2/26/11

Early in the morning consisted of another trip to the hospital with my father. After w few hours in the emergency room, he was released again. Meanwhile I went into Portsmouth and met up with a friend to catch up. I was requested to include in my blog a chronological database of all the vehicles I've been through.

After picking up my dad at the hospital, we headed up to his place in Wakefield and I helped shovel out his driveway and rake the snow off his roof. For dinner, we went to the Poor People's pup for a bite to eat.

I got home around 7pm and fed the pups. Next I took them out for our evening walk and gearing up for some more snow to come over night.

2/25/11

A quick recap of my friday. As usual, Friday is pastry day at work. The morning was typical, with the pups. Work was pretty stressful, I had a lot to do, and not much time to do it. I was able to get the most critical items done, taking a late lunch. I went home with the pups and we played a little ball in the backyard. In the afternoon, I heard that the hospital had released my dad.

After work, I headed home and played with the pups. Did our typical evening routine, then readied the house for my father to spend the night. Nothing too interesting to talk about.

2/24/11

Another day, but at least I have updates to the events that have occurred in the last few days.

My dad made it through surgery great, the doctor's inserted a stint in a blocked artery. My sister stayed with him for much of the afternoon after he got back to his room. I went up to see him a little after 4pm. He had a steady flow of friends stop by, at one time there wasn't enough space in the room for the nurse to come in. He was in great spirits and is looking to get out of the hospital in a couple days.

The latest on Cheryl is still uncertainty. She will be flying to Christchurch and essentially have a layover for another flight to take her to Aukland. Cheryl has been given the option to get on the next flight home, but this is relative, the next available flight might be a week away. The hopes are that she leaves Antarctica on monday and spends a day or two in Aukland and makes it home before the end of next week. We will see, more updates to come.

2/23/11

I am not going to write a ton here, the major portions of my day were no different than any other day. But today I just have a two things on my mind.

My father was admitted to the hospital late in the afternoon, with a possible heart attack. My sister and I went to see him around 6pm. When we left at 9pm, he was doing well, got out of the emergency room and was given a room in the main area of the hospital. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning and I will get more information out then.

Second, Cheryl is still stuck in Antarctica. Looks like we will be canceling our vacation and hopefully Cheryl will get back here as soon as possible. More updates to come.

2/22/11

A new morning, same routine with the pups. The dogs and I got out early, then back in for their breakfast. I had some coffee while surfing the net looking at the pictures that were starting to come in at Christchurch. At the time of the quake, Cheryl had dozens of friends that were still in the City and it will take time to find out if everyone is ok. After being on the computer, I got ready for work, then took the pups for their morning walk. Nothing too exciting happened on the walk and the dogs were good. It was a tough walk though, the temperature had dipped to 9F, I hate taking my gloves off to pick up poop when it is this cold.

We got back to the house and I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, then headed in to work. I continued to work on tasks to complete before my vacation. I also took some time to contact my accommodations for vacation to see what was going on for airlines, rental cars, planned reservations. Still being so early after the quake, everything was still up in the air. At lunch I headed home, played some ball in the backyard with the pups and then made myself a PB&J sandwich. I went back to work and continued with my work as usual.

After work, I went home and let the dogs out, stoked the fire in the wood stove and then played some ball in the yard. We came in and I fed them dinner and then got back on the computer to see if any updates have been posted in New Zealand. I made myself a cheese 'burger' for dinner and ate it while watching the news. I mulled around the house for a bit, checked on flight options to avoid Christchurch, but they all added $1000 to what I already paid for a flight.

At 7:15pm, I took the pups out for the evening walk. It was much warmer than this morning and the dogs were good. Nothing too exciting, as most walks go. We got back in time to watch NCIS with a bowl of chocolate pudding. I watched NCIS-LA afterwards and then went to bed at 10pm.

2/21/11

A short post for today as I am running out of time this morning to write. Nothing too exciting happened today to talk about.

I am currently reading through reports of the devastation in Christchurch, New Zealand. Cheryl was scheduled to fly there on tuesday, and I was going to meet up with her in a week. There are a ton of Cheryl's friends that had just arrived in Christchurch and she is trying to find out if they are ok.

Looks like Cheryl will stay in Antarctica for a little while longer. There is talk of the last flight landing somewhere else, maybe Australia, but nothing for sure. Anyway, wishing the best for everyone in Christchurch.

2/20/11

Sunday morning means basketball! Dogs woke me up at the regular time (5:45am), I took them out an fed them breakfast, then went back to sleep for another hour. When I finally got up, I had some coffee and wrote in my blog. Next I started to get ready for basketball. Before I got too far, I took the pups out for our morning walk to Union St. and back (0.7 miles). There were a couple close encounters, but we were able to avoid all the dogs on the walk. When we got home, I finished getting ready for basketball and headed to the gym.

We had a really good turnout this week, we had 13 guys show up! We played a first game of 5-on-5, then split it up to have two games going with 3-on-3, doing a mini tournament of 3 games. For the last game, we went back to the 5-on-5. I misses a ton of layups and easy shots, but I think I did pretty well on the rebounds and defense.

