Tree Dragging and Other Fun Weekend Games

So ... we finished splitting and stacking the wood for burning this year. Of course, the spot out back where we pile the green wood to season was empty, so DH had the urge to fill it. He took down three trees this weekend. He has his eye on two more in our backyard, and my SIL has three or four she wants taken down at her house.

I try to remind him that, although HE may have time off on the weekends, I don't. So, my days were filled with humping wood and branches, my evenings and morning with computer work.

Still, it was a gorgeous weekend. I did fit a little time off in -- went to the dog park both Saturday and Sunday. One of my favorite pastimes is watching dogs interact with one another. It's incredible how the bad energy from one dog affects an entire group.

We were there alone with Dakota at first, then a lady came with two big dogs: a red boxer mix and what looked like a boxer/mastiff or boxer/pit bull in tan. The second, tan dog was a foster-to-potential-adopt they'd only had for a week, so they weren't sure how he'd behave, though they'd had no trouble with his interaction with other dogs up to this time.

The first dog was clearly alpha. He wasn't mean, just dominant. He made sure Dakota understood (she did!) then went around on his merry way. The second, tan dog was still young (just under a year) and only wanted to play, play, play. He had a great energy and he and Dakota had a blast.

Then came a lady with a black lab mix who was VERY submissive, but also nervous. Still, all four were getting along fine once the lab realized no one was going to eat her.

Then came trouble. An English Sheepdog who was still young (just a year) and felt as though he should be alpha dog. He came in excited, barking and basically telling everyone how it was. The first thing he did was find the little, nervous lab and start barking at it non-stop, constantly in its face. The lab tried to go away, tried hiding under the table, behind people's legs, whatever, but the dog wouldn't leave it alone. When it started showing teeth, though, it was time to intercede (and yeah, I kinda get involved in other people's dogs).

The first red boxer, though, had had enough. And when the sheepdog decided to assert himself to the tan dog (in the red dog's "pack") the real fun began. No real fight, but some very aggressive posturing. Over and over. The owners of the boxer put him on-leash (as they should have), but it took having the sheepdog leave before things settled.

I suspect this happens in groups of people, too, only we don't have the uninhibited responses that dogs do. We understand we can't just get in a person's face and say "I don't like you." and follow them around, shoving them until they understand their place.

I prefer dogs.

And now, I'm out of time already. Hope you all had great weekends! Tomorrow, a NaNoWriMo discussion.

=================

You Are Reflective

You are very analytical, and you rarely panic. You know that nothing is as big of a crisis as it first seems. You like all of your stuff to be in its place. It drives you crazy to be disorganized. Sometimes your strong sense of responsibility leads to frustration. You take too much on. You are very introverted, and you prefer to blend in whenever possible.

The Card Test

HAHAHAHA... yeah, mostly. Not a big "blender" but othewise, right on.

Truths and Trees and Trinkets

Never do anything that you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics. ~ Author Unknown

So ... we took down three more trees yesterday -- all oaks. Two were fairly small, but one was huge and it was oh-so much fun moving brush and piling logs. I just kept saying, "I'm going to be so glad in the winter when I'm toasty warm." over and over. I wasn't entirely convinced of that, though, when it started to rain on us while we worked. *sigh*

DD has decided she wants her own laptop. So, that's her next "I'm saving for" item. The computer she uses now is my old, old desktop (from six or seven years ago). It's functional but incredibly slow. I've told her that just because she *might* get a laptop, she doesn't get to have it in her room. We'll see. She keeps getting tempted by other things (most recently, she stumbled on last year's Holiday Barbie on sale for only $15 and bought it), so the laptop may not happen for awhile.

I did put up a pile of new jewelry on her ArtFire site last week. For some reason, I really like these earrings:



DD's favorites from what I uploaded were these:



She's busily at work making Christmas earrings. I bought her a bunch of red and green Swarovski Crystal beads as well as small white ones. They're SO pretty and sparkly... I can't wait to see what she does with them.

