beta blogger

I made the switch to blogger in beta - but now I cannot comment on any of your blogs, blogger won't let me, says that I am not signed in. If any one knows a solution to this, please let me know. As I have told you before, I am quite computer stupid. Let me just say this about blogger in beta - ^ &%$#f.u!7$&(?@ m.f.%4#@!!! I am still reading & enjoying your blog posts!

In case you haven't heard, DON'T EAT SPINACH! Oh, thanks, I already ate some last Wednesday night!!!! If you don't hear from me you will know why! (I had frozen spinach, so I hope that doesn't count)

Pretty funny

(I got this via e-mail, so you may have already read it)
If you are 30 or older : When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways ... through year 'round blizzards. Carrying their younger siblings on their backs ... to their one-room schoolhouse, where they maintained a Straight-A average, despite their full- time, after-school job at the local textile mill ... where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death! I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!! There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! And talk of about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had to steal it from your brother or bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! Those were your options! We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister! We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked a$$! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! ... Just like LIFE! When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed! Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your a$$ and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats! We didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up ... we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire ... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid JiffyPop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot. That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980.

Ransome the Airedale

"I thought that you knew what I look like"

Ransome's dog

You all know my Airedale, Ransome. What you may not know is that I have three dogs. That seems like a lot to me, too. Let me explain. First, in 1997, I got Ransome. When I went to work, Ransome was SO lonely. I had to get him a dog of his own. I got Buddy, he is a Jack Russell terrier. Buddy was about a year old when I got him in 1998. He was already trained and a wonderful dog. His owner was gone all day, and couldn't care for Buddy, so I took him. He was so excited to have a big yard to play in; sometimes he still stays outside all day. Now Ransome is happy; he has his own dog. Then came Hemi, my third dog, a Miniature Schnauzer. I had no intention of buying this dog. I made the mistake of picking him up; then he owned me. How could I resist?

These dogs are great and they live like kings. Now that I am retired, they consider me "part of the pack". I have to remind them daily that I am the pack leader. Just like the kids, they know I am a push-over. I love my dogs even though they are a lot of work to take care of. They are worth it. They are my "fur kids"!

Space shuttle blast off

center of the photo - the little white scratch above the clouds!
This is what the blast off looks like from my house, 152 miles southwest of the Kennedy Space Center.

My owner doesn't know that he is risking my life!

Guess who's in Florida?

where do you think I emailed from?
I woke up this morning to the sound of the dogs barking at something. I discovered a travel weary bird with big hair in the living room. Buddy dog says, "Where did you come from, little bird?"






















P.S. Cucoo likes to sleep in the drumstick sleeping bag!

PHS DRUMLINE

Friday night lights
the director scrutinizes the drumline at our away game in Sebring, Florida - September 1, 2006. (that's our boy Matt fourth from the right)

Steve Irwin

The Crocodile Hunter was a big influence in our lives. Steve Irwin taught my children that all animals, no matter how unpopular or predatory, live in this world with us, and deserve to be respected and protected. Irwin entertained us while teaching us conservation. Additionally, he taught us about being enthusiastic and passionate about life; and the importance of family. We will miss you Steve, rest in peace.

My Dad

My Dad's birthday was September 2nd. He died in the 70's; a long time ago. I still miss him. He died quite young (58) of heart disease; a condition that began when he had his first heart attack at 48 years old. Back then, if your arteries were clogged, you were just out of luck. In 2001, when I began suffering from similar symptoms, I was hospitalized and angioplasty was performed, unblocking some of my arteries. My Mother, who also has coronary artery disease, had bypass surgery in 1999. She is still with us, and will turn 87 years old next month. We think she will outlive all of us. My Father was one of 13 brothers and sisters, the son of a poor Georgia share cropper. He only went to the seventh grade, but he was the smartest man that I have ever known. My Dad taught me some valuable lessons. Some of this knowledge came from his awareness that his life might be short. The most important lesson he taught me was to be kind to people, especially people less fortuate. He would tell me that it was the responsibility of the strong to take care of the weak. He would tell me to "pass along some kindness to everyone you meet." Dad would say, "If you love someone, tell them, they have a right to know - and furthermore they would love to hear it!" So many things that he told me, so many years ago, have guided my life so far. Now I understand, more than ever, the urgency he felt to pass on these life messages as I in turn pass them on to his namesake, Preston - my son!

