thisnthat

As I'd been telling everyone, there has been expansion as well as loss in our area. Some businesses close while some open. We've had a few that simply changed into bigger locations. One of the the ones expanding into bigger digs is the clinic where I go for my weekly allergy shot. This shot to the left is the old clinic location and was snapped less than a week after they moved. Amazing how deserted it looks in about a week's time. It's a great location. I'm wondering who is going to move in next. It may take a while though, as that section to the left used to belong to a gym and it's been sitting empty for nearly a year now.

On the 23rd of June, hubby and I decided to head on over to Logan's for lunch. It was a beautiful day and as usual. I couldn't help but to take some pix of the water fountains (not shown but are in the Flickr photostream). The retention pond was loaded with geese and ducks that day, so I let (how does Di put it? Oh yeah...) "Ms Snappy Finger" do her thing and just click away. After several shots, I decided I'd had enough until I saw....

this guy (or is is a gal?). It was a pleasant surprise as we generally don't see anything other than geese and ducks in the pond. It was nice to see that the waterfowl had a bit of company for a change. I wonder how many other critters are in there with them.

When we got home that day, I saw this pretty robin sitting in the neighbor's tree. I can't believe it sat so long for me to get this shot. We have some cardinals nesting in the trees out behind our backyard fence. Hubby has suggested keeping the old camera downstairs so we can hopefully get a shot of them or at least of the Charlie that keeps running along or fence. I really need to get myself to a zoo (NO! We didn't go while in TN...*pouts*) and run this new camera through its paces. I'd love to see what it gets in the aviary. I'd also like to get to one of those flower or butterfly gardens.

I'm not certain why I clicked this one. I think it might simply be because I loved how the yellow hydrant contrasted against the green of the grass. It turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.
This shot actually inspired one that I took while we were walking through town in TN. It'll get posted in the next week or so. There'll be a whole post on just shots from hubby's hometown. Some really neat buildings and a couple site markers that may interest the historian buffs here.

I couldn't resist this shot. Katy's taken to the habit of putting her paw on hubby's foot as if to say "My Daddy". If he pulls his foot away, she just places her paw over his foot, hooks her toes over the opposite side and drags it back towards her. *laffz* Silly dog. The little blur behind her toosh is her tail wagging furiously. It was going so fast, the shutter couldn't catch it.


I think that'll do for now. Lots more to cover and I don't want to get to the point where this feels like a chore. We all know what happens when THAT occurs.

Thanks for the comments on the new blog name. I think it fits and is something I can live with for a while.

riding, neighbors from hell, new music and poopie bags

Calories burned: 350.3
trip miles: 10.00
ave mph: 20
total miles so far: 96.31
total calories burned to date: 3371.9

Today's ride courtesy of whatever obnoxious video game the neighbors from hell (yeah...I finally found a set that deserves that title) have been playing. They have the volume up so damn high that I can hear the game on BOTH LEVELS of my townhouse. The noise was particularly annoying while I was in my livingroom (where the bike's located). I think they have their tv right up against our adjoining wall which doesnt help matters. I have a bad feeling that this is how most of the winter will be though because the kids will be indoors most of the time then. God help me if they have a snow day. They must have a game console or something in the one upper bedroom too because yesterday they decided they were gonna play a game (unbelieveably loud) at 9frigginam. It woke me out of a sound sleep. Like I was telling Chicago tonight, it takes something worse than a 4.0-5.0 earthquake to get me out of a sound sleep. I can sleep through alot too...car rides, tv going, washer, dishwasher...it dont matter so it does take alot to rouse me when Im tired. Hubby ended up beating the hell outta the wall to get them to turn it down to a reasonable level. It used to be the noise was every once in a while...but now it's gotten more frequent and louder. I think I've gotten to the point of not being so polite anymore. Im actually considering giving them a big ol taste of their own medicine.. It's worked well with other neighbors that cant be bothered to be courteous....and with rather decent results. I really do hate being rude though, honestly. When I set up our place, anything that was going to make an unreasonable noise was placed on an inner wall wherever possible. The TV couldnt be due to the wiring and such but that's not the neighbor we're having trouble with. I keep the TV down to a reasonable level and use the captions whenever possible. However, Im considering moving my stereo to the outer wall and turning the speakers around so they face the wall.....Im thinking...maybe some Alter Bridge or Ozzy Osbourne will make the point very nicely. Im also reconsidering being kind enough to not vacuum the upstairs after 8pm at night. I think that if I decide that it needs to be done at 3am...then so be it....ooh that carpet DOES need a good steam cleaning too. You know what I'll end up doing though? Contacting our landlords to see who is over that particular unit and then filing a complaint that way....because Im really not *THAT* rude. Maybe I should just start packing now...


Last week my mom sent me an Amazon gift certificate for the floss and my time so I went shopping. I bought myself a couple Christmas cds that I'd been wanting for the last year or so. They came in on Tuesday, so I was able to come home with 3 new cds. YAY! The Christmas albums were both mostly the standard carols and a couple new songs to add to my collection, nothing fancy. One was the Aly & AJ one from a couple years back and the other was Rick Springfield's. Both will be going into the stereo cd changer when the season comes. I cant wait.

While I was taking care of Dharma's needs the other night, I looked down at the baggy of baggies that I use to dispose of her kitty waste in and thought of a certain entry that a darling friend of ours wrote. After washing my hands quite thoroughly, I grabbed my camera and got this shot. Now, although the bags themselves do not have instructions on them...the package they're contained in does. It tells you in 3 different languages (incase the pictures themselves cant manage to convey the message) what exactly the baggies are for. You can also see by the picto-directions that these are indeed made for the left handed person. Thank goodness I have a tendency towards being ambidexterous. Otherwise, I dont think I'd EVER manage to be able to use them!

Oh...and no, I dont let my nose get close enough to the baggies to find out if they actually smell like lemons as pictured on their packaging

....and Im not about to either so dont go there.