Twenties Part Two

Twenty years ago today, a lot of things happened.

Twenty years ago today, we got up and put just about everything we owned into a U-Haul truck and pointed it north.

Twenty years ago today, that same truck wouldn't start again after we'd filled the tank near Dallas.  Fortunately, we were at a truck stop at the time and were able to at least get a meal and stretch our legs a bit while we waited on the U-Haul mechanic.  By this time, baby Otter had figured out that her daddy was back and she did not like it when he was out of her sight while she & I were in the restaurant and he waited with the truck - we took him food, so he didn't starve.  The U-Haul mechanic eventually got it running and then he offered us two choices:  another truck, which would mean that we'd have to unload it all and then reload it - by ourselves, or to head on but not turn it off for any reason until we got where we were going.  We chose the 2nd option, which meant that the next time we stopped for gas meant that one of us (me) stayed with the truck (and baby Otter) while it was being filled up and Billyboy found the restroom, then he stayed with the truck (and baby Otter) while I found the restroom.  Our original plan had been to spend the night somewhere, but two things happend:  Not being able to turn the truck off with the very real possibility that it might not start again and the fact that Bill took the one of the two highway choices availiable that didn't have any hotels we could stay in!  Baby Otter spent most of the trip playing in her carseat while it was light, with a lot of reaching over and patting her daddy's arm and she was happy about it.  We got to Grandpa & Sweetie's house (which is now our house) somewhere around 3ish - AM.  OK, so that was actually not Twenty Years today, but it was a Leap Year and still the last day of February even though it was not the 28th any longer!  And the truck did start that morning, which is good because we were able to drive straight to our apartment and move in.  But if it hadn't started, at least we were in a safe spot and would have been able to get help if we needed it.

It's been a busy 20 years, we left TEXAS with an 11 month old baby and she'll be 21 in a month.  She's gone through all 12 years of school, 1 1/2 years of college and is now working.  We've had 7 dogs, if I'm doing the math right and that does include the two poochies we have now.  We still had my parents with us then and we've also lost Bill's Grandmother on his mom's side and Grandfather on his dad's side in the last 20 years as well.  All the grandkids on "my" side are grown, most of them on Bill's side are grown.  Some of them are now parents themselves!

We've had two business ventures, eBay and Pachinko Restorations.  Also, we had a rent house for a few years.  Bill's had two jobs, I've had one.  Otter's been through three school districts, she went to elementary at a private Christian school and then middle & high school were public schools.  I'm on my 4th car, Bill's on his 5th but one of them is also my previous car so I'm not sure if that actually counts of not!  We briefly had a boat, for one summer.

We've learned to deal with actual winter, including more than one blizzard.  Also, ice storms.  And there are always those "other" storms that this area is known for.  It's not called Tornado Alley for nothing!

We've belonged to four churches, although there are two others that we attended for a while but didn't join.  We changed demoninations once.

We've dealt with asthma and scoliosis (Otter), asthma (me), pneumonia (me, Otter and possibly Bill as well), a serious illness that put me in the hospital for a week and ended with surgery to remove my gallbladder followed by a week at home to recover from a life-threatening illness (me, pancreatitis).  I also had my original teeth 20 years ago, now most of them are gone and replaced with plastic ones I can take out.  Bill, being Bill, has had stitches more than once but he's an Engineer and it goes with the territory!  There have been a couple of broken bones (Otter, left arm.  Me, foot & toes.  Me, probable broken rib(s) but that did happen in TEXAS when we went home to visit and I was stupid enough to get on a see-saw with Toadles - not that it's his fault, he was just on the other end of it.  OK, it is partially his fault because he decided to leave me hanging in the air, but it was still my decision to get on the thing in the first place so I don't really blame him.)

We've moved three times.  Four, if you count the original move and then three since.

While there are times that I would like to go back and redo, there are also times that I wouldn't trade away for anything.  The last 20 years have been good overall.  TEXAS is and always will be Home, but Oklahoma is also home.  Just not with a capital "H" but it's still home and we're happy here.  We could have landed in a lot of other places, and they might not have been good or as good.  We feel like this is where God wants us, or we wouldn't be here.  But we are and will always be TEXAN.

(There was also something else that happened twenty years ago today, it affected all of us and not necessarily in a personal way but it still affected us all:  Waco.  Waco was not entirely the fault of the government, although the governments actions in the stand-off did affect what happened.  But what ultimately happened caused repercussions that were felt in Oklahoma City two years later on April 19, 1995 - the Waco stand-off started on February 28, 1993 but it didn't end until April 19, 1993.  It was, unfortunately, not the last terrorist attack that we has a society and nation have had to deal with, but it was the worst to that date and I think it was probably the first real "homegown" terroristic act.)

Monday Stuff

It's nice today.  Sunny and warm, a little humid but not nearly as bad as I expected it to be.  Although we could still use some more rain, we're still under the normal amount for this area by this time of year.  I think we have a chance or two this week, which can also be affected by the tropical storm and where it goes inland at.  Seems odd to think about a hurricane/tropical storm hitting this far inland, but they keep going until they run out of steam and we've had rain from them before.  The worst one was probably Katrina, but that was such a big storm that I don't think it would have mattered where it went inland at!

Froggy, I'm sure you remember the trips to Pt. Aransas and the clubhouse, especially the trips after storms and having to help clean up!

I found something out the other day.  The Christian elementary school that Otter went to closed, effective the end of July.  At one point, it had up to grade 12 but there were not enough high school students for that so they went back to K4 to Grade 8.  It was that way for several years, but then a couple of years after Otter left (we switched her at 6th grade), they dropped the Middle School grades off and it was just an elementary school.  The economy didn't help, private school can be expensive and it's one of the first things cut when families have financial difficulties.  It wasn't the most expensive school in the area, but there were times when it was a struggle for us.  But we felt like Otter's education was worth it, and we did what we had to do.  But I can certainly see that not everyone can afford it.  We wanted a school where the basics were taught the right way - phonics for reading, for example.  And it was very important to us that she get a Christian education.  It was a fairly small school, I think the most she ever had in one class was 18 or so but most of the classes were much smaller.

I'm a little nervous about Friday and Frasier's procedure.  The vet said that he doesn't think it's cancer, but I can't help but be worried.  The spot looks like a tumor.  So, we're thinking good thoughts about the dogster.

I'm toying with the idea of making another quilt.  I tried to talk Otter into making one, but she wasn't interested.  I have a few crochet projects, such as the afghan, but I need another creative outlet when my tendonitis is flaring up.  Which is is lately.  It's still just in the thinking about it phase, and it may not ever get out of that phase.

