I miss him.

 I miss him more than the others.  I have three boxes of ashes, now. We still have Cheech and Chong - they are 11 years old or so.  I found the above dog (Slade) just after I adopted Cheech and Chong. Slade was difficult at times but my, he was a big baby. So sweet and just so happy. I did not dock his tail. I can't tell if the ears were clipped - I don't think they were. If they were - it didn't take. I would not do either to a dog. I had a purebred Labrador one time, but had to re-home him. I always worry that I did the right thing. I usually get the animals that are abandoned or nobody wants. 

He (Slade - above) was running the streets and almost got hit by a car when I picked him up. He was panting heavily - he had been running a while. I tried to find his owner(s) and advertised. No chip.

Don't think that the short hair dogs don't shed. He did. Little short reddish-brown hairs. And they get all over your clothes, too. My animals all hated when I took their picture. They have trouble looking at the camera/phone.  This is very rare that I was able to get a shot of him looking at the camera.

I have finished reading  "Hillbilly Elegy" - there is also a movie coming out on Netflix on Nov 24th or so. I am keeping an eye out for that.  I finished "The Thursday Murder Club" .  I like the style of writing and the way the author portrayed the older women and their little nuances.

Oh - and Alex Trebek's autobiography "The Answer Is..."  It is an easy read. It was interesting to learn some things about the guy. I think he was somebody people would enjoy talking to. "Shoot the breeze" so to say.  Now you know I had to go and search the origin of the phrase, excuse me "idiom" 'Shoot the Breeze'.  I read that the word breeze was at one time a slang term for rumor.

Another site states shooting the breeze (idle chit chat, easy relaxed gossip) - is as easy as shooting air (the breeze).

Had to

 I had to throw this picture up here. My niece has a 15 year old daughter and the above 3 boys. I thought she did an awfully creative get up for Halloween.  She gave them all names that start with "R".  The girl, too. If that isn't asking for confusion, I don't know what is.

It has become chilly in NE Ohio. That wind. Is that from Zeka? Zulu? Crap. Who is Eta? Eh- Central America. Can't find any news on the most recent hurricane that went through. Old news. And a typhoon. Why don't they name typhoons?  Too few of them? I guess that's a good thing.

Looks like we are going to get a little warmer by the week-end.

I dropped my ballot off at the courthouse. I saw all those people standing in line in this cold. I also saw a friend and her daughter posted they stood in line for 4 hours on Saturday.

I am a procrastinator. I finally requested an Absentee ballot on Tuesday of this week. I received it Saturday and dropped it off today. 

I don't think I could handle standing in line for more than an hour. An hour would be hard enough.

I had a back-up plan. If I did not receive the ballot by Tuesday, I was going to my voting spot as early as possible and deal with whatever was going on.

Started reading "Hillbilly Effigy - whoops Elegy." I see where Netflix made a movie from the book. Opens in select theaters on Nov 11th and airs on Netflix on Nov 24th. Glenn Close and Amy Adams.

I like Glenn and Amy.  I looked at some pics (I won't watch a trailer if given the opportunity. I want to read the book first). I am pleased with the look of the characters. Glenn looks similar to relatives I have in WV and in one picture Amy's hair is out of control.  

Speaking of November 11th - that's Veteran's Day.  It has only happened once before but this year my work organization is taking that day off as a holiday. Now, I don't mean any disrespect to veterans but most schools are in session that day.  Some do take the day off but most are in session.

And I certainly don't want to come across as whining about a paid day off from work (I'd rather it be at Thanksgiving, Christmas or in the Spring - but whatever. Beggars, choosers - you know.)

Since I am trying to stay home as much as possible, I will be home all of that day. Probably. You know I am going to log into work and take a peek at the Helpdesk ticket queue.  I can't help it. I worry about my districts and if they are not able to work - they are unable to ask for help until the next day. 

If any of you know how technology has changed our world, you probably understand that like heat, electricity and water - the Internet is a "must have" in the classroom, now.  Hey - I see why people are talking about making it a utility. Huh.  Anyway, I will try not to work but if I can resolve an issue easily, I'm going to do it.

I forgot about Trick or Treat. I think it was Saturday in my area. I did have candy (a big bowl from a while back) but when I looked in there today I see that somebody has been helping themselves and the dogs can't reach that high. Moses, (the cat) do you think?  Hmmm...

I guess I'm glad I did not turn my porch light on. The first group would have come to the door and I would have grabbed the bowl and  ....."Uh oh..."  I had apples - but I don't want to be THAT lady.  I suppose they would notice if I dropped a cat in the bag.  How about a bearded dragon?  Pop tarts?  A used pencil?  Ibuprofen?

Eating fresh during the Quarantine/Pandemic

On a good day, I am able to offer the bearded dragons plenty of fresh vegetables and a bit of fruit. The female (now passed) ate her greens very well. My daughter raised her from when she was a tiny baby. But the male we obtained after he was almost a year old. He is quite persnickety when it comes to greens. Well, green he won't eat. He will eat blueberries. He was doing very well with squash, carrots and sweet red peppers but recently I am lucky if I can get him to eat a blueberry or two. When I do offer him the blueberries I put them in a tiny container of water so I can get some water into him.

It is difficult to keep fresh greens during the pandemic. I try not to go out very often, but if I want fresh greens then I have to stay vigilant.  But then he hasn't been eating. I wonder if he is in a sort of semi brumation stage. When the female brumated, she went inside her "hide" (a small cave kept dark and she felt safe in there) and slept for a month.

The male will crawl in his "hide" every once in a while, but mostly just plops himself into the corner of the tank and sleeps there. Barely moving for about 3 days. Then he comes out, eats a blueberry or two, eats a handful of dubia roaches and back to his corner. I try to get him into a bath on the days that he moves around. My daughter told me to add a bit of calcium into the bath water. A way to get calcium into him - absorbs it through the water. He also gets water this way. He won't drink it outright like the female did.

He is about six feet away from my computer desk and I look over at him often. He used to be VERY active when the female was alive. After she passed he lost his zing. She was kept in a separate tank and we blocked the glass so they could not see one another. I guess he could smell her. But he watches me and I glance at him. They can just stare for hours without moving. I guess I'm kind of used to him over there and since I am working from home I have had time to study his changes and the way he does things. 

They really are quite remarkable creatures. He loves it when I softly pet the top of his head with my finger. I know I've hit the right spot when his eyes close. Mostly I use a soft make-up brush. My daughter and I went through a phase a couple of years back when for some reason or another, we bought a bunch of make up brushes. Naturally, the ones I use for the dragon I do not use for me. A large one with the bristles fanned out is the cat's favorite toy. He loves that thing. I haven't seen it in a while, so he must have pushed it under something. I'll have to look for it.

I Want to Stay Home

I ventured north to work on a family member's computer Friday. I hesitated because all three people in the house are over 75. And my county just went to a higher level this week. Sigh.

 I am back home and staying home. I have no plans to leave for at least a week, I am hoping longer. I am going to try to do a job remotely. They want me to come to them on Friday the 30th. I have all this week to remote into their computers and get what I need to get done finished. I don't want to go there.

