My Porch railing - After.

I had this porch railing put up. The other one was chipped and old. Now, I need to extend the railing back to the house so that it covers the side of the front porch. It doesn't look right left open. Then I will add a hanging fern or plant for as long as the weather allows.

My Porch Railing Before.

This is the front porch before I had the railing re-done. Bob the Builder did a great job. I will take a picture tomorrow and post it as an "after" picture. I plan to have more work done on the house, but all in good time. This old wrought iron railing was cracked and peeling. It was an eye sore.

I wanted a house with a big front porch, but I was sold on the patio to this house. Once I get the front porch complete, I will put a chair out there and maybe a tiny table to hold my iced tea and glasses. Now that I am bespectacled. It was funny when I went in to pick up my glasses. My regular doctor was busy, so another Dr. adjusted them to fit me. He asked "Have you ever had bi-focals before?" I said, "No, I have never even had glasses before!" He was like 'whoa'. I had to ask him how to clean them.

I am adjusting. I'll tell you this much. My eyeballs haven't hurt like they used to. Maybe that was the problem. I don't wear the glasses all the time. I do have them on a cord around my neck and I will put them on when I use the computer for a long period of time. Like right now, I don't need them, but it may help the strain when I sit for hours at work.

I have been using the magnified drug store glasses for the past year. The first magnitude. When I do my crossword puzzles and read a book. And sometimes the newspaper. Although with the newspaper I have been able to hold it far enough away so that the words didn't blur.

I had new back brakes put on the civic today. I took it in for it's 135,000 mile checkup. The speedometer was acting up. I kept having to hit the trip button to get the speedometer to work. When the speedometer doesn't work, the odometer doesn't work. When I turn mileage in to get paid, that can be a bit tricky. Luckily for me I have only gone to schools where I already have the distance recorded. Most of the 135,000 I have put on that car myself. I keep a car for a long time. I have taken good care of this one.

I have been looking at other cars. I like the white, two-door, six cylinder Accords, Nissans and BMW's. Cha-ching! Can't really afford them, but I can dream. I want my car to blend in with the crowd, now. Not stand out in this "gumby green." It was pretty enough. Very popular with the 3 - 12 year old boys. I received more compliments on this car than any other I have ever had. I say gumby green, it is actually softer than that. I guess it is a pastel green. Easy on the eye. Sorry about the cheesy girl on the car, but this is the only pic I could find on the web, the other one's wouldn't link.

I miss the Maples.

We had beautiful twin maple trees in front of our house when I was growing up. I miss them. In the fall the leaves would turn a beautiful golden yellow. They would cover our front yard like a big golden blanket. Except the sap from the trees would fall on the windshields of our cars. We parked out front.

I really like the fall time of the year. As I get older, I realize that a lot of people have allergies this time of year and it can't be pleasant for them. I hope that medicine works for them. I may be getting some sort of allergy but mine seems to hit me in May.

I like the clear skies, crisp days with just a nip of cool in the air. Sometimes I like the fog. When people don't have to drive in it. I like to look out over a farm land with trees lining the hills, the leaves slowly turning their brilliant colors and a lazy fog over the countryside. I must put my camera in my car and go driving this week-end.

There is a fall festival this week-end so I will get some good pictures of that. Most of the people at the campsites decorate their campers. Some of them really go all out. I think last year one of them had like 7 mannequins. Of course they had them dressed up as witches stirring a big cauldron of brew. And some were in chains, looking grotesque. I still like the cute/scary stuff. Not that much gore.

I just had my front porch re-done with new railing. I can't wait to decorate it. I will try to find the time tomorrow evening and start getting the stuff out of the garage.

Ready for the Ghouls.

Okay. I can see the neighbors putting up Halloween decorations, that is okay. It is telling me I better get on the ball. But, this morning I passed a house and they had a white Santa sleigh and white reindeer on their front lawn. They better be cleaning their garage, or something!


I hope to get a lot of good pictures this Halloween and to post the good ones here. I am in the mood for decorating. My favorites are the hanging eyes I have blinking in the trees, and my rubber casper-shaped lit pumpkin head. I like to add a little friendly fun in with the scary to take the edge off.

