None of my pain and woe

blue sky sun


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

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

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

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

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

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

Coming from the speakers: Behind Blue Eyes by The Who

I've had just about enough!

robin


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

Take it slow

blue palm


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

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

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

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

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

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

Coming from the speakers: Kokomo by The Beach Boys.

Standing in the shadows

two


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

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

Coming from the speakers: Exiles by Dan Fogelberg

Sugar and spice, not very nice

girl


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

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

Here is more information about box turtles and their care:

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



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

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

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

Coming from the Speakers: No Matter What by Boyzone.

Will Dell find out?

fall trees


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

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

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

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

Moving on.

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

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

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

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

I'm Sorry

wsmith

Ah, Hell No!

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

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

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

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

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

Showin' off my eclat

attack cat


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NOW - You're messin'

note


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

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

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

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

Moving on!

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

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

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

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

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

Cooling Off

waterslide


To see all pictures of our day at Mohican Waterslide and Park go here.

Laugh Every Day

tc


Here is my daughter and her boyfriend at Mohican Water Slides today. I think they are deciding whether or not to trot back up the hill for another slide. They knew to keep the mats under them when they slide down the fiberglass slides, or they will get "rug" burns.

I can tell they are getting older, because they quickly bored of this event and wanted to move on to the miniature golf and go-carts. It was so hot and humid out. I thought the weather was supposed to be a bit cooler, but the forecast must have changed.

We had fun. For me, it is nice to be back inside and feel air conditioning. I am no sun worshiper. I shun the sun. Headaches. Eye sensitivity and all. Give me the shade any day.

Coming from the speakers: We'll Sing In the Sunshine by Gale Garnett.

Sleepy Baby

caspy


My baby hasn't been feeling very well the past few days. I closed him in my bedroom closet the other day. I didn't realize that he had crawled in there when I was cleaning it out, and my daughter heard him scratching later in the day and let him out.

I had kind of noticed that he wasn't around that day. We think that perhaps before we adopted him he was hit or something. He has one back leg that sticks out real awkward and he is a big cat, but his mid-section is very thin. Yesterday he lay on top of my chair and was as flat as a pancake. He is the one that coughs up hairballs. I do feed them the cat food that is supposed to cut down on hairballs, and for the most part it works. But, he has issues.

Didn't have a care in the world

imp


She is a cute one, the impish grin, her long blond hair pulled back. Full of mischief and full of love. This picture was taken about two years ago. She is
the daughter of my old babysitter. This sitter watched my daughter from when she was about three months to six years old. Along with her three children. She had one boy older than my daughter and another boy younger than my daughter and she had this little girl. My daughter is blond, fair and blue-eyed and she blended right in with this family. My sitter looked like she was twelve years old. Petite, no make-up. She would get the strangest looks when she took her "crew" to the grocery store. She actually received more strange looks when she had her two, my daughter and was pregnant with her third.

She was a blessing. I love her dearly. Although we have moved, she has divorced and remarried and we live in different places, I still have love for her. As a sister.

I guess she ran up on hard times, this past year. Her eldest son recently went to Detention Hall. Something about the youngest (pictured above) and the little girl of the new stepfather. I don't know all the details. Recently, someone told me that she (my sitter) knew about the events and did nothing about it.

Regardless, I was her friend once and I feel that I should reach out to her. To hear her side of the story (if she wants to tell it). I just want her to know that I care about her and I remember all the years she did such a wonderful job of caring for my daughter and through bad times, she has someone that cares about her and her family. Not to judge her actions, but someone to understand that we never know what we will do in a similar circumstance until we are actually confronted with it ourselves.

More than likely, she was afraid. Torn.

Coming from the speakers: The End of the Innocence by Don Henley.

This is Daisy

daisy


I believe that she is a Pekingese dog. She is my daughters' friend's dog. She was pleasant. My dog, Sable was quite interested in her, and she had a great time with our cat, Precious. She was ready to play. Precious was apprehensive.

