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.