Through The Years

My daughter's boyfriend has requested to see some baby pictures. Although I have quite a few pictures, I opted to just scan the pictures that were professionally done... meaning I'm not the one who took them. That way, when my kids see that I have posted these pictures for millions and millions of people who have internet access to view, they won't be completely ashamed of me for sharing. For some odd reason, they really dislike looking at themselves when they were younger and for the life of me, I don't know why. I've always found it fascinating to see pictures of myself when I was a baby and a young child. Granted, I don't like looking at pictures of myself now, but that's just 'cause I'm old and fat.

I hope you find these at least a little bit as enjoyable as I do every time I take them out and look at them. 

The quality of the scans are not that great, but I can't complain since the scanner I used was free.  Closer inspection can be achieved by clicking on them.

Hongry

I was starving the other day and I didn't really have anything at the house to fix. Odds and ends was pretty much it. I didn't feel like leaving the house to go forage for food, either. So I threw the odds and ends together and WOW did I impress myself! Here's what I threw together:

One pound ground chicken
One can of Rotel
One package of dry Onion Soup Mix
One cup of wild and brown rice (not instant)
A small pinch of salt
A few sprinkles of black pepper
A handful of slivered almonds

I browned the ground chicken with a very small pat of butter. (ground chicken and turkey tend to stick to the pan and don't brown as well as beef so I add the butter for flavor, non sticking, and browning all in one.) Got it all cooked up and I drained it. I added about a cup and a half of water and the rest of the stuff minus the almonds. I simmered it for about 15 minutes covered, added the almonds and cooked it uncovered for about 5 more minutes. I seriously didn't think it was going to taste all that great but I will be making this again. I had a serving and packaged the leftovers in individual Glad freezer bowl things. I took a picture just because and this is what the finished product looked like...

It really doesn't look all that appetizing to me. I thought by looking at it that some shredded cheese would have been good to have on it, but I think the cheese would have taken away from it. But I think I will drop a half of an avocado cut up on the top after I dish it up next time. I can't say for sure why I added the almonds at the end. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time and it was.

***
Cricket has a new thing to do. When I get home in the mornings, or when I wake up, or pretty much any time I'm at home, I have my hair pulled back out of the way in a pony tail. In the mornings, Cricket will get up on the back of my computer chair and I will flip the pony tail up there with her and she will play with my hair... sometime pulling too hard and always matting it up really good. Here's a not so good picture, but the best of the one's that I do have:

 

And one of Jynxy looking like he fell asleep mid thought...

The Toad

There is a toad that seems to be frequenting my break area at work. I saw him for the first time last week. I opened the door and there he was. Just sitting there like he had been waiting on me. He looked up at me. I talked to him and told him what a pretty frog he was since I tend to talk to things that usually don't talk back. I told him I wished I had some big fat crickets for him to eat. I've seen him almost every night since. May or may not be the same one each night... but I like to think it is.

He made me think back to a random day about 15 years ago during one of my son's practices on his pee-wee baseball team. He was playing outfield... which included dancing around, playing in the dirt, yelling across the field to a friend... pretty much anything aside from watching what was going on, which, for me, was SO funny to watch. Because all of the boys this age would do this. This particular evening, my son came running off of the field because he found a toad. And then it became our "pet" toad. We had an aquarium and we bought live crickets from the feed store so he could eat.

I'm not sure how long we had that thing. I don't even remember his name, if we even named it. But one day my son decided that it was time for him to go back out into the world and on one of my parents excursions, they took the frog and set him free.

I hate the way that getting older makes you forget so many memories. Like a pet frog's name. My son would travel with my parent's in their RV when he was younger and I can't remember if he went on that trip with them to set the frog free. Something in my aging brain mass is telling me he did.

Forgetting such precious memories makes me sad. But having a silly toad remind me of such things makes me happy. And the only time I realize I have forgotten something is when I remember it... or most of it.

WHATever

This month's menstrual cramps lady days hell week hormonal imbalance brought to you by Rosey Grier:

Long Road Home

It took me an hour and 20 minutes to get home from work this morning. Got stuck in a massive traffic jam that involved the highway being shut down. When I heard that they had shut the road down over the radio, saw that the nearest exit was about a mile away, that nobody was moving, and that my gas light had just come on, (the only way I can keep my car from overheating in a traffic jam like that is to turn on my air conditioner which uses even MORE gas) I pulled over on the side of the road, turned on my hazards and waited it out.

