Berry Healthy

Delicious summer berries

Photo Friday Challenge: Health

Fresh batteries

Sunset at the top of Park Hill

I woke up feeling very depressed today for some reason. Bad dreams? Maybe. We had a rash of storms run through the area last night. Lightning galore. Many booms. Lost electricity twice. I tossed and turned. I haven't been sleeping that well, anyway.

I awoke with a sense of dread. Grabbed a cup of coffee and caught up on e-mails. Made me feel more melancholy than I already am.

While checking my work equipment (remotely from my home desktop PC) I see that I have some schools down. Not that they are in session, but the Administrative offices are. Some schools house their Board of Education in their high schools. Sigh. That would be the secretaries that work all summer and get the payroll out and they pay the bills during the summer months. Superintendents and Treasurers are in all year long. Darn storms.

While browsing, my mouse kept going dead. I finally popped two fresh batteries in. I wish I could do the same with me. Blah.

Front yard tiger lilies

Front yard tiger lilies

Ugh. I may be getting some of the sore throat that my daughter had a week ago. My ears ache, too. Not sleeping well so that makes me very tired in the day. Raining here in my neck of the woods. Summer begins. Blog is two years old today. Cotton or china. China or cotton. I don't have a single piece of china in the house. I am not the domestic type. I have cotton balls and cotton swabs. I have lots of things "Made in China." Does that count? LOL.

Field "peppered" with flowers

Flowers in the field

This one was also taken at the big lake I visited last week. Along with honeysuckle it grew along the bank behind the (p u) rest stop rest rooms.

When I was four (or so my Mother told me) I snuck the pepper off of the kitchen table, took it behind the couch in the living room and attempted to eat it. My Mom told me I had pepper in my eyes, up my nose and in my hair. Needless to say I didn't touch pepper for about twenty years or more after that incident.

I guess I MAY have been hungry. But the PEPPER shaker! What a choice!

Morning view

The lake in the morning before the boaters.

I stopped in the morning to take pictures of the lake on my way to the meeting and I stopped and shot some more in the hot afternoon afterwards. I like the morning shots better. I was much more comfortable. Although in the afternoon I did find a canopy of trees to stand under with, what else? Poison ivy.

Which by the way reminds me. My poison ivy stopped at three little blisters, which now are red marks. They never spread. Either I don't have much reaction to the poison (it did itch me horribly a couple of times) or it really wasn't poison ivy. I ended up going no farther than my medicine cabinet for comfort. My daughter had some Klaron she was using for her acne and that soothed my blisters.

I didn't have a lot of problems with it, so no worries.

I want to have a BBQ/party on the week-end before the 4th of July like I have done for the past three years. The Saturday night before the 4th is when the local park shoots off their fireworks and they can be seen (mostly) from my front yard. Some trees do get in the way. Those pesky neighbors up the hill just refuse to cut them down! Darn them!

I think I have found a new syndrome. Calamity Jane syndrome. I believe my co-worker suffers from it. She now has broken her toe over the week-end and is crying during the day at the office. My first reaction was "Lady, if it hurts that bad, why don't you stay home?" And, then I remember that she has used up all her sick and vacation days with her sinus infection. Sigh. So I must listen to her sobbing. As soon as somebody comes within hearing distance though, the sobbing stops and she starts up a conversation with them complaining about her boyfriend. Somebody that will respond to her. I don't. I quit responding to her needy babbling a year ago.

Daisy dew

A little dew still on the daisy at Cold Water Lake.

I have over 300 photos from my excursions over the week-end. A lot of the pictures were taken in RAW format and I am working on finding the best way to convert them to jpeg without losing the clarity and the color. Of course I can't find my manual and CD that came with my Canon camera because that has the proper software and that would be too easy. Far be it from me to do things the easy way. And my daughter has a Canon, I could just go get her manual and CD. But what do I do? Look for free programs because when I do that I find other neat stuff.

Microsoft makes a RAW image viewer that fits what I need. IrfanView would open them up, but would change the size. I found another one called Fast Stone, but when converting to jpeg I lost most of the color.

Daughter is feeling much better. Her strep throat is gone and she can breath through her nose again. I am still pumping the liquids into her and she is still napping often. Appetite is not back, mostly because now she has canker sores lining the inside of her lower lip and it hurts to eat. Pudding, popsicles and applesauce.

Lemons and spice...

... and everything nice!

This little charmer tried some Indian food and ate the grilled lemons on the dish. She is one of the most angelic little girls I have known. She smiles often, is pleasing to converse with and she likes knock-knock jokes.

Auto motive no more

Photo Friday challenge: "Automotive"

As plain as the...

...mono on your nucleosis!

As God is my witness, I swear I did not know that a skin rash was a symptom of mononucleosis. Throw the antibiotics away. Mono is a viral disease. It must run it's course. The victim is not a prisoner of their bed like years ago, they have few restrictions. If you are tired - sleep, if you feel like doing something - go do it. Just don't over do it. No sharing drinks or kissing. I told her beau that they should just hug for a while. I also called his Mom so that he can be tested.

The really unusual thing is, if the patient is treated with an antibiotic for strep throat and it is mono, they will break out in a skin rash most of the time. Strange way to test for mono, but it worked. Now the blood work tomorrow to clinch it. But, it all makes sense. I was thinking "mono" on the way to the doctor's office today.

To make matters worse, the nurse at the doctor's office that came to take blood was the same one we complained about five years ago when she jabbed my daughter with the needle when giving her a shot. No warning, no gentleness - just a punch in the arm. My daughter's eyes got wide and well, that was a long time ago. I was not impressed. The girl couldn't draw the blood. She was nervous and pricked my daughter three times. Her veins collapsed because she was dehydrated. Just for the record I have 48 bottles of various drinks in the house just for her. No soda, it is all Gatorade and fruit juices. She was supposed to be drinking and drinking and drinking. I said to forget it we would go to the hospital and have the blood work done. The nurse did keep apologizing.

My daughter was not a happy camper. We had a therapy session directly after the doctor's visit. At least she didn't go into her usual dramatics there about boyfriend/grades/attitude.

