Sniffing a Sad Farewell to Spring, and Cursing Under My Breath at Summer

Spring brought quite the bit of rain for a couple of weeks there.  There were warm days to talk about too but nothing in comparison to the hellish heat today and for the next two days.

Yep, Summer, my Nemesis is here.

It's time to say goo'day to my bees (aww, my bees) milling about new buds of Spring and instead, say hello to a robot who echoes my sentiment about Summer.

That sentiment of course is to drink myself into a stupor so I just have a hazy recollection of anything Summery.

Oh, allow this to serve as a PSA while I'm at it: the amazing Futurama starts back tonight at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central.

Happy Summer to all you fools out there who are loving yourselves right now!

And Boo Hiss from the rest of us.

The Anxiety of Spring

Once again Spring is upon us and once again, I start getting anxiety ridden.  The thought of Summer around the corner is enough to make this Autumn and Winter loving girl feel sick!

In fact, I am actually home today with a cold.

I'm fairly certain the coming of Spring had nothing to do with that but rather the sickness blame game could be placed on the germs of others.

We are well into a day and then some into Spring 2012 so we are saying "The Party's Done, Winter Party Girl; So Get the Heck Out!".

Apparently she kept it upbeat a little too well in NYC because we barely had a winter in which to mourn dark, snowy and freezing nights.  I'm sure H1 would say that you did a fine job in that regard but I say, watch me ever utilize you for a blog banner again.

Let us take a moment to remember her happy face and her booming boom box...

Aaaaannnnnd...there she goes.

That's right, I said to get out.

Instead, let's say hi to Spring here at the HOchieS' Blog.  Let's say hi to its allergens, its blossoms, its warmer days, its rainy disposition and its bees.

Awww....my bees.

Happy Spring, Everyone.

Ah, Winter. Here You Go, Again.

Christmas and the Christmas Season for 2011 is officially over!

Oh, I know.   That's pretty boo hiss, I agree!

We are saying goodbye to that scary ass monkey...remember him? The Christmas Monkey with all knowing eyes who was ready to toss monkey poo at you if you misbehaved? Yeah... I know you didn't forget him.  How could you?

Especially since I've placed him here for you as a reminder!

We're also saying goodbye to the St. Nick Express that rolled in on Christmas Eve into Christmas Day delivering prezzies and fun.

And so, it's finally time to accept that we are in Winter.

I am finding that a little hard to acknowledge with it being 51 degrees out there today with lots of sun and that extra warmth.  Frankly, it felt like Spring.  I best not complain though before the ice starts kicking in from blizzards but maybe this is just how things are going to be for the next few months.

But then again, we haven't even seen February yet.  :::shudder:::

So just in case things start to get cold and wintry white, instead of being all depressed about being stuck inside your house, throw yourself a party!

Leading the charge on the blog is our very own Momiji Party Girl!

With boombox and smiles, she'll throw down the tunes for us to enjoy and be lively in the coming months.

Fret not.

It's a party up in this place.

Adieu, Autumn! Bonjour, Christmas...Monkey...?

It's not officially Winter yet but it is officially 6 days until Christmas and so we are bidding adieu to the happy Scarecrow friend with mute crow.

Warm, sunny days were full of fun.  Rain showers were just a few but welcome all the same.  The sometimes chilly air made us remember the what time of the year it was and the leaves were late to fall off the trees.

Thank you for the wonderful Autumn days.  Thank you for the smiles and thank you, until we meet again!

Today, we say hello to a cheeky Christmas monkey.  He's got a crystal ball full of glitter and happiness but he's got his eye on everyone.

I think we better be really good less we end up with coal.  Or um, Monkey... poopies.

Who knows with these monkeys.

Not My Jam

This is it.

I tried to stagger for a week and live in denial but yes, Summer happened on Tuesday last.  All that humidity, the tourists, the crazies and the general happiness by all, was too in my face and I could deny no more.

But here we are again, another Summer.

Summer is not my jam.

The nightmares in the garden are still around but instead of fairies fluting a tune to welcome the spring, they will now be guarding some tomatoes in the garden.

To "celebrate" Summer, I present you with a less than enthusiastic frog.  I may go even so far as saying that he's quite the little bitch.  I asked him nicely to please not jump on my camera or my person for that matter, while taking the picture.  He obliged but as you can see, it took all his strength to not stick it to me and my camera.

