August 30, 2009

Photo this week are of some of the cut flowers from the front gardens. The black eyed Susan's are finally coming together in a really large bed and it only took 7 years to get there.

Jo traveled to New York and New Jersey on Wednesday/Thursday enjoying the Garden state and the steamy weather we were enjoying early this week. I used the time to get in a long weekday run to bolster the training for the distance run later in September - see below. We haven't been up to the garden for several weeks due to the disappointing wet weather at the beginning of the year leading to poor crop yields, and the fact it was a bit wet last weekend - again see below. So we aren't holding out a lot of hope for the few remaining crops.

This weekend, we enjoyed a day of rain on Saturday compliments of tropical storm Danny. No real wind associated with it, but lots of rain 2-4 inches. This made for a great indoor day for both of us as I caught up on a few indoor chores - planing down a door so it would close and sharpening the mower blades as a few - and Jo completed some computer tasks that had piled up for her. We then spent the remainder of the day either buried in a book - me - or working on an upcoming presentation in Wisconsin - Jo. For the evening we went to dinner with Stuart and Tiffany in Stonington and then back to their house for several rousing games of ping pong where Tiffany and I came the closest ever to beating Stuart and Jo (yes in over 15 to 20 games, we have never managed to beat Stuart and Jo). The evening was a great compromise since we had originally planned to take their boat to Abbott's for lobster rolls - but Danny's rain but a damper on that plan.

Today, we got up and managed to get in 2 hours of running to continue to ready ourselves for the distance run. We both felt pretty good although the rest of the day has been spent with us hobbling around a bit as our legs are sore. If we can maintain our current training level we should be fine come the 13.1 miles. Then it was off to do a few more chores - put away the power washer for the year, caulk a few cracks in the house, and other odds and ends. Looking forward to another exciting week of work and then Labor Day arrives with a few days off - Yipee!

August 25, 2009

A little late this week since I just wasn't inspired on Sunday to write my blog. So let's catch up with the weekend which wasn't really all that exciting, unless you are really into pressurized jets of water. I spent Friday and Saturday on an all out blitz to finally finish up powerwashing the house. This meant about 10 solid hours with a powerwasher in hand cleaning the forest dust from the house. The good news is that it is all done and the house looks all nice and shiny again - for about 12 months, when I'll have to decide if I want to start all over. Jo tackled filling mortaring in some of the bluestones on the patio while I was awashing and got about half done before she ran out of Wheaties.


Work was fairly typical last week with both of us in town for once. Jo is heading off to New York and New Jersey this week on Wednesday and Thursday, but her travel has calmed down quite a lot recently although it will pick up again in the fall.


We did take a little time to enjoy ourselves this weekend with our usual morning runs and exercising at the gym along with a enjoyable dinner with Sheri and Bruno in Stonington at Skipper's Dock. We were treated to a rare double rainbow - and a few sprinkles - courtesy of Hurricane Bill while we were eating. Then we took in a show at the Granite Theater, "Don't Dress for Dinner" which was written by an English playwright and apparently belongs to a English genre of Country House farces (that information was provided by the English person sitting in the seat next to me). Was an very enjoyable performance and certainly a lot of plot twists. It was then home to collapse, pretty much until Monday. Sunday we lazed around reading and napping and I then had a business dinner with a visiting colleague that evening.


The garden is pretty much finished for this year with the only crops left to harvest being the potatoes and garlic - and possibly some sweet potatoes although with the really cool weather we had for most of the summer we aren't too hopeful. The picture for the week is our attempt to take a photo of the osprey that has been roosting in the dead tree right next to the house for the last four weeks. He comes late at night and leaves by 6 in the morning. That coupled with him/her (not sure how you tell if your osprey is a boy osprey or a girl one) is very skittish so we haven't been able to capture a really good photo. It is neat seeing him there almost every night.


The other piece of good news is that we managed to find a renter so we have that covered for another year. Hopefully with someone that actually likes paying the agreed upon rent.

