Steps and stages

car after crash

Hitting the deer did not cause the hood to flip up. I was able to see to drive the car off the road. When I went back on Friday to take pics, the garage had set the hood up with it's holder. I didn't bother to drop it back down to get a different angle of the picture. I should have.

Anyway, after the initial stages of "I'm lucky, it could have been much worse" and blah, blah, blah....I am at the angry to depressed stage. I can't recall who (I know it wasn't family because they know how much I loved this car) said to me "Hey! You get to shop for another car!" Like that's a GOOD thing?

Me? Who hates shopping and dealing with car salesmen? No, I think not. I like to shop for a car on MY terms not to be determined by a scared, helpless buck running from a shotgun.

Insurance is covering a rental. The field adjuster called and said this is how it happens. He will look at the car on Tuesday afternoon. Do the paperwork and on Wednesday claim it totalled (everyone says because of the deployment of the air bags) and I will have 3 business days left with the rental car. So - start shopping! Go, go, go!



Hello-o-o-o! It's the very beginning to the middle of the holiday season. No, I didn't have anything else to do.... not at all!

The good thing is there are plenty of great opportunities out there in the car shopping world. The bad news, I am unprepared financially to take advantage of those great deals! Everyone says "They have 0% financing right now! What a deal! Get a brand new car!" Gosh, gee! My head spins. Wow! I'll just go and do that! Then it hits me! Oh, yeah! To get that financing you must have about $3500 down! Should I buy those lottery tickets, now?

The credit approval is no big deal. I am pretty sure I am still in good standing since I got the loan for my daughter's car a year ago. Since my car was paid for and has been for many years, I got a loan to get her a decent car (one that we didn't have to repair every 3 months or so, or would not leave her stranded along the road in the middle of the night) and I would make the car payments so that she could go to school full time and get a part time job. She just got her job but it is only seasonal. So, I am still making the payments and the insurance.

Yeah. So a new car would really put a strain on the budget right now. I am so angry. That civic would have easily lasted another 2 years, possibly 4. Possibly more. I made sure I followed the maintenance - and at the Honda dealership.

So this stage will pass to acceptance. And I will move on. My sister said I could use her car as long as I needed to. I could buy it if I wanted to. It is a big car. Too much car for me. My nephew said I could buy his Stratus. My niece said I could use her van. One brother called to see if I need to borrow money. He said he got a big Christmas bonus at work. What is "big" to him? $500? $2,500? I would never borrow as much as $3500 off of a relative or a friend. That is just asking for trouble. All offers are very appreciated.

My head hurts with idea of having to make this decision so quickly. I don't make decisions quickly. I usually research for a long time and then get fed up with myself for dragging my feet , so I just run out and purchase the darn thing. I've already been looking on-line and I am getting very, very depressed. Sigh.

Sometimes it just does not come easy.

Yes, (rein) deer DO fly

Not my picture. I swiped it.

This was the closest I could get to what I saw yesterday evening. Framed in my windshield. Yes, folks. It's the end of an era. And in case you were ever wondering, (rein) deer DO fly. The end of an era for my little green civic. I have had that car for 13 years (14 next month). I was the only owner. Now it sits in some junk yard waiting for me.

I'll go to take pictures and to get the very last remnants out of the glove compartment. The tow truck driver said that it will be considered totalled because both airbags deployed and they are very expensive to replace. Sigh. That and the front end is smashed in and the windshield is all cracked up.

Me? Not even whiplash. Not yet. It has only been 14 hours. My forearm hurts (but personally I think that is from carrying gifts/packages through the mall).

The deer is dead. They are obligated to ask the driver that hit the deer if they want it (for meat). I was too far from home for my brother to come and pick it up, so the patrolman had their dispatch call their resident dead deer retriever to come and get it. It would have made a great skit. He came in his beat up pick-up truck with his son, and two young daughters who had not even bothered to put their coats on. They were wrapped in old blankets. Foxworthy would have had a field day with this one. By the way - Santa... the girls want a DS and a Blackberry Storm. Myself, I think they should ask for some winter coats, but that is the adult Mom inside of me.

Now, for the fabulous conundrum that had me going. Just what is in an airbag anyway? Here I was driving under the speed limit for the posted 65 mph. I was travelling at about 60 miles an hour because I had plenty of time, I was listening to a radio station that played oldies and was feeling very good. I had shopped a little and was on my way to meet a sister (1944) in a town about 60 miles form home for a digital scrap booking class.

Minding my own business, it was about 5:15, 5:20 in the late afternoon. No cars were around me because I was puttering along. They had all passed me. It was a 4-lane highway. I can't recall exactly what song was playing but the incident was almost a festive scene. Within that split second I saw a flash of white (air bags deploying), a bunch of snow (dust from the bags) and a flying (rein) deer. Framed perfectly in my windshield in the exact pose shown above. His rack was not as big as that. It was 8 points. Well, he looked as if he was flying.

My first thoughts? Well, I know I said "OH!" because of the thump and the jolt. But, as soon as I saw the deer my mind went "DEER!" and I came to realize rather quickly that I had an accident. I rummaged my right hand quickly under the drivers side airbag (which was quickly deflating) and pushed my flashers (four-way) button. I did not swerve the car into the other lane since I hit the deer head on. I thought the deer had continued on because he looked fine to me (from my windshield point of view). I quickly steered the car to the side of the road.

Once I got the car off the highway my first thought and action was to get out of the car. I knew that I was on a fast moving highway, so I couldn't just open the door and get out. I wanted out of that car because of the smoke. My God, the smoke! Well, I thought it was smoke. It smelled and looked like smoke and it was certainly choking me. Air, air! I need air! I furiously rolled down my drivers side window. I tried again to roll it down when I realized it WAS down all the way and I still could not breath. All I could think of was I gotta get out of here. I can't stand this smell!

An interesting read on airbags can be found here. Since my car was produced in 1996 it is quite possible that the contents in my airbag were more toxic than the newer models have. This article also explained the burning smell I kept smelling. I thought the car was on fire. There were not any cars coming so I exited. I grabbed my purse and cell phone and got out of there.

I stood behind the car against the guard rail to gather myself. I looked for the deer. There he was (just barely off the road) in the grass between the two sets of lanes and he was indeed dead. Aw, nuts. I had no idea who to call. I remember reading that you are supposed to call the state highway patrol. I had no idea what their number was. Who could I call to look the number up for me. (I found out later that yes, I could have called 9-1-1), I just didn't feel that it qualified as an emergency.

