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Arise.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Every morning Tom and I go through this little ritual before getting out of bed. He has to rake my beard with his claws or tap at various parts of my face until I am up and out of bed and downstairs filling his bowl with food. Of course I have to make a pitstop on the way down, so he just sits on the edge of the tub and screeches his dissatisfaction with my going the bathroom.

Thankfully, he’s the only creature that’s ‘screeched’ at the sight of my dink.

What I find curious is that while I was in Massachusetts this week, Earl did not have to go through the same sort of routine. Apparently Tom patiently waited for Earl to get out of bed, do his thing, take a shower and get dressed before getting his kitty chow breakfast.

I think we know who does the spoiling in this family.

Cute Little Blokes.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl surprised me with a little post-Christmas present this week. He had these done by a very talented man in the U.K. So here we are, mere charactures of ourselves. We have several of us in different clothes and backgrounds and whatnot.

I love them!

Work.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Today I’m back to work after attending training for the past two days. It’s amazing how motivating getting away from work can be; it’s like you’re picked up out of a rut, suddenly armed with knowledge you didn’t have before and ready to walk into work and take the office by storm.

The universe apparently agrees, as it’s bright, sunny and unusually warm in Upstate New York today. Tomorrow is suppose to be even warmer!

This picture does not represent your typical January day in these parts. But I’m not complaining.

Hamilton County.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl and I kicked off 2006 by taking a road trip. The temperature was in the mid 20s, there were snow flakes in the air, the only place we could go was into the Adirondack Mountains of course.

I started a New York State Counties project back in 2003 that went something like this. Being the big road geek that I am, I would get a picture of myself standing next to a county line marker for every county in New York. All 62 of them, including the five that include the five boroughs of New York. I never quite completed the project, so we had to make two stops in the Adirondacks to add to the collection.

I am a big geek. And I am very proud of that.

As we came back down out of the mountains through the city of Amsterdam, we stopped at one of our favorite diners, The Windmill Diner, because after all, nothing says “I love you” more than a snappy diner dinner for New Years Day.

It was absolutely delicious. The folks at the Windmill had a special menu for New Years and I ended up having prime rib au jus, complete with mashed potatoes, green beans, tossed salad, soup and roll and butter. I passed on the complimentary wine. Earl had roast pork with the same trimmings. It was fabulous!

We’ve also made this kicked-back weekend of ours a cinema experience. Last night we saw “The Family Stone”, which we both enjoyed very much. The movie is not as slapstick funny as the previews portrayed it to be and we found that to be a good thing.

Tonight we saw “Brokeback Mountain”. Earl says he was a little disappointed with the movie because he didn’t find it as emotionally engaging as he expected it to be. Personally, I loved the movie, but I’m a sucker for the scenery out west and for some good lookin’ cowboys.

Tomorrow is organization day so that we’re both ready to hit the ground running on Tuesday when we go back to work.

I have great feelings about 2006.

Cookie Production.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl and I just completed Act I of our annual Christmas Production: “Parade of the Cookies.” If you look at the photo, you’ll notice the ever-present chocolate chip cookies on the left, followed by sugar cookies on the right.

Note the subtle color on the sugar cookies. In a proud Martha Stewart moment, Earl mixed a little food coloring with regular sugar to make a festive little sprinkle for the cookie tops. It adds just a hint of color without being garish. Add one point to our gay membership cards.

Piano.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Tonight I started getting ready for the holiday celebrations by practicing some Christmas carols. I’ve never had one-on-one piano lessons in my life; the closest I came to that was a very early morning piano class when I was a Music Education major at SUNY Fredonia. And that was a disaster because as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not an early morning person. And I didn’t really care for college. And I had no interest in learning how to play “God Save The Queen”. So I play by ear.

My grandmother’s piano, and in my heart it will always be my grandmother’s piano though I guess it’s ours now, sounds as wonderful as I remember. It’s amazing how each piano has it’s own unique sound, however subtle the difference may be. To play it requires a firm touch, whereas the piano my folks had when I was growing up accepted a softer touch. This piano also has a distinct smell that I thought was inherent to their house but I guess it was the piano that carried the scent all these years. Or perhaps the piano smells like my grandparents’ house. Nevertheless, walking into our newly dubbed “music room” is such a joy.

I don’t think the piano has been played very much in the past ten years since my grandmother passed away. There’s some keys that need work (you can see them in the picture), the middle pedal needs its spring replaced since it was robbed long, long ago the fix the right pedal. It needs tuning.

But the music is so sweet. I’m actually looking forward to playing “Silent Night” in my own unusual way on Christmas morning.

Kicking off snowblowing season.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Yesterday marked the first significant snowstorm of the season. The weather folks predicted three to five inches, so of course we got nearly a foot of snow.

Earlier in the week I was commenting that it was a balmy 67.8 degrees here in Upstate N.Y. While quite beautiful, that’s a bad thing in December. You see, warm air keeps the Great Lakes warm, which then just invites Arctic air to come over the lakes, scoop up some lake water, make some magic and dump lots of snow on those of us that live in strategically placed locales.

I grew up smack dab in the middle of the Lake Ontario “snow belt”, so lots of snow doesn’t bother me. Where we live now is not as close to the snow belt area, but we still get our fair share of snow. I’m always fairly bewildered at others’ reaction to a foot or so of snow. If you think about it, it’s all easier to deal with if you just, well, deal with it. I don’t fly into hysterics and buy sixty loaves of bread and fourteen cartons of milk. I don’t cry and throw my vehicle into a tailspin when I enter a whiteout. I don’t believe that school should be closed due to snow on the roads. That’s what living in Upstate New York is all about.

It’s just so much damn work!

Oh well. I’m hoping that working my way up and down the driveway with the snowblower will pass for physical exercise.