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?