After basketball, I came home and took a shower, then laid down on the couch to get a nap in. I must have napped for 2 hours. I think I use as much energy during basketball as I do during a half marathon... I'm usually wreaked for the next 24 hours. At 3pm, I took the pups for a nice 1.0 mile walk. I usually shy away from letting the pups meet other dogs on the walk (while I am alone), but I saw a puppy border collie heading right at us and I had to stop and see him. It was a 6 month old male, so adorable. Chance was being a jerk because it was a boy, Reece was playful, but starting to get a little aggressive. Anyway, I had my puppy fix, and immediately sent a picture to Cheryl to brag about the meeting.

After the walk, Jake stopped by to get a house key and see the pups. We talked for 20 minutes or so. Next I went off to Target, I bought some more cereal and some swedish fish for Dennis. Then I went over to the grocery store and got some staples for the next week. I got home around 4:30pm and watched the end of the Daytona 500. If NASCAR is wonder why people are stopping watching this sport, just look at the 'overtime finish' and the freezing the field at caution. I can't stand this green-white-checker idea, I know they limit it to 3 times, but you are almost guaranteed a crash in the last 2 laps... let the guys race back to the finish line like the sport was intended. It really sucks that someone who is 20th causes an accident and the fans get jipped out of a good exciting finish. There is my rant for Nascar.

Next I fed the dogs and then took them in the backyard for a bit. When we came in, I made dinner for myself and watched some more tv. I fell asleep again around 6:30pm, waking up at 8pm, just in time for animation domination! Unfortunately, I fell asleep again and missed it. I woke up at 10pm and turned off everything and went to bed.

2/19/11

Got up this saturday morning just like all others. Took the pups outside and then fed them breakfast. Put in a load of laundry and had some coffee while surfing the net. Next I sat back in front of the TV and watched the 2nd half to a movie I tried to watch last night. I finished it, and put the DVD out for the mailman. Next I took the pups on a morning walk (0.7 miles) to Union St. and back. It was a bit cold, mostly because of the gusting wind. I mulled around the house a bit longer, then went out shopping.

First I stopped off at Bank of America and finally closed my checking account there. I noticed they started charging me $9/mo. for that account, it was my last account with them. Then I went up to Kittery Trading Post to get some nylon straps, also picked up some SmartWool socks, and a few misc. items for my trip. Next I went to Kohl's and returned the leather jacket I bought last week. After wearing it a few times, it really was too big, I needed a smaller size. Since they only had large sizes, I just got my money back. Then I went to Pet Quarters and got the dogs some more food.

When I got home, it was noon. I made a PB&J for lunch and took the dogs in the backyard. It has gotten really icy back there again, and the dogs don't like to play ball on ice. We came in, I made some cheese and crackers and watched some TV, falling asleep multiple times (so did the pups). At 3:30pm, the pups and I went for a nice long walk. We did our 1.0 mile loop near the funeral home. It was such a great day, sunny and beautiful, but windy. When we got back, I decided to do a few things around the house I've been meaning to get to.

I climbed up to the 3rd floor loft and took out the filters to the Venmar, brought them down and cleaned them. Later I put the back up, while in that area, I changed out the battery to the smoke/carbon monoxide detector. Next I started re-typing the Dog Notes I leave for the people dog sitting. At 5pm, Cheryl called on the video chat. We talked for 30 minutes or so, during which I fed the dogs their dinner. Cheryl now has 4 days left on the ice! Can't wait to see her. After talking, I made some ravioli for dinner and ate upstairs in front of the TV. I am assuming that once Cheryl gets back, my TV watching will be reduced substantially.

For the rest of the night, I continued to work on getting things ready for my backpacking trip. I have the two sleeping bags airing out. I have my two sleeping pads blown up, trying to decide which one to take. Trying to find the right clothes to bring, I don't want to carry too much, plus I am trying to keep my luggage to carry-on only.

Finally I passed out on the couch around 9pm, woke up around 11pm and turned off all the lights. I decided to try and sleep on the couch to see if that helps my back.

2/18/11

Friday, so exciting. I will keep this post short. Did the typical morning thing with the pups and then off to work. At lunch I came home and played a little ball with the dogs in the backyard. After work I played with the dogs, fed them dinner, talked to Cheryl on the phone and ran to the ATM. At 6pm, I took the pups for a walk. At 6:45pm, I was off to a poker game. The game was for Frank's birthday, there were 16 guys, two tables. It was a lot of fun and I walked out with the same amount I walked in with! I got home and took the pups out one last time, then off to bed.

2/17/11

Got up this morning with the dogs and did our typical routine of taking them outside, back in for breakfast and blogging about the previous day. Afterwards, I took the garbage and recycling out. It took almost 2 months to accumulate enough garbage to fill a bag to put out. This is usually ok for the winter months, but during the summer the garbage has to go out more often because it starts stinking pretty good. Next, the dogs and I went for our morning walk to Union St. and back (0.7 miles). I think these walks are counter-productive for Chance... he just eats ice cubes off the ground the entire time, so whatever he pees, he more than makes up for in ice.

We got back to the house and I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and then got ready for work. I didn't start a fire in the wood stove today because it is suppose to be warm and sunny. I headed out a little early, just because. Work is the same, nothing too exciting to really talk about. I am pretty busy, but mostly because I am getting things in place before I leave for vacation. At lunch, I headed into town and met up with Seth at Me & Ollie's. What a beautiful day, 54F and sunny, we decided to take our sandwiches outside and eat on one of the benches. Couldn't ask for a better day. I had a great time talking with Seth, we walked midway over the Memorial Bridge. But, as all good things must come to an end, my cubicle awaited my return. On the way back to work, I stopped in at the house and played with the pups outside for 10 minutes.

