Brain Droppings....

No matter what your political view...Ann Coulter is a bonafide BITCH!

on Immigration...
If you want to be an American...LEARN THE LANGUAGE

If you are a foreigner and you break the law...bye bye! I dont care how many people you are supporting, they all go back too. If you come here, STAY LEGAL!

If your country is so great, WHY DID YOU LEAVE?

If ours is so BAD, WHY DID YOU COME HERE?

I think that all Politicians should have to show a report card to all of their constiuents on how they voted, and then be graded on it, if you have a c or better, then you can run for re-election. If you have a C- or Lower, you CAN NOT run again.

All Lobbyists should have to report on national news during prime time who they paid off and how much they paid, and for what.

When a politician drafts a bill, of ANY kind, it should only be on the one subject, no riders! PERIOD!

Line item veto should be required!

All Politicians that vote against Universal Health Care should have to use only the worst Drs and Hospitals in the land. NO INSURANCE EITHER

I think that pets should have health care too!

If your Dr. Doesn't make you well, why should you PAY him, hasnt he fallen down on the job?

If you are over the age of 62, you should not have to pay taxes any more. Including Real Estate taxes.

Ok, I posted. SO do you agree or disagree?

Getting wet again!

Where else can you practice your aquarobics chest deep in 90F water, right on the edge of the pacific ocean,, and look up at the bright blue sky and see fir trees over head, and in one of those fir trees sits a bald eagle! The day was rather cool, and I almost did not go down and practice, but I spent all last night with spasms up and down my spine and hips. I needed to get into that water and work those muscles. There is adult swim from 430 to 530 daily, and I pick out a spot and just hug the edge so the lap swimmers can go right by me. I worked out for an hour, and then just floated, and that is when I looked up at the bluff and saw the eagle sitting on a snag. I asked the guy in the next lane where the nest was and he showed me the tree about 6 trees over. There was another eagle sitting on the nest. COOL!! This is the same eagle that I wrote about a month or so ago…the one who swiped the fish from the great blue heron. The people down there don’t think that there is a chick in the nest, because they have not seen it yet, and it is way past hatching time. Since Eagles mate for life, and both of these eagles were full adults, maybe they were setting up shop for next year. They will return to the same nest, IF they leave it for the winter.

We held auditions for A Chorus Line this weekend, so that is why I have been so silent. I was quite busy. Casting one show, winding down CHARLIE BROWN, and trying to come up with a skit for the banquet in two weeks. UGH! I am not creative. I can never think of a skit, and I have to show 10 minutes of the show that I will be directing in APRIL 2008, Social Security. I don’t even have a cast yet, and I really don’t want to give away the good parts, so I am stuck!! RUSTY HELP ME!!! I am also gearing up to start production on 12 Angry Men for OCTOBER.

My computers are both acting like someone is high jacking them. I connect and then they freeze up and go really slow. Sometimes it will kick me off sometimes just freeze up. If I was wireless I would say someone is piggybacking on my air time. But I am dial up, so I don’t know how that would work. I need a fairy God Mother to come leave me a new Sony Vaio Laptop, and a new Sony Vaio Desk top with wireless capabilities! (Like that is gonna happen!) I can dream can’t I?

We are supposed to have some thunder storms tonight. FUN!! I Love to be all cozy and warm inside and then sit and listen to the rain and the wind, and thunder!! I don’t have any close tall trees, so GO for it!! Well Schroeder is trying to sit on the key board so I had better stop for the night. Have a good one!

YAWN......

I have absolutely nothing to say! I have been very busy, swimming, producing, living, but nothing that I would write about.

Oh Yeah…Lint, my geriatric cat, with no tail,, and a personality like a dog…was screaming out side my window tonight. MROPH< MROPH, MROPH…not his normal loud mouth MEOWRRR. I looked out the window and there he sits with a baby rabbit in his mouth. He wanted IN with his present for Mommie, but I did not want to let him in. He would not put it down, and in fact trotted up the stairs and tried like Hell to push the door open with that poor baby in his mouth. It was not moving, so I gathered it was deceased. I tried to get him to let it go, but he would not.. IT”S MINE< I GOT IT!! So I just left him out there. He took it over and dropped it right in front of Bea’s cage, and looked up at me as if to say, “ok, don’t let me in I’ll terrorize your bunny!!” so It lays there. I am already in my pj’s and do not want to go out and remove dead carcasses from my yard. I turned out the light and was soundly sleeping when Sadie woke me up. She wanted out, and could not wake me, so she peed on me!! In MY BED!! She has done this about 4 times now, and I am not sure how I am going to break her of it. I had been blaming it on Lint, because I did catch him doing it one time. But he was out side. I have washed all of my bedding, with Lysol, and sprayed the bed with febreeze, but it is always in that one spot. Hopefully I have it covered now, and I just won’t let Sadie on my bed when I am sleeping. Back into her pen she goes!

I HATE Change...

One of the things that my Father was famous for was that every thing he owned he put IN A CERTAIN SPOT! He ALWAYS put there, and if it went missing, It was my fault. ALWAYS! Never mind that I didnt live there, or I had not touched IT...it was still my fault. We laughed about it among ourselves and often threatened to go in and rearrange his entire house just to see what he would do. Change was not good for him, and he often lived in the past...you know the stories, WHEN I WENT TO SCHOOL....yayayayaya.

Last night in the pool I channeled my DAD! I could not help it, He was just there, bitching about all the changes the new instructor was making. I tried so HARD to keep him under water, I even pushed his head under and stood on it with my foot, but he kept popping up and complaining.

THe new instructor is blonde, and perky, and speaks very very low. She was scared too, as Dad kept yelling at her to SPEAK UP< I CANT HEAR YOU! and she tried, but even I could not hear her.

Katie, our regular instructor knows that the noise factor in the pool with all the little kids trying to learn to swim (I also hate Summer) is awful, so she shouts one word instructions and we know what to do next. We all have our own spot in the pool, and mine is as far back as I can get without hitting the drop off. (even then it only comes chest high) So new instructor has us moving all over the pool, no warm up like usual, and our routines were all different. They were good, but not our normal routines, She kept each Rep short, and it got real confusing.

Dad finally said, I cant hear you, and I am not moving...so I will do my own thing right here. I was so embarrased, because it LOOKED like it was ME that was saying all that! Dad and I finished our routines just like we always do, and then we left. I was gonna chew him out, but by this time I was in the ladies room, and he disappeared! He was just gone!

I tried to go out to apologize for his behavior, but Katie and the New person were having a pow-wow. (Probably to decide which one of us to ban from the classes. It Better be Dad! It is all his fault!)

AM I really getting old? Am I really getting stuck in that much of a rut? OH GAWD!!!!!!!!

Maybe?

I am going to try and post, but I have been trying for three days and my puter freezes before it posts. I am so afraid that I will be needing a new one real soon! GAWD!!!

Our Community Pool opened on Monday, so I grapped my dumbells and toddled on down there. I almost did not go as it was COLD up on the hill where my house is, a raw wind coming right up the strait! I went down and signed in, purchasing my seasonal pass, and going on in. It was full of rude teenagers, who thought that they were the ones that the pool was opened for. When Adult Swim was on, I was the only one in the pool, and I did my aquarobics excersises all by myself. The pool was WONDERFUL!!! It is an outdoors pool, and they had it up to 90 F! AHHHHHHHHH So as long as I stayed in the water, I was warm, and I worked out the full 45 minutes. Then they blew the whistle and 30,000 brats jumped into the pool. SO I got out, and told the cashier I would be back when it was more civil.

I am getting old. I can not stand kids making noise just to make noise, and SCREAMING teenage girls are the worst of the bunch.

OH OH!!!! it is blinking like it is gonna freeze up again, so I am outa here....

Bummed!!

At what point should a Human Mother quit worrying about her Children? Animals quit worrying as soon as they are able to eat, and hunt on their own. My daughter will be 40 this year, and I still worry about her. My son will be 36 this year and I will worry about him until the day I die! He has been after me to get ahold of San Juan County Sherrif and find out where his wallet and watch and clothes were, so he could get his driver’s license back and start driving for the Dept of Natural Resources.

