A Real Vacation for HaHa

I will be leaving in a week to go a visit my daughter and son-in-law on the east coast. They will be going overseas later this year and they invited me out to see there home before they sell it. I am really looking forward to spending time with them and seeing a few sites. I love there company so much though that we would not have to go anywhere and that would be fine with me too. I am sure Mishka and I will get a few geocaches in and have a few late nite gab sessions as mothers and daughters like to do. My daughter made all the travel arrangements and fixed it so I do not have to change planes but one time which keeps me pretty worry free. I do think it is so important for people to take their vacations. I work in a job that can be frenzied at times and dull others (but mostly frenzied) and your mind just needs a rest from all that. I was fortunate when I was raising our family, that I was able to go on vacation with them and sometimes had a few days off for myself. That is the best of both worlds.

Taxes - At the last minute of course!

Well, I spent all day Sunday, getting all the stuff ready so I could do our taxes. I do not have an organized system like I should have. We just throw all the stuff in a box and then go through it when the time comes. I use Turbo Tax which is a big help and so I finished about 9:00pm Sunday night. I efiled and got a confirmation from the feds right away. That was cool as we owed them a little, but even this morning when I checked for confirmation from the state I could not get one. So I ended up printing out our return, signing and sending Dex to the PO to get it posted with today's postmark. I did put a post-it note on it telling them that I did try to efile and could not get a confirmation just to make sure they did not deposit what they owe us in our account and send us a check in the mail also. We will see how this scenario plays out and I will keep you posted.

Good news and bad news

Well, it has been a week of good news and bad news. Let's get the bad out of the way first. A musician friend of Dexter and me, committed suicide this last week. No, it wasn't because of drugs, wait, I correct myself. It was because of drugs - chemotherapy. Janna had survived breast cancer for two years, she suffered a double mastectomy and lots and lots of chemo. She was one of the cancer patients who have very strong reactions to chemo. I learned the other day that her cancer had returned and she chose not to do chemo again. I do not know if she was already in pain or not, but I do know she was not willing or perhaps the odds were not in her favor, so she chose to end her life. As a Christian, that is not an option for me, but I cannot say for sure, that I would not do the same thing if in the same shoes.

The good news is that Chicken,(my youngest daughter) has a new job as of April 23rd. I am so happy for her and she will be learning a very valuable job. Once you learn purchasing, no matter what the product, you can pretty much go where you want to go. Added benefit, she will get to see MindSprite on a daily basis. I hope Sprite will walk with you everyday at work!

The other good news is that Mishka, (my first born daughter) and J will be returning to a place overseas that they love. This means I may have a chance to go to this wonderful land again. I will have a different set of priorities this time, which I am anxious to share with her and J.
Wonderful family friends will be visiting her soon, I know they will have a wonderful time together. The good things about old friends is the old cliche, "IT's LIKE THEY NEVER LEFT." Wish I could be there too.

global warming in Southern Oregon

I finally went down and bought a battery charger for my camera batteries. When I last tried to take a picture, it was of the snowfall we had a few weeks ago - I thought I had got one pic of the snow, but I wasn't sure. So I charged up some batteries and downloaded 1 pic of the snow. Today it is 64 degrees and we have been outside working most of the day, getting our vitamin D and a little color on our skin and more importantly getting lots of yard work done...hope you all are having a nice sunny Sunday...By the way we ended up with a foot of snow from this snowfall - This is a view from our kitchen window looking out to the road and you can see our pump house and the foundation for the building we are about to erect for our old cars we are restoring.

A Mother gone to Heaven

It was with great sadness that I learned my best friend and ex-sister-in-law's mother passed away a few days ago. I wasn't home all weekend - went to visit my mother and stepdad and took in a movie on Sunday. When I got home, there was a tearful message on my machine. Our two lives have paralleled in so many instances. We are exactly 6 months to the day apart. Mishka and Sean her cousin were born within weeks of each other and Chicken and Lynn's next child, Charity grew up hooked at the hip. Our fathers died at young ages and she and I are psychic with each other too. We feel when something is wrong or a shadow passes over either of our families. Her mother intimidated me when I was a young girl and I was mad at her in my teens when she sent Lynn away and called my mother and told her I was a bad influence on Lynn (it was her way of justifying sending her away), but true friends can never really be separated and Lynn forgave her mother and I did too. I grew to love Lois and her sisters and Mother. They were second family to me. Lois not only gave me the gift of Lynn in my life, but she also led me to the Lord and that is the greatest gift she could have given me. She joins her wonderful mother "Mama Ritchie" who died three weeks ago. She joins a husband, mother, sisters, grandchildren born and unborn - Jesus says "You shall be known in Heaven as you are on Earth" and I know she is rejoicing with HIM and family right now. I will miss you Lois Mom!

Bow Wows!