Oh, I got in touch with my friend I was supposed to meet last week and she had to cancel because her house was sliding down the hill. It moved 8 inches, she told me. They had to move out. She estimates that the house has been there 80 years. They are going to have an auction. They are keeping the farm. The area is well-known for having hundreds of mining tunnels underneath the land. There are no maps of exactly where they all are. That wasn't an issue a hundred years ago when they were building the mines. They are looking to FEMA for help.

What I didn't tell you was at the county fair this year was a booth that was decorated with all kinds of big signs saying "Ban Gay Marriage" - it was obviously a booth promoting Bush and the Republican party. I can say lots here, and it is all on the tips of my fingers, but I am tired.

From Past Archives.

A beautiful gorgeous Georgia evening from July 2003. I know that Jeanne is hitting there soon and I imagine it doesn't look quite like that this week. So much weather to deal with this season. I send best wishes to the areas hard hit by these relentless hurricanes. I will do more than send my wishes, I will donate to the Red Cross.

This is the last day for our county fair. They end with a demolition derby. It goes until 10:30 p.m. or so, and I never used to let my daughter go, because it is a school night. We may go this year. Not sure, since she was involved in a bit of trouble, yesterday at the fair. I am one of the few parents who insist on staying at the fairgrounds when my child is there. Most parents in the area are dropping off their 12 and 13-year old children to run the fairgrounds wild. And, picking them back up after the fair closes.

I was tired last evening after being there all day and look up at the sheriff's mobile unit, just to see my daughter and all her friends standing there. They were in trouble. I immediately went over. The deputy said he was relieved to see a parent that actually remained on the fair grounds. There were 10 of them. Two had parents there. My daughter and her best friend. I had brought my daughter and her boyfriend and her best friend's boyfriend with me. I left my daughter's best friend with her mother and took my daughter and the two boys home. I told the other teenagers to keep their noses clean until their parents come to pick them up. They all seemed a bit shaken up.

My daughter's boyfriend was caught spray painting (with the spray-in hair color they were selling) B + G (boy plus girl) on the wall in the tunnel underneath the race track. His first initial and my daughter's. Gladly he wasn't writing profanity. The deputy pulled me inside the mobile unit and showed me the can. He said "This stuff washes out easily. This isn't a big major problem, but should be given attention." He also said, "Look, we are busy looking for lost kids here, this is not a big priority. Just keep the kids with you or take them home." I left my name and number in case the fair committee wants my daughter and her friends to wash the walls of the tunnel. (My idea). They may call me.

I was a bit bent out of shape. I do not tolerate trouble in that magnitude. I think the most trouble I got in was soaping windows and throwing corn around Halloween. I lived in fear of my Mom's wrath. The town I grew up in didn't even have a deputy sheriff.

I am beginning to realize that this boyfriend may not be the best selection for my daughter. He had an incident at the beginning of summer with shop lifting and got caught. He is moving to the other side of town in a couple of months. I am hoping that things cool down between them. I am trying to talk sense into my daughter (not always an easy task). The counselling helps.

This is Fancy.

This is Fancy. She is the horse of my daughter's friend. She is showing her at the fair. Of course my daughter wants a horse every time she sees her school friend and her horse. I say "Go walk your dog." Sable is as fat as a pig. I need to take some responsibility for that, too. I just burnt my hamburger tonight and Sable got it.

The vet didn't want me giving her any people food. I had 10 outside dogs when I was growing up. We kept a dog food bucket in the kitchen for table scraps. It was my job to feed the dogs every night and water them. I was the only one that would actually take fresh water to them every day. I recall pounding the frozen water out of the tin pans, so I could pour fresh water in. I worked for a vet when I was 17 and I felt it was important that they had fresh water.

Feeling very down and depressed today. Not sure if it is hormones or the environment. Work has not been pleasant, I haven't been happy with the house and the lack of help from my daughter and niece.

Have a headache. Am cutting it short tonight.

Tonight at the county fair.

Took my daughter to meet some friends at the county fair tonight. This is a picture of a couple of them riding the scrambler. The September air on a clear night. Sausages, onions and peppers grilling. Bright, flashing lights. Girls high-pitched screams. The roar of a crowd. Wow.

