Re-visiting the past

I love to read. Unfortunately, I don't have as much time to enjoy reading as I did in my younger days. When in my youth, I could even be found reading while at the dinner table. Seriously, you would've been hard pressed to find me without a book in my hand.
I of course loved mysteries, having read just about all (if not every single one) of the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Trixie Beldon books.
But I also loved a good animal story and read the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley, the classic tale of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, and perhaps a lesser known book called Sun Dust Devil Horse by Eva Zumwalt. I read the Sun Dust book so many times, it literally fell apart and I had it held together by a rubberband. Often, as soon as I finished reading it, I'd immediately flip back to the first page and start again. I probably read it a hundred times and knew every word by heart. At some point or another, probably when I was packing my worldly belongings to move from my parents home to move into my new house that I was to share with my husband-to-be, I got rid of the book and many others I'd either read numerous times or else now considered "childish".
Since in the past couple of years I've started spending a lot of time around horses, gleaning bits of hands-on knowledge and having many "a-ha" moments when my mind would suddenly recall something I'd read in those horsey-books decades before that never made any sense to me, I decided I'd like to go back and re-read those familiar stories once again, hoping some things would now make more sense, or to see if I would have a different perspective on the story. Of course, I no longer had copies of them, but went to Amazon and found used copies of all three, which were all delivered this week.
When I read those books in my younger days, they seemed like great, thick novels, so imagine my surprise when I opened the packages to find slender books that were about the size of a Harlequin Romance novel. Quick-reads to be sure. I finished the Black Stallion in a few hours and am already half way through Sun Dust. Reading these books again, the familiar words and story-lines coming back to me like a long-lost friend, is strangely comforting.
The Black Stallion, which had held me captivated for hours as a child, now seems more than a bit far-fetched. Still a good read for a young person, but I don't think I'll bother re-reading the other books in that series.
Sun Dust on the other hand, is everything I remembered. Glad to have you back old friend!

Weekend in review

Another 5k down, several more to go.
Saturday morning Olivia and I made the trek to Shelbyville to participate in the Leadership Shelby Turkey Trot. I had sent my registration in early for 2 reasons: 1) the fee is cheaper when done before the cut-off date and 2) by registering early, you're guaranteed a t-shirt.
Despite having followed the rules, needless to say, I got hosed on that deal.

The largest shirt they offered was an XL, which I don't even know if it would've fit me (or at least, fit comfortably) as I prefer 2 or even 3 X, big and loose. I picked up our race packet and on the outside of the bag it was marked, XL. I went back to the car to pin the number bib on my shirt and put the extra stuff in the car so I didn't have to tote it around. I looked at the shirt even though I had no intention of wearing it at that time.

Ya see, I have a rule: I won't wear the shirt unless I've completed the race. I feel like I have to earn the privilege to wear it.

So as I said, I looked at the shirt and noticed it was only a large. That's not good. I went back to the registration table and told them they'd made a mistake and showed them the packet where it was marked XL. I was informed they didn't have any more and had only had 1/2 dozen to begin with and had run out of them in the "C's". I guess they fill the packets in alphabetical order... hardly seems fair, you'd think they'd fill the orders as they receive them, but I digress.

So if they ran out in the "c's", I'm guessing there were a whole lot of people that got hosed on that deal. Well, I guess their rule said they'd guarantee a shirt, not that it would fit. Sunzofbeeches!!!!

If that's how they want to play, then I'll remember that come next years event.
Well, just because I had a rule about my not wearing the shirt, that rule doesn't necessarily apply to Olivia.

I put the shirt on her, rolled up the sleeves so she wouldn't step on them, and she was stylin'. Actually, it was a wee bit tight on her, but being the trooper that she is, she carried on.

Tom Turkey was in attendance. Olivia wasn't impressed. I on the other hand kept imagining how he'd taste with some mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing. :0)

Here are a few more photos of our ravishing young model...

That afternoon, John & I went over to my sister's new house to help move furniture. However, she already had a small army of helpers and the majority of stuff had already been moved. Aside from cleaning the windows and putting her bath linens away for her, I really didn't feel like I did much, and about the only thing John accomplished was helping to move the washer into the basement. There were almost too many people there and we kept getting in to one anothers way. Besides, I don't like putting other peoples stuff away without knowing how they want things placed or set-up. We all have our personal preferences and opinions on what should go where.

I think I've professed in the past that John & I have clutter in our house, to put it mildly. Packrats have nothing on us (him). But after seeing how much stuff my sister has, I think she has us beat, hands-down. Sorry dear sister if it felt like dad & I were picking on you, especially over the Dr. Seuss books. Your stuff is yours and all of it means something to you. It's easy for an outsider to look at a collection of "junk" and say "get rid of some of this stuff". I know that's exactly what people would say about my and John's collection of stuff. Who am I kidding, I say that about a lot of our stuff, especially John's. ;) But in the end, we hold on to all of it because it means something to us.

Sometimes I mentally weep when I think how much money we could have if we'd quit buying stuff. Or quit eating out. Or give up junk food. Or...

Okay, but I do have to pick on my sister for just a moment though. I dare say, she's a clothing-junky. They had a big box-truck they were using to move stuff in, and I think they had one load with nothing but her clothes. This is just a small portion of what we brought in...

... and believe it or not, there's actually a loveseat under there somewhere.

Seriously girlfriend, how many clothes can one person wear???

200+ lbs. later...

I made my bi-monthly purchase of dog food this morning, which means there is over 200 lbs. of dog food in the back of my car.
**grumble, grumble** Purina recently changed the size of their bags, of course they made them smaller, and of course they kept the price the same. **sigh** Not happy about this!
Dog food has gone up quite a bit in the past few years, but as much as I pay for it (and at wholesale prices), it costs the average Jane/Joe even more having to purchase it from the stores. I save between $5 & $10 per bag, depending on where you purchase it. Guess I shouldn't complain, eh?

Okay, so I think I mentioned last week that the cats were going to the vet this past weekend for their annual check-up. Both are 17 years old, and Pudge has started to have issues these past couple of months. I assumed it was just related to old age. But no, even younger cats can have the problem she is having. She has developed a hyper-thyroid and now has to be on medication for the rest of her life... however long that may be. Grrrr!!!!!
This medicine comes in a "pen". You turn the dial to dispense it, then rub it in her ear. That's it. I'm not sure how long it will take before I start noticing a difference in her. Soon I hope, soon.
I told the vet I'm going to start having 1/2 my paycheck direct deposited to him, the other half to Walmart, as they seem to be where I write most of my checks anymore.

