls and ceilings. The workers also trimmed out the doorways and kitchen windows with pine wood, though there's still more trim and decorative molding work to be done. We can handle that ourselves however. The contractor is going to take most of the tree for firewood to heat his workroom, but a strange man pulled into my yard the other day in his BMW and told me he would kill for some of the tree. Before things turned homicidal the three of us- the contractor, the strange man and myself- agreed that Stranger could have the longer section of trunk. He wants to make a table out of it. There's way more than enough wood to go around, probably more than the contractor can handle even without the longer section. I don't care, I just want the tree gone.

So that's how things stand. I'm going to miss the workers a little; I've grown used to having the guys around. One of them went to school with my brother Drew and used to play basketball with him, so he knew my family. Another went to high school with Randy and I, though I didn't know him because he was a senior when I was a freshman. They were funny and we had a good time. I know Sam is going to be bored without them. The cats are happy that the men are gone now though, and I have to admit it will be nice to have peace restored once more.

There's obviously still a lot of work to be done. Drew and I will be taping and mudding the walls to finish them off, and there's still lots to do out in the cabin. Actually there's more to do because it's been rainy and the workers had to use it to work in for the last few days. They cleaned up after themselves but there's still all the sawdust that was ground into the floor and thinly layered on shelves, etc. Oh well, it was worth it. We've still got plenty of work to do to the rooms at the back of the house, but I'll get around to that later. A lot of it, such as painting, can be done over the winter.

For now here are some shots of the completed work along with a couple of reminders of what it looked like before:

The ceiling before:

Now with the sheetrock screwed in place and new lights:

The old walls and windows:

After the contractors finished:

This illustrates well the way the walls looked before, and how much lighter things will be now; the walls will be painted a light green or yellow, I'm not sure yet. I'm adding a decorative trim to the pine framwork you see around the door here:

Navigating Through The Fog That's My Head

Keeping the same hours as the contractor and his crew has depleted me. My cold has yet to become the nasty mess it usually is, but I did run a low fever last night so am taking it very easy today. Now that I don't have to worry about the men in the house I can curl up on the couch and doze the way all sick people should. I've taken some photos though and will probably post them tonight.

Thanks for hanging in there with me...

All Good Things Must Come To An End

And now, as another week ends and the workday is finished, I have waved my contractors off. Cash in hand they happily sail away into the sunset, a good job done to my satisfaction.

Equally satisfying? The thought of getting enough sleep again. Pictures of house to follow sometime soon.

Inspiration Photo Challenge- Solitude Standing

For the Inspiration Photo Challenge

We Come Not To Bury Aravis

Nor to praise her.

Everyone around me for the last two weeks has been sick with a cold. Thus far I had been able to avoid their nasty, prolific germs. However on Monday night I began to feel that old familiar scratchiness that heralds an oncoming disease. Sure enough when I awoke yesterday I felt miserable, though the Virulent Virus had yet to get a stranglehold on me. I've often heard people mention the use of Airborne, which helps to reduce your chances of getting sick or, failing that, keeps you from getting as sick. It needs to be taken with the onset of symptoms so I picked up my dragging fanny and drove to the drug store to buy some. I also discovered SinoFresh- assine name- which acts as an antiseptic for the nasal and sinus passages, killing any malicious mold or bacteria which might have taken up residence. I thought this a good idea, given all the crap I'm currently breathing in my house as they tear walls apart. Matching these two products with the ever-trusty extra strength Tylenol, I treated myself throughout the day without taking any other cold medicine. The Tylenol especially helped relieve symptoms but, in the end, I think the Airborne and SinoFresh- still an assinine name- have done the job. I'm not 100%, but I feel better than I did yesterday. I went to bed at 11 last night, which for me is completely unheard of. I am the Head of the Midnight Oil Burners Union, never going to bed before 2 AM at the earliest. However I decided to buck tradition and try to get some rest. I feel much less run down as a result. Who knew? I don't intend to make a habit of this though.

As I was writing this I got a spam email inviting me to shed pounds.

Bite me.

(feeling better obviously hasn't translated to my temper yet)

B&W PhotoChallenge-Bird

It's What You Make Of It

Progress!

The weather was finally conducive enough (read: I was finally awake enough to get off my ass) to go outside and take some photos of the progress made on the house this week.

