Happy Halloween

First of all, Happy Halloweeeen everyone! I bought tons of candy and filled up a huge caldron to the top. Unfortunately Gary and I have been "munching" so now about a forth of that candy is gone. Oh well, we have a 60 percent chance of rain and it's 10:30 am right now and dark as night outside. Hope I can get rid of what's left tonight.

Good news, Jason and Andrea know where they want to live when they move. Arnold, MO. They have found some brand new homes with walk out basements that are very pretty, close to I-55 and schools down the street. Jason is giving his notice today, so good luck with that! Congrads again Jason on your new job. You've worked hard and put up with a lot of crap from Garrett to get there.

Jon has been a busy bee getting ready to scare the sh__ out of the little kiddies in his neighborhood. He has divised a large screen projector and hopefully nothing above PG rating so the parents won't be calling the cops. Be ready with the "paddles" in case someone falls over from a heart attack!! Have fun. Wished I could be there to hear all the screams. Take pictures and put on your blog so I can see how it went.

Don't know what Jessica is up to. She has a job that she was enjoying the last time we spoke and going to school.

Happy Halloweeeen to everyone Be careful Have fun Love you all

Traveling Adventures

Jason reminded me today that I need a new blog. I took a trip last weekend to Jason and Andrea's house to dog sit while they attended the funeral of Andrea's grandfather. The first day they left I had to show the house. Andrea called me and let me know that the realtor wanted to show the house at 2. When I answered the phone at 10 am, Cuddles and I were sitting in my car at Petersburg, Il eating a pork chop biscuit from Hardee's, which Cuddles throughly enjoyed having her own. I had to go to Petersburg to take care of some business, so I took Cuddles with me while Jason and Andrea were leaving for their trip. We had to hurry home and clean the house up and get the other dogs in the car. Of course, when I let Cuddles out Bonnie pushes her way in and runs under Jason and Andrea's bed. I tried coaxing, pulling, pushing, swearing anything to try and get the big beast out from under the bed to no avail. So, I cleaned until the last thing I had left to do was mop the floors. I called all the other dogs in telling them let's go bye bye. As I turned to step down into the kitchen, a big brown blur runs past me almost knocking me to the floor trying to get to the garage door first. They all ran down the steps to the garage and jumped up in my car. I left the car doors open while I mopped the floor. When I was finally ready to go Bonnie insisted she was riding shot gun. Herc and Rocky decided they would just sit on her, which elicited a growl and baring of her teeth. I took her by the ear and growled back at her and showed my teeth and told her they could sit where ever they wanted to. She accepted and let them lay beside her. We rode around, bought french fries that they ate as I sailed them through the air to the back of the car. I had an ice cream cone, but Clyde ended up with it after he reached between the drivers seat and window and licked it. After we rode around Chatham and Auburn for an hour we returned home with no more showings for the rest of my stay there--thank goodness! Three dogs and three elephants in a SUV are hard to control.

The leaves on the trees on I-96 going around Lake Michigan were wonderous, on fire, and breath taking. I recommend to everybody you must experience the trees up North during this time of year one time at least before you die. God out did himself up here. I guess it prepares us for the gloomy white and gray days of a long winter. I also got to experience the Northern Lights again this year. Another thing of nature that will astound you. At least this year I knew what it was.

During my trip I also caught up on my HBO series and saw a new one. Jason and Andrea have HBO on demand which I'm obsessed with! I had a "Rome" 8 hour marathon, since I had never watched it before. Good show. Interesting take on History. I'm hooked on Deadwood, Sopranos, and Sex and the City. Great writing in Deadwood if you can hear past the fucking this, fucking that. The use of old English is lyrical. The words used to describe are flowing and imaginative. The scenes can be quite ruff at times (many times) but worth watching. The reality of what it was like in 1876 in a gold rush town in the Black Hills of the Dakotas. What these people were made of that founded that part of our country. What they endured and lived through. I never thought about what kind of people it took to be a pioneer, until I lived in Wichita and experienced the wind, the dust storms, the snow and even today the isolation of that area of the US. I couldn't imagine crossing the plains in a covered wagon and witnessing one of those horrific tornados that that part of the country produces. Ten miles a day was a good day for a covered wagon. Houses that were made out of prairie sod, no wood, no trees to be found. What backbone and grit those people possessed.

One summer when we lived there I wanted the kids, Jason and Jessica, to experience the Rocky Mountains like I did growing up. Every summer a week after school was out Mama-O packed Jim (my brother) and me up and hit the road for our summer adventure. Aunt Sandra already had her life going with school and WT, so I don't think she was on those trips with us. I know there were trips with Mama-O and JD she went on with us, but I was too little to remember except for the puking part. Everytime I got in a car my day was spent pulling over to the side of the road to let me puke with JD yelling and cursing me for costing him travel time. Those trips weren't fun because they started at the crack of dawn and everyone had to be asleep by 8 pm with his horrendous snoring in the same room...sorry I digress... One summer Mama-O decided it was time for us to experience the West. She had finally divised a way to keep me from puking by putting a mattress in the back of the station wagon and letting me sleep. I remember Jim waking me up so I could see far off in the distance a snow covered mountain range. It was 90 degrees outside the car how could I be witnessing snow? Jim or Mama-O didn't wake me often, because it would take about 20 minutes before the car door was open and I was leaning out. So this was one of those "nature defining moments" for me. Something I knew if I ever had kids I wanted them to experience. When Jason and Jessica saw the same mountain range I had seen as a child, they were in awe and amazement too. It was 102 that day.

My life has had many days of travel in it. They say you get the parents you have to guide your soul, to help you prepare to make your journey through life, to help you reach your next plain in life, and I know that was true for me. My mothers traveling, constant rearranging of her furniture and constant moving of her living quarters made me unafraid to face many new "moves" and places to live. I used to think if only we could live in one place for the rest of our lives. Now I see how dull that would have been. No adventure, nothing or no one new to learn about. I can only hope my children will see their young lives, as a guide in helping them cope and learn about themselves. I keep reflecting on what your Aunt Sandra said at Mama-O's funeral, about how the last time Mama-O was able to drive, she remembered her pulling away with her little dog sitting up on the back seat ready for another one of Mama-O's traveling adventures. That's what life is. An adventure. Sometimes great, sometimes not so great, sometimes wonderful, sometimes heart-wrenching but always a trip.

A Note To The Young People

The wind is howling and the temperature is dropping. I want to tell Daniel sorry I didn't know you were no longer at Target, but a retail store is a retail store, and they always think the same way that they own you. Good Luck and don't give into the "man".

LOST is on tonight and INVASION too. Good Luck Jason with your interview Friday. Hope your classes are going well, Jon. Have a good day Andrea and give Cuddles a hug for me. Jessica good luck on your test today. Relax. It will all work out and your life will keep on chuggin. I know all of you are going far in life and will get out of it what you put into it.

Sherlock's Bad Day

Sherlock is unhappy today. He's trying to pull the acorn up again. He must of heard the forecast for snow. There's birdfood all over the grown and in the bird house. After he couldn't get the acorn up, he went over to the birdhouse on the rail and just started scooping and scraping the feed out into the ground. It looked like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Poor Sherlock, he must know his deep sleep is coming soon.

First Snow Is Coming!!!

Our first snow is just around the corner they say. Monday snow flurries. What a great way to start off the week. Let's enjoy the pretty day we have today. Sunshine, a slight breeze and sixty six degrees.

Fox News Alert---the sky is falling. The tunnel of Baltimore is going to blow. Geez, they don't have to blow up anything, just have our government leak the news they are and we all run around screaming the sky is falling. People get a clue--the federal government is controlling us through fear. Stay out of the big cities, don't travel, weapons of mass destruction, flu going to kill everyone (although in one year less than 100 have died from it). This isn't 1918. Lets just close down the cities with the military when the "flu" hits. Shoot to kill. Next they'll be putting us on trains and shipping us to "camps". How much more power are we going to give to them. Yeah, put the military in but when will he withdraw them just like he is doing to us in Iraq? Let us choose to stay home, our autonomy. Maybe the flu is natures way of natural selection. They couldn't stop Katrina. They can't stop the flu. I guess that would be one way to stop the next elections have the military, due to the flu threat, keep us from voting. Where are our checks and balances? Republican controlled House and Senate, Republican President, Supreme Court loaded with conservative Repulicans. This is not what our constitution is about. Our economy is suffering, don't think for one minute it's not. I've lived all over the United States and I've seen it. People are losing their jobs to other poor countries, unions are being busted to put the middle class into the ranks of the poor. Open your eyes and ears. The people in government don't get it because they aren't in touch with the everyday stuggle to live and they don't care as long as it doesn't affect them or theirs. It's like after Katrina they weren't "aware" that kind of poverty exists here. Well it does and with this economy it's going to get worse. The Repulicans have it their way there will be the rich and the poor, no middle class. Someone who lived through Hitler once told me when your belly is hungry you have no time to worry about politics. Remember when there is no bread, let them eat cake.

Just Another Day

Boy was this a long weekend!! We ran around all weekend trying to find things to do to get out of the house. Soon we won't want to be out and about because of the snow. The first snow is always beautiful, but when all you see for 6 months is white the landscape gets pretty dull. The people seem to be getting "meaner" here too. It must be because they aren't anxious to see the warmth leave, or maybe they are just like that anyway and I just was around them more this weekend. I find myself not wanting to go out, because everywhere I turn there are rude assholes.

People don't really decorate for Xmas that much here, or any holiday actually. I went to Big Lots to buy my Halloween decorations Saturday and the woman checking me out couldn't believe I would. She said why bother only 2 weeks left and the snow will be here. I waited to decorate because last winter on Oct. 15 we had snow flurries. Now, snow flurries mean one thing here and another in other places we have lived. If the snow fall is less than 3 inches it is called a flurry. We had over 2 inches this time last year, which to me is a lot, but when you average over 105 inches a year, I guess it is just a drop in the bucket. I look forward to the first big snow, because this year now that I have a camera, I can take pictures of Poochie digging up under the snow and coming out all white except for her black eyes. I wonder what Rocky will think of it now that he is older. I will miss Sherlock when he goes into hibernation. Some of the mallards will stay behind, but the others will fly to an unknown destination. Rachael Rabbit will stop visiting us at night. She resides across the street by the railroad track. At night, she hopps across the street and partakes in rabbit food or birdfood we leave out under the tree. About once a week we have a visit from Smelly Skunk. We won't miss him!!

Speaking of missing, I'm missing my kids, my sister, and my mom. The Fall time blues hit me pretty hard this weekend. Must have been a full moon. I go crazier than usual during a full moon. Be good to each other. I love you all.

A Blog of Family Pictures

This is what I did today, halloween decorations. Around 54 today, but pretty. Poochie went for a ride with us while we gazed at all the pretty Fall Folage. The trees are beautiful. Jason helped his stupid mother make her flicker show. Sorry I have a hard time following instructions. I guess you lose speech if you seldom hear it except from the tv. It's getting harder and harder for me to understand what is being said to me. I'm like the dogs that hear blah, blah, blah. Sorry again. The black and white picture is of me and my grandparents-my mothers parents.

Halloween Decorations

Flickr Slideshow

What's Up??

Having trouble posting this morning. I think Hercules has had all of my holding the lap top. He just crawled up in my lap trying to push the laptop off. I think he is just cold although it is suppose to be 70 today. Slow day, we finally have sunshine peaking through. Going to go to a new cinema tonight that is opening real close to where we live. Freckles is chilling out in my chair while I sit on the couch writing this. Sherlock is outside squirrelling around. Rocky is sleeping on the red pillow. Poochie is hiding under the computer desk and Boo-Boo is behind the couch.

Dad sent off two resumes to Wichita airplane places. I can finish up degree if I go back to Wichita only needed less than 30 hrs to have a BA in Computer Science. This time next year I owe no one!!!! One year from now we could buy us a 2 bed 1 bath unfinished basement for 90,000. Oh well, have to see what happens.


Going to take Hercules to Petsmart today and get him a new winter coat. I will get Rocky one too but he has to stay home. Remember ADHD. Everyone have a good weekend. I'll be working on a flicker show this weekend.

QUACKERS!!!

Sherlock's Homies

Sherlock, as you remember, is our tree hugging, wooden acorn loving, squirrel (story below). Last Monday, Sherlock decided he needed help from his possie, his boys, his gang brothers to crack the case of the unrelenting "acurn". Daily, slowly, he crawls from one tree to the next across bending branches. I figure the branches are bending now, because ole Sherlock' has put on a few pounds lately. He spends his days frightening the ducks away from his stash of corn and seed that we humans have been leaving in tribute to him, not the ducks. Well, the other day I looked up while seated on the couch to see not only Sherlock but his buds, Tommy Two Teeth and Frozen Nutz, making their way to the maple tree. They were all wearing the same colors. Their red bushy tails distinguished them from the other squirrel gang, the grays.