Tomorrow Olivia and I have yet another 5k, this one in downtown Shelbyville. I may be regretting this one before it's over. I totally forgot how hilly downtown S-ville is when I signed up. Yeah, I think I might be huffing and puffing before this one is over, not to mention hurting a wee bit. I just about had a friend talked in to participating in this one with us, then she stepped off her front porch last week and broke her foot. If I didn't know what a major inconvenience this was for her, I'd accuse her of deliberately hurting herself to get out of participating. ;)

My sister and her new husband are supposed to be signing the papers today on a new house. New to them that is. She's very excited. I'm excited for her. She's always either lived in an apartment or with my parents, so I'm happy to see her finally putting her living expenses towards owning instead of renting. I think they take immediate possession, so hopefully I'll get to see it this weekend. I'm glad her boys will finally have a backyard of their very own.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Jazz & Baylee

Thought I'd share some Youtube videos of some of the horses I've had the pleasure of riding during my lessons.
Let me emphasise, these are other riders in these videos, NOT ME!!!!

This first video is of Jazz, an appaloosa I rode for the first time this past week.



This next video shows 3 or 4 horses, but about half way through, the bay with the white blaze on her face is Baylee. I only got to ride her once, back in early October I think it was. Sadly, Baylee had to be put down yesterday morning, she was only 16. I know the girl in the video that frequently rode her at the farm is just devastated as Baylee was her absolute favorite.



I'm glad I had an opportunity to have Baylee in my life, if only for a short while.

My on-going disgust over bathroom habits

Some men are pigs.
There, I said it.
Don't get me wrong, not all men, certainly not my own husband. But yes, some men are pigs. That's the only way I can describe them.

As I was walking towards the restroom yesterday before leaving work, a man was coming out. The mess I was greeted with made my skin crawl.
*As if it wasn't bad enough that he hadn't flushed the toilet...
Honestly, why is this such a difficult and daunting task for some people? I would think it would be even easier for men than women, since they are already facing the handle. But apparently I'm mistaken.
*As if it wasn't bad enough that he left the seat up when he was done...
*As if it wasn't bad enough that his aim was horrid and he sprinkled all over the rim of the toilet...
*As if it wasn't bad enough that he sprinkled all over the floor surrounding the toilet...
*As if it wasn't bad enough that he sprinkled through the hole in the seat and splashed the lid behind it...
*This pig actually managed to pee on the wall.
If I'm lying I'm dying!

Seriously men, if you're aim is that freaking bad, is it really that much of an affront to your manhood to sit your arse down on the toilet and dangle it in the hole to urinate? And please, don't insult me by stating that the water is too cold for that, because there are VERY FEW men out there that would ever have to worry about their little friend being long enough to touch the water. Puh-leeze! Can we try to keep the bodily fluids in the toilet??

Entitlement

*When did our society decide that a "sense of entitlement" was an acceptable form of behavior?

I am so sick of people displaying that attitude. They aren't happy with what they are given, they want more! They aren't happy with what they earn (assuming it's enough to live on), they want more! For that matter, they aren't happy having to earn things, they want it all given to them, and that's that.
ex-1: Many restaurants offer discounts to fire & police personnel. This is much appreciated by most in these professions, and they generally accept the discount with a "thank you", but if it isn't offered, they don't say anything. Sadly though, there are a few individuals that feel they are entitled and will demand they be given a discount.
ex-2: Halloween I was handing out candy to the kiddies as they came around. I gave one little snot-nosed kid a candy bar and instead of a "thank you" I get: I don't want that, I want this... and he attempted to reach into my bowl and help himself. Nothing irritates me more than a rude brat. I intercepted his grubby hand, resisted the urge to take back the candy I'd already given him, resisted the urge to paddle his rear-end, and really resisted the urge to smack his parents for allowing these bad manners to go un-checked, and said, "no, I've already given you some, this is for the other children". Apparently this child not only felt he was entitled to receive whatever he wanted, his parents must also feel that he is entitled, so I assume they feel they are entitled as well.

*When did one person's time become more valuable than anothers?

Just because "Joe" charges $100/hour for whatever services he provides and "Jane" provides a service for free, does that really mean that Joe's time is more valuable? Perhaps on paper, but in reality, we all value our time and nobodies time is more valuable than the next persons. Freaking slow down people and stop being so impatient! The world is not going to come to an end if you have to sit/stand in line like everyone else. You're not "entitled" to by-pass everyone in front of you.
ex-1: The day is coming when the passenger side of my car is going to require a new paint job because some impatient a-hole can't wait for traffic in front of him/her to move. Nearly every morning, as I'm on the ramp to I-265 north, headed to I-71 north (I basically stay on the ramp, up on and down off, never really getting on to 265), there is at least one (and usually several) impatient person(s) that has to pass me and everyone else in line by driving on the shoulder. This isn't a driving lane people!! It's there for 2 reasons, 1) in case you break down and need to pull off the road and 2) for emergency vehicles to get past. That's it!! It will not kill you to wait your turn. You are not entitled to special treatment!!!
ex-2: I am so sick and tired of seeing drivers run red lights, and not necessarily because they're talking on the phone and not paying attention. They just seem to think that the rules of the road don't apply to them, they are in a hurry, therefore, they are going to run the red light. Seriously people, when you see the light turning yellow, you need to get clear of the intersection, whether by getting through it before the light turns red, or by slowing down and stopping and waiting for the next green light. Just because you're in a hurry and don't like to wait, doesn't entitle you to run through the red lights and endanger other drivers. Wouldn't you be a might bit upset if someone did that and broadsided you, or one of your loved ones? Probably so.

When did entitlement become such a dirty word??

The Trail Ride

Saturday was the big day I'd been counting down to. I met Deborah at high-noon and we made the drive to Canaan, Indiana. We opted to ignore the directions the website provides as it would've taken us out of our way and instead chose a scenic route out Hwy 421 from Campbellsburg. I'm sure that had we done this a moth ago, the drive would have been more beautiful, when the leaves were at the height of their fall color, but despite most of the trees being bare now, it was still a lovely drive and we couldn't have asked for prettier weather. It was sunny with temps in the upper 60's.

We arrived at Shilo Farms a little early and were given a warm and friendly greeting by the farm's owners,

Jenny and Rod Asher.

They took the time to let us "try on" different saddles, looking for the one that felt most comfortable, and then we were paired with our horses.

Deborah's horse was an Appaloosa named Jake (the Snake),

And I had this handsome fella, Cruiser.

He had blue eyes!

It was the first day of deer hunting season, so we stuck to a gravel road instead of following the trails into the woods. We saw several hunters along the way, some on ATV's, some in their deer stands among the trees.

Jenny was our official guide, but in reality...

the little Australian cattle dog lead the way.

The scenery was lovely, and it was easy to imagine how it would've looked all green and lush in the summer, or even covered with snow in winter.

Jenny was kind enough to dismount and take pictures for us.

