Good Manners

Well, it appears from the complete lack of comments on my previous post that it is true. Etiquette mavens always say to avoid the three subjects of politics, religion, and money. We'll get back to garden photos and the like but first, let me say this. Regardless of the fall out from Senator Reid's comments, mostly accusing him of demoralizing the troops, I believe Senator Reid is saying what many, many of us are thinking and to polite to shout out loud: "Get our guys/gals home." I tire of the daily death count heard on my local news each morning. I am flabbergasted that after sending our troops in to this quagmire that they return home to less than adequate health care. I mourn with the families and children of the wounded and the dead. I do not think it is unsupportive to our troops to want them out of a civil war situation. I am in awe of our troops, individuals of courage and duty and responsibility who are willing to go and fight for us. Still in my heart I do not want this war to go on ad nauseum simply to satisfy our current president's need to wield power without thought of the consequences. There. Done.

Now, on to the Pansy report.

As you can see, the are flourishing. Quite pretty.

A new development in the back yard. I have these:

Doing This!

It started last weekend when I noticed a ladybug traversing the lawn. This morning I spotted 5 ladybugs. This was just the fascinating bit of nature I needed to go with my coffee. Later I spotted two in the throws of ladybug love. I noticed the bottom ladybug seemed to tire of these shenanigans and tried to escape but the top ladybug (?) held on for dear life and pumped away regardless of her attempts to escape. Has he no manners? Sheesh.

Yesterday, while enjoying the early evening I heard a bird chirping that sounded, strangely, like a telephone ringing but at a lower octave. I have no doubt this was a bird impersonating a telephone. I have heard this kind of thing before. While living in SF I became aware of a bird in my neighborhood who was mimicking the sound of a dial up modem. I thought, No - that's ridiculous....until I read a column by Scott Ostler from the SF Chronicle that there were, indeed, reports of this bird chirping like a modem. Interesting. A strange side effect of technological advances.

Yesterday I was confronted with the march of age rearing it's unwelcomed head. First, I had an appointment with a periodontist for a consult on a tooth that has been bothering me. Those who have their dentistry done at the periodontist's office are often those who have gum problems, active gum disease, or are maintaining a previously active state of gum disease. I completely and utterly blame two rounds of orthodontics in my youth for this current problem. Periodontal patients tend to be older individuals, shall I say older than ME. But there I was sitting in the midst of a waiting room filled with Seniors and ME. Same thing at the dermatologists appointment I had later that morning. A room full of Seniors and ME. For this I blame my fair skin and freckles. I am being pro-active. When I returned home from my medical forays, having not actually paid much attention to these above related incidents I was confronted by an application for the AARP!!! Addressed to ME, in my mailbox. WTF! I am not of eligible AARP age, yet! Jeez, the nerve! So, I did what any young woman in that situation would do. I shredded that application immediately and laughed wickedly and proclaimed they would have to take me kicking and screaming.

Voice of Reason

"WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday said the war in Iraq is lost militarily and "can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically" after more than four years of fighting." Fox news online

I do like our Senator Reid.

Stormy Sunday

The weather is gloomy and so am I. Well, I'm snapping out of it since I spent yesterday wallowing. It is simply this. I ended up owing the federal government money this year. I was anticipating a return....bought a house.....everyone said buy a house....no state tax in Nevada...really.....all these things point to a nice tax return....visions of landscaping the backyard, painting, sprucing, wondrous shopping spree at Home Depot. Maybe some new pants. Poof! Just like that. I have resigned myself to small improvements over time, okay, I can do that...still...can you say hugely disappointed?

I am focusing on May. I have signed up for a Djembe drumming class. 5 evenings in Reno. Tucked the money away, changed my work schedule. This will make me very happy. I have not drummed since I left San Francisco and I am looking forward to reviewing what I know and learning new stuff and meeting other drummers. Always a good thing.