I just tried to send my desk into orbit!  With the same foot/toes that I attempted to launch the couch with several years back.  I didn't break anything this time, but it still wasn't pleasant!

Ouch.

Also, I have the song "Crazy Train" stuck in my head.  I've been hearing it ever since I described last week as a Crazy Train Week!  This is a real problem.  The song's by Ozzy.  Ozzy is persona non grata to Texans.  Has been ever since the whole peeing on the Alamo thing!  Anybody got any suggestions to get it out of my head?

OK, Now It's Really Friday

This time last year, we were getting ready for this:

A day early, but it's an anniversary!

But I might not actually get anything posted tomorrow, so I wanted to mention it today.  It's amazing how much can happen/change in a year.  Otter's gone from being a teenage high school student to about to start her sophmore year of college and she's not a teen any more.  'Scuse me while I go catch my breath!

Froggy, you probably know exactly what I mean.

Otter's off with HP and his family this afternoon, there's a local annual event that is kind of a cross between the fair (strange food and fun displays but without the rides) and an art show.  She was excited about the presence of a car from the latest series of Batman movies.  Hopefully, she'll get to see it.  I saw it the other day, I was on my way back to work and it was being put back in the 18-wheeler that it travels in.  My Batman obsession is only topped by my Star Trek obsession, and Otter is very much her mother's daughter on both counts so she was hoping to get to see the car.  If you can call it that, it's a strange looking beastie.  It's not the car from the 60's tv series or the movies from the 80's/90's.  It's also not very big.  If she gets to see it, and remembers to take pictures, I'll probably get them posted here.  Eventually.  This time, she did remember to put sunblock on and she also took it with her to reapply as needed.  Red heads and sun exposure don't make a good combination.  The last time we went to the State Fair, we forgot the sunblock and she was pink-on-the-way-to-red before we realized it.  We wound up buying her a parasol to use to keep the sunshine off of her (very pale) skin.

This is a good example of my day:

I didn't actualy get IN the fridge, but I did stand in front of the open back door while the cool morning breeze was blowing through and then I stood in front of the fan in our bedroom.  I saw a cute joke:  Global warming is really just mother nature having a hot flash!  No, we don't believe in either global warming/climate change or mother nature.  But it was funny.  (I have been known to stand in front of the open freezer on occasion.)

It's been a warm day today!

Otter and I ran a couple of errands this morning, including taking a trunk load to Goodwill to donate.  Of course, we had to shop while we were there.  :)  Otter found a couple of movies on dvd that she wanted.  I didn't find anything, but that was ok with me.  I was too warm to really be in a shopping mood.

Bill saw a listing on Craigslist for a pachinko machine at a garage sale.  It was literally on the other side of Tulsa from us, we live outside of Tulsa.  But it was a nice drive, the traffic on a Friday at 1:15 is not bad.  He got the pachinko, and I got another stuffed armadillo for my accidental collection.  And the seller was a fellow TEXAN, so it was nice to get to talk to another one of us.

Then we came home and had chili.  Always good!

Happy New Year! 2011 Review

Hard to believe another year has come and gone, but it's now 2012.  So I guess I have to get used to writing "12" and not "11" on my checks.  :)

2011 was a pretty good year, all things considered.  No major trauma that I can remember, and it had a couple of milestones.

Here goes:

January

Bill bought a couple of power tools.  That can be scary!

I had a cold.  Seems to be my thing for January because I have one now, in Jan. 2012!

I crocheted a lot.  And discovered that my alpaca yarn made me itch.  But since it's usually mixed with wool, as I discovered later on, I don't think it was the alpaca but was probably the wool mixed in.

I finally finished the blanket I started for Bill, it was made with scrap pieces of yarn and I'm happy with it.

We came very close to a head-on accident, in the dark one morning, when somebody crossed into our lane and was speeding.  I nearly hit a fence way off the side of the road trying to get out of his way and he still only missed us by inches.

We had a little snow.

February

This was the cold month!  We had a major blizzard and were essentially housebound for over a week.  There were a couple of breaks where we could get out, but we spent a lot of time home and were pretty stir crazy by the time the weather cleared up.  I still have the scar on my chin from when the car rolled backwards in the driveway and the door hit me.  I crocheted so much during that time that I was actually tired of it, and that is saying something!

I finally finished the quilt I started for Otter when she was in kindergarten!

Otter's Happy Accident with the picante/spaghetti sauce.  It was fun.

The tulips started coming up.

March

The redbud tree started budding out.

The bluebonnet that just showed up started to bud  as well.

We saw the movie Rango.  Which was fantastic!

Bill sold two pachinko machines on eBay.  They sold really well.

March is International Crochet Month, which I participated in every chance I got. :)

The country of Japan was rocked by a huge earthquake and tsunami.

The power steering leak in my car was discovered.

Otter saw her allergy/asthma doctor and he was amazed at how well she's doing.

The last Borders store in our area closed.  That was a bad thing.

Otter had an existential crises.  Her graduation stuff arrived!

Blockbuster closed, we bought a lot f dvd's.

A certain favorite Otter of ours turned 19!

April

The a/c drain in the garage clogged up.  Which caused a big mess, and we had to move more pachinko machines out of the way than I can count!

I had my worst hot flash to date.  I hope I don't have another one llike it.

April means spring storms and we had a couple.

Otter had what we suspected was strep throat, but it turned out to be "just" a virus.

The bluebonnet had a second bloom.  Then some heathen stole it right out of our yard!

May

After 10 years, vengence/justice was served!

Our PayPal account was hacked.  We caught it and the bank filled out the paperwork to freeze the account so no money would be transferred, but then the bank let it go anyway and they learned just how fun RHTW* is to deal with.  She got results, and the bank refunded us the money.  PayPal eventually got their act together, but it was a nightmare dealing with it.

Otter took me to the zoo for Mother's Day. It was really nice.

A wren started a nest in the planter that was Mom's and I have it on my front porch.

I made my soap pump from a mason jar, it's on the craft blog. It turned out well.

Otter was recognized at Church as a graduate.

Bill learned how to make molds & cast pieces in plastic for the pachinko machines.

The Big Thing happed on the 19th - OTTER GRADUATED!  She worked very hard to get to this point and we are so proud of her.

Nana came to visit!

I found another bluebonnet and promptly transplanted it.

Joplin had a major tornado, F5 and many, many deaths.  They are stil recovering.

We had a couple of close calls ourselves.

The last day of high school!  Otter celebrated with donut holes for breakfast.

We finally convinced Bill that he needed his own cell phone.

June

The baby birds on the front porch (4) flew off.  It was so much fun, we hope that we get another bird family to "raise". And the nest was built with lots of yarn scraps!

