as i sat in the garden this evening just enjoying the cooler part of a fairly hot day......not as bad as earlier in the week but hot none the less, i was nearly deafened by the sound coming out of my maple tree, a split trunk maple and extremely dense, about 32 feet in height, now i am unaware of what maximum occupancy of small song birds a tree of that size has but i thing it must have been pretty much full, they were bouncing around in the tree raising cain and singing their little songs for all they were worth.........loud, but somehow peaceful and relaxing.......
work went like work always goes........but really not bad......tomorrow should be a hoot......month end friday and alone in the department......should be a total rush........will probably have to work a few hours on saturday but then have the rest of that day and the next 3 off......don't have to check back into work until the 6th.........
did my usual thursday thing......cashed check, got gas, got groceries but for some reason took me longer the usual so stopped on the way home and got take out which i ate on the ride home....
got a call from the daughter and i'm invited to a cookout and then a walk into the park for the annual fourth of july concert, this year it's on the 2nd of july.......yeah i know .......but watertown is too small to have it's own symphony orchestra so we have to borrow the one from the 'cuse......fireworks and the whole 9 yards

i just came in from my evening sitdown in the garden, and although i really thought it might rain tonight, it's been overcast all day, as i sat there the overcast lifted some what and there are now patches of blue sky.....something we haven't seen all day, still hot and humid but nowhere near as oppressive as the last two days.......work went okay but i'm pretty well all in........as i get older i do not handle the extremes of temperature and humidity as i once did, plus i have had a fit of the sneezes today, i have never really been prone to any problems with pollen until the last couple of years but i do seem to have developed and aversion to it........

ok, i've seen it all now........when i did my taxes this year i discovered that i owed both state and federal tax.........not a large amount........but i did owe some........and typically i never sent in the checks until april14th.........so while i was going through my mail tonight i came upon a envelope from the US treasury.......now apparently i had made a minor error in filing my taxes, probably miss read a tax table......so here's a refund check in the amount of $1.........made my whole day........can't decide whether to cash it or frame it........

just was a brutally hot/humid day.......Temperature in he mid-90'sF and humidity approaching 100%.....now i realize that those numbers would not be that bad in certain areas of the world, but here in upstate new york....in the lee of lake ontario we will go whole summers and never see temperatures that high......to be honest -40*F windchill days in the winter are more common to our weather that +90*F days are.......a fairly routine day.......paced myself and feel pretty good tonight.......just ate a very light dinner and will have a late supper out in the garden once the heat abates........

you have to cut the old trollie some slack.......as i get older i get forgetfully...........i really hate "referrer block" on my site meter.......i had some one early today spend 32+ minutes and read 16 pages of my blog but all i get from sitemeter is "referrer block"......heck i want to call 911 and refer that person to mental health, but unfortunately i can't because i have no idea who the poor deluded soul is

you have to cut the old trollie some slack.......as i get older i get forgetfully...........i really hate "referrer block" on my site meter.......i had some one early today spend 32+ minutes and read 16 pages of my blog but all i get from sitemeter is "referrer block"......heck i want to call 911 and refer that person to mental health, but unfortunately i can't because i have no idea who the poor deluded soul is

well it fireworks time of year, and frankly i'm bored..........not only does it scare the crap out of my cats but frankly i am no longer interested

i am really pissed off tonight, i've been watching the next food network star on the food network ( yeah i know pathetic) but i just turned it off with three remaining because the only one i would watch was eliminated, and quite frankly i thought the decision was........well racially based........the last white woman was eliminated, and a woman who was black, and i am not a racist was kept and IMHO was a loser and was kept, but TFN has several white female host and to my best knowledge no ethnic female host and the decision on IMHO was just a political correct one..........i am really annoyed by it all..............but i still watch the network from time to time but i really don't think that the decision was fair..............i think that the best people should be advanced regardless of race or sexual preference, or whatever...........and i fell that this decision stunk...............on the other hand ....it's a chance to host a show on a cooking channel so what i'm i getting so upset about (trollie wacks himself with a garlic pizza and feels much better).........
very busy morning and i spent most of the afternoon watching the ladies open......i was really impressed by the play of several of the younger players.......none of which won, but there is alot of talent there..........
i feel actually relax and physically fine tonight..........Despite my annoyance with the food channel.....i feel great............and actually am looking forward to a work week where i will be alone in the deptment because my clerk has the week off......i know pathetic........but i have a four day weekend at the end of the week.........we have the 5TH off as a floating holiday and despite the fact that i have a 5 day week + a few hours on saturday.......i'm looking forward........

