Showing posts with label Weekends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weekends. Show all posts

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Crabtree Falls

My parents and I visited my brother and sister-in-law this weekend. She's 14 weeks pregnant and looking fabulous. We're so excited! They they really deserve this and they are going to be wonderful parents.

They took us to Crabtree Falls, which features the tallest vertical drop in a waterfall east of the Mississippi. It's a 1.7 mile hike up the mountain to get to the top. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the top on this trip. My brother and Moon stayed at the first view point, mom had had enough at .3 miles, and dad and I made it half way before the lunch we skipped caught up with us. Next time, we'll eat first and then go all the way up!

Still, it was absolutely beautiful. The weather was perfect and there was a surprisingly few amount of people there. It was so peaceful - amazing to just sit and listen to the music of the water and the wind through the leaves.

Afterward, they took us to Wild Wolf Brewing Company for seriously delicious food that we really needed after climbing up that mountain. It wasn't a difficult hike, but it was mostly upwards! Dad and bro spent some time in the store contemplating brewing supplies.

We were all sore, so we skipped laps in the pool this morning. Now that I'm home, it's nice to sit around and rest!

So I'll leave you with some pictures of the falls. Next time, we're going to make it to the top!






Monday, October 04, 2010

What Weekend?

I had a rare weekend-off from the faire, and it got booked up fast.

On Saturday, Pat and I went to King's Dominion. Just like last year, it was a great day to go. The weather was nice and the sky was blue and cloudless. Also, just like last year, everyone seems to wait to come in the evening when the Halloween stuff starts happening, so lines are really short during the day. We rode everything we wanted to ride and even got a few things in twice. It was great.

We spent ten hours there and decided not to go through any Halloween mazes this year. It's hard to wait in hour-long lines when you had no lines all day. But we did some last year, so we weren't missing anything. I got home at a decent time, but didn't get nearly enough sleep.

The Takoma Park Street Festival with Jack yesterday was wonderful. It was still a lot of walking but a much easier day than Saturday. He didn't seem to mind too much that I was still rather exhausted. He even said we could start a little later if I needed more rest, but I didn't want to. I wanted to spend the day with him. That sure seems corny when I type it out like that.

We stumbled upon The Sweater Set while we were wandering about. They were fabulous! Really, really entertaining performers. Then we caught a band that played a lot of funk. They were fun. He wanted to see one of his favorite bands, ilyAIMY, and they were wonderful! It was a wandering kind of day with great music and great company. The rain even waited until we were back at his place.

It was a pizza dinner kind of day and we took a nap while we waited for food to show up. The nap was definitely needed. I could still use some more sleep and my legs are unhappy that I did so much walking. But I had a fun weekend, so I'll just have to deal with it. Jack and I were talking about going to a corn maze on Saturday. I am working at the Faire on Sunday.

Busy weekends are the best!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Fingers and Toes Crossed

I made an offer on a house today!!

It's small (but how much space does one person need? Don't answer that, Fox!), but I just love it. It has two bedrooms and one bathroom, is on its own septic system and has a private well. It's on less than a quarter acre of land, but surrounded by trees and a lake (and neighbors) is not far away. It's a mere 14.6 miles from my office!

I should hear sometime this evening if my offer was accepted.

I'm STARVING!! I only had breakfast today, met with the Realtor at 10:00, and got done with everything around 16:00. Thankfully, my aunt is visiting and she always wants Ledo's Pizza. I'll be heading that way for dinner very soon.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

How To Train Your Dragon

SEE THIS MOVIE!

It was fabulous. The animation was great, the score was wonderful, the story was adorable and endearing.

It was just great. Go see it. Don't forget to blink. Of course, even when I realized I wasn't blinking, I didn't want to. Just go see it.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

A Tiny Bit Late

I just filed my taxes! I usually do that in February. I don't know what I put it off this year.

In any event, something back from Federal and what amounts to nothing from state (but not owning either). That return is going to Miss Luna's bills. I'm wearing that down bit by bit!

Now I need to pack up a bit and head home. My parents and I are going to the Terracotta Warrior exhibit at the National Geographic Museum tomorrow! And there might be Cherry Blossoms too!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy New Year

Out with the old!


In with the new!


Happy Lunar New Year!
Welcome to the Year of the Tiger!

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Snowpocalypse 2010

The snow came as they said it would. At 0100 or so, my roommates and I headed out and did the first round of shoveling and car-clearing. We decided, you see, to periodically clean off the cars and parking spaces so we won't have quite so much to do all at once after it stops snowing.

I keep looking for the wardrobe that we must have gone through, but I can't find it. This image is of the lamppost just outside my window (from the street level). There was already about a foot of snow on the cars and ground at 0100.



This snow is heavy and it sticks to trees. This view is from our little porch to the tiny wood out back. This is the same little wood that I saw the fox sleeping in last week. You can clearly see the snow is still coming down. As far as I know, it went nonstop through the night.








