Tacky!

Well, the fellas had moved all the furniture to one side of the room. After stirring (very thick stuff, very hard to mix) the primer, I poured some into the flimsy paint holder I purchased. And to think this was the stronger one! It bent every which way and I thought for sure I was going to have a huge mess. 

I placed the roller in and began to apply the primer. This ain't so bad, I thought. The cats were all still in the basement and the dogs were tied outside. I moved along rather quickly. I painted all one way and got as close to the furniture as I could so that when it dried I didn't have much left to do on the other side.

At exactly 4:55 p.m. it became quite evident to me that one gallon of primer was not going to do it. In a small panic mode I wondered what time that lumber place closed. It was a small local business and was only a few blocks from where I live.

I threw the dogs into the garage - not an easy feat as they remembered what happens when they go in there and I drove off like a mad woman. Whew. I made it in time and purchased another $30 can of primer.

I sat my tools down and waited for the first half to dry. The smell - my God, the smell! I had forgotten how paint fumes bother me. My lungs hurt, my head hurt. One cat had escaped. Teton is the reason for the paw prints above. She was in full panic mode. It was like she came up from the basement and her entire world had changed. She acted like WTF?

She scurried here and there getting paw prints all over the place. I realized it didn't matter what it looked like since the floor was going to go over top of it all, but I wondered about the paint on her paws. By this time the smell was becoming overwhelming. Well, I knew what I had to do. Experience taught me what I had to do. The A/C had to be shut off and doors and windows had to be opened.

Oh, it was hot outside. There was a storm brewing and the humidity was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

For the newer readers, let me take you back a couple of years. Okay, here. It was not hard to find. It was July  16th, 2006. You have to ventilate when you paint (which I knew but 90 degrees is hot, you know?!). We had been re-doing my daughters' bedroom and the polyurethane smell was overwhelming.

Back to my primer. I sat in the back bedroom on the computer and noticed that my chest was hurting. Dammit, I thought. I better not get pleurisy out of this mess. I have had pleurisy several times and it has always involved water - but this sure felt like it. The paint fumes were causing my left lung to hurt. After a while it dissipated.

I began checking the floor after forty minutes. Tacky, tacky, tacky! The weather was very close outside. Sultry (to quote Momma from the train).

I had left an area where I could get to the bathroom and walk to the kitchen. I said "Screw it!" and let the dogs in. I let the cats out of the basement and fed them. I packed my stuff and got in my car and left to meet my daughter and her beau for dinner. My head hurt, my back hurt and I was in a mood. The paint fumes had turned me into a crazy woman like somebody on a  bad drug trip. I snapped at my daughter and I yakked and yakked. I explained to them that I was under the influence (of paint fumes) and not to pay any attention to what came out of my mouth.

The reason I was over there? They got a new puppy. Puppy is an understatement. This is a female German shepherd. She was (at 8 weeks) almost as big as Cheech and Chong. Her paws are HUGE! I took a couple of pictures and after a while the paint buzz wore off. How do kids sniff glue? This is not fun. This is horrible! My head  hurt a little less and at ten o'clock I headed back home. I had already decided I would paint the rest of the room tonight.

I got home and the primer was still a bit tacky in places. Oh well, I thought. It has to be done. Moving the huge organ was the hardest part. It scraped across the floor and left the long strips where it removed the primer. I didn't give a sh!t by this time. I have no memory of where the cats were and the dogs. That is weird. They had to be in the house with me as at this time of night I would not leave the dogs outside.  Oh, the dogs were laying in the kitchen by the back door and the cats were just scared to come into the room, I guess.

I retired to the back bedroom and the computer again to deal yet again with a hurt lung and the overwhelming fumes. The boxer came in after a while and his paw prints are all over the back bedroom floor. Big white paw prints. Did I care? Not at this time, no. I just wanted it all to be over with. I had taken Advil and just wanted to go to bed. I waited a while to make sure the pets did not go ballilstic and I left all doors and windows open and went to bed.

