Day Two-Sixty-Nine - My Tree Cut

Thursday afternoon I took the Christmas tree and all of the decorations down.  It took a total of about 4 hours to get it all down and put away.  Of course, it is now Saturday and I still haven't vacuumed up the remnants or moved other stuff back into place.  But at least the tree is back in it's box in the garage for another year.  In the process, I think as I was putting the tree in the box, it fought back and I now have a nasty cut on my right hand to show for it.

I say "nasty" not because it is deep or life threatening or anything.  It barely bled at all.  I call it nasty just because it hurts like hell!  It's like a really big paper cut.  I hate paper cuts!  I think paper cuts exist to remind us that we aren't as tough as we think we are.  You know in that game Rock-Paper-Scissors (or if you are a Big Bang Theory fan, Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock) paper only covers the rock and disproves Spock.  But in reality, I think paper and the trees from which they come are actually much more powerful.  Okay, granted, it was a fake tree that got me.  But still, I have a swollen and throbbing hand right now as a result of something I would describe as a really big paper cut that I got from a fake tree.  Here's a picture, you be the judge....

I have already admitted that no stitches were required.  It's really more of a scratch than a cut and yet I can barely type!  I woke up twice during the night to confirm that there was not literally a heart beating in the palm of my hand..... because that would have just been gross!  You might be happy to know that it was just the throbbing of my "tree cut" and not an actual heart.

So now I will be covering the scratch with Neosporin and bandaging it to get rid of the infection.  Meanwhile, I know that you are all sitting in your nice warm homes with your cut free hands ridiculing me right now because I am acting like such a big baby over something that amounts to no more than a paper cut.  But I am here to tell you that this is why we live longer today than the cavemen and people of the Victorian age did.  They died from these sorts of wounds.  That's right.  Depending on how you look at it, this could be considered a life threatening scratch.  If I were to show this to a caveman, he would no doubt start digging me a grave away from the others of our tribe where I couldn't infect others after my death.  I'd basically be Dead Girl Walking.  I need to check my Blue Cross policy to make sure that I am covered for "tree cuts".

Once I douse it in Neosporin and bandage it up, I'll probably have to spend the day on the couch in recovery mode.  The real problem with a cut on your hand is that the mere act of washing your hands requires that you start all over on bandaging.  To me there is almost nothing worse (other than an infected paper cut) than a wet Band-aid.  Why can't they make real waterproof Band-aids?  You would think there was some very inventive out of work rocket scientist out there who could start working on this.  Of course, it could be a Band-aid conspiracy.  Maybe a waterproof Band-aid was already invented but the evil makers of Band-aid put the ka-bosh on it so that we would be forced to use a new Band-aid each time we wash our hands.  I wouldn't doubt it.  Damn commercialism....  Anyway, I figure if I take it easy and don't do much today, there will be less need to wash my hands as many times, so I won't have to re-bandage as many times either.  So, I have the perfect excuse for lying on the couch, reading and watching TV all day long.  I suppose every cloud really does have a silver lining.

I'll finish today by warning you all to be very careful as you take down your Christmas trees and put all of the decorations away.  It can be very painful and even deadly if you are a caveman....

Day Two-Sixty-Seven - Christmas Wrap Up

Okay, I've been useless for a week as far as writing goes so it is time I got busy again.  I don't have any great insights or lists today.  It is pretty quiet in my house for the first time in about a week.  No company arrived here until Sunday.  But prior to that I was busy with baking and cleaning.  So, yesterday after my brother and his family came and took all of their stuff away I finally was able to sit down and relax for the first time since last Wednesday which meant that the cats could relax as well.

I have read a book and a half in the last 24 hours.  Shiner and Jingle have pretty much just laid around and slept.  Christmas was rough on them.  I mean Shiner had all of that constant petting and attention forced on him while Jingle stayed upstairs as much as possible hiding in my bedroom.  Jingle loves it when Mom and Dad are here.  But as soon as others arrive, he hides.  Shiner on the other hand is an attention hog.  He rolls around on the floor while people pet him.  If Dad sits at the bar to watch me cook, Shiner sits on the barstool next to him and watches too.  Shiner is a people cat.  Jingle is a people cat too, he just likes to pick his people.  Shiner discriminates against no one.

Once everyone was gone yesterday, I realized exactly how tired I was.  I went to bed at 9:45 last night which hasn't happened in at least 6 months.  I slept until 9:30 this morning.  That happens more than I would like to admit.  Tomorrow I intend to be fully back in my routine of getting up by 8 and writing the blog each morning then working on travel stuff.  I got a phone call from KHM a week ago reminding me that I have more training to go through for my certifications.  So, I'll start working on that tomorrow.

I'm considering taking the Christmas tree and all of the decorations down today.  The issue I face is that when I look past the tree through the window and see all of that snow and icicles out there it just looks so pretty.  Looking out the window to snow and icicles would normally depress me, but for some reason, having a Christmas tree in the picture makes it better.  I know, I'm a freak.  I'm the only person I know who hates snow.  My sister-in-law was so excited on Tuesday with all the snow and it being a white Christmas and I just kept thinking about how nice it would be to spend Christmas on a beach with a few decorated palm trees blowing in the breeze as the temperature climbs to a pleasant 85 degrees.

I have a friend who is in New Hampshire skiing right now.  For her and her family, it is a vacation.  For me it would be torture.  How could anyone think happiness is high temperatures in the 20's while flying down a mountain with sticks strapped to your feet????  I don't get it.  I personally believe that skiing should only take place on a body of water, with sticks strapped to your feet as a boat pulls you across the surface.  And that is questionable.  I honestly think the best option is lying on a tube while the boat pulls you through the water.

I've obviously never been snow skiing.  I can't even comprehend the attraction that people have to it.  Again, I hate to be cold.  So, that is the first issue I would face.  Add to that, the fact that I am accident prone and it's not a winning combination.  Can you imagine the sort of body cast I would come back in if I ever went snow skiing.  I mean seriously, traversing the stairs to go up to my bedroom on a regular basis is an iffy proposition.  Going up the side of a mountain on a flat board attached to a cable with a small board across the back and then jumping off of it only to slide back down the mountain while maintaining my balance on two sticks is just asking for trouble.  Then when you get down to the bottom of the mountain you just have to do it all over again!  This does not sound like fun.

I'm thinking that skiing was invented by someone who needed to get to the bottom of a snow covered mountain quickly.  He is probably rolling over in his grave right now at the number of people who head right back up the mountain so that they can do it again.  He was trying to get away from the misery that the snow created and these crazy people just want to keep doing it over and over again.  What the hell?

Maybe when Katherine and her family get back from their ski trip she will enlighten me on what makes it joyful so that I can write positively about a ski trip and post it on the travel blog.  But for now, I'm just going to put this on my personal blog since I don't think it would encourage many people to want to book a nice long Spring Break ski trip through me... or anyone else.

Have a great Thursday.  I'm going to start on that tree now....

Day Two-Sixty - Could I Be a Disney Writer??? Nah....

I read this article yesterday about a right whale that has a nursing calf and has adopted another orphaned calf off the coast of Africa.  I love stuff like this.  Apparently, raising even one right calf is a "monumental task" as the article states.  But this whale has taken a second calf that is not even hers on and it's heartwarming.  Apparently, the two calves are playing with each other and it would seem that her calves contentment with the orphaned calf resulted in the adoption.  It is amazing what a mother will do for her child.

http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2012/12/right-whale-mother-adopts-abandoned-calf-off-south-africa.html

After reading the article I was intrigued and did a little bit of research on right whales.  First of all they are called right whales because they have a great fat content which makes them very buoyant, whale blubber equals dollars in the whaling world and the buoyancy means when the whalers kill them, they have plenty of time to get them onto the boat.  So, the whalers called them right whales because they were the "right" whales to hunt.  They can grow to 59 feet long and are an astonishing 13 - 20 feet long at birth!  Apparently, when the orphaned calf first approached the mother whale and her calf it attempted to nurse and she ran it off, but it refused to go far.  Now in less than a week, it would seem that they are a family and just in time since shortly they will have to make their annual migration to Antarctica and the right whale feeding grounds.  The lifespan of a right whale is not certain.  There was one documented case in which a female was initially spotted in 1935 and seen many times throughout her life.  The last time she was seen was in 1995.  When she was first seen she was an adult with a calf.  She was estimated to have lived for 70 years only dying after being struck by a ships propeller.

So maybe these two calves will be best friends for the next 70 years.  I think it would make a great Disney story.  Maybe in the story the evil Japanese whaling fleet like the ones on Whale Wars will chase their pod down as they head to Antarctica, not this year, but maybe next and they'll be separated from their pod as a result.  They will learn to survive on their own and worry a lot about their mother and the other whales they've known since birth and get into all kinds of whale adventures.  Then maybe one day they will get back with their mom and then the two will find mates of their own and they'll all live happily ever after.

See this is why I could never write for Disney.  A real Disney writer would have had the evil whalers kill the mother leaving them both orphans.  I'm not capable of writing that story.  Who is?!?!?!?  I don't understand how Disney continued to sell movie tickets after killing Bambi's mother off and that was 70 years ago!  Apparently, other people aren't as sensitive as me about things like that.  I can't watch shows where young animals or kids are in distress.

I had a personal ban on Disney movies for a long time.  They are very upsetting!  In Cinderella, that step mother and the step sisters were so mean.  And don't even get me started on Pinocchio!  That was just scary!!!  As a result I have never seen many of the Disney classics.  So, I can't name any of the Disney princesses.  I really think this is one of the reasons I am okay with not having kids.  I could never have taken them to those movies.  Okay, I guess I could have taken them, but when the movie was over I'd be in a fetal position under my chair and the kid would have to coax me out and that just wouldn't be pretty.

