Pumpkin Patch Day

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

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

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

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

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

Better Day Today

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

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

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

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

I'd Like to Dispense Some Biblical Justice

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

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

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

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

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

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

THURSDAYTHURSDAYTHURSDAYTHURSDAY

Still drawing a blank on titles!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Kitten is Insane!

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

http://kittensasylum.blogspot.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday & My Turn

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

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




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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blog Action Day is Next Week

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

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

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

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

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

Very Busy Sunday!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday. Texas. Home.

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



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



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



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

Our Flag

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

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

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

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

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

Our Fenton Glass Collection

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

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

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

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

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

It's October!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Walls

We saw the Moving Wall this afternoon. Even being smaller scale than the real one, it's pretty big. So many names. It's something that just reaches out and grabs you right around the heart. There was a program going on at the time we were there, I was very pleased to see so many younger people there and they were all very respectful and observant. Quite a few Vietnam veterans were there. There were a few displays, a few of the helicopters from the era and a whole bunch of the Patriot Riders were there. If it's ever in an area where you can see it, I strongly suggest attending. I'd love to see the real Wall, but who knows if that will ever happen.

Otter & I went to two flea markets this morning. We went for her, but as seems to be happening lately she didn't find anything but I did! I found two Fenton Glass perfume bottles, one might be on eBay and one to keep. I haven't decided yet on that. I found a cookie jar that looks like an old moonshine whiskey jug and it's now sitting on the hearth next to my butter churns and crock. I've been looking for an actual jug, but I have not had any luck. So when I saw the cookie jar today, I decided to get it. It has "cookie jug" written on one side, I just turned it around so that the blank side is facing out and unless you pick it up you can't tell that it's not a real jug.

Froggy, the older lady that ran the booth that you talked to for so long is still there - we were afraid it was her obituary we read a few weeks back, but it wasn't. I bought the cookie jug at her booth. The older lady that had all the ceramic stuff including the trees - I think it might have been her that passed away. I didn't see her, her booth has someone else in it now and I saw a few things that I think were her's originally in another booth altogether. I'm still looking for a ceramic tree for you, I saw two but there were huge and I was afraid that they might not survive shipping.

We also went to lunch at a Chinese buffet, then we hit a thrift store. I found a nice black blouse & grey skirt, and two glass pieces. One is depression glass and is possibly for eBay, the other one is a blown glass bottle or vase and I'm thinking I might keep it. Otter's dry spell is finally over! She found two blouses and three books.

Two of the books are official "banned books." To Kill a Mockingbird and The Diary of Anne Frank. Censorship is absolutely wrong, and since Read A Banned Book week is this week, Otter was happy that she found these two. I've read Mockingbird but I don't think I ever actually read Anne Frank. I'm going to remedy that situation!

The Fenton perfume is the one in the center. I only took a picture of one, since they are identical. The brown vase looks darker in the picture than it actually is. The depression glass plate is on the opposite side from the brown bottle.

Oh yeah, Froggy - at the flea market there was a man selling salamanders. The big kind with the feathery things at the sides of the head. We seriously discussed buying one, but we knew that Bill would probably say no! So we just held one and played with it for a while - and thought about you! It wasn't a frog, but it was as close as we could find. I think the seller thought that we would be scared of them, he stuck one up almost in my face and then he looked extremely surprised when I took it from him! And of course Otter had to hold it, too.

Saturday!

Froggy - if you have any title suggestions for me, please feel free to email me or comment on here. I hope you are feeling better.

Otter and I had our shopping trip yesterday. We went to the local Fenton Glass dealer, and now each of us have another piece for our collections. Otter chose an adorable blue mouse, it's painted with winter decorative details and is very cute. The one I bought for myself is a green ring holder. I was going to get a clear green one, which I'd seen the other day. But I saw a new one that I just fell in love with. It's green still, but it's not clear glass. It's called chameleon glass - it has another shade in the glass that shows up when the glass is pressed into the mold and is not always the same color each time. The 2nd color in mine is a light, whitish color. It's very unusual. I am going to post pictures in the near future of our Fenton collection.

We also went to a fun place called Accessory City, which might be a local store. It has jewelry, some shoes, purses, hair stuff, belts, a whole lot of things. For once, Otter didn't find anything! That NEVER happens. I found another pair of earrings for myself, so it wasn't a totally wasted trip. Unless you listen to Otter!

We also went to Wallyworld for groceries and while we were there, we had shoe therapy. Kiddo couldn't even find a pair of shoes she liked!

Today was quiet as usual, we spent most of the day just taking it easy and relaxing. The dogs spent quite a bit of their time snoring in the floor. Except for Frasier's frequent trips to the back yard to look up into the tree he saw a squirrel in this morning - he kept going back there and barking up into the tree. I don't think he has the slightest idea that a squirrel has escape routes out of the tree!

Tomorrow's plans have changed slightly. We originally were going to the zoo but we've decided to hold off on that. We have a good chance of rain. There is an exhibit called the Moving Wall, which is a smaller scale replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. The Moving Wall is making one stop in Oklahoma on it's current tour, it's in Broken Arrow and not to far from us at all. So we are going tomorrow afternoon. It's an the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. The factory sits on land that they bought from a family who lost a son in Vietnam and his name is on the Wall. When the current tour was announced, Blue Bell arranged for the Wall to visit here in tribute to the son of the family they bought the land from. The specific place the Moving Wall sits in on the spot where the family home was.

