Sultans of Swing

It's another hot and muggy day. I went into the pottery studio... the air conditioned pottery studio. And I played and had fun and went out to lunch with my friend, Carl.

Kev worked all day. Seriously, the man never stops. He got called into work this morning, and didn't get back home until early afternoon. Then, in the hottest heat of the day, he works on putting CWF on the cedar siding of our huge-ass two-story house. He's been doing that gigantic project for weeks. And it's fucking hard work.

Sam was home this weekend, and he helped Kev yesterday. The two of them moved a ton of boxes out of the house (and... very likely, literally a ton), as well as a 3-piece 8'x10' wall of bookcases and other furniture, odds and ends. They put all that into the pole barn, as we're trying to clear out the house as much as possible... she goes on the market in two weeks.

Kev could hardly move last night; he was so tired. Still sore this morning. And he's out there as I type this, still working. He's loading up the pickup for another load to the dump. But I'm in the very cool house (Kev had the AC set to 73, and I moved to 69 as soon as I got home), playing around on my laptop, high as a kite, listening to Kev's radio blaring classic rock.
Currently:  Fleetwood Mac.

When they moved stuff out of the house yesterday, Kev found 3 old radios. Boomboxes, man. When's the last time you used one of those? He actually almost went and bought one when he started on the CWF project, so he could blast music and make the job go faster. Wish I'd known he wanted one. Better late than never, as music is most definitely blasting now... and I think he actually finished the last of the cedar siding this afternoon. Not to worry, he has plenty of blasting hours ahead, coz the porch isn't finished. Such a fucking ton of work. For Kevin. Poor old man.

We always used to blast rock and roll on a radio whenever we worked around the house and property. Back in our younger years. Back when it was called "rock and roll" instead of "classic rock". (And now our old Coleman cooler isn't just a cooler, it's a vintage cooler!)

Music was with us nearly everywhere we went and in most everything we did. That music will now trigger so many memories, especially from camping trips and other road trips. Campfires with just us two or with family on so many, many summer evenings. Always music. Usually loud music. That changed quite a bit after we had Joycie, then six years later, Sammy. Kids gotta get a nap sometime...

It's nice to hear it again, coming from outside. And I totally forgot how abrasive some commercials are on classic rock stations. Such noise! Shit, I'm old!

Gimme three steps, gimme three steps, mister, gimme three steps towards the door...

Thy leaves are so unchanging!

Our Christmas tree has been de-decorated for quite some time now, but Kev only just today took the lights off and carted the tree out of the living room.  We’ve been enjoying the lights so much that we both procrastinated.  The tree was surprisingly still keeping its needles well, mostly losing them only by the small clumps the cats chewed off (mostly Fat Murray).  We got the smallest tree we’ve ever had in this house... since 1993.  This year’s tree was once again a Frasier Fir (our favorite kind), and it was only a little bit over six foot tall.  Our typical Christmas tree has been closer to twelve feet, so this tree at first seemed tiny.

Kevin and Sam went over to the Christmas tree lot that we always go to, and they picked this tree out together.  I was still recuperating from the knee surgery I had in early December, so I didn't go with them.  (Arthroscopic surgery for torn meniscus... the most common of knee injuries... of course!)  The tree was the only Christmas decorating we did this year, foregoing all of the other stuff... Sam, Kev and I all had trouble getting into the decorating spirit this year.  Me because of my knee, Kev because of so many extra hours he had at work, and Sam because I am pretty sure that if any further decorating got done, he’d be hauling boxes up and down the stairs all by himself.  Not a lot of fun.

So now our living room is so much bigger!  Isn’t it nuts how the day you take the tree down, your room grows.

I thought the cats would be pissed off at Kev, but once he moved the loveseat back where it goes (where the tree was), they both plopped their butts on it and went to sleep.  The cats enjoyed the tree immensely... I thought they'd miss it more...

Kevin also got the Meyer snow plow on the old ’78 Chevy pickup today.  Kev uses the tractor to plow our driveway, so he gave the old truck to Mike and Joyce for their incredibly long, straight driveway.  The plow hasn’t been on the old truck in about five years, but Kev said it went on pretty easily and worked like a charm.  That old truck is rusting out like crazy, but she’s still dependable as heck.  Love that old truck. 

We’ve had a spell of nice weather... the annual January thaw.  This past week was lovely.  It started to get cold and a freezing rain began just as Kev finished with the old truck this afternoon.  Shortly after he got inside for evening, it turned to big, fat flakes of snow.  Now it’s snowing small and fast.  Little snow, big snow.  That means it should accumulate.  Yay!  Love the snow.

Sam wants to do some more senior photos in the snow... he did a photo shoot in the fall with the beautiful autumn colors.  So here’s hoping we get a lot of beautiful snow, because I would like to have some photos of Sam in the snow, too.  The same photographer who did Joyce and Mike’s engagement photos and wedding is doing Sam’s senior photos, and he’s so good.  Joyce and Mike did their engagement photos in the snow, and they were awesome photos.  There is something about snow... I have loved snow since I was little.  I love the first snow... I can smell it in the air.  It’s a wonderful smell that first snow.  Like the first cold morning you can really smell autumn.  Makes you wanna hug the air.

This past week, I have finally been able to get back into the pottery studio.  I didn’t get in there hardly at all during December, due to my knee.  I had two tears in the meniscus of my right knee, so it was very painful for a while.  After the surgery, it was amazing how the pain was gone.  I had pain from surgery, but that deep, intense inside pain was magically gone.  Very nice.  Then almost exactly two weeks after the surgery, I fell outside on the frozen ground directly onto that knee.  I was afraid I had done some damage to the meniscus, but I didn’t... but... I did bruise my patella.  The surgeon said it would just take time to heal.  And then he said he could give me a shot of steroids into the knee which would help with the pain.  I said, “Now, please.”  That was Monday afternoon, and by Tuesday morning, I was raring to get into the studio.  Wasn’t even limping!  I’ve been making things like a woman possessed.  I’ve missed clay so much. 

Most recently, I made eight tumblers which are currently in the kiln, just bisque fired over this weekend.  I will hopefully be able to glaze them all tomorrow, and they’ll go through a glaze firing this week.  These are a test lot, because I’ve taken on a commission to make 200 stoneware tumblers which must each hold 20 ounces.  I had made a luncheon set of stoneware dishes last year that’s still at the Serendipity 181 shop downtown, and a husband and wife saw them there.  They are opening a pub just down the street from Serendipity 181, and they want the 200 tumblers to look just like the ones they saw at the shop for their “mug club” at their pub.  I am very excited about this project.   And nervous.  200 tumblers by May 1st.  Gonna be fun!

But I don’t wanna do only tumblers from now until May.  I’ve been dreaming ideas for clay... I have more ideas than time!  That’s a lovely feeling.  Since I’ve been selling pieces at Serendipity 181 (which is an artist consignment shop), it’s like I’ve been freed up to try anything with clay.  I don’t have to make something that I want in my house or I want to give to a family member or friend... I can’t make any crazy thing I want!  And, the pieces sell.  It’s awesome.  Gives me money to keep my clay habit going.  I love being at the studio, being there with my friends, working with clay, creating something and then seeing it come out of the glaze firing.  Opening a kiln from a glaze firing is like Christmas morning.  So freakin’ fun.  And now my fingers are itching to get into clay right now!

This past Saturday I worked at the studio from 9am until about 2pm.  It is amazing to me how many muscles are used when making stuff at the studio.  Being forced to take a month away from it, this week has reminded me... but it is a wonderful type of soreness.  By 2pm on Saturday, though, I felt almost too tired to drive myself home.  Joyce worked the front desk at the studio, and she was busy working, but she was there (I love it when she's there), and we had lunch together.  Joyce helped me take care of a couple of things when I was cleaning up... she carried the heavy things for me because she could see I was struggling by that point.  I got out into my car to leave and realized I had left my water on the table... totally too pooped to go back in and get it so I called Joyce.  Setting in my car on the other side of the glass door, I talked with her and told her I left my water... she laughed at me and then got it and ran it out to me.  Love that girl. 

I made some ridiculous little salt and pepper shakers yesterday... I used a plaster mold of a baby face, so the shaker is a baby’s head.  Joycie said they’re freaky.  I like ‘em!  It’s a Duncan mold from the 1960’s that I bought at an estate sale last summer, along with about one hundred other molds.  I took quite a few into the studio for everyone to use, mostly simple shapes we can use for slump or hump molds.  I also have quite a few in my garage that I picked up for a friend, and this included 2 Duncan baby doll molds, a boy and a girl.  There are also little hands/arms and feet/legs parts in these molds... I might try using those for something wacky, too.  These plaster molds are meant for slip-casting, but I am just pressing clay into the mold, using the bit I want of the face... we don’t do slip-casting at the pottery studio.  I do a lot of hand-building (that is, instead of throwing on a wheel), and I like using plaster molds for some things.  I will have pottery on the mind all through the night now.  Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night to write down stuff, so I can remember my pottery ideas/dreams.  Often I can’t make sense of what I wrote.  But it’s damn fun.

Life is so good.  I love being retired.  I worked for 35 years, and I have not missed it at all, not for one minute.  I'm so happy.  A bad day in retirement is still better than the best day working.    I am totally grinning as I type this!!!

Sam and Allie are at the movies tonight.  Sam just texted me and asked me to set up a timer to record Honey Boo Boo on TLC.  I did it, though I could feel brain cells dying from it.  That’s crap TV Big Time.  And my son and his girlfriend wanna watch it.  Sigh.   Our family enjoys our TV.  Kev and I are hooked on a lot of shows... Blue Bloods, CSI, Elementary, Bones, CSI New York, Castle, Rizzoli & Isles, Rookie Blue, Person of Interest, Sons of Anarchy, Justified, and so on... so basically anything to do with crime!  We also like New Girl, Parenthood, Revenge...  And I have to have my Big Bang Theory weekly fix.  Many of the TV shows we watch are not Sam’s choice.  Now that we have the Dish Hopper, we share the DVR with Sam... before the hopper, we had a DVR in the living room and another upstairs, so we never saw what shows Sam recorded.   I know I sound old when I say this, but I can’t believe the shit Sam watches!  Damn kids, get off my lawn!

Breathe... just breathe

OK, do this with me…  take a huge, deep breath in, fill up your lungs, fill ’em up, fill ’em to almost bursting, and... now let it all out.  Ahhh...

So, 2012.  Last day.  In many ways, I say good riddance.  But it’s also been a milestone year in my life.  Our baby girl got married.  That was awesome and still so hard to believe.  Time flies. 

And after working at the same company for 35 years, 2 months and 24 days, I retired.  That was also awesome.

So this last day of 2012 deserves some note.  Somehow my mind settled on a blog post.  Probably because one of my sisters (Hi Kathy!) asked me yesterday when I was going to start blogging again.  Not the first time I’ve been asked that question.  A good friend with whom I’ve reconnected (Hi Carla!) has asked me that a few times, along with other friends and family, and some people I didn’t even know read my blog.

I’ve tried to start blogging again before, because I do remember how much I enjoyed it.  I enjoy writing, and I enjoy journaling the things in my life, important and unimportant stuff.  I never wrote blog posts because I wanted someone else to read them; I enjoyed it because I read them, and I enjoyed the writing.  I enjoyed the photos, too.  So why did I stop blogging?...

I stopped writing because I felt like the creative juices had been mostly all sucked out of me.  What little I had left, I devoted to pottery.  On many days, I felt like the clay studio saved me from doing things I would regret (and possibly end up in jail for).  Pottery is now a passion for me, creating crap out of clay.  I love it.  I love my friends at the studio and the time I spend there with them.  It’s fucking awesome. 

But I had nothing leftover to give to my blog.

I tried, but it was difficult and the results were lame.  It all started in 2007, well, really before that, when I was driving my old LeSabre and some guy rear-ended me.  In that accident, I now believe that my C6 (neck) vertebrae was fractured, slightly and not detected.  Long story, short (and previously documented in this blog), I ended up with neck surgery in January of 2008.

But the pain that started in 2007 is what started the sucking of creative juices.  The clincher was 2008.  First the surgery to fix my neck, then the infection, then the 2nd surgery to get the infection, then the antibiotics for months, and then... then I returned to work in May of 2008. 

It was the returning to work that started the final, big sucking.

My boss at that time, let’s call him M, is an engineer who had worked himself up through the ranks to his first position with people reports.  He was a micro-managing, nit-picking, argumentative, patronizing know-it-all.  An asshole.

From that time after returning to work until early this year, I had to report to that asshole.  He made my life at work miserable, and the misery seeped into my personal life.

I would work Monday through Friday, go to the pottery studio on Saturdays, though sometimes (often) also have to do some company work at home early in the morning before going into the studio, and sometimes afterwards as well. My job was busy, too much work for a 40-hour work week.  I hated the overtime it always required.

