Work can be "ruff"

I've heard that dogs can help people through all kinds of things. They are used to cheer up terminally ill patients. They are used to find things. They are used to aid the handicapped. They are even used to ring up sales...

Wait. What?

That's right. A chocolate lab named Cody "works" the drive-through window at a Clearwater Florida gas station. His owner originally brought him to his store to keep him company during the early morning hours. The dog was such a hit with customers that he's been "working" the drive-through window for 5 months now. He even wears one of the gas station logo t-shirts and a name tag. When a customer pulls up to the window, Cody pops up on his hind legs to greet them. Now that's something I would like to see! I hope Cody gets to continue his "job" for many years.

My music and you

For anyone that knows me in "real life" this should come as no surprise... I love music. I can not go even one day without listening to music. If there's no music to play, I sing my own. I can NOT be without it.

Some of you may have noticed that music is not playing on this page anymore. I came to that decision after reading first a comment and then a blog written about music on blogs and the comments that were left there.

Actually there is still music on this page. All I did was turn auto-play off. But I figured if it was that big of a deal to people, it shouldn't start on it's own. Of course I honestly don't understand why it should be a big deal to turn the music player off if you are visiting and don't want to hear it but I'm not a fighter. And I hate upsetting people. So to avoid any conflict (and to make people happy because that is very important to me) I turned it off.

If you are like me and want to hear music all the time you can push play and listen until you're happy. I am listening now. :) The player is at the bottom of the page. Click away!

For my what I hope to be new friend that didn't like it, there you go. It's really not a problem for me to turn it on when I'm here and now you don't have to worry about turning it off. I enjoy your comments and hope you keep visiting. I did see a lot of people on your blog that agreed with you wholeheartedly. And I think my solution keeps EVERYONE happy which, like I said before, is extremely important to me.

As an added note my Happy At Home blog (which is my personal/this is me blog) will always have music playing when you get there. Just a warning :D lol You may want to turn your speakers off.

Have a great day everyone!

Peace.

Everything has a purpose

Meet Molly. She's a grey speckled pony who was abandoned by her owners when Hurricane Katrina hit southern Louisiana. She spent weeks on her own before finally being rescued and taken to a farm where abandoned animals were stockpiled. While there, she was attacked by a pit bull terrier and almost died. Her gnawed right front leg became infected, and her vet went to LSU for help, but LSU was overwhelmed, and this pony was a welfare case.

You know how that goes. But after surgeon Rustin Moore met Molly, he changed his mind. He saw how the pony was careful to lie down on different sides so she didn't seem to get sores, and how she allowed people to handle her. She protected her injured leg. She constantly shifted her weight and didn't overload her good leg. She was a smart pony with a serious survival ethic.

Moore agreed to remove her leg below the knee, and a temporary artificial limb was built. Molly walked out of the clinic and her story really begins there.

'This was the right horse and the right owner,' Moore insists. Molly happened to be a one-in-a-million patient. She's tough as nails, but sweet, and she was willing to cope with pain. She made it obvious she understood that she was in trouble. The other important factor, according to Moore, is having a truly committed and compliant owner who is dedicated to providing the daily care required over the lifetime of the horse.

Molly's story turns into a parable for life in post-Katrina Louisiana . The little pony gained weight, and her mane finally felt a comb. A human prosthesis designer built her a leg.

The prosthetic has given Molly a whole new life, Allison Barca DVM, Molly's regular vet, reports.

And she asks for it. She will put her little limb out,and come to you and let you know that she wants you to put it on. Sometimes she wants you to take it off too. And sometimes, Molly gets away from Barca. 'It can be pretty bad when you can't catch a three-legged horse,' she laughs.

Most important of all, Molly has a job now. Kay,the rescue farm owner, started taking Molly to shelters, hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centers. Anywhere she thought that people needed hope. Wherever Molly went, she showed people her pluck. She inspired people, and she had a good time doing it.

'It's obvious to me that Molly had a bigger role to play in life, Moore said. She survived the hurricane, she survived a horrible injury, and now she is giving hope to others.'