August 16, 2009

We'll start with the work week and then move on to the much more interesting weekend. Joann headed out last Sunday for a trip to Bogota, Columbia to meet with her team in the southern hemisphere. Not my favorite place for her to visit, especially after she informs me the hotel has a big sign in the lobby stating that firearms are not allowed. But everything went fine and she had a good visit. The only downside is she did the red-eye home to New York Tuesday night and then had to work all day in NY. This left her a tired puppy when she finally arrived home. Nothing too exciting for me at work this last week, the usual mix of meetings, managing, etc. A large number of people are on vacation the last couple of weeks, including my boss, meaning the stream of emails has tipped a bit lower.

I tripped over another birthday, but since I was all alone it was a fairly quiet affair. I enjoyed a roast beef and potato dinner, always a perennial favorite, and topped if off with a very large - as in really large - homemade vanilla milkshake. Great way to welcome in another year, add a little more insulation to the waistline. Joann's sister and her son came for a visit starting this Thursday which led to a very busy weekend. We started off right with lobster rolls for Thursday dinner and catching up on the happenings in Wisconsin and college. After everyone, minus me of course, did some shopping Friday morning we hit the beach to enjoy the sun. Then caught some dinner at home before heading to the Mohegan Sun casino for a show by ventriloquist, Jeff Dunham. His show was absolutely hilarious, although a bit politically incorrect, that left all of sore from laughing afterwards. Saturday we got up early, which was tough given that we got in late from the comedy show, to head to Boston for the day. We started off with a tour of Fenway park (that is Drew, Kathy and yours truly out in right field - fun fact hot dogs are now $5 and a beer is almost $9, all I can say is WOW). The tour of Fenway was really enjoyable, although consistent with the theme above a wee pricey, as we got to visit the press-box, stand on top of the green monster, and had a wonderful guide - who really reminded Jo and I of our current Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler (nice to know what he does on Saturday's). The next stop was a tour of Harvard and then finally the Boston Freedom Trail. Although the weather was a mite steamy (high 80's/low 90's with high humidity) it wasn't too bad when in the shade. One of other ten nephews - Chris of the Colorado wing of Jo's family - joined us as he is working/volunteering in New Hampshire as an educational aide. Was great to catch up with the news in his life along with what has happened to the rest of the Colorado side of Jo's family. After visiting every stop on the Freedom Trail (that is Chris, Kathy, and Drew in front of Boston's Faneuil Hall taking a much needed break), except for Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution which were just too far to walk in the heat, we dined in Boston's North End enjoying the Italian cuisine. Then it was back to the car and the long drive home. Then it was up early again so that Jo could drive Kathy and Drew to the airport for their trip home. So all in all a very busy weekend especially as all the usual chores are now being crammed into today.

This week looks to be another calm one, with both of us actually in town for the entire week. Not sure I know what I'll do with Jo always around and underfoot. Guess I'll have to talk to her more than the usual five to ten minutes a day. Oh, one other piece of good news we may have a potential tenant for the rental property which would be nice to have that stress gone. Anyway, enjoy the dog days of summer as the temperatures and, at least for those of us east of the Mississippi, the humidity finally hit summer-like

August 9, 2009

It is amazing how much quieter the summer tends to be compared to the rest of the year, I suppose it is because many people go for their summer vacations, but it is kind of nice to have warmer weather and less stress to go with it. Our week was pretty typical, except Joann was home the entire week - a miracle in itself - while I hit the road for a quick trip in and out of our St Louis Research site. I enjoyed my usual good luck with traveling for business. I was supposed to fly from Hartford to Chicago to St Louis and to start the trip off right, the flight from Hartford was cancelled due to maintenance. Amazingly, American rebooked me for a direct flight to St Louis out of LaGuardia and paid for a cab ride down to the NY airport. To continue the amazement, the traffic wasn't particularly bad and I made it with time to spare. Landed up only landing 30 minutes later than originally scheduled and didn't have to go through a connection. As the trip was only really for one day in St Louis, if I hadn't made it on Monday it wasn't going to be worth going. Had a good trip and got to connect with the St Louis team that performs the same work as my group here in Groton.

