Life in the Bristolwood

It just seems like life keeps getting busier and busier lately! Yikes!

The kids had a Superbowl party tonight with six of their friends coming over.  It was a nice little gathering…Michelle made four different kinds of dips to serve with Nacho Chips.  The biggest hit must have been the Hamburger Dip she made, as that one disappeared quickly!  There were also chicken wings, Buffalo style, and Italian sausage in sauce with peppers and onions that could be made into sandwiches on rolls.  All in all, the party was a success.

I have a hard time sitting still and since I am pretty clueless when it comes to football,  I went upstairs at one point, and fell sound asleep.  Now, I am not a schlep!  Mark and I were out late last night…the kids went to see a few bands play in Canandaigua, and since they were out late, we drove them.  We picked them up at 11, so we didn’t get home til nearly midnight.  I was up this morning before the sun rose, so I didn’t get a lot of sleep.  So, a Superbowl nap was in order!

Here is a photo of a beautiful Orchid Mark got me the other day.  I have never had an Orchid before, so we will see how it grows.  (haha…pun intended!)

This plant is so pretty!  I love the streaks in the blossoms.

Well, we still have no snow on the ground.  This is so bizarre for February.  And the temperature is supposed to be 40 or more tomorrow.  I think we are supposed to get some snow later in the week.  I just wish we could get in a month or two of snowmobiling.   Even the traditional trails in the Adirondacks and Tug Hill are a mess with the fluctuating temperatures and precipitation we have had this year.  We read a couple days ago that the trails are icy and just a general mess.  I wouldn’t mind if it didn’t get frigidly cold, but just snow a couple of feet!  If it would just stay a tad below freezing with snow, we would finally have some snowmobiling weather!!  I really feel sorry for the folks selling snowmobiles and parts and such….what a BAD year!

Well, I had better get to bed.  Even though I snoozed some during the big game, I will be up and at it, bright and early tomorrow!

(raquetball),  I went to downtown Rochester to take a few photos. I used my little point and shoot and am disappointed by the image quality.  Mark dropped me off so I could walk along the streets of Rochester for a bit.  I am glad for the little camera, though, as I saw some pretty scary individuals….probably most were homeless and a little demented.  I think I would feel more intimidated by these folks if I were carrying a big camera and walking down the street in the middle of the city!

I took these photos near the Corn Hill section of the city.  Corn Hill is located parallel to the Genesee River.  That is the water that is to the right in the photos.

After taking a few shots looking downtown,  I walked back to the truck when I became aware of an awful noise….Swirling all around above the river were hundreds, no, thousands of crows.

It was so cold walking along the streets!  We have become such big sissies with all the unusual warm temperatures we have had most of the fall!

Today was Michelle’s birthday and we had a rather busy day of it!  Michelle has lost her voice after the little sick spell…that cannot be much fun, but she still had a good day!

Michelle’s friend, Jacob, came over and we went out this afternoon, stopping first at a Chinese buffet in Geneva.  My, oh my, I ate too much!  I usually don’t overeat at buffets, but I kind of ate a bit too much today!  I sat across the table from Michelle, so I kept annoying her by taking pictures.  I was hoping to get just one good one.  She got tired of me and the camera, though….

Ummm…the photo above was taken before we left, obviously! I got the pretty Argyle sweater she’s wearing for her for her birthday.

After we ate, we headed on over to the outlet mall in Waterloo.  We walked and walked and walked some more!  Michelle had said she wanted a pair of fashion boots to wear under slacks, so we looked for those.  As we passed by the Clarks/Bostonian store, I told her she might try looking there.  She was reluctant, thinking it looked too “upscale”. 

Lo and behold, the store had boots just like she wanted.  The problem was,  they didn’t have her size.  She was a little disappointed, but one of the girls there told her they can order them directly and they will be shipped to the house. How cool is that?  No extra charge for shipping, either. Michelle was pretty happy.  I also found a really cute little purse there for a great price.

We looked around a little more,  then decided to start for home.  Mark wanted to see the Sabres/Ottawa Senators game, so we wanted to get home before too late.  We stopped at Wegman’s along the way and I picked up a Friendly’s Reeses Peanut Butter Cake for Michelle’s birthday.  WOW!  What a cake that is!

We got home a bit late, but watched the game as the kids watched a movie in the basement.  All in all, Michelle had a good day, but we can tell she isn’t 100%, as she looked pretty worn out by the time she went to bed. 

So, on this day, I am so thankful for our Michelle.  She has accomplished a great deal in her nineteen years and we a proud of her!  She is a blessing in so many, many ways. 

