Yep, it's still there

nose job

I am sorry. I couldn't resist. It looks like he is making sure his nose is still there and not sliding down his face. How tedious.

I tried to explain to my daughter a couple of years ago when she mentioned how can he not know he looks like a freak. I told her that he lives in such an isolated world that he only hears what his "yes" men tell him. Since he is paying them, they tell him he looks good. So he begins to believe it. Then I retell her the story of "The Emperor's New Clothes."

No music tonight. Been working outside.

Where have all the flowers gone?

purple iris

Did the frost get your flowers last night? I covered my yellow tulips, but it appears that I really didn't need to. They were the only ones that I was worried about that I was capable of covering. I know that I didn't care for the bright yellow, but they are so darn full and pretty, I certainly don't want them to die. I also cared about my lilacs, but I didn't have a tarp big enough to cover them. Didn't need to. They are fine. Now, tonight we have another cold snap and then things should begin to warm up.

My daughter called me at work as soon as she got home from school. She stated matter-of-factly that she was going to the Park to get her hoodie back. Someone had stolen it and she found out today who it was. I didn't want her to get into trouble so I met her there. We played a game of pool while waiting for the girl to arrive. She had no idea we were there waiting for her. My daughter said that she goes to this Park every day after school.

I suck at pool. I used to play long ago, but I was more interested in the liquid entertainment than the pool tables. I am not an exhibitionist and I found it quite unsettling to stick my arse in someone's face to shoot pool. That was what most of the girls did. I knew one girl that literally spread herself over the pool table to shoot. It was hilarious.

Anyway, my daughter got her hoodie back without much fanfare. The girl looked scared and I felt bad for her. She said she needed a hoodie that night and just took it. At first she tried to say it was her neighbor's. She just ended up taking it off and giving it back to my daughter. We left. No fuss, no worries. At least, not for now. For those of you who don't have teenagers, hoodies run in the $40 to $60 price range. You can't find them in the stores this time of year, I have to order them on line. Now, if my daughter can only get back the CD player she loaned out during the Washington D.C. trip. It plays mp3's and cost around $85. I told her if she doesn't have it back by the end of the week, I will go to the girl's house. I usually take everyone home from the dances, so I know where all the girls live.

I am trying to teach my daughter that you don't have to be nasty, just ask for the stuff back. Be firm, but don't threaten. You usually don't need to. I think a lot of teenagers go through a stage where they take something that isn't theirs. This girl made the mistake of wearing the hoodie to school, though. It happens to be an Adio Tar & Feathers black hooded sweatshirt. There aren't many around.

My right eyeball is starting to hurt in the inside corner socket. (okay, the pool lingo is carrying over). I feel a wee bit nauseous, but I want to go and fix some computers this evening. But, they aren't home, so it can wait. I think they said that they do not have an anti-virus program. (Groan). I am wondering about the latest virus, Sobero or whatever you want to call it. We'll see. I must remember to turn off the backup/restore option in XP. I think she has XP.

A lot of my school's email servers got hit pretty hard before the anti-virus programs came out with the fix. I try to explain to people that there is always that window of time where the creator sends the virus out into the wild and until the time that the av developers can come up with a fix or a cure for it. And then you have to take into consideration the time it takes you (the end users) to upgrade your anti-virus definition files. Some of my relatives and friends don't even know what that means. This is who auto-update was invented for, right? I mean, come on. It is difficult to inoculate your machine against a virus if it doesn't know about it yet. And, they are getting craftier and quicker and more of a regular all around pain in the arse.

Coming from the speakers: Where Have All The Flowers Gone? by Peter, Paul and Mary.

Look what they've done to my tree, Ma!

tree down

I came home from my Doctor's appointment this morning to this wonderful sight. I can barely get into my garage. The removal of the tree/brush is my responsibility. The electric company hired Asplundh to clear the wires and trim the tops of the trees. They said that the tree/s that had been uprooted would probably fall once the grape vines were cut away from the wires. They did. They also said it was a miracle we never had a fire. That we must have had lights flickering when it was windy. Nope. No flickering. I asked them if my Internet cable would be faster. Huh. No comment. That wasn't their area. I was just kidding.

Whew! At least they didn't touch my flowering dogwood, and the hemlocks (or whatever ugly evergreen they were) didn't fall on top of my garage. You can see the guy in the cherry picker in the middle left side of the picture. I took the pictures from my kitchen window.

The dogwood is in full bloom. I hope it lasts until Saturday so I can take pictures of my niece in her prom dress. We have frost warnings for the wee hours overnight, but it should warm up to almost seventy by Saturday/Sunday. I wonder if she shouldn't get some sort of shawl to wear.

Coming from the speakers: Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma by The New Seekers

Polka dots and moonbeams

dots


This is a picture of Christmas lights from December. The picture blurred when I snapped it; I magnified it, then inverted it. I wasn't aware that my negative could come out in pretty colored dots. What you discover by experimenting.

Bath and Body has a new fragrance that I liked. Gardenia lily. But, only in the candle. The lotion was too strong for me. I usually like their lighter products like honeysuckle. The names with water in them were always my favorites, but they always take them off the market. I can stand the plumeria and night blooming jasmine for small amounts of time. The cotton blossom makes me cough whenever I smell it. My co-worker has it in hand lotion.

I found some pretty flowers growing behind my garage recently. I have been in this house three years and never noticed them before. I do have some pale, weak daffodils that grow there. I don't pay them much mind. However, a couple of days ago I found what I believe to be "chiming bells" or the Latin term Mertensia oblongifolia. Not abundant, but maybe I can cultivate them to another area where they will get more attention.

I watched Victor/Victoria for the first time. The movie version with Julie Andrews and James Garner. I am not real sure that it did the homosexual population any favors. It represents a time when being gay was not acceptable and treated them unfairly. Because he was rumored to be gay, the part played by James Garner was being forced to sell out his half of the business. He was being shunned by society until it was truly discovered that he was actually seeing a female, and not a male. Oh, well. I still liked it, though. If only to watch the handsome Mr. Garner tackle Lesley Ann Warren in the bedroom.