Jo had her usual mix of meetings throughout the week and is preparing for some travel this week - wouldn't want to have two weeks at home. For the weekend, we did a bit of pre-birthday celebrations to make up for Jo being absent on my big day next week. Friday we had dinner with Sheri and Bruno at a Waterford Italian restaurant and then went to Ocean beach for some mini-golf (Bruno won with a blistering 47 on a par 42 course - yes, we aren't particularly skilled at putt-putt as a group) and then enjoyed the band and firework display. Saturday it was up early for a long training run for our September half-marathon, then the gym, grocery store, and library. The rest of the day consisted of powerwashing the house. I have now completed half of the house, although the other half has a lot of brick work that doesn't need as much cleaning. You get to enjoy me powerwashing (I'm quite the fashion statement aren't I!) as the only other choice was a picture of the 3 blueberries we got out of the garden. Between the rain and cool temperatures the garden has been pretty much a bust this year, so don't expect too many other vegetable photos (yes I know you are so disappointed). The flower garden has faired a bit better and we have hydrangeas and daisies in bloom. Saturday night after a birthday dinner of roast beef and mashed potatoes (yeah!) we hit Dairy Queen for blizzards (aren't birthday's just a great reason to through caution to the wind) and finished up with a movie. Today, I'm planning to read and relax all day to celebrate my big day tomorrow (since Pfizer apparently doesn't recognize my birthday as being worthy of taking the day off).

Well that's it for another week. Next time I write, I will be firmly in my 50's.

August 2, 20009

By comparison to last weekend, we have much less news to report. The week at work consisted of Joann being in Delaware for most of it. She had an HR leadership team meeting offsite - her boss has a house in Delaware and apparently that moved DE up to the top of the list of possible places for an offsite. A busy week for her with meetings all day and work in the evening with various members of her leadership team on projects. She came home a very tired puppy. I kept the home fires burning with the usual mix of work, exercise, and evening festivities (which is usually some household chore). We continue to have loads of rain and we officially had the wettest July on record something like 7-8 inches or so.

As the weather has finally warmed up a bit and the humidity moved in we finally used our air conditioner for the first time. Which, of course, meant having the service folks out on Friday to charge the Freon into the downstairs unit. The unit has a tiny leak somewhere - not big enough that they have been able to find, but big enough that over the course of the year to lose enough Freon to impair the efficiency. As they have been trying to find the leak for 3 years, I've pretty much resigned myself to recharging it every year. After that fun on Friday, Jo caught up on some sleep and amused myself with reading and some computer work. Saturday it was up for a 10 mile run to continue the efforts in getting ready for the Philly distance run. Then off to the gym for some lifting, the grocery store, and bank. We then hit the garden for - wait for it - actually picking some beans (YEAH) and weeding. As you can see over the last two weeks we have enjoyed a pretty good bean harvest - it seems to be the only thing we can actually grow. Although we did manage to pick a few onions and a garlic head as well. Jo spent the afternoon freezing packets of beans for the winter months, while I tackled powerwashing the house. I purchased an extender for my powerwasher so I don't have to use a ladder any more, but as I found out - while the extender makes it safer to clean the siding, it doesn't make it any easier. This is a big house that seems to get really dirty and moldy. I guess that is the fun of living in the woods and torrential rain every 2 days. Anyway, after a couple of hours of washing and coupled with my run in the morning I was beat.

For the evening we watched the movie "Australia" and enjoyed a homemade pasta dish with our freshly picked beans. After that day, I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. Today we were planning on going to the beach after our yoga class, but the clouds are not cooperating, so we'll probably head home and get ready for next week by getting in some reading and napping. Although, I will probably try to get in another couple of hours of powerwashing, woo-hoo.