Batten down the hatches!

Well, it was a rather long weekend. Not a lot got done and I am kind of disappointed by that. I made such a good start on Friday and then super-slacked for the weekend. I did manage to take the kids sledding at mom's on Saturday and to the Christmas party at the local Elk's Lodge yesterday (my step dad and my uncle are members, not me...) and those were lot's of fun, just not very productive for me here at the house. Yesterday evening I started to feel a little under the weather and that carried over to this morning so as you may have guessed, not a lot got done today as well. I did just get back from the dog pound where I paid for the privelage of dog ownership for the next year. Only $10 though so I guess I can't complain too much. They could charge by the pound and I'd have to auction off some kids just to pay for the dog liscences. I also drove just down the road from there to my Uncle Bills to get more anti-biotics for the "Bad-Ass Cat" as there seems to have been a flurry of territorial disputes in our neighborhood lately.

In other news, the dog formerly known as Magnus has been renamed and shall, until further notice, be known as The Grinch. On two separate occasions he was found to have taken x-mas gifts from under the tree and "unwrapping" them in the back yard, hence he is now the Grinch who stole x-mas. If he behaves until the festivities are officially over, he might get his name back... if...

The title of this post refers to the weather here. Yesterday is was almost 50 degrees and I was in my hammock with a tropical drink lounging by the pool (it's my story... work with me...) and at some point during the night someone robbed us! They took all the ice we were storing outside and our warm weather and left us with temps. in the high teens with a nasty windchill. The only evidence were some bird footprints in a small patch of snow and the chickadees are being sought for questioning. Any information that leads to an arrest in this case, whether prosecutable or not, will be rewarded with cookies and hot chocolate.
So, the order was given to batten down the hatches as it is wicked cold here today and not fit for man nor beast, however nothing should deter women or fishes from venturing out to... say the store to get some brownie mix? What. I didn't come up with the saying, I am simply interpreting it the way it reads, that's all I'm saying.

The more I think about the move to California, dreadful though it may be, the more I have grown to dislike the idea of living here in Michigan. It seems as if all the things that were drawing me back here, whether from Texas or California, are slipping away one by one. My Dad is no longer farming, the verdant lush green of the landscapes here in the spring and early summer are being overtaken in the recesses of my mind by the bitter cold of winter. I used to enjoy plowing snow and now it seems like such a chore. I love all the trees in my yard, until it comes time to mow around them or rake up the millions upon millions of leaves in the fall. I think I will miss it after, but I know there will be enough ties here to keep me coming back to visit. It kind of reminds me of my brothers place in the U.P. It's absolutely gorgeous up there and I could spend a long time there, until it snows 3 or 4 feet. I guess if I knew I had the majority of my life yet ahead of me, I might make considerations to put up with these kinds of things but given things as they are I am inclined to go to somewhere more comfortable. I am also of a mind to do the things that I have been putting off for so long with the thinking that I could always do them tomorrow or next year. I have tried to save enough money for the past several years to finally go on a honeymoon to Ireland, and something has always come up. It'll be 18 years next spring that I have had the pleasure of walking this earth with Sarah and still not taken her on our honeymoon. Is there a statute of limitations on such things? I have heard of second honeymoons but I don't recall anything about this in the handbook.

I thought for a long time during the past year that all my dreams had been stripped away from me, like all the things I had dreamed of doing, longed for, or hoped to accomplish were slipping away because of this... disease. I have been trying really hard to get my old truck on the road because of this, it's one of the few I have left along with going to Ireland. After a good deal of soul searching, I think I can let the others go, but these two, I think I'll hold on to, even if for only a little while longer. I think I've earned at least that much.

Well, I seem to have gone through the entire spectrum from laughing to crying all in one post. I hate to leave you on such a downer but that's the way the thoughts came from my mind and that's what this blog is all about, getting them out before I have time to over analyze them. It is what it is.

Until next time, I bid you peace.
T.