I Share This Opinion Too

Like yesterday's, this is one I did not type or originate but it pretty much sums up the feelings, fears and opinions of everyone in my household.

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Lou Pritchett is one of corporate America 's true living legends- an acclaimed author, dynamic teacher and one of the world's highest rated speakers. Successful corporate executives everywhere recognize him as the foremost leader in change management. Lou changed the way America does business by creating an audacious concept that came to be known as "partnering." Pritchett rose from soap salesman to Vice-President, Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble and over the course of 36 years, made corporate history.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America ' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

[TRUE-CHECK: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/youscareme.asp ]

This letter was sent to the NY Times but they never acknowledged it. Big surprise! Since it hit the internet however, it has had well over 500,000 hits. Keep it going. All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.

It's happening right now.

DO SOMETHING!

An Opinion I Share

(I didn't write this. But I agree 100%)

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Life is tough...but even tougher if you're stupid" -John Wayne


AS I PASS THIS ON TO MANY IN MY ADDRESS BOOK I AM AWARE OF THE FACT THAT SOME DAY I MAY N OT HAVE THE FREEDOM TO DO SO---A VERY SCARY THOUGHT.

I have noted that many elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans, called upon America to unite behind Obama. Well, I want to make it clear to all who will listen that I AM NOT uniting behind Obama! I will respect the Office which he holds, and I will acknowledge his abilities as an orator and wordsmith and I will pray for him, BUT that is it. I have begun today to see what I can do to make sure that He is a one-term President!Why am I doing this?

It is because I do not share Obama's vision or Value system for America;

I do not share his Abortion beliefs;

I do not share his radical Marxist's concept of re-distributing wealth;

I do not share his stated views on raising taxes on those who make $150,000+ (the ceiling has been changed three times since August);

I do not share his view that America is Arrogant;

I do not share his view that America is not a Christian Nation; (THIS JUST SHOWS THAT OBAMA CERTAINLY ISN'T UP ON HIS AMERICAN HISTORY!)

I do not share his view that the military should be reduced by 25%;

I do not share his view of amnesty and giving more to illegals than American Citizens who need help; (NO WAY, HOSEA!)

I do not share his views on homosexuality and his definition of marriage;

I do not share his views that Radical Islam is our friend and Israel is our enemy who should give up any land; (GIMME A BREAK!)

I do not share his spiritual beliefs (at least the ones he has made public);

I do not share his beliefs on how to re-work the healthcare system in America ;

I do not share his Strategic views of the Middle East, and certainly do not share his plan to sit down with terrorist regimes such as Iran.

Bottom line, my America is vastly different from Obama's, and I have a higher obligation to my God and my country to do what is Right!

For eight (8) years, the Liberals in our Society, led by numerous entertainers who would have no platform and no real credibility but for their celebrity status, have attacked President Bush, his family and his spiritual beliefs! They have not moved toward the center in their beliefs and their philosophies, and they never came together nor compromised their personal beliefs for the betterment of our Country! They have portrayed my America as a land where everything is tolerated except being intolerant! They have been a vocal and irreverent minority for years; they have mocked and attacked the very core values so important to the founding and growth of our Country! They have made every effort to remove the name of God or Jesus Christ from our Society! They have challenged capital punishment, the right to bear firearms, and the most basic principles of our criminal code; they have attacked one of the most fundamental of=2 Freedoms, the right of free speech! Unite behind Obama? Never!I refuse to retreat one more inch in favor of those whom I believe are the embodiment of Evil!

PRESIDENT BUSH made mistakes during his Presidency, (EVERY PRESIDENT DOES) however; I believe that he weighed his decisions in light of the long established Judeo-Christian principles of our Founding Fathers!!!

Majority rules in America, and I will honor the concept; however, I will fight with all of my power to be a voice in opposition to Obama and "his goals for America ."I am going to be a thorn in the side of those who, if left unchecked, will destroy our Country!! Any more compromise is more defeat!I pray that the results of this election will wake up many who have sat on the sidelines and allowed the Socialist-Marxist anti-God crowd to slowly change so much of what has been good in America!

"Error of Opinion may be tolerated where Reason is left free to combat it." - Thomas Jefferson

"If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."- Ronald Reagan

GOD BLESS AMERICA --- AND AMERICA , BLESS GOD!

Tired! Tax Free Shopping

will get you that way fast.

We went to the other Sear's store and Otter tried on several shirts, but she only wound up with 2. But they are cute and that gives her 4 new ones to start school with so she's happy. We went to a few other places but didn't find anything. It was still somewhat crowded, but not nearly as bad as Friday afternoon was.

I spent $69.46 total, which includes Bill's jeans and a couple of things for me. We saved $5.92 which isn't a lot, but it all adds up at the end! And it was fun to go shopping. Just hard on the feet!

(Of course, the fact that we mowed the lawn this morning might have something to do with my sore feet.)

Otter now has a new decorative item in her room. Grandpa gave her a traffic cone. You know, the tall, orange, rubber kind that you see in the street to indicate areas to keep out of. Being that she is very much her father's daughter, her first words were "COOL! This will be neat in my room!" No idea what she'll use it for, but she'll find something.

The reason I said that she's her father's daughter regarding the traffic cone is family history. For several years in Texas, we had our own business. We painted parking lots. The politicaly correct term is "pavement markers" but I'm not politicaly correct. The actual name of the business is Striping, which is frequently mis-pronounced as Stripping. There is a difference! But it makes for some fun jokes.

And school starts Wednesday!

Friday?

I sure hope so. I'm tired!

It's the first day of the 3-day Sales Tax Holiday. Clothing and shoes are exempt from sales tax and lots of stores have additional sale prices on those items. We went to WalMart this morning, Bill needed jeans so we got him a couple of pair. Then Otter went to work with me today and we hit the mall immediately after work. Along with nearly everybody else! But the stores we needed to look at are in the mall. While we were in Wallyworld, she did look but it's pretty much stuff she wouldn't be caught dead in and I don't blame her! We went to several stores, Penneys is where we usually buy a lot of clothes but apparently nobody bothered to tell Penneys that if you are going to sell clothing and advertise it as school clothes it's a good idea to check the dress code first! We found her two cute t-shirts in Sears, she tried on several but most of them were out of her size in the ones she liked. We also went to Target, but the only money we spent there was in the snack bar!

We are going to the other Sears store in our area on Sunday afternoon, since they did have a lot of the shirts she likes we've decided it will be worth the crowds.

