Elizabeth Obsesses...

Vampire Man in Upstate New York

2009-08-19T14:48:00.000-04:00

OK - this is a snippet from my recent vacation. I can personally attest that every word is true!

My family (DH, DS, and DD) along with my dear Sister's family (her, her DH, and two DDs) went to upstate New York for a fabulous retreat from society a few weeks back. We stayed at a reclaimed farmhouse from the 1800's, which was literally across the street from the Oswegatchie River, in St. Lawrence County. Our little home away from home was situated on 85 acres of beautiful meadow and woods.

One of the first things that struck us as we set out to see what upstate New York had to offer, was that there really wasn't a whole lot to choose from. It turns out that while simply gorgeous, St. Lawrence County, isn't exactly the cultural mecca of New York. With help from my trusty GPS, Emily, I set out trying to add some destination-based fun to our week.

The entire list of available activities for us - beyond the fishing, kayaking, hiking, and boating which we could do from the property itself - is as follows: there was a water park over 2 hours away, a museum in town, bowling, maybe a movie, Natural Bridge Caverns, a huge hedge maze, a privately owned aquarium and of course, in Alexandria Bay, we could visit Boldt Castle.

One morning, we decided to caravan to Natural Bridge Caverns. Both families ventured out together in separate cars. Emily, my trusty and never failing travelling companion immediately got into a rather lengthy argument with map-yielding hubby. It was a stand-off for a few tense moments, but eventually we ran into where Fort Drum blocked the road to all thru-traffic. Defeated, DH threw up his hands as I made the U-turn. This caused car number two to do the same. With a careful sideways glance, I asked DH, "OK, where to now, chief"?

DH: "Do whatever you want to do now. I'm done. I didn't know they were going to block off the road here. This would have been a short-cut too".

Seeing that the mood had been shattered, and the arrival time was now going to be stretched by another 20 minutes, Emily (now smug with satisfaction) instructed me to "Please drive to highlighted route" in her crisp, Australian accent.

We continued in strained silence, each of us afraid to further provoke Emily or DH. Eventually, we began seeing road signs advertising Natural Bridge Caverns. A heartfelt "waaa hooo" went up from the back of the van. Turning down the road that Emily and the signs pointed out, we soon found ourselves in a tiny, rundown town looking like something out of a Stephen King novel. I made nervous small talk indicating as much.

Up ahead, on the right, the signs all pointed. Moving slowly, I eventually came to what appeared to be an old gas station building. But instead of pumps, a parking lot overgrown with weeds was all that there was to welcome us. Both vehicles turned in and slowed to a stop. The shades were all pulled on the little gas station building, and a large faded orange sign hung in the plate glass window. "Closed", it said mockingly.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Surely this was the wrong place! Crestfallen after having driven an hour, I parked the car, and got out to talk with my Sister and her DH. DS took the opportunity to get out of the van and stretch his legs. As I conversed with my sister, a very tall man appeared from behind the building and lumbered slowly towards us. Despite the fact that it was 10am, he was clutching a beercan in one hand and a pack of skoal in the other. His pasty white skin and even his hair and eyebrows, were covered in what I assumed was drywall dust. (A hoax to camouflage his true nature).

Immediately, I recognized him for what he was: Vampire. Moving quickly to collect my son and trying to keep everyone in one place, he approached us and asked us if we were there to see Natural Bridge Caverns. His voice was an odd mixture of Canadian accent and slow Southern Draw. He told us that the owner of the cavern had passed away about 5 years ago (he probably fed on him!, my mind called out), but that he would be happy to show us the entrance and exit of the cave. He noticed my DD at this point telling her aunt that she had to find a bathroom. In his slow Canadian draw, he invited us to follow him to the facilities.

Although every fiber in my body was telling me that maybe we should just go back out on the main road and find a fast food place to go to the bathroom, I silently followed my sister and DD around back to where the "facilities" were supposed to be.

What we found was a house - presumably the vampire's lair. It was completely devoid of furniture, but not of people. A heavily tattooed man was there plastering over drywall, along with a young girl roughly the age of my own DD. She had a wild look in her eyes. It occurred to me that we had driven an hour from the safety of our cabin and were now entering a complete stranger's house to use the bathroom, and no one knew where we were.

(This is wrong - this is wrong - this is wrong, I repeated to myself in my head). While my sister and DD went into the bathroom together, I looked around and tried to calm myself. I reassured myself with the fact that if we didn't come back, our DHs would come looking for us. The young girl seemed especially happy we were there. In just a few seconds, a fast-looking, yellow Mustang skidded to a stop outside the little house, and a hard looking woman got out and entered. Eying me up and down sideways, (surely wondering whether she was going to take our kids or our cars after she killed us), I waved my white paper brochure for Natural Bridge Caverns in an attempt to demonstrate that I'm a tourist and I surrender...I later found out that when it was my turn in the bathroom, the little girl told my sister that, "when I was born, my Momma got schizophrenia and I became a cancer." She now lived with her daddy (presumably Tattoo Man).

I was thankful when we were able to get out of the lair, and headed back to the car. However, Vampire Man had already beat me out there and was talking to our husbands. "Sure", I heard my DH said. "We'd love it if you could show us around." And so it began. Our little group of 8 following our beer-chugging, snuff chewing Vampire tour-guide into the overgrown bushes and shrubbery to the left side of the gas station building.

The journey to the mouth of the cave was uneventful - save for the fact that access to it was down a steep set of overgrown earthen stairs covered with loose gravel and a trip over a wooden foot bridge that was so rickety we were advised to cross it one at a time. By this time, DH was engrossed in his conversation with Vampire Man, and I was unable to get his attention to let him know that we were all going to be killed soon.