Otter picked up her diploma!

Spring Stoms continued, but June was a better month than May as far as storms go. We had a lot of rain, which was an issue at the time but also something we looked back on fondly later on in the summer!

Billyboy turned 50.

Bill finished up the 4 adirondack chairs for the back deck.  We enjoyed them a lot, until it got too hot to even breathe!

Discovered that the peace lily plant I've had since 2001 (Mom's funeral) actually knew how to bloom. I didn't think it was a blooming plant, but then it surprised me and started blooming.  A lot!

Found a coach purse at Goodwill!

We spent the last week of June on vacation, we stayed home but had a couple of our rambling trips.

July

Bill and Otter managed to use up most of the fireworks that Bill's had stored for several years.

It was H.O.T.

Robin built a nest in the redbud.

We saw the last Harry Potter movie and it was very good.

Fenton announced that they are closing. :(

Otter enrolled at college!

Otter had to get a filling.  The first one she's ever needed, 19 years without a cavity is pretty good. The dentist also officially decided that her wisdom teeth would need to come out. That was not a surprise, we'd been watching them for a while.

August

Otter had a really strange job interview at Build-a-Bear. The actually told her that their part-time job was more important than college!

Still H.O.T.  We hit records!

All the little robins flew off.

Sales tax free weekend!  We shopped.  A lot.

I crocheted the first sock monkey hat.  It was fun.

Bill replaced the brakes in my car.

We were without our internet for a few days, it was an area-wide outage.

The a/c in the car started acting up.  Again.

Somebody poured coke on Bill's car when I was driving it one day.  I know who did it, and they were in a truck with ou stickers all over the place.  So we're pretty sure it was because of the TEXAS Longhorns emblem we have.

The weather finally started cooling off.  A Little.  High 90's as opposed to low 100's.

Otter's oral surgery, the two lower wisdom teeth came out.  She was not a happy camper!

Otter started college 4 days after the wisdom teeth surgery.  That was a Big Day!

5.8 earthquake in Washington DC.  Odd place for one, we thought.  But we discovered a couple of months later that they were happening in odd places all over!

September

It got H.O.T. again!

We got flu shots.  As early as we can each year.

Lovely Neighbor started calling the cops on our dogs.  Even when they weren't barking!  Even when she was out in her back yard talking loudly, probably to make them bark.

Mailed off my scarves/hats for Troops.  I can't remember the exact name of the group that I mailed them to, but they were received and I got a very nice letter back.

The Future Librarian lost her library card and had to get a new one.  Anybody besides me see the irony in that?

10 years since our national nightmare.  But Justice was served in May.

One of my crowns came off but it was a tooth that needed a filling, so the dentist did the filling and then we able to replace the crown which bought me a few more years before I have to replace it.

The weather got better, cooler and we actually had some 50's mornings!

But we did have some rough weather mid-month.

Racoon tracks on the hood of the El Camino!

Got the car aligned and bought tires.  Also got the power steering leak fixed.  Froggy, I put an easter egg in the blog about being able to ramble farther and you missed it!  Because this is when we decided to go Home for Christmas. :)

It was also when RHTW* was officially introduced to the car mechanic place we were using.

October

A certain football game was in early October.  We got tailgated a lot in the days leading up to it and honked at a few times.  Which usually caused us to flash the Hook 'Em sign.

RHTW* made a couple of trips back to the mechanic.  They do not like her!  And She doesn't care.

28th anniversary of when we met!

Bill had an upper respiratory infection and bronchitis.

I had a sinus infection.

Otter's Adventures in Plantar's Warts started this month!  And it continued until December, so she was not a happy camper for a while.  I don't blame her, by the way.

Bill bought firewood.

November

Guess who took the car back to the mechanic?  RHTW* in full flow and with both barrels loaded, that's who. :)  They got more than one visit this month.  And no more after that.

Otter enrolled for the second semester at college.

It got Bouncy!  5.6.

Thanksgiving, we ate too much but it was a nice day.  It was a quiet day.

Frasier had an expensive snack, in the form of a library book.

Chevy became our official mechanic, and we're happy with them.

We finally got the tulips planted!

December

It was an interesting month, among other things there was an itrude on Otter's college campus.  It turned out to be minor, someone trying to run from the cops instead of pulling over when they wanted him to and he attempted to hide by leaving his car in the parking lot and running into the school library.  Where he was caught promptly!  But it was kind of nerve-wracking.

Bill had to get a filling.  And he nearly had to get a route canal.  Which may still be in his future.

Otter's first semester of college ended.  The finals were not hard, and she passed everything.

We went to TEXAS for Christmas!

I celebrated my 50th birthday with puffy tacos in San Antonio.

I'm half way done with the afghan I started in November of 2010.  I hope to finish it sometime in 2012. :)

We saw JediMom on our way to San Antonio.

The dogs got a vacation at the same time that we did.

We made the trip back to OK in record time.

It was a good year and an interesting one.  A lot of things happened and most of them were actually good.  We're looking forward to 2012.  And no, we don't expect the world to end on 12/21/12!  Although that is the day my notary commission expires. :)

*RHTW  See my many posts with the label Red Hair.  It's self-explanatory!

The End Is In Sight

The end of this looooooooooong, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT Summer, that is.

I realized today that it will be September 1st one week from today.  It's been a long summer in many ways, but it also seems to have flown by.  Except for the part in the middle where it was well beyond hot for many, many days.  That part kind of crawled.  But the rest of it has been quick.

And different.  It was kind of strange not to have to go buy school supplies.  (Well, we did but they were textbooks and cost a lot more than school supplies ever did!)  It was kind of strange not to have to go out to a public school to pick up a schedule and locker assignment, order a yearbook, etc..  It was kind of strange to realize yesterday that today is the day the local public school opened.  It was even stranger this morning to hear the school bus going down the street and realize that we didn't have to hurry Otter out the door to catch it!  (Yesterday, the way I realized that today is the local school start is because the buses had their practice runs).  We're wondering if the dogs are still going to be waiting at the door when the school bus goes by, they always knew that the sound meant that Otter was going to be coming in the door shortly.  But she didn't ride the bus too much last year, and they didn't always wait by the door after she stopped riding it often.

Otter's unstrung!  Or at least her stitches are out.  The dentist said that everything looks great.  She's thinking that it will probably be about a year before we know for sure on the top two.  They will most likely have to come out, no matter how straight they come in, because Otter doesn't have enough room for them.  At any rate, Otter was very happy because she can eat regular food now and can use a straw again.  But tops are easier than bottoms, or so the dentist told me.  Whatever, we'll worry about that if/when we have to.

