Stupid people!!!

THis thought to be extinct bird was photographed in the Phillipines in a market, then sold and EATEN!!!!



February 18, 2009—A rare quail from the Philippines was photographed for the first time before being sold as food at a poultry market, experts say.

Found only on the island of Luzon, Worcester's buttonquail was known solely through drawings based on dated museum specimens collected several decades ago.

Scientists had suspected the species—listed as "data deficient" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 2008 Red List—was extinct.

A TV crew documented the live bird in the market (above) before it was sold in January, according to the Agence France-Press news agency.

Michael Lu, president of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, told AFP the bird's demise should inspire a "local consciousness" about the region's threatened wildlife.

"What if this was the last of its species?" Lu said.

Update

I purposely stayed away from the Hospice so that Mike could spend time with his friends and Family alone. The Band that he started and the ones that evolved from that one all got together for a party Friday night. There were over 50 people there and Mike had a great time, although he was exausted after a few hours. Saturday was the day he wanted alone with Sherry, so no one went out. Sunday there were quite a few there, and Donna went down and spent some time with him. Today I went for the first time in 4 days, and He looked very wasted from Thursday afternoon. He is pale, sleeps a lot, and looks like he is 80 yrs old. I took Rocky in, and he was glad to see Mike and vice versa, but then he came over and layed down by ME! (oops)

Sherry has this week off and is staying right by his side so he is not alone. I do not expect it to be much longer than a week to 10 days. He is soooo tired.

I have been on an emotional roller coaster going through the family albums and finding pictures of him through out his life. I guess when I left home in 1969 no one bothered to take pictures of either him or Phyllis, as there just ARE NOT any!
This is one of my favorite pictures of him. This was Easter Sunday, when we were all out in the yard hunting eggs, and he was crawling on the sidewalk. Dad took this picture of him. He was such a sweet baby! I was 11 when he was born, and I raised him until I left and he was 12. I spent all weekend finding pictures and then crying. and then laughing. then sniffing.

Hard to explain grief!

Mike

I went and spent the afternoon with Michael today. He is looking very weary. When I got there he had a visitor that he and I adore, so that was ok. I asked him if he had any other visitors and he said Yeah, but he could not remember who they were. I asked if he knew who Merrily was and he smiled and said yes, an angel. Which she is! and he knew who I was. Then Sumre came in and brought her dog, and I had Rocky so he was surrounded by fur babies. We sat and watched Mike nod off, and wake up, then Merrily left. Shortly there after, some one else from his church came over, and that is when the care taker came in and said Mike are you ready for your Nap? (a signal that there was too many non-family visitors for the day) Mike said yeah, so the other people left and Sumre and I sat and talked and watched Mike Nod off. He is very tired and looking very wasted now. He is not in pain, and that is the important thing.

After about 3 hours, I tip-toed up and told him I loved him and he opened one eye and nodded. I then told him I would see him later and I left. I told the Dr. Ann that I would not be there tomorrow for his party, but I would be back on Saturday, and that is when she told me that No! Mike had asked that there be no visitors other than Sherry on Saturday, as he wanted to spend the last Valentine's Day alone with her. (SNORF!!!) Galen knows this too, so we will respect those wishes and leave them alone. I will be there on Sunday with DOnna.

This is really HArd! I can keep up a good brave front, but when I am alone, I fall apart!

I think I will go to be3d early tonight, and just escape!

Misc Pictures

Here are a few pictures I have been meaning to post just not got around to.



Dona Caught me in a rare moment of laughter...(LOLOL)




Tim sent this with his cell phone, so the quality is not really good, but it does show he is working hard! (THANK YOU LORD!)



THis little bird has been evading me for years...this time I got a positive identification! It is a female TOwnsend's Warbler. I stole the picture off the web, so if you took it, let me know so I can give you credit.

Enso House Hospice...

I went and spent the day with Mike yesterday. I got there and he was up and sitting in front of the fireplace that is out of this world beautiful!! They built a fire just for him. HE was comfortable sitting there, and there was a nice comfy wing back chair for me to sit in, so I got out my knitting and sat. Mike fell asleep sitting up, so it was just me and the silence all around except for the popping of the fireplace. I think it was as therepudic for me as for anybody.

Mike woke up and wanted to go to his room, so we relocated to his room, where he promptly fwell asleep again, and I sat in the big soft rocker and knitted away...a bird feeder right out the window on my right. The view there was so calming, and peaceful, and the rythmic breathing of My Baby Brother gave me peace. He was not in pain, and was resting comfortably. I hope with all my heart that it stays like this until the end.

Phyllis has the watch today, and I will go back tomorrow. I stay until time to go swimming, and then leave. Yesterday I was looking forward to that swim. I was a bit dismayed because the water was so cold, but I swam for 40 minutes until the "ladies of the rowing club" decided that my lane was the best place to practice. ARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!! Bitches! I needed the swim, as I felt like someone had hammered me down to 5'8" from my normal 6'1". The tension between my shoulder blades was horrible.

It is snowing today, BEAUTIFUL on the grass and trees and just warm enough that it melts on the roads! Hey what better kind of snow can you ask for! Should turn into rain by this afternoon.

Well I have things to do and places to go, so I will stop for today...Pray for a quick and peaceful end for Mike please.

roller coaster emotions....

Sherry put Mike in a pallitive care facility on Friday. As I said before, they discontinued all life giving supplements. So We were expecting him to go this weekend. Today he is doing quite well, sitting up and talking, and laughing. It is as if he was just a little sick.

The home is a privately run hospice, funded by Buddists, and it is non-denominational, and so PEACEFUL!! A lovely place, and Mike is the only one there right now.

After last week, not sleeping and grieving, I expected the end soon, but it appears as if he may pull thrugh this crisis and last a little longer than the Nurses said. Whoo-boy! Talk about ups and downs. I have not been sleeping and neither has Phyllis, until this weekend. My kids both came home and we all went and spent the day with Mike, and I got some much needed sleep!

I have been appointed to make a power point presentation of Mike's life...and I have no idea where to start. So I will be thinking of pictures to pull out and get scanned.

I am heading to the pool tomorrow! I NEED to float in warm water for awhile.

Final days....

AS of Yesterday, Mike has been taken off of all feeding tube, oxygen, and pumps, he just has the pump with his pain meds, and they are just keeping him comfortable. He has been moved to Enso House, which is a home for Pallitive care. www.ensohouse.com on SOuth Whidbey. They will keep him there under 24 hour care until he finally lets go and it will be over. Right now he is still lucid and alert, and has good times and bad times, the worst time being the realization that this is it folks! He is scared of dying. He is new to Faith, and I dont think he really understands.

His family was there with him all night last night, and today my family and Phyllis are going to go visit, and take his dog to see him. I have custody of ROCKY until Sherry can take him back home.

I have not bween able to concentrate on any thing other than Mike for a week, so If I have not been by your place, this is why. Sometimes life just gets in the way, and you have to deal with it.

I am much better, and able to sleep again, although I did spend two very restless nights crying, sleeping, crying etc. Now that my Kids are home, I feel much better.

Please keep Sherry and Mike in your thoughts and prayers, and hope for a fast and painless departure from this world into the next one for Mike.

Update: My Baby Brother

Update:

Well, it is not looking good at all. Sherry and Galen made the decision with the Dr. To stop his intravenous feeding, and the Chemo and just give him the drugs to keep him comfortable. He will be released to Home care tomorrow, and Galen will be there until Sherry can take off work. They say that he will just slowly go to sleep and then die. I went in to see him this afternoon and he looked like death already. He was having labored breathing, but his color was good. His eyes are really dark and sunken too. It won’t be much longer. I am hoping along with Phyllis and others that he goes tonight, in the hospital, so Sherry does not have to deal with that alone at home.

Damn it! This is so hard!! He is only 53!

I'm Not ready for this.... :(

Ok, Crisis averted.


Donna you already know, but here is the full story. Mike went in for surgery this afternoon to have his port changed from his neck into his chest. Just as he was being returned to the ward, he quit breathing, turned blue and then purple and they were having a real difficult time keeping him breathing. They moved him to ICU and were working on him and he threw up and then aspirated some of it into his lungs. They took x-rays and there is something in there, but they are not sure (at Least Sherry was not sure ) whether it was vomitus or cancer. All of this happened right at 6:00, so Sherry called Phyllis who called me and we all met at the ICU. I just got home,(11:00) and Mike is sleeping now, which is a good sign, HOWEVER, this could turn into pneumonia at any time, and that will be bad.

Galen got here in time to give Mike a massage, and watch him go to sleep, so then we all discussed what Sherry should do if he crashes again. She did not know what to do. SO You know me, Big Mouth, I said as Oldest member of the family I suggest a no-resuscitate order from here on in, especially if they cannot guarantee that he will have any better quality of life than he has had this week. Phyllis agreed with me and Sherry started crying and said she felt guilty for thinking that way. We assured her that there was absolutely NO GUILT at all, and that was the way he was raised.

So now we are all at home waiting for morning to see what happens next. Keep him in your prayers, thoughts whatever. I hope he goes soon, and peacefully.

the Recipe...

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx

Ok folks if this link worked (which it may not) the recipe is here. If it did not work...I got the article and recipe from my daughter's site chemystery.livejournal.com It is from MOTHER EARTH NEWS and the article is called Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day.

I also noted that the smell of baking bread brings a lot of lurkers out of the woodwork! ;) Welcome guys, and do come back.

Bread in only five minutes!!!!

My Daughter called me one day and said she was baking bread...ok...Only costs 50 cents a loaf to make. Ok...

She sent me the recipe and I tried it. OHMIGAWD!!! YUMMY!!!

Only I used a package of yeast that I had sitting around in a drawer and it did not rise. So I added more water, flour and NEW yeast to the old batch...Are you all old enough to remember the I LOVE LUCY episode where she is making bread and she puts it into the oven and it opens the oven door and floods the kitchen with bread dough? Yeah, that was my bowl of dough! I had to scrape it off the counter and put it into TWO more bowls to get it all in the fridge where it was sposed to stay until I was ready to bake it.

I waited until the next day when I had time, and then pulled out enough to make one loaf! It was so good that even Bob came over on a Wednesday to have a piece! He ended up taking a loaf home, we ate a loaf, and I finished baking the rest so I can start with new dough today.

It makes the best sandwiches! I put a few slices of deli roast beef and meunster cheese and horeradish on it and it was as good as any deli sandwich you could have...could have used some sprouts though.


Aren't I getting to be miss susie homemaker?

Your Life Path Number is 5

Your purpose in life is to life freely and collect experiences. You love life - new adventures, new people, new ideas. You are very curious, and you crave novelty in all forms. You tend to make friends easily, and you enjoy the company of all types of people. In love, you are fun and even a bit intoxicating. But you won't stick around for long. You are impulsive and spontaneous - which sometimes leads you to do things you regret. Sometimes you can be overindulgent with food, sex, or drugs. You have many talents, so many that you are often scattered and unfocused.

What Is Your Life Path Number?

This is not anything like me. I found this over on Rainy Day Thoughts, and liked it, so I did it too, only I think I am more a seven like she is. I do NOT make friends easily. I am not intoxicating, I do not have Many talents, (a few though)I am very traditional...not at all free thinking...

This one fits my daughter or my sister more than me.

Enough is enough!

For over three years now I have had DISH network and LOVED it! It has only gone down twice in that time, and both times it has been during an absolute white-out blizzard!. Can't fault them for that.

HOWEVER....In December, Dish Network and the Fisher Company fell out of negotiations to renew their contract with KOMO TV and ABC. Thus all during Christmas, I had NBC, And CBS, and everyone else but ABC! Did not bother me that much, as I was sick the whole time, and did not care what was on, because I slept through it anyway.

Yesterday I tried once again to contact a real LIVE person at DISH and got put on hold for ever so long. I also emailed and thus far, not even the courtesy of an automated "We got your email but..." response.

I am switching over to DIRECT TV on Monday. I hate to do it because I really have no problems with the DISH Network, but it does not appear that they really are trying hard to resolve this impasse! The recorded message that they have on Channel 4 is even over a month old, so I doubt that they have even got any updates to tell us about.

This morning, I tried once again to contact them to no avail. They are messing with my life!!!! I can't watch the VIEW!!! a whole month with no Goldie, or Joy, or Elizabeth or Babs or even Sherry (I don't care for her anyway) But I miss the HOT TOPICS!

Come on DISH! I'm Old, I'm Cranky, deal with me....

OmnipotentBenevolentEmpress

CRAP!!!!!! IT DID IT AGAIN!!!!! ARRRRGH!!!!!!!

What in the **** is happening? This is the THIRD time I have written this post and lost it!

DUH!!

Well 99% of my last post did not get published. It was a really long post too. But for all of you who already commented, Thank You. It was not intended to be a dig for best wishes. Actually most of the post was about my daughter. I will try to recreate it tomorrow, My eyes are full of clorine and I need a shower, so I will do that in the morning....

Another Year older and deeper in Debt...

Yep, I turned 63 last Sunday, and So did Bill at Prairie point

So STOP ALREADY!!!

This is a house that slid down a hill and plopped right in the middle of Hiway 20! Blocking that route!



We are now officially cut off from the rest of the US!! All of the cross Mountain passes are closed due to landslides, or avalanches, and I-5 is closed at Chehalis due to flooding. US 101 which is the hiway that runs around the Olympic Natl park, and on down to California is closed in many spots due to either flooding or landslides. Between Portland and Seattle, there are 10,000 semi's daily that are stopped and can not get through with their loads. All of the alternate routes are closed due to flooding. It may be 5 days before the water goes down and they survey the road beds to make sure they are safe again.



THis is our famous Snoqualmie Falls, which is technically larger than Niagra Falls, and it is so full and flooding that you can not see the river below!




This is what we looked like last week. there was over 6 feet of snow in the higher hills and in the mountain passes just last week! THen it warmed up and started raining on top of all of this, which made for really full creeks and rivers. It is Historic flooding!

This is what happens when you pave Mother Nature and thumb your nose at her and build on a slope that once had trees on it to stabilize the mud and rocks. People just are stunned that their brand new McMansions are sliding down hill and crashing onto the road below. DUH!!! Maybe this weather will make all those Californians that ran up here and bought up all our cheap land, go back where they came from.

You won't believe this, but the city of Seattle had made a ruling to go green with their snow removal, and not use salt, as it would impact the salmon streams. So the people that moved up here are screaming mad that their roads were full of snow and ice and they were not happy. DEAL WITH IT FOLKS! I was snowed in for over two weeks. Did you hear me scream? NO! I knew it would eventually melt, and I was all prepared for it!

The north Cascades hiway 20, Stevens Pass hiway 2, Snoqualmie Pass I-90, White Pass hiway 410 Cayuse Pass hiway 12 and I-5 South to Portland are all closed for at least 3 more days. The sun is sposed to come out later this afternoon, but the rain is still falling in the mountains and the rivers will not all crest until later tomorrow.