We hated for the day to end, but were given a t-shirt at the end of the ride to remember our day by. I look forward to going back again sometime. :)

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th. It's supposed to be a day that brings bad luck or is to be dreaded/feared. I have to say though, my Friday the 13th turned out to be a pretty darned great one!!
The husband had a fire dept. function to attend that evening, which meant I didn't have to worry about fixing dinner for him, so I made plans to dine out with my friend and her daughter. Seems like we've hardly seen each other in ages, and we're right across the street from one another. Everybody is so busy, busy, busy these days.
I had just backed my car into the driveway and was getting out when I noticed a gray SUV had turned on to our street and slowly come to a stop in front of our house. I didn't recognize the car, so I started not to pay much attention to it, but then I saw a hand waving at me through the windshield so I looked closer and instantly recognized the smiling face of the driver. A face I hadn't seen in years! It was our former neighbor, Kris.
She was the 2nd former-neighbor I'd seen in less than 48 hours, and it was beginning to feel like old-home week. I went running down the driveway with my arms out wide and she left her car parked in the middle of the street and came running towards me. It was sooooo good to see her again!! She looked just the same as last time I saw her, 5 years ago I think... I can't even remember how long it's been since she and her husband moved to Florida. I've only seen them once since then, when they came back to Kentucky to visit their daughter, and I'm thinking that might have been in '04, back when I'd lost all the weight, prior to having regained it all.
Kris had her granddaughter, Sasha, with her. She was showing Sasha where they used to live, and happened to time it just right to coincide with my arriving home. We got to visit for about 10 minutes before she had to go, but it was a great 10 minutes, remembering some of the fun times, the friendly neighbors, and the way things were back in the day.
I miss Kris & Jim living across the street, but I know they're very happy living in Florida.
Dinner at Outback was faboo, and it was good to catch up with my nearby friends that day as well.
Friday the 13th was a fabulous day for me. :)

Olivia's Blog

I just did something I swore I would never do... guess this is a lesson on "never saying never".
I've never minded the rare, occasional post some people do, writing as if their pet had written it.
But what really annoys the sh!t out of me is when people write every blog as if the animal is talking, and every comment they leave on other peoples blogs they write as if the animal is talking. I mean, this just seriously annoys me for some reason. I'd rather listen to fingernails scratching across a chalkboard than read those blogs/comments.
Okay, so what have I gone and done?
I created another blog, totally separate from this site. It's actually dedicated to mine and Olivia's passion, if you want to call it that, with participating in walking/running events in our community.
On that blog, I'm listing each month all the events in our area, and to post photos of the ones we participate in. Since it's brand new, obviously it has no readers/followers yet. Hopefully in a few months, there might be a few. If not, then it's just another way for me to fill my time. ;)
Anyway, currently, there are probably 20 websites that people such as myself have to check in order to find out what all is happening in our area, none of them have a complete listing of all the events. I've combined the info from all of those sites and have it posted on the new blog, which is titled: "Walking on all 4's".
This new blog includes info on dates, places, charities that benefit from the event, whether or not it's dog friendly, and links to the event's website.
Olivia is the administrator and I've set up her own email account. Perhaps if/when we get followers, we'll have guest bloggers that participate in these events as well, putting in their 2-cents worth. We'll see where the future takes us.
I will do my best to not be too dorky and annoying when I write on behalf of Olivia, because I really don't want to be "one of those people", (but I fear I am).
And just in case any of you doubt whether or not Olivia actually enjoys going to these events, let me just tell you this... the dog actually seems to pout on the Saturdays when we don't go somewhere. When I take her out to potty on those mornings, she goes directly to the back of the car and sits there, waiting for me to let her in, then seems a bit miffed when I don't. And the events we do attend, I have to hold her back at the start of the event because she sees others ahead of her running, and she's raring to go. Yes, I think my little girl really does enjoy it all.

Old neighbors

The hubby and I went to Moe's for dinner Wednesday night. It's kids eat free night which didn't help us any, but fortunately we got there before the rush. The place was relatively quiet when we first sat down. A couple of tables behind John and over one aisle, another couple sat down. The man had his back to me, so I never got a good look at his face, but I could clearly see the woman. Once they were seated, they both bowed their heads and began to pray before eating.
Usually when you see this in a restaurant setting, it's usually a quick "thank you for this food... amen" and that's it, but this praying seemed to go on forever. I'd glance up every few moments and they were still praying. I thought, "their food is going to get cold before they ever get done praying." Even once they finally started eating, I kept catching myself stealing a glance at the woman. I couldn't figure out why I kept glancing at her, but I guess my subconscious knew the reason... I knew her... I just didn't realize it at the moment.
I finally focused on my dinner and a few minutes later I heard someone saying, "Pita?" I looked up and here comes that woman. I looked at her and I know I had a look on my face that said, "who are you?" and she said, "it's Pita Powwow". Actually, before she even finished saying her last name, I finally realized who she was. The Powwow's used to live four houses down from us.
Now obviously her name isn't "Pita Powwow", but she and I do have the same first name.
The Powwow's moved away about 6 or 7 years ago, and we've not seen Mr. or Mrs. even once since then. We weren't close to them when they lived here for that matter, other than to say "hello", I can't remember ever having carried on a single conversation with the other Pita the entire 8 or 9 years they did live there. They kept very much to themselves, and the only reason we saw her husband as much as we did is because he'd be doing yard work or walking the family dog or walking home from the bus stop. They have two daughters, "Angie & Hannah", who I imagine are in their late teens or early 20's by now.
When they were still living in our neighborhood, I often commented to the husband that those children were "weird". You never saw one without the other, not that there is anything wrong with that, but still, it just seems a little odd for children that aren't twins to never venture out without the other. And the younger of the two, Hannah, was definitely the leader, the instigator, the trouble-maker. Angie was the sweetest, shyest, quietest kid you'd ever want to meet. But I always said to John, "mark my word, Hannah will be trouble when she's older". She was kind of like a female Eddie Haskell. Sweet and charming when her parents and certain adults were around, a little hellion the rest of the time. You could just see the mischief brewing in her eyes.
Frequently, the girls were dressed in identical outfits, again, strange for non-twins.
The girls were home-schooled. This was the first family I had ever heard of doing this, and from what I heard of their "lessons", I had to wonder about the quality of their education. Of course I've gotten to know other home-schoolers over the years and I've found that there are many different methods, some good, some questionable. I suppose it's a matter of what effort you put into your child's education, much as with public/private schooling.
So after the Powwow's moved away, as I said, we never saw the parents again 'til this week. The girls we'd see once every two or three years somewhere around town. They were growing into pretty young women, still inseparable. You never saw one without the other. Seriously, by the time you're 16, 17 years old (if not older), shouldn't you be making some other friends? I mean, I'm all for sisters that are "best friends", but shouldn't they have other friends as well?
Okay, so I'm talking to the other Pita and she's telling me how much they miss the neighborhood, the friendliness and what-not, things just weren't the same in their new neighborhood. While I've heard several residents that have moved away over the years make similar comments, about what a unique relationship the residents of our neighborhood have and how they miss it, the fact that Pita said that rather floored me, because the woman hardly ever came out of her house. She hardly ever spoke to anyone. She's a very meek woman, and I was amazed she even came over to talk to us at dinner, because she never came over and talked to us when she lived by us. John and I (but especially John) are forever waving at just about everybody that drives past the house, whether we know them or not, and I think most of the people in our neighborhood know that if and when they see our outdoor fireplace burning, then our neighbors are always welcome to come over, pull up a chair and sit a spell. Some frequently do, some on rare occasions, some never. The Powwow's fell into the never-category.
I asked the other Pita how Angie and Hannah were doing. She told me Angie was going to community college, studying to be a pre-school teacher. Angie is as meek and mild as her mother, if not more so. Thirty years ago I could've pictured her doing that job. But kids today... they'll eat her alive! As for Hannah, she's married now, and had just the week before miscarried a baby. I offered my condolences, but the other Pita didn't seemed too upset by the loss of her first grandchild, instead saying, "it was for the best". It made me wonder about the circumstances of the marriage. Perhaps the child I always suspected of being trouble ended up getting into trouble and had to get married, much to her parents dismay I'm sure. But it's all conjecture on my part.
Perhaps now when we see the girls out at the store, it will be one at a time instead of practically joined at the hip. Or then again, perhaps they're still inseparable but have just added Hannah's husband to the other hip.

