One lousy dinner

The above photo was taken today on my way back from working at a school. I used half of my lunch hour to stop by the lake and catch some pictures. It was hot and I paid for this endeavor in the way of obtaining a sun-induced headache.

We had about twenty family members at dinner last evening in the Garden of Olives. It was by far the lousiest food I have eaten in a restaurant that I can ever remember. I ordered the Mixed Grill. Steak and chicken with potatoes. It was as if the potatoes had sat out all day. They were dry, tough and tasteless. The chicken and steak were not much better. The meat was covered with what I can only describe as a beef powdered gravy mix that did not have enough water added because it was almost pure salt.

I did not complain. Usually I would have. I was with twenty people who were obviously enjoying their dinner. I was not paying for the meal. I ate what I could and told the waiter twice that "No, I do not care to have what is left on my plate boxed up to take home." Even I have limits as to what I will place in my garbage.

I wasn't there for the food, anyway. I must remember if I am ever again caught at this particular restaurant, to stick with Italian cuisine.

Night sky

This was a quick, unplanned photo of the sky last night when I let Sable out to do her business. No tripod. That explains the neighbor's light at the bottom right corner that is shaken up pretty badly.

I must have a new newspaper delivery person because my Sunday morning paper isn't here yet. Sigh. Sometimes I like to grab my morning coffee, the Sunday paper and sit on my patio while reading.

I have an older relative coming in from out of state for dinner today. So far 18 family members are meeting him. We are concerned because he always foots the bill for this dinner and we always feel weird about it. My sister and I are making photos of the family up for him. She is getting him a gas card and a restaurant card. I'll think of something. He is driving to Colorado after this visit. He has no family. He is my Mom's half brother.

I received a letter from my sister in prison. A while back she asked me to send her information on Helen Keller. She was required to do an oral report on a strong woman, and Helen was her choice. I guess I sent too much. What I failed to realize is that somebody must read all the data sent to inmates and I must have sent 30 Internet pages. They have over 2,500 inmates there. Oops. Unfortunately, my visitor papers got tossed. They let my sister have a couple of the pages about Helen and tossed the rest.

I have to go on-line and fill the paperwork out again. Delays, delays. Things were different this last go round. When she was out for three months over the holidays she did not imbibe. One sister and I have decided to visit her this time. Along with her children, of course.

My daughter and I saw The Dark Knight on Friday. I am wary of watching movies in the theater. It has to be a good day. The volume of the sound and the fast moving of the images can trigger a migraine. It worked out well. The movie was "eh". I didn't like Maggie Gyllen. in this role. I like her in other movies. I didn't care for watching half of the movie with one guy showing half of his face burned off. This grosses me out. I would have liked to have seen more of Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. I really liked Gary Oldman in this role. I just checked as to where I have seen Christian Bale before. Little Women. I watched 3:10 to Yuma but I don't recall his role in it.

I got a surprise when I opened my cell phone bill. My daughter got a Blackberry this last time and I checked twice with workers there to make sure she could IM and access the Internet for free. I got it straightened out. Billing error. It is all covered under our plan. Unlimited texting, IM'ing etc... Sheesh! I guess I won't be turning them over for automatic payment anytime soon.

Big hug

Someone has been wanting to visit where "Sable the coffee table" lives. He came today after spending the day at the lake nearby. One I have many photos of. He wanted to see the bird, explore downstairs and kept opening my refrigerator.

It was a long day. I started out by returning to the dentist. One of my fillings from (probably 40) years ago had cracked and needed re-filled. I did this on Monday. By the time the Novocaine wore off I noticed that one tooth was rough. Covered in something. When you roll your tongue over your teeth usually you feel smooth like that of a glass stone. I do, anyway. I was rolling my tongue over my teeth when I felt smooth, smooth, smooth, sandpaper, smooth, smooth. What the heck? I tried brushing it away.

I called the office the next morning. If it was still there by Thursday, come in at 7:30 before work. I was there at 7:28. The dental hygienist couldn't see anything, but she scraped away. Every time she would stop and say "How's that?" I could still feel sandpaper. Both the outside and inside of the tooth. Not the part where you bite down. The overall surface of the tooth.

She was getting exasperated with me. She called the doctor in. He scraped, he buffed, he polished. Each time was the same. I began to feel very guilty. At least he did say he "heard" something when I scraped my finger against the enamel. Finally he said if he did any more he was worried he would damage the enamel.

I said "As long as it isn't hurting anything, I guess I'll get used to it."

What can I do? It is better than what it was and I will get used to it. It isn't like I am going to tell him to keep scraping away.

Of course I was very tensed up and I twisted my neck again. After that ordeal I went to work and installed a switch in a school wiring closet.

The room is hot. I have come to realize that the humans making the decision to air condition the office where the administration personnel sit, are the same ones who say there will be NO air conditioning for the computer equipment that runs the network. Out of sight, out of mind. Until it stops and then it is too late. The way heat damages electronic equipment is little by little. Getting hot, expanding, overheating, cooling and contracting. Over and over again. Mix in some dust and time and pretty soon the equipment is toast.

Anyway, the technician of the school had to leave and I was left by myself. I have to hold this equipment above my head. Balance it with my left hand while I screw heavy bolts into the rack with my right hand. This did not help my neck.

By the time I got to my office I was overheated, overwrought and in pain. A co-worker from the home office called to say they had an emergency. They had tried to call me. I had forgotten to take my work phone with me.

But, they were more interested in where my office co-worker was. They could not find her. "Tell me about it!" I snapped. "It is a daily occurrence for me!" Ah. So much for me keeping my mouth shut. She overslept. It is not looking good for her. She has been eating pain stick lollipops for about two years. She said she didn't know how she overslept.

I scoffed. Let's see. She comes in late every day to work. The home office is oblivious. She is a smoker and she says she is going out for a cigarette and returns 90 minutes later. Three times a day. Along with the lo!!ipops she wears pain p@tches. The last time she shared information with me (she finally got smarter and stopped bragging about all of her drugs, I mean medication) she was also taking muscle relaxers and X@nax.