So, I've never seen the fish movie where Ellen DeGeneres was the voice of one of the fish (I can't remember the name of it) but I hear it was good.  I never saw Lion King except the musical production and quite frankly I was too distracted by the costumes to pay any real attention to the story.  I never saw the Little Mermaid... wait was that the fish one with Ellen DeGeneres????  Either way, I never saw it.  I also didn't see  Pocahontas, Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast.  I was forced to see a few that I had no wish to see thanks to my niece and my friend Sherie's daughter, Alex.

I kept Alex overnight once and she brought her Tarzan movie with her and insisted that we watch it.  Right off the bat, Tarzan's parents got killed.  Ugh!  I was sobbing and Alex thought I was a freak.  Then as soon as the horrible part was over she went to sleep and I had to watch the rest of the movie to find out what happened. Stupid movie!  I think I was literally shaking I was crying so bad when it finally ended.  Meanwhile the 5 year old was sound asleep on my couch.  (I'll get you for that, Alex!)

When my niece Rebecca was 5 or 6 she gave herself a haircut to end all haircuts with a knife after watching the Disney movie Mulan.  Well, I had to find out what about that movie would result in a small girl taking a knife to her hair so I rented it and watched it by myself one weekend so that no one could ridicule me when the sobbing began.  Honestly, I don't remember crying while I watched it which would have been a first for me in any Disney movie.  I mean let's face it.... this is coming from someone who practically went into convulsions while watching Herbie the Lovebug.  What can I say, it was touching!

I did love That Darn Cat! in the 60's.  I even read the book once I learned how to read.  You really can't go wrong with any movie starring Hayley Mills.  Plus there were no sad parts.  Mary Poppins is my all time favorite Disney movie.  In fact, it might be my all time favorite movie.  Apparently, I can deal with Disney movies that aren't animated much better than the animated variety.  I don't know what that means.....  There is probably something psychological there that should be examined.  I do cry in parts of Mary Poppins, but it isn't one of those heaving, obnoxious cries that I do when something happens to an animal or a kids parents.  I also liked The Parent Trap with Hayley Mills.  Heck, I even liked the remake with Lindsey Lohan and Dennis Quaid.  In fact, that was the last good movie she made.  (What happened to that girl?)

The non-animated Disney movies that I can't watch are the ones featuring animals that are lost.... like Homeward Bound and The Incredible Journey.  My mom took us to see both of those when I was a kid and I was miserable in each one.  I sobbed the entire time and my brothers made fun of me.  I used to hate it when my brothers would say, "It's not real."  Like I couldn't figure that out!!!!  I don't know why I get hysterical when animals are lost in a movie, but I do!  And telling me it's not real doesn't fix that.  Dumb boys!

Anyway, so I think the whale story could be a great Disney movie and if you are inclined to write it, just thank me in the credits or something.  But I don't think I am capable of writing it since I would end up in a fetal position under my desk as soon as the orphaned calf becomes an orphaned calf.... Ugh!

Day Two-Fifty - The End of the World As We Know It...

So here's my question....  Does the Mayan calendar end at 12:01 a.m. on 12/21 or at 11:59 p.m.  I just want to know so that I can plan accordingly.  I mean, if the Mayans thought it would end at 12:01 a.m. and at 12:02 a.m. I'm still here, it's going to be something I'll want to know, right?  On the other hand, if I party all day long thinking that the Mayans were wrong and then the world really ends at 11:59 that night, that's going to suck, right?  I've looked on line and no one really specifies.  So, if any of you know any Mayan's with an "in", I would really appreciate a "heads up".  I know I still have like a week and a half to worry about this, but I'm thinking about having a party.  So it would be nice to know if I should have the party on the 20th or if it should be planned for the 21st.

If I have the party on the 21st, I obviously will only need enough liquor to last until midnight.  It's a Friday so some of my friends who still work at the former employer who shall not be named may flex that day.  That will mean they can get here fairly early in the day.  So that will effect the amount of alcohol and hors d'oeuvres that I'll need.....  These are all considerations that must be taken into account.  If, on the other hand, the world ends at 12:01 a.m. on the 21st, those people from the former employer who shall not be named will leave early on the 20th, you know, because they are so dedicated.  In case the Mayans were wrong, they won't want to be late for work on the 21st because of that whole dedication thing to the douche bags who axed the rest of us..... so I won't need as much alcohol (no, I'm not still bitter....).

Many of you who might be reading this have no doubt seen my new profile picture on Facebook this week.... a picture of my nephew Matt who is graduating from Texas Tech this weekend. In the photo he is standing in front of a Mayan pyramid at Chichen Itza.  Not only is it meant as a tribute to Matt on his graduation, it's also a bit of a nod to the Mayan gods.  You've gotta cover all of your bases in times like this.  In the event that we are all still here on the 22nd all bets are off and that will once again be considered a simple visit to a tourist attraction in which I took a photo of my nephew.  Nothing more.  Sorry, just had to get that on the record.

The other thing I am wondering about is how the Mayan's saw all of this ending.  If it is a really big meteor, shouldn't we be in it's shadow by now????  Maybe that is why it got so cold suddenly last night....  Or maybe it's just December.  But wouldn't the people at NASA at least know it's coming now?  Wait, for a minute I was worried that perhaps NASA had been done away with so that more people could have free cell phones, but then I remembered that just last week NASA was bragging that they discovered something really cool on Mars but they aren't going to tell us for a few more weeks so that they can confirm that it really is as cool as they think it is.  So, apparently all is status quo at NASA.  Either that, or the people at NASA decided to mess with us in our final weeks by telling us they found something really cool on Mars since the big gigantic meteor would be obliterating us shortly and we wouldn't be able to call bullshit on it anyway.

The other possibility is that all of the people who work at NASA have been secretly evacuating Earth for the last few weeks and are currently in flight headed to Mars....  If any of you know any bigwigs at NASA, now would be a good time to call and make sure they haven't left the planet.  Maybe they just told us "Big news from Mars.... hold please...."  to keep us busy while they evacuated.  You never know.  I saw a thing on H2 or TLC or NatGeo or one of those other semi-educational channels last week about evacuating Earth and how they would decide who gets to go and who stays behind.  I'll go ahead and clue you in now.... they aren't taking me.  So, if they know something we don't know, I would still be sitting here writing my blog waiting for the giant meteor to strike and whining about the former employer who shall not be named and you would be none the wiser.

Okay, I have one more question before I shut this blog down for the day and get busy.  How many downloads do you suppose R.E.M. will get between now and the 21st on the song "The End of the World As We Know It"?  I mean other than the Mayans, they've gotta be getting the biggest bang for their buck on the publicity front out of the end of the Mayan calendar.  They'll probably get more downloads this week than any of the contestants from The Voice.... Nah.... Now I'm just getting crazy.

Day Two-Forty-Nine - Will This Get Me Off The Couch?

The winner just crossed the finish line in the Metro PCS Dallas Marathon, formerly the White Rock Marathon.  This is always one of my favorite Sunday mornings of the year.  I love getting up and watching the runners.  Several years ago as I watched, I was inspired to start running myself so that I could run the 1/2 marathon the following year instead of sitting on my couch watching other people be fit.

It nearly worked.  I joined TNT and began training.  I went to White Rock Lake every Saturday morning to run with the TNT group.  I loved my coach.  She was very supportive and was centered on getting me ready for my 1/2 marathon.  Then on the Saturday I was supposed to run 9 miles in late September I was unable to make it to White Rock due to another commitment.  So, on Sunday I sat out to do my 9 mile run on the bike/pedestrian trail near my house.  I made it about 7 miles before I started to experience pain in my right knee.  By 7-1/2 miles, I was reduced to walking and although I finished the total 9 miles the last mile and a half were done walking and nearly in tears because of the pain.

The following week, I ran on the days I was supposed to, but with horrible pain and usually finishing walking since the pain was just too great.  On Saturday, I made my way to White Rock and ran with my coach.  We talked about my pain as my coach told me to talk to the chiropractor who came out with us on Saturday mornings as soon as we were finished and have him look at my knee.  She ran along side of me as we ran up our final hill and then walked with me to the chiropractors make shift exam room near the picnic tables.

Dr. Doyle looked at my knee and basically told me that I needed to see a doctor in a real examining room later in the week.  That day, I went to the state fair with my mom, sister-in-law and others and just toughed it out through the pain.  The following week, I was diagnosed with a stress fracture and a sprained MCL and told that I was done running for the next few months.  I cried knowing that I wasn't going to be able to do my 1/2 marathon that year after all of those early Saturday mornings and that if I didn't do it then I might never be able to.  I haven't run since.  That was two years ago.  Even with the 4 months of treatments that I went through, I have continued to experience pain significant enough following exercise that I am afraid to try running again.  It makes me mad because when I ran, I LOVED it!

Now this morning, I watch the marathon runners crossing the finish line and I desperately want to try it again.  I still don't think that I would be capable of running it.  Quite frankly right now, I don't think I could walk it.  But it sure makes me want to get outside and do something.  And that's the point, right?  Maybe we aren't all marathoners or even 5K runners, but we can all do something.  In the last two years I have gained weight - a lot of it as I have sat on my couch.  So, my work will be cut out for me.  But here I go, trying once again to get motivated to get fit.  There is a very good chance that in 6 months you will be reading again about how I have been motivated to get off of the couch.  But I figure if I keep writing about it in a forum where someone else can read it, I stand a better chance of following through.  After all, lying to myself is easy.  Lying to all of you is much more difficult.

