jennifergeck.com » General

April Fool’s Update

Jen — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:57:11 +0000

Unfortunately, there has been no word from Vinnie regarding our April Fool’s Day prank. It’s very disappointing! I’m not sure what happened, but neither of us want to give in and mention it to him. If he’s laying low, we don’t want to give him the satisfaction of bringing it up first.

So, we may never know for sure… Dang!

Morning Surprise

Jen — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 04:01:03 +0000

Long story [kinda] short… There’s a guy about 20 miles away that raises buffalo for meat. Supposedly, some animal rights fanatics thought it would be wise to open the fence and let them out…about 17 of them, we hear. So, for the past 3-4 weeks buffalo have been roaming all over our area (upstate NY). We’d heard about the sightings, but had yet to see them for ourselves. We got a call last night near dusk that three of them were up the road. By the time we raced up there they had taken off down in to gully. This morning I crawled out of bed (literally! Ugh, I hate mornings…) and went to the door at the back deck. I thought I would open it up so the fresh air could come through the screen door. Then I glanced from left to right if by chance those three bison were around. Omg… Omg! OMG!!! MOMMMMMMMMM!!! Yep, there they were, munching on the grass in the hedgerow behind or house. LOL I couldn’t believe it. I grabbed the camera, which I had left out to take with me to work “just in case” and snapped some pics. They aren’t great, but keep in mind it was 6:30am and I wasn’t totally functioning…hence why the first 4 or so came out black because I was in manual mode and hadn’t a clue… We watched them for maybe 10 minutes until they meandered down the field and up the lane to the woods.

Last week two showed up at the neighbors’ place and tore down part of the cows’ fence. He called the bison owner who came out. I’ll leave out the sad and controversial part, but will say that none of the neighbors will be notifying the owner again.

Here’s some pics from this morning. All three are males, the largest weighing probably 2,000-2,500 pounds, we guesstimate. The other two are smaller (not shown below), maybe two-thirds the size of the big one. We hear the big guy is named “George”.

It’s kinda ‘wild’ having these buffalo running around!

Rouladen

Jen — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:28:38 +0000

Every time I go to the city I swing by Schaller & Weber, a german butcher, to buy things we can’t find here. One is rouladen. Tonight, I made it for the first time. You take 1/8″ piece of beef and put on it: salt, pepper, mustard, bacon slices, dill pickle, and raw onion. Then you roll it up and close with string or toothpicks. Then you put some oil in a skillet and brown on all sides. After that you add 1 1/2 cups of water, put a lid on it, and let it simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Prior to adding the water I combined it with Knorr’s Rouladen sauce mix. It turned out awesome and I can’t wait to make it again!

Bank Robbery

Jen — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:53:07 +0000

Watkins Glen is usually a pretty quiet town with little crime. Crime around here typically consists of shoplifting. Well, today someone robbed the bank. It’s the first time since 1999 that anything like that has happened. It appears it’s the same guy that’s robbed two other banks in the past year. They will catch him.

The story

Movies

Jen — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:56:12 +0000

We have a great little theater in town. Movies are only $3 or $5! The theater is nice and clean, and well run. During the summer it’s too nice out to be sitting inside, so I haven’t seen anything until recently. We watched the Water Horse last Thursday after Slushie Night. It was cute, though a bit violent for a PG rating. On Friday, I went with some friends to see Alvin & the Chipmunks. That was really, really cute! Hilarious, too! I laughed and laughed. I’d definitely recommend it…even to the big kids amongst us.

Next, I’d like to go see 27 Dresses and I Am Legend.

Slushie Night

Jen — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 05:05:34 +0000

“Slushie Night” was initiated back in October 2006 when a few of us at work decided we needed a monthly night out. Rather than saying, “Hey, wanna go to the bar?” we use “Hey, it’s time to schedule another Slushie Night!” It just sounds better. Our slogan, “What happens at the Rooster, stays at the Rooster.” The Rooster Fish, that is. I ordered a frozen mudslide and it was wonderful! So much so that I ordered another. By then I was nice and giddy and the girls were laughing at me. Afterwards, we headed to the theater for the free movie showing and saw Water Horse. It was really cute.