It is going to be a long summer and when the fall comes we get to go and get her driving permit! Hurray! Hurray!

Sable is pouting

Sable is pouting because I just told her not to do something.

While out taking some pictures at dusk the other evening, Sable was certainly curious about something in the bushes. Since my daughter had discovered the mama cat with four babies last week, I was standing by to make sure she didn't hurt anything.

She pulled out a half-eaten rabbit carcass. Ugh. Now I know that the wild cat family had only stopped to eat. I sternly told her to "Leave it alone." She put her nose in the grass and pouted as I continued taking my pictures.

She did not want to come inside when I was finished but I made her go. I went back out with a garbage bag and disposed of the deceased. Still, we have seen no sign of the traveling cat family. They have moved on, I wish them well.

My daughter woke me up in the wee hours of the morning. Her upper arms were covered in a red, bumpy rash. I am really getting anxious, now. After checking over the rest of her body (she has little bumps on the front of her stomach) and making sure her throat was not closing from any swelling, I sent her back to bed. I had searched the house for Benadryl, could have sworn I had some, but no. I browsed the Internet for about an hour afterwards to research this. She has been sick since May 29th. She went to the doctor on June 5th. She received antibiotics for a sinus infection. Not better by the 12th, I called the doctor. She has the white blisters on the back of her throat, still has swollen glands. The doctor prescribed a new antibiotic. My daughter started them on Tuesday.

I will call the doctor again this morning. They don't answer the phones until 8:30 and then it is a hit and miss ordeal. Is the rash part of the illness or is it a reaction to the new antibiotic? My daughter swears it is the Worcestershire sauce I added to the hamburgers. (I shouldn't have told her.)

The blisters on the back of her throat are the size of dimes (or close to it). Both sides. She is finding it very hard to swallow. She did eat yesterday, but she hasn't eaten much. I have popsicles, applesauce and plenty of Gatorade. And sore throat lozenges. She won't take them. Doesn't like them, she says.

She is still very congested. The rash is mostly gone this morning, but will it re-appear after she takes her morning does of antibiotics? I will instruct her not to take the dose until after I speak with the doctor's office. Am I being impatient? She is not sick very often and maybe it just needs to run it's course. I don't like the swollen glands. She says that her gums hurt too. Is there really anything more the doctor can do? Prescribe yet another round of antibiotics? While we keep dumping the old stuff in the trash?

I myself, am allergic to penicillin. My face swelled up like a balloon when I was nineteen. But, the medicine was old and that was before I knew you were to take all of the medicine until it was gone not just until you were feeling better. I had put the rest in the medicine cabinet and when I had another sore throat (about six months later) I started taking the penicillin again. Big mistake. I know better, now.

I have sneezed about a dozen times since I started this post. Now, I have a headache.

Outdoor lamp light

Outside early evening after the Memorial Day Hawk event.

Sometimes I just have to sit and wonder. What are people thinking?
Overheard today at work:

K: I'm moving back into my house, after my brother moves out. (Boyfriend) ain't gonna like it.

L: Is he upset?

K: Oh, yeah. He didn't believe me until he saw me packing my stuff up in boxes. He was in a rage last evening and threw all my patio furniture in his truck and took it over to my house.

L: So, are you calling it quits?

K: Yeah, but he don't know it. I'm gonna keep him strung along until I get all my stuff moved back into my house and then I'm gonna drop his ass.

L: Yeah, just use him for when you need something.

News bulletin. Unless he is a complete idiot (and I have seen my share) he already knows your relationship is on the rocks.

Why are people like this? Is it true what I heard years ago, that the world is made up of givers and takers?

First one this season

First tiger lily bloom this year!

Twilight ride

Another twilight photo from the park near my home a week or so ago. I don't ride the Ferris wheel. I've seen too many rescues on this particular one. Firetruck with tall ladder - uh, no thanks.

My daughter, her boyfriend and I ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise this evening. It was very good. Delicious. Except for the mango iced tea. I didn't care for that. There are four C.I.P. restaurants in Ohio and five in Virginia. Like the number of Presidents (we both have 8) we are competing with that state. Our waiter told us that they plan to build four more near the Cleveland area this year.

I get to dine on Indian cuisine this Friday and I get to drink some of that really good mango lassi juice. Can't wait.

I just read up on Google about the Asian lassi drink and came across the Bhang Lassi. It is an intoxicating drink made with liquid cannabis. I've never heard of liquid cannabis. I have also only heard of putting marijuana in brownies. This all reminds me of a daughter story. I don't smoke the stuff, I can't stand smoke of any kind. Blech. And, to my knowledge not a one of her babysitters smoked it, nor our friends. She had not been on the Internet at that stage, either.

I think it was fifth grade, one of my daughter's test questions was to name three cash crops of the south. Yep, she did. She listed marijuana. The teacher called me and said technically she was right, but it was marked wrong and she thought I should be aware of the incident. And, she spelled it correctly. I think it was a "dare" on her part. Her way of being funny and a weak attempt at being worldly. Big Mama sigh.

Dubious

Goatsbeard

I didn't even know I had this thing in my front flower garden. It was pretty so I let it go and one night while I was sitting outside in the dark on the front steps waiting for my teenage daughter to get home I looked over and there it was. In all it's furry glory.

I am dubious that this translation I am using is accurate, but here goes:

English
goatsbeard

Scientific name
Tragopogon dubius

Dutch
sik baard

French
chevre barbe

Indonesian
kambing janggut

Italian
capra barba

Japanese
yagi hige

Norwegian
geit skjegg

Portugese
cabra barba

Spanish
cabra barba

Swahili
mbuzi ndevu

Swedish
get skaag

Can't use spell checker on these. Ha!

I watched the movie Rumor Has It. Eh. I was left dubious. I doubt that I laughed during the entire movie. It didn't do it for me. I think it was trying to ride on The Graduate's apron strings.

red

Red (English), rojo (Spanish), rouge (French) , rosso (Italian), feurrot (German), rood (Dutch), punainen (Finnish), reddo (Japanese), rufus (Latin), vermelho (Portugese), ekundu (Swahili), rood (African). You have got to love the Internet!