But the tooth fairy might be on vacation then! :)  Maybe she'd better start saving her money now?

Final Friday of Otter's School Adventures!

Well, at least part of her school adventures.  There's still college of one type or another in her future.

I still can't quite realize that I have a daughter who is already out of school.  I keep thinking that it's just been a few days since I was buying stuff to start packing her lunches when she was going into kindergarten!  I don't think it's really going to feel real for any of us (Otter included) until the late summer, when we would have been buying school supplies and so forth.  She'll still need supplies and clothing, but it will be a different ballgame.

I'm really glad that it's Friday.  It's been a loooooooooooooooong week.  Last week was absolutely crazy busy with the graduation, Nana visiting, shopping with Nana (lots of that!) and all the activities.  This week was just long.  I am so ready for Saturday.

On that note, I'm going to post this and go read my email.  Then very shortly, we're going to have the meal that Otter chose for her last day of school.  When she started kindergarten, her first day of school was celebrated with her choice for dinner and she chose Luby's.  While Luby's is still good (we don't eat there often, they aren't convenient to us anymore), her tastes have grown up along with the rest of her.  So tonight's menu?  Steak and baked potatos.  Guess she is her parent's daughter after all! :)

Sunday Fill-In-The-Blank!

Because nobody can come up with a good title today.  We're a little on the tired side.  It's been a very busy last few days.  Last week was a short work week, I was off Thursday and Friday with Otter.  Bill was off Friday.

Thursday was very busy, it started with getting Otter to the school for graduation practice & final instructions for Project Graduation.  I ran a couple of quick errands while she was at school, then went back to get her and took her to visit her grandparents for a few minutes.  She took her graduation robe & cap so we could get a couple of pictures with them.  Then, we ran to the mall and she got a manicure.  We ran back home, just in time to start getting dressed to go and then Bill got home with Nana who he had just picked up at the airport.  Otter and I went to pick up BF, then we met Bill and Nana at Chili's for Otter's celebration dinner.  We had a nice meal and a great visit.

It was on to the local college campus where the graduation ceremony was held after that.  We had a lot of traffic to deal with which was not a surprise, then we managed to get good parking spaces.  We figured out where to sit, Otter ran off to join all the other graduates and then we had about an hour before the ceremony.

It was well done.  The students were seated in sections by the first letter of their last name, but they did not have to sit in an particular order which actually made it better.  Each graduate had a name tag which they handed to the announcers on stage and the names were read off that way.  There were two lines of graduates at a time, one one each side of the stage.  It went fairly quickly, considering the size of the graduating class.  The speeches were good, the music was good and we really enjoyed it.  The choir was made up of graduating seniors only, and they walked in with their class.  They were first, they were seated together and then they went to the stage for the songs.  Very good way to do it.

After the ceremony ended, we eventually found Otter and then we all had to find each other because we were separated in the crowd.  Bill took Nana back to our house, Otter and I took BF to his house and then I took her to Project Graduation.  It was about 10:30 p.m. by that point.  It was after 11:00 by the time I got home and I was absolutely exhausted.  Too tired to sleep, actually.

The next morning started even earlier, I had to go pick Ottter up at 5:00!  (Before I had any coffee!).  She had about a 4-hour nap after we got home.  We eventually woke her up and went out for lunch.  We did a little shopping and had a lot of fun.  We also did a lot of visiting, we haven't seen Nana since last Thanksgiving.  She left this morning, Bill took her to the airport about 7:30 and then got home in time for us to go to the early church service.  Which was good, but I had difficulties staying awake.  Can't imagine why!

It was supposed to rain last Thursday and there was a good chance of thunderstorms that evening.  The rain held off until Friday morning and we're really glad of that.  It rained most of Friday, but it quit that evening.  We have a chance of rain most days this coming week.

Which is the last week of high school for Otter!  She's not sure if she's going to have any more existential crises over it or not. :)

I've also realized that Memorial Day is a week from tomorrow.  So I have one full week, then a 3-day weekend.  Hopefully, I'll be caught up on my sleep by then!

The movie Rango has finally made it to the dollar theater.  Otter and I want to see it again, so we're going to head off shortly.  Bill's waiting until it hits video, he's going to stay home and work on his latest project for the pachinko machines:  he's learning how to cast parts.

At least it doesn't require the use of any power tools!

Somewhere...

in this crowd is my Otter!

She was on the right-hand side towards the front.

There were 1,043 members of the graduating class.  It's apparently one of the largest in the country.

It was a wonderful ceremony.  We're very proud of her.

Today is the Day!

And all I can see is the little girl I left at kindergarten a few years ago.  It seems like it was just yesterday.

We're so proud of you, Otter!

W(h)ine Wednesday

I haven't whined in a while, and it is Wednesday so I felt like it was a good title.  Actually, I'm not whining.  But I am tired.  I guess I could complain about that, that could be considered whining.

I think I'm going to go have a glass of wine and put my feet up.  They are ouchy for some reason.

Otter has a homework assignment for cooking class.  She has to create a casserole recipe and cook it for us.  I have to take a picture of her cooking it, as well as a picture of it after she's served it.  Then we have to write a paragraph about it which she will turn in along with the pictures and printed copy of the recipe.  She's got a few ideas, she's been cooking since she was small so it shouldn't be a problem for her.  She has to create her own recipe, she can't use one from a book or even from a family member.  It has to be original.  It won't be a problem for her.  I will post the recipe on the cooking blog after she's turned the assignment in at school.  Bill suggested that it have an ingredient also known as beagle, but that suggestion went over like a ton of bricks.

I still haven't gotten the hummingbird food mixed up!  I forgot about it yesterday, I was going to get it done after I showered all the allergens off but I got sidetracked.  Hopefully, I will remember it tonight.  Don't want the birds coming after me!

There's a yellow jacket, or possibly a hornet, starting a nest on the front porch.  We discovered it yesterday while we were outside playing in the yard with the weeds and Bill's going to take care of it this evening.  So far, there is just one insect on it and the nest is small.  But it needs to be gone.  We generally leave insects alone, except for spiders which have to be taken outside or the beagle will eat them, but not when they a) have stingers and b) are very close to the door.

