I am NOT a city person,and vastly prefer woods to streets.That said,I HATE where I live. I am in the tightest part of a mountain pass,and a State park is my backyard. So.....the sun goes down behind the mountain,and makes the sunlight leave here a lot earlier than than 3-4 miles up the road....and between the "short days" and the critters [oh, deer, bears, woodchucks, skunks,snakes, ANY animal you would find wandering out of the state park and into Gails' yard] I cannot garden. And gardening is a passion of mine. Nothing. Nada. EVERYTHING, even the things so-called experts claim nothing will eat gets eaten.This winter,which IMHO was not particularly bad,the ate my rhododendrons,down to the ground.....they ATE em.My Sedum Autumn Joy became their Sedum Summer dinner. No veggie garden,sure as Hell no flower gardens, nothing. No fence exists that can protect against what I've got here,even if we were allowed to fence the whole yard in,which I wouldn't like either. Plus, we live on a a dirt road. Not too bad,until you consider.....first,I live in the horse-shoe of this dirt road. I have to dust every DAY,which is a major pita. After 18 years I've become accustomed to it,but that doesn't mean I LIKE it. Second,....put that dirt road together with the weather. In the spring,when the ground is still frozen,but temps allow for rain, ....my road is a sheet of ice. No form of all wheel or 4 wheel drive will help you on ice. None. This is the Hail Mary school of driving,after you've lived here a while,you become a very good bad conditions driver.
The noise from the Thruway is what has decided us to move, your heart Breaks every time you hear an ambulance,or the fog-horn of a firetruck to a vehicle fire,- and those things happen a LOT. You just can't live with the constant,intense presence of the Thruway.
Now, that's a lot of words,isn't it? I have every reason to hate where I live,right? But, I'm not a hater by inclination,and I'm a "The glass is at LEAST half-full" person.So, I decided to look at it from his perspective.
Whenever I type, aside from the rare times I take the laptop upstairs,I am on the couch in my livingroom.So I see this: [but right below this view is the NYS Thruway]
Plus.
ANY window I look out in my home, I can see something alive,and/or the house of a neighbor I care about.Plus.
There aren't a lot of places to live,where you can see the wildlife I can see here,and I'm more of a wild life than a night life kinda person.Plus. [except when they get into the garbage cans,then I want to shoot them.And, living here,you need to have a shotgun. And we do. Just call me Annie Oakley :o)]
I am close to everything. My commute? :O) 4 1/2 minutes. Steves' commute? 30 minutes. Grocery shopping? 5-15 minutes. Dr? 20 min. We are 4-5 miles from all the schools in this district that our kids attended over the years.[and Steve and I too :O)] Yet,we're located so that family and friends can easily come here for the holidays. Plus.
I'm back...Stevie is here,he came home to do his laundry today.He is talking trash,I am LMAO. :O) Close to the kids...PLUS.
It never occurred to me that,there are actually more reasons for me to love this place than hate it. Still can't wait to move, ...I want a house that is ours, to be able to repair/replace stuff,and do upkeep the landlord appears to take a blind eye to, but I don't hate it so much :O) This might not matter too much to a cynical type of person,but it makes a world of difference to me. :O) :o) A little life lesson where none was intended,the kind you learn from.
And here,via an online friend who is NOT Bren :o) But who I didn't ask if I could use her name,so I won't...OMG,very funny :O) Since it *is Friday,you know what that means,I need to go make Steve a drink with an umbrella in it :O) I will leave you with this,a Friday funny :o)
WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?
BARACK OBAMA:The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!
JOHN McCAIN:My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized theneed to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens onthe other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON:When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure-- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets thechance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me, although I clearly remember having to dodge enemy fire as Chelsea and I tried to cross the road.
DR. PHIL:The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that hemust first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems.
OPRAH:Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
GEORGE W. BUSH:We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chickenis either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.....
JOHN KERRY:Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about thechicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
NANCY GRACE:That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN:To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART:No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had astanding order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insiderinformation.
DR SEUSS:Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, thechicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain. Alone.
RUSH LIMBAUGH:Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth?' That's why they call it the 'other side.' Yes, my friends, thatchicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination thatthe liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that.
GRANDPA:In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that intewesting? In a few moments, we will be wistening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a sewious case of molting, and went on to accompwish its wife wong dweam of cwossing the woad.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
JOHN LENNON:Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
BILL GATES:I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads,but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken.This new platform is much more stable and will never crash & reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN:Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
BILL CLINTON:I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
AL GORE:I invented the chicken!
COLONEL SANDERS:Did I miss one?
DICK CHENEY:Where's my gun?
AL SHARPTON:Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.
REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT:damn that chicken. Does that make me unpatriotic?
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5 comments:
18 years of dirt roads. 18 years of detailing my precious cars and having them get F'ed up before I even hit the highway. Favorite color car? Black. Not any more, 18 years of dirt roads changed that. I now see the beauty of silver cars, because I can get away with not washing them for almost a week if it doesn't rain. Silver still sucks. It's like the anti-color. Did I say 18 years? It started way before that when I used to come down and pick up Gail in my muscle cars while still in high school. Did I mention I hate dirt roads? Why did the chicken cross the dirt road? To get to the paved one!
Hehehe,very clever Dear,and true..... and,"anti-color" ? THat's a new one on me :o)Hey !We've been driving on this road for 32 years !
Are you posting the pear butter recipe?
I can... although like with so many other things, I don't use a recipe, LOL! I quarter and core enough pears to fill my GINORMOUS canner to the brim (I probably used 20-30 pounds of pears, I kid you not - I had to get help lifting it onto the stove), add enough water to come up about halfway, put the lid on, and simmer on low until the pears are VERY soft - you'll have A LOT of juice. Process in batches in a blender(I used an off brand magic bullet cause my blender bit the dust) until pureed. return to stove top and simmer until the consistency of soft butter - I can't tell you how long cause it depends on how much juice you have, LOL! When it reaches the consistency you like, add sugar and spices to taste. Since pears have such a delicate flavor, all I use is a little almond and allspice. I don't add sugar before the cooking down because the reduction intensifies the natural sugars. Glop into pint or half pint jars and hot water bath for 20 minutes.
Gail, I'm putting this on your blog too, JIC you don't see it here.
and why aren't your blog posts showing up on my blogline? grrrrrr...
Mittie,you are a gem,and I thank you :O) You certainly went the extra mile,....the boards are so messed up for me today I gave up.And,I don't know why my blog is giving you fits,I'll take it out back and have a talk with it ;o)
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