Another Angel Is Among Us

And God asked the feline spirit Are you ready to come home? Oh, yes, quite so, replied the precious soul And, as a cat, I am most able To decide anything for myself
Are you coming then? asked God. Soon, replied the whiskered angel But I must come slowly. For my human friends are troubled.

For you see, they need me, quite certainly. But don't they understand? asked God That you'll never leave them? That your souls are intertwined for all eternity? That nothing is created or destroyed? It just is...forever and ever and ever.

Eventually they will understand, Replied the glorious cat. For I will whisper into their hearts That I am always with them I just am...forever and ever and ever.
******************************************************

Rest in peace sweet baby, you will be missed forever and ever...

Another Addition

My posts will be a lot less than normal for a few weeks because I am currently raising another little one that is approximately four weeks old, maybe a week to a week and a half older. It's hard to tell because I don't know when he was born.

After observing him for about three days, last Friday I decided to bring him into the house for a bath and also to try and raise him myself. He seemed to be very neglected and was just wandering around by himself. A very good telltale sign was a dirty hind end including his legs and tail.

It's not exactly what I had planned since I felt three cats in the house was plenty but this one couldn't be helped. I couldn't let him starve to death or freeze either since the weather changed from really nice to cold and ugly.

So I will be devoting a lot of my time and energy to him. In another week or so I can get him to the vet since they won't see kittens before six weeks for shots, etc. He will get his name (which I have already picked out) when he goes to the vet. Until then, nobody knows it but me.

This isn't a photo of him, but it's very close to what he looks like.

The Giants Pulled ANother One Out

31-27 over the Arizona Cardinals

At least one good thing happened on Sunday. I won't go into detail about the Cup race and how Dale Jr. did because it's nothing to write home about. And that's all I'm going to write.

Just Dew It

A sneak peak at Dale Jr's ride for 2012 starting with the Daytona 500.

Diet Mountain Dew will be his major sponsor along with National Guard and Amp (which is his major sponsor for 2011).

This is a Dale Jr.-designed car from start to finish. I think he did a great job.

A Very Busy Three Days

My birthday was on Friday the 23rd and my husband's birthday was on Sunday the 25th. We usually celebrate both birthdays on one day but this year we celebrated them over the course of three days.

On Friday we started our weekend by going here:

This was the kick-off of the three days of eating. The food was good but I didn't over-eat, something that can be easily done at that place.

On Saturday we went to America On Wheels. It opened in April of 2008 and is not far from where we live but we just never got around to visiting the place. It is a museum that celebrates the heritage of over-the-road transportation in the US.  There are all types of vehicles including many old trucks, motorcycles, cars etc.  They recently opened a '50's style eatery inside called The Hub Cap Cafe but it was closed due to a private party.  Someone was celebrating their 60th birthday.  It was a raucous crowd...we took a peek in the door.

The old building on the right is part of a former meat packing company that was well-known in downtown Allentown, PA.  It's nice that the museum kept that part and just built around it.

When we left there we ate at this place:

This was only our second visit to RT's and I enjoy going there, too, but we don't visit it enough to suit me.   We both enjoyed one of their hand-crafted burgers which are large enough to feed two.  That is why half of mine came home with me.

On Sunday we finally got around to going here:

I am so glad we saved this for last.   It was worth the wait.  They aren't open that long and we finally used the gift card my daughter and her boyfriend gave us for Christmas.  I don't know what took me so long to go there, but once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator.  I guess I am as bad as my husband when it comes to being one of those.

If you have one of these nearby I suggest you pay them a visit.  Be forewarned though...they're not cheap.  But the food is fantastic and we will be going again.  But I highly doubt I will be ordering one of their desserts.  We both chose the cheesecake drizzled with strawberry sauce with a few berries and a small dollop of whipped cream.  Over the past years whenever we ordered cheesecake the piece given was always so small you could hardly see it on your plate.  Well let me tell you that the cheesecake we got at this place was humongous.  I couldn't believe my eyes when she placed it in front of me.  But I had no trouble downing the entire piece and enjoying every bite of it.  It is probably the last piece of cheesecake I will be having and it was the first piece of cheesecake I have had in a thousand years.

Bon apetit!

