Return of the Dark Ages?

I am flabbergasted by the news I’ve been hearing about the change in recommendations for mammograms and breast self-exams. And especially the reasoning behind it.

I’ve been reading the articles, listening to the reports, and I’m still going "What in the hell are they thinking?" The quotes that bother me the most are the ones that talk about saving women from the “endless stress” and “false positives”. Are they kidding? Really? Reading between the lines I’m hearing/seeing these two words: CUT COSTS.

Maybe it’s because a good friend of mine has a daughter in her 40’s who was diagnosed in the last two months with breast cancer – all because of her regularly scheduled mammogram. And it is advanced and fast-growing, spreading…she’s had 4 surgeries already. She does not have any of the risk factors. No history of breast cancer in the family. Yet they would have waited until she was 50.

She’d be dead. She still might be dead before then. But at least now she has a chance.

I don’t know. The reasoning seems weird to me. Especially at a time when curbing costs is so prevalent in the news.

And not encouraging women to do breast self-exams? WTF? Why not? So there’s no clear cut data either way. Yet they say unequivocally "don't do it." Does it harm to do the exam? To become familiar with the look and feel of your breasts? Logically to me I would think you would pick up on changes much more quickly. Especially now that they aren’t going to recommend the mammograms any more until women are in their 50’s.

But oh yeah. We have to save those helpless women from the stress of false positives. And those biopsies showing they don’t have cancer. Turns out they weren’t needed, so let’s not do anything that might trigger doing them.

Who cares if it does help some women stay alive? Oh, wait. That’s negligible. Have to screen another 300 women in their 40’s to save one life. Gee, I hope that one life isn’t my sister. My friend. Me.

Trying to Be Cheerful

What's that old saying? It never rains but it pours? Well, KT got in a car wreck last night on the way home from work. She's okay; very shaken but unhurt. And very, very lucky. No other vehicle involved. She says she saw something out of the corner of her eye, swerved to avoid it, then overcorrected and rolled the car. She was on cruise control at the time, so I think she didn't brake. She was driving north, the car ended up on the hood facing south. Scary. Thank goodness she was wearing her seatbelt as there were NO air bags in the car.

But her car is totaled. And they only had liability on it. (For Pete's Sake!! On a teen driver? Her dad was not thinking when he got her coverage!) At least no one was hurt, she's okay, and she has a job & few other expenses. So she might be able to get a car and make payments.

So. Focusing on the positive: I've been reading some interesting books. The first I saw in the bookstore, and got from the library after quite a wait:

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (hardback, 2009 release)

It was actually pretty good, for a first novel. It's set in modern day with flasbacks to the Salem Witch Trials time period. There were times the heavy wording got to me (very scholarly in parts, but then, the main characters were grad students working on theses, so...) and some aspects of the plot were too lightly/quickly developed for me while others were overdone, but overall a decent read. I do wish there had been more of the book spent on the flashbacks/historical chapters. But that's me. I like that time period. Anyway. I'll keep an eye out for future books by Katherine Howe.

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles

I just got this at the library on Saturday after seeing it at Costco. (A good source; I browse Costco's book section, enter interesting titles into the notepad feature of my phone, and get them from the library.)

So far it's good. The story is set in the Missourri Ozarks during the Civil War. Admittedly an area of Civil War history I haven't read about. Warning: There are NO quotation marks used to indicate speech. Which is difficult for this grammar freak to deal with. So each time I pick up the book it takes me a bit to get past that and let the story take center stage. But I'm still pausing every little bit going "Wait, did she/he say that or think that?" [Almost makes me giggle, because I have a tendency to wonder that about myself. One of my little idiosyncracies from being single and having a pet!!!] But the book is interesting so far. And I am able to get past the no-quotations thing. I'll post more when I finish the book.

Define: Luxating Patella

Sitrep for Last Week:  60 mins treadmil x 2, 30 minutes weights (arms), 50 mins weights (arms & legs).

After the good news I get to keep Max, and a really great weekend that included a "Girls Day Out" along with a trip to the gym, yesterday sure was a rude awakening.

Took Max to the vet for his initial exam. Weighing in at 6.8 pounds & at least 2 years old, here's the summary:

Diagnosis: Loose and infected tooth. (No wonder I have to coax him to eat.)
Remedy: Tooth gets extracted on Thursday.

Diagnosis: Luxating Patella, Grade III (Basically means dislocated knee cap. Both rear legs.)
Remedy: Surgery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxating_patella
http://petsurgery.com/medialpatellarluxation.html
http://www.cpvh.com/Articles/78.html

So. Along with tooth extraction this week, they are going to do x-rays of both knees to see how bad it is and the vet can decide which type of surgery is necessary.

Max doesn't seem to be in pain, and moves around. But this could be why he's not as playful as you'd expect a 2 year old dog to be. Today at lunch Max jumped up on the sofa into my lap. I checked his knees and actually felt one pop back into place. Gross. Poor thing. Except for a flinch around the eyes, which I'd've missed if I hadn't been looking so closely, he didn't let on a bit. He's probably had this for quite awhile.

I've been gong to this vet for about 8 years now, so I don't think he's scamming me for money. Especially since Leia does that funky hop-skip with her back right leg when she's on the grass. But only on the grass. Vet says her knees check out fine; her feet are very soft so it could just be the grass tickles/pricks her feet. Makes sense as to why she only does that on the grass. And she runs like the wind, so...

I'm really bummed. I don't want to take him back to the shelter, because you know no one else will adopt him with this issue. But I'm so bummed because I thought I'd done with medical issues, and was going to get him insurance, just like Leia. But they require the initial exam, and it's now a pre-existing condition. Which basically means that even after surgery, anything that goes wrong with his legs, period, won't be covered. And while surgery very much decreases chances of arthritis and torn ligaments (both of which he'd almost certainly get without surgery), they are still a possibility. Sigh.
 
So I've had custody of the dog just over a month, been official owner for a week, and already have a vet bill nearing one grand. Good thing I got that bonus last week. And a very small payraise. Ain't life grand? [g]

Max is Mine!

Whoo-hoo. Just got the call from the shelter and Max is all cleared for adoption. What a relief. I was getting a bit worried about how attached he is to me and to Leia. Now just need to get him neutered and up to date on his shots and we'll be all set. Yippee!! :)

Upgrades

Well, it was a whirlwind two weeks with Mom & Dad. But the upstairs is finished, the bathroom looks a million times better, and the master bedroom has the needed new trim. Oh, and the garage is cleaner than when I moved in. No wonder I'm beat. [g]

They left Friday. It's always sad to see family leave, and the dogs miss them a lot. Max hardly ate Friday and Saturday! Yikes! He was finicky anyway, but this was almost reverting to the first few days I had him. Leia is a little pig. She'll eat hers and Max' if I don't watch her. [rolling eyes]

Saturday was a run-around-town day. I ended up upgrading my cell phone. With a $50 rebate and a $50 new-every-two credit, it was free. Gotta love that. But I did spring for a new case and a media card. Couldn't bear to lose the pics of Scully I had on my "old" phone. I ended up with the Samsung Alias 2. Which is the new version of the phone I have. What can I say. I really like the dual flip feature, and the QWERTY keyboard.

The Alias 2 is about a half inch longer and a quarter inch thicker, which is a bummer. I really liked the slim lines of the original. However, this negative aspect is offset by the dynamic keys. The layout of the keys switch depending on which way you open the phone, and what function you are using. There's now a power on/off button on the outside edge, and an additional button on the outside edge to go into Voice Activated Dialing. Sweet. Much better than having to feel for the key on the keypad itself. There's also a key to quickly switch to vibrate mode. Love that.

I'm sure the dynamic keys is going to kill the battery life. But the coolness factor outweighs that. For now. Although I am irked that they changed the connector type so I had to buy a new car charger. Seriously. If I'm upgrading the same phone to a newer model, could they at least keep the charger connectors the same? Is that really so hard to do????

Setting up shortcuts and programming the directional keys is still a nice feature. However, I don't like the fact that I can't set a shortcut or direction key to pull up the Tip calculator, like the previous phone. Deepest I can go is to "Tools". Bummer. But all in all those couple extra selections to get to it are a minor inconvenience.

I just wish I could keep my donwloaded ring tones, and the Crossword puzzle game I purchased and downloaded. I'm still trying to figure out how to get those. Verizon store was no help. Kept saying, well, they're copyrighted, etc, that's why. Kiss my @$$. I paid for 'em. I should be able to move them off one phone and onto another, as long as I'm still the user/owner of the phone. Geez. I'll do some research online and see what I can do.

Warp Speed Ahead!

Sitrep: Painting low walls & sloping ceilings = squats. Oy, do my butt muscles ache this morning!

Mom & Dad arrived Friday evening. It's great to see them again. The dogs are doing okay with them, I supppose, although they were both intimidated by Dad. Max warmed up to him first. Leia is still a bit skittish. But whenever he or mom walk into a room the dogs are in and I'm not there, they freak out barking. Ughh. And this morning, when Dad got up, Leia flipped out which set Max off. Poor thing. Half the time I don't think he has a clue why they're barking. Just knows something upset her so he must need to bark as well! But he settles down much quicker when I tell them to be quiet. Definitely need to start working on that!

