Walking the Battlefield

12:20 pm - I spent the morning treading around Culp's Hill. My favorite place on the Gettysburg Battlefield. Big E left us this morning so he could go back to the Sportsmen's Show. So after two and half hours of walking the field we sitting out in a t-shirt at a picnic table writing in beautiful sunny 60+ weather. There isn't any snow down here, so the little wind that is blowing isn't even cold. I couldn't have dreamed a nicer day. Gr and I are going to take a short rest that this afternoon it's off to the Round Tops.

1:49 pm - I've just found that I really like Desperate Housewives

5:09 pm - Gr and I just walked in from Little Round Top. We met a nice talkative guy named Walt between the two Tops. He's a nice gentleman who had retired down here from Long Island. I still can't believe what a beautiful day it is. If it weren't for the pain I've had in my heal since Christmas, this would have been my best day in Gettysburg ever.

10:12 pm - Big E and just got back from the movies. We went to see "New in Town". Cutie movie but I would like this opportunity to apologise to my friends and family in Minnesota.

Broken Bear

10:06 am - I've got a nice empty house and I'm enjoying it. The feeling of being relaxed is somehow strange to me. I'm watching an old Jimmy Stewart western Broken Arrow on AMC. I've done my laundry and in a few minutes I'll get to work on some research. Best of all I'm not even going to get out of my PJ's.

11:45 am - I broke the only Christmas gift I got this year that I liked or could use. It was a little bear that my Mother gave me, which was to hold toilet paper. I knocked it off the wall and it broke into pieces on the floor. The whole house just shook, when some of the snow and ice just came slidding off the roof.

9:10 pm - I've all the preliminary research of by book done, now comes real leg work. I love this stuff, and can't wait to start spending my time among old books and papers. Big E called and said they had a great day on the ice and caught some really nice fish. It's good to know we've all had a nice weekend.

Getting a Couple of Things Off My Chest

9:32 am - The dogs are driving me nuts this morning. They keep jumping up a running out the door barking at something, but I don't see anything. I don't think they do either. Gr and I are really ready for Map to go home. At least the guys should be having a good day ice fishing. It is beautiful and sunny.

12:06 pm - I've spent the morning in the the office. I hate being only able to pay off half the bills, playing the pick and choose game of which bill to pay; trying to make money stretch. Then the guys are bugging me, the couple who we still have working. They aren't doing what Big E asks them to, and are just costing us money. I'm going to tell them not to come in tomorrow.

12:59 pm - There's a new menu at Friendly's. It looks bigger, but I think it's just the same stuff with a new layout.

6:21 pm - I still haven't heard anything from Big E and the boys. I'm guessing they had a good day fishing. I don't know if they'll be home tonight or not though. Good thing I went for frozen pizza for dinner. You know all three of them have cell phones, but it's way to much for me expect a call. I've been looking at the painting Big E's sister did of him and his bear as a Christmas gift. We're going to be hanging it over the bar in the kitchen. The thing is ugly, but Big E loves it so I'm stuck with the thing.

10:30 pm - It's starting to snow [beginning of a big storm]. They guys made it home, C caught a fish. That's pretty much all the info I got out of them before Little E went to bed, Big E fell asleep on the couch, and C went into the shower. No body talks to me around here.

Crazy Bored

3:18 pm - All the Christmas stuff, but a couple of outside things, are packed away. Big E is yelling at the TV, as his Dolphin's continue to blow their play-off game. Little E went to work this morning up on the mountain, so he got out of having to go to his Grandparents for "Brunch". C is hanging out with his cousins. The dogs are playing and blocking Big E's view of the TV. Yupe it's a really big Sunday around here.

10:25 pm - As strange as this might sound, this blog is saving my sanity. After it's easier to be crazy in a crowd.

First Day

1:18 pm - Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a good night and that 2009 will see more ups than 08. It is a bright cold day, a great start as long as your not hung over looking at the glare off the snow. I'm trying to get my house put back into shape and Christmas 08 just a memory. I'm not getting anything done very fast. Some sitting and petting the dogs seems more important.

3:15 pm - Mother had us down for a New Years Day dinner. We were without Little E, who was working on the mountain.

9:58 pm - I finally did get all my Christmas wrap for next year put away, along with my Noel's. That was what I was hoping to get done today, so I'm pretty happy. We had a quite night around here with the guys watching College Bowl games. Now its just me and Map and C, everyone else has gone to bed.

Rain and Ice

10:07 am - It's raining, damp and yucky. I don't feel like doing anything. This would be a good day to stay in, cuddle up on the couch and read a good book. Even the dogs think this would be a good way to spend the day.

