I AM DREAMING OF DECEMBER 11TH

What is so special about December 11^th? 

I am counting the days leading up to Wednesday, December 11^th when I shall be free again!

December 3^rd is the deadline for submitting my Legal Writing portfolio (Pleading, Statement of Facts, Demand Letter and Legal Memorandum).

The next day, December 4^th is final exam for Torts class.

Final exam for Legal Writing is scheduled on Tuesday, December 10^th.

On December 11^th I will get up whenever I want, go wherever I wish to go and do whatever I feel like doing. 

On December 11^th there would be no reading hundreds of pages of “legal mumbo jumbo”, no drafting assignments, no researching statutes, cases to write up briefs (IRAC – Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion) and no trying to stay awake in class after working all day.

On December 11, 2013, I will be free, well, until January 15, 2014 when the Spring semester starts.  I will be taking Employment Law, my last required coursework for the Legal Studies program.  I can’t wait!

A LAZY SUMMER MORNING

Today, all I need to know to enjoy life by watching the rabbits in my backyard - they were laying down on the grass, in the shade, simply taking it easy on this glorious day, a lazy summer morning.

 I learned that you should try to do your best at whatever tasks you were working on, but also remember to "stop and smell the grass".

Have a wonderful, safe and enjoyable summer!

HOW DO YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART?

I woke up this morning, got out of bed, even though every ounce of what little energy I had in my body told me to just hide under the cover and stay there until the start of next hockey season!  My beloved Red Wings was eliminated last night in overtime of Game 7 against the Blackhawks.  My husband tried to comfort me saying that the Wings put up a good fight.  Well, that did not make my broken heart feel any better.

I bought flowers and a bag of potting soil yesterday.  I spent the morning planting flowers.  I washed the patio furniture.  I dusted and vacuumed the house, washed and put away two loads of clothes, as I tried to keep busy, but the tears would not stop flowing!!! 

 After the Wings eliminated the Ducks and advanced to Round 2 facing the Blackhawks, I thought the Wings might be swept since the Hawks is the #1 seed (and the Hawks also won all the games during regular season).  The Hawks won the 1st game but the Wings came back and won the next three games.  All the sudden, instead of the nightmare of the Wings being swept, I dreamed of watching "Da Captain" Zetterberg raised the cup, paraded around the ice as the 2013 Stanley Cup champion.    

Well, I never learned my lesson for putting too much hope into something as unpredictable as winning three hockey games in the best of 7 playoffs series.  The Hawks came back, forced Game 7 and eliminated the Wings, once and for all, shattered my short-lived dream.  It was a sunny, comfortable and beautiful day in St. Louis, but how do you mend a broken heart of this Red Wings fan?

THURSDAY RAMBLINGS (WATCHING SQUIRREL IN MY BACKYARD)

Since I don't have to read hundred of pages of textbook or working on assignments, I have the luxury of doing nothing.  This morning, I spent time enjoying the wildlife in my backyard.  This squirrel looks like he is just a baby.  He is playing or exploring the flower box (I plan to get flowers this weekend), examing the angel planter, searching for something to eat.

After he got tired of playing in the flower box, he decided to climb up the little tree (top photo).  There is a bird nest in the tree.  I watched as the squirrel jumped off the tree, ran across the yard, being chased by a robin, yelling "Get off our tree, you freeloader squirrel".  I thought of going over to check on the nest and the baby robins (I saw three eggs in the nest a few weeks ago) but I decided to leave the task to the parents.  From the way the robin flapping her wings while cursing at the squirrel, I am sure she knew how to defend her home and protect her youngsters. 

THE LITTLE ROBIN AND HER NEST

The last few weeks, we watched the robin flying in and out, busy bringing "materials" to build her nest in the little tree outside my home office.  I have taken photos of the little blue eggs in previous years, so I won't disturb this robin as she might abandon the nest if I got too close.
It is getting warm today, already in the 80s.  Rain is coming our way for the rest of the week.  Can't believe it is May already.  Any summer vacation plans?   

