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Tangled Thoughts
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
4:17PM - 32
Yup three's my soon to be age in Black and White. I've often wondered how I'll feel about aging, but so far it just means survival to me. So scratch another line in the wall, I've made it another year. And this year, I'm happier and healthier than I've been in a long time, I've got a good share of friends, and animals that enrich my life. Maybe things will just keep getting better. I guess you can count me in the "fine wine" category :-). Lord knows I'm an acquired taste.
Friday, February 29, 2008
10:12PM - Spring
Spring is starting to arrive here in SE Washington and I'm enjoying the change. The cold is lessening and my roses are developing leafbuds and it will soon be time to start pruning some of the older ones as well as see if some of the more precarious of roses made it through winter. I'm betting that my Wal-mart Queen E's didn't make it, most of them were never very happy at all last year. But I've got a bunch of roses picked out to fill in the spots. I was hoping to buy a bunch of Buck Roses this year, but the funds are going to be too tight for a ll that I want to bring in so I'll save that for next year. Griffith Buck has become a hybridizer that I really admire, he worked hard to produce some gorgeous roses that also were extremely winter hardy. I have a few of his roses here already, but I wanted to try and get more of them. I've got 4 places to get them from, some as far away as NC. But again that will wait for next year.
If I'm lucky there's a few roses that I'll be able to pick up from Heirloom in May or so. John Clement, the founder and hybridizer passed away last August and so some of his last roses are being released. I expect he'll have a few more int he next few years as seedlings he started will mature, but these last will be very special. I just found Heirloom last year and I spent some time with the staff there and I really enjoyed them as people as well as the great service they offer. I've got a couple of roses here that he bred, Sunita, Star of the Nile, Sunrise at Heirloom and some others. The Magician is a new one that I want to have a few of, it reminds me of a similar rose bush that is in downtown Richland. That one only blooms once a year, but I sure enjoy driving by it and watching the blooms change from yellow to scarlet. The Magician does the same, but continually. I can see it will have a very special place here.
And next fall I've promised myself that I'm going to find some bulbs to plant for color. Crocus or daffodils I like, so I'll be after some of those and working them into the rose garden to give some early color before the roses get going.
Ahhh spring!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
9:18PM - Junior Mints
I've had a candy craving recently and it's been Junior mints that I've been craving. So I indulged and bought some and over the last couple months have indulged that craving. And I noticed something. In the Junior mints box, most of the mints are soft and chewy and minty, but always in every box there is one hard, dried out sort of mint that seems like it's been aged more than the others. There is also always one mint that is stuck to the inside of the bucket that it takes some serious heroics to remove. So I was pondering the significance of those unique mints. Sometimes I feel a lot like them. At times I feel a lot older than my peers, as if somehow I missed out on parts of the youth they shared. My parents always said I was "four going on 40" so maybe I did grow up too fast. I'm trying to unlearn some of that, but at some point, it's just me and I can't do a whole lot about it. I'm not saying I don't have fun, but sometimes my definition of fun is on the outside of the bell curve to the people I know.
And then that lone mint stuck int he box. I wouldn't identify with it so much if there were two. It's always easier to be stuck in a box with someone else. I'mshy around people I don't know and it takes me a while to open up to people. So I do take a bit of dragging to get out of my box. For the most part, I like my box and my world that I'm in. But sometimes I long for another mint to share it with. I enjoy having guys as friends and I miss that. I like sharing a guy's perspective on things, serious things and silly things.
Well maybe he's in another box ;-).
