Category: My Life

I have never been good with politics. I take things far too personally and I worry that people will not understand the true meaning of what I say or think. So, why am I running for office in my home town? Well, I guess because I really believe I can do a good job.

Tonight is a “Meet The Candidates” gathering. I need to go and shake a few hands, say hello and introduce myself to some of the people in this town that do not know me.

I have done my hair, put on full make-up and changed my clothing three times  (why did Hubby have to mention how big my hips looked in that first blouse?), until I was finally satisfied that I wouldn’t scare little children and the elderly.

I’m feeling very nervous, but I know that this is part of what one does during election times. My term will be for three years, so if I win, I won’t have to go through this again for a while.

*****************

I’m back from the meeting. Basically, because I am running unopposed, all I had to do is stand up and wave! Window candy! LOL!!!

So I made it through tonight. All I need to do is make it through Tuesday, and I will be all set. Wish me luck!

I heard that the Weatherman from our New Hampshire television station (we only have one TV station in the state) was going to be giving a talk at a library in a town not too far from my own on Tuesday morning. I’ve always like Josh Judge, and he is the best forecaster that Channel 9 has. So, I planned to go to the gathering and listen to Josh give his program.

I got there early (because I am always early) and got a seat right down in the front. I wanted to be sure to see and hear everything. The room was large and as it turned out, I was glad that I had gotten there a little early, as the places filled up quickly and had I been seated in the rear of the room, I wouldn’t have been able to read the things on the screen which he demonstrated.

Josh has been in New Hampshire at our station since 2001. He has earned the “AMS Seal of Approval” (American Meteorological Society). The AMS has now created a NEW higher tier level of the seal called the “Certified Broadcast Meteorologist” and Josh is the only meteorologist in New Hampshire to have this.

I’ve always liked Josh’s on air personality, and I wasn’t disappointed when I met him in person. He is just as much of a New Englander as I am (this is good!) and has a wonderful way of communicating with people.

Josh explained how he prepares the forecast each day. How he gets information from around the state, and region and tries to make a good predication of the weather to come.

Then he explained about how he uses the “Blue Wall” where the weather information appears behind him.

The program is called a “Chroma Wall”. Channel 9 has a Blue one. This means that when they project the weather maps onto it, the computer looks for anything Blue, and broadcasts on that. So, no blue clothing for Josh at the station. But to show how it would work if he did wear blue he showed us this slide of him wearing a blue t-shirt.

The morning flew by and before I knew it he was done with his program. Josh has written a book called “Weather Facts and Fun” for kids at the second grade to fifth grade level. The book has been very popular here and I bought one and had him sign it for Makenna. I also asked if he would pose for a picture with me and he said yes!

Thank you Josh!

It’s March 1st! I cannot believe that this year is going by so quickly. In one week (March 9th) we have our Town Elections, and as you all know I am running for Library Trustee, a position I have been holding temporarily, since last December. I love the work, and I love the people I am meeting. Most of all, I love that I am making a difference in my small town.

I have my day all planned, next week. I will get up before daylight and do my hair and make-up and put on all my long underwear and warm clothes, as well as my cute jacket and gloves, and then I will go and stand a respectful distance from the polling place, where I can welcome voters and introduce myself. It’s important for me, that people know who they are voting for, and don’t just see an impersonal name on a paper ballot.

In fact it makes me think of the old theme from the TV show “Cheers”. It’s how I feel about living in this town and knowing the people that I do.

“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.”

I have even made a cute “Vote for Me”, name tag to wear on my coat. I think I am ready, and that’s a good thing, because…

TODAY IS MARCH 1ST!!!!!

***************

March 9th is also a special day. It is Greta’s birthday. She will be 6 years old that day. I’d better plan on getting her a small doggy cake!

Oh you know what Greta did to me on Sunday? She climbed up in my lap and sat up with her paws near my neck, almost hugging me. She didn’t grumble at me, she did, in fact smile. She cuddled with me, like this, for about an hour, before she went off to watch the birds outside of the window.

It was special because of all four of the dogs, Greta is her own gal. She is independent and lets us know, all of the time, that she is in charge and aside from opening her dog food can, she doesn’t need anyone. Then there are those moments, when she loves you and you see, that the strong girl is just a mask that she puts on to fool the other dogs. She is in fact, a sweet and loving girl!

Happy Monday!!!

Thursday it rained all day. It’s unfortunate because it is washing away the snow that the local ski areas have. Here is a picture of the local radar right now (7:30 PM Thursday night). The green is rain, the yellow is heavy rain, pink is ice and blue is snow. As you can see, the rain is pretty heavy and there isn’t much ice and snow falling in the state.

So what do you do on a day like this? My first instinct was to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head and hide. Alas, that was not to be. Hubby, who had insisted he was going to ski, arrived back home after skiing only one run, and then dragged me out to grocery shop. It was good that we went, but I got wet, and cold and grouchy!

