March 29, 2009

Probably the last blog of March. In my opinion March came in like a lion and left as one. We have had a cold spring so far with only a few days making it up to the high 40's or 50's. Today we are enjoying some spring showers that hopefully will bring some flowers blooming. Our daffodils are threatening to break through the soil and a few tulips in the garden are starting to struggle to the surface. We did manage to get out to the garden yesterday as we enjoyed one of our few warm days. Fixed up a couple of items damaged over the winter and rototilled the beds. We should be all ready for planting our peas next Saturday. Probably should have had them in already, but with the cool weather and Jo's travels it just hasn't happened. We are planning to limit our crop selection this year to things that tend to work well in our garden and elminate some of the less successful items (like watermelon and cantelope). Should mean more beans in the freezer and hopefully enough to make it through to the following year's new crop is ready for picking.

Jo successfully went around the world with no major travel problems until she tried to get home from JFK - one of the key bridges was shut due to an accident resulting in a 4.5 hour ride home. She had good meetings in the Philippines, India, and Hungary with the challenge now of selecting the right company to work with - especially as they all presented their best face possible. As you might imagine she is a bit exhausted and completely unsure what time zone she is in. Fortunately, Jo has a tremendous capacity to sleep almost anytime so she has caught up a lot with a nap and overnight. Jo did manage a bit of sightseeing in Budapest as the pictures for the week show (I think the photos are from the Buda side to Pest, but not absolutely certain). She was barely on the ground in India for 24 hours (I think she managed something like 28 hours there) and her schedule in the Philippines wasn't much better. My week was the usual mix of meetings and trying to squeeze some work in and around those meetings. Nothing too exotic happening in my work world right now - certainly nothing requiring me to travel the globe, fortunately!

Our theater season has started back up at the Granite Theater in Westerly yesterday(http://www.granitetheatre.com/ - in case you want to check out the offerings). We had a great evening with Sheri and Bruno especially as Bruno's birthday was this week. We tried a new Italian restaurant in Westerly and then on to the play. While the acting was great the play's plot was a wee bit confusing and the ending was strange. Today with the rain will be doing some indoor chores one of which consists of reviewing my tax returns and then getting them sent to Uncle Sam. Always an interesting review.

Hope you had a great week and better weekend.

March 22, 2009

Let me just start off with the fact that the powerball gods have deemed that I'm too important to Pfizer's success and therefore, for another week, made sure none of my numbers match. Oh well, who really needed $70 million - it would just ruin me. So here's the update for the week.

Last Sunday we managed to finally get outside and enjoy some semi-spring weather. We fussed around in the garden a bit mostly surveying the damage from the winter (several of our bird deterrents need repair and had to remove several tree limbs). We did a bit of raking to uncover our strawberries so that they can enjoy any sun and warmth available. Will probably get out next weekend to roto-till the leaves into the ground and think about planting our peas. We are still dropping down below freezing every now and then at night so probably have a few more weeks. The rest of the week was off to work. Joann was actually home every evening this week although she had day trips to New York and New Jersey. Can't say the same this week as she left yesterday to circumnavigate the globe in a week - isn't modern travel cool. She is flying - in 6 days no less - from New York to Hong Kong to Manila, Philippines to India to Budapest, Hungary to New York. Talk about frequent flyer miles. Meanwhile, I will make my daily 20 mile commute to Groton and back - seems a bit dull by comparison. However, I do get to sleep in one time zone.

While Joann was enjoying catered meals and movies, I spent the day running errands - there is a theme - and cooking. This post would have had pictures of my homemade crescent rolls (a bit yeasty due to some problems with the bread machine, but still tasty) and rum cake (to go along with my roast beef dinner - yum), but Joann has our primary camera and it turns out our other digital camera the battery has given up the ghost. Now will have to figure out whether it is cheaper to buy a new camera or battery. This week holds the usual mix of fun (work) and games (everything else). We have theater tickets with Bruno and Sheri (be sure to check out their blog - link is to the right) for next Saturday that I'm pretty sure Joann is going to nap through given she doesn't get home until Friday and won't have a clue what time zone she is in.

Have a great week. In the absence of a photo for this week, check out the following link. It is my uncle (my father's brother) and his retirement after 46 years of cutting hair - talk about dedication. His commute for those years was a 0.5 mile - talk about living green. http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=130587

March 15, 2009

Let's start with last weekend activities. Last Saturday after our morning run, yoga, and weight lifting we headed over to Mystic, CT for lunch at 5 Guys and a Burger. Being rookies at this fine establishment we ordered bacon cheeseburgers and an large order of french fries. Little did we know that the standard burger is a double patty burger and the large order of fries will feed a family of four. The burger was excellent and the fries had an appropriate amount of grease to keep the arteries plugged - but it was enough food to last us for a couple of days. The next stop was to take a seal watch from the Univ. of CT in Groton. It was a nice sunny and, for once, warm day so the boat was full but regardless there was plenty of room for observing the cute critters. The seals are in the Long Island Sound after migrating down here during the winter from coastal Maine - apparently our 40 degree water is better then the 30 degree water up there, personally I find it all too chilly (look closely in the photo, the seals are the lumps on the rocks). It was interesting to note that seals reminded us greatly of the alligators we saw in the Everglades, as they were laying on rocks in the Sound sleeping. Apparently most of the animal kingdom spends their days laying around sleeping - don't know where humans went wrong, but it does seem to be a more attractive lifestyle than what we evolved. It was a great day although even with the warmer temperatures, being out on a boat as we moved from one site to another to see the seals we were quite chilled through by the end.