It is everything you want at a fair and more. I broke down and ate a sausage sandwich tonight. I made sure my hands were washed and sanitized. That and a Pepsi. I usually like the lemonade, but I went for the Pepsi this time. I brought home a funnel cake, wrapped it up air tight. That is for tomorrow. I bought passes to the fair this time, so I will probably go at least two more times. The sausage sandwich has left me wanting another one and soon. I used to make them in the crock pot. I'll have to do that again.

You know how they say that certain smells and certain songs can take you back to another place and time? I had that happen to me tonight. In 1975 I used to work as a short order cook in a greasy spoon restaurant/bar. The health inspector never came around and they never ran the exhaust fan. The place always smelled of deep fry grease. That is how the fair smells. It is pleasant in the open air and when you are hungry. It isn't pleasant when it is saturated into your clothes and hair and you are two feet away from someone in a vehicle driving home. Never mind.

Anyway, the smell transported me back to 1975. There was a magical feeling about that bar. From the kitchen I had a perfect view of the bar. I used to drool over the young cowboys that would come and sit on those bar stools. I was only 15, and they were probably 18 to 25 years old. I must have fallen in love every other week or so.

There was one I was particularly interested in. I remember each and every song he played on the juke box. Well, tonight the country band at the fair played that song. Talk about deja vu and memories. I was back in good old 1975 standing in that hot kitchen with the greasy smell and the song playing on the jukebox. All I needed to do was look into the dining/bar area and he would be standing there in his cowboy boots and his huge Stetson hat. He was about the only one who wore the cowboy hat in my little town. To me he was a real cowboy.

Two years later he also ended up being my boyfriend. Or, to me he was my boyfriend. He was just toying with me, I guess. Water under the bridge. They say you never forget your first love. Well, I haven't. But, I also haven't forgotten my second, my third, or my fourth. But, who's counting? I will always wonder if they hear a song that reminds them of me. I am sounding like Isaak Dinesen. Out of Africa.

I love September.

Pretty as a daisy. That is what today looked like. Crisp, sunny, not hot, not cold, fresh as a daisy. I like the brightness and the boldness of the yellow daisy. But, I also like muted and soft pastels. The county fair is going on this week. I used to take my daughter because she liked to look at the horses, cows, pigs, chickens, goats and rabbits. And the turkeys.

She doesn't like to ride the rides and she doesn't like to eat. I like to eat. Three years ago at that fair, I got really sick. I attributed it to eating something nasty there. I had a hot dog, but maybe my hands weren't clean from the horse or cow barns. I always use the hand sanitizers they have, now. And, I don't eat at fairs anymore. :(

I always like the demolition derbies and the shows that they have. Truck pulls are nice, but too loud. I used to like the harness racing, but when they didn't cancel the racing in the 95 degree heat at a neighboring county, I couldn't stand to watch anymore. It was July and we cancelled going to that county's fair because of the heat. But they still had the harness racing in the middle of the afternoon.

What I cannot stand are the rip-off games. Nor can I stand the "characters" that stand behind the counters and try to get you to play them. They just creep me out. I always wonder about the ones that run the rides, too. When my daughter was little and I put her on one of the kiddie rides, I counted the hickeys the carnival guy had on his neck. I counted 7. That was 7 that I could see. I was pretty grossed out. Neither she nor I ride the rides anymore.

Must have really been bored today. I found this site. It takes a while to get the gist of what they are doing, but it gets addicting. Maybe it was me, but some of them began to get quite funny. I chose the open gallery and commercials.

I made mini pizzas today for dinner. That is where you use muffins cut in half, spread them with pizza sauce, and toppings of your choice. I like pepperoni, green peppers and mushrooms. And lots of finely shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake in the oven at around 500 degree Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted. I always put too much sauce on. Makes it hard to eat them. The kids love them. This is a nice meal for kids to help with. They get to top their own pizza.

I remember when I was little, my oldest sister used to make pizza from the box. We used to put hot dogs and pickles on our pizza. I am serious. I think once we sliced up bologna and put that on it. And sprinkled lots of parmesan cheese on it, too. I think once I got too much parmesan on mine, because I didn't eat that stuff again for thirty-some years. I am just now getting to the point where I sprinkle it on my spaghetti.

