It starts

Velvet poster of art by my daughter.

A little motivation goes a long way. The makeover of my daughter's room is in full swing. She is determined to get this project completed. It's her room, she has to take the initiative. And she is.

I didn't want them to pull up the carpet. She and her beau lifted a corner to show me. It was beautiful. I gave them the go ahead. They worked their behinds off. Pictures are here. Phase I.

We went to the lumber store to get finish. Polyurethane. The salesman told me I had to sand the floor down and then put a primer on it and then put a stain on it and then put the polyurethane on it. I asked him if he rented sanders. He said "No." He had no sense of humor. He was a regular stick in the mud. I almost didn't purchase anything from him.

I purchased the finish and two brushes. We ain't fixing it up for Home and Gardens. She just wants to dance on it! I can't stand the idea of sanding that floor down and losing that beautiful color. I don't have the energy. I don't have a sander. I don't have the patience.

We continue to look for a black chest of drawers. We found a dark one for $200. I told her she was NOT painting our maple chest of drawers I had purchased her four years ago. No way, no how! It is real maple and this dark one is well, something - but it isn't real wood. She can paint it, put stickers on it or plain chew on it for all I care.

We also found red and black chairs that she likes. I'll have to think about that purchase. They are a bit pricey. I have already purchased her one like this pictured below in fuzzy black:



She also has a little table and decorations for the wall. We are waiting for the chalkboard paint to arrive. Next step is the poly. Ready, set, go!

This is the pits

Granny's Pit Stop in Wolf Run, Ohio

While driving back from my sister's house on the 4th of July, I decided to take a few extra minutes and drive my old school bus route. Wow, how things have deteriorated in that area. It never was very prosperous. It was a coal mining town. I remember selling cookies as a Girl Scout. My partner and I were assigned the lowest income area that ever existed. I was born into poverty, but my eldest sister and brother worked hard and were able to put us into a decent house (with indoor plumbing) by the time I reached the first grade. Prior to my birth, my family lived in this neighborhood.

But the area that I sold cookies was what you pictured in the movie 'Coal Miner's Daughter'. The houses were gray and run down. The kids were shoeless and wore dirty clothes. Their hair and faces were dirty. They had impetigo sores on their faces.

Now, there are some nice houses. It isn't all bad. Just a section of it remains run down. An eyesore. Like impetigo on the skin. You look at the town, but you try to ignore the ugly side of it. There are many pretty pictures that I had taken that day - even in that area. The beautiful trees and hillsides, but this building reminded me of something I left behind. Reminding myself of how lucky I am and how fortunate that my family pulled out of that situation. I can go back and drive by it, but the past is gone. And sometimes, that is a good thing.

Blue Sky

Beautiful evening in Canton, Ohio.

I enjoyed browsing at Borders bookstore while my daughter and her beau watched the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie last Friday. I snapped up a few pictures of the glorious evening sky. They enjoyed the show and remarked how it left the plot to be continued for the third and final episode.

We worked hard today. Inside and out. The heavy rainfall that came around six p.m. eased my headache somewhat.

I stopped at Sherwin-Williams for some advice on my daughter's bedroom. They suggested a black chalkboard paint that she could write/draw on and erase just like a chalkboard. She wanted something fun (and black). I wanted something that could be painted over in a couple of years. They also have paint that you can stick magnets to. Neat-o!

One week down, one to go

Setting sun over Carroll county, Ohio.

We have finished up one week of vacation and are starting number two. We have accomplished a few one-day trips here and there. I am letting my daughter guide the days. I had the cook-out/fireworks party and I told her the rest was up to her.

We have started working on her bedroom. She is going with a black and silver theme. The main problem is moving the bird back into my bedroom. She will not stop chirping. That loud shrill chirp that appears to be a calling out to my daughter. When my daughter speaks the bird chirps. Not when I speak. I read somewhere years ago that this is a sort of "pecking order" for the bird. I am the protector of the bird, and she sort of looks out for my daughter. If she cannot see her, then she is constantly calling out to her to ensure that she has not become prey.

