Another story from the book

Here is a yard ornament from my sister's house from last week-end. This blue orb is in her "touch-me-not" flower bed. Those flowers are just plain fun. We had them all over when we were growing up and as far as I can tell, she is the only sister that has continued the flower in our family. The seed pods burst when you squeezed them. There are dozens of little pods, so the flowers still thrive. I remember them from my childhood days.

Another story from the book, "Charlie Wilson's War." It was rather well-known around the Washington D.C. circuit not to make an enemy of Charlie Wilson. He was known for being a ruthless person. If you didn't do things his way, he got even with you.

I don't recall who had the say over who rides in the airplanes that a Congressman will ride on when going to a foreign country, but whoever it was put his foot down and would not allow Charlie's one girlfriend to ride on the plane. (Not Herring). Wives, family and assistants can go, but there was a rule that didn't allow friends and such. Most of the time, they let it slide. But this one guy didn't. It made Charlie angry. He was heading for Pakistan, so he called the King of Pakistan who flew his own private jet to pick Charlie and his lady-friend up so they could ride together. I don't know. Must have been some mile-high club quota that they had to ride together.

Anyway, Charlie fixed the airlines. He made an assistant ride in the government plane with the luggage and he made the plane ride right alongside the plane from Pakistan just to carry the luggage and the assistant. The assistant (a man) was in tears pleading with the pilots and the crew not to be angry at him - that Charlie was making him do this.

And, he held them up so that the crew and pilot missed some kind of company picnic. Now that I recall the story, it may have been the CIA's plane.

The movie made more of Herring than the book did. Herring moved on to a more wealthy man after she got the ball rolling with Charlie and Afghanistan. Charlie didn't stay true to one woman for very long. Not very surprising there, given his character type. Boozer, womanizer, party goer, spender, swindler, ... makes a great representative for the government.

I didn't really mean to sound cruel when I suggested that Julia Roberts should not have played Herring. If you look at photos of Herring, she looks pinched and fake. She looks as if she has china doll features and is delicate. Julia, on the other hand looks healthy, strong and natural.

Poppy Trio

Doin' their stuff

Whatever it is that ants do to peonies. Must be something sweet on the bud of the peony to attract them. I will have nice big fluffy pink blooms by the week-end. Some are bursting. And, my poppies are blooming, I'll have photos of them, too.

Trimmed front bushes

On May 20th I posted a photo of my front bushes before they were trimmed, here is the after shot. Much neater. Not a great amount taken off, but they do look better. This photo was taken before I mowed. Which I did this evening.

I was able to watch "Mad Money" last evening. In bits and pieces between chores and company. It was an okay movie. There were a couple of parts that made me laugh. But, don't they record the serial numbers of the money before they destroy it? Wouldn't they have that as hard evidence? I don' t know.

It is raining men. Or, half-grown men anyway. The word is out that my daughter is single again and after about a month of her being depressed and very down, they are crawling out of the woodwork. Old boyfriends, new boyfriends and just plain guy friends. I have not heard her laugh and carry on so much in weeks. Mom is trying very hard to reign her in. No rebounds! There is no hurry. But, to a 17-year-old it would be the epitome of disaster for her boyfriend to be seen with another girl before she can find a guy. I guess.

Oh. And we are driving, now. The little green car is now the proud owner of a window sticker that states very matter of factly "STUDENT DRIVER." Which to Mom means "BACK THE F&*$ OFF!" Very exciting 'round here.

My take on "Charlie Wilson's War"

Why do they hate us? I finished reading the book "Charlie Wilson's War" and this is my version of what I got from the book:

Before Charlie Wilson got involved with the Soviets invading Afghanistan the US CIA was pussy-footing around the issue. Sending just enough so that it looked like we were helping the Afghanistan cause, but not enough to really help them at all.

It was suggested that the CIA wanted revenge on the Soviet Union. They wanted this to be their "Viet Nam." They wanted to bleed the Soviets dry as they had done to America during the Viet Nam war.

So when Charlie came with his group, of course he thought he was doing the right thing. As did the group that assisted him. It was indeed horrible what was being done to the Afghanistan people.