I finally got ahold of the Detective in charge of his case, and man did I get an ear full! He first off admitted that he liked Tim, but he said he was just inches away from being in real serious trouble. (like PRISON isn’t?) He told me that I need to tell Tim to NOT come back to Orcas Island or San Juan County when he gets out, because he will just end up right back in prison. He has never had an inmate get out and go straight! When I told him that he was planning on going to Arkansas to see Sandy, he about flipped out! SANDY? She’s the biggest Meth Head in the county! (SWELL!!) He said that Tim just doesn’t get it. I am sincerely hoping that is just a frustrated policeman talking and not the facts.

Tim’s license has been suspended for failure to appear on a speeding ticket, and has been turned over to collections, so there is no way he can have it reinstated until he pays all of his tickets, for a total of 3500!! Man he is never going to be able to get those all paid off! He cant work with out a car, and he cant drive without a license, and he cant get a pay his fines without a job! Poor kid is stuck between a rock and a hard place. I just know when he hears all this he will be so bummed out, and he has been doing so well, up until now! They sure don’t make it easy for them do they? And maybe they shouldn’t. But I know Tim, and he will definitely drive without his license, and he will get another ticket and when that happens he will end up right back in jail. LORD! PLEASE SHOW HIM the right path to take…and MAKE HIM TAKE IT!!

Meanwhile, This Human Mother will worry about him even more, even though I know there is nothing I can do, and even though I know that I should not! It is born and bred into me to do that, It is my job after all, and I do it so WELL!! (SIGH)

This and That...

I have been neglecting my blog for quite awhile now. I have been trying to get in here and post, but my life seems so BORING to me, and I am sure that reading about the birds and the cats and the squirrels and the weather for the umpteenth time cant be all that interesting to you either. I was talking to OMNIPOTENTBENEVOLENTEMPRESS and She has the same problem. We discovered that we both have been so busy with LIFE that we have not had a chance to sit and THINK.

I can write, when I have a chance to THINK, and sometimes I even amaze myself and write something worthwhile. Just lately I have not had a moment that was not filled with thinking about what I have to get accomplished and not just to think about what is WORTH thinking about. DOes that make sense?

I cant get started on a project, because I am afraid I will forget that I have to go somewhere...swimming, theater, etc. So I just am spinning here.

I so NEED to get back into writing, as it is so therapeudic. I feel alive, when I can just sit and type away, and then stop and read what I have written and find that WOW!! That came out of ME!!!

Charlie Brown is going well! 2 more weeks to go, and it is over. A CHorus Line AUditions in two weeks, so I am gearing up for that one. Twelve Angry Men has just been approved, so When DOttie gets back home from here vacation, we will have a meeting for that show and get rolling on that one. No auditions for it, as it is an Off-Season show, so It can be pre-cast. We just need to start rehearsing. I have also started getting in gear for MY show which runs in April of Next Year...SOCIAL SECURITY...a comedy about living with your children and still having a life. FUNNY!

I am taking care of Dottie's two cats, TIppy and Tyler, while she is gone, so my house is a real zoo! The kitten has adapted well, and even was all curled up and sleeping with Sadie this afternoon. He is such a little SHIT! I can not get over all the joy he has brought into my life. I woke up in the middle of the night, and Schroeder was asleep between my boobs, just purring softly in his sleep. AWWWWWWW!! THen when I woke up and went out of the bedroom, I found the 8.00 ball of wool that he had crocheted the furniture together with. All of it wound into and out of the legs of all the furniture in the livingroom and dining room. He was a busy little boy, no wonder he was sleeping so soundly!

Today is the first day in a while that I have not had to be anywhere, and what have I done with it? Not a damn thing! I just slugged all day, woke up early, drank a pot of coffee and watched tv. Such a waste huh? NOT! It felt so damn good...

This and THat

Little itty bitty kitty...

Schroeder must be ready for red meat, he is chewing the heck out of my fist!


He plays hard and he stops fast, and snuggles so sweet!

Add one more species...

I walked out on the deck yesterday to get some freshair and saw a pair of birds on the sunflower feeder. I stopped and looked at them, and then looked closer, because I could not identify them. I walked right up to them anc could have reached out and touched them and I noticed that their bills were different.

I came in and got out my SIBLEY's Book of Birds, and discovered that they were red crossbills. THey are very shy. THey live around the area, but they are hard to spot, so I feel really fortunate.

I am so tired, I got a good work out at the pool, and then came home and finished the lobby poster for the last show, labeled the light book for this show, and got the Audition posterd for the NEXT show all ready to give to the DIrector. Tomorrow I sit with the light tech and show her how to run the board, and when I know she is all checked out on it then I will be just about done with this show! Most of my job is preparation BEFORE the show, and Publicity just before the show opens. THen the budget, while the show is on, and then I close it with making the Poster for the Lobby.

Auditions for the NEXT show are June 23, 24 I hope we get enough people to audition! This has been a real problem for the past two years. I dont know why, because the word is geting out there, but I guess people just are not interested.

It has gotten really cold again tonight, so I am going to go take a hot shower and wash the junk out of my hair, and turn on the electric blanket and hit the sack!
It is almost in the 30's right now. 42F! go figure!! only 3 more weeks until SUmmer! ya think?

A Day Off!

YAY!! I had a day off today! I cleaned house! I must have broken the belt on the vaaccum cleaner 3 times! then the hose got clogged, then the bag was full. You would think that some one somewhere would invent a vacuum that could easily be taken apart to get to items like that. Surely I can not be the ONLY person who has odd bits of "stuff" laying on the floor that get sucked into the hose before you can stop it! Legos, Lincoln logs, bone bits left from the dog dish, petrified cat barf that the kitten found hidden under something, Pennies, rocks that come in on Bob's shoe treds. You know normal average everyday stuff. Stuff that gets hung up on the belt and then causes it to stop and burn and stink up the house just as it pops and breaks. Stuff that gets clogged in the hose right where some idiot has designed an L shaped curve that a lincoln log can not get around. I would LOVE Mr. Hoover to allow me to test drive their new models and give it a real work out. If it can pass MY test, It could pass ANYONE's! Aw but why would they listen to me? I just buy one every three years or so.

SIL came over today and mowed my yard for me. BLESS HER HEART!!! She misses her Mom, and she comes over to help me and pretends she is helping her Mom. I dont mind one littlebit!! Sherry was my babysitter when she was 14, and that is where Mike found her. He was stationed in Norfolk, Va. ANd we were stationed in Oceana, Va. so he would come hang out at my house, and then sherry and him started dating when she was 16, and then married when she was 17! A sweet young southern Girl, who married into this noisy disfunctional family. She has learned how to fight back now though, and we really appreciate her. especially when she comes and mows my yard, because she wanted to be in the sun!

Two more rehearsals to go until we have a live audience. Family night, which usually is really funny, and then a dress rehearsal and then we open! Friday night June 8, until June 30!

This is a picture of THE LITTLE RED HEADED GIRL that Charlie Brown has a crush on. She is usually never seen, but Rusty put her in as a woalk on. She is cute.


I wish you all could come see it. It is good.

Gorgeous moon!

I was driving back from the playhouse tonight and noticed an orange glow over the trees on the otherside of the bay. It was not quite dark,and I thought it was a fire or something. Just as I rounded the corner in San De Fuca, I saw it again, and it was higher in the sky, and only partly covered by a cloud. The full moon was bright orange and glowing like it was Autumn! I know it must happen a lot, but I dont recall ever seeing an orange full moon other than in the fall. It was gorgeous! It made a wide Orange path on the water of the cove, and just sat there glowing!

I got all of Act 1 Set with light cues today. I am so tired! THis show is really doing a job on me and I dont know why? I am tired all the time, and HURT like mad. Maybe that is what is causing the tiredness. When you are in pain all the time, it really wears on you. Someone who has not been in pain just does not understand how much it invades your being.