Have a good week!

Day Two-Forty-Five - An Awful Tuesday Night

I normally wouldn't post a blog on this site on the same day that I post a travel blog.  But I have something to get off of my chest.  So, I must.  Last week after years of vacancy someone finally moved into the condo across from mine.  You may know it as the squirrel condo that has been featured in this blog on occasion.  I was so happy to have a neighbor finally in that unit.  On Sunday I was outside sweeping the front walk and the new neighbor came outside and started cleaning his glass door.  We introduced ourselves and talked briefly.  Judging from his accent, I would guess that he is probably Jamaican.  Just before coming back inside, I told him that if he or his wife ever needed anything they should not hesitate to let me know.

Fast forward to 10:45 last night.  I was sitting at my computer with the lights on downstairs, windows were open so that I could enjoy the nice weather, the TV was on and could no doubt be heard as you walked past the open windows down the sidewalk in front of my condo.  The Christmas tree was lit in my front window with the blinds pulled all the way up so that you can see it from outside.  Then the doorbell rang.  No one rings my doorbell at 10:45 p.m.  I just don't get visitors that late at night.  So, I immediately stood up and went to the front door since it is one of the few places downstairs where I could not be seen if you looked in a window.  I picked up the baseball bat that I keep in my umbrella stand and stood there waiting for the "visitor" to leave.  I thought that as they walked away, I would be able to see them through one of the windows and if it turned out to be someone I knew, I could call them back.  Finally, I saw a man run, not walk, down the sidewalk and into the parking lot.  He ran around the building across from mine and behind it down the alley.  He was wearing a white tee shirt and black gym shorts and carrying something in his left hand.  He was also barefooted.

So, I went and got my phone just in case he came back and went back to stand behind the front door with my baseball bat.  A few minutes later, the doorbell rang twice more back to back.  Then he ran away again back across the parking lot and down the alley.  It was the same man and this time, I looked closely at what he was carrying in his left hand as he ran across the parking lot in the dark.  It looked like it could be a handgun with a long barrel.  I freaked and called 911.  The 911 operator asked me if he was black or white.   Black I answered.  He wanted to know what he was wearing and I told him.  Then I started thinking and I thought, if he was a bad guy, why would he be barefooted????  And then I started thinking, wait... my new neighbor is black and could fit the description of this man....  So I told the 911 operator that.  The operator asked if I could see him now so I kept peeking out the window to try to get another glimpse of him.

He ran by again, but under the lights this time and I realized that the object in his left hand was not a gun but a monkey wrench.  So I told the operator that and I told him, I really thought it could be the neighbor.  Maybe something was wrong or someone had broken into his house.....  In all honesty this was a desperate attempt to try to redeem myself.  I was almost 100% sure now that I had indeed called the police on my new neighbor. So, finally, two police cars arrived and I hung up the phone.  The police cars stopped at his alley and the cops got out of their cars.  He came walking up to them and they all walked toward my front door together.  The police knocked on my front door and told me that he had a massive water leak in his unit and was trying to figure out where to turn the water off.  He had rang my doorbell to see if I knew.

I felt AWFUL!!!!!  So, now I am officially the worst neighbor in the world stereo-typing the very nice black man who lives across from me and literally calling the police on him when it was he who had an emergency.  On the bright side, the police called the fire department who came out to help him.  I hope they didn't get a lot of water damage.  I need to go to the grocery store so that I can bake a cake to take over as an apology.  But I can't leave the house since the idiots finally showed up to work on my foundation.  You will be happy to know however, that the response time from the Dallas Police department was only 2 minutes.  Last night when I was lying in bed feeling horribly guilty about having called the police, I tried to think of how that could have been avoided.  If he had yelled through the door, "Hey, this is Ben, your new neighbor and I have a huge water leak in my house!"  That might have helped.  If I gave them my phone number so that they could call instead of ringing my doorbell at 10:45 p.m.  That might have helped.  I honestly believe that if he had been white, and had been running around like that carrying something in his hand and ringing my doorbell, I would have reacted exactly the same way.  But I'll never know.

Ugh!  I'm the worst neighbor ever!

Day Two-Forty-Four - Elves and Such

I have several friends who have elves loose in their houses this Christmas season.  For them, it might be a hassle or just something that is kinda cool when their kids discover what the elf did while they slept the previous night.  But it makes me jealous.  This is the one time of year it would be so fun to have small kids.  Kids who believe in the magic of Christmas are about the funnest things in the world.

A few days ago, people started posting pictures on Facebook late at night of the positions their elf was in for the night.  I know that this is happening for your kids, but some of us adults look forward all day to what your household elf will do overnight.  In fact, it can become a little difficult to go to sleep before we know.  Seriously, I thought the other day that perhaps my cats needed some elf action just so that I could play along.  Fortunately, I was able to stop myself before I got carried away mostly because I worried that people would be like....  "Wait, why does Susan have an elf roaming around in her house???  She has no kids...."  Then all of the crazy cat lady rumors would start up and we all know where that leads.

So, I live vicariously through your elves.  If you have an elf in your house and photos of it can safely be posted on FB without fear of exposing any of your elf helpers, those of us without one of the little rascals roaming around our homes would love to see what he is up to.  Honestly, this could be more fun for the adults than the kids.  If you can't act a little like a kid at Christmas time, when can you, right?

In other news, my foundation repair is scheduled to begin today.  I got up bright an early at 7 a.m. since they made a point of calling and reminding me a number of times that it would start today and I needed to be here to let the foreman in the house.  I guess he has to take elevations in the house again although that has been happening on a regular basis for the last several months.  Meanwhile, I am up and dressed and waiting, waiting, waiting and no foundation guys are here yet.  I wonder if they will show up sometime before lunch.  They obviously are unaware that they are dealing with someone who has an aversion to the first 7 o'clock of each day.  I completely prefer for my 7 o'clocks to fall in the evening.

I feel like I should clarify.  Nobody told me to be ready for foundation guys at 7 a.m.  But I know that laborers generally begin work early in the day and so I assumed that they would begin at least by 8 and I wanted to be prepared.  It is after 8 and the only traffic I have seen in the last hour is the handicap school bus that picks a kid up a few buildings over everyday.  I mean, the garbage truck always empties the dumpster one building over before 8 a.m.  Don't foundation repair guys and garbage truck drivers work on roughly the same schedule?

My sleep schedule has become a little bothersome lately.  As you all may have heard, you know unless you are deaf or didn't know who I was prior to today, I will be going on a cruise in 47 days.  As you also may know my travel buddy, Jenny still works at the former employer who shall not be named which means she still has a normal work schedule.  So, she still gets up early every morning and therefore she apparently goes to bed slightly earlier than I do every night.  In the last month or so, she has expressed concern about how we will be able to share a cabin on the cruise ship with our sleep schedules differing so much these days.  I have tried to assure her that when necessary I do go to bed at a normal time and get up early like others.

For some reason, when I am at my parents house, this is true.  I can go to bed prior to midnight every night there.  I think it has something to do with a relaxation thing.  For me, spending a few days in Nacogdoches is like taking a handful of Lunesta.  What does this say about Nacogdoches???  I don't know.  But the fact is that I do go to sleep before midnight when I am there.  Maybe the motion of a cruise ship will have the same relaxing effect on me that Nacogdoches does.

Meanwhile, since Sunday night I have been making an effort to get sleepy and hit the sack early and last night I was even upstairs before 11 p.m. and still I sat up reading until after 2 a.m.  At 12:30 I suddenly put my Nook down and decided that I simply would not be able to sleep unless the litter box was not just scooped but completely changed with a new liner and all, so I brought a fresh 40 pound box of cat litter in the house at 12:30 last night.  Even the cats had puzzled looks on their faces.  I'm sure that if I spoke cat, I would have heard Shiner saying to Jingle, "What the hell is she doing????  Does she know what time it is????  That box doesn't need to be changed tonight.  Shouldn't we be sleeping now?"  Shiner is very inquisitive....

So anyway even though I have made an effort to get to bed earlier all week this week, it has actually resulted in a lot less sleep for me than normal.  I think I haven't slept more than 5 hours any night since last Saturday.  I am sure that if I continue on this schedule, my body will eventually give in and just start sleeping when I get in bed.  But for now, it is making me pretty grumpy.  I am no fun to be around when I am sleep deprived.  So, if all of you could have conversations with your house elves this evening and ask them to get to work early tonight so that I can see where they end up before 10 or so, I would be grateful.  Thanks for your support.  Have a good Tuesday.

Day Two-Thirty-Seven - The Pet Sitting Game

What makes my cat believe that the best place to be this time of year is lying on the branches of my Christmas Tree?  Don't misunderstand.  He doesn't actually want to climb the Christmas tree.  He simply wants to be lying on the branches of it.  I know this because he doesn't repeatedly go to the trunk of the tree and try to climb.  He goes to the bottom branches and lifts his front paw and tries to stand on the branch.

When he broke my old tree, he was lying on the bottom branches exactly where he is trying to go now.  I walked in the house and all of the bottom two rows of branches were angled down and touching the ground and Jingle was lying in the middle of them.  I think it has something to do with his name.  He may actually believe that he is a Christmas tree ornament....