Alison
Saturday, February 9, 2008
5:13PM - The Bunny Chronicles
Back in November I posted about a domestic bunny that had adopted us as her new family. She has been living off my horse hay stack and some winter grass in the pasture and she's helped prune my roses. But I still have wanted to catch her all this time and get her out of the weather and somewhere where she could be taken care of. Well this weekend I saw that she had had babies, when she had found time to have them I have no idea, but I saw three little ones in my garden that look like mom (dad must be a wild rabbit)and that really put me into motion on catching them. Usiung a humane trap I caught the babies, a fortunate snowfall helped cover their food supplies and made my offering of hay that much more enticing. I still wasn't sure how to get a hold of mom, who was much more experienced on finding food and didn't need the bribes so much. Well providence and quick reflexes helped me out. I was crawling under the tarp on my haystack and the noise of the wind and tarp hid my entry. Mom was up on a hale bale and didn't notice my approach. i stuck up on her and with a quick lunge got a hold of her. I then carried her inside and reunited her with her babies. Now what to do with the bunch. There is no rabbit rescue and while I'd found a friend that wanted the one original rabbit, but I didn't know if she'd want all four. I called around to people I knew and no one had any great suggestions so I waited and for my friend to get a hold of me and bless her she took all four of them. She's got facilities to take care of them and will give them good food and water and they'll grow up nice healthy and tame with her. I'm sure glad that this story has a happy ending from when it started back in November. Bali however seems to miss his bunny friend.
Monday, January 7, 2008
6:17PM - Too good to be True
Recently I made a purchase from an online classifieds section, and paid via paypal. Then later I saw exactly the same thing listed on Ebay and my radar went off. Email to the seller expressing my concern over the similar items and place it was being sold. They sent back an email that I assume was supposed to be reassuring, but was just plain odd given what I had asked. A few days later I sent another email, no response, then this morning I sent a third email and it was returned saying the account no longer existed. Well I'm in full on alert claxon mode by this point. So I've now opened a case in Paypal's resolution center and it should be interesting. So far I've not yet received anything from the seller. I sure don't expect to receive what I bought, but I doubt I'll see a thing. I alerted the classifieds section to the scam and I'm just ticked off about being taken that way. Typically I'm pretty savvy on that and had I seen the item listing on ebay originally, I sure would have been much more leery about buying it. The price seemed too good. And what a price to have paid. I hope Paypal can help get my money back.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
9:19PM - Valentine's Day?
I walked into a store earlier this week and already the Valentine's day displays are out. Yippee, thanks for reminding me I'm single. I was happy being single until that point, if it weren't for a ll the materialistic hype surrounding that day it could just go right on by and I'd never miss it. But when you are single and that day for couples starts to stare you in the face, you being to feel lonely. Not necessarily for someone to share your life with, but the idea of someone. Some one to be there when things are bad, someone to be there when things are good. Someone that knows all your secrets and neuroses; and still loves you for them. Some to share ideas, hopes, dreams with. Someone to wake up and see in the morning. Some one to come home to. Some one to go out with. Someone to think of during the day. Someone to have a secret language with. Someone to hold your hand. Someone to share a drive with. Someone to make dinner for. Some one to even argue with.
The weird thing is that then I stop and think about it and wonder if I'd really want a guy in my life. Someone else to consult before making a decision, someone to check in with. I mean I don't travel much, but I really prefer doing what I want when I want and I haven't had to deal with fitting into anyone else's life in a while. I like my independence and I like my freedom and I actually like being alone. I like tome to myself to read, gather my thought, dream, work, or do or not do whatever. I'm not a social person in general. I love hanging out with my friends, but for me meeting new people is fairly stressful occasion. I've gone on a few dates recently and so far when I come back from them it usually makes me happy that I am single. I'm hoping that it's just because I've not met the right guy, but where in this day and age do you meet the right guy?
Well I hope to figure that out sometime;-).
Thursday, November 15, 2007
1:02PM - What do you do?
I'm a sucker for animals. I'll bring just about anything home to help it out, get it a new home or have it join my crew here. Yup I'm truly a sucker. But what do you do when one of your own animals does this? Now I know my horse Bali is a bit of a mother hen. He's patient and kind with lots of other animals, for instance, my CH Kitty Annie used to use him as a ladder to get to higher places when she lived with him. And since she can't jump well, that meant climbing him. Patient, REALLY patient. He's enjoyed llamas, cows, sheep, goats, foals dogs, and cats as buddies. Most cats he's not actually keen on having had a few take a dislike to him and whack him, so he's not too keen on them. Dogs as long as they aren't really noisy he's fine with, but he particularly is fond of other herbivores. Before you ask, yes he does have other horses to live with, so he does have companionship and one especial friend, Darlene. But the other night when I went home to feed in the dark I noticed something seemed odd about Bali's front foot, so I shined my headlamp closer and realized it was a spotted black and white domestic bunny. I've not idea where it came from, but it was sure huddling close to his feet. It was afraid and would hop off if I came near, so I figured I'd leave it in Bali's care. I do hope to catch it though so that some coyote doesn't kill it, i can't imagine how scared this poor rabbit must be. Any tips on catching it are greatly appreciated as I've never tried to live trap a rabbit. When I finished feeding the bunny was watching Bali eating out of his tire and looking up. Before I could rectify the situation and give the bunny some hay, Bali did it for me. He dropped some hay in front of the bunny and last I saw of them that night they were munching side by side.
