Countdown

Here it is Monday and I got the word that I will be gone Thursday, not Friday and I am in shock... First I thought I would have plenty of time to find the perfect thing to do, then I thought well at least I have a week to pack up my office, now it is only 4 days!!! Luckily I am a very organized person (NOT) and packing up will be a breeze... We are also going thru the where to put the office at home discussions. Mr. G votes for the dining room (and I have already figured out that he will hound me to keep it tidy) and I vote for some space in his very sacred den. Now I am all for the fact that everyone needs their own space, and granted the den has always been the Mr. G zone, and he does fuss when I sit (pounce on) his couch that I mess up the cushions... I find this kinda hard to swallow as when he had the couch redone he had them put the hardest foam possible (think Fred Flintstone furniture) so it would last longer. I am sure it will last well past us...

This weekend brought one change in our lives... Mr. G read the blog... I left him alone (he was after all in the sacred den) and every so often he would laugh, or snort, or make other noises which I took to mean he liked my words. Then he came out of the hallowed sanctury... and said " everyone will think I am grumpy if they really think I am a Mr. G". I did my best to not grin and laugh... and gave him a big Kevbear sized hug and said "well dear you are an asshole, and there are times when you are a tad grumpy when you get home from work". And besides I went on " everyone knows that you don't use real names in a blog". He actually bought it!!! AND I did promise to write that he is (most of the time) a great person that I could not live without. We will forget the first hour each evening when he returns from his slave wage, humanity killing, whip cracking job and I leave him alone to decompress. Every once in awhile I do forget and have to run to safety... Let it be said here and now "MR. G IS A GREAT GUY", there, glad that's over with!

I am pretty happy with the way things are going... and other then all that grey showing in my beard (thank you Mr. G) I am sure our lives will settle down in a few weeks... My dear friend Hilary came by Saturday for a visit and other then the fact that she took MY TV remote and proceeded to flip channels like a Kevbear we had a great time!

Mr. G was kind enough to later point out that I can be rather possesive about MY remote and never let even him touch it. And he said it spoke to my true feelings for sweet Hilary that I did not lunge and attack her like I do him when touches MY remote... hmmm...

I was going to write about our haunted house today (we have a ghost) but Mr. G thought I should write something more uplifting like "HE IS A WONDERFUL, UNDERSTANDING, EMOTIONALY SUPPORTING, GREAT GUY". (I hope this is the end of this) So I said I would put off the ghost story until almost Halloween and say something upbeat about Mr. G. There is also something amazing that has happened (I have walked on water for years so no it's not that) Mr. G has found a place he likes to go to on the way home to "pick up a few things". The new bloated super Walmart is on his way home and he likes to go in there... amazing... so now I can call him and ask him to "pick up a few things". We have found we like their pizza...

with just a little doctoring it tastes OK. And it was going to be my lunch today but while dear sweet Hilary was abusing MY remote she also ate the leftover pizza ( I helped a little too). OK back to packing up the desk... later dudes...

It's Friday!

OK, first off I was wrong about the Wednesday night thing. I learned a lot and even went back Thursday for another 3 hour go and got to learn even more. Wednesday we covered S Corp vs C Corp and when you really need an LLC or a few LLC's. Thursday was retirement planning and protecting your estate... I know, I know it sounded boring but the attorney talking was a hottie so it kept my attention (and the bar was free). If I had my wits about me I would have snapped a pic with the cell phone, but alas no... maybe there is a website??? hmmm

Today was the day I was going to let Tom (boss Tom) know my plans on my future here. So I called, figured I would drive to the main office and talk. But no, he said " let's just talk now on the phone"... long of it is that I was planning on leaving the company at the end of the month... it is now next Friday that will be my last day. YIKES!!! I have never left a job without having a better offer accepted and in place, now I am at a place never experienced before. Yikes!!! Or to quote a guy in tights... "Holy Shit Batman!" But the time is now, the writing is on the wall and in this real estate market I cannot continue running an office that costs me $$$ each month out of my own pocket. This is a post that could use some comments folks (or a hint of tomorrow's POWERBALL #'s?). I did figure out by 10:00AM or so that the hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach was really a hollow feeling so I ate something...

And I know there is tomorrow and I will be fine, after all I have Mr. G at home that will support my good judgement...

And he is not really the monster I make him out to be...

And even tho I need to get out there and figure out what I am going to do for $$$ (com'on POWERBALL) it will give me some spare time to plan out my true passion at this time of year... yup Christmas decorating... Yesterday I had someone tell me how sad it was last year for them as we had no Christmas lights out... apparently folks really do look forward to my (insane) love of the holiday season. When I shared this with Mr. G last night night, how we made the holidays brighter for others... he pointed out they were not paying OUR power bill which doubles with the holiday season... sigh... and he wonders where he got his endearing nickname... Of course last year we were at the bestest place on earth (Disneyworld) where I was busy getting more ideas to spend $$$ on the power bill.

And I did get something of a tan AND even had a handlebar 'stache. Plus we returned with a Disney Christmas Tree!!! Which has never been put away, per Mr. G... and this is the guy that would not let me put twinkle lights on his ficus tree our first Christmas... another story, another time (probably the holidays).

