Sun spray through the trees

sun spray


This picture is from the Atwood dam on Wednesday. I lost a day somewhere this week. I am not sure which day I blocked out, but it must have been a very hot one. I think it may have been Monday. That is the day that I bit someone's head off.

I hate that. I get hot, irritated and frustrated. They ask me a "why" question and I just go off on them. "Why does this equipment keep doing this?"

Me: "If I knew the answer to that, I would fix it! Do you think I enjoy coming out here in 90 degree heat and sitting here? When I have a lovely air conditioned office I could be sitting in?"

Oh, there was a lot more to it, and they didn't deserve it. I must apologize to them the next time I see them. But, that could be weeks or months, depending on when the equipment decides to flake out again.

To quote a line from the Berenstein Bear books "Lizzy, Lizzy in a tizzy!" My name isn't Lizzy, but I was sure in a tizzy. Supposedly the word "tizzy" refers to an old time radio character named Tizzy Lish who was always in an agitated state. Some people twist it and say "Lizzie Tish."

Sigh, breathe, calm down. Cool down. And this too, shall pass.

My lunchroom

picnic table


Well, just for today. I was working next to Atwood Lake. I grew very hot and tired sitting in the stifling wiring closet. I headed out to the open air. There is a small dairy bar near the entrance to the Lake/campsite. I grabbed a good old American hot dog and a Pepsi.

Even the outside air was a relief from the intense heat inside the building.

After the hot dog, I headed a quarter mile on down the road to the dam. I regained some of the pictures I lost last fall. A father/son or grandfather/grandson was fishing on one side of the little park, and I didn't want to disturb them so I focused my picture taking to the other side.

The lake was beautiful, calm and peaceful. I do so love this state.

Take a closer look

moonflower upclose


Getting a little closer look at my moonflower. The bloom only lasts one night, but there are many, many on the plant. I have one entire side of my house (the west side) blooming with this delicious, sweet smelling flower.

My daughter goes to Kings Island with her friend and their family tomorrow. I hope she enjoys herself. She and her good friend do not like rides. Neither one ever did. They may spend their time on the water park side. I'll make sure she packs her sunscreen.

While browsing my news sites, I came across an article about certain states having a tax-free day for sales. What is this? I am starting my letter to my state representatives as soon as I finish this blog. Although, Pennsylvania is tax-free on clothing. If I feel up to it, I may drive my daughter there for some school shopping. But, what I save in tax, I will spend in fuel. So, maybe not.

Here is an interesting site that lists taxes by state. Rhode Island comes in with the highest gasoline tax at .31 cents per gallon, and Georgia comes in with the lowest at 7.5 cents per gallon. Yowza!

Don't start smoking if you live in Rhode Island or New Jersey. Not only did RI have the highest tax per gallon of gasoline they have a whopping $2.40 tax per 20/pack of cigarettes. NJ was the same. Cheapest cigarette tax was found in North Carolina at .05 cents and SC at .07 cents. I don't know why my sis goes to WV to purchase her cigs, the tax is the same as Ohio at .55 cents per pack. I don't smoke. I can't stand second-hand smoke.

It is also an interesting site to see what states determine to be tax exempt. My state does exempt food, and prescription drugs. I'll never forget when I went to Yellow Stone National Park. We flew into Montana. I think it was Billings? I bought a pair of sunglasses and there was no sales tax. A new experience for me.

Well, I'm off to Staples to purchase a new USB cable with a mini B port for my daughter's Zen. We lost her other one. She wants to download music to her mp3 player for the trip tomorrow. Cheerio!

Moonflowers blooming

two moonflowers


After the torrential rains last week, my moonflowers did some blooming. Here are two of them from one evening this past week-end. Their fragrance is very romantic.

The only other romantic evening flower smell that I recall, was in Flordia when I caught a whiff of the orange blossoms. Sweet!

Fire in the sky

sky fire


The sky over my neighbor's treeline this evening was spectacular. If I had more time, I would have taken a drive to my grocery store where there are less power lines. I get a really good view of the western sky there.

My moonflowers were blooming away, also. More pics of them can be found here.

Still many beautiful scenes and scents expressing the summer.

Tubular!

tube1


It all happened so fast, I barely had time to grab my camera. A huge thunderstorm hit my town early this morning. My daughter was taking our dog outside and lightning hit so close to her she nearly jumped out of her skin. She came rushing in to tell me that there was a cyclone or microburst.

I grabbed my camera and headed for the front porch.



The pictures are blurry, but I figure that was because I was barely awake and probably shaking from the intensity of the storm.



I could make out just the outline of it through the tree break in my neighbor's yard. This is the area where I get most of the pink for my sunsets. The object would appear to get closer and then retreat. I couldn't see any lights.



It didn't stick around long. And, I didn't really like being outside in my robe.

What was it? Or, what is it?

........

........

My bad. It was a pine needle hanging from my front porch on a spider web. Okay. What can I do? My sister cancelled on me today. She was bringing her pre-schoolers down for a lunch/picnic at our town park. People come from miles around to visit our park. It is quite nice. Since it was such lousy weather, she was forced to cancel. And, I am forced to relax and goof off for the day since I took a vacation day from work. Ahh, the life!