There was no sign of the bunny tonight, so I don't know if it moved on or if a coyote indeed did get it. I'll be trying to look for it this weekend in case I can find it and save it. Bali, that old @#$%^I&* of a gelding sure has a soft spot for other critters.
12:48PM - Customer service
Recently I placed an order wtih Stateline Tack for some mediumwegiht turnout blankets for my older horses, Bali and Darlene. They didn't fair as well as I'd hoped last winter, partly because of cold temps and such, but partly because since I was recovering from my surgery, I didn't pay as close attention to them as I should. So while my new pasture did help them this year, it's been a long haul to get weight back on them. Darlene is also a bit of a special headcase, so tranquilizers are difficult to use on her safely and so we do what we can with sweet talk. At Any rate, I needed new blankets for them for this year, and I've ordered from Stateline Tack for years and found their products to be affordable and the service to be good. Well it's buyers be VERY aware this year. Stateline Tack has been sold to Dog.com and the new management is not to be trusted. I ordered two blankets online and received an ordered confirmation in my email. Two days later on a Tuesday I received a second order confirmation. I admit to not thinking about that much, email has some interesting glitches. But when I went online to check the order status, I noticed that it didn't seem like the right items, my turnout had changed into a sheet. Now for winter wear out here a sheet is useless unless you've got more things on top of it. So it's NOT what I wanted and not what I ordered. The nylon was lower quality there was not fill, etc. So I called Stateline tack. I wanted to know what was going one that when I placed and received a confirmation for one order, why had they unilaterally changed my order to something I did not want without notification. I emailed them copies of the confirmations and was told they'd get back to me. No one returned my call, so another two days go by and I go online again. This time they've changed what I've ordered AGAIN, the item number is the same, but not they've made it a turnout. I call and complain that instead of fixing the problem, ie not selling me what I've order and instead replacing it with a lower quality product, they try and tell me that the item title was incorrect, but that the item description was right. I've got the items printed out from both days and nothing is the same. Talk about a serious case of bait and switch. I've told them that since all they have done is manipulate what I ordered and not addressed the simple question of WHY did you not send me what I ordered that I'm refusing the shipment and that I will take my business elsewhere. I hope others will read this and do the same. I will not deal with a company that manipulates and lies the way the have. I took my money to Schneiders and am awaiting my new blankets.
On the flip side, I went to amazon.com to check on the shipping of an order and I found on UPS.com that it considered part of that order delivered, to Portland, OR, in May of 2006. Ooookkkay, something's not right, I'm not sure if the book was even published at that time. So I went to the website and I found this really cool feature called "call me now" You click this button, type in your phone number and confirm that you want them to call you and guess what? Your phone RINGS. You have to wait a minute, but soon there is a living breathing person on that line. I explained what I saw and the problem to the service tech, who was polite and helpful and agreed that something had gone wrong and to fix it, he would send out another copy of that book with free expedited shipping. That is service. Two thumbs up to Amazon, you've got my business!!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
9:14PM - Diana Gabaldon
This is one of my very favorite authors and let em enumerate to you my obssession with her writing and her characters. Of her primary "Outlander" series, I have every book in trade paperback or hardback, that's several thousand pages of reading material:-). And I have the first four books unabridged on audiotape. And now since tapes are so passe I have all six books that are currently released on CD. Now just before you think I'm only on the brink of madness, let me continue. I also have her side series the "Lord John" series in hardback and on Itunes as they come available. I liked lord John as a character in the main series, but I never expected how thoroughly I'd enjoy getting to know him further in the side series.