In Carson City news:

Our mayor, Marv Teixeira, 72, has been seen bicycling to city hall since he was arrested on a DUI March 5th. He's doing community service, fines, and a driver training course. He was quoted in the Nevada Appeal newspaper "this is the biggest embarrassment of my life."
The article is here

Up on "C Hill", a western hillside overlooking the capital, there are goats doing the busy work of eating cheat grass in order to stem the tide of wild fires. 800 Merino-Rambouillet crossbreds, sort of a light brown, are hanging out and chewing vigorously. I'll try and get a picture up soon.
The Reno Gazette Journal article is here.

There have been several stories in the Nevada Appeal regarding Business Week's top 10 emerging arts communities. Surprisingly, Carson City is number 3 on the list after Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hard to believe...just ask MMspouse his opinion...still it makes me happy. Reinforces my decision to live here. There is art, there is creativity and it is being recognized.
Original article is here.

I'll save my most recent cultural activities for another day.

Lazy Blogger Post

MountainMoxie has been working too much and is tired these days. That said I just wanted to say Hi. I'll be back blabbering soon.

You Are a Pinky

You are fiercely independent, and possibly downright weird. A great communicator, you can get along with almost anyone. You are kind and sympathetic. You support all your friends - and love them for who they are. You get along well with: The Ring Finger Stay away from: The Thumb

What Finger Are You?

Rock Gardening

Still Life for Gardening

Yup, these are the essentials for a bit of yardwork. Though it appears to the naked eye that my yard is a stretch of lawn surrounded by rocks, therein lies the problems. WEEDS! In and around and under the rocks. I spent my morning outside pushing rocks around. It was a pretty morning for it and after about 2 hours and the wind kicking up I was done. I did have some great tunes on the CD (no IPOD for me, yet). My good friend JK in Portland sent me a CD for my birthday entitled "Groovy Tunes for Jeri". It's a really cool mix of belly dance music, some malian guitar, what I think is a french song, and some stuff that sounds like european techno. If you are familiar with Khaled, Ali Farka Toure, or Anne Dudley & Jaz Coleman you know what I am talking about. If not check them out, expand your horizons, listen to the world.

Hidden from view and tucked near a post of the deck is this beauty.

Odd place. No idea whence she came. Decided to just let her be. Perhaps more will sprout up.

I am also the proud owner of a new shovel. Gift from MMspouse. It's a fine shovel and should come in handy transplanting a pitiful little rose bush shoved into a corner of the fence with very little light and no attention. We must bring her into the light, bath her in water and see if she will again bloom the way nature intended it. That was my day. Mystery pansies and rock gardening.

UHMM.....Nevermind

Tuesday, 7:30 AM

Tuesday, 6:00 PM

More Signs of Spring

Daffodils abloom in a neighborhood yards.

Zeke seeking a spot in the sun.

Yesterday I had an inspiring visit to Home Depot. I had to pick up a few things whose names I learned...that's the thing about Home Depot...everything has a name....for instance, did you know the little knobs on the toilet seat are called "bumpers". Who knew? I also picked up a "flare cap" for my outdoor faucet so it won't spray water all over the house when I am trying to water. I feel immensely more educated. MMspouse is on a tear to replace our light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs to save a little money on the electrical bill. I was happy to see there are several types to choose from that don't give off that industrial glare and I hear it's considered "green" to do so. Al Gore would be proud though I think he needs to install a few in his home considering the latest "outing" of his electrical bill. Once all supplies were in hand, I sauntered through the place checking out prices and dreaming of upgrades....new bathtub, new vanity, closet doors, etc...happy to note several things I would like to do aren't nearly as expensive as I imagined. Per the usual, I have spent my tax return money in my head long before I have received it.

Once home my favorite site greeted me.

Books in the mail! I love getting books in the mail. I am especially intrigued by the new Mark Haddon, author of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" which I loved for its narrative voice and endearing hero. I read a bit of each and am already intrigued about both.