A meme from Tabor

eyes


Here is a meme that came from Tabor's site:


1. What are the three stupidest things you’ve ever done in your life?

i. Imbibe in alcohol

ii. Not continue my education

iii. Enabled losers


2. At the current moment, who has the most influence on your life?

My daughter, of course.


3. If you were given a time machine that functioned, and you were allowed to pick up to five people to dine with, who would you pick?

i. Jesus Christ (the man that was)

ii. My daughter in the future about fifteen years

iii. My maternal grandmother

iv. Benjamin Franklin

v. Jules Verne (with a translator)


4. If you had three wishes that were not supernatural, what would they be?

i. More wisdom in life

ii. Job security

iii. To write a book that would change people's lives for the better


5. Someone is visiting your hometown/place where you live at the moment. Name two things you regret not having in your city, and two things people should avoid.

i. A nice art museum

ii. A Japanese Steakhouse

Avoid:

i. Wal-Mart

ii. The Flea Market


6. Name one event that changed your life?

Becoming a parent.

Twirly

blue twirl


I chose the kaleidoscope option for the picture above. It came from the one below.

twirl blue


Tired, getting over a migraine. Mentally, I can't think straight enough to write anything worthwhile.

I wanna go back

girl


When we dropped my daughter's boyfriend off at his house, his little sister was sitting on the porch steps. I couldn't resist taking a photograph of her.

Turn back the clock to when my daughter was that age. Sigh.

Coming from the speakers: I Wanna Go Back by Eddie Money

We are family

family


I am the one in the middle. This was taken in 1993. My father passed away in 1976 so he is not in the photograph. My Mom was a tiny thing. She weighed less than eighty pounds when she passed away in 2000. On my father's side we are Austrian. On my Mother's side, Irish, Scottish and English. To the best of our knowledge. My eldest brother - top right, did all the leg work on the geneology. I would like to pick up where he left off and run with it. Time, time.

We are extremely blessed.

Coming from the speakers: We Are Family by Sister Sledge.

Kaleidoscope burst

gold burst


The couple of times I have had to re-build my computer I get Paint Shop Pro for sixty days. I am wondering if I can just remove it after 59 days and re-load it. Might work. I was having fun with it this evening, and from a sunset on the lake created the kaleidoscope above.

golden sunset


It came from the above sunset picture above. If I only had more time to play with them. But, after chores, I am just too beat.

I was awaken at 2:22 a.m. last night by my cell phone ringing. I looked at the number and did not recognize it. I "googled" the number and I came up with a blank. Possibly the number is unlisted.

I was explaining to my sister how to "google" a phone number. If your caller i.d. pulls up a number, but you don't recognize it, just punch it into the Google search bar and if it is listed anywhere in a public phone book, you can get a result as to who it is and where they live.

Here is an example. I pulled this number/name randomly.

I punched in the number 212-784-9846. No parenthesis, just dashes. Here is the result:

Heather Hunter, (212) 784-9846, 1 West St, New York, NY 10004

While speaking to my sister, I googled her number. She is listed, so it appeared with the address. Just goofing off, I began to advance one number at a time. Her ending number is 4080, so I punched in 4081. Nothing. Next one was a name I didn't know, 4083 brought nothing, as did 4084. But, 4085 brought up our nephew! How weird is that?!!! We didn't even know he had obtained his own phone number! His Mom and Dad divorced and he lives with his Dad. His Dad must have done away with his telephone and my nephew got one for the house. Just five numbers higher than my other sister. The prefixes are the same, but they live about ten miles apart. It just weirded me out.

Now, this isn't fool-proof. My phone number that we had when we were growing up was in place for over thirty years. It still appeard in Google for an entire year after my Mom passed away. It has since been assigned to someone else, and they get calls for my wayward sister. Probably bill collectors and old boyfriends. The person who has my Mom's old number works with my other sister. I have way too many sisters. I would sort them into the letters to the beginning of their first names, but three start with S. Except for me and my eldest sister. That is five girls. Three boys. I suppose I could do it this way.

Eldest brother = Pa
Eldest sister = Na
Next sister = Sh
Next brother = Gr
Next sister = Ba (nickname, she is also a Sh)
Next sister = Sa
Next brother = Br
Me = Me That is too funny. Me = me. I never realized that before. I am way too tired to be writing in this blog. I must retire.

Coming from the speakers: auf Wiedersehen So Long, Farewell from The Sound of Music

Half way there?

solar tree


Solar Power. I should have remembered not to drive through the main square in town on a Friday. Holy cow, the traffic! And, the local businesses were holding sidewalk sales. There were people everywhere.

As I sat at the red light a little longer than usual, I looked around at the square. I always liked our town square. The city did a nice job of making it look nice. Two young boys were proudly standing by their display.