And now, without further ado I give you for your daily giggle ...

Truths:

1. A best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. Map Quest really needs to start directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I
know how to get out of my neighborhood.

6. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

7. Bad decisions make good stories.

8. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

9. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

10. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

11. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

12. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

13. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

14. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

15. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

16. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch three consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

17. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys
in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey -but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away,in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

18. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

Have a great Monday!

========================

You Are the Left Side of the Brain

You are a logical and orderly person. You have a system for almost everything in your life. You like to stay busy, and it's important that you stay on task. You prefer to do one thing at a time. You are rational and detail oriented. You love to analyze, and you have a head for numbers. You are also good with words. You love to read, and you've been known to write well.

What Side of the Brain Are You?

Yep. That one is right on...

===================

Busy, Busy, Busy...

If you've never experienced the joy of accomplishing more than you can imagine, plant a garden. ~ Robert Brault

Yay for Monday! This weekend exhausted me, lol...

Yesterday was gorgeous here (if you ignore the 30 MPH winds): sunny and pretty warm -- near 60 degrees.

DH decided at 8 a.m. that we had to go to Lowe's and get stuff, so off we went. We came home with a nectarine tree, several tree rings and the burning need to get that tree and the peach tree we bought a week or so ago into the ground. I only had that one spot cleared, so off into the woods I went, shovel and clippers in hand.

This spot was near an oak tree DH had downed a few years ago, so I was continually hitting some big tree roots. And rocks!! Dear heavens, were there rocks! Finally DH came to help me do the harder stuff, and my job was to roll the rocks out and sift through for blueberry bush and mountain laurel roots.

We finally got both trees planted, and then decided to move one of our apricot trees, so off DH went to dig another spot. This is a fairly big tree, so we're hoping it will survive the move -- but it was planted FAR too close to the apple trees we have, and as a result neither tree is doing well. Since the apples are even bigger AND are producing fruit, they got to stay where they were.

DD worked on her woods garden some more as well, adding all the various bulbs and tubers I found while digging spots for the trees (a few years ago, I lined the edge of the woods with rhubarb, irises and daffodils -- all deer resistant).

So, a busy day, but a good one.

How was your weekend?

==========================

Brandy commented yesterday that she'd love to plant bulbs but doesn't know how. Let me tell you: bulbs are the easiest thing to grow, without exception, if you choose the right flowers. Here in NH, some types have to be pulled out every fall because they aren't cold hardy (calla/canna lilies, gladiolus, and dahlias for example) so I don't plant those. I'm a lazy gardener -- I typically focus on perennials and not annuals because I don't want to spent my days planting.

Here in NH you plants your new bulbs in the fall because they need to harden through the winter, but I don't know all the rules for various zones. I'm sure it would be easy to find out.

I plant daffodils, crocus, tulips (not my faves, because they don't always flower year-to-year), allium and whatever those cute little blue and purple flowers are around my mailbox. This fall, I'm adding hyacinth.

You dig. You pop the bulb into the hole. You cover.

Then, like a miracle, when the time is right, the bulb grows.

Poof.

Easy peasy.

Even better, every year, they make babies, so you have more and more flowers every year!!

Brandy, you should give it a try.

=====================

You Are Royal Blue

People find you difficult to understand. In fact, you often find it hard to understand yourself. You think so much that sometimes you get lost in your own thoughts!

What Color Blue Are You?

LOL... it's pretty darn close!

===================

Wonderful Weather!

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see. ~John Burroughs

Long but lovely day yesterday. Nearly 70 degrees, sunny and almost no wind. I walked with DD and Dakota twice -- about 3 miles the first time, and only 1/2 mile the second. I cleaned out flower gardens and saw how much is coming up -- hopefully when the weather cools down to the point we'll go into the 20's overnight next week, nothing much dies.