The first 30 minutes of sitting there were okay. I listened to the radio and watched the traffic not move. Then all of a sudden I had to pee. And then all the car exhaust started to get to me and I started to want to cough. And the longer I sat, the more I had to pee and the more I had to cough and those two don't go together real well. Then I started to look around on the inside of my car for an emergency urine container... just in case.

I have no idea how I would have used it. Luckily, around that same time, the cars started to move and it wasn't long before I was able to sneak my way into the wall of cars and make my way home. Safe and dry.

The good news is that the pain I had been having for the last few weeks has been absent the last few days. Being pain free is a wonderful thing. Really hoping this was the last episode for this year. No... I'm REALLY hoping this was the last episode ever... but I'll take what I can get.

And Even More About "The" Pain

My hopes are that it rains soon. I don't know at this point if it will change anything as far as the pain goes, but I still hope it does. I've had extended episodes before. This is definitely one of them.

Update on the medicine gel: It mostly works. Which, believe it or not, is a good thing. I've never found anything that has even sort of worked. Because this is medicine and even though this is a gel, I can't bathe in the stuff, although I have wanted to once I found out that I'm able to get SOME relief. I get complete relief if I stay motionless after I have applied it to the various hurtings. I have learned that I move around a whole lot more than I thought. Bathroom runs, water runs, cat petting, typing... but if I lay in one spot, or sit in a chair with my feet up, I'm painless. For however many minutes I can stay that way. But I'm happy with that. It's better than I've had before. It takes away the throbbing and burning that accompanies the pain... which is the part that makes me crazy. It does nothing to soothe the burning sensation I get when my hands are immersed in warm water, though. So dishwashing and showers are sparse. Good thing I work in a room all by myself.

I hung out at work this morning and chatted with my supervisor and the detective for a bit. Ended up leaving about 20 minutes later than normal. OH. MY. GAHH! How do you people drive in this stuff every day? While driving no faster than 40mph the whole way home, I heard on the radio that an area in the city that I live in was ranked number one in traffic congestion, boasting a total of 42 hours a week of congestion. Yay for us! You can read the short story here in our area newspaper. Thankfully, I don't have to drive that way to or from work. It really doesn't matter what day or time of week. That road is almost always bumper to bumper. As a side note, this area moved down from last year's number 4 to number 5 on the national scale. Please, come live here! Everyone else is!

It's my weekend. Which means I can go almost three whole days without putting shoes on which is good in ways I hope you never have to know. I have so much to do yet I have no idea how I'm going to do any of it. "Baby steps. Baaaaby steps. babysteps. BABY STEPS!" Have you seen that movie? What About Bob. With Bill Murray and Richard Dryfuss. Classic.

I'm Moving To Utah

I knew that one day... when I least expected it... I would find it. The. Perfect. House. Designed and captured so beautifully with just the right shots. It's SO cool, that it has it's own website. Priced at $749,000, which juuuust squeezes into my budget, I'll send ya an email when I get moved in.
Stolen from Dooce.com's Twitter.

September Is Here

Can't begin September without a little Earth, Wind and Fire so enjoy the song! I just changed it, so depending on when you read this, it may still be Chris Isaak until the change goes through. But you can't complain about Chris Isaak because... well... YUMMY! (Located conveniently in the sidebar on the right, if you didn't already know that.)

Our K-9 officer was given a brand new spiffy K-9 vehicle to carry around Nero. He's still figuring out all the buttons and sensors and what not. This is his first week with it... and Nero's first week with it as well. It is a Chevy Tahoe... not sure what year, but I think it's a 2010. It may be a lowly 2009 model, though. Nero has a built-in kennel in the back and the officer has a special button he can push that opens the door for Nero to get out, just in case. But it's been fun watching them play with it. Excuse me... it's been fun watching them TRAIN with it.

This morning about 0330 hours we stepped out front to take a break. It was SO quiet. The temperature was about 67, the breeze just barely moving the flag around at the fire department. I couldn't even hear a dog barking. It was so quiet I almost felt the need to whisper. The officer went to pop open Nero's special door so they could go patrol and when he popped the door open for Nero, the silence was shattered by this blaring, awful, loud, obnoxious alarm that was coming from the amplified horn area. I think I'm still a bit deaf from it. But oh, how I laughed as I watched the officer run to his truck and try to figure out how to turn off an alarm he didn't even know he had. When he finally figured out how to turn it off I think ever dog in that city was barking. After I was done laughing, I said, "Wow, D... way to spoil the moment." No... scratch that. I'm still laughing. But he did totally spoil the quiet moment.