I''m waving the white (if not blood soaked) flag

I surrender!
I give up!
I admit defeat.
I've lost the battle.

**sigh**

Well, as of this morning, now that all three dogs have been sick at some point or another over the past 5 weeks, now 2 out of the 3 have managed to shed blood, profusely.
Eliott's toe is healing nicely and I've not seen any more blood from it in a couple of days, I thought things were finally starting to get better. His diarrhea lasted less than 36 hours and he's now back to normal, so I'm guessing it wasn't the parasite after all, but most likely the trauma of the wound and/or perhaps the aspirin. Either way, I'm just thankful that's behind us... at least, I hope it is.
So when I saw blood on the floor this morning, all I wanted to do was beat my head against the wall.
Eliott was out in the backyard, and I had just brought Olivia in from taking her out front, so that meant Bootsy was the obvious culprit of the blood spatter.
I just looked at her and asked, "what did you do?"
She just looked at me with those beautiful big brown eyes and shook her nub-tail at me, which of course made her whole body wiggle. She was standing evenly on all fours, so I didn't suspect a foot injury.
I let Olivia off her leash and she promptly walked through the droplets of blood in the hall and tracked them all over the place. I grabbed Bootsy by the collar to hold her still and started running my hands over her body, feeling for a wet spot and looking for blood on my hands.
Hmm, nothing on the torso. I looked at her face, as occasionally her chin and lips get a staph infection and the little sores will bleed, but no, her face was clear and beautiful. I glanced at her privates, nothing there. So I started running my hands down her legs and lifting her feet. I was just beginning to think that I was losing my mind and that it perhaps wasn't her, but then on the fourth leg I finally found it.
She has a little skin-tag on her right front elbow, and while I have no idea how she managed to cut it open, she did, and it bled like crazy. I mean non-stop!!
While it was a smaller wound than what Eliott had which means less blood at a slower rate, I had a harder time getting the bleeding to stop on her wound.
I was blotting with papertowel, trying to see how big it actually was. By now, she's dancing all around the kitchen because she wants to go out and potty. I ran the risk of her going on the floor (and trust me, if she needs to go bad enough, she doesn't care where she's at, she'll go) and made her stay with me. I applied a dab of superglue and waited a minute, but it didn't seem to faze the bleeding. Now I had to gamble on her bleeding on the carpet. The powder that I use when I cut their nails was on top of the dog crate. I drug her along beside me, so I could quickly drag her back to the kitchen and apply it.
After what seemed an eternity, the bleeding finally stopped and I allowed her to go outside.
I just looked at Olivia and said, "well, you're next kid. You're the only one that hasn't suffered a double-whammy yet." I know it's just a matter of time...

The cats have an appointment at the vet Saturday morning for a check-up, they are both 17 years old. I'm getting worried about Pudge. I think her vision is starting to go, but at that age, I'm not surprised. Her eyes seem to stay dilated all the time, the pupils never seem to retract. And her hair, oh my goodness! Just in the past several weeks it seems like it's starting to mat like crazy. I brush & comb it, she gets furious and tries to bite me, I know it probably hurts the mats being pulled out, but seriously, it's like her entire undercoat just all of a sudden became matted. I don't know if it's because she's not grooming herself as well as she used to or what, but I've never had a problem with her coat like this before. And too, she's become very finicky about her food. So yeah, at 17 years old, she's probably got something going on inside. We'll see what the vet says.
And back to Bootsy... she's got some kind of crazy growth on her hind leg as well. It's been there for about 3 years, growing very slowly, the vet has never seemed concerned with it. When it first appear red, she chewed at it like crazy, but hasn't bothered it in a long time. When I was feeling her all over this morning looking for her injury, I noticed that she's started chewing on that growth again. So I think I'll take her along to the vet as well to have it looked at. I don't know if it's truly bothering her, or if she's just being her usual neurotic self and chewing on it simply because it's there and she is constantly chewing on something.
Give me strength!!!!

More random stuff

*Riding lesson last night went well, once I was actually on the horse. I swear, I don't know where my head was beforehand though. I normally have my helmet on before I even start tacking my horse, but last night, I seemed to be in La-La-Land. I was preparing to mount Jolene when one of the other students looked at me and said, "riding helmetless tonight?" I'm luck, "huh?" She repeated her question and then I realized I'd totally forgotten to put mine on. What was I thinking? Obviously I wasn't thinking. It's good to have others watching out for you.

*It looks as if our little group for the trail ride this Saturday may have just doubled. Same fellow student is probably going to join us and also her daughter or friend. Either way, the more the merrier!

*I've had a whopping headache since just before class started yesterday. Hmm, maybe that's why I didn't put my helmet on from the get-go. It was even worse after class, and by the time I was ready for bed (chair... slept in the chair in case Eliott needed me during the night), I was almost in tears my head, neck and shoulder were all hurting. Still hurt this morning.
I'm not one to usually suffer much from headaches, and when I do get them, they're typically just a mild annoyance, but not this one. It may be time for a trip to the chiropractor. **sigh**

*The rodeo is in town this week. I'd love to go, but the husband has a fire dept. function Friday night and has to bowl on Saturday. **pout** I really don't want to go alone. :( Maybe next year.

Thank goodness the week is half-over.

