Imbolc!

Posted on by

Ah, only 6 more weeks of winter, and I will be so glad when it is over! It is a delirious 57 degrees in my office at the moment. And that’s with the heater going.

It has been a busy few weeks. Karen was here and got her house as well as did some work on it. Then she had to go down to New Orleans to finish up things there. In the meantime, we all worked as hard as we could between being cold and sick.

Plus, the kids have been whingy or fighting. I had the urge to knock their heads together, but realized that would probably just knock the one brain cell they were sharing out of their wee heads. Not really, but it seems like it at the moment. Matt is 14 and Morgan 11. Too many hormones! Oh, and add in Daniel at nearly 18.

Dan is off today to test and get his FCC license. It will be my turn soon, but I can wait a bit. Can’t get enthused about it. Too much else on my plate to be honest. HTML, CSS, office stuff, tech stuff and wanting to knit and write. Oh, and don’t forget the genealogy!

I also have my taxes to do. Should have done them today, but to be honest, I’m tired. Tired enough that I don’t want to make a mistake and totally mess up our return. So, I’ll do it tomorrow or Monday.

Plus, today is Imbolc. I changed over my two private altars and have yet to do the one in the living room. Logan is such a pest that I am nervous about putting nice things out at a height he can reach.

Dan and I celebrated the cross quarter day which was nice although it turned out to be a very busy day. We had a job down at the Walsenburg Housing Authority. Originally a wiring job, but it became a wireless setup and Network revamp. Funny bit was when we went in, Dan went first and I followed with some of the stuff. Dave, the manager there pulled Dan aside and whispered to him that “it looks like you have an elf following you about… But don’t tell her that!” Dave meant me, and Dan laughed. Dave and I were on the School Board together. It cracked me up.

One thing I am glad of is that we are finally getting over the series of colds/flu/sinus crud that has been plaguing both the office and home. Huzzah!!!

WOW!

Posted on by

    What a week, and it isn’t even over yet. Sunday night I was leaving the office and had just gotten to my car when I felt like someone was looking at me. I looked over the hood of my car and straight into the eyes of a six point buck! He and his buddy, another 6 pointer, were standing on the side of my car like I was suppose to let them in! I opened my door and they just slowly walked off!

I also got a bit of knitting done Sunday night. I made a kitty pie. This is a knitted and felted cat bed that is pie shaped. Very cool, and it is up on my Ravelry account in the projects section.

Monday morning it was so icy and foggy that I could barely see 100 yards ahead of me on the way to school with the kids. Good thing I was going slow, as there were 3 elk cows in the middle of the highway! Gads! They were each bigger than my car!  Tuesday morning was also icy, but there was only one elk by the side of the road. This afternoon there was a deer on the road by the house that I had to wait for. She crossed and then I headed off to get the kids.

We also got hacked at the office this week. It sparked a story that I am writing in blog style. Don’t know where I’ll post it. Maybe here when it’s done.

I also took Daniel over with Oscar to Karen’s house. We re-introduced the two dogs, Oscar and Stormy and saw how they got along. Karen is going to train Oscar to be a better dog. Yeah!

Well, I’m off to bed to read my book! Dates from Hell!

Cold and tired

Posted on by

    The last few days have been long and cold. We have been trying to get the Budget Host hotel wifi network up and running. One problem is that the average temperature while we’ve been working has been about 20 degrees. After you are out in that for 5-6 hours, you just are too cold and tired to think.

I’m also muscle sore. Dan is worse off, as he still has the hacking cough. Karen has stayed a few extra days to try and help us get things up, and between the three of us we are still barely getting things done. I’m also coming up with a loooong list of things to do “pre-installation. I’m going to have a book about 2 inches thick by the time we are done with Aguilar. sigh… Not exactly the kind of writing I expected to be doing.

However, on other fronts… We got the Tatra emergency vehicle pamphlet written. We had to edit Karen’s prose and then mine to get it to fit and meet everyone’s approval. Carlos presented it on Friday and the guy really liked it. Liked it enough that he told Carlos about another project that might see us wiring 300+ towers for communications down South. Now the “sit and wait” time to see if we get contract offers.

Today we are writing up the weekly article for the Huerfano Journal and then going back out in the cold to fix the wiring faults we had yesterday. gads…  I think I want a nap!

Finished!!!

Posted on by

    At long last, I have finished a major bit of writing. I started this story, Sheeple, about 2 years and 3 offices ago. It took over my life for a brief bit, and I actually had time to let it do so. Granted, it shoved another story, SweetWater, to one side, but… This one had a bit more Ummph behind it. Ok, a real shove via my Muse. I wrote a ton of pages and then hit a resounding halt. Life got in the way and I didn’t write on it for nearly 5-6 months. I started to edit it and work on it a bit more and then life intruded again. However, last week I got tired of that Muse of mine hammering my brainpan. Dan had also dropped a not so subtle hint or two that he’d like to see the finished story. I can understand that as I used him as “technical adviser” a time or six.

