Happy Memorial Day....

One of my favorites is Garrison Keillor. Two years ago George and I went to DC for Memorial Day weekend... We saw Garrison Keillor-Prairie Home Companion, at Wolftrap National Park. He did this piece which brought alot of us in the audience to tears, including George and I...

Here is a shortcut... enjoy: Shortcut

Tell me why it is some days are a breeze to get through, and others are torture.... I mean sheer torture from the time you open your eyes, till you close them again. I know this sounds wrong, but it seems on those days the only way I can be is miserable. I want to be carefree, and I want to be "happy" in the sense of my mood, since as an over all rule, I am happy with my life, it's just that certain day are just a chore.....

Well, yesterday and today are like that. I look forward to lunch, not just because it is an hour off, but because it is an hour off that signifies that half of my day is over.

And, I hate the fact that I am wishing my life away, because, I love my life, as an over all rule.

But if you really break this down, that could be just the problem. I love "my" life. I am fed up with my employers life. And... I resent the fact that I am dependent on my employers life, in order to have "my" life.

Does that mean my job is not satisfying..... You Betchya! But I consider myself lucky to have my job. And... I am fearful of losing my job in todays market. I am getting to that age where finding another job to replace this one will be extremely difficult. Yet, I am still young enough that I have a good 15 years before I could even toy with the ideas of retiring.

Maybe this is a mid life crisis... Hmmm, need to Google "Mid Life Crisis"

But, again, I don't suffer from the MLC on the weekends, or while I am on vacation....

I guess the final diagnosis is... I am bored with my job, but feel prisoner to it. So what do I do....

Well I ain't going back to school. I am not going to look for a new one....So I might as well just wait till this passes. What is that they say...."This too shall pass..." Hope it does! Cause I sure don't want to walk around like this much longer.....

No picture today... but yesterday someone looked at my blog and read it... How exciting is that....!!! Well, they wanted more details on something I wrote, and maybe one day I will get there... Still in that, "shy" mode.

Well thanks for the comment. Maybe it is silly that I think that is neat, but I do...

Back to work!!!

I would like to introduce Putzen. She is my 17 year old kitty (approximately).

You see her here laying in her Clementine box, which she took ownership of while it was waiting on the kitchen counter to be thrown in the garbage... Leave it to Putze, the former stray, to find something that would otherwise be considered garbage, to make use of it.

Putzen is a survivor, however here standards are high, you can be sure. That is why I consider myself to be pretty lucky to have been chosen by her to be worthy enough to want to share my home.

I found Putzen in 1991, outside the office I was working in at the time. As was my habit at the time, I was just getting over the break up of a relationship (which looking back, was one of the best things that ever happened to me.... the break-up that is, not the relationship). I was walking into work, and there she was, sitting outside the door.... So I looked at her, and she looked at me, and I said to her..."Oh no, don't even think about wanting to me... I have not time for this....Just decide on someone else. Sorry, I can't help you right now..." I walked into the office, around the corner, up the ramp, and who was sitting outside the sliding glass door, looking up at me, but the soon to be Putzen. So I put down my bag, took out $5.00, and headed over to Publix to buy some cat food.

I got back, and went out in the courtyard and fed her. From that day forward (Mid August 1991 to October 1991) I spent my lunch hours with her in the courtyard. And would even stop over on Sunday night on my way to dance lessons to feed her and spend 20 or so minutes with her. (Line dancing, nothing fancy) On Sunday night I would get there, walk over to the courtyard, call her and she would coming running across the roof (it was flat), and down the tree to my feet.

So, one afternoon she was sitting outside the front doors, looking in, it was after patients (medical legal orthopaedic practice), so the doctor was doing depositions, and an attorney, Monte Shoemaker came in and saw her, and asked if I knew who the cat belonged to. I said no one really, although I was feeding her, but didn't think I could take her in because I had a dog. He said, man, she is pretty ugly, I hate to see her alone out there, and that he might have a friend that would take her. I was happy and hurt at the same time. Happy because she might have a real home, and hurt because he called her ugly. My Putzen was NOT ugly!!!

Oh, side note. Putzen is a German verb, meaning to shine, make clean, polish. I named her that because... 1. I am German, 2. She has spots on her nose, and I thought she had a dirty nose the first time I saw her, and 3. she like most cats was always cleaning her self.

