Thursday, September 03, 2009
Disney Bought Marvel
Click here for some links to some really great pictures. Really, it is worth it to take a look at them all....
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
General Update
Still no news about the contract. It is officially 1 month and counting. We are all really crackerdog about it, too, just really stressed and acting weird. It’s been that way all summer, but it has taken a turn in the past couple days from a manic barking stress to a quiet simmering stress. I don’t know which is worse.
This month is exceptionally busy for us, this week we have canning and planting to do. Matt is off this week, too, he’s going to get the land use permit so we can pour some concrete, and he’s going to be pouring a concrete floor in our root cellar (it is existing, off the garage). He is also going to be tearing the roof off the garage. Demolition and food prep will be the order of the day for this month, as well as ripping out summer veggies and getting about half the beds put to sleep for winter.
This Friday I get my last wisdom tooth removed, oh the joy. I’ll be out of commission for a few days.
Next weekend we have our annual Clam Bake up near Ashland, PA. It is the 75th anniversary and is going to be a big to-do. The Gettysburg Wine & Music festival is also that weekend, and we’re hoping to go to that as well. I may be going to the clam bake alone, Matt may be on call this weekend, dammit. If so, anyone want to go with? It would involve camping and woods and clams and a pond and some of my strange and interesting family and a pond and a stream and Fire! Fire! Fire!
The weekend after is a probable trip to Hawk Mountain with Angie, (speaker for mother life). This will depend again on Matt’s call schedule
The weekend after that I work.
After that it is October!!!! Holy cow! Why does the late summer always seem to just fly by? Why are we always SOOO busy this time of year as opposed to winter, when we’re just sitting around waiting for it to be over?
In other news, Matt and I have been talking about whether or not we really want to stay in this area forever (I don’t want to be in this area now, quite frankly). We have been trying to think about where we’d like to relocate to with permanence in mind. We’re young enough that we could purchase now while the prices are low, and come on folks: if nothing else it is an investment option because they are not making any more land, but they’re sure making more people. We’re thinking around 5 acres.
Some places are just out from the word Go: places like Florida, Arizona and New Mexico are out for heat. California is out just on general principle (sorry). Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Montana the like are out for snowload. I think New England and New York are options, but Matt feels they get too much snow/cold. Jersey is out. Much of the south is out for, um, heat and cultural reasons. I mean THE deep south. Midwest is out for tornado reasons. I think we should investigate Oregon, but it may be too close to brother David for comfort for both of us. Most of the costal eastern seaboard is out for hurricane reasons.
That doesn’t leave a whole lot of options, really. Sooooo….. We’re thinking northern North Carolina. Possibly parts of Virginia. Mountains. Cooler. Still some snow, definitely a winter and obvious seasonal changes. I’ve already started looking.
It kills me, a property just sold that would have been perfect: 4 acres, northern NC, basement prices and it would have cost us (collective gasp) only $130/month in mortgage. It was a blank slate and had everything we wanted. I know there are more out there, but we want to get some of our current debt paid before we seriously look and that is about 2 years out. But still, 2 years ain’t that long.
This month is exceptionally busy for us, this week we have canning and planting to do. Matt is off this week, too, he’s going to get the land use permit so we can pour some concrete, and he’s going to be pouring a concrete floor in our root cellar (it is existing, off the garage). He is also going to be tearing the roof off the garage. Demolition and food prep will be the order of the day for this month, as well as ripping out summer veggies and getting about half the beds put to sleep for winter.
This Friday I get my last wisdom tooth removed, oh the joy. I’ll be out of commission for a few days.
Next weekend we have our annual Clam Bake up near Ashland, PA. It is the 75th anniversary and is going to be a big to-do. The Gettysburg Wine & Music festival is also that weekend, and we’re hoping to go to that as well. I may be going to the clam bake alone, Matt may be on call this weekend, dammit. If so, anyone want to go with? It would involve camping and woods and clams and a pond and some of my strange and interesting family and a pond and a stream and Fire! Fire! Fire!
The weekend after is a probable trip to Hawk Mountain with Angie, (speaker for mother life). This will depend again on Matt’s call schedule
The weekend after that I work.
