Hope you have easy travels to Maine, and a great time while up there. Say HI to Acadia Nat’l Park for me if you are near there. Have you been up Cadillac Mountain? Awesome views, highly recommended if you’ve not been up there, and even if you have. I haven’t been up Cadillac Mountain, but oddly enough I just saw a calendar featuring pictures of Acadia National Park earlier today when we were out shopping, and I thought “We need to make a trip this summer!” We don’t do much hiking or picnicking when I’m here, but maybe we should start doing just that.
That suede jacket is adorable, but Seinfeld taught me what happens when you wear suede jackets outside in the snow! I actually didn’t remember that episode, so I went and looked it up and was reminded. God, I miss Seinfeld. ::sigh::
Loved the backyard picture… but I can’t make out what’s behind the railing (and before the swing set). Is it a pond? It’s an above-ground pool! My father said yesterday that we could probably ice-skate on it, because it’s frozen solid.
Robyn, you have to be the most easy going person EVER about losing your luggage! I had that happen to me once going to Oregon and about had a meltdown. I needs my stuff! Great pics, and hey — I found a Sweet & Sour squirrel recipe too! 🙂 I actually didn’t expect my luggage to make the flight, since the connection was such a tight one (even though we sat there for 45 minutes after they shut the door to the plane!). I always make sure I have my contact case and glasses and whatever medicine/ supplements I need in my carryon bag, and other than that, there’s really not anything I can’t live without for a day (as long as I can get a toothbrush, that is – and my parents always have extras). The people I really felt sorry for were the women who were traveling with their very small babies, and who had nothing but a couple of diaper bags with them. Now THAT really sucked, and they were fairly freaked out, poor women. I really haven’t had any desire to eat squirrel (yes, I’ve eaten it, but it’s been many years. Tastes like chicken, right?).
Not incredibly important, but that movie was filmed in New Zealand–not Scotland. And yes, you need to visit. Well hell, New Zealand’s on my list of countries I definitely want to visit someday, too. Given that my 40th birthday’s not far away, I’d better get to traveling, don’t you think?
I loved the LL Bean store when we went there many moons ago. Do they still have the indoor water feature and the understated entrance? They have the indoor pond and the understated front entrance, but compared to what it was like when I was a kid, that place is HUGE. The main building is easily six times bigger than it was back then, plus there’s a separate building that’s an outlet, PLUS another that’s, I don’t know, got ski equipment maybe? I love visiting LL Bean’s, but man – that place has just totally taken over.
Lovely snow pictures! We never get snow like that here in Yorkshire any more, although we did occasionally when I was a kid. This much snow this early in the winter is pretty unusual – I think when I was here last year, there was no snow at all. It’s certainly pretty to look at, but some of the streets we have to drive down to get to Debbie’s house are verrrry narrow due to the fact that there’s only so high you can pile the snow!
I’m with you on the extortionate prices for snacks and drinks on public transport and the like. The railways seem to be the worst offenders here – £1.20 (about $2.50) for a packet of crisps (chips!) and £2.30 (approx $4.65) for one of those tiny bottles of Tropicana! What’s funny is that I was all “Fuck this! I’m not paying $2 for a little can of Pringles!” on the plane, but when we landed in Detroit, I probably paid close to that for a tiny bag of Sun Chips. It’s just, it’s the principle! Can’t they spare a little bag o’ nuts, man?
Just wanted to let you know that your darn link to Coldwater Creek just cost me $130. Robyn And3rson: Boosting the economy by any means necessary!
I’m all for a trip to New Zealand myself, and I’d have to agree that a trip to Scotland should be on your top 5 things to do. This is a fabulous country, and could show you things that regular tourist folks don’t always get to see. I’ve told my mother and sister that the only way I was going to get my ass to Scotland is if the three of us planned a trip, because I don’t see Fred being willing to get off the farm anytime soon!
What kind of dog is that? Is it a mutt or an actual breed? Benji’s a mutt from the pound, a terrier mix, I believe. He’s very into “herding” people into going where he thinks they should be. He’s such a sweetheart, that dog. It just exhausts him if you do something that he feels he needs to keep an eye on, because when he’s on alert, he is ON ALERT, and it takes a lot of energy for a little dog to keep an eye on what’s going on.
