I Need A Map Or A Traffic Cop

Getting to work the last few days has been interesting, to say the least. This is Princeton Alumni Weekend, when alumni descend upon the town, snarling traffic, jaywalking all over the place, walking against lights, and generally making drivers fear for their licenses. A lot of alumni show up for this. Even alumni who graduated way, way back in the mists of time. On Saturday, there is an Alumni P-Rade.

Thursday night, it took me 30 minutes to get from Route 1 to my place of employment. I usually pull through the garage at 18:43, according to my parking stubs. Thursday, I clocked in at 19:00 on the dot. Friday night wasn't much better. Made it over Route 1 with no problems, and it looked like usual traffic ahead. Until I went over the canal and lake, and came to a screeching halt. And sat. Sat some more. Any progress I made was because cars were pulling out of line to turn around, or make a right down Faculty Road. After waiting through six changes of light, and traveling about 20 feet, I made the same decision. Down Faculty Road to Washington, which is usually a pain any time of day. Clear sailing, much to my surprise. I made it to work with time to spare.

Ohhh,

While I love my job, there are days that I really don't want to go in. Today is one of them. It has nothing to do with the job, and everything to do with the fact that it is just beautiful outside. I have four flats of impatiens that need to be planted, along with various other plants, and I want to get them in the ground before it gets to be oppressively hot outside. This is one of those days with blue skies, nice breeze and perfect temperatures - a lot like yesterday was.

We have seen some new baby squirrels around. Baby being a relative term - they are not tiny, but almost the size of an adult, but they still have that young squirrel look on them. I'll try to post some pictures of them this weekend. Although they drive me crazy by cleaning out my birdfeeders and wrecking them, too, I still enjoy taking pictures of them.

Another Day, Another Dollar

Sometimes I think the hardest part of posting is coming up with a title. I'm not sure if I've used today's title before or not, and frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

I'm back to work tonight with reservations. I don't feel entirely comfortable. Chris is still having some problems, and I don't want to hear he's in the ED.

It's so beautiful outside. Perfect temps, blue sky, nice breeze. I really want to b e outside planting. My next day off is Sunday, and I hope it's a day like this one.

Back

Sunset from the seventh floor.

Wow. I was doing pretty good with the blogging-every-day. Until Friday. Nothing like a family member suddenly hospitalized to make things turn upside down. My son was hospitalized unexpectedly on Friday night, and released on Sunday. He's been pretty good, and we hope that there are no further problems, but that is uncertain at this time.

Needless to say, between last week's workathon, and then spending the better part of the weekend in the hospital with my son, I didn't get anything done.

On a brighter note, the chipmunks are back. I saw three of them today. One was on the sidewalk on the side of the house, and had a few things to say to me in chipmunk every time I walked by, and the other two were drinking the water that comes out of our sump pump. I was really happy to see these little guys.

What Else?

Family emergency today, so I can't do a real post. I
hope I'll be back tomorrow.

Duck Yoga

Duck Yoga
Originally uploaded by momcat14c

I'm sure there's a funny comment here someplace, but I'm too tired to find it.

Two more nights, and then I get six days off!!

Green, Green

Right now, we are in late middle spring. It's rained a lot. As a matter of fact, we had rain about an hour ago, and now I hear thunder out there, and it's getting darker by the minute. I just had to turn on my desk light, even though it's only 5 pm.

One of the upsides of all this rain is all the green. Myriad shades of green all over. Each one of my trees has a different shade of green, the trees in the wooded area behind me have more, and my grass, flowers, and bushes add more green. It's wonderful to look out when the sun is out, or for that matter, even when it's cloudy and murky like right now. There's something about all that green that makes me feel like all is well.

Q: So, why don't I knit with green more often?

Have to think about that one.

Survivors

Although my true love is knitting, I find crochet very satisfying at certain times. Like now, when I'm tired and frustrated and wondering if I'm going to lose this cat. I had to rehydrate him today, and he really rebelled. It was difficult to do with him wiggling around, I wound up wearing nearly as much saline solution as I managed to get in him, which was the required amount.

Anyway. Crochet. Round and round, all those rounds add up to some thing pretty neat. I don't crochet sweaters, unless I'm looking for a very open, lacy effect, and even then, I'm more likely to knit a lace pattern. I love knitted lace, but that's a subject for another day. And given the fact that I've ignored the lace shawl I'm working on, it's a pretty weird statement.