Reclassifying The Disease

So you know about my "rain pain". Come on now... I KNOW I told you. Don't say you don't remember. I don't think I can call it that any more. Maybe just PAIN. All caps included.

I was so happy on Friday. I was pain free for the first time in weeks. It lasted for less than 24 hours.

And then I was excited to tell you about my new best friend, but it hasn't worked out between us. Well... not entirely. I think some experimentation still needs to be done before I can say for sure. It's called Voltaren Gel. And it is a prescription gel used to apply to places of arthritic pain. It worked on one of my little toes. I think. One of the weird things with this pain is that it likes to travel. My wrist can hurt now, but three hours from now it may be fine and my toe will then hurt. Then my toe pain goes away after a day and I wake up and now it's in a thumb. Then it will move to the tip of a finger or two. Sometimes it arrives and stays in one place until it goes away again. Sometimes... like now... it can't make up it's mind (and I know it has one) and hits me in several different places at once. So I really can't say for sure if my little toe has been made to feel better by the gel, or if the pain has just moved on, because I used the gel on the back of my heel and on my wrist and they still hurt. In fact... my freaking foot hurts so bad I'd like to cut it off right now.

All of this pain started about three weeks ago with only a couple of days of reprieve. We've had a few small rain showers but it's not going away. I think last month I had a small episode and no rain. We have no rain in the forecast now. But the no forecast for rain has happened before and sure enough a stray shower will pop in and when it pops out, so has the pain. It has become a sort of joke in our family. I would talk to my mom and tell her, it's going to rain soon, and she would be all, but the weatherman said nothing, and the next day, rain. Hence... my reason's for calling it rain pain. Which I guess, if I have to have a painful 'disease', I'm lucky it's one where I don't hurt all the time.

I'm sure I've talked about this before and if you have read something that you've read previously, then I apologize. When the pain has been as bad as it's been the last couple of weeks, it's hard for me to think of much else. It can become all consuming. I think of my mother who just recently went through hip surgery and the pain she endured before. Constant, excruciating, never ending. At least I know there's an ending, eventually, to the pain. And I am very well aware of how blessed I am by that fact.
***

In other news... I think Kitty Cam time is coming around the corner. Last week the kitties finally started their morning ritual of running as fast as they can where ever they can and God help anyone that gets in their way phase. I thought at the time that this was probably a signal for the changing season. Yesterday was beautiful, this morning is so gorgeous I endured the pain of opening ALL of my windows, even knowing it's probably going to get too hot to leave them open and I'm going to have to close them all again. THAT'S how pretty this morning is! Before too long, I'll be complaining about the cold again. Fun!

Poor Lonely Little Old Mexican Guy

So my neighbors across the street of the FRONT of my house... the ones with the humongous yard that had the older couple who lived there and the husband's lawnmower that went about 50mph and got his yard mowed in 15.3 seconds, the ones that moved out... do not mow their lawn like the older couple did. He'd be out every third day and I swear I never saw his lawn get over an inch. Well now their lawn gets to looking as bad as mine, which is horrible for me because it just encourages me to avoid mine longer so's I can win the crappiest yard award (given graciously by the NRH Code Enforcement Guy)... Yeah, I know, I'm SO rebellious.

Their first mow session was done with about 20 "lawn-workers" out there mowing and edging all at once. (Did you like the clever placement of the quotations?) But the last few times... about once a month... I've seen a small green truck sitting in the front yard and the sound of mowing from that direction. I figured the mex... uhhh I mean Lawn Technicians charged them too much so they hired some poor fool who's having to do it all by himself.

The lonely little old Mexican guy arrived around 0930 hours. It's a pretty nice day today. Should have mowed my own lawn. It's almost 1230 now and he's edged everything and is about 1/4 of the way done with the mowing. He's by himself. He's using a push mower on a whole lotta yard. I don't judge size well as far as acreage goes, but it's about 5 times or more of my yard and I use a riding lawn mower. Mostly because I'm lazy, but still. Plus, their yard should have been mowed two weeks ago so the grass is high and thick. I can see him from whence I sit and he's struggling to get the mower through it without it dying on him. Poor guy. I wonder if he'll do mine when he's done over there? I'll chip in 20 bucks a month. We're PRACTICALLY the same yard. There's just a road that separates the two. Come ON!