I awoke early (the guys would be here at nine) and began the prep for them. At 8:30 I again threw the cats into the basement. Now, cats are not all that stupid. They knew what was coming. I never did find Moose. I think she hid in my bedroom (for over 18 hours! Nice.) The others fought me like a banshee. I managed to get very few scratches on my arms. The dogs were tied outside. I took my reading glasses, cell phone and a puzzle book outside. 

Oh, it was beautiful out. They came. The put the floor in. These guys worked from 9:30 to 5:30 with one half hour lunch break. They worked hard. 

This all has a happy ending, folks. For once. No catastrophe this time. Very unusual for me. It just goes to show you that nothing goes smoothly. There is always a speed bump or two and I can sit back and laugh about it (as long as I have Advil).

I am working up quite a thirst for Saturday, though. I can tell  you that.

It should be interesting. The guy my daughter is living with works until 5. The other fellow is coming to the party. All invites were issued before this love triangle developed although as I look back I should have seen it developing over the past few months. I am NOT a fan of Jerry Springer. My sisters will be alerted that should I appear as if I am going to rip somebody's head off (which I have done or attempted to do before - while SOBER!) they are to interfere. 

I like the fireworks to remain in the sky.

What's this?

This my fellow bloggers would be primer.

Let me back track a little bit. I am 50 years old. Okay, 51. I have done a lot of things in my life - mostly on my own. This is not a boo-hoo story. Far from it. I love my life. I have fun.

Anyway, after years of back breaking work and what not, I have come to a place in my life where I would much rather pay somebody to do the work. Case in point. Putting a laminated floor down.

I know my limits! I am great with computers but lousy with housework and domestic duties. Not that I can't whip up a decent meal once in a while or decorate a room now and again and I throw a great party!

I am talking tools (especially measuring). Math was (IS) not my strong point. I lean more towards artsy and creative stuff.

So, after the two fellows pulled up my carpet and cleaned the floor the fellow in charge came to me and asked me if I planned to put down primer. I gave him a quizzical look. I had heard of primer for automobiles. I worked in an Automotive/Hardware store in the late 70's but this primer for floors I had not heard of.

He explained to me that Kilz is the best and I could apply it with a paint roller. All of which I have NONE!

Another little back track story. Before I moved into the house I had a professional painter come in and paint the walls in the living room/dining room and two bedrooms so I would not have to do it. I could do it, I just prefer to preserve my energy for me.

I had plans that evening and it was hot, humid and sticky. Off to the hardware store I went. Fifty dollars later I am back home stirring that milky mess that you see above.

He had told me you can paint half the floor, it dries in about an hour. Move all the furniture over to the one side and paint the other half.

Meanwhile I am thinking to myself "Listen buddy! You said NOTHING about this primer stuff when you quoted me the $2225 price tag for this floor. Why the fluck didn't you mention it back then?! So, I could prepare!" Mind you this is what I thought - not what I said. I nodded and smiled like the good little girl my mommy raised me to be.

Side note: As with ordering food in a restaurant NEVER piss off the person who you still depend on for quality work. 'Nuff said? I thought so. You get why I smiled and nodded instead of saying what I was thinking. I ain't stupid.

He explained that the primer would keep the urine odor from enticing my pets to urinate in the same spots that they had when the carpet was there. Of course urine (as urine will) soaks down through the carpet, down through the carpet padding and onto the wooden floor laid below. And to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, he really did not know the extent of the problem until he saw the dark urine stains on the floor below but still - he could have mentioned primer back in early May! Dammit.

Well, I did NOT want any odor left, so I made up my mind that I was going to put primer down. Whatever! I wanted to do it RIGHT!

So. It was four p.m. when he left. After getting a bite to eat and purchasing supplies I figured I could paint from 4:30 to 5:00. At six the painted side would be dry enough to move the furniture over and from six to seven I could paint the other half and head out the door to meet my family for dinner at 7:30.

Ha, ha, ha! Are you laughing? I am. You know. I can laugh about it, now.

To be continued....

He just doesn't "get" it

This is not my house. I lifted this photo for emphasis.

The fellows (all 2 of them) ripped out the old carpet. I had every thing out that I could physically move myself and my back is really feeling the strain. I placed all the cats (five) in the basement and the two dogs were placed in the garage. The boxer hates this.

