HoundBlog

Happy New Year’s Eve! I hope you have appropriate plans to celebrate! Ken and I will be sleeping the New Year in

We’re headed out for breakfast this morning – just waiting on the car to warm up. Have one or two errands to run — Ken needs ink for his printer and we’ll need food for later, Ken has to take garbage to the dump. I have the last of the laundry in the washer and once that’s done, I’ve gotten my chore list handled for the most part.

It’s cool, but not freezing and was foggy earlier. The sun is shining right now and the birds are singing for all their worth.

Well, the car is warm, so I had best get out there before he drives off without me

Love to all,

Margaret

Good morning! Woke up for the last time this morning to rain. I keep telling myself we need it, but today it’s not working. Bridget had me up every 1-1/2 to 2 hours from 11:30 pm on and I’m just a tad grouchy. I had a hard time falling asleep last night due to the “humming” in my head no doubt it was just an inner ear thing after all the driving yesterday coupled by a stopped up ear.

Camilla has settled in pretty well. Ken is in love with her and she IS a very sweet bird. He and she sat on the couch last night for some time while he watched a football game and she explored.

No plans for today other than running to Pet Smart to buy her some appropriately sized perches. The ones I have available are too big for her and since she has foot problems, I need to make sure I get some that are easy for her to grip and are differing sizes to keep her feet exercised.

I have all the normal household chores to do today from laundry to cleaning the kitchen to cleaning bird cages and vacuuming.

Guess I had best get started.

Love to all,

Margaret

Here I am in Montgomery, AL at the LaQuinta! Woo Hoo!

As you might have guessed, I now have a lap top with wireless access! Me and TTC came to an agreement on one and so now I’m mobile!

I drove down last night after work. The trip was not too bad — it didn’t rain much until I hit Atlanta and then wasn’t any more than a steady rain — no wind or thunder and lightning. Only hit one slow down through downtown and even then moved on at a steady pace, just 25 mph instead of the more normal 70

This LaQuinta is undergoing renovations, and had, from the look of things, been pretty run down before they began. My room is a mixture of new and old. The floors, carpeting and bedding are new, but the doors are old and, despite a fresh coat of paint, are a bit beat up looking. The room has a coffee maker, microwave, tv, refrigerator, clock radio and hairdryer in it, so has plenty of amenities. They have gone all-out on bedding! This room has two double beds in it and the mattresses are comfortable, each bed has 3 (count them!) pillows on them that are NICE pillows! No bedspreads, just two blankets (which was fine by me) and a bolster pillow accent. The decor is rather Oriental in taste with a pulldown shade in the window instead of draperies. It’s very pretty! The wireless internet is a big plus for me although when I checked in last night they said it was down along with the phones.

I jokingly asked if that meant I got a discount on the room and the man typed something in the computer and said “I can let you have the double room for $59.95″ which was $20 less than he originally quoted it to me. I smilingly said “I’ll take it!”. Then found the internet was working, so was inordinately pleased

Now I’m sipping coffee as I type this. I’ll take a shower in a bit and go down the block to the Golden Corral for breakfast — Eddie you KNEW there had to be one close, didn’t you??

I brought my camera with me and hope to get photos of the sanctuary where I’m picking up the bird. I’m sure you’ll be seeing them soon.

Well, guess I should be hopping in that shower!

Love to all,

Margaret

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 .

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 .

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