I had another sister (1954) that lived relatively close and I called her. It did not help any that this was the exact day that my Mom died from a car accident 9 years ago and she was the one driving at the time. The actual car accident happened on the 2nd of December, but my Mom died on the 3rd. My sister (1954) said that of course she would call the patrolman and she could be there in 30 minutes. It was while talking to her that I thought I should go and look at the damage to my car.

I walked in front of the car (making sure to stay out of the highway as there were many cars and semi trucks zooming by). The entire front end is smashed in. Some thing fell underneath the hood while I was up there and I quickly retreated to the back of the car (I was still thinking fire).

I attempted to reach my other sister (1944) (the one I was meeting for the class) but got no answer. My sister (1954) called me back to say that the patrolman was on his way and so was she. I saw him coming down the hill about 1/2 mile away. He pulled somebody over. Excuse me! I'm waiting here! It was well over 30 minutes before he got around to me. He wanted me to pull the car off of the road more but it wouldn't start and the gear shift would not budge no matter what I did. I was no longer worried about a fire.

It got dark very quickly. My sister (1954) showed up. She was crying because almost anything reminds her of that horrible accident in 2000. I was in the patrolman's car. We did the paperwork thing, the license, the insurance, the report - blah, blah, blah. Sister 1954 got all the stuff out of my car and into hers.

The deer retriever came, the tow truck came. It all took more than an hour. Sister 1954 drove me to the library where the class was. I had reached sister 1944 on the phone to tell her why I wasn't in class. I chatted with her and told her to be careful driving back. Sister 1954 was going to let me use her car. That is what I am driving now.

We stopped to get my favorite pizza. I had sisters and brothers calling me all along (and my daughter). This is exactly (well, almost exactly) what my daughter said when I told her. I said "I totalled my car. I hit a deer." She said "Do you know that Slade won't poop when there are a bunch of deer standing around?" No, of course that is not what she said first. But, that is what I remember. She actually said "No way!" and "Did you get a busted nose from the airbag?" Because I told her that is what happens when the airbag deploys. Well, that is what happened to somebody I knew.

Well, this post is getting entirely too long and I have to call my insurance company now. I'll post pictures of the car once I get some.

Another go

Tis the Season again tonight. I purchased a few purple decorations for a name that I have in a gift exchange. She has a tree that she decorates all in purple. Beautiful.

My choice would be blue, of course.

I went with some co-workers. We ate afterwards at an Amish restaurant. They had ham loaf on special. Since I never make it, I try to order it when I can. My daughter does not like it at all. I didn't either when I was young. If it is made right, I really like it.

I came home and the dogs had torn open a bag of garbage that I had set by the door but forgotten to take out. It was the bag with the bagged kitty litter. Of course. So, the first thing to do was to clean up that mess. I had to run the shop vac before I could vacuum.

We purchased a new sweeper a week ago and tried it out. After we swept, we set it aside. Yep it works. It wasn't five minutes before my daughter yelled "Slade!" Yep. he had almost chewed completely through the cord.

I yi yi.

Well, the headache is starting. Off to bed.

Colorful tree

From the museum

Well, we are at the end of November. Weather-wise we were quite spoiled. That sentence almost sounds like the beginning of a tongue-twister. I think the cold weather is coming.

I found out that the debit to my checking account was legitimate and was mine. My daughter had purchased a gift at a kiosk in the middle of our mall. Strange that it would show up on my online banking with the description of a mall in Moline IL. Kind of threw me off and since I didn't recall buying it, I was a bit alarmed. I found the receipt and all is well. Whew.

My Thanksgiving was busy and happy. Lots of people to see, lots of hugs and too much food. I was not caught with the "I am so tired" after effect of the day and was able to help clean up and play games with the younger set. On Friday I fixed my feast for my crew. Nothing huge, but quite adequate. My nephew fixed my back door latch. The dogs' leash had caught it one day and with that boxer on the other end, I can't tell you the amount of force that snapped that latch and broke it. He is one strong canine.

Even I am up and about too early for the dogs. They looked at me with one eye opened and promptly went back to sleep. I got up an hour ago. I will be leashing them all and taking them out (one at a time). If I take them out together they distract each other and do not do their business. Except for Sable. I can take her out with or without any of them. The boxer goes last because I have to walk him. And walk him. And walk him. If he is really hungry, he goes quickly and pulls me back to the house.

I have to tell you I have been really spoiled with the mild November temperatures. I will need to really bundle up in December when I walk him. I still don't have a coat for the big fella. He is short haired and he gets cold.

This week is a wash. I work full time and every day this week. I have an event scheduled every evening this week except for Wednesday. I am going to try to fix a big home-cooked meal that night because I know we will be eating out every other night. My daughter only works this morning and all day Friday so she can take care of the dogs in the evenings. I might blow tonight's event off and do some much-needed shopping before a get together on Saturday.

Just thinking about this make my chest tighten up.

I think I'll go walk the dog and get some cold, brisk air on my face.

Ciao.

Shopping

Another ornament from the tree display

Black Friday. There are reasons I don't go out shopping on Black Friday. First and foremost I despise shopping. Most of the time. The reasons are:

Limited money (some years I have more than others, but certainly not THIS year)

Tired feet, aching back

The smells of perfumes and sprays give me a headache

The noise of stores and shoppers gives me a headache

The lights give me a headache

I am very picky and can rarely find anything I want

I hate stores that block merchandise with boxes of stock to be put on the shelves or those little cardboard setups - I've been known to knock over these displays to get to the item on the shelf

On a similar note I hate stores with tiny little walk-ways between clothes racks and my purse drags half the clothes along with me, thus pulling me down slower and slower until I have to come to a complete stop and rip my purse from the clinging sleeves

I get bored easily and hate to search for anything

I hate it when I can't find what I am looking for

I hate it when shoppers do not put the merchandise back on the same rack so that the size or color I want is over in the pajamas or bras where it has no business being

I hate it how they have ten of every item in every size but MINE!

I hate "bargains" and just want to pay the price on the tag (I hate hassles)

I don't like crowds (who does?)