I settled myself into my air conditioned kitchen and tidied up. I washed cupboards and counters and gave the microwave a good cleaning while the fellas worked in the living room.

I heard "Ma-am."

I thought they were done and was I was jubilant.

Nope. He had opened my coat closet door. Why in God's name would anybody open that door? My secret was exposed. I am a border line hoarder. OMG! 

He said "the closet". 

I could not look at him. I stared at the mountain of stuff and said "Oh, you need the closet cleaned out?"

He said "Yes, it was included in my estimate."

The closet carpet (floor space) looked to be about two feet long and maybe a foot wide. (After I removed the stuff because you sure as hell could not see the carpet before hand).

I was mortified. Do you realize how much "stuff" a hoarder can pack into a space of this size? I am  not talking two feet by one foot. I am talking about "up". Like when the city planners first realized that you can build up instead of out. The sky's the limit!

And I thought my back hurt before! I felt pressured and rushed. When I  work, I take breaks to give my back a well deserved rest. Not this time. And for Christ sake! Whoever invented the Lite Brite needs to be shot and needs to be shot, now! At least make those little pegs magnetized so I can take a huge magnet and run over them and pick up the damn things! Sheesh.

Sigh. And you know what? That isn't the worst of it! Oh, no!

But, I can't tell you the second part of this story because those torture-ers will be here any minute and I have to go hide my cats and put my dogs in the garage!

Needless to say, I did NOT get a picture of the closet before I cleaned it out. That is why I posted the above photo. If I HAD stopped and taken the time to take a picture of the closet, I have no idea what the fellow would do or say. I can only imagine. I think he was rolling his eyes as it was. I did not want to push him any further.

Sigh. To be continued....

Believe it or not!

My couch pooped out a cat. Seriously. It did! I was cleaning before the floor guys arrived and was putting all my cats away (in the basement).  Hmmm. One not accounted for. Moose. Where is Moose? Ah, Moose is always sleeping/hiding in the couch. I lifted the back of the couch straight up and out plopped a cat. So, my couch pooped out a cat.

Well, I could say my couch pooped out a Moose, but nobody would believe that!

This cat....

....is going to hurt me someday. And I don't mean his claws. He has that uncanny knack of sensing and then moving in every direction my feet aim to go. Do you have a cat or cats like this? I swear they are psychic in this area. I go to walk around them or over them or past them and they know just where my foot is going to land and then they make sure they are occupying the same exact spot!

It is a well-known fact in physics that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Is this the Pauli exclusion principle? 

Anyway, my cat is out to kill me. Or at least maim me.

I finished reading my first book.  Are you there Vodka? it's me, Chelsea. She is a bit crude but I like her. I catch her show now and again "Chelsea Lately".

I will be moving on to Carrie Fisher's "Wishful Drinking".

You all know what I am doing, right? I am stalling. As usual before my big party. I need to do a million things and I am (of course) stalling. Sigh. I notice that I am getting more adept at stalling every year. The idea of this post came when I went to refill my coffee cup and Casper nearly caused me to end up on the floor. Well, I did not have any recent photos of him so I had to go back into my photo files and well, you know. I spent at the very least two hours there reminiscing. Sheesh.

Grrrr!

My nook arrived yesterday and I am getting nothing done around the house! Nothing!

My party is a week from today Mr. Nook Book. Or is it a Ms. Nook? Can't tell yet. Could be gender free. But either way it should know that I have a ton of work to do! A ton! Hello!

What are the odds? Both neighbors on each side of me are getting a new roof put on their houses. AT THE SAME TIME! WTF! I swear to god it's like dueling banjos except it is dueling power tools. I don't know what they use - I am not a roofer, nor have I ever dated one. I only hear "Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam...."  then as if in stereo from the other side ... "Bam, Bam!"

I "think" the one side is finished. Talk about some foul language. I wonder if they realize that their voices really carry when they are perched on top of a roof like that. I walk my dogs three to four times a day. Early in the morning they have not started yet so it is rather peaceful still. At lunchtime I can hear them. Mother/Father this, Mother/Father that! Stupid ass this, dumb ass that. 

