Osprey in NE Ohio

My boyfriend is a field tech for a cell tower company. Today he found this at one of his towers.


That whole platform is now one big nest.

Sweet! The really cool thing is, since these birds are protected, neither the tower company nor the carriers who use the tower can disturb the nest for any reason. They have to limit their activity around the tower and nest site. Their regulatory compliance department works with the Department of Natural Resources and other agencies to protect wildlife in situations like this. Even if they're only doing it to comply with the laws [as opposed to being big green tree huggers ;o) ], I still think that's awesome.

Home From War

Pennsic was fantastic this year. Very close to one of the best ever.

The weather was great - it only rained twice, both at night, so no biggie. The one night it was just a brief downpour an hour or two before dawn. The second time it did rain for several hours after midnight, but we took advantage of it - a campmate and I went on a walkabout around the lake in the rain with a bottle of Ryan's Irish cream. It was a beautiful thing. (Getting soaked in the rain once during Pennsic is no big deal - I had dry garb, and the tent didn't leak - it's only when it rains for days on end and everything's wet that it gets annoying).

The days were (as usual) ungodly hot. Though many people said the heat was particularly bad this year, so it wasn't just me. I pretty much stayed in camp during the day, not venturing out until after sundown. In past years that used to really bug me, as I'd get bored, but this year I was smart - I made sure I brought things to do, and when I got too hot in my little personal pavilion up by my tent, I went down into the shade of the trees to hang out with the Shire of Hornwood (they technically camp 'next door' to us, but really our camps just merge into one big camp) and cooled off. So it wasn't too bad.

I didn't make it to any of the classes I considered taking, but I did do one new thing this year - went to opening ceremonies. It was pretty cool, and I got some nice pictures there. During opening ceremonies, the King and Queen of each of the 19 kingdoms in the SCA march in a big procession with their entourage up to the dais (set up in front of the castle fort). Then some of them give speeches, and War is "officially declared."













We had a catastrophic failure of our shade fly ...



... but it'll be replaced before next Pennsic, so it's all good.

Here's a picture of our neighbors, the Shire of Hornwood:



The last Friday of War was a Friday the 13th, and the Chalkman Pub played it up - you had to walk under a ladder to get in, and by the ladder was a broken mirror.



Speaking of the Chalkman, I forgot what should have been a big deal. Every year on the middle Friday the Chalkman has a music competition. The band, in its various iterations, has entered it for quite a few years, but never won. This year we won the overall slot. Pretty awesome.

We spent our last night at Pennsic 'holding court' in front of our gate, heckling passers-by and trying to give away the rest of the beer in our keg, so it could be stored to turn in for the deposit when next year's keg is picked up. (That's Robin, of course, in the picture - I wasn't in it because I had to take the picture).



And that's about all the Pennsic pictures. I didn't take a lot this year, except at opening ceremonies. But we had a lot of fun. And (as always) have a lot of plans for how to spruce up the camp next year. But more on that another time.

Slogging through.

The crash hit, yesterday. I just couldn't make myself do anything last night, and in fact I ended up going to bed about 9:00 p.m. Consequently, I woke up at 5:00 a.m., but that's another story.

This is a bad time for it to hit, as these are going to be the busiest days of my last week - at least, busiest by need, not desperation. There's lots of stuff I couldn't (or didn't want to) do till the last minute, and that last minute is pretty much in the next 42 hours or so. I am doing all my laundry now, have all my garb to pack (didn't want it scrunched up in a tote any longer than necessary), and last minute things to pack I can't pack earlier because I'm using them up until I'm almost ready to leave. There's half of Tyler's food still to cook and freeze (I should have done that yesterday but ... didn't). And of course the entire truck packing is yet to come.

I managed to get a few things done tonight, but not as much as I'd have liked. Tomorrow's going to be a bit frenzied.

I don't know why I get so obsessed with Pennsic. Other people can take it or leave it. Even those who love it don't seem to obsess about it quite the way I do. Or ... maybe they just keep their thoughts to themselves better than I do. Judging from the Twitterverse there are those who are just as giddy and impatient as me, from those seemingly few who aren't there yet.