And oh, Max can fly. [g] We painted the upstairs yesterday. To keep the dogs out of the way, I put up the baby gate in the doorway from the living room into the kitchen, so they couldn't get to the stairs (off the sunroom you access through the kitchen). Well, they didn't like us upstairs without them. The usual whining, barking, scratching at the gate, etc. After a few minutes of painting, I heard the pitter-patter of little feet on the stairs. And there was Max, looking mighty pleased with himself. The gate was still up, and Leia was still on the other side. So I had to put a second gate up in the doorway above the first. [g]

Later on, Mom didn't realize Dad & I were outside cleaning up the paint trays (she was in the kitchen cooking dinner) and she let the dogs out. Ooops. Of course, they charge through the wet grass & paint splatters. I chased them back inside and Leia went right through a paint spill on the cardboard we'd placed on the sunroom floor. I yelled at Mom "Catch her! She walked in paint!" Of course, the second Mom moved for her Leia dodged and made it to the living room.  I had to come in and catch her because Mom couldn't.Then had to clean up the little white paw prints on the nice laminate flooring. LOL. At least it cleaned up easily. We should have gotten that on tape. One silly little 6.5 lb dog successfully evading two adult women. Sheesh.

Today I'm going to get color samples for upstairs and hopefully we'll paint that tomorrow. Wednesday the trim, and maybe Thursday we'll be able to move all the stuff back upstairs. Whoo-hoo!

First Sighting of the Pink Beast

We do not quit playing because we grow old, we grow old because we quit playing.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

I've been forced to drag out my winter coat. It's warm, but a bit on the bulky side. And purply pink. Unbelievably so. You can't miss me when I'm wearing this thing. Wind chill was 8* this morning. Ughh.

It doesn't help that I'm fighting off whatever bug is going around. I'm sitting here at work, alone, all wrapped up in a fleece wrap and I'm cold. I better not get the flu. Especially not with Mom & Dad arriving in one week. Way too much to do.  But I'm tired, and have had this headache since yesterday afternoon that nothing helps, and starting to feel achy. Thankfully it's Friday.

Dog Update
The dogs are doing good. Lots of progress with Max. He even ate his breakfast today without my having to stand next to him. I was able to move to the other side of the room and fix my own, only redirecting him to his bowl once. He's been like a shadow. Outside, he doesn't just hide behind my legs, he'll wander now. He and Leia were actually playing the other night. Too bad it was our last potty time before bed...Not the best time to play. [g] But I let them for a few minutes.

Leia is just too adorable for words. They both are. She is a hoot. Every once in awhile while running around the backyard she'll suddenly pick both back legs up and run forward a few steps on her front feet. It's bizarre, and hilarious. I remember Cherie, the mini poodle we had growing up, was finicky about walking on grass. I'm hoping I can eventually teach Leia to do this on command. And why not? There's a reason poodles are circus dogs! I'm thinking of training them as therapy dogs to visit M's group home. They are a good size to cuddle, and love cuddling. Especially as their resident dog is nearing her final years. We'll just have to see how they do at obedience training. So far so good though, just with the commands I'm using at home. Leia is beginning to understand "drop it" and "leave it" as well as "off".

Book Review
But enough on the dogs. I just finished listening to J.Evanovich's last Stephanie Plum novel "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" on audio. I must say, I was a bit disappointed. Was there this much reliance on bodily funtion humor in previous books? I don't remember it that way. Maybe I'm too much of a prude. Maybe I'm just being female. But I don't like the majority of the "humor" being about farts, etc.

Had a couple other quibbles. Like Ranger hiring Stephanie to figure out who was doing the break ins. Huh? Like the guys working for him wouldn't know she'd report everything back to him. And then when they did catch who it was, they never explained how they knew enough about the accounts to be so particular about what they stole. Because the crooks were from outside his organization. And great emphasis was placed on the types of things stolen, etc. I just find it hard to believe that someone with Ranger's background, skills and supposed experience could be stumped that easily...

And the whole Chipotle killer ending...I don't know. Just was off to me. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.

And seriously. How many years has Stephanie been a bounty hunter now? How many times has she had someone go in the other room to get dressed/used the bathroom/whatever and then sneak out? Or put handcuffs on one of their wrists and they take off? She's not the best bounty hunter, but she's not as stupid as in this book, either. It's getting irritating.

And the paint thing, flour thing, where Stephanie is the only one that gets hit with the stuff, and Ranger never does, even when standing next to her for the paint...Yeah, right. He'd get splattered a bit.

And speaking of Ranger. In this book his interest in Stephanie didn't seem good to me. I can't quite explain it. It just came across as he's just toying with her, she amuses him because she's less. You know, the blond bimbo type thing. More of a paternalistic/superior attitude. I don't know. It's hard to put into words.

I'm starting to wish Evanovich would just finish the series.

Next on the list to read: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Part of the "Big Read in the Big Sky" events this month. The author is going to be here to discuss the book. I'm thinking of going.

Next on the list to review: Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard (Young Adult book). The book series Little Sis and her mom were arguing over.

Puppy Pics

Sitrep: 30 minutes treadmill, 15 minutes swimming pool. Climbing team starts again tomorrow, so my 2x week trips to the gym are back on! Yay!

These are funner to look at and blog about than the snow we've been getting. First snow in town for the year. Whoo-hoo. :(

Here's Leia (much cuter in person)

Here's Max

I'm starting to think Max came from some type of puppy mill situation or one where he was never let out of his crate. Because when left home alone he will pee on his bed and still lay on it. {sigh}. He doesn't go in the house if I'm home...only when I'm at work. Even though I come home at lunch to let them out. So I'm going to have to get him used to feeling clean & liking that, and reinforce potty training. Crate training not really an option since he'd pee in his crate. Lovely.

I'm liking having them around, although it's hard to be out of the routine Scully & I were in. I'm very much a routine type of person. :)

Book Censorship Map

Another lovely Goo.gle Map. Here's one compiled by the ALA showing book bans and challenges from 2007-2009 in the US.


View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2009 in a larger map

Dogs in the House, Part Two

Meet Max

Turns out his name is actually “Neo” and I heard “Neil”. Neo sounds too much like “no” to my ears, and I don’t like it much anyway. Even though I’m just fostering him, I’m changing his name. Max is the name that came to me when thinking of him the weekend I first met him & Leia, so Max it is.

He is very timid. More so than I expected. I got him to the house and showed him the kitchen, where food & water are set out, and then the sofa. And that was that. He jumped up on the sofa and hid in a corner of it. Wouldn’t come out. I carried him outside to go to the bathroom, to the kitchen to eat. He wouldn’t eat or drink that first day. When I took them out just before bedtime, Leia came back in on her own but he didn’t. Even though he’d used the doggie door when we first arrived. I had to get a flashlight to find him. He’d bedded down in the tall grass along the side of the house. He was trembling so when I got him and took him inside for the night. He stayed where he was put those first days. On Saturday evening, he inched closer to me on the sofa while I was reading. And later that night he came running across the sofa to me when I patted my leg. I’m trying hard to ignore him when he’s being timid…no soothing pats to reinforce the timidity. It’s tough. Poor little thing.

Also Saturday I got him to follow me to the kitchen where he drank; he wouldn’t eat until I tried desensitizing him to my presence/hands with kibble. Sunday he followed me outside. Now he comes outside most of the time when I take them out together, and comes back inside when I tell him it’s okay. Yesterday morning he started wandering around when I wasn’t in the room. Today he learned how to get on and off the bed using the stairs. That was great. I also put the leash on him for a few minutes so he can get used to it.

So slowly we make progress. He is going to be tougher than Leia. I’m not sure on too many details of his past; the shelter wasn’t very informative. I think they can’t say too much because there is a pending court case. I do hope I can keep him. At the least, I’m going to do my best to get him stabilized and have more courage.

I’m currently reading Cesar Milan’s “Be the Pack Leader” which is pretty insightful. If you watch his show enough, you already know most of it. That’s what the first half of the book is about. But now it’s getting to the nitty-gritty. If he is stable enough, we’ll do dog training in January as well.

Dogs in the House

Friday afternoon Little Sis, Mom M and I went down to the shelter in B___ to pick up the dogs. I think we made record time getting there! I was so excited. Nervous, too. Did all the paperwork (they are very thorough, and gave me tons of great info), and then they brought out the dogs.

Meet Leia

The nine month old poodle is adorable. She’s timid, not sure what all is going on, but adapting much easier because she’s so young. She is a hoot. She took to the doggie door fairly easily, and now runs in and out like it’s the coolest thing on the planet. I guess it is, to her! Second best was when she figured out the stairs to get up on the bed. That was on Sunday night. It was up-down-up-down-up-down until I thought I’d go mad. I invited her up on the bed, and then moved the stairs away. She promptly went to sleep. She listens well, but is still a bit skittish coming to me, especially when I put my hand down or lean down to her. But we are working on it and she improves daily.

This morning I actually walked her a few minutes in the house with a leash on. I’d put in on her for a bit yesterday and let her walk with it dragging. Just so she’d get used to it being on. The trainer we’re going to recommended this. The next scheduled training class starts in January, but the trainer is great. She gave me tons of advice and told me to call her if I have any questions or need advice before the class starts.