And now, it’s officially Friday! TGIF!

Bird & Birthday Cake

Jen — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 04:24:22 +0000

I awoke this morning to loud chirping. At first I thought I was dreaming, but then realized I wasn’t. By the time I got up, the excitement had ended. Apparently a female cardinal flew into our window. Not once, but twice. It obviously was slightly delirious after that and just sat on the bench on the back deck. Since we have three cats that were excited by the thought of an easy meal, Dad brought it in the house until it could come around. He sat with it in the chair and pet it. He went and got it some water, which it drank, and then sat back down with it. It must have gotten its senses back and realized what was going on because it suddenly took off around the house. First it tried to leave through the skylight and then perched itself on the ceiling fan. Dad turned the fan on low to encourage the bird to get down. It apparently was quite funny watching the bird spin around backwards! Once down the bird headed for the top of the kitchen cabinet and after a few minutes of chasing it around and getting a stool Dad was able to catch the bird and release it outside where it happily flew off.

This evening my friend, Theresa, brought me a homemade ice cream cake for my birthday; mint ice cream with layers of crushed Oreos. Mmm! It was SO good! She also gave me some of those super soft spa socks and some lotion from Bath & Body. She brought Abigail with her. She’s so cute!

Birthdays

Jen — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 04:20:37 +0000

It’s our birthdays! When I saw “our”, I mean Dad and I. I turned 32 and he turned 68. My boss let me leave work an hour early so that was a nice little treat. Then, Mom, Dad, and I went to Red Lobster for dinner. Mmmm…shrimp, lobster and crab legs!! Oh yes, and Amaretto Sours that tasted like they may have forgotten to add the Amaretto…but overall everything was very tasty.

Afterwards, we headed to the mall to catch some 50-80% off sales at Lane Bryant. They are moving from the mall to a new plaza nearby and have everything marked way down to make the move easier. I got two pairs of pants and a sweater for $48…a savings of around $90! See, it’s not how much you spend that matters, it’s how much you save!

Happy New Year!

Jen — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 16:54:47 +0000

Happy New Year!

Yet another year has flown by. You’re always told they years go by faster as you get older but you never really believe it until it starts happening. And it’s happening!

Here’s a recap of 2007:

Worst:

Mom’s emergency appendectomy and then the infection that followed a month later.
Cancelling my CO trip due to the surgery.
Learning my dear friend and coworker, Janet, has a brain tumor.
Learning that one of our favorite volunteers has lung cancer.

Best:

Sending my parents to Las Vegas after hearing them talk about it for years and never doing it. They got to see Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and Zion.
My brother’s visit.
Lots of weekend trips – NYC, CT, and the Adirondacks.
Buying my 100-400 L IS and, most recently, the 580EX II flash.
Sold my largest framed image at a show in CT.
Sold two images to a textbook company for a middle school math book in NC. 100,000 copies. Yay!!

And some resolutions to start off 2008…not that I’ll actually keep them:

No more junk food (i.e. diet)
Try to write on my blog at least once a week (rather than once every six months ) And maybe start doing Sunday Scribblings.
Begin a journal today and continue it until it’s full and I can begin a second. (My first Moleskine!)
Better organize my tax records throughout the year rather than at the last minute.
Write/Type letters that I owe people and snail mail them…because “real mail” is more fun to receive.

Ahhh, finishing one resolution just under the wire.

Merrells

Jen — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 01:25:52 +0000

Yay! I just ordered me a pair of hiking boots! Merrell Switchbacks with Gore-Tex, to be exact. I’ve been wanting a nice pair of waterproof boots for a long time and finally ordered a pair. They look pretty tough and should be completely waterproof. They will be great for hiking around the gorges to take pics. Yay!