I've read the Outlander series a fair few times, and listened to it even more. It takes the better part of a year to listen to since I only listen to it at night while I'm falling asleep, and there are 231 cd's in the six book series. The series isn't done yet, so you can expect that number to expand. I'm currently in the middle of book 6, Breath of Snow and Ashes and I'm always surprised and no matter how many times i listen to it, I have some parts I truly enjoy and some parts that I forget were there and are like little surprises when i run across them again. There are only a very few parts that I don't like hearing, mainly because they are very painful to listen to and I get too empathetic.
In the side series though you get a real feel for how good an author Diana really is. And it revolves around her sex scenes. An interesting way to describe it I suppose but from my point of view as a heterosexual female, the scenes in the outlander series are immensely appealing. I never expected to find her homosexual sex scenes in the Lord John series appealing as well. They don't strike the same chord in me obviously but I do find them appealing and touching and intriguing. I sure hope other find it that way, she's got the other books I've read that have addressed homosexual sex scenes beat hands down.
So if you haven't already, I recommend at least picking up her first book and giving it a try, you might find yourself hooked.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
10:49AM - The New Jasper Fforde
I'm a Thursday Next junkie. I enjoy all the books that Jasper Fforde has written, but I do greatly prefer the Thursday Next Series compared to the Nursery Crime series. So I was greatly anticipating the new book coming out. Typically they have very good narrators and Emily Gray again did an excellent job. I'm not quite through the book though and here's why. When I downloaded it from Audible.com, I loaded it onto my ipod and began listening to it. About 3.5 hours in, I thought I had bumped my ipod because the recording began to repeat. So I stopped took it inside and hooked it up to my computer. (It's an ipod shuffle so I can't really see where I'm at in a book). Nope the book hadn't backed up, it was going forward. But there was about 30 minutes of repeated text in there. I'm very auditory oriented so that sort of repeat is pretty grating. But I fast forwarded through it and began again. A couple hours later it happened a second time. Again about 1/2 hour of repeat. Gritted my teeth and fast forwarded through it and so far it hasn't happened again. So far my only plot-related concern is that Tempe Brennan, from the Kathy Reichs series of novels has shown up in the story. Since I'm not a Tempe fan I can only hope that some truly is out to kill her like she thinks. I enjoy the forensic information in Kathy's books, but the heroine truly needs some work. I only read the first book and was rooting for the serial killer so I figure that's a bad sign. I hope she's matured in subsequent books or at least signed up for some self-defense courses.
But the cool thing was on Monday I called audible.com, because I listen to my books repeatedly and having to go through it again would quickly put me well over the insane mark into homicidal. The customer service at audible were excellent, they refunded my money, made note of the problems and said I'd be emailed when it was all fixed to download the corrected version. How refreshing is that customer service! I wasn't bounced around, Muriel at Audible was friendly and pleasant and so helpful and nice. I was almost taken aback with what great service they provided me. Two thumbs up to Audible, they've certainly earned my customer loyalty in solving problems in such a nice friendly fashion.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
10:10PM - 11 Cents
So tonight was an interesting night. I had a date. Those of you who know me, know how big a step that is for me and how long it's been since I've been out of a date, much less a first one. I've been on Match.com for a bit now and it's taken me time to figure it all out and to get photos and a decent profile etc. I never know how to try and advertise myself. It just seems so strange to do that. But at any rate, I had a first date tonight and it well very well and I had a great time. We went to dinner and he brought me a book to read (I love books and reading). Conversation went well and I enjoyed speaking with him, and hearing about his life. I found out that he lives pretty close to me so that could be convenient for meeting up in the future. Then we went to Transformers, I think he was a little unsure of how that movie would turn out. I'd heard good thing about it from my friends, so I was more excited about it. And it turned out great. He put up with my sideline comments through the movie and they didn't seem to bug him. Yes I am one of those people that will go to a special hell for talking in theatres. Afterwards we both agreed that we'd like to do a second date and exchanged info. So I'll hope that if goes well. I did really enjoy it and could look forward to a lot more fun with him.
Thanks to all of you that were so supportive and help encouraged (or drug me kicking and screaming)towards this. It's nice to have friends that care enough about you to help you get out there and find happiness.