She couldn't jump up onto my bed. My daughter's friend threw her on the bed. I winced. You really shouldn't toss an animal around like that. I felt sorry for the little thing. I realize now, why my brother built steps for his Yorkshires to get up on the bed. Their little legs are quite delicate.

When I took my daughter to the animal shelter a couple of years ago, I really had a smaller pet in mind. Although we can take Sable out for small amounts of time without her being tied. She is calming down and will sit with me on the patio. I talk to her often though, especially when I see her ears prick up. I only had to go after her once when she flushed a rabbit out of the lilies. My concern is when someone else is walking by with their dog. So, I don't push it. I take her in after about 15 minutes. I make sure I always reward her and give her a treat.

I stopped taking the cats outside. I worry about them bringing fleas back with them, and the fact that other neighborhood cats really don't know what to think of a "fixed" feline. They literally beat the hell out of them. I do not have any of my cats de-clawed, by choice. I thought it over and researched it and thought it was best to leave their claws intact. Only one cat (Precious) claws at the furniture. I spray her down with Febreze when she does this. Or, just clap my hands and she stops. She looks annoyed, but she usually stops. My daughter has more fun with it. She has Sable rough her up a bit.

Sable and Casper really play around from time to time. They are funny, but when I think Casper has had enough, I will stop Sable. Although, Casper can sure hold his own with his claws, I worry. Sable will playfully grab Casper around the neck, but she quickly backs up, too. Sometimes I can see Casper will just lay there and enjoy the "scratching" of his neck. He instigates it all, anyway.

Many times, when Sable is walking by, Casper will reach out and playfully tap Sable's leg as if to say "Hey, Stupid!" We always put words to our pets actions. I guess that is from watching so much of America's Funniest Videos.

It is painful still, having my computer down. I will have a lot of work to do once the new hard drives are installed. The big test will be to see if the format goes beyond that annoying 68%. I do have the major stuff backed up onto an external hard drive. I also have my 5 gig Sony USB drive holding some files.

I also hope that I can be disciplined enough to still work on my daughter's bedroom and not spend all my time putting my PC back together. Discipline is not one of my strong points. I procrastinate something horrible.

So, I will sign off now, and go work on the room.

Coming from the speakers: I wouldn't dare play music from my daughter's PC. There is not enough Excederin in the house. :)

Down, but not out!

lilly


My tiger lilies are finally blooming. A week late. I would have liked to have had them bloom for my party, but I will take them when I can get them.

My Dell is waiting for new hard drives. They tell me two 400 gigs will be delivered on Monday. I am on vacation next week, so I will be here when they get here. My vacation at this time consists of remodeling my daughter's bedroom.

Watching Larry King tonight about the Aruba incident. They are talking about psychics. One said that psychic are baloney and only looking for a free ticket/trip to Aruba. What a mess. I have an 18 year-old niece and a 14 year-old daughter. I would be spitting nails. This one prosecutor said that the younger Van der Sloot was the last one with her. The defense attorney thinks that an advance was made and something ugly happened on that beach.

My daughter and I argued many times at the beginning of summer about curfews and notifying me about where she is at all times. This is a nightmare. Last week I had to call her down out of a tree at midnight. She and her friend went to the dance over the hill. They come home by their curfew. My daughter's boyfriend always walks the girls to our house. Kudos to him.

I was fixing food for the graduation party and my daughter always tells me that they are home, and they will be outside talking for a while. Time got away from me as I was busy. My daughter's friend was in the house. I asked her where my daughter was. She said outside. I looked - no daughter. I called her name. She answered. The call came from the tree in our front yard. What the...?

I asked her to please get down out of the tree and told her boyfriend to call his mother and go home! I was getting ready for bed when I heard his parents' car pull up outside and pick him up.

So, at the party my family and I had to chide her a bit about her tree antics.

Wasn't that a party!

tent

Still working from my daughter's pc. My Hell in Dell Support continues.
http://users.adelphia.net/~mgwine/ - choose ramblings.



