7 Quick Takes (Vol 92)

Weeeeeee, it’s November. And it is Friday. And I am assuming you are here for some quick takes on life here at Chez Knit. All the drivel you could ever want. So, after reading my fascinating words, remember to click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of the approaching winter here in the Frozen Northeast Ohio (there is supposed to be snow tomorrow) over to Conversion Diary to read what everyone else has been doing.

And now on to our show……..

1.
I am attempting to train myself to go as “paperless” as possible these days in anticipation of possibly getting an iphone when Verizon finally has them next year. I am finding it more difficult that I thought.

I am a list person big time. If it isn’t written down I won’t remember to do it. Lists make me feel like I am on track. I like to be able to cross things off the list. To look at the list and see progress. It just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and happy and….

No one ever said I wasn’t wired a bit oddly.

I have, for many years, maintained a paper “to do” list. It sits on my desk, I add and subtract to it. It worked very well for me. But it is time to move into the 21st century.

I probably should remind you that I have HHBL’s old iphone. It no longer functions as an iphone, obviously, and the wifi doesn’t work 99% of the time despite having the Apple Genius Bar work their woowoo magic on it. But it is still a very helpful device and I love it despite it’s disabilities. I lovingly refer to it as my “ibrick”.

So my ibrick and I are working to get me to be somewhat paperless. It is going to be a tough slog. And if you could see all the pieces of paper still hanging around my life you would know that.

2.
And so the deluge of Christmas catalogs has begun. I received 3 on Wednesday alone. Oh they are lovely, lovely, lovely.

But……

Catalog companies who send me these lovely glossy enticements to over spend….

I can tell you that if you are offering me a purse/bag that is ONLY $238. It is not something that I need.

I do not need ceramic watches, wax covered pinecones, faux fur coats, already distressed leather coats, pretty baubles to cover my coffee table, the latest kitchen gadget that only performs one function. I do not need glittery things to put on my mantel or table or book shelves. I do not need jewelry made by sherpas in Nepal or shawls woven in the back rooms of Iraq and brought to me EXCLUSIVELY.

I can do without all of that. But the catalogs are still pretty to look at.

3.
This is a picture of the engine that blew out on a Quantas Airlines flight yesterday.
Do you know what my first thought was when I saw the picture and read the article, which can be found here.

My first thought was, “Holy cow. I wonder if the people sitting in those seats took pictures? I bet I could have gotten some good ones! And think of the blog post I could write!!”

I am just not sure what that says about me other than my internal hardware has a bug. A big bug.

4.
Max the Wonder Dog has a cold…again. I can hear all of you with small dogs saying, “So what, the dog has a cold.”

Yes well that may be fine for you with small dogs with small noses. But let me tell you this. When you have a dog with a nose like this…

You have a dog that produces copious, and I do mean copious, amounts of dog snot. And he gives you no warning when he is going to expel said snot into your world. It is just…

Hi! I am Max your favorite dog. I would like to be with you. Hang on….SNORT!

Oh yes. All over my car when taking him to the vet. Or all over the floor in my office. Or all over the wall in the back hall. Or all over the floor in the kitchen, which needed to be washed anyways.

I needed to clean anyways.

Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in….soon.

5.
I know that it is really Fall with approaching Winter when HHBL puts the deck furniture away. That has been done and the deck looks so naked and forlorn. And all I want to do is take my coffee and sit out on the deck. 

But sitting out on the deck right at the moment might be a dark and rainy proposition so I will just dream about warm summer mornings when I can sit quietly out there and hope that the deer wander by.

I might have been lying about that last part.

6.
And speaking of the rats with hooves deer as we were, I saw the buck yesterday. I rarely if ever seen him as he is a cagey fellow and keeps to the deep recesses of the woods. Imagine my surprise when I looked up and there he was, walking with pomp and arrogance through our front yard.

He has a nice rack.

And I cannot believe that I actually wrote that sentence.

But it is true.

He is actually the younger buck in the woods. When we moved to Chez Knit about 10 years ago there was an absolutely magnificent buck that I would see every once in a while. And then one day, as we were sitting on the deck, we noticed a smell…

An unpleasant smell….

An overwhelmingly unpleasant sort of putrid something is rotting smell.

And just about that time the kids, who had been wandering in the woods, came back to tell us that there was a very large buck that was dead in the woods down in the ravine.

Yes, he obviously was. And since there was no way to move him in his rather advanced state of muckiness we just had to wait until the smell died down and not open the windows on that side of the house. Or sit on the deck. But it took a while because he was a BIG buck.

And then after a few years we started seeing this present buck. But if I could I would sign him up for a Buck Vasectomy because we really don’t need any more deer around here.

7.
You want to know another reason why I love living in my smallish town. My poll workers know me. In fact, one of them is my neighbor. For some reason it is comforting to go in and see the same people every single time.