Enough Already

I kind of feel like this fox lately, but at least I have been able to get in out of the rain on most occasions.  For those of you up north with all the snow, I know you are thinking, enough already, when it comes to snow fall.  Here in Fairfield Glade, it is the rain that is getting old and causing all of us to say "Enough already."  

During our long drive home last Friday, I got a text asking about whether I was planning to come into work.  What?  I don't even work on Fridays.  But, unbeknownst to me, the schedule had been changed while on our cruise.  Thankfully Gwen was able and willing to fill in for me.

After picking Maggie up at Terry's I took a much needed one hour walk.  I have been wanting some kind of metal art of a horse or horse head for the wall above the bench at the front of our house.  This caught my eye, but isn't quite what I am looking for.

Maggie and I had hit the roads around the Lake Pomeroy dam.  The sun setting to the west made for a pretty sky and an attempt at some photos.





Taking Maggie down to the dock, I tried some photos there to capture her and the sky in the back ground.
Depending on where I set the focus, I got different exposures of light.

This last photo is my favorite of the sky and sun, with Maggie silhouetted against the water. 



Below you can see a walking bridge over the spillway, next to the road that the water is running over.  My experience with most of the spillways over the roads, is that I have had to walk through the water, getting my feet wet, or go down stream to find a narrower part to jump over.  With all the rain lately, the spillways, and creeks, and streams are running full.






Settling in for the evening, I got a fire going to take the damp chill out of the air since it had started raining again.




The cat and dog seemed so happy to be back together again.  I worked, until bedtime, on last week's Blog about our cruise.

Saturday morning Stevie escaped outside when the porch door blew open while I was putting out bird feeders.  It was drizzling and still fairly dark out so I couldn't see her when she ran into the woods.  But, I heard her meowing.  Thankfully, when I got her can of cat treats, she came running to the sound of me shaking it.  

I worked on my blog all day, interspersed with unpacking and three loads of laundry.  It was cloudy and we had a few pop-up sprinkles during the day, which I tried to work around when walking the dog.  Periodically golfers came through on the course.  Maggie got upset about this guy coming so close to our yard to hit a ball.

In the afternoon I couldn't find Stevie.  The last I had seen her, she was on the back porch.
 

I looked again.  The door couldn't have possibly blown open because it was latched with the hook.

And then I noticed this...
  
in the bucket... 

Phew.  




Rain was descending in a hard down pour all Sunday morning, so I opted to stay put in the dry house and work on my Blog.  It was taking me forever.  I also did some reading for my Bible study and got this photo of the geese on the pond just before noon.  I think they are stopping in to rest as they migrate through.
I worked at the Conference Center from noon to five, which luckily was slow, because that was about my speed as I tried to get back into the swing of things.  It was also nice that there were two of us at the front desk.
There was nothing notable about the evening, except Joe made dinner using hamburger helper.  Blogging was taking me extra long due to all the photos to go through and I was also researching some of the bands and music we had heard on the ship... I got so distracted singing the songs.

Monday Maggie was still being stand-offish.  She has many moments when she will not come to me when I call her over for a treat or some lovin'.  I think I try too hard.  And I'm still not sure how to comfort her and help her relax around me when she gets scared of me.  

Well, when I came over to her, trying to get her to let me pet her, she peed on her bed.  She could tell I got frustrated.  I didn't yell, but had to rush away to get a towel and the carpet cleaner.  I ended up doing another load of laundry.  I threw all the wet dog towels (used for clean-up and to dry Maggie off after our walks) in with the bed.






It was a very cloudy day so I spent most of it working on my blog, until I finally got up and took Maggie on a 112 minute (almost 2 hour) walk.  This time we were on the dam at Lake Dartmoor and many of the roads near it.  The spillway here is much larger than any of our other lakes, and it goes under the road.

As of now, I have finished walking every single Fairfield Glade road that is north of Pevine Road!  It felt good to reach that landmark.  After the walk I went to the gym to lift weights.  My arms and abs were still quite sore from the rope swing in the Caribbean.  I had leftovers for dinner because Joe was off to his Wednesday poker game that has been moved to Monday evenings. 

It was again a rainy day on Tuesday... not bad, but damp and no sun.  I left at 9 am for Bible Study.  Esther has many attributes I aspire to achieve.  Since I was on the east side of Crossville, I went into town and did some shopping, at my three regular stores (Tractor Supply, Lowe's and Wal-Mart).  I didn't get home until 3 pm.  I ate a late lunch, and got a fire going and finally finished and posted my Blog!  

Joe and I watched the first night of Survivor (Kaoh Rong) in this new spring episode which he had taped while we were gone.  It kind of feels like the same old, same old, but I'll give it a few weeks to see.  Usually by then we have our favorite(s) picked out so need to watch to see how they do.