The really strange thing is the owner of the company on the one side (with the foul language) is the husband of a lady who watched my daughter for a couple of years when she was about five and six years old. When my daughter saw  him at the pharmacy she works at he did not remember her at all. Whew. I was glad I did not go over and say  hello to him. I would have felt like an ass. I doubt that he would have remembered me either, then. He is rarely there anyway as his son has taken over. I never cared much for his son. He was 18 at the time his mother watched my daughter and he just did not have time for little tykes. I would not expect an 18 year old to, anyway.

Well, the days march on and my daughter has not moved back, yet. She said she is waiting until after the new floor is put in because I have used her bedroom as a storage area for all my furniture and she literally has no place to put her bed and dresser.  I told her I can move the stuff to the basement but she says no. How can she stay with her boyfriend if they are no longer a couple? I just laughed. Oh cripes, I am cracking up. I can't stop laughing, now. Life is funny. It is saying "Hey Peruby! You thought you have seen it all? Ah, no! I've got many, many surprises for you!"

I'm just afraid that she is sending the wrong message to her ex-beau. But, do you actually think a 20 year old would listen to advice from her (relationship-deficient) mother? Hell, no!

My mom had eight children. She let us live our own lives and make our own choices/mistakes. Since I was the eighth perhaps she had it down to a science and she made it look easier than it really is. And as far as I know (and I am 99.9% certain, no make that 110% certain) that my mother only knew one guy in her life. How did she know about relationships? How did she end up so wise? 

Sigh. This sucks.

Swings

I love the story this swing set tells. Remember twirling the swing around and around like the girl on the left? I could not do this often because I get sick easily. Then there is the girl stepping up onto the wood. And the younger boy hanging onto the older boys back. You can almost see the older boys frustration. I'm not certain the fellow in the black shirt saw me or just happens to be looking this way. I don't think he knew I had a camera at that distance.

Here is how far away the swing set was from me when I snapped the photo.

Happy Friday everyone. At noon today I start my vacation. I think I have 260 hours before I return to work if I have figured my math correctly.

I almost forgot! I think I will receive my nook today. I've been tracking it. It cracks me up that the UPS had to hand the package off to the USPS to deliver. I had the e-reader delivered to work. We are only there until noon today. Ack! The secretary said not to worry; that the mail comes at 10:30. I tracked it yesterday and UPS said they handed it off to the post office at 10:30.

UPS was very accommodating but try to get any help from the USPS! No way! My oldest brother is retried from the post office and sister 1949 still works there. This is one of her pet peeves. She loves to go above and beyond helping people. She gets so angry with her co-workers. I do not deal with her post office but the lady behind the counter would give me nothing. Nothing! No help whatsoever. Eh!

Anyway, it figures. This is supposed to be another "working" vacation for me. LOL! Of course I'll have pics of the nook, too.

Here he is

Here is the photo of the boxer standing in the sun that would not upload yesterday. I checked the blogger status and they say that while they perform maintenance users will not be able to upload images - on June 6th! What? Where are they located anyway that they are sixteen days behind the rest of us? LOL! Hey, whatever! I can't even imagine trying to maintain this hosting site, so kudos to them! The amount of work they have to do would be mind boggling.

When I get angry I tend to prune my outside shrubbery. I have been very, very angry. My lilac bush caught the brunt of it this time round. I hacked half of the thing away. No worries, though. I am sure it did the bush more good than damage. That sucker will bush out now, instead of reaching for the sky like it has been doing. I only touched half of it.

My right shoulder is starting to feel the strain. I just wish I did like most people do and clean when I get angry. Not a chance. Although I am getting the living room/dining room area emptied. I moved a 46 inch plasma TV all by myself to another room. So, no movie reviews for a while. Hey, did I hear somebody say "Thank God!"? Funny! The new laminated floor comes Monday in stacks and will be allowed to acclimate to the house temperature. They put the floor in on Tuesday. Pictures? Oh yeah. I'll try not to take them while the workers are in the shot, though. I don't do that.

Somebody's always sayin good-bye

I hate it when a relationship ends. Hate it hate it hate it!

Well, I told Slade and Sable the pups were coming back. When I said Cheech and Chong Sable sat up and started looking for them.