It's nearly October already. We'll be glad when this year is over! It's also been 6 months since my surgery. I'm really glad that it's not 6 months ago!

Mid Week Rambling

It's only Wednesday but it feels like the week should be over already! Just 2 more days, then it will be over.

Our leasing agent brought us the rent check tonight. She met with the couple tonight and gave them the keys, collected the rent and did the walk-through. Bill went over there this afternoon to make sure everything was ready, and there was nothing to be done so we are officially finished with it! The new tenants wanted to have either sattelite or cable installed, I'm not sure which, and the installer called to get permission. Which they are always supposed to do, but this is the first time it's actually happened. Bill told him about the re-wiring he'd done, and the installation tech apparently realized that Bill speaks his language because he agreed to leave the existing wiring and he said he could see where he needed to hook on - exactly where Bill told him. We are really encouraged that these tenants may stay awhile. They bought new appliances, we had several phone calls to confirm sizes last week. They seem to have gone to quite a bit of trouble & expense, at least for what most renters do. I'm very glad that we did as much work as we did, it's paying off.

The Tulsa Health Department has issued a Ragweed Alert. I'm not surprised, I've known for days & days that the ragweed was exploding. I've been fighting it all day. Frasier sneezes as much as I do! It's even affecting Bill, which it never does. We have had rain this week, so even more ragweed will grow! The field behind us was mowed somewhat this week, hopefully that will help my allergies. A good, hard freeze would take care of the problem entirely. Until that happens, I guess I'll just deal with it!

Otter's been working on teaching Maggie to shake hands. Or paws, as the case may be. She's done it a couple of times now. Maggie still dances, and she is now learning to shake. Poor Frasier, his little sister is outshining him!

Otter and I are going to the zoo on Sunday, we haven't had any Mom/Daughter time lately and we are planning a day to just enjoy and spend some time bonding. We have regular days planned that we call Mother/Daughter Days where we spend the day together, activities that we feel like at the time. I've noticed that we are spending more and more of those days shopping!

We have a shopping trip planned on Friday after school, Otter's been re-doing her room and she picked out her new bedding & curtains yesterday at Target. (Yes, I'm shopping there again - they haven't had the bell ringers the last 2 Christmas seasons but they did make a big donation to the Salvation Army last year. This year remains to be seen, but for now we are shopping there again.) Anyway, back to the subject. Otter's new curtains are navy blue but they are more sheer than we anticipated, so I think we're going to get a tension rod to fit inside the window and something slightly dark or opaque to hang from it. Her new comforter bedspread is full size, because now that we don't have to spend every second at the rent house we will have time to get her a bigger bed. She's outgrown the twin bed, actually a while back. The comforter is a darker blue shade with lighter blue in it and it has some lavender & teal decorative details. It's reversible to teal. It actually looks pretty good. We're going to pull down the wall paper border that is in her room and possibly stencil paint on the walls. When it's finally finished up, I'll post pictures but it will be a while!

Some People I Know Need to Grow Up!

And they need to realize that they are not the center of the universe. And that they don't have the right to dictate how we should all think, act, live. And that other opinions are not bad things to have. And that being a bully is a very bad thing. Because quite a few of the people I'm referring to have been exactly that - bullies. (I'm not talking to my family here, I'm referring to something on a board I post on and not family related in any way).

This is for Trina, I got this in an email from a friend of mine and some of it won't necessarily apply but I thought it was timely:

"Never apologize for pursuing what makes you happy.Even if you need to quit your job,or move across country, always do what you really want.Never apologize for giving your best in a relationshipthat just didn't work out.Never apologize for being successful.Only haters want to keep you at their level.Never apologize for crying.Wear waterproof mascara and express yourself.Never apologize for being frugal.Just because you save your money instead of blowing iton the latest fashion emergency doesn't mean you're cheap.Never apologize for being a single mom.Babies are a blessing.Never apologize for treating yourself to something special.Sometimes you have to show yourself some appreciation.Never apologize for leaving an abusive relationship.Your safety should always be a priority.Never apologize for keeping the ring even if wedding bells won't chime.Never apologize for setting high standards in a relationship.You know what you can tolerate and what simply gets on your nerves.Never apologize for saying NO.Never apologize to your new friends about old friends.There's a reason she's been your girl from day one.Never apologize for ordering dessert.Or more than one dessert.Never apologize for your taste in clothes.It's your styleNever apologize for changing your mindNever apologize for being you!"ALWAYS KEEP YOUR HEAD UP!!!"

And if someone else gets something out of it, then that's great.

Ok, off that particular soapbox for now.

Another Monday! The First One of Fall

And it was 90 degrees today. Seems like as soon as the calender said Fall, it got warm again! It's not really not, it's actually nice outside. It's just not Fall-ish anymore. Sigh.

This is the Magginator's favorite place - the middle of Otter's bed, surrounded by stuffed animals! Ok, her second favorite place - her food bowl is # 1 on her list. The first picture was taken from the doorway, it reminds me of the scene in the movie ET where he's hiding in the girl's closet among her toys. She looks kind of sad in the 2nd picture, but she was actually wagging her tail so hard that the teddy bear was bouncing. The purple fabric in front of her is actually Otter's PJ top - Maggie was hugging it.

