So much for more frequent updates...

Once again it has been way too long. Why? Working, working, and more working. Things will be getting better on that front, though. I gave my notice to Glitter World. I had a really, really bad day at the register a few Sundays ago. I had a rude, horrible, nasty, bully of a customer, and I realized that it's just not worth it. If I hadn't been exhausted from working seven days a week for the past 18 months, the customer probably wouldn't have gotten to me the way she did. The next day I turned in my notice. They asked if I would continue teaching knit & crochet, and I said yes, but that's only once a week, and at least I won't be working the register any more. Sure, it will take me longer to get rid of my debt, but it will get done, eventually.

On a brighter note, I have found some really great ideas on Pinterest. Knitting hints, recipes, and fabulous home ideas. Take a look at these cool light fixtures made from teacups...


...and fruit jars!


Wouldn't these fruit jar lights look great over a kitchen sink? Maybe a set of three of them? How does one go about making these lights, though. I know...ask dad! Dad is always up for a project. Sure, he might think it's a stupid idea, and he might question why would anyone would want fruit jars hanging over their sink when the could have a perfectly good fluorescent fixture, or better yet, recessed lighting so you don't see any light source at all. Why draw attention to the fixture, especially when the light it provides is less than adequate for a kitchen? It is worth noting here that dad's idea of "adequate" kitchen lighting is something akin to surgical suite lighting. After all, if you should have to perform an appendectomy, where better than over the kitchen sink?

Anyway, I casually mentioned this idea over dinner last Thanksgiving, and dad made the first prototype that weekend. Notice the use of a pumpkin pie filling can as the light fixture:



After multiple trips to Lowes and an electric supply store on dad's part, and a day trip to find fruit jars on my part, we were ready for the fun to begin. At least, it's the fun part for dad. Ripping and slashing is always the best part of any job, according to him. The cabinet trim came down in one piece (thank goodness) and then it was time for the demolition!


Where there was once just a small hole that fed electrical wires to an ugly fluorescent fixture, now there is a huge, gaping hole. Notice all of the junk on the counter. Insulation, sheet rock, pieces of a 2x4...it was all in dad's way, so now it's all gone!

At least we spread a tarp down first for easy cleanup. Next step, install the board dad made to fit over the sink. He had already pre-wired the new fixtures, of course.


Add the trim again, and some fruit jars, and voila! A concept becomes a reality!


I'll never be able to perform an appendectomy over the sink, but I absolutely LOVE my kitchen lighting! Thanks dad! You're the best!

After the Storm...and the Earthquake.

Hurricane Irene has come and gone, but rest assured that everyone here in BritKnitterville is fine. I hope everyone reading this is safe, too. Irene was downgraded to a Category One hurricane by the time she made landfall in New Jersey. Oddly enough, this is just the third time in the State's history that a hurricane made a direct hit. This was the first time that we boarded up the windows of the Museum where I work.



Irene caused the evacuation of Cape May County (yes a whole county of people!) and most of the shore communities on the coast. Fortunately my little house in Fortescue is on the Delaware Bay side of the state, but I would say that just about everyone left the island for higher ground, even though evacuation was not mandatory. My sister and I drove down there this morning to check on things, and there were lots of trees and wires down (and no power on the island), but fortunately not a lot of property damage. My little house survived with only the loss of one of the window shutters. Whew!

Not only did we have a Hurricane this week, we also had an Earthquake! In New Jersey! Ok, so technically it wasn't centered in New Jersey, but it sure felt like it! I can't imagine what it was like in Virginia. One minute I was sitting at the computer at in the Museum's library, and my chair starts rolling. I look up, and the hanging lights are swinging. We ran out into the museum (a GLASS museum, by the way) and the ginormous chandeliers in the lobby are swinging. Being in a glass museum in an earthquake is not my idea of fun, by the way. An earthquake in New Jersey...very strange.

