Dog days of summer

Picture from last year in July. Sable watches the new arrivals.

I wonder if she had any idea the chaos that would ensue with the arrival of these two. And then that boxer a month later. Sable's world was about to be turned upside down. Poor girl. She just has not been the same since. Some good, some bad.

She gets to walk more. That is good. She gets to play more. That is good. She had to learn to share. Not so good. She had to put up with a lot this past year. She rebelled by choosing NOT to listen to us from time to time while we are outside. I know she hears me because she gives me the sidelong glance. As if to say "I hear you, but I am going to do what I want to do. So there!" She is testing our limits. Even my daughter says "Sable doesn't listen to me anymore." I know. She is rebelling.

The long days of summer are upon us. My saving grace is that work gets cut short an hour early at the end of the day. I get a head start on things around the house. Especially where the mowing is concerned.

I have not let the daughter's new beau mow yet. He offered to. That is his job at a golf course. To mow and landscape. I figure he does that all day long, he doesn't want to come to our house and mow, too. Daughter has started her job as cashier at a local grocery store. (I had to shake my head in disbelief when she complained about her hours). I cannot believe this girl! They are working her three days a week with 7 1/2 hour shifts. She is outraged. She wanted five days of five hour days or something like that. What! I have three words for her. GET OVER IT! And, I told her so. Grumble, grumble. I am so shocked by her attitude I cannot put it all into words, yet.

Moving on. For some bizarre reason every June (or July) my mother lode computer decides to pass out. An electrical storm shut it off on Tuesday and I have not been able to get it back since. I know that the battery or something has been acting up for a couple of years because each time that the system is shut down unexpectedly it defaults back to the year 2004 and the settings default back to the factory settings of SATA Raid drives. Well, I changed that a year or so ago and it takes a few tweaks but I can usually get things back. Sigh. I believe another hard drive has bit the dust. Good grief.

I am sweeping my floor with my Shop Vac. Slow going. I needed bags, so I went out last evening to purchase some. They cost me $150.00! What?! Ha, ha! Okay, there is a grocery store next to the Ace Hardware. I had not purchased groceries in a few weeks. I was out of everything!

I get a little nostalgic in an Ace Hardware. My first job out of high school was working in an office at an Ace Hardware and Automotive store. I worked six days a week. I was the entire office staff. When the other girl left to get married, they didn't hire another, I just absorbed her work, too. Yeah, young and naive.

OMG! Speaking of nostalgic. Let me tell you something about my personality or nature. I was raised as the youngest of 8 children. I was chubby cheeked and tend to get along with everybody. To say the least I was a favorite and I was spoiled a bit. I guess. That's what one sister never fails to remind me. My retort is "It wasn't MY fault!"

Anyway, I was given the demeaning label of "being a big baby". I guess I cried to Mom or an older sibling each time I was picked on. Pecking order, you know. And the older sibling of whom I was a favorite would retaliate and punch or punish the non-favorite one who had picked on me. Into my teen years I had a couple of siblings that scoffed and laughed at me if I got my car stuck in the snow or something similar. I was teased a lot. I grew up mean. Guess what? Older siblings leave the nest and then you have to fend for yourself. Yeah. I got real mean.

You tease a puppy enough and they turn into one mean bitch. Well, that's my excuse anyway. I hardened my shell quite a bit. Maybe too much. I stopped crying. A long time ago. Crying was a form of weakness and got me called "baby". I vowed that I would never cry.

All is well until the pre-menopause cycle slips in. Again, OMG! I swear it all started the day I received my AARP membership card. It did! If you have not experienced it, you can google the symptoms to see what I am speaking of. I may have to resort to something like taking black cohosh. I was driving to my home office on Tuesday and out of the blue I started crying. And I cried all the way (a little over an hour). I don't mean nose blowing sobs. Just weepy and enough so that your throat hurts and you have to keep wiping your eyes.

I did what I needed to do at the office and then started the drive home again. Again! I cried almost the entire way. It may have been the song sets playing on my CD also. It was so bizarre and out of character for me.

I got home and mowed the grass. I could always blame the watery, red eyes on the grass clippings. By the time I was done mowing my mood had passed and things were back to normal. Huh! I really could do without days like that!

On the movie scene we watched "The Messenger." There was some "t&a" I could have lived without, (it can easily be cut out for the general audience viewing) but the emotional aspect was very good. I thought that B Foster had really come into his own with this picture. A far cry from the first movie I'd seen him in: "Big Trouble". Although I did feel that S Morton acted uncomfortable during the film. She made me feel uneasy. At first I thought maybe she was an inexperienced actor, but upon research - that isn't the case at all.