But then Sundays... oh, the Sundays.  Many of them I spent unable to get myself out of bed.  All day long.  My husband is amazing.  His understanding during those times was truly heroic.

I would lie there in bed and do a lot of fantasizing.  My enjoyment of reading murder mysteries and watching TV shows like “CSI” really paid off in those fantasies.  So many ways for M to suffer and die. 

He’s from Canada, and I somehow really focused on that.  I went from liking Canada to disliking Canada and all things Canadian. 

He was such an awful boss.  Through my more than three decades working at that company, I had a lot of bosses.  I switched jobs a few times, through the years working in three very different functions at the company.  I spent my first decade working in Marketing, my second in Legal and my final decade in Human Resources with a dotted line to Finance.  So I’ve known a variety of supervising styles.  On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst at people management, I would give M a solid 10 average.  In over 35 years, with all those other many, many bosses I’ve had, I was lucky enough to have a couple of 1’s and 2’s, mostly 3’s, some 4’s, and sadly a few 5’s... and some pretty awful 6’s.  That’s the gap between how bad M was to all the many others... on my scale, a 6 is terrible, so a 10 is truly, truly terrible – a lack of people management skill level sufficient to cause harm.  M was well and truly that bad.

I really hated M during those days, months and years.  Now, however, I could give a rat’s ass about him.  He no longer has the power to force me to summon the energy required to hate him.  I’m not saying I like him.  If I ever see him again, I will thoroughly ignore him.  And hope Kevin doesn’t recognize him and beat the shit out of him.  I’m not joking about that – it is a real and valid fear I have that we will run into M at the Meijer store and Kev will recognize him and kick his ass.  This was a frequent fantasy, and however much I would still enjoy seeing that happen, the resulting problems we would have wouldn’t be worth it.  I think...

Anyway, I still don’t like Canada.

And what is worse than a micro-managing, nit-picking, argumentative, overbearing SOB for a boss?... a submarine bitch.

Early this year, M was replaced by D.   Someone high up made the so very perceptive and sensible decision to move M to a position where he had no people reports.  D is a woman who has had years of experience supervising people.  At first, we – that is, myself and many others in our department of about 50 souls, with more than half being contractors, so truly affected were really only those of us left that were actual employees of the company – anyway, we thought D was a big improvement, a start to getting things fixed.

At first, I liked D.  She and I had some good talks.  But then... I noticed we could not really connect.  D is a woman who is about 50 years old, and she has spent her entire career life at the company.  She is a local girl, I know this because a good friend of mine also went to the same local high school.  That same friend’s mother-in-law is good friends with D’s mother, who is not all there mentally now and living in a facility of some sort.  D herself told me once how she didn’t marry until very late in life, close to 40, and was only married for a few years because she could not get along with her husband’s teenage children.  I heard from another person who also reported to D, let’s call her J, that D got herself a great, big nice house out of the deal, that is, she got the man’s lake-front house in the divorce.  I also know that D has one sibling, a brother who lives in California and with whom D does not appear to have much contact, according to the aforementioned mother-in-law.  I believe it was J who also told me that D has no pets.

This is life in the town where I live and the company where I worked... everyone knows everyone's business.

And then I began to notice D's office.  Really notice it.  D has a lot of stuff around her office, so it was misleading for me at first.  Because when I took the time to really look at the stuff, I realized everything in her office was related to her career at the company.  Every.  Single.  Thing.  All about the company and her various positions through the years.  Not one thing related to a personal life.  No photos, no travel mementos from vacations.  That’s when I realized I could never connect with that woman.  D lives in a big house with no pets - no dog, no cat, not even a fish.  I am confident in surmising she also has no living house plants; D is definitely the fake fern kind of gal.  She is the only living thing in that great big house.  D has no close family, no husband, apparently no boyfriend or girlfriend, no children, not even nieces and nephews.  No substantive personal life.  Her entire life is the company.

My running joke this past summer was how when D would die, her headstone would read: “Here lies D.  Married to The Company.  Marriage consummated.”   Fellow older company employees would easily get that joke, because those of us left who had been around for a long time know that if you stay with the company long enough, you’ll get fucked good in the end.  D certainly doesn’t seem to realize that, as it would seem she has devoted her adult life to the company.  Sad, really.  But, then again, she is a bitch, so the bitch gets what she deserves.

In the end, I totally and completely disliked D.  And J, too, because she is one of the most two-faced, mean-spirited, hypocritical co-workers I have ever had the displeasure to know.  J thinks she is awesome, funny and well-liked.  She’s a woman about 50 who clearly has no idea that she has a long reputation for being a two-faced back-stabber. She’s awful. 

J’s awfulness is followed closely by two other co-workers, let’s call them T and A, which yes, that phrase you’re thinking of now after reading “T and A” is pretty accurate.  T is a woman nearing 50 who is full of herself and totally irritating.  My nickname for her was Stomping Interruptus.  T used to be fat but had a stomach surgery and lost a lot of weight.  Good for her, of course.  But after her weight loss, she became this loud, way over-confident creature.  Loud walking and loud talking.  She’d stomp into my cubicle and bark out her question with no concern whatsoever about what I was doing before she arrived.  But then, of course, whatever she had was Much More Important.  I used “over-confident” because T is a smart person, but she is not quite as intelligent as she believes herself to be.  T has a college degree, and how she achieved that without learning how to speak proper English is beyond me... her knowledge of grammar is so poor that when she would talk with me, I could feel my brain flinch.  Think, “I ain’t got no idea” and “he don’t have it” and "we can't get no help on that" and so on.  Since she talks a lot, well, I flinched a lot.

And A... well, A is a sad case.  He is a young man, not getting any younger.  Nearing 30 now.  And living at home with mom and dad is kind of sad.  He seems to be a troubled person.  I believe I know why, but giving my theory on such a private matter on a publicly available blog is not something I feel I should do.  Basically, A was a pain in the ass to work with because he is so fucking moody.  And A foolishly glommed onto J as his mentor.  In the end, A was as much of a two-faced bitch as J.

I mention J, T and A because those three people were the co-workers with whom I had to spend my workdays, closely working with them and sitting very close to them since our boss D had decided to reorganize our department and consequently move most all of us physically so our physical locations in the cubicle hive would support our new organization.  I ended up sharing a corner style open cubicle space with three workstations with T and A, with J occupying a cubicle right next to us.  It. Was. Awful.

But, in the end, I was lucky.  So very, very fucking lucky.  Because 2012 was the year that the company decided to once again weed out the old folks.  That little golden carrot was dangled in front of our collective faces, but shhh... don’t tell anyone, it’s a Big Secret (that everyone knows).

