Fire Bug

I know, I have some blogging to catch up on! 

Let's start with my new habit.  I have been a fire bug!

A few years ago, I was heating up a pop tart in the toaster oven at work.  I started a fire.  No fire is a good fire but this one didn't cause damage except to my pride.  I took a lot of crap from coworkers, as I should have, and we joked that I'm no longer allowed to use the toaster oven! 

Then, last week I was using the microwave on my heating pad.  I use this a lot and it's a great help to my sore shoulder and neck.  You put it in the microwave for two minutes and it's a nice moist heat experience.  Like I said, I use this pad a lot.  I took it to work a few days last week.  I put it in the microwave and I started to smell something.  Something burning.

It's an old microwave, pre turn table era.  I guess one ray of microwave magic just beat down on that poor thing in one place.  It doesn't look like much but it was on fire and the entire microwave was full of smoke!  This heating pad thingie is full of rice.  The building was full of the wonderful smell of burnt rice.  Yes, the microwave is now on the list of toys at work I'm not supposed to use without supervision. 

Wait, it continues!

The other day, I had to laminate some labels.  You print on paper what you want laminated.  Then it goes into a plastic sleeve.  The sleeve then goes into a waxy paper folder and that is what you feed through the laminator.  If you do it correctly, when the waxy paper comes out the other side, what is in it is nice and laminated.  If you do it correctly.

I was holding up the paper as it went through the roller of the laminating machine.  Once it was through, I looked at the other side to take the finished product out of the machine and guess what!  There was nothing there!  I have NO idea where in the hell my labels went but they did not come out of the machine.  I think I yelled something like "oh crap" or some words to the effect.  My brother heard that and came running.  Something about the tone of my voice told him this was a bad "oh crap" that he might need to intervene in this one.

I immediately shut the machine off and then tried to take the top off of the machine to get my paper out of there.  It wasn't happening.  Mike had to get tools to get me out of this jam!  He actually had to take the machine apart to get that dame paper out from around the roller inside.  Come to find out, I forgot the waxy paper portion of this exercise.  Luckily the plastic didn't melt directly to the roller.  I wish I'd have taken a picture of that mess when Mike got it out of the machine!  My instructions from Mike for the rest of that day?  "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"  Noted.

So, I've been trying to behave and to not touch anything. 

I came home from work tonight, fed the cats and then I cooked myself some dinner.  Should have been an easy dinner, heating up a veal patty in a frying pan.  Should have taken five or six minutes.  I don't know what I was thinking but that patty was burned to a crisp!  This was one of the nastiest dinners I've ever made myself!  I ate it but I didn't like it.

Sheesh, me and fire are not getting along.  Lock up all of your matches and lighters.  I just can't be trusted!

Even the gum is out to get me

Some days it probably doesn't pay to get out of bed!

I like to chew gum.  I chew it at work so I don't keep putting food in my mouth.  I chew it in the evening at home for pretty much the same reason.  What I normally buy is Extra gum, in sticks.

When I was buying gum at the grocery store last week, I bought the wrong stuff.  Hey, it started with an "E"!  I was close!!

The good thing about the sticks of Extra is that you can unwrap the gum easily from the wrapper and pop in in your mouth.  As an added bonus, you then have the wrapper that can be used later to dispose of the gum!

The Eclipse gum, you have to push the little chicklet type candy through the foil backing to get it out.

I popped a piece of gum out of the back of the package and then tried to pop it right in my mouth from there.  Would you like to know what I learned?  I learned that the damn foil is REALLY sharp!  Yes, I sliced my lip like you wouldn't believe.

Supposedly, I am a grown up, responsible adult.  That doesn't mean that I don't need rubber guards on all corners and maybe a handler of some sort to keep me safe!

Sheesh!

I'm Blaming Phil!

My brother Phil lives with me.  For that privilege, I make him earn his keep.

One of the things he does is that he goes through my morning check list with me.  As I leave the house on my way to work, Phil reminds me that I need my lunch, my book, my phone, my keys, etc.  Hopefully I don't get to work and realize I left my purse on the table!

However, in order for this routine to really work, I need to let Phil know what I need every morning.

Mike made an appointment for Wednesday morning for service on his car.  When he's getting his car serviced, I pick him up on my way to work and then take him to pick up his car after work.  That works both ways as Mike has picked me up in the morning when I needed it.

That was the plan.  Then stuff happened!

Wednesday morning was an emotional morning.  Aside from my four cats, I am fostering a fifth.  She had an appointment to get spayed on Wednesday.  My friend Bobbie was picking her up at 7:00 am, taking her to Love a Stray who was sponsoring her spaying.  It makes me emotional sending a cat for surgery, even when it's the right thing to do.  But, I digress.

Bobbie picked up Jasmine and there was nothing for me to do about her until Bobbie brought her back to me after work for her recovery.  I was pacing the house and finally thought that was ridiculous.  I might as well put my nervous energy to good use.

I packed myself up and just went to work early, before Phil even came down for breakfast.  I got to work at about 7:30, the phones hadn't started ringing yet, no one needed anything from me, I could just dig in, with no interruptions and actually get WORK done!  I was in the zone!  I was working it!  I was accomplishing things!  Life was good!

Then my phone rang at 8:30 and it was Mike.  This can't be good.  He usually only calls me in the morning if something is wrong.  Here is our conversation:

Me:  Hey, good morning!  Are you ok?
Mike:  Yeah, I'm ok!  Um, did you forget to pick me up?
Me:  Shit.  I'm on my way!

According to the plan, I was to pick Mike up at 8:15 at the garage.  Luckily it wasn't far from work and we were able to make it back before the production crew showed up.

I on the other hand, didn't hear the end of it from Mike, and rightly so.  It's ok though, I blamed it on Phil!  It's all his fault that I forgot about picking Mike up.  Hey, at least I didn't make Mike walk to work!

A Few Lifetimes Ago

I've been meaning to blog about this for awhile  now.

Years and YEARS ago, like 25 years ago, I was tending bar for a living.  Not the best job I ever had, but it paid the bills.  All the loose change I got in tips during the night I wanted to keep somewhere.  I really don't remember now how I came to own the pig but I remember being so excited to have it.

