Sweeny Todd

A delightfully dark musical. I do believe it is the best musical I have ever seen. I am not a big fan of musicals but I think that I like Tim Burton's work along with the people who are actors trying to sing. Oh, and there's a drop or two of blood thrown in. The ending has a twist that twists again. I loved it.

Vacation toys

Today I received a new toy. It is a camcorder that is about the size of a 8 track tape that will record up to 2 hour of video in high definition. I am planning on taking it with us on our vacation so Cynical and Ragged you better polish up your acting skill cause your gonna be in the movies. The camcorder is also a 8 mega pixel camera. If you just do photos it will hold over 1600 photos. Think that just might get us. Can you imagine watching that in a slide show. At 3 seconds per image it would take you 80 minutes. Dats alot of pichur takin. I think Needles might take it with her to Greencastle to get a few pans of the booths.

Mom and Dad are up this week and it has been good to spend some time with them. I think my diet is going to backslide a few pounds until they leave though. Have a good evening.

Happy Birthday Needles!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart. I love you very much.

Supper brought to you by the Dairy Dee.

Today after work I stopped off at the Dairy Dee in L'ville to pick up a couple of pounds of smoked pulled pork for supper and what ever is left we can have for leftovers tomorrow. After waiting in line for almost 10 min. I finally got the food and was on my way home. When I pulled out of the parking lot an older driver pulled out in front of me and decided to drive as slow as physically possible up to the stop light. The light changed red just was he pulled out of the lane I was in. Just then a black truck with lights pulled into the intersection. I thought whats going on as I couldn't see the WIDE LOAD sign at the angle I was to the truck. As I looked to my distant right I see 2 halves of a house being trucked toward the intersection. I thought to myself crap if that old guy would have been just 5 mph faster I would have been ahead of all this. Of course the trucks go by at 5 miles an hour and me being in the left turn lane already, I was committed to pull out behind them. I had to follow them for 4 miles until they finally turned off making a turn at the intersection in B'port taking 5 minutes. So my usually 10 minute trip home today with my stop for supper and other delays ended up taking me 45 minutes. I wonder why they decided to move this thing in the middle of the day when a lot of people are getting off of work. I bet they had traffic backed up from B'port to L'ville.

This evening Needles and I made our first Dairy Dee dessert run for the year. I got a large hot fudge shake and she got a small oreo tundra. YUM!

Tomorrow my parents are coming up to make funeral arrangements for my great aunt. I was hoping for a Sat. burial but it looks like its going to be Fri. so I will have to take off of work. I am to be a pallbearer in the funeral. I know we are supposed to get a lot of rain tomorrow and into Friday morning but I hope it moves out of the area by the time of the burial.

I have just been a very pessimistic mood lately. I wonder if it is because of the run of bad luck.

30 days

30 days until Vacation.

The Hits Just Keep On A Comin.

If this is the way things go when you plan a vacation then I think I can wait another 12 years for the next.

1. My co worker backs into a lady's car.
2. We get rear ended in E'ville.
3. Cynicals car gets backed into.
4. Needles Uncle passed out and totalled his truck last night.
5. Today was notified that my great aunt that fell and broke her hip 3 weeks ago died this morning.

All this added on to my previous list from a week or so ago has made it a trying last few weeks. 2008 isn't getting off to a very good start and we are just 3 months into it.

Getting into shape.

Needles and I have made a effort to try to eat better and lose a little weight in the hopes that we might feel better. I have been somewhat successful in dropping a few pounds but Needles says that with women its a different story. I have lost approx 22 pounds since the first of the year and I can honestly say I do feel better. I can at least bend over and tie my shoe without feeling winded from having my air cut off by my belly. Today I made the ultimate leap a bought a set of scales. Do you know what I did just as soon as I got them out of the package?.......I weighed the cats of course. Tugger is a whopping 12.4 pounds. They say the average weight of an adult cat is 10 to 15 pounds. Copper has a bit of an issue however. He's a big boy. An 18.6 pound big boy. Even if we don't weigh ourselves regular at least we will have fun weighing the cats.

Back from the Body Shop.

Today after work I stopped by our local body shop to see how much it would cost to buff out the scuff marks on the rear bumper. I was surprised when the guy said "Oh...20 bucks." I asked him if he thought the marks would come out with the buffing and he said there was a good chance of it. He checked the crush bumper underneath the bumper cover and it was OK. We have to drop the car off Thursday and they are going to fix it Friday.

Tonight Needles if fixin spaghetti. Mmmmmm pasta. Pasta is like a dessert since I had to go almost a year and a half with it limited strictly in my diet. Now that we found Barilla it is now back into the regular round up and as Yin would say "I lub it."

I find myself wishing it was Friday. My parents are planning to come up and this will be their first trip up here in several months.

We are currently getting some storms and it is knocking out the TV reception. Oh well I have seen all of the ST: Voyager series anyway.

What a day.

Today Needles and I went to the BIG city to celebrate her upcoming B'day. We went to Roger's to get her ring it's 6 month inspection and cleaning. We also went to Joann's so Needles could pick up a few buttons for some sweater projects she was needing to "button up." After Joann's we 2 stepped next door to Lone Star for brunch as we didn't have breakfast. After we got our bellies filled we decided to do some shopping for our upcoming vacation. After a few fruitless stops we were driving through the parking lot to decide where next to go when we were rear ended by a guy in a Jeep Cherokee. We pulled up and I got out to survey the damage. We got a little scuffed paint in the shape of a license plate frame on the rear bumper but he got busted bumper plastic and a broken license plate holder. It could have been a lot worse. We got information and are wondering if we should turn it in. It's not that noticeable but we have only had the car a month and it just goes to show you can't have anything nice without some dumb ass messing it up. I may take the car to a local body shop and see what they can do and what the price will be to maybe buff it out. After this incident we were a bit upset but we decided to stop at a couple more stores and then made our way home. Lets just say that I am in no hurry to go to E'ville anytime soon.

Movie Time.

How many of the Netflicks Top 100 movies have you seen?

Needles and I have seen 55 of them. There were about 10 we have no intention of watching and about 20 thats a maybe. The others might get watched if they are on T.V. and nothing else is on.

I have learned something about our movie selections. If the movie has Mandy Moore, Hillary Duff, Lindsey Lohan or Hugh Grant in them they are an automatic pass.

Trying Day.

Today started out to be a nice day. Things ran smoothly and it seemed like we were all running like a well oiled machine. That is until the afternoon when a office that regularly sends us orders decide to start omitting information that is required and needed to do the testing ordered. This has happened occasionally over the last few months but we went out of our way to correct the omission and continue on like nothing has happened. Today I receive 2 orders that way. The first didn't have a name so I called them to find out the name, wrote it down and go on my happy way. The second order was missing the diagnosis. I again called the office and informed them of their missing information. The person on the line acted like I had just asked her to do her job or some crazy thing like that, so I informed them in a firm but kind way that this is a legal document and that it must have 4 items of information. 1) patients name. 2) exam to be done. 3) proper diagnosis for exam. 4) Doctors signature. Dear sweet baby jebus I just wish that people would do their expletive job. I am tired of picking up after people like they are children and going out of my way to allow someone else to be lazy. I have a co worker that thinks she is special and doesn't have to do the "crap jobs" the rest of us have to do. It's getting old and I think she is in need of a attitude adjustment. We will see what tomorrow brings because you know what they say about pay back.

