NEW CAR FUND - DONATIONS ACCEPTED

So yeah, trying to save up some money, hoping to be able to get a car in March, when the LeSabre will be deemed no longer roadworthy and fail inspection. I suppose there is an extremely remote possibility that she could pass, but that is very doubtful. Besides, I think it's about time I drove a vehicle with Vermont plates anyway (my defense has always been that it is my dad's car, and I'm sticking to that).

Yep, it's the final cutting of the cord with not only Maine, but also my parents because they have been incredibly gracious in helping me get by with the car and insurance on it. I'm really kicking myself now for 1) moving into Apt. 1 when it was beyond my means 2) staying there so long and 3) not being more fiscally responsible. Good thing I don't plan on having kids. It'd probably go like this: "You're not getting any shoes this year because Momma's buying herself the latest Sugarland CD and the box set of Dallas. Better luck next year."

Oh my, a blog entry!

So the "awesome rest stop" I mentioned in my last post - and I can use awesome with rest stop because this rest stop did not involve toilet seat covers - was a stop at Kiera's parents. I was there for about forty-five minutes, but that was long enough for me to go tobogganing behind a four-wheeler driven by Kiera's dad. For some reason, I am an absolute wuss when it comes to that kind of stuff, and I clearly remember yelling at Kiera "I don't like your dad! I don't like your dad!" when I thought we were going to careen into a snowbank at 40 miles per hour. [I'm only a little melodramatic, thankyouverymuch] But I had a great time.

Nothing much has been going on in my life, and so that explains the lack of blogging. I haven't been stuck in any snowbanks - hello, I still drive a Buick - and I've only had one chance to hang out with drunken idiots, and that was on New Year's. Brattleboro is hip enough to have a 24 hour McDonald's drive-through but it was closed on New Years. I know this because I had two very hungry drunks at 1:30 AM and we were forced to raid a gas station. Gas station burritos at 2:00 AM....yummy!

Work has really been taking up a lot of my time, so the blogs are likely to be few and far between now. But I'll do my best to keep my peeps informed and entertained.

Yes, I'm still alive

So apparently I should have made my New Year's resolution to not blog because then I would have had a resolution that I could keep. I just have not felt much like writing lately. I got a wicked nasty head cold after Christmas, and I'm pretty sure it has developed into a sinus infection. Gotta call the doc to get some good ol' antibiotics.

And speaking of New Year's resolutions, I did make one: I wanted to give up Sprite. I know, that's a little odd, but I drink it way too much. I can clearly remember having to go get some one night simply because I had none in my house. That's kinda sad. It's not like it's beer (which, unfortunately, I no longer drink).

Anyway, that resolution lasted a whole 27 minutes. I know that's not a personal record because I'm pretty sure I had planned to give up alcohol one year, then I went to Highmoor...and well, I'm pretty sure I drank before, during and after midnight. My resolutions are just made to be broken.

Vermont=snow

The conclusion I have reached is that if I am in Vermont on a Thursday, it will snow. Probably because I am the designated driver on Thursdays, and my buddy has an open mike gig down in Massachusetts. I missed last week's, so I best show up for this week's, even though I am absolutely exhausted. Maybe I'll go home and sleep for an hour.

I know I won't though. I'll head up to the 99 for some chow, then I'll hang out at JBo and Brown Sugar's until we head down to Mass. Then we'll probably be there until 11:30 or so, before we head back to Brat.

Okay, I'm being a real whineass today which means this blog sucks, but I feel like I had to do at least a little bit. I owe my one reader that much (Happy Holidays Shane! Woo woo!).
Ooh, I did get a decent Christmas haul...a stand mixer from Mom & Dad, a toaster oven, a shelf, and a pair of puppy slippers from my nephews. My grandmother also gave me a great sweatshirt for when I have those Silent/Snappy Strout days ...it's bright yellow with a smily face and "Happy Camper - Cape Cod, Mass" printed on it. How can I be grumpy when I'm wearing that?

And when I get rested up, I will be posting stories from home, starting with this awesome rest stop I found off 295 in Bowdoinham.

Toga, toga, toGA, tOGA TOGA....

I must have my party hat on or something, because all I keep thinking about is partying! It might be because I have a Yankee gift swap tomorrow morning, then a departmental potluck for lunch. Tomorrow evening will probably involve food somewhere, then driving to a bar in Mass. to listen to my buddy at open mike.

