Scott dressed up the weather station this week.
July 2012
Destress.
So I have been writing code most of the morning. This means I’ve been hunched over my computer and I’ve been staring at my laptop screen. This isn’t a bad thing, after all, it is what I do for a living, but sometimes I think my office setup is not the most ergonomically efficient. Because of this, I end up with tightness in my shoulders and neck.
I just went to the chiropractor after nearly four hours of writing code. I usually take a quick break during my workday and crack my neck, shoulders and back with a good, hearty stretch, but I purposely didn’t do that this morning since I was headed to the chiropractor’s office at lunch time and I figured I might as well get my (insurance) money’s worth.
Dr. Tim noted that might upper back and shoulders seemed a little tight but that my lower back was in great shape. It’s been two weeks since my last appointment, so I figured there’d be more crunchy sounds than usual. When he adjusted my neck and back it made sounds like it’s never made before. Any tightness in my neck and shoulders immediately dissipated and the sneeze I was holding back retreated as well. It’s always good when your chiropractor says “Wow!” At least, I think it’s good. I go back in two weeks.
I feel amazing right now. And just for the record, while I do enjoy a good cracking of the neck and back, I don’t get overjoyed like this woman.
Shade.
So I’m sitting in the coveted “shady spot” behind the Burger King near the shopping center I usually install myself in during my lunch hour at the office. It’s kind of a repeat performance of my Saturday blogging-parking scenario, except the Pizza Hut looks newer and there are seagulls giving me stern looks, wondering when I’m going to throw some food out one of my windows. The seagulls always hover around the Burger King in these parts.
With the storms that blew through the Midwest and West Virginia this weekend, we have been plenty busy with customers being out of telephone and broadband service. The program I wrote is tracking all these things and the server is “running hot” today. My tasks have involved keeping everything running during the busy daytime hours. Things will settle down later in the evening.
One of the field techs in Ohio sent us a shot of this 500kV tower that suffered some damage from the storms that passed through.
A lot of people are talking about how much more intense storms seem to be this year. Others are saying it’s cyclical. I heard someone mention a “superstorm” near the UK and I have to admit that’s the first time I heard the word “superstorm” in the news. It’s usually reserved for movies like “2012”.
Perhaps it’s time to start stocking up on canned goods.
No Door.
So after Earl returned from the poker tournament at the casino yesterday (we’ll leave it at that), I declared that we were going to take the doors off the Jeep and go for a ride. He agreed that it would be fun.
We ended up driving towards my office to the small village of St. Johnsville, where they have a little seasonal restaurant called The Parkside. Like all seasonal restaurants that are found in a small town, the decor is decidedly local, the music on the ceiling speakers is the local country station and the food is absolutely delicious. I had a portabello panini.
After enjoying our meal we headed home, but only after I shot this photo from the parking lot of the Parkside. I found it to be a peaceful view, with mix of sun and shade, the clouds and the Moon.
My good mood carried through the night to the extent that I actually volunteered to go grocery shopping with Earl.
I passed the time by finding interesting things to photograph and dreaming up dishes I can make for supper this week. Summer isn’t complete unless you’ve included Grandma Brown’s Baked Beans in at least a dozen meals.
Grandma Brown’s Home Baked Beans are made in Mexico, New York (not that far from where I grew up). Ironically, Texas is near Mexico. They’re both near a spot called Confusion Corners, but the locals aren’t confused. The baked beans are made in a building that proclaims, “This is where Grandma Brown’s Home Baked Beans are made!” I don’t think Grandma Brown works there anymore but they probably still use her recipe. She looks pleasant enough. I once asked Grandma Country if she knew Grandma Brown and she said “no”. Grandma Country could make some kickin’ baked beans back in her day. I don’t think they ever competed at the county fair or anything though, since they hadn’t ever met.
Yard.
So as I mentioned yesterday, we had some heavy equipment being operated by good looking men doing some work on the stream that runs along the back edge of our front yard yesterday. We call it a stream or “the creek”, but it’s actually a ditch that veers off from the road and runs down into a pond about a half mile away. The primary purpose of this stream is to handle the water coming down the hill along the roadway. It’s a drainage ditch. Unfortunately, over the past several years it has become over grown with foliage, dirt and the like and hasn’t been able to perform it’s function very well. Earl and I talked to the county, they said it belong to the town. The town said it belongs to the county. Because we live on a county route, one would assume that it belongs to the county but I guess no one really knows when the whole thing is wrapped up in red tape, so we just went ahead and got some folks to clean it out for us. After all, that side of the lawn has turned into a marsh and we’re kind of sick of that.
So now we have this along the back edge of the lawn.
We are going to put seed along the “banks” and dress it up again, but at the very least we have adequate drainage. The marsh that used to be our lawn is already drying up again.
While I was walking around the lawn I found one Black Eyed Susan (I think) showing her stuff. These are one of my favorite summer flowers.
In between his trips as flight attendant, Scott keeps busy by planting flowers around The Manor. We have a nice touch of color in strategic locations around the property.
During our ride last night I mentioned to Earl that if we won the lottery I’d like to buy the local Beardslee Castle and turn it into a private residence again. He said that we couldn’t do that, but we could build our own castle.
I think we are well on our way.