How awful. She is driving a vehicle. I am fairly certain all of her medication has been prescribed by a doctor or doctors. She feels as if she is doing nothing illegal. Perhaps so, but would you ride in her car with her driving? Do you want to be on the road when she is driving? She slurs her speech when she talks. Her family has washed their hands of her. She has one guy that hangs around. A partner in crime, I suspect. She mentions that he has given her "pills" when she runs out of medication. (Throw that remark out about all meds being doctor prescribed.) He is a maintenance employee of a hospital. Interesting. He was close to losing his job a few months back, but I am not clearly certain as to why. I know that he was on a medical leave of absence. Something about his knee.

What really amazes me is how some folks who are hooked on pain killers keep having accidents or operations to obtain more of the drug. From what I can see, just shop around until you find a doctor that doesn't care. Sounds like they are a dime a dozen.

My blue heaven

This is the sky from my backyard a month or so ago. I am in heaven at work.

Just a quick "Hi!"

Been busy doing outside work this evening. Just time for a quick "Hi all!" before getting ready to retire for the evening.

Bee nice

I don't have a fear of them as some folks do, but I give them lots of room and respect. This photo is over a month old. I have not taken any photos in the past week. Just the horses in a field near our house.

On June 26th I posted a story about work. When I was told to clean out the garage on a very hot day. Dirty, hot and lifting heavy equipment is not my idea of a good time. I was short with my boss, I was short with everyone.

About 3 weeks later, he gives me an evaluation. I am thinking my last eval was over 5 years ago. He gave me a bad rap on my manners and my attitude with co-workers. I told him to give me an example. He cited that I was short with him that day. I blasted him. We went back and forth for about 10 minutes. It was not pretty. I signed the eval and was done with it.

I stewed for a couple of days. I considered writing a rebuttal but just thought it would stir things up. It occurred to me later that perhaps he gave me an eval to get back at me for being short with him. Who knows? Like I said it was hot, dusty and I was lifting heavy equipment. A couple of co-workers laughed at me (which I told my boss). My co-worker (a diabetic and recovering from a serious heart attack was the only one assigned to help me). And, they wanted Miss Congeniality? So I was short with him, big hairy deal. One day in 5 years and this is what he bases my eval on?

Besides, the person over his head is the same gal I got into confrontations with in 2005. When she was the manager of another department. She was attempting to manage everybody and I didn't take kindly to it. She got the last laugh, now she is the director over all of us. I've more or less mended fences with her.

I run into this at most every job I work at. I am a good worker. That's why they keep me around. But, I don't kowtow. Insecure managers have a problem with that. And sooner or later I butt heads with them. I am a repeat offender. I do recognize the behavior and I do get better at it with each job. Usually, I move on because my nerves, health and mental well being are affected. I take my job very seriously and I am proud of what I do. When I have to deal with managers like this, I get depressed and wonder why I put up with it. It gets harder to move on every time as you can imagine.

I have to work through it and get through it. I sit every day, every week, every month and watch a co-worker sleep her way through the day. I pointed out to my manager that day of the eval that if he hears any complaints about me not speaking to her, let it be known that if she talks about work, I will answer her every time. But when it comes down to what color or shade do I think she should get for her kitchen counter, sometimes I am not so nice. I let her have it the other day. I told her "I don't care! I REALLY don't!" She sniffled a little bit and picked up all her samples and put them away. This is what she does all day long! She clearly does not have enough work to keep her day occupied. But, she gets all the accolades because she is a mammoth kowtower. We are in a remote office and it is more or less the honor system for us to keep a good work ethic. I know, I know. I have peace of mind knowing that I am doing the right thing. It just builds up and gets to me over the years and I have to purge it out. So, it is out. Move on.

On a side note, I am not a prude. If a co-worker talks to me about home stuff, I listen. But there is a limit and a mature person should know this. I am talking hours here. HOURS of nonstop, chatty, diarrhea of the mouth.

My schools (my clients) have not one bad word to say about me. This is what I base my evaluation on. Co-workers and managers be damned. Peruby may bend a little, but she is not changing. Not now, not in the near future. If you rub me the wrong way, I let you know it. And most of the time, not in a nice way. Get over it. You're a manager for Pete's sake. I figure it was a "pecking order" scenario happening here. He got pecked on and he needed to peck on somebody else to make himself feel better. This chick pecks back.

Something peeking at me again

As I took photos of my hydrangeas a few weeks back, I notice somebody hiding in the flower pedals again. But not until I get the memory card inside and blown up on my computer screen. Sheesh! I am glad I don't see them when I am taking the pictures. I would never get down on the ground or very close to the flowers. This was zoomed in from a safe distance. I don't really know what it is.

I finished reading my books from the library. If I get into a book, I usually spend every free second devouring it. I come from a long line of book lovers. I just can't accept our library being noisy and tacky. I am going to try again to pick maybe a less busy time to go and read the magazines that I am interested in.

I watched a few minutes here and there of JitH over the week-end. There is a local channel that covers it every year. The performers looked miserable. They put on a good show, but you couldn't mistake the fact that they could not keep the sweat out of their eyes. I know how it feels to be mowing and having the sweat sting and burn the eyes. I am sure they had air conditioning before and after their act, but I didn't watch too much of the audience. What a hot sweltering mass of human sweating flesh. I cannot think of anything enjoyable about this event at all. Each to their own.

I chose air conditioning. Big house repairs coming up. I am getting one basement wall re-enforced this summer and getting my gutters checked. I had some rain come in under my root cellar and the wall has water damage to it. They are going to place wall anchors for support and run a drain along the bottom to my sump pump. Then I get to clean the root cellar with Clorox to erase the mold and mildew that has surfaced. I hate this type of cleaning. I'd pay somebody any day to do this. I am going to have to wear face masks. Fun stuff.

Little Horse

A couple of blocks away from our house is a field where horses are boarded. I have not see more than three in there at a time. There are three in there now, and some goats in the barn. I can hear them. They want me to come and free them. Or feed them. I am not sure which.

This little fella came up to the fence. When he discovered I had a camera in my hand instead of a carrot or a nice juicy apple he wandered off. Back to the grass. He had some friends up in the left corner of the fenced in area. Deer were playing up there. Too far for my small point and shoot to grasp a decent picture.

Today I travelled south a little for work. At lunch I ran into a group of rowdy, young tanned folks. They were all wearing colorful beads (ala Mardi Gras style) and bandannas and hats. I asked them where they were from or where they were headed. Jamboree in the Hills!