Last Sunday was spent with Joann packing up and leaving on Amtrack for a weeklong stay in NJ with her leadership team working on 2009 focus areas, while I knocked off a few chores and dug into a book. The rest of the week was the usual mix of work and exercise for both of us. Nothing too exciting going on a work right now although it is nice to see our stock price begin to recover some. On Wednesday it was off to the doctor for my annual physical which I have discovered as you age consists of checking on the various body parts that don't work quite like they used to and seeing if that is a normal part of aging or is it something that needs attention. Everything checked out fine although since I tend to get stress migraines from work, the doc suggested I relax some - thanks for that, it was all I was missing on how to deal with them. Jo got home late Thursday. She was exhausted as she was up early, went to bed late all week, and put in a full day leading her meetings in between.

For this weekend, Friday was spent curled up in front of a fire watching some TV - well it was mostly Joann curled up asleep trying to catch up some and me having to explain what happened on the show every 20 minutes or so when she would happen to wake up. Yesterday we visited Wethersfield, CT with Sheri and Bruno. The main goal was a visit to Comstock, Ferre and Co., which is one of the oldest seed companies, to select the seeds for this year's garden. Unfortunately, the selection in the actual physical store didn't match the online offerings so we only managed to get part of what we wanted. We also had lunch at a local tavern and then toured the town as it dates back to before the revolutionary war - several of the houses dated to the 1750's. As is usual for most of New England - Washington slept here - although in this case it appears to be actually documented. It was a great visit to a lovely little town and the ice cream store, with homemade ice cream, was worth the drive up.

That is all for this week - hope you have a great week and that spring temperatures finally arrive.

March 7, 2009

Missed last week due to our travel on Saturday and being busy with laundry and packing on Sunday. We had a great time on our vacation to the Keys. Got in a lot of sun and relaxation while getting to experience the southern Florida lifestyle. We finished up in Key West and then headed up to Key Largo stopping at several spots on the way to do some sightseeing and hiking. Once in Key Largo we took advantage of being close to the Everglades with a bit of kayaking in a mangrove forest (check out the picture) and spent a day enjoying several hikes through the different areas of the everglades. Saw an amazing number of alligators and birds. At one stop you were able to see that alligators up close and personal - less than 3 feet away with nothing between you and the gator. Personally, I would have enjoyed a bit more space, but since alligators seem to spend the overwhelming majority of the day just laying there it seemed fairly safe. The rest of the time was spent enjoying the hotel's beach and bar service. Joann and I both managed to finish several books - all pleasure reading! - during the trip and as that was a measure for how much we relaxed we had achieved our goals there.

Came back on Saturday and spent last weekend getting all the chores and house back up and running. As we both had travel this last week - Jo to New York and myself to Sandwich, England - we had to get our clothes cleaned and then repack. Naturally to welcome us back to New England winter weather, we had a major snow storm move through the area on Sunday night into Monday - we landed up with 8 inches (it was a wet snow that didn't snowblow well, so no real snowblowing enjoyment points). As a result, Joann headed to New York a day early on Sunday to miss the storm - successfully I might add. I on the other hand landed up having my flight cancelled out of Boston for Monday morning and instead went out Monday night after the worst of the storm had passed. It wasn't very difficult getting to Boston in the afternoon and my flight left after de-icing of the plane. The only downside for this itinerary change was I now had to go directly from landing in London to the start of my week long meeting - no shower or nap. Wasn't too bad, but it did mean I was dragging a bit during the week. Jo's meeting went fine, it involved beginning to prepare for the Wyeth merger, and she arrived home on Wednesday. She spent the rest of the week in her office, which is rare for her lately, and finding out she might be traveling to India and the Philippines. She is such the jet setter.

We have a pretty quiet weekend planned to recuperate from our work week, although we taking a boat tour this afternoon to see the seals that migrate to the Long Island Sound in the winter from up north - water is warmer down here, so see there is always somewhere colder.

Our tans have completed faded and we are back to our pasty, New England look but it was nice having the week in the sun making Vitamin D. Have a great week and remember to spring forward tonight (interesting fact from the news last night - heart attacks increase by 5% in the two weeks following the time change so be careful).