So where does the 11 cents come in? Well just before the date I was dropping off some movies at Blockbuster and on the way out I found a 1976 dime and a 2007 penny. 11 cents, one from the year of my birth and one from this year. And it's been 11 years since my last first date. Hopefully it's a sign that I've got the right idea.
Friday, July 27, 2007
9:59PM - Century Mark
No I'm not talking about years going by or the passing of the ages, I'm talking poundage. As in what I've lost since October 18 2006. By DS'er lingo once you break 200, you are in Onederland and once you have lost 100 pounds, you've passed the Century mark. Well, I've done both and I have to say losing 100 pounds in about 9.5 months is pretty darn good. I feel so much better so let me take stock of the things that I've lost or have changed in the last 9.5 months. I can do alll my regular things around my animals and house and work and still have energy left over (this has been crucial, because none of those areas have been easy recently). I've lost back pain. I've lost foot pain. I've lost knee pain. I've lost hop pain. My feet have shrunk. Everything has shrunk. I've lost 5-6 sizes in clothes. My closet isn't what it used to be. I can shop for clothes anywhere. I've lost my hair too, but it's coming back. I've lost my high cholesterol (down to 114). I feel so much better. I'm more willing to be the person I know I am. I have more energy to play with my dogs. I have more energy to enjoy my roses. I have reduced my gluten intolerance/food allergies. I've learned to appreciate milk, a natural high fat, high protein drink. I've learned to eat all the time. I've learned that Vita-Man is the first and foremost man in my life
I recovered what it means to enjoy life. And I will never forget it.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
9:49PM - I'm so excited . . .
Well maybe excited is a bit overstated, but I've just laid out some cash on some products that have been given some rave reviews in my rose magazines and I can't help but try them. The first one is Plant Success tablets by Plant Revolution. These are tablets of mycorrhizal fungi that are shown to be symbiotic with plants. They attach the the roots and aid the plant in processing nutrients in returns for some extra carbs. Naturally they take some time to really get adapted and settled, so I did a few new plants tonight with them while I planted and I tented to try and get round to all the existing plants soon so I can get thee clock ticking on getting them going.I'm going ot try and take some pictures of the plants that I do periodically to see if I notice a big change. I know that some of the chane I'll see if simply from the plant getting bigger. Most of my roses are pretty young, but I have some heavier more clay-like soil here, so I though this my given them some root advantage.
The second product is called Messenger by Eden Bioscience. It mainly works on the principle of stimulating new growth by stimulating a plant's own immune system. It contains a protein called Harpin which is a signature protein for bacterial attack on plants. And when plants sense this protein they kick their immune systems into high gear and get producing. I'll be testing it out also to see if I notice any difference. Probably starting with my two beds first to see how quickly I notice anything. Reports seem to say within days they can see new leaves sprouting. And having a rose in ICU in my house I can sure say it is amazing when they do start kicking out leave how fast that can happen.
I've got three roses in my "clinic" at the moment. Two roses I dug up from outside and potted them and brought them inside. They were planted in May and really haven't put out any new leaves or anything since they went in the ground. They are hanging on, but not doing great. So I replaced them with identical roses with the fungi tabs outside and put fungi tabs with these in the pots, hoping to stimulate some new root growth by the change. And with luck the transplant won't kill them. I tried to avoid heat stressing them as much as I could. And the third is poor Incognito. One of my Incognitos fried during a water shortage, so I bought a replacement and it fried inside the house before I got it plants. It's coming back now, but i've promised it a warm winter indoors and then a transplant outside next spring. If she continues to improve, I'll pot her soon as well and let her bunk near her bigger sisters. For now, she's on the kitchen counter where I can keep my eye on her.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
4:34PM - Stopping to smell the roses
It's been a rough few weeks here and I'm looking for a break, just about any break would do. Emotional roller coasters and hectic work schedule and crises aplenty. Thankfully many of them now are under resolution and things are looking up. Though I did have to give up my summer dog show plans to make them happen. I still really wish I could get to the shows, but there's just not enough money to go around so the most important things get done first. So good luck to all my silken friends that will be going to the shows, I'll be with you in spirit.
But I did have a fun morning with a friend of mine on Sunday. Dave came out and took some pictures of me with my roses and of me in general. Since I've lost 97 pounds things have changed greatly for me in clothes and appearance and eating habits and energy and I wanted some picts that showed me relaxing with my roses.