I don't want to go there even when there is no pandemic going on. They are what we call "End users who we need to hold their hand."   Which basically translates to they can't do or think for themselves (as far as technology goes). Whether they can't or won't is debatable, but they do not move forward unless I go there and do it for them or walk them through it.

Next book up:  "The Thursday Murder Club" by Richard Osman.

I may also start " Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis."

I want to stay home. I love to stay home. I don't need to socialize. Well, not much.

 

Drained

 Totally. Drained. I awoke with a migraine this morning. I went to bed with this little nagging headache. I had a migraine last week also. Rats. I was having them so rarely, I thought - yay.  When I got out of bed, I immediately took my sumatriptan and ibuprofen. 

Now, I am drained. Completely void of any mental or physical energy. I am able to work but not exuberantly. If I ever did work exuberantly. I'm pretty sure I have. But certainly not today.

I always described a migraine or a post-migraine as feeling like a wet, limp dish rag. My Mom always used the thinnest dish rags she could find so she could fit her hand inside of glasses. After finishing the dishes, I would squeeze the water out of the dish rag and there was barely anything to the poor, wet thing.

I wanted to tell you about the book "Sonya". It was difficult starting out, but it picked up and I liked it later on. And, the old British show "Upstairs Downstairs".  I am watching that - the 70's version. 

But right now all I want to do is sleep. I may take the rest of the afternoon off from work and just do that. Except I took a vacation day tomorrow. You know that looks fishy when you do that and then take off sick the day or afternoon before a vacation day. Like you are starting your vacation early. 

Not in this case. I really just want to sleep.

It could also be that I only had a half cup of coffee this morning instead of my usual 2 cups. That was all I could manage to drink.

Screw it. Screw what co-workers think. I'm going to bed.

Yowza

 I think I know where they came up with the idea for the scary Halloween characters we see in movies, in costumes and in our nightmares.

At first I thought that was her hair, but on a closer look, it is a hat/scarf or head covering of sorts and she had white/gray or blond hair.

I kind of like the head covering. I wonder if it was significant to a religion or her nationality. It reminds me of the scarves I would wear when all my hair fell out. I never did order a wig. I hate wigs. I can't even wear one on Halloween without sweating so much my hair is soaked. But the scarves and I got along just fine. Even if one made me look like a gypsy. Maybe I'll get brave enough and post a picture of me with no hair. Some people look good bald. I don't happen to be one of them.

Oh, and I think she is an ancestor of mine. A first cousin passed away and my brother ended up being the executor of his estate. He had been an only child and had his mother's huge chest of photographs and memorabilia. The above image is from this collection.  My brother painstakingly scanned all of the images (there were hundreds) and shared them with our other cousins. 

This guy had no will. No siblings. Parents long gone. Between both sides of his parents family he had eighty-some cousins. My brother got the job of tracking them all down and notifying them to see where they wanted their check sent, etc...  You read about this happening in books or in movies and you think "How does somebody not have a will?"  But it happens. 

Divvied up between eighty-some cousins it was nothing to crow about - but it would buy somebody a nice TV or new furniture set or even a laptop or computer.  The guy was a hermit. Through the years, my brother and sister (the older ones that played with him when they were small) tried reaching out to him several times as he lived only an hour away from where they live. He never answered the door, the phone or any letters.

Like I said, you hear about these people. I just never thought I would actually know one.

 

Little Blue Car

 Dug into my archives to do more posting of photos I have taken instead of finding ones on the Internet.    I believe the car is a 1963 Austin Wagon.  The date is June 2016.  I have no memory of where this was taken.  The Image properties option tells you a lot about the photo, but I thought I recall reading about a camera that would record the longitude and latitude of where the image was taken. That would be kind of nifty. Then 200 years from now, if by some chance an image survives - our future ancestors would know.

Take the Long Way Home

 After work Friday, I took the long way home.  The last few weeks have been a chaotic blur at work. I don't have to go often to a school physically, but I did on Friday.  Afterward, it was such a pretty afternoon, I slipped into the back (back) roads and headed home. Not for long. I didn't want to get lost.

Life in the year 1000

 The statue is a memorial to Byrhtnoth. He was the leader of the English (Anglo-Saxon) forces at the Battle of Maldon  in 991 AD.

Records declare he was six feet 9 inches tall.  Holy wow!

During this period in time, Vikings were coming from north to plunder the English country. It was customary for the English army to dismount and have their horses taken away from the battleground for safe keeping.

A cad stole By's trusty steed and rode away. Several men witnessed the horse galloping away and thought that it was the leader retreating, so they ran, too.

Poor By was not retreating and he perished at the Battle of Maldon. It does not specify where he was first buried but he was dug up and moved several times.  It was during one of these moves (1769) that the bones were measured and it was determined he was 6 feet 9 inches tall.

Fun fact (well not fun exactly) - the reason a sword has that long groove down the complete body of the weapon is to create an air pocket in the victim so it is easier to pull the sword back out. I wonder if this is what happens when you read where somebody twisted the knife after they stab them. Are they creating a pocket of air so they can pull the blade back out?

The book I was reading was "The Year 1000" by Robert Lacey. I had been looking for material to find out what kind of clothing/dress was available in that time frame. The book has so much more, though.

Next up:  "Agent Sonya" by Ben MacIntyre. I've been waiting to be able to check this one out. I am getting restless like the rest of the world is. Tired of the quarantine. Going places I probably should not be going. Sigh. It's just that I love the fall weather. All the area festivals have been canceled this year. I don't really go to them anymore, anyway. Too much walking for me. 

Once the cold weather really sets in, it will be easier to hibernate.

Happy "belated" Birthday

 I may have mentioned this chap before. This is a (younger) Jeremy Irons. He turned 72 on the 19th of this month. Brideshead Revisited was the first show I watched with Irons in it. I'm not sure if I fell in love with him or the English countryside. Ah - it was probably the voice. Of course.

Back in the early 80's we had 3 television channels. 4 if you didn't mind a fuzzy one. But one that came in clear as a bell was PBS. My Mom and I were looking for something to watch on Sunday afternoons, and we discovered this mini series.

I have Brideshead on DVD. Other shows I have liked with Irons in them were The Lion King (voice of Scar), Elizabeth I (a Lord and an Earl),and  Die Hard with a Vengeance. 

There are a lot of movies I have not watched. They just don't interest me. I think I watched some of Reversal of Fortune.  

Other than a brief (less than a year) marriage in 1969, Irons has been married to Sinéad Cusak since 1978. It always pleases me when I see a relationship last through the years. Funny I say that because I am not keen on marriage. For myself, I don't care about others. They can do what they want. 

But I am always pleased to see long term relationships. I don't know why. I guess if you think about it, I could see an actor who has been married four times because he didn't want to cheat on his spouse so he would make a break before or after he broke up with them. And was honest enough to tell them and then move on.

Or I could see somebody in a long-term relationship and for all I know one spouse cheated on the other several times or even just once but they remain together. I'm not sure which one would be worse. I guess in my 'rose-colored glasses world' I like to think that in the long term relationships - nobody cheated.

Sinéad.