Well, I had a little hiatus from the html practice because I have been fixing others' computers. I have a couple more to clean up and at work I have been busy back out in the schools, so I hope to get back into it soon. I am going to start a self-study course on fiber optics also. That is all the training we get. Self-study. We can pretty much study what we want, but it has to be on our own. I'm used to that. O solo mio.

Coming from the speakers: Polka Dots and Moonbeams by Frank Sinatra. (No, not really.)

Just the Two of Us

wolf cake

This cake is from last year's birthday for my daughter's 13th party. Last year wolves, this year Brad Pitt. Hmmm. Something about boys (men) and wolves. It happens so quickly sometimes.

My daughter's antics on the field trip to Washington D.C. were typical of the young teenagers of America. They were four to a motel room. Laughing, giggling running from room to room. The chaperones ended up putting a piece of duct tape across their room door. Not enough to make a fire hazard. (I was quick to quiz my daughter on this practice). She said no, just one strip across the door. I told her she should have listened to the adults and stayed put.

Not like the years before when the boys in one room decided they were going to smoke cigarettes. They dismantled the smoke alarm, but the sprinklers went off, thus flooding the entire hallway on that floor. I am surprised they still do the field trips. One boy jumped from one moving up escalator to the one moving down in another year's trip. Last year one boy became dehydrated and was rushed to the emergency room. The year of the terrorist attacks, they cancelled the trip.

My daughter said that the phones and t.v. were supposed to have been removed or disabled, not the case. They had access to both. And, HBO. (yikes).

Between Arlington cemetery, the Capitol building, the Smithsonian Institute, the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, National Archives (had to skip, security said NO), and Union Station; what was my daughters' favorite thing? The subway. That's right, the subway. She was so excited to ride the subway. We have nothing like that here in rural Ohio. We drive everywhere. Our town doesn't even have a bus terminal.

She said that she and her friend kept losing their balance. I myself, have never been on a subway train. I might get claustrophobic. My daughter said she did, a bit.

Coming from the speakers: Just the Two of Us by Bill Withers.

stuck in the middle

popcorn


Well, it was a very long day. I finished it up trying to fix some popcorn. This is why the instructions say to stay with the microwave while the bag is popping. Mine fell through the cracks and did not expand - thus, no popcorn. Nuts. I was too tired to fix another bag. My daughter had just come home, too. I sat and listened to her D.C. trip. Awesome.

Coming from the speakers: Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealer's Wheel.

Running on Empty

empty

It's going to be a long day. (sigh)

That's just the way it is

fuchsia

Some things will never change. That's just the way it is. Did you watch the Presidential speech tonight? I have some questions that I want to ask. Does anyone recall what his father said? "Read my lips! No new taxes!"

As far as Social Security goes - if you were born before 1950, you're in. You will get the full benefits. How sweet. It just so happens that George W. was born in 1946. Whew, made it! There's looking out for Number One!

Does the President pay into Social Security? Damn straight.

From Social Security Online:

All federal employees (including all members of Congress, the President and Vice President, Federal judges, and most political appointees) hired on or after January 1, 1984 are mandatorily covered under Social Security.

So, as I see it you pay into SS for thirty-odd years. You receive benefits for any years that you live past the set retirement age. It is still a crap shoot. If you paid for thirty years worth of Social Security, but pass away before you receive any benefits - Government won't have to pay back what you put in. (If you have no spouse).

If you live twenty years past retirement, (you paid for thirty, collect for twenty) the Government is ahead by ten years worth.

If you live five years past retirement, (you paid for thirty, collect for five) the Government is ahead by twenty-five years worth.

With the new plan, you can opt to pay into a personal savings account. What happens if you pass away before you withdraw it? Is it treated like a regular savings account? Will you have a beneficiary? Is it treated like an IRA? Will the interest be taxed?

And did it sound as if he was dissing Congress?

"Too often the temptation in Washington is to look at a major issue only in terms of whether it gives one political party an advantage over the other. Social Security is too important for politics as usual. "

and this one:

"So I'm not surprised that some are balking at doing hard work."

Ouch. That must have stung. As opposed to "slacking?"

Moving on to the price of gasoline:

"We will continue to encourage oil-producing nations to maximize their production."

How are we to do that? There is a question I would have liked to have asked. Will you threaten them? Bully them? Coerce them? Kick them where it hurts? Why are they holding back production anyway? Are they holding out for some good old American goodies?


Whatever.

Coming from the speakers: The Way it Is by Bruce Hornsby

Little fuzzy pups

yorkshire terrier

What a day I've had. I was thinking of skipping a day at the blog, but then I decided to do a "quickie". Besides sending my daughter off to D.C. for three days, I have been catching up on fixing old pc's for friends.

What a trip down memory lane! Fdisk, Format c: and Windows 98. The really funny thing was the monitor was old and the VGA was old and the screen icons and font were REALLY large. I didn't need my reading glasses. If you have done this kind of work before, you know what I mean when I parrot "Are you sure?" ARE YOU SURE?!!!! Yes, I am sure! Just delete the damn partition, would ya?

Then, I checked my personal email once more before retiring. Just in case a sibling needs some kind words or encouragement. Rough times for sisters and brothers. Too late to call and I don't want to force it. Gentle - slow. Let them adjust to the news. Meanwhile, research, research, research.

But, after that I got on the kick of reading about poor managers and poor management. Here is a comment from a manager from my past. Sitting at a meeting with mixed company and mixed representatives she said "I have only met one man smarter than me." And, I'll bet she was thinking that there wasn't a woman alive smarter than she.

Coming from the speakers: I Love by Tom T. Hall (little fuzzy pups)

Little abandoned houses

abandoned house

Along on my side road visit a couple of weeks ago, I came across this old abandoned house. I had to take it's picture. It seemed so forlorn. Perhaps it is indicative of the economy in the midwest. The parts that the politicians don't see. Or, maybe the family moved out because of all the land stripping that was going on all around it.

Too tired to experiment with any html on this blog site. I have my personal web page up and running. I have been throwing stuff out on it. Here is the URL if anyone wants to take a peek. Although it may be redundant for some of you: http://users.adelphia.net/~mgwine/

My daughter and the entire eighth grade class goes to Washington D.C. tomorrow. I have a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call. They have to be at the school between 5:15 and 5:30. Three days away from home. My niece has been spending a lot of time with her beau, so that means "me" time. I guess I will work on my new addiction. Mentioned above.

