Tag Archives: Where:Charlottesville-VA

Shaking and rattling, but thankfully not rolling

25 Thursday Aug 2011

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On 8/23/11, we experienced our very first earthquake. 5.8. It was an experience, it was weird, it was unnerving. It is something I am fine to check off the list of things to do, but does not need repeating.

I was on a conference call when I interrupted to announce that I may get disconnected because of an earthquake. Perhaps there was a better way to make this announcement – but I was shaking and freaking out. In hind site, I am amused that we continued w/ the call – with others making the announcement that they are getting it as well. I had no idea what the proper protocol was for an earthquake. This was not covered in the Mt. Crumpit rule book (that I am making up as we go along). As it turns out, staying on your conference call is not the right answer – instead, you should leave the building and get to a clear area outside. Now you know too.

Hubby was at work and thought it was a train derailment, since he works right next to the tracks. The Bean awoke from her nap to the shaking and all the teachers scooping everyone up to move them to the bathroom area (all the kids got scared).

The rest of the day had a few aftershocks, but for whatever reason, I didn’t feel them (thankfully).

Then, last night, I woke to the house shaking… again. (I later found out it was another 4.5 earthquake.) My first thought was “JEEZ… let us catch a break. We are in VA – we don’t get these! Enough is enough!” So far, yelling at mother nature has worked since there haven’t been anymore – hopefully we don’t need to have another talk.

For us, the feeling was more of a sway. Very odd, very unnerving, but not a violent shake as described by many others. Nothing fell off our walls and thankfully, I have not noticed any damage to the house. I have not heard of anyone getting hurt, and that is amazingly wonderful.

Were you affected by the earthquake or have you been in one before?

The Students Are Back…

24 Tuesday Aug 2010

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I love living in a college town. Usually…

The students bring a breath of life into a town. They keep the town youthful and forward thinking. They make sure we have a plethora of good eats, their tuition (and future alumni dollars) keep money coming into the town and all is well.

What I am not so fond of is move in weekend. Move in weekend is the time when the amount of traffic in town doubles over night. The stores closest to the University are busier than Macy’s on Black Friday. I am pretty sure that the parents of all the incoming freshmen fear their child will starve to death if they don’t fully stock the shelves upon move in. (I will not throw stones, as I am sure I will be equally as neurotic when it is my turn).

Today, I had an appointment about 10 minutes away. I forgot today was the first day of classes, so I took my normal route. THAT was a mistake. It took a nice 10 minute ride and added an extra 20 minutes. I don’t think it takes this long normally. Maybe it is the new students wanting to make a good impression on their prof’s on the first day. They ALL have to go to the local coffee shop and get hopped up on caffeine while crossing the street in random spots (not the designated and already crowded cross walks.)

Now, for the next few months, all the college places are off-limits for lunch (at least those I plan on parking somewhere close to). I will have a new class of people to educate about what “No trespassing” means. We get to listen to the football games (this is a good thing) and then… fall is coming.

All is well in Hoo-ville!

Pros and cons of living on a mountain

06 Friday Aug 2010

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There are many benefits to living atop Mt. Crumpit. Admittedly, one of the biggest benefits has been the endless writing fodder. Yesterday is no exception to this.

After a nice date with hubby and picking up the Bean, a huge thunderstorm landed on the town. This is not unusual for an August afternoon, but thunderstorms only mean the threat of a loss of power (and water) and the threat of trees falling.

When I grew up, it was in the desert. We had huge thunderstorms and we would lose power from time to time. I don’t recall having power quite so flaky as the power here. Not having power is kind of a pain, but we do OK – except we need power to run the pump so we have water. I can’t live happily very long without water. I can wait on a shower, I can even hold off on washing dishes… but the toilet must flush. It just has to in order for me to be happy. Maybe I am too much of a “city girl”, but I like to do my deeds, then flush them away quickly.

A problem I have never had to deal with is trees randomly falling down. In the desert there are a few trees (we even had one of the worlds largest pecan orchards in my hometown). In order for trees to survive, they have to send their roots down to the water. Water isn’t a problem here. In fact, there are so many trees that unless the tree falls on something or across the road, it is a good possibility, I may not even notice it fell (insert joke about falling tree in the forest with no one around).

Last night, when coming home from a grand afternoon – there was a tree down and the power was out. Today, the power is back on (as is the water) and we have calls out to make the tree go away. Thankfully we have another way out, so we are not totally stuck – but I am having to remember all the good things about living here. Waking up to see the haze over the city and a beautiful sunrise is a great start.

