Waking up to rain today reinforced my choice in working outside these past few days. Seeing rain in the forecast for the next few days or so made yesterday especially busy; but I got what I set out to accomplish, finished. yay!

-Yanked out dead plant stuff from pots and ground.

-Cleared out & stored remaining plant pots.

-Raked out beds of leaves and other mess I created.

-dragged branches, raked stuff and other decomposable debris out to rear 'yard-forest-unmanaged compost pile' area.

-Washed windows (outside only)

In the process: left side getting clean, right side not yet washed


not great, but much better than what it was, yes?



-Washed outside car windows while I was at it.

-Swept porch and wiped down outdoor furniture. One chair & small table with ashtray stays set up for smokers, although 100% family and 90% of friends don't smoke, thankfully.

-Daily long walk while sun was shining strong. Made sure to sit in the rays for a few minutes as we might not see it again for a few days or more.


Sitting on boat dock, lower Niagara River. (emptying into Lake Ontario straight ahead)





The sun was so bright! my eyes!my eyes!




After work stuff and play time, I have indoor projects to finish and/or start (still need to do the window plastic). I need to keep busy as the early darkness just kicks my ass, so as unexciting as all this sounds (I enjoy it on some level), it is really about keeping busy.

One last thing, as it can be generalized across the region--
The farmers markets in my area are pretty much ready to close by weeks end. Some have gone through to Thanksgiving, but this year the closings are a little earlier. So get out while you can!
I intend to hit up a few between today and tomorrow to gather up a few more apples, squash and whatever else that might look good. I love love love buttercup squash and end of season prices are a great time to stock up. I aim to cook up and freeze a few containers worth, also work some into a soup/stew/chili etc. MMMMM squash!

Looking at (e:metalpeter)'s recent post, (e:metalpeter,50334) reminded me that I had told Peter that I have a picture of him from the reception (candy table!) that I have been meaning to post. Oops!

I remember saying that as someone usually behind the camera you usually aren't in front of it. Which prompted me to take this picture.





of the few pictures I had immediately resized, this is one of them.

The other was already posted (e:theecarey,50210)

I have a few more that I hope to get to soon.

It is that time of year when traffic remains heavy for a couple of hours after rush hour.

It is that time of year when driving through a residential neighborhood one sees a mixture of pumpkins, corn stalks and wreaths with giant red bows.

It is that time of year when the darkness comes in early and the red, green and blue LEDs start turning on.

It is that time of year when at least two local radio stations play seasonal music (much too early, in my opinion) 24/7 until the first of the new year.

It is that time of year when friends and family talk about shopping; some of whom ask me what is on my "list"

It is that time of year when the single aisle of Christmas decor spotted in October is growing exponentially in color, variety and volume.

It is that time of year when merchandising displays, commercial radio/tv ads, and mail box circulars are covered with festive vomit.

It is that time of year when I try to focus on something other than the looming "holiday" but, it is everywhere.. every year, and it keeps getting earlier.

and now, it is that time of year, when I post my general displeasure to it all.

and for those that know me, it is also that time of year when I try to make the most of it and to find some fun and joy beyond the excessively marketed aspect of the 'season'.


Sooooo..

eventually, I would be down for some hot cocoa, baking (cookies!), sleigh rides, snowball fights, parties, "secret santa" (yes.. we have to do that this year, so get thinking about it!!), glittery craft/card creating inspired by the younger Visco, old movie night, caroling (do people do that?), perhaps a collective 'adopt a family', community projects, etc. Many possibilities to get together and have fun and create memories.

Just not "this time of year": Mid November!!

This week went by in a blur. So much so that I still feel like I have tons yet to accomplish. For this reason, I might stay close to home and work on an assortment of projects all weekend.

Maybe. I can be pretty easily swayed to venture out..

Alright, so I need to seriously wash the outside part of my windows. It is getting harder to see outside- yeh, they are pretty bad. It has been a perfect week to do that, so really, no excuses not to get it done. A quick scrub & squeegee should do it.

and now it is time to get around to putting plastic up on the windows. FUN! heh. I've been remiss in starting that project. I usually buy a bunch of window kits but I would like to find a roll of the plastic that is used in covering windows. That might be easier/quicker for my windows that are clustered together, and possibly less expensive to cover them all at once, then individually. The plastic in the large kits aren't big enough, so I end up doing the windows individually. *yawn*.

