Old time

My Mom's favorite place in her house was her fire place. Here we have it without the mantle. My brother wanted to save that part of the house. The rubble is piled in the corner and ready to be demolished. We are still hanging on to the memories. So hard to let go.

My daughter and sister liked the golden hues to this photo. Something. My daughter said she liked the way the bright colors of the fruit painting in contrast to the old falling down house. My sister picked out the photo today as her favorite. Must be something they are seeing. I can only see the memories.

I dread the day I drive past the house and it is gone. No doubt the new owner will demolish it. It has to be done. My brother had to move out that road past her house, so that I will have to go that way sooner or later. If he still lived in town, it may have been years before I would ever have to travel out that road. As it is, there is a back way and I may take that route until I can handle the emptiness. I lived in that house from 1966 until 1986.

I was warmed by that coal fireplace for many years. My Mom would build the fire in the fall and keep it going until spring. She hated it when the fire would go out. She (or I) would "bank" it every night. Since I spent the majority of the time with her in the later years, I was trusted to bank it. To "bank" a fire, was to let it calm down for a couple of hours and then scoop ashes over it, (also know as putting it to sleep or to bed and covering it up), that way in the morning, it could be stirred and fed some fresh coal and would fire back up.

I recall one time while she was away on vacation, I let the fire go out. Or, I almost did. I spent over an hour holding a newspaper up against the fireplace. I don't exactly understand the terminology, but this would cause a suction of sorts in the fireplace and pull the air up the chimney and the fire would flare up. I got it going again. To start a coal fire, was a long and tedious process.

I probably inhaled enough coal dust over the years to equate working in a coal mine for a couple of years. I also recall getting some loads of coal that would spit. You needed to be careful if you were sitting or standing around the fire if a piece of coal spit at you. This is where a piece of coal exploded and flew out of the fireplace. My Mom always had an extra piece of linoleum or fireproof carpet in front of the fireplace for this purpose. It scares the bejesus out of you and would sting you like somebody flinging a rubber band at your arm or leg. We never had a big explosion, just little sparks fly out once in a while. And, not very often. I would just move across the room to the other side of the dining room table.

I don't recall ever asking my Mom why she didn't opt for a wood fireplace. Fear maybe? It was scary enough with the coal. One November (1983) my sister came over to help me put plastic on the bedroom windows. She threw a piece of pressed plywood in the fireplace. My Mom had a way of telling if the fire was out every morning. As she came down the stairs she would look at the varnished wood on the doorjamb to the dining room. If she saw a little "orange/gold" she knew she had flame. If she didn't see anything, she knew it was out or close to it.

Well, after my sister put that piece of pressed plywood on the fire, I said "Uh, you may want to get a bucket of water." My sister ran for the kitchen. My Mom heard the panic in our voices, she was upstairs. As she came down the stairs she said the entire varnished door jamb to the dining room was orange. 8 feet of door jamb glowed bright orange/red. She knew we had trouble.

Even though the piece of plywood was small enough to fit in our fireplace, the fact that there were multiple pieces of very fine plywood "pressed" together made for quite a blaze.

We had to call the fire department. The end result was our fireplace got a good cleaning out and the entire neighborhood was engulfed in a dark black smoke for a couple of hours, but the house was in tact. Cars were stopped in the street in front of our house because they couldn't see to drive. My brother was in the fire department and lived just over the hill from my Mom. When my sister called him he just took off for the station (also close by). He realized as he ran out of his house he didn't recall if she said it was at Mom's house or her house. He didn't have to wonder long. When he reached the top of the hill he saw the smoke.

We laughed (and still laugh) about it later. Funny stories included my sister carrying the fire screen out to the front porch, not realizing hot, still lit embers were falling off the bottom lip the entire way onto the dining room floor with the possibility of spreading the fire.

The fire department placed a chemical stick into the fireplace to extinguish the flame. I don't know much about this device but it looked like a brick red road flare. They gave us an extra one in case it happened again. It sat in a drawer in our dining room for years afterward. They also had to plug in a huge exhaust fan. The outlet I showed them was overloaded. How embarrassing.

It all ended happy. No injuries, just a lot of excitement. Aw, the memories.

