Where has 2009 gone?

I just can't believe we are one week away from Christmas 2009 already. I've said it before - the older we get, the faster the time clicks away. I hate that.

But I do love the Christmas spirit and season. I actually decorated again this year! Yea for me! Zippy loves to lay underneath the tree...maybe it's the warm lights keeping him warm. Like he needs help with that will that fur his has!

As you know, I had a Great Blue Heron steal two of my koi this summer. Thanks to a very dear friend of mine, I had one of my "fish" replaced today. Albeit - it was a beautiful glass blown goldfish - but nevertheless. It is beautiful and I thank Thing 3 for that.

Hope everyone has their shopping done (not me) and their gifts wrapped (not me) and you are ready to just slow down a bit and enjoy family, friends and good cheer.

My Annual Thanksgiving Post

As we approach the holiday, we are suppose to reflect on what we're thankful for and pray that we have the same things next year that we can brag about. I wanted to post in this space a Thanksgiving "blessing" if you will, that I wrote from my heart probably 10 years ago expressing my thanks for everything in my life that I'm so very thankful for. But I cannot locate the paper copy. So I'll try to recall some of it from memory. I read this "blessing" as everyone was standing around the dining room table, hands joined, and mouths watering for the feast presented before us. I can remember my brothers, who are two of the most sensitive, grown men I know, sniffling and trying not to let anyone hear them. I recall saying that I was thankful and grateful for my extended family as we never turn anyone away when it comes to family fun and traditions. I had a fairly new sister in law at the time who has grown to become the true big sister I never had. And while my parents had been long divorced with Dad on the "left" coast, we never really lost touch of what family really means. It means accepting our loved ones despite their shortcomings, their faults and their bad habits - because we have them too. It means opening your heart and your home to those less fortunate - because we've had to do without at some point in our lives. It means accepting people for who they are - because you can't, or shouldn't, try to change anyone.


Family to me is a feeling that no one else can take away. And for that - my family and my friends, I am forever grateful.

Have a wonderful, safe and happy holiday.

Ok Ok...I'll try to do better

I've gotten so wrapped up in Facebook over the past couple of months that I almost forgot how to blog!

The past couple of months have been eventful...Dad and Barb came to visit. The photos in the gadget to the right are pics he took at the Sandcastle Classic at the Neptune Festival this year. Great time - good weather - entirely too many people.

Oh, and this little thing called my 50th Birthday kinda of got in the way.

We took a trip while Dad was here to Hobbsville, North Carolina. I know - you wish you could have come along. Maybe next time. My older sibling moved to Hobbsville in the early fall with his wife and the 2 dogs. Lot of open fields and cotton down there.

Life at work has been trying with preparation of a two year budget that doesn't start until next July...and having to implement major cuts. The city is looking at a huge deficit this year and I think everyone will feel the pain somehow. And I'm busy with trying to implement a new inventory automation project. Very time consuming. But we'll get through.

The pond has survived. The final four are happy the net is finally over them. Not for protection to them, but to keep the leaves out for me! We got the net on just before that November Nor'easter hit...what a trip that was! It was right up there with TS Bonnie (1997) as far as winds and fear factor. I have since then gone out and bought golashes. Best $20 I've spent all year. I'm ready for the next one!

Zippy is fine and as entertaining as always. Some things just don't change. Like missing my little girl Schatze. We think of her often.

Tomorrow is a few errands then into the kitchen I go to prep for Thursday. The annual day of eating entirely too much food and wondering why we all feel so tired and sleepy. Like I said, some things never change.

And then there were....STILL FOUR!

The remaining fish survived the heron today or else it didn't show up. Either way, they are still scared to death and won't come up to eat. The raccoon didn't show today either. Maybe I instilled the fear of God into him (yeh - right!)...he probably just found a better food source.

The fight is still on - even if the heron doesn't come back for a while, I have to train my fish to come up and eat....or they'll be gonners anyway.

Time will tell.

And then there were four...

The Heron strikes again! It got my other koi. The fight is on.

Yesterday we also had a very large, but scrawny, raccoon in the back yard while still light outside. I tried 3 times to scare it off and it kept coming back to the bird feeders for a snack.

The cat was oblivious as to what was going on. Doesn't surprise me.

And then there were five....

Darn those birds!

A blue heron has discovered my pond! Hubby told me he heard a big crash yesterday after he got home and got to the back deck just in time to see the heron clear the pond. After checking tonight, the bird is eating well. He got one of my "new" (from last year) black and white koi. Now I have to figure out how to deter that rascal. The cat is of no help in this area.

Bocce Ball - Game On!

The Sandbridge Bocce Ball Team (aka Team DNS) had opening ceremonies yesterday....and what a great day we had! Of course, I lost my first two games but the only way is up! Today we got rained out but not before I was able to win back my first two losses...so I'm 2 for 2 or an average of .500. I'll take it! We're gonna try again tomorrow if Mother Nature will let us have a couple of hours of fun! BTW - Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband...