Almost a year

It has almost been one year since I brought these two rascals into our lives. If I could go back in time would I make the same choice? I gotta tell you. I am not so sure. As I type, they are rolling on the floor mock fighting with one another just having a grand time. What would have happened to them had I not taken them in? One can only wonder. I don't dwell on it often. In fact I think this is the first I have ever wondered about the "what if".

To me "what's done is done." I save the rue for human relationships.

Aw, never mind

I walk the dogs on the average of four times a day. Today was sweltering. I am out 10 minutes and I have sweat rolling down my neck, my hair is soaked. This heat, this humidity - I can't take.... (I look at the above picture) - aw, never mind.

The electric went off right after I got out of the shower this morning. I have not been able to get my big mother lode computer to work since. I can't blame this one on the dogs.

Acceptance

I have come to realize that I just have to accept the fact that I cannot do it all. Yeah, right. I'll say it but I don't practice it. This is the cord from my sweeper. I'll be purchasing a new sweeper. Have you tried to find a business or person that re-cords sweepers? It's the American way. Don't fix it, throw it out and buy new.

I suppose I can take an electrical course at the technical school in town. But, I have to let some things go. I don't have to feel guilty for not being able to do it all.

There used to be a small sweeper repair guy behind our old apartment. It is still advertised but when I dialed the number, the person on the other end said "No, this number is no longer that business." Sigh.

Well, what will it be? I have remained true to the bagged. Is it time to go bag less? With all this pet hair? There are so many models and designs to choose from. It used to be simpler. I had a brother-in-law that worked at Hoovers. Out of loyalty I kept with that brand. That was before pets, though. Hah! Now, I am thinking I should buy sweepers by the dozen. Ugh.

The thunder and lightning has stopped. Time to jump into the shower and get ready for work. Yee haw!

I found a pen, pencil, x-acto knife, magnifying glass and old flash drive chewed and on the floor this morning. Somehow they got up on the table and knocked off a cup that was holding the items.

Six today

Six years old today. The blog, not the flower.

A Father's Love

Caught the movie "Extraordinary Measures" a week or so ago. We like B Fraser and H Ford, so this was no question as to whether or not we should rent it. The movie itself was okay but I really liked the story behind the movie.

Children and gears

My grand nephew is four years old. He received the battery-operated jeep for his last birthday. His grandfather mock races him while on his riding mower. My grand nephew wins four out of five times.

But what really amazes me is the way he shifts the gears. He pulls the jeep up to us, jams the gear shift into reverse, swings the jeep's nose around while backing up and jams the gear into drive (or forward) and he is off again.

Four years old and he is driving like a gear head already. Like computers it must come naturally to them. If not naturally, then the predisposition to learn the task quickly.

Oh, and I rarely (if ever) buy Spaghettio's and NEVER the kind with the little meatballs in them - is that really meat in there? Anyway, there is a recall. And stop sniffing the Tylenol.

Roar

I didn't think anything could choke out these babies, but it looks as if my tiger lilies may be taking a back burner compared to my western salsify. I will need to get a handle on this situation before it gets out of control.

I am trying to stick with the orange flowers in the front yard. So far, so good.

I may have killed my mower last evening. I was finishing up and I have a tree in the front by my sidewalk with many roots and bumps. I lowered my mower at the beginning of this year (if you remember my daughter's old boyfriend mowed last year and come to find out he had the blade up very high). Well, I hit a stump and the mower choked and died. Smoke began pouring out of the engine and I stopped. I had enough anyway. I was whipped. Since the blade is lower I have been using the bagger and I had filled four huge leaf and lawn bags full of clippings. I used the biodegradable ones this time. They tear and don't seem to hold as much but I feel better knowing that I am not putting 55 gallon 1.3 ml plastic bags into the landfill. And for some stupid reason my bagger decided to keep falling off the mower near the end of my job. I guess it had enough, too.

If you've mown with a bagger in the back of your mower and it falls off, you know that you get a face full of grass dust. I was a mess by the end of the evening. I don't think I have allergies but I was a mess with runny nose, itchy eyes and coughing. I think it is a normal reaction to all the grass clippings and dust.

I already wear big race car type headphones and a wet cloth on my head, leather gloves along with yellow safety glasses. If I start wearing a mask over my nose and mouth my neighbors are just going to call the funny farm on me, I swear! Not a one of them wear safety glasses, or head phones. Not a one! Not even the older lady across the street who mows with an electric mower. I feel like such a wuss.

My daughter landed a job as a cashier in a local grocery store here in town. They call it seasonal but we have hope it will turn into something more permanent with benefits. Regardless, her self esteem with be boosted and she will feel so much better. And, it's my favorite grocery store.