I had a photo of the boxer to post, but could not get it to upload. I do not have this issue often. I just hope it does not get unclogged and 40 shots of the same picture posts on here.

Seven year itch

Today marks the 7th anniversary of this blog. Whoop-de-doo. I almost forgot but Google reminded me that it is the summer solstice.

weigela

I shot a photo of this pretty flowering bush last month when my daughter moved into a house out of town. I guess she is going to move back home this week-end. Sigh.

I ordered a nook today.

It comes with a funny story. As always. I celebrated a late birthday bash with friends (former co-workers) and my list included gift certificates to B&N. I was very happy to get them. The next day my daughter and I drove to the "strip" in North Canton. I walked into the book store and headed to the center where a huge sign said e-readers.

The sales lady said "May I help you?"

I said "I'd like to look at a nook."

She said "Then you will have to go to a Barnes & Noble."

I was confused. I said "Then where am I?"

My daughter said "Mom, this is Borders!"

Aw, man!

It starts...

My tiger lilies. At least the ones that are not getting choked out by the Gaillardia flowers. I must separate them and replant a lot of them to other areas.

Shhh. Be vewy, vewy quiet and don't look now,  but I think I have found some moonflower sprouts by my bushes in the front of the house.  Don't look! I told you not to look! You will scare them away!

For those of you who have been around for a while you know that I used to have a huge cluster of moonflower plants. I did something wrong two years ago and lost it. A few stragglers ended up in front of my patio and produced a couple of plants. I see no sign of them in front of the patio, now. Now that I found them in the front of the house - maybe? I am so excited. I love them. I never had them until I moved to this house in 2002. They were the most wondrous smelling night flower ever.

Also for those of you who have been around a while, you may remember what is coming up. I have an Independence day blow-out every year. I skipped the year 2009 because of my daughter's graduation party was two weeks earlier. Who can forget the sumo wrestling mat? Oh what fun. If you want videos, go to youtube and search for "sumo wrestling new philadelphia ohio".  We are the videos with the huge red and blue striped mat.

You can see from the videos how very hard it was for the ones who had to keep picking them up. They became very tired very quickly. It was warm out. The really nice thing was the company left the mat and suits until Monday evening. My party was Saturday and I told my neighbors (who had a small party Sunday) to have a go at it. Hilarious!

It flattened the grass a little (yes, the mat did move a few feet) and it cost a couple hundred - but it was SO worth it. People talk about it still. I wanted to do something different for my daughter's party and in 2005 we rented a tent for my niece and her party and this company had some fun inflatable games that it rented.

Well, back to my blow-out. The invitations are made, I just have to mail them out. It will be July 2nd this year. I always coincide my event with the fireworks display. We can see the higher ones from my front yard (for those of us too drunk to walk over the hill to view them). My town also has a big festival in the park that week-end. 

I plan to have a craft and coloring table set up for kids. They always want to throw the Frisbee and play badminton with the adults and sometimes it looks as if they are going to get hurt. I hope to distract them with their own little play area this year.

My daughter and niece used to play a Sega Genesis video game of "The Lion King". I am not one to play video games, but I think to master the game you have to begin over and over again. This particular game said "It starts..." when the game restarted. I must have heard that phrase a million gazillion times!

Well, I have stuff to do, so I will catch you all later.

Needs sharpening

Heh, heh. No, not the photo. My lawnmower blade! My spare one has been at the implement equipment place for two weeks, now. I'll bet they send it somewhere else and have them sharpen it and then tack on 30 to 40 percent of the cost and bill me. My niece worked at a local dry cleaner that took shirts to another cleaners for its customers. Funny stuff.

I have resized this photo to 1024 x 800, but in the original you can really see the chewed up ends of the blades of grass.

I was looking over my June photos for this blog and realized two things. I made only half of them and I had very little cool colors (other than spring green) in them. No blues or purples (which I love). So, I went browsing for blues and purples and this is the first one I saw, so this is what you get.

I have always been fascinated by the story of Sybil. I remember watching Sally Field play the character and last evening caught a more recent production. Although I felt sometimes like the character playing Sybil was playing Sally Field playing Sybil sometimes. I swear they dubbed Sally Fields voice into the movie! And that was JoBeth Williams playing her mother! 