Sun would be really nice about now...

birds of Winter

Having spent most of the entire month of December in bed sicker than a dog, I had a chance to watch the tiny little birds at the suet feeder, and the platform feeder that was heavy with snow for almost 3 weeks.

The Ruby Crowned Kinglet is one that for several years I had been trying to identify, and it was not until last summer that I saw him stick his ruby feather up through the olive colored ones. He hides it well. He is sooo tiny. Even smaller than the Black-capped chickadees!

Today, as I was drinking my morning coffee, the feeders were rather busy. Spotted doves, two kinds of chickadees, house finches, kinglets, Downy woodpeckers and Hairy Woodpeckers, and the tiny little nuthatches. It was a busy place. Even Jupiter, the nasty bird-killer from next door, was slowly sneaking up on his own personal hors'dourves tray! Sadie chased him off, and off flew the rest of the crowd.

Yesterday, I was watching them all and suddenly they all just dissappeared. A Cooper's Hawk dropped down out of the canopy of the alders and tried so very hard to have his lunch at my expense. He lost!

I am ever so slowly getting my self back together. My cough is still there, but getting better, and I can actually breathe. I spent New Years Eve unconcious! Tylenol 3 with Codeine sure makes you sleep. But then I am a cheap drunk anyway, you just whisper "narcotics" and I am OUT like a light. I could never get addicted to illegal drugs, I miss too much of life. I am still waiting for Christmas! My kids came over on each weekend, Donna right after Christmas, and Tim on New years. I will Cook my Christmas Prime RIb dinner when they can all be here. Tim works most weekends, (overtime) trying to meet a deadline on re-painting a NOAH research ship. He Loves his job!

Today I have a pot-luck and Board Meeting for The Coupeville Festival, so I am going to try and not cough in public! I'm not contagious any more, but try telling that to people!

Hope you all had a good Holiday season!

white christmas!

Sherry took these pictures and gave them to me, because she knew I was so sick in bed, I have had Brochitis, and just slept for two weeks. I even cancelled dinner for Christmas. I didi not want the kids driving that far in this stuff.

I had over 12" in my yard, Which is extremely RARE for us here in Puget Sound. WE did get cold too. down into the teens F. Then up to the high 20's during the day. BRRRRRR we did not lose power though. That is a good thing.

I have not been out of the house in ages and I am getting real cabin fever!! Bob was completely snowed in, so I went and got himf for Christmas Eve and we just sat quietly enjoying the silence of the night,. I like to spend Christmas Eve in a quiet manner. A rare one indeed around here.

It started raining today, so most of the snow is now slush and ice on the roads.

Tim's first christmas out of prison, and he was snowed in too! Ah well, I cancelled the prime rib dinner and said I would have it when everybody was feeling well.

right now I could not stand to smell it cooking! and I make suce a great one too.

Time for more drugs. I am alive and posting...

OK! OK!!!

Alright already!!! I'll POST!!

I have been duly chastised for not posting in so long. The point is I have a LOT to say, but don't quite know how to put it on paper. Have you ever had bees buzzing around in your head looking for a way out? That is how I feel. I have not had a good month, both mentally and physically, and just did not want to let the world in on it. I have tried to write. I sit down at the computer, and my mind goes totally BLANK!

 

I promise I will get better, I am alive, I am still in a tremendous amount of pain, but I do live! I will post. In fact today I ventured out in the 8" of snow that we got this week, and drove into town, snapping pictures all the way. I will edit them tomorrow and post then.

 

In the mean-time. I am here, I have not quit blogging. I WONT quit unless I loose power. I just may not blog every day. I wont be a quitter like some people I know! Wink wink...

Hope you are all well and ready for the holidays...stay warm!

Dear Santa....

I am the Photographer for the fill in show...Dear Santa...here are a few candids from it.

Dear Santa....

I am the Photographer for the fill in show...Dear Santa...here are a few candids from it.

Flying saucers!

Every Fall, our weather does some very strange things, one of them being the weather patterns over Mt. Rainier. Back in the 50's someone saw this cloud formation and thought it was a flying saucer over the Mountain. From this came the reports that Washington State was being invaded. It slowly went away, and now it only pops up again when the clouds form. These are called Ventricular clouds, and are formed by the warm air meeting the cold air, and swirling...similar to tornadic action, but not nearly as powerful.

Yesterday, the clouds appeared again, and in the most vivid of colors. KOMO TV had several pictures on their website, and I stole this one!

I just LOVE the flying saucer clouds...oooooo, let's get another rumopr started!!

CRAP!!

I have been cat-sitting DOttie's cats for a week while she flew to St. Louis for Thanksgiving. Today was the day I was to take them back home.

Her baby, Tyler is a LOVER but he is a PEST! I spent all night last night shoving him off of my head where he kept wanting to sit and drool on my pillow. Nothing worse than cat drool on your pillow!! YUCK!!

So finally I gave up around 830 and got up. As soon as my feet hit the floor, he disappeared! now Tippy her Siamese, was right there, so I got her into her carrier just fine, but no Tyler. (Tippicanoe and Tyler too!!) ((Seriously!!)) Tyler was still no where to be found.

I had appointments lined up all day, and had to get going. I put Tippy in the car, and went back to see if I could find Tyler. Nope, no where, not under the bed, not in the garage, not under the tree, nowhere! I bribed him with food, NOTHING. So I headed back out to the car, and realized that I had forgotten SADIE, so I went to go back in, and I had locked my keys IN the house.

I trudged in my birkenstocks around the back in the wet grass, to get in the back door, on the way around, I stepped right in Fresh Doggie-doo. ARRRGH!! I am wiping my shoe on wet grass, to get it all off, and my foot comes out of my shoe, and being unsteady on my feet anyway, I lost balance and planted my shoeless foot right back in the smelly shit! CRAP!! As I was trying to walk with my toes pointed up, I dragged my cuff into it also!! DOUBLE CRAP. So I get on the back porch and am balancing on one foot to get my shoe off, my sock off, and peel my pants off so I would not track itinto the house. Right there in the back yard I stand almost NEKKID!! and COLD!

I got in, changed clothes, got the keys went back to the car, and FORGOT TO GET SADIE!!
Back into the house, got the dog, got the list, got the camera and headed off to do my list of chores...

As soon as I got home last night and flopped on my bed to distribute my meds into the weekly slots, up right in the middle of it all jumps Tyler. He was all friendly and ready to say he was sorry. SO I called his Mommie and told her that I found him and would bring him in tonight on the way to swimming. SHEESH!!

Ethel...1993-2008

Ethel died this evening. We had been holding a death watch on her all night and all day. She was stretched out in front of the wood stove, on the rug where she loved to lie, and we just left her there until we knew she qwas gone. I had made up my mind that fear or not, I was going to take her into the Vet today, but they were closed.



I knew she was going to go this weekend. She crawled up on my pillow this morning and could not even purr, her voice was so weak. I cried, and just let her lay next to me. She got up and went and lay in front of her breakfast dish, and did not eat, and that is when I knew for sure.

Ethel was almost 16 years old. I got her when she was only a week old, and her eyes were just open. The W.A.I.F. (Whidbey animal improvement foundation) called my sister and asked if she wanted to foster a kitten, and she said no, but her sister would. So they called me. I went down and they told me that it was TWO kittens...that their mother was feral and had an older litter also, but that she was killed by a car, and one of the older siblings (7 months or so) brought the two kittens to a nearby house where SHE was getting food out the back door. THe kittens were found on the deck, and the woman brought them to WAIF. I bottle fed the two babies every 4 hours, and kept them in my bathroom with only a board (actually the leaf from my table) blocking them in. When they were about two weeks old Ethel started yowling like mad. LOUD and insistent. SO I went in and she was stretched out as tall as she could get trying to get over the board. SHe sounded like Ethel Merman...such a big voice for such a little kitten. Thus her name. Her sister was called Shirley. (????) I dunno, It just came to me. Shirley would let Ethel suck on her belly fur and she did too. It was so funny to watch the two of them.

