Oh Happy Day!

It is 72 degrees Fahrenheit as I write this at 4:45 pm and I am happy, happy, happy!

Lori and I escaped the office at lunch time. We slipped on our tennis shoes and took off walking down the path around the pond. The sunshine and warm breeze felt so good after months of shivering and seemingly endless days of gray, cloudy skies. We walked to Jimmy John’s, bought some sub sandwiches and then found a place to sit outside and enjoy our lunch under a flawless blue sky.

The boss was feeling generous and “ordered” us out of the office an hour early this afternoon. As soon as I got in the car, I rolled the windows down and cranked up the radio. Riding down the highway, it felt like celebration was in the air. Most of the other drivers had their windows rolled down too. We were all soaking up this bit of springtime after being deprived of it for so long! I couldn’t wait to get home and take Lucy out for a walk in the sunshine.

She was waiting for me when I got home. So was Mark, who has a new ambition to join us on our walks due to the unwanted spare tire that has grown around his middle over the winter.

Many of the neighbors were outside as we took off on our walk. They stopped to talk for a few minutes or just waved from their yards. Out on the path, we came across other walkers, with and without dogs. There were children riding bikes and scooters, or just running or skipping along the path. There were runners out welcoming the warm weather. Lucy thought they were all out to see her. She pulled toward every person and dog we came across and as they went on their way, she looked confused, as if to ask, “Why didn’t they stop to pay me some attention?”

 

It was glorious! And to think only three days ago, things looked like this!

I don’t miss it. Not one little bit!

Beating a Dead Snowflake

Remember on March 5th when I arrogantly declared it the last snowfall of the season? Yeah, that was kind of stupid.

Just for the record – let me state that today is April 23, 2013. And we got more snow overnight.

 

Even Lucy’s enthusiasm for the snow seems to be diminishing.

Oh, it’s SO pretty! (When it’s NOT April!)

Dear Snow: We are sick of you. Go away.

Attempt to provide stress relief around the office.

But there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel!

 

Do you see that? (Check out Sunday!) Sixty-Eight degrees! 

I. Am. READY!

April Snow and Other Falling Oddities

Last year we had the winter that never showed up. This year, we’ve got the opposite with a snowy season that has worn out its welcome. I swear, I’m not complaining again. I just thought I might want to look back on my blog entries someday and remember the year when we were still getting significant amounts of snowfall on April 19th!

Lucy got to be the first to initiate the new snow yesterday morning at 6:00 am went she went out to the back yard.

Snow flurries continued for a while yesterday morning, but eventually the sun came out again and the snow began to melt a little. On my drive home, listening to the radio, the weather man said to expect more rain and snow over the weekend, but not as much as we’d received Thursday night into Friday.

Sigh! Really? How long can this possibly continue?

And as if the weather weren’t enough weirdness…

I was in the kitchen right after getting home from work yesterday and heard Mark ask Jake, “What was that noise?”

I hadn’t heard a noise. Jake, who was stretched out across the love seat watching television merely shrugged at Mark. Mark shrugged back and they both returned their attention to the t.v.

A few minutes later, I was glancing out the living room window when I noticed something strange across the street.

Assuming there had been some excitement while I was at work all day, I looked at the guys and asked, “What happened around here today? How did the street light end up laying on Neighbor Bob’s roof?

Mark and Jake jumped out of their seats and came to look.

“That wasn’t like that just a little while ago,” Mark exclaimed!

Guess we figured out what that noise was. Good thing the light went over when no one was around. Neighbor Bob and his wife, Mary Jo had gone off somewhere. If they had been home, it would have been a good bet that Neighbor Bob would have been out wandering around the yard along with his dog, Jack.

I sent a text message to Mary Jo to tell her there was a street light laying on their house. Mark called the city to let them know they might want to come pick up their fallen street light. Neighbor Bob and Mary Jo were at happy hour at a nearby establishment. They said they’d come home after they finished their beers. No need to rush, I guess. I mean, what are you going to do when the damage has already been done, right?

Later, I asked Mark, “What do you think would make a big street light just fall over like that?”

Mark reminded me to think about what Jack does when he’s out in the yard with Bob. He pees on the base of the street light. Before Jack, there was Reggie. Reggie peed on the base of the street light. Neighbor Bob has lived in his corner house for twenty-some years and he’s a friend to all the neighborhood dogs. Who pee on the base of the street light.

“Dog pee can’t take down a street light,” I said to Mark in disbelief.

“Wanna bet? Dog pee is highly acidic. The bolts on the base of that light were rusted straight through.”

I guess it could happen! But what a weird thing to happen! Never a dull moment!

And at least the weather man was wrong. Today has been sunny and warm and I am grateful.

