SAD SITUATION

OIL runs as fast as it

can to our Lake Michigan..it's a

tragedy. So much will be damaged for so long a time now. It's a sad day in

Michigan.

TEN AND TWO...

I don't know about you, but I had a pretty strict driver's training instructor. He was a retired sheriff deputy. He believed in the ten and two hands on the steering wheel plan. "You will always have control over the wheel when you do this." Okay.. that lasted only as long as the class and the driver's test. I think if both hands are on the wheel then you have it under control.Heck, even one that is in the right spot and tightly holding it can work. I keep my hands mostly at 9 and 3. I see a lot of men with one hand at 12 and the other on the back of the seat or around the gal of his choice. Sometimes the guy rests one hand on the gear shift if the car is not an automatic drive. What about the people who use their cell phones? Those people use one hand and it could be anywhere on the wheel. Do they really have control of the wheel?

Sis drives mostly with her hands at 9 and 5. A friend I know drives with their hands at 7 and 5..having your hands so high on the wheel..does that really matter?
My dad used to drive with his right hand at 3 and his arm out the window, except for wintertime. People who use their speed controls, well they can steer their cars pretty easily with one hand almost anywhere on the steering wheel. So people can drive whatever way they want to, but do they really have control? I always worry about the deer here in Michigan jumping out in front of you. You have no control over what they do, but you need to have control over your vehicle. SO where are
your hands on the wheel?

Well, it was just something I was pondering the other day while watching a guy eat, drive and talk on the phone at the same time. Would I do that? HECK NO...I have driven and eaten at the same time on occasion, but nothng like a meal or
anything. My car is NOT in a no cell phone zone, I do use it in the car, mostly while NOT driving though. Texting costs me a lot so I don't do that sort of thing, but my hands are on the wheel when the car is moving.

I WISH US ALL SAFE HOURS BEHIND THE WHEEL....

AHHHH A SUNSET...

See more in my facebook album..after so many storms rolled through we finally got to see

a beautiful sunset.

BRRRRR IT's HOT OUTSIDE....

Isn't that cool looking! Ahhh right now I could
just jump in that snowpile. We had over a foot
in this picture. In honor of my "sister" in who
lives UPNORTH..HAPPY BIRTHDAY CINDY!!
*********************************************************************
Last night we had two tornado warnings that lasted until
past 1 AM in the morning. It was a pretty tricky night
watching and waiting for the next report. Our great
station here went on live on the internet so people could
follow if they weren't close to a tv. It was great hearing
their live comments to each other and the latest information
BEFORE they went on air with it. The storms we have had
seem to be following the same track across our state over
and over and over. Some cities are just drenched today with
INCHES of rain and more to come. We had the high winds and
hail and rain but the worst went south of us here by about 10
miles or so. I was sure glad. I didn't feel like getting Mom up
at that hour and disturbing her sleep.
So it's a long day today and a hot one. I just couldn't stand it
out there so I decided I would like to look at something COLD.
HOPE YOU DO TOO!!

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A COOL, SAFE AND GREAT WEEKEND!!

Hawaii Five 0 Intro

DID you know that CBS is re-making Hawaii Five O? It will be on the fall schedule this year. I loved this theme song and the show a lot. I am old school though. I don't think they should re-do MAGNUM PI or ROCKFORD FILES..those shows just wouldn't be the same. I have seen some commercials about the new series. They are still using the theme song, but of course have changed all the characters. CBS has made ratings with these older shows so I guess they are looking for ratings with this new re-do. Some of my favorites are not coming back this fall season so I guess I will be looking for new shows to watch. I will give this show a watch and see what I think of it. If nothing else I will love seeing the scenery again. I think they should make the show stand for itself though. If I hear the guy say "BOOK'EM DANNO", I think I will just be sad though. Remembering the show the way it was will always be a part of me. I guess I am just not fond of change at all. Do you remember this show??

DISASTER

DISASTER. It's a good word for it. I have always always treated any computer I am using with respect and pampered them greatly. No using videos or playing games or even listening to CD'S. Nothing but use for writing and e-mails. When problems came up I took care of them right away, or as soon as I could.
Let me start from the beginning..

It was a unsteady night for me.. up and down all night long, too hot, too noisy,too worried over how Mom was doing. I sat straight up in the bed with a jolt. Was that the bell I heard? The one I gave mom in case she needed me. I listened again to see if it was. Then I heard it again, only this time she was calling out for me. My heart racing, I took the stairs on a run.My bare feet touching the rough steps. It seemed like it took forever to get down the 14 steps.Being careful not to fall on the way down was hard as I was shaking like a leaf. As I headed for the bedroom I heard a faint cry again. Turning on the light, I saw her laying on the floor in a heap. I told her to lie still so I could assess her and tell if anything was broken. She said she wasn't
in pain so much as mad at herself for not being more careful. Something I had drilled into her a million times over. Finding that she indeed was not badly injured was a sheer relief. Next I had to figure out how to get her up off the floor.
I looked at the clock and it was 3:35 in the morning. Too early to call a neighbor or my sister for help. No way I could get her up off the floor by myself I decided to
call for help from the paramedic service. Mom told me she was alright so I went back up the stairway to get something to wear before calling the medics.