Also, the men finally came and finished taking down the tree in the front yard today. Though it was both a nuisance and a real menace- it was in imminent danger of falling down on its own and on the house- I have to say that I'm sad to see it gone. The work began while I was still in bed. Every time a part was sawn off and fell to the ground it was like a sonic boom that woke me and rattled the house. Tough to sleep through but I gave it that ol' college try. There are now large divits in the lawn just waiting to trap unsuspecting ankles, the better to sprain them my dear. I'll have to deal with that later I guess. For now I've got a very large tree strewn in chunks across my yard and I'm not quite sure how it will be removed. Randy said he and a coworker will probably take chainsaws to it next Sunday (great! a whole week of this) and the coworker will take most of the wood. This worries me. Randy hasn't wielded a chainsaw since he was a kid helping his father. I told him that if he has an accident while using it then he'd better just do a proper job of it and finish himself off; I want double-indemnity on the life insurance, none of this taking- care- of- a- maimed- husband- too- stubborn- to- listen- to- his- wife- crap.

That was a joke, people, and he laughed. It's all good.

Anyway, I'm sad the tree is down but selfishly joyous that the birds will have to find a new resting place from which to relieve themselves on someone else's car.

That ceiling tile will be replaced with sheetrock, and those ceiling lights will be switched out too. I commented to a friend today that those years of alcoholic housekeeping prepared me well for living in a construction zone now.

Browser Update

My OCD kicked in and, in combination with some time away from the computer, I was able to fix the problem with IE. A simple table was all that was required. I have one or two minor adjustments to make if I decide to, but other than that I'm done. I'm off to bed, but I'll be sure to read your blogs first thing tomorrow with a steaming cup of Pumpkin Spice-flavored coffee which smells like spice cake and tastes like heaven warming my hands and opening my eyes.

Mmm...

Browser Compatibility Issues

First I couldn't see my site ( except for my "Exploring Aravis" banner) while using IE 6.02blah blah blah on either my computer or Randy's laptop. Through much experimentation which, sadly, I didn't document, I got my site to show correctly on Randy's laptop. It still wouldn't show on my desktop, however. So yesterday I started playing around, trying to rediscover that magical combination which would allow me to view my site. I had to give up and go to bed last night, knowing that I would have all day today to work on the problem, which is precisely what I did.

Those of you who swung by today probably noticed that my site looked, at best, irregular. It took hours of research, trial and error to make the site appear on my computer's IE. When I did get it to appear, my blog was way off center, both on my computer and Randy's laptop. More hours passed as I tried to make it appear correctly in both IE and Firefox- my browser of choice. I totally screwed up both my main index and style sheet; thankfully I had backups handy to replace everything once I located fresh templates and plugged them in. So instead of having each blog entry sprawled across the entire page with my menu trailing along vertically underneath (the condition I reduced it to with my flubbed style sheet), it's once again in the same format which appears correctly in Firefox. But it's still screwed up in IE and you know what? At this point I don't care. I can't get it back to normal again for IE viewers and I don't know why.

In addition, though I've reset all of the templates to what they were, I'm still getting that funky outline around the menu on the left. Tweak as I might, I can't get it to look like it did before. So it, too, stays for now. Perhaps tomorrow when I've finally managed to get some sleep I'll be able to examine all of this with new eyes and discover what I need to do to at least make it look right for IE users other than myself; making it appear correctly for me is a dream I've given up on. For now, I just can't do anymore.

But then, the tree guys are supposed to come tomorrow to finish taking down that tree. Supposedly I won't need to get up for them; they'll work fine without my assistance. That's actually not what's worrying me. I would just feel a lot safer if I was sleeping under a reinforced steel canopy tonight, that's all. Because the best laid plans of mice and men may not be able to stop the tree from paying my bedroom a visit if it's so inclined. There's a joke in there somewhere, but I think I'll let it go.

Gotta Treat 'Em Right

Is it wrong of me that every time I hear a variation of "Ow! Goddamn it!" my first thought is "I hope he's alright; I don't want a lawsuit." because that does tend to be my first thought. Or is it just a sign of the times?

I try to take care of my guys though. A couple of them have colds so I lay out a veritable buffet of cough drops, throat lozenges, Tylenol and Puffs Plus (the tissue with lotion to reduce chaffing) to make them feel better and, selfishly, to keep them working. They are a really amazing crew and I'm fully aware of how lucky I am to have them. I recommend them to you all, fat lot of good that does most of you. But if Roy Wilcox and Son ever moves out your way, grab 'em quick! They work hard and show up when they say they're going to. They return phone calls promptly and listen to my thoughts, questions and concerns without making me feel stupid or that I don't know what I'm talking about because I'm a woman. Most importantly, I feel safe with them. I don't have that strong sense of unease I usually get when strange men are doing work in my house. I can't tell you what a relief that is! They're fun to talk to but they don't stop working while they talk. I just can't say enough about them.

