NoodleDog

Oh, the glory of September. There ARE things to look forward to in fall and winter. Namely, the new television season. I hereby offer up to you my picks for this new season, and hopefully the promise of wonder and amazement will not fail to enchant viewers this year, like it did last year. So sad, last year.

But on to bigger and better things!!

Mondays
Mondays are pretty good this year. The Canadian phenomenon of “Corner Gas” airs Mondays on CTV. Sure, it’s only half an hour, but I look forward to that half hour, enjoying some Canadian culture.

Mondays also hold “Just Legal” on the WB, which we’re trying out. I have a loyalty to Don Johnson, not stemming from his “Miami Vice” days, but from his formulaic CBS police drama “Nash Bridges”. What can I say? I liked his car. I liked Cheech. I liked the easy-to-follow plotlines. I won’t apologize for it. This “Just Legal” was funny and had a great shot of Don decking a cop full force in the head, so I’ll keep with it a while.

And on Mondays, we have “Prison Break”, which Rob and I started watching prior to the season really ramping up, and we’ll stick with it and watch it to see if it gets better or worse. I’m torn, really, as to whether it’s a keeper, but it’s entertaining and something Rob enjoys, so it stays on the schedule.

Tuesdays
Tuesdays are the banner day for television this season. First, we have Supernatural on the WB, a replacement for the long-lost days of Buffy, Angel and The X-Files. I like the characters (well, the Dean character played by Jensen Ackles, anyway), and I like the content.

NCIS (CBS), one of Rob’s shows from last year, is back. It’s a watcher, not a taper. I won’t cry if I miss it, but again, it’s something we can watch together, so it stays.

Bones is a new show, and it has David Boreanaz on it, so I’ll watch it and see how it does. I’m not overly enamoured with the main chick on it, so it might drop off the schedule eventually. I dislike her intensely, actually, and think she is very stupid, but whatever. If Fox wants to waste its time with that, they can go right ahead. I will never forgive them for their shoddy treatment of Firefly, but what can you do?

House (Fox) is also on Tuesday evenings, and is one of the really big shows this year. Never miss it. Love the House. Due to scheduling conflicts, Tuesdays will invariably involve taping something. We are lucky in that we have cable and satellite, so we can catch or tape pretty much everything.

And another new addition is “My Name is Earl” (NBC), which was just fantastic on its premiere this past Tuesday. Fantastic!! It should be longer than a half-hour show.

Wednesdays
Ah, Wednesdays. Stupid Lost is on Wednesdays on ABC. How I hate, but cannot stop watching, Stupid Lost. I watched the season premiere on Wednesday this week, and am angry. It was stupid. I am sure that it will continue to be stupid, and take up lots of time, showing NOTHING AT ALL, like WHATEVER, GUYS, because the show’s producers are all 12-year-olds. God. I swear, if it gets any stupider, I am really going to have to stop watching it. Just watching it makes you stupid. Stupid Lost kills brain cells. It is like the crack cocaine of television. No, I take that back. Reality programming is like the crack cocaine of television. I’m not sure what Lost would be. Maybe cigarettes. You know it’s bad for you, you pretty much hate it, it’s not fun unless you’re a kid and think you’re immortal, but you can’t stop yourself from doing it.

Also on Wednesdays is Fox’s “Head Cases”. It’s alright. It’s light, and you need something light and funny if you’re going to watch before or after Stupid Lost.

Thursdays
On Thursdays, we have a dilemma this year. On the lineup are: Smallville, Everwood, ER, The O.C., Criminal Minds and Joey.

Criminal Minds is on CBS, and it may be shuffled around a bit, so maybe we lose one hour of programming on Thursdays, but that still doesn’t help us out all that much. Criminal Minds should be good. Again, I like the idea of the content, and I like Mandy Patinkin, so I’ll watch it. It may replace some of the shit-shows that drop off the schedule if they become too stupid to bear.

I have limited patience with Smallville (The WB) since last season sucked so badly, but I hear that James Marsters (Spike, from Buffy & Angel) will be the uber-villain this year, so I’ll give them a chance.

Everwood (The WB) is on thin ice, and I didn’t watch much of it last year, but I’d like to see if they pull it out of the shitter this year.

And ER (NBC) has been stupid lately, too, but was once a pretty good show and has a lot of big-name multiple-episode guests on this year, so it might be worthwhile.

The O.C. (Fox), while it fell off last year and the plotlines look terrible for this year, is something I would like to continue to see because it was so great that first year. I hate it when a show goes so far downhill that it is only a mere shadow of its former self.

Joey (NBC) has become a true gem, with the Bobby character (his agent), so that’s definitely something to watch, even if it bumps something else off the schedule, and it won’t kill you if you miss an episode here or there. I’m not keen on all the Friends alumni visiting the show, but I suppose people want to see that.

Fridays
On Fridays, we are entertained with yet another quality, quality television show, Numb3rs. I like the characters and the content, and the plots and everything, really. Sure, it’s kind of unrealistic, but there you go. I’m watching television to be entertained, not for reality. If I wanted reality, I’d go watch some crack cocaine shows. No thanks!