Whispers

I can't forget this one. Not much color, but awesome in it's Spirograph design.

Color bursting

Colors are bursting all over my lawn. Here is one of the Gaillardia.

The tiger lily.

And my hydrangea did very well this year.

Waiting

Sable says, "I'll just wait here until you are finished taking pictures. Let me know when you are ready to go for a walk." She is content to rest and watch the world go by. Like me, she has mellowed with age. She has been acting very lethargic the past week or so. Me, too. I have been in a lot of pain (mostly my hands) and she seems to be very sore when she tries to get up. I blame it on the weather. Rainy and wet. Brings out the aches and pains.

Am off and running today. A birthday party. Not really my crowd but sister 1956 is having the party for her son. He turned 32. They drink and play guitar. It looks like rain. I am fixing some food. Cheese ball/tray, buffalo chicken dip (my first time), and my famous macaroni salad. I say famous because it is fast becoming one of the most requested food items that I bring to a get together now (used to be cheese ball, then calico beans).

I put bread & butter pickles in mine along with the juice. I also add sliced green olives to mine. Hey, I like it and other folks like it. I also discovered that I like to use generic salad dressing instead of Miracle Whip or Hellmann's mayonnaise. The generic salad dressing has the right consistency and flavor to make it work.

Daughter's new boyfriend has left for Va Beach with family and she is going through withdrawal. She does have a job interview today. He text messages her every five minutes (I swear!). He is 20 and she is 19. He works full time, goes to school (although he said he hates it) - one more thing they have in common. It is a different set up than the boyfriend before who is 18 and will be starting his 11th year at high school. (Home schooling can really mess some kids up if they or their parents are not disciplined.) They had been dating (with two major breaks) since June of 2005.

Prior boyfriend was a vegetarian and always had his male buddies around and was constantly going off and riding bikes or mud riding with friends leaving daughter behind. Current boyfriend hunts and has deer head hanging on the walls of his home (oh, goody! - that's sarcasm, folks). Two strikes. They actually eat the deer meat and he smokes. Daughter said he has quit smoking before so perhaps he can quit again. I have nothing against folks who eat deer meat, it just is not our cup of tea. Current beau attempts to spend every waking minute with daughter. Older Mom understands that is the nature of the beast when relationships are in their honeymoon phase. Daughter hates Mom's cynicism.

Relationships end and relationships change. We are moving on. Me? I'm just trying to keep up with all my critters, pay the bills and mowing the grass on a regular basis. I am exhausted most of the time. The nice thing about my job is during the summer we cut back a bit on our hours. That helps.

Me have baby time

I had baby time yesterday. For long time. It was quite pleasant. Very good baby. Fussed a little because Peruby was not used to holding a wee infant and had to struggle a little until we both got comfortable. Peruby very adamant about burping half way through the bottle and wee one didn't care for that, but hey, "Rules is rules".

Sigh. Sometimes there is nothing sweeter than a warm, snugly baby sleeping on your shoulder wrapped in swaddling blankets and warm and sleeping and comfortable and sleeping. Oh, and when you are holding the baby you don't have to set the table or help fix dinner or color with the 4-year-old (which I really like to do), or take the dogs out... just hold the sleeping baby. And since you don't get to see the baby very often, you are allowed to hold them while they are sleeping - you don't have to lay them in their portable sleeper/playpen. grin.

Ended up with my sister giving me a big container of homemade cookies and I left them too close to the edge of my dining room table. This morning? Gone. And, to add insult to injury - the lid was chewed up. Plastic - chewed. Not a crumb of a cookie to be found. I'm not telling her. I'll confess the lid chewing in a week or so, but I am not saying a word about the cookies that I am sure took a long time to make and bake.

Summer is coming

I knew the name of this flower when I bought it. I think I may have bought one plant or two. It has taken off. I planted them near my front porch step along with my orange tiger lilies. The lilies are getting ready to bloom, too. I think they are being polite and will wait their turn so they can bask in their own glory. After these guys.

My boxer chewed completely through the sweeper cord. Chewed the plug right off the end of it. If possible, I'll find somebody who can re-cord it. I probably will get a new one anyway. This one was starting to make awful noises. I have not had the boxer a year and I know the sweeper is newer than that. When I brought the sweeper home the boxer tried to chew through the cord, then. I wrapped it with electrical tape. This boxer must really have something against the noise of the sweeper. Pets are rough on them.