Got off track there for a minute or so...ANYWAY, tonight was Press night, and we actually had about 20 people there! Hopefully we will receive good press, and sell out. THe cast out did themselves, and it actually looks like a great show. It is so funny! old balding men playing little boys! and WELL!! THe tunes are really catchy and stay with you for quite a while. Good ear worms!

summer finally??? or not....

Our weather has been so weird! It is almost June, and we have only had 1 day that we could really call warm! Last night it got down to 38 F!!! BRRRRR I was going to take the electric blanket off the bed and wash it and zip it up for the season, but I used it last night!! My feet were FROZEN! I slept so good though! Woke up at 800 with Schroeder having wrapped his hind feet around a hair roller in my hair, and he was attacking it!! Back feet kicking at it, and front feet hanging on while he chewed at it, OUCH!! He is a little devil!

I spent all day at the theater, getting the lights plotted and ready to set cues. I still have to find someoneto hang the lights I need though, as I do not do ladders, especially ones that are 20 feet tall! uh-uh, not me! I am so unsteady on my feet, and I lose my balance easily, so I try real hard to stay flat footed on the ground.
Tomorrow I will work on a few cues, but then I have to go to the pool. I wont get a lot done on the lights. I really should skip swimming, but I just do not want to get into that habit at all. It is just too easy to make it just one more skip, and soon you aren't going any more at all.

Tomorrow we are supposed to hit the high 80's F! and then Thursday even warmer! Today was really really nice, but there was a a cool wind blowing in off the strait and tonight it is cool also. I have a feeling we are gonna get HOT and stay that way up through September, and then get cold again. It is hard to believe that Spring is almost over!

Time to let Sadie In for the night and put the BEAST away for the evening. HAve a good Wednesday!

Copied from ANJI....

My blog is worth $23,146.14.
How much is your blog worth?

Now if only I could GET that much for my blog...That would surely help out the money crunch!



I spent two hours in the pool tonight. I got there an hour early, and since it was a holiday, there was no swim team, so I got to go in and work out early. Then we had our regular class. Needless to say, I am tired, and my legs and ass hurt. I found some Tylenol#3 in the medicine cabinet, so I am on my way to a painfree evening.

Tomorrow I get to go in to the playhouse and start getting the lights all set the way Rusty wants them. Things are really starting to come together, and we filmed the commercial tonight. Thursday is the Press Night, If any of them show up, and then next week is Hell Week. Live audiences...and then we open! I sure hope we can gather a good crowd. We really need a sell out!!

Schroeder is getting really sassy, and has this house standing on it's head. He has Ethyl and Lint COWED! and Loki just adores him. Sadie still thinks he is a squirrel, so I have to watch her around him.

Hope you all had a safe weekend, and are looking forward to the good weather we are expecting to have.

FUN TIME

No matter how clean you think you keep your house, get a kitten, preferably a fuzzy long haired one, and turn it loose in your house. It will scurry hither and yon under sofa and table, and dresser and into closets long thought to be empty. It will find things you thought you had thrown away ages ago, It will also find things under the bed that you would rather not have found! The kitten can be combed out and all the little dust bunnies and loose threads will then be gathered and easily thrown away. HINT....throw them in a covered can, or they will be found and scattered yet again.

I took some petrified Cat Barf away from Schroeder yesterday. God only knows who, or how long ago ago it was deposited. I have no idea where it was either. But he found it. And in the bathroom there were 5 toilet paper rolls minus the toilet paper of course. I dont know where he found those either.

I have scratches all over my feet and my arms from Kitten play time. He got his first ride in the carrier yesterday, to go see the Vet. He yelled at the top of his voice clear through Coupeville, and into the Vet's Office. The Dr, came right out, and said "Goodness" He is one nice cat!" He thought I got a really good animal, and said there must be some Maine COon in him because his ears and paws have tufts of fur.

He is ruling the house. Even Sadie is cowed by him. Lint still refuses to have anything to do with him, but Loki things he was brought into the house for him alone. He Mothers him, and plays with him and cleans him, and plays and talks with him. SO CUTE!!

I tried to get a picture of Schroeder and Loki together, but they are both too fast! I'll keep trying though.

Rehearsal....

I got the lights turned on the set for the first time tonight, and it does not appear like I will have to add too many spots! COOL!! THis is a rehearsal picture of the cast and set, minus costumes. It is going to be a really cool play! Adults playing kids! FUNNY!!!!

We went through act 1 tonight and tomorrow is act 2. THen We will be putting it all together to run as a whole show. No prompts, no books, no stopping. This becomes brutal now, but they have to get their lines down without help, so we throw them in the deep end of the pool! tee hee!

I need to go wash the clorine out of my hair, because I really DID get into the deep end of the pool during aquarobics. I LOVE them!!! no pain for 1 hour!! ahhhhhh!!!

Anybody seen my Q?

Schroeder has decided that I am "all Right" and he follows me everywhere! He climbs my robe to sit on my shoulder when I am in the kitchen, he climbs my pant legs when I am sitting at the computer and he climbs the bedspread to sit on my laptop while I lay on my tummy to blogwalk. He also has learned that if you hook your little front claws under the key tops, Mommy can't lift you up so fast to move you before you publish something she has been working on. When You do this, the key tops pop off!! and then Mommie yells really loud!

I was missing my Z until yesterday morning when I found it under the bed. Tonight I am missing my Q. THe only thing there is a little white smooshie thingamajig that I can push down and get the q to print. AH well, I guess I will move the bed again tomorrow and see if I can find the missing key top!

Kittens are really a lot of fun though. THe whole world is brand new and they love to look at everything. He eats like a little pig too! and he has stuck his head into my milk glass and helped himself to all he could reach. (Little SHIT)

I am laying here tonight under my electric blanket, trying to get warm. It has been such a cold spring, that I just realized that May is almost over, and we will be into June before long! Usually we have a wet April with a few nice days then May is usually Hot and dry, and then June is wet and cool, and then summer starts out with hot and dry until mid Sept. But I dont know what the weather will be like this year. It has been so bizzarre! all of the spring flowers popped out all at once, and very bountiful too. THe grass has grown a foot in a week!

My SIL came over yesterday to mow my yard and borrow the mower to mow hers, and she got mine done and then the mower quit on her! Poor thing! I sure do appreciate her doing it though! I just cant get out there and push that mower more than 50 feet. I sure hope this aquarobics does the trick, and gets my legs and core strong enough to get out and walk again. I feel like a cripple! I technically am not, but I sure cant get very far with out being in excruciating pain! I almost did not make it through the grocery store today. This just SUCKS!

We are starting to come together on YOURE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, a few more music and dance rehearsals and then we will be doing straight run throughs. I will be taking candid shots during the runthroughs and then getting the head shots and bios ready for the lobby. Meanwhile, this week I need to get the audition poster out for A CHORUS LINE. (Whew) You all dont even want to see my house right now!! too busy and too hurt to clean!

Well the laptop held up through this post, so let's cross our fingers and see if it will publish!! I sooooo need a new fast computer.

Kitten on keyboard

I had forgotten how much work and joy that a baby anything can bring into a house. Especially a baby Kitten! The whole world is brand spanking new and they have no fear of anything! (except Ethel, who hisses and growls at him, so he leaves her alone)

Schroeder has left a mark on my legs, my hands and my nose. His sharp little claws are like razors, and he has no qualms about using them either!

Yesterday he got his little body underneath the line of dressers in my bedroom, and could not find his way out. It is a tight squeeze under there, and a tight squeeze getting back out. But MAN his voice sure didnt sound squeezed! He yelled so loud that even Sadie was trying to figure out how to get him out. I took the bottom drawer out, but these dressers have a bottom on them, so that didn't work. I finally tipped one back against the wall and propped it up with a shoe until I could get him to come to me then dragged him out. Sheesh.

I keep him sequestered in the hall bathroom, so that he can eat his kitten chow and Loki wont scarf it down first! Bob went in to pee, and all I heard was YEOW!!! it seems that Schroeder decided to climb up his pant leg while he was doing his business. LOLOLOLOLOLOL

Oh GAWD!! I am surely being entertained.

Ya'll gotta get a kitten!!!

I cant post!

