Update

Hey gang!

Just checking in from work with a brief update on my communication woes. The problem seems to be even bigger than I imagined, and seems related to the "landscaping" they are doing behind our building. The work was only supposed to take one week, and it's now been more than a month.

I am NOT happy with office staff right now. When I stopped in Wednesday evening and mentioned having trouble with my phone, neither person to whom I spoke told me others were experiencing the same problems. Then yesterday I was talking with a couple of neighbors and found out that not only are people having trouble with the phone, but some are also experiencing cable problems as well. In fact, with all the rain we've had the last week, the cable box has been flooded.

The company doing the landscaping has apparently caused other property damage as well, including cracking the facade of the back side of the building, breaking at least one window ledge, damaging at least two air conditioners, and causing the power in our building to flicker at least three times during the past month (thankfully, it came back on right away, but it does make you wonder about this company).

Never mind the HUGE inconvenience for the past month to tenants.

What makes me mad is that management is not owning up to the problems. A conscientious manager would let tenants know that they are aware of issues and would take care of them, but no--that is not the case. They are not admitting anything. I do not like paying for services I cannot use, and tenants should not have to pay to fix what they did not break--right?

Anyway, while I cannot make or receive calls (it hangs up if I try to answer), I can at least hear it ring in now. I suppose that's something, anyway. If someone is supposed to be stopping by or is picking me up to go out, they can at least let the phone ring so I know they are there, or are five minutes out, depending upon what we prearrange.

Hopefully this entire frustrating saga will be resolved soon. As is, I have half a mind to deduct the cost of my next phone bill from the rent.

Random Photo: Changing Leaves

Random Photo: Turkin?

Random Photo: Every Leaf

Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
fluttering from the autumn tree.
~Emily Bronte

Forced Break

I may not be around much for the next little while. As mentioned Monday, I am having trouble with my home line, which means no phone or internet. I ran their online diagnostic this morning and -- surprise! -- it confirms that there is a problem with the line, but the phone company wants an obscene amount of money not in my budget to send out a technician. Okay, so they claim that they won't charge you if the problem is outside your home, but that's an awful lot of money to take a chance on. Gee, do I want phone and internet...or would I like to eat in October? I think that's a no brainer. Until I get this issue worked out, I have to bow out of my normal weekly posts (Teaser Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday and Thursday Thirteen). I'll try to schedule a few random pics from work for the next few days, and check in when I can.

And your weekend...?

My weekend was...well, not completely bad, but not the best I've ever had, either. It did not go as planned. For the most part it was wet, cold and gloomy, so there were no lovely fall walks. I had planned to spend a portion of it getting caught up with stuff online and scheduling future posts. Yeah, right. Apparently AT&T had other ideas, as I had no phone/internet connection all weekend.

The trouble actually started last Thursday, with a lot of static on the line, and occasional high-pitched whine. Early Friday morning I had no dial tone. Picked the phone up again about 15 minutes later and I did. That night it seemed fine, with the occasional bursts of static, but I was able to talk with a friend for a couple hours. Not ten minutes after we hung up, I went to use the phone again and...nothing. No dial tone, not even any static. Just white noise. And it persisted all weekend.

Late Sunday night I checked it before going to bed and the static was back, but still no dial tone. Checked the phone when I got up this morning and...wait! Still a lot of static, but I had a dial tone again. Yay! Now let's hope it's still working when I get home. The last thing I want to do today is try to explain to stupid people that the problem is not my phone, but the line itself. If it was the phone, I would have been able to dial out on the other extension.

And did I mention it's poured rain the better part of three days now? Or that I'm really not feeling good today? My stomach is not being happy, and I'm feeling a bit chilled right now, even with a long-sleeve t-shirt and heavy sweater (please don't let it be the flu!). And yes, I've had to dig out cold weather wardrobe, as temps have dipped down to the 50s and 60s already. A persistent chill permeates my apartment (cheapskates don't turn the heat on until at least Oct 15). The only good thing about cold weather is cold weather food. Like homemade chicken noodle soup, a big pot of which I made Saturday.