To get the accent over the é, instead of typing the letter e, hold down the Alt key (on a PC) and using the number keypad type 130. Release both hands and the é should appear.

Hold Alt while typing 130.

Here is a neat one.  §

Hold Alt key while typing 0167.

If you hold Alt and type only 167 you will get    º

Hold Alt while typing 0169  ©  for the copyright symbol/character.

Alt key plus 169 will produce   ⌐

Hold Alt while typing 0174  ®  for the Registered trademark.

Alt key plus only 174 =   «

 Lookup up ASCII characters to see others.  If confused by the charts, just remember to hold the Alt key down and if there are several columns for a symbol - use the Dec (decimal) one.

I am sorry but I am not an Apple person so I don't have any idea if it works on macs or not.

Writing this post I discovered that the Cusak Irons is married to is not related to the Amerian Cusaks. Which brings me to yet another favorite.... John Cusak.

I try not to read too much about the fellows in their real life habitat (articles) because rarely are they like the characters the play. (Of course, they are actors - I know that).  But still.

I also try not to watch them on talk shows. I am not a big fan of talk shows so that isn't much of a problem.  

Remember - Video Killed the Radio Star

You hear a song on the radio and you think - oh, that is a beautiful song so of course your brain thinks it must be a beautiful person singing it. Then music videos came out on  televisions and your song comes on and you get to see the singer or the group and you go "Ewww....."

 

Family

 A few years back (in this blog) I mentioned I have four older sisters. And three older brothers. One sister told me one night in the early 80's while we were out drinking that she had a baby girl while she was away at school in Columbus OH, born in 1973 and she gave her up for adoption.

Well, with this sister - you just didn't know whether to believe her or not. I'm like "Oh, okay."

An even older sister had a boy in 1972. He was the first grandchild in our family. I was 12 at the time and became very close to my first nephew.

My family is not strict or prudish. My sister's baby girl would have been welcomed with open arms.

Fast forward to 2014 or 2015 when everybody and their neighbor was getting their DNA tested. I had one nephew who did and my brother called me and told me his son had a DNA match performed and had a 99% match in the Columbus area. Well, we had cousins in Columbus. My nephew was a doctor and told my brother it would be more of an immediate family match.

So my brother calls me. I am sitting there talking to him on the phone and he asks me "Do we have any close relatives in Columbus?"  I said "cousins."  He said - "No, does anyone in the family have ties with anyone in the area who may be closer in blood relation?"  He must have heard somebody say something. My sister had told my Mom at some point in time.

I said "uh....well....."

And the story has a beautiful, happy ending.

My sister was reunited with her biological daughter (who we all love). Sadly, the father had passed away in the early 90's. But she was excited to find out she had a brother and a sister. The brother was born in 1977 and the sister in 1987. (These are the two I had with me a lot over the years).

I recognized my side of the family in her features and she had her father's lips. When I first met her I asked her if she had migraines and she said "Oh, yes."  The poor thing had a brain aneurysm rupture about a year prior to our reuniting. She did not say if it was related to migraines or not. She had been on a sabbatical from work for a year or so. Mostly to recover and some to write.

She recently married (covid postponed it, of course). She now lives in Philadelphia PA. She is a professor at a university and she is well-traveled. I read her facebook page and she has lived a life that was probably quite different than if she had not been adopted. There are positives to both sides of this situation. There always are.

I mean, last summer she and her students went to Greece (education excursion, not vacation). I find her amazing.

In May 2018 she stopped to visit and meet our family after she stayed in a cabin for a week in WV by herself so she could get some writing done.

She is a wonderful person and I am so proud to have her in our family. A group of us want to go to Philadelphia to visit her some day. Of course, covid has everything postponed. My sister and her family have met her husband (at the time her boyfriend). I've met him through facebook.

A lot of people wonder how my sister hid a pregnancy. Well, she was (is) a small person and she did not gain much weight. This was before she started drinking and she was very studious and her boyfriend (future husband and father to three of her children) would visit her a lot. He knew of the adoption she said. She even came home for Christmas 1972 and was able to hide the pregnancy. We had no clue until she told me in the early 80's. She usually told me everything. She said she would tell me things because I don't judge and I don't share confidential information.

But what a story! I love it. And it happened to MY family! This is a story I would usually read about in Readers Digest or something. I can't wait for this covid thing to be over so that we can continue to nourish this beautiful person with our love. We coming for you baby girl. We will paint you with love. We just have to remember not to overwhelm the poor thing. There are like 50 of us in the immediate family and it is still growing. We are on another generation of children and they are coming fast.

I remember last Christmas dinner (we have to meet at a restaurant because it is too much for one house) I stood up and said "For the love of God - stop having babies!" At the time I did not know my nephew's girlfriend was pregnant. They weren't telling anyone, yet. She just had the baby - a beautiful boy.

And of course I felt bad for two of my nieces who had tried to have a baby and it just didn't happen. One had a boy and wanted to try for a second child. My family knows and understands I was just being funny and acting overwhelmed. (In a good way - and I know that I am damned blessed).

I have another niece who is half raising her cousin's baby girl. She has her all the time and her facebook is full of pictures of her. She does not have any of her own.

So my Mom and Dad had 8 children, 13 grandchildren and 1 step grandchild, 12 great grandchildren with 7 step-great grandchildren. So far. Most of the females in my family put their career or education first and this results in less children or missing the window entirely. For some that is okay.

It won't stop!

 Omigosh! Some days I sit for long stretches, reading, watching a show, playing a game that is supposed to strengthen my memory palace. Nobody to talk to but the dogs, cat and beardie.

Then there is today. Big breath.  I had to test a circuit after hours - and then had to call it in for repair. The tech on the other end took

 longer than they usually do, so that pushed me back an hour.

Meanwhile, my sweet nephew said it has been 2 years and he needed to update me on all the home improvements he has been making on his house to get it ready to sell. It is beautiful, has me drooling. 

Then my daughter has to have a sleep study test but she has to be tested for the virus first. She just messaged me and told me she was scared. Oh dear. She now wants me to go with her while she is tested. I will because I am curious to see how it's done ( I mean I know it is a long Q-tip up the nose) and I know we won't get instant results. But she wants me to go (btw, she is 29). LOL!

I have tons of reading (online newspapers) to catch up on and I am juggling two books. And I want to watch another episode of the British comedy "As Time Goes By". It is great - the episodes are only 20 minutes or so each and each season only has 7 episodes! That sure beats the 22 or so episodes we were getting with TV shows here recently. The first season of The Beverly Hillbillies had 35 episodes. Nope - wait. Make that 36.  Information here:  http://epguides.com/   I have found about every TV show that has ever been on in this site. I am a big fan. (Of the site, not The Beverly Hillbillies - that sitcom lost it's lustre a long time ago).

So, I just get into my news about the fires out west and buzz, buzz - I have a new message. I know I can ignore it, but I had already held my nephew off for an hour while I was calling that circuit in. And my daughter is working - this may be her only free time. And she needs me. 

Still an embryo

 

There is a movie about Helen Reddy's life after she arrives in NYC in circa 1965 until years after she had made it big. The title of course is "I Am Woman".  It moves along rather quickly, it doesn't get stuck on the details of making records. It touches more on human relationships.

