What Price Publicity

Rick Green of the Hartford Courant brings up a very interesting case where a blogger refused to provide content to the Washington Post for free.

More windows ?

Jeff has never liked the sliding door in our dining room. Yesterday, he said, if we are replacing the windows on this side of the house, let's replace the sliding door.

After thinking about this proposal, we have decided to remove the door and have a window installed.

It seems our small project is taking on a life of its own.

Gardenia

My gardenia is finally flowering. This is a small miracle. Ever since I received the plant at Easter, it has been losing leaves.

I read that gardenias are fussy. They like sun, but not direct sun. They should be kept moist but not wet and prefer acidic soil. It seems that quite often these plants do not thrive in a home. I'm trying, but am not sure what the outcome will be.

Windows ?

When we bought our house we had hoped to do a major renovation. Unfortunately, our beer budget and champagne tastes did not allow this to happen. Our desire to update our home has not diminished.

Jeff and I have been talking about replacing the first floor front windows. As you can see, they are original (40 years old!) and do not match. Even worse, the windows are not energy efficient.

We agreed that replacing the front windows would help with curb appeal and heating costs. I then started thinking, if we are going to put in a new front window in the living room, won't that make the side windows look worse ?

This is a rhetorical question, since the old sliders could not possibly look worse than they currently do.

Now, we are hoping to replace the 2 front and 2 side windows.

What is this ?

This plant is growing in our garden. I am not sure if it is a weed or some kind of flower. If you have any ideas, please leave a comment.

I was going to remove this plant, but then I thought, what if it is not a weed ?

Jeff's Mom thought it might be bee balm. Jeff's Dad was philosophical and said let it flower. If it is a weed, then pull it out.

She Loves Me

Jeff's parents spent the weekend with us. We went to see She Loves Me at the Westport Playhouse. This was our first trip to the Playhouse. The theater was beautiful and Jeff could fit comfortably in the seats (a rarity).

The musical comedy was excellent. I was not familiar with any of the songs, but the story was sweet and the old fashioned romance left me teary eyed. The show has been extended for a week. I would recommend attending if you can.

A wonderful dinner followed at the exclusive 5 star Francis Inn.

Onions

Cooper loves to sit on the deck on sunny days, so I let him out while I ate lunch.

15 minutes later, I called Coop back inside and saw dirt everywhere. It seems that Coop had decided it would be fun to dig all the dirt out of a planter. Onion bulbs with their green stalks torn off were scattered about.

I wondered how one small dog could do so much damage, so quickly. Coop showed no remorse for his crime.

Now when Coop whines to go out, I say no and he looks at me with sad eyes. Obviously, Coop has forgotten what he did or perhaps he remembers and wants to do it again!

Office Chair

After 15 years, our old office chair finally died. When I saw a washer on the floor, under the chair, I knew we were in trouble. When the chair would not raise/lower, it was taken to the trash.

We went shopping at Staples and sat in all their chairs. I thought the prices were a little expensive, so we headed to Costco. Costco had several chairs that were reasonably priced.

I also saw these beautiful Dutch Iris and immediately put them in the cart.

That is why I love Costco - office supplies, food and flowers all in one spot!

Pond Scum

I was walking Otis on the long lead and it was obvious he wanted to run around. I let go of the leash and Oti began to race in circles. Suddenly, Oti headed for the pond and jumped in.

When Oti left the pond he was covered in algae, so I rinsed him off. Jeff arrived home to see Oti and I sitting in the driveway, drying off.

The ice cold water from the hose and being told "Bad Boy" could not dampen the glee in Oti's eyes.

Mr Fox

The other day I mentioned to Jeff that I had not seen the fox in months. I wondered if it was hit by a car or eaten by a coyote.

Yesterday morning, I looked out the window and there was the fox, sitting in our backyard. The fox jumped onto the stone wall and walked along it towards the pond.

When Jeff came in from walking the dogs, he said that Coop and Otis went crazy sniffing and whining when they were out back. I guess we know why.

Almost Made It

Favorite Places

Cooper says, "Find your own sunbeam, this one is ALL mine."

Buzzin

I stopped at my favorite bakery (DiMare) and saw this beautiful cake.

I have never seen a beehive cake before. I couldn't resist buying it.

Since Jeff is allergic to bees, I volunteered to eat them.

Funny if it weren't true

Reformed?

Some of you may remember when Otis destroyed my favorite hat.