I am going to go off on a tangent here. Just some of my personal rambling thoughts. I don't want to complain, just state the facts and my personal opinion on the matter at hand. Being a woman and a single Mom, I try to be careful about taking time off and using my child as an excuse. We have at work what is the equivalent of an electronic "in-out" board. We log in and we can see where every co-worker is at any given time. If they keep the board updated. I see a couple of parents stating "Stephen is sick" if they are taking a sick day. Do they need to put that on there? Not in my opinion. A sick day is a sick day regardless of who needs to have the day off.

Now, when my daughter was young and did not need to be at school until 8:45 a.m. and I start work at 8:00 a.m., you bet your sweet bippy I went out and found me a caretaker that would make sure she got to school on time. I would drop her off at around 7:30 and get my ass to work. That is what I felt was my responsibility as a working human being.

I have a co-worker. He has it pre-arranged that he gets his kids on the school bus and comes in to work later. Now, it was never posted in any memo or what-not. I heard from a co-worker that this is the arrangement that he has. I would imagine that he makes up by working over some evenings, I don't know. I don't pay that much attention after hours. I do look at the in-out board in the mornings, so that I know if I need to call someone, if they are out sick or not. I have noticed that he posts In at @8:30 or something to that effect.

Granted, I never asked for any special privileges. How luxurious that would have been. I didn't feel that it was fair to my co-workers (some who are also single parents who began work at 7:30 a.m.) and never asked for any special handling. I also have this feeling that if a job sets your hours you abide by them. Now, if the job itself needed him to be there later in the evenings, I would completely understand. Not the case.

I don't think it is his special hours that bother me as much as the organization makes no mention of it to the fellow employees. Or any reasoning about it. Sometimes, I just wonder.

Coming from the speakers: Little Pink Houses by John (can we still say Cougar?) Mellencamp.

In the middle of the night

I had more than my usual number of dreams last night. I must have been trying to hash out a lot of anxiety and frustration.
What are dreams for, anyway? I have read some on it and I guess it is anybody's guess. Some resources say that dreams pull all of our days actions and feelings together and unravel them so that our brains can begin the next day anew.

Other resources state that it is a way for our brains to clean up what we have experienced or lived that day. Process things to memory or back it up to our hard drives. In a manner of speaking.

And, yet another said that it was a way for us to deal with our fears, anger and other emotions. Okay. I sure am glad I don't murder anyone in my dreams. I do a lot of yelling, though. Sometimes.

I am still experimenting with html. Is it padding or margin that I need to adjust for the text to back off from the edge of the image? I don't know that I care for this font, it must be difficult to read, so I'll end this post.

Coming from the speakers: River of Dreams by Billy Joel.

And I think it's gonna snow today

yellow tulips

I'll have to venture out sometime today to see how the above tulips are faring in the snow. Cold, wet, gray day. I fought with the Compose function of this blogsite so much yesterday, that I have to take a break today. But, I will be back. Once I rest and regroup.

As soon as I would fix the Mozilla/Netscape feature of the image overlapping the post below, I would lose the opacity in IE. I am running three browsers so that I can see how my post looks in each one. I don't have a Mac, so I can't see how it looks in that OS.

However, my very worldly nephew has shown me the new Beta Netscape. Download it and give it a spin. Wow! Here is the url. It is based on Firefox. Remember that it is still in the "beta" form.

I call my nephew "worldly" because this past year alone he has been to Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Toronto (twice) Canada. He is being trained for Oracle database Administrator. He is usually far more up to date on the newest, latest, greatest.

I found out this morning that the new body lotion I purchased is actually a tanning lotion. I saw the tell-tale signs of orange rust-like tint on my hands. WTF? I grabbed the lotion and read the "tiny" print. "subtly enhances skin tone & color" it says. Huh. I usually don't wear my reading glasses when I go to the store. Maybe I should start. I really liked the 'lotion' part, too. But, I really don't like to look orange. The color doesn't suit me.

Here is something kind of funny that I read about email. Pause for thought. Uh huh. Okay, but I never inhaled. Or, I got your email, but I don't remember what it said. Roll me another one, I mean 'send it again'. Oh, I could go on. But, mercifully, I won't.

Coming from the speakers: I Think It's Gonna Rain Today by Dusty Springfield

A blossom fell and touched two lips

twolips
Here I am practicing with CSS and opacity. Cascading Style Sheets. The Post page's Compose button and I have been sparring this morning. I am determined to beat it.

Anyway, the below picture(s) is two of my red/orange tulips. I liked this color best against the gray siding of my house. I did have to edit out the bird poop that appeared in the picture right behind the tulips. Something you don't notice until you zoom in on the picture. Wonderful.

Most of my learning has been at this wonderful site: www.mandarindesign.com. They are by far one of the best html tutors that I have found (so far). I do a lot of copy and paste and then change the images to mine. I don't like using other people's images when I have (last count) 10GB of my own jpg's to choose from.

I still have not heard from my Internet provider as to when I can start uploading my own web page. I am going to have to cut my jpg's down to the bare minimum, though. I will read up on how to post images in thumbnails because I will only be allowed 10MB of space. I want more, more more!

Well, I don't want to bore you with details. I am going to practice some more and play with more pictures. What a way to be creative. (sigh). Two lips - tulips.

Coming from the speakers: A Blossom Fell by Nat King Cole

You Could Touch the Moonlight

Mr. Blue Jay

Another great shot of the bird who was visiting on Sunday. My Mom always told me that blue jays were mean. I never got close enough to find out. I think she meant that when it comes to bird survival they are at the top of their game. I don't know. The robins were pretty courageous. The mourning doves were downright chicken.

I continue to work with html. I am not real happy with the large top margin with this box. I'll have to look into that. Too tired right now.

I have been working with opacity and mouseovers on my work web page the past couple of days. I have started the process of getting my own web page established through my cable/Internet provider. But, they didn't call me. I sent the email last night and I received and automatic response stating that someone would be in touch within 48 hours. So far, nothing.

That big moon outside Is getting pretty full. We have turned much colder, here in Ohio. We also have rain. I have been looking at vacation ideas for me and my daughter. I don't think we will want to go to the beach this year. I'll wager that she won't put on a swimsuit the entire summer.

