Two Thousand Six – May

05/01 Blondie is gone.  So sad.

05/02 I still had trouble sleeping last night, and went looking for an old journal.  I found it!  Blondie came into my life on Monday, April 26, 1993.  She was probably born in the fall of 1992.  So interesting to go back and read that stuff!  I don’t remember Blondie ever being anything but the perfect dog, but my journal says otherwise.  I found my 1994 journal to be very disturbing.  I left the Lawyer’s office with visions of coming home and tanning my tummy and damn if it doesn’t look like rain now that I’m home. 

05/03 Hanna spent most the night on the bed Blondie used to sleep on.  I managed 20 minutes of tummy tanning before the Security System Technician showed up.  Tony should be arriving shortly with my tractor!  I mowed my grass!  Took two hours.

05/04 Golf lesson, finally outside and it was miserable cold.

05/05 I had hoped to introduce Avery to the Purple Dinosaur on the deck, but it was just too nasty out.

05/06 I slept better last night than I have in a while.  Must have been the sandwich and the beer.  I rolled up the living room and foyer rugs and the cleaning crew dragged them to the garage and from there I was able to get them into the back of my car for donation to the Salvation Army who’s in my neighborhood today.  While I must admit I was a tad worried, my new foyer rug is yet more proof it doesn’t pay to shop.  I spent 20 minutes online picking out that rug, I’m well pleased and don’t think I could have done better had I spent the four or five hours it would have taken to go to an actual store.  The neighbor lady walks her little black dog by driving up and down the street a few times in a golf cart with the dog running beside.  That has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.  Hanna:  87 minutes, 5.50 miles, 3.80 mph, HR=145.  Not liking that heart rate, I must admit I’m still a little stressed but I know where it’s coming from.  Something funny as hell happened here this afternoon and while it would be unkind to write about it, I really need to make note of it.  I got to see Ashley and her friends in their prom dresses!

05/07 Coco:  81 minutes, 5.28 miles, 3.9 mph, HR=127.  Better.  Hammock has been deployed.  Looks like it might be a good day to burn the brush pile, wash the cars, use the boat.  Two out of three isn’t bad.  I won’t light the brush pile unless the flag is laying on the pole and it’s not.  But, the boat’s been out and the cars are clean!  I’ve been having trouble with the logistics of getting the Wagon detailed, now it can wait until fall.

05/08 Rain this morning.  So much for my clean car.  So much thunder!  It rained so hard for a while I couldn’t even see the fire pit.

05/09 I really need for it to not rain tonight so I can mow tomorrow as that will be my last chance until Saturday at which point it will be way overdue.  To whom it may concern:  I have no need for a fertilizer spreader, I hire someone to do that.

05/10 I got the lawn mowed!  It’s supposed to rain.  Off and on looked like it was going to.  Finally I decided to just do it.  I should figure out the trimmer, but I just don’t have that in me this afternoon.  In part because I forgot to eat lunch.  I went to yoga, which was a most excellent idea.

05/11 Golf is no fun when it’s cold.  Golf will be no fun tonight.  It will help if I wear socks.  I wish I could go longer than three weeks between hair cuts.  Cute that the logs for one of my GeoCaching Travel Bugs are currently being written in a language I don’t read.  German, I think.  Today I made an appointment with a Psychologist.  Golf was in the dome.  We worked on our short game.

05/12 Housebound again by rain and cold!  Not a total loss as we had a nice nap this afternoon.

05/13 The cold and rain continues, making the day perfect for laundry, coffee and knitting.  Candle party at Amy’s.  My dogs won’t leave me alone for the sniffing of the cat scent on me.  Evening sunshine!!

05/14 Tony and Ashley treated me to a wonderful brunch!  Nicole’s birthday dinner tonight.

05/15 Not only did the irrigation folks show up right on time, but the Gardener is here working on spring clean up!!!  I can’t believe the trailer load of stuff they hauled out of here, and it was from only one planting bed.

05/16 I thought I was done crying over Blondie.  Until I got this morning’s mail and the package of pictures and notes from the Kennel Staff.  Not only did I survive the Psychologist today, but I’ve agreed to go back.  Yay me.

05/17 It’s not very confidence inspiring when the Dell Repair Technician arrives and has to borrow my tools.  And therefore no surprise he didn’t have the right part either.  My evening ended up nothing like I planned!  None the less, I think I enjoyed myself more than I might have as it ended up very quiet and relaxed.

05/18 I swear the rabbits know exactly where the Invisible Fence line is.  I think I’m actually going to be able to do this golf thing without embarrassing myself too badly.

05/19 We ran outside and played in the yard every time the sun came out.  Avery still wants nothing to do with the purple dinosaur.

05/20 Hanna:  84 minutes, 5.57 miles, 4.0 mph, HR=154.  Lawn is mowed!  I really must get the new trimmer out of the box, maybe tomorrow.  Looks like it could rain.  What else is new?  I was going to turn on my irrigation system, but I think I’ll wait until we’ve gone three days without rain.  Nicole’s confirmation.

