And Now For The Other Monday Stuff

I decided that Chocolate Day needed it's own post. And Maggie said that she's got a lot to say, but she's not quite ready to say it yet so no Maggie Monday this week. She seems to be deciding just what to say, she's been talking up a storm since Otter got home from school. From the moment she saw Otter's shadow as she walked home from the bus, and the dog is still talking! She's a very vocal beagle normally, today she's even more talkative.

One year ago today was a Saturday. Since it was Sabbath, we didn't do much of anything in particular. Just our usual stuff, which included a movie that we rented and we probably walked the dogs. The day after that, Sunday, I had a sudden urge to wash all my blankets. Which turned out to be a good thing. Because that evening (Sunday) was when the ice storm hit. The one that tried really hard to cripple NE OK and managed to, for days and days and days. It's much warmer this year than it was last year on this date. But we are supposed to be getting a (VERY) cold front tonight. Although it's not supposed to have ice. Just a slight possibility of snow tomorrow. Mostly, it's just supposed to be cold. It's been extremely windy today. Otter and I are going to bring in firewood in a little while, because we will probably want a fire tomorrow evening. I'm ready, I have plenty of marshmallows! :)

I just saw the mailman go by on his way out of the subdivision. Since my mailbox was empty when I checked it just now, I think it's a safe bet that I don't have any mail today. Most of our mail goes to our P. O. box anyway. I'll check it tomorrow, I don't check it every day unless we have a lot of stuff on eBay.

Speaking of eBay, I think we're through. Finally! All the shirts, gloves and socks we bought at the auction in June have either been sold, donated, or washed & put in our closets. We made a small profit on them, which was the idea. And is also a miracle, considering how many pairs of socks Bill kept and how many shirts we all kept! Otter also got quite a bit out of it, she got a huge amount of t-shirts. Some she'll sleep in, and some she's making into other things. I think she also got some socks. I know we all got a few pairs of gloves, and I think that Bill also bought a jacket-style coat for himself at the same auction. I got several pairs of "boot socks" which are more like house shoes with sock tops. But the really warm socks are wool, which I am allergic to. So no socks for me! I'm just glad to be done with it.

We are still going to be registered on eBay. But we are pretty much through as big sellers. We'll just sell the occasional item and I'm sure we'll still shop there. I know Otter will, she's becoming an eBay addict! But it's a good feeling to know that we are pretty much done. It was a great ride while it lasted, but the ride is over now and not a moment too soon. eBay isn't going away, but the initial fad is over and has been for several months. Which is the normal pattern for things. I think the eBay hot fad lasted a lot longer than most similar things.

Two and a half more weeks for me until Vacation! Bill has two weeks and I think Otter's school schedule is the same as Bill's work days so she only has two weeks. Then we have about a week and a half including holidays and vacation days. The dogs aren't going to know what to do with themselves, with us home that long and having the run of the house!

Frasier seems to be even more "normal" today. He's been in to see me several times, he will be affectionate and then he'll go off somewhere. Then he'll come back in a few minutes and as soon as he gets an ear or chin scratch, he's happy. He was very exhuberant when I let them out into the yard this afternoon. Actually, he was already out there but Maggie was still in their yard. Anyway, they started a rousing game of dog war and he actually seemed to be too excited for Maggie. Which is unusual, she's like the Energizer Bunny. But he ran her right out of steam!

Can You Guess What Day This Is?

It's CHOCOLATE DAY!

Not that I need an excuse. But it's good to have one. I have a bag of chocolate kisses in the freezer, I think I'm going to go get into them now. And I might even leave some for Bill. Maybe. Or maybe not! He's not home yet, so what he doesn't know won't hurt him...

December 7, 1941

Let's not forget what today is, folks. This is one that we can not afford to forget.

So in honor/memory of Pearl Harbor and everything that came afterwards, REMEMBER.

Sunday Work Day Report

Because we observe traditional Sabbath from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night, our Sundays are generally busy days. Today was no exception. Bill's dad is working on one of his rent houses and Bill's been helping him when he can. Bill was off Thanksgiving week, so he went over there 4 days and Otter was off 3 days that week so she went 2. Today, we all went! I've been on the business end of a long handled paint roller and my back is killing me! But we really don't mind helping Bill's dad with the work he's doing. However, I don't know if I'll ever get the Kilz paint off of my hands! :)

Bill was working with power tools today, that can be a very scary thought! When Otter and I left, he still had all limbs intact and there hadn't been any blood spilled. But it's still a very nerve-wracking experience!

Froggy, you might be interested to know that we went to BRAUM'S for breakfast again. Good breakfast, but not healthy for me! Gravy, sausage, tater tots. But since I don't have that type of thing very often I can get by with it once in a while. But now I have to be very good for the near future.

Frasier is so much better! He's getting to be playful again, we watched him chase Maggie around the yard while ago. They both seemed to be enjoying themselves. He came in while ago, bouncing and happy. His eyes are so bright and he's got that happy expression back on his face. He still doesn't like me putting the drops on the spot on his foot, but he is tolerating it better. This morning, as soon as he saw the bottle in my hand he lifted his left foot towards me so I guess he's used to it. At least it was only his foot he lifted, and not his leg!!

Froggy, before I forget - I've done 3 rows on your scarf and started the 4th row. I think it's going to be 5 rows, but I'll decide after the 5th row if it needs a 6th row. It's turning out really well. It won't take me too long to finish it. Then I'll post a picture here. And then I'll have to find another crochet project to work on. I'm thinking about making pillow covers for the decorative pillows we have on our bed. I'm also still working on the clothes hanger covers, but I have several of them done already. They just need to be attached to the hangers. The fun part of making the hangers is crocheting them, attaching the covers to the hangers is boring!

Fabulous Frasier Friday on Saturday

Frasier here. I didn't quite get back here on the day before today before my Momm turned this thing off. She said it was sundown or something like that, I don't know what that meant. It just was dark outside. But I'm not afraid of the dark.

I was sick earlier. I have this big sore place on my foot that has been there for a while. I haven't felt like a happy dog for a lot of days. But I didn't tell Momm, since I was too busy trying to take care of her. But finally I couldn't hide it any longer, and I told Momm that I didn't feel too good. So I had to go to the vvvett. I don't like the vvvett. He gave me two shots, and they did something impolite to me that they called taking my temperature. Don't ever let anybody do that to you! It's very rude. But I'm a good boy so I didn't bite anybody. Anyway, Momm has some drops she has to put on my foot. She won't let me lick my foot, but I think she should let me since that would make it feel better. I'm feeling better now, but I think I must have been really sick because my Momm was acting really scared and so was Maggie's Momm. But I'm all better now.

I hope I don't have to go back to the vvett anytime soon. Maggie went with me, she was silly about it like she usually is. The vvettt took her to a differrrrent room, I don't know what they did to her but she didn't like it. She kept trying to put her rear parts by the wall and she said that she wouldn't let anybody touch her tail end again. She's so silly.

But anyway, I'm all better now. So I can go back to being in charge again. Maggie was nice to me while I was sick, but now she's back to biting me when she wants to play. Even if I don't want to play. I guess I just have to put up with her, she is my little sister after all. So I guess that makes it ok.

First Thursday in December

I'm title-challenged today. Obviously!

Otter is playing the asthma game. She woke up with a sore throat and has enough asthma symptoms that she stayed home from school. It's my turn to be home with her, Bill will get tomorrow's shift if she's still home. But hopefully she'll be able to go to school. It's been coming on for a few days, and there is still the possibility that it's a side-effect of the Clairitan although I don't think so since it started before she took it. It's also been extremely windy the last few days, which never helps. But we'll still watch her symptoms. She had a cup of hot tea with plenty of honey in it, and she's getting lots of liquids.

I didn't do a Whine Wednesday post yesterday because I'm not in a whining mood. We're too relieved that Frasier is still with us to whine about anything, because we really thought Tuesday that we were going to lose him.