There are some nice ideas. I always wanted to take a long train ride through the Canadian Rockies. There are a couple of Disney World packages that also look inviting. I was there in 1978 and 1984.

Coming from the speakers: Have you ever been in love by Celine Dion. (You could touch the moonlight)

God didn't make little green tomatoes...

(More work in progress)...

I am quite ready for the blooms that appear in the Spring, bringing all of their vibrant color to the Ohio Valley. Not the bees buzzing around nor the sneezing of allergies can stop me from enjoying the immense display of flowers in our neighborhood gardens. Whether you choose simple and bold tulips to line your paths or a more delicate design of phlox that will cover the ground, both go well with the backdrop of the bright green and shiny hostas that are pushing their strong, ready-to-burst shoots up through the ground. The birds are also a welcome sight as they are seen hopping along the freshly mowed lawns in search of the tasty morsel of a worm or insect. The sky begins to grow more azure and is a brilliant contrast against the budding of the flowering dogwoods in the area. And, who hasn't been awakened early on a Saturday or (whince) Sunday morning by the roar of a neighbor's lawn mower or leaf blower? Although, noise is one of the downsides of the coming warmer months, we can sit back on our newly purchased or freshly painted lawn chairs with a nice cool glass of iced tea or lemonade in the evenings and enjoy the extreme pleasure of manicured landscapes and well taken care of gardens in our beautiful countryside. So, after all your hard, back-breaking work is done, sit back, relax and take a deep, exhilarating breath and enjoy the wonderful aromas that begin to float on the breeze of a warm and long-awaited Spring evening.

I am quite ready for the blooms that appear in the Spring, bringing all of their vibrant color to the Ohio Valley. Not the bees buzzing around nor the sneezing of allergies can stop me from enjoying the immense display of flowers in our neighborhood gardens. Whether you choose simple and bold tulips to line your paths or a more delicate design of phlox that will cover the ground, both go well with the backdrop of the bright green and shiny hostas that are pushing their strong, ready-to-burst shoots up through the ground. The birds are also a welcome sight as they are seen hopping along the freshly mowed lawns in search of the tasty morsel of a worm or insect. The sky begins to grow more azure and is a brilliant contrast against the budding of the flowering dogwoods in the area. And, who hasn't been awakened early on a Saturday or (whince) Sunday morning by the roar of a neighbor's lawn mower or leaf blower? Although, noise is one of the downsides of the coming warmer months, we can sit back on our newly purchased or freshly painted lawn chairs with a nice cool glass of iced tea or lemonade in the evenings and enjoy the extreme pleasure of manicured landscapes and well taken care of gardens in our beautiful countryside. So, after all your hard, back-breaking work is done, sit back, relax and take a deep, exhilarating breath and enjoy the wonderful aromas that begin to float on the breeze of a warm and long-awaited Spring evening.

Everybody's workin' for the week-end

This is my work in progress.
I am learning pure html as I go.
My eyes are very sensitive to bright flashy things, hence you won't find much flash and neon colors on my blog site. I like the cool colors, such as green, blue and purple and their variants thereof. I learn better on my own reading from a text book and/or manual. I do not do very well in a classroom environment. I find that I get very self-conscious with others around me and I don't seem to fit into a group. Most of the technology I know and use on a daily basis, has involved me figuring it out on my own. I find that the Internet is an invaluable resource for learning on your own. I can't get enough of it.

Call me any, anytime

red tulips

My beautiful red tulips in bloom. Picture taken yesterday. I declared years ago that my favorite flower was the tulip. Simple yet beautiful. Bold but not fancy. And a very good friend said that was me.

Bold? - not always.

Simple? - sometimes complicated.

Beautiful? - not even close!

My pick of beautiful women: Brunette would be Emmylou Harris. Or Connie Selleca. For blonde I always liked Elizabeth Montgomery when she was Samantha Stevens.

Edit: 9:20 p.m. - I realize that I need a redhead in the mix of beauties. My votes goes to Ann Margret. Something good happened to me at work today. A couple of years ago, I created a work web site to help my schools out with tips and tricks I have picked up over the years I have been working with them.

Today a gentleman called me from Texas to thank me for one of the tips on my page. He had been trying to get a digital keyboard to work with Windows XP and my tips page had the answer he needed. It felt very good for me to be able to help someone who wasn't even affiliated with any of my schools. He could have just emailed me, but he called me at work. I was very flattered.

Coming from the speakers: Call Me by Blondie

They call me mellow yellow

yellow flower

Yeah, I am pretty sure this is not what I ordered when those two nice ladies came around selling flower bulbs. I would never order yellow flowers for my dark blue/gray house.

But this is what I have, and I will deal with it. They are bright, I will give them that. However, they just look like daffodils from a distance. Not that I don't like daffodils. It is just that yellow and dark gray? Horrors. Orange-red is what I wanted.

Suffering from an ear ache. I rarely get ear aches. The top of my head is sensitive and my throat hurts. Where is the aspirin? Then, on to work.

Coming from the speakers: Nothing. I am already out the door.

Katmandu

robin red breast

One robin says to the other robin:

"I don't know, Gus. Something about this place has cats written all over it."

Fortunately for the above fellows, my three cats are inside cats. They rarely even look out the back door anymore. Screened windows, yes. Backdoor, no.

I am thinking about looking for a new home for Precious. We have had her for one year. She has changed in the past three months. If I didn't know any better, I would say she was in heat. But, she is fixed. She is much more demanding in the affection area. She is sparring with our other two cats a lot more often than before. They all just don't get along. She acts possessed. I think if someone who is looking for a friendly and pretty cat, they would like her. We'll see. She is small but she is far from a kitten.

I must have looked in five stores today at lunch time and on the way home from work for a sun tea jar. One of those big glass jars that you fill with cold water, put about seven tea bags in and sit out in the sun. After a few hours you add sugar and ice and you have wonderfully sweet iced tea. I threw my other one away because it had a little spigot on the front that leaked.

At the school I was at today they had a fire drill. Of course. Any beautiful day in the spring, they pull a rehearsal drill. I didn't know it was coming and I was working in the wiring closet. Full of electrical equipment, Ethernet port lights flashing. I had just plugged a cable into a switch when the alarm began. I don't know if you have heard a school alarm lately, but they aren't like the ones I was used to in the seventies. This one was more like short fog horn bursts. I about jumped out of my skin. I know I cursed. Luckily there were no students in the room with me. Sheesh!

