Jay Gaulard Blog

Today Certainly is Another Day

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Today was another busy day. I spent a good majority of the day organizing things online. I would tell you what they are, but I have this thing about telling people my secrets. Oh well. I will say that I find it simply amazing that I am able to wake up every morning of my life and work on the computer for at least eight hours straight. Mind you, those are the days I have nothing to do. Oh, I just love looking at the clock as it reads 3PM and realizing that I have been sitting here since 7AM.

As I get older, I find myself focusing on my “physical” self more than I used to. I always try to sit up straight in my chair, so I don’t get a bad posture, like I have been warned about when I was a kid. I also recognize that I need exercise these days. When I say need, I mean “need.” I mean, I am in good shape, but as anyone gets older, I think they become more aware of these things. I also feel my eyes going to hell. When I was a kid, I used to pride myself on not wearing glasses. Well, the years of staring at this monitor has taken its toll, I’m afraid. Last year, I bought computer glasses to help take the strain off my eyes. These days, I find myself having to focus a heck of a lot more. I can actually feel my eyes getting tired. People say that you should get up every so often to give your eyes a break. They say that you should look out the window every once in a while so your eyes can focus on something else, other than your computer screen. I do that, but I am just hoping that one day I will make enough money to pay someone to do my work for me as I sit in a chair behind them, telling them what to do.

So, what’s new in life…I guess it’s just day to day stuff. As I work, the cats take their turns using my lap as their bed. I am not working on adding any more websites to my portfolio…well, I had to pop a new one in there, I just couldn’t help myself. This is the year of marketing. I haven’t focused on that portion of the business all that much in the past few years, so it might be something I should do to boost the $$$. I believe I can do a very good job with that in the next ten months.

I also have been making beer, if you haven’t noticed. I think it’s a pretty rewarding thing to do. Paul came over to pick up ten bottles for a party he is having tomorrow. He is going to get back to me with the consensus. I hope he likes them.

Since I have been in college, I have been looking for the perfect place to live. Where we are living now isn’t perfect, by any meaning of the word. As my mother would say, we have decided to hate it. It’s painful to realize that, but it’s true. I have learned that it’s pretty useless looking on the internet for that perfect town. All it takes is one lousy picture of a town to ruin everything. On to the next perfect town with that one lousy picture, and so on. I think the only way I am going to make it is to get an “anchor” house somewhere up north, with another smaller home in the heat for weekends in the Winter. I have also learned that the perfect town may not even exist anymore. Back in the day, there was a quiet little main street somewhere in Indiana that you could walk up and down for the rest of your life. Now, you have to worry about tornadoes and the Wal-Mart they are putting up at the end of the block. You might think I’m kidding, but look around. The most pristine places are very unaffordable. So the quest goes on.

On Monday, Laura and I are making a trip to Washington, CT. We are going to have lunch at the Mayflower Inn. A few years ago, my mother got us a gift certificate for the Inn that we used for a perfect Valentine’s Day dinner. It was one of the nicest places on earth. We were thrilled with the little antique town, but it was kind of dark on our way in. We really want to see it during the day. You would be surprised what the Connecticut hills have to offer, for a price. I’ll let you know how it goes. YouTube certainly needs a video or two of Washington, CT.

It just started snowing. Laura proposed another walk in the snow. Who am I to say no? I have a feeling I will be putting my boots on at midnight again. I do want to say that I am getting a little tired of the snow. Every time I think the driveway will be clear for a few days, it snows. I admit that it keeps things exciting, but enough already. It’s been a snowy Winter. The next week looks warmer with the temperatures above freezing. Also, the sunset is much later now, so that January depression has lifted. Now, the sun is going down close to 6PM. In March, we set the clocks ahead, so that should be fun. I am going to try to really soak up the seasons this Spring, Summer and Fall. I think they are worth it.

Wow, what a post. This might actually be what blogs are for. I guess I have to write some real stuff when I am not busy buying things and writing about them. Hey look…it’s another cat on my lap. I think they are doing laps now. This one is Sexy Boo.