Anyway, this is the tent before the party on Saturday. The weather remained beautiful, the food was delicious, the atmosphere was superb and the guests were a gathering of my absolute favorite people. (Outside of blogdom, of course.) I cannot recall a finer party. Of course, the tent ruined it for me. From now on, every party that I have, I 'll be thinking I need a big green and white tent in the yard.







My nephew and his friends setup the sound system. They added stereo surround sound speakers to the corners of the tent and added blue Christmas lights all around. They also added my white, round patio lights. I have been wanting those babies up for three years! A big thank-you to my nephew!




The food, my God the food was fantastic! A big thank-you to my (I hate saying ex sister-in-law, so I will just say) good friend and my niece for the fixings.
And, also a thank-you to her for the extra decorations. Just so happens that her son's (my nephew) school colors were the same as my niece's. Two different schools.




Okay, so we have sounds, food and atmosphere (lights). Good weather. What could go wrong? Nothing. Nothing went wrong. The only problem I ran into, was I did not purchase enough diet soda. No big deal. Around nine o'clock the underage people left and then the loud and noisy bunch began. We went until three a.m. I tried (unsuccessfully, I might add) to keep the music down.





Coming from the speakers: Wasn't That A Party? by The Irish Rovers

Fatal System Error

Mmm Hmmm. On the morning that I was giving a graduation party. I did find my camera battery, so I have pictures. But, the pc? No time to mess with this error.

Be my guest

basement bar


Twenty-eight hours and counting. My list is long, but I am making headway. Crossing them off one by one. I have help on the way. Yeah! My daughter is making up the yard signs. Graduation Party! And the guest of honor? Still looking for that un-findable outfit. Sheesh! She better get her butt in gear.

Since I still can't find my camera battery charger I have posted a picture of my basement bar as it used to look before another party. A birthday party for my niece. Although this one is hopefully going to be mostly outside, I have the basement ready just in case it rains. It looks like it is going to be cooler. In the low seventies.

Coming from the speakers: Sea Cruise by Sha Na Na.

Memory bouquet

memory bouquet


Over the past thirty years I have worked ten jobs. One was two years on week-ends after school. Three of them were summer jobs between high school years. Three lasted more than three years, one lasted seven years and this most recent, ten years. What makes a worker say the following?

"This, this and this is explained in the manual. If you have any questions, read the manual! And if you still have questions, read the manual!"

