Races, Money, and Comfort

I am glad the debates are over, now if I could just not have to see another attack ad. In eighteen days we'll elect the next President of the United States. Who ever we elect will not be perfect. Many times we elect officials only to discover that they can't do it all. No-one is perfect and we will all be happy or disappointed at some time during the next four years.

It is a little like watching our sports teams. We are rabid fans at the start of the season when so much is expected. I supported the Astros - well we know where they are. Come on Rays! So now I would like to see something different, say a team going from worst to first. So what do I say about the Texans? Uh, from so-so to so-so... Detroit wake up, you might win a game! Maybe. Then again, maybe the Texans will find some new ways to win, maybe.

Let's hope someone can figure out how to balance a budget. Hey, if you are giving money away, I'll take a few million. So we are going to spread the wealth and bailout everybody. Team USA is going to save us all by bailing us out of trouble. Did AIG not get the memo? Don't take your team on lavish trips after getting money from the Feds! You are not Jerry Jones. Now there is a team!Jerry keeps saying the Cowboys are great and Adam Jones will be good on the team. It's a good thing Jerry Jones and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell don't run this country.

I wonder if ticket sales to sports events have slowed. With the economy on shakey ground, buying some big ticket items has changed. On the other hand maybe the people with money will have to buy lower priced seats instead of the 50 yard line seats. I remember when President Bush advised us all to go shopping after 9/11. Did we over spend? AIG won't be using the luxury boxes at games.

For some of us, we'll look to the race to the World Series. That would be less stressing than watching the Presidental race. After all, in stressful times we go for "comfort" things. It is easier to yell at the tv when your team is doing well, or not. It is not quite the same when watching the tv during election night.

Since the Texas Longhorns are going to have to defend it's #1 ranking Saturday, I may have to go get some comfort food. Or maybe some lipstick. I understand that the cosmetic industry is doing well. Lipstick seems to be a big seller. Of course there are a lot of pigs out there. The Horns put a lot of lipstick on those Hogs when they beat them.

When Reporting the News Becomes the News

We all watch our local news. We learn what happened while we were at work or while we slept. We see reporter at the sites of the stories. We are familiar with helicopters flying over car chases as the police try to grab criminals. We see car accidents or natural disasters. Almost every network channel in any large city has a news helicopter. I have often wondered how they manage to stay out of each others way while trying to cover a story. Almost every tv outlet's helicopter has had an accident. We have four major stations (ABC,NBC,CBS, Fox) who have helicopters and each of them has had accidents or crashes.

Yesterday I had the tv on to our ABC channel 13 as the 11:00 am news was on. There had been a shooting out in Montgomery county and the Channel 13 SkyEye 13 chopper along with a couple of other news stations was on the way to the scene. It never made it to the story. It became the story. As it flew over a wooded area while sending video to the station, it suddenly lost signal. Another channel's (KRIV Fox 26)helicopter was also covering the story and saw that Channel 13's chopper had crashed. They immediately called Channel 13 and sent them the video from their helicopter. Their video clearly showed the bits and pieces of what was once SkyEye 13. The pilot and reporter were both killed.

News reporting from helicopters is a quick way to get to a news scene. We all have come to expect to see the shots from above. I've even seen the choppers flying near where we live. We usually watch Channel 13 news so hearing the voice of the reporter as he covered traffic or accidents or other stories was a routine. We knew the voice.

John Downhower was the pilot and was well qualified. Dave Garrett was a good reporter who could take a breaking story and sort it out quickly and accurately. Sometimes the news hits too close to home, even for the news people.

Just Let Me Calm Down

Now that the Longhorns have won, after keeping me on edge all day, I decided to watch the Houston Texans to see if they could win against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. I was already stressed after the college game so I put on my new Texans t-shirt and hoped that they would win instead on finding new and inventive ways to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. So it ended up in another frustrating game which they actually won. Now the Texans have one more victory than Detroit does. Some comfort that is, we play them in a couple of weeks.

My nerves are rattled enough, so why do I keep seeing the crowds at the candidates rallies getting more and more vocal. What is worse is that they are really getting angry and harsh. I actually saw part of a rally featuring Sarah Palin and could not believe that I heard a supporter yell "kill him" or "bomb him". "Him" being Obama, and Mrs. Palin was enjoying this. Or at least she seemed to. I find this very concerning that we are resorting to these kind of crowd comments. This does no good for either party. I saw the little lady whose back was to the audience try to tell Sen. McCain what Sen. Obama was. I was glad to see McCain take the microphone from her and retort her. I realize there is a lot of passion as well as the future of our nation at stake, but we don't need this. I was in high school when John Kennedy was killed. I don't want another President to die in office. It won't matter if it is death by age or violence. We, as a nation, are better than this current harmfull attitudes of some people.

People who espouse these mean, hurtfull calls are not patriots and are neither true Republicans or Democrats. They are haters who do not understand the goals of either McCain or Obama. They want to do the best for our country and the people. Rather than spew vile, they need to go to the ballot box. They also need to remember that no matter how much they don't like someone or some country- it could always be worse.

Now that I have calmed down, I am going to get off the soap box and go watch life's real dramas, the soap operas.

Red River Shoot Out Time

Well, it is that time of year again. Fall is here but it is not really chilly enough to put a log on the fire or even start a fire. It isn't even Halloween, yet. But it is that special week-end for college football fans in Texas and Oklahoma. It's time for the Red River Shoot Out also known as the Sooners vs Longhorns in Dallas. Every year it is one of the most anticipated college games of the season. Espn will be at the Cotton Bowl and ABC will broadcast the game nationally.

Some years it is just another game. Other years it is more. This is one of those "more" years. Oklahoma is the number one team in the college rankings and Texas is number five. National championship possibility is on the line. No pressure, right? Texas would love to knock the Sooners off the top spot in the national rankings. Don't let anyone tell you it is just another game. College football is big business, big money.

The team that wins this game could go a long way to the BCS championship bowl game in January. The loser, loses. Of course this year there are several teams who could say they have their sights on ending the season as the top team. After all Alabama is #2. If Oklahoma loses, the Crimson Tide could say they have the right to be ranked at the top. If Texas wins should they be on top? Well...Hook 'em Horns! Unless it ends up with Texas playing Alabama for the National Championship. Who will I pick then? We shall see.

Another Loss For Galveston

Beaches, homes, and jobs are in peril on Galveston Island. The topography of Galveston has been altered by Ike. Homes that weren't destroyed may end up being lost due to the erosion of the beach land. FEMA still does not have enough ability to help those on the island. Many residents are begging for trailers from FEMA so they will have somewhere to live while waiting to repair or replace their homes.

The fact that many jobs have been lost is an understatement. After all this is a tourist area. No tourists no money. Now the University of Texas Medical Branch(UTMB) at Galveston is facing some hard decisions. There are 2300 medical students and nursing students there. The medical school has been around since 1891, graduating over 28,000 doctors. The 700 bed John Sealy Hospital had 753,000 outpatient visits alone last year.

The hospital suffered significant damage. Just as the Houston Medical Center was severely damaged due to Tropical Storm Allison so is John Sealy. The medical center was devastated but has now made major changes which this year made a big difference is the safey of the hospitals, equipment and research. Now John Sealy Hospital will have to do the same. Year after year went by as John Sealy Hospital withstood the annual hurricane seasons. But this year it was hit hard with from 6 to 16 feet storm surge alone. Apparently now the hospital will reopen but with considerable changes. They will no longer have 700 beds. It will re-open at less than 1/3 it's capacity. This will mean more job losses. The UT system may or may not be able to afford the changes. The Mayor is not happy about the loss of jobs and the foot-dragging by FEMA.

So, let's let the powers that be in Washington continue to use our tax dollars to bail out others. I hope that UTMB takes some lessons from the Houston Medical Center and finds a way to made the repairs and changes to make the hospital rise again, wiser and better. And they probably won't all go for a spa visit.

Rain Again

It rained this morning, the first time since Ike blew through. A little thunder and lightening and some fast moving storms which ended quickly. I noticed that Daisy was a little concerned by the sounds of the falling rain. As I listened I heard an unmistakable sound of water dripping down the inside of the fireplace. Hum.. Well, at least it did not rain inside like it did to the unit in front. I still have not seen the landlady or any of her "repair" people. So much rain damaged "Mr. Personality's unit. His father in law helped put the chimney back and remove sheet rock, insulation and carpet.

There is another small storm brewing down near Mexico. It won't affect us. It is small compared to Ike. 84 of this new storm could fit into Ike. Child's play. I actually almost like the rain this morning. That is under the electricity went off, just for a couple of seconds, whew.

Poor Reliant Energy, they may have to look for an injection of money since the storm. Now there is a story on the news that they had a way to do something which would have avoided all the loss of power. Sounds like an investigation in the making.

Well at least after this morning's rain the front should push through leaving cooler, dryer air. Sounds good to me. The humidity around here is supposed to be good for the skin (don't ask me) but I would rather have a little less of it.

From Hero to Zero in Less than Three Minutes

Houston Texans played their 100th football game Sunday. It was their first home game of the season thanks to Hurricane Ike. The roof of the stadium was open due to storm damage which totaled around $10 million. It was hot on the field. The Texans were hoping a win for the home town fans. It did at one point look like they would get their first win of the season. But in a strange turn of events, the 27 to 10 lead was destroyed in a few short minutes of mayhem. Sage Rosenfels tried to run and hurdle over the defense only to lose control of the ball allowing the Colts to run it back for a touchdown. In less than three minutes the colts were able to score two touchdowns quickly ending what should have been the Texans first win of the season. Instead there was a complete meltdown.