That's me with Cabana on my right and Purple Tiger on my left. Both fun Striped roses. It was very nice to get a shot of me enjoying another one of my favorite things. And believe it or not, I'm even wearing makeup. It didn't last long;-), but be amazed that Dave got me to do that at all and that I had any skill in applying it.
So take some time in your own life to enjoy your hounds or your roses or both:-) And make time to appreciate the small things in life that make our lives whole.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
11:24AM - Space's new frontier
Space is truly a wonderful dog. When I bred his parents his temperament is exactly what I'd hoped for and it came out in a beautiful package. He achieved his two championships in 2 weekends (6 shows) and I was so impressed by then. He then added on a CGC and is currently working on Rally, but in the meantime he was tested and evaluated for his aptitude as a therapy dog. Space passed the Delta Evaluation with Flying colors and now it's up to me to get up to snuff so that he and I can begin to travel and visit in hospitals. Space I think is a natural, he has a great empathy with people from babies to elderly and just wants to be near them all and make them smile.
Above is a picture of Space and I taking a ride int he back of a 1946 Firetruck. Space had to climb up into the back and did fine with that. He was a little nervous about the sirens, but handled it with his usual aplomb. We had a great time riding in it and many thanks to Sam at PLC's Plus for bringing it to our Picnic.
Monday, June 4, 2007
3:05PM - Movies, Books
This weekend I did actually get to watch some movies, it's been a while since I worked that in. The four movies were Pirates of the Caribbean:At World's End, Hannibal Rising (unrated), Catch and Release, and Mistress of Spices.
POTC3 was long and really in need of some serious editing work. That last 1/2 was fabulous, but it seem the beginning half drug, was too much convoluted setup and was to contrived in many places. I do love the scene of a ship in the desert being manned by a plethora of Cap'n Jack's but overall some more editing would have made it a bit tighter. It was better than the second movie and a relay good finish to the series. But that first movie will always be my favorite:-).
Hannibal rising was well done, had a lot of good background for the good Doctor and the actor who played him did a great job in studying what hopkins did before and putting that to use. You can see little movements, phrases etc, that we've come to expect from Hannibal start in the infancy in this young man. Two thumbs up from this Lecter fan :-)
Catch and Release should have stayed at Blockbuster. I'd been wanting to rent it for so long and now I wonder why. It's inane and contrived love story or a woman who lost her fiance and then ends up falling in love with his best friend. Yes it is that contrived. It was nice to see Kevin Smith in a speaking part (Go Silent Bob), but the actors weren't believable in their roles and things came together just too tidily and easily. The one person who truly seemed to miss the deceased was his buddy that built him a peace garden. I'm not sure that Jennifer Garner's character ever relaly knew her fiance or really cared.
Mistress of Spices, I got this solely becuase it's done by the same people that did Bride and Prejudice one of my favorite movies that never fails to lift my spirits when I'm tired, blue, etc. This also stars the same lead actress, Aishwarya Rai, who is a fun actress and stunningly beautiful. This was another fun Indian love story between a woman who has given her life to her spices and an American man who falls in love with her. It's a fun twist as the spices themselves play as a large ensemble cast in the movie and it's as much fun wondering what spice she'll talk to, about, work with next as it is watching the more animate actors :-). That was original and I greatly enjoyed it. I'd rank it up with Amelie for a fun love story.
I just finished listening to Jodi Picoult's "Second Glance" narrated by George Guidall. He's not my favorite narrator, probably most likely because of my prejudice against him for replacing Frank Muller on the Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. It's partly irrational, but there were some critical areas that George could have done more correctly, like name pronounciation (after all he had 3 full novels to hear how Frank said the characters names). But it's also because he's not a terribly dynamic reader. His voice is pleasant, but it's hard to tell from one book to the other that it's new characters, situations etc. He's fairly bland as narrators go. Thankfully not as bad as whoever did Eragon, that was purely dreadful. Take note narrators, just because one of the characters is a female dragon you do not need to try and make your voice harsh and gravely, yet still feminine. Sean Connery did a great job on Dragonheart and just used his own voice and I'm grateful Rachel Wiesz did an admirable job with the dragon's voice in Eragon. But back to Second Glance. I enjoyed the premise, but it was pretty convoluted to keep everyone straight and made for a harder listen that I expected (listening while I'm at work, I try and get more brainless things;-). This book had more ghosts and time shifts than average, not bad, but with the narration hard to figure out sometimes. A better or at least a narrator that is better able to differentiate the characters would have improved it. It's a worthwhile read, but I think better off in printed form than in audio. And no, I'm not going to tell you a thing about it :-).
