With NO More Delay, I Present...

I am so lovin' the weather this week. We've been having overnight lows in the mid-70's and daytime highs in the upper 80's. After the brutal heat and dryness of August, and I'm not complainin', merely observin', this is a nice change. We've even had some scattered rain. And Friday there's a 70% chance of rain.

Tip has a new trick! He has learned to climb, not jump, onto the bed. He has some kind of mental block against jumping onto anything. And do NOT try to tell me it's because of his gettin' clipped 10 days ago. He was that way BEFORE surgery, smarty-pants! I'll try to get a pic so y'all can see him stretched out in all his glory.

The Doc drained a bunch of goo out of the Bursa of my R. knee and injected some Cortisone. The MRI I had last week showed that the fall I took last month aggravated the underlying arthritic changes in the joint, but I had damage to the bursa. I won't bore y'all with any more details, at this point. I'm just hopin' the Cortisone does the trick, cause the other option ain't pretty.

In fact, I told Doc B one of the reasons I like him so much is his conservative approach. He's not one of these Dr.s who thinks, "A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure!" He chuckled and said, "Yeah, well that's why I'm not driving a Mercedes." I retorted, "Yeah, well, it's hard to drive a Mercedes through a cow pasture without gettin' it all scratched up." See, a couple of weekends ago he was down at his deer lease putting a/c in the trailers, you know, doing some honest work for a change.

I was gonna post this Wednesday night...except there's a 'puter hawg in my house. I gave it up a little before 10 to make a phone call and never got it back. We have GOT to get a laptop so I can use the laptop when I'm out of town as well as when my Dearly Beloved is using the Desktop.

About that picture...did y'all actually think I was gonna post a REAL picture of the Ambulance Driver? Pshaw! You should know ME better than that by now. See ya!

A Little Bit to Say About a Lot of Things

I had Supper last night with THE Fat Hairy Bastard and his Lady Friend. Let me start out by apologizing for monopolizing the conversation. I did what I usually do when I'm nervious...I talk and talk and talk trying to make a good impression and wind up doing just the opposite. When I DID give them a chance to speak...they were fascinating! We went to the Great Wall on Hwy 190. If y'all live in Killeen or the Cove or on Base and haven't checked this place out...you are missing a good bet. I had the Pineapple Crispy Shrimp. And I had my choice of rices or LoMein. Mom and I can BOTH have lunch from the left overs and trust me I had all I wanted to eat last night. The hot and sour soup was terrific, too.
BTW, FHB is not. He's not fat, hairy and did not behave in a "batardly" manner atall. He was quite the gentleman and his LF was so sweet and charming, I instantly took a shine to her.
I hope next time we meet he doesn't jerk the check away from me...fair is fair. We should take turns, right? Thanks again for a LOVELY evening, J & D.

Got a Text Message from the Fabulous LaP. She's getting those IV antibioticals and feeling better. But when I tried to call her...her voice sounded like someone had clipped half her vocal cords and had the other half in a vise. So we agreed to text for the next day or so, even though I text like an arthritic, dyslexic, monkey. I miss my perky, peppy friend! I remember how awful it was when I had pneumonia. And I was 10 yrs younger than she is now. Y'all send up prayers, or send positive energy her way, please. She needs all the good vibes we can muster on her behalf.

Tonight I'm meeting my Cousin Charley and his wife and ADORABLE Dtr the AMAZING Gracie for dinner. There's a place in Belton called Nami's. Gracie and I just LOVE Nami's. We like to sit at the Hibachi and have the chef "perform". I like the Onion Volcano. Yes, I am a kid at heart. I also like it when they juggle the eggs around and throw them up into those tall chef's hat's. Jane, Gracie's Mom, is a Prof at the local Univ, but she is also a glorious photographer. She is the one responsible for the pic above. Since it's almost 20 yrs. old, I asked her if she'd mind taking some new pics. She graciously agreed to do that for me. I can hardly wait!
Actually, I've known Jane longer than I've known Charley. See, I got Charley as a cousin when my Daddy married his Aunt. OTOH, My Mother and Jane's Mother threw Baby Showers for one another. So we grew up knowing one another.

BTW, it confuses some people when I talk about Mother and Mom. These are two different women. Different as night and day. Mother is my Mother. She lives about 12 blocks from me. Mom is my Daddy's 2nd wife. I love her dearly and make it down to Killeen to visit her monthly. We clear, now?

