Unreachable Buffet

Dakota Sioux and Junior had a mouth-watering time today watching all these birds from their new Catnapper perch. And after those birds left, they were treated to blue jays and cardinals in the tree to the left.



And what is this? SNOW! Finally, I was able to witness it actually falling from the sky. I was so excited to be able to finally see snow. And guess what? More is on its way for Thursday and Friday. Yipee! This picture was taken from inside looking back toward our huge garage that looks like a barn. You can barely make it out, but it is there. My husband built that garage by himself with a little help from me. And I mean just us. No one else helped. That is where our vintage Mustangs are housed.



And this picture was taken at the height of the snowfall. Those are fake ivy plants. I kept them there just to make people wonder how I am able to grow ivy in the winter time. Conversation pieces, ya know?

Barbaro

April 29 2003 ~ January 29 2007





He won the 2006 Kentucky Derby by seven lengths.

Within weeks, he broke his leg three places immediately after the start of the Preakness.

And since then he has been one brave thoroughbred. In the end his bravery wasn't enough; the pain was just too unbearable.

He was euthanized Monday morning.

He was only 3-3/4 years old.

When I heard he had to be put down, I wept...

Another Letdown

Sunday afternoon we visited some friends that live approximately 30 some miles to the west of us. They were celebrating their grandson's ninth birthday.

While we were there, it was snowing ever so lightly, but continuously. It was the first snow I laid eyes on this winter. We've had some snow fall here but it always happened during the night while I was asleep. Well that just doesn't cut it. So when I saw the snow falling Sunday I was quietly excited. After all, a person my age should not behave in a manner of craziness. Heh heh

On our way home the snow was falling faster and thicker and my excitement was growing by the second. Once we crossed one of the major roads, however, it was like driving into the twilight zone. No snow was falling from the sky and there was none to be seen on the ground. I knew it! I just knew it! Foiled again!

Eventually some snow did fall at our house but instead of this:


We got this:



I really don't know what is wrong with our area as far as a decent snowfall is concerned. The last good snow we had was in February of 2003 when we got 22 inches. Now that's a snowfall. So at this point all I can do is hope and pray that February brings us something more than a dusting.

Countdown To Excitement

So many people are telling us how many days are left until the Daytona 500. Me? I'm counting down the long, drawn out days until the Bud Shootout. That is my official start of the racing season. It is run 8 days prior to the 500. It gets me super hyped (more so than I already am) for the 500.

On another note...

Yes, I am well aware of what Martin Truex Jr. did. All I can say is "So what?" Some joe schmoe unknown to the public would never get that kind of publicity had they done the same thing. It's not like he wagged the thing at a crowd of people loaded with children. I know it's not proper and I never witnessed my father or brother doing that sort of thing, but in this instance with Martin I must say I really don't care or give a damn that he did what he did. After all, we are forced to wear clothes and sometimes our society is just too darn uptight about some things. You know what happens when you drink a lot of liquids? Yep, eventually you have to pee. And if you don't have time to find a place to go, you're faced with a choice: do you pee your pants and face the shame, or do you just pee where you are in a sheltered car garage? Your choice.

One Of My Daughter's Hobbies

This is a photo of the car that my daughter and her boyfriend are on the pit crew. This photo was taken at the show in Atlantic City a few weeks ago. The show always used to be held in Fort Washington PA, and because it moved to Atlantic City, the kids never made it. This is the first year they weren't there.

Shown on the photo is the driver, Pat Hargan. He works very hard at what he does.

I apologize for the poor quality of the photo. It was borrowed from the local race track's website and it didn't travel to my blog very well.

Choice Or Chance?

The other day I was looking through my new pocket diary that I received from my doctor last year for 2007. Every other page has a quote on it along with who either said it or wrote it. I started from the back (no, I'm not Chinese ~ my mother used to do the same thing).

I read this one:

Destiny is no matter of choice. It is a matter of chance. It is not a thing to be wasted for it is a thing to be achieved. -William Jennings Bryant

And then I came across this one:

It's choice-not chance-that determines your destiny. -Jean Nidetch

Jean Nidetch, some of you will remember, is the housewife that started Weight Watchers. And that should be her only credit; certainly not that quote. She not only 'stole' it she also rearranged it (turned it around), and then shortened it. That's not my point though.