Lucky for me I was upstairs and out of the way of Jimmy. As I watched the game from the bedroom, I could hear him screaming at the tv. He was absolutely livid! All I could think of was what a stupid way to lose a game. The only nice thing was that all the Monday morning sports NFL people on ESPN did not blame Rosenfels for running but said he should have protected the ball better. Really?! Jeez.

We are supposed to go to the Ravens game which was rescheduled due to Ike on Nov. 9th. Now Jimmy doesn't want to go. But, to me that is a little "fair-weather fan" like. They can't lose them all, right? Uh, yes they could... Maybe this was just a bad day...maybe.

And then after the late news we here that Astros pitcher was involved in a fight at a wedding reception at a nightclub. Great, just what we don't need. The Astros front office does not look kindly at their players getting into fights. There have been some players who are now playing for other teams because of that.

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Hurricane Ike's "Perks"?

I got my electric bill yesterday. I had heard news stories about customers getting larger than expected bills even though many of us had no power for days or weeks. I was a little surprised to see my bill a lot smaller than usual. Last month my bill was $233. The bill I got yesterday was for $106. There was a note on the bill saying that it was "estimated". Since the electric company was using all it's resources to repair, they were not reading meters. Hum. I am actually happy to have my bill lower. Of course I was without power for nine days. I won't complain since others were getting higher than expected bills. Now Reliant Energy is setting up a number for customers to call and 1. learn how to read their meter, and 2. get and adjustment on their bill. Me, I'll take the $106. Then again, will they raise the bill later to make up the difference? Maybe I should not give them any ideas. Ha!

I finally got through to Comcast cable. They had announced a plan to adjust next month's bills for those who lost cable due to Ike. I am not really expecting a big difference. But we shall see. Every little bit helps.

I finally plugged the freezer back in. One thing about having no power, there is a lot of time to clean out the refrigerator and freezer. My fridge is cleaner than it has been in a while. My poor freezer looks lonely with nothing in it now. But we are going to replace some of the stuff we could not save, mostly veggies and important things like ice cream. We are still debating about filling it with a lot of stuff. I know freezers work better when they are full, but we may not keep a lot in it until hurricane season is over. After losing a whole bag of french fries and some expensive fish and some home made chicken enchilada pie, we are going to take it easy on putting a lot in the freezer.

It could have been worse.

Children's Arrows and Rum Producers??

So we the tax payers of this wonderful country are going to spend 700+billion dollars to bail out the dummies on Wall Street and Main Street. So much is made of who is rescuing whom. Wall Street has made some dumb moves. American lenders, including banks, have made some dumb moves. We fell for the sales pitch of the "snake oil salesmen". People were talked into loans they really could not afford. I remember when we were toying with the idea of trying to buy a house. We had some money and thought it might be a good idea. Of course we did not have very good credit. In looking into financing, I saw all sorts of lending possibilities. I discovered a lot of people were going for the ARM (Adjustable rate mortage) financing. I questioned the wisdom of these loans as did many "experts" in real estate finance. People who chose this type fo financing were told that the rates would go up later, but by then they would have increased their income, etc. No worry. Then the rates increased and these people were startled to discover they were not making enough income. Credit cards came in handy to fill in the gaps. Credit card companies were more than happy to up the credit limits. After all, the more money charged the more the credit card companies made in interest. Oops, flash forward, the money ran out.

This is just an oversimplification of some of the things that have gone wrong which has made it necessary to "rescue" our economy. I don't have any credit cards. I have frequently thought about getting one "just in case". But I never liked the interest rates. So, if I don't have the cash, I don't buy. But I guess, I'm in the minority. I remember years ago, my ex-father in law had several credit cards which all had credit insurance on them. He figured if he died they would be paid off. He did not worry about the monthly payments or credit limits. Now things are different. People are paying for groceries with credit cause they don't have enough money or may not even have a job. Now the banks don't want to lend money because there is already too much credit on the books. Banks borrow from other banks. Business borrows to stay to expand or pay employees, but then suddenly there is no work. No work, no income. Hum... Now what, we have bills to pay! What about my business, what about my home?

But we've been told by Washington that our economy is strong. Over and over, we have a strong economy. Our economy is so strong that the Senate and House are working on an economic rescue bill. 700 billion dollars said the House. Citizens screamed in anger. We don't want to bail out the Wall Street "fatcats". The House listened to people who called and emailed and rejected the bill. But we have to do something before we have an "economic Pearl Harbor" as this has been called. So the Senate says we'll come up with something more palatible. This one should pass and we know the House will pass it, too. Yeah. Let's rescue our economy... The Senate's version has some good plans but they added another 130 billion dollars to the 700 billion already proposed. They added incentives like six million dollars makers of kids wooden arrows. Huh?? Why? Also, they put in 192 million for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. I like rum. I have some in my liquor cabinet. But why do these guys need extra money? And then there is 128 million for car racing tracks. What are they going to do with that? Are the race tracks going to be paved with gold? I guess arrow and rum producers are having a hard time. Maybe there are not enough kids practicing archery. And for sure those race tracks have to be kept in good condition. Those race cars don't come cheap. Fine choices for the use of my money.

As Normal as Can Be, For Now

At this time last week we were waiting for the hurricane. Today I am looking forward to watching some football this weekend. Alabama and Texas are both doing well and I have yet to see either of them play. I know Bama has a nationally televised game and I think(hope) Texas will be on the tube somewhere. The Texans are worrisome. I keep having flashbacks to David Carr who was the quarterback before Matt Shaub. Too many sacks, interceptions. Come on guys!

The Astros are unlikely to make the playoffs. Part of me wants them to go ahead and lose so we can get it all over. Another part of me feels like hanging on by fingernails due to the fact that if the Mets win and the 'Stros lose; it is over. Let's not beat the dead horse. I'm going to miss Brad Ausmus catching next year. He will be a good pitching coach or manager some day.

I went to WalMart this morning and saw a sign on the door which said that they now have generators for $487 plus tax. I thought this was a little funny, like closing the barn door after the horse is gone. But, in truth there are still some 400,000 Reliant customers who have no power, still.

FEMA apparently is saying that they sent too much ice here, so they are just going to let most of it melt because it costs too much to keep it frozen. Excuse me, but there are still people who have no way to keep food cold! Take it to Galveston! If the brilliant folks at FEMA think no-one needs it, they are wrong. But they have decided to send all the trucks back. Makes sense, right? Uh, well maybe not. But this is a federal agency.

Back to life in the big city. That is if we can see it for all the debris piled up at so many homes.

Almost Back to Normal

Things continue to improve here. I just wish there were more improvements for those who still are in pain. There are still many, many people who need help. They no longer have homes and need help to rebuild not only their personal homes but their communities. Every time I look a video of Galveston and other areas severely impacted by Ike I cringe at the thought of how much money and how long it will take to recover. I am impressed with Mayor Bill White and county judge Ed Emmitt as well as our congress-people and Gov. Rick Perry who are fighting hard to cut through the red tape to get things done.

Here we have had power since Sunday, but the cable has been a problem. Off and on, poor quality,etc. I discovered the other day that Comcast was, in effect, babysitting the amplifier across the street. Funny thing is they would do this from 6:30 am until 10:30pm. A service van sat there running the equipment by generator. At 10:30 they shut it down and left. That meant the cable went off.

Yesterday morning I watched six trucks sit along the street as the workers tried to figure out what do do. They dug a hole, they checked the equipment, they scratched their heads. Around 3:30 in the afternoon I heard the workers checking out the electric lines and the cable lines behind our building. One of them was checking something when suddenly I saw a flash of light and a "BANG"! Then the cable went off. At least it wasn't the electricity. Then they had to move more trucks into the area behind the building to replace what ever blew. Grrr. I could hear "NCIS" but not see it. Whatever they did to finally get the cable operational worked, but now there is a large orange and black cable placed along the ground behind all the buildings. Hum... At least now the cable is working and has not gone off again. I also found out that Comcast will pro-rate next month' s for us. That is nice, on the other hand they are the only utility who bills into the future. This months bill is for services through Sept. 29th. Go figure.

Now I wonder what the yard guys are going to do when they come to mow here. Ha,ha, somebody is going to have to get all those pine tree needles and small branches up as well as all those pine cones which are littering the yard. We have already piled up all the big branches at the curb. I hope the yard guys bring a rake. Yeah, right!! Any body want to play drop kick the pine cones?

Things I Thought About Recently

When we were facing Ike's onslaught and the aftermath I was forced to think of different things of varying degrees of importance. Partly due to worry about what was to happen and how we would fare in the days following. Now that things in our area are being in return to "normal", I have been remembering tidbits of my days around Ike.

I felt confident we had enough supplies, plenty of water and snack foods. We went to the store the Thursday before Ike just to pick up a few thing. Other shoppers had a glazed look in their eyes. Fear, concern?

In the middle of the storm I suddenly worried about my car's convertible top. I expected to see it in shreds. When it was safe to go out, I saw that it was fine. Whew...

Later, without power I thought what to do... no tv. Radio was my lifeline to sanity. On the other hand, after a couple of days I began to feel that I had heard all the playlists on each station. News radio was not much better. I read during the day. I finished "Marley and Me" which I had started some time ago. Now what. During a few bored moments I grabbed a handful of M&M's fully intending to mindlessly eat them. Well, I looked at them in the little container and thought how many of each color are there? Nothing else to do, right? So I divided them into colors and counted. Brown-16,Blue-10,yellow-8,Green-16,Orange-9, Red-17.

