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.

Yesterday Was a Winter Day

Monday, February 11th, 2008

Yesterday was one of those Winter days you could do without. It was snowing a tad bit in the morning, but by the afternoon, the snow was flying directly sideways. Well, eventually it hit the ground. I think we had a whiteout here.

On the news this morning, I heard there was a car pileup in Scranton and Rochester due to the wind and snow. I stayed up way too late last night listening to the wind. I hate this type of weather.

I took a picture of the trees in the back of the house. You can tell which way the wind was blowing because one side of each tree is completely covered while the other side has no snow at all on it.

Walking in the Snow

Monday, January 14th, 2008

Yesterday, we heard that it was going to snow overnight. I think we were supposed to get a few inches while NYC and Boston were supposed to get hit pretty hard with up to a foot of snow.

Laura and I were watching TV when I asked her if it was snowing. I think it was around midnight when she told me it was. I got up and stood outside on the front steps. I think the nicest thing about the snow, especially late at night, is the silence. I love to hear the flakes hit the ground. The neighbors had their driveway light on, so I could see how much was falling.

I walked inside and, half kidding, asked Laura if she wanted to go for a walk. She didn’t say no all too quickly. I think she gave me a weak excuse. I was sort of kidding anyway. While I was sitting on the couch taking my shoes off, she came out and said, “I’ll go with you.” Oh, how neat.

As we were walking down the road, I asked her when the last time we took a nice night time walk in the snow was. We couldn’t remember. I mean, I remember doing this stuff when I was a kid, but those days are long gone. Now, everything is work and thinking about work. It was very nice to be outside while there were no cars on the road and everyone else was asleep. It’s such a different world.

This late night walk came right on the heels of a great daytime walk we took yesterday. That one went for a few miles. On the way back, when we were almost home, I thought to myself how I didn’t want the walk to end. That’s the sign of a good time.

These walks are very therapeutic for me. If you haven’t noticed, I get kind of stuffed up during the Winter and a bit frustrated at things. I think I am going to make an effort from now on to walk more. In addition, Holly likes long walks. After all, she is a snow dog.

Follow-up to the Snow From Last Night

Monday, December 31st, 2007

As I mentioned in my previous post, it snowed last night. At about 10PM, I started hearing the sleet hitting the windows. I hate sleet, because it is so difficult to clean up in the morning. It turns into a sheet of semi-ice that’s a pain in the butt to get off the cars.

Anyway, I woke up to a nice layer of fluffy snow. Since it was kind of warm last night, a lot of it stuck to the trees. That always makes for a pretty view. I went out to clean off the cars and everything came off pretty easily. The snow was all melting around me. By the time I got to the mailbox, it was all turning to slush. That’s the kind of snow I don’t mind.

The Ice Has Turned into Harder Ice

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

I went outside last night to chisel out the cars. They were covered with ice. I got on all my old snowboarding gear…jacket, snowpants, mittens, etc… I was as warm as a bedbug on the floor of an overheating pickup truck.

I started up both cars and let them run for a good long time. I didn’t think I was going to get them uncovered. Then, I saw a little speck of water and I had hope. After a while, I had thawed both cars out completely. I had to use a pick ax to move the cars out of their initial parking spots. I was even sweating a little bit.

Today, I went outside to try to fix up the driveway a bit for the tile dude. He is going to need some space to work out there. He needs to cut some boards and mix some thinset. It should be interesting. I got a nice area cleared out down to the gravel. The sidewalk is still about three inches higher than normal, but I threw some driveway gravel on it for traction. It was pretty warm today, so some of the mess melted. The sun does a good job of hitting the dark gravel and melting whatever is around it. Tomorrow is supposed to be around 45 degrees, so the ice should melt even more.

I tried my old driving back and fourth along the driveway trick. It didn’t work out too well. I almost got stuck once and then the car just drove on top of the ice. That didn’t do too much good.

This afternoon, I had to run out to the store. I backed up all the way to the street. I made the mistake of stopping while half way out into the road. I gave it some gas and felt the car sink into the ice/snow. I had to get out of the car and bolt downstairs for that damn pick ax again. I got the car out quickly, but it would’ve been embarrassing to be “that guy” to the cars driving by. Luckily none did.

