Hodge-podge

I had a miserable night sleeping. Tossed and turned for a good portion of it and woke off and on from 4 AM until 6 when I gave up trying to get back to sleep and got up to feed the cats. Now my spine aches from my neck to my tailbone and my knees are forgetting they can bend. I'm moving around like Lurch. *sigh* Guess that's what happens when you don't really do anything all day but sit and surf the internet.

And that's all I did yesterday. Around noon the thunderstorms started to roll in from the northwest and they continued right up to sunset. Watching their progress on the radar was fascinating. There would be nothing on the screen until about 20 miles from here and suddenly, as the air would approach the Northern Tier of PA, the clouds would blossom up and out. Fortunately the strongest of the storms passed just tour east and west or didn't develop their full potential until they had moved over the hill to the south of us. We were never in the direct fire of the lightening that seemed to stay one to two miles away. Still, the rain came down quite heavily at times and the lights flickered off and on occasionally. I haven't gone out to check the gauge yet but I'm sure we had over half an inch. (UPDATE: I was close. We had 0.43 inches of rain yesterday.)

I went out to bring the bird feeders in around 8:30 PM. The two feeders with sunflower seed were not a problem but I had to wait for the hummingbirds to finish before they would let me bring in their sugar water. I guess the rains took a lot of energy form the little guys and they needed to stock up. Anyway, they finished around 8:45 and allowed me to remove the feeder from the deck as things were starting to get really dark.

At 9 PM Mr. Bruin showed up looking for some sunflower seeds. I had forgotten to empty the tray feeder and he promptly spilled that but he knocked the tray right on top of the seed and could not figure out where it went. He then checked the pole where the other feeders usually hang and was disappointed to find it was empty. So he took a nosh out of the one sunflower that was growing next to the pole. It had a nicely formed head and would have been a pretty flower in a couple of days. Now, half of it is gone. Once again, this bear knows no fear. Shining the light on him, yelling at him proved fruitless. He was not going until he was ready to leave. (And it is a "him", he stood on his hind legs to check for the hanging feeder and gave us proof that at least one black male still has his nuts.) This is a young male but he still goes in the range of 250-300 pounds and I'm not about to go out and rassle; ala Davy Crockett. Of course, if he continues to show up through the hunting season....Nah, just like the turkeys, when the calendar says it will be okay to shoot him, he will have found himself a safe hidey-hole somewhere and he won't be back in the yard until late April or early May.

And then there's the Mets. They didn't do it the easy way (Santana gave up 5 runs in 4 innings ad Heilman gave up 3 in 1/3 of an inning) but they got the job done behind Wright, Delgado and Tatis. They dropped the Reds 10-8 by scoring 4 runs in the ninth inning. The Mets have now won 10 straight and are tied for first place with the Phillies. There's still a lot of baseball to play, however, and the collapse they suffered last September should keep them aware of the need to play hard to the end.

Another lousy night

If you noticed the time stamp on this and the previous post, you'll note that I did not sleep well last night. I woke around 3 AM and struggled unsuccessfully to fall asleep again before finally giving up around 4 AM and moving downstairs to the delight of the kitty-cats who got fed early. Precisely why I woke and stayed awake may remain a mystery. I seldom remember any dreams and, until I was awake for a while, I had little difficulty breathing. (I've still got a small amount of the bronchial problems that sent me to the doc two weeks ago. Most of what remains can probably be blamed upon tree pollen and cat dander.)

I do know that once I had awakened I found the pillows a cold, sweaty, clammy mess. The sort of thing that would make me feel uncomfortably putting my head upon. I also was extremely warm which is odd since the room was only 65 degrees or so. (The heat is turned off, the window was open 4 inches and it was a bare 40 degrees outside.) It was extremely quiet outside and the cats were sound asleep until I got up and switched on the lights. Even then they remained silent knowing I was getting dressed and would be out shortly to feed them.

As I lay there in bed attempting to get some more shut-eye, I kept thinking about the three trips I've got to make this summer/fall. The first is a short hop to NJ for a retirement party for several former coworkers. This little one day jaunt will require driving about 250 miles one way (one tank of gas in the Tundra) and a stay in a motel for the night. With the current gas prices I figure the total bill will be around $250 Not including the cost of the party and the associated booze.

The second trip will be a bit more extensive and expensive. My niece/God-daughter is getting wed in San Francisco the end of June and Terry and I are flying out of Newark airport for a long weekend stay. Air fare, motel, rental car, meals (at least those that are not part the wedding), Terry's new dress, possible new sport jacket and slacks.... It's already starting to show up on the credit card bills. And I hate to fly commercial. Especially looooong flights like these.

The third trip will be the end of September/beginning of October. Terry will be installed as the national president of the Smocking Arts Guild of America (see the sidebar for the link) and I must play first husband or some such roll. This takes place at SAGAs National Convention held this year in Atlanta, Georgia. Two years ago we took the trailer and I parked on the outskirts of town for a couple of days while she did her thing. I can't get away with that this year. I'd still like to have the trailer so we could do some sightseeing/visiting while down that way but it's the middle of the bear/deer season in the Adirondacks. Archery is ending and muzzleloader will just be starting. The freezer will be empty of venison unless I get into the woods. I've got a feeling we may be flying again. Did I mention how much I hate to fly commercial?