Then I looked at the football game tickets which were for the Texans game the Sunday after Ike. Hum...what will the NFL do? Play the game in another (neutral) city? A fans revolt might happen if they did that. Let's face it we are still mad at MLB and Bud Selig for moving the Astros games to a "neutral" site. Milwaukee, for Cubs fans, is a "homefield advantage! No we are not going to play our football game in Atlanta,either. Since Reliant Stadium was damaged the decision was finally made to play the game in November on a day which would have been a bye week for both teams. At least the stadium will be fixed by then so it will be a home game!

One good thing we did have on hand was crank flashlights. A nice invention. Jimmy had bought some at Home Depot months ago just because they were on sale. Crank it up and you have Light, yea! Well worth the money at twice the price.

Power companies are still working...now people are begining to complain. We have power; my neighbor down the street does not. 4 million customers (over 2 million with one company alone) is a lot to do.

I wondered what had happened on my soaps. Yikes, when the cable came on, what happened to, just name a character... Finally I could look at the "outside world" sort of. That is when the cable was on. It went off a couple of times over the weekend. Yesterday a Comcast truck was "baby-sitting" an amplifier across the street. It stayed there all day and kept the tv on. That is until they left at 10:30 pm. Huh? This morning I saw a total of 6 trucks parked across the street while the cable guys tried to figure out what to do. My fingers are still crossed.

When I went out this morning I noticed the traffic light up the street was finally working. Yipee! Four way stops are dicey at best.

Well, now that the traffic lights around our neighborhood are working, I feel better. Moving forward.

One Long Night, One Longer Week

Thursday the 12th all the local tv stations began broadcasting 24 hour a day Ike news. We watched the weather and all the work being done as Ike approached. There was still a question of exactly where he would go. Friday morning at 5:00am we all watched as the sea started to sneak over the banks in Galveston. News people and locals all said that was unusual. Jimmy and I were ready. We had food a water. We moved things around outside to hopefully keep them from becoming projectiles. Late Friday afternoon I noticed the winds began to kicking up a little. Nothing out of the ordinary, yet. By 10:00 pm, winds began to stiffen and rise to about 40-50 mph. Still things were calm. We had planned to sleep(sleep?) downstairs in case the roof was damaged. As the night wore on we listened as the winds became increasingly stronger and louder. We continued to watch tv. Jimmy kept playing poker on-line. Around midnight the dogs began to realize something was not right. Daisy started to quiver. About 1:00 am we lost the cable. The wind and rain had become loud and intense. We tried to follow the tv on-line until about 3:00 am saturday. Then the power was knocked out. Without the roar of the storm it would have been eerily quiet.

We sat in total darkness as Ike stormed through. There was a little light on the outside of the firehouse thanks to their generator system which immediately kicked in. Except for the raging storm, it was completely silent. I really wanted to go outside and watch, but I had heard that opening a door would make windows blow out. I don't know how true that it, but I resisted the urge. I heard a loud thud outside the front window as a small tree which had died long ago, trimmed but never removed, finally gave up and fell to the ground harmlessly. We waited, and waited. After what seemed like an eternity, the skys lightened and it was daylight. We ventured out to see the damage. The back yard area was flooded, but no more so than we have seen during an average hard rain. The drainage ditches on either side of the road we flowing briskly. Our side never escaped the bank. The other side though, overflowed and nearly covered the parking lot where a lot of RV's, boats, trucks and other vehicles are stored. I had fully expected them to have been tossed or overturned. Other than a lot of pine tree limbs down, it was ok. As I walked to our parking lot I discovered that the only apparent damage was to the chimney of the unit in front of us. It had been knocked over into the chimney next to it. A big, gapping hole was in the roof of the front unit. It also happens to the the unit where "Mr. Personality" anda his wife live. Sadly, there was a good bit of water damage to the second bedroom. They are expecting a baby Oct. 8th and this was to be the baby's room.

Most of the neighborhood had little damage other than tree limbs and pine needles and cones everywhere including the street. A couple of houses had huge, old trees which split in half. Only one house had a tree fall into the home. So now what? No power... but people came outside and begain to help each other clean up the mess.

Thus began a long, long week without power. No tv, no computer. We only entertainment was via radio. After Monday Jimmy was able to go back to work. Most of the businesses in our area work without power too. So battery powered radio was all we had. I kept changing channels for variety. After a while I realized that I had heard just about all the playlists, so I switched to a news station. Well, there is only so much information available on radio. During the day I ocassionally read or drove around in search of ice. It was a good thing I had filled my car with gas before Ike. Two good things, we never lost water and our water heater is gas so we could still take hot showers. Some people like Amanda and Pat had no power or water.

The big question all week was when we would get power. At one point there were over 2 million people without power. Would you like to test your marriage? Just try living around each other for nearly nine days without power. Grrr...!! Add all of this to not being able to know what is going on in the rest of the world or seeing any pictures of what happened to Houston/Galveston and the rest of the areas struck by the hurricane. News junkie that I am, frustration was my constant companion. Our friend Jan called several times to tell us what she saw of CNN. Gradually power was being restored but all we had heard was that it might be two or more weeks till we got power, groan. Then Saturday evening I noticed that the Remax building and a small shopping area down the street had outside lights. But not us. Maybe soon? Then yesterday morning as we sat drinking a cup of luke-warm instant coffee we heard a "Bang". "Crap", I thought, "Did a transformer blow?" I walked outside to see if any of the transformers behind the buildings were on fire. Whew, no. But it was then I realized the power was back on! Yipee!

Finally, we began to plug back in things. No cable though. We got out the "rabbit ears" so we could watch local tv. It was only then we were able to see any of the damage. Later the cable came back on. Yea! Football! But in the fourth quarter of the Packers/Cowboys game, the cable went off. At least one cable truck has been across the street working on the neighborhood amplifier all night. Nothing yet. Back to the "ears".

Things are improving gradually. Thanks to all of you who have left your comments checking on me. I appreciate it so much.

There is so much more to tell. More to come...stay tuned.

I Don't Like Ike

I am old enough to remember the saying "I like Ike" when Dwight D. Eisenhower ran for President. Well right now the tv stations here in Houston are having non-stop coverage of the looming hurricane Ike as he lurches closer and closer to the mid to upper coast of Texas. Some places near the coast have already evacuated or are evacuating now. It was decided earlier this week that the west end of Galveston would have to evacuate because it has no seawall to protect it. Now the Mayor has decided that the entire island of Galveston should evacuate. What is hard to watch on tv is the line of ambulances taking patients out of hospitals especially the neonatal patients who are going to be airlifted to central Texas. Unfortunately the ambulance crews are putting as many little patients as possible in each ambulance so they have no room for the parents of the babies. This is high anxiety for those parents. Buses are staged in several areas ready to take on passengers with special needs or no other transportation.

We are waiting to see what happens with our friend Jan. She is supposed to fly in Saturday morning. Of course right in the middle of the mess. We are supposed to pick her up at the airport. In the middle of 70-100 mile and hour winds and heavy rain! I am hoping her flight will be canceled or she can change it to a later flight. We are supposed to go to the Texans game Sunday. The game is scheduled for 3:00 pm. If she were able to change her flight, even to Sunday morning it would be better. She may be a friend who spent a lot of money on the game tickets but I would rather not risk driving our little convertible sports car in the middle of Ike. I feel a little evil, but I don't want to get out in it Saturday at all. Continental Airlines which is based in Houston has put out a press release saying that flights may be delayed or canceled because they can't get here.

And of course today, for the first time since we have had the Trans Am the "service engine soon" light came on and I think the a/c needs freon...naturally. I don't like Ike! It's going to be a long week-end.

Words That Irritate Me

Trivial as this may be I wish people would have better vocabularies. Have you ever noticed that we all tend to get into verbal habits. We say the same things over and over. We describe something as "amazing" or "awesome". Is every thing really amazing? I see some many interviews with people on tv who think whatever they did or sang or saw is just amazing or totally awesome. I am sure there are other words in the English language that describe the situation as easily as "amazing" or "awesome".

Then there are people who answer a question with "I mean...". What do they mean when they answer a question that way? The question may be about winning a ball game or a movie review. Sometimes it could be a serious question about a crime or a weather event like a tornado or flood. I mean why do they have to start the answer by saying "I mean".

Another phrase which, to me, is overused is "that's messed up". How is a situation messed up? A girl did something that was thought of as odd by someone else. "That's messed up" is used as a statement of opinion. Hum...

When I was growing up my parents tried to make sure that my vocabulary was well rounded. They encouraged me to read a lot. They thought reading would be a good way to increase my own vocabulary while reading a good story. I guess this is one reason I like Stephen King novels. He uses so many different words to describe the mystery, horror and terror. Who knew there were so many ways to describe an evil car or a crazy, rabid dog? I mean, it's totally awesome and amazing. I wish I could write good stories, but I can't and that's messed up. Jeez.

Hives Are Not Just For Bees

Crazy Daisy was really off the wall during the holiday week-end. Of course she was excited to see Annie and the boys. She loves to chase Skylar and Michael. No, let me re-phrase that - they chase her. But in the middle of all of the fun, Daisy was not so happy.

The yard man mowed the yard Friday evening. At first I was happy and thought so would be Lady and Daisy. Lady was. After all the grass was over my ankles, so just imagine how high it was on her. The weeds which is most of the yard were even higher. Daisy has gotten to the point where she will not even go around the back of the building. Don't laugh, but there have actually been times when I carried her to the edge so she could walk over to the ground at the fire station to do her business. Daisy all but refuses to do her business in the grass anymore. She would rather walk all the way down the neighborhood street and do it there. We have been having some arguments about this because she is easily distracted due to people driving off to work or school buses or even the neighbors outside. Don't even ask how you argue with a dog.