The rolls existed in the past, but I haven't seen anything in a few winters, so...

Do rolls of window plastic still exist and if so, where would I find such a product?

Home Depot only had kits.

Sometimes change is good..

sometimes it is downright annoying.

(as with alliteration)

Yahoo!


as an avid use of most things Yahoo!, most specifically I use it for email, I was displeased with their "new look" a few months ago. the layout is intuitive enough, but is more image and module heavy. Fortunately, I could go back to the "classic view" by scrolling to the very bottom and clicking on the tiny text that allowed me to go back to what I prefer. The classic view is/was more scarce in features which I find visually pleasing.

Then a week ago, a banner warning exclaimed that the new yahoo will fully take over ie; the more visually busy and cumbersome look. Not horrible, just not my choice for user experience.

So I didn't believe that it would fully take over..

until today.

yuck!

Yaboo!



but I will get over it.



although, a little love for the yahoo has died today.





anyone use Yahoo?
like or dislike the official change?

It's cold outside

and the sky is amazingly clear. Nights like this remind me that I would like a telescope and a better understanding of the star clusters. As much as I am into the sciences, and just looking out at the universe, I haven't learned to recognize more than a few constellations. I try, but then I forget.

While not as clear as some places, my little neck of the woods has little light pollution. Looking up, you'd likely be in awe standing in my driveway right now

and freezing your ass off, too.

Good night!

Finally taking a look at the assortment of pictures on my camera. Of those that I want to post, they need to be resized first, so I will work on a few at a time.

I had already pretty much forgotten about the rainbow pictures taken on Hallowedding; I know some of you saw it too.

And here we have the rainbow before the reception as seen from North and Delaware:

It was a rather nice to see a sizable arc to the rainbow tather than just bits of it.

Love cats? geeks? farm equipment? "furries"?
Need your mate to be interested in the same?
Then check out these dating niches for the extra discerning..



Moving on...

Saturday Fugazi-Cathode Ray-Frizzies excursion was fun, thanks for coming out! Good to see:
(e:metalpeter)
(e:mrmike)
(e:terry)
(e:paul)
(e:mike)
(e:libertad)
(e:matthew)
(e:james)
(e:jim)
(e:vincent)
and non e friends, Bill, Damian, Lynn & Nina :)

My ears were a bit deaf and my voice hoarse by the end of the night; I forgot how fluid conversations can be a challenge in bars. Nonetheless we managed.

I vaguely remember being thoughtful over an existential moment at Frizzies.

Got home late, crawled into bed by 5ish, and slept on on off till noon. The rest of the day I felt fine other than a little sleepy and generally lacked motivation to do anything despite the sunny day. I vegged out and watched a few movies and chatted on the phone; two things I rarely do. A restful day even if a bit of a boring day.


Now it is Monday and there is so much to do (as with anybody reading this). It is the day that kicks me in the ass towards identifying all that needs to be done and usually puts me back on the track from anything that was left behind last week (or completely derailed over the weekend). I'm always amazed at how many emails come in on Monday mornings.

hmmm, I'm thinking of heading out to a comfy coffee laden hot spot to do some work and/or writing/reading. Where and when will depend on my focus. Damn, coffee sounds so good right now.

But first, a walk.It has been refreshing to walk through the park kicking through the fallen leaves. I haven't been doing the gym thing in some time, so at the very least, a walk is part of my daily routine. But I need to do so much more, so gym time will be made priority in my daily schedule. Not sure what has been keeping me from it as it feels so good to go.

This week I abide to decrease the lazy, increase the productive; to cliche my self and go from derailed to back on track. *nods*

Just a reminder (e:theecarey,50230) that if you want direction on something to do, then give the following a whirl:

Fugazi 9pm until.. ?
(503 Franklin between North and Allen)
I'm going to hang out there for a little while, have a drink (I'm ordering a Martini for sure!), some conversation, laughs and what not and then...

Cathode Ray/Allen Street bar crawl/stumble, for more of the same!

weeee!

Stop out and say hi, stay for a drink, you know what to do!

Not sure how late I will actually be out, but that is the loose plans for the night. yay!

See you soon!