Dog's spoiled, what can I say?

Otter hasn't gotten her blog set up yet, she was only home about 30 minutes yesterday before we parked ourselves in front of the tv for an 8-hour marathon. Yes, 8 hours. For one show! Stephen King's The Stand mini-series from about 10 years ago was being re-run on the Sci-Fi channel. All 4, 2-hour episodes back to back. Otter was dragging this morning!

Otter's Karate Test Update

She's now a brown belt! She only got punched in the face once, after that she remembered to block. She did have some problems, but they were asthma related. She had to use her inhaler several times, which is not normal but has been happening more lately. Ragweed might have a lot to do with it. But she was able to finish her test and she broke the board on her second try, which is very good. Then we got her a milkshake on the way home, and as soon as we got home she had a nap! Then her friend called, and she's over at her friend's house until sometime tomorrow. Somehow, I don't think she's going to get much sleep tonight!

A few months from now, she will be testing for the intermediate belt which is called Recommended Black. Then after that, there's just one left! For the final test, I am going to borrow or rent a camcorder. That's one that we want to get a record of to keep. But that's a while down the road.

Happy Day! Happy Day! Happy Day!

My brother's getting old. Really old now. As in ancient. BECAUSE HE'S GOT A NEW GRANDBABY!!!!! Kimberly & Kenneth have a new little girl, Hannah is her first name but Toadly forgot the middle name except to tell me that it's a dragon's name. Which would fit, considering that the first two are named Luke and Leah! (Think Star Wars). (Bill suggested that maybe the middle name is actually Barney as in the dinosaur).

All kidding aside, a new baby is wonderful. We are thrilled for the Pistone family, and Pippin (Luke's nickname) and Ellie (Leah's nickname) will have all sorts of tricks to teach their new sister.

By the way, just because Toadly is old that doesn't mean that I am or that Froggy is. We are eternally young. Just don't let the grey on the sides of my head fool you, I'm calico - not old.

The chimmey cleaner has been and gone. He was filthy by the time he got through, but thankfully the chimney isn't! The dryer vent was pretty badly clogged, which we kind of figured. So now we are ready for winter. Well, somewhat anyway.

I think we are going to set up Otter's blog this weekend. She's settled on what she's going to call it, although that is still subject to change. She's not politically correct, either. She is her parent's daughter, after all!

Imagine I've Come Up With a Clever Title!!!

Because I'm drawing a blank. Hate when that happens!

It's Thursday and Survivor's new season started tonight. I watched the first 15 minutes, then I lost interest. I saw long enough to see that the Christian woman got up and walked out of the Buddhist ceremony. And I would have done the exact same thing, I really respect her for having the courage of her convictions. Of course, she will probably be voted off early for that.

Frasier's eye seems to be a lot better. I had given it until today, then I was going to take him to the vet if it wasn't better. But it's not watering anymore and it looks almost back to normal. I really do think it was an allergic reaction. Quite possibly to the ragweed plant he'd managed to mow down in his running up and down the fence line! The plant in question is now gone, I yanked it and tossed it over the fence. Then I had to run inside and wash my hands! But that one at least is gone. There will be more, there always are.

The chimney cleaners are coming out tomorrow afternoon. They are also going to clean out the dryer vent. The dryer vent is really strange, they are supposed to be short and straight. Not this one! It also goes up, which means that the dryer has to fight gravity. Bill thinks it's clogged up. It was cleaned out a few months before we bought this house, so it's time to get it cleaned. We had the chimney cleaned the first winter we were in this house, so it's been 3 years for it as well and we certainly used the fireplace a LOT last year. So it could probably stand a good cleaning as well.

I have not seen one hummingbird since about Monday. I'm going to take down all but the one feeder that is by the dining room window. The other two are going to get drained, cleaned and put away for winter. The remaining one will probably come down in about a week, if I don't see anymore birds.

Bill's decided to paint the back door of the rent house, it was on the list to do but it got forgotten. He went over there today to hit the door with 409 and then Sunday morning he will go paint it. While it's drying, he'll mow the lawn. Then hopefully the door will be dry by the time he's finished - it would not be a good thing for it to be painted shut! The new tenants move in next Friday. I have already arranged for the utilities to be switched out of our names on Friday as well.

School pictures came back today. I'll get them sent out in the next few days.

Circus Dog Maggie is now wanting my attention! So I'm going to go play with her now.

Tuesday's Miscellaneous Rambling

Froggy - I think I have writer's block as far as interesting titles go. I already know that this is a boring title!

Otter is registered for the karate test. She wasn't sure if she was ready or not, since she's missed a few classes lately. She talked to the instructor today and did a few practices for him to critique, then she decided that she is ready. So I paid the fee and she will take her test at noon on Saturday. The testing is done in a group, but each student has to do the moves and forms individually as well as with the group. They also do quite a bit of sparring, and she's gotten bloody from testing before. It's not for the faint of heart! But she's tough and very determined. The students are required to bring their sparring gear, which consists of a mouthpiece, boxing gloves and shin gaurds. And in her case, a strap to hold her glasses on! She's been punched in the nose a few times because she wasn't able to see well enough, so we bought a strap for her glasses and even though she complains that it's unfashionable, it will be on her head holding the glasses on. You'd think that she'd prefer to see and not get bopped in the face! It's a workout, they get sweaty and tired, and frequently bruised - it's not a fashion show!! But you'd never know that, to hear her gripe about the strap!

