Boo!

It's Halloween. Otter is too old to go trick or treating now, this is her first year not to go. So she's been promoted to passing out candy. We have two jack-0-lanterns, carved and just waiting for it to get dark enough so we can light the candles. Otter's pumpkin is a vampire. Mine's the traditional one with the triangle eyes & nose - also known as I was in a hurry!

Read this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21566280/

About time someone made that so-called church face the music! Sometimes the only way you can get someone's attention is through their wallet. They have to be stopped, they are just really terrible and they are just plain evil in my opinion.

I hear dogs barking in the distance, if I had to venture a guess I would say that we are not the only family with a beagle in the neighborhood! Of course, Maggie is curled up in the middle of Otter's bed. Where she's been most of the day, I think!

Happy Halloween!

Gone Shopping!

In my closet. Well, actually I just cleaned out stuff from the closet. But it was like shopping! I found several things that I haven't worn in years, it's like having a bunch of brand new outfits. I also cleaned out a few blouses that are way too big now. It was pretty fun.

The bank has been handled. I called the main office on the situation, I didn't even bother with the branch we usually use. They apologized all over the place! And they also paid the NSF fees to the collection agency. I mailed the check for the amount, with letters of explanation, today.

I've been sneezing all day long and I'm tired of it! Feel like my eyeballs are going to bounce right out of my head. We had cooler weather, then it got warm, then it rained again, then it was cooler and now something is blooming. Again. I'm just not sure what. But ragweed is high on my list of suspects! Some trees are turning, but the majority of the trees I see are just dropping leaves without the normal color change that we should have this time of year. Somehow, I just don't think it's going to be a very picturesque Fall!

I hope everyone remembered that the time change is next Sunday a.m.!

We're Done!

With moving iris bulbs, that is. I got all the bulbs by one of the trees dug up, the Otter helped me plant them and there are now two rows of iris by the back of the house. There are still two trees that have a bajillion iris bulbs by them, but we're out of room by the house so they are going to stay. At least for now. I might come up with a different plan for them, but I'm not going to worry about that now.

I also dumped a couple of plants that were about gone, and put all my plant pots in the garage for the year. I still have a few plant stands out on the deck, but they are not really in the way so they are going to stay. At least for now. I don't really have a place for them in the garage right now. One of the plant stands came inside and the pink pot full of cactus is on it, in front of the dining room window. I took the two hanging baskets full of begonias off of the shepherd's hook and put them on my corner plant shelf in the dining room. The begonias are actually from spring 2006, I heard yesterday about how hard they are to keep alive from one season to the next but I've never had a problem with it. I just move them inside when it starts to get cool and take off any dead flowers, then they survive until the next spring when they go outside again.

Bill just came down from the roof. He was putting a snow cover on the satellite dish. He didn't fall off, but apparently he nearly did. I don't think I want to know!!

---------------

Ok, it's about an hour later than when I started this. Bill needed me to help hold the ladder so that he would be able to get on & off of the roof without an Oops! He's finished up there for now, and I'm glad. He's doing something to the satellite dish involving better wiring than what it was installed with.

I'm going to have to have a "talk" with my bank on Monday. When the checks were stolen, there were 4 checks that I had written a few days before but they had not cleared yet. I gave the numbers, dates & amounts and the bank said that those 4 checks would transfer to the new account. I've been checking the bank daily, 2 of the checks did come through. Yesterday's mail had a letter from WalMart's collection agency. Seems that the other two checks, the ones that the bank said would clear - DID NOT! So WalMart expects me to send them money to cover the two checks plus $50.00 in NSF fees. I'm not even going to give the bank a chance to explain, they are getting the horns from the start when I call them tomorrow. And they had better agree to pay all the amounts, including the $50.00, and I want something in writing to WalMart explaining that it was their fault and not mine. And if I get nowhere with the branch office tomorrow, I am going all the way up the ladder on this one because my boss is very good friends with one of the highest officers at the bank and I know I'll get somewhere with him. It's kind of frustrating, to say the least!

On a brighter note, we got our flu shots Friday afternoon. No reaction beyond the normal slight headache & not feeling the best that evening. But while we were at the hospital for the shots, I stepped on the scale. Since January, I have now lost 48 pounds. I'm very happy, and very encouraged that I'm actually going to get to my goal. I've gone down 2 sizes and nearly 3 now. I'm not buying a lot of clothing, since I'm not finished yet. Just a few things to get me through, and I've gotten most of them at thrift stores. I have a few nicer outfits that I'm going to see about getting altered, but not until I'm where I want to be. I'm excited! But now my rings are pretty loose, in fact one of them came right off of my finger the other day. I'm not sure about getting them resized. I had them resized larger a couple of years ago, and the jeweler wasn't sure he would be able to resize them again. So I might have to come up with a different idea on that. But I'll worry about that when I'm at my goal which will still be a few months from now but it is at least in sight. :)

Ok, that's it for now. I have a couple of errands to run and a little more laundry to do. So, TTFN!

Redheads Rule!

Read this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21474978/

More redhead lore: I did not write this, I found most of it online although quite a bit of it I already knew. My specific comments are in italics! I was surprised at how much information is out there.

"""Facts about Red Hair:

Red hair is not widespread, less than four percent of the world population has naturally red hair. Lss than two percent in America. The gene for red hair was discovered in 1995. There are a lot of negative connotations such as the association with witches and the famous temper (THE TEMPER IS NOT A MYTH!).

Most women who dye their hair use home kits. about one quarter dye their hair blonde, slightly more than that prefer brunette. But about 30% go red!

There was a study done a few years ago by Professor Jonathan Rees, Edinburgh University. The study identified the red hair gene, the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), which is found on the 16th chromosome. The study discovered that this one gene was responsible for red hair. Therefore, red hair is a genetic mutation.

Only about 4% of the population are natural redheads. The majority are in Ireland, Scotland and surprisingly Austrailia. Scotland has the highest population with around 14%, Ireland is next on the list at about 10%. But only about 2% of the population in the US!

There are some who believe redheads are prone to industrial deafness. This one has some basis in reality, according to studies done. It's believed to be related to the "red hair gene."

Green is supposed to be a calming color that calms red. That is probably why redheads are more commonly pictured in green. But red hair is not anything to be ashamed about! (I wear green because I think it looks good with the hair).

There was a medical study in 2002 which found that redhead are harder to sedate than most of the population and can require up to twenty percent more anesthesia. Without enough anesthesia, people can wake up during surgery! (I did not wake up during any of my surgeries, but dental work is not fun because it takes so many more shots than the rest of the world! So I think that I can attest to this one being true. Also when Bill gets stitches - which he seems to do frequently - he always needs more shots).