I don't like rude people (and there are plenty out there in shopping land)

I hate how shopping turns me into one of these rude people

I hate it how the clerk who I ask for assistance never knows the answer(s) to my question(s)

I hate it when a sales person tries to sell me something else other than what I want

I hate it when I can't find a sales person when I need one

I REALLY, REALLY hate it when a bunch of them are milling around just talking when there are customers who obviously need help

I hate it when a sales person bugs me when I don't need one

I hate it when a check out person does not speak to me or acts annoyed that I am shopping and taking up their time

I can never find the right credit card or the change in the bottom of my purse

I never check the sales ads until after I bought the item and return home, then I am ticked off because I probably paid too much for the thing

I usually pick the one item that never has a price tag and they have to call someone or go search for a similar item

I always pick the wrong check-out line (ALWAYS!)

I hate it when the grocery store is out of the brand of food that I want

I hate it when a grocery store advertises an item on sale and when I get there the space for that item is completely empty - or they place the item on an end cap instead of it's usual place where I am certain to miss it

I have to unload all the crap when I get home, it can be as exhausting as shopping all over again!

Notice that I did not put parking in the list. I really don't mind walking to and from my car. It is refreshing if it is cool outside because I get really hot in stores. I DO despise those idiotic people who park in the handicap spaces and are NOT handicapped. I know the handicap is not always apparent, but there are the few that do abuse this parking space and I always wish that they have to work 30 days with handicapped people to see how hard it really is to get around.

I also realize that I make a great candidate for on-line shopping. On Wednesday while looking at my checking account balance on line, I noticed a purchase in a mall in Illinois. Since I had not been to that mall that day (let alone the state of Illinois), I was a bit concerned. I called my bank and they said they would put a "pending" notice on the debit, but I am still a bit concerned. Needless to say, I am going to be checking it again and often. It was less than $15 (thank goodness) but what if it had been $150 or more? I am not looking forward to any hassles that are created with this error.

No snow, but a snowman

Sitting atop a tree at the museum

Alas, we have no snow yet here in eastern Ohio. Not any that I have seen, anyway. Maybe this week-end I'll see a few flakes. Not that I am courting snow. Oh, no. I don't want to start the shovelling, yet. Not me.

It is this time of the morning that I am most relaxed. The dogs were all taken outside about an hour ago. They have eaten and are all sleeping peacefully. The cats have been fed and have retreated to their respective corners. The coffee is made and I am reading e-mails and blogs. I don't have to go to work. I have until ten or so before I need to really do anything.

My daughter starts a new job. It isn't really her first. She had a quick stint as a telemarketer when she was 15. Say what you will about the pain of enduring that ordeal, but she learned a lot at that job. She knows more about credit cards than I do. Well, almost. Anyway, she has been picked to work at a very popular nation-wide (perhaps world-wide) toy store. You know the one I am speaking of.

My greatest concern about this is the distance she needs to travel to get to work. I'll just have to grit my teeth and bear it. She needs a job. And, even if it is only seasonal, she needs the experience of having a job to get another one. Well, she is excited to say the least.

This will put a damper on the help with taking the dogs out, but I will manage.

My plate will be full over the next few days, so I want to wish you and yours a happy, healthy and fun-filled Thanksgiving. Some of you are sick and out right now, and I hope that you are soon out of the hospital and home in time for the Christmas and New Year.

May each and every one of you have laughter this week-end (in abundance), food (in moderation) and peace (in your hearts).

Making more memories

Warther's Museum 2009

On Saturday I met family and we toured the beautifully decorated trees at Warther's museum. A couple of the family had not been before and they were just as entranced by his carvings and work as they were by the trees. The trees did not disappoint.

I fell in love with a beautifully lit blue one. Head to toe in blue lights, tinsel, garland and balls. It had not been sold yet. $750. Sorry. My budget doesn't even come close to allowing such a luxury and besides, can you imagine what my pets would do to such a beautifully decorated tree? Oh, the horror!

We all went out to eat at Texas Road House and again were not disappointed. Then we did a little shopping at the nearby mall. My heel spur is really acting up. I am getting shooting pains down into the inside of the heel. Not the middle. More toward the inside of the heel.

I took it easy on Sunday. Even though it was rather nice outside and I could have cleaned out the garage or patio, I stayed inside. My daughter's boyfriend is still mowing my grass for me and he did that yesterday. I got to clean the bathroom drain out. Lovely. Little Chong was very curious as to what I was doing. He was the only one. He kept coming into the bathroom and there I was sitting on the floor and working under the sink. It was as if he was asking me "Did you fall down? Do you need help?" It was comical. Until I realized that my wooden spoon was missing. I use the spoon's handle wrapped in paper towels to clean the drain out. Yep. He stole it and it was chewed up beyond rescue. Cheech threw up later and I finally got all the wooden splinter pieces picked up off the living room carpet. Thieving little devils, they are!

My office was scheduled to work only Monday and Tuesday of this week so I took vacation days. I have a follow up doctor's appointment this morning and then I will go to the grocery store and buy the items that can be stored for four days before the feast.

I will go again on Wednesday to get the fresher items. I am fixing all the meal for me and my crew probably on Friday and will be going to the family feast on Thursday. For that get together I am making my usual cheese ball and tray. I am taking a vegetable tray with dip, some olives and pickles and maybe devilled eggs. I asked my daughter's boyfriend to ask his mom if she had time would she make me some homemade noodles for Thursday. I hope she only says yes if she has the time. She also works full time. My family are not noodle eaters but I thought the other day, 'we never have noodles' and I figured I might take a batch. We'll see how they go over.

For the movie department we watched "My Sister's Keeper". It was good. I am not a fan of C Diaz. I do like the way she looked worn and haggard in the movie - it fit her role. I got a little confused as they tossed the viewer back and forth in time. I did not see much chemistry between C Diaz and J Patric and I swear I saw him pull back from her kiss in disgust at the beach scene. I almost watched the movie again (fast forwarding to that part) to see if it was my imagination or not, but didn't really care. I am beginning to warm up a bit to A Baldwin. He played his part well, I thought. And J Cusak was great as the judge. My daughter just could not believe that A Baldwin in this movie was the husband in Beetle Juice. I got a chuckle out of that.

We also watched "Next Day Air." Skip this one! The two chuckles we got in the entire movie did not make up for the foul language and blood scenes. This is NOT comedy. The only ones worth watching were M Def and Y Deliz. M Def didn't have more than a dozen words in the movie and that is where we did our chuckling.