There was no sign to say if they were with the local boy scouts or any such organization. They wore no uniforms. One sign read "solar power". Next to that was a huge solar panel tilted to face the beautiful sun beating down on the town square. A couple feet next to that panel was a small water fountain. Very small. But the little fountain was pumping away with it's little spout of water.

I thought to myself. 'Okay. Good job. They were young. They were out there demonstrating solar power. Did they understand what they were representing? Did they fully understand the limitations we were facing on fossil fuels, and what choices we have for our future power sources?'

I soon got my answer. It was a long light. I noticed one boy pointing to something in the intersection and tapping the other boy on the shoulder. They started talking excitedly between themselves, looking and pointing. I followed their gaze to see what they were looking at. Sigh. Yes, I got my answer. Pulling up to the light in all it's shining glory was the young boy's dream vehicle. The Hummer.

I did my homework. The SUV is better than some, worse than others. In the mpg range.I guess boys will always like the muscle cars. And, some girls, too.

Coming from the speakers: Living On A Prayer by Bon Jovi.

We are all just dollar signs

bar mill


Growing up in the Ohio Valley most of our fathers, brothers, brother-in-laws, husbands, father-in-laws, and friends work or worked in the steel mills. They managed to escape the hard life of working in the coal mine and moved up to working in the hot furnaces of the steel mills.

The economy bottomed out and a lot of men and women lost their jobs. Those that did manage to keep their jobs or were mercifully called back to work, put up with the constant yo-yo-ing of the job market. Rumors of the mill(s) closing circulated on a regular basis every other year or so. Leaving families, providers and all the rest wondering if they were going to have a job next month. The unemployment line became a familiar fact for a lot of people.

I realize that this did not happen only in the U.S. (As can be seen in one of my favorite movies The Full Monty - where a lot of mill workers lost their jobs in Great Britain).

After reading this paragraph in the Sunday paper, I begin to realize what is happening to us. Maybe I am naive and a little slow to catch on, but this really made me gnash my teeth.

Here is a paragraph about a local steel mill being sold to some Mexican-based company:

Bradford sees nothing ominous in the deal. "The previous owner had it for a year and a half, which is about right for a financial investor," he said. "You want to maximize your return, fix it up, get it profitable - and run."
Perry "doesn't want to run a steel business," Bradford said. "He wants to make money, that is why he's an investor."

As Bob Seger would say. "I'm not a number! Damnit, I'm a man!"

Man on the sun

running man


Here we go. Instead of Man on the moon or man in the moon, how about a man running on the sun? And, how do they know it's a man? Maybe it is a woman.
Anyway, you can read more about it here.

Evening Scents

my moonflower


My moonflowers are blooming. This is last years' picture, but they look the same. I just don't seem to have as many this year, because of the dry weather. I didn't water. Between migraines I was finally able to get out and mow some of the jungle outside this evening. That is, until a bumblebee stung me. I have not been stung in years. It is nice to know that I am not allergic.

It got stuck inside my shirt, and I hopped around looking like an idiot. I almost tore my shirt off outside, but my senses got the better of me. I tried to go back out after five minutes, but there were about five buzzing around my back porch. Sigh. The jungle grass is going to have to wait a little bit longer. I was making good progress, too. Darn bees!

Daughter's incision is feeling better. She still has a little soreness in her shoulder/arm area. She finishes up her punishment today. I told her she is on thin ice with me. No more slip ups. I wanted to send her to the Y.M.C.A. teen camp for the remainder of the summer, but I just cannot swing the $100 per week. That would get her out of the house from 8 to 5 during the day. She is bored and the only thing in town to do is the teen park place from 5 to 10 each evening. They won't let you pay by the day. Week by week only. Grrrr. Maybe I can swing every other week until school starts.

I am not real comfortable with that park teen place, because teen means thirteen to nineteen year olds. I don't care for nineteen year old boys hanging around my daughter and her friends. As my therapist says, "They should be doing stuff with other nineteen-year-olds. She thinks they are possibly social outcasts that didn't fit in with their own age group, and never grew up." My niece is 18 and she wouldn't dream of being caught there with the 'little kids.'

Visions of Elton

myra


One of my dinner partners this evening. What a charmer.

Here she is last summer.

My daughter and I went to see "The Longest Yard" with Adam Sandler. I don't know. Will Burt Reynolds ever get over himself? My daughter confused William Fichtner with Paul Bettany. I can see the resemblance. In this movie, William was more clean shaven and blonder than usual. But we are talking a difference of 15 years here.

I am not sure that I saw the original movie. I never cared for Burt and I am not a football fan. Well, maybe - sometimes. I would hardly call myself a fan, though. Which stems from the word fanatic. I certainly am not that.

I just looked over the entire list of movies that Burt did, and I have to admit. Not one did I like. I may have liked Mad Dog Time just a smidgeon. And, I do mean smidgeon.

And, Cloris Leachman - naughty, naughty.

Coming from the speakers: Honky Cat by Sir Elton John.

Meow

as a cat


Here is my daughter dressed in a bit of CATS make-up before the show about three years ago. Maybe it was four years ago. I don't recall. It was in Cleveland.