Most adults have about 120,000 hairs on their head. Blondes have the most, brunettes are next and then redheads have the fewest.

Redheads have been called "three-time losers" for the following reasons: lack of dark pigment in the skin causes susceptibility to sunburn, ditto for skin cancer and also wrinkles! So sunblock is a necessity. (we are not losers!)

The red head trait is a recessive gene. It might skip a few generations. But it never really goes away, several generations may pass and then surprise! A redhead! Most redheads don't turn grey. (I just have a few calico spots).

It was believed in the late 16th century that the fat of a redheaded man was an necessary ingredient to make poison.

Supposedly, Adolph Hitler was so afraid of redheads marrying and producing children that would be "deviant", he banned two redheads from marriage. (Never heard this one before, but being the mother of a redhead... and also the spouse of one...)

“Redheaded stepchild”. (Dad always called me a red-headed stepchild! He was right about the hair part anyway, just not the step-child part).

I have heard that bees will sting redheads more than other people. It's an honor in some countries to have a red headed child, Denmark for one. A Polish belief is that you will win the lottery if you pass three red heads!

The ancient greeks believed that red haired people would turn into vampires when they died. (Otter, this one is just for you!) Russian belief is that red hair is both a sign that a person holds a fiery temper and craziness. (No comments about the craziness! but yes on the temper!) Russian proverb: “There was never a saint with red hair.” England's folklore says that it's bad luck to meet a redhead at the beginning of a trip and that you should return home. (Yeah, but what if you ARE one!?)

Both English and Scottish belief is that the first caller to your home on New Years will bring you luck. Brunettes are the most lucky, blondes don't bring any luck - good or bad, a widower will mean bad luck. But the best is saved for the redheads! The worst luck of all! (Ok, who needs a redhead to visit an enemy for them!?) The philospher Aristotle stated that redheads were emotionally unhousebroken.

Lucille Ball was quoted as saying: "Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead.""""

Now the rest of this is my thoughts: I like the hair color and the pale skin, but I don't really care for the sunburning part! And I don't wear red, it clashes! And I'd rather be unique any day of the week! When Otter was born, the first question was not dealing with gender. Rather, it was "does she have hair? WHAT COLOR IS IT?" When I was in high school and in the choir, there was a boy that was redheaded. The choir director always stood us next to each other - and we actually heard complaints about the glare from our hair! My wonderful, kind, sensitive brother once said he'd like to sell tickets & popcorn if Bill and I ever got into an argument. I have been known to tell certain people that the red hair is the first warning.

Wednesday and I'm Wasting Time

when I should be on eBay, posting things to sell! In a minute.

Interesting article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21455714/ I'm sure we all know which side of the fence I'm on, where this is concerned. (I applaud Duncan and the rest of them that are following his lead). Bill's comment: "Have you refused your koran today?"

It will probably be this time next week before the new checks arrive, so I guess I am going to have to go to the bank for cash before I go to the grocery store. It's getting old! But at least we know what happened, it would be a whole lot more annoying if I hadn't discovered that the checks were stolen.

Flu shots on Friday! I strongly recommend them for everyone.

Well, Frasier is telling me that I need to get busy with eBay. Or at least that is what it sounds like he's saying, he's parked in the floor beside me and he is talkative! I might update this later. If I can think of anything else to say!

LATER EDIT:

Ok, I got my eBay chores done! Otter is cleaning out some of her stuff, she wants to buy a jacket she saw last week so she's trying to earn some money. Most of what I posted on eBay is her stuff. So I hope it sells, and so does she! eBay makes a great way to get her to clean out her stuff. The games were hers already, she bought the stuffed dog at a thrift store last week to resell it. She's learning!

It's Cold!

And rainy, too. We hit our high temp of 50 degrees at midnight. And it's been downhill since then. It's not really all that cold, it's just that it was in the 70's yesterday and now it's in the 40's. If it wasn't rainy, it might not feel so cold. I think we might need to check the heater, it might need to be turned on soon. Also, having grown up in South TEXAS I spend a lot of time imagining that my feet are cold. I generally complain about cold feet from September 1 until about April or May. "All in my head". Yeah, and I just imagined the snow flakes I saw today. Several people saw them, it was even on the news. Global warming?

The Magginator loves this weather. She was zooming around the house, as fast as those paws could go. She would race around in circles, rest for a couple of minutes and then do it again. I think she finally wore herself out, after about 5 or 6 spells of racing. She covers the entire house, the first time she was just running in circles around the living room and then the second time she was running around Frasier. He was smart, he just sat in the middle of the floor and watched her going around and around. By the time she was finished, she was running all the way to the opposite side of our bedroom and then back to the kitchen again. She's kind of nuts. I really think that if the Energize bunny ever retires that Maggie would be a great replacement.

Frasier keeps coming up to me and bumping my arm with his head, sometimes he wants to be hugged but mostly I think that he's just playing tag - and I'm it!

Happy Birthday, Kendall! The big 15! Just think, just a few more years and you'll be 18. And then you won't have to do what you're told! :)

We had an interesting spider on the back deck last night. He was pretty big, the body was about the size of a quarter and he was very fat. Shape was similar to a black widow, but it was not one of those! We couldn't find the exact spider on the internet, but we think it was possibly a crab spider. Kind of an orange color. He built a good sized web, just outside the back door & window. And almost immediately, he had two servings of dinner. As the spider was building the web, it would zoom down almost to the deck and then I would have to hold Maggie back because she wanted to eat it. He would them climb back up and gather the web in two of his legs as he went up. Then he would attach other pieces of web to it, and he made his entire web that way. We enjoyed watching him. I took a couple of pictures, but they weren't clear enough to tell details so I'm not posting them. But we are not worried that it was a poisonous spider, we know most of the bad ones we have in this area and crab spiders don't seem to be among them. Mostly, the bad ones we have to deal with are brown recluse and we know what they look like. We get wolf spiders, too. They are really neat.

I'm heading to the kitchen now, to put on a pot of spaghetti! Good cold weather food. I'd make chili, but I am out of the fixings for it.

Sunday. Warm. Last Day of Summer Weather!

Or at least the forecast says that today is the last day of summer temps. It's been in the 70's today, which really is not warm but is a little high for late October in NE Oklahoma. We could get rain tonight, and tomorrow is supposed to be rainy all day. The temperatures for the week are supposed to be in the 60's, low 60's I think. Some of the nights could get down into the 40's. It was pretty windy today.