On the "old movie" chart I watched "Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte." So many times you hear old movies mentioned but have you ever really watched them? I caught this one the other morning at about six a.m. In the old time movie fashion, it was quite good.

My memory treasures

If memories were a treasure
I'd be rich beyond my dreams
I'd have lots of gold and jewelry
In great abundance it would seem
Well, when opening my memory chest
I don't have to go far
For memories ARE my treasure
Sweet riches that, they are

My dogs are tired!

I've been baking most of the evening and standing on that hard tiled kitchen floor. I've been baking cranberry nut bread for a festival lunch tomorrow. My dogs are tired! The pups and the bigger dogs are tired, too. They are all sleeping. Time for me to find my pillow! When I lay down and all is still I will really feel the foot pain then. Thump, thump, thump!

Puppy chew toys

Yes, flash drives still work after a puppy has chewed on them. Remember the one that went through the wash and dryer cycle? It worked too but I have no idea what happened to that one. This one is a little "out of shape" and the cap fits kind of funny but it still works!

The lights are on but....

And the fan works, too!

My friend returned yesterday and re-did the fan/light and all works well now. Too well in fact. I am freezing because I love running the fan. I need to flip the switch so it spins the other way and sends heat down. No, not yet. The lights are a lot brighter than my chandelier ones and now I can see how dirty my keyboard is. Yeecchh!

I was futzing around yesterday after my friend left and not feeling much like doing anything when my sister called. (The sister whose kitchen clock I clocknapped.) I had also taken some colorful glass ornaments out of her utility room window but I didn't think she would notice that.

Of course she had NOT read her e-mail to get the ransom message. As it turns out she jumped her son for knocking the glass things off into the recycle bin and they must have been thrown out and she didn't miss her clock at all! She was laughing but mad because now she had to apologize to her son for losing her glass things. Whoops!

Anyway, she wanted company going to a bag and bead show. I said "Sure". I was wasting my day away. I went. She bought a ring and I bought a handbag. I've been looking for a new one. Mine has been broken for about 2 months and I just could not find one I liked in the stores. It is a 'coach" knock-off. I didn't even know what a 'coach' was until last evening. Big deal. I like the purse, I buy it. I'm not one to care about who makes it. Never was. Never will be.

I also want to comment on a couple of movies I watched over the past week or so. One was 'The Spitfire Grill'. It was okay. I would have written it differently. Imagine my surprise when I looked it up online to find out that the musical is written the way I would have. It it more realistic and makes more sense, except for who wins the essay contest. That would certainly not be legal.

Another movie the kids ordered on Pay-per-view. "The Ugly Truth". Kind of raunchy like most movies nowadays. I guess that is what the kids laugh at. Yikes.

"The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" was okay. After reading up on it, I expected to see (and hear) more from this real life gang leader that the director had to have in the movie. Even though he had no acting experience. I'm not exactly certain which character he was but you didn't hear much from them. Victor is his real name.

Not sure if I have watched any others that I did not mention. I've been really out walking dogs and enjoying this unusually warm weather we are having here in eastern Ohio. No complaints at all except I am afraid that we are going to wake up one morning and it is going to be bitter cold and there was not time to ease into winter. It will just come up and smack us in the face like a 2 by 4. Ouch.

Ransom

I clocknapped this clock today

This morning one sister and I had a training session on how to re-hydrate and conserve old paper documentation. The society we joined has started the difficult task of preserving county documents from the 1800's to 1917. Interesting stuff.

She and I travel over an hour to get to the county where we grew up. On the way back she and I both had to use the bathroom. We have another sister who lives about half way. She was working and her family was not home when we stopped to use her facilities. Being the rascals that we are (or being the rascal that I am) I stole her kitchen clock right off her wall.

When I got home I took a picture of it (said I had broken it's leg to show I was serious) - it isn't really broken. I then e-mailed it to her and demanded a million dollars to be sent to me by Black Friday.

Of course I will return it when I see her on Thanksgiving, but that is 12 days without her kitchen clock. Do you think she will be angry with me? LOL!

I hope not. It's all fun.

11:11

To those of you lost, to those of you here, to those of you there. We salute you.

Ceiling Fan

The fan is up . The fan works. The lights don't.

Wow, it's November

Some property for sale near my house

Wow. November already. I voted on Tuesday for what my vote was worth. I lost most of what I voted for. Ah, well. I don't like gambling. I don't care if I ever go into a casino, but a lot of family likes it. I voted no mostly so they won't lose their shirts.

My sister (in prison) is in limbo. Waiting for the VA to decide if they are going to pay for any rehabilitation for her or not. The problem is she lost all her college class time she was taking in the reformatory. I don't think she will be able to continue that if the VA sends her to Chillicothe. Whatever. One of her "boyfriends" started this, he will have to finish it.

The pups are chewing up everything. Cha - Ching! Even medication. Fortunately, no bad results. They are starting to get into things they have never touched before. We have to really start to think before we leave the house. I am going to go through tomorrow and do some puppy-proofing.

I worked on a friend's Internet connection today. She wanted to install my ceiling fan for me. She got far enough to take the light down and had to stop. She needed to ask somebody for some advice. Sigh. I told her this was not as easy as 1-2-3 like hers was. But, she insisted that she could do it easily. Okay.

I am meeting sisters tonight for dinner. I hope I have enough stuff up and out of the way so the pups won't get into things. They are getting under and around things and dragging cords out. Two fans bit the dust. My nephew is re-cording one fan and my friend (ceiling fan) took the other and said she can fix that one with electrical tape. Well, I just hate to tell them it will only be a matter of time before the pups chew through any new or fixed cord they put on the fans.

I watched an older movie. "Midnight Run" with R DeNiro and C Grodin. It was a bit boring at times but I watched it all the way through. I really enjoy D Farina and J Ashton. I also like to look back and see if this movie was made before or after a popular one that I saw them in.

Let's get out there and...

Back at it

Back to work and back to finding e-mail worms.

The kennel is up

My daughter and I put it together

Many, many years ago I figured out that if I waited for a man to do what I needed done, then it was probably never going to happen. My daughter and I got fed up Friday and did it ourselves. It got dark on us, but we managed. It ain't fancy, but it is up and it holds the dogs. They are already digging holes near the door of the unit.

Not one trick or treater. Not one. Of course my light was burned out on my front porch, so that could have had something to do with it. Again, I will have to change it. No magic man is going to mysteriously appear with a fresh light bulb in his hand. (Grin).