My daughter awoke me at about 2 a.m. The incision hurt more than before. This is her fifth one, so I guess she should know. Maybe the doctor cut a muscle this time. She did mention that my daughter was rather fit during the surgery. Which I guess meant she didn't have much fat on her back.

I pulled out the 500 mg Tylenol and gave her two with milk. I scratched her head until she fell back asleep. At 3 a.m. one of my cats knocked a glass over in the kitchen sink. I jumped straight up off the couch and of course woke my daughter back up.

By that time the pain had abated and we could go back to bed. I took the day off to stay with her. She is doing much better, but I worry that a muscle has been nicked. The pain radiated through her shoulder and upper arm.

Wearing my nurse/Mommy hat today.

Jester on the sidelines

jester


My daughter in one of her sillier moods. Taken about eight months ago.

Which wasn't the case last night. It was more like nightmare on Elm street. Much fighting over her restrictions.

And today, after our two month sabbatical, we had another mole removed. Again the scalpel, not the punch-out tool. Or whatever they call it. At work we use a punch-down tool for the telephone lines and that is the only punch-whatever tool I can think of in my exhausted state.

We made the mistake and went school shopping too early before the doctor appointment. We were exhausted. We were gone for over eight hours. A small pit stop at Starbucks did help, but my daughter became very tired and agitated after the mole removal. It didn't help her that she was in the middle of a six-day punishment. She is sad and lonely. She misses her friends, her computer, the telephone and her boyfriend. It was very hard to watch her cry on the way home.

The needle numbing is the most painful part. And, she looked this time when they removed the snail-sized piece of skin off her back. The doctor told her not to look, that it would be over soon. But, she looked and I looked. I used to get queasy. Once I worked for a veterinarian and they brought in a dog that had been hit by a car. I almost passed out. I was seventeen at the time. I have avoided any blood, guts and bones since then. I can't watch movies with that in it. One time in school we were watching a movie and they showed a guy with his bone sticking up out of his arm and I winced. I will never forget it. That stuff really bothers me.

Tomorrow at eight p.m. she gets the computer and her telphone back. She still cannot have friends over or visit anywhere without me for the next three days. She is upset (which is expected).

She came home and played with the dog. I told her to take it easy. The numbing should wear off in an hour or so. Then the pain and soreness sets in. Eight inside stiches and eight on the outside.

Hopefully, just two more moles after this one. And, hopefully the doctor won't need to re-open one up.

Sigh. I , too, am tired. Exhausted. Spent. Emotionally, physically and monetarily. Whew. School shopping. They have Christmas clubs, maybe we should start up school shopping clubs. Yuk, yuk, yuk.

Coming from the speakers: American Pie by Don McLean

A little sun, a little blue sky

pine needles


Mom can see a little sunshine through the dark, smothering branches. A little blue sky. Moving on. Teenagers are exhausting!

Angst

cry


Daughter in tears. Mom near tears. Teenage wasteland. Mom is sick to her stomach. Mom has to tighten up the rules. Mom hates to be the bad guy. Mom hates to punish, but knows that she must. Mom is tired.

Wrinkles add character

Robert Redford


Well, I have heard the old saying that for men, "wrinkles add character." If that is the case, then Robert Redford is one of the most characteristic men in the movies today.




I watched "The Clearing" this past week-end. I thought he looked bad in "The Horse Whisperer." I applaud the celebrities who refuse to get plastic surgery and eye lifts and other stuff, but wow. Just wow. Maybe it is the ruddy complexion. But, hey! He still has the hair! That looks great!

There was this one scene in the movie, where he is walking and he is soaked by the rain. He is pale, wet and he looks like the walking dead. I was just heart broken. Not that I ever cared for his character in any films much, anyway. The only movie I really liked that he was in was "Out of Africa". And, I didn't particularly like his character in that movie.

Here is Robert from a few years back.



Beautiful character. Sigh. I don't mean to sound shallow (I know, too late). And, I do apologize. It just caught me off-guard. I guess I realize that time is marching on and we tend to get caught up in the artificial, made up wonder of Hollywood. Maybe, instead, I should applaud Mr. Redford for sticking to the reality of life. It just didn't look healthy to me. Forget beautiful, he just doesn't look healthy.

Coming from the speakers: The Way We Were by Barbra Streisand.

Any given decade

cockatiel


My pet bird, Peru (a cockatiel) and I were reading the newspaper this morning. I didn't always read the newspaper. When I was a teenager I was more interested in music than the current news. In my twenties, it was probably what band was playing in what club on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. In my thirties, it may have been what was the best way to raise your small child and a little bit of the newspaper and current events. Now, that I am in my forties, I find myself reading the paper on a daily (or almost daily) basis.

With my cup of coffee, and if I have the time, giving Peru a little "outside of the cage" exercise.

But, today. Oh, Peru and I were sickened. This article, about a T-ball coach paying one of his players to hurt another player deliberately....

A T-ball coach.....