My point is: Do you believe your destiny lies in the choices you make? Do you think your destiny happens by chance? Or do you simply believe your life was laid out the day you were born and even your choices were chosen for you?

I'd like to know what you all think.

Answered Prayers

Was that not a wonderful ending to the Colts-Patriots game Saturday night?

With minutes to go, when the Patriots had the ball, I kept repeating interception, interception, interception. And darned if it didn't happen.

Peyton Manning finally got that so-called monkey off his back about not being able to come through for the big one: the Super Bowl. He can now add that to his resume. Let's hope he can continue his good fortune and also win the big one.

Since my 49ers haven't done squat in so many years I can't remember, I have had to cheer for other teams as well. One of those teams has been the Cincinnati Colts. So I am glad to see them get this far. Even if they lose the Super Bowl, at least they can now say they played in it.

Immaculate Conception Perhaps?

SHREVEPORT, La., Jan. 17, 2007
(AP) In a mysterious bit of monkey business, a female at a chimpanzee sanctuary has given birth, despite the fact that the facility's entire male chimp population has had vasectomies.Now managers at Chimp Haven are planning a paternity test for the seven males who lived in a group with Teresa, a wild-born chimpanzee in her late 40s who had the baby girl last week.Workers have started collecting hair samples from the chimps for testing. Once they identify the father, it's back to the operating room for him.Chimp Haven managers said they knew something was up when Teresa was missing during morning rounds on January 8. Later in the day, she appeared with a newborn chimpanzee in her arms."Well, we were all just a little bit surprised when we heard the news," said Linda Brent, a spokeswoman for Chimp Haven.The baby chimpanzee was named Tracy and she and her mother are doing fine, Brent said.Teresa had 10 other offspring before retiring to Chimp Haven over a year ago. This is her first baby in 13 years.It's also the first chimpanzee born at the sanctuary although officials there hope there will be no more accidents

I'm Trying...Really I Am

My mind lately has been like the month of January: cloudy, dreary, gray...you get the picture. Try as I might, I've been having problems as to what to write about here.

Let's face it, January is very dull and it makes me dull too. I'm not even getting ideas from the newspaper. Thank goodness for my kittens and the TV to keep me entertained. Oh, and my paperbacks. I'm a chain reader; you'll never find me not in the middle of a book.

At least if we had a substantial snowfall I'd have something to write about. For a few days at least. It has finally gotten colder, as January should be, but that also means hiking up the heat inside. Currently it is 18 degrees outside.

But, really, can you believe that I am speechless? Very unusual for me. And by the way, why do we speak but we are speechless? Why aren't they spelled the same? Just another one of life's perplexing questions.

On another note, my husband gets to visit his cardiologist on Friday. It should be quite interesting. After being on eight meds for 7-1/2 years, I think it's time to review those meds and see if some can't be eliminated or changed to generics if available. Brand name meds are getting way out of hand price-wise and I don't even want to go there.

I'm terribly sorry I didn't have a great post for today. I'll keep trying, honest I will. If only it would snow...if only it would snow...if only it would snow...

IS IT SNOWING YET?

We're Gonna Miss You

Benny Parsons passed away early Tuesday morning. He will be sorely missed by the NASCAR community.

My Little Indians At Play

In the first picture you can see what we call a fuzzball. It's on the floor between Junior's hind feet. They have four of them, but it's that little lighter colored one that they both want at the same time. Dakota usually waits patiently for Junior to get done with it and then she makes her sneak attack and carries it away while he's not looking.

In the second picture it is in Junior's mouth. They bat that thing around and poke and push it in places you wouldn't even think. Sometimes it gets wedged too far, and to watch Junior extend his arm and keep trying to fish it out is comical. They keep me entertained.

Their newest adventure with the fuzzballs is the game of "catch." They will actually bring it back, drop it and wait for it to go sailing again. Time after time. Junior likes the game much more than Dakota because she gets bored quickly.