There was a spot in the butt of the pig that you could break out to get the change out, then close it back up with a cork.  I remember having my Dad break it out for me and he's also the one that got me the right size cork.  Dad couldn't believe that I would have enough change in that pig to make it worth it, but I knew better!

I had the pig a few weeks and I had a car payment due.  I had Dad bust the hole out of the pig's butt, I counted and wrapped my coins and had more than enough for a car payment.  I did this every month!  Wrap enough to make the car payment, leave the rest in the pig.  Life was good back then.

The pig is kinda ugly, this big red thing with flowers on it but I loved it.

Forward a handful of years to 1995.  I was packing up my apartment and moving from Erie PA to Houston TX.  My friend Jeff came with his two boys to help with the packing of the moving van.  Either I had more crap than I thought or I just didn't get a big enough moving van!  There were a few things that just wouldn't fit into that moving van, no matter how hard we tried.

Jeff and his boys stepped up to the plate.  What didn't fit in my moving van, fit into their van and then into their garage.  Some of my stuff they were able to use, like some TV trays.  But my poor pig was put into the garage and there he sat.  Poor pig!

The last time Ruth and Jeff came to see me here in Ohio . . . they brought me my pig!!!!  What a special surprise!  It's been a lot of years we've been separated but we are now together again!

C'mon!  This pig is so ugly, he's CUTE!!!  I wasn't getting what I thought was a good picture of the pig on the floor so I put him up on my cedar chest to take a picture.  Benny I think took offense!

I love my pig and I missed him.  He's a great place to throw your change!  I also love my friends Ruth and Jeff and I miss them too.  Every time I see my pig, I now think of my friends and smile.

I am more excited than I should be!

I'm old.  I know that.  Most times, I accept that!

I am almost ashamed to admit it but there is a show that I LOVE and it's called Teen Wolf.  It's an original series airing on . . . are you ready for this?  MTV! 

I have no idea how I started watching the first season, back in 2011, but I've watched every episode and am obsessed with this dang show!  Considering it's about werewolves and a few demons thrown in for good, I am amazed that I am watching it.  I am the queen of nightmares and don't usually watch scary shows or movies.

Maybe it has something to do with all of the scenes with Tyler Hoechlin (who plays Derek Hale) without a shirt on.  Hmm, that could definitely be the reason I watch this show!  Hubba hubba makes me want to be 25 again!

Did I mention that Tyler Hoechlin is without a shirt on during the show?  Often??

I am way too old to be this excited over a TV show.  Especially a TV show where I am NOT the demographic that the show was made for.

Season 4 starts tonight in 34 minutes.  Too old or not . . . I will be there!

WalMart

I was at WalMart in Lorain yesterday afternoon.

The lines were ridiculous!  Only five lanes open and in each one, the lines were so long that the cross aisle was blocked to people trying to get from one end of the store to the other.  This was Saturday afternoon for crying out loud!

My friend Lynn had been in the same situation at WalMart recently.  She used her phone to call customer service, told them about the lines, and WalMart actually remedied the problem.  I thought that was a great idea!

Gotta love a smart phone!

In line with my one item, I looked up WalMart's phone number and called them.  I told the woman in customer service that I was one of her customers stuck in a long line at the registers.  I said that it would be a huge help if she could get someone to open up more lines since the lines were now 10 people long.  She said she would pass that along.

A supervisor came walking over a few minutes later, looked over the lines, helped bag a few items for a few cashiers and then did nothing but watch.  Seriously?  Nice customer service!

When it was finally my turn to check out with my one item, I saw this sign next to the register.

I wasn't thinking of blogging on this subject so I didn't get the whole sign.  To the left of the sign was a picture of the store manager, Mr. Christmas.  (I don't remember his first name, Robert maybe?)  I thought what a great idea!  I took the picture so I had the phone number and as soon as I got to my car, I called to talk to the actual store manager about how I was NOT satisfied with my shopping experience.

As soon as I got to my car, I called.  Unfortunately, it ended up that the number I called was the same number I called from line.  It's my guess that customer service suddenly suffered from a case of Caller ID-itis and wouldn't answer the phone.

Thanks for taking my call, Mr. Manager.  I'll keep that in mind next time I'm willing to spend some money.

When morons are allowed to write copy

Check out this great MSN video - Adorable kitten slap fight - who's the winner?

This is NOT what I would call an adorable kitten slap fight.  The tag line on the link was put there by MSN.  These cats are not happy.  Both of their ears are way back and their tails swishing like that means they are irritated.  And, I would call both of these adult cats, definitely not kittens!

Just sayin'

Who'd Have Thought . . .

I fell in love!

With a DOG!!!

I know, who'd have guessed it!  Me, terrified of dogs, fell in love with one last week.

Last Tuesday night, June 10th, I stopped home from work for a few minutes before going out for the evening.  As I pull into my driveway, I always look through the spaces between the bricks onto my front porch to see if any kitties are there eating or waiting for food.  I didn't see kitties but I did see a big black lump curled up under my glider on the porch.

I've had raccoons on my porch during the day so my first thought was a raccoon.  But, I didn't see any stripes on the back end of whatever was up there.  I just saw a black lump.

I left my car at the end of the driveway, got right out of my car and went up onto the porch to investigate.  I know . . . this is NOT like me!  When I saw it was a DOG, to be honest, I almost crapped my pants.  Here I was, on the porch, alone with a DOG, and the door to the house is still locked and I couldn't get to my car fast enough.  I really was having a mini heart attack as this puppy turned and saw me.

I started talking softly to her, I sat on the railing of my porch and bent down to offer a hand for her to bite.  I mean sniff.  She walked to me from behind the glider with her head low, her eyes on me and her little butt held high in the air with her tail wagging a mile a second.  I don't know dog behavior, but I was hoping at least that wagging tail part was a good sign.  In cat language, a wagging tail like that means they are irritated!  I was a little worried.

She stepped tentatively to me, sniffed my hand and we were buddies as long as I kept petting her.  I saw the food and water bowls were empty so I extricated myself from her and walked slowly to the side door to go in and get her more food and water.  She really wanted in my house with me and I had a heck of a time getting in without her.