Oh, and then there is this article, which brings attention to a disorder I have heard of, but never knew the name to. Munchausen syndrome (by proxy). It is about a young mother who injects her toddler with human feces. Well, there goes breakfast.

A former pediatric nurse.....

Sigh. Is it too late to rewind the morning?

Coming from the speakers: Everyone Hurts by R.E.M.

Ready for my closeup

pink splash


An up close and personal look at the inside of a Rose of Sharon bloom. I honestly don't think there is a design or a color that man can create that Mother Nature hasn't already shown us. But, I've been wrong before. Once. 1985.

Why you might NOT want to be a celebrity

tom hanks


I have a new toy. I was playing around with the movie The Terminal freezing frames on my pc, and I thought to myself "Oh, my. I am so glad I am not in pictures. Any facial expression you make is out there forever."

My daughter has been complaining about the air outside each time she comes home from the Park Place. I didn't know what to tell her. When I went outside this evening to take Sable out, I realized what it is. Mosquito spraying in the city. She said it was a sweet smell that made her sick. Well, that about sums it up.

I did some more mirrors on the wall today. I have a total of 30 put up. There are a couple of areas where one tile has slid down a fraction of an inch. Good thing it is close to the bottom. After this, we start on the other wall with the glow in the dark forms.

I also want to pull back an area of the carpet to see what kind of floor I am looking at underneath. If it is something I can work with or not. My daughter wants a hardwood floor so she can dance. This is virgin territory for me. Other than my Mom's house, I have always rented. So, pulling up carpet was not really an option. I would much rather pay someone to do it, but this does have a certain satisfaction to it. Doing it yourself.

Outside, it is still a jungle. We did get some rain yesterday and today. Remnants of Dennis, I guess. My moonflowers bloomed two times, but I missed getting a picture of them. I'll try to keep a better watch on them. They bloom at night and are left over in the early morning.

Thank goodness for perennials.

Coming from the speakers: I Wanna Go Back by Eddie Money

The Mirrored Wall and my Roses of Sharon

wallmirrors


I came home for lunch because I needed drops for my eyes. They were aching something horrible. I use Patanol. I saw my Rose of Sharon bushes blooming so I thought I would take some pictures. First of all, I snapped a picture of the back bedroom. The mirrors are staying put on the wall. I am amazed.

pink rose of sharon

The two pink blossoms above are inseparable.

beetle afternoon delight

I stumbled across some beetles having a little 'Afternoon Delight.'

pink translucent

Looking real close you can see where the bees did their job on this one.

white rose of sharon

Not as vivid as the pink ones, but still pretty - my white Rose of Sharon.

Must Apologize

bluemonkey


I must apologize for yesterday's entry. It was quite lame. Can you tell I have been reading 13 and 14-year-old's posts on their Xanga sites? Must have rubbed off on me.

Coming from the speakers: Better Get To Work by The Boss.

Life's Observations

autumn tree


Just a couple pet peeves I need to get off of my chest. Have you ever noticed that some people want you to come and visit them, and never come to visit you? And, when you go to visit them they don't sit down to chat, they just keep doing their household or yard chores? And, of course their place looks great because they get you to hold this, or water this while they go and answer the telephone or start some other chore. Why do they ask other people why I never visit them anymore? Are they that dense? How about this reason? I am staying home and doing my own yardwork so my place can look nice for a change!

Then there is the one who has an event coming up. You do some background work to help them out and they piss you off with some kind of rude remark or something. You take all your paperwork and newspapers and throw them in the trash. Forget them! Or, they are moving into a new place and you just happen to have three VCR's and four t.v.'s and were going to give them one of each, but NOT NOW! Let them do without. I'll give the things to Good Will.

Here is an interesting concept. I had a friend of a friend invite me to lunch the other day. I didn't care for the guy, so I said "I would pass." He was trying to be over-jovial and said "Free food!" Now, I am in no way emaciated. But, later I was wondering 'Instead of guys asking girls out to lunch, what if they said "I'll pay you NOT to eat."' Why do they keep trying to feed us? I wasn't on any strong medicine when this thought came to me, honest. But, I thought maybe - you know, maybe, this would be a great way to lose weight.

Okay, okay. Enough bitching. I'll sign off with that last one.

Coming from the speakers: Hooked On A Feeling by B.J. Thomas

Picking up the baton

plumsky


This meme titled 'Musical Baton' is from middle-angel:

1. Total volume of music files on my computer:

About 6 gig, over 800 files

2. The last CD I bought was:

Hot Hot Heat - Elevator (for my daughter)

3. Song playing right now:

I Think It's Gonna Rain Today - Dusty Springfield

4. Five songs (tunes) I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me :

Oh no, don't do that to me. Don't make me pick just five.

How about five sets of five?

