Birders: Some Help, Please!

Saw this fellow while walking Ellie on Foster Island Easter Sunday. The shape of the bill makes me think it's a merganser, maybe a female.

Go here for a series of eight photos. Unfortunately, the darned thing was backlit in the early morning sun, so I can't even tell you its colors. Good sized fowl, about as big as a goose.

Any ideas?

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Little Pond

Now I'm a statistic.

My debit card number was stolen over the internet and used. The bank called to ask if I ordered $1500 worth of merchandise from a bridal/promdress salon, and over $700 from the limited.com and (of all things...) $7.90 from Giant.com.

Well, I hadn't, so they stopped payment on it all and will go after the culprit.

So if you get a call about questionable charges, be sure to reply or call back.

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Little Pond

Weekend shutterbuggery

The world is not so scary.I survived another week.

Did get out for walking my granddog on the weekend.

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Little Pond

I think I can do this.

I miss visiting with you all.

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Little Pond

I am tired.

Expect fewer posts for a while, until I adjust.

My first day impressions.

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Little Pond

I start work in Binghamton on Monday.

I am to bring my acceptance letter with me.

It is considered a lateral move with same pay.

There will be at least two hours of commuting everyday, in my 1995 Geo Tracker that is held together with duct tape. I did get an oil change, but don't have time for anything else.

My nearest, dearest coworker is going to the Press Plant in Johnson City.

We knew all sorts of bad things were on the way, but I must confess I am in shock, anyway.

I have to trust that all will work out for the best.

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Little Pond

I'd love to post, but

this is Ellie's week at her other house and I must clean, clean, clean. One week with the doggie means one week with minimum cleaning. The next is catch-up time.

We escaped the megastorm that messed up the East Coast, but we always have lake effect snow here, all winter long. That means our floors and carpets show salt the entire time. (In the spring and summer, Husband RJ tracks gardening dirt, but that's another post.)

Lucky us! We had sunshine late yesterday, and are starting with a glorious morning today. The bitter cold makes the house warm, except around the windows and doors. Those are specially weather-stripped for the winter and usually do not leak cold. This frigid spell, however, comes with constant gentle winds and occasional gusts. It's weird and worrisome to feel the chill at the sills and jambs.

We are also dog-sitting our next-door neighbor's, um, whatever it is. He's very tiny, compared to Ellie, brown, short hair and big, wide, erect ears with long hairs hanging from their tips, and a pugged-in face and nose. Decidedly a lap dog, Wookie is aging and arthritic, so much so, that his "wrist" joints point his feet away from his body. It looks as if he were walking on broken legs, although he's not.

Wookie is an indoor dog and the companion to my fairly house-bound neighbors, who are visiting Hawaii. They could not get a kennel, and their family's promise to watch Wookie fell in at the last minute. We are not alone, though, and Wookie gets 3-4 visits a day from us and other sitters.

So, with my usual chores, dog-sitting, and the occasional attention to details regarding my future position in Johnson City, I am living a busy life here. Okay!?

Sorry about the post, though.

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Little Pond

Went to see Ron White

He did two shows at the Clemens Center last night. We had back row orchestra seats, but could see perfectly well and of course the sound was great. Ron White presented almost all new material, so we got our money's worth, indeed.

By the way, I want to mention that the tickets were my Christmas present from Husband RJ, but my partner in crime last night was Gale, one of the last people standing at the Elmira Star Gazette office. She's probably the one who will take down the flag.

At one point he mentioned our lovely theater which had recently been renovated and is now all sparkly and new. The Clemens Center is an old vaudeville venue with an incredible explansion and is completely updated on the outside.

Even with the (supposedly) red-necked crowd, everyone was decently dressed and well behaved.

In fact, as we were leaving, the fellow who sat in front of us, turned to me and remarked, "Did you know he was so vulgar?" I mentioned that he usually is on Comedy Central, too, but the man insisted that he was never so raunchy. We finally agreed that the worst of it is usually bleeped out for cable.

This was not cable at the Clemens Center.

And last night was a two-fer!!!!

One of my favorite up and coming comics from Comedy Central was his warm-up act: there was Alex Reymundo, in all his sexy, Latin-lover-turned-country-redneck glory! I was beside myself with elation and purred myself to sleep last night.

We even got AR's autograph, and spoke very briefly with him. I'll tell you what I told him.

I would have paid to see him alone.

One very happy Little Fish,

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Little Pond

Gannett update here.

Bring on the Midlife Crisis.