Saturday Daisy started acting funny. She was either bouncing from chair to chair or running up the stairs. At first I didn't give it much thought. Plus she was constantly scratching. Poor baby. She usually scratches a lot in the summer. I frequently have to give her Benadryl so that she can sleep. Suddenly early in the evening, I was horrified to see that she was literally covered with huge bumps almost everywhere. Her back, belly and head were covered. Even her head and face had them. This was the worse case of hives she had ever had. I don't know if it was the grass, creatures in the grass, or all the excitement, but I came within minutes of taking her to the emergency vet. She was miserable. I quickly gave her Benadryl, hoping it would kick in quickly. I grabbed her and ran upstairs to put her in a soothing cool bath which calmed her a lot. She kept looking at me pleading for me to make it stop.

Finally the medicine started to act and she calmed down a little. I continued to watch her hives. Gradually they decreased in size and intensity. It took nearly two days for the hives to completely go away. Now she has recovered and is back to normal. This is Daisy and normal is a relative term. However we are now back to the tug of war. Down the street or near the parking lot, which would you pick? We are again in a battle of wills. I refuse to walk all the way down the street at 10:00 at night and she refuses to squat any where near anything green. At this point I am hoping first, for some rain to wash the grass and weeds and second, for fall so that the growing season will end thus making all the stuff die off. Come on Fall! Only then will we have some peace. Only then will I have the upper hand in convincing her that the ground is safe.

Labor Day Sped Right By

Labor Day has come and gone. Somewhere I think I lost three days. I tried to catch up on the house cleaning Thursday and Friday before Annie, Jason and the boys got in. Up and down stairs, who needs exercise? Of course giving the dogs baths is always a challenge. Lady is not really a problem since she is old and rarely leaves the chair, so she is easy to catch. Daisy has to be bathed by sneak attack so I grab her first. So everything was ready. Gustav was still churning.

Annie and Jason decided to wait until Saturday so they could visit with Jason's cousin in San Antonio as he was graduating from Air Force boot camp. While there Skylar learned how to salute.
Later he showed me what he learned...too cute! Annie was a little worried about coming to Houston since we were not sure what Gustav's plans were. She did not want to get stuck in a lot of traffic. After a lot on arm twisting, I mean discussion, they did make it here late Saturday night.

Pat had told Annie that he wanted to take the boys fishing. They had never been fishing or to a beach. It was assumed that they would go Sunday to Texas City where Pat usually goes. Little did Annie know, but Pat had planned a surprise for her. Her twin brother had gotten in touch two of Annie's friends whom she had not seen in a long time. Instead of going to the usual place they went to Galveston. The boys got to ride the ferry for the first time. Then they had a little party on the beach in Galveston. Tents on the beach? Well, that started out as the plan. Let's see Annie, Jason, Skylar, and Michael on the beach. Plus Annie's two friends as well as Pat and Amanda and Greg and Abby. Quite a party on the beach, it must have been fun. But in the back of all their minds was Gustav. Late in the night it started raining, so rather than take any chances they packed up and left the beach.

Later Sunday Annie was on a hunt for Astros gear. She wanted to find some ball caps and shirts. We went to a flea market where she found a lot of Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell stuff. Those were two of her favorite players, especially Biggio. She hopes to decorate part of her house with Astros stuff. She did find a bunch of stuff at the flea market but not the caps she wanted, but she did find some later at a local store. Meanwhile we still watched the sky...

Monday they worried about what route to take home since I-10 would be swamped with people trying to get away from Gustav. As we watched the weather reports Gustav apparently did not choose to visit Texas. But there was a lot of traffic around east Texas. We waited for Amanda so we could go to lunch before Annie and Jason left to go home. Amanda came over in Pat's car which used to be her car, but that is another story. Any body want to ride in a car that whistles at girls? No, how about la cu ca racha? Just think of that. As we left the resturant Amanda decided to play the whistle and the Mexican song to the delight of a guy standing outside. He had to think we were nuts. He broke into laughter. Me, I tried to hide in the back seat. But it was funny.

Three day holiday weekends don't last long. Well at least we had no problem with Gustav here. But there is a new trio of storms out there waiting to visit. Hannah may visit Florida or the Carolinas. Ike and Josephine have not made their travel plans yet. We shall see.

Last Holiday of Summer and Gustav

Labor Day will soon be here. Annie,Jason and the boys will be here tomorrow. Pat wants to take Skylar fishing. That should be interesting. There is talk of Pat taking Skylar and maybe Jason, camping. That is really something I don't want to see. Of course my idea of roughing it is a Holiday Inn with a black and white tv and no internet. I think Annie got the anti-camping gene from me. She does not like camping either. I am waiting to see if the the boys will be able to tire out Daisy. That takes a lot of work. They did a good job with that the last time they were here.

Of course the whole Texas coast is watching Gustav with some anxiety. Every day we wonder if it will go closer to New Orleans or come toward Galveston. Neither of which is good. It could be a category 3 by the time it gets into the gulf. I recently watched a program on the Weather Channel called "It Could Happen Tomorrow". It investigated the possibility of a category 5 hurricane hitting Galveston. The worst was the storm of 1900 which destroyed most of Galveston. As we who live around here know, a major hurricane is overdue here. Houston and Galveston have done a lot of improvements since Rita three years ago and tropical storm Allison in 2001 which flooded much of Houston We will not suffer like New Orleans did. I just hope Gustav does not turn into the monster portrayed in "It Could Happen Tomorrow". We are nearing the peak of the hurricane season and we now here that there could be a couple more moving toward the US coastlines shortly. Fingers crossed...

How did it get to be the last holiday of summer so fast? Where does time go? Just think, in a few short weeks we will be planning Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sometimes I think stop the world, I want to get off for a while.

Now I need to get my grocery list together. I have already mopped and vacuumed. Daisy and Lady are not happy with me because I tricked them into baths. I am so evil... I'm pooped. Enjoy your weekend and stay safe.

School Opens Again.

It is that time of year again. School is ready for occupation by all those students who are ready to start the new year. In one area cell phones are banned in the school zones, not by students, but drivers. A law was passed prohibiting drivers from using cell phone, even hands free, in the school zones. Most parents think this is a good idea. Too many people drive distracted on any given day. Now that school is back in session, drivers must pay closer attention to the children. That includes not using a cell phone.

Some kids are excited about school. Annie called to tell me that Skylar got up and dressed at 6:00 am. He was ready to go! But, he was about two hours early. Well at least he was happy and excited to go to school. As I told Annie, he won't always be so happy to go to school. "Enjoy it while you can," I told her.

He has gotten over a lot of the problems he had last year and is ready to get going. When he got to the class, Annie told me, he saw a little girl who was not happy to be there. She was very upset and crying. Skyklar went up to her, put his arm around her and told her it would be ok. You have to love the philosophy of these little kids. If only they could keep that enthusiasm! Later, it might be a different story. I still remember having to just about scream at my son to get him up and ready to go. I swear that kid could sleep standing up!

With all the bad things that happened in schools last year, we can all hope that this year will be better. Hopefully kids will learn not only the lessons in the books but to be good citizens and care about each other. Life is too short not to learn and enjoy something every day.

Not Much of a Day, Today

I have been tapping my fingers and growling this morning and have just about decided to get off the computer today. I believe that the local AT&T servers must be very full today. We don't usually have problems with s-l-o-w pages. It has been this way ever since I got on early this morning. Of course I am in a hurry to get things done and this is annoying. Oh well.

I have better things to think about. Let's see, will I find a good pair on shoes this afternoon? We are going to try to get some so my poor,old feet will quit complaining. I fully expect my right shoe toe to start flapping as I walk. Kind of reminds me of an old Bill Cosby routine. Then I am still researching computers. I hope to get a new one soon. But right now, I am worn out after looking at specs and prices and reviews. I like this, I like that, don't like either. That costs how much!? Maybe I will be able to go look at some computers later (in my new shoes).

I hope we can get our grocery shopping done early enough so that we can watch the Texans/Cowboys game tonight. Will Jessica Simpson be at the game? And does Tony Romo really still call Carrie Underwood? Not according to Jessica. Let's just stick to the game. I want to see some good running plays by the Texans.

Well, I have to check the grocery list...

What Are You Trying To Say?

Some times it is hard to understand what people say. Just listen to anyone running for office. But when it comes to understanding a pet, well it is a little different. Daisy follows me just about every where I go, even the bathroom. I can always tell when she thinks she is going to be in trouble. She just looks guilty, even if she has not done anything to make her guilty. She has an uncanny ability to tell what time it is. She knows when to listen for Jimmy to come home. She also knows what day we go to the grocery store. We can read her face and body language pretty well. Lady, on the other hand is a different story.

Lately when I am down stairs Lady wants to be with me. If I sit down to drink a cup of coffee in the morning she has to be in the chair with me. Not just anywhere in the chair either. She has to sit on my left side. Now she has decided that she wants to send me telepathic messages. I guess. At different times during the day, she seems to want me to stop what I am doing and sit with her. Then she will stare at me. Sometimes she wants me to scratch her head or massage her ears. She likes me to scratch her throat. And Heaven forbid that I should stop. That is when I get the "Why did you stop," look. Sometimes it is like she thinks she did not give me permission to stop. Then there are times when no matter what, she just sits and stares at me. It's as if she is trying to tell me something but I am not hearing her. Some times she will snuggle up with me and put her head on my chest. Then she looks at me. Have you ever tried to ignore a pet who is is persistently staring at you? I have seen news stories about dogs that can smell certain diseases and even the story about the little dog at a nursing home who knew when a resident was about to die. Since Lady is 11 years old I sometimes wonder what she is trying to tell me. Does she need something? Do I need something? What are you trying to say, Lady?