And Now The Fun Begins...Not

I did something stupid again. Yeah, I use that phrase a lot.

This past Monday I received an email alert from one of the larger places that sell all kinds of racing memorabilia for just about any driver on the NASCAR circuit. I have ordered from them a lot over the years.

The offer that I got seemed like a good one, so I chose some items for Christmas gifts, gave my credit card information, and off I went to do something else.

The next day I got another email from the same company with a greater offer and decided I would also order the two items I almost ordered the day before but had decided not to.

Again, I gave my credit card information and was on my way. I used the same credit card. I only have two and I always pay them off every month no matter what the amount is. Sometimes there isn't an amount because I don't order that often.

On the third day I received another email from the same company...alerting me to the fact that my credit card was declined by V*sa on the second order. OK, now I am confused. If they took it Monday for an order, why was it turned down on Tuesday for another order? I checked my order at their website and sure enough it said right across the top: Cancelled. Well, how rude is that?

I whipped off an email to their customer service asking what was going on, why was my credit card good one day and not the next? I also called the number provided but had to leave voicemail since it was after hours. I hate when companies do that: send you emails to call them but they're no longer on the premises and you have to wait till the next day, and by then you are all calmed down and the urge to kill is gone. Takes all the fun out of life, doesn't it?

They called me the next day. The fault lay at my feet. I gave the wrong credit card information the second time. It is the new check card I just got from the bank and I haven't activated it yet, but I had added it to my list of cards.  I had crossed the good one out when I added it so on that second day my brain deleted the good card numbers and saw only the non-activated card numbers. I don't blame V*sa for declining the card because they probably figured the card had fallen into the wrong hands and someone was up to no good.  They didn't know they were dealing with stupid.

The good news is, my order was still intact and it is on its way to me. At least I hope it is. I received another email today stating that fact. However, that email told me my Ryan Newman Bass Pro Shops diecast was on its way. Ryan Newman? Really? I don't even like Ryan Newman. Well, I like him ~ just not as a fan.

I sent a reply to that email telling them they have their information wrong, do not send me a diecast (geez, they cost around $90 these days), just send me the two t-shirts of Dale Jr. that I initially ordered thank you very much.

It doesn't get any better than this, folks. I just cannot get rid of that darn bulls-eye on my back.

Monday, Monday

Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be.

Those are the first two lines of that Mamas and Papas song.  Some of you might remember it, some won't.  No matter, after Monday's good fortune I began singing it and couldn't get it out of my head.  Now I know why.

The race at Chicagoland in Joliet IL was rained out on Sunday so it was held Monday.  Junior started 19th.  It was the first of ten races in the Chase For The Championship, and Junior finished 3rd.  Can you believe that?  Third!  And he went from 10th in the points to 5th. 

The Giants beat the Rams 28-16 on Monday Night Football. 

It doesn't get any better than that. 

Monday, Monday... 

It Was Just A Simple Flu Shot

...or so we thought.

It was a year ago today when we walked into the store that rhymes with Tall-Tart when we saw this sign above.  That was our first mistake.  The nurse that took our cards said it was only our primary insurance card that was needed.  At least that's what I thought she said.  That was the second mistake.  Somehow in my mind I believe our insurance information didn't go through correctly and I had to give them the right information many months later.  I think she asked for the wrong card even though I protested and thought she was wrong, so I'm still a little hazy on what actually took place that day.  But what has happened since then is/was a tad of a nightmare for me.

The good thing is that as of now, the mess has finally been resolved and cleared up but the road getting to this point has been long, hard and rocky at best.  I will try and keep it short, but believe me it will be difficult.

The insurance we had last year covered flu shots 100%.  That was a given, no questions asked.  So you are now thinking if they are covered 100% whatever problem could culminate from that?  Oh dear Lord...go get a cup of whatever, pull up a chair, and listen to what I have to say:

Many months after our shots, we received two checks in the mail from the insurance company for those shots.  That is not how things are done.  The insurance company was supposed to send the checks to the lab that gave out the shots who had set up their little clinic for that purpose.