DH wants to have an orchard of sorts on the edge of our lawn. We already have two apple trees that are producing pretty well, but he wants peaches, too, and maybe more apples. Not a lot of fruit trees will grow here (I'd sure love oranges... *sigh*), but I'm going to research what does best.

However, in order to plant where he wants to... there needed to be a massacre. Out came the chain saw. Casualties of war thus far? One maple, one HUGE birch and a beech tree.





Now we just need to dig back about two feet into the woods and clear out all the blueberry bushes ... not an easy task. DH mentioned that he has a friend who "collects" large equipment, and he could borrow a backhoe or some-such thing but there is NO WAY I'm letting him loose with that kind of machinery. Our entire plot of land would be re-excavated. So, I told him we'd (mostly me and DD) would do it by hand. It took us about a month to clear out the space for DD's swingset that way, and I had my mom to help then, so as soon as the ground isn't frozen (almost there!), we'll get to work for a couple hours every day.

After hauling brush and stacking logs yesterday afternoon, I told DH that I'd changed my mind -- I didn't want to be a pioneer woman. I wanted to go live in a condo in the city and spend my days at the spa and my evenings at cocktail parties and Broadway shows.

I don't think he believed me.

=====================

The only writing I did yesterday was in my brain, but I did think of what kind of pets I wanted my heroine in my "Kitchen Matches" sequel to have AND their names. And no, I'm not sharing because it will ruin the effect when you read it *G*.

======================

You Are Skepticism

You live by the philosophy "Question Everything." And you do question everything, including this quiz result. You think people believe in too much, and you think very little is true. You scoff at astrology and psychics. You're not a nihilist - you believe in some things. But you only believe in what's true and tested. You have lots of opinions and theories, but you never take them too seriously. You're always willing to change your mind.

What's Your Ism?

Not close at all! LOL...

Today, the Night Before

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. — Stephen King

I'm writing this the night before, so that I have plenty of time to write in the morning. If you want to know my word count for the day, check JaNoWriMo a little later for what I've accomplished.

Today was crazy -- I had lots of work to do on the LASR/WC site, but despite this, DH decided to cut down a huge oak tree in our back yard. DD and I went out to help after it was down: dragged brush, moved logs, stacked them in the place where the OLD stuff we just split and moved used to be so it can season for next year.

I also hurt myself. I have a bad toe -- no one seems to be able to figure out WHY it hurts all the time, but it does. It's the big toe on my right foot (and writing that makes me think of a song the Smothers Brothers sang:

I have a daisy on my toe,
It's not alive it does not grow,
It's just a tattoo of a flower
So I look neat taking a shower,
It's on the second toe of my left foot,
A stem and flower, but there's not root,
(spoken) Because that wouldn't look good.
I have a daisy on my toe,
My right foot loves my left foot so-o-o-o-o.

*ahem* ... moving on...) and it's -- my toe, remember?-- it's hurt for a good ten years or so. In any case, today while I was carrying a log to the trailer on our tractor, I stumbled and landed with that toe on the edge of a log. I heard :::crackle, crack, crackle::: and then was overcome with pain. It's currently swollen and bruised, and it's a little hard to walk.

Ow.

I also had to make dog food. I'd cooked the chicken yesterday, and had DD remove it from the bones this morning while I chopped and cooked veggies. When we came in from processing the tree, I put the dog food together.

And I still had time to do the LASR/WC pages AND this:



Because NaNoWriMo isn't NaNoWriMo without a collage.

How was your weekend?

===========================

You Are Milk Chocolate

A total dreamer, you spend most of your time with your head in the clouds. You often think of the future, and you are always working toward your ideal life. Also nostalgic, you rarely forget a meaningful moment... even those from long ago.

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

Blogthings: A Fine Line Between Insight and Stupidity

Hmmm... maybe.

======================

Tired...

Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing "Embraceable You" in spats. ~Woody Allen

Okay... yesterday really did me in. I spent the late morning outside whacking down all my dead plants (bye bye clematis, see ya later hosta, au revoir ageratum...) and then planting my bulbs (I bought too many, and had to get creative with planting!). Then, immediately following lunch, DH announced we were going to start work on cutting up the trees our neighbor took down over the summer.

