First things first…

Was tagged by Liz for the book challenge whatever thingie…

The Rules:

Pick up the nearest book.
Open on page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

This is going to be so boring since I am at work and only have manuals and other boring technical books surrounding me.

Hmmm Let’s pick Nortel Networks Troubleshooting and Optimization Manual, by Ragho Mahalingam.

As with the configuration file, all other critical file system contents should be backed up to a server. Using either FTP or TFTP (Routers Files Manager), all file system contents can be copied to a workstation for future reference and, if necessary, immediate recovery. Unforeseen issues may require you to abort a software upgrade, in which case you can use the backup copy of the current file system to restore the system.

Hmmm good advice for any computer system or hardware wouldn’t you say?  I’m not sure who has done this and who hasn’t so if you want to play, consider yourself tagged.

I’ve actually been keeping busy between the real boring work and playing in the studio with all the dyes and fibers as well as a little knitting and spinning.

This past weekend I spent all day Saturday in the studio, dyeing up some lovely sweet grass targee, and some merino/silk blend as well as some real and faux cashmere. I recently joined a fiber swap in Ravelry.com – it should be fun and figured I would get some stuff dyed up ahead of time.

I would share some photos, but I hung it all out to dry on the clothes line and it’s been raining everyday since then. Hopefully today it should finally be dry.

I am also knitting scarves from some silk, Cindy and I dyed a few weeks ago. We are just knitting up Q&D lace scarves to hopefully sell during Quilt Week and Lowell Open Studios in September. They are unfortunately boring and I am dying to start the Goddess Knit Anniversary Mystery Shawl – I am already two clues behind, and she’s only published two clues so far.

Darling Daughter had her last final this morning and it’s her last day of school.

Things are going much better now that she is out of the ‘bad’ crowd.  I am feeling a bit better about having her home this summer.  I still wish she would get a job!

I think I mentioned that my mom broke her left wrist a few weeks ago, so she’s been kind of down.  Between Dad’s death, trying to get a handle on being single and now a broken arm, she’s been pretty testy too.  So I invited her to come up for dinner Sunday and she ended up showing up at my house at 9:00 AM!

So I made her come out with me to shop for tomato plants, herbs and flowers for the window boxes.

I was really pleased with the way the window boxes came out.  I just love Lobelia, and the miniature petunias.  I think the chartreuse vines set off the purples perfectly.

I put a couple of cherry tomato plants into large containers ans surrounded them with basil.  I did another large container with more herbs (rosemary, cilantro, chive, parsley, more basil.  You can never have too much fresh basil in the summer!

My honeysuckle vine around the door is in full bloom and the scent is intoxicating.  I’ve been leaving the doors open in the backroom and between the roses, peonies and the honeysuckle it smells just like summer!  Now if it would just stop raining and let the sun come out.

I could really use a long vacation.  Fortunately I am taking the week after the fourth of July off, then the third week in July when my brother comes out with Jeffrey.   Then it’s off to the gathering of the clan in Upstate New York to the camp in Mount Upton.  I need to start practicing my Pitch game soon.

Tag you are it!

I’ve been tagged for a meme by Jen… so here you go.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Ten years ago I was working in the same place I am now – different company though after a buyout.  I cannot believe I managed to survive all the layoffs and changes, but here I am.  I’m also still in the same house, so not much has changed in the past 10 years, just a little older but not much wiser.

2. What are 5 things on my TO-DO list for today?

Wish David a Happy Birthday

Meet with my therapist

Do some laundry

Finish up some open cases at work

Finish knitting the silk scarf I am working on

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Pastries are my down fall so I try to avoid them

Potato Chips – the greasy, salty kind

My homemade Hummus and pita chips

My homemade salsa (must make more salsa)

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Retire immediately, send the DD to boarding school, buy a Victorian house with a wrap around porch on the beach, pay off my brother’s mortgage, open a little fiber studio/shop near my new house, and travel around the world.