I called the insurance company and was instructed to send the checks back and was told at the time what to write on the front of the envlope so they get to the correct department.  I was only too glad to do that since it was long overdue for the lab to receive their portion from the insurance company and they were already hounding me for payment.  No amount of explaining to them as to what happened would soothe the person I was talking to at the lab.  Which is in Arizona, by the way...clear across the country from where I reside. 

Because I thought at the time that my problem was resolved, I did not document anything, nor did I write down the name and number I was instructed to write on that return envelope.  That was my third mistake.  Now it's three strikes and I am out.  Every month thereafter I received a bill from the lab looking for their money.  I felt it would take the insurance company awhile to convert those checks they sent us and forward new ones to the lab.  Wrong!  

Many months later I finally called the insurance company to find out why the bill wasn't being paid by them to the lab.  They had no record of receiving those checks from me.  Good grief!  Now my panties were in a bunch.  Meanwhile the bills from the lab are never-ending.  So I called them this past April and the person I talked to said she would look into it.   She did and she got my bill paid by the insurance company in May.  At that time I thought my husband's was paid because we were not receiving any bills for his.  Once mine was paid we then started getting bills from the lab for my husband's flu shot.  All I could think was, here we go again, round and round...

I called the lab, I called the insurance company, and at that point I would have called the Governor or anyone else that would listen to my dilemma, which I knew was useless so I didn't call anyone else.  The point is, when I called the lab I was told to call the insurance company, and when I called the insurance company, you guessed it, I was told to call the lab.  I got frustrated and decided to try and forget about the entire situation thinking it would go away.  But every month another bill would arrive from the lab.  The nice thing is they never threatened us, never hinted about a collection agency, and that is why I wasn't too concerned at that point and I had hoped that eventually between the two of them they would get it fixed.

My last phone call to the lab finally got through the head of the person I spoke to because I said if my bill was paid why isn't my husband's bill being paid, since we both got the shot at the same place, at the same time, with the same insurance company, and using our same cards.  I wanted to talk to the person that resolved mine and was told she no longer worked there.  And to make things worse the person I was talking to needed to talk to my husband due to that privacy law and my husband wasn't home.  I said I would have him call her when he was available.  Apparently I had found another saint, because she started working on the problem as soon as I reluctantly hung up the phone not wanting to let go of that precious lifeline I had with her.

That afternoon, before my husband came home, the lab called to let me know they had received payment from the insurance company and the account was now closed.  Can you say relieved? 

This year's flu shots will be given by the drug store affiliated with our current insurance company.  I will make darn sure things go correctly.

******************************

On another issue with the same insurance company, I had blood work done last November.  That was another merry-go-round for me and I am happy to say it was resolved and has also been paid at the end of last month.  My doctor's office used the wrong codes when they sent the claim to the insurance company and I didn't find that out for quite some time.  That lab threatened a collection agency in not so many words, but I could read between the lines.  Back in July when I saw my doctor and told him about it he said it would be taken care of.  It took them over a month and that was not without a few phone calls from me to stick a pin in their behind.

We have new insurance this year, and so far things are moving along quite smoothly.  Keeping my fingers crossed big time.

  

OK Already, I'll Write Something

My reason for not writing can be blamed on the weather.

All this rain just made me so blue that I went into hibernation.

Nah, not really.

But I did build a boat.

Nah, not really.

OK, seriously, with all this rain we decided to check out a location that usually floods. I took my camera. I was a little disappointed when we didn't find anything. But I guess I should be glad because that means nobody in our general area was affected.

Places to the north, east, south, and west of us all had severe flooding. Hershey Park lost two of its bison because the water rose so suddenly they couldn't find higher ground and both drowned. How sad is that.

The sun came out today. I forgot what that was like. My cats outside were basking in the warmth and loving every minute of it. The ones that choose not to use the greenhouse to get out of the rain find shelter elsewhere and I imagine they aren't the best places to stay warm and dry.

Today is the last NASCAR race before the Chase. Yeah, I know that rhymes but I am too tired at this point to make anything out of it. What I am trying to say is that Dale Jr. is hanging on to 9th place by the skin of his teeth and he has to really roll up his sleeves and finish 20th or better in tonight's race if he wants to stay in the Chase.

I guess this will have to do until I come up with something brilliant to write about.  Uh...don't hold your breath, I'm not that talented.