Aside from soup, my weekend was divided between football games (listening to the Badgers, watching the Packers--they both kicked butt!), reading, journaling, and a (very) little bit of cleaning. Hopefully we will have better weather next weekend, at least for Saturday, for our annual trip to Eplegaarden.

And your weekend...?

Thursday Thirteen 221: Autumn Signs

Autumn officially arrives this week. Though the leaves have yet to start turning, here are some sure signs of the changing season.


1. Football has started up again, and both our teams are off to a great start.
2. Temperatures are cooling down. 80-100 degree days have been replaced with temps in the 60s and 70s.
3. Frost advisories. We had warnings a couple nights last week when temps dropped into the 30s.
4. I've already had to dig out extra blankets.
5. Mums and asters are everywhere, making me wish I had a stoop or a patio for a colorful planter or three.

6. Bees have been more active.
7. Bins of pumpkins and gourds appear at local stores.

8. Three words: Pumpkin Ice Cream.
9. Pumpkin pies are becoming more common in stores and bakeries than apple or berry.
10. Candy corn. This is the only time of year I can eat it.

11. The Swiss Colony catalog arrived in the mail, filled with Thanksgiving and Christmas treats.
12. This is prime time for apple picking. Mmm...nothing like a crisp apple right off the tree.
13. Geese are starting to migrate south.

LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Colleen * Hazel * TheBlueMuse * Ron * TheGalHerself
Mysti Holiday * Sidne * Adelle Laudan * Brenda
ForgetfulOne * CountryDew

Wordless Wednesday 22: Black-eyed Susans

Photo taken August 5, 2011
More Wordless Wednesday

Teaser Tuesday 100: Sense and Sensibility

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current book or recent read.
* Share a few “teaser” sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


This week marks my 100th Teaser Tuesday posting. It’s hard to believe I have been participating in this weekly meme for two years now. Time has certainly gone by fast! The first book I featured was a cozy mystery by Laura Childs, Keepsake Crimes, on September 15, 2009. Yep...almost two years to the day!

This week’s teaser comes from the next book on my TBR pile, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, which is one of this month’s group reads for TNBBC at Good Reads. I look forward to watching the movie again once I've finished!

‘Your father thought only of them. And I must say this: that you owe no particular gratitude to him, nor attention to his wishes, for we very well know that if he could, he would have left almost everything in the world to them.’

(Mrs. John Dashwood, Chapter 2)

About the Book:

Introduction and Notes by Professor Stephen Arkin, San Francisco University.

'Young women who have no economic or political power must attend to the serious business of contriving material security'. Jane Austen's sardonic humour lays bare the stratagems, the hypocrisy and the poignancy inherent in the struggle of two very different sisters to achieve respectability.

Sense and Sensibility is a delightful comedy of manners in which the sisters Elinor and Marianne represent these two qualities. Elinor's character is one of Augustan detachment, while Marianne, a fervent disciple of the Romantic Age, learns to curb her passionate nature in the interests of survival.

This book, the first of Austen's novels to be published, remains as fresh a cautionary tale today as it ever was.

Random Photo: Wild Chickory

There are still patches of wild chickory in bloom along the roadsides but, alas, probably not for much longer.

Thursday Thirteen 220: Best "Outside" Towns

The October issue of Outside Magazine features a list of the best towns for outdoor pursuits, as voted on by readers, and guess whose town comes in at number ten? Yup, my very own MadTown. Among the reasons it was nominated are the acres of green space, waterways, and miles of bike trails.

Writer Jason Daley says: "Paddling and road cycling are particular passions... Sustainability is the city's other passion: eco-saints John Muir and Aldo Leopold developed their ideas here, and Madison is a leader in localism, with more than 50 community-supported farms and the country's largest weekly farmer's market. Plus, almost every weekend you can find a free block party, concert, marathon, or beer festival..."

