Ponies and a Cash Back Scam

This is the latest painting that I think I finished yesterday,


I was in a water phase for a while, now I seem to be in a light hair against a darker background phase. This is a pain to do, and I am tempted to get out the gouache or the Prismacolors and touch up the hair, but I am being a stubborn watercolor purist and haven't yet.

We had a dusting of snow last night, but the sun was out most of the day. Even with the sun it is super cold, with the high for the next few days in the 20s. Once it is in the 20s it is just plain cold and any lower temperatures are still just plain cold. Tonight's estimated low is 11, tomorrow's is 5. The last heating (gas) bill that covered the artic blast we had around Thanksgiving was almost $60. I figure that is a high as it will go.

I spent today trying to finish half-done things. I went to Jiffy Lube because I needed an Idaho emissions test by tomorrow. They exempted my car from the test, but I got an oil change I needed anyway. I figured out what that temperature warning light in my car really means. It means that your gas mileage is about to suck. Because the battery does not work well in freezing weather and I am always running the heater, my car uses the gas part of the engine most of the time. My gas mileage went from an average of 50 MPG to 30 MPG. Normally with city driving my car mostly uses only the electric part of the engine, not true when it is cold, since all I have been doing is city driving and I am now getting 30 MPG. Not like 30 MPG is bad, and I am not driving much anyway.

I finally sent an artist statement and some samples to the Eagle gallery, so they can add me to the gallery website. I put it off, because I just hate writing artist's statements (also known as BIOs.)

I finally balanced the checkbook. The last few months I have been putting this off because I don't like seeing my money disappear. I forgot that I found a mistake on my November statement and was so upset with myself that I did not check it earlier that I set it down and didn't finish balancing my account. I appear to have been scammed. Anyone get that email about the cash back scam? The email includes this happening at WalMart, but it happened to me at Staples. I sent Staples an email about it today, mostly just to let them know, because I figure there is nothing they can do about it now.

The way I was scammed at Staples had a bit of a different spin on it. I bought something and used my debit card and wanted $20 cash back. The cashier said my debit did not go through and she had to put it through as a credit without the cash back. I left without the $20 and without checking my receipt. The $20 was included on the debit from my bank account when I checked my statement, so I went back and looked at the receipt and it reflected the transaction as a debit and included the $20 I never received. My mistake. I am now checking receipts or paying cash. I'm lucky that was only a $20 lesson. The email version is a bit different, I must have confused things by really trying to get cash back, but here is the WalMart version:

"It happened at Wal-Mart (Supercenter Store #1279,
10411 N Freeway 45, Houston , TX 77037 a month ago.

I bought a bunch of stuff, over $150, & I glanced at my receipt as the cashier
was handing me the bags. I saw a cash-back of $40. I told her I didn't request a cash back & to delete it.

She said I'd have to take the $40 because she couldn't delete it. I told her to call a supervisor.

Supervisor came & said I'd have to take it! I said NO! Taking the $40 would be a cash advance against my Discover & I wasn't paying interest on a cash advance!!!!! If they couldn't delete it then they would have to delete the whole order.

So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order & re-scan everything!

The second time I looked at the electronic pad before I signed & a cash-back
of $20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier & she deleted it. The total came out right. The cashier agreed that the electronic pad must be defective.
(yeah, right!)

Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad wasn't defective because she NEVER
offered me the $40 at the beginning.

Can you imagine how many people went through before me & at the end of her shift
how much money she pocketed?

Just to alert everyone. My coworker went to Milford, DE Wal-Mart last week. She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along and didn't give her a receipt.

She asked the cashier for a receipt and the cashier was annoyed and gave it to her.
My coworker didn't look at her receipt until later that night. The receipt showed that she asked for $20 cash back. SHE DID NOT ASK FOR CASH BACK!

My coworker called Wal-Mart who investigated but could not see the cashier pocket the money. She then called her niece who works for the bank and her niece told her this.

This is a new scam going on. The cashier will key in that you asked for cash back
and then hand it to her friend who is the next person in line."

I cleaned my studio, my brushes, and my palette to get ready to paint the next painting and compiled all the miscellaneous partial to-do lists into one list. I still have a pile of reading, including most of last Sunday's newspaper and some stuff about network marketing, but mostly I have finished those loose ends I do not want to take into next year. Tomorrow I am writing that 2010 inventory and it should be fun, since it was a learning, growing, and an adventurous year.

Bananas and the DMV

First thing this morning it was raining and no snow. By 9 am big snowflakes were flying down in a big, big wind and I decided I better get out to the bank while I could still get down my alley. By the time I got out of the bank the sun was out and it stopped snowing with barely a half an inch on the ground and by the afternoon the half an inch was gone. No snowman building this week.


Boise has bananas in the grocery store, like everyone else in the entire world, but they don't get ripe. I bought really ripe looking bananas on December 23 and made banana bread on the 24th. The bananas were barely ripe, let alone over ripe, which is what I need for bread. So I added a teaspoon of the Meyer lemon juice I already thawed for the pie to moisten it. The recipe calls for fresh grated lemon rind and I usually use twice as much rind as in the recipe, so I figured more lemon would be good. I was right, the extra lemon is excellent in banana bread. I bought enough bananas for two loaves and left them out on the windowsill and I figured I better use them up today before they go bad and bake another loaf. The bananas were still barely ripe! They are a week old and looked ripe with brown spots when I ought them. My windowsill must be like some kind of root cellar for bananas. So, I baked another loaf today and used the secret Meyer lemon juice again.

My period was really late last month and I got really excited thinking that menopause was here, but it's not. Now I am back to being really early again, but today I was relieved, at least it explains my terrible mood yesterday. I would like to know why for women it's menopause or "the change of life" and for men it's now called "low T." Is the snappy name supposed to make those commercials less embarrassing for men? At least there are no bath tubs in them.

There was one more state job left where I had a good score, besides the one that they put on hold for 2 months, and today I got their reject letter. I did not even get an interview. (Actually, now that I think about it, why did I get a reject letter? I haven't received a letter for any other state job I applied for and got a score but not an interview. I figured on those my score was too low to be considered, but if it was too low to be considered on this one, then why did I get a letter?)

This afternoon I called the CA DMV that keeps sending me cancellation letters for my car registration in CA. There is nothing on the letter on on their website about what to do if you move out of state. I already applied for a refund for the balance of my registration, but Mom found the form for me on line, I could not find it. So, I call the DMV number, get an automated system that does not have a choice of what I want and start randomly pushing buttons until I get to wait on hold for more than half an hour. The rep tells me the form I need on line, and I have to admit by this time I am not very nice, and the section of the form I am supposed to fill out is the blank, write what you want section with still no instruction on what they need with the form and it has no address to send it! I filled out the thing and sent it with the cancellation letter and in it's provided envelope and address.

If you are leaving California, be sure to stop at the DMV before you go and get all their forms and addresses.

My DMV call reminded me how glad I am to not be in CA, but the reject letter and the call did not improve my mood. Time for a movie.