I don't know about this. She also chirps whenever anyone else in the house speaks. She is better than a watch dog if she can see out the window that somebody is coming up the sidewalk or pulling into the driveway.

My cats are perplexed. They are used to running into my bedroom and looking out the windows. They run in now, see (or hear) the bird and they stop dead in their tracks with a look of "What the...." on their faces. Except for my big baby Casper. He doesn't run at all. He saunters. The others turn on their tail and run back out, afraid of the bird, me or both. Not Casper. He flops down at my feet as if he owns the place.

I brake for baskets

Longaberger Office building in Newark, Ohio

We went to COSI today. On the way home I traveled my old route through Newark and my daughter grabbed a great shot of the basket. You can read more about it here, there and everywhere.

COSI is the place where I wrote about the car wreck with teenagers and if the girl in the front seat had pulled the emergency brake one sixteenth of a second later or earlier the results and fate of the passengers would have been different. And they ask you if you think life is pre-determined or fate? There are many other exhibits here. It is a tremendous learning experience for children and adults. I discovered today how much difference in energy it takes to run a fluorescent bulb than to run an incandescent one. I'll be purchasing fluorescent from now on. Try as I might I could barely spin the display knob hard and fast enough to light up the incandescent one, whereas the fluorescent was a breeze.

What did my daughter enjoy the most? The Poseidon room where she got to play with water.

I enjoyed the Progress room that displayed one area of a town in 1898 and around the corner the same town in 1962. I cringe to say I remember a lot of the stuff in the 1962 area. Especially the green plastic dinosaur banks they handed out at the Sinclair gas stations.

I also enjoyed the Space program information room.

From last February, they had setup a glass of milk, bowl of tomato soup, dinner roll, apple and a slice of cheesecake in a vacuum. One display was untouched, the other had been eaten somewhat. This exhibit was to show you how the bacteria from your mouth accelerates the breakdown of the foods. A side note said to make sure you brush your teeth after each and every meal. Yeah, after that exhibit - I'd say I agree. I asked a young worker who was the lucky person to clean that up and if they wore a gas mask. He said the last person passed out from the foul smell and they quit. He said that he hoped it wasn't he who did the cleanup on this display. Sheesh!

Much to my dismay there are also many optical illusions at this science center and I came home with a bit of a headache. Not to mention that I drove there and back (2 hours one way), and we ate at a very nice Japanese steak house (very tasty food). All of this adds up to one boomer of a headache. Advil will suffice, now that I am home and can relax.

Summer. Photo Friday Challenge.

Well hello, Molly

Say hello, Molly!

This is a picture of my nephew's new little beagle named Molly. She was so sweet. Not very big, he hopes she will make a good huntin' dog. (I have never known him to hunt, I think he will just take her out to chase rabbits - if even that). He was a very good dirt bike rider. The MX or AMA or something. He's been to the Loretta Lynn ranch and many surrounding states. For about ten years he competed in dirt bike racing, jumping and so forth. We have a picture of him taken with a room full of trophies. He has had more bones broken than he can count.

Another nephew and niece (brother and sister) are in Spain! She finally posted on her Yahoo account and gave us an update about her trip overseas and how they are adjusting. A few snags with the airlines but all is okay now and they are loving the atmosphere. This is the niece who went to school for two years in New Orleans and returned this past February to visit some friends and take pictures. She cannot post pictures from the Internet cafe so words will have to do for now. It is just so nice to hear from her and know that she and her brother are okay. They are going to school there for about 45 days and will return. It must be so exciting! They are in Valladolid which is in the northern section of Spain.

I have six nephews and five nieces ranging in age from 34 to 13 years and they are all very special. I watched them A LOT when they were young.

My sister's cat "Baby"

Baby - my sister's cat.

The sister who gave me Precious kept this cat. She named her "Baby". Of course that is what I call my Casper. He is my big beautiful baby. And, he knows that he is special to me. Although the others have a way of pulling on my heartstrings too.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will having something better to post about than cats. I ran myself down a bit today also and am dead on my feet. Maybe tomorrow I can catch up on my sleeping. Maybe.