Sounds to me like someone got saddled with a job that they don't want. So comforting.

~~~~~~~~~~~ No bitching about the job (not allowed) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a 20 x 20 tent in my back yard. Forty chairs and six tables underneath. They are folded, stacked and ready to go. I am a bit of a nervous wreck. I can't find my blasted battery charger for my camera! What is this? Every time I have an important event it goes missing!

Coming from the speakers: Pieces of April by Three Dog Night

Remembering Ohio

ohio hills


The sky stretches out blue and beyond where they meet
the hills. How green was my valley.

March blue sky

blue_sky

Wave the flag

flag day


I am sorry to say that this may be the only picture of a flag that I have in my collection. Rather, the closest image to a flag. I must remedy that. It was not taken at my house but at a relative's house. I don't think she realized that there is a made in China logo on the upper left corner. On the other side. My images are taken very large and I resize them down. I noticed it right away when I pulled the picture up.

Her husband works in one of the Ohio River steel mills. They are well known for their disdain of anything made outside of the U.S.A. My sister and her husband tend to be more laid back. His father, however, is a real knee-jerk, fist-shaking, turn blue in the face type of personality. Several heart attacks have slowed him down some. He still gets pretty riled up about things. Very opinionated. He was the type who worked a full time job at the steel mill and came home and farmed until night and on the week-ends. Rarely saw his family. Was always working.

Coming from the speakers: Grand Ole Flag by George M. Cohan.

Goodnight, goodnight...

berries


It must have been ninety degrees Fahrenheit where I was working in today. Maybe even hotter. The humidity was extreme. My hair just melted. Well, the bangs did, I wear the back of it up in a bun. It was very hard to concentrate and troubleshoot. I gave up and moved on to the other end of the line. Where the wiring closet is air conditioned. That was where I fixed the problem, anyway. I bounced the interface.

Well, it was nice to come home for lunch to a cool house and cool, fresh berries. I do have a weakness, though. Fruit dip. When I was little I hated marshmallows. I still do. But, I love marshmallow cream mixed with cream cheese for a delicious fruit dip. I also put the berries in vanilla pudding. Very nice addition to a bland treat. I love vanilla. It is my favorite pudding. The kids like banana, chocolate and lemon. Just give me vanilla, and french vanilla and sometimes I like the cheesecake pudding. Instant.

I mowed today, so it can rain, now. I also watched Troy over the week-end. Eh - not so good. I despise war movies of this sort. Couldn't stand Braveheart. Just not my kind of entertainment. I was interested in the history, though. To see how closely they followed it.

My Mom had the books The Iliad and The Odyssey in her extensive library. They weren't the ones I read, though. My Mom was always reading four or five books at a time. Sci-fi and historical ones were her favorites. I like biography and psychology. I like to study people and their behaviors.

We always had plenty of magazines, too. Before the Internet, I enjoyed signing out encyclopedias and reading them. I still would if I could find the time. I should make time. One more party to plan for June and one for the fourth of July and then maybe I can settle into some me "reading" time.

Coming from the speakers: Goodnight, goodnight by Hot Hot Heat (my daughter's favorite new band).

To see a better day

green trees


Beautiful green Ohio trees along the interstate.

Well, my daughter and I may argue a lot, but I put things into perspective. As uncomfortable as it is having her in my face yelling at me, and even disobeying me; it beats the hell out of sitting around waiting and not knowing if she is alive or dead.

And, this one just beats all. What was this mother thinking? How about putting the dog in the basement?! What if a fire had broken out? Stupidity at it's finest, folks. And, her statement? "I guess it was his time to go." Somebody hold me back!

I have four T-bones waiting in marinade for me to grill them. Or, maybe that is the kids waiting for me to grill them. Four baked potatoes, butter and sour cream, a corn medley and steak sauce. Sweetened iced tea with lemons on the side and banana pudding for dessert. This is one beautiful Sunday. I think I will go and enjoy my family. They are only here for a short while.

Coming from the speakers: Oh Very Young by Cat Stevens.

(Sigh) I don't want to know

surprise raccoon


I don't want to know the reasons why my daughter felt she had to sneak out at night to see her boyfriend. I had an out-of-town baby shower to go to and she asked to spend the night at a girlfriend's house. Just so happened that while I was home on lunch, I was surfing around on the web and started to read my daughter's friend's xanga journals. The friend that she chose to spend the night with had put on her xanga "Friend (my daughter) is spending the night. We are going to go swimming at T's (daughter's boyfriend) house and he better keep his mouth shut!"