I haven't seen any hummingbirds since yesterday, when I saw one flying by the feeder but not stopping at it. I am going to take down the feeder that is hanging outside the kitchen window, which will leave two up. Then I will probably take down one of the remaining two in a few days and just leave the one by the dining room window for a while. I think that they are just about finished for the year, most of them have probably already started the migration. We've really enjoyed them this year.

I'm thinking that Frasier might have an eye infection. His right eye was a little wattery the last couple of days and the skin around it looked a little red. It seems to be better today, so it might be an allergy. But I'm going to watch it and maybe take him to the vet in the next few days. I might give him a little benadryl, it's safe for dogs. He has been sneezing as much as I have lately! He let me look at his eye, I didn't see anything in it. He's a pretty tolerant dog, he gets frequent ear infections and he was probably just glad I wasn't messing with his years! The Magginator is still going strong, very little derails that particular locomotive doggie! She's discovered tennis balls lately, she has a lot of fun with them. She likes rope toys, but she tears them apart quickly. Bill has a long, thick rope that he's been playing with her with. He tossed one end of it out into the living room the other day, like he was fishing. He must have had spectacular bait on it, because he caught a Beagle! Crazy dog. Absolutely insane. And Frasier is nearly as nuts as she is!

I stopped by the driver's license place the other day. Otter now has a driver's manual. She's had 3 or 4 driving lessons, but mostly just to let her see how it feels to drive. The serious lessons will start once she's read the manual. (Otter - this is your only hint, I'm not going to remind you again. If you want to learn to drive FOR REAL, then you'd better get your nose buried in that manual and learn it!)

I thought we were through with the rent house. But Bill remembered that he never painted the back door, which was pretty scratched up. So he's going over there Sunday morning and paint the door. Then we might be though, every time I think that something else comes up! He'll probably mow over there on Sunday as well.

I think I've finally figured it out!

How to post pictures here, that is. I went back over everything and there was one tiny, little square that I'd forgotten to check when signing up for the service & creating my blog. The one that said I'd read the policy on uploading images. I had read it, I just missed clicking the box that said I had! So Froggy, this one is for you.
I thought you might like it. Does it bring back memories?

This is what the living room at the rent house looks like now. For anyone that remembers it, the floor is just amazing. It doesn't even look like the same house anymore. It turned out really well. We couldn't be happier with it.

A while back, I posted about a visitor we had. A brown, furry, winged visitor that showed up on the front porch. Here "he" is!

Sunday Afternoon Ramblings

Today started early. Bill got up at 5:00, actually he was up before 5:00, and headed out the door to go scrounge styrofoam for packing material before heading over to the rent house. I went back to sleep until about 7:00, then when I got up I followed him to the rent house. Of course, I stopped to grab us breakfast - and mostly coffee - on the way over. We just had a couple of little things we wanted to do at the rent house, so it didn't take too long. Bill replaced the water supply line for the ice maker - hope the new tenants get a fridge with an ice maker! He checked the cable tv/dish wiring in the attic and then we ran the dishwasher to make sure it worked. It worked fine, it just occurred to us both this morning that we'd never checked it after the last tenant moved out. We only had to make 2 trips to Lowe's this morning, usually we get about 4 a day. We will probably have one more trip to the rent house before the new tenants move in at the end of the month, to mow again. But that's it, we are done and it looks really good.

When we got home, Bill mowed the lawn and split a couple more of the big logs and then I discovered that our dishwasher has a really suspicious "burned plastic" smell. The last two times it's done that, it's gone out shortly afterwards. We've had to replace a particular fuse twice on it in the last 3 years. We still have one more spare fuse. After this, if it goes out again we are just going to replace the entire dishwasher. We've had to replace a lot of "original" appliances at this house. The outside air conditioner unit, the stove and now probably the dishwasher in the near future! Oh yeah, the shower in the master bath but that was a little different situation.

My allergies are really bothering me today. I haven't slept well the last few nights, I keep waking up stuffy and unable to breathe well and I've also had to use my inhaler several times lately. I have a tendency to have dry mouth at times anyway, I have ever since I got the dentures last year, but it's been much worse lately. I think it's allergy related. My eyes are itchy, I'm coughing and sneezing a lot. I'll be glad when winter gets here and we get a good, hard freeze. Then the ragweed will all be gone and I won't miss it!

I've noticed that most of the hummingbirds seem to have vanished. There are still a couple. I took down one feeder that was empty and it won't be going back up this year. I have 3 still up, one is in the kitchen window and will probably come down for the season soon. The other 2 that are left are on the back patio. One of them is in front of the dining room window. It was nearly empty earlier today, I refilled it because I saw a hummer buzzing by it. The 2nd one out there is by the living room window and I'm not sure if it will be refilled or put away, when I take it down. It depends on how many more hummers we see. But probably it won't be put back up, it's about 1/2 full right now and I'm thinking that it's been about 1/2 full for a week or so. But I don't want to take them down too early, in case any migrating birds need a snack on the way. We've really enjoyed sitting out on the deck and watching them. We spend a lot of time out there anyway, the hummingbirds just make it more enjoyable.