The good news is that he has only knocked one ornament off so far.  It did not break.  Currently, Shiner has him preoccupied.  They are chasing one another through the house thus allowing me some time to work on a blog and drink my coffee in peace.  I took both cats to Mom and Dad's house last week for Thanksgiving.  Normally, I would just leave them here and ask a friend to feed them or pay a pet sitting service to come over once a day.  Using either of those options would have meant I needed to come home sooner than I did.  I hate asking a friend to come over every single day for more than a few days.  And I can't see paying a pet sitting service again until the travel business gets off the ground.

The cats do okay at Mom and Dad's house.  The only issue is that they have a big alpha cat named Regis and anytime that Regis wants to come in which is usually twice a day, my cats have to be locked away in the bedroom.  It is relatively easy to get them in there with a bag of treats.  So, it is not a big deal.  But during my visit, it brought up the topic of pet sitting services and how they work.  The one that I have always used will do just about anything you ask.

Prior to the first official visit, the pet sitter comes over to meet your animals and walk through the house with you.  She takes thorough notes on this visit and spends time just getting to know the animals.  My initial visit was 8 or 9 years ago.  Since then, I have probably used the service 20 or 30 times and never had contact with them again except on the phone.  Only my cats know what their current cat sitter looks like.  I think in the 8 or 9 years, they have had 3 different people take care of them from this service. The service tries to keep the same person with the same animals each time but of course conflicts come up and people no doubt, leave their employment.

On that initial visit, some of the things the pet sitter asked were where I keep cleaning supplies and products, where I keep extra cat food and litter, where I buy my cat foot and litter, where the cat carrier was kept and if there were any special tricks to getting Jingle into the cat carrier.  She told me that she needed to know all of this in case I ever ran out of food while I was away or if there was ever an emergency that required her taking Jingle to the vet.  I gave them a key during that initial visit 8 or 9 years ago and they still have it.  They also have my credit card info on file.  Now, when I am ready to leave town, I just call or email to begin service and they come over as many times a day as I ask to take care of things.

Some of the things they do while they are here are:  Feed the cats and give them fresh water, scoop the litter boxes and sweep and clean up around them, play with the cats, feed the fish, water plants, open/close blinds, turn lights on or off.  The will also pick up papers and mail and bring all of that in the house.  I don't require that since my mailbox is secured and I don't take a paper, but they take fliers off of the door and bring packages in that FedEx or UPS may have left.  When I come home, my trash has always been emptied and my floors are freshly swept.  If I have to leave unexpectedly due to an emergency, I can call them from the road and start service immediately.  They know where I keep the food so I don't have to sit it out for them in an emergency.  If I run out of food while I am gone, they will go buy new food and add that expense to my bill.

They began a new service in the last year, I can't remember what it is called, Peace of Mind or something like that, where you can fill out some paperwork and they give you papers to distribute to your loved ones so that if you die the loved ones can call and start the service until arrangements are made for the pets.  This month in the newsletter that they send out, they suggested that with the holidays and office parties, if you see that you will be late and can't get home to let the dog in or out or to feed him, you can call and they will drop by to let Rover out so that you don't come home to a mess.

Here's the deal, this service costs me $25 each time they walk in the house.  There is an additional charge per pet and I am not sure what the initial charge for one pet is anymore.  When I first started using them, it was $17 per visit for one pet.  Until about a year ago, my cats required two visits a day.  So, at that time, I paid $50 a day for cat sitting while I was out of town.  For the price of cat sitting while I was away on a 7 night cruise, I could almost have taken them with me and gotten them their own inside cabin on the ship if the cruise line would allow it.

After we talked about this for a while, Mom asked why I got into the travel business instead of pet sitting since I love animals so much.  So now I have been kicking this around for several days.  I am now a travel agent and that makes me happy.  But could I be a travel agent who also feeds and cares for your pets while you are away????  I don't know.  I am currently working on a couple of trips where I am also going to be transportation for my clients to get to and from the airport here in Dallas.  Hey!  Don't judge!  You do what you have to do.  This is just something that I have been thinking about for a few days.  It could make for one heck of a full service travel agency....

I'm going to get busy now.  I have a pumpkin cheesecake to make for a dinner party and a Panama Canal cruise to research. :-)  Have a great day!

Day Two-Thirty - Torture!

For some people the holidays are torture.  Perhaps for you they are not torture.  If this is the case, it could be that you are the person torturing others.  Think about it.  Do you do things that might make others crazy?  Perhaps you don't even realize that you do them.  Maybe you know that you do them, but you don't realize that it is an annoyance to those who must be around you during the holidays.  Here are a few signs to look out for....

Does your mother-in-law have a freakishly large smile with those little aneurysm lines between her eyes from the moment you walk in with your store bought rolls still in the package?  Let me lay out the scene, perhaps six months ago, at a family gathering someone said, "where's Thanksgiving going to be this year?"  Your husbands mother said, "I was hoping you would all come to our house."  Then about three weeks ago, she called you on a Sunday afternoon and said, that the father-in-law really enjoyed those rolls you made for the last get together at your house and asked you to make them and bring them to Thanksgiving.  So, now three weeks later, you show up at her house with one package of Mrs. Baird's Bake N' Serve Rolls....  Twelve store bought rolls for 14 people for Thanksgiving.

So, you set the rolls on the kitchen counter and head into the living room following your four children and husband and you sit down on the couch and immediately whip out your IPad and bury your head in it.  Around you there is a constant buzz of conversation, but you successfully manage to avoid all contact with your in-laws thanks to the trusty IPad which apparently has the codes for getting into Fort Knox embedded into it with the way you are almost hypnotically staring at it.

Your really big dog with it's really big tail runs through the living room since, you know, you brought it and all four of your precious children run through the living room behind the big dog chasing it because, you know, they're kids and it's a dog.  As they all run through, your father-in-law says in an obviously strained voice, "let's not run through the house, kids".  You vaguely hear that the FIL has spoken, but it doesn't register what he has said as you get ever closer to those allusive Fort Knox codes.

Your husband, their son and the father of the four kids running through the house, is still conscious since he left  his laptop at home, but he chooses to ignore anything other than the football game going on until there is a crash from the kitchen.  Then he looks over at you with that look on his face that says "I think YOUR kids broke something".  You notice that he has just given you a strange look but still with your head buried in the IPad, you are not sure why.  You remain on the couch while he goes into the kitchen with the FIL to try and calm down your now hysterical MIL.

Meanwhile, you are on the couch wondering what all of the screeching is about coming from the kitchen and how anybody can possibly be expected to concentrate on their Fort Knox codes in this house?!?!?!!?  Finally, your husband, his dad, your four children and the really big dog with the really big tail all come into the living room and sit down as your husbands siblings and their spouses and children arrive.  The other show off women go immediately to the kitchen obviously trying to score brownie points with the MIL.  You've been around long enough to know that going into the kitchen and attempting to help out actually has the opposite effect where you are concerned.  The woman actually screeches louder whenever you enter the kitchen.....

Finally dinner is served.  The food is good, you notice that one of your kids has two rolls on his plate and half of the family has no rolls at all but you don't care.  In your mind, you are trying to figure out what you are missing on those pesky Fort Knox codes.  Dinner is over, the other women stay behind in the kitchen and start doing the dishes, but you are a firm believer that a kitchen with too many people in it is inefficient, so you do your part by going to the living room and getting back to work on the codes.  After all of that turkey, you suddenly feel sleepy.... the codes start to blur.  You put the IPad down and stretch out on the couch for just a second.... and wake up two hours later to find that you are sprawled across the couch, four adults are sitting on the floor, your mother-in-law is wiping your kids runny nose and your husband is missing.  After an extensive search, you discover that he is in a back bedroom watching the same thing that is on the TV in the other room by himself.  You think to yourself, how did I marry into such a strange family and what am I missing on those darn codes???

You force your husband back to the living room where you say your goodbyes, round your kids and the dog up and you all head out to the car.  On the way home, you and kids talk about how strange Granny and Grampy always are while your husband turns the radio up just a little louder.  You think quietly to yourself, why did that woman make me bring rolls if she didn't even eat one?

Day Two-Twenty-Eight - An Early Birthday Tribute to Robbie

Tomorrow is my brother Robbie's birthday.  You have probably noticed that Ronnie makes his way into my blog pretty often.  I think there are several reasons for that.  The first and biggest of which is that when Ronnie was a kid, he was a little mean and did things to me which were pretty memorable... you know like shooting me with BB guns and such.  Ronnie and I are also very close in age, so we spent a lot of time together as kids.  Meanwhile Robbie was 3 years older than me, so he had started school while Ronnie and I were still running around together getting into trouble.  He moved away from home after graduating from high school leaving me and Ronnie to stay home together and get into trouble.  Do you notice a reoccurring theme here?  Anyway, there aren't as many Robbie stories but the ones that exist almost always involve an injury, usually to Robbie.

I was thinking this morning of stories involving Robbie that I could relate in honor of his upcoming birthday and since he was for the most part a good kid, there really aren't that many.  I am sure that the boys from our old neighborhood, like Ricky, the Phillips' and the Shoemaker's could tell you a lot of stories, but from me you'll just have to hear about the day that Robbie fell on the Slip N' Slide and wound up with amnesia.

It was a Sunday because for some reason, most Meyers injuries that involved doctors or hospitals took place on weekends.  During the week before the incident, Nacogdoches had gone through the biggest thing to happen there in years.  A freight train had derailed near town.  There had been explosions and you could see the glow of the flames that night from our house.  The big explosion had broken windows in town and it was a really big deal for Nacogdoches.  I mean it was no Space Shuttle disaster, which happened many years after I had moved away, but it was a big deal back in the 70's.  I remember lying in bed that night and worrying that the whole town would burn up and we would all die.  I was a dumb little kid, what can I say?   Anyway, you get my point, it was a memorable event.