One morning in September, J made me so angry that I sat at my desk space, staring into my computer monitor trying to not have the top of my head blow off and trying to not have a heart attack.  I seriously felt my heart painfully jumping in my chest.  It finally stopped the moment of my epiphany...  the moment I realized “THIS IS NOT WORTH IT.”  Fuck the mortgage.

And I was able to get out of there.  Thank God.  And thank God I was able to get enough of a carrot that I don’t have to go out and try to find a job to supplement my pension.  Thank God and Kevin, who works his ass off week in and week out and brings home the bacon.  Kev is the provider, the protector, the comforter, the center compass bearing of my life.  I love that man.

So I had my epiphany, and then the best part - I was able to get out of there within a couple of days of my epiphany.  Cue the music:

The problem is all inside your head, she said to me

The answer is easy if you take it logically

I'd like to help you in your struggle to be free

There must be 50 ways to leave your lover

She said it's really not my habit to intrude

Furthermore, I hope my meaning won't be lost or misconstrued

So I repeat myself, at the risk of being cruel

There must be 50 ways to leave your lover

Just slip out the back, Jack

Make a new plan, Stan

Don't need to be coy, Roy

Just listen to me

Hop on the bus, Gus

Don't need to discuss much

Just drop off the key, Lee

And get yourself free

And I am.  Free.  So very free.  And it feels so very, very good.  Writing this blog post is the most I’ve thought about M, D, J, T and A in weeks and weeks.  So lovely to be free.  After working at the company for more than 35 years, dropping off my key and slipping out the back wasn’t really how I planned to go, but it worked for me.  Not one second of regret.

It wasn't all bad - I also have good memories from my working years, because I worked with some amazing, wonderful people through the years.  Some I plan to stay in touch with.

But I’m free.  My finger tells the story.  I have one finger that I call my Stress Bird.  It’s my middle finger on my right hand.  Whenever I get stressed to a certain point, the skin on the left side of that finger starts to turn hard, painfully so.  And then the hard skin gets scaly and breaks and bleeds and hurts like fucking hell.  And it spreads to cover almost my entire fingertip.  Gross, I know.  It would look gross, too.  I would lie in bed and feel my fingertip throb with pain.  Lots of bandages and ointments but nothing would fix it.  I saw a couple of doctors years ago, and it is some kind of virus, like a wart is a virus, or shingles, etc.  Nothing that a medicine could fix, but it is not contagious.  Through the years, it has never spread to any other part of my body and nor have I passed it onto any family member.  Through 2008 until September 2012, my poor bird was hurting almost constantly.  Within two weeks of retiring, my finger was pink, pretty and healthy.  That, to me, tells the story.

And now that I’ve gotten this long-winded bag of crap story off my chest and onto this blog post, maybe I can start to feel the creative urge to blog often again.  That’s my hope.  I would like to backtrack and blog about the important events that have happened in the past few years, so that years from now, when my memory engine is running low on oil, I can read about them and better remember them, and enjoy those moments again through my journal.  Fingers crossed.  And hey, thanks for reading this all the way to the end - you're awesome!

I am one lucky, free woman.  Life is good.

Breathe... just breathe...

Hump Day and why not

This Saturday is my baby girl's wedding shower. It still seems a little surreal to see those words typed out on my computer screen. Where did all the years go... Joycie is 23 years old now, and the age I was when I married her dad. It fills my heart to see her so happy with Mike. The wedding is in 38 days. But we'll have none of the last-minute craziness because Joyce is super duper organized. As with any big life event, I'm wishing I had lost weight. Eh. Fuck it. I'm 52 years old and so tired of that feeling. Back when I was young, in my teens and twenties, I always felt so much that I needed to lose weight, and of course now looking at those photos I wanna go back and kick my young self in the head and say ENJOY IT, YOU SILLY TWIT. Coz I looked pretty good.

I guess I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed. I'm not freaking out because Joyce is marrying our wonderful Mike, not at all. I'm so happy. It's just been a lot of stuff going on this past year or so, busy, busy... Probably I need a fucking vacation. Ha! Instead, I drive a lot lately, to and from work, to and from wherever Sam needs to go (that's a long story), and so on.

 And what the heck is it with all the crap people put on their vehicles... I've seen a few of those "in loving memory" window decals lately. I don't get it. Yesterday I saw one that was "in loving memory of my daughter" then followed with name, date of birth, date of death, etc. Why? I get it that people have so many different forms of grief, but window decals are the current equivalent of a bumper sticker. Bumper stickers, by their nature, are meant to announce such things as your opinions and your political beliefs to the world. I don't understand wanting to announce the death of someone you love, such as a child, to the world by a plastic window decal on your pickup truck.

And those small white oval stickers with letters on them... those suck. What is the point? You cannot tell what they are about, not while driving. I've seen one on a car at work that I finally got to see close up because I walked by the car in the parking lot. It's for some island where the dude apparently went golfing. But unless you're standing close to that stupid oval sticker, you would never know that. Give me a "Say Ya To Da U.P." bumper sticker in big letters any day!

What's my bumper sticker of choice on my car? Which is my old Caddy, by the way, since Sam's driving the Rendezvous. It's rust. And that's actually not by choice. The damn thing is starting to rust out all over. Sigh.

Kevin's been going crazy landscaping lately. New topic, btw. I had a large herb garden for about 20 years, and next to it a rock garden. Both had been looking pretty bad lately since they've been mostly neglected since 2007. Kev dismantled, dug out, excavated with his tractor and planted grass. I was initially a bit upset, but that lasted about 10 minutes. And then I was all eh, fuck it. It really looks nice now. Kev plans to put in a patio-like area off the deck with a nice fire pit in it. We'll plant some herbs around it. He's getting the yard all spruced up (with no spruce trees involved) because he's preparing for Sammy's high school graduation open house next year. Crazy.

Wiley says hello to everyone and wants to know where the hell you've all been. Oh, wait, that's us who has been absent from this blog! Hahahaha. eh. Fuck it. You all are busy too, right.

Our Sunday Drive

Kev and I took an afternoon drive this past Sunday. Not something we do much lately (damn those gas prices), so it was really nice. The day wasn't super sunny, but very pleasant. We started out over in Mt. P., and stopped by Ryan and Megan's for another good-bye. Then we headed kinda sorta north, where we soon left the pavement behind...



We saw some beautiful country, including this large bit of marshland...



Home to at least one family of Canada geese...