Hmmm. I didn't do anything right away. My daughter and a couple of her friends were in the next room. I had just brought them lunch. Once I returned to work, I called T's Mom. As I began to tell her what happened, she stated "That explains why T has been cleaning the house all morning. He never cleans without me asking him to." Mmmm Hmmm. Turns out that T's Mom is a very nice lady and she said that my daughter was welcome any time and that she and her husband were on vacation and maybe they would build a campfire outside Friday night and see what happens.

I chose not to say anything to my daughter. There was a chance (although very slight) that my daughter wouldn't do this. Now, why do they say "Fat chance" when it is slight? Strange English language.

On the way back from the shower I could not get a signal on my cell phone. When I finally was able to reach T's Mother, she said that "Yes, they have about eight kids around the campfire and they had been swimming. Her son had told her about the event."

I would have liked to have seen the look of surprise on my daughter's face when she found out I was coming to T's house. I am not sure if anyone forewarned her or not or if she only found out when she saw my car pull up in the driveway. I would think T would have warned her. Maybe she looked as surprised as the raccoon in the picture above.

I went to their house. I pulled my daughter aside and let her explain. Lame-o excuses. It basically boiled down to the fact that T's mom would have let them, B's father (friend she was staying with) would have let them - B lived about six houses down from T. She knew I would not allow her because it would be after ten o'clock. She is correct. Although, I may have allowed her to go for an hour or so (after I met T's parents). This was the first I was meeting them.

She asked me not to embarrass her in front of her friends. I concurred. They were having a good time. The parents were sitting outside with them, albeit a few feet away. It did look like a nice summer campfire. After talking to T's Mom for about an hour, I went home.

I will pick her up today from B's house. What to do? Talk things out? Punishment? The grounding isn't working very well. How many days for which truant behavior? If she misses her curfew by one hour, do I ground her for one day, two days?

What can I do next for punishment? She gets mad because she states that none of her friend's ever get grounded or punished. Most of them don't have chores. I write her a list of chores every day while I am at work and she is at home for summer vacation. She grumbles, but they get done. They aren't perfect, but she makes an effort. Her grades came up. Final grades were all A's and B's. No C's. They were showing up a little too much for my comfort the past two semesters, causing some arguing between us. This girl never brings a book home. Once in a while, her pre-algebra book, but that was all.

Sigh. Sometimes it is true. I just don't want to know. But, I will tackle it again today.

Coming from the speakers: I Don't Want To Know by Fleetwood Mac.

Why can't we be friends

raccoon


I had an interesting evening. I made some new friends. :)

tgif

sun_burst


Have a good Friday, everybody!

Just who do you think you are

lake_park


This is the park today in my small Ohio town. We are very fortunate to have this park where there is a small amusement park, a swimming pool, a lake for fishing, multiple playgrounds, tennis, basketball and a bocci court. Batting cages, amphitheater, track, ballfields, and shelter houses. It isn't New York City, but it'll do. Probably better in many ways.

I have continued to clean house. As in the blogs that I read. I have them narrowed down to about nine, now. One blogger made it real easy. This certain blogger has been dishing people lately. Not anyone they know, because their blog is so popular they can't dish anyone they know anymore. Their blog has been published in a magazine or two, I guess. This blog they were insulting a tourist. A fifteen-year-old girl tourist. It sounded to me like the blogger had more issues with the girl being blond and fifteen than with what they said about New York city. Indeed.

In a previous blog they dissed someone by saying "This is why you are forty-something and still single!" I guess the forty-something didn't like the way this blogger set their alarm clock. Actually, I do the same with my alarm clock. But still, ouch. I am forty-something and still single. Some may find it hard to believe, but I kind of like it that way.

Forward and onward. Onward and forward. Something is working for me, because I have been damn happy at work.

Coming from the speakers: Mr. Big Stuff (Who Do You Think You Are?) by Jean Knight.

Brilliant in the morning

pink peony