In other news, I have a fourth dog. Well, HAD a fourth dog. For 24 hours. He wandered into the yard last Sunday and started eating the cats' food in the garage. He had a collar, but no tags and I named him Russell. Why? He's a Jack Russell Terrier, so what better name for this sweet boy?



To make a long story short, I will never take another dog in to the local SPCA to be scanned for a microchip. I will wait until my Vet's office opens and let them scan the dog. The local SPCA took Russell from me to scan him (no chip, by the way), and wouldn't let me take him back home! I told them I would give them all of my information in case the owner turned up, but they said they couldn't legally release him to me since I wasn't the owner. I never heard of that before. I took Cooper there three years ago to be scanned and they released him to me. Not Russell. They said I could come back in 7 days and fill out an application for adoption. Let me tell you, I was a mess. I was crying, which got another woman crying, and then two more women came to see what we were crying about and they started crying. Still, I had to leave without Russell... I posted his picture on Craig's List and Missing Pet.com, and hung posters in local stores. In the end it was the posters that reunited Russell with his owner. No more SPCA for me!

I'm sharing this picture just because it's so cute:



That's my dad, with his hair all messy and dirty knees. Doesn't he look great? Especially considering that he has had a rough year with two cancer surgeries. (Still cancer free!!!) He is working on a ramp for the shed at Fortescue. He is happiest when he has a project, and the Fortescue house is an endless source of projects for him. Endless, until the money runs out, which it does on a regular basis. I just made my second mortgage payment, and oddly enough it still doesn't feel like it's MY house. I still have that "trespassing" feeling when I walk in. This helps, though:



It is a picture of my first Brittany, Scarlett. My sister had an artist friend of hers do it for me shortly before I lost my sweet Scarlett. Now, every time I walk in the front door, this is what I see:




Yep, that's my house alright. Scarlett watches over it for me while I am away.

I'm still here...

Yes, it’s been a while. A looooonnng while. Between working 7 days, and working on the house in my “spare” time, I’ve been neglecting every other area of my life. Rest assured that all is well here. Mom and dad are doing fine. Emma, Tara and Cooper are all great. Ornery as ever, which is always a good sign. Recently we even passed the three year anniversary of the day we found sweet Cooper McLooper. I think he's happy here, don't you?



Anyway, the house is coming along nicely. Ceilings have been painted, fences have been put up, shed doors have been rebuilt, electrical stuff has been rewired, and lamps have been hung. Of course, none of this could have been done without help from dear old dad. Here is the electrical engineer, himself:



Yes he is, indeed, modeling a “chick magnet” T-shirt. My dear, delusional, dad.

Mom has been very helpful, too, with lots of design advice. Here she is on moving day...



... napping on the sofa, umm, contemplating color schemes and curtain styles. Of course, when I say “moving day” I use that term loosely. I haven’t actually really and truly moved. First I had to get the fence installed for the dogs, but then there were some problems with installation, and the company hasn’t come out to fix it yet. That’s a story for another day, though.

Then there was the problem of a place to sleep. I almost envy the cave dwellers, in their lack of decision making when it comes to decorating and finding a place to sleep. In the civilized world, this is a multi-step process, involving first buying a bed (as I will still have a bedroom at my sister’s house). Done. Then choosing a bedroom. Done. Then picking out a paint color that wouldn’t clash with the carpet. Done. Then actually getting that paint from the can onto the walls.

Not done. :sigh:

Maybe this weekend when I get off work from Glitter World, but maybe not. The painting has to be done before I can arrange for delivery of the bed, because who wants to climb over a bed while trying to paint? I also wanted to replace the (old, nasty, ugly) ceiling fan in that room but it looks like that will have to wait. All spending has come to a screeching halt. My checkbook needs life support after hemorrhaging money over the past month. However, I am proud to say that I have not used a credit card since August 13, 2010. Shocking, isn’t it? If I can’t afford to pay cash for it, I don’t buy it. Living within my means...a concept Congress can’t grasp.