One thing I did learn was that the lyrics in the song is "I'm still an embryo". I started singing the song when it came out on the radio - '72 or '73 and I had no idea what she was saying, so I just sang "I'm still an angry oath"  -  After almost 50 years of singing that song do you think I'll even come close to remembering the word embryo?  At 12 or 13 I'm not certain I knew what an embryo was. There was no Internet to look up the lyrics. One of my older siblings purchased the above album. I don't think the lyrics were printed there, I usually would have read those.

Angry oath? Hell, I don't know. If they can say "Ain't my cup of meat" in "The Mighty Quinn" I can create an angry oath. I mean women were angry back then, right? The ERA and burning bras. I know a lot of people say "Nothing's changed."  But I think it has. We may be too close to the change to really notice but I think perhaps over time, you know - baby steps.

However, I can't in good faith post this without wondering how in the HELL some of the women in this nation supported what we having leading our country today. Where were they when Helen was singing? Were they marching and making signs? I have a feeling most of them I know would be right up there in the front of the crowd. If so - shame on them. For all the garbage that Narcissist has spewed from his mouth - how can they even look at themselves in the mirror? And I've asked them. I ask them "How can you vote for him when he said "insert derogatory remark here".  They just give me a defiant look and say they don't believe he said it, or it was for show - he didn't really mean it. 

Speaking of....I finished the book "Hill Women". That author did a lot of asking her old home folk why they voted for him. She got the "I thought he would change things, but I'm not voting for him again." Let's hope not. But does it matter? If it is all rigged and it is crooked? Does it matter? I have started reading "Fear. Trump in the Whitehouse" by Bob Woodward. I get so angry and frustrated I have to quit reading it. That is why I am also reading "Shakey" a biography about Neil Young. I go back and forth.

As Time Goes By

 Okay, one of you out there in Bloggerland mentioned the British comedy "As Time Goes By" and now I am addicted.  Judi Dench is about as good as it gets. She has won so many awards it boggles the mind.

Anyway, can you imagine a place where time does not exist? I am not certain I have the mental energy to delve into that subject. 

Above is my father and his twin being held by their Mother - my paternal grandmother. My dad was born in October 1915 - so this is probably spring 1916? My Mom was not sure which baby was my dad. My grandmother did go blind years after this photo - I believe the cause was glaucoma.

Next up....

  Next up - started reading Hill Women.  I'm done with Fleetwood Mac (two books) and their garish, over-the-top lifestyle. Now I am visiting the other end of the spectrum. My kinfolk are from the hills of West (by-God) Virginia so I think I might relate better to this story. I am not sure if the entire book is, but the first chapters are about Kentucky and their hollers. Reminds me of Loretta Lynn's Coal Miner's Daughter.

Where did they go?

 

At 10 years old I can remember having headaches. Coming from a large family, I slept in a bedroom with my Mom for a couple of years. She awoke every morning at 4 a.m. and I would hear that match strike. And I would smell the cigarette smoke. And I would get a headache - every single day.

 Well, back then you did not say anything to your parents lest you get back handed. Or worse, the silent treatment for three to four days. Actually, I t never occurred to me to complain. What my Mom did was similar to the sun coming up every day. It just did and you never questioned it.

It wasn't long before I was moved into another bedroom with my two sisters closest to my age. They may have smoked, but they didn't do it in our bedroom.

At 12 years old, I experienced my first migraine. Every week or so, I was throwing up in the bathroom at school. My Mom didn't drive, my sisters and brothers all worked or went to school. You just powered through. Nobody was coming to pick you up. My dad could drive, but he was not allowed to or just didn't have a car available. When he would get a car it wasn't long before he wrecked it (drunk) and totaled it and - there again - no car. 

Over the past 50 years, I've had so many headaches. The back of the head, the top of the head, this side, that side, my forehead, my sinus, sometimes even my hair hurt (sensitive where the roots were), the horrible eye pain where it felt like somebody was sticking a fork into my eye socket. I used to rate my headaches from 1 to 10. A guy I knew laughed when I made the comment I have a headache and a half. He said "How can you  have a headache and a half?  A headache is a headache."  Oh, how I wish kind sir. Most of the time depending on the level of pain - the headache rating determined what it was I was able to do and what I was not able to do.  Listen or watch t.v. (sounds and flickering lights)?  - things like that.

In 2017 I had a full hysterectomy due to Stage IIIA endometrial carcinoma. This was the hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy).  Ovaries and fallopian tubes out, along with the uterus - cervix gets to stay. And they make you say it about five times before surgery as they are prepping you.  The nurse would ask "Okay, now what are you having done today?"  Finally I just said Hysterectomy with the oophro thing).  I mean seriously.

Then a few weeks of recovery and a few months of chemo (gosh, how many did I have - 9 I'm thinking?) Wow - how strange is it that I don't even remember?  Hell, my sister told me a day last August was the day I had my first chemo session. I was like "really? Hell if I remember." I did not need radiation, I know that much. And I did not get sick during chemo. I got the peripheral Neuropathy.

But somewhere I lost my headaches. The migraines leaving had to be the best - of course I had always said they started with my menarche and so it figures they would end with menopause. I have one every now and then but nothing like before. And then mysteriously - the regular every day or almost every day headaches disappeared. I know about rebound headaches and there were several times I stopped taking over the counter medication in an effort to stop my headaches. Now a bottle of ibuprofin will last me forever.

The reason for this post?  I was scheduled at a school today at 9 a.m. I got a late start and I skipped breakfast. I did have my coffee. I started at 9 a.m. and other than three bathroom breaks, it was non-stop typing over my laptop until 3 p.m. The school was so far out in the country, to drive somewhere to get lunch, I may as well drive home. I did not plan the day lasting that long (we never do). But driving home from 3 to 4 p.m. in the full sunshine with the A/C on in my car, I relished the "no pain" in my head and how for 50 years if I skipped eating, I'd pay dearly. Usually I would be so sick with a headache, I couldn't eat or if I did eat, it would come back up in the wee hours of the night after laying in bed for hours with a migraine. I stopped at the grocery store, picked up cat food and a few items I needed and did not eat anything until 5 p.m. and did not get sick. It was a miracle.

Where did the headaches go?  As far as I can tell - they left with the oophro things.

Schools and social distancing

 Most of us have been inside a school bus. It has been a while for me, but I don't think they have changed all that much. The seats ?  Pretty much the same.

While having my teeth cleaned today, the hygienist was telling me about her niece return to school. The students are not permitted lockers, they must carry ALL of their gear with them from room to room. Wow. Here come the back problems.

The school created clear plastic shields for each child to carry. They have all their stuff in their backpack on their back and a plastic shield. I suppose they are to sit the shield on their desk during class?

She touched on a couple of other things schools were doing, but then hit me with this one. Her niece is on the volleyball team. The varsity and junior teams both piled into two school buses (3 to a seat) for an hour and a half trip one way. Plastic shields nowhere in sight, there wouldn't have been room for them, anyway. I know this much. I wouldn't want to be an administrator making decisions and rules in the school districts today because they are going to be damned if they do, and damned if they don't. But I suppose they are used to that.