Oblivious to my not-so-subtle head and neck jerks in his direction, DH led the way and we eventually made it out of the mouth of the cave and back to the safety of the parking lot. "OK, thanks!" I said in an attempt to dismiss him from his services or distract him from whatever plans he was forming in his head. "We'll be leaving now. Too bad it was closed, but thank you for your time." (There, that ought to do it.)

I was more than half way to the mini-van when I realized that the majority of our little group was once again following Vampire Man....into the woods this time, to look at the exit of the cave. This time the hike was a little further, and I began exchanging nervous looks with my sister. The children, of course, were completely oblivious to how shady this all seemed. It seemed perfectly acceptable, to them, that we would have a private tour guide.

Of course after the 5 minute hike through the woods to see the cave's exit, it was only a short hike to the "blow hole." Surely we'd want to see that too, right? With every passing minute and every step we took, my brain was exploding with all kinds of warnings. This was just about the time when my sister leaned over to me and whispered, "he's taking us so far away so the others can hotwire and move our cars...there'll be no trace left of us."

At the blow hole, Vampire Man tried to get me to go closer to the hole to take "really good photograph" (it was a hole straight to Hell...I know this because DS threw a rock down and it *never* hit bottom). I just said, "ummm ahhh...no thank you." (please don't kill us, please don't kill us).

Urgently thinking that we really should be getting back to the vehicles right about now, I was stunned to see my own DH still at the front of the line engaging Vampire Man in a one-on-one discussion on local geological finds and other caves nearby. Over another old footbridge, that spanned a large gorge with all the lateral slats rotting away ("stay on the verticals, and I guess you'll be fine", our tour-guide shared with a mischievous grin) we trudged forward into the bug infested woods.

It wasn't even 10 minutes later that we came upon, what I like to call, the crime scene. My sister and I - well and truly freaked out now and beginning to speak up from our place at the back of the line - frantically took pictures of the scene in case our cameras ever made it out of these woods. Up against the trunk of a tree with weeds and underbrush growing all around were the remains of a pair of denim pants, a t-shirt, boxers, and a toothbrush (yes, a toothbrush!). But no body. (Oh my God, this is it, we're getting ready to be killed, and DH is up there talking about rocks.)

I lean over to my sister and tell her that if, by chance, we do happen to make it out alive, at least we'll have an *awesome* story to tell. She responds by leaning over to me and telling me that the rest of Vampire Man's posse (Tattoo Man and Mustang Woman) is waiting for us up ahead, and that they'll probably let Cancer Girl feed on us first, since she's just a kid. I gulped nervously and said loud enough for DH to hear, "OhhhKayyyy, we really need to be getting back to the car now....remember, we have those *other* plans for today, too."

A short time later, he simply hiked us back out to the cars. I was happily surprised to see that they had not been moved (not that I could see, anyway). We piled in and quickly drove away; anxious to put as many miles between us and the town of Natural Bridge as possible. But not before asking Vampire Man to be in our family photo. In front of the drawn shades and the Closed sign, Vampire Man held up his beer in a silent toast to us, the ones who were getting away, while surrounded on both sides by my family.

The PG Chronicles: Week # 26

2008-10-10T09:07:00.002-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

10/2/08 Thursday - No PG

10/3/08 Friday - No PG - But we did receive a letter from the county stating that our permit was about to expire. And once it did we would face fines of like $300 per day or some other huge amount. Of course we've been calling the PG even more since that.

10/4/08 Saturday - No PG

10/5/08 Sunday - No PG

10/6/08 Monday - PG stopped in briefly and spoke with my DM. He said he would return later in the day to begin working on the fence around the pool, but did not. Typical.

10/7/08 Tuesday - No PG

10/8/08 Wednesday - No PG

Side note: DH and I have called several times per week for the past few weeks. It always goes to voicemail. We both leave detailed messages each time.

The PG Chronicles: Week # 24 & Week # 25

2008-10-02T13:47:00.003-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

The PG Chronicles: Week # 24
9/18/08 Thrusday - No PG

9/19/08 Friday - No PG

9/20/08 Saturday - No PG

9/21/08 Sunday - No PG

9/22/08 Monday - No PG

9/23/08 Tuesday - No PG

9/24/08 Wednesday - No PG - I began calling PG today to ask where he has been

The PG Chronicles: Week # 25
9/25/08 Thursday - No PG - DH called him today

9/26/08 Friday - PG stopped by briefly and spoke to my mother. He mentioned to her that we'd been calling, and that he has been waiting for his auger to get fixed so he could help put the fence in. (That, however, has nothing to do with finishing up the patio.)

9/27/08 Saturday - No PG It rained

9/28/08 Sunday - No PG it rained

9/29/08 Monday - No PG Rain - off and on.

9/30/08 Tuesday - No PG

10/1/08 Wednesday - No PG. I called him again today and left a more direct message letting him know we're anxious to finish this up.

* * *

The lack of progress over the past 5+ weeks is really frustrating. I was completely faithful that by October our project would be complete. I am just really anxious for this to be done.

The PG Chronicles: Week # 23

2008-09-18T12:05:00.002-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

9/11/08 Thursday - Overcast and cool. PG came briefly in the afternoon accompanied by another man who measured our pool area for the (winter) cover. He said he'd come back later in the afternoon, but he did not.

9/12/08 Friday - Beautiful weather - No PG. The pieces for the split-rail fence that is supposed to be installed around the pool were delivered today.

9/13/08 Saturday - Beautiful weather - No PG

9/14/08 Sunday - Beautiful weather - No PG

9/15/08 Monday - Beautiful weather - No PG

9/16/08 Tuesday - Beautiful weather - No PG

9/17/08 Wednesday - Beautiful weather - No PG

Side note: Here we ago again! It looks like we're entering another phase where PG is too busy with other endeavors to come by. So much progress has been made, and things are really starting to look wonderful, BUT there is still a lot of work to do. At the rate we're going, I think it will be early December before everything is completely finished.