Congratulations Ryan and Heather

My niece is getting married in just a few hours and I want to wish them much love and happiness for a long, long time. Happy Wedding!

I have just discovered Facebook....what a blast that has been. I'm finding "friends" from way back into high school days that I haven't talked to in years and years and years. It's fun catching up with everyone to see how we've all aged (sorry, but we have!), how we've grown and where our lives have taken us.

The fish continue to thrive...but they are still very skittish when it comes to anyone (or anything such as the cat - his new and personal water bowl!) getting near the pond. They run for cover when I go out to feed them. And they've been acting up lately (if you know what I mean) so I'm sure the baby fishes will arrive in due time. I still need a few plants and maybe a few snails then it will be complete for the season except for routine maintenance. I got lucky this year with the pollen. Last year, there was so much pollen in the pond that I couldn't even see the bottom. This year, I started treating the pond before pollen season with a bacteria (the good kind!) and it's pretty much stayed clear. Note to self - do that again next year!

Almost forgot - we had a peacock - yes peacock - in the neighborhood on Thursday. He was on our garage for a while then decided to move to my neighbor's roof (in the picture). He hung around all afternoon and into the night when he decided to get up into a tree (via their chimney) and roost for the night. We haven't seen him since so hopefully he's found his way back to Hunt Club where we think he came from.

Well, I had better go get dressed for the nuptials.

I'm still here

I haven't disappeared....I'm still here and still plugging away at that thing called life. Excuses? How many do you want? I won't bore you with details but I find it harder and harder to find the time to get on my blog....why is that? Is it because I'm learning (finally - you old goat) to use other tools such as Twitter and Facebook? Is it because I'm just too damned tired when I get home to want to write? Is it because I feel I stretch myself too thin? Who knows.

I will make an effort to keep this blog current (whatever that means) and somewhat entertaining. After all, the fish are thriving and in the process of reproducing (anyone want baby fish later?), the weather is getting nicer (meaning mosquitos aren't out in force yet) and my niece is getting married in two days. So, what's to complain about?

I have to share something with you. I came home today and my husband told me that after he got home earlier, a group of neighbors had gathered in our driveway and were staring at our roof. Ok, now I'm curious....lo and behold, there's a peacock on the roof! Yes, a real peacock with feathers and all! How beautiful this bird was! By the time I got home, it had moved from our roof to the neighbor's and just parked himself and looked (somewhat) comfortable. He moved from their roof over their garage to their backyard. He poked around a while then decided to move back to the roof. After a while, he moved along their roof line to their chimney and decided to jump into the trees to roost for the night. I'll be interested to see if he's around in the morning...of course, we'll probably hear him anyway. I hope he finds his way home...he looked a tad lost and the area Robins and Cardinals were giving him a fit! More to come...stay tuned.

Thanks for listening. Or at least putting up with my too few posts lately.

Ups and Downs

What a long, strange day this has been.

I am on new team at work that, to save you the boredom of the details, will be consuming every free minute of my time for the next couple of months. It's exciting work, don't get me wrong - I'm looking forward to the challenge. But why does it seem that everything comes all at the same time? It seems like there will be a lull in the action then BANG - let's try to do everything humanly possible within an unreasonable amount of time! Is it to keep us challenged so we keep pushing ourselves to do better? Or is it something beyond our control that is produced to keep us from getting stale and bored? We always get through "it" but "it" never seems easy at the time. I was at a training class today on Managing Transition - how timely. I learned a lot today and hope I can learn how to apply the theory to my own situations.

It was a productive day at work and a beautiful day outside (an "up"), yet a sad day too (a "down"). One of the ladies I work with lost her father today after a long illness. I haven't quite figured out how to console this co-worker as I know there are no words that can take away that pain. All we can do is offer our help and our hearts.

Have a safe and happy Easter weekend.

New Beginnings

Spring is in the air! You can almost smell the flowers blooming and the fresh cut grass. The warmer days remind me that I'm way behind in getting ready for Spring. All that prep work in the yard, cleaning out beds, getting fresh mulch, pruning and planning. I still haven't decided what to do in the front yard since we leveled it last year - so for now, good ol' green turf will do just fine. But I'd love a shade tree of some sort because our house faces west and the front of it just cooks in the summer afternoon sun.

The pond is doing well. However, I await pollen season with mixed emotions. Love that everything is coming back to life but hate the green coating on everything - and it always wreaks havoc with my pond. Last year it turned so dark and black that I couldn't see fish or anything. I have started the maintenance treatment a little early this year in hopes that we don't have the same problem. Fishes are doing fine - growing nicely. The two larger koi have about doubled in size since last July when I introduced them to the water. The comets and shubunkins are doing nicely too. I can't wait for the spring pond plants to come in at Animal Jungle....the pond looks so bare right now.

Zippy is finally adjusting to being the only one in the house (at least of the four-legged variety). He's not quite as clingy as he was the first two weeks and seems to be settling down a bit. We are too for that matter.

Time Heals All Wounds

Or so they say....