How the Manx "really" lost its tail.

Manx in the making.

Forget the stories you heard as a child about Noah closing the Ark doors on the Manx cat and that was how it lost it's tail. Nope. I think this is how. If this cat isn't asking for a tail docking, I don't know what he is doing. I stopped the car and let him continue to give me dirty looks and then he crossed right in front of me as if he owned the road or something and went on his merry way. This was a very back country road and there were no cars in sight. He was fairly safe.

Concerning the fourth of July. If I don't see another hamburger or hot dog for a month, it would be too soon. I am so darn tired. I prepared for my cook-out/fireworks party - which turned out to be a big success except for a wee bit of rain and drove today to another cook-out (with a lot of rain) and I am bushed. Beat. Knackered. All the above. Good news. I don't go to work tomorrow because I planned my vacation. I can sleep, and sleep and sleep. Well, for a while. I do have to meet somebody for lunch tomorrow.

Another great plus is I had the energy to clean up after the party so that I didn't have all that mess to face this morning when I awoke and I could relax while drinking my coffee before heading out to the 4th of July gathering.

The fireworks were great in my area, the guests were fantastic and we laughed pretty hard. Good food, good drinks, good conversations, good friends, good times. Not much more you can ask for, folks. Not much more. Now, it is off to slumberland for me. Zzzzzzzz......

Sunset through the Gables

Festival ride with gables.

While growing up I loved to read. I considered myself a voracious reader. One book that was required reading in high school was The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Now, I just did not get this book. I loved Poe, London, Melville, L.M. Alcott, J.F. Cooper, Crane, S.L. Clemens - and possibly other books by Hawthorne. But this gables one got the better of me. I never had such a hard time with a book. I've read some readers' view points and they said that you need to concentrate. That was probably something I didn't do a lot of while I was a sophomore in high school.

Some of my very favorites were Agatha Christie, Wilkie Collins and Jules Verne.

The above picture is not actually a ride but one of those big air mattress type structures that the kids kick off their shoes and jump up and down in. We used to call it the Moonwalk. Oh my gosh! I just found the same one on-line and they called it a moonwalk - gables and all! Seriously, you have got to love this Internet thing.

So, the fair in town is still going on. I haven't been there since my escapade on Friday night. I have possibly 30 people coming tomorrow to the cook-out. I am not at all nervous. Nope, not one little bit, I say as I bite off the last of my finger nails. The headache came when the weather turned nasty. We are under a severe weather watch, blah, blah, blah. Get the rain over with and let it be sunny and pleasant tomorrow for the fireworks display. If I am not too busy playing the hostest with the mostest I will try to get some pictures. I am not one to stick a camera in people's faces, though. I probably won't take many. Just the little ones who enjoy getting their pictures taken.

Open Wide!

Casper (left) and Peru.

I caught this photo this morning. Casper was sleeping on my bed (as usual) and Peru wanted some attention. I shut my door and let Peru roam around on my shoulders, but it was clear she wanted on the bed. I asked her "Are you sure?" I looked over at Casper. He was not at all interested.

I let Peru march down my arm onto the bed. She wanted to start a conversation with Casper, but he couldn't have cared less. He did open his eyes a wee bit and promptly closed them back again. Peru was being very chatty (or chirpy).

When Peru got real close Casper let out this giant yawn right when I snapped a picture. It looks ominous but he was not at all interested in the bird. Later he did stretch a paw out to Peru who hissed and backed up. That was enough for me. Peru was put safely back in her cage.

Well, the fair's in town. I've managed to walk over the hill and see the sights. I love to watch the little children. My daughter and her crew were running around wild loving the party atmosphere. They are past the stage of spraying colored paint into their hair. My daughter did get a little ill on the swings, though. The swing ride (not the playground swings). It sat next to a dark and foreboding ferris wheel. Still parked with the number 6 cage at the top with it's ripped canvas top. It is sitting upright, not upside down.

Two days now until my party. My daughter and I cleaned the basement today. She helped a lot and was wonderful. We even laughed and had fun. There has been a lot of that lately. I'm basking in the bliss of the moments with her.