Never fear, though. There are still plenty of no-cost and low-cost things to be done, and first on my list was hanging this lamp:



Isn't it lovely? Mom and dad made this lampshade. Actually made it! Cut the glass, wrapped the pieces, and soldered it all together. They made several cut glass lamps back in the 70s. After this one was finished, they decided they didn’t like the shape, and it was on its way out to the trash. Yes, the trash. Growing up, if a thing wasn't useful or was perceived as lacking in some way, it was put out for trash day. I often wonder what would have happened if any of us kids was handicapped or had any learning disabilities... But I digress. I loved the lamp and couldn't stand to have it tossed out, and even though I didn’t have a place for it at the time, I rescued it from the trash and stowed it under my bed for safe keeping. When I moved in with my sister, I hung it on an enclosed porch, but now it has a place of honor above my dining room table. I knew I would have a place for it someday... I just didn’t know that “someday” would take 30 years, or be so far from civilization!

I know that some people (most of my family, that is) think Fortescue is the ends of the Earth... the back of beyond... but I think it’s just perfect. I’ve met several of my neighbors already, and two of them are knitters! Everyone is so friendly and laid back. If you’re looking for what are traditionally known as the “finer things” in life, like internet access, marginally reliable cell service, trash pickup, mail delivery, or more than 5 television stations, Fortescue is not your kind of place.

If you are looking for a peaceful spot to relax and decompress with a walk on the beach, and don’t mind driving 20 miles (or more) for a gas station or a grocery store, I have a gem of a spot for you.



The people here are so friendly, and everyone has time to sit and chat over a glass of iced tea. The best thing about being here is asking someone for directions to, say, the dump, or a farm stand to buy some corn and tomatoes. You get answers like:

"Head out over the bridge, and go inland for a couple of miles. Make a left at the yellow house with a pool in the back yard. Keep going for a bit, and there will be a deli on your left (that they neglect to mention has been closed for more than 40 years, just in case you were hoping to get a sandwich and some chips), and then a pasture on the right where the cows are always wading in the creek. Make a right, and stay on that road until you see the black lab hanging out on the porch of the brick house, and then make the next left. If you come to the big oak tree that lost a limb a few winters back, you know you’ve gone too far."

Seriously. It is so funny. It makes me want to ask someone for directions even though I don’t need to go anywhere!

OK, enough for this post. For now, I’ll leave you with a video of a new song by the Zac Brown Band. This song perfectly describes the Fortescue way of life! Enjoy!

The sign says it all...

Yes, the population at Fortescue increased by one yesterday! I've already met three neighbors, and two of them are knitters. I don't have telephone service or internet down there, and even cell phone service comes and goes. It's wonderful!

More later, with pictures. For now, I am headed back to Fortescue with another car load of stuff.

Lots of News, All of it Good!

Almost a month since I've posted... I'm a very, very bad blogger. It's been a month of ups and downs, and generally nerve wracking episodes pretty much daily. Today, however, was an "up" day. Way, way up. Dad went back to his surgeon for a follow-up visit today. He had his thyroid removed on June 8th, and after a pretty rough recovery, he is doing better now. The best, most important news from his doctor visit today is that the biopsy report was clear! No cancer at all! What a relief. Dad is still pretty sore from the surgery, and has limited neck movement, but after another week or two he will be back to his old self.

We traditionally make him his favorite meal - hamburgers with all the fixin's for Father's Day, but not this year. Here's a picture from a couple of years ago:


Can you see how big that burger is? He piles everything on his burgers. Cheese, bacon, tomato, lettuce, green pepper, onion, pickles... so much stuff I don't know how he eats it all. Maybe by this weekend he will feel up to the traditional Father's Day burger fest.

More good news: Mom is doing really well after her surgery last week. She had a botox injection into a muscle at the base of her esophagus, and she is eating much better now. It may have to be repeated every 6 months or so, but that's a small price to pay for being able to eat without the discomfort she has been experiencing for years now.

More good news: I've got mail!



Yes, it's all junk mail, but it's mine. Ok, none of it has my actual name on it, unless I want to change my name to "Occupant" or "Current Resident" or "Box Holder", that is.