just have come in from a nice sitdown in the garden, a antipasto tray or maybe the old fashion term relish tray would apply to my late supper........had an early dinner around 4:30 of hot sausage and tuna salad.........smokey the cat did excellent service cleaning out the tuna can so i probably could return it to the manufacturer for a re-fill
has cooled off quite a bit from the very hot humid day that it was, just a hint of breeze that made the ornamental reed grass sway...........and i was pleasantly entertained by the bird song of several feathered songsters in my maple.......and reflecting on the rest of the day i decided rather then to reflect on it to forget it altogether..........because quite frankly it stunk........
i feel fine now but the first part of the day i was a wreak.......
tomorrow promises to be a typical busy sunday so i'm gone

t'was a nice day but a little too humid for my liking.....had one outbound truck load today and caught the driver with the worst command of the english language so far, it is becoming an increasingly more difficult problem. it seems that many immigrants have taken up long haul truck driving as a job, and their inability to communicate in english on a basic level makes the process of loading and explaining weights and loading problems a really hard nut to crack.........it really is frustrating when an hour job turns into an hour and 1/2+ simply because you can't communicate with the driver and make him understand you.........and it would not be as simple as learning basic words in one or two languages but one would have to learn the basics of several........i don't have a problem with the individuals, just a problem with the rise in difficulty level of getting the job done......regardless of the problem with the load the day went reasonably well......
had to take note of the length of the grass and the first thing i did on arrival at home was cut said grass, if i had waited another day i probably could have made some money selling the grass to a farmer for hay......
just had a couple of BLT's on some fresh rolls for supper, BLT's are one of my absolute favorite meals............had a nice sit down in the garden......need to do some major weeding but as i only have to make an appearance at work tomorrow......(a couple of hours) will have time to attend to that.........
i'm actually amazed how well i feel tonight, awoke with a very tender back. i'm one who rolls most of the night but awoke with a tender back and a cat wedged under one shoulder which prevented any rolling on my part......hence the tender back............but i love my cats and they tolerate me......... after all i have an opposable thumb and can open tuna cans
(dang trollie looks up, realizes he's written a book and runs away)

this is really weird, for the second time in less then a week i have had someone devote an entire blog entry to atatcking my blog........sheeeshhhhhh! how lucky can i get........for the last time (well at least hopefully for the last time)......this is a life log.......nothing more nothing less...i will from time to time comment on what ever i feel to comment on but by enlarge it's the record of the mudane life of a 57 year old man who lives alone..........i would not presume to make outlandish and rather foolish statements that are entirely full of sh*t on current events or try to put myself off as some expert on a topic that i don't know sh*t about but would like to convince you that i do........and i would never attack anyone else's use of a blog for what ever reason they chose to use one..........and as i said before if you don't like it then don't let the door hit your arse on the way out.......

a nice day, not a bad work day, and i ran my weekly errands tonight, bank, gas, groceries, just made a couple of quick 8" pizzas for supper, i'm tired and "distracted" tonight....and headed to bed early......

i am exhausted tonight, work went okay, other then i had another flat on one of the trailers that had to be dealt with.........but i've been up way too late the last few nights and i'm just plain worn out.........
had a nice sitdown in the garden......ah the garden......lawn needs mowed and beds need weeded and i had about enough energy tonight to acknowledge the necessarily of the work but not enough energy to serious contemplate or actuality do the work.........rats..........
i think i'll watch mythbusters and then head for bed...........

nice weather today although it did rain for awhile towards dusk, as i was driving back into town from carthage........was a little dicey but not bad
work went ok except the last hour or so got a bit hectic......had a cookout tonight with the members of the worship team and their families.......wasn't too bad.........but i must admit being out of practice being around loud and screaming kids.........
heavy day tomorrow, maybe..........so i off to an early sack time.......

