From a Squeak to a Scream...

My day has come full circle. I started the day with a squeak as I was nearly beaned with a window washers clamp and ended it with a scream when I opened my mailbox and came face-to-face with a larger than life spider. I mean, I know I need to lose weight but this spider really needed a new diet...and don't anyone dare suggest that spider was pregnant. That's right, I used the word was. After shattering all the windows and crystal in the land, alerting the neighborhood dogs to trouble, and potentially scaring anyone unfortunate enough to be in the Wal-Mart parking lot with my high pitched scream, I squashed the spider between two magazines. Which two magazines? I have no idea. They were of no interest to me at that point except to get them into the nearest trash can. With all of this commotion today, I really learned something valuable about myself. Near death makes me squeak and spiders make me scream. If anyone had asked before today, I would have said the opposite was true. Well, you live and you learn. Next up - I wonder if I can pay my niece Jessica to come get my mail even when I am in town.

The Sky is Falling...or How I Nearly Died Today

It was a bright sunshiny morning here in St. Paul. I left my hotel in good spirits. I was on time. I was well fed. Not much more I need in the morning. As I got to the first corner on my very short journey from the hotel to the office, I once again let fate dictate my direction - whichever crosswalk was flashing the "walking man" symbol, that was the direction I would take. 75% of the time I go straight but today was one of those rare times when I turned to the right and crossed. As I was peacefully making my way to the office, enjoying the unusual route, KABAAM!, something exploded inches away from me. A short squeak (turns out I squeak when nearly killed) later, I was able to piece together that a window washer some stories above me had knocked over (or intentionally thrown at me) a heavy duty clamp which then bounced off the side walk in front of me shattering into many pieces, or as I prefer to call them - shrapnel. I survived with no injuries which is more than I can say for the car I was standing next to.

SPF 6

For me, suntanning is an art I have worked on perfecting through out my life (keeping my vitamin D intake high...and trying to keep skin cancer at bay). The goal is to tan evenly while avoiding getting burned. In order to do this, it requires the right sun tan lotion in the right SPF. So yesterday I set out on the hunt for the right sun tan lotion. Now, you might think that this is no large feat - go to the nearest Wal-Mart, Target, grocery or drug store and purchase. However, I was in search of SPF 6 and I was on foot. For reasons that escape me, SPF 4 and SPF 8 are incredibly popular with those that stock sun tan lotion while SPF 6 is not. You can find SPF 4 and SPF 8 in almost every brand and every consistency (spray, lotion, oil, dry oil, etc.) on every store shelf that stocks sun tan lotion. But not the elusive SPF 6 that I was after. Finally, after a little urban hiking, there it was on a store shelf, a single bottle of Hawaiian Tropic Golden Tanning Oil in SPF 6, just sitting there as if it knew that I would be coming for it. It was mine. Perfect. Summer can now commence.

A Weekend In St. Paul

Here are some photos from my sunny, windy weekend in St. Paul, The shot in the middle is of the amusement park in the middle of the Mall of America where I did a little shopping and saw X-Men Origins. If you are a fan of X-Men or of Hugh Jackman, I recommend seeing it. The Crowne Plaza shot is of my home away from home. Best thing about the hotel - it's proximity to the office and the fact that I can get there through the skyway without having to go outside during the winter months. The worst thing - they have sleep number beds and after more nights than I can count here, I still haven't found my sleep number! The Lawson Commons shot is of the office building I spend my days in. Best thing about the office - there is a Starbucks and a Chipotle in the Lobby. The worst thing - it is located in St. Paul, MN. The Peanuts characters are found throughout St. Paul (where Charles Shultz grew up) or at least outside of the office building which is pretty much as far as I searched for them. And of course, finally, the pictures of the Mississippi River. Really, to complete this, I should have taken a picture of Macy's, the one department store in downtown St. Paul where I have left much of my hard earned money.

The Mississippi

I am in St. Paul yet again this week. On the plus side (a very big plus) the winter weather is finally gone, which I love. I can actually walk outside to get from the hotel to the office and back every day. I realized as I was gazing out my window tonight that with all the trips here, I really haven't taken any pictures of St. Paul. So, in an attempt to remedy that, here is the view from my window this week.