I don't "really" know Mickey Mouse either!

Over the past weekend the moms & boys went over to Walt Disney World. The working mom had a conference over there this week, so we decided to go a day early, and spend some time in the nice hotel. We stayed at the Contemporary Resort at Disney. Disney has several hotels right on the property. Many of the hotels and resort attractions are connected together with the monorail, boats, and trains. The Disney property is a nice place, real clean and I feel like it is really safe there. The boys went to explore the game room, so the moms had some alone time. We went down and sat by the beautiful lake, with the man-made beach and pool. It was quite picturesque there, and actually cool enough to sit outside comfortably. We talked and I began to explain to Matt's mom about my blog friends. As I talked about all of you and your blogs, she was quite amused about how much I knew about you strangers! (I guess you have to be a blogger to understand about blogging!) Even though I don't even know most of your real identities, I still think of you as "friends". I would not recognize you if we passed on the street, but I know more about you than I know about most of my "real" friends. Since I retired and I don't get out much to meet people, blogging has been a real enjoyment for me. I just wanted to let you know that you might get some funny looks (like I did) when you try to explain blogging!

What a week!

I took my computer to the Geek Squad to see if they could recover a deleted file for me. When I got there, my computer wouldn't power up. I had just unplugged it an hour before I got there, so I couldn't believe it. The techie guy told me that it was probably the motherboard, and I would spend less to buy a whole new computer. This all sounded real crazy to me, so I went home to think about it. I was looking through my paperwork and discovered that I had purchased the 3 year service plan. Since the computer was purchased in '04, I rushed up to the nearest Best Buy and put her in the hospital. Today they called, and my computer had a bad power supply. They replaced it for free under the warranty, so I was relieved. Sometimes it helps to get a second opinion! So now I STILL haven't recovered the deleted file and I don't have much hope that I will. I bought some "Search and Recover" software, and it is running as I am writing this - it takes hours! Then I will have to sift through the recovered files and see if I can find the missing one! Maybe I will get lucky.

I took Jelly's advice. I got some chocolate. I ate it. I ate some more. I am addicted, but I feel much better! Fatter, but better! I discovered this lovely brand if you love coffee and chocolate - it has both! In my recent chocolate binge - I have decided that I like DOVE the best. It is the smoothest, and it just melts in your mouth. If someone doesn't stop me, I will eat the whole bag! I have to ask my roomate to hide the bag of chocolate and only dole it out to me a few pieces at a time. Pitiful, aren't I?

I need the GEEK SQUAD!

Talk about stupid. I was deleting some unwanted files because I thought they were making my computer go. . . so. . . slow - and I must have deleted some files by mistake. My roomate tried to go to "her" files - and they were missing. Completely gone - not even as much as a mention of them in the recycle bin. Now, I admit to being computer illiterate, but I don't think I intentionally deleted a file. My roomate insinuated that somehow my actions were deliberate, because only "her" files and "her son's" files were deleted. (She actually said that she thought it was "ODD", but I took that as accusatory.) I understand her frustration because she had some important documents in there. However, I wasn't the one that didn't back up my files! All my important stuff (photos) are backed up on an external drive. We usually get along quite well. This paranoid inferred accusation begs the question, "Does mama have to slap a bitch?" Of course I am only kidding, I love her to death. I will slink down to the Geek Squad precinct tomorrow and spend hundreds of dollars to try to recover the files. Maybe if I have any money left over, I will buy her an external drive of her own!