Schools are finished for the summer and the staff is wrapping up and preparing to leave. Things are slowing down at work. Since not many districts have any money things will be very slow this summer. I worked a bit with a java script the past couple of weeks (got it working) and may continue to study that this summer. I do have a new project that I will be starting at the end of this month. I hope it is exiting and gives me something to look forward to in the workday.

I Am

As usual, the picture has nothing to do with the post

The bridge spans a koi pond built by my brother-in-law after his retirement. The little boy is the youngest son of a nephew's girlfriend. As we tend to do, we have absorbed them into our family with no questions asked and plenty of love. That is our way.

No prejudice. Well, I try anyway. I have fallen victim to laughing at a politically incorrect joke from time to time. Mostly in my younger years when I wasn't strong enough to stand up to other people. Then I went through a phase where I challenged those that told the jokes. Now I am at the stage where I don't laugh, I ignore them - they get no reaction from me and I don't waste my time with them.

I watched "Invictus". Before posting about the movie, I wanted to research it. To get my facts straight. Okay, that was three hours ago. Yes, folks. I have been reading about Nelson Mandela, Winnie, apartheid, South Africa and the poet William Ernest Henley for the past three hours. C'mon! You should know me by now. I'll do anything to get out of housework and yard work.

Poet Henley brings me to the title of my post. "I Am". This can get complicated. I started with Nelson. I continued with apartheid, read a little on Winnie (she just scares me) and South Africa. Then I started on the poem by Henley. During the movie when the poem was read in the back ground I wondered to myself, "Hmmm. I wonder what the name of that poem is?" Silly me.

I googled almost every line of the poem. Come to find out that none other than the coward T McVeigh used the poem to express himself. Forget him. Well, don't forget him and what he did but forget the fact that he thought himself a hero.

The religious undertones of the poem were an interesting read. Many folks deciphered the poem that Henley was an atheist or at least in my opinion an agnostic. Some folks say that he had to know that "I Am" is Hebrew for "God". Interesting.

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Well, I wonder if Neil Diamond knew that when he wrote his song? The article does mention this reference when speaking of Jan Rot's version.

Regardless, the poem is powerful and inspiring in my book.

During my research, I came to remember other African movies full of strife that I have watched over the past couple of years. Three came to mind, "The Country of My Skull (In My Country)", "Blood Diamond" and "The Last King of Scotland". In My Country is set during the apartheid, the other two are different countries altogether.

Sigh. It is time. Time to clean. My daughter is bringing a new boyfriend to the house today. Gee, I hope he likes dogs.

Oops. Almost forgot. Had a wonderful reunion with sister 1954 last evening. My daughter, myself, sister and my nephew sat and talked for two hours after dinner (much to the dismay of the waitress and waiter-in-training). Everything was perfect except for my daughter's undercooked salmon. Twice! We sent the first one back and when the second one came, she was satisfied with just eating the edges which were done to a perfect flakiness and just left the thick soupy middle.

We did a lot of catching up, and took some "horrible" pictures which are not worth posting - the restaurant was very dark (probably so people wouldn't notice the undercooked food). I am now facing another very, very rainy day in the Ohio wetlands. My grass is definitely going to need a brush hog before I can get to it. Hey, wait! The daughter's new beau works in landscaping - you think? Nah! Do not go there! LOL!

I may as well throw this in, too. Since I am stalling. The electricity was off in my neighborhood for 7 hours yesterday. From 5:30 to 12:30. As the day wore on (with the monsoon making the day as dark as late evening) I noticed a stupid headache developing and not responding to my migraine medication. I was getting upset because I was really looking forward to this dinner we had planned. I even drank an alka-seltzer. At about 3:00 it dawned on me. Coffee! Caffeine withdraw. Idiot! After three cups of java and a nice hot shower I was back in form and ready to meet.

Support

My grand nephew had some support when he had his tonsils removed on Friday.

Electricity has been off here during the monsoons in Eastern Ohio the past few days. Trying to keep my head above water (figuratively). Many roads are closed in the area due to flooding. Not much time to post.

Meeting family for dinner in Roscoe Village tonight.

Calico beans

I start with a large can of baked beans. This holiday I used Bush's original baked beans. I brown a pound or so of ground beef. I drain the meat before I add it to the beans. I fry bacon until it is crispy and crumble it in. Two or three slices, the rest of the bacon I freeze or give to the dogs as treats all week long. They love it.

I add a cup and a half of brown sugar. 14 oz or so of ketchup. One teaspoon of mustard. I drain the rest of the beans. Kidney, butter beans, black beans, baby green limas - this makes it colorful and gives it the calico effect. I add more beans if I have them and until the crock is almost full. I save the juice from the rest of the cans of beans in case the mixture becomes dry and I need to add more juice. Refrigerate it until you need it. I rarely need it.

