Skink with five lines

This is a photo that Mike took with his cell phone (which is now my cell phone since I got it when he & Joycie got new phones). Mike and his friend, Nick, saw this Five-lined Skink (aka Blue Tail Lizard to some). It was setting on a log in the woods near the pond. Nick held the log out over our pond while Mike took the photo with his cell. And isn't it an awesome photo?

I remember finding these little skinkers when I was a kid and trying to capture them... it always freaked me out when the tail came off and continued to move. Still kinda gives me the creeps. But I think they are a beautiful creature.

Mike left a lot of things on his-old/now-my phone when he gave it to me. Of all he left, this photo is one of the few that's fit to share!

     Dear Tony, Mickey, Chris, et al:
     Re: Texting Our Mike
     Ewww!!!!!! Gross. Stop.
     Regards,
     Julie
     p.s. Grow up!

And HEY! A Big Shout Out to my girl, Joycie, who did me a Major Solid this morning!
     I love you, Pumpkin!
     Thank you!!!!
     XOXOXO,
     Love,
     Yo Momma*

*way to cool to fool

I'll give you one hint, honey, you sure did put on a show

This morning on the way into work I saw 2 Budweiser semi-trucks. Great big red ones. I called my husband. Since Kev left for work a little bit earlier than I did, he saw only 1 of them. I told him the universe had sent us a sign. It wanted us to stay home from work today and drink Bud. We should obey. But... sadly, he didn't buy it.

I haven't had beer in a while, but I had a few this past Saturday evening. An ice cold beer on a hot muggy evening was very nice. Several were even nicer. Ryan and Megan, two awesome CMU students who were working at the pottery studio, were putting on a wood fire. Ryan had built the wood fire kiln, etc. outside behind the studio building, so we took our lawn chairs and watched them work. And oh my heck, what a great amount of work those 2 did. I took some really cool pictures and will do a post on that.

After we got home, even though it was quite late (for me) and waaaaay past my usual bedtime, I was wide awake. Sammy, Kev and I, and Wiley, ended up watching some TV. We watched a recorded episode of "Royal Pains", the "Comfort's Overrated" episode. This one had a guy who did a "Mac Truck" business, and he sold mac & cheese with lobster out of his truck. It was a good episode, and we like that show.

Kev and Wiley fell asleep together on the sofa. Sammy and I were still wide awake... so we did the best we could with what we had... no mac & cheese with lobster (man! that looked really good on the show, and I'm sure this recipe from Barefoot Contessa would be close or even better!), but we did make Tuna Helper Creamy Broccoli... at about midnight! The box said it would serve 4, but Sam and I split it while watching the latest episode of "Persons Unknown". And though I've heard that show has had some bad reviews, Sammy and I really are enjoying it. It's weird. We're big fans of weird.

I've been trying to listen to the radio station that Sam likes, 102.5. I usually can't stand most of the songs, but there are couple that are ok. Which is a good thing because every single time I turned to 102.5 I hear one of the 2 songs... one about "you think you're cooler than me" and one about "Alonso Fernando". Seriously, I think 102.5 has those 2 songs on a constant repeat, kinda like the French language distress message on "Lost"... over and over. And over.

I listened to 102.5, heard the "you think you're cooler than me", switched over to an "oldies rock 'n roll" station to hear the Stones "Under My Thumb", which would have to be the antithesis song to the 102.5... followed by the most awesome Billy Joel and his song, "Big Shot"... ah, the irony.

My manly man

Speaking of waiting... we have done a bit of that lately with Sam's knee injury & resulting doctor appointments. I usually end up taking photos with my phone in the waiting room of magazine articles or recipes that I wanna look up later on the 'net, and then I send the picture message to my email. Or I have Sammy send a text to my email, which of course, he LOVES to do for me. I have a whole bunch of those pic & text messages! Bunches and bunches! And I've never looked any of them up on the ol' Internets... hmmm...

And I also take photos of people, like my man...

Bird drama

A while back, sometime in May, I had some trouble with my new old ride, and I ended up at a car dealership. The engine had overheated, so I had to wait there for Kev to pick me up.

I am not a person who can simply wait patiently. I try, but I fail. I abhor waiting in doctor and dentist offices. The longer I have to wait, the more irritated I become. I know it's unreasonable. I also detest having to wait in the car outside of the school or any other location for my kid to come out of practice from whatever sport he or she is/was in, when the practice time ended at 4pm and I would sit there until almost 4:30pm. That really burns my ass. I want to have a little talk with the coach, but as a parent, ya don't dare do that! Grrr... So I wait impatiently. This usually leads to me doing something to entertain myself.

While at the dealership, parked in front of the service office, leaning on my car with my stuff because they had the keys already, I stand there and realize, hey, I've got my camera with me. I'm sure all the dudes on the other side of the window thought I was nuts, but I had fun. I started taking photos of a couple of sparrows who were playing out a big, ol' bird drama in front of me.

This guy would settle himself (or herself, who knows...) inside one of the openings of the big, blue letter "B" on the wall of the dealership building, part of the name.

Then he would hop/fly up to the roof, just a short distance and stare out at his surroundings, with kind of a "master of all I survey" attitude...

with the occasional pause for some self-grooming...

and so while he wasn't looking, another sparrow would dart in and land atop the B...

carefully peruse the B...

then hop down into one of the B openings, where it was nice and shady (did I mention it was hotter than heck out? well, it was)...

all the while evading the detection of the former occupant who was still busy surveying all...

meanwhile the other sparrow kept a sharp ear out for any approaching intruder of her newly claimed territory...

And then the bird on the roof would swoop in and chase the intruder away, and then the intruder would come back to chase that intruder away... and so it went for quite a while, with a couple of intermission breaks to the rooftop. But then it seemed that sparrow No. 1 just had his fill of sparrow No. 2, so they took their quibble to a whole new level...


with sparrow No. 1 the victorious occupant of the big, blue B...

Or so he thought, as Sparrow No. 2 alighted atop the B and proceeded to let loose with some pent up bird shit, unfortunately not caught on camera...


I was delightfully entertained... until the husband arrived, who promptly asked me what the hell I was taking photos of now.

Blogging at work...

while in what is possibly the most boring meeting ever. EVER!
Where's a good head injury when you need one????...
AARGH!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

Have You Ever Seen The Rain

The other morning on my way into work, the sky was ominous and beautiful. I took a photo with my cell phone...

And since I am feeling somewhat dark today, I wanted to use it as my desktop picture but I decided I didn't like the telephone pole and all the lines. Hey who needs fancy-schmancy Photoshop?! I played around with MS Paint and voilá!...


This morning is was pitch black dark out when I left the house for work... at 4:40am. Too damn early. Trying to get too much work done in too little time. Quarter close. Again.

Weird morning, too. Not much traffic on the road at that early hour. Surprisingly, I saw not even one semi-truck. That was odd. I did see 1 guy on a bicycle and 2 school buses. Also odd. Plus a couple of assholes who wouldn't turn their brights off. Not at all odd.

And as usual, I had a song stuck in my head. Actually just a small part of a song, because I can't remember all the lyrics to "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"... only here's what I found myself singing in my head and humming out loud in the car this morning:
Oh, I want a hippopotamus for breakfast. Only a hippopotamus will do. Hmmm hmmm hmmm [can't remember anymore lyrics]...
Oh, I want a hippopotamus for breakfast. Only a hippopotamus will do. Hmmm hmmm hmmm...
Oh, I want a hippopotamus for breakfast. Only a hippopotamus will do. Hmmm hmmm hmmm...

Yes. For breakfast. Tapping my fingers on the steering wheel along with it. So... also odd.

A Very Odd Morning.

When I finally realized what I was singing in my head, I was like, what?!, jeez, who the hell are you/am I?... Turned on the radio to an oldies station and got me some CCR going. Got into the office and got me some coffee!

If you like pina coladas

Many are the events going on...

Joyce finished her Junior year at CMU and her summer classes she took, and she got a co-op job at Dow Corning, so she is doing super good. She also bought a motorcycle. More on that later...