My peonies have finally bloomed. After three long years of living at this house, the peonies I planted when we first moved in have bloomed! Yeah. The ferns died. Mental note: Not good with ferns. I have one plant on the west side of the house and one on the east side. This is one from the west. East side is growing much slower.

This pic was taken this morning before my drive. It was pretty warm today, so I didn't feel like stopping and getting out of the air-conditioned car to take more pictures. I took some of the sky and the land from the car. They are okay, not great like some of the others from the spring.

My daughter and her friend stayed in the house all day and by the time I came home they were stir crazy. They were grounded from keeping me up too late last night. I understand now what I was mostly hearing was the dog jumping up on the couch and my nephew pushing her back off because the girls were scaring her with balloons.

They can make up for it tomorrow. Pool all day and "open mike" night at the local Park Plaza.

I let the girls get a couple of movies. Since they love Johnny Depp I introduced them to "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" I had seen the actual video years ago, but in the past few years I have only caught parts of it on T.V. I felt as if I were watching most of the movie for the first time. There were so many parts I had not remembered seeing. The other movie was "Crossworlds" - a sci-fi feature. It was okay.

During the Gilbert movie, I was thinking 'Johnny Depp has to have some native American blood in him.' I looked it up on imdb.com and finally found that he is part Navajo.

I think that the girls enjoyed the movie. (swoon) As for me, I thought that Leonardo DiCaprio was pretty convincing in the role he played. And, of course I loved it when mama went to town.

Coming from the speakers: Foolish Games by Jewel.

I'm going back someday

black palm


I feel as though everyone is on vacation, except me. There are about four people out from work on vacation, my nephew is here for some "visiting with family time" vacation. My daughter and her friends are on summer vacation, and I have to get up for work tomorrow morning. They are out in the living room having a blast. I did put a stop to the sucking helium out of the balloons. I can only imagine what consequences that would have on them. My daughter was the worst offender.

We have helium left over from another nephew's graduation party and we are supposed to be saving it for my niece's party, but I doubt that it will make it that long.

So the picture above is from a vacation two years ago. Traveling back through the southern states from Florida we spent a night near Savannah, Georgia. While the others swam in the pool, I took advantage of the setting sun and the beautiful palm trees. Ahh, I can still go there in my mind.

What in the world did people do before photographs were around to take them back in time? This is why I said some women just kept having babies. They forget what their children were like when they were small so they had another one to remind them. Not really, but why else would someone be nuts enough to keep having them? Oh, it could be that women didn't have a choice! I suppose that looking at baby pictures might even make some of them want to have another one, so pictures may in fact, contribute to more children. I love my pictures of my daughter when she was young. Before the arguing, before the attitude, before the sassing, in your face confrontations. Have another one? I'll pass.

Coming from the speakers: Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstadt.

Edit 1:05 a.m. (Wednesday, June 8th). Guess who had to go and get said daughter and bring her into my room? Now, guess who is sleeping on Mom's bed, while Mom is wide awake on the computer? I think the helium made her hyperactive. Guess who is tired and cranky and just grounded her daughter from swimming tomorrow? I had asked them to quiet down three times.

When darkness falls early

sunset reflection


I think someday I would like to find out if I can really hear a "hiss" when the big ball of sun hits the water. This is another one from the May 7th evening at the Springwood Lake campsite. (Soon to be sold) :(

Coming from the speakers: In a New York Minute by The Eagles.

Up with the sun

spanish moss


Figures. I couldn't find my camera battery/charger yesterday. My brother let me use his 35mm camera. The sun was merciless. Nobody passed out that I could see.

My nephew's party was grand. There was the outside group in the shelter house with the d.j. and the alcohol. There was the inside group in the air conditioning with the food and the soft drinks. We call it pop here in Eastern Ohio. "Want a can of pop?" "I'm gonna go get a can of pop." "Buy some pop." Now, that I look at it, it does look funny.

Since I don't have any recent pics, I have posted another from my nephew's trip to Louisiana last month. He did the sunshine through the tree branches because he knows I like those.

I was awoken by the sun streaming through my bedroom windows this morning. I thought someone had turned my light on. This must be the time of year that the sunshine sneaks through the curtains on my bedroom side of the house.