PS. 36 days until vacation.

39

39 Days until Vacation.

Happy Easter!

Out and about.

Today Needles and I decide to go do a little shopping for vacation. We are both in desperate need of some new clothes as most of our recent clothing purchases were well over a year ago. I was needing some new summer shirts that are nice and not the faded, stained t-shirts that seem to make up about 90% of my shirts. I found 3 shirts at JC Pennys and Needles found a shirt. Other than a few odds and ends I think my shopping is done. Tomorrow we are going down to visit Needles family for Easter dinner. Needles is cooking a ham for the occasion. Happy Easter everyone.

Friday night out and back by 6:30.

This evening after work I came home and told Needles get your dress up clothes on cause were going out. We went to town and ate at a place that has been open a couple of years but we haven't even step foot in the place. Recently I have been hearing them advertise their BBQ ribs and pulled pork sandwiches. I was intrigued to say the least, being a BBQ rib fanatic. We arrived and I ordered the 1/2 rack platter with fries and baked beans. Needles had the pulled pork with a salad and smoked potato. They were both very good and on a scale of 1 to 10 I would have to give their ribs about a 9. The smoke flavor was good but almost a little too much at times. The BBQ sauce is on the table so you can add as much or as little as you like which is a plus. The amount of food is very good for the price and it is cheaper than the Trace Inn. After filling our bellies we went to the grocery store for our monthly grocery getting. We buy in bulk to keep us from having to do this too often. We both hate grocery shopping. We came home unloaded the car and now are relaxing on the couch wondering if there is anything good on T.V. I think this is a free weekend of HBO and Skinamax on DirecTV. Joy!

PS. 42 days.

Giggle

44

44 days until vacation. I think the waiting is almost like torture. I am so in need of a break from work, life and everything in between. Here is a list of the things my "work family" and I have been dealing with over the last few weeks.

1. Family member diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
2. Family member receives botched spinal surgery with complications.
3. Death in the family.
4. Family member fell and broke hip.
5. Family member loosing blood and diagnosed with tumor in stomach possibly cancerous.
6. Flu all around in office. Several days of missed work and grumpy co-workers.
7. To top it all off a family member was murdered in cold blood while holding her 16 month old son and her child laid in his mothers bloody arms all night until they found them the next day.

This has all been within the last 4 or 5 weeks. Enough is enough.

45

45 Days until Vacation.

Rain, Rain, Rain Rain Rain!

It has rained all last night and today. Town was flooded this morning and it has rained all day on top of that. The back patio hasn't been under water since I cut a ditch to divert the water away. That is until this morning, the water was about 1/2 inch over the patio and now it's more than that. Tomorrow is more of the same. I just wish this stuff would move on to Georgia to one of those southern states that is still in a deficit for water. Rain rain go away don't come again some other day.

Back from the weekend.

Last Friday Needles and I headed South for the weekend. We arrived at my parents around 7pm and upon walking in the door, supper was ready. I love my Moms cooking and in short order I was enjoying green beans, corn, real mashed potatoes, fish fillets and home made hush puppies. YUM! We then retired to the living room to catch up on things and enjoy each others company. We stayed up late, finally going to bed around 1:30am. The next morning we stayed close to home until noon when Needles and I visited my cousin at his shop. When we got home Mom and Dad drove us around to see the tornado damage that ripped though the area a few weeks ago. It was amazing to see the destruction up close that blazed a trail through the area. We then drove by the trailer court where the 3 people had been killed in the storm. All that was left of the trailer was bits of metal stuck in and around the trees at the end of the lot. Several garages were just gone and the same with roof tops and some that were patched back together as best they could with blue tarps. We would see one house with the windows intact and the one next door with every window blown out. One house was completely destroyed and the trailer right beside it was unscathed. Hundreds of trees were twisted off mid trunk and a lot of evergreens were bent over from the several inches of ice and snow that just hit the area just a week before but has now melted away. That evening my Aunt brought homemade vegetable soup and we got to talk and catch up. Sunday we went to the hospital to visit my great aunt that had fallen just a few days before and broke her hip. She had surgery and is now in a sheltered care center. We got to spend some time with her but with the medications they have her on she was slipping in and out of consciousness so we decided to leave her to her nap and go back to my parents house and prepare to make the trip back home. We left around 2:15pm and arrived home at 5pm. Last night I got laundry caught up and we watched our Netflicks movie that arrived while we were gone. We had a good trip but it was too short. I am counting down the days until vacation.

Water...It'll Cure What Ails You.

Yep just this morning I was wondering what I could have done to shorten the duration of the flu. Then I read about medicine being in tap water and Shezam, the cure was at the facet the whole time. As soon as I hear about all the medication properties of our tap water I bellied up to the bar and down about 6 tall glasses of the liquidy goodness. Later on in the day I noticed that my breasts seemed a little larger and my hot flashes stopped. Must be the hormones. I noticed that Mr. Willy seemed more at attention today. Maybe it's the Viagra? Oh and I think my acne has cleared right up. I did notice that the rash on my backside seems to be drying up and their is a few less warts in that area today. Next thing you know the kids will be drinking water, not to be healthy, to get high. They'll be trying to smoke it and shooting it up their veins. This upsets me so much I need a glass of water to relax. :P

Back to work.

It's Sunday and tomorrow it will be back to work. I won't say that I am 100 % back to normal but I think 90% would be a safe assumption. Today Needles and I went down to "L's" house and had lunch. We visited with Needles family until 3pm and returned home. When we got home we carried a few items out to the garage that we have been meaning to put out there but the weather wasn't making it convenient. We got that taken care of and now we are getting laundry caught up for the work week ahead. In a way I will be glad to get back to work. I just hope the first couple of days this week won't be crazy.

It's Over.

Last night around 9:30 my fever finally broke. I am feeling much better but a little weak and dizzy at times. My ears still feel a little off and some head and chest congestion. Will still be monitoring my temp today to make sure but I think the worst is definitely behind me. My only concern now is that no one else gets it. I know I have never in my life been that sick for so long. Over the weekend I am hoping to get back to 100%. Have a good weekend everyone.

Day 5: PM edition.

I thought I was on the upswing but around just after I posted this morning my temp began to rise again. I think it only hit 100.9 today so maybe a little improvement. I noticed that I broke into a sweat a lot today. Maybe this mean that I am making some progress. My temp finally dipped below 100 this evening and I think my body is adjusting to this constant fever because 99.9 doesn't feel too bad. 101 sucks and 102 give me a gun and let me end it. Its amazing what 1 degree or 2 will do. Needles prepared me some chicken noodle soup this evening and I could believe how good it tasted. It was the first time I had eaten anything substantial for almost 30 hours. I would like to think I am going to work tomorrow but I am not going to kid myself. If it works anything like today I should just accept that Monday I should be back to work. I have heard that the flu going around this year was an especially rough one and with first hand knowledge I can say that this one kicked my ass every way it wanted. I have had the 24 hour type flu but this 5 day to a week crap is rough. We will see what tomorrow brings. Thanks for all the well wishes and Cynical you might need to get those genitals looked at.