Today she also started playing with the little stuffed toy I gave her. It was quite cute. We’ve been playing, but without toys. She really wants the Yorkie to play with her, but he’s a bit too timid right now. I'm going to focus on training her on the leash, and getting her to learn her name. Those are the priorities on top of the usual house rules. She's doing great so far.

New Additions

Well, I got the call last night. I'm adopting a dog! They approved me for the 9 mo Miniature Poodle. They've been calling her Sileshia, but I'm renaming her Leia. Yep. Star Wars wins. [g] It was on my list of potential names, and when I met her she reminded me of one of my favorite scenes in the original trilogy. The one where Han says "There's no time to discuss this in committee" and Leia says "I am not a comittee!". (Empire Strikes Back.) So there you have it.

Here's a not so good picture of her from the shelter's website. She's much cuter in person:

I'm also going to foster the 2 year old Yorkshire Terrier, Neil. There's a court case and they don't have custody of him as far as an adoption goes. But I can foster him, and am first choice once they do have custody. So it looks like I get two dogs on Friday. I want to rename him, but am not sure if I should or not. I have a hard time remembering "Neil". Dunno why. Max is the name that comes to mind for him. Clear as a bell, that name is, whenever I think of this dog. I'm undecided on if I should rename him now or wait a few weeks until (hopefully) the court case is resolved.

But in the meantime, I'm elated. It'll be nice having dogs in the house. Although Mom M laughs and says there'll be a ghost dog war. Because Scully came to me last night. I was having a nightmare, and was woken up by the feel of her doing the little walk in circles before laying down manouever. Just like she would do when she got cold in the middle of the night and pushed her way under the covers. I felt her steps on the bed, and then her curling up against my back. It wasn't until I reached over to pet her that I realized she wasn't physically there. But it pulled me out of the nightmare!

And as much as I love her and miss her, and believe she loved me, we can all be agreed on this: Scully wouldn't want me to have another dog. [lol]

Banned Books Week 2009

During the last week of September every year, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2009 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 26 through October 3. Join the celebration of our freedom to read, visit http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

A little over a week ago my Little Sis called me in hysterics because her mom was threatening to restrict her from finishing the latest installment in the Gossip Girl series she was reading. Her mom also wanted to know why I don’t “monitor” what Little Sis gets when we go to the library.

Honestly, it really hadn’t occurred to me. Until this past year, the books she got were from her school or public library recommended reading list.

I was surprised her mom was this upset. Little Sis is on book 5, and has been telling me about each one ad nauseum since discovering the series. How her mom hasn’t heard about them until now I’ll never know. I’m thinking she just tuned it out until one day she didn’t. Her objection is that the series is too adult for Little Sis. Too much sex, etc.

Apparently she was threatening to have to read any books first before Little Sis could read them. [Like she has time!] I told Little Sis it was her mom’s right to monitor what she reads, and told her to say “Ok Mom.” I also told her to tell her Mom I’ll read the books myself to see what’s what. [May all the Gods save me!] Little Sis is still reading the book so I guess they worked something out.

But I've never seen either of them get this worked up over the appropriateness of a book before. And I haven't really known Mom M to threaten restricting a book, either. She's as big a reader as I am.

Top 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2008
Out of 513 challenges as reported to the Office for Intellectual Freedom

(Books in bold are ones my Little Sis, her sister KT, Mom M and I have all read)

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group

2. His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence

3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

4. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, and violence

5. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, and violence

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group

7. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

8. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen
Reasons: homosexuality and unsuited to age group

9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

10. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper
Reasons: sexually explicit and unsuited to age group

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/21stcenturychallenged/2008/index.cfm

Did You Know?

There are 1 million deer in West Virginia, and about 1.8 million people.

In Montana, drivers have a one in 104 chance of hitting a deer.

In Hawaii, one in 9,931.

Just a few facts I picked up from an article about State Farm's ranking of car vs deer crashes. No surprise to me, my state ranks in the top 5. I mean, our town has implemented a deer culling policy for our town herd. Seriously. The city pays to have so many deer killed each year to keep the town from being overrun. Not that that is working all that well.

Just last week I saw a two-point and a three-point buck meandering around in the heart of town, along the busiest street.

Smoky Weekend Wanderings

Well, it was quite the weekend! Friday afternoon Morning Owl and I went down to B to visit a couple of potential dog rescues. The first was a 5 yr old male Poodle. Turns out to be a Poodle/Lhasa Apso cross. Food aggression, child aggression (although food was also involved in that incident). A saveable dog, but not one I can have as I travel for work and need a dog that can be around kids now. Then off to the animal shelter to check out a 9mo miniature poodle. Love her. She’s very timid due to no socialization. She definitely wasn’t cared for! I very much hope to be approved to adopt her. There is also a Yorkshire terrier there, about 2 years old, male, and all of 10 pounds. Smaller than I ever thought I’d get but there’s just something about how quiet he is. He’s not free for adoption yet as he’s part of a court case. But he and the poodle have bonded. More so on the poodle’s side. I planned to have 2 dogs eventually…So I told them I’d like to adopt both of the dogs. There are several applications on both dogs, so….Hopefully I’ll get some news this week. I hate waiting. Driving back into H about quarter to five we noticed a huge plume of smoke to the west of town. Someone started a fire up on the pass, east and south of the highway at one of the campground trailheads. They aren’t sure yet if it was arson or not. But it’s definitely human caused. Second one of those around the valley in 1.5 weeks. It’s less than 300 acres and only about 30-35 homes were evacuated on Saturday. But it was a bit nervy there. We had 60 mile per hour winds and it was hot…luckily the winds actually worked in our favor – kept it from going uphill and whipped it back around itself. But it got to within 6 miles of H so everyone was on edge. It's not contained, but doesn't appear to be a threat to the city anymore. Cool front coming through (snow forecast for higher elevations!) and rain by Wednesday should help. Although there is a potential now for it to jump the highway and move west. Saturday went to M. with Little Sis and her mom & sister. It was KT’s birthday last week and she wanted to go shopping in the mall. So off we went. The drive the pass was clear (just down to 35 mph due to emergency responders for the fire), but you could definitely see the smoke off to the south of the road. All in all it was a fun day. I got to go to the “big” bookstore, found some adorable clothes for my new niece and the coolest outfit for niece G who has a birthday coming up. Now I need to get a present for nephew N who also has a birthday coming up. And Dad. Then yesterday there was a fire up by Morning Owl’s place. Scary. Like being in the path of the M Pass fire wasn’t strain enough for her! At least the one in O. Gulch stayed in the grass and didn’t get up into the trees. It’s all the dead pine trees due to the Pine Beetle infestation that is worrisome. There are dead pines everywhere. That fire took 4 hours to be put out. Considering she’s about a 15 minute drive from downtown H, that fire could have been a disaster. So in the last week and a half, we have had 4 fires in the county/valley. Keep your fingers crossed we get that snow in the mountains!

Catching Up, Hanging in There

I'm doing okay after losing Scully. Last weekend sucked, big time. But I'm making progress. Still teary eyed thinking of her, heart aches, etc. Going to the shelter in B tomorrow afternoon to look at several possibilities. Keep your fingers crossed I make the right decision!

It figures...I wait over a year and a half before caving in and buying my Wii, and a mere two months after they reduce the price 20%! (That's $49.80 for my fellow math-challenged out there.) Of course, I don't have the extra cash on hand to buy it now. But that's not the point! [g] My boss' college age daughter was diagnosed on Monday with pneumonia and on Wednesday with H1N1. He's banned from the office this week. Good thing he was already planning to be on the road all week. Of course it sucks for him to be away from his daugher when she's so sick. So now we're sanitizing even more than usual. Which sucks for me because everything is scented. Good thing the office I'm now in has a door to the outside. I can air it out. :0 My sister is still doing well, although very tired. Apparently this baby is a bit more like I was as an infant, and prefers to sleep rather than eat. G (their first child) isn't so thrilled the baby sleeps so much. [g] Mom & Dad are there doing what they can to help...Dad a bit bored, I think. He should just head up here and visit. Let Mom do the Grandma thing. But those two are joined at the hip! We haven't told my sis about Scully yet. I don't think she'll be heartbroken or anything, but I'm sure she'll worry about me and then feel guilty that Mom & Dad are staying there instead of coming to be with me. But I'm handling this much, much better than I thought I ever could. So they don't need to rush to my side! Besides, I wouldn't have anywhere to sleep since the upstairs rooms aren't done. Which brings me to the remodel. All is on track for my upstairs to be finished by October 6th. Whoo-hoo! After deciding to focus on siding, we discovered only the front and back are not asbestos siding. So only repairs I could get done without an asbestos abatement team (talk about pricey!) were on the front. Which is where the worst damage was. So. That got done and then apparently we decided to do the upstairs walls too. Paneling gone, new wiring & lights (love those cam lights!!!), new drywall, new subfloor. It looks a million times better than before. Taper comes next week on Monday, and the floor gets put down the Monday after that. :) There's one weekend in there where I can paint without worries. I'll probably wait until after the floor goes in. Was able to do that in the bedroom and it worked better for color selection. But anyway. Enough of this novel. I think I've had enough coffee this morning!!!