So what's the big deal about getting mail? This mail was in my very own Post Office Box. Mine! At Fortescue!

Why would anyone get mail at Fortescue unless they lived there? They wouldn't! I will be closing on my house on Wednesday! Yes, that was another good piece of news today. After a nail-biting four days in which the bank and the homeowners/flood insurance company were going back and forth about the wording on the insurance policy (of all things to hold up a settlement...one sentence in an insurance policy!), they finally came to a compromise, and in a mere 36 hours, I will be a homeowner! Me!

Does that mean I'm a grown up now? I hope not.

Pass the Marshmallows...

A few weeks ago, I was feeling like I was going nowhere with my get-out-of-debt plan, so I decided to figure out how much I had paid off since my last bonfire. I removed the chains from the Chain of Shame, it made a tidy little pile.



Time to break out the matches...

...and celebrate...

...and then go deeper into debt:



Yep, the Fortescue house is now officially under contract! Woo Hoo! All I need now is the mortgage commitment, which should come through by June 10th. That will keep everything on track to have the survey, inspections, certifications, blah, blah, blah, done by the settlement date of June 30th!

It looks like June will be a big month around here, with Dad's thyroid surgery on the 8th, and mom's esophagus surgery on the 14th. Fortunately, dad is already stocking up on supplies in anticipation of spending time in Fortescue in the next couple of months.

What supplies?



BUG SPRAY!

Too Many Red Flags

Man, it's been a while. Yes, I've been busy, but that's not the only reason I've been away from the blog. I've tried a couple of times to write, but it has never come out right, so I hit DELETE instead of PUBLISH.

First things first...

Good news: Dad is doing well after his surgery in March.

Not-so-good news: He was diagnosed with thyroid cancer a couple of weeks ago. We are told that it is completely unrelated to the prostate cancer. He has to have surgery to remove the thyroid, and then a couple of weeks after that he will have to be re-admitted to the hospital to take some very weird meds. Apparently, within 3-5 days of taking these meds, he will glow in the dark. (Not really...at least I hope not.) Next week we will find out more details on the surgery and post-surgical treatment.

Other than that, everything is pretty much the same. Mom is doing well. She is scheduled for Botox next month.That's right, Botox! I can't stop laughing whenever I think of it. She's not getting it for wrinkles (if she had any, that is). She was recently diagnosed with esophageal achalasia, so they are going to relax the muscle at the bottom of her esophagus with Botox. I keep telling her that once you start with the plastic surgery, it's just a slippery slope. Pretty soon she will be getting a butt lift and a boob job!

The dogs, assorted cats and chickens are all doing great.

OK, I think I'll end this post right here.

Thanks for reading.

Goodbye.

See ya.

Go on now.

You're still here?

You're asking about the little house at Fortescue from my last post?

The house I have been drooling over for two years now?

This cute little house with tons of character?


Why yes, I did indeed put in an offer on this house!

I know the house is small; the bedrooms are barely big enough for a twin bed, let alone a full or queen; the bedrooms and bathroom are up a narrow, winding flight of steps; the outbuildings are practically falling down and are one high tide away from being washed into the marsh. I know all that, and I love the house anyway. The deeper I got into the house, though, the more red flags started popping up.



The house has been vacant for over three years? That just proves that it needs someone to love it. Termite damage? OK. I can live with that. Leaky pipes? No problem. That's what plumbers are for. An owner who is reluctant to sell? That's a little harder to deal with, but that's what real estate agents are for.

And then came the big red flag. Do you see that outbuilding behind the house? Inside the building, there is an old, unused shallow well. You open the door, and there is a hole in the ground, about 2 feet in diameter, full of water. No lid or anything to keep you from falling into it. No big deal. Make a lid for the well, secure it so no one can fall into it, and viola! Well problem solved. At least we thought it was a well. Turns out, it's the septic. Full of water. No lid, because apparently it fills up so often that it has to be pumped out once a month. Estimate to get a new, properly draining septic system? $15,000-$25,000.