i guess i've finally made it, some guy spent a whole blog entry making fun of how i post to my blog...........big sh*t..........this is and always will be a lifelog........it's not about commenting on politics, or any current issues, it's simple about the rather mundane life of a single 57 year old man.......it's about me, it's for me ( i have a short memory and there are thinks i write to remember)......if you don't like it........don't let the door hit you in the arse on your way to hit the "x"

i am hexed.....i must be, i just came off 5 and 1/2 days off and except for the first 1/2 day the weather has been lousy..........so i get up to go to work this morning and you guessed it the weather was great, maybe a tad on the cool side but nice........
i walked into an absolute nightmare at work, first i discovered that there had been a problem when i was off, rather then check the warehouse to see if i had the correct box stocked they had listened to some one who really didn't know what they thought they knew and tried to order boxes that i had a 40+ day supply of......then i had a flat on one of the trailers that turned out to be not a problem with a tire but a bent rim........i'm glad i'm not paying that bill.......then i was headed down the ramp with a 4 ton forklift with a 1 ton load and discovered that i had a bad master cylinder.........fortunately there was nothing breakable at the bottom of the ramp......but i spent the entire afternoon with outsourced repairmen, and the lift is still not fixed, the part is being next day aired in tomorrow so hopefully that will be fixed........
nice night
weather was nice so i had my first garden sitdown in almost a week.......a nice veal chop for dinner with a salad and some stuffed grape leaves, a few hot peppers and a few garlic stuffed olives.....the crazy deal is i feel better tonight after a frustrating day's work then i felt in the 5 and 1/2 days i was off.......i'm truly pathetic

the wheather moderated a bit today, no rain but on the cool side, and i had my 3rd difficult physically day in a row, just never really felt good today and struggled with worship team, voice just wasn't up to the usually standard that i am satisfied with, it went okay i guess but i stuggled, and class......just didn't seem to have the focus i normally have.......just didn't have the "pop"......was okay but not up to what i can accept as acceptable......okay so i'm my own worst critic and i know it.........
watched the final round of the us open and the last person among the leaders or near to the lead that i would have thought would win, won.......
i don't know about anyone else but frankly i have had just about enough of TV commercals.......i find them insulting, ridiculous and just plain stupid............the quisnos ads with the baby are, well i suppose they are supposed to be cute but frankly they're just dumb........and half the time they try to sell me something with sex the girl is a total air head bimbo that i find
not the least bit attractive........i really wish i knew who they where targeting with 99% of the ads because it sure as heck ain't me......

another damp, rainy day, and i awoke feeling both low and extremely antisocial, i've spent the entire day indoors, well not exactly correct.....i did step out to get the mail, but that really doesn't count.
spent the day playing stronghold crusader, a little blogshares, and watch some of the u.s. open coverage......
it was so damp this AM i actually turned the heat on, mid-june and i need to run the furnace.....weird

another rainy day, boy i know how to pick vacation time, (hehe) with out going into details i got very irritated today.......almost lost my cool completely, really not what i needed when the purpose of a few days off is to let the stress level decrease, i walked away from the problem before i lost it.....but it put a cloud over the day, if the rainy outside wasn't enough.......i've cooled off and feel better now but.................

i one hand i picked a very bad week to take vacation as the weather has been rainy and dreary all week and is predicted to remain so thru the weekend, on the other hand i picked a great week to be on vacation because what i really needed was to rest, relax and de-stress.......
cashed my pay check, got gas, paid some bills and had a stromboli for lunch....there's a place in the food court of the mall that actually has an edible stromboli..........actually it's been an italian day food wise because i made a hot sausage pizza for dinner.....
was too wet for my evening sitdown in the garden so i relaxed for awhile in my papa-san chair on the porch.........well really not a porch, well it was one at one time but awhile back it was winterized and is now really part of the living room but has several windows and a nice breeze..