Goodbye, Scully

EPITAPH TO A DOG Near this spot Are deposited the Remains Of one Who Possessed Beauty Without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man Without his Vices. This Praise, which would be unmeaning flattery If inscribed over Human Ashes, Is but a just tribute to the Memory of [Scully], a Dog Who was born at [Aregua, Paraguay August, 1995,] And died at [Helena September 17, 2009.] ~Lord Byron written in memory of his dog Boatswain.

Welcome to the World!

My niece was born just after 5pm last night. She weighed in at 5 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long. Mother and daughter are both doing well at last report. I can't wait to meet her! :) It's a great day in my neck of the woods.

I'm going to be an Aunt! :)

Just got the call that my sister is in labor. Yippee. Only 12 days early this time. (Four weeks early for her first child!) I'm so excited. I hope my sister is okay, and the baby. Going to be another girl. That will make it 4 nieces, 1 nephew. Gonna be a great day after all! :)

Wading In

So I've been preoccupied, naturally, with the health care reform attempts going on in Washington. Especially now, since my employer lost a government contract that provided a third of our income. It also cost us three full-time and two part-time employees. We are a small business. Even smaller now. Only 5 of us. And our premiums increased 35% last year, when we had 8 on staff. Who wants to bet our premiums won’t increase again in January? Didn’t think so. Odds are it will go up substantially (especially since I’ve had some medical costs – about $2000 out of pocket so far. And several co-workers have had health issues this year. We are also predominantly over 50. Only 2 of us are under that.) I’m expecting to have to start paying part of my monthly premium. Which is at $383 now. If it stays the same, if I only have to do maybe half, I could squeak by. But all extra spending would go out the window. And if energy costs or gas costs go up… After months of thought, research, and unending news coverage (ad nauseum!), here's what I keep coming back to: The free market isn't working for health care. We need a public option. Frightening, no? Especially for me. Because as the years progress, I have developed a less-is-better mentality when it comes to government. You could say I'm Anti-Federalist. But the fact of the matter is that the free market/capitalism isn't working when it comes to health care. A) It's not really a “free” market. Example: limited competition. For instance, we have 3 carriers in my state. And one of them only became available in my state about 3 years ago. So we have one big player, and two small ones. Making it easier for insurance companies to do business across state lines may help, especially in more populous areas. But not for me. There’s just not enough population, ie premium volume, in my state. Too many small businesses. B) The market is going to focus on profitability, economies of scale, supply & demand, etc. That's just the way it works. Which means there will always be a section of the populace insurance companies won’t cover, and a section they’ll try to drop, and coverages will decrease as premiums increase because costs will keep rising. C) Health isn’t a product. It isn’t a commodity. It isn’t a thing. But insurance is. So we are combining the two. I just think the public option should be a choice. Is it a perfect one? No. Will there be problems? Yes. Do I entirely trust our government to manage the program efficiently when it comes to money? Not entirely. But while the insurance companies might manage money more efficiently, they’ll cover fewer people, with less benefits. Arghh. I’m giving myself a headache. I want the public option. But I also want cost cutting. Price standardization (ie, same price for same procedure for same area regardless of who you have insurance with, or if you have insurance at all.) Reform of the court system (you think changing health care is bad…the lawyers are worse!). Something has run amok here. Maybe an easier solution would be for small businesses and individuals (whether because self-employed or pre-existing conditions) who can’t get affordable insurance on their own should be considered federal employees for the purposes of health insurance and allowed access to the vaunted federal insurance program. That would allow entry into an already existing pool, allowing for more affordable premiums. Supposedly. An intermediate step, so to speak. All I know is the system so far isn’t working. More of the same isn’t an option. The Republicans have had nearly 16 years (8 of them with White House control) to do something. It’s time to put up or shut up. Seriously. To me the rancor has more to do with the fact that they not only lost the presidential election and control of congress, but they lost to a black man advocating change. The bogeyman is in control. Sorry, but I really believe for many that is what they subconsciously feel. Racism is alive and well. They’re angry and they’re scared. The system as is, the status quo, has served them all quite well. But when you aren’t the one orchestrating the change…yeah. Reactionary fear.

New Orleans. Bourbon Street.

Sitrep: Walked 4+ miles last week and over weekend.

I was in New Orleans last week for a conference. Wandered around the French Quarter Tuesday morning. It was the nicest day there. Just wonderful. Meetings didn't start until the afternoon, so I had a half day. The conference was at the Hilton, right on the edge of the French Quarter. I wandered up Canal Street to Decatur, and then down it to Cafe Dumonde for breakfast. Beignets and Cafe au Lait. OMG. Are those beignets fab-u-lous! Managed to eat them just about every day, including for breakfast my last day there. Thank goodness for the beignet stand at the airport! That breakfast Tuesday morning was lovely. Sitting on the outside patio with a slight breeze, some coffee, those beignets, and live music. Just perfect. The cafe is right on the corner of Jackson Square, the sun was shining, there were trees, lots of greenery, a park is right in the square. Was bummed all the museums and other attractions closed by 5pm. What the heck? We were in meetings all day! So no aquarium, zoo, or WWII museum. I really wanted to see that last one. And the factory that gave tours on making a Mardi Gras float, start to finish. That would have been interesting. Had dinner at Gordon Biersch, a microbrewery. Yes it's a chain. No I didn't eat cajun/LA food. I don't do seafood, or really spicy stuff. Loved the beer at Gordon Biersch. The last night in New Orleans a group of us "did" Bourbon Street. Much less crowded than I expected, and a lot more run down. Not sure what I thought it would be like. Honestly, the buildings reminded me a lot of Paraguay. Makes sense, given their age. Wasn't enjoying the smell of pee and throw-up that wafted by occasionally. Makes me wonder how disgusting it is for Mardi Gras. Being a lightweight, I had a beer with dinner, then nothing else until we got to Pat O'Brien's about 11pm. I wanted that Hurricane glass, so waited. Drink was okay. (Half rum, half hurricane mix, which I would swear was kool-aid). Strong, though. I don't like the taste of rum, so that's probably why I didn't like it. I did like the grenade drink one of my compatriots got. That was melony/lemony or something. We also stopped at the Cat's Meow bar, which is karaoke. A few of our group got up on stage. I did not. I also got some beads, and didn't have to do anything for them! [g] Some girls were up on a balcony and threw them at the guys in our group. All I knew was beads were raining down around my head, so I grabbed them up. ;) And now I'm home and back at my desk. Ah, joy. I haven't been in the office for most of the last 2 weeks. It's no fun being back now. :(

The Canine Health Wars

I'm on the road again. Fourth business trip of the year, two more to go. And this is the second one since end of August. I get back from this one Saturday only to leave Monday afternoon for New Orleans. The South. In September. Hot. Sticky. Hurricane season. Oh, joy. I hate traveling for work. Especially with Scully being sick. She's got pneumonia for the second time since June. She's been on one antibiotic for four weeks (two more to go for that one), another antibiotic for one week, plus pred.nisone, a bronchodilator and an inhaled steroid. {sigh} Excessive to some, I suppose, since she's "just a dog". But how can I justify not doing for her what I'd do for me? She's a living breathing being. I can't just consign her to pain, distress, because she's a dog. Doesn't seem right to me. Not when I can see her struggling. I've had the talk with the vet about if it's time to let her go or not. She's 14, and the health is going. Even non-dog people I know have noticed. But the vet doesn't think so. After all, Scully is still eating well (most of the time), is moving around, going outside, etc. The fact that she begs from the neighbors when they are outside grilling is a good sign. I suppose. Although my neighbor T feels guilty if she doesn't give Scully anything. {rolling my eyes} I am forcing myself to face the fact Scully might not be with me much longer. I have several friends promising to tell me when I need to let go in case I can't face up to it myself. I'm hoping we can knock out this pneumonia soon. At least keep her comfy until Mom & Dad get her the end of September.

Skeptical Me

Sitrep: Move Office. (uck)

So much is going on in the news lately I hardly know where to start. I want to blog about health care, but I haven't quite sorted stuff out in my mind. And then there's Mi.chael V.ick. I had the misfortune of watching/listening to him on 6.0 M.inut.es last Sunday. I don't know about anyone else, but I firmly believe the man is lying. He doesn't give two hoots about animals. His opinion about animals and the way they ought to be treated hasn't changed. He said he was brought up with that attitude toward animals. Well, those kinds of attitudes don't change because he lost his NFL contract (temporarily) and went to jail (temporarily). Oh, he might not participate in dog fights anymore. He might pay lip service and do appearances with the HSUS to save face and get his career back. Frankly, I think it's a crock he's getting back in the NFL. What punishment did he really get? Not much if you ask me. Personally, I think the publicity surrounding his crimes, punishment and subsequent release have only served to increase the popularity of dog fighting, made it more "cool", and encouraged those participating in the minimal consequences endured if caught. More info: http://www.hsus.org/acf/fighting/dogfight/dogfighting_fact_sheet.html http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2009/08/vick-60-minutes.html http://www.hsus.org/acf/

Icon or Eyesore, It's the End of an Era

This morning at 7:40 am the three large smokestacks at the A plant in EH came down. I stopped on main street, just a block from Smith's Bar (the only other business remaining from A's hey-dey), to watch.

