Crime update

I was reading the Amherst Bulletin again while doing laundry and I read two very funny crime reports. Once again there were only two reports for Sunderland for the week. The first was a DUI, the other:

"Police received a complaint Nov. 23 at 8 am from a North Plain Road resident regarding a neighbor doing yard work too early in the morning."

8 AM? That is too early? Oh boy, busy week again. :)

Other surrounding "crimes" I found funny or at least entertaining:

Monday, Nov. 19th, 10:41pm: People arguing at a Hallock street home were determined to just be having a friendly rivalry while playing a video game. (We'll have none of that fun going on here!)

Wednesday Nov. 21, 10:04am: A woman walking her dog in the middle of Belchertown Road causing vehicles to swerve around her was not located by police. The woman also allegedly made obscene gestures at passing vehicles when they honked at her. (I better watch what I do when cars come close to me, people might accuse me of riding in the middle of the road waving obscene gestures!)

Thursday Nov. 22, 6:09pm: people walking around and beneath a house that will be moved from Kendrick Park were determined to be the people who will own the house. (Beneath the house?)

Nov. 22 Amherst, 3pm: a COW was reported loose on North East Street :) (In Vermont the buses look like cows, and it is called the MOOver, maybe it was just a bus?)

Finally:
Nov. 22, 6:10pm: Loud noise caused by objects dropping on the floor at a Kellogg Avenue home was quiet when police got there. (Well, now I'm surprised no one called on me when I fell off my bike, talk about objects dropping on the floor! :)!)

May your days only be filled with meaningless crimes to fill your nights with laughter!

Today was a good day!

A bad day skiing beats any great day at school. And today was good day skiing. I will only say it was GREAT! because I was skiing! There were only three lifts open, but the snow was good. Most of it was "man-made" but Mt Snow has new, fancy fan guns, so the snow was light and fluffy...NO REALLY it was! So after one day of skiing here in the East, not much different from Deer Valley. Nice long, open, groomers! Mt Snow is a bit over an hour from my house on a good weather day, YES! This is a google earth map of my "commute" to work. Oh didn't I tell you, I'm working there part time as a ski instructor...he he he. Like I'm going to pay to ski, HA! :) The quiet freeway drive with very few cars and the narrow, curvy road through a few tiny towns to work, that ain't half bad! (I know it is kind of hard to see, but follow the purple line.)

Check out what it says on the first tower after you clear the bull wheel (see picture). I think there should be such a law in Utah. Can you imagine getting the ticket? Failure to lower the bar. HA HA HA
The next pole had a sign that I really liked: (sorry no picture)
Mount Snow Motto: Make it easy. Make it fun. Make some hot chocolate!
Sounds like a great ski day to me...in fact, I'm off to make some right now.

And for my Sundance friends who may be afraid of how much I might miss sundance, one of the three base lodges (and a lift and run) are named "sundance." So, I will be reminded every day I'm at work of my wonderful friends and how I got where I am as a ski instructor. :)

We also....

...built and decorated a Gingerbread house. My mom brought a ready-made kit will all the trimmings and fixings. Well, you all know me, I'm not going to follow the "instructions", I'm going to decorate it the way I want to. So, I made it look like a cabin should in my mind...snow draped off the peak of the roof, icicles hanging precariously from the eves, and snow billows pilling up outside the house. Well, considering all I to work with was icing, I think you get the image I was trying to portray. Oh, and I did think it looked a bit bland without evergreens flanking the house or a light on inside signaling to the onlooker that someone is home, so I put a red robin on the top (see red speck on the roof?)...so what it was a small ball of sugar...if I want it to be a robin, that is what it is. :)! Me and my imagination...I am a little wacky.




By the way, the chimney is gone...so is the snowman, and I'm thinking about making my way with the roof tonight! YUMMY!

