Pearls of Wisdom

The first title was going to be Pearls of Great Price, but I don't think pearls are all that expensive.  Of course, it's been about 6 years since I had to buy one so I'm no expert!

Anyway, the pearl in question is the pearl that I lost from my engagement ring in June.  I have not gotten it replaced, because we had other things we needed to do with our funds.  Such as oral surgery, college expenses and car stuff.  The pearl is the same one that I bought 6 years ago, to replace one that was scratched & badly damaged because pearls are delicate.  The remaining pearl in my ring is one of the original ones.

Back to the story.  We had a mini-fridge given to us several months back.  We used it for cokes (Texas coke can be any variety of soda), the rare beer that Bill drinks (he doesn't like Okie beer) and my wine.  But it quit working several weeks back and we (Bill!) kept forgetting to take it out for the trash.  He remembered this morning, so he carried it out to the curb with the trash.  Where, incicdentally, it's still sitting because the trash men didn't take it!  But the point is, after I held the door open for him and came back in to the kitchen to sweep where it had been sitting:  I found my pearl!  It apparently fell out of the ring when I was in the kitchen and it rolled under the mini-fridge.  It's now in my jewelry box, along with the ring, until I get it fixed.  I'm thinking that I might just get my needle-nosed pliers and super glue it in myself.  The jeweler I used when I bought the pearl is the same one who resized my rings and also repaired my wedding band.  But they also had to re-glue the pearl at one time, a couple of years ago.  I'm not impressed with their track record as far as the pearl goes.

This guy was crawling up the one remaining jalepeno plant yesterday.  Very slooooooooooowly, he wasn't in a hurry at all.  He's also a big one.

Also, the TEXAS/ou game is about a week off.  The persecution seems to have started, judging by the number of times I've been tailgated this week.  Whatever, they can be stupid all they want.  We are always extremely careful drivers this particular week, and possibly for a few days after the game.  Especially on years when we win!

Hook 'em!

This & That Thursday

Thursdays are kind of forgotten days.  Monday is well, Monday.  Tuesday is generally busy but at least it's not Monday anymore!  Wednesday is the middle of the week and my "Friday is the day after tomorrow" day and also is Whine/Wine day.  Friday is FRIDAY!  But Thursday?  Well, it's not Baby Friday, that's for sure.  Nor is it Mini-Friday, as someone on the news called it this morning.

It's just Thursday and it's kind of the "redheaded stepchild" of the week.  (Family joke, since there are some redheads in the family but none of us were actually stepchildren).

So, Thursday is just going to be my "This and That" day.  Which means that I'll post whatever I feel like, and it may be politics, faith related, family, just whatever and it might be a rant or a commentary.  At least, this Thursday!  It's probably going to be like Whine Wednesday, and not be an every week feature.

Today's whatever:  This is Banned Books Week.  Which I thought was next week, so I didn't post anything

about it yet.  Anyone who knows us will know how opposed we are to censorship.  Otter has a collection of Banned Books, and we add to it when ever we get the chance.  You'd be surprised how many Banned Books we find at thrift stores.

There are a lot of things printed that I don't agree with.  That's probably not unexpected, considering how ultra-conservative we are.  But, it's not really up to me to say what someone else can (or can't), or should (or should not) read.  I don't mean things like keeping things away from our children because they are just too young, that's just careful parenting.  I mean actual censorship, somebody doesn't like it so they think that they get to make the decision for me.

I do think that some subjects should maybe be put in their own section at the library or book store for example.  But that doesn't mean that they should be off-limits.  More of a cautionary thing, but not hidden away.  There are a couple of exceptions, such as the reason we will no longer shop/sell on Amazon.  But since the reason has to do with their policy of not removing what was essential a pedophile's guide, I don't think we have to apologize for that and I don't think it's hypocrtical of us.  As an example, books like the Tom Sawyer books are on the Banned list for most places.  I understand why some people are offended by them, because if you look at them by today's standards then yes, they can be considered racist.  But, if you look at them and realize that they are a product of the time they were written in, then they are simply stories that might be good stories but have some things that are irrelevant.  I'm able to read something without agreeing with things like that, because I realize that things change constantly and so do society's opinions & expectations.  I don't necessarily think that we can go back and "blame" someone from several decades back because he had an opinion that might not have been unusual for the time, although that doesn't mean that I would agree with the particular opinion.  Hopefully, I've explained what I meant clearly - sometimes, I'm not so sure I did.  There are other subjects, such as religion, politics, etc.

So, go read something Banned.  You might enjoy it, and you might also learn something.  Even if it's just that things are different than they used to be, which can be either bad or good.

Wednesday Stuff

Not sure if I want to whine today or not.

The car is fixed, it wasn't cheap but the warranty covered a good amount.  But the 2 major problems are now fixed and it's now got good tired with a lot of tread.  So now we can get back to our rambling trips to wherever we feel like at the time.  And we can ramble farther!

The weather was really nice today, it was in the high 80's or thereabouts.  Slight breeze, a few clouds and lots of sunshine.  But my weather toes are hurting off & on today.  And so's my weather wrist.  I broke my left arm twice when I was a kid.  The left forearm first, and then 6 weeks after getting out of the cast I fell and broke the left wrist.  It's a family legend, by the way.  But the point is, the left wrist hurting generally means a bad weather change is **a'comin!  Not always, but frequently.  The weather toes ache usually means rain within the next day or two.  Since the Fair is starting tomorrow, I won't be surprised if there is rain even though the forecast is for dry weather.

I've had allergy issues the last couple of days.  Today, I have lost count of how many times I've sneezed.  I went through a whole box of kleenex at work today, so it's a lot.  Also, Otter ran out of her nighttime allergy medicine so I had to go get her another box.

