The boxer in the snow

I've not shown pics of the pets lately. Here is the boxer. He is still active as all get out. He is still goofy. He nearly brings the house down when somebody comes home or knocks on the door. All hell breaks loose as he slips and slides his big self across my wooden floor.

He is like a bull in a china shop. Not that I have any china. He knocks over chairs, crashes into furniture. We just yell at him. "Slade!"

He is a nut.

When somebody knocks on your door, does it make you jump? I can't seem to explain why I have this fear or anxiety when somebody knocks on my door. I don't mean it to sound funny because of the dog (dogs). I have had this feeling  all my life. Even when I did  not have pets in the house.

Anybody remember the song "Who Can it Be, Now?" from Men at Work.

Oh, wait. After examining the pictures above - take a closer look at the second one. Now, does anybody remember the song "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow?"  - that was Frank Zappa? Huh. I never knew that.

Family pics

 

This little angel is the grand daughter of sister 1956.

 

This is my sister 1956 when she was 8 or so.

When I saw the above picture of her grand daughter posted on FB, I knew that face, that smile - so I looked until I found the same face I had looked at in the family album for years.

Snow car

My car says "You know....you have a perfectly good two-car garage sitting right next to me. What is your problem? Do you enjoy scraping ice and snow off of me on mornings like this?"

Sigh. My car has a good point. Well, it is in the garage now.  Like it matters - 4 days after the snow fall. I pull it in the garage, but can barely get the door open and get out. heh, heh.

Pick a movie title!

Sorry to go here, guys. I have a blast at work. We have a group of "girls" that go out to eat about once a month or so. Using search queries from my report, I came up with this topic of conversation over dinner.

Describe your sex life with the title of a Movie.

Oh. my . gawd.  Hilarious!

Some of the answers:

Titanic (from the table next to us who over heard us)

Gone with the Wind

Dumb and Dumber

Dazed and Confused

Fast and Furious

Gone in 60 seconds

Misery

Mission Impossible

Are we there yet?

Rocky

Some Like it Hot

Psycho

Endless Love

From Dusk til Dawn

Just Go with it

300

Clueless

Wreck-it Ralph

Raging Bull

The Incredible Hulk

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Frozen

The Big Sleep

Heartbreak Ridge

Mama Mia

Heat

Big Daddy

Scary Movie

All is Lost

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It Happened One Night

Super 8

Mercy

Raging Bull

and for a great laugh....

Toy Story!

Why in the world...?

Back to my "suspicious search" report. There was an entry or two where somebody searched for "sexy pictures of soda pop."

LOL! I was like ...."What the...?"

Then I remembered. Required reading - 8th grade. One of my favorite books and the author was what...17 when she wrote it?

If you have read the book, then you know that the oldest brother had a "regular" name - Darrel. The middle son was "dreamy" looking and the parents had named him "Sodapop".  And the narrator of the story - the youngest boy was named "Ponyboy."

So, sexy pictures of soda pop.....there you go. It made me laugh.

One day late..

I'll post here (one day late) what I posted on my fb page  yesterday:

Today when I thought of veteran's day, my memory slipped back to stories I heard about soldiers being spat upon as they returned from the Viet Nam war. I can't wrap my head around the fact that someone would do such a vile, senseless thing.

Calling them baby killers, throwing beer bottles and human waste at them. What kind of propaganda were the brain-washed people listening to back then? I was too young and fortunately I did not know of anybody who taunted the soldiers.

Soldiers were sent to war to do a job. Everyone of them paid a price for this service. Not one was left unscathed. Most of them saw and experienced things that we could only imagine in our worst nightmare.

More on the way

This is how my niece decided to let the family know she was expecting again. The one pictured above is having his first birthday party on Sunday.

Okay, bring it. Who is next?  The family went through a baby phase the past two years. Will it start again? Please, not my daughter. Please, not my daughter. I can wait.

I finished reading "Snow White Must Die"  by Nele Neuhaus. The difficult part for me were (was?) the German names. I got lost going back and forth in the story as to who she was introducing or writing about. And there just seemed to be a lot of bad luck for the one main character. Spoiler alert: He gets out of prison for doing ten years for a crime he did not commit. The same time he gets out, somebody throws his mother off a bridge (she survives but is in a coma),  he gets beat up a few times  over the next couple of weeks, and his father dies a horrible death. He also finds out that almost the entire town knew he was innocent but let him take the fall.

