A little sun, a little blue sky

pine needles


Mom can see a little sunshine through the dark, smothering branches. A little blue sky. Moving on. Teenagers are exhausting!

Angst

cry


Daughter in tears. Mom near tears. Teenage wasteland. Mom is sick to her stomach. Mom has to tighten up the rules. Mom hates to be the bad guy. Mom hates to punish, but knows that she must. Mom is tired.

Wrinkles add character

Robert Redford


Well, I have heard the old saying that for men, "wrinkles add character." If that is the case, then Robert Redford is one of the most characteristic men in the movies today.




I watched "The Clearing" this past week-end. I thought he looked bad in "The Horse Whisperer." I applaud the celebrities who refuse to get plastic surgery and eye lifts and other stuff, but wow. Just wow. Maybe it is the ruddy complexion. But, hey! He still has the hair! That looks great!

There was this one scene in the movie, where he is walking and he is soaked by the rain. He is pale, wet and he looks like the walking dead. I was just heart broken. Not that I ever cared for his character in any films much, anyway. The only movie I really liked that he was in was "Out of Africa". And, I didn't particularly like his character in that movie.

Here is Robert from a few years back.



Beautiful character. Sigh. I don't mean to sound shallow (I know, too late). And, I do apologize. It just caught me off-guard. I guess I realize that time is marching on and we tend to get caught up in the artificial, made up wonder of Hollywood. Maybe, instead, I should applaud Mr. Redford for sticking to the reality of life. It just didn't look healthy to me. Forget beautiful, he just doesn't look healthy.

Coming from the speakers: The Way We Were by Barbra Streisand.

Any given decade

cockatiel


My pet bird, Peru (a cockatiel) and I were reading the newspaper this morning. I didn't always read the newspaper. When I was a teenager I was more interested in music than the current news. In my twenties, it was probably what band was playing in what club on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. In my thirties, it may have been what was the best way to raise your small child and a little bit of the newspaper and current events. Now, that I am in my forties, I find myself reading the paper on a daily (or almost daily) basis.

With my cup of coffee, and if I have the time, giving Peru a little "outside of the cage" exercise.

But, today. Oh, Peru and I were sickened. This article, about a T-ball coach paying one of his players to hurt another player deliberately....

A T-ball coach.....

Oh, and then there is this article, which brings attention to a disorder I have heard of, but never knew the name to. Munchausen syndrome (by proxy). It is about a young mother who injects her toddler with human feces. Well, there goes breakfast.

A former pediatric nurse.....

Sigh. Is it too late to rewind the morning?

Coming from the speakers: Everyone Hurts by R.E.M.

Ready for my closeup

pink splash


An up close and personal look at the inside of a Rose of Sharon bloom. I honestly don't think there is a design or a color that man can create that Mother Nature hasn't already shown us. But, I've been wrong before. Once. 1985.

Why you might NOT want to be a celebrity

tom hanks


I have a new toy. I was playing around with the movie The Terminal freezing frames on my pc, and I thought to myself "Oh, my. I am so glad I am not in pictures. Any facial expression you make is out there forever."

My daughter has been complaining about the air outside each time she comes home from the Park Place. I didn't know what to tell her. When I went outside this evening to take Sable out, I realized what it is. Mosquito spraying in the city. She said it was a sweet smell that made her sick. Well, that about sums it up.

I did some more mirrors on the wall today. I have a total of 30 put up. There are a couple of areas where one tile has slid down a fraction of an inch. Good thing it is close to the bottom. After this, we start on the other wall with the glow in the dark forms.

I also want to pull back an area of the carpet to see what kind of floor I am looking at underneath. If it is something I can work with or not. My daughter wants a hardwood floor so she can dance. This is virgin territory for me. Other than my Mom's house, I have always rented. So, pulling up carpet was not really an option. I would much rather pay someone to do it, but this does have a certain satisfaction to it. Doing it yourself.

Outside, it is still a jungle. We did get some rain yesterday and today. Remnants of Dennis, I guess. My moonflowers bloomed two times, but I missed getting a picture of them. I'll try to keep a better watch on them. They bloom at night and are left over in the early morning.

Thank goodness for perennials.

