Sigh.....here we go again!

Nigel has started laying eggs again. She laid one on Saturday and just laid one tonight. Hopefully that will be it for another 8 months.

Thanksgiving for me...Christmas for Nigel

I almost hated to see Thanksgiving come and go. Now the insanity starts. 6 day work weeks and soon enough it will be 12+ hour work days. People wonder why I am a Grinch when it comes to Christmas. We have already started to see the increase business. After last year that is a good thing. As long as we keep the snow away I will try to be less of a Grinch.

Thanksgiving dinner was kind of a bust but the rest of the time was good. My parents came up for the weekend so that was nice. They brought their bird Jerry with them. Nigel was glad to see Jerry go. I also had a nice surprise at work when Shelly and her family showed up.

Nigel one the other hand is in heaven. Mom and dad made a "tent" for her and she LOVES it in there. I have a hard time getting her out of her fort. She has a toy in there and loves to play. I have also caught her sleeping in there a few times. Other times she just sits in there and yells at me from across the room.

Welcome to life with a feathered 3 year old.

Last stab at the pile

This was my last week to work on the pile until after the thaw next year. I don't have anymore Thursdays off until after the new year and by then the ground will be too frozen. I did not take any more pictures of it because I did not get very far on it. To do anymore I am going to have to be able to haul off dirt.

I did find something new to explore though. I was raking leaves the other day and noticed 2 rusty old hinges sticking out of the ground. They were attached to a buried piece of plywood.

I had to dig to find out more. I started digging and realized it was not just one sheet of plywood but a box (that had no top anymore).

When I realized that my brain started running away. I got thinking "what am I going to do if I find bones in there"? A little too much CSI and Edgar Allen Poe. Needless to say I did not find any bones.....or much of anything else. I did find to deteriorating milk jugs, a few other pieces of garbage, and some weird gold colored thing.

The pictures above show the size of one of the shorter end boards and that gold thing. I finally dug to the bottom of the boards and realized that it had no bottom. As I told people about it at work they came up with a compost box. This would explain it not having a bottom. I decided since I did not find anything really exciting except the hinges (which I kept) that I would just bury it back in the box and leave it for the next treasure hunter.

After all that I decided to give up and go inside as it was cold and there was not much more I could do. I got messing around on the computer and looked up after about a 1/2 hour and looked outside. I was a little surprised but not shocked by............

THE SNOW!!!!! I HATE SNOW!!! This is the first real snow we have had this season and it did not get any worse than this, but I still hate it. Sigh....I guess I best get used to it and be ready Christmas is just around the corner.

7 hours...REALLY??!!

What a crazy Thursday I had. After looking at the up coming weather I decided that no matter what I had to get all the leaves up. They are talking the "S" word starting Monday and going on for a few days after that. After a few minuets of leaf blowing I found an unexpected surprise. It threw me so much I had to stare at it for a while. It was a hypodermic needle. Not knowing how to handle it I left it there and put out the word that I needed to know what to do with this thing. While waiting for help I went on with the leaf blowing. Thanks to the leaf blower/vacuum mulcher I was able to get all the leaves from the front yard into the green bin.

About the time I finished the front yard I had a guy come by that I had met on craigslist to buy the snow tires from the Jetta. That was a nice little bit of extra cash.

I then started in on the back yard. I did not find anything quite as exciting, just a penny, lego, and way to much animal poo. Seeings how Nigel does not go outside it was not my pet which means someone needs to get over here and clean up after their animal. By the time I got done it was dark (had to use the CRV's headlights for about 10 min.) and had been 7 hours since I started. 7 hours!!! That was non-stop. The only break I had was when the guy came by. I could not believe it would take that long to do my small yard. The back yard ended up yielding 10 large black garbage bags full of leaves. After finishing I came in and sat down for a minuet......bad idea!! I was fine one second and the next second I was so SORE!

Thanks to Kyla I took care of the needle and thanks to Brock and his being into running he knew what to do for sore mussels. Tons of fluids and today I am doing much better.

My next house will have few to no trees.

Halloween

I had a moment earlier this week that brought to my mind a favorite author of mine.

"Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,That I scarce was sure I heard you"--here I opened wide the door--Darkness there and nothing more." "Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore." Edgar Allen Poe.

Nigel was getting upset (not like her) and I could hear noises outside. I looked out to see.....

There must have been 30+ crows flying around over my house and street. The perfect start to get me in the mood for Halloween.

I have been working bit by bit getting the decorations put up these last few days. I did not want the electronic stuff out too early. I did the last bit tonight and took some pictures. You do not get the full effect but you get the idea. Note the shrunken heads in the trees.

The gost travels on the cord and groans.Night shot.Close-up of the porch. Note the severed hand on the railing. Behind the tombstone is the fog machine. In front of it is a jar that lights up and makes bubbeling noises with floating eyeballs (my parents sent me that one). On the stop is a skull. On the other side it the strobe light behind the culdren that bubbles and makes fog. In front of that is the latern with the shull in it that lights up and does an evil laugh.

For those of you that ask where I get my love for Halloween I will offer 2 pieces of evidence.

1: The card from Mom, Dad, and Jerry

2: Dad in his costume (the face drips blood, how cool is that!!!???)

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!

I saw this at Safeway and had to have it. I love it brain cactus on a mummy head. They also had Frankenstein or a black cat but they were too cutesy.

The pile

WARNING: If you work for Johnson Property management or the city of Spokane DO NOT read this.

I am not sure anyone else will be interested in this but it is my blog so too bad. I decided a week or so ago to tackle this pile on the back corner of the property. Keeping in mind that this is a rental and I am not putting any money into it.