Okay, on to the next book. I hope I get something a little bit lighter this time. I may never get my washing machine fixed. (I have to baby sit it during the rinse cycle and hold the tub back so it does not leak) - so I have my nook down in the laundry room and I read.

Oh, and for the times my nook is charging - I have an old (real hard cover) book with various stories in it. I am almost done with "Tortilla Flat" by John Steinbeck. My daughter is not familiar with Steinbeck. I think I will call her school this week to see what is the required reading there. No, not really. Steinbeck must be out of vogue.

Mutant grape

I found this in a bunch of grapes at work the other day. I painted clear finger nail polish on it and snapped a photo of it. Yeah, I have THAT kind of job.

The other staff members and I laughed at how it looked a bit like a pumpkin/gourd.

I am not looking forward to seeing it tomorrow. It was looking a bit peaked on Friday.

One Angry Quarter

Still bringing up funny "searches" from the school kids.

"If I threw a quarter off the Empire State Building, would it kill me?"

LOL!

I chuckle at this. First of all, when I was in school and heard the story - it was a penny.

I have to chuckle because all I could think of was that quarter would be so damn angry at that kid for throwing it off the tall building, it ran all the way back up all 103 floors and murdered that kid.

Or, after tossing the coin - did the kid run down the 103 floors (or rode the elevator) to the bottom, jumped out on the sidewalk in time for the quarter to do it's damage?

Of course, what the kid meant to ask is "Would it kill somebody on the sidewalk or the street if it were to hit them on the head?"  Just asking if the coin would kill him made me laugh.

Regardless, no. One coin would not "kill" you. A roll of coins might, though. I'm taking my hard hat if I ever go to New York. There are some crazy people in this world.

After typing that, all I can think of is the people laughing at me wearing my hard hat, shaking their heads in mockery that I actually thought I was going to get hit by some penny flying through the air.

This topic did bring up an interesting story at work. One guy said his kid's sippy cup full of milk, rolled under the balcony railing at their motel room - 27 stories up.  Fortunately it didn't hit anyone below. I think he said the lid stayed on and everything. Well, it must have fallen in the bushes or in the grass,then.

Technology, election, assault and family

That is pretty much how my time is filled up. Work and technology, decision on the election (thank god it's over), my huge family happenings and plans for the holidays and assault. Wait...what?

Yes. I won't go into a lot of detail. This post is not to elaborate on the assault. The person was my sister 1954. The assault was aggravated rape and aggravated robbery. She is okay. She is no shrinking violet. She has been in prison numerous times and is not a timid person, she survived but was afraid for her life. A knife was involved. That is all I am saying about the actual assault.

The real reason for the post is the technology part. The abuser stole her cell phone. She has a cell plan with her son (my nephew the technology guru/wizard). He called the provider and they set it up so that if the phone was turned on, it would beam the location to a tower and then shut down.

The "perp" turned it on. Technology worked, provider called my nephew, my nephew called the police and they picked the guy up right in front of his house sitting in a car. Wearing the same clothes my sister had described. Yes, it took a while to talk her into going to the police and hospital the next morning, but she did. So, her attacker was arrested within 24 hours of the crime. YAY!

She had already had plans to move out of that neighborhood - the plan was actually in the works. Two weeks notice at the job, plans for a new place - she had one more week, there. Let the healing begin.

Getting stoned

One of the search queries on the list that I glance over asked:

"Do people still get stoned today?"

We laughed. Yes, and sadly....yes.

Or, maybe sadly for both ways of getting stoned.

My cohorts and I found the question funny because the obvious one is apparent. We are like, "where has this guy been?"  and "Doesn't he watch TV?"

You may have to dig a little deeper to find the other "stoned".

But, sadly - it is front page news.

 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/23/syrian-woman-accused-of-adultery-is-stoned-to-deat/

I just finished reading "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest".

I am going to re-watch the movie, next.  I have not see it in years.

The author wanted Gene Hackman to play the lead part instead of Jack.  If I remember correctly, Jack did a fantastic job, and I imagine Gene would have, too.

The author was also dismayed that the movie did not narrate the story as the Indian in the book. That is how the book is written - all from the Indian's point of view.

Three geese in a flock.
One flew east, one flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo's nest.
O-U-T spells OUT,
Goose swoops down and plucks you out.

