Love us, love our manure

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Kirk M

It never ceases to amaze me when these folks from down country (read: “out-of-state”) make the decision to move themselves and their household up to Vermont or to perhaps buy a second “summer” home because they love all the picturesque scenery, rolling green hills with cows grazing on the slopes, forests everywhere, lakes, rivers and streams, fields of corn, and more cows of course, and then complain about the smell.

Up they come to the land of green mountains and everything is fine and dandy until the time of year rolls around when the farmers start spreading manure, fresh out of the cow or (gasp) the liquid type, upon their fields in preparation for the growing season, during the growing season and after the growing season (and any other time they deem necessary). Then it’s time for another round of complaints about that horrid smell coming from fields. It seems that these folks didn’t realize when they were happily planning their new home in Vermont that cows happen to have rear ends. Rear ends that work very well and very often as a matter of fact. Did they think that these beasts just ate all that grass and hay and held it all in?

Some even complain about the smell coming from a neighboring farm itself when the breezes blow gently across the cow barn, across the liquid manure pit and carry that classic barnyard smell of happy, contented cows into the kitchen window of a summer home 2 miles away. “Good God! It smells like sh**!!” they say. Did they expect it to smell like petunias?

Do these  down-country folks really believe the farmers hauling those manure spreaders behind tractors or driving liquid manure sprayers around a 50+ acre field on a hot day are having tons of fun, reveling in the smells of their profession?

So a warning to all these good folks who might be contemplating a move to the Green Mountain State. Be advised that with all the picturesque views, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, forests, cold and snow to ride your snowmobile upon, there’s also the smell of good old cow shit that is bound to waft your way at one time or another. We’re not doing it just to annoy you, it’s simply a necessary way of life. A smelly one to be sure but necessary nonetheless.

Love us, love our manure.

Posted in Life in Vermont | Tagged | 4 Comments

Visit from the sister

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Kirk M

This post isn’t about a visit of some nun from the local convent as the title might suggest. No, this post is about the yearly visit from my wife’s sister who ventures out from Florida around this time of year and meanders up the east coast via plane and rented auto, visiting various friends and relatives on the way and eventually ending up at our place near the Canadian border. Something we both look forward too with happy anticipation.

This year the visit spanned a full three days. Three full days of talking and going out to eat for dinner at places Laurie and I would not normally visit as we tend to be chronic homebodies. No complaints about that you understand but like I said, the majority of the time is involved with talking, telling stories, relating events and generally laughing a lot–often late into the night. It’s wonderful and exhausting at the same time.

Do people still do this? Talk into the late hours?

I often wonder about this. Is the art of real conversation still alive? I mean outside Faecbook, Twitter and pecking at wee buttons on a mobile phone, is the art of actually talking to one another in more than 140 characters still practiced by the younger generations? You know, conversation that takes place face to face? The kind that happens by taking in breaths, letting them out slowly while flapping your lips and making vocal noises at the same time? Sitting around the deck/living room/kitchen table/wherever telling fart stories and laughing a lot till the wee hours of the morning?

I certainly hope so.

I hope so because my wife, her sister and myself (and our various other relatives, friends and neighbors) are getting rather on in life and there’s not that much time left to teach the younger folk that it’s actually possible to talk to one another without use of a computer, tablet or texting by mobile phone.

Anyway, the point of this post, before I wondered off topic like I usually do, was to point out why I’ve been abstained from my online life for the last three days. I’ve been busy talking, laughing and telling fart stories with my wife and her sister.

She left today to continue her meandering so I now I shall take up the reins of daily routine once more. It’s okay though–I’m pooped!

Posted in Life at home | Tagged , | 3 Comments

On a Golden Afternoon–A few photos of the new place

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Kirk M

There was one of  those classic golden afternoons the other day and I finally managed to get outside and snap several photos of our quirky new home and the surrounding grounds. Since certain folks have been asking for pictures of the place I decided it might be a wise thing to get some posted before I get lynched or worse.

So, without further ado…

And I got to play with the WordPress 3.0 gallery function while I was at it. It’s probably the same gallery function that was included in the 2.9 series but I’m late on the gallery scene.

