May 3, 2010 by pam.

About a month or more ago I saw a ground hog walk up the front walk, eat some birdseed, and then slip under the porch. Last fall I trapped and released (with the help of my friend, Farmer Dan) two other groundhogs. I’m happy to live in harmony with these animals, but my friends and coworkers warn me about the damage they can cause. Plus, the ones last fall started to eat my cherry tomatoes. Room is one thing … board another!

So, I borrowed Farmer Dan’s live trap again. For about a week it sat empty. One Tuesday night I woke up about 1:30 AM with the smell of skunk in my house. I thought for sure I had trapped one! Upon inspection (in the middle of the night in my pjs) there was NOT a skunk in the trap. I noticed Wednesday afternoon that some of the apple sauce had been eaten but the trap had not been tripped. Thursday afternoon I caught a squirrel. It was lively in there and noisy when I let it go. I refilled the tuna can with apple sauce and Friday morning I woke up and found a skunk in the trap.

This has been my biggest fear. I’ve hear of this happening and there’s a lot of theories of how you get a skunk out of the trap without getting sprayed, but those theories, according to Farmer Dan, haven’t been successfully executed by anyone he personally knows.

My first step was to call Farmer Dan and share my “Plan A”. “Plan A” included tossing a blanket over the trap and then quietly opening the trap to let the skunk out. I guess if the trap is covered, the skunk doesn’t see you coming. If it doesn’t see you coming, it isn’t threatened and won’t spray. Even without the blanket over the trap, the skunk appeared to be sleeping. I could see, though, that it had spent a good amount of time trying to escape. The ground underneath the trap was dug up and there was a lot of dirt in the trap.

So, I got an old blanket, tossed it over, went to yoga class, and when I got back I slowly lifted the blanket to pull the pin that keeps the release end of the trap shut. I backed off and before I could get very far the skunk scurried away without spraying. It didn’t even look back! Phew!

Farmer Dan was happy to hear I was successful. He offered to come over and execute “Plan B”, the lethal plan, if “Plan A” wasn’t successful and I’m glad we didn’t have to execute that stinky rodent. I’m also thankful for Farmer Dan. He’s a good coach and has been willing to help me out in these situations. Last fall when I told him I hadn’t killed anything bigger than a bug, he suggested since I’ve gotten this far in life without using lethal force, that I shouldn’t start. I’m also glad for good advice from friends.

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April 5, 2010 by pam.

April is National Card and Letter Writing Month and I just finished writing my first card/letter of the month. Writing a letter a week is one of my New Year’s Resolutions so, I’ve been writing them every week this year.

National Card and Letter Writing Month is an annual effort to promote literacy and to celebrate the art of letter writing. I find each form of writing (emails vs blogs vs letters vs postcards vs journal entries vs texts) are quite different. I organize my thoughts differently, I format the piece differently, and for certain, I use different muscles! I’m surprised how tired my arm and hand get when I write with pen/pencil!

More over, I love getting “real” letters. Snail mail consists of bills, advertising, and just plain junk. Some days, I don’t get any mail at all! When I get a real letter in the mail there’s just that little rush of something special and I love sitting down and savoring it. Some days I’m bummed that we have this “lost art” of writing letters. But maybe that’s what makes them so special.

I’d be happy to add you to my letter writing list … just make a comment on my blog and you’ll be receiving one soon!

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April 4, 2010 by pam.

Several months ago I wrote myself notes on my bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker. It’s so great! It stands out, comes off easily with a little glass cleaner, and it’s fun to leave inspirational sayings or little reminders.

Thinking about this little habit, I thought, “Hmmmm. That’s kind of quirky!”

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March 24, 2010 by pam.

My next door neighbor is 92 and it comes up in conversation with her. This statement, “I’m 92 and … ” (there is a wide variety of topics with which she fills in the blank), got me thinking about age.

