Happy Birthday Otter!

Guess she's gotta grow up sometime!

Misty Messy Sunday

It's not exactly been raining this morning, but it was a little stronger than a mist. Just enough to make the dirt stick to the dog's feet and allow them to leave tracks. All over the kitchen and living room! I've cleaned the kitchen floor up twice already, but I've decided to just wait until later on in the evening when they aren't going out every few seconds to bark at nothing.

Bill's mowing the weeds, I mean yard. Once he's finished, we'll be able to tell where we still need to do some filling in of holes. I'm sure that there are still plenty, although I think we've gotten most of them. Or at least most of the big ones.

We skipped church this morning, there were a bunch of little things I wanted to get done around the house so we have been busy most of the day. I talked Bill into re-caulking around the toilet in Otter's bathroom and he decided to do the one in our bathroom as well. There were two windows that needed to be cleaned on the outside, thanks to birds that visited the suet feeders, so I hit them with windex while ago. Now we can see out again! We had several other small jobs and we're just about through with them. Until I come up with something else for Willy Boy to do!

Bill just got through mowing. He said that there are more holes out there than we've already filled, and we've filled a boatload already! So I guess we won't be bored for a while. Anybody need something to do? I have plenty of holes to fill and a couple of shovels you can use!

Otter will be 16 tomorrow. For some reason, she's excited about it. Can't imagine why... Her birthday dinner is at her favorite Mexican restaurant, her local grandparents are meeting us there. I've also ordered a small cake, which I'll pick up after work and then we'll have it after the restaurant. Otter's decided that she wants a Wii game system and she's saving her money for one. She is pretty determined, when she makes up her mind to save for something, she does exactly what she says she's going to do. She gets her stubborn streak for her father, of course! :)

Since we've started seeing frogs again, the bricks are back in the dog's outside water dish. I hope that this year isn't quite as wet as last year was, but I did enjoy the frogs because they eat a lot of skeeters.

The prom was last night. I took Otter and all of her supplies to her friend's house about 5:00. She had dinner at her friend's house and then another of their friends came over and they all got ready together. Her friend's dad emailed me some pictures which I sent out to several of you last night. Otter said it was fun. She had a great time, and she is looking forward to going next year. She's thinking about a long formal for next year, and probably strapless. Beyond that, she's got a year to decide on the details. But if it's long, she can wear shorter shoes - she said that her feet hurt from the shoes she wore last night. Price of beauty! (The picture might not be up for long, my normal paranoia will insist I take it down!)

I tried another recipe from my bread machine book. This time, it's Honey Whole Wheat bread and it's pretty good. I made a loaf yesterday and it's already gone so I have another one in the machine now. It takes over 4 hours to make, but it is very good. I tried whole wheat bread once before and it didn't turn out very good, but as I recall I just used whole wheat flour in place of the bread flour I usually use and it doesn't work to substitute without some adjustments. Whole wheat flour usually needs wheat gluten, which I don't have, but you can substitute 1/4 to 1/3 of the whole wheat flour with bread flour if you don't have gluten on hand so I've been doing that. The honey makes it very sweet and it is really good. I'm sure that the loaf I have going now will probably disappear just as quick as yesterday's did. Smells so good right about now!

Woof Woof! Got any cats?

Frasier here!

I see that my little sister Maggie figured out how to use this thing that the people play with so I thought that maybe I should see what it was. I don't know what the humans call it, but I think it's ok. Except that Mom spends too much time with it and not enough time petting me! I should know, when Mom is playing with this toy I can stand behind her and look out the window. I'm looking for cats. There are a couple that I see outside, but they don't want to come play with me for some reason. Can't imagine why, I like cats. They taste good! Although I could do without the fur.

Speaking of little sister Maggie, I have to say that she's a real brat. I think that most little sisters must be. She thinks that she's the important dog around here, but she does not even begin to come close to my brilliance. Especially in hunting skills! I have a number of cats to my name and a bunch of moles - all she does is dig the holes and leave me to do the hard part, namely dispatching said moles - and I am trying hard to get a squirrel. Maybe a bird, too. But Maggie thinks that I should play with her all the time, and she won't take no for an answer. She bites my feet to make me play! And she's got sharp teeth. Silly little dog, she got a bath the other day because she wasn't smart enough to figure out what was going on. She walked right up to Mom, even though all the bath stuff was out and Mom was right by the tub. I mean, how could she have missed the signs? And then she wasn't quick enough to get away when the truth finally sunk into that little pea brain of hers. She still smells funny, not like her beagle self should smell. I don't get caught too often, but I think I heard Mom talking about a bath and saying my name in the same sentence, so I'd better be watchful.

But Maggie managed to get permission to sleep on one of the beds, with her Mom no less. I can't even get on the couch without getting yelled at! I just don't understand what that short-legged dog has that I don't. I mean, I'm Frasier and she's just a long-eared little one! It's just not fair. And when my Mom was sleeping on the couch the other afternoon, she got mad at me a bunch. All I wanted to do was go see if she was ok, and I put my nose in her face. But Mom didn't like that. So then I decided that she just needed to smell my breath and she'd know that I was there, watching over her, so I exhaled in her face and she got really mad! I just don't understand people sometimes.