A Nice Day For An Autumn Walk

Sunday, November 11th, 2007

We were going to go for a hike this afternoon, but I feared the ground would be swampy when we got to our destination. I wanted to hike down to a pond a few acres away. I think we’ll get to that another day, but for today, we stuck with our usual walk down the road.

I have to say, for all those people who put off hiking in the summer because it’s too hot, today was the day for you. Weather.com tells me it’s 44 degrees outside…perfect for walking or hiking. No sweating and no freezing. Just perfect.

In an unusual move, I thought I would bring the camera along. It’s nice and sunny, so I knew the photos would come out nicely. Wanna see a few?

This is a piece of property down the road that both Laura and I are very jealous of. I am not sure how many acres it is, but they have a pond, a grassy area, a main house and another house out back. They also have a table and chairs set up near the back of the pond. I would like to drink my morning coffee there.

Moving further along, there is a river that flows pretty much along the entire road. When Rob came up to visit a while ago, we looked for salamanders under the rocks in this river.

This is Laura’s favorite house on this road. It’s an old white farm-ish type house. It’s hard to see back there, but what I was trying to get a picture of was the nice driveway and Pacasandra planted off to the right.

I just had to grab this one on our way back. The sun was hitting it and the leaves were bright yellow. Also, this is a great stone house to look at.

The First Snow in Our Little New York

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

This is getting pretty bad. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I noticed there was snow on the ground and immediately thought about writing a blog post about it. Yes, I probably should pursue therapy.

In any event, yes, it did snow last night. It was the first snow of the season for us in this part of New York. It actually hasn’t been cold really and there are still leaves on the trees…green ones on some. That strikes me as weird. Laura keeps telling me they are on the trees until after Thanksgiving. It’s nice to have a little brain so closeby.

When I woke up in the middle of the night, there was more snow on the ground. I guess some of it melted. I have to say, the sight of snow does give you a nice feeling. With all the Christmas commercials on TV these days, it is starting to feel like the season. Also, just a word of warning, these are the days that I start dreaming. These are the days of reflection on what I want to do with the rest of my life. I probably think this way because snow calms me down and gives me some breathing room.

We have had the pellet stove burning for most of the month of November and some of October. I am so happy we got this stove. It’s clean and very easy to operate. Gone are the days of splitting wood, dust and a mess in the house. I don’t think I will ever forget all the bark in the living room when I was a kid. I did like burning it though.

We Caught the Deer

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007

Well, Laura did anyway.

She was letting Holly, the dog, back inside this evening, (which is now dark by the way) when she heard something in the leaves. She told me about it and grabbed the flashlight. I told her I was going to go out the front door and we would surround whoever was out there. Somehow, Laura ended up going out the front door with me. I don’t think she heard me. So much for surrounding the enemy. Either way, we walked out onto the front porch and saw their eyes sparkle in the moonlight…two hungry deer.

I ran out on the lawn and watched (and heard) them run away into the neighbor’s yard across the street. That’ll teach ‘em. Yeah, right. I walked downstairs and grabbed my big sprayer full of deer spray and had my way with all the trees on the property. Now, the whole place stinks to high heaven.

Tomorrow, I will wrap the trees with fencing.

The Deer Ate My Crabapple Trees

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007

I know, I know, I complain about the same thing every year.

I kept forgetting to spray my three new crabapple trees with the Liquid Fence deer repellent spray. I sprayed them before, but it seems like every time I do, there are heavy rain showers. Even though the spray claims to stay on in the rain, everyone knows that is just a dream. By the way, if you are going to buy this spray, purchase the concentrated bottle. It goes a much longer way than the other pre-mixed stuff.

So, the deer have been nibbling on the end tree. I thought the other two trees were a different breed that the deer weren’t interested in, because they weren’t touched. Well, this morning, I noticed that the trees were bare. When I say bare, I mean the wood was eaten too. The damn deer even broke a few branches to get to the leaves at top.

I love animals, but at this point and want to strangle these deer. Today I am going to the Depot to get some of that see-through black deer fencing. I will take a picture for you.