Windy in the Northeast

Monday, December 17th, 2007

There was supposed to be a big wind/snow storm over the weekend here in New York. We heard sleet hitting the windows Saturday night and woke up Sunday to see a nice layer of hard sleet/freezing rain on the already existing snow. This is the kind of snow you can walk on top of. It pretty much sleeted all Sunday. There was supposed to be heavy winds all Sunday into Monday.

Well, it was very quiet all Sunday. I was hoping that the wind missed us. I really hate wind. Of all things, I hate the wind.

About 7PM or 8PM last night, I felt a gust hit the house. I wasn’t happy about this. I looked out the window and noticed everything flying around. Good thing I brought the recycling cans inside the night before. I felt a few more strong gusts, so I looked out the back door onto the porch. I noticed that the tent (set up in the summer and never taken down) was upside down on the table. I thought the tent legs were going to put holes in the screening from tumbling around all night, so I went outside to take it down.

When I went outside, I felt like I was in a vacuum. There was strong wind coming from all directions. It had to be over 50MPH. I thought for sure that the huge oak tree in the back yard was going to take me out. I started taking the tent down. Someone call the “Guinness Book of World Records” for the least amount of time anyone has used to disassemble a tent. I was like Laurel and Hardy in fast motion. You should have seen me scurrying around pulling the tent poles out and folding them up. I got everything apart and threw it in the dining room. There was no time to drink wine, so that wasn’t even on my mind. Well, I guess I thought of it, but there were more pressing issues.

Laura got out of the shower and looked very relaxed. I was sitting there with my clothes all messed up and my hair standing on end. The tent was thrown on the floor. It was like one of those moments…when one person has no idea what the other person was just doing.

We’re in the Middle of a Snowstorm

Thursday, December 13th, 2007

Yes, the title says it all. Yesterday, we found out that it was going to snow today. These things are always a bit of a surprise.

On the radio this morning, I heard that all the schools were closed. Then, I heard that the snow was supposed to come at noon, starting with light snow and getting heavier towards tonight. Then, I heard that perhaps it would start snowing at 10AM. Well, it started snowing at 8:30AM and hasn’t even given any sign of letting up.

They are talking 6″-12″. There is already about 3″ out there.

I think one of the most peaceful things to do is to go outside and listen to the snow hit the ground. I used to do that when I was a kid. I would lay down in the wheelbarrow, face up, and get snowed on.

A Little Bit of Ice and Moving Some Furniture

Monday, December 10th, 2007

We woke up this morning to a little bit of ice hugging the tree branches. Not too much in the way of bad roads, but a bunch of schools were closed, none the less. The cars were covered with a coating of ice that could’ve made this morning a real pain in the butt, but we didn’t have to go anywhere until around 10:30AM. It was all melting by that point.

In the late morning, Laura and I had to go move some furniture for a friend. That wasn’t too hard, because the stuff was pretty light. Also, I am quite strong. If you saw me with no shirt, you would know what I am talking about.

I am taking a few days off from the kitchen while the joint compound dries. I feel guilty.

Hey, It Snowed Today

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007

As I said in the title of this post, hey, it snowed today. This is the most snow we have had all season. I would say it was about an inch.

I was laying in bed this morning, going through (in my mind) what had to be done today. Hmmm…let’s see. Get up, pour a cup of coffee and sit on the couch near the pellet stove. Sounds good to me. I heard Laura put Holly the dog outside. She came back in and told me that Holly was out in the snow. I took a look out the window and sure enough, the snow was falling. I like the early snow. The late snow gets ugly and annoying, but the early snow is nice. I grabbed the camera and took some photos. They really are for your viewing enjoyment. Here, have a gander…

This is the backyard from the bedroom window. Notice the beautiful screened in porch and the not so beautiful redneck meat smoking shed down the hill.

This is Holly the snow dog. Notice how she blends like in like a chameleon. Actually, she is a Norwegian Elkhound. She is very pretty, but she has bad breath, so don’t try to give her a kiss.

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.