FOr some reason or another I am unable to post pictures. I tried for over an hour this morning, just to post 1 picture! and tonight the same thing, NO CAN DO! This morning everytime I published it lost everything I wrote, so until I figure this out..

SHIT!

SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!! Blogger is being a BASTARD!!

Schroeder....

Isn't he adorable? His name is Schroeder after the character in the play we are doing. Rusty and Judy decided that I needed a kitten and they put their heads together and Judy found the litter and of course you know what a sucker I am! So He came home tonight. He is 6 weeks old, and likes to ride on my shoulder!

Ethel took one look and sniffed and hissed and now she is hiding in the garage, Loki wants to play, but the baby just hisses. ANd Sadie thinks he is a squirrel and wants to Eat him. oops! Lint on the other hand took one look, looked at me as if to say Oh SHIT! Not ANOTHER one! What can I say...I need some vice, right? I dont drink, smoke or "anything else".

He is in the hall bathroom and there are 4 noses all aimed under the door trying to smell, and he is on the far side of the room behind the toilet. But they all know he is in there. OH!! I hear kitty growling, Ethel must be being bitchy! She is 14, and Lint is 16 or 17 we think, And Loki is the baby at 7 so it's time to shake up this crew. Besides, I needed something to fill Chitters'space.

I Know, I KNOW!! I'm bad. But I did not take his sister, and she was even CUTER! She needs a home, Carole, ya want one?

Funny!

Widdle Wabbits


A precious little girl walks into a pet shop and asks, in the
sweetest
little lisp, between two missing teeth, "Excuthe me, mithter, do you
keep
widdle wabbits?"

As the shopkeeper's heart melts, he gets
down on his knees so that he's on her level and asks,
"Do you want a widdle white wabbit, or a thoft and
fuwwy bwack wabbit, or maybe one like that cute
widdle bwown wabbit over there?"

She, in turn, blushes, rocks on her heels, puts her
hands on her knees, leans forward and says, in a tiny
quiet voice, "I don't think my python weally gives a thit.


I have had hamsters, and gerbils, and parakeets, and bunnies and puppies and kittens and frogs and even a dead sea urchin, but thankfully we have never had a python! My brother Mike had a garter snake once but it "disappeared" ;)

Gee!! (grin)

GARSH!! Thanks everybody….Nothing like a call for a hug, to bring lurking friends out of the woodwork! ;) edt…

I had several phone calls, and in retrospect it was just a BAD Day! My computer kept kicking me off line, and I could not blogwalk. And I am so tired of being in pain! I have spent the good part of the past week on my stomach on the floor or in bed, trying to ease the pain in my back. So thank you all for all the hugs! I will be fine. Maybe.

This morning I had a rare gift from Mother Nature! I peeked over the window sill, and saw Lola for the first time in AGES!! She was trying real hard to get up the courage to climb down the wisteria and run over to the feeder. Just as she decided to do so, a flock of birds flew to the feeder, and in that flock were about 10 goldfinch males, and 3 Evening Grosbeaks!!! I had never seen them before, even though they are plentiful on the island. 2 males and 1 female! So Now I have added another species to my life-list!

I hope that all of you in the path of these horrible tornadoes are being careful and staying safe. I just can’t imagine living where you have to fear those monsters. I LOVE a good thunder storm, but ours are not accompanied by tornadoes. Yet. We have nasty winds in the fall and winter, but we built sturdy enough to survive them. I also live up high so I don’t have to worry about high tides, or tsunamis either. About the only thing we have no control of is Earthquakes, and NOBODY knows when they are gonna hit. I have insurance for them, and we are pretty stable, sorta. And our volcanoes have been listed as the most dangerous ones in the country, but they don’t move, we know exactly where they are, and we may get ashed, but not badly, as the prevailing wind goes East and we live West.

WAAAAAHHH!!

I Need a Hug!!! :(

Spring fever?

I am so COLD today! It got down to 36 last night, and right now it is only 48 BRRRRR.!!! I came home from a great work out at aquarobics, and ate dinner, and then every bit of energy just drained right out of me. I took a hot bath with epsom salts and went to bed early. I slept until 1030 this morning, and woke up with Sadie really really wanting to go outside. SHe was dancing a jig in her pen and whining big time. Poor baby! ANd she had to wait while I went first.

I put her out and then went back to bed to wake up, and I just couldn't! I dozed with my eyes shut, but my brain awake and listened to the birds and the planes fly overhead.

I got up finally, and came in and watched TODAY that I had recorded, and had a sandwich, and then started shivering again. I want to go some place really warm, and just lay there in the sun and soak it all up. I never thought I would ever say that!

Tonight, I am sitting here watching the birds all stuff themselves like there is no tomorrow, emptying the feeder that I filled this afternoon. Hungry little buggers.

I think I am going to go to bed early again tonight, as I feel like someone is sitting on my chest, and I just have no energy. I can breath just fine, but I ache. cant get sick. I have too much to do!

OHMIGAWD!!!!!!

I can't believe I ate the WHOLE thing!!

Bird watching...and being watched

Today as I was driving back from town, I stopped by the pond to talk to the resident geese. There were only three of them there today, but they all walked up to the car and were whistling at me and talking. Suddenly they all three turned their noses straight up into the air and spread their wings and honkeed like there was an intruder somewhere.



I then saw a Great Blue Heron just over the bank of the pond, take off, and drop his fish.


Just as he took off, and the geese were fully honking, Mr. Eagle flew down and grabbed the fish right away from the Heron, and flew back up to the top of the trees.



I saw a woman walking towards us with a cell phone in her ear and walking her little squeek toy dog, and I said "DID YOU SEE THAT?" she just said huh? and looked at me funny. She had no idea what she had missed by keeping her ear to that cell phone, while out walking.

Soon another woman came around the curve walking her big dog and she was all agog. DID YOU SEE THAT? she said, so we talked about the wonder of the place we live, and how cool it was to be sitting in one spot and see all of that happen.

I got home and was talking to Rusty, and saw the prettiest little bird. I THINK it is a Golden Crowned Kinglet, because of the white slash over its eye, but it was colored more like a ruby crowned kinglet. Hard to say for certain. The ruby crown has a hidden patch of red feathers on the top of his head, but it is more olive than the golden, and has a half arch over and under its eye. So on the slash alone, I am claiming golden crowned kinglet for my life-list!

Whoo-hoo!


Th gold finch are back in droves also. and they are really early for us. I ususally do not have them until July when the thistle blooms. I was also reading that the Juncoes leave every year, but mine stay here year around. I wonder why?

Anyone got a clue?

Only four years to live? ACK!

For years now we have been hearing about the African Bee, and how dangerous it was, and how it was going to destroy our honey bees. We are in the middle of a crisis RIGHT NOW, that not many of us have heard about, and probably because it just offends the senses. It does not create public outcry, and it is SERIOUS folks.

It has a name, but the common term for it is Bee Diaharea! It spoils a hive, kills the bees and thus eliminates that hive of bees from the pollination field.

This week in our local paper THE WHIDBEY NEWS TIMES It hit home, and I am going to post part of the article here.