New York’s First Frost

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Well, there may have been frost already in New York somewhere. This was our first frost, anyway.

I was looking at the weather forecast yesterday on Weather.com and there was a “Severe Weather Alert” for our town. I was wondering what it was…a hurricane, a tornado…a flood? No, it was a freezing alert telling people to bring their plants in. How nice of them. I wouldn’t say that the first frost is severe, but perhaps for gardeners it is.

I kind of like it. Around this time every year, I think of moving up to the middle of nowhere in Vermont. Poor Laura has to hear about my dreams of being a mountian man or a yuppie couple out of a L.L. Bean catalog. I don’t quite know why I would want to move where it’s colder than it is here. Maybe it’s because there is sort of a tranquility with the cold. People move slower and are less rude. When there is a snow storm, it seems like we are all on the same side. To me, that’s nice. It certainly is better than giving each other the finger as we drive around in the warm weather. Well, now that I think about it, I could probably give someone the finger in a snowstorm.

In other news, we are now almost at the end of Clergy Appreciation Month. I didn’t even know it was Clergy Appreciation Month. I had to hear it on the radio this morning. It would be nice if someone told me something once in a while.

You may have noticed in the past few years that there are holidays sprouting up all over the place. You can search your country’s holidays here. Basically, every day is a holiday. If you don’t see one on the previous website link, they just missed it, that’s all. I am thinking that some of these holidays are people and organizations just trying to promote themselves. If it sticks, it sticks. If not, then oh well.

I am declaring this decade dedicated to Jay.

The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor

Friday, October 26th, 2007

Last night, Laura and I had the good fortune of visiting “The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor.” I have seen this around and have always wanted to go, but never did.

I got some free tickets that allowed us in on either Thursday or Sunday nights. We chose Thursday because we thought things would be a little slower then. As it turned out, every half hour time slot was sold out, except for the 9PM one. You have to remember, they are marketing this event all the way down into Manhattan. With the tickets we had, it didn’t matter if the event was sold out, we were still able to go at any time.

We decided to try for the 7:30PM sliver. We drove down Rt.9 into Croton-on-Hudson. I have really only been in this area about six times in my life. It is all so foreign to me. Anyway, we made it to the event and parked in the Shoprite parking lot next door. We walked across the parking lot and entered the event. Things were busy, but not too much yet, which was nice.

So there we were, walking through the gates into about a million blazing pumpkins. I have to say, the setup was pretty nice. There were quite a few people, so the walking was kind of slow, but that gave us time to see what things were about. My nature is to bust through, take pictures and drive home. I was forced to relax. Also, I am not sure how Laura feels about her nights being rushed. She does know me well enough now to know what to expect. One word of warning to those people who want a less crowded evening…go to the later shows. The kids are probably in bed by that point.

I am just going to list the best pictures of the evening below. It was dark, so my camera didn’t do the best job, but Photoshop helped quite a bit.

This is the arch of pumpkins you walk through on your way up to the ticket people.

A pretty neat carving hanging from one of the trees.

These are both of the stone manor house at Van Cortlandt Manor. As you can see, the lights change color.

The rest of the photos are of what we saw during the walk through the grounds.

The whole walk probably takes between a half hour and forty five minutes. We had fun…just be careful, they funnel you through the gift shop at the end. So, if you have kids and you think they may want little trinkets that you aren’t interested in, be sure to shield their view.

Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Beyond

Sunday, October 21st, 2007

Wow, what a day.

Laura and I had to get new sneakers, so we headed up to the “Prime Outlets at Lee.” I will tell you, I thought the place was much bigger. It was refreshing to visit something so cozy and nice. People were just walking around enjoying the day. There didn’t seem to be any attitude that usually comes alond with these places…well, the ones in New York anyway. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.