However, I knew it had to finish soon. The hardest part about writing isn’t the idea, or dialog. It’s rounding up all the characters and making them shut up long enough to bring the story to a close. Or, at least to the end of the first volume.  I know I could have written 15-20 more chapters of Sheeple, but that isn’t where the story was. This ending is short and sweet. It wraps it up and tucks it in nice and neatly, which is where the first chapter tried to contain it. Now, if I write Sheeple II, I may elaborate more. I don’t know. However, the story is finished. Huzzah! Now once Dan finishes giggling and drooling on the keyboard, we will tidy up any little edits and call it done. What I do after that, I’m not sure. Part of me wants to just share it with friends. Other bits of me wants to find a way to publish it. I’ll see where I am in a bit.

The other thing that I have finally (?) finished is this bout with the flu. I have been sick for a week. Today is the first time I have gotten dressed since I got sick. Gads! Dan is still rather phlegmmy, but I think he is on the mend as well. Regardless of that though, we have to get back to work. I turned the phones on for the first time and was hit with a barrage of calls. We also have one appointment today. Between the phone and that, I’ve cleaned up the bedroom a bit so that it is loosing that sick room smell, changed sheets and have dumped the dirty laundry. I’m going to have a ton of it. Oh well.

Another bit of good news is that I have a story up on Literotica. Fruit Salad. :> Teeheehee! I doubt that the Muse will let me rest, so….  on to SweetWater!

Playing with…

Posted on by

    Couldn’t keep my mind on work today. Granted the interruptions didn’t help. Dan was flying around the office today doing all sorts of little bits and every once in a while, he needed to show me something or tell me a new bit of data. Normally, those don’t break my concentration. However, today… all it took was a breath. Finally settled down and decided to work on some filing. Yawn… boring stuff, but needed done. Well, it still needs done. At least most of it. I didn’t get to the scanning or the receipt filing. Oh well, that’s what tomorrow is for.

Meanwhile, I got a call from Damon. He needed me to come out and grab a shirt for Pauline. She had a beer keg spray all over her. She works down at Rosa’s Cantina on Main Street. So, I drove out to D&P’s, grabbed two shirts and then went to Rosa’s. Gave Pauline the shirts and sat and chatted with her for an hour or so. Then I headed back to the office with the intention of getting back to work. Silly me.

First I made some lunch. Then I called John and while I chatted with him, I actually got some of the stuff filed. Realized that I need to make new files reflecting the fact that it is now 2008, and then gave up.

Finished my lunch, and decided to work on my blog. Went for a 3 column theme and have now added a new page as well as a new header picture. Still can’t figure out a few bits, but probably need to dig into the CSS book Dan got a few weeks ago. sigh….

Granted, I aught to finish the filing as it still needs done, but…. that can wait. It also started snowing about two hours ago. I tried to call Tosoto in, but that stupid cat has an itch and so she can just stay outside with her new boyfriend. sigh… Honestly, I think she is under the house with the skunk, but… Oh well.

WINDY!!!!

Posted on by

    Oh my gods it was windy yesterday. Woke up to hear the howling of the wind trying to push the glass on the windows too hard and all the air coming through any crack it could find. While at 520, Dan and I heard a loud *pop* and when we looked out, there was a huge branch from the dead tree in the front yard laying on the ground. We also got an email from Brian. Part of the Huerfano Journal’s building had fallen victim to the wind. It made the front page of the Pueblo Chieftain! http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1199666657/1

Sitting in my office, I kept hearing things creak and wondered if we would loose bits of the front porch. It really needs work, and has the worst section of roof. We were lucky to only have tree branches down.

We also went to see the Golden Compass last night. Brian gave Dan two free tickets and so all of us went. (Dan, John, Beth, Matt, Morgan and I) The movie was very good. Enough so that I think I will re-read the books in a month or so. I have just a few to read at the moment.

After the movie, I did some laundry (yawn….) and then curled up with my book. I am nearly finished with it, so leapt at the chance to take Beth to La Veta this afternoon. She had to go do something at the art gallery there and I read my book. I think I have about 3 chapters to go. I’ll finish it tonight. Laume and other friends have been keeping lists of books they have read and I think I may do that this year.  I think that there is some sort of widget to put it on here. Must go digging.

Heat at last!

Posted on by

    Woo!!! It is a balmy 63 degrees outside! Windy, but oh my gods warm. I am so glad to see some change in temperature. IT was unseasonably cold for a bit there. Highs of 12 or 9 were not the way I like to spend the winter.  Especially when it freezes pipes and makes changing clothes a torture. (cold as a witches…….) I’m also still dealing with the pain in my arms, hands and shoulders from working on the ditch. sigh.