Fridays also have Nip/Tuck airing on CTV, delayed a season behind what you get in The U.S.. Rob likes Nip/Tuck, too, I think in part because of its scandalous plotlines and content, so we’ll have to keep an eye on this to see where it goes. Hopefully, it stays on Fridays so it’s not on an already-cluttered day.

Saturdays – nothing. Saturdays are for catching up on the taped television from throughout the week.

Sundays
Desperate Housewives (ABC) is back, although I’m not sure how much I want to see of them.

I hold out hope for Sundays because eventually (mid-season), Trailer Park Boys (Showcase Original) will come back for another short-run season. If you have not watched this, do yourself a favour and go buy the DVD sets and watch them all. They’re addictive. Like many people, I thought the show was stupid – I saw a few minutes in between other shows one evening several years ago, and heard from a few fans about how great it was, and summarily dismissed the entire thing. Trailer park life? Stupid. Low-brow. Not worth my time. However, it’s really funny. And fun to watch. You have to get to know the characters for it to work. There will be a Trailer Park Boys movie some time in the future, so be sure to look for that, too.

So that’s my official lineup for the new season. Some shows will fall off, I’m sure. I mean, I can’t maintain Thursdays the way they are, currently. I’ll have to ditch some shows. And there are others that I won’t mind catching, like the various Law & Orders, or CSIs, but again, it’s not a problem to miss an episode here or there on those things.

It kind of makes the turn in the weather seem not so dire. It kind of makes me feel like sitting home when it’s cold out. It kind of makes me miss that I haven’t been watching TV all summer, even though I was busy and there were so many other, more worthwhile things to do. It gives me hope.

Oh good lord, it has been another month since I updated this thing!!

The truth of it is that I have actually been pretty damn busy. Work has continued to be busy, which sucks. Rob and I went on vacation to the cabin over the September long weekend for a week, so that was nice. It wasn’t as quiet as usual because his friends got married on the beach – the ceremony was beautiful. They actually even got a really nice day out of it, too, so that was all good.

After we got back, work was, of course, super-busy. And the weekends have been busy with little things. Status quo – the house is not clean, there are still chores to do, and it feels like I’m always running out of time.

While on vacation, even though we were at the cabin, we put up our new tent and slept there (so as not to crowd Rob’s father and his girlfriend, who were staying in the cabin). We bought a nice double-high air-mattress to sleep on. The mattress itself is reasonably comfortable, but it is fucking cold to sleep on. It seems like the air transfers all of the cold air right to your body, and saps away any heat you may produce (if you produce any. If you’re like me, you can only rely on the environment to supply heat because you can’t make much of your own, so if that’s the case, you’re freezing all night long). It’s not like we didn’t take measures to prevent this from happening. We brought both our feather duvets with us for their insular properties. One went on the bottom, underneath us, and one was supposed to be for the top as a blanket, instead of a sleeping bag – hopefully warmer. After the first night, Rob put a sleeping bag, a comforter and the large duvet on the bottom as well as a set of sheets to keep me from freezing. We also ran a propane heater inside the tent as well. Above the mattress, it was sauna-warm. But the mattress surface itself was as cold as the moon. I think if we use it in the future, we’ll need some sort of electrical heating mattress pad or something. It’s not that I don’t want to go camping and be outdoors, because when it’s warm, I’m fine and have a fantastic time. But when I am cold, I am miserable.

The NoodleDog, of course, loved the mattress. He slept on the bed in the tent most evenings, and I was glad to have the extra body heat.

The NoodleDog loves the cabin, in general, I think. He loves being able to go swimming. The first year we were out there, he wouldn’t even get his feet wet without a good reason, but now, he’ll just swim out into the water looking for sticks to bring back to shore. It’s as though he’s trying desperately to save them from a watery death. But he loves it when you fling ‘em back out there, so maybe he’s conflicted.

Cooter does not like to swim, we have learned. He will go out to his chest and just stand there, waiting for the NoodleDog to bring back a stick, and then mug him for it. I think Cooter would swim more if we could get him out to the deeper water so he could see it’s not so bad. He looks like he’d like to join the other dogs when they’re swimming, but just isn’t sure about the whole deep water thing.

As nice as it was to be out there, it was nice to get home. It was nice to see the cats, and have heat, and a full-sized functioning kitchen. And it’s never the same when you’re at someone else’s house – sure, they tell you to use the kitchen and the dishes, but you’re never sure that’s right. It’s like I’m always waiting to be told I’m using the wrong spoon, or that I put the plate back in the wrong spot, or that you just don’t turn the wood-stove on in the mornings in the summertime, silly.

I’m at a bit of a crossroads as to what to do with my vacation time. Of course, I want to spend it all with Rob because I love being around him and sharing experiences with him. But at the same time, my grandmother is aging rapidly and we’re all afraid she won’t be around much longer, so I’d like to spend my vacation time at the farm while I still can. This means I’d have to be two places at once. If I don’t go to the farm, I have a guilt-attack about it wherever I end up with Rob, like at the cabin this time around, and I feel like I made a mistake. He’s there with his family, enjoying his childhood friends and reminiscing about the good old times, and I don’t really feel I belong there with all of that. When I call my grandmother and she can’t remember that I was just there in March/April, and wonders why it’s been so long since she’s seen me, it breaks my heart.