Mike's taking summer classes, too, which keep him busy first thing every morning, and he was fortunate to get a job working 2nd shift, so it accommodates his class schedule, though it is kind of a crappy job. But it is a job. A JOB. Times are pretty tough; we're a lucky family in that both Joyce and Mike found jobs. Whew.

Sammy got done with his Freshman year in high school and immediately started a 2-week basketball camp. Third day in, he was tripped up at a scrimmage and hurt his knee. Partial tear of his PCL. Yes, I said PCL, not ACL. It is AWFUL. Sam's in physical therapy 3 times per week now, and we go back to see the orthopedic surgeon in 3 weeks. The doc said that for Sam to have done that injury, it was like several things had to be just in the right (er, wrong) place and timing... kinda like a Perfect Storm. It isn't a common sports injury, particularly in high school, more commonly seen in things like car accidents. Sam is pretty darn strong and determined, so we will see what the future brings. All we can do. And pray. A LOT.

I took Monday off from work and had a dental appt at 7:30 am to get my permanent bridge put in. I now have a bridge in my mouth! Tolls, please. So anyway, Sam and I spent the day together and I let him drive most all day long. Made him drive to Goodwill and Salvation Army stores in Bay City, and I found a Coach purse for six bucks! Score!

At one point, around lunchtime, Sam asked if I had seen that truck. What truck?, says I. He had seen a big pickup that had the company name "External Landscaping" on it, which cracked us both up. What a dumb name for a landscaping company, ha ha! And then about a half hour later, we saw the same truck again... I said, "Sam, that reads Eternal Landscaping." Oh. What's eternal? Sam asked. Really, his vocabulary kinda sucks. I think mine was better at age 9 than his is now. Oy. (And Sam gets pretty much straight A's! Well, except for that B+ in Wood Shop his last semester. Wood Shop. The teacher gave him a so-so grade for the most beautiful and creative wooden bowl I've ever seen. Photos sometime soon. Boo hiss wood shop.)

What was Sammy driving on Monday you ask? Well... this, my new old car:



She's a 1999... here's a hint...



Yep!



a...



and she's a pretty thing. Loaded with way too many options. The owner's manual is leather bound and it came with a VHS instructional tape! Only about 80,000 miles on her, too. Darn good for a '99. Beautiful condition and runs great. Especially now since I had to put a new radiator in her... she is pretty...



I'm happy. But for some reason, whenever I'm in her, I feel a strange urge to drive straight to the casino. Hmmm...

Sammy will get his driver's license early in November, and we all are looking forward to that happy event. He will be driving my old Le Sabre, and he didn't seem to be as appreciative as he should be, at first, but he is now. Much preferable to walking. Especially since we live about a 25-minute drive to the high school.

I got this email from my BFF, Sandy, the other morning:

My tire yesterday at 7 a.m.



Kinda makes your day seem a little better, huh?! Poor Sandy.

It has been so hot and humid here in mid-Michigan lately that I have wanted to move way northward. Ugh. Everything is growing like CRAZY. My sisters are harvesting garden treasures already... this, the year we decided not to plant a vegetable garden coz we're all too busy.

I've been totally fasinated with the ditch along our road, though. The plants and the bugs. The weeds and wild flowers are all like a month ahead of schedule. I'm lovin' the bugs. Like this one...



which is a Phantom Crane Fly in flight. (Discovered what it is called due to the Googling diligence of my friend, Megan, from the pottery studio.) And oh, baby, I have plenty more photos from where that came from! Bug close-ups, lots and lots of bug close-ups.

Thankfully the last couple of evenings have been very nice and cool. I love me a cool summer evening. I drove home yesterday with the air off in the car, all the windows down, my hair up in a crazy pony-tail like I was Pebbles Flintstone or something, radio screaming loud and weaving my hand out the window up and down in the wind. Bliss. Singing along with the radio at the top of my lungs to the Beatles' Twist and Shout, "You know you twist so fine!"... But, unfortunately, what's stuck in my head is...
If you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain,
If you're not into yoga, if you have half a brain...