Well, now there is thunder from the skies and my lights are flickering. Gotta go!

Coming from the speakers: Travelin' Man by Bob Seger

Now, as the years roll on

schipperke


What an annoying little dog. Okay, sorry. My sister's/niece's dog. I suppose the little thing is lovable to them, but I found it's nature hyper and snappish. She nips, she barks, she runs around like a crazed psycho. I like a quiet, good-mannered, laid-back dog. Give me my Sable.

I have my niece's graduation ceremony today. It will be close to ninety degrees and they are having it outside. If it doesn't rain. It doesn't look like it is going to. Because of the recent lousy weather, few people have had any sun exposure. I can see a disaster in the making, here. I'll bet more than one person passes out today.

My niece had to purchase a new dress. The girls have to wear dresses. Oh, really? And do the boys have to wear dresses too? She said no, but they aren't allowed to wear sneakers. Mmmm, hmm. I feel that the girl should have a choice. If she doesn't want to wear a dress, she shouldn't have to. I don't think my daughter would. Four years. We'll find out what the rules are in four years. They can't really make a girl wear a dress. And, I don't think they can deny her walking in the ceremony for not wearing a dress. The gown should cover most everything anyway. As hot as it is, she might wish she were wearing a dress, though.

After the ceremony, we go to my nephew's party. His ceremony was a couple of weeks ago. (Different school.) His party starts at noon and is at a park where there is alcohol allowed. My brother is divorced from my nephew's mother, he advised them against the alcohol for a graduation party. He is the fireman/EMT. He has scraped a lot of drunks off the roadways. Literally. Decapitation, major ugly scenes.

I will not have alcohol when my niece has her party. Some may call me a hypocrite, because that was all I did when I graduated. Went from party to party looking for the booze. That was twenty-seven years ago and I was completely irresponsible. In fact, the local bars served me. And, no one told me not to. In fact, no one told me anything at all. Another lifetime ago. I lived about twenty-five miles from the West Virginia state line where you only had to be eighteen to purchase hard liquor. Of course they had a liquor store right next to the state line. They aren't stupid. Just drove over and purchased all the booze I wanted.

I can have a party with alcohol anytime. This time is for my niece and her friends and the recognition that they are closing one chapter in their life and starting a new one.

My brother will be here in an hour, and I must keep moving. Must find my camera and make sure the battery is charged.

Coming form the speakers: Reminiscing by The Little River Band

Dance along the light of day

day_break


Picture above is of the sun setting in the west, but it could also look like daybreak. This is how the sky looked near the end of May in Ohio. I had to crop out the roof edge of my neighbor's house. I have a grocery store that I go to and sometimes I see the most awesome sky from their parking lot. I need to get on a rooftop somewhere around there, though. Because of all the telephone and electrical wires. Don't think that will happen anytime soon.

During the carpet scrubbing, their vacuum machine in the van broke down. So my carpet got to sit for over an hour with the detergent and the deodorizer on it. Could only help it, I guess. I forgot how sensitive I am to strong odors, the deodorizer made me feel pretty ill. At least I didn't get a migraine. I did have to wait an extra long time though, stuck in my bedroom. One of the scrubbers had sucked up a cleaning rag in the hose. I was hoping it was a cat. (No, not really!) Sigh.

My dog, Sable wasn't very happy. She was penned up in the little nook off of the kitchen. Because the carpet was wet and it was mostly dog hair that I swept up. And, I broke my sweeper yesterday morning. I heard a click and the thing just stopped sucking up the dirt and dog hairs. The bag wasn't full, but the attachment worked so I finished sucking up dog hairs with it. Sable did manage to break down her barrier during the night and there she was wagging her tail sheepishly this morning when I walked out of my bedroom.

The carpet seems to be dry enough. Oh, and it looks beautiful. They were able to get out all of the pet stains except for two. The two I had used Resolve on. Scrubber guy said to never use store-bought products. It only bleached the carpet out.

That was the same as the plumber who told me to never use store-bought products to clean my drains. He said to just call a plumber and have the drains cleaned professionally. Hmmm.

Well, it looks like it is going to be a sunny day. I need to go get gas for the mower and cut the grass. The bunnies are really starting to hang out in my yard because the clover is so thick. Guess I'll charge the camera battery and see if I can't get some cute shots.

Probably will hang my terracotta clock/thermometer combination today. It is heavy, so I need to think about where and how to hang it.

Coffee cup is empty. Time for a refill.

Coming from the speakers: Drops of Jupiter by Train.

Edit: 9:53 a.m. - I just realized that I duplicated the above song. I originally posted Drops of Jupiter on March 28th. My apologizes. Need to check my list more often.

Laughing to the sky

stormy sky


Have the day off today. I have carpet scrubbers coming. Been moving excess furniture out of living room. Whew. Daughter helped. She got a new swimsuit out of it. She doesn't mind the scars on her back - says her hair covers them. Good. New suit has a skirt. Maybe she will start wearing real skirts - nah. Not a chance.

Graduation is Sunday. Free day tomorrow. Will try to catch up on outside yard work. Unless it rains. Haven't watched the weather channel in a while. I have a new terracotta clock and thermometer to hang outside on my patio. Very heavy. I still have patio lights that I purchased two years ago that I need to get up. My patio has that vinyl siding around the inside of the roof, thought. It makes it hard to hang stuff. Can't put a nail in it, can't glue anything to it. Hmmm. Must work on this.

I did catch MXC last night. They have really changed the format to the show. It isn't like it used to be. I barely laughed last night. Bring back the old events and leave out all that in-between stuff where they are trying too hard to be funny. I think these were all shot a couple of years ago, anyway. The show isn't even current.

Well, I have more stuff to move so I had better get crackin'. You know how some people clean before the maid comes, I need to sweep the carpet before the carpet scrubbers come. But, that's just me.

Coming from the speakers: Dog and Butterfly by Heart.

Neither rain, nor sleet...

old_mail_jeep


Found an old mail jeep down in the fields behind my sister's house. What is that saying? Neither rain nor sleet nor broken down jeep? Well, something like that. Notice the keg in the back seat.

In the leaves on the trees

Ohio_Green


The summer of 1982 I lived in El Paso, Texas. I was hungry for adventure and had a bad case of wanderlust. Besides family and friends I missed the greens of Ohio. Maybe I should visit Ireland.

The picture above is from my sister's house out in the boondocks. She lives so far out she has been invaded by the Amish. Yesiree. Imagine the Amish discovering virgin territory. Well, when they first moved out there, everyone on the ridge was thinking "The Amish. How bad can they be? They won't disrupt the ridge. They are a quiet, peaceful people." WRONG! They couldn't have been more wrong. Lumber yard. The Amish get up at the crack of dawn, remember. Saws grinding at 5:30 in the morning is not a pleasant sound. The Amish don't drive semi tractor trailers, but they sell their lumber to people that do. They now have pot holes in their little one lane road that I about lost my car in.

So, if you live in a remote area and hear about the Amish coming to live next door. Move, run and hide. The kids are really cute, though. Oh, and their horses get loose every other week or so. Big, gigantic, Pershing horses. Their hoof prints are as big as my car. Well, almost. My sister's peaceful ridge is now a distant memory. Who would have thunk it?


I think I did the impossible today. I could easily imagine that no one has ever done this before. I made an employee of the DMV laugh. Yes, I did! Her face may have cracked, but she laughed, none the less. My apologies to any readers who are, have been, plan to be, or are related to, any employee of the DMV, BMV or equivalent in any state thereof. I couldn't help myself.

Regardless, I did my annual duty. My vehicle is legal again for another year. And, what is this renewal for two years thing? I saw it on the wall as I was paying. I can get a sticker for two years, now? I only have to visit this Nazi camp once every other year? Yeehaw! I'll sign up for that option next year, you betcha!

As I walked in, I took my number from the red round dispenser at the door. Heaven knows, you don't want to try to get in line without a number. Picture the line at the soup Nazi on Seinfeld. I picked number 91 and the counter on the wall said 87. Not too bad. I was on my lunch break. But there were only three people and they were all already at the counter. Where were 88, 89 and 90?

She called out number 88. She looked at me. "What number do you have?" I told her 91. I was certain I had done something wrong and would have to suffer their wrath. Is that what happened to 88, 89 and 90? Were they in the back getting tortured? Maybe they were being forced to peel off annual vehicle stickers, or worse read the drivers test study guide. I couldn't hear any screaming.

She just changed the marker to 91 and motioned me up to the counter. Forty dollars later and a good snicker from her and I was out the door with my vehicle sticker. She didn't even let me know that I was late. Overdue. Well, that's just me. Whew, made it in time to get back to work before my lunch hour was up.


Coming from the speakers: Top of the World by The Carpenters