And several Red-winged Blackbirds, like this beautiful guy...



The geese family made their way through last year's dead cattails. The babies were adorable...



Then Kev and I watched the blackbird go postal on the lead goose...







It got very loud between the blackbird and the geese - very loud! We think the geese must have gotten too close to the blackbird's nest. Whatever it was, they finally called a truce. The mom and dad ushered the goslings on through the marsh. The cattails and other growth in the marsh didn't seem to impede their progress; they moved pretty quickly along and away from the blackbird. We enjoyed the bird drama!



We saw a lot of beautiful barns. This one was near the marsh.



Love the stonework. New pole barn on old, old footings...



I was hoping for a cow or two in this beautiful field... wouldn't that have made a great photo?...



More gorgeous stone footings. I love the gray...



Poor old barn...



And not surprising, around the poor old barn, many discarded things, trucks, tractors, parts of tractors, cars...



Yes, that is moss...



There were lilacs growing all along the roadsides, tons of them! And depending upon which side of the road and how much shade, they were in a variety of blossom stages. It smelled wonderful.



I love the old fashioned lilacs...



Our car smelled heavenly...



I don't care what anyone says, wild mustard is a wildflower, not a weed...



Just ask the butterflies...



We stopped at a few garage sales, and I got a rock tumbler (polisher) for a buck. Score! We also stopped at very cool barn sale. A guy had his pole barn tricked out into a total awesome man cave. It had a front porch on which there were tables with stuff for sale (paperbacks - I got 7, he had some good ones, Robert B. Parker, James Lee Burke... score!). The one side of the barn had an open garage door, and from the road we could see all kinds of beer signs & mirrors and neon lighted signs. When we walked in, we could see a long, oak bar - fully stocked (seriously, all kinds of bottles setting in front of a long mirror wall, plus draft beer pulls), and quite a few nice bar stools. Pool table, awesome stained glass light above it, big round wood table, comfy looking wood and padded dark red vinyl chairs, a couple of lighted glass display cabinets with beer steins, shot glasses, trophies, etc. on the shelves. This place was so awesome. It made me wish we were good friends with the old guy and could stay and drink beer and shoot some pool with him. We're going to make our way back there again this summer.

Then somehow we found ourselves in Farwell...



Where it started to rain really hard. So we headed back to Mt. P., called Ryan and Megan and met them for dinner at Bennigan's...



It was so nice to spend some time with them. Megan left early the next morning to head back home to her family in Kansas, and Ryan is by now somewhere around Goshen, Indiana, where he is doing a residency this summer with Justin Rothshank. I'm looking forward to seeing more of both Ryan's and Megan's work, now that they're both graduates with their BFA in ceramics from CMU. Both Ryan and Megan were super generous to me, and I got to purchase several pieces from the 2 of them before they moved away... at what was obviously a "family discount" pricing! I will post photos soon.

Certain restrictions apply

Well hello there 2011. You arrived early, and I'm just not ready for you. Can you please go drive around the block a few hundred times? Thanks.

From my workday:

Purpose:
Confirm understanding of key activities for the next day and address any urgent hurdles to progress.
Provide clarity when path forward changes from previous plan/agreements.
Trying to focus on exceptions...no time to solve all problems

Julie T. would be the person.

Can you please let me know if you will need weekend support on January 8th and 9th? Management is trying to find out which clients will be working that weekend.

As a reminder, an implementation command center has been established to dispatch calls related to the implementation.

Once you have reviewed and submitted, your second level approver will receive an auto-generated email to complete the sign-off.

You recently reported a problem to I/S Service Delivery and we would like to invite you to complete a brief Customer Satisfaction Survey. This survey is your opportunity to tell us how well we met your needs and help us improve our service to you in the future.

My favorite Excel formula:

=IF(ISNA(MATCH(J2,Sheet1!J:J,0)),0,INDEX(Sheet1!L:L,MATCH('Sheet1 (2)'!J2,Sheet1!J:J,0),0))

Now then, don't you wish you were me???...

Overheard just now:

You know what. I'm sick of these people sending these emails to me. It's ridiculous.

From my head, not related to work:

"Madden had that look on his face like he was drinking a Dr. Pepper and somebody switched it out with iced tea but didn't tell him." I think I heard this one on NPR.

Nah nah nah nah. Nah nah nah nah. Hey hey hey. Goodbye. Been singing that in my head. When my kids were in elementary school, every year on the last day of school, staff members and some teachers would stand outside the door, hands raised waiving kleenexes (like a saber arch) and singing that lyric over and over as the kids walked out to the buses to start their summers. It was cool. Every time I think of that, I smile.

My 1999 Caddy DeVille had 4 gallons of gas left in it according to the dash info, and it beeped Empty at me two seconds later. She's a cranky old thing. So I paid about $3.20/gallon this morning, and Kev tells me it is now down to $3.01. Grrr.

Big flakes, little snow. Little flakes, big snow.
We had a mostly warm and rainy start of our weekend, but then it got cold again. It snowed on and off yesterday without much accumulation. This morning Kev was the first to leave the house, so he made fresh tracks all the way down the driveway and the road to M-20. His tracks down the road swerved from one side to the other all the half mile. He did that for me. So I called him and said, "Pretty!" Kev likes to do that with fresh snowfalls. On the rare occasion I'm the first to leave and it's a fresh snowfall, I make crazy tracks all down the road for him.

Mike was working on Joyce's Impala on Saturday, changing the oil and something with the brakes. (He's awesome that way!) It was late Saturday afternoon that the temp dropped so abruptly - within minutes it went from mild to very cold. It had been very windy all day, and with the drop in temp, the wind seemed to pick up. Kev was also outside, working on one thing or another, so he was standing not too far from the car. Mike was under the car, which was parked on the cement approach in front of our pole barn. Both Mike and Kev heard a huge BAM! A tree branch fell out of one of the oak trees and shattered the Impala's back window. Some of the branches that have fallen from those oaks are the size of small and not-so-small trees, this branch was probably about 8 or 10 feet long and about 6 or 8 inch diameter at base. Could have been worse. Mike was startled. As you can imagine.

Sam is doing well with his knee. He is at physical therapy right this moment. He's also able to walk around home now without the big brace on his leg, and that is a relief to him. He still must wear it anywhere outside and at school.