It's finally happened

Well, it's finally happened, I've become one of those old people that has multiple prescriptions to take at various times each day. It's getting to the point I can't remember what I've taken and when. I guess I'm going to have to break down and get one of those weekly pill-organizers.
Geesh! When did this happen?
I guess it was bound to happen. It seems once you pass 40, it's just a matter of time before life catches up with you.
So you may recall I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and had umpteen vials of blood drawn for umpteen tests to be run. The results are back. I'm going to live.
Cholesterol is a little high, but nothing alarming, and actually, it's lower than it was 2 years ago when I last had it checked. The doctor suggested getting some fish oil omega-3 pills to take.
Know why they're called omega-3's? Because when you see them, your first thought is to say "oh my Gah... " and then you just lose the ability to speak when you read the directions that tells you to take them 3 times a day. I try to take them with my meals, but then my addled brain sometimes can't remember if I did take one, so I take another, so then there's the possibility I'm over-dosing on fish oil. There are worse things I could be hooked on, right? Besides, I like fish, preferably in sandwich form, but whatever.
So here's the real mind boggler.
The doctor sent a prescription for some Vitamin-D supplements, told me to take them as prescribed for 6 months and then get re-tested in a year. So I take the prescription to the pharmacy and ask the ditz behind the counter, "what's the difference between vitamins from the pharmacy and the ones I can get off the shelf?" Ditz mumbles something about the amount of them. I wasn't real sure what she meant, but I assumed it was going to be some jumbo-sized bottle that would be cheaper from them than if I purchased the largest bottle off the shelf.
Oh how wrong I was.
When my prescription was ready it cost me a whopping $6.05 for a one month supply. Okay, I can handle that. The bag felt awfully light and I wondered about the contents. When I got home I took the bottle out of the bag, it was a small rx bottle. I opened it up, it contained 4 pills. FOUR gel-caps. FOUR!! Is this a joke?
I looked at the instructions on the label and I was to take 1 pill, once a week for 6 months. Are they freaking kidding me?? 4 pills for $6?
And I'm supposed to remember to take a pill once a week? Who are they kidding?
Okay, I'm really not understanding. I think these gelcaps were like 50,000 milligrams or something. Wouldn't it have been easier and just as effective for me to take a once a day pill for 6 months? I can remember once a day much easier than once a week.
Add the 3 x day + 1 x week + as-needed allergy meds + my once daily anti-inflammatory + my vitamin C...
Where's that pill organizer?

In my former life...

I've come to the conclusion that I've done something horribly wrong in a former life, and now I'm paying for it. Seriously.
Allow me to recap everything that has happened in the past month.
Oct. 9th, Olivia developed diarrhea
Oct. 12th, vet diagnosed it as a parasite, and we spent the next 7 days hosing down our lawn despite the constant rain showers we were having, and suffering from a lack of sleep as we were constantly taking her out in the middle of the night in an effort to save our carpet and our sanity.
Oct. 18th, finally she was back to normal.
Oct. 31, Bootsy developed diarrhea
Nov. 2, vet puts her on the same meds as Olivia. Her case wasn't as severe as Liv's, but she made many, many more messes in the house.
**sigh**
Nov. 8, she was back to normal. This was also the day I cleaned the carpets.
Nov. 9, Eliott rips a nail off, and I'm not so sure he didn't amputate the tip of the toe as well. The jury is still out on that one. Blood is everywhere. So much for clean carpets.
Nov. 10, Eliott develops diarrhea.
Is there any chance I can hope that the diarrhea is caused by him stressing over his hurt toe?, the blood he's licked off the wound?, the buffered-aspirin we've given him to relieve the pain? One can hope, but I somehow doubt it would be that simple.
I stopped giving him the aspirin this morning and am hoping like crazy he doesn't poop all over the house while we're at work, and am sitting here, anxiously awaiting a phone call from the husband to report to me how things look when he gets home, so I'll know whether or not to call the vet and order another round of parasite meds.
When does it ever end???????
Whoever I was in my former life, and whatever it was that I did, I'd like to go back and kick that persons ass!!

Update... it's several hours later now and the husband just called. Needless to say, the trend continues. It wasn't a one-time-only, passing bout of diarrhea. Oh no. We couldn't be so lucky. Nor could we be lucky enough to have him go on the vinyl or one of the towels spread on the floor, no, he had to hit the carpet. Indeed, SpotBot is getting quite a work-out this week. Glad I purchased more cleaning fluid last night.
The vet's office is on speed-dial and when his assistant answered (I don't even have to identify myself anymore), I told her I felt as if I spent all my time on the phone with her of late. They're getting a prescription ready for John to pick up.
I just want to know, when does it end???????????

Random stuff

*Darn Kraft foods!
I few years (maybe 3 or 4?) ago, I was looking something up on the website for Kraft foods. They had a place where you could sign up for their free, quarterly magazine "Food & Family", which is full of recipes, helpful tips for cutting calories, saving money, etc., and has some coupons in it. 60 - 70 pages of good stuff, and it was absolutely free!
When I started getting the magazine, several people I know saw my copy(ies) and inquired where they could get one and I told them to go on-line and sign up. They did and they were thrilled too. Did I mention this magazine was FREE?
So imagine my surprise when my recent edition arrived in the mail along with the notice that this would be my final issue, and if I wanted to continue receiving their magazine I would have to start paying for it. Um, excuse me?
I'm wondering if this was their intent all along... get you hooked on the magazine, then stick it to you. Well, I don't need your magazine that badly. I know, I know, costs are rising and companies can't afford to keep giving so much stuff away. I shouldn't complain, I got a few good years out of them. It was good while it lasted.

*My stalker is back. You know, the guy I keep crossing paths with at these 5k's and charity walks. I saw him back just before Halloween and I had my husband with me. I made sure he knew John was my husband. I knew I wouldn't see him two weeks ago as he was participating in an event in the county to our south. Thank goodness. Then darned if he didn't appear at the "Out of the Darkness" walk we participated in this past Saturday. We chatted a couple of times before the event started, but once it got under way, he was at the very front of the pack. There were maybe 30 or so people in front of me. For once, I didn't start in the back of the pack, as I had things to do that day and wanted to get done. Besides, I knew I'd end up passing most of those people anyway, 'cause most of them walk too slow. We had a nice buffer-zone of people between us and that suited me fine.
Now in all honesty, while yes, I've been referring to this guy as my "stalker" for these past few months, I've been saying it in a rather facetious way, I hope everyone understands that. I have never felt threatened by this person, and never truly felt he was stalking me. I see a lot of the same faces at some of these events. He just happens to stand out more than some of the others because he always makes a point of coming over and petting Olivia and making small talk, and too because he's taller than most of the other people.
But here's where it got just a little weird this weekend.
Liv and I had gone about 2 miles with still 1 to go on our walk. We were passing by a grove of trees that had a pathway leading through them, but that pathway wasn't part of the walk. The course was clearly marked where we were supposed to follow. My stalker, who as I said was way out in front, we'd long since lost sight of and I felt reasonably sure he was nearing the finish line. Well darned if he didn't suddenly step from the path among these trees just as we were passing, and he fell into step beside me. It rather startled me. What the heck was he doing amongst the trees? Some of you might say he stepped in there to take a leak, but I'm telling ya, we had just passed several (free) public restrooms with no lines at the doors. He had no reason to step into the trees to relieve himself. It was kind of freaky, almost like he was waiting on us to catch up.
Should I be concerned?

*Lot's of events coming up, and that doesn't even include the actual holidays.
5 days and counting 'til the trail ride. I'm very excited! Also, the Lifetime movie channel is having an Ann Rule marathon... movies and mini-series that have been made from some of her novels. I can't wait!!!
Livvie and I have walking events on the 21st, 26th (yes, Thanksgiving day), 27th, Dec. 5th & 12th. I love it!! I just hope it doesn't rain. Gimme the cold, keep the elements!