Speaking of BigDog, he's really improving. He's spending a lot of time this morning on his blanket, but he is obviously happier and much perkier than he has been. It's cold and we're home so he's inside, and he seems to be pretty happy. It's still a job to keep him from licking or biting on the sore spot on his foot, the tumor, but we try to redirect him. Usually a belly rub works, and he never complains about that! Of course, that means that Maggie wants attention too, so there are usually two puppy bellies waiting. It's easy to give him the antibiotic pills, I wrap it in a small piece of bread and he's happy. The vet called earlier today, to check on him. They are happy he's doing so well. Now, if I could just keep him from licking the spot! Otter was thinking that I could possibly wrap something around it, but I think he'd just tear it off. The vet did say that sometimes they use the Elizabethan collars on dogs, but Frasier being Frasier (which means very smart), he would find a way around it. He's pretty determined, when he wants to do something he will figure out how.

Since I'm home, I've been doing laundry and what little house work I had. I've run the vacuum everywhere but the living room, I'll get it later on when Otter isn't in there. I've cleaned the stove and done a few misc. things that I wanted to do while I had the time. I also paid a few bills, which never seem to go away no matter how much we want them to! I'm probably going to work on a maroon and white scarf sometime today, in case a certain Froggy is interested. And I might do my weekly dusting. But that will also have to be done when Otter is not in the room.

Otter has a sewing project. For the costume party she went to in November, she was a pirate (obviously!) and we made the pants out of a pajama pattern. We used a soft velour type fabric and they turned out great. She uses them as pj's now. It was a sewing lesson for her. Now she's decided that she's ready to make a pair herself, so we went to the fabric store the other day and bought fleece. It's sky blue, which is my favorite color anyway but it's what she picked out. I washed the fabric yesterday, there was enough blue lint to float a boat with! Sometime in the next couple of days, she'll get started on her sewing. It might be Saturday before she gets to working on it, and I think she'll enjoy it. She's going to make a pj top as well as the bottoms. They will be very warm!

It's very cold today, I went out to get the paper and nearly froze. The birdfeeders were empty, and as cold as it is their probably aren't any bugs out for the birds to eat. So I refilled my feeders. I've gone through close to 25 pounds in the last week or so, and I have another 25 pound bag waiting to be used. Every time I look out, there are billions and billions of birds! The resident cardinal was sitting in the tree earlier when I was refilling the feeders. He was watching me, so I think he was waiting on me to finish so he could get back to eating. I also have some suet feeders, but they are not up yet. I might get them up soon, they seem to attract blue jays and the occasional woodpecker.

It got to the mid-20's last night, it should be even colder tonight. I also brought in more firewood when I went outside to take care of the birdfeeders. We had a nice fire yesterday, and we roasted more marshmallows. Tonight will probably be a repeat.

I finally got all the paperwork from the bank, so I was able to get the car title transferred and I now have a license plate. Which is a very good thing, the car needs to get washed but I didn't want to with the paper temporary license plate. It "only" cost me $550.00 to get it transferred! I was hoping it would be less, but I wasn't surprised. I'm also getting about 22 mpg city driving, so I'm not unhappy at all. :)

OK, I've piddled around on the computer long enough. Time to go get my laundry put up, then I think I'll get that dusting done and probably sweep the kitchen floor. Or maybe not, I am firmly convinced that the dogs wait for me to sweep. Then they run outside and play in the dirt! Maybe I should just go crochet instead?

2 for One Beagle Wednesday!

Ok, so it's actually two posts in one day and it happens to be Wednesday. But on one of the cute animal websites they had 2 for one Beagle Wednesday as a caption on a picture of beagles on a Wednesday! I liked the title, so I used it today.

Frasier is much better, he acted like he was starting to feel better this morning. I know he's better this afternoon, because he jumped the fence into the big yard sometime today. Also, he caught a bird and ate part of it before I could get it away from him. I think it was a starling. He got a milk bone treat, which is standard when they catch a mole. Since he was obviously intending to eat the bird, I gave him a consolation prize. But then I also noticed that he'd been in the compost pile. I could tell because there was a rotten pumpkin in pieces all over the yard. He ate part of it. Which means that we are in for a fragrant evening as far as Frasier in concerned! He's still not quite as bouncy as he usually is, but he is definitely on the mend. Maggie is still spending a great deal of time just sitting by him, she seems to be less worried about him.

It was cold and windy today. It started out in the 50's, but it was what the forecasters call an Upside Down Day - the high was reached early in the morning and then it went progressively lower all day long. Of course, since I had on my wrap around skirt it was also windy! It will be in the mid-20's tonight. Bill's in the process of building a fire, and I'm going to go get the marshmallows!

Fun Stuff!

Dog Diary vs Cat Diary

**DOG DIARY**

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite!
11:00 am - Went to the vet. Bummer.
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with people! My favorite!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite!

**CAT DIARY**

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.

They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.

Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was dueto the power of " allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to useit to my advantage..

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow - but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously "not right".

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe -- For now.

Kind of a Wild Week and It's Only Tuesday!

My wild week started out with snow yesterday morning. Not much, just enough that we could see it. But very cold.

Otter's 6 month lung recheck was yesterday. The doctor said about what we expected: karate is not recommended. She is to keep using her inhaler morning and evening, the same resue inhaler as needed and he added Cingulair once in the evening. He gave her a prescription, but he also gave us 2 weeks of samples so I haven't gotten the prescription filled yet. I want to watch her for a while, as there are a few side effects such as upset stomach while her system is adjusting to it. She started it last night and she did have an upset stomach this morning. I don't necessarily expect problems, but I have heard of a few cases where people can not take it. So we'll keep an eye on her. Which we would do anyway! He wants to see her again in 3 months, at which time he might make a change in her medicine plan. So I have her appointment scheduled for the Monday of spring break, that way she won't have to miss a school day. I don't think that she would have minded making the sacrifice of missing a day of school! :)

The other thing that made this week wild is Frasier. He's had a spot on his leg just above his left foot where it originally looked like a scratch. He's been limping on and off the last few days and the scratched spot is suddenly big. Like about marble size, which is pretty big. The last couple of days he's acted like he was in pain or not feeling well. So I called the vet. And they very strongly suspected that we were looking at cancer. Which is not good, as what they suspected is incurable and the treatment (chemo, amputation) would only buy a few months - months of pain. So we took him in this afternoon. After being worried about him all day, we played with him when we got home and gave him a few treats. Then we took him to the vet - which he liked at first, he loves car rides. But he changed his mind when the assistant took his temperature! The vet gave him a very, VERY thorough exam and he's leaning towards it NOT being cancer. However, it definitely is a tumor. There is a biopsy for it, but apparently it is not very accurate. So he suggested a steroid shot divided between the shoulder area and into the tumor - Frasier was ok for the first part, but he did not like the shot in the tumor! He also gave me a spray to use on the spot twice a day or three times a day if I think it's necessary, and Frasier is on an antibiotic. There is still a possibility that it is cancer, but at this point he doesn't think so. I have to keep an eye on Frasier and see how he acts, also if the tumor grows I have to take him back in. If it grows, then we are probably looking at a worst-case scenario. But we're thinking positive about it.

While we were there, Magginator got her rear end squashed. She hates that, but she needs to have those glands cleaned on a regular basis. She was funny, she was happy to get there. But as soon as we were shown into the exam room, she put on the brakes! She was not going anywhere for anything. Otter had to pick her up and carry her. As soon as the assistant took her out of the room to get her procedure done, she just wilted. When the assistant brought her back, she ran to the opposite side of the room and parked her behind against the wall. I think she wanted it to be unreachable. She's such a silly dog! But she's a happy dog, especially once we left the vet's. She couldn't get out of there fast enough. Frasier was happy to leave, but he's obviously not feeling 100%.

Hopefully, the rest of this week will be uneventful.

Sunday Stuff & November Book List

First things first: The book list. It's not nearly as big as usual, it's been a busy month. We have been trying to clear a lot of stuff out in terms of eBay listing and we've also gone through a bunch of stuff that we donated to various places. But I did find some time to read. Not enough!

1. Hounded to Death by Rita Mae Brown. OK, but not quite as good as the rest of this series has been.

2. Loose Lips by Rita Mae Brown. I read this a few years ago, it's still funny.

3. Little House in the Ozarks by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This is a collection of columns she wrote for a newspaper over several years.

4. West from Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This is letters that she wrote home to her husband when she was visiting their daughter in San Francisco shortly before WWI.

5. The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. This one is scary, he was a serial killer (Ted Bundy) and she worked with him for a while. She had no idea that he was the "Ted" that was suspected in multiple murders of young girls.