Kev and I drove around Mt. Pleasant on New Year's Eve trying to find a place to have dinner that wasn't a two-hour wait. We finally settled on Ruby Tuesdays, got our names on the list then went into the bar area to get a beer while we waited. We were standing at the bar when 2 guys left, so we quickly grabbed their seats. Then another guy asked one of the bartenders to turn the TV station to the Wings game that was just starting. While on our 2nd round of beer, Kev and I decided that we had the best seats in the house, so we ordered our dinner and ate it at the bar while watching the game. It was awesome. We had an excellent time. Even if NY won.

It's not a contest except it's totally a contest

Kev usually goes to the "Whitetails Unlimited" dinners with family members and friends. This time around he took Sammy with him.

They all don't go for the dinner. The event is held at a hall and the food is ok, but there is also a silent auction, a live auction and then the best part, the raffles.

My brother-in-law, Bob, the one who usually organizes everyone attending one of these events, or a similar "Ducks Unlimited" dinner, is really freakin' lucky at winning stuff at these dinners. He usually goes home with some kind of rifle, plus a bunch of other stuff.

I know Kev has spent a hundred bucks on raffle tickets at one dinner... and got squat.

But the stuff offered on the auctions is pretty nice. We have several beautiful wildlife-related framed prints on our walls by Kev attending these dinners (and drinking a little too much while he's there, thus the bidding). I do like all the prints very much, but I don't want any more of them... our walls are filled up enough with them right now.

Joyce and I were home together fixing dinner while the boys were out last night, and I told Joycie that if her dad came home with another print, I'd have to skin him alive. Joyce texted Sammy later and relayed my message, which thankfully was in time to stop Kev's bidding on a beautiful Charles Denault print. Not that I wouldn't totally enjoy another Denault print, but we have one (maybe two?) already.

Sammy had a plan for his dad's cash anyway. On the silent auction there was a over-sized folding lawn chair, and the minimum bid was $60. Kev made Sam squirm until the last minute, and then let Sam bid on it. Sam got it. It is the largest lawn chair I've ever seen. Sam set it up in the living room, and we had a lot of laughs over it. Sam kept saying, "I'm so happy." Kev sat in it and was swinging his feet, and Wiley didn't know what to make of that. It came with a canvas case with straps so you can carry it like a backpack, like the usual folding lawn chairs, and Sam had to duck down to get the thing inside through the front door... it sticks up past his head about 3 feet. Crazy big thing!







Then Sam took it up into his bedroom. He told me this morning that the chair feels bigger up there, because his bedroom has a normal ceiling height. Sam said, "It's my redneck throne."

One light bulb at a time...

My husband, Kevin, who is a United Steelworkers Union member, forwarded onto me an email about buying American-made products. For us, it hits home... so I wanted to pass this along to everyone I can, especially since I've had this experience myself at Wal-Mart recently. I do make an effort to buy American-made products as often as I possibly can, and you can save money by doing so. The packaging may not look as pretty and you probably won't see a commercial on TV. Big whoop huh.

Where I work (which is not Union), half of our department was fired in 2008 and the jobs went over to Mumbai, India. I am very fortunate to still have my job. Today's employment situation in Michigan, in my hometown, is a sad, sad story.

Here is the text of that very interesting email, capital letters and exclamation points as originally received...

"Whenever and wherever it is possible, LET'S BUY AMERICAN MADE AND GET OUR PEOPLE BACK TO WORK!

ONE LIGHT BULB AT A TIME

... Buy American Made

This works when the dollar is weak and the people are afraid for their jobs.

... Buy USA

A physics teacher in high school once told his students, “While one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train at all, a billion of them would!”

With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a good American.

Check this out. I can verify this because I was in Lowe's the other day, and just for the heck of it, I was looking at the hose attachments. They were all made in China . (My swimming pool is not yet closed for the winter!!!)

The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it, I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in the USA.

Start looking.

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else - even their job.

My son likes Hershey's candy. I noticed, though, that it is marked made in Mexico now. I will not buy it any more.

My favorite toothpaste, Colgate, is made in Mexico now. I have switched to Crest.

You have to read the labels on everything.

This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed 60 W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets.

I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand that I normally buy, was an off brand labeled, "Everyday Value". I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO !!! and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this - the USA, by a company in Cleveland, Ohio.

So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here.

So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets... yep, you guessed it, Bounce costs more money and is made in China. The Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA ! I did laundry yesterday, and the dryer sheets performed just like the
Bounce Free I have been using for years... and at almost half the price!

Lay's stacked potato chips in a can is made in Mexico. Good old Pringles made in USA.

My challenge to you...
Start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things, and see what you can find that is made in the USA. The job you save may be your own or your neighbor’s.

If you accept the challenge, please pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time!

Stop buying from overseas companies!

(We should have awakened a decade ago.)

Let's get with the program. Help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the USA."

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...

Really?...

Just walked by a conference room with about 7 people in it, lots of talking, heard one woman say, "It's not like I'm commando or anything, jeez!" Followed by much laughter. I'm just not sure how to take that... am wondering very much exactly what they were talking about!

Saw a dude on a bicycle the other day. He looked like a skinny Jesus (lots of facial hair, long hair not in a ponytail), he was wearing a ballcap and a red & black nice looking backpack. Steering his bike with his right hand, and holding a microfiche reader with his left arm. Yes. A microfiche reader machine.

For some reason, at home the other day, someone, Sammy, I think, said something about wanting or should have bought a 6-pack... Kev lifted up his t-shirt and rubbed his belly and said, "I've got your 6-pack right here." Sammy said, "We said six-pack, Dad, not keg." Ha! Funny because Kev is not keg-like. Wouldn't have been so funny if he were...

Twins

Kev and I went for 4wheeler ride this evening, and it was a gorgeous evening. Still is... got all the windows open and a nice, cool breeze coming in.

Kev's big field out back is coming up mostly with tall grasses, but it's beautiful.



We saw a doe with her twin fawns in the woods. We've seen them up around the pond, and we were able to turn off the 4wheeler and watch them for a bit before they bounded off.

Kevin, Turtle Rescuer

Back in the first days of the month of June, Kev found a turtle at work and brought it home in a box...



Yes, a turtle...



and because no self-respecting, intelligent turtle would want to live in a chemical plant, he set it free in our pond...



Good-bye very happy turtle, no super powers in your future.

Kevin: Hero of All Natural Turtles Everywhere.

I have so many, many things yet to blog about, going back to last May. By last May, I really mean May 2008. To present. I have taken blogging procrastination to a Whole New Level. I should do something about it...