Ugh. I have a story about that. 28 years ago. I was there. With pictures like this, this, this and this, you will want to stay away. Far away. "Let's check each other for ticks" must be the words in a country song. Red necks, white socks and blue ribbon beer.

1980. I worked in an office in an automotive/hardware store. My sister and her husband decided to go to JItH. I was not used to the hot sun. I was inside air conditioning 6 days a week. The 7th day I usually went shopping with my Mom in a cool mall somewhere.

My sister worked at Sweet Williams. My brother decided to come along. A friend of my sister's husband decided to come along. My brother, sister's husband and friend rode motorcycles. We would meet them at the mall near JitH. I would pick my sister up at Sweet Williams after she got off work on a Saturday night. We would drive down, spend the night along the road and go to JitH on Sunday. I was 20. I could sleep in a sleeping bag along the road.

I went to pick my sister up. What a surprise. She was bringing a boyfriend. This ought to be interesting. Oh, boy. After two hours we finally met up with the rest of our party. My sister and her boyfriend drank all the way down. What I didn't know is that they both took a queaaude. Real nice.

Well, my brother-in-law was mad as a wet hornet. He took off on his bike with his friend following close behind. We didn't see them until later the next day. My brother-in-law is a REAL red neck. He had native American blood and his neck would turn beet red when he got angry.

After very little sleep, my brother, my sister, her stupid boyfriend and I checked into JitH. Boy was it hot. I was not even close to being exposed to the sun that summer. I was broiling. I couldn't even drink beer because I was so miserable. I thought I was going to die.

It got worse. My brother had enough. He left for home on his bike. I was stuck with 2 coolers of beer and my sister's stupid boyfriend. Everybody else had abandoned me. My sister took off and ended up going home with some other boyfriend she knew. My brother-in-law ended up in jail because he got drunk (wouldn't you?) and hit a security guard.

I got her stupid boyfriend back to the mall and vowed that I would NEVER, EVER go to JitH's again. It is a vow I have kept.

Exposed to the elements

Every summer I place my old CD player out on my patio. I get it out before my party so we have music. It sits in the middle of the patio so if rain comes in on either side, it usually is safe. This past week we go such a downpour it got wet. Whoops. I am giving it a good week of sunshine to dry out before I try it this week-end.

Not been blogging because I have been reading. I checked out "The Mistress's Daughter" by A.M. Homes and "Crazy in Alabama" by Mark Childress. Funny thing is the movie "Crazy in Alabama" came on the other day and I had to watch it. I liked it. Melanie Griffith has a black wig, and I am not sure why. Her character in the book was blond. So far. Maybe she dyes her hair. I have not gotten very far.

And, I have been fixing a friend's laptop. She had a very annoying problem. The browser kept opening up and starting by itself. Window after window would open up at random. It was very annoying. I finally fixed it using a program called Malwarebyte Anti-malware from "www.besttechie.net". Great program. Fixed it after trying many other promised fixes.

And, I had unexpected company come to town. She is an older friend that isn't doing well, but tries to get out once a year with her daughter and grandson. This year they went to Amish country and stopped in to see me for the day. She can't breathe well in the hot, humid air.

So, July is flying by. As I knew it would after my party.

Drawing water

Here is my great grandfather drawing water from a well. I have no idea what year it is.

Techno Geeks

Above photo was taken November 2007. Nice drive, nice day.

We are currently dealing with new cell phones. My daughter picked a Blackberry Pearl. I get her hand-me-down. (Razr). Let's face it. I want it for a phone tool. Period. She IM's, texts, takes pictures. She can text quicker than she can talk. See Sunday's (7/06/08) comic strips "Foxtrot" and "Zits". It is a craze.

Summertime Blues

Once again Sable provided the backdrop for a photo of my flowers. She always knows just went to walk behind them (or in front of them). I checked back and have shown a photograph of all my flowers except the tiger lily. My hydrangea has about seven full lavender blooms on it, so I'll have to recapture it soon, also.

Whew. Another party in the past. I was wiped out. It was a great crowd and the weather was perfect. Half of the amount of people that I had last year. I had 20, and it was all family except for a couple and it worked out great. I had more than enough food and drink. The fireworks were not all that great except until the end. My dog decided to shoot across the yard and (almost) into the street during the show, but we stopped her. I have no idea why she was running or where she wanted to go. We have very little traffic, but I still didn't want her running into it.

I just finished cleaning up the kitchen today. Food that can be frozen has been put into the freezer. I gave as much away as I could. My Italian sausages in the crock pot were another big hit this year. I made double the amount as last year so that I did not run out. Everybody who wanted one, got one. I also fixed corn on the cob this year.

I may visit a brother who could not make it to the party and take him a basket of food. I was left with a lot of pop, also. I had tea and beer. People tended to drink that more than the pop. I have a going away party today and it's back to work tomorrow. It may take me all week to recover. I have been running on 5 hours of sleep an night for about four days straight. I always feel like I need a nap. My cats are trying to get me to, but I always see something that needs done.

One other thing that kept the level low this year was my party was on a Saturday night. Three sets of family had a party on Friday night to attend and they were not as into the drinking and craziness this year. So that kept it low key. (Probably to my advantage).

It was a great time and I am ready to enjoy the rest of July. I think I ate enough this week-end to last me all month. LOL! I didn't make it to the festival over the hill in our town, but my daughter went a couple of times. No pictures. I was just too darn busy. If my nephew or my sister sends any, I'll post one or two of them.

Welcome

Yes, it's "made in China." But, it was a gift. When I make a birthday list I usually ask for yard ornaments (mostly red, white & blue for my party) and I take what I get. I really like the sign and it hangs by my back door (friends and family know to use my back door) and welcomes everyone.

Well, the weather has dampened my progress again. Along with the rains come the headaches. Both daughter and I are experiencing general malaise because of it.

Although the weather channel did change Saturday's forecast to partly cloudy/sunny instead of isolated t'storms. We'll see.

Agape

In between mowing, weed eating, trimming, and pulling thistles yesterday, I took breaks inside the house and let the air conditioning cool me down. (I love it when the headaches go away!)

