It’s time for bed and I was sitting at the computer waiting for whatever problem our website was having to resolve itself so I could post my latest entry and go to bed. I heard the rain falling outside. It just started all of a sudden. I can’t help but be reminded of that wonderful Enya song: Wild Child from “A Day Without Rain.” I stepped out onto the deck and literally let the rain fall down around me. I thought about how lucky and happy I was to be transplanted here in New Jersey. I feel like a plant that’s been uprooted from one pot and plunked down into a different, very comfy pot. I couldn’t be more happy. I feel my roots spreading out, testing the soil, and very much liking what they find.

To quote Enya:

Let the rain fall down
everywhere around you
give into it now
let the day surround you
you don’t need a reason
let the rain go on and on

I really didn’t want to swim today. I was too lazy. I mowed the lawn, ran errands and the usual. I let the dogs out for a pee around 1:30 p.m. and they didn’t really want to go out since it was hot and humid. Can’t blame them, it was sticky. I went down into the yard with them and walked around. I stuck my hand in the pool. AHH…just like tepid bath water! Maybe I should go for a swim after all. Okay, talked myself into that one! I reel off the solar blanket and do my skim. No froggies today, but lots of the wooly booger things and plenty of spiders of all colors. I let the dogs inside [they can’t wait to get back into the air conditioning] and change into the only swimsuit I currently own. [The other two L. L. Bean suits didn’t work and are currently being exchanged via mail.] Everytime I go into the pool it takes less time to get wet right away. I was all business today, as exercise was my main goal not just cooling off. I completed 10 laps of the length of the pool, plus some “mini” laps as I call them which consist of back and forths in the shallow end from side to side. These I take the side stroke approach to. In between I did my “grandma” float to take a breather. All in all, I’m really pleased with how much I can do now vs one week ago. I am just lovin’ this pool!

We did have some thunderstorms this evening, as predicted, but here they were not severe and we saw more rain than lightening. Good thing, that. We just got the TV back working again! I turned the air conditioning off tonight as it’s cooler out there now after the rain than it is inside. More tomorrow!

I just got done mowing the front yards. I never seem to remember to pick up all the sticks first, so I end up stopping Johnny to do the job right. I don’t really feel like picking up sticks. I just want to mow and be done with it. It’s 8:30 and although still cool, it’s not going to stay that way for long. The haze shimmers in the air and the woods in back of the house are not quite in focus. I think we’re in for storms this afternoon. Okay, let’s just pick up the sticks Lynne and get it over with. First I spy a blue jay feather. I stick it in my pocket to give to the kitties. They love bird feathers. Oh, look, mushrooms! Cool. Wonder what kind they are? I place a stick in the ground so I can find them again since I want to get a photo of them in case they aren’t here by the time Rick returns home. Maybe we can identify them. Plus, I don’t want Johnny to mow over them.

It’s a good thing I am doing this because they are some really large pieces of branches on the ground. Trees, you gotta love ‘em! Wait, what’s this? At first glance it looks like a clod of dirt, but it’s really a bird’s nest that must have blown out of the tree. It’s finely crafted from mud with some twigs [but really mostly mud] and lined with grass and bits of plant material. The back side is completely flat but the front side bows out to form a semi-circle. A cozy home for any little birdlet to grow up in! Hopefully this bird’s crop of kids have already flown the nest or they’ll have to start all over again. Anyone know what kind of bird builds a nest like this?? Let me know if you do!

I find a few more mushrooms that are a kind of puffball. Some are already spent and nothing is left but the shell, weird looking.

When I get back inside and I download the photos, I find this one. I didn’t realize it when I was actually taking the shot, but look closely. Don’t you think it looks like a face? See, the two little mushrooms are the eyes, the big mushroom is the nose and there are slight indentations in the ground that could be slashes of mouth on either side of the “nose.”  What do you see?

So, without the sticks I wouldn’t have seen any of this today. Thank you, sticks! All 52 of you!

At least that’s what they told us. After 2 weeks of people coming out here, arguing over whether or not our out-of-date underground cable was the problem, daily phone calls to complain,etc, etc., etc., we now know that lightening on the day of that hellacious T-storm was the cause of all our cable TV woes. Simply that our cable boxes BOTH got fried by a lightening strike. Why didn’t they think of that before? Too easy, I guess. I kept telling everybody everything was fine until the storm. Duh, get a clue folks! Yesterday two guys came out from Cablevision [yes, on SUNDAY, can you believe it??] and worked on the problem for about 2 hours. They were very thorough [one of the guys had been here 2 weeks ago and was the 2nd guy on the scene] and just started troubleshooting everything they could think of. Things weren’t making sense to them.