And in spite of it all, it was a good day

This morning arrived with a dark and heavy sky. The rain was already falling and when I let Lucy outside, it appeared as if it had been raining for some time. The deck, the trees, the streets – everything in sight was drenched. During the brief moments I was holding the door open for Lucy, a cold blast of air snuck inside. Just a little more than an hour later, before I left for work, I could see ice forming on the wooden decking. It promised to be an intense day.

At work, I had my head buried in a ginormous Excel workbook.  I was looking for a few needles in a haystack and was several hours into my task. I’d pinpointed the data I was looking for and had isolated it to its own worksheet when the unthinkable happened. 

Uuuuuggggghhhh! NO!

That’s what I get for being too confident. I was feeling pretty good, thinking I was on a big roll. I was getting all impressed with myself for tackling such a big problem in so much less time than I’d imagined. (I’m pretty new to this particular work. I like it and have a knack for it. But I need to learn to be patient!)

Had I saved my work? Not recently enough to let this roll off my back. Microsoft Excel was trying to recover my document and I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Fifteen minutes later when the recovery progress bar seemed stuck at about 10%, I went in search of an IT guy and made him look at my screen.

“PLEASE tell me you can do something,” I pleaded.

“Eh,” he said. “If your document is really big, your system probably just doesn’t have enough horsepower to recover it quickly. Just leave it be. Hopefully it can be saved. You can work on something else while you wait.”

So I sat at my desk and willed my document to recover, but it didn’t appear to be making any progress. I knew I’d saved my work at about the half-way point. I’d learned enough by running my process the first time that I could figure out how to shortcut my work to get to the same results. So I went back to it, setting up match formulas and filtering results.

Just as I’d pinpointed all of my “needles” again, the original document recovered.

Save your work! How many times have I heard that warning? Next time I might actually remember. I think this lesson was painful enough to make it sink in.

During a brief break, I glanced outside to see that it was still raining. It was coming down steady and sideways. Later in the day, the snow began.

I buried my head again in more Excel stuff. By quitting time, my brain felt like mush and the outside world had become a winter wonderland.

The drive home was slow. The freeway was a slushy, sloppy mess and the snow seemed to be shooting from the air at my windshield. But I made it home safely. When I’d pulled into the garage, I had the strangest experience. I could hear a chorus of birds singing from the tree in the front yard. If I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine the color and warmth of spring. Except for the sound of cars slicing through the frozen muck out on the street.

We joke about the never-ending winter at work and among friends. Earlier this week, while discussing yet another forecast of snow, my pal, Lori wailed dramatically, “How will we go on?”

We all laughed, but really, I know we were all thinking it. “How will we go on?” This is crazy!

I’d be better off if I had an attitude like Lucy’s. She doesn’t even know or care what month it is. Snow makes her happy, no matter when it arrives. Maybe I could learn a thing or two from her.

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Then again, Lucy licks her butt. What does she know?

Shine On

There was this big, yellow ball up high in the sky today.

It looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it at first… And then I remembered!

Oh, yeah! The SUN!

Wow.

People in the office gathered near windows to gaze in wonder at such a rare and beautiful sight. We looked at one another and smiled in awe and amazement.

At home this evening, the birds were celebrating in the maple tree out front. (Think they know that the next three days will bring rain and more snow?)

Isn’t he handsome?

I’ve been pretty uptight lately and not very appreciative of all the good things in my world. After yesterday’s bombing at the Boston Marathon, it seemed important today to stop and appreciate the simple things.

Still waiting for spring…

It’s mid-April and it’s still snowing. It’s been snowing off and on since Wednesday.This morning there was a gentle drifting of flakes. Then the wind got blustery and the snow began swirling down from the sky. Then came the rain.

I know we were spoiled last winter by the absence of any measurable amount of snow. I think we more than made up for it this winter. And it’s spring now. Enough already.

Lucy found a wiffle ball out in the yard the week before last, when spring teased us and acted as if it were finally coming to stay. Each time she went outside this weekend, she’d race like a maniac around the frozen back yard and then “sneak up” on the ball and pounce on it. She’d pick it up in her teeth and run some more before dropping it again, only to run and pounce again. Today she kept trying to bring it into the house, but I stopped her at the door each time to make sure it didn’t come inside with her. The inside of the ball is filled with snow!

 

At least it was a good weekend for getting things done. Weather like this tends to keep me inside. The house is clean. The laundry is done. I did some cooking and got plenty of sleep.

And outside, the rain continues.

I’m sure there’s a silver lining somewhere in this weather. Surely the never-ending winter means there will be a lush and green spring and a beautiful, mild summer. But for now… for the next week… it looks like more rain and snow. When the warm weather finally arrives, when the trees come back to life and when the flowers begin to bloom again, finally, it will certainly feel like a gift from above!