The PG Chronicles: Week # 22

2008-09-12T14:57:00.001-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

9/4/08 Thursday - Beautiful day - No PG.

9/5/08 Friday - Getting ready for the remnants of Hurricane Hanna, which is supposed to hit sometime overnight tonight. 2-4" of rain and high winds are expected. PG came and wrapped the top of the columns for the pergola with garbage bags.

9/6/08 Saturday - Rain all day - NO PG.

9/7/08 Sunday - No rain - No PG

9/8/08 Monday - No Rain - No PG

9/9/08 Tuesday - No Rain - No PG

9/10/08 Wednesday - No Rain - No PG

The PG Chronicles: Week # 21

2008-09-05T08:42:00.000-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

8/28/08 Thursday - The rest of the concrete was poured

8/29/08 Friday - 10 six foot tall Emerald Green Arborvitaes were planted around the pool - 6 along the back side and 4 along the deep end. We will be planting grass in between each Arborvitae that grown 12-14' tall. Tomorrow we have 6 yards of mulch being delivered, and then I need to arrange the wood for the fence.

8/30/08 Saturday - Beautiful weather...PG installed the DIVING BOARD this morning! The children began swimming at 8am, and although it was a bit chilly they had a blast. He also created all of the towers on either side of the stair openings, and added a flower bed on the garden side.

8/31/08 Sunday - Beautiful weather - NO PG

9/1/08 Monday - Beautiful weather - No PG

9/2/08 Tuesday - Beautiful weather - No PG

9/3/08 Wednesday - Beautiful weather - PG came and added mulch to the flower bed near the driveway (in front of the electrical box) and planted a medium tall grass. It will hide all the electrical stuff when you first enter the back yard.

Freelance Update

2008-08-29T14:31:00.000-04:00

If you've been reading, you know that I've been really trying to break into the freelance market - either with writing or photography. I've applied for dozens of positions over the past month or so, and have received a lot of helpful feedback along the way.

A couple of weeks ago, I applied for a position in a local photography studio, and sent a link to my portfolio along with my cover letter. I got a reply very shortly afterwards, and set up an in-person interview for that very evening. I took a disk containing even more photos along.
In short, everything went great...they said my photos were creative and artistic, and that I could benefit from more training, on the technical side. They (the business is owned by a husband/wife team) have "hired" me, and will provide on-going training. While in training, I will be a "second" photographer. The best part is that I still get paid for this. Eventually, I will become "primary" photographer, and the pay is a lot better at that point.

My first training session is 9/5, and my first wedding (where I will be a "second") is 9/6. I am so incredibly excited about this opportunity! One of the most important things is training. Because I am trying to get my personal photography business off the ground, the fact that they will help me learn even more is key. Also, since it takes time to build a customer base, this will keep me busy in the meantime. They will even provide a "company shirt" and personalized business cards.

The PG Chronicles: Week # 20

2008-08-28T11:49:00.002-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

8/21/08 Thursday - Beautiful weather - no PG

8/22/08 Friday - Beautiful weather - PG came hoping to pour half the concrete for the pool. The electrical guy was supposed to be there - two days ago - to inspect the electrical job on the pool and to make sure it was grounded everywhere. This guy has been a no-show. PG has the concrete guy on "standby" ready to come out at a moments notice, but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

8/23/08 Saturday - Beautiful weather - PG came and began work on the sitting wall parallel to the pool. He made the space in the wall that allows for the opening to go down the stairs, and it looks like a "grand entrance". He had pavers four courses up, and had to drill the top paver in one section to allow for wires, but two pavers under it cracked. He had to go back and pull those pavers up. On a separate note, DH built the gate that will allow access to the pool. It is curved along the top. It looks really good!

8/24/08 Sunday - Beautiful weather - No PG

8/25/08 Monday - Beautiful Weather - PG was there in the morning and returned in the afternoon. He is working on adjusting the stair opening on the upper portion of patio nearest the lower veranda. Still waiting on the electrician to do the inspection. Once that happens, he can move forward with the concrete.

8/26/08 Tuesday - Beautiful weather. PG was there most of the day and returned late in the evening. He finished building the sitting wall parallel to the pool, and also put the towers and end caps that frame that set of stairs in. It looks incredible. He said that we'll probably have enough pavers left over to make another flower bed on the side of the patio nearest the garden. He showed us that the ELECTRICIAN FINALLY INSPECTED US! He has the concrete scheduled for 9-10 tomorrow morning. They intend to pour half tomorrow, and the other half either the next day or later this week. He said that after tomorrow, I will need to order mulch for around the pool, and also the pieces of fence because the fence will go up very shortly after that. That means that the landscaping can begin too. FINALLY!

8/27/08 Wednesday - Beautiful weather.. Around 2/3 or so of the concrete was poured today. That is the two narrow ends of the rectangle, and the length of the pool nearest the patio. That part got a 3' pad, and the narrow ends of the pool each got 7' of concrete poured. He scalloped the concrete so that it mirrors the rounded Roman edges of the pool, fanning out like a shell. It is really beautiful.

It's all about the tomatoes

2008-08-25T10:06:00.004-04:00

I harvested two 5-gallon buckets of plum tomatoes from the garden on Saturday. I have been concerned all summer that the 7 plants I have wouldn't yield enough tomatoes to can sauce as I wanted. I'm so relieved that I had enough. It was a daunting task for a new "canner" but the end result looked beautiful!

I was given a mechanical tomato pulper by my DM-I-L earlier in the year. This is the same one she has used since probably before DH was born. It is old and worn, but it still works great! This is a messy job, so we set up a table in the driveway so we could hose everything down when finished. I cleaned and inspected each tomato in the kitchen and brought them out to the driveway one colander full at a time. The kids got into the act too. I thought they would try it for a few moments and then quit, but they didn't...they LOVED it! DS cut each tomato in half to inspect the inside, and so that it could be fed to the processor. DD turned the crank, and DH pushed the tomatoes into the auger so that they could be ground. The resulting pulp flowed down a chute into a sauce pot, and the seeds and skins were forced into a waste stream.