On one so called break, I played with the youngest of our feline clan (Titten). We purchased a feather toy at the pet shop on one of our many trips lately trying to get this aquarium up and running. My daughter has researched her project on the Internet to the point of obsession. It reminds me of the hypochondriac who has been given a medical book. They believe that they have every illness by reading the symptoms. Well, it's "her fish have this", or "she needs to do that", now she needs a new heater because she thinks the first one is malfunctioning. Good grief.

Here is the full photo of Titten biting the feather toy.

Morning light on a hydrangea

Yeah. I'm supposed to be cleaning out a back bedroom. You know how it is. It is vacation and I want to play first. I was outside for over an hour, capturing the light on my flowers. Until the ants got to me. I lay down to get shots of the flowers from underneath and while snapping the tiger lilies, I may have disturbed an ants nest. It didn't freak me out, I got some pretty good shots, but I still like the morning light peeking at this hydrangeas blossom through my huge lilac bush.

It appears as if we get a break from the rains today. My head is fuzzy from the last three days of taking migraine medicine. I hope it clears up soon.

Work had to call me yesterday for a problem. I had the solution on my PC. My co-worker in my office did not remember my password to get in. It is no wonder. I gave it to her six years ago. She sounded drunk on the phone. Slurred speech and she kept mixing her words up. She doesn't drink. She is on high levels of pain medication.

I wonder if I am the only one who notices it.

Well, I must get started. Time is marching on and is not waiting for me.

It's all about color

I'll finish this June out with a splash of color. All photos taken this month.

Gaillardia. Chosen for it's rust/orange shade. I like orange against the dark gray of my house color. Also chosen because it is a perennial and low maintenance.

I believe this "goatsbeard" chose me. It appeared in the landscaping and I left it there.

Hydrangea. Chosen for it's large bloom and color. I like blue, but I am still experimenting with the aluminum sulfate to get the right shade. I killed the new hydrangea this year by adding too much of the chemical and nearly did this one in. This one tripled in size this spring. I will add another one next year and keep trying.

Sigh. I know it is psychological, but really. Why is it I can jump straight up out of bed at 6:00 A.M. on a Monday morning while on vacation, but can barely drag my body out of bed if I have to go to work? Just the nature of the beast, I guess. Well, it looks like another day of thunderstorms here in eastern Ohio. Not like we have had much rain. And it isn't like my yard is a soggy mess. I have not had the chance to mow. (Mentally kicking myself). Little voice in Peruby's head, "Really? What about the flooding in the mid-west? You want to complain about your little bit of soggy ground?"

On second thought, nope. I'll be fine.

My hydrangea

My hydrangea bloomed a lovely lavender color this year. This one is only halfway done. I chose it because Sable decided to provide the deep black background when I shot this frame. She walked behind the plant just as the point and shoot Canon (famous for their delay) decided to finally capture the shot.

No quick action shots with a point and shoot digital. Miss the moment and it is gone.

Strange weather this week-end. Sun, rain, sun, rain, wind, rain, sun again. I hope it gets it all out of it's system by next week-end.

My daughter started her aquarium with a half dozen platies and a loach. She told the pet store to cancel the rope fish if they could. They said it wouldn't be a problem to sell it to somebody else if one came in. It would be too difficult to start out with a rope fish. And, the aquarium at 10 gallons may be too small. She has them named and gets enjoyment out of watching them. So far.

I bought Peru a new cage. She was due for one. Her old one is still good, I'll use it as a backup. This is all the start of our vacation week at home. Clean and straighten up.

Leave me alone

Titten was much happier when I took pictures of her after turning the flash off. First day of vacation. 10 days. One week til my party. I've had some cancellations this year. Oh, well. I guess I won't get the big turn out that I did last year, but it will still be a good time.

I watched The Bucket List. It was good. I like Morgan Freeman, Jack only recently do I appreciate his talent. For my daughter I rented Fool's Gold. How many times did Matthew get hit in that movie? I mean really? I place Kate Hudson (and Matthew, for that matter) right up there with Sandra Bullock. They play the same silly character over and over again. Rerun, rerun, rerun. No range. Don't stretch. Well, at least you know what you are getting with their movies. Light fun. No big surprises, there.

Clover field

Clovers in my back yard before I mowed this past week-end and before the heavy rains came.

The restaurant

A huge wind/rain storm came through while we were dining at the above restaurant. (Photo courtesy of my sister). A good show because we had a window seat. The show was much better than the food. I had flounder stuffed with crab meat. I didn't care for it. And the side dish of corn was gray in color and looked like it came straight out of the can. This happened to me a couple of weeks ago with green beans.

Why can't the local restaurants take a cue from the chains and fix the mixed vegetable medley with squash, zucchini and snow peas? Even fresh broccoli would be welcome. I am guessing that unlike chains, they do not have a clue to how many customers they will get in an evening and it would be too costly, I suppose.

Well, with storm after storm rolling through today, it was headache city. Nothing major, just annoying as all get out. I would be doing something, cruising along and then "boom" that jab of pain in the side of my head. Ugh. After 38 years of headaches (regular headaches for me started at 10 years old, migraines at 12) it just gets to be so old.

Four Years

Today marks four years of blogging. Sometimes I go back to see what was happening in my life a year, two years ago today. It gets pretty wild sometimes to look back. Wow. I have kept a journal on and off since 1986, but have not seen my notebooks in months. I have no idea where they are.

I am trying to battle a bit of a migraine today. I have dinner with family tonight out of town. They don't know about my blog, or if they do - they don't mention it. I check my stats now and again and it doesn't look like they are reading it. I don't share it with them.

My daughter fell asleep with a movie on. Woody Allen. Scoop. I caught it in the middle and have been watching it. I have never ever liked W.A. He plays such a bumbling idiot, but not in a funny way. I don't "get" him.

I guess I'll finish the show. Okay, it's over. Ha, ha.

My daughter has decided to spend her part of the "stimulation" check on a tropical fish tank and fish. We got the tank kit yesterday. The water has to acclimate and then we add fish. Three at first. She has ordered a rope fish. I am not keen on this, as I am not a fish person. Oh well.

Stormin' Norman

The neighbor dog ran over to visit Sable this evening. This was the best shot I got of him. Sorry about the slobber. He was in constant motion and it was dusk. Norman is not fixed. Sable is. He made a couple of advances and she let him know what was what.