Day 5: Tis the season

Yep, Home again but I feel I am on the up swing. My fever has dropped to a comfortable 99.3 again. I think I can almost tell my temperature without the thermometer. Yesterday evening was by far the worst of this. I layed on the couch under 3 blankets all evening with chills and temp spiked last night just before bed at 102. This morning the fever is down to low grade but my body still aches. If my fever goes away today I may try work tomorrow. My boss suggested I go to the doctor but I think it's just got to run its course. I think taking the cold medicine might have delayed my body killing off the flu. Your temperature raises to keep the flu from procreating inside your body. I think the cold meds kept my fever to low grade and allowed it to get a deeper hold on me. I have done some research on the flu and I have all the syptoms and things has progressed like it said it would. I am happy that this hasn't settled into my chest any worse than it has.

How to tell the difference between cold and flu:

.........................................flu..................cold
Was your onset of illness ….....sudden?.................slow?
Does you have a …..................high fever?......no (or mild) fever?
Is your exhaustion level …......severe?..................mild?
Is your head ….......................achy?............headache-free?
Is your appetite …..................decreased?............normal?
Are your muscles …....................achy?....................fine?
Do you have .....….....................chills?.................no chills?

Sent home.

Today I woke up and got ready to go to work. Even though I felt like crap I thought I could tough it out. Today is day 4 of this illness and I am more than tired of it. I worked just fine with the occasional cough and running nose up until about 10:30am and then the chills hit. I am usually hot at work but today I wore my coat and was still shivering. I went to the E.R. and checked my temp. 98.6 I'm fine must be in my head. Then the dizziness hit again and one of my co workers said she was going to check it again. 99.5. It was then that my boss approached me and told me to go home. On the way home I felt waves of heat roll over me and my lips felt chapped like I was dehydrated. When I got home I checked my temp again and it was 101.7. I now think I have the flu. It isn't the stomach bug but the upper respiratory kind. I am thinking I am probably going to be home the rest of the week. I can't seem to shake this fever. My temp has been bouncing around 100.3 to 101 and I feel wiped out. I hate this.

Coughs, sneezing and all sorts of loveliness.

Today I was hoping that I would start to feel better. I guess this is what I get for hoping. I have been coughing a lot more than I was yesterday, so much that Needles and I broke out to the store to get medication. I was going to suffer though it but after a couple of hours of what felt like constant coughing I had to get some relief. I have been taking a cold medication that is supposed to last 4 hours. Wrong, it barely lasted 3 so for the last hour I was hacking my head off and now that I waited the prescribed time to take the next does of medication I have to wait 45 minutes or so for it to get into my system. I am sick of this and I am sure I will have a couple more days of lingering symptoms. I did however get something fun and neat today. It is a Garmin C330 Street Pilot. I thought it might come in handy when we go on our vacation in roughly 2 months. I have pre programmed it with the sites we know we want to visit and am sure we will find a few more things to do when we get there. We tested it out when we went to the store and I think it will be helpful in our westward journey. If you would excuse me I need to go rent a jack hammer to open up my sinuses.

Laughter the best medicine.

Cold: Day 3

I slept well last night to wake up to the 3rd day of the same headache. Still coughing and sinuses are congested. I checked my temp and it was 98.3 so I got ready for work. While getting ready I felt exhausted and the old familiar fever feeling was there. I checked it again just before I was getting ready to walk out the door and it was 99.3. It is hard to talk or go more than a few minutes without coughing. I think for all concerned I need to call it a no go. My cough is worse and my head feels like it's filled with concrete. With the weather we are supposed to get today it seemed everything was telling me to stay home. So here I set on the couch hoping today will be the last of this mess.

Working sick.

Yes, I know as a health care professional I should know better, but my boss was off today and I knew if I stayed home there would be hell to pay tomorrow. My co workers usually give me flack about taking time off but when I'm sick I am usually really sick. It seems like 3 of the 4 people in our dept. was coughing a sniffling today. Needles and I went to bed last night at 11pm and I fell right to sleep only to wake up at 2:30am and lay in bed wide away the rest of the night doing the same routine. Covers on, get hot, remove covers, get chilled, repeat. All night long. I got up this morning and checked my temperature. 99.5 Hmmm do I go or stay home. The bed really wasn't all that inviting after tossing and turning all night so I thought I might as well go to work. At first it was a little rough, chills then sweats but as the day went on the dull ache in my head and my occasional cough seemed to get better. On the way home my headache returned and I still have a slight fever. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

It's Offical.

I am sick. Checked temp at about 6pm and I am running a temp of 100.3. I think Needles has it too. Her temp is at around 99. Lovely.

PS. My movie number is 164. Almost double no life.

Gorgeous Sunday.

Today the temperature was perfect although we had a little wind mixed in. The sun shined and it was a gorgeous day. We had to do a little cache maintenance so while we were there we stopped by a friends house to visit and catch up. I seemed to have developed a cough last night and it has continued today. I have noticed that I seem to be a little dizzy at times so I wonder if it might be inner ear. Needles gave me a Emergen C to hopefully nip it in the bud and I took a 3 hour nap which is very unusual for me. Time will tell.

Momma, what does Vacation mean?

Vacation's when you go somewhere... and you don't ever come back. Needles has made our reservations for Vacation... There's no turning back now! Can't wait...

P.S. This is my 500th post.

Quick Day Trip.

Today around 9 am Needles and I ventured South to the "weird magnet". We had skipped b'fast and instead stopped by The Gemini for lattes until our appointment time. We were taking the car the dealerships to get a front license plate bracket installed and to replace a driving light that was out when we bought it. While we waited on the work to be done Needles Mom "L" stopped by and took us to brunch. After we got our car back we parted ways with "L" since she had an appointment in Olney. We thought about going to Wally World but remembered what day of the month it is. All the crazies are out with their government checks so we decided to go home instead. Needles and I were astonished that you can make a trip of 100 miles and still have 7/8th of a tank of gas left. With our other vehicles it would have taken 1/4 a tank or more for the same trip. Needles is making reservations for our May vacation. It will be here before we know it. Have a great weekend.

Not much to say except HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Cynical's new gang symbol.

Not a whole lot going on in this neck of the woods. I wish I was in O'town celebrating Cynicals 35th Birthday. I am sure they are out enjoying the evening and having fun. Happy Birthday Cynical! Don't forget to give a swig of Geritol to the Homees. Wish we could be there. South Sideeeeeed Boy!

Here we go again.

Another round of weather is moving through the area to night and tomorrow. Rain, sleet, snow and ice could be on the agenda but with the temps being up it looks like what we get won't stick around. Needles got to drive the car to work today for the first time but I think she is going to drive the truck tomorrow just in case. I hope we don't get any of it except rain.

Finally!

We did get to drive the car today. The temp raised enough to clear the roads and at noon we ventured in Jenny from the Blogs direction and went out to eat at the Chinese Buffet. Yum. We returned back to Jenny's for conversing and coffee. We then went to Rudy, Brando and the kids to catch up on things. We got home around 6:45pm and it is now time to get things ready for work tomorrow. I don't wanna go.

What the heck.