This is a foliage-less bush just outside the front entrance. It and the surrounding plants are simply covered in snow already. There's still a lot more to come.

Sunflyr and I went out around 0930 for car-clearing round two. We were looking at about two feet of snow at that time, and it was still falling. During the course of the morning, we heard some neighbors talking about the trees and branches that were breaking under the weight of the snow. Then all three of us suited up and took a walk with our two neighbors.

In the distance here, you can see two large trees that fell across the main roadway. Cars can get through, but they have to zig-zag over the median around this obstacle. I'd like to know why anyone has to drive anywhere, but there were vehicles out and not all of them were trucks with plows. We saw some people who told us that the grocery store a mile and a half away was open. We wondered if the one a mile away was, but no one really cared to walk that far and see. I had my snowshoes on, I wouldn't have minded the walk.
This image is from the street that is just on the other side of that little wood that you can see from our back porch. It looked like something out of an apocalypse movie. Trees fell across the road, so people just abandoned their cars in the street to be covered with snow. Wild!

Walking the road in the other direction, we came to more broken trees, like this one that split in half. There were more that had fallen across the roadway as well, and a couple more places to cross the median where the road was clear. That is, clear of obstacles like felled trees, not clear of snow.






It is now around 1400 or so that we were having our walk. There was about another six inches of snow on my car from when I cleared it this morning. Even little bushes are drooping under all that weight.









See the branch that fell across the hood of this car? My car is parked along that same row. The tree nearby isn't a big, heavy evergreen, though. Hopefully, if a branch falls, it won't hurt anything. I cleared off the additional six inches from my car. It almost looks like there's at least half of that back on the car already. The snow is still falling.

What an adventure!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

I'm on Twitter

I caved.

I've been thinking about it for a while, actually, but I finally signed up tonight.

You can find me over here: http://twitter.com/Fyrecreek
or, see what's up with my feed on the sidebar.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Fox in the Woods

No, I'm not talking about my friend who I call Fox when I blog about him, I'm talking about a red fox. I have seen one in the woods outside my condo before. Yesterday, I was looking out the window with a cup of tea and saw a funny reddish thing. At first, I thought it was a roll of carpet. And then I wondered if it was a deer or a fox. And then I wondered if it was alive or dead. So, I got my camera and (sans coat) stepped out onto the balcony to get a better angle.

It stirred!


He actually looked up in my direction at the sound of the door, but I didn't have the camera ready. So, I made some noise.


Isn't he cute?! This is super zoomed and a little fuzzy because I was shivering in the cold. Look at that sweet little fox face! I went inside and watched him for a bit longer. When I came back after a short thirty minute nap, he was gone.

But, cute! I hope he keeps warm in all this snow.

And, yes, we did get snow. It's light and powdery, but my fingers are still swollen from cleaning off the car. I think I need to wrap them around a nice hot mug of tea.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Dreams and Things

Yesterday, I went back to working on a sewing project that I started years ago. Although it was bright and sunny, I decided to hold off taking pictures of the newest line of Gnomes until today (just because I really felt like sewing).

It's cloudy and rainy today. Go figure.

I guess that means more time in front of the sewing machine. Which is fine, naturally, but I'm not selling this dress. I do have some Gnomes to work on until my roommate wakes up.

I dreamed that I was living in my grandmother's house last night. When I woke up, I decided that, if I do get this place, I should get a dog. While I like Shiba Inus and Alaskan Malamutes, I might go with an Akita. They're like Shiba's, only larger. Well, if I do get a dog, it will be a fairly large one, and from a shelter or rescue. So, we'll see what we can find. Of course, it will have to tolerate Miss Luna. Miss Luna will have to learn to live with it!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

She's Home

So, here's what happened.

I mentioned that she had been acting strangely since I got home from the weekend. It looked like she was getting back to herself, though still not completely.

Yesterday morning, I slept through my 0530 alarm and didn't wake up until 1000 or so. Miss Luna did not try to wake me up. When I finally did get food to her bowl, she ate about half of it.

I went about my day and came home around 1900 or so. She still had about a quarter of food in her bowl - from the morning. She favored her right hind leg when she stood, like she didn't want to put weight on it. I carried her into the living room so she could be near me while I worked on something. She rolled on to her right side and put her shaking left paw over her face like the light was hurting her. Then she stood up, arched her back like she was stretching and jumped off the chair. She didn't land on her feet, though, she fell. And when she collected herself, she walked with her back arched and her back feet turned inward. She stepped gingerly and wobbled like she was drunk.

That was enough for me, that's when I found the emergency number and called them.

To make a long story short: we still don't really know what's going on. She had a fever and started an antibiotic. They found that she has an enlarged heart, so I need to follow-up with a cardiologist in the next couple weeks. The enlarged heart makes IV fluids complicated. They found she has non-regenerative anemia, had to change her antibiotic because of it. They drew some blood to test for immunodeficiency, which was ruled out, and will test for the presence of a few plausible bacteria and parasites. She had bacteria in a sterile urine sample, and they will test for possible UTI.

