All posts by djones

Tuesday

Flailing Thru Tuesday

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True fall is close to arriving here in the flatlands. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70s due to the adiabatic heating as the cold front sweeps in. Then the temperature will start falling with lows in the 20s for the rest of the week with snow showers and a high for Sunday right at freezing.

Why the weather report? Because it will be cold enough that i am gong to have to move all the squash and onions in the shed into the back porches, etc. What fun. This is evidently not going to be one of those Octobers with nice warm days all the way into November. Drat!

It also means that tomorrow I need to shut off mom’s, MIL’s, and my lawn sprinkler systems. It sounds like it may be a bit of a busy day. Coupled with several scheduled meetings and a possible community relations impromptu meeting and photo, it might be close to schizophrenic. (You know – How can you be two places at once when you’re not anywhere at all? – from “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers” by Firesign Theater.)

In other not-so-oddities, I can definitely spot that I am getting further along the decrepit curve. I needed to move an old laser printer from my office to the shop at the other end of the house. Ten years ago, lifting the 170-lbs-in-an-ungainly-cube printer would have caused only a small grunt and a bit of strain. Now the lift from the floor to standing position with the beast cradled in my arms seemed endless. Not to mention the staggering journey to the shop. No loud groans, popping, or dropping, but it was clearly a more memorable experience than it was a few years ago. I can remember earning my keep over a college break by carrying 320 lbs boiler plates up three flights of stairs all by my lonesome and it seemed to require no where near the effort exerted on the printer today. Of course, that was 35+ years ago. That might explain many things. {*grin*}

I was visited tonight by a little leprechaun dressed in blue. Yes, that’s right, it is time for the annual Boy and Cub Scout popcorn sale. The little guy at my door was really broken hearted when I had to tell him the I had ties to a Boy Scout Troop and needed to order from the boys there. In a last ditch sales effort, he noted that maybe the bigger boys wouldn’t have trail mix for sale and I could buy that from him. I had to tell him the sad truth that it is the same product line for both groups. To make up for my grinchiness, I pointed him in the direction of a couple of soft-hearted neighbors who are usually good for a popcorn touch.

On with the regularly scheduled disaster already in progress.

monday

Monday Quickie

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Today the sun appeared for at least part of the day. then this afternoon it clouded up and drizzled and rained. I had originally planned on walking to the Boy Scout committee meeting this evening, but the cold wet drizzle convinced me not to. Maybe if my rain coat didn’t leak around its neck, but with the leaky neck it can be downright miserable to walk in cold rain. (And yes, yet another hat I wear is as treasurer of the troop committee for scouts.)

One of the side topics in the meeting was how long before the flu has finished its swath through the local schools. The hope was expressed that the kids would have been through the exposure and illness cycle by the end of the month when another camp out scheduled. The numbers seem to work out with the reported absence rate in the schools, so maybe our guess will be reasonable. Is the flu running through your schools yet?

My evenings for the next few days are pretty well taken up. Wednesday has the EMS Authority committee meeting, Thursday it is time to be the guest lecturer for a public speaking class. Friday morning has the Physicians recruitment committee meeting to do the dog and pony show for a new physician we hope to recruit for the medical center. At least I get breakfast for attending that meeting! There would also have been a special city council meeting thrown in there as well, but the consultant doing the study will not have the information ready for presentation this week.

In a lighter vein, Molly has been developing distinct patterns of dealing with wet. If she gets to the door, all excited to go out, and it is pouring rain, she thinks it is great and sprints out to get soaked and track mud throughout the house when she comes back in. But, if it is just misting or drizzling, she will sprint out the door, come to a screeching halt, look to see if the door is still open, and then run like mad back into the house. Explain that one to me if you can. It used to be just the reverse little more than a year ago.

Time to call it a night. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.

drear, weather

The Day That Wasn’t

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It was a dull and dreary day here today. In a rarity for the region, it was cloudy and overcast all day, making it look like it was twilight even at noon. It finally even broke down and drizzled a little late in the day. So of course, the thermometer hung at a lowly 42 all day and didn’t get energized at all. A perfect day to watch football on TV and take a walk in the dark breeze.

Molly thought it was dreary as well – after getting up this morning when I did, she quickly snuck back into the master bedroom and curled up in the corner to sleep for another few hours. Seeing her curled up there brought to mind one of the questions I have been pondering: Do dogs tell time by the amount of light? I suspect that dogs do indeed tell time by degree of lightness. As evidence, consider the following. I normally give Molly her doggie treat at around 8pm. All summer was not a problem and Molly was very good at knowing the right time to appear with baited breath. Now as it is been getting dark earlier and earlier, Molly has begun nudging me when it is about the same degree of darkness as 8 in the summer (meaning as early as 5:45 now). Then she repairs to the laundry room and sits and stares at the cabinet with the treats. Every time I tell her “No, it is too early.”, she goes and lays down for 15 minutes and then repeats the process. Finally, when it reaches 8pm or I get tired of the game (which ever comes first) I give her her treat and literally make her day. It will be interesting to see if the process reverses itself when spring rolls around.