We stopped to get the mail and I received a package from Germany, from Uschi! It was Peter Fox’s CD!!!

I am so excited about this, as I heard some of his music online and really wanted his CD. I may not understand every word, but I love the music and the rhythm.

Thank you so much Uschi!

Thankfully, we have a garage under our house, so we were able to unload the groceries in the warmth and dryness of our home. Even the dogs did not want to go out in the wetness! I cannot say I blame them either.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring as far as our weather goes. I have stopped listening to the weather forecasts and I figure what will be, will be!

The day was long and full of snow, sleet and rain. When we got up we had about 5 inches of snow, so Hubby stayed home to clear our driveway and prepare the driveway for the rain to come.

The dogs thought this was wonderful, and the “helped” him quite a bit. In the end, the driveway was cleared and the four dogs and Hubby came into the house soaked to the skin.

Weight Watchers was canceled due to the bad roads, and I was disappointed. I knew I had done well this week and looked forward to weighing in! Oh well, there is always next week to get the official weigh in. Here at home it looked like I’d lost two pounds!

While Hubby was outside, I did what I like to do on days like this. I cooked. I made sure that Hubby ate healthy, filling meals, and this time when I cooked the baby back ribs, they came out just the way they should! Tender and delicious!

I also started a warm fire in the hearth that all three dachshunds lay in front of until they were dry. Fritz hid. He just doesn’t like fires.

I spent a little time clearing out my email folder. Suddenly everything is overloaded with SPAM. Now if the spam was interesting to me, it wouldn’t be so bad. Unfortunately my Spammers think that I am a guy and so I get all “those sort” of spam emails. Honestly, I had one addressed to “Dear Mr. Dackel Princess”!

Okay, I admit it. That one did make me laugh!

The other day I picked up our local paper to check out who is running for various town office’s in our March election. You all know that I am, but still, seeing my name in black and white made the event all that more real for me.

When I went out the other day I picked up paper, laminating sheets and a clip so I can make myself a “Hi I’m Maribeth ******running for Library Trustee.

I plan to get up early, do a full make-up job, wear my long underwear and then stand outside in the candidate area to shake hands with people as they come to vote.

I want people to know who they are voting for. I want to meet the people in my town face to face. I just hope when they see this face,

they won’t run screaming from the polls! Hopefully they will see this face and feel comfortable voting for me. At least one thing is for sure, I won’t be some anonymous name on a paper ballot. I will be the strange woman in the parking lot smiling and shaking hands (and freezing her butt off, I’m sure)! The election is March 9th.

Many of you have asked, so I decided that today was a good day to fill you all in on the latest on my eyes.

Most of it is good news, so sit back and relax while I fill you in.

During my doctors visit three weeks ago, I was not given the chance to ask any questions. The doctor was busy, and he said a few things and was off. I took what little he had said and went on a search for answers. You know, I went to Dr. Google!

From what Dr. C. had said I believed I had a condition called Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). This is not a good thing and I envisioned myself slowly going blind at an early age.

I started wondering if I could train a dackel to be a seeing eye service dog. Could they do that for me?

This past Friday I went to see my doctor again, and here is the full report:

My right eye, which had the retinal detachment in December is slowly healing. He reminded me that I am perhaps expecting too much from that eye, as it has been just a little over a month since my surgery. However, everything in that eye looks good and I should get almost all of my vision back in that eye. I will need glasses now all the time, but heck, what does that matter?

My biggest concern is for my left eye. I knew before the right eye problems that I had a membrane growing across the retina on that eye and suddenly I was panic stricken that I might lose the vision in my left eye and be left with the newly problematic right eye.

Really, my family calls me “The Worrier” because I worry about everything. And this is true. Even I have to admit that. So here I sat, day after day, worrying that I would lose my vision, and wondering if a dachshund guide dog would be accepted by the Guide Dog World. Really, my dreams were not good ones and I fell into a bit of a depression.

Then on Friday I went in to see Dr. C. I was prepared with a printed sheet of questions and most of all, I wanted to know for sure if I did have Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR).

Much to my relief I discovered that I DO NOT have PVR in my left eye. I do however have a problem called Epiretinal membrane (ERM), also known as macular pucker.  This involves growth of a membrane similar to scar tissue across the macula. Eventually it will thicken and need to be removed. In the meantime, the vision in the left eye will continue to deteriorate until the membrane is ready for removal.

The first thing I asked was, can I go to Germany in May/June to breed my dog? Yes. He does not think that the surgery is imminent, and the trip to Germany should be okay. Before I leave I will be sure to have the Retina Specialist in Berlin’s phone number, just in case. (See what I mean about being a worrier?)

Should anyone of you need someone to worry about something for you, please let me know. My husband tells me I’m not happy unless I am stewing about something!

**************

Here is a picture of our lake on Sunday morning. You can see the ice fishermen out early on the lake. Also that is the Wolf Moon setting at dawn.