When I got back to work, I continued to finish up o few things, similar to the morning. At 5pm, I headed home and took the pups right outside, it was still 49F and some sun left in the sky. We played for almost 20 minutes, then I fed them dinner. I put a load of laundry in, then talked to Cheryl on the phone for almost 40 minutes. Afterwards, I made my dinner, ravioli and sauce and some crackers and cheese. I finished eating around 7:30pm, time for the dogs evening walk. We did the down and back (0.7 miles), everything went well. When we got back, I watched an hour or so of TV, falling asleep on the couch. I woke up around midnight, turned everything off and went to bed.

2/16/11

Woke up this morning with Reece on the bed and Chance licking my face, ahhh the best. We got up and did our typical morning routine. The dogs went outside, then back in for their breakfast. I had some coffee and blogged. Afterwards, I took a shower and got dressed for the day. The dogs and I went for our morning walk to Union St. and back (0.7 miles). I can't wait for the snow to melt. The dogs are finding the nooks and crannies of people's footstep in the snow and some sort of aiming game to get all their poop in one of these depressions. Then it is like trying to get peanut butter out of the nooks and crannies of a toasted english muffin. We made it back to the house, I had a 3-egg green pepper, onion and cheese omelet then got ready for work.

For the most part of the day today, I was in meetings. At lunch, I went with Carl and Dennis to Herbert's, I had the Monti Cristo sandwich. Looks like Carl is looking around for a house in the area, there seem to be a large amount of houses on the market. After lunch, I headed home to let the dogs out and to play ball. I put some more wood in the stove and headed back to work. The remaining part of the day I spent in meetings.

At 5pm, I headed home to play with the dogs. We got about 10 minutes of play time in, then I fed them dinner, put more wood in the stove and headed out to meet up with Jeff. I met Jeff, Tucker and Tucker's wife at The Brewery for some dinner, I had the pulled pork sandwich. After a couple beers, we headed over to The Music Hall for the Banff Film Festival. I got to see Angela, and we talked a bit in the lobby before the start of the show. The show was pretty good, this year it seemed to be more about humor than challenges of the sports. It got over at 10:20pm, so I headed home and let the pups out one last time. I got into bed around 10:45pm.

2/15/11

Tuesday morning... the number of days that I write in this blog are starting to count down now. No longer am I counting weeks, now it's days! The dogs and I got up as usual and did our morning routine. Nothing too spectacular going on in my life right now to write about. After our routine, we went out for a 0.7 mile morning walk, waved at Dave as he drove by. Got home and had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and headed off to work a bit early.

Work was the same as usual, continued to work on tasks, knocking them off my list one by one. At lunch I went home and played ball in the backyard with the dogs. Reece decided to hide under the stairs to the side door while Chance ventured out onto the snowy area near the chimney (we almost never go over there since it snowed). I came in, had a yogurt and PB&J for lunch. Since the house was still warm from yesterday, I still haven't started a fire today! After eating, I headed back to work. The rest of the afternoon was much like the morning, nothing too interesting to speak of.

I got home right after 5pm, started a fire in the wood stove and took the pups outside for some ball. I stayed out as late as possible to get the last bit of daily sun. We came in, the dogs had their dinner and I went upstairs and did a workout. Next I took a shower, made my dinner (ravioli and a salad), and ate while watching some TV. After dinner, the dogs and I went out for our evening 0.7 mile walk. Looks like the sidewalk salter came through some time today... there was a nice new layer of salt over the sidewalks. Chance barely made it home with a limp.

The rest of the evening involved me the pups on the couch. Chance even spent some time with me looking for some belly rubs, too cute. I fell asleep a bit before 10pm.

2/14/11

Another morning, same routine. Had the dogs out first thing, then back in for their breakfast. I had some coffee and blogged about the weekend. I was so happy to post that photo of the dogs yesterday, it is among the cutest ever! It was already a warm start to the day, in the low 30s this early in the morning... good things to come. After blogging, I got dressed to take the pups out. We went for a morning walk down the Union St. and back (0.7 miles). I got to try out some new poop bags... yes, that is the most exciting part of the walk for me. The dogs were pretty good. We walked up to a golden (also had a gentle leader on). With the snow banks, it is very difficult to ditch the current route and take an alternate route to avoid confrontations. The dogs did OK, Reece began to bark and pull after the golden started barking. I just didn't have the time to pull out treats to entice Reece (I was wearing my large mitts that don't fit in my pocket).

When we got home, I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and surf the information super highway (a.k.a. the internets) for a few more minutes. I went upstairs and got cleaned up for work, got dressed and headed out the door. Work was as usual. Everyone seemed excited for this Hallmark holiday... another excuse to buy a card and flowers. At lunch I went home with the pups, it was hard not to enjoy being outside. Though it was pretty cloudy, it was in the low 50s for the first time in months. The dogs were able to play ball in the yard because the ice had softened up, we stayed out as long as possible. When we went in, I made a ham & cheese with greens and ranch dressing wrap... pretty good. Then I headed back to work.