Same thing happened with me and pepper. I was about 4 years old and my mom heard me sneezing behind the couch in the living room. When she found me I was covered in pepper. She said that I had managed to get the lid off and I had black pepper in my eyes, up my nose and of course in my mouth. I must have been hungry. I didn't touch pepper again for 30 years. Too bad it couldn't have been bread or chocolate. Oh, well. I will sparingly add pepper to a dish, now.

Goofing off on Sunday.

My daughter goofing off with her boyfriend's hat. She would not give me a decent face. I thought this would be a good advertisement for how many pictures a memory card could hold. My nephew said "that, or one for the longevity of a battery." Oh well, it was Sunday morning and we were goofing off.

So, I have a bunch of goofy pictures of her in this hat. This is about the only one I can post without putting her mug on-line. She was making faces. She was also cold as you can tell by the big comforter she is wrapped in. That is the way it usually is in my house. I am hot and uncomfortable, everyone else is freezing.

Friday I took her and three friends to the skate place. They danced more than they skated. The owner played all their favorite dance music. They get in the middle of the rink and dance in their socks, while everyone else skates around them. The skate place has a disco ball and many colorful lights in the ceiling. She is just killing time until the football games are over and her favorite dance place opens up for the winter season. The lighthouse.

Saturday I stuffed 5 kids and me in my little Honda Civic. I had 4 in the back. Two of the girls sat on the two boys laps. Yikes. I took them to a bonfire way out in Timbuktu. They had fun. Or, four of them did. My daughter and her boyfriend were one of the couples in the back seat. The girl that was on the other boys' lap on the way to the bonfire sat up front with me on the way back; and the girl who had been up front with me on the way to the party was in the back on the other boys' lap. Seems they switched sometime during the party. The rejected girl was very angry and in a bad mood. Double yikes. I dropped her off at her house on the way home. Her father always gets angry and she had been at my house since Friday evening so it was for the best. I let the boys stay until 10:15 and then shoo'd them home. They lived right up the road.

I was thinking about my daughter having this kind of relationship at 15 or 16, but not at 13. We are in counseling since early summer, in an effort for me to get a handle on all of this. Everything moves so fast, I want to make sure I do the right thing. I have a tendency to bury my head in the sand, and with a teenager you really can't do that. If you do, you are really asking for problems.

I was supposed to meet an old school friend who I hadn't seen in close to 25 years for dinner on Saturday night. I was thinking about her on Friday, about the flooding in her town. She lived high on a hill, so I figure she would be okay. Not so. She called Saturday morning, the hill under her house was giving way. My God! You think you're safe on a hill, think again. I told her not to worry about meeting me, she had much more important things to take care of. I would be in touch.

Ivan enters Ohio

My back sidewalk is a small river. It is easier to walk through the grass. My feet get less wet. Ivan is now visiting Ohio. I know that we have it better than others in the country, so I am not going to complain. In fact, I have it so much better than my co-workers located east of me.

Some of my co-workers from the home office had to evacuate their homes because a dam is about to give way. I had to leave the home office early because they closed the main road between the home office and my town. I took the high road. Since I grew up in that area, I know all the other routes. I recall my Mom saying she lived through some floods in the river area, but there has not been any type of flooding like this in over 40 years.

I do recall the Shadyside incident in June of 1990. My Mom and I drove through there right after that wall of water hit the tiny town and the National Guard was searching for missing bodies.

We were on our way for a small vacation at the Bob Evans farms. It was wonderful, although I have to admit I saw plenty of horses, but no pigs. Hmmm. I guess if you really think about it that is a good thing. The pigs were being packaged and sent to grocery stores and restaurants, right?

I miss my Mom. Before she got too old, we used to travel all over. Another one of our favorite vacations was to Holland, Michigan to see the tulips. I share her love of beautiful flowers. Especially the ones that continue to come back on their own without a lot of work on my part. :0

If your parent is still living, spend as much time as you can with them. Do those things that you have been meaning to do. I always meant to write my Mom's stories down. Now, I get confused. What year did they do that, what city did that happen in? You know. Hindsight being 20/20.

It was a lonely, quiet night on the ....

...lake, when all of a sudden a spaceship landed and out popped a purple alien. He was clean, neat and a very pretty color. Of course he was plastic, that is the technology of the future, isn't it? Maybe he was a purple people eater who lost his horn. No matter, he didn't have a mouth anyway. Or, not any that I could see. Good, he won't be much of a talker. He could have been a she. There was nothing down there. Smooth as a balloon.

I liked him or her immediately. Easy on the eye, pretty color, no mouth, big eyes, a big head (perhaps it held a big brain). He didn't mind me taking his picture, either. He let me move him and pose him wherever I wanted to. Never put up a fuss. Was quiet all night long. I supposed I should have tuned in and communicated telepathically. But, it has been a while since I imbibed enough alcohol to operate on that level. Hmmm. I have to reduce the activity in my brain to a quiet white noise. Then I can hear things. Others trying to talk to me and such.

No matter. I probably won't see him for a while. I will be back at the lake around Halloween. Always a big party there for that particular holiday. Maybe I will dress up as an alien and then I can fit in. I will wear the green glow outfit that some aliens wear. Lime green and grape purple go well together. We should get along famously.

I used to read all the strange and unusual books. One of my favorite subjects was spontaneous combustion. How in the heck did that happen? I am not too sold on the ghosts and such. Of course, I wouldn't be caught dead sleeping at night in a haunted house or room. Why ask for trouble? My imagination scares the hell out of me in broad daylight. I don't need to add atmoshphere too. I hate it when I get scared enough that I hear the blood rushing in my ears.

Do you believe in UFO's?

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a STAR, for crying out loud. See the little dot in the middle of the sky in the above picture? I am a realist. I am not saying that people don't see things, and that people don't believe that they see things. I believe that they believe. And I believed in Santa Claus when I was a little girl.

Read the book Ezekiel in the bible. Draw your own conclusions, there. I haven't read Chariot of the Gods, but I know what it is about. Fact or science fiction? But, read Ezekiel. Even with an imagination that is some pretty strong stuff for Biblical times.

If you were a tree and you wanted to guarantee survival of your species, what do you do? Spread your seeds out with the wind as far as you could. Plant some on every planet (er, I mean continent) that you could. And forget about 'em. Some are bound to survive somewhere.

If you are still around in a few million years, go back and look them up. If you aren't too busy trying to keep yourself alive. And, what if some did survive? What if they surpassed your expectations? What if they disappointed you? What if your kids disappointed you? Would you just wipe them out? Would you leave them alone? What if you were destroyed and you had to leave them as orphans? Don't orphans continue to look for their parents, hoping beyond hope that they really didn't die? That they were still out there somewhere? And, they just keep looking. Never giving up. That some beautiful day their Mother and/or Father is going to walk back into their lives and explain away all the doubt and worry. And the pain. Why did you leave me, why? Just plain human nature, I guess.

Serenity Lake.

They should call this serenity lake. It was so peaceful this week-end. The calm between the storms. Between Frances and Ivan, I guess. Business is booming for the lumber companies. I used to work for one in Virginia. I won't name any names.

How is service pack 2 treating you? I loaded it on my pc over two weeks ago, no problems. A minor adjustment with my browser, but nothing great. I just loaded it on my daughter's pc, we'll see how she fares.

My daughter gets her stitches out on Wednesday. She will have small scars that should diminish over time. By the time she is an adult, we will probably barely be able to even see where the moles were.

Her favorite class this year? Gym class. Activity, running, getting all that energy out. I have her in bed by 9:30 (most nights) and she gets up at 6:30. If she sleeps all night through, that is a good nine hours of sleep. I am a big believer in plenty of sleep. Even if it takes her 20 minutes to fall asleep, then it would be 8 1/2 hours of sleep. Now, if I can just get her to eat better. "But, I'm not hungry!" I sit the food in front of her just in case. Sometimes she eats it, sometimes she picks at it and sometimes the dog gets it.

Pink or red sky at night.

Sailor's delight, Hunter's delight, Fisherman's delight. Somebody's delight. This is from the same lake as yesterday's post. At a later time, the sky turned a brilliant pink/purple. It was rather dark by that time and this is the earliest shot, it had the most light.

I use a Canon PowerShot S50 digital camera. I purchased it about a little over a year ago and I do some small movies with it, but mostly I wanted it for nature scenes. I love screen savers, and I make them using Irfanview. I love my camera.

Sunset on the lake

I spent the evening here listening to 6 guitar players jam, ice cold beer, warm crackling fire, food that words just can't describe, and a sky so awesome it took my breath away.

My friends and I get together here about once a month during the summer, but the sky tonight was too good to pass up. I clicked away. I probably took 50 pictures of just the sky. It was very hard to narrow them down. I tried to get one that had a hint of the sun setting, the treeline and that beautiful sky. Later the sky turned pink and purple, but those pictures didn't come out as well. Probably because of the low sunlight.

When I don't have a picture to post, I will pull one from this collection. They are just so inspiring. I will probably make a screen saver out of them also. It is so refreshing to have my own work to draw upon and not have to download other people's from the internet.

And, I can save them all in their original size. I have oodles of hard drive space, so I don't need to worry about room anymore. I take the pictures in a huge size so that when I scale them down, the clarity is there.

We sang so many different songs tonight, my voice is hoarse. What a wonderful way to spend the evening. I made my usual cheese ball and cheese tray. Someone else made calico beans, and there was hot nacho cheese sauce with sausage, and layered taco dip. Sloppy jos, hot dogs, wings, meatballs, relish tray, and fruit pizza for dessert. Good food, good friends, good beer, good weather. Man, it just doesn't get any better than that.

A bit of sun peeking through.

The rain was not such good news to some in my area. The flooding was devastating. I can't imagine what the people are going through. And now, Florida is going to be hit with Ivan. It must seem like the end of the world is coming to some folks.

I decided to post another picture from my rain pictures. The first one looked awfully dark and this one has the sun peeking through the trees. This was the first shot taken, and it seems that the first one is usually the best one. Sometimes.

I did not sleep well last night. My daughter's doctors office had called to tell me the status of the moles yesterday and I had missed the call. By the time I got the message it was too late to call the doctors office and I had to wait until this morning to call. While on hold, you are thinking - okay this is it. Malignant or benign. The nurse could say anything at this time. Benign. Whew. Then after I hung up, I am thinking, "Are you sure?" I guess that is natural. I want so much to do the right thing. I feel like a heel not having her moles looked at before.

They said to go by the ABCD rule.

A = asymmetry (look for sides not matching)
B = border (look for an irregular border)
C = color (more than one color is suspicious)
D = diameter (bigger than a pencil eraser)

and now they are adding E = elevated (raised = suspicious).

It was quite an ordeal for my daughter. While we were in the hospital awaiting surgery, they have to get a urine sample for a pregnancy test. My daughter is 13, so they took a urine test. Of course my daughter said she wasn't worried. I said well if you are pregnant, I'll be on the floor and they will have to administer CPR to Mom.

Across the hall they weren't so fortunate. I guess the pregnancy test of one young girl of 14 came back positive. What a way to find out you are pregnant. We could hear her crying. Her Mom was hugging her. I was happy to see her Mom supporting her instead of freaking out.

We are applying the first aid antibiotic to the stitches every day. I will spare my readers and not share the pictures of my daughter's back. It can be a bit much to take. I don't care to look at things like that. I was a bit squeamish when I saw them at first, but the maternal instinct took over and I am like "out of my way" give me the ointment, this is my daughter's stitches, they need my care. I look at them carefully every day for signs of trouble. I scratch around each and every one of them for her every night. They itch her something terrible.

It is weird. Just when you think she is pulling from you emotionally and you are feeling a bit left out of her life (refer back to the Wednesday August 25th post), something like this happens and she is back in your arms like a small babe again. It brings tears to your eyes. So precious. Such a small amount of time you have to hold them, before they are gone and out on their own.

To my Wonderful Sister

Happy Birthday

Sometimes you wish your sisters were as nice as your friends and sometimes you wish your friends were as nice as your sister. I have a sister who is both. My sister and my friend.

We are separated by some 40 miles, but get together when we can. We wonder why the family can't get along, and times we understand. For the most part I have a wonderful family. We get along very well (most of us). It helps that we are a large family.

I was scanning the family album and I love the pictures of us when we were little. Sitting on the living room couch and eating crackers with butter and jelly on them. We didn't break the soda crackers into one of the four perforated squares. Oh no. We ate the entire square with it's little four squares intact. The crackers were as big as our heads. But we were smiling. Soda crackers.

Frances visits Ohio.

Oh, the rain. I caught wet diamonds cascading down from my back porch today. It is possible that it could be because I never put the drain spout back up. So, it makes a nice picture.

I finally got my dishwasher fixed. I think. I have run the appliance three times now and each time it has drained on the first run through. The fix-it place sent a different crew this time. Hallelujah! He said that he thinks the pump is set too low and it gets too hot and by the time the drain cycle starts it is overheated and just shuts down so that it won't catch fire. That is encouraging. And the timer continues so that the water doesn't drain, until it has cooled off and I turn the knob all the way around to dry. I did notice that I had to wait a while before the drain would work before. So, they lifted it up off the floor, remounted the motor and so far so good. He said that the motor could be ruined, but we have to wait and see.

Just around the corner.

Halloween mask. From last year. It is coming up quickly. My daughter loves Halloween. She loves the grotesque. The above mask is not her. It was at a Haunted Field here in Ohio. No, he is not on fire. The camera blurred the shot and I thought it made it look even more macabre.

I probably decorate just as much at Halloween as I do at Christmas. I am more in the mood in October because I love the outdoors that time of year. Fall colors, crisp air, orange pumpkins and yellow maple leaves. I just love the smell of maple leaves on the ground after a rain. I grew up in a big white house with two huge maple trees in the front yard. We never had grass in our front yard because of the maples. We tried. We always knew when the trick or treaters were coming because we could hear their little feet rustling through the dried maple leaves.

My daughter's favorite Halloween costume (or maybe it was mine) was when I dressed her up like a cat. She had a black body suit and I stayed up until 2 a.m. sewing black boa fur to the collar and sleeves. Believe me when I say I am no sewer. Not my cup of tea. We bought the mask, ears and tail and the face paint. I will look up the picture and post it when it begins to get closer to Halloween. One of our favorite movies was always Hocus Pocus. It is just a huge hit with the kids. I have never met a kid who didn't like it. It must be a cult favorite by now.

My daughter always liked the rubber rats, spiders and scream masks. She never liked the princess and fairy outfits. Nor, the witch ones. At one she was a pink princess, at two she was a valentine, at three she was Nala, at four she was a black cat, at five we repeated the black cat, at six she was the blue fairy, then at seven she was the scream phantom, at eight she was dracula, at nine she repeated dracula, at ten she was walking death, at eleven she was a hideous, grotesque monster, at twelve she scared the treaters who came to our house with her scream mask and we'll see what she is this year.

I will remember to get pictures of our patio decorated for the event this year. Maybe we will have a Halloween party. That sounds like fun.

Pretty purple flowers

Here is a pretty purple flower plant that I can add to my pictures of flowers. I am gathering up a good many of them and then I will create a screen saver to share with everyone. For free, of course. Well, as soon as I create a personal web page, I will share them. I have a work one, but this isn't work, is it? It is fun!

I had a beautiful Labor Day week-end. You couldn't ask for nicer weather. My friend was up for a couple of days. She and I go way back. She lost her silver buff cocker spaniel in April and we looked for female puppies that she could adopt. Oh, there are so many dogs out there, it was heart breaking. And, so many cute pictures. We just fell in love with every other one. I think she found one she likes and she is calling about her tomorrow. Another happy match, I hope.

I cooked hotdogs, hamburgers and chicken on the grill. Made baked beans and macaroni salad. I arranged my usual cheese tray with cheese ball and crackers. My daughter is 13 and her friends were over. I had fun when I made the cheese balls on Saturday morning. When I create the actual cheese ball I roll it in chopped walnuts. I told her and the friends, "Well, I am going to go roll my balls in some nuts, now." They love that kind of humor. I have had to adjust to it. It used to be that I couldn't stand that kind of humor. Having kids makes you really lighten up. I like to make them laugh.

