HoundBlog

Good morning! It’s only 7:14 am and I’m already nearly 5 hours into my day. When I left my afternoon meeting yesterday at 5:15 (with the bb lady who took a 30 minute meeting and stretched it into 2-1/2 hours), I had voice mails asking me to add someone to the Econ (California guy — they are 3 hours behind us, so it was early when I was asked to add him out there anyway), but when I tried to log into my computer to do the work, it would not get on the network. That essentially screwed me. I had to go to the server room and make the necessary changes directly on the server, which was a pita enough, but really no big deal. At any rate, I started obsessing about my computer not finding the network, so called the network guy and told him the problem which he promised to check into first thing this morning (well, first thing for him which is 8:00 am). However, the more I thought about it, the more I stressed because I knew that if I needed to get into the system from home that I would be really toast, so I called the NAS guys who are typically here late and asked them to see if they could check it out. They found a loose wire and I was back in business!

Anyway, I still worried, so logged in at 10:00 last night right before I went to bed. UGH! Bad stuff in my email. My Econ job sent me over 200 emails telling me that it was failing every time it ran. I was pretty sure I knew what the problem was, but was just too brain dead to work on it then. The brain was evidently not as dead as I gave it credit for as it got me up at 2:30 and forced me into the office to work on the problem. I not only found and corrected the issue I was pretty sure was the main problem, but found and corrected another problem that I didn’t even know existed! Now she sings like a bird, but I am truly brain dead.

I have a conference call at 11:00 this morning with a customer and sales, but might be able to skip out not too long after that.  Depends on what my boss says.

Back to the grindstone……

Love to all,

Margaret

Writing a bit late today. Met Brian at 6:00 am this morning to begin working on solving problems. Worked through two or three of them and discussed several more. Then he moved on to other people with whom he needs to help on their part of this project. I hope he is able to get them settled on their course of action as I’m waiting on those pieces for the final part of mine.

**As you probably can tell, I had to finish this at another time since I got interrupted.

Hot gossip 😆 — The people renting Charlotte’s daughter’s house were arrested yesterday for Cocaine possession/dealing. The mother was released with no charges filed, but the 17 year old is on America’s top 10 most wanted teens list for crimes committed in North Carolina and he was apprehended yesterday as he tried to leave the state.

What is it about that house that seems to attract these criminally notorious people??

This weekend is the annual blockhouse run in Saluda. This is a steeplechase (about 8 or 10 races) that is really one big party for those who are not riding in it. Not to worry — neither Ken nor I ride in it, but we do go to the party 😛 We have a lot of fun although we don’t drink (alchohol). I’ve gotten some great pictures of horses going over the jumps and a video or two. This year, with my new camera, I hope to get even better photos. I’m with Colin that landscape photography should have as big a spot as “people” photography, but confess to not really knowing if photos of a steeplechase qualify as landscape or people 😆

Well, I guess I need to get back to work. Trying to resource @@error coding examples.

Love to all,

Margaret

WOW! What a night! The wind blew and BLEW and nearly blew us away!! Not much more rain than what we had previously gotten unlike the northeast today who has both the wind and the rain. It’s chilly this morning but I think we will warm up pretty much as the day goes by.

Tried to work this weekend, but was stymied at nearly every turn. I hope to get all the issues worked out this week. Brian is supposed to be here this afternoon or tomorrow and I hope we can get them all fixed. My deadline is next Monday. It’s not looking too good right now for making it, but at least it’s not due to anything that’s totally my problem.

Well, I guess I had best get back to work. Y’all take care!

Love,

Margaret

I know it’s Sunday, but Ken’s still in bed and I have the dogs out, so it’s quiet and a nice time to enjoy the morning. We had some humdinger storms last night and I hear there were some tornadoes. It’s quite warm outside right now, but they’re calling for lows to be in the upper 30’s tonight, so I expect it to start dropping pretty soon.

Remeber the mockingbird I told you had usurped the suet feeder? Well, I took a couple of videos of him on it and finally figured out how to upload one to YouTube if you want to take a look at it. At some point, I want to record the bird training, but that may be awhile coming as that will require two people.

Meanwhile, my computer has no sound and I can’t figure out why. I purchased new speakers thinking that was the problem — I didn’t have any sound with the old one either. It’s really frustrating to say the least.

Well, Ken’s here to go to breakfast, so I’ll see y’all later.

Love to all,

Margaret

In training today, so no time to write much. Warmer weather today which is nice, but we could use more rain. We are supposed to get more over the next few days.

Thanks to everyone who looked at and commented on the site I’m building. I’ll keep you updated on any changes I make and of course, get you to the finished product.

Love to all,

Margaret

It’s Wednesday and raining. We need the rain and at least it’s somewhat warmer than it was over the weekend, so isn’t a totally miserable day. Ken is set to work all weekend this weekend and next and has laid out some tasks he wants me to accomplish.  I have a lot of stuff to do that he doesn’t even think about, though, so we’ll have to see how it goes.

I’m developing a web page for a friend of mine who makes the collars that I use on the Whippets. I have a mock up of a home page done for her (lots of work yet to do on it), but wanted to get some input on if you think I might be headed in the right direction. None of the links on the page are working yet, so if you go to it, there’s nowhere else to go. I’ve also hosted it on my webserver, but she’s getting her own hosting and domain name, so it will move once that’s in place. Anyway, if you have a minute, would you take a look and tell me what you think it needs. Suzel’s Collars  — she likes the colors and likes the logo I made. I told her I want to make the circle out of some of her collars (they are tapered, so if folded in half and set with the narrow ends together, should form a circle-like design) which is *supposed* to be somewhat like a color wheel. Interior pages will use the color scheme and logo of course and have fabric swatches and ordering fields for people to order the collars.