I managed to get some crochet time in last night.  I started another scarf, probably it's going into my eventual sale pile.  I think.  I did the foundation chain and first row of stitches, but I'm not sure yet about the color combination order so I haven't started the second row yet.  It's in pink shades, not really bright pink but still pinks.  It's probably going to have a hat with it.

I also have my next donation project lined up.  I'm going to make Chemo Caps.  I had thought about that earlier, but I wanted to get the scarf/hat combos for the military donation done and shipped off first before I started another donation project.  I've been looking at patterns and groups, and I think I'm going to make hats for the Halos of Hope organization.

Otter is watching 3rd Rock from the Sun with her dad.  I keep hearing hysterical laughter coming from the living room.  It's a funny show.

OK, this is definitely not a Whining Wednesday!  Or a Wine Wednesday, since I never made it to the liquor store this afternoon.

**a'comin:  On the way, Texasspeak.

Tuesday's Thoughts

Mainly, Tuesday's thought is that it's at least not Monday anymore!  Monday wasn't bad.  It was just Monday.  Today being Tuesday means that it's one day closer to Friday.

The car's gone to get it's new shoes and repair work done.  I took it this morning and they said they'd try to get it all done today, but I didn't really think they would be able to.  I was right, they weren't.  It's having a night away from home, and should be ready tomorrow.  Good news is that the warranty will cover part of the work it needs, we didn't think that any of it would be warranty.  We're still having to pay a good chunk, but not as much as we thought.  But it does need the work and we really haven't had much in the way of trouble with this car.

Otter's been home today, since it's a non-class day.  Among other things, she washed the dog's blankets.  She reports that it took them quite a while to get over that, apparently it's pretty traumatic to the dogs to have clean blankets.  Sometimes, they will avoid their blankets for hours after they get washed.  I don't really feel sorry for them.  Spoiled rotten hounds!

It was in the high 80's today.  It was really nice.  It's going to be nice for a few days, which is surprising.  The Fair starts Thursday and that generally means that it will rain.  Lots.  But this year's Fair forecast looks decent.  We're probably not going this year.  We went last year, after an absence of a few years, and were not impressed.  We'll probably go again in the future, just not this year.  I had thought about entering a crochet project, but decided against it.

Bill's banging on something, he's working on a pachinko machine refurbish and I keep hearing hammering noises coming from the living room.  Not sure if I should be concerned or not!

Well, that's the extent of my thoughts today.  Or at least the ones I want to blog about.

Sunday Popcorn Chicken

I bet you can't guess what we had for lunch today!

Otter and I stopped at Wallyworld for a couple of things on our way to the library, and we realized that we were hungry.  So we had lunch in the car, from Wally's deli, on the way to the library.  It was ok, it was good but not spectacular.  But, we weren't hungry anymore after that so I'm not complaining.  We found a few books, too.  Well, I found a few.  Otter (as usual) found a lot.

We dumped the jalepeno and bell pepper plants today, with the exception of the one that still has two peppers.  The bell pepper plant was doing great, once the excessive heat ended.  It had blooms and tiny peppers starting.  Then, the nights got too cool and the blooms fell off.  It didn't make any more blossoms and the jalepenos didn't either.  So, they are all dumped in a low spot in the back yard.  Along with a couple of other annual plants.  There are still two or three others, but they are lantana and still have a few blooms so they got a reprieve.  It was really nice outside, sunny and breezy.  Warm, but not hot.  The dogsters got some outside time when we were out there.  Frasier walked around the yard, checking out spots but didn't find any squirrels.  Maggie spent most of her time snoozing in a sunny spot on the deck.

But I'm thinking that it's time to take the hummingbird feeders down.  We haven't seen any in several days, Otter saw one last weekend during the wind storm we had but that was the last one that's been sighted.  The feeder level hasn't changed, except for the one that the ants can get to.  I'm probably going to take them down this afternoon.  Then, they'll get a good scrubbing and will be stored in the garage until next spring.  It's still a little early to put the seed feeders out, there are still a lot of bugs around for the birds to eat.

I finally managed to get some crochet done!  Yesterday.  I'm always looking for projects to use up my spare yarn ends, and since I finished Bill's blanket a few months back, I was getting a good size collection of small bits.  I decided on another throw pillow cover, this one will go with Bill's blanket since it's a variety of colors.  I finished the first side yesterday, I am probably going to start the 2nd side soon but I've used up most of my small pieces so I'm not sure when I'm actually going to be able to finish it.  I'm not sure if it counts as a de-stashing project or not.

We made a discovery this morning.  As we were heading out the door toward the car for church, Bill noticed toilet paper hanging from a tree.  We thought it was our tree at first, but then we realized that it's the next-door neighbor.  The nice one, not the "other neighbor"!  It's was a little breezy and that's why we thought it was our tree at first.  But we did notice something else:  the culprit used the good stuff!  Also, they probably did it early this morning because the paper wasn't even really damp and it would have been, if it had been done last night because of the dew.  Bill pulled down as much as he could reach, but there is still enough in the tree that is visible.  We haven't seen the neighbor yet, they usually leave for church about the time we are getting home from early services but we aren't sure if they are even home this weekend.

My car is going to the shop on Tuesday.  We haven't really had to get much work on done it, but this time it needs some serious work.  It needs a front-end alignment which is probably not unusual, but it also needs the rack & pinion replaced.  I also need new tires, and it's time for the oil change.  So, we're getting it all done at once.  The current tires are the ones it came with.  The car has just under 75,000 miles, about 50,000 we put on it.  Which isn't bad, when you consider that we have been known to put that many miles on a car in less than 2 years!  (I mean the 75,000 miles total).  We've had this one 3 years and it was a rental for a few months before that.  The tires are getting bad, they have to be replaced before winter gets here and the alignment stuff needs to be done anyway but it's best to get the tires replaced at the same time or immediately after.  It's just the "all at once" part that is going to be expensive.  But, like I said earlier, we have had very few problems with this car and the issues we've had are mostly the a/c problems.  Only one time was it even enough for the warranty.  Also, the battery had to be replaced last winter, but that's a normal maintenance issue.

