Janie, Little James, and Grandpa Todd

Little James and Keese(?)

The first Lab in the family.

At the catfish cabin

The Todd Clan

Uncle Jim

James playing dolls with his nieces

James at the farm

James on the tricycle

Now that's a happy boy

James on the crawler.

James sitting Pretty

James on the Tractor

Kate at the farm

Norris, Kate, James

The infamous porch swing

I always loved sitting out there! Here James and Kate are sitting on the swing.

The Poplar Stand

Down the road at the farm

The house at the farm

Crazy Monday

James made it home in one piece, but was a little worse for wear. He had 2 layovers, so there was lots of waiting around in airports. He had a good visit with the family.

Tiffanie made it in. She too had a LONG trip. She drove in from Indianapolis over the past few days. We'll start the search for apatments this week, and her stuff is supposed to get here friday. In the meantime she'll be sleeping on an airbed in the guest room and dealing with all of the dog slobber. I'm so glad she is here, and she will be helping me out at work! Things are getting really crazy at work.

Sunday... bleh

No pictures for awhile guys, sorry. James has my camera, so I'll make up for it this week.

I am so excited James is coming home tonight. The dogs and I miss him. I'm sure he had a good visit with his family. His trip kinda makes me want to go back to knoxville. Mom has said that she wants her and I to fly back to knoxville this spring. I was hesitant at first, but I am warming up to the idea. It would be nice to see another TN spring... dogwoods, tulips, the mountains, etc. Plus Coral has moved back to knoxville and I'd like to reconnect with her. I have been buying floaty pens for her everywhere I go! We are weird about keeping track with each other. We kind of go in 2-3 year cycles. I have known her forever, and I love her dearly, but it is just something we do. Heather of course I can't seem to get rid of! HAHAHAHA!!!

James and I have not had the chance to do our park crawl the past couple of weekends. As the weather gets bad, we will have to resort to coffee shop crawls and pub crawls. Not too heartbreaking!

Monday or tuesday, we will be having a house guest. Tiffanie, a girl I went to IU with is coming into town. She has taken a job at my company, and she is staying with us until she finds an apartment. She will have lots of motivation to get out quickly - James and I are horrible to live with! I don't know her that well so it should be a bit akward but interesting. I sure will get to know her well working with her.

I am trying to solidify my plans for thanksgiving. I feel bad that I am not going to be able to spend thanksgiving with mom and dad since they just moved here. James will though. I think this is his first thanksgiving that he will not be alone in quite some time. This will also be the first xmas that we will be together in quite some time. Sherman and I are setting out on the 17th, heading to San Diego. I am going to stop in San Fran to see Heather and her parents. I can't wait to see my 2nd set of parents! Also our friend Kimberly is due about that time, so that will be exciting. Never fear - you will NEVER hear of me being in the delivery room during a birth. I have been in one before - thanks Kate! - but I don't want to see it in action! I plan on being there for a few days. I'll be staying in the city. Sherman will find that very interesting I'm sure. I want to make sure I get to San Diego early enough in the week to get to meet Bucky's new girlfriend... errr... friend that's a girl. Mom and dad have met her and says she is great. A nice departure from the former wife monster. So I have to check her out, and we will see if she gets my seal of approval. I'm tough. I'm looking forward to hanging out in SanDiego with Bucky. He has always said James and I should come down there. Maybe I'll become a snowbird!

I plan on doing alot of siteseeing. I have seen stretches of the western coast, but there are gaps in Northern and Southern CA. I have never been to San Diego before. I'll be passing through LA, so hopefully it will make me really glad that I did not take that job in LA. I know right now I am happy I didn't!

I have the answer!

On October 12th I posted this photo. It is from the bathroom at work... I had know idea what necessitated the sign.

Well I found out. We have alot of Asian people working in manufacturing and testing. Apparently they tend to stand on the toilet seat and squat to go potty. Very unteresting.

Fall Back or Fall Forward?

I hate the time change. Why? Why do we do this to ourselves? It tarnishes the gooey goodness of halloween. Why would the world do that to all the little children? It always happens right after my birthday in April too. Why? I always heard the time change was dreamed up to help the farmers. How does it help the farmers?