More Family Soap (opera)

Sometimes keeping up with grown children and their lives is a little like the baseball team manager during an extra inning game. Who does he have left to pinch hit or pitch. The roster of players has so many scratch out marks that it is hard to keep up with the players and who is available. And then there is the Malitz family revolving doors of relationships.

After the disaster with Pat and Heather, he went back with Karin, no wait, not her. Now there is Abby ( I don't know if she spells it "y" or "ie"). Huh? Where did she come from? So, now we have to get used to the new girl. Meanwile Amanda decided to dump her "relationship" with Jason who is still sitting in prison. Ok. Now she is stuck with a tattoo of Jason's name on her left ring finger. That could prove to be problematic in the future. But wait, in true soap opera fashion, she now has a new relationship with Greg. Ok. Greg is the brother of Pat's new girlfriend. This could get interesting. Brother and sister dating brother and sister. Who complains to whom after an argument? Amanda actually likes Pat's new girlfriend a lot. She never liked any of his other ones. Pat got Greg a job at the place where Pat works. That could also prove to be interesting. Suppose one or the other has a falling out with one of the girls?

At this point I am just about to lose count with how many relationships Pat and Amanda have gone through. Maybe I need to get a score card? These two could give Erica Kane a run for her money in the relationship department. So far they all seem happy being together and picking at each other. We may have a problem though...they are Aggies and we follow the Longhorns. Thanksgiving football could become the new family feud. Hook 'em Horns!

The four of them stopped by for a visit Sunday. It was the first time we had met the "friends". Just like the good old days- meet the new girl/boy friend while sitting at the table cleaning your gun. Actually they seemed to be nice. Then agin, it was our first meeting. I unfortunately still have tattoo issues. Greg looked like he and Pat were competing for the most tattoos. Lady and Daisy gave them the once over. I guess they approved.

And now a message from our sponsor. "Friends, do you suffer from hemorrhoids? Try the new Sharon Brown suppositories. They go in easy, three hours later,they come out with nothing." Stay tuned for our next episode...

The War is Over So We Move On to Anything Else

Finally the civil trial between Victoria Osteen and Sharon Brown is over. Ms Brown failed in her attempt to prove her case to the jury. In less than three hours, including lunch, the jury decided that Ms. Brown did not prove her case and would not get any money.

Moving on to other things, who woke up the Astros? They swept 2 four game series and have suddenly come alive as a force to be reckoned with, at least until they play the better teams. Will they have a chance at becoming the wild card? I doubt it. But there is always hope. At this point I would rather look forward to the upcoming football season. Some people think the Texans could have a surprisingly good year. We shall see.

This week-end is tax-free shopping. No state and local taxes will be charged on certain clothes, shoes and school stuff under $100. And believe it or not this year the Texas legislature decided to include backpacks. Now if they would just include more school supplies...

The only problem with this week end is that stores will be crowded. After last week's confrontation in WalMart I don't look forward to battling people. I would like to get a new pair of shoes since I looked down at my shoes and discovered that the front was peeling off. I usually get what ever I can find that is cheap. This time I think I will try to get some good cross-training shoes since I do a lot of walking in the street or on uneven ground. Right now when I have to walk or stand a lot my right knee and hip hurt.

Our friend Jan is counting the days till she arrives on the 13th. Me, I am just counting the days till we get to go to the Texans game against the Panthers. Jan wanted to know what kind of beer and food they have at the stadium. She did not realize that they sell not only soft drinks and beer, but wine and mixed drinks too. I am starting to get a bit concerned. She does drink too much for our taste. Jimmy says that when she is online playing poker he can usually tell if she is depressed or drinking cause she still talks about "killing her cats" in the fire. She is still having trouble moving on.

We have a new neighbor across the walk. He moved in this week. We have not met him. So far I have only seen him a couple of times as he left for work. I guess only time will tell.

Well, I hope there will be at least a couple of good movies on tv this week-end. It may be raining, or so they say. But the temperature is supposed to be in the mid-eighties to low ninetys. That would be a small relief. Onward to the grocery list.

War of Words, War of Gas

The she said, she said war goes on in a courtroom in downtown Houston. The plaintiff Sharon Brown says Victoria Osteen hit her. Mrs. Osteen, as well as a first class passenger who witnessed the confrontation, says she did not hit her. Sharon Brown also testified that she, at one time, thought Lakewood Church was a cult and Joel Osteen was the devil. She now says that was taken out of context and she was on medication at the time.

Media from all over are covering this trial. Local tv stations are covering it during each news program and news break. At least one tv station is blogging updates every hour. Could this get any nuttier? Well, Roger Clemens has not had his defamation suit go to trial yet. He and Mrs. Osteen have the same attorney, Rusty Hardin. These trials could be more interesting than the network soap operas.

Yesterday there was another war in Houston. A good old fashioned gas war! Imagine that. A new Chevron station opened yesterday on a highway right across from a Shell station. The Chevron station opened for business yesterday with prices a little lower than the going rate for regular unleaded gas at $3.36. The Shell station then lowered it's price. And the war was off and running. As the day wore on the news spread. By the late afternoon news choppers were hovering above the station as the Chevron station's prices continued to fall. Then traffic became a problem. Rush hour traffic snarled around and backed up the road. Soon police were needed to help direct the traffic. The hovering choppers reported as soon as prices changed. The gas stations ran out of regular gas. So the customers waited in line while tankers brought in more gas. The war went on into the night. The prices went down to just above $2.00 a gallon. Both stations lost a lot of money on the sale of gas but probably made some of that up with in store sales. Gotta love it.

Today the gas prices of the two stations are back to regular prices. Sigh. The latest blog update on the Osteen trial--The plaintiff's side has rested. The last witness, a first class passenger,saw Osteen standing up asking for someone in authority. Osteen's attorney asked her if she saw Mrs. Osteen strike Ms. Brown. Mr. Hardin asked, "And it didn't happen?" She said "There is no way."
Wonder what the jury will decide?

Let's Have a Brawl, Ya'll!

Four in the afternoon on a Friday is not the best time of day to go to WalMart for a few groceries. People are tired and crabby. But this is when we go because it is convenient for Jimmy to cash his check and get the grocery shopping all at once. But I am a little tired of kids mis-behaving while their parents shop.

I almost started a brawl Friday. As we tried to walk to the back of the grocery section we soon discovered that we were in the way of two little Hispanic boys about 8 to 10 years old. They had picked our pathway as the place to play. They were racing around the displays in the middle and the older child was skating around on his skate shoes. Every where we tried to go they bumped into or stopped us from getting by them. Several times I expected the Kraft Mac & Cheeze or the Frito-Lay displays to come falling down. Finally I had enough of the disruptive little darlings. I sharply told them to "get out of the way"! At last we were able to get around them and proceed to the back of the grocery area.

Before I could get to the soft drink area to get some Dr. Pepper I heard a woman bellow at me. "Hey, are you talking to my kids?" she said. I replied, "Yes, I am." As I continued on my way, I heard her go into an expletive filled tiriade about why I should leave her kids alone and pay attention to my own kids. I believe she said something like "sucking witches and sucking goats" but I had pretty much ignored her. Jimmy turned around, angry at her, waiting to defend me. It was at this point when Jimmy watched the older little angel jump into one of the chest coolers between the eggs and milk displays. What an adorable little child. His mother has really taught him well.

I realize children do not always behave. But I also believe that parents should keep an eye on their children when they are in a crowded store such as WalMart. When our kids were little we did not let them run wild like these two did. I would have been very upset to discover my children misbehaving so badly and the situation would have been handled immediately. My grandkids don't go wild like that. Little did this woman know that I DID watch my kids, and grandkids. Mine were not always good but some things they certainly knew better than to even try.

Though Jimmy would have been perfectly happy to "take it to the parking lot" and read them the riot act, the fight was avoided. Was I glad? Well, I guess. I refuse to lower myself to the level of that woman's behavior. As such, Lord, please forgive me for berating those lovely little kids and give me strength to keep from beating the crap out of any mother who allows her kids to run wild around me in the future.

Preacher's Wife Assualts Flight Attendant???

Something smells here. Victoria Osteen, Co-Pastor with her husband Joel, of Lakewood Church in Houston is in the middle of a lawsuit filed by a filight attendant. Some how I don't think this passes the smell test. While Victoria impresses me as a bit of a diva, even her husband Joel makes occasional jokes about her shopping habits and style. From every thing I have heard they are nice people. But this Continental flight attentant accuses Victoria Osteen of assault over a wet seat. The attendant, Sharon Brown says Mrs. Osteen threw her against the bathroom door and elbowed her in the chest. Oh this woman also says she now has hemorroids because of this in addition to anxiety. Since this is a civil trial she wants 10% of Victoria's net worth. Was Victoria Osteen enraged? Only those on the plane know for sure. It has been noted that Ms. Brown has filed a similar suit against a gate attentant before.Hum...

According to the Associated Press:

Brown wants an apology and punitive damages amounting to 10 percent of Victoria Osteen's net worth as part of her suit. "They will say this is about money. But that is the only remedy a jury can offer," her attorney,Reginald McKamie said.

He said Brown, who had undergone reconstructive surgery before the incident on her breasts due to illness, was injured when she was hit on her chest. Brown also suffers from anxiety because of the incident and that her faith was affected, her attorney said. Brown is also suing Victoria Osteen for medical expenses for counseling.

But Rusty Hardin, the Osteen's attorney told jurors there is no evidence Brown sustained any injuries, including claims she now suffers from hemorrhoids.

The jury of seven men and five women was chosen on Wednesday after a couple of hours of questioning of a jury pool of 130 people. The questioning touched on religious beliefs, celebrity and the public's perception of preachers and televangelists.

The Federal Aviation Administration fined Victoria Osteen $3,000 for interfering with a crew member.

According to an FAA report, Victoria Osteen pushed and elbowed Brown in an attempt to get to the plane's cockpit after two other attendants had not cleaned a liquid on her first-class seat armrest.

Hardin told jurors Victoria Osteen paid the FAA fine not because she was guilty but as a way to conclude the matter and avoid any embarrassment for her church.

Brown had previously claimed she was attacked in another incident by an airport employee, according to a deposition she gave in the case.

Hardin asked that the FAA report's findings not be allowed in the trial, saying the agency's investigation was incomplete.

State District Judge Patricia Hancock said she would make a decision later on the report's fate.

This seems to me to be a waste of the court's time. Maybe Victoria is a bit spoiled by fame but I don't think she would be as "violent" as Sharon Brown claims. Maybe she did get mad. If you have first class tickets, wouldn't you want the seats to be clean and dry? Aren't flight attendants supposed to be trained to handle "problem" passengers? Hemorroids? Think I will say a prayer for the Osteens. They may need some divine intervention.

Yawn, Life Goes On

To say that yesterday I was bored is an understatement. Edouard came and went and the tv stations went on and on and on with "coverage" on what, for the most part, was a non-event. While some areas east of Houston had a little damage we here on the northwest side of the county got just a lot of rain. It rained a lot but because the area was so dry the rain was beneficial. My only irritation was that for about 20 minutes I had no power. That meant I had to re-set the clocks and the tvs. For some reason if the tvs lose power they have to be re-set and the living room tv has to have the color re-set. That is annoying. On the other hand some actors look better with a red tint. Ha. I think there may have been a minor revolt when the news anchor on the ABC channel said they would pre-empt all the afternoon soap-operas. He said they would re-air at 1 am. Well, apparently some people were not happy about that so they only took off one of the shows.

I am glad I was not in Chicago Tuesday night at the Cubs - Astros game. Lance Berkman, our first baseman, was not about to stand on the field during all that lightning. He saw one lightning flash too many and ran for cover. Finally the announcer told the fans to take cover. Then the umpires finally pulled the players off the field. Wonder what they would have done if a fan or player had been struck by lightning?

Now that the storm has gone, reality is back. I saw an astonishing report on GMA this morning about the dangerous amount of plastic in the Pacific Ocean. It has apparently been breaking into smaller and smaller pieces which the fish are eating. Are we eating it? This could be a serious situation. Only time will tell.

On the lighter side, Paris Hilton has responded to the John McCain ad. She made her own campaign ad. She talked about both Obama and McCain. She even discussed her energy policy. Taken with a little dose of humor, she almost made sense. That is really scary.

Well, at least when the next storm comes to our area I have some extra batteries for the radio. I don't really look forward to that if Jimmy is home, our music tastes are a little different. I may just have to go buy a battery for the laptop. Then again, he plays enough poker.

Soggy, Ho-Hum,No Problem - Yet

I guess you could say that things could be worse. Hurricane Dolly did billions of dollars damage. So far Edouard has not been that bad. Some areas are getting a lot of rain and some wind. But for the most part this area has seen worse. All the local tv channels are broadcasting in and around Galveston. Most of the rain is actually needed. There is some ponding on the roads but very little serious conditions. So far. There are some gusts of 40-50 miles an hour, but not here, yet. I -10 has been closed east of Houston for a while. Now there is a posibliity of a tornado watch but that has not been decided yet. Continental cancelled 140 flights at the big airport. Early this morning there were a lot of flight delays.

Though some areas east of Houston are under a flash flood warning. Here I am listening to the soft sounds of a steady rain. As yet we have not felt any wind. But that could change as the day goes on. Traffic is still moving around the area. Apparently the streets around our neighborhood are clear. Most of the rain is falling easy and is what we need. Although the radars all show a lot of yellow and red for heavy rain. Since we need rain it seems to be helping more than hurting the area.

One good thing today is that Lady and Daisy are not pestering me to go out. I can almost read their minds as they have to be thinking "if we stay under the blankets and be real quiet, maybe she won't make us go out."

So most of this is good if not inconvenient. Dress rehearsal for something worse? So far so good. Rain, rain, rain. It is still early in the season. Next time may be another story. Right now I will just enjoy the quiet as the soft rain continues. At least the temperature is down today.

Politics, Elephants, and Fish

I have just about had enough of the tit for tat between the Obama/McCain camps. Every time I see the news there is a debate or commentary about celeb/race cards. Personally I think McCain could have picked better celebs for comparison and Obama did not have to stick the little race knife in either. The media is playing this over and over like an annoying commercial. At least I can grab the remote and change the channel during a commercial to another channel which, with my luck, is airing the very same commercial. Just like the news people are replaying the latest political gaffs. And what is up with those $500 loafers?

And now WalMart, the elephant in the room, is afraid of the little mouse, I mean the Democrats. WalMart has been having mandatory meetings with some of it's store and department managers to incourage employees not to vote for any Democrat, fearing that if the Democrats gain control it will be easier for federal laws to change in favor of unions. WalMart has said this is not good because the dues would be high and people make have to strike and get no benefits. WalMart is the nation's largest company. Are they really worried? How many more days till the election?

At least the aquarium is almost ready. After 42 gallons of water, salt and other treatments, it has settled in nicely. We have some colorfull plants as well as a couple of live plants. Jimmy even had to stick in a "tacky palm tree" in homage to Barry Manilow and Jimmy Buffett, two of my favorite singers. It should be ready for occupation this week-end.

It is still too hot. Then I made the mistake of looking at the weather forcast. For the first time this year the number 100 appeared along with the 96,97, and 98's. And that doesn't include the heat index! That aquarium is starting to look inviting. At least fish don't vote.

Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Ninety-nine bottles of beer, well not exactly. Would you believe 35 gallons of water? Well, it is hurricane season. I have been saving these jugs in case we needed water during a hurricane. I had no idea I had accumulated that many. Out of sight and out of mind since I started storing them on the shelves in the laundry room. Maybe they have been breeding at night? Busy little buggers they are. I never thought of how time consuming it is to fill all those gallons of water. And that won't even fill the tank. Jeez. Jimmy said last night he would try to get home early today so that he can work on the aquarium. Ahem, we shall see.

So how come the price of oil is going down? Have we really made that much of a difference? Is this a good sign or a bad sign? Back in the 70's the oil field business was big in Texas. A lot of money was made. People were working for regular wages but made so much that they had big houses, cars and boats. Then the bottom fell out and people lost jobs. I have to wonder...so much for economics of the day.

It is still hot and we could use some rain just to cool us off a little. Probably won't happen. Then again if it does the vegetation around the building will just get higher. Some of it is already at my knees. Wonder what it looks like from Lady and Daisy's view?

As I sit here looking at this laptop I realize that we really need to get a cooler pad for this thing. Laptops sure put out a lot of heat. I just looked at the new one Dell is offering which is supposed to be cheap and green. It is certainly funny looking. Then again I just saw the new HP TouchSmart system. I looked at that last week and wondered if people would really like it. I guess I got my answer when I looked at the Fry's site and they were sold out of them at $1200 +. Wow, does it burp the baby?

The Texans are working together well in training camp. At least they have a bubble to work in instead of outside in the heat which is nearing 100 or more with the heat index. No problems so far. This year there is real competition for positions. We have not had much of that before.

I have been saving milk gallon jugs for hurricane season just in case. So I thought I would help Jimmy with the aquarium by filling some of them with water. Let's see, so far I have filled 18 and then I realized I still have another 18 jugs that are still on the shelves in the laundry room. I had no idea we had that many. I'm not sure but I think these guys may have been breeding late at night. How did we end up with so many. Well, if nothing else, we will have water during a hurricane.

As I watched "Bones" on tv last night I was reminded of the mice when in a scene Temperance uncovers a nest of newborn rats in the middle of what was left of a corpse. Juicy. It reminded me of "our" little mice who have since succumbed to the elements and lack of food. Ew. The fish head still lies staring blankly at the left front tire on the truck. I knew a radio dj who once said he could not eat anything that looked at him from the plate. I can understand why.

The public utility commission here has again issued a "yellow" warning for electric usage. Don't use your oven, dishwasher, or dryer between 3PM and 7PM and set thermostats at 85 if we are not going to be home during the day. Yeah, right. Let them come home to a hot house. They hope to avoid rolling blackouts by having us do this. uh huh. Sure. Gotta love Texas heat.

Life goes on --even for Brett Favre. Sigh...

Just the Average Weekend

The aquarium is coming along. We got a dark back drop and yesterday Jimmy actually washed the gravel. We bought some new airline tubing, new filters,carbon and zeolite cartridges. We even bought some aquarium salt which we have not used before. I read the box and could not help but snicker. The idea of salt being helpful in reducing stress just seemed funny to me. Guess you have to be a fish to understand.

Later Saturday I discovered two strange things. First when I was about to walk Daisy, I discovered a couple of tiny, pink creatures squirming toward the sidewalk. Daisy went nuts, then she found two more. I put Daisy back inside while I investigated. Two of them were rolling around near the corner of the building by our door. It was then I realized they were newborn mice. Aw man, now I have to worry about mice? Maybe I should bribe the neighbor's cat to come play exterminator. Needless to say I was torn because I hate to see baby animals in peril but I don't want any mice problems either. Unfortunately for them, today I found them dead. I don't understand why their mother did not care for them.

The second thing I found later in the afternoon. This was a little disturbing too. As I walked Lady, we discovered a fish head in the parking lot. It was positioned as if it were put there deliberately. It was on the pavement inches away from Jimmy's truck with the head pointing at the front left tire. Gee, when did we piss off the mob? After all, at least in the movies, when a person gets a dead fish it means sleep with the fish, in other words a warning from the mob. Well if we disappear into infinity....

