Storms Past, But Coming Again and Cleaning OUT

Right now it is very humid out, and we are currently under a tornado watch until 8 pm. Tornadoes are actually a very rare occurance up here - I've always thought because the presence of so many mountains and trees makes it difficult for those circular winds to develop, but I'm not sure whether that's fact or not. But for whatever reason, we very rarely have a tornado in our area, for which I am thankful. Right at this moment the sun is actually shining, but there are thunderstorms all around us, and by tonight it is supposed to be cool and rainy.

When I got home from work, the rain from this morning had already passed, and our cats were enjoying one of their favorite spots by the sliding glass door. In the first one I woke them up by getting out the camera, but then they decided there wasn't anything special going on and went back to sleep.

After a bite to eat for lunch, I went upstairs and tackled the closet. Just beginning a job like this makes me glad I have a few years to downsize all of our possessions. We have stuff packed in there pretty well!

Over here are the mini-photo albums that have pictures of my newborn nephew from 12 years ago (he was the first baby of the next generation, so there are LOTS of pictures of him!) with my Dad who passed away three years ago and over there is the extra monitor that Harry just HAS to keep around for when he might have to work on somebody's computer, and over here is extra blankets and pillows for the maybe one time a year when we MIGHT have company and need another blanket and pillow. And of course the extra chairs that we never use for our dining room table and all of the various duffle bags and suitcases that we use when we travel. Whew - what a job! Not so much because of the size of the room - it's not that big of a closet, but because of that age-old "what if I need it someday thought" that just seems to be wired into us. So I keep plugging away - the photos will come out of the photo albums and into photo boxes and at some point scanned and onto the computer. Harry kept his monitor for the moment, but in a few years it will be time for that too to go bye-bye.

It doesn't look like I got too far, the above picture was taken AFTER I got rid of a bunch of boxes and a cake plate, and an old velour blanket and a bunch of clothes. I sure do admire those people who can begin and complete this process in a matter of months, but I am very glad I'm not one of them!! :)

A little bit of the "to get rid of now" pile...

Inside Kind of Day

When I got up this morning, it was easy to see it is going to be the type of day where you have to find stuff to do inside. We'll be lucky if we get our walks in. Unfortunately, before I do anything else, I have to work for a few hours. We have limited Saturday hours, so at least I will be done with work for the day at 2:15. Then when I get home I think the agenda for the day is to get some laundry done and work on painting the upstairs guest room. So exciting right?

I tried to get the rain on the deck in these pictures but I'm not sure how well it shows up.

Bummer! Definitely going to be an inside kind of day!!

Hot and Humid

Today was a work day, up until about an hour ago. One thing about being inside in a climate controlled workplace on a day like today is that the outside air sure hits you in the face when you leave it! But it's really nice anyway! Whenever I am tempted to complain about the heat, I remember what the weather is going to be like in just 4 short months. We still have probably 6 or 7 more winters at the very least before we turn into travelers who head for warmer climes when the days start getting shorter. I don't remember minding the cold and ice and snow years ago. I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, or because we've made this decision, and I know the number of winters we have are limited, or maybe it's a combination of both!! :) Last winter really wasn't too bad - we had some snow (maybe 8 inches) in December, than it was just cold with no major snowstorms, and then in March again we had a good blast of snowstorms before the winter faded away quickly to spring. So that really wasn't too awful of a winter - no ice storms at least - that's so much worse than snow. I think it's just the whole idea of winter that I don't like to think about - having to wear coats, and boots, and scraping off car windows after work, and not being able to get out and walk or bike. This year Harry and I have made the decision to join a gym for a few months this winter. It's all well and good to say I'm going to keep walking in the cold and snow (after all my mother does it!) but I know myself too well - and I know that it's just not going to happen!! So I have to make a commitment to myself and keep it! I think that is one of the parts of the RV lifestyle that I am most looking forward to - not having outside activities curtailed by the onset of winter. So bring on the heat - you're not going to hear me complaining! :)

