Unimaginable

Some time ago - back in the early 80's - during my idle time where I read, stayed home and studied about art, poetry and whatnot; I caught a show on PBS (one of the 3 channels we were able to receive). It was about the mythological character Medea.

This was the first time that the idea of a mother killing her own child or children caught my attention and brought it to a grinding halt. I may have heard stories before that time, but didn't grasp the meaning of it. That story sunk in.

The 'why' and 'how could she' and many other questions went through my mind back then and as more and more stories appear in the news, they still go through my mind.

Which brings me to the reason for this post. Just a few miles away, a young mother fatally shot her two children before turning the gun on herself.

It appears as if she had been planning it for a while.

It boggles my mind. She was depressed and under stress? Yes, I would think she was.

Stranger still: both Medea and this lady studied a form of witchcraft.

Festival Dance

I had to upload the video to YouTube first, and then embed it here. You really can't hear my brother over the singing (chanting?) of the participants. One year it was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit and I watched them dance. This year they didn't seem so miserable. Beautiful.

Festival 2

I had to zoom to get the photo of these two. I did get more of them, but in a movie format. This dance is just awesome. They invite the crowd to come in and participate. A few did. I did not make it back out on Sunday. Both sisters canceled. They ended up closing the festival early because of poor attendance.

This couple had me in awe. They kept right up with the dancing. Once I check the sound of the video, I will try to get it posted. I am not certain what is said on the video, yet. I'll have to use my backup computer. The sound card in my big one seems to have bit the dust. I blame it on sister 1954 and her making me listen to Lady Ga-gag.

The festival

From the fall festival this year. The best I can tell (from Google) is that this type of pipe is a Great Highland perhaps? I see her every year and I should talk to her (when she is not busy playing, of course).

We walked. Then we ate. Then we walked some more. Then we ate some more. Rinse, repeat. I thought I would burst. My sister and I would not have eaten so much, but she had her son with her and he was like "Next!" at every food tent. I didn't complain, but my tummy did a little.

My other sister just called and cancelled on me today. I guess that is a good thing (for my tummy). The weather has been cold and rainy (yesterday it was cool and cloudy). The ground will be a muddy mess (I know from past experience) and it will be quite miserable. I still have one sister who has not checked in. I may be going, yet.

They want the damn year!

If you ever see this game (www.finditgames.com) turn and run the other way as fast and hard as you can. I thought my arm was going to fall off.

It is a clear plastic cylindrical tube with hidden objects in the confetti-like plastic. I guess the ultimate elusive find is the penny. I was SO obsessed with finding everything that I took pictures. The penny was not as elusive to me as the stupid candy cane.

I got pictures of a wee bit of Abe Lincoln's head. I went to their site and it taunts you with "So, you THINK you found the penny? Click here..." I clicked and they want the freaking year! WTF?! I was livid. I may need to take Advil for the next ten consecutive days for my sore arm from shaking that damn toy for so long and they want the freaking year of the penny!

Can't I just send a picture of Abe's do?

Back Home

A photo of my Mom & Dad and I am thinking - sister 1954. Since the photo is dated 1955. Depending on when the film was developed - it could be my brother 1953.

They would try to visit "back home" once a year to see the family. My Mom didn't have much family left at that time (raised by grandparents) but my Dad had plenty. This photo was taken at my Aunts house in Wild Wonderful WV.

I researched a bit on what was happening in 1955. I was not born, yet. My Mom was a big Cleveland Indians fan - they were pretty popular during that time. My dad was a huge western watcher - Gunsmoke started that year. I doubt that they had a television (maybe) - but I know they had a radio (to listen to the ball games).

I have a full week-end ahead and of course I get a bout of early morning insomnia this morning. I awoke at 3:30. I finally just gave up and got up at 4:30. Old Sable wouldn't even go out at that time of morning. Boxer and Cheech have been sick the past two days with vomiting. Not a lot, just a little.

I made two huge pans of lasagna. I don't put the ricotta cheese in mine, just plenty of shredded mozzarella. I do add sausage. I just remembered that I used to make the pepperoni lasagna and it would come out tasting like pizza. Yum. I'll have to do that again someday soon.

Number Three

Another shot of the daisy at the lake.

The earlier post - asking you to guess which story was the dream? It was number three. The only story that didn't involve me personally. All the others I lived for real that week. The worst was the gas smell and driving up that hill when I could not see.

Speaking of dreams, I dreamed about a computer monitor flaking out on me and my car windshield shattering. Weird.