6. Drawing Life - Surviving the Unabomber by David Gelennter. I expected a liberal slant, but he's actually very conservative. And he was a victim of a mistake by the press. He was photographed and then mis-identified as an inventor of something hi-tech. Which was enough for the unabomber to target him.

7. This Year it Will be Different by Maeve Binchy. Short stores about Christmas.

8. Collectible Glassware for the 40's - 50's - 60's by Gene & Cathy Florence. I learned a lot from this one.

9. It's Hard Out Here For a Shrimp by Pepe the King Prawn, intro by Kermit the Frog. Muppets rule!

10. Chihuly - Oklahoma City Museum of Art. I have a fantasy. One day I will find a piece of glass art by Chihuly at a yard sale, thrift or flea market. They won't realize what they have and will have a price tag of just a few dollars on it. Instead of the multiple thousands that it's actually worth! Chihuly is absolutely gifted, there is no other word for it. Froggy - the glass tower in the SA downtown library that looks like a bunch of glass squashes - it's one of his. And by multiple thousands of dollars, I mean multiples of 10! Some of his pieces go for more than my house! (No, if I ever do find one, it will not be for eBay!).

11. Santa Clawed by Rita Mae Brown. The latest in the Mrs. Murphy series - she's a cat that helps her human solve mysteries. It wasn't that good, actually.

12. Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall. This is a heartbreaking story, she is the girl who brought Warren Jeffs down. He's the leader of the FLDS cult, the one in Texas that the children were taken from and then the state had to give them back. When she was 14, she was forced into marriage with her older cousin and she eventually was able to get away.

That is all I had time to read this month. Hopefully, December will have more book time. I have one book I started reading yesterday, but I haven't had time to read more than a couple of chapters so it will be # 1 on December's list.

Otter went to the movie Twilight today, I took her and one of her friends. I dropped them off and then went back later, so I didn't actually see the movie. She said it was pretty good, it stayed with the book more than they thought it would. She said she'll want the dvd when it comes out, I'll watch it then. Bill had been teasing her about it being about vampires. She said that it has one scene he might like - the girl in the movie is about to go out on a date and when the boy comes to pick her up, dear old Dad is loading his gun! Sounds like a man after Bill's own heart. :)

It's Frasier Friday!

Hey, dogs! Frasier here. I'm just chillin'. Not much else to do around here, honestly. My people played a dirty trick on mee. Whatever they did to the big fence where it bites mee, they did the same thing to the fence for the little yard. Now I can't go play in the big yard anymore. Except when they open the gaaayyt and let mee. Which is not nearly often enough. I don't know why they think that I want to stay in the little yard all day. There's moles and stuff to play with out in the big yard. Maggie is happy about it, but then shee's a silly little one. I like Maggie a lot, but I think I should get to play out in the big yard whenever I want to. Don't tell Maggie I said I like her, but I think shee's a pretty good little sister. Most of the time, anyway.

All our people went somewhere when it was still dark this morning. I don't know where they went, but my Mom came home while ago and she brought us each a new chew bone. I took mine outside, then I took Maggie's bone outside where it belongs. But was shee thankful that I did that for her? No, shee was not! She was mad at mee and then shee went and got her bone and brought it back in. But they don't belong inside! They are supposed to bee outside. I tried to take it back outside, but Mom wouldn't let mee. Well, later when Mom isn't looking I'll get Maggie's bone and put it back outside with mine. Where it belongs.

Yesterday was a strange day. The people were home all day and I don't think they were supposed to bee. But I don't think they were sick, we can tell when they are sick. It hasn't been enough days for them to have home days. I don't know where they go, but they usually go somewhere for a bunch of days and then have home days. But they had a home day yesterday. They cooked some different food, it smelled really good. So wee tried to stay in the cooking room, but they kept telling us to get out of the way. But it smelled so good! It was hard to mind, but I'm a good boy and I did what they said. But that Maggie, shee was not as good as I am and shee kept getting stepped on in the cooking room and yelled at. But shee should have been yelled at, shee was not minding. But then Maggie's Mom gave us some of the food that smelled so good. It tasted really good and I'd like some more. Maybe we'll get some more later on, when the people decide it's time to eat.

The people eat a lot. Wee just have one meal in the morning time before wee go outside and wee get a treat when Maggie's Mom closes our little door so wee can't stay inside. Sometimes wee get other treats, but not as often as wee think wee should. But when they make this stuff I think that they call pizzzzzzzzaaaaa wee sometimes get bites of it. It's really good. But I was talking about how much the people eat. They need way too many meals. But then they are only human after all, so wee have to accept that they have shortcomings. They aren't perfect like dogs are. Well, like mee anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone has had a good day. We certainly did. We ate too much, but that seems to be the tradition. I don't think anyone actually went back for seconds, but somehow we still managed to eat way too much. I'll pay for it later today. But it was worth it. My mouth is tender in a couple of spots, but I don't think I'll need the orajel.

We watched the parade on tv this morning and then got busy with the cooking. Actually, there wasn't anything hard to cook since I bought a smoked turkey. It just had to be sliced and zapped. Bill made his famous mashed potatoes, which took my two biggest pots, the largest strainer, two huge mixing bowls and I can't count the number of spoons. The gravy was from a mix (Pioneer, of course), the green bean casserole is always easy, the bread was baked in the bread machine, the salad was just lettuce & tomato with parsley and parmesan topped with a little olive oil, and the cranberry came from a can this year. At least I won't have to cook much the next few days, we have so much food left over. But that is what I wanted.

The pupsters got a little bit of a Thanksgiving meal. They got a taste of stuffing, a tiny taste of gravy, a bite of bread and just a tiny amount of turkey with the skin. I'm sure that they would have preferred more, but they don't need a lot of fat. But they got enough to have a taste and they were happy.

Otter's cake turned out pretty good, I managed to find a little room to have a small piece. She said it wasn't too Cake Wreckish after she decorated it.

I might get started on some crochet, I seem to have an urge to use the maroon yarn I bought this week. Or I could go put up all the laundry I've done today.

I think I've made the Laundry Faries mad. I don't know what I did to tick them off, but I've emptied my laundry basket 3 times today. And each time, it is full again as soon as I turn around! I've actually done 4 loads today, but one was dog blankets so they were never in the laundry basket.

Frasier usually ignores his blanket for a day or so after it gets washed. I think he doesn't like the smell - clean is not his thing, apparently. Maggie could not care less, she's happy as long as she can curl up and take a nap in a soft place. Life is good for the beagle, and the big dog has it pretty easy, too. Although he would probably disagree!

Numb!

I just came from the dentist. I had to get a filling. I only have a few actual teeth - the majority of my teeth are dentures. But one of my few "original" teeth needed some attention, it was a small filling but I still had to be numbed up for it.

Part of the Redhead Curse is that anesthesia (of any kind even including otc stuff like aspirin and related pain killers) doesn't work as well on us. It sometimes takes more to even begin to work, and frequently more is needed in the middle of a procedure. Today was better, I had to get a second shot but just a small one. Usually I have to get 3 or 4 more. So I'm not complaining.

There is more to the Redhead Curse. One other part (of many parts) of it is that we tend to bleed. A lot. A LOT. So I usually have to deal with gauze in my mouth when I get even a minor thing done like today. We bleed more than normal, and it doesn't clot nearly as quickly as it should. Today was no exception.

I saw an interesting article the other day. I couldn't find it to link it when I went back to look for it. But it was about a study done on people's ability to process pain medication. Although the study was not based on any one particular facet of the population, quite a bit of it became a study of redheads and how we metabolize pain medication so much faster than the general population. I could have saved them a whole lot of time and money, all they had to do was ask me about it!

I am also getting hungry and don't want to even attempt to eat until the feeling comes back. Which is generally pretty fast, see Paragraph 2 and 4! I'm going to stick with soup tonight. I shouldn't have any problem chewing, but she had to snip part of the gum around the tooth to be able to get at the area to be filled and it could be tender. So I'm going to stick with easy stuff tonight, and no it won't be spicy! My dentist said that I could use orajel or similar toothing gel if I need anything, but unless I need it I'm not going to buy it. Walgreen's is open tomorrow if I decide to get some.

So far, Frasier seems to have learned his lesson regarding the fence. Although he's a smart dog and I expect him to give it another try soon. At the moment, both dogs are in the floor beside me. Frasier is grooming Maggie, and she looks like she is really enjoying it. Spoiled rotten!