I moved some of the iris bulbs today. I got the ones by the chain link fence on the east side of the yard and there were a few on the west side by the fence so I dug those up, too. The majority of the iris plants we have are purple, but there were a few yellow ones along the east fence. I'm not sure if I got those or if they didn't survive because they might have been choked out by the honeysuckle on the fence. I dug a trench by the back of the house, Otter planted the bulbs for me. They are pretty close together and they still filled up the space. There are a whole lot more irises by the three trees in the back yard, probably enough for several more trenches! At least 3, maybe 4. I'm not sure when I'm going to get the rest of them, a lot of it depends on the weather. But I do intend to get at least the ones from one of the trees and transplant them. I had a lot of help from Maggie, she sat beside me the entire time and watched! Bill thought that maybe she was trying to pick up pointers, since digging comprises a big part of her day. Otter also picked up all the small limbs from the front yard. Then she dumped the plants that are done for the year, most of the jalepeno plants & the bell pepper plant. They are now filling in dog holes. There are a couple of other plants that will get dumped soon, but not quite yet. Maggie needs to dig more holes so we have a place to put them.

This is one of those plastic yard art figurines, but it looks a great deal like Maggie usually does! Except that her tail is longer, and there is usually dirt flying. The second picture is probably more accurate. Notice the dirt pile behind the beagle and the fact that more is being added to it.

Bill's been working in the garage, there is now a clear path to Otter's workbench and he's nearly cleaned out the entire path from her workbench to the garage door. There are 5 bags of trash waiting for Tuesday, all from the garage. Lots of the trash is overhead projector parts from the overheads that don't work, we buy them as surplus and usually they work fine but there are always a few that don't. Bill's stripping them for parts to repair the ones he can fix, and the rejects have just been piling up. But now several of them are gone. Not all of them, there are still plenty out there and a whole bunch more in the shed. But at least there is some order in the garage now.

After Otter & I transplanted the iris bulbs, we decided to go shopping. We went to two thrift stores. She found a whole bunch of books at one, and I found two skirts. One is 2 sizes down from a year ago at this time. The other one is the next size smaller, which is 3 sizes down! I also found a small china tray with a decoration of bluebonnets, so of course I had to buy it. And I found some border, not wallpaper border but more like what a teacher would use as bulletin board border - TEXAS flag pattern so needless to day, it came home with me too! At the second thrift store, Otter found an item she wants to sell on eBay and another book.

It's only 5:30 as I post this, but it's getting dark early. It's been clouding up all afternoon, and the clouds are getting pretty dark. So maybe we will get some of that rain that we were promised. I did wash my car today, but the forecast already said rain. But the car was filthy! So it might not be my fault if it rains.

Breezy Saturday

The insane kitten has changed her mind completely, she does want to go back to the Nightmare next year. She's her mother's daughter, and she might be scared of something but she seldom backs down. Read her blog, she has a lot to say about it.

It's been pretty windy all day long. We've had the house open most of the day, it's been very nice. It could rain tomorrow, but I think late in the day or possibly not until evening. Which is what I hope for, because we're moving irises tomorrow!

Frasier has not been out of the yard since the other day, so now I'm thinking that he probably did scale the fence since it was unplugged. But it's plugged in now and is staying that way. At the moment, Frasier is snoozing on the floor beside me. He's been clingy lately, he has a spot in the living room where he likes to sleep. We put a blanket in that area when we first got him, and that's his bed. He scrunches the blanket around until he gets it how he wants it and then he goes to sleep on it. The last couple of nights however, he's been sleeping at the foot of our bed on my side. He's very spoiled. And Maggie is not much better!

Well, I have to go referee the Otter and Bill. I think that they are having a disagreement about what to watch on tv. I keep hearing their voices, sounds like they need a mediator!

Very Glad it's Friday!

It's been a busy week and I am very tired today. Monday seems to have lasted 5 days!

No sign of the stolen checks at any place other than the church. I have finally been able to order my new checks, they should be here in about a week. Wallyworld refused one of my temp checks today, they do take temp checks but not for new accounts. Or at least that was the excuse they gave me. Excuse me, it's not really a new account! And most temp checks are for new accounts anyway! I went to the ATM in the store and paid $2.00 extra just to be able to get the cash, so I could go pay for the groceries I was buying. If I had enough time to go elsewhere, I would have just walked off and left everything there. But I was really too tired to go anywhere else and I did not want to get worked up over it.

Otter went to work with me today, and then we went to the mall for a little while. She found a pair of pants and a headband. Then she was out of money! Don't you just hate it when that happens?!

I think that we are going to start moving the iris bulbs on Sunday. It's still kind of early, but with the strange weather this year I don't think that the plants are ever going to die down enough until it actually freezes. And I'm not willing to do that kind of yard work after it freezes. Besides, irises are pretty hard to kill so I'm not worried. The tulips won't be planted yet, though. I'd like to be able to plant them in a couple of weeks, but we'll just have to see. They don't have to wait until a freeze, but the ground does need to be a consistent cool temperature.

I took Otter and two of her friends to a local haunted house last night. It's put on by a church. The church was founded by a group of recovering drug addicts and their main focus is to keep kids from getting into the same kind of trouble that they were in. So their haunted house is not like a traditional one. Which we knew beforehand. Their version of scary things is still like a school shooting, teen suicide, car wreck caused by drunk driving, stuff like that. Oh yeah, they also have a part that deals with Hell. And at the end, there is a message about how you can avoid all of that, which is the Answer to all of life's problems - God. It's pretty good and very effective. Otter and her friends were absolutely terrified when they walked out, they were scared & shaking. Otter asked if she could sleep with me last night, so we moved into the living room. She told me that she never, ever wanted to go back there and she never wants to be scared like that again. This afternoon she's changed her tune - she might want to go back next year!

Very Early Thursday Morning Quick Posting

The weather here was pretty bad yesterday at times, but we're fine!

Froggy called me at 9:00 last night to check, which is when I realized that our weather was being reported nationally. It was rough in some areas, but not quite as rough as it sounds. I just read a couple of articles on the internet, they were very dramatic!

We did get some spring-like storms, but the bad stuff missed us. The first couple of storms that were heading our direction went north instead, parts of Tulsa were hit hard and the rent house is in one of the areas so Bill is going to check on it today. We haven't heard from the tenants yet, I think we would have by now if something bad had happened but he's still going to check it out. The last bad storm that was south of us and heading our way went a little bit east before it came north, so we got the north edge of it. We got a lot of wind - the rain was sideways at one point - but not any bad stuff.

Froggy, I think that Dad would be happy you checked on me. I can just hear his voice now! He would be asking me when I was moving back home. Then he'd probably say I was a knothead, then he'd giggle.