Another Stinkerbell! What do you recommend for the Sigg bottles? Are the tops like those with a snap down nozzle, or whatever it’s called? I’ve been meaning to do something like this, too. And we thought we were being so original when we named her Stinkerbelle! My Sigg bottles come with the screw-off tops, and I’ve been known to complain that by the time I screw the friggin’ top off, I’ve died from dehydration. Nance got a bottle with the sports top, and I asked her if that was any better, but she says there appears to be a learning curve, and since I’m not a very fast learner, I believe I’ll stick with the screw-off top!
DID you read The Shell Seekers?? Are you done? What did you think? Did you LOVE it? I gotsta know!! I DID read the Shell Seekers, and about five pages in, I realized that I HAD read it in the past. I kept reading it, though, and I really liked it a lot. It has a very, very satisfying ending, doesn’t it?
I always wonder about you sleeping with all those cats – Do you ever sleep all night long? I’m so used to them climbing on me and sleeping up against me that it’s not often that I’m woken for very long. I usually sleep pretty well through the night unless they’re especially active. The thing that annoys me is when I wake up in the middle of the night having to pee and Mister Boogers is laying against me like a dead weight and will NOT move and it makes it very difficult to get out of bed. What annoys me even more is when he GROWLS at me when I’m trying to move him, and that will always get his ass tossed right off the bed. Fucking cat, growling at ME on MY bed? I think NOT.
The picture of snow falling on the deck is great! Are those little orange lines actually the path snowflakes are making as they fall?? Whatever they are, the photo is VERY cool. Thank you! Yeah, the orange streaks are the snowflakes falling – to be honest, I hadn’t really noticed them ’til you pointed it out!
Do your cat butt earrings have cat faces on the fronts? I am sad to say that no, my cat butt earrings are anatomically incorrect and have another cat butt on the other side. Also, my sister gave me cat butt address labels the other day. It’s a cat butt themed vacation for me!
You have a pellet stove in the room you’re staying in? I am SO jealous! No, the pellet stove is in the main – family room – area of the basement. If I left the door to the room I sleep in open, it’d stay nice and warm in there, but I prefer it pretty cool when I’m sleeping, so I close the door, and it gets down to about 60 in there at night. I have an electric blanket if I get too cold, and it’s heavenly, being warm and cozy under the covers and having the cool air outside of the covers!
I’m thinking about starting up a blog and I was wondering who you used. Blogger? WordPress? Vox? Please feel free to answer in your comment extravaganza on Friday. Back in The Day I used Dreamweaver and uploaded every entry via WS-FTP. Now, I use WordPress (can you believe I had to actually go look? Duh.), and I like it a lot, I think it’s fairly easy to use – though I don’t know how difficult it is to install it, since I make Fred do that stuff. I’ve used Movable Type in the past, but I think I prefer WordPress. I’ve also used Diaryland and Blogger in the past, but you get a little less control over how your site looks and how things behind-the-scenes work than you do with a Content Management System like WordPress (though I could be wrong about that; maybe I just didn’t have the smarts to make mine look the way I wanted). Two thumbs up for WordPress, anyway.
Oh, to be so potentially close to Grant and not see him. Not that I find him paranormally sexy or anything. Really. I swear. Alls I know is that Debbie loves Steve and hates Brian. I don’t think she’s mentioned Grant to me.
I do believe that Benji is the Mister Boogers of the canine world. Benji is far sweeter than Mister Boogers could ever dream of being. Benji would never ever play the “I’m not touching you! I’m not TOUCHING you!” game with Miz Poo. Benji would be more like “I’m not going to touch you, I just need to keep an eye on what you’re doing and – oh. Did you mean to leave that toy there? I’d better sniff it and make sure it’s okay. Okay, it’s been sniffed. Twice. It’s safe. Please proceed and I will watch to make sure nothing goes wrong. Please don’t hurt me.”