The rest of the afternoon at work went ok as well. I continued to close out tasks, transitioning to get things complete before my vacation in 2 weeks. I ended up working a bit late in order to get a few things done for first thing tomorrow.

I got home around 5:45pm, Cheryl called as I was walking through the door. I immediately let the dogs out in the yard and we played ball for 15 minutes while talking with Cheryl. It was still above 50F and I didn't want to go in. But I brought the pups in, fed them dinner and finished my conversation with Cheryl. I headed over to EMS to pick up a sleeping pad for our hike. I saw Michael, our neighbor there, we talked for a few minutes. Then I headed over to Shaw's to pick up some food... I can't believe how much more expensive Shaw's is over Hannaford... crazy.

I got back to the house, put the food away and immediately headed out for the evening walk with the dogs. It was 7:30pm, and still 45F... it was great, I didn't even have to wear gloves. We went for a nice long 1.0 mile loop. The dogs seemed to enjoy the longer walk and were pooped when we got back. I made some buffalo 'chicken' tenders and a salad for my dinner and ate it while watching some TV. I finally got to bed around 10pm.

2/13/11

Sunday morning routine... After my weekday morning routine with the dogs, Sunday's I head over to the court to play some hoops with some friends. The turnout was a little lite this week, but we still had lots of fun. As usual, I put out a lot of energy and I'm usually toast for the rest of the day.

Tired dogs are good dogs!

When I got home, I did a load of laundry, washed the dirty dishes, vacuumed the downstairs and played with the pups in the backyard. Then I took a shower and layed on the couch watching TV... catching a few naps in the process. I did spend some time on-line looking up camping sleeping pads. Next thing I know, it's 5:30pm. I fed the pups their dinner and made myself a pizza. At 7pm, the dogs and I went out for the evening walk.

We got back and I vegged out on the couch again, watching TV until 11pm... what a slug I am.

2/12/11

A lazy saturday... actually, I was out and about quite a bit. I will keep it short, as weekends are difficult to keep track of on monday morning when I write the blog. Ultimately, we did our morning routine and eventually made it out for a long walk (to Rte 1A light and back - 1.0 miles). I picked up the house a bit, then went out to go shopping. First I went to EMS again to look at camping stuff. Then I went up to Kittery Trading Post. I bought a compression sack and two dry sacks that were on sale.

I came home to check up on the dogs, and to stoke the fire. We went out and played a bit, then I was off to Lowes. I had a few more house keys made, then walked over to Target. I got some cereal, and some food for the vacation as well as some travel stuff. On the way out, I saw Mackenzie, Dan, Emerson and Cailan coming in. We chatted at the entrance for 10 minutes or so, then I took off. I headed over to Kohl's to look at a new wallet. I also looked through their 20 racks of clothes on sale 60-90% off. I bought a few nice button-up shirts, a leather jacket for riding my motorcycle ($110 marked down to $22) and a new wallet.

When I got home, I tried out the compression sack with my sleeping bag and checked out my available room in my backpack. Follow this by trips outside with the dogs and most of my day was filled up. I got to talk to Cheryl on Google chat for 15 minutes or so, our video chatting is getting more frequent now that there are less people on station. Seth stopped by during his run to say hi and see how I was doing... he got a chance to say hi to Cheryl through video chat. Afterwards, I went upstairs and did my daily workout, took a shower and relaxed for the rest of the day.

The dogs and I went out for another walk to end the day, only going to Union St. and back (0.7 miles). For the rest of the night, I kinda vegged out on the couch watching TV and relaxing.

2/11/11

Another friday, another week down. Same routine this morning as usual, up wiht the dogs early, outside for a quick duty, then inside for their breakfast. A cup of coffee and a blog, next I am getting ready for the day. I do a 10 minute stretching routine upstairs, get cleaned up and dressed and I am out the door with the dogs on a morning walk. We walked to Union St. and back (0.7 miles) with little excitement. When we got back, I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and then got ready for work.

I got into work about 15 minutes early, wanted to take care of a few things before the rush of meetings. I attended meetings from 8am all the way up to lunch. At lunch I went home to the dogs. We went outside and played a little bit of fetch, then came inside. I made a ham & cheese wrap with mixed greens and ranch dressing. It actually tasted pretty good. Once I was done, I took the dogs out for a quick walk around the block (0.4 miles) before going back to work. The rest of the day at work was normal, and not too exciting to speak about.

I made it home by 5:15pm, and took the dogs out for some ball. We got about 5 minutes of play time in, then they came in for dinner. I washed some dishes, cleaned up a bit, then did my workout upstairs. Afterwords, I heated up some of the breaded chicken from the other night, added a salad and cottage cheese for my dinner. After dinner, I took the pups out for our evening walk to Union St. and back (0.7 miles). Again, nothing too exciting to talk about, the dogs were good and are enjoying the walks again.

When we got back to the house, I grabbed a bowl of pudding and watched a couple more episodes of The IT Crowd season 2. Well, I have managed to watch all the episodes now, in the course of 2 weeks. It was a very enjoyable show, it's too bad british tv seasons are only 6 episodes long, compared to 22 in the US. Around 10pm, I went to bed.