Bridging the Gap

There is an old railroad bridge (The Big Four Bridge) in downtown Louisville, that crosses the Ohio River from Louisville KY to Jeffersonville IN. It hasn't been used in decades, at least, not as a railroad bridge.
I can remember in my teen years, a local radio station, LRS-102.3 had their call letters/numbers on the bridge and it was used in conjunction with a charity called "Bridging the Gap", which I believe was to help needy children at Christmas.
I'm not even sure that radio station is still around. I stopped listening to them many years ago. There has been a fire or two on the bridge over the years, I believe one was electrical, the other I'm not sure.
There has been a lot of talk around the community as to what should be done with the bridge, some rumors even said that a shopping mall was going to be built up there.
A couple of years ago, the Waterfront Park Development finally purchased the bridge and started work on a project that has me very excited.
They are in the process of making it a pedestrian bridge. A curved pathway leading from ground level up to the bridge will provide access. When Olivia and I were down that way Saturday morning, it looked as if great progress has been made and that it wouldn't be much longer before it was opened to pedestrian traffic. I told the guy that was walking next to me that I wanted to be there on opening day to take that walk.

I went on-line to seek info on the bridge, and right now it's not scheduled to open 'til sometime in 2011. Hurry up and wait!

I may as well laugh about it

I may as well laugh, because crying and complaining certainly isn't doing any good.
If you read last weeks blog, then you'll know I was on a quest to find a SpotBot so that I could clean up some of the dogs' messes without having to drag the large Bissell out every time.
I purchased a SpotBot at my local Walmart Saturday afternoon. Sunday, I unpacked it, sat down and read all the instructions before attempting to use it (yes, some people actually do do that!), then re-read them, step-by-step as I was setting it up.
I had the cleaning solutions and water tank filled, it was plugged in, I pushed the start button and sat watching the cleaning brushes spin around. Fascinating. Only...
I wasn't seeing the water tank level get lower, and I wasn't seeing the dirty water tank fill up. Something wasn't right. I paused it in mid-cycle and felt the carpet. Bone dry. I grabbed the instructions and read them again, then flipped to the trouble-shooting section. The only suggestion it had for water not dispensing was that the water tank was probably empty or not installed properly. Let me assure you neither of those things was the problem. I emptied the water into a measuring cup and started over from scratch, following the instructions carefully, set Bot over the spot and pushed start again. Still nothing. &%$#!!#*#&*#^`~!!!!!
I packed Bot back into it's box and returned it to Walmart for an exchange. There was one left on the shelf and I took it home. If this one wouldn't work, then I would know (assume) it was operator error. I disregarded the instructions and put this one together from memory and set it on the first spot and pushed start. Ah, at last, this one seemed to be working. I moved it from spot to spot, adding more water and cleaning solution after every 2 or 3 spots and emptying the horribly filthy dirty water tank. Seriously, it was gross. I would have loved to have just started Bot at one corner of the room and kept moving it 6" over until the whole room was cleaned, but that would've cost a fortune in cleaning solution (cost a small fortune as it was), and at the moment, I was just interested in hitting the recent vomit and diarrhea spots, of which there were several all around the living room.
I ran out of the Oxy-gen-2 power boost cleaner stuff, and I could tell a big difference in the spots cleaned with it and the ones cleaned without it. I'm sold on the Oxy stuff. Must put it on the shopping list for this evening. The Bissell pet-cleaning solution did okay, but certainly not as well as when it had the Oxy stuff added to it.
So after Bot had cleaned several spots, I was was once again reminded of what color our carpeting used to be some 16 years ago when it was installed. It used to be a nice silvery-gray. Now, it's just an indescribable crud color.

John came in and commented that it was doing a pretty good job on those spots. I looked at him as I started hopping on one foot from spot to spot, as if playing hopscotch and said, "Wanna play 'Twister'?"
Yes, I know how ridiculous it looks having 15 or 20 clean circles scattered across your carpeting, but I'll take the clean circles over the stains that were there previously. I'm still waiting to either hit the lottery or for that rich, long-lost relative to remember us in their will, so that I can afford to put tile down in the house.

In all honesty, I don't know why I ever bother to attempt cleaning the carpets at all, because each and every time I do, one of the dogs will have an accident in the house, get sick, get injured, it will rain which means mud gets tracked in, or something will get spilled. Seriously, it's just a waste of my time.
And if you think I'm exaggerating, then let me tell you what happened this morning. Shortly after 5:30 this morning (a mere 12 hours after cleaning the carpet), I was awakened by John letting the dogs outside. Bootsy & Eliott ran off the deck and were frantically running around the back yard barking their heads off at something. I chose to ignore the chaos and hugged my pillow closer. A few minutes later I heard John yelling at me that Eliott's foot needed to be bandaged.
Knowing how my husband usually over reacts, and that Eliott probably had a tiny scrape that just needed to be left alone, I slowly rolled from the bed. He left the dogs outside and went to use the restroom. Okay, he obviously wasn't in any big hurry to tend to our son, so I wasn't making a mad dash. I shuffled to the backdoor and was greeted with this...

****WARNING!!! IF YOU'RE AT ALL SQUEAMISH ABOUT THE SIGHT OF BLOOD, YOU MAY NOT WANT TO LOOK AT THESE. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED!!!!*****

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Okay, so now I stepped it in to high-gear. Both dogs came running when I stepped out onto the deck. I needed to examine Eliott, but with Bootsy dancing all around, making it difficult, but I couldn't very well let her in the house as she would just track blood and mud in. I had to wait for the husband, who came and just stood inside the back door. I started snapping orders. I need a wet towel to wash off Bootsy's feet so she could go in. I tried holding Eliott still so I could see where the problem was.

John returned with a wet rag and I washed Bootsy's feet off and shoved her in the back door. The husband continued to stand in the house instead of coming out and offering assistance. Eliott was stepping all over my feet which were getting covered in blood, puddles of the stuff were everywhere.

I could see it tracked out through the gravel, but as it was still dark out and our porch light didn't light up the grassy area that well, I couldn't see much further.

I finally got Eliott settled down enough to wipe off his front feet, then his right back foot. They were nothing more than a little muddy. It was the hind left foot that was the problem.

He completely ripped a nail off of his toe. Don't know how he did it.

I applied a bit of super-glue to the end of the nail, even though it had almost stopped bleeding. I had John lay a trail of towels from the back door to the dog crate so I could lead Eliott down the path and attempt to keep my clean spots from getting re-soiled.

I just looked at the husband and said, "well, guess we won't have to worry about trimming that nail for a while. I knew as soon as I cleaned the carpeting, something would happen. It always does."

I went to feed the dogs and he went outside to hose down the crime-scene.

The lawn-guy called a little later asking if we could leave the gate unlocked for him today. John went out to unlock the gate and I went out to look around the yard (not that it was daylight) and see if I could find the initial scene of the crime. Nothing obvious stood out, just several puddles of blood all across the lawn. Poor Eliott.