Fuzzy Friggin Bastards

02 Monday Aug 2010

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I don’t know which one of you it was, but whoever keeps stealing my crops better stop it. Or I’ll… I’ll … shake my fist at you some more!

What am I talking about? Well, I’ll tell ya.

This year I planted my very first “garden”.

By “garden”, I mean three pots on the porch. One has lettuce, one tomatoes, one basil. The lettuce was first and was going GREAT! I had loads of it! I was so very excited! Then someone (one of those fuzzy little bastards) STOLE my lettuce. They killed one, but left two living… sort of. I let the lettuce try and grow again in hopes it would grow again. And it did return. Then the fuzzy friggin bastards stole that lettuce too! (insert me shaking my fist at them)

Finally I started to get a few tomatoes. In the mean time, I tried to stop them from getting on the porch by using the ghetto fence (used to baby proof the porch) to help with the plants. This helped, but only a bit. It is now August and I have had ONE small tomato to harvest. A single tomato. In the south. Everyone else has more tomatoes than they know what to do with and I have one, and several half eaten, gnarled, nasty tomatoes.

Thankfully, you think my basil does not taste good, and it is thriving! I have loads of basil and I love that. We have used more basil than ever before.

I now have the ghetto fence up to restrict you a little more, but still have a spot for Bubba to get outside to do her thing. I hope this will deter you enough while I still have time for a few more tomatoes. Alas, the lettuce is officially dead. I don’t actually wish you harm, that goes against everything, but I do wish you would stay the hell off my porch. You have an entire mountain of greenery to choose from, let me have my pots of greens!

Have you (the reader, not the fuzzy bastards) had any luck keeping critters off the porch – keeping them away from porch crops? I am open to suggestions because while the ghetto fence seems to be working OK, it is ugly as sin.

I Hate Summer

10 Saturday Jul 2010

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OK – hate might be too strong of a word.

I definitely don’t like it. Here are a few pros and cons about summer.

We will start with the con list since it is easier:

  • This year has been particularly hard because I have no AC in my office and we have had record high temperatures over and over and over again.
  • I signed up to do a fund-raising run for breast cancer research (you can donate some money… hint hint hint. Look for my name (Francis Duncan) when you are posting that huge donation). I run for breast cancer research, but am miserable in the heat… this is what I do to save the tatas.
  • When I get overheated (which happens easily), I get physically sick. My head pounds for hours, I feel queezy and am generally miserable.
  • Thunderstorms. I like rain – your standard rainy day is good. Thunderstorms taking out the power and knocking down trees is not so fun.

There are some redeeming qualities about summer:

  • Swimming! (although I can go swimming at the indoor pool at the gym all year long)
  • Beach! (although I don’t go often because of the heat. And I just want to walk on the edge of the water and listen to the waves… which can be done nearly year round. Less crowded too.)
  • Summer concerts (although they don’t come here often and I don’t have the money nor the desire to travel to the DC area for a concert)
  • Fire flies – this is still awesome
  • Sitting on the front porch (although it is still better when it is cooler)

So fireflies and more convenient swimming (although more work in the end) are the only current reasons to not ban summer all together. I wonder who I can talk to about that, I can live w/ out fireflies.

What do you think about summer?

No More Laws

23 Tuesday Mar 2010

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I am no law expert, especially driving laws.  I am not even sure I could pass the written portion of the driving test without studying. Even though I don’t know the laws all that well, I am pretty sure that it is against the law to not pay attention to driving, while driving. This would include putting on your make up, reading War and Peace, making dinner, and computer programming.

I bring this up because I am confused why most states find it necessary to make laws specifying what you cannot do while driving (talking on the cell phone, texting, etc.). Do these people know that if you make a law too specific, it is easy not to break it. For example, if it is against the law to text while driving, does that mean that I can check my email? Write a dissertation on the wood sparrow’s mating habits? Proofread my blog posts? Really folks – let’s go with the general rule of paying attention to driving, while driving and that covers all the things that people should or should not be doing while sharing the road.

This is just my two cents, but I am curious what you think? Any budding traffic attorneys out there that can help us learn why we need laws this specific about driving habits?

P.S. – this post is for you CJR… I do love Corey, but the reason I haven’t posted in a while is because I’ve been on vacation – not because I was mourning Mr. Haim.

