Farewell to 2007

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Smiley face. Three birds in flight.

I don’t know if this photo is for real or not. It was sent by email and I don’t remember who sent it to me. Apparently it was found on the web somewhere. It may be a composite put together by someone who can really work in PhotoShop! I don’t know.

But I do want to leave this year behind with a smile.

May the Universe Bless you with an Abundance of All Good Things in 2008 and beyond.

Happy New England Sports Fan

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This is the picture that appeared in the Reminder News along with a story about my bike riding.

A full day of exciting sports—that was Saturday (yesterday).
UConn football team played Wake Forest in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, NC. UConn didn’t win, but just to be there was an honor.

Then the UConn women’s basketball team took on Coach Jen Rizzoti and the Hartford Hawks. UConn ran all over them. You have to feel sorry for teams like the Hawks who are 0-9 against UConn. To save face, the other team usually says they took a lot away from this game that they can use to make them better in their own league/division. The Hartford Hawks are at the top of the America East League. They are good. They just aren’t UConn.

And, THE PATRIOTS barely beat the Giants. It was one of the best games I’ve seen Eli Manning play. Now he needs receivers who can hang onto the ball. I had a feeling the Giants were not going to roll over for the Pats. If the Giants had not dropped so many passes, the result might have been different!

Change of subject
I DID go for a bike ride today! Temperature in the low 40s, wind-chill around 34°. I had three layers on my legs and four layers on my upper body plus a quilted vest. Everything but my arms was quite comfortable. Now I know what I need for a cold/cool weather riding jacket. I also need a helmet cover and shoe covers. I doubt I get that this season. I think my riding days are over until spring. However, if all goes well maybe I can pick up some of this equipment on sale by that time. Now I know that if a day comes along that’s 40°, little or no wind and the roads are in decent shape, I can go for a ride. I’m excited.

The stats for this year’s bike riding are as follows:
1,129 miles since March 27th.
I spent 116 hours pedaling so that makes my over-all average speed just under 10 mph. Not spectacular, but when I think of the hills I’ve walked and the hills I’ve ridden up at 3-5 mph, I’m happy my average is 10 mph.

Another subject change
Friday afternoon (12/28) I went down to Johnnie’s service station to have my front tires checked. I was pretty sure I needed new ones. This coming Wednesday morning he will put two new tires on the front. The back tires are still ok.

I Need To Get Out More

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You are looking at the Sagamore Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal and the bike path next to it.

Call of the open road
This morning's walk was so exhilarating! It felt good to be outside, breathing that crisp, cool air and moving my body to a comfortable walking cadence. I thought of taking my bike out for a spin, but there is no time for that today, even though the temperatures and weather in general would be perfect—sunny, 45°, no wind, and the black ice melting rapidly. Perhaps I can celebrate the New Year with a ride!

Every one celebrates holidays; some celebrate with a slightly different twist. I’m not talking lemon or lime here. I've been thinking about going for a ride on Monday, New Year’s Eve, the last day of the year. Right now it doesn’t look good weather-wise. If I get to ride at all it will probably be Sunday. But that’s OK. It will be an experiment in “how foolish can I be on the last Sunday of the year?” What a great title for a story in Vol. III of my family book, Come Ride With Me. It all starts with, “I’ll never know if I don’t try.”

I’ll keep you posted—right here.

Christmas Greetings

MAY THE BLESSINGS
OF THE CHRIST CHILD
BE WITH ALL OF YOU
FOR ALL TIME

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Divvy Up the Goodies

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This big guy is a snapper I spotted by the side of the trail on one bike ride. Click on the photo to enlarge and get a good look at that hooked beak.

Sugar Sugar Everywhere
The last few days have been filled with people stopping by bringing Christmas goodies. The Bahler girls (Marge and Marilyn) brought over their traditional Swedish Christmas Bread. Then Pauline brought over brownies, and cookies and Hershey Kisses. Yesterday’s family gathering brought popcorn, candy, more candy and honey roasted peanuts. Mom and I have divvied up everything but the kisses. That can wait. I’ll be in orbit for weeks! I have found that by eating lots of protein at times like these, keeps high/low swings of my sugar levels within reason. Define “reason”.

Family Gathering
I enjoy being in the company of my kids and grandkids (along with spouses and boyfriends). Anne and the boys couldn’t make it up from Maryland, as I told you previously, and Joe was among the missing also. He wrestles with East Windsor High School and had a meet that he couldn’t get out of. Every one is growing up so fast. Jonathan is our youngest family member (for the moment) and he’s 6 already. Speaking of Jonathan, he received a miniature all-in-one tool kit for Christmas. Good thing, too. His dad needed it to assemble one of Jonathan’s other gifts. Santa came through again. We took some great pictures, which I will not post on this site. I mentioned doing just that and the family’s reaction indicated that would not be a good idea. OK. That’s one way to get them to regularly read my on-line journal. Threaten to post their pictures.

