I’m alive and half awake.

I’ve been really busy with my business these days. Sorry that I haven’t checked in in so long.

Then we had a minor flood at work at the day job 2 weeks ago. One of the automatic toilets wouldn’t stop filling after it flushed one Friday afternoon/evening. So we came in to the entire first floor of the building with a nice layer of water in the hallway and the offices. At least it was clean water and not sewage. We had boxes and paper that had to be trashed before we got sick from it growing mold. All the carpet in our offices has been ripped out. The glue holding the carpet down is still on the on the tile floor, but having the carpet out made a world of difference in the smell and mold. After all of that, we didn’t lose any electrical equipment to the water! I was amazed.

New vehicle

Well, I got a new vehicle for getting around in town. I got a scooter. It’s a Genuine Buddy International 150 cc. I got it at Magic City Motor Scooters. Thanks to Matt and Will for all their help with my purchase! It came in on July 3rd. I paid the balance on it and brought it home that evening. DH followed me in his car as I drove it home like a granny.

I drove it Friday morning before we headed to Huntsville, then Sunday afternoon to kickball. What, you have a problem with adults who play kickball? Go on with ya then. No one ever said I was really good at it, but I made several good catches last Sunday. I also fell on my ass and hit my head, but I didn’t drop the ball I caught. Unfortunately it was so busy last week that I didn’t have the opportunity to drive at all after work. DH had the time to play some on the scooter last week, and did. He has much more experience on 2 wheel motorized vehicles than I do, so I do take his suggestions on my riding to heart.

Then yesterday DH followed me as I tried the route to my office. I will take First Ave North to Roebuck, go on Five Mile Road to Carson Road. When we got into parking at my work, DH was not pleased with how I drove, especially on First Avenue North. I was much slower than the posted speed limit. When I was reading reviews of the scooter, the reviewer was going 10% slower than the speedometer read. So DH was telling me I was actually going about 10 mph slower than I thought I was going. That is not going to be safe on the roads! After walking around for a little bit, we headed back to the house. With a stop for gas for DH’s car. Now that I knew the speedometer was reading faster than I was traveling, I could mentally make the adjustment for it. And the trip back went much better in DH’s mind. There were some folks along First Avenue North who were out grilling in front of a store who thought the scooter was cool and wanted me to stop, but DH needed a pit stop, so since he was being so helpful to me I didn’t want to cause him additional discomfort with an unintended stop. So I thanked them for their interest, but told them I needed to head on. We got home and DH was much happier with how I drove back. I did stay up at very close to the posted speed limit, or with the flow of the existing traffic on the large roads. Actually knowing how far off the speedometer reads helped my driving back immensely. DH was not ready to say I was ready to drive to work on the way out, but after the trip back, he was willing to concede that with a little more practice I would be ok.

Today I went out after church on my scooter with DH following me on his bike. I drove around the block, then headed over to Forest Park on Clairmont. I did ok heading out, and we turned around Triangle Park and came back on Clairmont. Unfortunately, coming back up Clairmont my engine died. I tried to restart it, but it wouldn’t go. So DH went ahead on home to get gas, and I pushed the scooter up the road to a little more safe spot on the road out of the way. While I was there, I checked the gas level in the tank, since I was at about a third of a tank on my fuel gauge. After a few minutes, the scooter started up again, so I started back on my way home. I was really wanting to get home, because the weather was threatening. Rain was moving in and thunder was rumbling in the distance. But about halfway back to the house while on Clairmont the scooter engine died again. So I called DH to let him know what happened and where I was. He came back with his car and a gascan. Even though I wasn’t out, he added about a half a gallon to the tank and the scooter started again. I got it to our block and the engine died a third time. But I was close enough to push the scooter to the house. So I now have a call to Matt to see what I need to have done.

50 years

DH’s parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past Saturday. DH’s mom is a lovely lady who is a joy to be around, and his dad is a wonderful guy. I am blessed to be able to have become a part of their extended family. DH’s brother’s family was in from Virginia, and a cousin was here with her boys.

We had gone to Huntsville for the 4th of July to spend family time together. DH had spent the earlier part of the week up there while I was at work. We don’t often get to see Nephew 1 and Niece 1, so him getting the opportunity to spend time with them is good. DH’s other brother lives north of his parents, and we went to his house for the 4th. We ate, and swam, and had ’splodies. DH likes having good ’splodies, so we had bought some nice star shells and a few roman candles. Its a good thing we aren’t planning on taking a plane, because chemical sniffers at the airports would probably not be very happy.

