HoundBlog

Happy Friday! Boy! This sure has seemed like a long week, although I know it hasn’t been really. Plus we have another long weekend to look forward to.

I’m leaving straight from work today to go to Alabama to pick up a new bird. She’s a 15 year old Orange Wing Amazon that’s in a shelter down there. I’ve been wanting an Amazon for some time now, and although she’s not the variety I was initially wanting, her story and her photos have won my heart. Her name is Camilla and she was a breeder bird who’s previous owner put her in with a male that Camilla didn’t like (so wouldn’t breed with him) and who plucked her (no doubt because she rejected him). The owner turned her into the shelter because she wouldn’t produce instead of trying to find a male that Camilla would accept. Well, since I have no desire to breed birds, Ms. Camilla will be allowed to live out her days as a spoiled pet. Her feathers have grown back in from her spousal abuse during her time at the shelter and she’s learning to talk. The shelter’s owner and I both hope she will come here and learn some stupid bird tricks and to widen her vocabulary. I expect you will be treated with some photos and videos of her progress as time goes on.

Of course, getting ready to leave Ken behind with the care of the other animals has entailed a fair amount of preparatory work on my part. I had to fix breakfasts for the birds so Ken could feed them properly tomorrow morning as well as fix baggies with the medicine that the two old girls get in the mornings. So, he’s all fixed up with stuff and only has to dole it out before he leaves for work tomorrow.  

Oh! If you haven’t already seen it, you need to watch the video Ken and I made to enter a contest to win a memory foam mattress. It’s FUNNY  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ri7S_HNRjQ

And that’s all for today!

Love to all,

Margaret

Good morning all!

I want to share a picture with you today. It’s the full moon on Christmas Eve. I set the zoom on my camera to the full extent, then cropped the picture to just have the moon centered. The line across the middle of it is actually a tree branch — I had this idea that it would be cool to have the moon showing through the branches of this tree and it does look pretty cool with less zoom put on it.

I know you’re supposed to take this type photo with special lenses and filters, but I use what I have at hand which is my little Sony DSC that Ken gave me last year for Christmas. It’s actually a pretty nice camera. Not professional quality, but getting there. I’ve certainly caught my share of hummingbirds on the wing with it.

I started reading my book yesterday adn got about 50 pages into it. It’s not quite as heavy (yet) as I thought it might be, and seems to be written with the premise that the reader knows very little about the basics. I am learning some things I didn’t know about the different versions of SQL 2005 that are available.

I’m going to have lunch with Lee today. I haven’t seen her since before Christmas although she sent me a picture of her and Foxy with Santa — so cute! She’s sewn my sheers together into a scarf that I’m going to put over the living room window. Let’s hope I can drape it so that it looks like something other than a rag thrown up on the curtain rod 😛

I hope Eddie and Chrystalyn are feeling better — Eddie said they were both feeling pretty bad over Christmas.

Well, I’ve got to run!

Love to all,

Margaret

Good morning everyone!

It’s business as usual today although I’m sure the office will be quieter than normal since many are taking the last of their vacation days. I expect to get a lot done today and tomorrow, taking that quietness to my best advantage.

Today I’m wearing the lovely necklace that Janet gave me for Christmas. It’s a black onyx square set in a sterling silver beaded frame and the chain is a silver beaded chain. It will be one of those pieces that I can wear with almost anything.

When I got in the office this morning I found a box on my desk from Canada. I had signed up to review a book on SQL 2005 some time ago and had forgotten about it. The book is here, and I only have 90 days to read and write my review of it for PASS (Professional Association for SQL Server). I’m hoping that if I do a good job on the review, they will choose me to write reviews for other books (which gets me free books 🙂 ). This one is a big thick bugger, so it’s likely to take me most of the 90 days to read it. Of course additional benefit from reading the book will be having more information about the database I’m supposed to be administering at hand.

That’s my morning so far. Guess I should actually get on with work 😛

Love to all,

Margaret

Merry Christmas everyone! All of us here in Donalds, SC wish you a happy Howliday and more!

Ken’s not up yet, but of course the dogs are like furry alarm clocks and some needed to go out at 4:00 am. I’m up to let them out and write this and then I’m back to bed.

I have a rib roast to cook for our Christmas dinner and Ken made sure he got one big enough to share with the dogs, so we will all get to enjoy it. It’s marinating in the refrigerator now, so will be tender and tasty. The birds will get a special mash today with lots of their favorites in it.

Of course there are presents for everyone to open (including the dogs!). We’ll be enjoying that later this morning — probably after breakfast.

Well, I’ve told enough. It’s time for me to bring in the dogs and go back to bed.

Merry Christmas!

Love to all,

Margaret

Yesterday we drove to Chattanooga to pick up Maggie from Sharron and to have lunch with Judy. Both tasks were accomplished with a minimum of fuss and Ken got to further break in his new truck’s engine (which made him very happy).

Maggie is a happy girl and slept with us, her mom and sister last night and is happily playing this morning.

Lunch with Judy was great! I took a picture of her with my camera phone and sent it to Mom while we sat in the restaurant. We ate Mexican and it was delicious! We ate too much and I fought sleepiness all the way home. Ken listened to a football game while I read a book (finished it just as we pulled into the driveway – what timing!) We had eaten so much lunch that we decided to skip dinner. I’m sure we’ll go out to breakfast this morning.

Don’t know what Ken wants to do today — he mentioned moving my desk out to the dining room, but it’s such a mess I don’t know if he’ll want to fool with it. I have some laundry to do, but other than that, it looks like we have a lazy day ahead.

Well, I think I’ll go back to bed for a bit.

Love to all,

Margaret

Ahhhh it’s Friday! Ken has a short day today and then he’s off for 4 days.