Tootsie Roll

Let's see that tootsie roll!

There is a dance song out recently. Of course the lyrics are not very nice, not many are these days. But it has a hip hop beat that the kids like to dance to. My great nephew's onesie reminded me of the song. Regardless, he appears to be having a good time. I think my sister was tickling his feet to get him to laugh.

I come from the generation where "tootsie" means toes. As in 'wiggle your tootsies'.

Since I played yesterday, I need to buckle down and work today. Cleaning and yard work. We are in the middle of a cool snap weather-wise. That will make the outside work easier. I am not a big fan of hot weather and the blazing sun. I don't mind it if I can sit in the shade and sip iced tea, but if I have to work in it, I'll get sicker than a dog.

My daughter was not feeling well around Memorial day and I took her to the doctor last Monday. She said that my daughter has a sinus infection, prescribed antibiotics and would be feeling her old self by Thursday. Of course if she wasn't, we are to call. Well, my daughter is sicker than ever. She is sleeping. She has been taking her antibiotics regularly, but now has a very sore throat with the white blisters. I get confused about what antibiotics will help and what they won't. I do believe that they will help strep throat (if that is what it is). I'll call the doctor tomorrow to see what our next step should be. It's been a real drag for her for summer vacation and an easy cop out in the "chore" department.

I'm going to Google the antibiotic confusion so that I get it straight in my head. ..........Later, okay I am more confused than ever. I read that antibiotics won't cure a virus, but will battle the bacterial infection that may be affiliated with it?.........Even later, getting a little bit clearer. Wow, there is a lot to this antibiotic stuff. I'm satisfied that the doctor gave the correct medicine for a sinus infection, but need some clarification as to what to do for this (possible) strep throat. ......More later, I think that perhaps she needs a throat culture and for the doctor to re-determine if the antibiotics she prescribed for the sinus infection will suffice or if my daughter needs a different type of antibiotic or a stronger dose. Okay, I never, ever wanted to go into medicine - but I'll research anything. I love to learn.

Ultimate destination.

Daughter and beau on horseback - Mohican June '06

Late in the afternoon we finally arrived at our desired destination. For the kids to go horseback riding. We spent the day at Mohican Park. I am exhausted. On the way we ran into many wonderful things to do. Miniature golf for one and go-carting was another. They didn't swim down the Fiberglas slides, too chilly. But we did get a pass for free to slide any day this season. Since we didn't eat all day I got to choose the place. I chose a nice homestyle Amish restaurant. They ordered breakfast. I indulged in chicken and turkey from the buffet. I am so, so sleepy from the heavy food.

When we returned home I found that the place we ride and slide is up for sale. Hmmm. Tempting. Only $300,000.

Poverty

Photo Friday Challenge: Poverty

Redundant

Moon over Ohio

I guess I am being a bit redundant here with my pictures of an indigo sky with the moon. This one was taken less than 20 minutes ago from my front yard. Of course I "doctored" it up a bit by turning up the contrast, deepening the blues and adding an illumination to the moon.

I have a sister who is having a run of bad luck. It is so heart wrenching. Over the years, though I can see a pattern. I have mentioned professional help to her and she scoffed at the idea. Sigh. You can't make them see. They have to see for themselves.

Hey, the tree I thought had died, is finally leafing out. The city had marked it with a fluorescent orange "x" so they must have figured it was dead also. The other day driving through town I saw a much larger tree that also had wee tiny buds on it. Late bloomers. Although I had never noticed it blooming so late in the season before. I'll have to look into that. Along with my lilac bush. It is full of small green buds. I didn't get much of a show in the flower department of my lilac bush this year - nothing like last year. I have never heard of a lilac blooming twice in one season, I am also going to research this area.

What full moon?

It was a full moon on Saturday? If you believe that is a full moon, I have some ocean-front property in Ohio I'd like to sell you. Hee.

There is something magical about an indigo sky with park lights twinkling and the carnival in the background. You get caught up in the atmosphere. The noises of the beeping horns from the little rides and laughter and shrieks of the children. (And some adults) The smell of caramel and cotton candy. Older folks sitting on the park benches watching the people. This park used to have a small roller coaster. I am not sure if it is still running or not.

My daughter called me at work the other day. She said that Jasper (our black and white cat) was going crazy running from window to window. When she got up to look outside she saw a tiny black kitten running down our front sidewalk. Our front yard faces the road. So what would you do? Of course she ran outside. When she peered in the bushes a mommy cat ran away. As if telling her babies "You're on your own." My daughter counted four kittens. They scattered when she pushed the bushes aside. She managed to catch a gray one. He was so scared. She tried to calm him down but he was having none of it. He scampered off. We have never seen them again.

I told her there are so many in the world. I know I can't afford any more. I would love to find them all good homes, but the vet bills are just too high for me. I am struggling to do right by the ones that I do take care of. The bird has never been to the vet. Nor the mouse. I do take the dog and the cats. Every time I turn around one or the other needs their booster shot or their heart worm medicine. Sigh. We do have a cat shelter in town. The last time I visited they were looking pretty bad. They were all sneezing and oozing. There was hand sanitizer everywhere. I became sick to my stomach.

Later that evening I took my daughter and her boyfriend to the mall to purchase her new bathing suit for summer. She got one for her birthday in April, but decided it didn't fit right. She scurried off to the dressing rooms while I waited in the store. I browsed around and ran into my niece. She was also shopping for a new suit. We chatted a while, caught up on things. The boyfriend took off for another part of the mall. I saw the store clerk hand my daughter some other "black" suits over the top of dressing room door number 2. That was nice of her.

My niece went on her way. I roamed around some more. Man, this girl was taking forever. I thought I had better go and see if she were okay, see if she needed anything. Maybe something broke and she couldn't come out . I forgot that she had her cell phone with her.