In the thick of the changes at work. The production department is being dissolved/absorbed by the Central. At this point they know who is leaving and who is moving on to the new site.

I think they knew long before they initiated the changes. It is all eerily familiar to one who has weathered downsizing and consolidation many times in past lives.

The bottom line: our corporation prefers to leave us out of the loop on the bottom line. It will be a good three weeks before anything is announced.

For me there are three possibilities: a job in production that would be a lateral move; a position in advertising that would be a step up; or eschewing the one hour commute each way that the first two would entail, accepting a severance package.

It was never discussed, but I wonder if I am well enough to put in the 10 hours commute and work that accepting a position would require. In the past, after long work days, I have been known to fall asleep at the wheel. That hasn't been a major problem in a town with so many traffic lights over a short area; the trip to the central is between 45 and 61 miles, depending upon the exact site, over Interstate 86.

It is something to consider.

On the other hand, the position in advertising is a long-overdue acknowledgement of my efforts in the past several years to bring quality control to our printed advertising. Not any real compensation, mind you, just a paycheck, and very rarely, a thank you.

If I had a third hand, I would also point out that the production position would have many pleasures, not the least of which would be working once again in periodicals, with whatever is the current standard for their associate editors, publishing coordinators, etc.

I would still be just a grunt, but possibly a happy one.

In the meantime, I am falling back on alcohol to ease the pain from grinding my teeth in my sleep.

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Little Pond

The wheels are cranking.

We are still here, and quite possibly, still with Gannett. I absolutely know that several of my coworkers are moving on to the Binghamton site. Maybe me, too.

Right about now it's all a wash, anyway. It's a long way to Binghamton.

Meantime, I am still the RiverHag and Ellie is still the RiverDog, and the weather is gorgeous.

The heck is this about? Likely a water trough for horses.

But what's with the pvc pipe coming out of it? Just plain weird.

Take that, Fate!

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Little Pond

Not even driving the bus.

Last night Gannett eliminated our jobs in Production at two sites. We were then invited to apply for three positions that will replace them in Binghamton and Johnson City.

For me, a seven minute trip would turn into 60. For others, it's worse.

Tears and fears all around me. We knew that was coming, but it still surprises more than we expected.

We weren't even driving the bus, just riding the train to the end of the line.

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Little Pond

Cabin fever conquered! OOOPS

This is the actual link you should be looking for. Everyone's way too polite to point up my error... Sometimes I hate getting old.

Go here for our visits to the frozen Chemung.

Also, time for a minor update: we are now using our newly-wiped Compaq Presario almost exclusively. Because of the unpaid furloughs, the PC's and Macs at work are closely monitored. What's more, I don't feel like posting or even just composing at work. During my breaks I play video games.

My first "Out of Office" day, a.k.a. unpaid furlough, is Wednesday. We will be visiting with Golfer Girl, who is now to be called Golfer Lady, since her man is now Joe Sindelar, Sr. Most appropriately, they live next to a golf course north of here.

My book came to a crashing halt with our hard drive. Only chapters that were uploaded to Blogger survived. My favorite chapter still exists, but my second favorite had been committed to paper and gifted to its starring character. We'll see if it turns up, ever. In the meantime, it will take a long time to revisit my little world.

Boy, did the latest episode of the Simpsons ever hit home!

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Little Pond

Gaza

Their situation is dire. Israel is being excoriated as a huge bully attacking the defenseless. It is horrible how the civilians suffer. So many dead, so many wounded, so many homeless.

Hamas hides behind human shields. Always has, always will.

Israel will defend itself, an island of civilization amid the barbarians. It would not surprise me if Palestinians begin to filter into Israel. Again. After all, they will be safe there.

The Israelis take care of their own, training them to avoid the missiles and keeping a standing army to protect its nation.

Hamas recruits the hopeless from mosques, and pumps them up to kill themselves and others.

Their human shields are their parents and families. Their parents and families stand solidly behind them, taking incoming Israeli attacks full in the face. Ergo every Palestinian is in fact a solder.

Hamas soldiers duck out of harm's way to save themselves, and their families die, creating the most starkly horrifying situation, designed to inflame the world.

The absolute antithesis of how a nation's army is supposed to operate. The barbarians are willing to sacrifice their nation to lessen Israel in the eyes of the world.

Pure genius.

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Little Pond

Go for walk, Ellie?

Well, no.

I heard the sound of toenails headed up the stairs.

HuggaMutt is now hiding under the bed.

It is -17C (2F) outside.

No walk this morning.

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Little Pond