Crochet is just mindless to me. Round and round, join another color, more stitches, end it, throw it in the pile, and pretty soon, I have another afghan. As I stated before, I make my afghans out of acrylic yarn, which I know makes some people shudder. I don't care. A wool afghan costing upwards of $100 makes no sense in this house. When my kids were young, they would put them on the bare floor when they were playing video games, or just watching tv. In colder weather, they would wrap up in them on the couch. They played with the afghans. They made them into tents over furniture. The afghans went with us the the fireworks on one particularly cold July 4. I have pictures of the kids wrapped in these afghans. The cats sleep on them. The dog adores them. They go in the washer and dryer once or twice a week. They survive. I have afghans I made 30 years ago and more. I don't have to worry about them. They are the workhorses of my home. I like it that way.

Four nights in a row coming up at work.

Oh, Damn!!

it's been a frustrating, unhappy day. Waffles is sick again, and I don't know if I can pull this one out of a hat. I'm trying, though.

It's Not Even An Afghan Yet!

It's Not Even An Afghan Yet!
Originally uploaded by momcat14c

I don't know how the cats know when I'm working on something, but they do. Last night, I decided to play around with some granny squares, made with yarn from my stash. I settled on this pattern, and started making some squares. Gremlin hopped up on the desk, sniffed around, and then settled his furry gray behind on my squares. He was insulted when I moved him around to see the directions.

These squares will be bordered with black yarn, when I get some. The majority, if not all, of the other colors will come from my stash. I have a Rubbermaid tub of acrylic yarns that I make my afhgans with, and it looks like I have most of the colors I want for this one. The afghan that is nearly finished is muted colors, burgundy, soft green, taupe, white, and gold. This one is brighter colors, bordered with black.

And, yes, I'm aware that I have a shawl to finish.

Saturday Sky

Saturday Sky
Originally uploaded by momcat14c

When I went outside this morning to take my Saturday Sky picture, I looked up at the sky, and thought, "eh, I'll take it later." Well, what is that saying about not doing things when you think of them? The sky was a brilliant blue. No clouds, not even puffy little white ones. Just a huge expanse of beautiful blue. Well. I went outside a few hours later, aimed the camera at the sky and thought "what the hell heck?" That beautiful blue was not to be seen; replaced by a murky gray sky. I guess that means we have more rain in the offing. Gee. Like we need it..

I am embarrassed to say I still have not knit a stitch. However, I am seriously considering doing some crocheting. I seem to have the afghan bug, which is not a great bug to have when you have a load of UFO's cluttering up your craft desk already.

And, in the Things Falling From The Sky Department, my son looked out his window today, and saw a bird skeleton sitting on top of his window a/c. His room is on the second floor of our home, underneath a huge spreading oak tree. All I can think of is that one of our resident hawks was snacking on this unfortunate bird in the tree above the a/c, and the storms this week dislodged the remains. Ick.

Raindrops

Raindrops
Originally uploaded by momcat14c

Raindrops on my Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus) earlier today.

Well, the knitting drought continues, but as you can see from the picture, we certainly are not having any other kind of drought. After the high winds and heavy rains of Monday, the rain at least has made a return engagement today. Heavy rain, but thankfully, no winds. On the other hand I did a lot of planting yesterday, and while the plants are enjoying the rain and cool temps, the seeds I planted are not. I had to stand out there today and poke all my morning glory seeds back in the ground. Not fun.

I don't know what gives with the knitting. I know I have to have this done by a certain time, and that certain time is creeping up on me. What have I been doing? Reading, playing websudoku (got bored with spider solitare), mostly. Outside planting and working on the yard. Yesterday I weeded an entire bucket of weeds. Planted morning glory seeds after picking out a million or so weeds from around the post. Planted mountain pinks around the rocks in the gardens. That sort of thing. Knitting, no. Went to dinner up at Rutgers with my son. It took me slightly more than an hour to make a 25 mile drive. I could have ridden a bike faster, If I could ride a bike that far.

I'm hoping that after I finish this post, I can convince myself to pick up my knitting and get working on it.

Happy Birthday!!

To my crazy Golden, who is 8 today!

Where Have All The Chipmunks Gone??

I realize that is not exactly an earth-shaking question, especially in light of all that has happened in the world in the last few days.

Last year, I had several little chipmunks running around the yard. They drove the squirrels crazy, and caused me to spend way too much time staring out the window watching their antics.

I'm sure that the squirrels had something to do with their disappearance. I know that they found one of the chipmunk food caches and raided it all winter long. I'm sorry that they seem to have disapeared. I looked forward to seeing them every day.

Do I need to get a life?

Look Out World

Heh. I can now IM anyone. My son set me up with it the other day, so I have hopped right on that bandwagon. Sigh. Another thing to take up my time.

Been kind of out of a knitting mood lately. Haven't knitted at all in 10 days. I'd better get going, soon, because next week I'm at work 5 nights, and I know that I'm not going to be knitting on my nights off.

I Need A Boat And A Sail

I signed up for a seminar today, which was being held at a hotel 32 miles from here. No problem (usually), because I know where I'm going and it's not a bad drive. However, today we had high winds and torrential rain, and even with 4-wheel drive, it was a scary drive. It was difficult to see, difficult to stay in one lane, and on local roads, trees were down. Plus parking at the hotel was the pits, and I wound up parking in the back of the lot (I was late), and had to slog across the parking lot to the entry. Slog is about as good as a word as I could think of. And i wondered why I had tortured my hair with a curling iron before I left. Between the wind and the rain, I looked like a drowned rat by the time I blew through the door.

Interesting seminar - legal issues in charting. Some of it very serious, and some of it downright hilarious - various examples of misspellings, whatnot, that left us thinking "did that nurse really write that??" At any rate, I will be examining my charting closely after this.

Hangin' Out With Mom

Hangin' Out With Mom
Originally uploaded by momcat14c

Happy Mother's Day!

Saturday Sky

This afternoon's murky gray sky. Right now, the moon and stars are out. The clouds did a quick disappearing act.

I got another call today to come in if I could. Unfortunately, I was sleeping, and I couldn't.

There are going to be a lot of new moms for this Mother's Day.

...And, Boy, Was I Right!!

It was even crazier than I thought it would be last night. What happened nine months ago? Blizzard, earthquake, power failure? I am working an additional eight hours tonight for BB (BigBucks!), and an assignment on our overflow area, which is where I was last night. If I'm not in the nursery, I usually love being on overflow. It's much quieter and saner. It's all postpartum, no one giving birth, so a more relaxed atmosphere, usually.

I had intended to get up after a few hours sleep this morning and really get going on my yard work, but Mother Nature threw us a monsoon, instead. So, I slept in, and I'm really glad, because I can work tonight without feeling exhausted. At least the ground will be softer tomorrow and everything will be well-watered!

I haven't knit a stitch on Flower Basket since Monday night. Haven't gotten on the treadmill, either. Bad me.

I Think It's Going To Be A Third Crazy Night In A Row...

More OJ

I sent an email to Consumerist.com detailing my problems with the shrinking oj containers. It was published, and I got the usual assortment of good and bad comments, including a few who wondered why I reamed out the poor customer rep. Well, first of all, I didn't ream him out, but he was exasperating. He sounded bored, like he would rather be part of the conversation behind him, rather than answering my questions. Am I wrong to expect actual customer service from a customer service rep?

One thing I did find out that was interesting, is T*******a is no longer "Florida orange juice". More to the point it is now "Mostly Brazilian Orange Juice". Hmm. Someone suggested I try another brand - Florida's Natural. I might just do that.

Really Pissed Off

At a certain well-known orange juice company, name starting with "T" and ending with "A".

I just got back from a trip to the local supermarket,which has been an experience in watching prices go up every week, when I noticed that that particular oj had new packaging, and a sticker on it which said "NEW!! SNAP-CAP!!". What it DIDN'T say was "NEW!! We knocked 7 ounces off the amount in here!"

I don't know about anyone else, but I hate the way companies shrink their packaging and hope we don't notice. I do! I called this company, and talked to a young man who sounded like he didn't really care that I was annoyed. He gave me some nonsense ab out the new packaging, and how it had to be made that size, because if they made it larger, they would have to raise the price. I pointed out to him that they had already raised the price, because I was now paying the same price for 89 ounces that I paid for 96 ounces (See how that works? I don't think he did.)

Anyway, i have to work tonight, but I'm really pissed, and i think I may wind up emailing T*******a tomorrow, because it's bad enough that I have a consumer complaint, but to talk to a bored consumer rep just makes it worse.