I walked back and tapped on door number 2. Can you tell where this is going? I said "Honey, are you okay in there?" No answer. I tried to peek under the door. Was my daughter trying on flip flops? She is a tennis shoe girl. Before I could say anything more I heard a voice behind me "Mom, over here." I looked up. My daughter and her boyfriend were standing at the counter checking out. I smiled weakly. We got out of there before the flip flop girl came out. She may have been afraid to come out, I don't know. My daughter was laughing pretty hard. Sigh. Yet another one to live down.

Merry Whirl

Another shot of the carousel.

Okay, I had a little more than a lot of fun with my camera at the Park the other night. I twisted the knob at the top and just shot away. No holds barred. People were kind. I don't get in anyone's face and click. I just shoot from a distance. Most of the time I don't even see the people. I like lights and color, especially contrast.

Overheard from two co-workers the other day:

K: I am bored with my job. I want to do something different.

B: What do you want to be (laughing) when you grow up?

K: I like to work with charities. If I won the lottery, that is what I would chose to do.

B: There are jobs for that. This week-end I was walking for charity and as I walked I kept thinking to myself I am paying somebody's $200,000 a year salary.

K: That is who I want to be! I want to make that salary!

Kind of defeats the whole "charity" concept, doesn't it?

Antique Carousel

Here it is. Our town's very own operating wooden antique Carousel. It is a Herschell/Spillman 3 row circa 1925. It was purchased second-hand in 1940 for the city.

More here.

Still

It was quiet and still at the top of the hill where I snapped the sunset through the pines. I missed most of it. I managed to squeeze in a couple of good shots between the thick pine trees.

Down over the hill was our beautiful town park in all of its adventurous glory. Young and old alike eating cotton candy and ice cream. A Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, a small train, miniature golf and many playgrounds awaited children eagerly burning up all of that sugary energy.

Yeah. I took pictures of them, too. I'll save those for another day.

Drops and DOS

Above photo was a shot after a downpour. It is one of my pink peonies. I zoomed in, added some bubbles from Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album to enhance the raindrops and flipped it upside down.

I ran into an previous co-worker last evening at Wal-Mart. His wife works at one of my schools. We were laughing about the "computer world." I said after 20 years with the microcomputer (five years more with mainframes) I was rethinking my vocation. We figured I had too many years in to change, now. He laughed and said "I remember when you used to come up (I am always in a basement except for current job) and help me with my Windows." I said "Was it Windows back then?" He said "We were just switching from DOS to Windows." Sigh. I can still remember the first Windows manual I read. Windows 3.0 - next came 3.1. Next was Windows 95. That is when I left the company where I worked with this co-worker and moved on to work with the schools.

I can recall during the transition between jobs I posted signs up all around the area stating "I do Windows and you can too!" When I thought I could train people how to work in Windows. What a laugh! I never went back and tore signs down so fast in my life. After a couple of months of pulling my hair out I had to get an un-listed phone number. Live and learn.

I have come to the conclusion that beyond your basic instructional classes in a certain computer program, if you don't have the aptitude for using a computer, more than likely a person can't teach it to you. In my case anyway. Kind of like driving a car. You just gotta get behind the wheel and get the feel of the vehicle yourself. People can give you pointers, but pretty much the experience and learning is up to you. And the more you use it, the better you will become.

I have to laugh at myself in hindsight. Think about trying to teach somebody how to drive a car. You are sitting in the passenger seat, they are behind the wheel of the vehicle. It isn't a sixteen year old. This is an older, more mature person who wants to learn about these newfangled things. And you are supposed to teach them. Except with computers, there were no highway laws or rules or even seatbelts! The road was wide open. There were no explanations for the roads, the road signs or the places you go. You had to try and explain this to the driver as you go. Why is this turn here? Why do I have to stop and let somebody else go? The questions were endless. There were no guard rails or traffic lights. Yeah, it was kind of like that. Pretty scary stuff. I'm damn lucky to be alive.

New

"New" - Theme for Photo Friday Challenge.

I received my spare camera battery and my 4.0GB Compact Flash Photo Hard Drive (made by Seagate). When I first inserted it in my camera, I received a memory card error. "Oh no," I thought. It isn't compatible. I looked on the package and it said to go here to see what cameras are compatible with it. Mine was there. Canon PowerShot S50. I inserted it into the card reader and copied a couple of jpegs onto the disk and deleted them. I re-inserted it into my camera, and then it began working okay. Whew. And how nice it is. I just click along never worrying about running out of memory disk space. And with my spare battery in my pocket, I can click away for hours.

More flowers!

I know. Another post of a flower. That is all I have been seeing and thinking about. Well folks, the hydrangea is in the ground! (Hear the harps playing in the background with a band of angels singing 'Hallelujah!'). I got out there after the rain and dug and dug. I plopped it in and soaked it real good and hope and pray that it survives. The tag said part shade. I planted it next to my lilac which I hope will shield it from the sun.

For the first time in my 46 years I have poison ivy. Or, the first time that I am aware that I do. I was all over the woods as a kid. I never paid it no mind. It was just last year that I found myself standing in the middle of a thousand three-leafed plants and I took pictures. My brother (schooled in botany) told me that 'Yes' they were pictures of the plant poison ivy. With my fair and sensitive skin I thought for sure I would get it when I was younger.

I read an article last week that because of global warming that poison ivy is thriving. The more carbon dioxide there is in the air, the more abundant the plant will be. Well, it caught me on the ankle. I was always eaten alive by mosquitoes and I freely admit, I would not leave the bites alone. They drove me crazy. As I get older I notice less attacks from the omnivore pests, though. Tougher skin or less exposure outside, who knows?

So I am being very careful not to spread the stuff since this is my first outbreak.

The above photo of a pink rose was taken while walking during lunch again behind my office. Earl says "Hi!"

Yellow day lily

I didn't notice the little hitchhikers until I opened the image up onto my computer. There is one inside the lily and one on the leaf to the right of the lily. Looks like I need to weed out my day lily patch. Sigh. Something else to add to the list.

Pretty in Purple

Sitting pretty. Waiting so patiently to be planted. I am keeping it well hydrated. It has blooms in pink, blue and purple. A mix of colors. I was talking to a co-worker today. She said that her daughter does add the aluminum sulfate to her hydrangea to get it to bloom blue.