I've started to dispose of some of my seasonal plants. The cherry tomato plant has already become a filler for one of the many holes the Excavation Crew known as Frasier & Maggie dug in their search for moles. The bell pepper plants will probably be the next to go. The jalepenos still have several peppers and a lot of blooms, so they won't be disposed of until the last minute weather-wise. And then they might get moved inside, although I don't know if they will still produce or not. They might be seasonal life plants. The parsley, or what's left of it after the last swallowtail larvae, will stay out there for a while and then it might also be moved inside. I have a bunch of parsley in the freezer from my plants, but we still get the occasional swallowtail butterfly caterpillar and they love parsley so we've left it out there for them. Next year, we plan on having an actual garden. This year, we had one planned but my illness happened and I wasn't physically able to garden. Then we had all that rain, so it's just as well we didn't have an actual garden.

I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon goofing off between loads of laundry. The chimney cleaners are coming Friday and we're also going to have them clean out the dryer vent. It was done 3 years ago, just before we bought this house, and now it needs it again.

Oh yeah! We had blues & greens yesterday in Dad's memory. They were good. But then, chocolate always is!

Ragweed Should Be Illegal!

It should all be destroyed. And I have a bunch of it to deal with in the field behind the house. The builder hasn't done anything at all back there in months, and I've noticed that the activity has slowed way down where he was already starting. I hope that means that we won't have to deal with houses behind us for a long time - if ever. But I'm not holding my breath. What I am doing is finding stray ragweed that is sprouting up in the back yard, probably courtesy of the plants in the field! I just keep pulling it and throwing it away, then I usually have to run wash my hands off because my skin is reacting. The other morning, Frasier came bouncing in to wake me up and after I petted him I noticed that my hand was tingling. At first, I thought I'd just slept on my hand and it was asleep but then I got in the shower and the tingling washed off. So I think he must have been playing in a ragweed spot in the back yard. Thanks a lot, Frasier!

I got this in an email. I'd like to share it:

WHAT LOVE MEANS TO AGE 4 TO 8 YEAR OLD CHILDREN
Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it.Touching words from the mouth of babes.What does Love mean? A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?"The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:
"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and painther toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."Rebecca- age 8
"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."Billy - age 4
"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologneand they go out and smell each other." Karl - age 5
"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your Frenchfries without making them give you any of theirs."Chrissy - age 6
"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."Terri - age 4
"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."Danny - age 7
"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired ofkissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"Emily - age 8
"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)
"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"Nikka - age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)
"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."Noelle - age 7
"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.
"Tommy - age 6"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I lookedat all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.
"Cindy - age 8"My mommy loves me more than anybody You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.
"Clare - age 6"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."Elaine-age 5
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford"Chris - age 7
"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him aloneall day"Mary Ann - age 4
"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her oldclothes and has to go out and buy new ones."Lauren - age 4
"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and littlestars come out of you." (what an image)Karen - age 7
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't thinkit's gross."Mark - age 6
"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if youmean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."Jessica - age 8
And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talkedabout a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,"Nothing, I just helped him cry"
When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need.

And I have one to add to it: Love is my 90 year old boss and his precious 90 year old wife still holding hands when they go out to lunch together and giggling like a pair of teenagers. If they have managed to keep the romance alive and well for as long as they have been married (close to 70 years now), then there is hope for all.

Where God guides, He will provide

I saw that on a church sign the other day and it really hit home for me. We've had such a hard year, my illness & surgery and related medical bills; Bill's accident with his ankle; the rent house has sat empty for two months - but we still have to make mortgage payments on it. Stuff like that. Normal life I guess, but just a lot of it at once.

And then I realized that God has guided us AND He has provided for us. I think I needed to realize that yes, we have been able to afford both mortgage payments and the medical bills have all been set up with payment plans for the big ones and the small ones have been paid off. Bill was hurt bad enough, but it could have been worse - the achilles tendon could have been cut and that would have been catastrophic. Otter's healthy, she's had fewer and fewer asthma episodes as time goes by. We paid off my car 6 months early. We have food on the table, a roof over said table and clothes to wear. And we have quite a few extras as well. We have been blessed, we just don't always realize it. One of the biggest blessings is our family - all sides of it and every member of it.

So I've quit feeling sorry for myself and complaining. However, I have not totally put my soapbox away and I can drag it out to stand on at any moment! So expect me to be spouting off about something of the other at any time - you can't say you weren't warned! :)

I don't think I posted this after Tuesday, but maybe I did. So it might be a rerun. Well, it's rerun season on tv so I'm not going to worry about it! Anyway, at karate on Tuesday Otter earned her next belt test. It's on Saturday the 22nd. She will test for the brown belt. After the brown belt there is only one left - THE BIG ONE! There is a mid-step belt, black with a red stripe which is the intermediate step and nearly all of the kids have to go to the striped one before earing the actual Black Belt, but she's nearly there. It's still going to take several months, they don't rush the kids on the belts and they especially take time when they are close to earning the Black Belt. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on this one, and it's shining very brightly. She is really good at karate. So any boys who express an interest in dating her (and there have been several already, but she's not allowed yet) won't only have to be worried about dealing with her father if they get out of line with her! Maybe I should insist that she wear the Black Belt when she goes on dates! Yeah, that's a good idea. I think I'll suggest it to her - you'll probably hear her yelling at me!

The rent house is rented. I just heard from our agent, it's a done deal. That is also a blessing, by the way.