A night out.... NOT

Tonight is a function that we are required to go to for business... it is from 5-8. Spouses (Mr. Gs) are not invited, dinner will not be served. Drinks & appetizers will. Others will have to buy their drinks, our company is buying ours. Others have paid $50 a ticket to go, ours are comped. We will carpool as it is an hour away to save on gas.

I hate going to these things... I think most people do... My kids will miss me...
They will be looking off the deck thinking where oh where is Papa (I am Papa, Mr. G is Daddy). I will run home shortly to change & say hi to the kids...

Mr. G will go to bed without "little kisses" and because of this he will be living up to his nickname (No not ?), his other nickname (Mr. G). I was told this AM I did not need to attend for reasons we will talk about soon but I really feel I should be there to "support the troops". Mr. G might just have the first fire of the season without me!!! It is getting colder each night now. So I am hoping there will be something positive about tonight, like the woodpile fairies came and stacked all that damn firewood?

Or there will be a competition for major hotie of the night and I will win? We will just have to wait & see....

On a brighter note! Today I emailed most of my friends that there is this blog here so maybe I will get a comment? Has anyone found me yet? Is this the worst blog out there? Is there an award for worst blog? What if I am nominated!?! Oh shit, there goes the afternoon... time to stop and eat my orange...

Autumn

Here it is October and that puts me in a good mood all month long. For starters there is the smell of woodsmoke in the air, we have not built our first fire of the season, but will soon (we heat with good old fashioned wood). Then there is the fact that the SCIFI channel and others will have more monster movies on! Yippee!!! And it is most importantly the time of year when I start planning out this year's Christmas decorations extravaganza!!! I have found that by at least stringing the miles of lights on the eaves of the house around the first of November I have a far less likelihood of; a) getting soaked from rain or snow, b) falling off the ladder because one leg is on something solid and the other leg found un-frozen oozing muck, c) running out of decorating time because I always try to do too much!

Speaking of fires... Sunday was the day Mr. G deemed we needed to clean out the stove & chimney day. This involves me getting out the brushes, extensions & ladder and pushing a not very happy Mr. G up on the roof (it was drizzling). He does not sing "chim chimeny, chim chimeny, chim, chim charoo" and he does not dance on the roof either. He does it all (bless you Boogers) and after a few hours we are all cleaned out & ready for the cold weather to "Bring it on". (Really, what an ass wipe thing to say to terrorists). While Mr. G does this yearly chore I am worried about the important things... getting out the fall silk plants and will everyone notice they are the same from last year?... Arranging a fall front porch motif using mums and our very own pumpkins!... Laying out all the green tomatoes on the guest room bed,... I did manage to put off starting to stack & tarp all our firewood which is now wet... the drizzle turned to rain.
On Saturday I spent 6 hours putting the garden to bed. The compost pile is now piles. There are still potatoes to be dug & stored but everything else is in good shape for now. I have found a new source for rotted manure and a guy that will haul it at $15 a load so as soon as that damn woodpile stacks itself I will have some more shit to add to my gardens! Oh, and there is still that last case of daylillies that showed up 2 weeks back that really need to get in the ground this coming Saturday. With our drizzle we should have the outdoor burn season open soon and will have a big fire when we light our bonfire pile which is currently in the middle of the rest of my orchard area below the veg garden.

Neighbors

Back in the days when we had decided to shack up (live in sin) Mr. G had tried to get a transfer down to the coast so I would not have to relocate my business. After a year of trying it was decided I would move to central oregon. Soon Mr. G's house started to grow small... daily, and we only had 3 little monsters back then. So we found the new house (another story, another time) and the one thing we both really liked was the next door neighbor had a really cute yard with lots of flowers and veggies growing. I knew that meant real soil and a future garden... very rare in central oregon. Most folks grow rocks & sagebrush around here. But it was a cute place and she was a nice gal so we knew it would work, here is her garden then...

Then Maggie moved away and first rented her house out... but then she sold it.

The new people had 5or 6 kids, they were very religous (think gay hating biggots). One day soon after they moved in the head sow made a statement that their old neighbors were very happy they had moved away as they did not like the smells. At the time I thought that was a very strange thing to say to a new neighbor and I even asked Mr. G what that could mean... it did not sound good...

Turkeys smell, and when there are more then a dozen turkeys all pended up in a tiny pen they stink really bad. We soon found out what the head sow meant... the nice yard had changed also...

Then the shit hit the fan... Mr. G yelled at their kids one evening to keep it quiet, there are times when Mr. G has to get up before the crack of dawn to go to work. Soon the sow was on our front porch accusing a sleepy Mr. G of being a child stalking pediphile and everyone knows that gay guys do this... I came out on the porch and told the sleepy Mr. G to let me handle this...

I then proceeded to tell this white trash, stained sweats wearing, strongly smelling extremly fat sow what I thought of their "lifestyle". I then (after she told me we were damned to hell for eternity) told her that the only thing they had brought to our neighborhood since moving in was a decline in property values besides the stench from their house. She at that point started yelling (on our porch mind you) that we were after her children and she was putting a stop to it NOW. At that point I really lost my (well groomed) cool and told her to get her cock sucking mother fucking white trash ass off our property before I threw her mother fucking morman ass out in the street (see I did need that disclaimer on the top).