How do they get small children to play some of the scenes? In one the poor little girl was tied up and gagged and I know with editing and other such tricks they can put it all together, but still.

What?

Sable says "What? You want to see my green lips?"
Photo courtesy of my daughter with my camera.

wordpress

I've set up another one. I like this one better than the other.

If this blog decides to go bellyup, I have a second one here.

http://welcomeyoutomyworld.wordpress.com/

Cookie Cutter Housing

I worked at an automotive/hardware store in the late 70's and early 80's. I made a lifelong friend there. She was (is) about 14 years older than me, but very young at heart. She and I clicked right away. I've seen her through three divorces, she is now a great-grandmother.

About fifteen years ago she left her job and her life to stay at home and care for her ailing mother. No easy task. She comes from a family with six children. Her oldest sister was wheel chair bound and lived in Florida. Her younger sister was off and busy with her life in Columbus.

The eldest brother provided the double wide for her and their mother to live - on his property. A couple of years back after thirteen years of lifting and caring for their mother, my friend had heart trouble and was admitted to the hospital. The mother died while my friend was in the hospital. She rarely got a free week-end or free time to herself. I remember one such week-end she escaped to my house for a much needed free week-end. The poor lady slept the entire time - she was that exhausted. It took it's toll on her health and especially on her back. The mother could not walk or go to the bathroom by herself. My friend would have to beg a sister or sister-in-law to come and stay with their mother while she got a much needed hour or two to herself.

They finally qualified for a hospice care that came four hours a day to relieve my friend. She said that mostly she slept the entire time since she was up all hours of the night caring for her mother.

She did not get to say good-bye to her mother since she was in the hospital during the funeral, etc... She now stays at the double wide and has multiple medical problems of her own. One such recent incident is her teeth. She had to have them all surgically removed. Since she is no longer married she relies on medicare for her needs. Their answer was to send her to a Columbus dentist.

She did have that younger sister in Columbus that would take her to the doctor and get this done. The problem was getting her to Columbus. Her daughter has panic attacks and cannot drive anywhere other than around her home. Her son is in California with his family. I have no idea where the other two brothers are.

Do you think one brother or the younger sister would offer to help her? Not a one. I saw two of them yesterday and they were very friendly, chatty and just puttering around doing little odds and ends. The younger sister would take her to the dentist surgery but could not be put out to meet anybody halfway or drive down to get her and help her out. However, she certainly is willing to brag about her two Cadillac Escalades and all their latest GPS features, etc... Maybe she just did not have the money to put gas in these large SUV's. My friend was buying the gas, anyway.

My friend is also on oxygen. Years of smoking.

I drove her to Columbus to her sister's house and picked her up and took her home  yesterday. With the family that I have I just am totally mystified that sisters and brothers turn a cold shoulder like this. I was amazed and a bit confused. What goes on in a family that they all act like they care and love each other but when it comes to favors and time - they cannot be bothered?

The really odd thing was that if she did not get a ride on Sunday, her first ex-husband with his third wife were going to drive up and bring her home. She told me (after I offered to come up and get her on Sunday) that she would have died a slow death if she had to ride with them. One feels completely naked and vulnerable after having all of their teeth removed. It is a very  humbling experience. Her ex-husband was going to also have to bring his three sons (from  his second marriage) with him. They were older and I am certain they could have stayed home by themselves. I think he was just telling my friend how inconvenient everything was going to be for him but (sigh) he would do it.

Oh, the cookie-cutter part. Her younger sister lives in one of those housing developments where all the houses look alike. If it were not for the distinct wreath on her door, I am not sure I would have found it by myself. This type of housing is nuts!

Super Sunday

This photo taken by my daughter with my new camera.

We went to see Super 8 last evening. It was loud and I forgot to take any ear plugs. It was much funnier than I expected it to be. The kids really made the show. This is not my usual genre of movies but I really enjoyed it. I related to the music and the hairstyles (takes place in 1979).

I did not catch sight of my nephew or his car. The scenes changed much too quickly. Maybe after watching it a few times and him pointing out to me where and when - but I was just too caught up in the movie to think about what was going on in the background. The train wreck was totally awesome.