All I had was cat food but I figured that was going to be good enough.  I have the bin of food right by the front door so I went out the front with the full bowl and she came running from the side of the house when she heard me.  As she was busy emptying the food and water bowls I went back inside to feed my cats.

I didn't know what to do about this dog.  I didn't want her running the neighborhood and possibly getting hit by a car.  There is a fair amount of traffic on my street.  I couldn't take her in because in spite of sitting there and petting her and loving on her, I was still kinda terrified of her and afraid to move by her.  So, I called my friend Lisa and left her a message about what was going on with me and a DOG!  I told her I was heading out for awhile and I'd call her again when I got back home if there was still a dog there.

I made it back to my car in one piece and left.  I was kinda sad, not sure if I wanted her to be there when I got home or not.

A few hours later I returned home and there she was . . . curled back up under my glider.  She was thrilled to see me and couldn't get enough loving from me!  As long as my hands were on her, she was a happy girl.  Yes, she had me at hello.

She had no collar on so no tags.  I called Lisa back and asked what to do.  I could not take a dog in my house, especially since she growled at the cats through the door!  The cats weren't happy with me out there with a dog and the dog wasn't happy that four cats were looking at her through the door.

Now that we established our boundaries, I was stuck on the porch waiting for Lisa.  She was coming with a cage that we could hold our little girl in until morning when I could call the dog warden.  I didn't want to do it but it was my best option.

As we waited on the porch, the dog got very protective of me and my property.  My street has a good amount of car traffic and also a good amount of foot traffic with the park right up the street.  This girl was chasing people left and right that dared to walk or bicycle in front of my house.  That was not good as she was NOT being friendly with them.  She chased one guy out into the street TWICE.  He's yelling at me to get my dog and I'm yelling at him that it's not my dog!  Ugh, it was scary.  Then she'd come running back to me after barking and growling at strangers and I'm trying not to jump out of my skin!  Lisa couldn't get there soon enough for me!

Like a good friend, she came to my rescue.  She brought a huge cage and a leash.  As Lisa opened her car door to get out, the puppy ran right up to her for some loving too.  She had to have been some one's pet because she took right to both of us and she took right to the leash like it was no big deal.  She also knew a few commands and listened well when she wanted to.  Lisa took her to the front of the house to get some pictures of her then I took charge of her while Lisa set up the cage in the garage.

We made her as comfy as possible with a couple of blankets in the cage and then shut her in for the night.  We went to sit on my front porch and we could hear her crying for me.  I'm telling you, it was hard to not crawl in that cage with her!

Eventually she settled down, and she was quiet for the night.

I heard her crying again in the morning though.  Putting my big girl brave panties on, I went out with leash in hand and closed myself in the garage with her.  Once the garage door was shut, I opened her cage to let her out and she was a happy girl!  She let me put the leash right on her, I opened the door and off we went.

We didn't go far since I didn't know how to control her if she got wild, but we walked all over my yard until she found a good spot to pee.  I kept walking her around waiting for what I know comes next but she just wanted to play.  So we walked some more then back to the garage we went.  I closed the door, put food and water down for her and then put her back into her cage.  She wasn't happy about that part, and to be honest, neither was I.  But I had to get to work.

I called the local PD to see if any one called in a lost dog.  I gave my name and number and a description of the dog so that if anyone called they could contact me.  Then the hard part.  I called the dog warden.

Again, I told the story of why she was in my garage and let them know my fears of the dog, of her chasing people away from my house and her growling at my cats.  There was just no way I could keep her.

A few hours later, two nice people from the dog pound came to my house, Phil let them into the garage, and they took my girl away.  You know it's freezing in hell when I am crying over a dog.  After work to see that empty cage in the garage with water bowl, blankets and a ball and no little puppy, heartbreaking.

Lisa promoted this puppy through Facebook trying to find an owner or a new home for her.  Whatever they do to dogs at the pound, they took her in on June 11th but she was listed that she would not be available for adoption until June 17th.

June 17th was a great day for that little girl as she was ADOPTED!!! 

To her new humans:  Thank you for choosing this little girl!  Please take good care of her.  Show her lots of attention, love and a few doggie treats now and again would be a good thing.  She loves to walk and she loves to have her chest rubbed.  I wish you many years of love and happiness with her!

To the little puppy:  Thank you for choosing me to run to when you were scared.  I am glad I was there for you with a bowl of water and a bowl of cat food and lots of hugs and love.  Thank you for teaching me that I can love a dog too!  (Thanks for not biting me!)  I wish you a long, happy and healthy life with your new humans.  Be a good girl, don't pee on the carpet, and show them all the love you have in you!  I will always carry a piece of you in my heart.

Above, eating at the food bowl and below, really wanting to come in!

Out of the Weather

And no, they are NOT in my house!

The weather has sure turned freakin' cold these last couple of days.  It has gotten absolutely frigid out there.

These two month old kittens and their mama have been on my porch.  Mama has been with me for over a year and this is her second litter.  My kitten Lily, is from her first litter.

With the weather changing, I have been worried about these babies.  I thought Adrienne, the mama, would be ok.  She's lived through winters before on my porch.  But these little ones . . . yeah, I'm getting soft in my old age.

We know I am a foster failure.  That's how I got Maggie and that's how I got Lily.  Once they come in my house, it's almost impossible to let them go.  But, I didn't want anything happening to these helpless babies out there.

So, I found someone to foster all three of them!  I set traps on my front porch where I feed them.  Last night, Saturday night, I caught Adrienne.  The kittens were no where to be seen though.  I sent Adrienne to the foster home and put the traps back on the porch.

I was so worried about the kittens getting caught during the night and then sitting in a cold metal cage all night long in that cold.  I was up half of the night, going out checking if the traps have been sprung!  Ok, now that I'm typing this, I probably should have just turned the traps so I could see them from the window!  Duh.  Hindsight and all of that.

Anyway, the big trap kept getting sprung but with nothing in it.  I don't know if the high winds last night kept setting it off or what.  Early this morning though, I finally caught one kitten.  The litter mate stayed by the caught sibling.  I tried to catch her with a net but she was too smart for that.