Got a chance to watch the Big Kahuna dog show last night and of course I want a dog. I have wanted one for some time, but I know I cannot have one until I don't have to work full time. I am a firm believer in a disciplined dog, although my cats are not too disciplined (I try). These dogs are so beautiful and really do love strutting their stuff in the ring. You will also learn a lot about the different breeds from watching these shows. I think Eukanuba does one also.I love the herding and hunting dogs. They are so bright and you can see it in their eyes. The announcer's on the Westminster Dog Show are very well-informed and let you know the pro's and con's of the breeds and whether they would be right for you as a pet. I know someday I will have a dog again, Buddy will enjoy having a dog around and Delta will probably just ignore it. I would love to have a pure bred dog, but I know my heart will take me to the animal shelter to adopt another member into our family.

Update on M

After viewing some horrific video of M's rant and ordeal with the police on the news this morning, I was pleased to learn that they did admit him to the psychiatric unit of the hospital. Dear M, I hope your mind is now at rest and you are getting the help you so truly deserve....my hopes and prayers are for you to get the answers you have been looking for.

Falling Through The Cracks

Today was a very sad day. A dear friend of our family who is homeless (he chooses to live his lifestyle) went over the edge. I first learned of the incident on the morning news, but did not make the connection that it was M. He pulled his van up to a local TV station and lit some flares, when the employee's called the police (swat and state, local authorities) he threatened to ignite the inside of the van with himself in it. They played it on the news as a "Bomb Threat" and of course evacuated the area. He spoke with swat and he must have told them he had been treated at the VA hospital and that is how they found my sister, who used to be his girlfriend. M has had issues of anger over society, politics and law. He chose to opt out. My sister did not want that lifestyle and so they parted company, but he was and is our friend. We love him and want the best for him. We went to the hospital hoping to be able to provide some background info on him as he has no family here and we are his surrogate family. We are praying that he will not fall through the cracks of the justice system and get the help he so desperately needs. He is such a good man that has had a tragic past and has made some bad mistakes. Thank GOD he was not hurt and he didn't hurt anyone else....I am hoping for a happy ending to this story, please join me in thinking the good thoughts for him.

I Finally Figured it Out

Well, I have been trying to blog for some time now and could not get back in since Blogger changed over. I have realized that I need to keep a book with all the passwords for all the places I go, as the only ones I really remember are the ones I use for my regular email and at work. The places I do not visit regularly just escape from my brain. So this one is now written down in the "BLUE BOOK" for safe keeping. Glad to be back!

Spring or Bust

I know, I know, we haven't even had real winter yet and here I am longing for Spring. Daffodils, birds chirping, grass and tree buds appearing, the feeling of renewal. Is that too much to ask, so soon? I always get the winter doldrums at this time. The holidays are past and here we are stuck in this winter limbo. Time seems to stand still for me during this time, (except for upcoming taxes) of course. I want to be outside in the sun, digging in the earth, spying on my birds, don't you? My Dex just laughs at me and says we still have a some way to go, but I am impatient with nature. I want to see her burst forth in the glorious way she always does, showing off on her own private runway, her latest fashion. I am ready to buy!

Four Wheel Drive Dummies

You know who I am talking about - you are the ones that have this false sense of security in your SUV or Truck. You think your vehicle will drive on any type of road condition - you also think you can continue with your daily habit of talking on the phone through your morning commute, or eat your breakfast, put on your makeup etc. Well, guess what? Your vehicle works no better than my little commuter car on ICE. So, please quit putting the rest of us in danger and just for a day or two, let the phone ring, it will go to your voice mail. Wait until you get to work and eat your breakfast or eat it at home before you leave. Please do not try and put you mascara on in the car while you are driving, you could cause an accident or POKE YOUR EYE OUT! How about just using a little common sense and quit being so damned Narcissistic - it really isn't all about you!

Keep your germs to yourself

I am trying not to become Howard Hughish - but darnit, why can't sick people stay home! Intestinal flu was going around the network which is 30 miles away from the executive offices where I work. You would think I would be safe from "their" germs, but I forgot about the inter-office envelopes that are shuttled back and forth between locations daily. I get one everyday from production and of course production is where the "crud" originated. Needless to say, I have been home for two days, not exercised, unless I can log the trips to the loo - only good thing is I have seen some great movies, got to talk to Mishka and got to watch Dr. Phil and Oprah (not afraid to admit it) so it has not been a total loss. I will have two hours of spam to wade through when I get back though. On second thought "keep your germs and spam to yourself" if you don't mind.

The Kitties who own HaHa

I have wanted to introduce our kitties to you for awhile now and finally got some decent pics of them. I think the one of buddy (white and black tabby) really shows his attitude (very much like Morris the Cat on TV) and Delta's pic doesn't do her justice. She was declawed (which I abhor) by her previous owner, but she will always be safe with us. She uses her teeth (against Buddy) instead of her claws, but she still pitterpats and "sharpens" her claws like a regular cat. Both Cats were adopted and although they still fight with each other (we use a spray bottle to break it up) they do seem to love each other too! We were going to get kittens, but I am glad we adopted them instead and I highly recommend it!

I Finally Made it

Whew! I finally made it through the new conversion. It wasn't too difficult once I realized my password and username. I am finally resigned to keeping a book with the info in it as it is too frustrating trying to remember all the user and pass info for all the accounts on the web. I told Dex, I thought it would be nice if you could buy a box that had all the plug ins for a Tuner, receiver, speakers, sat dish connection, vcr and dvd along with cd player, game connect too. Just a simple box, you connect to and everything works, then a truly easy universal remote that has buttons that say, VCR, TV, CD, etc. We are getting so tech these days, that it is hard to keep up with all the current changes. I try, but as soon as I get it down, it changes. I would pay someone to come out and set everything up, but trouble is, they have to be up-to-date too! I just got an idea for this, what about a device that you plug in your computer that downloads all user/pass and you uplug unless you need it. You watch, someone will have invented it before I get this posted. Happy New Year everyone!

Turkey and the Snow

It was a great time at Grandmother's house, although we missed having all the family there to celebrate. It usually snows on the valley floor by now, but it has been a rainy season so far. Great for me and Dex as our wells are now full of water. But now the temp has dropped and the sky is Black and White with snow clouds. This morning I encountered the white stuff on the way to work. I hope it stays off the ground for one more day as I have to drive to the southend of the state for an appointment, but I may stay the night at Gma's for the night as my eyes will still be dilated. Can you imagine driving in the snow with dilated eyes at night! Talk about psychodelic!

Sister, Sister

Both of my daughters are together at this moment. The youngest flew out to the East Coast to spend some time with her big sister. These two have a wonderful relationship and enjoy each other's company so much. They are having the time of their lives right now, I can promise you. I have a younger sister myself and we have been hooked at the hip since I can remember. Yes, there were times I wanted to strangle her, just as my two daughters did when they were growing up, but truly, I cannot imagine my life without my sister. She has been my best friend ever and always will be...so heres to sisters!!! Especially my NEKO!!!

I'M Skeered!!!!!

This weekend has been a real scare-a-thon on TV. There has been a plethora of pics to choose from. Anything from Scary Movie 3 to one of my favorites "King Kong" which of course stars the beautiful Fay Ray. It also has special memories for someone else in my family, Mishka was just a little girl, but she was glued to the TV set watching this movie with me. As Fay was strapped to the tiki's about to become Kong's bride, and she sees him for the first time, I had to strike while the iron was hot. Boo at the appropriate time scared the bejesus out of her and she flew up in the air and then she got really, really mad at her mommy. Great scare! Happy Halloween darling!

I love my job, I love my job, I really do!!!

We just paid off all our bills! We came into a little money and our goal was to get out of debt so we paid off all our debt and now I have the freedom to look for another job if I want. I cannot tell you the sense of freedom I feel, knowing I do not have to work where I do if I don't want too. There is such power in this feeling! Don't get me wrong, I love my job, I love the broadcasting/radio business. What I do not like is the Bull#!$?. The idiots that do not have a clue as to what you do, but are great at telling you how to do it. I do not like not having the tools to do my job, continual computer breakdowns, software failures and bad internet connections (because they are too cheap). Hey, I guess I should be grateful that they finally got me a flat screen monitor (after much begging) and complaining of eye strain. Well...bosses, you better treat me nice...cause I can leave if I want to! Yahoo!!!!!!!!

She's a Saint but she smokes!

Saturday, William and Chicken took me up to see Mt. St. Helens. The weather was made to order and the drive was beautiful. One of the first things you notice is the replanting of trees. As in most replanted forests the trees are all symetrical and the same size, which creates an impressionistic landscape. Weyerhauser also planted along with fir trees, red alder and it was strange to see whole forests of them. Soon after though, the landscape shifts and rounding up the backside of the mountain you are impressed with the lunar landscape where the Lahare flows are. We saw 3 bull elk from the lookout, visited the museum and saw the film and then we were on our way to the front side of Helen. I cannot impress upon you overwhelming sensation of your own small self in the face of the power of nature when you look at her from this angle. She had at least 3 plumes going up at the same time. At her base we saw more elk crossing a ravine. I don't think she is ready to completely rest yet, time will tell. Nature is so powerful and wonderful and frightening at the same time. If you get a chance, I would encourage you to make the trek as it is a wonder of the age. Thank you William and Chicken for this special trip and another great memory stored.

Crocodiles and Stingrays

It was with much sadness that I awoke to the news of the bizarre accidental death of Steve Irwin. I really enjoyed his personality, humor and bravery along with his expertise and knowledge of the animal world. I tuned into the Today show and then experienced so much outrage that I had to email the show and let them know of my disgust. Steve has been on the Today show many times for different interviews. I am sure they had quite a few in their archives. They instead chose to broadcast the one in which he defends his actions when he fed a croc while holding his son Bob in his arms. While I might not agree with his call on that one, I certainly felt that was the absolutely WRONG interview to replay during this sensitive time. I told them this was "National Enquirer Magazine" reporting and they owe his family and all his fans an on air apology and I challenged them to do so. Good Bye Steve, we will miss your smile, personality and showmanship. GOD Bless you and the wonderful family you left behind. You made us laugh and learn and care!