The Elephants in the Room Need a New Home.

I am trying.  I am trying to get back to day to day life, but I am still a work in progress.  I miss my Penelope.

I feel that I want to get back to blogging.  Not cat problem blogging, but regular blogging.  I think before I can do that though, I need to talk about the elephant in the room.  Once I get this off of my chest, hopefully I can move on to other things in my life.  Sorry, you have to go through this part with me!

Where to start this long story about my outside cats?

Last summer, I had four kittens find my porch.  I had three orange tabbies and one small gray striped tabby.  I am assuming the orange tabbies are all siblings and the gray one could be too, but I never considered her their sibling.  Don't have proof one way or another, just a feeling.  Since cats can have more than one male father a litter of kittens, she COULD be, I just don't know.  Anyway . . . .

The gray striped cat is Adrienne and the three orange tabbies are Tarzan, Junior and Blondie.  They have been coming to my porch for food since last summer and have stayed on after winter.

Y'all know how I feel about my cats, even my outside cats.

Adrienne has been strong, healthy and independent since her first day on the porch.  She has never let me get near her and will run if I try to get close.  She is the only one of the four without eye infections.

At first with the orange tabbies, I didn't know the boys from the girls.  Blondie was much more blonde obviously while the boys were more orange.  She was named first, just because she was more different in coloring than the other two.  I kept finding Tarzan up in the pine tree next door, hence his name.  Junior was named last.  I saw he had a black mark on his lower lip, just like Hemingway did.  (I am also assuming Hemingway is their father!)  The black spot earned him the name Junior.

All three quickly warmed up to contact.  All three would wind around my legs and let me pet them.  All three would lay on the porch next to me and expose their bellies to me.  That is huge in the cat world!  I had never picked any of them up but would pet them every day.

They have been with me through last summer, fall, winter and spring.  Blondie and Adrienne had kittens on my porch.  Adrienne is a great Mom and out of these four, three are still around.  I don't now what happened to the fourth, I'm hoping someone took him in.  My fantasy world, I'll live in it.

 

This picture was taken April 29th so the kittens are MUCH bigger now and they are all over.  They spend their time in the area and they are amazing to watch as they grow and chase each other and pounce on Mom.  Like their Mom, they won't let me get close to them.  Good for them!

Blondie has not had such good luck in the kitten department.   She had a litter of five but one had died at birth.  I buried the still born one in my yard.

Of the remaining four, I had to take one to be euthanized shortly after this picture was taken.  Then another died in the nest and then another died in the nest.  The last dead kitten I found on May 19th.  That was a red letter day for me.  I buried the third kitten in my yard.

I took the dead kitten from the nest and went to the garage to get the shovel to dig another grave.   When I went to the site where the other two were buried, Blondie was there.  I don't know if she really knows her ktitens are there or if it was just happenstance that she was standing on their graves.

That same day, for the first time, Blondie had her last surviving kitten out and about and the kitten did not look good.

Between Blondie's eye infections and seeing this little one literally blind from eye gook, it broke my heart.  The final straw on this same day of kitty sadness, I watched Tarzan get hit by a car right in front of my house.

This was Tarzan.  What a beautiful boy he was.

Such a good and loving cat.  This broke my heart.  I still close my eyes and see him get hit.  That one was all my fault.   One more dead kitten, one dead cat, and one injured cat mama and baby.  Mentally I was done and succumbed to an emotional decision.  Not a good decision, but an emotional one. 

The first thing Monday morning (May 20th) I scooped up Blondie and her baby Maggie and took them to the vet.  Upper respiratory infections and eye infections.  They both got a shot of antibiotics and sent home with oral antibiotics and a gel that goes into their eyes.

Here is Maggie, the day of the vet appointment where they did a great job of cleaning out her eyes.  Poor little girl is still in pain though.

The next day things were a little better and mama and baby were making themselves at home on their new bed.  Once they found OUR bed in the room, this bed doesn't get used so much! 

Because they were contagious, they had to be kept apart from Ava and Benny, until they got through their meds.  So, Blondie and Maggie spent their first 10 days at our house locked in our bedroom.  There is only so much exploring a young cat can do in there, especially one that is busting to get out and explore, now that she can see!

She explored me just fine.  Trust me, those baby claws are sharp as needles and I have the marks to prove it!

She plays with her Mom constantly.  Mom's tail and ears are Maggie's favorite toys.  She will also chase her own tail!

 
She is growing so fast!  And getting into everything.  She climbs to the top of this scratching post like it's Mount Everest.