11:56AM - Irrigation and Pasture
Last year I moved my horses, put in irrigation on 4 + Acres, mowed, sprayed, water, rototilled, seeded, drug, and watered and watered and watered. This year it has paid off. I think the horses are going to enjoy 1/2 time on it all summer saving me much in the way of hay. I'll still need hay for Erik, who doesn't have any pasture yet (but I'm working on it, maybe by 2008). But it means only one large load of hay for winter, instead of two, cutting my hay costs just about in 1/2. But here's the best part:
That right there makes it all worthwhile. Horses never look any better than when they are free munching green grass.
I'm sure I'll be cursing them later, when they start breaking sprinklers, but that hasn't happened yet, so for now we can just enjoy it.
11:33AM - Roses and Rose shows
So you've heard about my rose addiction. I've planted over 100 roses this year and I still have to find spots for two new latecomers. I think I may have that solved, but I'll have to see. But anyway I also joined our local Rose Society to learn more about the exhibition side of growing roses as well as to find more about the products people use and what problems certain plants run into. Well that got me roped into the Tri-City rose show. I've never shown roses, though I've read some about exhibiting them and what "exhibition roses" are, but it's not something I've ever done. I grow the roses for my own enjoyment and if no one ever smells them but me and no one ever judges them I'm fine with that. I get to enjoy the blossoms and to me, most blossoms can qualify as perfect. I'll make an exception to diseased and infested blossoms, but in general, all are gorgeous.
So I attended a meeting a learned a bit about what I was looking for I picked up my vases and some tags, no knowing what I would be showing. Here's the fun thing about rose showing. Unless you have a large cooler or unoccupied fridge, you get to pick your show prospects that morning. I'm used to showing dogs and horses where you can show the same animal for years and spend months prepping them. This whole last minute thing was new to me! Also being at the mercy of the weather, the plants blooming cycle, etc is a whole new idea. But I found 8 roses and cut them and cleaned them and wedged them and prepped them and got them to the show. 4 of them got ribbons (miniature roses get miniature ribbons :-). I'll try and get pictures of the appropriate rose variety (obviously not the same bloom) and it's ribbon when I receive the ribbons. This is Golden Celebration, a rose I did show that took second in the David Austin class.
Next year I want to clerk at the show, in that position you get to hear what the judges say about all the roses individually and I could see that being very enlightening and helpful.
One thing that I did note was the lack of jealousy or poor sportsmanship that is common with my other showing pursuits. I wondered if that's because there are no people present during the judging so the rose can't be judged on who "handled" it. The names of the participants are hidden until the judging is completed. Also there is no stigma of that rose being bred by so-and-so, since it would be very very unlikely that a real rose breeder would be exhibiting their roses. Of the one I've met, they seem busy enough growing, creating and selling roses, that they only compete in the big AARS breeder's trials and such. Not really much in the way of exhibitions. But everyone walked around and remarked on how gorgeous the roses were, how wonderful they smelled, and the only questions I heard were, "what do you think they use to make that rose so lovely, mine just don't turn out like that." So back to interest in products. Overall it was fun, but a bit surreal being so different from the rest of the showing I've done. And of course at the end of the day, the roses are thrown out and room is made for the new blooming int he garden.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
12:08PM - Deltek Woes
So I'm going to take a moment and indulge myself in some self pity in the hopes that writing about it and getting it off my chest will let me just buckle down and get back to fixing the darned thing. My company uses a Financial Management System called Deltek, a high powered, highly integrated Ferrari of a FMS and it can just do wonders. I love using it and enjoy working with it every day. I'm the main user of it in our office and was there from the very beginning from our transition to excel spreadsheets o a fully performing integrated FMS. But on 4/23/07 Deltek opted to become the Titanic and our server sank and then was corrupted and the backups couldn't be found and then the ones found couldn't be recovered (by us or a recovery group). Talk about my worst nightmare on that front, (I've got other nightmares on the home front, dog front, horse front, etc). This one is the worst on the work front. Timing is never good for something like this to come in and ruin your life, but it was exceptionally bad with expansion and a lot of spending on contracts we needed to watch cash flow and now all of a sudden we couldn't.