Photos and Movies

Found a new free photo program. I took the above picture.


I created this with it, by playing around/messing around with the program.

PhotoScape.

Watched City Island. I liked it. Also watched Death At a Funeral. It was okay - I was a little bit disappointed. My video store rents movies on Mondays for .79 cents. City Island I rented off the digital box from my cable company. Both made me laugh so that was good.

The Murky Lake

The lake on Friday. I even touched it up a bit.

No sunshine will do that to a photo. I don't get the chance often when driving between schools to stop and take pictures. I take no longer than a co-worker who takes a cigarette break would. And I've know co-workers to take six to eight cigarette breaks a day for anywhere from ten to twenty minutes per cigarette while they stand outside talking to other smokers. Even if they only take 4 breaks (not counting lunch) at 10 minutes, that is 40 minutes, so I figure I am quite justified to stop along the road and snap some photos for a measly 15 or 20 minutes.

My headaches have been out of control this week-end. I'll just leave it at that. I did manage an old movie. "The Sting". For some reason or another, I've never watched this one. I think when I caught it in the middle at one time, it bored me (not knowing the beginning and all).

I went through the Pay-per-view selection and saw many that I would like to watch, but my head hurt so bad, I didn't want to purchase them and then fall asleep during the showing.

I want to watch:

Killers
Just Wright
The Runaways
Chloe
City Island
Death at a Funeral
The Oxford Murders
Cole
The Last Station
Accidents Happen

Maybes:

She's Out of My League
Furry Vengeance (because of Brendan Fraser)
Date Night
Babies
Hot Tub Time Machines (because of John Cusak)

You couldn't pay me to watch:

I'm Still Here

A murky day

I stopped at one of the lakes in my region, but the day was so murky - my best photos turned out to be of the above daisy.

Here are five stories. Each one is true (and all happened this week) except for one was a dream. Can you guess which one?

1. I grabbed a load of dirty towels and began the walk downstairs to the basement. I smell gas. Well, I smelled that odor they add to natural gas. Ack! I stopped and went back up the stairs, dumped the towels on a chair and wondered what to do. I checked the carbon monoxide detector. Zero. Nothing. Big sigh. I waited a while and slowly descended the stairs. Nothing. Was it my imagination? I returned upstairs, grabbed the towels. I made it almost to the bottom step and the smell hit me - hard. Oh, no! I returned back up stairs, dropped the towels again and just stewed for about an hour. I did not want to embarrass myself again with the fire department. After a long time, I swallowed hard and back down the steps I went. Nothing. WTF? Oh! I figured it out! It was some odor coming from the towels. Idiot! Stupid animals that cause the smell!

2. I was driving to work and I turned to go up the hill by my house. I had my window down on the drivers side because I am ALWAYS hot. The sun burst over the hill and my windshield filled with instant fog. Between that and the bright sunshine, I could not see a thing! I was blind! There were like 20 cars coming in the other direction and one right on my rear end. I kept stopping. It is not a long hill. I kept sticking my head out my window to try to see where I was. I kept seeing that double yellow line and thinking to myself "I have to get over, I have to get over!"

3. My niece recently split with her husband of 8 years. Her husband was coming to pick some stuff up from the house one day and she called her brothers to be there with her. She has two very protective brothers. They stood talking outside the house. My nephews stayed on the other side of the street for most of the conversation. Some words were said and it got kind of ugly in front of her house. One of my nephew's busted out the window to her husband's vehicle with a ball bat. There was glass all over the road. Fortunately my niece's husband drove away without any more incident.

4. I was outside in the dark with the boxer. For some bizarre reason I did not have his harness and leash on him. We walked around the house. Nothing. I turned to tell him "Let's go back in" when a car zipped up the alley. I thought it might be my daughter, but it was my neighbor returning home. The boxer ran over to greet the car. My neighbor was backing into his yard and fast. I couldn't believe what was happening. I yelled "WAIT! WAIT!" I didn't know if I was yelling at the dog or my neighbor - I guess both. I don't remember hearing the words come out of my mouth. The boxer kept jumping all around the car as he backed in. It was so scary! And dark! I could not see. It was very frustrating.

5. While out walking the dogs one windy night, I saw something strange on the side of a building. The alley is very, very dark and I could see a strange movement. Almost like shadow puppets. This building was at the far end of the alley and I was not certain where the light was coming from. The shadow puppets kept dancing and bowing. What IS that?! I'd never seen anything like it. If there were anything strange and suspect, the dogs would growl or bark, right? RIGHT!?