So, back to the story, Monte Shoemaker said that he would check with his freind and bring her by to see if she wanted to take the cat. He called me the next day to say he would be by that afternoon with his friend. So, at 4:00, I went out and got my Putzen, brought her in and she sat with me on my desk, on my work that I was working on (typical of a cat) and waited to Monte and his friend. By 5:15 he called and said that he would not be able to make it, but would let me know when he could.

I thanked him and told Putzen, I think that attorney and his friend just missed out on a pretty special girl. Afterall, he couldn't possibly have thought very much of you if he thought you were ugly. So I told her that she could come to live with me under one circumstance, and that was she needed to tolerate long trips in a car. So, when I went home that night, I took her for a ride. And you know what... she loved it. She sat on my lap and fell asleep. So I went back to the office. Told her I was going home to tell Gretchen (that was my big girl, a dog, part lab part dobie, and the best personality of any dog. I lost her in March of 2003, she was 13 years old), and get ready for her with food and bowls, and litter box, etc. But to be ready the next night, which happend to be a Friday, to move to Winter Springs.

And that is how I got Putzen. She's old now, has an over active thyroid, a heart murmur, but she is still the Queen. She doesn't take medicine, she loves the screen porch. Loves to have her feet above everyone elses, and especially loves her Clementine box, her house (cat bed in the shape of a house), and the 36 inch dog bed in the dining room, the warmest room in the house. I am not sure how much longer Putzen will be with us, but she will always and forever be in our hearts.

She wouldn't have it any other way, and neither would we!

Ok, so this is our house.... Mine and George's and we share it with Mathie, Wesley, Elke, Putzen, Hans and Henry. Mathie and Welsey are our dogs, (Mathie was mine and Wesley was George's, so now they are ours...) Elke and Putzen are our cats, Hans is our 20 year old Cockateil, and Henry is our 10 year old rabbit. Pretty nice huh? I would like more trees, but all in good time. And if I saved my pennies, maybe some day I will be able to have that small cabin or cottage somewhere, with lots of trees, and alot less people.

The balcony or terrace boxes hanging on the railing is my idea. Looks great with the right plats. When this picture was taken, the plants in there looked GREAT. The ones I have now still have to "evolve". That isn't saying that they will.

As you may or may not be able to tell. This is a townhouse. A really nice one I might add. We have a two car garage, a little courtyard, a screen porch. Everything I could possilbly want except for the trees. But the ones that are there will get bigger given time, and care.

I used to live in a townhouse, the next town (in Florida they are "cities") over. I lived there for 17 years, and was able to plant trees. Had an Oak in the front yard the was gorgeous, and I planted 3 in the back yard. A Pine (of some sort) a Water Oak (usually regarded as garbage trees, but I like them all) and a grapefruit tree I grew from a seed, when I was 13 years old in NY. On my window sill in my bedroom. So before I left there, I took about 10 or 12 seeds from a grapefruit, and planted them, and they gave me about 9 little sprouts, and from that I got about 6 sapplings. I gave 3 of them away, and kept 3 and will try to make container trees out of them.

My courtyard in this house is a constantly evolving project. I guess that is good. I planted broccoli, tomatoes, basil, parsely, rosemary, mint. Tryed to get Eggplant and cucumbers to grow, but nothing came of them. Oh yea... Chives too. I will try them again.

Well that is it for now.. More pictures to come. Makes it more interesting with pictures....

Well, back from Daytona, and looking forward to a weekend at home, doing what ever I feel like doing. After the normal weekend chores that is.

Tonight I think we are going to go bicycle riding. I hope so anyway. I need to try and drop some weight.

Had a weird dream last night. Dreamt that our Pet Sitter could not make it the weekend we are going to North Carolina. So, I had to ask this person from work, that I happen not to be very fond of, by the way, so I am not going to mention his name, not that anyone reads this.... Anyway, needless to say I was very apprehensive leaving my precious little ones under his care. So uncomfertable I was, I made myself wake up. Have you ever done that? I hate it when that happens.

Anyway, we are now in the market for a digital camera. I will be using it too. I will make myself use it.

That is about it for now. Nothing much happening around here lately.

Reading a great book. It is by Doug Marlette, called "The Bridge". It is about a cartoonist who grows up in North Carolina, went to school at Florida State, move to NY to work for a Long Island newpaper, and then due to various circumstances moves back to North Carolina. Anyway, it is good and would recommend it to anyone.