Last night we went to bed with the plans of going to the big city and eating at the OP. We were going to take the new car so that a friend could see it and take her out to eat. I woke up this morning thanks to the neighbors loud truck that seems to be my new weekend alarm clock. While I was up I thought I would go ahead an feed our starving, malnourished cats and while I was bent over pouring what the cats think is gold nuggets into the bowl I noticed it was very white outside. Too white. I walk to the window and pull back the blind to see almost 2" of snow covering everything and it's still coming down. What the heck, there was NO mention of this in the forecast for today. Not even a mention of snow, flurries, rain or anything. I am beginning to think that the same gods of fate that allowed us to purchase this car doesn't want us to drive it. It has been 5 days since we brought it home and it hasn't moved and inch. If you can believe the weather person the temp is supposed to get up to 38. Maybe this will turn over into rain and all melt quickly. Maybe one of these days.

Love Hate Relationship.

Needles enjoys watching House M.D. I am not saying that I hate the show but the inaccuracies in it are astounding. The show implies that the Doctors do EVERYTHING from the time the patients walk in the door, ALL diagnostic testing,ie. lab work and x-rays, to the time they are miraculously cured and going home with several brushes with death but non the worse for wear. Although I know that this show needs to have an entertainment value to get people to continue watching, but if you think that watching this will give you insight into what to expect when you go to a hospital for treatment, it would be like watching grass grow and learning the intricate workings of all the Eco systems of the world. If they made a show about what doctors really do in a general practitioners office setting it would be -Dr. walks in and looks over a chart with patient history prepared by a nurse, order tests, look at results, make diagnosis and write prescription or make a referral to a specialist, end credits. Boring Huh? This show might get exciting if it was in an E.R. setting with an E.R. physician but I guess they already have a show like that.....E.R. The show states that they try to maintain health care accuracies but when they omit every employee from the admissions clerk who takes insurance info and prepares admission papers, the lab tech who draws blood for testing, the radiologic technologist that does X-rays. MRIs, Ultrasounds, nurses that dispense medication, keep charting information in order, bathing and monitor any change in patients condition and the orderlies that wheels them to and from testing and to their car on discharge. When you see patients in rooms with glass walls, I think HIPPA(patient confidentiality) isn't top on their list of accuracies. Another thing about the show that drives me nuts is that when the patient first comes in they are having benign symptoms like an ingrown toenail but after several thousand dollars of testing, that no insurance in their right mind would pay for, several life threatening mis-diagnoses and then the final diagnosis that someone says something and Dr. House has a moment of clarity, like getting hit in the head with a brick. Of course this last diagnosis is so outlandish it's like they are diagnosed with a rare form of stomach ulcer because their grandma's neighbors aunts cat was kenneled with a dog who's owner had a homosexual encounter in a cave while in college 15 years ago and was exposed to bat shit while a foreign exchange student in Argentina and found Marco too stunning and had to get his "Broke Back Something or other" on. I mean to paraphrase Jenny for the Blog "WTF?" I guess it is good that a lot of sick people are cured but I bet when they get home that have to sell off everything they own because of the hospital bills that was accumulated during their stay. I guess that is one thing that is accurate. Most doctors don't care about how much of a bill the patient is going to get stuck with. They just care how much they are going to be reimbursed by the insurance for their service. Enjoy your next doctors appointment or hospital stay.

Virgin Mary Pretzel on Ebay.....Go Bid!

Here is some of the Q & A that is on the Virgin Mary Pretzel listing on ebay. I was going to bid on it but it is a little out of my price range at around 99 million dollars. Ooo so close. I thought it was the funniest thing I have read in awhile so enjoy and God bless. (monks chanting in the background.)

Question & Answer

Q: How would you rate the pretzels freshness? Do you think it is still edible?
A: It is just as crisp golden and delicious as the day it blessed us by coming into our world through a holy deliver. (out of a oven)

Q: Have you seen the replica for sale for $5000????
A: It is just the image of ours reversed. Don't be fooled by the fool!

Q: Would you be willing to throw in honey mustard dip?
A: In no way would we ever add anything that would lead to the eating of this pretzel, for it is a gift from the heavens!

Q: Would you consider this item a Holy Relic?
A: I consider it a pretzel that looks like the picture it sits next to. Don't read into it.

Q: This is the work of the devil!!! Repent all you sinners!!!
A: Halleleuja!!!

Q: CON ARTIST
A: Jerk

Q: Did you eat paint chips when you were a child?
A: Good one David Spade

Q: PRAISE THE LORD! It is miraculous! Are you sure this salty delicacy of a divine nature is mint? No chips, cracks, repairs, loss of salt? What is the expiration date on the bag? Is it still fresh or has it turned soft and rancid? Since it is not stated in the listing, I assume shipping is FREE Priority with insurance. Do you take checks? I don't use PayPal. Most importantly, should this sacred biscuit end up with a non-paying bidder, will it be available after the strike? PRAISE EBAY BOYCOTT!!
A: The pretzel has been locked in a box for almost 3 years since it was found. The original packaging is included, but seeing as this is a collaborative effort, the bag is not on my person as I answer this question. Yes shipping is free priority with insurance, no we will not take a check, PayPal only

Q: Is she salty?
A: Of course she is salty, she's a damn pretzel

Q: Thank you for confirming that eBay attracts the galactically stupid.
A: You betcha.

Q: Can you get me 10 of this? I am willing to pay $100,000.00 for all 10. Let me know as soon as possible cause I already have a buyer lined up for all of them. Shamcy
A: We didn't make it dude, God did.

Q: How many little nuggets of holy salt are visible on the blessed pretzel? Are you willing to sell the divine salt nuggets individually, or is it strictly a package deal?
A: Sorry this salty treat is far too divine for us to risk her life scraping the salt off...

Q: Does this pretzel come with the original Rold Gold package? What are the dimensions?
A: Yes the packaging comes with the pretzel... and the dimensions are the size of a pretzel... About 1 1/2" tall.

Q: Just curious, item is described as "coveted", "a religous icon", and as a "relic". Could you provide any proof to support these claims? (or atleast look them up in the dictionary, so that you can re-think your description?)
A: No.

Q: I notice your 'God Given' pretzel also resembles the Hindu symbol for 'Om: Symbol of the Absolute'; would you be willing to rename your offer to 'The Hindu Om Pretzel; previously known as the Virgin Mary Pretzel' in exchange for my bid?
A: Sorry, auction is as is.

Q: "Good Morning" or is it "Welcome to Planet Eerf" my question is - if I were to win - and I am in Eugene - would I have to pay shipping costs???
A: No, shipping is free on this item

The auction just got pulled. It hit the limit of 99,999,999.99. Soooooo sad.

New Car Smell...

As you probably read in Needles Blog that we got a "new to us" car. A 2007 Dodge Charger SXT and the way things has worked out it is almost like the car was fated to be ours. The only complaint I have is that tomorrow and the next few days the weather is going to be crappy. Not that this car is going to be a sunny day, temps above 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky type of car but we would prefer not to drive a rear wheel drive car we aren't familliar with on snow and ice just yet. In the next couple of weeks we are going to try to go and see my parents weather permitting. My brother and his family just came from the promise land and had seen alot of the damage that was done there by the recent tornados. We haven't been down there for several weeks. I hope we get to see them soon.

Come on Spring! I am sick to death with this cold weather.

Economy...I'm doing my part.