My daughter has been sick. She has a lump on her left parotid gland. I am keeping an eye on her and on the lump. It is only painful when she pushes on it. She doesn't want me to make a doctor appointment to have it checked out because she thinks she is jinxed because of the moles that had to be removed. The latest one developed a pimple on it and was giving her quite a bit of discomfort. It is better now.

She cleaned house for me today. I was very thankful. She said she did it so she wouldn't fall asleep. And she wants a trampoline. I am undecided about that. If she does get one it will be one with the full netting all the way around it. I wonder if they will get like pools. Where the owner must keep it fenced safely away from small children so they won't hurt themselves. Maybe they already are. Do the insurance companies raise your insurance if they see a trampoline in your yard? Do the Amish have insurance on their homes?

One worker today said he was bored that there was nothing to do. I helped him set up a Linux server. It was fun for him and a refresher course for me. It didn't take much of my time. No more than half an hour on my part here and there to help him through a couple of snags. He doesn't work for my organization. In fact he is sort of the competition. I don't care. Education is education in my book.

Golly Pink

My peonies on the west side of the house are blooming awesome! At least something is fruitful this year. I STILL do not have the hydrangea in the ground. Good grief. It was all I could do to get the grass mowed tonight. Hee.

Here is a detail shot of the above photo. Click on it for larger view. Go-o-o-lly!

Hamburgers, hot dogs and ..... Hawk?

It was hot. How hot was it? So hot and hazy that a poor hawk slammed right into a transformer and shorted the electric out for about three seconds. He was fried.

I went to my brother's house for a cook-out today and some of us witnessed the ordeal just after he hit the pole. Flames, a popping sound and smoke. Dinner's ready!

My daughter and I had left our house and the electric had been off since noon. I was beginning to think maybe I was jinxing electricity today. We traveled to join some of the family in the Memorial day celebrations when this flying fiasco happened.

The electric company sent someone right out. My older sister happened to know him. He was good friends with her daughter and boyfriend. He was very accommodating and posed for me and even moved his bucket when I couldn't get a good shot of the bird.

More pictures of the event here.

And, I got to see the little chihuahua Brandi today. I checked. She was actually six ounces when they got her. She fit in a coffee cup. (Mental note to self. Do not drink coffee at brother's house!)

Home h(e)aven

For more years than not my home has been in Ohio. I have heard Tanya Tucker's song "When I Die" where she is singing that Texas was as close to heaven as she could get. And The Bellamy Brothers sing about "Dixie" . Where is your piece of heaven? I was looking at most of the posts on the Photo Friday challenge to see what people would post for their version of Home. I was wondering if somebody would post a picture of 'home base' from baseball and they did. Many posted pictures of a bird house or nest. Some a picture of their city. Most did pictures of their house or a house that they had lived in at one time. A lot posted pictures of their family members.

One posted a picture of what was left of their home after Katrina hit it. I noticed that their last sentence said something about "we looked around at the damaged house and then we went back home." They were already considering their new abode home. It just sounded kind of sad.

I had a big family get together today. About 35 people were there. I notice that when you are holding babies and small toddlers you don't get to take pictures. No pictures to post this year. I will be at another get together tomorrow, maybe I can mange a few photos from there.

In the meantime my home is getting a big neglected. I still have not planted my hydrangea. My grass needs mowed. I was going to do that Saturday morning but my neighbor had a yard full of men tearing down an old shed and they were tearing up shrubs, cement flooring and such I didn't want to be outside. As it is they needed my back driveway to pull a truck out of his yard. It got bogged down in the mud after they filled it to the brim with cement. I wanted to take pictures, but thought it was best not to. My neighbors are extremely nice people.

I have lived in Virginia and El Paso. I say El Paso because it isn't Texas as much as it is New Mexico. El Paso seemed to be a bit behind the times to me. This was 1982 so it may be a different place by now. I was 22 and was wanting to get as far away from home as I possibly could. 1900 miles was a bit too much, though.

Virginia was sweet. I was near the ocean on the North Carolina border. The people were so friendly there. I was a bit taken aback when I read a bumper sticker that said "Clean up the South, put a Yankee on a bus." Up until that point in my life I had never given the Civil war a second thought after high school. I had never, ever thought of myself as a Yankee. I did not know that there would be folks that were sore about Northerners. I was naive.

Fortunately for me, I didn't run into any of them. All the ones I met were as sweet as pie and would do anything for me. That is why the bumper sticker just didn't seem to fit in. From what I experienced I was welcomed with open arms. I had already been told that I had a southern accent before I moved to Virginia, and it took a while to lose it when I moved back to Ohio. 500 miles was still too far from home for me.

I recall when my two older sisters came to visit one time they laughed at me for calling an older gentleman "honey." I said that is what everybody calls everybody else here. Honey. It came as natural to me as breathing.

I am about 40 miles from my home town, now. I've been here for about 18 years. My daughter has only known this area as home. My immediate family lives close enough. I like the green of Ohio. El Paso was dry and brown. Virginia was green, but I am not an ocean person. I like fresh water lakes and trees. I may have been happier towards the western part of the state. I wonder if the people would have been as friendly or perhaps even more so. I have heard that it is a beautiful area.

Home is where the heart is. Home is where I hang my hat. Somebody did post a picture of two hats hanging on the wall. Loved ones would depict their heart, I suppose. Home is where family is. A few posted pictures of their beloved pets. It was a nice theme. There's no place like home.

The view

One of the views I had when I took my lunch walk on Thursday the 18th. I like the way the tree branches came out crisp and clear. I was trying different settings with my camera. I must look for the manual and read up on the darn thing. I have only had it for three years. You know us tech people. We read the manual as a total last resort.

I was called out to a school yesterday. As I may have mentioned before the schools are being attacked by a network worm inside our organization. Port 135 is the most common port under attack. DCOM RPC.

This may sound strange to some of you, others may know exactly what I am talking about. I have been working with some of these technology people for ten years. I am getting the impression that sometimes they are not doing all they can. For example. If a school district is hurting for money, they may begin to cut back on personnel that the administrators think are not needed. Instead of an administrator losing the secretary to their assistant they will cancel the job of the technology person's assistant. Human nature being what it is, I think that the technology person thinks to themselves, 'I'll show those bastards. I won't update some of the computers, let them get a virus. That will make them hire me more help. I'm only one person, dammit!"