We rented the movie Thor for our Saturday movie.  It's part of the Avengers series, along with Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and there might be a couple of others that haven't come out yet.  We haven't seen Captain America yet, it's not out on blu-ray yet but we'll see it as soon as it's out.  There is a future movie with all the characters in it, which is probably just called The Avengers.  Thor was ok, it was cute but not exactly heavy drama.  But, it had a Stan Lee cameo in it (which is almost a rule with movies based on his characters).  We enjoyed it but probably would have been unhappy with theater prices, though.

Bill has nearly 40 hours of comp time built up, so he's taking this coming week off.  He's probably going to spend all of it with his pachinko machines.  He just got another one today, he brought it home a few minutes ago.  He's also sold two of them recently and is in the middle of refurbishing several.

He's still got more pachinko machines than I have yarn!  He won't admit that, but it's true. :)

Summer's End

Well, it's late Summer.  It's about as late Summer as it can be, considering that tomorrow is the first day of Fall.

It's been a long, HOT summer and I'm actually glad it's over.  Today was cool, we might have got up to the high 60's.  We woke up to rain and thunder, the rain lasted until about noon or so.  I think it was the last season change, or possibly the one before, where the last day and first day had their weather switched.  We're wondering what tomorrow will be.

We had hamburgers and oven-fried tater tots tonight.  Appropriate Summer foods, we thought.  Tomorrow's meal is appropriate for Fall:  pot roast, potatoes-carrots-celery-onions and gravy.  We usually have something fun or special on Friday nights, but roast is something I usually cook on the weekend since it takes a couple of hours.  But I let Otter pick, and that's what she wanted.  Which is good, because I already had it on my grocery list!

I mentioned crochet last night, but I didn't quite get there.  I discovered that my winter skin has already arrived, also known as skin so dry it cracks & bleeds.  I have gloves to wear when I crochet, but I never quite got back to the stashcloset to get them.  Maybe tonight, but it's not looking promising.  Saturday, I'll probably spend several hours with a hook & yarn in my hands.

Short update, but that's it!

It's Wednesday...

But I can't think of a reason to whine.

I got my crown replaced, the dentist worked me in Monday morning and she did the filling.  Then, she was able to replace the crown.  So it only cost me $70, as opposed to what it would have cost to get the crown replaced as well.  The crown will need to be replaced at some point, I was thinking she was only going to have to replace it because it would be destroyed during the process to remove it for the filling.  But the crown itself will need to be replaced at some point, it's probably over 20 years old and it's had a lot of wear & tear in that time.  But, because it came off like it did, I've probably got as long as 5 years before it will need to be replaced now.  She did some work on it, reinforced it and so forth, so it's almost as good as new.  I also think it fits better, I never thought it was in at exactly the right angle before.  I'm not sure exactly which dentist put it in, but I think it was the one we only went to for a very short time because he simply wasn't very good.

I didn't have to get any additional shots during the filling, but she did give me a little more novocaine than most people need.  Redheads metabolize that stuff fast, and she remembered that fact before she even got started.

I could whine about the fact that I have not had time to crochet this week, but that seems to be the way my weeks go lately.

I think I'll go see about fixing that problem now.

Pirates!

Today is Otter's favorite day.  It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day!  Or, maybe it should be Text like a pirate day because she kept texting me in pirate speak between classes.

Anyway.  I'm posting a link, I've seen some of the stuff but not all of it so I'm not vouching for it being polite.  But, the fun ones are always the name generators.  I did the one that give you a pirate name and also a whole pirate life.  My pirate name is Wooden Head, which some people might find appropriate.  But I really like the description:

Arrr, you're one of the few pirates who enjoys coffee. And after 35 cups you're ready to take on the English Navy, sail around the world, paint the ship, pleat the mizzenmast, iron the sails, scrub the rudder and sweep the floors. You really need to switch to decaf.

None of the questions had anything to do with coffee, but it nailed me 100% on that.

Here's the link to the article:

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

The pirate name generator I used is on the page link, but here's a link to it specifically:

Finding Your Inner Pirate

And this picture is just because I think it's cute:

One more pirate for the day:

My favorite pirate!

Sunday Critters

We have a couple of critters around our house.  Furry, 4-footed with cold noses and they go by the names of Frasier and Maggie.  But sometimes we have other critters that come to visit.  Sometimes, we see them.  Other times, we see evidence of their presence.  Like this morning.  Judging by the paw prints on the El Camino hood.  The latest visitor was one of these:

We've also had a few of the next one to deal with, they tend to get underneath the windows in the front of the house and relieve themselves:  We've tried moth balls, which do help to a point, but orange scented cleaning spray works the best.  I happen to be out of it, and I've noticed that the neighborhood cats have been back in our yard again lately (and on top of my car, Bill gets fun animals but I just get cats!) so I think I'd better get some more soon.  We just spray it where we don't want cats and it keeps them away.  They don't like the scent.  I usually get whatever brand the dollar store has, it doesn't matter if it's a good cleaner or not because I'm just going to spray it on the ground in front of the house, underneath the windows.