Froggy, I got your comment about my redneck status now that we no longer have the car on blocks in the yard. But I think that Toadly is the final authority on the subject. It's one that's kind of close to his heart! :) And we have already started the process to sell the rent house, which is the one that is technically up on blocks. We're meeting with the realtor next week. Then, depending on what he says, we'll decide what the next step is.

I'm going to go prop up my sore feet now.

You Might Be A Redneck if...

You have a car in your yard and it's up on blocks.

Toadles said that I was a redneck because of two things: 1) the aforementioned car (the 2nd El Camino Bill bought to strip for parts for the White Lightning) and 2) our rent house is not on a solid foundation so it also is technically up on blocks.

But since we are now one down, I don't know if we still qualify. Toadles?

Bill sold the parts car last night. He put it on Craigslist and immediately got some interested emails. Someone came and bought it last night, he's a reasonably young guy and he's going to restore it. He brought a trailer with him, and left with the blue car on the trailer.

Now, we just have to get rid of the second part of the joke. Anybody want to buy a 3-bedroom, 1-bath, 2-car detached garage house with hardwood floors? Because I'm about to have one for sale.

Poll

A one question poll.

DO NOT MISS YOUR CHANCE TO CAST YOUR VOTE:

This is your chance to vote on Obama's performance on this Economy-AT&T/Yahoo Poll... NOTE: this is a totally unbiased poll. The question is stated very simply... and, to the point. No tricks. No hidden messages. No nothing. JUST A SINGLE, SIMPLE QUESTION. There is no way that anyone can say that it was not a fair poll... or, that it was "phrased" in a way that it can be interpreted later... to fit someone else's desired answer. In other words... it is a spin-doctor's "nightmare."

http://js.polls.yahoo.com/quiz/quiziframe.php?poll_id=46067

NOTE: After you vote, you will see a second page that shows the running total and what the opinions are.

Then pass it on... so others can cast their vote.

(I'm sure we all know what my vote was).

Maggie's Happy!

Because her mom is home!

Otter arrived safely, I picked her up at the airport and her plane was actually a little early. She enjoyed her vacation, but she's pretty happy to be home as well.The doggies were very happy to see her, Maggie especially. Mags has hardly left Otter's side.

Billyboy was pretty glad to see her and Otter was just glad that he did NOT carry out his threat to redecorate her room for her while she was gone. :)

July Books & Sunday Stuff

First things first! My book list for July:

1. October Song by Beverly Lewis. Rerun, but still good.

2. Just Take My heart by Mary Higgins Clark. Fluff as usual and not up to her usual standards. I usually read her books when I want somethis light and fast.

3. Heart & Soul by Maeve Binchy. Rerun but I enjoyed it more the second time around.

4. True Crime, an American Anthology by Harold Schecter. This is an anthology of works by many different authors, I skipped most of it but there was an Ann Rule story I wanted to read.

5. They laughed...From Light Bulbs to Lasers, the Fascinating Stories Behind the Great Inventions that Have Changed Our Lives by Ira Flatow. Yes, that really is the title! Frankly, the title was more interesting than the book.

6. Where's My Jetpack? A Guide to the Amazing Sci-Fi Future That Never Arrived by Daniel H. Wilson, PHD. See # 5 for my opinion!

7. Last Man Out by John Fenton Wheeler. He was the last US reporter kicked out of Cuba after Castro's takeover during the cold war. Very interesting.

8. Batman, Gotham County Line by Steve Niles, Scott Hampton and Jose Villarubia. Yes, I still like Batman stories.

9. Batman, Face the Face by James Robinson, Don Kramer & Leonard Kirk.

10. Death in Winter by Michael Jam Friedman. STTNG. (Star Trek The Next Generation for all you non-Trek fans). I think this is a rerun, I skimmed it and it was pretty familiar.

11. Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult. Froggy told me about this author. The story was interesting but I am not impressed with the author's writing skills. However, I'll probably look for other books by her. There is a recent movie that is based on one of her books, the title is something like The Other Sister. Froggy was going to see it with her daughter, I'll probably see if I can find the book.

12. Life at the Zoo, Behind the Scenes with the Animal Doctors by Phillip T. Robinson. OK, not anything spectacular.

13. Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie McComber. Another author that Froggy told me about. This one is actually part of a series, I might be caught up now but I'm not sure. Her books are good, but still fluff. However, one of the main repeating characters owns a yarn shop so knitting and crochet are frequently featured - so of course, I'm going to read more of her work! I'm also not sure if I'm spelling her last name correctly.

14. Mystic River by Dennis LeHayne. This was turned into a movie a few years ago, which I have not seen, but it was a pretty good book. Suspensful to the end.

15. Unwind by Neal Shusterman. This book is actually in the teen section at the library, Otter suggested I read it, she read it a little while back. It's not extremely well written, but it is one I would recommend. It's got a very pro-life angle, although you might not realize it until the end. It's actually fairly harrowing.

16. Susannah's Garden by Debbie McComber.

17. Back on Blossom Street by Debbie McComber.

18. Gardens for Birds, Hummingbirds & Butterflies. This is part of the Black & Decker Home series.

19. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (# 6) by J. K. Rowling. After we saw the movie, Otter decided to re-read the entire series and I decided to re-read this one. But I might go back and read the first 5 books again.

Otter will be home tomorrow! It's been pretty quiet around the house this week. We did manage to go out to dinner Friday night, to a local bbq place we'd heard good things about. It's called Wild Bill's, which was probably the main reason that Bill wanted to go. It was very good, reasonably priced and a good amount of food. We'll go back.

Speaking of Wild Bill, he's stripped a lot of stuff off of the parts car and is now ready to find it a new home. The parts car, not the White Lightning! It's listed on Craigslist and he's already had some interest. So we might not have a Redneck yard for much longer. He did a lot of stuff to the White Lightning over the last few days and we took it for a test drive just now. He let me drive it this time, we went to the turnpike where the speed is 70 and let me just say this: 70 IS NOT FAST ENOUGH! It is a go-fast car if there ever was one.

Also, our tenant called us yesterday. They have bought a house and will be moving at the end of August. While I am happy for them, we would have preferred that they stay for a while. But at least they gave us notice and we don't have to evict them, which we've had to do twice in the past. We're discussing our options. We are leaning very strongly towards putting the house on the market to sell instead of rent, but we haven't decided yet. We never really set out to be landlords, it just kind of happened.

I'm sure that there was more, but it will wait for another post. This one is kind of long!