I'm glad the weather was overcast and damp. Definitely kept the dust from blowing across the street into EH. But just to be on the safe side, I shut the windows on that side of the house before leaving for work.

It will be nice not to have them in plain sight from my backyard. I won't miss them. But for many of the valley's residents whose families made a living there for several generations, it was a sad moment. A lot of people are disappointed they couldn't stay. But it was part of the EPA cleanup of the site. But whether they're an icon or an eyesore, it's definitely a marker of the end of an era. EH isn't a company town any more. And the outward signs of that time are disappearing.

Water Thoughts

For some reason, I’ve had water on my brain for awhile now. Perhaps it’s because we’ve been having a fairly wet summer, or the Flood classes I’m arranging for work, or going to the water park in June. It startles me sometimes how much we take water for granted here in the US. I suppose we do so in most of the “first” or “developed” countries. On the History channel the other day there was a show on bottled water and how that phenomenon evolved. A few weeks ago there was one on the power of water and it’s uses through the ages – including such things as the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas, etc. Last night there was a show on Discovery about extreme water parks. I only watched a bit, but apparently in Wisconsin Dells, WI there are over 20 water parks on 19.5 square miles. Between them, those water parks hold 15.7 million gallons of water. Think of it. Fifteen point seven million gallons of water. For entertainment. Then I remember the lack of water in Paraguay. People just minutes walk from the town I lived in struggling to capture and store water. I read articles about the lack of potable water around the world, and how people (mostly women and children) walk hours, many times taking most of the day, to get water for household use. And what about right here at home? There are so many articles about towns having water shortages or running out (some town in GA had to bring water in by truck this summer; or was it last?). Especially out in the West. Watching American Experience: We Shall Remain this past spring on PBS, they had a short film after one of the episodes about the Navajo Reservation in Arizona (I think that was where it was). Half the reservation, about 80,000 (?) are without potable water. They have to haul water. It seems unreal to me. Water issues are intense in the West. I guess I’d thought that was really a thing of the past in the US. It’s just one other way to highlight the large discrepancies in our culture/society. Water parks that feature one ride using 35,000 gallons of water a day. Hotels in the desert with fountains that use so much fresh well water? I’m sure they attempt to recycle and reuse as much as possible, as do the water parks. It just seems so extravagant when people in the same country are hauling water to drink, wash and cook with. Absolutely bizarre. It’s not like I’m naïve enough to think closing down the Bellagio fountains or the water parks will help people across the world or in the US that don’t have water. More likely it would just hurt the people in those areas economically. But it does make me uncomfortable, and squirm in my seat at my own waste of water and how even with my experience in the Peace Corps I take it for granted.

Too Many Thoughts

I've had so many thoughts lately I want to blog about. But when I actually sit down at the computer, my mind's a blank. Things that have skittered through my mind -

• Sotomayor hearing/confirmation
• Health reform
• Returning home
• Books I've been reading

and more I just can't remember. I managed to listen to the Sotomayor hearings while at work. And watched some of it on television. I have to say, I was impressed with her performance. The way she just wouldn't rattle or lose her temper, etc, was great. She came across to me as steady, thoughtful, intelligent. And frankly, someone willing to acknowledge that we all have biases and it's good to recognize that in ourselves and understand our bias for what it is, well...she has my vote. And while I'd love someone who would stand there and say reproductive rights for women come hell or high water (ie, no overturning R v W) it's okay with me that she's moderate. It really was quite the contrast seeing her facing down a table of white haired men. I've long felt that congress doesn't have a clue where I'm coming from as a single female in her thirties. It's a frustrating feeling, really. Am I really represented? Who knows. Oh, and every time someone said (or says even now) "legislate from the bench" it drove (drives) me nuts. They are interpreting based on law and precendent. And people's interpretations/definitions change as culture/society changes. Really. Otherwise, whites could not marry blacks, women wouldn't have the vote, it would be legal to not hire minorities (including women) because of their minority status, abuse would be accepted...Legislation doesn't always keep up with changes in societal beliefs and thinking. It's often controlled by congress pandering to the loudest voting blocks in their districts, not what's best for the majority of the people in their districts, regardless of party affiliation or votes. Or it's motivated by fear; fear of something or someone different, of losing something, of that great unknown change signals. I find it hollowly amusing when legislators complain about the courts and judges not doing what they want them to do when it comes to legislation. In other words, saying that their legislation isn't legal. For Pete's Sake. That's what they were designed to do. The justice system is supposed to be a check and a balance against the legislature. They are supposed to be independent. Did nobody get taught about the deliberate checks and balances of the US system? He-llo-oh...

What it takes. (Or, Newton’s Laws Revisited)

Sitrep: 45 minutes pulling weeds (squats galore!!!)

So awhile back I blogged about exercise and Newton’s Laws, etc. Well, I got a prime example of it last week. Yard work for me exists in the realm of exercise. I used to joke with my sister that if I ever bought a house there would be no flower beds. Just lawn straight up to the walls. Because I hate to weed. With a passion. It’s amazing what I can “overlook”. Friday morning I got a panicky call from Mom M. Golden Dog Radar (who’d been off his feed starting Wednesday) definitely had something wrong with him. In her words, he was crawling under the house “to die”. So off to the vet he goes. Turns out he had some Foxtail stuck in his throat/gums. Apparently that stuff is wicked for dogs/cats. Gets in their eyes/ears/paws/hair. And if consumed, the seed pods burrow into their gums/throat. Lovely stuff, Foxtail. (If anyone remembers me posting about the absurdly fast & tall growing grass taking over my lawn, I recently began to believe it was Foxtail. Sprayed for it just before the FL trip; been waiting for dry/less hot weather to do the second spraying. Well, this vet visit confirmed it.) Looks like a $265.00 vet bill (theirs, not mine, but still…) is what it takes for me to get off my butt. In other words, it’s the “unbalanced force” acting upon me (object at rest!) to get me into motion once again. Flower beds are now weeded (to best of my ability), all the tall going to seed Foxtail along the yard fence has been pulled, and the yard and exterior parking in back sprayed again. Apparently this is what it took to get Shanni’s family moving as well. Over the weekend they’ve cleaned up their multiple acres as well. Mowing, pulling weeds, etc. At least I don’t have as much acreage at they do. But oh, how the backs of my legs hurt!!!!

Free Weekend In The Woods

Sitrep: 30 minutes treadmill, 3 days non-stop walking/standing at convention(sprained ankle!)

Through Big Brothers Big Sisters, we got a chance to go camping at a "Camp" on the Little Blackfoot. It's one of my favorite places to get outdoors, especially since it's only about 40 minutes from my house.

Don't let that water deceive you. At most it's knee deep. I'm including this one just because it's the best fire picture I've ever taken:

I bought a W.i.i

Need I say more? I just couldn't take it any more. Been wanting one for a year and a half (thanks to my visit to my brother and his family!). I've spent the last 3 bonuses/tax refunds on responsible stuff, and now that I've paid the medical bills off I found I had enough to get a W.ii. Instead of paying down some credit card debt like I should have, I got the Wi.i. And Mar.io K.art. (That one is my sister and BILs fault.) [g] BUT I did get a second wheel free, and also got an extra remote 30% off. Had little sis and her family over for dinner friday, and we had fun. Mom M is very good at baseball. KT is good at all the sports. I'm fairly good at bowling. Little Sis wasn't doing to well. Until we tried out boxing yesterday. (I only have one nunc.huk, so only one person can box. I was done with "sports" by that time, so let her have a go.) She is very, very good at boxing. Pow, pow, pow. And boy, did she enjoy that. LOL. We also played several hours of M. Kar.t. I'm much better at that. Although she's catching up fast. I've already opened up 2 new racing circuits (or whatever they're called!). Only drawback to the fun yesterday is I spent all night dreaming I was playing M. K.art. Ughh.

Mount N Erupts...