If the economy make a sharp up swing, I just want to say that we have done our part. Check out Needles Blog.

A Wet, Windy, Nasty, Muddy, Soupy, Sloppy Mess

Today of all days the sun decides to show it's face when it seems like we haven't seen it in months. But today the wind and mud makes it unplesant to be outside.

Red Truck a Go Go.

Well a long time member of the family that had been having a few issues is now gone. We say Good Bye to Lil Red and happy trails to your new home. Our 91 Dodge Dakota 4X4 had been in the family for about 12 years and we put almost 100,000 miles on her. She did very well up until about 8 or 9 months ago when she developed some issues that made her existance as a back up vehicle a little worrisome. We are on our way to a new to us car and the first and major step was selling little red. We didn't get as much for her as we wanted but close enough and I think she is going to a good home. We will miss you Lil Red. sniff sniff. Bwaaaa!!!

AWWWW Crap!

Now that I heard about Dinosaur World I wanna go there....

Vacation research.

We are trying to plan a vacation within a few months and doing some research into the area and things to do. One of the things I know I want to do is closed for renovation until possibly May 3rd. But there is something else that I have been wanting to do for about 8 or 9 years and I am very excited about. I can't wait because not only are we going to go on a vacation. We get to spend it with people we love to be around.

Renta Car research has brought about some info. It looks like and mini van is the most expensive thing to rent and the milage has restrictions. It looks like having a minivan for a week is going to be 350 to 400 dollars depending on the milage. A standard car or luxury car with unlimited milage is $150 to 200 a week. We will see another option might be available to us by then.

PS Thanks Ragged & Cynical for the Valentines Day Card.

We got it.

We didn't get as much as they threatened. They were saying 2 to 5 "snow with 1/2 ice on top. It didn't start sleeting and raining until 10pm last night. This morning it was just ice covering everything. I drove to work after almost busting my ass a few times on the way to the garage. And yes of course I had the idiot that pulled in front of me as I seem to alway have one going to work, why would a little ice make any difference. We got about an inch of snow but on top of the ice. On the way home I noticed that my defrosters wasn't working and my windshield wipers quit working on the way home also. JOY! When I left work to come home I had a completely clear windshield. When I got home I had about a 6" by 6" square that wasn't iced over that I could look clearly out of. Yeah Winter! Now go away...

What The Bliz?

I don't know but I am very upset. It seems that someone who I will remain nameless. (CYNICAL) Has not been keeping up with his job of informing us of our Blizzard Flavor of the Month. Why is it that it is a third of the way through Feburary and I am just now hearing about this from a T.V. commercial? All I can say is I am dissapointed and I think someones Fan Club privlages should be revoked. Cynical I am terribly upset so I must end this post and go get myself and Choco Cherry Love Blizzard to make myself feel alive again. I think a little piece of me died when I found out about this neglect. I think I am going to go slit my wrists with a fpoon.



PS. Needles mom scored 8 sets of orange Halloween lights, various blow mold bones and 4 skull trick or treat buckets for $3 at and auction. Thanks "L".

*Update*

I am sure all yall was on the edge of yur seat to find out what happened. They got the semi out of the ditch at around 10:30 pm that nite. Too bad that Jenny went home about 10:00 and missed the hoe thing. We will save ya a seat for next time Jenny.

On another note we have put Red Truck up for sale. It has been a good one but we are needing something that gets better gas milage and is comfortable for 4 with room to travel. We drove through some car lots today. I was hoping to get though them without talking to a dealer but we got stopped while driving through one of them. I think if I would have kept on going he would have jumped in front of the truck. I think we will be in the market for a vehicle in March so we are doing some research and looking for now. But once wez gets our Goverment Tax relief check we be livin large. Look out Jefferson's here we come! Thank Ya Mr. Bush! Dumbass!

PS. Why isn't spell check working? Did they go on strike like the writer's?

Excitin NIte in Red Nek Holla!

Wez havin sum excitin goins on in this here nek of the woodz. Wez has a semi truck off in the ditch. Cops are there and everthin. Wez just settin here and hear a noise like a tornader but it was a semi truck tryin to make the korner. I says to myself "Good F'n luck!" and then I heard a bad noise. The bad thing is that I got my socks wet from the puddles on the porch. Next thing I knew shes off in the ditch. Wez now camped out in the winder watchin all the excitmint... I wonder how theys gonna git outta this one. It's almost as excitin as watchin the Duke Boyz.

Lucked out yet again.

Last night we had some storms roll though the area. We heard the Tornado sirens and just about the same time the power went out for a few seconds. I went into the back room to see just how bad it was getting outside. I noticed the neighbors flag flapping wildly in different directions. Thats about the time the hail started and last just a minute or two. Rain fell so hard that I couldn't even see the street lights and the wind whipped up and we could hear it roaring until late in the night. We went to bed with the sound of wind and thunder. When I went to work today I heard about the destruction in the surrounding states. I called my parents in the promise land and they have been without phone and power since the storm last night. Tonight is supposed to get cold so they are without heat until the power comes back. They also told me 3 people were killed in a trailor about 4 miles form their house. This was the deadliest storm in 20 years. I feel that we were very lucky.

This is a picture that reminds me of a simpler life. No job, no stress, no responsiblity and no worries. Heres to the good ole days Cynical.

Hooray for the underdog!

I am so glad the Giants won the super bowl. I root for the underdog every year and I usually loose. Not this year.

P.S. Was it me or did the commercials suck this year. Especially the Sobe mineral water.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!!

Today is the day for the super bowl. I really could care less about the 2 teams that are playing but I am all for the Super Bowl get together and food. Today we have been invited by Jenny from the Blog (who will never post again.) to come to her home and enjoy the Super Bowl as we don't get network channels where we live. Yes we would pay for them if DirecTV offered them but they don't so there you go. Anyway we are heading there to enjoy an evening of the 3 F's. Food, friendship and funny commercials. I ready don't care about the teams and it seems that every where you look the Pats are favored. I seem to always root for the underdog so we will see. I guess I had better wrap this up as we are going to leave soon and we got a few things to pack up. Have a great Super Sunday! Go Giants!

List of things we have on tap.

Spinach, Ham and Cream Cheese Wraps
Oriental Chicken Wings
Taco Bell
Coffee
Various drinks
A bunch of commercials with a football game in between them.

Happy Ground Hog Day!!!!!

Six more weeks says our Ground Hog.

Not to bad.

I was not looking forward to the weather that was headed our way last night. When we went to bed last night all we had was a little slush with some rain and a few flakes. This morning we had about 1/2 inch on the ground. A lot less than the 7 to 10 inches they we predicting. One of my co workers live about 35 mile north of us and she got 8 inches. I think we were lucky. It semmed most of the night the rain and ice seemed to split just south of us. The ice to the east and the snow to the west. Tomorrow 40's and Monday 50's so the white stuff isn't going to stick around long at all.

Winter go away!

Tomorrow we are supposed to get another winter storm that rolls though the area. We just got through high wind last night, gusts reaching in the 50mph range. Now we are going to have wintery mix tomorrow evening turning into snow and sleet. They are talking like we could get several inches out of it........GGGRRRREEEAAAATTTTT!!!!! I am sick of the cold and even though we haven't had a lot of snow this year I am tired of it too. Cynical if you are desperate for snow then come on up. Needles co worker works for the road commissioner in Indiana. They are preparing for 1"inch of ice with up to 10" of snow on top. CRAP!!! I will keep you posted as to how much we do end up getting.

Blast from the past.

This was a TV show that aired in 1978. I remembered some of the details but I was stumped when I look for it a few years ago. Apparently this show must have stuck in other peoples minds too. I found it on IMDB and some of the comments written about this show sounded like I had written them myself. I wish I could find this on DVD but an internet search came up zilch. Oh Well at least I know the name of the show I remember watching at the ripe old age of 5 and scared the crap out of me. One of the scenes that I remember was the creature chasing one of the main characters into a cabin in the woods the person gets into the door and turns to slam and lock the door. The creature (Mud Monster) sticks his hand into the shutting door and has his hand lopped off. The severed hand crawls across the floor. This is pretty scary for a 5 year old. I also remember the creature could be fought with salt.

Another scary moment in TV was on Kolchak the night stalker. I remember a zombie episode where Kolchak found a zombie in a junk yard. I remember that how he was to stop the zombie was to fill it's mouth with salt and sew it's lips shut. He climbed into the car and proceeded to fill the mouth he sewed one stitch and then the second stitch the zombie opens it's eyes and that was about the time I broke out of there. TOO SCARY.

ELEVEN

ELEVEN YEARS

ELEVEN YEARS AGO


Eleven years ago today. Happy Anniversary Sweetheart.

Tonight

Tonight after Needles and I got home from work we received a phone call. It was Rudy, Brando, Yin and Yuri wondering what we were doing. They wanted to take us out to eat on our special night. We went to the Trace Inn and had fantastic food. Since the new year I have been trying to eat healthier so I ordered the chicken breast salad. We enjoyed the outing with the family and enjoyed the time together. Thanks Rudy and Brando.

A Weekend of FUN.

Friday after work Needles and I began the trek South to the promise land. We arrived shortly after 5:30pm and were greeted by warm smiles , a warm home and warm beef and veggies in the crock pot. We sat and visited for about an hour until we enjoyed our supper meal graciously prepared by our hosts. The food, conversation and entertainment worked too hard at shortening what was left of the evening and soon it was time to turn in. Saturday we started off with coffee, apple and banana nut muffins and fruit for breakfast we enjoyed each others company, a couple of open houses and then the call of Japanese food stirred us into action. After we fill our bellies with some of Shoguns finest a visit to Target and a few other stores to walk off some of the food. While in Target we warmed ourselves with coffee from Star Bucks since the temperature was hovering in the teens. When we returned home we conversed about future plans for vacation and enjoyed each others company. After warm potato soup, just the things to warm chilled bones, a fierce game of Trivial Pursuit (battle of the sexes) erupted. The MEN were victorious in their supreme mental skills that will unquestionably become legendary in time. We stayed up late into the night but blurry eyes and yawns hinted at it was time to retire. Sunday morning we awoke to scrambled eggs and turkey bacon with biscuit and jelly on the side. We sat and talked about the goings on in our lives and before long Lunch was upon us. Cynical wanted to try a new place for pizza. The place was called Roca Barr and the pizza wasn't bad. We ordered two 12" pizzas and when we left all that was left was full stomachs. We returned to their home and lounged until it was decided to make a run for Chinese take out for supper. The portions were too large to finish in one sitting so we saved it for later. Later that night a Euchre game broke out and after a brief refresher session for us all the game was on. I have to say Ragged and Cynical played well and the out breaks of laughter during the game made it hard to keep score as the games bounced back a forth. After the games we went back into the living room and chatted until bedtime. This morning we enjoyed cinnamon rolls for breakfast and visited as much as we could knowing that in a couple of hours it would be time for Needles and I to return home. We put off getting packed up to leave as long as we could but knew it was time. We hugged our hosts of the last 3 days and thanked them for having us. It was now time to return home. Thanks again guys. We had fun and way too much to eat.

24 hours

In less than 24 hours Needles and I are hoping to be going South. This last day will last forever. I thought that today was long but I fear that tomorrow will not come soon enough. We are in abit of a crisis at work with a couple of people going to be off of work for several weeks and our limited employee pool might be stretched I fear. We usually have 4 full time employees and 3 part time eployees. We might be down to 3 full time and 1 part timer. Things could get interesting. We will see how things pan out.

Ebay winnings

Here is a couple of items I scored off of Ebay for yard decorations for CSF08. I am pretty proud of my win because these items together would cost from $120 to $180 bucks depending on where you buy them. What did I pay for them you ask...

$54 bucks and that is with shipping... I couldn't wait to try them out so I had to put them up in the house and Needles took pictures. It's almost like Xmas morning around here. I won another inflatable this week. A $70 item for less than half price with shipping. I will take a picture when I get it.

I love ebay.

P.S. Three days to our visit to Cynical and Ragged's. I can't wait.

Not been a good week.

This week has had alot of downs and not too many ups for us. It just doesn't seem like we can get a break. I am not going to go into details but I hope things start to look up soon.

Last of the gift cards.

This week has been dedicated to the purchase of products to use up my Xmas gift cards. Last Sunday Needles and I used up my Subway card while we were on our way home from the promise land. Thursday I ordered a few items from Bass Pro and last night I ordered 3 CDs from Barnes and Noble and today Needles and I went to the big city and finished off my Lowe's Card. I seems I will be having some good mail coming this week.

List of items purchased by gift card.

1. 2 subways subs
2. 3 plastic 31 gallon tote containers
3. Johnny Cash greatest hits
4. Black Crowes greatest hits
5. Stone Temple Pilots greatest hits
6. Mossy Oak shotgun sling
7. Butt Out (deer field dressing tool)
8. Blaze Orange PVC rain poncho

I know I gave out 5 gift cards myself this year and I think they are a great idea to get someone who you haven't a clue what they want or need. Also today Needles and I did a little car shopping. Since it is Sunday it is the perfect time to wander the car lots without hassle. Also since it was 63 degrees outside although a little windy it was nice to get out and walk around the lots. Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

background pic for Utube.

background pic

2008!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Back Again.

We are back from our weekend visit to the promise land. We had fun but the visit was too short. We finished up X-mas 2007 with my family and we ate way too much. We had a family get together and I got to see family I haven't seen in a while and also new family I have never seen. In fact there were 3 of them that I had never set eyes on until this weekend. We had a good visit and I hope to make it back down there soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Candle warning.

I went to visit a friend the other day and catch up on what has gone on in our lives since we hadn't seen each other in several months. He informed me that he had had a fire in the kitchen. When I asked what had happened he told me of the actions which caused this unusual outcome. My friend "D" has three cats in the house. One loves to sleep on the stove because of the warmth of the pilot lights. My friend placed a candle in the way to maybe detour the lounging feline. Apparently the lite candle was nudged on top of one of the pilots that was burning just under the surface of the stove by one of his furry housemates. The candle was burning but hadn't melted the top of the wax very much but the pilot light under the candle had melted the wax in the bottom of the jar. The pressure of the melted wax was growing and growing like a bomb without any ones awareness until a slight whistle was heard. My friend went to investigate the noise and was going to put out the candle when the thing blew up. The melted wax finally found a path though the not yet melted wax on top of it in the container. The pressure pushed the wax out of the container at such a force that it caused the wax to aerosol into small particles which in turn caught fire by the lite candle. The flaming candle wax exploded all over the ceiling and the kitchen cabinets. Luckily my friend was far enough away from it to not get any on him. With what looked like 1/4th of the kitchen on fire he decided to retreat and grabbed a kitty under each arm and headed for the door. One of the cats was by the door when he got there so he kicked it out the door as he tossed them outside to safety. When he ran back inside to see what he could do or maybe call the fire department and to his amazement the fire was out. The only sign of a fire was the blackened dust on the cabinets and ceiling. He was very lucky and it could have been a lot worse than how it turned out. Word to the wise, never burn a candle on the top of your stove.