So, I walked the dogs and had to run a little girl down to give her a candy bar. She was afraid of the dogs but her dad helped me to hold them back so I could get my little kit kat bar into her trick or treat bag. My coat pocket was full of fun size candy bars but there were no more kids to be found. Drat.

Sigh. It's back to work tomorrow. I have heard rumors that my co-worker did not get approved for disability so she might be back in the office when I return. I am not looking forward to listening to her whining about her pain all over again. It has been a wonderful 4 months without her around.

Two movies. Duplicity and Knowing. Ugh to both of them. I love T Wilkinson and P Giamatti. I despise C Owens. He really gives me the creeps. I can barely tolerate Julia. My daughter told me I wouldn't like the ending to Knowing. I said "Just as long as N Cage dies in the end". I got my wish. I wouldn't watch either of them again. Ever.

Edit: Please note that the remarks about men are made with tongue in cheek. It is only because of my recent surgery that I cannot do the things I usually am able to do and have asked for assistance. I am not good at this and I have a very hard time waiting for somebody to show up and say "Here I come to save the day!" I have made my bed and I love it. I live exactly the way I want to live. If I can't do it, I'll damn well hire someone who can.

Happy Halloween

Blending in

I'll have to be careful walking him near any woods or fields during deer season. The bright red harness should account for something. My daughter found a place that sells dog jackets with some big enough that they might fit him. I will try to choose a bright color for him.

When I first found him, I was describing his appearance. One vet said "fawn color" and I had not thought of that. (It is a common color for boxers). I was leaning more to a red cast to his coat. But, fawn color it is.

I still say he is more calf than anything. He is as big as a calf, he bounds around wildly like a calf hopped up on crystal meth (as if I've ever witnessed one of those!) and he grunts and snorts like a bull. (That I have witnessed).

I've never had a dog quite like this. Well, my house dogs have been limited to one little dandiedinmont terrier, (this photo is EXACTLY what my dog looked like - we found her in a strip mining area) and our old reliable Sable, so the energetic pups and this calf in the house have been quite an adjustment.

I did buy a dog pen yesterday and my brother picked it up for me. My daughter's boyfriend and his friend are going to assemble it for us today (maybe). That will help this winter when I can just shove the pups into the cage. The boxer will still need to be walked. My brother said he thinks he has extra pieces that I can add to the pen to make it larger. Well, that would be great!

Growing up we took in all the stray dogs. We just added them to our gang of "yard shitters" way down in the back of our house. We gave them a dog house and chained them to it. I do not recommend this behavior. Now that I am older I understand how inhumane this was. As I got older I became more attentive to how they were treated. We stopped taking in strays, and made sure the dogs we did have had fresh straw at the beginning of the winter. How they loved getting straw. They would drag some of it back out of their dog houses and move it around and spread it all around. It was comical. I also began to make sure that they had fresh water each day. My Mom never let us go without feeding them. When I was young and ran around a lot, I can still remember her anger if we neglected to come home and feed the dogs. We had a slop bucket in the kitchen where we dumped all extra food and I mixed it with their dog food. Yes, it smelled. And the soft, mushy food was lousy for their teeth.

When I moved to Virginia in 1986 I can remember sitting straight up in bed from a deep sleep and thinking "I forgot to feed the dogs!" That is how much fear my Mom put into us. We never wanted to disappoint her or make her angry. Of course I did a lot of that.

Anyway, the dogs eventually died out, and my Mom was left with a cat or two around the house. We had all moved out, but my niece stayed with her while my sister was incarcerated. We always seemed to have a cat around.

I guess perhaps my pet rescue was ingrained in me at a very early age. I have been programmed to rescue them.

I Let my Guard Down

I was sidetracked taking pictures of the burro. I was on the other side of the fence. I had hold of the boxer. I never let my dogs into the fenced area with the big horse, burro and two little miniature horses. I never have to worry about my older dog Sable. She is quiet and very slow.

I cringe as I type this. I was very foolish yesterday. I let my guard down and Sable snuck around behind and got into the fenced-in area. I was mortified! "Get out of there!" I yelled at her. She just looked at me and wagged her tail to the burro.

Always one to try to make friends, she had not one clue.

She has a very thick coat. She is a big dog.

Let me just say now that she is fine and safe. Because I am very upset over the 30 seconds of horror I went through while that burro pummeled her on her back with it's front legs. Sable just hunkered down and whimpered.

I was trying to get the burro to leave without letting go of the boxer. I was yelling at it. I was pleading with Sable to get over to me. She was confused. She tried but the burro would begin pummeling her again.

Finally I got her through the fence. I checked her over, she was walking okay and just acting normal like "What?"

I made a very serious mistake. That won't happen again. Sable will also be leashed each and every time we walk. I am sick and disgusted with myself. I am lucky this time that nothing serious happened.

Never let your guard down. You just never know.

Fire Eater

What a way to make a living!

Or, maybe it is just a week-end hobby for him.

I am such a DORK!

Yeah. So, I am going into my profile and adding as an interest the word "Boxers" thinking maybe I'll find some folks out there in blog land who also have a boxer or boxers and I can read what they do and how they handle theirs and what fun they are, blah, blah, blah.

I begin reading their profiles and interests. It was a couple of pages in that I was a bit confused. What is it with all the sΣx and p○rn profiles? I thought maybe they liked boxers as in fighters and began skipping all the profiles with a million words in their interests. I found very few that looked promising. A lot were now defunct. I think Blogger should begin deleting any profiles who have not had activity in at least 3 years or so. I don't know.

Pretty soon, after reading and glancing at profile pictures it dawned on me what the erotica bloggers were speaking of. Boxers! As in boxers and briefs underwear! That was their interest! Not the dog, not the fighter - but the underwear! Oh, okay. Well, I still didn't find many that pertains to the puppy dog.

I tried the Google option, but I more or less get professional boxer raisers, trainers and complete devoted folks. I am just a dog-lovin' dork who found myself with a boxer and would like to read about other folks who stumbled into this boxer world. I am not interested in breeding boxers, I am not interested in showing my boxer, I just want to read about other folks who laugh and enjoy their boxers. Sigh. I'll keep looking.