Shredded zucchini

I made a chocolate zucchini cake today. It smells good. It looks good. I am waiting for company. We are having steaks and vegetables on the grill with potatoes. I hope they like it.

This morning my daughter and I caught an old movie from 1974. "Earthquake" had us laughing pretty hard at the pathetic special effects. When the elevator fell down the shaft, they actually drew blood splatters on the screen! Fake beyond belief. It was so awful it was hilarious!

Funny to see Pam from Dallas in an Afro. And the errors in the film were plenty. It was amusing to see that they cast Ava's character as the daughter of Lorne. He was 59 at the time the movie was made and she was 52. Good grief! She looked way too old for the part.

And, what in God's name were they trying to do with Walter's character? A dancing drunk. It was very, very sad.

For the record

Here is a picture of the giraffe statue at the zoo. The real giraffes were far away and my photos were a bit sub par to do anything with.

My nephew is home and "resting." So says his sister. He is wearing a neck brace and his side is all bandaged up and if I know him he is probably playing in the floor with his little niece.

I am going to attempt a chocolate zucchini cake tomorrow. I hate to jinx it. I got the chocolate chunks instead of the chips. I dug out my bundt cake pan. As I have mentioned before, I do well on top of the stove. When I have to open up the oven door, eh, not so good.

More school shopping tonight. Lots of people out and about. Mad rushes to finish up the shopping.

And for those of us who spent their teen-age years in the 70's, a sigh for the memories. The record(s) may be broken, but certainly not forgotten.

The one, the only "Mr. Sp!tz"

Sprinkling sunshine

On the north side of my Mom's house, looking up into the tree. I didn't spend much time on this side of the house when I was growing up. It was a narrow strip of yard bordering on one of the meanest neighbors known to young children. An old grouchy man (think Mr. Wilson of Dennis the Menace) and you have the one, the only Hatchie Truex. Hatchie. Honest to God. I have no idea what his real name was. You grow up with a name hearing it on a daily or weekly basis you get used to it. You don't think about it until you say it out loud to somebody years later and they fall off their chair laughing. "Hatchie?" What kind of name is that? Beats me. It fit, though.

He shot birds with his bee bee gun and shot my sister's car window one time. We also believe that he shot one of our beagle dogs with a bee bee. Could not prove it, but we suspected. He didn't like kids. He was rumored to have been married. For a week. A week. Rumor has it the lady ran back home. You can imagine what kind of stories we kids made up about that.

If you look at a comic strip of Dennis the Menace and see Mr. Wilson, that is almost exactly what this guy looked like. Without a shirt. I can still remember that vision of this balding guy with a gut as big as a beach ball out there tilling his garden in the hot sun. It was not a pretty sight and it has taken me a long time to erase it from my memory. If I have.

My nephew may be released from the hospital tomorrow. He healed internally (I hope). He will wear a neck brace for a while. Not sure of the condition of the other fellow. The other fellow had his pelvic girdle operated on. He landed on his behind, whereas my nephew landed on his chest. They believe they landed on the ATV's.

The Railroad companies are having to crack down on this illegal activity all over the country. It has become a very popular (albeit dangerous) sport for ATV's to ride the rails.

I finished an autobiography of Glen Campbell, "Rhinestone Cowboy." The book had me laughing out loud in a few places. I had to smirk at his remark that he never lies, and when asked if he had an affair with Bobbie Gentry his reply was "We were never in love." What a way to skirt that issue.

He ended this amusing and colorful story with a sermon. It was his story. He can do what he wants. I have more books to read. One of Johnny Cash and one of The Monkees. Come to find out that Glen did a lot of guitar work for The Monkees in the mid-60's.

Some jelly fish from the zoo

Beautiful, cool. Out of the hot sun, inside the Aquarium. Glow in the dark jelly fish.

Not much news on my nephew. I understand the my sister is probably spending a lot of time at the hospital and travelling. You cannot use a cell phone in the hospital. I have tried calling her cell phone, but she does not answer and the mailbox is full.