Hey, Pardner!

This is my good friend's grandson. He is growing up so fast. He was dressed up in some western garb and with such a serious, sober look on his face. The best of the west. He really gave my dogwood tree a work-out when he came up to visit last summer. I have some of those pictures somewhere on a disk, I will hunt them up and post them. He is so photogenic.

I will be traveling over the Labor Day week-end. I hope the weather is good for the two cook-outs I will be going to. I will try to get some good pictures. I have made my usual (cheese balls).

I caught one of my favorite movies on t.v. tonight. The Professional, also known as Leon. Rough, but touching. Not your cotton-candy, syrupy sweet happy ending. However, I think it was left wide open for a wonderful sequel. Like, The Professional (20 years later) starring Matilda grown up, talented and of course, very , very angry.

My pizza cost how much?

We ordered pizza tonight. I asked them when I called. Can your driver make change for a fifty? That was all I had. Yes, they can. I went downstairs for 30 seconds - 30 seconds to get clothes out of the dryer. My 13-year old daughter paid the pizza man. She gave him the 50 thinking it was a 20; he said thanks and away he went.

I come upstairs, see the pizza and I say, "where's my change?" My daughter gave me a blank look. I was horrified, or course. I called the pizza place immediately. I told them what happened and they said they would get hold of the driver and we would get our change.

He brought the change about 20 minutes later. Whew. That was a close one.

Is there anything more refreshing than a glass of...

...ice water? After a long, hot day and an evening of mowing the grass, just sitting in my air conditioned home and gulping ice water is such a relief. Life is hot. I have so much going on right now. School just started on Monday. My daughter is having six moles removed tomorrow and I am so, so nervous. It will be ten days or so before we know if they are cancerous or not. Talk about torture. I toss and turn at night as it is, let alone waiting to hear this news.

And what will I do if they are malignant? Perish the thought. I am already beating myself up for each time she got sunburnt when she was little. I have a picture of her in the tub and she is beet red, her bathing suit marks are lilly white. She is grinning from ear to ear. I cringe when I see the picture, now.

Isn't it just like a Mother to beat herself up? Guilt trip. Well, since I spent two hours mowing and raking outside, I have nothing done inside. On to the dishes and kitchen to clean. Both girls are out running this evening, so I didn't have to fix any dinner. That helps.

My Dogwood.

This is my dogwood before it starts to turn colors. Now that it is September, the leaves will begin to turn a rusty red. The tree, itself is only really pretty for about 3 weeks out of the year. When it blooms in dogwood cream/white. One time last winter the snow was real wet and thick and it stuck to the tree. It was real pretty then, too.

But, the kids like to climb on it. It is a good beginners climber tree. Not very high up and the small children can get a good leg up on it. Usually my dog is tied to it for nice days when I think she needs a breath of fresh air. Or, maybe it' s me that needs the fresh air.

Anyway, school is back in session full force. After filling out all the paperwork for emergency contact persons and emergency phone numbers and what to do in case of an early dismissal, and class fees. Oh, and we already have a fund raiser. Tiny tins of chocolate for God-awful amounts of money. I am torn on this one. Part of me says, Oh go ahead. Buy some candy, buy some candles for gifts. The other part of me says, Do not waste your money! You can get it cheaper at such and such store. Of course you can get it cheaper at such and such store, but they don't help the class out. Another part of me says that is what our taxes are for. That the schools misuse the money and that is why they need fundraisers. I don't know. Fundraisers have been a part of the school system since I can remember. Still, September is really early to be buying candy for Christmas. I think. Even if we don't get the candy until October it will still be sitting around for 3 full months before we give it away. There is not only the chance that it will get stale, there is the chance that my reisitance will break down and I will eat it.

So, what will the new school year bring? More complaining of how stupid school is? Or how stupid the teachers are? ~sigh~ Fighting over homework not done. Third day of school and she is already grounded. I came home early to find that she wasn't home. I called her boyfriend's house. She is up there. Busted. Get your butt over here, NOW! But, Mom, I forgot! Too bad. You are grounded for 2 days. No boyfriend! Not fair! Too bad! ~sigh~