05/21 Coco:  79 minutes, 5.76 miles, 4.3 mph, HR=142.  I can’t get my trimmer started, I guess I’ll have to work on my tan instead.  Or not.  It’s 55° and mostly cloudy.  Too cold to even lay out on the deck.  This evening I came in to find the BSOD Parity Error on my laptop.  While it seems like it happens often, I can’t find note of it in my archives since late 2005.  A forced shut down always solves the problem.

05/22 6:30 am and there’s five trucks, two trailers and 8 or 10 people here!  The stucco will be finished today.  The stucco is finished!  My car is fixed.  It was a wheel bearing, just like Tony said.  Tony got the trimmer running.  I may have not had the switch in the “on” position.  Geezzz!

05/23 I survived a second visit with the Psychologist and am going back for a third.  It’s already helped an awful lot and I’m thinking every week will be more than I need before too long, but also know I won’t be giving it up completely any time soon.

05/24 I get to spend the afternoon with my Dentist getting another crown and some filling work done.  The anticipation is always worse than the actual event.  The copper work is all done on the back of my house.  I wonder how long it will be before it’s all one color again?  I turned on the sprinkler system and now it’s raining.

05/25 I can’t get my Cingular 8125 PocketPC/Phone to sync with my Exchange server.  My Cingular 2125 SmartPhone syncs fine and all the server settings are the same.  What gives?  I can’t help but wondering if it’s got something to do with the new mailbox name and alias, but why would one sync and not the other?  The window washer was washing my windows when I got home!

05/26 BSOD and Parity error twice today.  This winter Avery played “Hide & Seek” with her toys by zipping them into my polar fleece vest.  In hindsight that was a bad idea as today she kept trying to stuff her Duplo Blocks inside my running bra.  OUCH!

05/27 I set the mower up to three inches so I can mow again on Wednesday.  I’ve got to get off this weekend mowing schedule.  As a single girl, I really must put effort into finding better things to do with my weekends than mow my lawn.  I think I’ll leave the trimming for tomorrow.  BSOD and Parity error.  Again.  Some thing is wrong with my iTunes software.  It doesn’t seem to be connecting to the folder on the external hard drive.  All my play lists are gone.  I used it Thursday morning and all was fine.

05/27 I set the mower up to three inches so I can mow again on Wednesday.  I’ve got to get off this weekend mowing schedule.  As a single girl, I really must put effort into finding better things to do with my weekends than mow my lawn.  I think I’ll leave the trimming for tomorrow.  BSOD and Parity error.  Again.  Some thing is wrong with my iTunes software.  It doesn’t seem to be connecting to the folder on the external hard drive.  All my play lists are gone.  I used it Thursday morning and all was fine.

05/28 Hanna:  82 minutes, 5.51 miles, 4.0 mph, HR=159.  I had a delightful boat ride this afternoon!  I think all the trouble I’m having with my electronic devices is related to my name change.  Ugh!  All my music is licensed to the old name and now all my machines are using a new one.

05/29 Coco:  87 minutes, 5.55 miles, 3.8 mph, HR=130.  Coco doesn’t do well in the heat, twice she thought about laying down in the grass but decided to keep on walking.  I slowed down a bit for her as I wasn’t carrying any water to cool her down with.  I spent the afternoon doing laundry and lounging on the deck working on my tan.  I’m interviewing (what else do you call that first time you meet a person and decide if you ever want to see them again?) a potential Date tomorrow evening and if it goes well I expect it could go late, I need to be well rested.  I’ve not been writing about the whole dating thing here, but it’s a part of my life I’m going to want to reflect upon some day in the future.  So, from now on you’ll get to read about it.  Well, not all about it, but a little.  The good news:  Tony installed the bagger on my tractor.  The bad news:  I always have to bag.  There is no easily disconnecting it and not bagging the lake side lawn.  It could end up taking way way more time to keep dumping the bags than the one way fussing I do to avoid blowing grass clippings into the mulch.  The ceiling fan in my bedroom is haunted, it turns itself off, or turns the light on.  I think I need a new one. 

05/30 I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around the fact it’s Tuesday, not Monday.  I didn’t think to order groceries last night and will have to brave the grocery store or starve this week.  On a whim I decided to see if the Qtek 9000 would sync to my exchange server.  Bingo!  So, for now I’ll use it even though it’s a bit larger than the 8125 and I’ve got to enter the Cingular server settings manually.  And my iTunes . . . all fine.  Go figure.  I’ve graduated to every other week visits with the Psychologist. 

05/31 Four and a half hours of sleep is not enough.  For those of you paying attention; that means it went well and he will in the future be referred to as PDM as I will be seeing him again.  I have my dress!  I tried on 12 or 15 dresses and ended up buying the first one I had on.  It’s raining so there’ll be no mowing this evening.