I do want to thank James for the box of Jell-O. My favorite color—green. ☺ ☺ ☺

Reading Nature

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The icy Scantic River in Enfield.

"Guests fly in for winter get together" by Steve Grant.
This story in today’s Hartford Courant is exactly what I’ve been talking about when it comes to this winter’s weather— northern birds coming way south. I hate to say I told you so, but here it is. Things up north this winter will be very difficult for birds. I saw my October birds in my yard in August. Do not believe the Woolly Bears, people. They are trying to deceive you into thinking all is well when it is not! ☺☺ (I hope you realize I’m only kidding. I don’t go for that Mother Nature Conspiracy Theory)

It is interesting, however, to see that there are certain things in Nature, if we would observe with understanding, that tell us what’s going on – or will be. Hopefully you will get to read the story and start to read Mom Nature.

Family Christmas
The kids are coming over this afternoon for Family Christmas. I’ve already warned my mother that the thermostat will have to be lowered around noon to give the house a chance to cool down before everyone gets here. Part of Andy’s gift has not arrived yet, and it’s probably the serious gift since the other two seem to be jokes. Nothing I can do about it now. Anne will have to research it with the shipper.

Speaking of Anne, she and the boys will not be with us this year for Family Christmas. They will be going to Chicago to spend Christmas with Rick’s folks. We will see them, hopefully, in February. I sent the boys’ gifts to their house so they will have them Christmas morning. I will give them their copies of Come Ride With Me when they come here. It would have cost too much to mail them.

Furball Rumble

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My backyard and shed where the fight ended.

Remembering
As I cleared the snow off the back steps after our last storm, I was reminded of a morning almost 3 years ago. It was January and the visible evidence of an over-night animal fight inspired the following short essay.

Furball Rumble
Wednesday, January 11, 2005
The exact identity of the combatants is uncertain. Tufts of black fur, reddish blond fur, paw prints and the size of the combat zone was all I had as evidence. It apparently began under the back steps that come down from the deck. That's where most of the black fur was. Then it appeared to have escalated with the black-furred one running around trying to escape. The final battle probably took place at the edge of the lawn — over by the storage shed — where there was a large area of trampled snow, blood and more tufts of reddish fur and black fur.

Today, one day later, I gaze upon a battlefield made pristine by last night’s snow. It's as if nothing happened.

Two furballs know differently — or maybe only one is licking its wounds and remembering.

A Very Special Day

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My friend, Eileen, in 1984 at the first Celebration of Life.

Every day is special, but some days more special than others.

Today was one of the “more” variety. I heard from an old friend today. Eileen has lived in Haifa, Israel for – I going to guess – at least 15 years, maybe longer. She is a member of the Bahá’í World Headquarters community.

We had lost track of each other for several years, but managed to reconnect. We email each other once in a while, but not often enough. You know how it is, she's busy with her life and I'm busy with mine. Busy does not diminish friendship.

We go back a long way, having worked on many, many projects together. We were a formidable team.

Photo
The snow shoveled off the deck flowed off the steps on both sides forming this nice little hide-a-way protected from the northeast wind by the snow that I never shoveled off the steps. I wanted Sunday’s icy precip to fall on snow – not on bare wood. The junco's, in particular, like to hang out in there.

Fooled again
Yesterday I said we got the Sunday Hartford Courant on Saturday. That’s true. I didn’t even have time to look at it so I didn’t know we didn’t get all of it. The sections that came Sunday morning were the ones that actually had what was new(s). At the risk at being wrong again, I am assuming the bulk of the paper was delivered on Saturday just in case weather prevented the delivery of the entire paper. Some is better than none? Now we know how much of the Sunday paper is printed in advance. How far in advance is the question now.

Wind Chill
This morning (right now) the temperature is 15° with high winds. That puts the wind chill down in the single digits. And I have to go out there and do the snow blower thing again. This is not going to be fun. And of course the deck has to be shoveled because I don’t like to leave that weight on the deck. Then again, I need to get out to the birdbath to help my birds have drinking water. This time of year no birds are using the water for bathing. But the birds do need drinking water. When the temps are this cold it’s a challenge to keep the water fluid. I don’t have any place to plug in a birdbath water heater and I haven’t researched to see if anyone carries a battery-powered heater.