One day I went in, and they were gone. I could not find them anywhere!! I paniced. I looked under the bed, and there was a tiny hole ripped in the gauze liner of my boxsprings, and the two of them were in there. I got them out, put a bigger board in the bathroom and they stayed there maybe two minutes before they were back in my bed.

As they grew, it became apparent that they were forming a very simbiotic relationship, and were not sociallizing well with people. At 6 weeks, I took Shirley back to be adopted, and I kept Ethel. SHe got along fine withe Rudy and Mariah my Dog. She grew fat and sassy, and ruled the house. EXCEPT when a stranger came into the house, then she was back in my box springs.



She had an evil look about her, as her eyes were very golden and in that black face, they almost looked like an old owl. She had a very LOUD purr, along with her very loud voice. When she was about 6 months old, she got outside, and was freaked, that she stayed under the back porch for two weeks. I finally got her back inside and she NEVER went out again.

I was transfered to Fallon, Nevada when she was 6, so I put her in a big carrier and Rudy in the other one along with Chitters, and put them in the back of my covered truck bed. I stopped in Shasta, California at a rest stop and a guy walked by and wanted to know what kind of animals I had back there. When I told him cats, he said WILD ONES??? I Laughed, and said she is NOW. She HATED the carrier, and would literally FREAK when I got it out. Once I got to Fallon, I let them out of their carriers and she found the nearest closet and stayed there until my bed got here, and then up inside it she went. The same was true 3 years later when I got transfered back home. I swore then that I would never scare her again. She was a LOVE!! She especially liked my and liked me to rub her belly. She would straddle my arm and place her belly on my hand so all I had to do was move my fingers.

She even got to the point of crawling under my covers when I was asleep and doing the same thing, so all I had to do was move my fingers in my half sleepy state. She was always beside me. In the chair, in the bed, on the couch, and she would tell me when it was getting too cold out and would lay in front of the woodstove and yowl at me until I built a fire for her. THen out full she would stretch, and lay there until the fire died. She was also the first to find a sunbeam. Winter or Summer, she knew where the cracks in the curtains were and would lay until the sun had moved, then on to the next spot she would go.

I will miss her very much, but she is in peace now, and is no longer cold, and I am sure that there is a nice warm hand and arm that she can straddle when she wants her belly scratched. There just has to be someone up there waiting for a cat...

YAWN!

GADS!! I just have absolutely NO energy! I slept most of Sunday, got up late on Monday, went swimming, did my 45 lengths of the pool, and was pooped before the aquarobics started. I did 1/2 an hour of them and then came home, took a shower and CRASHED!! I woke up around 2 AM and turnwed off the TV, let the dog out and the cat in, and closed off the front room and the kitchen, locked the doors, checked my email, turned off the computer and crashed again! Yesterday, I had a dentist appt, got a new crown and a new filling. (MONEY!!) went to the Playhouse and took the few pictures that I had not taken for DEAR SANTA, and came home, fixed what was left of the package of thighs that I had thawing on the counter and went to bed.

Dotties cats are cupboard walkers! Mine are not. And Tyler jumped up and got the thighs off the counter ripped open the wrapper and stole a thigh. I rescued 3 of them though. Little SHIT!! He is such a sweet cat though.

The above picture is of my baby...Schroeder, who is 18 months old. He is so afraid of anything new, that everytime I pull out the camera to get a picture of him he runs! The other day he just sat there, so I took the picture just as he said "I'm so bored with this, opened his mouth, yawned and ran. so you get a great picture of his throat. He is so BIG and the vet thinks he is part Maine Coon. His Momma was a slut, so no telling what he really is. He is starting to get little tufts on his ears and on his TOES!! And he is a really mama's boy.

I had better go get the pies made, so I can get to bed early tonight. We are going to Donna's for dinner tomorrow, so I dont have to cook!! YAY!!!!

You all have a great THANKSGIVING, and for all you Canadians up there, You get to smell our turkeys cooking like we do during YOURS!!! ;) I wonder why we don't have them on the same day? Huh!

and another picture from the show...

I have not been anywhere to take pictures other than the Playhouse, so you will just have to deal with these...

I am in the process of finishing the Lobby Poster for Peter Pan, and then the wall for DEAR SANTA, THEN i CAN RELAX (oops caps on) at least for a few days...I have to bring pies to DOnna's house for Thursday, so I will those on Tuesday, and stick them in the fridge. I am also cat sitting Dotties two fur babies, so the house is kinda on edge right now until they all adjust to each other again.

I have a huge fire going in the stove, and the animals are all jockeying for the best position in front of it. Ethel has won so far. She is the oldest and the Bitch of the crew, so they all catered to her needs. I just don't know how she hangs on, she cant weigh more than 2 pounds! She sleeps a lot, but she still cuddles with me, and purrs, and eats, and meows loudly when she wants something.
I wish I could make her better but I can't. She is happy, and does not appear to be in pain, so I will just let her be for awhile.

Gotta go throw another log on the fire...

Catching up

Just another picture from the play...Tiger Lily and the Henny Penny tribe...from PETER PAN

I have finally transcribed my 19 pages of notes from the Coupeville Festival Retreat and I used Office 2007. WOW!! I LOVE it!! so many easy things to do to make your pages look good. I have to have these printed for our meeting again in Dec. This is also the meeting that we award our 30,000 dollars of Grants to those individuals and organizations that applied and we thought were worthy. We had a lot of people apply for these grants, and it was very hard to say no to some of them, but then again, there were some that we all looked at and all did a thumbs down. There are rules to follow, and those that do not follow the guidelines, get denied. They are right there on the front of the application, and they STILL get it wrong.

I am learning a lot with this organization. Next time you go to a town festival, or a craft sale, or a city bazzaar, stop and think about what all goes on BEHIND the scenes by VOLUNTEERS in order to make it happen. Amazing what all you DONT hear about!

I am just about caught up with my book work, The Play has three more weeks to run, then it will be all torn down and the next one will go forward. Three months of hard work by a very few people, and once again, they are all VOLUNTEERS.

I am working harder volunteering than I did before I retired!! amazing isnt it?

My canning is all finished.
I cleaned my house.
I did all the laundry.
Bob raked all the leaves.
I finished the retreat notes.

I still have to finish the Lobby poster for PP.
take and do the Bio's photos and pages for the Christmas play.
Get the Meeting Minutes for the CFA finished.

I am still swimming, in fact I just bought three new suits in a size smaller than before! (swimming 6 hours a week does a number on a suit! they only last about 3 months, and then they fade and the elasticity fails.)

Little Miss Sadie-Bug is in the Doghouse!!! She was given a ham bone outside last evening, and last night or rather this morning, she pooped right in the middle of the hall way! Yep...I sure did...It was dark. She got yelled at, pitched outside, while I hobbled to get some toilet paper to get it off my foot, and then up off the floor. I was NOT happy! The last time she did this was last Christmas, when I gave her the boes and excess fat off the prime rib roast. I think I will not do that again. DAMN DOG!!! >:(

I have my oldest cat, Ethel, getting rid to leave this world. She is 16 and has lost almost all of her weight! She is losing hair like mad too, black fur everywhere! She has kidney failure, and will soon just die. I should take her in to have her put down, but she freaks really bad when I haul out the carrier, so I dont want her last minutes being fearful. She still purrs, and eats, and sleeps, and cuddles, but she now weighs only about 2 or 3 pounds...So sad. I will tell her story when she goes.

We ared having a very warm November. Flooding and rain, and wind, but so far, no frost. It got close the other night, but not yet. FOg though.

Well, I need to get busy and finish a few more things. Just wanted to post so you would not think I was gone forever. I'm not. I'm here. Just was really busy!

States I have been in.

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

The end is near!

Whew!! Last dress rehearsal tonight and we open Friday for a 4 week run! My eyes are so glazed from all the detail work on the background of the pictures. I bought the whole Photoshop suite when I got my computer, and it is really really NEAT!! I had elements before, and that was good, but this has sooo much more, and I like the interface between Vista, windows picture viewer and Photoshop. You click on a picture and then click on open and VOLIA! the picture you want to edit is right there!! COOL!

I have all the portraits for the lobby wall, and Most of their Bios also, but I have to get it up tonight, so some will go up without Bios, and then they will whine and wonder why they did not have a bio on the wall, write one out and expect me to just reach into my back pocket and pull out the formatted, bio, all printed in powerpoint in the proper font and colors. Not gonna happen. I have been asking for Bios for 3 months. And as many pictures as I have taken there are still several kids that were not there in time so their portrait was not taken. This cast was just WAAAAAAY too big, with hardly any parental help.

The show will open on time, and it will all work out, but this one has been a rough birth. I had the lights all set, and then they changed the set, so now the lights dont look right. They will have to do though. As I was not given any more time to get them done. It will work! Some how the magic always comes together.

I will only be taking pictures and doing the lobby wall poster for the next show, so that will not be bad. And then Nothing until June, when we Produce NUNSENSE. That one only has five ladies in it, so it will be a snap. WHEW!

Now on to other things....

The Fantasy begins...

Well We finally have most of the main character costumes done and they look good...All except for Peter pan who looks like he is wearing a basketball uniform. OOPS!! That is being changed! amazing how one person's vision gets twisted in another person's mind! And Nana the dog is made of STRIPED fur. Ever seen a tabby DOG? Neither have we. But we will live with it...Our ostrich and our Lion are still not done yet...WAHHHHH!!! but we have a very forgiving Press up here, and since tonight is technically still an official rehearsal, we can go forward. The Press will be here and the cast families. We still have a week to go before opening night. By then everything will magically come together and no one will knoe just how hard a very few people have worked to make this happen. SOme of us are close to the breaking point, but we will all make it!!

Now to just get those tickets sold!!!!

Still Busy

Along with everything enumerated below...I have a spreadsheet to make for the Coupeville Festival Grant Meeting next Monday. I LOVE spreadsheets. and the New Office 2007 Excell is WONDERFUL!! I just have not figured out all the buttons yet.

There are over twenty five Grant applications all wanting a piece of the pie, and we have to review them all and select the most worthy. I am still VERY new to this job, so I do not not what all goes into qualifying an application. Judging from the apps though, it must be all arts and crafts and history I will know more soon.

I have 1/2 the light cues assigned to dimmers for PETER PAN and will or SHOULD finish them tonight, then I will be concentrating on the paperwork, ie: PROGRAM Finalization, Biographies for the Lobby, Photos for the Lobby etc. We open in 10 days, with Press Night on this Thursday, so we are getting close. Once the show opens, I will be on a downhill slide, and can relax and get myself ready for the Holidays.

This will be Tim's first Christmas home in YEARS and I am really looking forward to it. He is doing so GOOD, (Thank you Lord!) and calls once a week. That is such a worry off my mind. As hard as it was to say no to him for Bail money, and make him face his obligations, It was the best thing that ever happened to Him. I think He thinks so too. He is totally off drugs now, and swears he will never go back to them. (now to work on the cigarettes!)

We are having an EXCEPTIONAL Fall here this year. COOL and SUNNY. makes up for the crappy summer we had I guess. WOnder what winter will bring. I saw only one Wooley bear caterpillar, and it had a BIG orange stripe, so who knows....

This weekend will be more applesauce, and then I am done canning for awhile, unless the mighty hunter finds some other windfall fruit, or gleans more fields for veggies.

Gotta run...

Almost Halloween

It has been an absolutely beautiful month! Sunsine and chilly. The trees are really colorful right now. We have not had our usual October Storm yet either.

Bob has filled my new wood ricks so now I have 2 cords of wood dried and ready to burn, so I wont freeze. I also have been putting up apples. A make really chunky applesauce with cranberries in it and it is really good, almost like pie filling. My kids scarf it all down as soon as they know I have some made. 1 case of apples will make about 20 qts of applesauce.

I am canning pears too,and Wednesday I took a day off and stayed home to rest, and got to looking at my filthy house, and cleaned! Never even stopped, just cleaned away. I made some applesauce that night, but then started right in on thursday canning pears. I was bringing a five gallon pot of pears down to the table where I was working them and I dropped the damn thing all over my kitchen floor. boiling hot syruppy pears and syrup. Sadie ran like hell thank you Lord, and did not get burned. It plashed onto my pants and my warm suede slippers but I did not get burned either. I was so freaking mad!!! the floor had just been cleaned! SO I grapped an armfull of old towels and got it all wiped up, but then the floor was sticky, so I had to rewash the floor with hot water to get all the syrup up. I was not in the mood to finsh, so I turned everything off, and went to bed. By this time I was in sever pain. SO I hit the Ben Gay and wenbt to bed.

Today I was still in pain, but I managed to finish the case of pears. I was going to start in on the other one, but the corner store was out of wide mouth qt jars, and they didnt have any fruit fresh either so I will do some tomorrow night after I play all day with the lighting for Peter Pan, and go eat Pho.

Ever had Pho? oh yummy!! gotta try it!

I need time to breathe!!

I have been so busy!!! Friday, I had to work on the Program for Peter Pan, and then I went to Aquarobics, then rushed on to a Play reading. A group gets together and reads from the script, a play that the playday committee has chosen to submit to the membership for next season. We read CASH ON DELIVERY which was a British Farce, and FUNNY!!!! I drove home through the ground fog around 10:00, and hit the shower and crashed. I was so tired!
I went in to set the lights for the show on Saturday, and worked on them for 5 hours, until time to head home. They still aren’t done. I will get the cues set into the computer this week, and finish moving the lights next weekend. I will be so glad when this show opens. For some reason, I am really stressed out over it, More so than most. Might be the huge cast and all the kids that don’t listen. (ya THINK?)
Today I got up and processed a case of apples into applesauce. I have another case in the garage, along with two cases of pears. But those are going to have to wait. Tomorrow I have a dentist appt, then swimming, then aquarobics, then rehearsal. Tuesday I have a meeting with a member of the Coupeville Festival Board, to show me the ropes on their office computer. I will have to have the minutes ready, from the last board meeting and the spreadsheet done for the grant applications, all by November 3rd!
Thank God for vitamins! And coffee!

It's Autumn...ya THINK?

Every year in October, Coupeville has a scarecrow contest and each business tries to participate, this year's theme was COWS I guess, because most of the ones were cow related. I only took this one which is Island Transit's entry, and the cutest by far.



Our one and only grocery store, Prairie Center had their display of Pumpkins out front and it just looked really fallish, so I took it.




My Sister's friend Nancy's Husband Al puts up a different theme every year also...this year it was a big black BAT!

When traffic is not so bad, I will try to get the rest of them for you. we only have one main street, and during the day it is too busy to get good pictures, because you have to stop in the middle of the road, and the tourists get really cranky!