A Funny Work Story

Working midnights affords me quite a bit of anonymity when it comes to other employees of our city. I think I know, or have at least met, one or two of our volunteer firefighters. Other than that... I don't have a clue as to who anybody is over there... nor they, me.

Waaaay back in the olden days when I first started dispatching and things were still new and hopeful in the world because I was young and still somewhat innocent from the vile ways of the people, I would occasionally get a call on what we call our inner cities radio channel. This is/was an open channel that other agencies used to call other agencies while they were in the field... you know... back before cell phones and all. We used it frequently back then. There was a period of time, after I had been here just a year or so, where I was getting requests for time checks, being asked if anything was going on in our city, other small silly things. These were not requests from my officers, but from other agency's officers out in their cars, usually during the 2 to 4am time frame. It wasn't until one of them came to our department, out of sheer curiosity as to what I looked like, that he told me that all these radio requests started after some incident where I had to use this radio frequency for some reason or another related to real work. He told me that they loved hearing my voice and would, on occasion, just want to hear it. He told me it was a nice voice.

I learned over the years many other discriptions of my "nice voice". Let me just say, I could have had a nice career in radio, or a phone sex worker. Or so I've been told.

So tonight I get in to work after having a very quiet two days off. I sit down, grab a pen and a notepad and basically get ready for what the night will bring. One of my officers runs a license plate. I give him his return via radio. The direct line to our fire department rings. I answer it.
Me: "Hello"
Him: "Who's dispatching tonight?"
Me: "Me."
Him: "Who is this?"
Me: "Who is THIS?"
Him: (he tells me his name which escapes me now)
Me: "This is Laura"
Him: "Okay. Thanks." 'click'

I don't think much about the call. They do that from time to time. Again, being midnights I have about as much of a clue who he is as he does about me.

I seriously don't think it was even 10 minutes before my front door was buzzing. I look in the camera and don't recognize the guy. I get on my speaker and ask if I can help them. He tells me he's so-and-so from the fire department. I let him in.
He said that so-and-so next door was studying (have you caught on that I have totally failed to remember anyone's name, yet?) and that he was going to watch a movie and didn't want to disturb study guy so he came over to the PD to give him some peace. I think my reply was, "cool".

He asked me where the cops were and I told him they were all on a call. He walks into dispatch and sets two bottles of ice cold water on the counter and tells me, "I brought these over 'cause I didn't know if ya'll had any water over here." I tell him thanks, and that no we usually don't stock up on water, but I usually bring my own. Then he proceeds to make a quick exit and tells me he guesses he's given what's-his-name enough time to study. I don't think the kid (maybe mid 20's) was in here a total of 2 complete minutes and that's being generous.

If not for his quick exit, I don't think I would have even suspected anything. I've had several of the fire guys over the years come over and sit and talk with me. But this was obviously, hilariously, a case of coming over to check me out, not expecting the old, gray, fat lady he saw when he walked in, and making a hasty, yet polite, departure.

I would have loved to have heard what he told the one "studying" when he got back over there. I think I giggled to myself the rest of the night about that.

Good to know at least my voice still has it!

Rain Pain Ramblings

It is a shame that the intensity of the pain I get during an "episode" does not determine the amount of rain we get. If so... last week we would have been in a hurricane. Instead, the sky spit on us, pointed, laughed, and then ran away. But the pain went away, too, and that's all that really matters.

Today it's back. Sigh.

After I got home from work yesterday morning, I stepped onto the back porch to look about the neighborhood and I heard something rustling in my trash can. I was able to get out of the door without the herd following me and when I looked in, there was a sad opossum looking up at me. I had a very small sack of trash in the really big trash can so there was nothing for him to climb back out once he got in, I guess. The REALLY sad part is that I heard this same rustling the day before yet I failed to go outside and look. Which means... the little guy spent a whole day in the awful heat and two nights in a trash can. ALL of the trash had been chewed on. The trash sack that the garbage was in was completely gone. I don't know if that thing ate it or what. There is a Diet Pepsi can that is full of teeth marks. Half of a styro-foam cup, size large, was gone. I tipped the can over and stepped away and he scuttled out and into my garage. I might water this evening and fill up a pan or something with water and leave it out.
***edit***
I did not take the following picture. This was swiped from the outside internets.

Curious...

I wonder how much THIS guy makes?