I have a prayer request. My friend Virginia is having a hard time facing the first holiday without her daughter. Any prayers for their family would be appreciated.

Ok, eBay time!

Maggie's Monday Musings!

Maggie Beagle here! Sometimes my Mommm calls me other things, but my name is Maggie. She calls me moooose sometimes, and sometimes Maginator. I like Maginator, even if I don't know what it means.

My big brotherrrrr Frasierrrr is so mad! He tried to go over the fence today, so he could play in the big yard. But the fence bit him! I didn't know that fences could bite, did you? But ourrs did. I'm glad he had to stay in ourr yard, because he would go play without me and that just isn't fair. But he said some pretty bad words, I can't spell them but they were really bad! I think all the puppies next door have gone to their new homes, I hope so because I don't want them to hear that kind of barking that Frasierrrr was doing today. My ears were burrrnnning!

I played with my Mommm today, she played chase with me. I hid from her, I got under the bed and then when she couldn't find me I jumped out and ran all the way up the hall! It was fun, she almost couldn't keep up with me. I guess I run pretty fast. I think my Mommm had as much funn as I did. But I'm tirred now. I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight, Mommm says I go to bed with the chickenns. But I don't know where any chickenns are, so I don't know why she says that. But I'd like to eat chickenns. They taste good. So do moles, but we haven't found any lately.

Booking It

Well, we went to Books-a-Million. And we were not impressed! But I did get the new Ann Rule book that just came out. And Otter got a couple of books. We had a $5.00 off coupon if we spent over $25.00, between us we had just enough. The coupon actually expired yesterday but the clerk said that the computer might accept it and it did. I'm glad that the store is there, it's in an area that hasn't had a lot of development but needs it. I just don't think I'll shop there all that often.

We also went to a thrift store - Froggy, remember the Goodwill we call the far one? No luck on a coat for Otter. We decided to go to a resale shop where we bought her one a few years ago. We should have gone there first, we found her a nice warm coat for $8.00.

When we got home, Bill had the electric fence wire run for the dog's enclosure. It was connected to the original electric fence we have on the back fence, which was covered with morning glory vines since the fence has been turned off for quite a while. So in order to turn it on, Otter and I got to go out and play with the vines. Also known as pulling them all off the fence and wire, otherwise the vines could well conduct electricity to the entire fence. After we got through, Otter plugged it back in and I expect Frasier to still be in their small yard tomorrow when I get home. He probably won't try it a second time, but we'll leave it on for a few days just to make sure he realizes that the fence will bite him each time he tries to get over it. He's a smart boy, he'll figure it out pretty quick.

Froggy, I was already aware that there might be a request for maroon scarves. It's something I'm thinking about but I'm not going to commit to anything. Yet.

Ok, the cardboard pizzas should be ready in a few minutes. So I'm going to head to the kitchen now!

A Few Saturday Thoughts & Comments

I'm finally finished with the scarf I made for my secret sister at Sunday School. she likes orange so that's what I went with. I normally can make one of these in just a couple of days, but I had quite a few interruptions (car, Bill, Otter, work, eBay) and this one took me a couple of weeks start to finish. I could probably make on in one day, but my fingers might fall off my hands. I can't remember how long I made this one (measurement length), but it's a nice size. I have one I made for myself that Otter refers to as my Dr. Who scarf - it's extremely long. But I like to be able to wrap it around several times, I get cold easily. The one I made for Otter is about to be added to, it needs a couple more rows to make it wide enough for her now. I made it a while back, she's grown since then. I can probably find the yarn I made hers out of, I'm out of it. But if not, I can add the additional rows in black since that's one of the two colors I made her scarf from. I absolutely love to crochet! I made several scarves a few months back and then donated them to Goodwill or Salvation Army, I can't remember which one it was. I have two or three other crochet projects in the works right now, including coat hanger covers like Mom and Aunt Jessie used to make. Or maybe Mom made them, I'm not sure about Aunt Jessie. I do know that it's a great way to pass the time when we are on long car trips.

Frasier said that he didn't have anything he particularly wanted to say yesterday, so no Frasier Friday. He's been clingy today, much more than usual. Of course, we had a fire going in the fireplace last night and this morning which might explain it! Dog's smart, he wants to stay where the warmth is. But Maggie said that she might have a comment to make on Monday.

Otter and I roasted marshmallows in the fireplace last night. Then she made her version of 'Smores today - no chocolate, just marshmallow and graham cracker. I bought very long metal skewers just so we could roast marshmallows in the fireplace. It's a lot of fun. But I don't think I'm going to try popping corn like Mom did! (The lid came off of the corn popper, kernals fell out and they were popping all over the fireplace!).

Otter seems to think she can avoid her future Borg Queen transformation. Froggy, we know better don't we? :)

We watched Journey to the Center of the Earth today, the new one with Brendan Frasier. Let's just say that it was cute, but we would have been extremely disappointed if we'd paid theater ticket price. That seems to happen a lot, I've noticed.

Tomorrow's schedule is still subject to change, but it includes visiting a new book store that just openened in our area. Books-a-Million, I've heard of it before and it's supposed to be a very good store. Otter and I will go find out tomorrow. Then we might hit a thrift or two. We were thinking that the leather jacket style coat we bought her would work for winter, but it's not really going to be warm enough for the real winter weather we get. She's worn it several times and it was fine, but when we went to the library Thursday night for the teen program it was very windy and cold when we walked out. And she just about froze. So we're going to see if we can find her a warmer coat. She'll still wear the leather jacket on cooler days, it's a good idea to have a lighter coat or jacket as well as a big coat in this area. Friday was very cold in the morning, I finally got to wear my new suede coat and it was very warm.

Also, I got to use my remote start feature with my new car and it was nice & toasty as well as defrosted by the time I was ready to leave for work. I think I'm really going to enjoy that particular feature!

Star Trek-in'

One of my dreams has been realized! Otter is turning into a Trekkie! I'm one of the "original" Trekkies, although I'm probably technically considered to be second generation since I was about 3 when the show debuted.

I guess it was inevitable that I become a Trekkie. One of my very earliest memories is of Dad turning on the tv and there was this wonderful thing on the screen that I distinctly remember and also remember wanting to watch it. But he changed the station, probably to Gunsmoke or someting similar. This is in 1963 or possibly early 1964. Fast-forward to the mid-70's when the show was back on tv in the afternoons. I would rush home to watch it after school. I loved it from the first episode. Then several episodes into it, I had an epiphany - the early memory, one of my earliest memories in fact, was of Star Trek! And after that, there was no stopping my obsession. Once I saw that same episode, I knew I was not going to be able to avoid it. So I didn't even try, I simply enjoyed it. And it was very enjoyable most of the time.

However, even though I am obsessed with it, I'm also realistic. And sometimes it just wasn't good. There is a joke about how even numbered Trek films don't suck. It's not a joke - it's really true! There is a new movie coming out, it looks great from the trailers. And it's an even number, so that's one less worry.

Of course, part of what originally got Otter interested in Trek is the fact that the character of Spock in the new movie is played by an actor on the series Heroes. But I'm not complaining, at least she's getting into it! She's willingly becoming a Trekkie, by the way.

And since she is her mother's daughter, we also know what her future holds.

(For anyone who doesn't know what I'm referring to, let's just say that it's one of my nicknames. One of my major nicknames. And the initials are B.Q.)

And it's unavoidable.

It's a Non-Whining Wednesday

But I might whine next time!

Froggy commented on my last post, regarding trips with our parents and the snoring issue. She remembers one time. What I remember is the NEXT trip, because she absolutely refused to sleep between our parents and I had to. It was noisy, to say the least. And it became one of those family legends that we told and re-told. It is a fun memory now.

I had a quiet night last night, nobody snored! Frasier was at the end of the bed on his blanket (in the floor), but he was peaceful. He's been jumping out of the fence surrounding their small yard and spending all day in the larger part of the back yard. The water is in the small yard, today when I got home and let him in he ran to the water dish and probably drank about 1/2 of it in one long gulp. Bill thinks he's going to have to electrify that area of the fence. Poor Frasier, he's about to have a learning experience. I came home at lunch on Monday and Tuesday, and he was out in the yard but I put him back in their area. However, when Otter got home both days he was back out in the big yard.