Right now I'm off to get dressed and have a good breakfast, then do battle with the mess that fell yesterday. It looks like about 4-5 inches of the stuff. The challenge will be at the end of the driveway where the town has piled it up. That is probably pretty icy. It will take Big Red and me a little longer, but we’ll get it done.

Credit On My Electric Bill

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Bath, ME after a recent storm. This picture sent to me by my cousin Cathy. She and my cousin, Rick, are the parents of Craig and Derek (two of the Marines I write to). It's all in the family.

Electricity Summer Savings
This past summer our electricity provider, CL&P, offered a summer savings program. Any customer (who signed up for the program) who saved from 10 to 20% over last year’s usage would get a 10, 15 or 20% credit on their November bill. I signed up.

Here’s the breakdown:
849.8 kWh less electricity used from June 1 to October 1
42.9% difference in consumption
20% credit for Summer Savers Rewards
$131.07 equals the generation charge difference
$26.21 credit on my November bill (20% of $131.07)

The main source of the savings was my electric clothes dryer. All summer (and well into fall) we used the clotheslines to dry our laundry—even towels. We have long been in the habit of shutting off TVs and lights when we leave any given room for a length of time. Also this past summer, we did not have to run the AC as much as last year and I did not use my dehumidifier at all.

Another storm
Here we are, Sunday morning and we can’t catch a break. I woke up at 3:45 a.m. and the ground was covered with snow—about an inch of accumulation. It didn’t take long before I could hear the windows and the side of the house being heavily pelted by sleet. The plow trucks are out keeping the roads cleared. We have experienced the wind intermittently but the expectation is the winds will pick up and become sustained up around 30-40 mph with gusts. Our newspaper delivery person delivered the Sunday Hartford Courant yesterday. At least we know Claudette will be safe today and off the roads.

I’ve been tracking the number of storms so far this year. Today’s storm is #5.

Storms, Angels & Toys

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On the left is the before and after is on the right—like you couldn't tell. This is Thursday's storm.

Storm Alexander
The snow started before 11 a.m. Thursday. Before 11:30, the state snowplows were plowing the state highway that runs past one side of my property. Took a while before we saw the town plows, but I thought the state trucks jumped the gun somewhat. The snow covered all surfaces rapidly and visibility was not good. It looked like all towns across the state wisely canceled school and other events for today. I ran out early to refill a prescription for my mother and then all we had to do was hunker down and enjoy the first BIG storm of the season. By 1 p.m. we had 2” on the ground and lots more to come. WFSB, Channel 3 has been naming winter storms since the 1970s. This one was Alexander. Early on I kept hearing emergency vehicles, but they didn’t come past my house, which was odd. Then I realized they were going into the housing development behind me. It was snowing so hard I couldn’t see what kind of emergency vehicles they were.

A case of the Yuckies
After lunch I picked up a book hoping to get in some reading and immediately took my nap instead! ☺ When I woke up, I was coming down with “something”—my skin hurt, I felt warm and achy. Started taking Coldcalm® right away. Friday morning I woke up feeling tip top.

All I need is Big Red
Tip top on Friday morning was good since I had 10 inches of snow in my driveway that needed to be dealt with. And deal I did. See today’s photos. Big Red is the snow blower. Who needs youth when you have a Honda (snow blower)!

My three Angels
Friday night, Dec. 14, I was on my way to the Portland, CT Middle School for an event, “One Soldier, One Poet”. Several poets from all around CT, including several students, picked the name of a CT Iraq or Afghanistan fallen Hero and wrote a poem or essay about that person. A friend of my, Dolores, was going to read the poem I wrote about my grandson, Philip. As I traveled down I-91, an overhead sign indicated a traffic backup further south of Hartford. A whisper (inside my head) told me how to get around the traffic snarl. That was Angel #1.

When I came over the Arrigoni Bridge, I missed Spring St. and fearing I was lost, stopped at the post office where a woman was dropping letters into the outside mailbox. I asked for directions to the Middle School on High Street. She started giving me directions then said, “Follow me. I’ll take you there.” She went out of her way to make sure I arrived safely and on time. I can’t thank her enough. She’s my Angel #2.

Angel #3 is Dolores for reading the poem for me. I never could have read it out loud in public. Several students performed music or dance. All in all, it was a very emotional evening for the public in attendance, the families and the poets.