And then, as if that weren't enough - the humans put up another fence and put us inside of it! There's not even enough room to turn around in, and now I'm even further from the action! Talk about dirty tricks, I used to be able to come and go as I pleased. There was all this dead tree stuff that was by the fence, and I could climb it and go outside of the yard. I always came back, but for some reason the humans got unhappy and they moved the dead tree parts. Then I figured out that I could climb over the fence. So the silly humans put all this extra stuff on top of the fence and when I tried to climb it, I got stuck in it and fell back into the yard. But I figured out a couple of places where I could still get over the fence and I had a good time, there's cows out there and they leave the most delightful smelling things around for me to roll in. And I could play in the mud when it had rained. But then the people did something to the fence, I'm not exactly sure what they did but now the fence bites me when I try to go over. It doesn't have teeth or even a mouth, but it hurts so I haven't tried to go over it in a while. But Maggie and I had plenty of fun, there were lots of moles for us to catch and we made a nice attempt at decorating the yard for the humans. But now they made this smaller yard and the big two have been filling in all the holes. The same holes that we worked so hard at! It's just not fair. I think I said that before.

Mom just opened up the fence for the small area, so now we can go play in the big yard. Anybody got any cats?

Doggie Jail!

Bill brought home 22' of 4' tall chain link fence on Monday. And we promptly attached it to the posts we installed several days ago. We only had to go to Lowe's once yesterday, for the special U-shaped nails Bill needed to attach the fence to the posts. He made a top rail of round wooden posts and we also made a partial bottom rail out of the same round posts, to hold the bottom of the fence down since Frasier is smart enough to try to get out underneath the fence. The entire time, Frasier parked himself out in the yard and watched us. Intently. He knew exactly what we were doing and he was not happy about it. Unlike the Magginator, who thinks that everything is fun. She ran in and out of the gate while we were working, and she frequently had her head between Bill's hammer and the nails! After we got finished, I called them to me and Frasier took his sweet time. But once we got them in, I shut the gate and we went inside. Frasier followed us, but he ignored us for a couple of hours - even when we had a snack of peanuts (which he loves). Not Maggie, she was right there begging for peanuts while her big brother was pouting. We will start opening up the gate and giving them access to the entire yard at night, but we left the gate shut last night. Eventually, we also might have to electrify the new fence. It depends entirely on Fraiser!

Today when we get home from work, we're going to see about dirt to fill in at least some of those holes. Some of them are pretty deep. Bill's going to get the wheelbarrow and a shovel, and head outside of the yard to the field area behind us that will eventually be built up with houses. I told him I'd help him with the dirt work, I might regret saying that later on! The back yard needs to be mowed already, but until we get it smoothed out some it's not a good idea. There are so many holes and they are so deep, plus a lot of them are actually trenches because the dogs were following mole trails. It would probably be impossible to mow the yard like it is. But we are getting it back into shape. The area where the dog run is has not had much mole activity, or at least we haven't seen any evidence there. But I'm sure that they'll dig some, they are dogs and digging comes naturally. But I'm not too concerned about it, they have plenty of toys to play with and all the firewood they want to eat! Not really, but Frasier does like to drag the logs around and sometimes chew on them.

(OK, it's later now!)

I first started this post in the morning before work. But now it's early evening and we've just come in from getting dirty. Playing in the dirt so the doggies won't have to! We filled in a few holes, we've started with the really big ones and the first thing I actually did was repair my rock garden. It's probably a good thing that I don't know for sure which dog was digging over there, because I would have had sudden need for a taxidermist! But the rock garden is repaired, although there are a few spots outside of it that we'll get to soon. Otter's trellis where she always plants climbing Black-eyed Susans needs a little attention, and it will be the first thing we work on the next time we get out there. Which might be tomorrow, but it might not actually be until Sunday. She needs to get her seeds planted soon.

This is what the Black-eyed Susan vine looks like. Otter really likes it, she's had it on her trellis ever since Bill built it for her.

I think I've changed my mind about moving my fountain and using it as a planter. I think I'm just going to leave it where it is, in the middle of the rock garden. It might still become a planter, though. That is to be determined later! It suddenly seems like too much work to move it.

Bill's baptism went well on Sunday, he was the last of three that were dunked, as Mom used to call it. I told him that now he has no excuses left, he has to be a good boy! But I don't think he listened very well...

We had a nice Easter, we spent the day with Don and Darlene and it was a lot of fun. Otter enjoyed playing the Wii. Imagine that, a teenager that enjoyed a video game! We had a nice visit and the meal was wonderful, although we did eat too much. We brought leftovers home so I didn't have to cook last night. The ham bone is in the freezer, I'll use it the next time I make beans. Which probably won't be right away, but I'll be sure to send you some, Don!

A Better March 24

Today is March 24. Last year, it was a Saturday. But then this year is a Leap Year, so instead of it falling on Sunday it is on a Monday. Probably just another day to most people. But not to me.

March 24 is the day that I got very sick that night and spent literally all night throwing up every few minutes. Which may seem strange to commemorate. Except for the fact that I was very sick.

Actually, I was way, way beyond very sick.

I have mentioned before that the pancreatitis could have been fatal if I hadn't gotten it treated. But I kind of soft-pedaled it at bit. It was a whole lot worse than I let on. Like much worse.