There are eight of them.

I decided I much prefer working with newly felled trees, because everytime I tried to pull on a branch, it broke. DD and I worked on clearing all of the branches so DH could see the logs. She and I are covered in bumps and scrapes from the stupid things. Then it was time to go around and pick up all the smallish logs DH cut and move them into a pile closer to where we could haul them out. The area where the trees were felled was uneven and damp so made for some interesting times. We only worked for about three hours, but I was pooped.

This morning I'm pretty certain there isn't a muscle on me that doesn't hurt. And we're nowhere near done. There's more to be cut and more to be moved and then we still have to haul it over to our house and stack it out back to season.

Anyone want to come help? We pay in pizza...

======================

I was going to start writing this blog earlier, but I got sidetracked by one of those links at the top of my gmail account. It was from Discovery and was about "Great Science Hoaxes". Then, once I finished reading that, I saw "Barking Dogs Explained" which wasn't anything new and then "Why Does Soda Taste Good?" and had to read it. Next, this caught my eye, "Hurricane History Recorded in Earth's Noise" ... And... why does Discovery have to be so dang interesting??

========================

You Are Archive

You are competent, organized, and careful. You know how to stay on task and focus on the most important thing. You like to have everything in its place. Messes and chaos completely stress you out. You have a system for almost everything in your life, and you don't like to deviate from it. Calendars, routines, and having things in a certain order keeps you calm. You don't like to shake things up too much.

What Email Function Are You?

LOL... yep that's about right! *G*

======================

Soaking Sunday

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens

Yesterday started off overcast and cool, but around 2 pm the sun came out! Yay! DD and I tied out Dd (because she kept running off -- she's terrified of the tie out, so I hate to put her on it, but it's that or the crate because she can't be left inside unattended) and did some yard work. I raked out all of my flower gardens and DD worked on the grass.

DH and his brother and cousin came home from chopping down a tree at SILs and we then had the great Pine Tree Massacre. He hates pine trees because they are messy and they kill everything underneath them.

Today, though, it will rain. And rain. And rain. Many inches. This should get rid of what's left of the snow (YAY), but makes for a long, housebound day.

That's okay. Tomorrow is Monday... the best day of the week!

=========================

Yesterday morning, my cat would NOT let me sleep and it made me think of Simon's cat. I love Simon's cat, so had to share. I know most of you have seen it, but it's always good for a laugh.



==========================

To Sleep...?

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. ~Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

So... I forced myself to sleep in this morning. I got up with the dog at 3:30 and curled up on the couch because I knew the cat would just come sleep there instead of demanding her food at 4 a.m. It worked. I didn't get up until almost 6 a.m., but now I feel... off. DD got up at 6:30, I lost all of my "alone" time and I haven't even had a cup of coffee.

I think I prefer lack of sleep.

===========================

Well, DH got caught up in something yesterday and couldn't get the tree... at about 3:30 he told DD and I to go get it without him. So we did :-)

I let DD do the choosing for the most part -- "we" narrowed it down to 3 or 4 and then she made the final selection (after being reminded that we couldn't have the nine foot tree with our seven foot ceilings). And, when we got it home, it was much complimented -- and she spent the evening saying, "I picked it out." with a proud smile.

We didn't decorate it though. We'll do that today.

=============================

DH and I watched "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" last night on PPV. It was cute... not stellar, but good. I had a hard time warming up to Shia LaBeouf -- his character was a bit off-putting, IMHO. Still, I enjoyed the movie.

=============================

You Are a Gingerbread House

A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

What Holiday Food Are You?

Okay... I'm good with that.

=========================

Stacked!

The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Yay! The wood is stacked.

:::snoopy dance:::

It was an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday -- 70 degrees and sunny. We're having a blessedly mild fall, for which I am truly grateful. I know winter will be here soon, but this lengthening of the nice weather will (hopefully) make the snow a little easier to take.