But this next one is the one we really REALLY don't want to deal with:

We've seen a few, but not for a while.  Although Thursday morning, it was pretty obvious that there was one somewhere in the vicinity.  We could smell it when we went out the front door, although I don't think it was too close.  We just don't want Frasier to find a black & white kitty to play with!  I think I'd just go get a tranquilzer gun to use on the dog, then I'd shave him and see about dunking him in something.  He might not be allowed back in the house for months!

We get the occasional coyote as well, but since we already have one of those living with us, we don't worry too much about them.  We hear them more often than actually see them.  I think we might need to replace Frasier's collar soon, the color is fading quite a bit.  He hasn't gotten out since the privacy fence went up, but he is smart and I really don't want to take a chance of him being shot by someone who thinks he's a (full) coyote.

We also have moles, voles and gophers.  Although Frasier and Maggie do their best to keep them under control.  Haven't seen any snakes lately, nor any frogs.  Usually, lots of frogs are around OR lots of snakes.  We seldom see much in the way of frogs if we have snakes.  But the snakes are happy, because they get to eat!

Otter and I went to a cactus sale this afternoon.  We got a couple of smaller ones, nothing spectacular this year.  It was at a local park that has a garden center, and there were billions of honeybees all over the place.  And millions of squirrels - Froggy, remember feeding them?  That's where we were today.

Bill transplanted a small mimosa tree that sprung up in the back yard spontaneously.  It's now in the front yard.  He's not sure if it is going to make it or not, he tried not to cut the roots too much but he's afraid that he might have.  We'll watch it and see what happens.  If it doesn't make it, we'll probably see about buying a small tree.  This is the time of year to plant them, you can plant trees anytime of the year but Fall is the best time because they will spend the next few months growing a strong root system and that will make it easier for them to survive the spring storms & wind we get.

Although we got some of that wind last night!  We don't watch tv before sunset, just a movie (we take turns picking a movie to watch) and a couple of religous shows we tape during the week but not actual tv watching.  I was thinking about heading for bed about 9:30 last night, I turned on the tv to see if the news was on the local Fox channel yet and it was on, but it was also weather warnings.  We had the potential for a really Bad Thing, but fortunately that disolved and we "just" had lots of wind and a thunder storm.  I'm not sure what the official measurement of rain is, but my empty buckets on the deck both had about 2" of water in them this morning.  My rain barrel is happy again!

I'm going to make a pot of pinto beans shortly.  And a pan of cornbread.  Except that I'm out of jalepenos, so my cornbread will have to be plain.  Oh well, it will still be good and we'll eat it.

I got some crochet done yesterday.  I got out the afghan and put a couple of rows on it, but it's still a little warm to work on it.  It's big enough now that it covers my legs up when I'm working on it and it is warm!  I made a few squares for a project I've been working on for myself, and I looked through some of my patterns but haven't found quite what I want yet.  Froggy, I'm going to make you a few more pot holders but I'm trying to find different ones.  I had been thinking about socks and have a pattern book, but after I looked at it yesterday I think I've decided against socks.  At least for now.  For one thing, most of the patterns I can find are for smaller socks.  Bill wears size 12 or 13 shoes, so small socks just are not going to work for him!  Also, most socks need to be stretchy, and the only yarn that really is stretchy enough for socks is wool or a wool blend.  And that won't work for me.  Although, if I can find a good pattern that is the right size for Billyboy, I'll probably buy sock yarn and attempt it using my gloves.  But that mostly depends on finding patterns that are big enough, and the only ones I've seen that would work for him sizewise are not anything I really think he'd wear.  I have cotton yarn that I was originally going to use, but it's not stretchy enough.

It's clouding up again, we might be in for more rain.  It's cool enough that we have the house open.  It's really nice, although the humidity is beginning to bother me.

But it could always be worse:

A Few Thoughts on a Rainy, Friday, Fall Afternoon

OK, so it's not really Fall yet for another week.  And it will probably be back in the 70's/low 80's in a few days.  But it feels like Fall today.

It's been raining most of the day, mostly a slow rain but there have been a couple of harder rains.  I got caught in one at lunch.  I was in the car, fortunately, but I still had to deal with drivers who don't know what to do in good conditions!  But I like to get my Friday errands done on my lunch hour if at all possible, as Otter's last class on Friday seems to get out early frequently.

Today, I was just checking out at Wallyworld when she texted me that they were done.  At 4:15, the class is supposed to be over at 4:50.  This is the earliest it's been finished, so we got home much earlier than we thought.  Which is good, we've already finished up our last few chores and had dinner.  (Hamburgers!)  I usually take a book with me, and try to get to the college early in case she gets out sooner than normal.  But I really didn't want to sit in the cold today.  It was in the low 50's, but I managed to get enough rain on me to make me feel really cold.

Anyway, dinner.  Oh yeah, it was hamburgers.  It was pretty good, I cut mine up into 4ths so I could eat it easily since I'm sort-of one-sided at the moment.  We also had corn on the cob, but I donated mine to Bill.  I thought that might be pushing it just a little.  We also had ranch style beans, but they are fairly easy to eat on one side of my mouth.  I'm going to call the dentist 1st thing Monday morning and see if they can get me in.  If not Monday morning, I'll see about Tuesday afternoon.  When I talked to her yesterday morning, she said that they would try very hard to work me in if they didn't have any open appointments.

Yesterday was Blue & Green day, also known as Dad's birthday.  In his memory & honor, we always have peanut m&m's, which he called blues & greens.  I didn't eat mine yet, they are on hold until my filling is fixed.  Also, Otter was having some serious allergy issues yesterday so no chocolate for her!  Bill ate some of his, but he's mostly waiting until we can all enjoy them.  Dad would have already eaten all of them and more!  He had a major sweet tooth. :)  I really miss him, and also Mom.