Whidbey hives collapse

By Paul BoringApr 25 2007

A scientifically baffling and poorly understood phenomenon causing bees worldwide to drop like flies has made its way to Whidbey Island. Tom Schioler, Greenbank beekeeper and the only commercial pollinator on the island, recently lost at least two hives to what is widely referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder. The story began more than two months ago when the local beekeeper, despite his most fervent efforts to save the bees, lost a hive to the unicellular parasite Nosema. “Nosema is basically bee diarrhea,” Schioler said. “Bees don’t poop in the hive unless they’re really sick. I noticed brown spots on the hive and knew something was wrong.” After two treatments and an attempt to revive the hive by moving a bottom screen board from one hive to the top of the struggling hive to use the residual warmth, Schioler was forced to write off the colony. “When I first opened up the hive, the bottom brood box was just filled with dead bees,” he said. Nosema has a name and a face. What happened next was less discriminating and really stung. Following the recommendation of a colleague from the coast, Schioler tried using an antibiotic on two hives as a precautionary measure. “It didn’t work,” he said. “They died.” Both hives had never been used for pollination and were thus never exposed to diseases. “I just used them for honey,” the pollinator said. “I thought the second hive three weeks ago was gangbusters and then Thursday I look in there and all the frames are empty.” The bees he found were black and wet-looking, consistent with Colony Collapse Disorder. At the bottom of the box, the queen was half the normal size and only she and young, attendant bees remained. The hive was full of honey and nectar, leaving Schioler puzzled, as other bees will generally swoop in and loot if the opportunity is presented. “They stayed the hell away from it,” he said. “There were no older bees.” Schioler divides his time between producing honey and commercial pollination. At last Sunday’s Ballard Farmer’s Market he met a beekeeper who lost 20 of his 22 hives. Another beekeeper in Tenino had it much worse, losing all 350 of his hives. Whether a person shares Schioler’s passion for bees is irrelevant in the face of what he claims is a potentially catastrophic harbinger. From 1971 to 2006 approximately half of the U.S. honey bee colonies have vanished. Theories for the cumulative loss range from environmental change-related stresses, to malnutrition, to mites, to pesticides, to electromagnetic radiation, such as cellular phone signals. More recently the rate of attrition was alleged to have reached new proportions, according to Wikipedia, and the term Colony Collapse Disorder was proposed to describe the sudden rash of disappearances. “Einstein predicted that if bees were to die, humans would starve within four years,” Schioler said. “If this continues, we could starve in two generations. People need to decide if they want a beautiful lawn or if they want to eat in the future.” In 1962, Rachel Carson wrote the book Silent Spring, which has been credited with launching the environmentalism movement in the West. The book claimed detrimental effects of pesticides on the environment and ultimately facilitated the ban of the pesticide DDT in 1972 in the U.S. “We’ve known the problems were there for a long time,” Schioler said. The decline of bee populations in the U.S. prompted the importation of 1.5 million hives from Australia. “That’s how short we are,” the beekeeper said. “And they fear that will bring problems of its own in the form of small hive beetles.” With a relatively modest 39 hives in Greenbank and 10 more in California, Schioler makes the most of his resources. His colleague and mentor Jim Malsch of Arlington manages 700 hives. The seasoned bee veteran has not been affected by CCD and is loath to predict doom and gloom. “If you’re a beekeeper, the healthier you can keep your bees the better they’re going to be for pollinating and over-wintering,” Malsch said. “If you can keep good, healthy bees, they’ll survive.” The longtime beekeeper and pollinator has had his battles with mites. In 1993, he was left with just 160 of the 400 hives he sent to California for almond pollination. Varroa mites had irreparably weakened the hives. In the end, he said, the onus falls on the beekeeper. “You have to be diligent about keeping on top of it,” Malsch said, adding that some attrition is to be expected. “If you lose 20 percent of your bees in the winter, you can live with that.” Malsch said mites have been the biggest problem since they appeared in the late 1980s. “I kept bees before we had mites here and it was a lot easier to keep them and over-winter them,” he said. “You have to keep the mite population down. You’re never going to totally get rid of them.” Waxing theoretical, Malsch postulated that Colony Collapse Disorder is a result of bees becoming weakened by mites and rendering them helpless to mites and parasites. “I believe the viruses have always been here, but when the viruses come along with the mites, the bees get in a weakened condition through stress or mites or whatever and they’re more susceptible,” he said. Whidbey Island is a microcosmic example of what is taking place nationwide. Ohio alone has lost nearly 90 percent of its hives. “There’s virtually no bees left on the island,” he said, imploring people to stop using pesticides and to cease cutting down blackberry bushes and wildflowers. “Honey is emergency food. Nectar and pollen are what bees need.” Bees are often mistaken for oft-maligned hornets, which are carnivorous. Schioler said the role bees play in helping the food chain from humans on down is crucial to survival. “People have to change their attitude toward bees rather than arbitrarily kill everything that they think looks like a bee,” he said. “You have to physically crush a bee to get stung.” Schioler, because he pollinates, is able to produce 14 different kinds of honey. His breed, however, is a rare one. “Twenty years ago there were about 3,000 pollinators in the U.S.,” he said. “Today there are less than 400. We probably have four commercial pollinators in a 100-mile radius who can do over 50 hives and maybe five to ten who can do 50 to 100. There is not enough pollination on Whidbey.” Schioler is looking to do his part to help in the pollination process. He is always looking to park hives on property with large amounts of blackberry bushes and other types of flora. “If people are willing to let me put hives there, they’ll get some very good honey,” he said. Schioler can be reached at 425-299-1135. A few hours after I added the above poem to conclude this piece, my husband informed me that he was down to visit our bees today. We live in Maine, and this year (2004) we have had a particularly bitterly cold winter, with extended periods of night time temperatures below zero (F) and day time highs in the 5-10 degree (F) range. We were certain our bees, already depleted by a late season partial swarm in August, were dead. On the day of this writing, it was near 40 degrees (F). My husband reports that there were a few bees flying around the hive mouth today, many more walking about on their “launching pad,” drinking from melted snow there. We are not out of the woods yet. This is a difficult season for bees in Maine. We are months away still from spring flowerings. It will be very damp. Our bees also show signs of Nosema disease (a protazoan parasite which results in diarrhea and wasting), which may result in the death of the hive anyway, though we will begin treating for it tomorrow. While we wrapped and otherwise prepared the hive last fall, there is little we can do for our bees during the depths of winter. But we can tend them as best we can, in our own backyard, and beyond, and wait for their emergence in the spring, on

Whidbey Island is a microcosmic example of what is taking place nationwide. Ohio alone has lost nearly 90 percent of its hives. “There’s virtually no bees left on the island,” he said, imploring people to stop using pesticides and to cease cutting down blackberry bushes and wildflowers. “Honey is emergency food. Nectar and pollen are what bees need.”

The decline of the commercial honey bee population results from a variety of factors. One is the decline of the commercial honey business itself.1 Commercial honey bee populations have also been poisoned by the use of insecticides in agriculture. While commercial honey bee colonies can be moved away from the site of pesticide use, they are not free of risk. Some estimate that 20% of all losses of honey bee colonies involve pesticide exposure

When I first heard about this I scoffed it off, But then I started noticing that the plum trees in Leas yard were FULL of blooms last year, but NO FRIUT! Why? My peach tree was LOADED with blossoms, but very Little Fruit. HUH? Lea and I both attributed it to a very cold and windy spring, which blew all the blossoms away before they were pollinated.

It appears I was wrong. We are losing our bees. I can sit outside and not get "bugged" by the bees. (pun intended) THe YellowJackets and WASPS are a different story. They are here, but they do not pollinate. THe hummingbirds do, but not every blossom.

As was pointed out in the article, people are clearing great huge swaths of blackberry bushes from their land. (Pacific Northwest KUDZU) They are very invasive and if allowed to grow untended, they will cover everything. THe farmers are using stronger and stronger herbicides to keep them at bay, and that is one major source of necter for the Honey bees. Dandilions and wildflowers are too.

THere used to be a field right by the OLF that had hives stacked out there by the hundreds, but they are all gone now.

Since the major crop of Washington State is Apples and Pears, and Cherries, all depending on the Honey bee to pollinate, we could have our entire economy collapse.

If you live somewhere that does not depend on Honey bees for pollination, you probably wont take time to read this article, but it is serious! We need to wake up and smell those wildflowers, and listen to those honey bees buzz around and start becoming a more earth friendly species.

It Ain't just global warming that is gonna do us in. It might be as Einstein said...THE HONEY BEE's DEMISE!

Springy Tuesday...

It is so pretty out side right now. ALl of the tulips and daffodils, lilacs and Rhododendrons, and all of the fruit trees are all in bloom right now. Usually this takes 2.5 months, but this spring, everything is hitting at once. THe tulips are going to all be gone before this weekend when the big celebration in Oak Harbor and the Skagit Valley hit. We will be celebrating Holland Happening in Oak Harbor, for about the 30th year. Now mind you, there are only 2-5 % of the population is still Dutch, but we still gor for it!