He is huge. I've seen him several times across the street in the back of his yard, but up close I was just "Wow." And to top it off, he has 40 more lbs. to put on his owner said before he is full grown. Wow wee!

She finally got him settled down, we put Sable inside and she took Norman home. The neighbor on the other side came out with her dog and Norman went stormin' over there. She had (and I kid you not) a pink poodle. I was very tempted to walk over and ask her if I could get a picture, but they were a good distance away and I didn't want to traipse through my neighbor's yard. But really? A pink poodle? Then again, why not?

Stretching it

A few weeks ago, I caught this from one of our local schools. Schools are hurting. Is this what it is coming down to? One person to manage 5 libraries on 10 hours a week? Two hours at each library. Good grief!

Speaking of libraries.

I went to the library on my lunch hour. I like to test my web pages to see how they look from a foreign computer. I have a large monitor at home and I won't pull up my personal web pages at work, so it interests me to see my pages with a small screen. Like the library uses. Sometimes we have no idea our page looks gray instead of purple, etc...

I signed in and sat down at an empty PC. We were almost elbow-to-elbow. On my left sat a man and on my right sat a young lady. She was click-clicking away. I got down to it. I pulled up my sites and checked them for LINK errors, runaways and off-color pages.

A young man came up behind the girl and startled her. She began yelling at him "So nice to see you have time for me!" Then they started to whisper. After about 15 seconds the overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke hit me. Remember we were elbow-to-elbow. They continued their conversation, trying to whisper but sometimes it grew louder. I fidgeted in my seat. The guy to my left got up and left.

To my right, the girl got up and the guy sat down. Cigarette smoke enveloped us. The girl stayed behind him and yak-yak-yakked. I cleared my throat. I fidgeted some more.

I had finished my job, so I signed out and left. As I walked away I saw her sit down in my chair. I made a remark to the librarian, "Libraries aren't what they used to be. It's kind of noisy." She looked up, "Noisy?" "Yes," I said and walked over to the magazine department.

One way I decided to save a few dollars was to stop all my magazine subscriptions. I didn't have a lot - only two. But Readers Digest made me feel like a criminal. They kept saying I was overdue, blah, blah, blah. I wasn't receiving any magazines, and they should not have sent any to me past my subscription date which I have no idea what it was, but I thought if you don't renew they bug you a couple of times and just stop sending the issues. I should have saved all the notices of "Delinquent Account!" that I received from them.

I was thinking of subscribing to the Large print edition when I start back up again, but now I just think I will read at the library. Because of their notices.

I grabbed the latest issue, shoved puzzle pieces away from my area and sat down. It was 65 degrees Fahrenheit in this part of the library. Maybe because there was nobody in here. They were all at the computers, I don't know. The magazine reading area is butted up against the video/cassette area. While reading all I could hear was slamming plastic DVD/video covers as browsers pushed them against each other looking for a movie. Holy cow! Slam, slide, slam!

I kept reading. Freezing and reading. Then a complete cackle of laughter broke out from the front desk. It was the librarians and a customer laughing up a storm.

Well, this library isn't what is used to be. That is for sure. I'll try a couple more in the area hoping to find one that will take me back in time to the good ole' days when libraries were a place of quiet reading, research and peace. But, I won't hold my breath.

A sigh of relief, but what the heck....

Watching television last evening, an AMBER alert came across the screen. My blood ran cold. Two little girls (sisters in fact) were missing. Believed to have been abducted. The above photo is NOT either of the girls. It is from my archives. As close to the 7 and 8 year-old range that I have in my files. That is the age of the sisters.

They are safe. But it was close. After reading more on the story this evening you just have to shake your head. The father left them with this guy who is 35 years old and he had been drinking all day. They had been swimming in his pool. He took them to a friend's house gave them pizza. Threatened them with a gun.

The police caught up with him and chased him in the woods or through a field. The girls are safe. The guy is in prison and a trial is set. A big sigh of relief. But, what in the heck? You just want to choke that father. No comment on what I want to do to the abductor. I am torn. I hate to wish pain and suffering on another human being, but sometimes I say "He'll get his in prison" and other times I cringe thinking about it.

Honeysuckle, honeybee

The pictures of a bumblebee didn't come out quite as well as this one I had of the honeybee. I think that is honeysuckle. There is honeysuckle in the hedge along my alley, and it smells quite nice. Years ago I went to Florida and coming out of the motel room one evening and taking a walk, I smelled the orange blossoms. How sweet and heady was that smell.

The other evening before the rains, I could smell the sweet and heady smell of honeysuckle. So, I needn't be envious of Florida and their evening scents. Ohio has it's own. The honeysuckle. Always planted near the outhouses along with the lilacs. Where the outhouses used to be, rather.

I had a free week-end and I thought to myself "I can finally focus on getting some serious cleaning and straightening up around here." First thing Saturday morning I hang the flag out for "Flag Day" and after coming inside I notice that my left muscle between my shoulder and neck (I think it may be the trapezius) is stinging and burning. I strained it again. For a couple of hours (along with Advil) I moped around and cursed the day. Then I got angry. I moved furniture around, I vacuumed, I cleaned, I straightened up. My neck was hurt anyway and I was bound and determined not to let this "free" time go by.

Edit: 8:50 p.m. As fate would have it, I happened to catch a Nature show later this evening on this bee about CCD.

From the album

The way we store photos now, on hard disk and not in an album. I don't know. It makes me think I should print them out and create albums and place them around on the coffee table when company visits. Because nobody jumps on my computer and just browses through my images.

I post some for folks to see but you never know.

I don't have a lot of fashion sense. This can be seen way back in 1972 (I would have been 12) when I actually thought that green socks went with this outfit? And WTH? Was I wearing the shorts backwards?

And this horse? She was my sister's. I never fully trusted that horse. She was the type that could work the bit between her teeth and take off with you. No amount of pulling on the reins could stop her. My horse riding days came to an end when she ran home with me trying unsuccessfully to stop her. She took the turn too fast and I landed under a pine tree. Unhurt but SO embarrassed. The neighbor had to bring the horse over from next door. My attempts to stop her made her go down the wrong side of the fence.