I took Blondie back to the vet on Monday since I didn't think her eyes were 100% better and she was out of meds.  I have to tell you about Blondie and meds.  The eye gel comes in a tube and looks like Vaseline that you put into their eyes.  Maggie was small enough to over power and make it happen but I was a little worried with Blondie, especially since she has all of her claws.  But she was a champ.  Ron would hold her, I'd grab her head and pry her eyes open and put the gel in.  She would bring her paws up to my hand and push back a little, but she never opened up her claws.  She may not have been thrilled with the eye meds, but she took them without trying to do any damage to me or Ron.  Good girl!

Anyway, we went back to the vet to have her eyes looked at.  They gave her a stronger shot of antibiotics and this should do the trick.  I think since she'd had these eye infections for so long (before winter at least!) she just needed a good dose to get her healed.  She does not have feline leukemia or any other disease that they thought would slow down her healing, so we just need a little more time.  This picture I took Monday night after going to the vet.  Are they happy and healthier kitties or what!  That baby is too much.

 

I have tried to integrate all four cats and things go okay until they don't.  I think part of it is the kitten.  Mom is ok with Ava and Benny until the kitten is in the room and then there could be bloodshed.  Ugh, not good.

I made an emotional decision, not a good decision, when I decided to bring them inside.  I really need to find homes for Maggie and Blondie or at least Maggie.  Blondie is scheduled to be spayed on June 20th and I will even agree to pay for the spaying of Maggie when she's old enough if someone would like a kitten.  They really are good cats, just not good for my house.  Four of them are just too many.

I have tried calling the Friendship APL (a no-kill shelter) but they are FULL of cats and won't be taking any more until after August at least.  I don't want to just boot her out of the door, I need to find a good home for them desperately.  I can NOT keep them.

Blondie is about a year old cream colored female, to be spayed on June 20th.

Maggie is a gray tortoise shell who was born on April 15, 2013 which makes her 8 weeks.

Anyone out there need some kitty love?  I desperately need some help.  It's not fair to any of them to lock up two of them at a time since I can't seem to get them to integrate together.  They all deserve better than this, better than I can give to them.  

So, if you would like a cat, or know someone that could take one in, please let me know.  Blondie and Maggie are anxiously waiting to meet you.  Please help me help them have a better life. 

I'm Cranky, but I'm Here

Yes I am still alive.

I am honestly having more trouble right now dealing with things than I should be having.  It just seems like it's all piling up on me now and I am bending from the pressure, ready to break. 

I feel like an idiot that I am falling apart over here over what is going on.  People suffer through and live with MUCH worse than I am going through.  I think my coping mechanism is broken maybe because I am just not coping with everything.

Penelope dying stopped my heart.  While I love all of my cats, she is the one that loved me back.  I know that sounds stupid, even as I'm typing it.  But I just feel so lonely now without her.  My heart still stops when I look at her bed and see she's not in it.  Honestly, I am one big baby over here.

My shoulder is still killing me.  In case  you forgot, I have frozen shoulder.  That is the STUPIDEST thing I have ever heard of and I thought my family doctor was blowing smoke up my ass when he told me that was my problem.  I fired him and I went to THREE different orthopedic surgeons over this shoulder.  C'mon people, medical science can transplant a human HEART from one person to another but they can't do anything about frozen shoulder.  This is just ridiculous to me.

Just as ridiculous, is the treatment plan that differs from doctor to doctor.  I have joined a support group for people with frozen shoulders which has been a TREMENDOUS help.  They don't take the pain away, but it's nice knowing I'm not nuts.  Outside of this support group, most people seem to look at me like I'm crazy since no one (or very few people) have ever heard of this before.  Of the 500 or so people in this group, the common factor is that surgery and physical therapy does not help.  This ailment will run its own course, no matter what you do, in anywhere from three months to over three YEARS.  Not all doctors understand how painful this ailment is.  Some people are on heavy narcotics.  All of MY doctors told me to go home and take a Tylenol.  Life isn't fair.

The frozen shoulder group is a wonderful support system for sure.  We revel in others accomplishments, like one woman celebrating being able to put her own bra on for the first time.  I still can't put my own bra on.  And we cheer on those who are not as far along as others are, like the woman who was crying that she could no longer put her hair in a pony tail.  I can do it, but it hurts like hell to do it.  Frozen shoulders touches EVERY part of my life.  No daily routine is routine any longer.  I can't shave under one of my armpits, deodorant is hit and miss if I can do it or not.  I don't do drive up banking any longer.  I had to have Jennifer rearrange my refrigerator to bring the things I use all the time to the front.  If something gets pushed back into the refrigerator, it might as well be in Timbuktu since I can't reach it.  Brushing my teeth hurts, opening a door hurts, washing my hair still makes me cry, freakin' breathing hurts.

Sleep is a thing of the past.  I doze, I don't sleep.  If I'm lucky, I will get a solid hour of sleep before the pain wakes me up again.  I'm trying not to bitch, I'm just sayin'.  This is what my life has become.