Sitrep: 2x Walk (30 minutes each, with Scully)

Okay, you've been warned. Today's post is a bit of a rant. I really, really, really hate it when people forward me those stupid chain emails about a political issue that is designed to inflame, and is completely out of date. Got one today about a Supreme Court case that was already decided. In fact, it was decided over a year ago. And in "favor" of the person who sent me the email's viewpoint. Why does this bug me? Well, frankly, it makes me think I'm dealing with a bunch of idiots here, who get inflamed for no reason and can't be bothered to check their facts. They don't really care because they're too damned lazy to find out. This is why it is so easy for the fanatics to manipulate the masses. God, it drives me crazy. It took me two minutes to find out the status of the case. Seriously. And that's without even knowing the court case name. Just the generic details. Within 5 minutes I had the actual name of the court case, plus multiple articles about it. Including current articles on what's going on now, one year later. CHECK YOUR DAMN FACTS PEOPLE. Stop spreading wrong and inflammatory information, for Pete's Sake. No wonder this country is in such a mess. We're all a bunch of moronic sheep being herded this way and that by the powers that be. I just want to scream. So here goes: ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Fabulous Fourth, aka Successful Party

So the annual 4th of July party at my house went off surprisingly well, considering. I mean, I'd only been home from vacation for a week. This was by far my biggest 4th celebration with twenty-five people (my last head count) in attendance. Plenty of food, plenty of fun, plenty of excitement, and one 911 call. Yep. All's well, don't stress! About 7pm most of the guests were there and the burgers had come off the grill. The mad flood of food seekers had ebbed and I was about to fix my own plate when my little's mom comes in the back door yelling "N, we need your hose! Your neighbors started a fire!" I thought it would be a little thing, but no. Two doors over they were shooting off fireworks in the back alley, which is wide enough for a car, and bordered on the far side by an incline up to the highway. Did I mention it's covered in tall grass? That is, it was. Except I could see flames over the neighbors garage roof. Ooops. None of our hoses reached far enough. And they hadn't called 911. For Pete's Sake. You've got flames shooting 8 feet up, moving fast, there's a breeze, your garden hose doesn't reach, and you don't call 911? I did. M took charge of getting the hoses hooked together while I ran for the phone and started dragging the second hose from the front yard. We finally managed to get 2 hoses together at each end of the fire and get enough water on it to mostly get it out by the time the FD got there. But sheesh. I was shaking for an hour. It was breezy enough it could have been so much worse. As it is, a stretch about 15 feet long and 5 feet wide was burned. All the way down to the edge of the alley (dirt/gravel). Seven feet from the leading edge of my garage. Thank goodness my immediate neighbor and I are pretty good about keeping our sections clear. I'd just sprayed the whole area with weed/grass killer before leaving for FL. Rest of the evening went well. It got dark around 10pm, so we started dragging our chairs out to the front of the garage for the EH VFW show. I ran inside to put on pants (gets chilly evenings still) and on my way back out noticed everyone milling around in confusion, chairs knocked over...I heard someone say something about a fire...So I hollered "Don't tell me they started ANOTHER FIRE!" They were shooting off more fireworks in the alley...a stray dog had been hanging around, got spooked and attacked them, knocking them over. OMG. The rest of the world (ok, neighborhood) is shooting off fireworks from the very wide paved street in front of the houses, not the narrow, weed-choked alley...But these morons, oh no... So the dog got stashed in my garage, I called animal control (the police in EH). They said they'd have to come back for him after the chaos. Everyone was gone by midnight, house all clean. But there were so many unofficial fireworks "shows" the police didn't come back until almost 2 am. At least the owners had been found. I didn't realize until next day that the dog had knocked one of the garage door opener sensors down, and the wires had snapped. So now I need to fix that. What's that saying, no good deed goes unpunished? (Or is that just a song from "Wicked"?). I spent the next day sleeping on the couch. Poor Scully didn't even wake up until 10:30am. Which is when I stumbled out of bed and made her go out. I hope next year, there isn't so much excitement...

What I did On My Summer Vacation

Well, okay, it was end of spring/beginning of summer vacation. But it still counts. And it basically went like this: Pool - food - pool - food - pool - food I think you get the idea! It was a totally fun two weeks in the Florida sunshine; no rain until after I left. My three nieces and one nephew (poor fella!) completely wore me out. Especially that last week. We'd get up, have breakfast, jump in the pool. Get out for lunch, put more sunscreen on, and hit the pool again...I had to buy a swim shirt/rash guard I kept getting sunburned on my shoulders and arms. In spite of 50SPF sunscreen applied multiple times per day. We also spent a day at Wet n' Wild waterpark for niece K's birthday. OMG. That was such a fun day. Even if I did get a bit of a sunburn on the tops of my feet. Well, really. Who thinks to put sunscreen on your feet when you're going to be in the water? Except you're in line so much at waterparks...ooops. I did not go down "Der Stuka" again. Doing that in 9th grade was plenty enough for me, thanks. Spent the morning with the older kids, the afternoon with the youngest in the kiddie park and then the wave pool. She loved the wave pool. Then the last few hours we were able to take her on some of the bigger rides. She's not tall enough for the biggest ones, but there are 4 or 5 where you don't have to be 48" tall to ride. She had so much fun! We all did, really. It was a perfect day. And so was the day we were all at Mom & Dad's for the day. Parents, 3 kids, their spouses and grandkids. Heaven for my parents, I think. Last time we were all together was at a family funeral. Anyway. It was a blast playing in the pool and just hanging out. And the older 3 (12, 11, 8) were great with the five year old. I wasn't sure how they'd do with someone that much younger. The five year old was entralled with her cousins, especially the oldest. Well, break is over. More later!

It's the Dogs Turn

Scully has pneumonia. Seriously. I was really worried Saturday (almost in tears at the vet). But by Sunday afternoon she was much more herself. Took 3 days of antibiotics and a day on st.er.oids and a bronchodilator for her to perk up. Saturday was KT's high school graduation. Long, tedious ceremony. But great to see her graduate! Now to get her into college, since her mom nixed the Navy. I'll have her enrolled by end of summer. Just wait. It snowed Saturday. Yes indeed. Snow on June 6th. Heavy wet stuff. At least the ground was too warm for it to stick or turn icy. Yesterday was clear but cloudy, and a balmy 52*F. Warm enough to open the bedroom window and paint. And dry enough to deal with the waist high grass around the garage & in the "extra" parking space out back. Also managed to edge the front & back yards. All morning today it snowed. Very heavily. Big wet, wet, wet flakes. And the temp dropped to 32*F, windchill around 30*F. Cold enough I ran home at 11 to turn on the heat. My lime tree was already in shock at being repotted. I think this might just do it in...And who knows what'll happen to the veggie garden out at Shanni's. Things were just starting to show. Big Plan is to move the bedroom stuff back in tonight. If the paint smell has dissipated, the bed goes back in too. How lovely it will be to have my living room cleared out!

Out of the Chaos, pt 2

Turns out that upstairs was more modern addition. Behind the paneling, the walls are cement board (or whatever it’s called). Only they didn’t tape & mud. Instead, they put some kind of wallpaper up and then painted over that. In pink. (sob) So they can’t just tape, mud & finish. But (didn’t see that one, eh?), maybe if we left the paneling up, the taper can just put mesh over it, and then finish it. Like the stuff they do to put up those rock surrounds on fireplaces and pilasters. This was his idea, FYI, not mine. Still waiting on the taper to come out with him and take a look. And then I found out the flooring in the living room & hallway isn’t an in-store item and only available special order. With no guarantee it will be available for long. They actually had to call and find out if Pergo still carried it. So I went ahead and had that installed in the master bedroom downstairs. Unfortunately, because of damage incurred during shipping, they had to reorder two cases. So the install got pushed back. When I called to reschedule, it was wait 2 months or do it in 2 days. I opted for 2 days. Which meant the room had to be emptied over 2 evenings. (When did I get so much stuff?) And since the bedroom is empty, the paneling is a dark brown, and the new floor is a darkish wood, I should really paint. So over the weekend, with some help, the paneling was sanded and two coats of primer applied. But did I ever mention the @#%!& F.O.s used half inch diamter rope for the ceiling and corner wall trip? Taking the lazy man route, we tried painting it. Didn't work well. So last night I spent an hour or so pulling that out. Boy, were they fond of lots of really long nails. (Another reminder from Reno. #1). But (of course) there's now a half inch gap between the paneling on all walls. What to do, what to do. Buy trim (and find someone to cut it down for me) or use spackling compound/wall repair stuff to fill the gaps. It's a balancing act between less money/work and best look/resell value. I think I know which one wins. In the meantime, everything from the two upstairs rooms is downstairs in the laundry/sun room. The bedroom is now in the living room, the dining room is in the kitchen, I leave for vacation in less than two weeks, and I’ve decided maybe I should just look at getting the siding replaced instead of doing the upstairs. I’d get new floors for up there, but just paint the paneling for now. Because the siding really needs some help. Some of the wind storms we’ve had this winter & spring really beat some of the boards up. Sigh. Quick, I’m a butterfly. Someone pin me to a board, please. ‘Cause at this rate I’ll owe more on repairs than mortgage!

Out of the Chaos, pt 1

Sitrep: home renovation is my exercise this week.

There’s just more chaos? It sure seems that way. I’ve embarked on home renovation project 2, and apparently haven’t learned as much as I thought from renovation project 1. And really, it’s more like projects 2 and 3. See, it all started with my New Year’s resolution. I made two: 1) Stop chewing fingernails 2) Finish one already started house project The first went well until early April. Then it was a free for all. No more pretty nails. Now that I’m on the CPAP, I have energy enough to focus on the house. About two months ago I decided to get the flooring upstairs done. Might not have mentioned it here before, but when I moved in (three years ago!) I pulled up the ugly, dirty red carpet from upstairs room 1 only to find the carpet pad has cemented to the soft pine floor. It has to be scrapped. Well, after three years of minimal bursts of work in that room, there’s about a 1/4" inch of gunk still there. And the wood has been plenty gouged. Did I mention it sags in spot? This is upstairs… So I got quotes some flooring installation quotes. But I need a new subfloor. And nobody wants to put anything other than carpet on the stairs. Not sure what part of “I have allergies…no carpeting” they don’t understand. Then there’s the fact I hate house cleaning and vacuuming stairs just does not happen in my world. (Sorry Mom – just pretend you didn’t read that!) So. A friends dad has a construction company; someone I feel I can trust. He’s taken a look and says the new subfloor will be easy enough. They won’t have to rip out what’s there and work on the support beams. (Yay!) So for about a grand less than I thought, I can have finished floors upstairs. And 2 useable rooms. But (you were ready for that, weren’t you?) he asked what I was planning to do about the walls. They are truly a masterpiece in “Why You Should Hire A Professional” . Otherwise known as “%^&$*#@! former owners!!!”. Two different styles and coloring of paneling. Yep. One rough textured. One not. Seams don’t go in same directions, either. Anyway. He thought my plan to paint it was a bad idea. But I learned during Reno. #1 pulling paneling off walls is a Bad Idea.