Basically, it looks like there are several things going on independent of each other (i.e. cardiovascular disease usually doesn't come with fever). I need to follow up with the regular vet by the end of the week (or sooner if she doesn't seem to be improving). She ate a meal when we got home around 1800, she really hates the liquid antibiotic, and she seems to be very thirsty. She's a little jumpy and her back is sensitive to touch, but she's here with me and she followed me into the kitchen when I got some food, and she's been licking the place on her arm where the catheter was.

I'm so glad she's home. And I'm glad she's on the bed, not hiding from me. And I'm glad she ate something, and I'm glad she cried all the way home (she barely let out a peep on the way there yesterday). Mostly, I'm just glad she's here. Last night was a very hard night without her.

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Miss Luna is Sick

I had to take Miss Luna to the emergency hospital tonight. She had a fever and was walking very funny. Initial x-rays found she has an enlarged heart and low blood pressure (which may account for walking funny, but not fever). They will keep her at least overnight and run some more tests.

So I left her there.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

For A Visit

I got to go to brunch today! It was great to see everyone. Then I hung with my parents for a bit.

Mom is getting a dog. She wants a Yorkie, but will very likely end up with a Pomeranian by the end of the week. Dad doesn't want a dog. I tried to tell him that he has to live with it, though. It's mom's bonus money that she's using. She can spend it how she wants!

After I got home, I played an old video game for a while (anyone remember Secret of Mana?). I needed a little break from yarn. Tomorrow, it will be back to work.

Remind me to check with Fox and Fae and my parents about New Year's Eve plans this year. I want to have a big mondo movie night again like we did a couple years ago.

Saturday, December 05, 2009

Little Bit of Truth


Despite what I say, I really do love this time of year.

I just opened my curtain and was greeted with the first snow of the season. This is an image from my window. In the few minutes it took to load the picture to the computer and start typing, it's really picked up.

Big, fluffy flakes floating, rather rapidly, down to the ground, dusting the trees and the cars and the grass.

I had a lot to do today, but if it keeps up at this rate, I won't be going anywhere.

It's ok. It's beautiful. And a fine thing to see when I first look out into the world.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Holiday Weekend

I had a headache on Friday and so didn't go to my friends' annual Halloween party. I opted to stay home and sleep. It helped, because the headache was very obviously caused by fatigue. I had stayed up very late almost every day last week and it finally caught up with me. Yesterday was another get-together and it was great, even in the rain. Today is godson #3's first birthday party.

Happy birthday, Jellybean!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Closing Day

Since I didn't finish my costume, I resurrected my steampunk costume from last year. Fox has a picture, I'll make him send it to me, because I know I still haven't posted it up for you. So sorry, dear blog readers!

On the bright side of things, this was the last day of faire. I'm happy to be getting my weekends back. This was the first year I had three jobs during this run. It was almost more than I could take, but I did it. Go me!

I've got a ton to do before I get to bed tonight. I'd better get to!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Not More Rain

It wasn't as cold as last Saturday, but it rained. A lot. And my skirts were silk. And wet silk against your skin is gross.

Thankfully, my dad wanted to buy a pair of pants, so I made him buy them and I wore them.

At least tomorrow's weather is supposed to be nice. It's good to have nice weather on the last day.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Cold But Not Wet

While this day was cold, it stopped raining in the early morning.

I finally bought a Half Moon. It wasn't a breaking of the bank. It turned out to be the same style as the one my mother got a couple years ago. I bet she'll be happy that I can give hers back to her. Since this one is a Spring/Fall jacket, I may have to get a heavier poncho or cloak later on (probably next year).

New coat and no rain made it a much better day than yesterday!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

So Very Wrong

So, who remembers yesterday when I said faire would be fun even in the rain?

IT WAS THE MOST MISERABLE DAY I HAVE EVER SPENT AT FAIRE!

Seriously. It was raining. It was cold. It was muddy. It was being absorbed by the fabric of my skirts. It was gross. It was just plain miserable. Half of the people who were going to come did not bother. Around 1400, I went out to the car and removed those mud-soaked skirts and put on a nice pair of baggy pants.

I stayed the day by sheer stubbornness.

It was miserable. But, I've had my nice warm shower and my really yummy dinner, so now I'm going to curl up in my soft warm bed. Good night!

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Legs Hurt

Pat and I had a great day at King's Dominion. We had great weather and people didn't really start showing up until later in the day, meaning lines for the things we wanted to ride were rather short. We did do a whole lot of walking. I expect my legs will be telling me about it for some time.

We only went to three of the nine Halloween things they had going on (most of them were haunted house-type mazes) and they were pretty scary. I'd be happy to go again next year. It was really great. Just as long as I'm not in the front, or the back of the group.

The back was the worst. "It's behind me, it's behind me! MOVE!! It's still behind me!!"

Very well done.