Coming from the speakers: Katmandu by Bob Seger

He's So Shy

black squirrel

Someone came to check out my work today. I had cleared out most of the tree debris that had accumulated in the far corner of my driveway today. Birds and squirrels came to investigate when I took a break. I looked out my window and immediately grabbed my camera. This was definitely going to be good. I got some good close-ups of a blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) and a couple of robins, too.

I had to sit quietly for some time to get them to come back, but I had stirred up so many tasty centipedes, spiders and worms they could not resist.

My daughter helped a good bit. She is working off a haircoloring bill that she ran up yesterday. She wanted the ends of her hair tipped in bright blonde. Her good friend that stays here some week-ends has the prettiest light blond hair. And, my daughter's hair has been getting progressively darker as the years roll by. That was her looking like Cousin Itt in my post yesterday. Her hair especially gets dark during the winter months.

She has quite a bit more to work off. Coloring at the hair salon is quite an expensive ordeal. Ouch. She is happy with it, but not many people noticed. It is a slight change, I guess.

We go back to have another mole removed in early May. Not looking forward to that. Summer is coming and she is outside more (especially since she got her bike) and I have to keep reminding her to put her sunscreen on.

She was upset yesterday because her arms got a light burn on them. She said she wasn't allowed to get sunburnt. I said that it isn't that she is not allowed, she just has to be careful and to make sure she wears sunscreen.
I bought her a cute ball cap from Firefox, but she doesn't like it. I will keep trying. There has to be some kind of hat out there that she will like.

Coming from the speakers: He's So Shy by The Pointer Sisters.

Cousin Itt

cousin itt


Okay, I admit
I had an affair with Cousin Itt!

Kiss This!

chicken lips

Does a chicken have lips? Would you kiss a chicken on the lips? Read more about it here.

I may be in some real trouble, now. At my local drug store, I found the very delicious, very tempting, unavoidable chocolate candies that I love.


If you like chocolate and have not tried one of these, I sincerely suggest that you don't try one. Nope, don't do it. You have been warned.

I need to go and start my outside work. Rake, mow, pull, weed, sweep, trip to the drug store to get candy - Aaack! How'd that get in there?

Coming from the speakers: Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harem

On the road again

covered bridge

Today I had to travel to Columbiana county in Ohio. I remembered to take my camera - fully charged and ready to go. After my work was done, I stopped at a local pizzeria for lunch. While pulling into the parking lot, I noticed a huge basset hound next door sunning himself. I clicked a couple of pictures of him. I didn't notice that I had set my keys on my passenger car seat instead of in my purse. Click, the car door shut and I was locked out.

Triple-A to the rescue within half an hour, before I even finished my lunch. The locals had a good laugh at my expense. I didn't mind. This is why I have Triple-A.

So, on the way back to my home county, I slipped off the beaten path on a scenic excursion. I found the beautiful bridge shown above. I was completely alone back in this small scenic area. I have plenty of pictures to show, but just one for today. Until I have more time to write.

I did something today that I have never done in all my 29 years of working. I waited until today to file my taxes. Not only that, I waited until after 5:00 p.m. to even venture to the library to pick up my tax forms. How crazy is that? My library closed at 6 p.m. and I even had to make a second trip out because I had forgotten the Itemized Deduction form. I was so laughing at myself.

I remembered that there was this one post office staying open until 11:30 p.m. - it just happened to be in the town that my brother lived in. It took me a couple of hours, but I finished up my federal, state and city taxes, drove to the post office (they were so nice they had doughnuts and cookies) mailed my taxes out and stopped to visit with my brother and his wife for a couple of hours.

I still cannot believe that I am this unorganized this year. And, it isn't just taxes. I have to do some serious catching up and then restructure myself so that I can get back on track.

Maybe it is this blog thing that is taking up all of my time. Hmm. Interesting.

Coming from the speakers: Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells.

Nuggets the mouse

nugget

Here is my daughter's mouse Nuggets. He is a tiny little fellow.
And here is his Taj-Mahal.

Quite roomy for a little critter such as he. My daughter said, that's okay, we would get another one. I took a few moments and explained the facts of life to her. Not the normal facts of life like Health class agenda. No, this one is more like "down on the farm" facts of life and wild animal abandonment.

She actually thinks that the pet store personnel would only sell us two of the same gender. Oh, to be young and naive again.

Coming from the speakers: Crazy by Patsy Cline

Testing again picture posting

road1
More testing posting pictures.

How to add more than one picture per post

bare tree

This is how I add more than one picture per post. I use Hello.

Open Hello and login. Send your pictures, one at a time. In this example, I am naming them : 1. tree 2. twigs 3. buds

Send and publish them separately.

Go to your blogsite and login. (Sign in).

You will see the three pictures in each a separate post. (If they published successfully). This is okay for now.

Choose New Post.

Choose Edit Posts.

Click on the first picture you published. In my example, it is tree.

Write what you want and when you are ready to add another picture, Publish your Post.

After the post is 100% published, choose Edit Posts

Choose your second picture (my example would be twigs), and choose Edit. Once the picture is displayed, choose the Edit HTML tag. Select (or highlight the text). Choose Edit from the browser menu bar. (At the top of the browser page). Choose Copy. Or, you can right-mouse-click and choose copy.

Choose Edit Posts.

You may get the pop-up warning stating :

Are you sure you want to navigate away from this page?

Click OK.

Edit the first picture post that you were writing to. In my example it would be tree.

Choose Edit HTML

Scroll down the post and click on the blank area that you want the second picture to appear.

Choose Edit from the browser menu. Choose Paste.

twigs

Choose the Compose tab. With any luck your second picture will appear in your original post. Choose Publish Post and let's place the third picture in our original post.

Following the same steps as above, after the original post is 100% published, choose Edit Posts.

Choose Edit next to your third picture. In my example, it would be buds.

Once the picture is displayed, I choose the Edit HTML tag. I select (or highlight) the text and copy it.

I then chose Edit Posts. I again get the warning that I am about to navigate away from the page and I click on the OK.