It poured overnight and I was woken up several times.  Then the cat came in and started making lots of noise and being very obnoxious.  It was 6:30 when I finally got up Wednesday.  I took Maggie for her first wake-up walk in a drizzle.  I headed down to Turtle pond to see just how full (flooded) it was.  The geese were still hanging around. 

The spillway from the pond was really running fast and full.

My morning was spent catching up on all my e-mails and on Facebook.  There were many rain showers and high winds during the day, all of which helped me not feel guilty about not going to the barn.

Stevie escaped again (enough already) when I had come back in from opening the screen door for Joe who had just headed out to chop fire wood.  Just after she took off down the deck stairs, and I went out in my slippers to catch her, it started pouring.  I came back in, put on shoes, and got my raincoat and the cat treats.  By the time I went back out, a wet Stevie came right to me and was ready to come in out of the rain.

I went to work from 1:20 - 7:15.  It had started snowing around 5 pm, and was beginning to stick to the roads in the country, so Abby sent Sabrina home early.  I moved to the front desk and closed up on my own while our houseman (Josh) took care of the pool where I had been.  I didn't wear a jacket to work, thinking I didn't mind getting wet.  But, I hadn't planned to do snow removal from car windows.  So, I was cold when I got home.  I got a fire going, settled in by it and watched the second episode of Survivor with Joe.

The snow hadn't amounted to much over night, and just lightly covered some surfaces when I got up Thursday morning.  But schools in Cumberland County had still closed for the day.

Below, Maggie intently watching an obedience demonstration at a dog training session.




I didn't have time to go workout and shower because Jeremy was coming to do tile work and some other odd jobs.  So I showered here and then got everything moved off the kitchen counters so Jeremy would be able to add the new cap tile.  About the time I was ready for him to arrive, he called and said he couldn't make it because he couldn't find a sitter for his girl who was home because of the snow day.  I wished he had called an hour earlier, then I would have gone to the gym.

I had signed up for a 90 minute doggy manners class that was going to be held at the Conference Center. 
Because I was worried about Maggie getting nervous and peeing on the floor, I walked her (30 minutes) there.  Joe then came, to also participate.  

Maggie did great.  No barking or peeing and always appropriate behavior while meeting other dogie friends.








The class was more of a demonstration, with the trainer using her Border Collie to show us all the things that can be done... and how to do them.  We really didn't get to do anything with our dogs until the very end.  There were 12 dogs total.

Maggie watched intently on Billy and his trainer.  But after about an hour, she got pretty bored with it and nearly fell asleep.  Joe and I did get some pointers, a clicker, and the names of places where we could go to do obedience training.






Joe walked Maggie home while I drove back.  And it wasn't long before it started snowing, hard.  At least it wasn't rain.

I decided I was done for the day.  I again skipped a trip out to the barn.  I got a fire going, put on my PJ's, and worked on this blog post.






To end the evening, Joe and I watched the movie Bridge of Spies.  I always love the acting Tom Hanks does.


Hanks portrayed the insurance lawyer, James Donovan, who became known as “the negotiator” for secretly arranging the famous Cold War prisoner swap of Soviet spy Col. Rudolf Abel for the American U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers... with the addition of an American student jailed in Germany.  At the end of the movie, it said Donovan's great success as a political negotiator later led him to negotiating the 1962 release and return of 1,113 prisoners held by Cuba after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion.  He had done this through numerous meetings with Fidel Castro, as they developed trust and friendship.

It was cold and gloomy Friday morning, but at least it wasn't snowing or raining.  I spent several hours on the computer and am beginning to think I am addicted.  Enough already!  (According to Addictions.com, "If you regularly spend more time on the computer than you intend to, experience distress because of the computer, or if your computer use interferes with your obligations, daily routines, relationships, activities, and overall well-being, then you could be suffering from an addiction to the computer.")

Actually, my compulsive behavior is more in regards to blogging.  When writing my blogs, I need to quit trying to tell about everything, not show so many photos, and not worry about making it read well and look perfect.  I sound like a broken record.  Enough already!

I went to the gym for a few hours and had a great workout before going into work.


 My first 40 minutes at work was training on NorthStar, our new "register" (POS) computer program.  But as things seem to go, the system was not letting my supervisor get into all the windows she needed to show me.  Our new system looks, feels, and works a lot different than the old one, but once we get used to it will be much easier.

My new Friday work shift has me on pool duty till 8 pm.  Thankfully, Gwen was willing to switched in and out with me.  It was not real busy, and by 6:00 the pool was empty.  I got all the chairs wiped down and re-aligned and a few other end of night duties done.  But then at 7 pm, we had 3 large groups, 21 people total come in to swim.  A group of nine junior high boys were there for a party.  All I could think during the last hour of work is, enough already.