My life in a nutshell

Sometimes I have writer's block, or actually - it's thinker's block. Then again, maybe it is "thinker's attitude". My son got his driver's license last Friday. Seeing him drive away from the house on his own is that same feeling all over again from when I dropped him off at school for the first time. Kind of empty, scared, am I doing the right thing feeling. You know, throwing him out of the nest - but wanting to grab him back. I have admitted it before, I am an "OPM" (overprotective mom). Now it is time to let him go off with his friends, and hope that he is a good boy. I have never had a bit of trouble with him, I have nothing to complain about. I guess I am just afraid he will be influenced by peer pressure. Now I will be working on the second driver, my roomate's son, helping him get his learner's permit, teaching him to drive. Ah, such is the life of a stay at home mom.
My life has changed so much in the last two years since my disability retirement. Other friends my age are still working, so I really have nothing in common with them. I mostly stay at home doing laundry, cutting the grass, cooking dinner, doing the dishes and all that other domestic crap. Even the dogs are bored with me and have stopped following me around the house. When my roomate and the boys come home, they all begin doing their personal little projects; there is little conversation. I know that I am depressed about all this. I plan to start thinking about me for a change; next week will be all about ME! Do you think they will notice? Maybe when the laundry starts to pile up and there is no dinner on the table!

I am still here!

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I am still reading your blogs. I will post all the news tomorow. I miss you too!

Your rights

You have the right to remain silent.

If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

You have the right to an attorney and to have an attorney present during questioning.

If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you at no cost.

During any questioning, you may decide at any time to exercise these rights, not answer any questions, or make any statements.

Let's go over this again. After the first sentence, it should be clear what you should do. Please, just remain silent! Stop trying to be cooperative. If the police have gone this far and they are giving you this warning - it is because they suspect you of something and they want you to make statements that will incriminate you or in some way tie you to the crime that is being investigated. Now if you STILL feel like you might want to make some kind of a statement, why not call an attorney? An attorney is a person that knows about the law and you want him there for you. Why? because they just told you that "anything you say can and will be used against you in court." What? you don't know an attorney? You are scared that it might cost too much money? It is free. They have to provide an attorney, at no cost to you. If the nice officer (who just wants to help you) gets you to start talking - remember - at any time you can just STOP TALKING!

In my 25 years as a law enforcement officer, most of those years as a detective, questioning hundreds of suspects, how many times do you think someone requested an attorney? . . . 3 times, yup, that's all, 3 times! Why? because I was SO nice, SO caring, SO compassionate.

Please don't be fooled by the nice cop. Exercise your right to remain silent. shhhhhhhhh!!!

Humidity sale

At the local K-Mart this weekend some dealership is having a car sale. They have a large tent set up in the parking lot. The cars are 2006 closeouts. I don't know about you, but who in their right mind would want to sit outside in 90 degree heat and high humidity in a tent negotiating a car deal? Maybe if the salesman passes out you get the deal!

How we spend our Friday nights

Here we are again for another year. Us moms in the stands watching our band boys practice, practice and more practice. They are in the stadium from 6 to 10 PM, working on their drills. This years show looks like it will be one of the best that I have seen. That is Matt (10th grade) on the snare drum on the left, and Preston (11th grade) on the tuba. This band is undefeated in it's class in this area.

Both boys work very hard and they really like being in the band. Us moms are happy about this, glad our babies are not running the streets and hanging with drug addicts! There is so much bad stuff for teenagers to get into, we are glad they have this activity to keep them busy. Tonight we dropped them off at 6, then we went out to a nice "moms only" quiet dinner. We will be doing this every weekend now through November. Some weekends there is a Friday night game, and then a Saturday competition the next day. This keeps the whole family busy. All the band parents must help out in some way.

Our job is to tow the band trailer full of musical instruments to competitions and away games. It is like high school re-visited, for us!