Speaking of insects and beagles, there was a mayfly in the living room yesterday morning.  You know, big and look like mosquitos.  They are harmless, they don't even have mouths and I forget what they are the end life cycle of.  The one in question was flying low, right at beagle eye-level.  Dog went crazy trying to find it, she saw it once and then it got out of her sight.  She kept looking around for it, she wanted to catch it.  She gave up on it after a few minutes.  Then it appeared again, Maggie almost flew through the air herself, from one side of the living room to the other, and snatched it out of the air.  She didn't kill it, but she did wing it.  She opened her mouth and it more or less flew out, but it didn't get very far.  As soon as it landed, stupiddog smushed it - with the top of her head!  Then she tried to roll on it, but she kept missing it.  There is a reason why she gets called stupiddog!  She had a good time with it, although it got picked up and thrown away pretty quick.  It was really funny.

Frasier's latest thing is to wait until somebody is petting Maggie, then he will nonchalantly mosey over and lie down.  On top of Maggie.  She gets squashed against the floor or the couch on a regular basis.  Frasier always looks so pleased when he manages to trap her.

OK, still nothing to whine about!  Guess I'll have to try harder.  Maybe next time.

Wet Tuesday Stuff

First off:  I wanted to address Froggy's comment about graduation being traumatic.  It is, it's a big life step and it is something considerable to experience.  When I graduated, I was fine up until just a few days before the ceremony.  Although I was in the school choir, I Lettered in Choir in fact, I made the decision not to be part of the choir at the graduation ceremony.  I wanted to walk in with my graduating class, and to be in the choir that night would have meant that I couldn't do that.  So my last official performance as a member of the award-winning choir was at a concert a few nights prior to graduation.  I wasn't the only one, several of us made the same decision.  Our teacher probably would have preferred that we perform with the choir until the end, but he was a wonderful man and he understood.  He also understood the fact that at the last concert, most of the sopranos (including me) were in tears during the last song - and trying to hold each other up so we wouldn't fall off of the risers we stood on!  (Along with a couple of the tenors and possibly an alto or two, it seems like there were a lot of us that graduated that year.)  Because that's when it hit us, all of us at once, that it really was the end.  That's what was traumatic for me and the rest of us, by the time of the actual ceremony we'd gotten over the trauma.  But that last concert was rough!  Even the teacher was emotional that night.  By the time the ceremony came along, we were all better but it was still an emotional time.

So I'm not surprised that Otter and her friends had a few moments.  But they are all fine now.  For the moment, I'm sure!

Froggy, what was your trauma?  I remember when you graduated, at one point all the parents of graduating seniors were asked to stand up.  Mom was holding my hand in a deathgrip (probably because she was having issues with her daughter being old enough to graduate!) and she yanked me to my feet when she stood up!

It was kind of rainy today.  We had thunderstorms sometime late last night, or possibly very early this morning, I'm not sure exactly.  They weren't bad.  There wasn't much rain, but it was wet and misty all day.  Cool and cloudy and not spring-like at all.  It is supposed to be cool tomorrow, I think, and then warmer by the weekend.  I hope so, I'm ready for Spring!  (But NOT SLS!)*

*SpringLikeStorms

Couple of Quick Friday Thoughts

This is so me.  Lola is a cartoon about a knitter, but it applies to crochet as well.

There are happy tummies around my house.  We brought home Fajitas!  Well, for Bill & myself.  Otter got tamales.  But the point is, we had Mexican food and we are stuffed.  Happily.  I think Bill's going to make margaritas in a little while.

Otter thinks that this is the beginning of a good joke:  I can't drink cheap tequila, because I have an allergy to something it's made with.  I have to have the good stuff!  I don't drink much anyway, and tequila is not my drink of choice so I don't have it often.  But I agree with her, if she could come up with a punch line that works she has the beginning of a funny joke.

Otter came home from school yesterday in the midst of an existintial crises:  Graduation supplies were delivered!  That means cap & gown, tassles, invitation, etc.  She said that she suddenly realized that the End of School is near.  At least, compulsory school.  Apparently, the herd she travels with (horde? group? flock? collective?) all had the same reaction to receiving their supplies.

Turning 19 in less than a week isn't even a blip on her radar.  Graduating from High School?  It's major trauma!

Out!

I managed to get out of the house today.  I went to work.  Willieboy took me, and Otter, this morning.  The roads in the neighborhood were icky this morning, but they are much better this afternoon and I should not have any problems tomorrow morning - as long as I'm smart about it and Bill says I can't go over 10 miles an hour in the neighborhood.

Otter's out of school tomorrow, but the plan at this point is that the schools will re-open on Monday.  At that point, the district will decide how to make up the days that have been missed.  They are way over their built-in snow days.

Otter's cell phone is back up and running.  The phone wasn't repairable, but there was a spare available and it was able to be reprogrammed with her number.  She can text again!  She's so happy.  Of course, the old phone was completely dead so her memorized numbers have to be redone instead of just being electronically transferred.  But she's got a working cell phone again and she's overjoyed.

Uncle Crazy, your hat is on the way!  I mailed it today.  You should get it Saturday.  (Froggy, I forgot to take a picture of any of the hats I've sent out lately so if you think about it, would you please take a couple of pictures?).

It got to 6 below zero this morning.  One small town north of us actually got to 31 degrees below zero.  That is COLD!  It was literally colder in parts of Oklahoma than in Alaska.  We haven't been above freezing today, but it's been sunny and that has helped.  Tomorrow will be above freezing and then the weekend will be much warmer.  We'll be in the 60's next week, so it will all go away.  Not a moment too soon.  Of course, it's going to be pretty muddy!  Since I was able to get out today, I'm back to thinking that the snow is pretty.  But we really did get a lot of it.  Much too much.

I'm ready for warmer weather.  Spring, but without the spring storms.  Soon?

Super Sunday and a Prayer Request

Today's title has absolutely nothing to do with the Super Bowl.  We are not really into sports, I'll occasionally watch the Super Bowl but usually only the tail end of it to see who's winning.  But I usually don't even watch that much.  I will probably find the online link to the commercials tomorrow, we usually watch them online the next day.

Today is Super Sunday because we got to get out of the house.  We went shopping!

Well, we went to the grocery store.  Then I took Otter to a thrift store, I found nothing.  But she found all sorts of things, so it was a fun trip even if none of what we bought was actually for me.  We ran into a friend of ours there, she said that she was invited to Super Bowl party and that she was going to go even though she's not a sports fan at all, just because it gave her a reason to get out of her house.  Of course, she had to get a friend to come get her since her car is still snowed in, but she was just happy to be out and see other people besides her family.

