Busy day...

Sadie had a Beauty Shop appt at 900 yesterday morning, so I was up early and out the door. It was a wonderful weather day. Typical Fall morning. COLD and wet, and cloudy and windy. I drove along West Beach heading out to Sunset Kennels to drop Sadie off. The water was choppy but not really rough, but the wind was really brisk. I love days like that. I stopped by the Cemetery to see Bob, (no folks, he WORKS there, isn't BURIED there) and spent a few minutes talking about stuff.

Stopped by Prairie Center and got groceries, and drain-cleaner. My tub is running really slow, and puddles up around my ankles when I shower. I have a really funky stopper, that will not come out, so I have to really dump the crap down there to unstop it. I poured the whole bottle down, waited for 3 hours and went in and ran hot water down it until it too puddled up. Did not work. SHIT! Now I have to find a wire and snake it down the drain and pull up the hair that is clogging the drain. I HATE that. Why don't things work like they are advertised to? It said Will unplug any clog!! WRONG!!!

got the call that Sadie was ready, so I gathered up my stuff for the evening and headed out the door. Sadie looked soooo cute when I picked her up. She had on orange pumpkin ribbons and bows in her ears, and a Halloween scarf around her neck. All decked out in her Halloween costume. I was going to take a picture of her, but she had them out of her ears in 15 minutes!! Little shit.

On to the dry cleaners, the feed store, the drug store, the scrapbook store and on to the Playhouse for rehearsal of LSOH (Little Shop Of Horrors). This one I am only the producer, not the director, so it is way easier.

When I got home last night Donna asked if I had fixed the dryer. OOPS! Knew I had forgotten something. SO much for going to bed early. I was washing rugs the other day, and one of them was shedding really bad, and clogged up the lint screen, and As I was pulling it out a big was of lint fell back in. I have been meaning to clean out the hose for a long time, and told Donna not to use it until I did because I have lived through two dryer-fires in my life and do not want to do it ever again.

So down on my knees and crunched around the dryer I am with the screw gun, and took off the back to get to the lint. There I found MORE metal to remove. SO I have a pile of screws around my knees, a ton of lint on the floor, and I still cant get to the lint filter. I finally got my hand up there and felt sunflower seeds, and stuff, and thought SHIT!!!! IT IS A RAT!!!!!!!!! I shuddered and screamed and Donna was on top of the dryer screaming GET IT GET IT. I pulled it out and it was an unrecognizable mass of something. I just threw it away, did not want to know.

I got the back all put back together, plugged it in and could not move to get my Ass up so we could push it back. Finally got my creaky crunchy knees up and my back straight and got it all pushed back into place and Donna was able to get her washing done at 100 this morning.

When You are a Military wife, you have to learn to do things on your own. You don't have the money to hire it done, and your husband is never home when something breaks, and couldn't fix it even if he was home. I learned when I was little how the simple things worked, and what to do to fix them. I have changed the belt on the dryer drum (got it all put back together and it worked, but it was crooked and squeaked, so I just left it that way. I have fixed the linkage on my car, with a hair pin, I have patched the hole in my muffler with an industrial size pickle can and baling wire, I have fixed a broken windshield wiper with a regular size kotex. (Hey guys, It WORKS) and I have removed a pair of babies rubber pants from the water pump of my washer. It makes me so very angry because I can not figure out this Computer on my own. I can if I can have someone look over my shoulder, But I have not ever had the opportunity to have a geek at my elbow all the time.

What I was trying to say before I was distracted, was that We are female, but there is no way we are the WEAKER sex. We can do anything we put our minds to. We may not have the upper body strength that a male has, but we can definitely multitask better than any man can.

Whew! I'll shut up now.

places to see...

Several years ago, right after my daughter came to stay with me while job-hunting, I started peeking at a blog she read daily. It was called Textism. Now I have no clue what he actually wrote about because it was ll way over my head, I think he writting software or something, but it did not matter, I did not read him. I came to look at the Daily Oliver icon on his page. Oliver is his weimaraner. Oliver is world famous...came about because he won an award for a daily pet blog, and Oliver is way too cool!

Oliver has his picture taken every single day. And a new picture is posted. EVERY day. I clicked on it just for the damned dog. SUddenly there was nothing. a blank page. I would go back every so often and check again, but no more Oliver. As I was going through my folder labeled BLOGS I DONT READ ANYMORE, I saw Oliver listed and thought I would try again. VOILA!!! THere was Oliver again. Only this time it is JUST Oliver. (And Hugo more on Hugo later) His picture is big now no longer a teeny little icon, and under it there is room to comment. People do, but the way they comment is to devise captions for the daily picture. You all have GOT to go see Oliver. http://textism.com/oliver/daily/

Oliver lives with his Daddy and his Mommy (who also has a blog called Open Brackets) and a brother named Hugo who came into Olivers world about 2 years ago. They all live happily in a little old vineyard in France somewhere, don't know where. And now Hugo is getting into the act. You cant tell them apart now, except for the color of the collar if you can see it.

Go on hop over to France and have a peek. click on the arrows at the top of the page above the daily picture and you can go back and read some of the past pictures comments...THey are entertainment in themselves!!!

Closing night!!!! YES!!

You are the Fool card. The Fool fearlessly begins
the journey into the unknown. To do this, he
does not regard the world he knows as firm and
fixed. He has a seemingly reckless disregard
for obstacles. In the Ryder-Waite deck, he is
seen stepping off a cliff with his gaze on the
sky, and a rainbow is there to catch him. In
order to explore and expand, one must disregard
convention and conformity. Those in the throes
of convention look at the unconventional,
non-conformist personality and think What a
fool. They lack the point of view to understand
The Fool's actions. But The Fool has roots in
tradition as one who is closest to the spirit
world. In many tribal cultures, those born with
strange and unusual character traits were held
in awe. Shamans were people who could see
visions and go on journeys that we now label
hallucinations and schizophrenia. Those with
physical differences had experience and
knowledge that the average person could not
understand. The Fool is God. The number of the
card is zero, which when drawn is a perfect
circle. This circle represents both emptiness
and infinity. The Fool is not shackled by
mountains and valleys or by his physical body.
He does not accept the appearance of cliff and
air as being distinct or real. Image from: Mary
DeLave http://www.marydelave.com/


Which Tarot Card Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla



I found this quiz over on CINDRA’s site.  I thought I would take it as I just finished a play about ghosts, and spirits.  Tarot cards were one of the props, although they were never used nor referred to.  The cast got me a real crystal ball for a director’s gift.  Now I spose I am going to have to find out what you are sposed to do with one.  Rub it?  Look into it?  Make wishes on it?  See the future in it?  My daughter says put it on the bookshelf and let it collect dust.  Nope not this one.  It is a real honest to goodness crystal ball made our of pure lead crystal!  HEAVY little sucker.

We struck the set last night, and I got home at 2:00!  GOD that makes for a horribly long day!!  I am so tired!  My cast was WONDERFUL!!  Tradition says the incoming show should be there to help tear down, but no one from the other show showed up until almost midnight.  And then It was only Rusty and her hubby and Karol.  NO ONE else!  (

I was fuming.  GRRRRRRR!  Thank you LORD for wonderful cast, and their families;  Arnie and her kids, Billy and Natalie, who have worked tirelessly through it all.  Vivian and her boys, including her hubby; Mike and Traci and her hubby and Mary K.  They were there for me all the way!!  I would work with any of them any time.  

Closing night has it’s foibles.  During the first scene, Madame Arcati goes to the window and opens it, and during this a bird twitters.  On and on.  She makes comment about the way it is angry.  Last night as she opened the window and the bird twittered, off across the back Edith the maid, was seen slowly creeping across the stage with a rifle.  I sat up and wondered WTF?  Suddenly Madame Arcati stops and we hear a BANG and feathers fly in the open window.  I was stupefied!!!  M.A. turns to the audience and said  “Well that got the Pecker!”  I damn near peed my pants!!!!  That was just the beginning.  They were ad-libbing all during the first act. At the final scene of the Act, Elvira picks up a plastiop glass and throws it at Ruth.  Well for some reason, her prop was missing so she picks up a bud vase and hurls it across the stage, where it hit the corner of the wall shattered and sprayed the audience with broken glass!!  SHIT!!!!

During intermission I Had to go down and see if everyone was ok, and they all thought it was funny. THANK GOD!  SO I went into the greenroom and just stood there with my hands on my hips.  M.A. looks over and in her British voice says, OOOOO Mother is angry.  Well I had to tell them that they had to cool it with the pranks, because it was ruining the flow of the show, and even though they were funny and it was their show, the audience DESERVED their money’s worth to see a good show.  They understood and agreed that it was throwing their lines off. So the 2nd act was MUCH better.  Still had plenty of ad-libs though. I had to laugh.  Community Theater is sooooo unpredictable.

CJ I will try to get the DVD off to you this week, and then you can send it on to KIMMOTION and the others.  I will include the names on the cover of the DVD, so you will know who is next.  Any of you know to copy DVD’s?  I have never tried it.  Maybe I should investigate and then send you each one.

So Far this is who I have in order of request:
     CJ
     Kim
     Barbara (Purple Moose)
     Leslie
     Brenda
I have addresses for each of you, do you mind sharing with the others on this list?  If not let me know and when it is your turn to view it, I will have it sent back to me and I will send it on to you.  Now if you know how to burn a DVD let me know, And we can get this even faster.


Critter alert!!!

This morning I was watching the feeder and noticed Lola on the feeder, but something was different.  She was a different color!  Then I realized that who I was seeing was Suzie’s babies!  They are small like Lola, but colored like their Mom.  Suzie is a big gray squirrel about 5 times as big as Lola.  Now Lola’s babies are the same size as she is, so it is hard to tell them apart, other than they are really noisy and shy.  Suzies babies are too, but they will grow big.  I guess I had better stock up on peanuts and walnuts.  I wonder if they do Filburts?  There is a tree just down the street.  ;)

I am going to go put my aching back and knees into a nice hot bath and see if I can soak some of the pain out of them.    Old age is such a SHIT!!! (
     

GOD! What a night!!!

Tonight was the 2nd to the last show. Tomorrow night we close and strike the set. Tradition has it that anything can happen on closing night. BUT it happened TONIGHT instead. Billy our leading man, has never been on stage before, and all during rehearsals he would crack up if someone else laughed. Tonight he did it again, and cracked up one of his wives. The audience HOOTED!! It was a great audience to do it to. They stopped and applauded the crack up, and so the all recovered and went on with the show.


sleep


In the last scene, we open the scene with Madame Arcati asleep on the sofa, and the others tired and wanting to go to sleep too. Well during the dark stage, while everyone is taking their places and the stage crew is setting the props, Madame Arcarti mumbles, as if she is talking in her sleep. She is ad-libing, and it got laughs so we left it in. (We do not use a curtain, you just see the stage, and the full set.) Well tonight she was plainly heard by Billy saying "Dr Freud, you really need to get over this fixation with your mother!" I heard it up in the director's perch, and I snorted, ( Yes, people, I snort when I laugh, and milk has been known to leave my nose if I am drinking any. ) Billy also heard that, and he started laughing just as the lights came up. He was shaking and tears were coming down his cheeks. I was hooting in the balcony, and the Stage Manager was about to pee her pants. The Light Operator was laughing and Madame Arcati was just stoically laying there, mumbling as if nothing happened. During the tears, Billy tried to wipe them out of his eyes and continue on, but unfortunately he did not have on waterproof mascara on. He rubbed his eyes, got raccoon eyes, didn't know it and rubbed again. We howled, the audience howled, he rubbed some more, and then the rest of the cast saw it and started to. It was great!!!! I have not laughed that hard in a while. Thank god for great audiences.

I had told the cast that I was not a do it or else director. I believed in having FUN doing a show. That Laughing was allowed. And trust me, they took me at my word. I am known for my boisterous laugh!

Tomorrow night is strike, and that is after the show ends. SO we wont get out of there until after 3 AM! UGH This is the part I hate! I have no idea why the playhouse does not allow strike on SUNDAY, or else have closing the last SUNDAY, and it would be a matinee, then strike. That way we would not be up all night.
GOD I hope that the LSOH cast shows up like planned.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am listening to the musical called HONK! Right now and it is so funny!! It is the story of the Ugly Duckling. Costumes are yellow rain slickers and Orange rubber boots. These are the kind of shows I LOVE to work on. Ones that allow you to use your imagination. We are reviewing plays right now, getting ready to narrow our choices down to 10 shows for the membership to vote as a line up for next season.

If you could, which 5 musicals and 5 nonmusicals would you pick. Which ones would you pay 14.00 to go see? I am curious to see which ones all of you would choose. Which ones are the most popular?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Bad night...

I was getting ready to go into rehearsal for Little Shop of Horrors last night and I started feeling a little dizzy, then got a BASTARD of a headache. SO I laid down for just a few minutes. I took my blood glucose and It was heading south. It was still in the normal range, but getting low. I tried to get up but my head was just spinning. I laid back down and woke up at 730. I tried to get up and go in then, but I was shivering and freezing, and shaking inside, so I stayed home. I got up and fixed something to eat, and curled up in my spiffy new chair (had to shoo 3 cats off of it first) to watch TV. It was Martha Apprentice night. (whoot) and then it was E-ring. Not really sure I like that program. I like the premise of it, but I do not like the character that Dennis Hopper plays. He is too sarcastically funny, and should not be in a position like he has. He should be more in tune with what is going on. Now Ben Bratt's character is just FINE!!!!! I think with some tweeking and some new writers, the show would be pretty good.

I drank a cup of Constant Comment tea, and went back to bed. I snuggled down to enjoy the storm, and then the pain started in. My hip, my knee, and my back started hurting and aching so badly, it kept me up most of the night. I hurt clear through my body.

When I finally DID get to sleep, I got about 3 hours worth and then I woke up with someone trying to crawl under the covers with me. I could not imagine who it could be, because I could feel them the full length of me, so I knew it was not a cat. Sadie was still asleep in her pen, so I tried to roll over and could not. I was being pushed off the bed!! TILLY!!!!! She gets right up against you and tries to get UNDER you, and in so doing takes over the whole bed. I have a queen sized bed, so there should be plenty of room for her and me.

I got up made a pot of coffee and came in to blog walk. The storm is the first wind we have had in months, and it is snowing yellow leaves from the alders. Last night you could actually smell the rain coming. Night before last, it was still and foggy, and I smelled the salty brine of the sea. I woke up and could not quite figure out where I was that I could smell the ocean so clearly. Then I realized that it was really thick fog, and then I realized that the smell came in with the fog. It lays just off shore during the day, and creeps back in at night. I was confused because there was no fog horn blowing, so I gathered that the fog had risen, and was up at my level, but was clear at sea level. Thus no horns would go off. I love the smell of the sea. It is so primoral! It awakens my senses and it is almost like I was going back to my very roots, all the way back to the very beginning when my maker decided it was time to crawl out of the sea and start walking on dry land. I could almost feel the pull back to it.

I get that way sometimes. I feel another lifetime tugging at me, from the dark depths of the universe. I never quite know from where it comes, but I have a very strong feeling that I have been recycled so to speak. I get that feeling when I am in the mountains, staring out across a valley, or looking across at a forested peak. I KNOW I have to have lived before. I am so in tune with the past, that I feel I must have lived around the middle to the late 19th century. Maybe even the late 18th century, but away from civilization. In the Mountains. I feel that pull very strongly. I feel that I am still a young soul though. SO I know I will be recycled back again. Now whether or not that will be forward or backwards I do not know, Time being the strange creature that it is, I may go so far into the future that I go right back to the very beginning. I wonder....

Wednesday Funnies

You are driving down the road in your car on a wild,
stormy night when you pass by a bus stop and you see
three people waiting for the bus:
 
1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
 
Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there
could only be one passenger in your car?
 
Think before you continue reading. This is a moral/ethical dilemma
that was once actually used as part of a job application.
You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus
you should save her first. Or you could take the old friend because he
once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back.
However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.
 
The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer. He simply answered: "I would give the car keys to my old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams."
Sometimes, we gain more if we are able to give up our stubborn thought limitations. Never forget to "Think Outside of the Box."
 
HOWEVER...
The correct answer is to run the old lady over and put her out of her misery,
have sex with the perfect partner on the hood of the car, then drive off with
the old friend for a few beers.
 
God, I just love happy endings.

Just a little nap...

Well I have been sleepy all day long. I got to take my Zyrtek because I did not have a show today, and I was wheezing really badly, so I took one, and slept. I hate to take them because even though I take them at bedtime, I am awake until dawn, and then I sleep all day long. Maybe I should try them in the morning. Tonight I took one, and went right to sleep!! Yay!! But only for 1 1/2 hours! Boo! Then I decided that I would just get up and fix a cup of double strength blueberry tea. SO I did. Tastes good too, just cant stand to look at it. I take coffeemate in my coffee, the powdered kind, or cream or canned milk. SO I put some in my tea tonight and it curdled into chunks. YUCK! But they did not feel nor taste like soured milk, so I just closed my eyes and drank it.

I heard from an ex-blogger friend from Tennessee, tonight, and she said to tell everyone hello, and that she is fine and did not get hit too hard from the storms. She has another kitty now too. She would love to get back into blogging but made a promise that she would not. SOOOOOO We just email every so often. It is really amazing what friends this blogging phenomena has brought to me. Even the ones that have had to quit, like Dorothy K. And TW, and Leslie (USA), and Carol C. All will answer a long lengthy email when I send them one, or a card on their birthday.

I had to postpone my Friday night Date with Bob this last week, because I had a show and he did not want to go again. SO I baked Halibut tonight, and he came over with a DVD to watch. The Halibut was fresh, right out of the freezer, but really fresh and only dead for an hour or so when he got frozen. It was soooo good! I had tried grilling it before, and it just got all dried out and taste-less, so tonight I baked it on a bed of sliced onions and garlic paste. Poured 1 cup of white wine, some fresh rosemary right from the garden, and dotted it with butter then baked it skin side up for about 45 minutes. Oh Yummy!! Nice and moist and flaky! It could have used some dill on it though, I will try that next time. Cooked some winter squash with it too and that made a really good fall meal.

It is almost time to head over the mountains and get some apples and pears, and take more pictures of the fall color over there. Maybe around October 6 or so. Phyllis will be on vacation and maybe she would like to go.

Well my eyes are starting to droop again, time to get another hours sleep. Last night the fog was lying thick on the water, and there was a lot of traffic heading out. SO all night long BOOP, BOOP, BOOP. The big ships with their fog horns blowing would toot every three minutes. SO I laid awake listening to them. I could hear a big one coming up the sound and turning into the strait and I could also hear a big coming down the strait and turning into Puget Sound. Their horns were far apart and really low, then they got louder and closer until they were practically on top of each other. I was waiting for the sound of a CRUNCH and then the whoopwhoopwhoop of a collision horn, but all I got was their horns getting farther and farther apart, until they were well out of hearing distance. Another disaster avoided. The radar that the pilots have on their boats now are really something. They can see right through the fog and make out birds sitting on driftwood!!!

See ya tomorrow.

Navy blue deer...

It is really getting cold here at night. THe sky is crystal clear, and the heat from the day just dissapates, leaving the air brisk and just hovering above the 40 degree mark. Sure makes for some pretty nights and star watching. The moon does not come up until after midnight, so the milky way is brightly shining.

Tonight coming back from the playhouse, I drove along the back way, through the park, and along the bluff looking over the strait and the Olympic Mountains. THe sky
was just turning orange from the setting sun, and the mountains were sillhouetted in navy blue against the orange/mauve sky. I was looking for a good spot to stop and take a picture from.

I noticed there was a cruise ship just heading out to sea, and all you could see was the stern, and all the lights on the decks. It was so peaceful. I decided there probably was not enough light to get a good exposure with my digital and I did not have my 35mm with me. DRAT!! As I drove through Fort Casey, I looked over to the beach wall, and there sillhouetted against the sky was a herd of deer, just standing there, a picture perfect opportunity and I was not prepared!! GRRRRRRRRRR I knew that by the time I got home and got my other camera ready the light would be gone. There wont be another one like that in a while. Orange/mauve sky and navy blue deer and mtns. DAMN!!!

As I drove along the strand I looked on down the sound towards Seattle, and there all lined up and heading out were 3 more cruise ships. all with their cabin lights on and all full of happy people heading out on a wonderful cruise. I so wish I could go on one some day.

Saturday ramblings

Last night we taped the video of BLITHE SPIRIT, It is a video for archival purposes, and it went very well. I sat up in the booth with the videographer, calling the cues, and the actors were spot on! Not a goof in the show. They are such a great cast!!! They pull together when the going gets rough and things just run so smoothly. They laugh and have FUN! What a concept! I am so very proud of them and the job they have done. It makes all the hard work worth it.

This morning I turned CNN on and watched the updates on Rita. Looks like she minded her manners quite a bit when she made land fall. THANK GOD! Lots of rain though. And just now they showed the tracking map and it looks like all that rain is heading right for Brenda. Rita is making a slow circle back to the east/southeast. All that rain on top of that left by Katrina, might just make the lazy ole' Mississip over flow her banks. This is the time of year that the Atlantic Coast hurricanes usually hit too, SO I do not think that we have seen the last of nasty weather.

Last week I was watching update on Katrina's temper fit, and they were showing the food supplies that were being stored for distribution. COKE and PEPSI and SOFT drinks, and potato chips and doughnuts. WHAT!!!!! Those are frills, and un necessary items. Where is the flour, and the sugar, and the eggs and the meat and the canned goods that will last without refridgeration? Where is the powdered milk, and the ENSURE and the baby formulas? Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I think the starving would be better served by sending them staples! Once they are back on their feet THEN comes the treats. Mom always said if she had flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs and milk that we would not starve. We did not. We did not always eat correctly but we never went hungry. EVER. Lots of waffles, and biscuits and gravy and pancakes, and bread. And lots of Jam in the cupboard, and powdered milk. We had beans and cornbread, a LOT. With salt pork, not ham hocks. And Dad would make Mulligan Stew with a bit of hamburger. SO we ate and we learned to catch our fish, and dig our clams, and eat venison, and elk and bear. We were just always very very lucky to live in places where we COULD live off the land if we had to. And we NEVER had coke or Pepsi or potato chips. No wonder our children are out of shape.

Donna went over the mountains to see her husband this weekend and took Tilly with her. AHHHHHHH Peace! Sadie slept all night cuddles up with me, and not in her pen. And no boo-boos in the house either!! GOOD GIRL! She has come in here twice and barked and wanted to go outside, so I let her out and she runs all over the yard looking for Tilly. I think she misses her! They fight like mad when they are together, but she sure misses her today.

Another show tonight, so another late day! Then Tomorrow, I am taking my friend Barbara to the matinee, and then we are going out to dinner. She has been so busy since Butch died, and needs to slow down and relax. So this was a perfect excuse to get her to do so. I sure wish she could retire and enjoy her home. I would love to have her around more often. We are planning a weekend at her place in south Bend this fall, and then a trip to Oregon to the Lewis and Clark celebration. I am looking forward to that!

Well I have blathered on long enough, and have not said anything worth saving, so I will sign off for today and save my brain cells for another good post on Monday. I hope.

what's want to read about? Let me know and I will try and accommodate you.

Stay safe and dry!

TGIF....

Let's try Dark purple today...

I read on my comments that Leslie has put out peanuts and walnuts in her feeders too. The squirrels LOVE them. I also read somewhere, And I cant remember WHERE that peanuts will GROW where they are stashed (buried) by the squirrels. They must be RAW peanuts, right? I need to know more about this. Who's blog was it on? I went in to Albertson's after the show last night to get some bread and peanuts. I noticed that the mixed nuts are really really cheap right now, so I think I will stock up on these. I have a friend who has a walnut tree in his yard, and I get walnuts anytime I can get them away from HIS squirrels. ( :) ) I think I have 5 Douglas and THREE gray ones now along with 1 chipmunk. I just love the wildlife. I only wish I had a raccoon or two. I know they are in the woods, but they NEVER come in the yard. I have seen them out front on the street, but NEVER in my yard. The Deer were out in the woods last night, you could hear the cracking of the dry branches, as they came in closer. They know it is hunting season, and the woods behind me are off limits, and they seem to know they are safe there.



susie walnut

This is a really bad picture because I was rushing, and the screen blurred the picture, but this is the gray squirrel running off with a walnut in her mouth. It is even funnier with Lola, cause she is only about 6 inches long. The walnut is as big as her head, but she gets it!

It got really cold last night, my feet were two blocks of ice!! Could not get them warm at all, so I pulled out my fleecy socks and put them on, and woke up an hour later with my feet on FIRE!! There does not seem to be a happy medium. Getting older is the SHITS isn't it? And sometimes literally!!

I hope all you Texans and Louisianans are safe and dry. Looks like this time the powers that were sposed to, DID! Lessons learned! I would not be surprised to see the Mayor of N.O. and the Governor of LA. NOT get re-elected. Some body dropped the ball there and kicked it out of bounds, and NO ONE is admitting it. Yeah I know the GOV. Did, but Nagin did not. In fact he almost caused another mass drowning, by opening up his town to returnees, only to have to tell them to get out again. And a good thing they did, as I see that the dikes have been topped. What a shame. And no one has said anything else about Philippe that is sitting out there in the Atlantic. And we are only half way through the season. Whoo-boy.

Uh-Oh!! Quakes in California, and Mt St Helens is burping again!! Vancouver Island is moving ever so slowly towards Japan, and here we sit right in the middle. Mama Nature does not appear too happy right at this moment does she? Even sending out huge sun flares. hmmmm....Makes ya wonder doesn't it?

Clean up....

Yesterday I just got tired of this office being such a mess, SO I started re-organizing it. When you have two people using it at an almost steady rate, it has a tendency to get discombobulated. When you have a house keeper like me, it makes it even worse. When you have one right-handed person and one wrong-handed person, it gets even WORSE! The mouse is all wrong, the elbow room is wrong, the way the chair sits is wrong, the pens are on the wrong side, and your papers get all messed up.

I have an over-abundance of books, and papers that I just have not gotten rid of yet. SO they get all stacked up and in the way. I had two tall wooden CD cases out in the garage just collecting dust. I do not like them as they are black and don't fit into the rooms right. Well I decided that they would do fine on top of my computer desk, as a sort of hutch. They could hold all my back up CD's and some of my notebooks. I painted them the same color as the office, to blend in. Not Martha Stewart by any means, but not really bad either. It eliminated most of the clutter on the desk. I can actually see the top of it now!!

As soon as I am finished with this show and Little Shop Of Horrors, then I will have a huge break, and I plan on digging into all the papers I have saved for years and years and years, and go through them page by page and PURGE!!! If I have not looked at it in a year, no matter how cool it might be in the future, It is getting burned!! Actually I have a shredder, and will shred them and use them as mulch in my garden!!

Speaking of burning...Someone actually has a fire going in their fireplace!! I can smell the first wood smoke of the season, coming in through the office window. It got cold last night, down into the low 40's here and the 30's on the mainland!! Frost can't be too far behind! We had the tail end of a low come down the strait last night with winds up to 30 MPH. Just a heavy breeze for us. We have our worse storms in the Fall. The worst one was Oct of 1962. The Columbus Day Storm. I was in high school and at an away football game. The winds hit, and knocked out the power, and they cancelled the game, took all of us students that had ridden the Rooter buses and put us in the gym. The storm knocked all the power in the western half of the state out, blew roofs off, blew barns down, knocked over tons of trees and telephone lines, and generally made a huge mess out of our state and Oregon. Winds were over 85 miles an hour, and just called a big wind. Sounds like a Category 1 Hurricane to me!

We did not have the advanced warning that we do now, knowing far ahead of time that a potentially dangerous storm was heading our way. We were always prepared. When the first light blinked, we would get out the emergency supplies and be ready. We always had Kerosene Lamps, candles, and plenty of wood for the fireplace. Mom would always have a secret stash of marshmallows and would drag them out to make toasty marshmallows and we would roast hotdogs also. We always made an adventure out of our disasters.

There has been more than one Thanksgiving Day spent without power, and Turkeys in the oven! The restaurants with Gas stoves, made a killing opening up and cooking anything. It was an adventure.

The way the squirrels are stashing away the nuts, leads me to believe that we will have a fairly nasty winter. I am ready!! I have wood, just need to stock up on some food, and PET FOOD!!

Oh! And don't forget your MEDS!!! Take a look at the first aid kit too, Is it intact? Are the expiration dates still good? Most of them usually are expired! Get in the habit of changing out your OTC meds. Replace the ones in your medicine cabinet with the ones in your first aid kit, and remember to replace that one in your kit!! You should always have fresh dated meds that way.

Now, If I can only practice what I preach.... :-(

Fixed!!!!

Another night of no sleep. I wish I knew what was up with me. I am so sleepy, so I put my book down, hang up my glasses, turn out the lamp and cuddle down and fall right to sleep...For about 45 min. Then I am wide awake! My body and my mind says I am tired but the rest of me says nope, been there done that now you are awake! I hate this. This morning I finally got to sleep around 400 and woke up at 900. Got up fixed a pot of terrible coffee, got dressed, and around noon I was so sleepy I had to go lay down. Took a 15 min cat nap and was wide awake again. I went to bed around midnight, and read until 100 then went to sleep, and now here it is 200, and I am wide awake again! ARRGGHHHH!! If I take Zyrtec for my allergies, I sleep all day, and all night, so that is out. I just want to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, sleep for 8 hours and wake up at a reasonable hour. I don't think that is asking too much.

I have had the weirdest thing going on with my computer. I could not get to Amazon.com at all. We have tried EVERYTHING and no luck. Could not go to Borders books either. Or ebay! So Blogeois' wonderful Husband WS talked me through setting up a network meeting, so he could look at my computer from 300 miles away. (magic folks, sheer magic!) but with my crap dial-up I could not get there. SO he talked me through downloading a website that would take care of the problem. It did. What is really weird about this is that there were only a few other people this had happened to, and he found one other person listed in google that fixed it, and that is where we went. It did fix the problem and now I can go there, but now WS is trying to find out what or who caused the problem, and why. There were about 35 URLs listed that I could not get to.
I am not going to list them here for fear of triggering the mess again. It did not appear to be a worm or virus, but I did save the fix-it site. It took us about 2 hours on the phone, with my CRAP dial-up kicking me off every so often.

THANK YOU WS!!!!!!! You are The MAN!!! :)

OOOO I so love this new attribute. At least it is new to me. Now if I can just remember how to change the background color....

It is rather cold tonight. I almost thought about pulling out the electric blanket and getting all warm and cozy. Too early yet though. I did pull the window half way shut though. I puttered out in the yard for awhile this afternoon. The sun was warm and the breeze was chilly, just PERFECT!! I filled the feeders again, and changed the water in the bird baths. The baby birds have learned how to play in the water, and they go get really dusty and then splash in the bird bath, It is so much fun to watch them play, clean or whatever they are doing. I thought I was gonna have to run out and rescue one of them because he looked like he was drowning, but he perked right up and flew away. Babies are so cute. All downy and bright. And skitterish. They are learning fast though. And soon they will have to learn to survive through the cold winter.

I painted a CD cabinet today and will finsih it tomorrow. It was black and I hated it, so I thought If I painted it to match the office, that I could put my cd's and DVD's there, and have them handy. Then I can get all of my photos off the hard drive and onto CD's so I wont lose them. might just make the PC run faster too.

I guess Blogger is back up now, as I seem to be typing this right into the template, so I will try and publish and see if it works. Better save it first. Learned my lesson the hard way! ;)

Fall...

The past few nights I have driven home from the Playhouse late at night.  It has been very bright out because of the full Harvest Moon.  It is laying low in the sky, and creating a bright path on the waters of Penn Cove.  Last night, I looked for it, and the sky was covered with clouds, however, it was not a thick layer of clouds it was what we call scattered clouds, and thin.  The full moon was lighting the sky through them.  As the clouds would scutter across, the Moon would pop out big and bright and beautiful.  At times there was a moon dog or Ring around the full moon.  This usually means that there are ice crystals in the air.  It felt like it at times too.  The temperature got down into the low 40’s.  SO low that as I lay awake there this morning, I could see my breath again.  

Last night I took a hot shower, and crawled into a nice clean bed and nightgown, rolled over on my tummy, grabbed a book and my glasses and bunched the pillows up under my chest to raise me up so I could read, and that is when I got a good whiff of Autumn!  A cold fresh wind blowing right in on my bed.  I love nights like that! As I grew sleepy, I turned out the light and snuggled under the covers with just my nose poking out.  I slept like a baby!!  It felt soooooo good!  Maybe it was the air, maybe it was the hot bath, maybe it was the fact that I have 3 whole days off, whatever it was I needed it and woke up this morning refreshed, and feeling like a million pennies.  

I watched the feeder this morning for about an hour, until Sadie woke up and had to go out.  Lola and Susie were both at the feeder.  Lola trying to cram a walnut as big as her head into her jaw and carry it off to store for the winter, and Susie  sitting in the middle of the sunflower seeds chomping away.  Soon there were three Lola’s and TWO Susies’s!!  And soon there was no more walnuts to stash away.  They have all been as busy as can be stocking up their larders.  

I was out of cat food, So I had to get dressed after all and run into town.  Grabbed a bad of Iams and came home the back way along the farm roads, and started noticing the way that Fall has arrived.  It is earlier than usual this year, and already the trees are turning and losing their leaves.  Last year they were not turning until way into October.  The geese are on their way South also.  You can hear them honking encouragement to their leader as they fly over the house.  I am right under the North-South west coast flyway, so I get a lot of honking and quacking late at night.  I Love that too.

As I was settling in and Sadie was just going to sleep in her pen, I heard a long mournful howl out back.  It was a ways off.  It was the wolves down the street.  They were singing a concert with the coyotes.  The Wolves are hybrids, and are well kept, and safe from human harm, and the coyotes are wild and run through the woods and down the roads, all night long, looking for food and friendship.  The night was full of the symphony of Nature, the critters, the wind through the leaves, chattering against the branches, the popping of the wisteria pods as it gets colder.  A loud BANG BANG POP.  It was wonderful.  

Some people think I am strange because I find beauty in the sounds of nature.  They think of them as a noisy nuisance, I think of them as music written by the greatest composers of all time.  Makes me wish I was years younger and tons smarter, so I could get a degree in Science and go off into the wilderness and study.  It is something I have always wanted to do, but just never had the opportunity to do so.  Ah well, maybe in my next life…

Sunday boo-boos!

LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Yesterday during the 3rd scene of Act 1, Charles blanked, and there was 15 seconds (seemed like an hour) of dead air. Elvira was trying to feed him a line, but he wasnt getting it. You could see his neck getting red from the bottom clear up to his face. Then he picked up a line from two scenes away, and walked off the stage leaving Elvira there to stare off into the audience. It was a hoot!! I ran into the sound booth and they were panicing trying to figure out what to do, so I said curtain, and they finished the scene. Then I ran down the 3 flights of stairs to the green room and told them to just continue on with where we should be.

Elvira was in tears, and Charles was aghast. I was laughing!! Only in community theater can you get away with things like this. We are not paid, we are all volunteers, so things happen. They continued on, and when they got to the part that they had already done, CHarles paraphrased it, and the audience Never knew anything was wrong except that someone forgot a line. LOLOLOLOL

I just wrote a nice long post, and my CRAP dial-up kicked me off and I lost it. SO now I have to go back and re-do it in word this time. We have 3 whole days off, without having to go in for rehearsal or performance so I am not getting dressed, I am not going out, I am not putting on a bra, I am going to blogwalk and create, and do my laundry. This is the first time in 3 months that I have had nothing to do. And I plan on doing it too.

Interlude...

Wow, I just discovered the attributes available to blogger!! never knew I could change font, or color, or size!!!
amazing what happens when you read the fine print on the page, right?

Opening night went wonderfully! we did not have a full house, but we had a great crowd, Now LAST night was another story. The house was about the same, but these guys would not laugh!! I sat in the directors balcony and tried salting the audience with laughs and applause, but they just were not having it. They enjoyed the show, just did not laugh. Rough crowd!! I have our first Sunday matinee today, so I will keep this short.

Gosh this is fun!!! I love color!!! I just wish I was not such a chicken when it comes to my house. I would have every wall painted a different primary or secondary color. This one isnt a very readable one though. I will have to go to this one. THere.

TOmorrow when I have nothing to do at the playhouse, I will write a nice long lengthy post. I have one stirring around inside just waiting to get out and on paper. If I can only get it out in the right way. Sometimes I have them and when I get them out on paper, they change.

It got cold last night. down into the low 40's and not expected to get much hotter today. I expect a frost before Halloween. and snow before thanksgiving. :)

Until tomorrow then...

Thursday....

I have not had time to breathe much less write a posting for several days. We open our show tomorrow, and tonight was a charity buy-out and "dress rehearsal". The show was a sell out for the Catholic Daughters, so they made some money. The audience was full of old people, and they LOVED the show! I have updated it to current times, and they loved that too. I changed the locale to the Pac NW and that brought a huge laugh. :)
Our leading Man cracks up at his own jokes when the audience laughs, and it is so funny watching him try to control it. Our Pro, Madame Arcati knows this and will do ANYTHING she can to see if she can crack him up. She usually succeeds! We have had fun getting this show ready to open, It has been extremely hard work with almost the whole staff leaving for this that and the other, but by GOD we made it. Now it is sit back and let them go on their own time. AHHHHHHH

Right now I am so tired that I can not sleep. My back keeps wanting to POP but it wont, and that just aches and aches, right down my sciatic nerve to my left foot. SO needless to say comfort is not easy to come by. I went right to bed after I got home tonight, but I could not get to sleep. Toss and turn and worry about what I may have forgot, and know there isn't anything that I have forgotten. I take staff pictures tomorrow evening before the show, and that should be that.

there is an article in the Paper about the show. www.whidbeynewstimes.com/ click on the community tab and the story is there Blithe Spirit.

I will be getting an archive DVD of the show, and I can send it around if you would like to see it. It is not PRO quality, the sound is a bit of a stretch, but it works. The high school films it for us. I have them of all my shows, if there is any you would like to see let me know and I can mail it to you for a peek, then you can mail it back. kinda like our own NETFLIX!

oh SWELL!!!

Updated 2:35 p.m. ET Sept. 14

An important seismic event imperceptible to humans has begun in the Pacific
Northwest as predicted, according to the government agency Geological
Survey
of Canada.

The chance of a major earthquake is 30 times higher now for a roughly
two-week period, but the odds are still remote, scientists say.

The event is called episodic tremor and slip (ETS). It involves a slow
movement of the Juan de Fuca and North America tectonic plates along the
Cascadia
http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050103_cascadia_tsunami.html>>margin of southern British Columbia. Faults associated with the plates have
been the sites of major earthquakes -- akin to the colossal tsumani-causing

quake last December in Indonesia -- every 500 years or so, the geologic
record shows. The last such temblor in the area struck on Jan. 26 in the
year 1700.

Slow creep

The movement is slower than a traditional earthquake but more rapid than
the
normal creep associated with the fault. It runs in the reverse direction of
the normal creep.

The movement was predicted. Scientists recently learned that these ETS
events recur about every 14 months. It has been detected by Global
Positioning System instruments.

The event does not mean an earthquake is imminent, but geologists are eager
to study it and learn more and they say sooner or later an ETS event is
likely to trigger a major quake.

"Compared to the steady year-round stress accumulation, this more rapid
stress increase implies that a large subduction earthquake is more likely
to
happen during the time of an ETS event," the Canadian geologists write.

The slippage and associated minor tremors "are directly related to
megathrust (Sumatra-like) earthquake potential," lead geologist John
Cassidy
and a colleague said in Tuesday's statement. "Neither the tremor nor the
slip can be felt."

Odds go up

The slip began Sept. 3 on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State and has
migrated north to the Vancouver Island area, Cassidy wrote. Victoria moved
0.12 inches (3 millimeters) to the West over the course of two days. The
events are thought to last six to 15 days.

Cassidy's colleague, Stephane Mazzotti, has done some calculations on the
odds of a large temblor.

"The probability of occurrence of a megathrust earthquake is about 30 times
higher during this approximately two-week window, than during the rest of
the 14.5 month cycle," Cassidy told LiveScience. "Having said that, 30
times
a small number is still a small number."

Geologists simply don't know when one of these events will trigger a major
quake, Cassidy said.

The immediate importance of the event is that it occurred as predicted and
can now be used to improve understanding of the region's seismology.

"By better understanding these events, we will be able to better predict
the
effects (and perhaps timing) of future magnitude 9 earthquakes along the
West Coast," Cassidy and his colleague write.

A separate

study recently concluded that a major earthquake along the fault could be
overdue, given clusters of the events seen in the geologic record. Because
the fault is offshore, scientists say its rupture could create a
devastating tsunami.


Phyllis has been harping on everyone to get their emergency kits ready. If in fact the big one hits here, we are right on the line so we will get hard!!! I took out earthquake insurance about 8 years ago, so I am not worried. I just do not want the island to sink under the North American plate. That could get kinda hairy.
I am not afraid of surviving, if I made it out of the house alive, but I would be terrible worried about the rest of the family. Phyllis is only up about 50 feet, I'm up about 150.

Well folks it is liable to get really interesting around here...Gee Thanks Kate!!

Seriously, Kate, thanks for the link. Good to see you up and about! ;)

Monday Stuff...

I got up late this morning. Felt so very good to get a decent night's sleep for a change. I took a hot bath, put on clean sheets and fixed a cup of tea, and went to bed with a book. I fell asleep about 200 and only got up once to pee!

I heated up the cold pot of coffee that Donna had made at 615, and turned on the tv as i fired up the old SLOW CRAP dial up! My favorite MIKEY was on Food Network, cooking a backyard lobster bake, so I watched it and drooled. Michael Chiarello's Easy Entertaining is the latest in his series. I just LOVE him.

THen came Paula's SOuthern Cooking. I have Never met Brenda in person, but Paula Deen reminds me of what Brenda must sound like. I drool all through her show too, but then I turn off the food channel because I cant stand that skinny bitch that cooks Italian. NO body that looks like that can possibly eat what she cooks.

I am still stymied on Amazon. DOnna downloaded foxfire Mozilla and that is no good. None of the blogs look right in it. so I went back to IE 6.0 THen she tried taking down my firewall, and putting it back up, that did not work either. We did a defrag, we got rid of cookies and temp files, we down loaded PC-Cillin's latest, and still can not get to Amazon.com. I cant even get to Blogeois.com right now. GRRRRRR
this is making me very angry...I even tried what Jimbob said and used the IP address and that did not work. I finally called Isomedia, and he had me do a something congig/flush and it was fine. but I still can not get Amazon. All I did was order 75.00 worth of books from them last week. Got them too. GUess I wont be ordering any more. Cant even email them.


Tonight is the last rehearsal before we go live. Tuesday is Members and family night, and then we open on Thursday for a fund raiser. Whew. I got the lights all set yesterday, the tech is all done, the theater is clean, and I am ready for the run!!

HELP!!!

Any Computer geeks out there...I have a unique problem. THe day that New Orleans flooded, I lost Leslie, Pureland Mountains comments, and Amazon.com.

Now I called Leslie, and found out she has a server problem. Pure land Mountain is ok now much to Roberts joy, but I still can not get through to AMazon.com/ I thought maybe my daughter had put a parental block on it, to keep me from ordering more n=books, but she said no, she cant even get to it from here either.

We have no blocks on our system that we know of. SO why could I not be able to get through to amazon.com? Jim Bob...you are usually good at this kind of stuff. Now speak real english if you know what is wrong. I am stymied. I need my Amazon fix,...NOW!!!!!

Fall....?

Yesterday as I was sitting by the open back door of the theater, running the light board, and finishing tech as the press was watching the play. The theater gets really HOT during the summer, so we open everything we can. Suddenly the wind picked up and the big oak trees right outside the door started chattering with their drying up leaves. This gust of wind, blew the driest leaves right off the trees and skittered them right into the playhouse. It felt really good, but there was also a distinct chill in that gust.

I was really concentrating on the show, and the cues I was setting, but back in the back of my mind there was a blog post brewing. As I was setting cues, so Was Mother Nature. She was telling us that the hot dry summer was almost over, that Autumn was most definitely on the way.

I came home from the theater, absolutely fried, But knew that I did not have to go in for two days, so I put on my nightgown, forgoing the nightly ritual of a shower, and just flopped into bed. I usually read for about 2 hours after hitting the bed, but I did not even make it through one chapter. I woke up around 400 with water splashing in my face.

I rolled over and sat up, and looked out the window. It was DUMPING RAIN. I do mean DUMPING! The water was coming down so fast, that it was filling the gutters and spilling over the sides of them in sheets. We don't get rain like that. We get a steady wet mist, all the time. I closed the window down 1/2 way and went back to sleep. I woke up at 615 and peeked out side. It was just starting to get light out, and just the contrast from the Big Cumulus clouds overhead and the clear sky let me know that we had some real weather. Suddenly Ka-BOOM! And a big thunderous rumble came over the house, and then another, getting slower and quieter as it went on it's way east.

This morning when I woke up for good, (well for at least an hour anyway) I looked out back to see what all was wet, and I could just about see through the alders into the bare spaces in the deeper woods. The leaves were falling, and allowing even more light to peek through. I looked at the thermometer and it was sitting at 48. BRRRR. Almost time to drag out that Electric blanket again, and hook it up.


fall

The other night coming home before dark, I noticed that the light from the setting sun was giving off longer shadows and a more golden color to the evenings. I passed a field of straw bales all ready to get put into the barn for stall covering. IT was just stunning. SO I stopped right on Terry Rd and snapped away. It isn't even often that we see bales sitting out in the field after the middle of June.

Soon the full golden Harvest Moon will be making his way over the top of the Mountains. It is usually the first full moon after the autumnal Equinox. I have already spotted Orion, framed in my bedroom window at 557 on August 28Th. Now I know that Fall is almost here. I look forward to Fall every year. There is something so comforting about Autumn to me. It is like coming home. It is a feeling of stocking up the larder and stoking up the fire. Getting ready to Hunker down for the long dark winter that will surely follow fall, as Fall follows summer.

I am at peace. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Dress rehearsal...

Have some Brandy

This is our first dress rehearsal to see how the costumes look and to see what else we need to do to make them perfect. This scene is after Madame Arcati the Medium has gone into a trance and has been pulled out of it.



wives

Both Dead Wives have been brought into this world by some psychic force, and are now trying to get Madame Arcati to poof them back. They are both dressed in gray and should have gray make up on, which I forgot to buy!!! :(



madame arcati

This Lady will steal the show. She is a hoot, and cracks Charles up every night. SHe purposely gets him laughing and he will forget his lines. FUNNY!!!!!

We are almost ready to open. I still have the light cues to finalize, but the set is mostly done. Press night tomorrow night, and then we have the weekend off. I am so tired of trying to do everyone else's job. I have been the only staff member there every night, and when there are cues to set, notes to take, and lines to read for people that are not there, it gets really hairy. I am so ready for a break.

Thanks, Mary Lou!

Leslie here.

I just got a call at work from Mary Lou, wondering where in the world I was and if everything was alright. It's our stupid server that's down, cutting me off from e-mail and my blog and just when I have such Tales to Tell too! I was so disappointed not to be able to update today and she suggested I leave a little post here to say I Live.

We saw a grizzly, two black bears, traveled over 7,000 feet straight up a mountain through the clouds, and had a rather harrowing encounter on the highway but it sure was an awesome weekend.

Thanks, Mary Lou, for letting me say Hi here. I appreciate it. I'm sorry to have caused any worry.

Onward!!!

I spent this whole weekend at the theater getting things done. We finally have the painting done. All that is left now is to finish pulling the props together set the light cues, that I still have not done, and then the special effects. I am fried!!! The cast has been great getting all this work done. We had a good rehearsal last night after all the work we did yesterday, so that made for a very long day.

I feel like I am floundering here all by myself, as I have no staff left. just a cast and a house manager. We will get there. Everything is going to be fine. I found out last night that I forgot about make-up! I never even thought about that. And I have no ghost make up. SO today I have to figure out where we get that from and go get some.

I apologize for the many typos in the last post, I knew I was really tired, but didnt realize HOW tired I was until I read it last night. OUCH!! Ah Well!

Hey is anybody else having a problem getting through to Critterchicks place? I cant get there, PAGE NOT FOUND and I cant comment on several blogger blogs. I click on comments but the only thing that happens is the page refreshes.

I sent her an email, and she usually responds right back, but I have not heard from her. Guess I had better call her this afternoon and make sure she is ok. I worry!

Busy week ahead, so I may be posting sporatically, but hang in there, if JOHN can post with all he has been through, I guess I can too.

WOW!

I just paid 2.96 9/10 a gallon for regular gas on BASE!!! ouch! I budgeted for 90 a month for gas, but at this rate it'll be 180.00 a month!! This really hurts me. I have to go into the rehearsals every night. that is a 40 Mile round trip daily!! Yeooouuuucchhhh!!!

TOday we painted the floor,and finished the piddley little things. TOn=morrow trim goes up and the light cues get set. I was told by one of my active duty cast members that she may be going to the Gulf to help with the emergency. SHe is a Navy COrpsman. so that would leave a big hole in our play. ANd if Mike went too, there would be another hole. I asked a friend to come read Traci's part and learn her blocking, and IF Traci went, (god forbid) Kyle could take her place and be Dr. Bradman's MOTHER! Now if they would decide to take Billy Ray I would be sunk!

I am hoping that there will people closer to the damage than our little people. I just have to go with the punches.

I am really wiped out tonight. THis has been a very stressful week for everyone! Let us hope that normalcy and civility return VERY FAST to those that need it.
I am gonna go take a much needed shower and hit the sack!!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzz

Tonites rehearsal...

Our play is coming along nicely. They know their lines, and tonite, since "Charles" was late because he had a late flight schedule, he ran in in his flight suit. His "wives" gave him a run for his money tonight, ad libbing and throwing his blocking off. You See, Billy Ray is a perfectionist!! And It drives him CRAZY when things are not the way they are s'posed to be. :)


Natalie

In this scene, Elvira, his first wife (now deceased) is showing his 2nd wife Ruth, that she is indeed here, even though Ruth can not see her. She is moving a vase of flowers. Charles is the only one who can see Elvira. And it becomes really funny when he tells Elvira to quit being a guttersnipe. FUNNY :)


Billy and MK

Madame Arcati is the local MEDIUM who has done a Seance and through it, has brought back Elvira, who in trying to kill Charles so he can be with her for all eternity, has in actuality, killed Ruth. Now Madame Arcati is trying to explain to Charles that she might not be able to get the ghosts back to the after life.



Madame arcadi and Ruth

Madame Arcati has just told Ruth (before she died, picture in wrong place oops...) that she has no idea how Elvira came to this side.


viv and traci

Dr and Mrs. Bradman are friends who were here during the seance and find the whole thing strangely funny. Violet keeps sticking her foot in her mouth.


taking notes

since I am the director, And have almost no staff left. Dottie, my costumer stepped in and prompted. Actually she was reading for Madame Arcati while she was gone.

This is a really funny play. And we should have everything done by Monday. The lights are pretty much set, I just have to set the cues, and train the light engineer. The set needs to have the finishing touches put on it, and the "Magic" added.

I had a Magic person who really wanted to have all of the special effects to do, but he sort of forgot and backed out, so that is one MORE thing on my plate. I have enlisted Traci and Mike's help when they are not on stage.

so Now let's see, my set builder quit, I found a new one, and he quit after the set was 1/2 built, so then I begged and got almost the rest built. My light designer quit, she had too much to do. (?) My Props person got a job that paid her 20% more so she had to drop out. And my Stage Manager quit. I have no idea what all this is about, but I really do not think it was anything I did. It has been a bit hairy, but it has been fun too. I just have to go with the flow. OH YEAH! And my producer went to Disneyland, and took a cruise to Alaska! JEEZ!!! It must mean we are gonna have a really great show.

OH GADS!!! We forgot the MOUSE HOLE!!!! AAARRRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Caution! Rant ahead....

I have been glued to CNN watching the devastation that Hurricane Katrina delivered to the Gulf Coast. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard that John and his home were spared. Then I sat glued again, when I heard the dikes were breeched in several places, and sat there watching as the bowl that New Orleans sits in filled up with water.

I was amazed at people that actually decided to stay ON THE BEACH and wait out the storm. I was amazed that they actually thought they would be safe. I was flabbergasted type of devastation that the storm surge handed to Biloxi, and to Mobile.

I was horrified when I heard a commentator crying as she told of people who were hacking their way through the roofs of their flooded attics. I was horrified at the thought of people who would be breathing the little bit of air they had left, because they did not bring anything to chop their way out with. I was horrified when I thought of those people in the superdome, as the toilets filled and overflowed, and the water from the Lake was seeping in under the walls, and filling the field. As people got wet, they moved up higher.

My heart went out to these people because I have lived through tsunami's, hurricanes, typhoons, super wind storms, blizzards, and power outages and know how scary it can be, especially at night.

But what I can not understand is what in the hell happened to the theory of personal accountability? The ability to think for yourself. The ability to plan ahead for your safety and that of your family. The ability to prepare and have on hand the emergency supplies that you would be needing. The ability to have an emergency contingency plan laid out so that should you be separated from your family that you can plan on meeting at another place.

What I can not understand is the selfishness of these people as they break into and STEAL products from undefended stores. What I can not understand is what in the Hell allows them to think that they are entitled to those products? What I can not understand is the greed and the sheer lack of respect for each other that is coming out.

I am appalled at the anarchy that is running rampant. I am appalled at the way people are expecting the GOVERNMENT to be immediately on the scene to help them out of a fix. I am appalled that these people who CHOSE to live in these un safe places are blaming others for their predicament. I am appalled at the fact that people are rioting trying to get to buses to get out of town.

Someone said yesterday that a disaster brings out the best in people, but it also brings out the worse. I am glad that the Mayor finally declared a state of Marshall Law in New Orleans. Hopefully now the looting and stealing will stop.

I can fully understand taking food to feed your family, but I can not understand taking multiple pairs of Nike shoes, even if you are barefooted. Why CASES of them?
What are you going to do With a TV in a flooded town with no power and no place to plug it into? What are you going to do with those armloads of clothes that you had slung over your shoulder? Hang them from the chimney of your house?

I have always been self sufficient, or at least enough so that I could handle most emergencies. I have wood, I have water, I have food, I have sleeping bags and camping equipment and extra fuel to power them. I do not live in an area that has been repeatedly wiped out by natural disasters. I would NOT live in an area like that. (I also know where Phyllis lives, and SHE has EVERYTHING!!!!)

I am hoping that as the week ends that civility will return to those areas. I am hoping that the loss of life isn't as bad as it is being predicted. (although I am afraid that it will be much much worse!) I am hoping that disease will not take hold in this bio-mess of sludge and human waste, and decaying bodies, animal and human. I am hoping that life will get back to some sense of order soon so that the 3 million plus people in the affected area can get their lives back.

Ok Rant over....I just had to get it out....

****************************Play update********************************

We had 1/2 of our cast out last night for one reason or another, so we worked on problem areas with the three that I did have. I went in at noon and painted on the set, and worked on the lighting. This weekend I will have the set finished, and the baseboards and trim up and the lights refocused. Next week we film the commercial and have our first dress rehearsal. I will be taking lots of pictures, so as soon as I have them, I will post them. 15 days until we open...

getting further along!

billy

This is the day after we struck the set from the summer show. We use the same flats, and then we paint them to our specifications. I chose to use ½ the setup they had to save time and money. So we almost had our set built by this day. All we had to do was paint and tape the flats, and add a few touches of our own.

Last weekend, Saturday to be exact, we painted and finished propping the doors up. Now this weekend, we finish the furnishing and paint the floor. We do it last because that way if we spill something, we can cover it up. I am going with a really deep blue for the floor with some pastel oriental rugs. I want an uncluttered set, as much as possible, so it wont distract from the actors.

Last night we ran the show with no prompting, to see how well they could get themselves out of a pickle, and not leave dead air on stage. They did great!! A lot of laughter and fun was had. We have a Dr/jetpilot as our leading man, and he is SUCH a perfectionist. I just laugh, he gets so upset with himself when he boo-boos. His first show and he is good. His wife in real life plays his first dead wife in the show, so it is really funny.


See ya!

Tonight we are going to have to see how fast we can run it without stopping. Right now it is a 3 hour show, counting scene changes, and that is almost too long. I want to see if we can get it down to 2 ½ hours. I still have to find the rest of the props, and furnishing, and then clean the auditorium, and we are ready!! This one has been fun! Even with everyone quitting on me. My light designer, my set builders 2 different ones, and last night my stage manager. Ah well, I have a great cast, and they said they don’t need a stage manager, they can handle it themselves. WHOOT!! No egos in this show!!

Next week we film the cable commercial and then we have press night! And then the week after….Show Time Folks!!!


********************UPDATE*********************************************************

I just heard from TW:

We made it through fine, thanks Mary Lou. The major thing around here
is the power outages. Something like half the state doesn't have
power--we've been lucky (knock on wood)--it went out for a little while
last night but has been back on since. From what I hear there's been a
few trees down around the metro area, and some isolated flooding, and
phone and power outages.

Now the coast--New Orleans, Gulfport, Biloxi, Mobile--that's a different
story. I know you've probably seen the pictures. We've heard from the
Hunter's aunt in Pensacola and she's fine, but we haven't heard from the
one in Pascagoula but we think she evacuated to a cousin's. We don't
think she will have a house to come back to, though.

Hope you're well, and thanks for checking up on us.

TW

*********************anybody heard from JOE?***************************

Sunday Sunday...

I could not sleep last night, My body hurt so bad! Bachache, and my Knees and hips, from running up and down the stairs at the playhouse yesterday. I was up twice to put pain killer stuff all over me. Did not work, I just could NOT get comfortable. I finally saw the clock for the last time at 432 AM then I woke up when Little Miss Sassy Sadie heard Lola, and decided that she just HAD to go pottie. Yeah, well It was 930...

As soon as I opened the back door, off the porch Sadie flew, not even stopping to walk down the four steps, just flew off the top and over to the feeder where Lola promptly flew off the dfeeder and up the wisteria to the fence, chattering and screaming all the way. Sadie was chasing and jumping and barking trying to get Lola to come down and play chase, but Lola wasn't having any of that at all. Soon Lola ran into another Lola, and then the squirrel wars started, over whose fence was whose, and Sadie was t rying to get them both to come down. See even squirrels sleep in and lose out!

I was watching CNN all afternoon watching the latest on Katrina, as she slowly churns her way up the gulf right for Louisiana. This could get really nasty over there. I realized that I had nothing to eat for dinner, so I headed for the store, and that is when I realized that we were about to get some weather too. The fog was rolling in FAST and THICK and DARK!! and the wind was picking up fast. It was almost like winter out there, in fact right now as I look out, the fog is gone, but it is POURING rain!! Good we need it so bad!

As I looked out the office window, at the alders swaying in the wind, I noticed that I could see through all the green! the Leaves this year have been very full and green, NO CATERPILLARS!!! Yes!! and I could actually see through them into the forest. I looked closer and discovered that they are already turning yellow and falling off the limbs. Could be we could have an early Fall. It smells like it right now. The air blowing in from the North Pacific is full of salt air, and has a distinct chill to it.

I almost could justify building a fire in the wood stove, but not until November 1!! and no fires after April 1! I guess I could haul my ass over and shut the window though huh? NAHHHH not yet. It is still August!

Blithe Spirit

As you may know I am very involved with COmmunity Theater. Right now I am directing Blithe Spirit by Noel COward, which is a funny farce in 3 acts. Some of you have shown an interest in wanting to know what all happens during the production of a show.

The picture above is the first week of rehearsal. We are in the rehearsal studio, with no props, no stage, just mirrors and chairs. We use masking tape on the carpet and lay out our stage. And we play from scripts until we get our "blocking" done.