Hello? Hello!

Maybe when the telephone with this type of handset came out, some folks didn't know you had to pick this hand set up to answer the telephone. Maybe they just leaned over the ringing device and barked "Hello? Hello!"

That is what I felt like trying to answer my Fascinate. Come to find out I have to slide (or swipe) the "Answer" button to actually make the connection - not PUSH the button.

My daughter had to tell me. The student has started to become the teacher. Nuts!

Wild Cherry

Car in sister 56's family. From '67.

Just trying to recover after a socking migraine that hit late this afternoon. About the same time as a severe thunderstorm went through the area. Didn't help any that I awoke at 4:00 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. I was in hyper mode all day. I had some demonstrating to do and I was really in motor mouth mode. (The headache hit much later). Many of my migraines are preceded by a huge energy rush and burst of mental explosion. I did a lot of cleaning Tuesday evening and I blabbed up a storm today.

I can remember trying to tell some ladies while leaving work that my head was splitting and I could not come up with the word "splitting". All I could think of was "cracking" and I said "My head is cracking!"

The extreme pain in the side of the left temple is gone, but it still hurts. Any sudden movements, or sounds send me over the edge. I am trying to stay up late enough to get the dogs out for their evening business so I have no accidents in the morning. At this time I hurt so bad, I really don't care about anything that might happen in the morning. I do feel bad for them, though.

Between lack of sleep, lousy weather and more personal issues - I don't have a chance against the migraine monkey.

Push

There are some things I need to get used to about this "Fascinate". I am not totally "fascinated". My first and biggest complaint is I have no way of knowing if there is a message waiting for me until I pull the phone out of sleep mode and check my screen. My daughter (Droid 2) said that she has a small tiny green light that lets her know if she has a message.

Because (contrary to most folks these days) I do not take my phone with me everywhere (like the bathroom!). I will leave it sit on my desk at work and when I return I am left wondering "Did I get a message? How will I know?" My old Razr would beep at me every 5 minutes if somebody left a message.

This "Fascinate" remains silent.

My sister called me Thursday evening. I was sitting right by the phone. It did not ring. I heard a beep and I looked to find that I had a voicemail. In fact, it said I had "missed a call". How could that be? I was sitting right here. The volume was turned up. Hmmm.

The next day at work, my brother called. The phone was ringing it's head off, I pulled it out of sleep mode and pushed the button. Nothing. It just kept ringing. And ringing. I pushed and pushed. Ack! Another "missed" call. This phone is toying with me.

I tried to call him back. I pushed and pushed - no use. It was as if an invisible shield had come over the face of the phone and was not going to respond to anything I did to it.

It beeped (or hiccuped) with a message that I had a voicemail. Then (and only then) was I able to get a response from the touchpad keyboard. I called my brother back.

I set the phone down and stared at it. It had the audacity to go to sleep.

"So THIS is how it's going to be, huh?" I gave it a stern look. I squared my shoulders and sat up in my chair.

"Bring it on bitch. I will slay this dragon."

Recipe: Potato Salad

These did not make it into my potato salad.

boiled potatoes
hard boiled eggs
green peppers sliced thin
celery sliced
grape/cherry tomatoes
sweet baby pickles sliced tiny


dressing:

salad dressing
ranch dressing
sweet pickle juice
mustard

salt & pepper


Decoration on the top:

sliced hard boiled egg
slices of tomatoes (no insides)
or sliced grape/cherry tomatoes
leafy ends of celery stalks (bright green end leaves)

I was reading a couple of recipe books at work yesterday (on my break don't ya' know) and thought that maybe I would start buying cucumber dressing to add into my potato salad. It sounded good. I usually don't purchase cucumbers, but I have added them on occasion to my potato salad. Sometimes it is hard for me to write down a recipe because I don't always use the same ingredients each time. I punch it up with whatever I have and hope for the best. LOL!

Note to self: Turn the temperature down in the refrigerator so the pickles don't freeze. Yikes!

The years fly by

It is all going by in a blur - in the end it's a wink of an eye.

Time. Hurry up and wait. It keeps on slipping... into the future. It goes by so slowly. It goes by too quickly. It goes. To be four years old, then fourteen, and then 24. There is a cavern of time between the early decades. After 34 or so, they just blur together. Mine do anyway. I lived entire lifetimes between four and 14, and then between 14 and 24. Between 24 and 34. After that I kind of stayed in one place, remained in one job, saw the same people every day. The years became a blur.