The grocery store was pretty crowded, for a Sunday morning at 10:30.  I don't usually buy groceries on Sunday, but a)  people are re-stocking supplies so there are a lot of things that the stores are going to run out of soon and b) we got more winter on the way!  The next storm system isn't expected to be as big as last week, but it is expected about Tuesday night into Wednesday and I thought that I'd better get there now while I could.  I didn't need milk, oj, eggs or birdseed and that's a good thing.  Because they had no eggs, very little milk and might have been out of oj.  I didn't check the birdseed, but they were running low on dog food.  I bought it, the same brand we feed the poochsters but a different "flavor" than what they usuall eat.  They won't mind, I've seen some of the things they eat!  But I did get picante sauce (Pace of course!), and I bought two large jars of it so we're set for a while.  We eat a lot of it.  The store was also out of flour, which I thought was strange.  They didn't have any more canned biscuits, but they had plenty of canned chili still.

Church was cancelled, which we expected.  While we were out, we went to the post office and had to drive by our Church.  The parking lot was untouched and looked like it would have been very bad to drive on .  The city streets are a mixture of good and bad.  Most of the main streets have been plowed, although they might not have all lanes open.  The neighborhood streets are pretty much untouched.  A lot of people were out shoveling their driveways so they can get out.  There is a large plywood piece stuck at the entrance to our neighborhood, with the words "Donner Pass" spray painted on it.  (Donner Party, remember history?)  It was funny.

My face is better, the cut is healing well but now it's itching.  Driving me nuts!  The bruise is nice & multi-colored.  It's still somewhat sore, but a lot of that is because I keep bumping it.  The collar of my coat kept rubbing it and my scarf was also a problem.  Froggy asked me why the car slid, it was because it was parked on ice.  And that brings me to the prayer request.

One of Froggy's friends, her name is Sonya, lost her 36 year old daughter to a fall on ice Friday.  She lived in North Texas and they got quite a bit of ice.  So any prayers for the family would be appreciated.  That's got to be so hard to go through.

Our paper was delivered yesterday and today.  It's nice to have one again.  The newspaper has already announced that they will deduct three days from subscriptions, which is nice.  I'm glad that we got it, but I'm also glad that they didn't even attempt to deliver them last week.  It's not worth the chances that they would have been taking, driving in the conditions we have had to deal with.

At this point, nothing has been announced about school closings for tomorrow.  But I won't be surprised if school is cancelled, at least for tomorrow.  Otter's school district said that they would decide this afternoon sometime.  Same thing for the school district that Bill works for.

There have been a couple of reports of roof damage due to ice, a store in the area had a roof collapse last night.  It was about 15 minutes before closing time, there were no customers in the store at the time but there were two employees.  They were able to get out of the way, but they had to run to escape as it fell.

We decided to splurge for lunch today.  Otter and I brought Arby's home.  It was pretty good, we don't eat there very often but we do like it.  Wednesday is the local Ronald McDonald House fundraiser, so we'll get McD's on the way home - if the weather lets us, that is.  That is about the only time we eat McDonald's all year long.

Guess that's it for today!

Had Enough!

We're feeling more than a little housebound and are starting to get stir-crazy.  I don't see that changing anytime soon, unfortunately.  The snow is still here, it probably will be here for days because we won't get above freezing until Saturday.  Then the temperatures will get back to really cold for a few days after that and I think we have another snow chance Monday.  But probably not another blizzard like this one.

Bill managed to get most of the driveway behind my car cleared off.  But the street is still pretty bad.  I'm not sure if I'll attempt to go to work tomorrow or not.  The snow in the street is high enough that most cars are not going to be able to navigate it.  I watched a truck get stuck earlier and that vehicle was much higher off the ground than my Impala.  I think what I'll do is see how the street looks in the morning, then decide.  The Tulsa streets are getting cleared slowly, but the smaller town we live in doesn't usually clear all the streets.  And when they do, they don't often get out to where we are.  So we'll see in the morning.  But it's starting to get dark now and the streets won't be getting any more help from the sun today and probably not any more vehicles.  I've only seen a couple of vehicles go by today, and they were trucks that are higher up than cars.

Otter's school is out for the rest of the week.  Bill's off tomorrow and probably Friday as well.

We're still ok on supplies, although I'd like to be able to get out by Friday (if not tomorrow) and see if I can get to the grocery store for a couple of things.  We have plenty of milk still, but we could probably use another container of orange juice because we do drink a lot of it.  But if we don't make it to the store, we're still going to be fine.

The bird feeders have been visted all day, we've seen doves and several cardinals as well as the red-winged blackbirds and sparrows.  And starlings, which are vermin, but I don't begrudge them food either so I ignore them this time of year.  We did see the woodpecker yesterday, he was in a tree but he's probably been to the suet feeder when we weren't looking because he spends a lot of time there.

The dogs are still happy, they've had a rerun of yesterday - sleeping most of the day with very fast trips outside.  Maggie has spent a lot of her snooze time in front of the fireplace.

Otter slept in the living room last night, it was nice & warm in there since the fireplace had been going all day.  Maggie Moo was happy about that.

We watched the movie 2012 today.  Really dreadful, just awful but in a funny way.  It was obviously intended to be a serious movie, but it failed big-time.  We don't usually spend all day in front of the tv, but we have the last two days.  The satellite service has different free movie channels each month, and we've been taking advantage of that.

The paper wasn't dellivered today, it wasn't printed today and won't be printed tomorrow either.  Both days are available online, which is normally a fee service but is free right now.  I never thought about reading the paper online, I still prefer to actually have it in my hands to read.  But it's nice that the publisher has suspended charging for the online service right now.

Maybe tomorrow we'll get to get out.  Hopefully, anyway.

Cold Birds

We got the forecasted snow & ice overnight.  Wow, they got it right!  Statistically, they have to get it right at least some of the time I guess.  I'm not sure how much snow we got, I'd guess a couple of inches and came down until mid-morning.  There is ice underneath the snow, freezing rain & sleet came in first.  The paper was delivered, which surprised me.  When I went out to get it, all the way at the end of the yard, the ground was very crunchy in places because of the ice under the snow and slick in other spots.  The tire tracks from the paper delivery vehicle were already covered up.  I don't know how much snow we actually got, but I don't think it was more than a couple of inches.  The problem was the ice, not the snow.

When I went out later in the afternoon to check the mailbox, the street was partially thawed.  The yard was still icy & crunchy, and there were kitty prints all over the driveway.  Along with bird prints.

I have been looking out the dining room window at the birds.  At one point, there were something like 5 male cardinals and 6 females.  There have also been sparrows & chickadees, I've seen "regular" doves and also a ringnecked dove.  We don't get too many ringnecked doves.  There are red-winged blackbirds as well as another bird I haven't identified yet.  It looks similar to a sparrow but it's a lot larger.  There are a few varieties of sparrow, that's probably what it is but I haven't looked up info on the internet yet.  The starlings were around, but not in huge numbers - not that I'm complaining about small numbers of starling vermin!  I haven't seen the woodpecker today, but he'll probably show up sooner or later.  He likes the suet feeder, which also had a cardinal on it this morning and then two starlings fought over it.

