I hope it isn't too soon to call it

But it looks like we've managed to keep the fish alive for an entire winter. Everything is melted now and the fish made it through. I even started pulling some leaves and such out of the pond when we were teased with some lovely 60 degree weather.

While I do enjoy working from home one of the things I do miss is the ride to work everyday in which last winter there were many days I'd see 2-3 bald eagles on the drive in. But the nature at home isn't that bad either. Yesterday the back field was flooded and a pair of ducks decided it would make a nice swimming hole. Well, until Selah saw them and scared them off and just about 20 minutes ago she scared off an entire flock of seagulls. My little barker!

The dogs are also happy about the warm up, they are spending a lot more time in the yard in between their nap sessions. I had no idea how much they slept until I started staying home all day. But D is almost 13 now. I'm going to make sure I get a lot of pictures of him this spring/summer since with old dogs you just never know.

So it seems I only post when it is 18 degrees

Yeah, it is still cold. Got a fresh 3 inches this morning and now the deep freeze is moving in. Thanks Canada! Love ya, eh! The good news is the pond still isn't frozen and the placement of the heater and the aerator seem to be working. Here is the pond currently.



So it isn't very pretty right now. But its not frozen which means we can pick out some Koi this next spring/summer and actually keep them alive. Woohoo. That makes me excited.

I'm working from home these days so it doesn't take much to make my excited. I'm a people person and I'm alone with my computers and my doggies for 9 hours a day. I need real human interaction, makes it easy to motivate me to go the gym after work though and to go to dance class.

From 85 to 18... degrees that is.

I've lived in Michigan my entire life and never do I remember so much snow so early in the season. In the work parking lot there are snow banks already about 15 feet high. My driveway has already been plowed 3 times and will need to be plowed once the 6 inches of snow we are expected to get today finishes. It is just amazing.

How is just 1 month ago I was here???



The good news is, today is my last day of work for the next couple weeks, the dogs love the snow and the pond has NOT frozen and I really need to take some pictures of how cool it looks. After 8 years of having the pond we think we've finally figured out the correct placement of the aerator and the pond heater to keep the fish alive for the season. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, salt over my shoulder.

I can Feel it Coming in the Air Tonight

I'm not sure how to explain this, but I can feel change in the air. It's coming just like when you can feel the rain coming. I know that career wise I'll be doing a change but I don't feel like that is all that is going to be thrown my way. I'm not even sure how to explain or maybe it is just that I'm switching to a new work laptop and that's got me feeling all loopy. I mean whenever you move your files around it leaves me feeling a little discombubulated. (Don't you just love that word? Say it out loud. So. Much. Fun.)

Anywho, I'm a lover of change and tend to thrive on it. So this is going to be good.

In other events in my life, I have done minimal Christmas shopping so far. Though I really don't have a ton to do, mainly just gifts for the neices and nephew and things for some friends. Nothing to stress over for once. The way the holiday break from work happens is I will have 5 shopping days before Christmas and I'm looking forward to doing some shopping with the panic, stressed out crowds. Yeah, sounds nutes, eh? But I lov eto people watch and this is always a fun time of year and it's a good way to run into people you haven't seen in forever.

I know I mentioned I'm at a different dance studio this year but what I did fail to mention is just how much I'm enjoying it. For the first time in years, I just get to stand back and learn. Last night was my hip hop class and I'm just having fun with it. The weird thing is most nights the room we use has no mirrors and that has taken me awhile to adjust too but I don't mind it anymore and the good thing is I know when I can't see myself dance I tend to just go for it more and I can definitely feel it. I mean a one hour class last night required 2 advil for the back this morning.

So now the title of this post and my ramblings have gone astray. It must be time to jet.

Wheels on The Bus Go Round & Round

I grew up in a rural area. In fact, I lived a 1/2 mile from a dairy farm. As a kid this truly meant one thing. I rode the bus to school. My elementary school was about 4.5 miles from my house but the school bus route probably covered about 20 miles. I was on the very edge of the school district and the route followed the edge. This meant I was usually one of the first kids on the bus and would often ride the bus for 30-45 minutes before I even got to school. The flip side of that I was often one of the first few kids off of the bus.