Whether you enjoy hiking, biking, walking, swimming, paddling or sailing—or enjoy winter activities such as skiing, ice skating or snowmobiling—Madison and the surrounding area offer something for everyone with its miles of lakes, rivers, trails and acres of parkland. Madison plays host to the Ironman Wisconsin triathalon (which was this past weekend), Madison Marathon, Paddle and Portage, and the Crazy Legs Classic—among many other events.

Because this is Thursday Thirteen, here are the top thirteen best cities for outdoor lovers:

1. Chattanooga, Tennessee
2. Portland, Oregon
3. Issaquah, Washington
4. Boulder, Colorado,
5. Missoula, Montana
6. Charleston, South Carolina
7. Wilmington, North Carolina
8. Santa Fe, New Mexico
9. Durango, Colorado
10. Madison, Wisconsin
11. Traverse City, Michigan
12. Tucson, Arizona
13. Flagstaff, Arizona


So let's hear it—have you visited any of the cities mentioned on this list? Any you would like to visit?




LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

YOUR NAME

Wordless Wednesday 21: Mums the Word

More Wordless Wednesday

9/11 Tributes and commercials

In many ways, it's hard to believe that ten years have passed since the horrific event that shook our nation. Yesterday was very much the same kind of day: a bright, clear, morning in September...a warm day with hardly a cloud in the sky. Though I did see some of the 9/11 coverage yesterday, I tried not to watch too much of it. A decade later, it's still difficult to watch the events we watched unfold at the World Trade Center in NYC.

Still, I couldn't resist watching 60 Minutes (interviews with a former FBI agent and his role in 9/11, and a doctor recording the stories of 9/11 first responders), or the Documentary, 9/11: Ten Years Later, that followed, part of which I had seen in 2002. It was also aired in September 2011 and 2005. I liked the updated version for the look back at the end to show the new memorial, the construction of the new Trade Cneter, and a look at where the men of Ladder 1 are now. I also noted the following commercials during various programming throughout the day, which are well-worth viewing (though you may need a Kleenex or two).


AdCouncil / I am an American

State Farm / Empire State of Mind

Verizon / Kids at Statue of Liberty

Budweiser Clydesdales

ETA: I added direct links to the "60 Minutes" stories--I hope they work!

Thursday Thirteen 219: Vocabulary, Dracula Style

As you saw in last week’s post, I recently read Dracula by Bram Stoker. One thing that is true about the classics is that they are terrific vocabulary builders. Here for all those heading back to school, or who have kids returning, I offer thirteen of dozens of great words from Dracula. Examples and page numbers are from the “Enriched Classic” edition pictured at right, published by Pocket Books (Oct 2003).



1. cerebrate, verb intransitive: to use one’s brain; think (noun: cerebration)
“It will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh, unconscious cerebration!” (pg 87)

2. adduce, verb transitive: to give as a reason or proof; cite as an example
“There is no evidence to adduce; and whether or not the man himself committed the murders there is now none to say.” (pg 106)

3. slewed, verb transitive (also, slued): to turn or swing around, as on a pivot or fixed point.
“I slewed round a little, so as to see Lucy well without seeming to stare at her, and saw that she was in a half-dreamy state, with an odd look on her face that I could not quite make out…” (pg 116)

4. quondam, adjective: that was at one time; former
“The animal itself was as peaceful and well-behaved as that father of all picture-wolves, Red Riding Hood’s quondam friend, whilst seeking her confidence in masquerade.” (pg 170)

5. stertorous, adjective: loud, raspy, labored breathing, or snoring, caused by obstructed respiratory passages.
“There was no need to think them dead, for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the room left no doubt as to their condition.” (pg 177)

6. polyandrist, noun: a woman having two or more husbands at the same time
“If so that, then what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this so sweet maid is a polyandrist…” (pg 211)

7. callous, adjective: lacking pity, mercy, etc; unfeeling
“With a careless motion, she flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls over a bone.” (pg 253)