So once we realized that there wasn't going to be much of a chance getting our background restored to usability, I began to rebuild. Those of you used to Quickbooks, this is nothing like Quickbooks. I've rebuilt Quickbooks companies in hours. Deltek takes longer because it is so integrated and really I've only done a setup on it once. So it's been slow going with me contracting our favorite wonderful Tech rep every time I needed help. It's also hard because we have people in and out of our office all day long needing us and that is distracting when you need to take time, think steps through and get it right. So i worked nights for a few days to deal with that, but it compounds the tech support issue since they aren't available then either.
But now we are mostly set up again, and I'm just talking setup, Data entry is entirely different.I'm beginning data entry with AP/timesheets and then I have to recreate payrolls and invoices and make sure they match what we've paid/submitted. All in all it's a few weeks process for all this data.
But, and here comes the whine, my boss, also my brother, is spending time micromanaging this process when he 1) doesn't know the system and 2) can't help rebuild it. So he's spending time driving me crazy by second guessing everything I say we need to do. Now I'm not the most savvy Deltek person around, but I DO know a darn site more than anyone else in this building about it. So If I say we do it this way, it's either because 1) Deltek support told me to, or 2) I know it has to go this way from my 3 years of using this program. So unfortunately my brother is trying very hard to be the straw that's making this already difficult time just that much harder and break my back on it. It's a bit harder on me that he's been so very nice to our IT guy, whose mistake this really is. He can't fix it, but it is his job that things like this never happen. So my brother is fine with what our IT guy did, but is riding me hard to fix the mistake. I lke out IT guy and he does a great job and has been swamped recently with both work and personal things and I understand all that. I can forgive all that, but the difference in treatment of me versus our IT guy is what bugs me. It's a case of my brother treating me like a sister and not an employee and giving preferentially nice treatment to the non-family member. Due to this problem I had to cancel my vacation for the year as well, so the resentment over the treatment is worsened by knowing I could just have gone on my vacation anyway, since I'm obviously not appreciated here for the extra effort and dedication.
Anyway, whine over. Thanks for listening I needed to let that go and move on.
Alison
aggravatedWednesday, April 18, 2007
10:05PM - The Thorn about Roses
Lsat weekend I went to Heirloom Roses in Portland to pick up my order of roses. I had never been there, but the nursey is wonderful, they have tons of grenhouses and all the plants are gorgeous and thriving and I can't wait to go back when it's all in bloom. So I returned home with my wonderful order of roses and dream of my garden plans. As it's still a bit too cold here at night to plant them, I've been carting them out of the house every morning for sun and bringing them in every night under lights. I live in the country and I never expected this to be a problem, but tonight I found out differently. Some one stole two of my roses. Anyone knowing me would ask, how in the world would you notice. Well it's like a mother hen and chicks, you know when the wrong number is there. Going through my order I found out they stole Don Juan and Strike it Rich. I don't know why they picked these two, they were next to each other and not in bloom, so they don't look that much different from the others. But I'm very upset.
Strike it Rich is a 2007 release and not terribly easy to come by I can get a replacement for it, but I can't fathom stealing someone else's roses. But the loss of Don Juan hurts in a much more emotional way. I lost a beloved cat this year and Don Juan was the rose I was going to plant in her memory. It hurts emotionally to think about that since I had planned so much and so hard to get these roses and for sure picking out the right one for her. I'm angry and devestated that someone felt they had the right to walk up to my fence paw through my roses and just steal them. The roses will have to make do with the lights and windows until I can plant them.
There is a special place in hell for someone who steals other peoples flowers and I take some relief in knowing that's where they are going. To you who stole the roses, I hope their thorns prick you plenty and that their blooms bring you no joy. You are a Flower Thief and deserve not the enjoyment they can bring.
Maybe some one will start microchipping plants . . .
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