My other sisters have heard bits and pieces here and there. The land owner may file trespassing charges. One sister told me that our nephew called his Mom while she was at the house, so he is able to sit up and use the phone. We think the hospital is waiting to see if most of his injuries heal on their own. No word on the other rider.

Active and Feisty

This dog barked almost all day long while we cleaned up my Mom's old house. It has been 7.5 years since my Mom passed. We don't let go easily.

Some folks meander through life at a leisurely pace, some cartwheel through. My nephew is the type that cartwheels through life (active and feisty). He did Motocross for years, taught hang gliding in North Carolina and sometime last night shortly after midnight cartwheeled a 4-wheel ATV right over a cliff.

The news is reporting that the cliff was 80 feet, but we are thinking it is more like 30. My nephew was wearing a helmet. Another rider went over also, not wearing a helmet. The other rider was life flighted directly from the scene, my nephew was taken by ambulance to one hospital and then later life flighted to another hospital.

The word is that my nephew and his friend (a co-worker) were in a group of riders, following an experienced leader who knew the terrain when for some reason or another, the two of them took off on their own. The story will unfold as time goes on. My nephew, of course, has no memory of the accident. In some cases, that is how the brain handles trauma.

My nephew has a bone at the bottom of his skull that is broken. He has a punctured lung, a bleeding spleen, and a laceration on his bowel. They were in water for over an hour before professional help could arrive. The terrain was that dense. My niece's boyfriend arrived at the scene first and held their heads above water until more help arrived. He said the water was chest deep.

My nephew is no stranger to broken bones and injuries and hospitals. You don't drive Motocross for more than a decade with no injuries.

Yep. So I get up this morning and after hearing the news, I prepare to drive back to Pittsburgh. That didn't happen. My sister called to say that he is in ICU and they won't allow any more in the room than 2 at a time. My family travels in packs of 8 or more.

My sister and her family were gearing up for this fair. They have always shown cows, sheep and such. They were not showing any animals this year, but my niece sings with the band and her boyfriend is heavy into the tractor pulls.

This will be a fair year they won't soon forget.

Penguin rally

It appeared as if they were all gathered together and listening to a speaker. We were at the Pittsburgh zoo all day today. Whew. I am whipped. Yesterday we shopped til we dropped. Just about. School clothes. No sales tax in Pennsylvania (on clothes).

Lucky brand Sundowns broke the bank. Ouch. I am still rubbing my sore wallet.

I got turned around a couple of times in Pittsburgh. There was construction. The AAA Triptik had to go out the window when the bridge they suggested was closed. Couldn't they have at least checked here before they filled it in? From then on it was vague memory and my wits.

My wits were out because of the wee bit of sleep I got the night before. In the motel room, I had an air conditioner unit that was on the fritz. My daughter was sawing logs, so I didn't really want to call anyone to come and fix it. I listened to it pop and snap a few times, click, click. Stop and start and then I just finally put it out of it's misery (and mine). The room got warm, but not too bad. At least I fell asleep after that.

We watched some of the Olympic Parade of Nations. And, what a city to be in when the Steelers beat the Eagles.

On the roof

I guess this is one way to ride along. He probably wouldn't give her a turn. They are relatives of my niece.

Migraine hit hard last night and all day today. It still hurts. I want to go to bed, but that is when I feel the pain the most. When I stop. Ugh.

We are headed out of town for the week-end. I hope to have pics of some wild and crazy critters when I return. I really hope the pain is gone by morning.

Rewind or skip forward

My eyes hurt today. My head hurt. The rain? Never came. Maybe later tonight. That is not my eye. It is my daughter's eye. Last year's eye.

I want to rewind the day and start over. No, on second thought, I want to skip forward. Today was just bad. A bad day. I don't want to rewind and relive it. There was nothing I did that I could change. Things just happen this way from time to time.

I wrote it all down and saved it to disk. I won't post it. It is too much, too personal for here.

It wasn't my daughter. It affects my daughter (not medical) but she and I are fine.

People and their psychological games. They probably don't even realize they are playing them. I rolled with it. I swayed with the waves instead of fighting against them. I want to move forward. Yes, I know that you are on your high horse. I know that you are biting back the "I told you so". Just tell me what I need to do so I can get the job done. Go ahead. Give me all the traps, delays and setbacks you can throw at me. I'll knock them down. I'll get it done. You cannot beat me.