Yeah. You can see how this can happen. Because as many times as I have called the district technology person to offer my help, they say "No thanks." The other schools are suffering because of it. My supervisors won't shut the school down completely. That is not allowed. It's a mumbo jumbo mixed up mess. Not everybody agrees on what is exactly happening, so no big decisions are made. A lot of people are getting frustrated. And here some of us sit with our hands tied, because we are only allowed to do so much to the schools' network. The other end of the connection is tied up in the home office, heavily protected by passwords and locked doors.

More PC's are slipping through the cracks in a school district. An example is our library person in our organization had districts order special computers to do the library software. They were setup and put in place. Most of the time the technology person in the school district wasn't aware that this computer was set up. Nobody bothered to see if an anti-virus program was installed on the machine, let alone any of the critical windows updates. Another example is the school's furnace system. The company that installed the furnaces come in and setup a computer in the boiler room. Again, nobody told the technical person. An anti-virus was not installed nor updates. The custodian may or may not have used the computer to browse the Internet. Cafeteria workers - same thing. Telephone systems - ditto. It happened in the office that I work out of. The tech person is a whiz. I notified him that he had a virus in his network. He nearly exhausted himself trying to find the damn thing. Finally he found the problem. The telephone company's computer. Sitting in a corner all by itself. Humming along nicely. Nobody checking it for critical updates. Nobody updating the anti-virus (If it even had one). Until one day it is scanned by another machine on another network and bam. In enters the worm.

Not to mention that the schools are now setting up wireless access points. Holy cow. The mess this brings. There are LAN switches, printers and digital copiers that I can access anywhere inside our network with no passwords assigned to them. I can print out a test page on about a hundred printers. Understandably this can cause some folks to think that there are ghosts in the machines. I can change the numbers of copies from 1 to 99. Of course I don't do it, but if I can do it then a high school or middle school student can do it. I tell the technology people that their equipment is vulnerable. What do I get? "Too bad. They won't hire me any help."

What a mess this all is. I can see why some school employees are getting frustrated and tired and give up. Nobody is taking responsibility. We've reached a point where you just can't scrap the computers in the schools. The phones would stop working, the cafeteria worker could not get her order to the state, the payroll would not be called into the banks. In order to work with the business world, the schools have to perform their work via computers. Banks, telcos and the state won't even consider turning back time just so the school systems can get their act together. Education has been thrust kicking and screaming into the technology age. Voters say that the schools have enough money, they won't pass any more levies. They say that management is handling the money incorrectly.

Administrators are saying that there is not enough money to keep the buses, buildings and materials up to date, let alone technology. Everyone suffers, especially the children. Then you have a few bad eggs in the classroom that have just enough knowledge to by-pass the filter and download a Trojan horse. The teacher is overwhelmed handling 35 students in their classroom. They can't monitor all of them.

Where will it end? Will it ever end? Will Microsoft ever begin creating quality software instead of continually focusing on the almighty dollar? For awhile the state government gets a clue and create programs to help. Then after four years or so, somebody else is in office and they decide that the schools don't need the money, that senior citizens or retirement homes do. All the money is then re-routed to those facilities. Or maybe they can pay the farmers more NOT to grow crops like they did for my sister's father-in-law. They paid him not to grow corn so that there would be less produce and they could increase the prices. Or, so I was told.

Which brings me to another story. My brother's ex-father-in-law (who is now long deceased) received two checks a month in retirement. Did he get it straightened out? No, he banked it. As far as I know nobody in a position to stop it ever found out. This was over 20 years ago. The man and his wife are long passed away. We are talking $900 a month for ten years or longer. I am not sure if it was from his place of employment or social security. What is that, $108,000 plus interest? I only found this out last month. I guess now that the people are dead the truth can be told. My brother is no longer a part of that family. I used to sing with the wife of the man in our church choir. May her soul (and his) rest in peace in the heaven she would sing about. Strong Christian examples, there. Yesiree.

Oh, sorry. Rant complete.

The old home

This is the old log home where my mother was born in June of 1920. Outside of Gem, WV.

Photo Friday Challenge.

Second time around

I watched Brokeback Mountain again. I had more feeling for the characters this time around. I had read the short story on-line here. I still had trouble hearing their whispered conversations, though I had my speakers on my computer turned up to 100%. Reading the short story helped me to understand what they were saying and what they were feeling.

I believe that Jack had decided to stop waiting for Ennis there the last time they were together. I think that he figured out a way to "quit" Ennis when Ennis blamed Jack for him being a 'nothing in life.' Jack told his parents about a new "friend" that he planned to bring back home to 'whip this ranch into shape.' He had decided that maybe he wasn't good for Ennis that he should just let him go. That is hard to do. Our selfish ways want that person to love us no matter what. That love conquers all. Well, it doesn't conquer all. Sometimes you have to grow up and let go so that the one you love can go and have half a chance for happiness even if it means you will never be happy without them. You have to be the stronger one and let go because you realize that they can't.

Another nice country drive

I had a job scheduled in Coshocton county today. So, I decided to go west first through Amish country and then head south. And, I came back an even longer way. Fields of green, purple flowers dotting the roadside, horses grazing, cows chewing their cud, and what was that? Oh - manure. That wonderful springtime odor floating over the fields. Fertilizer. Ugh.

Roll up the window or keep taking pictures? I drew a big breath and muttered something under my breath about being a country girl - and to get over it. I took well over 250 pictures while out and about today. I again filled up my 512MB, 256MB and little 32MB CompactFlash cards again today. (I re-charged the battery at the school I worked at). So, I came home went straight to my computer and ordered 1 4GB CompactFlash memory hard drive and one extra Lithium battery. Nuff said!