Five for sad:

Do You Believe Me Now...................................Vern Gosdin

Somebody's Always Sayin' Good-bye................Anne Murray

Here Come Those Tears...................................Jackson Browne

Angel.............................................................Sarah McLachlan

Till I Can Make It On My Own..........................Tammy Wynette

Five for Happy, pick me ups:

Here Comes the Sun.........................................Beatles

Sloop John B....................................................Beach Boys

Iko Iko..............................................................Indigo Girls

Let Your Love Flow............................................Bellamy Brothers

Sea Cruise.......................................................Sha Na Na

Five for Nostalgia:

Sara.................................................................Fleetwood Mac

The Pretender..................................................Jackson Browne

Like a Rock.....................................................Bob Seger

Empty Garden..................................................Elton John

Vincent............................................................Don McLean

Five for Dancing:

Old Time Rock and Roll....................................Bob Seger

You Shook Me All Night Long............................ACDC

Faith...............................................................George Michael

Heart of Glass.................................................Blondie

Give Me Three Steps.......................................Lynard Skynard

Five that give me strength:

Life In A Northern Town...................................Dream Academy

Let it Be........................................................Beatles

I Can Only Imagine.........................................Mercy Me

My Sweet Lord..............................................George Harrison

Cool Change..................................................Little River Band

5. Five people to whom I'm passing the baton :

My daughter

My niece

My sister

My brother

My nephew

Whew! I really enjoy music. And, if I cheated, just take the very first song out of each set for my five picks. Music can lift your mood, take you back down memory lane, let out your frustrations and anger and just soothe the soul.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall

sunleaves


I am making headway on my daughter's bedroom. She wanted one wall all mirrors. I am using the 12 x 12 inch square mirrors. I now realize that my first tube of mirror adhesive was a bum batch. I was really struggling with that stuff. It was like working with peanut butter, only much stickier. It left big clumps on the back of the squares and I was having one heck of a time. Not to mention the smell of the compound. I was sick afterwards. I got through six squares and I quit for a while.

Then, I ran out of compound and opened the second tube. Holy cow! It was as smooth as butter! That first incident about turned me off of the entire project. Now, I have twenty-four squares up and I have 18 more to go. They aren't perfect, but they will do the job. She wants to dance.

All the instructions said to measure, level, blah, blah, blah. Heck. That isn't me. I started in the middle and am working my way out. They aren't lining up perfectly, but nobody is coming around to inspect it. The only problem is, when we clean the mirrors we will have to look out for the little bumps in the corners, but that could be from that first batch of mirror adhesive. It left big globs on the backs of the squares.

The entire wall doesn't need to be covered. I also have glow-in-the-dark spray paint and we are still looking for different stencils. She wanted musical notes. I haven't been able to find any yet, so I bought foam with which to make some and paint them and stick them to the walls.

It is a summer project. Speaking of, my brother has not contacted me about the fire department's web site. Summer is half over. By the time school starts back up, I will be busy again and back on my longer hours.

My daughter introduced me to a new friend this evening. He came over to the house with her boyfriend. He was very nice. He is achondroplastic. We all watched I, Robot together. He told me he has the movie if I would ever like to borrow it. I had only seen the movie once, and had missed parts of it because I was busy at the time. What is it with Will Smith movies the past month or so? We have been inundated with them.

Coming from the speakers: What Makes You Stay by Deana Carter

None of my pain and woe

blue sky sun


At lunch yesterday, I couldn't resist snapping some pictures as I walked the dog. The sun was high, the sky was brilliant and the trees were oh, so green. A favorite mix of mine.

I was talking to one of my daughter's old boyfriends on the telephone the other day. He is fourteen. I asked him how his summer was going. He said that he was just getting over a broken wrist. Knowing he rides dirt bikes and four-wheelers I asked him, "How did that happen?"

He said that he his Dad did it. My heart sank. When my daughter was dating this boy, I recall him telling me how his Dad forced him to look at him while he was talking to him and hurt his neck. One of these "Napoleon syndrome" fathers, who threatened to knock the boy back into the house if he tried to walk past him on the front porch. You know, Mr. Macho man.

I said "Oh, Tyler." He said, "It will be alright." I said, "Yeah, until the next time." He said, "I just have to learn to quit badgering him so much." I firmly told him, "It isn't your fault! Okay?" He said, "okay." I hung up with him telling him to take care. It bothered me for a long time, still does.

When my daughter called him back I got more of the story. A dirt bike was involved, but still an angry father was in the mix, also. Another thing bothered me. I overheard my daughter say, "Yeah, that's why I never talk back." Like I would ever break her wrist! I have felt like choking her, but I could never physically hurt my daughter.

While shopping last evening, I came across this funny product. It was intriguing to say the least. I always go weak in the knees around electronics. As I suppose some women do around shoes or handbags. Shoes, I don't care so much about, and I like a good handbag or two or three every year. Another weakness of mine is cosmetic bags. I must have ten of them. I don't use them all, I just like to buy them. Not a big addiction by some standards - but for me, excessive.

Coming from the speakers: Behind Blue Eyes by The Who

I've had just about enough!

robin


She tolerated me as long as she could and then she had to fly.

Take it slow

blue palm


Sigh. Doctor says it is only a pulled muscle. I am not so sure. She gave me NSAID's for the discomfort. I took one. And, I'll go back to ibuprofin, thank-you. I can't stand NSAID's. I tried them before for migraines and plantar fasciitis, and they make me feel worse than before taking the medicine.