We have windmills in the city parks, and wooden shoes nailed to barns, and tulips and bulbs at every front door. Some of the names are still around, but there is not much Dutch blood anymore. They have all intermingled with the Irish, and the Norwegians, and the Swedish, and the Aisians. SO you are very likely to see a Vanderzicht with black hair and brown eyes, and fair skin. We are a very homogenous group here.

When I first came to the island, I was 8 years old, and the Navy had only been here for about 12 years. The Dutch were very antagonistic about losing theirland to the US Government, and I cant say as I blame them, but they took it out on all of the Navy personell that came after the fact. You were not allowed to date a sailor if you were a single girl. If you did, then your family shunned you. It got much better after the 60's, but there was still a stigmatism to being military, and not a native.

Dont know how I got off on that bent, oh well. I was going to talk about the weather...

I woke up this morning to pouring rain, and it smelled so good on the freshly cut grass. I just sat on my bed with my arm on the windowsill, with a big cup of freshly brewed coffee in my hand, and my feet stuck under the electric blanket,and watched it rain. The birds were really enjoying the fact that I had taken all of the windfall out of the birdbaths, and the fresh rain had filled them up again. Mrs. Robin was chirping and splashing, and singing like mad! Mr. Robin was sitting on the wisteria and watching, but he let her have the bathroom all to herself which I thought was very considerate of him. They look like they enjoy their baths as much as a baby does his.

The hummers are back in force, and I need to dig out the other 5 feeders and fill them up, because soon, the babies will be hatching and then I will go through 5-6 feeders full of bird juice every day. It is so much fun to watch them fly and try to defend their feeders.

The Goldfinches are back waay early too. They usually only hit my yard in Early July, but they are here now. I have not seen any colts or calves or lambs yet though. I know they are born now, but they must not be on my normal routes now.

The rain has stopped for now, and I must say that I spent the whole day in my bathrobe, reading a book, and watching the rain and the birds. Lazy ass aren't I?

Felt really good too!

BUSY BUSY BUSY!!

Sorry I have been so absent lately, but I have been a busy little bee this past several weeks. I know that is no excuse, but I just have not been able to keep my mind focused on writing.

I am so busy at the playhouse, I am working on two shows, YOURE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, which is in production right now, and A CHORUS LINE which will go into production in late May, or June. I have a lot of computer work to do for each of these shows, and it has kept me hopping! I just about have Charlie Brown's computer work done, so all I will have left is at rehearsals, so that will be ok, but Chorus Line needs to have the Logo finalized,and then posters made to send out so all the dance studios will know that we will need talent this summer.

I still have to get Charlie's Poster done, and a press release written and then the light cues finalized. Since I have to send everything through the box office, they get edited, and sent back for re-writes, and that just makes all my time really tight!

THen there is SPRING!! IT has finally hit with a vengeance, and the grass has grown so fast! Bob came over SUnday and knocked down the back yard, but I still have to do the front yard! THen I need to get the Lilacs cut before they are all gone. GOtta have a big bunch of Lilacs!

THen there is my dreams: I woke up yesterday CRAVING a big bag of See's Candies Bon-Bons! Orange ones, tipperarree ones, maple nut ones, Apricot ones, OH MAN!! I NEED A BIG box of Bon Bons. All day yesterday I was just craving and craving them. Maybe the mailman will send me some tomorrow...or not. I may have to drive the 55 miles in to Mt Vernon just to buy a big bag of them and then just pig out on candy and get it over with. ANd while I am there I can get a big box of their strawberry creme chocolate ones, and the raspberry ones, and the butter creme ones. AGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I'm dying here!

ANd I have a kitten on my mind too! any kitten! I need a kitten! I need to start taking drugs when I go to bed, so I can not dream about these things that I dont need!

I am also swimming three nights a week! It is so freeing! No pain for 75 minutes! HEAVEN! I cant imagine getting tired of it, but We shall see.

THen there are all the bad headlines this past week. THe world is going NUTS! going to hell in a hand basket! When will it all end? hopefully not before I get my See's Bon-Bons!! And Phyllis I dont need any crap about it not being good for me either!! :( So there!

Sunday Funny!!

Urine Test

Like a lot of folks in this state I have a job. I work, they pay me.


I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as they see fit.
In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test,
which is no problem.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people
who don't have to pass a urine test.


Shouldn't a person have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check,
because I have to pass one to earn it for them?

Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their
feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping them sit on their
butt.


Could you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to
pass a urine test to get a public assistance check.

Can you name the OTHER 32?

I was watching OPRAH today, with her special report from Blacksburg, Va with Lisa Ling. Lisa was interviewing anyone she could find that knew anything about any of the shooting victims. I switched over to MSNBC just for a quick check and Brian Williams was telling about the "Manifesto" that came to NBC today. Evidently mailed in between the two shootings. I did not want to watch it so I switched back to Oprah, and she was interviewing a young man who was at Columbine and saw his sister killed there too.

What the young man said was what the entire world should be concentrating on. He and his Father go around to groups and schools and talk about the shootings and the victims, and how to cope with the death. But what was unique was the fact that he said he NEVER gives the two shooters any press at all. He only concentrates on the good things. THe work that his sister had done, the subjects that she had studied. THe things and the families that the other victims left behind.

WHen Oprah asked why, he said that there is always going to be someone who wants to be bigger, and better and faster, and gorier, and why give them something to aim for? He said that if the media would just not give them the press that they want, then the violence would calm down. They only want to be on TV, and they want their faces known. He is right.

Last night I was watching the news and they had pictures of some of the victims, only 15 out of the 32 that died! and NONE of the wounded. But they had about 15-20 minutes of the shooter and his manifesto, and his picture, and his mental evaluations, and the who what why and when of his life. But No mention of the rewst of the victims.

THere were people who were killed that were research scientist, there were WWII holocaust survivers, there were Grad students working towards their PHD's. WOnderful beautiful people all, and no mention of them. No mention of their families, or the work they did. It took Lisa Ling to get that this afternoon.

I am so tired of the media running full tilt with the first bang of a gun, and then re-living it, and re-living it until you are sick to death of it. How many times can you watch the 5 minutes of very bad cell phone video? I know that there is freedom of the press, and I would not want to do anything that would staunch that, but damn, people, wouldnt you think that one of them would stop and just say whoa! I will report it once, and then I will only concentrate on the goodness of the victims. DONT give these maniacs any more coverage! Let's find out who these murdered people were and what they did, and who loved them, and who they loved, and what we can all do to prevent it from happening again, but let's quit giving press and coverage to the criminals! That is exactly what they want. AQnd we played right into his hands.

I'll bet we can all name the criminal, and where he was from, and who his family was and what his grades were but I will bet you all a doughnut, that you can't tell me anything about 5 of the victims off the top of your head.

We are a SAD society!

FUNNY!!!

Have any of you watched TWO AND A HALF MEN? I roar every Monday at that show. It is so damn funny! But then I have a wicked sense of humor. I always have. I caught on to the dirty jokes very young in life. Even though I was personally very prudish and inexperienced. My Mom and Dad would talk about “things” in code, and I always caught on. Pig Latin was the language of the house when we were young. Got that right away. Nothing was safe. My parents never talked openly in front of us kids about the other sex, but growing up Navy schools, we got it through osmosis.

I can “get” a joke usually before it is finished. And when I was younger, I could tell them along with the best of them. Salesmen would come and look for me at the store, because they knew I would always have a fresh new one to tell.

About 20 years ago, it became very Politically incorrect to tell Dirty Jokes in Public, and the Government spent a LOT of money training all of it’s employees to be correct in talking to the opposite sex. Sexual harassment became the buzzword around the offices, and Dirty Jokes could no longer be told. Sad.

Now, I no longer hear or tell these jokes, and every once in awhile I will get forwarded a really good one that I haven’t heard before.

It is rare that I find today’s sitcoms funny, they are usually asinine, but TWO AND A HALF MEN has it nailed! They know young boys, and what they are thinking and they know lod men and how they react to young boys. If you have not had the opportunity to watch it on Monday nights at 900 on CBS, I would really advise you to take the time some week and do so. It is FUNNY!!