I am also thankful for the Sabres win over Ottawa!  This game was a real nail biter. The game ended in a 2:2 tie,  so we went itno overtime.  No one scored in overtime, so it was time for a shootout.  The first two Senators got the puck in, as did the first two Sabres.  Then there were three Senators who failed to drive the puck in….same with the Sabres.  Another Senator. Then, the Sabres’ Derek Roy……INTO the NET!!!  Sabres win 3:2!

I simply am having a hard time believing that November is already here!  Where has the time gone?

We spent the day today running around..a lot!  We had to drop Michelle off at school.  Oh, but *before* dropping her off,  we had to rush to WalMart so the kids could buy a bunch of the special Halloween candy on sale for half price.  This was important. To them, anyway!

After Michelle was off to school, it was time to rush over to Mark’s mom’s house.  She had a doctor’s appointment.  After getting her squared away at the doctor’s,  we went on over to Home Depot.  We were checking out some pricing on lumber and when I saw all the pretty Christmas baubles,  I was like a piece of metal to magnet.  I will never understand the draw for me,  but I just love all the colors of Christmas.  Oh, not *just* the reds and greens, but all the others as well.  And speaking of red and green,  I cannot even begin to believe all the variations of these two colors.  Just awesome!

After picking my mother-in-law up when she was done, we took a leisurely drive on over to Sam’s Club.  We were there for quite awhile.  I really like their big packages of chicken and roasts.  The prices are so great and with all the Crockpot meals I have been making, it is so nice to be able to pull out pre-packaged chicken breasts and thighs.  (I place one breast or thigh into a small baggie, then place the small baggies into a large marked bag…so simple!)  Mark’s mom even bought a large package of meat to make up several meals.

When we got done shopping, we were off to Mark’s mom’s house.  She is such a stitch!  She bought a wireless doorbell at WalMart she wanted to show me.  It was pretty cool. The button goes outside, as is typical, and there is a wireless receiver you plug into an electrical outlet.  It makes a very nice “ding-dong”. 

After seeing the cool wireless setup, she went and got out another box.  This was way way cool!  She loves watching QVC and sometimes buys things from them.  Well, she bought an awesome wireless doorbell that plays different songs.  It has Christmas selections as well as titles for other holidays.  The most impressive had to have been the Hallelujah Chorus.

Although today was fairly warm compared to the past several days,  I got chilled.  We were working outside at Mark’s mom’s and it was shady and cool.  I went and sat down in the car with Murphy.  Mark opened the tailgate and Ben put one of the seats down so Murphy could see what was happening.  The little bugger sat in the back of the car and watched every little thing!  He was so cute sitting there, tilting his head back and forth! 

One notable difference with Murphy being the single pup is he is no longer such a wild man when it comes to food.  When Angus was around,  if you offered Murphy a treat, you would have to place it in your palm and hold it up to him.  If you tried to have him take it from your fingers….OUCH….Murphy would clamp down on your fingers like a ravenous wild animal! Today, my mother-in-law (bravely) placed a treat in her lips and told Murphy to take it.  We used to do this with Angus and he would ever-so-gently remove it.  Not Murphy….he was out to do some lip-piercing!  Today, however, Murphy gently eased the treat from her lips!

As we were getting ready to leave today, my mother-in-law confided that Murphy reminds her a lot of Angus. That was awesome, as this woman absolutely adored little Angus!  When we used to go to her house, Angus would see her and his ears would lie flat on his head….his lips would curl back, exposing his teeth and his rearend seemed to come undone, as though totally disengaged from his body!  He would hop up and down until she came over to him and talked to him.  Oh, how we missed that today…..but Murphy was different….totally warming up to her.  It was so cute as he followed her into the garage to get a “cookie”.

We were a few minutes late picking Michelle up from school.  She and Ben were so excited, as a nationally known band was going to be doing an accoustic set at a local business in Rochester this evening.  It started at six, and the best part was, it was free!  Tomorrow, they are doing another venue, and it is expensive to get in. 

Michelle got into the car and asked us to crank the heat up.  She asked Mark to go to McDonald’s to get her a sandwich as she felt like she was starving.  After she ate, we went over to WalMart.  She stayed in the car with Murphy and when we came back out, she said she wanted to go home.  She then told us her throat was so sore, she just wanted to go home and go to bed.  Poor Michelle.  I feel so bad for her….

As soon as we got home, everyone acted pretty tired;  even Murphy flopped down and fell asleep!