Back to 1977

 

The school year was 1977/78. I was a senior in high school. I listened to Rumors by Fleetwood Mac all the time. Currently reading "Gold Dust Woman" - a biography of Stevie Nicks. She is a bit too girly and eccentric for my taste. I believe (if this story is correct) she cried all the time if she did not get her way.     I also believe that Lindsey Buckingham was high on the Narcissistic scale.

 Actually, I love Christie McVie's voice and looks. I think she would be far more interesting of a person to know. From what little bit we get to learn about her - I find there are several aspects of her personality that I like. Minus the infidelities. It would suck to break up with somebody only to have to see them every day when you go off to work. For years.

All in all the story is pretty much like we all thought it was being a rock and roll star during that time. The drugs, booze and infidelity. Such a shameful waste. Such a shredding of a life. With all that we know, with all that we read about - the poverty, the genocide, the horror of what goes on in life - are we to take ourselves out of this madness for a while and listen to the artists' muse?

Excess. So many (almost all) give in to the excessive lifestyle.

I understand imbibing to enhance the creative process. But it sure is a slippery slope.

It doesn't get much clearer than this

"... if you choose to stay and we can't get to you, write your name, address, social security number and next of kin and put it a Ziploc bag in your pocket."

Told to folks who stayed behind in Louisiana. So sad. So many have no where to go or refused to go.

I did not know this

 

I guess a lot of birds get killed by flying into the blades of the wind turbines. But a study shows that if you paint just one blade a different color, the contrast cuts the death by a lot.

 

We only have one in our town. A motel has one.  Those things are huge.  

 

We all want to be more green, more efficient. Maybe big oil company giants don't want to be - not sure about them. But we average people, we are trying to recycle, re-use, reduce.

Amazes me

 

It just amazes me to ponder how people think they are privileged so much in life above others that they permit themselves to park like this. What must it be like to live with somebody like this or work with them. Certainly they live in their own little world. They certainly have no consideration for others or experience any empathy. I'm trying to recall if there were folks like this in the 70's. I know there must have been but perhaps I did not recognize the signs.

Plowing through the Books

 

 

I cut the cable cord years ago. A few times I found myself just sitting in the chair surfing the channels and like a bumblebee lighting onto a show and staying there until I had enough pollen and then on to the next channel. Things I normally would not choose to watch. Like watching an episode of "Seinfeld" for the umpteenth time. Pausing at documentaries and animal shows.

Now, I browse the Internet. I still watch some TV shows. I just watch them later - long after they have aired. You can do that at cbs.com or abc.com etc...

And, we have Netflix. A family pack. And I have Amazon Prime. Between all of that, I get quite a variety of shows to watch if I choose.

Lately, I've been reading. And reading, and reading. Currently close to finishing "My Husband's Wife" by Jane Corry. My sister (1944) suggested this one. 

Next is "The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett. Then one a friend recommended "2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas" by Marie-Helen Bertino.

After "No Country for Old Men" I read "Say Nothing" by Brad Parks.

I'm not one to recommend books to read. I have usually discovered that when somebody tells me about a book or movie, for some bizarre reason I end up not enjoying it so much. I don't know why. I don't think I am disappointed or I was expecting too much.

 Although I have to admit one from a long time ago always tickled me. The author Richard Powell makes me laugh.

I did something today that I rarely EVER do (if ever).  I didn't listen. Well, I guess I did it Sunday evening, Monday morning. I drank my coffee. I ate breakfast. I did not fast for 12 hours. I did NOT go back into the hospital to have a re-draw of my blood work.  I checked my chart on-line and all the numbers were recorded. Mostly similar to all my other numbers I have taken every 6 months.

 

So, I just didn't go.  Then today I did something almost as rare. I canceled my doctor appointment. I started the day not feeling all that swift. I had some hard research to do and it took me a solid 3 hours to find and gather the information that was needed. Once I gathered all of that, I fought with a cantankerous program.

 

By noon I called in sick for the rest of the day. My appt was scheduled for 3. I called in and canceled that, too. What usually keeps me going to my regular appointments is in order to get my medication prescriptions renewed, I have to go to the appointment. But they are so out of whack, I have 4 months left on all of them.

 

What is going on with me?  I've never been rebellious. I've always done what I was told to do (well, at least by doctors and such). 

Then I read where long term effects of the virus could be chronic fatigue and foggy brain. Gee - maybe I already had the virus because I am experiencing both of those symptoms in full force these days. I thought it was just the aging process or long lasting effects from the chemo.

Bad blood draw

 Ugh. I did the usual 12 hour fast overnight for my blood draw this morning. No coffee, nothing. It was crowded and the wait took over an hour. She had trouble getting blood. I've always had luck at the hospital for drawing blood. But no - not today.

Came home, got coffee and breakfast. About 1:30 I get a call. Blood draw was no good.

Sigh.

Who's a good boi?

 

About five years ago my daughter moved out with our two smaller dogs, Cheech and Chong, leaving just me, my monster cat (Moses) and the Boxer at home. That silly, lovable Boxer passed away in July 2017. I think. Dates are fuzzy for me. I said "No more dogs. Let's keep life simple with just the cat."

 Alas, I saw this baby advertised. I don't know why. I had been pet free for two months. I lasted two whole months. I went to pick him up. He was not neutered and came to find out from the vet that he had heart worm. She could not "fix" him until that was treated. It took a year. It was rough at times. Something about the worms were flushed from the heart into the blood stream to get rid of them. I don't know. I could be wrong about that - but it was just horrible to think the dog had that going on inside of him. Ugh.

Well, he endured. He was "fixed".  His roaming (running away) was curtailed a bit. I never did fully trust him out in the yard like I could with Cheech and Chong so he was on a cable run when I let him out. 

When you get a stray, you never know how old they are and the vet can only guess. I named him BB for Big Baby. He was afraid of storms and he whined when I first brought him home (could be because he was not "fixed").  He was a very Big Baby. He was a beautiful dog and he was very well behaved (except when he ran away).

His back legs became more and more arthritic. Until one day he just could not get up. My daughter and I sent him across the rainbow bridge and added another box of ashes to my shelf. That makes 3. Sable, Slade and BB.  Sable was our first dog (who ate the chocolate/peanut butter buckeyes) and Slade. Oh, my Slade. I can't talk about him. Just yet.

Well, my daughter moved back in and then back out - but Cheech and Chong have stayed with me along with that monster - Moses. He is something else.

I've told myself (again) after Cheech and Chong pass - no more pets. I want to retire within the next five years or so and I don't want to be tied down by pets.

I suppose BB looked like our first dog, Sable. And I am just a sucker for black dogs I guess; and those big beautiful brown eyes.

Porch Pony

This last May, I turned 60. I told family and friends I was not celebrating this year due to the corona. Family did okay, but friends - not so much. Anyway, family sent some gifts. One day I received Omaha Steaks. The next day two of those HUGE boxes of Whitman's Sampler chocolates and I guess one of my brother's heard me say "I received steaks on Friday, chocolate on Saturday if there isn't a pony on my porch tomorrow, I'm gonna be pissed!"