The windows are a bit dirty and I am using my BB once again as a camera so not the greatest of pictures but at least you get a visual. This is the Mississippi River. St. Paul is on the northern most end of the Mississippi. It's very relaxing to watch the Riverboats floating by (that were frozen in place not too long ago) and to watch the steady pace of the rowers on the river. It's a really pretty walk along the river bank so the next time I am out, I will try to remember to take some pictures along the way.

The Raccoon in the Window Well

I heard scratching outside my window last night and, very bravely, went out to investigate. I didn't see anything and figured whatever it was had run off. The next day, we had a violent rain storm and I went to the basement to check for flooding (it's been years since the basement last flooded but I still get worried during storms). No flooding but a little thought bubbled up regarding the scratching I heard the night before. I walked over to the window, lifted the blind, and screamed as I encountered a big fat raccoon in the window well (picture above not the actual raccoon as it didn't occur to me to snap a photo). By the way, "The Raccoon in the Window Well" sounds like the title of an episode of Bones, which seems accurate since I nearly had a heart attack.

I had been gone all week so I have no idea how long the critter had been trapped in the window well but the screen was well and truly shredded and he could barely lift his head to stare at me. He had clearly slipped between the house and the grate that covers the well and then tried to use the screen to climb out, unsuccessfully. I called Animal Control who told me they don't come for non-domesticated animals on the weekend. They suggested that I feed him and get him water and then call back on Monday. Not having any suitable raccoon food in the house, I went over to the neighbors who kindly provided an apple. I chopped it up and threw it in.

The next morning before calling Animal Control, I went to check to make sure the raccoon was still alive and found both the raccoon and the screen gone. I found this puzzling, as I was pretty sure that the raccoon hadn't been considerate enough to take the screen with him. It turns out that our handy maintenance and landscaping guy here at Country Cottages, who I called before Animal Control, had come over in the morning and finding no raccoon, pulled the destroyed screen out (he then came over and put in a new screen). It appears that all Fred (the raccoon) needed was a little sustenance to get himself out.

Farewell Fred and Happy Scavenging. Please don't come back again any time soon.

The Best Flight Delay Ever...

I was supposed to be in St. Paul, MN this week conducting a meeting with my team there. On Friday, I found out that I would be attending a conference in Miami, Florida instead. The conference was good but it was a stressful week at work with lots going on in addition to the conference. I was happy to see the week coming to end. About 30 minutes before the conference wrapped and I was scheduled to head to the airport, I logged into Delta.com to check my seating assignment and found out that something was up with my flight. I called Delta and found out that my flight from Miami to Atlanta was delayed enough that it was going to cause me to miss my connecting flight to SLC. I had two choices; wait around at the airport all evening for the delayed flight and then spend the night in Atlanta or spend another night in Miami. I chose Miami. The hotel I had checked out of that morning was in downtown Miami and had no rooms for the night so I went with my trusty Marriott pals who hooked me up with a beach view room in South Beach.

This is a view from my balcony:

I am definitely a beach girl. I find the sights and sound of the rolling waves incredibly soothing and the best way to detox all of the stress. I sat out on my balcony on a warm night, with a cool drink and my Kindle and just enjoyed the moment. The next morning, I woke up early so I could watch the sun rising above the Atlantic. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of it. I was then frantically trying to get ready to get to the airport on time when I thought - what was I doing???? Here I was in an absolutely fabulous room, right on the beach, it was going to be a beautiful day and I was planning to spend it on a plane? Was I crazy? Of course not! I called and extended my reservation for another night, called Delta and changed my flight to the following day and then proceeded to spend a beautiful and relaxing day at the beach.

Life Above the Clouds...

As I was flying to Miami this week, I found myself in a window seat which doesn't happen much as I prefer the aisle (aren't you all glad you know that about me now?). Anyway, I decided to snap some photos of the view outside my window. This got me to thinking about how much of my life has been spent above the clouds. I couldn't even begin to calculate the number of days and possibly years. I am sure there are all sorts of great stories and metaphors for living your life above the clouds, but I admit to not being nearly that deep or profound this week so if you think of any, please feel free to share them! I just liked looking down at the clouds. I always find the most interesting shapes - faces, animals, creatures great and small. It's a great way to pass a flight.