Digits Dilemma

26 Friday Feb 2010

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I have mentioned before that I am now in my new hometown. No more moving around is planned for our family. We are officially Hoos.

Although we are not technically “from” this town, I have come to see my family all my life. I feel like I am new, but with an asterisk. For example, the house we live in has been in the family for decades. My daughter is the 4th generation to live here. Our house number has been active for almost 60 years.

My dilemma is my cell phone number. It is from our previous home that was never really home – it was like an extremely extended stay hotel (9 years extended). I guess it was home enough to get rooted in my cell phone number though. Now that I live in my new hometown, I feel obligated to change my cell phone number to a local number. But that means that all the people who have my number won’t have it anymore. I can notify those people who I do know how to get a hold of them – but a lot of people who were on contact lists long-lost that I cannot contact.

I am pretty sure that I will let this fester for a while longer before I make a decision, but I am curious what your thoughts are.

Do you change the number? Or do you explain why you have an odd area code for the rest of time to make sure old contacts can still contact you?

I’m Done.

24 Wednesday Feb 2010

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There are people who think that summer is better than winter. They are wrong. Even though I think winter is far superior to summer, a girl can only take so much.

This winter, my new hometown has had record snow fall of 56″ so far. I recognize that there are people who would call this a “mild winter”. The difference is the places where it is normal to get over 5 feet of snow per year are prepared for it. They have a plan of where to put the snow. They have the equipment to deal with this. We do not.

I like snow, but have learned this year that I do not love snow unconditionally. There are very specific conditions under which I like snow.

– It must stick to the areas around me that don’t include the road, trees that might fall, and cars.

– It can stick to the roof, but only if it doesn’t create an avalanche to smash things beneath it.

– If it is a place I am going to walk, snow can be there, but it cannot be deeper than the height of my foot (causing cold wet feet).

I am finished with the snow for this year and I hope that mother nature agrees with me. Instead of focusing on how much I don’t want snow, I’ve opted to look forward to spring.You might have noticed the change in my header. I am also starting to think about planting a garden and what I want to grow. I am hoping that visualizing Spring will make it come faster.

Do you prefer summer or winter? Is there a limit?

Infant Hunting License

04 Thursday Feb 2010

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This one falls squarely in the “?!?!?!” category.

Virginia Senator Creigh Deeds has passed a bill allowing for an “Infant Hunting License”.

A few talking points:

- It is for children aged 2 and above (not infants… but really, why split hairs here)to get a lifetime hunting license.

- It allows a Virginia citizen to have a lifetime hunting permit for $125 provided they pass hunter education at age 12. (they can hunt for 12 years before getting hunter education) It is sited as an investment, since a junior hunting license is $250… but it is a lifetime permit.

- Apparently there is no hunting age minimum in Virginia, but children under 12 must be supervised by a licensed adult hunter. (So we can load up the Bean and have her shoot dinner for us… as long as one of us is a licensed hunter)

- I wonder if Mr Deeds knows something about the Zombies that he isn’t sharing… which is why he wants to arm every citizen?

Discuss among yourselves. Enjoy.

Cancelling Monday

27 Wednesday Jan 2010

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Although I don’t generally have “bad Mondays”, I took the opportunity to cancel my own Monday this week and opted to go skiing instead. I had a few hesitations with this plan.

- I hadn’t been skiing in over 15 years.

- I enjoy having all my parts where they go and generally discourage moving body parts into places they don’t belong (i.e. my knee bending the wrong way, etc.)

- VA isn’t known for good skiing and where I went was almost all man-made snow (translation in my brain was ice)

- Skiing is physically difficult and I am (to put it kindly) out of shape.

- Skiing requires a lot of equipment that I haven’t had in about 10 years.

Even though I was nervous, I did it. I did it with a lesson. My lesson was much easier than I thought it would be, so my confidence was good when I got on the ski lift. I then proceeded to fall on the slope leaving the ski lift.

I hate that slope!

I got up and the rest of the day went well. I even got enough confidence to go to the intermediate slope when the easy slope got crowded.

For those of you who haven’t been skiing and have thought about getting back into it, the beginner skis are awesome! They are short and wide. I remember my first time skis were about as tall as I was. The skis I had on yesterday were about 3.5 feet tall and were much wider than I remember skis being. This really really really helped with the whole crossing skis problem!

I think I will have to go again this season. Maybe even go twice.

What did you do in your past that you’d like to do again?

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