Lack of sleep and constant pain can make a person CRANKY.  So, if you know me and I have bitten your head off for just saying hello, I am sorry.  I am in my first year of frozen shoulder with no end in sight.  Like I said, this can last more than three years to run its course.  And I am armed with a bottle of Tylenol!  Yeah, life sucks some times.

No sleep, constant pain, my Penelope died, I have dead and dying kittens outside (you can read the update on that on my cats page above) and for shits and giggles, throw in a few hot flashes.  Mike thinks I need to get my gun out of my house for every one's safety.  HA!  I say we continue to live dangerously!

Some days I hold up better than others.  Lately, not so much.  I told Mike I needed a few days off of work and he agreed.  I have been on vacation yesterday and today, trying to put myself back together!  That's a big job to do in four days!! 

I explained to Ron and Phil and I was on VACATION.  While physically I am here in the house, my head is not here.  I told them I'm not cooking, not taking care of anything this weekend but ME.  

Day one of vacation was Thursday.  I got up and went for groceries!  Ok, that wasn't a smart move, but Thursday is my grocery day and actually it was much easier to do it early in the day instead of fighting the traffic and people after work to do it.  Besides, I got groceries out of the way, then came home, made myself lunch and then I even took a NAP!  I pretty much goofed off the rest of the day.

Today was day two of vacation.  I did a little better this time.  First I went to the library and grabbed a book and then went to the beach to read for awhile.  Any day at the beach is better than a day at work!

It's been raining like heck most of the afternoon and evening, so I timed that right getting some sun late this morning.  Good times.

Then I went shopping for ME.  I had a few issues at one store, but then went to another and hit the mother lode.  I bought myself new jammies and some tops for work.  AND, since I was a good girl, I even bought myself some BLING!!  I love watches and my watch has to be 15 years old.  But I wear it every day and I love it!  I got me some new bling here, on SALE for $13!!!  Yeah, I'm a cheap date, bling or no bling!

Aaah, today was looking up.

Then, I finally moved Penelope to the urn I bought for her.  I had her cremated and I wanted something nice to put her ashes in.  I think I found that in this urn.  She sure did conquer my heart and left a lifetime of memories for me in the two years, two weeks and one day I had the privilege to be her human caretaker.

 

So now I've had two days of vacation and I have the weekend.  Nothing got cured, nothing got settled, no one came back to life.  Maybe by actually stopping and concentrating on just ME for a few days, I can at least keep putting one foot in front of the other and making it look like I'm still plugged in here.

Pride Day and Black River Clean Up

Come one, come all!

My Penelope, 03/29/11 to 04/13/13

My beloved Penelope walked in my door on March 29th, 2011 and my life has never been the same.  She brought me nothing but love and only wanted love in return.  Ok, and food and water and a clean litter box!  But for real, she didn't ask for much.

We went out to dinner last night and when we came home, we found that Penelope had died.  There was no warning.  I just had her to her vet 2 weeks ago for her yearly check up.  I don't know why they gave her a clean bill of health when she died just 2 weeks later.  She did not get into anything here, I don't know what happened.  All I know is that my heart is absolutely broken without my baby girl.

Penelope would wake me up in the morning when she was ready for breakfast.  I know she couldn't tell time so I never got mad when she thought breakfast time was 4 in the morning instead of 6.  Close enough.  Every day we would have our love time.  She needed hugs and kisses and caresses almost as much as I did.

Penelope had been fine all afternoon and spent a good part of it in my lap.  She had come downstairs for supper just as we were getting ready to go out ourselves to dinner.  When we got back a few hours later, she was on her spot on the living room floor. That was her go to spot after she was done eating.  I think she ate, then laid down and just died.  I don't know why.  She was relatively young at about 7 years old, I don't know WHY.

I know my heart is absolutely broken.  I held her little body in my arms for as long as I could, telling her how much I loved her.  I hope she heard me, I hope she knew that.  Everywhere I look I see her.   I see her favorite spots, I see her toys, I feel her in my arms.  I know she was just a cat, but she as well as my other two cats, are as close to children as I will ever have.  I have a hole in my soul and I don't know how to fix this or how to move on.  I am broken and I miss my baby girl more than I thought possible.

Here are just pictures of Penelope, my little love.  She loved me like no one else does.  I miss her kisses and hugs, I miss her love, I miss her.

Penelepe, when she was still an outside cat:

 

Penelope's first day at home:

Some of my favorite pictures of my baby girl:

My heart is broken.  My soul is broken.  We did NOT have enough time together.  I miss my little girl more than words can say.  I love you, Penelope.

Time Warner Cable - Too Little, Too Late

Let's have a little background on our friends (that is sarcasm) at Time Warner Cable.