All those rings

I smile when I look at this picture. I was paying for my daughter and I to get into the fair last month and the lady at the ticket stand had all these rings. Well, since I planned on taking pictures, I had my camera and of course - I asked  - and she obliged.

When you think about it, I guess they want people to notice and comment.

A couple of years ago, if you recall - I went through a Hardee's for coffee and the lady there also obliged me with an opportunity to take her picture.

Someone asked me if they were the same person. I said "no" because the one taken a few  years back said hers were all diamonds (most from pawn shops).

I wear no jewelry. Once in a while (when I dress up for an evening out) I will wear a necklace. I think the only ring I ever wore was my high school ring.

I wore an "engagement" ring for one month. I couldn't stand it. I stayed with the guy another five years - just never liked to wear a ring.

But for me - it is the sanitary issue. How sanitary is this? As for the one working at the fast food restaurant - I really don't think I want her giving me any edible food. I'm glad I was just getting coffee. Of course, if a ring fell into the order.....

It kind of grosses me out. Probably because I wash my hands a lot. I'm not obsessive. It is just a habit I have developed. I can't help but think that they skip many hand washing opportunities because of all those rings.

Some fall color

I have been doing very little. This is the month for festivals and I canceled on every single one of them. Above photo is courtesy of sister 1956 (her grand daughter). I love how the pink clashes with the orange.

Sister 1956 is not doing well. She had pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital. She has now been diagnosed with C.O.P.D.  Yeah. I figured it was just a matter of time. She is on oxygen. She said she will need it all the time.

I don't know how this will affect her watching the above little one. She watches her about three times a week.

I have a birthday party today I am not going to cancel. The boy turns three. Ahh...where's my Advil?

I want to be like Dear Abby

So, when I read my latest suspicious search report, I want to be like Dear Abby. Most end users are searching for unsavory subject matter, but once in a while you just get questions.

Such as "Where is the nearest Dick's Sporting Goods?"  This shows in my report because the word "dick" is included in the subject matter. If somebody searched for "Where is the nearest Target?" I won't see that request.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, you get the occasional question that makes me go "hmmmm". One that comes to mind is "Will make-up kill a turtle?"   I went "Yikes".

Hopefully that story had a happy ending.

But imagine if I were like Dear Abby. You can call me "Dr. Answering Suspicious Searches"  or Dr. ASS for short.

One question popped out at me the other day.  I can't help but pretend I am like Dear Abby and my mind just answers them as she would.

Dear Dr. ASS:  "Will having sex push back my period?"

Answer:  "Sure, probably by about nine months!"

(Same end user because it was the same IP address, but about twenty minutes later)

Dear Dr. ASS:  "Can I eat baked beans while I am pregnant?"

Answer:  "Sure, but I wouldn't recommend it."

Things like that. I have become desensitized to the other searches. I see so many. You can imagine a young teenagers' mind and curiosity and what shows up in the "suspicious" search query. Sigh. Just to give you an example, they probably do not know what bestiality is yet, but hey - they search for and I imagine hope to find graphic images. I am certainly hoping that the filter is holding strong and just because they try to search for the subject matter, does not mean they see or get any web pages that hold that horrific content.

The horrible thing is, to test the filter one kind of has to search for things like this themselves. Let me tell you it isn't as easy as you might think. For starters, being raised to be a "good girl" and going to Sunday School and mean looks from my Mom if I mentioned even the word "period" let alone anything stronger. You seriously got the look of death from her. Suffice it to say, I did not learn the facts of life from her.

It just is not that easy for me to type in "gir1 having s3x with a h0rse" into the search engine. I mean, My God! What if an image were to slip through?!  You just can't erase that kind of picture from your mind. And, GROSS!  I can only imagine because I have not (nor probably ever will) search for anything of that nature. This is all just information to let you know what I see in the searches. Yuck!

I have searched images and we have an issue with Bing images that will not force the "safe search" feature like Google does.  With the filter on, if an end users tries long and hard enough, pretty soon they will be rewarded with images that just floor my adult 54-year old mind.

If it makes you feel any better, I have set the filter up to block ALL Bing images that are on their explicit.bing.com server. That is "supposedly" where all the icky stuff resides. If you want to test this, go to bing.com, click on Images and type in any unsavory word or phrase that you can think of.  If your bing is like mine, the search setting defaults to Medium. Changing this setting to "Strict" cuts out the most obscene images out of the search. Maybe Bing got their act together, but for some reason, end users were able to override this setting and choose the setting "off".  This is disastrous. This is why we blocked bing images altogether.