New Blog To Enjoy

Well... new to me. Just found it. Thought I'd share it. Hope you enjoy it, too.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

My FarmTown, My Obsession

This is how a farm starts out.

This is my very first farm as it looks now. On FaceBook. I'm furthest along on this one.

This is the second farm I started. Also on FaceBook

This is the third farm I got going. MySpace.

And this one, my last (I promise!... maybe) also on MySpace.

Because I know you really wanted to see.

A New Simon's Cat Video YaY!

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1qHVVbYG8Y

This video made me think of my friend Christy who died almost a year ago. She would have laughed SO hard at this. I miss her still.

Spazz Says "Meow"

It never fails to make me smile when I pull into my drive and see a kitty watching out for me. One of my co-workers said that they do this because they are the look-out for the others that are inside having a party. I tried to explain to him that they have parties while I'm there so there would be no reason for them to hide it. Then we both got a little weirded out by the conversation and we went back to work.

It never fails to break my heart when I pull out of my drive and see a kitty watching me leave... even if I'm just going to the store.

I had a dream yesterday that I was pulling out kitty litter clumps from the catbox with my hands. Not sure what that one is trying to tell me.

I took an impulse day off of work last night. The night before that I rode out with one of my officers. Supervisorally suggested. I think the new guy is going to work out just fine. A couple of hours ago, he and I played Texas Hold'em on Facebook together. He's a crazy fake gambler.

I think this is the first time in my department's history that the guys outnumber the girls 3 to 2... but only if you count the supervisor who does fill in when needed. I can remember a time when I was always the youngest dispatcher. It's a sobering thought to know I will never fill that seat again.

I just put in a new pair of contacts. Life is crisp again.

I've had the same NetFlix movie DVDs at my home for two weeks now. Still haven't watched them. But I regularly use the Watch Instantly feature.

My weather forecast calls for showers in our area in the next day or so.

But I'm NOT Catty!

I mowed my own lawn on Thursday. I noticed as I mowed over the pile of debris left by an unknown party that the pile has turned into a nice fertilized wonder, with St. Augustine grass that has rooted and started to grow, what with all the rain we had last week. Hence... you can always find something good if you look hard enough or wait long enough.

I've been completely sucked in by Face Book. Not only that, but I have spent countless hours, hours that would have been spent blogging about nothing, on a game called Farm Town. My addiction is so bad, I have a second Face Book account now so I can play Farm Town on that, too. And if that wasn't bad enough, my MySpace account that I haven't used since I started Face Book, I'm using for the sole purpose of playing, you guessed it, Farm Town. I've even thought of posting pictures of my "farms"... because seriously... that's all I can think about.

I got an email from someone and it really seemed more of an advertisement than a real email, but they added certain things about my blog that kind of made me think it was a real email. I'm skeptical of most everything, but I decided to take the bait anyway. The email was from Jenna Walsh, on behalf of Tidy Cats. For all I know, you got one, too. Anyway... old Jenna there, was inviting me to participate in a contest by writing a 175 words or less essay on why, just because I have more than one cat, that I shouldn't be lumped into the "negative" stereotypes that people who do NOT own cats have of those of us who do. Things like, being a homebody, a recluse and unsocialable. If I won, I got a years supply of Tidy Cats, $5000 and I would get to appear in a Webisode. Their slogan... “Tidy Cats Campaign to End Cattiness.” There's only one problem. I am a stereotypical crazy cat lady. I thought about writing something sarcastic about how they were not doing the crazy cat people justice by proclaiming the traits of a crazy cat person were negative and I was going to use the word discrimination for 170 of my 175 words... but I had been away from my Farm Town games for more than 15 minutes by this point and I had to get back.

In Training

So I'm training again. Well... not really. He's pretty much been whipped into shape already and we're just tying up some loose ends before we cut the chains and push him into the water to fend for himself. It's often a beautiful tragedy.

The hardest part of training, for me, is filling up the dead air time, which on my shift is 95 percent of the time. So I talk. And talk and talk and talk. Till I can't talk any more and I go into the other room to pass the last hour of the shift playing video games or watching YouTube.

He seems like he's a nice kid, though. He's 20. Both of my children are older than him. Man I'm getting old.

We've had some pretty good rain this past week. Now my lawn needs to be mowed again. I'm going to make an extra special effort to do it on my weekend so's not to feel intensely guilty just in case my neighbor takes it upon himself to mow my yard again. Not that that wouldn't be cool. But I think I would feel obligated to pay him money or something. At least for his gas. And no... I haven't gone and gotten a plant and a thank you card yet, although I have already written a nice note to send along.

