Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
The legend of Elmer Fudd
Another good weekend.
I think we finally bought a car. It'll be so nice to have our own again. We can actually go somewhere. Having a company truck is nice, but somewhat limited to work travel and commuting.
Started splitting some shingles for the shed roof from a huge pine that fell during winter. Cutting the pine into 18" lengths by hand is a pain, but using a froe and making shingles is pretty easy & fun. Nice to do some work out side.
They graded the road today and added lots of 1" stone, it actually seemd like a nice drive, earlier today. Maybe the end of mud season is nigh.
Tonight
More Spanish.
Thursday
Have our NHLSA quarterly meeting and the Boundary research seminar all day. I signed up the whole gang here and Tracy as well. It should be a pretty interesting class.
I think we finally bought a car. It'll be so nice to have our own again. We can actually go somewhere. Having a company truck is nice, but somewhat limited to work travel and commuting.
Started splitting some shingles for the shed roof from a huge pine that fell during winter. Cutting the pine into 18" lengths by hand is a pain, but using a froe and making shingles is pretty easy & fun. Nice to do some work out side.
They graded the road today and added lots of 1" stone, it actually seemd like a nice drive, earlier today. Maybe the end of mud season is nigh.
Tonight
More Spanish.
Thursday
Have our NHLSA quarterly meeting and the Boundary research seminar all day. I signed up the whole gang here and Tracy as well. It should be a pretty interesting class.
Friday, March 13, 2009
As Promised...........
The mud is soooo bad right now that everyone is having problems......
This poor red squirrel slipped of the roof of my brothers barn and fell head first into the mud...
ooooops, or so we though! BAD KITTY!!
This poor red squirrel slipped of the roof of my brothers barn and fell head first into the mud...
ooooops, or so we though! BAD KITTY!!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Our furry friends
Here are some pics from my phone/camera. Not very sharp but I thought I'd share.
This is George Tucker Huntley and me. He is around 100lbs and is a Golden Retriever/Golden Lab mix. He believes he weighs only about 10 oz and feels he can't ever quite get close enough to you.
If you ever saw Bugs Bunny cartoons, imagine the abominable snowmans voice...."I will love him and pet him and call him George" That is George's personality and voice if he had one.
Here is Kitty. Her real name is Thelma, but we never call her that. She is about 16 years old and still acts like a kitten. She used to be kind of a bitch, but now she follows me everywhere. I can't sit down without her rubbing all over me and settling onto me somewhere. Of course all the animals follow this pattern, even ones I've just met...I'm kind of an animal magnet, I guess (little kids seem to do the same to me as well)
Here are the Bunnies, our newest additions. The black & white one is Grace's bunny, Sugar. The Black one is Tracy's yet un-named bunny...Veronica, BB, Betty...she hasn't told us her name yet.
Missing is Louis Roberto Huntley, Jeremiah's gray rat. He hasn't come out much yet, so I couldn't get a pic.
Also missing are the 3 ladies in the chicken coop. I can't remember their names, although I know they all have one. Right now, two are actually living in a big hemlock tree in the woods near the coop. They are Aracaunas and lay blue and green eggs, (although not often anymore)
This is George Tucker Huntley and me. He is around 100lbs and is a Golden Retriever/Golden Lab mix. He believes he weighs only about 10 oz and feels he can't ever quite get close enough to you.
If you ever saw Bugs Bunny cartoons, imagine the abominable snowmans voice...."I will love him and pet him and call him George" That is George's personality and voice if he had one.
Here is Kitty. Her real name is Thelma, but we never call her that. She is about 16 years old and still acts like a kitten. She used to be kind of a bitch, but now she follows me everywhere. I can't sit down without her rubbing all over me and settling onto me somewhere. Of course all the animals follow this pattern, even ones I've just met...I'm kind of an animal magnet, I guess (little kids seem to do the same to me as well)
Here are the Bunnies, our newest additions. The black & white one is Grace's bunny, Sugar. The Black one is Tracy's yet un-named bunny...Veronica, BB, Betty...she hasn't told us her name yet.