I'd been showing off. There were a few boys riding their bikes and I had to nudge Queenie into a canter to pass them up and she just wanted to go home. Everybody saw me take the dive.

I never really got on a horse again. A couple of trail rides (so my daughter could ride) but that was all. I know the old adage "You have to get back up on the horse" but I didn't care. My love affair with the horse pretty much ended that day.

Little mushrooms

I got the mushrooms last week-end as a gift. They go well with my gnomes. My patio will be full around the edge before very long. I have a few more in the house that I need to move outside.

I've been watching the news about the storms and flood in the Midwest. The horror of the boy scouts, the evacuations in the flooded cities. As I passed a gas station today I was wondering if a lot of the service stations would be going out of business. It seems so.

Sigh. I am reminded of the Anne Murray song. "I really could use a little good news, today."

Western Salsify

Well, the corner of it's puffy seeds, anyway. I know it is a weed, but I still like to take pictures of it. If you click on it, I uploaded the 1074 x 845 pixels picture. My camera takes the photo in a 2592 x 1944 (5.0 mega pixel) format. I usually change the size of it before I upload it. Usually I just post it using the 800 x 600 image size.

I've had this camera since 2003. My daughter's is a 7.1 mega pixel (waterproof up to 10 feet and one hour and drop proof up to five feet). I've considered purchasing another camera, but I am still having a good time with this one. And, I don't worry too much about if I knock it around a bit. It's been knocked around.

It's beautiful weather in the Tuscarawas valley. Still on the warm side. I need to mow, but had company this evening. By the time they left, I was out of the mood. No energy, I mean. So, I took the camera outside instead. Sable loves it when I get my "Crocs" on. She knows that I am not going away, but I am going OUT.

Before the rains

Yes the blooms were spectacular this year, but the rains came and beat my peonies to a pulp. The blooms were visible two, three days at the most and I didn't get many photos of them.

More rains brought in a cold front along with a doosie of a migraine this morning. I awoke at 6 a.m. and discovered the electricity was out. The wind was blowing. I stumbled around for a few minutes and then realized that I did not feel very well.

Stupid weather.

Heat drains me

A picture of the beautiful lake where I spent last evening. It was still over 80 degrees Fahrenheit when I arrived at the party. Yet, they felt the need to start a fire. Ugh. I moved my chair back as far as I could while still being a part of the group. Across the lake the pavilion had a band playing. They played a mix of Jimmy Buffet, Elvis, Alabama with a bit of The Electric Slide and The Macarena entwined into the evening.

My daughter went to a graduation party. It was way out in the country. I picked her up at a little bit after midnight. She wanted to stay all night. That would be 5 boys staying and 2 girls. I nixed it. She was a bit upset, but since she is 17, Mama still has the power.

I have about a half a dozen gnomes to add to my collection. My plants need all the help I can dig up. And, my collection of cosmetic bags has tripled. It is a strange collection. Some folks have a thing for shoes, some penguins, some folks like to collect dolls. Me? Cosmetic bags and totes. Who knew?

My daughter went with friends to see "You Don't Mess with the Zohan." Me? I'll pass on Sandler. I don't recall liking any of his movies all that much. Not enough to spend money on.

And this billionaire is reminding me of the book I just read about Charlie Wilson. Corruption.

My air conditioner can barely keep up with the heat. It is draining. A "do nothing" day. I worked out in it yesterday and Friday. My arm will barely move because of all the weed eating. I don't normally do that. Growing up I mowed the grass, but didn't have much experience with weed eaters and trimmers. I have a slight fear of them. I tackled the weed eating yesterday. Things were messy around the sidewalks and now they are nice and trim. But my arm is paying for it. And the humidity. Yowza. I'll try to tackle my fear of the electric trimmer next week. I bought the tools but I have never used them. My sister ran the weed eater for me before and a friend did, but nobody has used the trimmers. I use safety glasses, but I wore short pants. My ankles were stung quite a bit to say the least. I also broke down and purchased a pair of Crocs. I've seen folks wearing them and had no idea how comfortable they really are.

My Grand Niece

Since my sister is her "Grand Mother", I get to be the "Grand Aunt". I like that. I always thought it was "Great Aunt." Here is the little one making a face at whoever she was going to throw the ball to at our Memorial day cook-out. She was quite the entertainer that day.

I saw her on Thursday night. We had ice cream. Her mother and grandmother (my niece and sister) were preparing for a garage sale for the week-end. I took a couple of boxes out to contribute to the sale. In the paper the next day, I read where some crazy guy held a young girl at gunpoint at another sale just around the corner from where were were. It happened earlier in the day. I was there in the evening. The young girl had a toddler with her at the sale, also. Fortunately, her grandfather was sitting in a secluded room of the house and came up behind the gunman and wrestled the gun from him. The story is quite moving.

We knew nothing about this story until last evening. My sister is finishing the sale today with her little granddaughter, but the guy is in jail. Tucked away. But scary to say the least.

I got the grass mowed last night. When I mow I wear headphones to drown out the awful noise of the mower. I hate loud noises especially the droning of the mower. At one point I heard the most awful screeching of tires. It brought neighbors out of their houses. I ran to the front yard certain to see some poor animal mangled in the road. I was so glad I tied Sable to the dogwood tree before I began mowing. My cats were all inside. I never let them out.

The entire road in front of my house was covered in smoke. Folks were standing on their porches looking around. I caught a glimpse of the old pick-up truck that laid the rubber. This young boy had stopped at our house to visit my daughter a week ago. She had not returned his call. I guess he was leaving his calling card. I just shook my head. She was at the movies with two other guy friends. I thought to myself and I "partially" quote Sugarloaf here, "You ain't bad kid, but I've seen it all before. Don't call us, child we'll call you."

Elder Gnome

Elder Gnome says, "Eh. Your hostas did well this year, but I've got bad news for that hydrangea behind me to my left. Well, I don't think he's gonna make it." "And put a small potted marigold in my basket, would ya? I'm a little off balance here."

Okay. This week-end E.G. I'll give you a flower of your very own.

Under my poppies

With my head lying in the grass - ick. I shot this poppy from underneath. I shared some sky view with a spider that I was trying to keep out of my hair. He (or she) was hanging off of another poppy and the breeze kept blowing it back off course and it would swing dangerously close to my hair. I have a photo of the spider, but it didn't turn out all that well.