Wet & Windy Wednesday

Lots of water. Lots and lots of wind. Springlike storms this afternoon. We have several small limbs down in the front, but they are hardly big enough to be called limbs. There are just a bunch of them. We had a storm system that was supposed to hit us this morning, but it went on north and we didn't have to deal with it. Then the next storm system was supposed to hit about 3:00 and it was right on time. Very windy! It was not nearly as bad as it could have been, there was a little bit of hail but not much and not big. It was a fast-moving storm. We might get more tonight, but late night if it hits. It might also go north, so we might avoid it. Which would be a good thing.

Otter went to work with me today, we went to the library at lunch and she got her weight in books. As usual! She's certainly her mother's daughter. She made a couple of $$ today.

I had a migraine this morning. First one I've had in several months. But I wasn't surprised, I've had MSG a few times lately and I knew I was pushing it but I was hoping I could get by with it. I try to avoid MSG, but it is in so many foods and I've used a couple of things lately in my cooking that I knew had it. Guessed I just pushed a little too hard. Then Otter might have had one this afternoon, she had a headache but she isn't sure if it was a mild migraine or not.

I called two of the places I'd mailed checks to last Friday, when they were stolen. Since the church check made it, I thought it was worth a shot. The two I called are both medical bills, from my surgery in March. One of the offices is closed this week while their building gets a new roof, which they did tell me last Friday but I forgot. I'll call them next Tuesday when they re-open, but they will probably tell me the same thing as the other doctor's office which was that the check did not show up. So I mailed them a new payment today, along with a note. I think that the church check is probably the only one that is actually going to get where it was meant to, and that's probably only because it was dropped and somebody picked it up and put it in a mailbox. I would like to think that the thief felt bad since it was addressed to a church. But probably not! It's kind of frustrating, having to deal with this.

I have just about finished changing our mailing address to the p. o. box. There are still a couple of places I have to call, and I can't change it with Otter's school until I have something with the new address such as a utility bill, that also shows that the street address has not changed. The library said that my cell phone bill was good enough proof for them, but the school probably wants to make sure that kids really live in the district. Which I can understand, considering that my last 2 years of high school were spent living outside of the district! I had forgotten about that.

Tuesday's Rambling Thoughts

Two dogs in the yard today when we got home! This morning, Frasier went outside fairly early and he stayed out for quite a while. Then when we were putting Short Round (Maggie) out, he stuck his head in the dog door because he heard the lid come off the treat can. I had to get something out of the garage a little later, both dogs were snuggled up on the carpeted area we made for them and Frasier was giving me what I call dirty looks. I think maybe he tried to go over the fence and got bit again, he did not look happy! They were overjoyed to see us when we got home, Otter and her friend took them for a nice walk.

We witnessed what looked like a pretty bad car accident on the way home. I was griping because it took longer than normal to get out of the post office's parking lot due to road construction, but then I saw the accident and realized that if we had not had to deal with the construction delay, we would have been just about where the accident happened. Oklahoma is known for red-light runners and today, one of them got caught the hard way. A small white convertible ran the light, and broadsided a green "SUV" type car, not one of the big SUV's but a smaller one. The convertible went pretty far up on it's nose, I thought at first that it was going to flip or the driver was going to be thrown out because he bounced so high. I think he had his seatbelt on, but I'm not positive judging by how far he bounced up. However, the passenger must have had his belt on and also the dog in the back seat was secured somehow. The passenger got out holding his right arm and the dog seemed to be ok. We were a couple of cars back, several people got out and were helping the occupants of the two cars so I didn't do that but I did call 911 and report it. I gave the operator all the information and my name & phone number, then she said that the police were on their way and that I could leave. Since there were so many people helping, I did go on and leave and the police were just getting there then. Scary. Hope the guy in the white car has good insurance, because he is probably going to need it! And maybe he'll think twice before he runs the next red light. The driver of the SUV was hit right on the driver's door, he seemed to be ok but there were quite a few people helping him out.

No school for the rest of the week, parent conferences tomorrow and then Thursday & Friday are teacher work days. Our conferences are tonight. Otter will go to work with me tomorrow and Friday, my boss has been telling me that he & his wife haven't seen "their granddaughter" in a while so tomorrow she'll get spoiled!

Pumpkin Patch Day

We didn't get any rain today at all, just a mild thunderstorm very early this morning. It was cloudy today and cool, slight breeze but not bad. So we were able to go to the pumpkin patch after school. It was very muddy in places, but the girls had a good time. I took my camera and that's when I discovered that the battery was dead. We have rechargeable batteries, and this one has been sitting on the charger but it was not working at all so I think it's gone bye-bye now. So no pictures! The girls are too big for the pony rides, but they did enjoy the petting zoo. I think that they enjoyed feeding the cows & the camel more than feeding the goats. There were sheep, geese, lots and lots of goats, the aforementioned cows and camel, llamas, cavies which look sort of like giant rabbits with short ears, and the most popular - baby pot bellied pigs! They were really cute little porkers. The girls also climbed the pumpkin piles and started to go through the hay maze, but it's dark inside and Otter's friend had a hard time with it so they didn't finish it. Then we hit the snack bar (after scrubbing cow slobber off of our hands - the cows lick your hand after they finish the food in your hand - guess they want to get every bite) and found a couple of pumpkins.

This is not the camel we fed this year, but it's the same type. They have very soft lips and very delicately eat out of your hands. Deep, soft brown eyes.

I've been changing our mailing address today. I've called just about everyone although there are still a few I'll call tomorrow. And I'm sure that I forgot a few when I was making my list.

I had a call from church today. It seems that the check I mailed to them actually was delivered. So it might have been dropped and someone picked it up and put it in a mailbox, or possibly the thief had an attack of concience when he saw that the envelope was addressed to a church. I hope it's the latter.

When we got home from the pumpkin patch, only one dog came in, the little fat one. Maggie was wild, she was just beside herself and whiny. Which generally means that she's telling on big brother Frasier. So we looked outside, and sure enough he was outside the fence. We pulled down all the morning glories and plugged in the electric fence again. Although we're not really sure that is where he got out - there was a spot on the side fence where we still have chicken wire attached and he could possibly have gotten out there. We fixed it but it's just temporary. We didn't run the electric wire on that part because of the neighbor's kids. However, they are now only there on alternate weekends and it's pretty obvious that Mrs. neighbor moved out a few months back so we are going to electrify that side as well. We'll talk to the guy next door before we do it, so he's aware. Then we'll cut back all the honeysuckle and assorted things that are growing on that side. And then Frasier won't have any escape routes. Until he figures out something else, like flying! Which I wouldn't put past him, he's too smart for his own good! Fortunately, this time he didn't get too filthy. He just has a small spot where he looks like he got in a little mud. It's pretty muddy everywhere, he might not have been out very long or he would have found a puddle. Or possibly visited the cow field again. He's been cleaning his feet for a long time, lots of mud I guess. At least he doesn't smell like he did the last time!