There are plenty of tweets coming in from Pennsic, though! I have mixed feelings about that - on the one hand, it's damned cool to be able to get real-time reports and pictures from various locations around Pennsic until I can get there ... and on the other hand, it's just kind of weird. But I check it, only once a day or so, as too much more than that starts depressing me.

Greg lost his voice already - usually doesn't happen till middle weekend. Yesterday he was barely intelligible. Today actually seemed somewhat better. I asked him to (and he said he would) rest up in the next few days, as he's always so burned out and exhausted by the time I get there, he's about ready to go home, rather than start a whole new week. I said 'save some Pennsic for me.' Hopefully that'll work out, as I'd enjoy it a whole lot more with him than without him.

Oh - I almost forgot, there was an actual point to this post. I realized why this year is so much worse than most, and it's not just my imagination. Every other single year since I started going to Pennsic (8 previous ones so far) I have always gone out first weekend - in the early years, for the whole weekend, later when I had dogsitting issues, at least for a few hours sometime over the weekend, often twice.

This has been the first year ever that I have not been there yet at all, not once, not even for a little while. I haven't trolled in, don't have my medallion yet! Usually hanging that medallion from my rear-view mirror for the week is a big deal ... it's not there this year. That's why I'm more nuts than usual about it - I didn't get my little "pre-War-week fix" this year. Might have to make other arrangements next year.

I'm off to bed, busy day tomorrow - last day of work, last evening at home. Woo-hoo! (I'm already missing Tyler, the only downside of Pennsic, but ... he's going to be in very good hands, and I'm only 45 minutes away; and he's definitely, as always, going on the next vacation to the island, already booked for the end of September).

Four. More. Days.

This has been the week from hell. Well, is being... it's not over yet. I don't ever remember this pre-Pennsic week being this hard. I suppose it always has been, but ... for some reason I don't remember it to this degree.

I'm talking, of course, about the fact that everyone I know who is going to Pennsic (with one exception) is already there, there for the whole two weeks. And my anxiety to get this week over and just get there and start my Pennsic is really at an all-time high.

Since Friday night I've just been bouncing off the walls. It seems like time has stopped, and I'm doing everything I can think of to do just to keep myself busy, and from going crazy (er). There's one big advantage to that - I've gotten more done around this house in the last three days then I did in the last 6 or 8 months. Not just Pennsic stuff - I am well-organized enough this year (! don't know how that happened !) that I don't really have all that much to do.

So I've been busying myself with other things, like insane cleaning. I scrubbed most of the kitchen, including the fridge and the microwave. I sorted and where needed washed all the blankets in the house, then stacked them neatly in the spare room. I sorted all the varied, mis-matched sheets in the house (good thing, no wonder I was so confused - I had 8 or 9 flat sheets and only two fitted sheets). I mowed the front yard, and moved a shrub that needed replanted. I cleaned the truck inside and washed the windows in it, then finally put my Emerald Isle stickers on it that I bought two years ago.

Well ... there's more, I could go on, but you get the picture.

I don't know what'll happen with another three days to go ... either I'll have trimmed the trees into topiaries, washed the siding, shampooed all the carpets, and alphabetized the spice rack and canned goods cupboard ... or I'll crash at some point. I just hope the crash doesn't hit Friday night - we're scheduled to play last at the Chalkman Music Competition (not competing, just putting on a little show with - of all things - "Purple" ... Friday night, after I have Tyler to the groomer's by 8:00 a.m., finish loading the truck, run some errands, get to Pennsic, unload the truck, park it, and trek from the parking lot ... yeah, I hope this crack phase carries me through at least Saturday morning).

By the way, Rhys, thanks for the suggestion - (painting the 55 gallon drums rather than buying store-bought rain barrels). I did consider it. Now I kind of wish I'd have considered it a little more seriously. And when are you going to come to Pennsic again? Or anything else for that matter? Miss you lots! You'll have to pull a Cian "Pennsic In A Bottle" one of these years: 24 hours at Pennsic - one bottle of rum - the Red Hand and the Sea Chameleon ... life may never be the same. ;o)