A Picture Says A Thousand Words...

This is one of TIME Magazines top pictures of 2007. It it very powerful and touching. I think it sums up what a lot of families in this country is going through right now, for some it's the first holiday without a loved one. Grab your loved one, hold them tight and tell them you love them and Merry Christmas.

X-mas update...

All presents are wrapped! Hallelujah!

Finishing up for X-Mas.

Today Needles and Jenny from the Blog was nice enough to allow me to tag along for a day of last minute X-mas shopping. We headed out to the big city a little after 9 am this morning. We first went down town and walked up and down the street ducking into various shops that the gals wanted to look over. Jenny found a few gift items and then it was on to the more important matters in life. Where to eat? We spied and new Chinese restaurant while walking to the downtown area. This is the 3rd Chinese place that we know of and so we had to try it out. We filled out bellies and then we were off to find more bargains. We stopped at at a couple of stores before our stop at Star Bucks t get out fix. After getting high on caffeine we went to Kohl's to finish up a few last minute gifts. I also scored a pair of 70$ boots for 60% off. We returned home to relax and chat before Jenny had to leave. It was a fun trip and we are tired but we are also a little closer to being done with X-mas. Will it ever end?

Thanks USA Network.

I guess its better than a stick in the eye but I just found out that 4400 is cancelled. No final episode to find out what all this bat crap crazy stuff was leading up to. Whats next Battlestar? I hate when shows do this.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

This morning we awoke to 3 to 4 inches of snow covering everything.

Of course there was about a half inch of ice underneath it that made it a little slick.

I ventured out this morning to get a gallon of milk for breakfast. Later I went to Rudy and family to find them out enjoying the snow. We played in the white stuff for about 40 minutes and then we went inside for coffee and hot chocolate. A little Nester the long eared donk donk and back to the house I went to see what Needles was up to.

Here are a few pics that I took during my outing.

ME.

Winter Storm Part 1

Last night it started snowing during the night and by morning we had about an inch or so covering everything. Shortly after 9am we started getting the sleet and rain which has decreased the snow amount but as the temperature drops tonight I suspect it will get nice and slick out there. Needles and I are planning on staying indoors where it is nice and warm. I only ventured outside once today to get the mail and back inside I went. Today was predicted to be snow most of the day but it turned into mostly rain. Tonight we are supposed to get more snow but with the rain that we have already had I doubt we get very much. Maybe pictures tomorrow if we get ambitious enough to go outside.

White Weekend.

Well the weather outside is fine now but looks like it is going to go downhill over the next 12 to 24 hours. The local weather and weather channel is giving 1 to 6 inches of snow in our neck of the woods. I guess we will see what we get. Last weekend Ragged and Cynical visited and Cynical loves snow. Maybe another visit this weekend???? Probably not but you guys are welcome anytime. Needles and I have plans to go out to the Trace Inn with Rudy, Brando, Yin & Yuri tonight for ribs. Then we are going to watch the Bourne Supremacy at their house. Looks like its going to be a nice night before the snow storm.

Dirty Ditch Nanner!

This weekend we had house guests. Our company arrived around 7 ish Friday night in the rain. After catching up with each other on whats going on in our hectic lives, and some kitty scritchin we enjoyed Needles vegetable soup and homemade bread for supper. We then felt like braving the cold nasty night and visit Rudy, Brando and the kids. After catching up, a couple of rounds of Guitar Hero and a few laughs we returned home for some late night chatting followed by a good nights sleep. Saturday morning we had beacon and eggs. Needles and Ragged decided to make a run to the local yarn shop so off to the big city we went for the ladies to get their yarn fix. Shortly after that we stopped by Garfield's for lunch that stuffed us to the point we were almost miserable. It was very good and we had lots of fun drawing on the tables with crayons. A quick stop by Starbuck's for a tasty hot beverage on a cold wet Saturday. When we arrived home and decided to watch a couple of movies and stayed up late into the night. Another good nights sleep and we were up again for cinnamon rolls for breakfast and nice lounging around the house before the unfortunate hour that our guest had to leave. It is a shame that when you get together with friends and family that you really enjoy the time races by so quick that a couple of days seems to flash by in an instant. It was a rainy weekend but with Ragged and Cynical here it made it a great weekend.

TIN MAN Dreams

I have been having nightmares of booby monkeys flying after me. Needles says they are not booby monkeys they are babboobs.

If you haven't been watching the mini series on Sci-Fi called Tin Man. The show stars the bad witch Azkadellia played by Kathleen Robertson. She has markings like tattoos across her chest that she can call on. The markings turn into flying monkeys and do her bidding. She frequently sets her monkeys free. She sets her monkeys free more than on Witches Gone Wild.

Pictures from the weekend hunt ( Not for the sqeamish )

A Four Deer Season

This is Needles Uncle "B's" deer he got Saturday 12-1-07. A nice 2 1/2 year old 9 point, it is the biggest deer he has ever harvested and he was very happy to get it. This fellow made a trip to the taxidermist and will be gracing his wall in several months as well as he should. I hope I get a chance at a nice one next year. I had my chance last year and wasn't able to get a good shot.


This is my doe from Friday evening. I was just about to think that my season would end with just one deer and then in a matter of seconds that all changed. This 1 1/2 year old doe and 2 others ran straight in on me. When I first saw them from about 300 yards away I didn't know what they were in the fading light but once I realized what they were and they were heading my way I stood up and my seat cushion fell out of the tree stand. I was afraid they might have seen it and would run another direction but I lucked out and was able to fill my tags.

This doe was harvested by Needles Uncle "K". She had been shot by hunters in the field next to us and "K" made the right decision to put her down.

All of these deer went to Needle's Mom "L's" freezer and will help out greatly on the grocery bills.

Here is the 6pt buck I got first season.

Xmas called on a count of rain.

The Xmas tree will be postponed due to rain. The tree and ornaments are in the garage. Thanks you for your patience.

A new member of the family.

Needles just finished configuring and ordering a brand new laptop. We have been looking for one for awhile as her lap top's A/C connection has been a problem for a month or so now and her laptop is over 4 years old and feels like your lugging around a cinder block. It also has been having some slow down issues that we can't seem to figure out. It is time to put the old Compaq Presario R3120US laptop down. It has been a good one but time to move on. Her new one will be much lighter with 120G hard drive, 2G RAM and 12 cell battery that equates to 4 to 5 hours battery life. I think it will serve her well and of course we are loyal to HP Compaq Presario laptops as this will be our 3rd one. The new one is a customized Compaq Presario V6500Z with all the bells and whistles. I am excited and with build time and delivery it should be here before Xmas. Needles justifies the purchase by saying she is keeping the economy going but her computer really did need a upgrade. My laptop has been rejuvenated with some added memory. It did have 512 MB but I recently upgraded it to 2G which seemed to speed everything up a lot. Even surfing the interwebs has been improved with quicker download and loading of pages. I was very impressed with how much it can speed up your computer and the memory was installed in just 5 minutes.