Better Day Today

I've quit panicking quite as much over the stolen checks. I normally check my bank account online every couple of days, now I'm going to check it daily. Just because. Someone mentioned to me today about how checks have a lot of security features, including being treated so that if someone tries to do the chemical bleaching blotchy spots will show up. I think that the checks I had were equipped with that, it seems like I read that as one of the features when I ordered them. I also remember seeing a report on the news a couple of months back about people that have been caught stealing checks, one of the things that they would do is take one of the altered checks to some place like Wallyworld where they have the system (I forget the name) where the checks are run through the reader that tells the clerk whether it's a good check or not. Then if it was not a good check, they wouldn't attempt to use it or any others stolen with it if they were the same account. I'm hoping that happens in this case, because the checks are all stopped and the account itself has been closed.

We went thrifting today with our friend Trina. We had a fun time, even though nobody found much. I did find a book, a small gift for Froggy (not telling!) and Otter found a purse and a new blouse. It was a very enjoyable day, and we want to go thrifting with Trina again when we can all get our schedules coordinated. We went to three thrift stores today, but there are still plenty we need to visit again!

We went to a different church this morning. It was ok, but it was a lot smaller than we want. Small churches are fine, but there really don't seem to be any kids Otter's age. Lots younger and a few older, but I didn't see anyone at all that was close to her age. Also, they had a guest minister and we just did not like him. He started out with one thing in his sermon, and then he got off the track. And he stayed derailed. He also talked a lot longer than just about anyone I've ever heard and we got out pretty late. I think that the normal minister preaches a "normal" length sermon, because quite a few people commented to us about how it's not normally quite so long-winded! We might go back and visit again later, when the regular minister is there, but we might not. The people were very friendly and we did like that. It's the same church where we vote. There are a couple of other churches that we will probably visit in the near future.

I'm taking Otter and one of her friends to the pumpkin patch tomorrow after school. I'm picking both of them up at school and heading out there. It is supposed to rain tonight and into tomorrow, but it should be through by early afternoon. I hope so!

I'd Like to Dispense Some Biblical Justice

At work, we have an electronic device on the door of the mailbox which sets off a beeper inside the office when the mailbox door is opened. That way, we know when the mail has been delivered. We also have a locking mailbox, because mail was stolen out of the box a few years ago. The incoming mail is deposited into a locked area where it can't be retrieved without a key. Outgoing mail is not secured, however. I wrote out several checks to pay bills this morning and put them in the mailbox.

Just before 10:00, the beeper went off so I go out to get the mail. Less than a minute after the beeper went off. And I discover that the mailbox door is hanging open, along with several up and down the street, and that the incoming mail container is empty because it hasn't been delivered yet. But what did happen is that someone stole the mail that was in the outgoing container. Which means that my checks were stolen. I normally use a gel pen as they are harder to "erase" to forge the checks. However, this time I'm not sure if I did or not. I think I used a regular pen. Which means that my checks can be erased and forged. I went back inside and told my boss, he got in his car and started driving around to see if he could see anything. He didn't find the theives, but he did see several neighbors and he told them.

I called my bank, they immediately stopped all 5 checks and told me to call the police. Which I did, and they said that normally the post office has to make the report. But when I told them that it was my personal checks, they said that changes the procedure and that they would send someone out. The officer was very nice, but he couldn't really do much in the way of a report since nobody saw it happen and we don't have any type of a description.

I went to the bank at lunch and closed the account. The bank transferred everything into a new account for me. Now I get to shred all 4 boxes of the brand-new checks I just ordered! One of the bills I was paying was my credit card, I called them and they also closed the account and are sending us a new card. I called all the places I wrote the checks to and explained the situation, so they are all taken care of. The stolen checks are cancelled, and the account has as many safeguards as we can think of so nobody can get into any of them. But if the thieves bleach the checks and get the writing off, which is why they steal them in the first place, they will be able to write them to anywhere they choose. And if they are written to somplace that does not have the new electronic check feature, then they will be able to at least get something out of them. Let's hope that they go to Wal-Mart! And not to some mom & pop place that can't afford the loss, when my bank doesn't honor the checks because they are stolen.

I'm just glad we have the beeper at work, if I hadn't found out about it I would not have cancelled the checks and who knows how much we would have been out when the thieves wrote them! Also, they have my credit card number and I'm sure that they would have used it or tried to. I honestly think that as soon as they opened our mailbox and saw the device, they ran off because they were gone too quickly.

It's not been a good day. But it could have been worse.

THURSDAYTHURSDAYTHURSDAYTHURSDAY

Still drawing a blank on titles!

Back at work today, and I feel much better. I am still coughing, which is actually a good thing when you have asthma. It helps my lungs to get clear, the alternative of not coughing is very bad. Bill's still got a lot of sniffling going on, but he's better. Otter is pretty much over it, although she decided to skip karate as a precaution today.

Maggie keeps trying to get in trouble. She's got this sudden fascination with the bottom shelf in the office, the one that has my sewing stuff on it. There is a bag of cotton filling that has been there for months, but she's suddenly discovered it and she keeps sniffing it. She will head in the general direction, but if she knows I'm watching her she won't go near it. But when she thinks she's not being observed, she heads straight for it. Little monster dog! But she's cute, so we forgive her. Even when she stinks. Like now!

Happy Birthday, Kimberly! You'll be catching up with me any day now. And I will get Scarlet's sock monkey in the mail to you soon. I meant to send it this week, but I spent quite a bit of the week at home sick.

The Otter and I are going thrifting with our friend Trina on Sunday. Otter finds some really great deals, she has an amazing eye for things. Not sure what she's looking for at the moment, but I'm sure that clothing & shoes will be on the top of her list! And books. She finds things that I don't even see when I'm standing right in front of them! If we find any good deals, I'll post about them and possibly pictures as well.

We have to change our hiding place! Bill found where we've been hiding the cookies. We've learned, if we want anything sweet to last then we have to hide it from him. He accidentally came across the oatmeal creme cookies yesterday, Otter takes them in her lunch and the box wasn't as well hidden as we thought. There might still be one or two left... I usually put things in the cookie jar like low-fat vanilla wafers, because he's going to eat them all at once anyway so they might as well be low-fat! He's got a worse sweet tooth than Dad had! And I didn't think that was possible. He'll even eat Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies and he doesn't like mint!

We had an interesting discussion tonight at the dinner table. It was about shopping. Specifically, about the fact that men just don't get it! Bill's comment is that women make too much of it, when it should just be a 5-minute run in-run out thing. He said that he always knows what he wants BEFORE he even leaves the house, gets it done quickly and it's over with. But that takes all the fun out of it! Besides, his version of shopping usually is to tell me what he wants and then I go get it for him! Sigh, men just don't understand...