Soon the police were at our house, they visited for over 2 hours. The child stalking pediphiles had threatened the lives of the kind hearted christian neighbors who had done nothing wrong. The kind hearted christian neighbors were so threatened the called 911 3 different times before the police came. I no longer like the kind hearted white trash neighbors, they have since been nicknamed "the mother fucking mormans" and are still called that 1 year latter.

Mr. G now talks with them, he says we should put the past behind us... I remind him still about my family & the civil war... I will never forget. I have never had to entertain officers of the law at home before, it is not pleasant. I also find it surprising that the kind hearted God loving neighbors let their children play in our yard whenever we are not home. After what they told the police I would think they would warn their children away from the child stalking gay pediphiles... huh... go figure.

Now you've learned something new today!

Squirreling

I get in this mode every fall where I am sure we will starve (to death) or freeze (to death) during the winter months. I think it is from growing up for some of my wonder years on the edge of the Sierra's and actually getting snowed in and having no water for spells. It could also be that great, great uncle Luke died in the Donner Party in the Sierra's back in the 1800 somethings. He was not eaten! Anyway winter is my favorite season and I love to know that the wood is split and stacked and there is plenty of food (nuts) stored away.

So here is the new seasoned wood in front of the old seasoned wood waiting for the Kevbear to get to stacking. There used to be a nice woodshed to put it in but the bitch neighbor from hell filed a complaint that it was a fire hazard to her vacant lot and the county made us move it, it was too close to the property line... it is now a wonderful garden shed!

So as part of my squirrel activity I went to the big city and bought some extra food. On Saturday I put 20 pounds of cheese in the freezer and another 6 meatloafs (12 total so far). I get this way... This year I did some research (thanks LDS) and bought some books and came up with a plan! A meal plan. I looked at what we eat and how often, as I am the cook in the house this was easy. I then looked at 2 weeks worth of meals, I then broke it down into what each meal took to make. I then figured these meals (with variations) for 8 months. Just until next years garden starts producing. And then inventoried what I already had stored away, and thought "oh shit I need more stuff!". So I shopped... Mr. G does have a point (ignored by me) that we do not have the room for my squirrel list. I am determined... I am also very worried...

We have some class A idiots running things these days. We are in a war over oil (#2 so far) and will be in more soon and very few leaders say we are in a war over oil... yet. We have an economy that is running on borrowed time that could pull many things down world-wide... soon. We have a government that is not addressing the fact that we are in a war over a dwindling resource and should really be putting the $'s into some new energy avenues. So I am worried...

I spent Sunday canning. Now I have not canned for 20+ years, so I thought that it might be a good time to get in practice again, what with having a garden and all. So I put up a dozen quarts of dill pickles and a dozen pints of relish. It was cool out so it helped warm the house up, and it helped get rid of most of the veggies on the dining room table. The zucs will become zuc/carrot breads for the winter hoard. Next weekend will maybe be applesauce... There is also that wood -pile waiting...

First Frost

It always seems to happen about this time. Just as we are ready for a bounty of tomatoes... it hits. Never fails. I was out until almost dark last night picking peppers, squash, watermelons, cantalopes. Got most of the tomatoes covered with some extra coverage for the artichokes and watermelons. So I will hope for the tomatoes, there is plenty of corn, and we will have potatoes to last all winter! Plus there is the bonus of all the strawberries & aspargus that I planted that will be good eating next spring!

This morning went down to the garden, sure enough... it hit 29 last night and when I get home tonight I think it is time to pick the last of the baby peppers, zucs, & cucs. It is due to be 29 again tonight and then warming to give me false hope on the hundreds of tomatoes ready to ripen. I will be canning this weekend... the dining room table is loaded with vegies.

After a bad start to the first ever garden at this house (2 freezes in mid-June & neighbors from hell deciding to have free range bunnies (bunnies dig)) I thought I might get a break on a September frost. So I would say we had 80 frost free days. We did get to eat our first corn two nights ago and it was as sweet as honey. And Mom & JR who helped with the watering while we were gone did get a huge bounty from the garden. New rule... do not take a September trip when you have planted a big garden.

The big, giant, bloated Super Walmart opened yesterday in town and everyone wanted to go, Mr. G stopped after work to see it. Mom wanted to go but no one wanted to go with her so she will go today. It was on the news, it was an event, there was no parking... it is 5 acres under 1 roof for crying out loud. And twice that in pavement. There is a Home Depot going in next door, there is a Lowes going in down the road... and our economy is going where? To China? To Saudi Arabia? I am sure we will see these giant boxes be empty shells in the not too distant future. Both those countries could pull the plug on the US dollar and send this SUV, buy more and more, heads in the sand economy of ours into a depression that would make the 20's and 80's look like cake walks. So I will get better at canning, plant the last of the fruit trees this coming spring, and plant a much bigger garden next spring!