Thursday, December 3, 2009

EDGAR AND I WON AN AWARD ! !

Who could have ever guessed? How could we have possibly known? Edgar and I have won our very first ever blogging award from Steve (www.stevedeniesanywrongdoing.blogspot.com) just because we actually enjoy watching him go through his mail!

I'm not sure if that means that we are really wonderful people - or if we just have way too much time on our hands.

This is an honor we don't really deserve . . we take great pleasure in learning how to make Red Plum seem to be as exciting as winning a full year's supply of coffee filters!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Maybe I'll Get A Tattoo!

I'm just about over some of these folks that I see walking around with tattoos from the top of their heads to their toes!

While dining in restaurants, I've lost my appetite because of a woman who had her face covered with what looked like a huge snake skin.

As you walk through the mall there are people who have almost no skin showing at all - because everything is covered in vile, bloody scenes of murder and mayhem.

Somehow the old fashioned heart with MOM written in it has been replaced by a pit bull with fangs dripping blood!

A curvy pinup girl in a one piece bathing suit has turned into a stark naked female flaunting everything she's got.

I think that this is one of the few tattoos that I have seen lately that I would encourage a gentleman to get! It makes me want to meet this guy and have him tell me a good joke.

What do you think?

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Stellan Needs Prayers Again!


Please
Pray
For
Stellan!!
Last night Stellan went back into SVT. Jennifer and PC couldn't stop it - the doctor said to get him to the hospital.
He's in the PICU - they intubated him for the first time ever - his kidney's aren't functioning well again - and everyone says this is the worst bout he's ever had.
He did finally come out of SVT, but things are still not right. They could all use some love and lots of prayers.
If you have the time, I know Jennifer would love to hear from anyone with some support. The hours do drag on when you're sitting in the hospital staring at a sick baby! Go to www.mycharmingkids.net and give her something to keep her mind busy.
I know she'll appreciate it!!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Can Sombody Explain This??

I will admit it, I just don't understand what is going on up in Washington, D.C.!!

I thought I understood Mr. Obama to be campaigning for us who are the people of the United States of America. Not the huge conglomerates, Wall Street, auto manufacturers, etc. Just the people who live, love, laugh, cry, work and do our best to be good to one another here in the U.S. of A.

So - President Obama took office. Then the government bailed out financial institutes left and right. The government bailed out banks . . . who still refuse to loan us little folks money! The government bailed out car manufacturers. Then the government paid $4,500.00 for every gas guzzler that people traded in toward buying a new car with better gas mileage. If those people can afford a car payment, they probably aren't in too desperate a financial situation in the first place!

I know one woman who is very seriously considering suicide! Her failing health has forced her to leave her job. She has no health insurance. She is still fighting to qualify for Social Security Disability. It took 4 months for her to receive food stamps. She gets $123.00 a month! Try feeding yourself on $123.00 for a month. At the rate she is going, her savings will run out in seven months. If her SSD does not come through, she will have NO money. There is no immediate family. She was told that her food stamps will increase to $235.00 a month. That's great . . . but with no other income, she cannot pay her power bill, a phone bill, water, etc. She already turned off her cable, gave up her Internet connection (goes to the library and uses their computers), gave away her dog and her cat, takes cold showers - - has done everything to cut costs.

She sees absolutely no way around suicide. How do you tell her that it's going to be okay, because Ford sold so many cars during the Cash for Clunkers campaign? She lives in Washington state. I have contacted a church near her. They have already visited her and are going to work with her. One of their members happens to be an attorney and has promised to handle her SSD case pro bono . . . and he is also going to work as her advocate to attempt to get her any and ALL assistance that she qualifies for.

Had we not "bumped into" one another on the Internet, what might have happened with her? She's 47 years old, alone, not heavily educated, panic stricken and felt that she had absolutely no option open to her. Everywhere she went she was told no, you don't qualify.

She was the "people" that I thought President Obama was campaigning to help. So far all I've seen is huge companies get huge bail-outs and support. The already wealthy executives who led these huge corporations into financial downfall are receiving amazing bonuses! For jobs particularly NOT well done.

I just read in the paper that our older generation will not see a cost of living raise in their Social Security checks this year. First time this has happened since some time in the 1930's! Everything that these people have to pay for has increased in price. And now for most of them, their Social Security money received will actually be less than the year before. Why less? Because most of them are paying for the Part D Prescription coverage that is deducted directly from Social Security before the check is issued - - which is certainly going to increase again this year, just like it has every year!

So, what we're ending up with is our elderly population, who are barely scraping by will be getting LESS "take home pay" . . . yep, the little old ladies who often have to choose between food or their heart medication . . . . while their power bill, water bill, prescriptions, food, clothing, and everything else they NEED increases in price on a daily basis.

Something is wrong with this picture!!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Things are getting out of hand!!

Okay, I understand all the politically correct stuff. I don't like a lot of it, but at least I understand it. But someone please explain to me why, oh why, is the press going nuts over the fact that Mrs. Obama wore a pair of shorts to visit a national park?

They weren't super tight, show it all shorts. They really looked good on her. And she's really got the legs for it, too.

It's not like she wore shorts to a state dinner or something inappropriate. She was on vacation with her husband and kids - going to see the sights.

What's she supposed to do? Dress up for every occasion?

Nope. She was properly dressed for the function. And besides, who does she have to please? I just don't see anything wrong with wearing something comfortable - especially if your legs look as good as hers!

I can't imagine what will happen the first time the press finds out that she actually wore a bathing suit to go swimming!

The end.


Saturday, August 1, 2009

CRISIS At Grammaw Central!




I just got a phone call from "The Pickle" - better known as my wonderful Grandson! (The blond shown here.)
The first words out of his mouth were, "I've got some bad news".
As a mother I was a worrier . . as a grandmother, I'm much, much worse because I'm over 300 miles away.
So, before asking what was wrong, my brain starts running through all the horrible things that could possibly be wrong. He's a really great kid, so I know he's not in any serious trouble. I just talked to my son two days ago, so it's something really recent. It's summer so it's can't be bad grades - he's an honor student, anyway! Okay, I eliminated the impossibles.
The possibles . . . His sister injured herself cheer leading. Nope, mom or dad would have called about that. He got a snake bite. He's a cross country runner - and he broke his leg! Or his foot! He was in the pool and his hair turned green! No, he sounded way too serious for that!


He broke his left arm! With 2 weeks of summer vacation left, he broke his arm!
So when you get your cast, Pickle, what's it gonna be? Nice, simple, red?

Kind of preppy - green with the blue stripes?




I guess it could be so much worse . . . what if they had to put a cast on your head???
Get well soon! ! ! Love, Grammaw & Grampaw

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Sore Back? This will scare you!!

Hi there! I've been busy lately. My poor little blog has suffered terribly and I am so sorry to have neglected it for so long.

I made the mistake of volunteering my skills (or lack thereof) to a web site used by the group dedicated to Adhesive Arachnoiditis - which is what Dub suffers from. This back condition is almost always caused by an invasive procedure by doctors. I guess the easiest way to describe it is to say that when the outer covering of the spine is damaged, this produces scar tissue. In some cases that scar tissue becomes very sticky and huge, it invades the spinal column and causes nerve "clumping".

Once the scar tissue starts growing and sticking to the nerves, the patient has tremendous, unending pain. It goes all day and all night. You have bad days and then you have worse days. The nerve pain is accompanied by a burning sensation in your feet - or for some people it feels like they are walking on broken glass. Very frequently one or both legs develop numbness. Sometimes just the thigh, sometimes the entire leg.

There are a lot of other problems associated with Adhesive Arachnoiditis. We have about 2,500 that belong to the on-line group. It seems like every one of them has different problems. Some can function pretty well, like Dub. Some are bed-ridden. Some are in wheel chairs.

Diagnosis is tough. It usually takes an MRI with contrast dye and an expert radiologist to spot it. Most doctors will first tell you that it's all in your head. Your surgery was a success and everything is fine. Your x-ray looks great. Once you have that "AA" diagnosis, Social Security Disability is pretty easy to get. It's one of the major disabilities on their "list".

For pain relief I've heard of everything from acupuncture to implanted morphine pumps and everything in between. I know of people who do well on very mild prescription pain killers and there are a lot who never get any relief even from their morphine pumps. Dub is one of the lucky ones who get pretty good relief on a minimum of prescriptions.

This can't be operated on. If you have surgery and they remove the scar tissue, it grows back - bigger and badder! There is no cure. There is no fix. We have a young man in our on-line group who is 21 years old. His mother joined when he was only 7! We've all kind of 'watched' Little Andrew grow up with this affliction. For almost 14 years his mom has been looking for a way to fix it!

We actually have two sites. One for information - where we try to keep up with all the latest research. The other is just about all posting back and forth about what works for each . . . and what doesn't.

Ladies - - this is for YOU! Birthing epidurals are a major cause of this problem among women. If that needle is off just a tiny fraction, you, too could end up with this! Discuss it with your doctor before having that epidural.

Dub and I had never heard of this until a year after his one and only back surgery. We got out all those release/consent papers that were signed and looked them over very carefully. Yes, it's in there! We are told by the "experts" that there's only about a 5% chance of having this happen.

So, please be aware. If you are having any procedures done that involve your neck, back, spine or anything close to any of those - ask your doctor about Adhesive Arachnoiditis. It will at least put him/her on notice that you know it exists. An old British study showed the 87% of cases were caused by physician errors!

* * * * * * * *

And for more of a downer . . . Stellan is back in the hospital. According to the last tweet from McKMama he is not responding well at all. The SVT is not going away and he is in rough shape. . . . GET THOSE PRAYERS GOING ! !

Monday, July 13, 2009

Not Me! Monday



Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
In hindsight, I have just realized that I did NOT put my life in danger this morning. When taking the rat terriers out with me to get the morning paper, I failed to notice the HUGE pit bull wandering up our street. As Rascal (fur standing straight up, barking like mad) headed toward the pit bull, I did not rush in their direction with only the Monday edition of Florida Today for protection! Just as the dogs were nose-to-nose (with NO tail wagging), the pit bull owner drove around the corner, jumped from his car and grabbed his collar. Whew, I was afraid Rascal was gonna hurt that poor pit bull!

I have NOT hit a total case of "writers' block" and will now close this pitiful attempt of blogging for today! I DO hope that my next attempt will be at least a little more entertaining.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

What's So Special About Tomorrow??

AT 5 MINUTES AND 6 SECONDS AFTER 4 O'CLOCK, ON THE 8TH OF JULY, THIS YEAR, THE TIME AND DATE WILL BE:
04:05:06 07-08-09!!

It will happen once in the morning . . . and once in the afternoon.

THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN UNTIL THE YEAR 3009!!!

(I had a feeling that you just needed to know this - didn't want you to wait 1000 years for someone else to tell you about it.)

And, I must also add that it is the birthday of one of my very favorite people EVER! Happy Birthday, Karen! You're the best daughter I could have ever picked!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Not Me! Monday




Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not wish horrible, terrible, awful things to happen to one of my across the street neighbors this weekend. Never did. Never would. He did NOT park a full tractor-trailer across the street from our house on Friday evening and leave it there until 3 o'clock this morning! About every 30 minutes, the generator did NOT kick on to run the reefer and keep his load cold.

Therefore, while trying to enjoy cooking ribs on the grill we WEREN'T surrounded by the wonder odor of diesel exhaust! And while trying to enjoy splashing in the pool we were not choking on the same diesel exhaust fumes!

And we didn't have to finally move inside to enjoy our watermelon! How can you have a watermelon seed spitting contest inside??!!

It is NOT 11am. I am NOT still in my jammies. I am NOT sitting in the nice, cool A/C while Dub is outside mowing the lawn! And I do NOT intend to change any of those items any time soon . . . . well, okay - I AM going to go shower and get dressed.

Happy Monday!!

Monday, June 29, 2009

Not Me! Monday - Free Therapy


Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
Nobody in this house spent two full days in her jammies this week. Nope, not sick. Nothing wrong. Just absolute pure-tee laziness! There is no one in this house that would do that!
And then that very same nobody could never have gone outside early this morning and pulled weeds, dug dirt, picked about a ton of tomatos and egg plants, chased two rat terriers, filled the bird bath, trimmed the fig bush and then came in the house to figure out that she couldn't have possibly forgotten all about writing her Not me! Monday post!! No respectable blogger could or would ever do that!
Dub did NOT decide that the blades on our cute little green and yellow riding mower needed sharpening. And he sure didn't proceed to lift said little mower by himself so he could get a jack stand under it. For those of you unaware - he has a horrible, inoperable back condition that is aggravated by doing things like that - and here he is doing heavy lifting. Like his doctors have NOT limited him to picking up nothing weighing more than 8 pounds! Oh no - nothing like that ever happens around here.
And, of course, I did not throw a complete - perfect hissy fit in his direction for this crime. We don't have every tool known to man around here. We have two floor jacks! And he really didn't stick his head in the door and ask if I could help him for a minute! NO!
Then Dub didn't spend the next day in bed with his pain medication wondering why his back was killing him! Please tell me that he didn't actually say, "I don't know what the hell I did, but I'm hurtin' so much worse than usual!"
If you haven't done any "Not Me's" - how about leaving a couple in my comments! I just love knowing I'm not alone in my imperfections!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Someone Help Me!




If you read my Not Me! Monday!, you know that I've been having some issues with sleeping in lately.




What I failed to mention is that on that very Monday - my brother-in-law was BEATING (not knocking) on our front door at 7:15am. Yes, a damn m!




This man has no conscience. He is retired, like us - but he is one of those who gets up really early every morning! And he doesn't understand why the rest of the world isn't up and fully functioning before 7 every morning!




There is no way to count the number of times I have told him not to call so early in the morning . . . I have told him not to come beating on the door so early in the morning. He just laughs and says it doesn't hurt us to get up early and be productive from time to time.




I agree with him completely . . . only if it were "from time to time". He is not bothered by the fact that everyone else that has our number seems to feel exactly the same way.




This morning at 9:00 - - - it was granddaughter G from Middleofnowhere, GA to let us know that she was at the salon. She was using her Mom's cell so she could tell us Mom was getting a hair cut - and that her 5 year old little toes were getting a pedicure! Someone help me!!




Her godfather gave her several gift certificates for salon services for Christmas. Yes, this is the same man who gave her the miniature bull for her birthday! Bear is now about as tall as a great dane but much, much wider!




It's time for my nap now.




Monday, June 15, 2009

Not Me! Monday!


Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I'm taking a little liberty with my Not Me! Monday! today. I'm going to tell on other people. There is a theme to this. Let's call it "Who woke them up this morning?" Dub and I are retired - we love to sleep in - our family and friends know we love to sleep in. This is how our valiant efforts to sleep in were squashed last week!
Monday - The Yellow Book did NOT have their computer call us at 8:30am to make sure that we received our recent phone book delivery
Tuesday - No way that Dub's son "C" called us at 7:15 am just to say hi! At 7:15 dang am!???
Wednesday - L couldn't wait to call from Middleofnowhere, GA to tell us about the new baby bunnies. Oh, no - had to call at 8:30 and actually say, "Sorry to wake you guys up, but we've got SIX new bunnies!" Happy, happy, joy, joy!
Thursday - Mastercard did not call me at 9am just to see if I was a happy customer. We won't even discuss the fact that I had already told them twice that I wanted to be put on their 'do not call' list -- because I was becoming an unhappy customer -- because they kept calling me!
Friday - Because of a serious case of short term memory loss, Dub's son "C" forgot that he had already done his duty of awaking us EARLY Tuesday! No - I guess this was different - he really didn't call at 7:15am. He called about 8am. No - he couldn't have done that twice in one week!
Saturday - We actually shot ourselves in the foot! Set our alarm for 7am....just had to get up in time to rush out to the front yard and watch the shuttle launch! Got up, turned on the TV for the latest shuttle update - - AND IT DIDN'T LAUNCH!
Sunday - Dixie and Rascal detected a major disturbance in the neighborhood - and couldn't have started a bark-fest about 7:45am. Oh, no - they didn't fight to see who was gonna get out the door first . . . and as soon as they were both outside, they looked around - did what needed to be done and came back inside. They both immediately stretch out and went back to sleep. Dub and I however NEVER got back to sleep!
And how was your week??

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I'm Just The Stupidvisor!

Yesterday Dub decided that the starter on our little bitty riding mower needed to be taken completely apart and repaired. I had to agree with him. It was getting harder and harder to get the poor thing to crank up.

He moved the Jeep out of the carport, rolled the mower in and started dismantling the defenseless mower. Of course, as with all things mechanical -- -- you must first remove about twenty-seven other things before you can get to the item you are actually headed for!

Finally, he removes the starter. Now for the complete dis-assembly of the starter. Did you know there's several little tiny springs inside a starter? Yep!! Well, there WERE several little tiny springs. A few of them went flying out into the gravel/sand next to the carport as the starter was coming apart.

As I was combing through the gravel/sand with my lousy eyes and a long handled magnet trying to find the fleeing springs, Dub continued to dis-assemble the rest of the starter and figure out what the problem was.

Once the air in the vicinity turned blue from the language being aimed at this starter AND the mother of this starter - - - it was determined that I should drive to Bruce's Mower and pick up a new starter.

So - from start to finish, four and a half hours and $100 later, we have a new starter on our cute little riding mower! And I think it starts just great!

And Dub decides that the solenoid just doesn't sound right. So - this morning he had to begin the entire process again! Except this time, I did not participate as stupidvisor. When he ascertained that said solenoid was not going to cooperate, HE went to Bruce's Mower and only had to spend $14 to replace that.

He has now decided that the cute little yellow and green riding mower is running just great! But the Weedeater is sounding a little off!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Not Me! Monday - Again? So Soon?


Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I'm getting sick and tired of having to tell you about our neighborhood cats NOT getting into our pool enclosure in the middle of the night. And having to erase the picture in my brain of Dub in his Bart Simpson boxers out there trying to chase them out. And, NO, our two rat terriers would never set up such a ruckus that the next door neighbor came outside to make sure everything was okay! Stupid damn cats!
We didn't have such a bad thunderstorm again yesterday that Dixie tried to actually get under the couch! No - she has no anxieties at all! I wonder how expensive it is to take a rat terrier to a shrink?
Dub's daughter L certainly did not call us last night from Middleofnowhere, Georgia to announce the birth of about SIXTEEN new little piggies! I do not belong to a family that owns a mini pig farm!! No way - no how - never - ever!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Not Me! Monday


Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
It was not me who got this great recipe off of Pioneer Woman - and did NOT make this really easy apple/puff pastry dessert yummy goody last night.
And Dub and I are certainly not the ones who have eaten almost every last crumb of that apple/puff pastry dessert already!
It is NOT almost noon - and I am for sure not still in my nightie! I'm sure that I must have gotten up bright eyed and bushy tailed - showered and dressed for the day - bright and early! SURE I DID!!
During a thunderstorm last week, Dixie did not get so frightened that she abandoned her usual hiding place (under the toilet) - and crawled under our bed! I did NOT have to hold up the end of the bed while Dub pulled her out when we finally found her. She did not get stuck so tightly that she couldn't get her big, fat self back out from under that bed! Bless her little heart!
So - is there anything that you didn't do??

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Tale of Stack O' Dollah


Many years ago I worked in the tax accounting department of a large manufacturing company. There were about 8 to 10 of us in the department. One of my work-mates, Lynda, was black. And she felt that it was her God given duty to educate all of us "white breads" (that was her term for us) on the ways of the streets!
Please do not misunderstand. Lynda was an absolute riot to work with. She was really, really good at her job - but also really, really funny. And she took great pleasure in making fun of us white folks not understanding what was going on the world outside. As each new slang word was invented, she made sure we knew what it meant. You know, in case we got stranded out in the streets, we'd be able to take care of ourselves!