Still enjoying the new car. I think I'm going to like all the features it has. Bill's car has been doing what it was doing while it was still my car - anytime he came near it, the problem would go away until he was gone. Then it would start acting up again. It became his car Monday evening, and it has been perfect with no spells of contrariness. Figures. Until today, he said it did act up once. But it quit pretty quickly. It's about due for an oil change, he will probably ask about it then.

Frasier is on the floor beside me. He's sleeping. And he's dreaming. I thought he was snoring, but now I think he was growling in his sleep. He frequently talks in his sleep. He might also be running in his sleep!

We are busily posting things on eBay. We still have a bunch of shirts and gloves to post, but we have sold a whole lot of the ones we had to sell. These are from the auction Bill went to in June, the going out of business sale of a military surplus store. Most of the shirts are long-sleeved so we waited until cooler weather. They are selling pretty good. We are trying to get it all done by December 1st. I won't post any tomorrow or Friday, we don't usually post on Friday anyway but anything we post tomorrow will end of Thanksgiving and that is not a big day for people to shop online. Same thing with Black Friday. However, we might be posting on Thanksgiving itself, after we've eaten ourselves silly. And because we are off on Friday, we might post then but it will be early in the day.

But I don't think we'll be out shopping at any other time on Black Friday! I've done it before, but I don't like to have to deal with the crowds. Although sometimes it's an easy grocery shopping day.

There was something else I wanted to say, but I forgot. Guess it wasn't too important. :)

Tired Tuesday!

Well, if I have Maggie Monday, Whine Wednesday and Frasier Friday then it just makes sense for Tuesday to have it's own name. At least for today. But Saturday, Wednesday and Thursday are feeling left out.

It's been a stressful day. One of my bosses is back from vacation. Which means that he's taking the pile of stuff off of his desk and recycling it to mine. Busy does not even begin to describe it, and it's going to be that way for a couple of days. Then it will be back so normal - slow. But until then...

We went to the bank today and signed the loan paperwork, then they gave me a draft to take to the dealer which I did after leaving the bank. The car is now officially ours, well ours and the bank's. The bank has to send their lein registration stuff to the state and then they'll mail me the stuff to go get my actual license plates and officially register it in our name. That could take a couple of weeks. But it's legally ours anyway. I think I am really going to enjoy this car, it is a dream to drive. I really enjoyed the last one (Bill's new car!) but this car is going to be a lot of fun as well. I also realized that we paid less for this car than we did for the Impala we bought 6 years ago and this one has more gizmos. I guess car prices are coming down.

Part of the reason I'm tired is because I had a Childhood Family Vacation Flashback last night. Froggy will remember this, and Toadly might as well. When we would go on vacations, it was generally to visit Toadly wherever the Navy had stationed him. We frequently had to sleep in the living room, on the couch and floor. Mom and Dad both snored. LOUDLY! And it was always Mom snore, Dad snore, Mom snore, Dad snore... All night long. Last night, I had a major flashback because it was Bill snore, Frasier snore, Bill snore, Frasier snore... !! I told Bill that if he snores tonight, I just might kick him out of bed. He told me that it would be Frasier's fault, but I'm not blaming the dog!

Ok, off to figure out what I want for dinner. Bill and Otter have already fed themselves, I was busy posting eBay stuff and they ate without me! I think I hear a can of tuna calling me, it'll be easy at least. Unless Otter beat me to it! She loves tuna as much as I did, and we only had one can left the last time I looked in the pantry. That could be a disaster! :)

Bill's Got a New Car!!

Bill is now the proud owner of a 2002 Chevy Impala. It's silver. Grey interior. 110,000 miles. It looks just like my old car. Amazingly like my old car. Exactly like my old car, in fact.

Because it is my old car.

And sitting beside it in the driveway is a brand new, 2008 Chevy Impala. Parked on MY side of the driveway. Silver, grey interior and 30,000 miles. And most of the bells and whistles available. Except a sunroof. Being a redhead with fair skin I decided against the one with the sunroof.

Enterprise gave us a trade in on the van, not much but more than we expected. And we got a spectacular deal on the new one. We bought my old/Bill's new car at Enterprise about 6 years ago. It was a rental and they change their models out at the end of the year which is when we bought it. The new car is the same deal, practically new but used enough so that we got a very good price. The new model is slightly smaller than the old one, but it has a few more features so I'm not complaining. Otter's just glad that I finally have a car with a cd player and a remote start. And a few other neat tricks as well. Otter hasn't driven it yet, but I did give her a ride around the block and she gave the new car a good review.

Happy, Happy! Except for the fact that we will now have a car payment, which we didn't particularly want but I really think that we made the best decision by buying a newer vehicle. This way, Bill's got a dependable car. It still has the electrical issue, but he thinks he knows what that is and it's something that will still need to be fixed. But considering what he was looking at before, the electrical problem is not going to be so bad. He was looking at what we politely referred to as beaters but a couple of them were pretty far gone in terms of needed work. So I'm not going to complain too much about having a car payment again.

But Bill's not willing to part with the Texas flag decorative front license plate and he said that I have to get another Longhorn emblem. I did tell him that I'd vacuum out his car for him. The least I can do, after all. I mean, he did just buy me a new car.

It's Maggie Monday!

Maggie here:

I don't think that it's at all fairrr that the people in our house make us go outside. It's so nice & warrrrm inside, and the people are inside so we want to be with them. But even when the people leave, the big house is still so nice and warrrrm and there's furniture to climb on, windows to look out and toys to play with. I especially like these strange things that are standing up on the furniture that I think is called chellff. They are fun to chew on and I can take them outside our little dorrrs to play with outside. But my Mommm and Frasier's Mommm get mad when we do that. I don't know why, but they get pretty growly at us. Mostly me.

The other thing that I don't like is when I have to get out of my nice, soft bed. I spend a lot of time getting the blankets just like I like them and I even have to lick them sometimes to get them right. Then just as I get all snuggly, my Mommm makes me move! Sometimes I fall right off the side of the bed, but usually I just jump. I think my Mommm is kind of mixed up, she doesn't know which side of the bed is hers and which side is mine. And she's not even happy that I got the blankets all nice & licked! I just don't underrrstand people. But I like my Mommm a lot. I think she likes it when I snuggle with her at night, she says I'm warrrm.

I guess I'll go see what big brrrrother Frasier is doing. He might be talking to the doggies next door, sometimes they come over and play with us. But I don't like one of them, she bit me on the nose once. The others are nice doggies and there are a bunch of puppies now. I know that the puppies are big enough to play with now, because Frasier's Mommm weares tese funny things on her feeet and they smelled like puppies yesterday.

It's Always A Good Day...

When I find Fenton! $1.00 at Goodwill. As usual, they didn't know what they had. This is the Daisy & Button pattern, I have a couple of other pieces in that pattern. This is the big one, I have a small hat in that pattern in another color. Happy, Happy!

The next picture is my other find at Goodwill. $1.00 each, for two of them. Needless to say, I bought both of them. I'm not positive about the maker of these pieces, I've been all over the internet and haven't found anything yet. I have my suspicions, but I'm waiting for the Expert opinion. Like Otter said, the vases are pretty and for $1.00 each I had to grab them!

The tulips are planted. Check back next spring for updates! I also got the plants out of the whiskey barrel and planted the bluebonnet seeds. I discovered that there is already a tiny bluebonnet plant coming up in the barrel, it is from when this spring's volunteer bluebonnets went to seed. Unfortunately, it's coming up in November and is probably not going to be a long-lived plant. But it gives me hope, the seeds I planted today are off of the same plants that today's find is from. I also planted a few bluebonnet seeds in one spot and the end of the tulip bed where we've never had any luck with getting anything to grow because it's very shallow. I figured it was worth a try. I had originally planned on moving iris bulbs today as well, but I think I've spent enough time playing in the dirt for one day. Actually, it's not the playing in the dirt part that I mind - it's being on the business end of the shovel! My arms, shoulders and upper back will be sore but it's worth the work to have the tulip bed. And to be accurate, I used the post-hole digger instead of a shovel to dig holes for the tulip bulbs. Dad always used to call a post-hole digger an "idiot stick" because he said only an idiot would use one! Keep in mind that he said that as he was using one, when we put the fence up at their house shortly after we'd moved in. Froggy, remember that? But it works great for planting tulip bulbs.