i was wandering around sam's club today, well not actually wandering, i was there for a purpose and well then did some wandering....anyways needed black olives......i go thru olives in general and black olives in particular at an alarming rate.......salads, as is, pizza, omelets, et al so i usually buy my black olives at sam's , good olives good price and they come in a six pack which usually lasts me about 3 weeks or less and found some large green olives stuffed with garlic......mercy.......

was a good day, a vacation day, didn't really do much and that was exactly what i needed, got groceries and just took a short ride this evening, a sitdown in the garden and the rest of the day just relaxed

man i have just hit the wall, went in early today for and inbound and he didn't show up for like 3 hours bummer, and i'm am just basically worn out, stressed out and burned out and that was the last straw............the rest of the week doesn't look to bad so i arranged to take a half day vac today and the rest of the week off as well...........i just need to get away from it for a while.........
got some rather heavy rain today which we needed and it has cut the humidity a bit.........

another hot day but a little less humid although we did get a gentle shower towards evening.....had my sit down in the garden just after the rain and was noisy......there must have been a dozen plus small birds in my maple all trying to out sing the other.......
work was crazy but i have recovered....have to go in early tomorrow because a load i really needed today got delayed and will be in about 7 AM, and since it's a silo load i have to be there to check it in........

as good as i felt last night i felt blah this morning, one of those days you wish you could cancel, i felt all of my 57 years this morning and probably a few more, but sundays are a high intensity day, as part of the worship team at church i have a part in both the early and late service and also teach adult christian education between the services and also a part of the evening service, it's what i want to do, it is not a "job" but it is a commitment..........and managed to get thru quite easily despite the fact i really wasn't up to par physically......actually was absolutely blow away by the fact that i had probably the best "voice" i've had in ages.....usually i either have a good high range or a good low range but rarely have the whole package.......but today i could go anywhere i felt the harmony line took me..........however had to resort to using the stool to day.......i hate using the stool to sing.....i'd rather stand with the rest of the team but the legs just won't there......particularly because it was very hot on the platform today and i felt very shaky

i live in a neighbor of gardeners.......the seven "connected" properties in which i am in the middle all have very extensive gardens........and i spent sometime tonight trading ideas and knowledge with one of the neighbors.........

(trollie can be seen sitting at his keyboard.....sweating his arse off and drinking glass after glass of ice water)

today was yet another hot humid day, and i'm beginning to tire of it.......i love summer......i love warm weather.......but i'd gladly pass on hot and humid......

made a brief stop at work, ran a few errands and then set to cleaning the house.......still need to really get at the bedroom and the spare room but as hot as it was i kind of ran out of gas, and the basement.....ah the basement....maybe i'll just lock the door and forget it exists.....

i was sitting in the garden earlier and wondering for the nth time how tall my maple was so i stepped off the shadow.......48' approx.......then drove a stake in the ground until i had a 48" shadow.......and measured the stake 32" approx.......i now know how tall my maple is....well at least approx.......as a friend often said " that's close enough for canal work"

i'm just in from my nightly sitdown in the garden.........one of those nights when there was almost no breeze but much cooler then the house..........just a hint of breeze in the bottom of the split trunk sugar maple my chair is under and enough to move the ornamental reed grass and the dwarf blue arctic willow but beyond that very little........the only annuals the grace my garden.......which because of the fact that i have basically zero back yard and live on a corner is almost entirely made up of assorted perennials......in fact the actual garden is all perennials......the only annuals i plant are two large urns that flank the front steps.........and accept for the 100+ tulips for spring color......flowers or flowering plants are not a priority......i love evergreens.......and i select plants by enlarge more for their shape and foliage then for the color or size of any flower...........most of the plants are placed at 3 to 4 foot intervals and then a mixture of red mulch.....red Pennsylvania red stone, lava rock and marble chips for contrast.........a few lilacs, my beloved maple and 13 evergreens, 5 rose bushes ( all own root as high breeds just don't survive the northcountry winter) and an assortment of other perennial bushes and plants......oops 3 blue ivy........i enjoy my garden.......

