Fall Again

It's fall again. The leaves will change, the air will get brisker and kids are finally back in school. LOL

I hope you all enjoy the cooler weather. I know I will as soon as it happens.

And yes I realize this photo is an old one, but I will not be leafing this year and no self respecting person blogging about fall would NOT include at least one picture of the leaves. So at least I have some self respect. LOL

What Is This White Stuff?

So this month we actually got snow. And I don't mean just a dusting of it either. This does not happen all that often in my area. So people do tend to freak.

This area just is not prepared. We don't have that many snow plows. And salt for the roads? Forget about it. Sigh!

The cats were a bit bewildered by it. While Kaiser enjoyed exploring it, as long as he could get back inside quickly.

Pumpkin really wanted to go check out that stuff,

but mean old mom wouldn't let him.

He'll just have to be content with staring out and dreaming.

Of course it's all gone now. But it was really pretty while it lasted. And the kids across the street built a really cool snow fort while it lasted.

So as most of the East Coast was hit with snow over this past weekend, all we got was rain. And lots of it. These pictures are in a Norfolk neighborhood. I didn't realize that I was going to need a boat for the winter.

Powerless

If you haven't been watching the news or you don't live in VA, then you may not know what's going on. Let me share.

We have been without power since 6 last night. But the recording from our power carrier says we will have power back by 10 tonight. Let's hope it's sooner as my computer battery is now at half life and it still needs to charge my phone a little more.

Leafing!

So today Jim and I went to the Shenandoah National Park and went leafing. Now some of you might wonder what leafing is. Well it's slang in areas that get beautiful fall foliage for the people who go out to ogle the leaves, like us.

The first shot is of Jim's side mirror. He wanted to get a shot of the leaves behind us. I thought it was really kind of neat.

We took turns passing the camera back and forth. So it's a mix of Jim's work and mine. Which was kind of fun. Because after a while of looking at what seems like the same thing over and over you need a new prospective.

I know the red leaves is a shot Jim took.

We go leafing just about every year. If time allows and all. This year I think we got there a little late, but the weather and schedules really weren't all that cooperative.

And sometimes the colors don't come out as vibrant as we thought they would. They seemed to fade as the sun got higher. We call the tree a fire tree, because it looked almost like the leaves were flames.

And I know this odd plant is my work. We don't always photograph the leaves. That's what makes it fun. We look through the pictures later to see what we did. And if we don't like it we can delete it. That's the beauty of digital photography.


I hope you enjoy them as much as we did taking them.

A Day In Our Backyard

Over one of the weekends this month Jim and I noticed the squirrel on the back porch railing. Daring little bugger was staring at us.

I guess he'd just finished eating from the squirrel feed.

It didn't even bother him when I got up and walked to the door. I didn't open it, but he did stay still for the photos. I'm not exactly saying he's a camera hog, but the pictures do speak for themselves.

Think Green

So Earth Day has come and gone. All week I've seen different stations who have been promoting 'green' and having their 'stars' tell us all what they do to help the environment. Insert the eye roll here.

Which irritates me in a way. You only see those type of commercials the week before and the week of Earth Day. Then it's back to business as usual. Sad really. What about the rest of the year?

Which got me to thinking. I know I've weakened the nation by doing this. ;-) Do I 'do my part for the environment'?

Well last weekend Norfolk had an electronic recycle day. So instead of throwing our 20 year old TV, that had finally bit the dust, in the trash we saved it and took it to the recycling area. Keeping it out of a landfill. Yeah us. But what else. One thing does not save the world! I do recycle things and put out the recycle bin, when I remember, on recycle days. I use my reusable shopping bags instead of plastic. If I forget them for some reason I keep the plastic and return them to Wal-Mart in exchange for a reusable bag. I also buy organic and local, when I can. Does that count?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not some tree hugger, but I'm not out to destroy the world.

Now world domination, that's something else entirely. ;-)

-Michelle

A Tropical What?

So over the past weekend Jim and I traveled back to Virginia to check on our new place.  Tropical Storm Hanna was coming to the area and we wanted to make sure the roof didn't leak and that no damage, however minor, occurred.  Hey we're homeowners now.  Plus we had a few things we wanted to take down there.

We arrived at midnight tired and bit cranky with a doped up dog in the back seat of the truck.  Yes, I medicated Kaiser for the trip.  You deal with an aging 60+ pound dog in the back of your car for 9 to 10 hours and we'll see how you hold up.  I bless the person who made cat and dog Valium every time we need to take a trip.  Odie, our cat, is very vocal.  But I digress.  Our arrival did not go unnoticed in our neighborhood.  If I didn't know what it felt like to be watched before, then this weekend changed all of that.

We had brought a small TV in the hopes of catching the local news to see if Hanna had been upgraded.  I never realized how much I missed WAVY TV10.  There's a huge difference between local and national news.  The local weatherman informed viewers that Hanna would be very much like a summer thunderstorm and to just be cautious out there.  While the weather person on the Today show freaked out.  Proclaiming that it was horrible and just look at those waves.  Argh!  Run for the hills.  Amateurs!