The trees outside are gorgeous -- DH hates pine trees, and so took all the ones in our backyard down when we first moved in. As a result, all we have is vibrant color. I meant to take some pictures yesterday, but completely forgot. Will do so today.

I also finally started setting up my office. I don't really have a desk -- just a particle board table thingie, but it works. The first thing I did was hang up the quilt Dru sent me some time ago. :-)

Once it's a little tidier in there, I'll take pix. DD's schoolroom is back where it used to be, instead of in the same room. I tried working with her, but she talks non-stop -- not necessarily to me, frequently to herself, but it's still chatter, lol.

And, because I wasn't busy enough, I decided to start a blog to talk about all the outdoors stuff I enjoy: gardening, bugs, weather, bird, etc. If you're so inclined, feel free to visit: It's Only Natural.

Nothing like a little pressure -- LASR doesn't have a story for this week. We have one for next week and the week after, etc. Just not THIS week. So, I need to write one... unless any of y'all have a 1000 word (or so, we're flexible within reason) romance lying around somewhere? Please? *G*

=======================

You Are a Monkey

You are a very fascinating creature. People are interested in every little thing you do. You are smart, curious, and clever. You are naturally witty, and you have a great sense of humor. You can see things from many different angles, and you always have an interesting perspective on life. You are likely agile and playful. You stay physically fit simply by staying active.

What Animal Are You?

You know... I've been told that before, lol.

========================

Dark Moments

We gather strength from sadness and from pain, Each time we die we learn to live again. ~ Unknown

There are currently three cords of firewood in my driveway. I didn't realize how much that truly was. Three. Cords. We're planning on using NO oil to heat this year if at all possible. Usually we burn two cords, and use the stove December through March. This year, we'll start burning as soon as the chimney is cleaned (end of Oct) and burn until the wood is gone (probably April).

I love using the woodstove -- it keeps the house FAR hotter than we could if we used oil. In fact, it frequently gets so hot, I'll open all the windows and air it out inside. I really hate stuffy houses, don't you? And with wood, I don't have to feel guilty. And, considering how fast the trees grow here, I don't have to feel guilty about chopping them down. Seriously, there are plant steroids in the ground or something -- I've never seen a place where the flora is quite so healthy and abundant. It's truly incredible.

============================

I tried reading a new book yesterday by a best-selling author. Not naming names, because I didn't like it, but I also found out something: I don't enjoy books where the main character is taken down so low that there's nowhere further to go.

This woman wakes up next to a dead body (a friend), doesn't remember anything, calls the police and (of course) finds herself accused of murder. She's a good person, and honest person and suddenly -- she loses not only that friend, but her job, her money, her reputation... everything. It upset me so much to see this nice person put through the wringer that I skipped ahead until she had an ally who believed her. And then, I skimmed the rest. It turns out that this author is straying from the true romantic suspense genre, and going mostly suspense. There was a romantic interest, but that was not so much part of the story, and it really disappointed me. I don't know if I'll read her next book.

As a writer, I understand that there is supposed to be a black moment. A time when everything is wrong and the main character has to fight his or her way back to the light. I guess I just don't have it in me, at least not now, to do that to anyone I like -- and I typically like my H/H (shouldn't I?). That's going to be a fight for me, I suppose. But, if I don't like to read it, I don't think I'm going to write it. And if it keeps me from being a NYT bestseller, then that's just the way it is. I don't mind knocking the characters down from time-to-time, but to kick them when they're down, kill their puppy, have their spouse cheat with their best friend, burn their house and give their beloved mother incurable cancer when her car is foreclosed on? Nope.

**sigh**

==================================

You Are 45% Pirate

Ahoy matey! Ye can think o' yerself as a swashbuckler in trainin'. If ye study hard an 'do what the captain tells ye, ye may be gettin' part o' the booty. Get to work on yer pillagin', swordfightin', an' drinkin'. Ye dasn't want to end up in Davy Jones' locker, so make sure ye pipe down when the captain be around.