When everything was finished, I had three stock pots FULL of tomato pulp. That's a lot! My canner can only do 7 quarts at a time, and they have to process for 40 minutes in the canner AFTER cooking them, so I had a really long night. I made 6 quarts into straight tomato sauce (unseasoned), and for the final 4, I added onion, garlic, and seasonings. Ten quarts total, that is a lot! I have to get more quart jars for the next round, and the children can't wait to try it again (neither can I).

Just out of curiosity, DH checked to see how much a new pulper would cost - and we were both surprised to learn that a new one would be $60. The old one still works great, and I love the history behind it. I hope to be able to use it for years to come.

The PG Chronicles: Week # 19

2008-08-21T10:02:00.001-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

8/14/08 Thursday - PG came and worked on the concrete forms around the pool

8/15/08 Friday - PG came and worked on the concrete forms around the pool

8/16/08 Saturday - NO PG? Weather? Not entirely sure because I wasn't home during this time period.

8/17/08 Sunday - PG came and installed all four columns on the patio, and finished the concrete forms.

8/18/08 Monday - I came home from camping this day. There has been a lot of progress, and it looks GREAT! PG came and gave us an automatic pool cleaner (vacuum) that works independent of people. I think it's called a Zodiak.

8/18/08 Tuesday - PG came to spread out the gravel in the forms that have been created around the pool. They're ready for inspection, and then concrete pouring. He also brought up a bunch of pavers onto the deck so that the walls of the patio could be constructed. He has decided to widen the entrance to the steps (the distance between the two towers on the patio walls).

8/20/08 Wednesday - PG came to see if we had our inspection yet. We did not. We're hopeful that we'll get it, and he can begin the concrete pour this week. I'm not getting my hopes up.

Gone camping!

2008-08-14T05:28:00.001-04:00

Just to let everyone know I won't be posting for the next week or so. I'm going camping - first with BSs, then with GSs - all without even going home in between! Wish me luck!

The PG Chronicles: Week # 18

2008-08-14T05:26:00.002-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

8/7/08 Thursday - Beautiful weather. PG came in the morning and worked
until mid-afternoon. He is began building the sitting wall on the part of
the patio that is nearest the driveway. He also installed the towers
where the coach lights will be installed. The height is just right for
sitting...six courses of pavers.

8/8/08 Friday - Beautiful weather. PG came and worked more on the stairs
going down to the pool and off to the garden, as well as the flower beds
on either side of the center stairs (going down to the pool). They look
great!

8/9/08 Saturday - Beautiful weather. PG came in the morning and finished
the stairs going out of the house and onto the patio, as well as the rest
of the deck surface. We now have 100% of the deck. The walls, towers,
and coach lights are the next things that need to be done on the patio.

8/10/08 Sunday - Thunderstorms throughout the day - we even had a hail
storm, with the hail a little bigger than the size of peas. It was very
loud and sounded like it was going to break the glass in our windows! NO
PG today.

8/11/08 Monday - Beautiful weather. PG is there early framing out the
area surrounding the pool for concrete. YAY concrete!

8/12/08 Tuesday - Beautiful weather. PG there in morning and framed out
the area surrounding the pool for concrete. He told DH that it might have
to be around 1' shy of the 12' that it's supposed to be because there
isn't enough soil there to support it currently, and if he just adds it,
it might eventually crumble away because it hasn't been allowed to settle,
etc. etc. This is not good news, and I am going to be pretty disappointed
if we don't get the sq. footage we wanted. If he has to make it a little
less on one side, he should add that foot of concrete on the patio edge
and take it from 3' to 4'.

8/13/08 Wednesday - Beautiful weather. PG came in the morning, and is
still working on the concrete forms. He's going to form the concrete into the shape of the pool (roman). I haven't seen that done before. It will look really cool.

Freelance update....

2008-08-08T22:02:00.003-04:00

I've been doing well sticking to my submission goals for freelance work. I'm not quite getting 5 a week like my initial goal stated, but I have been steadily submitting my resume and clips all over the place! My feeling is that if I continue to submit a steady stream of formal interest in writing opportunities, eventually they will begin to pan out. As that happens, I will have additional clips and references, so it should begin to build. For now, writing is the elusive pixie that I've been chasing for many years.

Photography is a very close second interest for me and always has been. Its one of the major five. (You know...the five major things I obsess about on a regular basis: cooking, gardening, green living, writing, and photography - not in that order.) I've always - for as long as I can remember - daydreamed about being a professional photographer (and writer)...in my mind, writing and photography go hand and hand, like gardening and cooking.

That said, it's been a little easier for me to get my photos published than it has been to get work freelancing. In fact, I've had quite a few photos published in the Middletown Transcript in the past year.

One of the things I've obsessed about for years is opening a portable photography studio. I kept putting it off by telling myself I needed more equipment or more experience - no matter how many other people told me how much they loved my photos, I felt...unready.

I have decided that while I am in the process of actively attempting to get freelance writing work, I am going to "go for it" with photography, too. I've been working on my portfolio, and I feel like I've got a good representative sampling of my work. I have business cards and even put up fliers all over town advertising my photography business.

Finally, I'm excited to announce that I've launched a website: stetserphoto.blogspot.com to advertise my capabilities and showcase my gallery. It's still in it's infancy, but please stop by to check it out.

The PG Chronicles: Week # 17

2008-08-07T08:10:00.002-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

7/31/08 Thursday - PG was there all morning/afternoon working on the patio deck. It is about 3/4 paved now. Walls are going to go up next.

8/1/08 Friday - PG came sometime in the first part of the day (with his son) They stacked up pavers to finish the deck of the patio - but it is still only 3/4 paved.

8/2/08 Saturday - Early morning Thunderstorms. Otherwise cloudy and humid. No PG.

8/3/08 Sunday - Beautiful weather; cool and breezy. No PG.

8/4/08 Monday - Beautiful weather today. PG came in the morning, stayed for a brief period of time, and returned in the early afternoon and worked until nearly 8pm. The deck surface is now 97% complete on the patio (it's only missing along the long edge, parallel to the pool) because he needs to custom cut those pavers.

8/5/08 Tuesday - Nice weather - PG came in the afternoon and stacked a bunch of pavers up. No real progress today.

8/6/08 Wednesday - Beautiful weather. PG came in the morning and the afternoon. He worked on the steps on the garden side, and added a semi-circle flower bed so that it matches the opposite side. He also relocated the steps going down to the pool. They're now center-aligned with the steps coming from the house onto the patio.

The PG Chronicles: Week # 16

2008-07-31T08:52:00.001-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

7/24/08 Thursday - Hot and Humid. PG came by briefly, but I think it was just to survey how everything held up after Wednesday's storms. If anything else got done, I'm unaware of it.

7/25/08 Friday - still soggy, hot and humid. PG came but only briefly.

7/26/08 Saturday - PG came in morning and began to add the gravelly dust to the top of the patio surface to prepare it for pavers. He is working on 1/3 of the patio - closest to the completed lower veranda. It looks like he is raising the surface an additional 2 inches or so.

7/27/08 Sunday - Rain and Thunderstorms. No PG.

7/28/08 Monday - PG came in morning and worked throughout the early afternoon and returned in the evening. He is beginning to add the pavers on the patio surface. It looks great and he says that this part is going to move fast because the shape is square (rectangular) as opposed to the curving parts of the lower portion.

7/29/08 Tuesday - Hot and humid. PG came in morning and worked throughout the early afternoon and returned in the evening. He is adding pavers on the patio "deck" surface.

7/30/08 Wednesday - Hot and humid. Rain/thunderstorms in evening. PG came this morning and added more pavers on the deck. It is about 1/3 finished.

The PG Chronicles: Week # 15

2008-07-24T07:48:00.002-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

7/17/08 Thursday - Hot and Humid. PG came in the morning and worked through the early afternoon. He went home...but came back in the evening. He's still working on the lower veranda area that includes the step coming from the man-door in the garage, the steps off of that side of the patio, and the curved walkway from the driveway gate going to the patio.

7/18/08 Friday - Hot and Humid. PG came in the morning and worked through the early afternoon. He went home...but came back in the evening. He's still working on the lower veranda area that includes the step coming from the man-door in the garage, the steps off of that side of the patio, and the curved walkway from the driveway gate going to the patio.

7/19/08 Saturday - Hot and Humid. PG came in the morning and worked through the early afternoon. Still working on the lower elevation. He filled in the sides of the walkway (with pavers that he hand-cut) for the portion nearest the driveway.

7/20/08 Sunday - Hot and Humid. PG came in the morning and worked through the early afternoon. Still working on the lower elevation. He filled in the sides of the walkway (with pavers that he hand-cut) for the portion nearest the driveway.

7/21/08 Monday - Hot and Humid. PG came in the morning, and spent time finishing the 2 sets of stairs in the lower area. He worked until the early afternoon. He came back in the evening, and tested the stair lights. They all worked, so he mounted and glued them to the pavers. They look GREAT! DH says that the lights on the stairs may be too dim, however.

7/22/08 Tuesday - Hot and humid. PG came in the morning (and returned in the evening). Since he is finished with the "lower veranda" he began working on the steps from the patio and into the garden. He cleaned up some of the empty pallets on the garden side of the patio too. When he returned in the evening, he watered the grass seeds he planted on the completed side by the driveway. He also put down some small bricks on the main patio area that showed where the columns for the pergola might go. He put the patio furniture in the center (a large rectangular table and 6 chairs) of those bricks and pulled the chairs out a bit so that he could visualize how far to space the columns apart. It looks like there will be a nice sitting area under the pergola, and plenty of room for the table, chairs, and people without feeling squished. He also said that he will frame out the area around the pool and hopes to have the concrete poured by next week. I don't think it will be that quick, though. My guess is another two weeks (at least).

7/23/08 Wednesday - Hot, Humid, and periodic thunderstorms, some severe, throughout the day. PH came very briefly to oversee the dropping off of several more pallets of stone.

She's From Venus

2008-07-22T16:22:00.002-04:00

I think DD is from outer space. I mean, I know "they" say, "women are from Venus," but it's got to be because there's some logic in it, right? Surely there are people where she comes from that speak her language, but I'm sad to report that I'm not one of them. I've tried...God knows I've tried, but it makes me physically weak sometimes trying to decipher what it is that she's talking about. Just trying to get her to answer a simple "yes" or "no" question can sometimes take hours! (OK, I exaggerate a little bit...) Getting a response to things that shouldn't even be difficult like, "do you want milk?" can cause me to hyperventilate.

Now, I realize that if I don't end my sentence with, "pick one: yes or no," I'm asking for trouble and it's clearly my own fault. I know I should know better, that's a rookie mistake. If I simply ask if she wants milk, I might get a story about how during lunch one time one of her friends ate all of her (DD's) cheese curls and tried to get her sandwich too, but she needed to tell a teacher so that she could get her to stop and then she got in trouble herself when she hollered for the teacher to come over, and didn't get to drink her milk at lunch. (I know! Wow, that's a long way to go to talk about milk!)

Meanwhile, back in reality, my arm that's been patiently holding the gallon jug of milk carefully over her glass and waiting for her response begins to tremble until finally, I either put it away or decide to go ahead and pour it (without being invited to do so), which inevitably ends in wails for orange juice because what she is trying to tell me in the first place is that she no longer enjoys milk, but I'm not listening. (Do you see what I have to go through?)

And it's not like she's too young to be able to articulate a proper response, either. She's going into third grade! She's just from Venus, and I only speak conversational, touristy Venusuvian.

Case in point: Last night, DD came up to me - apparently after pilfering through my jewelry box - holding a pair of dangly silver earrings. "Mom, can I please have these?"

(Not even can I wear these, or can I borrow these, or even I love these, but straight to "can I have these")

ME: No. They're mine, they're dangly, (she's not allowed to wear danglies) and they're not real (they'll make your ears hurt they're not real gold).

HER: Well, you see, I have a lot of gold earrings, and I like gold, but only because it goes with orange. And yellow. And sometimes some brown and maybe red...but. I have always wanted silver earrings because I love silver and silver goes with everything, and I always wanted hoops anyway, but not dangly earrings, but I love these ones, though and I thought that since you never wear them I could have them, and because they make me feel cleanse.

ME: Hmm? Cleanse? Did you just say they make you feel cleanse? (she nodded in agreement). DD, honey, do you even know what cleanse means? (It's not even in the right tense for this sentence! Where are you pulling this from!)

HER: No, but I like the way it sounds. And I feel it.

ME: Well, OK then! (Who can argue with that logic?) But no, you still can't wear dangly earrings.

Freelance Writing Goals

2008-07-22T10:34:00.002-04:00

It's no secret that I have a passion for writing. Don't get me wrong...I love my "day job" and feel incredibly lucky that I've been able to do something that interests me for the past 20 years. That said, I want to do even more! For me, the elusive Holy Grail is freelance writing (and photography).

While I write constantly (this blog, newsletters, research, articles, etc.) I haven't done enough in the way of querying, applying, and submitting. My goal is to change that. Last week I decided to be more proactive about the entire process. I am going to do more to achieve my goal and to document what I'm doing to get clients. In all, I've applied for 13 writing gigs in the past week:

7/16 - applied for 3 jobs
7/17 - applied for 6 jobs
7/21 - applied for 4 jobs

I am committing to apply for (at least) 5 jobs and to submit 1 query to a magazine each week. Wish me luck!

The PG Chronicles: Week # 14

2008-07-16T17:24:00.003-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

7/10/08 Thursday – Beautiful weather. PG put in a full day working on the layout of the lower veranda, and step coming out of the man door by the garage. He said he’d be back tomorrow.

7/11/08 Friday – Beautiful weather. PG put in a full day working on the lower veranda and filling the top layer of the patio up with fine dusty/gravel stuff to make it level. He said that he will let that settle for a while as he continues on the lower veranda and steps. We brought up our patio chairs and had an impromptu gathering with another couple on the as-yet-unfinished patio tonight. It went on until around midnight. I cannot wait for this to be finished! It will look so beautiful when it’s done!

7/12/08 Saturday – Beautiful weather. PG came early and worked on lower veranda. He was here most of the day.

7/13/08 Sunday - Beautiful weather. PG came early and worked on lower veranda. He was here most of the day. It's really beginning to shape up.

7/14/08 Monday - Rained steady throughout the morning. When it cleared up, PG came and continued work on the lower veranda. He cut the top of the driveway and made a straight edge upon which to install the top layer of pavers. It is perfectly straight, and looks incredibly good. It will be so beautiful when it's finished! He left the back gates open, presumably because he intended to return, however, he did not.

7/15/08 Tuesday - Beautiful day, but hot. PG came in the morning and worked on the lower veranda through mid-afternoon. Came back in evening around 7 to remove the gate by garage to cut it down by around 4". He had to do this so that it would swing over the stone block he installed at the top of the driveway. He told me today that he will be installing round columns to support the pergola as opposed to the square ones we discussed when the project began. He said these would cost more, but that it was going to save him time, so he wouldn't pass the cost on to us. I prefer round columns to square ones and always have! This is going to look great!

7/16/08 Wednesday - Beautiful day - but very hot and humid. PG came early and worked more on lower veranda. He's completed the shaping of it, and is installing the pavers now. He left in the early afternoon, cause it was so hot, but returned in the early evening to do more. I am happy to see so much progress!

It could be worse

2008-07-16T11:44:00.003-04:00

It could so be worse. Two weeks ago, I went on vacation to Colonial Williamsburg for a fantastic 8 days. Ahhh. Vacation. My sister/BFF and our 4 children (ages 8, 10, 12, and 14) set out together on this fantastic journey in my jam-packed Kia Sedona. I'm happy to report that not only did our gear fit nicely - without using the luggage rack, the children all had sufficient foot room and weren't overly cramped. That's good news, because 5 hours of whining about how they can't move their feet makes for a long and irritating ride.

Although we didn't opt for the sit at the pool and sip Mai Tais kind of vacation, we still had a lot of fun together on what I'll call an action-packed, high-volume, touristy hot-spot kind of trip. Our resort was beautiful (I have to give a shout-out to Governor's Green), we saw tons of interesting things (Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown), and had enough time to fit in fun stuff (Busch Gardens, Water Country, miniature golf, swimming, arcade/game room, and the Virginia Beach Aquarium).

Everything was going great. That is, until the night before we had to leave. I took 3/4 of the children over to the resort's game room - about 2 miles away. It's at a property (a "sister-resort") owned by the same parent-company as our resort. The kids had a blast, but it was looking like it was going to start raining. They wanted to try to get in one more swim at our resort before it started, so we jumped in the Kia.

"Rrrrrr-rrrrr."

"Rrrrrr-rrrrr."

"Rrrrrr-rrrrr."

In case anyone doesn't speak the native tongue of Kia (which is Korean) that's the sound of the engine NOT turning over. Fighting back the panic that was rising up in my throat, I went to the services desk and asked for a little help. Before long, there was a line of well-meaning men waiting their turn to sit in my little Kia and turn the key.