Ow

Been doing a little planting around here lately. Unfortunately, our soil tends to be the heavy clay type. We haven't had a lot of rain here lately, and it's kind of like digging through cement. I try to plan ahead and water the ground first to soften it up a little, but can't always do it. Right now, I'm just planting perennials. I really want to plant the impatiens I have, but I know that if I do, we'll have just one more killing frost.

Still working on Flower Basket. However, unlike when I started it, the rows are much longer now, and I'm not whipping through 15 rows a night. Last night, I counted seven rows. It's still bunched up, and I don't want to fiddle with it too much for fear of pulling stitches off the needle, but it looks like it might not be as small as I feared. I'm going to try to find a longer circular to put it on, so I can stretch it out a bit and measure what I've got.

Tomorrow night starts three-in-a-row again, and then I'm off for nine days. Unfortunately, on Mother's Day, I get to spend it doing something I don't really want to do, but it's a family obligation, so I guess I get to bite the bullet and just go.

Berries

Walking in the woods behind my house today showed me these:


Blueberries!

Blackberries!

Of course, they are not actual berries yet. They have a long way to go. However, it doesn't matter, because no human hand will ever get to touch those berries, especially the blueberries. The squirrels and blue jays will see to that.

Hand Me A Knife And Fork, Please, So I Can Drink This.

Every night, before I go to work, I stop at he local Dunkin Donuts and get an industrial-size coffee to go. My car smells wonderful on the way to work - I can just inhale and wake up. However, last night, got up to my unit, drop my bags and stuff, and grab a sip of coffee before taking report. Ugh!! I don't know what was in that cup, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't coffee. I take the lid off, look in, and the other nurse says "Uh, what's that??" It looked more like mud than coffee. Quick trip to our kitchen, add a sugar and four more creamers, and it still looks and tastes like crap mud. So down the drain it went. Fortunately, one of the nurses had just brewed a pot of decent coffee, and I filled my cup up with that. Gotta have fuel for those 12-hour shifts.

When I pick up another cup on my way to work tonight, I'm going to complain, and see if they do the right thing and replace it for me.

Ugh

Last night, I was all cozy in my fleece hoodie sweatshirt, nice fleece afghan wrapped around me, and several cats to finish off the outfit while I lolled on the couch. I wasn't feeling too good - something I ate, I guess - so was curled up on the couch in the aforementioned outfit accessorized by several cats, and I fell asleep somewhere during Seinfeld. Woke up feeling a little better, and grabbed Flower Basket, figuring I'd get a few inches done. Heh. Life had other plans. I'm knitting away, and three and a half rows later, my phone rang. I just knew what that was and I was right. So, stuffed the knitting carefully back in to the bag, grabbed my stuff, and out the door I was.

And, I work tonight and tomorrow night, so there will be no (or very little) knitting done here.

It's Hard To Keep A Knitting Blog Going...

when there isn't much knitting going on, and what is going on isn't very interesting. I'm up to 237 stitches on my flower basket shawl, and I'm beginning to wonder if this shawl is going to be big enough. I swatched, and the swatch was spot-on, so the only thing I can think of is that I just knit lace at a different tension. I had this problem with Creatures of the Reef, but that was my fault. I wanted a smaller shawl than the pattern called for, so I knit with smaller needles, and got a smaller shawl. However, it was smaller than I wanted, even with blocking, but since this started out with a humongous amount of stitches and decreased on each row, I was kind of screwed. However, with Flower Basket, You just keep adding stitches and repeats. I think if I don't like the length, I can just add a repeat or two to get what I want. I still have a ton of yarn left, and I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to use it all. Right now, the back neckline is 44 inches long, and according to the pattern, the finished back neckline is 90 inches. We'll see.

We had that string of nice days last week, but that seems to be a thing of the past. It's been cold the last few nights, and while in the 50's during the day, it's a far cry from the 70 and 80 degree weather we had last week.

I've been haunting the park for the last few weeks looking for baby ducks, and I finally saw baby geese today! Not at the park, of course, but at Shop-Rite, of all places! There were two sets of parents - one set had three babies, and the other set had eight! There's a big retention basin with a fountain there, and there's always a million geese there. These babies were really tiny, too. They didn't hatch too long ago.

Speaking of hatching, I'm on call tonight for work. I don't know if they'll call me in. I think the chances are pretty good. The books looked pretty busy today, and we had a rush at the beginning of the week.