Would You Make a Good Pirate?

Tarred...

The idle man does not know what it is to enjoy rest, for he has not earned it. ~John Lubbock

Worked all day, yesterday, on cutting down and clearing more trees. Oy. I am so tired. And sore. We took down two more oaks, a maple and a little clump of birches. The oaks were diseased and full of ants again (my SIL tells me that is pretty common around here... who knew?), the maple had been attacked by woodpeckers and was leaking sap year round (and, given the holes, probably had bugs inside, too) and the birches were a casualty of felling the maple.

One oak was felled in the yard (and nearly took out the deck... if it had been two feet longer...), so that was a real pain because we have to clean up every last stick and acorn. DD handled the acorns and sprinkled them liberally around the bird feeders for the vast rodent population that we have. Only hours later, all that was left was gnawed on caps. Happy chippies!

I was so tired, I crawled into bed at 7:30. However, apparently my brain wasn't as tired as my body, so kept me awake -- chattering constantly -- until well after 9:00. Then DD and Dd woke me a 12:30 to go out (well... Dd needed to go out, and I won't let DD go outside at midnight with our weird neighbors) and again at 3 a.m. (this time the dog just wanted to sleep somewhere else, so she and I curled up on the spare bedroom bed). Cat let me sleep until nearly 6, though!! Woot!

In any case, today I play catch up. I have somewhere between 20 - 40 pages to build for LASR next week (that includes reviews), promo, my own personal website has broken buy links (ACK!) and I have two reviews that are due next week and I have only finished one of the books.

So despite being "tarred", I have to work! Hope you all have a great day.

==========================

Your Surfing Habits are 70% Male, 30% Female

If we had to guess, we would guess that you are a man. You use the internet to make your life more efficient - and to make you smarter. For you, the internet is like a vast encyclopedia. You search and surf extensively. You look up everything online.

Do You Use the Internet Like a Man or a Woman?

Um... well... not a man, but have to agree with the rest!

====================

The Ants Go Marching...

“Turn on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes. Observe her labors, sluggard, and be wise.” - Samuel Johnson

I wish I'd had my camera with me yesterday, but I wasn't outside to take pictures, I was outside to work like a dog (not MY dog, but...) -- DH and I worked on cleaning up two oaks he'd taken down two weeks ago, prior to the non-stop rains.

He'd chopped them into 12" chunks (we have a small stove, but it's POWERFUL) and then decided to use the maul and chop them in half. Lo and behold: the bottom, oh five feet, of the tree was full of carpenter ants.

I was alternately grossed out and fascinated. And I have to admit to feeling a little bad as I watched the adults rush around grabbing eggs and larvae. What good parents they are!

And the pathways were amazing and intricate. They really are interesting little critters. Unfortunately, they are also firmly on the "bad bug" list (and yes, we do allow the tiny black ants to live -- as long as they stay outside -- because they don't eat our house), so it was left to me to spray the logs and kill them (sadly... I don't kill bugs well). I still feel rotten about it.

DH said, "I knew that tree had ants. That's why I took it down."

Yep... uh huh...

Today? More of the same. And, he may be taking down the ginormous oak that grew next to the ant infested one. Dear heavens. Almost makes me wish for rain.

Almost.

==========================

I sent off my Womans World story yesterday... now I want to vomit. I keep thinking that, eventually, I will get over the extreme nausea that follows every submission. I hope so. It's just not pleasant.

==========================

Did you guys see the contest I posted about two days ago from Patti Ann Colt? It's fun and it's got a great prize!! Go look!

==========================

What Your Burger Says About You

You are very gluttonous. Even if you're full, you'll still clear your plate. You are a compassionate and caring. You know how to enjoy life while still looking out for others. You are a very open eater. You like many types of tastes, and you'll eat just about anything. You tend to gravitate toward strong, pungent foods. Even if it means having bad breath! You consider yourself a healthy eater. But you're not about to sacrifice taste or quantity! You are social, outgoing, and a risk taker. Among your friends, you are the first to try a new food.