I choose Edit next to my original post. (tree).

I choose the Edit HTML tag. I scroll down to the area I want to place the third picture (buds) and click in the empty space so that I see my blinking cursor (or as some call it the blinking I-bar. Because it looks like the capital letter I) You can either right-mouse-click and choose Paste, or choose Edit from the menu at the top of your browser and choose Paste.

Hopefully, you will see the text pasted into the empty space. Choose the tab titled Compose and you will see your third picture placed into your original post.

buds

Not done, yet. We need to go back and delete the pictures that we don't need any more. Number two (twigs) and three (buds). Since they are now in our original post, we don't need them floating around on our blogsite by themselves anymore.

Publish your original post, yet again.

Once it is 100% published (if you want to cheat and Edit Posts before it is 100% published you can). Choose Edit Posts.

Far to the right of all the posts are two options. View and Delete. Click on delete for the second picture (my example was twigs). The site will ask you if you are sure you want to delete it. Choose Delete it.

Edit Posts again.

Choose Delete next to the third picture (my example buds).

Are you sure? Delete it.

View your original post and see if all your pictures appeared.

I had to go back in and edit my original post to clean up some blank spaces, but do what you must and you should have all your pictures in your finished original post.

Good luck!

Take me home, country roads

red barn

In keeping with the habit of trying to put song lyrics in to my titles (which I really haven't done for about a week) - here is a well-known one by John Denver. I had another long drive today and decided to take a different route home. I snapped away.

Above is a red barn I passed on my way and below is a town that has actual flood gates. At least on two of the main roads coming into the town. I don't know if they have used them recently or not.


I worked outside most of the evening and my arms feel as though they are going to fall off. I am really behind because of my recent migraine. You know the old saying "Make hay while the sun shines", well I am trying to do my outside yard work while the sun is shining. Rake, rake, rake. My neighbor has a huge pine tree and I think about 7/8ths of it's twigs fell into my yard this spring.

My daughter has her mouse. Her friend from school said hers died, so I took daughter to the pet shop to get one. I mean we had already purchased the Taj-Mahal, feed and shredded bedding, right? I think this was a conspiracy. It is cute. I will take pictures of "Nugget". Maybe I should soon, in case it doesn't live long. She is keeping it in her bedroom with the door closed. I have never had critters, such as mice, rats, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, etc... So this is a new experience for me.

Coming from the speakers: Country Roads by John Denver :)

Are you ready for some color

pink_petunia

Well, I don't know about you all, but I am ready for some serious color. The picture of the pink petunias above are from last summer, and the ones below are too.

I have a couple of trees that were unearthed by the latest flooding/or storms and are ready to fall onto my driveway. A lot of their branches are tangled up in grapevines and wrapped around the electricity wires. I called my electric company and they sent a nice gentleman out. He went to college and studied trees. He marked the trees for removal stating that they were only about fifty years old. They are some kind of fir.

Then he told me all about my flowering dogwood. It should bloom in about five days. He told me if I ever need to trim it, to do it right after it blooms. It has too much sunlight, but that would be okay. He asked me if I ever notice that some parts of it begin to "tan". That is when it has had all the nutrients it needs for the winter and the leaves begin to turn red.

He said that it probably won't grow any taller, but may branch out wider than what it is now. He was very nice. Even if he did call me a "gal". While we were talking he got a call on his cell phone. He told his caller that he would return his call after he was done talking to this "gal". So, I will call him a guy. The electric company sent out this "guy." Regardless, I am getting my camera ready.

I managed to make it through a pain-free day today. No migraine medicine, no over the counter headache medicine. I think I can safely say this migraine has passed. It has been a while since I had a four-dayer.

My daughter used some of her birthday money to buy a mouse. For a dollar. Except the cage, feed and litter cost about forty. Hmm. I think a lesson in economics is in order. Guess what will be in my yard sale this summer? It looks kind of like the Taj-Mahal for one little itty bitty mouse. The rest of her birthday money will be saved for her class field trip to Washington D.C. and Cedar Point.


Coming from the speakers: Cool Change by Little River Band

Eye Migraine

eye migraine

I wasn't worth sh!t this week-end. My migraine started on Friday. Of course. My day off from work and the beginning of a beee-you-tiful week-end. Migraine medicine (Relpax) kept it manageable. Just. Saturday was a repeat of Friday. Another Relpax. Sunday I refused to take another one. By Sunday night I felt like I was dying.

Today I am left with the eye migraine. It feels like there is a fork behind my eye trying to poke it out. My stomach has been severely upset today so I stuck to tylenol. It doesn't do much, but I cannot stomach the more powerful pain remedies. Such as Excederin or Advil. Crackers and ginger ale. Did I mention how beautiful the weather has been and I am stuck lying in bed or on the couch with a nine-inch nail embedded into my eyeball?

Excuse me. I have to go and throw up now. Again.

Coming from the speakers: Nothing. Even the fan is making too much noise.

Update: I broke down and took another Relpax. (sniff) It is working, the pain is finally abating. Tuesday April 12. 2:40 a.m.

Cookies, SSL and DNS - Oh My!

coat girl

This is one of my favorite pictures of my daughter taken about ten years ago. It makes me smile each time I see it. It is a digital picture of a 35mm picture through a clear plastic cover in a photo album. Follow that?

A big congratulations to Tabor for her new hat. Role of Grandmommy! Picture can be seen here.

Well, according to blogger.com status' page, they are having problems with SSL. To find more about it: Secure Socket Layer.

We are also told to clear our cookies.

Or, as I like to say, toss our cookies.

In explorer, choose Tools, Internet Options, General tab, and Delete cookies.

In Mozilla Firefox choose Tools, Options, Privacy (picture of yellow padlock), and across from the Cookies option is a Clear box. Click on that. Or, you can clear everything in one click. Near the bottom of the window is a Clear All button.

Cookies are also getting a bad rap here.

Coming from the speakers: Sara by Fleetwood Mac.

Who Poisoned the Internet?

birthday spray

What in the heck is going on with posting these days? I have pulled out every trick in the book that I can think of and still I want to take a .22 and shoot this thing! Here are some of the problems I am having. Are you having the same? I use both IE and Firefox.

Document contains no data.

Having to re-login numerous times.