Blind as Bats! Dog Stuff Mostly

Yeah, I know. Bats aren't really blind. But I think my dogs might be. We were mowing the yard a couple of days ago and both dogs had access to the back. They'd been running around and playing but then they stopped to sniff grassy spots. All of a sudden, the resident rabbit ran out from the iris plants, straight to the shed and underneath. RIGHT IN FRONT OF BOTH DOGS AND NEITHER ONE SAW IT!

Maggie beagle is still looking for Otter, but not as much. She mostly mopes around when she's ready to go to bed.

Frasier heard the White Lightning when Bill was pulling into the driveway today. Frasier immediately jumped up and bounced all the way to the front door. When Bill came in the door, the dog was overjoyed. Which was strange, because Frasier is not normally a bouncy dog! But today he was. I guess that Frasier feels like Bill needed to be greeted with excitement, since Otter's not here to do it.

(By the way, the latest excuse for driving the White Lightning is because he has to check the gas mileage.)

And Maggie is now baiting Frasier. We bought them some chewbones today. Frasier immediately took his outside and ate it. Maggie hid hers on Otter's bed, then she carried it to the fleece where she sometimes sleeps in our room. Then she unearthed it from the fleece and brought it into the office. She plopped it down on the floor and parked herself down, then sat and watched to see if Frasier might come in after it. When she heard him, she got up and pushed it closer to the door and then backed off. He never came back here, so she got up and repositioned it again. Eventually, she'll get tired of it and either eat the chewbone or go put it back in Otter's bed. She is trying to get Frasier to grab it, then she will get furious with him. She's a true little sister, that's for sure!

A Day Late!

Happy Birthday Froggy!

I meant to get this posted yesterday, but Billyboy wanted to get the lawn mowed between rain storms and I figured I'd better help him. So, better late than never I guess!

So Many Titles!

The first choice for a title is Pat the Ottermom. Remember the kid's book, Pat the Bunny? Well, I know exactly how that bunny feels. I was "radomly selected" at the airport this morning to be checked a little closer going through security. I don't buy the "random" part of it, because it's happened to me a lot. Like nearly every time! I was going to be put through the full-body scanner, but they were having a problem resetting it after having to scan the guy ahead of me more than once. The officer running the machine told him that his clothing had a reflection and that it might have been residue from the detergent they were laundered in. In my case, it almost always happens that I have to be screened closer after I go through the metal detector.

Another title choice would have been Because It's a Nice Day. Which was Bill's excuse for driving the El Camino today! Yesterday's reason was because it needed to be test driven after the shock replacement. Except that it got the test drive on Sunday! I'm not sure what his reason will be for tomorrow, but there will be one. I would be willing to bet money on that. :)

Otter's in TEXAS. Like I mentioned earlier, I took her to the airport this morning. We got there just after 6:00 a.m., and they let me go to the gate with her. I was surprised, I really didn't think that they would let me. But they did, and I was glad because otherwise I would have had about an hour to kill and no idea what to do! She called me after she got to her final destination and she said that she had a good flight. She had no trouble with her plane change, she's done it a few times now. Otter was very excited to get there and I know she will have a good time.

Nana asked me what Bill and I are going to do this week. Usually we have something planned, movies or dinners out, etc. But this time, we are just going to enjoy the quiet house! We have had so much company (which we really did enjoy) this summer that we think it's time to just relax. By quiet house, I don't mean that we'll be enjoying an Otter-free house. We already miss her and so do the poochies. The fuzzbutts (hamsters) haven't commented yet, but they were very glad to see me just now. Of course, that might have been because I was refilling their food bowl!

We're Shocked!

Well, at least the White Lightning is. As in new shocks. Because when Bill brought home a load of free firewood on Thursday, one of the rear shock absorbers went out. The car had air shocks on it, and they are normally pretty good for carrying a load. But the one that went out had probably been going bad for a while and the load was just enough that it quit. Bill (and me by association) has run all over the place, trying to find air shocks that are medium, as opposed to to light duty or heavy duty. And it's just about impossible to find the right type. So he finally went with a lighter duty than he preferred, and they are regular shocks (not air shocks) so they can't be adjusted for a heavier load. But they will do the job and the car is driveable. Bill has spent several hours underneath the car today. He had it jacked up, but he is Bill and we all know what that means! No injuries today, though. He had a few other things he worked on, while he was at it. He's having a good time with that car.

Otter is ready for her trip. She packed her suitcase today and all we'll have to do is print out her boarding pass tomorrow morning. And then get up at 5:00 on Tuesday to be at the airport by 6:00. Then I'll either be allowed to go to the gate with her which means I'll be there until her flight leaves at 7:30, or I'll have to come up with something to do until 8:00 which is when I need to be at work. I don't particularly want to drive all the way home and then turn around and head back to work but that might be what I wind up doing. I will worry about that Tuesday!

OK, back to my laundry now.

Ostriches Part 2

http://fredthompsonshow.com/premiumstream?dispid=320&headerDest=L3BnL2pzcC9tZWRpYS9mbGFzaHdlbGNvbWUuanNwP3BpZD03MzUxJnBsYXlsaXN0PXRydWUmY2hhcnR0eXBlPWNoYXJ0JmNoYXJ0SUQ9MzIwJnBsYXlsaXN0U2l6ZT01


I hope the link works.

The more I hear, the more I am reminded of the Nazis.

Ostriches

We are a bunch of them. At least, those of us who do NOT think that this country is well on it's way to socalism. Especially with the possible change concerning health care.

Well, I guess people are getting what they asked for: Change.

Happy! Monday! Monday! Monday!

OTTER PASSED!! Her final grade is a B and we could not be happier. She does not have to take the final, so today was her last day. She gets to sleep in tomorrow, which is the one thing she really wanted to do and has missed being able to over the last few weeks.

And we also went to BRAUM'S to celebrate. She chose a strawberry cheesecake ice cream pie which we'll attack after dinner tonight. And I predict that there won't be any left for tomorrow. Those things just seem to disappear almost immediately, can't imagine why.

It's a mystery.

Sunday Ketchup

Well, I'm more of an A1 type of person but I do like ketchup on some things!

Anyway.

First things first: Movie review. We saw the new Harry Potter movie this afternoon. It was very good. It left out a few things from the book, but the books are huge so they have to leave things out or the movies would be weeks long. There were a few changes, but they were relatively minor and did not detract from the story. There is one scene where Dumbledore mentions to Harry that he (Harry) needs to shave - I wonder if the writers threw that line in as a reference to the fact that the actors are all growing up and are in fact older than the characters they play? But one thing - if you're going to see the movie, you want to visit the bathroom first and then only get a small drink! It's over 2 hours. But it's very good.