Thanksgiving in New England

My mom came out to visit for Thanksgiving and we went to Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) for Thanksgiving dinner. It was really good. Everything one would expect for a "typical" meal and MUCH MUCH more. Unfortunately we weren't able to take leftovers home, but it was buffet style so we could eat as much as we wanted to. OSV is a museum village that has buildings and other original "things" from all over New England, brought together to show what it was like in a small town. There were town homes, churches, mills, stores, etc. It was pretty cool to see what it may have looked like long long ago. And it was neat to be in the area where the idea of the Thanksgiving feast first happened.

When one starts off in the main museum area, there are a few smaller exhibits about food and living habits. There was a room that had so many clocks I couldn't count them. I was just glad they all didn't tick...wow that would have been a seriously disturbing room if they had all been ticking.

In the room, it tried to explain why "clocks" were so important to New Englanders and there was a plaque that explained why:

Early New Englanders thought of time primarily as an earthly period between birth and death to be lived in such a way as to reflect the glory of God in each individual. Men and women responded to daily and seasonal rhythms, but they paid relatively little attention to smaller time segments...An hourglass symbolized the relentless and continuous passage of one's entire time on earth, although Father Time with his scythe could cut life short at any moment.

I thought this was an interesting way to think about life.


There were actually two churches in the "village." I'm not sure what denomination the congregation was of the church on the left, but it seemed like a typical New England look. The picture on the right is the inside of the Society of Friends congregation...yep, the Quakers. I loved their simplicity, although it was much colder in there than it was outside. :)

This are views of the village. Which is interesting...add more trees and a bit more room in between the buildings and New England hasn't changed much.

This was an interesting view from the store, but then there was a guy who got in the picture...
These are two pictures of the same bridge by a cute pond. It did make me think, where is Ichabod Crane when you need him? Can't you hear the headless horseman...I can.


"About two hundred yards from the tree, a small brook crossed the road, and ran into a marshy and thickly-wooded glen, known by the name of Wiley's Swamp. A few rough logs, laid side by side, served for a bridge over this stream. On that side of the road where the brook entered the wood, a group of oaks and chestnuts, matted thick with wild grape-vines, threw a cavernous gloom over it. To pass this bridge was the severest trial. It was at this identical spot that the unfortunate Andre was captured, and under the covert of those chestnuts and vines were the sturdy yeomen concealed who surprised him. This has ever since been considered a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of the school-boy who has to pass it alone after dark." (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving)

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving...now, let's all pray for snow!!!

More pics

Just wanted to say:

MY FIRST SNOWBALL!

This doesn't look too wet and yucky (YET)! :)

Just waiting on the side of the road for my bus (which happened to slide to a stop when it was stopping at my stop, a bit scary!)

A few pictures around campus...


The campus pond is starting to freeze up a bit today...

...and if you don't believe me or can't see it, check out the trails the ducks made in the "water." They were blazing trails.

Just wanted to tell you all...

IT'S SNOWING, IT'S SNOWING...IT IS SNOWING!!!!



As you can tell, I'm a bit excited. I got up this morning and glanced out my window and saw this foreign white stuff on the roads. I was confused at first...then ACH! SNOW! I ran outside to get some pics. And now as I look outside it is snowing even harder. YIPPE! I'll take my camera to school so I'll have more pictures... but a few for now...

Just because you don't know where you are doesn't mean that someone else doesn't know exactly where you are!

This was the Saturday of our YW/YM hike for charity. Well, I think we all passed the buck as to planning it out, so when we didn't have our fearless leader we kind of got lost. Not totally, since we were kind of hiking through neighborhoods (but you would never have really thought it because it was really wilderness-like) we weren't really lost. And there were several others not on our hike who we kept calling (who needs a GPS when you have a cell phone?)who knew exactly where we were so we didn't get too far off track, we really only had to change our plans. Which isn't too bad because it makes for a fun/safe adventure. You'll notice from the pictures that it appears that we really weren't in people's back yards the whole time and really got into the woods a bit. Funny enough, the trail we were on was the Robert Frost trail and most of the time I was thinking we were on the path less traveled. The high was 42, but I have no idea what the real feel temp was. Because it is so windy and moist out here that can easily be 10 degrees cooler. It was fairly pleasant today though, not too cold and the storm held off. So no snow, but maybe later tonight!!!! :)



This is a trail marker for a trail we crossed (there are so many hiking trails around here it is crazy) but I loved the name. The locals call it the M & M trail, which is cool, but try saying the name, when you get it it sounds pretty cool.


