The great outdoors part II

Well, I was having lunch with my friend, Cyndi, yesterday and we got to talking about all the work I'm doing around my yard. Cyndi loves to work outside as much as I do, so when we finished lunch she said she would go to her home and get her equipment and join me in my yard. We had two hours before I had to go pick up Keith from work, so off we went! OMG! We cut, sawed, pulled, and stacked brush, saplings, and some unidentifiable things, but we got it done! wow! and then Cyndi went home to trade her car for her truck and friend that she is she hauled it all off to the recyling center for me. Of course, today, my ribs and stomach hurt from all the additional excercise but I'm enjoying it. It's a good hurt. Over the weekend I'm going to work more on trimming the holly back and down to a managable level and clean out the back shed a bit more. That is actually looking pretty good these days with me hauling out all the junk, old boxes, and yesterday (another reason my ribs hurt) a huge! roll of old insulation that had gotten wet and was rotting and mildewy. That made a big difference in the shed. Hauled it out to the curb for the city to pick up and they took that away this morning. Ah! Spring cleaning. I know, I know, it's supposed to be spring cleaning inside, but dang! I hate housework! I do what needs to be done but don't get all that carried away until I get into a mood of... hmmmmm...this furniture needs moved, this room needs to be changed with another room...yeah...i feel one of those moods coming on!!!! Happy Spring!

The great outdoors

Over the weekend, the young couple on the right side of our house, trimmed the hedges between the two yards. The wife came over and worked from our side of the hedge and the husband worked on the other side. When they were done it was beautiful and all the flowers looked big and lush and lovely. So, today I decided to work on the ones in front of the house. Unfortunately a lot of small saplings are growing up between the beautiful flowering hedges making it look awful! I got a bit done today and it looks so good I'm going back out to do more tomorrow. There is one drawback to all this exercise and fresh air, though. It tires me out and I fall asleep sitting in my chair. It's a good tired, but dang, I'd rather wait until I was in bed to sleep. Oh well...at least I got some good sleep.

His last April Fool's joke

My ex-husband, Ralph Braueler, had a very offbeat sense of humor. In the fourteen years of our marriage I learned to appreciate his dry humor. He reminded me a lot of Bob Newhart. You had to pay attention to realize how funny he really was. When he was teaching our nephew, Brian, how to drive he told him the deer on it's hind legs meant dancing deer and that the two wavy lines with a car in the middle meant drunk driver ahead. A truck on an incline sign meant falling trucks ahead. Sadly Ralph developed esophogeal cancer and the doctors didn't expect him to live through the Christmas holidays. (Christmas of 2008). Well, Ralph surprised us all and lived a few months longer than the doctors predicted and typical of his offbeat sense of humor Ralph passed away on April 1st (April Fool's Day). Even in dying he got in the last laugh. Even after our divorce we remained friends and stayed in contact over the years until he became too sick to get online. I am deeply greatful to his lovely second wife, Belinda, for understanding I still cared about Ralph and for keeping me updated on his health. The first picture is how I remember him, but I wanted to include the one taken last Christmas because it showed that even facing a catastrophic illness he had not lost his sense of humor. Check out the reindeer horns. Goodbye my friend you will be missed!

Three Years

March 28th marks the third anniversary of the death of my friend Rick. I had written a poem commemorating this day and thought I'd post it here. Hard to believe three years have passed and I still miss him and still forget at times he is no longer here.

Three Years

It’s been three years
yet I haven’t been able
to delete your name and
number from my cell phone.

To do so would admit there
will be no more calls
no more shared jokes
no more songs sung over the lines.

It’s been three years
yet I haven’t been able
to delete your name
from my email account.

To do so would admit there
will be no more “hey you”
missives waiting, no more
letters exchanged over the lines.

It’s been three years
yet I haven’t been able
to delete you from my heart
or from my thoughts.

To do so would admit you
will no longer be there
when I need you as a friend
or to hold me as a lover.

It’s been three years
and I still think of you
when I hear a story I want
to tell you to make you laugh,

See something and think I should
share this with you and then
a fresh pain as I remember…
it’s been three years.