Otter's last day of summer school is probably tomorrow. If the students have above a certain grade level and have no tardies or absences then they don't have to take the final exam. The final is on Tuesday. If they don't have to take the final, then they don't even have to go in on Tuesday. Otter is probably one of the few who are exempt, judging on the teacher's note and her grades. She'll find out for sure tomorrow. If she does have to go in on Tuesday, it'll only be for about 45 minutes for the test. But I don't think she's going to have to. Froggy, in case you are interested, I'm taking Otter to BRAUM'S for ice cream tomorrow afternoon. We're celebrating the end of summer school and her passing grade. Just thought you might want to know that.

I have posted another recipe, Monkey Bread. It was about 10:00 last night and I was so tired my eyes were crossing but I think I got everything right. I basically copied it from when I posted on this blog way back when and just made a couple of small changes.

I guess that's it!

Quick Update!

I just added a new blog to my list. Like I really need anything else to occupy my time, I have decided to start a second blog which will deal with cooking. It's accessible through the links on the left-hand side of the screen.

Any recipe suggestions will be welcome, but if you are going to suggest I add a recipe then please email me instead of leaving it as a comment. Comments will be accepted, it will just be easier to have recipe suggestions emailed to me.

Just Some Stuff on Sunday Morning

This is Frasier.

This is not.

Frasier has a twin out there somewhere! When we first saw this, we thought it WAS Frasier. Except for the white fur on his front chest area. And the cat, of course.

It's Sunday morning. It's warm and humid and it will be hot later but it's going to be a nice day. Bill and I had coffee out on the deck this morning, which is how we generally start the day. But then the skeeters showed up and brought their buddies the flies, so we decided it was time to come inside.

I've discovered something. Well, actually Bill discovered it. The hummingbird feeders are being visited by honeybees. Lots of them. The hummers are still showing up, the birds & the bees don't seem to bother one another. I just thought it was odd, we've seen the occasional wasp on the feeders but never honeybees. We have a lot of bumblebees, they like the sunflowers.

Today's activities include moving some trellis pieces (from the wooden fence inside the dog's yard) to the new privacy fence. Bill hung up two of my fence mountable planters and my butterfly houses Friday evening. We've discovered that the morning glories are starting to sprout like crazy against the fence, so we're going to give it something to grow on. There were always morning glories on the chain link fence, we just had to keep them pulled down when Frasier's electric fence needed to be turned on. But now, they can grow all they want to! We probably will need to get a few mor trellis pieces and I'd like another planter, if I can find one, like the first two.

Still no pool! We've pretty much given up on finding a new one, they are mostly all sold out this time of year. So we've been looking for a used one on Craigslist but they seem to go fast. We did look at one last week, but it was a smaller pool so we passed on it. Otter's gone over to her grandparent's a few times, so she at least has gotten some swim time in this summer.

Bill's brother and his family were here this weekend. We had a really nice visit with them yesterday. We've had a lot of company this summer and we have enjoyed all of it. It's been a whirlwind, but a fun one.

Otter has one week and two days left of summer school. As of last week, her grade was a B!!!!!! Then she has about a week of down time before she goes to Texas to spend a week with her grandparents. Then about a week before school starts again. 11th grade already! I don't think I'm ready for that.

A Few Odd Thoughts on a Tuesday Afternoon

Well, I guess evening is more appropriate than afternoon. It's about 6:45, so it's not exactly afternoon anymore.

Maggie is crazy. As in certifiably insane. She got a bath today. Which has made her more nutso than usual. Which is really saying something! She was suddenly filthy, we thought that she'd found something to roll in out in the back yard. Or maybe her black spots were leaking. So Otter and I grabbed the dog, several towels, the garden hose and the dish soap and headed out to the back yard. Maggie was not happy! But she only tried to escape once, and that was after the bath and during the drying process. I think she actually crawled under the Redneck Joke, also known as the parts car, because it was more of a greasy dirt than a rolled in dirt. After we brought her back in and finished drying her off, she started running around the house and basically beating Frasier up until he played with her. She's now clean and hopefully she'll stay that way for a while. Frasier isn't quite in need of a bath yet, which is a good thing because he is much harder to handle.

I haven't said anything about Michael Jackson but I'm about to. Anyone who knows me will know how important music is to me. I have always felt that Michael Jackson was a talented, but not super talented, singer and a gifted dancer. What he was actually was more of a showman than a gifted singer. It's not a bad thing, to be a showman. HOWEVER, and this is a big one, there are certain things that trump any talent a person has. And I think he was in that position. I do believe that he was a pedophile. And that, my friends, overshadows everything he ever did or could have done in terms of his talent. I read a lot, no surprise there, and I have read a couple of biographies of his family. I don't think that he ever had a chance, they were denied a normal childhood experience because of their father's greed and I think that had a huge impact on how Michael Jackson became as an adult. It might have also had a lot to do with the pedophilia (sp?), I don't know. But I do know that I am really tired of people worshipping him. He was a deviant. End of story.

OK, subject change!

Vacation is over and we are back at work. I've been gone from my office one week. 5 business days. And the boys have managed to make it look like a pigsty! Actually, I think the pig would be embarassed. I spent today cleaning the office. And lecturing the two of them about it. I do occasional cleaning in the office, it's not normally a problem and since they treat me so good I don't mind it. But really, how much damage can two adult men do in one week? Especially when one of them wasn't even there on Friday!

Sunday was a fun day. Fun in a sarcastic sense. The air conditioner suddenly stopped cooling. It was still blowing, just not blowing cold air. It was warm, but not extremely hot so we just got the fans out and used them Sunday night. Monday was a cool day, in the 80's, so Otter was fine at home with the fans. Bill's friend he works with who is an a/c guy came out after work and it was a minor repair, so we weren't out a lot of $$ and did not have to deal with it any longer than the one day.

I did something today. I sold my class ring! There is a place in town that buys gold, they have been around for many years and have a very good reputation. Bill had some gold chains that were from an auction several years ago. We sold some on eBay and made back what we spent, I got one and so did Otter. But the ones that were left were too small for either of us. So Bill took them down on Friday and sold them. Then I got to thinking about my ring. Which I haven't worn in years and don't see myself ever wearing again. I showed it to Otter, she wanted to see it but she didn't want it because she'll have her own in a couple of years. So I took it down today. When I was filling out the paperwork, one of the questions was how long I had owned the piece. Talk about feeling old! 29 Years!

I guess Maggie must have finally worn Frasier out. Because he just came in here and collapsed on the floor. I heard one long sigh and the dog is now out!

No Longer Bamboozled! And June Books

First things first:

1. A Good Dog, the Story of Orson who Changed My Life by Jon Katz. This one is a little sad, so be warned! I've read other books by this author and they are very good.

2. The Christmas Letters by Lee Smith. This one was interesting, it's written as if it's letters and post cards between family members.

3. Life is Good, Lessons in Joyful Living by Trixie Koontz, a dog and Dean Koontz. Life lessons from a labrador! Really fun.

4. Grasses & Bamboos, a Practical Guide by Ian Cooke. Not too much in the way of a practical guide!

5. Hamster Care. General info and a lot we already knew, but we did learn a little bit.

6. The Shack by someone whose name I forgot. This one is controversial and I see why. There were some things I didn't really agree with but it also had some things that I thought were good.

7. Quintons by Maeve Binchy. Rerun, always good.

8. Between Good and Evil, a Master Profiler's Hunt for Society's Most Violent Predators by Roger L. Depue with Susan Schindehette. Good, but could have been much better. But maybe that's not fair, I tend to compare true crime books to anything written by Ann Rule and she's pretty much the best there is. But I did enjoy this one.

9. The Joker's Last Laugh. Batman comics. What more can you ask for? :)

10. So Simple Crochet by Melody Griffiths.

11. Say it With Stitches, Embroidery Designs by Sharon & Kristin Jancowicz.

12. South Park Guide to Life.

13. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. The movie was ok, the book was pretty good.

14. XMen 3, Making of the Movie.

The bamboo is gone! The fence is finished! We have privacy! And we didn't have to put up the fence ourselves. Bill dug up all the bamboo, some of it is planted in 3 pots on the deck but most of it is pulled, dead and tossed. As an experiment, it was working. But I'm glad that we don't have to deal with it anymore. The fence was finished in about 5 days. Bill pulled the chain link up and took out the posts. Then he used the gate to block the one side where there was a 4' gap so the poochies can't get out.

And now, I'm going to concentrate on slowing down again. It's been a whirlwind few weeks. We have had a lot of company and enjoyed all of it, but we're tired! Of course, we ran all over the place today so that might have something to do with it.

Bill took my rain barrel down today so we could clean it. The water was suddenly green. I painted it a couple of weeks ago, to keep the sunlight from allowing mildew/mold to grow, but it was too late. So Bill took it down today and I cleaned it out. Then he removed the paint, at least what was left after the cleaning. We bought some special paint for it and it's now been repainted. Green! But hopefully the water won't be. However, it might not have any water in it for a while. We need a good rain.

Movie review: Monsters vs. Aliens. We saw it today at the dollar theater. It was pretty good, very funny and we really enjoyed it. But it was also short so we're glad we saw it at the cheapo theater. But it was a good movie.

Frasier is demanding my undivided attention now.

Whew! Wednesday

It's Wednesday. It's Wine Wednesday, but not Whine Wednesday.

Froggy left this afternoon. After a very fast week of nearly non-stop shopping with the occasional Braum's visit thrown in. And a trip to the post office this morning, so Froggy could ship her box home. It's full of stuff she bought.

We had a great time. We hit several thrift stores and quite a few flea markets & antique stores. And of course the aforementioned Braum's! My Fenton collection has increased exponentially. I'm not sure how many new pieces I have, but I think it's around 7 or 8. Not that I'm complaining!

The privacy fence is complete. Bill sprayed our side with water seal. There is a 4' gap on one end, so he put the old gate there and it fits just perfectly. He's been pulling the chain link fence down and taking the fence posts out, then he's been leveling off the area by the fence. The dirt he is removing to level is being put up against the wooden fence since it has a gap of a few inches between the bottom of the fence and the ground. He has done half of the chain link removal. When he gets the other half finished, which will probably be tomorrow, there will be a gap of several inches at the other end and I think he's going to use one of the old fence posts there so that the dogsters won't be able to get out.

Otter started summer school on Monday. I think it's going to go well. It's a smaller class, less than 15 students. It's 5 hours a day and she said that the teacher spends time with them to make sure that they understand. Which is what she needed. I'm sure she would prefer not to have to go, but she admits that it's helping.

I'm just glad that there is no homework. Because I could not do algebra if you paid me!

Sunday Quick Stuff!

Froggy is here, we have had a great time and have shopped our feet off. My Fenton collection has grown exponentially, and Thanks to Froggy I have a fairly rare piece of cranberry hobnail!

We went to Talequah today, to the Cherokee Heritage Museum and it was fun & informative. Otter took several pictures, I'll get them posted in the next few days. She wanted to make sure I gave her photographic credit, so when the Cherokee pictures show up you can thank Otter!

We've only been to Braum's twice. We might have to remedy that situation tomorrow. We are going to Skiatook and to two other stores after that. One of them is one we went to yesterday but it is closed on Sunday. Actually, I think it's closed on Mondays as well so it will probably have to wait until Tuesday.

So far, the score is: 2 flea markets, 2 antique malls, 1 park - fed 4 squirrels, 1 WalMart, 1 Atwoods Farm & Ranch store, 2 Braum's, 1 Museum. And 6 very tired feet!

Whine Wednesday

It's Wednesday. I'm whining.

I'm whining about the fact that we are pool-less! We've looked on Craigslist and there have been a few that are promising but they have sold fast. There are a couple of others, but for various reasons we probably aren't interested in them. Price, condition, etc. We decided to look at a couple of stores so we checked some on-line ads. BigLots current online ad had a promising pool, so we went to the store. And discovered that their online ad is about 2 weeks out of date. No pools left. Except for what we call kiddie pool size, which is about 1 1/2' deep. So we went to Wallyworld and they do have some, but they are not what we want. Wrong style, size, price. We went to another store (Froggy, remember Atwoods?) since they had the dog food we use on sale and they did have a good ad 2 weeks ago with a bigger and cheaper pool but they were out of stock. Which is what we expected, but since we were there anyway it was worth asking.

So I think we are going to have to spend this summer without a back yard pool. Hopefully, we'll find one on clearance at the end of the summer or we will go get one as soon as the ads come out next spring/summer.