Only one photo.  I took this one yesterday.  You see, we moved into this house just a little more than nineteen years ago. In all those years,  we have never, ever, had one child come trick or treating!!  The first few years we were here,  I always bought big bags of candy, expecting someone to stop by.   But, it never happened.

Sooo……there is always a first, right? 

There were four “kids” that came by just before dusk last night.  Aren’t they just dear?

The fourth little one was photo shy!

And so, this November first,  I am so thankful for all my friends and family! Where would be be without all the loved ones in our lives?

Poor blog….it has been neglected once again!

There are several reasons.  Things like winterization.  Yes, campers and pools must be tucked in for the winter, like it or not!  (yeah, I NO like!!)  Ah well.  We also had a little problem called procrastination when it came to getting our firewood.  Oh, the firewood was cut lonnnnnggggg ago.  The problem is, it was stacked up and left sitting in the woods!  With the “autumnal monsoons”  season, we had to move a little more swiftly to get said firewood!

Thus, Mark drove the ATV with attached wagon in tow. He worked with the kids and they brought twenty wagonloads of wood down from the numerous piles.  It ended up looking like this….

That is about seven face cords of wood. We generally use about ten face cords, so we don’t need too much more, although we will end up filling the woodshed.  Mark thinks about twelve more loads will fill it up.  Since this photo was taken, two of the three rows of wood have been split and stacked in the woodshed.  We plan to try finishing this task this weekend.  The kids had the original twenty wagonloads down here and piled neatly in four hours so it shouldn’t take too long to fetch the wood. Splitting is the more time consuming task.  Mark is able to do it from the wheelchair and then we stack it.

Yesterday, I had so much energy after feeling off with some kind of “bug”.  I had suffered aches and a terrible headache, along with coughing.  Yesterday,  I accomplished all sorts of fun stuff.

Today, Ben and I worked on closing the pool. Finally!  I am so glad that task is done….I dislike closing the pool!

The weather was pretty ugly all day with dark skies and the threat of rain.  i spent hours and hours going over receipts and checking them off on credit card and bank statements.  This is one of those jobs that really makes me nuts.  I don’t like doing paperwork, but I do this so Mark doesn’t have to. The biggest problem is finding all the supporting paperwork. I get so frustrated when things aren’t where they are supposed to be.   Ah well.   I wound up filling a WalMart shopping bag full of discarded receipts.  By the time I got done, my eyes felt crossed and I was tired of looking at numbers!

As I am writing this tonight, the rain is absolutely pounding against the roof!  I am so glad we got that cover on the pool….with rain this heavy, I am sure many of our pretty leaves will be littering the ground…and pool cover!

And speaking of leaves….our Hickory tree in the back of the house is providing a gorgeous display of gold!  We had a tiny break early this afternoon and I was able to catch the leaves against a wonderful sky of blue!

Wow!  This hardly seems like October.  With temperatures pressing near 80 degrees, it hardly seems like fall!  Well, the thing is, we all know this isn’t going to last, right?

This morning, I awakened to a chorus of tree frogs screeching out their raspy song.  I got up with the Soctties and was pleasntly surprised at the mild temperature as we stepped out the door!  The sun just poured out all day today and it was so incredible with the vivid colors of fall, lighting up the sky against a backdrop of sapphire blue skies.  Oh, so beautiful!

We had dinner a bit on the late side.  I made Old Fashioned Chicken and Dumplings. It was after 6:30 by the time everyone sat down.  I had set the table on the front porch….hy should we eat inside when it is so mild after all?  I lit a candle and we just enjoyed the entire experience.  Apparently, eating outside makes everyone a bit more hungry than usual.  Although my BIG Crockpot was nearly full when I placed it on a small side table, there were hardly any leftovers!

We topped dinner off with Indoor S’mores! Okay, you twisted my arm….here is the recipe.

Indoor S’mores

8 cups Golden Grahams Cereal

1 12 ounce bag Milk Chocolate Chips

4 Tablespoons butter

1 bag mini-marshmallows

1 teaspoon Vanilla

In a heavy saucepan, melt butter,  chips, and mini-marshmallows.  Stir constantly and do not leave pan unattended!  After butter, chips and marshmallows are melted, add vanilla, then add cereal and mix well.  Place in 9 x 13 inch pan and refrigerate until cool.  Cut into bars and enjoy!

Mark says these are SICK!  (as in delicious!)  This is an awesome little treat to have on hand if company is coming and you don’t have lots of time to spend making goodies.  I think most everyone would like these!