My mother was kind enough last week while she was here to start on it. I wish I had a picture of it then so you could already see the huge difference in it. There were a bunch of small trees growing out of it that she chopped down or pulled out. It is not a big deal and is not really in my way so I have not paid much attention to it since I moved in. A month or so ago my neighbor decided to remove the 3 foot high chin link fence and put in a 5+ foot high one. When doing this he had to chop down some 7+ foot high trees that were along the fence line. I happily gave him permission (not caring what the property management thought). Since doing that the area is free of the trees that hid the pile and now it sticks out to me. In Spokane you can buy a "green bucket" that is a large size garbage can for yard waste only. I figured that bucket has been pretty empty lately and they are still charging me so I might as well put it to work. Not only that but it is some exercise. I got that bucket pretty full today and when I realized I was having trouble moving it out of my way because of the weight I decided that I was done. The pile now looks like this.

You can kinda see the outline of what was removed. After photographing and admiring my work I closed the lid on the can and was getting ready to wheel it closer to the street when I saw the "approved and unapproved" sticker on the top listing what could go in and what should not. Sure enough under unapproved was the word "dirt". There was a lot of dirt in there so we will see if they will pick it up or not. I may have to do smaller amounts next time OR Christmas may have to come early this year. One of the things I want for Christmas is the hitch for my car so I can tow things. In the future I have dreams of owning a small camper (just big enough for Nigel and I) and a 4 wheeler (need a trailer for that one). For now I am starting small and just asking for the hitch ($200-$300 tops). If the city will not take this can I may have to buy the hitch and get mom and dad's trailer up here to haul it to the dump (or see if anyone has one up here they will let me borrow). Anywho next Wednesday is pick up day so we will see if they take it or not.

While Mom was working on the pile the neighbor lady came out and talked to her. I guess the pile used to also run clear across their back yard. They decided to clean it up and in doing so found a small boat and trailer buried under it. They also said it cost them $500 to dispose everything. I will not let it get to that point. First thing I have to put out any money (except for the hitch I want anyway) this project is over. Plus my pile is not big enough to hide a boat. BUT I have known people with old houses and they find all kinds of cool things buried in the yard. Mr. Pounder has found cool old bottles in places he has dug. Since I have been here I have dug up a few kids toys. This gave me the idea to keep track of the things I may find in the pile. So far today my find has not been overly exciting.

*Miller light glass beer bottle

*Pudding cup lid

*AA battery

*Subscription card

*Misc. string and pieces from plastic woven sacks

*2 rocks

Of course I brought the rocks inside.......of course I washed the rocks........of course I took a picture of them.......of course I kept them!! Remember who's blog this is??!! They are sitting on the fireplace ledge with all the others. Hopefully it will be like an archaeological dig it just gets better the further you go.

Manito Park

Moon

So now I am on this kick since earlier today. I saw the moon was almost full and no cloud cover so I had to try.
Gotta get me a zoomier lens (yes that is a technical word) and a tripod. Not too bad though.

Gee has it been that long?!

I cannot believe it has been 2 months since I bought the car and since I have posted anything on here. Nothing/everything has been going on. I have been able to go home for a weekend which was nice but way to short. I am now getting excited and geared up for my trip to Utah at the end of the month. Kaytee the last of the kids is getting baptised. I can't believe how old they are. I guess that means I am getting old too.

Today we had a crazy wind storm. Of course I lost huge branches out of those stupid trees in my yard. I wish my landlord could read this blog, he owes me for all the green bucket fees I have to pay because of his half dead trees he wont let me take down. We can get green garbage cans here that are for yard waste only. They are huge and nice to have but like most things in life they cost. Sigh..........lesson to all kids sometimes even being an adult is not fair and sucks. On the good end of this storm was the really cool double rainbow we had. I tried to get some pictures of it before it disappeared. This was the best I got.

The second rainbow is off to the left it is kinda faint but you can just see it. I still think it is cool. This made me realize that I really want to learn how to photograph weather. I would have loved for these to have looked like they did in real life. I also tried photographing lightening the other night and got nothing but black pictures. Thank goodness for digital photography. That would have been an expensive adventure.

Ode to the Jetta

My ode to the Jetta.

It was a good car, it was a fun car. A little sporty and zippy. I could sit at a stop light and rev the engine making the most wonderful testosterone filled sound. We had 6 fun filled (expensive) years together. Alas he got old and had to retire. The older he got the more leaks he developed(don't we all). Had to go to the Dr. (mechanic) way too often. And needed too many parts replaced.

I hated to get rid of him (I say him because the licence plate was RIK). Plus it is the only way I got a man to drive me around. ;) Anyway he gets to retire in the Tri-cities (for now anyway).

I traded the Jetta towards a 2003 Honda CRV. I needed something that I could haul things with like small furniture, camping stuff, luggage and such. I also wanted the ability to tow. Someday I would love to have a small camper and/or a 4 wheeler. I thought about a truck but I wanted to be able to hold 4 adults comfortably with out having a large vehicle. I have also found that I need something higher off the ground and with 4WD/AWD for the lovely winters we get up here.

I was able to find one with a manual transmission (my preference), all wheel drive, moon roof, and an OK amount of miles (67,000). I have been able to talk to many CRV owners and they love their car and it lasts for a long time. A couple people I talked to have a 1999 CRV's (2 years younger than the Jetta) and have had no major repairs. One of them has 130,000 miles and it is still running great. Hopefully mine will last at least that long and be great in the winter.

Hummm!!!

Not what you want to wake up to seeing out your front window!


I know this is a needed service I have just never seen it advertised before.