Busy, Busy, Busy

So I just realized I haven't posted in about two and a half months...yikes. Time didn't just fly past, it gave me whiplash as well! Here are the "high"lights: The last few weeks of March continued w/Rock Climbing and gym time. Work hit one of our busy patches; dedicated evenings to reading. Boy, have I been reading! More on that later. April was the time killer. Shanni went to her first rock climbing competition. She got a "competitor" ribbon. Which means she completed five climbs. It was insane and so much fun. Her mom, stepdad, dad, sister & I were there. She was so stoked her Dad came. Especially since it was out of town. (Day trip). And boy was he proud of her. Was really into it. At last she's doing something he can sort of relate too. Not too academic (she intimidates all of us with her school stuff!) and not too girly. So that was great for her. The team in and of itself did fabulous. Lots of ribbons, 2nds and 1sts, etc. After the comp we hit Barnes & Noble. I was sick but didn't know it. Although the fact that I had a $20 gift card from my birthday and didn't feel like looking for anything should have been clue #1. By Monday I was at the doctor. One side of my nose was swollen, and hurt. Bizarre. Turns out I had a lovely sinus infection. First in a long time. 2 weeks of antibiotics. Yipee. Not. (Pretty sure it was from the CPAP & head cold I got. Note to self: don't wear when sick. Then Shanni's mom had a much needed surgery (not for anything life-threatening). The girls were to stay with me that night and the next until she came home. Only she had a bad reaction to the anasthesia - as in almost dying - and had to be intubated for several hours. That was Thursday of the week I was sick. Saturday the girls and I had Global Youth Service Day. Only KT forgot her event started earlier than ours, the Humane Society had to drop out because of some infection or other, and we all ended up staining a playground. Only I ended up sitting in the car because the smell of the stain was inducing a migraine...Their mom got released that day, and they were all in their own home by nightfall. Including the dogs. Did I mention all 3 dogs were at my house? Scully did not like it. Especially because the littlest one kept challenging her for Alpha. Sunday afternoon saw S's mom in the ER. After hours waiting, she was admitted and the girls went home with me. Which meant another trip out into the valley to get their stuff. And the 3 dogs. Anway. To make this long story even longer, M was diagnosed with pneumonia and was hospitalized 5 days. The first 2 in ICU, something we didn't tell the girls until it was over. But Shanni is too smart - darn those advanced classes at school - and was telling me all about pneumonia, etc. She knew it can be deadly... Anyway. That was the final two weeks of April. Not sure what happened to May. I think that was all about recovery. I even managed to forget to call my mother on her birthday. First time ever, I think. Except for the 2 years in Peace Corps. For which I am absolved because I didn't have a phone! It was also KT's prom night and somehow she ended up getting dressed at my house...It was a masquerade and the friend supposedly lending her the mask didn't so I left my nice, calm, peaceful house where KT and Shanni were in a good mood (rare) for maybe 30 minutes to run get stuff to make a mask. Everyone was at war when I returned! Ended up with me telling their Mom to be quiet, it was KT's prom; and telling Shanni if it had been up to me I wouldn't have let her go to a dance the same night as her sister's prom if it had been up to me and to be quiet for Pete's Sake - she'd make it to her dance on time!!!! Their stepdad left the house for a long walk, which made their mom mad. But really. I wanted to take a walk too. Only was too afraid the house would be blown apart if I left...Then I ended up driving KT to the prom because her step-sister left without her...and they'd driven their truck into town. WTF were they thinking???? Well. Is it any wonder by the time I got home all I could do was collapse into bed??? If there'd been alcohol in the house, I'dve had a drink! Memorial weekend was fabulous. We put in the garden out at Shanni's. We ran out of space, so it's now been extended for the pumpkins and potatoes. It was a beautiful day, the girls kept quiet (because I told M I was leaving; I wasn't wasting my Saturday with a bunch of squabbling girls. Apparently whatever she said to them after that did the trick.) I actually planned ahead and brought sunblock with me so I didn't burn!!!! And oh, the garden is lovely! We planned out the rows and marked and labeled them. There's walking space between rows, and stepdad S put in a sprinkler system so we don't have to drag the hoses around. :) Now it's June 1st, and over this past weekend I got a new bedroom floor and painted the paneling. Well, with primer. Still struggling with the final color choice. Keep your fingers crossed I don't end up spending more on paint samples than the final choice!

Sky Dreaming

Sitrep: Gym tonight.

I dreamt I was in Spain last night. Only it was my parents house here in the States. But I know itwas Spain because of the sky. The brightness of the sun, the intensity of the heat. It's how I remember the Spain of my youth, those visits to Abuela & Abuelo, and sundry aunts, uncles, cousins. In my dream it was that sky, that light, that heat that made my brain say "Spain" and not "Florida". As usual, it was a weird dream. Upon arrival, I got to my parents and after greeting my brother and his family, jumped straight into the pool. To the delight of my youngest niece who was in the pool with her mother, my sister. I can still feel how sweet that water was, how refreshing. Then it was time to leave for home. Sigh. And then the sky coming in to work this morning was wonderfully quirky. A weather front dropped around 4-6 inches of heavy wet snow yesterday, along with dropping the temps. I'm out in the east valley area, so it's pretty open between home and work. Driving west, there seemed to be a white wall swallowing the town, topped by a few clouds tinged with the colors of the sunrise. It was like those pictures I've seen of giant dust storms in Australia. Only this was white, tinged gray. Once I turned north, it changed. To the east of me, the sunrise was beautiful. The sun had cleared the snow-covered mountains, highlighting the new dusting of snow on the yellow-brown foothills, with deep green pines poking up all over the place. Little tendrils of fog curled between some of the foothills. But the road I was on seemed to be some kind of arbitrary line that white wall struggled to seep past. As if the very earth on the other side of the pavement was fighting back. I could still see the sunrise to the east, as clear and bright as it should be. As the road curved more to the northwest, the whiteness made headway. Visibility dropped to 1/10th of a mile (for me, anyway) and the sun to the east was a fading memory. Once I made that final turn west, it was all over. I was swallowed whole.

Yes to CPAP, No to Corn & Green Beans

Sitrep: 1 hour @ gym - weights both arms & legs

Had my follow up with the ENT yesterday. I have mild Sleep Apnea. The way he was talking, it seemed like he was iffy on prescribing me the CPAP. Until I told him I have to go to bed between 7-8pm in order to just get through the day. I mean, seriously. What part of sleep deprivation does he not get? But he did prescribe it and I got it today. CT scan came back looking good; just a little spot that might cause issues. Staying on Rx nasal spray and starting on Neil Med Sinus rinse 2x a day. Allergy testing had some interesting results. They call mine an "intolerance" not allergies. Milk scored high (like I didn't know that already), tomato a close 2nd. The startling ones are CORN and GREEN BEANS. These are the 2 veggies I eat most often. Frankly, they're the top two veggies I like! These are the specific items I'm to restrict to no more than 2x a week, and rotate them (copied as-is from the list): Cheese, CORN, Corn Syrup, Egg White, Egg Yolk, Wheat, MILK (Cow), Butter, Cheese, hard, Cottage cheese, Cream, Cream cheese, Ice Cream, Sour Cream, Whey, Yogurt, Orange, Peanuts, Potato, White, Tomato No more mixed veggies for me. And corn? Is this even possible? I mean, corn is in everything. Which brings to mind CO's recent post blasting the corn industry's pro-high fructose corn syrup. I thought it was a great post when I read it, now it makes me want to cry. And say, did you know that "dextrose, glucose, dextrin, dexin, dextrimaltose, caramel color, Vitamin C (!)" all have corn in them? Vitamin C??? Good, God. What next? But they gave me a huge list of foods in all the food groups that I can have, and a sample 4-day rotation schedule. My Little's mom says that's what's bugging me the most. I have my grocery budget, my shopping list, etc, all planned out. Now I have to relearn how to cook, eat, and shop. Sigh. I never did like grocery shopping to start with...

Would it Be Wicked?

