March 27, 2011

In the category of watch what you write.  No sooner did I post the picture of the last snow in the backyard, than I wake up on Thursday morning to the entire yard covered in the white stuff again.  Fortunately, it is the time of the year that it doesn't tend to stay around as it was almost all melted by the end of the same day.  However, it was a grim reminder of the hold that winter has on this year.  After our somewhat balmy temperatures last week, we struggled to get temperatures into the mid-40s this week.  I'm still running in my full winter running gear and I'm ready to ditch the gloves and headband during my runs. 

As I continue the nature theme, we have a pair of red-tailed hawks nesting in a tree in our backyard and it has been interesting to watch them build the nest, sit on the eggs (at least I assume there are eggs they are sitting on - we can't actually see inside the nest), and hunt the small creatures in the forest.  Even as I type this one of the hawks is sitting on a tree limb outside the window watching me.  They are quite magnificent birds and amazingly graceful as they fly through the forest (I haven't figured out how they manage to evade all the various limbs and tree trunks and still fly, must be more open space than I appreciate).  Also, one of our orchids from our 25th anniversary is ready to bloom again.  This is the second time in the 5 years since then (yes, we are hitting 30 years together this year) that they have bloomed.  I'll try to keep you posted as it blooms.  Just for the record, we have no idea what we do that makes it bloom beyond benign neglect - which appears to be quite successful, so far.

On a positive note, we did receive an offer on our house that would appear to be acceptable to us and the relocation company.  Now it is just working through all the various contingencies, like the home and bug inspections, appraisal, and the new buyers securing a mortgage.  We aren't anticipating too many difficulties with any of these, so the house will likely be experiencing its second set of owners.  So I guess St. Joseph worked - see the earlier posts for those details - now I just need to remember to dig him up and take him with us.

The rest of my week consisted of the usual exercising along with working on getting the house ready for the packers and the move.  I also continued trying to use up the various food stuffs in the house to minimize what has to be moved.  This makes for some interesting food combinations - like frosting Oreos, since I had a can of frosting and a bag of Oreos to eat.  Oreos don't really need frosting, but it doesn't hurt - except for the fact I need to exercise twice as much.  Still  haven't figured out what to do with my frozen strawberries, beyond making strawberry margaritas or strawberry pancakes - but it would be a lot of both for just me to eat. 

March 20, 2011

Well St. Patricks day is behind us and all the green coloring for fountains, rivers, and beer can be put away for another year.  Big news this week was, finally, some warm weather.  We actually managed to hit 60 on the thermometer here which is a nice break from the month's of cold, snowy weather we had this year.  In fact the photo collection for the week shows the last little bit of snow in the backyard, and the hopeful springing up of the daffodils - more photos of those to come I'm sure.  In case anyone is checking we have snow in the backyard since January!

I spent the week in my new pursuits of exercising, reading, and staying up on the NCAA March Madness.  It was nice to be able to watch the afternoon games on Thursday and Friday for once.  I'm still getting the hang of this not working program, but I must admit it is nice to not have to worry about the time or how long something might take.  I did enjoy lunch with our friends, Stuart and Tiffany, this week at a new Mexican restaurant on Thursday.  The food was good and it was nice to catch up on the happenings at Pfizer and their life's.  Saturday evening was dinner and a play - next to last one at the Granite Theater - with Sheri and Bruno and Gene and Kathy.  Dinner was great and the play was funny and well acted.  So a nice evening out although not as much fun as it could be with Jo not there to enjoy it with us. 

Today is an open house - still trying to sell this place, come on St. Joseph - during which I'm going to treat myself to lunch at a local diner with the real goal the milkshake I'm planning.  Figure I get a little reward for all that exercising.  Then home to take care of a few more items in the ongoing battle of getting the house ready for packing - which isn't that far away anymore.

March 14, 2011



St Joseph - Patron Saint
of Home Sales

Wow a dual posting this week what a bonus.  I'm now onto my second week of retirement and so far, I've got to say it isn't too bad.  Beyond the guilt that is of having Jo off working while I kick back.  I spent the majority of the week increasing my exercising to try and lose a few of the winter pounds and going through the house getting things ready for the movers.  This mostly consisted of shredding 30+ years of various documents that at the time seemed like a great idea to save, but now we are wondering what were we thinking.  Although it did provide many memory moments - like when I found the check that I used to buy Jo's engagement ring or reserve our honeymoon.

As part of getting ready for the move we have decided to invoke the heavens in our attempt to sell the house.  So St. Joseph was buried in the backyard and is hopefully ready to help out however he can along with any of the other heavenly bodies he might want to bring to the cause.  On the exercise front, Jo had purchased the "Insanity" workout DVD's for me a couple of years ago and we had never gotten around to trying them out.  Well I started the workouts last week and let me just tell  you it is a killer.  Especially after doing my morning run just before.  If I could keep this up I will either be in great shape or a broken shell due to complete muscle collapse - let's hope for the former.

The weekend was a bit warmer although not always bright and sunny.  I spent a little time cleaning up outside picking up all the twigs and branches that came down through the many snowstorms.  Then Saturday night I headed over to Bruno and Sheri for a delicious Mexican meal along with rousing games of Bananagrams.  Sunday was spent in quiet contemplation (that's a nice way of saying taking a nap), reading, and a little computer gaming.  The one upside, no dreading Monday - yipee!!  Sorry to those still working.

Words from Wisconsin

Hello from Jo.  I thought I'd add in a quick update on life in Milwaukee.  I am two weeks into my new role, everyone has been very helpful, and I am still learning a lot.  When I'm not at work, I'm getting to know the area, mostly with runs around town.  Yesterday I decided to run past our new house, which was quite a hike from my downtown temporary residence - about 1.5 hrs round trip, with a strong (and cold) headwind on the way back.  So I'm feeling it a bit today.  After my run, I went to the annual St. Patrick's day parade, which went right past the hotel I am staying in.  While I was tempted to watch it from my window (great view and nice and warm inside), I decided to join the festivities on the ground.  It was a lovely parade with lots of local Irish organizations, including the requisite bands with bagpipes (more Scottish than Irish in my view, but the Scottish Society had a banner that said St. Patrick was Scottish, so who am I to question that?)  There were also a number of Irish dancing schools who stopped periodically to demonstrate their high stepping skills.  All the girls had curly hair and I initally wondered how they could all have grown similar locks until I realized they were all wigs!  I've included a few pictures of the festivities for your viewing pleasure.

Last night, I had dinner with my first cousin once removed (at least I think that is our relationship, she is the daughter of my first cousin) who lives in the area.  Nice to catch up on family happenings.   I'm heading to lunch in a few minutes with a friend from my Fielding graduate school days and then back to work tomorrow.  Being a working stiff again is hard after having a month or so off!

In the meantime, I am awaiting the return of spring, which is, alas, taking a bit longer than it is in CT (no surprise, I guess.)  Til next time... 

March 6, 2011

No pictures this week.  I was planning to take a picture of the grass finally showing in the backyard, but alas while significant melting progress was made, it didn't get all the way exposed.  I also could have taken a photo of my office at Pfizer as I left for the last time, but that suffered from poor planning on my part (in other words, I forgot to take the photo).  So just words this week.

First week alone in the house while Jo settles into Milwaukee life.  Place feels pretty empty without her here - although given her travel schedule the last few years you would think I was used to that.  I finished out my last week of working without any drama.  Folks at work had a nice going away dinner for me on Monday with just the right level of going away speeches and way too much to drink for me.  Tuesday was not a great day as I once again got reminded of what hangovers do to you the next day.  The rest of the week at work was finishing off a couple of last minute items and preparing all the necessary paperwork to exit a major US corporation.  With all that, Friday came quickly and I said goodbye to the place I had been going to for over 9 years.  While this change is the right thing to be doing, it was still tough to go - well not really that tough.  Now I'm gainfully either unemployed or retired depending on what kind of mood I'm in that day.  Stay tuned here to see how that goes.

Spent the weekend relaxing - that's the retired me - and cooking.  All day yesterday I was either making desserts or preparing new recipes for the week's dinners.  I tried to make chicken curry that needed to "rest" for a day before eating - so we'll see tonight how that went.  Was a great way to spend the day and hopefully a sign of things to come.  Today was cleaning up a couple of the rooms and doing some work on the computer.  Tomorrow will be my first real day of not working - I'm hoping I'm not bored by the end of it as that would be a poor harbinger of things to come.  Although, I am betting that I'm up at 5:30 all ready to go somewhere.  Fortunately, there is a yoga class at 7:30 I can trot off to.

Weather is getting warmer, so there is hope of finally seeing my backyard sometime this week.