Can't Catch A Break No How

Geez, I thought it was safe to go into the water, especially after having to fret through a hurricane and its aftermath and having to wonder why the ground was shaking a few days prior to the hurricane. Isn't that enough for one week? Do we need any more drama than that? Apparently so. let me explain...

My husband and I were sitting peacefully watching 20/20 tonight because the NASCAR race in Atlanta was being inundated by the remnants of tropical storm Lee and eventually was canceled till Tuesday morning.

At 9:45 the phone rang. Well, you know what they say about phone calls so late at night. It's never good. It was a recording from our water company and as it turned out, it wasn't good.

To make a long story short, we were told to boil our water before drinking, brushing our teeth, washing our dishes, or preparing food. Ah, just what I need at 9:45 on a Sunday evening. So now my TV show is interrupted and I have to get myself into survivor mode. Not so much for me, but what about my cats? They drink water all the time. And I just cleaned their water fountain today. I'm glad I didn't put a new filter in because I would have had to throw it out. What really upsets me the most, I guess, is the fact that they never addressed the issue of pets drinking the water. Why is that? Well, my cats are like my children and I was not taking any chances.

Our spigots outside are still connected to our well so those cats outside are OK. One less thing to worry about. The water authority said the water could contain disease-causing organisms. Ewwwwwww...

Oh yeah, those organisms can cause symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, cramps, and associated headaches. So I don't particularly care to see my cats with stuff coming out of both ends.

My husband came to the rescue by going to the grocery store and bringing back a large supply of bottled water, because they don't expect to have this remedied until Thursday. I can only hope they are true to their word.

What next? Didn't I just ask that in a recent post?

Although we never lost power during the recent hurricane, we finally did something that we have been talking about for years. We bought a generator. We have lived in this house 25 years and in all that time we have lost power only once for quite some time. It wasn't long enough to have the food in both freezers thaw, but it did give me a lot of anxiety wondering if and when that would happen.

And now that we have this generator, I am sure we will never lose power because that is just the way things go with us.

On the other hand, I fried my microwave two nights ago. I was going to make baked potatoes like I always do. I hit the button for potatoes and after many minutes I finally tuned in to the sound of the microwave. It did not sound right at all. It was getting louder, as if it were kind of yelling at me. I walked over, looked inside, and saw nothing. Nothing! I quickly turned it off, took the potatoes that were setting right beside the door, and shoved them inside. They took quite long to get done, but they did get soft enough to eat.

Then I thought while I was on a kick I may as well try to heat the pickled red beets. No dice. My next step was to do the water test. I put water in a measuring cup and set the timer for three minutes. When the three minutes was up I stuck my finger into the water. It was as cold as when I put it in, and it was then that I knew my poor microwave done croaked. With my help.

We bought it in November 2008 so it isn't even three years old yet. I had a microwave that lasted well over 20 years, but the ones they make today are two- to three-year-old throw-aways. That's just the American way.

We Survived!

The best part (if there is one) about Hurricane Irene is that she arrived after I went to sleep and for the most part she was pretty much gone when I woke up. The nasty high winds lasted long after the rain stopped though. We have a lot of tree limbs down and there are leaves all over the yard, but other than that everything seems to be OK. We never lost power, although my daughter did.

My first duty this morning was to go downstairs and check the basement and make sure it was still dry. After what happened to us back in 2008, I don't want to take any chances.

All the cats outside found shelter somewhere, with a lot of them hanging out in the greenhouse. And that included the latest kitten that is around two weeks old. The cats were my biggest concern when I heard nasty Irene was going to sail over our house for a bit.

First the earthquake, then a hurricane...now I am left to wonder what is next for this little corner of the world. Any ideas? No, don't tell me. I worry enough as it is.

What Next?

First an earthquake and now a hurricane. I don't know which way to turn. Dear me. I think I will climb into bed, snuggle under the covers, and stay there till sometime next week.

 Every living thing in this house (one person, three cats) will just have to help themselves because I do not like storms of any kind. Especially those that have wind and rain in them. No way, no how...I never did like the name Irene. And I don't mean to offend anyone with that name who is reading this now. I apologize. But I still don't like it.

Earthquake!

