for the very last time....

in the year 2009...we are posting a little blog bit here - we are shutting down the computers tomorrow morning early...it's going to be a very busy day tomorrow...way too much to do this week and way too little time to do it all in...but i have the utmost of confidence that it will all go according to "somebody's" plan (although i'm not sure which plan that is)...and that we come will out the other end of this move with most of our brains left in our heads...

this is certainly not something i had planned on doing anytime soon.  it's been less than 2 years since the last one...and here we are again...but we had absolutely no choice this time - a leaky and contaminated building and an owner who didn't see that there was anything the matter with any of that...and so...it goes and goes and goes. 

in the interim - we have done this in 2.5 weeks instead of 2.5 months like the last time and none of us has any idea where anything is except it's "in a box" somewhere...but it will be over sooner than later and we can get back to doing what we love to do best.

keep good thoughts - have a great new year...and if this doesn't kill us - it hopefully will make us stronger :)  HAPPY NEW YEAR.

short, sweet and very much to the point

i have always been one to believe in "signs"  and it sort of doesn't matter much to me where those signs come from...

it's been a rough couple of months around here with a lot of decisions to be made, lots of soul searching, lots of questions - to the point that i generally end up answering myself - and i have these very long and drawn out conversations with myself and a very dear friend who always listens even if she isn't physically sitting in the passenger's seat  -  i have these conversations on the way into the shop and on the way home from the shop...and sometimes (if i don't think the girls are listening) - i have the conversations while i'm working in the back room here...

so...back to signs.  yesterday was sort of a watershed day - and lots of decisions were made  (all for the good).  i pulled out onto oakdale avenue this morning coming in.  streets were dry, it had not rained - even though we are expecting it today maybe - and there was the most BRILLIANT rainbow over the field to the west.  by the time i had gotten to briggsmore - there was a second rainbow right next to the first rainbow...a little bit less BRILLIANT but another  rainbow - no doubt.

i knew i had received a sign...and said my thanks and dedicated the first rainbow to a good friend who is having a third angioplasty in six months today and also to a good friend in new york who is waiting for some results...  and i kept the 2nd rainbow for us...and said my most appreciative thanks for those two rainbows...

by then...i was at the lake - and you guessed it - the goosers are back!!!  silly birds...they are with us thru the spring i'm sure...good grits in that lake...why leave???  and good scratchings for bugs and grubs in the field...

am out of here - more on rainbows a little bit later this week...

baby it's cold outside

hard to imagine in this valley - where it can top 110 degrees in the summer time without even a blink of an eye...we had 24 degrees yesterday morning when i came in and the shop was 44 degrees INSIDE...and now it's all headed east and we are supposed to get more tomorrow.  it's very clear outside and the clearer it is the colder it gets.

driving thru the orchards yesterday morning - all the unpruned peach trees looked like white crystal and the unpruned grapevines were equally as beautiful.  i took a couple of photos when i got to the shop - wished i had been able to get the trees and the grapevines  - but the camera was here on my desk - and i thought i would share california's central valley version of 'snow' - but this is pretty cold for us - and when you have no clothing warm enough and no coats warm enough...this can be pretty bitter.  they got mountains of snow in the foothills of the sierra - enough to call a snow day for the kids yesterday...unheard of and maybe this will be the end of this drought we've had for about 4-5 years.  we can only hope as we need the snowpack so badly.

annie, kay and i have been stuffing mama mia and the babes and first cousin merlin with canned cat food as well as yet another 20 pound bag of dry - i don't know where they go at night...but i can only hope to put enough food in their bellys to keep their little internal furnances stoked...and the vet appt. for the babes for next week is the first thing on the agenda as soon as the vet's office opens this morning. 

so...checking in from the artic-like central valley...baby, baby - it's very cold outside.

cranky cranky cranky

is it me??  i don't think so???  lordy lordy the world is quite a cranky place.  if you don't do your job correctly or you don't make the effort to do your job correctly or you're just plain lazy or you just don't give a flip - how is it that it always becomes the other person's fault? 

am just getting very sick and tired of those who suffer from all the above symptoms and thus end up making the rest of our lives a living hell but getting thoroughly pissed off if we dare comment or ask "how come" they are behaving like this.

trying to remain positive...let a lot of things slide right off my back...but i'm telling you - it's getting tougher and tougher to "take it all in stride" and take the high road or turn the other cheek.  what happens when we all run out of "cheeks" since any given person only has four of those? 

makes me sad that there is no ownership, no responsibility taken, no apologies made - just laying down blame for all the boo-boos at somebody else's feet and slinking away in hopes that nobody will ask "how come".

little bit of ranting going on here i'm afraid...but it's really true and it's getting worse instead of getting any better and it just makes everything so much more of a struggle and a strain...when it really shouldn't be that way.

guess i'm a little bit cranky too - but, it's december 1st and it's 24 more days until christmas and then it will be gone for yet another year.  i got our little tree almost decorated - we're going for 2 feet and sparkley this year instead of 9 feet of crystal and white and i decorated the front doors last night with giant ornament balls in white and silver and lots of curly ribbon in black, white, silver and red...it looks quite pretty actually - hanging on the red doors and it didn't take long at all...it's very twinkly.....  can actually make door hangings while on the phone...get the last of the little ornaments hung on the sparkle tree and the mantle in the family room decorated and that will be the end of it for this year...way too much going on...but wait...need to hang the dogger socks and then we'll be done.

first an out of state trip starting tomorrow to virginia and then home on the 7th and then the holidays will officially start around here...and a whole lot of other interesting things too.

off to do an update - need, need to get that done ;)