another hot humid day, and surprisingly for a friday a fairly light shipping day, gave me time to do some re-arrange at the warehouse which was long over due......have not had a chance in the last 4 to 5 weeks to really take the time to put things in order and got that done this PM........
grass needed attending to.......by enlarge it had not grow that much over the last 2 weeks but there were some spikes so ran thru that when i got home from work.........just had a large toss salad for supper.....just too hot to be very hungry or to fuss with dinner........
haven't had my evening sitdown in the garden and i'm off

was a very hot, humid day today........90*+F and 95%+ humidity.......now i am well aware that those figures may seem quite tame to some one living in the southern USA or a tropical climate.....but this is upstate new york......in the lee of lake ontario......and the extreme weather we are most used to is days where it is well below zero F, and severe windchills........i've seen temperatures as low as -56*F and wind chills approaching -100*F.........so on the extremely rare days that it gets in the +90* range with high humidity we.....well melt into little puddles..........or is that poodles.......
thankfully the work day was much less hectic then yesterday.....and i spent most of the morning in the warehouse which tends to be much cooler then the plant or outside........but even with that i was pretty cooked by days end.........
bank/errand/grocery day.........got off to a slow start as i took the time for a nice cold shower before heading out..........then took a lot longer to do the shopping......they have totally remodeled the grocery store that i shop at and i did something i rarely do....i actually walked all the aisles just to get used to where everything is now......also stopped at biglots and by the time i got home and decided that i really needed to attend to the sink full of dishes.....it was after 7 before i ate supper........had a sit in the garden but it 's been raining for a bit so that was cut short........didn't rain very heavily here although there was some thunder to the south east of us........didn't rain enough to cut the humidity........rats.........

we got some rain today......actually rained very hard for maybe 15 minutes......but really didn't have any real effect on the humidity.........
i was absolutely worn out after work........the g-man and i really got a lot done today....i'm sure the poor flunkie that has to unload the UPS truck night will probably stick pins in her voodoo doll of us but we got near to caught up.......
got take out chinese......haven't done that in a long time......actually ended up with enough leftovers for about 3 meals but it was good.....i enjoyed it.....and had no energy to even think about cooking tonight

another nice day, not quite as humid as yesterday, and the work day went right into the sewer, i spent the whole day on like 4 jobs........and had to pull my clerk in on one of them so the upstart is , that he and by extension i am way behind.......hopefully we can get to the getting tomorrow and get caught back up but as busy as it's been i'm not counting on it...........
really good rehearsal tonight, went really well and got home and still had a bit of light and had my daily sitdown in the garden........if the weather is nice tomorrow have some general yard work to accomplish.......would have done it tonight but the time was not there........

a decent day, considering....we were under a severe thunderstorm watch most of the day and got zero rain, very humid, but no rain........ah well the weatherman is the only gut i know that gets paid for being right 25% of the time........
i was expecting to load a container for south america today which would or will take maybe 3 hours and a 3 man crew to complete......and therefore had moved two inbounds until tomorrow to allow enough time for all three.......so of course i got a call about 10:30 informing me that they had a problem and the container will be here tomorrow, from one stand point that's okay.......the loading on the ship doesn't close until wednesday but what i had attempted to avoid i now have to face........well just reminds me that no good deed or plan has ever gone unpunished.......
anyhow i've had a pretty decent evening.........sat in the garden for a while, though humid there was a nice cooling breeze tonight..........and i feel pretty good.......but tomorrow promises to be a monster.....

today was the first day of summer, i realize that officially summer is still a couple of weeks off, but today was the first really hot, humid day of this year, and i am melting into my socks........well i don't actually have socks on at this moment but you get the idea.......i think the body tends to tolerate the most common extreme better then the rarer extremes.......and living here in the north country the common extreme is bitter cold in the winter...........in a typical winter we have at least a few days where the wind chill is below -40*F.......so on those odd days in the summer when it's hot and humid......trollie is hurting..........particularly the first couple of days.........
church went well to day......although my voice was not really 100%......heck it wasn't really 50% but i got thru.........anyways it was teacher appreciation day..........i've taught adult religious ed for many years and they gave us a rather nice pen today as a thank you.........the pen is worth very little from a dollars and cents standpoint.........but is beyond measure from the standpoint of the recognition of a dedication to the job at hand.......i was deeply moved
although pastor did make the running gag about how long it takes me to cover a particular book or topic........if it doesn't take me several years to cover a book or a group of books then i'm not doing my job........i teach the in depth class.........and won't have it any other way.......
just picked at food today......on hot humid days i really have no desire to eat.......made a shrimp salad for lunch........a hoagie in the mid afternoon........a bit of the salad for dinner.......and then a late supper in the garden of cheese, figs, black olives..hot peppers and tea.........i enjoy the garden............it relaxes me and i can let the day disappear...........it's late, i'm tired and i have a heavy day tomorrow.......actually the first 3 days next week appear to be monsters.........nite all

