THE DECK IS DONE!!! Well Almost! We do not have the railings up yet, but I have my deck chair and table on it and it is being used as we speak. What a neat neat thing the deck is. There is just something so much different about sitting on a deck, 3 feet higher than the yard. I have no idea why, but it makes you feel good!!! Donna came home from work today, and actually joined me outside. She would not have done that just sitting on the grass. We have a Family BBQ planned for Sunday.

I saw the first baby Hairy woodpecker today. HArry came flying up to the suet feeder, as he usually does in the morning, and right behind him came what I thought was harriett, but there was red on his foreheadm not on the back of his head. He hung there upside down along side his Daddy, while Harry pecked at the suet. Jr. was chirping or buzzing (whinning) and then Daddy pulled out a piece of peanut and fed it to him. This went on for about 15 minutes. I had never seen that before. I wondered if Harry got the boys and Harriett got the girls. Don't know. I am anxious to see if Lola brings her babies to the feeder. Will I know they are babies, or will they be the same size Lola is? Hmmmmmmm.

Mariah has stacked out her territory on the deck. on the throw rug right by the door. As if to say OK, This spot is mine, you guys can have the rest of the deck.

I have four cats sitting here just staring at me. I am out of Science Diet. Their bowls are EMPTY. Now mind you, they have PLENTY to eat, in the form of Fancy Feast and cream, and dog food But NO!!!!!!! If the bowl is empty and the BAG is too, then they must be starving. Mindless of the fact that they just finished eating. THEY ARE STARVING AND GOING TO DIE IMMEDIATELY! GUess I had better get my shoes on, and go get some Science Diet...I might be LUNCH!...

Wowser!!! The deck is coming right along!! We just might have it ready for this weekends BBQ. I am so thrilled. Bob is working so very hard on it. It no doubt will withstand the 8.9 Earthquake we might have, not to mention that it is free standing, so that if the tsunami that might hit because of the 8.9 earthquake, hits, I will have a raft to survive on. Hmmm better stock the deck fully, so I can survive. Food, Water, First aid, Pet food, batteries, flashlights, both red and green ( Remember I will be floating, so it will be a water craft, gotta have port and starboard lights. OHHH might have to pre-register with the coast guard, and get numbers for the side. Any thing over 12 feet needs to be registered I think. This is 16. Oh wait, It COULD be 16' WIDE and only 12' long huh? Oh and oars. need to have some oars and a rudder. I guess we could incorporate those into the handrails, might work. BLANKETS!!! Won't need a porta pottie, just hang over the side, won't have to worry about pollution, as I will be the only one left up here. Might wanna consider a litter box for the cats, I dont think they would take too easily to hanging it over the side.

OH!! SHIT SHERLOCK!!! It just dawned on me...this Ark will be full of non-reproducing animals. They have all been fixed, including ME!!! darn.

Oyster Roast at the CPO Club today. OHHHHH MYYYYY Yummy. I had never had raw fresh oysters until about 15 years ago when Bob first took me to the club for the Oyster roast. Now I look forward to it every year. 7.00 and all you can eat oysters. They put them on a big hot grate over really hot coals, and keep turning them until they pop open with a steamy hissssssss. Baked beans, and cole slaw and fish sticks round off the menu. You load up your plate with oysters first, then go back for the beans etc. Gotta remember to bring your oyster knives and tabasco sauce and lemon. you open the oyster, and slide it right on down. Nice and warm and fresh and GOOD!!! no slime, these are really fresh right from Similk Bay! Now you dont have to wait for the roasted ones, you can reach in and grab as many raw ones still in their shell that you can eat. I like mine just hot enough to want to open easily, but not so hot that they are cooked too solid and become chewy. There ain't nuttin' better on a mid June day in the Pacific Northwest, than a good old fashioned Oyster Roast!!!!! Ya'll gotta come up and try it some time.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!! I just introduced My darling-daughter-most-adored (Chemystery) to a wicked treat. She is 36 and was in bed reading her porn, when I got up went into the kitchen and called her to come here. She grumbled, came out and said What? I then showed her fresh strawberries, sour cream and brown sugar. She quizzically sat down and I proceeded to show her how to pull the stem off, dip the end into fresh sour cream, and then dip it all into brown sugar, and pop it into her mouth. Her eyes lit up and her attitude instantly changed. "Man, something this good shouldn't be legal!!" says she, and we sat there at the table in our pj's and scarfed down 2 pints of fresh strawberries, dipped in sour cream and brown sugar! what a wicked wicked midnight snack. (says she grinning wickedly...)

I am having a devil of a time adjusting to this new desk. I am used to looking at the monitor straight on, and sitting as close as possible to the desk. This is one of those really cool looking office type l shaped desks with the monitor in the corner and the keyboard under the top, at a 45 degree angle to the monitor. Since I am NOT a great typist, I need to look at my keys, and the monitor at the same time. It is much easier when I can just raise my eyes up and look. Now my neck is getting sore from constant turning. There has Got to be a reasonable solution to this. right now I am sitting crooked in my chair, with the keyboard off the shelf and on top of the desk right under the monitor. Seems to work, but the monitor is still kinda high. Guess I will eventually get used to it. or not...

I have a big project with The Playhouse. I am getting ready for their big Advertising beg-a-thon to all of the businesses in town. We depend on our advertisers for support with our programs, and our scholarships. In the past they have not done a full scale mailing to every business, just the ones they have dealt with in the past. Since this town has grown A LOT, It is really time for a full scale blitz. That is where I come in. All 600+ businesses on the Northern part of this island will be receiving a nice letter, scanned on my neat new HP scanjet, and printed on my new printer. Now all I need to do is stuff all 600+ envelopes with all of the info needed. SHEESH.

OOPS!! My favorite Saturday morning tv show is Best Of taste, a locally produced cooking show, which goes to different locations and cooks. I guess they havn't been following the Franco-boycott. They have 4 French Chefs on, making 4 french dishes...BUT they are drinking 4 WASHINGTON wines. Ok Cool.

I had a really good chuckle this morning, I read GROUCY OLD CRIPPLE who was ranting about how absurdly ridiculous we have gotten about being POLITICALLY CORRECT. Actually he wasn't ranting, just observing in his own special way. I love waking up with Denny...

decided to get up and fix myself a breakfast of steel cut oats...package says you can nuke them. Wow, says I, Maybe THAT is the way to go, you wouldnt need to stand there and watch them cook so they did not burn. I put them and the water in the bowl, and covered them then nuked them for 5 minutes, let them sit for another 5. I came back in to eat my wonderful breakfast, and they were all over the bottom of the microwave, none in the bowl, no water left, a dismal failure. I scrapped them off the oven and poured myself my thrid cup of coffee. I hate instructions that dont work. They said a large bowl, I did, but what they didnt say was that it needed to be a VERY LARGE bowl. I may try this again, or I may just give up trying to cook them.

gotta remember to buy a lotto ticket today. Mega lotto is up to 180 million, and regular lotto is up to 16 million, either one would definately make my retirement a much more pleasurable event. I could take a really long vacation. I would ask my sister to retire, and we could buy a motorhome and go to Alaska. We could hire our own nutritionist to go with us, and make it a working vacation, to get our health back to where it needs to be. Donna has already said she would not quit working, she says she worked too hard to get here, now she wants to know that it is what she really wants to do. I can understand that. I would set up a trust fund for all of the kids, Tim, Scotty and Donna, so that their lives would be comfortable, but not handed to them. I know Tim would fritter it away. Scotty would go to Medical school, and become a surgeon, or a physical therapist, or whatever he wanted to be, He is smart, just not rich.

I must be the only person in the world who has not read the Harry Potter series of books. I guess I should remedy that huh? Well while I am on one of my many cruises, I can read them. Sit in a nice deck chair, with a big floppy hat, and sunglasses and read. Maybe with a nice Chi-Chi, or some such wicked drink by my side. gads!!! what a way to live. A nice Carribbean Cruise, with a suite, and a personal butler, and maybe my own personal trainer...ahhhhhhhhhh...

Up today at 530. Stomach rumbling and cramping...maybe my malais yesterday wasn't just a function of this weekend. Maybe I have a bug. I keep thinking that as many birds that I have around my feeder, could I get salmonella? Is it airborne? I wash my hands thoroughly after touching the feeders, but I still wonder.