And last but not least I am going to try and make this blog more interesting. Maybe this weekend, when I have time to play with it....

Until next time...

Well I didn't have the sweet tea, I had a Sam Adams. In fact I had two Sam Adams! And George had two Sam Adams also. And they were good. Had a Ceasar Salad and a baked potato, and a cup of coffee. Very good.

Today I mail my Mother Day card, and read my book some more. It is hot today, but I think I will sit out on the balcony and read my book some more.

Tonight is the banquet, and tomorrow we go home.

Can't wait to see my kids. If George gets elected as a delegate for the National Convention in Philly, then we will be in Philadelphia in August. That will be pretty neat, since I have never been there, and if the hotel is in a decent area, I hope there will be lots to do.

Well better get down stairs and mail this card, then get back up here and call my Mom. Then, time to read my book and get lazy!!!

Home from camping... had a great time and will tell you about it when I have more time and have the pictures developed.

There are a couple of Blogs that I find very interesting, and maybe you will to... one is

http://www.doug-greens-gardening.blogspot.com

Another is http://www.wesleycanino.blogspot.com

Well, I have to admit, the second is because it is a video of my courtyard/patio at home. And that is continually evolving, and maybe one day it will be changed or a new video will replace it.... Heck it has changed since that video was put on there. Actually it is just a place that my sweetie is playing around with putting streaming video on the web, so who knows what will show up next.

Now the other is really neat. This guy I believe is in Canada, and he gives all kinds of tips on this blog, and his website, for all kinds of gardening... And, if you e-mail him with a question, he will answer it... I e-mailed him to ask him if he has any advise or information for gardening in Florida, and he answered me.... and he was honest. I mostly look at his blog now, and it is very interesting. But then again, I love gardening....

In fact one day I hope to have a small vacation home somewhere, where I am off somewhere, can have an outdoor garden, and maybe even a change of season. Not that I don't love my home now... I do, but a house in the woods... would be perfect. Idealistic as well, but that is ok.... I can dream. I may not get exactly what I dream for, but I may get close.

Gotta go....

You are not going to believe this.... I went home and went on line to order the dress from Coldwater Creek, and it was sold out!!! That's Ok, I guess it wasn't meant to be....

We picked up our bicycles yesterday. Man was that great!! Felt good to get back on and ride again... can't wait to get my paniers, so that I can ride up to Publix and pick up groceries. We can ride up to Panera, K-Mart, Target, the mall. Visit friends... the possibilities are endless.

More news, the guy they had on trial in Virginia, was not sentenced to the death penalty.. Maybe there is hope. Don't get me wrong, the guy is a piece of garbage, but he is getting what he deserves, number one he is living out the rest of his life on US soil, which probably disgusts him, two, he is in solitary confinement, so he won't have the audience to press buttons to get the sick satisfaction he thrives on. In fact... nobody cares if he is dead or alive at this point. And lastly, but not least important, that jury is proving that they are bigger human beings, and the reaction to "kill the ba@#&rd" is not what we as humans being should be about. It isn't about instant gratification, it is about punishment and civility.

Enough about that... getting the "gear" organized to go camping. I am getting excited. Bringing the bicycles with us. Planning the meals, nothing like Eggs for breakfast in the morning, cooked on a camp stove, eatten outside, the smell of coffee. I wish we were staying more than two nights, and maybe if we have a really good time (which I think we will) George will want to go again in the fall for a long weekend.

Well, that is enough for now... pretty boring huh...? That is ok, because I am very happy, very content. Life is good, and I appreciate everyday, and hope for many, many more to come....

Ok,

So I am trying to order a dress from Coldwater Creek from the office... and I can't remember my password to get into the account...

Does anyone else have that problem? It is sooooooo frustrating, and I tell myself over and over that I should just do this kind of stuff from home where I have everything on file..... All the 350,000 user names and passwords I have accumlated over the past 5 years...

But on another note, we are going camping this weekend. It is supposed to be in the 90's all weekend, and we are going camping...

That is ok, the worst part of it will be that the kids will be at home. Really is a shame. But they would be a handful to be sure. They would be happier in their air conditioned living room, on the couch, with their scheduled visits from their best buddy Wayne....

Well, other than that, my break is almost up, and I need to get back to work!!

Welcome to my Blog......

Everybody is doing it... so now I am.