the day has smoothed out and i feel pretty good, made one of my favorite things for an early dinner.........about 3/4 of an inch of light pasta, you could use vermicelli or angel hair, broken into 1/3s.......cooked to just before el dente........then drain and put in a fry pan with some pre-melted butter.....til just a hint of brown.......then add 2 eggs that have been heavily whisked together with a spot of milk and about a 1/4 of a cup of romano cheese grated.......and stir constantly until the eggs set.......lovely........then about 8 i had a late supper in the garden.......some blue cheese,figs,oil cured olives, a few hot peppers and some crackers with ceylon tea and a bit of aged brandy.......just enjoyed the evening.....and i feel great...........

another lovely day, but a strange one.....i awoke this morning feeling physically pretty good, but mentally i felt like i had not slept in days.......i awoke a couple of times during the night and although i now do not remember the content of the dreams, do remembering waking up angry or at least frustrated by the dreams.......anyways just couldn't get in gear mentally this AM the way i would have liked........spent 3 hours at work getting month end inventory done and thru that process did get the mental juices flowing but although i still am some what distracted today......just not at 100%.........
made a few stops on the way home......line for my weed whacker.....and the last plant for the garden........i've been looking for a nice hens and chicks plant for awhile.....finally found a nice one......more of a remembrance of things past.......was always one of my mom's favorite plants.....stopped at arby's for lunch and then just took a short ride...........as the day progresses i am feeling more like my old self...........come to think of it that might not necessarily be a good thing (hehe)

another nice day but today was more humid then it's been so far this year, and work......was well work........i got behind early and though we did get basically everything done, it seems like we were just behind all day......well everything but month end inventory......must go in tomorrow morning to get that done....well not exactly get it done....start it from scratch and get it done......and as my clerk was as busy as i was and he's helping out in production tomorrow i'll have to do his sheets as well......rats..........i'll be happy if i'm out in 4........
and it seemed like it extruded into afterwork as well......seemed like everything i did took twice as long.....banking.......paying bills....grocery shopping.....it was almost 7 before i got home.............

another nice day, another work day.....not too bad.........i still am feeling a little "under the weather" but i figured out what my problem is.......it's something that bothers me periodically and is on the mend.......feeling much better this PM and should be fine in a day or two......
why is it that everyone who listens to rap or hip-hop in their car thinks that everyone in a 3 block area of where they are at the time also loves said rap or hip-hop so they play it loud enough so you can hear it...........(trollie shakes his head in disbelief)
i spent a lot of time just relaxing in the garden this evening, and not counting the interruption mentioned above really enjoyed my time........tonight was almost dead calm wind wise.......but i have two planting in view of my trusty adirondack chair that catch what little wind there is and are almost always in motion...........

another beautiful day here, i awoke feeling lousy.......hoped that i would feel better as the day worn on but that didn't happening and ended up taking a half day vac..............Stopped at loess to pick up the last bag of marble chips for the garden (i thought) but have decided that i really mis-calculated and really need one more bag........so what's new.....will pick it up friday......normally i would have picked it up tomorrow as part of may weekly excursion to the shopping district, but as monday was a holiday........friday not thrusday will be payday this week.........most of the retail outlets are on the westside of town and i live on the south side......well actually a little east of south but who's counting.........
have taken it easy most of the PM and now feel pretty good, just spent sometime relaxing in the garden........becuase of the way my lot is laid out i don't really have a back yard.......unless you count 6' as a back yard....i have a corner lot and all of my room is street side.......but i have a rather sheltered place where i can sit and not feel like i'm in the middle of the street.......