Coming from the speakers: I Wanna Go Back by Eddie Money

The Mirrored Wall and my Roses of Sharon

wallmirrors


I came home for lunch because I needed drops for my eyes. They were aching something horrible. I use Patanol. I saw my Rose of Sharon bushes blooming so I thought I would take some pictures. First of all, I snapped a picture of the back bedroom. The mirrors are staying put on the wall. I am amazed.

pink rose of sharon

The two pink blossoms above are inseparable.

beetle afternoon delight

I stumbled across some beetles having a little 'Afternoon Delight.'

pink translucent

Looking real close you can see where the bees did their job on this one.

white rose of sharon

Not as vivid as the pink ones, but still pretty - my white Rose of Sharon.

Must Apologize

bluemonkey


I must apologize for yesterday's entry. It was quite lame. Can you tell I have been reading 13 and 14-year-old's posts on their Xanga sites? Must have rubbed off on me.

Coming from the speakers: Better Get To Work by The Boss.

Life's Observations

autumn tree


Just a couple pet peeves I need to get off of my chest. Have you ever noticed that some people want you to come and visit them, and never come to visit you? And, when you go to visit them they don't sit down to chat, they just keep doing their household or yard chores? And, of course their place looks great because they get you to hold this, or water this while they go and answer the telephone or start some other chore. Why do they ask other people why I never visit them anymore? Are they that dense? How about this reason? I am staying home and doing my own yardwork so my place can look nice for a change!

Then there is the one who has an event coming up. You do some background work to help them out and they piss you off with some kind of rude remark or something. You take all your paperwork and newspapers and throw them in the trash. Forget them! Or, they are moving into a new place and you just happen to have three VCR's and four t.v.'s and were going to give them one of each, but NOT NOW! Let them do without. I'll give the things to Good Will.

Here is an interesting concept. I had a friend of a friend invite me to lunch the other day. I didn't care for the guy, so I said "I would pass." He was trying to be over-jovial and said "Free food!" Now, I am in no way emaciated. But, later I was wondering 'Instead of guys asking girls out to lunch, what if they said "I'll pay you NOT to eat."' Why do they keep trying to feed us? I wasn't on any strong medicine when this thought came to me, honest. But, I thought maybe - you know, maybe, this would be a great way to lose weight.

Okay, okay. Enough bitching. I'll sign off with that last one.

Coming from the speakers: Hooked On A Feeling by B.J. Thomas

Picking up the baton

plumsky


This meme titled 'Musical Baton' is from middle-angel:

1. Total volume of music files on my computer:

About 6 gig, over 800 files

2. The last CD I bought was:

Hot Hot Heat - Elevator (for my daughter)

3. Song playing right now:

I Think It's Gonna Rain Today - Dusty Springfield

4. Five songs (tunes) I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me :

Oh no, don't do that to me. Don't make me pick just five.

How about five sets of five?

Five for sad:

Do You Believe Me Now...................................Vern Gosdin

Somebody's Always Sayin' Good-bye................Anne Murray

Here Come Those Tears...................................Jackson Browne

Angel.............................................................Sarah McLachlan

Till I Can Make It On My Own..........................Tammy Wynette

Five for Happy, pick me ups:

Here Comes the Sun.........................................Beatles

Sloop John B....................................................Beach Boys

Iko Iko..............................................................Indigo Girls

Let Your Love Flow............................................Bellamy Brothers

Sea Cruise.......................................................Sha Na Na

Five for Nostalgia:

Sara.................................................................Fleetwood Mac

The Pretender..................................................Jackson Browne

Like a Rock.....................................................Bob Seger

Empty Garden..................................................Elton John

Vincent............................................................Don McLean

Five for Dancing:

Old Time Rock and Roll....................................Bob Seger

You Shook Me All Night Long............................ACDC

Faith...............................................................George Michael

Heart of Glass.................................................Blondie

Give Me Three Steps.......................................Lynard Skynard

Five that give me strength:

Life In A Northern Town...................................Dream Academy

Let it Be........................................................Beatles

I Can Only Imagine.........................................Mercy Me

My Sweet Lord..............................................George Harrison

Cool Change..................................................Little River Band

5. Five people to whom I'm passing the baton :

My daughter

My niece

My sister

My brother

My nephew

Whew! I really enjoy music. And, if I cheated, just take the very first song out of each set for my five picks. Music can lift your mood, take you back down memory lane, let out your frustrations and anger and just soothe the soul.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall

sunleaves


I am making headway on my daughter's bedroom. She wanted one wall all mirrors. I am using the 12 x 12 inch square mirrors. I now realize that my first tube of mirror adhesive was a bum batch. I was really struggling with that stuff. It was like working with peanut butter, only much stickier. It left big clumps on the back of the squares and I was having one heck of a time. Not to mention the smell of the compound. I was sick afterwards. I got through six squares and I quit for a while.