As I sat at the dining room table reading the newspaper and having a cup of coffee, my chair was being attacked it seemed. My biggest cat, Junior, usually bullies that chair and I thought he was just doing his normal thing of putting his paws at the seat edge and pushing. I told him to stop and when he didn't I looked down and all around the chair and he wasn't there. But the chair was still being pushed.

It was one of those hmmmmm moments. I looked up at the chain hanging from our overhead fan and it was dancing and jumping back and forth. But the fan was on and I thought that may be the cause of the chain's movement. Finally, I looked at my philodendron plant and the leaves were waving like a small gust of wind went through the plant. It was at that very moment when the hmmmmm became WTF.

OK, so we have huge quarries in our area with one behind our house. It's far enough away but when they blast we can feel it slightly rock the ground. But never like what I was feeling today. It felt, actually, like something big was outside the house and pushing it back and forth...so I stuck my head out the front door to see if perhaps a car kissed the house. Or maybe the Jolly Green Giant was in town and nobody told me. Nope. I then walked from room to room looking out each window to see the cause of the movement and still saw nothing.

Giving up, I sat back down and continued on with my paper and coffee. Ten minutes later the phone rang. It was my daughter. She said she had just gotten up from a long nap when her phone rang. It was her boyfriend's father calling her to tell her we just had an earthquake. Wow, I never gave that one a thought. That would have been my last guess.

I've never experienced an earthquake. Older than dirt and yet the dirt has never moved me.

I checked it out on the computer and sure enough, we had a 5.9 'quake that emanated from Virginia and was felt as far north as Rhode Island and even into parts of Canada. They are saying on the news channels that this was the strongest one we've had in a hundred years. Gosh, I feel honored.

Great Game

41-13, NY Giants beat the chicago Bears.

The King Is Dead...Burger, That Is

I'm a grown-up (at least I think I am), but BK's mascot always scared the you-know-what out of me. Especially when he appeared in their TV commercials within the past year. I'm not sad to see him go, not in the least.

I always thought he was a deterrent rather than a plus in their advertisements and always questioned the Madison Avenue commercial gurus that elevated him to such extremes.

I have always preferred BK over Mickey D's and I still do. But since I stopped eating fast food hamburgers due to their fat content, not to mention crazy calories, my preference as to where we go for a quick bite to eat has changed.

Now, it's whichever place is closest when the hungries hit us.

So, goodbye King, your time has come and you are finally gone. I won't miss you.

To Grill Or Not To Grill

There wasn't a week gone by that we never had food on the grill at least once. Sometimes it was a couple times during the week, too. But that was when I could go out to the deck through the patio doors to get to the grill. Not anymore. The doors have plastic sheeting on the outside and the inside has duct tape all around it. Welcome to my world!

Those things were done before winter set in. It seems a lot of cold air was coming in via the windows and all around the casing, too. So my husband did a quick fix. And now he figures it will keep the hot air out during the summer. Winter is looming ahead with nothing being done one way or the other. But I digress...

I was fairly happy I could no longer get to the grill because to be honest with you, I was getting tired of grilling. And I certainly wasn't going to be checking on the stuff on the grill while it was cooking by going out the front door and walking around the side of the house to get to the back yard where the grill was. That's asking an awful lot of me.

Of course, I could still grill in the driveway and pretend I was a redneck. Did I just write that? I don't mean to offend, because I would do that if I really wanted to and not think anything of it. I just don't want to grill anymore.

What I'm really getting at here is I will use every excuse in the book so I don't have to cook on the grill. Why, you ask? It's simple ~ after doing it all my married life (it all started with a hibachi) I finally put my foot down and said enough. Grilling, to me, is a man's job. Most men I know love to grill. My father always did it, my brother and most other men in my immediate family all take to the grill like a duck takes to water. So how did I get stuck with doing it, not only in my first marriage but my second one also.

And so another chapter in my life comes to an end. Since my husband has never grilled his entire life, I'm the one that is the loser with my choice to stop doing it. And the German part of me refuses to start doing it once again. It's been quite a few years since I wielded a spatula over a grill and I am not about to start again. I will quit while I am ahead.