Well, Otter's summer is about over anyway. She's going to Summer School for algebra. She'll start Monday. It will last until the end of July. It's at the intermediate high school that she's attended for the last two years. (Our school district is Intermediate High School for grades 9 & 10 then 11th and 12th grades are at the Senior High School). She passed all of her other classes, and has enough credit points to go on to 11th grade. But there are a couple of classes that have to have a passing grade to be able to go on and algebra is one of them. It's the only one she didn't pass, but it's the one that matters. She really tried, but she is not particularly math-abled. She's like me! So she'll be going to school in the mornings, 7:30 to 12:45. She was hoping to be able to come home and go for a swim, but that's not going to happen this year. Anyway, Summer School will end at the end of July, then she'll have a couple of days break before her annual summer trip to Texas to spend a week with her grandmother. Then she'll have about a week before school starts.

Froggy arrives tomorrow! I have orange slice candy ready. It's a family tradition. Along with peanut M&M's, but I didn't buy those yet because I would have already eaten every last one of them! Flea marketing & thrift shopping are on the schedule for the next few days. Along with a trip to Talequah, which is about an hour east of where we live. There is a Cherokee museum that we want to go to, that's Sunday's plan. Oh, I can't forget the real reason Froggy comes to see me: Braum's!

Some Tuesday Thoughts & Ramblings

The rest of the pictures from Oklahoma City. CHIHULY!

This is a close-up shot of the glass tower that is immediately inside the museum. There is a similar one inside the downtown library in San Antonio, or at least there used to be one. Although it wasn't quite this tall. These things always remind me of squash blossoms.

Standing on the main floor.

This shot was taken from the 2nd floor.

This is the one I want. However, since it probably COSTS MORE THAN MY HOUSE I don't think it's in the budget.

This was set up like an acquarium. It was behind glass and a little dark, so the picture didn't come out the best.

I like these, too.

Chihuly glass is known for the lip wrap, or edge color, that is on most of the pieces in this style. It's heavy glass, much thicker than it looks and must be extremely hard to handle while it's being created. It's all blown glass. They are also very large.

Otter liked the color of these.

This is what I was most interested in seeing. It's a glass ceiling. And it's covered with Chihuly! I told Bill that this is how I want our bedroom ceiling to be decorated. Silly boy, he thinks I mean painted. I'm talking the actual pieces.

More of the ceiling.

And still more ceiling.

This reminds me or either spiders, or Fiesta. Any San Antonio natives will know what I mean.

I absolutely love this one. I'd take it in a heartbeat, but I'd still have the same problem as the green set I like.

This one resembles a sunflower, so of course I like it.

Here's a better shot.

OK, that concludes our tour of the Chihuly Exhibit.

Moving on.

We discovered something this afternoon. The builder that owns the lot behind us is putting up a privacy fence. The entire length of the area that runs behind our street. Wish they'd done it a few months ago. Like before we planted bamboo! And before we installed the bamboo block, which was the real work. They have just put in the posts today, we're going to watch and see how fast they actually get the fence put up. And then in all probability, we'll (we being Bill) go dig up the bamboo. Which won't be that hard, it's not all that spread out yet. We did discuss leaving it. But the privacy fence is set back a couple of feet from our fence line, which would leave about a 4' gap between the bamboo and the fence. Also, the privacy fence would block the light that the bamboo needs which would mean it wouldn't grow very well. If at all. But we would be leaving the block installed, as moles can't get past it. But we'll wait and see, it may take them months to get the fence finished. Although we don't think so.

Other happenings: We are pool-less! Saturday afternoon, the pool decided it was time to leave. It split down one side and was non-repairable. Bill saw it happen and we were able to get out there and redirect the water so that a) no tidal waves taking out the deck, b) no tidal waves coming in the back door and c) the septic system wasn't overloaded with a sudden influx of water! We are going to replace the pool, but it might be at the end of the summer when they are on clearance. Unless we find a good deal now. Of course, this coincided with the "hot" weather hitting and heat alerts being issued for the week. (The hot weather here is pretty warm, but it's still not S. TEXAS hot).

Froggy arrives the day after tomorrow! Thrifting, flea marketing, many trips to Braum's, lots of gossip await.

April 19, 1995 9:02 a.m.

I guess everyone knows what the title refers to. It was a very dark time in the history of Oklahoma, as well as America. While it was not the first terrorist attack on our soil, it was the worst at that time. And it was made even worse by the fact that it was one of our own who did it. Actually, two of our own.

The Memorial is a very solemn place. It's also very beautiful. It's well done and I'm glad we finally went. It's actually two seperate sites, the outside area which is the actual Memorial and is where the building stood and the building next door which is the museum. Pictures are allowed outside, but not inside so these are just the outdoor area. Captions are beneath the picture they describe.

This is the entrance. It's not visible because of the trees, but it's engraved at the top 9:01.

This is a section of the original fence that was around the site while it was being searched, and when the memorial was being built. There are two pieces of fence, one on each side of the entrance. People still bring things to leave on the fence.

This statue is across the street from the entrance. I can't remember the name of the church, but it was damaged in the explosion and the corner has been turned into a memorial by the church. The statue is called Weeping Jesus. It's beautiful. It's not visible in the picture, but the stone ground is pockmarked. It's damage from the explosion.

The tragedy of that day touched us all, not just Oklahoma natives. We all hurt. Some of the remberances people left were from other countries.

Across from the entrance, at the opposite side of the site is another arch. This one reads 9:03.

This is what sits between the two arches. It's only an inch or so deep, but it is black granite like the arches and it looks much deeper. The reflecting pool is actually the area that was originally the street. The same street where the truck bomb was parked. It represents 9:02, which is when it happened.

The area where the building stood is the actual Memorial. This is one of the chairs that make up the Memorial. Each one is engraved with the name of a person who died that day, it didn't show up in the picture but the name is engraved at the front in the glass. The chairs light up at night. Spaced between the rows of chairs like this one are smaller chairs. They are engraved with the names of those precious, innocent children that were there that day. Not all of them were in the onsite day care, there were some that were there with parents or grandparents who had business in the building. The chairs are in neat rows. Off to one end is a section with several other chairs. They represent people who were not actually in the Murrah building but were killed in the explosion. Some of them were in the building across the street which is where the museum is, and at least one of them was in the street in front of the building. And one of them is for a nurse who went inside to try and rescue people if she could, but lost her own life when something fell on her.

