Mrs Fringe Learns to Internetz

Not really.  It’s magically working again, much the way it magically stopped working.  And then started.  And then stopped.

Internet

Internet (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Come to think of it, this is just like the early spring we’re not having.  Someone find me that damned woodchuck groundhog, Imma make a stew.

I’ve been dreaming about moving to the country.  Husband thinks I’m kidding, but I decided I need a dream that could possibly eventually happen, not just the fantasy of a beach house. This would mean going north, colder but less expensive.  I feel the past weeks have been training for a rural life.  Internet out, multiple snowfalls in March…yup, I’m ready.

Since we started to have spring, the critters are here.  But now it’s cold again, and they’re more pissed than I am.  Even the rats are confused, I’ve seen at least three smooshed rats on my block over the past couple of days.  They’re usually pretty good at avoiding cars. Let’s be honest, though, better a smooshed rat than a live one.

In the park, lots of screaming birds.  I assume they’re protesting the lack of soft earth and worms.  But maybe not.  Maybe they’re screaming in fear.  We seem to have a new predator bird in the neighborhood.  (And when I say a new one, I mean new to me, they could well have lived here for fifty years without my noticing.  I also don’t know if there’s one or a dozen).  In any case, the other afternoon I was walking a dog along a path in Central Park when something whooshed overhead.  It was the coolest freaking bird I’ve ever seen outside of the colorful ones that live on people’s shoulders.  Cool enough for me to forget to be afraid.  I only saw it from underneath, beige, tan, and brown with an awesome, almost diamond pattern across its feathers.  Sort of the colors of the piebald pigeons, only not ugly.   The wingspan had to have been five feet across.  In between the internet being down, I googled, trying to figure out what this bird is. Almost a falcon, but no.

Another sign that it should be spring, Nerd Child is home for Spring Break!  Yay!!!!!!  I’m thrilled, Flower Child is thrilled, we miss the boys when they’re away.

What to do with your first day of spring break when you’re *almost* fifteen, home from boarding school and just finished finals?  Get up early, meet the priest who runs the middle school you attended, and go to the St Patrick’s Day parade, of course.

Green Bagel!

Green Bagel! (Photo credit: pirate johnny)

Nothing a Latino teen likes better than corned beef and green bagels.  My mother in law will take care of the obligatory flan this evening.  Why yes, flan is a necessary component to St Patrick’s Day.  Ask Nerd Child, he’ll happily explain flan is a necessary component to any and every celebration.

Apparently, while chatting, the priest mentioned ospreys have been taking out pigeons by the church.  Nerd Child came home and told me this, and I looked up ospreys.  YES!!!  That’s exactly the bird I saw in the park.  Already super impressive, and now I find out they eat pigeons?  Mrs Fringe has a new favorite critter.  I wonder if I can keep one on my terrace?

Osprey

Osprey (Photo credit: Gregory Jordan)

41 comments

  1. lol, lol and lol! Can I call you Laura Ingalls? Will the said new house have electricity :p . I will help you hunt down that freakin ground hog!! (both of them) You think the mayor would be all over the ospreys thing, import a few hundred, beautify the parks, kill the pigeons, its a win win situation, maybe we should write a letter?

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    1. Yes, electricity and indoor plumbing are both musts! Even if I know the electricity is guaranteed to go out every so often. :p

      Dear Your Highness,

      We need more ospreys.

      Love,
      Laura Ingalls Fringe
      😉

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          2. I hear you. But I think that type of over-thinking can happen regardless of your surroundings.

            I honestly can’t say if I’m an introvert or an extrovert. I’m happy to be by myself (and don’t get nearly enough alone time!), but interaction is also important to me. The majority of my interactions are online, though, so I’m not sure if highrise apartment or house in the country will make a difference. 🙂

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          3. except for internet connection perhaps… Yes I can see how you might crave time alone. I live alone, which I love, however I end up craving the company of people!

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  7. Oh good, she’s back. With Ospreys, too!