So what did Jim and I do when the tropical storm did hit.  We were in Lowe's buying area rugs for our new home.  You know it's not that bad when people are at a hardware store not for provisions to board up their home, but for things for their weekend projects.  Man I love this area!

We also managed to hand all of our blinds before moving in completely.  Some had to be custom cut.  Ugh!  And our A/C broke on our second day.  Luckily my best friend, Greta, was around today to let the repairman in to fix it.  You rock Greta!  We also were able to see Steve before he left on deployment.  Plus we swung by another friend's house to make sure he didn't have any damage since he was still in Rhode Island.  His house was fine.

All in all a productive weekend.  And the movers were scheduled to come on Monday, but that's a story for another time.

-Michelle

P.S. Kaiser loves the house.  And we met our next door neighbor, who has been to Ingleside.  And likes wine!  Hooray!  We look forward to living in this neighborhood.

There Be Pirates!

So one reason for going to downtown Newport this weekend, other than the reasons stated in the last post, was the Pirate fest that they had today. It was mostly for kids, but we had fun. We went on a tour and heard about pirates from the Newport, RI area.
Our tour guide, Slack Bladder, was in full costume. Hey that's what he said his name was. I can't make stuff like this up. As you can see the kids were very excited. There were three kids on the tour and they tormented the poor man to no end.

He told them to leave the Jolly Roger alone. Which apparently in kid speak means please try to get me. Please wrangle your child. They weren't that bad. Well except for one kid who couldn't seem to shut up!

At one point in time he requested a volunteer. Jim was kind enough to volunteer me by shoving me to the front of the group. Hence the reason I seem to be scowling at the camera.

He of course had to comment on my tee shirt since it said Trouble on the front. And then had to keep mangling my name. Which he thoroughly enjoyed. I couldn't stop laughing. Especially since he kept up the pirate speak and never broke character.

Now he wants me to repeat after him. And that can be difficult when you're still laughing. Plus I know Jim's got that darn camera. If only I knew that he was going to record some of this as well.

Okay I managed to stop laughing, but it was hard. If only I knew what was coming next. He told me how one dastardly pirate would feed his prisoners. And unfortunately I was playing the prisoner.

Let's just say it involved ears, nose, lips and hardtack to be stirred in my hands. Ew! Oh and here's the clincher! The bits and pieces would all be from me! Yuck! I did get a farthing for my trouble though and a round of applause. Thanks Jim for the good natured shove.

And side note to Colten. Sorry buddy no pictures of Uncle Jim with the pirate. We didn't have time.

-Michelle

Here's a clip of Mich-Elle and the pirate Slack Bladder:



-Jim

A View Of Downtown Newport, RI

Today Jim and I went to downtown Newport. I know what were we thinking? I mean it's Memorial Day weekend! The tourists are starting to come out so things are getting busier. We must be nuts. But we had a really nice time. It was lovely weather. Sunny, but not hot. I could go for weather like this 365 days a year, as long as it was not as windy as it was today. We had lunch at The Smokehouse Cafe and were able to people watch while eating our lunch and drinking a beer. Jim took the pictures. I merely pointed out some things that might be neat to have pictures of and then downloaded and cropped them. We were even able to catch up with some friends.


The first is a picture of the Newport harbor. Can't have a picture of a harbor town without the harbor. The second one is a picture of the Newport bridge from a park. We'll try to get a night version of this one sometime soon.


The first one is another shot of the harbor, but you can see some of the shops and in the distance the steeple of the Anglican church. The second one is a close up of the Anglican church steeple. I don't know what my thing is with church's and their architecture. Luckily my husband is willing to let me amuse myself with it.


Another shot of the harbor with all the boats that are docked. Can you tell Jim loves the ocean? It's the sailor in him. And hey summer is almost here so it's very appropriate. The second is another 'city shot'. The Seaman's Church is to the right and I believe the Red Parrot restaurant is in the middle.


I thought this was a lovely shot of an anchored sailboat near a tiny lighthouse. Even if I am sick and tired of lighthouses myself. There are tons of sailboats in this area, just no one seemed to be out and about. For anyone who's seen Family Guy you'll understand the second picture. We got a chuckle out of it. If you haven't seen the show. . . Google it!


This is the Old State house and it is where they did shoot a bit from the movie Armistead. They did a lot to the surrounding area to make it look like it did back then. Covered the streets in sand and removed anything that wouldn't have been in the time frame. For example street lights and and meters. And of course another harbor view. Hey we are in a harbor city!

-Michelle

Spring, Sprang, Sprung!

So spring has officially arrived.  And it is letting us know it's here!  With all the wind we had last night I thought our house was going to lift off.  What's this stuff about spring coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb?  Well he's been roaring a LOT lately.  So much so that the dog is afraid to go outside.  The wimp!  I'd forgotten how chilly it can feel to have the wind coming off the bay here in Rhode Island too.  That's going to take some adjusting to.  But hopefully not to long.  I'm looking forward to the lovely summer weather that I remember from when we were here eight years ago.  Also I'm ready for it to stop raining on Wednesdays.  Although the predictability is nice.

-Michelle