One of the things I forget about spring is it's changeability. One day it's lovely, warm and comfortable: the next day, windy and cool. I think we get so excited for spring we forget it's unpredictability. Still all the signs are there and it is a welcome relief from the cold and gray of winter.

First Sign of Spring

Lilac buds March 18, 2007

"I'm Your Handyman"

Me and James Taylor working our handyman thing.

Hanging the awesome Galileo Thermometer I got for Christmas in the eaves of my deck. Check.


















Installing a peephole in my front door. Check



















Getting comfortable wielding a power tool: priceless.















A weekend of puttering with visible results. Yea!

No, Really...I'm a Wild Child

One of my little indulgences is to reward myself for going to the grocery store. Having little interest in the actual cooking of food and even less interest in anything that isn't chocolate, I find the grocery store can be a strenuous mental activity in what to put in my basket. Sometimes I can actually fill my cart with things that might be considered healthy. Soy Yogurt! Cheddar Rice cakes! Wow, I'm doing good. This is immediately offset by the presence of Mother's Double Fudge Cookies. I try though...I really do. My motivation and reward for this exercise in food roulette is the purchasing of a magazine at the check out line. Sometimes a fashion magazine, perhaps a Marie Claire. Often times a celebrity rag: US Weekly, In Touch...always good for a few hours of mindless browsing on the couch in the afternoon. Often I will indulge in an ABC soaps magazine since I rarely have the patience to sit and watch anymore I do like to keep up with story lines. So, imagine my surprise when I opted out of the latest Britney/Anna/Brangelina unnamed sources reporting the latest and instead found myself drawn to this:
That bastion of Northwestern Living, the bible of inspiration for all things home and garden.....Sunset Magazine. This new magazine browsing behavior is right up there with salivating over Washer/Dryer combinations in the Sears flyer. Who is this woman? I am so grateful that I lived a wild and crazy urban existence up until I decided to move to the mountains. Otherwise, this gal would scare me!

Wishes Granted

Yes it was my birthday last week. Yes I got my chocolate wishes and cupcake dreams, literally!

MM spouse was smart to get me This. Which I parsed out to myself and was actually able to get a good 7 days out of which is amazing considering I can clean out a box in less than a weekend.

MMniece really took the cake, ha..pun, with this though.


Sprinkles cupcake mix from Here . One of the few really great things that I miss in LA. My office in Beverly Hills was a half block up and a half block over from this store. When it first opened there were lines out the door everyday. I couldn't understand the frenzy other than anything in Bev Hills is reason for a frenzy. However, once the lines quieted down and I took a stroll in and recovered from my price shock (again, Beverly Hills) there was the necessary tasting of several types which I had boxed up and took back to my office where we all had a sample of each of the six I purchased. Pretty damn good cupcakes! Heavenly! It was all I could do to keep from going there. I made it a once a month treat. More than that and I would have required a 12 step meeting. So, imagine my delight when my niece presented me with this. Whee! I get to make my own! I am planning an afternoon date with my sister to cook 'em up.

Serious goodies helped stem the rather funkadelic mental bout of insanity I was having. Primarily this occurred a week prior to my birthday. For whatever reason I decided to descend into a funk of which I haven't seen the likes of in a very long time. Cranky and crabby and feeling off kilter. For some reason this birthday snuck up on me. Mid-life? Perhaps. Strange feelings of life up to this point not being enough. The funny part of it was that even if I had won a Nobel Prize in Literature or invented the cure for AIDS, or discovered water on Jupiter: my mind was having none of it. Nothing would have been enough. That was the jist of it. Once I wrapped my mind around that I decided it was nothing more than the fact that my birthday is an odd number this year, ending in 9. I am not a fan of odd numbered years or the number 9. I am actually very happy with even numbers, I especially like 8, the midpoint of 5 doesn't bother me much. This one just made me cranky. Hence, I am already planning a big trip for next year's even number ending in 0. This should help me beat back the birthday blues should they dare make an appearance again!