It's been one week since we lost our precious little girl Schatze. The first 3 days were absolutely horrible beyond words. Especially that first Monday going back to work and trying to maintain a normal routine. We have her at home with us once again and right now are trying to help one another through this as well as Zippy. He figured out after about 3 days that something wasn't the same. He's been very "clingy" and wanting tons of attention. Which is ok. He deserves it.

I promise not to rant on for weeks on end about the loss of Schatze. But sometimes putting things on "paper" helps too. We just miss her so much.

Our beloved Schatze

Back on a cold day in early 1994, my sister in law and I went "shopping" for a dog at SPCA and animal control. Michael and I weren't able to have children of our own, so I decided I wanted a dog. He said "no" - I said "you're crazy." And I had always told my Mom that I was wasn't going to have kids - I wanted puppies. Well, my wish came true. I found this darling little "who done it" puppy (just 10 weeks old) at animal control. One wouldn't think to find such a young pup at animal control - but through a mistake in the waiting list for this little beauty, I got the phone call and rushed to pick her up. Back at home, I pulled in the garage to see my husband standing at the door and all I could say was "Congratulations - it's a girl!"

Schatze become the love of our lives. She became my best little four legged friend yet learned very quick to listen and obey "Alpha" Mike. "Mom" was always her playmate and best friend. She quickly wrapped herself around both of our little fingers and we all became inseparable. She was such a beloved member of our family and so very good natured - open to any new friends (including cats, rabbits, opossum - oh, and humans too). Funny little thing she was though, she could never learn to play "fetch." She would soon accompany us on countless camping trips to Hatteras although she hated the water. She would try and follow Mike into the water when he took to his surfboard...only to find out that it's pretty wet (and deep) out there! She just loved being with us regardless of the heat, the sand, the water, or having to sleep in a tent on the floor (except during thunderstorms - then she got the air mattress).

She was our best friend and our first and only child, if you will. In August, 2007 our little girl underwent an emergency surgery to remove a very invasive, cancerous tumor from her ribs. We didn't know at that time if she'd even make it through the surgery. After all, she was almost 14 years old! Pretty good for a "big dog" at 50 plus pounds - so experience tells us. We brought her home to let her tell us when it was time - when she was too tired to go on. Our little girl was a trooper and gave us many, many more months of companionship, love and happiness.

She turned 15 in January and we could tell by the look in her eye that she was tired, unhappy and uncomfortable. She had trouble negotiating the stairs in and out of the house, couldn't see or hear well, had little quality of life and wasn't eating very much. So we did the last final thing we could do for her - and let her go.

And we miss her very much.

POND ering Spring

OK - we got a real big tease today from Mother Nature. After we had howling winds and snow flurries last week, we got a dose of 75+ degrees today. Enough to open the windows, air the house out and get in the yard and pull some weeds. Ok, not my "ideal" day off, but at least I was outside! Tomorrow is supposed to be just as wonderful if not a tad warmer...I think the gang is meeting at the beach in the morning for a couple of rounds of Bocce Ball....I hope I remember how to play!

Schatze continues to amaze us and is hanging in there but we can tell she's not a happy camper anymore. She just looks uncomfortable all of the time. Our days together are numbered I am afraid. Zippy is well, just Zippy...some things never change. The groomer came last Thursday and he was not a happy camper at the time. But he quickly gets over it.

The new fish I put in the pond last summer have about tripled in size. Water temp is just at 50 but they aren't quite ready to eat yet. They're waiting on plants for places to hide. They feel very exposed right now. Songbirds galore today - you name it, we had it. Wrens, Chickadees, Cardinals, Robins, Sparrows, Titmice, Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Blue Jays and of course, our resident Grackles.

Ahhh...the joys of spring (well, almost spring).

Flotation Devices

WOW - I've been watching the news of the US Airways plane that had to land in the Hudson River. What a great job that pilot did. Being married to a retired airline pilot, I can feel the family's pain and anguish in wondering if loved ones are ok. I commend the crew and the passengers - it sounds as if they all remained calm and did what they had do to. I applaud all of them and the coasties, ferry boat captains and police. Kudos to all! And I for one can attest to putting an aircraft "down" in water - it's not fun and it was a helicopter vs an airliner - but more on that at another time and post.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful new year and you're sticking to your resolutions (if you made them!). I made a promise (note - not a "resolution") to get back into my genealogy work and I've done just that. I've put a couple of weary, no-results night into it on the computer, but I'll keep plugging on. It's like putting together a big jigsaw puzzle. Really BIG puzzle. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

My other promise to myself was to start planning my trip for this fall. If you don't know, it's been a dream of mine to see the Aurora Borealis - up close and in person. And I thought - what not a better time to do that than to celebrate my big 50th this fall. So, January isn't over and I will start working on this during the coming weekend. I originally had wanted to go to Fairbanks, but I may re-think that to somewhere in eastern Canada - or Nova Scotia. Regardless, I'll need some very warm clothing, a good camera, lots of hot chocolate (or other adult warming drinks) and a lot of patience. Wish me luck!