I know it had to hurt like heck. I fed him a couple of Ascriptin with his breakfast and put him back in the crate. He's on "bed-rest" the rest of the day, much to Olivia's chagrin. Seriously, she seemed quite upset that he was in her crate. At one point she went in there with him, trying to annoy him enough that he'd get up and leave. For once, he stood his ground 'til I made her get out.

She's such a little brat at times. But a smart brat.

There's only one thing she hates more than having her nails trimmed, and that's having her ears cleaned out. She simply will not allow it. At one point yesterday, her left ear was flipped back and I could see how gunky it was getting and I knew I had to get it wiped out. Later that evening she was curled up on her recliner and I managed to sneak up on her with a rag in each hand and clamp onto her head and get a fair amount of gunk cleaned out of that ear before she realized what was happening to her. Once she realized, she bolted from her chair and started running laps around the house. I sat down in my recliner and laid one of the rags down on the table next to me, waiting for another chance. She paced past me a few times, shooting me a look. She climbed up into the other chair, but immediately climbed down again, paced past me a few more times, then she suddenly grabbed the offending rag, hopped up onto her chair and spit the rag out on the far side of her chair so it was now between the chair and the wall, where she felt I'd be unable to reach it. She promptly curled up and went back to sleep. Needless to say, I cracked up at her reasoning/problem-solving skills.

2 Lovers running across a meadow...

While I was typing my last blog, my keyboard suddenly, very unexpectedly, died a horrible death. I mean it died. There weren't any spare keyboards lying around in the attic, so the boss sent me to Walmart to buy a new one.
Just as I was leaving the parking lot, my cell phone rang. It was my husband. He was on his way to the little town I work in to make a delivery to the Walgreens (which I was driving past at the very moment he called).
He was still 6 or 7 miles away, so I went to the DQ, got a milk shake and headed back to the Walgreens, just as my hubby was driving across their parking lot. Good timing, eh?
He pulled around behind the store and I followed. We both got out of our vehicles and ran madly towards each other and embraced, just like you see in those sappy love movies where lovers go running across a meadow full of wildflowers.
Well, okay, maybe it wasn't quite like that.
It was more like two broken-down people, limping towards each other as fast as their aches and pains would allow, and him asking me, "what the hell are you wearing" as he embraced me, laughing. I asked, "what do you mean" as I pulled back. "You look like a large grape", he was making fun of my purple sweater. We embraced again and then he started griping about having come in the wrong entrance because someone had given him bad directions while I was eye-balling a bunch of large rocks in the gravel area behind the store.
Quite the romantic pair, aren't we?
Ah, it really was good to see him and get a John-hug. My husband gives the best hugs. Ask anybody that's ever received one! And since I hadn't seen him in 2 1/2 days, it was good to see his smiling face, even if he was smiling because I looked like a large grape.
As I said, I was eye-balling some large rocks and chunks of concrete that were lying about, and I went out and started picking them up and loading them into my car. He started helping, despite my fussing at him to do his actual job before he got into trouble.
I wanted the rocks to help fill in some ruts in my friend's driveway. The ruts created by the gravel being washed away every time it rains. I'm afraid one of us is going to break an axle or ankle (or both) one of these days as the ruts are so deep. Maybe these larger rocks will help some. Maybe...
So the two young (okay, middle-aged) lovers finally parted ways after a final embrace, each going their separate ways... he into the backroom of the pharmacy and I back out to the rocky field for one more armful of rocks.
Ain't love grand?!

The good, the bad, the happy, the mad

I'm up, I'm down, one minute I'm bouncing around in my seat, happy over some news I got, the next moment I'm fuming over the frustration of signing up for an event.

The good and the happy...


As the weather is getting colder, there are fewer and fewer events on the weekends for Olivia and I to participate in togethe. So when I heard on the news this morning that this years "Light Up Louisville" would also be having a 5k run/walk, I was delighted.

I've lived in this city for almost 22 years, and even when I lived out of state, I was still within 12 miles, so it's safe to say I've lived here my entire life. And yet, not once in the 29 years that this event has been taking place, not once I say, have I ever attended the "Light Up Louisville" festivities.
LUL takes place the day after Thanksgiving every year, and every year it seems I'm either working or recovering from a morning full of shopping. And John has either been working or recovering from surgery. It's just been something we avoided, usually because by the time we get off work, it would be such a major headache to fight traffic getting there, that it just isn't worth it. This year however, the parade time is starting later, more towards evening, and the 5k will be in the afternoon, held downtown (that means a flat course, woo-hoo!!). I already know I'll be off work that day, so I can get down there early and not have to fight rush-hour traffic. I called the event's organizer and was given permission to participate with Olivia. WOO-HOO, now I'm really getting excited, bouncing all around in my seat.


The bad and the mad...


Now here's where things get crappy.

The website states you can register on-line or by mail, and gives you a link to click on. The link just takes you to Active.com, which is a rip-off website that charges you a surcharge to register via their site, unless you're an Active.com member (yearly fee of about $50 to join). Grrr!

There was no registration form to download to mail in, so telling people they can register by mail is a crock! And I'll be darned if I'm paying Active.com's surcharge. I'd rather pay the extra $5 by registering in person the day of the event and have the monies go to charity than pay their surcharge. What a freaking rip-off!! Active.com sucks!!
Oh well, let's just hope it doesn't rain/snow. Olivia and I are looking forward to it!

Random stuff

*I once again find myself temporarily residing out in the country, caring for my friend's danes while she's somewhere across America, trying to win points at a dogshow and thus make her dog's sperm more valuable. ;)

*Our local abc affiliate, WHAS, is royally pissing me off these past two weeks. For the last two Wednesdays, they've been pre-empting the regular broadcasts to televise exhibition games that U. of L. has been playing against teams that are of absolutely NO competition. It's a joke!! And not a funny one at that. I seriously can't be the only person ticked off that I've been unable to watch my favorite comedies for two weeks in a row! Even my husband, who is a die hard U of L fan, has been bummed about missing these shows. Granted, last nights game did end only a couple of minutes past 9pm, and WHAS did show "Modern Family" in it's entirety, but we missed it last week. This week they were kind enough to show "The Middle" at 2am this morning, and advised everyone to set their dvr's so as not to miss it. Excuse me? What makes them think everyone owns a dvr? or tivo? or whatever? Or even has a functioning vcr for that matter? I had access to none of those things. So it was either miss the show, or else get up at 2 in the morning to watch it... which is exactly what I did.
Back to bed at 2:30, up again at 4am to make sure the husband had gotten up for work (and he told me he'd watched the show as well... yes, we both LOVE that show!!), back to bed at 4:10, back up at 5:15 to start letting dogs out. Did I get a good nights rest? Uh, no.
Frickin' WHAS!!