Barca concluded, 'She's not back to normal, but she's going to be better. To me, she could be a symbol for New Orleans itself.'



This is Molly's most recent prosthesis. The bottom photo shows the ground surface that she stands on, which has a smiley face embossed in it. Wherever Molly goes, she leaves a smiley hoof print behind.

Things that make me wonder...

I’m a self-admitted news freak. And specifically an odd news freak. The weirder it is, the more I want to know. Because of that, as many of you already know, I’m constantly scanning the latest headlines. Often I come across things that interest me. Just as often I come across things that I just don’t understand. I try to understand. It just doesn’t happen.

I wonder how people can go into areas of the world that aren’t developed and look into the faces of starving children but not feed them. You know the people taking pictures, writing stories or traveling the world are eating. You know they are eating that day. Why don’t they give their food to those children instead of just pitying them?

I don’t understand how people who have more than they’ll ever need can walk right past someone who could desperately use their help. Even if it’s just a $2.00 hot meal or a $5.00 pair of shoes.

And what about clichés? People all over the world repeat them. But do they mean them? They say laughter is the best medicine, why don’t doctors write jokes for their patients instead of medicines that most people can‘t afford to pay for? How about ‘Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about’? um, aren’t I already crying? Or ‘The writing’s on the wall’… Where is this wall and why are we writing on it?

These are the kind of things that run through my mind all the time. It’s the way my mind works. If you want the perfect example of MY BRAIN it’s this: as I wrote the last two sentences I saw a little furry man running around inside by head, over the bumps and crevices of my actual brain, fiddling with the clockworks that turn and grind and make me think.

Now you’re thinking “this woman is crazy”. I know you are. It’s ok. I am a little crazy. I think the crazy part of me is what keeps me sane. And I enjoy it. It’s fun.

I’d like to leave you with one to think about: If a fool and his money are soon parted but money is the root of all evil, isn’t that a good thing he lost it? I wonder...

Singing together makes everything better

Most of the news I share with you is from somewhere far far away from me. A lot of times it’s from all the way across the world from me. But the story I’d like to tell you about today is from right around the corner from me. Houston.

We’re 52 miles west of Houston. We rarely go into the city though. It’s so big and so many people everywhere. And a few of the places are a little on the scary side if I’m to be completely honest.

When my oldest daughter was just an infant we had quite the medical scare. We ended up driving like maniacs in the middle of the night into Houston to Texas Children’s Hospital. Christina was three months old and very sick. I was 23 and very scared.

The doctors there were extremely nice. They did everything they could to make both of us comfortable. Christina ended up having to have a spinal tap. If you’ve never witnessed that, I can tell you it’s frightening. They use the biggest needle I’ve ever personally seen. They have to get it just right, exactly in between the disks in your spine to remove some of the fluid to test. They thought she had meningitis. Thankfully she didn’t but I’ll never forget how the doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital did everything they could to solve and fix her issues.

And I’ll never forget their kindness. Everyone associated with the hospital was so caring and so gentle. I appreciated that so much. Now the hospital is in the news for their caring, kind ways.

The story was specifically about the Cancer Center at the hospital. It’s the number one pediatric cancer center in Texas and number three in the entire country. That makes me proud.

Now, thanks to donations and Anita Kruse, the Cancer Center offers the chance for terminally ill children to forget about their illnesses for a little while. Anita started a recording studio in the hospital where she and other staff members and volunteers help the children to write and record songs about important things in their lives.

One young lady named Jalen Huckabay wrote about her dog Jasmine or Jaz for short. Shy and unsure of herself, she quickly gained confidence once she realized she was actually writing the song just by talking about her much loved pup.

Anita is a Houston resident who sings and writes music professionally. After speaking a few minutes with Jalen, she hears the song in the young girls loving words and writes it in her notebook as they talk.

Jalen smiles as the first verse is read back to her. “MYD is my yippin’ dog. Got her last Christmas on the 23rd. We call her Jaz. She’s the Yorkie we chose. We dress her up in Build-A-Bear clothes.”