Some of the back roads are very twisty and meander through some of the prettiest Amish countryside you ever would want to see. But it also has a downside. Trucks. Truckers trying to make up some time. Maybe they are attempting to by-pass the scales on the interstate. I don't know. But they were trying to crawl up my ass today. One was so close that when I saw an Amish bakery, I didn't dare brake suddenly for fear that he would do just that. I turned at the next road and went back. There I found one of the best cream sticks I have ever eaten. Melted in my mouth. I picked up a sprinkled donut for my daughter. Delicious.

I didn't see any horse and buggies today. Maybe they don't travel on Wednesdays. I did come across a couple of farm tractors on the road. That was fine by me as it gave me an excuse to slow the car down and get some really good shoulder shots. They turn off quickly though. The photo above was taken just after I waved to a farmer hand planting some seeds in a small garden. The sunshine through the trees are some of the best, though. I can't wait to get home and download the pictures to my computer to see what I shot. Since I am always driving, I don't get to do much looking so I figure my shoulder shots will show me what I miss. Man, I am missing a lot!

Some kind of green post

Not real sure what that green post is in the middle of the photo but I liked the contrast. That was a beautiful sky. I had another beautiful day today, but the sky was just blue with a few white puffy clouds. Nothing exotic like last Thursday.

I was finally able to get outside this evening and clean out my long flower bed in the front of my patio. I think some of the thorns were over two feet tall. The earth was very soft and I was able to dig them up easily.

I will mulch it next and then plant the marigolds.

It must have dipped pretty low here last night. When I drove my daughter to school I pass a small nursery. They had taken all of their flowering plants indoors and others were covered with burlap sacks. I better watch the weather channel. I placed all of mine at the edge of the patio to grab what sunshine they can. I'll need to move them back up against the wall if it is going to get too cold tonight.

Things are starting to slow down and get real quiet at work. Most schools have only three more days left or about a week left. My co-worker is out of the office until next week having minor sinus surgery.

I've chosen a couple of summer projects to keep me going. I have invited two co-workers up to my office to re-load my Linux web server. I did it two years ago and I need a refresher course. I have heard them voice their interest in learning how to do it, so I told them to come on up, bring an extra PC if they have one lying around. Linux doesn't need much in the way of resources. Not like Windows. We will load Red Hat's version and Apache to run the web server. This way they can have their own Linux box to mess with.

I also plan to wipe my hard drive on my PC at work, and load XP. Get rid of my 2k OS. It was fun while it lasted, but I favor XP.

Another project that I hope to accomplish is changing the format on my personal photo web page. (www.mydeja-view.com/photos.htm.) I want to figure out how to do "next" and "previous" when viewing the pictures. (Laughing to myself.) I am driving my nephew crazy. He can do it in a flash and would if I asked him to, but I don't learn anything that way. I have to figure it out and I have to be able to write it myself. I don't want somebody doing it for me. What can I learn from that? I love the challenge of it.

He is busy with his new camera. He purchased a Canon PowerShot S2 (I think) but he would like to have the Canon Digital Rebel XT.

Up on the roof

rooftop

Wow. I had to revert to "Hello" to post this photo. Blogger's Add Image feature just sat and spun. This photo was taken from work last Thursday. We have a small door that opens out onto the roof. I suggested to the custodian that we place an umbrella table and chairs out there and create a sort of courtyard for lunch, but I can see that it would all blow away. Oh well.

I got slammed with another migraine today. I tried very hard to ignore it. I almost waited too long. As it was I had to retire for about two hours. The longer you wait to take the medicine the longer it takes to work. I became sick after lunch and finally broke down and took some medicine at 4 p.m. when I get off from work. But, it is gone now!

I used to keep a food journal. That is back when all the doctors and friends said it was "what you eat" that gave me my migraines. You know all the sinful foods. Alcohol, cheese, chocolate. It never made any sense. My major triggers are my menses, strong smells, sleep patterns disrupted, stress and weather changes.

The skies over Ohio this time of year are fun to photograph. Usually we have strange weather in March, but May seems to be fun for picture taking this year. Sigh. Along with the weather changes. Ugh. I do love it when a headache goes away.

Even yesterday I had a difficult headache. Would not respond to Advil. I did not take migraine medicine yesterday. Again, about nine p.m. the headache went away. The same as this evening. Not sure what that is all about. As I have stated before, I don't take a relaxing bath in the evenings, as I am a morning shower person (I need all I can to wake me up and get me going). I don't skip eating all day. (So the headache doesn't go away when I eat something.) Maybe the sun is my enemy. I want to get a good barometer and study the changes with the pressure when I get headaches. Maybe there is something about the sun setting that takes the headache away. Maybe I am an alien. Yup. I have suspected as much.

Hmm. As I re-read my post for mistakes, I am thinking maybe it was sinus all along. Perhaps I should have taken Sudafed instead of Advil yesterday.

Forgotten Iris

My Mom had purple Irises planted in our back yard. They were the deep wine purple ones though. I tend to like this color. A more lavender shade of Iris. I must get some this fall and plant them. I had forgotten how beautiful they are.

A lot of yard work this week-end and garage cleaning. And I am feeling the pain. I began Saturday morning with an old migraine reminder. The jagged aura that used to precede my attacks. I drove to the nearest gas station to get some gas for the lawn mower and I noticed while I was driving that certain spots of cars were missing. "Oh no." I thought. Not this. It must have been twenty years since I used to get the aura. I knew it when I saw it. Or didn't see it, in this case. Then the jagged lines started out the corner of my peripheral vision. Crud.

I carefully got the gas and drove back home. I didn't have any pain yet. I took a Relpax and two Advil. I put on my safety glasses and gloves and began to mow. I got really sick a couple of times feeling as if I were going to hurl, but then a beautiful cool breeze would come my way and it felt like bliss. I just went real slow and stopped a couple of times.

It is such a relief to have the medicine now. Prior to that I would have lost an entire day, possible the entire week-end. The grass would be knee high. That is the way it usually happened. Whenever I finally got the chance to do the much needed yard work, BAM - the migraine would hit me. It was such a life ruiner. The final straw came when my daughter and her friend played in the bedroom and I lay on the couch asking them not to make any noise. I had a cold wash cloth on my head, trying not to throw up and then it occurred to me. I may as well be a drunk on the couch.