I have been a cable subscriber here in Ohio since I moved here in 2001.  When I bought my house in 2003, it had no cable lines run to it, so I had all of the cable lines installed into the living room and the three bedrooms.  A few years later, I added the high speed internet to our package.

That was back before it was Time Warner Cable.  Well, the internet might have been TWC but the first cable was definitely not.  We were at one time with Adelphia Cable and I think Comcast was in there before it became TWC and the problems began.

When the DVRs first came out, I knew that was something that I had to have.  I got one for the house. Then I got a second one and then a third one.  Yes, we all have our guilty pleasures and this was mine.  I paid over $200 a MONTH to Time Warner Cable for my TV addiction and internet.  You'd think that a person paying that kind of cash for a service, and paying on time I might add, would warrant some service.  Well, take the money out of it.  If I'm paying you ANYTHING for service, why shouldn't I be getting what I pay for?

I think it started with the DVRs.  Remember, I have three different ones and each tapes independently.  Well, that was how it was supposed to work anyway.  Out of 10 shows I'd set up to tape, I'd be lucky if one of them would tape.  When you would look into the history on the box, I would just get a message that said "set top box could not tape program" or words to that effect.  It wasn't just one box in particular either.  This problem was with all of them.  WTF.  Why couldn't you tape?  They weren't pay channels and hell, most of them were network TV channels, not even the cable channels.  WHY wouldn't they tape?

Not one that is shy, I was on the phone with TWC.  Often.  I have had technicians out to the house at least four times.  Each time we were told "wow, I've never seen this problem before".  I know now that they lied, but more on that later.  So, we would turn in the boxes we had and get new boxes.  Or at least other boxes.  Same problem, same answer from the technicians the next time I would have them out for the same problem.   During this time, we also had problems with the internet.  Now, our cable goes out.  Daily!

Ron works out of the house and is on the internet every day, all day.  And, at least once a day, the internet just goes kaput.  It doesn't usually stay out for long but it's out.  Whatever he was working on would most likely be lost so he'd have to recreate his work.  Plus, he has an IP phone for work, so that is also lost calls and time away from work.  How many times do I have to call Time Warner Cable to fix the SAME problems?  Hello?

I don't know what the number is but I had enough. I finally fired Time Warner Cable for their cable service.  I went to satellite and signed up with Direct TV.  I don't want this to be a commercial for Direct TV but I'm telling you, so far, so good!  Friendly, helpful, knowledgeable installers.  Service that does what I pay it to do!  (Imagine that, Time Warner!)  I LOVE the whole house DVR.  That means I only have ONE DVR, and three more receivers.  (So now I have service in one more room than I had with TWC for a LOT less money!)  We can set up shows to tape from any of the receivers to the one DVR and you can watch those shows from anywhere in the house where there is a receiver.  So, I can start watching my show in the living room, then decide I want to finish watching it in the office and I can do that!  That is pretty cool!  The only down side I had to switching to Direct TV was learning all new channel numbers.  Once I got through that learning curve I have been a happy camper with my choice to change.  If I am looking for a particular show and the next time it will be aired, the search capability for Direct TV is MUCH better than TWC.  Hmm, maybe I do want to be a commercial for Direct TV!  Aah, but I digress.

The day I had Direct TV in to install their service, I took all three of my boxes back to the local Time Warner Cable office.  I had a whole speech planned in my head that I wanted to say to TWC about why I was firing them.  I was going to let them have it with both barrels.  Never heard of this problem before?  Well, you won't forget it now!  That was my plan.

Then I got into the building at TWC on Elyria Avenue.  I am loaded down with my three cable boxes plus assorted accessories.  In front of me is a guy with a box and after me walked in two women with boxes as well.  Hmm, I'm not the only one turning in boxes today!  When the guy in front of me got to the window, he opened up on the poor girl working.  Everything he said, I wanted to say in MY speech!  He did it much louder than I was planning and with MUCH more emphasis on his disappointment with the service.  I was so proud of him, but I was feeling sorry for the girl working the window at TWC.  The thing that got to me was when he said "and the technicians keep telling me they've never seen this problem before"!  WHAT?  That's when I chimed in "that's what they told me too, for the same problem you're having" to which the women behind me added "us, too!"  Hmm, three households at one time turning in boxes and yet TWC claimed to each of us that they never saw this problem before?  I know a corporate line when I smell one and man, did that one smell.  I did take pity on the poor employee who has no control over how bad things are at the company she works for, so when it was my turn, I just handed over my boxes and said "what he said" while pointing to the guy walking out the door that was ahead of me in line.  She smiled and said thanks and took my boxes back.  I didn't get to say my speech but at least I knew I wasn't alone.