Since we're all home today, I made waffles for breakfast.  I made extra, they get put in the freezer and then popped in the toaster whenever somebody wants one.

Our lunch plans were hot dogs, at Bill's request.  He roasted them in the fireplace.  They were pretty good, actually.  I think he just likes playing with fire.  :)

This post mostly seem to be about food today!

I guess I'd better change the subject.

I know!  Crochet!  (Bet you didn't see that one coming).  :)

I am working on hats today.  I've made two today, that will make three that I've done, in my quest to de-stash.  I have gift plans for them, as well as a few other ones.  They are easy and go fast.  I still have one more that I want to make, then I'll see about a few other de-stash projects.

It never got above freezing today, and I expect that the roads will be dicey tomorrow morning.  But I'm planning on going to work anyway and if school is open then I'll take Otter on the way in.  Bill and I both woke up at 4:30 this morning, hopefully tomorrow we'll at least get to sleep until 5:00 when the alarm goes off.  Otter's school was the last to announce closing this morning, but I expect school to be open tomorrow.

At least tomorrow is Friday.  That's always a good thing!

Tales From the Cold Side

As in, I have a cold.  But it's also cold outside.  And white & fluffy!

We got a dusting of snow overnight, just enough to cover the car windshields but the coverage on the ground was patchy.  The streets were ok today, or at least there were no school closings.  Not that I went anywhere besides my couch!

It's been snowing off & on this afternoon, and it's been pretty cold.  We've been below freezing long enough that there may well be some street issues tomorrow and maybe school closings.  I don't know if I'm going to go anywhere tomorrow, either.

Depends on how I feel.

Which is cruddy at the moment.

I've gone through 3 1/2 large boxes of kleenex since yesterday afternoon.  My nose is probably about as red as Rudolph's!  I am tired of sneezing.  My throat is sore off & on, but I've been pouring down the liquids and it helps.

Otter rode the school bus today, which was not her first choice.  I don't really blame her for that, but I was not really up to getting out in the cold if I didn't have to.  I stayed on the couch pretty much all day, with a roaring fire going and a couple of dogs to keep me company.  They alternated between (Maggie) parking on my feet (blanket covered) or under the blanket and the fireplace, and (Frasier) snoozing on his blanket or practically getting in my lap, as he likes to be veryclose to me.  Especially when I'm not feeling well.

After Otter got home from school, she made an interesting discovery.  She was taking some clean clothes out of the dryer and a stinkbug fell out of it!  It was probably a warm bug, and probably dizzy, but it was also still alive and there is no evidence that it fumigated anything.  She put it out in the back yard.  Now, it's probably a pretty cold bug.

She also brought in my bird feeders so I could refill them.  Which caused Maggie immense joy, she was wired and wound up more than usual for some reason.  Who knows what goes through that dog's mind!  Or, if she even really has one.  Fraiser was happy, he went outside for a few minutes and so did beaglebrat, but he came back in after a little while and went right back to his blanket.

Since I was home, I did some crochet.  I worked on Bill's blanket, I figured that today was a really good day to work on a nice, big, warm blanket.  I'm just about out of small spare amounts of yarn, so there probably won't be much progress on it in the near future.  I finished up the lap blanket yesterday, although I didn't get the tails woven back in.  I started that this afternoon.

That's about as energetic as I got, unless you count changing tv stations with the remote control.  And making dinner, but meatloaf is easy and Otter helped a lot with it.  She usually does help a lot, she loves to cook and I enjoy teaching her.

She's taking cooking this semester in school.  She already knows quite a bit about cooking, but she is always looking to learn more.  But we're not sure about this teacher.  One of her first instructions to the class was THAT EVERYONE ALWAYS HAS TO BE POLITICALLY CORRECT.

I'm not sure she has a clue who she's dealing with!  Well, somebody will educate her.  And it might not only be Otter.  :)

First Friday of Fall!

Fall is one of my favorite seasons, I like Fall the best and then spring.  Winter and then summer.  Usually in that order!  Fall in this part of the country is pretty, lots of maples trees here.  I've heard natives say that the seasons don't change here, but trust me - they do.  In South TEXAS, there are 4 seasons:  summer summer summer & Christmas.

We had the septic inspection this afternoon.  Basically, she walked around the yard and looked for seepage spots.  There weren't any, and everything looks fine.  This is the last inspection as far as we know - we didn't know we had to have the survey done until the surveyor called me to set it up.  But I can't think of anything else that would need to be inspected.

Maggie's had a confusing day.  First, somebody came to the door (septic inspector) that wasn't her Otter so she was a little disappointed.  Then, I thought I heard the bus so I said "bus" to the dogs which means that it's time to go stand in front of the door - only it wasn't the bus, so strike # 2 for Maggie.  Then when the bus really did come and her Otter got off, Maggie was beside herself with joy.  Poor dog could hardly stand up, she was wiggling so hard!

Maggie got into a little disgrace yesterday.  She got out.  Bill got home before I did, Otter and I had a billion errands and went to the grocery store.  He didn't see the dogs anywhere, they were still out in their yard, and he opened the garage door so he could have some light and ventilation when he got to work with his power tools.  Somewhere in there, Maggie apparently came back into the garage and figured out that the door was open.  She went over the block at some point, probably after a while of not seeing any of her people, and apparently didn't see Bill on the other side of the garage with his noisy tools.  Bill didn't realize that she was out until he saw a woman walking up the street who asked him if he'd seen her dog - a rottweiler.  He hadn't, but then he saw that there was a beagle more or less following her and he said he thought to himself that the lady had a beagle that looked a lot like Maggie.  Then he realized that it WAS Maggie.  She came to him and he put her back in the yard, and then put stuff in front of the block so she couldn't get back over it.  But she could have very easily gotten lost, beagles start following that nose and they can go for miles.