Bill's car situation may be solved. Details in a few days.

We got the humidifiers up and running Friday afternoon. We were starting to get electrified and I know the dogs appreciate it when we don't shock them just by petting them! Also, Bill doesn't snore quite so much since we got the humidifiers running. Which is always a good thing. He can get pretty loud!

Ok, I'm going to go surf the internet now. Maybe update this later, maybe not.

Frasier Friday

Today's installment is brought to you by none other than Frasier the Wonder Dog!

Frasier's words of wisdom will be a regular Friday feature, although not necessarily every Friday.

Right now, he is busy in the living room. Keeping his blanket company, it gets lonely. He would like me to tell you that he does not think that it was at all necessary for Otter to run the vacuum. He said that the carpet was just like he liked it.

He also wants to know if anybody has any cats for him to play with.

A Few Quick Thursday Thoughts

1) Thursday is still not Baby Friday!

2) I read that the pregnant man is pregnant again. See my previous post where I commented on SHE not being a man. Born one way, die that way - surgery doesn't change anything!

3) No new car yet. The one at the auction went for $1,100.00 which was a decent price. But Bill said that there were a few problems that were not obvious last night so he decided against it. But he's looking at a few others and we might go car shopping Sunday.

4) My rain barrel is working wonderfully. I have been watering my plants using water from it and they seem to be doing well. It's about 1/2 to 3/4 full. I don't think we have any rain expected in the next several days, but there is still plenty of water since I don't have a whole lot of plants that need watering at the moment - lots of cactus!

5) Duct tape has many wonderous uses. Otter went to the library's teen program today. They made things out of duct tape. She now has a pair of sandles and a small purse. All made out of duct tape.

Be warned - political comments coming very soon.

Wednesday. Maybe I'll Whine.

I'll find something to whine about. I will be whining about the election results, but not right now. I have so much to gripe about regarding it, but I want to get my thoughts in some type of order so I don't forget everything I want to say.

In the meantime, Froggy asked me a question. Here's the answer: YES, I am very glad that I came to my senses and did not sell the Fenton basket. That particular pattern is not seen very often, it's from the mid-80's and was a very popular one. But it's one that people tend to hang on to, so it's not easily found. I was just in the right place at the right time to be able to find that one.

We are changing our Christmas plans. It'll be a holiday at home this year for us. The Texas trip has been cancelled. We are discussing rescheduling it for early next summer. I'm going to call the doggie day spa today and cancel their reservation, and I'm also going to see about rescheduling Otter's asthma/allergist appointment to one day the week after Christmas since it's currently on a Monday which is a school day. Since we are not traveling this year, I've rescheduled my vacation for Christmas and the next week, instead of Christmas week itself. If the allergist is open that week and has an open appointment, I'll get Otter in then. Otherwise, I guess she'll have to miss a day of school for her appointment - which I'm sure she won't complain about too much!

Bill's going to look at two cars tomorrow. Both are at auctions, and he is interested in them. His van is very suddenly about to crater. He took it in this week for a vibration problem, thinking it was maybe a tire out of round or something like that. Instead, we are looking at a minimum of $700.00 with probably a lot more. The van is not worth that much, he's only had it 4 years but he paid less than $1,000.00 for it. At the time, we needed something to haul cargo that had a covered back on it and the El Camino also was not good on gas mileage. He's definetely gotten his money's worth out of the van, it's just old with a lot of miles and we are not willing to put much $$ into it. So he started looking this week and the auction that we used to go to when we were big-time eBay sellers has two estates being sold Thursday. Both have older cars but they don't have a lot of mileage and are both potential vehicles for Bill.

Ok, it's time to go get dressed so I can go to work. I'll get back to this after I get home.

_____________________

It's later now! I did manage to get myself to work this morning, I was only 3 minutes late. But since I'm normally about 15 minutes early and nobody else is ever there before 9:30 or 10:00, I wasn't overly concerned! Although Bill did try to call me straight up at 8:00 apparently, and then when he called me back about 8:05 he had a good time teasing me for being late.

Speaking of problem child (Bill), he is going to look at the two cars today. The auction house always moves any vehicles or big, expensive items to their office instead of leaving them where they might be stolen. I called them and they said that both cars are still there, so he's going over there to see them. Then he'll decide if he wants to go to either auction and bid on them. If not, then we'll keep looking. Seriously looking, he has to do something pretty quick - either fix the van (which we are not willing to do) or buy a new vehicle.

But since one of the auctions has what I suspect is a piece of vintage Fenton, I'd really like him to go! :)

I was able to reschedule Otter's allergist appointment to the day she's out of school. She has a day in early December that is a school holiday. So she won't have to miss any days. She'll go to work with me, the doctor is just up the street from where I work. Then he'll tell us what we already know: that her asthma is worsening and that karate isn't a good idea. Same thing he told us in July! But he usually has only needed to see her once a year, so the fact that he wanted to see her again in 6 months tells me something. Something I don't like.

Ok, I've put off my eBay stuff long enough. Time to get to work!

11th Hour, 11th Day, 11th Month

Thanks Dad. Thanks, big brudder Todd. And all the rest. May we NEVER forget.

2nd Sunday Post & Fenton Update

I was going to add on to my first post, but that was way early this morning and now it's evening. So I decided to just do a second one.

We never did get the tulips planted or the iris plants moved. I have spent all day dragging around, thanks to not getting much sleep last night. Just one of those sleepless nights, I guess. We are going to plant the tulip bulbs sometime during the week, as soon as we get home from school/work. I might get more iris plants moved as well, but they can wait if I don't get to them yet.

Otter and I went to the Fenton signing this afternoon. I got my blue elephant baby signed and also the $3.00 Goodwill basket I got when Froggy was here in the summer. I nearly bought another piece, but the Fenton representative, George Fenton - grandson of the founder and current company President - agreed with me that it probably wasn't Fenton. Although the seller said she thought it was, I decided to trust the expert's opinion (and also my own instincts). Otter picked out the piece she wants for Christmas this year, it's one that she liked last year but then changed her mind and picked a different one. It's a black horse with a moon and stars painted on it. There are several new pieces I am thinking about as well. But then there always are pieces I'm thinking about, when it comes to Fenton! :)

We saw the B-17 when we were on the way home. They are such wonderful planes, a really neat sight to see in the air.

Other than laundry, dishes and some light housework it has not been a very productive day. But that's ok, I don't have too many lazy Sundays and it was nice. I did manage to get a third row on the scarf I'm crocheting for my Sunday School Secret Sister gift for November. She likes orange, so I'm making her an orange and white scarf. It's going to have 5 or 6 rows, I'll decide when I finish row 5. It's going fast, but my hands were cramped up for a while this afternoon! I crochet quickly and I do enjoy it, but it sometimes makes my arms sore.

I guess that is about it for now! Frasier says woof. Or maybe he said snore, it's hard to tell with him sometimes. Maggie definitely said snore! She's back in her spot in the middle of Otter's bed.

Sunday Too Early in the Morning!

I've been up since about 5:30. I have not had my coffee yet. That's a bad thing.

Anyway, the point of this rambling is that I forgot something in last night's post. We looked out the back window and this is what we saw:

Here's a close up:

It's in Tulsa this weekend, part of the Veteran's Day observation. We have seen this one before, on the ground in San Antonio when we were expecting a little Otter. I think that this is the one that was at the SA Airport, they were offering flights but they were several hundered dollars. I'm sure that they cost a lot more now. Bill has a lot of pictures he took then. But we had never seen it in the air. It was so neat to see it flying. Bill saw it twice actually, Otter saw it the first time he did and then I saw it in the afternoon. He might have seen it Friday afternoon as he was driving home, also. But yesterday we were watching a WWII movie, and it was a scene where someone was flying a plane into enemy territory. I kept thinking that the volume must have suddenly gotten louder. Then I realized that the thundering sound I was hearing was coming from outside, not inside. I glanced out the window and there she was! B-17's are big planes and she is absolutely georgeous.

I might post more later. Right now, I'm going to go get the coffee started. My caffiene system is getting low, too much blood and not enough caffiene in my veins.

Haven't Blogged Much Lately!

It's just been a really busy few days.

We did get rain the other night. Bill said that the rain barrel was full, but it was only about 1/4 full. However, it is doing what it was designed to do and the plants inside the house got rain water from it so they were happy.