That brings us to current.  If you follow Loraine Ritchey's blog (link on the right under That Woman's Weblog, she has been having her own issues with Time Warner Cable.  While I never considered myself a wallflower, I take a back seat to Loraine's tenacity in getting things solved!  I gave up months ago and fired TWC while Loraine took this a step farther and was instrumental in getting Time Warner Cable to come into City Council chambers for a public meeting to face the unhappy citizens of this city.  Read about Loraine's plight with TWC here.

Last Monday was the public meeting.  Loraine knew I had issues with Time Warner Cable and asked me to come to the meeting to tell my story.  I'm all about helping out a fellow blogger!  So, Ron and I went.  Representing Time Warner Cable was Chris Thomas, the Government Relations Director for Northeast Ohio.  Chris sat there and listened to a handful of us speak about our dissatisfaction with Time Warner Cable and what we have done to try to get results on our own.  Mr. Thomas gave the corporate lines, promised to look into everything and asked that we write our names, addresses and phone numbers on a sheet of paper so that he could escalate the matters.

Here is the article that was published in the Chronicle about this public meeting and here is the article that was in the Morning Journal if you'd like to read about what others had to say.

So, I said my peace and explained my issued and that while I fired Time Warner for their cable services, until I find a better replacement, I am still stuck with their faulty internet service.  Mr. Thomas assured me he would get someone one it.  I didn't believe him, but whatever.

Lo and behold, I had a couple of phone calls on Thursday from one supervisor wanting to make an appointment to get in and look at our internet problem!  That was three days after the public meeting!  One point for Mr. Thomas!

Unfortunately, since I forgot to take my phone to work on Thursday, I wasn't able to speak with the supervisor until about 6:30 in the evening.  He said that another supervisor would be calling me on Friday morning to make an appointment to come look at our problem.

Sure enough, I got the call from Dave on Friday morning.  He kept saying about wanted to work around MY schedule to get out and look at our problem. Fine, I made the appointment for 11:00 am when I knew Ron would be home since he knows more tech-speak than I do. I didn't want them just talking over my head on this one.  Believe it or not, at 5 minutes to 11:00 this is what we had in my neighborhood:

Two vans on 24th Street with a guy on the pole:

And two trucks at my house, one with the supervisor and one with a technician.

Sorry for the garbage in the photo but it WAS garbage day!

Anyway, after all of that, we heard that there were problems on the pole and heard something about an FCC violation.  I have no idea what that was about but that's what happens when you only hear part of the conversation.  The supervisor and the technician then came into the house to look at our set up.

Since we got the high speed internet, we've used our own modem.  For that, I get a small credit on my internet bill.  Now, Dave the supervisor thinks that part of our problem is the modem not being compatible with the service.  He feels that our modem isn't current on the firmware  it needs to run properly.  So, now I lose my small credit and will instead have to pay for the TWC modem in my house.  Hey, if this is what it takes to fix the problem, so be it.  Before they left, Ron and I were both given cards from Dave the supervisor and Dennis the technician.  We are to call them any time we have problems. Aren't we just special now.

Yeah right, if it were only that easy.

First off, WHY does it take Loraine Ritchey having a cow and making the city get involved to get some figure head from TWC in to a public meeting about their horrible service to get ANY action done?  Do you think all of the numerous calls that I've made to TWC resulted in anything more than ONE truck being at my house at any given time, if I'm lucky?  Seriously, I'm a PAYING customer.  Shouldn't THAT be enough to get action AND results??

Well, as I said, if it were only that easy.  Dave did call me back on Saturday to see how things were going with the internet.  Since Ron wasn't working Friday or Saturday, it's hard to tell how well the internet is working or not working since we don't spend that much time on it on the weekends.  We arranged that he'd call back Monday afternoon to see how things went.

I'll tell you how that went.  Sunday evening I was online playing Pogo and guess what!  The internet went down!  Wow!  Can you imagine?  So, another supervisor was scheduled to call Ron today to check up on our progress.  Ron let him know that the internet went down last night and Ron was having glitches today.  His IP phone was kinda wonky off and on.  The internet didn't go off totally but it was wonky enough to interfere with his IP phone.  So, another technician is being sent tomorrow to check up on this.

Again, WHY couldn't ANY of this be done for the last two years that I've been calling on this?  Is it fixed yet?  No.  Do I have any hopes that it will be?  To be honest, no.  Whatever the outcome is, I still think it's too little, too late for Time Warner Cable.  I will keep the internet for now, as I said Until I find something better.  I don't see me ever going back to their cable service, in spite of the phone calls and mail offerings I receive to come back. 

For anyone out there that HAS Time Warner Cable, and is having any troubles with it or are just unhappy with their overpriced product, look into Direct TV.  Tell them I sent you.