After that it is October!!!! Holy cow! Why does the late summer always seem to just fly by? Why are we always SOOO busy this time of year as opposed to winter, when we’re just sitting around waiting for it to be over?
In other news, Matt and I have been talking about whether or not we really want to stay in this area forever (I don’t want to be in this area now, quite frankly). We have been trying to think about where we’d like to relocate to with permanence in mind. We’re young enough that we could purchase now while the prices are low, and come on folks: if nothing else it is an investment option because they are not making any more land, but they’re sure making more people. We’re thinking around 5 acres.
Some places are just out from the word Go: places like Florida, Arizona and New Mexico are out for heat. California is out just on general principle (sorry). Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Montana the like are out for snowload. I think New England and New York are options, but Matt feels they get too much snow/cold. Jersey is out. Much of the south is out for, um, heat and cultural reasons. I mean THE deep south. Midwest is out for tornado reasons. I think we should investigate Oregon, but it may be too close to brother David for comfort for both of us. Most of the costal eastern seaboard is out for hurricane reasons.
That doesn’t leave a whole lot of options, really. Sooooo….. We’re thinking northern North Carolina. Possibly parts of Virginia. Mountains. Cooler. Still some snow, definitely a winter and obvious seasonal changes. I’ve already started looking.
It kills me, a property just sold that would have been perfect: 4 acres, northern NC, basement prices and it would have cost us (collective gasp) only $130/month in mortgage. It was a blank slate and had everything we wanted. I know there are more out there, but we want to get some of our current debt paid before we seriously look and that is about 2 years out. But still, 2 years ain’t that long.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Bofred
Max is doing well, he doesn't seem to be too much the worse for wear on the tooth front. They did remove the root and all, they put him under and did a full-out 'dental' on him and he was still a bit out of sorts today (not eating much, groaning a bit).
We're calling him Bofred the Hillbilly Yorkie.
We're calling him Bofred the Hillbilly Yorkie.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Another Max Update
Max is at the vet today, this morning we noticed he had broken a tooth. I'm guessing (though I don't know) that when he fell he cracked it, and more recently it broke. We looked really well several times and didn't see any problems with his teeth the night he fell, so....
It is not a canine, it is one of the four little upper teeth between the canines. The ones that are about the size of grains of sand. Each.
They are doing a 'dental' on him, they may/may not pull the tooth. I don't know. Poor baby. He didn't seem to be in any pain, though. I'm not sure how well he's been eating.
~~~~~~~~~
In other dog dental news, when we were at the vet two weeks ago *and I mentioned he fell, and the vet looked and didn't see any problems, either* the vet did tell us that we might want to start brushing his teeth, the back ones are starting to get a lot of tartar. This is how the conversation went:
Vet: "You might think about starting to brush his teeth."
Me: "How, exactly, do you recommend I do that?"
Vet: "Oh, it's easy. Get a baby toothbrush, really soft. Open up a can of tuna, drain off the juice, and stick the toothbrush in the juice and start brushing his front teeth."
Me: "Oh, he'll LOVE that!" (he will, he adores tuna. He almost climbs us when we have tuna).
Vet: "Exactly! He'll be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Start at the front, and every day do a little bit further back."
Me: "Sounds easy enough."
Vet: "And then, when he gets used to that, come on in and get a tube of the meat-flavored toothpaste we have at the desk."
I knew it was too good to last. I think I'll stick with the tuna juice, but don't you wonder if they've ever tasted it?
It is not a canine, it is one of the four little upper teeth between the canines. The ones that are about the size of grains of sand. Each.
They are doing a 'dental' on him, they may/may not pull the tooth. I don't know. Poor baby. He didn't seem to be in any pain, though. I'm not sure how well he's been eating.
~~~~~~~~~
In other dog dental news, when we were at the vet two weeks ago *and I mentioned he fell, and the vet looked and didn't see any problems, either* the vet did tell us that we might want to start brushing his teeth, the back ones are starting to get a lot of tartar. This is how the conversation went:
Vet: "You might think about starting to brush his teeth."
Me: "How, exactly, do you recommend I do that?"