Happiness is...

Photo Friday's Challenge this week: Happiness is.... having your program complete without errors the last day of work before a two week vacation. And, having family members change their work schedule so that they can make it to your holiday fireworks party! I'm doin' the happy dance!

Easy on the eye

Chicory wild flowers along the road.

Along the roadway I stopped to take pictures of the wild daisies and the light purple chicory flowers. They are pretty in their own wild way. There are white daisies and the yellow ones with the brown center. Black-Eyed Susans, I think.

I have one more day of work and then I am off for two weeks. My daughter does not want to go anywhere this summer for vacation. This has been the way for the past two years or so. What gives? She mentioned whale watching, but changed her mind. She wants me to bank the money for a car for her. We are going to focus on her room instead.

I plan to have my 4th of July party on Monday the 3rd. That is when the local park is setting off fireworks, but it is a lousy day to have it. So far, four family members have to work that day and are unable to make it. Bah!

Stop the rain dance!

Moody docked paddle boat on the lake.

You know there is a dance to make it rain. Can we do one now to make it stop? I have never heard of a dance to make it stop. We can call it 'building the Ark' dance or something like that. The rain water snuck in under the door of my root cellar onto my basement floor. Luckily I had a blanket propped up against the door to keep the cold air out, and that soaked up most of it, but some still got on my carpet. Ugh. I have to consider myself very lucky, though. From what I am seeing on the weather channel, I am very lucky indeed.

I was supposed to help one of my sister's move this evening. My eldest sister cancelled, their pet dog of fourteen years passed this morning. They had a fourteen-year-old cat pass away a couple of weeks ago and all the fish in their aquarium died. Hmmm. They have five more cats, and all the fish in their pond still. They are still distraught. As I will be when any of my babies pass on.

We tend to get a bit attached to our critters, don't we?

Over the hill

Waiting for a bee to exit my vehicle.

Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. I was taking pictures while cutting across a back road coming home from a school today. Yes, two bees flew into my open window, so I stopped on top of the hill, rolled up the windows and opened the hatch. That is where they fly to - the back window. They left, I got some great shots of the valley and I was on my way.

As I slowly drove along, I wondered what it would be like to live on top of this hill. You could see in every direction. I could only imagine the pictures I could get when a storm is coming. Sigh. I don't think I will venture that way the next time a storm is at hand. I'll stay close to home.

No more news on the little girl and boy from the Ferris wheel incident. However, I did find out that 12 trees fell in a two mile radius of my house last Thursday night during the storm. A tornado touched down west of here and ripped the roof off of a barn and it lay crumpled in their field like twisted pieces of tin. Small tornadoes are not unusual in Ohio, but I wouldn't care to see anything like what hit Xenia in 1974.

Well, it's back to mowing for me. I have to do it in sections because the humidity is extreme.

Ferris Wheel Accident

Ferris Wheel at our Park.

I had posted on June 13th, that I did not trust this Ferris Wheel. I had seen too many rescues in the newspaper. Well, at around 9 p.m. Sunday evening one of the "gondolas" locked up and turned two young children upside down and dumped them out. The boy caught onto one of the gondolas beneath him, but the little girl fell straight down 25 feet. They were visiting from Florida. They life flighted her to Akron's Children hospital and took the boy by ambulance to Akron hospital. The last I heard she had a broken femur. She is one lucky little girl if that was all she had. Here is the story in our local newspaper.

Edit: Last heard she has two broken legs and the boy possibly lunged inside the gondola causing it to upset (more than likely he fell against one side if it was locked up).

An early summer's eve

Springwood Lake sunset

Last evening, one of my sister's and I met some friends at a campground by this lake. It was a wonderful evening full of laughter, gifts, drink, food and sharing. We consoled one who recently broke up with her beau and comforted another who recently had back surgery. One is starting a new job, the other is busy gardening, and the other promises me she will go to another show with me at a theatre. It was a small gathering peppered with the liveliness of a fourteen-year-old visiting nephew who enjoyed driving everybody around in the golf cart to retrieve free firewood for the fire. I should have taken my daughter, but I would be afraid they would have taken off on the golf cart by themselves and well, we don't want to go there.