Sitrep: 45 min treadmill (low intensity), 30 min rock wall climbing, 25min treadmill (low intensity), 20 min abs & thighs

Would it be terribly wicked if I lied to the library that I lost or damaged some of the Cd's of the "Jane Eyre" unabridged audio book read by Josephine Bailey, as long as I bought them a replacement copy - unabridged - only read by Susan Ericksen? She does a great job on the J.D. Robb audio books... This one, read by Josephine Bailey, is phenomenal, and costs $100+ to buy. Gulp. Or used at around $60.00. But the other unabridged editions are about half that, at $30.00, new. It's not thievery is it? At the very least it's not ethical or moral. I'm skirting the edge, aren't I? Or you're all laughing at me and thinking "oh for Pete's Sake - burn a copy!!!" It's just...would they ban me from the library? Now that would be agony. [g] We're talking skipping purgatory and going straight to hell. But this, this is the best audio version of any book I've ever heard. I guess the best answer would be to save my pennies. And in the meantime, check it out the next time I want to listen to it. I think the Wii just got demoted to #3. [g] This is now #2. A new hot water heater remains permanently lodged at the numero uno spot. Yes, I know. How responsible. But totally necessary for my sanity. And the safety of those around me. Every time I look at the case sitting there on the top of the "return" pile, I feel like grabbing it up and hugging it to my chest. Like I used to do on Christmas mornings when I got that long-awaited book...(my sis and I used to have to give Mom book lists, and restrain ourselves from buying them before Xmas. Remember that, sis?) It's so wonderful, so lovely!!!! I must have it! Eventually. [g]

Review Days [link corrected]

Sitrep: 45 minutes treadmill (too much, apparently, as my left leg is stiff & sore today)

I've been reading a lot more since returning from my sister's over the holidays. Not that I read much there...too busy playing w/my niece. But I've been reading some new-to-me authors (Thanks Janet W) and an old-to-me author. I'll start with that one. "Dark of Night" by Suzanne Brockmann note: I wrote this 2/11 after reading the book, and before coming across some author posts/comments. I just haven't posted until now due to my obsessive need to pare down words and correct myself. Not that it does much good. SPOILER ALERT I didn't enjoy this book. I do believe it is a combination of things. But I'll start by telling you my mindset when I picked it up on Friday night [a week after the release date. It was finally my turn at the library.]

1. I no longer consider her books romance. More suspense with relationships thrown in.
2. I was in the mindset for a cleverly written suspense novel.
3. I was not in the Sophia/Decker camp as neither character particularly jumped out at me to start with. Same with Tess/Nash, Dave, Tracy. Ho-hum. Although I enjoyed Tracy when first introduced to her in Into the Storm. And thought Tess/Nash had found their ho-hum HEA in their book.
4. I was very tired and really wanted a book I could escape into.

Now for the review.

About 20-40 pages into the book, I tossed it (literally) aside and watched TV instead. There was a lot of back story that needed to be explained for any potential new reader. To me, this came across as Show (then explain/tell). Kinda bogged the story line moving as quickly forward as usual. [Cranky Otter calls this "info dump". It fits.]

Sunday I gave it another go, because, well, I hate to give up on an author I like. Pretty much still the same mindset as on Friday night. I read and read, struggling, really. I felt like I was walking through mud. Or trying to run in sand on the beach. The show & tell really started to bug me. I was distracted, found myself thinking DUH, I got it, you don't need to explain what the character just said. I'm not stupid. Not a good thing to be thinking when you just want to get lost in a book.

The relationship portion had two "romantic" couples - Sophia/Dave and Decker/Tracy. For something like 5 years (not sure on the dates) there has been this dangling plot line of Sophia/Decker. After hinting in previous books (especially the last one), the pairing became Sophia/Dave. Only in the last book did I pick up on anything that might be Decker/Tracy. And it was a pretty obvious hint, since I picked it up. I don't usually read her books to pick up hints. I try to just enjoy the current story and go with the flow. Not being in the Sophia/Decker camp, I didn't really mind the pairing. Whatever. Because in my mind these aren't romances anymore, so...

I didn't feel there was much to Sophia and Dave's relationship. He was, shall we say, on the needy side? I felt smothered. Frankly, she should have kicked his ass. And he should have told her to go to hell. Putting up with all that I-love-Decker for years. What is he, some kind of masochist? Where's his pride? No respect for him on my end.

I was irritated with the characters. Especially the male characters. These men are attracted/in love with these spec ops type women, yet kept secrets to the Nth degree to "protect" their woman...Their strong, capable, kick-a$$ women? Oh, how caveman-ish. Decker, Nash, and finally, when Dave wouldn't tell Sophia something, I kinda half screamed out loud. (Scully went and hid at that point.) What, are these guys clones?

This is also the point I said F-this (literally), and skipped to the end of the book. Worked much better for me that way. Jumped around after that, reading scenes that popped out at me, etc.

So please note, that probably does affect my understanding of some points I didn't "get":

1. Why the hell was Jules/FBI involved in this? Even "unofficially".
2. Why the hell was the entire Troubleshooters office gone? Tom's making that much money in the first five years of his business they can do that? Not believable to me. Maybe a small point, but still...
3. Tracy was the only one with the "hope" to pick up the inconsistencies that meant Nash was still alive? yeah, right. Her being best friends with Nash and all that. Not.
4. Decker/Sophia - their "conversation" that tied up the angst that was between them for all those books? Very blah, kinda a "huh?" moment. And I wasn't even rooting for those two.
5. Really Bad Guys are after Nash, and S&A bring their baby along? Uh-huh. Right.

Now we get to my Biggest Pet Peeve w/Ms. Brockmann.

1. sex without a condom. It's in just about every freakin' book she writes, lately. What, is that supposed to mean they're in love? They forget themselves in the passion of love and don't use a condom? Puh-leeze. At least this time she ended up pregnant.

So. That's my personal view of DON. Before I came across an author Q&A on Barnes & Noble. The first part of the Q&A that caught my attention was this line:

“It was like dragging a piano up a hill with a rope the entire time.” S Brockmann on writing Dark of Night. (Date/Time Stamp: 02-06-2009 05:46 PM. About two-thirds of the way down.) I copied the quote out because it perfectly describes how I felt reading this book.

[FWIW, this link starts on pg 1 of the Q&A. If you're up to reading it this late in the game, good luck! It took me almost 2 hours to find the correct page to link!]

The more I read, the more disquieted I got. Many of the same feelings/questions I had were brushed aside rather rudely, I thought. With a "tough s&*t" attitude.

Personally, I can understand how so many people are upset. You can bring a horse to water but you can't make it drink. But if you bring that horse to water, and it drinks, but the water is vinegar, don't be surprised if the horse reacts negatively.

After ten years buying (multiple copies, several languages), reading, and promoting her books to every person I know, and in every bookstore I go to, (and this was way before she was a NY Times best-seller), I am personally insulted that I'm labeled as anti-gay because I don't like this book. That's a mighty big brush to tar & feather with.

But it wasn't enough to do that. Oh, no. She had to make other comments denigrating romance readers and so forth. The very readers that have propelled her to NY Times Best-Seller status.

Seriously, some of her comments are ones I've heard from non-romance readers, writers and press, etc. You know the ones. Who think all romance readers are stupid, uneducated, loser women.

And here's someone that got their start in the romance industry. I understand wanting to move on to bigger and supposedly better things. But to look down your nose at the very people that put you there? Not well done. And people can say all they want about her talent, but it means very little if the readers don't buy the books. That's what makes the publisher more inclined to keep publishing your stuff.

I'm sure it won't make any difference to Ms Brockmann (or her publishers). But I will no longer support someone that looks down on me. Not by word of mouth, and not by sending my hard earned dollars her way. There's no excuse, in my book, for being rude to readers who didn't like your book, and ask you very thought out, nicely phrased questions about your book.

It's another "Why" Day

Sitrep: Nothing. At. All. I'm a wee bit cranky (headache started once arrived at work due to excessive use of cleaning chemicals this weekend by our cleaning person.) Should post the review I started weeks ago on "Dark of Night" only I need to finish it up & "trim down" my wordiness. Yes, hard as it is to believe, my posts are usually trimmed down quite a bit from the original. And in the mood I'm in, I'd probably be a bit snarky in my rewrite/pare down, especially in light of some author comments I came across after reading the book & writing my review. So here are some why's from Up My Mind and Way In The Back... Why do car designers/manufacturers never take into consideration that their bigger, brighter, cover-more-area headlights are actually high-beams? Why are those bigger, brighter, cover-more-area-used-to-be-the-high-beam headlights usually on trucks/SUVs (cars that are generally higher than cars)? Why oh why do people with these high beam lights like to tailgate? Because at night, it's hard enough to see anything other than those wide area ultra bright lights blaring into my eyes from oncoming traffic. But when I'm at a stop, or slowing down, and the cars behind me don't keep a decent distance, their lights fill every single mirror and reflect into my eyes... And I do mean every single mirror...rearview and both side mirrors. It is blinding... Why do people do this? Why can't we learn that bigger (in this case, brighter) is not necessarily better? And why do I let it bother me? It's just irritating. Like the whole distance-between-cars thing. Why do people insist on tail-gating and stopping on top of each other? Hellloooooo. Please leave space between my car and yours, please. Especially when it's been half raining/half snowing all day!!!!!!!!!!! Three car accident last week on the way home from work delayed traffic for hours. Cause: tail-gating & inattention. One driver wasn't paying attention, couldn't stop soon enough, hit the car in front if it, hard. That car was parked right on top of the car in front of it, and therefore unable to do anything but ram into them. Nice, huh? If that middle car had had the proper amount of space, they wouldn't have hit the one in front. And that's from the police in the paper. Not just my thinking. Why is my break over?????