Some sunshine on a sunny Sunday

A couple of blocks away from me is a little bit of country. Next to a field of horses is an empty lot that winds back up into some woods. I walked up there today and took some pictures. It was pretty. I would say it was quiet but there was this one guy who ran his leaf blower for two hours straight. Two hours! It started long before I took the dogs for a walk and he was still running it when we left the wooded area. A noise that can really get on your nerves.

I rested all day Saturday. My nephew came to visit. My daughter and her boyfriend were here. My daughter's friend came over. The house was noisy and rocked with laughter.

Today we made it out to eat at a restaurant but I didn't have the energy to go grocery shopping. I will be able to drive tomorrow and will take my little green car that has not moved since Thursday the 15th and stock up on some much needed supplies.

Wait. Maybe not. I guess I will only get a few things since I am still not to do any heavy lifting.

I have another Tis the Se@son trip scheduled in November. I am going with some co-workers this time. Maybe I will leave the camera in my purse and actually look for something to purchase this time around.

I gave my surgery a good test this evening while watching AFV. Usually when I laugh hard I start coughing. That is where the stress happens. All is well. My doctor still wants me to take it easy so I had to turn my laughing down quite a bit.

My daughter's boyfriend's Mom has the Sw!ne flu. Well, she said that is what her doctor told her. She did have a lot more of an illness than her son did and more than my bug last week. I just read an article from our newspaper about H!N! and it stated that the one case confirmed in our county is in isolation at the hospital. And, I've read that the doctors are just telling their patients that it is probably H!N!.

Ack! Boxer is passing gas something awful, so I am on my way outside! Cough, cough!

Frosted Joy

One of my favorite displays at the Christmas Chalet

I woke up the other morning with a great idea. I cancelled all plans for this week-end and next week. I am treating my recovery more like a vacation than a time to rest and heal. Shame on me! My sisters and friends will have to understand.

My daughter drove me to the pet store today. I bought the largest dog jacket they had and I have to return it. It is still too small for my broad-chested boxer. It poured buckets of rain down today and I hated having him out in the cold without a jacket.

He was really funny. He bounced. He ran. Have you ever seen a boxer run? I'll have to record him running. He was just a joy today.

We watched "The Proposal" with S Bullock. You know how I think that all her characters are the same. This was no exception. Scrunched nose, ditsy and girl-next-door demeanor. I don't care if she was supposed to be the bitch from hell. She wasn't. I liked the movie, though. I loved her dancing chant the most.

It was nice to see Betty White in a movie.

Jumping the Season a bit

Three of my sisters and I plus one friend and two toddlers headed to Amish country Wednesday. I spent 12 hours away from home. I'm sure my doctor would think I was nuts, but I rested as often as I could. I was not driving (of course) so I rested during stops.

The kids were a handful. My stipulation was that we stop at Tis the Se@son in Berl!n. I like this place for many reasons. The first is color. My eyes get a virtual kaleidoscope of color when I visit this 3 story shopping chalet. 2nd reason is they allow you to take pictures. And, they smile when you ask. I ask each time I go - just in case they change their policy.

Yes, some of the decorations are redundant but it never ceases to surprise me with new trees, new color schemes and new arrangements.

When we arrived home, I had more energy than when we left. I spent thirty more minutes walking the boxer before I went inside and retired for the evening. The kids talked me into playing a little bit of P!ctionary with them. I told them to have mercy, I had laughed all day and I certainly was sore. My sides hurt from coughing and my cheeks hurt from laughing. There was no mercy. I finally quit and went to bed.

I have mentioned to many that I am getting a pink tutu for my boxer and am dressing him up for Halloween. My daughter wants to do bat outfits for the pups. I said "Well, we'll have to dress Sable up as well." They asked "As what?" I replied, "A barrel, of course!"

A Blow upon a Bruise

I managed to make it outside today to get some fresh air into my lungs walking the boxer out into the front yard. I saw the green floral van coming down the road. He turned into the neighbor's driveway across the street.

I thought to myself. Maybe it is Eileen's birthday. How fortunate that I am out here to see her get her flowers. He pulled up in front of MY house and hopped out. "Do you live here?"

"YES!"

"I've got something for you."

And he handed me the beautiful planter you see above. Co-workers are thinking of ME!

My boxer wanted to go with him. I think he wanted to take him.

Woot! Roses on Saturday and a planter today.

But, OH.... the agony! I was SO sick yesterday. I coughed all day and all night.

My sides hurt so bad from coughing.

There is nothing I can do. I take the medicine. It makes me sick to my stomach. I eat cold pop sickles. I was miserable. I had body aches all day and then "poof" they were gone around 8 p.m. The headache, too. But, the cough remains. Ugh.

When I go to cough today I wince. It is going to hurt. And hurt it does.

If my surgery is undone it is undone. This cough has a mindset of its own.

Many others are sick. I am not alone. Just bad timing with my surgery.

Restless

I am restless. I am irritable. How come I can't get enough of movies and documentaries on the week-ends between work weeks but when I am off work for 2 weeks I can't stand to sit in my chair another minute?! Ugh!

I am sick and tired of generic acetaminophen. I won't touch the generic Vicodin. It only makes me sicker. I am not in that much pain. It just sort of feels like I over did it while exercising.

I had this procedure done.

I have had a nagging cough all day. It is like a dry, hacking cough. The doctor told me to get cough drops and to make sure I take a cough suppressant if I get a cough afterwards. Well, it is not working. I am coughing and coughing. I had to turn the heat on because it got so cold. Now it is just dry.

I just hope I don't ruin everything and undo what was done to correct the problem.

Sisters are picking me up on Wednesday for a day out at Amish country. I felt well enough to fix a chicken and mashed potato dinner on Saturday. Yesterday I fixed chicken with pasta. Today I have heartburn galore. I have eaten toast but can't stomach much more.

I've done the dishes. I've washed all my clothes, sheets and towels. I know that I am supposed to rest and no strenuous activity, but I cannot just lie around.

My boxer got sick. He has very bad diarrhea. My daughter thinks it is because of my surgery. Others have been taking him outside. She said that maybe he is confused. She is the main person taking him, so he shouldn't be too upset.

I've had different sisters in here to check on me, but I don't think they fed him anything. They know how I feel about that.

Maybe it is just a bug.

I watched "Sunshine Cleaning." I thought it was very sad. I have not liked any movies that A Adams has been in, but I liked her in this one. I have not see "Julie and Julia" yet.