1:16 pm - Our driveway is one long ribbon of ice. I took C to the office to get his truck. We slid our way the driveway by staying over in the snow with on wheel. Coming back in was more entertaining, as my ass slid one way than the other. We're going to have to sand it, but I don't want to do that while this warm spell is going on. So we've got to get by until Monday.

8:32 pm - I was really not ready for Big and Little E to get home tonight. Although I didn't feel like it, I really did get quite a bit done. We had leftovers from Christmas dinner [pork hash], so I can now see the shelves in my fridge. Only thing I didn't get done that I wanted to today was getting the tree out of the house. C fell asleep on the couch watching "True Grit"
and I didn't have the heart to wake him, so that will wait until morning.

Catching Up on Three Days

Dec 24 - 11:13 am - JP spent the night. Big E left early this morning, in the snow, to split stone for a small fireplace job he picked up yesterday. I'm cleaning the house half heartedly for tomorrow. There really isn't much left to do, but watch the dogs play and wait for Christmas Eve at Big E's parent's. This has been a very strange season.

Christmas Day Dec 25 - 8:09 am - We didn't get home from Big E's folk's house until after mignight. Luckly the rutin weather didn't get bad and stayed just rain. Although it has since turned cold so we now have ice everywhere. The boys brought up the tubs with the gifts and than headed off to bed. We got everything out and around the tree and headed off for bed. About four am I wolk to a crash. Our tree fell. It was Ok. Big E and I pulled it back up and wired the thing to the wall [which we should have done to begin with]. The only sad part for me is that I lost my Grandfather's, Grandmother's orniment. It was the only thing that broke. Anyhow now we wait for the boys to get up so we can open things and get going.

Today Dec 26 - 9:07 am - I was really wiped out last night. Gr and I went to bed at 7:30. Although he is clueless Big E is just sucking the engery out of me. I am reffusing to care about anything but what I want right now. So what I want right now is to do some post holiday shopping, and than get at least my kitchen back into shape.

11:22 pm - Gr and spent the day shopping. I got a few things for gifts for next year.

The Eve of Christmas Eve

8:01 am - It is a cold clear morning. I had to turn up a couple of the heat zones in the house, because the pellet stove isn't keeping up. Gr escaped this morning from Map, and is taking a puppy break at Mother's.

9:25 am - I just broke a mirror. So do I start looking for those seven years bed luck, or just except that I no longer have a mirror over my mantel.

11:47 am - Someone knocked out the phone at the office this morning, ripped the wires off the pole. So I was a half hour on the cell phone to Fair Point getting them to come and make repairs. Now Gr and I are out delivering gifts around town. With all the errands and other thing that need to be finished up I've decided we'll just pizza for dinner tonight. Right now I'm breaking for lunch.

10:22 pm - Little is out again tonight. His friend J D from high school is back from the Air Force, so they are all meeting up to Friendly's. C and his cousin J P are hang out here at the house, playing video games. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm already for Christmas. No stress this year, no last minute things. Cool. Now if Big E felt better and wasn't so worried about his father. Oh well that one of the things I can't fix.

Snow Day

7:40 pm - It looks like our snow has finally come to a stop. Between Friday, yesterday and today, we've gotten around 18 to 20 inches, of the lovely fluffy white stuff. It's been such a nice day around here. We all went down to Mother's this morning for breakfast, and than everyone has just hung out around the house. C and I have shoveled a couple of times, and everyone has been watching football. I've gotten a ton of candy made for Christmas. It really is wonderful to have an adult snow day once in a while.

The Day After The Snow

10:35 am - We had a sit down, whole family breakfast this morning. Other than the fact everyone else is done eating by the time I get my egg cooked, it was nice. The boys shoveled for me. We got about six inches and this means Matt plowed for the first time this year. It is finally feeling like Christmas to me.

11:43 am - I see where Vermont is planning on saving money this winter. The roads are awful, icy with packed down snow. No reason for either since parking lots have bare pavement. Just have to get used to it, as I suspect this is what winter driving will be like the rest of the year.

6:02 pm - There the tree is done. I gave in this year and for the first time in twenty-one years with Big E, I gave up my Angel Tree Topper and put a star up there. I didn't get much help with decorating this year, just a little from C. Anyhow the treasures are out for another year.

10:02 pm - The boys went to party up their cousin's house. I'm the only one still up in the house. Big E went to bed, and both dogs have conked out. M is on the couch with me, while Gr has taken his place on the bed. With all the lights off in the house, the tree looks beautiful.