 

Spring Walks

The weather is taking a turn for the warmer. The snow is melting and the neighborhood walking paths are finally clear of packed snow and ice. Lucy and I have been able to get back outside for some real exercise. She can do a good amount of running in the back yard, but she really loves to get out and explore the neighborhood.

As we’ve been out on our walks these last few days, I’ve realized how much easier it is to walk one dog as opposed to two. But I would still give anything to have Bella along on our walks again. She was so cute, the way her body skirted along the ground. And her short little legs kept up with Lucy amazingly well. It’s quieter around the house without her and Lucy has mellowed, not having to fight to be the center of attention. But I sure do miss our little Bella, every single day in a hundred ways.

The walks have been good for both body and spirit, I think. (Speaking for both Lucy and me here!) I never quite realize how oppressing the winter can feel until spring arrives and brings a breath of fresh air. We left the house this morning early enough that we seemed to have the neighborhood all to ourselves. Maybe it was the early hour or maybe it was because the skies looked like rain. Or maybe it was because the people we might normally see are church-goers and had somewhere else to be this morning. I kind of felt like this morning’s walk was my church.

Lucy pulled me along, so anxious to get from one smell to the next that I could barely keep up. We saw so many robins – the true gauge of spring’s arrival! There was a family of geese lounging in a small open area of a still partially frozen pond. They honked and made plenty of noise and I thought of how Dacotah would stand at attention if she could hear them, good hunting dog that she is. But Lucy isn’t a hunter and ducks and geese are so common around here that their calls don’t even hit her radar. There was a pair of ducks that caught Lucy’s attention though. They were resting in someone’s front yard as we were cruising on by and our close proximity probably startled them. As they started to waddle away down the street, Lucy was curious and wanted to follow, but we weren’t going their way so I steered her back to our path.

Back at home, Lucy got some breakfast and as I settled down to read and enjoy my morning coffee, I noticed her doing a funny thing she does sometimes. There’s a heat vent below the kitchen sink and Lucy loves to lay in front of it and warm up on cold mornings. She must have been feeling a bit chilly from our morning walk and she was soaking up the warmth, laying with her paws crossed in front of her in that proper way she has of doing.

It’s quieter around here this weekend than it’s been in a few weeks and I’m grateful. I needed time to catch up on things. I have a few chores and errands to finish up and then my only plan for the day is to make a big batch of split pea and ham soup – some for us and some to share with our parents. Mark’s dad has just been hospitalized with yet another case of pneumonia. Pea soup is his favorite thing. Maybe the thought of homemade pea soup waiting for him at home will help promote his recovery.

Happy Last Snowfall of the Season!

It was the last one, wasn’t it? Please tell me it was! I’ve had enough.

The snow began to fall yesterday and continued through the night and most of today, leaving a reported ten inches of accumulation. I guess the school kids were happy. Classes were cancelled. Me? I left for work an hour early, trying in vain to find the lines that divided the three lanes of the freeway. My windshield wipers couldn’t keep up with the falling snow and a layer of ice formed on them so that they were no longer very effective. I strained to see through the blurry windshield and rolled down the window, attempting to catch the wiper on its upswing and snap the ice from it.

I arrived at a quiet office. Several wise coworkers had opted to work from home. If I didn’t think my winter funk would talk me into napping in front of the television, I might have done the same. I have lost all motivation during these last couple of months. I always feel on the edge of, if not smack in the middle of some cold virus. I can’t seem to sleep enough.

I need sunshine. I need warmth. I need to see color in the landscape again. I think I also need to eat better, get up early again and get some exercise… just as soon as the stuffiness in my head clears and my nose stops running, I promise.

I know spring is just around the corner. I know it because the Boxelder bugs have begun to appear in our lower level family room. We learned a couple of years ago that they have a habit of hibernating inside the walls of homes when the weather grows cold. As they begin to wake up near the end of winter, they gravitate to the warmth. My family room is warm and the Boxelder bugs aren’t really welcome here, but I’ll take their presence as a good sign.

There are other signs of spring in the neighborhood as well. Jennifer down the street has begun to take Rascal, her Beagle out for early evening walks again. The sounds of bird songs can be heard through the windows on a quiet Saturday morning. At six o’clock in the evening, after work, there is still daylight. And perhaps the most promising sign of all…

… Neighbor Bob has resumed his ritual of drinking beer in the garage while waving at cars and people as they come and go past his house.

Spring is definitely in the air. Someone please wake me when it arrives.