I was in a bad mood already, so I watched The Fighter, which I thought might be depressing. I was a bit uplifting actually and a good film. The cast is excellent and it is a guy fight movie with some family relationship and drug addiction stuff. Is drug and alcohol addiction in every movie nowadays? The younger brother is The Fighter and his older brother is the fighter has-been, so there is brother stuff. They have seven sisters, so there is loser-women stuff. The Fighter gets a girlfriend, so there is woman-behind-the-man stuff, although she is not exactly a saint. Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Amy Adams are all worth watching, but I spent most of the movie trying to figure out where I'd seen the mom before. That's Melissa Leo from the TV series, Homicide.

The movie helped, but I guess I'm spending the next few days on a new income plan.

Number 1

It's been raining all day. When they could not go outside for the two years I rented without a yard, I started brushing the cats in the evenings to make up for no yard outings. Now that they can go outside, they still appear to want their brushing. Spit was howling at me this time, although I think Cruiser was looking on with appreciation. There was a break in the rain after it got dark, so I let both cats out, then brushed them when they came in and they have been peaceful the rest of the evening.

Tonight and tomorrow it is supposed to snow again and then we get another arctic blast by Thursday with a low of 9 degrees. I cut off the lower branches of my Christmas tree that I took down more than a week ago because it was already so dry and trimmed them so I can use them for snowman arms. If there is enough snow, I am building a snowman this week. I think I have a large collection of buttons for the face, but I am not sacrificing any of my scarves or hats. It's not like a snowman needs to keep warm anyway.

We are meeting to talk about our year-end inventory on January 1, 2011 at 1:11 pm, because we thought it sounded cool, so I thought I would check out if there was any significant meaning to the number 1. I found,

Number 1 is the most individualistic of all numbers.

When the number 1 is present in the numerology profile it points to independence, adventure, and new beginnings.

The Energy of the Number 1
The number 1 is the creator and the leader and the energy of the 1 can be summed up as constant motion and movement. It is the number of initiation, originality, and government. The 1 is action oriented. It begins and leads and seeks independence and adventure.

The Strengths of the Number 1
If the number 1 shows up in any of the core numbers, especially the life path number or the destiny number, there is a natural capacity to lead and govern. The 1 is a confident, creative, and feisty go getter who finds great joy and gratification in starting new things. The 1 is strong, courageous, and incredibly determined.

One: One primarily deals with strong will, positivity, pure energy. The number One reflects new beginnings, and purity. The symbolic meaning of number One is further clarified when we understand One represents both kinds of action: physical and mental. This combined with Ones urgency for new beginnings, we begin to see Ones recurring in our lives indicates a time to exert our natural forces, take action, and start a new venture. One encourages us our action will be rewarded in kind.

So, the date 1-1-11 doesn't sound bad, unless you don't want to start anything new.

I watched the Coen brothers new film, True Grit, which was excellent. I never liked the girl in the old version with John Wayne, she was too whiney. This one supposedly follows the book, which I have and now I think I will read. I don't remember how the old version ends, but I wanted more ending with this one, or maybe I did not want the movie to end. It is beautifully filmed, although if that is Oklahoma there is a whole lot of Oklahoma that is really bleak, Hailee Steinfeld as the girl was excellent, Jeff Bridges was excellent. Jeff Bridges was also excellent in Crazy Heart, although that is a hard film to watch, and that was just last year.

I finished another painting and started another book, but otherwise I am in waiting mode. I have my inventory to do, but I'm saving that for New Years eve. I have my 2nd week tasks for the Artist's Way, but we are not meeting for another week. I wanted to go to the Bird of Prey museum again this week, but it does not appear that the weather will permit. I started a wish list of things that I want to buy, because one of my New Year's goals is to not shop for the entire month of January, except for food. Christmas shopping always gets me into bad spending habits that need nipping in the bud.

Merry Christmas!

It rained this morning, but the sun was out by 11 am and Boise was sparkling clean and surrounded by snowy mountains. It was a toasty 45 degrees by lunchtime, so I ate my lunch outside with the cats roaming the backyard and me in my bare feet.

Merry, merry Christmas to all!

My Christmas was wonderful and I know I have not been so busy for Christmas since the Christmas driving marathons I used to do when I lived in Vegas. Then I drove from Vegas to Dad's Santa Monica Christmas Eve, stayed overnight at Dad's and drove to pick up Lauren in Moorpark on Christmas morning, then drove to Mom's (Pasadena) or John's (Woodland Hills), then drove back to Vegas the day after Christmas.

John and Jen sent a gift card, which I whipped out and spent early on Christmas Eve day. Then I baked banana bread for Christmas Day and went to an open house on Christmas Eve. I ate some things that were good for me and then planted myself next to the three kinds of homemade english toffee, which were all good. One of the nice things about not working during the holidays is less exposure to holiday treats, so I can eat them the few times they are around. When I got home I called John's and caught almost everyone in my family to say Merry Christmas. John was grateful that my Mom's old boyfriend was not there this Christmas and I think he might have actually told me I was right about the guy, but that is another story.

I already opened the Belgian chocolate hazelnut seashells that Mom sent (which were actually from Harrod's in Heathrow Airport and the beach scene on the tin is an English beach), but I opened what I already knew was a calendar with everyone's birthday and anniversary written in it for me on Christmas morning. It was a cat paintings calendar this year, which will be good reference for my children's book. Christelle picked me up at 9 am and we went to deliver Meals on Wheels and I contributed some of the banana bread. We chatted with one woman for a while until we could no longer stand the cat pee smell and the other guy barely let us hand the food through the door. I was glad to be doing this with someone else, I'm not sure I could have by myself. Talking to the woman reminded me of how I told my Mom that if she was in a nursing home and a hurricane was headed her way I would come and get her and not leave her to a staff of strangers.

When I got back from Meals on Wheels delivery, I baked another apple pie to take to Mary Kay's sisters for Christmas dinner and then headed to Mary Kay's. I went to Mary Kay's first and then followed her to her sister's, which was way on the southeastern edge of Boise. Mary Kay has a cat named Bodie. Bodie is stocky and gray and old and has a big face. When I got to Mary Kay's, Bodie was laying in the middle of the floor wearing a cat-sized orange BSU shirt with his arms wrapped around his new catnip toy like an old drunk. Mary Kay says he actually feigns a broken leg when she puts that shirt on him, he is pretty wobbly anyway, but she says he moved pretty quick earlier for his special bacon and eggs Christmas breakfast. When we left, Bodie headed out to parade the neighborhood in his bright orange shirt.

When Mary Kay asked her sister if I could come for Christmas dinner, her sister asked if I was bringing my pie. This time I used the Honeycrisp apples again, Meyer lemon juice, that I squeezed and froze at Thanksgiving, and fresh grated lemon rind and I did a solid crust with a few apple cut-outs for venting. I think it came out even better than Thanksgiving, but I can see it now, Mary Kay's family saying, forget Shelly, is Shelly's apple pie coming for dinner? Both pies were completely gone at the end of the evening, but there were 15 people and this time there were only 8. I thought I left enough room after prime rib and mashed potatoes for pie, but after a nice sized piece with vanilla ice cream I felt really stuffed. I read something recently that said if you are not stuffed when you leave a holiday party then you did something wrong and you should go back and eat some more, so I guess I did that right.