Big red flag. Huge. Big enough to cover the whole state of New Jersey. Granted, New Jersey is one of the smaller states, but still...



This house is just not an option for me, and will henceforth will be referred to as "The Money Pit".

But... behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining. When God closes a door, He always opens a window. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I could go on and on with pithy sayings, but you catch my drift.

I now present.. (drumroll, please)... the Silver Lining:



Longtime readers might recognize this as the house we rented last summer when an old friend came to New Jersey for a visit. This house is also in Fortescue, and while it doesn't have the charm of my house the Money Pit, there is something to be said for three bedrooms, a bath and a half, and actually being able to flush the toilets.

So, am I just teasing, or did I actually take the plunge?

Hand me a towel, because I am soaking wet!

I was afraid to post about this earlier, afraid I would jinx it, but I made an offer, it was accepted (after some back and forth), the contracts have been signed, the attorney review period is over, and an independent house inspector only found two things wrong: it needs GFI outlets in the kitchen, and the front porch is missing lag bolts. Easy stuff.

Now I'm just waiting for the mortgage to come through, but have been assured that it will go through without a problem. Famous last words, right? I'm not counting my chickens before they're hatched, but I'm starting to think that I might actually be a homeowner very soon.

How's that for a silver lining?

Working, working, working...

...and more working. Mom and dad are both doing good, the babes are all excellent (health-wise, not behavior-wise, of course), but between working at the Museum and Glitter World, I'm feeling like a zombie. I keep telling myself that this won't be forever, and I just have to keep my eyes on the goal. What is my goal? Get out of debt! Pay off all credit cards and my car, and become totally debt free. I can't imagine how that feels, but if all goes according to plan, by June of 2013, I should be able to tell you. Seems so far away, but I am determined to do it. Absolutely determined.

No deviation from the plan.

None.

At all.

Unless...

Wouldn't it be fantastic...

If it were a possibility...

That this could be mine?



So, on one hand I could be totally debt free in approximately 26 months.

On the other hand, I could go deeper into debt for approximately 26 years.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

:sigh:

Updates in the near future.

For now, you guessed it, I am off to work.

:-/

Catching Up

I can tell this is going to be a jumbled post, just because my brain is only functioning on half power. Last week mom had Mohs surgery for squamous cell cancer on her head, and tomorrow dad has his surgery at Fox Chase Cancer Center. (If anyone has a spare moment tomorrow, I would sure appreciate some prayers/thoughts/good vibes sent in the direction of BritKnitterville.) I took off from both jobs for the rest of this week so I can be available to take mom back and forth to the hospital. It's just as well I am not working, because of my aforementioned brain function deficit.

Today at work I was mounting labels, so I carefully marked the cutting lines, sandwiched the layers, and as I was putting it into the heat press I then noticed a misspelling in the label. Arrgh! I went back to the computer, made the correction, printed out a new sheet, carefully marked the cutting lines...again, sandwiched the layers...again, and then put the labels into the press. I went back 10 minutes later, and that stupid press still wasn't hot. It's an ancient beast, and it does take a long time to heat up, but this was ridiculous. Then I saw the problem. I didn't plug it in. Stupid. I've been doing stuff like that for weeks now. Hopefully after dad comes home from the hospital and is on the road to recovery my brain will recover, too.

Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone for your suggestions for the wedding afghan. I have just about given up hope of combining a Celtic and dog theme, so am pretty sure I will be going with either this one or this one. (My apologies to those of you not on Ravelry-- you probably can't see those links.) I'm just waiting for both patterns to arrive and then I will decide. Or not. Maybe something else will strike my fancy in the meantime.

Just because no post is complete without photos, here are a couple of shots of the sea glass I found at Fortescue over the weekend.






Pretty, huh?

Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.....

First of all, thank you, everyone, for all of your support. Dad read the comments, and they are really appreciated!

The residents of Britknitterville woke up to more snow this morning. Ugh. Enough already!!! Yeah, it's pretty, but I refuse to take any more picture of the nasty white stuff. The good part about it is that work is closed until noon today. Yay! So, in between laundry and paperwork and scratching bellies, I am finally getting in another blog post.

Do you remember my little house at Fortescue? Well, not really MY house, but I consider it mine.



Hopefully some day, but more on that another time... Anyway, the little town of Fortescue has been in the news lately. This article on the feral cat colonies at Fortescue was in yesterday's paper. How can some of those people be so unfeeling? These cats are not hurting anyone. In fact, they are keeping down the rodent population on the island. Sheesh!

Here are some photos of the cats. We go down and feed them at least once a week. Aren't they beautiful?



The blue tubs are cat shelters. They are a tub within a tub, stuffed with insulation in between, and the "porthole" allows access for the cats while keeping the inner tub (stuffed with straw and blankets) nice and cozy.


Here is a recent photo of dad working on one of the tubs for the cats! Who knew he was a cat lover?


Tara says those cat shelters may be cozy, but she'll stick with her big doggy bed.

My Attempt at Some Very Lame Excuses...

Contrary to popular belief, I am still alive and well. Neglectful of the blog, tired all the time, and after working 14 hours in a day I feel like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest (to quote the late Captain Phil of the Cornelia Marie), but I am still alive. Everyone here is just fine, and I hope you all are doing well, too. The babes are all happy and healthy, and mom and dad celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary this week. 55 years! Sheesh! I haven't read a single blog since Halloween, but promise to get caught up with everybody this week. I hope. Between both jobs, today was my first day off this month. I even worked Thanksgiving day, but the way I look at it, I should be thankful to have a job. Well, two jobs.

I can't mention the name of my second job since all employees had to sign some kind of legal document saying that we wouldn't mention the name of the company in any "social media", but I didn't sign it until after I had already mentioned it in a previous post, so I figure I'm OK. That might be flawed logic, but I can't worry about it. To refresh your memory, my second job is at a big chain of craft stores... you know the one... it starts with an "M" and rhymes with... well, it doesn't really rhyme with anything. You can scroll back a few posts, if you really care, but from here on I will call it "Glitter World", which is a much more descriptive name for the place, anyway.

Other than the masses of glitter that I end up with all over my clothes, in my hair, in my eyes, etc. (I am sooooo sick of glitter!) it's really not bad. Everyone I work with is so nice, and the customers are great. Hey, we're all crafters, and crafters are wonderful people, right? I have even managed to NOT buy a single skein of yarn. None! In fact, I haven't bought a thing in my two months at Glitter World. 100% of every paycheck has been applied to my Visa card, but that's really a post for another day.

For now, I will just leave you with a couple of photos I took this morning. You might ask what I wanted to do on my first day off in a month. No question about it, I wanted to go to Fortescue. It was too cold and windy to walk on the beach, but I did manage to snap a couple of photos of the water.


Of course, I had to drive by "my" house to make sure it is still for sale.



It is... not that I have the money to buy it. It's nice to know it's still there, though.

I'm still alive...

I can't believe it's been so long since my last blog post. It's been since July? How can that be? I haven't even read anyone else's blog in weeks. I am so behind! In my last post I said I ...have lots of excuses... and ...just need to get my act together. Clearly, that did not happen. This has been a month of ups and downs.



Seriously, totally, incredibly high "ups". But you know what they say... "What goes up must come down," and boy did I come down. So here is the question, is it worth it? Who can say? More on that later.

Where to begin? Everyone knows I have been yearning to buy a house in Fortescue. You remember... this tiny, totally adorable, impractical one:



Well, on one of my weekly "visits" to the house, which I of course refer to as "my house", we found this house:



It's not so tiny, with 3 bedrooms and a bath and a half. As an added bonus, you can actually fit a double size bed in two of the bedrooms, unlike "MY" house where you can just (barely) fit a twin bed. This not-so-tiny house also happens to be for sale, but as an added bonus it is also available for rent. I have come to the realization that the only way I will ever live in Fortescue is on a rental basis, since the only house I can afford to buy looks something like this:



Anyway, we got permission for the dogs to stay at the rental house, and just like that, we were going on vacation! Even though it was only about 30 minutes from home, this was the first time since 1997 that we planned a week's vacation, so it totally counts as a bona fide vacation.

As it turns out, the dogs are much happier in their own fenced-in-yard. Especially Emma. She views the leash as a punishment. Here is a shot of the babes on the beach at Fortescue.



The dog clinging to my sister's leg? That's Emma. She is never on a leash unless she's going to the Vet, and nothing could convince her that being on a leash on the beach was supposed to be an enjoyable experience. Most nights we just stayed at home and then drove to Fortescue during the day. It was great to have the house to store the boat and kayaks so we didn't have to trailer them back and forth each day.

So back to the ups and downs.... One day last August, I answered the phone at work, and had the shock of my life--it was a really great guy who I last saw the day before he left to join the army in 1987. He found me thanks to the museum's website. (God Bless the Internet!)

The seriously high "up" is that he flew to New Jersey and spent 5 days here.

The seriously low "down" is that he left to go back home.

It's that time again...

Yep, the birthday fairy paid his annual visit--this time he showered my sister with birthday wishes. Her first choice of things to do, as always, was to go to Fortescue and go fishing. It was on her birthday last year that she caught her first Striper of the season, and we decided to see if her birthday luck would hold again this year.

Last weekend we went to Fortescue, and it was lovely weather. Shorts and T-shirts and toes-in-the-sand kind of weather. This weekend? Not so much. More like jeans and sweatshirts and two jackets and mittens and multiple pair of socks in rubber-boots-in-the-sand type of weather.

Here is a shot of my niece all bundled up. That fishing pole has to be 3 times as tall as she is!
Perseverance (or stupidity?) paid off, and we caught five (count em...5!) Stripers! Here is a picture of my niece's boyfriend (isn't he adorable?) with a fish he caught. I think it was his first time fishing, ever.
Those fingers in the lower right corner of the picture...those are my sister's. You might notice blood on her finger. That's not fish blood---that's human blood. She cut her finger on the fish's gill plate. It wasn't just a cut, it was a laid-open-gaping-hole of a cut which necessitated a trip to the ER.
Yes, indeed. Needed stitches and everything.
Fortunately it was a slow day in the ER and we were in and out in less than 2 hours. We did manage to liven thing up a bit while we were there... the nurses in the ER were all singing, "Give me back that Filet-O-Fish! Give me that fish!"

For her birthday next year, I'm sure we will try for another Striper, but hopefully there will be no trips to the ER!

Easter Bunny?

I had a visit from the Easter Bunny this weekend! He left me a present in the garage!

The practical side of me says it might have been the neighbor's chickens who left me these little presents....
...but I don't think so. Easter weekend...Easter Bunny!

It was a beautiful long weekend here in southern NJ. The Star Magnolia was in full bloom...

...just in time for the anniversary of sweet Scarlett's crossing the rainbow bridge on Sunday.

Scarlett c.1994
my first Brittany

May 13, 1991 - April 4, 2003

The weather was so very nice that we went to Fortescue every day. Look at who greets visitors on the road into Fortescue:
Can't quite make him out? Here's a closeup:

Spiderman...Spiderman...Friendly neighborhood Spiderman! He is wearing bunny ears, no less! Love it!

Yesterday, I even took my bicycle down to Fortescue and rode all around. My first stop, of course, was "my" house. Still vacant...still for sale... :sigh:
I should have realized that the recent nasty weather (high winds and record flooding) that brought lots of treasures up onto the beach......also brought lots of sand up onto the road. It was pretty deep in some spots. Here's a tip: Sandy roads and bicycle tires are not a good match. Can you see where this is going? Down. Yup...I completely wiped out. I'm all scraped up, bruised and sore... Ugh. Bikes are for kids.