Well, I guess I need to get back to the paying job.

Love to all,

Margaret

Gosh! 1/4 of the year is gone already! I just don’t know where the time goes anymore!

I used Ma’s twisty tool in the garden last Thursday. It works good, but gives you a work out as well. I certainly can use the workout, but have to go at it in spurts as I get tired pretty quickly from it. I’ve gotten about a third of the garden weeded, so have quite a bit to go. I’m ashamed to admit that the flower garden is pretty over run with weeds. 😥 It will probably be Saturday before I get back to it as I don’t know when I’ll have time during the week.

How about Ma’s prediction of snow for Easter?? She was spot-on, wasn’t she?? 😆 She wants a job on t.v. as the weather girl 😛 and she certainly predicts the weather as well as the best of them, don’t you agree?

I had to send Bruno to the dog house in the sky Thursday. He had been acting like he didn’t feel well and I took him to one vet Saturday before last. This one pulled blood and did a blood test which didn’t reveal anything. He put him on lasix as he felt like he heard fluid in his lungs, but by Monday, he was no better. I called his office and they wanted me to wait a few more days, but I decided to call this other vet instead. I took Bruno in on Thursday and x-rays revealed that he had collapsed lungs. The vet didn’t know how he had survived as long as he had since he had quite a bit of air in his abdomen which was preventing him from re-inflating them. The vet drew out over 2 liters of air from his abdomen, retook the x-rays but didn’t see any improvement. There really was nothing else to do but give him peace from his struggle for breath and he did go very peacefully and easily. I brought him home and buried him with all my other dogs in the dog graveyard over by the woods.

Bruno came to us 2 years ago when his family had to relocate to Mississippi. They ended up displaced by Katrina and spent 10 months in a motel. So, I guess you could say that he had 2 more years of life by coming to us than he might have had if he had gone with them. He was already 12 when he came to live with us and had lots of lumps all over his body that were mostly lipomas (fatty tumors that are usually benign). The vet thinks he had some internal tumors, too, that were not benign and ones on his lungs ruptured which is what led to the pneumothorax (air in the abdomen). Surgery to remove any remaining tumors and seal the resultant holes might have worked, but it was very doubtful.

The house seems quieter without him. He was always pretty vocal about getting meals on time and ordering the other dogs around. He was quite a personality.

Well, this has gone on way too long. I need to get back to work.

Love to all,

Margaret

Today is the last full day of the week for me. I’m taking 1/2 day vacation tomorrow and Friday is a holiday. Ken is really bummed out that the weather is turning off so cold. He had me pack shorts for him which now he will not need. I’ll have to take some jeans and jackets for us both.

I figure I’ll lose any blooms I have. The last cold snap inhibitied the irises, so I imagine this one will do the same. I did get a few blooms this week, and took some pictures of them. My lilies are coming up, but it’s awhile before they even start to bloom, so I hope they don’t suffer from this freaky weather.

Well, I guess I need to get back to work. You all take care and have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Love to all,

Margaret

Hi everyone! I hope you had a good weekend! Mine was very busy. I did get the dog room crates taken out and washed and put back — only took 4 hours — there were 16 crates total. I also got laundry done and dishes washed. Yesterday I groomed the cresteds in preparation for the show next weekend. I’ll have to touch them up again before they go in the ring, but they are clean and have had their nails cut.

I woke up at 2:30 this morning and tossed for 1/2 hour before giving upt and giving in. I plan to work from home tomorrrow as I a meeting of the sQL server guild.

Ken was off yesterday and got the back yard mowed, and the garbage taken to the dump. We ran into Anderson to buy dog food for the next 2 weeks and pick up some odds and ends that he wanted.

Well, now you’re all caught up and I need to get back to work.

Love to all,

Margaret

Sorry I didn’t write yesterday – it was a VERY busy day! Went to the chiropractor who showed me the x-rays they took of my poor neck and said he sees this a lot in people who do a lot of reading or looking at a computer screen — he could not have profiled me better than an FBI agent 😛  At any rate, I left feeling more mobile, but somewhat sore. Was still sore this morning when I went back to him. Another massage and adjustment and some of the soreness is worked out and I’m more mobile yet. I’ll go back 3 days a week for the next 2 weeks, then will only go twice a week before they re-xray everything to see how it looks.

Our weather turned off a bit cool and all I could think of was Ma’s prediction of snow on Easter. We still have a couple of weeks to see if her weather prognostication skills are up to par or not, but I would have sworn snow was on the horizon yesterday! It’s supposed to be back up to 80 tomorrow.

Ken’s working tomorrow and off Sunday. He keeps moaning about the gazillion things he has to do, but really other than mowing the grass and taking the garbage to the dump and cutting off a few limbs, I don’t know what he thinks he has to do. Now, given the go-ahead, I could FIND things for him, but really want him to do some resting when he has the chance. There’s nothing that can’t wait a bit longer.

*I* on the other had do have a gazillion things to do — all the usuals plus wash dog bedding, and work on my GP project. Logistics has given me a list of part numbers to change and I need to test rolling a couple of customer records into one to see what is impacted by it. The part number thing really isn’t part of the project, but the customer records are. Our customer records are a MESS! There is much to do to clean that up to my satisfaction.

Well, guess I need to get back to it. Y’all have a great weekend!

Love to all,

Margaret