Well that Sunday, was like any other Sunday.  I don't even remember anything about the day until the incident occurred and I can guarantee you that Robbie can't tell us anything about the day. :-)  Somebody was over at our house playing cards with Mom and Dad.  It might have been the Bailey's, but I'm not sure, because I don't remember Dee Dee, Donnie and Davie being there and I think I would have remembered that.  Robbie and Ronnie came in the house with a lot of other neighborhood kids and Rick Reese.  Rick didn't live on Nottingham.  His house was behind the Shoemaker's house down a long private driveway on some acreage by itself.  So, you just sort of walked behind the Shoemaker's house and through a really small patch of woods to get to Rick's house.  Apparently, at Rick's they had been playing on a Slip N' Slide and as you may know there isn't much to a Slip N' Slide if you simply slip and then slide.  So, they were trying to "surf" on it.  They would go down the Slip N' Slide standing up.  Robbie did it and fell down hitting his head on a rock that was under the Slip N' Slide.

When they came in our house they all went straight to Robbie and Ronnie's bedroom and closed the door.  So naturally, I assumed I was supposed to be in there and walked in with them.  When a brothers bedroom door is closed, it is a clear indication that the nosey sister should enter!  They were all lying on the beds and talking to Robbie who was acting really weird.  So, Rick went and told my parents that there was something wrong with Robbie.  I think my parents didn't believe that there was anything wrong just because everybody including Robbie was joking around and you couldn't visibly see an injury.  So we all went back to Robbie and Ronnie's room but Robbie couldn't remember anything!

Eventually, Mom and Dad realized that there really was something wrong with Robbie and Dad took him to the doctor.  It turned out that he had a concussion which had resulted in amnesia.  To this day, Robbie has no memory of the train derailment that had occurred in Nacogdoches a few days earlier.  When Robbie and Dad got home from the doctors office, Dad joked that when the doctor had tested his reflexes on his knee with that little hammer Robbie had kicked over a lamp.  Robbie didn't remember doing that and then Dad told him that it didn't really happen.  Leave it to my dad to mess with a kid who has amnesia.

Robbie had amnesia again when we were in college and he laid down his motorcycle at University Dr. and the south Loop 224.  Christina was at our house when the hospital called and I walked in from class a minute or so later.  So, I went to the hospital to get him.  He later said that on that occasion when the doctor in the emergency room read off a phone number and asked if it was familiar and it was, he felt like he had just won the Irish Sweepstakes.  I can't imagine not being able to remember things....  I mean other than passwords for various travel websites and that sort of thing.  It must be a very strange feeling.  But Robbie made it through both of his bouts of amnesia with no ill effects other than not remembering a few days during the summer of 1974 in Nacogdoches.

Happy Birthday Rob!

Day Two-Twenty-Seven - "Helpful" Comments of an Old German Woman

I'm trying to decide when the best time will be to go to the grocery store.  Mom called and told me what I need to bring for Thanksgiving and my grocery list is already made.  But now I have to go and actually purchase all of the things on the list.  This is the worst week of the year to go to the grocery store.   On the bright side, I cleaned my pantry out this week and threw away all of the canned goods that were past their expiration date.  So, there is plenty of room in my pantry now.  Of course, I'm not planning to stock up on canned goods.  I just want to buy what I need to make my assigned dishes.

The assigned dishes are a German Chocolate Cake and Sausage Kolaches.  I make Sausage Kolaches usually once a year either at Christmas or Thanksgiving.  It is what we usually have for breakfast and snacks throughout the holiday.  I use the recipe that we got from my Great Aunt Bessie.  They aren't like the ones that you get at your local donut shop.  I love them.  I tolerate the ones from the donut shops.  Don't get me wrong.  The ones at the donut shops contain both sausage and bread, so I don't complain.  But they aren't like the ones that Aunt Bessie's recipe makes.

The German Chocolate Cake is from a recipe I found in one of those old church cookbooks that was purchased 50 or so years ago.  I think my Aunt Ida's church must have been selling them since several of Aunt Ida's recipes are in it.  Aunt Ida is an old German woman with an opinion on everything.  She was the wife of my Dad's half brother, EC who was his oldest sibling.  Uncle EC passed away several years ago.  But Aunt Ida is still kicking.  On holidays Uncle EC and Aunt Ida used to come to our house along with the rest of the family and Aunt Ida never left the kitchen.  Even if she had nothing to do, she would remain in the kitchen so that she could keep Mom or anyone else working in there posted on each thing they were doing wrong.  I don't think Aunt Ida ever intended her comments to be mean or hateful.  She was just a strong German woman with little tact.  I also think that a thick German accent might make all comments sound just a little meaner.

It drove my Mom nuts.  Aunt Ida was a good baker.  She knew that she was good at it and I think in her mind she was just trying to pass a little of her extensive knowledge on to others.  She had no children, so her sisters-in-law and nieces became her students in her mind.  It was her attempt to pass on a legacy.  But in Mom's mind, everything Aunt Ida said, every grunt or tsk that passed her lips was meant as a criticism.  And they all left a mark.

Aunt Ida used to bring this Daffodil Cake to family gatherings.  It was the fluffiest, lightest, most wonderful cake in the world.  I loved it.  But until about 5 years ago, I never expressed my love for that cake.  I was afraid to since I was fairly convinced that Mom would be hurt if she found out my favorite cake was one of Aunt Ida's recipes.  Turns out, it didn't bother her at all, it just surprised her.  That recipe is in the old cookbook that I have with a number of Aunt Ida's recipes in it.  There are a lot of other recipes in the book with her name next to them.  But the German Chocolate Cake that I am baking for Thanksgiving is not one of them.  Some other lady from her church submitted the German Chocolate recipe.

Mom and I each have a copy of this cookbook.  I think Aunt Ida gave them as gifts in the year that her church was selling them.... either that or both Mom and Grandma bought one.  Either way, I now have Mom's copy and Mom has Grandma's copy.  I can tell that I have Mom's copy because there are a number of handwritten recipes at the end of each chapter that were written by Mom.

When Dad had his knee replacement surgery a few months ago, he was released from the hospital in time to celebrate his birthday over the weekend.  So, while Mom was getting Dad sprung from Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital, I stayed at their house and baked Dad a German Chocolate birthday cake using this recipe.  He loves German Chocolate Cake.  It turned out really good.  So, Mom called earlier this week and asked me to make it again for Thanksgiving.  This makes me really happy.  Although I knew that it was good and we all enjoyed it, the fact that it was requested for Thanksgiving means that I must have really done a good job on it!

I haven't seen Aunt Ida in a number of years.  I am sure that if she were to come to Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving this year, she would be able to make a number of comments and grunts that would undoubtedly improve on the cake.  On the other hand, Mom who doesn't have an ounce of German blood in her body is pretty good at handing out those "helpful" comments herself.

Day Two-Twenty-Six - The Pink Boat Snorkel Adventure

Good morning friends.  I hope it has been a good and productive week for everyone.  I had a great week.  On Tuesday, I took the soap that I made last weekend out of the soap molds.  It is now sitting out in the garage curing.  It is really nice soap.  We made bath soap with Tea Tree and we made kitchen soap that has coffee in it.  The coffee soap is supposed to get rid of odors like garlic and onion.  I'm pretty excited about it.

Everytime I have left home this week I have heard the same thing over and over from almost everyone I have come in contact with.  "Isn't this weather great?  It finally feels like fall!!!"  I have one word for all of you.... BURRRRRRRRR!!!!!  I hate being cold.  I know it is getting up into the mid 60's during the day and a lot of you think this is ideal.  But for me this is torture.  If it would just go down to the mid 60's at night and warm up to 80 during the day, I could live with it.  Then I could leave the windows open all the time and save a ton of money on heating and cooling.  Plus I could leave the patio door open all day long so that Jingle and Shiner would never have to sit at the door and wait for me to open it.  Life would be better.

I just can't figure out how a person who hates to be cold as much as I do was born in a place that gets cold weather.  I think there was an error.  I was probably supposed to have been born in a place like St. Maarten.  If I lived in St. Maarten, the world would be a happier place.  For one thing, nobody would ever have to listen to me whining about being cold.  There would also be at least one more charter boat taking snorkelers out daily and God knows that the world needs more charter boats.

I know what you're thinking, snorkel charters in the Caribbean are a dime a dozen.  But mine would be different from the others.  To start with, my boat or boats would be pink.  Not that horrible Mary Kay pink that you see on Cadillacs, but a vibrant flamingo pink.  That way the boats would stand out and when they came toward the cruise ship dock to pick up passengers, the anticipation would build.  As much fun as sailing is, my boats would not be catamarans, they would be speed boats.  See, here's the deal.  Those catamarans usually run the motors most of the time anyway to get you to your snorkeling spot and back on time.  The sails are really sort of an illusion to make you feel like you are on a relaxing sail.  So, let's just call a spade a spade and make it about speed.  Besides, if my boats can get you to the good snorkeling spots faster and back faster, then you might be able to do something else before you have to leave St. Maarten.

Since my beautiful pink boats would be speeding through the water, you wouldn't be able to mill about on the boat during the trip back after snorkeling.  That also means there would be no complimentary rum punch or beer on board.  But we would make up for that by taking you to a cute little outdoor beach bar before going back to the ship.  There you could have a few beers, view and perhaps buy some pictures that the snorkel photographer took during your excursion (with the pink boat strategically right behind you in each shot), build a sand castle or two and if you feel the need to do the Macarana at every Caribbean stop, this would be your chance.  Oh!  This is where you would also have the opportunity to buy some of my over priced but really cool t-shirts to commemorate your day on board my pink boat in St. Maarten.  Later on as we make more money we would probably add caps, koozies and key chains to the assortment.  All would be pink, obviously.