It was a couple of days later.  I got my pony.

LOL!   It still is fun to be the baby of the family.

No Country for Old Men - And now the book.

And now, the book.

My goodness. I saw the movie years ago. Before 2012, that is the year I began keeping a record of each movie I watch.  I'm finally getting around to reading the book. I have to say, I like the way it is written. It moves along quickly and keeps me interested.

However, if I had not seen the movie - I would have trouble telling who was what character from the book. It gives their last names and I don't think I knew their names in the movie, except for Llewelyn. Now that I've seen the movie, I can picture each character.

I am going to crack two others this week. I like to go back and forth. When I get bored with one, I read some of the other. I remember my Mom reading four books at a time. She was always reading.  My older sister 1944 suggested "My Husband's Wife" by Jane Corry. I tried to start that one last week, but I was already reading one called "The Dragons, the Giant, the Women-A Memoir" by Wayetu Moore and it had a little girl telling the story and so does My Husband's Wife (starting out anyway) so it got confusing.

The other I may crack open is "Trust No One" by Debra Webb. 

Are you a seasoned e-reader? There are several formats for e-books. epub, mobi, azw and azw3, not to mention pdf and html. I use calibre. It can read all formats. Well, pdf I open in Adobe of course and html in a browser but I don't read many in that format. My fave is epub because that is what I started on with my Nook. I still have the Nook, it just won't hold a charge. I purchased a new cord and same - I can read it if it is plugged in, but what good is that? So, I just read off my computer screen. IBA's have no place in my life. I hate to use the word never, but I can pretty much be certain I won't be using any Apple products. I believe Kindle uses the azw and azw3 format.

There are several others, but not as popular as the top 3. epub, mobi and azw3. And Calibre works on Linux. Every once in a while I'll need a Linux fix. I'll format a laptop in the latest version of Ubuntu and re-learn everything, just to do it. Though mostly a command line prompt, you can use a GUI interface for Linux and browse the Internet.

My niece told me she was bored and got on the Dark Web the other night. I think a lot of people have seen the tv show "Dead to Me" where the main character browses the Dark Web so they "google" how to do it. I did go there back in 2016. I am not sure if there is another way to do it, but I used Tails and Tor. I got it working and I asked my niece if it was still clunky looking. She said yes.

Developers on the Dark Web don't bother with all the bells and whistles and advertising that we see. I wanted to see if I could do it because I was managing the filter for the schools and you know those pesky kids. They are a thousand times smarter than us Boomers and can figure things out lightning fast. When flash drives first came out there was a software techs could use to stop end users from plugging in to the usb ports. Well, it worked by not allowing the device to create a new e drive or f drive or whatever next letter in the alphabet was available. Nowadays - you have to be able to use the usb port for so many things plus a flash drive. What was that program they used? Oh, I can't recall and I found a site with the top ten and none of them ring a bell.

Poor Bolt

When I finally put the back wallpaper up on Bolt's tank he tried to climb the columns to the ancient ruins. It took him a couple of days but he finally started to ignore them.

Bearded dragons are very popular. My daughter got her first one in 2017 and raised her from a baby. This one she purchased a year later from a private owner. Her female died recently. The females can have clutches of infertile eggs. She had a successful clutch of 25 - 30 about a year ago. This time, she had problems with laying the eggs and passed away.

Heart-shaped blue saphhire

My daughter got engaged last evening. Yes, I went out to a bar in public with about 10 people in attendance.  That is the limit in Ohio, I think. It was supposed to be a surprise but when her beau informed her that she "HAD" to have Saturday the 1st off from work...she knew.  And little hints and other observations. So, I made certain I was there for her.

I was the only one from our side of the family and that is okay. All the others were his side. They are a wonderful people who believe in marriage and God and all the good things in life. They are not like me. A cynical, jaded old woman.

I am going to try very hard NOT to shove any negativity my daughter's way. I've been negative about marriage and relationships all of her life and every once in a while I can hear myself in her words and expressions about the same thing.

I come from a family of 8. 6 married and 5 are divorced. Marriage is not for the lazy. I myself, am ambivalent about the necessity of marriage. I am not affiliated with a religion so to me there is no "sin" in co-habitation out of wedlock. I have a child, so you can see I could care less about ruining my reputation or worrying about what others think if I have a child out of wedlock.

I used to believe in love. When I was younger. Now, I'm more like "Hey - you don't have insurance in your job but she does - go get married so you can get health insurance."  A union of necessity.

I gauge her beaus by how they treat animals and their parents. This tells me if they have empathy and respect. Two things I want in a partner for my daughter. This one has both.

I have always worked - have always had health insurance for both me and my daughter. I purchased my own home. No child support was sent my way. To me (not being religious), there is no logical reason for marriage. Absolutely none.

Hey...where in the heck is the spell-checker?  I can't remember!

Too Much and Never Enough

Been on a reading frenzy lately. I'm still around. Still on the computer for about 14 hours a day. Now that I am working from home, I rarely leave the screen.

My gosh, I almost didn't get in to post this. I could not remember where to go, could not remember what my login email was (old, old, old) and security answer was not working. Whew. Finally, with my cryptic notes that I keep on the computer, I managed.

I think I read the above book in 2 days. I also had the book by J Bolton - but it is hard for me to stay interested with that one, so I moved on.  But of course the one above kept my interest.

I do all my reading on-line with e-books. I like non-fiction more than fiction.

For pets, I am down to 1 bearded dragon, 2 dogs and my Monster cat. Over the past couple of months I lost one dog and one beardie. Sad, both of them.

I don't mind staying home. I don't mind working from home. Now, about twice a month or so, I have to drive to a school and install or replace some equipment physically. Summer is usually a busy time for that (because if the Internet is going to go off-line they want to do it when the staff and students are gone) but this summer I only had 2.  And one I did not have to do anything but babysit the job while 3 other guys did the work. I was just there in case my equipment wigged out. It did not. I was a bit put off that I wore a mask and the three guys working did not. So, I sat in another room for most of the day reading.

I think reddit has replaced my need for blogging. I make comments on there (I am incognito under a false name) about tv shows I watch, flowers, books - things that catch my interest. I steer clear of politics, religion and sex. It is not hard to do because just reading a few posts on those sub reddits has me moving on to another topic. Like horses, or kittens, or baby goats.

It's been a while. I think I am ready to get back into the blog posting. We will see.  Above is my cat Moses. He is a Manx.  He is in the dishwasher. This is by far the strangest cat I have ever owned.

I'm still rescuing animals. Currently I have the one cat (above), 3 dogs and 2 bearded dragons. The dragons were not my choice.  I have to say I am used to them now and I don't mind feeding them bugs and worms. They also eat a lot of greens. Greens that I did not purchase before. Bok choy, mustard greens, parsley, butternut squash (which is way delicious!), kale and a few other interesting food items.

Had a bout with cancer. Be glad I was not posting pics during that phase. Some people look good bald. I'm not one of them.

Went through some emotional rough patches.

Work is somehow better than it used to be. 

Looking forward to catching up with old friends. I hope they are still on board.