Sherlock began his barking and chattering making sure the coast was clear. The gang jumped from tree to fence and made their way to the acorn. Much chattering took place while Sherlock gave instructions to his comrades about how if they could just take this acorn home they would have it made for the winter. Tommy Two Teeth sat on his haunches on one side of the acorn while Frozen Nutz attended to the other side. They both pulled and strained. While they were busy, Sherlock was stuffing his cheeks watching them. When Tommy looked up and saw Sherlock having all the fun, he decided to join the banquet. This made Sherlock furious. It was his food. All his food and not the ducks, and certainly not the two losers he had brought to help him get the acorn back to "his" nest. At that moment, to make matters worse, a flock of mallard ducks had just come in for a landing! Sherlock became so angry he jumped from the fence and scattered the ducks. He then turned back to see his homies consuming all of his goodies. He began to bark and stamp his feet. He leaped to the fence, grabbed hold of Tommy Two Teeth and threw him to the ground. Frozen Nutz upon seeing this knew when to take a hint and headed for the tree. The last I saw of them that day, was Tommy and Frozen trying to out run Sherlock across the tree limbs to safety.

Another Gray Day in Michigan

We have started our cycle of gray cloudy days. It is unusually warm for this time of year. It should be in the forties during the day, but we are in the low fifties. The dogs are going crazy, whole flocks of mallards are landing under our maple tree outside the living room window. Dad put out ten pounds of bird food/corn under the tree for Gertrude and Dick. They must have spread the word of "free eats". Gertrude and Dick duck waddle up for brunch and supper each day. They have been with us since we moved here. In the Spring, Gertrude and Dick not only showed up each day but they brought their brood with them. Tiny fuzzy grey and yellow spotted ducklings. It was like a marching band coming with the cheep, cheep, cheeping anouncing their arrival. Presently with a huge flock of mallards under the tree, the noise is deafening. The quacking, the loud crunching and grinding, the screeching from the fights over food, and the sudden take off with a thousand wings beating the air, have the dogs jumping from couch, down to the door, and back up to the couch to peer out the window.

Even Sherlock finds this horde of ducks to be annoying. I introduced you to Sherlock the squirrel last week in my blog, but due to overload I dumped the story. If you remember, Sherlock visits us daily trying to remove the decorative wooden "acurn" I have on the top of my deck railing. He stands beside the acorn on his back haunches holding on to the acorn with both of his front paws. He pulls, he strains, he stamps his feet and flickes his big furry red tail but the acorn will not budge. It must have some of that heavy duty glue Jason used on my rustic unpainted birdhouse. When it doesn't move, he gives up and begins attacking it. He naws and naws leaving holes in it, chattering, and barking, all the while, Poochie is waiting at the door to take pursuit. If I could only understand squirrel speak, I'm sure it would be full of four letter words. Sherlock has proclaimed himself king of the new fence Jason and Andrea built. He walks up and down it daily. Checking out the birdhouse so he can stuff his cheeks till they bulge like a kid with the mumps. Every morning he awakens me, by perching himself on the tree limb that over hangs my bedroom window, barking and chattering to see if Poochie is laying wait for him under the arborvitar tree/bush. Once he determines she is inside, he scurries down the limb to the tree trunk to the ground. He takes two giant bounding leaps and he is on the fence. This starts his daily routine of walking the fence, attacking the acorn, and stuffing his face. Cock of the walk.

Rocky The Dog Nobody Wanted

Once upon a time, actually last December, a mother and daughter walked into a pet shop looking for a small puppy. There in one of the cages was a little black chiuahua. They took him out and played with him. He was so smart and cute when he played with the little ball. The shops' owner said he would reduce the price if they wanted him. What a bargain! Couldn't pass that up! Turns out the shop owner was thrilled to get rid of him. All the other little chiuahuas, were snapped right up because they were not only cute but cuddly too. Little did the daughter or mother know he was suffering from ADHD. Obviously, another product of a puppy mill or a mother dog who smoked weed while waiting on her litter to grow.