Am under the weather today. I dreamt (how about dreamed?) I was throwing up. Hmmm yes, spell checker likes dreamed much better. I awoke with a searing headache and not feeling well at all. I gag when I sneeze. I am stuffed up. My eyes hurt. I don't want to go back to bed because I will then focus on the nausea. If I stay up and do things I can keep it in the background.

I think there was more to my purchase on Monday than meets the eye. Yes, I have been looking at the various smart phones and there comes a time (like when I buy a car) when I just get tired of looking and just say "oh, just buy the damned thing! One of them, any one of them so I can get out of the misery of deciding!" Make a decision and "poof" it's over.

The fascinate has a few caveats that I am trying to learn to deal with. It kept shutting down on me (going to sleep) so I figured out how to keep it "on" for a couple more minutes. I'm sure this will be okay when I know how to use the phone, but it was kind of aggravating while I was trying to learn how to use it. At first it "pushed" my exchange e-mail and then it stopped. I re-created the setup for my work e-mail and it began "pushing" my work messages again.

Anyway, I think I was upset from Monday at work - and purchasing the new phone was supposed to make me feel better. I am guessing - but I really had been looking. A co-worker and I were given a new job to do. Our organization started a new avenue. I bulldozed through the mess and figured out how to set up the entire show. I was ready with a presentation. For about the sixth time in 15 years, we ran out of time at the meeting and my presentation was nixed - again. Barely a mention. As I mentioned above it has happened to me before. All that work and "poof" nothing. Not a word, not a mention about it. WTF?!

I also believe that is why I am throwing myself into the Ubuntu experience. I need to have something to learn to make me feel good about myself. I must stay resilient and not become recalcitrant.

Can't touch this

Without getting my fingerprints all over it. I just have to live with fingerprints. At least I got the screen protectors for it. And an extra battery. It is power-intensive.

I also have three (count them, three!) books from the library on how to configure and tweak Ubuntu. Good grief. My head just might explode with information overload this week.

The third book (Ubuntu Bible) is at work.

I am switching from a Razr (red) to the (black) Fascinate. Steep learning curve. Steep.

Celebration

I have been very busy this week-end. Lots of family came into town Friday night to celebrate sister 1956's birthday. The staff at the restaurant put these silly hats on my sister her husband and one of my brothers. I can only guess they were not entirely certain what guy she was with. Some family are still here and I have been very busy with them. No time to post. My cheeks hurt from laughing so much.

I realize how very blessed I am. I am taking full advantage and am enjoying it. I'm not wasting a precious minute.

Family

That is my maternal grandmother on the right. She died when my mom was ten. That would be 1930. So this photo was probably taken in the late 1920's.

She left my mom to be raised by her parents. She did not marry my mom's dad. She met this man many years later, married him and they had a son. She died ten days after childbirth.

I can only imagine what my mom felt since she is no longer around for me to ask. I didn't think to ask questions when I was younger.

My mom's half brother caught up with us in 1976. He came to meet his half sister and her large family. He was always talking about how lonely his childhood was and how he wished he were part of a huge family. His 80th birthday is tomorrow.

Way Back

Is that right? Way Back Wednesday? Here is one from the old family album. My sister said anytime you see a picture with my Dad's hand behind his back, he is hiding his beer. I am not born yet, so I don't suppose I am in this photo. Have a bit of a headache tonight and do not want to spend a lot of time at the computer. Ciao.

Your Labor Day

I hope your laboring is light and unencumbered today.

Burn baby, burn

Good grief it looks as if we are burning one of the chairs in this photo. Not at all. The chair was safe on the other side of the fire. This is the camp fire we build when I go to visit friends near the lake at the campsite.

It was a beautiful day (August 27th) and a lovely evening.

Barely there

I got a couple of blooms from my moonflower plant this year. One plant grew large enough. It is hiding underneath the hydrangea and protected by the huge lilac bush on the other side. It peeped through and bloomed a few times.

I have two more plants, but they don't look like they will produce any blooms this year. I am wondering when I should transplant them. I was going to try to get them back over to the western side of the house where they were when I first moved here.

I finally replaced the "coin" sized battery in my behemoth computer and the very next morning the electricity went off for about ten seconds. I was in the bathroom getting ready for work and I came out and said to myself "This is it. This is the test."

I turned the behemoth on and it started up, went straight to Windows. No "Press F2 to run setup" configuration error. It kept the date as 2010. I didn't have to change it from what it usually resorts back to - 2004. Hurray!

