Archives for August 2011

Slept late, though still somewhat fitfully. Travelled down to Cayuga Lake to visit with one of my high school friends and her husband at their cottage for the day. Chatted all day, then lit a fire of dried (sort of) seaweed on their little beach for a bit of a bonfire. Got home around 10:00, having had a great time. To bed right away, though, wishing for a day off but knowing it will be busy tomorrow as we plan for our departure on Tuesday.

First half of our travel was uneventful, but then we sat on the tarmac at National for about 90 minutes, just under the mandatory “return to gate” rule, waiting for weather along the route to clear. Apparently since the passenger Bill of Rights passed in Congress, airlines have to pay a $75,000 per passenger fine if they go over a certain amount of time on the tarmac. Anyway, we got in just under the wire, so we still managed to get home just before dark, with a stop for ice cream, of course! Glad to be back, but ready to move on next week!

Another so so night sleep,then headed off to work with the client again today, again made great progress. Powers that be have big things in mind in the future, trying to work up to the task. Finished a bit earlier because of other obligations, so we headed out to another ice cream place for our “dinner” before heading back to the hotel. Still feel tired, looking forward to getting back to our old routine!

Had a so so night’s sleep, got up at 7:00, had breakfast and headed out to meet our client. Worked straight through from 9:00-5:00, with just a brief sandwich break. Client came a long way, worked hard and applied everything. Love it when they soak it up like a sponge! Found a little ice cream place downtown before heading sraight back to the hotel to try to rest for the evening, feel like we haven’t had a break in such a long time!

Woke up early as we readied ourselves for the day. Brothers (and niece) arrived right on time (ten minutes early), but I had gotten a bit behind printing boarding passes (both ours and my brother’s, who called while driving here to see if I could do that for him), Last night, our seats hadn’t been assigned yet, but this morning they had, Row 3 next to each other, thank goodness. At last, the front of the plane! The rest of the flights are further back, but what can you expect when you book less than a week in advance! Thankfully, the rest of the flight was uneventful, even with a stopover at Reagan National. Not surprised, considering it wasn’t Delta! Flew USAir this time, and had no problems. Arrived right on scheduled, picked up a rental car, which the gentleman at the counter was nice enough to upgrade to a Nissan for free, but when we got into I immediately realized that despite numerous stickers to the contrary, the car had been smoked in. Sorry, but as an ex-smoker, I really couldn’t take that, so we changed cars, getting a cute little Ford Focus hatchback that had really jazzy lines to it. Got a little lost on the way to the hotel, but stumbled upon a grocery store where we were able to get everything we needed for the duration. Stayed at the Hampton Inn in Southside, which was about the closest hotel to where we would be working, plus we like the free breakfast : -). Room was comfy and we were ready for an early night.

Last week, a new client had contacted us about coming to Jacksonville, FL to work with him, and we finally settled on this week, flying Tuesday, working Wed/Thurs, flying back Friday. It meant missing spending more time with the family, but we can’t turn work down, and we had sort of planned on leaving here midweek anyway, so it didn’t really matter. They’ve been taking great care of the horses and dogs while we’ve been here, so we figured it was best to just fly out of Rochester again. Spend the day finalizing the travel plans and getting ready to leave. We also discovered that despite our putting dogs on flea and heartworm treatment, the fleas had run rampant again, so we had to again wash the dogs and vacuum the carpet. Everything’s so damp, we’ve had a lot of rain lately, and we’re listing slightly to one side, so there’s a bit of water sneaking in around the slide-outs in the RV, which is making everything seem damper than usual. Anyway, we finally got done around 7:00, mostly packed and ready to go except the last minute things. My oldest brother is flying out tomorrow too, so we’ve arranged to have him come down to the farm at 8:00 in the morning, and ride with us the rest of the way, which will save my youngest brother from having to drive an extra 40 minutes each way. Finally got to bed around 11:00, after watching an old Randolph Scott western, which is always a good thing!

All the best laid plans… We had intended to take the horses out to the beach today, having scouted it out yesterday on our way out to the cottage, but once again we were thwarted. During breakfast, I received a call from the vet saying one of the blood tests on the dogs had come back positive for the presence of Lyme disease activity. Apparently that doesn’t necessary mean it’s still present, just that it had been in the past, and the only thing to be done is to either have an expensive test done, or run a course of antibiotics as a prophylactic. Either way it meant a trip to the vet, 35 minutes away. So I packed up Marina, whom they told me was the one with the problem, left Hubby to transfer hay from the horse trailer to the pickup (a necessary chore that had been planned for the day, as we needed to clear out the hay in order to use the trailer), and headed out to the vet’s. Once I arrived, the lab tech took Marina away to draw blood. Several minutes later, the doctor came out, and informed me that the file had been mislabeled, and it wasn’t Marina that needed the test, it was Billy! Great! I had to pack up Marina, drive all the way back to the farm, pick up Billy (though I brought Marina along again, just in case), and drive all the way back into town again, a full hour out and back. So Billy got his test, but by the time I got back it was 4:00, and way too late to consider riding anywhere. Hubby had managed to transfer all the hay from the horse trailer to the pickup, so at least that job got done. We decided we needed to have a night off anyway, we haven’t had a day off in a while, and weren’t likely to get one for a while either.

Slept later than we expected, then did some chores to do in the morning before finally heading out to the cottage. Stopped to pick up a few things along the way, then spent some more time socializing. Enjoyed the clam dinner with new potatoes and sweet corn before lounging around the campfire. A neighbor shot off a few fireworks just for fun. Then it was decided that some of the family wanted to go to a local bar and listen to some music, and I got picked to be the designated driver. After promises that we’d only be there for an hour, we headed out to a club a few miles down the road. Not a bad place, with a restaurant, bar, deck, pool and hot tub right on the water, and the band wasn’t bad, but when I suggested to Hubby to appease himself with a coffee and brandy, we discovered they didn’t have coffee or brandy! We listened for awhile before heading back, arriving back after midnight. By then most everyone else had gone to bed our home, and Hubby and I headed back to the ranch.

It was decided that we would pick up my oldest brother at the airport today, and pick up the clams for the clambake planned for the weekend. He arrived at about noon, we headed to the famous Palmer’s for two bags of clams, then north to drop him off at House of Guitars so that he could look through their vinyl records, looking to add to his collection. Meanwhile, we went to an Ear, Nose & Throat doctor for Hubby. He’s been almost deaf in one ear since our flight to Atlanta last week, because we ended up getting relegated to the back of the plane behind the engines and next to the galley. Turns out that after his examination, the doctor concluded it wasn’t due to fluid on his ears, which was the first conclusion, but that in fact it was due to dehydration and weight loss! Apparently there are fat pads that help keep his Eustachian tubes closed, and because of his recent weight loss, they aren’t fully doing the job. The doctor said he just needed to give it some time to settle in, and to keep drinking fluids. Seems like a strange thing, but it makes sense, and we’ll give it a go! Afterward we picked up big brother and headed out to the cottage another brother has rented on Sodus Bay, stopping at Orbachers for ice cream along the way, as well as stops for groceries, and, of course, beer for the boys. Hung out with the family and their friends for a few hours before coming back home. Clambake tomorrow, expect it to be a long night!