Now, having bragged about them, they'll probably stop showing up and their workmanship will become shoddy.

Nah.

We know where they live. ;0)

The house as of yesterday. Today they put up most of the siding and have insulated and begun to sheetrock inside. My house is now a steam bath instead of a 'fridge.

B&W PhotoChallenge-A Detail Of The Body

for the B&W Photo Challenge

It Would Be Pretty If...

...my neighbors weren't selling a pickup truck on their lawn across the road, but you get the idea. This is the long-awaited second window. It's in place but is not yet finished. The workers only put in a couple of hours today.

From Window To Wall

All of these improvements are killing my sinuses and leaving me riddled with headaches. It will all be worth it, though it doesn't look like much now. The workers had the long weekend off but will be back tomorrow. Here's how they spent Friday:

The electrical work was also completed for the most part, including switching from the old fuse box to circuit breakers, removing and replacing lights and adding plugs. Next up: addition of second bay window, completion of electrical (for time being) and the removal of ugly wood paneling to be replaced with sheetrock.

Eerie, But Beautiful

B&W PhotoChallenge- Partial Desaturation

Last week's theme over at Black & White Photo Challenge was "Partial Desaturation." I missed it but have decided to give it a try anyway. It's a technique I often see used effectively and this is a good opportunity to practice-

Photo Friday-Thin

Fishing on a beach

As Promised Last Night

Here are some photos of progress made on the house yesterday. It occurred to me that since the electrician is coming over today, I wouldn't be able to post them this afternoon as I had promised. The links are self-explanatory:

Before work began
Before, different angle
Demolition begins
A hole in the wall
Walled in
Wheezy inspects progress
At the end of the day

That's Not Lined Up

Things you don't want to hear when you're missing a wall and they're putting in new windows:

-shit
-fuck
-goddamn fucking thing
-ow
-that's crooked
-uh oh
-we've got a problem

or any arguments amongst workers about how something should be done properly.

Over and over again today I kept hearing things and thinking "I really don't want to know anything about whatever it is they're discussing. Why am I here, and can I possibly sneak in a nap without anyone finding out?" The answer to which was, of course, "No."

To make matters worse, one of the bay windows was fine but the weather stripping/seal on the outside of the second bay window had been cut away. You can see the knife marks. It's been in the back of the garage since it was delivered so nobody noticed it until today. The people at the hardware store keep trying to convince us that we don't know what we're talking about, and that it was supposed to be cut off. I'm in the process of printing out photos of what it should look like vs. what it actually looks like for Randy to take with him to the hardware store first thing in the morning before he goes to work. Ugh. Oh, they started with the front windows instead of the one on the breezeway because the weather was great today. They've secured one bay window at least, and I think they'll take out the third 10' x 6' window on the breezeway tomorrow, replacing it with a wall. Photos to follow.

Finally, though I got up at 7:30 am to wait for the technician to come and replace my windshield, he never showed up. Calls to his dispatcher were unproductive; he didn't answer any of his dispatcher's many messages throughout the day to the point where the dispatcher was worried that something might have happened. I'm at the top of the list for tomorrow, and they couldn't be more apologetic. Which means getting up even earlier tomorrow, but it needs to get done.

Ok, I've got to finish printing out those photos and load up some before/after shots for you guys. Look for those in the afternoon most likely. I'll just give you something from nature to look at tonight because, frankly, it will take me less time to put together and I'm off to bed.

'night!

Wake Me When It's Over

The (sort of) good news is that tonight I learned that all of the cars parked near mine last week were similarly vandalized; it wasn't just mine. I can stop wondering who I pissed off that badly now. I'm sorry for the others, of course, but at least I know I'm not a target.

I barely got any sleep last night, knowing that I had to be up extra early this morning for a doctor's appointment. I might as well get used to the lack of sleep though. I have to be up early again tomorrow because the men will be here between 8-12 to fix my windshield. Also, the men we hired are coming over late tomorrow morning to start the work in the living room. Specifically on the agenda for the day is to remove the huge glass window overlooking the breezeway and put a wall up instead. It will be a good day for it since rain is predicted and this area is sheltered. Over the next week they will also be taking out the other 10' x 6' windows and replacing them with the bay windows. All of this is very cool. Less cool (other than having to be awake and coherent on 4 hours of sleep a night) will be trying to contain a dog and two cats when entire walls will be missing from my house. The workers will have the holes sealed by the end of the day, knowing the situation, but that still means I have to lock the furry ones away while the men are here. This promises to be interesting.