This is the entrance, I think this picture was taken from inside the memorial grounds.

The logo of the Memorial is a tree. This is the plaque explaining what the tree logo means. The tree was across from the building and it was damaged in the explosion, but it survived. It's still there and is thriving. At one point, it had to be fenced off from visitors because while it survived the bomb, it was nearly killed by people taking pieces of bark off of it.

Here's the tree. It's known as the Survivor Tree. The gift shop inside the museum sells seeds from it. I didn't buy any, but I would have if we'd had a place for one.

This was painted on the building across the street, during the rescue & recovery efforts on the day it happened. "We search for the truth. We seek Justice. The courts require it. The victims cry for it. And GOD demands it."

This is a shot of the building site itself, with the chairs visible. I was standing under the Survivor Tree when I took this shot. Distance makes it look smaller than it actually is.

Also taken from under the tree, the opposite end from the first picture.

This is the 9:03 arch, the chairs for the people not in the building itself are grouped at that end.

The 9:00 arch. The church steeple visible in the background is the church that has the statue on the corner. There was a building of some type on that corner that was destroyed by the blast.

Like I said before, this one hurt all of us and that includes Texans.

One more shot of the fence. I didn't take a picture of it, but there was one more item left on the fence when we left. Otter stopped her watch at 9:02 when we got there. Then when we left, her watch was hanging on the fence. I was very proud of her for doing that.

This is the wall that the statue of Jesus faces. The church built this as part of their own memorial. Each hole like this one represents a person who died in the bombing.

The double holes represent an unborn child, because there were a few women who were pregnant and their babies died with them.

The museum was very impressive. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to go through it. The first room has a diorama display which shows were everything was located at. It also has a picture on one wall, a picture that was taken from the security camera and shows the truck parked right outside, up next to the building. And one other picture, of the daychare children which was taken about a week before it happened. A few of the children did survive, but most of them didn't.

The tour starts with a recording that was of a meeting in the building that the museum is in. It's a hearing on someone's application to drill for water or for water usage. It started at 9:00. And it ends with the sound of the explosion.

From there, it's divided into several rooms with displays in each of them. It's pretty intense. But it's done so well. One of the rooms towards the end is lined with pictures on the wall. Each picture is one of the people who lost their life that day. There are also pieces of the truck itself in various spots in the museum. And a couple of recreations of what it was like inside, after the explosion.

Here's the website. http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/ It's worth checking out.

Fast & Frantic Friday

I'm still alliterating.

This will be short. It's Friday. It's been a long day and I am tired. And my feet hurt. I've been on them a lot today.

Anyway, we had a great visit with Nana. Bill and Otter took her back to the airport this morning after I went to work. They went out to breakfast on the way to take her. They are spoiled (Bill and Otter)!

We visited the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial yesterday. I have a bunch of pictures and will post them along with my thoughts. It was very intense. I have to think about what I want to say.

Also, we went to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Where they have an entire wing devoted to CHIHULY! I took a bunch of pictures of that as well and they will be posted, but probably on a seperate post from the Memorial.

And now, I'm going to go surf the 'net for a little while. Then I think I'm going to go have a glass of wine and prop my feet up.

Terrific Tuesday Tales!

I'm into alliteration today, apparently. (All the words begin with the same letter). At least as far as my title goes.

It's Day 2 of Nana's visit and we are having a great time. We went to the Chinese buffet for dinner last night. Otter & Bill took Nana to a well-known local shopping center today. Then they made the obligatory trip to WalMart. Tomorrow, I'm not sure about. We made buffalo burgers for Nana tonight. She really liked it. Then we made strawberry ice cream.

But Thursday we will be going to Oklahoma City. To the Memorial. It's a trip I'm torn about. I really want to see it. But I still remember April 19, 1995 and how bad it really was. Nana and I have decided that we will take lots of kleenex. Because we will probably need them.

If we have time after that, we will be going to the art museum in OKC. The one with the entire floor devoted to Chihuly. For the uninitiated, Chihuly is a glass artist. What he does is so beyond mere art that there are not words enough to describe it. I absolutely love glass in all it's forms, and I have been wanting to see the Chihuly art for a while so we are going to try to work it in. We probably will be able to.

Maggie's confused. She's back to being locked out of Otter's room, since Nana doesn't want to sleep with a furry beagle. Frasier's confused but happy about it. His confusion is the result of the hamsters cage being moved to the office. It's low enough that he can see them easily. And he wants them. He's confused because he can see them, but he can't have them.

Poor baby, I don't feel a bit sorry for him!

Quck Friday Catch-Up

No, I did not say catsup (ketchup)! :)

OK, here we go:

Toadles got home safely, he called me Monday evening when he was nearly home and I've gotten emails from him so I know he made it. We enjoyed his visit so much, I think it's been about 2 years since I saw my brother and it was really fun having him here.

Otter went to work with me a couple of days this week and she stayed home a couple of days. She will have a very short summer so she's getting all the enjoyment out of it that she can. More on that later.

The dogs are temporarily forbidden from the back yard. Not because of the bamboo this time. Because of the bunny! We've seen a very young bunny running around out there. It's not a baby, but it is probably this years crop. Frasier would probably love a rabbit dinner, but we'd prefer that he not have one.

Nana arrives Monday! We are excited. She'll be here the entire week, her visit last year was just too short. I had jury duty in the midst of it so I really missed out. Bill and Otter will pick her up at the airport, then we will hit the Chinese buffet for dinner. I will have to work most of the week, but I will be off on Thursday - Bill's birthday.

We had a pretty windy day today. About 10:30 this morning, it was as dark as midnight. And very cloudy. Then very windy. 70+ mph straight line winds. There was some thunder and rain with this, but the wind was the main concern. It was a very fast moving storm with some trees uprooted in places, but not nearly as bad as the wind storm we had 5 years ago last week. I'm really glad that Toadles' visit was last week, because today's (expected) storm hit right about the time he'd have been driving and it was not a good place to be!

OK, we're all caught up now. I think.

Oh yeah - if you attempt to call my cell phone, don't expect to get me. It's still acting up and I've gone Texan Woman on Sprint twice. There will not be a third time. Well, there will be a third time but it will involve me talking directly to customer service and getting results. It won't be pretty. For them, anyway.

Consider Yourself Mooned!

This is what was waiting for us about 9:30 last night. The moon looks like it's partially gone, but it was obscured by whispy clouds that didn't photograph. It was absolutely beautiful. The pictures are posted in order of how they were taken. Otter was the photographer.