What a year for re-makes!  I watched "King Kong-Skull Island," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Beaches,"  just to name a few so far this year.

I enjoyed this version of King Kong. Other movies have been horrible. I am thinking to myself, 'Oh no!  It's true!  That have finally run out of movie ideas!' 

Laughing to myself. No, of course they haven't. It just seems to be a dry spell. As far as I am concerned, anyway.  I look forward to watching G Hawn in the movie "Snatched."  Not a fan of A Schumer, but that may be changing. I hope there is more W Sykes than just what the preview shows.

A shout out to "Fences" with Denzel and Viola.

Seeing the underbelly of the beast

I think my first exposure to B Cosby was listening to the album with my siblings to the "Noah, right!" comedy sketch. We roared. There was the "Fat Albert" cartoon, a few movies and his stand-up (or rather him sitting in a chair) routine. I loved him. He was very talented, made me laugh.

It just goes to show you that you cannot and should not think you "know" someone by watching them "act" on television. I recall watching a favorite actor on a talk show and have hated him ever since. He acted totally arrogant and like a buffoon. It begins to dawn on you that there is a lot of ugly in a lot of people.

B Cosby was (is) a great entertainer. If he is guilty of what a lot of women are claiming that he did, he sickens me to no end. I cannot imagine what his wife and daughters are going through. I wonder how many actors/actresses are also guilty of nefarious deeds and we just go on idolizing them. What a circus we have created with our celebrity worship.

Being a great actor/actress is one thing. Abusing your status to manipulate and use others for your own hedonistic pleasure is despicable.

Know when to quit

Kathy Griffen has set women back 50 years. Thanks a lot. You could have just gone and hid under a rock, but no. You had to go and make a "crying, blaming, hysterical woman" out of yourself. Exactly the kind of stereotype we have been fighting for years. Especially against men such as Trump.

This photo was taken Friday during my lunch break. It was at a nearby dollar store. Seriously, the sign itself had to cost more than a nickel. Five cents!?  What in the world?

Little Helpers

I thought this photo was adorable. My niece has one daughter (about 11) and three little boys ages 4, 3 and 2. I think. Maybe it is 5, 3 and 2. This is the (almost 3 year old) helping the two year old. I am going Sunday to the 3 yr old's birthday party. I went back and looked at my family birthday list. The girl is 11 ½, she is R1. R2 = 5 ½, R3 = 3, and R4 = 1 ½. Yes, my niece also deliberately named all her children with the first letter R. And, they are unusual names - not ones you see everyday. I expect her to be in a mental institute in about 7 years. Give or take. I know I would be.

I never was a fan of T Woods. But, the possibility of his arrest being publicly displayed bothers me beyond belief. I do not watch videos of this nature, so I have no idea if it was real or not or what transpired in it. I don't care to know. It is a personal tragedy and for it to be displayed in such a way is a vulgar, outright disgrace. I am also no fan of K Griffin and I could care less if she was let go by CNN or any other network for that matter. I am also no fan of Trump, but show a little respect.Or at least show a little tact.

I'll get off my soapbox, now.

Channeling Turner

I've mentioned before that J.M.W. Turner was one of my favorite artists. It started many many moons ago when I read the book "The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins. The cover on the paperback book was part of the Turner painting "The Fighting Temeraire".  The right half of the picture with the stone and the setting sun was used as the book's cover.

My photo above from September 2016 reminded me of the skies that Turner would paint that looked as if they were on fire.

Napping in the warm sunshine

Here's my baby  err...old man  dog at my daughter's house. She said he lays outside on the deck in the sun all day long. She watches him for me while I work. When she moved out, she took the two black dogs we have (Cheech and Chong) to her house. The boxer has serious separation anxiety. I cannot leave him at home alone. My neighbor says he howls all day long when he is alone. He also scratches the wood on the doors and almost tears the place up.

I found him in 2009 (a month or so after I picked up Cheech and Chong). The vet said he could be anywhere from 1 to 3 years old. Boxers average lifespan (I believe) is around 10 years.

The movie had an interesting cast. Will Smith, Helen Mirren, Ed Norton, et alii.  I needed tissues at the end of it.  Collateral Beauty. Not stellar, but good enough for me. Usually,  I am better at predicting the ending, but this one caught me off guard. 

Now I am off to find a heating pad for an earache. And, my crown came off of one of my molars this morning. Okay, okay...I was eating a gummy bear. I used to hate those things. Now, I am back to hating them. Along with Payday candy bars (which made me lose a filling).  As the dentist said "I got my money's worth out of that filling."  The crown...not so long.  Hey..it's gold, or a composite of it. Maybe I should take it to the pawn shop and tell the dentist I swallowed it. Things always happen on the week end.

Helen (above) always seems to be unruffled in photographs. I'd like to have a bit more of that demeanor within myself. I'll have to work on that.

Easter 1966

I am the one in yellow.  A co worker and I were on a subject the other day and the subject came up as to what is the largest religion in the world. I thought I had read that Buddhism was. I looked it up. I don't know where I got my information, but according to the Internet - it is Christianity, then Islam and third is irreligion. The others fall after.

I asked "What is irreligion?"  I really didn't know. She didn't either. I looked it up. Oh, it is having NO religion or not believing in any particular religion.

I was brought up Christian. That is why two of my sisters and two of my brothers are all dressed up on Easter morning.

I sat here for a few minutes wondering - what image do I post after all this time away? I decided to look to see what my last image was that I uploaded. It was from April 3rd coming back from a funeral (too many of those lately) where a rock flew up off the Interstate and hit my windshield. Sigh. I notice that the top crack is much longer than this photo depicts. If you can see the little dot it is heading for - that is a chip from a previous hit. I do not know what will happen when they meet up.

It took me a while this morning to remember how to get into my blog. I perused my files searching for login instructions. After a few false leads, it just popped into my head. I had already logged into my gmail account I use - perubee. And once I typed in the blogger address (with the correct welcome to my world) I was in.

I won't give you any lame excuses or reasons as to why I was away for a year or two. And, I am not positive I will post on a regular basis. This is more therapeutic for me than any other reason.


I need to update my header as we have no cats, now. And, I don't plan to get any more. Two male cats that I had were stupendous pets. The other male and the two females were royal pains. We have 3 dogs, the Boxer and the two pups.

I will leave you with a site that I love to use.

www.protopage.com

No matter if I am at work, at home, at a sister's house, working in Columbus or in Indonesia, I can pull up my protopage and all my bookmarks are there neatly categorized into:

tech
linux
education
shopping
art
news

etc....

So far, I only use the Bookmarks widget and the digital clock. I see where I should use the Photo widget, Google calendar, To-do list...

It is free - a wee bit of advertising at the top of the page - you have the option to close that.

I imagine the posts will come regularly as I feel I have a lot to put down on paper or screen.

A Little Monkey and Tails.

I had this cute munchkin visit me yesterday for a bit. Her father (my nephew) was passing through.  He and his wife have a set up where he takes this little one to visit his friends from around where he grew up (they have children also) for the week-end, and her older son (from another relationship) goes to his father's grandparent's for the week-end - resulting in the Mom getting 2 days all to herself. They call it a mental health day (or something similar). I think that is wonderful! Although I am not positive when my nephew gets any totally alone time.