Still shaking and heart pounding, I dressed quickly and looked around the room for my shoes and I saw my laptop sitting next to the doorway. I probably wouldn't be coming back up the stairs for awhile, so I decided to take it with me
on the trip down. I grabbed the case by the strap and slung it over my shoulder.
I ran for the stairway with portable phone in my hand. As I got to the top of the stairs I heard a thump. In my haste to get back down the stairway, I had not checked the laptop case. I could not reach fast enough, the laptop slid out of the half unzipped case, and fell down the 14 stairs to the bottom. Such a sound I
will NEVER forget as long as I live. I just stared at the remains at the bottom of the stairway in disbelief and shock. I slowly took each step one at a time.

I could hear mom in the other room asking what had happened. I could hear the clock striking 4 AM. When I reached the bottom of the stairway, I reached and picked up the shattered remains of my laptop. Putting them aside, I called the paramedics to come for a "lift-assist". Trying to make Mom comfortable on the floor wasn't too bad. The medics showed up in no time at all and she was all settled back in bed. After they left, I noticed that I was still shaking some, and sat down on the couch.I focused my eyes on the pieces of my laptop on the coffee table. It might be fixable somehow I thought... and then I noticed a big crack in the top of the display monitor. I sighed and was relieved that it wasn't me
that was at the bottom of that stairway. Things could be replaced I guess..people could not. Mom was okay and so was I and that was all that mattered.

THEN I WOKE UP...

I looked around the room and there sat the laptop safe and sound. I listened and there was no call for help. Was it a nightmare?.. YES.. was it a premonition,who knows. I only know because of it, I will be very vigilant and check the case and make sure I zip it closed ALWAYS, because if I don't it could lead to DISASTER.

P.S. This morning (7/20/10) at 1:10 AM Mom woke me ringing the bell. She had
taken her bandages from dialysis off too early and was bleeding on her bed and clothing. Talk about weird. And so it goes on~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A LOOK BACK IN TIME..

Dad told me that when I was little I went on a plane ride and he could prove it. The nice man he worked for owned several gas stations all over the state. In order to do business he had to get places fast.. so he flew a plane into their small airports, did the business and flew back home . Dad worked in a foundry, but had a part time job in a gas station too. He was saving money to buy a house. So one day dad went with him to the airport and took me with him.Dad had planned to just take pictures of his new plane.

Well now the camera came in handy, next thing I knew dad took this of me and the pilot!He asked dad if he could take me up for a short ride. AS young as I was dad was slightly apprehensive, but said yes... MOM would have said NO!

I remember nothing at all about it. Dad told me

the pilot said I cried when we lifted off the ground. He circled the airport and then came back down. When he got back to where dad was.. dad said I grabbed hold of him with a "death grip". TO THIS DAY.. I hate small planes with a passion. I will NOT fly in one.. no way, no how.. I don't even like the 12 seater commuter planes. I don't mind the large planes, but the smaller ones NO WAY!! I think I was so traumatized that I still have some kind of repressed memory or something. Anyway.. I have been looking for the dress up photo and ran across a whole bunch of old ones that even I laughed at. I was a chubby little baby and a chubby little girl for awhile. {If there is a way to scan more than one photo at a time I sure would like to know...doing one at a time is time consuming} so here is one to laugh at ..

This picture was taken in Tennessee at my grandpa's farm . You can see the cows in the background. I have that look on my face again.. I was terrified to stand out under the trees for fear of the snakes I had seen falling from them.

DO NOT remember it at all.. SO weird it is like looking back on someone else's life. It sure made me laugh..though. As you can see I am not a happy camper.

Well so much for the look back.. take time to look back at

some of your pictures today, you might just discover some

things you did not know about.. a get a good laugh out of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MY THOUGHTS ON...

There are a few thoughts bothering me these days about things that are going on..

ONE is the darn CAP on that well. I just don’t get all the problems they are having I guess and think that they should have already planned on emergency situations and how to solve them LONG LONG ago. Makes a person wonder with so many wells in our waters who ELSE doesn’t have a clue on how to STOP THE FLOW.

TWO is The Montana school system is trying to set into motion teaching 5 and 6 year olds sex education in Kindergarten. Maybe kids are smarter now than they were back in “my day”, but some kids have been protected from all that stuff. If one state passes it then others will surely follow them. Some kids are slower than others and clumping them all together like that and trying to tell them things they are not ready for .. well it just isn’t right and that is just my thought on it.

THREE is All this HoopLa over the darn tapes that have surfaced of Mel Gibson’s ranting. If the guy was DRUNK and or on something he probably doesn’t even remember what he said at all. Physically harming someone is something all together different though. He KNEW what he was doing then. He clearly has a problem that needs to be addressed and everyone should just chill out and let him deal with it, that is IF he is ready to say he has a problem.