2/10/11

Another morning, same routine. I love waking up to the dogs, they are so sweet... except for the wake-up paw in the eye tactic. So we got up and headed outside for a few, then I brought them in for their breakfast. Next i grabbed some coffee and blogged about yesterday. I tossed the hanging laundry in the dryer for a 20 minute cycle, and got ready for work. At 6:50am, the dogs and I went out for our morning walk. We made it to Union St. and back (0.7miles). The dogs were very good and nothing too exciting happened. When we got back, I made a 3-egg and cheese scramble with OJ for my breakfast. I put out the recycling and then headed to work.

I will skip talking about work today, and focus more on my personal life. At lunch I went home and quickly let the dogs out. Then I went upstairs and did my workout routine. I took a shower, got dressed, and took the dogs out again for a little ball. The area we play ball is getting really icy and not much fun for the dogs. I put the dogs back in the house, had a yogurt for lunch, then headed to the Music Hall. I picked up a couple tickets to the Banff Film Festival for Jeff and I, next wednesday night. Then I headed back to work.

At 5pm, I left work and got home to let the dogs out. They didn't want to play on the ice, so I brought them in for dinner and stoked the fire for the evening. Once they were done eating, I took them for a short 0.3 mile walk. We got back to the house, and I took off to meet some co-workers at Red Hook for drinks and food at 5:30pm. I had organized another 'young' employees night out. We took a 3 month hold on the night out, mostly because of peoples schedules. It was fun, Aaron, Matt and Brianna joined. Brianna is a new employee at CHI that helps out with IT and will be doing documentation control as well.

We had a good time chatting, I'm glad we spent a large portion of time not talking about work. At 8pm, we all took off and I headed home. As I got home, I took the dogs out for our evening walk to Union St. and back (0.7miles). The dogs we good and the walk was just what I needed after eating and drinking. We got back to the house and I put in The IT Crowd DVD season 2 and watched an episode before falling asleep.

2/9/11

Mid week, so exciting. I got up with the dogs and we did our morning routine. After blogging, I got cleaned up and dressed to take the pups for our first morning walk in 4 weeks. I know this is going to be confusing poor little Chance. He is a dog of schedules and routine. The walk went pretty well, the dogs were good, we walked down to Union St. and back (.75miles). At one point Reece stopped walking and lifted up her paw as if she was hurt. Only I found some one's discarded lollipop stuck to her paws. After removing it, we proceeded as normal. When we got home, I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and got completely ready to head to work.

I got to work 15 minutes early and began my day. The day was filled with challenges. Things seemed to get more and more difficult throughout the day. I did my best to make corrective actions and find closure to most of the issues. At lunch I went over to Herbert's with Dennis. As we sat down, Aaron came in, so we encouraged him to join us. I had the chicken parm on spaghetti. We talked a bit about things outside of work, which was a good thing. Afterwards, Dennis and Aaron went back to work and I headed into town. I stopped off at the Post Office to pick up a mammoth box from Cheryl. Then I stopped off at the house to let the dogs out, drop off the package and to stoke the fire. Next I got back to work and finished off the afternoon closing out items on my checklist.

At 5:30pm, I headed home and let the dogs right out. We played ball for a few minutes, but the backyard has turned to ice, so they don't really enjoy ball time. I brought them in, fed them dinner then talked with Cheryl on the phone. She gets off the ice in 2 weeks! And I get to meet up with her 3 weeks from tomorrow! After our phone conversation, I did my back stretching workout upstairs... with the help of the dogs of course. Next I made myself a breaded chicken dinner. Complete with veggie medley, cottage cheese, and a side pickle. I understand that this mix of food may not be for everyone, but it was great. After cleaning up, it was time to take the pups out for their evening walk.

We went down to Union St. and back (0.75miles) and it was pretty uneventful. The dogs were great and the cold temps (22F) weren't too bad. Chance is now stopping every two feet to pick up ice cubes. For a bit he was walking with a giant chunk of ice in his mouth like he does with sticks some times. When we got back, I popped in season 2 of The IT Crowd on the DVD from Netflix. It was weird, Netflix had season 1, 3 and 4 streaming, but season 2 only available on DVD. I ended up falling asleep during one of the episodes. I woke up around 11:45pm, and headed to bed.

2/8/11

Another happy morning here at the Reece and Chance house. We got up as usual and did our morning routine of going outside, back in, dogs had breakfast and I blogged with a cup of coffee. I am prepping for a colder day today. We had 3 days of thawing weather, and now all the snow that melted will become ice. After blogging, I went upstairs and did some of my back stretching exercises and then got ready for work. I took the pups outside, and sure enough, our path of nice fluffy snow is now an ice slick. The pups don't like to play fetch on this, and neither do I, it has emergency vet written all over it.

After playing ball outside for a few, we came in and I made a egg, green pepper, onion and cheese breakfast sandwich for myself. Finished getting ready for work, then out the door. Work was fine today, more challenges that I think I handled pretty well. Nothing too exciting to speak of other than Dennis and I wore the same black argyle sweaters today, it was a little weird but funny. At lunch I went home and played ball with the dogs in the backyard. We played for 15 minutes, then came in for my lunch. I had a yogurt and a PB&J sandwich. I am trying out a new all natural peanut butter that has honey in it. And because of this, it isn't like other natural peanut butters that the oil separates and you must keep refrigerated. By the way, how can you claim a 'smooth or creamy' peanut butter that goes in the fridge??? Anyway, so far the new stuff is very tasty, all natural, and I can store it where it is easily spreadable. After mu lunch, I went back to work. The afternoon was as eventful as the morning.