Chocolate Wishes and Cupcake dreams

5 Years, 10 Days

Long Ago and Far Away

I doubt she was thrilled when 5 years and 10 days after her birthday I showed up. She will tell you that the reason I am always late on her birthday greetings is because I am already getting caught up in the excitement of my own pending day, proving my own self-absorption. She's right and I'm late again. I got the whole laissez faire attitude growing up from my parents, she still had to deal with discipline and chores and such. It is never fair when the baby of the family is spoiled. Still we share some great childhood memories, the above picture clearly not one of them but I like it just the same. This was a trip to Disneyland. It was hot and I think we were both cranky. Others that we share more fondly, I hope, are spending summer weekends at Clear Lake boating and water skiing and swimming. Ten day house boating excursions on Lake Shasta for more water skiing. A deep love of our Grandma Bea and all things baked in her kitchen. A serious affinity for chocolate. A love of the card game Rummy.

She is responsible for my love of all things Motown and the reason I know the words to every song by the Supremes. She is the reason I still appreciate a really well crafted pop song. She is the reason I love to dance and showed me how very early on. She knows I can sing but will always be the better singer. There's a theory that she is the reason I am left-handed and I do remember she taught me how to write my name. I may be fairly ambidextrous but I think like a lefty which is why often just a look says more and words aren't needed. We lefties share a wave length.

So even though I am late in my birthday salutations she knows that I was and did think of her on her day and sent her a psychic "have a good day".

Happy Birthday, Sis!
xoxox

Monday

Your Emoticon is Cool

You're not feeling particularly up or down, just relaxed and calm. You're ready for whatever is going to happen next!

What Emoticon Best Represents You Right Now?

Explorations

Here at MountainMoxie I like to take the mundane tasks of everyday life and transform them into something fun. This doesn't always work out to be anything at all but yesterday was. I had read at AroundCarson that a previously unpaved section of East Valley road had been paved. East Valley Road is tucked up about a mile east of the highway one would normally take to go south to Minden and Gardnerville. Taking the highway isn't a bad ride by any means but there is so much of this area I am unfamiliar with that I try to take a different route here and there in my wanderings, sometimes getting lost, most often discovering a whole new area I didn't know existed. The first time I tried to find East Valley Road met with disappointing results but I did cruise around on the back roads of the Carson Valley anyway. These little forays into the unknown are usually carried out during my once a month trek to the recycling station located conveniently just outside the dump or "transfer station" as it is called. The station is on the southern most end of Gardnerville, about a 20 minute ride from my house. Yesterday I was successful in finding the East Valley Road turn off from Stephanie Lane. It was surprising to me how many houses are out there in the eastern Carson Valley. You would not realize this from the highway. Old, new, large lots, small lots...a whole entire population I was unaware of. Saw lots of horses. And then I came upon these:

Llamas on East Valley Road, Carson Valley

You can't see very well...but these are Llamas. Fluffy, sweet Llamas...a bunch of them on a farm.

I didn't get much closer due to the whole "private property" sign so you will just have to take my word for it. As I was snapping my pic's I looked down and saw this. It appears to be a little fluff of Llama. It is amazingly soft!

I meandered along East Valley Road until it ended. After a few moments of thought I opted to turn right on Fish Springs Road. Lucky for me this was the right guess as it eventually lead me to a major intersection with the highway. I am sure I could find another way to the station from back in the valley but I think I may have to purchase a map for that. Until then all roads I take hopefully lead to the highway where I can get my bearings again. While riding along checking out the scenery I drove by some land and my head whipped to the side and I thought "are those?"Hmm, what else could they be? So fascinated by the possibility of something so exotic, I drove back that way after my recycling duties were complete. I pulled my car over and got out for a closer look.



Yup, that's a buffalo. What he is doing in the Carson Valley I do not know.

In fact, he has many buffalo friends hanging out with him. Now I am wondering when would buffalo mating season be and how long do buffalos gestate? Maybe I can go back and get pictures of baby buffalos.