We found a good shoe store. Laura bought two pairs of sneakers and I bought one. It has taken such a long time to do this, it feels good to have it done. After that chore was finished, it was time to have some fun. We took Pleasant Street, or Rt. 102 West into Stockbridge. I think everyone else had the same idea for today. After all, the leaves are almost in full effect and the weather was perfect. Stockbridge was a little crowded, but not too bad. We parked our car on the side of the road and headed down towards the Red Lion Inn for some lunch. Right across the street from the car, there was a little park that I never noticed. It’s pretty cool, so I grabbed a photo.

We made it down the road…almost to the Inn, when I remembered that I left the gift certificate Laura got me for my birthday in the car. We had to walk all the way back to get it. Upon our return to the place we were standing ten minutes earlier, I decided to take another photo.

This is the ally that leads to the back of the Red Lion Inn. I wanted to eat lunch in the courtyard. Well, I guess they aren’t serving lunch there anymore, because there were no tables set up. Instead, we went downstairs to “The Lion’s Den.” It’s more of a tavern type deal.

We had a great lunch. We did get a little tipsy because we decided to have a little drink before we sat down.

That was fun too.

After we finished eating, which seemed like a really long time, we headed upstairs to make our Thanksgiving dinner reservations. We have been trying to get in here for a few years, but they are always booked up. This year, they had one table for two open. Yeah!!! We made it. I made the reservation and we are in. That is so cool. After that, we left.

We have been planning to go apple picking for a couple of months now, but have yet to get the chance. Today seemed like a perfect day to head down Rt. 7, a little South of Stockbridge and a little North of Great Barrington, to a place called Windy Hill Farm. We have been here a few times and really love it. They have pumpkins and apples and everything else.

I tell ya, it makes me sooooo happy.

Unfortunately, we showed up at 4:35 and they stop the “you-pick” at 4:30. Good thing our friend Eric let us up to pick a few apples on our own. I climbed a nice sized tree to get two shiny apples way up on top. I handed them off to Laura and we headed back down to the store.

We bought a big bag of mixed apples for $8 and a pumpkin for $8 too. Oh, yeah, we are all set up. Remember last time we got a pumpkin up at this place? Man, I love the Berkshires.

Oh yeah, before I forget, take a look at the picture I took while crossing the Castleton Bridge over the Hudson River.

The Latest Trip to Woodstock, NY

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

Laura and I cruised up to Woodstock again this weekend. I told her that I wanted to go hiking up that big mountain everyone climbs. I am not sure the name of it, because we never actually got to it.

We drove into town with the best of intentions. When we got somewhat closer to the action, we noticed a whole bunch of traffic. I guess it was leaf peeper Sunday. I can’t make fun of them because we were there too. One thing it did do was to make us sure that we don’t want to move to Woodstock. I think when you move to a town, you want it all to yourselves. Not you entirely, but you and the people who live there. Woodstock is a town that people visit, that’s for sure.

We parked out of the way a little bit, in the health food store parking lot. Then, we walked up to Joshua’s Cafe. I was really hungry. I love the food at Joshua’s. It’s different and it’s good. The only problem is that the place was packed. Laura and I had to wait upstairs and drink some Guinness while we waited. That was rough. The reason it was rough is because it was out of the bottle and it cost $9. Even the girl behind the counter had a pained look on her face.

We ate and walked around a little bit. Then we left. We have been there so many times before, I am not sure it holds its luster.

Here is a photo of the soon-to-form drum circle. It started at 4PM, but we were gone before then.

The Orange Sky Before the Storm

Tuesday, October 9th, 2007

…except the storm never happened.

Yesterday, Laura and I were getting ready to go for a walk. When we exited the house in an orderly fashion, we noticed something very peculiar above us. The sky was completely orange. This was very strange and kind of caught us off guard. I ran back inside to grab the camera. I had to get this on film…or whatever digital cameras catch things on.

Isn’t that weird?

We walked almost to the end of our road and saw a bolt of lightening. I turned around and Laura followed. People have been getting hit by lightening lately and I am trying to not be one of them. I really don’t want Laura to be one of them either.

We made it home with only a few drops of rain, but nothing more. We heard thunder, but apparently the storm traveled to the West of us, over the ridge.