I am going to go on a critter getter campaign. I love animals, I love gardening, I love flowers. They do not mix! I had a garden roto-tilled and ready for planting. I bought petunias to edge the plat with. They smell so sweet at night, and It made me feel really good planting them. The rabbits LOVE the blooms. I bought a really pretty tickweed plant that had nice orangish yellow flowers on it. The rabbits love it. In fact, it is muched to the GROUND! I don't want to have to fence it off, but I may have to out of self-defense. Maybe a little picket fence, that will just delineate the garden plat from the grass. I have not had a rabbit problem before, so one of three things could be happening. We could have a lack of Coyotes now, which is something new. Usually they are right out side the fence every night yapping and killing. We could have a major rabbit population explosion, (tied to the fact that there seems to be a lack of coyotes) The rabbits could have just this year found the feeders, and the seeds that have been spilled on the ground. I have identified two areas where they are getting in through the fence, so now the question arises, Do I spend lots of money trying to plug holes in the fence that they might just dig under? Or should I quit feeding the birds? (nah) Or should I just give in and not continue planting things that they like. I wonder what plants repel rabbits? They seem to like everything.

Donna bought some Scottish steel-cut oats the other day. They are a pain in the butt to cook, but they are really really good. chewey and nutty. Not at all like our oatmeal. They are good with some butter and cinnamon, maybe a little sweetner. Yumm!!! (guess what I am having for breakfast?)

I have to get busy blocking act one of Over The River and Through the Woods. I have a meeting with the director June 28, and need to have it ready by then. I also need to get busy on GODSPELL. That is the one I am directing. I really need to find a Musical Director, THe one I had is getting transferred to Spain. We are really going to miss her. I hope she comes back.

I feel like I am being over scheduled. Now why? I dont have anything else to do. Why do I feel that having one thing scheduled every day is putting me into a bind? I guess three months of sitting on my ass has gotten too comfortable. Gotta get up and get going, gotta do it, gotta...

Well I knew I would be down today. I had way too much energy this weekend. I woke up late, 630, and got my coffee made, then started right in reading my blogs, however, I threw my whole schedule off and couldnt recoup.. Bob came over about 100 after saying that he would be hee around 1030. He started in digging, and got the hardware cloth buried for the rat guard. (?) Tomorrow he is planning to get the concrete piers layed out and then lay the weed blocker down, so that the weeds wont grow through the deck. I can't wait until I can take my morning coffee out back and sit in the sun and watch morning arrive. You just watch, the first week after it is finished, it will be raining!!! this is after all June, and usually the rainiest month of the year...

I am soooo tired and achey!!! I started on the office last night. I moved out the old desk, and stacked it in pieces in the Living Room along with all the other crap that was stacked in there. Then I started in painting. Got one half of the office painted, and vaccuumed, then put the new desk in and hooked the computer back up. Whew what a chore. I then went to bed, but was so tired, I could not sleep. Read until 230 this morning. I got up this morning, and started in again, got the front of the house all cleaned and re-arranged, put a turkey in the oven, and washed all of the rugs. The house with the exception of my bedroom and the utility room is CLEAN!!! yeah!!!

Bob is going to build my deck this week!! Surprise!!!! I have been waiting over three years for my deck, Looks like it is a reality now. WHOO_HOO!!! I am so tickled. I can get up and drink my coffee on the deck, and watch the birds and squirrels, just like a real Plutocrat...

THE ALDER TREES!! That is what I was trying to remember to blog about!!! Whew!!

Yesterday on my way back home from Bremerton, I took the back way along port Ludlow and Oak Bay. The road is very quiet, and covered with tons of alders and maple trees. As I was driving down this one long stretch of road, I noticed that it looked like late Fall, or winter, I couldnt figure out what was wrong, but knew something was. I drove for about another mile, and then it hit me, all of the trees were leaf-less. Totally bare. At first I thought that it was a big stand of dead trees, but as I looked harder, noticing the sky through the bare branches, I saw them. THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of Caterpiller tents. THe tops of the trees were COVERED with them. We are having an infestation of Tent caterpillers this year, they are everywhere, but they have not denuded our alder trees so far. Doing a good number on the peach trees though. You can not walk out in the back yard without getting at least one of the buggers dropped on you. (shudder) I had never seen such devastation as I saw yesterday. I guess we need a really cold winter this year to kill the suckers off. You'd think that with all of the caterpillers, there would be more birds that eat bugs, than usual, but so far they are not here. Robins are, but not much else. Just seed eaters. MAybe now that they have all hatched out, the birds will come. Eat hardy little guys, we dont want those creepy things eating all of our trees bare...

The Bad part of going through 35 years of collecting books, is that when you open them,( to make sure you hadn't stashed a million dollar check in one of them,) the old memories come flooding back. THere are a lot of School books, which bring back memories of old boy friends, and old hurts, there are tons of self-help books, that bring back the struggles you dealt with, alcoholic parents, weight- struggles, divorces, etc. Then there are the Nature books, and photography books, and natural history books, and the coffee table books, etc. I closed my heart and put them in the bags. There are all of Dad's books on building log cabins, self sufficiency books and old navy year books. These also went into the bags. I will give them all to my sister who will keep what she wants and then send the rest to charity. Oh and the whole collection of Dr Suess and Disney books that we bought for the kids. These I will keep JUST IN CASE I EVER HAVE GRANDKIDS! (phhfftt yeah right!) All of my management books went! If I ever do go back to work, I do not want to get that far up the management chain ever again. Oh swell, the sound of freedom is back. So much for watching tv tonite!!! THe deer chasing plane just went over, soon the others will follow, and that will be it for hearing anything until they quit again. Hmmm. Might be a good time to finish the office huh? wanna help?...

hmmmm...now I'm really getting worried about me. I can't remember if I gave myself my insulin shot this morning. My blood glucose is 113, which is good, But I really dont think I did. I am not going to risk it and take another shot and go into hypoglycemia, I will just watch it and if I start going really high, I will dose then. This is what I get for getting up so damned early. If I continue to do this, I will have to establish a ritual, like wake up, make coffee, take insulin, drink coffee, eat breakfast, take pills, then take nap. If I nap BEFORE I get dressed, I wake up and wonder if I did, but if I get dressed and take a nap LATER in the day, then Im ok. JEEZ...retirement is really confusing huh? Life shouldn't be this hard...

Now I'm getting scared! I was up at 545 watching the birds, and getting Chemystery off to work, and I thought of a topic I needed to blog about. I ran in here, dialed up and went totally blank...I'm too young to forget things...How old am I? :-)...

wow!!! didn't realize that I haven't blogged in almost a week! My how time does fly when you don't have to worry about time any more! One day flows into the next, and the planes keep flying...In fact they should be starting just about any time now. The sun is down, and the dusk is rapidly turning over into night. Just about the time you think yay, a night without planes, the first one makes it's very low, very fast, very noisy run over the field, and over the house; scaring the deer off the runway. It would not do at all to have a Navy jet going at full throttle to hit a deer, suck what is left of it into the intake, and then veer off and crash either into the woods, or into the housing area. Since My house is one of the first ones after the trees, I really am glad they shoo them off. Don't like drop in visitors!!! :-Z

The Squirrell war seems to have reached a truce. As long as the first squirrel in does not see the second one coming, then they get along fine. I saw them do something different today, but I have no idea what the significance of it was. Squirrell No.1 chased #2, along the fence line, but then he sat on the ground staring up at the other one and slapped his tail on the ground for about 3 minutes. Then he came back and started munching on sunflower seeds again. ???? Anybody have any idea?

I drove to Bremerton today to meet with the regional EEO investigator, who interviewed me about my case. I don't have warm fuzzies about the outcome, but at least I am giving it an all out try. What do I have to lose? And I might just maybe win this. OH please Lord!! let me win my case. It would sure make the end of my career seem bittersweet instead of just bitter.

The baby sparrows are out in full feather now. THere are about 7 of them that fly down to the feeder with their downy feathers fluffed up and the yellow outline of their big baby mouths still wide open and begging! They are eating seed now, but as soon as Mom or Dad flys over they all start waving their wings and begging. They are so cute to watch. Momma Bird has the patience of Job. I'd get tired and start slapping 'em. SHUT UP!!! MOVE OUT!!! FEED YOURSELF!!! Harry the Hairy woodpecker, and Mort, the Downy woodpecker are going after the peanut suet like there was no tomorrow. THey fly right up to the window feeder, hang there and peck away until they have a beak full, then fly off, only to return for more. The females of both species visit also, but they are quiet about it so I hardly see them. The males are noisy, and like to let you know they are in the neighborhood.