*Well, after Olivia recovered from her illness, we had less than a two week reprieve before Bootsy got sick. We haven't been as fortunate with her as we were with Olivia about avoiding accidents in the house. It's been a daily occurrence for her to crap on the floor. I know she can't help it, but honestly!, couldn't she at least go on the vinyl where it would be easy to clean up? Or on one of the throw rugs, or better yet, on one of the many old towels we have laid down all over the place in hopes she'll do her business on them? Oh no. Not Bootsy. She'd much rather go directly on the carpeting. If my carpet wasn't trashed before (and truthfully, it was), then it certainly is now. **groan** I feel bad staying out in the country and leaving John home to deal with the inevitable mess. While I do have a Bissell carpet cleaner, it's such a hassle to drag out every time, especially for spot-cleaning, so I think I'm going to invest in a SpotBot. I've been researching on-line, reading reviews, checking out prices, comparing the (original)SpotBot to the SpotBot Pet. Other than the color of the machine and the fact that the "pet" costs a few dollars more, they are the same exact thing. Amazing how a company can charge more simply for making people think it's specifically for pet messes.

*So speaking of SpotBot... I went to the local Walmart at lunch to purchase one. There was only 1 left on the shelf and I picked it up to put it in my buggy. I thought the top of the box looked as if it had been opened, so this made me look a little closer at the item, certainly closer than I'd have looked otherwise. Hmph! I was glad I did. It was evident that someone had already used this item before, and then returned it to the store. Gross!!! I'm not paying full price for a used item that's contaminated with goodness-only-knows-what kind of bio-hazard stuff. No thanks! I put it back on the shelf. I'll check another store when I get back home, and you can be certain I'll be looking at the item carefully before I purchase it.

*An over-turned tractor-trailer on the interstate this morning, forced me to seek out an alternative route going to work. Fortunately, I knew about the accident before getting on the interstate, so I didn't waste time sitting on I-71. Instead, I opted for taking Hwy 146 all the way in to work, as that's the road my office sits on anyway. Certainly it's a longer distance, and at a slower speed, along a windy, country road. I left the house 20 minutes earlier than usual, and I was making good time, hardly another car in sight ahead or behind me... that is, until I crossed the county line. I was perhaps a mile or so from my final destination when traffic suddenly came to a stand-still. Grrr! Now would have been a good time to know some of the side streets in that part of the county, but I didn't, nor did I have a map of this county in my car. So I sat, and my car crawled along slowly. It ended up taking me 50 minutes to get to work. Traffic was so bad in town from the incident on the interstate, there was actually an officer at the main intersection directing traffic.
I now have a copy of this county's map in hand and have somewhat studied it, examining the out-lying roads. It seems each time I stay out in the country, I end up sitting in traffic for one reason or another, and it's always at some spot in the road where I don't know an alternate route. I'm really getting tired of this!!

Month 5

Tonight starts my 5th month of riding lessons.
I'm still enjoying it!
I keep asking myself, AND the instructor, "will it ever become 2nd nature?"
Last week, I actually took a clip board, pad of paper and pen, and took notes. Not while on horseback of course, but prior to mounting. I'd written out some of my questions ahead of time and was furiously jotting down the teacher's instructions for how to make the horse do this or that, go this way or that way, etc.
This probably sounds ridiculous, especially to those that ride frequently, or have ridden for a number of years. When I made a comment to one acquaintance about my taking lessons and how much of a work-out a person gets while riding, he just rolled his eyes and asked "why would anyone ever take lessons? How hard is it to sit on a horse and let it do all the work?"
His reply rather annoyed me and hurt my feelings just a wee bit.
Of course, he's ridden horses for probably 40 years or more (if not his whole life), so of course it's long since become second nature to him and he doesn't have to think about what he needs to do in order to move the horse in a certain direction. And considering how enormous of a man he is, I guess he isn't getting much of a work-out, but then he usually rides draft horses just to accommodate his weight.
Me personally, I'm getting somewhat of a work-out, as I usually end up pealing my jacket off or at least I work up a good sweat while I'm riding, and I don't think I'm sweating from nervousness. My nerves settled down a long time ago.
Earlier, I was reviewing the notes I'd hastily scribbled down, taking the time to re-write them so they were legible and so I could even draw diagrams to go along with it. I had an extension cord (my reins) tied to a step-ladder (my horse) this morning and was practicing my moves. Of course, it's hard to practice tipping a horse's nose when the horse is a ladder, else you pull the ladder-horse over on you. ;)
Now, if I could just start operating on "auto pilot".

Chill out!

Some of you may remember back at the first of the year how I sent my cell phone for a swim in the washing machine, complete with the heavy-duty wash and spin cycles. That little experiment, um, I mean, accident, silenced my phone permanently. Time to get a new phone.
The new phone is virtually identical to the old one, just a couple of millimeters difference in size. Just enough that the turquoise case I carried my old phone in, wouldn't fit on the new phone. Now I have a plain, ugly black case. To make it stand out, I stuck some reflective red-white-blue stickers on it. Not really pretty to look at, but at least it's distinctive enough I'd never confuse it with anyone else's phone.
Nothing much changed on the new phone, and I still get the same annoying calls. If I could figure out how to block the American Red Cross from calling and harassing me, I'd have life made. It doesn't matter how many times you request to be put on a Do-Not-Call-List, that only works short-term, then your number conveniently falls off that list and you're once more subject to their annoying strong-arm tactics. Truly it annoys me!! It's almost gotten to the point that I feel I'm being harassed, no, make that STALKED by them. Can I take out a restraining order on the Red Cross??
Late Saturday afternoon, I called the husband to see when (if?) he was coming home, as it was getting close to the "witching hour" for the trick or treaters. I hung up the phone, put it back in my pocket and went back to getting ready for the evening ahead. An hour or so later, I reached into my pocket and realized my phone wasn't there. I started searching all my pockets but they were all empty. Drats!! I looked on the kitchen counter, not there. I looked on the bathroom counter and the edge of the tub, not there. Not by the recliner, nor by the dog food bins. Not in my purse or on my desk. Crapola!!
The husband was asking where I'd been that I could've left it. Since last talking to him on the phone, I hadn't set foot off of our property, so it was either in the house or somewhere out on the lawn. I started a frantic search outside in the fading daylight while John started dialing my number inside. Neither of us heard the phone ringing and I was starting to panic. Had I dropped it outside and then some neighborhood kid picked it up and taken off with it? A neighbor joined in the effort and started dialing my number, but this was useless because once the first call or two goes to voice mail, then they all start going there automatically. I was really getting bummed. How could I go through 2 phones in less than a year?? I'm more responsible than that!!!
Finally John came out of the garage holding the prize up in the air, "I found it!"
He had opened the deep-freeze to look for some frozen hamburger patties and heard my phone beeping at him. I'd also looked for some patties in the freezer after having called John and I guess when I was practically standing on my head searching the depths of the freezer, the phone fell out of my pocket.
It hadn't been in the freezer for very long, but it had a slight coating of frost on the window and it had quickly drained the battery.
Fortunately, the phone survived the deep freeze and the annoying calls from the Red Cross have resumed.
The silence was golden while it lasted.