For some reason I thought of the old tv show "Ben Casey". At the beginning of the show Dr. Zorba was writing on the blackboard the symbols for man, woman, birth, death, infinity. Seems that we covered those symbols, well maybe. Anyone seen Tony Soprano lately?

It's Friday!!

It's Friday and the rain here has finally stopped. Of course that means we will soon be back to good old Texas heat. Blah...

I just heard some sad news. Randy Pausch has died. His "Last Lecture" is finished. May he rest in peace.

On a lighter note...
Waking Up for Church

One Sunday morning, a mother went in to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church, to which he replied, "I'm not going."

"Why not?" she asked."I'll give you two good reasons," he said. "One, they don't like me, and two, I don't like them."

His mother replied, "I'll give YOU two good reasons why you SHOULD go to church. One, you're 54 years old, and two, you're the pastor!"

I found this joke and had a good laugh.

Now we will get to see what the Texans training camp looks like. The players arrived yesterday. "play-offs" is the word used by many team members...hum.

Well, I have to get my grocery list together.

Wait Till Next Year - again, Football Anyone?

Well, at least the Houston Astros can't loose today. They don't play. The Astros did win the battle with the Pirates. That is the battle for the cellar. We were hoping for a sweep, then at least one win against the pitiful Pirates. Well, as one local sports reporter said, that ended with a "resounding thud." Sure the optimists can say that we can overcome this and make it a close race. Excuse me while I laugh convulsively. Wait and see what happens at the trade deadline. Probably not much.

Looking forward, the Houston Texans start training camp Friday. With the improvements made last year we are hoping for better games. I just hope that the game we are going to will be a good one. I wonder how good the Ravens will be? It would be nice to go a game that the hometown team actually wins. I've only been to one pro game, years ago which was a game for the division championship. My team lost. I have had better luck with my college teams. I saw Texas win several Cotton Bowl games, a couple of those made them National Champions. I also saw Alabama win the National Championship against Arkansas years ago. But this year neither Texas, nor Alabama is picked to win their conference, much less the National Championship.

Since most of the sports reporters here have "stuck the fork in the Astros" assuming they are done, I guess it's time to move on to bigger and better things. Say what is Brett doing these days?

Marriage - For Better Or Worse- Well...

It has been said that marriage is a partnership. For better or worse marriage has been considered "the ties that bind". Common interest and common goals help keep those ties bound. And then there is the fish tank. Over the years we have had a couple of aquariums. The kids all seemed to enjoy the fish. Even the grand-kids like watching the activity in the tank. We bought a ten gallon aquarium for Christmas last year. We bought various little fish and watched them swim around the tank. They learned that when I opened the tank lid it was feeding time. Quickly they would all gather at the top, waiting to get the first little flakes. It takes so little to make fish happy. How did I get stuck with the job of feeding them? Uh, is it time to add water? How do you clean it? Uhhh...

For the last couple of months Jimmy has been looking longingly at bigger tanks. A bigger tank would allow us to have more fish. We looked at some 29 gallon tanks and some 55 gallon tanks. Who knew these water filled glass tanks would be so expensive. That does not even include the stand. Our little 10 gallon tank sits comfortably on a little stand. Nice and quiet near the sofa. Then comes the male "bigger is better" logic. Husband says "I sure would like a bigger tank." Here we go. I think, "what's wrong with the one we have?" Of course he needs to clean it now because it is getting a little cloudy. I don't do windows, I mean aquariums. To me that would mean gallons of treated water, some place for the fish while Jimmy cleans the tank. I don't clean this remember. Somehow I got stuck with the job of fish feeding. That's enough for me.

So Amanda visits one day and she and her dad talk about the 55 gallon tank she just bought on Craig's List. I smell a plot here. The next thing I know Jimmy is searching... He tells Amanda to call this number or that number. I have visions of a big tank and where in the world will it go. Why do I feel that I will be outnumbered here?

The next thing I know Jimmy is buying a used 55 gallon tank and all the hoses, filters, pumps and other stuff. When he came home with it, I was less than happy. Guess who is going to have to clean this thing? Little did I know that this little hubby/wife project would turn out to be the project from Hell. No problem, I'll get this cleaned up. Not so fast. I have no idea how long it has been sitting idle. Did I really think this would be easy?

Well, I finally have cleaned it as good as I can. It was no easy task. And just why did we decide to do this? Then Jimmy remembered it will need a stand. Just how much does a 55 gallon tank filled with water weigh? Naturally he can't find a suitable one cheap. This little project is suddenly getting larger and more expensive. Let's see- used aquarium $100, new stand $90. Just where are we going to put this? Of course it will fit between the dead tv and the chair (another story) in front of one of the two windows along the wall of the living room. Now, just where is the Christmas tree we bought last year along with the little aquarium going? Uh... So now I look at a wall full of two tvs and two fish tanks.

So far we in addition to the stand we have bought some new tubing since the old tubing is too small to clean. I have cleaned up the tank, the thermometer, the light covers and other tops, some of the plastic tubes. I still have to finish the pump cover and then I need to do the pump and some of the big tubes. Then we have to buy some charcoal things that fit on some of the tubes and some "stones". I have yet to figure out that name. Oh and somehow I have to get the gravel clean. Yes I know we could buy some new stuff, but we are trying to save some money here. We still have to get more fish and some live plants and on and on.

It is so nice to be able to do things together. Yeah, this will be a nice little (large) addition to our living room. I have read that watching fish in an aquarium is good for the blood pressure. And doing things together as a couple is part of the joy of marriage. For better or worse, right? Ask me again when this aquarium is up and running. Better yet ask me when it is time for him to clean the tank.

Sometimes It's Tough...To be a Dog

Now that things have returned to normal after the discovery of "sleeping Beauty" we still have the problem of Daisy's allergies. We never had a problem where we used to live. Of course I know there were bugs in the grass, but the grass was well kept. And of course both Daisy and Lady are protected against fleas, ticks and other little critters that might bite or make them itch.

I can't say the same thing for this townhouse building and the "yard" around it. While there is some grass around the side that faces the street there is mostly weeds around the back and walkway between buildings. Daisy does not like it when the grass gets high enough to cover my shoes and she seriously doesn't like the weeds when they get high. I measured some of them the other day and they were nearly up to my knees. No wonder Daisy doesn 't want to walk there. She would rather do her business in the street than go through the yard. I can't really blame her.

Finally, last evening the guys came to do their infrequent lawn mowing. I am sure this morning that Daisy is happier. The last couple of days she has been very uncomfortable to the point of hives. She has not been able to sleep or even stay still with her constant scratching. I have had to resort of giving her benadryl a couple of times a day just so she can relax. Poor thing, just the look or her face is heartbreaking. So yesterday when she was having such a terrible time I have her a bath and some benadryl. I could tell she felt better.

Now that the weeds have been mowed down I was able to convince her to walk around the back of the building. She was hesitant but she had to check out where the guy was sleeping. She had to investigate the ground and the blanket and towel which were left there. The mowers just tossed them up against the building. After checking over the evidence she decided it was ok to keep walking.

So far this morning she and Lady are still sharing my chair. Daisy was a little sick this morning and she keeps looking at me like she is in trouble. I keep telling her she is not. I guess I should go back to my chair and rock my girls a little while. Sometimes life is tough for all of us, right? Even dogs.

I've Been a Little Nervous

Have you ever run across a person asleep in your yard? I went out to walk the Daisy around 9 this morning. As I turned the corner to the yard behind our building I saw a person lying in the grass. Chicken that I am, I turned and walked the other way. I walked around to the other side of the building. I did not want to take a chance so I didn't get close to him. I thought maybe I should ask the guys at the fire station if they could check on him. As luck would have it no one was there. So I decided to wait until after I walked around the block. When I finished walking Daisy, I peeked around the corner to see if he was still there. He was. He apparently had not moved. I wondered why someone would willingly lie in the high grass and weeds at the back of our building. I wrung my hands, what should I do. I am here by my self. What if it is the neighbor's son? I don't ever see him, so I don't know him. Besides he has his own car. If he and dad had a fight, he could sleep there. I worried. What to do. I don't want anything or anyone to come back at me.

I called 911 and explained that there was a person lying in the grass behind our building. The operator wanted to know if he was in a ditch. No in the grass at the back of the building. She asked if I thought he needed an ambulance. I don't know I was not going to get that close. Suppose he had a gun, or was a rapist? I took the chicken route. Finally the deputy showed up. He went behind the building and woke the guy up and took him to the car. He was a young guy with a backpack. He looked directly at me as they walked by me. I walked back to the area where he was and found a couple of big towel/blanket things still there. This was about 9:30 and it is now 11: 15 am and the police car is still in our parking lot. Now I wonder what is going on. Why are they still there?

I put Daisy and Lady in the bedroom and closed the door in case the deputy needed to come ask me something. They are not too happy right now cause I won't let them out. Now I wonder what is going on. What if I made a mistake? What if the guy lives here. Like I said I rarely see our neighbors especially the ones on the other side. So I really would not recongnize a couple of them. Then again why would somebody want to bed down in all our high weeds? I hope this doesn't come back to haunt me.

Yet Another Smart Pet Trick

First Daisy snatches a package of cheese crackers and hides them in the chair without even breaking one. She still has not figured out who found them. Once in a while she still searches around the chair and looks over at me with a funny look.

Then we discovered that she liked to pull the toilet paper off the roll. Some times she would pull it off and make shreds of it. Other times she would just pull it around the room and leave it for me to find. I keep testing her to see if she has lost interest in that little stunt. Nope. Leave any toilet paper roll where she can get to it and there will be a trail of evidence.

