Category: Rottweilers

First Friday Fringe

This weekend and next are the final rounds of the 2010 Formula One season.  Terry will be watching one of the practices live at home today since Brazil is nearly in our time zone (only two hours ahead of us).  Next weekend will wrap up what has been another competitive driver and constructor championship with the last round in Abu Dhabi.   I’ll be content to watch them on the reply when I burn the GPs to DVD from the DVR sometime in the next few weeks.

Lunch time view South Plaza early Nov 2010

Since I no longer have any science fiction television to look forward to on Friday nights, I’ll continue reading Blackout by Connie Willis. I’m about half done with it and I have All Clear, the sequel, waiting to pick up as soon as I finish Blackout.  Only about twelve hundred pages total between the two and not as heavy as the tome I read in September by Brandon Sanderson:  The Way of Kings.

I’ve accumulated over two hundred points over the past couple of years by giving away books via BookMooch, yet because I read fantasy and occasionally science fiction, I’m not finding many books to mooch from others.  Yet I still need to divest myself of some more books (hardcovers mostly).   So I think I’ll branch out to another swap site, a division of one of my favorite reading and reviewing web sites, the GoodReads swap.   That’s my first project for Saturday morning, to prep and post about a half dozen hardcovers via GoodReads swap.

The second task for Saturday morning involves wrestling the Rotts into the car and heading to the vet for some pre-boarding shots.  In a couple of weeks, Terry and I will travel south to visit our kids in north Texas for Thanksgiving.  Roxy and Apollo will remain behind and make new friends at Deb’s Riverview Kennel.  On the way back, weather permitting, we might let them roam free at the Waggin’ Tails Dog Park for a half hour or so.

Once back home, I should probably make a few loaves of bread, for Terry and for my dad. Most likely I’ll make a Rustic Sourdough (dough in the bread machine, but shaped and baked in conventional oven) as well as Honey Wheat and White Sandwich loaves.  He’s traveling next week to Virginia for a mini-family reunion at his brother’s home.  My aunt from Ohio will also attend.  My dad and his brother were born on November 17 and 18 almost exactly four years apart and my aunt was born on November 29 so they’ll be having mutual birthday celebrations.  I hope to send a loaf or two with dad for them to enjoy.

In addition to their birthdays, I’ll swing by WalMart and pick up a gift card and birthday card for my daughter-in-law’s birthday, which is the 12th.  Terry’s birthday is on the 14th, but at least he’s not leaving town on me.  For a birthday present to him, we may go see Mannheim Steamroller in Topeka that weekend.

It’s a new moon tonight so I’ll probably get the telescope out tonight and tomorrow night for some viewing.  I might even venture out into the county looking for a nice dark spot away from all the light pollution of Lansing (and the prison that’s only two blocks north of my house with all it’s blazing orange halogen lights) and Kansas City.  I should probably dig out some light gloves though since the evening and night temperatures have been dropping down into the 30s most of this week.

Sunday morning I’ll be substituting for the accompanist at Southern Heights UMC during worship, which is also communion Sunday (being the first Sunday of the month) so I’ll be playing a bit more than a normal service.  But the choir took the weekend off and the special music doesn’t require an accompanist.  All in all, should be a fun hour well spent.

Sunday afternoon will be for relaxing, reading or watching movies.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Fifth Saturday Wrapup

Funny how things snowball once you get rolling.  I had no idea when I woke up this morning at 5:45 a.m. that I would accomplish so much today.  I had hopes of a quiet day at home, cleaning off the DVR and actually started on this endeavor before getting sidetracked.

I watched the Smithsonian Channel’s Aerial America Vermont episode, wishing I could visit, especially during autumn.  That state has more than it’s fair share of spectacular scenery and vibrant foliage.   By the time I was nearing the end of that episode, Terry had woken up and mumbled something about an omelet.

I got up to brew some cranberry tea and remembered I had recently purchased a cranberry scones mix from the Queen’s Pantry.  So, I quickly whipped up the scones mix and preheated the oven.  While they were baking, I decided to continue stacking firewood my dad had helped deliver earlier in the week.

Once the scones finished, I sat down for a proper British breakfast and surveyed the new Sherlock Holmes airing from BBC via PBS and Masterpiece Mystery.   Fun and updated for our times, with only a slightly annoying soundtrack.  I’m looking forward to the other two episodes (tomorrow night and a week from tomorrow).  It’s a pity the BBC could only afford three episodes for this new series … it looks promising.

I packaged up a couple of books to send to BookMoochers, one in California and the other in South Carolina.   While waiting in line at the post office, I ran into an old friend, which made the long wait pass quickly while catching up with kids news, etc.

I spent way too much at the grocery store today, but did save ninety cents on gasoline and filled up both Pontiacs with premium for only $1.899 per gallon.  I got back home with the groceries (second trip) and finished stacking the firewood.  Then we made a trip to O’Reilly’s because they have a sale on gallons of Mobil One synthetic motor oil.  We bought enough to change the oil in both cars.

Once back home, we determined we needed to recycle all the oil we’d accumulated and stored in the garage when the kids lived here and we had four vehicles to maintain.  We transferred the used oil to a couple of containers without making too much of a mess on the garage floor.  Then we packed up the dogs, planning to stop at the dog park on the way back from O’Reilly’s.

With all the walking, stacking, grocery toting (including the forty pound bag of dog food) and oil purchasing (four gallons) and recycling (five or six gallons), I’m already started to stiffen up and feel the aches and soreness setting in.  I’ll definitely be soaking in the hot tub before retiring tonight.

Terry and I enjoyed home-made pizza for dinner and will relax to the hilarious Halloween hijinks of Right Between the Ears live from Liberty Hall in Lawrence via KANU in just a few minutes.

Not bad for the fifth and final Saturday of October 2010.

Quiet Sunday Afternoon

I churned out the last three loaves of bread before the middle of the afternoon yesterday.  I also burned The Tenth Inning to two DVDs so my dad could watch it (he missed part of both of them when they aired on PBS a couple of weeks ago).  I read almost half my new book Cryoburn by Bujold.

And I tried Westside Family Church’s Online Church for the first time.  Terry wasn’t up to travelling to the Legends to attend the Speedway campus service.  The Online Church is a live feed from the WFC campus in Lenxa.  The message was good (Click Here for my notes) but the music was not as good as the Speedway campus’ praise band.

And I took the dogs to the relatively new dog park in Leavenworth at the north end of the VA grounds just off Limit Street (east from US 73).  When I arrived, just before three o’clock, there were no other large dogs.  But within ten minutes, and apparently because the Chiefs game was ending or not worth watching, there were ten to twenty dogs in the park.  Apollo and Roxy behaved themselves very well.  Roxy wore herself out in the first five or ten minutes and eventually just laid down near me to catch her breath.  Apollo chased a barky smaller dog (some kind of mottled Shepherd I think) around the park for awhile and then made all sorts of new friends.

My dad met me at the park, as I wanted to give him his fresh baked loaf of White Sandwich Bread and the DVDs I’d burned Sunday.  He took a few photos (I had my hands and eyes full keeping a watch on the dogs … people tend to get nervous about Rottweilers).   He also loaned me a couple of BluRay DVDs he recently purchased (both versions of Robin Hood from 1991 and 2010).  I didn’t think I’d have time or inclination to watch it anytime soon, but when Terry woke up, we started watching it.  Very different version or variation on the origins of Robin Hood.

I didn’t even touch the telescope Sunday, except to move it when I was vacuuming the great room.  All in all, a very rewarding and relaxing weekend at home.