At 5pm, I went home. I took the dogs out and re-stoked the fire. We played for 10 minutes, then I brought them in for dinner. I cleaned up the house a bit, then did a workout upstairs for about 45 minutes. I got cleaned up, came down and made myself dinner. I had a 'chicken' sandwich, a salad with a side pickle. I then got to IM Cheryl for about 10 minutes, mostly we talked about the rental car for our vacation. At 7:30pm, I took the dogs out for their first walk in 3 or 4 weeks. The City finally came through and cleared the sidewalks. We did the down and back to the Middle Street Market (0.6miles). I think the dogs enjoyed getting out the backyard for a bit

We got back just as NCIS was starting. I plopped down on the couch and watched TV until 10pm. Then I went to bed.

2/7/11

The weekend is over, back to work. I got up with the dogs as usual and we went outside for our morning routine. Then I fed the pups and had some coffee and blogged a bit. Since it was 66F in the house and it is suppose to be a warm (42F) and sunny day, I decided not to have a fire going all day. Next I got a few thing ready for work, had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and played ball with the dogs in the backyard. We got in a full 20 minutes of play time this morning, it was hard to come in it was so nice out. I got dressed and cleaned up and headed out the door for work a bit early.

Work was the same as any day, nothing too exciting to talk about. I did get an email from my friend Gretchen who works at a company I worked at 5 or 6 years ago. It was good to hear she is doing well. At lunch I went home and played ball with the dogs in the yard. Again, it was such a beautiful day, I didn't want to bring the pups in. Eventually I had to, then I had a yogurt and PB&J sandwich for lunch and headed back to work. The afternoon was much like the morning, not spectacular to talk about, but pretty productive. At 5:30pm, I headed home.

I got home and started a fire in the wood stove, the house temperature only dropped 2F over the entire day! Then I took the pups outside to play ball, brought them in and fed them dinner. I then did a 30 minute stretching and back exercise workout. I am worried that all this snow shoveling is going to make my back sore for my hiking vacation coming up. Next I took the pups outside for 20 minutes of ball, then headed to the grocery store to pick up this weeks groceries. I like the store on monday evenings, almost empty.

I got home and we watched a little TV, had the pups outside one last time, then went to bed a little early.

2/6/11

Got up early for a Sunday, took the pups outside and then fed them. I got on the couch and watched some infomercials and tried to get a little more sleep. Finally got up at 7am, had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and made some coffee. At 8:30am I headed over to the gym to play some basketball. As I was getting into my car, I slipped on the icy driveway and landed pretty hard with my back pinned in the door jamb of the car. This is going to be sore today. I made it to basketball and we had enough to play 4-on-4. I had a great time, as usual on sunday's. We didn't play as late as we usually do, everyone was getting ready for the Super Bowl.


I got home and took a shower and played with the pups outside. It felt like shorts weather all day, sunny and 42F... couldn't ask for more. I kinda mulled around the house for a couple more hours, then went to the grocery store to pick up a few things for the football party. During basketball, I was invited to go to a friend of Seth's house for the game, I was told he has a pub built into his pool house.


After the grocery store, Jake stopped by. Jake works part time at Yellow Dog's Barn and does dog sitting as well. For an hour, I showed Jake around the house and introduced him to Chance (he already knew Reece from YDB). I am trying to line up sitters for when I am got on vacation. Next I knew I would not make it through the game tonight without a nap, so I took a nice little 2 hour nap with Reece. When I got up, I made my little finger foods as contribution to the party, Seth told me not to bring beer, just put $5 in a jar because this guy has 4 kegs on tap. This is one of those classic, envisioning something and it turning out to be much bigger than you imagine.


At 6pm, I followed Seth to Dennis' house. They guy lived at the end of a cul-de-sac that was used as a parking lot for everyone who came over. When we got down to the pool house, I was amazed. Dennis had a full bar and grille in the pool house with granite counter tops, a restaurant quality grille, flat screen TV's everywhere, portable heaters and 4 kegs on tap. I looked at my cheese & crackers and veggie chips I brought in shame. I had a great time, got to see most everyone that plays basketball and some others that I got to meet at Frank's Turkey Bowl this year.

Dennis also holds few raffles during the game, and wouldn't you know, I won the first prize. This is my luck, I go to something that I wasn't really invited to (invited by a friend of the host) and I win something. I ended up taking home a retro Patriots hoody, very nice. I had a great time, Dennis and his family were very nice and great hosts to a wonderful party. I left a few minutes before the end of the game.




I got home and let the dogs out to for one last outside. Then I watched the post-game action, then went to bed. As I got into bed, I had to take a picture of Chance, who tried his best to fit his entire body on a small area of the bed, so cute.

2/5/11

A saturday filled with multiple naps, what could be better. I got up with the pups as usual and we did our normal routine. After blogging, I looked around on the internet for some items for camping on our vacation. Just looking at a few different compression sacks and other things. And because I am one that does an extreme amount of research just to not buy something, that pretty much held true on this day as well. At around 9:30am, I went out to EMS to check out their stuff first hand. They were also having a clearance sale on all their winter jackets that i wanted to look at.