I slice a little bit of a sweet onion in there. I'll use a cooking onion sometimes if I don't have the sweet. Sometimes I omit the onion. Mix it all up in the crock pot and cook on low for four to six hours.

My apologies ahead of time for the after effects of bean eating.

lb

Little Brother

I got a lot of baby-time this holiday. It was blessed hot. We passed him around. I wouldn't let sister 1956 hold him until she wiped most of the deet (OFF) off of her arms. Hee, hee. Myself, I only put the stuff on my legs. So, I have five or six bites on my arms. Criminy!

My macaroni salad and calico beans went over very well. Not so for the salami pinwheels. Oh, well. I still had the Italian Sausages at home, but ended up sending that back with my nephew. I've had my fill of beans and hot dogs for a while.

It was very hard to get back into the work groove today. Tired and all. My alarm is messed up on my clock/radio/iPod player. Who knows what I did to it!? My cell phone alarm didn't work either (I set it as my backup). I must be losing my technological touch! Oh no! Good thing my mental alarm woke me up at 5:45.

Sister 1954 is home after her three-year lockup. Has it been that long? Sometimes it seems longer. I talked to her a little on the phone tonight. She is going about a million miles an hour. I told her to take it easy and rest. She wants to do and see and taste everything. I won't be able to visit with her until the week-end. If even then. I'll drive the 2 hours to see her if they can't meet me in the middle. She is tied to 180 straight AA meetings. Good grief!

The poppies blow

In Flanders fields, the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row...

I give you the first two lines of the poem "In Flanders Fields" a poem by John McCrae. Thus inspiring another poem "We Shall Keep the Faith" by Moina Michael. Now, each time I see my poppies I will think of the fallen soldiers that created a life for us. For this I am eternally thankful.

Sweet!

I added fresh vidalia onions with green/red/orange and yellow peppers to the sweet Italian sausage in the crock pot.

On low for over 8 hours, they did cut like butter when you ate them. Not shown here is the spaghetti sauce that I added, nor the mozzarella cheese.

This was for my Saturday company - they loved it. Today I am taking salami pinwheels, cheese ball/tray with crackers and calico beans. Camera is ready!

All of them

I robbed both peony bushes and cut every bloom and stuck them in a huge vase with water and put them in my kitchen. On the stove. I had quite a few ants the first day and the daughter complained mightily but I stuck with it. Every hour or so I would go and smack the blooms. Some petals fell off now and again, but mostly about 5 ants would drop and I would squish, squish, squish.

My daughter says she hates flowers and the kitchen smells like beer. She always thinks fresh cut flowers smell like beer. What the heck? I put the flowers on the stove because the cats try to eat any live plants I bring into the house. Usually it is Jasper. I have not seen him even try this year. Wow. Maybe I can put them in the living room the next time? Eh - better not. I don't want them to knock the vase over in there.

They are mostly dead, now. The blooms I plucked and put in a vase. The poppies are really dropping off. Orange petals all over the lawn where they grow. I was able to finally lower the mower blades and get the grass to a shorter status. It took me all day Friday (in the heat I had to take many breaks). I ended up with five huge leaf bags full of grass clippings. I did not wear a hat, but I did take two wet wash cloths and folded them over my head and held them on with my headphones. I am not a fashion plate by any stretch of the imagination. And, I don't pretend to be.

I have my niece and nephew coming to stay Saturday for the week-end. I am fixing Italian sausage sandwiches in the crock pot. I brown sweet Italian sausages and move them to a crock pot full of spaghetti sauce with sliced sweet onions and green and red peppers. I'll make some macaroni salad, too. We will have our fill of hot dogs and hamburgers tomorrow at the family cook-out.

I love it when the sausages slow cook long enough to cut like soft butter when I serve them. I serve them on soft hoagie buns and top them off with mozzarella cheese. I might even bore you with pictures.

My daughter, her guy friend and I caught "Iron Man 2" at the theater the other night. Sometimes I make an exception and risk the noise and flashing lights. I had some earplugs but they hurt too much and I took them out. The flashing lights were awful. It was not as good as the first one. Not much "hero" story line in this at all. I do not like M Rourke but I have to admit - he played his part well. We went late on a week night and had the entire place to ourselves.

I thought that G Paltrow looked very good with a little color to her face. She was not so pale in this feature. I always enjoy S Rockwell, whether he is playing a bad guy or the funny sidekick. And I just gotta say this. Once. K Mara just creeps me out. And I did not mind Cheadle playing the role instead of Howard. I've let it go.