Trust Our Government, That's Just Wrong, Page 28

First off, I always thought I'd write a book.  Well, I actually have a few ideas in my head, but one in particular would be called "That's Just Wrong".  This would be a book of short stories or anecdotes that once you read them you'd slap your palm to your forehead and say to yourself "That's Just Wrong".  I've been posting this future book, page by page into this blog.  So far, I'm up to this entry, or page 28 of my future book!

Here is my story:

I am a huge fan of our right to free speech.  This is just one of the things that makes this country so great.  I have the right to say any damn thing I want to.  With that right however, I believe we also have a responsibility to use good judgement and common sense before we open our mouths and start spouting crap.

For example, I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican or an Independent or any other party.  I don't care if you're Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Druid.  It is your right to be what you want to be and to talk about what you want to talk about.  I don't have to agree with you, but I will fight for your right to say what you want.

But here is where we need to talk about the common sense factor.  People that have been fired for bad mouthing their employer on social media comes to mind.  Yes, it's your right to call you boss an idiot publicly, but then you can't be surprised when they take offense to it and fire you.  Common sense.

I have called out the city I live in on this blog for their wrong doing to me, my neighborhood and my city.  That's why I was not surprised then when I was personally attacked by the city by means of a citation for a loose ornamental brick on my house.  Common sense.

You don't walk into an airport and yell "I have a gun" or jokingly say to your friend "Hi, Jack!" without
expecting to be thrown to the ground and then taken off to a room to be interrogated.  Common sense.

This brings us to one day last week when I was standing in line at the post office in Elyria on Bridge Street.  If you've ever been to this post office, you know you're going to stand in line.  They had two or three tellers working that day.  Suddenly, a young guy comes out of the back, walks up to each of the teller windows and was taking packages out of their bins to take to the back and sort.  I was AMAZED at the t-shirt this guy was wearing.  This wasn't the exact one, but the words are the same.  His t-shirt had a different picture of a Native American on it.

Wow.  My first thought was to get my camera out of my purse to take a picture of this guy at work!  I know I can take a picture of whatever I want to when I am out in public.  There is no right to privacy when you are outside in a public place.  However, I did not know what would happen if I started taking pictures IN a govenrnment building OF a government employee!  So I had to settle for a Google search for the t-shirt in question!

Dude, it's your right to say what's on your mind, even if it's about this government.  However, when you are EMPLOYED by this government, how could you have possibly thought this t-shirt was appropriate attire to wear to WORK?  And what about his supervisor?  You're letting this guy be seen by the public wearing this shirt?    I was just astounded.

I would have cared less if I saw this t-shirt on the guy while he was at the grocery store, at the mall, at the park or as a customer at the post office.  But this is what you wore to WORK at the post office.  For that stupid decision, I have to give you one piece of advice:

If you dislike your employer or your job that much, QUIT.  Along with free speech in this country comes a whole lot of other freedoms. You are not a slave who is owned by his employer.  Go find another job.  Good luck with that by the way.  Go find another job that pays what you are getting paid and has the benefits that you have as a government employee.

Not knowing how to dress yourself for work and for having no common sense, That's Just Wrong.

Rocky Update

A couple of posts ago, I told you about one of my outside cats, Rocky, getting stuck in my garage for a few days!  Well, in case anyone was worried about my Rocky, I wanted to make sure y'all knew that he is alive and well and back on my front porch!

I think Rocky has learned his lesson.  He's not running up to me in the garage any more when I come home.  Now, he waits safely on the front porch for me to come out there with the food.  He still comes to say hello to me and he still wants his petting and loving from me.  That's a good thing!  He just learned to stay away from the garage! 

He's really a sweet and loving cat!  But I still think he's had a rough first year of life.

Here is Rocky's face.  If you look at his right eye, on the left of the screen, the bottom of his eye has a big black spot.  It's been there since I've met Rocky.  At first I thought he had a bruise, but it never went away. 

That's his partner at the bowl with him.  She's a female about the same age as Rocky.  I've tried calling her Adrienne, but it really doesn't fit her and it doesn't just come out easily when I see her.  She's a pretty girl but much more shy.  She comes out when I have food, but she will not get close enough to touch me or let me touch her.  They are always together and rarely seen separately.  That should have been my first clue that there was a problem when she was at the food bowls with no Rocky!

And, here is Rocky's tail!  Again, to ME it looks like it's been broken at one time.  He doesn't seem to have any problems with it now, and that might just be the way his tail is.  I have run my hand all down his tail and he never flinched.  He seems to move it ok and he doesn't seem to be in pain.  I am hoping it looks worse that it really is for him.

 

There are actually two bends in his tail.  The one closer to his butt looks a lot worse, but there is a smaller bend a few inches in from the tip.

Rocky and . . . Adrienne for lack of a better name for her!  This was dinner time for them after I got home from work yesterday, so it was very difficult to get them both looking at the camera at the same time!

So there you go.  He is alive and well and living free on my front porch!  Life is good.

Lakeview Park, Revisited

I don't care how many times I've been to Lakeview Park in Lorain, I love it!  I always find something new to marvel at, or just ooh and aaah at the beautiful scenery there.  Some days I just drive in one end and right out the other, just to get a breather in my day.  Other days, I'll sit down there and enjoy the water.  Ron and I have grabbed sandwiches and gone to this park to have picnics, we have played bocce there.   So much to see and do in one little park!

Sunday we had a ray of sunshine in our dreary winter.  The temperatures were in the 60s and the sun was shining!  For the health of my SOUL I needed to get outside and enjoy that sunshine and warm temperature.  I grabbed Ron and we headed for Lakeview Park to walk the walkways for some exercise.  As soon as we started walking, I was kicking myself in my behind that I hadn't brought my camera with me!  UGH of all days.  The whole day was one huge photo opportunity!

To not spoil our day out, Ron and I enjoyed our 1-1/2 mile walk up and down the park.  We headed home, I grabbed my camera and headed out to do another 1-1/2 mile walk up and down but this time capturing all of the sights that caught my eye and made me say "ooh, I wish I had my camera on me"!  So come take a walk with me through Lakeview Park.  I bet you will find things you never saw before.  I found new things there on Sunday and I've been there hundreds of times!

Firsts off, a paw print in the mud!  Ok, maybe not exciting to you but it scared the crap out of me!  I didn't have anything in my pocket to put in this print to show the size of it, but I swear it was the biggest paw print I ever saw!  It was bigger than my FIST!  That had to be one big dog!  I'm glad the only thing I saw of him was his print in the mud!

Trust me.  BIG dog.

There are a few walkways through the park.  There is the actual sidewalk by the street.  There is a sidewalk that goes right through the center of the park and there is a sidewalk right before the beach.  Plus, we walked on the beach!  This walk started at the top by the street and I walked from one side of the park to the other.  The first thing I came across that surprised me was this monument.  I don't have a problem with the ten commandments or even prayer in school for that matter.  (Because for real, what kid ISN'T praying before a test?  But, I digress.)  The ten commandments.  A good reminder for some of us, I'm just not sure what it's doing at a public park.  A nice monument as an art piece, nonetheless.

 

On to the west side of the park, by the pavilion, I saw this Ohio historical marker.  I just found out recently at Oye Mi Voz at the Charlestown Coffee House that Helen Steiner Rice was born in Lorain Ohio.  Who knew!?  As a lover of Hallmark Cards, I've read her poems and even bought quite a few of them.  I just didn't know she was a home town girl.

There were more memorials on the middle walkway before the fountain.  This first one is self explanatory.  My ah ha moment on this one was that I did not know this property used to be a farm.  Pretty cool!

 

Next, a monument to one of Lorain's Mayors, Leonard M. Moore.  Looking at the date I thought perhaps Lorain's first Mayor?  But no, he wasn't first.  But he was the Mayor that spearheaded the movement to purchase this property to be used as a public park.  Anyone familiar with the area around here knows that most of the beachfront property is all privately owned.  In my opinion, there is very little public access to the water in Ohio.  Kudos to Mayor Moore for figuring out that this was needed for the enjoyment of the people, even way back then.

This is one that made Ron and I both scratch our heads.  Why would you put a tombstone up to commemorate the birth of a city?  Ron thought it didn't HAVE to be called a tombstone, but whatever.  It sure looks like a tombstone to me.

No memorial in this city would be complete without a shout-out to one of the most famous citizens, Admiral Ernest J. King.

Heading further to the east, when I got to the fountain, I stayed at the lowest level and walked around it.  I don't think I ever noticed the cool brick work.  I only took a couple of pictures but there were cool little shapes in I think sandstone, all around the fountain.  Very pretty.

The Rotary Club monument was next.  Another great organization doing a fantastic job with our park and with our city!  From the Lorain Rotary Club website: 

Did you know?
When the Rose Garden at Lakeview Beach was dedicated in 1932, Lorain Rotary was one of 17 community organization that sponsored it. The shape of the garden is the Rotary wheel with eight spokes. Approximately 2,500 roses are planted in 48 beds.

That makes much more sense to me now!  This is the last bit of information I got out of my trip to Lakeview Park.  What I liked most was the way the sun was shining inside of here.  This is also where I learned that Mayor Moore was responsible for making this land a public park!  But, as you see on the bottom in the middle, the diagram of the rose garden, I didn't put together the Rotary Club connection until I was writing this blog.  I like it!

That was the informational section of this blog!  Now for the shots of Lake Erie, the reason I went to this park to walk to begin with.