Since I wrote this a few days ago, three of the fuzzballs got lost in the opening at the bottom of the kitchen cabinets just above the floor. We tried everything to retrieve them to no avail. This particular cabinet has a fixed bottom floor (no drawers) and it is impossible to get them out.

There is only one store in our area that sells them and when we went to purchase them Sunday all we could find was one. It will have to do until we can find more, but we did ask them to add them to their order sheet. My kittens will be most appreciative.

Teaser

This is what I awoke to Wednesday morning. This is all we got although areas around us had more than this. It was gone in a matter of less than an hour. There is nothing worse than being teased, especially when it comes to snow. Dang it!

The temperatures have dropped and will keep dropping so hopefully snow will be right around the corner. I am afraid to peek.

Caption Please

Thanks go out to BD for sending me the photo.

Philly Has A New Hero

That would be Jeff Garcia.

When he was with the San Francisco 49ers (my team), I didn't much care for him as a quarterback. He came in there having huge shoes to fill: Steve Young and before him, Joe Montana (yay!).

I've been watching the Eagles' last couple of games since he has filled in for prima donna Donovan McNabb. And to tell the truth I'm liking what I'm seeing.

He sure has changed ~ and the fans are lovin' him.

Wicked Witch Of The South

This woman does not amuse me one bit. She should either poop or get off the pot. Problem is, she wants everything for herself and to hell with Dale's kids.

I held off writing about this from the very beginning when she dropped the first bombshell back in November. I brushed it aside thinking it was a misprint or something of that nature. You know how the press can be when it concerns Junior.

Since Junior wasn't saying anything about it I just figured she was misquoted. But she wasn't and he finally let go of it on Monday. Good for him. It's not good to bottle those things up.

Frankly, if he moves on I wouldn't be a bit surprised. I prefer he stay at DEI and work things out so that some day he can be more than just part owner. He deserves so much more than what she is giving him. Hell, she's not even supportive of him on race day. She hides in her ivory tower . She needs to get a life.

Ya Think?

Gee, I wonder what gave them the first clue. Around here we have these people that have huge sponges and they get that water up so fast you never see it happening. I rode along one time. It's really amazing. I wish I had thought of the process years ago. I wouldn't be worrying about all the things I do now, because with that kind of a patent I'd be sitting pretty.

Oh, and when the sponges get too full they take them to a field of crops and squeeze them out. What a wonderful way to recycle, don't you think?

OK here come those guys again to take me back to wherever it was I came from to get here. And I hid the wine again. They'll never find it, but I know where it is.

How Many Days Till The Bud Shootout?

Now that it is January I am getting antsy for the new NASCAR season to start. The first race takes place February 10th (Budweiser Shootout). That is the start of my season, not the Daytona 500 which is run the following weekend. I love all the hype between those two races. I was able to see everything on TV last year and will again this year. The years prior to that I had to be at work. Yuck. So I missed a lot of what was happening.

So let's see...

Counting today, there are 34 days until the Shootout. Hurry up already!

Rest In Peace

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -Bobby Hamilton, the longtime NASCAR driver who won the 2001 Talladega 500 and was the 2004 Craftsman Truck Series champion, died Sunday of cancer. He was 49.

OK, Where The Hell Did I Go Wrong?

Saturday, December 30, 2006
PLANO, Texas -- Department-store operator J.C. Penney Co. will pay a fired executive about $10 million in severance even though she worked at the company for only a few months.

Although the company offered no reason for dismissal, analysts cited her lack of retail experience and said she didn't appear to be a good fit for the company.
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When I first read this, I was literally blown away. And then I got angry. What is wrong with this picture? Is it no wonder other countries despise us when something like this happens? Ten million dollars? Come on, let's get real here folks. Ain't nobody worth that amount who worked for a few months and didn't even know their job. SHE WAS FIRED! So you tell me how something like this happens when there are millions of people starving all over the world, not to mention in our own back yards. Wake up America.

Going In Circles

Yesterday was one hellacious day...