I really need to get my ass working on my office. My house has been torn up since I retired, I have Donna's bedroom finished, but I still have not finished the office. I did give all of my paperback books to Phyllis, and she is passing them around the neighborhood!! there must have been 300 of them!!now It is the text books next. I still have my freshman year in college sight singing book. no words, just 300 pages of music to sight sing. WHY? tons of text books from college, tons of cook books, 10 year old magazines!! I AM SICK!!!!! Get rid of them!!!

I think I will go in and take a long soaky bath, light a candle and reeeeelaaaax!!! see ya...

It starts again!! the hottest day of the year when everyone has every window and door in their house wide open to let in the cool night air, and the Base is bouncing jets again. This will be the forth night in a row that they have bounced. There must be something in the wind, as we still dont have all of our squadrons back in country yet, and for two years there has not been this much night flying. Now it is every 30 seconds, right over the top of the house. They are so low, you can read the pilots names on the side of their cockpits. I know I should not complain, it is after all the SOUND OF FREEDOM, but when it goes until after midnight it gets really irratating. They have too fly at night to practice hitting the carrier deck after dark. and since we are high up in the 50 degrees latitude, the sun does not set until almost 930 pm. AH well, better just grab another book and settle in for the evening. It is only 1030 and just finally dark. (long dusks here too) wont be sleeping early tonite!!! I had the girl child rub my back good with aspercreme so I should be ok for the night. I hope...

The planes quit flying at 1215 this morning. The quiet woke me up, and I could not get back to a good deep sleep. I tossed and turned, and my back was aching sooo bad. I finally got up at 200 and surfed awhile, finished my book, read an old map, and saw the crack of dawn. actually the birds were chirping at 335! still very dark, but SOMETHING told them it was time to wake up. I wonder what that is? I think I finally made it to sleep around 445. I hope Donna was not late, I usually wake her up at 500 to start getting ready. I even forgot to make her coffee!! oh SHAME! I turned over about 700, turned on the today show and slept fitfully until 900.

It's gonna be another hot one today!! it already is in the 70's and it isn't even noon yet!! I went out and filled the hummingbird feeders and the sun was very warm. I wish I had my deck built!!! I think laying out in the sun with it beating down on my poor sorry back would feel really good. I would give anything to be pain free. I want energy again. Of course I know that some of this is due to the nasty cold I have in my nose. achy, lethargic, stuffynose, cough. SHIT!! I want to get my office finished!! I just have no energy!

I guess I need a vacation. Oh sure you say, you are on a lifelong vacation, but I'm not. I wake up every day and fall into the same routine, and see the same scenery, and look at the same mess, and set the same goals, and dont fulfill any of them. I need a change of pace. I know!!! I need to have an affair! a really romantic, fulfilling, make-me-feel-good-mentally-and physically-affair. A LONG one. yeah right...

WELL, WE CAN CERTAINLY TELL THE WAR IS OVER, AND THE PLANES ARE HOME....EVERY NIGHT AT 915 THEY START FLYING...RIGHT OVER MY HOUSE. i LIVE JUST THROUGH THE TREES FROM THE PRACTICE FIELD WHERE THEY PRACTICE THEIR NIGHT TIME CARRIER LANDINGS. I HAVE TO YELL SO YOU CAN HEAR ME. WHEN THEY FLY, THERE IS NO TELEVISION TO BE HEARD, NO RADIO, NOTHING. SO I BLOG, OR READ. IF THEY ARE GOING IN A CIRCLE IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET SOME SLEEP IF YOU REALLY CONCENTRATE ON NOT HEARING THEM. IT IS WHEN THEY BREAK THEIR RHYTHM THAT YOU WAKE UP, WHEN THEY HEAD BACK TO THE BASE FOR MORE FUEL, AND IT BECOMES QUIET...HUH? WHAT WAS THAT!!!!! OH! QUIET. THEN YOU GET USED TO THAT, AND THEY COME BACK AGAIN. aT LEAST WE ONLY HAVE THE EA6B'S NOT THE F14, F16, OR F18'S NOW TALK ABOUT LOUD...

I started in on my office today. got about 10 bags of books out of it, and into the back of the car. They are going to the forgotten childrens fund garage sale, I must have 500 books, of all kinds. I hate to throw a book away, but it has become a big issue, I rented a storage locker for 3 years to store all the books in while I was gone, and came back with about 200 more!! I need to start taking advantage of the library. IT'S FREE!

Think I'll go get my shower, wash my hair and go read for awhile. sniff, sniff, oh goodness, I smell jet fuel. must have been dumping some.