At least the Broncos won today. I was about to give up after the first half when it looked like the Broncos were clueless. But the second half was a much better game and I was glad I watched. I tend not to be a rabid rooter for any one team, but instead applaud the team that is playing really good football. That goes for college as well as pro games. I tend to like college football a bit more since there is more uncertainty and the level of play depends greatly on the motivational skills of the coach with all the hormones floating around at that age. Enough ranting about that.

It is time to clean up the kitchen since I cooked egg plant tonight and made a bit of a mess. It was an interesting meal – salad, egg plant sliced and dipped in egg and seasoned breading and then fried, and some plain steamed brown rice. It was tasty, but I wasn’t motivated to get it all cleaned up earlier, so now I need to get to it so I can head for the bed.

boring, stupid saturday

Proof I Have No Life …

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or perhaps just a really boring one. Yesterday mom and I picked the squash and peppers and tomatoes in preparation for the freeze last night. Nothing like a shed full of various squash and onions to say Fall Is Here. Mom’s house is stuffed to the gills with tomatoes and peppers and onions.

When I got home, after stopping to get some materials from the fire chief, I went for all the excitement I could stand and took down the curtains in my office to wash them. The coming of the freeze also generally signals the end of the open window season, so it is time to get all the summer dust out of them. Besides, a couple of the plastic carriers in the drapery rod suffered sun death this summer, so it was a good time to replace them as well. One of the hazards of a south facing window in an area that gets 335+ days of sunshine every year is the sun death of certain plastic objects. Thus I spent my Friday night doing laundry and re-hanging curtains. Sounds like a real hot night doesn’t it? Just Molly the dog and me listening to sixties music and doing housework.

L and the Son are in the mountains in the final throes of moving. They moved to a town about 15 miles closer to where they both work, so winter may not involve quite such a hairy commute. In any case, it means L won’t be home this weekend and wasn’t last weekend in preparation for the move. Makes the old homestead seem rather empty for the nonce. L and the Son actually moved Thursday/Friday, but when I spoke to L earlier today, they were still unpacking and searching for things. I suspect that they will both spend tonight collapsed on the couch watching the Rockies game.

Today I made spaghetti sauce. Nothing like the smell of Italian sausage, tomatoes, peppers, and onions all simmering away for hours with some oregano and basil , etc. But the real secret is a touch of brown sugar added in the final few hours of simmer. Needless to say, I had spaghetti for supper and then froze the rest of the sauce for fast microwave dinners later on. By the time the spaghetti is cooked, the sauce can be defrosted and heated in the microwave and supper is ready. Given that I cut up some really hot peppers when I made the sauce, I have faith that no one will snitch it from the freezer. {*grin*}

As further proof that there is a distinct lack of excitement at the old abode, every football team I rooted for today either lost or is losing. Maybe tomorrow’s Bronco game will be better. After all it can’t be much worse than today. Back to rubbing the dog’s head and seeing if Oklahoma can finally play some real football.

friday high five

The Send-Off

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It’s time once more for

This evening was the Colorado Municipal League (CML) District 1 meeting, hosted by the city up the road. I am the current president, so I was obligated to brave the wind and attend. Since I am also term limited out of office as mayor in November, it also means I will no longer be a CML member and so needed to find my replacement as president and hold the election *NOW*. I couldn’t get even with the mayor of the city up the road who railroaded me into this office (as described here) because he is also term limited out this year. Sam Mamet, the executive director of the CML attended and gave Jack (the mayor of the town up the road) and I a very heartfelt and lauditory send-off. That was really nice of Sam. He even stopped crowing about the Rockies clinching a berth in the play-offs today. But that didn’t stop Sam from waving his Rocky rally towel all night. In honor of the send-off and my final CML meeting, tonight I give you:

Five Reactions By Officials From Other Municipalities To The End of My Term(s)
  • Gosh, it’s been *that* long!
  • Boy, I wish I  my term was already over. Our elections are in April and I can’t wait!
  • Did you find any candidates to run for your office?
  • Are you going to miss it?
  • Were you serious that 3 of the 7 on your council are term limited off this November and a 4th is running to retain her seat? And if the election goes the way you think, it will happen again in 2 years? How do you get any stability? Why haven’t the voters removed the term limits?