One morning, Lynda called in and said she was going to be late. Boy, we could hardly wait! She was never late for work. We just knew there was going to be a story behind this. And was there ever!
The night before, her brother, Stack O' Dollah, had been arrested. Seems that one of his employees had not been performing as expected and he had slapped her around. I guess when you're a pimp, that's just one of the many duties you must take on!
Anyway, Lynda had been out half the night going to friends and relatives to get up the money to make bail for Stack. She did manage to get him bailed out at about 4am. But that's not why she was late - - oh no - she said she could have made it to work okay.
Why was she late?
Her momma made her go first thing that morning down to the newspaper office and wait for the late edition of the paper to come out. Why? Well, she had to buy 20 copies of the late edition because it had a big picture of Stack O' Dollah right on the front page - and a story, too - all about him being arrested and all. Momma wanted to make sure she had plenty to mail to the rest of the family that lived up north!
True story.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Bragging Grandparents - Again!!


My grandson, Pickle, has outdone himself this year with awards!!


Not only did he win a Science Award and the Headmasters Honor Roll Award - but he was also inducted into the National Junior Honor Society!!
This is really, really exciting, Pickle - because we know how hard you work to get these great grades! Congratulations!

Holy Cow, Pickle - WHAT A GREAT JOB!!

Your Grampaw & I are so very proud of you!
Now I know why I blog - so I can brag about my fabulous kiddos!!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Miscellaneous Whatevers

My random thoughts - just a little of this and that - and whatever!

We've been so very dry here on the Space Coast. About 10 inches short on rain for the year. Well, Mother Nature has made up for that in the past few days. On Monday, Tuesday and today we have had at least 3 inches of rain each day -- that's 9 inches this week! And it's still raining! I shouldn't complain; this is really helping with the 100+ wild fires that were burning all over the state last week . . . it's refilling all the swamps . . . and it will really help our local mosquito population maintain the record size we're used to! Not just quantity - but each bug is about the size of an adult Blue Jay!!

********************
Dub and I cleaned out the kitchen closet this week! Think gigantic junk drawer. Miscellaneous 'stuff' has been entering that closet for over 10 years - and nothing has ever been removed. We had 8,467 plastic grocery bags that we took to recycle. We had every old plumbing or electric part ever replaced in this house. Why did we save them?? If we replaced them, logic would say they don't work - so as I'm dropping each into the trash can, Dub is asking, "Are you sure we don't need that?" There were enough various screws, nails, nuts, bolts, etc. to build three houses, a truck and maybe half of a really nice gazebo. I did keep them - but they are all in one big container! Who knew we had 4 cans of WD-40?? And you can never have enough caulk - is 5 tubes enough? There's rope, string, twine, tie-wraps and 4 different kinds of tape! We don't need all that - 1 roll of duct tape is all anyone needs to hold anything together! Well, it's done - and there's now room for a family of three to live in there. But they better hurry before Dub starts putting 'stuff' in there again!

*************************
Wise words from my grandmother: If money can fix it, it's NOT a problem.

*************************
Poor rat terrier Dixie is terrified of thunder and lightning. Rain - she just hates. So, this afternoon during a lull in the storming I had to get her leash, go into my bathroom, pull her out from under the toilet, drag her through the house. Then I had the pleasure of towing her out the door, down the steps and into the soggy front yard. The "Princess" just can't stand to get her delicate little toes wet. So, I drag her out to the middle of the front yard and tell her to "go pee". Which she immediately does.

Now you would think that when I took off the leash she'd hightail it back into the house, right? Nope. Dixie, little delicate thing she is - who won't get her tootsies wet without a fight - takes off for the nearest, deepest mud puddle! And she runs, splashes, barks, rolls, jumps and just generally has herself a really good time . . . until it starts to rain a little bit. Then she stops in her tracks, lays her ears back, looks around - - yelps, RUNS back into the house and returns to her hiding place under the toilet! Yes, she also hated the bath I gave her immediately thereafter.

************************
It is now officially okay for Memorial Day to arrive. I have purchased a watermelon. I think it's officially against the law (or should be) to have Memorial Day without a nice, big watermelon! And, speaking of Memorial Day - Don't forget to thank a member of the armed forces for all that they do for us! And don't forget to thank their family members, too!

Have a great Thursday!!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Not Me! Monday .. .. .. We're Ba-ack!




Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.



It's good to be getting sort of back to normal - Not me Monday - is ever so much cheaper than therapy. It's also cheaper than throwing dishes! Give it a try; you'll be amazed at how good it feels!


We did NOT have a complete repeat of an earlier Not me! this week. Oh, no - not at this house. It's 3am . . . . two rat terriers go completely nuts . . barking . . screaming . . running in circles . . if they could speak they would be saying, "Help, they're coming to kill us all!!!" Dub and I react with little enthusiasm and lots of dirty words. Dixie and Rascal absolutely insist that there are dastardly deeds being done in the back yard. Who are we to argue? We open the back door and all hell does NOT break loose - AGAIN!! You would think that dang neighborhood cat would remember something as big as a swimming pool - - NOPE - the dogs frightened him right into the pool! Dub's ready to use the skimmer to push him under - I'm trying to get the dogs inside - and two of our neighbors DO NOT come out in their yards to watch out little three ring circus (they could have at least offered to share their beer)!!! Eventually we got the very wet cat out of the pool, I got Dub calmed down, the dogs fell asleep much quicker that we did and the entire neighborhood DOES NOT think we are totally out of our minds!