Except for one cactus. It did not get water, it seldom does anyway. But somewhere along the line, it apparently did get watered too much. Because it collapsed on itself like a telescope. I think it must have been "in the firing line" of runoff water from one of the other plants that was above it on one of my plant stands. Froggy, it was the taller one in the pink pot. I dug out my leather gloves and took it out of the pot. Then I had to put it inside of a small box to throw it away, it had long thorns! It was very mushy! It was almost like a gel inside of it. So far, the other one in the pink pot looks good. I think I'm going to relocate the remaining one to a smaller pot and transplant the prickly pear to the pink pot.

Let's see, what else? The rain storm the other night was actually pretty bad, it was a "springlike storm" which is not good. We got a lot of wind. I mean A LOT OF WIND. Nothing tornadic in our area, but there was one confirmed tornado northeast of Tulsa - towards Hominy. There was one home destroyed, no real injuries to speak of at least. Some of our patio furniture was rearranged, and the two remaining dead limbs in one of the front trees are now on the ground beside the tree. One other result of the wind: the neighbor with the dogs had no more excuses left, she had to put up her extremely tacky yard art! It blew down, it was still in her yard but just barely.

There are two new holes in the fence. One of them is right next to the two new boards Bill installed a week or so ago. He's going to take the two boards that he took down from the fence (they are partially broken), and he's going to attach them to the fence to cover the holes. He's going to use long screws, and they will stick out pretty far into the neighbor's yard. He's thinking that it might keep her dogs off the fence. We'll see. Then we are going to see if we can find out just how many dogs she has. Then we're going to turn her in to the city. I don't know how strict the city is about that, Tulsa was pretty strict but I'm not sure about the smaller town we live in now.

I had a cooking experiment today! Those are words that usually strike fear into the heart of my family, well mostly Bill anyway. I decided to try my hand at making egg rolls. I found a few low-fat recipes online. We had them for dinner. They were baked, so very little fat. Just a little olive oil that I used to slightly cook the veggies. They were ok, but I don't think I'll make them again. They came out ok, they just were kind of bland. And since they were veggies, I'm hungry already! Also, it is not cheap to make them and I can buy a package of low-fat freshly made ones at Wallyworld when I want them. Which isn't often anyway. We didn't use all the wrappers, Bill wants to try his own experiment tomorrow: hot dogs baked in egg roll wrappers. I'm trying to keep an open mind about it.

We took the dogs for a walk today, this is the first time in almost a week that we've had time for it. They were very excited when they realized that they were getting walked. Maggie was almost frantic, in fact. She was just crazed, no other word for it. Frasier calmed down pretty quickly, but then he's normally a very mellow dog. But not Magster! :)

We are probably going to plant the tulips tomorrow. And maybe relocate a few more of the iris plants. Also, there is a Fenton signing event in the afternoon. I guess it's kind of a no-brainer that we'll be there! I think I'm taking my $3.00 thrift store basket and one of my figurines. I'm not sure if Otter is taking any of her pieces or not, she might take one of hers and another of mine or two of mine, if she doesn't take any of her own. I'm not sure if she has any more that are unsigned.

More tomorrow! Or sometime soon, anyway.

A New Day

At the moment, this is all I have planned to say regarding the election:

Change in and of itself is not automatically good. Change is what got Hitler to power. Change is what got Stalin to power. Change might just get us another terrorist attack, and I don't think that the President-Elect is a strong enough man to stand up to them.

I have other thoughts, but for now I'm going to keep them to myself. However, I may post them later on.

Except for this one comment: I do think that Obama's election is in a lot of ways a good thing, because of what Dr. Martin Luther King was trying to accomplish and lost his life over. It has never been about skin color for me, and it still isn't. I think a black President is a change that we probably do need and I am glad to see that at least.

And I'm also glad that the political ads are now over. The local stuff was really dirty and I'm glad it's done.

I think it's raining! We have a good chance of it tonight. IF we get as much as forecast (like that will ever happen!), then Bill thinks that the rain barrel could easily be filled up. I don't think so, but it could get quite a bit of water collected.

I've been fighting a sinus headache all day long. I woke up about 4:00 with a stuffy nose and a dry mouth. And I have been stuffy all day. I took Motrin this afternoon, when I couldn't stand it any longer. Then I made chili tonight and it had a LOT of chili powder. It has helped quite a bit.

It's very windy, which probably didn't help my sinus headache. My neighbor (the one with the dogs) still has their really tacky, inflatable yard art in their front yard. However, the last time I looked out my kitchen window it looked like about half of the support wires had come loose and I won't be surprised if it's blown off during the night. I just hope it doesn't show up in my yard, I'm not really into horse-drawn hearses with clear sides filled with blinking skulls!

It might be thundering, so I'm finishing this up and will probably post more tomorrow. Possible spring like storms tonight!

Now Back to My Regularly Scheduled Blog Entry!

I was at the polling place at 6:50 this morning. There was very little parking available, I took a chance and pulled into the parking lot instead of parking out on the street like most people were doing at that point. I got lucky, I got a decent parking place although it was in the yard area of the church where we vote. I got in the already long line and at 7:30 I actually entered the church's doors. I'd already decided that if I had not gotten to vote by about 7:45, I'd just go on to work and come back after I got off. I was # 96, and I walked out at 7:37. Bill went after work, he gets off at 4:00 and was hoping that he would beat the 5:00 influx. He got a parking space in the very front, he did the same thing I did - took a chance. He only had about a 10 minute wait. He was # 1444. He said that the line was growing exponentially by the time he left.

Goodwill had a special, 25% off of clothing if you had an "I Voted" sticker. So Otter and I decided it was worth it to go look. She tried on a pair of really cute jeans, but they were too small. I tried on three blouses. Two were too big! That's a good thing, I'm always excited to discover that a size that fit recently is now too big. The other blouse I tried on fit, but I couldn't tell until I put it on that the collar was partially off. I looked at it, but decided it wasn't really fixable. So we walked out without buying anything, but it was still fun. There were a LOT of people in there, all with stickers and all looking at clothing.

Prayer Request: my older boss' wife is 92 and her health is not good. She's been doing great, but the last couple of months have been very hard for her. It's not one thing in particular, but she's beginning to have a lot of times when she's not well and she's been to her doctor quite a bit. Personally, I think her age is catching up with her. She's a very sweet lady, she pretty much adopted me after my Mom died and she's very close to Otter.

That's about it for tonight. I'm going to go figure out what I want to eat, nobody was really hungry so we decided to F & F tonight. F & F is our shortand for "Fix it and Find out" which is what you say when someone asks what's for dinner and you aren't cooking! Bill came up with it, and we use it frequently, not always about food. I usually cook dinner, but tonight it's an F & F night. Then I think I will watch a little tv, I'm sure it's just going to be election returns. And I probably already know what that will be. But I'm going to be optimistic as long as I can.

Election Day 2008

Did you?

It's Almost Over

We're in the home stretch now. The election is tomorrow. I will be glad for one reason: I'm tired of turning on the tv or radio and seeing/hearing nothing but political ads! Same thing about phone calls, although so far we have just gotten ones from our own party choice. Which is a good thing, because if we get an Obama call and it's a real person and not a recording - I'm going to burn their ears out with my opinions. Most of the local ones are pretty dirty, they could give lessons on how to conduct attack campaigns. I'm not anxious for another reason: I am terrified of an Obama presidency. I told Bill the other day that I knew well that I am probably living in denial about a McCain win tomorrow, but I also told him that I am happy there and I don't want to leave! I am going to be at my polling place when they open, 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. If the line is as long as it could be, I'll leave and go to work. Then I'll stop by after work tomorrow, when I can stand in line and not have to worry about being late - stand being relative, I have a bad knee and a bad heel so it might not be quiet standing! But I will vote, and I hope it's early.

Then I'm not sure if I'm even going to turn on the tv tomorrow night or not! Remember, I'm happily living in my state of denial! :) (I'm just kidding here - about not turning on the tv, anyway).

After I blogged yesterday about how we were going to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon, Otter and I decided to go take our Goodwill donation. Which meant that we had to shop there, I mean we were already there anyway! Then we decided to head to another thrift store. We didn't find much at either one, but it was still fun. Wallyworld, however, was not fun! But we were out of milk so that was not a stop we could skip. We took the plastic bags to drop off at their recycling bin while we were there, so that was one chore accomplished that I will not have to do later in the week. Of course, I still have two large paper sacks full of newspaper to drop off and I'll do that this week sometime.