As I grew older and kept advancing at school the bus rides got longer as the middle school and high school were about 7-8 miles away from my home. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time on the bus and learned quite a bit during that time.

In elementary school, I learned about 'it'. Now I wasn't sure what 'it' was, but I knew when I was older I would figure 'it' out. I also learned that its probably best to not defend yourself with an umbrella unless you enjoy morning visits to the principal to call your mom.

In middle school, I learned that a clarinet case makes a great arm rest to use for a nap. I found out the hard way that when boys punch you, it means they like you. I learned that the older kids reserved the right to the back of the bus which meant by the time I was in 8th grade I could reserve the back seats for me and my friends. Back there I learned about hair spray and what height you could use it too. I also learned that Mt. Dew and vodka mixed rather well. I learned that turning a bus around on an ice covered dirt road doesn't usually work out well for the bus.

Freshman year of high school, buses were cut, but they brought them back for my sophmore year. My bus riding in high school was sporadic at best. I did what I could to try and bum rides until I turned 16 and then I started car pooling with a friend who lived a mile away.

My favorite year on the bus had to of been 8th grade. It just happened to work out that there were about 6 of us girls who took over the back of the bus. We all had grown up together and had no idea that the next year we'd all go in such different directions in high school. But we had a great time back there that year.

Thrilling as the Raptor, not as rough as the Mean Streak

Hi. How have you been? I hope things have been going well. Me? How have I been? Thanks for asking. Well, the short standard pass in the hallway answer would be good or fine. But if I was to be 100% honest with you, I'd have to say it has been a roller coaster ride around here and I'm not even sure where to start. I know a list! I like lists!

1. Summer ended and we underutilized the boat this year.
2. We built an 8x12 pavilion in the backyard.
3. The busyness at work ended.
4. Chet Fest was another huge success.
5. I started taking dance at a different dance studio and am not teaching this year.
6. Fall came and was really beautiful this year.
7. Work slowed to a crawl.
8. We took a vacation to Jamaica for a week to see our friends get married.
9. My project from work got cancelled.
10. Found a new project.
11. Went to the wedding reception for the friends.
12. Celebrated Thanksgiving with friends.
13. Now it is December and we woke up to about 6 inches of snow this morning.

With all this going on, I've realized I am ready for a change so the new project is a definite step in that direction. I'm working on some other potential changes also, but I need to let those options pan out first. The thing is I'm going to make the effort to make this blog happen. It'll just be what is going on with me and my roller coaster ride but I'm hoping for a fun ride. Feel free to jump on if you wish.

The Boat Got Wet

I know, it took us until August 1st to actually put the boat in the water but then we had 2 nice boating trips after that even if the first one ended with us getting a little wet.

We took a vacation day on Friday and actually hit the water about noon which is early for us and we headed way out into the Saginaw Bay and just turned the boat off and floated, did some swimming and relaxing in the sun. It was the best Friday I've had in a long time. We have a Garmin GPS that has XM weather integrated into it that we were keeping an eye on as there was a chance of scattered storms. Sure enough, two little dots popped up on the radar and before we knew it we could see the storms in the distance even though we had a gorgeous blue sky over us. We decided to make a run for the river before the 2nd cell hit the main water and we got into the river just in time when it started to drizzle, then eventually pour. Pretty much everything on the outside of the boat was wet. I pulled up the carpet and put it in the cutty and shut the door so the cutty stayed dry but everything else was wet. WE pulled the boat out and got her home and all dried out while all the while the rain and storm kept going.

Sunday, we also went back out for another nice calm day of boating but took some friends with us and then anchored out at State park beach. We ended up staying out until about 8pm. It was just a fantastic Sunday afternoon. I'm anxiously waiting for some more great days to get out there and enjoy the water. This weekend so far is looking a little cooler but still nice.