The other day I was out on the deck planting some flowers.  The dogs were out with me and Cooper was watching the sun dance in and out of the shadows.  I sat down on the deck as I was filling the pots with dirt when Otis approached me.  He was coming in very tenderly and I thought he was going to give me a kiss.  He paused just before gingerly grabbing the bill of my new baseball cap and ripped it off my head and started to play keep away!  Fortunately, I was able to rescue the hat before it suffered the fate of it's predecessor.

Million Dollar Quartet

We went to see Million Dollar Quartet, which just opened on Broadway. This musical is based upon a true one day recording session of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins at Sun Records.

There is not much of a plot to this musical. It covers a jam session and provides insight into the background of each singer. Million Dollar Quartet is ALL about the music, which was FANTASTIC. If you like these artists, you will really enjoy this play.

People were clapping and singing along with the performers. Jerry Lee's antics had everyone laughing. I learned that Blue Suede Shoes was a Carl Perkins song (I thought it was an Elvis tune!).

If you are looking for 90 minutes of fun, this is the place to go.

Happy Tax Freedom Day!

That's right, the average American Taxpayer (which is only slightly more than half of the population) has been working all year for the government until today.  If you're lucky enough to live in Connecticut or New York, keep plugging away until later in the month.  From CNN Money:

Each state has its own Tax Freedom Day. The day arrived earliest in Alaska and Louisiana -- on March 26 -- because of "modest incomes and low state and local tax burdens," the Tax Foundation said.

Mississippi, South Dakota and West Virginia celebrated soon after, on March 28, March 29 and March 30, respectively.

Connecticut, the state with the highest per capita income, will be the last to celebrate. Tax Freedom Day won't arrive until April 27, the 117th day of the year.

New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Washington will join Connecticut as the last states to celebrate. In these states, Tax Freedom Day will fall on April 25, April 23, April 19 and April 15, in that order.

The Boss and Her Staff

I leave on Friday mornings and the boss is working at home with her minions.  About thirty minutes later, they're both on the bed waiting for their noon-time milkbone fix.

Tulips

The Easter tulips are now open and look gorgeous. In this extremely warm weather, the blooms will not last for long.

Our yard, too

Spring is in full bloom.

Happy Easter

I heard Otis growling around 2:00 AM. I assumed there was probably a raccoon in the yard and didn’t give it much thought.

When I walked into the kitchen this morning and saw these beautiful flowers, I realized that Otis must have heard the Easter bunny stopping by! I think it is amazing how this rabbit knew my love of tulips. Unfortunately, trying to grow them outdoors is impossible with all the deer.

I have never had a gardenia before. I am hoping that it will thrive or at least survive long enough to flower.

The Easter bunny even left new chew toys for Cooper and Otis.

We hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter filled with chocolate bunnies and Peeps.

Our yard

Scenes from our yard.

Fate

For my birthday in June, we usually go to a Broadway show and then have dinner in NYC. Jeff had not yet ordered tickets. I really didn't know what play I wanted to see.

It seems that fate had something else in mind. I was listening to the radio when I heard an advertisement that the Eagles would be in concert. The Eagles are another concert on my bucket list. When I was growing up my older brothers would play the Eagles records constantly.

The Eagles broke up as a band in 1980 and reunited in 1994. I remember their reunion tour tickets as being extremely pricey and impossible to get.

I mentioned to Jeff that the Eagles would be in concert and he said."That's interesting". (Note: This is the same response I received when I suggested going to Alaska in December!). I took that as "Full speed ahead"!

It turns out the the Eagles are playing in Gillette Stadium (near Boston), too far for a one day trip. Oh well, I thought, it would have been fun.

I then noticed the concert date - on my birthday weekend! Surely, we were destined to attend this concert. Since I couldn't think of a better gift, I said how about we get a hotel for the night and celebrate my birthday in Massachusetts ? Getting into the spirit of things, Jeff said why not take off on Fri and have a long weekend ?

I went to book seats and saw that general tickets were not on sale, only American Express members could reserve seats in advance. Not having an AmEx, I was momentarily stumped. A quick call to LI (and a promise of a check in the mail) provided the AmEx information I needed.

I purchased the tickets and when I went to print them, received a message that tickets would not be released for 24 hours. 48 hours later, I could still not print my tickets.

I called TicketMaster and spoke to a very nice representative who explained that this concert was going to be a BIG event (68,000 seats) and that ticket scalpers and ticket resellers were trying to purchase too many seats. Until the general public could purchase seats, all tickets were being held and credit card numbers checked to make sure that no one person was buying up blocks of seats.

In a few days, I should have my tickets!