Thank you, frog.

Or perhaps he was cranky because it was hot? What right does a frog have to complain in his cool little pond in the company of lily pads?

I understand, frog.

Summer is brutal.

Note: These opinions are solely those of Or 2.  H1 is a traitor and loves Summer.

Nightmares in the Garden

In what has to be the shortest scheduled time for a new, regular season layout, I give to you a page full of nightmares.

There was no love going on for oddly-coloured orchids with summery blue backgrounds or white blinding bamboo landscapes.  Or whatever.

Well, I still love you, weirdo cacophonous coloured orchids but you have weirded out your welcome.

Instead, I will present you with my recent nightmarish find in the garden.  There are a quite a few of them I discovered the eerily, chilly, still day but for now, an exuberant hello is in order for a very...ded fairy.

Perhaps it is a goodbye that needs to be issued?

Considering there are no such things are fairies anyway, there's no need to concern yourself with the Halfing adorning the new, new Spring layout for 2011.

P.S.: For some reason though, I have the urge to tell you - Don't even blink.

Happy Easter!

Today we will spend the day hunting for eggs, eating stuffing and having a tea party.  Mind you, these things may not necessarily be in that order.

We may even eat a peep or two.

Oh, stop you two peeps, with your quizzical bewilderment looks.  You know very well that's what's going to happen today.

Bye Winter...Sort Of

Midway through April and we are bidding farewell to Winter.  While that should have been done some weeks ago, it certainly has still been very ass cold around here.

A day or two were sprinkled in with some mild weather but winter coats have still not gone away.

The upcoming week may look promising and many of the trees have begun to show signs of bloom.  With that, we bid adieu to the snow and ice-covered ground, burying our fallen pine tree branch.

We're saying hello to two purple orchids garnering a conversation about all the people staring, about sunlight, about the rain showers, and the birds that are singing happily in the distance.

Caught

Winter has been here for quite the while now and to prove that it is, we got not one but two snow falls already.  The first was a nasty blizzard that thrashed about throughout the state on Boxing Day.  The second happened yesterday and while it gave us about 5 inches or so, there was not much to speak of.

With 8 days well into the Year, we shall now bid farewell to Jack and his prey.  They've been caught.  It's over. 

 Now let us not dwell on the carnage that happened here but instead, say hello to Snow.

Say hi to millions of flakes as they huddle together for support, for creating blankets, and for being a general often pretty mess.

Here they are pretending to be friends with a fallen branch from a nearby fir.

We're on to you, snow (and snow bughs).

We know you're coming this Winter to give us more of your sneaky attacks!

About Time

It was many months ago that Spring ended.  The mysterious plants in H1's pots grew full with green and lots of leaves and survived a very hot summer.

It was tough going for a while there with the steamy hell fire days threatening to wilt all the plants.

Here at the HOchieS' Bloggie Boo, I refused to put up a summer related theme.  It was not H1's idea as she loves the beast that is Summer.

So, so very long Spring! I hope to see odd flowers growing from the pot in the winter again as I did last snow storm.

Bye Summer, even though truly, I think you only left yesterday.

With blue skies and red apples, I welcome you, Autumn.  You have been here for some weeks now but Indian Summer is making a liar out of me and you.

The lone spider enjoying his time in the sun was rudely and without permission, photographed but he cares not.

A Life with Apples is a good one.

Supposedly, Spring is Here

You sure could not tell if you were traipsing about today in NYC. 

I think the chill in my bone is still lingering.

That said, we say "Toodle Pip!" to Winter as it is 'officially' over.

Thanks for the 2 snow days we had, Winter and the somewhat warm days.  Though, when the days were cold, they were almost brutal.

"Toodle Pip" giant Snowman and "Toodle Pip" oddly coloured snow flakes.  We will see you again in about 9 months or so but for now, "Helloooooo" Spring!

The squirrels have already started bounding around the neighbourhood.  I watched them digging up the soil near the happy little crocuses that have already made an appearance through the dirt.

The leaves will come soon with the rain and the sun.  The lone red berry will have berry brethren and flowers for company too.  Fairly soon there will be a burst of green admist the blue sky.

Christmas is Way Behind Us; Winter Well Here

While today may be sunny and warm enough for me to sprint next door with no coat, February has not yet arrived and we all know how evil that can be.

Bye little disco snowmen in the tree, we had a wonderful Christrmas together with family and friends and are already 16 days into the New Year.

So here's winter and we're expecting snow, maybe a snowman built and purple snowflakes covering decrepid trees?

It's also blindingly white here at the HOchieS blog but we're just preparing for the snow that's sure to fall.

Currently listening to: "Natural One" by Folk Implosion.

Fall's Over! Winter's Here!

And is it ever... after a stretch of warm weather, we got blasted with coldness and a snow storm.  There's the freezing rain report for tomorrow Christmas Day, and bad weather for the Midwest but we're hoping everyone has a safe, happy Christmas.

So farewell Fall and farewell Scarecrow.

Bye Harvest Feasting and the crispy leaves.

Until next year...

Now we usher in Christmas with two friends in the tree...sparkling through the night whilst watching over the presents and waiting for Santa to come (Santa exists now, apparently according to B'H).

They will wait, smiling happily, telling snowy tails to each other way into the night and into Christmas morning until the HOchieS awake and celebrate together.

Next Year It Is, Spring.... Welcome to this Year, Summer

We're not sure what will come of it next year but the purple flowers will continue to dance upon the pond surface, whispering communication about the beastie chewing creepy crawlies under the blue.





Hello Summer!

You're threatening to be hot your first official week after 3 weeks of virtually non-stop rain.

We're looking forward to all the things we promised BooHead - pool parties, fireworks, barbeques and running around in the sun.

There will be bubbles glistening in the sun, with gentle winds tossing them around and about on the blue skies.

A lone firefly gets caught in a bubble of darkness, and tries to shine his way out.

Currently listening to: "Mass Destruction" by Meguro Masashi featuring Lotus Juice, from the Persona 3 Original Soundtrack.

Partial Howdy Spring!

Welcome to a struggling Spring, where tiny purple flowers fall quietly on a pond of blue water.

Petal-shaped ripples resonate along the surface where one falls, sending forth shivers of flowery communication we will never understand, stretching thousands of miles and beyond in the world of the tiny flower to others just like him.

An odd creature swims just below the dancing waves, casting a shadow that leaves one pondering if there's new life of a new species in the pond of blue or just a giant fish devouring a creepy crawly.

Currently listening to: "Wabi Sabi Wall" by Soichi Terada, from the Ape Escape Original Soundtrack.

Happy Decemberween!!!!

Another year, another Decemberween. I'm dreading going over to H1's house because Diderick and The Cheat did no get to open their presents yet (oh yes, I managed to find something for them yesterday...phew) but now, we didn't get to drink and open pyos like we usually do on Decemberween Eve. Heh...

Merry Christmas to all! The pyo list will be updated later but first, thank you to all for the gifts and the well wishes!

In the meanwhile, welcome to the The HOchieS Christmas 2008 Blog Layout, where we go inside and do an extreme close up of someone's Christmas Tree. I don't think it's ours.

Brrrr, it's Winter!

Winter's here again and H1 is not happy.

Yesterday, we were hit with a bad snow storm that had us digging out ourselves from the 8-12 inches of snow left behind.

Welcome to the HOchieS 2008 Winter Blog Layout, where everything looks a lot sharper in Corel Painter (curse you JPEG and curse you Blogger for not being able to recognise RIFF files!).

Here you'll find a Snow Globe of Pine Trees that cracked and let out snow dusted hills, a lonely house with an equally large lonely reindeer, silver wind, a blue moon and a sky ripe with snow!

Did I mention H1 hates winter?

Currently: Feeling really pissed off if my package was indeed stolen today. This is what happens when Momma HOchie gets a present that she's not supposed to be getting from me.

Thanksgiving 2008 Blog Lay Out

Gobblor's gone now, off to terrorize the Internet on Monday while he makes smithereenies of people's ethernet cables so that they can't shop for deals this year.

So until next year, Gobblor...





Currently listening to: "Irish Whiskey" by Illinois. See? Gobblor's driving me to drink or at the very least has me listening to songs about drinks!

666

To the heathens (selves included)!:

Happy Hella Halloween.

Welcome to The HOchieS' 666th blog post on this fine 2008 October 31st Night.