Vet: "Oh, it's easy. Get a baby toothbrush, really soft. Open up a can of tuna, drain off the juice, and stick the toothbrush in the juice and start brushing his front teeth."
Me: "Oh, he'll LOVE that!" (he will, he adores tuna. He almost climbs us when we have tuna).
Vet: "Exactly! He'll be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Start at the front, and every day do a little bit further back."
Me: "Sounds easy enough."
Vet: "And then, when he gets used to that, come on in and get a tube of the meat-flavored toothpaste we have at the desk."
I knew it was too good to last. I think I'll stick with the tuna juice, but don't you wonder if they've ever tasted it?
Sunday, August 09, 2009
A Few Max Stories and Photos
First, to get us started, a nice action shot of Max shaking after his most recent bath.
Next, a story of Sir Max vs. The Dragon. Yes we have a dragon in the house.
Matthew was on-call a couple weeks ago and, wouldn'tcha know, he got called out on Sunday night. Max and I went on up to go night-night, and I was pretty much asleep when Matthew got home. Max ran downstairs to greet him, though. Matthew let Max outside, then Max went and got a drink of water. Matthew plugged in his phone, turned out the downstairs lights, and then came upstairs.
Max was still downstairs, though. For some reason, Max decided to access the stairs by way of the back of the sofa, which he has done hundreds of time before. I don't know what made this time different, but he fell. It sounded like *scrabble*whump*clackity clackity clackity clackity*crash*boom*
Max fell directly on Dragon.
Dragon is the Kirby vacuum cleaner. Max HATES Dragon. We don't chase him with it, but he just doesn't like it.
What makes it worse is Max hit his lip on the way down and skinned it. It was bloody and he kept licking it....for an hour and a half. It's not loud, more like a constant lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick. Try getting to sleep during THAT.
But it was so cute, after we heard the scrabble*whump, Matthew (who was in a state of undress) ran down the stairs in his underwear yelling "MAX!! MAX!!! ARE YOU OK MAX?!?! I'M COMING, MAX!!" and then came back up holding our shaken dog and cooing to him.
Next, a story of Sir Max vs. The Dragon. Yes we have a dragon in the house.
Matthew was on-call a couple weeks ago and, wouldn'tcha know, he got called out on Sunday night. Max and I went on up to go night-night, and I was pretty much asleep when Matthew got home. Max ran downstairs to greet him, though. Matthew let Max outside, then Max went and got a drink of water. Matthew plugged in his phone, turned out the downstairs lights, and then came upstairs.
Max was still downstairs, though. For some reason, Max decided to access the stairs by way of the back of the sofa, which he has done hundreds of time before. I don't know what made this time different, but he fell. It sounded like *scrabble*whump*clackity clackity clackity clackity*crash*boom*
Max fell directly on Dragon.
Dragon is the Kirby vacuum cleaner. Max HATES Dragon. We don't chase him with it, but he just doesn't like it.
What makes it worse is Max hit his lip on the way down and skinned it. It was bloody and he kept licking it....for an hour and a half. It's not loud, more like a constant lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick lick. Try getting to sleep during THAT.
But it was so cute, after we heard the scrabble*whump, Matthew (who was in a state of undress) ran down the stairs in his underwear yelling "MAX!! MAX!!! ARE YOU OK MAX?!?! I'M COMING, MAX!!" and then came back up holding our shaken dog and cooing to him.
We were next door recently feeding beet greens to the neighbor's pheasants, and Max wanted to keep an eye on us so he climbed up on the outside plant stands that Matt built.
Awww...
Double aww....
Thursday, August 06, 2009
No Contract Contact (yet)
The latest on the contract is that there is no latest.
Well, that's not entirely true. The RFP went out the middle of May. If you are interested in seeing that, click here. It was, to our collective shock, all online. Some of it is in government-ese, but mostly it talks about what work is to be done, etc. There is also a tab that lists interested companies, of which there were apparently 30.
The proposals from interested companies were due on June 11th. We have no idea how many companies bid, but we did learn that because it was a 'small business' contract our current company couldn't bid. So, they did what every Beltway Bandit would do in a similar situation and bid on the contract through the small business sister company they created just for that purpose. Ahem. I don't think they will get it. I have a hunch that the RFP was written up in this manner in order to exclude them.