I was home by 9 pm on Christmas evening and too tired to do anything more than sleep. Today I mostly stayed home and cleaned up all the messes I have not had time to clean for 2 days.

My Christmas call to Lauren was very brief on Christmas Eve, but I headed off crying about it with a call to my Mom. That worked and it was nice to have a holiday conversation with my Mom apart from the hectic, loud noise in the background call I made later to John's. Mom was going to John's without the boyfriend and not allowed to bring the dog (who cannot behave during present opening), so we appear to have both needed the conversation.

On New Year's Eve I write an inventory of the prior year and then write goals for the next year. One of my friends brought up doing something like this and I told them I do one every year and somehow got myself facilitating the exercise for a group of people. We are going to meet tomorrow so I can suggest what people should get done beforehand and see how I can structure the meeting, so I pulled out my inventory for 2009. More about that later, but if you had told me on December 31, 2009 that on the same day in 2010 I would be living in Boise, Idaho and facilitating a meeting on a fairly intimate topic with a group of women that I only met a few months earlier, I would have said you were high.

Packages

One thing about ants coming in the house en mass is that you can tell where they are coming into the house. I don't have that many, but I keep finding strays in the kitchen and I can't stop them without spraying right on them on the counter or the wall. I can't exactly open a window to remove the ant spray smell, so I am being timid about it and they are still hanging around.

The cats and I are up early, before it is light outside, and the cats like to eat and then go out while it is still dark. This morning the sky was half filled with clouds, but they cleared a ring around the moon so the moon could show through. They must have been clouds full of snow, because they just hung there framing the moon and barely moved.

Mom sent her care package a few weeks ago, but besides that package I did not receive anything else. I've been like a kid on Christmas morning every day this week, checking for the postman and running for the mail and then there is nothing there but a bill and I am crushed. I left California and everyone forgot me! So this afternoon I cleared off the walkway that had become ice covered with snow and quite hazardous. Maybe the postman doesn't want to walk to my door on the ice. Maybe he thinks I'm not home. So that was the ticket! Everything arrived today, another card from Mom, a card from John and Jen with a gift card, my annual Farmer's Almanac calendar from Dad, and movies and a card from Dad. I don't know if I will have time for my usual movie marathon on Christmas Day, but I feel a whole lot better with movies ready.

I am off to an open house down the street and around the corner Christmas Eve and I am delivering Meals on Wheels with Christelle on Christmas morning and then to Mary Kay's for Christmas dinner. Mary Kay might let me bring a pie, so I can bake that Christmas afternoon, maybe while I watch a movie. I actually had to turn down another invite for Christmas dinner.

Despite all my plans, I am still having trouble with Christmas for the same reasons I have had trouble with Christmas for the last 7 years. I am grateful to not be traveling, but I will miss Jen's Christmas eve treat tower, Caitie's admiration of my apple pie, and being showered with Christmas gifts at John and Jen's on Christmas eve like I am 5 years old again. Even though I have movies ready for my Christmas Day movie marathon, it will not be the same without Dad. One year I did not plan a meal and Dad and I drove around Simi Valley on Christmas Day looking for an open restaurant, it never occurred to me that nothing would be open, and we finally found an open pizza restaurant. I think I am a better hostess today.

I went to bed early last night and read a book and Cruiser and Spit sandwiched me under the covers, one pressed against one side at my ribs, one pressed against the other side at my knees, and we were all so warm and comfortable that when I turned out the light all I could do is skooch down a bit so not to disturb them and get my head horizontal on the pillow. This wasn't so comfortable, but I still fell right to sleep.

We never did get snow today, so no new snow for Christmas here. The next enlightenment topic is Work, which is completely inappropriate for Christmas, so I will get back to enlightenment when Christmas is over. Leaving the topic at Mystery for the holidays seems fitting.

Eclipse and Bread

Hey, I forgot, I saw the lunar eclipse. It was not supposed to be clear enough to see it and it was happening past my bedtime anyway, so I went to bed. I woke up at 12:30 am (Tuesday morning) and looked out my bedroom window to see the full eclipse. The moon looked red-orange and all of the stars looked really bright. I thought about getting up and going outside for a better look, I mean since I was up, but that thought lasted about 10 seconds. Get out of bed, put on my coat and boots and go outside where it is in the 20s? Not.

I ran errands and cooked and baked all day. I am going through James Beard's Beard on Bread and tried the Cornmeal Bread this time. I came out well, I am getting better at this, and is a light bread with a heavy crust. I would do a bread baking blog, a la Julie & Julia, but I could only post on it every few weeks, otherwise what would I do with all that bread? What did Julie do with all of that food?

I finished The African Queen. I don't think I remember the ending of the movie, because the book ended very differently than I thought it would. Did you know the movie You've Got Mail was a remake? Both predecessors were on this week, The Shop Around the Corner made in 1940 and starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, and In the Good Old Summertime made in 1949 and starring Van Johnson and Judy Garland. This time the last remake was better than both prior films.

Yesterday's mystery topic is still with me, so I am putting the next topic off until tomorrow.

Red Coat and Mystery

I took some pictures for Mom of the coat, gloves, and sweater she got me for Christmas,





I felt like a dork, but after a few pictures I don't think it shows. The reflection off the snow made excellent, flattering, fill-light. My new coat is fur lined and insulated, but it's not down. It is not usually cold enough here for down and the key is layering, so I needed a warm coat that would fit over a few layers. The gloves are fur-lined, too, and I've heard mittens are really warmer, but these work well.

My friend Laney won a make-over, so she and the make-up rep came over this morning and Laney and I got made-over. (I learned why you clear your walkway of snow, so people don't track it in when they come over.) The skin care/cosmetic line was Arbonne International and it seemed worthwhile, if you are in to that stuff. I've never worn much make-up and I wear even less now that I can't see to put it on. Try putting on eyeliner when you can't see your eyelids without your glasses. The trauma of plucking my eyebrows using the magnifying mirror where I can see every flaw and every gray hair in my eyebrows that if I plucked them all out I would not have much eyebrow left is bad enough. It was fun to do something different and I didn't feel pressured to buy anything since Laney was spending her winnings.

Arbonne International uses network marketing, which started my wheels turning a bit. How can I use that for my own work?

The next enlightenment topic is Mystery with an excerpt of an essay called Points to Ponder by William Jennings Bryan,

"I have observed the power of the watermelon seed. It has the power of drawing from the ground and through itself 200,000 times its weight. When you can tell me how it takes this material and out of it colors an outside surface beyond the imitation of art, and then forms inside of it a white rind and within that again a red heart, thickly inlaid with black seeds, each one which in turn is capable of drawing through itself 200,000 times its weight—-when you can explain to me the mystery of a watermelon, you can ask me to explain the mystery of God."