I'm not sure how much rain we actually got, but my rain barrel was beginning to get fairly low.  I bought another package of mosquito dunks at the hardware store this week, it's about time to toss another one in there.  Also, we got our tulips while we were at the hardware store.  We don't want a repeat of the year we missed them, so we got them as soon as they were available.  Otter picked out 3 or 4 kinds, and we also got another type of daffodill, some crocus and hyacinth.  We will probably get them planted in about a month, more or less.  Depending on the weather.  The bed will need to be de-weeded and then treated for moles.  But the bulbs don't get planted until the ground is cooled off.

I guess that's all the thoughts I wanted to talk about today.

Thursday Stuff

Probably should be titled Boring Thursday Stuff!  It's an "ehh" day today.

It's cooler, which is good.  It was in the low 50's this morning and I probably could have used a jacket today.  I was in a hurry to get out the door in time so I wouldn't be late to work, and a jacket was the last thing on my mind.

What was on my mind?  Bill not being able to get his car started (turned out to be the battery) and the fact that I had to wait on the dentist to call me back before I could leave.  The reason for the dentist's call is because I lost a crown last night.  The same one that has the small cavity under it, the same one that the crown was going to have to be removed which would probably destroy the crown and that would mean getting a new one.  However, it popped off last night and looks like it's in good shape, so maybe it can be reused instead of having to get a new one made.  But, I think it's pretty old, like over 20 years so it might still have to be replaced.  It came off because I did something I hardly ever do:  I ate (attempted to eat anyway) a piece of caramel.  I hardly ever eat anything like that because it doesn't really work, with dentures.  I called the dentist this morning and they are closed until Monday.  I left her a message and she called me back, they are actually out of town.  Since I'm not having any pain, she told me that I could go to her on-call replacement or I can wait until Monday.  I think I'm going to wait until Monday, when she is back, and then see her.  I figure that this is a good time to get the filling, since the crown is already off.  If she can't replace the same crown, then I'm probably going to see if she can fill the cavity and the crown might be done later.  They ain't cheap!  But we'll make that decision on Monday.  We're still paying off Otter's oral surgery.

Otter's dealing with allergies today.  She has been home all day, she doesn't have classes on Tuesday or Thursday so those are her homework days.  She's had a sinus headache for a while and took Motrin, but now she's following the beagle's example and taking a nap.

Bill was also home today, dealing with the car.  He has had a couple of hours on uninterrupted time to work on the pachinko machine he's currently refurbishing.  It's a lot of work, time consuming and tedious.  It's not heavy lifting, but it makes up for it in details!

I have not had any crochet time at all this week.  I thought I might get some crochet in Tuesday evening, but things kept coming up and I finally just gave up on the idea.  Maybe tonight?  I hope so, I get cranky when I don't get to play with my yarn!

But before I head in the direction of my stash, I'm going to make dinner.  Chili tonight.  It's a good day for chili, seeing as it's pretty cool and cloudy.

Of course, to a TEXAN, it's always a good day for chili!

Albino Brain Chiggers

Otter's discovered a new tv show.  Well, new to her anyway:

Anybody else remember it?  It was actually a brilliantly funny show.  It's from the early 90's or thereabouts.  She's seen several episodes now, and she usually laughs until she can't breathe.  Just like her parents!  Anyway, tonight's episode was the one we've been waiting for.

Albino Brain Chiggers!

It was around 101 today, which is warm for this time of year but not really hothot.  Tomorrow is supposed to be much cooler, we'll be lucky if we get to 80.  I'm not complaining!

Guess I'd better get busy and get our firewood ordered.  Because eventually, the Albino Brain Chiggers will invade.  We want to be ready for them.

Mid-September Monday Stuff

I just looked at the calendar and realized that it's nearly the middle of September.  Already.  Wow.  I'm still thinking it should be August!  Actually, I think I'm still in about June.  By the time I catch up, it will be January! :)

We spent yesterday rearranging the office and moving furniture around.  We went to church, where we were 3 of the 8 people at the first service.  Then we came home and went to work!  Bill refinished the desk we bought for me a few months back at the yard sale in the neighborhood (the one we carried home in the trunk of my car - and outside the trunk of my car as well, at a very sloooooooow speed).  It's really nice.  It's smaller than what I had, but what I had was bigger than I wanted so Bill took the old one.  He had a very large corner "cubicle" style desk that was solid wood and weighed about a ton - or at least that is what it felt like when we were moving it.  He had to take it apart, which he's been doing as he had time since he's overworked lately.  We got all the de-construction done, then we moved most of the furniture, etc. out of the office and into the hall, our bedroom, laundry room, etc.  I vacuumed the office twice because it just needed it twice.  Then we got my old desk moved over to the opposite side of the room for Bill, and brought the new one in.  It's placed in a different direction, I am now facing the window instead of the wall that divides the office and Otter's room.

The next trick was to take Bill's old desk pieces out, re-assemble them in the driveway and then we moved some stuff out of the garage.  Otter's workbench which was really a small desk that is made from particle board and is very flimsy, and an old sewing machine in a cabinet which was from a very special Aunt of ours (anyone who knows Otter's real name knows how special this aunt was), and Mom also used it.  I've had the sewing machine for many years, Mom and Dad brought it to me probably about 4 years after we moved to OK and I did use it quite a bit.  But I haven't used it in many years, for one thing I simply do not have room for it.  Anyway, we put Bill's old desk in place of the sewing machine and Otter's work desk, and now she's got a large work area that is also very sturdy.  (And if Bill ever gets his junk moved out of the way, she can actually use it!). :)

Then we all came inside and collapsed, complaining about sore muscles the entire time.  None of us are afraid of hard work, but that desk was heavy!