The weather took a drastic turn too. It got COLD last night, almost freezing, but not quite. Donna lives on the mainland, and she has already had to scrape ice off her windsheild. Yep, one week of summer and now it is Fall. I expect Winter to be right around the corner. I saw my first wooley Bear, and he had a small brown stripe and big black ones, so that means COLD IS COMING...

Passing the Turkey platter!

Beings as how I have the biggest house, and I am the oldest, I have always held Thanksgiving here. Last Year Phyllis wanted to go to the community center with her church, and ended up here.

This Year, Donna has offered to cook for Bob and I and Tim at HER house, so Phyllis and Sherry and Mike can go do their thing without feeling bad about not coming to my house this year.

Actually it works out GREAT, as I will be right in the middle of Peter Pan and will be really busy not to mention TIRED.

Donna's Husbands boss always gives them a turkey for thanksgiving, so all that she will need to do is stuff it in the oven, and cook the potatoes, and I can bring the rest! COOL!!!

I kinda feel bad about NOT having family over, but they say they wanted to go eat with the community center, so there ya go! I will still do my Killer Prime Rib Roast for Christmas dinner though. Already have it in the freezer!!

Bob brought me over 2 boxes of fuji apples and 2 boxes of anjou pears to put up, so I had better get busy huh!

for those of you that DON'T have my email it is marylouchandler46(at)gmail(Dot)com
so your comments will go there and I can post them. easy now!

I'm SOrry

I'm SOrry, But I have an anonomous commenter that is making derogatory remarks, and since I am not smart enough to remember how to delete the comments, I just turned them all off for a while. When the weather clears, I may return them, in the mean time, you know how to reach me.

I will still continue to post, just not allow comments for awhile.

Please keep checking.

Am I Missing SOMETHING?

When I was a little girl, we lived in a 2 bedroom 700 SF house, Phyllis and I shared a bedroom, we had 1 bath, a kitchen and a livingroom. We felt very secure, we were loved, and we rented because in those days Military people just did not BUY houses, because they would be transfered in two years.

When My Dad retired, and we were permanently in one place, we rented again, this time an older 3 bedroom home, that was floated in from Seattle where they were tearing down neighborhoods to build the Seattle World's Fair. AND I-5. It was bigger than anything we had lived in before, had a fireplace, a dining room, a bath and a half, and a HUGE eat in kitchen. It was probably 1200 SF a two story home and needed repair. We felt Loved and we had room to grow in. Phyllis and I shared a bedroom and Mike had his own small room, but we all shared a closet.

When I married and moved on, we lived in a 3 bedroom home around 1200 SF, with a bath and a half one story with a dining room and a kitchen, a typical rambler. We felt secure, and we were loved, and we were comfortable.

Years passed and I was single again and Tim and Donna and I all lived in a tiny TINY studio apartment with a tiny tiny bedroom big enough for a twin bed and nothing else. We had a pull out couch in the living room, a kitchen and a full bathroom. It was a mother in law apartment attached to the main house, but it worked for us, we felt secure, cramped but secure, and we were loved.

More years passed, and I was transferred to Adak, Alaska where I made more money than I could spend there, so I saved! I came home on leave one summer and bought a home. The one I live in still. It is 1400Sf with 3 small bedrooms, and 2 full baths, and a HUGE great room and a kitchen. an attached garage also. I had to put a standard despoist down on the mortgage, and also had to take out PMI (private mortgage insurance) as I was single and had never owned a home before. I was finally secure again, and alone, but I was happy with what I had.

Yes, I dreamed far above my means, and swore if I ever had the money I would build the dream home I always wanted, a log home with tall rafters, and a view of the Water. HA! That aint gonna happen. I lived within my means, sometimes not making other payments but always making my mortgage payments.

Now I am looking at the stock market crashing again, today, with banks failing in Europe and the United States, from mainly sub-prime mortgages and corupt banking practices.

People were buying homes FAR above their ability to pay, and far bigger than they ever would NEED. we are talking 4-5000 SF homes, with Master suites, 5 bedrooms many baths and a family room, living room, and a bonus room. WHY? because they were unwilling to settle for something they could afford at the time. THey were unwilling to invest in a smaller home, and then upgrade as they could afford it.
The Banks and Mortgage companies were encouraging this also. Developers were cutting down forests and building gated communities in places that were safe and secure anyway. The American Public gobbled up the lies and dove head first into a puddle that was not as deep as they thought, and now those homes are being forclosed and those people are sitting there with mud on their face wondering what the HELL happened?

Let me Tell you what happened folks. YOU GOT GREEDY!! ALL OF YOU!! You KNEW you could not afford that house, You KNEW that the bubble would someday burst and still you continued with your insane ways of doing business.

It is now going to be up to ME who I will say is still living in a 1400Sf home that I CAN afford, with a mortgage that is half way to being paid off, to bail you out! Why should I have to be taxed to Bail YOu out of your mortgage? Now I am not talking about those who really did buy within their means, a modest home with a modest mortgage. I am talking about those people with McMansions, three cars, etc. and now in foreclosure.

I am retired, and drawing Social Security and now the GOVERNMENT has just given those same banks and mortgages brokers a 700 BILLION dollar bailout. I have heard that they are also going to help YOU keep your McMansion, while I am still left struggling to pay mine off. My taxes are going to help you, and NO ONE is helping ME.

What did I Miss? Should I have bought a bigger house? should I have let my mortgage go? I dont understand.....SOmething had better CHANGE in WASHINGTON!!!

Getting set up

GADS! I forgot what all it takes to get your computer set up the way you like it. The problem I am having right now is my Bose speakers are not working!! GRRRR

I still do not have my address book imported from gmail into Outlook, but soon I hope. I also do not have every one saved in my favorites. Since I blogwalk from my FAVORITES and not my side bar, I am sorry to say that it is not up to date. If I am neglecting you, let me know!!!

I LOVE this monitor though. It is HUGE! a 24" viewing surface! I can almost open 2 pages side by side!! Great when I am working on a spreadsheet.

ARRRGHH!!

Below is the rehearsal picture I took outside of Pirates of PETER PAN.
Cute huh? Smee and Michael and Sweetness and Kangaroo.

Smee's cap

Ok, Since I am going to start putting everything I crochet on here too, I have just finished pirate SMEE's Hat. It is gonna drive him wonky though because the tassle is gonna tickle his neck. Aw well!!

new computer

ok, here we go again...I need you all to list your blogs so I can add them to my favorites, otherwise I will not be around to see you. If y ou are listed on the sidebar, I can get you that way, but if you are not, please let me know so I can get you listed, now that I have a computer that will let me do things without freezing up. AHHHHHHHH this is so nice!! Gotta get used to the keyboard though.

A RAGING HEADACHE

As I was driving into to town this evening, All of a sudden I got slammed with a head ache. It was like it was standing right there in the road in front of the San de Fuca Church just waiting for me. I drove through it and it hit. WHAM!! ANd I had to go play herder on 30 little kids all restless because they have no clue what blocking is about, so they talk. THen I have to quiet them down so Rusty can talk, and I can hear.

ARRGGHHH!!I really do like little kids, I just do not like the ones that test you,or talk back or ignore you or have no manners. NO tolerance for that, so that made the headache worse.

I came home ate a chocolate bar, took a pain pill and went to bed. Can't sleep. SIGH!! I hope I get a good nights sleep soon! I really need one.

Fall Has Fell....AGAIN!