Today we all got together and went in and painted the set. I have it all a really pale blue, cold and stern. I want the actors to bring the color into the show, not the set. THe lighting will also work better if the stage is monochromatic. THe furniture is a pastel floral, and will work nicely. When Elvira, the ghost of wife number 1 walks in, she will be all in gray, her skin her clothing etc. and the lining of her shroud is red satin. My way of showing that she is a real colorful character. When WIfe #2 dies, she shows up in the identical gray outfits, but her lining is Ice Blue. Cold as her heart was. Madame Arcati is the Medium who will be holding the seance and she is all colorful. THerefore I did not want the set interferring with their characterizations. I think we did pretty good.

We got all the flats painted, and will do the floor the week before the show starts. I will take plenty of pictures when we get finished, and in dress rehearsal. I have not shown a BEFORE picture, so now you will be on the edges of your seats to see the AFTER pictures. Nasty aren't I ;)

I totally crashed yesterday. I was wrried about high blood sugar, so I did not eat any carbs, and right after I ate 2 plain hotdogs and some cheese, all protein, I felt myself starting to crash. It feels like there is ice water flowing through your veins, then I got really shaky, and at this time Bob came in for our Friday night Date. He was gonna call 911, but I convinced him that I would be fine, so he got me some honey and a glass of milk, and watched me until I was better. Blood sugar got down to 39. NOT a good thing. Should be around 100-120. OOPS!!

So today I was concentrating on getting those carbs in me too. I feel much better tonight, even after all the hard work today. It is a feel good feeling knowing that another crisis was averted.

Ya'll be good now, and JOHN! GET OUT NOW!!!!! Get Bear up to Becky's place and wait it out. Wanda, and TW and anyone else in harms way, take care. Let us know when you are back home safely please.

She's so vain....

My Friend Rusty sent this to me in an email, and with the exception of David and Bill who will have no clue, I thought you would all find this funny!!

I'm glad I'm not vain, and that I dont have to wax anything but my upper lip!!


All hair removal methods have tricked us with their promises of easy,
painless removal - The epilady, scissors, razors, Nair and now...the
wax.

My night began as any other normal weekday night. Come home fix dinner,
played with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully
in my mind for the next few hours: Maybe I should pull the wax out of
the medicine cabinet.

So I headed to the site of my demise; the bathroom. It was one
of those cold wax kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub
the strips together in your hand and then they get warm and you peel them
apart press it to your leg (or wherever else) and hair comes right off.

No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean I'm no girly, girl but I am
mechanically inclined enough that I can figure it out. *YA THINK!!!*
So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other
stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, I get out the hair
dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees.Cold wax my rear end
(Oh how this phrase haunts me!) I lay the strip across my thigh.
Hold the skin around it tight and pull. OK so it wasn't the best feeling,
but it wasn't too bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me!
I am She-ra, fighter of all wayward body hair and smooth skin extraordinaire.
With my next wax strip I move north.

After checking on the kids I sneak back into the bathroom, for the
ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one
foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure I apply the was strip
across the right side of bikini line, covering the right half of my
vagina and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek
(Yes, it was a long strip) I inhale deeply and brace myself. RRRRIIIPPP!!!!

I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!....OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!

Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half of the
strip. ****!!! Another deep breath and RRIIPP.
Everything is swirly and spotted. Do I hear crashing drums??? OK, back
to normal. I want to see my trophy - A wax covered strip with my hairy
pelt, that has caused me so much pain, sticking to it. I want to revel
in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip!

There's no hair on it.

Where is the hair. WHERE IS THE WAX??? Slowly I ease my head down,
foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair..The hair that should be
on the strip. I touch. I am touching wax. S&%T I run my fingers over the
most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and
matted hair.

Then I make the next BIG mistake...................remember my foot is
still propped up on the toilet. I know I need to do something. So I
put my foot down. DAMN!!!!!!!! I hear the slamming of the cell door.

Vagina? Sealed shut. Butt?? Sealed shut. I penguin walk around the bathroom
trying to figure out what to do and think to myself "Please don't let
me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off.

" Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!! I'll run the hottest water I can
stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax covered bits and the
wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off right??? *WRONG!!!!!!!*I get
in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than then that used to torture
prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit. Now, the
only thing worse that having your nether businesses glued together is
having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub. In
scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.
So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub!! God bless the man that
convinced me I should have a phone in the bathroom!!!!! I call my
friend thinking surely she's waxed before and has some secret of how to get
me undone. It's a very good conversation starter "So, my butt and who-ha
are stuck to the bottom of the tub!" There is a slight pause.
She doesn't have a secret trick but does try to hide the laughter from me.
She wants to know exactly where the wax is located on bottom
"Are we talking cheeks or hole or what?" She's laughing out loud
by now...I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I
call the number on the side of the box. YEAH!!!!! Right!! I should be the
joke of someone else's night.

While we go through various solutions. I resort to scraping the wax
off with a razor. Nothing feels better then to have your girlie goodies
covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water
and then dry shaving the sticky wax off!! By now the brain is not working,
dignity has taken a major hike and I slip into glazed donut land. My
friend is still talking with me and my hand reaches towards the saving
grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax. What do I
really have to lose at this point. I rub some on and OH MY GOD!!!!!!!
The scream probably woke the kids, scared the dickens out of my
friend, but I really don't care. "IT WORKS!! It works!! I get a hearty
congratulation from my friend and she hangs up.

I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my
grief and despair....THE HAIR IS STILL THERE.........ALL OF IT!!!
So I shaved it off. Heck, I'm numb at this point.

Next week I'm going to try hair color..

Another test

! You are most Like A Sapphire !
Dark, mysterious - but unforgettable. You have a
deep
beauty. Delicate, and shy you try to stay away from
the
limelight but often your intelligence puts you in
at the
deep end. You're like a Sapphire, because, your
beauty is priceless.
You're intelligent, full of opinions, and not
big-headed about it all.
Sometimes you need to put yourself out there, as
you can be a bit shy.
Congratulations ... You're the mysterious gem
everybody wants to have and learn more about.


?? Which Precious Gem Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

Me Too!!!

Have you ever thought you were Psychic? I have thought that several times and I know my Sister is sort of…

The other Day when I was checking on Leslie’s blog, I had the feeling that she was home, but was not blogging for one reason or another. I was thinking that she was even thinking about quitting. Last night when I checked, VOILA!! She had been home and had been thinking about what direction her life would be heading in.

I have been feeling the same way. I started my blog, as a way of keeping track of what I was doing. I had just retired, after working for 37 years in a high stress, highly political job, and I was not ready to go yet. I saw the handwriting on the wall, and had said to myself, if NEXCOM ever offers us money to retire early, I will. I knew they would never do that…they did. I went. I was so afraid that I would become like my Mother, and sleep all day and stay up all night reading. I did not want to become a slug. Well I have.

At first the blog was just a paragraph or two, and not even daily. Then I saw other blogs that I liked, and wanted to make some changes to mine. Wanda added haloscan to it for me, and Leslie showed me how to make some template changes and I went from there.

However, I changed. I quit writing for myself, and started writing for others. That in itself is not a bad thing, it helped me grow. But I have become so afraid of offending my various readers, that I have kept my own feelings out of my writing. I show through sometimes, but not always.

I thought recently about just stopping, and decided that would be giving in to the urges, and that I wont do. I am hoping that Leslie wont stop either. SO many have quit, Dorothy, Leslie USA, TW, Don/Elliot, (although he’s back AGAIN!) Heather, Kim has cut way back because of her Job, Tammy has Cut way back because of LURKERS, and several others have gone to just posting once in awhile.

I have several scrapbooks to finish, A show to Direct and 2 to produce, and a house to finish painting. (Yes, I STILL have not finished the outside trim after 5 years, and the inside is still ½ done)

I sit at the computer for a good 3 hours every day, and then I get back on it as soon as Donna goes to bed. I can’t afford to spend that much time on line. It ties up my phone line.

So, like others, I am cutting back too. Don’t drop me, I’ll be around, but I may not be posting every day. Just when I have something to say.

Back to being psychic…today Donna came in and gave me a big hug and said “tell me you love Me.” So I did. Then she hugged me tighter. She has never done that before. She is on her way to spend 3 days in Vancouver with a friend of hers from College, who is getting married next Saturday. The last time she drove to Vancouver in her brand new car was 1992 and she totaled it in the tunnel. She was not hurt, but she was really scared. EGADS! She just called and said I Love you again!!! This time she has a brand new car again, and I hope she drives very safely. I just had a chill run up my spine when I saw her drive off. I love her so much, and we are very close. She used to know when I wanted her to call me, and she would. I would just think it, and bingo she would call. Her Husband thinks we are really weird!

I read Phyllis’ blog and the quote she has at the bottom of her post made me stop and think. It said to always leave your loved ones with a word of Love, as you may never see them again. I really freaked then. I Pray to the Powers that Be to Please keep My family safe!! (Oh SHIT!! Maybe it’s ME????? I better drive carefully too.)