I have not become addicted to marshmallow fluff! It is not such an addiction that I got a recipe off the www and am going to try to make my own this evening! OOOOOH - - don't ever put it on a peanut butter sandwich! It's not good at all - really - just not good at all!


Yesterday at the grocery store, I did not hit the sample chick three times for these little pizza snack dealies she was giving out. And on my third visit, she did NOT give me a double serving and tell me I couldn't come back! That would just be wrong.


I did not spend almost my entire Sunday afternoon watching coverage of Indianapolis 500 qualifying to see if John Andretti could get his Richard Petty car into the field. (He did.) I was doing other things -- -- but never too far from the TV! NO - I'm not a die hard, dedicated race fanatic!


I wouldn't spend Sunday watching Indy - - especially since I did not spend Saturday afternoon watching earlier Indy qualifying and practice. And then Saturday evening watching NHRA drag racing. And then more of Saturday evening watching NASCAR All-Star races. No - I just don't like any kind of racing at all!


You got anything that you didn't do lately??

Tell us all about it!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Aint Kathurn, Rhett and Drug Store

I always looked forward to those phone calls! "Sweetie! This is your Aint Kathurn calling all the way from Nashvul!" Yep, one of my Grandmother's sisters, Aunt Katherine calling me from Nashville, Tennessee.

My Grandmother had lots of brothers and sisters. We were never sure exactly how many - but there were at least a total of 10 or 12 of them. The list in the family bible shows three question marks that everyone thinks were babies who died very early.

But this is all about Aunt Katherine, her husband Curtis and their only child - a stray dog they adopted and named Drug Store!

If ever a person could 'be' a color it was Aunt Katherine. Imagine RED. Deep, dark, 1940's red with a little black mixed in to make it deeper. Flashy, sparkling, blinding, screaming R E D! In her 80's she was still bragging about her 'cute figure' and wonderful legs. And she was still wearing her short-shorts in her 80's, too! And since Uncle Curtis died 20 year before her, she had 'several' boyfriends to court her and keep her company. But she never would consider getting married again. She was worried that they were just after her money!

And Uncle Curtis - the only way to describe him is Rhett Butler. No, not a bit like Clark Gable. But he was a dead ringer for Rhett Butler! He not only had the look - but the swagger and that attitude, too! And, boy, did he know that he was good lookin'. I loved going out to dinner with them. Uncle Curtis would tease Aunt Katherine about how all the women were jealous of her getting to be with him! He was totally devoted to Aunt Katherine. They just fit together like a pair of spoons!

These two were very loving, giving people. They tried for years to have children with no success. They would borrow the children of relatives during summer vacations, but it just wasn't the same as having your own. Well, they found a starving stray dog behind the local pharmacy - took him home - and named him Drug Store! That dog had the best life you could imagine. He was bathed, brushed, loved and pampered. When it was meal time, whatever they were eating, Drug Store was eating. He could understand anything you said to him. If you told him to go get a blanket, he'd bring a blanket. Ask for a ball, you got a ball. You could name any of his toys and he'd bring the right one. Towel, brush, bear, shoes, slippers, pillow . . . he knew it all!

I look forward to seeing them again some day - Aint Kathurn, Rhett and Drug Store!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Our Weekend Guest

Early last week L called us from Middleofnowhere, GA asking if we would baby sit for them while they drove to West Palm for a wedding.


Before fully understanding what we were in for, Dub said we would be glad to. THAT was when L explained that they would be dropping Peanut off Thursday evening.


Peanut is a pygmy goat and is just five weeks old. He was born prematurely and his mother would have nothing to do with him. L and her daughter have raised him on powdered goat milk mixed with fresh goat milk they get from a friend who raises milk goats.

This was one of the funniest weekends I have ever had in my life! Dixie, our female rat terrier took a sniff and knew she wanted nothing to do with this creature. But Rascal decided that this would be the perfect playmate! And he was so right. He and that goat fought to get out the door and into the front yard first; and the race was on!


First Rascal would chase Peanut, then Peanut would take a quick turn around one of my rose bushes and ram into Rascal's rear end! Rascal would then yelp like a little girl and run like crazy with that tiny goat hot on his trail .. .. .. .. .. until the goat would fall and roll over about six times, get up and shake it off - giving Rascal time to turn around and come after Peanut again!


This would go on for at least 20 minutes and that poor little Peanut would come jump into my lap and just fall over - exhausted! Five minutes later he'd start screaming for his bottle!


After his bottle, Peanut would run back into the house and head straight into the living room and vault himself onto the couch. He'd stand there softly crying until I would sit down with lots of baby blankets for him to curl up on in my lap and he would sleep for hours.


This little guy weighs almost 5 pounds now. He gets 1 cup of milk in his bottle every 4 or 5 hours. Do you know how much pee a tiny little goat can make out of 1 cup of milk? I didn't actually measure it - but I would estimate it to be right around 2 GALLONS at least!