5. Places I have lived:

Ithaca, NY

Niagara Falls, NY

Vestal, NY

Elizabeth, NJ

Sudbury, MA

Worthing, UK

6. Jobs I have had:

Cashier in a grocery store

Cocktail Waitress

Retail in a Ski Shop

Receptionist

Apple Computer Trainer

I’m not sure who’s been tagged and who hasn’t so let’s tag Nancy and Brian - have fun guys I hope your answers are more exciting than mine!

Network Engineer

Elvis Has Left The Building…

I  apologize for being a bad blogger.  A lot has been going on between the teenager-from-hell and my Mom who has turned into Widowzilla, I’m still trying to process my Dad’s death.  I’m trying not to think about Father’s Day this coming weekend.

But you don’t want to hear about whoaisme, and I don’t want to go there either so I will leave you with this escapade.

As I mentioned in an earlier post a brazen hussy of a squirrel was coming up from the basement and eating the kitty food.  This brazen hussy of a squirrel didn’t care one bit that I was sitting right at the kitchen table at the time either.

You will also remember that my weeny cats were afraid of this squirrel, so what is a homeowner to do?  Trap it…  So feeling in a good mood I went to the local hardware store and picked up a Havaheart trap – Squirrel Size for $39.  Rat traps would have been cheaper, but I couldn’t deal with the ewwwie factor.   I took the trap home and found that putting it together was like folding complicated origami – we eventually figured it out, got it baited with peanut butter… nothing happened.  So the next day we baited it with cat food – squirrel liked that just fine.   He even managed to clean out every single piece from inside the trap.  For some reason the trap mechanism on the new trap is a bit tight, as in the squirrel would have had to have been at least 30 lbs to trip it.  But at the rate he was cleaning out the cat food bowl it was only a matter of time.

We tried all kinds of things for several days,  Finally I borrowed an older trap that had a looser mechanism. Actually it had a hair trigger, and it took some time to get it loaded and set.  But within 5 minutes WHAM!

Scared the heck out of me and the cats who went running upstairs to hide under the beds.  Big Weenies!

So I did as the directions stated – approached the cage quietly and slowly,  but the damn thing still lunged at me.  I finally managed to pick up the cage and tossed a sweatshirt over it.  I ran out the car with it and stuck it in the back seat.  The squirrel was freaking, I was freaking – the cats were freaked.

So now what do I do with it?  I jump in the car and start to drive,  all the time the squirrel is obviously panicking as I am.  So I quick call the first friend in my cellphone list Alicia…  she doesn’t answer but I leave her a message on her voice mail and head to her house which is about 3 miles from my house.  I figure that is far enough away to dump the squirrel.  All the time I am praying that someone is home.

As I pull into her driveway, she and her daughter are waiting for me and laughing their butts off.  Apparently my voice mail message was hysterically funny.

So we get the cage out of the car and Alicia managed to get the cage open.  The squirrel shot out the cage and headed straight for the woods.

I thanked them profusely and returned home for a Margarita and a nap.

——–

Obligatory knitting update – I am working on knitting some silk scarves to add to the etsy shop.  Stay tuned.

SQUIRREL IN THE BASEMENT!

I was just sitting at the kitchen table catching up on emails, when I heard munching coming from the cat dish.  The only problem was both cats were lying on the couch… slugs!

So I turned to see a squirrel that had come up from the basement!  I keep the cat boxes in the basement, thus the basement door is always open.

So I grabbed the cat most likely to catch it (Miss Pickles) shoved her down the stairs and shut the door.  She took off after it, but 5 minutes later she was whining at the door…  WTF?

I apparently have weeny cats….

Is it too much to expect a rodent free home with two cats living here?  I think not!

So, do I open the bulk head and invite in more squirrels or hope for a cat solution to the problem?  I will be taking the cat food up and putting it away for the night…  no food for cats until dead squirrel carcass shows up.