    It’s ironic, really, this bucolic move you’re contemplating. I have lived in rural areas or small towns for many years, currently rural, and I am about to move to a city. Not a NYC city, but close to two million people. That’s citier than I am used to, you betcha!

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    1. That is ironic. Despite the obvious differences, I think it’s easier to move city/rural, or rural/city, than to move to/from the suburbs from one of the extremes. IF you walk into it knowing and accepting it will be very different.

      At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.

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  8. How did we survive without the internet………………honestly I can’t remember it was so long ago…….ok it just feels like a long time ago……..I have my internet working again hence the reason I am here again……….

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    2. WAY back before the interwebz, we watched TV, had conversations, listened to the radio and read print. I actually had to spend a week without data on my cel phone (my kids used all of it for the month , we share) I was like an animal without food, lol) I came to realize that I do not use my cel phone as a phone, EVER.

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  10. I grew up in a suburb type town, then when I got married moved to what is considered a small city in our state but well, definitely not city-city. Then moved to what we found out was a very bad neighborhood. there were swat team drug raids next door on a regular basis and then an attempted break in of our apt followed by a shooting over there in the same week and that was the last straw. And we moved to the woods. We were used to everything being 5min away and suddenly it was 5 miles just to get to the end of our road.

    Moving back to where we used to live would be much harder on the kids, all of us, than coming here was. They are used to having the outdoors, the woods and pond and room to roam. I love my garden and the increased privacy. I love our school district for E, though my boys don’t/won’t be going to HS here- more opportunity in the regional offerings. I couldn’t even imagine a move from country to a real city like New York. I think I would hate it. :O

    Glad to have you back!! I want some ospreys to murder the voles here. 😛

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    1. Funny, I had imagined you grew up in a rural setting, and just went back to one, not that it was something new to you.
      A big city like NY has its advantages, but I can’t afford to make use of most of them, lol.
      At this point in my life, privacy sounds like a magic word :p
      I imagine there are things that would be hard to get used to, like the importance of remembering to take the garbage out on trash day, HAVING to remember necessities and being prepared for bad weather, but other bonuses to balance those out. Like being able to let the dogs into the yard instead of always having to walk them. Having a garden and learning to take care of it. Having a kitchen with enough space so I don’t have a panic attack because Husband wants to get a glass of water while I’m cooking…

      Glad to be back! If I find out we have numerous ospreys, I’ll send a couple your way! 😉

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  11. “Farm living is the life for me, blah, blah, blah…” – Eddie Albert
    “New York is where I’d rather be, farm living is…” Za Za Ga-boor
    There’s the dilemna for a New Yorker. And never move north, unless you turn your map of North America upside down. The Patti Smith thing…haven’t seen her in decades. The advantages of living in the capital of the world. Used to worship her when she hung with Big Bill Burroughs in his New York Bunker.
    Later…

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    1. Dilemna indeed. Too broke to stay, too broke to go anywhere desirable.

      I loooooved Patti Smith, my hero ❤ I'm not surprised by still thrilled to hear you worshipped her too. 🙂

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      1. Saw her at an ancient theater in Seattle called the Paramount where a local station held “Rising Stars” concerts for $1. Radio Ethiopia days. There was plenty of leg room…heathens.
        Later….

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        1. Oh, you’re making me miss CBGBs. Sort of. Missing the days when I was up for it. 😉

          I saw Roseanne Barr perform at the Paramount in Seattle. Not quite the same…

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          1. Didn’t there used to be something called “Celebrity Boxing”? A Barr vs. Smith bout. Roseanne…only celebrity with my surname. Just fortunate, I guess.
            Later…

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          2. Never saw celebrity boxing, the housewives are as close as I get. 😉

            Roseanne was brilliant, in her own special way. And one of the best laughs, ever.

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          3. Imagine her in Utah…I.V. doses of humor must have been her only hope. Wonder if she’s gone back to her roots…doing sketch comedy outside the Temple.
            Later….

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          4. I heard she had another reality show, working a farm or something. She’s prolly safe as long as she doesn’t try her sketches inside the Temple.

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  12. Pingback: Fringe Freak! | Style Me CEO

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