My neck hurts too, so maybe it is a pulled muscle. But, that doesn't explain the cold. I am rarely cold. Sitting in my office at work co-workers were very surprised to see me wrapped up in a sweater. I was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g. I could not get warm. At home, I return to my heating pad. And, I want to sleep all the time.

She also said that pleurisy will go away on it's own, without treatment. I'll just take it slow. I asked her about this because sometimes I would rather ride it out than go to the doctor.

I was putting the cover back on the grill yesterday and a huge spider crawled out from under it and I jumped, threw the cover and twisted my neck all over again. I don't have that same compassion for spiders that my Mom did. I had the heebie-jeebies for a good ten minutes.

Well, it appears as if I am in for a slow week-end. I have so much to do outside, too. The electric company complained about not being able to read my meter. I have a Rose of Sharon bush that grows up along that corner. The previous owner had not removed the old box and I think she was using it to cover up the area. It works, but too well.

I was able to cut that bush back, but I need to do so much more. It's a jungle out there.

Coming from the speakers: Kokomo by The Beach Boys.

Standing in the shadows

two


My niece and nephew at her graduation ceremony which was held outside on a very, very hot day. He is ten years older than she is. I was there when he was born, and I was there when she was born.

I was there when my nephew graduated high school, and now when my niece graduated. My sister was there for her son's graduation, but not her daughter's. Does my niece block it out? Is it enough to have her brother and aunt there for her? I hope so.

Coming from the speakers: Exiles by Dan Fogelberg

Sugar and spice, not very nice

girl


Little girls can be so adorable. Like the picture of this one at Mohican Park. But, the one little girl I saw today nearly broke my heart. She was slapping the hell out of a box turtle. It appears that it was her "pet". I was up on the second floor of my office building and opened a window. I could see their back yard and yelled down at her to stop, but she and her little sister or friend ran around to the back of their garage.

I guess the little girl was trying to get the turtle to stick it's head out or something, I don't know. I just don't like to see abuse of any kind.

Here is more information about box turtles and their care:

...http://www.sdturtle.org/Box_Turtle_Care_Sheet_003G.htm



The article stated almost exactly what I saw today. That turtles do NOT make good pets for small children and that most of the captured ones die or suffer from stress and abuse.

My brother used to catch turtles and at one time built a pen for them. He had about twenty of them in it before they all got loose. He studied biology and animal's habitats in college. He captured them for study and he cared for them properly before he returned them to the woods.

I wasn't impressed with them when I was little so I gave them a wide berth. My Mom would never have tolerated any cruelty to an animal. She used to throw spiders out the front door rather than kill them.

Coming from the Speakers: No Matter What by Boyzone.

Will Dell find out?

fall trees


As I was posting my problems with Dell, I was wondering if the support team would ever read about my complaints online. Well, I suppose they check this url out, if they do read up on this stuff.

...http://www.technorati.com/search/%22dell%20support%22%20hell

I am there in all my complaining glory, or rather this blog is. You only have to mention the words De!!, su@@ort, and He!! and you will be picked up by this search engine and posted there. From the above wording, I am trying to avoid being posted there a third time.

I have recapped all of my woes on my home page and am still seething that it took eight days before I had a complete working system again. I find that rather poor. Especially since they wanted to pin it on a non-existent virus.

Moving on.

I wrenched my neck sometime during the night and am waiting for the ibuprofin to take effect. I am going to try to go into work at lunchtime. Although, I believe I feel signs of pleurisy coming on. I have had this affliction before many times. I know the signs. I am hoping the medicine will make that subside, also. If the pleurisy pain does not go away, I know that a trip to the doctor is in order for antibiotics. Yuck. They usually make me sick to my stomach. I have an allergy to penicillin since 1979 when I puffed up like a balloon. My Mom thought I had the mumps. Never, ever take old medicine!

While checking my site meter, I notice that a lot of hits are from one certain picture. I am wondering if someone is using the picture as their background and have linked to my blog site here. Not a bother to me, because it is not my bandwidth being used. Interesting. One day alone, I had seventy hits to this certain picture. It is too far back into blogdom to change, or I would replace it with some funny message. I am glad someone enjoys my pictures.

Well, the time has come to get ready for work. I guess if I can type on a computer keyboard at home, I can type on a keyboard at work. Sigh.

Coming from the speakers: Get Your Hind End In Gear by Work.

I'm Sorry

wsmith

Ah, Hell No!

My apologies to Will Smith, but this picture was too funny. I was messing with my camera a couple of weeks ago and we were watching Hitch. I caught this one in a blur. It kind of looks like he is starting to morph into something. This 4th of July week-end was filled with Will Smith movies. Men In Black, Wild, Wild, West and Independence Day just to name a few. We watched Shark Tale a couple of weeks ago, too.

I enjoy Will's movies except for WWW. Nobody can tackle the suave and charming character of Jim West like Robert Conrad could. Sorry, Will.