The heavy rain beat the tar out of my poppies, so they don't look like this any longer. They lost most of their bright orange petals and lay half beaten down close to the ground. I hesitated about posting a photo of my poor hydrangea. The newest plant I purchased looked great for about 5 days and then it scorched. I believe it was the aluminum sulfate. I overdid it. I feel too bad to post it's photo online. How embarrassing.

My nephew just called me. He is off to Micro Center to purchase a new scanner and hard drive. I don't have a store close to me (well, not Micro Center) but I can order online. It is probably a good thing that I don't have a store like that close to me. I could browse for hours. At least at home I get sidetracked.

I purchased myself a little treat today. Melissa Etheridge's Greatest Hits "The Road Less Traveled". Back in 1988 I worked a data entry job on a midnight shift and this radio station kept playing Melissa over and over again. I had just returned from my life in Virginia and ended a long-term relationship. I was ready to move on. I also purchased "Eagles:The Very Best of". One of my very favorite songs is "Seven Bridges Road."

My daughter sits at her computer listening to her music and I have my headphones on listening to Melissa. We make faces at one another every now and then. At least we aren't separated with each being in their own room. We are both out in the family area. When she wants to talk I take my headphones off and listen.

We are having a great time with her driving everywhere. She had a job interview yesterday. She got her first taste of a young manager asking her all kinds of questions about how passionate she was about her shoes. My daughter wants a job for the summer. This shoe store wanted a passionate tennis shoe professional. Today we went grocery shopping. She saw a classmate and we talked and joked for a few minutes. He was just a doll. She left the store with stars in her eyes. I said "See? It's still raining men."

She rolled her starry eyes. "I don't want a boyfriend, Mom."

That is A-Okay with me. I just want her to feel good about herself and to keep on smiling.

Okay, back to my music. "Baby you can sleep while I drive..."

All apologies

With sincere apologies to all parties, tell me if the above photo (at a quick first glance) does NOT look like Michael Douglas hugging Dakota Fanning? Well, it DID to me. LOL! I thought maybe it was a prison movie of sorts with the blue clothing.

No? How about that feathered-back hairstyle from the 70's ala Angel-fashion?

Fruit Pizza

This is from last week-end. The black things are blueberries, not black olives! Even though an olive is a fruit, I did not even think of putting them on this pizza. We have strawberries, kiwi, mandarin oranges and blueberries. I didn't even add the raspberries. It was overloaded as it was. I used the sugar cookie crust and the pie was gone in no time.

I am in a situation at work where I have to take the high road. Again. Since I work with the schools, we have started our summer hours. We knock an hour off the end of the day and go home an hour early. The organization that I work for staggers their hours. Some folks work 7:30 to 3:30 and some work 8:00 to 4:00.

Since our office has two workers, I always worked the late shift. My co-worker logs in from home to make it look like she is at the office at 7:30 and she strolls in at 8:00. Most of the time after I arrive. She still leaves at 3:30. I still stay until 4:00.

She is the ultimate kiss-ass. She doesn't care who knows it. She brags about playing up to the boss. She makes me ill.

So, it is the high road. I will feel better about myself. I will work all my hours and not cheat the organization OR my co-workers. The ones who also work their full shifts. Hey, I'm feeling better already.

Miserable

Do these kids look like they are having any fun?

Another story from the book

Here is a yard ornament from my sister's house from last week-end. This blue orb is in her "touch-me-not" flower bed. Those flowers are just plain fun. We had them all over when we were growing up and as far as I can tell, she is the only sister that has continued the flower in our family. The seed pods burst when you squeezed them. There are dozens of little pods, so the flowers still thrive. I remember them from my childhood days.

Another story from the book, "Charlie Wilson's War." It was rather well-known around the Washington D.C. circuit not to make an enemy of Charlie Wilson. He was known for being a ruthless person. If you didn't do things his way, he got even with you.

I don't recall who had the say over who rides in the airplanes that a Congressman will ride on when going to a foreign country, but whoever it was put his foot down and would not allow Charlie's one girlfriend to ride on the plane. (Not Herring). Wives, family and assistants can go, but there was a rule that didn't allow friends and such. Most of the time, they let it slide. But this one guy didn't. It made Charlie angry. He was heading for Pakistan, so he called the King of Pakistan who flew his own private jet to pick Charlie and his lady-friend up so they could ride together. I don't know. Must have been some mile-high club quota that they had to ride together.

Anyway, Charlie fixed the airlines. He made an assistant ride in the government plane with the luggage and he made the plane ride right alongside the plane from Pakistan just to carry the luggage and the assistant. The assistant (a man) was in tears pleading with the pilots and the crew not to be angry at him - that Charlie was making him do this.

And, he held them up so that the crew and pilot missed some kind of company picnic. Now that I recall the story, it may have been the CIA's plane.

The movie made more of Herring than the book did. Herring moved on to a more wealthy man after she got the ball rolling with Charlie and Afghanistan. Charlie didn't stay true to one woman for very long. Not very surprising there, given his character type. Boozer, womanizer, party goer, spender, swindler, ... makes a great representative for the government.

I didn't really mean to sound cruel when I suggested that Julia Roberts should not have played Herring. If you look at photos of Herring, she looks pinched and fake. She looks as if she has china doll features and is delicate. Julia, on the other hand looks healthy, strong and natural.

Poppy Trio

Doin' their stuff

Whatever it is that ants do to peonies. Must be something sweet on the bud of the peony to attract them. I will have nice big fluffy pink blooms by the week-end. Some are bursting. And, my poppies are blooming, I'll have photos of them, too.

Trimmed front bushes

On May 20th I posted a photo of my front bushes before they were trimmed, here is the after shot. Much neater. Not a great amount taken off, but they do look better. This photo was taken before I mowed. Which I did this evening.

I was able to watch "Mad Money" last evening. In bits and pieces between chores and company. It was an okay movie. There were a couple of parts that made me laugh. But, don't they record the serial numbers of the money before they destroy it? Wouldn't they have that as hard evidence? I don' t know.