Tulips in the valley!

We took a drive off island and into Mt Vernon this afternoon. I had forgotten that this was smack dab in the middle of the 2007 Skagit Valley TUlip Festival. Traffic was a AWFUL with everyone trying to get off the highway and on to the roads that would take them by the tulip fields. It was really kind of sad to see, as the fields that used to be full of tulips and daffodils and iris blooms are mostly gone now, and are concentrated into one or two groups of fields run by big companies. Washington Bulb Company and Roozengarten. What flowers there are, are beautiful, but not nearly the same as driving down every road and seeing field after field in bloom like a patch work quilt.

ANother sign of Farms being sold off to developers. I wish I could have seen this country when the white man first came here. I have seen pictures of trees as big as houses, and it was awesome. I remember when I was a little girl and the fields were all in bloom, it too was just awesome. THe Dutch had come and settled the skagit Valley and the Delta, and diked it up and turned it into fertile farmland. THe bulbs were legendary.

I will try to go back and get more pictures like I do every year, because I know that soon, there wont be any more flowers growing there. It will be houses, and condos and it just wont be the same any longer.

So sad!

Busy again!!!

Whoops! Better hurry they are taking blogger down in 20 minutes.

I have been so very busy this week, with the playhouse, so please excuse me for being so quiet!

We were beating the bushes and everywhere else trying to find 4 men who could blend their voices in 1950's music, but we were unable to come up with a cast for FOREVER PLAID. THat is a real shame as it is a really good show. HOWEVER! we are going forward with YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, as we can get the rights to it and Rusty can direct it and we have it cast already. Whew!



So re-doing all of the logos has taken up my time.

I am really loving the Water!! I would swim every day if they would let me. But there are only evening classes M W F so that will have to do. I will say that yesterday we worked on our legs and lower back muscles, and it felt really really good. I am not giving up hope!

I found the bathroom scales, and jumped on them to expect to have lost a few pounds anyway, and was unpleasantly surprised that I weigh a lot more than I thought I did. ARRRGGGHHHH!!! Better hurry and get my legs and back in shape so I can get out there and walk it all off.

I wonder if Professor Harold Hill's Think system would work?

Do Ya THINK maybe? It's Spring?

Spring has finally turned the corner from Winter…We think. It snowed on Tuesday, broke records for highs on Friday, and then got cold and dark and rainy on Easter. Bob and I drove over to the Peninsula and went to visit Tim. We caught the 845 Ferry off island, arrived in Port Townsend at 915, and headed West.

As we left the Island, it was warm and sunny, with scattered clouds showing up just as the sun broke out. We watched the mainland come into view, and noticed the dark grey clouds and fog over the foothills. AS we got off the Ferry and made our way through the drive through at Mickey D’s, it was starting to rain. We headed down 101W and as we drew closer to the Wilderness, it got darker and wetter. There is a reason that the Olympic Peninsula has several rain forests. It RAINED!! And it rained, and it rained. It was so pretty. No traffic, just a good spring rain, and great scenery.

Tim Looked good. He was wearing his non-prison clothes, that I sent him last week. He looked like a real human! He was in a good mood, counting the days until Fire season starts, so they can get out and fight fires. Hw has started some of his classes. He is waiting for the ones that will show him how to not be an addict anymore. I think he thinks that they are gonna wave a magic wand and they will be “cured”. He seems to really want to get something out of these lessons. He swears he will never be back there again. (DEAR GOD! Please )

My yard is too wet to finish mowing. And it is sposed to rain again tomorrow and the next day too. I may not be able to get it mowed again until it is as tall as it originally was. I wish I could afford to have gravel or concrete poured out there. I just cant mow it.

I am LOVING Aquarobics! I am now going three times a week. M W F. It feels so good to float and get that weight off of my back. I just wish it would HELP me. It does not seem to be doing that. In fact it seems to be getting worse when I am not in the pool.
I will keep on going until I hear from My Dr that I should not be going. And then I will be raising hell and demanding an operation to stop this pain. (yeah right ML. You do that!)

Phyllis fell again today coming out of the pool onto the parking lot. She fell over the curb; right onto her good knee. I worry so much about her falling. It is almost like she can’t see where she is putting her feet. There were people right there to help her get up and back onto her feet, but she fell HARD. She is gonna hurt tomorrow.

I have not seen any squirrels in several months! I think the dirt bag cat next door killed them all! The little Brown and red Douglas Squirrels came from that side of the forest. The Big grey ones come from Lea’s side, where it is more exposed, and I think Owl or coyote predation got to them. I did see one grey squirrel (Suzy’s) Saturday, Early. SO maybe they just come when I don’t see. I have not heard Lola though. She makes a real racket when S/he comes along the fence. Chattering and yelling and whistling. I hope they come back during the warmer weather. I lured them in all into the yard, and sure would not want to lose them to Jupiter’s hunting.

Gotta go wash the Chlorine out of my hair, so I will catch you all tomorrow!

Welcome a new blogger...

Judy aka CatmommaJ has finally posted a new blog! She is concerned that no one will find her, so everyone go on over and say howdy! she is a really neat lady that I met in the Light Booth during OUR TOWN. She is widowed and lives with her seven cats. so go welcome her.

cat-justsingingintherain.blogspot.com

Be gentle!! Don't scare her off...JOHN! DICK! BRENT!



Have a happy and safe Easter everyone. I am on my way to visit Errant Son.

My Visual DNA

I found this over at Bobbie's place, and it looked like fun!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Guest Blogger....

My friend Catmama J sent me this post in an Email. I have been trying to encourage her to start a blog of her own, but she is really shy!! (HA!) anyway, read and enjoy!.......

O.K.,,, so I've been miserable with allergies for the last three or so weeks, and I decide today that maybe if I do a really good house cleaning, It'll help with my stuffed up nose and itchy eyes.

I get out my trusty canister vacuum and seeing that the bag is full, I go through the process of changing out bags. This involves duct tape and a bit of ingenuity on my part in getting it all together, as the machine is old and parts of it have gone missing over the years.

I get the new bag in, which means taping it to the inside of the vacuum around the opening, then inserting the hose head on the outside of the canister and applying duct tape all around it to make a good seal. Off I go to start with the bedroom. I have already taken out everything I can carry, and put said items into the guest room ( which now looks like something transients might be living in).

I start with the corners and work my way under the dresser and around the end tables and around the bed. I'm picking up dust bunnies, odd and ends, bits of thread, and bits of packing peanuts etc. etc. Now I'm starting on the headboard ( which being a bookcase headboard, has a collection of photos, flashlights, books, and a little hand-crank radio with a wrist strap ( un-attached) that I bought when the power went out last winter.
The vacuum is picking up all the dust when all of a sudden......sploot.... the wrist strap for the radio gets sucked up! I swear, and as I turn around I see little Grey-C sitting there on the bed watching all the action. I say something to her like 'Geez,,, now what do I do?', while I'm thinking, do I want to try and retrieve the strap, or just 'fa-git-aboud-it'. I really don't want to waste this new bag, I just went through all the trouble getting it on the vacuum, but then I think, 'Man, that's really lazy of me', so I decide to remove the tape from around the hose and see if I can fish the strap out with a piece of coat-hanger that I keep for various jobs requiring precision digging.