Then Saturday was fairly laid back. We beboppped around Huntsville for a bit, then got ready for the big evening. A limo had been rented to take us to dinner. We had to get the front curtains of the house closed so the limo would be a surprise. So a suggestion was made to close the front curtains so we could get a plain backdrop for family pictures. It worked without raising suspicions. Then we headed out of the house and DH’s parents got a huge surprise. A white stretch limo was waiting for us out in the street. DH had gone and gotten 2 bottles of bubbly to toast with in the limo. And there were plenty of glasses there in the limo to use. So all the adults received a glass of bubbly. And we headed to dinner at Conor’s Steaks and Seafood. The food was good, it wasn’t so pretentious that adults and kids were uncomfortable, and they were able to accommodate us all. Hooray! After we ate, the limo came back to bring us home. We ended up calling the neighbors so we would have an audience for the arrival. I mean, what’s the use of a limo if no-one sees you use it? Besides, it was a good excuse for the neighbors to learn that it was a 50th anniversary!

We got back home today. The kitties were very happy to see us again.

Oven element problems

We’re having problems with our stove right now. The baking element has gone out and we haven’t gotten it replaced yet. The stove is over 30 years old, and is an electric GE model. The broiler element is still working, though. And the range top works still, so we are looking at getting the oven fixed up to keep going.

We’ve been looking to see where we might find the appropriate part to replace the element. So DH has come up with the bright idea of taking out the damaged bake element and replacing it with the working broiler element, since both seem to be the same size. Do you know if this might be a good idea or not?

I’m alive

But life is insanely busy right now. I’m sorry that I haven’t updated anything in a while. Hopefully after the middle of the month, life will slow down a bit. I’ll update you about the yard, yes its a weird situation still; and get pictures uploaded after the middle of the month. Its bad when you measure your commitments in months.

Happy Groundhog Day

In Birmingham, Birmingham Bill saw his shadow. I guess we’re having 6 more weeks of what passes for winter here. Of course, my friends up north laugh at me when I tell them what our weather is, but for us here it still gets cold. Besides, no one here has any clue how to actually dress for the cold or drive when it snows. You are gambling with your life when you try to drive in the snow. There are too many folks who think they can drive normally and slam on the brakes at the last minute when the weather conditions are bad. They are the ones causing accidents for themselves and others.

Happy first day of Winter

So its the first full day of winter in the northern hemisphere. Its a grey day here in Birmingham, and the rain is coming, eventually. Right now the rain line is in Arkansas and Missouri. So the folks delivering the angel tree items today should be in pretty good shape. Go rain! we’re still 20 inches behind on the rainfall for the year, so any rain is good rain here.

As with everything else, timing

is everything. Getting sick last week kicked my butt. And threw me so far behind that I don’t know that I’ll get caught back up in a reasonable fashion. DH is now getting sick, and he thinks that he may be coming down with what I had. That’s not good at all.

I finished the Dan Simmons Book, The Terror, and it was a good read. I’m still thinking about it, and thinking about how to write it up. It doesn’t really fit into a neat box. And that’s a very good thing.

I’m going to try to get some rest tonight. Y’all take care.

New bed coming to the house

We have purchased a new bed. Woohoo! Our old one is 13 years old and is not in the best of shape. So we are in the process of trying to clean up in order to have easy access to the bedroom for the new bed delivery. The new bed is going to help DH’s back problems. The old one is pretty well sprung. Even better, the delivery folks will remove the old bed, so we don’t have to muck about with getting rid of the old mattress and boxsprings. Hooray!

Playing on twitter

I’ve been playing on twitter for the last couple of days. Its a mini blogging experience. We’ll see how well it works for me and how I can keep up with it.

Day of the Dead

or the Feast of All Souls. Its the time to remember those who we love who have passed away. Yes, I’ve been thinking about my grandmother today. as well as my other grandparents and aunts and uncles who have died. Day of the Dead is actually a fairly cheerful day, since it is a celebration of their life as well as a remembrance of them.

Challenge results, sort of

Well, I’m going to have to call the RIP II challenge finished, I guess. I’m not going to finish Dracula in time. I have been reading lots of short stories, though. I managed just a Little Bit of Peril by finishing Harry Potter. I thought I had asked the local library to pull some books for me, but when I checked my online patron record, there was nothing listed in the request area and I had never been contacted by the branch that was supposed to have the books. So I have gone and requested Dan Simmons The Terror and Jonathan Carroll’s Land of Laughs from the library again. I’m going to read them, just not in the challenge time frame.

I also appreciate Carl introducing me to the artwork of Lisa Snellings-Clark and Poppets! Just in time for Halloween, I have managed to home a poppet. Its an Orange poppet, so it may be in danger here, given the Alabama/Auburn rivalry. I think I need to make a home for a Red Poppet and a Black Poppet now.

This quiet weekend

After all the running I’ve been doing, I had a fairly quiet weekend. Yesterday I got to sleep late, and take naps. All the running I did to go to Missouri, and Albuquerque caught up with me. Not to mention the stress of the funeral, and then my other business trip. So I took the time to crash and not do much of anything. Boy was that nice. Boring to see, but very nice. And its better than getting sick as a dog trying to keep going.

As a part of the RIP II challenge, I started to re-read Dracula. Its been a number of years since I read it. I had forgotten just how eerie it actually is. I’ll post a review after I finish the book, but I’ve got it started now.