I looked up a doctor the next day and hit the jackpot. I have never looked back. That was around 1997 or 1998. I have suffered from migraines since 1972. I really thought that the vision problems were over with. Twice in my life I have lost complete vision out of one eye. That is a strange incident, I want to tell you. If I closed my other eye, I could see absolutely nothing. It would only happen for about three minutes.

I also used to get the numbness in my fingers. Now I just get tingling in my head, near the crown. Like when somebody softly strokes your hair and it tingles. Kind of like that - but it isn't a good tingle. More like when your foot falls asleep and begins to wake back up tingle.

I don't see my doctor for six months since I just saw her two weeks ago. I'll probably forget to tell her about it by then.

Amish buggy on the road

This Photo Friday challenge was a tough choice for me this week. As you can tell, I am a day late. I had over 500 pictures with "The Road" in them. I finally narrowed it down to ten and then it was a toss up between this one and the one where the road flooded. Which really didn't have "the road" in the picture, so I opted for this one.

While I was sorting through my photos, I thought that maybe I should do an entire page on "The Road" on my own web site. I looked at photos until my eyeballs fell out and I figured I had enough of them and couldn't stand the thought of posting them. So, as soon as I found my eyeballs I tucked the folder back into my Images folder on my desktop and left it at that.

Instead of "the road" I need to be focusing on "the grass". I can see sunshine peeking through my curtains so I am hoping it dries the yard up enough to mow it. Both my neighbors were able to mow theirs on Thursday afternoon. I was working.

Then maybe, just maybe I can get my flowers planted. The hydrangea is waiting patiently. I still am not sure where I am going to place it.

I said "hi" to Earl yesterday as I drove by his box. He turned his head to look at me. He is always so forlorn in his dog house. He is bored to death.

Stormy skies

I had an interesting lunch hour today. I had spent all morning on the computer and my eyes were going batty. My camera was ready. I had peeked outside the window from time to time and had noticed there were some awesome clouds rolling by. So - out I went. Into the wind. I picked a perfect time. No rain but a drop here and there. Sunshine, blue skies and white puffy clouds to the North and East. Gray rolling clouds to the South and West. It was a photographer's paradise.

I sort of rescued a little beagle. I am sure he would have been fine, but I like to take a little credit. I pass his little dog house almost every day after work (depends on which way I drive home). At lunch when I went on my picture-taking escapade I walked behind the building to the back alley. As I passed his empty dog house I thought to myself "That's weird. Maybe his owner took him hunting. He is a beagle, after all."

I was taking pictures and I heard the tapping of little dog paws and looked up the road. There he was trotting along dragging a fifteen foot chain behind him. He was a little shy and afraid of me at first, so I played it cool and walked away from him. I said some nice things to him in a friendly voice, but I continued to walk away from him. He trotted towards home. I thought to myself - he is going to be okay.

I walked back past his house - I knocked on the door. Nobody home. He was barking at me. Not a mean bark. Just a "Who are you and what are you doing in my yard?"

I walked around to the alley again. He followed me. It wasn't long before I was able to step on the end of his chain.

He didn't care for it at first and I got a little muddy, but he was so friendly and so nice. I attached his chain back up the best that I could. I wrote the owner a note and stuck it on their door. I went back out to the alley and continued taking pictures.

After work I stopped at the house and spoke to the owner. The dog's name is Earl.

Not much time this evening for anything. Lots of company. Just as one left, another walked in the door. It was that kind of night.

Middle of May

Give or take a day. I am more behind every day. Hey, that reminds me of a joke my Mom used to tell.

Did you hear about the lady who backed into the meat grinder at her job? She got a little behind in her work.

Yuck. Or, maybe I read it in the Reader's Digest. I don't know anymore. I can't keep track.

The above flowers are the others waiting yet to be planted into a planter. We are getting that awful rain that soaked the Northeast. Or maybe we aren't. I haven't watched the weather channel. Usually it doesn't travel that way. I used to watch the weather channel all the time.

Oh, darn. I am not making any sense. I had an eye migraine and I took my medicine at 8:30 or so. That was 2 hours ago and my brain feels like it is shorting out. I have to keep going back and re-type all of my sentences. My fingers are moving much faster than my thoughts are.

Fireworks in my head. That is what it feels like. Sparks. Brain waves shorting out.

Anyway, I didn't get much farther on the Where I am From poem. I just can't feel the rhythm that I want to catch with it. Still need to whittle down some of the adjectives. I can't believe I just typed shittle instead of whittle. Okay spell checker - have a field day.

Vivid Orange

Still sitting in their flat because this rain just won't stop.

I have been working diligently on the "Where I'm From" template.I tend to go hog wild on the adjectives so I am trying to tone it down somewhat. I got the idea from Tabor.

I hope to have it ready by tomorrow.

Blah to Bwa-ha-ha!

Above is a poor little plastic custard dish on my scratched up scanner glass.
Go here to see how I do my "open scanner" pictures.

I use the eyedropper tool in Adobe Photoshop to pick the correct shade of black and the Paintbrush tool to cover up all the little white specks that look like lint. I colorize the dish with a prettier blue. (Image, Adjust, Color Balance).

Switching to Jasc Paint Shop Pro, I use the Effects, Reflection Effects, Pattern option to get the above image. I use Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album to crop the picture and create a three tiered frame around the image. Matching the colors as close as I can.

Back in Jasc Paint Shop Pro, I save what I have and using the Edit, Un-do on the previous photo I return to the prettier shade of blue plastic dish. Still using Jasc Paint Shop Pro, I choose Effects, Reflection Effects, Kaleidoscope to get the above image.

Above is another rendition of a different angle of the same custard cup. I also used MS Power Point to create this image. Then to top it all off, I use IrfanView to re-size the images.

I realize that I don't need to use so many programs to get the results, but that is how I work. I have to toggle back and forth between many different applications and use the feature I am most familiar with from that program. It would take me longer to learn how to do it all in one particular program than it does for me to just jump around. Besides, I make more mistakes this way and that is how a lot of interesting pictures are created!