My husband had an early morning doctor's appointment. Basically it was to get a prescription for one of his medications that is almost gone which was originated by his cardiologist. Their office said they couldn't give him any prescriptions as he hadn't been there in over a year, and they suggested going to his family doctor. So we did. But when we arrived he couldn't find his new insurance card. He saw the doctor, got his prescription, and we went home for the card so we could drop it off. There were two and I thought they were duplicates, so I grabbed one. When we got back to the doctor's office, we were told it was for prescriptions only. The one at home was the medical card and it was the one they needed. We said we would be back later in the day.

We headed off to the place we had decided to get most of his medications this year. They offer generics at $11.99 for a 90-day supply. First of all, they informed us that this particular generic is not on that formulary and without insurance it would cost us $138. Secondly, the doctor forgot to write the miligrams on the prescription. They put a call into the doctor's office for that information and meanwhile told us that they would process everything with the prescription card to see what we would pay that way. But...after all that, they didn't have any in stock now but they would the following day. How much worse can this get?

We then decided to go back to the doctor (for the third time) so we could drop off the medical card and also let them know there was a call in their queue from the pharmacy to let them know the miligram amount. When we got there we told the doctor and he had one of his girls call the pharmacy right away. And we went back to the pharmacy (for the second time)to see what they found out once they used the card to process the order. And I started worrying that maybe the pharmacy we chose wasn't on the preferred list for the insurance that he has and they would have to turn us away.

We were told the cost would be $24 for the 90-day supply. That was the first thing that was correct all day and I later learned that we can use that pharmacy. We get to pick the meds up today. Aren't we lucky?

He has an appointment with his cardiologist in a few weeks and will need to get prescriptions for the other 7 meds he takes. Well that should be fun trying to figure out where to get them: we have a few places that offer very low-cost generics, but for brand name meds we will have to use mail order. He takes 4 generics and not all of them are at one place either. Yesterday was just the tip of the iceberg and believe me, it is already frosting my butt.

And to add further to my headache (that's just a figure of speech), we ended up having to shop at two separate drug stores (same name) because the first one was sold out of the item they had on sale, and he wasn't going to give up until he found one of their stores that still had his item on the shelf.

I think we put more mileage on the pickup today than we do in a week's time. It's funny now...but neither of us was laughing all day.

It Used To Be Easy

I used to be able to post my photos directly from my ZoomBrowser site where they are all stored. But something happened recently and I can only bring other images to my blog. I can no longer bring my personal downloaded photos from my camera. For two weeks I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out why I can no longer pull them out and upload to this blog.

I set up a Photobucket site last August but I never did anything with it. Today I did. I added one photo and had to copy the URL and then paste here. It can be done, but it takes me longer and is more complicated than before.

So here is the picture I experimented with. It is both kittens cuddled together in my dryer after it had cooled down somewhat. I was there all the while they were in there (folding my laundry). I am very careful when I am doing laundry to make sure they aren't in before operating the dryer or the washer.

Now I have to figure out how to bring more than one photo at a time. Life is so interesting at times. Instead of getting easier, it just gets more complicated.

At My Wits End

For some ungodly reason, I can no longer upload my personal photos to my blog. It works for other images, but not my photos. I have tried everything, short of a new computer. I keep getting Internet Explorer Cannot Display The Web Page. It also states that I may not have a connection to the internet. For God's sake, I have DSL and am always connected. I also get the following: JavaScript:void(0). I researched that and found that it usually means a damaged scripting engine. Say, what? I downloaded WINDOWS SCRIPT 5.6 ~ Not sure if I have those numbers correct.

I purchased RegCure and ran a scan, with the result of finding 1128 errors all over the place. Every one of those errors was corrected. I cleaned my cache, refreshed the page, you name it, I tried it, still to no avail. I thought about switching over to Mozilla FireFox but since I have Internet Explorer 7, decided it wasn't worth it to switch. IE7 is just as good as FireFox according to the research I did. I also updated to a newer version of where I keep my photos plus I put a check mark in front of enable java console. I have run out of ideas.

So unless a miracle happens I will not be posting any of the photos that I take. Other images will just have to do. Of course, if anyone out there has any suggestions, I am open to try anything and everything.

Hello 2007: