Tuesday, January 22, 2008

A Warmer Shade of Cold

It was to be a practically balmy high of 32 F degrees today, wow.  It's still cold, mind.  It was calling for a wintery advisory of sleet, freezing rain, and snow.  We saw brief showers of sleet at one point this afternoon at "the" barn.  The ground and snow was still fairly frozen, the sun shone brightly. 

This morning's first walk with Daisy didn't require a hat to keep from hypothermia ears within minutes.  I didn't feel sharp cold through my corduroy pants the instant I went outdoors.  It was noticeably less frigid than the single digit weather over the weekend; I almost enjoyed having Daisy spend time with Paschma (cotton candy in Farsi, I do not know how to spell that).  The heater didn't hesitate like a car not quite turning over, but turned on nice gas heat when I flicked the switch. 

I still had a cup of hot tea with breakfast, okay, FOR breakfast (but I ate something soon after).  I still haven't gotten a nice instant chai tea latte mix for the winter, and my most local grocer hasn't even carried the liquid chai tea for months.  I've gone from withdrawal to checking out my options.  Hmmm, sorting through Christmas gifts, this decaffeinated one (oh heck no), or yes, okay, Earl Grey.  I was always an herbal tea gal.  I still love those:)  I want my caffeine now.  I remember evenings with Dougie and Stephanie, one in particular when they switched the sugar and salt, goating me on to add "sugar" to my tea in just such a fashion, that I lingered and decided not to.  Ha.  I add sugar and milk.  Oh yum.  THIS is how I have to have "regular" tea.

For lunch, I put on my mittens but don't really NEED them.  I still get soup, Maryland crab soup that's okay (could use more solid, less shredded crab meat, and more veggies, but the overall idea is traditional and good).  Nice and warm.

M was to run this morning at school, the weather still cold, and yet she was sent with a sweatshirt and polartec jacket (both from my house) to wear, no mittens/gloves, no hat, no scarf.  Sigh.  (The first time, she had an astham attack, so at least she takes her inhaler in advance now.)

By afternoon, she was fine warmth-wise.  We weren't sure "the" barn would be open for kids, so I came right after school to pick her up.  "Mom, can you stay and watch me ride??!!!"  She is working with beautiful white horse, Sage, who looks like a carousel horse, to help get her ready to be auctioned.  While it's sad to see her go and some others go, they aren't isn't being ridden currently at this barn.  Today was an afternoon she'd get to work with Sage.  Ah, what the heck.  I'll stay.

M picks Sage's hooves, and brushes her.   Pineapple's breath showed in the air.  Earlier, M pondered only a moment when asked by a younger girl if she should put a cooler (type of blanket) on her horse.  "Nah, it's not that cold."  Ha.  Comparatively.

A boy runs up out of breath to the point I wonder if he has asthma trouble, also.  He shouts out that horse, Noodle, is on "the" road.  Ah, which road (as in, hopefully it's the long driveway "road," not thee big road).  "Go tell (Barn Assistant)," I tell him, and M grabs a lead rope, gets further details as to where the loose horse is, yikes "big" road which could be serious trouble, and races off.  Barn Assistant is joined by a parent, who believes that Noodle is now in someone's garage. 

They drive off, while I stay behind with the younger girl so that she's not left unsupervised while she finished tacking up Pineapple.  At the time, there was also a dad there helping his young daughter tack up, but I wasn't sure if he was still around or not.  This younger girl, Pineapple's rider, starts wondering aloud if it's really Noodle who escaped, after all, and goes to check.  She then checks all the others, mentioning who is sneaky, who could do this trick and that and get out in that location.  NONE of "the" barn's horses are missing, phew (Barn Assistant didn't think that likely, either, but who is to question in a potential emergency?).

Ends up that this was a neighbor's horse.  A boy who rides at "the" barn has his own pony, Peaches I think, who escaped.  The "man" who had Peaches in a garage was really a woman who is a horse caretaker, also with a baby in her car in the garage.  While she was handling the situation, it was still a good idea to have other equestrians to assist just in case (and a couple tagalongs lol).  M tells me how bad off Peaches hooves got from this escape on the big road, her face wincing.  Thankfully, Peaches is in good hands and is safe.

The excitement and gratitudes over, a girl arrives just when her lesson is to start. This means that she missed her time to tack up and prepare her horse, Echo, and herself.  Barn Assistant asks M to help out.  "Sure."  (Helping out is a daily thing for M, who also "closed up"the bigger barn, sometimes sets feed, and feeds, or applies basic medicines.)  The girls mom is SO happy that M is helping show the girl how to do things, and getting her ready.  She asks me questions, also, about horse back riding, different local barns, the school, and camp.  The horse camp there at "the" barn that, surprise, M's too old for this year (I could have sworn she had through this summer). 

They head to the indoor ring.  The outdoor ring is still covered in snow, and would not be good for their hooves, for one thing, can't imagine horse back riding on the icy patches.  I make a pit stop, in part to warm up my toes some.  I wasn't anticipating being outside for long, and they were getting COLD!

It was nice watching M, even while she's not in a lesson, I can see the difference in her riding ability as she manuever's Sage about the three girls during their lesson.  This is a beginner's lesson, half-way through the year.  I remember when M was that young, and we seeked knowledge from the older girls.  Now, M is one of the older girls.  She maybe possibly will even get to help out this summer (depending on the schedule, her visitation schedule cuts into the session weeks sigh, and heck, C didn't even allow her to attend her lesson yesterday but they did NOTHING else mind).  Right now?  I'm pleased to see how gracious she is, and later, before she started her astronomy homework, I let her know that.  "It's stuff I do every day."  Ah, but today, I could watch.

Day is done.  It's still cold, yes, but what a nicer version of winter this is now than the frigid single digit and teen temperatures this weekend (when having Daisy AND a cat sleep with me was nice for the additional warmth).  Even if barncat Raptor wouldn't let me take a photo of him today in the sun, against the worn green barn walls just a ledge above the snow.  He wanted to be scratched, instead, enjoy the NOW instead of having me capture the moment.

It's a full moon on the frozen landscape, a warmer shade of winter.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

reading from the script

No time to go home, go to the bank (ack, I'd forgotten the checks I wrote for M's costumes for "Big Show,"), AND write my last entry on my lunch break.  I'd already consumed my brought-from home healthy snacks.  It was a fast-food drive thru if I was going to eat and not have a hypoglycemic spell.  Limited choices... hmmm, let me try...

"I'd like a veggie burger, please."

"Just the sandwich, or the meal?"  I don't eat fries, other than 2 of M's if she orders some, and I'll save the drink money for the water fountain.

"Just the sandwich, please."

"Cheese, bacon, or jalapeno peppers on that?"  There are several possible reasons for someone to order a veggie burger, not one of which is compatible with the desire to top it with bacon.

I'm not sure if she is required to ask that, or if she just wasn't really thinking.

I did pay 20 cents extra for the slice of cheese.  The sandwich WAS pretty good (next time, I'll ask for no mayo, who puts mayo on a burger of any type??!).  But, BACON?

Don't Stand/Hang out at MY Desk!

Just because YOU are sick (with a virus no less, not something that can't be passed along readily, just because YOU "have meetings all afternoon" even when you could call in for them, just because YOU like to be at least 5 minutes early for every meeting, especially our boss, just because OUR boss is amazingly on-time considering his ADHD, just because our coworker (Kiss-up Manager) is the one with Boss currently and she always takes extra time, this time legitimately, does NOT mean you get to hang out and over MY cubicle!

For the 7 minutes you waited, sick, standing over MY cubicle ledge. 

And started asking me questions so okay, fine, ask, but at least see if I'm in the middle of something first.  I finished and talked w/ him, NewGuy, but I finally said I was working on something, in hopes he'd sit down to wait.  He walked around.  Ah, gee, great, let's spread the germs ALL over.

Another coworker and him were sharing over the counter drugs at MY cubicle, earlier.  She left early for the doctor Monday, but otherwise kept working (thankfully for me, yesterday in another location, and I otherwise really like her).

ARGH ARGH ARGH.  So now my head is starting in, and my nose is running.

Gee, thanks. 

If you're sick and you're going to insist upon coming INto the office to work, can you PLEASE not hang out in MY area?  I can't afford to get sick, and get my DD sick (who is to sing the lead role in Cinderella in a few weeks).   What if I was still caring for my father?  Something like this could have killed him.

PLEASE at least attempt (or pretend) to be courteous.  Sheesz.

A few coworkers are working from home today, as they are sick. 

(And, if NewGuy is going to still show up at least 5 minutes early all the time?  Fine, others do, shrug, but don't get antsy at 1 minute after the start time, too, please, and yes, be respectful that I may be doing work, too, at that moment, cuz I was though I'm also happy to assist him, otherwise as needed.  And, when I say I need to talk with Boss first about something?  Don't go into Boss' office, also, as what I have to say may not be for his info, too, yanno?)

Mostly, DON'T GET ME SICK.  I like being well.

* note -- NewGuy wasn't sure he'd get paid if he went/stayed home, which comprised some of the questions he had for me.  (He would be paid,and may stay home some of tomorrow.)  I can emphatize (sp) with that dilemna.  Just, please, add some courtesy and don't go socializing so much!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Doug and Red

 

My aunt Vesta sent me this photo today.  Seems a former girlfriend of my late cousin, Dougie (right) had found this on Richard's myspace page, titled Rest in Peace.  An old photo, guessing early 80's. 

FYI -- Doug's friend, Red, was working on a road crew, and got hit by a vehicle driving by.  He was paralyzed, a teenager paralyzed for life due to someone's reckless driving by a construction road crew site.  Please consider that these are REAL LIVE PEOPLE there when you drive near or by such a site.  Thank you.

Anyway, they were really close friends growing up and most likely until the day Dougie died.

I still miss him.

I had a lot of dreams over Christmas break and such.  In one, I was on a trip, most likely to a feis with M.  There isn't a lot of time for visiting and touring if going to and from a place to feis.  My cousin Dougie (not my brother Doug), was standing by a doorway, waiting for us to go do something, while I made plans to stay an extra day or two to spend time with him and my other relatives in Maine.  

Today, in writing my aunt back, I remembered another time I extended a trip to spend more time with Doug.  Even when we didn't live in Maine, we'd visit.  One summer, Dougie and I decided I just had to stay up there longer.   Hmmm, Alice Cooper was going to play the Portland Ampitheatre.  Not that I'd ever heard of Alice Cooper at this point, didn't even know Alice was a man, not that Dougie was a particularly enthusiastic fan, either.  (We were much more Beatle's fanatics, especially Dougie.)  Yet, somehow, we convinced our moms that Alice Cooper was thee greatest ever for kids our age (likely freshmen or sophmores in high school -- we're the same age, both born the same year, 1961).  HAHAHA.  So, on the strength of us just having to see this concert, which was a blast and a memory I'll never forget, I got to hang out with Dougie and (his sister/ my other cousin) Stephanie a week or several weeks longer.

And, Red?  If someone points this out to you, wave a hello.  I've thought of you and hope you're doing well.  Oh, and hope you don't mind a few of us "stole" your photo.

-- Robin

p.s. -- funny how songs can have whole different meanings sometimes, eh?  (I hope this clarification is not needed, but fyi we were NEVER "kissing cousins."  Close friends, whatever, but nothing ever physical / romantic that'd be, well.  We weren't.  Laughing now -- he DID like his ladies, however........ Just found that some of the other lyrics fit, not ALL.)

PINK LYRICS:  "Who Knew"

You took my hand
You showed me how
You promised me you'd be around
Uh huh
That's right
I took your words
And I believed
In everything
You said to me
Yeah huh
That's right

If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out
Cause they're all wrong
I know better
Cause you said forever
And ever
Who knew

Remember when we were such fools
And so convinced and just too cool
Oh no
No no
I wish I could touch you again
I wish I could still call you friend
I'd give anything

When someone said count your blessings now
'fore they're long gone
I guess I just didn't know how
I was all wrong
They knew better
Still you said forever
And ever
Who knew

Yeah yeah
I'll keep you locked in my head
Until we meet again
Until we
Until we meet again
And I won't forget you my friend
What happened

If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out
Cause they're all wrong and
That last kiss
I'll cherish
Until we meet again
And time makes
It harder
I wish I could remember
But I keep
Your memory
You visit me in my sleep
My darling
Who knew
My darling
My darling
Who knew
My darling
I miss you
My darling
Who knew
Who knew




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