TGIF

It has been a long week, and I'm tired. Sam is gone for the evening, as usual. Our little social butterfly is rarely home on Friday evenings, and he has made plans for the weekend. Tonight he's at the Loons game with friends and staying overnight with his best bud, Nate. Joyce and Mike are both done with their respective college 2nd semesters, and they've been working full-time each day this week. They're not home yet because they're getting groceries for us on their way home. Words cannot express how much I love and appreciate those 2 youngins.

It's a beautiful evening, and Kev started mowing the lawn about an hour or so ago. Since he has made such an enormous lawn for us, it takes him quite some time to mow. I've been sitting at my computer trying to get up the energy to do something, like write a blog post... but instead I was playing Hoyle chess. Kev decided I was looking far too serious, so next time he drove by the window I'm facing, he waved at me in a very energetic way... and he was buck naked. Yes! I know! How cool is that?!! But alas, my new cell phone failed me. The photo save and erase buttons are on opposite sides from my old cell phone... so I deleted 3 great pics instead of saving them. *sigh* But oh my heck, I laughed. My hubby is crazy. Very cute also.

Mother's Day was awesome. Sammy made pancakes for breakfast. Extra wonderful. Extra wonderful with my brother, Jim's, maple syrup, too. Yum. My wonderful kiddos, and Kev, too, gave me a Zune. 4 gig! I was so excited and surprised. I want to download books. And use it for music from Joycie, too. But, I have been unable to download the software. My high speed dish Internet access just isn't high speed enough, I guess... it keeps timing out. I had to call them and ask for a CD, which they are mailing, but it is the older version software, so after I install it, I will have to download the upgrade. Fingers crossed. It's frustrating. I wanna use it so badly!!! And I can't yet. Grrr... And it is such a pretty, pretty pink! With a pretty white and pink case!

My sister, Kathy, called me yesterday morning on her way to work. We both drive M-20 and there has been construction along a part of it recently. Yesterday morning was windy. One of those huge black and white signs that reads, "Injure or Kill a Worker..." blew over right in front of her. Right. In. Front. Of. Her. Thankfully no one was in the left lane, and she didn't hit anyone as she swerved to avoid the attacking sign. Which would have otherwise surely injured or killed a worker on her way to work. Irony on a windy morning. Gotta love it.

Both Mike and Joycie have done very well on their grades this past semester. I think they feel like college is crawling by, but I cannot believe this college year is over. I'm so very proud of the both of them. They are also both doing great at their jobs; both working for the same start-up company. That's for another blog post. But again, I'm so proud of them.

I'm also proud of my niece, Michelle, who has graduated from college (look for pics later), and I'm so proud of her brother, my nephew, Michael, who has also completed his first year of college. Michael with a straight 4.0 GPA. My nephew is brilliant.

Joycie's good friend, Allison, got a nice surprise this week. Her sweetheart who is in the Navy and stationed in Italy came to see her here in Michigan. We get to meet him tomorrow evening, and I'm very much looking forward to that. Also to Joycie's homemade Mexican food. The girl can crank out the tortillas so wonderfully. Mike's momma, Izzy, has taught her well.

And can we all get a HALLELUJAH! that "Coach" is finally, finally voted off. He has been barf material all the way. When he told his "Assistant Coach" that "they" call me the dragon slayer, I actually did feel a bit of vomit in my throat. They didn't call him that, HE called himself that. Ugh. Gag. And did anyone else find it strange that everyone else had a family member visit, but not him? We have been muting or fast forwarding through the Survivor episodes now whenever we see his mouth moving. He would have been the ideal person to take to the final 2, though... who on the jury would give that conceited jackass a million bucks? No one. Stephen is one smart dude. I hope he wins the million just for getting Coach out. Though JT is awfully adorable...

And speaking of adorable... this week's Two and Half Men was awesome. I love the character, "Berta" (Conchata Ferrell, who plays the part perfectly!)... my favorite quotes from that episode: 1) Jimminy, I'm drunk, and 2) He digs the trench and you lay the pipe. Classic.

Yet more TV! I really enjoy the show The Big Bang Theory. The character Sheldon and his "classic pranks" is so funny. Bazinga! This recent episode where Wolowitz pretends to shoot a crossbow at Sheldon, with the added gesture of throwing the weapon down when he's done shooting it was awesome. And now we are saying Bazinga! around this house.

I used to cook a lot. I used to be known as a really good cook. But I haven't been cooking hardly at all in the past, oh... 18 or 20 months. It's another thing I keep hoping will return to "normal" one of these days. Meantime, I am recording a heck of a lot of cooking shows. My favorites are Paula Deen, Ina Garten, Giada and Tyler, and of course, Rachel, too... I have so many different episodes recorded on our DVR, and I rename them all just "Food" so they are grouped together. When I am feeling particularly tired out and yet still anxious (have that going on a LOT lately... work pressures, so much work backlog from last year... ugh), I love to watch Paula cook. Her Southern drawl is so soothing, y'all. And her food looks so good. I just wanna hug her. And then eat everything she's cooked up in her gorgeous kitchen. I think Paula Deen is probably the TV cook I most admire... her book, "It Ain't All About the Cookin'" is on my want-to-read list. I love watching the Barefoot Contessa episodes, too, also soothing. Her home is lovely. But it's all a little too... I don't know... too too... y'know?. Kevin likes it when I'm watching any Everyday Italian episode, and he'll actually watch them with me. I'm sure it has nothing to do with how gorgeous Giada is... (Kev calls her the little midget with the big knockers and the low-cut shirts.)

Wow. I watch a lot of TV. And right now, the Tigers are on it. See ya!

My guitar girl

Joyce did a ton of research, got a great deal, including a student discount, and bought herself a new iMac. It's gorgeous...



And as you can see, she's super happy about it. She has had it a little over a week now, and unfortunately, she already had some problems with it. But she was on the phone with the iMac folks and it seems to be all ok now.

The machine is amazing. The screen is huge, as you can see in the photo, and so crisp and clear. The hard drive is the monitor, no other piece. The CD/DVD drive is just an opening on the side. The keyboard is super lightweight and very thin. There is even a USB port on the side of the keyboard, which is handy for the iPod, etc.

Since it's a Mac, it came loaded with all kinds of stuff, including iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand. Oh. My. Heck. I love that she has GarageBand. Yesterday evening, she played 3 songs for me that she's created using GarageBand... Joyce singing and playing her Martin. I loved it! She's making a bunch of tracks for a CD for me. I can't wait to get the CD. Joyce used to never like to sing for me while she played her guitar, but like her guitar playing skills, her singing shines. Her songs are beautiful. I will see if I can talk her into letting me post one of her songs on my blog. I say "her songs" but they are covers, not songs she's written herself. Hey, now there's an idea...