Then, I ran out of compound and opened the second tube. Holy cow! It was as smooth as butter! That first incident about turned me off of the entire project. Now, I have twenty-four squares up and I have 18 more to go. They aren't perfect, but they will do the job. She wants to dance.

All the instructions said to measure, level, blah, blah, blah. Heck. That isn't me. I started in the middle and am working my way out. They aren't lining up perfectly, but nobody is coming around to inspect it. The only problem is, when we clean the mirrors we will have to look out for the little bumps in the corners, but that could be from that first batch of mirror adhesive. It left big globs on the backs of the squares.

The entire wall doesn't need to be covered. I also have glow-in-the-dark spray paint and we are still looking for different stencils. She wanted musical notes. I haven't been able to find any yet, so I bought foam with which to make some and paint them and stick them to the walls.

It is a summer project. Speaking of, my brother has not contacted me about the fire department's web site. Summer is half over. By the time school starts back up, I will be busy again and back on my longer hours.

My daughter introduced me to a new friend this evening. He came over to the house with her boyfriend. He was very nice. He is achondroplastic. We all watched I, Robot together. He told me he has the movie if I would ever like to borrow it. I had only seen the movie once, and had missed parts of it because I was busy at the time. What is it with Will Smith movies the past month or so? We have been inundated with them.

Coming from the speakers: What Makes You Stay by Deana Carter

None of my pain and woe

blue sky sun


At lunch yesterday, I couldn't resist snapping some pictures as I walked the dog. The sun was high, the sky was brilliant and the trees were oh, so green. A favorite mix of mine.

I was talking to one of my daughter's old boyfriends on the telephone the other day. He is fourteen. I asked him how his summer was going. He said that he was just getting over a broken wrist. Knowing he rides dirt bikes and four-wheelers I asked him, "How did that happen?"

He said that he his Dad did it. My heart sank. When my daughter was dating this boy, I recall him telling me how his Dad forced him to look at him while he was talking to him and hurt his neck. One of these "Napoleon syndrome" fathers, who threatened to knock the boy back into the house if he tried to walk past him on the front porch. You know, Mr. Macho man.

I said "Oh, Tyler." He said, "It will be alright." I said, "Yeah, until the next time." He said, "I just have to learn to quit badgering him so much." I firmly told him, "It isn't your fault! Okay?" He said, "okay." I hung up with him telling him to take care. It bothered me for a long time, still does.

When my daughter called him back I got more of the story. A dirt bike was involved, but still an angry father was in the mix, also. Another thing bothered me. I overheard my daughter say, "Yeah, that's why I never talk back." Like I would ever break her wrist! I have felt like choking her, but I could never physically hurt my daughter.

While shopping last evening, I came across this funny product. It was intriguing to say the least. I always go weak in the knees around electronics. As I suppose some women do around shoes or handbags. Shoes, I don't care so much about, and I like a good handbag or two or three every year. Another weakness of mine is cosmetic bags. I must have ten of them. I don't use them all, I just like to buy them. Not a big addiction by some standards - but for me, excessive.

Coming from the speakers: Behind Blue Eyes by The Who

I've had just about enough!

robin


She tolerated me as long as she could and then she had to fly.

Take it slow

blue palm


Sigh. Doctor says it is only a pulled muscle. I am not so sure. She gave me NSAID's for the discomfort. I took one. And, I'll go back to ibuprofin, thank-you. I can't stand NSAID's. I tried them before for migraines and plantar fasciitis, and they make me feel worse than before taking the medicine.

My neck hurts too, so maybe it is a pulled muscle. But, that doesn't explain the cold. I am rarely cold. Sitting in my office at work co-workers were very surprised to see me wrapped up in a sweater. I was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g. I could not get warm. At home, I return to my heating pad. And, I want to sleep all the time.

She also said that pleurisy will go away on it's own, without treatment. I'll just take it slow. I asked her about this because sometimes I would rather ride it out than go to the doctor.

I was putting the cover back on the grill yesterday and a huge spider crawled out from under it and I jumped, threw the cover and twisted my neck all over again. I don't have that same compassion for spiders that my Mom did. I had the heebie-jeebies for a good ten minutes.

Well, it appears as if I am in for a slow week-end. I have so much to do outside, too. The electric company complained about not being able to read my meter. I have a Rose of Sharon bush that grows up along that corner. The previous owner had not removed the old box and I think she was using it to cover up the area. It works, but too well.

I was able to cut that bush back, but I need to do so much more. It's a jungle out there.

Coming from the speakers: Kokomo by The Beach Boys.

Standing in the shadows

two


My niece and nephew at her graduation ceremony which was held outside on a very, very hot day. He is ten years older than she is. I was there when he was born, and I was there when she was born.

I was there when my nephew graduated high school, and now when my niece graduated. My sister was there for her son's graduation, but not her daughter's. Does my niece block it out? Is it enough to have her brother and aunt there for her? I hope so.

Coming from the speakers: Exiles by Dan Fogelberg

Sugar and spice, not very nice

girl


Little girls can be so adorable. Like the picture of this one at Mohican Park. But, the one little girl I saw today nearly broke my heart. She was slapping the hell out of a box turtle. It appears that it was her "pet". I was up on the second floor of my office building and opened a window. I could see their back yard and yelled down at her to stop, but she and her little sister or friend ran around to the back of their garage.

I guess the little girl was trying to get the turtle to stick it's head out or something, I don't know. I just don't like to see abuse of any kind.

Here is more information about box turtles and their care:

...http://www.sdturtle.org/Box_Turtle_Care_Sheet_003G.htm



The article stated almost exactly what I saw today. That turtles do NOT make good pets for small children and that most of the captured ones die or suffer from stress and abuse.

My brother used to catch turtles and at one time built a pen for them. He had about twenty of them in it before they all got loose. He studied biology and animal's habitats in college. He captured them for study and he cared for them properly before he returned them to the woods.

I wasn't impressed with them when I was little so I gave them a wide berth. My Mom would never have tolerated any cruelty to an animal. She used to throw spiders out the front door rather than kill them.

Coming from the Speakers: No Matter What by Boyzone.

Will Dell find out?

fall trees


As I was posting my problems with Dell, I was wondering if the support team would ever read about my complaints online. Well, I suppose they check this url out, if they do read up on this stuff.

...http://www.technorati.com/search/%22dell%20support%22%20hell

I am there in all my complaining glory, or rather this blog is. You only have to mention the words De!!, su@@ort, and He!! and you will be picked up by this search engine and posted there. From the above wording, I am trying to avoid being posted there a third time.

I have recapped all of my woes on my home page and am still seething that it took eight days before I had a complete working system again. I find that rather poor. Especially since they wanted to pin it on a non-existent virus.

Moving on.

I wrenched my neck sometime during the night and am waiting for the ibuprofin to take effect. I am going to try to go into work at lunchtime. Although, I believe I feel signs of pleurisy coming on. I have had this affliction before many times. I know the signs. I am hoping the medicine will make that subside, also. If the pleurisy pain does not go away, I know that a trip to the doctor is in order for antibiotics. Yuck. They usually make me sick to my stomach. I have an allergy to penicillin since 1979 when I puffed up like a balloon. My Mom thought I had the mumps. Never, ever take old medicine!

While checking my site meter, I notice that a lot of hits are from one certain picture. I am wondering if someone is using the picture as their background and have linked to my blog site here. Not a bother to me, because it is not my bandwidth being used. Interesting. One day alone, I had seventy hits to this certain picture. It is too far back into blogdom to change, or I would replace it with some funny message. I am glad someone enjoys my pictures.

Well, the time has come to get ready for work. I guess if I can type on a computer keyboard at home, I can type on a keyboard at work. Sigh.

Coming from the speakers: Get Your Hind End In Gear by Work.

I'm Sorry

wsmith

Ah, Hell No!

My apologies to Will Smith, but this picture was too funny. I was messing with my camera a couple of weeks ago and we were watching Hitch. I caught this one in a blur. It kind of looks like he is starting to morph into something. This 4th of July week-end was filled with Will Smith movies. Men In Black, Wild, Wild, West and Independence Day just to name a few. We watched Shark Tale a couple of weeks ago, too.

I enjoy Will's movies except for WWW. Nobody can tackle the suave and charming character of Jim West like Robert Conrad could. Sorry, Will.

There were a lot of BBQ foods this week-end. Not to mention my town's festival right over the hill. I skipped it again this year, as I did last year. The food is just too rich for me anymore. But, nothing gives me more of a stomach ache than watching a "Hot Dog Eating Contest". The kids were fooling around and stumbled upon this show. What are these people thinking? And they are calling it a sport? Where are my Rolaids?

We tired of the usual cook-out foods by today and we did have another family cook-out to go to. I was just too tired. I fixed baked chicken, corn on the cob and apple crisp. This is about the second time I have made apple crisp. I had vanilla ice cream and cool whip to go with. Turned out great.

Coming from the speakers: I'm Sorry by John Denver.

Showin' off my eclat

attack cat


Precious was just stretching, she wasn't bracing for a confrontation. I just happened to catch her while doing that. The cats remained hidden during my 4th of July cook-out (or rather, 2nd of July cook-out). The fireworks were spectacular. I had enough food and pop. Very little alcohol drinking this trip around. My main drinking branch of the family had a wedding and I guess they had to go because their son was in it.

I had a couple of Long Island Iced Teas made from a pre-mix bottle. Instead of cola, I mixed it with my sun tea. It was rather good. The evening cooled off quite a bit and instead of sparklers and fireworks I puchased 100 glow sticks for the "kids" to play with. My kid (the fourteen year old) and her group took off for the festival in town (just over the hill) and the rest of the party had fun making necklaces and bracelets. The roof of my house now has a couple of new rings on it. Thanks, whoever. No one 'fessed up to the deed.

I found neon glowing rings in my dogwood tree and my black dog wore two of them for the evening. She was quite easy to spot in the dark. I have no pictures, I don't know what I was thinking. I may have been just too busy fixing food and making sure everyone had enough to eat and drink. I just didn't even think of the camera.

I am beat. I am slowly cleaning up. I had 25 people show up. It was so cute. My brother's step grandson (Josh) is the young one of the family at this time. My niece is expecting, though! We can see the fireworks from my front yard, except for the low ones get cut off by the treeline. When we couldn't see them, I would yell, "Higher!" And little Josh would parrot me and yell "Higher" too. Once, though, I yelled the usual "Higher" and he yelled "Higher, come on - you can do it!" Sure enough, the next one would be high enough for us to see it. It happened every time.

My niece and nephew just took off to see "War of the Worlds" and my daughter is at a birthday party. Just me and the pets. I need this quiet time to rest and relax. And clean. I dripped watermelon on my kitchen floor and it has been bugging me with the stickiness. I think the dish washer has been running non stop for two days.

Grab the Sunday paper, a cup of coffee and sit out on the patio. Clean up a little and leave the rest for tomorrow. Sit down, sigh and settle in. I glance up and see the rings on the top of my roof and I smile. Yes, good times.

Coming from the speakers: Thomas O'Malley Cat by The Aristocats.

NOW - You're messin'

note


Above is the 'thank-you' note I received from Dell. I have included the book that got me into trouble last October 2004 with my Dell and a speaker for "Hear me ROAR!"

The more I write my experience out about this latest incident, the angrier I get. Looking back, re-reading the ordeal, I can see where things began to go wrong. For me, if I am to blame, I should have never mentioned the word "virus". For Dell - well, I will leave that up to the readers. www.mydeja-view.com/ramblings.htm.

Oursourcing is an interesting word. Dell kept refusing to deal with a virus because it was a "third-party" application. Well, when I looked outsourcing up in Wikipedia, it mentions that outsourcing is a function performed by a "third-party" service provider. Can I refuse to talk to their technicians who only speak English as a second language? They have apparently "third-partied" their tech support. Hell, I could barely understand them. I grew weary of asking the technician to re-peat themselves.

And, just for the record: Picture Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindgergarten Cop saying "IT IS NOT A TUMOR!" Then, you can picture me screaming at Dell,
"IT IS NOT A VIRUS!"

Moving on!

Watched Racing Stripes last night. I didn't see it all, I got a phone call. It was fun to try and figure out who the voices were before looking them up on the Internet. www.imdb.com helps out a lot in that area. I also used the web site when someone asked me if Don Knotts had died? I was pretty sure he was still with us and this web site confirmed that fact.

The Park in my town sets up fireworks every year for my holiday cook-out, and can be seen from my front lawn. Isn't that so nice of them? I have a family/friend cook-out the Saturday closest to the 4th of July every year, and bless their hearts, my town arranges their fireworks for me and my visitors to enjoy. The same evening. Every year since I have moved to my house in 2002. How special is that?

So, on that note, I had better get my butt in gear and start preparing. I need to go to the grocery store and start fixing stuff! It has been an uneventful week off from work. I did a little pc work, a little travelling adventure, a little re-modeling to a bedroom, a little cleaning of closets, and now on towards the
Le Piece de resistance. My annual cook-out. Cheerio!

I know that I have probably used this song before in my archives, but it rings so true while working with the Dell Support team recently. Most of the words apply to my nightmare with them.

Coming from the speakers: Hair Of The Dog by Nazareth.