Recently I goofed at work. Being the editor of our internal monthly newsletter, I publish the birthdays each issue … without the year. In March, I forgot to take off the year. I’ve been doing the newsletter for decades and get very little feedback. Boy, did I hear from the March birthdays! Some of them were NOT happy about their ages being revealed. That also got me thinking about age.

In January, I volunteered to spend an afternoon with a Girl Scout Troupe. One of the scouts was turning 10. It was a big deal … double digits. She was proudly sharing her age.

So I wonder … when is it that some of us become secretive about our age? We proudly announce we are 10 and 92 … but somewhere in the middle some people become sensitive to aging.

How old are you and why would you share (or not) that number?

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March 21, 2010 by pam.

I’ve been numbing myself with TV lately. I love watching my shows On Demand - no commercials and I can watch them whenever I want to. I usually catch up on the weekends since the week nights are busy. There are some shows I wish Comcast would add to the On Demand menu, just because it’s comfortable to watch TV while a blob on the couch. I’ve watched one episode (”Castle”) on hulu.com and that was OK too. Jeopardy is not on either, which is a bummer!

Just started the first season of “Mad Men”. My friend Ken loaned me the first and second season on DVD. It’s like a train wreck … I can’t take my eyes off of it. I don’t know how long I’ll continue. I don’t like many of the characters, the smoking drives me nuts, and the way women are treated makes me want to set my hair on fire.

Otherwise, I’m watching (On Demand) “The Good Wife”, “CSI”, “NCIS”, “NCIS - LA”, and watched “The Burn Notice” until the last episode a few weeks ago. Last year I watched a few episodes of “Flashpoint” and liked it. Our local stations aren’t carrying it this year and I can’t find it online. The DVD just showed up at the library and I watched the first four episodes of the first season last night. Disc two is on request!

What are you watching?

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March 19, 2010 by pam.

A coworker described me as “quirky” this week … as in “Have you ever thought of dating him? I like him and I like you. He’s quirky and you’re quirky.” That’s the first time “quirky” has been the match making criteria (when it has pertained to me as being one of the potential matches - and no, I wasn’t interested).

So, I looked up quirky in the thesaurus. Here are the results.
“Definition: Eccentric. Quirky means strikingly unconventional or given to idiosyncrasies
Synonyms: bizarre, far out, freakish, freaky, idiosyncratic, in left field, kinky, odd, off-the-wall, out of the ordinary, outre, peculiar, strange, unconventional, unorthodox, unusual, wacky, way-out, weird.”

I hope she meant quirky in a good way.

So, what do you think? Me … quirky?

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March 17, 2010 by pam.

The other harbinger of spring came rolling into work yesterday … a motorcycle. You know warmer temps are here when the second shifters ride in on their Harley Davidson motorcycles. Just one, so far. More to come, I’m sure.

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March 5, 2010 by pam.

So far so good on my new year’s resolutions. We are two months into the new year and, for the most part, I am managing to:
*Walk three times a week
*Write a letter a week
*Blog once a week
*Making progress towards passing assessment

Passing assessment is a long term goal requiring quite a bit of work. Two things I’ve done in the last eight or nine weeks to prepare are find a practice partner and make plans to tape me teaching and doing the poses, a requirement to apply. Taping is planned for 3/13 and 3/14.

How is your 2010 so far?

Posted in Random Thoughts, Blogroll, Yoga | 1 Comment »

March 5, 2010 by pam.

The harbinger of spring was spotted in my front yard today. It has been sunny, warmer and there’s a smell of spring in the air. Just sixteen more days until spring officially arrives!

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February 17, 2010 by pam.

I have been telling my “aphorism story” over and over since my experience at the Penny Stamps Lecture last Thursday. Have also been searching out different aphorisms. Here are a few that I ran across today while looking for something completely different/unrelated! Enjoy!

~Besides the noble art of getting things done, master the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials. –Lin Yutang

~For fast-acting relief, try slowing down. — Lily Tomlin

~Don’t confuse your net worth with your self-worth. –Unknown

~The truth is, time flies whether you’re having fun or not. — Unknown

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