"It's the battery," said one of them.
"No, it's not, it's making sounds like it wants to turn over," answered another.
"I think it's the alternator," replied a third.
"The connections on the battery are corroded," said the fourth.
"Pop the hood," said the fifth. "Let's look at the fuses."
"Can we take a fuse out of one place and change it with another fuse and see if that works," asked a teen boy.

The men, who were now in charge of the situation unanimously replied, "NO!"

Fuses were systematically pulled out then replaced where they came from, all the while strangers were sitting in my seat and trying to coax the engine into turning over.
A manager suddenly appeared out of no where and yelled for his two employees to "STOP! You can't touch this lady's car!" He said. "What if something breaks...you're no mechanic! She could sue the resort!"

"I can hear you," I said. "I'm standing right next to you!"

The children - especially DD, were extremely agitated by this point. "Does this mean that we can't go SWIMMING," she demanded?

DS - a man in training, hates to be lost or have car trouble. He kept repeating, "Call dad. Mom, call dad! I think we should just call dad. Can I call dad?" (Never mind the fact that dad was 5 hours away (at home) and could do nothing to help us.)

The stream of men coming in and out of Kia had finally subsided. Throwing their hands up in the air, each and every one of them repeated the phrase, "I'm not a mechanic. Sorry I can't do anything to help. Good luck." So, I locked her up, more than a little embarrassed by the ruckus she'd caused.

I turned to the manager and laid it out for him. "Look," I said. "I have to get these children home to bed right now. We're 2 miles away from our resort, but I have to get them there and away from THIS", I gestured to the Kia. "We're leaving for Delaware tomorrow morning. Can you help me?" The certainty with which I had spoken made him eyeball me sideways. He indicated that he could help me, and sent a pimply-faced 20-year old to come talk to me.

"I can get you there, no problem. My car is over here."

Now, I know I'm stuck in a bad place here. Roadside assistance is at least an hour away. The thought of being stranded with three children for over an hour is torture. The resort where we're staying is only 2 miles away. The pimply faced boy is an employee, and not just a random stranger, (but he is a stranger, nonetheless).

I know that my sister/BFF will hate the arrangement, so I make an executive decision. "Kids, pile in the car." The car is a fast looking red TransAM (I didn't know they still made these). There are only two rear seatbelts, but of course, I have three children.

"Crap. This is so wrong", I think to myself. The smallest (DD) sits in the middle, and we set off through the resort, going the back way. "At least we're not on a main road," I consoled myself silently.

In less than 5 minutes, we got there, and I ran upstairs with the children, and let my sister/BFF know what's going on. "What? You're leaving with a stranger? I don't like this one bit," she said.
I had to laugh at the absurdity of it all as I skipped down the stairs to the waiting red TransAM and my blond haired pimply-faced boyfriend. I felt like I was 16 all over again, and my mother was watching me ride off into the sunset with a boy she wasn't crazy about.

Pimple-boy tried to make small talk, I wondered if he would try to hit on me. But then I realized that I'm probably double his age, and then I began to wonder if he had EVER had a woman this old in his hot little car. I didn't think so. My thoughts raced.

When we made it back to the "sister-resort" where Kia was (thank you for not being an axe-murderer, pimple-boy) I tried her one more time before I made the call to road-side assistance. Still nothing.

I decided that the best use of my time was to have everything ready that I was likely to need if we couldn't get it started. I went to the Cyber cafe, looked up the phone number and address to the nearest Kia dealership (It was one mile away!) and began to make lists. Insurance information, new dealer info, home dealer info...that should about do it. I wasn't sure how it would play out, but at least I'd have a list in case I needed it. I checked in with DH to let him know what was happening, and just waited.

About 15 minutes before the roadside assistance got there, I went out to check it one more time, and it started right up! The only difference was that the check engine light was now on. When roadside assistance got there we agreed that as long as it would start up in the morning, that we should take it home. His recommendation was to drive straight home and not turn it off for any reason.

The next morning, it started right up, and we did just that. Five hours back home, not turning it off for anything. It worked great, despite the "check engine" light that remained on throughout the trip. As soon as we got home and emptied the gear out, we took it in to be serviced. The problem was the crank positioning sensor, and the timing belt looked bad too. Then the air compressor died. It ended up being a very costly repair - or should I say series of repairs ($1500), but it could have been so much worse!

It could have died right there in Williamsburg and we'd have been delayed in returning. It could have died on the way home, OR the air compressor (for the air conditioning) could have died on the way home forcing all 6 of us to ride in hot and sweaty misery. But none of that happened.

So that's why I'm thankful in spite of it all. It could have been. So. Much Worse.

Homemade Antibacterial Lavender Surface Cleaner

2008-07-12T15:45:00.009-04:00

A few posts ago I mentioned how excited I was to try "homemade" cleaners. I posted three versions of dishwasher soap, and tested one, only to find (sadly) that I really didn't like it's performance at all.

I decided to table that plan for a while, and went back to the drawing board to create an antibacterial spray cleaner. I had been using a 1:1 mixture of vinegar and water, but wasn't satisfied with it for a couple of reasons. The smell was awful, and it took a long time to dry - even after wiping it off with a towel.

Armed with just a few common household ingredients, I created a spray cleaner that is perfect for surface cleansing. The ingredients kill bacteria, and the final product is superior to commercial cleaner (in my humble opinion) and it also smells GREAT too! I consider this one a huge success, and I'm eager to share it here with anyone who is interested. Give it a try - and be sure to check back here and let me know how you made out!

Antibacterial Lavender Surface Cleaner
2 Cups of warm water in a measuring cup
2 teaspoons of Dr. Bronner's liquid Lavender castile soap

1 teaspoon vinegar

2 teaspoons rubbing alcohol

8-10 drops of lavender essential oil - optional

Mix well, add to your favorite spray bottle.