Friends of the Library

As a member of the Friends of the Library I'm kept updated on events. Last tuesday was the annual Friends of the Library meeting and the guest author/speaker was Fran Rizer. Ms. Rizer is the author of the Callie Parrish mysteries. She was a wonderful speaker who had us all in stitches by the time she was done telling us about Callie and her adventures. After the meeting I did purchase some of her books and had her autograph them for me. Now, I am a big mystery buff so was looking forward to meeting a new character and getting involved in some new adventures. I have to admit I was disappointed in the first book. Oh, it was written well enough, but I guessed the murderer at the characters first introduction into the story. Ms. Rizer, at that point, had not learned the art of deception in character development. I am now reading the second book and am hoping she has learned to fool the reader a little better by her second attempt. The books are fun to read, I will give her that, so I am not totally disappointed in her writing. I just like to be fooled for awhile about who the villain is in the story. And if you are ever looking for an entertaining speaker you might call on Fran Rizer. Oh, and she looks nothing like the picture on her books or her web page! Imagine my surprise when the little white haired lady sitting up front turned out to be Ms. Rizer! On her books she has brown hair and is quite young and on her website she has Blonde hair and is still a much younger version than the one who spoke at the FOTL meeting. Hmmmm...maybe she does know more about the art of deception than I thought.

3/15/09 Update: Well, I read the second book (the one pictured above) and it was even easier to find the murderer, if that were even possible! This poor writer has no idea on how to use red herrings, misdirection, or subtle plot turns or hints regarding the bad guy. She does try one red herring but the explanation for it at the end of the story is so out there that it doesn't even make sense. And when at the end of a book it has to be explained then you know something was missing in the story line. Also, I find it humorous that her sleuth never does any sleuthing. Just asks simple ordinary questions and people fall all over themselves confessing to her. Sorry. This is just really bad writing in my opinion. But, remember this is just my opinion. I am sure there are many out there who love this easy to figure out style, but for myself, I prefer to have to use a bit of the gray matter in my head to figure things out as the story progresses. Knowing before the book is even 1/3 of the way through is just no fun.

Fun with books!

I am an avid reader. I can ready two to three books a week. When I'm finished I generally pack them up and mail them off to my mother in Erie, PA. Mom is 86, soon to be 87 and reads as much as I do. But sometimes I find I have doubles of books or books I don't think she would enjoy so what to do with those books? Well, I found a site called bookcrossing.com and it is wonderful. You register your books with them and release them around town or use a controlled release and mail it to someone else. You put a msg in the book asking them to visit the url listed and to make a journal entry on the book. This way you get to track the book and read others impressions on it. It's a lot of fun, so if there are any other readers out there in Sumter....I know you're out there! and want to have some fun, check out bookcrossing.com

ScarFace - cat story

As most of you know my husband and I do cat rescue. We try to socialize strays, get them spayed or neutered, get their shots and then place them in homes. Sometimes we end up with ones no one else wants and sometimes they just can't be socialized. Scarface is one that won't be socialized. I can put out food and he'll eat it and even rub against my leg on occassion. But! try to touch him and he goes ballistic. About a week ago we noticed his left eye looked really bad, but of course, I couldn't get close enough to check it out. Claws and hisses greeted any attempts.

So, you can imagine my surprise when, last Friday, I opened the door to put out his breakfast and he walked into the house, and into a cat carrier! (We have a room that
is separated by a door from the rest of the house). I closed carrier the door and called the vet who was willing to get him in right away. Scarface didn't react at all to the carrier door closing. We took him to the vet and got him out of the carrier and he was still pretty docile. Not like the old fighting Scarface we knew and loved. When the vet tried to touch him to check out his eye though the hisses and claws started. So I held on tight and the vet looked at this eye. It was, of course, badly infected so he gave him a shot, but only after I had the cat totally turned around and facing me so he couldn't see the needle in the vets hand.

Scarface spent the weekend down here, in this room, being fed and he even used the litter box! So, how did this happen? We can only conclude, that Little Friend, who has been ill herself and taken to the vet in that carrier somehow conveyed to him he needed to let us take him. Little Friend is also one who won't be totally socialized, and she and Scarface hang out together. Unlike Scarface she does allow us to pick her up and pet her and will stay inside down here, when the weather is bad, but wants out immediately when the weather clears. She doesn't like being inside for long.

Scarface's eye is much better and he is once again wandering and protecting his domain. Oh, and try to pet him and he promises to claw your hand off :-). Yep, he's back!