Before long, my pink boats would be the most sought after excursion in the Virgin Islands.  All over the world, people would be wearing my pink t-shirts around and total strangers would walk up to them and say, "Wow!  Did you really take the Pink Boat Snorkel Adventure?"  Their envy would be clear.  My boats would be legendary.  I would probably have to buy more boats and start businesses on other islands as the business grows.  I mean after all, we would only be able to accommodate 80 people per boat a day on St. Maarten.  So, if we had boats on other islands, more people would be able to take the great Pink Boat Snorkel Adventure.

I'm still not too sure about that name.  It might be something I would have to get my marketing people to work on....  Okay, I'm through day dreaming now.  It is time to get to work.  Happy Friday!

Day Two-Twenty-Two - Syrup Update!

I am back from East Texas.  It was a nice trip.  Saturday I met Mom and Dad in Henderson for the Syrup Festival.  This year we actually went into the area that you pay to get into.  It was well worth the $3 that we spent on admission.  I got a jar of Sorghum Molasses Syrup.  I sampled the Moonshine Syrup from the same vendor.  But liked this one better.  It is pretty yummy and it is really going to make a great pecan pie!  I had planned on starting a 21 day cleanse this week, but with dinner club and Thanksgiving coming up, I think I will wait especially since I have all of this great syrup!

I was pretty gung ho last night but my excitement has subsided a little as I have gotten closer and closer to actually living on shakes and veggies.  Right now, I am thinking that the ideal start date will be the Sunday following Thanksgiving.

The soapmaking went so well yesterday!  I came home with some really great soap that I am very excited about.  I also think I have decided that I should start making it at home regularly rather than going to Mom's once a year and doing it.  There is no reason not to do it here.  I feel like I am becoming a pioneer woman.  With the spinning, knitting and soapmaking I think I am just days away from "callin' in the young 'uns so I can warsh their clothes...."  The fact that there are no "young 'uns" to call in may be my only saving grace.

There might be somebody moving into the unit across my condo finally!!!!  I am so excited.  All of the signs have been there for weeks.  But today, it is looking even more promising.  Maybe by the end of the week, I'll have new neighbors.  That would make me so happy.  I really hope that they will be friendly, fun and kind of quiet.  I know that is a lot of hope for.  But a girl can dream.

Well, I don't have too much to catch you up on today and I have a lot of work to do so I will stop for now.  Have a great week.  Be sure to look for the travel blog for the remainder of the week. at http://placesuwillgo.blogspot.com.  I probably won't write on the personal blog again until late in the week.

Day Two-Twenty - Headed to East Texas

I don't have much time to write today since I have to leave for Henderson, Tx. pretty early but I just wanted to take a few minutes to chat.  I'm meeting Mom and Dad in Henderson this morning for the Syrup Festival.  Don't hate people!  You could all go, there is no charge to get into the Syrup Festival.  After that, I'll be going to Mom and Dad's house with them for the rest of the weekend.  Mom and I are making soap this weekend.  Again, don't hate!

I have been working a lot on Travel stuff this week.  If you noticed that I haven't been writing on this blog much it is because I have been writing the travel blog instead.  It takes a lot more of my time to write since I can't just write about stuff in my head, I actually have to do research to write that blog.  With this one, I figure as long as I get most things correct, I am okay.  I mean after all, as long as we all know that I broke my arm at age 6 as a result of Ronnie chasing me up a flight of stairs and me going over the edge of the landing, is anybody really concerned with whether he pushed or I jumped?  Probably not..... well unless you're Ronnie and he doesn't read this anyway.  (And for the record, I admitted that I jumped several months ago when I wrote about the incident in this blog.)

It's tough getting up to an alarm every morning and then writing a factual blog with links, pictures and everything!  I'm not sure that I really like being a responsible business owner with all of the grueling demands that it carries with it.  Okay, I'm lying.  I really love it.  Doing research on ships and cruise lines the last few days has been a blast.  Part of the information I have spouted out in the last couple of days on the blog was what I have been learning in my training.  Other stuff is things I have looked up.

The funniest thing that I have figured out in the last two days is that it is only 2012.  I started the Princess Cruise on line training a few weeks ago and was reading all about the new Princess ship that was launching in Oct of 2013 and in my head on the day that I read about that, I thought, "OMG!  It set sail today on it's maiden voyage!" and I was completely convinced that it was sailing from Florida now.  But then there was information that it's Mediterranean maiden voyage would be in June of 2013 and I thought it was weird that it wouldn't leave for Europe for another year and a half.  So, it is obvious that I realized when it came to June that it wasn't 2013 yet.  But for some reason I thought it was October of 2013 while it was October of 2012.  I like to believe that I am not terribly stupid, but I did not figure all of this out until yesterday morning as I was finishing up my blog and reading back through it.  Thank God I took a few minutes to proof read it or I might be trying to outrun men in white suits with a straight jacket right now.

Well, I must get ready so that I can leave for the Syrup Festival.  I intend to get some syrup this year.  Last year, all I had was a really bad sandwich and a warm Diet Coke.  Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you all next week in between travel blogs.

Day Two-Sixteen - I Voted!

Good morning fellow Americans!  I know yesterday I mentioned that I might do a travel blog today.  But since it is election day, I wanted to write about that instead.  Maybe this afternoon if I am not too busy, I can put something together for the travel blog.

I am always amazed by the people who don't get excited about voting and election day.  I love this!  I think it is one of the greatest privileges we have as Americans.  Don't get me wrong.  I understand how the electoral process works and that it may take some of the joy out of it for many.  But I still consider it our most powerful weapon when trying to get the attention of our elected officials.

Of the people in my Facebook friends list who have spent the last several years trying to bully people to think as they do, I wonder how many have already voted or will vote today.  I hope all of them do.  If their chosen candidate is the victor, I suppose it will give them bragging rights and if their candidate loses, perhaps it will give them closure. Although, I suppose it could just make them even more bitter and negative.

I enjoy the sense of community that I get when I go to vote.  Seeing all of the little old people working at the voting place is nice.  And listening to neighbors run into one another and discuss things in the neighborhood is also cool.  It sort of makes me feel like this world isn't as big as I think most of the time.  I live in a heavily populated part of the Metroplex, I guess all of the Metroplex is heavily populated.  But I'm just going to say, this ain't Roanoke.  But when I went to vote, I heard several conversations about past and upcoming block parties and issues with neighbors dogs and various other topics that implied that these were neighbors gathering to let their voices be heard.  Kind of nice!  Of course, I saw no one that I knew.... you know because I am anti social.  But that's beside the point.

I voted a couple of weeks ago.  It is the first time that I ever voted early.  I did it because during the last presidential election, I stood in line for more than 2 hours to vote and so I wanted to avoid that.  This year it may have taken me a total of 20 minutes to vote going two weeks prior to the election in the middle of a work day.  I was happy that I didn't have to stand in line for a long time.  But I sort of missed the excitement of voting on election day.  At my polling place, there are always candidates standing at the edge of the parking lot where they are allowed to stand trying to get a few last minute votes which also means that there are always news vans and reporters standing around waiting to interview people and trying to get footage of the candidates talking to voters.  It's sort of cool.  It lends to the whole election day atmosphere.

I think the biggest disappointment of voting early is that I don't get to wear one of those "I Voted!" stickers around all day.  I love wearing one of those stickers around.  It's like you are wearing a sticker around that says "I'm an AMERICAN!" or "I'm Doing My Part!"  I missed this part of the process so much that I just went and found myself a sticker on line.  So, I'll share it with you....

If you are so inclined, feel free to print this out and cut the "I Voted" sticker out and pin it to your chest.  I found this when I googled "I Voted stickers" and discovered that I am apparently not the only one who feels as I do about voting early and not getting a sticker as a result.  If I could have gotten a sticker when I voted, I would have been wearing it around for the last two weeks.... By now, it would be all tattered and have scotch tape on the back trying to hold it to my clothes.  But I'd still be wearing it around.  My friends would come up to me and be like "You're not going to be able to sit with us if you don't take that thing off...." and so I would have to carefully remove it and wrap it in a tissue placing it in my purse when I went out to eat with friends.  But I'd hang on to it.   You can't take these things for granted.

Whether my candidate wins or loses, it is still a privilege that many men have fought and died for and I intend to honor that by voting every time I am given the opportunity.  I saw a story on the news last week about a dying man whose daughter brought his ballot to him so that he could vote early prior to dying so that he wouldn't miss out on having his voice heard.  He has already died and his vote still hasn't been counted.  I think that is pretty amazing.  I am sure you all know which way I lean, but I am not here to try to sway your vote today or to attempt to bully you into my way of thinking.... you know since that's how I roll.... Ha!  I just wanted to offer you an "I Voted" sticker and encourage you to make your voice heard if you have not already done so.

Have a great day and Happy Election Day!!!!!

Day Two-Fifteen - My Unsolicited TV Opinions

My favorite TV show might be on tonight.  But I'm not holding my breath.  There is about a 75% chance that President Obama and Mitt Romney will do something that will mess up my chances of watching it for the 3rd week in a row.  Tonight they are airing the Halloween episode of Hawaii 5-0 since it was pre-empted last week for Sandy coverage.  I'm only planning to watch it because I have to get a Steve McGarrett fix.  Otherwise, I would boycott it.  I mean, who wants to watch a Halloween episode the week after Halloween?  Maybe CBS will run It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown as a lead in.  The week before Sandy it was pre-empted for the final debate which took place after I had already voted.  What is the point????  I realize that perhaps other people hadn't voted, but surely they had already formed an opinion at that point.  I mean, this has been going on basically since January of 2009.  If you still can't figure it out, one more debate 2 weeks before the election isn't going to help you out much.