I think I'm going to make an early to bed day today. Didn't sleep real well yesterday so I'm hoping for better luck today.

You just go out there and have yourself a wonderful day now... ya hear!?

Libby Shares Her Opinion

Libby thinks it's WAY past time to fix the hole in the wall.

Random Act Of Kindness

I've been struggling the last few days. Lots of pain in the hands. This is not something new. I've had it for years. Many years. I've been tested for everything. Nobody could ever tell me why. After researching on my own, the probable cause is rheumatoid arthritis. It's not an every day pain. I feel blessed by that. I call it my rain pain because it coincides with the coming rain. It doesn't happen every time it rains, but every time it happens, it rains within a time span of 1 to 3 days. After all of these years, I've noticed some significant loss of strength in my hands. In my left hand, I now have a finger that does not close smoothly and kind of pops (not like a knuckle pop) when I make a fist. It's annoying, but not usually painful. I do not suffer with this at all during Winter and most of Fall.

If you have been with me since the beginning, you know how I loathe to mow my lawn. There comes a time in summer where I can sort of get away with not mowing because it only grows when it rains. The hardest part for me is edging. I physically have a hard time doing the edging, so that's the part that tends to get away from me.

I've been telling myself the last week, especially with the somewhat cooler weather... or at least there was one day last week that was nice... that I need to get out early and get this stuff done. But alas... the pain arrived and I pretty much said, "Oh well". Today was a particularly tough morning for me as far as the rain pain goes, and I have two 12 hour shifts coming up tonight and tomorrow. So my coming weekend wasn't looking good for yard work. Plus, I can pretty much make up a million excuses for not doing it... easily. I'm real good at that.

I go to bed early this morning. For me. And about an hour ago, I got woke up by someone's mower. As I'm laying in bed listening and wondering why it seems so loud, I realize it's MY lawn that's being mowed. I looked at the clock... it was 1:30. I couldn't understand why my dad had come over in the heat of the day to mow for me (because sometimes he will do things like this). I got up and looked out my window and I don't see my dad's truck. Not in the front, not on the side, not in the back. Then I see the guy mowing on this huge professional sized mower and I'm all "somebody is at the wrong house". So I call my dad, because I'm thinking maybe he hired someone? At this point I'm thinking anything. He said he didn't. So I got brave (believe me... this is brave for me to approach someone I don't know) and went out there to ask him if he's just mowed and edged my lawn by mistake.

Enter... my neighbor. Not Mr. Throwsstuffinyards guy. These are my newest neighbors, the young couple. I think they've been there for a little over a year now. Maybe closer to two. His name is Sergio. He says his lawn company just got this new mower and he really likes the yard work thing and since he didn't have any grass, (his lawn is suffering the heat as well) he thought he'd help out and that it was really no big deal. Said he used to do it for his neighbors at the last place they lived.

Well Sergio... it IS a big deal. It was thoughtful, generous and kind. I am tearful with gratitude because you have no idea how little things like my stupid lawn weigh heavy on my mind, especially after the whole code enforcement thing last year.

It was a very small thing for him. It's a HUGE thing for me. It's called a random act of kindness and it's the sweetest, most compassionate thing that's happened to me in a long time (not counting family stuff) and it's what this whole world needs a whole lot more of.

So now I must return the favor. Not that I HAVE to... but because I WANT to. And I don't know what to do. Food? A note? Both? Something else? Any suggestions out there?

Somehow... the next two days don't seem near as daunting.

Playing By The Rules

My mother once told me that if I didn't have anything nice to say, to not say anything at all. Well... now you know why I've been gone for so long.

Seems I'm going through one of my many hot and humid hermit phases where I shut myself in... except for the last couple of days where I've actually had my doors and windows open in the early morning hours.

I've put away Kitty Cam for now. May or may not bring it back. The hot weather has been heating up my computer and since it no longer sits in front of the air conditioner, I'm fearful of it getting too hot, so I've been shutting it down when not in use for long periods of time. Plus... the kitties are just not very active during the hot summer months and seriously... how many times can one look at a sleeping cat without wanting to go crawl under their own blankets and pass out?

I've started many posts in the last month or so with negative, negative, negative. They don't get published because when I re-read what I have written, it all sounds like a bunch of whiny crap. Personally, I don't mind a whiny post or two, but when they all start looking the same way I tend to not want to read any more.