Lately we have taken to leaving the bathroom door in our room open so we can get more airflow into the bedroom. I have discovered that since the room does not have a ceiling fan it gets hot upstairs these days. So we put a fan on the dresser and let it circulate the air. It seems to help keep the room cooler. Since there is a vent in the bathroom, I've been leaving the bathroom door open. This helps too. But there was a question about what would happen with the toilet paper. If Daisy happened to go into the room she would probably snoop around the bathroom. Of course then the toilet paper hanging on the spindle would be very tempting. She still thinks it is fun to pull or shred the paper. So I put the paper on top of the tank. She can't reach it there. I know this makes it a little less convenient to use, but we are talking cooler room here.

The other day I decided to give Daisy a little test. Rather than put the paper on the spindle I sat it on top of the spindle. Let's just see what Daisy will do. Will she grab it and tear up the pieces? Would she pull it around the room? Ah, no. She did none of that. When I went into the bedroom, I looked into the bathroom. The toilet paper was gone. I saw no evidence of the crime. So then I had to look for the missing toilet paper. No clues in the bathroom, no pieces on the floor. Well, where did it go? Did she hide it like she did the crackers? I looked under the bed and discovered that she had stashed the roll of paper there. She did not chew on it or mess it up in any way. Just like the crackers she had carefully hidden it. When I went downstairs I noticed Daisy was looking at me with trepidation. What could I do? I had to give her a hug. Nice trick, Daisy.

Summer Heats Up - Sort of

Well I did not even open this laptop yesterday. I was too irritated to do much. Jimmy decided to buy a used 55 gallon aquarium. We had talked about getting a bigger one so we could have some more fish. So he found this one for a mere $100, cough. When he brought it home, I discovered that it was very dirty. I guess the previous owner really did not take good care of it. So yesterday I went to work cleaning it. Or so I thought. I took out the covers, lights, filters, tubes, gravel, etc. The aquarium components were very dirty with a lot of calcium/lime built up on almost all of the surfaces. After it all dried I discovered that all the buildup was still there. Grrr. So now we have to go to plan B and get something else to clean off the gunk. So, I spent three hours yesterday for nothing. Again grrr. Oh well, it will be a while before we set this up anyway.

Our friend Jan, whose house burned down just let us know she will come down this fall. She decided she wanted us all to go to one of the Houston Texan football games. Since the Texans don't play the Redskins (her team) she bought tickets for the game against the Ravens. Again she went through a ticket broker. Over $800 she spent! Yikes!!! We think she is nuts! I don't understand why she doesn't just buy tickets from the teams. It would be cheaper that way. But she insisted that she can afford it so why worry. Sigh, I have to wonder why this woman has such a need to prove things to her friends...

So next week will be the Baseball All-Star game. Our Astros have had a few problems (a few?) this year. Let's see, no pitching, no hitting, no life...So I thought I would take another look at my Best of the Worst teams . On April 18th the Best of the Worst team was a tie between Tampa Bay and Texas at 7-9 one game better than the Astros. Now we have as the Best of the Worst the Baltimore Orioles at 44-46 followed by the Astros (what?) at 42-50 . Then we have the Cleveland Indians at 38-53. Then there is a tie for fourth place between Seattle and San Diego at 36 -56. Sitting in the basement of basements is the Washington Nationals at 35-58. So they are the worst of the worst while Baltimore is now the Best of the Worst. Even the Tigers have climbed out of the cellar and are in third place in their division only 7 games out of first place. There is still hope. And who would have thought that the Tampa Bay Rays who were 7-9 in April would have the best record in baseball now at 55-36. Rays and Cubs in the Series???

I really don't hold a lot of hope for the Astros getting hot, but the temperatures are creeping up higher and higher. No rain in sight for this week-end and the thermometer should hit 95,96,97,98 in the next few days. With the heat index added we are looking at triple digits. Yeah, summer is heating up. Think I'll go sit under the fan. Somebody bring me a frozen margarita please.

Czech-what, Kolache-who?

Ever eaten a kolache? A lot of people here in Texas do. I had never heard of them until I moved here years ago. It was then I ran into some dear old ladies who loved to make them. Some are fruit or jam filled and others have sausage. Kolaches have a long history. Texans love a good kolache. In some places they are a little hard to find.

Kolache (also spelled kolace, kolach, or kolacky, from the Czech and Slovak plural koláče) are a type of pastry consisting of fillings ranging from fruits to cheeses inside a bread roll. Originally only a sweet dessert from Central Europe, they have become popular in parts of the United States. Several cities, including Prague, Oklahoma and Caldwell, Texas, hold annual Kolache Festival celebrations, while Montgomery, Minnesota claims to be the "Kolacky capital of the world" and holds an annual festival known as "Kolacky Days". Verdigre, Nebraska stakes the same claim, with a similarly named festival. Prague, Nebraska is commonly known as the home of the world's largest kolache. Fayetteville TX claims the title of "Kolache Capital of Texas". Crosby TX also has a yearly Czech festival. St. Ludmila's Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids, IA hosts it annual Kolache Festival the first full weekend in June every year and makes over 600 dozen kolaches to sell at this annual event.

It was the sweet chosen to represent the Czech Republic in the Café Europe initiative of the Austrian presidency of the European Union, on Europe Day 2006.

In Texas and Oklahoma, several restaurants and bakeries specialize in kolache; popular areas in central Texas include the communities of West, Weimar, and Schulenburg, as well as the Nebraska town of Wilber, which have large Czech populations . These restaurants and bakeries now sell varieties for all meals of the day and include versions such as Philly cheesesteak, ranchero, and chocolate cream cheese. The Bluebonnet City of Ennis has celebrated the Polka Festival (see National Polka Festival link below) since 1966, with a weekend of parade, street dancing and dinner/dances at the fraternal Czech halls. Kolaches are sold on the street and in the local Czech bakery. The official "Czech Capital of the United States," Wilber Nebraska holds the annual Wilber Czech days, during which several thousand kolaches are sold by various town groups and businesses.

A related dish is a klobasnek, which often uses similar bread but is filled with a piece of sausage. We call them kolaches anyway! They may also contain ham and cheese, sausage, jalapeño slices, and more resemble a "pig in a blanket" than the original pastry. There is also a sweet and flakey filled pastry with Polish origins called the Kolachky.

Jimmy and I love the sausage ones. Unfortunately it is a little hard to find good ones. Many places sell them but they usually have something like "Little Smokies" dinner weiners. Some places don't even use the smokie style. Some use sausage which most Texans love to grill or cook. Texans love to battle over who has the best Texas sausage. But finding sausage with more of a German spice to it can be difficult.

When we recently went to buy groceries we found "German" sausage in among all the brands of sausage including Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farms and various Texas and local ones. We decided to try the "German" style one evening for supper. It was then we thought this would be more like a real kolache. Then we had the "brilliant idea". Let's make some!

Take two people who have never made any bread before and find a recipe for kolaches. Who's bright idea was this? Let's see, got the ingredients, read the recipe. Then what? Do you think this has risen? Has it doubled in size? Ok, now how do we get the sausage in? How much dough do we use? Who knew yeast could be so finicky? Sticky, gooey...hum. Is this really worth all the trouble?

Our first attempt was not too bad. Some were too big-all bread, little sausage. Some were a little over done from cooking too long. But taste-wise they were not too bad. Jimmy wanted the bread to be sweeter so the next batch we added a little more sugar. This time it seemed to take forever to rise. Maybe the yeast didn't like the extra sugar. Hey, nobody said it would be easy. I wish I could have the the faces of the guys when Jimmy told them what we did. I know the comments went something like "No way" or "You did what?". I have not had a chance to taste last night's batch. Fear, maybe? I think I will just wait till Jimmy gets home. After all Rome was not build in a day, right? Making good kolaches takes time too. Well, now I have to get the mess cleaned up. Flour fight anyone?

Taking a Little Time

As my fingers caress the keys I realize how much I miss the internet when I can't get it. Several times this week and last I had a thought or found some information that I wanted to check out. Alas, I was unable to do so. I guess I could have rented a computer or gone to a cafe, but that really defeated the purpose of having a home computer. Now that Jimmy is back and hopefully won't have to go out of town for a while, I again can use his laptop computer.

To say that I am still irritated at the lack on response from Amanda's friend is an understatement. But, I guess it is an example of what is wrong with people today. We all make promises to friends and family that we know we are not going to be able to keep. So why do we continue to do this? Why do we leave others hanging on to a promise? And why do we not communicate? The net makes it easy for most of us to keep up with our office work and friends. There is still the option of the old stand by - the ancient device known as the telephone. The more modern device would be called the cell phone. Why don't some people do what used to be considered the polite thing and call? When I was a kid my mother took time to teach me "phone manners". When calling, I had to say "May I please speak to..." If the person was not home, I had to say something like "thank you, I'll call later",or "May I leave a message?". Who takes that time now? It is much easier and less personal to e-mail or text someone. That is assuming a person wants to take the time to do that. When I learned the politeness of phone calls as a child, it was considered courtesy to call and tell someone that they may not be able to come at the agreed time or that the person would be delayed. I still think this is a good idea. Some people don't seem to remember that. It is just easier to leave a person waiting, waiting, and waiting. Many times they use the excuse "I lost your number". That is if you even find out why they never showed up. Is this the way friends treat each other?

Needless to say, I am still waiting for Amanda's friend to come by to fix our pc. Of course it is partially our fault since we believed what he said. At the prices charged by most computer repair people I can just about buy a new one. Of course I would have to save up for a while.

Now let me go see what I have missed these last few days...