We have entered the time of year when it really matters if you watch a TV show in a timely manner.  Otherwise, you could end up watching a DVR'd Thanksgiving dinner for your favorite sitcom in mid December and nobody wants to see that happening.  This is one of the reasons that I watch very few scripted TV shows.  It's just easier my way.  If I only watch reality TV, it really doesn't matter when Tyra tells one of the girls that the need to "smize" or "tooch" more.  Those kinds of constructive criticisms are always relevant!

With reality TV as long as you watch the episodes in the correct order you could watch them on any day of the year.  I mean, it can totally mess up your DVR watching if you see someone get blindsided on Survivor and then start the next episode on your DVR and that person who you just saw getting blindsided is planning to eliminate another person.  Then all of your comments aimed at the TV for that entire episode are telling him or her that they can make all the plans they want, but they are in for a big surprise!!!!  Let me clarify, I don't actually sit and talk to my TV much.  But while I am watching reality TV if I am home alone, I do have a running commentary going on in my head.  Occasionally, a random "What the Hell????!!?!?"  May slip out.  But generally it is all contained within my head.  

Now when I watch reality TV with a friend, all bets are off.  Because I have a comment about nearly everything that takes place on a reality TV show.  And when you watch it with another person, part of the joy of watching reality TV is ridiculing the participants.  Most of the time, my thoughts center on what the host or producers might be thinking.  Like, on The Bachelor when a couple is mugging down in a hot tub, is Chris Harrison standing off to the side looking at his watch and thinking, "I could be having dinner right now"?  Or is he watching it on a monitor somewhere and giggling with a big group of people about how this guy was just saying he had no chemistry with this girl, but he is mugging down with her in the hot tub anyway before he gets rid of her at the end of the episode?  

One of my favorites is Iron Chef America.  I wish the host would be on their more.  He cracks me up the way he turns his head to the knife sounds!  I laugh out loud everytime!  I also like that you can watch it without worrying if you are watching it in any particular order since each episode there is just a random chef competing against one of the Iron Chefs and there is no weekly elimination process.  There is something to be said for the reality show when each episode stands on it's own.  

What I really find funny is the people who really get into the reality TV participants.  This is especially common for some reason on American Idol and Dancing with the Stars both of which I had to stop watching.  You hear people talk about contestants as though they are personal friends.  You can be in line at Starbucks and hear something like this "Oh my God!  Did you see David last night?  He looked so good and I loved that song he sang."  I'm thinking to myself, hmmmm...  I wonder if David performs here every night. Then I find out that he was on American Idol and this woman has never been with 1,000 miles of him in her life.  I stopped watching Dancing with the Stars for what I think are obvious reasons.  Those people that they have on there now are not "stars".  If I have to google the "stars" to find out who they are and then I still don't know, they are not qualified to be on the show.  The title needs to be changed to Dancing with Semi Celebrities and Has Beens.

American Idol drove me nuts with the judges.  I haven't watched it since they started changing them all out and I won't.  But when the original three were still on, the typical comments after a performance went as follows:

Randy:  "Dawg, that was a little pitchy for me....dawg.... I don't know.... I wish you had picked another song... but you did okay....

Paula:  "You look beautiful in that outfit!  You just move me with your stage presence, but you had some pitchy moments....  Oh!  You just sparkled when you turned in the light....I'm sorry, I think I just passed out for a second!"

Simon:  "If I'm being perfectly honest, I didn't like it.....  What??!?!!?!?  Why am I being booed?  I'm just saying exactly what you will say when you go home and watch this on TV."

Contestant:  "Thank you very much for all of your helpful criticism."

Ryan:  "Be sure to tune in to my radio show tomorrow, because I need the ratings... After all, I've only made $10M this week.  Now here's a live commercial that we just threw together for Ford and Coca-Cola combined!!!"

As far as reality musical performance shows go, I like The Voice, but I must confess that once they get past the rounds where they have buzzers to hit, I don't like it as much.  I guess that makes me kind of pathetic.  But I like it when there is an immediate response to what is happening on the stage.  At first I didn't like Adam Levine, but now I think he is pretty funny and he has pretty good taste in performers.  I'm going to be kind of sad next season when Cristina and Cee Lo take the season off.  

I really can't stand Cristina, but I have so much fun mentally ridiculing her clothing choices!  What in the hell goes through that woman's mind when she is standing in front of her closet with the door opened???!?!?!?!  Is she really thinking, "Damn!  I'd look good in any of this!" or is she thinking "Well, crap!  I'm fat and all of these clothes are too tight but I have to put something on, maybe if I wear this top that is cut down to my belly button they won't notice the rolls while I'm sitting."  News flash Princess!!!!!  WE STILL SEE THE ROLLS!!!!!!  I think I saw that tiara and sequined fan at Sam Moon last year when I took my niece shopping there.  

And Cee Lo....  I don't even know where to begin.  Last year he had the cat, this year a pink cockatoo.  The man (and I use that term loosely) is a freak.  I am not questioning his manhood, nor do I care about that.  I just wonder if he is human.  I saw one article on the internet in which he was described as "a tiny round alien".  That was probably the best description I have seen.  My parents were here a few weeks ago and I watched it for a few minutes with my Dad and he finally looked over at me and said "What IS that person?"  My response was that I wasn't sure.  

Look at that picture!  Now, that's some fine looking man right there....  Who wouldn't be turned on by a 5 foot tall 200 pound man wearing a satin Good Humor outfit with a pink cockatoo on his shoulder.  I don't know about you ladies, but I might have to go take a cold shower.  

I don't really have much to say about Blake.  He just strikes me as a big dumb white guy.  But at least he is normal looking.  If I were one of the contestants and all 4 judges turned around for me, there is no doubt that I would pick Adam Levine as my coach.  It just seems like he has more music sense than the other three.  

Well, I have a lot to do today.  It is another business series luncheon day and I have some trips to research, so I will talk to you all tomorrow.  Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be able to do a travel blog so that you can read about things other than my opinions on reality TV and pink cockatoos.

Have a great week!

Day Two-Thirteen - Our Tree

Today is Stephen F. Austin's 220th birthday...  That is, if he had lived past 1836 it would have been his 220th birthday.  So, if you listen to the Ticket, you would probably think, as I do, that he is a "born on this day now dead".  Yes, that is exactly what he is.  I'm going to the SFA football game tonight.  Maybe they'll have a ceremony or tribute at halftime.

I have a yaupon holly tree on my patio.  I love the tree but was planning to trim it back this spring and never did.  I will definitely do it next spring.  The only concern I have about doing it and the thing that has kept me from doing it for several years is the Mockingbird that calls it home.  He has lived in the tree for about 6 years.  I didn't even know that birds lived that long.  His mate certainly didn't live that long.  We have a connection, that Mockingbird and I.  You see, his mate is the bird that Jingle caught on the patio 6 years ago and brought into the house, through the living room, up the stairs, down the hall into my bedroom and dropped in the bathroom when I screamed.  Then the bird flew into the bathroom mirror during the state of hysteria that ensued by all three of us, Jingle, the bird and myself.  Once she was unconscious, you know, from repeatedly flying into the mirror, I picked her up and took her little body out and "disposed" of it.

I'm not sure if her mate thinks she just flew away that morning and will someday be back, or if he knows that she died there and so he remains in tribute or exactly what the situation is, but he now resides in the tree.  He roosts there every night.  He eats the berries that the tree produces year round and he waits.  Cardinals love the berries too, but the Mockingbird does his best to keep them out of his tree.  My cats watch him all the time.  He watches them too.  I hope that they have all reached an understanding.  I couldn't take it if Jingle brought him in the house one day.  I try to keep an eye on the situation.  If things start getting too cozy, I walk out and scare the bird back up higher in the tree.  But I can only do so much.

Several weeks ago when Mom and Dad were here for the garage sale, Dad had a close encounter with the Mockingbird.  While Dad sat out on the patio and read, the bird sat above him in the tree and had a little "accident" on Dad's shirt.  It didn't dawn on me to warn him that a bird sits in the tree almost constantly.  And it is, after all, the birds tree, I mean, I walk past it and hang stuff off of it.  But he actually lives in it!

I brought it up today because this morning he is very busy keeping all of the Cardinals and squirrels out of his tree while also keeping an eye on both of my cats.  I think he is up to the challenge but it is very noisy on my patio right now as a result.  An angry Mockingbird, a chattering squirrel and a multitude of hungry Cardinals are making nearly as much noise as people breaking concrete.  Okay, maybe I exaggerate slightly.  And even if it was as loud as the concrete breaking, I'd still pay to hear the birds and squirrels over the concrete guys.  So I'll stop complaining and go outside to finish my coffee and give the Mockingbird a little moral support.

Day Two-Twelve - Concrete is NOISY!

The parking lot in my condos has cracks in the concrete and a few low spots.  It needs to be repaired.  I have known for a while that they were supposed to do it.  I wouldn't have thought that they would work on it beginning at 7 a.m. the last two days.  One of the spots that needed work, is directly in front of my unit.