Here are a few more photos I took on Friday afternoon. (I was too lazy to get the card from my Nikon camera!

I wish I would have taken a drive to see all the pretty leaves today, but Michelle and I did some cleaning in the camper.  Yes, it seems like we were just getting the camper ready for spring, and now it is time to store it away once again until next year’s adventures!

The kids wanted to go to Penn Yan late Friday afternoon to visit a friend home for the weekend from college.  Mark and I took them over, then we headed off.  I wanted to take some country pictures, so we took a few side roads here and there.  At one point, Mark decided GPS might be useful, so he pulled into a church parking lot.  Right next door was a Mennonite house, and the laundry was out on the line.  Love the look of the clothing against the red barn backdrop and the beautiful evergreens in the foreground!

Well, I was last night! 

We went out late yesterday afternoon….a drive to Sauder’s (the Mennonite store in Seneca Falls) was in order to purchase some freshly-picked apples.  When we got there, Mark was a tad disappointed that the selection was a bit meager.  We did decide to try several varieties.  I even picked up six 20 ounce apples to try for a pie.  In looking at them, I think six might be too many for a pie…those apples are ginormous!

Mark has been trying to resurrect one of our computers for Ben.  Mark’s (ancient) Dell laptop seems to have finally given up the ghost and although Ben would like another laptop,  Mark is on a NOMORELAPTOPS binge.  My three year old Dell EXP recently decided to become a bit cantankerous and is now sitting and waiting for Dr. Mark to diagnose.  Yesterday, Mark was looking for a keyboard with a PS2 (I think that is right, anyway?) adapter so he could boot up the computer…..we looked in a couple different stores to no avail.  The adapter is passe…gone….argh.

Ben asked to stop at a thrift store as we were passing by. Mark pulled in and as we waited, Angus, as always, perched on Mark’s lap to look out the window.  Angus is such a funny little Scottie….always keen, alert, and wanting to see everything that is happening!

Even to the point of watching passing vehicles!

I have a terrible time sitting still in the truck.  I started looking about to see if there was anything “picture-worthy”.  At the end of the parking lot was a stack of huge crates.  I am thinking they look like those used for shipping apples, although the one with writing that says “crisp and spicy” kind of threw me off.  Cannot think of an apple filling that description!

Yes, although that golden “honey” sun was illuminating the crates, I favored this photo in black and white.

We began our westward drive home in debilitating, blinding sun.  I cannot even imagine how Mark was able to see!  It was terrible; a band of bikers (about six bikes) pulled over to the side of the road and hopped off.  Mark wondered if perhaps the sun had become too strong for them.  We made it the fifteen miles from Geneva to Canandaigua where Mark stopped at McDonald’s as per Michelle’s request.

After going through the drive-thru,  I asked Mark to stop so I could grab a photo. I walked around the store, trying a couple different angles before settling on this one.

I really liked this photo, using it in my daily journal as well.  Michelle favored it in black and white, saying it was “more dramatic”….hmmm, what do you think?

I had to chuckle as I read the title of the last post.  Busy?

Last Sunday, we had planned to take a little trip as Michelle begins college soon.  Tomorrow soon!  Yes, tomorrow is Labor Day and the United States of America rests and pays tribute to its laborers.  However, Rochester Institute of Technology begins their fall classes on Labor Day!  One of life’s mysteries, I guess….

But I digress.

Michelle went with her boyfriend, Jacob, to his church picnic last Sunday at the county park located just a couple of miles from our house.  She came home early at four,  and off we went on our little adventure. 

We drove to Allegany State Park where we stayed until Friday. Although we had planned to relax, we were busy every day! It was very nice, though! The weird thing in all this is that I really didn’t take many photos.  This was our little niche in the world from Sunday night until Friday noon.

I always end up chuckling about us spending time at campgrounds because of the fact that we live in the woods.  Most of the folks I have met at campgrounds are city dwellers who are so appreciative of the fact that they can escape to the sanity of a less stressed and hurried lifestyle, only if it is for a couple of days sometimes!

On Monday, we explored the park a bit.  Ben remembered how we visited Thunder Rocks this past winter on the snowmobiles and he wanted to return to see them now.  I am not sure we have rock formations like this around our area, so I forget how massive they are until we visit them again! (Hoping you don’t mind seeing our kids over and over!)

Fly Tweetie, fly!

After our stop at Thunder Rocks,  we passed by Science Lake.  Not sure how the lake came to have that name, but it sure is pretty. There were a couple of young men fishing there….the lake has trout in it. Please forgive so many photos…I could not choose which to show.  As you can see, this was a day of perfection, weatherwise!  It could not have been a nicer day!

