Dirty Animals

I spent the day with dirty animals. I had heard that Harley outdid himself in the mud the other day. Fortunately, when I got to the barn today, the mud was all dried on him. Still, it took me about 40 minutes to get Harley in decent condition. I wasn't that exacting as I know he'll be outside tomorrow and get filthy all over again. We rode in the indoor arena for about 25 minutes. I sucked today though. He got sugar cubes and the special treat from my Mom for putting up with me today. When I came home I cleaned the rat babies cage. Then I cleaned Ollie. Since he had what I believe was a stroke, he can't clean himself very well-so I helped. I still need to clean Josef and Snickers cage and the litter boxes...and I need a bath too.

Restaurant Week

More than halfway through, I discovered that this was Restaurant Week. A neat initiative, participating restaurants offer a 3 course meal for $20.10. I think it's a great incentive to try new restaurants or even new things on a menu. I know I tend to get the same things-especially at special restaurants where you don't often go. When I learned that The Johnson House was participating, I knew I needed to make a reservation! I had dinner there this evening and had a wonderful meal. I started with a cosmopolitan (not included, obviously, but I needed a drink and wanted a treat) and they had fresh warm bread, butter, and a bean mixture (which I never have). The only issue when eating alone at a relatively romantic restaurant-it's pretty dark and reading my book by candlelight was a bit difficult. As for the special meal you had choices for all aspects-appetiser, main dish, and dessert. I chose chicken pot stickers with a Thai cucumber sauce to start. Yummy and quite different. The cucumber sauce was spicy, yet cool. Then I was brought a salad with their fantastic creamy bacon dressing. I love that stuff. I really only had one choice for the main course. I didn't want the chicken and I don't like seafood-so there went the scallops and tilapia, and the beef had shrimp with it. I, therefore went with the pork tenderloin with bourbon glaze. It was good-but a little sweet. I also had their amazing French fries (you MUST get their fries, I don't know what they do to make them so good, perhaps a deal with the devil...). Finally dessert. I must admit-the best was last. I had a chocolate raspberry torte that was incredible. The torte had some sort of light crunch sprinkled on, warm chocolate sauce drizzled over, fresh raspberries on the side and ultimate chocolate raspberry goodness throughout. It was amazing. All that, with tax for $31.35. It was another fantastic meal at The Johnson House.

Photo Phriday - My Dad

Here's a blast from the past, a picture of my dad in the Navy. He's having a rough time now. He just had his 3rd surgery in 2 weeks, please keep him in your prayers. Thanks.

6 Word-Nothing

Not a Monday-nothing to say.

Plushies!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love plushies! Stuffed animals, plush art, whatever you want to call them, I love them. I recently got back in touch with the Raggy Rat Lady, the wonderful woman who created Amelia Ratkins and makes other wonderful plush rats, and other animals. She clued me in to The Plush Team, a consortium of artists who make plushies. Oh the creativity! It's really a bit of fate as just before she found my blog, I picked up a magazine called Stuffed. No, not a foodie magazine, a plushie one. Even though I don't really sew, I fell in love with the plushie food on the front cover. Imagine my surprise when I saw Raggy Rats featured inside. Then, shortly thereafter I find a reply on a blog post from her. Kismet. Anyway, check out these great artists and get yourself a plushie. After all, you're never too old to cuddle a plushie!

Curl Up

Some days you just want to curl up and hide away, trying to keep life's issues at bay-at least temporarily. Dad had a second surgery today. They fixed the leak, but he's got a major infection, bed sores, and will need another surgery. Mom says he looks horrible and has a tough recovery ahead. The doctors and nurses keep telling her he's doing good-but she has major doubts. I have to go to work and am just not in the mood.

My First True Day as a Curler

Today was the first day I actually curled. What fun! I got to the club early for some one on one instruction. Lois, and then Tom, helped me tremendously. In fact, I actually got 5 stones in the house. Tom said that was amazing, especially as I just started. It looks like I'm a natural! Who'd've thunk! Obviously, I have so much to learn and practice-but it seems I have a natural ability. Then it was time to actually play a game. We were short of players today, so we had teams of 3, instead of 4. This meant I got an extra stone each end-but we all helped sweep-so I swept a lot. Talk about tiring. I wasn't near as good as I was in practice-I was a bit of a gorilla, throwing too hard. But my lines weren't bad-and for my first time doing it... My team lost, but it was a good game. After the game we all went up and had soup. The skip from the team that beat us bought me a beer. What a great group of people. Everyone was so nice, very helpful and friendly. I'm so glad I joined the club. I'm already starting to feel the ache, but I can't wait til next week!