So that my friends was my interesting journey through the Carson Valley yesterday. We shall see what new sites my February recycling run brings forth.

State of the Union

So far the best part of Bush's SOTU address was the introduction:

"Madame Speaker"

enough said.

Cold and Clear

Eastern Sierra Nevada Range: Jan. 17, 20007

This is what cold and clear looks like up here in the mountains. Brrrr.....

There seems to be some very cold weather sweeping across the states including a reported 30 degrees in LA during the Golden Globes Awards (yea, America Ferrera). Never saw weather that cold when I was living there. In fact, I did not wear socks, EVER, the entire time I lived there...well, okay, except to hike in my sneakers...but that was it...I lived in flip flops and sandals and such. It must have been rather shocking to have to turn the heater on in the car while stuck on the 405 in rush hour traffic.

Meanwhile, here in the mountains in winter, it is cold like you would expect. I am one who delights in chilly weather so that I can break out the gloves, and scarfs, and hats...I find the fashion part of it fun regardless of the fact that there are really no fashionable coats that will keep you really warm so hats and gloves and scarfs go along way as accessories.

I am spending time tweaking my blog or shall I say re-organizing my blog in accordance with the new Blogger that claims to be easier to maneuver, etc...HA! Still takes time and reading and re-reading what ever it is they are asking you before you get the idea. Though they do offer new help with lists so prepare yourself for ridiculous lists populating the side bar. Hopefully, I can re-educate myself to the use of links in the body of my entries, I seem to have lost that bit of info in the whole brain reorganization that went along with the brutal head cold/sinus thing that plagued me late december/early january. Feeling much better , thanks, but I do seem to have lost a few braincells in the process. Hoping to master the new blogger by the weekend.

Wish me luck or leave helpful comments.

Almost Normal

I think I'm ready to start back to a normal work week. The ridiculous coughing has subsided and I no longer need a box of kleenex within reach every minute. This, of course, all made possible by an outrageously expensive antibiotic for which I paid full price because, ya know, you gotta pay your deductible out of the gate in January again. I'm not as sure that I am ready to start my new year though I did do a bit of cleaning and such this weekend which made me feel accomplished. It is an odd sensation to have a head cold. You can't think. You just can't. I consoled myself with the fact that this was merely a device to clear out all the junk and trivia and unnecessary bits of information that I've stored in my head over the last year so I'd have more memory. Wouldn't it be nice if it did work that way. Still, for days there I didn't have much brain activity whatsoever besides where's the kleenex, where's the juice, chicken soup or beef barley. The day I had an actual clear headed thought I was elated to notice a sign of a return to normal.

Meanwhile, those resolutions. Ha! I don't make resolutions. What I was referring to in my previous post was simply reassessing my goals for the year. Most of those goals this year concern paying the mortgage on time and a very long wish list for my house. That and clearing out stuff I still am coming across which I most certainly can live without. There's another trip to the donation center and once that is done I think I will start my new year.

In other news, my little blog got herself a mention in the Carson Times this past week. Little bit of a thrill there.

There's also an article in the current Sports Illustrated about a college basketball player, Nick Fazekas, who plays for the UNR Wolfpack.

While I go back to my dashboard and figure out how to add links for the two items above...I'll leave you with a photo I wanted to put up for you in 2006 and ran out of time....

1st Snow of the Season, Dec. 17, 2006 from my front porch

New Year

Welcome to 2007 (yes I am a bit behind date wise)

Happy New Year (okay, mine....not starting so great)

Thank you for checking in on me ( I have just finished off yet another box of kleenex and I am not happy about it.)

In light of the current head cold, feel like crap, predicament I am in I have decided to restart my new year sometime next month. Resolutions forthcoming.

More later

Over the Meadow

and through the woods.....

Best holiday song: Nat King Cole "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire....."

Best holiday treat: See's Candy and Russian tea cookies

Best Seasonal Delight: Family, Friends, Festivity

Wishing you a lovely holiday and an inspired New Year.

XOXO

MountainMoxie