What Difference Does A Week Make?

In some ways, not a lot.  In other ways, quite a bit - weatherwise here, anyway.

One week ago, a few leaves.

Now more leaf litter, and not ours.

I could point the camera up, but you've all seen trees turn in fall.  All these leaves so far have blown in from the surrounding area, which was mostly green one week ago.  Now the neighborhood trees look more yellow, yet our own Silver Maple tree is still hanging on to its green - for now.  I do have a new toy, an electric blower/vac-mulcher, to use this fall.  When I tested it out though, it was pretty loud.  It's not something I want to have to use often and I think I should still buy some hearing protection for when I do have to use it.  For the most part I will still use the old fashioned rake, I just liked the vac-mulcher part for using the leaf mulch in the flowerbeds and garden.  Probably with the leaves from the front and side of the house.  We get a lot of the leaves in the back from the Black Walnut trees next door and I'm not so sure I want to use those leaves as any kind of mulch.

On a different note, I have been thinking a lot lately of why I haven't been posting much recently as much as the few times a week I usually have in the past.  Well, far as I can figure, my rehab really was uneventful and since I've been back to work, well, my last post says how I have been feeling about that, and I think that has a lot to do with it.  I just haven't been quite as happy lately.  I could argue about how right now is a great time to be a sports fan in Wisconsin.  The Packers are 4-0 and looked upon as almost unstoppable, the Badgers are 5-0 and looked upon much the same, and the Brewers just won their opening playoff series about an hour ago and will start play in the National League Championship Series on Sunday (Opponent TBD).  While I can - and do - enjoy the hell out of all that, I still have to get comfortable with my position in life again (read: get used to drone mode again) after sitting out half of it over the last year.  I gotta remember to get a lottery ticket now and again.  I can't win if I don't play, right?

A Month Back And Looking Forward

Well, where the hell have I been lately?  I had to post something today or else I would have had even fewer posts this month than last!  Sorry for the lack of blogging lately.  Really there has not been a whole lot going on around here other than the weather growing cooler.  Next week is supposed to get back up into the 70's (F), maybe for the last time this year, we'll see.

It has been a month since I have been back to work.  When I returned I made a conscious effort to keep my head down and keep to myself.  Now, I have pulled even farther into my cocoon.  I show up, put my headphones on and work, I don't talk to anyone unless I have to, then fly out of there as soon as I can at quitting time.  I've come to realize that most of the people in my department are either just content to be there or else they couldn't cut it in another department and got busted down to my level.  The loudest ones aren't happy unless they are unhappy.  I spent my first three years there trying to make things better, but they don't want better.  They want to bitch and moan, use the better part of a half hour for a 15 minute break, and socialize instead of work.  It makes them happy.  I want to move up.  I had a promotion a year ago that I had to pass up because I broke my leg.  Now I keep checking the job board but nothing has opened up yet.  Sigh.  All in due time, I guess.  Until then, I can manage to avoid confronting all the illogical procedures (or lack thereof) and ignoring the poisonous co-workers but it does make me sad.  I can recall a time and place when I counted my co-workers among my best friends.  Those days are long gone.

My comments here are general in nature, not everybody sucks.  And I'm not the best me I can be all the time, either.

Pic Dump 34 XL

Even though the last Pic Dump was only 10 posts ago, it has been over a month since the last one.  And now - for some reason - I have tons of pics to dump, so let's get started!  Same as usual - click the pic for original size, some may be NSFW and more after the break.  Enjoy!

Many thanks to the fine sites on 'My Favorite Sites' list on the right!

Separation Anxiety

It has been a quiet couple of days.  Monday morning my wife left to go to Michigan for a conference for work.  I will be leaving in a little bit to go pick her up at the airport.  For some reason I thought I would have extra time with her gone, but it hasn't been that way.  I come home from work and get on the computer to check all my favorite sites and watch The Mike O'meara Show, then by the time I have dinner it is almost time for bed.  Same thing different day.  Weekdays are always difficult that way for me, just trying to get everything in that I want to before bedtime so I can get up the next day to do it all over again.  The biggest difference the last few weeks is that I have been spending a lot of time reading articles about football and, more specifically, the Green Bay Packers.  I'm going to have to limit myself if I'm to keep my sanity.

Speaking of sanity, it will be nice to have my wife home again.  Even though it was a conference for work, I think in some ways my wife may have enjoyed being away for a bit.  More specifically, away from me.  She has spent the last year looking after me while I recovered from one surgery or another so any trip away is probably good.  But again, it will be nice to have her home again.

Google+ Is Now Open To All

I made it about 3 minutes into this video before I just gave up. Who has this kind of time and can afford to put so much attention and effort into it? Not this guy, not at all. I may be old fashioned and even a bit antisocial, but if falling slave to hand-held devices and social networks is the alternative then for now I can live with being a modern day hermit.


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RIP Puddy Revisited

I know I've been absent from here for some time.  Truth is, my recovery time in August was pretty uneventful and since Puddy left us we have felt pretty, well, unsettled here.  All that aside, tonight I was looking through our old photo folders for something and came upon probably the best pictures of Puddy ever taken.  All were taken by my wife just before Christmas last year. So, at the risk of bringing up that sadness some more, here is one more look at my wife's beloved Puddy...