With a fading flashlight, and my trusty bit of coat-hanger, I can see the strap, but can't get a good hold on it no matter how many times I try to hook it. I'm still not about to waste this bag, so I decide the only thing to do is cut it open. I get my scissors and my roll of duct tape and with only a moment of hesitation, I make my incision. Not too long now,,, I must be able to seal it up once I've completed my task. I open the slit and gently pry it apart and shine the flashlight into it's depths. Aha!!! there it is,,,, looking so much like some long black alien appendix. I pull out some of the contents that are wrapped around it and lay all the fuzz and dust onto the floor. I pull out the strap, shake it off, and lay it beside me on the floor while I pull off a strip of duct tape, carefully cut off a piece, and seal the slit on the bag. Ahhh,,, I could have been a surgeon it looks so good.
I put the hose head back into place, cut more strips of duct tape and seal carefully all around it to make it air tight again. Taking the hose in hand, I turn on the vacuum and proceed to suck up the mess surrounding me on the floor.
SPLOOT!!!! There goes that damned strap again, right back into the machine!!!!
I can't believe what I've just done!!!! I say words I didn't even know I knew!!! Now Grey-C is sitting on the end of the bed looking at me with such wonder in her sweet little cat face. I can only guess what thoughts are going through her head right now, because my own brain can't comprehend what just happened. I sit there on the floor for a minute wondering what I really want to do next, and I determine that I'm not going to let this thing beat me!
Once again I grab my trusty scissors. Will the patient survive??? Is this a lesson of futility??? Has any vacuum bag ever gone through so much for so little????
I make my second incision............ more crud pulled out and onto the floor......... my fingers once again reaching into these wretched bowels. Once again I retrieve the strap. This time, I place it on the bed next to Grey-C. Again I pull off a strip of duct tape and seal up this second incision. I take a moment to again admire my work, and then put everything back together hopefully for the last time. I turn on the vacuum,,, it's working!!!! I look at Grey-C and she and I decide that I should quit while I'm ahead.
In the meantime,,,, after being so thoroughly immersed in a bag full of house dust, I........, I......, I................,

AH-----------CHOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Leave my TV ALONE!!!

When I was a little girl, we had no television until briefly in 1952, then again in 1955. It was a huge console tv with a round screen, and had a 13” viewing area. It was in black and white. There was no color TV being broadcast at that time. In 1956 we were transferred to Hawaii, and that was ANOTHER trial. Television was just in it’s infancy, and there was no such thing as being broadcast 24 hours a day. It did not come on until early morning. Around 700 and then it was religious broadcasting, or news until 800 and then it was captain kangaroo, then Mom’s soap operas and the,n Beanie and Cecil and Kukla, Fran and Olie. Seasonal shows were always several months late, so we were watching the Christmas programs in April or May. Reruns were several years old. At night after the few programs that were broadcast, the National Anthem came on and then a test pattern and a tone was broadcast for the rest of the evening. Stations were only allowed to broadcast a certain number of hours a day. We were lucky if there were more than 2 networks on at any one time.

When we got back to the states, we were stationed in Washington state, and on a remote island 100 miles north of Seattle. Needless to say Television was not the best. By this time it was the very early 60’s. Still a black and white television but this time it was a bigger screen and it was sorta square. A Muntz was the name brand. It had a fancy set of rabbit ears on the top that we had to turn every time we needed to get a station in clearer. 9 times out of 10, those rabbit ears would be broken. The tips came off easily. So Dad would Jerry-rig them with a piece of tin foil wrapped around the tip. We were able to get 2 Seattle Channels, and 2 Canadian channels, so we felt pretty lucky.

Seasonal shows started the end of September, and the shows stayed at the same time and the same day for the whole season. If it did not warrant a second season, it was quietly cancelled at the end of the season, and a new show would be introduced into it’s time slot. It was NEVER allowed that a network would change a time slot around to increase ratings, as that would be putting other shows and networks in jeopardy. You always knew what night Uncle Milty was on, and you always knew that Friday nights was the Gillette Friday Night Fights.

As I grew into a young teen, television was coming into it’s own. There were quality programs on, and you knew that the season would be pretty stable unless there was a real stinker on. The biggest change was that dramas went from 30 minutes to 1 hour!! WOW. Then several years later, they went to 90 minutes!! Talk about scandal! My Dad was so concerned that his favorite shows would eventually be canceled for MOVIES. (Shock)

Through the years television has evolved and I am not sure I agree that it is for the better either, as there are several inane comedies on that could well be better serving by NOT being on.

My rant this week is not about the quality of the shows, nor the content of the shows, but the idiotic way that the television networks have decided that if they are not in first place then they need to move the show around to find a better time slot. The season had not even been on for a month before the networks were rerunning episodes, and putting them into a time slot and day that was totally foreign to it.

I went to DISH network last year because my cable company kept dropping networks, and raising the prices. I now get 180 channels for 10 dollars more than I was paying for less than 50 channels BUT the non ABC ,NBC CBS shows are on EDT not on PDT. So you have to surf the guide to figure out what is on when. TV Guide does not work for DISH network.

So imagine my dismay, when last year after I FINALLY got used to watching TV again, and knew when what was on where, that the networks started shuffling shows around again! I hate that they do that, I don’t think it has saved any troubled shows at all. And why the re runs when the season has just gotten started? And why is the re run on on one day and the New show is on another? Why are they on several times a week? JEEZ guys, settle down with the musical chairs! I am old and cranky, and I am one of the ones that you should be catering too, as I am the first of the Baby boomers, to retire, and I have CLOUT! Real honest to goodness CLOUT! You SPAM my mailbox with email after email to get me to buy things and watch shows so I must have Clout. IF I really do, then PLEASE leave a show alone until it dies on it’s own. Where did you move Criminal Minds to? And what happened to CSI Miami on Mondays? Or was it Sundays? Tonight I am watching a 2005 episode on TUESDAY night. ARRGGHHHH!! And where did Men in Trees go? I hate change! Leave my season alone! Damn I miss CBC!

SPRING!!! Really????

So yesterday we woke up to snow and hail and freezing temperature! It went away as soon as the sun came up, but still!!! The latest we have had snow is April 17, and that was in the '50's! I would not be surprised to see some even later than that this year. Our weather has been so atypical, that Nothing would surprise me.

My nephew gave me a gift certificate for a day's worth of manual labor, for Christmas, so This weekend he came up and knocked down the foot high grass! ANd then Sherry my SIL came over on Sunday and pulled weeds in my front yard! THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I just can not get out and garden like I want to. For one thing, I cant stand up very long, and If I sit down to weed, I cant get back up! What I really need to get is one of those STURDY yard helpers, that you can sit on, kneel on, use to help you get off the ground, etc. I had one that My Dad bought for me, but it was so flimsy that it bend the first time I used it. Ah well!

All of my tulips out front are already blooming! THey are way early. Usually they dont bloom until the end of April. Everything is blooming early! Makes me wonder what kind of a summer we will have...probably hot and dry!

I have been going to aquarobics 3 times a week, and I LOVE it! I can not believe that I waited 40 years to get bac water. I was very concerned about my size in the pool, and in a bathing suit. I should never have been! I am not the biggest one in any of the classes and that made me feel really good! It feels soooo good to get in the water and just float! the gravity goes away, and my back does not hurt the whole time. HOWEVER! as soon as I get out of the pool, the gravity takes over again, and I am in even worse pain than I was before. I hope I am not exacerbating something. If it hurts in any way doing the excersises, I stop. I have been kicking trying to get strength back into my legs and buttocks so I can get back to walking.

Last night the jets in the hot tub were not working, and I really missed them! I sit with my back pressed right up against one of them and just relax for 15 minutes after working out. AHHHHHHH Feels sooo good.

I heard from Tim Sunday, and he is doing fine. He got his latest box from me, with some civilian clothes, and now he feels like a real person! They have a choice of wearing the uniforms given to them or their own clothes, which have to be brand new, and in good taste. SO I sent him a pair of jeans 2 shirts and a pair of shoes. He LOVED the Carhardt hat, says he feels so much better now. I can imagine that it really helps their self esteem to be able to wear something different for a change.
He has started his self improvement classes, and is excited about that. (I hope they work!) I will go visit him on Easter, so I can see him looking good! :)

I see that Critterchick has posted, and it is so good to see her feeling good and getting out and doing something. I have been so worried about her. I have never met her, and may never meet her, but She and I connected about 4 years ago, and consider ourselves soul sisters. So many of my blogger friends are like family! It hurts when one of them is hurting, or when one of them just disappears! You grieve for them in a certain way. and wonder why they left. SOme of them I still hear from in emails, and others have just dropped off the face of the earth! Blogging is such a unique world isn't it?

Sunday Funny

Who says Plumbers do not have a sense of humor?