Irish Eyes

My daughter and a few of her friends and I were talking last evening. One friend is headed for Ireland in the early fall. He can't wait to see some Irish girls he said. My daughter wondered if all Irish were red headed. I mentioned P Brosnan.

I enjoy him as an actor. I was a little put out by a scene or two in The Matador but overall it was a little bit of a different role for him. I especially liked him in Mrs. Doubtfire and The Thomas Crowne Affair.

I had recorded a movie and finally  was able to watch it the other night. The Greatest. Brosnan's crying scene touched me and made me start to cry. No easy feat for this old gal.

Fortunately, I have not seen any of his work prior to Mrs. Doubtfire. I caught R Steele maybe two or three times. Yawn.

I think he is close to getting cast spitting out the same character movie after movie, but I think he is trying to branch out and take some artistic challenges.

Patriot Guard Riders

After the funeral procession I watched on Monday I heard about and educated myself about this organization.
Outstanding.

Road Trip

I has me a road trip today. Columbus. I doubt that I will get the odd chance to stop along the route and take any photographs of any scenery. It is predicted to be a scorcher today, too. Love the A/C.

I was caught at a little elementary school yesterday during a huge thunderstorm. I stood around with the handful of staff that are still working. They are all in a good mood because the students are gone and their last day is Thursday. Sigh.

Standing in the sun

It was about fifteen minutes before twelve when the secretary of the building I worked at announced that the superintendent was inviting anybody and everybody to stand outside as the funeral procession for a local fallen hero drove past.

Immediately I printed up some quick pics of "Support Our Troops" signs and went outside. I looked up and down the street. I walked up to a few folks and handed them one of the papers to hold. Flags lined the street. You can read the story here.

It would be forty five minutes before the procession rolled by. It was something to see. The sun makes me sick. As the heat beats down I get ill, faint and dizzy. Yesterday at noon in the heat I felt nothing but pride and sadness for this young marine and his family.  The amount of bikers at the beginning was a sight to see. The many men in full uniform (some in air conditioned cars, some not) was another breath taking sight.

No amount of sun would bother me this day. I was sweating profusely but it was one of the most memorable processions I have witnessed in a very long time. If not the most memorable. I would not have missed this for the world. We need something like this every now and again to bring our lives and our thoughts into perspective.

The staggering amount of people that drove to join us, parking their vehicles along the street or in our parking lot, getting out of their vehicles to stand proud and salute as well as the folks who came streaming out of their houses was beyond belief. The tears flowed. It was soul inspiring. It was a much needed reminder for this old gal.

I said I would check them out, so here is one of them:

A backup plan.

http://myworldandwelcomeyouit.weebly.com/

We got hail!

Well, not me in my little town. My daughter did over at her little town. She caught this photo with her phone and sent it to me. That is by far the largest hail stone I have ever seen. I've seen plenty of pea sized hail and maybe a nickle size, but never this size. Zounds!

We were in a tornado warning for most of the evening. The sirens just blew and blew. I made myself sick by not turning my air on yesterday and by the early evening I was sick from the heat. We were supposed to go to a combined graduation/birthday party but it was canceled when that storm whipped up.

We were waiting for my daughter's boyfriend to get off from work and he had to take a shower. I checked my cell phone and I realized that I should change the battery. I turned the phone off, popped in a new battery and sat down to wait. It was sweltering.

An hour later (after watching the storm come in and the weather channel) I decided that perhaps I better call to see if my daughter and her boyfriend were on the road to my house. Maybe they did not know of the tornado warning. 

Drat! I had forgotten to turn my phone back on after replacing the battery. A message popped up right away. Party canceled. I called my daughter. They were enjoying dinner in a pub in her town.

Grrr. It was almost too late to turn the air on. The air outside was turning cooler but I knew (the way my house was set up) that it would be hours before it cooled down. Previous owner did not like open windows. WTH? Nothing opened in the living room/dining room except the front door. Sweltering!