"Daylight Savings Time" - what does it actually do? Well... after all of my years of bitching... I looked it up on the internet. Moving the extra hour of daylight from the beginning of the day to the end of the day (which, in essence, is what DST does) actually saves energy. In the US, is cuts energy consumption by 1% each day. Okay.... so that's a pretty good reason.

This brilliant idea was the brainchild of Benjamin Franklin. What a smarty pants he was!

McMinnville Mayhem

So I am surviving the weekend, but I miss little James. I think the dogs are feeling neglected. So many ears.... so few hands. I hope he is having a good time with his family.

I went down to McMinnville to have dinner with mom and dad. As usual is was a fun and gorgeous drive down. The weather here has been so nice, but I am bracing myself for the rains to come. Mom, dad and I went downtown in Mcminnville, and we had dinner at Mcmenamin's, and then went back to their place.

It was dusk and mom and I went down the street where they are building new houses. We had spotted some rocks that caught mom's eye earlier, so we went under the cover of... well... dusk and a streetlights. Dad stayed at the house in case we needed him to bail us out of the joint. We scrambled up a hill looking for the perfect rocks and ended up getting ten in the trunk of mom's car. I took one home with me - who couldn't use another rock?

Bye Bye James

James left for Jackson to see his parents tonight. He will be gone all weekend. So I am foot loose and fancy free this weekend. I need to get ahold of mom and dad and do some furniture shopping! I need a nice relaxing weekend. This week has been very long, and it is only just wednesday night. I still feel not quite right from my trip to NY. I haven't been sleeping well.

Why is it that no matter what stage in life I am in, that the last 3 months of the year are always hectic? In school it was rush to finish projects and take end of the semester finals. At work it is what can you fit in between holidays, and who you can track down between vacations.

Sleepy James and some bed hair

Jill's Lips!

I stole this one too!

Jill and Lulu

I stole this photo from Jill. Aren't they adorable!

A Look back at the Week

I have been so wiped out this week. I basically shut down Thursday afternoon.

The fall colors were so pretty in NY, and the drive to Boston was gorgeous. There was a chill in the air, but it really felt like fall. It was nice. Paul and I had a nice time in Boston. We went to Bentley College and Harvard to visit some of their labs. It was kind of a whirlwind visit. It is weird to think that I could have gone to Bentley for grad school. I am SO glad I did not. That area is pretty depressing. Of course that is where the cool church was.

I always get caught off guard when I see all the tourists in Skaneateles. I just think of it as the place where my company’s home office is, but it is actually a real tourist attraction being in the Finger Lakes region and actually being one of the lakes. The hotels were full, the local farms were having fall festivals, the apples were in, and there were tons of people milling about enjoying the fall colors and the little shops. Oh… and they were having an Alpaca show this weekend. I wish I could have had an opportunity to go to it. Victoria, you would just die! They were supposed to have over 250 alpacas there. Ahhhh… the fuzz, the smell!

Grad school seems so long ago. It is weird. I guess because I have been through so much change and done so much since then. Living in several different places in the meantime didn’t help. Sometimes I have a hankering to go back to school.

Mom said that it had been raining at home, but we were supposed to have a couple of nice days coming up. Mom and dad were so sweet and came up to let the dogs out in the middle of the day while I was gone. James is gone away from the house far too long to leave them all day. When I am in town, I work so close to the house that it is not a problem. I know the babies could last 12 hours, but I feel bad making them do that. They would rather implode than pee or poo in the house.

I really need to stop using my personal cell phone for work. I am going to run over my minutes sometime. And that is really going to tork me. I am close this month.

Ahhh... Skaneateles Lake in the Fall

My room for the evening

It is a nice big corner room.

Made it!

We got back into Skaneateles about 7pm. It was a hard drive from Boston. Poor Paul took the brunt of it. It rained and rained and rained. I am so pooped, and ready to go home. I checked into the Sherwood Inn, and got a really nice room. I am too tired to get some dinner, yet not too tired to blog? Twisted I know. I am leaving tomorrow afternoon, and my sweet James is picking me up at the airport. I think the rest of my weekend is going to suck with me just trying to recover.