No reaction to the mouse click.

Sit and spin.

DNS timing out problem.

Page not found.

Spellchecker not working.

Publishing and losing my entire post (unless I saved it to notepad first)

So, I clear the cache, reset the wireless router, check the DNS. Try accessing the site using just the IP address. 66.102.15.100. Sometimes that would work. Persistence, patience, but why? Who poisoned the Internet?

And why do I keep putting commas in the wrong place? As I re-read my previous posts, I am thinking to myself - Why did you put the comma there? I have to go back and edit the post so that the comma appears correctly. And with all the hassles of posting, that is no small task.

Coming from the speakers: Faith by George Michael

Happy Birthday, Daughter Dear

brad pitt

(Sigh). I tried to get a decent picture of Christopher Atkins from The Blue Lagoon (my daughter watched the movie over the week-end), but I had to settle for Brad Pitt. Can you imagine anyone saying that? Settle for Brad Pitt?! Bite my tongue!

It was a wonderful birthday. A few close friends, balloons, pizza, cake, ice cream and a new bike. A shiny silver trick bike. Zoom, zoom!

She is off with her friends at Open mike night at the local dance/pool hall that is run by the city Police department. Free internet, pool tables, dances, open mike night, battle of the bands. She loves it there.

She wanted a pool table and a guitar for her birthday along with the trick bike. I said no to the pool table (running out of room) and she picked between the guitar and bike. Summer's comin'.

From the speakers: Eli's Comin' by Three Dog Night.

Lunchtime Banter

royal mac


I sat enjoying my lunch break in a town about twenty miles away in a fast food restaurant.

I overheard this conversation at a nearby table.

"Yes, I watched the first part of the broadcast. I never miss
it. He had a lot to say about Charles and Camilla. He really trashed her."

I thought to myself, 'People actually talk about this?'

The other one said, "Well, they have had a rough time of it."

First gossip, "yeah, they postponed their wedding because all of
the bigwigs were going to the Pope's funeral."

Pause while they chewed.

"You know, I probably won't see it in my lifetime, but I believe
that the Queen had Princess Di assasinated. Just look back in history,
it happened all the time."

The other didn't comment.

Wow. Pretty strong words.

As I got up to throw away my garbage I had to take a peek at
the two sitting at the table.

One of the gossips was dark tanned with short spiked, bleached (orange-tinted) hair.

Both were tanned and dressed casually. I would venture to guess mid-fifties.

I imagine that the two men were golfing at the nearby
golf course. In the rain.

Yes, two men. Lunching and gossiping about British royalty.

Well, I never.

Back at the school, I overheard another conversation between two teachers
on their break in the lunch room.

First one, "You know what my favorite treat was when I was a little girl?"

Other, "What?"

"Kraft macaroni and cheese! Do they still make that?"

Cripes lady - where the hell have you been?

Take me back

grin

Take me back to the world we knew before. Before we knew the meaning of the words dysplastic, nevi, nevus, melanocytic, prophylactic excision, metastasis, and the one I personally dislike re-excised.

My daughter is going through the re-excising process. One surgeon removed the moles on her back and had them sent to a lab. Benign. Beautiful word. Two dermatologists determined that either they were growing back or the surgeon did not get them all. Both dermatologists advised that we re-excise them.

And, now one has to be re-re-excised. It seems that the lab determined that the margin around the lesion was too close. That perhaps some of the nevi remains. Dermatologist needs to go back in - just to be safe. This is the mild one. Not even moderate.

Just to be on the safe side. Her back is already scarred where they took it out. I suppose it won't make any difference if they cut into a scar. A blow upon a bruise. A cut upon a scar.

Can you tell I am tired? I have been reading and reading and reading about moles (a.k.a. nevi, nevus).

Coming from the speakers: Nothing, but there is this ringing in my ears...

She's been a good dog

tripod

This tale that follows if from one of my older sisters' archives. Retold by me here for you to enjoy. It is a tangled story about our love for a little terrier dog that we both shared the company of. She was one of a kind.

Now, from my sister's perspective:

I arrived at the therapist's office a few minutes late. I was always late. I could not get motivated these past few months. My husband had been seriously ill, and they never really found out what it was.

And, now this therapy just didn't seem to be helping. Doctor Arora was nice enough. Though his Indian accent was thick and hard to understand for me at times. I was usually so timid, I never asked him to repeat himself. It just seemed rude.

I sat across from the doctor trying as usual to get comfortable in the high-back chair that never seemed to fit my body. After a few seconds of twisting my torso this way and that way, I managed a weak smile for the doctor.

His eyes were studying the papers before him. Finally, he looked up at me and smiled.

"So, how are you today?" he asked.

What I said:
"Oh, I'm a little sad. My dog died."

What the doctor heard and I didn't know it:
"Oh, I'm a little sad. My daughter died."

He said, "I'm so sorry! When did this happen?!"

"Oh, a week or so ago."

His eyes grew wide.

"How old was she?"

"We think she was eight or nine. We're not really sure."

The doctor gave me a sidelong glance that I didn't take notice to.

I sighed and tears welled up in my eyes. It seemed like I cried a lot these days. The doctor reached over and patted my hands that were folded uselessly in my lap.

"How tragic for you."

"Yes, she had lost a leg."

The doctor dropped the papers. He left them on the floor.

"Oh my! How did that happen?"

"She was hit by a car."

The doctor sat there with his mouth agape. He must be a pet lover.

"My Goodness! That is terrible!"

"Yeah, we had a time with her after that. She just kind of hobbled around the house."

The doctor made some kind of a face I couldn't decipher.

I sighed again. I thought perhaps it would be therapeutic to talk about her.

"My sister had her for a while, before she moved out of state."

"You're sister had her?"

"Yeah, they were really close. She was in my sister's care when she got hit by the car. It was a foggy fourth of July morning. The neighbors found her under their car. We don't know how long she had been laying there. Some car must have hit her and knocked her under there, they never stopped."

The doctor looked a bit ill to me, but I couldn't tell. I thought he might be getting sick, so I managed another weak smile.

"It didn't make her afraid, though. She still loved to ride in the car."

The doctor's return smile looked a bit pinched to me, but he nodded. He was letting me get all of the sorrow out. I tried to sound upbeat.