The project is named Purple Songs Can Fly and relies heavily on donations. All donations are tax deductable. I have a feeling a lot of people would donate even if they weren’t tax deductable. I know I will. It’s definetly worth it.

Read more about Jalen Huckabay

Read more about Purple Songs Can Fly

Read more about Texas Children’s Hospital

Read more about Texas Children’s Cancer Center & Hematology Service

Dear soldier, thank you for my freedom

I often complain about silly things that happen. I have even been known to write long articles on the injustices that take place around me. I’ve also made big to-do’s over things I think are just ridiculous. American things.

Well, I take them back. The things I’ve said against America anyway. Not all of them, but a few. Like saying our government is too involved in our personal lives. I discovered this morning that it could be so much worse.

Gambia is a small country in Western Africa. As a matter of fact, it is the smallest country on the African mainland. A man named Yahya Jemmeh is the ruling president having siezed his power in a 1994 coup.

In 2002 he implemented a democratic civilian government and was then elected to the position he had seized. It is my opinion that he’s nothing more than a schoolyard bully and the people were afraid to not vote for him. He was quoted by a state journalist as saying “I will develop the areas that vote for me, but if you don’t vote for me, don’t expect anything.”

In 2006 a plot to overthrow him was discovered and many army officials were arrested while other prominent army officials, including the army chief of staff, were said to have fled the country.

Today Gambia is back in the news. A British couple that were running a missionary there have been arrested for talking badly about the government. Specifically they were arrested for sedition (covert conduct that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward a rebellion against the established order). They were sentenced to one year in prison with hard labor and a fine. For writing emails. That’s all they did. Criticized the government in emails that they sent out to their followers. I couldn’t believe it.

The Fultons (he is 60, she is 46) were running an educational center there through their church Westhoughton Pentecostal Church in northwest England. They also provided medical care to prison inmates and terminally ill people that could only be reached by boat.

They officially apologized to the President and promised in a letter to never speak or write of Gambia or their government again. They also promised never to return to Gambia without his permission. They are asking for clemency and to be able to return to the United Kingdom with their young daughter.

As I sit here writing this, thoughts of my freedom are running through my head. I couldn’t imagine living somewhere that the government was so far into my life that I had to worry about what I said or wrote. Or wasn’t able to have my own opinions and express them freely.

If you ever had any doubt as to why our children, siblings, spouses and friends are fighting in wars, this should be an answer. They are fighting for our freedom. They are fighting for our rights. For our opinions and ideas. For our voice.

Which one are you?

There are a lot of different people in the world. Some are strong and reliable. Some are weak and unreliable. It seriously blows my mind (to steal a catch phrase from the 60’s) how many different forms of strength walk this earth.

The strong build lives that are good and right. They stand up for the weak. They never follow the crowd. They are leaders.

My father was a leader. He never settled for anything until it was what he wanted it to be. If we were hungry, he found a way to feed us. If he had to roll up his sleeves and dig a ditch in 110 degrees to put that food on the table, he did it. He never complained. That wasn’t his style.

And he was disgusted by weakness which is probably where I got it from. It literally makes me sick to my stomach to witness weak people following others because they can’t do anything on their own. I’m not talking about misfortunes. Don’t get me wrong there. I feel sorry for people that are having a hard time in life. As long as they are working on improving it.

It’s the ones that sit back and complain about all the bad but never get off their butts to fix it. You know someone like this I’m sure. It seems like they’re everywhere I look.

And the worst ones latch on to anybody they think will carry them along for a little while. Oh, everybody likes them, I think I’ll just agree with everything they say… I try not to hate, but I do hate that. To me it says you aren’t worth the effort it would take to try to explain to you why that’s wrong in the first place.

I don’t know what my point is exactly, except maybe to say don’t be weak. Don’t be a follower. Stand up and be strong. Ultimately it will pay off in your favor. Life is so much better as a leader. I promise.

Kudos Doc Watson!

As usual this morning I was reading through the headlines on my second best friend, my computer. Most of the time I experience a wide range of emotions while reading the stories. Everything from laugh out loud to oh my goodness that makes me mad.