Now, do the same in Google. Even before changing any settings the results are less nasty. At least mine were. The only setting that Google has now (they must have changed it) is to choose "Filter Explicit Results" and when you do that, depending on what subject matter you searched for you may get nothing. That is what happened to me. I typed the upper female body part in Google and got quite an eye full. When I changed the setting to "Filter Explicit Results" Google told me it could not find any images for my request. YAY!

How Vending Machines Kill People

It is a cold, rainy night.

Troy is a lonely salesman, checking into a small, dingy motel. No other buildings or houses around.

Creepy guy at the desk takes his money, gives him a key for a room at the end of a long row of rooms.

They are all dark, eerie, quiet.

Middle of the night, Troy can't sleep. He gets up to get a snack from the vending machine he saw in a little alcove between the rooms and the office.

The office is empty. One little dim light on but nobody around.

Troy steps into the alcove - not much light here, and looks at the machine.
Chips, crackers, cookies, the usual stuff.

He puts his money in, pushes his selection.

Nothing.

He punches the button a couple more times. The machine gives a little shiver.

He is irritated. He has a headache, he is tired but can't sleep and he wants something salty .

He gives the machine a shove.

It starts to rain really hard. So hard the sound is almost deafening.

Troy is really mad knowing he will probably get soaked walking back to his room.

He gives the machine a mighty shove.

The machines is jostled.

Troy really starts smacking the machine....

"How vending machines kill people"

**********************************************************************************

Of course this is a phrase I saw on my "suspicious search" report. Somebody actually searched for the phrase "How vending machines kill people".

My first thought was a machine falling over on somebody (of course), then I thought 'well...unhealthy eating habits, like snacks you find in a vending machine - could kill you over time'.

Then I thought the macabre.  A vending machine gets tired of getting smacked and punched and jostled. It has had enough. This one cold, rainy night it takes it's first victim....

Vacation, party time!

Ha! I did not purchase this alcohol. I was asked what I wanted to drink. We were heading South about 200 miles to visit relatives smack dab in the middle of Wild Wonderful West Virginia. I said I would get it at the store when we arrived at the motel. My daughter's beau would not take no for an answer, so I suggested lime-a-rita.

As I predicted we ended up hauling all this liquor down to West Virginia and all the way back to Ohio. I didn't even open the case of lime-a-rita. The Jack, vodka and Bud were missing a few. And the jagermeister is down about 1/8th. Whoop! 

I had one margarita at the bar. Then ginger ale.

Sigh.

We had 14 show up. Usually it is 20 or more. The young ones who really like to drink were unable to show. That's what happens when you have kids! One niece was kind of excited though because she had not had a drink in....I don't know how long. She had just weaned her little girl and was going to celebrate. She drank two drinks that I saw and got silly. LOL!

We did get to visit with some wonderful people. Our relatives that we visit are just the best. There are others, but we just do not seem to meld with them as well. Not that they are not just as nice and funny. There is only so much time to visit.

Sunday I awoke with a crushing headache. Advil (or the generic form) did not touch it, another migraine tablet and I felt the nausea. I was miserable. My daughter and her beau stepped in and packed me up and into the car and drove me home. As I was resting in the back seat - my headache finally abating (after some weak coffee - caffeine!), I thought to myself "Hey, I could get used to this!"

Note: I am kind of Independent. I have to be the one driving, I have to pack all my own stuff and I have to do this myself and this....it was easy to let things go this time because I was so damn sick.

So, I missed out on the last visit or two. The others went and took pictures. We had a great time. I am going to talk to the doctor about changing my migraine medication. I have been on Imitrex (or the generic form) for about four years and the rebound headaches are killing me. Causing me to take a second tablet the next day to fix the rebound headache. I took another the third day and today I awoke with the same crushing headache.

But, I was home. I had my fan blowing cool air on me. I gulped down three generic Advil (no migraine pill today) and moved around and got my coffee in me.

In no time, the headache was gone and we will see what tomorrow brings when I return to work.

I always take an extra day off after vacation to recuperate. I know from experience that I am drained and can barely function, so I had today off also.

I think I will be ready to tackle getting up and going and having my head on straight by tomorrow  morning.  Whew! These darn headaches just slay me!