Science lake is a manmade lake, thus it has a spillway to keep it from getting unruly!  That was quite a drop!

After visiting Science Lake, we were on to see the bear caves.  Yes!  There are many black bears living in the park, although I saw n’ary a one. Drat!  I would love to have some bear photos.  There is an area where campers take their trash that is filled with several dumpsters.  The area is surrounded by electric fencing to discourage said bears from pillaging!

I remember as a child seeing bears at a dump area of the park.  People would drive there in cars and throw food from their windows to feed the bears!  Yeah, hard to believe. 

That little hike to the bear caves was pretty strenuous for this “picture-taker”!  I was getting tired! We had to take out Little Bear (Angus) along for the walk, as Mark refers to him as a bear cub!  He enjoyed the cruise through the woods, too.

On Tuesday, we went to visit with my family.  It was another beautiful day and we really enjoyed the time spent together until dusk when the mosquitoes came out for their bloodlust fest!  These days were so much fun, but passed by much too rapidly….

Front: Mom, Dad, Mark, me and Fritzie   Rear:Randy, Ben, Michelle

Yesterday morning, I got up and went to work right away on the rubber roof of the camper.  At some point, we had developed a leak inside the camper and I was pretty sure there was a problem on the roof.  Mark said the roof should be cleaned, so he read up on the process and found Tilex is good to use for cleaning it.  We picked up an industrial strength bottle at Lowe’s, so I was anxious to get busy.

Michelle had moved a ladder around the camper a few days ago, snapping photos of sections of the roof.  She and Mark reviewed them and saw a spot or two that looked suspicious.  As I worked on that roof,  it was incredible to see the color change from grey to white!  Mark said  the company that makes these roofs recommends washing them three or four times a year…..YIKES!  It has been awhile since the last time I was up there!

As I worked, I was antsy to get to the refrigerator vent.  I was convinced that the leak was there as when it rained, water would  drip down in the cabinet below the vent.  It didn’t take long to see the problem once I got to the back side of the vent….

The big long dark “crack” in the center of this photo is where the rubber roof actually came away from the caulking that kept it water tight!  After I finished cleaning the roof,  Michelle (excellent cake decorator!)  went up with a tube of caulking and fixed that area up better’n new!  The test came last night.  We had a few downpours that would have left water in the camper, for sure!  When I got up this morning,  I went out and ran my hand inside the cupboard….it was bone dry!  Phew, that was an easy fix!

As I was looking through the photos on this SD card before uploading them,  I saw a few photos from Genesee Country Village and Museum that might be worth sharing.  There are several really nice sculptures there and I had never been able to get a decent photo of the two horses before.  This time, I took my time and took many photos from all different angles till I came up with a photo I like! Oh, and the flowers are from near the gazebo on the main green.

As we were leaving the village while we were there,  I spotted a wild grapevine growing along a fence….

These remind me it won’t be long until the grape harvest in all the Finger Lakes region! 

Since we were at the village on my birthday,  Erin went into the gift shop with her dad and Sarah.  When she came out, she handed me this really cute little Scottie dog!  He rode home on the dashboard of the truck.   What a cute present!

And, speaking of Scotties….I got this one of Murphy resting in my Nikon camera bag the other day!  Both he and Angus love this bag.  No idea why!  I got my snazzy new backpack/camera bag and it blows the doors off this “ragbag”!  I actually got the bag together with an extended camera warranty and lens.  It was a three-for deal that was too good to pass up.  The only thing is, the bag has very little padding and has developed a hole where the top closes.  I have found cardboard and paper with Chinese writing on it leaking out the hole.  It really was time for a new bag!

Now randomly from my front garden….

After spending a few hours cleaning the rubber roof last night,  I was anxious to clean the awning today.  It had gotten pretty ugly with lots of black mildew spots on it.  I dragged out the ladder and began working away.  I found awning cleaner and a scrub brush did miracles on removing much of the spotting.  As I finished up the highest part, Ben came out and helped clean the rest.  It took the two of us a little over an hour.  I think had I still been working alone,  I would still be out there!

Now the little camper is about as clean on the outside as on the inside.  The work is strenuous, only because I find myself working from a ladder!

With the hurricane threat,  I pray for folks up and down the east coast.  From all I’ve read, this is pretty unusual, but they have had to deal with hurricanes before.  Our forecast doesn’t show any rain although I am wondering if it will change.  Seems when this happened previously,  we got wind and lots of rain!