The truth is, I nearly died.

And that's why it took me around 6 weeks after the surgery to get to even feeling close to normal.

So when I tell people not to ignore the symptoms, I know what I'm talking about and it is not something to ignore or put off. It's not one of those things that will just go away. I can now look back with the eyes of experience, and see that I have had it before. There were times when it was probably "just" gallstones moving, but I know of at least two specific incidents when I'm pretty sure that I had pancreatitis that resolved itself. It's not always as bad as I had it last year - it can be but usually isn't that bad, and sometimes it does resolve on it's own but it generally always comes back until the cause of the problem is fixed. Which is usually gallstones, but not always. So please, if you even think that you might have it call the doctor.

My symptoms would come and go, over a period of a few weeks. I would have pain just below my rib cage on my right side, usually about 30 minutes after eating. I thought it was sore muscles at one point, then I thought about gas that was trapped, I had indigestion symptoms, I thought maybe food poisoning one time - a whole lot of little things that I didn't realize were not what they seemed. I tried changing my position, and when I would bend over I noticed that it felt better. Which is a symptom of pancreatitis. About a week or so before the bad night, I was fine one second and then I had a sudden pain and threw up twice in one night. And I had what I thought was muscle soreness in my side and back that went into my shoulders. I thought it was just from throwing up, but now I know that the pain in the areas I had it was also a symptom. Then the upper right quadrant pain became daily and eventually more than once a day until March 24, when I got really bad. Those are all the main symptoms, but not the only ones. When Dad had gallbladder trouble, the doctor thought he was actually having heart trouble. Gallbladders can cause all sorts of problems when they act up. Gallbladder trouble can be hereditary to an extent. The important thing is that it needs to be treated as soon as possible, so if you even suspect that you might have gallbladder or pancreatis symptoms, call the doctor immediately.

Resurrection Day

Good Friday

It is finished.

Today's Mid-Week Ramblings

Finally figured out how to reposition the counter! Froggy, now that you can see the entire graphic you have to agree that it's appropriate since I couldn't find a frog.

Today is the 5th anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. I keep hearing news reports about protesters, but they never seem to mention that NOT EVERYONE IS AGAINST THE WAR! I'm certainly not, I think that it was a necessary action and that to pull our troops out at this point would be disasterous. Like what happened with Afghanistan after the Russians left and there was a sudden vacuum in place of their government - that is when Al Quaida stepped in and took over. I think that the same thing would happen with Iraq, but possibly it would be worse. Like Bill says, they will follow us home and then we'll have to deal with them over here. And it would make September 11th look like a minor accident.

Alright, off the soapbox. But not necessarily for long!

We had thunderstorms off and on from Monday evening until late yesterday. It was a nice day today, sunny but a little cool. Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, which is nice but I think it's actually been Spring for several weeks. Sometimes we get cold weather in early Spring, so we still could have more winter weather but I just don't feel like we will this year. I guess we'll just see. I'm not looking forward to the Spring storms we sometimes get, but I am glad that Winter is officially over. I hope that we don't have constant rain like we did last year.

I have jury duty next month. Monday, April 7th which is the last day of Nana's visit. I was going to work anyway that day, Bill is off to spend the day with his mom but I would have been home by 3:00 because I get off at 2:30 anyway but I have no idea how late the jury duty will go. It seems like when I had it before, many years ago, we got out later than 2:30 but possibly before 5:00. I hope so, it's downtown and I am not looking forward to dealing with the traffic. Also, Otter really would like Nana to go observe karate class which is at 6:00 but if I'm not home by 5:30 at the absolute latest, we won't be able to go to karate because Bill's van only has two seats. (He took the other seats out when he bought it, since he bought it for eBay cargo.) I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be released early that day, and actually I'd like to be released entirely but that probably won't happen that quickly. The last time I had it, I was called for one panel and that turned out to be a car accident case involving a back injury - since I have a back injury from a car accident the attorney for the insurance company didn't want me on that jury. Other than that, I spent 3 days in the jury room either reading or watching the television. Except for lunch hours, which mostly were spent at the library which is next door to the courthouse. (And probably what I'll do this time as well). It was a total waste of time, but it could have been worse. Frankly, I hope I don't get picked for a jury but I'll do what I have to.

Otter is enjoying Spring Break. She went to work with me on Monday and had planned on spending yesterday at home being lazy but since the phone was out from the storm, she wound up going to work with me instead. She stayed home today, she did have a few chores but they weren't anything big and she got a lot of goof-off time. Which she enjoyed, and I think the dogs did as well. She will be home tomorrow and then go to work with me on Friday, since her physical is Friday afternoon at 1:30.

I keep thinking that this time last year, I was sick. I think I was already in the most serious stage of the pancreatitis, although I had been sick for weeks but didn't realize it. My thoughts are that this year is so different, I feel so much better than I did last year at this time. I'm just really glad that it is 2008 and not 2007!

Baroo!

Maggie Beagle here. My mom is sitting in front of that thing that my people call a computer. I don't know what it is, just that when she's by it I don't get attention! So I'm sitting in mom's mom's chair and I think that this is fun to do. There's a big tv in front of me and when I move my paws around on this other flat thing, words show up.