Yesterday was a bit of an adventure. Night before, Gretchen called as they were having trouble with the Huerfano Journal website. From what we could tell, the French were maybe doing maintenance. Reality was that their site was down. We checked it a few hours later and there was no site. Aieeee! Especially bad as the paper was due out Thursday morning.  So, we got up yesterday and did some revisions on our website contract to reflect the discounts that we give the paper, printed up a copy along with their bill for previous updates and headed down to talk with them.

Stopped at Computer Troubleshooters first as he is their webhosting service. The French were still down and Dan and John V. talked about it and the mess. Later we went over and talked to Gretchen and Brian. Dan explained what we were willing to do and also discussed the bill still owed. He was really uncomfy having to do that when they were in a no win situation, but didn’t have much choice. Dan had delayed talking with Brian about it and now it was biting them both in the arse. sigh…  Gretchen was upset and felt like she was hemorrhaging money. Granted, they have paid out a lot of dosh, but so have we as a business. Worse yet, we have had very little return for our various investments because we are waiting for Qwest to pull a T-1 out of it’s arse and connect it where we need it for the various WiFi projects. Worse yet, we have the issue whereby the small jobs we able to accomplish don’t bring in a lot of money. sigh…

So, Gretchen paid us and we came back to the office. Dan had to run off to the hotel job for a bit and then we grabbed some dinner and headed back to the office. 5 hours later, we had the Huerfano Journal site up and running complete with all the articles.  Fell into bed and slept like the proverbial dead.

Today, we have a server to build and some other small jobs to get done. Life nailed both Dan and I with sore arms. His shoulder and my elbow are acting up making life interesting. Without my backspace key, this post would be nothing but sduutobpieh routhnne typinmg.

Happy New Year!

Posted on by

    Wow! Every time I thought I’d have ten minutes to sit and write a post, it disappeared. Now it’s a whole new year! (ok, you can stop groaning now.)

As it is, On Sunday John and I were suppose to go to Pueblo to do the shopping. However, while I was finally over my headache from the snow glare, John was feeling poorly. His back was really giving him pain. So, I grabbed Little Morgan and Dan to go do the shopping. We drove to Pueblo and hit the main stores. Vitamin Cottage, Sam’s Club, Petsmart, Target and Walmart. We also took a side trip to Barnes and Noble. Dan got a magazine on woodworking, I got the latest Patricia Briggs novel and Morgan got two books on French. She is learning it in school and we wanted to give her a bit of help. We went to Chili’s for dinner. It was so funny as Morgan was looking through the appetizer menu and didn’t realize that there was a whole dinner menu behind that! Oh the glutenous glee when she found out. She opted for a huge burger while Dan had a steak and I had ribs. Yummm!

We got home around 10:30pm and by the time we unloaded all of the groceries, I was exhausted. John was still in a lot of pain, so we went straight to bed. Even slept in the next morning.

I got a roast out to thaw on Monday for New Year’s dinner and made up a bit of soy sour cream dip so that I could have something while the rest had ranch dip and caviar. It tasted pretty good. I have found a pesto that doesn’t have cheese in it and I used that as a flavour. We all relaxed and sorted out movies while watching TV. We finally started a film, and then the next thing we knew it was midnight. Kisses all round and sips of scotch. Then John popped out the back door and came round the front to First Foot the house. It’s a custom we picked up in England. You send a tall dark and handsome man to go to the front door and be the First Foot across the threshold. They traditionally bring gifts and say a little statement as they come in. “I bring food for the house, food for the soul, fuel for the house and money for the household.” The food is often some sort of cake or bread. The food for the soul is whiskey, and fuel for the house being coal or wood. The last item is usually coinage.

We slept in and the next morning we all worked on cleaning house. John tackled various flat surfaces that had gotten piled high with his stuff. I cleaned part of my room, the living room, took down all of the holiday decorations, put the Winter altars up, supervised the kitchen and breakfast nook cleaning and did laundry. Oh, and I put the roast in the oven for dinner.

Dan was feeling rather off because his knee was giving him grief, so I took dinner over to him after we had eaten. Of course, I first footed the house! A bit of a laugh as I am short, gray and female, but…. it worked.

Today I cleaned up the office and tried to keep Dan in bed. (ha!) He’s feeling ill. I also thawed the pipes which have been frozen for the last four days. After we got water flowing, I filled in the ditch and covered the pipes better than they had been. Our restoration on the office is at a standstill due to the weather. So,… the pipes were uncovered and froze. We will see if they stayed thawed in the morning. Meanwhile, my hands feel like hamburger from moving all of that dirt. It has taken me forever to type this!

Ciao!

Snow-Bright-Migraine!