That little bottle of milk is almost his complete intake. He does graze a little when he's outside. Just a couple of blades of grass, a tiny flower, a leaf off my crepe myrtle - guess how much poop comes out after that tiny little bit of food???? Oh - maybe half a shovel full! I just kept reminding myself that it was great fertilizer! Even when I kept stepping in it. (Yes, I live in Florida. Yes, I am bare footed most of the time.)



Everything went really well until Saturday afternoon. Dub took the dogs with him somewhere in the Jeep and Peanut and I had just come inside from a romp in the front yard. We were just getting comfortable on the couch when the phone rang.




So, I'm yacking away on the phone and petting Peanut as he sleeps so peacefully in my lap. I heard Dub drive back into the carport - and who could miss them coming into the house? Those two dogs sound like a herd of elephants on the rampage when they come in!

Well, I guess little Peanut didn't hear them. When Rascal jumped onto the couch, it scared Peanut so bad he - um - er - hm - lost control of various body functions! I got off the phone as Peanut went running through the living room (still leaking everywhere) trying to get into his crate!




I am covered in at least two liquids (or semi-liquids) - neither of which can be adequately be described here. There is absolutely no possible way that the fluids that saturated SIX flannel baby blankets AND my t-shirt AND my jeans shorts could have all come from that teeny, tiny, little, bitty, cute, soft, snuggly, itsy, bitsy, pygmy goat!

Dub sure seemed to think it was really funny! Somehow, the humor was lost on me.



L and family came and picked Peanut up Sunday. We have almost recovered from our baby sitting. I think that the next time they ask us to baby sit we will have to remember to ask them precisely which critter it is we are baby sitting - before we commit to anything!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Pickle


HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY, PICKLE!!
I'm so proud to be able to say that you are my Grandson! You are such a great kid. You make terrific grades in school, you're nice to your little sister (sometimes), you have great manners (when you want to), your a fast runner, you like to help people AND - you're my GRANDSON!!
I hope your Tuesday was the best - and the whole year will be full of wonderful things for you!
Love,
Grammaw












Thursday, April 23, 2009

How To Install A Home Security System

*HOW TO INSTALL A HOME SECURITY SYSTEM*
1. Go to a secondhand store and buy a pair of men's used size 14-16 work boots.
2. Place them on your front porch, along with a copy of Guns & Ammo magazine.
3. Put a few giant dog dishes next to the boots and magazine.
4. Leave a note on your door that reads:

Bubba,
Big'un, Duke, Slim and I went for more ammo and beer. Back in an hour.


Don't mess with the pit bulls - they attacked the mailman this morning and messed him up bad.

I don't think Killer took part, but it was kinda hard to tell from all the blood.

Anyway, I locked all four of 'em in the house. Better wait outside just in case.

Cooter

Monday, April 20, 2009

Rabbit Ears


So, they told us that February was the deadline. Get a converter box by then or you may never see television again!
Now they keep scrolling constantly across our televisions that the switch over will be in June.
All of us older folks said years ago - when cable first came about - that some day they would find a way to make us all pay for television programming. Of course, we didn't expect to see it until at least the year 2005! Oh - wait - it's 2009 already! It's coming - everyone will have pay TV!
And radio!! First we thought nothing would ever touch our old friend AM radio. It's just too 'with it', too 'cool' for anyone to mess with. Let 'em screw around with FM, all they have is classical music and those talk shows. Nobody cares about FM. No sooner do we get soooooo comfortable with our friend AM - and zap - all the good stuff moves to FM! Okay, I can live with that. I know how to make my radio tune in an FM station. This works for me just fine! We old folks love stereo - we actually know how to tune stereo. We just don't do it when you young ones are looking!
Oh, no - they can't leave that alone, either. Now we're all going to have to buy XM or Serius radios - and subscribe to their monthly services as well! I'd be willing to bet the the old time AM and FM radio will be gone before you know it! Nothing left to do but plug into your MP3 - or buy into their new programs!
What do you think?
Or am I too late again???


Friday, April 17, 2009

For Our Wonderful Youth of Today!

Dear Youth of Today,

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, We had to go to the darned library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way down the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts, too! No where was safe!

There were no MP3' s or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the dang record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and screwed it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone. Cause that's how we rolled, dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your Bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your lazy butt and walk over to the TV to change the channel! There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rats! And there were maybe SIX channels to choose from if you were really lucky!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or before!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

WHEW!!

We have just narrowly missed a crisis! A storm just came through our neighborhood - and I'm sure that the weather experts will do their studies to decide - but I saw it myself - - we have had a tornado!

There are at least 5 homes within three blocks of us that are really seriously damaged - - no roof, no carport, no screened porches or pool enclosures, walls down. There's siding and insulation in the trees and all over the ground. I can't count the homes with miscellaneous minor damage.

NO INJURIES!!

Our only damage is in the yard and to the pool enclosure. I can sure live with that after seeing the rest of the area!

I went to help a near neighbor - Sweet, young, single mother of three. She was at work - kids were all at school. We could see from our house that her roof was gone. Dub and I walked over - her next door neighbor called her at work and told her how bad it was.

This mom works for Western Waste - yep, she drives a garbage truck! And makes a darned good living doing it. It took her about 30 minutes to get home - - and her mother got there about the same time. We all just kept repeating, "It's only a house."