"She would dance around the best she could with that one leg gone and wait and hope to see if we would let her go with us whenever we went somewhere."

I swallowed hard remembering her little body wriggling around, but managed to continue.

"She knew when we were leaving because I would be freshening my makeup and combing my hair. She would come into the bathroom with me while I was getting ready and just look up at me with those big, soft eyes of hers. Sometimes we couldn't take her with us because we would be going someplace where they didn't allow her to go and we would have to leave her home with the cats."

The doctor seemed to shift uncomfortably in his chair. Maybe he had a hard time adjusting to these stupid chairs the same as I did.

"Where did you go that she wasn't allowed?"

"Well, places like the grocery store."

"The grocery store!?"

The doctor had such an incredulous look on his face. Perhaps things were different in India.

"I know that in some foreign countries, they allow you to take your pets in, but in the US - it isn't allowed unless they are a seeing-eye dog or something."

"Pets!?"

"Yes, my pet, dog."

"You're dog!? I thought you were speaking of your daughter!"

He seemed relieved. As if he had just figured out the mystery to a puzzle.

"Uh, no. My dog died."

The color returned to the doctor's face. He seemed more relaxed.

"Time's up!"

Thank goodness. I was spent. I never realized how emotionally draining it was to get everything out.

Coming from the speakers: Shannon by Henry Gross

Yesterday, when I was young

kuddles

Here I am in 1968 with my Mom, five of my siblings and my very, very close pal "Kuddles". He was a stuffed gray mouse that I carried with me everywhere. Who knows what happened to him.

This picture was taken somewhere on the Virginia border. We went to Virginia Beach a couple of times during the summer between school years. I remember the beach, the ocean, the motels, the pools, and the sunburns. Oh, and throwing up in the car.

My family was so big we always took two cars on vacation. Nobody wanted to ride in the same car with me, because that was the car that had to stop to let me throw up. Often. (Sigh) I'm sorry!

I ended up moving to the Virginia Beach area for a few years in my twenties. It didn't hold the same appeal. The beach had gone downhill and the new place to go for vacation was Myrtle Beach. I hear that Va Beach has vastly improved again. It was quite the party town in the 80's. The entire time I lived there, I think I may have gone to the beach five times. And three of those times were when relatives came to visit.

1968. That was before Jaws. When it was still safe to go into the water. Before I knew about sharks. My brother did cut up a dead stingray on the beach near our motel one year, though. He wanted the stingers. He got them. Two of them. They looked like little serrated bones.

Ahh, good times. The worst thing that I ever had to worry about was if I would get a window seat and how to make my sunburns stop hurting.

My daughter gets her stitches out for her latest mole removal tomorrow. Doctor wants to talk to me. They didn't get all of this last one. They will have to go back in. Great. How many more? Six, seven surgeries? This mole was downgraded to mild nevus dysplastia. From moderate to mild. Is that supposed to make me feel better? When there are six or so more to be removed? Will the next one be back up to moderate? Will it be mild? What is above moderate? Elevated? Severe? My stomach is starting to hurt.

I don't want to do this anymore.

You don't? What about your daughter? Suck it up! Don't you go wimping out on your little girl! She is the one who is going through the real pain! You whiny little baby! Quit your belly achin'!

Coming from the Speakers: Seven Bridges Road by The Eagles

Doctor, my eyes have seen the years

eye

Why do we forget ?

How is it that we don't recall that someone has hurt us before? Or, we choose to forget. The boyfriend or girlfriend that stands you up or cheats on you. How is it, that we go back out with them? Forgive and forget seems to be the motto.

And, when they hurt us again? We curse beneath our breath. How did we let it happen to us again? Why do we let it happen to us again?

And our country seems to do the same. Remember the words "Forgive your enemies, but never forget them." Read between the lines: until you need something from them.

That is how it seems to be in the workforce also. You only get special privileges if you hold something back. Knowing what information to hold back from your managers so that they need you seems to get you more
special handling. I never did believe in that practice, and therein may lie my frustration.

And, in life. We make mistakes, but we don't seem to learn from them. We repeat the mistakes. Is it because the consequences weren't severe enough or even carried through? Did we get a slap on the wrist?

Does anyone recall the boy who was caned in Singapore? Well, he was eighteen. Some say that some of the foreign countries carry out much
harsher punishments than the United States. That the U.S. has become soft in it's crime control, and that weakens us.

What causes us to pause before we repeat mistakes that we have made in the past? Repeat offenders. Do some of us have a way of stuffing the memories of the price we paid deep into our subconscious? Two people can be punished the same way for the same crime, one may repeat
the behavior, while the other never takes the action again. Why? Is it in the upbringing? The genes? Is one capable of NOT learning from their mistakes. Is it their fault?

Can they help themselves? Can rehabilitation help them? Can some synthetic drug help them? Can therapy help them? Are they destined to end up in prison, violent relationships, dead-end jobs, leading a life of misery and loneliness for all time?

I know this. This is way too many questions for a Sunday afternoon.

Coming from the speakers: I Am by Neil Diamond

School Daze

school


The teacher asked us to follow him.

He would show us where the phone lines were.

Me and two girls followed him.

The other two girls giggled and their laughter echoed off the cold cement blocks of the high school.

"Why?" I thought to myself. "Why do I always get stuck with such immature girls?"

The teacher had white hair and was very much a gentleman. He had lost his wife of thirty years recently.

I hoped that he couldn't hear what they were giggling about.

"I think he likes you!" one of them said to me as the other one giggled.

"OOhhh, you have a boyfriend!" the other one chimed in.

I cringed for the elder teacher. I wish that he didn't have to put up with such clowns.

Either he actually didn't hear them, or he was too much of a gentleman to acknowledge their rudeness. Perhaps years of teaching had taught him how to keep a poker face. If you react, that just adds fuel to their fire.

"I think he's soft on you!" the one girl said to me, trying to embarrass me.
I gave them both a stern look. They giggled some more.

Ahh, such girlish antics that go on in any school across the nation. The rudeness, the spite, making fun of others.

Perhaps it was the age. But, wait. This was just last year and it wasn't high school girls.

It was my co-workers. One was forty-one and the other was twenty-seven.
This is what I have to work with.

Coming from the speakers: Fooling Yourself by Styx