Here's a happy video I took the other day... if you can get past the shaky.

HA HA

Do you ever get distracted, while watching a sit-com, listening to the laugh track? I hate laugh tracks. But only when I notice them. Sometimes it takes half a show before I notice it... and once I do, I can't quit hearing it.

It's Still Hot Here

I've been watching that show Superstars. No reason other than something to pass the time with because I sure haven't been spending my time writing on here.

What got me somewhat hooked was the first show where Terrel Owens and his ugly attitude having partner were the first ones to lose. That was beautiful TV there, folks. I don't even watch sports and I hated T.O. before I saw him on this show. It was magical to watch.

Then the second episode they bring the jerks back.

But low and behold... it was just too much work for the lazy Terrel Owens and in the end, we all knew it was coming anyway, right? I was just surprised he even agreed to come back, whiny little thing that he is and all.

The other couples are pretty competitive, but they all seem to be decent people under pressure so now I just have to stick around to see who wins.

I've also been watching The Bachelorette. I know, I know. I'm turning my brain to mush with all the reality TV and funky gameshows. Anyway, I won't bore you with the low down on the show, but if she chooses ED I'm going to be very disappointed in her. It was bad enough that she left Wes in for so long. What a piece of crap HE was. I, personally, thought she should have stuck it out with the Pilot from Texas. If only for the fact that he was kind enough to at least plant the seed of doubt in her about Wes.

So that's what I've been doing. What about you?

New Mexico

My daughter got home yesterday from her vacation. She took some awesome pictures while there. She has quite a talent for finding THE shot. Looking at other people's photos, what I like to do best is imagine myself looking out through the photographer's eyes. What were they thinking, who were they with, how did they come to the place that caught their eye? It fascinates me more when I look at pictures my children took.

Here's a few I'd like to share so when she becomes famous, you can say that you saw her here first. She completely catches the essence of New Mexico. The last is my favorite... of course.

Big Black Dog

Big Black Dog is crapping in my yard. Hello Big Black Dog.
Big Black Dog is checking things out.
Big Black Dog might be Big Crazy Black Dog.
Big Black Dog before saying hello to the kitties. Big Black Dog appears to be Big Black Mama Dog.
Big Black Mama Dog after saying hello to the kitties. Nobody barked. Nobody hissed. Just a general curiosity on both sides of the door.
Big Black Mama Dog going home.

Blank

My blog is as blank as my brain has been. I'm sorry internets. Part of doing a blog, if you want to keep your visitors coming back, is to update, update, update. I've not been doing a good job in that area. But it's hard to blog about absolutely nothing, even though when I post, that's pretty much what I'm posting about anyway.

My cats are cranky. Well... Jynxy and Cricket are. Libs and Spazz seem to be doing fine and they have been staying well away from those other two. I'm thinking Jynx must have done something to piss Cricket off. I blame Jynxy because he's my jealous kitty and I have seen him sneak up on Spazz before and bite the crap out of him when he's sleeping. Cricket loves everyone. Except for the last few days.

I came home on Monday morning and I could tell something was up. Libby and Spazz were acting like they had just witnessed a cat fight and Cricket was bowing up to Jynxy, turning her head sideways and looking all mean and growling at him. I had to put Jynx outside on the back porch. This was not a punishment, by any means. It is my only means to separate the cats when or if the need arises, and this was such an occasion. They hang out on the back porch on a regular basis, and it's more a punishment to NOT let them go out there.

Tuesday was better, but Cricket was still wanting to jump all over Jynx and chase him around and make him hiss. You see... Jynxy is one who will instigate a fight, but becomes this frightened abused kitty once he realizes he's NOT the king of the mansion and someone kicks his butt back. Then he acts like he's always getting picked on and runs to mama for protection. Seriously... I've seen it a hundred times.

Wednesday things were back to normal, more or less. I caught Jynxy and Cricket giving each other nose kisses, each without incident. Then, during one of my many bathroom breaks, Cricket was being all sweet and went to do another nose kiss and Jynxy hissed at her and Cricket just walked off, like, "whatever, dude".

Things are calm this early morning Thursday. Cricket is still off sleeping somewhere and the other three are out back watching the bunny. I'm wondering what I'm going to do today and with whom and deciding when I'll be sleepy again...

...and blogging about nothing. I blame everything on the heat.

Happy Full Moon

Did I Just See What I Think I Did?