After walking out of EMS with nothing, I went over to Pet Quarters and got the dogs a bag of food and a magic hair remover sponge. I am skeptical about this device, but thought for a couple bucks I would give it a try. Next I walked over to Dick's to see what they had for impulse buys. Luckily I walked out of there empty handed. On the way back to the house I stopped off at the bank and made a deposit.

For the rest of the morning, I rotated between taking the pups outside to play and taking naps. Lately I have not been sleeping well. If I shovel at all during the day, my back feels fine until about 2am on the bed. For some reason, the bed aggravates whatever back issues I get during the day shoveling. After the mailman came, I watched my new Netflix DVD. 'The Other Guys' was pretty funny... I will always look at the term 'soup kitchen' differently after watching that movie.

It was right after watching the movie that it started to rain. This was a mixed blessing. I am hoping this finally clears the snow off the solar panels, but I don't want too much rain to flood the basement. For the rest of the day, I heard snow coming down off the roof. I got to video chat with Cheryl for a bit, I always love seeing Cheryl. I can't wait to see here in a few more weeks.

The rest of the night was a little blurry, I can't really remember what I did.

2/4/11

Friday, another week almost gone. I guess when I am 90 I will be wondering why I wanted weeks to go by so fast when I was young. Anyway, another fabulous morning with the pups. Up and outside in the matter of a couple minutes. I didn't check the temperature when going out, but I could tell it was really cold. When we got back in, I fed the pups and checked the temp... 11F. Next I had some coffee and downloaded pictures in for yesterday's blog. I took the pups out two more time before getting ready and heading off to work.

No pastries this morning, so Dennis headed out to get Dunkin Donuts, I got him to grab me a bacon, egg and cheese on a plain bagel. Nothing too exciting happened during the day, my workload is starting to slow down a bit. I guess this is good since I will be going on vacation soon. At lunch I went home and played with the dogs in the backyard for a bit. It was actually a pretty nice day, sunny and around 34F. We played ball for 20 minutes, then we came inside. I had a yogurt and some chips for lunch and headed back to the office. The rest of the afternoon was really slow. I didn't have any work for the final 2 hours, so I tried to do some market research online.


At 5pm, Dennis and I went over to Kim Lai so that Dennis could get a Scorpion bowl. I had a beer and we talked until 6pm. I ordered sweet and sour chicken to go. I got home and immediately played ball with the dogs in the backyard. We played for 10 minutes, then we came in and the dogs ate their dinner. I got my dinner all ready and headed upstairs to watch some TV. After eating, we all went out again for some more ball in the yard. Afterwards I watched some more TV and finally fell asleep on the couch. I woke up thinking it was 1am... it was only 9:30pm. I took the dogs out for one last time, then got into bed.

2/3/11

Thought I would post some pictures of the snow and of the pups playing in the snow instead of a lengthy blog. Enjoy.

My walkway to the wood shed.

The snow mounded up above my back porch.

Reese playing in the snow. All the patio furniture is buried and the snow is creeping up on the fence.

Front of the house snow mound... almost 8' high. Cheryl, notice your stone sculpture on our big rock is buried.

Chance 'Tender Paws' enjoying some sun in the snow. Minutes later, his paws were frozen.

Reese and Chance playing ball in the snow, so cute.

Today Reese jumped from one of the path areas to an area that we haven't walked in yet, she disappeared. I had to help her get out, her eyes got really big and she got pretty nervous for a second. That area is 30" deep.

2/2/11

Snow snow snow snow snow... I could go on. Got up this morning as usual with the dogs. We did our morning routine. As you may have noticed, the dogs and I have stopped doing our walks. This is for two reasons, one is that Chance, or as he sometimes goes by his native american name 'tender paws' doesn't like the snow or salt on his paws. The other reason is that with so many snow storms so close together, the City can't keep the sidewalks clear to use. For now, the pups will have to deal with playing in the backyard, which is a solid 2-1/2 feet of snow. And when I say solid, I mean, that is the packed down areas.

Anyway, on with my day. After bringing the pups in, they had breakfast and I had some coffee and blogged. Next I got dressed and put on snow pants. I let the pups in the backyard while I shoveled what fell overnight. This is in anticipation of another 12"+ today, which I don't feel like shoveling all at once. As I got a good portion done, I went in the backyard and played ball with the pups for about 10 minutes, made them go to the bathroom, then brought them in. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, got cleaned up and headed to work.

Though I had brought my laptop home in hopes of working from home, I figured I might as well go in, plus I had 3 meetings today. When I got to work, it was a ghost town, there were only 8 people that made it in, I'm so glad I only live 1.8 miles away. As expected, the meetings were canceled due to low turnout. The day was pretty productive, and quiet. At lunch I went home to play ball with the dogs. I initially let them outside in the backyard while I shoveled the driveway nearest the road. This at least got rid of the city plow hump left earlier. Next I played ball for about 15 minutes with the dogs. We came in and I heated up some 'chicken' nuggets for lunch. Afterwards, I headed back to work for the afternoon. The rest of the day was pretty similar to the morning, very quiet.