They took our cable box out to the street and plugged it directly in. Great signal, digital channels all there, etc. So, not a problem out at the box like they thought. Neither was it the cable coming into the house. We never would have found the problem if we had given them another cable box to experiment on. Rick gave them the one that we had switched out when we were having pixelation problems the week before all this started. We thought we had switched the boxes after the storm, but instead it was before the storm, so the cable box they tested was working in a way that the two fried ones weren’t. It hadn’t been hooked up at the time of the storm and it was working perfectly. ding, ding, ding—JACKPOT! That’s it; there’s the answer!

The sad thing is that we could have been watching TV all the time by simply by-passing the cable box and feeding the cable wire directly into the TV. Now we wouldn’t have had TIVO, or digital signal, or high definition [my mom is so cute, she tends to call it high deficiency instead of high definition, and in this case she’d be right!], but we could have had all the channels just the same. Sure wish we had known that. Why didn’t they tell us that before? or try it? Good questions.

They switched out the box in the livingroom but didn’t have a high definition box with them, so we’re missing out on that for the time being. But at least the TIVO works and we can watch TV. And none too soon, since Treasure Hunters started last night and it looks ike its going to be really good. Kind of like The Mole was, and we loved that show. Not really sure why it never took off like some of these other reality shows have. Anyway, I’m off the track again. They still couldn’t get the TV to work from the cable box in the kitchen area, so they just wired the cable directly into the TV and we can still watch it. They think the lightening took out the cable wiring within the house too. Must have been some strike! So, they need to come and redo the wiring in the next few days, as well as replacing the outside underground bit.

Lightening is a scary and strange thing. The only thing we can figure is that it hit the old TV antenna that stands tall, proud & pretty ugly on our chimney and travelled down the line. Now the antenna is not hooked up into the system anymore, so it doesn’t explain it completely. Both Rick and my Mom remember me saying “I think that one hit the house” after a particularly close-right-on-top-of-us strike. The thunder and the light flash were simultaneous. No wonder the dogs wanted in the basement! If we have one like that again I’ll be right down there with them.

Why they couldn’t have figured it out before this I surely don’t know. I guess people don’t normally start with the easiest answer. Anyway, the TV is working, and for that we are thankful.

It’s quite hot here today, right around 90 degrees, so we’ve been in the pool twice today! I did my usual skimming after the solar blanket was pulled off and had some interesting things end up in my net. There are these small bugs that keep showing up on the surface of the water and Rick swears they look just like fishing lures that he’s used to fly fish with. Wooly buggers, in fact. [or maybe you spell it boogers?] He’s right; they look just like them. Funny little things. Also lots of interesting winged creatures that I’ve never seen before and cannot identify. I also ended up with the usual Daddy-Long-Legs and assorted spiders,  a dragonfly, and something new. A wee froggie doing the deadman’s float! Cause of death? I think he croaked. [Oh my, what a pun!]

The water is up to 74 degrees, but it sure doesn’t feel that warm when you first get in. I was first in this afternoon. Watching Rick acclimate to the temp was pretty funny. He started making noises like Mario does when he only has one life left. If you’ve never played a Mario game on Nintendo than you probably can’t relate. It goes something like this: ewh, ewhh, ah! ah! ohhh, ah! ewh, ewhh. I just had to laugh at him. The water was luscious and cool. The perfect way to cool off after some yard work. I did the dog paddle for the total circumference of the pool without stopping. I like doing the paddle, lots of work but easy.

Rick is off again now to Boston for a few days. After this he won’t be travelling for several weeks. Good thing. I’ve been seriously considering taking up Rick’s boss’ wife’s way of coping with the travel situation. She hates it when her husband travels, so each time he does she either rearranges an entire room in the house or buys a new piece of furniture. Sounds good to me! I could end up with some really nice pieces of furniture that way. Time to hit the antique shops! About a minute after he left the driveway the phone rang. It was Rick. He wanted to tell me he had just seen Mama Turkey and her two babies crossing the road nearly at our house. So, she must live in the area close by. He said the babies were flapping their wings like crazy trying to get across the road as quickly as Mama. Too cute.

So, he’s off again and I’m alone with the dogs. At least now I have TV to watch. Yep, but that subject warrants a whole blog entry to itself. Stay Tuned. And if you’re reading this and you have no clue what I’m talking about, you’d better go back and read the blog in chronological order, which is now possible by clicking on the link at the intro to my blog site. Check it out.