Here are the reasons it works so well:

Dr. Bronner's contains essential oils that also kill bacteria
The vinegar also kills bacteria
The rubbing alcohol makes the solution evaporate quicker by reducing the surface tension of the water and it kills germs too!

I estimate that with one bottle of Dr. Bronner's, one bottle of vinegar, and one bottle of rubbing alcohol will cost roughly $7, and can yield approximately 40 bottles of prepared cleaner. That brings the per unit cost down to $0.18 per bottle, compared to $3 to $5 for a comparable commercial cleaner.

The best part of this cleaner is that you can change the castile soap you add, which changes the scent of the cleaner you make. Dr. Bronner's has some wonderful smelling soaps! My personal favorites (after lavender, of course) are the peppermint soap and the Almond soap.

The PG Chronicles: Week # 13

2008-07-10T22:38:00.000-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

7/3/08 Thursday - PG came in the morning and worked on another set of stairs.

7/4/08 Friday - Worked on set of patio stairs by the house.

7/5/08 Saturday - Worked on set of patio stairs by the house and added some lights on steps leading out from house. He also laid some stones on the veranda side of the patio. It tu rns out that the breaker keeps tripping on the septic system. The power failure is causing the alarm to sound in the basement. (The power failure is also causing the water to back up in the tank, too). The pump does work...it just looks like the cord was cut.

7/6/08 Sunday - NO PG. It rained today. (I think...I wasn't in Delaware yet.).

7/7/08 Monday - Returned from vacation this day. Beautiful weather. PG was here during the day. Not sure what was accomplished

7/8/08 Tuesday - Beautiful weather. PG came in the morning. I'm not sure what he did patio-wise, but he tried to get DH to let him fix the latest issue with the septic system. We’re reluctant to let PG fix the septic wires, although he wants to do it. We’re afraid that he will just keep putting it off and we’ll be “broken” for weeks like we were when the septic pipe broke. The two quotes we got came in around $500. Not sure what we’ll do, but PG came later in the evening and dug around the wire going to the septic tank and exposed the wire that needs to be replaced. Not sure what’s going on.

7/9/08 Wednesday – Beautiful weather up until around 6-ish in the afternoon. Although we never said: Yeah – you fix this problem, PG took this on any way. He told DH that he nicked a wire when he was fixing the last problem. We were definitely not going to wait around another 7 weeks like we did for the first septic issue we ran into. DH was clear in his communication to him that we were going to get it fixed immediately – even if that meant that we had to hire a contractor. PG spent this whole day working on rerunning wire from the alarm box to the septic tank. He buried it in cable, and routed it differently so that it would not be located under the patio in case there were any problems with it in the future. If it was not rerouted and we had future problems, that would mean that we would have to dig up the patio to fix it. Now – no matter what – we should be able to fix the problem without too much problem.

Words heard on vacation...

2008-07-08T21:37:00.003-04:00

Over the 4th of July holiday, I went to Colonial Williamsburg for 8 days with my BFF, my two children, and her two children. We spent a very exciting 8 days together, and along the way, we had a lot of fun laughing at the words our children came up with. Here is a list of some of what I heard:

Gillet: That thing that comes down and chops your head off (origin - DD)

Telepathetic: is the ability to mentally control any function the brain controls, hearing other people's thoughts and sending thoughts directly to other people's minds. (Origin - BFF's #1 DD)

Surfectent: A cross between disinfectant and surfactant...maybe it's a soapy germ killer.(origin: BFF)

"P"terodactyl - This was said with a non-silent "P". (Origin - DS)

Intensification of the Super Fog - (Origin Williamsburg's ABC weatherman) OK...I know that intensification is a REAL word, but at 11:00 at night, it sounds downright funny! Intensification. HA! It still sounds funny. And the superfog that he was referring to, is a mixture of smoke and fog. Isn't that SMOG? How does he get to make up his own word for something that already exists. That's like me calling a FIRE a super hottie. Why. Why would anyone do this?

The PG Chronicles: Week # 12

2008-07-08T21:31:00.002-04:00

Ground breaking date for pool: Thursday, 4/10/08
Ground breaking date for patio: Thursday, 5/15/08

6/26/08 Thursday - Beautiful day. PG was there with his son and added pavers to the patio on the wall parallel to the pool

6/27/08 Friday - Hot Weather. Left PG a note about the septic tank. He worked with his son today, and finally fixed the septic pipe today after many weeks!

6/28/08 Saturday - Beautiful weather. No PG

6/29/08 Sunday - No PG.

6/30/08 Monday - Beautiful Weather. I left for vacation with the kids. PG closed in upper patio and backfilled with crush and r un. He also prepared dirt around pool for concrete

7/1/08 Tuesday - Beautiful weather. Worked on stairs between pool and patio. Called to check in on DH and the PG’s progress, and learned that the septic alarm has been going off back at home. We’re not sure what to make of this yet. More info to follow.

7/2/08 Wednesday - Not sure about the weather, but PG did not come today.

Visitor number 1,000

2008-07-02T20:10:00.003-04:00

Wow. I cannot believe that my little place here has had 1,000 visitors! That is too cool!

I haven't blogged in the past few days because I'm on vacation. I'm in Colonial Williamsburg with my BFF, her DDs, and my DCs too. (Wondering about the acronyms? Check out the Obsessed Glossary)

We're staying at a beautiful resort just about 3 miles from Colonial Williamsburg (CW). It's part of a trio of resorts, all within a half mile of one another, and they allow us to "amenity-share" between them. Our resort has three pools and mini-golf. The one down the road has a cyber-cafe, and that's where I'm writing from now. All 4 children and BFF are in one of the game rooms (all you can play until 11:00pm) . They are all having such a great time, but I was really excited to check out the blog, so here I am!

I don't have a lot of time to post now, but I will surely have a ton of material for when I come home! Be on the lookout!