Above the main entrance

I absolutely love the stonework.

The side door

I bet in the spring and summer the landscaping is beautiful.

Church in Waltham MA

You guys know I have a thing for churches. We this one ranks right up there as one of my favorites.

Me in Waltham MA

Paul took this after dinner. The one I took of him was all blurry. Sorry Paul!

Flying Pig!

I want one of these stickers for my car too.

Big ol' Carver

This portrait of Carver was made out of teeny weeny photos. He was on an elevator door in the parking garage at Harvard.

The boston terrier was on the cow's butt

Painted cow in the Marriot in Waltham MA

They had a "name the cow" contest. Each of the paintings on the cow were done by different artists, and the paintings were of famous people or things from Boston. The signatures of all the artists were on the back of the cow's udder bag. Somehow I neglected to get a picture of that!

From NY to Boston

This morning Paul and I are heading out bright and early to drive to boston... almost 6 hours. It should be a good drive. Paul and I always have lots to talk about. Or rather I always have lots to talk about and poor Paul sits there and takes it.

I had a good couple of days in Skaneateles. I got to see a bunch of people and got some stuff done. It is always good to catch up with those folks. Sometimes I miss working in the NY office for that reason.

Off to Boston!

Future Veal

These little dog house looking things housed baby cows. Most of these that I have seen don't even let the baby get its body out of the doghouse, but these guys are way more "humane"... they had a little fenced in turn around for them... like 5 x 5.

Shame on all you meat eaters.

How about a waterfall in your backyard?

A neat little railroad tressel

This was in Moravia NY.

The birds

There were tons of birds roosting in the grass. The sound was amazing.

It was really green

The water was gross.

Montezuma Wildlife Refuge

It was soooo pretty, plus it was fun driving on the loop around the refuge. It was like off-roading!

The North Pool

At the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge.

Berries at the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge

The handicapped bathroom at Doug's Fish Fry

Crazy Doug's Fish Fry

Advertising fresh apple cider on the bathroom door?

My rental Car

What a nasty color. You can't tell from this photo, but it is an electric blue.

Exploring in NY

After I leave work I try to do some exploring and rambling around. It has been pretty rainy here, but I've gotten out a bit. I went to Seneca Falls and got a stash of the Amish wasabi peas for Robert at work. I can't believe I am actually flying a couple of pounds of wasabi peas across the country. I'm dedicated to the cause I guess. Plus these are the best wasabi peas ever.

Last night Paul and his wife Lisa had me over for dinner, which was very sweet of them. I also got a chance to see my main man Reeces. Smooches, wiggles, and tug of war. Its the ears.... if you could can those you would be a millionaire.

I got a chance to go back to the Montezuma wildlife refuge in the daylight. I drive the (offroad) trail through the park. It was really cool. Last night I did the scenic drive around a couple of the finger lakes. I could not tell you which ones. I drove through Morovia NY, whic I had never done. Next trip I need to go back. It was really cool. Ahhhh... the houses. It is always so weird to leave here and go back to portland. The vegetation, the people, and the houses are so radically different. It is like 2 different worlds.

I'm on the fringe!

Bunny Lamp!

This was in my room! Oh, if only I could take him home with me!

more of my room

My room at the Village Inn in Skaneateles

The Finger Lakes from the plane

You know it is fall

I love the smell of wet leaves. I think it will be hard to find a dry pile of leaves to roll in around here.

The Dogpile!

James and the babies helping me pack.

Going to NY

James and I left this morning for the airport. We was so sweet to take me. I love having someone take me to the airport because it means there will be someone waiting for me when I get off the plane. So I can throw my arms up in the air, run sqealing, and go in for a good ole hug.

Sherman blames James for taking me away, so I think they'll be having a rough week. I miss the whole bunch already.

My flights were amazingly on time, and there were no mishaps. But I sure am wiped out now. Of course it is 11:30 here, and I am nowhere near sleepy. The really bad part is that I have to be up at 3am here time. Ack.

Going across the Hawthorne Bridge