Missing is Louis Roberto Huntley, Jeremiah's gray rat. He hasn't come out much yet, so I couldn't get a pic.
Also missing are the 3 ladies in the chicken coop. I can't remember their names, although I know they all have one. Right now, two are actually living in a big hemlock tree in the woods near the coop. They are Aracaunas and lay blue and green eggs, (although not often anymore)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
La clase de Español anoche
Another fun class last night! It’s an entirely different experience than my studies have been so far. No books, no reading, no writing….just speech. At the end of class we get a handout with the blocks of phrases and vocab we learned. We spend the entire class using words and phrases we have leaned and mix and match to have conversations with the other members of the class.
By the end last night, I had a little headache going, maybe headache is right…my brain was exhausted.
I got to speak with the profesora in the hall during break. She is very interesting. She is Pilipino and learned English in Britain, thus the British accent sometimes. She knows A LOT of different languages, I’m guessing. She said little things in French, Italian, German, Chinese and Japanese (that I counted) along with English and Spanish. She is full of energy and laughs often and makes the class fun, you don’t feel stupid for saying things wrong. Which I do! I know so many words and understand what she is saying, yet as soon as the finger is pointed to me to speak….duh!!! My brain and tongue do a big disconnects.
I felt she gave me a big compliment, when she said that I knew a lot of Spanish, so where did I study and for how long? I told her about Spanish pod and my books and writing with my friends.
Today…the roads are frozen again…small reprieve from mud season. I have NHLSA at noon. Tonight, Tracy has her Real Estate class.
No pics today…tomorrow maybe, the squirrel stuck in the mud. (He he)
By the end last night, I had a little headache going, maybe headache is right…my brain was exhausted.
I got to speak with the profesora in the hall during break. She is very interesting. She is Pilipino and learned English in Britain, thus the British accent sometimes. She knows A LOT of different languages, I’m guessing. She said little things in French, Italian, German, Chinese and Japanese (that I counted) along with English and Spanish. She is full of energy and laughs often and makes the class fun, you don’t feel stupid for saying things wrong. Which I do! I know so many words and understand what she is saying, yet as soon as the finger is pointed to me to speak….duh!!! My brain and tongue do a big disconnects.
I felt she gave me a big compliment, when she said that I knew a lot of Spanish, so where did I study and for how long? I told her about Spanish pod and my books and writing with my friends.
Today…the roads are frozen again…small reprieve from mud season. I have NHLSA at noon. Tonight, Tracy has her Real Estate class.
No pics today…tomorrow maybe, the squirrel stuck in the mud. (He he)
Monday, March 9, 2009
Squirrel Ass
So much to say about this last week…especially the weekend.
Wednesday - Grace & I did SNACK-MANIA sin snacks. We were also tired of bookstores and the office, so we drove around for a bit and settled on going to the new pet store. Not a whole lot of non-humans there yet, but there were a few of the rodent types to check out. We had fun!
Thursday/Friday – I spent a grueling 2 days watching a PowerPoint presentation in order to get my OSHA 10 Construction Site Certification. There was a test at the end, but we all passed (wink). The real test was to see if you could last through both days. SVE managers meeting at lunch on Friday.
Friday afternoon and evening – The day was like spring, warm and moist and sunny. We walked around Keene killing time for the afternoon, dubbing around. Ate snacks and had coffee at Prime Roast (by far the best coffee shop in the area) we went to Armadillos for dinner around 7 and ate real slow, so we could stay for the band. I had a quesadilla, Tracy … taco salad, the kids … burritos.
Jeremiah & Tracy’s Cello teacher’s band was opening, so we stayed for their set. Andrew plays cello and is truly amazing to watch. The band ~ Rise ~ consists of a female singer, banjo, cello, bass, guitar and for a few songs mandolin. I guess the music is bluegrass. I had my doubts at first, not my first choice of music, usually, but they were awesome. Kind of an Antioch crowd - saw lots of faces I recognized from parties 20 years ago, still sporting long hair, beards, ponytails, and big sweaters. We went home around 10.