I am unclear if Bryan actually titled this piece and it appears to be from a book of essays called In His Image.

Bryan was a politician and a lawyer and is most remembered for failing to win the Presidency three times and for representing John Scopes in the Scopes Monkey Trial (or the State of Tennessee v. Scopes) in 1925. High school biology teacher John Scopes was accused of violating the state's Butler Act that made it unlawful to teach evolution.

The author includes another quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald,

"The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them better."

F. Scott Fitzgerald is talking about Paradox, a topic that will make your mind explode. Funny that now, 85 years later, it's more likely unlawful to teach the Bible Story of Creation and nothing is a mystery, everything has a scientific explanation, even if the science is sometimes fabricated.

So, there are things that are unexplainable, let them be a mystery and just enjoy the beauty and mystery of a watermelon seed becoming a watermelon.

Somehow that ties in with wearing make-up, but I haven't figured out how.

Meet John Doe and Solitude

It snowed overnight Saturday and Sunday night, maybe there is 3 inches on the ground, but Boise appears to be done with snow until Christmas. I'm glad I am not in So Cal! It has been raining for days, it poured over the weekend, and there appears to be no end in sight. At least Idaho knows how to deal with weather. No one in So Cal knows how to drive in the rain.

This weekend I watched Meet John Doe made in 1941 with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Meet John Doe is an anti-facism film and I was surprised how timely this movie is today. Frank Capra was apparently not happy with the ending and I agree that it seems wrong. It seems to me that if Barbara Stanwyck is going to be redeemed at the end, she should show some signs earlier, and since she doesn't, maybe she should have been rejected by Gary Cooper on the rooftop and then jumped herself, or Gary Cooper should get pushed off the rooftop and become a martyr for the movement. But then that is too heavy for 1941 and a film trying to be hopeful.

Yesterday I learned how to use the timer on my camera and took some practice shots. I want to take a picture of me in my Christmas presents from Mom so I can send it to her and I want to take it today, while there is still snow. I feel a bit silly taking pictures of myself by myself, but I will get over it.

And I have to confess, Mom also sent a care package with two wrapped gifts and I opened one already. Mom always gives me the same two gifts at Christmas, a calendar with every family member's birthday written in it, and a box of chocolate hazelnut shells. She did not give them to me one year, because she thought I was bored of it, but I really look forward to them. So, Mom sent two wrapped gifts, but I know what they are, and I looked at that wrapped box of chocolates for a week before I finally opened it. I don't know if they are always Belgian chocolates, but these are, and this year they came in a tin painted with an east coast beach scene.

I was trying to finish Wisdom of the Ages by the end of the year, but it doesn't look like I am going to make it. The next enlightenment topic is Solitude, with a poem called Solitude, that everyone should find initially familiar, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox,

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.

The author talks about when you are positive, you attract more positive and when you are negative, you attract more negative. That goes with the poem, but I think that it is off the topic and besides, maybe you have to be negative alone, but you never have to weep alone. Ella must have had only fair-weather friends.

I have a whole book just on this topic (Solitude, A Return to the Self by Anthony Storr) and the book ends with a piece from The Prelude: The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth,

When from our better selves we have too long
Been parted by the hurrying world, and droop,
Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired,
How gracious, how benign, is Solitude.

There is grace in solitude and in solitude we can return to our better selves. Everyone should learn how to be alone (and how to be still). It takes some practice, since in solitude we also often face our not-so-better selves.

Winter Garden A Glow

It snowed maybe half and inch last night and the snow was all gone by this afternoon. I think this is more normal for Boise and so much for the severe weather. Cruiser and Spit were again mystified this morning and insisted on standing in the doorway to look at the snow, but they would not go out in it. Spit looks at me, then at the snow, then at me, then at the snow. It was way too cold to be standing with the door open, so I let them out front where they can stand on the porch and look and I can close the door. I stood outside with them in my pajamas and my coat and my boots (and my coffee). Fortunately it was still pretty dark.

Winter Garden A Glow was beautiful, but very cold. I wore the wrong gloves, the leather ones and not the new ones from Mom, and my hands were cold. We walked around and then I wrapped my hands around a cup of hot cider and stood under a heat lamp. I forgot my camera and honestly it is too big and bulky for this kind of thing, I do not know how I would have managed my SLR camera and my gloves, my puffy warm coat, my purse, my ticket. I already feel like a kid who needs all their stuff pinned to the inside of their coat.

They have 360 degree pictures on their site, which are probably better than any I could take anyway,
http://www.regal360.com/clients/aglow/index.html
If that does not work, go to the main site and click on the Virtual Tour,
http://www.idahobotanicalgarden.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_id=40

In the 3rd picture you can see the lighted cross on top of Table Rock, which reminds me of Simi Valley. The Boise Jaycees built the cross on government land in 1956. The Idaho Department of Lands transferred the land under the Table Rock cross to the Boise Jaycees in 1972 after the Jaycees became concerned that the existence of the cross on government land violated Idaho's Establishment Clause. The existence of the cross still endured a constitutional challenge in 1999. In response, the governor declared November 27, 1999 "Table Rock Cross Day," and ten thousand people marched down Capital Boulevard to support the cross.

Right next to the Winter Garden and below the cross is the Old Idaho Penitentiary, built in 1870 and used until 1973. All executions carried out at The Old Idaho Penitentiary were death by hanging and as late as 1957 Idaho's version of Jack the Ripper, Raymond Allen Snowden was hanged there. Previous inmates also include "Lady Bluebeard", or Lyda Southard, or Lyda Anna Mae Trueblood, one of Idaho's most prolific serial killers with the added distinction of being one of the first female serial killers. Christelle told me the stories, but she said we do not need to take a tour until summer. It's probably not so creepy in the summer.

For more old west and Old Idaho Penitentiary stories, here's a fun link,
http://www.thecabinet.com/darkdestinations/location.php?sub_id=dark_destinations&letter=o&location_id=old_idaho_penitentiary

This is a haunted places site and some claim Raymond Snowden haunts The Old Idaho Penitentiary. On Halloween you can go on a special night time tour and find out. You will have to go by yourself though, I'm not going.

More Sun!

Three days in a row of the sun being out first thing in the morning and lasting all day. Tomorrow the snow starts again, and not just a dusting, but 2 to 4 inches predicted just for Saturday with severe weather warnings. Then snow/rain through Christmas.

I have been lazily enjoying the sunshine, although except for my wonderful south-facing back yard, it is still cold. I started reading The African Queen, which isn't just a movie, you know. I started two studies and didn't like either one of them and didn't finish them. I have really, really not been productive. Sometimes the creative thing is just not happening. I thought I would have better luck at the computer in the afternoon, but not true today, Cruiser is all over the desk, then the chair, then the desk again.

The next enlightenment topic is Family and Home with a poem called Roots, by Joyce Kilmer,

Roofs
(For Amelia Josephine Burr)

The road is wide and the stars are out and the breath of the night is sweet,
And this is the time when wanderlust should seize upon my feet.
But I'm glad to turn from the open road and the starlight on my face,
And to leave the splendour of out-of-doors for a human dwelling place.

I never have seen a vagabond who really liked to roam
All up and down the streets of the world and not to have a home:
The tramp who slept in your barn last night and left at break of day
Will wander only until he finds another place to stay.

A gypsy-man will sleep in his cart with canvas overhead;
Or else he'll go into his tent when it is time for bed.
He'll sit on the grass and take his ease so long as the sun is high,
But when it is dark he wants a roof to keep away the sky.

If you call a gypsy a vagabond, I think you do him wrong,
For he never goes a-travelling but he takes his home along.
And the only reason a road is good, as every wanderer knows,
Is just because of the homes, the homes, the homes to which it goes.

They say that life is a highway and its milestones are the years,
And now and then there's a toll-gate where you buy your way with tears.
It's a rough road and a steep road and it stretches broad and far,
But at last it leads to a golden Town where golden Houses are.

A fitting topic for the holidays, I guess. I think I am the gypsy that takes their home with them. I am a bit of a wanderer, or maybe I could call it an explorer or a searcher, but I like to have a home base. Home is where the heart is anyway.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS Lyrics
Artist(Band):Peter, Paul & Mary

Home is where the heart is
No matter how the heart lives
Inside your heart where love is
That's where you've got to make yourself
At home

Four more days until the shortest day of the year, a full moon, and my four month anniversary in Boise. Tonight I'm going out to Winter Garden A Glow.

Sun, Children's Books, Silver, and Glen Beck

Today started sunny and clear without a cloud in the sky. What a relief for a change. Cruiser finally had a chance to go outside and roll around on the cement and stop driving me nuts for a few minutes. Tomorrow is supposed to be more sun, but one thing about living somewhere with weather is that it is unpredictable. Yesterday it was supposed to snow again on Friday, today it says not until Saturday. It must be tough being a weatherman in Idaho.

The sunny weather helped my mood a bit, but honestly, the economy and the holidays and the no job is getting to me. I also think doing that Artists Way writing is having an initial negative effect. Too much remembering negative experiences and recognizing negative thoughts without having let them go yet.

I did go to the bookstore and spend an hour in the children's book section. I just looked at pictures, I did not read much, but there is a whole lot of mediocre children's illustration out there. I just loved Jerry Pinkney, especially The Lion and The Mouse and Dave Shannon, who went to Art Center with me. I did not discover Dave Shannon until I was leaving, but he had several books about himself, really, including No David! I wished I hadn't already bought my brother Dave a Christmas present, he might like this one. Shannon actually wrote No David! when he was 5. Lauren used to draw mother and child horses when she was 5, the children were all attached to the mother with little strings. Maybe I should make those into a book. I still love the Jan Brett books, my favorite is Christmas Trolls, probably because it was Lauren's favorite book, and she had one I haven't seen about a hedgehog who gets a sock stuck on it's head called The Hat. My very favorite is still Can't You Sleep Little Bear?, that one is even worth reading.

When I made pancakes last week I remembered how Lauren used to like to eat the dots. You know, the little drips in the pan that you make when pouring the pancake? I used to make more for her on purpose. It must have been a long time since I made pancakes.

Yesterday I was researching how to buy silver, actual silver not silver stocks, and I found a website with a page on buying silver for survival purposes,

CMI, Buying silver, buying silver bullion for survival purposes
Read more: http://www.cmi-gold-silver.com/small-survival-gold-silver-coins.html#ixzz18EDVVYPV

I don't know anything about CMI versus any other seller, but I thought it was really interesting that they include this information at all.

I caught a bit of Glen Beck this afternoon. He was in Wilmington, Ohio doing a show called America's First Christmas. It's all about how Wilmington, Ohio has come together as a community to help each other through the current crisis. Glen Beck talked about the miracles that have happened there and he cried and I cried. (The starting over topic of Glen Beck got to me.) Yep, pretty angry, subversive stuff.

I've learned over the last 6 1/2 years that avoiding pain just causes not only yourself more pain, but the avoidance makes sure pain gets spread to others. It is better to just face it and walk through it, hopefully not by yourself. Then the pain has an end and you have what you learned to start again. I'm thinking this has a world-wide application. Maybe we need another Depression. Maybe the world needs this in order to right itself and the harder we try to avoid the pain of what this might be like, the worse we make it.

Wow, I'm feeling really heavy. I wanted to be sure to listen to Dennis Prager's Happiness Hour on Friday, but I will probably cry through the whole damn thing.

NIA and Visualization

It's raining, I mean real rain, not drizzle. There are only two patches of snow left in my yards, both where there used to be a tall shoveling pile. Today's rain should make the last of both of them. I took a picture of my Christmas tree, because I'm thinking it might not last until Christmas,


The cats are annoyed by the tree anyway, it blocks their view. They appear to now be too grown up to play with the low hanging ornaments, which are within easy reach from the side table.

I received a useful link for the National Inflation Association, http://inflation.us/
They include some information that backs up my post from a few days earlier. Please note that this site includes some chilling stuff and that I could not find out exactly who they are (although after reading some articles, I can see why). I added this link to my favorite links, and also realized that I did not add my studio site, so I added that one, too.

My trip to the art store was a disappointment. I suppose it will do for supplies in a pinch and they had cheap acrylics which would be useful if I ever do murals again, but their prices were high and their staff was loud. There was a stressed artist huffing and puffing down the isles and someone with a screaming, unruly kid. I used to spend hours looking at art supplies in the old days, but most of those stores are gone. I bought myself a glittery smiley face pencil, and some new brush cleaner, since the brush cleaner I have is about 30 years old, and left.

Last night I watched my favorite Christmas movie, Love Actually. Some of it is really funny and some of it is really sad, but by the end of the movie when everyone is hugging each other in the airport I am crying over the joy of it. The end is almost as good as the end of Cinema Paradiso, where all the old edited kissing scenes are edited together.

Yesterday I started another study, which I think I will finish today. Today I am going to the bookstore to spend a few hours reading children's books. I used to love spending hours at the bookstore, too, and I hope people leave their screaming kids at home today.

The next enlightenment topic is Visualization with a passage by William James,

"The is a law in psychology that if you form a picture in your mind of what you would like to be, and you keep and hold that picture there long enough, you will soon become exactly as you have been thinking."

The author does not reference from where he took this passage. William James wrote The Varieties of Religious Experience, which was first published in 1902. I have the book, which is a must read if you want to read about spiritual experiences, but I find it super difficult to read and have not read much of it. Anyway, it is the same idea as in The Secret, which makes the concept simple and accessible. From The Emerald Tablet, circa 3000 BC, via The Secret,

As above, so below.
As within, so without.