There were a lot of BBQ foods this week-end. Not to mention my town's festival right over the hill. I skipped it again this year, as I did last year. The food is just too rich for me anymore. But, nothing gives me more of a stomach ache than watching a "Hot Dog Eating Contest". The kids were fooling around and stumbled upon this show. What are these people thinking? And they are calling it a sport? Where are my Rolaids?

We tired of the usual cook-out foods by today and we did have another family cook-out to go to. I was just too tired. I fixed baked chicken, corn on the cob and apple crisp. This is about the second time I have made apple crisp. I had vanilla ice cream and cool whip to go with. Turned out great.

Coming from the speakers: I'm Sorry by John Denver.

Showin' off my eclat

attack cat


Precious was just stretching, she wasn't bracing for a confrontation. I just happened to catch her while doing that. The cats remained hidden during my 4th of July cook-out (or rather, 2nd of July cook-out). The fireworks were spectacular. I had enough food and pop. Very little alcohol drinking this trip around. My main drinking branch of the family had a wedding and I guess they had to go because their son was in it.

I had a couple of Long Island Iced Teas made from a pre-mix bottle. Instead of cola, I mixed it with my sun tea. It was rather good. The evening cooled off quite a bit and instead of sparklers and fireworks I puchased 100 glow sticks for the "kids" to play with. My kid (the fourteen year old) and her group took off for the festival in town (just over the hill) and the rest of the party had fun making necklaces and bracelets. The roof of my house now has a couple of new rings on it. Thanks, whoever. No one 'fessed up to the deed.

I found neon glowing rings in my dogwood tree and my black dog wore two of them for the evening. She was quite easy to spot in the dark. I have no pictures, I don't know what I was thinking. I may have been just too busy fixing food and making sure everyone had enough to eat and drink. I just didn't even think of the camera.

I am beat. I am slowly cleaning up. I had 25 people show up. It was so cute. My brother's step grandson (Josh) is the young one of the family at this time. My niece is expecting, though! We can see the fireworks from my front yard, except for the low ones get cut off by the treeline. When we couldn't see them, I would yell, "Higher!" And little Josh would parrot me and yell "Higher" too. Once, though, I yelled the usual "Higher" and he yelled "Higher, come on - you can do it!" Sure enough, the next one would be high enough for us to see it. It happened every time.

My niece and nephew just took off to see "War of the Worlds" and my daughter is at a birthday party. Just me and the pets. I need this quiet time to rest and relax. And clean. I dripped watermelon on my kitchen floor and it has been bugging me with the stickiness. I think the dish washer has been running non stop for two days.

Grab the Sunday paper, a cup of coffee and sit out on the patio. Clean up a little and leave the rest for tomorrow. Sit down, sigh and settle in. I glance up and see the rings on the top of my roof and I smile. Yes, good times.

Coming from the speakers: Thomas O'Malley Cat by The Aristocats.

NOW - You're messin'

note


Above is the 'thank-you' note I received from Dell. I have included the book that got me into trouble last October 2004 with my Dell and a speaker for "Hear me ROAR!"

The more I write my experience out about this latest incident, the angrier I get. Looking back, re-reading the ordeal, I can see where things began to go wrong. For me, if I am to blame, I should have never mentioned the word "virus". For Dell - well, I will leave that up to the readers. www.mydeja-view.com/ramblings.htm.

Oursourcing is an interesting word. Dell kept refusing to deal with a virus because it was a "third-party" application. Well, when I looked outsourcing up in Wikipedia, it mentions that outsourcing is a function performed by a "third-party" service provider. Can I refuse to talk to their technicians who only speak English as a second language? They have apparently "third-partied" their tech support. Hell, I could barely understand them. I grew weary of asking the technician to re-peat themselves.

And, just for the record: Picture Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindgergarten Cop saying "IT IS NOT A TUMOR!" Then, you can picture me screaming at Dell,
"IT IS NOT A VIRUS!"

Moving on!

Watched Racing Stripes last night. I didn't see it all, I got a phone call. It was fun to try and figure out who the voices were before looking them up on the Internet. www.imdb.com helps out a lot in that area. I also used the web site when someone asked me if Don Knotts had died? I was pretty sure he was still with us and this web site confirmed that fact.

The Park in my town sets up fireworks every year for my holiday cook-out, and can be seen from my front lawn. Isn't that so nice of them? I have a family/friend cook-out the Saturday closest to the 4th of July every year, and bless their hearts, my town arranges their fireworks for me and my visitors to enjoy. The same evening. Every year since I have moved to my house in 2002. How special is that?

So, on that note, I had better get my butt in gear and start preparing. I need to go to the grocery store and start fixing stuff! It has been an uneventful week off from work. I did a little pc work, a little travelling adventure, a little re-modeling to a bedroom, a little cleaning of closets, and now on towards the
Le Piece de resistance. My annual cook-out. Cheerio!

I know that I have probably used this song before in my archives, but it rings so true while working with the Dell Support team recently. Most of the words apply to my nightmare with them.

Coming from the speakers: Hair Of The Dog by Nazareth.