I think I'm looking forward to New Year's, although no matter what ends up happening, it's still Plan B. Plan A, of course, is fire + drunk farmies in Maine= DFT (damn fine time). Plan B means New Year's in southern Vermont/New Hampshire/Massachusetts...though Conn. is not out of the realm of possibilities at this point. Ending up in Maine is a remote possibility, and even then, we're talking Portland or south. But it will be the first New Year's I'd actually celebrate here. Usually I'm in Maine. And even if it's low key and not without fire (or a noteworthy one) I think it's got potential as being blogworthy.

I'll try to blog at least once while I'm in Maine, but I'm not promising anything. Mom and the nephews kinda take precedence over just about everything else.

$*^(%%(!!@! Mondays!!

$*^(%%(!!@! Mondays!!
No, I'm not censoring myself in the subject line. I really have no idea what the most appropriate word is to describe those Mondays that are just...screwed up.

So yesterday morning I knew I was going to need extra time to get my car out of my parking spot. Plow Guy had plowed me in pretty good Sunday morning, so I knew what to expect on Monday morning. I didn't anticipate it being too bad, though, because it had only snowed a couple inches after his first plow-through. I was so wrong...

Lacey LeSabre is pretty awesome in the snow (her other name is The Tank), but even she was having issues getting out of the snowbank that was driven into her. It did not help that it was basically ice under the tires. The front tires spun several times before I finally decided to do something about the traction. There was no sand or salt anywhere near my apartment so I went up to my kitchen and grabbed what I felt most closely resembled sand: bread crumbs and cornmeal.

All the good fixin's for frying chicken did not help enough. She was still stuck (and oddly enough, the crap under my tires went from ice to mud pretty darn quick). I shoveled out a path in front of my car and dug snow out from under the front in order to pull forward, out of the ruts, and then slammed that bitch into reverse and gunned it out of there. Success!

I arrived at work 15 minutes late, and was a bit out of sorts all day. It also did not help that various projects popped up that had to be completed like, last week, so just chaos all around. But hey, it's Tuesday now, and time to move on!

RIP Tiger Marie, 1993 - 2007

So, sorta sad news from home this weekend...my old cat Tiger became sick and had to be put to sleep. I did not expect her to survive the winter anyway because she had lost a lot of weight this fall. The last time I was home, she seemed to look a bit better but Mom said they had been finding hair all over the place, and she just kinda took a turn for the worse. Plus, she was 14 so we knew the end was near.

I'm not overly emotional at her passing but I think that's because I wasn't with her when she went to the vet's, and also that cat had a hell of a run. She got her name because, well, she's a tiger cat. "Marie" was your typical middle name - just something else to yell at her when she got in trouble. She and her brother, Bandit, were foster cats from the barn. Their grandmother was my first cat, Fluffy. She brought them a mouse one day when they were kittens, as they were outside playing, which was kinda cool. Gross, but cool.

Bandit was always a lot friendlier than Tiger . In fact, she was downright snotty until he disappeared when they were four or five. Then she decided she could be affectionate, until Mom and I brought home That Dog - Athena the German Shepherd. My brother's Aussie dog, Red, also came along at the same time, and spent quite a bit of time at the farm. These household changes prompted Tiger to stay inside all the time and, most of the time, on my parents' bed. I can remember watching TV one evening, when I heard my Dad hollering and swearing upstairs. Mom and I looked at each other, puzzled. Usually the reason Dad swore like that had something to do with the dogs (or the cows) but they were outside. We later found out that Dad had just laid down on the bed, shirtless, when Tiger decided to pretend she was a Ferocious Tiger stalking the large, white Beast (also known as Dad's gut) on the bed. She launched herself onto my father's stomach, claws extended.

When my parents moved into their new house, the first six months were probably the best six months of Tiger's life. The house was decent size, but all on one floor. Her food was no longer on top of the dryer, so she didn't have to climb up the stepladder. Shortly after the move, Scooby was declawed so now he was completely and utterly her bitch. Life was great...until Mom had the audacity to bring home an Aussie-Sheltie cross, Lilly. But Tiger had decided she was taking a more offensive approach with this pup. She ran down the hallway and launched herself onto the unsuspecting canine and held on, riding the puppy and hissing in its ear the entire time. My mother managed to separate the two and clean up Lilly's "piddle" (that would be piss...she peed all over the floor after that, and really, who wouldn't?). After that, Lilly would not go within three feet of Tiger. Mission accomplished.

So Tiger was a cat that did not get in your face, but occasionally could be affectionate. She hated dogs, hated being picked up, and loved ruining woodwork, especially door jambs. Her favorite toys were my hair elastics, and catnip was really the only treat she ever wanted. She was a cool pet, and I'm glad we had her as long as we did.