It’s raining here — rained all night last night and is supposed to rain all day today. We sure do need it, so I’m not complaining about it!

My day of leisure yesterday didn’t work out quite like that although it wasn’t too bad. I had a couple of people call about Cresteds and so had to straighten up the house and keep puppies clean (that’s not an easy task, either!), but all worked out OK. Sold two puppies and placed two adults. That leaves 3 puppies and 1 adult, but relieved my stress level greatly. I feel like my “dog level” is back to a more manageable one. I was really thrilled about the home the two adults got as I think it will be a great one for them.

Pam called last night and told me that Eddie and Yvonne’s card was in their package, so she’s going to mail it to them today. I hope they get it by Christmas — they should, but you just never know about the postal service. Anyway, it’s put my murder off a while

I have a tiny bit of shopping left to do, so will try to get that done today. The dogs are out and the birds are fed – now I just need to get in the shower and get gone. I never left the house yesterday!

Now you know what we’re up to!

Love to all,

Margaret

Gosh! Only 5 days until Christmas! It just amazes me how time is flying by as I get older. I imagine Ma can feel the breeze of it by now :P.

Eddie called last night – they got their Christmas package from us and he wanted to verify that he had retrieved everything from the peanuts. When we hung up, he was still sifting through for an envelope 🙁 I hope he found it although it may mean my death when he does. More on that later as I don’t want to ruin the “surprise” or rather shock of it :lol:.

Well, my little Maggie is in Nashville with Sharron Lane. Sharron has sent me numerous updates on Maggie’s recovery from her decent into hell (from Maggie’s perspective, I think that’s what it was). We’re meeting her Saturday in Chattanooga — I hope we have time to swing by Judy’s but may not as I have no one to take care of the animals and it’s a 4-1/2 hour drive one way.

I have no plans for today although there are some things I want to do, it just depends on if I get motivated enough to follow through. I’m ready for lazy, too 😀

Well, I think I’ll go back to bed to start my day of sloth out in the best possible fashion.

Love to all,

Margaret 

Good morning everyone! It’s the last day of the work week for me as I will be on vacation until after Christmas is over. I’m looking forward to having a few days to get myself organized for next year. I also have some books to read (not fiction) that I need to be able to concentrate on and I’m just not finding that time to devote to them that they deserve.

Today at work, we’re having our Christmas dinner. The company is providing the main course and the employees were invited to participate in a dessert bake-off. I made the raspberry cream cheese bars from the Land-O-Lakes cookbook I bought last month at the book sale. They turned out really nice looking and my tiny taste test says they taste pretty good too. I’m quite sure I won’t  win a prize, but at least I put in an effort.

The Kennel Club had it’s party last night and Charlotte and I went to it. We sat with Janet, Bob and Nancy Vandiver and the Le Blonds, ate a delicious dinner and had a lot of fun with the gift exchange that followed. I “won” a key fob that, when you whistle will make a beeping sound – not something I really need, but a novel item none-the-less. Janet asked me for it saying she could really use it, so of course I gave it to her. She made me take the tin of dog biscuits that she won, though I really didn’t need (or want) those either.

Well, I guess I need to get on with today’s work.

Have a great day!

Love to all,

Margaret

Good morning! Just a short one today as I have to get to work so I can take time out later to take Bridget to the vets. We took her in Saturday as she just could not stand any more . He gave her a shot for her arthritis, and put her on lasix and predinsone as she had a pretty significant heart murmur. She’s doing better although she still needs help to get up and get down in a comfortable position sometimes. She gets another shot for the arthritis today.

Tonight is the Kennel Club Christmas party, and Charlotte and I are going. Ken decided that he would sit it out.

Tomorrow is our Christmas dinner at work and today I have to make the dessert I’m going to take to it — they’re having a bake-off. I’m going to make the raspberry bars from the Land-O-Lakes cookbook I bought. If they taste as good as they look, I’m going to at least have a tasty entry whether it wins or loses.

I have to pick up something to wrap as a “dirty Santa” gift (whatever that is) today. I forgot about that when we were shopping Saturday or I would have gotten something then.

I got all the kids/grandkids gifts sent off yesterday! Whew! I’m sure glad that’s done! They should have them by tomorrow or Friday at the latest.

I entered a video in a contest to win a mattress and box spring set. It’s over at Musings if you want to see it. Ken was a star 😛 . I may not win, but we had fun making it.

I’ve also entered a contest to win a PhotoTrakr for my camera. I need people to vote for me on that one, so if you have a minute, go HERE, look over on the right for the voting widget thingy and vote for me – I’m woefully behind right now, but maybe I’ll get a surge before voting ends. You can vote once a day until voting is over. Thanks!

Well, that’s all the news that is news for us!

Love to all,

Margaret

Good morning! I see that Colin and Becky got a significant amount of snow and Judy got a dusting. We got no snow, just rain (which was badly needed) and a lot of wind yesterday. I’m expecting my Chicago sites along with the New York and Pennsylvania sites to be calling in today, so it will more than likely be pretty busy.

I’m working on a revamp of the website that’s not going too well. I just can’t seem to get this one division positioned properly and it’s driving me crazy! Oh well, I’m sure it will come to me at some time — like in the middle of the night while I’m trying to sleep.

I got the presents wrapped yesterday and everything is now ready to ship. I’ll go to the UPS store today and get them off.

I have a meeting this morning with Wes and the guy who did our web page — we’re going over some new pages he’s been working on the last few weeks that will enable us to have our remote offices work in Great Plains without purchasing 18 licenses (which cost a LOT of money!). I guess I’ll be spending the next few days testing them out before we turn it loose to our users — that is unless the pages are just not user friendly in which case he’ll get to rewrite his code some.

That’s about all there is from our house.

Stay warm and take care!

Love to all,

Margaret