Happy Dance! Doing the Happy Dance!

Because it looks like the rent house is rented! Yay!

Our agent called last night, she has an application from a young couple with a baby and she said that their credit & job history checked out. She's going to meet them tomorrow (Thursday) and get the lease signed, as well as pick up the check for the deposit & rent. They want to move right before the 1st, which is fine with us! I think it was more than worth it to replace the master bedroom carpet and restore the hardwood floors because we asked more for the rent this time. So think good thoughts for us that nobody changes their mind before the lease gets signed!

I'm just glad we'll be getting our life back. We've spent so much time over at the rent house, it's taken a lot longer this time than it ever has before. Of course, a lot of that was due to Bill's accident and then the floors took about a week as well. But I'm so glad we did as much as we did.

I really think that winter is going to arrive early this year. It's been nice and cool lately, we've needed jackets the last couple of days. Today was warm, in the 80's, but it has been in the 50's the last few nights. The trees should start turning any time now. Fall is wonderful up here, I just could do without the ragweed but we'll have to deal with it for a while. Until we get a freeze. Hate the stuff! My boss thinks that we should start a national foundation devoted solely to eradicating ragweed from the world. He might be on to something!

We are neighbor-less on one side now. Phyllis has moved, we thought she had the other day when a UHaul showed up and we saw them moving out at lightning speed. We saw her today, she said that she's all moved out except the garge and that was what they were working on tonight. She never really could afford that house by herself, but we were hoping that she might figure something out because she is a nice person and a good neighbor. She's raising her Downs Syndrome grandchild on her own, this little girl is just adorable! Just the sweetest thing. Last Halloween, the granddaughter was dressed as a Lady - right down to the string of pearls around her neck! She was just priceless and she was having a good time. Phyllis was supposed to be doing a rent-to-own deal but now we think maybe it was a normal rental with the option to buy later, because she told me she wasn't able to get the financing together and that's why she had to move. I hope we get nice, quiet neighbors. Otter hopes that they have kids her age (good kids) and Bill just hopes that they aren't teenage boys!

Six Years Later...

May we never forget what today is. If we forget, then they died in vain. I'm not willing to let that happen, are you?

I think Fall's here!

Although it's not officially until the 23rd, it feels like Fall has already arrived. The Tulsa area had somewhere around 6" of rain between Friday afternoon and Saturday. And today was off & on rain. It's still warm, but a lot cooler and might even be in the 50's by Saturday morning. The days will still be warm for a while, but the nights will start to get colder. Then it will be winter before we realize it.

I think a lot of the hummingbirds we've had lately are the migration starting. They get vicious with each other, fighting over the food! They also have come pretty close to running into me more than a few times. At least twice, there have been bumps that are actually hummers bouncing off the dining room window. I've seen it happen once, fortunately the little feathered beast was unhurt and zoomed off in the opposite direction! We've also seen several bumblebees. And one tree frog today, it was on the gate when Bill opened it this afternoon. It was still on the gate when he shut it. But I haven't seen as many "regular" frogs lately. I'm thinking that the cooler weather might have something to do with that, even with the rain we've had lately.

I talked to our leasing agent this morning. She's had several calls about the house, 2 or 3 that wanted to see it but didn't show - she says that's normal and not a high number, and she had an appointment to show it tomorrow afternoon. She thinks it will rent fast. I hope so. It's always rented very fast, this is the longest so far but it's not as long as it seems. It's just that this is the longest it's been vacant but mostly that was because of all the work we did and Bill's injury. It probably did rent extra fast the last time, I don't think it sat vacant for 2 weeks then. But that time, we just cleaned, steam cleaned the carpet instead of ripping all the carpet out, refinishing the wood floors and replacing the bedroom carpet. But I think it will be worth it, all the work we've done.

Dad's birthday would have been this coming Saturday. I think I'm going to get some blues & greens (peanut M & M's) to eat. Arby's was his big favorite, but Arby's has so much fat so I don't eat it too often. Chocolate has fat as well, but it also has some good stuff so I've decided that it's ok for me to eat it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it, anyway! :)

Otter and I have a trip to the zoo scheduled for sometime this month, we have given up on planning a specific trip because the rent house has taken up so many of our weekends. But one of the next few Sundays will find us there. And she'll get extra credit in science class if she brings in a receipt from the zoo, the aquarium or from a few other science-related places. Considering how much we love animals, it's not hard to get either one of us interested in a trip to the zoo! The last time we were there was in June, when Froggy went with us. So we've overdue for anther trip to check out Otter's Otters. Or as she says, the otters haven't seen her lately.

Sunday's Comments - UPDATED

Early Sunday. Well, it's 7:00 a.m. but I've been up for about 1 1/2 hours. I did try to sleep late, but Frasier and Maggie seem to have this strange idea that someone needs to feed them breakfast at a regular time. So I was awakened by Maggie's cold nose in my left armpit! Let's just say she got my attention. Bill was up earlier than I was, he was going to let me sleep in but after I fed the dogs I decided to just stay up. The dogs never, ever go to the person that is already up. Without fail, they go wake up the person still sleeping when they want to be fed!