Last of Toys for Tots
Kathy and I went down to Plainville again this morning to help with Toys for Tots. Kathy brought a young friend of hers, Natalie. We worked for an hour and the announcement was made that they were closing down operations for an hour for lunch. Everyone out. Last week lunch was served but we worked right through since we had just finished breakfast. We expected to do the same this week. Not to be. So we came home. By the time they were going to let us back in, we would have only one more hour to work. Not worth sticking around doing nothing. We’ll wait ‘til next year.

Weather Happens

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Earlier this year Kathy, Lou, Jess and I went swimming with a Beluga whale in Mystic Seaquarium. The day was a gift from Jess. We had such a good time.

By now you have noticed that the pictures I post don't usually have anything to do with the content of my blog. Did you really think I was that clever?

Wicked weather
Our weather is going from bad to horrible. Right now the predictions are: 1) starting Thursday afternoon we could have 3 to 6 inches of snow. Then, 2) Sunday, we could have our first nor’easter. Plus, 3) our temperatures are expected to drop into the single digits by the weekend.

Please refer to my weather predictions on September 7th and October 10th right here in my on-line journal.

Important events and the weather
It looks like the “One Soldier, One Poem” event in Portland, CT on Friday night will be OK. I will be going to that. I know the Patriots will probably play Sunday regardless of the weather. I have concerns for all the fans who will go to the game.

“One Soldier, One Poem”
Friday, December 15th, many of Connecticut’s poets will gather at Portland (CT) Middle School to read poems they have written to memorialize service personnel from CT who have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan. I had already written a poem for my grandson, Philip, but there is no way I could ever read that out loud in public. A poet friend of mine, Dolores, offered to read it for me. I can’t thank her enough. It will be a very emotional evening, and I have already told the organizers that I’m not sure how long I will be able to stay.

Patriots and Jets
Sunday’s game will be against the Jets. The last time they played was the SpyGate incident. Because this rivalry is heating up I’m sure every Patriots fan who has a ticket is going to make darn sure they are in the stands to harass the Jets, regardless of the weather.

Mom’s MRI
Last Friday evening, my mom lost her balance and fell into the living room from the kitchen. Once I got her up off the floor my assessment was that she was OK. Bruised and sore, but OK. Today she had a routine appointment with her doctor and to be on the safe side he ordered an MRI on her head. The results came back negative. No injury and no evidence of anything that could have caused her to topple over. Good news. Just knowing nothing is wrong has made her feel much better.

Working with Toys for Tots

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In the spring of 2006 the pair of osprey on the CT shoreline snagged some poor kid's blue teddy bear. The bear stayed in the nest until early Sept. when the remnants of Hurricane Oscar blew it off - never to be seen again. This photo was captured from the Audubon osprey cam web site.

Toys for Tots
Today Kathy and I went to Plainville, CT to help the Marine Corps do Toys for Tots. Our job was to fill “orders” from the bins, which have toys according to gender and age. A good friend, Jim, (a Marine of course) is in charge of the program. After I saw him interviewed on TV and knowing the urgent need for volunteers, how could I not respond!

Kathy and I put in a full 4 hours before we had to leave. Some of the bags were quite heavy by the time we filled them, so Kathy would help me drag them to where they needed to be. At different times we worked as a team: I would hold the bag and she would fill. She became the “Dragin Lady” and I was the “Bag Lady”. We’ll go back again next Saturday to help finish the job. Thanks to me, Jim’s parents were able to surprise him by showing up ready to help. I emailed them with the info. Since they live in way upstate NY that was quite a surprise!

Toys for Tots

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Little girl sitting on a teddy bear (speaking of Toys for Tots).

TOYS FOR TOTS
This program is in need of volunteers. Every incoming toy has to be checked against a list of Recalled Toys. Imagine how time consuming and tedious this is. The Marine Corps could use some help here in Connecticut. If you can volunteer some of your time call 1-860-747-1643 ext 4 to find out what days and times the facility will be open. The location is 1 Linsley Dr in Plainville. If you go to volunteer you will have to bring valid ID to sign in. I plan to be there Saturday, Dec. 8th from 11-ish to 2-ish. Hope to see you there.

GO HUSKIES!
Last night I met Leslie for supper and we went to a Lady Huskies basketball game. My goodness those young women are good! This year they seem to be playing effortlessly. Their passing game, in particular is so much better, sharper, crisper. Foul shooting is sub-lousy although they did start making them late in the game. Congratulations to Mel Thomas on getting to the 1000 point mark. Way to go!