I took the trap upstairs into my bathroom, took my big cat carrier, put a nice towel in the bottom of it and transferred the kitten from the trap to the carrier.  I took the trap right back outside and with the kitten watching me, I put the food back in it, set the door and covered the trap with a towel.  Believe it or not, in about 20 minutes, I had caught the second kitten!  Back upstairs, transferred her to the carrier with her brother and at least they were warm and out of the weather.

I took them to the foster mom who already had Adrienne.  She gave them a quick look over and then took them to the vet.

The little brown one on the left is a girl, Alice, who is 1 lb 9 oz.  The little gray striped one on the right is a little boy, Alfonzo, and he is 1 lb 15 oz.  They both have colds and are on antibiotics and eye ointment.  No surprises there.  The foster mom will get them healthy, work with them so that they get used to people and are hand tame.  Once they are healthy and over 2 lbs, they can go be spayed and neutered and then put up for adoption.

Adrienne hopefully will get spayed this coming week.  Once she recovers, she will be evaluated.  She has always been wild and has never even let me get near her.  The foster mom will work with her and see if she can get her hand tamed.  She can work miracles with cats, so I am hoping!  If she can be hand tamed, she can be sent for adoption.  If not . . . Adrienne will be re-released back on my porch.  At least if she's released, she will be spayed and not producing any more litters.  If she's brought back, I will continue to put food out there for her and will make a shelter out there for her.

For now, the kitties are all out of the weather and hopefully on to better lives.

I leave you with two really good and really important announcements.

1.)  If you have outside pets, please make sure they have adequate shelter in this weather or bring them inside! 

2.)  Please spay or neuter your pet.

Deer vs Car? Who Wins?

Like is full of peaks and valleys.  You have to experience the bad so that you can appreciate the good.  Right now I seem to be in the valley, taking a few hits from life.  Literally.

I was coming home Friday night around 6:30 in the evening.  As you all know, it's freakin' dark by then.  I was on North Ridge Road in Amherst heading towards Oberlin Avenue from Leavitt. 

I've been on that road before, probably quite a few times but rarely in the dark.  I'm a little familiar with that road but not in the dark.  As I was heading towards Oberlin Avenue, a car coming at me was blinking their high beams at me.  That tells me that something is up ahead to watch out for, usually a police car watching for speeders.

I'm not a speeder.  I had one speeding ticket in my life and that was an expensive lesson to never do that again.  Plus, with my phobias, I hate being in the car anyway. I'm trying to get from point A to point B alive so speeding is not usually something I am willing to do.  So, I saw the flashing high beams and thought fine, I'm not speeding, I don't care.  Well, I guess they were warning us about something but it wasn't the police.

Suddenly, BAM!  There was a deer hitting into my car by my driver's window.  She ROCKED my car and scared the crap out of me.  I slammed on my brakes and came to a stop in the middle of North Ridge Road.  I was frozen, I had no idea what to do.  I never saw her coming until she was right at my window.  I never saw her.

The car that was directly behind me came slowly up next to me, then turned right in front of me into a driveway.  I thought OH!  That was a good idea, so I pulled into this driveway next to him to get out of traffic.  The rest of the drivers proceeded through slowly.

The guy that stopped was named Randy and I definitely owe him big time.  I don't do well in stressful situations and I was shaking, my heart was pounding in my chest and I was in a panic.  He came right up to me, put an arm around my shoulder and just talked to me.  He made sure I was ok (I was) then just held my hand until I could get my breath back and get my thoughts together. 

Randy checked out my car for me to assess the damage.  The driver's side mirror is broken.  It's sort of attached to the car but not by much.   From there the deer went forward and crashed into the fender that goes from the driver's door to the front bumper.  Originally, the fender was up against my tire.  Randy was nice enough to pull that out by hand so that at least my car is still drivable.

In the dark, he checked out my car the best he could.  He looked for blood from the deer and thank goodness there wasn't any.  Randy told me that he saw the doe get up from the street and run back to the left between some houses.

Randy also told me that you have to report an accident with a deer to the police.  Who knew?!  I didn't consider this an "emergency" since I thought I was ok and the car, thanks to Randy, was drivable.  I called 911 assuming they would send Amherst police to take a report.  For some reason, the State Police were called for this accident.

Randy offered to stay until the police got there but I didn't know how long that was going to take.  Why should both of our Friday nights be ruined!  Besides, it was getting colder and he had gone above and beyond for me already.   He did give me his name and number in case the police or insurance company needed it and he went on his way.

After the report was taken, one of the officers did go across the street with a flashlight to see if the deer collapsed behind the houses where it was last seen.  He found no deer, so I am hoping that she is fine.

Just what I needed.  Here's a $500 deductible down the drain.  And that didn't help my car phobia any.  On the plus side, there are still genuinely good people out there.  A huge thank you to a perfect stranger, Randy, who stopped in my time of need and just acted like a human being.  Thank you for holding my hand, thank you for putting my mind at ease that my car was drivable, thank you for just making sure I was ok.

Phil was nice enough to come outside with a camera when I got home Friday to document my new owie.  This is after he pulled that fender away from the tire.  This doesn't look so bad.   This was the first deer I ever hit and hopefully it will be the last.

It's only a car.  I hope the deer is ok.

And Then There Were Four

From the right, there is my Benny and then Ava.  The little gray one is Maggie and her mom Blondie.  Last on the left is my latest rescue, Lily.

I had Benny and Ava and then I rescued Blondie and her only surviving kitten Maggie.  After their quarantine was lifted, I tried integrating them into the house, and that didn't always go well.  From the beginning we have had issues as Blondie would go after Benny especially and to a lesser extent Ava.  I attributed it to the fact that Maggie was so tiny at only four weeks old that she was just protecting her kitten.  Then came my last rescue, Lily.  My heart was in the right place and I committed to the financial responsibility of keeping all five cats.  Now Maggie is a whopping seven months old and able to hold her own against Benny and Ava when they are playing.  Unfortunately, Blondie has never gotten along with Benny and it just wasn't getting any better.