Friday afternoon I got an automated call from the school's attendance office. It left a phone number, which was constantly busy. So I called the main number and was told that the number left by the automated call is never actually answered. OK. Anyway, they were showing that Otter didn't attend her first class - which is math. I knew she did, I took her to school myself that day. When she got off the bus, I asked her if she had homework from that class and she said yes. Good, now she'll have proof that she was in that class. I called the attendance office back and told them that she was there, and that I was really getting tired of this happening. The attendance cleark told me that the roll system is computerized and once a teacher marks a student as absent, there is no way to fix that. Really smart! She said that she would email the teacher, and I did the same thing. The teacher said that she never uses the computerized system at the beginning of the class, she rights the names down and then turns it in later on. She said that she didn't have any idea why it showed Otter as absent, that she remembered her being there. In fact, Otter went in early so she could talk to her about a couple of homework problems she didn't understand. This is frustrating, and it's getting very old. VERY OLD.

We've had quite a bit of rain lately. Yesterday was rainy off & on all day and some of the rain storms were intense. None of them lasted long, there were just a lot of them. We stayed home as we usually do, the dogs were happy because they got to spend the day sleeping inside - as opposed to sleeping outside or in the garage like they normally do!

We made cookies, the recipe was chocolate chip and we usually use carob chips due to Otter's chocolate allergy. However, we have run out of carob chips (how did that happen?!) so we used 3 different colors of the candy melts (they are meant to be melted and poured into candy molds), and grated them. Turned out great. They are not particularly healthy cookies, lots of sugar and some fat, so I'm trying not to eat too many of them. But it's hard! We also made pizza. My bread machine has several different choices including jam, french bread dough, bread (several varieties) and pizza dough. It was easy, pour all the ingredients in, turn it on and then about an hour later take the dough out so it can rise for a little while and then flatten it out, top and bake! Very easy, not too messy and very good. (Well, Bill always makes a mess when he cooks. But I don't!) We can also control the amount of fat that goes on it that way. I've found fat-free shredded cheese, both cheddar and motzerella, a few times and it's pretty good. I think we'll make it more often.

The plan for today is to go to the rent house, Bill is going to sand down and re-varnish one window sill and he needs to finish re-installing the back screen door. It could probably stand to be mowed, but it's still rainy so that will wait a few days. But there really is nothing else to do over there, it's cleaned & ready to rent. Now, we just have to wait until our agent manages to get it rented.

Ok, I've had my coffee and it sounds like Otter might be up so th-th-that's all, folks!
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Ok, it's later now! We did get a few things done at the rent house, the back screen is re-hung and Bill sanded the window sill that needed it, and put the color varnish coat on. I think he also put the first of the 3 coats of clear varnish on it. He'll finish that up tomorrow. He will still need to do a couple of things to the back screen door, which will only take a few minutes. Provided he has the right screws, which he didn't have today.

Just occured to me that Tuesday is September 11th. I hope we all remember what that day means. Let's all stop and say a prayer. I'm going to put my flag out, if the weather forecast looks ok. (I really need to get a weatherproof flag!) And let's never, ever forget what it means.

What a week! And it's not even Friday yet.

I wish it was Friday. Because it's been an exhausting week.

Tuesday was back to school/work for everybody. Tuesday, Otter comes home with a note from the assistant principal informing her that she had skipped 2nd hour class Wednesday of last week and would have to go to an in-school detention called Intervention on Friday. Only problem is that she did NOT skip! I left a "nice" message for the teacher, I told her that Otter did not skip class and would not be going to the intervention, that I wanted her to be very clear on that fact and that I had better get a call back from her - I left my name & number numerous times in that voice mail. Wednesday, no call from the teacher. There was a form that Otter was given, I put my own comment on it - that she did not skip class and would not be going to intervention and that she was not to be punished for the teacher's mistake. (Can you tell that the gloves are off or what!) She tried to turn it in yesterday, but there was a sub and the office was closed before school. So I walked her in today, and we went straight to the assistant principal's office. I was polite, I never raised my voice or lost my temper - but I put the fear of Mom into the secretary. Then the assistant principal called me after I got to work, he explained the roll call system and the discipline system to me and then he made a mistake. He probably never realized that he told me what he did. Basically, the roll is taken and then turned in to the attendance office. At that point, if a student is not there and has not already been reported as sick or out for a legitimate reason then the report is sent to the assistant principal. And then there is apparently supposed to be a phone call to the teacher in question - BUT HE TOLD ME THAT THEY NEVER CALL THE TEACHER. That's the part I don't think he realized. However, he did tell me that FOR THAT ONE CLASS ON THAT DAY AND ONLY THAT DAY AND ONLY FOR OTTER'S ABSENCE, that a call was placed to the teacher and she said that Otter wasn't there. But then the next sentence out of his mouth convinced me that he was either fibbed to by the attendance office or he was fibbing to me to cover his own behind. I told him again that she was not going to be punished for the teacher's mistake, that we were convinced she was telling the truth and he said that when he confronted Otter about it she never stammered or changed her story. Then he said he'd have to call me back.

He called me back in just a few minutes, to tell me that he had checked with a couple of her other teachers (not the one in question for some reason!) and they told him that she is honest, smart and a good girl, and that they couldn't see her doing anything like that. So he decided that she doesn't have to go to intervention and this will be taken off of her record. Which is a good thing, because my next question to him would have been to ask him what would happen when we did not send her to school on Friday. And then I would have informed him that our next stop was the school board, and we would take it all the way to the superintendent. And then if we had to, we would pull her out and put her back in private school. Seriously.