Oven Issues

Blast it all, I still can't use my oven! Remember the post about the mishap? Well, the other day I cleaned the oven with Easy Off. I still saw some blackened parts-but it seemed pretty good. So today I started to preheat it. I wasn't sure if it was my vision being goofy-or if there was a haze in the room. I opened up the oven and smoke came out. Not near as bad as before, but bad enough. I can't bake cookies with a burnt chicken smell. I could call them Louisiana style blackened...but I don't think so. Once the oven cools down I'll respray it and let it sit over night. I'll be taking store bought cookies to my first curling session. Sigh.

I am a Curler!

This morning I went to an Open House at the Rochester Curling Club. The event started at 10AM and I arrived about 9:45 AM. The place was mobbed! I parked down the street and waited in line to get in the building-and they had started letting people in early. I signed a release form (apparently, curling can kill you), got some grippers that fit over my sneakers and continued in line. We were greeted by the club president then watched a short video about curling. Then we waited in line to get on the ice, making room for the next group to watch the video. There were a ton of people and more coming in every minute. I guess I'm not the only one who'd become enthralled with curling. Although I was prepared for a long wait, suddenly they asked for any singles. That's me! (People went on the ice in groups of 4,I, of course, was by myself.) So I was in a group with a father and son (kid was probably about 12) and another guy, maybe my age. We started learning to sweep. We were only using half of the sheet. OK. I've said that curling is more a game than a sport. WRONG!!!! Oh my God! Sweeping is hard. I was huffing and puffing-only using half the length of the sheet. Jeeze. Maybe I was too out of shape to curl. Then we went to the next station-learning to deliver the stone. You put your right foot in a starting block thingie, then put your left on top of a slider. The slider is a super slippery thing in the shape of your foot to help you slide and release. We also used a contraption to hold onto to help balance. Let me tell you, it's a lot harder than it looks. We were all falling all over the place, instructors grabbing on to keep us somewhat upright. And we didn't even release the stone! Then the final stop-a full sheet of ice. One would deliver the stone the whole way and 2 would sweep. The guy and I started as sweepers. Of course, none of us had ever thrown a stone-so who knew how much velocity you needed? The father threw first and the guy and I swept, swept, swept...but it wasn't going much of anywhere. It didn't get halfway down. The son had about the same distance. Then it was my turn. OK. Two younger guys were instructing us with another guy at the far end acting as skip, telling us where to deliver the rock. The guy shows me where the skip is pointing and says how to curl the stone there. Huh? "When you release turn your hand so the C on the stone is pointed up." Ohh-OK. So foot in place, other foot on slidey thing, hold on to plastic thing, forward, back and release!!!! Well, my gripper came off my right foot, the slidey thing went forward down the ice, and I was almost flat down. But, my shot was perfect! The one young guy looked at me "that was a great shot". As I stood back up, the other came over and said, "great shot". Huh. And so I decided to become a curler. They actually were having a beginners league-but it was Fridays from 8PM-10PM. Can't do it. Too close to work. Stupid work interfering with life. I asked about other options. I was told they do have a daytime league-one group on Mondays, one on Wednesdays, but I'd have to talk to the people to see if they'd let me in. I was sent off to find Gail. Meanwhile, the place is even more jam packed. You can barely move. Still, I thread my way through the throng to get back to the ice. I talk to Gail (one of the ladies teaching me to sweep) who introduced me to Lois. Lois is in charge of the Monday group and she welcomed me in. In fact, she told me to come early and she'll help me one on one-so I'll have a bit of a clue. So, I joined the Rochester Curling Club! There are only about 4 weeks left in the season, but I'm looking forward to learning a new sport and meeting some new people.

Photo Phriday - New Bird Feeder

Here's my new bird/squirrel feeder.

Longer

The days are getting longer (even with the shift in the earth's axis). It's now sunny when I leave work and it's generally still light when I wake up. Maybe with more light I'll find more energy and get more things done. Of course, clocks change in about 10 days...

Forever Bread Bags

Forever Bread Bags-the greatest thing for sliced bread.

Bird Feeder

I recently got a bird feeder and hung it on the same tree that I hang the suet. The first day I saw one squirrel hanging upside down eating the suet and another squirrel stretching to get the birdseed. I'm glad they're enjoying it. Today I saw a squirrel at the feeder and a little bird at the suet. When the squirrel had his fill, little birds got the feeder. I haven't seen my big black birds around. I hope they get to enjoy the feast as well.

Olympics Bid Adieu

The Olympics are over. I must admit I enjoyed this years games and watched more than usual-although I didn't see any of the figure skating. I usually do watch, even with all of the judging bias, but didn't even notice when it was on. I watched a little biathlon, and ski jumping (so proud of The Polish Pilot, Adam Malysz, who won 2 Silver Medals), and a TON of curling, along with bits and pieces of other events. We shouldn't forget the tragedy that started the games, however. I will remember Nodar Kumaritashvili and say a prayer for his family, friends, and country. Despite that horrible loss, the games went on and brought many smiles, some tears, some swearing (stupid Canadian Hockey Team), and new interests (Thomas, John, Jan, Sebastian, et al). Thank you, Canada. You put on a great show.