I feel bad that I went to the cabin for a week when I should have spent the time with my grandmother at the farm. I miss the farm a lot. I wish I was there every single day. And I certainly miss my grandmother, and feel like a terrible granddaughter when I talk to her and she asks when I’m coming out next. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the week at the cabin – it was time away from work and sort of relaxing – but I feel like I should have spent the time more wisely.

And of course, here at work, I don’t get any more vacation time until next year. This business of only giving out two weeks’ vacation is insane. You can’t work a job like this for an entire year and only have two weeks off. Especially this year, with how busy it’s been and how much stress there has been with the projects I’m managing. I’m at the point where if it comes down to a choice between staying employed or taking time off, I’m going to choose taking time off, unpaid and without a job to come home to. Man, I can find another job.

I’m still buying lottery tickets. We buy them, but we don’t check them very often. We had several lying around that could have been “winners”, but we wouldn’t have known about it for weeks (they were not winners, or this entry would be different). See, it’s not like we have it all that bad. Neither of us really want to work that much at our current jobs, but at the same time, we don’t really have any legitimate complaints about being whipped with a cat-o’nine-tails or anything. Yeah, it sucks having to get up early and drag your ass in to work. Yeah, it sucks having people pick away at your time all day every day with negativity and whatnot. Yeah, it sucks having to pay bills and worry about where the money is going. But it’s not that bad. We have a house and many cars and pets and stuff, so really, we’re ahead of the game. Not like we live in New Orleans or anything and can’t go home because our house is full of toxic sludge… So count your blessings, I guess.

I’m a little sad, too, I think, because I miss Rumble. When we came home from the cabin, we left him with my parents. We took the other cats back, but like a deficient child, Rumble has been cast-off to people who are better-suited to looking after him. He doesn’t like the dogs at all, and they stress him out. He has a heart condition and shouldn’t be stressed. He’s a great cat. He’s friendly and playful and happy at my parents’ place, where at our house, he was sullen and withdrawn, and complained nonstop. He gets undivided attention at my parents’ place, and they spoil him rotten. He gets to go outside when he wants to, he doesn’t have to share a litter box, and he doesn’t have to compete for food at all (not that he did much at our house, but there were other cats there he felt he had to protect his food from). I know he’s happier there, and that he’s better off, but I miss him terribly.

The house seems empty without him, and I know you’re asking yourself how much difference one cat could make. But with Rumble, that one cat makes a huge difference. He was my first cat. He was my guy. He always wanted to be wherever I was, and he always talked to me in his cat-language. Now, the house is so quiet every evening. He’s not there to tell me about his day when I get home, or to remind me it’s dinner time, and the other cats don’t know that it’s dinner or breakfast time without him. Seriously, the other cats just sit around and hang out. If it looks like I’m heading downstairs to where their dishes are, they may or may not come with me to get fed. Tobey won’t go to be fed at all – he thinks it’s some sort of trap or trick, so he just avoids me whenever I pick up a spoon. Smudge is the only breakfast/dinner regular – she loves the food, so she’s right there, every feeding-time, waiting for me, which cheers me up a little. And Caspar was never reliable about coming for the canned food. He’d prefer to just wait and pick up the dry food later, after I put it out and no one else was around. It’s like Rumble was their leader, and now they don’t know what to do without him. I’m sure they’ll all adjust eventually, but it’s weird not having him around.

So it’s strange. Things feel different without Rumble there. Like as though accepting that he’s better off in another place might mean that my life can change without me protesting. I want to protest. I want things to be alright just the way they were, but that’s not possible, and Rumble would be the one to suffer for my selfishness. So I have to let him be where he’s happy. It sucks a lot.

The evil dogs got into the garden a few more times. We tried pinning the chicken wire down to the ground with a croquet wicket, but they have figured it out, and managed to get in several times last week. And of course they dug holes. My tomato plant has survived quite well, but there are some patches where stuff is damaged. I have to weed out the garden this fall so it’ll be easier to start up next year. It’s going to be pretty good, I think. The flowers all did really well, and I have some perennials that I’m looking forward to seeing next year, so I’m optimistic that it will go well. I also got some bulbs for the front, and will be starting that over the next couple of weeks, taking out the sod and putting in more of a bed in the front.

Fall is a bit of a sad time. I feel like I missed so much of the summer this year. Well, of course it rained a lot of the time this summer, so really, it’s not like a typical year. But it’s always sad to see the leaves fall, knowing that it’s just going to get colder and colder. In a way, there are things to look forward to over the winter, like cross-country skiing, and getting the basement set up for movie nights, and having saunas… but I also wish we could have just another month or two of really nice weather, so we could go outside and take the dogs tracking, or just sit in the yard with the cats, gardening or just relaxing on the patio. Fall/Winter is a bad time for my health, too, so I’m not looking forward to that at all.

But time marches on.