Less often a story will touch me. This morning however, I read one of those stories. I sat here with tears running down my face and a huge smile at the same time. My first best friend (my husband) came in from his shower and immediately thought something was wrong with me. I assured him it wasn’t and read him the story.

I’ve lived many places in my lifetime but no matter where I’ve lived, I’ve always claimed Texas as home. I love Texas. I love most of the people in it. My guess is if it was a smaller state I probably wouldn’t feel that way. Less people = less chance for good.

The story I read was about a doctor in Yoakum Texas. Yoakum is a small town outside of San Antonio. This man, lovingly known as Doc Watson, has been the town doctor for 50 years. And he still makes house calls.

That doesn’t happen very often these days. Most doctors are more worried about the money they make and not so much about their patients. That’s sad but true. But Doc Watson isn’t one of those doctors. He’s even been known to accept baked goods and home grown vegetables as payment to the dismay of his daughter. He was quoted in the story as saying “These people have paid me with what they could. As far as I’m concerned, they’re paid in full.” How refreshing is that?

He began his career after graduating from the Baylor College of Medicine in 1958. Back then he charged $3.00 for an office visit and $5.00 for a house call. Some of his patients have been lifelong.

One of those patients is 80 year old Lou Olsovsky. As Doc Watson examined Lou he gently asks about his wife who passed away four years previously. When the doctor asked if he was ready to go meet his wife, he was told “I was supposed to go first, but she wouldn’t let me.” Lou still wears his wedding ring. That just broke my heart. It was what made me cry.

It makes me happy that there are still men like that in this world. Sometimes I wonder about our planet and the way it seems to be going downhill. Then I read something like this story and it gives me hope.

I’d like to tip my hat to Doc Watson. I hope he has many more years taking care of his town. According to him he has no plans to quit anytime soon. He said “When I can’t do crossword puzzles anymore, I’ll know it’s time to quit. But as long as I’m reasonably healthy, and have a little sense, I’ll keep doing it.”

Click here to read the original story

Pop! Pop! Yay!

Well Christmas is over for another year. I’m sure a lot of you have wrapping paper, torn boxes and toys covering your floor. And I bet quite a few of you have some bubble wrap laying around too. You know those sheets of plastic with air filled bubbles that protect the contents of packages and drive you crazy with people popping them.

I’m one of the poppers. I just can’t help myself. And I have to pop every single bubble on the sheet. I’m not happy until I have. And each bubble must be popped individually. It’s an obsession.

A man in Brooklyn has turned this obsession into a money making deal. It’s actually a very cute idea. He’s made a bubble wrap calendar. You get to pop a bubble every day! I’m not sure if this would be a good gift for me though. I’d probably pop the whole year when I hung it up.

I wonder if he uses recycled materials to make these adorable calendars? If he does, I think I wouldn’t be able to resist buying one. You can currently buy one for $29.95 with free shipping in the United States. They are also available in different languages. And all major holidays are printed on them as well.

If I were still a kid (and I am) I would say they were really neato. Way cool. Totally awesome dude!

Click here if you’d like to purchase a Bubble Calendar

Attack of the 20 foot man! ...or something like that

Snow is harmless right? Specifically snowmen. Kids out of school for Christmas break that live in places where snow falls abundantly build them all the time. They don’t come to life and wreak havoc on our neighborhoods. They don’t have any magical powers. And they don’t build themselves. Or do they?

According to a man in Anchorage Alaska a 25 foot tall snowman, dubbed Snowzilla by his family and neighbors, just magically appeared in his front yard on Christmas morning. Call it a Christmas miracle. He practically does in his interview.

This is the fourth year that Snowzilla sits in the front yard of the Powers family. He’s equipped with all the snowman details including a stovetop hat and corncob pipe. Halfway through the building of this years Snowzilla, the city stopped Billy Powers and his seven children from finishing the snowman citing noise and traffic complaints.

A notice was put at the base of the snowman as well as on the front door of the Power’s residence to cease and desist from erecting the snowman. The city says it is a nuisance because of all the extra traffic and noise from people wanting to see the snowman with their own eyes.

They also stated that it was a safety hazard. I imagine it takes a lot of snow to make a 25 foot tall snowman. I can actually see the cities side. But I also think he should be able to do what he wants in his own front yard. And I would love to see Snowzilla for myself. I’m torn between which side I stand on in this debate. Maybe by the time Christmas 2009 arrives I’ll have decided.




Click here to read related Snowzilla stories in the Anchorage Daily News

Click here to watch the video of Billy Powers stating his case

Oscar Meyer wouldn’t trick us that way…would he?

My television is my hero. It’s managed to last 20 years and still works perfectly despite me sometimes not turning it off for a week at a time. I don’t always watch it… it’s just always on. I listen to it. It’s my background music.

Occasionally I do actually watch it. I’m a huge Survivor fan. And Big Brother, Amazing Race, The Golden Girls… I could honestly go on and on about shows I like but those are the top 4 on my I do not miss list. Anyway, that’s kind of beside the point…

This morning was one of the occasions that I was watching. I saw a commercial…I think it was for a phone. It was talking about questions people have & being able to get the answers through Google on that phone. Still not the point….

One of the questions was ‘what’s really in a hot dog’. It got me thinking. You’ve all heard the urban legends about lips and other parts being in a hot dog. I have an obsessive brain. I’m not kidding. When something gets in there it just gets bigger & louder until I resolve it. I enjoy a hot dog every now and then. Mustard, cheese Mmmm.

Now I’m sure you know what I did next… I Googled it of course! I am happy to tell you that there are NO lips in hot dogs. There are four meats (pork, beef, chicken and turkey) either alone or combined, some water, a curing agent and spices. Whew! What a relief! But not really a surprise… I knew Oscar Meyer was a good guy.

A little history of the man who's made history

How much do you know about our new president? I'd like to share a little Obama history with you...

Barack Obama was born in 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father was a foreign student from Kenya at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His parents divorced when he was two and he only saw his father once more before he died in a car accident in 1982. His mother was from Wichita, Kansas. After divorcing his father she remarried and they moved to Indonesia in 1967. She passed away from ovarian cancer in 1995.

When Barack was 10 years old, he moved back to Hawaii and lived with his grandparents until completing high school. He graduated from Columbia University in New York City in 1983 with a BA in political science specializing in international relations. He then attended Harvard Law School beginning in 1988, graduating in 1990 magna cum laude.

He continued in politics securing a spot in the state legislator from 1997-2004. On January 4, 2005 he was sworn in as a senator. He made history then as the 5th African American Senator and he made history last night as the 1st African American President of the United States.

How he performs as president will have to wait to be seen. I personally am hoping that he can do all he has promised to do. I believe this country needs a strong leader with fresh ideas. And I believe Barack Obama may just be that man.

H.R. Pufnstuf

I can’t remember what Tim and I were talking about this morning. I do that often. But I Do remember we started talking about H.R. Pufnstuf. He never watched it! I was shocked. I have this idea that everything I watch, eat, buy, use are all the best possible thing for whatever it is I’m doing. I watched H.R. Pufnstuf so it must have been a great show…

Maybe that’s a little ego-maniac like. I may need to explore that idea some day… But not today. Today all I can think about is playing. I believe the day I stop liking all my favorite childhood things is the day I grow up. Like Peter Pan, that’s a terrifying thought to me. I don’t want to grow up. When you grow up you get hurt. And old. And die. I want to live forever.

Don’t worry, there’s no need to call in professional help for me. I know I can’t live forever. But it would be nice wouldn’t it? Never grow up, never grow old. J. M. Barrie got that one exactly right.


And Sid and Marty Krofft did too. A magical island where books and trees and clocks and houses walked around. I have an urge to watch H.R. Pufnstuf now. I’d love to get a peek at Witchiepoo. She was my favorite.

Just relax and chat

Out of sheer boredom one day about four years ago I was playing with my cell phone and I came across a chat room. I thought it looked interesting so I joined it. I found it fun most of the time and quickly became a regular. I’ve made many friends there, some of whom will be lifelong.