Mom and I are "gearing" up for Canyon Lake. Yesterday we went through her pantry and freezer and pantry and compared their contents against what I had brought from my pantry. Then I made a list and went to the store. I got everything but Milk. I'll get that Saturday on our way out of town. Mom has one of those electric chests that will either keep food cold or warm, depending on what you set the temp for. We will put the frozen food we want to STAY frozen in that. The frozen food we want to thaw, we'll put in my little insulated bag. the canned stuff, I brought a sterlite box for. That way we don't have to worry if the brown shopping bags break. I know what you're thinkin', "Oh, Holly, You're not supposed to carry anything heavy while your collarbone is healing!" Well, DUH! That's what the employees at the resort and t-i-p-s are for. I ALWAYS have singles in my pocket for tipping. I'm a good tipper for good service. Someone who carries heavy stuff for me gets a tip.

And that collarbone thing? Since that was my 2nd bone injury in as many months AND I'm a post-menopausal woman, I talked to the Doc Tuesday. I'm now taking 600 mg of Calcium + Vitamin D 2/day. I've also d/c'd the Boniva for a couple of months per his advice in order to give the bones a chance to heal. And before you Medical types jump on me: Yes, I HAVE had a Bone scan, in '05 as a matter of fact, and NO I do NOT have Osteoporosis, thank you very much. Yet. I have a pre-cursor. That's why I'm takin' the Boniva.

And what blog from me would be TRULY complete without a couple of driving rants?
If you drive a Pick-up truck and come to a stop sign...as you approach the intersection, please notice the height of the car next to you. If they will not be able to see over the hood of your truck if you pull all the way to the stop line, please consider stopping far enough back so that the car already THERE can have a CLEAR sight line to oncoming traffic, ASSHAT!!!

I know I've said this before, but it obviously bear repeating :
If I am in the passing lane, exceeding the speed limit in order to pass a vehicle, and am in fact, actively PASSING a vehicle on my right, do you think, it's going to do any good at all, do you thing, Mr. Macho Man, Mr. Teen Rage Driver, giving me the one finger salute that I am going to do any thing other than continue at my current rate of speed? Do you think I might swerve my car into the wheels of the semi I'm passing so you can get past? Should I move onto the left shoulder for your convenience, sir? Or should I, instead, give my emergency flashers a quick tap, thus making it appear to you that I have just tapped my brakes? Or would that just piss you off even further?

OK, that's all I got for today.

This and That

I have been meaning to blog about this stuff for days now and just didn't have enough material for a whole blog, so I'll just lump them all together...

Over on Speaker Tweaker's blog http://speakertweaker.blogspot.com, "Where Sometimes Things Go BANG!", he was talking about a food he loved as a child. And that reminded me of a food I loved as a child... pimento cheese. I had lunch with Claudia and Dian last Friday. We all had sammies. Claudia had pimento cheese on buttered, toasted sour dough. I was sorely tempted, but I finally decided on the Fried Green Tomata sammie. With big thick waffle fries. Oy! My Gatos, we're talking foodgasm, y'all! The tomatas were big ole thick ones. and I had 'em serve it on sour dough instead of the baguette the menu called for. And it came with melted jack cheese. It was nothing short of divine.
If the pimento cheese had been on my fav bread for PC, I would have ordered that, but they didn't have any Cinnamon Raisin bread. Now, just STOP right there! I know you're about to say, "yuck" , but don't knock it 'til you've tried it. The texture of the cinnamon bread is so different from the smoothness of the PC, and the spiciness of the cinnamon just sets off the taste of the cheese flavor to perfection. Try it sometime.

Oh, back in January, I went to Red, Hot and Blue a place that bills itself as Memphis Pit Bar-B-Que in Dallas. I've never been to Memphis...but if that's indicative of their bar-b-que, I haven't missed much. But, their sauces DID have catchy names. VooDoo Child was Carolina Mild. Way too much vinegar in that one. Hoochie Coochie was their hot Bar-b-que sauce. Yeah, it was hot, but not much other taste to it. Mojo Mild...mild and sweet. And Suffering Sweet, too much sugar and vinegar, and way too thin.

The other story has been rattling around since Marko posted over on Munchkin Wrangler http://munchkin wrangler.blogspot.com that Quinn, his toddler, is somewhat dubious about sharing Mom and Dad's attention with the new baby Sister who arrived on Thursday last.
When we brought Son home from the hospital, Angel Baby Girl was sitting across the room on my MiL's lap. Son got a little fussy, so I started to nurse him. ABG shot across the room like a rocket and pulled Son's head away from my breast. She shook her finger at him, admonishing, "No, no, Baby! Don't bite Mama's titty!" It was the beginning of a life full of instructions she was to impart to her little bro.