Moving fast

We did see the trotters on Saturday. They were moving pretty good. Quite a few "broke" . After reading the terms and definitions from the link I just provided I read that "cross fire" is the term my daughter had asked me about on Saturday.  She wondered if the front leg/foot ever hit the back one. She said "you know, like when  your ankle bones smack together when you are running?'' Well, I cringed - the brought up some memories. Ouch!

It was a beautiful day Saturday. Not too hot. Warm but with a breeze. We tired ourselves out pretty good walking around. I topped my day off with a fair sausage sandwich. She wanted nothing. I threw the elephant ear and funnel cake away. I had brought them home. Can you believe nobody ate them?

Ramblings about nothing much in particular

I read an article where somebody thinks this pirogi has the markings of a religious biblical being. Me? I think it looks like Charles M@nson. Not that I want to give that creep any recognition or any mention, but yikes!

No matter to me. I hate pirogis. Never tasted one I liked.

I am so far behind in reading all your posts. I am trying to catch up. I got to where I was reading two books and jumped right into another one. I was reading, reading, reading - forgot to read your posts and forgot to blog for a while.

Then I found a bunch of Johnny C@rson shows. The best of...etc... Oh, my. Laughter is good for the heart, mind and soul. My nephew had purchased them for me years ago and I had forgotten about them. They are great!

I was intrigued by the episodes with Tiny Tim. Remember him? I remember when he married "Miss Vickie" on the C@rson show. But back to Tiny Tim - he acted and sounded just like Michael J@ckson. I had to laugh at that.

I didn't get far with our "R0bin Williams" marathon. I did watch "Awakenings" which I had not seen for a long time. The most popular ones I know too well. But one of the early ones - "The World According to Garp" I may watch. The book was mentioned on one of the C@rson episodes I was watching before they brought R0bin out. He looked so "out" of it. Self medicating, I guess.

Anyway, I may download the book and read it. Put it among the other dozen or so I have to read. Sheesh. I really need to get outside.

Which reminds me. I think we are going to the fair tomorrow. (Oh, crap - make that later today. I have lost track of time). My daughter and I love to watch the "trotters".  But, I am still torn. Is it animal abuse? I just think the animals are beautiful and truly amazing. I will try to get some pictures.

It was a beautiful day out there today. The tiny school I was working at was located close to one of the most beautiful spots in my county. I had my camera. I was so worn out, hot and frustrated when I finished I had no energy or heart to go take pictures afterwards. I just went straight home and collapsed. Grrrr.

The link above is a YouTube video I captured in September 2008. Six years? SIX YEARS ago? Mama!  And the link mentioned with this paragraph is where I posted about it. LOL!

Let's go to the park!

People come from miles around to visit our little park in town. This is where I held our "family reunion". Immediate family only. This year 28 showed. Poor weather plus some illness kept the numbers down.

But, everybody loves our park.

No dogs allowed. :(  Boo!

Gearing up for a family get away to WV to visit some cousins. No aunts/uncles are left. My older sister told me the weather is going to be gorgeous. I just hope certain family members do not make the evenings unbearable with their drinking and ruin things the next day with their hangovers. If they are hungover - they stay at the motel.

We have one branch of the family that insist we stay with them. We did once but we are not at all comfortable doing that. We have to have a motel. We did agree to eat there. Such wonderful hospitality. I feed everybody that comes to my door also. Four legs or two.

Pray for Turtles...

....everywhere!

As most of you know, I manage a filter for a group of schools in my area. This filter has an option to run a report for any end user(s) looking up anything suspicious. P0rn is depicted on the list, as is suicide, fear of pregnancy, abuse and bomb making. Things of this nature that you may want to monitor in an educational setting.

As I go through my "daily suspicious search" list of phrases and words that are picked up by the filter that denote an end user attempting to search for p0rn or violence, yes - I am getting desensitized. I figured that would happen. I scroll through lines and lines of searches for various body parts and functions. Same thing every single day. Along with every single day somebody searches for "Dick's Sporting Goods" and "To Kill a Mockingbird".  Every single day.

Once in a while a new one will catch my eye.

This one did.

"Will makeup kill a turtle?"

Whoa. I asked myself "Who would put makeup on a poor, defenseless turtle?"  Visions of mean older/younger brothers popped into my head. They are out there, you know.

Later in the day it occurred to me. Well, maybe they meant that the turtle got into her makeup and ate some of it.

Either way, I hope the turtle survived. We may never know.