This is one of those days where our people made me and my big brother Frasier go outside. But we didn't want to go! There was water coming down on the ground and there was noise from the sky. So we spent the day in the little den between our swinging doors. I think the people call it the grrrrrrj. Wish I spoke human! The humans talk to us all the time, but they don't really know our language. But we don't let them know that. It's fun to listen to the sounds they make, they usually are scratching our ears or rubbing our bellies while they talk and we don't want them to stop!

My mom's mom was all in a tizzy this morning. The thing on the wall that they talk into sometimes wasn't working right. Maybe they didn't say the right words into it. I don't really know what it does, but sometimes it makes funny ringy sounds. I was all warm and snuggly, I had breakfast and then I went back to my bed that I share with mom and went back to sleep. Then mom's mom came in and woke me up again! Then mom put us out into the little den. Then they got in that funny metal thing that moves, I don't like it because it usually moves us to the vet, and then they came back a long time later. Then mom let me and Frasier back in, and she closed up our swinging door so we had to stay inside. I heard some strange people outside, mom's mom was out there talking to them. I don't know what they did, but the talky thing on the wall is doing what it's supposed to now. Whatever that is.

I'm going back to bed now. Woof.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope everybody wore their green today. We certainly did! Of course, with the red hair it's pretty obvious that we are Irish. My secret sister at Sunday School (say that 5 times fast!) gave me a green t-shirt and I wore it to work today. It's a nice t-shirt, with a flower and a Christian saying and it was absolutely perfect for me.

We have a joke about every time Bill wears a white shirt, there will be car trouble. Then the white shirt will become dirty, greasy, torn, etc. I bought him a plain white t-shirt for Sunday, he has to have one under the robe during his baptism. I remarked to Otter that buying a white shirt just about guaranteed car trouble. So Bill gets home today, I go out to check the mailbox and discover him with the hood up on the van and he's digging around in it. I'm not sure what exactly the problem is, but it's because of the white t-shirt I bought I'm sure.

Here's my feel-good tip of the day: check this blog out, it's heartwarming. http://vickdogsblog.blogspot.com/

Otter's dentist visit went well, the sealants were applied to the 4 molars on her bottom jaw. She said that it didn't hurt, but that it wasn't pleasant due to all the metal stuff that was stuck in her mouth during the procedure. I told her that I have absolutely no sympathy for her, none at all! I still have her beat with all of my dental work, not the least of which is the dentures. But I'm really glad that she seems to have inherited her father's good teeth as opposed to my mom's family teeth. I'm sure that Froggy and Toadly know exactly what I'm talking about. I need to make another appointment for Otter to get the sealant on the 4 top teeth, but I have to see what her school schedule is first. I'm not sure if there are any more holidays before the end of the year. I prefer to get all her medical stuff done when she's already out of school for the day, although I don't think she likes it!

We were supposed to get all this rain today. There were flash-flood watches all over the place, it was supposed to be pouring and horrible, driving rain all afternoon. I think we got maybe a teaspoon. And that's a generous estimate. But I'm not sure if we'll get any or not tonight, they say we will but like Bill says: the Tulsa weathermen couldn't predict a hole in the ground if they dug it themselves!

A Hole Lot of Nothing!

No, that's not a misspelling. We've been digging holes today. We figured that since the dogs have so much fun digging in the yard, we might enjoy it as well! So we broke out the shovel and got busy!

Actually, we are going to fence off a section of the yard for the dogs so that we can have a yard to enjoy - free of major excavation work. But to do that, we have to run a fence along one spot and that means fence posts. Which means post holes. We went to Lowe's (two different Lowe's, one of them twice and also to Home Depot) today and got one wooden post, since we had three still left in the back yard that we hadn't used and we also got a couple of other things. Bill dug the holes and the posts are now standing proudly in the back. But we haven't gotten the chain link yet. He's going to give the posts a couple of days to settle in, and we also could get rain this week so it will be a few days before we get the fence finished. But the days of freedom for the doggies are numbered! Considering that they really do spend the majority of their day snoozing, I don't think that we are mistreating them. They get plenty of excercise, play, walks, etc. anyway. And lots of belly rubs!

I made a pot of soup in the crock pot last night, it was done by the time we got home from church today and the entire house smelled wonderful! Combined with the fresh bread I made, it was absolutely delicious.

Otter is on spring break this week. She'll go to work with me tomorrow and Friday, but I don't think she's decided yet about the rest of the days. Her dentist appointment tomorrow is to put sealants on some of her teeth. The dentist wants to put the sealant on 8 teeth, I think all molars, and she's doing 4 tomorrow and then I'll schedule another appointment for the remaining 4. Friday is her annual doctor's check up. Pretty much just routine stuff. I try to get as much of that type of thing done as I can when she has a break from school.

While we were at Lowe's, I looked for bluebonnets. And discovered that they haven't gotten in their spring flowers & plants yet. Home Depot was the same way. So I might still wind up buying bluebonnets after all, I was afraid that I'd missed them and then I decided to watch the naturalized ones that sprang up but I'm thinking that I'll probably still be able to get them. Just a little later than normal.