I've been having really bad problems with my stupidleftknee.  The right one's not the best but it's the better of the two.  The left one has been giving me fits lately.  I spent several evenings last week with heat on it, and also taking motrin since that helps better than anything else.  It's not anything new, it's just worse lately.  I've been to the doctor about it, it's just the knee issue I inherited from Dad (and Otter inherited from me).  It's fixable to an extent, but it would basically mean a knee replacement and I'm not in hurry for that.  I've done the research, and a knee replacement (or at least like I'd be needing) is good for 10 years - if you are extremely lucky.  After that, it would need to be replaced again.  I'm 49, so do the math and you can probably figure out why I'm not there yet.  Also, the physical therapy is intense and it can be pretty hard to get through.  I know someone who has the same type of problems I do, she has it with both knees.  She had one done and then had to have it re-done within a couple of months because it just didn't "take."  She still has problems, even after the second replacement, and she said it's really not all that much better.  I don't think she's going to get the other knee done, based on the first knee she had done.  So, for now at least, I just whine and gripe about my stupidleftknee.

Frasier is keeping my company.  He's been jumping the baby gate every time I'm back in the office.  He sits beside me while I work at my desk and he usually falls asleep.  He's been getting up every so often, putting his head up under my arm and then he belches.  Every time.  I have no idea why, but I do not want to know what that dog's been eating!  Maggie can't quite make it over the baby gate, she has a couple of times but she's been really scared about something and managed to get over it.  But she usually won't even try.  But she apparently gets lonely, because she'll sit on the other side of the gate and whine.  Occasionally, she'll bark.  Then, if that doesn't get the response she wants, she'll talk.  She's a very vocal pooch.  Personally, I think that Frasier is just escaping from his little sister.  And, being a little sister myself, I have to say that I see where he's coming from on that!

There is a reason why Froggy chose "Froggy" as her blog name, after all.  Although Toadles (our big brother) had a lot to do with that before I showed up).

10

Have you forgotten?

Darryl Worley/Wynn Varble, 2003

I hear people saying we don't need this war

I say there's some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground?
We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down

They say we don't realize the mess we're getting in
Before you start preaching
Let me ask you this my friend


CHORUS 1


Have you forgotten how it felt that day
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away?


Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside
Going through a living hell


And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?


They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbing for you and me
It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say
If it was up to me I'd show it every day


Some say this country's just out looking for a fight
After 9/11 man I'd have to say that's right


CHORUS 1


Have you forgotten how it felt that day
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away?


Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside
Going through a living hell


And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?


I've been there with the soldiers
Who've gone away to war
And you can bet they remember
Just what they're fighting for


CHORUS 2


Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
All the loved ones that we lost
And those left to carry on


Don't you tell me not to worry about Bin Laden
Have you forgotten?


Have you forgotten?


Have you forgotten?



We should never forget.


We should never stop praying.


If we do, then they've won.


We can't let them win.

**2 Chronicles 7:14
New International Version (NIV)


If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

**(Permission granted by the Author)

Fixin' To

As we are all aware, or should be aware of anyway, Texans have their own language.  One of our favorite words is Fixin'.  Usually, it's followed by the word To.  We use it a lot and it has a variety of uses.  Today, I saw it in a unique way.  One that I really liked.  It was a license plate!  On a pickup, a real pickup and not a show truck.  Then I noticed that the trailer hitch was a specific shape - the state of TEXAS.  Then I noticed that the driver also had a TEXAS flag emblem sticker in the back window.  It made me happy this morning, especially since the driver was female.  RedHeadTexanWoman was really happy!

Anyway, I'm fixin' to talk about other stuff.

Like the weather.  It's been really nice the last couple of days.  Today was beautiful, slightly warm but not hot.  Slight breeze, blue skies with only a few clouds and just generally a nice day.  But I can tell that Fall is not far away.

Otter and I went to the library today.  Big surprise, right?  :)  She got her usual boatload of books.  Then she had to go get another card, since the Future Librarian lost hers.  I think she's on her 4th card, but it might only be her 3rd.  I don't think she's amused that I'm amused, but I do see some serious irony there.  Actually, one of her cards had to be replaced because she'd worn it out, which is not necessarily a bad thing!

Ragweed is high.  It will be until we get a good freeze.  Which is another reason I'll be glad to see winter!  We're all sneezing.

Soon, not sure how soon, but soon:  I'm going to get political.  Just so nobody can say that they weren't warned!  Not that it matters really, this is our blog and you get our opinions.  But I thought that the polite thing to do is put out a warning.  It's no secret, never has been and never will be a secret, that we are an extremely conservative family.  That we're Pro-Life, among other things.

And happily so.  And that won't ever change.

Bounce!

Otter's bouncing.  She has the hiccups, loud ones. She says that they are painful.  And that they make her bounce.  That sounds lilke some serious hiccups!  Otter has never been able to make herself burp, she simply can not do it.  None of the standard remedies seem to work, so she's just going to have to tough it out.  She gets hiccups frequently.  I had them earlier and I tried to give them to Frasier, but they bounced off of him and landed on Otter.

Frasier deserved them, he got a baby bird.  It was a young mockingbird, which is a bad thing.  Actually, I'm not really sure if he got it or if he found it.  There aren't any nests in the yard as far as we can tell, and there weren't any mad parents in evidence, either.  We saw a hawk fly very low across the yard, probably about 5 feet high and into the yard next door.  I'm thinking that maybe the hawk dropped his dinner on the return trip.  It could at least have been a starling, not a mockingbird!

I let the dogs in from the back yard and that's when I realized that he had something in his mouth.  Otter didn't see it at first, but she did hear me and she said that she was afraid it might be another hairless cat.  I'm glad it wasn't, but honestly if he ever gets another one I don't think we'll even tell the neighbor.  Just bury it in the back yard and be done with it.

