Night Owl

I started adjusting to being awake all night by sleeping just a few hours last night and getting up at 1 a.m. Been cleaning house and generally just puttering around to stay awake. I have been so worried about being able to stay awake all night and sleep during the day. But it's nearly 6 a.m. now and I am feeling sleepy enough I could sleep soon. My plan for the next couple of weeks is to sleep when I first get home from work, so 8 a.m. is my bedtime. Then I'll allow time for a nap in the evening around 8 p.m. if needed. I think I'll do fine. It definitely helps to keep busy. I'll be busy at work and walking around most of the night, so that won't be a problem. It's good for me to shake up my routine like this.

For Vicki

Dear friend, we'll miss you, we are heartbroken. We'll never forget you. I know you loved the Beatles. Didn't we all? This is for you.

Baby It's Cold Outside

From Rod Stewart's Great American Songbook, Baby It's Cold Outside with Dolly Parton.


And one more Rod Stewart, Great American Songbook, I Wish You Love.

More Deer

Is tomorrow the solstice? The shortest day of the year in terms of sunlight. Slept a little later this morning. Didn't get up till 6:30. Hah! I can't remember what it's like to sleep till 10, let alone noon. How do people do it?

Walked through the dark house as is my habit, and noticed deer at the bird feeders. A three-point buck and four does. I watched them a long time and finally got my camera. I can't figure out how to get picture of them in the dark through the glass door. So I stepped outside. They didn't run. Finally after I said "go, go" a few times, they walked off. They are not afraid of me. This is the best picture I could get. Blurry, but you can make out four deer. The buck went the opposite direction.

Went to Celia's party last night after all. I was going to skip it after shoveling snow for an hour and a half. But she called and said try to come anyway, even if late. So I did. The I-215 part of the drive was treacherous, but I made it there with no real problems. Half of the party had gone home, but it was fun to be out. Drove home on the ciy streets to avoid that terrible curve at Parley's Canyon.

Today I will wrap and deliver all remaining presents, drop of donations to The Road Home, and finish decorating the tree. Then try to enjoy the rest of the week until Christmas. After Christmas we have the big go-live for our software implementation and my life will not be my own for the following two weeks, possibly longer.

The deer at the bird feeders

The deer have been hiding out during the day for some time now, but since the snow started, it's apparent they are around as I see the trails through the snow. This morning, at 5 a.m. and still dark as night outside, as I walked past my patio door I noticed a deer nibbling at one of my bird feeders. My movement inside the house made the deer tense but she did not leave. Then five more deer bounded up the hill from behind my deck and gathered up on the upper level. I turned on the patio light for a better view. She backed away a step but did not leave and finally resumed snacking on bird seed. I grabbed my camera and got a very blurry picture. I'll look at it later and see if it is salvageable.

I am becoming a weird old woman talking all the time about birds, deer, and snow.

Snow, snow, snow

A real winter snowstorm today. Got maybe 8 inches. By the time I got around to shoveling it was pretty wet and heavy and starting to freeze. But I got the driveway and all walks cleared. Not too tough for the first time this year. There will be many more like this. And the snow blower still sits unused in the garage. I may get it working this year.

Will everyone please stop moving the cheese!

Like everyone else, I get used to doing things a certain way and I find it at least irritating when they change things without asking me first. For example, my Google Reader has new colors and design. Okay, it's not so bad and it will probably seem better after I use it awhile. It's just change.

Worse, though, they changed the entire board of my Lexulous game. It no longer resembles Scrabble. And now they are giving us 8 letters instead of 7. My Scrabble partner and I are still trying to play but I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around these new rules. Worst of all, it isn't Scrabble and that's what I want!

Wordscraper, the other scrabble-like option on Facebook is changing as well. The board has changed three times in the past day, and we now have 8 letters there too. Not surprising since both games were designed by those genius Indian brothers (the original Scrabulous). They have put up messages that they'll soon explain the changes. I have a feeling I'm not going to like the explanation as they have now made the customizable board unable to accept a duplicate of the Scrabble layout. Grrrr.

What else?

Oh yeah, I finally switched from IE to Firefox. It's mostly okay now, I've gotten used to where things are. But on my laptop I can't log into my bank account, I have to switch to IE. I know it's some setting and I could probably figure it out, but I just don't want to spend the time.

Okay. Enough whining. Life is good.