I decided to sit in front of the fan and look for a movie to watch. I chose unwisely. I have always liked J Statham and B Foster. The movie was much too gruesome for me and as usual the depiction of women was tawdry. It was The Mechanic. Sigh. Maybe I should have chosen a comedy but their depiction of women is just as bad. Seriously! The dog was given better treatment than the women in this movie!

Are there any movies that do not depict women as cheap, stupid and low? I am not a big fan of A Jolie, but would love for her to sleep with a guy in one of her movies and then leave a wad of bills on the nightstand as she leaves. On second thought, no I would not. Either way, that depiction stinks. Male or female.

A few weeks back, I did see "Morning Glory". That one was not horrible where women were concerned. I can "just" tolerate D Keaton in  a couple of her movies.

Oh, and btw. This movie Super 8 has a walk on appearance of my nephew. His car (I believe it is a '66 deep red/black cherry Buick Skylark) is also depicted in the film. It broke down during filming and they had to leave it there so it got more air time! LOL! Sigh. I don't suppose my nephew could get me a meeting with K Chandler. Do you? Naw, I didn't think so.

Seeds of doubt

So that is where the poppy seeds come from. Well, the kind that regrow the poppy for next year, anyway. I have no idea where actual poppy seeds that you eat come from. I read a bit about it on Wikipedia just now. Actual poppy seeds do not contain much opium so that Seinfeld episode where Elaine fails the drug test is more than likely all fiction. As if I needed proof. :)

The doubt part of my post. I have a sister who can probably be classified as an alcoholic among other things. I am over 50 and have been around her quite a bit. I believe that she misleads people to cause them harm or to gauge how gullible they are. My Mom said our Dad used to do this. For example - she tried (quite a few times) to get us to eat grass from the lawn. She sprinkled it on our dinner plates. She also tells people wild stories. I was in a bar years ago where she worked and the owner (a lady) was there cleaning. She was yapping on an on about my sister. She said "I asked your sister how she gets such clear skin, and she told me it was oleo. So I just keep eating and eating oleo."  My sister probably told her that. I think actually that oleo claimed to help skin "topically" but I didn't even start to go there with the lady. Why bother?

I had a co-worker who would believe wild things. Remember the e-mail that spread around a few years back claiming that oleo was one molecule away from plastic? She barked out "We are eating plastic!"

People can crack me up with their "taking things at face value" without questioning their origin. I am a big fan of Snopes. Even so, I am past the point where I would e-mail back to people that what they are spreading in e-mail is unfounded. I used to try to educate people but again, why bother? It's a waste of time. A few weeks later there is another mass e-mail telling another woeful story or telling another untruth.

Seeing that networking is my vocation, I am convinced that the real damage is the amount of useless bandwidth and time consumed by the spreading of this garbage. Please do us all a favor. Stop the mass e-mailing to everybody in your contact list. The forwards are the absolute worst. How often do you get an e-mail where you have to scroll down seven pages through all the previous "forwarded addresses" to finally get to the actual message?

Sixty large pictures in an e-mail sent in massive forwards can bog down a network to it's knees. The next time you are at work and the Internet is running slow think of your co-workers. Are they having a break and reading "fun" e-mails? And are they sending those cute puppy pictures to all sixteen people in their contact list? How about sixty people? Networks are so busy processing these mass mailings that they (the machines) have little time left to process the real data that is supposed to be handled.

I actually told a co-worker to remove me from her mailing list. I am convinced that this lady had (has) entirely too much time on her hands due to the amount of forwarded messages I kept getting from her. OMG! It got ridiculous. The religious people really pile it on. Good grief!

Whoops. This post ended up being more than just seeds of doubt. Okay, rant over.

I never can remember their name

I chose them because they are orange. They are very hardy. They have multiplied quite a bit since I purchased one plant a few years back. They are choking out my orange tiger lilies.

Turned cold here over night. It is now 46 degrees F. I am pretty sure they did not predict that when I checked the weather yesterday. I am certain I saw a low of 56. While taking the dogs out this morning I was freezing!

Snarly

A box full of wire hangers.

Meet Mojo

Little dog with a big attitude. It was "bring your dog to the cook-out" day and I didn't get the memo. This little sprout is one from my nephew. It just ended up that a lot of family brought their dogs. It was chaos.