We took the poochies for a walk this evening. And saw some huge canine footprints out where the coyotes were a couple of weeks back. Big ones. At least they weren't chupas! :)

The Kitten is Insane!

New blog to check out! It belongs to Otter, keep in mind that she is her mother's daughter so she's not politically correct and speaks her mind. And she's also very much a Texan, and a strong woman in training.

http://kittensasylum.blogspot.com/

No idea why she decided on this name, as originally she was going to title it Otter's Daughter. But both fit her.

I tried to find a good picture to post that went along with the insane kitten part, but I wasn't able to. Oh, I found pictures. Lots of them. Just none that were appropriate! Google has it's downside at times.

Insane beagles are much easier to find pictures of. We have one in our house!

Frasier might have another ear infection. He started digging at his left ear last night. He's now gotten to where he will at least let me treat his ear without too much struggle. Last night, as soon as he saw what I had in my hand he went right to the floor and put his left ear up to me. He didn't even budge while I was working on his ear, although it was a battle later to keep his paw away from his ear. I had to hold his paws down for a while, I guess the medicine finally started working because after about an hour he finally quit trying to mess with his ear. Poor baby! I'm sure it's uncomfortable for him, but he never holds it against me. Of course not, he's a sucker for a treat! And since I control the treats... The vet said that if he ever has to anesthetize Frasier for a procedure, he'll see what he can do with his ear while he's unconcious. The problem is that wax doesn't drain out of his ear correctly, and he tends to get infections after the weather has been damp. In other words, all summer this year!

I'm feeling better. I went to work, but I came home around 10:00. I have been unable to get warm all day, and my throat was starting to hurt again. Since my boss is 91 (today is his birthday) and his wife's health has been delicate lately (she's only 90), he strongly suggested that I head back home BEFORE he came in for the day. Since I was starting to feel cruddy, I decided that he was right. I stopped for a bag of potatoes on the way home so I can make potato soup today. I made a baked chicken last night, with the intention of making soup from the left overs but there weren't any leftovers! Which I should have realized, considering that Bill and Otter generally inhale baked chicken since they both like it so much.

Tell me if this makes sense to you. Because it doesn't to me. This week is Spirit Week at Otter's school. Monday was Pajama Day, Tuesday was Dress Like a Geek Day, today is Fashion Disaster Day, Thursday is Superhero Day and Friday is School Spirit Day. All fun, although no PJ's to school for Otter. And she couldn't come up with a Geek outfit. Today, she's in mismatched toe socks, mismatched earrings, a nice blouse with faded jeans and flip-flop shoes. Tomorrow she is probably going to "go ninja" and wear a lot of black with a ninja-style headband she is going to make tonight. Friday will be ultra-tiger, as the school mascot is a tiger. The strange part is that today (Fashion Disaster Day) is ALSO SCHOOL PICTURE RETAKES! I would probably not be a happy parent, if my child's pictures came back looking like some of them do today!

And I am glad that I went to vote yesterday, because my vote helped to defeat another useless sales tax increase. Tulsa County has a well-earned reputation for not really doing what they say, and we are already at nearly 9% on sales tax. And the particular issue was not well planned or thought out. It's a subject that I might approve of, but not how it was done this time.

I might get my living room back tomorrow! Salvation Army said that they would take Otter's old twin bed. A lot of places don't want furniture anymore, Goodwill for example. But Sally's said that they would be glad to get it. Poor Maggie, she won't have a mattress to snooze on in the living room anymore!

Tuesday & My Turn

To be sick, that is. I'm still at home. The sore throat is the worst part of it, I've been living on Life Savers candies this morning.

I did have to get out, we have a local election and I went to vote. Then I stopped at Wallyworld for the Life Savers and milk. Then I came home, got back into my pj's and I'm not planning on going anywhere else today. Otter rode the bus this morning and will ride it home today.




Normally, Tuesday is karate day but I'm not really up to taking her. Which is fine with her, I don't think she really needs to go anyway considering how sick she was. It seems to take a few days for the coughing & upper respiratory symptoms to go away, and excercise bothers her asthma when she's sick or coughing.

The mattress set is still in the living room floor! I am going to call Salvation Army, but until it either gets donated or taken to the dump it has to be somewhere. The headboard and frame are resting against the wall in the front entrance way. We don't really have a place to store it, so we just left it in the floor. I was parked on it this morning before I went to vote, the Magginator was right there with me. She was very snuggly. And warm! Frasier was beside it, with his head leaning on the edge of it so I could pet him. They are really spoiled.

This was taken just after we got the Magginator, so it was March of last year. She still looks the same, just fatter!

Not sure just when this was taken, but Frasier is in his usual position - snoozing! Actually, I think his eyes are open in this picture but they probably didn't stay that way for long. He is lazy! A good dog, he just conserves his energy for times that he really needs it. Like when he thinks that there might be a squirrel up the tree that he needs to barks his head off at.

It was really cool this morning, nice temperatures for October. But I don't think we're going to have much in the way of Fall color this year. In about 3 weeks, maybe a little more depending on the temperatures, we will plant Otter's tulip bed for next spring's blooms. The tulip bulbs need colder temperatures, so we don't plant them until it's gotten really cool. We're going to have to do a little work on the dirt, it will need anti-mole/gopher treatment but that's easy. I'm hoping to plant the bulbs around the first of November. Which is just right around the corner!

I also am going to do some work in the back yard, we have iris bulbs planted around the trees and the dogs like to lie under the trees. So the iris plants get squashed! I'm going to move the iris bulbs to the area right up against the house in the back where we had a flower bed but we took it down. It was a nice area, but the wood edging was decomposing so we decided to just let the grass have that area. The iris bulbs won't need any edging, they'll still come up and the dogs don't have too much interest in that area. Bill suggested that we dig narrow trenches and plant the bulbs that way, which is a good idea. It will probably take about 3 trenches - it's a long area, but there are a lot of iris plants! They are the purple kind, very pretty. There are also a few yellow iris bulbs along the fence on the other side of the shed and they don't get enough sun because of the neighbor's honeysuckle so I'm going to dig them up as well and put them with the rest by the house.

This is just another picture of the poochies! No idea when it's from, but maybe last Fall?

Blog Action Day is Next Week

I read an interesting article just now. Blog Action Day is October 15. Apparently, everyone with a blog is supposed to post something about the environment. The general theme of the article is how "we" are all supposed to push the idea of global warming. Sure, I'll post! I'll post about how global warming is a myth, and how the changes in the weather are normal cycles that the earth has been going through for millions of years! And how we probably don't have much of an effect on it, no matter what we do - or don't do.