I don't know if it was the dynamics of having five cats or if something happened between the adults that I didn't see, but Blondie kept getting worse and worse with Benny.  She was ok next to him until she wasn't.   She would suddenly get so terrified of him, she would hunker down and scream.  It wasn't a meow, it wasn't a screech or a caterwaul, it was a scream.  She was totally stressed out which started stressing out the other cats and the kitty mama.  Hey, I'm stressed out enough, I didn't need this on top of everything else.

I did everything I could possibly do.  I talked to my vet and he told me to just keep moving their wet food closer and closer to each other until they can be next to each other.  Hey, this isn't my first time to the rodeo.  I could get them eating side by side and all was well.  Until it wasn't and she would try to crawl under the toe kick of the kitchen cabinets and just scream her lungs out.  It was absolutely heartbreaking.  I've even had her on pheromones which have not helped at all.

I finally had to keep either her or Benny on lock down.  I would lock Blondie up in the bedroom which she hated.  Or I would lock Benny in the basement which he hated.  It wasn't fair to any of the cats and especially those two.  I'd let everyone out at meal time and all would be ok while they were eating . . . until they weren't ok.  If they were out in the house together, Blondie would spend her time hiding from Benny, hoping he wouldn't see her.  She'd be inside of back of the floor clock or she'd hide behind the garbage can.  If he saw her, or even just glanced her way, she'd run and she'd scream.  Then he'd think it was a game so he'd chase her. 

I finally did what I thought was right and I surrendered her to the Friendship Animal Protection League (APL) so that they could find her a home.  Hopefully a home with no other pets.

Blondie really is a loving and beautiful cat, as long as she isn't by other cats.  I've never had a dog so I don't know how she would be around a dog or how she would be around kids for that matter.  I do know she hates to be by other cats.  Trust me on this one!  But this girl loves to play, loves her toys, loves her belly rubbed.  She will lay there and purr for as long as you are willing to rub her belly!  The pictures don't do her justice, she is really beautiful with such striking golden eyes and just wants to be loved.  I just wish I could be the one to love her enough to make her happy.

She has all of her first year shots, she is front declawed and she is spayed.  She just needs a loving home.  Here is a link to Blondie's APL page.

If anyone is looking for a furever friend and you don't have other animals, please head up to the APL in Elyria and consider my girl.  I know you won't be sorry!

Tick . . . Tick . . . Tick

I had the strangest day at work yesterday.  One of those days that make you really question your sanity!

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting at my desk working away when suddenly I heard it.  Tick . . . tick . . . tick.  You heard me.  It went tick . . . tick . . . tick.  Seriously, what in the heck.

After the raccoon coming through the ceiling recently, all I could think of was that something was walking up over the drop ceiling and was going to fall on my head any minute!  Tick . . . tick . . . tick.  GRRR

I stopped what I was doing and looked behind me up at my one ceiling tile that has been broken for a long time.  If something is coming through my ceiling, that's where it's going to happen.  Good news / bad news is that it wasn't anything walking over the crop ceiling.  It was a BUG!  A BIG BUG!  And the ticking I kept hearing was this bug hitting the plastic cover of my ceiling lights!

My next thought was holy crap there is a huge bee in my office!  I grabbed my phone (I don't know why!) and I ran to the doorway of my office.  I don't know what I thought I was going to do there but I felt safer.

I watched this dang bug keep slamming himself into the ceiling light.  Finally, he came to a stop on a ceiling tile.  Against my better judgement, I had to walk closer to see what kind of bee it was.  MUCH to my surprise, it wasn't a bee at all, but a STINK BUG!  It's been all over the news about the stink bugs this year.  We have had more than our fair share of them around.  Well, now one of them found his way into my office.

This is not the picture of the actual stink bug that was in my office.  At least I don't think it is the same one.  This one just hitched a ride on my car recently.  But in case anyone doesn't know what a stink bug looks like, this is it!

 

I'm afraid of a lot of things but I really didn't think I was afraid of a stink bug.  I put my phone down, put my big girl panties on and came up with a plan.  I grabbed a small plastic cup and some paperwork off of my desk.  I got up on a chair, put the cup over the stink bug sitting on my ceiling and then used the paperwork to slide between the cup and the ceiling, trapping the bug in the cup.

Without breaking my leg, I got off of the chair, took the cup and paper to the front door and released the stink bug!  I was SOOO proud of myself!  I came back into the building, shut the door and not one minute later, Mike came out of the shop and went out to his car for something.  He came back into the building and went back to the shop as I went back to my office to finish what I was doing.

Then, there it was again.  Tick . . . tick . . . tick.  CRAP.

I look up and sure enough, a stink bug, hitting himself again and again against my light covering on the ceiling.  I really have no idea if this was the same stink bug that followed Mike back into the building or if it was second stink bug.  

I grabbed the plastic cup out of my recycling bin, grabbed my paperwork again and got the chair ready.  Once again, I put the cup over the stink bug, used the paper to trap him inside of the cup and walked his little butt outside.  This time however, I didn't just release him outside of the door, I walked him to the opposite end of the parking lot!  My good deed for the day!

That was supposed to be the end of my story.  Unfortunately, I keep seeing the title of this post and it reminds me of an old ditty.  I've had this little thing stuck in my head for more hours than I can count!  Go ahead and watch it if you dare!  Then, I challenge YOU to get that song out of your head.

You're welcome!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Mary

Today, my Aunt Mary is 91 years young!

Is she beautiful or what!!!

I got to thinking about Aunt Mary today.  Aunt Mary is not only my Aunt, she is my Godmother, she was my partner in crime, my role model, my friend.

I grew up in a flat.  My Aunt Mary, a young widow with two babies lived downstairs in the flat and my family lived upstairs.  We did everything together, our two families.  I think me being the baby of this group, plus with Aunt Mary being my Godmother, we were especially close.

Aunt Mary is the one that taught me that you are allowed to celebrate your entire birthday MONTH, not just your day!  Is that genius or what!!  Aunt Mary has taught me a lot of good stuff like that over the years.

I got to see her a couple of weeks ago.  As always, she was thrilled to see me.  C'mon now, who wouldn't be!  I got to play some pinochle with her and chat about everything.  I don't know if she remembers that I was there, but I remember.   She is still beautiful, she is still happy and her smile still lights up a room.  Thanks to my brother Jim for sending me a picture of her today sitting with her birthday flowers.

