Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Mid Week Ramblin'

It's mid week and I have nothing to write about but I will ramble on here for a bit just because I can. :-)

The weather has been fairly nice, a little cool today but still sunny. Getting the Fall feeling for sure. Tonight it is supposed to drop down into the low 40's. I will leave my bedroom window open for as long as I possibly can. I sleep so much better when I can feel fresh natural air blowing on me. I don't like running the ceiling fan all night. For some reason, I wake up in the morning with my nose all stuffed up when the fan is left on.

George has been going out hunting every evening for the past week. Bear season opened up on September 1st. He likes to go out but he isn't interested so much in bear. He mainly hunts deer out behind our house and he is an avid bow hunter...no shotguns for him. We have 6 acres of woods/fields out there and he has a few favorite spots to sit up in his tree stand and be one with nature. So several evenings a week, he races home and grabs a quick bite to eat and goes out until it starts getting dark. This won't last long, obviously, since it has been getting dark earlier and earlier. But for now, he's having a good time. (Although I don't know how much fun it can be sitting 20 feet high in a tree for several hours trying not to make any noise. Not my idea of fun.) LOL

My friend Leanne got terminated from work today. I am pretty sad about that but she made a mistake and at this time, the management is not in much of a forgiving mood. Looking for any reason to reduce the work force, I think. There are some people who should have been let go a long time ago because they are pretty useless but somehow they are still employed.
They've been riding our butts about time clock practices...don't punch in more than 5 minutes before your shift starts and you can't punch out any later than 5 minutes after your shift ends...etc etc. Apparently she was running late yesterday morning so she pulled her car up to the building...ran in, punched in then went back out to park her car. I know...that has wrong written all over it. No argument from me there. But I see a lot of people who are on the clock and they're in the ladies room for 15 minutes combing their hair and reapplying makeup...or hanging around in the halls killing time. One of my co workers makes an entire loop through the building 2 or 3 times a day using the bathroom that is farthest from her work station so she can kill a little time. So I don't see how this is any worse. But she was ratted out by the security guard and lost her job. I guess I am going to have to really keep on my toes. It looks like they are looking for any reason to dump a few more bodies.

I suppose I should get my supper dishes washed and maybe I can get a little reading in before George gets home.
Not sure what we are doing this weekend. So far, nothing is planned but things can change in a heartbeat around here. I know he is going to want to get out into the woods late afternoon on Saturday and Sunday if the weather is good.

Have a great evening. Hope your week is going well.

Friday, September 11, 2009

A Quiet Friday Morning

It's my off Friday...had a nice short week with the holiday on Monday. George is working so I am making good use of my time at home alone, catching up on blogs and doing some laundry in between. I've been awake since 6:30 and I've got three loads of laundry washed and waiting on the second load to finish drying so I can put the third load in. Once that is dry I will remake the bed and my chores will be done. I plan on grabbing my book a bit later on and making a nice dent in it. I am reading Duma Key by Stephen King. I am about 150 pages into it and it is pretty good, so far. But I know how he writes and I have a feeling the story is going to take a left turn pretty soon. Hopefully I won't end up disappointed as I have been in previous books. I have had this book for quite some time and had been putting off reading it. I had been reading books by Christopher Moore lately and he is a riot to read. He has a very unique and comedic writing style and I find the silliness refreshing sometimes.

Work has been very stressful lately. A sign of the times I guess, but still scary never knowing who is going to be laid off or terminated next. I work for a government contractor who manufactures optical gear for the military. Night vision goggles, mountable flashlights and infrared sighting systems that our soldiers need to protect us and themselves. All the budget cuts have been tough on everyone. The orders have been dwindling down and so must the work force. At one time our comapny employed almost 2000 people and since the beginning of this year management has had to lay off or terminate well over 500 people. It began as getting rid of the dead weight, mainly people with negative work records, bad attitudes and discipline problems. Then it moved onto individual departments, thinning the herd so to speak. I've heard that another 150 people will be gone by years end...but that could just be a rumor. In any event, it's a little scary. No one is safe and everyone is dispensible it seems. I continue to carry on, hopefully for a long time but you never know. I've been there almost 7 years but seniority doesn't matter here either. I'll just keep my nose clean and my attitude pleasant and show up for work every day and hope that is sufficient.