Not so lucky for the sub woofer. I have no sound. The sub woofer blew the new fuse I placed in it the second I turned it on. Wah! I figured a cat probably peed on the unit and short circuited it out.

I can't find anybody (locally) that works on speakers and stuff, so I may have to look north.

Running on

It is very difficult for me to get a motion picture of Slade. Canon's annoying "delay" makes me miss most of the shots I want.

In the vein of "Labor Day" I find this quite annoying, also. Fifteen years ago when my daughter was in grade school, my work day started at 8:00 a.m. It still starts at 8:00 a.m. She did not have to be at grade school until 8:30 to 8:45. I paid a sitter to watch her until it was time for her to walk the 3 blocks to the school.

I find it annoying that in my work place, the managers (who now have grade school age children) come in late every morning (after taking their child to school). And most of the time during the summer they will come in late after taking their child to football practice, or cross country training.

I won't say any more on the matter, but I needed to have my gripe time and here it is.

Oh, woe is me

Using my backup computer again. Here is a photo a month or so old with our cat Teton looking at some fish in a bowl. They are there, up near the top. The food cover we use so the fish can't jump out and so the cat can't stick it's paw in is kind of covering them.

I have my main computer down to change the battery. I got one at Radio Shack and (par for the course) got the incorrect one. I also changed the fuse in my sub woofer and promptly blew the new one out. So that means a more serious problem. I must find a place that repairs sub woofers. Oh, woe is me.

And, I have insomnia. I have been up for an hour. The dogs have been taken outside and fed. I still have some kitty litter duty but I kind of procrastinate in that area. Work has been busy in an interesting kind of way.

I hope to visit some family and an old friend this holiday week-end coming up. Labor day. Hah.

Eye liner

My niece's cat

I've never seen a ring around just one eye like this. Then again, I don't see many white-faced cats. In the middle ages or in ancient Egypt, this cat may have been considered an omen. Hopefully a good omen.

It was a great week-end with plenty of friends and family. But WAY too much food. I remember saying "Eat light, we eat again in just 4 hours!"

Work is crazy with the beginning of the school year.

Now the sub woofer on my computer system blew a fuse. I am so glad I thought of the fuse. That will cost just a couple of dollars to replace. I pulled the fuse out and it is burnt black. I was pulling cables out and getting them all organized and I thought to myself 'here I am again, messing with electrical stuff!' Yikes!


I need to have sound so I can hear all the funny videos and enjoy the clips folks send my way. A couple of cute ones I saw over the week-end are 'machine-gun kitty' and 'surprised kitty'. Both found on Youtube. Both of them showed up first when I typed them into the search feature on Youtube. If you like cats, you should check them out.

On my daily walk

And I thought walking under a ladder was bad luck. Just happened to look up while walking the dogs on Saturday and this is what I saw. Not real close to my house, but just around the corner. I took the dogs home, got my camera and came back for a shot. Still shooting with my daughter's camera, so I don't have it mastered, yet.

I like that my daughters' camera has the "shaky hand" feature, but if you want to zoom in real close you lose that ability. I zoomed this one and I got a slight blur with the pic. They look like mud wasps to me.

Jive Talkin'

For my friend's birthday bash she requested a little disco music. I found some. I don't have much of that flavor of music in my stash. Maybe five songs or so from (please let us forget) that era.

Had a wonderful day with friends at the camp grounds yesterday. Could not have asked for a more pleasant day. It was beautiful outside. Just beautiful.

Driving around on the golf cart we drooled over the camp sites that were for sale. So nice! So shady. Not many were lakeside, and some were downright shabby. Ah, well.

We will survive! We did survive the disco craze. LOL!

Number 3 bites the dust

I found the batteries and disposed of them properly. Just like the package said. Dispose of properly. Good girl. This happened a few days ago, not recently. This remote I used just to turn the TV on and off anyway. My cable remote can do it (although I never can remember what button turns the TV off and what button turns the digital cable box off and I always get the wrong one). And of course, I can get up and push the button on the TV unit itself. Heh, heh.

My niece came in last evening to take a shower. She is moving into a new apartment and does not have hot water, yet. She was driving a huge U-Haul truck. I have to get a picture of her little self inside the drivers seat. I hope to do that today before she has to return it. It is funny looking.