There were many lucky events that helped Charlie to run his covert operation in the 80's. Two major ones were the Iran-Contra affair and Chernobyl. Both events took the limelight away form anything going on in Afghanistan.

After the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan (a few years after Charlie and his helpers working hard to get sufficient weapons over there) the militants felt as if they were forgotten. Then they found out that America had used them as a revenge tactic against the Soviet Union. As if the Americans were not really interested in helping them (at least until Charlie came along) and used them as pawns in a horrible war to bleed the Russians.

The militants asked for aid to help rebuild their country after the Soviets left. Of course we supplied "our kind" of aid. Medical supplies and hygiene. The last thing the men wanted was for us to educate the women and teach or to provide them with health care. Next would be "sex education" and "family planning". It was a disaster and they began attacking our AID vehicles and people.

After supplying the mujaheed with millions of dollars every year (Saudi Arabia matched us dollar for dollar) to fight the Russians our government stopped cold turkey one year - 1991. Charlie managed to sneak a bill in and in 1992 the US gave Afghanistan 200 million. The Russians were gone, the mujaheed were fighting amongst themselves.

And, they were trafficking in drug trade. Huge.

What would come out of the rubble? What hole the CIA left in Afghanistan with the millions of dollars of weapons hidden in the mountains and caves drew Muslims from far and wide to this beginning of a mighty and fearsome group of jihad.

Charlie regrets nothing. He firmly believes that this action in the 80's prevented WWIII. He may well be right. It could be that the CIA thought the mujaheed would burn themselves out after America pulled out their gravy train. Didn't happen.

It seemed to the Islams that the Soviet Union wanted world domination in so much as attempting to claim all the oil fields of the Middle East - beginning by wiping out Afghanistan. Then, the Islams believed the the US was after world domination and wanted to claim the oil fields. They claim they can topple one super power, they will topple another. They claim it was Allah that helped them to win, not the millions of dollars pumped into the cause or the stash of technically advanced weaponry by America and Saudi Arabia.

Memorial Day Tribute

Today I chose to research and read about women who have fallen in the line of duty. My tribute is for Sharon Lane. She was from Canton, Ohio. She was a tireless nurse in the Vietnam war. She fell on June 8, 1969 shortly before her 26th birthday from shrapnel from a rocket that landed in the hospital she was working in.

Come on, keep up!

She has four legs, I have two. We went visiting over the week-end and folks who have never seen her or have not seen her for a long time said "That is one fat dog!" I say "She isn't fat, her legs are short!" My daughter says "She's fat because Mom keeps feeding her people food!"

Okay. I'll start again. No more people food. Well, no more after the left over eggs and bacon we gave her a few moments ago. Somebody gave her a green onion Saturday and she was sick all day Sunday. Sigh. Drunks. This photo was from early Sunday morning.

And, before the Amish buggies whisked by us on their way to Sunday services. Sable was quite frightened of them. I don't sleep well at other folks' houses so I was up early Sunday and decided that it was such a beautiful morning and I was out in the country, why not take a walk and get some photos along the way? That is exactly what I did. On the way back to my sister's house the Amish came trotting up the road and poor Sable thought she was done for.

I did not have a collar or a leash on her. She can barely walk some days and she listens to me very well. Not one car came along the road. The country road pictured above is where my sister has lived for more than 35 years. There were perhaps 3 houses back then. Now there are a dozen.

Living in the "sticks" has it's advantages and it's disadvantages. You can think of the advantages. The beautiful scenery. On my walk I was drowning in the smell of sweet country grass and woods that I do not recall smelling for quite a long time. It was very heady. The solitude and the serene atmosphere. The privacy. All wonderful perks.

The downside for me would outweigh the advantages. Poor roads and difficulty getting out in the winter. Isolation from medical help and the law. (might be an advantage to some not to have the law around! LOL!). Telephone, cable and electrical problems. It is a fact. The utility companies do not give folks like this as much attention as they do for people in town. There is not enough money coming from the end of this long and isolated lane for them to put in decent equipment or to spend any significant amount of time repairing things.

My sister has a satellite dish for television. She had a phone with a "party" line until the mid-80's. Do you remember a "party line?" It was very bizarre to me. Sometimes she would want to make a call and when she picked up the phone, you could hear other folks talking. You would either ask them to get off the line or try again later. Wow. She has a private line now, but sometimes when her telephone is out, she doesn't even know it until she picks it up to make a call. When somebody calls her, it just rings and rings when her phone is down. Forget cellular phones out here.

Internet is very new to her and completely erratic. She has been without service for a week now until the company she hooked up with (wireless) gets over their cold and can come out, climb her old T.V. antenna and troubleshoot the problem. He has been out a dozen times to work on her signal. Or lack thereof. I told her when the trees started to fill in, she would be down a lot. She is up high on a ridge and this company could "see" the water tower in town so they set her up with wireless. That was the middle of winter. She is frustrated to say the least.

When her electricity goes out, it is out for hours. I love the country. It's a nice place to visit. Now, excuse me while I go and check Sable for ticks. Ugh.

Cheese Ball

For years. I wish I had kept count. I do know that I have dozens of little glass Kraft Old English jars in my cupboards. Dozens. I would give them away, I even threw a few away. Cringe. Solid glass. They make great juice glasses. Two ingredients in my cheese ball. Two. Not counting the walnuts and maraschino cherry. Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Old English jar cheese. With a dark blue lid.

You will see some recipes that add garlic salt and Worcestershire sauce. All are okay, but I find out you really don't need them. I always serve my cheese balls with Keebler's Club crackers. They are the firmest cracker that will withstand a cheese spreader pushing on it. Ritz and Townhouse crumble under the pressure. They taste just as good, but club crackers are tougher.

I have discovered that it isn't worth walking into a party or a get together sans cheese ball. I can't handle the look of disappointment on some folks faces. Because it is so darn easy for me to make one, I just take one, regardless. The very few times I have been asked "Did you bring your cheese ball?", and I didn't, just to see their faces fall - reminds me each and every time. Just do it. Just make one. Sometimes it does not turn out very well, but they don't care. It usually tastes the same. The one above came out near perfect. The weather has to be right. Maybe the ingredients have to be fresh. I have to leave the cheese out just the right amount of time before I mix them together. Too long and I will have soup. I have to leave it uncovered in the refrigerator just the right length of time or it will have a hard crusty edge. Yuck.

This is for tomorrow's cook-out at my sister's house. I am travelling to another sister's house today for a visit. We are going to make a fruit pizza to take to the cook-out. I have never made one, so I hope to take pictures.

Tabor's post for Saturday, May 24th reminds me of the chapter I read in "Charlie Wilson's War" by George Crile. Seems Charlie drank too much one evening and drove to his townhouse. Leaving Washington D.C. towards Virginia he hit another vehicle. He kept driving to his townhouse. He had to look out his driver's side window to see the road. That is how smashed up the front end of his car was.

Beside the fact that this is a horrible act of irresponsibility (especially for a man of Congress), what bothered me the most was how it was handled. Or, how it wasn't. He was scheduled to fly out of the country the next day. He hid from the police by not answering his door. He called his assistants (or whatever they were) and it was swept under the rug. The driver of the other car was not injured. I think. It wasn't real clear. His car was smashed up pretty bad and Charlie's people paid for the damage. Charlie laughed about it later. I have only followed the next chapter where he gets to go on out of the country as scheduled. It appears as if nothing happened at all. Not a thing was done to this S.O.B. This was NOT in the movie.

Get this. "Federal law prohibits local authorities from arresting a national legislator on his way to or from Congress." When Charlie called his lawyer from his townhouse (while the police were banging on his door) the lawyer advised him to drive directly to Congress the next morning and they couldn't touch him. Then there was a fine line about hitting the car in one police station's jurisdiction and his townhouse being located in another. Wilson had friend's on the police department. He told them that he was saving the world from Communism and HAD to catch the plane in the morning and that there might be substantial raises in store for the District police. Charlie recounted this statement years later and laughed about it.

The Pentagon provided an escort officer to take him to his plane. His administrative assistant handled everything for him. He told the police and the press and the boy who was driving the car that "Charlie thought he'd hit a bridge railing and came on home." Which means that the Congressman would NOT have checked to see if the driver of the car was okay. Wilson laughed later saying that the kid was new in town and didn't know that he could have really caused some problems for him.

Oh, and the administrative assistant? He finally had it with Charlie. He moved along to another position later. He had fixed everything for Mr. Charlie Wilson one too many times.

This sickens me. I said it after I watched the movie and thought maybe I would feel different after I read the book. So far, I don't. "Charlie Wilson is NO hero."

Peeking Gato

42 days ago I was packing my sister's crap up. Gato was supposed to help me, remember? Well, here he is, goofing off. "Get out of there, Gato!"

My computer at home is acting wonky. My video card died on my Linux server at work. Or, something. I connected my PC monitor to the server and it did the same thing. The graphics are gone and completely screwed up. I set up a Linux server and learned just enough so that I could get a web page running and ftp. I went to load java on the browser and it all went downhill from there. Crapola. I never had the graphics right anyway. Not that into Linux troubleshooting.

My daughter passed her permit test today. I told her if she got her permit, I'd let her get her nails done. Talk about Mama bird pushing the baby out of the nest. I am reduced to bribing. She chose black nail polish. Then she went job hunting at the mall. All the ones who were listed as hiring told her "Go on-line and fill out an application. We don't give out paper applications anymore."

She refuses to work around food. Tell me about it. I can barely get her to make her own macaroni and cheese. The one time I went to show her how to bake a frozen pizza she dropped it between the inside of the oven and the oven door. How the heck? It wasn't easy, but she managed to slide it right between and the pizza ended up (still frozen) sliding into the door on the bottom. Yeah. A real disaster in the kitchen.

While waiting at the mall I started reading "Bringing Down the House." So much more interesting than "Charlie Wilson's War." But, I am still reading it, too.

Bringing Down the Ho

What a title for my blog, eh? Well, that is the e-mail from my library. I had reserved another book from one of the movies I saw last month. "21" is based on the book "Bringing Down the House". They abbreviated. I found that amusing where they decided to cut the word off.

Here is another shot of my shrubs before they were trimmed. This is the long shot going up the front sidewalk. He couldn't cut back too much because there is a lot of dead brush underneath. He was afraid he would kill them. He especially made some room for the azaleas to breathe. See how the one on the left is scrunched up?

I am plodding through the middle of "Charlie Wilson's War." I am at the boring part where the author is giving background information on some of the CIA members. I need to wrap up that book and dig into the one I picked up today. I didn't even crack "Schindler's List", yet. I know the movie was titled "list" but I thought that I read somewhere the book was "Schindler's Ark." Huh.

June looks to be full of graduation parties. Some years I have more than others. A big wedding coming up in October. We've been waiting for this couple to marry for a long time. My nephew is a perfectionist. I guess he wanted to wait until he graduated college and obtained a more stable job. The girlfriend pushed the "ultimatum" button last winter and she got her ring at Christmas. Well, it must have been good luck for him. He just graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree (with distinction) and landed a brand new job.

I went grocery shopping this evening. I tried to cut back and buy smarter. I've been so annoyed with prices that I have put off going for a while. So, we were out of a lot of stuff. So much for savings. Reminds me of the 80's when I first moved out of state away from family and had to watch every penny at the grocery store. Gas was cheap back then. I try to break up my shopping. Dairy, fruit, canned goods and vegetables at the grocery store. Boxed goods and toiletries at the Wallet-mart, and meat at the meat store. If I go on separate days I spread it out over a period of time instead of punching a hole in the checkbook all at one stop.

Sigh. Almost everybody is pinching all over America. We are a bruised nation. I can see the other countries now, throwing their heads back and sniffing, saying to themselves "It's about time America felt some pain!" We are the "preps" at school who are finally getting theirs.

Before the trimming

Here are the front bushes before they were trimmed on Saturday. I don't have the "after" photos yet. I need to get out there tomorrow or this week to get those. It looks like a beautiful week-end coming up. I am booked every day except for Monday. Shh. Don't tell. I imagine I will have my nephew and daughter here and we will cook on the grill. That's okay. That I can do.

The gazing ball in the middle was made for me by a good friend. The base has chipped away. She told me I could leave it out all year long. :( The ball is still beautiful and perfect but it is attached to the base. They are ceramic. I have no idea how to separate them without destroying the ball.

Of course when I do outside work, inside work gets neglected and vice versa. I just got my kitchen cleaned up for the umpteenth time. It seems like I just can't keep up with it all and work full time too. Don't even look at my car. I took it in today for a new timing belt and meant to clean it out before letting the garage have it all day. Oh my. It was messy.

Poppy pod

One set of poppies will be blooming shortly and there are about 15 pods on the plants. I hope at least 10 bloom at the same time. Big bright orange blossoms. My peonies are coming along also. My azaleas were great this year.

I can barely move. Did a lot of yard work today. Put another hydrangea in the ground and flooded both my older plant and the new one with the the sulfur that will hopefully make them very blue. I'll take pictures if they bloom.

I have notified all family and friends that our town is setting off fireworks on Saturday the 5th this year and to mark it on their calendars. I want them to make it if they can.

My daughter and I watched "Boys Don't Cry" this week-end. I don't really like movies like this. I do think that Swank did an outstanding job portraying a boy. It bothers me that there are still folks that treat others so cruelly.

Baby of Audrey II

My peonies remind me of the blood-sucking plant from "Little Shop of Horrors". I have titled this one the baby of Audrey II. We like this movie. Levi Stubbs, the lead singer of The Four Tops played the voice of Audrey II. "Feed me! Feed me!"``

I received a letter from my sister. Sure enough, as soon as she is tucked away behind bars, the wife of the father of her daughter (the child with autism) files for adoption papers. My sister has access to a dinky typewriter and the number "1" does not work, so she mailed me the letter and asked me to re-type it. Which I did without hesitation.

Still dark and wet here in Ohio. I have flowers to plant, maybe tomorrow. A lot going on this week and the weather is not co-operating. I guess I'll be planting in the rain.

I am off to Amish country tonight to feast and shop. I doubt that I'll purchase anything, though. After purchasing the gas and my meal, I'd better save my money to pay bills. I'll still have a good time because I will be with great friends.

An interesting sentence from "Charlie Wilson's War":

"A bizarre mix of unsophisticated weapons was being handed over to tribesmen in sandals with no formal military training." (mujahideen).

And, this one:

"CIA strategists accepted the invasion as an unfortunate, irreversible fact of life."

Us Country Folk

I met my sister after work today and we went to a little fair in a nearby town. She worked at the Post Office there today and found out they were having their little town fair this week. She told me to meet her and we would go down, get some fair food and listen to the evening entertainment which was a Lip Syncing contest.

Even before the show this girl stood out. She had just come down the big slides. She won the lip syncing contest. Guess what song? Hank Juniors "A Country Boy Can Survive." She was cute.

I was going to work through my lunch today - just because I didn't want to go anywhere and I checked my personal e-mail. The library had notified me that "Charlie Wilson's War" was waiting for me. I booked it for the library (like that? My Mom would) and picked it up. I started reading it and could hardly put it down to go back to work.

I left it in the car and I suppose after my computer work is caught up I'll retrieve it and read until probably midnight tonight or so.

Here is something weird and off the wall. I dreamt that I had sex with Simon Crowell last night. I don't normally say the "F" word, but WTF?! I don't even watch American Id0l.

Ugh, sorry. I just Googled his picture. Not pretty. My deep fried veggies are trying to come back up. And, it is Cowell, I guess. Cripes. I slept with the man, you would think I could get his name right. LOL!

Glorious

My magenta azaleas are blooming all out this year for the first time in six years! I trimmed them back a good bit last fall and I guess maybe that is was did the trick. I dunno. I'll do the same this year hoping that I have found the key. My Mom didn't grow azaleas.

I have a new azalea bush to plant (my daughter got me for Mother's Day). It's a beaut.

One Touch

I have mentioned before that I am a "Hard Sell." I am very skeptical. I see something on T.V. and I say "It doesn't work like that!" More or less trying to convince my daughter not to fall for any sale pitch.

At a friend's house I had the chance to use the above can opener. I ran out and bought one. So much for my wisdom, eh? It works differently than any other opener I have owned. It removes the entire rim from the can. I sit the opener on top of the can and push the big black button. It starts itself, it moves itself and it stops itself. I found out at my friend's house not to even bother touching it until it stops itself. I tried to stop it and it would not let go of the lid. Now, I just push the button and forget about it until it stops. I pick the opener up with the lid and it drops the lid.

The can is a little funky afterwards though. It loses it's shape a bit without the rim of the lid. It is kind of cardboardy and wobbly. I think that it promises no sharp edges, but I have not tested it yet. I am still a newbie with it.

Dinner tonight: Tuna Noodle casserole. No peas. What the heck?

Facing me

The Eagle is not facing an olive branch or a talon of arrows. It is facing me. How long can I try to dodge it's gaze? This one looks a little weary and sad.

I couldn't get the book "Charlie Wilson's War" from the library. I had to order it from another. I am second on the list to reserve it. I did pick up a couple I wanted to read or at least look over. Along with that a couple of books on managing people and one bio of Rain Pryor. "Fair Game" by Valerie Plame Wilson and "Schindler's List".

Tired Hands

There are so many things a Mother does. Being the youngest of 8 here are some "mom" stories I recall. My Mom was born in 1920 in a log cabin in WV. This was pretty much "country folk." Her Mother did not marry. My Mom was not pleased when I chose the same route. I did not leave my child for my parents to raise, however where hers did. This post is not about me.

My Mom grew up on a farm where they raised lambs. Her grandfather was a no-nonsense farmer and didn't think twice about killing off any unwanted puppies or kittens in a harsh and barbarian way.

My Mother only used an automatic washing machine at the Laundromat. Or rather, the type we are familiar with. She used a washboard early on. My oldest sister married in the late 60's and her husband worked for the H00ver company. They purchased a little washing machine that my mom used for 30 some years. It was avocado green.

I found this photo on the web at www.automaticwasher.org. Kudos to them for the memory. The green you see inside was the color of the unit my Mom had in her kitchen.

I literally had to wrestle this job from her in the early 80's. My Mom never let us do much in the kitchen. I am not exactly sure why. Basically the only cooking job I had was to mash the potatoes for Sunday dinner. I remember that if my Mom boiled the potatoes in the black coated pot, I had trouble keeping the black flecks out of the potatoes. Most of the time we used cheap, aluminum pots and iron skillets.

I can remember my Mom hauling the clothes out of the washing bin and into the spinner on the right. She was not a large woman. Her clothes were tiny and light. Her children's were another story. I can only imagine how she felt washing jeans. I remember the smell of Lestoil she would use on my brother's jeans and work clothes.

She did have an automatic dryer in the kitchen. (Also in avocado green!) On wash days she would wheel the little portable washing machine on wheels over to the kitchen sink and wash away. I remember mornings waking up to the sound of that spinner and it shaking the house. She always reached her hand in to get the clothes out before the dang thing stopped spinning. And she let the hose drain into the sink instead of back into the washing bin. She said the clothes were too dirty to do that. I can still see the gray bent hose pumping the water out, purging it into our kitchen sink.

And I will never forget the smell of water that has sat in a rubber tube for a week.

Thank you to all who had made the job of washing clothes easier for Mom's and everybody else.

Blow 'em a kiss

I watched "Charlie Wilson's War". Of course, now I want to read the book. A couple of months ago I watched "The Kingdom" and more recently "Iron Man". The latter hitting on the subject of selling weapons of mass destruction.

Charlie mentioned titles such as Charlie's Angels, Dr. Dirty, the Liberal from Lufkin, Mujahideen, and above is a sample of the car Ms. Herring drives around Houston - red Jaguar convertible. She said somebody flipped her off and she just blew them a kiss. How utterly prissy. What a parade queen.

How easy it must have been for those raised in such wealthy and lavish conditions to visit poor Afghanistan and wave their magic wands. Dust off the sand and dirt upon returning to America on their multi-million dollar jets and getting back into their bubbly hot tubs and in-ground pools.

The movie makes me hate politics even more. Oily, drunken, greedy liars. I don't find anything heroic about Charlie Wilson. I'll read the book and perhaps I'll change my mind. The Ms. Herring was even more of a disaster. Let her drive her red jaguar convertible on the dusty roads of Afghanistan and blow them a kiss.

Who in the world thought that Julia Roberts should play Herring? I see nothing similar about them at all. It looks like Roberts was trying to parody her Ocean's role. Dress up and act rich. She is built like a leggy colt with strong facial features, not a dainty and uppity socialite with a little doll's face.

Soon to be orange

My tiger lilies will soon be bright orange. For now they are bright green. I have somebody bringing a truck full of mulch in for my front and side yard area. He will also trim the bushes for the first time since I moved here. That should be some job. Well, I did trim them the first two years, but with hand held clippers. Not electric. Hopefully, they will get a good clean trim. I should do a before and after.

My azaleas are brighter this year. I trimmed them down a good bit last fall. I didn't even get the chance to give them fertilizer. I wonder - is it too late?

I have a regional meeting tomorrow about 75 minutes away. Ugh. I don't want to go. I have to be there at 8:30 in the morning. There will be one highlight. A new tech person is going to speak about DNS. This ought to be good.

Empty hand

As if saying "Hey! I can hold another chip in this hand."

A year ago I attended a derby party held outside. This photo was taken a year ago today. Or tomorrow. I can't recall if the properties of the photo depict the date the picture was taken or the date I uploaded it to my computer.

My daughter and I have been reading famous and funny eulogies on the web. It stems from a school project she is doing. Some I have seen before. What is really strange are the "last words" if you can believe them.

Like Billy the Kid's were "Who is it?"

How bizarre is that?!

And Princess Diana's were "What happened?"

Really?

Or, James Dean's was "That guy's got to stop... he'll see us."

Are they true? I don't know.

Well, I am sure there are stranger ways to spend a Tuesday evening at home.

Good Golly

I mowed today and have a bit of a headache. After mowing we watched AFV where I literally laughed my head off. It's true. It fell off and rolled across the floor. My daughter had to pick it up and put it back on my neck. It has been hurting ever since. That's right folks. Laughing hurts.

My sister came up yesterday and we hit a derby/birthday party yesterday. We arrived too late for the derby since we have to travel the farthest. I am kind of glad I missed this one. Heartbreaking what I heard about the one horse.

It was a good crowd with good food and spirits.

Movies

While looking for a picture of my bird, Peru to post, I came across a video and I thought to myself, 'Hey. You have not uploaded a video yet.' So, here we are. Very boring.

Saw Iron Man last night. Very good. I liked it. I have always liked RD Jr. Actually, I have only seen him in a couple of movies so there you have that for what it is worth. Home For the Holidays and maybe one more.

The movie is about a businessman who manufactures and sells weapons of mass destruction. When he is demonstrating his latest and greatest in the caves of a Mideastern country his party is ambushed and all are killed except for him. He is up close and personal with a rocket that is going to blow up and ironically he sees the name of his company on the weapon before it explodes. During his 3 month ordeal as a prisoner he changes form the self-centered and selfish brat of a rich playboy to a humanitarian. Realizing that his weapons are actually falling into the wrong hands he decides to change his ways and try to fix some of the damage that has been done.

My very favorite line in the movie is when his dedicated secretary (played by Gwyn P) brings the clothes of his latest one-night stand and tells her that Tony is at work and here are her clothes freshly dry-cleaned. In other words "Get out honey, your purpose here is over." The tart jibes that this secretary is still picking up Tony's dry cleaning. To which Gwyn's character retorts "I do whatever Tony needs me to do, and sometimes that includes taking out the trash." Ouch!

My daughter had read on-line a bit telling us to stay after the credits for a surprise. (Spoiler ahead) It was Tony Stark (RD's character) coming home and walking into a dimly lit room and seeing somebody in the shadow. That person spoke and when he came into the light you could see that it was Samuel Jackson. Looks like they are already planning a sequel.

Day 2

Here is my office window. I am on day 2 of a migraine. I took Imitrex yesterday morning about 5:30 a.m. I guess I'll take another one. I have a dr. appointment in 30 minutes. I figure let her see me with my migraine eyes. They look every second of their 47.9 years, and then some.