(flickr)
Awwww, what a cute snowman….. are those Oreos on his face? No, I think those are some sort of big plastic discs, but I didn’t look that closely! Edited to add: I asked, and apparently there’s a kit you can buy that gives you everything you need to make a snowman.
Are you watching your normal shows in Maine? I always like reading your opinions about The Real Housewives and whatever crazy thing they’ve done in the last episode (and the Lori storyline this week just made me LAUGH, and for once think that maybe George is okay). I don’t think I’ve watched more than an hour of TV since I got here, but everything’s taping at home, so I’ll be catching up on the Real Housewives when I get home. That hour of TV I watched? That would be the special about Britney Spears. Fred says he’s embarrassed for me, that I’d admit that.
Was it ever ugly or messy when you two got a divorce and how much of a say did the two of you have together regarding the spud? My parents divorced over 30 years ago, did nothing but fight even after they were divorced and still hate each other now! Which is sad. It seems like the both of you did a great job parenting even though you weren’t together! My divorce wasn’t at all ugly or messy. Our relationship was over long before we got to the point that we actually divorced, and there wasn’t a lot of anger between us, just sadness that it didn’t work out. As far as how much a say the two of us had together about the spud, well – she lived with me in Alabama and she visited him in Rhode Island when she could, and I made the parenting decisions. Had anything big happened, I obviously would have wanted his input, but the spud was a stunningly easy child to raise, and there weren’t many difficult decisions or drama to be found with her, thankyajeezus. My biggest concern was when he remarried, because obviously I want him to be happy, but I also hoped the spud would get along with his new wife. They adore each other, and really – a mother can’t ask for more than that!
How far away does the Spud live from your parents and Debbie? Depending on traffic, about 3 1/2 hours.
Looking at your birdfeeders made me wonder about something. I put up a birdfeeder in my backyard last summer and because of loose seeds and shells, we had tons of strange plants crop up all around the ground underneath it. Do you have this happen with your feeders? Is this because of a certain type of feed? We do have the issue with things growing under the feeders a little, but most of the feeders are located in an area of the yard where nothing really grows well (it doesn’t get a lot of sunlight), so it’s not a huge issue for us. I imagine that any kind of bird seed will end up growing into weeds, but I don’t know that for sure, so I’m going to throw it out to my readers. Readers? Is there a certain kind of bird seed you can buy that won’t cause strange things to grow under the feeders?
(In regards to my saying, in yesterday’s entry, Y’all who seriously think I’m going to go out and build a “pet” for the snowman are DUH. REE. MING. You know what the high temperature was today? Like, 10. Farenheit. The HIGH, let me repeat. Homie don’t do playing in the snow, and homie don’t do playing in the snow ESPECIALLY when the temperature is horrifyingly, bitterly cold.) Homie may not play in the snow, but Homie is willing to go walking up to a house that is used as a location for a television program that probably isn’t even shooting due to the writer’s strike just so she can get a peek at, Gasp!, a TV Star!. Geez, talk about priorities. So don’t go sayin’ Homie don’t do Cold – because she just showed us that she will. Debbie, on the other hand, not so much. AND, Mr. Snowman may be covered in three-plus inches of freshly fallen snow – but that’s all the more reason for him to have a kitty to commune with. How long could it possible take to mold a little kitty at Snowman’s feet? Really. I hope you conveyed my Thanks to your Dad. Talk about priorities? Okay. My sister is a huge priority in my life, given that she’s both my sister and my best friend. My sister adores the show Ghost Hunters. My sister was excited at the idea of seeing someone from the show. I wanted to make sure that would happen. I would have spent hours and hours walking around in the cold to make that happen for her, and I regret now that I didn’t insist she park so that we could find out what was going on and she could possibly see someone from the show. You, on the other hand, are a stranger on the internet who is insistent that I go outside and build something in the snow for you. I’m not going to. At this point, I wouldn’t go out into the snow if it only took 30 seconds to make the snow cat you’re demanding and I find your insistence annoying, bullying, and a little strange. Did you want to continue talking about priorities?
Debbie’s Tigger is wondering if you might have some food to share. (flickr)]]>