And believe it or not, I found love. I know several other people who have done the same and are very happy with the mates they found online. I think being in the chat room lets you be less afraid. A lot of people are so self-conscience that they can not relax in a traditional dating scenario. And so many people are obsessed with physical appearances. Chat allows you to get to know the person on a different level.

So now over a year has passed and I am still very happy and satisfied with our relationship. Tim has shown and taught me things I doubt I would have ever seen or learned about without him. We are from different parts of the country and have lived very different lives up to the point of meeting each other. I guess my point to this blog today is to encourage you to try new things. You just never know what the result will be if you don’t. My advice is: Go For It!

I’ll leave you with a ‘chat‘ cartoon.. I thought it was cute… Smile! Today is a new day!

Nemo, my suicidal fish

We have a fish tank, a very large fish tank. It actually requires a lot more care than I realized. It’s really not a bother. I adore animals and taking care of them. I have the idea in my head that they couldn’t survive without me. I know I’m right because my animals constantly prove it to me. I have this one fish in particular, Nemo is his name. He’s disturbed. Suicidal even. I swear to you I’m not making this up.

When we first brought Nemo home he pretended to be a normal fish. He acted just like the other fish. Not one sign of mental illness at all. It didn’t last very long. He became obsessed with an ornament in the tank. It’s one of those clams with an airhose attached to it so it opens and closes. I’m sure you’ve seen them before. When it opened, in he’d swim as fast as he could. Then it closed. I know they say a goldfish only has a 3 second memory…I heard that somewhere from someone. Anyway, over and over he would get stuck in the clam. Until I was so disgusted with watching this show that I turned the clam off.

He then decided that the sunken ship would be his new toy. The sunken ship with a hole half the size of his body. The sunken ship with only one way in or out. Can you imagine what he did yet? Yes! He squeezed himself INSIDE the sunken ship. By the time I noticed him he was so panicked that he was actually rocking the ship back and forth. I literally had to shake him out and sometime during his panic he managed to rip half his tail off. He has since recovered from this adventure and thankfully his tail is growing back. Around this time is when I decided he may be on a suicide mission.

We ended up with parasites in our tank, I assume from a couple of new fish we bought. But because I am home all the time I pay quite a bit of attention to our animals so I noticed immediately that they weren’t acting right and did my research on how and what I needed to do. The general consensus was to use Quick Cure and to drain our tank and vacuum the gravel thoroughly. I set out to do this, transferring my fish from their tank to bowls while I was cleaning their house. Of course Nemo viewed this as another opportunity to end his miserable fish life. I have him in the net going towards the bowl and he Leaps out! He landed on the table flopping around, almost reaching his goal of fish suicide but I yet again foiled his plans.

As of today Nemo is alive and well contrary to all his well laid plans. He has made a couple more attempts to leap out of the tank when the lid is open but thankfully the food has distracted him.

Our Georgia trip

We made a trip to Georgia back in July for the birth of our grandson Gavin. It was an unexpected trip. We had planned on going in September when Gavin was actually due, but he couldn’t wait that long. He wanted to be here now! Thankfully everything turned out ok and he is happy and healthy at home.

While we were there Tim took me to see Stone Mountain. I had never been. I had heard of it. Many years ago my parents had taken a vacation and Stone Mountain was one of the places they visited. I had even seen pictures of what my father had dubbed The Mount Rushmore of the South. I don’t know if that was something it was really called. He was funny like that. He liked to give things names.

But up to the point that Tim took me, I had never seen it with my own eyes. It was breathtaking. I was literally in awe looking at the etching on the mountain. I couldn’t believe anyone could carve something like that.

We took the skylift up to the top of the mountain. Again, beautiful. Heights aren’t exactly my thing but once we were on solid ground I was able to enjoy the view.

There’s an entire park surrounding the mountain. There are places for the kids to play. And I hear they put on an awesome Fourth of July fireworks show. Maybe next year we’ll make it in time to see it. I hope so. I think I could love Georgia without much effort. It’s truly a gorgeous state.