You would think that being a visual person, this would be easy for me, but it's not. I do not really visualize my work, I plan it well and then let it flow out. I'm always a bit surprised at the result. For me, visualization has helped me change my attitude, but not helped me achieve a goal. Did I visualize myself living in a nice house with a yard and friendly neighbors in Boise, Idaho? Maybe. It seems more like I trudged my way through the necessary steps towards a picture of a simpler, quieter life. Maybe I should visualize myself with an income.

More Reading, More Writing

Even though there is hardly any snow left, Cruiser is still suspicious,


If I get up out of the comfy chair, Spit usually makes a beeline for the chair's now warm spot and takes over,


Yesterday she took over and would not share for the entire afternoon.

I received a comment from a coward that did not provide his name on my post including an opinion about S.B. 510, The Food Safety and Modernization Act. I responded as a comment under the post. The author told me I should spend more time reading and less time writing! Ha! I suppose the $825 billion needed for the bill is already appropriated, so it does not count as spending, which is government double-speak. As of November 30, 2010, this bill is a mere 242 pages, although it regularly refers to amending existing legislation, so good luck trying to pull together all the affected law in addition to the new law and trying to read it all.

While I was spending more time reading, I finished John Irving's The Fourth Hand. Irving's latest books have been in a different style, I think, and this one is short and back to the weirdness of The World According to Garp.

While I was spending too much time writing, I finished my Week One homework for the Artist's Way. Today I am treating myself to a trip to the only art store in Boise, Quality Art Supplies, that is if you do not count wanna-be art stores like Michael's and Aaron Brothers. I made some progress on the children's book and did a drawing for an illustration. I finally got through copying all the parts about my cats on my blog and pasting them in order to use as a framework for the book. I'm only using the parts until we got to Boise and got settled. Does that count as too much reading or too much writing? To me, it always comes out to not enough painting.

I am way behind on Wisdom of the Ages. The next topic is Laughter, with a poem called A Child's Laughter by Algernon Charles Swinburne,

All the bells of heaven may ring,
All the birds of heaven may sing,
All the wells on earth may spring,
All the winds on earth may bring
All sweet sounds together---
Sweeter far than all things heard,
Hand of harper, tone of bird,
Sound of woods at sundawn stirred,
Welling water's winsome word,
Wind in warm wan weather,

One thing yet there is, that none
Hearing ere its chime be done
Knows not well the sweetest one
Heard of man beneath the sun,
Hoped in heaven hereafter;
Soft and strong and loud and light,
Very sound of very light
Heard from morning's rosiest height,
When the soul of all delight
Fills a child's clear laughter.

Golden bells of welcome rolled
Never forth such notes, nor told
Hours so blithe in tones so bold,
As the radiant mouth of gold
Here that rings forth heaven.
If the golden-crested wren
Were a nightingale---why, then,
Something seen and heard of men
Might be half as sweet as when
Laughs a child of seven.

The author describes Swinburne as using "word-music" and that description seems accurate, but I'm not sure any poem can convey the spirit of listening to the child's laughter itself. When I need laughter and there are no children around, I just pull out one of those Johnny Carson DVDs. I do agree with Wisdom's author, laughter is great spiritual medicine.

Brunette-denial and Ants

Here's my house decorated with lights and the tree in the picture window,


I cheated and made the picture darker, since I have not read about how to take long exposure pictures on my camera, yet.

I set a Christmas place mat in front of the tree table thinking I would put presents on it, but Spit thinks it is her spot next to the heater vent,


I think Spit's winter coat is darker here, but it is still super soft.
Here's Cruiser enjoying the prime spot all to himself that is usually occupied by both cats,


I got my haircut yesterday. The hairdresser appears to have been terrorized by my hair's lopsided curl and dried it leaving it pretty straight, although I think Kathleen used to do that sometimes. All of my blond is gone and I am back to my brunette-denial, except now I am a brunette with shiny glints of gray. To me, I have light brown hair with natural blond streaks, like I did when I was 16 during the summer. At least the gray is shiny gray, like my Mom's.

Even though I am not working, the weekend still feels like a weekend and I feel less pressure to do anything in particular, so today I just cleaned and organized at home. Cleaning always makes me feel better. Even Idaho has ants. They are tiny and started coming in as soon as we got some good rain. It's not the mass invasion that it can be in CA. In Simi twice a year, in the winter when it rained and in the summer when it was too hot and dry, I would wake up to a massive line of ants from the door to the kitchen. I would spray the back door, then they came in the front door. I would spray the front door, then they would come in through the middle of the house! So, today I sprayed for ants outside and cleaned the kitchen.

I made some Christmas presents for people here and you know my supply of prayer candles made the move intact? Not one broke and not one melted over the wick. During two moves and my stay at Dad's I think I only lost one earring and a pair of eyeglasses. I thought I lost a turtleneck, but I just found it. Three glasses broke in the move and my coffee table has a new small scratch. I think that is pretty good.

Last Sunday I had pancakes for breakfast with Lani's excellent blueberry peach jam (I realized I do not have any syrup) instead of the homemade granola I have for breakfast every other day. Tomorrow I think I will have blueberry pancakes with the last of the blueberries I froze this summer. I polished off Lani's pickles, but I could not throw away the great spicy juice, so I added a can of green beans. You know those canned green beans that always taste like canned green beans no matter what? They remind me of lunch in elementary school. I'm hoping for spicy green beans like in a bean salad in a few days. If it doesn't work out, I'm only out a can of beans.

Chaos is almost here

Mom sent citrus! Thanks, Mom.

It rained again last night and only patches of snow remain. It looks like rain and warmer temperatures for a while, although I've heard that another arctic blast is predicted before Christmas. I moved the Virgin into the house and out of the weather, but where I can still see her every day.

Tuesday night I received an email that the state job, where I scored a 100 on the application, was frozen by The Social Security Administration. This was the day after Obama's supposed tax agreement, which I think is curious. I received a reject letter from the Housing Authority, and a 77, which is low, and a 91, which is high, on two State jobs. One State job is still pending a score. I finished a two page letter of interest for an Idaho Historical Society job and sent that application off last night, but it was a real battle to get that done. I think I fought a feeling of futility when I wrote that letter and I hope it doesn't show.

That feeling of futility and uncertainty has lasted a few days, and I wasted a bunch of time arguing politics this week, so I am going to get up on my soapbox again and get it out of my system. Now that Washington, DC is in complete chaos, I'm wondering how long it will take to spread to the rest of the country. This year I've taken many actions to get ready for something, I'm still not sure what, but I don't have much actions left and I feel like I'm waiting and I don't like it.

Anyone notice the huge FDA expansion bill that passed the Senate?
Huge expansion of the Food and Drug Administration and authority of the Health and Human Services Department with Senate Bill 510 – the Food Safety Modernization Act,
http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/food-safety-bill-promises-major-change/17886.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/1123/Food-safety-bill-101-What-are-the-facts-and-myths

Lets not pretend that the Dems care anything about the national debt by passing this one, and if it passes, forget your home canning business and food storage.

Then we have Obama announce an agreement with Republicans on continuing the current income tax rates. For the record, we are talking compromise here, 2 issues for Dems, 2 issues for Republicans, with both agreeing on the 5th issue (tax cuts) but disagreeing on including one group. Besides his inexcusable baby-didn't-get-his-way attitude, he doesn't say anything to any Dems, doesn't even involve them in the conversation or tell them about the agreement before he rushes to TV to have a temper tantrum. Now we have chaos and rebellion in the Senate and delays will probably go in to next year. Either Obama is incompetent, or he is smart and intended to cause chaos, you have to pick one, it can't be both.

Two tax cut bills were passed by Congress and signed by President Bush. One in 2001 and one in 2003. Following are the votes, with Dems voting against them both times:

2001 tax cut vote
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00170
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2001/roll149.xml

2003 tax cut vote
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobs_and_Growth_Tax_Relief_Reconciliation_Act_of_2003

In 2001 we had a budget surplus, and Dems still voted against it. So, again, lets not pretend that the Dems care about the budget deficit. The budget deficit increased through 2004, then headed down through 2007.

Here is the 2010 Federal budget:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget

Where is the austerity, the fiscal responsibility? These are some of the increases, just from Federal fiscal year 2009 to 2010:
$11 billion (+275%) – Potential disaster costs
# $51.7 billion (+40.9%) – Department of State and Other International Programs
# $47.5 billion (+18.5%) – Department of Housing and Urban Development
# $46.7 billion (+12.8%) – Department of Education
# $13.8 billion (+48.4%) – Department of Commerce
# $10.5 billion (+34.6%) – Environmental Protection Agency
# $9.7 billion (+10.2%) – Social Security Administration
# $5.0 billion (+100%) – National Infrastructure Bank

What are "potential disaster costs" up 275%?! This is from Wikipedia and I could not find a definition. What's going on at the Department of Commerce?! Anyone know we created a National Infrastructure Bank? I don't care if just cutting all increases will not balance the budget, but I've gone through a whole lot of pain trying to balance my own budget, and that included lowering my expenses.

Then we have $110 billion of printed money that will need to be destroyed, at a cost to taxpayers of $120 million (not including the cost of the bonfire or the giant shredder):
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/fed-quarintines-over-1-billion-100-bills-after-misprint/

This has to have put a dent in the Fed's need to increase the money supply, or maybe this is the plan, the money still counts, it's just not in circulation, you can't have any.

And now we are back to the debt. According to TreasuryDirect.com, "The Public Debt Outstanding decreases when there are more redemptions of Treasury securities than there are issues." The day after Obama spoke about a supposed income tax deal, we had a US Treasuries sell-off, the largest in two years. This increases the government's cost to borrow (Treasuries sold at a higher yield) and the national debt (more issuing than redeeming.) This is the opposite of the Fed's announced Quantitative Easing 2. According to Wikipedia, "The central bank buys government bonds or other financial assets to increase the money supply, thereby increasing the excess reserves of the banking system, and raising the prices of the financial assets bought (which lowers their yield)." The US Treasuries sell-off increased our debt even more than it was. So, who cares about the national debt again?

I do not understand this financial stuff much, but something is very, very, wrong here. I'm wondering, did the new 5 billion dollar National Bank approve the sell off of Treasuries to increase our national debt? I'm reading that the Fed is propping-up stocks, will they pull the rug out the next time Obama doesn't get his way?

To learn more about the national debt, here's the site:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/resources/faq/faq_publicdebt.htm#DebtFinance
You can even make your own, direct contribution!

Horses and Zion

Here's a better shot of the Eagle horses,


And the study of The Narrows in Zion National Park,


I received my postcards to give out for last Friday's First Friday in Eagle, oops, a bit late. The printer was supposedly delayed due to the weather. It does also have Eagle's Country Christmas on it, which is December 11. I think I will go if it is not snowing.

It rained all day yesterday and this morning we had fog. The weatherman says even if it is 50 degrees every day, it will take weeks to melt all the snow we got. The rain is making a good dent, but I am still parking in front and avoiding the slushy mess that is now the alley.

Today I just went into town to the post office to mail Christmas gifts and to buy some gift certificates for two friends here. One gift certificate is for The Chocolate Bar downtown, which is one of those stores you cannot walk by without going in and when you do it smells almost as good as fresh cut Christmas trees. I did not buy anything for myself, I am having enough trouble with the super sized bag of cashew and M&M trail mix that I bought at Cost Co. "Great deal" appears to be as bad as "low calorie" in encouraging a lack of restraint.

My Christmas tree is now up, I put it up yesterday. The only living tree I could find was a stone pine and it didn't have any smell, so I got a 3 foot $15 cut tree. I did not saw an inch off the bottom, since it was pretty fresh, but it is not soaking up much water so maybe it wasn't that fresh. I put it on a table in the front window, since I have that great picture window in front, but this means it is right over the heater vent. I hope the thing lasts until Christmas. One advantage of the table over the heating vent is that it is deflecting the heat into the room in the direction of the couch and making the whole room warmer.

Spit has won the battle over the computer keyboard, more tomorrow. She is not as persistent as Cruiser, but her little claws are like razors.

Horses and Geese

It was a clear sunny day yesterday and warm enough in the afternoon for that temperature warning light in my car to go off (over 37 degrees). The sun was out, the roads were mostly clear, and everyone's bad driving habits were out. It was as if everyone was tired of being so careful and decided to let loose for a day while they had the chance. I forgot to take advantage of the sunlight to photograph my latest work until it was too late, so I will photograph this again, but this is horses in Eagle,


Geese have been honking overhead all the time for the last two weeks. These must be a different kind from a different place than the ones that flew overhead throughout September. They took advantage of the sunshine yesterday and stopped for breakfast,



This is the edge of a huge parking lot on the edge of downtown, which was full of hundreds of geese.

I shoveled a space big enough for my car, so I can park in front of my house and avoid the alley for a while, and met some neighbors on a walk that live down the street. People are so friendly here. This couple was from Alaska, so they knew all about snow, but they thought Boise doesn't know how to handle snow, unlike Alaska. Kurt came out to watch me shovel, he's the kind of guy who would lend me a shovel, but he will not help me shovel. He has not found a job. He is a construction worker/truck driver and his last interview was for what was supposed to be a delivery driver and it turned out it was a door to door cold sales job selling meat. He said the longest term employee there was there a week. He seemed to want me to say it was OK for him not to take the job and I told him it seemed like the kind of job that would end up costing him money.

BSU lost to Nevada last week and blew a chance for the Rose Bowl, but won their last game with the WAC conference this week and the WAC championship. They are expected to play in the Maaco Bowl in Las Vegas on December 22, who ever heard of the Maaco Bowl? TCU is expected to play Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. TCU? In the Rose Bowl? It seems the dominant college teams have changed while I wasn't paying attention for the last 20 years. Today we find out if BSU's quarterback Kellen Moore will be a Heisman Trophy finalist, which will be a first for BSU.