What Does Your Burger Say About You?

Um... maybe 50% on that one. Oh well... You?

=========================

Monday Morning Meme and More

Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless. ~Bill Watterson

I wasn't entirely certain I'd do this today because I wanted to share a little goofiness from the weekend, but the first question lends itself to that, so I figure it was meant to be! LOL...



1. What did you do over the weekend? (Saturday and Sunday - be specific, please. Remember, this is a journal about your life, so, tell us about your life. *smile*)

If you give a man a chainsaw...he's going to want to use it. And after he uses it on the smaller trees, he's going to raise his sights a little.


Regardless of whether it's leaning toward his neighbors house or not. That's easy to fix. Simply attach a cable to the tree and hook it to your truck.


Have BIL get inside while DH cuts and I video (sorry, it's too big to upload here):


And then congratulate yourself when it doesn't hit either house!


That was actually one of FOUR quite large oak trees he took down over the weekend. DD and I spent the weekend lugging brush and stacking wood. We discovered yet another yellow jackets nest in a rotten tree DH took down. BIL was the only one stung, though, and that was simply a miracle considering the sheer number of bees flying about.

So, we have our firewood for winter 2009-2010. We are nothing if not forward thinking. *G*

2. Which are scarier to you: ghosts or aliens? Why? Do you believe in either/both? Why or why not?

Aliens by far... I saw "V" and the Alien movies. Enough said.

3. I can’t live without my _______________. Now, please tell us why you can’t live without it.

I can't live without my Internet connection.

Okay, I probably COULD survive without it... but only if the entire world was off the grid after some massive terrorist attack that took out all power to the earth. Otherwise, I'd drive myself loony wondering what was going on in the WWW.

4. What is the cheesiest movie you ever saw, and secretly enjoyed? Why did you enjoy it so much?

"Xanadu" -- my fave movie of ALL TIME from when I was younger. That was back when you could stay in the theater as long as you wanted if you paid once AND when they had double features. So, I'd go in the morning (first showing) and stay until dinner time... for days on end. I saw "Xanadu" and "Somewhere In Time" more times than I could count.

And just to torment you, here is the preview/trailer:



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Just in case you wondered... I still love my coffee pot.

:-)

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The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free. In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved. You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring. You would be forced to break up with someone who was insecure and in constant need of reassurance. Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets. Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment. You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage. In this moment, you think of love as something you thirst for. You'll do anything for love, but you won't fall for it easily.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

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For Dru

I almost forgot... I was going to answer your questions from yesterday about DH taking down the trees.

You asked: How easy is it to chainsaw through a tree? And wouldn't it fall as you got to the other side? How big is the tree that DH could pick it up and then drop it? I know nothing about tree-cutting and find this all very interesting.

1. How easy is it to chainsaw through a tree?

It is TOO easy, LOL, which is why so many men with chainsaws think they can. When we first moved in here, DH and a BIL took down a TON of trees in our backyard (NH is just thick with them). In a matter of minutes, you can saw through a pretty decent sized tree.

2. And wouldn't it fall as you got to the other side?

The way DH does it is to cut a wedge out of one side (the side he wants it to fall on), and then makes a cut on the opposite side. Despite what folks may think, trees actually fall pretty slowly, and if you're paying attention, there is plenty of time to move away. The problem we had with the beech tree was that it was leaning toward the lawn, so despite all our efforts it fell the wrong way (and yes, foolish folk that we are, we even stood behind it and pushed... to no avail).

3. How big is the tree that DH could pick it up and then drop it?

When I said DH "dropped" the tree between our two apple trees, I meant that's where it fell when he cut it. Green trees, even small ones, weigh far too much to lift. The problem with that tree was it began falling ON the apple tree, so DH walked over to the trunk and gave it a hard shove as it fell in order to move it the foot or so it needed to drop right between them.