Here's the greatest part! About 15 minutes later, her boss shows up. He walked around outside the house . . . . walked through inside. He then started making phone calls. Once he got off the phone he helped move everything out of the children's bedrooms; they were the worst off.

Less than an hour later, here comes a crew of guys from Western Waste with plywood, tarps, tools, ladders, etc. As I am typing this, they're over there doing what they can to get coverage over her home before the next wave of rain comes through!

Oh - a few of them even went next door to help the widow over there with a tiny bit of damage she had!

Kinda renews your faith in mankind, doesn't it!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Middleofnowhere, Georgia

We got a phone call this morning from Middleofnowhere, Georgia. It was Dub's daughter L giving us an update on what's happening on their little farm/ranch/home.

As some of you already know, L, husband M, son W (13) and daughter G (5) live on a bunch of acres in a lovely home and have animals - LOTS of animals. One dog, at least 8 cats, maybe 15 pigs, 30 goats, about a zillion chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, 2 rabbits (soon to be many, many more), 2 pet rats, a miniature bull and I don't know what else they may have picked up lately.

Last week one of the goats had a baby prematurely and just walked away from it. This isn't gonna happen - not with L and G around. The mom and daughter team got rags and cleaned up the little kid (with help from Buddy, the dog), fixed a bottle and started feeding it.

This little thing is about the size of a small puppy - no hair at all - can't even stand up yet - and here they are hugging, petting, loving and feeding it like a baby.

Yesterday while L and G were outside feeding all the critters, they laid the baby goat out in the sun to get some fresh air and maybe nibble on a little grass. Buddy, the guard dog - who thinks everything within the property belongs to him - LOVES that little goat. Ya have to watch him constantly because one day he's going to lick it to death!

All is calm on the farm, the feeding is going just like always - and then Buddy fires up with the barking and growling. Holy cow - he's having a fit. G, having her typical 'I am 5 year old girl' fit goes running - - as she's closest to Buddy. This child knows no fear!

Now we have G and Buddy both running - barking, yelling, waving, jumping - WHEW - that was a close call. Was it a snake? A hawk? A coyote? Oh, no - - one of those deadly, attack turkeys got too close to the baby goat and Buddy's feminine side kicked in.

As G went back to feeding the pigs, Buddy curled up around the tiny goat and they both took a nap.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter



Why is it that the Easter Bunny thinks that old ladies and their husbands don't want Easter baskets?
I'm just sayin' . . . . does he think Peeps are just for kids? Chocolate covered marshmallow eggs are not for anyone over 21? Fluffy bunnies only go to cute little girls with dimples?
I'm fixin' to get ready to protest! I want my chocolate bunny! And I want it NOW! And where are my Cadbury Creme Eggs? Like a DOZEN of them???
the Easter Bunny hates me!
Oh, wait! I could go to Walgreen's Monday and it will ALL BE ON SALE!!!! At least 50% off!!
Never mind!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

$3,200 LCD 61" Super Gizmo Rob Ya Blind Television of Tomorrow!


Please tell me that this is NOT something that you would do to your poor, innocent little dog! I would never do such things to Dixie or Rascal. I draw the line at Santa hats and reindeer antlers! Okay, maybe I did, one time, put pajamas on Dixie when she was really, really small; but, only ONCE or maybe six times!

Look at this storage idea! Turn your staircase into stacked drawers! I think maybe you would have to do this when you were building the stairs.


I can't imagine trying to do this as a re-fit. . . . hubby would have to be pretty talented in the handyman department to make this work, if ya ask me.

Dub and I went to buy a new TV today. Geez! I was totally unaware that I needed a complete electronics education before walking into any store to even browse! I had looked around the interweb a little - very little.

I thought it couldn't be that danged hard. Our old one is 32" - we wanted one a little bigger . . . and flatter would be nice. That's it. Our first salesman looked at us with pity and greed in his eye as he started showing us the $3,200 LCD 61" Super Gizmo Rob Ya Blind Television of Tomorrow! No, thanks - we're just looking.

I found a salesman I liked much better, told him I wanted something UNDER $1,000, at least 32" - what do ya have! He showed us a pretty good selection; then left us alone to look them over and make up our minds. (Dub isn't going to a bunch of stores shopping around - a tv is a tv - pick one.)

We pick out the tv - I leave Dub and Mr. Salesman to settle the money and I go wandering. When I come back and we start out the door, innocent little me says, "So, what time will they deliver it tomorrow?"

"Some time on the 23rd." Replied Dub.

I'm not so sure I want to repeat exactly what I said in response to that - something like, "What, dear?" Only not quite so calm. Or not so polite. Or not so sweet!

I guess the one we picked out is so popular that it won't be in until then.

Until April 23rd, we will be saddled with dealing with the old tv. The one we are replacing. The one that turns itself off at random times throughout the day and evening. The one that can then only be turned back on by pulling the plug and plugging it back in. EVERY FRIGGING TIME!! Sometimes it does this every five minutes! Sometimes it only does it once an hour.

Toshiba does not care. They will not respond to my emails. My NEW tv is NOT a Toshiba.