It is raining men. Or, half-grown men anyway. The word is out that my daughter is single again and after about a month of her being depressed and very down, they are crawling out of the woodwork. Old boyfriends, new boyfriends and just plain guy friends. I have not heard her laugh and carry on so much in weeks. Mom is trying very hard to reign her in. No rebounds! There is no hurry. But, to a 17-year-old it would be the epitome of disaster for her boyfriend to be seen with another girl before she can find a guy. I guess.

Oh. And we are driving, now. The little green car is now the proud owner of a window sticker that states very matter of factly "STUDENT DRIVER." Which to Mom means "BACK THE F&*$ OFF!" Very exciting 'round here.

My take on "Charlie Wilson's War"

Why do they hate us? I finished reading the book "Charlie Wilson's War" and this is my version of what I got from the book:

Before Charlie Wilson got involved with the Soviets invading Afghanistan the US CIA was pussy-footing around the issue. Sending just enough so that it looked like we were helping the Afghanistan cause, but not enough to really help them at all.

It was suggested that the CIA wanted revenge on the Soviet Union. They wanted this to be their "Viet Nam." They wanted to bleed the Soviets dry as they had done to America during the Viet Nam war.

So when Charlie came with his group, of course he thought he was doing the right thing. As did the group that assisted him. It was indeed horrible what was being done to the Afghanistan people.

There were many lucky events that helped Charlie to run his covert operation in the 80's. Two major ones were the Iran-Contra affair and Chernobyl. Both events took the limelight away form anything going on in Afghanistan.

After the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan (a few years after Charlie and his helpers working hard to get sufficient weapons over there) the militants felt as if they were forgotten. Then they found out that America had used them as a revenge tactic against the Soviet Union. As if the Americans were not really interested in helping them (at least until Charlie came along) and used them as pawns in a horrible war to bleed the Russians.

The militants asked for aid to help rebuild their country after the Soviets left. Of course we supplied "our kind" of aid. Medical supplies and hygiene. The last thing the men wanted was for us to educate the women and teach or to provide them with health care. Next would be "sex education" and "family planning". It was a disaster and they began attacking our AID vehicles and people.

After supplying the mujaheed with millions of dollars every year (Saudi Arabia matched us dollar for dollar) to fight the Russians our government stopped cold turkey one year - 1991. Charlie managed to sneak a bill in and in 1992 the US gave Afghanistan 200 million. The Russians were gone, the mujaheed were fighting amongst themselves.

And, they were trafficking in drug trade. Huge.

What would come out of the rubble? What hole the CIA left in Afghanistan with the millions of dollars of weapons hidden in the mountains and caves drew Muslims from far and wide to this beginning of a mighty and fearsome group of jihad.

Charlie regrets nothing. He firmly believes that this action in the 80's prevented WWIII. He may well be right. It could be that the CIA thought the mujaheed would burn themselves out after America pulled out their gravy train. Didn't happen.

It seemed to the Islams that the Soviet Union wanted world domination in so much as attempting to claim all the oil fields of the Middle East - beginning by wiping out Afghanistan. Then, the Islams believed the the US was after world domination and wanted to claim the oil fields. They claim they can topple one super power, they will topple another. They claim it was Allah that helped them to win, not the millions of dollars pumped into the cause or the stash of technically advanced weaponry by America and Saudi Arabia.

Memorial Day Tribute

Today I chose to research and read about women who have fallen in the line of duty. My tribute is for Sharon Lane. She was from Canton, Ohio. She was a tireless nurse in the Vietnam war. She fell on June 8, 1969 shortly before her 26th birthday from shrapnel from a rocket that landed in the hospital she was working in.

Come on, keep up!

She has four legs, I have two. We went visiting over the week-end and folks who have never seen her or have not seen her for a long time said "That is one fat dog!" I say "She isn't fat, her legs are short!" My daughter says "She's fat because Mom keeps feeding her people food!"

Okay. I'll start again. No more people food. Well, no more after the left over eggs and bacon we gave her a few moments ago. Somebody gave her a green onion Saturday and she was sick all day Sunday. Sigh. Drunks. This photo was from early Sunday morning.

And, before the Amish buggies whisked by us on their way to Sunday services. Sable was quite frightened of them. I don't sleep well at other folks' houses so I was up early Sunday and decided that it was such a beautiful morning and I was out in the country, why not take a walk and get some photos along the way? That is exactly what I did. On the way back to my sister's house the Amish came trotting up the road and poor Sable thought she was done for.

I did not have a collar or a leash on her. She can barely walk some days and she listens to me very well. Not one car came along the road. The country road pictured above is where my sister has lived for more than 35 years. There were perhaps 3 houses back then. Now there are a dozen.

Living in the "sticks" has it's advantages and it's disadvantages. You can think of the advantages. The beautiful scenery. On my walk I was drowning in the smell of sweet country grass and woods that I do not recall smelling for quite a long time. It was very heady. The solitude and the serene atmosphere. The privacy. All wonderful perks.

The downside for me would outweigh the advantages. Poor roads and difficulty getting out in the winter. Isolation from medical help and the law. (might be an advantage to some not to have the law around! LOL!). Telephone, cable and electrical problems. It is a fact. The utility companies do not give folks like this as much attention as they do for people in town. There is not enough money coming from the end of this long and isolated lane for them to put in decent equipment or to spend any significant amount of time repairing things.

My sister has a satellite dish for television. She had a phone with a "party" line until the mid-80's. Do you remember a "party line?" It was very bizarre to me. Sometimes she would want to make a call and when she picked up the phone, you could hear other folks talking. You would either ask them to get off the line or try again later. Wow. She has a private line now, but sometimes when her telephone is out, she doesn't even know it until she picks it up to make a call. When somebody calls her, it just rings and rings when her phone is down. Forget cellular phones out here.

Internet is very new to her and completely erratic. She has been without service for a week now until the company she hooked up with (wireless) gets over their cold and can come out, climb her old T.V. antenna and troubleshoot the problem. He has been out a dozen times to work on her signal. Or lack thereof. I told her when the trees started to fill in, she would be down a lot. She is up high on a ridge and this company could "see" the water tower in town so they set her up with wireless. That was the middle of winter. She is frustrated to say the least.

When her electricity goes out, it is out for hours. I love the country. It's a nice place to visit. Now, excuse me while I go and check Sable for ticks. Ugh.