When I got home after work, I put the dogs out in the backyard and continued shoveling. Both Paul and Dexter were out shoveling there driveways too, we had a good laugh of frustration about the whole thing. Finally after 45 minutes I finished the driveway and then played with the pups in the backyard. As I brought them in for dinner, the plow guy went by and made a nice mound at the entrance to my driveway again. I quickly got out there and took it out within 15 minutes. Finally, get inside and relax, not that it is close to 7pm.

I made some more of the 3 cheese tortellini from last night for dinner. I settled in on the couch and watched my latest Netflix movie. At 8:30pm, I took the pups out for another round of ball and bathroom. Came back in, watched some more TV and climbed into bed around 10pm with a sore back, but with a warm puppy.

2/1/11

So, as I do each month, I check to see how my energy use compares to the year before, always trying to reduce the amount of electricity I consume. This January I used 542 kWhr of electricity for lights and heat. I only sued the electric heat 4 full days & 4 half days, otherwise I heated with the wood stove. Last January I used 1818 kWhr of electricity, a whopping 3 times more! Anyway, I'm happy I could conserve that much, but keeping the wood stove going all the time alone is difficult.

This morning was just like all the others, I got up with the dogs and took them outside, then back in for breakfast. I had coffee and blogged a bit before going upstairs and showering. I got dressed for work, then took the pups outside in the backyard to play ball for about 15 minutes. Nothing too exciting going on. I pulled my sleeping bag out of its stuff sack, figured I would let it air out awhile before bringing it on the New Zealand trip. Next I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and got ready for work.

I got to work and continued on my daily tasks. Not a whole lot different from yesterday. At lunch I went home as the snow started falling (phase 1 of a 2 phase blockbuster snow storm). I took the pups in the backyard for some ball. We played 15 minutes, the dogs loved the fresh new snow on the ground. They had made a slick track of snow where they normally fetch the ball, so the new snow was a lot of fun for them. For me, I want it all gone... but not at once, because then there would be flooding issues. We came in and I had a PB&J sandwich and yogurt for lunch. Then I headed back to work. The rest of the afternoon was pretty much the same, nothing too exciting to write about.

After work, I went home and took the pups right outside to relish in the freshly fallen 5" of snow. At least it is light and fluffy. We played for 10 minutes, then I took them in for dinner. As they ate, I shoveled the driveway. Since this is light and fluffy, it is easier to shovel, tomorrows 14"+ is suppose to be wet and heavy... awesome! When I came in, I noticed that the wood stove temp was over 850F, (should be at 700F max). I closed the damper and waited for it to cool down before taking the pups outside again for some more ball. We played for another 15 minutes, then we came in for my dinner.

I made a tortellini and pasta sauce dish, it was actually pretty good. It was a three cheese tortellini. After dinner, I turned on the TV to get the news of how deep we were going to get hit. I was watching as the neighbor to the left of my house had a snow blower making paths on the side between our houses... of course, blowing all the snow into my yard. Not that I care, but they had the chute going so high that it wasn't just coming into my yard, he was hitting my house with the snow. At one point he hit a rock and it hit the house pretty hard, about 5' from my window. These are good neighbors, I don't know if I should say anything... I hope it was an isolated incident.

After watching some TV, I had the dogs out again for some ball and one last 'outside'. We came in and settled on the couch. Reece turned into a complete potato resting her head on my arm and leg. There was no way I would be able to get up, it was the cutest thing EVER. Once in a while she would get into a snoring dream, too cute. Finally around 10pm, we got up and went to bed.

1/31/11

Well, one more month down, another to go. Good thing February is the shortest month! I got up with the dogs as usual, we went outside (a bit chili 11F) for the morning wake-up. We came in, I fed them breakfast and then caught up on 3 days of blogging. Next I put on some clothes, and took the pups out to play some ball, for about 10 minutes. We came inside and I got ready for work and had a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Picked up a few things in the house, had the pups outside for one more quick one, then headed off to work.

Work went pretty well for a monday. During the morning I was able to get a lot of things hammered out that have been lingering on my desk for a bit. It felt like my most productive 4 hours in awhile. At lunch, I went home and let the dogs outside for some ball. We played for 15 minutes and came back inside. I had a banana, and grabbed a Amy's Enchilada meal to eat at work. I stopped off at the bank to make a deposit, then stopped to fill up the tank with gas. When I got to work, I headed up my lunch and continued on working. The afternoon went well, my streak of getting outstanding issues resolved continued, but not at the rate from the morning.

After work I went home and made sure the fire in the wood stove was still going, then took the pups outside for some play time. We played ball for 10 minutes, then I brought them in for dinner. I took them outside again for another 10 minutes, then Cheryl called and we chatted for 30 minutes. Cheryl is doing well, having fun, things are slowing down for her, only 3.5 weeks left for her on the ice! After our chat, I ran out to the grocery store. It seems like my normal schedule of going to the store co-insides with a snow storm, so the store is always packed. Or it could be that we are getting major snowstorms every 5 or 6 days.

After braving the store, I got home, but away the groceries and played some ball in the yard with the pups. I made myself a pasta, shrimp and vegetable dish for dinner... it was ok. Then I settled in on the couch to watch some TV, but what is up with the re-runs? I remember a day when a new season would start and every week you would see a new show. Anyway, I fell asleep multiple times between 8pm and 11pm. Finally, I took the pups out one last time and made it into bed.