She is the cutest little 3 year old and she climbed the neighbor's swing set/fort like a little monkey.

I am going to try harder to post more often. I have so many things I can do on-line that almost all of my time is spent sitting here at the computer. Almost everything I do can help me in my job in one way or the other. Helping people is still one of the biggest areas in my life for me. Online, I am a reader of redd!t and have several divisions that I read to see if I can help. I also get several ideas and tips from readers to benefit myself.

Just last evening I was reading the area about Tor (The Onion Router). This one has been an example I use when I am instructing the techs about the filter. Most of them have no idea what it is, or how it works. Sigh. But that is an entire book in itself and if you know me, you are probably aware that I can get very long winded when I start talking tech.

Anyway, the user mentioned Tails.  I had not heard or read about this one. So, I had to investigate and of course I had to have it. For testing purposes and to present to the techs how end  users (the savvy ones) are getting around the filter in the schools and endangering their network.

I had to find 2 USB sticks with 4 GB available. (I had always referred to them as flash drives, but I kind of like this term). So I did have one empty 4 GB one (how did THAT happen?), and the other had just back up data on it - so I moved that to one of my external HDDs.

So, I started this new endeavor.  Four hours later I went to bed. LOL!  I am learning a lot, but I am also being very, very cautious. I have screwed up my system before trying this stuff and I should have known not to start this after 9 p.m. I was much too tired to think this through and follow long, intricate instructions.

It is one of those deals where you are going through the steps one at at time, and you come across the step that reads "If you don't have such and such, click here to set that up (or install it). So, you follow that link and you start installing that program. You get halfway through the steps and you come across another one that reads "If you have never installed such and such before, you need to change this or that before you can enable it". And I follow the link to THAT site. It went about 4 sites deep and I was getting very tired.

Well, it didn't work my first go round. But hey, I did learn a lot. And, I will try again today. Maybe. Of course I will - I am too excited to get this puppy on a flash drive and see what I can do with it in my work environment so I can bring it to their attention to watch out for this work around.

I run into the techs who have the attitude "So, what? They are always going to find a way around the filter. I can't stop them all."  This might be true, but I can see that he/she has given up the fight. This saddens me. Yes, there will always be a rogue student who knows so much about technology that he will consider this a challenge (sometimes they don't mean harm, they just want the ego boost that they were able to beat the system) and brag to his friends and share his knowledge.

But once in a while, guys......once in a blue moon - I get a tech who gets that look in his eye, the "Oh really?" look and they write this down. They hopefully are going to take action to block or attempt to block this activity in his or her district.

And that is why I do it. That is why I share what I know with others. I want to make the schools safer for the students. It may be a losing battle, but I can't just say "Screw it. Let 'em see it. They're gonna see it anyway."  Well, I'd prefer them NOT to see it in an educational environment. In other words "Not on MY watch."

Did anybody watch the movie "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?"  You know how I love my movies and I have so many I can talk about. I like Tina Fey in MOST of her movies. I am not a HUGE fan, but at least she does not make me cringe. For this movie, they delicately add humor to a horrifying situation that so many live through. But then there was MASH. I know the humor was exaggerated, and there were only a few times when the show brought us back to the reality of the horror of war.

It is slowly coming back to me. I had trouble remembering my password today. I had trouble finding spell check. But it is coming back. I need to go and ready all of YOUR posts this past year (or has it been longer) to see what is going on with you.

I have a lot more to write (tell). This year seemed to be a bad one for cancer hitting my friends. They are fighting the fight. A lot of little children in my family. I always like that. I was the youngest of 8, and I was 12 years old before any of my siblings had a baby. They then came thick and fast, but that first grandchild (for my Mom) and first nephew (for me) was doted on. My sister was the type who packed up her husband and baby and drove 50 miles one way EVERY week-end to stay with us (at my Mom's house). And on Sunday evenings drive 50 miles back.  Well, her husband drove. Her husband did everything for her. Nice in some ways, but over the years (as she has told us) it can be very smothering. We used to chide my sister when the gas stations changed over to self-serve. She had ALL the gas stations marked out who would pump the gas for you. It was ages before she was able to pump her own gas. I'm not sure she can, even now. Hmmmmm..... LOL!

Ah, I'm almost afraid to show my face around here. In the past year, I have posted once. In September 2015. Before that it was May 2015? I think. I am rusty circumventing my way around this blogging application and things do look different. Somewhat. Do I have a photo? Let's see....

Thanksgiving 2015. I am the blond at top left. This is not even close to my immediate family. This is about half of our "immediate" family. It was nice enough to sit outside for the pic.

I will try to ease myself back into this environment and maybe give some "excuses" as to why I have been MIA.

Ah....where have I been?  I guess I needed a break. I am currently updating a Newsletter for work and I needed to test a blog site. So naturally, I chose this one. I need to show the techs in the districts how easy it is for a student to see inappropriate pictures when a blog site (such as blogger.com) is open.

Okay...I've seen enough.  I changed my interests to some unpleasant subjects, then went to other bloggers with the same (unpleasant) interests. About lost my lunch.

So, as an example let us say that blogger.com is allowed (open) in a school district. The reason is a lot of educators (teachers and such) create a blog on the site they are familiar with (such as our - blogger.com). They ask the tech to allow the site - let's call it Mr. Williams Science Class. On blogger.com it may be called: mrwilliams.blogger.com.  The filter recognizes the root in the URL. In this case, "blogger.com" It won't only allow mrwilliams.blogger.com, it must allow the entire site. I have tested this like crazy hoping I can just get Mr. Williams' blog site. These are examples, by the way.

Nope. Filter must allow the entire blogger.com site. Well, given a savvy student, once they realize that they can get to blogger.com, they can create a blog in about 15 minutes and place interests in their profile with subjects describing any sexual/fetish term you can think of - and begin finding others with the same interests who have posted pictures that you would never have believed existed 15 years ago.

To make it even worse, the tech has no idea how this works. Most of them don't. Not only do they allow blogger.com, but they allow the entire category. In our filter it is called blogger.forums.

That allows all blog sites (that the filter has categorized as such).  Wordpress.com.

There we go. Seven minutes. It took me 7 minutes to create a new blog site in wordpress.com, verify the site with one of my many fake e-mails and search for nude photos on the blog site. I was looking at nasties in no time.

The above wordpress.com is categorized in the forums.blogs category. So many districts have this open. I try to get the word out in my Newsletter. At my trainings, I discover that nobody reads my Newsletters.

What should I use? Shock and awe?  Should I have the host of the training sit there in front of everybody, create their own blog page on wordpress, type in nude under interests and let them all see for themselves?  Would I get in trouble for demonstrating this in a school? Sigh.

I have a training coming up next week. Nobody has signed up yet. They do not have time they say. I had three show at the last one. One tech was brand new, one tech will never get it (as in he will never understand how the filter works) and another was rather savvy, but I shocked him with what I showed them.

So, there you have it. Will Little Johnny see anything? - maybe not. High School Johnny - you betcha.