To post the reading inventory from Tabor's blog below. The books from the list I have read are in bold print.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkienn
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M. Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkienn
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On the Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - A.S. Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Ugh. Only 12. I was surprised at "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins and "Brideshead Revisited" by Evelyn Waugh. (Who is a man, by the way). Hollywood is remaking this movie. I do hope they don't massacre it. I so adore the 1981 version.

Regardless, I have a new library list.

It figures

Here is one of the lakes near my house. A hot summer afternoon.

Blogger had a fit with posting photos last night. I went online to the G00g!e help and thought I had it figured out with Pic@sa. I posted how I did it and this morning I look and my picture was non-existent. It figures. Any poor soul that followed my advice probably thought I was nuts.

If you check Blogger status they have it fixed now.

Summer is trudging along. My daughter is excited for her last year of school. She does not want to continue with the home schooling. I thought she would return to public school. She is not one who likes that much isolation. Which is a good thing.

We hope to visit a zoo out of state this week-end and do some shopping. Her choice, not mine. The older I get the more I am bothered by the caging of these beautiful animals. However, if not for zoos I would never have seen most of them.

I guess we will trade one zoo for another. (I may have enough critters to qualify.)

They were as big as plates

My brother's hibiscus flowers were as big as plates. You can see a beetle hiding in the middle.

Jumping Bear

My brother's house and all but 2 of his dogs. I think. The Yorkies start to blur together and I think they have four. Maybe five. Anyway the little chihuahua in there is the "teacup" one they got a couple of years ago. She runs back and forth with Bear (the outside larger dog in the caged run) and they both get their exercise. The Yorkies have sensitive legs and backs and though they run down to say "hello" to Bear, they don't run back and forth along the run with him the way the little chihuahua does.

I like to think they are saying "Hello". It could be something more sinister like, "You're ugly and your mama wears sled dog booties!"

My visit to my brother's house paid off. I got two zucchini, two cucumbers, one yellow squash and five tomatoes. We did not take Sable with us on this trip. I couldn't do that to my brother's dogs or to Sable.

I have not put up my beetle trap yet. I may not. My brother and his wife empty theirs three times a day. They have it in the front yard hanging under a tree yards away from their back yard flowers and plants. They get thousands of beetles in that trap. I should have taken a picture of it. It was half full when I was there. Their roses, hibiscus, beans and cherry trees are still getting eaten alive by the pests. Sigh. It is just that kind of year. Mine are not as bad. My hostas have taken the brunt of it and that may be something entirely different.

We went to see Hancock the other night. I have to say that I was disturbed. Maybe that isn't the word. Uncomfortable. The first part of the movie was fine. Then it changed and I was thinking to myself "No. I do not like the turn (or twist) this movie is going." After I read a few remarks and comments on the movie, a lot of other folk feel the same way. I have questions about the ending also. How will things be in forty years? I don't want to spoil it here. I liked all the characters and even though there may have only been one possible ending, it left a lot of questions.

After reading the summary by Wikipedia it clears up a little bit of what I had missed during the movie. It bothers me though that the mortals in this case will age and she won't. How do they deal with that in 10, 20 and 30 years?

I do like the super hero part. And how they changed him from an S.O.B. to a comical and reluctant super hero. I also like the humorous acting I am seeing from Jason Bateman in various movies I have seen. Charlize looked good in some parts, haggard and drained in other parts.

My daughter and I thought it was just a little too crass to show the prison scene and how Hancock deals with a couple of bully inmates. We got the picture before they showed the result. I did not think there was any call for the continuation of the scene. It reminded me a bit of Bruce Almighty with the monkey scene.

Purple Thistle

Prickly purple thistle by the lake. Been busy at work and been reading books at home. Just finishing up July in an all too short summer. Looking at short term plans to go to a zoo and a lake. Long term plans for Hawaii? Maybe.

A d-fly

Dragon or damsel, I am not certain. I almost didn't see the flying insect while taking pictures of the lake yesterday. It stayed around until I got bored with photographing it. The sun was intense.

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.