Joyce did say, though, that while she was using GarageBand yesterday, it unexpectedly quit. So maybe all the little bugs aren't out of her new iMac yet. Which really sucks, considering it's brand spanking new. She bought the support/extended warranty thing, though, so she's covered. I told her it was "the nasty virus"... We've been discussing how Macs get very few infections, because the idiots of the world write those things for Windows, not Macs.

When she ordered it, she was like a little kid at Christmas, constantly checking the package tracking and telling me the status updates. It's left California! It's in Nevada! She kept asking me when I thought it would arrive. It was fun watching her excited anticipation and then her glee when it did finally arrive.

After she told me it was in Nevada, I sent her this text message:

"Your mac decided to make a quick stop in vegas. The good news is it won big time at black jack. The bad news is it blew it all on prostitutes and now it has a nasty virus."

I didn't hear back from her for a while. This was the Tuesday evening before last. Joyce had gotten home from class and made herself some bacon and eggs for dinner. Kev, who had forgotten to get milk on the way home, and really, really ticked off Joycie in the process, was outside with Sammy shooting baskets. They both came inside about 7:30pm, and by this time Joyce was up in her room studying (exam week this week for her), and I was laying bed enjoying the cool breeze coming in my bedroom window and the beautiful view of the pond and the relief on my neck from my lovely, lovely pillow (been a rough couple of weeks lately with neck pain, ever since N.C., one of our cats, tripped me up on the porch steps).

So the 2 sweaty boys decided to come in the bedroom and visited with me. Kev came in first and laid down with me and was massaging my neck, then Sammy came in and laid down in front me so I could hug his sweaty self. It was actually very nice... just what I needed to feel better.

Kev, Sammy and I were talking when my phone beeped a new text message... Joycie's reply. So the 3 of us started replying back, with Sammy doing the typing (man! that boy can text so dang fast)... here is that goofy text conversation... and what's funny is that Joycie didn't realize it was the 3 of us yanking her chain... We 3 found it hilariously entertaining.

Joycie: LOL don’t talk about my mac that way. Its only rumors.

Us: Bullshit. I saw the youtube video.
      [Sammy enjoyed typing "bullshit"... boys!]

J: Whatev

Us: Youre the one that will be touching it

J: Yeah and it will feel amazing. I will just wrap it in saran wrap.

Us: Your sex life is your business
      [Again, Sammy cracked up at "sex life"...
      14-year-old boys!]

J: Yes it is

Us: But I think you should tell mike, he has the right to know to protect himself from possible infection

J: Don’t worry I will let him know my mac is a whore

Us: Thats coz all macs are whores

J: Again... whatev. It dont matter none.
      [Joyce did that one just to annoy me;
      she knows I can't stand poor grammar.]

Us: Spoken with the grammar of a true mac user.

J: ...grrr

Us: What’s the difference between a pc and a mac?
      [Sammy asked me what the answer was...
      I told him it depended on what Joycie said back.]

J: What?...

Us: Exactly!
      [Sammy said, "I don't get it"...
      I said, "Exactly!"
      Sammy said, "I still don't get it."]

J: Dont get it.

Us: You can tune a piano but you can’t tuna fish.
      [This was Kev's contribution, and Sammy
      was laughing so hard he could hardly type.]

J: I’m done trying to understand you.

Us: It is what it is.

no answer...

Us: Dad wants to know if you got any milk on the way home?
      [Major chain yanking here!]

J: No, tell him that its his job and he should know these things.

Us: Mmm... bacon smells good

J: It was good

Us: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks

no answer...

Us: You should have bribed him with bacon

J: Oh well, sucks for him I guess

And that was it. It was good for a laugh, and it is making me smile just typing this up. But maybe it was one of those times where ya hadta be there...

May

I've been watching the ditch down our dirt road, and with all the April rain, and rain in May, too, it has been rising and falling daily. I am somehow entranced by the streams of water coming out of the woods (more on that later...), and when I'm on my way home, I've been driving past our driveway on these sunny days to check out further on down the ditch.

Saturday, I saw this heron and managed to get quite close to it before it spread its huge wings out and flapped away...



Then I watched a number of small, yellow birds flying around and chasing each other, all the while singing like crazy. I think they are Orchard Orioles, but I'm not completely sure. I haven't seen this bird before... they were lovely, they sounded lovely and their antics were very entertaining. When a couple of them would decide to chase each other, they would really get some speed going. I was sitting in my car, with the engine off & window down, and they'd ZOOM! by. One got a little close, and startled me... thought it was going to zoom into my car, or right into my head... Pretty, aren't they...



While I was watching the streams of water and the birds, I could hear a chainsaw going, so I made my way down the road. Kev was out on the northwest corner of our property cutting up a downed tree. The man loves to cut wood...



And in the woods, there were violets everywhere...



It was a beautiful day. Love this time of year.

Goose egg

I mentioned recently that I found a goose egg on the side of our pond, and that Kev set up his game camera to monitor the situation. Good thing we weren't on pins and needles waiting for something exciting...

The most exciting part (not) was convincing Reilly, our dog, that it wasn't a ball... over and over and over and over...



The pair of Canada geese would visit the egg daily. They'd fly in and spend some time around the egg.





I watched them do this a few different times, and I never saw them actually touch the egg. They'd land on the pond and then swim over to, or near, the egg. Watching the pair fly in, swoop low, swing around and majestically land on the pond was awesome. When I saw them, they would then swim directly to the egg, except for one time when they swam toward it, then passed it, then back to it.

I believe they probably did this more than once per day, visiting their egg. I also believe they have a nest nearby. We hear them often, late at night or early in the mornings. It has been a puzzle to me... it had to be a mistake when she laid the egg there, like, oops, that one popped out by accident! (Maybe she bent over when she shouldn't have, like after having chili for lunch.)

But why the visits?

Anyway, the visits are over now. We finally retrieved the egg, and Sam, very interested, cracked it open last night, well away from the house. He said it didn't stink and it looked just like a regular egg, no big red spots or anything. I was tired of making sure the dogs didn't get to it, and with the days warming up, I'm pretty sure it'd be one stinky egg soon. I'm kinda surprised a crow or something didn't go for it.

Kev's game camera caught very few photos in the past 3 weeks. We're not sure why; we know there were times when the geese were definitely there at the egg, but the game camera took no photos. Maybe the lighting at the time wasn't enough, or maybe there was too much sunshine, to trigger the camera's action sensor. We got about 15 photos; half were of nothing.

A couple of the pics were kinda neat, though...