FOUR is People can change. I changed bigtime. I HATED laptops. They made my eyes hurt they were so this and that. Then I got my own. I wasn’t using someone else’s and started to see the use of one as a necessity. It literally saved me HOURS on-line time and the convenience of having it with me was and is so useful.I disliked FACEBOOK too. I came around recently to think that maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. Just place what info you want on there and leave out what you want to. New security things have helped too. I won’t place my name and personal info on there, but Ido like keeping in touch with others really fast. The pros outway the CONS here in my way of thinking now.

WELL those are just some of the things that I have been mulling over in my mind lately. Glad I could get them down here and move on.

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!

CAMP DAYS!

Remember those days when you were young and carefree. Boy that was a long time ago for me and maybe you too. Anyway.. today I came out of the store and heard

screaming.. well more like a high pitched squealing. I looked up and saw two large buses sitting in the parking lot. As I got closer I saw the name on the side of the bus.

It was a camp bus. So many kids yelling and most of them were getting off the bus.

Parents meeting the bus and one mother brought a surprise for her daughter. A puppy with a bow and ribbon around it's neck. The young lady couldn't have been more than 12 or 13. She was jumping up and down and just squealing with delight.

The pup looked like a miniature dachshund. Cute as could be. Pretty soon a large semi showed up with all the kids belongings. Back in my day, the kids brought their things in with a sleeping bag roll and that was that.NO semi hauling them. These kids had suitcases on wheels and many duffel's each. It was a real eye opener. Camp must have changed over the years with all the technology and such.I sort of think of camp as a "get away from it all place." A place to enjoy the outdoors and the companionship of

new friends without the computers and Ipods and gaming items. Maybe it is true..

the more you grow up the more things change and then maybe they don't!

DID YOU GO TO CAMP WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG? DID YOU ENJOY IT?

THREE COLORS

I loved these Hydrangeas and the three colors in one plant.

They are growing in front of an empty home that is for

sale. Sad that a family is missing all that beauty.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME..

Music blasted from a house nearby late into the night. I could hear it over the top of my air conditioner. What a way to start my birthday. I decided at 1:30 AM that I would sleep in today. I wouldn't get up at 5 AM like I have been with Mom lately. I felt I needed this day to do what I wanted to. At 7:00, a whole
two hours later, I gave Mom her breathing treatment and made sure she had her meds.She decided she would make her own breakfast today. I was pleased because I knew she was getting over her illness.
I found my way back up the 14 stairs to my room where I piled back in the bed for another hours rest. It felt divine!


I decided to check my e mails and low and
behold I found many birthday greetings waiting for me. What a joy.. it sure brought up my spirits. It seems like a year since Mom got sick and our whole world changed. There are not many times when you have much to celebrate about unless you try and find them. Mom only knew what day of the week it was. That is normal for her right now, I didn't feel bad about it..only sad. She remembered last year.. so much has occurred since then.

The center called and we had to leave earlier than usual. We were glad because this meant we could get home before 8 pm. The whole day is lost to us because we don't LIVE in the same town as the treatment center. There is NO leaving town anymore now that mom is unstable during her treatments. Sis had the day off
so she came along too. We spent 3 hours inside the public library reading and
using the laptop. (Without it I surely go insane.)If you don't live in town you can only use their computers for 30 minutes a day. Try doing it all in 30 minutes..
I sure can't do much.
We both nearly fell asleep,it is so quiet in there. The library in this town is so different from our own town. The rules are strictly ENFORCED. You won't hear cell phones or people talking much, even the children are quiet.
Sis and I had dinner at Taco Bell. I am not fond of it, but I didn't have to cook
it so that satisfied me.I had an ice cream cone for dessert that was so good. Hadn't had one in a long time. It literally melted in minutes due to the high temps we
were having. I could hardly lick fast enough.
Picked up mom from treatment and headed home. On the way, Sis informs me
that she thinks she has POISON IVY!
OH LORD..... I hope she kept the oil from coming to our house..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

WHAT'S THE DEAL???

While making my strawberry pie I had to access some cornstarch. Yes it comes in a box. What I want to know is who's brilliant idea that was? I mean when you get so far down into the box your whole arm is covered with the stuff. You can not get a tiny measuring spoon into there and so you have to shake the darn box to get it to come to the opening. When you finally get it to the opening you get it all over the countertop and your body. Well.. at least I did anyway. Sputtering to myself, I thought who the heck puts this stuff in a box anyway? Why? I mean baking powder is in a can..most kinds are. Baking soda is in a small box so you can access it well. Maybe this cornstarch is so cheap to produce you can easily put it in a larger container who knows. I got covered in the stuff and that made me decide enough was enough and I put it all in a lock and lock container. Easy to access and refill. No mess or waste. I do put flour and sugar etc in a different container why not cornstarch? So that dilemma taken care of.. I got to thinking..what else can I box up? UH OH.. find me a container...~~~~~~~~~~