It's kind of cloudy and cool today. I guess summer is over. We didn't have much of a summer this year. June and July were very rainy and the only heat and sun we had came the first couple of weeks of August. The last 2 weeks were very comfortable and sunny, but not particularly warm. I guess we saved money on electricity where the Air Conditioning is concerned but I dread having to turn the heat on. I guess it's inevitible living in the Northeast but maybe we'll have a nice Indian summer.

Of course, everyone knows today is the 8th anniversary of 9/11. We all remember where we were and what we were doing when this horrible event took place. I had just landed at Manchester NH airport from a 7:30am flight from Newark, NJ when I saw the news on the monitors at the luggage carousel. It was 8:55am...just minutes after the first plane struck the World Trade Center Tower and it didn't make sense to me until I was in the car heading to work from the airport and the reports were on the radio. By the time I got to work (which was just on the opposite side of the airport), I knew I had to make some calls because my family knew I was flying that morning and they would be frantic. I called the high school to get word to my daughter so she wouldn't freak out and I called my parents. Then I called my son, who had been asleep and was totally oblivious to what was going on. I then made a few more calls to friends who would be worried and was very tightly hugged by some co workers who were extremely happy to see me. At that time, we didn't know exactly what impact this whole catastrophe would have on our Nation, but we would find that out in the coming hours. I personally didn't lose anyone close to me but a lot of people did and for them I pray. May God Bless us all.

Monday, September 07, 2009

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day to all of you! I hope it has been a relaxing day for everyone.

I decided to spend the day relaxing and not doing a whole lot of anything since we have been on the go since first thing Saturday morning. We got up fairly early and I had to get a batch of brownies into the oven even before I jumped into the shower because I was pressed for time and I know the border patrol is always waiting on me as I cross over into Maine. I am not allowed in the state without a pan of brownies. LOL (That is according to Rick and Mazz and of course I always comply)

George headed for the dump while I showered and then got back home to load up the car for our 300 mile trip. Rick and Blossom were planning a pool party for the unofficial last weekend of the summer and we would not miss it for the world. As soon as the brownies came out of the oven we were ready to hit the road. I was riding shotgun this trip and I grabbed the camera because it was a gorgeous day for a ride and we were going to go through the White Mountain area and I knew I could get some awesome shots. As you can see...I did just that. The sky was so blue and it was just a pretty day.























It took us 5 hours to get to our motel. We checked in, freshened up and headed right over to Rick's house. I wish I had taken some photos of the room we had because it was really nice...and HUGE! We could have easily stayed there for a week and not been uncomfortable. It had two beds,(not that we needed two), a sofa with recliners and a really nice kitchen area with a table and chairs, s microwave oven, stove top and fridge. The bathroom was quite large as well with a walk in shower which was really nice.

Anyway...we got to Rick's and the first person I spotted was Tweetie! She wasn't able to make it the last time we were there so it was great to see her. During the course of the afternoon/evening she and I spent a lot of time chatting and catching up. Mazz was also there with his wife April and their son Andy. Rick's son David was there too with his girlfriend Jaime. Blossom's sister and brother in law also were there with their grandson. Pup-Pup, Gene and Nikki were there along with Gene's cousin Wanda. It is always great fun hanging with these bunch of mainiacs...that is for sure.
We had a bite to eat, all was delicious of course, Rick is a fantastic cook, and the drinking and partying commenced. It got really chilly outside once the sun went down so we got a fire going in the fire pit, then after awhile we went into the basement to listen to music and Karaoke. George and I laughed all night long and had a wonderful time. We left there around 11:30 and went back to the motel to unwind and get some sleep. We were planning to go back to Rick's for breakfast but never got up until after 9 and decided we had better get back on the road soon. We took the overland route home back through the mountains and made a few stops along the way for lunch and to stretch our legs. We made it home around 4pm. A whirlwind trip but lots of fun and always great to be with wonderful people.

Tweetie, Rick, Gene and Mazz


Rick and Mazz


Mazz



Today was a lazy day. All I did was laundry and read a bit, then made a quick supper. George and his buddy are out in the woods at the moment doing a little bear hunting. He enjoys that activity...I cheer for the wildlife. Hunting doesn't do much for me, but hey it keeps him out of my hair for awhile! LOL As long as I don't have to clean anything he brings home...

The Mighty Hunter



It will be back to work tomorrow...whoopie. The best thing is I have Friday off too so hopefully the 3 days I have to work won't drag.

Hope you enjoyed the little slide show. Have a great evening!