Happy birthday, Aunt Mary!  91 years young and still going strong!  I hope you ate too much cake and I hope you celebrate all 31 days of YOUR month, because it's the right thing to do!  Aunt Mary - the queen of birthdays who taught me all I know about celebrating them to your fullest.  That kind of teaching is priceless.

I Lauged, I Cried, I Wanted More!

What a weekend!

My friends Ruth and Jeff came to town for the weekend.  We had a great time!

There was a lot of laughs, a few tears, lots of hugs and good food.  I don't know what more you could ask for.  You see, we have known each other for more years than I'd like to admit.  We've been through it all together: births, weddings, break ups and deaths.  We have always laughed together and cried together.  That's the thing about really good friends - you don't need to see each other every day or talk every day.  But when you DO get together, it's like you were never apart.

We really didn't do touristy stuff this trip.  This trip was all about relaxing, catching up and of course laughing.  We did take a small road trip on Saturday up to Findley State Park up in Wellington to check out their camping facilities for future trips.

The state park was done up right.  They are totally into the Halloween spirit!  There was a little marshy area that was haunted by a few ghosts!

And to make sure you got a better look at the two boaters:

 

It was way too funny!

Another cool feature of Wellington believe it or not was the ATM machine at the LorMet Credit Union!  As we were driving to the state park, I thought I saw something and I definitely wanted to check it out on the way home.  Now THIS is a drive up ATM machine!

That doggone horse looked real!

Wellington really is a nice little town.  So full of character and that's a good thing!

After all is said and done, I just noticed that I took absolutely no pictures of the four of us!  Nor did I take any pictures of any of the great food I cooked over the weekend.  I just wasn't thinking.

We had a great visit and I stocked up on hugs from my friends.  It was great to see you guys and I miss you already.  I love you both and thank you from the bottom of my heart for making the trip to come out and see us.  Hopefully the next visit will be soon!

When There is a Raccoon in the Building . . .

Lock yourself in your office!

I am the first one to work in the morning.  I unlock the doors, turn off the alarm, go to my office to change into my work shoes, then I turn the lights on throughout the building and back to my office to start work. This takes a little while since it's a BIG building!

A few weeks ago, I walked into the building, turned off the alarm and then turned the corner.  There is a garbage can next to the water cooler and the can was knocked over and some of the garbage was on the floor.  I knew something was wrong in my world.

I went into my dark office and changed my shoes, all the while telling myself that there is nothing to be worried about.  All was good in my world.

I walked out of my office, turned to the left towards the lab (where all of the office light switches are) and THERE it was!  A freakin' raccoon, turning the corner towards the lab!  AARGH!

I went back to my office, grabbed my purse, closed my office door and went back to the front door.  There, I kept my eye on the hallway to make sure that the raccoon stayed where he was.  I wanted to make sure he did not come back to my part of the building.  I called just about everyone I had on speed dial.

First I called our property manager, no answer.  Then I called one of the owners, no answer.  Then I called one of the guys that works in the shop, no answer.  I called 911!  They answered but were kind of unimpressed.  She gave me a few numbers for local wildlife trappers, but wouldn't send someone over with a gun or a net or a fire truck with a hook and ladder.  Hey, I was in panic mode.  I would have been ok with the National Guard coming over at that moment.  What the hell.  I was so frustrated that I called my brother, in CHINA.  Lucky for him because I went to his voicemail and swore at him like a marine would.  Yeah, not my proudest moment.

This is on one side of me:

The raccoon was obviously inside of the building above the drop ceiling.  As he walked across this tile, the tile gave away and he crashed to the floor.  Sheesh, not good.

On the other side of me was the last place I saw the critter.  There is a door right around the corner that goes into the lab, and I felt if I could just get that door shut I could stop my panic because the raccoon was on the other side of that door. Unfortunately, I wasn't going to be the one to walk down that hallway and around a blind corner and shut that door!  Who knows if that raccoon was just around the corner on MY side of the door ready to bite me!?!?

Yes, I was in the middle of a hissy fit and a panic attack.  I guess that would be a hissy attack!  Whatever it was, it wasn't pretty.

I started on my list again.  I called the property manager and this time he answered the phone.  I gave him an earful and he promised he be there in 30 minutes.  I think he was hoping that by then I'd pull my claws back in.

I called one of the owners.  I woke him up and gave HIM an earful on why he needed to be in the building immediately.  I don't think he agreed with my hissy attack but whatever.  He wasn't in the building with a killer raccoon!  He did show up pretty quickly at the building with this:

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if he walked in the building with this because of the killer raccoon or because of me!  Makes ya think, huh?

Lo and behold, one of the guys from the shop came in first.  In the middle of my hissy attack, I explained what happened so far that morning, and he was nice enough to walk down the hall, around that blind corner and close the door to the lab.  That meant that I know for sure he was not on my side of the building, but closed in between the lab and another office.  I was sort of jiggy with that, but I closed myself in my office for the rest of the day just in case.

Eventually, I had the guy from the shop, the property manager and an owner, all trying to find and catch this raccoon.  Granted, I was in a self imposed lock down in my office, but I was imagining a little bit of a three stooges routine happening out there.  After all was said and done . . . they could find NO raccoon in the building.

I know there are a kajillion hiding places in the lab alone so there was no way I was trusting their opinion that the raccoon found his way out.  I stayed locked in my office.

The next day, kinda the same thing.  I ran through the building screaming like a banshee making a lot of noise and turning on all the lights when I first got there in the morning.  If he was still in the building, I wanted to make sure that he was more afraid of me than I was of him, as if that was possible. 

Finally, the guys showed me why they thought the raccoon found his own way out.  I'm not sure if I buy it but whatever.

First, the footprints where he tried to climb up the wall:

I guess he couldn't reach up high enough.  There was a shelving unit just to the right of this, so they assumed he climbed up the shelving unit, then up and out:

It may not be obvious in these pictures, but you can definitely see raccoon hand prints up this wall.  I can almost get behind the fact that the raccoon made it up to the ceiling but I find it hard to believe that he was smart enough to lift the ceiling tile and then put it right back down where it belonged!