The storm

Apparition in the bushes

***Warning. Extremely long post ahead!***

Well, my day started out on Thursday the 23rd as very tired. I had not been sleeping well the past few nights and Wednesday night was full of loud thunder and flashes of lightning. The sort that I had not see in all of my 46 years. Multiple flashes of lightning in a row like some kind of bizarre laser show at a rock concert.

Of course work wise, it was a mess. I deal with Internet connectivity which requires electricity and a lot of it. Of course the schools are out for the summer, but there is summer school and the Administrative offices work all year long to pump out the payroll and continue paying the bills. The first school I went to I ended up working four hours in a mini sweat box. The A/C had been kicked off and only turned back on when I arrived. It was located on the fourth floor so we were pretty warm. Add some dust to the machinery that had been sitting in a rack for more than five years because custodians will not touch this intimidating equipment.

The certain piece of equipment had it's brains scrambled by a hit of some sort and it just couldn't do anything but babble. I pulled out huge blades and blew the dust out of them. I re-seated it's NVRAM (that is the non-volatile RAM) and RAM is random access memory. So this memory is stationary and holds the configuration of the piece of equipment so that it can retain it's settings when it gets shut off.

The above doesn't appear to take four hours, but I have abbreviated the work. There are many steps I take cautiously in an attempt to salvage the unit. What is nice, is that most of the equipment I work with does not contain data that requires a back up. I don't lose anything but a few configuration commands and that I can re-do or have the text file saved on my laptop. I have about forty school buildings that I cover and I try to keep updated on their most recent configurations.

Every so often I would go and sit directly in front of the A/C ( a small window unit put in just for this room) to cool down. Remember that most of the buildings I work in were built prior to 1960 and their electricity is not adequate for the onslaught of computer equipment that has exploded into our technical lives.

By some freak miracle this re-seating of the unit's core blades and NVRAM did the trick. She came back to life. I felt like Dr. Frankenstein. I threw my head back and guffawed. "It's alive!" I take it that I don't need to mention that I am alone most of the time that I am working on this equipment, especially in the summer months.

And, what that really meant was I could get out of this stifling hot oven and crank the air up in my car, drive home in time to have lunch with my daughter in my cool air-conditioned house. If the steps I take do not bring the equipment back, I order a replacement part and it gets shipped out. I take the part and swap it out and send the old (fried) part back. Of course I have to monitor this system carefully over the next couple of months because this occurrence more than likely weakened a component on the board and chances are the part will fail again. But, it might hold out until the unit is replaced which is in a year or two for this school. New technology, more changes.

Here is the unit with the blades pulled out.



I pick up a couple of sandwiches on the way home and call my daughter. Yes, it is nice and cool in the house. We chat and I start to relax. Before lunch is over my work phone rings. Groan. Usually I am aware of what schools are down first thing in the morning when I check my equipment remotely via my home computer. For this location (which is not a school but is affiliated with education) the equipment was running and I could access it remotely, but the workers could not get Internet access. Off I went after I changed my shirt. Dust and sweat.

This location works with special needs children. They have a nice facility and state of the art equipment. Luckily the A/C was not working in only a small part of the building and that was not the part where my equipment was located. How did that happen? A little mercy thrown my way.

I was not so fortunate with this building. My equipment was working fine, so the problem did not rest with me. I couldn't help them. Now, to some this may be an easy ticket out the door. But that is not why I am in this line of work. I genuinely want to help, nay, I need to help people. I will do everything in my power to ease their suffering. And, believe me they suffer without the Internet access. It verges on insanity the way we have come to depend on this technology. And, I worry about the super virus or super worm that is going to cripple our civilization(but that is another story).

To make matters worse, it began to storm again. Now, what you don't want to be during a thunder and lightning storm is in a small closet-like room with a ton of electrical equipment, a huge A/C unit, telephone boxes, punch-down blocks and cables hanging on the walls and a utility sink in the corner. Ha! You thought you were only supposed to stay off the telephone away from the windows, huh? The thunder booms. I am sitting there looking at my laptop screen. You have to create your own desks. Usually I arrange two chairs facing one another and sit my laptop on a box of sorts to make a crude temporary desk. If I have room.

Punch-down block:




To my right is a wall of telephone system and security alarm boxes. Every 30 to 60 seconds one of the little boxes on the wall buzzes like a door has been opened somewhere. I jump. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. I tolerate it like you would a mosquito. Very annoying, but you can't seem to stop it. Time runs out for the day, but I did go back the next day and gave them a work around. Part of their equipment will not work, but they don't need that until August. My desire is to get them back up and running as soon as possible. We'll iron out the little snags later when we have more time.

I drove home in a downpour. My daughter had a doctor's appointment. We made it just in time. While she was with the doctor, the tornado alarms began sounding. She is at the age where she does not want me in the room, so I sat out in the waiting room. She told me afterwards that there she was with that little paper gown they give you, waiting for the doctor and the thunder booming all around. Little medical tools sitting on a try near her. She said it felt like she was in a bad horror movie.

Everybody at the doctor's office talked of the weather. We were told to go to a corner of a hallway if they instructed us to. I was wondering where my daughter was and the minutes seemed to stretch forever. My head had started to pound somewhere between the hot heat of the first building and the pouring rain. I took two (over the counter) pills. It wasn't bad enough for the prescription medicine.

The rest of the visit was uneventful. The sirens sounded about three more times causing everyone in the office to look out the windows and anxiously wonder what was going on. We drove home between downpours. I was looking forward to laying down and relaxing. The weather turned real nasty. The wind picked up, and the rain began turning our yard into a virtual lake.

My camera was in my car (parked snugly in the garage), so I grabbed my daughters'. I went out on the front porch and began clicking away. The photo above is the view I have from my small front porch. The weather began to worsen. I kept one foot in the living room and one foot on the front porch standing in the doorway so no animals could get outside. A strike of lightning hit so hard behind our house, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I quickly ducked back into the house and knocked the floor fan over, nearly bringing me down with it. Pets scattered in every direction. My daughter laughed hysterically. She said "Mom, you are going to hurt yourself!"

It turned really bad. The news on the television blared "People in Tuscarawas county - go to your basements NOW!" I told my daughter maybe we should go to the basement. We grabbed our cell phones, I grabbed a weak flashlight and downstairs we went. Well, the A/C had been on all day and I have to tell you it was freezing down there. It was quiet. Too quiet. We sat down on the couch. I looked at her, and she at me. "This is boring," I said. We jumped up and went back upstairs to where the action was.

This time we stood out on the front porch and took picture after picture. I never got the lightning when it was hitting, but the rain was torrential. Our garbage cans flew off into the front yard. My tiger lilies were flattened. This corner of my house is the one problem area in the gutter department. For some strange reason they did not put a drain pipe here and between my ladder and I, I am just not tall enough to get this corner cleaned out. It overflowed and flooded. There is a basement window well there and it overflowed. It goes to my root cellar, so my basement managed to stay dry, but I ended up bailing water out of the window well. My daughter made a setup to channel the pouring water away from the basement window. She used a big cooler, with the little spout opened at the bottom and added one of our back corner drain pipes to it. It worked. I bailed water and we were soaked to the skin.



The storm was beginning to relent. Neighbors were coming home from work and cars were slowing or stopping until the storm passed. People were outside doing what they could to stop any damage from their own yard or houses. My gutter continued to pour water onto my yard. We did what we could and retreated inside. We changed clothes and sat down exhausted. We ordered pizza and looked at our pictures. I am not used to my daughter's camera so my shots were blurry.

But, what the heck was going on with the image of Meg Ryan in my neighbors' bushes? An apparition? No, just the reflection of our television screen. My daughter had a movie on, but we weren't watching it. I must have taken this shot through the door glass.

Ten day forecast said to expect more rain. Wonderful.

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.