We finally have a new neighbor in the house behind ours. She seems friendly though we don't see much of her and she has a dog. This makes for some interesting back yard watching as I peer down from my office window into our two backyards separated by a cedar fence. The dogs can see each other through the slats and Molly and the neighbor's dog are "getting to know each other". Max just barks at him from the back door.

I've been somewhat pleased with Molly's attitude. There is some occasional rushing at the fence but it is mostly just pacing back and forth along with the other dog on the opposite side of the fence. I do wish my dogs were better "dog and people" friendly. I see people walking their dogs all the time, passing other people and dogs and their dogs don't flinch, bark, growl, or lunge. I know you have to have your dogs around other people and dogs to acclimate them...but how do you take grown dogs and get them to that point? They are better about people. I can bring in friends and family and they are fine when they know I am okay with it. But walking them down the sidewalk without Mike to help me is something I'm not up to.


 

I had an epiphany to day. I suddenly realized that I'm just where I was 10 years ago. Different place, different time but same old scene. I'm talking about my personality.

Years ago, mentioned somewhere in my blog, my employers gave us a personality test. I scored as the kind of person you want to make sure got assigned all the tasks. You know, the person so focused on what they're doing that they don't hear the fire alarm go off. Yep, that was I. I scored off the charts in that area and high in analytical (your scientist types) and creativity (your brain-stormers). Where I lacked was the, what I call, the warm and fuzzy department. The ones, who remember your birthday, know when to just shut up and hug you, those who carry the weight of others on their shoulders. You see, if you're off the charts in one area, it has to pull from some other. That's where it got mine.

So, here I am, 10 years later after some pretty life changing experiences. My religious beliefs completely changed. There's no more thinking we're little separate entities wandering around the galaxy, but a firm belief that we're all connected, different frequencies in a rainbow, different facets in a crystal, little specialized organs in a body. Yet. How can you truly believe that and still be the same task oriented, one-track mind obsessed individual? Where's my warm and fuzzy? How come I still don't remember the birthdays, would rather finish what I'm doing instead of spending more time with a friend, making excuses for my house being a wreck?

Perhaps I'm just not as enlightened as I would have loved to claim myself to be. Either that, or I simply don't understand what that means. Either way, the wheel has turned and here I am looking at the same old thing. The only difference being...I know it

Later...

 

Rather than email every man and his uncle, I thought I'd post this in my blog. This is a valid scam going around (I checked it out on Hoaxbusters too)


Most of us take the summons for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of scam has surfaced.


Fall for it and your identity could be stolen, reports CBS. In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn't show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Sometimes they even ask for credit card numbers. Give out any of this information and ....

Bingo!


Your identity has just been stolen. The scam has been reported so far in 11 states. This scam is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they're with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.


Folks, anyone who calls you on the phone should already have your information. If they have to ask for it, beware.
 

Okay....in October we take a vacation to Buffalo and get stuck in a record snowstorm. We return home to take our anniversary trip, returning to a record flood which turns our little town into an island for several days and then go through the rainiest month in Seattle on record. We then have a record snowstorm followed by a record windstorm which causes us to lose power for over a week. We get our power back, life is good....and then......

yesterday morning, the tub starts draining verrry, verrrry, slowly. In the afternoon, I do a load of wash and start hearing this funny noise. I walk into the utility room and cross a small puddle of water. Silly me thinks the load is unbalanced so I adjust the blanket in the washing machine and turn it back on. About fifteen minutes later I see a river running across the utility room floor. A fountain is spraying up from the drain pipe where the wash water dumps into. I kill the washing machine and ponder the universe for a while. That activity spurs another and I find that not only will the toilet not flush but the washing machine water has backed up into the tub.

I scream several obscenities and then grab the snake to try to fix the drain which does absolutely nothing.

Needless to say getting a plumber on the 23rd of December is a difficult procedure. Not one plumber in the area is available as they are busy with busted pipes due to the recent windstorm and freezing temperatures. We finally get Roto-Rooter to agree to come out. At 10pm we get a call that they won't make it until today.

At 3pm the Roto-Rooter guy came out and discovers that we had a busted pipe going from the house to the septic tank (which is being converted to a sewer system by the city in less than six months, of course). Fortunately, he was able to temporarily fix the thing.

5:30 Christmas Eve and our plumbing starts to work again. There is a Santa Claus.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and oodles of Well Wishes to Everyone

 

Well, I've tried cold turkey (2 wks), wrapping my cigarettes in paper secured by rubber bands and then in aluminum foil to be stored in some inconvenient place (didn't work at all), getting pregnant (wasn't actually a method but did get me to quit for 6 mths), cutting back (worked until the last three which I could not seem to give up), hypnosis (4 mths after 3 sessions), switching to a brand I detested (didn't work), smoke on demand (1 week), Zyban (1 month), nicotine patches (3 wks), nicotine gum (1 wk), a quitting buddy (didn't work, although he quit), a money bet (lost a bundle)...all of these on multiple occasions (with the exception of pregnancy) over the last 36 years.

And if any non-smoker thinks making it illegal to smoke in public gets you to quit..I just have this one question for you. Does the illegality of crack get a crack addict to quit? No. What the law does do, is make you feel angry, depressed and feeling like a leper. And anger, depression and lack of self-esteem make me want to smoke.

So, now they have a little pill specifically to quit smoking called Chantix. Yes, I started it two days ago. We'll see. I was highly sceptical that anything other than knocking me out for several months was going to do it but we'll see....one more time.

http://www.chantix.com


 

Okay, my dear sweet husband who believes that man is showing the same tendencies that the prehistoric bacteria did (they used methane and excreted oxygen, eventually creating a planet they could no longer live on), sent me an email asking if I wished to retire on Mars.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16073785/?GT1=8816

I told him I would possibly "consider" returning to Buffalo... but Minnesota, N. Dakota, the Moon and Mars were out. I do have limits.


 

An icicle grows thick on the downspout corner where Molly's tennis ball lodged after a particularly miss-thrown play session. The birds are gathering along the plank where we distributed birdseed to keep them warm. The normal bird feeder is just too small for the multitude of birds trying to keep from freezing. We're waiting for the approach of the second storm. Mike has been working from home for two days now, the ice on the hills around us too treacherous to drive. Many of those who did attempt it, or were stuck at the football game when the first storm started, are now facing towing and storage charges. Many of them either landed precariously on the edge of the roads or abandoned their cars entirely. The news showed the road Mike takes to work and it looked like a parking lot. I haven't seen a snowplow yet. I'm sure they were on the main highways but I would have thought we would see someone, being one block from Main Street.

The snow is so pretty, though. Sitting in our warm home around the wood burning stove, I look out at trees still with white branches and snow on the rooftops. It is so unusual to see that near Seattle and I have missed the clean smell of snow and the way it lights up the area, even at night. Our days are very short here and seeing this much light is wonderful. Even at night, the street lamps reflect off of all the snow, giving everything a warm hue.

I just finished leading a bird out of the loft. They occasionally come in through the open back door and then can't find their way back out. They knock at the large windows and then Molly tries to catch them, only increasing their panic. I finally got her inside and took one of the screens off the larger window, opening it up so the bird would fly out. It took awhile to convince her to go to that particular window but she eventually got the idea. I've kept the screen out this time, as invariably it will happen again while the temperature remains so cold.

It seems like winter to me. It is so strange to think that we still have a month left of fall.

 

As some of you may have noticed, my blog entries have been few and far between this month. Between anniversaries, floods, holiday preparations and writing up my dynamic non-fiction course, my poor little blog has suffered.

My day today. I'm still trying to dig out all the old grout around the bathtub (going on three days now of this and still not finished). There were numerous bank, doctor and library ditties to take care of. Keep up the normal routine around the house, plus attempt to figure out which bottle of Merlot would be the best choice to purchase to take as a house gift for the Thanksgiving dinner. I love Merlot but I am not a wine connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, Thanksgiving is tomorrow... Can we say....procrastinate?

But, it will get done, we will enjoy a nice Thanksgiving with friends and the tub will get new grout. . I wish everyone a wonderful holiday and I'll try to be a bit better about my blog after the holidays.

Later....

 

Caveat: This post contains information that may not be suitable to young readers or those easily offended (just had to say that)

I just sat down to watch the news (that was my first mistake) and heard the comment that an appeals court in Maryland issued a ruling on how rape is defined in the state. Evidently a few judges have determined that rape cannot be claimed, "if intercourse has begun and consent has been given" Hmmm.

I do understand how someone could come to that conclusion, as on the surface, it appears innocent enough... but, I think it displays a gross lack of recognition as to what rape actually is. Unfortunately, that ruling perpetuates the myth that rape is simply sexual. Rape is not simply sexual. Rape is brutality. Rape is assault. According to Webster's the law definition of assault is "assault with offensive or violent touching of another".

Evidently, the law (not sure if it is MD or elsewhere too) states that a woman cannot withdraw consent after intercourse has already begun. Say, what?! I know there are many laws still on the books that have roots in the dark ages, but, Excuse Me? Since when is sex an organized sport with penalties for delay of game? I also realize there are many incidents of sex that eliminate love from the equation, however, any man or woman should have the right to say, "No", at any time, before, during or after a sexual relationship. If someone stops you during your throes of passion---get up, go take a cold shower, call them a "tease" or any derogatory name you desire, tell them "See ya", end the relationship, work out your differences, write a poem about your pain and suffering, but under no circumstances ignore the word "No". If you continue to force that individual to have sex with you, then you ARE raping them. Unbelievable!

What is it about sex that some people just don't get? If I consent to let you in my house and you proceed to tick me off, I have the perfect right to throw you out. Why should anyone's body be any less private and important?

Sigh. Okay people, sorry about the rant but I couldn't let that one go by... I'm going to go listen to some soothing music now.