Moaning and groaning

Ugh. I must be getting old. This was a rough one. Anesthetic headache runs right up there with a migraine. In fact, I took migraine medicine and it didn't touch it. It has finally worn off. I really, really, really don't like Vicodin. It increases my headache ten-fold.

But, I am feeling pretty good now. Sticking to generic acetaminophen. Have not been allowed to take ibuprofen for a week. I will probably stick to acetaminophen for two weeks and go back to ibuprofen if I think I need to.

One will wreck your stomach and the other will wreck your liver. I guess I'll switch back and forth through the years. Pad those pharmaceuticals wallets.

Just taking it easy and trying to keep the critters off of me. I get two weeks off from work. But, I can't drive for the first week. :(

It better not be nice and sunny or I am getting my daughter to drive me out to the parks and woods to get some beautiful fall pictures. Come on sunshine!

My Barking Boxer

Is this annoying, or what?!

Somebody wanted attention. I left him too long on the cable. I guess he wanted to go for his walk, or he wanted me to pay more attention to him or something. The pups were being very patient, but they won't do anything for me. I am to the point where I am taking them out separately now, hoping they won't get distracted by each other and will do their business.

The boxer must be walked. He won't go to the bathroom in the yard. Well, not very often. This bark is very shrill and hurts my ears. I put him in the house when he does this. I leave him in for a minute or so and bring him back out. If he barks again, in he goes. I usually only have to put him in the house once and he quiets down.

I don't know what I am going to do this winter. I'll think of something, I suppose.

I have a list of movies that I have been wanting to write about.

First is "Paul Blart: Mall Cop"

Loved it. I waited much too long to see this one. I read the reviews and made the mistake of listening to what other people said about it being bad. I didn't think so. I like Kevin James.

Next, is "17 Again."

I waited on this one, also because of the bad reviews. The reviews were right. I did not like it. Somebody shoot me if I ever watch another movie with L Mann in it. Ack! One wonders if she would even be in the movies if her husband were not the director/producer of most of them.

"Obsessed"

Seriously? If you have seen "The Temp" and "Fatal Attraction" , then it is all deja vu with this movie. I was not impressed in the least. Especially not impressed with Bee-youncy flouncing around in four inch stilettos. Get real.

"Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"

Groan. This one was just sad. I didn't like it. I don't ever want to see it again. What the heck did A Archer have to do with the movie? Let's put a little cougar into the movie to bring it up to date? And, I seriously did not know that M Douglas was a leprechaun. He certainly looked like one. Either that or he is starting to shrink. The only actor I liked in this entire movie was L Chabert. Well, I take that back. I really liked R Forster in "Jackie Brown", so his character was okay. This movie was just about as annoying as my barking boxer.

"Rachael Getting Married"

I may have said something about this one in a previous post. I don't recall. Wait. I do recall. Yes, I did post about this one before. I really got tired of the prolonged music scenes.

"Separate Lies"

Strange British tale. I don't quite understand it. I didn't see the beginning. I have always enjoyed T Wilkinson, but E Watson just looks weird. I guess I mean I don't understand why he put up with her. Crikey! And she and her lover flaunted it right in his face. Have they no feelings or compassion for crying out loud? Is this how the British are? I don't think so.

Enough. I may have a lot more movies to post about in the next few weeks. I will be off on sick leave after Friday. Minor surgery and then I get to stay home for two whole weeks. Good grief.

Salacious B Crumb

He kind of reminds me of the Salacious B Crumb character in the Star Wars films. He has this sharp, annoying bark. He gets put in the house when he begins this barking. I have a video of it too, I might post later in the week.

Camouflage

A photo of two deer. Taken February 2007 at state park south of me. I closed my eyes and scrolled my mouse and picked a photo folder. The image I picked with my eyes opened. There are many deer to be seen around the valley this month. They seem to be everywhere.

One night while walking the boxer, there were some deer up on the hill eating apples. The boxer gets distracted very easily. When he sees something that distracts him he freezes and stares. He is like a statue. I have to drag him away. I mean, how much exercise are we getting when he freezes and stares every twenty feet or so? None, that's how much! Come one. If I have to walk you, let's at least make it worth my while!

As we walked closer to the deer, who by this time had slid back into the shadows to hide, they snorted and stomped their feet. Slade was just completely perplexed. What were they? What was that snorting noise? Yes, I had to drag him away. I am so glad I got him a harness instead of a collar. I don't feel like the harness hurts him. Especially with that broad chest.

Chong chews

Here is Chong chewing on some dead grass on my patio.

I do not go outside without all of them (except Sable) on a leash. It is too risky. They love to run, but I have a road in the front yard and neighbors who have that wonderful knack of coming out of their house the exact instant I take my dogs out. It always seems to work out that way. Of course all my dogs run over to them to say hello and it takes me 15 minutes to drag them all back over into my yard. The boxer was really good for a while at listening to me. Now he is going through a phase where he pretends that he does not hear me. Sable all but ignores me.

My daughter told me she woke up this morning with no pain. Finally. She did okay at the festival, better with ibuprofen than with generic Vicodin. She did go sit in the car towards the end with her boyfriend because she had a headache and was cold.

Things were not the same at the festival. The food was not nearly as good as I recall. The crafts are redundant. The campers decorations are also redundant. Except for the bubble fogger. That was pretty neat. Even the pie was bland. My sisters and one brother were as great as ever, though. That more than makes up for the lack of excitement of the festival. I didn't walk up the hill to see the old cars. I ran out of steam.

Smoke Bubbles

They came from a bubble-maker on top of the camper. When they popped, a puff of smoke escaped. Some were wet to the touch, some were dry. They fascinated us for a good five minutes. I never did catch a photo of one dissipating into smoke. It wasn't from lack of trying.

They came from this machine.

Headed to the festival

This photo is from 2 years ago

It is not going to be as warm this year. My brother has already e-mailed us to say that sales are way down this year. Lousy, cold and rainy weather. Today looks to be the best day. They have sunshine and a beautiful classic car show going on. The car show takes up an entire side of a gentle sloping hill and that will cut the parking almost in half. It will probably be chaos.

Two problems. My daughter is having a bad day. The dentist told her the third day would be the worst. Drat! I have a dry, hacking cough that is giving me a super headache. I've taken medication, but the front of my face is still sore. Sinus.