Remember this story? The whole, dumped lawn clippings in my yard thing?

I just witnessed, with my very own peepers, the man and his wife carrying pruned off branches across the street and one house over. I also live across the street and one house over from him, but some of my yard (the part where the grass clippings were dumped) is directly across the street from these people.

My picture camera was in the car. My video camera battery was dead. I have no evidence, aside from what I saw. And who's to say they didn't ask the neighbor first?

But still... a little too ironic for it's own good.

Happy Independence Day

Might I suggest some reading for the day, and to ask yourself afterward why, as a country, we have not stormed the White House yet?


IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

The Kids

My daughter is on her way to New Mexico as of yesterday. She stayed over night here on Wednesday and we had a very quiet evening with her playing The Sims2 on the computer and me reading on the couch. We shared some good giggles as we went to Wal-Mart late that night and bought her road trip snacks.

Thursday I spent the day sweating and driving. I dropped my daughter off at my brother's house and spent a little time visiting with my sister-in-law while there. Her, my niece, my brother and my daughter make a yearly road trip. I think they enjoyed New Mexico so much last year, they decided to do it again this year. I'm jealous of the weather they will get to be in. The high temperature where they are going was 67 degrees. That, and the horse back riding, mountain biking, rafting and other various activities they have planned. My sister-in-law went and bought my daughter a mountain bike for this trip. They should have an exceptional time.

Thursday evening I took a shower to wash off the 4 gallons of sweat that had made it's way out of my body, and then it was off to see my son's new apartment, but only after an hour long panic attack. You see... I have this slight phobia of driving to places that I've never driven before. It used to be be a lot worse. Back in the day, I would not have even considered driving to where my son lives now. (I plan to post more about this adventure later) But after all the tears, I got on the road anyway and made it to his house with no problems. We had a nice dinner and I got to see the fancy new apartment where he lives.

I had a weird experience with both of my kids yesterday. With my daughter, it was seeing her with a blanket wrapped around herself as she played on the computer. With my son, it was seeing him lay on the floor of his apartment with his feet up by the chair where his girlfriend was sitting. As I watched both of them, each without knowing that their momma was REALLY watching them, they both did their "thing" that they would do when they were very little.

My son's "thing": When he was little, my son's thing was to approach me or my mother, lay on the floor and stick his feet on our laps, or if we were standing, in the air, so we would scratch his feet. This would progress to scratching his arms, hands, legs and back. I would tell my son that whoever he married, they would have their work cut out for them with all the scratching. His girlfriend is NOT happy with me right now.

My daughter's "thing": My daughter was a blanket girl, more commonly known around our house as a bankey. But not just ANY bankey. They had to be the kind that had the real soft, often silky type border sewn around the edges. When she was not old enough to have any type of hand eye coordination, maybe a month old, she would roll up the corners of these blankets just so and she would tickle her nose. This was often combined with thumb sucking but that started a few months after.

I watched yesterday as my daughter sat at my computer, wrapped in the blanket, take a corner of that blanket and rub it against her cheek. It was a simple gesture and it did not involve any thumb sucking. But for me, memories of the child that was now 21 came flooding back and I remembered the girl that I would kiss at night before I left for work in her girl's bed... thumb in mouth, bankey in hand. And echoes from across the room where my son, who is now 23, lay, Big Bear tucked in next to him whispering, "scratch my feet scratch my back scratch my hands" in a cadence that only a 5 year old can achieve.

For you young mothers out there just starting out... these are the things that you will carry with you once your children are grown. It is the most heart warming, happy, wonderful thing to remember when you are looking at your adult child.

My kids are totally embarrassed when I openly talk about them when they were young like this. I do not understand why, but I do my best to try and not mortify them. This post, I couldn't help. Yesterday was one of the most wonderful days I have ever had, in part because of these early memories of my children... when I was the age they are right now. When or if they have children of their own, I'm sure they then will understand where I'm coming from and hopefully will no longer be embarrassed that they were normal, loving, wonderful kids who grew up too fast and became exceptional, normal, loving adults.

Thank you, my beautiful children. You are more precious to me than anything else in this world and you always will be.

Big Bear, A Tickle Bankey, And Libertine

July

It's too hot to blog. I'll be back when it cools off. Like sometime in December.

Kidding.

Today is daughter day. Tomorrow is son day. Lots of time with kids. I'll regale you soon. Until then... stay cool... man.

Happy July.