But I did want to ask him, if she skipped class for one 50 minute period - just where did he think she was at? There is nothing by the school, not even a convenience store closer than about 2 miles! If she'd been in a class that wasn't hers, it would have been reported. If she'd been in the library, it would have been reported. If she actually had managed to get out of the school without being seen, anywhere she went it would have been obvious that she was a truant and I'm sure someone would have called the school! Geesh. And she obviously made it back from wherever he thinks she went to get to her next class, which is actually at another school and they have to be taken by bus - about 10 minutes before the end of the actual class so she would have had even less time for an adventure!

And since we just came from Parent's Night at the school, I can tell exactly what happened in that class. The newest trend (expiriment) is to have co-teachers. Each one does something different in each class. The main teacher has been sick quite a bit the last couple of weeks and the co-teacher DOESN'T SEEM TO KNOW HER HEAD FROM A HOLE IN THE GROUND! She did not say a word to me about the situation, which was probably good for her because Redhead/Texas Woman/Mad Mom is not a good combination! She did look kind of scared when she saw Otter, her eyes went from Otter directly to me and she didn't look very confident. I would have chewed her up and spit her out.

Rent House Update: Bill informed me that when he went over there Tuesday after work, he could tell that I'd missed a few spots on the kitchen floor when I was waxing. So I went over there yesterday after work and he was right - I missed a bunch! So I fixed that and helped him get the remainder of the tools out of the garage. As far as I know, there haven't been any calls or at least I don't think that it's been shown yet. But it's ready. Now I just hope it gets rented fast, two mortgage payments and a double set of utility bills are for the birds!

All Done!

Well, mostly all done. With the rent house. We finished all the outside painting, Bill installed a new door closer on the front screen door and I mopped, waxed/polished the kitchen and bathroom floors. I also went over all the wood floors with the Swiffer, cleaned the ceiling fan in the master bedroom and vacuumed in there again. Oh, and I washed all the windows! There are a couple of small things that we still want to do, but those can be taken care of after work this week. But if someone comes along and wants to rent it before we get to those, they are not big deals. The important thing is that we now get our life back! We don't have to spend every spare second at the rent house. The ad was in the paper yesterday, it doesn't seem to me like Labor Day weekend would be a time people would be looking for a house to rent but who knows.

Otter didn't go with us today, but when we got home the first thing she said to me was to ask if her father hurt himself today! She knows him pretty well, I'd say. :)

I also read an interesting article. Seems our President went to Iraq again! Can't see any of the current D-side candidates doing something like that, in an active war, and getting the reception it looks like he got from the troops! I know Hitlary went a few years ago, but she was not popular for good reasons. She's worthless, anyway. Bush is a real man, not a wimp.

Nearly Finished!

We thought we were going to get finished at the rent house today but there are a couple of things we did not get to that we'll do tomorrow. We probably could have gotten it all done, but it was getting pretty warm and we didn't want to be out in full sun painting the wood around the windows. So we decided to go over there first thing in the morning to finish. I was going to wax/polish the kitchen & bathroom floors but I'm nearly out of polish for the kitchen and didn't have the right wax for the bathroom so that got put off until tomorrow. I'm probably going to take the swiffer and run it around on the wood floors, we did sweep them but swiffer gets up everything that a broom misses. We mowed, Bill put the final coat of paint on the front porch, he put the porch railings up, we got the Kilz coat on the windows, Otter re-cleaned the kitchen & bathroom, I scrubbed the bathtub and vacuumed the new carpet in the master bedroom. Well, after Bill unclogged the vacuum that is! Frasier sheds. A LOT. And there was a lot of dog hair in the vacuum. But we were eventually able to use it, the new carpet does look good. I forgot to take the camera, it's on my list for tomorrow.

However, the "For Rent" sign is up and the ad came out today. At least, it was supposed to - I haven't had time to read the paper yet! We did show it to two people who live in the neighborhood, but they said it was out of their budget. They wanted Section 8 (housing assistance), which we don't do. We got a lot of "sad puppy" looks at that, but oh well! Most people who need housing assistance are ok, this lady has lived in her house for many years (since before we moved away) and she's probably ok. But we are not willing to take a chance, having had to help a couple of times when Don's Sec. 8 renters left a big mess! So we decided not to go with Sec. 8.

On the way home, Bill stopped at a place that was giving away firewood to anyone who would come get it. It's big logs and he'll have to split it, but it was free after all so no complaining! We might get some more tomorrow. I'd love to not have to buy firewood this year. We had about 1/2 of a rick left from last year and we filled the rick frame up with the wood from trimming our trees. But last winter we went through 2 ricks and we don't want to be caught short if we have another hard winter. He split a couple of the logs when we got home, but we were all too tired so it can wait. The important thing is that it's here, splitting can be later on. It might possibly be cedar. Which I am allergic to. Well, I'll deal with it if it is.

I still have hummingbirds, but only 3 now. There were about 7 in all, the ones I'm seeing now are smaller. I think the regulars have already headed south. This is early for them to start migrating, but I've also seen ducks & geese in migratory flocks heading merrily south. I haven't seen anything about animal signs yet this year, usually they are a pretty good indicator of what type of winter we can expect.

I could sit here and type all day, but laundry won't do itself so I guess I'd better post this and get up. Which I really, really don't want to do - my feet don't like me much!