Ok, back to my laundry now! And I probably should go see what Mr. Bill is up to, I hear rattling sounds coming from the kitchen. Never a good thing, he generally needs adult supervision while he's in the kitchen.

Friday Finally

It feels like spring already. It's been so nice the last few days, warm but not hot and just nice days in general. We had a little thunder last night, but the actual storm was well east of us. We just got the noise from it. I love spring and am looking forward to it, but I don't like spring storms. I actually like thunderstorms, I just don't like the other aspect of spring storms that this area is known for. We are right in the bulls-eye on the target, as far as tornado alley goes.

Anyway, I've seen a few pear trees that are starting to bloom. So we might actually have some spring color this year. With all the tree damage from the ice storm in December, we might not have nearly the amount of spring blooms that we normally get. But we're hopeful.

I'm kind of thinking that I'm going to skip buying bluebonnets this year. I love them, but I have three that are coming up from last year's plants going to seed and I am watching to see how they do. They are still very small, and only one of them is actually in the mail box planter - the other two are outside of it in the yard. But they look healthy, and I really hope for blooms from them. But I might change my mind and still buy a couple of plants. Bill's been given strict instructions about NOT mowing them, I think I was successful in putting the Fear of Mom into him!

Otter got to stay home today, it was a holiday. Spring break is next week but they were also off today. She slept in, but she had a chore list with a couple of things on it so she didn't get to goof off all day. Just most of the day. When I got home, we took the dogs for a walk. Now both dogs are having a post-walk nap. Instead of their usual mid-afternoon nap that they usually have about this time. There is also an early -evening nap and then a pre-bedtime nap. They snooze a lot! They have about 4 naps in the morning, it's not just afternoon and evening. Hard life, isn't it? :)

It's been a very long week but tomorrow is Friday

And I'm very glad about that!

My left knee is beginning to bug me again. It's never really stopped, it's been a problem for several years now but it has been better as I've been losing weight. But today for some reason it's been hurting nearly as bad as it used to when it was at it's worst. So now my plantar fasciatis is worse because I've been walking differently to favor my knee. The pf is a lot better, it just takes a long time to recover from. My knee feels like a strain or pulled muscle, but I don't know what I did to cause it to act up.

Otter is recovered, the bug she had only lasted a day. She went back to school on Wednesday and even managed karate last night. Her coach said that she's progressed enough to join the regular adult class, so starting next week she'll be in the earlier class. It will still be Monday and Wednesday, just at 6:00 instead of 8:00. Of course, she has a dentist appointment Monday afternoon and probably won't make the class. I scheduled her appointment when her karate days were still Tuesday and Thursday, and for spring break so she wouldn't have to miss school.

In my last post, I said I was going to clean out the heater/ac floor vents. Which I fully intended to do. But then I discovered that I couldn't lift the vent covers off without a power tool! Or Bill, but he was at work. Probably Sunday will be the day I tackle that. But I did get a whole lot of stuff done, since I was home with a sick Otter. Just not much of it was on my list.

We also have a possible situation to deal with at school. The same boy is still bugging Otter and this time SHE was punished for standing up to him. You probably already know that didn't sit well with us! I've emailed the teacher about it, we told her that we fully expect Otter to defend herself and that we don't feel that she should be punished for it. When it happened, one of the things that the teacher said to Otter was that she was concerned because the boy is bigger than Otter and she might get beat up. But we think that the teacher was basically using that as an excuse in view of her other comment about Otter's actions.

I informed the teacher that Otter has been in karate for 4 years and is within a few months of earning the Black Belt, and that she's well able to take care of herself. Otter didn't mention that to the teacher at the time because she didn't want to make the teacher any madder, since she was already being punished for standing up for herself.

The teacher's other comment is this: Otter felt like the teacher was telling her that she acts different from the rest of the kids and that she should act like all the rest of them, because the problems are apparently caused by Otter's individuality. Sure, right - watch out for those pigs flying by! Don't let them hit you in the head! Because Otter has not been raised to follow the rest of the herding animals, and she's not about to start now. (I detect just a hint of political correctness in the teacher's comments about acting like the rest of them). Or possibly a teacher who thought that if she said something like that, Otter would suddenly become meek and she wouldn't have to deal with it anymore - as in she can ignore the problem.

I got a very strange email back from the teacher, I think that she was trying to say that the teacher's assistant turned in the report but Otter said it was the teacher herself. I'm not too sure that the teacher actually meant to email me back, it sounded like she was forwarding the email on to someone else and she said that she'd call "the mother" on her planning period - but she didn't call me, so she might have meant the boy's mother.

Watch this site for more updates. I'm sure that there will be some type of fallout on this - or maybe the teacher is hoping that spring break will make us forget about it. And it goes without saying that I had to just about physically restrain Bill, he was ready to go find the principal and/or the teacher herself. He gets a little testy when his daughter is mistreated, but she's a tough cookie and can handle herself.

Coffee Thoughts

I'm home with a sick teenager today, so I'm taking advantage of Bill's absence to have some of my flavored coffee! He doesn't care for flavored varieties, but I love them. Hazelnut is my favorite (today's choice), french vanilla is a close second and then all the rest of the flavor choices would be my third favorite because I pretty much like all of them. (Can you tell I like coffee? A LOT!). And since I've had some coffee already, my brain is functioning! (No comments from Froggy allowed on that!).

Otter woke up with a very sore throat this morning and she doesn't feel good at all. I don't like to leave her at home when she's sick, even though she's nearly 16, because of the asthma. I will leave her by herself for some illnesses, but not anything that is even remotely related to asthma or can have an effect on it. Her history is that if she's going to have an asthma spell, it will be fast and furious when it strikes. She also asked me to stay home with her, which means that she's feeling really bad. She's curled up with her blankets and will probably be that way all day. Both dogs are snoozing, Maggie is on Otter's bed and Frasier is on his blanket. They will probably spend most of the day like that, although Maggie will most likely eventually migrate to the couch where Otter is parked. Maggie isn't allowed up on the furniture, but she will get as close to the couch as she can so that she's by her girl and then she'll sleep the day away.

I had a small project at work that I absolutely had to get done today, so I went in to the office about 6:30 and then was home shortly after 7:00.

I'm going to get some of the things crossed off of my to-do list today. My plan is to finish vacuuming out the heater/ac floor vents. And there is always laundry, I think I probably have enough for one load so I'll head to the laundry room in a little while. I have several things I want to do, but a lot of them would raise dust and that won't work with Otter today so most of the big things will wait. But I probably can find a few things to get done today.

I looked at the tulip bed yesterday, it's coming along nicely. It looks like most of the bulbs made it through the winter and we have more daffodils out there than I realized. It should be very pretty in a few weeks. I'll try to remember to post pictures, but it's going to be a while before anything is big enough to bloom.

Tomorrow is what we have officially designated as Maggie's birthday. We got her for Otter's birthday 2 years ago, it was on the 11th of March but Mom's birthday would have been March 12th. So in her grandmother's honor, Otter decided that we should celebrate Maggie's birthday on the 12th. No, we don't have dog parties! But it is a way that Otter remembers her Grammy. Maggie will be 4 years old. (Frasier's birthday is celebrated on January 1, the day we got him. But we really aren't sure of his age, he's somewhere between 5 and 7 years old.)

There is a new, temporary exhibit at the zoo this year. Australian birds. I have only heard the commercial, but apparently the birds are tame enough to be hand-fed. A seed stick is part of the admission to the zoo. Otter and I are going to go check it out as soon as it's a little warmer. I told her that she will never be allowed to outgrow the zoo, but she told me that she never intends to outgrow it anyway. Froggy & Toadly, remember the Lorikeet exhibit at the SA zoo? I don't think that ours will be quite like that, but it does sound fun. I'll try to remember to take the camera with me when we go which will probably be in the next few weeks. Froggy - do you want to go to the zoo again when you visit me this year?

The lorikeets were fun, they are small parrots and they are very friendly. At least, they are friendly to the people that are holding the food! They like a nectar that was provided in small cups and they would land on whomever happened to be holding a nectar cup. It was a lot of fun to feed them, but it was also a little dangerous! Birds tend to "leave a trail", and sometimes they nip things like ears. But it was still fun and we'd love to have an exhibit like that here.

I added a counter for Otter's birthday. The graphic is a little bigger than I hoped, but I'm hoping that as it gets closer to her birthday on the 31st the rest of the picture will be visible. It's a snake with a turtle as the counter. Anybody that knows us will agree that it's appropriate for her!

We're Sprung Forward!

Well, we survived the time change! I don't like this one, it makes the afternoons too fast until I get used to it. Like now for example, it's 5:00 as I type this but it still feels like 4:00. And getting up when my body still thought it was 5:30 even though the clock said 6:30 was not fun either. But we made it to church on time, something a lot of people apparently did not manage! Sunday School had a very light crowd today. I did have to wake the dogs up to feed them this morning, that never happens and won't happen again. They'll adjust to the time change, but it was kind of funny that I had to wake them up for breakfast!

The main thing I don't like about the time change is that it will still be dark when the school bus comes in the morning. But I like having more light in the evenings. It's still easier than when Otter was a baby, it took a few days of adjusting nap times to get her used to the time change.

Otter has been busy today. Among other things, she ran the vacuum. And then the vacuum had to be taken apart so Bill could get the wash cloth out of it! I must say that I have never managed to run over a wash cloth with the vacuum, usually I just have to deal with it being clogged up because of dog hair. I think Otter has topped herself with that one! The vacuum is still working, but the belt had to be replaced because it snapped when the wash cloth was caught on the roller.

Otter's day hasn't all been work. She got a little sewing time in this afternoon and this is what she made:

Otter bought the fabric a few weeks back, they are 12" x 12" and I'm sure that Maggie will claim them as hers immediately. They are very soft and just the right size for the poochie!

This is a closer shot of one of the pillows. Otter's room is vaguely Japanese, or will be when she eventually gets it finished. It's a work in progress, and it's progressing slowly. But she's enjoying the process.

I was looking at the woodpile earlier today. We have used a lot more wood than I anticipated. We are probably down to about a rick (half of a cord), in early December we had about 4 ricks (2 cords). But most of that was from our own trees, and that wood burned fast. Probably because it hadn't had time to age. I don't think we'll need to get anymore this year, but we might buy another rick so it will have time to age over the summer. Bubba and Bubba still have a huge amount of wood for sale up on the corner.