And, Dru -- for all the tree-cutting info you could want, feel free to ask Judy. She and her DH do that kind of stuff for a living (and, yes, she make a comment about amateurs when I talked to her about this *G*).

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

Give a Man a Chainsaw...

God in His wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why.
~Ogden Nash, "The Fly"

A week or so ago, DH was out looking at our apple trees. We have two. One is covered with flowers, the other has, maybe three. He wondered, and contemplated, and considered and decided it was because we have too many other trees shading that area.

Yesterday, he took care of most of that problem. Being the equal opportunity kind of guy he is, he took down a beech tree, an oak tree, and a maple tree. The good news is they're all hardwood, so we can burn them next winter. The bad news is he dropped one--the beech--on my apricot trees. I lost one completely and the other is, um, a little shorter than it used to be.

It could have been worse. He nearly dropped it on the very apple tree he was trying to save. He risked life and limb to give it a shove as it fell, and neatly dropped it between the two apple trees.

Oh, and my rhubarb is a little worse for wear.

I'm telling you, the man is a menace with a chainsaw.

====================

Earlier in the day, I was outside working on the back flower garden, moving things around and weeding. Dakota was on her remote trainer and running hither and yon. On one of her "yon" trips, she did a loop through the woods. She probably wasn't there two minutes. When she trotted to me, she had numerous ticks on her head! ACK!! Most were deer ticks, nasty, tiny little buggers. Apparently they are REALLY bad this year. She's already had one embedded in her tummy. And they're so freakin' small, it's hard to find them. Of course, she's on tick stuff, so they die eventually (within 24 hours), but it doesn't repel them. One of the ticks on her head was RED. I don't think I've ever seen a red tick.

In any case, I picked them off and squished them. But later, when DH took down the trees, my job was to drag all the branches into the woods. You know, the woods where Dakota picked up all those nasty creatures. I was sure I was covered in them. I could all but feel them crawling on me. The moment I was done, I hurried in and took a shower and scrubbed about four layers of skin off my body, as well as giving my hair a very thorough shampooing.

Ick. Ick. Ick.

Did I say ick?

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Your Independence Level: Medium

In some aspects of your life, you can be very self reliant. Making your own informed choices feels great. But you aren't as independent as you could be. When things get stressful, you sometimes run away from the hard decisions you need to make.

How Independent Are You?

I don't think that's very true... Hmm...

Reading and Trees - Because I Couldn't Think of a Wittier Title

Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing "Embraceable You" in spats. ~Woody Allen

I'm burned out on reading. I find that so hard to believe, but there are days I just do NOT want to pick up a book. I suspect it has to do with the fact that I "have" to read now, and may be a little of my natural defiance kicking in ("I don't want to, and you can't make me").

Still, I am reading. And, I typically enjoy what I read. I've been fortunate to have chosen some really good books... but just getting myself to start is the hard part.

Have you ever been there? I don't think I have, and it's weirding my out a little.

==============================

Over the weekend, my DH went a little nuts with the chainsaw. Aside from the door, he also took down a birch tree in our front yard. It's the tree in the garden where I keep my bird feeders, and it seemed that the woodpeckers had all but killed it. Last year, the leaves died well in advance of all the other trees, and this year only the uppermost branches were budding out. Poor tree.

We actually bought a tree to replace it. All the other trees in our yard have been dug up from the woods and brought out. Or planted from seed. Birch trees, especially, grow amazingly fast. But, we didn't want a birch. And DH and I tend to keep the baby trees at a minimum (you'd have to understand how quickly things grow here...it's unbelievable), and the ones we leave are right where we want them.

So we bought a tree. A flowering plum. It looks so tiny, and the birds are very confused. They keep flying to where the old tree would have reached, fluttering around, as if they expect a branch to be there, and then flying off to the birch tree about fifteen feet away.

This tree will be lovely as it matures. But, to be honest, I really hope I won't be here to see it...

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