It is really weighing on all of us, though we're really not talking about it much. We all have our plans on hold after October 1st, just in case we don't have jobs then. No one is taking any vacation time, just in case we need the money (we will get paid for unspent holiday and vacation time by the old company).
The proposals from interested companies were due on June 11th. We have no idea how many companies bid, but we did learn that because it was a 'small business' contract our current company couldn't bid. So, they did what every Beltway Bandit would do in a similar situation and bid on the contract through the small business sister company they created just for that purpose. Ahem. I don't think they will get it. I have a hunch that the RFP was written up in this manner in order to exclude them.
Two weeks ago, our fed told us that the 'award was being written up,' which means a decision has been made. I don't know if the company has been informed yet, but I do know the award has to be posted somewhere for a period of time before it can become public. I don't know how long. I'm guessing we'll find out the 3rd or 4th week of August, because that will leave the new company (if there is one) a month to interview, rehire, and/or restructure the workings of the contract, if necessary. We could find out the very end of September, though.
He also told us that the branch chief was grumbling about the price, which I take as good news. It means it was more than they really wanted to spend.
It is really weighing on all of us, though we're really not talking about it much. We all have our plans on hold after October 1st, just in case we don't have jobs then. No one is taking any vacation time, just in case we need the money (we will get paid for unspent holiday and vacation time by the old company).
I do a web search every other day or so to see if it has made the business news anywhere, which often happens. I don't trust my manager to actually tell us what is going on, so I try to find out through other means.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Not Buying It
This is one of those weeks that just seemed like it didn't matter what I did or didn't do with money, it went out the door like crazy...
Clothing: Got a pair of navy pants. I’ve been looking for a nice pair for months, so there.
Food: Shredded some zucchini and put it in the freezer. Trying to get enough tomatoes to do a round of sauce or salsa. Hoping to can some beets and/or beet greens and some potatoes this week. I made some Mint Juelip liquor, some blackberry brandy, and decanted some Ratafia (mixed fruit cordial).
Canned: green beans, raspberry chipotle sauce, mustard, cherry tomato cinnamon jam.
Household: Uh…
Utilities: The A/C units are now in. It’s been really humid. BUT it probably won’t matter on the electric bill, dammit. I thought we were doing really well just using fans, but with the same amount of electrical use our electric bill was up $20 between May and June. The price per kilowatt hour went up.
Gifts: Took my dad out to breakfast for his birthday.
Home and Garden: See garden blog for garden info, it is doing well. We almost have the garage cleaned out, which means we can start demolition soon.
Weaknesses: We got some solar lights at Kmart. Then, we went and picked up two more packages of solar lights at Kmart.
Purging: I went through the canned goods and cupboards and gave two big bags of good food to a food drive, plus earmarked a bunch of other stuff to be thrown out.
Clothing: Got a pair of navy pants. I’ve been looking for a nice pair for months, so there.
Food: Shredded some zucchini and put it in the freezer. Trying to get enough tomatoes to do a round of sauce or salsa. Hoping to can some beets and/or beet greens and some potatoes this week. I made some Mint Juelip liquor, some blackberry brandy, and decanted some Ratafia (mixed fruit cordial).
Canned: green beans, raspberry chipotle sauce, mustard, cherry tomato cinnamon jam.
Household: Uh…
Utilities: The A/C units are now in. It’s been really humid. BUT it probably won’t matter on the electric bill, dammit. I thought we were doing really well just using fans, but with the same amount of electrical use our electric bill was up $20 between May and June. The price per kilowatt hour went up.
Gifts: Took my dad out to breakfast for his birthday.
Home and Garden: See garden blog for garden info, it is doing well. We almost have the garage cleaned out, which means we can start demolition soon.
Weaknesses: We got some solar lights at Kmart. Then, we went and picked up two more packages of solar lights at Kmart.
Purging: I went through the canned goods and cupboards and gave two big bags of good food to a food drive, plus earmarked a bunch of other stuff to be thrown out.
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