Oh Joy

10:03 am - I'm in the office trying to figure things out with the accountant. We had a bad year, but it still sounds like the Government is going to take more than last year. I don't know, other than to say it's going to be a tuft winter. Big E called me from Chicago about an hour ago. He thinks he'll get in here at home tomorrow sometime. Barring any bad weather. I just hope he gets through Chicago all right.

12:01 pm - I dropped off the first of the Christmas gifts. R K wasn't home, so I left the gift on the door. Than I got in a little shopping at the Weston VT Country Store.

8:21 pm - Little E and I got the tree in pretty easily this afternoon. I really like this tree. Big E isn't even home yet, and he has made me feel like shit. Somehow it's my fault that he had trouble finding the hotel in Buffalo that he is staying in tonight, and it's my fault that the furnace for up to the shop hasn't come in yet. So he did the one thing I really hate; he hung up on me. So much for any kind of peace in my life.

Things Come In Three

8:54 am - Can you say, everything that can go wrong. Out furnace isn't running this morning, so I had to call V to come down and see if he can get it going, than I'll try to find D and see if he will clean the furnace this year. Than I talked to Big E and he tells me his Father is bad again. I got hold of Big E's sister, who is over at his parents house. Found out that they are taking him to the hospital again for dehydration [the man needs more care that he's getting at home.] We're getting a winter mix of stormy weather, I've got to get hold of the guy who does out driveway and see if I need him to come as Little E says our drive is like an ice rink. This is just going to be a fun day.

9:16 pm -The furnace is running, but it stinks every time it kicks on. Thankfully R Baker is going to come down tomorrow and clean it for us. Big E's Father is in the hospital where at least he'll be getting some kind of care. The driveway is taken care of until the next snow comes on Friday. I got Big E and C a hotel in Madison WI that M could stay in with them. Heck I even bought a couple of Christmas gift and got them wrapped. I'm so glad that it's bed time.

It's A Wonderful Life

9:09 am - Wow I was lucky that I left Maine and came home when I did on Thursday. Watching the news this morning and saw the damage from ice, with trucks backed up on a street in Saco that I drove down to get to the highway. Once again I can say timing in life is everything. Here we have a cold sunny day, with a few big flakes of snow.

1:18 pm - It's cold. I took Gr with me to the office so we could start on catching up with the paper work. I put up a note to the guys that there wasn't going to be any more overtime. I'm not sure they understand that we are running out of work. I got a few gifts into the mail. Three more families to ship to than the rest of the things can be delivered in person. I had to break down and give my dollar to the Salvation Army today. I just didn't feel like being out any longer, just wanted to get home.

2:51 pm - Gr gets funny I bring bags up out of the basement with the gifts to wrap. So to keep him interested and not weired out, I put a couple of dog biscuits in a paper LL Bean bag and sat it on the floor. He played with the bag and got his treats. He seems happier.

8:22 pm - It is a clear, cold, beautiful night. I have spent most of the day wrapping gifts. I get to top the night off by watching what is without a question my favorite Christmas movie; There is something so very pure about this simple story about one average man's life. Do I hear bells ringing, could an Angel be getting his wings?

Full Moon and Glitter

7:42 am - It didn't ice up that badly, but now we're fogged in. I know I'm really home. I'm doing laundry.

11:46 am - It finally changed to snow. Gr is happy, like a little kid, when the first flakes begin to fall. After running a circle around the house and rolling in the snow, he is now lying out front getting white.

7:35 pm - The clouds have gone away and the biggest brightest full moon has shown up. It is making the ice and snow we got last night and today glitter. I wish I could take a photo that would show the beauty out my window. We are among the luck here as it seems most of Vermont and upstate New York are out of power. This has reminded me to ask Big E to bring home the power converter from hunting camp. It would keep the pellet stove running if our power went out. Got to plan for these things.

10:06 pm - Been watching Christmas shows on TV and wrapping gifts.

Rain Freezing Rain, and Driving Home

5:49 am - This is going to be a tuff drive home. It's raining and it's thirty degrees, so it's freezing. I just stopped for a soda and almost didn't make it across the parking lot do to the ice.

11:59 am - I made it home. Everything is in the house. I finally had something to eat, got into comfy PJ's and am just beginning to unwind. It was a touchy drive home. I've made two one dollar contributions [just in case I don't get out tomorrow], one dollar at the rest stop in White River Junction to support the free coffee for travelers, and one dollar for the Second Chance Animal Shelter. For now the fire is roaring, Gr is curled up with me on the couch, I've got things to do, but God it's good to be home.

3:15 pm - The rain just keeps coming and freezing onto everything. It didn't take Gr long to get tired of me. He's gone down to Mother's to hang out. I'm not moving to fast today, but I have started wrapping and I out out a few more Christmas decorations.