This picture is most of the YW and YM who came with us. And I say with us because they were real troopers as the adults blundered their way through the wilderness. A bit of frustration but no real complaints.




A few pictures of a pretty stream we hiked along for while.

I hope you can all see the wall work in this picture. There were old stone walls all over the place and then as we were ending there were several rock walls that appeared to have been left over from old (maybe original) houses, right by the water source. Very cool images.

Ok so a few of us ended up hiking a bit more than others and as we were ending the hike and almost to the car, we found this really cool bridge with train tracks. As we were looking at the stream and the woods, I heard a train horn. I ran back up to the tracks to see it coming, but I couldn't see a thing. So, I just decided to keep hiking. Then it got closer and closer, and I realized that we were going to see it in a second. So I ran down to the water's edge to get this picture. You can see how high the bridge is and how not so large it is...LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THE TRAIN! Finally the last picture is one of the lake I talked about a few days ago on my really cool bike ride...well, I found it again roaming around the Amherst Woods, so I took a picture. See how pretty it is? :)

WOW today was great!

It started off froggy and cool, then it warmed up to about 50 so I could go for a "road ride" that was more than half on dirt, and then I figured out my computer program. I also found a great little lake, a road I want to take Jeepers on (I've been looking since I got here for a road to Jeep on), and an animal vet whose name is "Katz." How great is that? I'm starting to know this area pretty well so I just left school and went for a ride without a plan, it was quite the adventure.

This isn't the program I was working on. But soon I'll be putting all my little programs together to fit into this "video" and it will ride the way I tell it to. The great thing is that this guy won't fall over! :)

Wednesday is Monday!

Well, I hope all of you enjoyed the video, I know I certainly have every time I have watched it. This week is a bit warmer during the day so tomorrow will be a great time for me to get out for a nice 50 degree bike ride instead of the 37 degree one I had Monday. Usually I have to teach on Wednesdays, but because of the holiday, UMass does something similar to BYU (for all my teaching friends). Except here one Monday holiday made a Tuesday Monday, this week Wednesday becomes Monday. I really wonder if it is worth all the trouble. But then again, I'm not one to complain...I don't have to teach tomorrow! So, I'm going for a ride, he he he.

Tomorrow there is also supposed to be a student strike. I'm not sure what for, but since I don't have to teach, and I'm going for a ride...I'll consider myself on strike! Just because I didn't CHOOSE to not teach does that make my not teaching tomorrow not count?...I don't think so. :)

If you can't laugh at yourself...you shouldn't be allowed to laugh at anything.

SO, I got rollers from my mom for my birthday and I'm super excited about it. I have ridden it a few times for 5-10 minutes getting used to it and then one time last week I rode for an hour. Well, today was super cold and I talked myself out of riding outside and so I was going to take advantage of the opportunity to ride on the rollers and really have a great time. I had gotten really good: I could ride with only one hand, or drink, or change channels, or get my hair out of my eyes, or the sweat off my brow. I could even stand up for a second, keep pedaling and readjust on the seat so my bum didn't hurt so much. I was feeling pretty good about myself and I wanted to show everyone my cool new toy, so I decided I was going to video myself and post it. Well, I had my first fall and it was caught on tape. I thought, this is better than watching me ride without incident, that could be boring. Unfortunately, you can't hear me laughing...I'm laughing hysterically, as I do now when I watch it too...I hope you all enjoy it. (By the way, I think I'm going to have a huge bruise on my hip):)

Funny signs/bumper stickers.

I saw a sign today off the freeway...