BRRRRRRR. Our Late summer finally arrived about the end of August and lasted until Yesterday! It started raining, and is still. THe leaves are falling off the trees like snowflakes falling. My poor tomatoes are so confused! THey were very late to get growing, but once they did they went to town, and as of last weekend, They were LOADED with blossoms and little bitty green tomatoes. ANd as of last night, they are starting to turn yellow and die back. THe tomatoes are too small to do anything with, they are early girls and should be about 3 " across to use for green tomatoes. THey are still only the size of a quarter. ah well.

I have the MOTHER of all slugs in my back yard! I opened the back door when I heard him knocking, and I kid you not, He is the BIGGEST damned slug I have ever seen. a good 3 inches Across and 6-7 inches long and green and yellow spotted. the most vulgar thing to be knocking at my door! YUCK!!



I have no idea where he was hiding to get that large, but his brothers are out now too, and chomping away on anything they can find!

Ever seen one climb a glass door? OH YUCKKKKK!!!! they are so gross!

Which car are you?

I'm a Ford Mustang!

You're an American classic -- fast, strong, and bold. You're not snobby or pretentious, but you have what it takes to give anyone a run for their money.

"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Only I want it to be a convertible!!

A Night Of Shining Stars

The Whidbey Playhouse held it's annual SHINING STAR Awards ceremony tonight. This year we held it at the playhouse, and it was MC'd by Fil Baca, and Kyla Applegate. Each DIrector is asked to name one cast member and one staff member from each play from last season, and then we present them with a certificate as A SHINING STAR. This is our version of The Academy Awards. After each Play is introduced and each Director has their few words, and shows a few slides of each production, the winners are announced and they come up in front of the membership and receive their award.

Once the 7 plays are introduced and have presented their awards, then there is one Volunteer of the Year that is chosen. This year it was Bob Hendrix, my Friend Rusty's husband. WELL DONE!!!

Bobby designs, and builds MOST of the sets that we use. Bobby knows where each piece is located and stored at the Annex, and he knows which items need to be kept, and which to destroy. Bob also has to work with many different directors and come up with a workable set for the show that the director is producing. No easy task this. Our stage is very constricted, with no FLY room, and no main curtain, so we have to improvise. Bobby is excellent at this. He works after work each night, and some times into the next day. This Playhouse would be totally lost without him.



Our Board Member who was in charge of this years production was Kathy Fox, shown here with Bobby. Before she introduced him, she asked each of us in the audience to stand if we had usheres, or worked in the concessions, and then she asked them to stay standing while she asked who all had worked on set, directed, worked tech, etc. THere were very few people left sitting. We are a Totally volunteer organization, and NO ONE gets paid. So those very few that were left sitting got the message...we need all the volunteers we can get. No job is too small.

YEEEOUCH!

You know that state you are in when you are first waking up. The one that says you know what is going on, but your body doesn't move yet? Well I was there yesterday morning. The sun was coming through the window and hitting my face, there was a nice cool breeze coming in the screen, and I was flat on my back soaking it all in. I was aware of Schroeder on the windowsill above my head, and the others were all sound asleep on the bed.

A piliated woodpecker flew by the window making his loud yukyuk yuk call. THat startled Schroeder, who kicked the binoculars off the window sill right smack unto my forehead.I screamed and sat up which caused all of the others to levitate off the bed and scurry to hide. Schroeder was under the bed, and would not come out.

I have a very large bump over my left eye, and it HURTS!! the woodpecker was no where to be found.

damn animals!

I'm Official

Last night after swimming, I rushed to the playhouse, for the tailend of the Playday meeting that I was late for. Swimming therapy comes first!

I sat next to Dan, whose Partner Had promised me an Obama Sticker. I leaned over and whispered, "did you bring my bumper sticker?"

He quietly smiles and reaches into his brief case and pulls out the prize.

You are the FIRST, he says, As these JUST came in before we closed the shop. (he volunteers at the Demo hdqtrs)

Everyone at the table then wanted one, but he only had mine.

We immediately went out to the parking lot and made a celebration of removing the BUSH/Cheney 04 sticker from the bumper and replacing it with the bright shiny blue OBAMA sticker.

THen there in the lighted parking lot, standing around the back of my car, everyone applauded and cheered for the removal of my SHAME.

I feel sooo renewed!!

WARNING: Rant in progress

Ok, I am working on a rant, so if you are part of the Christian Right you had better close your ears and tiptoe on, because I am sick and TIRED of all this religion crap!

Driving home from swimming last night, I was admiring the sunset and the beauty that the Lord has made in this world, when all of a sudden my favorite ranter (no I do not agree with him a LOT) was saying that Governor Pahlin was calling for all church pastors to tell their congregationshow to vote and how to think!

I hit the roof of the car and screamed!!

I believe in God, and I do it my way and PRIVATELY! I do NOT believe that the church has any business at ALL in my government, or the selection of. I also do not believe that our Government has any right to tell us how to worship. This is a right guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution of The United States. The two should NEVER meet! (ok, ok, I know that it is on our money, and they put their hands on the bible when sworn in. and SO HELP YOU GOD is part of the Oathes of office. BUT to me that is so much more different than a Baptist or a Pentecostal Preacher standing up and telling their congregation that you HAVE to vote for the Republicans because they believe in the right to life.

A woman's body and the treatment of, should only be a concern of that woman, her Doctor and Her God alone! She should not be required to have an unwanted baby, and to tell her that she has to, is WRONG!!!!
On this note, a woman who at the third trimester suddenly decides that she is no longer wanting to be a Mother has waited too long. 1st trimester abortion I fully believe in. 2nd trimester MAYBE, but third trimester is becoming more and more viable, and therefore should not be considered an abortion, but a live birth, and everything should be done to protect that life.

Sarah Pahlin's decision to keep her unborn baby even though she knew it would be born with Down;s syndrome is very very admirable, and I am sure it was not an easy choice to make. BUT it was a choice, and she was lucky to be able to HAVE that choice.

Her using her office as Governor as a soapbox to preach to her local congregation is WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!!!! Being a Governor who has religious feelings is however a right that she has. I heard that the Republican Party had McCain choose her, so that she would sway the undecided to the GOP side. Well, folks, I was undecided until she was presented. I was absolutely SHOCKED to see what would possibly be the next Vice President, and only 1 heart beat away from running this country.

I have been a McCain supporter for MANY years, I was thrilled with his Maverick ways of thumbing his nose at the established GOP, and his way of crossing the aisle in order to make a point. I was hoping so much that he would choose a VP that would also Thumb their nose at the GOP party. We all know that they need a good shake up. But SHARAH PAHLIN? arrrggghhhh!!! n I was hoping that Joe Leiberman would be his choice or maybe even Colin Powell. ( who was hung out to dry by the Bush administration)

I will admit that she is a tough woman...and I admire her for her grit, but she really needs to leave her Fundamentalist ideals at home, and quit trying to force them down our throats. ANd so does eveyone else that tries it. Leave me ALONE!! let me make my own desicions, and let me worship the way that I want to.

Anybody have a big bumpersticker for OBAMA/Biden that will cover up my Bush/Cheney one? I am so ashamed!!!!

ok, rant over...for now, and I know that I do not do it with as much elequence as RAINY DAY THOUGHTS does but then she is much better at it than I am.

Fall...

It has turned the corner from Summer into Fall. Maybe not on the calendar yet, but definitely in the air! The trees are already turning colors, and leaves are falling. The apples are red and laying on the ground, the deer are sporting gorgeous racks, and the fawns are wandering away from Mom. The Blackberries still are not ripe yet, and those that are, are not as sweet as they should have been three weeks ago. Tomato plants are blossoming, but no tomatoes, and at this time, they will not form. The night air is brisk and biting. I think we can say that the summer we have been waiting for is not going to show up. We have had one or two weeks of warm weather, but for the most part, it has gone from a wet cold spring right into a wet cold summer, and now a dry cold fall.