On the other hand...if I had something like this I just might change my mind. I said might, so don't get too excited:

Sons of Anarchy Season 4

This is my all-time favorite show besides Rescue Me (last season this year) and Justified which will not return until early next year for the third season. I was glad to see Timothy Olyphant was nominated for an Emmy for Justified.

Back to Sons of Anarchy:
When we left Jax Teller at the end of Season 3, this is what he looked like:

Pretty scruffy, huh?
And this is what he will look like when Season 4 begins on September 6th:

I will admit, I was a little shocked when I first saw his new 'do but the longer I looked at him, the more I liked him. He cleans up pretty nicely.

From what I have read, 14 months have passed from the last season to the start of this season and since the boys were in the slammer, Jax decided to go short while incarcerated. That was for the show, but I think the haircut was the result of a movie he did and he had to have shorter hair.

Either way, he looks yummy to me.

I Have One Child And I Am Blessed

When I was growing up I never could relate to kids. As I got older into my 20's, that didn't change much. Until my sister had her first daughter. Then I wanted one too. And I wanted one right that very minute. Yes, I was married at the time. We weren't exactly the picture-perfect couple and we did have our moments, but I didn't care...I wanted my very own little girl.

She did't come easy. Her father had problems. His little swimmers weren't exactly Olympic champions. So off to the hospital I went to have a device inserted to help those little swimmers get to where they needed to go and do their business. There was nothing wrong with my innards, but his were very questionable. To make a long story short, I had an operation so I could have children. But I only wanted one child. And it had to be a girl. I was given three months for it to happen. And happen it did...at the last possible moment of the last month.

Back then we weren't privy to what sex the child would be. We had to rely on the needle test or some other crazy voodoo way of trying to tell what it would be. I always said it had better be a girl because if I had a boy I would leave him at the hospital. And I wasn't kidding. I didn't think I had it in me to raise a boy. Besides, I wasn't planning on staying with the father.

And so, seven years after she was born, I left him. I walked away from a 3 bedroom brick ranch home that we built and had almost paid off. But that wasn't important to me. I needed to keep my sanity and also feared for my life. For those seven years I walked on eggs. He kept a shotgun in the house and only he knew where the bullets were. Eventually I got up the nerve to leave and in the middle of the night, while he was out drinking, we did just that.

I raised her on my own for the next eight years until the both of us were rescued by the man I am married to now. A saint and a savior.  He helped me raise my daughter through the toughest years:  the teens.  We must have done something right because she turned out absolutely fine.

My little baby girl is no longer little or a baby. But she is the only one I have because that's all I ever wanted. The Lord blessed me in many ways and I am very thankful for that. 

We're Off To See The Vet Today *Updated*

Doesn't she look nice and peaceful? She won't be that way once I get her in the softside carrier and we are on our way to the vet. She will whine and caterwaul like the dickens from the time we pull out of the driveway till we walk in the door at the vet.    Once we're inside she calms down right away.

She carries on like someone is torturing her. It hurts my ears. I have no idea where she thinks she's going and what we're going to do to her. Other than the shot she will be getting, this should be a breeze for her. Where do they get the idea we are taking them to some nasty place anyway?  Like I would ever do that...or even think of it.   

And we get to do this all over again in another month when Punkin' has his appointment. But he's easy. Yes, he cries, but because of his lack of vocal cords, it's not half as bad as Dakota and her wailing.

***************************************************

We almost didn't make the vet appointment today due to Dakota not wanting to get into the carrier. I had her in but she jumped out just that quickly. And the chase was on. Her first safe place to hide is under one of the sofas and there are three of those to choose from. First it was in the family room. I pulled everything to the middle of the room and that is when she ran into the living room where there is a three-seater and two-seater. Back and forth, back and forth...till I was frazzled beyond belief.

To make a long story short I was able to corner her and get her into the carrier. But by then the appointment was less than five minutes away and it is a 10-15 minute drive to the vet. I called ahead and they weren't sure about taking us and wanted to reschedule for later this afternoon. Not wanting to go through what I did already, I talked them into taking us because I assured them we would be there within ten minutes or less. And we were. And Dakota sang all the way to the vet and then all the way home. I think she is practicing for American Idol or maybe that new show, The Voice. She'd win, hands down.