FREDDO THE FREELOADER

I submitted to you the evidence of Freddo "the freeloader", caught "red pawed" as shown in the above photos when he climbed up the water downspout on the side of the shed, then looked around to make sure "the coast is clear" before jumping down the feeder hanger;

Freddo tried to get to the feeder from the left but decided that the right side would be more "comfortable";

It was sort-of difficult to eat while hanging upside-down, so Freddo would take a break, sitting on the hanger to rest his tail;

Finally, when he got tired to hanging upside-down and did not want to keep switching position, he just squeeze the whole body and tail tucked nicely inside the feeder and had a feast!

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED (WELL, IT HAS BEEN MOVED)

He Who Loves Eagle told me that he saw "Freddo" the squirrel climbed to the top of St. Francis' statue, then from there using it as a launching pad, it jumped over to the bird feeder to get free lunch.  (Freddo = freeloader).  On Saturday, my husband switched the eagle (from the brick wall by the back fence) and St. Francis (as shown in above and below photos).  Ralphie also added the American flag since it goes together with the eagle.  Stay tune and I will let you know if the switching works (you probably already knew the answer). 

It did not take long for a bird to check out "the view from above"!

The snow covering the eagle make it looks like a person wearing Colonial wig - I dedicate these photos to Living In Williamsburg, Virginia (www.livinginwilliamsburgvirginia.blogspot.com), one of the blogs I enjoy following.  Visit this blog and you might like it too.  Happy Snow Day!!!

PICNIC IN ST. LOUIS - NOT !!!!!!

Looking at our backyard on Sunday, March 24, 2013, I thought we were back in Michigan!  The prediction was it would start snowing at midnight on Saturday but it was late arrival, not until almost 700 hours on Sunday morning when the snow began to fall.  It was gently spreading around the ground and after a few hours, our backyard was covered with the white fluffy snow. 

 I was a little concern that the tree branches with the snow kept piling up would break and fell on the power lines and we would lose power.  (My husband told me to stop being such a worrywart.)  I made sure to fully charge my laptop and the iPad, and as long as the cable was working, we could still have access to the internet.  I forgot how life was before all the technology and its wonderful tools to challenge the human mind!  

The snow had turned the rusted "brown" fence into a white painted fence - that was the proof of how much snow we had from this "biggest snow storm in 30 years" - and that was what the weather people said.  The campus shutdown again, my Monday class was cancelled and I am keeping warm inside the house.  I have plenty of things to do, reading assignments for Thursday Research class and more reading for next Monday Civil Trial.  I am hoping to get an internship for the summer.  It is a bit strange for a geezer at my age (52) to try to gain experience thru an internship.  But when you are forced to sort-of start over, to get your foot-in-the-door to jump-start a new career, I guess you have to do whatever you could to make lemonade when life gave you a rotten lemon!

ALMOST SPRING

These photos were taken in late February when we had the big snow storm.  It was Thursday, Feb. 21st to be exact.  My class was cancelled since the entire campus was shutdown.  He Who Had Two Cool Vehicles but had to borrow my "not so cool but practical" front-wheel drive Mazda "Luc" to get to work.  (The Mustang with its wide tires would not provide traction on the slippery roads and the T-bird is for summer driving only.)  The snow started around 900 hours and by noon time, the backyard was completely covered with a blanket of snow.  The next day, the coughing started and for the next 10 days, I was stuck in the house, feeling miserable.   

I did not have much sleep because of the constant coughing.  I kept moving from the lazy-boy to the sofa in the family room, then to the sofa in the front room, back to the bed trying to get some rest without much luck.  I even tried standing up against the kitchen counter hoping the coughing would subside while closing my eyes to get a few minutes of sleep - it did not work!  It was so frustrating and draining from the lack of sleep and the exhaustion from coughing.  After I finally got well, but then my husband started his coughing.  I am pleased to report that we are currently enjoying sort-of good health. 
We had heavy rain over the weekend and the temperature was in the upper 30s.  I think we have enough snow and winter weather.  I am ready for spring but not the typical hot summer days in St. Louis.
(I sure hope no one will try to steal our St. Francis statue because of the new Pope Francis.)