Spring is officially about a week and a half away, but I think it's already here. We could still get a freeze or two, and it's been known to snow into April although rarely. But I think that winter is pretty much done, at least for this area. Of course, I could always be wrong! But trees are starting to bud (what trees there are that didn't fall in December, that is!), I'm seeing insects, we've had several robins and doves and it just feels like it. We'll still have a while to go with cold nights below or near freezing, though. I'm not particularly anxious for spring storms, but I do like spring in NE Oklahoma. It's a pretty time of year. Although I'm really wondering about some of the parks, there was so much damage in December from that ice storm.

I keep meaning to go by Lowe's and see if they have bluebonnets. I might do that this week, one day after work. I called them one time to see if they had arrived yet, but the clerk left a lot to be desired as far as customer service! And intelligence, too. So I'll try to stop by one day this week. Gotta have my bluebonnets!

Before I forget, when Bill met with Pastor David last week he mentioned his previous job experience including pavement marking. (I don't usually say striping because people tend to read that word as stripping, which is a totally different thing!). The pastor was very interested, he wants to get the church's lot sealed and striped this year and Bill more or less agreed to do it. He would rent the equipment, and I hope that there would be a few volunteers to help him. But since I have crew experience (urgh!) I think I would be conscripted to help him. The really fun part is that Otter has never had the joy of having to work on a hot parking lot that's been soaking up the sun all day! She wants me to remind her to run away that day, but if I have to work then so does she! She's not amused. Just wait, you'll probably be able to hear her griping & complaining all the way in S. Texas!

Is it Finally Friday?

Please, please tell me it is! It's been a tiring week. Not any particular reason, I'm just more than glad for the week to be over. I intend to spend most of tomorrow parked on the couch, either napping or reading a book or two.

Don't forget! The time change is Sunday. This is the one where we lose an hour, Spring Forward. I think it probably is unnecessary now, but we still have to do it.

Magginator is having one of her crazy days. When I got home, I let the dogs in and they were happy and bouncy. Like usual. But then Mags led me outside, I'm thinking that either Frasier was out or they'd gotten another mole and she wanted me to see it. Neither one! Frasier was in the yard, chewing on one of their toys and there were no moles in sight. So why did the little crazyhead lead me outside? So I could watch her run in circles!!!

The snow that we were supposed to get went way south of us, so we are fine. A little cool, it's in the 40's and we have a good wind to deal with. But no snow or ice. But I'm not complaining! I was prepared either way. But then I generally am!

2nd Post of the Day! Thursday Stuff. Cold.

The first post was strictly TEXAS stuff. This is the newsy one!

The Borg Queen is here today. Otter doesn't like it when the Borg Queen makes her presence known - because the Borg Queen likes to clean and organize. So far, I've gotten 2 loads of laundry done, we reorganized the coat closet, filled the birdfeeders (all 5), brought in firewood and Otter has had several smaller chores that I've assigned her. She said that she is thinking of running away, but that if she's not back by dinner I'm supposed to send food to the attic. She also said that when she's an adult, she hopes she can afford a maid so she won't have to do it herself. I told her that she'd better not put me in charge of the maid, because it will never be clean enough to suit me! :) I thought about a maid a few years ago. But I decided against it because I'd spend all my time following her around and telling her that she missed a spot or that it isn't clean enough for me. Then she'd quit!

Among other things, one of my projects is to clean out all the heater/ac vents. Our vents are on the floor, wonderful when the heater is blowing and you have cold feet! But because they are on the floor they also collect dust & general crud. I took two of the covers off this morning and cleaned them, but there are still more waiting. Bill hates the Borg Queen visits just as much as the Otter does! Because he has to help me with that particular job.

It's cold and getting colder. But the winter storm watch has been adjusted to where it might hit tonight. Instead of all day today, which was cold but dry. We'll see. They got it right Sunday night, though. So I stopped for milk on the way home, just in case. But I'm nearly out of birdseed so I might have to stop tomorrow.

Bill will be baptised on Easter Sunday. Since we are now Baptist, he has to have what my mother referred to as dunking. It's actually called scriptural baptism, at least as far as the Baptist church is concerned, which means that it's by immersion. The pastor called me yesterday, he wants to have any needed baptisms on Easter Sunday. Which I think is a wonderful idea, very symbolic. I guess Bill will have to behave after Easter, because he won't have any excuses to be a bad boy anymore!

Remember!

Texas 172nd birthday.

http://www.thealamo.org/

Mid Week Ramblings

It's taking me a while to adjust to Otter's new karate schedule, I keep thinking that today must be Tuesday! But I'm not complaining, Wednesday is one day closer to the weekend.

Kind of disheartened by the Texas election yesterday. I really can NOT stand Hitlary (probably not news to anybody!) and I'm really surprised that she did as well as she did there.

I'm also kind of bummed that Huckabee pulled out of the race, but I expected it. I was impressed with his speech. Guess I'll be putting a McCain sign in my yard! Probably more than one, and I'll probably have a couple in reserve since the big thing in this area seems to be stealing signs if they are not for your candidate. Childish, but it happens.