Posted on by

    It snowed on the 25th. Lots of it, and very cold. A white christmas and a white yule. Wow. Wednesday, I went and ran errands, and dealt with the harsh white light on the snow. Or so I thought. Went to bed that night with a bit of a headache, but didn’t think it was much of one. Didn’t even take any aspirin. (dumb!)

Woke up Thursday morning and felt horrid. Sort of that spin around too much kind of ill. Realized I was moaning more than talking and the next thing I knew, I had aspirin and water in my hand. Took it and went back to sleep. Woke up every time the phone rang or the door opened. I was light sensitive and noise sensitive. Uggghh…  Woke later to the smell of food. Dan had brought me ramen noodles and tea. I could barely hold my spoon. I think it took me an hour to eat. Baddddd Migraine. Slept some more, had more aspirin, more tea and then finally around dark, I had dinner. Soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Then of course I slept some more. Finally around 11pm, I began to feel human. Gingerly read my book for about 45 minutes. I think that was the slowest I’ve read in probably 35 years. Went back to bed and slept till 10am.

This is the first migraine in a long time that has nailed me that hard. Today I still feel a bit washed out. I have been on the computer a bit, but won’t stay on long. I am finding it hard on the eyes. And if them that hold the aspirin find out, that will be the end of my journaling and computer use for the day. Better go while I am still allowed out of bed. sigh…

Winter Solstice!

Posted on by

    Gads, it has been ages since I wrote last. It has been a busy week or two. Lots of stuff done for Yule and prezzies wrapped at the last minute. Plus, Beth bought lamb for Yule dinner and therefore we had roast lamb! (more on that later)

Friday morning, (21st) we got up at the crack of dawn. I had my drum, and the kids had pots and pans. Dan had his elk call and John his drum. We all stood at the window facing east and just before sunrise, we started our usual cacophony of noise to wake up the sun.  Once we had felt that the sun was truly awake, we settled down in the living room with prezzies to open and sausage rolls and cookies to eat. I had made tons of sausage rolls the night before.  We took turns opening prezzies and Dan took lots of photos. Beth did as well, but I don’t have copies of those yet. Here is a link to the Yule pics. http://picasaweb.google.com/sudjja/December

There were lots of lovely prezzies. I got two new bags that I can use as yarn project bags, a new book, stickers, a keychain and candy. :> The funniest thing was all the cups. Dan got three, John two and Beth one. The year of the coffee cup!

Afterwards, John and Beth had to go to work. Blah…. Then again, we just thought we might have a chance to rest when Dan and I also got called to work. One of our clients had their server crash. What a cluster that was. The person who had previously set up the server didn’t know his arse from his elbow. It took us 2.5 hours to fix things. sigh….

Then I went home and started working on dinner. Roast lamb, savoury pumpkin/potato soup, green beans and home made pecan pie for dessert. It was heavenly! When Dan got back from another job, (installing the NOC box at the hotel), we sat and watched the latest Harry Potter movie. It was good.

Woke up the next morning to new snow on the ground. Pretty good for the first day of winter. I greeted the sun privately, then went back to bed for a bit. Got up, made breakfast and then John and I headed out to run some errands. We stopped at Edla’s Yarn’s first and while I originally went in to just get a set of size 8 double pointed needles, I ended up adding some bulky yarn in two colors as well as some very fine sock yarn to my pile. :>

Then it was off to see Damon. I had a pecan pie that I made for him and Pauline. We visited with him for about two hours and then we stopped at Safeway for dog food and some soda. I dropped him off at the house and went over to the office for a little bit. Yeah! Mostly head time to just have some peace and quiet as Dan and Karen were out doing work on the hotel site. I got home a few hours later and knitted a bit before bed.

Sunday I slept in and then took some books and DVD’s over to Damon and Pauline. Also a birthday card for Pauline. After a lovely visit, I went over to 520 to check on Dan. When I had come by earlier, I had discovered that he was ill with a migraine. Still walking around trying to do things, but I stopped that. Put him to bed and took his shoes. When I came back around 5pm, he was still asleep. He finally woke around 5:45pm feeling better. A good thing too, as Karen wanted to take us to dinner and talk business. We went to the Rambler where the enchiladas are very good. Got a lot accomplished. When I got home, I knitted while watching a program on JFK and then Lincoln.

Woke up late this morning and hit the ground running. Shower, breakfast and then laundry. Gads it piled up! I swear that people hide it and then dump it down the chute just as I think I’m done. grrrrr….. Did a bunch of ironing and finished Dan’s second pair of sleep pants. Started on some repairs between laundry loads and even started some spaghetti sauce.

Got the sauce to the simmer point and then headed over to the office for the duration of the Bronco game. The guys don’t like me to even be in the same house when they are playing. Think I’m a jinx. ah well….