.... Be a litter lugger! Lug it in, lug it out!


I thought the alliteration was great, and it made me chuckle.


Then I saw a bumper sticker on a car from New Hampshire...

...You don't always have to believe what you think!

I liked the sentiment so I'm going to stop believing what I think and see what happens.

Fall is almost over...it is freezing, the leaves are almost gone but the apples are still great!

So even though we have had a spotty fall, there were still some great images. For my golfing friends, that green "patch" in front of the hill is the UMass turf sciences center. Sure it studies baseball and football grasses, but also golf grasses. I'm not sure if you can see, but there are NO sprinklers...why? Because there is enough water in the ground, NO ONE has sprinklers around here.




This is the bridge over the Connecticut River into my town. This would be the "first view" of my town if you were to visit. Oh, and that is about all there is...all that you can see in this picture. :)




Ok, so these are pictures of an apple I got for free. A local orchard came into our building and left apples in our main office for anyone to take. Well, a friend of mine came into my office yesterday and said, "oh my gosh, lex, there are really good free apples in the office and there is one that is HUGE with your name on it." Ok, so it really didn't have my name on it but I ran anyway to go get it. One picture has a "normal" apple and the other has a golf ball in it so you can all see the massive size of it. I think I will eat it for breakfast tomorrow...and nothing else! :)

I am busy, really, but this I have to share cause this bear has moves!

Maybe it is that I'm turning 34 this week, I'm not sure, but I find this hilarious. The first version is in German:


The second is in English.


Feel free to listen to either, but I think it is funnier in German. One view in English and you'll get the lyrics, then I suggest you listen to him in German, for some reason it makes it cuter. He has a whole CD coming out on the 13th of November with a whole bunch of songs that he has re-written the vocals to, like this one. I actually can't wait, I think this is funny and entertaining. Happy watching.

PS if you are at all offended by his little bum shaking into view every once in a while, I'm sorry. But be warned he does have a little part of his bum sticking out. I just see him as a little kid who had an unfortunate situation, he grew out of his undies.

The hurricane came and slammed the coast and all we got were 15-20 mph winds

Well this has been a pretty nice week. Easy on the workload, some nice COLD bike rides and just experiencing Autumn in the East, especially with all the decorations. Most of the decorations around here weren't so much for Halloween, but for celebrating all the yummy veggies around here. That might be because a house could have 10-20 pumpkins and carving that many might get old and/or take up too much time. The picture above is the pond I was tell you all about that is in the middle of campus with a gaggle of geese.















Something interesting is happening now around here: now that all the leaves are LEAVING, ha ha ha, the views are different. I can see things in views I never saw before because I can see through the trees now. The picture on the left is kind of an example of that. I am standing on the shore of the pond looking Northwest and now one can see the Church on campus and the Library much better without the leaves. The other picture is of a Guck, or a goock or a doose or whatever. No really, i think it is. It looks like a duck in form, but it has the coloring of a goose and it made a slightly different noise than the mallards...ok, maybe it is just a different kind of duck, but it made me laugh thinking about the mixed breed. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, does it have to be a duck?

GOTCHA!

So I was walking across campus today and I had a funny experience. I overheard these two guys talking: boy 1-"yeah, I was like, is there a war going on?" boy 2-"well, yeah, there is." Now you might think they were talking about something in the world, not at all. I looked down at boy 2's hand, in which he had a yellow and red "gun." I'm not sure if it was a water gun or a paint ball gun, but it was held at the ready in his left hand and as they walked to me and past, boy 2 kept looking around and over his shoulder. I laughed once we got passed each other when I realized they were playing a game on campus that is like the movie from the 80s: Gotcha! For those of you who are too young or don't know it, it involves some students (I think high school) who are playing paint ball wars in the halls who get caught up in a situation of misunderstanding which ultimately lead to the students being mixed up in an international spy war with REAL guns. A totally campy 80s movie, but it was funny to see it play out on a campus so many years later.