Better Day

Yesterday was a much nicer day! Of course, it always helps to have the day off. How can you have a bad day off? :) So that was good. I spent much of the day doing an online DMV safety course to lower our insurance premiums. It was a six hour course, and I had done maybe 40 minutes of it before yesterday. They only allow 30 days to complete it, and I had 17 days left, so I figured the day off was a good day to get it done. So after a short walk in the morning, I plunked myself down in front of the computer, and spent from 8:10 until 1:30 reading all these screens about driving defensively. The course has a 6 hour requirement, so each screen is timed, and you can't click to go to the next screen until your time is up. While it wasn't exactly the most fun day off I've ever had, I felt such a sense of accomplishment when I finished it! :) After that, it was off to BJs to do the shopping we didn't have time to do the night before. Then, after Harry came home from work, we ended the day at a nice restaurant called Chez Mike. The name doesn't conjure up the vision of a very elegant restaurant for me, but it really was very nice. They also had a very good bartender - I had a drink called a Blackberry Lemonade, which was delish. And our dinners were great. So it was a wonderful 1st Anniversary dinner. Then after another short walk after we got home to hopefully walk some of that great dinner off, I called it a day!

Today, it's back to work. Can't have every day off, I guess. Well, not yet - those days will come! :)

Long Day

Yesterday was a long day that didn't work quite exactly as planned. I had to work until 5 pm, and had a hair appt at 7 pm. In between the plan was to get a bite to eat, and hopefully get some walking in at the mall before it was time for the appt. So first of all, I didn't get out of work when I expected to. It was just a busy day, and there were things to finish up. So we had to rush our "dinner" a bit - LOL - not your usual anniversary fare - mall Chinese food. But I do love Chinese food, so it was good anyway. Then I headed over to my appt. and my 7 pm appt turned into a 7:30 appt. and I never got out of there until about 20 of 9. So the shopping we were going to do afterward didn't happen either, since the store we were going to closed at 9. I was ready to come home and crash by the end of that evening.

I got thinking about the thread I read on RV-dreams a week or so ago while I was sitting in the waiting area, waiting for my appointment to start - the one about whether to continue hair coloring on the road. Harry and I are in the "not going to" category. It will definitely be freeing to not have this every 5 or 6 week ritual of going to the hair salon and having my hair colored. But, on the other hand, I can't even imagine what I am going to look like! I was probably 3/4 gray/silver/whatever color it was when I started coloring my hair about 4 years ago. I am pretty sure that whatever brown I had left is long gone. It will be an experience in the beginning I am sure, however, I will be glad to be free of this requirement to go have my hair done every few weeks. I can't even imagine having to locate a hair stylist in all different areas of the country, and I don't want to get into having to do it myself. I figure I can always go back to hair coloring easily enough, if I can't stand looking at it! LOL

One Year Ago

I didn't really forget this, but I was so busy writing about our bike trip yesterday that I forgot to mention what today is!! One year ago today, Harry and I were married on a beach in Key West. It was a very simple ceremony, but I thought it was the best! :) We, and several members of our families, took a Carnival Cruise out of Fort Lauderdale that left May 31st, 2009. The first port of call was in Key West. At around 9 am, we left the ship and walked a short distance to the Key West Hyatt, where we were married. Then we had a breakfast there afterwards. After all the pictures were taken, we spent the rest of the day walking around the shops in Key West, and sampling some of the great food and drink available there. It was such a wonderful day!!

This picture shows the great day we had. The weather was perfect! The ocean is in the background. I am looking a little serious at the moment because I am watching my mom read a Bible passage while she tries not to cry! :) My sister is in the foreground holding my niece, and my brother is in the left of the picture with the camera. Behind Harry is his brother-in-law, Dave, who was his best man.

First Bike Trip

We had a great ride at Corning Preserve. I have lived in this area for 4 years and have never been there! Makes me wonder what else is around here that I haven't discovered yet! It was so easy to get to - 15 minutes or so from our house - nice big parking area - why haven't we been here before?

The trail follows along the Hudson River from Albany to Watervliet. It is 4.5 miles from the parking lot to the parking area in Watervliet. It also goes in the other direction but it is not so picturesque. About 5 minutes later you're biking in downtown Albany. Yuck.

Here is Harry waiting for me to take pictures before we start out. LOL

The ride was lovely, and there were enough trees in most areas to throw a lot of shade on the path. For the most part, the ride was next to the river, so there was a nice breeze blowing.

The only negative about the trail is that it never gets very far away from the highway, so there is pretty constant traffic noise. This is the parking area in Watervliet at the other end of the trail.

We had a sandwich and a drink before doing the trail a second time. In all, we biked twenty miles yesterday - not bad for our first one of the year.

We saw a group of tourists getting ready to take a ride on the Hudson River. I don't think of Albany as a tourist destination, but I guess it is for some people! :)

Now I have the biking itch again - hopefully the summer weather will cooperate so we can get many more in!