As I was coming home from the playhouse last night, the sun was just setting, and in the few seconds it took me to pull the car over and get out my camera, the sky had changed from orange/pink to purple/mauve. The moon was turning a reddish orange through the forest fire smoke on the Olympic Peninsula. It was still Pretty! I LOVE fall. I love snuggling under the covers at night, all warm and cozy with my nose poking out and breathing the cold night air. It smells so good.

The other morning at 400 I woke up and looked out the window right at ORION, my favorite constellation. When it shows up completely in our sky, we know that Fall is here, and Winter is not far behind. I expect a fairly early frost.

As much as I love the long days of summer...our days run from 345AM until 1045 PM ...I welcome the fresh air of Fall and look forward to Winter.

another day...

Well, the appliance repair guy came on Friday 15 min. AFTER he said he would be there. I thanked him profusely for being on time. You know if we could charge the hourly wage for the person you are expecting BACK to them for every hour or portion thereof that they were LATE, then I will bet you a buck that they would be on time, and glad to get our business. Might even CHANGE the world.

He came in with the part in his hand that he thought he would need based on the history of that model, and 20 minutes later I had cold air flowing into my freezer. YAY!!! 24.00 for the part. 85.00 for the service call and 15.00 for the labor. so It is soooo nice to have cold milk again...and ICE CUBES!! when one is additcted to chewing ice, it is a major crisis when there are NONE to be had.

Bob got the wood project half finished before he threw his back out at the gym trying to be 45 again. SO ANOTHER unfinished project in the making. It really looks good so far though! 3" of gravel down on weed blocker cloth and then the wood ricks on top of concrete blocks on top of that. Only need a roof over the ricks now and I will have dry wood!! WHOOPEE. I will take pictures when it is done.

We had our 1 week of summer and now fall has fell with a vengeance. The wind was blowing down the Strait at 30 MPH and the rain was dumping!!! It felt good to sit and watch it storm. Should get back up into the low 80's next week. Indian Summer. I really expect the first frost in the next few weeks.

SOOOO....whatcha think of McCain's choice for VP? inquiring minds want to know.

I watched Obamas speech and was totally convinced that he was the right person for the job. GOD I hope I dont choose wrong AGAIN!!!

Your Stress Level is: 69%

You are prone to stress, and you're probably even pretty stressed right now. Life's problems seem to pile up on you, and this often makes you feel depressed and burned out. Learn to take time to relax and enjoy life, even if things are stressful. It's the only wa you'll get through the bad times.

How Stressed Are You?

a friend FOUND

Amazing how this internet works...

When I first started blogging 5+ years ago, I was following a blog from a lady who lived on a mtn top in North Carolina. THey then moved off their Mtn. to the panhandle of Florida where they were converting their little cabin into their dream home/sanctuary. During a number of hurricanes, and computer problems. I lost track of her and her blog.

I FOUND her yesterday while reading one of my daily reads...PURELAND MOUNTAIN out of Japan. She had commented on Robert's latest post, and I happened to catch it.

Beth is her name, and her blog is SWITCHED AT BIRTH. I was thrilled!!! SHe has such wonderful FOOD on her blog, just makes your mouth water.

I LOVE finding old friends, even if I do have to go 1/2 way around the world to find them!!

It's a goodday. Swedish Meatballs for dinner andBlackberry Cobbler. All salvaged from the destruction in my freezer. found 2 #'s of Hamburger and a Pound of Italian Sausage, and a Bag of blackberries. the rest all got sent to the garbage can! (I HATE re-frozen ice cream!)

LIFE SUCKS!!!

Ok, It really is starting to..

along with the computer that works when it feels like it, My hotwater heater quit heating water. I drug out the owners manual and saw that there was a reset button, so Bob came over and reset the button, and the manual said...IF THIS HAPPENS MORE THAN ONCE THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG> Ya THINK? SO far, it is working. It is only two years old. Remember when I woke up to 2" of water in my house? Yep. had it replaced then.

Then the dishwasher started leaking, so Bob ordered the parts and re-ordered the RIGHT parts, and put it all back together, BUT it still is not HOOKED up, and it has been 2 months!! THen yesterday I got a glass of milk, and mentioned that it did not seem as cold as it usually was. Bob said, well, I can hear it running....

So last night I came home from Rehearsal (oh dear LORD the MOTHERS!!) opened the freezer to get a loaf of bread out and there was water everywhere in the freezer section. THe ice bin had melted, and that is where the water came from, but I also noticed that the popsicles were dripping, and the ice cream was melted, YEP!!! no cold in my fridge that I bought when I retired!! it is only 5 years old. THis morning I called the appliance repair guy, who told me that they can not get here until FRIDAY!! so I through all the meat out, dumped all the popsicles and icecream, emptied what was left of the ice bin, and am sitting here hoping for the best.

I hate to think what in GOd's name will happen next? THe stove is only 18 months old, so that should be fine. It is getting cold out, so it will probably be the Cadet heaters that I have that were recalled 15 years ago. SHEESH!!!!

Problems

I am having connection problems again...even on Mozilla, I have application hangs. I am thinking that I may have to just re-format my entire hard drive, but not sure if I can. I have had the hard drive re-partitioned since I bought it, and I think my system recovery disks may not work now. SOOOOOO...

You may hear from me, or you may not!

While I am on right now, let me tell you that last week was busy with PETER PAN stuff, and trying to get the right cast picked. We finally have the cast, but now the music is all wonky, so we may have to re-order another piano score that can be read. Our Director is on a cruise to Alaska, and is blissfully unaware of the problems. Hopefully they will all be abated by the time she gets back.

Our weather here turned from Summer to Fall overnight. We had record high temps...30 degrees over normal, and yesterday it got down into the 40's overnight...30 degrees BELOW normal. I would not be surprised to see a frost before October. August and September are usually our dry months, but we had over an inch of rain in a few hours yesterday, along with thunderstorms, wind and hail. SOOOO not normal here. Even a small tornado touched down. JEEZ!!!

Bob and Tim are working on my woodpile. Then moved it, laid ground cover, built wood ricks and moved the wood back. Today I get a tdruck load of gravel to put over the ground clothe to keep the weeds out of the wood pile! Looks really good. I have another cord of wood coming next weekend, now I need to find some cut split and cured fir/hemlock to go along with the alder. Alder burns too fast, and does not put out the heat that the resin filled evergreens do. And Hemlock bark makes GREAT coals to bank over night!!

OOPS gotta go...gravel is here...

One really SAAAAAD Birthday cake!

So I invite the family over for Sherri's birthday cake and ice cream. No big deal, just her 51st. SHe and Mike were going to the fair and would be late...GREAT 'cause I have auditions for Peter Pan until 5 tonight.

I get the cake in oak harbor on the hottest day of the year, and put it on the floor of the car so it would be shaded. I stopped at Prairie Center to get Vanilla ice cream, and hurry home to get ready for everyone who should be here artound 730!

I open the car door, to reach down and get the cake, and all of the icing had melted right off into a puddle on the tray! I was so mad! I bring in the cake, and try to repair the mess, but the icing was so warm it ran off again. I stuck the whole mess into the fridge to set up.



got it out put the frosting back on the sides of the cake, and the pretty yellow roses are now big blobs on the top of the white icing. I also reached into the drawer for the candles, and guess what? I am OUT OF CANDLES!! i dug through the drawer and found a 5 then found a white taper, so I stuck those on the cake and she blew then out.

What a mess!!!

Happy Birthday Sherri!!! sorry it melted!!