And that's all that's been rattling around in what passes for my brain cavity for the last couple of days.

Saturday Morning Jumble

I found the quiz below over on John Shirley's "Wandering Thoughts" blog. I was surprised to find I was sooo conservative. On some other, similar quiz, I was in the same range as Colin Powell. So much for the accuracy of Internet quizzes.
I just talked to my tallest son. He was supposed to show up today and do some manual labor. But he called to say he's feeling a "bit under the weather", so he's postponing until next weekend. That way he can combine a trip for the Angel Baby Girls b'day and work for me at the same time.
It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the concept of having a woman-child about to be in her late 20's! Shudder/shake! How can that be? I'm still a mental 25!
Did you hear about the Ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia? 2-1 ruling by the esteemed jurists that the gun ban for Joe/Jane Citizen is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! And the Liberals are calling it an egregious example of "Judicial Activism". Yeah, right. When a ruling supports the Constitution, instead of eviscerating it, the cry "Foul!" Guess I am more conservative than I'm willing to admit.

PhlegmFatale was mentioning "fashion interventions" in her blog the other day. I think she and I share a brain some days. I was waiting for Dian and Claudia to arrive for a lunch date Thursday and noticed three ladies walking into the restaurant. One lady was a woman of size wearing a long, wrap-around skirt. To her shoe tops. Not a pretty sight. Another was also a woman of size, wearing a denim skirt, just below the knee, a clingy top, and a denim shrug. For those of you not familiar with fashion terms, a "shrug" is an abbreviated cover garment that ends just below the bust line. She had waaaaay too much bust line to be wearin' a shrug. Trust me. Plus which, these ladies had parked as close to the door as they possibly could. It took a great deal of restraint on my part to suppress a totally inappropriate urge to jump up and go impart my Goddessly Wisdom, "Honey, shorten that skirt about 4' and it will improve your gait and your appearance about 100%. And You, Ma'am...loose that tacky shrug. I KNOW it's the hottest thing on the rack, but it doesn't do a THING for you. GO for the blazer next time, Girl. And one other thing. Since none of you seems to be disabled, park a little farther from the door. The walk to and from the entrance. The exercise will do you good." Now, none of the above should be construed in any way as "sizeism". I am a woman of size. Have been for years, will still be when I finish loosing weight. Just not as much size. I will NEVER be a size 10. HAIL, I'll never see a 14 again. But I now that beauty comes in all sizes if you package it correctly. These ladies need to learn that.

Lainy asked where my ads are earlier this week. Well, Google ads got a bug up their nether regions b/c of the blog I posted just after they appeared explaining why I put them up. Evidently, to them, and their advertisers, that is soliciting for ads. I could appeal their decision to jerk the ads, but I'm not gonna do that. I went back and re-read the post. I don't think it's smacks of solicitation. and I refuse to be censored. they can # smoke, instead of trying to blow it up my skirt.

And speaking of #smoke...you can dial " #smoke" from your cell phone the next time you see a car belching oil smoke your drive around town, or out on the highway. IF it has a TX license plate and you're in TX. Most cell carriers provide it free of charge. Google "Clean Air Texas" for details of how to report polluters. You can also report factories for pollution.

Well, I gotta go dig in my yard, now. Y'all enjoy the sunshine today. I will and then I'll enjoy the spring rain.

Wandering Wits Wednesday

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope all of you get the kind of Valentines I got. I got one from the Dearly Beloved that was so sweet it made me cry. And I got one from the dawgs that was so funny, it made me laugh. How do I know it was from the dawgs? Well, duh! They signed it...with they muddy paw prints. Jeez, haven't y'all ever gotten a card from your pet? [shakes her head]