The coyotes agreed, we could hear them a few times.

But then they might have just been talking to Toadles.

He has that affect on animals sometimes.

We had a great visit. He called me Friday about 11:30, he was in McAlester which is a couple of hours south. He was calling from there to tell me that he'd taken a side trip and was sightseeing. The reason he was sightseeing is that he thought that SINCE HE'D TAKEN A WRONG TURN, he might as well explore a place he'd never been before. He arrived about 2:00. When I got home about 3:00, he was in his usual position - snoozing on the couch. After he woke up, he told me that he'd taken one more wrong turn, when he thought he was turning into my neighborhood. But he was a little short of the correct street. However, he figured it out right away.

We had a great visit, we went flea marketing Saturday and found a few things. Among other things, I got a $3.00 piece of Fenton so it was a sucessful venture. We also had to go train hunting for Toadles and found several. We went train hunting yesterday as well, we didn't find as much but it was fun. We basically got in the car and headed south on the highway, since we had a very general idea of where something was. We enjoyed his visit. I hope he remembered his way home!

Otter is now planning something. Uncle Toadly woke her up yesterday morning. With an ice cube, to the belly button! Then she returned the favor this morning. I'm not sure what the next step will be, but they will both have something to attempt to put over on each other. I'm just going to get out of the way! :)

Maggie was thinking about a Monday post, but that was before the hole behind the bamboo barrier was discovered. The beagle-sized hole. Which might have taken out a bamboo sprout, we're not sure. But the rest of the bamboo is doing great. It's spreading out and looks pretty healthy. But the dogsters are probably not going to have much access to the back yard for a while. At least, not unsupervised visitation! Maggie might get to post again next week. Maybe.

Websites

I've been cleaning cobwebs from my front porch area. It's suddenly covered in them. If there are spiders in them, we leave them alone. But when they only have dust in them, away they go! There were a bunch of them in the atrium at work today, very suddenly. I guess I've been visited by a bunch of spiders and they must have followed me to work. Strange.

Anyway, the Borg Queen made her appearance and assimilated the cobwebs away. Resistance is Futile, after all.

We're anxiously awaiting Toadles arrival tomorrow. Sometime. Whenever he gets here. With Toadles, it's not a matter of when as in time. It's a matter of when as in a general idea of the day. And I'm sure he'll have many tales to tell about his sightseeing expeditions. (Getting lost to normal people - but we all know that Toadles isn't normal people!). Buffalo burgers and oven fries, whenever he finally turns up.

The hams seem to really like their new wheel. Otter said that it was much quieter last night. The old one was really noisy. The only problem is that we have to figure out how to take the new one off when it needs cleaning. Which will be frequent, because they have apparently been channeling my dad - they don't stop their trips just because somebody has to pee! (Remember the coffee can, Froggy?).

Bill borrowed a sandblaster from somebody he works with yesterday. He bought some headers for the White Lightning from someone on Craigslist and they were badly in need of sandblasting. They look almost brand new now. While he was at it, he also sandblasted a small drill bit he has and then one of my concrete animals that I needed to repaint. I'm not sure when he's going to return it, but until he's finished I'm not even going to think about sweeping up! He will attempt to clean up after himself, but we all know that it won't be clean enough for the Borg Queen!

I Know It's Already June!

But here's the book list for May. Better late than never, I guess.

1. The Stand by Stephen King. The best of the best. I've read it several times and will read it several more times. It's just that good. Otter agrees with me, by the way.

2. CSI: Secret Identity. Steven Grant, Gabriel Rodrigues and Steven Perkins. CSI in manga form. Otter checked it out at the library, then she told me I had to read it. It was good.

3. Stalking the Plumed Serpent & Other Adventures in Herpetology by D. Bruce Means. Waste of time, I didn't get very far before I gave up. Not well-written and for an expert, he doesn't seem to know much!

4. Water Dogs by Lewis Robinson. OK, a quick read but not the best.

5. The Roots of Desire, the Myth, Meaning and () Power of Red Hair by Marion Roach. Can we say total complete waste of time? Most of what was in this book is stuff that I have seen many times over, a lot of it is on the internet. The author is a redhead, but she didn't do any research. At all. Filled with extremely incorrect information.

6. Spiders, the Ultimate Predators. Stephen Dalton. Interesting, lots of cool pictures. We like spiders.

7. Lone Wolf, the Search for Eric Rudolph. by Mary Anne Vallers. Rudolph is the person who bombed the Atlanta olympics and also several murder factories (abortion providers). I don't agree with his tactics, by the way. But the book was interesting. The author was pretty obviously pro-death (choice) and most likely feminist. But the book was well written and she obviously spent a lot of time researching it.

8. Wedding Belles by Haywood Smith. The was actually part 3 in a series and the first I've read by this author. It was funny.

9. The Red Hat Club by Haywood Smith, part one.

10. The Red Hat Club Rides Again by Haywood Smith. Part three. I hope that she writes more in this series, it was funny.

Frasier is not happy. He's confused. Seems he discovered the hamster cage this morning. We've been moving them to the office the last several nights, since the wheel that was attached to the cage could probably be heard all the way in Texas. We move it back to Otter's room in the mornings. I was checking my email this morning before the cage got moved back, Frasier was in his usual spot - trying to get all my attention - when he caught sight of movement inside the cage. He sat and stared at the cage for about 10 minutes. Then he scooted closer. The cage was sitting up on something, so he couldn't reach it. But then he started getting into the position that prefaces standing on his back legs. Which is when I grabbed him by the collar and then took the cage back to Otter's room. Where it sits on top of her chest of drawers and is much higher up. Frasier has very seldom gone into Otter's room for more than a few minutes. But when we got home this afternoon, we cleaned the cage and also attached a new set of climbing tubes which have an external wheel and it's very quiet. The dogs are shut out of Otter's room while we clean the cage. Frasier waited patiently, then he immediately went to sit in front of the chest of drawers and stare at the cage. At one point, Otter said he was about to stand up on his back feet so she stopped him and chased him out of her room. He doesn't seem to understand why he can't have the scooby snacks that he can clearly see and smell. Life's not fair! Poor dog is so spoiled...

Toadles arrives the day after tomorrow! We can hardly wait. Maggie and Frasier are eager to meet him. Frasier probably will ask Toadles to take the snacks out of the cage for him, and Maggie will probably spend her time trying to monopolize his attention and then sneak into bed with him so she can steal the covers. She does that.