Otter had an unanticipated day off of school yesterday.  When we got up, we noticed that we had very little water pressure.  But that sometimes happens out here in the middle of almost-nowhere, so we weren't overly concerned.  I keep a few gallons of distilled water on hand because it's happened often enough.  Then while we were eating breakfast, the phone rang and it was an automated message but it was just ending and we didn't know what it was.  The last time we got one of those, it was the phone company informing us that A T & T's phone service in the area was out - but A T & T isn't in this area.  Fast forward until 7:00, Otter gets on the bus and then a few minutes later I get another automated call on my cell phone and home phone at the same time - apparently the first call was the city, telling us that there was a major water main break and the city would be without water for at least a few hours and the second two calls were the automated call from the school district.  Informing us that school was cancelled.  This is after the bus picked up.  I called the school office and they confirmed the closure and said that they were trying to get al lthe buses turned around.  I left a voice mail for Otter on her cell phone and she called me back shortly, because the bus driver was turning around and bringing them all back.  I'm not sure if he told the riders what was going on or not.  Anyway, she got home about 10 minutes later.  She decided she wanted to go to work with me, she would have been fine at home but we didn't know if/when we'd have water again so I would have suggested she go with me anyway.  The water main was repaired or at least the water was re-routed by late morning/early afternoon.  Since Otter was with me, we decided that we needed to go out to lunch.  She chose Mexican food.  It was delicious!  Otter said she'd been wanting chips & salsa served on a table by someone other than herself for a long time.  So we had extra chips!  And they were so, so good.  But it was back to school for her today.  No more non-snow snow days this week.

And now, my yarn stash is calling me.

The End of a Long Week

I'm so glad that it's finally Friday.  Even though we had a 3-day weekend last week and a shorter work week, it still seems like years and years since last Friday.  Who knows why!  It just does.

We had rain earlier in the week.  Along with most of anyone south of us and east to northeast.  Thanks to TS Hermine.  But we didn't get all that much in our area, something like just under 3".  Texas was really hit bad, and the southern part of Oklahoma.

It came through this area on Wednesday.  Just as the termite inspector and appraiser were here for their inspections.  No termite evidence, which is what we expected, by the way.  We're still waiting on the septic inspection, I have to call the bank on Monday and see why we haven't heard from whomever they hire for that.  The septic inspection is basically a walk around the yard to see if there are any yucky spots where water is coming up.  It's basically just a formality, but it's required because we have a septic tank and are not on a sewer line.

I haven't had much time to crochet this week, I did get the prayer shawl shipped off yesterday and I did a couple of rows on the throw pillow covers.  I have one half of one finished and most of the second side.  Then I have three more to do, I'm not sure if they will all be granny squares or a different pattern, but I'll figure it out.  It's kind of a work-in-progress thing.  I'm hoping to get some crochet time in tomorrow, which shouldn't be a problem at all!

My knees are killing me today.  The open house at Otter's school was last night, and her classes this year are mostly in different buildings for each class and most of them are upstairs.  It was not a fun experience, following her schedule.  I enjoyed meeting her teachers, I just didn't enjoy the process of getting to/from the classrooms.  I'm paying for it today.

We're having chicken fajitas tonight.  I'm going to head in the general direction of the kitchen in a few minutes and get started cooking.  And then I'm either going to get a motrin or a glass of wine.  I haven't decided yet, but I'm leaning in the direction of the wine.  And probably opening one of the many books that Otter and I got at the library this afternoon.  We might make strawberry ice cream, too.

We Survived!

The first day of 12th grade.

This is part of what Otter wore to school today.  She bought these in San Antonio when she was there a few weeks back.  Her Uncle Crazy chipped in towards them, so we sent him a picture this morning because Otter wanted him to know she wore them today.  She's been wearing them already, she likes them and they are comfortable.  Besides, they have the Batman logo and are Converse - two of Otter's favorite things, Batman and shoes!  She has a couple of other pairs of Converse, she loves the brand.

We splurged on a pizza tonight.  It's always been our tradition that on the first day or school Otter gets a special breakfast and dinner.  Her version of special breakfast is simple, today it was waffles.  Since I knew we wouldn't have a lot of time - nobody was willing to get up early enough to make waffles, I made them in advance and put them in the fridge.  The we just put them in the toaster this morning.  Dinner has been take-out most years, although the very first day of kindergarten was dinner at Luby's.  Last year, she requested buffalo burgers so it was homemade.  This year, she wanted a pizza from Little Ceasar's and I also got an order of crazy bread and sauce.  She eats cheap, anyway. :)

I ventured into a new yarn store today.  I'd already been to the first location, which I was not impressed with - they weren't friendly, and if you don't knit then they don't want to even talk to you.  So I wasn't expecting much when I went to their second store but it's a yarn store so I didn't have a choice!  I was pleasantly surprised.  Although the majority of the yarn they carry is wool like the main store, the people were very nice, very customer-oriented and crochet friendly.  I didn't buy anything (wow!), but they do carry the yarn I fell in love with in San Antonio and brought home in my tote bag on the plane.  I just barely brushed up against wool yarn with my left arm and didn't really pay attention to it at the time, beyond knowing that my arm had come into contact with something.  A little while later, I realized that my left arm was itching pretty heavily and then I realized that the yarn I'd touched lightly was in fact wool.  My allergies are on red alert at the moment, ragweed season is starting.  So I guess I'll have to be even more careful of wool right now, since I just barely touched it in the shop.

Walgreen's has a big sign out that they will have flu shots soon.  I called and talked to a pharmacist, they should start on Monday.  Last year, Walgreen's was insisting on a prescription from the doctor before they would give the shots but they've come to their senses this year and it's walk-in.  I did some checking, because the wisdom used to be that the shot immunity wouldn't last more than a few months but it's been improved - or maybe the doctors just know more about it - and by getting the shots this early we will still be protected through next summer or thereabouts.  So we might get our shots next week or the week after.  It will still be on a Friday afternoon, because I do generally have a mild reaction and not feel too good for a few hours.  But I'd really love to get it over with so that we don't have to worry about getting the shot later.  The later we wait in the year, the harder it is to get the shots because of our allergies.  The ragweed is just getting started so we're ok for a while, before we start our fall allergy games.

Bill came back here a moment ago, just to make an announcement.  Fraiser burped.  Apparently, that's big news for some strange reason.  I told him to be glad it was "just" a burp where Frasier is concerned!

I spoke with Virginia a little while ago.  She's doing pretty good, overwhelmed at the moment but that is to be expected.  She's got her hands full with the grandkids right now.  Her mother's services are Monday evening for the Rosary and then the actual funeral and burial is Tuesday.  She's just been through so much, I worry about her.

I have a crochet project I'm about to start.  I'm going to work on another prayer shawl.  Toadles - this isn't the project for Robyn that I needed her height for!  I found some absolutely georgous, soft yarn in variegated turquoise blue and chocolate brown at Michael's yesterday and I'm anxious to get started on it.  I was going to start it tonight, but I'm really tired so I'll wait until tomorrow evening or more likely Saturday.  It will go fast, the pattern I use will be the same as the other two I've made and it's quick.  It's also a fun pattern.  I'll post pictures when I get it finished.

Th-th-that's all, fffolks!