She is sleeping and we will know soon if the generic vicodin is going to work today. I suggested to switching to ibuprofen because I don't believe the generic vicodin will help with swelling. If her swelling goes down the pain will dissipate. We will be cutting it close, though. She has to wait until the generic vicodin is out of her system before she can take the ibuprofin and by that time we will be on our way to the festival.

I watched "Rachel Getting Married." It was recommended to me by my NetFlix choices. I hated it. There was way too much music and dancing that just filled up time. It just seemed wasted. There was so much more dialogue that pertained to the story at hand that could have been incorporated into the movie than this wedding music. My family is very close so I don't really understand the parts where they were verbally abusive to one another and then were hugging and crying the next day. In one scene it gets to be physically abusive and then nobody acts like anything at all happened.

If it ever came to physical blows between a sibling and myself it would behoove us all to stay away from one another for years. Years! Angry words would have us not speaking to each other for months, maybe years, also.

I was raised to respect my siblings (and other peoples') feelings. If I didn't want something said to me, I didn't say it to another human. I try to be considerate in all ways. They did a good job of making the main character self-centered. The similarities between this character and my one sister are amazing. She keeps making everything about her.

Spoiler Alert!:

I don't get the part where she wrecks the car and curls up and just goes to sleep. She isn't drunk or high. She is distraught over the fight she had with her mother, but still. Let's just let the rest of the family worry and wonder where I am while I sleep in the car all night wrecked into this patch of woods until some joggers find me and call the cops.

The tow truck conveniently gets her home right before the wedding so that she can still be a part of it. Maybe everybody thought the black eye was from the wreck. Did her sister and father just sleep during the night not caring if she were dead or alive, or did they stay up all night pacing and wondering? They all looked pretty rested to me.

And where in the hell did all those people come from that helped with the wedding? Was there a school nearby that just has all these hippies waiting around for something to do? They come out to the house, clean, fix food, play music and decorate? Who were they? They may have mentioned something about it and I missed it. There is also an option to watch the movie with commentaries, maybe that would explain some of the questions.

I will never know, because I am not watching it again.

Quiet day and evening

Cheech stares off into the distance

After the wind blew through and dried up all the rain, the evening sits quiet around here. There is a mower running in the distance and a dog barking in a nearby yard. My dogs ears are perked up. I have the windows and doors open to let in fresh air. We can use all we can get.

Daughter is still dizzy and unsteady after getting all four wisdom teeth removed yesterday. The two little boy pups that were fixed are as energetic as ever. It is as if nothing happened to them at all. Talk about bouncing back.

Tomorrow I will meet my sisters at the fall festival. It is supposed to be sunny and cool. Not sure if my daughter will be able to make the trip or not. I do not think I will put myself through the misery of taking the boxer. Even though he is beautiful and gets many comments, I think I will have a better time without him.

Fishing and Phishing/Malware and Virus

This stock photo is an example of how unstable the Internet can be

We are standing on a shaky pier, looking out into the murky depths of an unforeseeable future in the vast unknown.

So, I have been fishing. This particular virus is known to run over port 3127. I know. Many of you are probably asking "What the heck is a port?" To see a list of ports, you can go here. To see a description of what ports are, you can go here. I don't recommend it for the weak of heart. If you work with computers you quickly come to realize another old saying. The more I know, the more I realize what I "don't" know.

The more I researched this particular virus, I came to discover that it is designed to look for port 3127 on a machine. If that port is in use by another application, it then attempts to use port 3128. So on and so forth until port 3198.

I did not have the time to monitor all these ports, so I selected about ten and placed the monitor list on. The amount of log files that came back was seriously overwhelming. I took the monitors off and reported the findings and hoped that what I had found were indeed "false positives."

Which brings me to malware. There is a lot of malware out and about on the web. I use three programs to scan for it on my computers. Malwarebytes, Ad-aware, and Spybot Search & Destroy. I know there are others, and I have used them. I do notice that from time to time I have to remove and re-install Ad-aware. Ad-aware and Spybot tend to conflict with one another, but I do my best to keep my machines covered. Keep in mind that I use the free versions of these products. I know I stated earlier that you get what you pay for, I do pay for anti-virus protection. Malware is a different entity.

Let me take a moment to warn you about installing free software. Many times the free software has made a deal with Yahoo or Google and will try to slide a "toolbar" into the installation. Read each window before clicking the Next button. I recommend that you remove the check mark from the toolbars (or anything else they might be trying to sneak past you) unless you know specifically what the toolbar is and what it does. I don't like them.

Another interesting fact is that because there are so many different anti-virus applications, and they all tend to be in competition with one another, they usually cannot agree on a name of any particular virus. One product may call a certain virus mydoom, while another calls it Novarg. Then there are various versions of the virus. The first one may be named mydoom, the second wave may be titled mydoom.b, third mydoom.c and so on and so forth.

Then there is the generic groups. Where an application will group many different kinds of malware into one generic pile. One example is the Mal/Generic-A virus. For all the different types of threats that fall into this category, you can go here.

This particular virus has been accused of being a false positive. This indicates that an anti-virus program has tagged a file that looks suspicious and claims that it is a virus or malware. Other anti-virus packages state that the file in question is indeed "NOT" suspicious and that the other program has what is relatively known as a false alarm. See here.

Regardless, all of this can boggle the mind of an average computer user. You may say "How in the hell are we supposed to keep up with all of this malarkey?" The short answer. You can't. I can't. I have problems with my computer from time to time. My best tool is Google search. I read ten hits or more on each problem I have. Are other folks having the same problem? If so, how did they fix it?

Anyway, in conclusion - it is a mess out there. We do the best we can. I always compare it to driving. Traffic on the Internet gets congested. We can run over a chuck hole or a nail at any time and get a flat tire. As careful as we are, there will always be risk. And, remember. There is always that little window where a new virus is created and can wreak havoc before the anti-virus companies have time to create a fix for it. Especially with the speed of the data these days. It can almost take the fun out of it for us. Hopefully, things will get better. Things will get safer. Products will improve.

Notice: The author of the blog does not profess to know it all. The thoughts and words in this post are what I currently understand at this point and time in my life. It may not be completely accurate and I might even disagree with it in the future. I do the best I can to understand and absorb and then attempt to explain the subject with how I perceive it. Do not take my belief as gospel, but ask or research many different views on the subject at hand to come to your own conclusions.

It is an October sunrise

Just not this year's October. It is from 2006.

My head hurts.