Ok, I've put off my eBay stuff long enough! Time to get to work. Then it will be time to start dinner - spaghetti and garlic bread is tonight's menu. Nobody is a big fan of meatballs or meat sauce in my house, so it's a vegetarian meal for us - unless you count the butter I use to make the garlic bread. Well, I guess that is still vegetarian. Just not vegan!

Waiting on the Rain!

It's finally finished! The rain barrel, that is. Bill got it installed this morning. Then he took the hose and ran water across the roof so it would flow through the rain gutter, and it seemed to work. He actually filled up the barrel, it's just tap water but he needed to check for leaks. There are a few, but that is not unexpected. It works great. We did drain it after he checked for leaks, and that water was used for plants around the yard so it did not get wasted. We could get rain on Wednesday.

You can see the downspot that leads into the barrel, it formerly went straight down at the corner of the house. The barrel is set up in the dog's small yard. That's my kitchen window to one side of the barrel, the dog's water dish is underneath the window and outside the fence you can see part of the deck and the trellis Bill built for Otter a couple of years ago.

Here's the King of All He Surveys. He loves to lay on the deck and soak up the sunshine. He especially likes to be in front of the door, probably so that he will automatically get attention if we are trying to go in or out the door. Dog's smart. He was miffed because Maggie got her picture up here last night but he didn't. Now he can't complain about being left out!

We got a lot of our stuff done that we wanted to. Otter trimmed a lot of growth around the bottom of the trees, I dug up a bunch of iris bulbs and relocated them, I turned the dirt on the tulip bed and Otter treated it again and Bill got the rain barrel set up. I also moved one of my shepherd's hook plant stands over a few feet from where it was at.

I still have plenty of iris bulbs to move, but I'm kind of out of places to put them! They are fine around the trees, but the dogs like to run around the trees like furry, canine maniacs so I am still relocating iris bulbs. We filled in empty spots in the two rows at the back of the house and originally planned a third row behind the first two, but it was almost impossible to dig in some spots so we decided against the third row for now. I'm thinking that I might put a row or two of iris along the side of the shed where the Farm Scene is, and possibly in front of the fence to the dogs yard - on the outside of their fence.

I think that the rest of the day is going to be spent taking it easy. I have slightly sore muscles from being on the business end of the shovel. I have a few things to do inside, such as the never-ending laundry. But nothing big. I did take a nice, hot shower after I got finished with playing in the dirt and it really helped but I'll probably have sore shoulders tomorrow.

The time change throws me for a loop. I like this one better, but it will still take me a few days to adjust. The dogs don't adjust, their bellies still want to be filled at the same time every morning no matter what the clock says! This morning, it was apparently Frasier's turn to wake the chef because he was sitting beside the bed on my side, talking. He's a very vocal dog. And today, he was extremely vocal! When I did finally manage to get moving, Maggie was in the living room waiting - turning circles in her excitement.

The weather has been warmer lately. After a brief cold spell with one freeze, it's been warm again. Last night, we heard tree frogs again. They have been silent for days, but I guess that the warmer weather has brought them out of dormancy again. We've been hearing birds all day and I've seen a few more bugs lately. But it won't last, and it will take people by surprise when it does get cold again. We need to see about some firewood, but we have to get the fireplace checked first. I need to call and get them out to check it, and we're also going to get the dryer vent cleaned out again. We are probably going to do that on a yearly basis.

Ok, the clock says 11:54. But my tummy says 12:54 and I think it's time to go make lunch!

Boo! October's Gone Bye-Bye

This is Otter's "Tortured Soul Jack-O-Lantern" that she created last night. It's not the same pumpkin that she got at the pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago. That pumpkin turned out to be rotted all the way through, which was a very unpleasant surprise when I cut into it, so we made a last minute run to Wallyworld and since they were all $3.00 we got a larger one. Then we ran home and got to carving. Otter absolutely hates to have to stick her hand inside one of those things, but I made her do some of it anyway. Then we compromised. She hates is so much that she was willing to clean the toilet instead! The blood is white karo syrup with red food coloring.

If you look at the side of the pumpkin picture, you can see the front storm door. This is what was watching Otter place the pumpkin! Maggie was not happy that she wasn't allowed out, she thought that she should be able to help. Poor poochie!

We did not have very many kids at all this year. We usually have a boatload, but I think we had under 10 last night. We still have quite a bit of candy left over, Bill will take a lot of it to work on Monday where it will magically disappear. I'm also taking some to work to refill the candy jars that we have, but they don't get opened very often. If we had not had much candy, we would have been overrun with kids. Next year, we might just skip it entirely and not even participate.

Books! I need to post my October book list. Here goes:

1. Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule. This is about the several decade hunt for a serial killer in the Seattle area. It is a very disturbing book, it is well-written as all of Mrs. Rule's books are but it is a very frank picture of the dangerous that girls face "out on the streets". And they are not usually out there by choice, they are frequently very young and being taken advantage of by pimps. They don't deserve what happened to them. Otter started reading it, but it scared her so she quit until she's a little bit older.

2. On The Way Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I've read it before, so it's probably been on the list before. And probably will be again.

3. Trick or Treat, a Peanuts Halloween.

4. It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, Snoopy.

5. Create a Bewitched Falloween by Kas Rogers. No, that is not a misspelling - Falloween. Craft stuff, not too much I'll ever do.

6. Gifts to Make, Better Homes and Gardens. Some ideas.

7. Gifts for the Family. A few more ideas.

8. Change of Heart by Phillip Gulley. Part of the Harmony series, cute but not as good as the earlier books.

9. Lost Pet Chronicles by Kat Albrecht and Jana Murphy. A true story of a woman who trained her search and rescue dogs to also look for lost pets.

10. A Woman After God's Own Hearty by Elizabeth George. Wifehood from a Biblical perspective. It was not very well written and I felt like the author was kind of hypocritical in the examples she gave from her own life.

11. Georgia Cooking for Oklahoma Kitchens by Trisha Yearwood. Hope Garth has good life insurance, because a heart attack just might be in his future!

12. Chalked Up, Inside Elite Gymnastics Merciless Coaching by Jennifer Sey. What happens when you combine unattentive parents with extreme overzealous coaches and a very young girl: eating disorders, stress that would kill an adult and severe injuries. Otter took gymnastics for a couple of years to help with the scoliosis, it did help but I saw quite a few girls at the gym that in all probability did have eating disorders. The coaches seemed to be decent, but Otter was not in the competitive class and it might have been a whole different thing.

About 13, 14 and 15: Otter has her teenage fangirl obsession. And I have mine.

13. Batman Chronicles Vol. 5.

14. Batman Detective by Paul Dini.

15. Secrets of the Batcave.

16. Turbulent Souls, a Catholic Son's Return to his Jewish Family by Stephen J. Dubner. Interesting, but not very well written.

17. Sarah by Jerry Eicher. About an Amish girl.

18. Sarah's Son by Jerry Eicher. Sequel to # 17. Not the best written books, I don't know if I'll read anything else by him or not.

19. Texas Off the Beaten Path by June Naylor. Texas, of course I enjoyed it!

20. Cheech & Chong - Unauthorized Biography. Since this was written by Tommy Chong, I'm not sure about the unauthorized part! It was interesting, and let's just say that Chong wasn't really acting when he was onscreen!

21. Blue Sky July by Nia Wyn. This was written in poetry form, which I really didn't care for. It was a good book, a true story about a child born with severe physical problems and his parents were basically told to abandon him to an institution because he would never be normal. Except that he was, he only had a physical disability but his mind is normal. Fortunately, his parents ignored the advice.

22. Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale, Jr. You might have seen the movie made from this book a few years ago. It's a true story. The movie didn't cover all that much that actually happened, otherwise it would have been many hours long. Also, there were a few things changed for the movie but in general it was pretty close. He was a very sucessful forger and con man, all before he was even out of his teens! He lives in the general area of Oklahoma that I live in, he's a friend of one of my bosses and I've met him. You would never have even the slightest idea of what he did, he's turned his life around 100% and works as a consultant so that businesses won't be hit by someone like he used to be.

Ok, that's it for now.