I saw this on another website. I thought it was funny. And probably not too far off!

Otter is very happy with her new bed, and so is the beagle. I checked on them before I went to bed last night, they were both asleep and it looked like they had enough room without the beagle stealing the covers or hogging the bed. So I'd say that the new bed has the official Maggie stamp of approval!

Bill started coming down with Otter's illness, he was fine until yesterday evening and then he started with the cold symptoms. He went to bed about 9:00, and I heard him snoring about 30 seconds later. I was in the opposite end of the house, and it sounded like he was standing right next to me! I knew that there was no way I'd get any rest. So I grabbed some blankets and slept on Otter's old mattress set, which was in the living room floor. I slept ok, but I kept expecting Frasier to join me since he was on his blanket a few feet away - and the mattress set was on the floor so it would have been easy for him if he'd decided to snuggle. Fortunately, he stayed in his spot. I really didn't want to have to deal with a 65 pound furball! I meant to call Salvation Army today about donating the old bed, but I forgot. I'll try to call them tomorrow.

Bill called in today, and I went to work but about 9:00 I started coming down with the same symptoms. So I came home and took it easy all day. I spent most of the day resting. I don't feel a whole lot better, so I'm not sure yet about tomorrow. Bill's better, I think he's going in tomorrow but we'll see about that in the morning. At least Otter is over it. Which is a good thing. However, Bill is a typical man when he's sick. He acts like a big baby!

Very Busy Sunday!

It will (almost!) be easier to go back to work tomorrow, as busy as we were today.

Otter's new bed took up most of the day. We went to church, then when we got home Bill went to his dad's house to fix his computer. So Otter and I got busy. We bought her a mattress and box springs on Friday, the box spring was stored in the hallway and the mattress was up against the wall by our bed. We started moving most of her furniture out of her room, and running the vacuum as we went. She cleaned spots on the wall, most of which were right where her old bed was against the wall - and exactly where the beagle liked to sleep! We moved her desk to a different place in her room, the computer cords were long enough that we were able to move it without a problem. We moved her chest of drawers slightly, it's in the same place as before but facing a different direction. Her plastic 5-shelf bookshelf (resembles milk cartons) was moved to between the chest and desk. We took down and rearranged all of her posters. And put up a new one that she bought today. We dusted everything and vacuumed the entire floor, including along the baseboards.

We also went to Wallyworld and got her some new sheets and another pillow. We should have gotten her two pillows, we'll take care of that tomorrow.

Then Bill got home and he got busy with the frame. Otter and I cleaned the headboard and used Liquid Gold polish on it. It looks pretty good. When Bill got finished with the frame, we put it together and attached the headboard. We put the box spring on the frame. And that's when we discovered that the frame and headboard we bought in March as a double was ACTUALLY A QUEEN SIZE! I thought a queen size was a lot larger than it actually is. But it's really not that much larger than a double. Just large enough that the mattress set didn't fit without sliding around. If we'd known, we would have bought her a queen size mattress set. To exchange the set we would have been charged a $50.00 restocking fee, along with the fact that the queen size set like hers would have been about $30.00 more than the double was. And both sets of the sheets we bought had already been washed by this point, so they were non-returnable.

Can't really complain about the frame and headboard, we got it at an auction for literally $5.00. They probably honestly thought it was a double. Bill got to looking at the headboard, and there are extended areas on each side of it, on the inside of it and next to where it attached to the frame. He figued out that he could attach the frame to the extended areas. So we were able to make it work, but it would have been easier if we'd known and bought the queen size set. And I think that the headboard could have been set a little higher on the frame, but I'm not going to complain about that! Bill worked really hard on it. The bright side is that when Otter moves out, she will already have a queen size bed to take with her.

The final test was the Beagle! Maggie had been wandering into and out of Otter's room while we were rearranging and cleaning. She looked very confused. She just couldn't quite figure out what we were doing, and I think she was looking for "her" bed. When Otter got the new bed made, she called Maggie to her. The Magginator came running, jumped up to the bed and promptly got stuck half way with her rear hanging off! (I gave her a little boost.) After that, she figured it out and managed to jump all the way. But Otter was concerned that we might have to buy dog steps! (Not gonna happen!)

The parakeet is in a temporary spot, but I think he's going to be moved. The telescope won't fit in her room anymore, it's probably going to be stored in the garage until it's needed.

So now that Otter's room is out of the way, it's on to the next project! We've discussed rearranging our room, so that might be the next thing we tackle. Bill's ongoing project, the garage, is beginning to look a little better. If you know where to look, that is. It's still a mess but he is making progress. But eventually (soon I hope), I'd like to be able to put the bicycles in the garage. Right now, they are in the shed in the back yard and we have to go through unlocking the gate that is almost impossible to open on a good day and then getting the bikes out without the dogs coming along. Then the reverse when we get through with the ride.

It's been raining most of the day. We went to early church services, which got out about 10:30. It was starting to sprinkle a little on the way home. Sometime after Bill left to head to his dad's, it started pouring. It rained hard off and on all day, in between the hard rains we had lighter showers. No thunder, just lots and lots of water. Good thing we brought in the cactus plants yesterday!

Friday. Texas. Home.

It's Friday. It's Texas/OU weekend. And my Texas flag is now out in front of my house, waving proudly. (For anyone that is interested, we have decided that even though our house is in NE Oklahoma - it's actually part of Texas.) And I'm wearing my Texas Longhorns t-shirt.



The Home part of the title refers to both the flag because Texas is and always will be home to us, and also to the fact that Otter and I are home today. We are doing what we refer to as "playing the asthma game." Otter had a sore throat yesterday morning but she went to school anyway. I expected a call all day long to come get her, but she managed to make the day. She wanted to go to karate, so we did but she wasn't able to finish the class. When we got there, she must not have looked like she felt too good, because the first words out of the instructor's mouth were to tell her that she was free to take as many breaks as she needed. He also had her lead the running when they were doing their warm ups, and told her to walk as often as she needed to. She made it about half way through class, then she had to come to where I was sitting and use her inhaler. 4 times. Which is actually quite a bit. She still wanted to stay, so I had her sit down by me and rest for a few minutes. But I could still hear her wheezing when I listened to her chest and she decided that she probably should not stay. When we got home, she took a short nap. Then after homework and dinner, she took a shower and then spent the rest of the evening in bed reading. She had a sore throat this morning and some lung tightness, so we decided to keep her home. Otter is at the age where she can stay home by herself when she's sick. But never with asthma. Frasier and Maggie are sticking pretty close to her today.