I need a haircut already, my bangs are way too long, and I am missing Kathleen. My next haircut is scheduled for Friday. The last cut was pretty good, but it does not seem to have held up as long as Kathleen's usually do. There is the added problem here of hat hair. Once you put on that hat, your hair is ruined, flattened out on top and maybe a ring around your head where the edge of the hat was. Hats are especially bad for bangs, they either get mushed down into your face, or messed up and pointing every which way. This is a quality problem, but I am vain enough to appreciate no-hat days, like yesterday.

Living with Snow

This is my hat/coat/gloves/scarfs set up,


The red coat is one of my Christmas presents from Mom.

It is some kind of rule that if you set down your boots for the snow to melt off and then move them, you will eventually step in the cold puddle left behind. It doesn't matter where you set them.

I shoveled my back driveway, which is not very long. Underneath the few inches of snow was a layer of ice. I also shoveled a path from my back patio to the garage.





The last two pictures are of the alley I have to negotiate in order to drive out of my garage. My garage is last, so no one drives to the left, including me. I go to the right, which is at least a little chopped up by my neighbor's cars. There is a dip in the road where the alley meets the street and I can't stop in the alley or I will get stuck, so I try to drive slow, speed up before the dip, and turn on to the road. This is easier when there are no cars parked on the road, but on a weekday there are several parked on each side and if I go fast enough to get through the dip, I usually slide a bit into the street and imagine myself sliding into one of the parked cars. It's a regular dilemma, do I want to be stuck in the snow or slide into a parked car?

This is the Boise Bed and Breakfast, The Heritage Inn, last Sunday when the sun was out and it was still pretty,


It rained some more all day Friday and I did not go to Eagle again. I figured if I did not want to drive in the mess, no one else would be driving to go to a First Friday either, and if I went through an ordeal to get there I would be really pissed that no one showed up and it was a waste of time. Then yesterday it snowed for most of the day. I was supposed to meet someone in town, which was good since if I wasn't I probably would have stayed home. I left early in case I got stuck in the alley, which I did not, so I had time to walk around the Farmer's Market and get some coffee before I met Christelle.

Most of the vendors were at the Farmer's Market, people heartier than me. There was a new guy selling Christmas trees, which I stopped just to smell. I heard it was a good year for trees and they must not come from very far here and they just smelled awesome.

Cruiser darted out the front door when I went out to turn on the Christmas lights on Friday night, so I let both cats go out in the front yard. They are making me a bit crazy, like being cooped up with two bored kids. The front yard is still full of snow, so both cats can walk around the front porch and walkway, but they can't go far because they will not walk in the snow. Spit stands on the walkway with her feet on the cement and her nose stretched out over the snow as far as it will go as if she can smell more that way and both cats explored every inch that was not covered in snow. Spit wanted to go next door and find those next door cats that get to go outside all the time, but there was just too much snow in the way.

I saw a coyote walking around downtown when I drove home Friday afternoon and the dope in front of me slammed on the brakes in the ice and snow to look. The brakes made sure that I saw the coyote, but even I would not have slammed on my brakes for her, she wasn't even headed our way. This one appears to have been wandering downtown since Thanksgiving and evaded being caught by Fish & Game. Seeing a coyote usually means something for me, or maybe it's just a coyote.


Or maybe I just need to be aware that I am almost in the country and my cats would make a nice coyote lunch. This coyote looks hungry.

Preparedness

The key to living in a real winter is preparedness. Today it is raining. Ten inches of snow mixed with rain making a big slushy mess of every road and parking lot.

Tonight I was going to Eagle, so this afternoon I cleaned my car windshield and scrubbed the windshield washers to get ready. I was getting stir crazy anyway, so I left really early. I took my hat and mittens even though I didn't think I needed them. A woman in Southern Idaho locked herself out of her car and froze to death last week. I am glad I have a car that will not let me lock myself out. (Although it can't keep me from losing my key!) I should have shoveled the snow away from my garage door, since I backed out into snow that was higher than the bottom of my car. Too late to shovel now, I will do that tomorrow. A 15 minute drive took me 40 minutes. Not as bad as being on the 405 in the rain, but bad for Idaho.

The worst drivers in Idaho must be in Eagle and when I drive there it reminds me of California driving. Only in Eagle its even dumber, since most of the cars on the road on my way home were trucks, like Toyota Tundras or Dodge Ram trucks, and your cute zippy little Beemer would be no match for one of them and you no match for the truck driver, either.

Rembrandt's Coffee is a nice place, really big and tonight there was live music. Their parking lot could use some help and I was surprised that I did not have any trouble leaving, since I parked in three inches of slush on top of packed snow. There were five of us trying the Artist's Way. Next meeting is in two weeks and we picked a meeting place closer to me. Tomorrow morning I start the three page mind dump writing and I thought I could have really used it today, so I am looking forward to it.

Tomorrow I am not sure if I will go back to Eagle for another First Friday, but I am definitely going out somewhere, since today I felt restless and cooped up all day. I think the cats are too, and they are driving me nuts. Cruiser knocked over the computer speaker, then he tried to knock over the lamp, now he is laying across half of the desk. At least he's purring.

Record Snow and Bread

Last night it snowed six inches and it is still snowing. This appears to be a record. The average snowfall for Boise for December is 5.8 inches, so we are past average on the 1st day! I think my neighbor Joe shoveled my walkway for me this morning and by the look of my walkway now it looks like it snowed another two inches since he shoveled. Spit is so upset she spent the entire morning under the covers.

Since I am not going out in more than eight inches of snow, I decided to bake some bread. I finished the dough and set it for its first rise and then realized I only have one loaf pan and I need two. So, I set out to walk to the store. Fred Meyer is only a mile away and bread pans are not heavy. No way I was going to try to drive in that much new snow. I did not realize how much of my walk would be uncleared snow, meaning I am walking through eight inch snow drifts, and sometimes I thought I should have worn my snowshoes. The residential streets were barely cleared and I tried to walk in the tire tracks, but the main road was thick slush and I wanted to stay as far away from sliding cars as I could.

By the time I got back, my jeans were soaked past my ankles and when I took off my boots, out dumped a bunch of snow that gathered around the top of my boots and folds of my jeans. I readied the bread for it's second rise and shoveled a path through my back patio. It is super light, so you don't really shovel it, you more like push it to the side. I'm using my garden shovel with the flat edge. Now I can imagine the origin of snowmen, it's something to do with that pile of snow you shoveled off the walkway.






Yesterday it started to snow in the morning, so I went to the mall to finish my Christmas shopping. It was snowing pretty light yesterday, but I did not finish and I'm wondering when I will be able to go out again. I am supposed to go out to Eagle Thursday night and by then it might be raining. I would rather that it be snowing, rain and snow mixed together will be a mess.


The bread came out well. It is James Beard's cheese bread. If it tastes good, I will give one loaf to Joe for shoveling my walkway.