The dogsters have been locked in the last couple of nights, they seem to be doing ok.  We take them out frequently to play in the back yard anyway, so they get a trip outside shortly before we go to bed.  Sometimes, they go willingly.  But I think that they are afraid we're going to put them out and leave them, so sometimes they (mostly Maggie) have to be encouraged to go outside.  We let them out when we get up about 5:00 and they get breakfast after that.

The weather has been so nice this week.  It got to 49 in this area early this morning.  It was cool enough that we could have worn jackets this morning.  Fall is just a couple of weeks away, and that means that winter is not far behind.

Winter.  Snow.  Ice.  Cold.  Well, I can do without the ice part of the equation but hurry winter!  But let me get the firewood ordered first.  :)

Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day.  The day to celebrate the American Worker.  By giving him a day off!  Ironic, but whatever!

We're going to have steaks and baked potatos today.  It's not a big celebration day for us, although I do enjoy the day off.  Otter and I went shopping!  That was how we celebrated.

We actually had a couple of errands to run, and we went to a thrift store while we were out.  She found a pair of shoes (big surprise!) and then we went across the street to a new clothing consignment shop that has recently opened.  She found a skirt there.

The rest of the shopping involved a fabric store, Otter had a special coupon from them for 10% off of the total purchase (including sale prices).  So of course we had to go!  She got some really pretty red fabric with an oriental print, she made a zippered pouch out of it which is on the craft blog.  She will probably make another pouch but she bought enough to also make a throw pillow.  I did buy yarn, but yarn rules say that a) coupon discount and b) buy one, get one half price mean that I had to buy it.  It's for arm warmers for Otter, we finally found a pattern that she likes.

It was in the mid-50's overnight!  It was so nice to wake up to a cool, almost cold morning.  It's in the low- to mid-80's now and it's really pleasant.  We've had the house open and the fans blowing all day.

No dog problems last night - or maybe I should say neighbor problems?  We blocked the dogs in last night.  Frasier woke Bill up about 3:30 this morning, because he needed to go outside.  No accidents, though.  We were actually kind of hoping that the police would show up on a noise complaint, because then we would have absolute proof that she's inciting and inventing.  We have done some research, and there are a couple of city ordinances that she is in violation of.  We aren't doing anything at this point, but we will report her for those things if we need to.  It's kind of frustrating!  Also, the other night when the police showed up - she wasn't just standing out on her deck talking.  Bill said it sounded like several people and more like a party.

OK, back to my laundry!  (I guess I am actually doing something on Labor Day).

Sunday Wandering

We have been Wandering today.  We went to a neighboring small town, about 1/2 hour away and where we've been before.  We hit a couple of junktique stores and didn't find much.  But it was still fun.  The only thing we actually bought was lunch, at Taco Bell/KFC.  And Otter spent 10 cents on something.  Big spenders, right?

We're having neighbor troubles again.  The police were at the door about 2:00 this morning, she called them again and said that the dog was barking.  This time, he was.  The reason?  Because lovely neighbor and her company were standing out on her back porch having a very LOUD conversation and the dog was barking at them - in other words, the dog was doing his job.  She doesn't have the guts (polite word for what I'd really like to say) to come talk to us face to face, but she did leave a rude note stuck under the windshield of my car.  RedHeadTexanWoman would like to come out and play, but I'm not letting her out at this point.

All of lovely neighbor's problems with us started when she let her cat out and Frasier killed it.  In our yard.  She claims that her daughter let the cat out, but that wasn't the first time it had happened and we were never really sure that the daughter actually did it.  Bill said he did consider digging the cat back up from where it's buried in our back yard and taking it back to her.  But he decided that would just inflame things.  However, we are watching things and waiting because we expect more.  In the meantime, I'm keeping the note and making my own notes on what is happening and what has happened before.  Such as her dogs breaking through the fence and getting into our yard more than once, and her dogs breaking through the fence & biting Maggie.  There are a few other examples.  The previous neighbor didn't have a problem with our dogs, and neither did this one - until her cat was let out and that wasn't our fault, either.

It's just frustrating.  We are keeping our gate locked anyway.  Bill said that he is afraid of finding our tires slashed or something similar, I'm more concerned with something being thrown over the fence to the dogs that could harm them.  Or worse.  If that happens, we are immediately taking them to the vet and asking for poison tests (hopefull this won't happen).  And then we'll go to the police and probably a lawyer as well.  Anyone who knows us will know that we are the least likely to ever go the lawyer route, but we will if we have to.

OK, subject change.  Flu shots.  I have had a slight reaction, about normal.  I have had some tiredness but that could also be from being awake a good part of last night.  Otter was doing fine, but then she threw up last night.  She was fine before and after, so that could have been a flu shot reaction but might not have been.  Either way, it's still a whole lot  better than actually getting the flu.

Froggy, I thought I was through with your sock monkey hat.  But I'm having a rethink.  I crocheted two small circles with black yarn for the eyes, but they made it look really creepy.  So I think I'm going to go back to the button idea.  I have to get larger buttons than what I have, which will probably be tomorrow.  I'm about 1/2 way through with doing the tails on the scarf.  I will get them in the mail as soon as I can, probably about Tuesday or so.  I'll let you know.

It's nice today, it was a little over 100 yesterday but it didn't feel that hot.  Then we had a cold front come through last night.  It's in the 80's now, it was cooler and cloudy this morning.  We had a couple of short sprinkles earlier.  After we got home from our Wandering, Bill mowed the lawn and I did some weeding in the rock garden.  Now it's sunny but there is a nice breeze.

