And now for something different....

I had a bunch of stuff saved, stuff to write about. I was cleaning out the office (a small room to the left of our living room) and I threw it all away because I thought, "When am I ever gonna get around to this?"

In a way I was right. However, I do wish I had saved the Shop Cats newspaper. Our local paper published its front page on Shop Cats, or cats that hang around a small business and the owners who love them. It took up a little more than the top half of the FRONT PAGE and described stories on how the shop owners came to own the cats, the cats behaviors, quirks and plenty of photos of these vile creatures. (Obviously, I'm not a cat lover)

"Isn't there a war going on some where in the world?" I asked a co-worker as I glanced at the front page of our lazy news paper. "Apparently not," she said. "There might be if you go get the Post."


A couple days ago I was filling my water bottle and happened to notice a section of the paper laying on the break table. There was a photo of a large cow with her nose touching the nose of a small calf. The caption read, "She doesn't understand why it won't get it."

A sucker for animal stories, I gave into temptation and read the article very quickly before I was missed. The article went on to describe how local cow raisers are having problems with vultures going after the newborn calves. Vultures? I thought vultures were scavengers. As far as I know, there isn't a shortage of roadkill this summer.

In one instance, a calf was being born while vulture circled overhead. The birds swooped down pecked out the small calves eyes before it could even stand up for the first time in its life.

"In six months, this cow would be worth $500, so it's hits the wallet pretty hard," the farmer was quoted.

Hmm. Yeah and I bet having your eyes pecked out at birth must really suck, too. I mean, I've had bad days and all.... What a jerk.


Just below this horrible article was another horrible, almost-makes-me-cry-story (I was a day away from getting my, um, you know. So I was very emotional. I cry very easily before I began that monthly gift. Oh, that was a bit of sarcasm, by the way) A photo displayed a 3 year girl holding a dog collar. Just an empty dog collar. I had to bite. What's wrong with me?

The girl's father was about to be deployed to Iraq when he decided to get her a puppy just before he left, to make it easier perhaps. The puppy died 4 days later from Parvo (after Dad had left). Of course the whole story was about the shelter the puppy had come from and how several of the dogs had Parvo.

"I'm gonna get that kid a puppy!" a friend of Shawn's said. Upon hearing this, I can imagine how many puppies showed up at this family's door step. 'Ol dad's gonna get back from Iraq and see a puppy mill in the back yard!

And one happy little girl. And one heck of a stinky yard.

I know, I know....It's just not funny!

Blogging just isn't a priority right now. I'm giving a hand in caring for my mother in law, post heart surgery, trying to figure out how to get rid of the last of our Wii games with so much competition on eBay, working 43 hours a week at work, and managing to keep the house *somewhat* clean, while doing the normal errands and stuff.

Shawn's mother is doing great, but still cannot do for herself. Among everything, we're both trying to keep peace in the family and somehow managing to avoid WWIII and a silent take over.

I've been cooking more than I like to in the throws of summer, but Marge is enjoying it, I think. "It's not the food," I told Shawn, "it's the fact that someone else cooked it. Food always tastes better when you're not the cook!"

I explained to Marge that I'm having difficulty cooking healthy. My own mother grew up on a farm where she learned to cook heavy, hearty meals where most everything is battered and served with gravy! I also learned to cook in this manner. But I've learned a great deal about masking veggies and toning down spices as to not give my poor mother in law heart burn!

When I do get spare time, I spend it with Shawn. We are inseparable when we get time together, which is awesome after being together for so many years.

I am spending a tiny bit of time working a new video. I can't explain the details, but it will be very funny. I have many DVDs to go through and perhaps by the time I'm done, things will be settled down & I'll be able to put all my clips together for the grand premiere on YouTube.

Sure, I had a ton of things to write about, like how our local newspaper's front page featured cats (cats! Isn't there a war somewhere in the world?) and the never ending construction in the city--which I believe is to make it appear like Austin, TX. Never ending construction is a good start if they want the city to look like Austin.

I doubt I'll get around to these stories any time soon. In the mean time, perhaps I'll write a blip here and there about everything that is wrong with this world and it's gas prices, like this one:

My boss got a scooter. He pulled up, wearing a silver helmet, looking EXACTLY like Jim Carrey and says to me, "I've got room for one more if you're going to Aspen."

HA HA!! I, in turn, replied: "Just go man, just go."

Dreams

I haven't slept much in the past week and a half. When you don't sleep, odd things begin to happen. You become down right mean over nothing. You might begin to bawl when you make macoroni & cheese in an old pan and the the teflon comes up with the noodles when you stir it. You might not have an appetite at all, or you mihgt become ravenous like a starving person at the strangest time of night. You can't distinguish between what is real and what was a dream when you nodded off for that short time.

Then again, you might be me.

If you were me, you would decide that this is waste of time and you ought to be doing eBay work, getting things up that you couldn't do this morning because of pure exhaustion.

So I here I go, off to eBay.....

Oh, by the way, Marge might be going home tommorow. She was walking on her own today, slowly, but without the aid of a walker. She is making very fast and remarkable progress. I don't think any of us expected her to be recovering so quickly. It's so friggin' awesome!

In other news, we have no air conditioning and might not have any for a couple weeks. We've received our refund and spent it on tires and a portable A/C for Marge's homecoming (because she's on bloodthinners and her A/C is not so great--it's a very large house)

We have to wait for Shawn to get a few moments between his job and his mom. A/C needs a new compressor and so we might as well buy a need unit. The one we have is at least 20 years old anyway. Oh well. At least it's not July in Texas. It's merely June and I'll be resorting to tactics taught to me by my dad when I was young and we had poor cooling in the house.

1. Shower in cold water several times a day.
2. Wearing as little as possible, step into shower before bed. Going to sleep in wet clothes isn't bothersome when it's 100 degrees.
3. Gulp ice water by the gallons. Duh.
4. Hoard all the fans in the house for yourself and set them up in a circle around you. Ironically, this uses more electricity than window units!
5. Eat ice cream. LOTS & LOTS of ice cream. Then guzzle a gallon of ice water behind it so you don't barf from the heat.

Looks like I might have to catch up on my sleeping while I drive. At least there's ar conditioning in the car! :-D