Up above this drop ceiling is the hole to the outside where they figured the raccoon was getting in and out.  They set a live trap outside of that hole and they did end up catching a raccoon that first night.  I caught such a fast glimpse of him in the building, I couldn't guarantee that was the same raccoon, but . . .

The property manager took the live cage away and released the raccoon far away from our building.  Here's hoping he finds a new and safe life, away from this crazy lady.

So, I no longer lock myself in my office.  But I definitely keep an extra eye open when I walk into the building in the morning!  And for now the drama of wildlife in the building is thankfully over.

Turn on the A/C Because Christmas is Here!

Seriously, I went to Sam's Club on Monday after work. I am not ready to be seeing this on October 14th.

What ever happened to waiting to start Christmas after Thanksgiving?? Heaven forbid that we don't all bow down to that almighty dollar.

Mayor's Personal Car is Stolen

This kind of pissed me off today.

According to an article on the Chronical Online written by Steve Fogarty, the Mayor of the city of Lorain, Chase Ritenauer, had his personal vehicle stolen Friday night/Saturday morning.   You can read the entire article here.

I'm sorry the mayor had his vehicle stolen.  That sucks.  What pissed me off was the fact that, according to the article:

Lorain police Lt. Roger Watkins said fingerprints were taken from Ritenauer's vehicle.

 "We'll wait and see if they turn up anything," Watkins said.

Ya know . . . about three or four years ago, my garage was broken into and numerous items were stolen.  Whoever broke into my garage also tried to get into my car which was parked in the garage but locked.  This unknown person(s) left numerous finger prints as well as full hand prints all over my car.  I asked for someone to come to take fingerprints as I thought this was going to be an easy case to solve, even for the Lorain PD.  The way they broke into my garage, I have a feeling they have done this before.  I'll even go out on a limb here and say they already have a record of incarceration for this type of activity.

But, I was told that the Lorain CSI team was too busy to come take fingerprints.

Really?

Too busy.

I guess just being an ordinary tax paying citizen didn't rank me high enough to warrant the CSI team coming over for 10 minutes to get those very obvious prints off of my car.

No one was ever arrested for my break in.

My property was never recovered.

The mayor got his car back undamaged but with a handful of change stolen.  By the way, the mayor's car was stolen because he left a key to the ignition hidden, albiet not well, inside of his unlocked car.

My estimated $1,000 worth of equipment was gone from my locked garage after the motion detector flood light was disabled.  With a $1,000 deductible on my insurance, it was useless to file a claim with them and I still haven't been able to afford to replace most of them.

Lesson learned?  If you're the mayor, who was irresponsible in leaving his vehicle unlocked with a key in it, resources are available to get your pocket change back.  If you're a regular tax paying citizen who tried to have security measures in place including locking the door, then the generator, power washer and snow blower weren't worth the CSI team's time.

You Don't Know You're Spoiled, Until it Stops!

My brother Phil lives here with us.  Some days that's good, some days not so much!  But when he's good, he's very good!

Phil actually spoils me.  I don't always realize it until he goes away for a long weekend.  Let me give you a couple of examples.

With my shoulder problem, I have very little strength in my right arm/hand.  We buy milk by the gallon.  To open a gallon for the first time, takes a little strength to twist the cap hard enough to break the seal.  I can't do it.  Whenever new gallons of milk are brought in the house, Phil will break the seals on all of them so I can get into them.  I never realized how important that was until the last time he went to Erie for the weekend!

I had bought milk the night before.  In the morning, I went to have my cereal.  Granted, I only use 1/4 cup of milk for my morning cereal, but the gallon wasn't opened yet, Ron was still sleeping, so I couldn't have cereal for breakfast just because I couldn't twist hard enough to break that seal!  Not good.  Seriously, not good!

Another of our "routines" is that Phil walks me out the door in the morning.  Phil goes over a check list with me.  He makes sure I have my:

* Purse
* Cup of coffee
* Book (I read at lunch!)
* Lunch
* Fruit
* Keys
* Garage Door Opener

Once he makes sure I have all I need, Phil walks me to the door and then locks it behind me since my hands are full with the list above.  That's really a handy feature when I'm on my way out the door to work in the morning.

Again, Phil was gone for the weekend.  So, I didn't have my apple one day for lunch.  And really, who needs to have a cup of coffee in the morning??  Yeah, I missed you brother.

So, as much as I complain some days, I really need to remember that I AM spoiled!  I just didn't realize it until it stopped!

The Story of Hemingway

I have to share the story of Hemingway. 

Hemingway is the cat that started me on my journey to being the crazy cat lady in my neighborhood.  About five years ago, this little, skinny, sickly looking cat found his way to my front porch.  He looked horrible.  I went out and got a small bag of cat food and started putting a bowl out on the porch for Hemingway.  He was so skinny that when he sat down to eat from the bowl, his shoulder blades were so pronounced and sharp looking that I thought I could have cut paper on them.  He was a sickly little thing.

From the kindness of just putting food and water out there, he flourished.  He got bigger and stronger and eventually became my friend. 

Hemingway spent four years with me as an outside cat.  He was there before Benny and before Penelope.  Hemingway seemed to find all of the kittens in the neighborhood and we've seen HIM bring the kittens to my porch.  A few years ago, he brought three little gray kittens to my porch that stayed around my porch throughout the winter and then when spring hit they went on their way.  When I'd take food outside, Hemingway would step aside, let the kittens eat their fill and then he'd eat his share.  He always gave way for the kittens first.

While the kittens came and went through the years, Hemingway remained.  Once in awhile, he'd go on a "walk about" and be gone a few days but he always came back.  

I have posted a video before of how Hemingway would meet me at the garage when I came home and he would "escort" me to my door.  This walk of about 20 feet from my garage to my door could sometimes take me 10 minutes.  He would wind in and around my feet, and purr and drop to the ground and show me his belly. 

I know the life expectancy of a stray cat is much shorter than a house cat, but when Hemingway went on walk about, and didn't come back, I knew I had lost my friend.  Hemingway has now been gone for over a year. 