What really made me go home for my camera was the pictures of the Lake itself.  Keep in mind, the temperature was in the high 60s.  But, there is still ice on the lake.  As you can see in this picture, There are some ice dunes in the foreground covered in dirt and sand, some ice a little farther out and then towards the top of the picture, that is not a wave out there, just some ice!  It was an amazing day to be out there taking pictures!

Again, from bottom to top, water, ice dunes, ice, water, ice.  It was beyond description to see this in person.

 

Same view, a bit closer to the water.

This is one of my favorite shots.  You can see just how close the ice still is to shore in some places!

From the files of "I read too many detective books", as I was walking along the beach I saw this up ahead.  For real, I thought it was a severed leg!  I had to get up close to it and kick it a little to make sure it really was just driftwood!  DANG!  Those darn Michael Connelly and John Sandford novels will do you in every time and make you see severed legs.

Then one more picture of a picture perfect day.

 

A good day to get out and about and a great day to take pictures.  And another example of something wonderful right under your very nose.

Cat Census

Cats that live in my house:  3

Stray cats I feed on my porch:  9

Cats now living in my garage:  1

What the heck!  I intentionally built shelters on the front porch for the stray cats for the winter time.  I'm ok with that.  On Saturday, I found out I had a squatter living in my garage!  Ugh!

I came home Saturday afternoon, and while I was taking things out of my car, one of my outside cats, Blondie, came running into the garage.  Every once in awhile, one of the outside cats gets nosey and wants to look around.  That lasts only until I start closing the door.  Once that door starts coming down, the cats will generally run to get out of there.

So, Blondie came running in, and she headed to a corner of the garage where a lot of things are stacked up.  My garage is a two car garage, but one side is storage only.  Anyway, she is on the storage side and acting like she's looking for something.  Then, she started meowing and I was shocked to hear something coming from the pile of tarps meowing back at her!  Are you kidding me?  Who is in my garage!?

I climb over a bunch of stuff and I'm trying to look in that corner.  Something is meowing a LOT.  I am confident it is a cat, and I'm guessing it's one of my front porch cats, but at the moment I have no idea who it is.  I try to move stuff around, trying to get the cat to come out.  No go.  I ended up calling Ron inside of the house and asked him to bring me out a bowl of food and water as I believe that a cat has been stuck in my garage.

Ron the rescuer came out with the two bowls.  Between the two of us, we are digging through things, trying to find out where the cat is.  We put the food out on the floor hoping that would coax him out.  Finally, when Ron moved something, I saw a cat run out of that hiding place, but right into another one.  It was Rocky!  Rocky is a beautiful little gray kitten named because he looks like he's gone a few rounds with something.  His tail has a distinct bend it in.  To my uneducated eye, it looks like his tail may have been broken at one time.  His one eye also had a black spot on it.  Again, the poor guy looks like he's had a rough first year of life.

In spite of it, for a stray cat, Rocky is very loving and gentle.  He is one of the cats that greets me when I come home, will wind around my legs waiting for me to pet him.  Like all stray cats, they are never on the porch 24/7.  The cats come and go and can be gone for days at a time.  The more I thought about it, I know it's been DAYS since I've seen Rocky.  I didn't think anything about it because like I said, that's not unusual for a stray cat.

So I believe poor Rocky has been in my garage for a few days!  I found a pile of poop in the middle of the floor (no, not MY poop, but I believe Rocky's!) that looks like it's a few days of poop.  I have no idea what he's been eating, but I've been putting food and water in the garage since Saturday afternoon.  I figured if he's been stuck in there for a few days, he's hungry, he's scared.  I'll make sure he eats and drinks and when he gets his strength back, hopefully he will come back out of the garage on his own.

One of Ron's suggestions was to just leave the garage door open so that Rocky can leave when he's ready.  I'm afraid in my neighborhood that some of the neighbors would take that as an invitation to help themselves to anything not nailed down.  Plus, I was afraid of what other critters might take refuge IN my garage along with Rocky!

I did get Rocky to come out of his hiding place this morning when I took food out to him when I fed the rest of the outside cats.  I put the bowls down right inside of the door and Rocky came right to them to eat.  He wouldn't leave the garage but at least I watched him eat.  I thought that was a good sign.  He ate the food that I left there on Saturday, but only after he was left alone in the garage.   So, I definitely think he's feeling better.   Now if he will just move back to the front porch with the rest of them instead of his private quarters, I'll be happy!  I scoop enough cat poop in my life, I don't need to be scooping it off of the floor of my garage!

Update:  A little while ago I looked on the front porch and Rocky is out of the garage and back where he belongs!  He finally left the garage one of the times I've been in and out of there today!  At least my cat drama is over for the weekend and all is well!