Saturday – chores in the AM, another beautiful spring day, sunny, low 50’s. We went back to the pet store with the whole family. Now for the big news. The kids wanted pets. No surprises there. The surprise….Tracy was all for it, so Jem & Goose emptied out their savings and acquired new friends. Jeremiah bought a small gray rat ~ Louis Roberto Huntley. Grace found Sugar…a 1 month old black & white dwarf bunny. Sugar had a pal in her cage with her, so Tracy got Veronica/BB/Black Bunny or something (a name hasn’t stuck yet.) At night 1 episode of BSG and then SNL with the Rock.
Sunday – My niece’s and father’s combined birthday party at my brother’s house at 1. Good dinner, lots of fun. My sister and her husband just returned from visiting his family in Paris. We caught up on all the shows, Lost, BSG, and movies. Dan & I talked language stuff…he’s going to Quebec on scholarship this summer. He teaches French and is an awesome teacher. He would be good at teaching anything, though, I imagine. I’m sure I passed the NHLLS exam years ago because of some of the hints he gave me on studying.
The day was again in the 50’s and sunny….which started that one dreaded season of the year…MUD Season. Came home to 18” ruts of muddy goo that used to be the road home. My truck is such a pig in the mud…too heavy but not quite high enough and the tires just aren’t made for mud.
Sunday night - Supper…Leo’s tostadas and ice cream for desert. Kids went to bed and we played with the bunnies and watched 3 episodes of BSG…still only in mid 2.5. I really had forgotten so much. And didn’t realize how many episodes there were. I’ll never catch up before the series finale.
This morning (Monday) – A pretty good snowstorm is happening, Drove in with 3” of wet snow and slush (so far) on top of the 18” of mud. The ride in was a joy! NHLSA lunch meeting was cancelled (why school wasn’t I’ll never know) Robin is on vacation, The guys went up north to work on a job for 2-3 days and I’m going to be at the office all day I guess. More persecution at the office.
Tonight – Bring the kids home at 3:00 then head back to Keene for my Spanish Class.
Tomorrow – Update on Spanish and maybe some pictures of the new friends and a squirrel ass on the back step! He ha
Wednesday - Grace & I did SNACK-MANIA sin snacks. We were also tired of bookstores and the office, so we drove around for a bit and settled on going to the new pet store. Not a whole lot of non-humans there yet, but there were a few of the rodent types to check out. We had fun!
Thursday/Friday – I spent a grueling 2 days watching a PowerPoint presentation in order to get my OSHA 10 Construction Site Certification. There was a test at the end, but we all passed (wink). The real test was to see if you could last through both days. SVE managers meeting at lunch on Friday.
Friday afternoon and evening – The day was like spring, warm and moist and sunny. We walked around Keene killing time for the afternoon, dubbing around. Ate snacks and had coffee at Prime Roast (by far the best coffee shop in the area) we went to Armadillos for dinner around 7 and ate real slow, so we could stay for the band. I had a quesadilla, Tracy … taco salad, the kids … burritos.
Jeremiah & Tracy’s Cello teacher’s band was opening, so we stayed for their set. Andrew plays cello and is truly amazing to watch. The band ~ Rise ~ consists of a female singer, banjo, cello, bass, guitar and for a few songs mandolin. I guess the music is bluegrass. I had my doubts at first, not my first choice of music, usually, but they were awesome. Kind of an Antioch crowd - saw lots of faces I recognized from parties 20 years ago, still sporting long hair, beards, ponytails, and big sweaters. We went home around 10.
Saturday – chores in the AM, another beautiful spring day, sunny, low 50’s. We went back to the pet store with the whole family. Now for the big news. The kids wanted pets. No surprises there. The surprise….Tracy was all for it, so Jem & Goose emptied out their savings and acquired new friends. Jeremiah bought a small gray rat ~ Louis Roberto Huntley. Grace found Sugar…a 1 month old black & white dwarf bunny. Sugar had a pal in her cage with her, so Tracy got Veronica/BB/Black Bunny or something (a name hasn’t stuck yet.) At night 1 episode of BSG and then SNL with the Rock.
Sunday – My niece’s and father’s combined birthday party at my brother’s house at 1. Good dinner, lots of fun. My sister and her husband just returned from visiting his family in Paris. We caught up on all the shows, Lost, BSG, and movies. Dan & I talked language stuff…he’s going to Quebec on scholarship this summer. He teaches French and is an awesome teacher. He would be good at teaching anything, though, I imagine. I’m sure I passed the NHLLS exam years ago because of some of the hints he gave me on studying.
The day was again in the 50’s and sunny….which started that one dreaded season of the year…MUD Season. Came home to 18” ruts of muddy goo that used to be the road home. My truck is such a pig in the mud…too heavy but not quite high enough and the tires just aren’t made for mud.
Sunday night - Supper…Leo’s tostadas and ice cream for desert. Kids went to bed and we played with the bunnies and watched 3 episodes of BSG…still only in mid 2.5. I really had forgotten so much. And didn’t realize how many episodes there were. I’ll never catch up before the series finale.
This morning (Monday) – A pretty good snowstorm is happening, Drove in with 3” of wet snow and slush (so far) on top of the 18” of mud. The ride in was a joy! NHLSA lunch meeting was cancelled (why school wasn’t I’ll never know) Robin is on vacation, The guys went up north to work on a job for 2-3 days and I’m going to be at the office all day I guess. More persecution at the office.
Tonight – Bring the kids home at 3:00 then head back to Keene for my Spanish Class.
Tomorrow – Update on Spanish and maybe some pictures of the new friends and a squirrel ass on the back step! He ha
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Last night's first Spanish class
So…I had my first class last night. It was fun!! I was pretty nervous when I first arrived; a guy walked in who started chatting up the teacher in Spanish and I thought, “Oh great, everyone is going to know Spanish very well and I’m going to have a hard time of it.” There are 8 of us in the class 3 men and 2 women and at 42 I’m guessing I’m the youngest (or at least seem to be). After we got going for a while, I found I probably have a lot more experience than the others, but talking still is very hard for me. Speaking in English in front of people is difficult (and yet I have to do presentations all the time for groups of people…funny, that), so I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that another language is hard.
I found the whole experience very interesting! The class is very, very basic in regard to grammar and vocabulary. I realize now how much that I already do know. We learned to say Hola, Buenos días, Cómo se llama, Me llamo, Pues bastante bien....etc. This is all stuff I knew and there were so many times I wanted to add words, but I kept quiet. What was so fun and interesting is that during most of the class, our teacher would randomly choose two people and have them converse using words or phrases that we had learned over the evening. That was truly hard, but very fun. No writing it down, no memorizing what the last person just said, just spitting it out off the top of your head and then answering questions from the person you are conversing with.
My tongue had a hard time of it, until maybe near the end…but my brain was cracka-lackin!!! It felt like electricity was crackling through my head and exciting new nerve endings that hadn’t been connected before. Speech uses something entirely different than reading, apparently.
On the way home I found myself having more conversations, with myself, in the truck, using those class words plus a bigger vocabulary than I thought I could remember. I also listened to Spanishpod and for some reason could follow along with Lili in Spanish better than usual. Some channel or connection was bridged in class.
I realized something about accents, too. Our teacher speaks British English with a Spanish accent ~ V de vaca sounds like B as in ball ~ when she speaks. She also knows a bit of Chinese, so I haven’t figured out her accent, but I did realize that I have picked up some kind of accent. I say and pronounce Spanish the way I have learned so far from listening to Spanishpod, I guess and her pronunciations were somewhat different. It’s very cool. My “d” sounds like “th” and sometimes my “y” or “ll” sound like a “J”. My “v” sounds like a soft “b” or “v” sometimes and my "r" sounds a little like a "t". My trilled "r" is a little too pronounced...I try to hard I think. Her sounds were a little different.
I’m excited to get back next Monday and play again!!!
Maybe if things work out, there will be a similar, yet more advanced class at KSC this summer. Again, it all falls back to a big thanks to Spanishpod. That site and my friends there have changed my life for the better, in a big way! A big shout out to Leo, JP, Lili & Esti!!
I found the whole experience very interesting! The class is very, very basic in regard to grammar and vocabulary. I realize now how much that I already do know. We learned to say Hola, Buenos días, Cómo se llama, Me llamo, Pues bastante bien....etc. This is all stuff I knew and there were so many times I wanted to add words, but I kept quiet. What was so fun and interesting is that during most of the class, our teacher would randomly choose two people and have them converse using words or phrases that we had learned over the evening. That was truly hard, but very fun. No writing it down, no memorizing what the last person just said, just spitting it out off the top of your head and then answering questions from the person you are conversing with.
My tongue had a hard time of it, until maybe near the end…but my brain was cracka-lackin!!! It felt like electricity was crackling through my head and exciting new nerve endings that hadn’t been connected before. Speech uses something entirely different than reading, apparently.
On the way home I found myself having more conversations, with myself, in the truck, using those class words plus a bigger vocabulary than I thought I could remember. I also listened to Spanishpod and for some reason could follow along with Lili in Spanish better than usual. Some channel or connection was bridged in class.
I realized something about accents, too. Our teacher speaks British English with a Spanish accent ~ V de vaca sounds like B as in ball ~ when she speaks. She also knows a bit of Chinese, so I haven’t figured out her accent, but I did realize that I have picked up some kind of accent. I say and pronounce Spanish the way I have learned so far from listening to Spanishpod, I guess and her pronunciations were somewhat different. It’s very cool. My “d” sounds like “th” and sometimes my “y” or “ll” sound like a “J”. My “v” sounds like a soft “b” or “v” sometimes and my "r" sounds a little like a "t". My trilled "r" is a little too pronounced...I try to hard I think. Her sounds were a little different.
I’m excited to get back next Monday and play again!!!
Maybe if things work out, there will be a similar, yet more advanced class at KSC this summer. Again, it all falls back to a big thanks to Spanishpod. That site and my friends there have changed my life for the better, in a big way! A big shout out to Leo, JP, Lili & Esti!!
Monday, March 2, 2009
2 hours and counting ...hasta mi clase de Español
Tonight I start my Conversational Spanish Class through Keene Community Education. I'm pretty excited to try and learn to actually talk to people in Spanish. I can read so much now, and I can write a fair amount, although I still have a lot of troubles with gender and singular/plural stuff...and not having a very big vocabulary yet. (and of course I type two-fingered so fast, that I mispell and mess up a lot of words ...hahahah)
I'm a little nervous...it's definately a new avenue. I usually take classes relative to surveying, soils or wetlands , where I know a lot already.
New England had a pretty good Nor'Easter today, although it doesn't look like we actually got much snow. Maybe 6" - I guess some places got over 15". School for the kids was cancelled this morning. I wasn't sure we would have class tonight. I'm glad we do, so I can get to it...still wish this damn headache would quit!
More classes Thursday and Friday...this time back to job related stuff...10 hour OSHA class for working on publicly & municipally funded construction sites, or something like that. All day Thursday with lunch and 1/2 day Friday, then a company wide managers meeting (our bi-annual meeting - state of the union kind of thing) I'm sure that will be nothing but great fun.
If tonight is a success, I'll blog on about it tomorrow.
Hasta luego, todos!
I'm a little nervous...it's definately a new avenue. I usually take classes relative to surveying, soils or wetlands , where I know a lot already.
New England had a pretty good Nor'Easter today, although it doesn't look like we actually got much snow. Maybe 6" - I guess some places got over 15". School for the kids was cancelled this morning. I wasn't sure we would have class tonight. I'm glad we do, so I can get to it...still wish this damn headache would quit!
More classes Thursday and Friday...this time back to job related stuff...10 hour OSHA class for working on publicly & municipally funded construction sites, or something like that. All day Thursday with lunch and 1/2 day Friday, then a company wide managers meeting (our bi-annual meeting - state of the union kind of thing) I'm sure that will be nothing but great fun.
If tonight is a success, I'll blog on about it tomorrow.
Hasta luego, todos!
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