Tuesday, Ron and I went out for the evening.  As I was walking to the door after putting my car in the garage, I hear a cat meowing.  It's dark and I see orange, so I assume it's Junior.  He meows at me when I come home, just like Hemingway used to do.  So, I bent over and scratched his ears a bit while I talked to him, then I tried to walk to the door of the house. The cat was all about rubbing his entire body up and down my legs, making it very difficult to put one foot in front of the other.  THIS was unusual for Junior.  He'll come and butt his head into my legs a few times then he'll walk with me to the door.  This cat was all about the contact with me and I have a very hard time walking.

I really didn't think much of it.  I figured the food bowl on the porch was empty and this was a little suck up move for some extra food tonight.  Hey, I'm all about a good suck up move!  I went inside, fed and watered everyone inside and then I went to the porch to check the food bowl for Junior.  Imagine my surprise when I saw it wasn't Junior!  Once I got into the light, I could see this cat was HEMINGWAY!!!  I couldn't believe that after a year it was my Hemingway on my porch! 

I really thought I was seeing things.  I yelled into the house for Ron to come out and look at this cat.  He definitely wasn't Junior since he didn't have any white on him.  This cat was all orange, and it's hard to explain but Hemingway has an unusual shape to his head and neck.  I KNOW from looking at this cat that he's Hemingway!  Ron came out, took one look at him and even he said it was Hemingway!  He wanted some food but I was amazed that he remembered me after all this time and was all about some attention from me. 

I pet him, loved on him, and fed him.  He really looked good!  He looks well fed, his coat was beautiful, and he just looked happy.  I don't know where he's been for the last year, and he hasn't been back since Tuesday night, but for one night, he was home.  He came to say hello, and let me know he was ok.  He did my heart good.  It wasn't a long visit, but I know he's doing well.  I guess I can't ask for more than that.

I hope he's out there being taken care of by another good kitty mama, or that he's taking care of the neighborhood kittens helping them find the food bowls.  Whatever he's doing, there will always be a food bowl on my front porch for Hemingway.  He will always be welcome here.

The Houston Astros, That's Just Wrong Page 30

Here is another page from the book that I will eventually write.  The title to my new book will be "That's Just Wrong" and it will be about the absurdities that I find in life.

Today's edition of That's Just Wrong, comes to us from the Houston Astos of all places.

Way back in a previous life, I used to live in Houston Texas.  While I've always been a Cubs fan, it made games interesting since most of my friends in Houston were Astros fans.  Robert, for example.  We spent many an hour discussing, arguing about, dreaming of, and rehashing games.  We even spent a few hours with out butts in the seats at the Astrodome (awesome place!) and at their new ball park that was still called Enron Field back when I was there. Gotta have a good rivalry while watching the games.

Both the Astros and the Cubs were in the same division in the National League Central and neither team were historically known to be powerhouses to beat for the division.  Sometimes fighting for last place was all we had to fight about.

Then, Bud Selig (the commissioner of baseball) in his infinite wisdom (sarcasm here) moved the Astros from the National League to the American League starting with this 2013 season.  The fans of Houston were outraged and they lost a lot of fans just announcing this change.  Their attendance is way down as is their television viewership.

The only reason I cared about the Astros like I said was for some good ribbing, some good rivalry.  With them moving to the American League, in my mind there is no reason to even think of them any longer.  I am NOT a fan of the pansy ass ball that is played in the American League and even living in the Cleveland area, I can't get behind it enough to even go here to see a game.  Sorry, Indians fans, I just don't like American League rules.  But, that is really neither here nor there.

The Astros, in their finite wisdom, along with State Farm Insurance, sponsored an event at the ball game:  Ladies Night.  Promotions are not new at ball games. Even Ladies Night isn't a new idea.  However, the Astros and State Farm Insurance seem to be unaware that this is 2013 and NOT 1953.  Here is a quote from an article online at Fox Sports:

According to the link in the tweet: "Astros Ladies Night, presented by State Farm, is a women-only event that allows our female fans to get the inside scoop on the Astros and meet some of the staff and players. The event starts at 4:00 pm with a 'Baseball 101' talk, followed by a happy hour event themed 'Diamond, Bling and Glittery Things' with music, specialty drinks, exclusive Ladies Night gift courtesy of State Farm, group photos with Astros players, and complimentary beauty treatments. Package includes a View Deck II ticket to watch the Astros take on the New York Yankees following the cocktail hour."

I am BEYOND offended by this entire idea.  Do you really think you're going to teach ME about the fundamentals of baseball???  ME????  I've been watching baseball with my MOM for more years than the idiot that came up with this promotion has probably been alive.

Beauty treatment?  Because after all, that's all us women folk are interested in, right? That is IF our men folk let us out of the house for something called a ball game.

You can read the whole article from Fox Sports here.  Some of the twitter responses to this inane idea are comical.  And spot on.  Here is the tweet that the Astros put out announcing this promotion:

Houston Astros        ✔ @astros

9/27 is Ladies Night by @StateFarm! Ladies can learn about baseball, enjoy music, food, drinks & more! For info & tix http://www.astros.com/ladies

I wanted to go on record with the Houston Astros organization and with State Farm Insurance who sponsored this event and tell them a little bit about me:

I have a full time job, own my own home, pay my own bills.  I can change my own oil in my car, I can mow my own lawn, I can shovel my own driveway.  I know what to do if there is a problem in the breaker box.  I plunge my own toilet when it needs it.  I watch and follow baseball, football and boxing.  (My dream job is to be in the corner as a cut woman for a fighter.)  I am also a sister, a friend, an aunt, a niece, a cousin and I think an all around decent person.  I cry when I hear the National Anthem, the commercials on TV around Mother's Day and Lifetime movies. I have never had a facial, a manicure or a pedicure.  I love my family, my friends, my country, babies, Chipotle's burritos, birthday cake and animals.  I am a Renaissance woman and I, and women like me, was your target audience with your promotion.  Yeah, you missed the mark on that one, didn't you.

Instead of you giving ME the fundamentals of baseball, send me a job offer.  I'll come down there and teach you a few things about not only baseball, but about women too.  With one of the worst records in recent baseball history with a record of 51-108 (.321) the Astros need someone like me in their organization to get them back on track. 

As for the people in your organizations that thought this promotion was a good idea?  I'm here to tell you . . . That's Just Wrong.