The electrician still has not shown up to update our electrical system, nor have the tree workers returned to finish taking down the tree. I have a huge blue metal dumpster in my front yard along with half a tree, and building materials covered by a tarp. The yellow building permit is nailed to the front of our house.

I wonder if anyone will figure out that we're renovating our home?

I need sleep. I think you're going to hear that a lot for the next couple of weeks.

I'm An Open Book. Please Shut Me.

I was the speaker at an AA meeting tonight, which means I went to a meeting I don't usually attend and told my story to the group. You know: what it was like, what happened and what it's like now. I haven't spoken in a few months and a lot came pouring out of me. I ran a little long but nobody seemed to mind. People kept telling me during and after the meeting that they really identified with at least some part of my story, and someone invited me to speak at the rehab where he works because he thinks the predominently young crowd there would get a lot out of my message. All of this is nice to hear and it's good for me to share what happened, and to remember where I came from. Still, I always feel vulnerable and exposed for a day or so after I speak at one of these. I have a thoroughly obnoxious internal critic who is now having a field day with me, but I'll have her locked in the back closet of my mind again soon.

On a side note, is it election day yet? I don't think I can stand many more attack ads by either political party; my head might explode.

On the plus side, that would definitely silence that internal critic. But I think I prefer my current method.

Industrious And Determined

THUNK

I ignore this.

THUNK

I think, "What IS that?" but don't take my nose out of my book.

THUNK THUNK!

I lift my head, tilting it to one side as though that will enable me to hear better, or to process the sound into something recognizable.

There's a pause and I start to lower my head, preparing to read again.

THUNK!

"That's it." I think to myself as I hoist my lazy butt off of the sofa to look out the window and onto the breezeway. There, atop the huge plastic garbage containers is a long plastic storage bin- there's actually an alarming amount of plastic around here, come to think of it- which is narrow enough to slide under my bed; that's what it was created to do. It's only natural, then, that I would store this bin outside. In point of fact, Randy buys me cases of peanuts at a time for the local birds and squirrels, and this is what I store them in.

Anyway, I have been lax about the feeding of said rapacious beasts since my return from Martha's Vineyard, a fact which was being emphatically driven home as I looked out the window and- THUNK THUNK- saw a squirrel industriously opening one end of the storage bin in an attempt to get to the nuts inside. The only problem was that the other end was still securely shut so that every time the squirrel used its mighyt front paws to lift the lid, the lid would slam back down- THUNK!- as soon as the squirrel let go to try to climb inside. Over and over and over again it lifted the lid only to have it immediately shut as soon as the poor, stubborn beastie let go. At one point I was certain that it was going to manage to get in. The squirrel was able to stick its head between the lid and the lip of the bin, but then it paused and seemed to consider the consequences of the intended action. In short, the squirrel had suddenly considered the possibility that this treasure trove of peanuts might actually be- gasp - a trap! It seemed to realize that if it climbed in, the lid would shut behind it. THUNK. I thought "Surely it'll realize that it would be easy to open again from the inside..." but the squirrel would have none of it. Instead he went back to trying to lift the lid off completely. Every once in awhile he would hop on top of the thing and try to burrow through the lid that way, but would give up and try to lift again. I wondered how long this could possibly go on, as did Wheezy who had been perched on top of Randy's desk enjoying the show too. In the end I decided to have pity on the wee thing and went outside. Naturally the squirrel ran off, but I knew it wouldn't go far and would come back as soon as it was safe. I set out several bowls' worth of peanuts around the yard and also put out some sunflower seeds after a quick run to the store.

This should keep the squirrels happy for about a day.

Welcoming The Season

Autumn approaches as the leaves begin to change, rain drizzles from the sky and the mist rolls over the meadows. It has always felt like a mysterious time, redolent with the scents of damp earth and spices. Ghouls, goblins and the undead in general roam the earth for a night. Is there anything more exciting as a child, or for a woman who has never entirely grown up? Every year at this time I feel the urge to reread The Witch of Blackbird Pond for, though there's only one scene which takes part on Halloween, it always strikes me as autumnal in some indescribable way.

I think I'll dust off my copy now...

It's A Dog's Life

This gorgeous Akita/German Shepherd mix is Tyler, aka Miss Ty. My mom and siblings belong to her and she complains all the time about how difficult they are to keep in line.