Their process consists of cutting the concrete with some sort of huge, powerful and loud saw.  Then they bring this machine in that has a loud engine.  It takes it a long time to get in place and the entire time that it is moving the loud engine is being revved up.  Once it is finally in place, then it begins to pound on the concrete that the saw cut around.  It pounds, and pounds, and pounds and pounds, and pounds, and pounds, and pounds and pounds, and pounds, and pounds, and pounds and pounds, and pounds, and pounds, and pounds and pounds, and pounds... you get the point.  It finally stops pounding when all of the concrete is in the size of small peas or I go insane and run out screaming like a banshee whichever happens first.

The next step is the removal of the now pea sized chunks of concrete.  Apparently this step in the process is all done by very loud Hispanic men and part of the requirement is that they yell at one another the entire time they do it.  In there defense, there is very good chance that they don't even know that they are yelling at one another.  They probably lost their hearing some years ago from being around that pounding machine all day long.   Because as you maybe aware, it pounds, and pounds, and pounds and pounds, and pounds, and pounds, and pounds and pounds, and pounds, and pounds, and pounds and pounds, and pounds, and pounds, and pounds and pounds, and pounds...

Now here's the interesting part, they throw the broken concrete into the back of a truck, but between the time they throw it and the time it lands in the steel dump truck, it seems to multiply in size from the size of a pea to the size of one of those boulders that Wyle E. Coyote was always pulling off the edge of a cliff onto himself when the Roadrunner would pass by.  There is no box of TNT under their boulders, but they are almost as noisy as they would be if a box of TNT were in the mix.

I am sure that after this step in the process they will find a remarkably loud way of pouring fresh concrete.  Because really what's the point in doing it if you can't make everyone in the area miserable while you do it.  But apparently, they are done for the day and won't start the loudest possible process known to man of pouring concrete until 7 a.m. tomorrow.  Maybe people in this line of work are only allowed to work from 7 a.m. until 9 a.m.  Maybe there is some concrete breakers and loaders union that sets these guidelines.  The United Loud and Obnoxious Concrete Workers of America or the ULOCWA as I'm sure it is known amongst the men since it would take a lot longer to sign the full name and we've already established that they all must be deaf from the loud pounding thing that they are subjected to between 7 and 9 every morning probably only allows them to work for 2 hours a day so that their ears aren't subjected to the pounding thing for longer than necessary.  Naturally, the ULOCWA would chose that the two hours begin at 7 a.m. so that these guys can leave here at 9 and start their 2nd job as guys who blow leaves into the street with those really loud gas powered blowers that just run constantly all day long.

Here's the thing with leaf blowers, you could cut the time that you blow leaves with it in half, if you picked the leaves up and put them in a bag and hauled them away rather than just blowing them out into the street so that by the time you get to the end of the sidewalk the wind and passing cars have blown them all back onto the area that you have already blown off resulting in you turning around and doing the same area all over again.  But I am sure that the United Loud and Obnoxious Leaf Blowers of America doesn't allow it's workers to bend over and pick those leaves up putting them in bags.  That would be too hard on their backs and those poor men are already deaf, you can't allow their backs to go out too!!!  So really the ULOLBA is doing them a favor by not allowing them to bend over and pick the leaves up.

Well, I have stuff to do today.... one of those things is to find out if there is enough Advil in the world to get rid of my headache.  The jury is still out on that.  Have a good Friday.  For those of you who had your Friday yesterday have a good whatever you call this day since there can't be two Saturday's.

Day Two-Ten - Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween!  I know what you are thinking, why is she acting so surprised?  Well, to tell you the truth, until I was talking to a friend on the phone yesterday and asked her if she wanted to come over tonight it hadn't dawned on me.  Oh, I knew October 31st was Halloween and I knew that Wednesday was October 31st.  But for some reason it didn't all connect for me until she informed me as though I was a idiot that Wednesday was Halloween and I needed to go buy some candy.

The problem is that the cats won't let me dress them up.  I know this because I have sort of tried.  I mean, I haven't tried putting full costumes on them.  That would just be silly.  But when Jingle was younger, before the days of Shiner, I got him a little hood thing that was red, it had ear holes and it had devil horns on it and a devil tail dangling off of the back.  It had a Velcro fasten that went under his chin.  I could never even get the darn thing on him.  I just went and looked to see if I could find it in the cat toy box.  That opened a big old can of worms.  They always forget that the toy box exists until I open it up, then I can't get it closed for days because there is constantly a cat in it trying to pull something else out.  Little heathens.  I suppose, I threw the devil hood away after several unsuccessful attempts to get it fastened on either cats head.  You see pictures of these docile cats dressed in doll clothes and stuff with a little girl holding the cat like a baby.  I think those cats have been drugged for the picture.  If I ever tried to put clothes on one of my cats, it would look like Lizzie Bordon had gone through the place with an ax.

My cats are sort of alpha cats.  They don't stand for any of that.  They also don't wear collars.  I know that it is responsible to put collars on them, but they are house cats.  The vet lectures me about what could happen if they ever got out.  But let me tell you, Jingle has gotten out a few times and each time it happens he panics and can't get back in the house fast enough.  He really used to think there was something out through the front door that he desperately needed to see in person with no screen or glass between it and him.  Now he knows better.  On the few occasions that he made the escape, he immediately began this horrible sounding distressed meow that sounded as if he was being beaten and began to dart from one bush to another in search of a bush he could hide in that was close enough to get back into the door.  The entire time I was thinking, why in the hell did he want out so bad if this is how he reacts?  I'm sure he was thinking the same thing. Shiner, bless his heart, has never had any desire to escape outside.  I think he spent too many weeks on the mean streets of Shiner as a kitten to ever want back out of the protection of this house.

Now I'm in a quandry, I didn't intend to write about cats today.  I planned to write about Halloween but the darn cats got in the way.  So, now I am trying to decide if I go back to the top of the page and delete a few paragraphs or just continue writing and work my way into my planned topic.  I really think that I should leave all of that cat topic up there so that you will all have to see how scattered my thoughts are and what I have to deal with on a daily basis.  You see, I do this several times a week when I am writing my blog.  My brain gets hi-jacked by another topic and I wind up writing half a blog about the wrong topic and then I have to make a decision.  Do I just continue on and write the planned topic tomorrow????  Or do I delete and write the planned topic today???  This is why sometimes you don't get a blog until lunchtime.  It isn't that I am lazy and putting it off.  I just might have written two or three blogs before you actually see anything published. If I really wrote down everything that goes through my head, it would be like a Robin Williams stand up routine from the 80's when he was always messed up on cocaine with all of the constant topic changes.  It's not pretty people.

Okay, so getting back to my planned topic - Halloween!  I'm not the kind of person who gets all excited about Halloween.  I don't decorate the house or anything like that.  I know people who do.  There is nothing wrong with that.  I just choose not to do it.  I only decorate for one holiday a year and that is Christmas.  But I loved Halloween as a kid.  Is there anything more fun than the month leading up to Halloween when you are 5 to 8 years old?  I don't think so.  All of the planning that took place thinking about a costume was greatness!  

I think some of our greatest costumes growing up were the "fly by the seat of our pants" costumes that we made up.  Back then, your parents didn't spend a couple of hundred dollars on your costume and props and a costume for themselves so that they were an additional walking and talking prop for you.  Nope!  Back then, you dug through some old clothes that Mom was saving for a garage sale to see if you could make anything out of any of it.  When you found something that would work, you were given scissors, and make-up to complete the outfit.  For some reason the Meyers kids usually went on Halloween dressed as "hobos" wearing clothes that were too big but worn out and cinched up with rope for belts, you know, they looked like they had been dug out of a trash bin, which that sort of were.  Mom's garage sale pile was just one good purging from a trash bin.  For some reason, we wore clown type make-up with that outfit and you always carried a stick with a handkerchief tied to the end of it over your shoulder.  

When I asked once what a hobo was, it was explained to me as a man who gets on the train without paying and goes from city to city.  You have to remember that I probably asked that in 1971.  In 1971, I am sure that was the only explanation my mom could come up with.  Now I know that a hobo was a depression era homeless person and we for some reason portrayed them as clowns and people told us we were cute when we did it.  But you know what?  When a kid dresses up in a crazy get up that they come up with themselves, it usually is pretty cute.  So, maybe they had something.  I just can't believe that the ACLU didn't swoop down on Nottingham Dr. and sue the entire Meyers family for our uncaring exploitation of depression era homeless people.  

What really became funny now that I look back at it was when we decided we needed masks so we made them out of grocery bags that we cut holes in and colored with our trusty crayons.  Then our hobos would have a cigarette drawn onto the grocery bag dangling out of his mouth.  Really?  Why did we do that?  I still have no idea what made us decide to draw a cigarette dangling from the hobos mouth.  We would also draw hair on the grocery bag which begs the question; why didn't we just leave the grocery bag off and put make-up on?  Who can ever explain the mind of an 8 year old?

I just went to Wikipedia and looked up hobo.  My mom may have done one or two of the updates on this entry because parts of it are very similar to her definition.  It's always weird when you realize that your mom actually knew what she was talking about.  The most interesting thing I find on the Wikipedia entry is that there is apparently a distinct difference between a hobo, bum and tramp.  Apparently, tramps work only when they are forced to, bums don't work at all and hobos are "workers who wander".  (I guess by that definition I am a tramp....)  The greatest thing is that there is a photo of two hobos walking down the railroad track that is almost my exact Halloween costume for a number of years between 1971 and 1975.  Seriously!  Take a look!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo

Okay, well that's really all I wanted to tell you about Halloween.... maybe I should have stuck with the pathetic cat entry.  Have a Happy Halloween!