So since I'm home, I got all my normal Friday housecleaning done early. Well, I haven't vacuumed yet but I will later on - I wanted to give the dogs all the time they needed to track in dirt & leaves before I vacuum it all up! But I'm finished with my laundry, although it's not put up yet, and the kitchen is clean. So I don't have to do much of anything for the rest of the day. I am going to probably post a few things on eBay later on, around 3:30 or so.



Otter wanted me to post my poem about the Texas flag. I don't really think of it as a poem, but she does. It's something I came up with a couple of years ago so I would remember which part is the top and which is the bottom - about 3 years ago I accidentally hung it up upside down and Texas lost to OU that year. And Bill has never let me forget it! Anyway:

Our Flag

The bottom is red, for the blood of our Heroes spilled at the Alamo fighting for our freedom and independence.

The top is white, for the clouds in the sky that we reach for and we can achieve anything we try.

The blue on the side is the sky that the clouds are in.

The lone star is the star we are striving for in that beautiful blue sky with the white clouds.

Later edit: Otter might finally be getting a new bed! We're going to meet Bill at a place today after he gets off work and go look at mattresses. We have the frame & headboard, and now the bedding for it - although we haven't gotten sheets yet - and would have taken care of this a long while back. Except that I was sick, then every spare second was spent at the rent house and now that we're finally through with everything we have time to get her a bigger bed. Maggie Beagle will be overjoyed! Otter is feeling a little better, so I think it will be ok to take her out for a couple of hours. Since it's her bed, she has to be the one to actually pick it out. All I gotta do is pay for it! Happy now, Froggy?

Our Fenton Glass Collection

This is some of the Fenton glass that Otter and I collect. The tree and both hummingbirds are mine, the butterfly, unicorn and mouse are Otter's. These are all new pieces, produced within the last couple of years. I also have a ring holder, but I forgot to get it when I was taking the picture! I have several other pieces, such as the perfume bottle I posted with the other 2 glass items. The other 2 items are on eBay and so is the 2nd Fenton perfume but I kept one of the perfumes. I have some older Fenton such as a hobnail creamer & sugar set and similar pieces. I had a few other pieces similar to the creamer and sugar but I had a stupid moment several months ago and sold them on eBay. And I've been kicking myself over it ever since! Especially since the closing announcement. (Hobnail is a series of slightly pointed bumps that are all over the glass piece, they are usually opalescent). (Not the same as moonstone, moonstone bumps are rounded).

Otter's unicorn is something she found at a thrift store, for either 25 cents or 50 cents, a couple of years ago when her room was decorated with unicorns. At the time, we didn't realize it was Fenton. She was getting her unicorns ready to post on eBay when she started changing her decor a few months back. And as I was about to post the unicorn, I noticed a small Fenton logo. So needless to say, it went back to her shelf! It's not a vintage piece, but it's at least from several years ago.

The butterfly looks yellow, but it is actually vaseline glass. Vaseline glass is made with a small amount of uranium oxide - yeah, the radioactive kind - and it will glow nicely under a blacklight. (Don't worry, it's safe!). It has opalescent edges.

The two hummingbirds are my Christmas and birthday presents from Bill last year. I told him I wanted a pink Fenton hummer and I made sure he saw a picture of them on the internet, as well as exact directions to the local store. He got there and there were two, they are slightly different and are not the same shade of pink. So he did what any smart man would do - he bought both! But I did not have to wait until my birthday for the second one, he wrapped them both together with the boxes taped together at one end and from the shape I didn't think he'd gotten what I wanted. Was I ever surprised! Got him lots of brownie points, that's for sure. The green tree is this years Christmas gift from Bill - when Fenton announced the closing, I told him that I'd like the tree and that I'd take the responsibility off of him by getting it myself. (See the sacrifices I make for him?!) The mouse is Otter's Christmas present this year - same thing as my tree. She just got it in September is all.

Of course, I still have a birthday coming up this year! So I guess I'd better find another piece to add to the collection. Shouldn't be too hard, there are some absolutely lovely pieces in the final year's release and I can probably find more than a few that I want in just a matter of seconds. So I guess I'd better get my catalogs out and start flipping pages!

It's October!

But you'd never know it, it's been in the 80's and very windy the last couple of days. Like spring! Today wasn't windy, but it does not look like Fall. I put my ceramic jack-o-lantern pumpkins out on the front porch, and Otter is in charge of the inside decorations. We have a whole bunch of stuffed, straw, candle, metal, etc., pumpkins. I also need to find my jack-o-lantern placemats. They are in the china cabinet, it's just a matter of actually getting them out. Maybe tonight, maybe not.

We'll head to the pumpkin patch in the next couple of weeks and get real pumpkins. Even though Otter is past trick-or-treating age, we always have lots of kids that come by and we usually have at least two real jack-o-lanterns.

I remember Mom always loving Halloween. She always had a lot of fun, she would decorate a lot and I think she enjoyed it as much as her kids did.

And then there was Aunt Jessie's apartment behind our house, and only the most special kids got to go back to her door for candy! She would always have candy in the little paper bags that would about fit in your palm. It was a special treat for the neighborhood kids, to get candy from Aunt Jessie. Everyone called her Aunt Jessie, even the non-relatives. She was just that type of person, she loved everybody and I think everybody loved her. We gave her the highest tribute we possibly could. Which family will understand, I'm just not going into details on that one for privacy.

I keep meaning to take down the remaining hummingbird feeder, but I keep forgetting about it. I was out in the back yard tonight, and I remembered to put a couple of empty plant pots away in the garage. While I was in the garage, I found the box for the feeder. I brought the box in and put it on the kitchen counter. And then I promptly forgot all about the feeder! It's dark now, so I'll get it in the morning. If I remember, that is.

I forgot to mention that Bill heard coyotes Friday night. I went to bed before he did, he was watching tv in the living room and he had the back door open with the window in the storm door up so he could get some of the breeze. Frasier was asleep, he woke up out of a deep sleep and ran out there to bark at them. Probably a good thing that Frasier is afraid of the electric fence! Otherwise, he would probably have been out there with them. I don't know if he would have fought with them or been friendly, either way I don't want him making new friends! He looks so much like one that if he did make friends and decided to hang out with them, he might get shot for one. Last night, we were sitting in the living room watching tv and Frasier was asleep in his spot. The dog was growling in his sleep. Guess he wasn't having a happy dream!

We also caught a hint of eau de polecat (skunks for all you non-Texans!) on the morning air today. Just a hint, but it's getting to be the time of year when they are moving in search of warm places. That's something else we don't want Frasier to come across! He kills cats, and knowing that dog he would probably think it was another kitty. He's had all his shots, but we have this fear of not discovering that he's been skunked until he runs in the dog door! Hopefully, that won't happen. That would not be a good thing!