And speaking of Dawgs, Ambulance Driver mentions what I like to call a "rat dog" in his blog titled, " I'm Clear, You're Clear, The Chihuahua Is Clear". Giving one of those yappy, furred, terroristic canines an electric shock is a good start. I have a Ben and Boo story that involves a "rat dog". There's a 6' tall wood fence along our Northern property line. The former neighbors had two dogs. One sounded like a big dog, had a deep bark, which is usually indicative of a 50lb+ size dog. The other dog's bark was a yippy, constant, frentic bark. One of those that began before the dog ever came outside and continued well after it returned to the interior of the home.
We'd hear the big dog now and then, usually when kids were walking down the street or when loose dogs were roaming the neighborhood. The little dog, however, we heard all the time. One day, we actually SAW the little dog. She had evidently been worrying the ground at one area of the fence. Finally, she made her escape. She made her escape right into our yard, barking for all she was worth at Ben and Boo.
I was in the yard, pulling up weeds. Whenever I'm outside, our dogs are outside. Lucky for the Escapee Chihuahua I was outside. As soon as Ben and Boo realised an interloper was in THEIR yard they ran over to her, all 2 lbs of her. She took one look at the dogs she had spent the better part of 2 years barking at, the TITANS who were now bounding towards her, with their gigantic teeth bared, and she she dropped to the ground, rolled over on her back and played dead.
I started laughing so loud, the Dearly Beloved had to come outside to see what was so funny. I was so amused, I couldn't stop laughing to explain. All I could do, with the tears rolling down my cheeks, was point. Boo and Ben, stalking around this little hellion, the one who had been sooo brave on her side of the fence. They weren't even sure she was a dog, she was so tiny. They kept sniffin' of her, and circling her and DB finally went over to "rescue" her. He picked her up and tucked her into the crook of his arm. He related that her little heart was just pounding. By this time I had calmed down enough to speak, "She came from the house on the North fence line."
So after DB takes the Chihuahua to their front door, I hear a man's voice calling to his daughter, informing her that her dog had dug under the fence. When DB returned to our yard, he told me the neighbor thanked him and assured him, they'd fix the hole so she wouldn't come "visiting" again. That's good, I'm not sure her heart could have taken another inspection by our dawgs.

Last Saturday, the DB had to run an errand. He decided, since the weather was mild and Ben hadn't been for a ride in the truck in a while, to take Ben with him. Now to see Ben in the bed of the truck in to see joy in motion! I have never, in a lifetime of havin' dawgs of all sizes and breeds, nevah, seen a dawg who loves riding in the truck like Ben. He jumps in the bed with little or no urging. then, he begins to bark with happiness before DB even starts the engine. As DB drives down the street, Ben is busy moving from the front of the bed to the tailgate, from the driver's side to the passenger's side. He wants to make sure he sees EVERYTHING. His tongue is out, his tail is waggin', he barks whenever someone looks at him, as if to say, "HI there, Friend, Beautiful day, isn't it? And I'm a beautiful boy, too!" He is just 100+ lbs of Yellow Lab excitement.
Whenever DB returns from whatever store he's been in, Ben usually has an admirer or two. Some will be bold enough to approach him and pet him, but others are too shy. On this particular occasion, a Dad was in the same parking lot with his 3 young sons. The boys were obviously wanting to pet the Big, Yellow Dog. DB looked at Dad and said, "They can pet him if they want to." Dad asks DB if Ben is friendly, and DB tells him, "Yes, he's OK, and he likes children." So Dad and his sons approach the truck . Two of the boys are tall enough to reach Ben to pet him, but the toddler in Dad's arms has to depend on Dad to get close enough to the truck. Dad is having to keep a death grip on Toddler because he is trying to squirm out of his father's arms to get to the giant doggie. When Ben gives him a big ole slurp with that wet tongue, that toddler almost went to the moon, he was so high. Dad and DB talked about Ben for a few seconds while the boys all petted the dog, then the Dad ruefully said, "We have a Chihuahua" and he and his sons told Ben and DB good-bye. I get the feeling Mom picked what kind of dog that fam has.

I found something really SICK while I was looking at the site meter... some perv in Poland, and no this is NOT the set up for a joke, somehow got sent to my blog using the search words , real nude children 12 yo . You'd think, having worked with Sex Offenders, that wouldn't shock, bother, gross me out. But it does. I guess I've been away from the professional side of it too long. But that doesn't mean I'm going back.

Also, AD, I get more referrals from your blog than any other single site. Thanks to you and your readers.

And last, but not least, I'm thinking about putting in google ads. Would it be a hassle to click on the ads, if I do decide to put them in? I've got a friend in Afganistan, a cousin in Baghdad, and a Niece about to go to basic training. The ads would support the "care" packages and postage for them. Once they are all home, I'll be joining Soldier's Angels, so it would be an ongoing endeavor. I need some feedback.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. Going out of town again. Maybe I'll post from Killeen and maybe I won't. At any rate, you'll get something by Sunday.
Try to cope.