He didn't really like being held. He didn't want to sleep. All he wanted to do was run around and around and around. The puppy would rip into tiny little shreads any paper that was left laying around the house. His favorite place to go to the bathroom was anywhere he felt like it. No matter the size of the other dogs in the family, he would pick a fight with them, get hurt, pick himself up and come back for more punishment. Cuddles was his favorite dog to pick on, because he thought of her as his favorite toy. After many attempts at trying to name him, they settled on Rocky. But Rocky had attention defiect so it was hard to remember details like a name.

The mother who was called "mom", took Rocky home with her so she could see if she could civilize him. She forced him to be held. She petted, hugged, rubbed, squeezed and kissed him, while the whole time he gave her evil puppy looks, sinking his short sharp teeth into her hands. "I am going to pet him and hold him and love him until he gives in", she thought. She should have bought stock in band-aids, by the time he finally would sit on her lap without making her bleed, she could have been a millonaire! She even introduced him to puppy pads, but when you have ADHD you sometimes forget and get too wound up to hit the pad. Every two hours, Rocky and mom went to the bathroom to learn about the puppy pad. He would jump around and around, grabbing the toilet paper and running out the door, down the hall with it trailing behind him. After many attempts in the bathroom and then finally shutting the door he finally used the pad. The pad had to be placed right by her feet as she sat on the toilet waiting for him to do his business. "Good-boy Rocky", finally some progress toward civilizing him. Unfortunately, mom then discovered it was the feet not the pads he wanted when it was time to "diddle".

This realization struck her as she sat watching television in her favorite chair. Rocky stopped long enough at her feet to diddle and then took off merrily chasing after Freckles, the big red chow. "No Rocky, Bad Rocky, BAD" she exclaimed as she chased him under one chair then the other trying to catch him. He thought it was great fun! After many episodes of diddling and chasing, mom gave up and put the puppy pad by her feet, telling herself he was just too young and immature to catch on. Rocky was now the trainer not the trainee. Before long every room in the house had a pad, because you see, mom's feet couldn't just stay in one room all the time.

A few weeks went by and mom had to go take care of her mother who was having an operation. The daughter, Jessica, said she would keep Rocky for two weeks. In those two weeks, mom began to miss Rocky even though he was a pill most of the time. Jessica after two weeks came to Chattanooga to see her mother, grandmother and aunt. She brought Rocky and her guy named Joe. It was the beginning of Spring time in Chattanooga. The trees beginning to bud and beautiful clear crisp sunny days.

Mom's other kids showed up too, Jonathan her oldest son who lived in Atlanta and his dog Puppy Bear, Jason her youngest son and his wife Andrea from Springfield and their dog named Cuddles . Rocky was thrilled when he saw Cuddles, his girlfriend! He didn't like Puppy Bear too much though, because she wouldn't put up with his nonsense of dancing around in front of her or trying to hump her. While he was there, he went on long "hops" into the woods with everyone. Hops instead of walks because the fallen leaves and grass were taller than he was. Once, he went running down the hill away from everyone. Jessica and Joe were afraid he wouldn't come back and be lost in the woods forever. Mom told Joe, "Call him he seems to have bonded with you". Joe called, Rocky stopped, turned and ran straight into Joe's arms. Mom thought finally he knows his name. Even better, he had started using the puppy pads left in the bathroom without "feet". How he had grown in two weeks! At the end of the week, Rocky went back to live with mom because Jessica just didn't have the time for him. School and her job kept her too busy and she was afraid he was lonely.

Two weeks after mom returned home, her mother had fallen and was in the hospital. Andrea this time volunteered to take Rocky and see if he could fit in with their family of dogs. No such luck. Besides terrorizing Cuddles constantly, Bonnie and Clyde, the two labs, didn't like their cousin either. He had Bonnie constantly moving. Bonnie who always wanted to come into the house, would see Rocky and change her mind. Clyde, he was another story, he just plain didn't like him, found him to be a pain in the ass, always trying to start something with him by chewing on his bottom lip. Many times Andrea had to keep Rocky from becoming Clydes' supper. So after all was over with in Chattagnooga, (mom's mom had died from the fall), mom returned home with Rocky in tow again...to be continued this blog ran out of room.