Spooky soul filled pumpkins and scarier than jeeper creeper scarecrows (thanks for wasting some of my life, H1) play tricks, screech and make merry this Halloween.

It's cold, the wind has been gusting for most of the week and the leaves have been doing some sort of insane dancing as they fly away from the trees and twirl around trick or treaters' feet.

So as to not break with HOchie tradition, let us begin the all-awesome, Grading of Kids' Costumes!

As per usual, we start with the house. We actually decorated this year and even carved a pumpkin, with Or 2's own pure skill and design. Heh. Never you mind you may have seen that Goblin in your own Master Pumpkin Carvers' Kit!

Ignore the mould. I carved it too soon before Halloween and it eventually caved in by the time today came around, so I didn't get to take a good picture of it either. Lame.



As for our costumes, we get A - s.

I was my cutie boy Allen Walker-desu. It was okay but I didn't have time to make a Crown Clown arm.

H1 was a bar maid but I don't recall her trying to give me any beer so maybe she should get an F!

Luuuuiiisss was the Operation Guy, which is damned hilarious.

And Boobey Head was a sensei. A bitchy ass, bandera wearing Yakuza or H1's Sensei.

So far, I've been pretty impressed by some of the kids that have come through.

There are lots of B+s, a few Ds and a handful of F--s but mostly, they've really put some good work into their costumes this year.

Devil Fairies abound which made me very pleased to see. There were a few princesses who were anything but, a scary life-sized tubby Chucky, Leonardo the Ninja Turtle, and an A+ to the kid who came around in her self-made Ipod costume complete with robot-synth voice over.

We didn't get as many kids as in previous years with just 64 and one 65th straggler who got no candy from us for being out so damned late but times are tough! They're lucky they even got candy from me. Actually, they have Beetchie to thank for getting candy.

It's the last day of October, the last day of Birthday Month for Or 2, and we're nervous for next week's Presidential Election but we'll just have to wait and see and hope to not cry on Wednesday.

Here are some October highlights we may have missed:

Happy Divali (on the 29th)!

Clownie bought us Indian treats, and we ate them at Alex's desk while playing "Bole Chudiyan" and "Say Shava Shava". At work. Yes.







I didn't actually forget to blog about this but since I was putting off blogging, Frass' Birthday got priority over Divali. I don't know why I'd do that to my Indian brethren either but really, since they aren't trying to give me sweets and there's a chance Frass might bring me some from London, I'm being nice. Of course, it could be that he totally didn't see how awesome The HochieS were to him and has not been guilted into getting us candy.



Domo-Kun at Target?! Umm, Beetchie's brother Z., is that what you were marketing our cubey friend for?! What kind of shart is that??!!!!!
He is awfully cute though... but I'm not sure Americans understand him but in fairness, there's not much to understand to begin with. Gotta love the Japanese and Domo-Kun. I'm just thankful I got a domo cube of my own before this shart came this way.

Halloween themed candied apples:



Awesome white pumpkins at the Halloween Blaze:



Apple and Pumpkin Picking Photos:









Including Smoked Turkey legs and the hardcore kid who made them.



Bitchy ass ducks that didn't show me their asses? That's certainly surprising.



That time we went also brings back horrid memories of being jipped by a bunch of people who stole Paul Deen's recipe for pumpkin squares and stuck it on a graham cracker crust and called it cheesecake. And to think, I was wondering why the filling taste was so familiar and only after I spent 12 dollars on an effin' small cheesecake did I realise that H1 makes these for me all the time except as squares.

Wrong Story of the Day:



The Halloween 2008 Blog Lay Out:





Currently listening to: "The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden; "Halloween" by Shinobu Tanaka, from the Animal Crossing Original Soundtrack; "Spooks of Halloween Town" by Yoko Shimomura, from the Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack; and of course "This is Halloween" by Danny Elfman, from The Nightmare Before Christmas Original Soundtrack.

Greetings, Fall!

It's nice to see you again, with a Jack O'Lantern Blaze to look forward to, Birthdays, October (The Or 2 Birthday Month! with a day on loan to Boobey-Head), TD5, 1 concert and that other one we're trying to not think about thanks to Frass, time with friends and family, a Broadway Show, Halloween, pumpkins, Early Evenings, Crisp Fall Weather, Dancing Leaves and Pie.

Currently listening to: "Misfit Love" by Queens of the Stone Age.