I have three naturalized bluebonnets coming up, and they survived the 6" of snow we woke up to on Monday morning. Also the daffodils are doing great, the ones around the former tree in the front are beginning to bloom and the daffys in the tulip bed are really getting tall. There are several tulips starting to poke through the ground, much to Otter's delight.

I meant to call Lowe's today to see if they have bluebonnets yet, but I think I'll hold off for a day or so. We have another winter storm possibly going to hit us tomorrow evening through Friday evening. We'll see, the forecasters don't have a very good track record but occasionally they manage to get it right. We brought in firewood today, just in case, and I think I'll stop at the grocery store for milk and a couple of things tomorrow.

We were supposed to have rain all day Sunday with it changing to snow late, but it was dry all day. Cloudy and windy, but dry. The 2nd part of the prediction was correct - we woke up to about 6" of snow Monday morning. It was so strange, it skipped Tulsa completely and hit all the surrounding areas to the east, south and west. It was almost like someone drew a line for the snow to fall. We had a lot of ice, it was a horrible drive to work on Monday. Until I hit the Tulsa city limit, then it was dry and perfect! I took Otter to school that morning, and instead of the normal 15 to 20 minutes for me to get to work from there it took me over an hour. Several accidents, including one that happened behind me as I was waiting at an intersection.

The dogs got another mole. I found it in the back yard while ago, judging from the condition it was in I think that they must have gotten it yesterday. They got praise and treats anyway, and they seemed to know why. Maggilicious led me to it, and Frasier was watching us. He perked up when I found it, then they got their snacks. Then Otter and I took the shovel to as many holes as we could find! At least all the ones on the fence line. One hole was about 3' deep, and it was obvious that Magginator was the digger because it was too narrow for Frasier to have made it.

While we were out there, I "replanted" my shepherd's hook that fell over the other day. It has a hook on each side, I put bird feeders on it in the winter and plants in the summer. The dogs excavation work had gotten to 3 of the 4 sides of the pole and it finally fell over. I moved it further out in the yard but it's just a matter of time until they get there!

One of the three Venus flytrap plants we have in the kitchen window is starting to bloom. They are amazing plants. They don't bloom very often in the wild, but ours are well fed and generally bloom every year. Sometimes more than once a year. The plants have developed a unique way to get their blooms pollinated without the bugs getting eaten. The blooms are on stalks that are several inches tall, the actual plants are very low to the ground. Neither of the pictures are of my plants. Just examples.

This is what the blooms look like.

And this is the last thing the fly sees! Although one time, one of Otter's cactus plants caught a fly. The fly was apparently not watching where it was going, because it impaled itself on a pretty large cactus spike!

More Texas Stuff! And other things

One more article:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA030208.01B.TXIndependence.38b680e.html

The last line says it all.

I never did get my flag out yesterday, it was supposed to rain. It did eventually rain, but not until after dark. But it was very windy!

Today was cold, it was not quite as cold as the forecast said but it was still cold. It was supposed to be in the 30's, snow & ice all day. It was in the 40's when we got up this morning, it did get to the high 30's and there was a small snow/sleet spell in the late morning. But then it quit and it warmed back up to the 40's. We still brought in firewood, it's cold enough!

Otter is pretty much over the flu she had last week, but she's skipping karate tonight. But she should be able to go on Wednesday.

This is a short blog, I'm on my way to the kitchen in a few minutes. Gonna make chili! (Which is a good meal for tonight, but Mom made it all year round. It's just as good when the weather is hot as it is when the weather is cold).

Independence Day

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA030208.01B.TXIndependence.38b680e.html

Home.

No matter where else we may be, this is where we started. It's where our history began. It is in us and everything we stand for is because of the Alamo.

The normal color.



Originally, this color was only found in one place. Down river from the Alamo, the legend is that they were stained with the blood of the Defenders.


I've actually grown one this color once, it came up in the midst of my blue ones. Just one solitary red bloom. It was the first year we'd been able to find bluebonnets in Oklahoma and the only one I've ever seen.

This is one of the only pictures I can find of it, it was just starting to bloom and we could tell that it wasn't the normal color. I had a later picture of it in full bloom, but I can't find it.

Think I'm going to go fly my Texas flag now.

Maybe Quick Saturday Stuff

Otter is much better, she might have had the flu but it didn't last very long. She stayed home on Friday, Bill was home with her. She is about back to normal, quick for the flu but she did have the symptoms and it is going around in our area. But she's better, which is good. We did get the flu shots last fall, but the strains that were in the shot are not the strains that are hitting this year - so the shot was probably useless!

Bill has decided not to restore the video game. It has been exposed to water at some point, so a lot of the electronics were fried. But he's still going to use parts of it, he is most likely going to make a sign with the title piece for his workshop (if he ever gets the shed cleaned out, that is). He may have a few uses for some of the other components. This particular game had a periscope, he's trying to think of a reason that he might need one. It would be a cool thing to have.

If any of you were on my email list about Otter starting at the adult karate class, and you got an email that mentioned weaponry - it was just my brother! He's harmless. He just didn't look when he hit the Reply All button on the email, so his answer was sent to everyone instead of just to family! He apologizes for any confusion (confusion is a fact of life with him!), and he promises not to spam anyone again. Except probably me now! But I still can say that at least I never got lost IN A PARKING LOT!