The boxer was sick

As far as I can tell he got into my raffia in my craft stuff. Once outside, he ate grass like it was going out of style. I sat outside with him for about an hour until I finally had to go back inside and clean up his mess from where we didn't make it outside in time for the first wave of sickness.

And darn it! I have been so disciplined in putting the remote controls up at night. Sigh. It is the cable remote again. It is only chewed a bit on the end. It might still work okay. Calgon? Where's the Calgon? Take me away!

FYI: I have a blog that I follow that had to shut down and re-open a new one. Seems she reached her limit of photos she can post on the blog. Yikes! I'll have to look into this.

Some man

My mom told the story with a sense of humor. This man knocked on our door when I was three and my older brother would have been five. We ran to the kitchen "Mommy! There's some man at the door." My Mom went to the door. My dad had come home from the workhouse.

Tuna Noodle Casserole (cheat version)

One time a few years back I was in a hurry to fix dinner. My daughter and niece were hungry and I didn't take the time to add bread crumbs and bake the tuna noodle casserole like you are supposed to do. I layered noodles, peas, tuna and cheese and zapped it in the microwave.

They loved it! They raved about it.

I have fixed it that way ever since.

The above dish has mushrooms added to it. Not my daughter's favorite, but I liked it just fine.

So, just cook the noodles as the package instructs. Layer noodles, peas, tuna and cheese. I use sweet baby peas and Velveeta cheese. The above dish has regular tuna (usually I use the albacore or chunk white) packed in water. I use Light 'n Fluffy extra wide egg noodles. I butter the casserole dish and sometimes add pats of butter in the layers. Sometimes I add a little milk so it is not dry. It usually is not dry.

Come to find out the girls hated it when the noodles get hard and crunchy. I don't like it baked anymore and I never did like the bread crumbs either.

This recipe is really quick. Ten minutes to boil the noodles, five minutes to layer and five minutes in the microwave. I open the cans of tuna and peas while the noodles are boiling and slice the cheese. I also butter the casserole dish while waiting for the noodles.

It is creamy and it is rich.

Well...

Remember the TV show Bewitched, where Samantha would do something and Darrin would look at her and she would just say "Well...?" It was one of those moments.

It all started when I forgot to call my pharmacy prescription in. Really! I usually phone them in or send them in via the web page. I forgot. So I dropped it off and had to wait for it.

I said to myself "I'm going over to the electrical department and am going to learn me something!" Well, I learned something alright - but it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Or should I say, I RE-learned me something. Heh, heh.

I am extremely fortunate that the outlet (and the plug) were the only things damaged. And, my err... ego. A bit.

I read the back of the package. We have been using the outlet adapters for a few years, but I always said to myself 'One day, I am going to ground those suckers.'

Well...

I figure you just have to unscrew the middle screw and re-screw it back in over the little loop on the adapter plug. I said to myself 'Okay, I can do this!' Famous last words, huh?

Me sitting cross legged directly in front of an outlet with a screwdriver. An outlet that had not had the faceplate removed in seven years when the walls were last painted. A screw that would not line up for me and I tilted it.

I remember sparks. They looked like fireworks. I remember a popping sound. I don't remember seeing any smoke. I remember I threw the screw driver. I remember some funny sound came out of my mouth. I DID NOT cuss. I do know the dogs ran and peeked around the corner for a long time before they came back out.

Now, I usually know better than to play with electricity. I've said this before in my blog, especially when I am at work. It scares the bejesus out of me. Sigh. I really thought I could do this little thing. I usually don't mess with it.

Hmm... on second thought (actually eleventh and twelfth thought) maybe you don't remove the faceplate. Oh, dear.

Anyway.... does anybody know the name of a good electrician? Ha, ha! I had one guy in here when I first moved to the house, the previous owner had recommended him. Then in another conversation she said "I hope he got away from those drugs." That was all for that electrician.

I thought something was up when he came to my house and he pulled his van up halfway down the alley. I was waiting for him so I went out to talk to him and he quickly rolled his window down and said "I'm just finishing my sandwich!" I thought to myself "No, you are finishing a joint!"

I've been associated and around enough party smokers to know one when I see one.

So, I won't be calling him back. I don't think he is in business anymore. Surprise! In all fairness, he did a good job, though.

Now, for the movie department. By all means skip "After.Life". Good grief! I really like L Neeson, but this was horrible! Unless you are a guy and like to watch C Ricci writhe around naked on a cold autopsy table. Yuck! Not my cup of tea. But, I did kind of like the bobble-head doll. Freak that I am. LOL!