It IS a crazy adventure

I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching lately… I mean A LOT. I don’t know why this sudden need to discover who I am or what exactly it is I’m trying to discover. But I do know it has consumed my mind for the last month or so. My mind has been wandering through the years. Remembering moments. Remembering people.

Maybe it’s my age. I heard somewhere that when you turn 40 your whole idea of what life is changes. Things you used to like you now hate. Things you used to hate you now like. Your ideas change. It’s a very confusing time for me.

I also heard that by the time you are 45 things kind of settle. If that’s true I only have 3 years to go! I hope it’s true. I’d like to feel settled. I used to think I knew EXACTLY who I was, what I believed in and how things were supposed to be. Now I just don’t know. But I’m having a good time trying to figure it out even with the confusion. It IS an adventure and as long as I keep that knowledge deep in my heart, I know it will turn out for the best.

I’d like to say thank you to the people who have played a part in making me up to this point. You may not think you have made any difference in my life. I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong about that. Every statement, every action, every single thing whether positive or negative has influenced my life and formed who I am. Every single one. So Thank You. You are all important to me.

Henry...he's a cool dude

When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter we went fishing at a this little pond. My friend (and now my sisters husband) Mitch saw a little turtle floating on a piece of wood and he caught it. It was adorable, about the size of a quarter…I fell in love with him instantly. I took him home and named him Henry. I don’t know why, he just looked like a Henry to me. Animals have always been a weakness of mine..

I have him in a large tub now. He has lots of room to swim around and we built a little island out of rocks for him to “bask” on. They like sitting in the sun.. If you’ve ever walked up to a pond on a summer day you more than likely saw a lot of turtles on logs.

Henry is a red eared slider. He has distinctive red stripes down the side of his head, hence the first half of the name. The second half comes from their ability to slide quickly off whatever they are basking on and into the water.

I got Henry in 1989 so he’ll be 20 in a couple of months. It’s kind of amazing to me to think he is just now middle aged. They generally live about 40 years…sometimes longer if they are taken care of well.

He is actually a terrapin which means he is semi-aquatic. He spends most of his time under water and has to eat underwater. They have a fixed tongue which makes it impossible for them to swallow if they are not underwater so they couldn’t snap a fly out of the air but they can snap them off the surface of the water. I like to give Henry bugs.. I like watching the hunt and the kill… maybe that makes me morbid but I do like watching it…

And the work begins

I only have about nine of my posts from my original Crazy Life site that I can post here. It's ok though. You live and learn. I just keep telling myself that. So...

I'm going to go ahead and do the work to put those nine posts here. It's nine more than I would have had if I was starting from scratch. I understand I am starting from scratch really. But what can you do?

You have to laugh

So many of you that have spent time following my ramblings knows that I can be a royal, for lack of better words, goob. I had the idea that I could move my website over here to Blogger and therefore save us a little money each month. It wouldn’t be a ton of money, but every little bit helps.

I proceeded to know that I could import my already existing Crazy Life blog to Blogger and all would continue on as it was before. I set up the blog from my dashboard. I hit import blog. It said importing blog. Then it said oops!

Oops was not really the word I was hoping to see. Something along the line of success! would have been much better. But alas, my goob self decided it was not a problem. I would just leave my website alone. No loss no gain.

No issues with that, right? Right (said with pure sarcasm in my voice). No issues. No blog, but no issues. I have to say the deleting of my cookbook a week or so ago was a lot worse than this. This time I didn’t cry. I just sighed and said to myself that I should have known better.

All of my links lead you to this page that you are on now. At least I got that part right. Or so it seems. I’ll have to go through the three million places I have my links posted and make sure they all work.

I do have some of my posts saved. Not all of them. Not the last months worth. But it’s ok. You live and you learn and you go on because to do anything else would just be silly.

I’m not going to stress over it. I’ll go through the posts I have saved and repost any of them that I like on this site over the next few days. And then I’ll just start over. It will be ok. And at least I’m laughing.