Patriots Win #12

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Ashuwillticook Rail Trail looking north toward Mt. Greylock. The trail starts at the entrance of the Berkshire Mall and runs north for 11 miles on a 10 ft. wide paved surface and ends in Adams, MA. You will find food and drink at a pub/café right at the end of the trail or swing around the corner to the left and eat at the Adams Diner. There is also a large information station at trail's end. All three locations have restrooms. The scenery on this trail is beautiful. And best of all, the trail is flat except for the beginning downhill that poses no problem on the return trip. On the way back, stop at Diane's Twist at 13 Main St. in Cheshire. She serves great frozen yogurt as well as over-stuffed sandwiches and shakes, etc.

Sleepless over a football game!
Refer to what I wrote on Nov. 26th. I said the Patriots should have an easy win over the Ravens, but this could be a dangerous game if the Pats took the Ravens too lightly. Boy oh boy was I right. I stayed up into the 3rd Q and went to bed only after the Pats tied it at 17. Once in bed, I turned on the radio to listen to the game and the Ravens scored to make it 24-17. I turned the radio off. No way was I going to listen to any more of that! And so I slept in fits and starts all night. My dreams were filled with the final score of Ravens 39, Pats 38, and saying over and over again it’s only a game. The first thing I saw when I turned the TV on this morning was the crawl at the bottom of the screen about the Pats winning 27-24. What a relief. The teams on the remainder of their schedule should have a pretty good idea from the Eagles and Ravens games just how to possibly beat the Patriots: play physical, run the ball hard and pressure Brady. Hopefully, by the time they play their next game the Brady bunch will have figured out how to counter this new attack. It’s only a game. Yah. Right!

Icy Days and Mondays

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An icy Scantic River in Enfield.

Surprise email
The day started with an email from my friend Leslie. It was an invitation to use a spare ticket to the UConn Lady Husky’s basketball game on Wednesday at the Civic Center. What a treat—supper with a good friend and a basketball game. Makes the whole week special!

Icy conditions
The storm we were expecting arrived over night. Not much snow where I am, but a thin coat of ice on trees, roadways and driveways makes getting around a bit treacherous. All over the state there are thousands without power. We are thankful we still have ours. The Universe always welcomes a prayer of Thanks. It likes to be thanked as much as we do – if not more. I expect the temperature to go up enough by lunchtime that I can get to the post office. I need stamps to mail my Christmas cards. I also need more cards. I didn’t create my list first, so I fell short. However, compared to other years, I’m early and have plenty of time.

Mailing Christmas presents
I still have to mail gifts for Jacob and Andrew. They will not be joining us this Christmas season since they will be going to Chicago to visit their other grandparents. I would like to get those mailed by today or tomorrow. Santa became confused by their change in plans and left some of their gifts here. Santa takes care of the “off site” gifts early in the season, that way he can concentrate on accurate “on site” deliveries on Christmas Eve. Bet you didn’t know that!

BOOM! Wake up!

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Since today wants to be unusual I thought this tree fit the mood. It's located deep in the Dunhamville Forest. I just take pictures, I can't always explain 'em.☺☺

Not my usual wake-up call
My Sunday morning started at 6:43 with a rumble and a boom and a flash of light. I jumped out of bed thinking the transformer directly across the street had blown (again), but all was quiet. Hmmmmm. Since I was up, I might as well stay up. Out to the kitchen to turn on my coffee pot. There’s my mother all a twitter about the leaves on the corner being on fire. I looked and sure enough they were. 911. They already knew about it. Then I saw the guy from across the intersection coming over with a rake. I called out to him to let him know the fire department was on their way. He said it was a squirrel that got itself fried and proceeded to snuff out the flames by raking the burning leaves onto the road. It’s a good thing he was out there because it took the fire department at least 20 minutes to show up. I’m hoping the response would have been faster had it been a house fire.

A gang of crows
About an hour later, there were six crows surveying my back yard in the vicinity of the bird feeder. After they finished fighting over all the bread crusts they started on the dropped seeds on the ground. The seed-eating was most unusual. They don’t normally bother with seeds. Bread crumbs and crusts is their usual interest and road kill, of course. Hey, guys! I know where there’s some fried squirrel! They can’t hear me. Crows are so difficult to communicate with. It’s the attitude they strut around with. They intimidate by size alone, not like the blue jays who attack and screech at all the smaller feathered ones.

Another year
Here it is, December. Where did this year go? As of this moment (early Sunday morning) we are expecting some messy weather between now and tomorrow morning. Yesterday I made sure we had all the essentials in case the roads get bad. I think I’ll go out to Agway this morning to get more thistle for the birds and top off the gas can in case I need to use the snow blower. Other than that, it’s college basketball and pro football for the remainder of the day.