Wee little thing

See? The fan I replaced yesterday was just a wee little thing. The non-working one sure made a lot of noise though. The room (which actually WAS air conditioned) was vibrating with the racket.

I did forget to take my camera. Ah, well.

Adding a little color

I was able to re-load the anti-virus software back onto my PC. It was a lot easier than I thought. I've done it so many times now, I guess I am getting pretty good at it. No problems at all.

My next step was to add pretty and inspiring wall paper to my desktop. I love finding new pics to add and I have some old faves. The one above is a new one. I center it so that my icons show up. Right now I only have a handful of icons on the desktop. Like moving into a new house, the furniture is sparse and the area is clean and uncluttered. As time goes on my desktop will look like a small hydrogen bomb went off as my house does.

Is that what they call them? Hydrogen bombs? Atom bombs? Nuclear blast? I wiki'd them and they are the same. I like that about Wikipedia. Instead of a URL address (such as www.someplace.com) you can just type in 'wiki atom bomb' (without the quotes) and it takes you to the closest subject in Wikipedia that matches atom bomb. Try it. Then try another like 'wiki daniel boone' or 'wiki chernobyl'. I used to sign out encyclopedias at the library (before the world wide web) and read them. I love small blurbs or stories about people, places and things. I love it!

I just tried an experiment. It works with the quotes, too. Yeah, I could read about stuff all day.

Currently I am reading "Jungle Child" by Sabine Kuegler. It is about a girl raised in West Papua in the 70's. I love the biography section of my library. Gosh I'm just full of love today.

And then I go to work. Where's the love NOW?! I'll be in a little school (no air). I am going to try to get there early enough and get my job done before the heat makes it unbearable. A fan has quit in a router and I must replace it. The unit has three fans. The fan is no bigger than a.... a....bar of motel soap. That's it. I couldn't think of anything that size.

And the pups? Hah! I had another remote control chewed beyond repair this morning. They also found a way into the picnic basket with the plastic utensils. All over the floor this morning. The remote - I can survive without it I suppose. It is to the TV, but the cable remote can control it. Or you know, I can walk up to the set and push the buttons. Horrors!

The basket that held all six remotes (don't ask) will have to be placed high on the book case I guess. I was mistaken when I thought that they were safe in a boxed basket. I am vigilant about putting the remotes inside this box every night before I retire. Little wicked devils. I didn't even mumble to them. I just picked everything up and took the batteries out of the now defunct remote and cleaned up the plastic ware on the carpet. My sweeper will love any little tiny plastic pieces left behind.

Maybe I need to go back to caging them at night. Ugh. They are in their cages while I go to work, I just feel sad putting them in there at night, too.

I watched "The Ghost Writer". The wife is the same lady who played the wife of B Willis in the movie The Sixth Sense. Did I like the movie? Not really. Not a big E McGregor fan. I am a P Brosnan fan. I recognized (barely) K Cattrall. I was like 'Is that her?' 'Yes, it is!' I thought the movie was a little silly in places. I was waiting for the servants to knock somebody off, they were so strangely mysterious and creepy. And they gave them the names of Dep and Duc? What is up with that? Oh, and here is a bit of trivia for you. The young lady who is the Island motel receptionist just happens to be the daughter of R Polanski - the director of the movie.

Yep, yep. Onward to the great unknown. I wonder where my camera is? This is prime picture-taking country where I am headed.

Hot August Nights

I really have to get back out there and take more pictures! This one is the big lake near my town and was taken in May of what year? Heck if I can recall. 2008?

Anyway, it's hot around these parts. I hear it's hot around your parts, too. I walk the dogs and I am ready for another shower. I walk the dogs first thing in the morning, at my lunch break, after work and before turning in for the night. Nice. I can't very well jump in the shower each time. Let's just say it is probably a good thing I work in an office all by myself.

I watched the movies "Crazy on the Outside" and "The Bounty Hunter". I could not figure out where I had seen the parole officer in COtO and then I saw where she was the female co-star in the epic failure "Waterworld." And I'm just sayin' we ladies got gypped in TBH. Anist0n got to prance around in a short black mini dress while we got to see Butler in an "god-awful ugly" checkered shirt. What is up with that?! I thought it was a chick flick! And seriously? The rickshaw thing was a little over the top.

I always said that S Bull0ck did not have much acting range, but I am really thinking that Anist0n can only play one type. She looks the same in every.damn.movie! And she plays the same ditsy character. Over and over again - femme fatale. C'mon. Seriously! Just take any of her movies, plug a new guy in and spit them out each year and I don't think that anyone would be the wiser. Let's see some talent. Change the hair. Reach out. Play a real gritty female. Put on weight for a real character. We are sick and tired of blah, blah, blah. Girl loses boy. Girl teases boy. Girl gets boy back. Boring! There are actors and then there are showgirls. Sorry Anist0n. You're just a showgirl.

I am not saying the girl does not work hard for the money. She definitely works hard to keep that figure/body. Kudos to her. But there comes a time in life when you think one would say to themselves "Is this all there is to me?" A buff body? Is there no brain in here? Can I give something that really makes the audience think and just surprise the bloody hell out of them? Or, am I only in this for the paycheck?

She's back

I got the motherlode back up and running. Good grief! What a hassle. I have to get a battery for this mammoth system and maybe a little better surge protector. Ugh.

I did drool over the new XPS systems, though. I don't know why I keep getting gaming machines when I don't play any games. Weird.

There sure are a lot of updates when you load from an old XP installation disk. LOL!

Now, to get my AV re-installed yet again. I am wondering if Symantec is getting tired of hearing me say "my system crashed" because I keep having to re-install my AV. I have a 3 user license. I'm sure if I do it without tech support it is going to say "You have reached your maximum number of computers". Blah, blah, blah!

Just for kicks, I watched "The Tooth Fairy." I thought it was cute at times. It still did not come close to one of our favorites: "The Rundown."

A puppy tale

I was horrified. I read it in the newspaper. Some jackass threw a puppy out of a moving vehicle on a big open road that is known to be travelled often by semi tractor trailers. I cringed. The guy driving behind had to swerve to miss the puppy. He said he thought they had thrown trash out. Another driver stopped. She was a vet from a nearby city.

The driver of the "red van" did not stop. Nobody was able to get the license plate because of all the commotion. The police were looking for the offending driver(naturally).

My first thought was of a neighbor lady who I saw just two days prior. She had a little black lab puppy she was wanting to get rid of. She had broken her foot and could not take care of him. She lived in the only place on my block that rents to the seedier crowd of people. They only stay a few months and move on.

But, I never saw a red van anywhere near that place.

Until Wednesday evening. I was driving out the back alley and there it was. A red van! Oh no!

What would you do?

While walking the dogs later that evening, I walked past the rented house to look for any signs that the pup was still there. Nobody was out and there was no pup. Sigh. What to do, what to do.

I went back home. Read the paper. It was all a HOAX! The guy said his wife would never let him keep the puppy so he made up the entire story! Arrgghh! The lady vet must have been part of his story? No explanation was given that I saw about her.

Read the resolved story here.

I am so glad I didn't jump to any sudden accusations. I thought them, but I needed proof first. And then that story. I don't know who I want to slap more. Somebody who would throw a dog out of a moving vehicle or the guy that would make the story up and get all the readers in an uproar. The pup was one in a litter of 10. I don't suppose they are going to have any problems getting that set adopted. Most callers only wanted the "discarded" puppy. They were not interested in adopting any of his litter mates. Huh?

Then, there is the lady that left her kids in the vehicle while it was still running with the windows down. They were left alone long enough for a bystander to see this, call the cops and the cops to get there and cite her. She said she was in the store for five minutes. I don't know about you, but I've never seen any cops respond in under five minutes, but I suppose it could happen.

Still at it

This is what greeted me on my living room floor this morning. They are still at it. They will go for weeks (sometimes a whole month) without touching anything and then "bam". There it is. This remote controls my DVD player. Or, it did. It won't be as easy to replace as the cable remote. I think I have a spare universal one around. I hope I have the directions with how to program it. Sigh. I suppose this is their way of telling me they want a Blu Ray with a High-Def system.

Hi!

This is actually two shots glued together. I stood behind each tyke and shot straight down at them as they looked up at me. This produces an upside down tyke photo. I then flipped it around and glued them together to get this sort of fish eye look.

Here are the original shots:

This year

We had half as many as last year. And, can you believe I was not in this photo? LOL! I am not taking the picture (they had a tripod and a timer). I won't go into detail but I missed this photo op. Oh, well.

My group got matching tee shirts (burgundy) this year. Five of my group had already left before this was taken and five are not wearing their tee shirt in this shot. A couple you cannot see their shirts because they are mostly hidden. We had 25 show up this year in our group from our branch of the tree.

I am still SO tired I can't type very much or very long. I have to get more rest.