Anyway, that’s our quirky little house in the Clyde River Valley of Vermont. Not a level floor in the place but since it’s been that way for about 100 years now I’m not worried about it.

And no inside pictures yet–we’re not done unpacking.

Posted in Life at home | Tagged , | 18 Comments

I need a flying car

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Kirk M

It never fails. After months of not having to drive to the VA the time always comes back around where I seem to be visiting said facility/facilities, (local or the campus in Boston, MA) a dozen times within a two month period. Okay, maybe not as much as a dozen but it sure seems that way.

In the last 3 weeks I’ve been twice to my local VA (2 hours away) and once to the Boston campus (5 hours away). Now I’m scheduled for 2 more appointments to my local VA, one tomorrow and one on the 14th, and one more to Boston on the 21st. I swear all these trips are making me sick.

I think it’s time to look into one of those flying cars.

Flying car

I wonder if this would fit through the Callahan Tunnel?

Posted in Life as a veteran | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Helter Swealter

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Kirk M

Is this the tropics? I don’t remember moving to the tropics but it sure feels like it. I went outside just now to check but no, it still looks like northern Vermont to me. So what’s with the temps in the 90′s for the past 3 days? And all this horrid humidity?

If I start seeing Spanish moss hanging from the maple trees in the yard I swear we’re packing up and moving to Canada.

No need though as it seems. We’re apparently scheduled to go from mid-day 90′s to all of 72 degrees for a high by Saturday according to the weather report. I sincerely hope so since our “computer room” is situated in a flat roofed dormer that adorns the top of the house right where the sun can beat upon it from noon on. Can’t leave the computers on too long otherwise they tend to get this saggy-melty look to them.

Good news! I not only found the batteries for my old but trustworthy digital camera but I found the camera as well. I even braved the heat long enough to take several photos of our wonderfully quirky (and slightly tilted) house, yard and the surrounding landscape. They came out great.

So where are they already?

I’m terribly sorry folks but I’m going to wait until things cool down a bit as I need to shove them into my editing software, resize, trim, squash, expand and all that kind of lovely stuff before I consider them worthy of my high falootin’ site here. And it’s simply too hot up here to do that now. I think I’ve lost 8 pounds through sweat alone just typing this post and considering that I don’t weigh more than 150 pounds soaking wet I could be in danger of disappearing entirely if I don’t see the downstairs right quick.

Even the cats refuse come upstairs because of the high temps and when  that happens you know it’s hot!

See you on Saturday.

Posted in Just Thinkin, Life at home | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Gone to Boston

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Kirk M

I’m headed to the Boston VA tomorrow morning which means I’m hitting the road today to head down to a friend’s house where I’m staying overnight in preparation for catching the shuttle to Boston at the White River Jct, VT VA tomorrow. Otherwise I’d have to get up at 4:00 AM the day of my appointment and drive the 2 hours down to White River–and I’d hate that! Not the driving part, the getting up part.

Hopefully Gary (the friend) can send his cat to wake me up tomorrow morning by 5:30 so I can hit the road by 6:00. Without my hearing aids plugged into my head, a 747 landing in his pasture wouldn’t wake me. Having a cat pound on an closed eye with his paw will do the job though.

So y’all just have a nice couple of days and I’ll see you Tuesday night or so.

Posted in Life as a veteran | Tagged | Leave a comment

Officially Official

Posted on June 26, 2010 by Kirk M

I’m happy to report that we are now officially official in our new home–we’ve been to the dump.

Yes, for the first time since we finished the move to our new home at 459 Clyde Street, we have made our first trip to the dump today. Okay, so it’s not like the first time we’ve been to the dump since coming to Newport but that was over 5 years ago and we we’re renting at the time. Now we’re home owners again–it’s different.

Thankfully, like the rest of the Vermont (or most of it anyway), not much had changed.

It was still $3.25 per bag dropped off, the same lady was behind the office desk who was there 5 years ago (hadn’t aged a single day it seemed) and the old dog that came out to greet us back then, came out to greet us today (the old boy actually looked  bit younger).

My memory might be a bit faulty now but I swear you can drop off more types of stuff than you could 5 years back. This includes used oil, appliances, old furniture,  illegal drugs that have gone by and the occasional corpse or two although I’ll have to ask about pricing the latter. Not that I have any illegal drugs hanging around (gave that up years ago) but I need to get the body of my ex-landlord out of the deep freeze as it’s taking up all the room at the moment.