8. militate, verb intransitive: to be directed (against); operate or work (against to, rarely, for): said of facts, evidence, actions, etc. [You’ll see this used a lot in legal briefs, or movies and programs about lawyers.]
“As he saw that the very excess of his emotion was militating against him, by restoring us more to our old relations, he became still more demonstrative.” (pg 295)

9. lugubrious, adjective: very sad or mournful, esp. in a way that seems exaggerated or ridiculous.
“The dogs dashed on, but at the threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and then, simultaneously lifting their noses, began to howl in most lugubrious fashion.” (pg 302)

10. implacable, adjective: 1. that cannot be appeased or pacified; relentless; inexorable. 2. (Rare) that cannot be eased, lessened or allayed. SYN: inflexible
“Not a word more would he say, but sat in his implacable sullenness as indifferent to me as though I had not been in the room at all.” (pg 306)

11. arrogate, verb transitive: 1. to claim or seize without right; appropriate (to oneself) arrogantly 2. to ascribe or attribute without reason
“Far be it from me to arrogate to myself the attributes of the Deity.” (pg 321)

12. vivify, verb transitive: 1. to give life to; make come to life; animate 2. to make more lively, active, striking, etc. (noun: vivification)
“There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify.” (pg 382)

13. laconic, adjective: brief or terse in speech or expression; using few words; SYN: concise
“Dr Van Helsing is laconic; he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well to make the exchange of horses.” (pg 430)



LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Alice Audrey * Xakara * Gel * iBeati * Colleen
Caridad Pineiro * Hazel * CountryDew
Paige Tyler * Kimberly Menozzi * Sherilee
Tatiana Caldwell * Darla M Sands * Sidney Bristol

Wordless Wednesday 20: Late Bloomer

More Wordless Wednesday

Teaser Tuesday 99: Notorious

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current book or recent read.
* Share a few “teaser” sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


Notorious has been in the TBR pile a few years now, and was rereleased in August as a free book packaged with Cowboys Like Us. It's been a fun and sassy read!

“Now’s not the time,” Keely said, her voice gentle.

His voice rasped in his throat. “Why not?”

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Notorious by Vicki Lewis Thompson
Genre: Romance

Keely Branscom had always been a little notorious. A confirmed wild child, she'd shocked the town by posing for a centerfold at the age of nineteen. But what she'd really wanted was to get a reaction from seriously sexy Noah Garfield. Only, back then, he hadn't quite known what to do with her....

Now, years later, Noah's still in over his head with Keely. But when he catches her walking into a Vegas strip joint, he knows that he has to save her from herself.

Only, Keely doesn't want to be saved. Instead, Noah's supersexy childhood nemesis seems determined to show him exactlywhat he's been missing....

Without Music

Without music, life would be a mistake.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

(Taken UW Arboretum, May 2011)

Random Photo: Woolly Bear Caterpillar

Found this little guy crawling amidst the bean plants Monday afternoon. I haven't seen one of these in ages! I relocated him outside the garden after taking his picture.

Zucchini

So, you remember that heat wave we had in July with temps near 100F and heat index up to 115F? Well, we thought it killed both zucchini plants in the garden at work. The one in back was definitely toast. The one in front--the excessive heat killed the couple little zukes that had been growing, and we saw no more blossoms all of July and August.

Then last Friday I'm out there picking beans and tomatoes when I catch a splash of orange/yellow out the corner of my eye. I walk over to investigate and find a small zucchini and a large blossom growing on the front plant. Amazing! Checked it again Monday and the little zuke had grown and there were three more blossoms.

I picked the little zucchini Wednesday morning (it was about one pound, just the right size), and the blossoms are still there, so looks like we may get a few more off this darn thing yet. I was disappointed that we only got two squash off the plants before that heat wave, and that we had no zucchini the last month and a half, so am a bit excited that we may get a few after all.

I fried this one up Wednesday and Thursday night with some of the fresh green beans I picked. It went well Wednesday night with some of the Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo I made earlier in the week. I added potatoes and corn to the beans and zucchini Thursday night. Mmm...delicious!