Pretty Weekend

This was one of those picture perfect weekends. Yesterday morning I was awake early with Miss Lucy Pie. Since she just had her hip surgery, she needs our help getting outside, especially because of all the steps in the house and the ones on the deck that she usually uses to get to the back yard. And because she doesn’t know to be cautious, she needs to be on a leash even in her own yard so that she’s not tempted to run and cause damage to her hip. She’d doing amazingly well, by the way. If it weren’t for the huge shaved patch of skin and the ugly stitches, you might not even realize she’d just had a major surgery.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The sky was clear blue with sun shining so bright that it felt as if the air was sparkling. The air was comfortably warm, even so early in the day. Lucy and I strolled around the back yard with no hurry to go back inside.

It was a mellow weekend for us. We chose to stick close to home to keep an eye on our canine patient, only making quick trips here and there when one of the kids was home to keep an eye on Lucy. I picked up a few more flowers to finish planting around the yard.

It seemed like everyone in the neighborhood had the same idea. Everyone was taking advantage of the gorgeous weather and prettying up their yards and gardens for the summer. Sometimes I look around the neighborhoods in our area and feel as if they are going downhill. Twenty-four years ago when we built our house on what had recently been a farmer’s field, everything was fresh and new. Now homes have changed owners several times over. Some of them have been “let go.” But a mature neighborhood has a little something over those sparkling new ones. It has character. It has seen the benefit of time. Some of the residents, like us, started out as young adults, with young families and limited budgets. All these years later, we’re more established. We’ve made improvements to our homes and yards little by little over the years. Our homes have personality.

I looked around this weekend and saw that personality all over our neighborhood. Everything is so pretty right now. I love this time of year when there’s so much life and color all around us. My own flowers are in various stages, some of them already past their prime, like the Irises. Some of them are at their peak, like the Clematis. And some of them have yet to even bloom, like the petunias in the whiskey barrel under the tree out front.

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I love this time of year. I love this kind of weekend.

Pouring

The weatherman said it was going to rain today. For most of the day, I forgot to look up from my computer and check out the window. But usually, if there’s weather to be noticed, someone clues me in. No one did. The rain didn’t come today. It was hazy and cloudy. Windy too. But no rain. As I was driving home, I thought, “Hey, it was supposed to rain today!”

And then a song on the radio caught my attention and I busied myself with singing along.

It was bowling night tonight. I did well and I was happy. For the past four weeks, I’ve not bowled well and I’ve been frustrated. I’d bowl one really good game (maybe) and two less than stellar games (guaranteed.) Tonight I bowled over average all three games. Consistency is good.

We finished early because we had a bye tonight. (We only had to bowl against ourselves.) I knew we were going to be done early and I hadn’t planned to have that last beer, but Teresa, our waitress just brought it. After our games were done, I finished my beer. The pull-tab guy waved me over and asked, “You going to brave the rain?”

“It’s raining,” I asked?

“Ho- boy! It sure is,” he said. “It’s been down-pouring for a while.”

To pass some time, he told me about his vacation in Mexico and his wife’s adventures at the St. Patrick’s Day parade. (He had to go play sober cab for his wife and friends. They had had too much fun.)

Finally, I decided I was going home. I picked up the box of Girl Scout cookies I’d bought from Alishea’s Girl Scout troop. I slung my purse over my shoulder and wheeled my bowling bag behind me. When I reached the doors of the bowling alley, I saw that it was not done raining. Not by a long shot. It was coming down hard. I tried to tuck my box of cookies under my arm and I heard the guy from the bowling desk behind me say, “Whoa.”

I looked back at him as he stared out into the rainy night. I took a deep breath and said, “This should be fun!”

I opened the door and made a run for it. Thank god for flip-flops. Wet socks are gross. The rain was coming down in sheets. My car was only about twenty-feet away, but by the time I got there, flung open the passenger door and tossed in the box of cookies and my purse, I was drenched. My hair was dripping. My bowling shirt was soaked. My jeans were sticking to my legs, and my flip-flops were under water. No sense hurrying anymore, I popped the trunk and heaved my bowling bag inside. By the time I sat down in the driver’s seat, I was waterlogged.

The drive home was an adventure. The windshield wipers were on full-force. The lines in the road were blurred. There was a slightly scary, interminable moment where I could be heard uttering, “Oh sh*t, oh sh*t, oh sh*t…” as the car hydroplaned. I came out of it okay and took it very slow for the rest of the ride home. I could barely recognize the normal scenery. The rain was so heavy, everything was blurred. I was glad to get home where my puppy was very glad to see me. This was her first thunderstorm since she’s been with us and she wasn’t so sure she liked it.

And to think if this were a normal winter, that rain storm might have been a snow storm!