Deer Season Part 2

Overall the season was very successful. Needles Uncle K killed a young doe Friday morning and will be good for the table. Apparently she had be shot just before running by his stand but wasn't hit good enough for a quick kill and he thought he would go ahead and put her down as she wasn't going to survive anyway. Last night I was in my stand when 3 does got jumped up and ran straight for me. I was able to get one and that was the end to my deer hunting. After Needles and I had taken the deer to the meat processors we wondered about going on home or staying the night and going home this morning. I am glad we decided to go home today as Needles Uncle B killed and nice 9 point buck this morning and had to pull it out of a dry ditch about 5 foot deep. We got all sorts of pictures and I was very happy for him as this was the biggest deer he had ever killed and was going to get it mounted for the wall. This was the first year that all of us had killed a deer. Unfortunately Needles Uncle C didn't get to hunt. That is it for now. I need to get cleaned up and shave my 10 day old deer season beard off my scruffy face and maybe get a nap. I didn't sleep well last night.

Back from the South.

Today we returned from my parents house and I am glad to be home. The trip home was very rainy and hazardous at times but we managed to make it home without incident. We did see a truck that must have hydroplaned and was in the ditch facing the wrong direction in the South bound side. We got to spend some time with my parents and we got to ride the extended safari trail back up into the woods. It was fun and I was amazed that the golf cart would negotiate the hills and water crossings. We went to my Grandma's house and enjoyed pizza and I got to see my Aunt Rs new puppy named Lil Bit. It is a chihuahua and terrier mix very cute and gave her kitty's a rough way to go. This week we will be back to life as usual until Wednesday and then it will be 2nd deer season. I hope to end the season early and enjoy a couple days to relax. I have been able to sleep late for a couple week. I need a couple of days to get back into my old sleep schedule. Looks like the weather over the next week or so will be good for sleeping and not much else.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner....RUN!

In just a couple of days it will be Thanksgiving and Needles and I will be down at the homestead. We are leaving tomorrow night so that Needles can be down there to help with the preparation of the feast. I am going to try to restrain myself and not eat so much this year but I seem to say that every year and by the time it is over I am in full triptophan coma with a side of belly ache. We will have to return because I have to work Friday but that evening we are going South to the promise land and spending the weekend with my parents. Hope everyone has a great Turkey Day.

I am back from my hunting trip and I would have to say that it was a successful one but frustrating. We arrived at Needles Mom's house Thursday and stayed the night and I headed out to the tree stand Friday morning. I sat it the stand for 3 hours that morning and saw nothing. Not even a deer far off in the distance. Frustrated yet anxious to get back in the stand for the evening hunt I left for the stand early and sat another 5 hours and again saw nothing. Very frustrated and perturbed that the recent irrigation work around my hunting area the week before by the farmer that leases the land may have just screwed my whole hunting season I returned to the house to warm food and a nap. Saturday morning started the day anew. I was in my stand for almost 2 hours when the first deer of the season walked within range. It was a young doe and I heard something coming up behind her. I let her walk and waited on what else was coming into range. I could see it was a small buck but not sure since he was behind some brush. I shot and upon investigating my harvest it was a nice young 6 point buck. He will be good for the table. I commenced with what needed to be done and returned to the house excited at my success. Needles and I took the deer to the processing place, made decisions on how we wanted the meat prepared and returned home. I took several pictures of me and my kill and I even did a short video of me standing over my deer in the field and told how the hunt went down like on those big time hunting shows. I looked at the pictures that were taken and enjoyed flipping through them until I accidentally hit the format button and erased them all. I have no pictures of my deer. The only saving grace might possibly be Needles uncle K which took a couple of pictures which I hope turn out. So you see it was a successful hunt but a frustrating one. We will see what 2ND season has in store for me.

It's almost here.

Tomorrow is my last day of work this week. Needles and I will be heading to her old homestead for the first deer season. I have yet to pack any clothes but everything for hunting is ready to go. I am going to be worthless at work tomorrow. My mind is already in the woods and in a short while my body will follow. I probably won't sleep a wink tonight. It's like I am a little kid and tomorrow I am going to Disney World.

With the way this week has gone and some of the frustrations at my work, my co worker says I need to go and kill something. Nah It's not that. It's just setting in a tree stand and feeling the stress of life drift out of your body every minute you spend in the woods does a body and mind good.

I am ready.

This is the pattern I am shooting. 4 shots at various yardage all within a space about the size of a saucer. The first shot was without adjustment from last year at 30yards and I shot 2 3/4" shells. This year I am shooting 3". The yellow center dot is roughly an inch. If the deer walk within 75 yards of me, they are game. Can't wait til Friday.

It won't be long now...

Before to long I will be too anxious and not sleeping the night before the big day. I will be walking into the darkness, and feeling the bite of cold on my face. My breath will be like white puffs as I exhale in my hike. I will walk for what seem like forever to get to my stand. I will walk as quiet and deliberate as I can until I get there. I will then settle in and lean back again the tree and stare out into the blackness. Slowly the pitch black will give way to dull gray shapes and distant birdsong . Within a few minutes colors will start to come into focus and the foreign shapes reveal a more recognizable view. The frost of the morning will be clearly seen on tree limbs and leaves, birds in full song interrupted by the far off report of others on the hunt. If I am lucky a squirrel might stir from its den. He will scramble down a tree and across the leaf litter on the ground making as much noise as a elephant in the early morning stillness. I will fight off the last cold shiver as the sun shows it's crown over the tree lined horizon. It starts to melt off the frost and give the woods and everything in it a pinkish hue. Before long my stomach will start to day dream of breakfast while all along my fingers will twitch to be wrapped around a hot cup of coffee and my toes to seek a warm heater. Even if the hunt isn't successful there is nothing like watching nature come alive in the early morning. I can't wait.

Do Nuthin Weekend.

This weekend was a Do Nuthin weekend, but it is amazing that for a Do Nuthin weekend we have had stuff to do. Yesterday we HAD to rearrange all the Halloween stuff in the garage in order to get my Jeep inside. I have to say that I think we gained more room and things are more organized than they have been in the past. We also went to the big city to do some long needed grocery shopping. With all the goings on in the last couple of months we haven't been able to do the necessary evils of life, ie. grocery shopping, house cleaning, kitty pestering, sleeping, you know what I mean. I still have a couple of jobs to get done this weekend and have been procrastinating. I have to change the oil in Needles truck and mow the lawn. Two jobs although not difficult, but it seems to take a stick of dynamite to get me off the couch to do them. This morning we had a nice B'fast of cinnamon rolls and 89er's blend coffee. Tugger is laying in the floor with his eyes squoze shut and Copper in his own little world pouncing dust particles moving through the sunbeam streaming in the window. (He's not right.) This is a great DO Nuthin morning...