10:11 pm - Still storming. It's going to be a mess in the morning. I am going to bed with hopes of sleeping in, in the morning.

Mark Twain and Frogs

5:40 am - I'm up and ready to go, but now I wait. I picked up a book last night at the hotel, by Mark Twain.
"The Celebrated Jumping frog and Other Stories". Can you believe I've never read anything by Mark Twain. It's a really tiny book so I should have it done by the end of the day.

10:46 pm - It snowed it rained. I give up on the weather helping my feel the Christmas spirit. I went to the new I ended up my day in the hotel doing laundry. No matter where I go, it seems that I don't get away from the washing machine.

Chores and Jobs and Truth

7:24 am - This is going to a screwy day. I've got myself packed for my Christmas shopping trip. As it seems is normal the day before you leave on a trip, things tend to pile up. The electrician Mother and I have been waiting on for months is coming this morning. I've got to be here because Mother wont be, she's going shopping with Aunt H. Oh well, as I well know everything will get done and by this time tomorrow I'll be on the road in search of gifts.

11:08 am - Yeah it's snowing. Great big fat flakes. I don't think it will last, it's to warm, but right now at least it's kind of pretty. Oh and I'm working my way through all those jobs so that I can out of here tomorrow. Big E gave me good news. We got a job over in Stratton, so there will be work through January. Than we'll have to see what comes up.

9:06 pm - I did it, finished up with the last thing, paying my home bills at just before seven thirty. Big E has me worried. The last couple of nights he has looked waisted. Mentally used up, instead of his usual physically spent. I know part of it is how bad things are going with he business, but I think the bigger problem is how sick his Dad is. I don't know how to be a good a wife in this matter. Should you sugar coat just how sick the Doctors and the family have let D become, or do you look him in the eye and tell him the truth. I know that I prefer the truth, but Big E, I don't which way to go.

To Warm For Christmas

7:46 am - Winter just refuses to come. It warmed during the night and so the storm came with only rain and wind. Gr hogged the bed last night and I had some strange dreams.

12:42 pm - In the office a couple of hours and now I feel depressed again. This is looking like a tuff winter. It is 53 degrees, and you wouldn't believe the mud. Makes it kind of hard to feel Christmasy.

2:19 pm - I left a book in the Friendly's parking lot as a BookCrossing book. Listened to two couples fight during lunch, passionately about two strange topics. One was fighting over whether Science Fiction was worth while to read, and one couple was fighting about if stores in town should closed on Mondays. I ran into AP at the Nurses, she said her new Gr-baby is getting really big. Now it's back to the office. Oh joy.

7:00 pm - The Christmas cards are gone. Some of the things I've ordered on line have started to arrive. It's been sort of nice having Little E and Big E home for dinner, the last few nights. I like to cook for them and than we all sit down together and do the family thing. I can't wait for C to come home.

9:51 pm - I watched "Shrek the Halls" tonight. I just can't get enough of Christmas themed cartoon TV shows. It just make me feel like a little kid again.

Shop Till You Drop with Mother

6:48 am - I felt really strange last night. I was light headed and I seemed to be having trouble coming up with the right words. I guess I tired. Up early this morning to take Mother to Saratoga. She's after a new TV. I'm hoping to beat the crowds.

2:58 pm - Well we got back just before the snow started. This may finally be the snow storm we've been waiting for. Mother did find a TV after three stores, and she got quite a few gifts. I'm just tired out, I'd love to crawl into bed and call it a night.

8:38 pm - The snow has turned to freezing rain, and the wind has come up. I'm just hoping that the Christmas decoration stay put. I'm glad that everyone is home, because I don't think this would a good night to be on the road. We had tacos for diner tonight mad with meat from Big E's bear. Not bad really.

Christmas Cards

8:32 am - It's snowing lightly. I love this time of year.

3:05 pm - There the Christmas decorating is done [well outside is done anyway], the little bear got his wreath. I had to get clear lights for his wreath, so I picked up groceries while I was in Bennington. D M's boyfriend was playing Santa at Wal-mart [I have to ask D M if she gets hazard pay for working at Wal-mart]. Little E is home from camp, so I made dinner out of leftovers. Now the rest of the day will be about finishing the Christmas cards.

5:15 pm - There Christmas cards are done, ready to drop in the mail on Monday morning. One more thing off my to do list.

9:58 pm - We're watching Moonlight and Mistletoe on the Hallmark Chanel. It really a hokey bad movie. But they filmed it last year in Chester, so we're playing I know where that building is game.