We are going to celebrate Labor Day with steaks.  I might get to the grocery store tomorrow sometime, but we don't have anything big planned.  Bill has a few projects he wants to do involving pachinko machines and possibly Otter & I will go to a thrift store or maybe the Dollar Store.  But mostly we are just going to do whatever and enjoy the day off.

We still have hummingbirds, we'll have them for a few more weeks.  I refilled both feeders yesterday.  But it will be time to switch to seed feeders soon enough.  Guess I'd better get busy and see if I need to repair or replace any of my bird feeders.

In the meantime, we're just enjoying the nice weather.  It's not officially Fall for 3 weeks, but it feels like it today.  Except that my feet aren't cold yet.  They will be, as soon as I realize that it really is September!

Prayer Request

A few days ago, I asked for prayers for someone who Froggy and I are both close to, about a family member of theirs who had a serious health issue.

Tonight, I'm asking for prayers again.  I am not naming names because I'm not sure if they would want me to or not, but it's a very serious situation and probably an end-of-life situation for this person's relative.

Any prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Friday. Flu Shots and Redhead Stuff!

Well, the Redhead curse did make it's appearance when we got our flu shots this afternoon.  But, only mildly.  I rembered to warn the tech before he gave me the shot, and then I just had a little bit of bleeding.  So he stuck a cotton ball and a bandaid on my arm, and it was fine.  I'll have to take the bandaid off soon, as I'm allergic to the adhesive.  But that's not a redhead thing, just an Ottermom allergy thing.

Otter did fine, no blood at her injection but then she seldom ever has.  She has her own version of the Redhead Curse including the bleeding, but not usually when she gets shots.

We got our fajitas after the shots, and we are all now happily stuffed.  The ice cream is going to have to wait!  Nobody's got any room for it.

It's been about an hour and a half since the shots, I'm starting to feel tired which is generally the first thing.  I might feel cruddy this evening, hard to say, but I won't be surprised.  I have a touch of a headache, but I had a lot of sinus pressure before the shot so it might not be connected.  I've also tried to have two nosebleeds in the last couple of days, which is also allergy related and not helped by the fact that I took a couple of aspirin a couple of days ago when my stupidleftknee was acting up.

Froggy, I am nearly through with the purple hat for your friend.  I have 3 or 4 rows left, and then I'm going to make a couple of lavender flowers to put on it.  The scarf is done, it turned out really nice but I still have to do tails.  Which means I have to weave in all the loose ends.  I don't think it's going to have fringe, it looks fine without it.  I'll get pictures taken after both pieces are finished, and then I'll post them on the craft blog.  I'll let you know when I get them to the post office, I'm thinking it will probably be mid-week next week.  I'll email you.

There was more I wanted to say, but I can not remember.  So, I guess that I'll post this and go play on the internet for a while.  Then, I might just have to get into that ice cream!

September Already

Wow, it's September already.  7 months ago today, we were up to our eyeballs in snow and ice.  Today, it's 105 and we had a heat warning.  What a difference a few months makes.  In just a couple more months, we'll probably be remembering the warm weather and complaining about the cold.

Frasier is spending most of his time this evening snoozing.  Well, he does that anyway.  But tonight, the big goof is on the floor of the office.  Between my chair and Otter's.  He's been jumping the baby gate on a regular basis, and he always comes to wherever I am.  I went to bed before Billyboy last night, and realized shortly after that there was a big, furry spot on the floor next to the bed, on my side.  When Bill came to bed, I was still awake so I mentioned to him that the dog was there.  The last thing I wanted to deal with was Bill walking into the dog!  So Bill talked to Frasier to let the dog know that he was there, and the dog did what he's been doing lately:  stood up, stretched, wagged his tail at Bill and then moseyed on out of the bedroom.  He does that sort of thing on a regular basis, it's almost like the changing of the guard or something!  Dog's protective of me, that's for sure.

Maggie Moo is not allowed on this side of the baby gate because she forgets her manners.  So, she curls up as close to the baby gate as she can get.  And then she goes to sleep.  She does that when we're all in the living room as well, but at night she might start out there but she doesn't stay.  She migrates to the love seat, where she is NOT allowed but knows that she's got all night to sleep in soft, fluffy comfort before anybody makes her get down.  She usually gets down a few minutes before anybody actually gets up, we can hear her collar jingling so we know when she's off the furniture.  Sometimes, Frasier will sleep in Maggie's spot by the baby gate, but he also sleeps right in the doorway/entrance from the hall to the living room.  Where nobody can miss him, which is probably the idea since he wants to be fed as soon as we get up!

Now that the weather is cooler (mostly, today and tomorrow was/are hot), the pepper plants are beginning to produce again.  I'm so glad that we decided not to dump them after all.  There are a few jalepenos now and the bell pepper has plenty of blooms.  I guess we'll have a fall container garden this year.

Flu shots tomorrow!  Then, we'll have our traditional reward for getting a shot:  ice cream!  Bluebell brand this year, but I bought two cartons.  Strawberry Cheesecake is one and the other one is Vanilla.  We're also going to get fajitas on the way home, we like to do something special/fun for Friday night dinner.  I hope that the RedHead Curse does not make an appearance this year, see last year's entry for the details!  It's one of the posts under the label Red Hair on the side bar.  Also, I'm hoping for a mild reaction this year.  I usually feel bad for the evening and sometimes the next morning, but last year's was not the normal reaction.  I felt cruddy all weekend and into Monday.  But that's the exception, usually it's a short reaction.  I have my motrin in my purse already, as soon as I pick the Otter up at college we're going to each take a dose and then head to Walgreen's for the shots.  Then, we'll go get the fajitas.

Fajitas!  Can't wait.