There was  also, thanks to massive effort of my honey, around a half a ton of broken down boxes of stuff that she has already unpacked and put in it’s proper place or at least within the general proximity of it’s proper place barring final movement and leveling of furniture, bookcases and knickknack shelves and such.

I’m also happy to report that my beloved old 1968 Cub Cadet lawn tractor that I purchased from the previous owners has come home from the fix-it shop complete with new blades, tune-up and new throw-out bearing (and associated pieces/parts that go with it). It’s running just grand and cut the lawn with a flourish. A rather costly repair (had to remove the engine in order to get to the throw-out bearing) but it was more than worth it.

Of course it’s raining again today but that’s okay now–we’re officially official!

Note: Alright, so I didn’t really knock off my ex-landlord and stick him in the deep freeze and the landfill really doesn’t take illegal drugs and the occasional corpse. It’s called having a sense of humor as in; I was only kidding? Now maybe that black van will stop following me around everywhere I go.

Posted in Life at home | 8 Comments

A bit of a cyst

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Kirk M

A long, long time ago (well, maybe not that long ago) I was driving my taxi on a run from the home base in Bradford, VT to White River Jct, VT where the Vermont VA medical center happens to be located. As I was under strict orders at that time (my BP was still out of control in 2002) to stop in and have my blood pressure checked, I dropped off my customer at their destination, radioed in to the dispatcher my intentions and headed for the VA.

The whole procedure usually lasted at most about 15 minutes from getting into the clinic, having my BP tested and walking out to the parking lot, grabbing my cab and getting back to work. That time, however, was different.

On this particular visit my BP decided to act up in a rather major way. So much so that I was, much to my annoyance, immediately admitted to the hospital end of the VA for an overnight stay so I could be pumped full of an intravenous solution of Atenolol (a rather major BP medication–stomps all over it).

Upon being released the next day with more strict orders to take the next 3 days off I headed home. Later that very evening, while I was sitting in my easy chair in my bedroom, I suddenly noticed that my arm, starting at the point where the IV had been inserted, had begun to swell at a rather massive rate. By the time I got to the kitchen where my sister was figuring up some bills, my right arm had swelled to twice it’s normal size. Had a sort of Popeye look to it.

At that point I went into a massive seizure which basically took me out for the next two weeksand had me staggering around with a walker for an entire month after I was discharged from the hospital. I also lost control of the left side of my face which to this day still twitches more or less uncontrollably. Especially when I smile.

I tend to scare children because of this although with my long hair I’d make a hell of a decent looking pirate, twitch and all.

Fast forward to a a few weeks ago when I happen to mention to my doctor that this business with the facial twitching was becoming extremely annoying (I hate scaring children), I ended up talking to a neurologist who put me in for a brain MRI.

Brain MRI? I always thought that phrase should be pronounced with a Boris Karloff type accent.

To keep this rather long post as short as possible plus the fact it’s past time for lunch, I received a call from yet another neurologist yesterday who, after mucking about the bush for 5 minutes, informed me that they found a cyst near the area of my brain that controls the facial muscles–now who would have guessed?

He kept asking me if he was scaring me. I told him no, he wasn’t, so he needed to try harder.

Turns out it’s just a tiny little thing. Lot’s of people have them. In fact, many are born with them and are completely unaware of it. Of course, this might very well explain why humans act the way they do. It’s the cysts in our brains. Makes us go crazy every once in awhile.

Thankfully I’m crazy all the time so no one notices any change.

Anyway, this is something that would normally be ignored as a common anomaly, etc, etc. In my case However, since I already have this problem with the left side of my face ( and the fact I tend to scare little children when I smile at them) the results of the brain MRI are being sent off to the VA campus in Boston, MA so a neurosurgeon can have a look-see.

They say they’ll get back to me with his/her opinion.

I won’t hold my breath waiting for it as there’s much more important things in my life right now. Like hoping it will stop raining long enough for me to get the lawn mowed. I just paid over $300 to get the damn lawn tractor fixed and I’d like to see if the thing works properly now.

Posted in Life as a veteran | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments