...Wrinkled...

Wrinkled

...sorry...

That I cause a wrinkle in your life.

...sorry...

That I can't seem to let you go.

I'm like an old wore out t-shirt...

Happily lying crumpled in the corner.

Just being near you...

To hear your voice...

Is enough ... perhaps.

Seems so forlorn...

...maybe today, I'll be worn.

...sorry...

I hope I don't cause you any strife.

...sorry...

My heart seems to not want to go...

...away...

Don't smooth out... this wrinkle in your life.

Could you please...

...just let me stay...

Beauty...

Beauty is like dust... blown away by the wayward winds of life... and time.

Maybe we should spend our time ... not in the spas... the gym... or in the mirror... but spend our time building our character.

uhmm...

Perhaps... better yet... we should spend it building up our neighbors, our friends, and our families.

So that maybe... the beauty of our character will be longer lasting... and perhaps last for generations to come.

Like I Need Another Hole in My Head...

I know that it has been quite some time since my last post.

Once again, I find myself apologizing for the the lack of communication. However, for those of you who know me best, I'm sure that you aren't surprised.

I tend to be the type of person to go into hiding and lick my wounds in relative quiet and privacy.


The shunt was placed in my head and it appears that everything is going okay at this point in time. It is a ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Also known as a VP shunt. It has a valve to regulate the cerebral spinal fluid as well as a port where samples of fluid can be taken directly from the shunt. (*whew* - hopefully I'll never to have to go through another spinal tap again) The line runs down my neck and my chest and then enters my abdomen where the CSF empties.

And yes...

This thing is designed, and is intended, to stay in my head and body for the rest of my life.


This Thursday I will see the doctor for my two week check-up.





These pictures were taken shortly after I got home from the hospital.

I couldn't "see" my wounds, so I got the kids to take a picture of it all so that I could see what it looked like.





I have to say that that stray gray hair in the picture is really bothering me by quite a bit.


So far I haven't experienced any CSF leaking out of my head (rhinorrhea) since the VP shunt has been in place. Which means that the shunt is doing its job. Hopefully this will be the fix that I need and avoids a surgery that would entail going into the original acoustic neuroma brain tumor site.

The doctors all wanted to go and try to fix the leak at its source, but I just couldn't bear the thought of it at all. The first tumor surgery nearly cost me 100% of my facial nerve. The thought that I could lose what facial nerve function I have now is just unbearable to me.

The doctors said that we couldn't leave things the way they were with CSF washing over bacteria in my sinuses and throat and then providing a tract back to my brain. They said that I would eventually die of meningitis if nothing were done.

I've had meningitis once already and I've been on antibiotics going on three months now because of the risk. Plus, there was a colony of psuedomonas cultured near my eustachian tube as well.

The antibiotics have been very problematic for me too. I have experienced all manner of problems from the long-term use of these various high-powered drugs. Especially since there are only a few drugs that can cross the blood-brain barrier and effectively treat meningitis. Thank goodness, though, I haven't suffered from a secondary yeast infection.

Sometimes I wonder if long-term antibiotic use wears your body down and makes you feel tired. I would think that it is possible since organs such as your liver and kidneys are closely monitored for any long-term side affects from the drugs.

The Levaquin caused me to have a very severe case of tendonitis. It is my understanding that about only 1% of patients taking this antibiotic have this kind of problem which can lead to ruptured Achilles' tendons and the like. Thank goodness I didn't have that happen and only suffered from about one week of extremely severe joint pain.

All in all, things seem to have settled down by quite a bit for the time being.

I have been blessed to still be alive and well, and I'm thankful that the shunt appears to be fixing my problem.

Hopefully, I will get the okay soon to D/C (discontinue) the antibiotics and be able to get some normal bacterial flora back into my body.

And some semblance of normality in my life as well.

later...

My Goldfish...

I enjoy watching the goldfish that are in our little pond.

So I thought that I would try to take a few pictures of them and share them with you guys.

~ha~

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of a fish?




This is one of the Black Moors.



It's Parker and Carrie's favorite fish because it has "bug eyes".



Look at this guy's big mouth!

We don't have the plain "gold-colored" goldfish. These have three different colors and are known as calico goldfish.



Can you see the difference in their tails? We have the regular body-type as well as the fan-tailed goldfish.

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

I hope that all of you are having a wonderful and safe Memorial Day Week-end!

later...

Carrie's Prom Pictures 2008...

As I had mentioned earlier, Carrie's prom was last Saturday evening.

She was really excited and said that she had a wonderful time.

Carrie 03May2008
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

Before the prom I took her to the park and took these photographs of her.

Carrie 03May2008
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

She looks all grown up.

Carrie 03May2008
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

It was quite a scramble to get her outfitted for this event.

Carrie had originally said that she wasn't going to go.

Carrie 03May2008
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

Nobody had asked her to be their date...

And she said that she didn't want to go with a group of girls.

Carrie 03May2008
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

But... about ten days before the prom, wouldn't you know it.

A boy asked her to be his date.

Carrie 03May2008
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

I had to work on the last week-end before the event.

Which meant that we didn't have ANY time for shopping, and we most definitely didn't have time to go and get lost in Austin looking for prom dresses. You need quite a bit of time to look for a prom dress, too. Especially if you are on a budget.

Carrie 03May2008
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

What were we going to do? Well, the Lord certainly does work in mysterious ways sometimes.

The only idea that I could come up with was to go to a resale shop to look for a dress. There just happened to be such a shop across the street from where I work.

I had made Carrie get up with me on Saturday morning so that we could start looking for an outfit as soon as I got off of work.

Carrie wasn't too excited about that idea...

Mostly because I have to be at work at 7:30 in the morning.

After work, we went across the street and...

Guess what...

A beautiful prom dress had just been brought in that morning.

And it was the ONLY prom dress in the shop.

And...

It was just Carrie's size!

Hallelujah!

So the rest of the afternoon was spent looking for jewelry and shoes.

Not an easy task in and of itself I might add.


All of that stuff cost a WHOLE LOT more than her dress.


Oh yeah... I forgot to mention that we got the dress for $26!!

Carrie 03May2008
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

later...

My New Backyard...

I pray that everyone is having a wonderful Easter!

It is cloudy, windy, and quite cool out today, and so I am being a bit lazy. I have been going over some landscape ideas in my head as well.

You know... daydreaming.

Yesterday I put out two hummingbird feeders in hopes of attracting some hummingbirds to my backyard. You may remember that last year I had to wait many, many weeks before I saw my first hummingbird visit my feeder at my home in Oklahoma.

You can only imagine the surprise and excitement that I felt when I saw not one, but TWO Black-Chinned hummingbirds at my feeders by early evening!

This afternoon, I was privy to another amazing sight that I have never before seen. I saw the pendulous acrobatic flight of a male Blacked-chinned hummingbird courting a female.

I will most certainly try to keep an eye out for any hummingbird nests! That would be sooo exciting for me if I found one.

Hopefully I will also see some other hummingbird species come and visit my feeders other than the Black-chinned Hummingbird!


I am really enjoying my new backyard which is now filled with a great variety of birds who are visiting my feeders and birdbath. The birds that I have identified so far are:

The American Goldfinch

The Tufted Titmouse

The Black-crested Tufted Titmouse (Which, by the way, there were a pair inspecting my little bird house today!)

The Inca Dove

The White-winged Dove

The Northern Cardinal (I don't know why they call it the "Northern" Cardinal as it is a very common species here in the Texas Hill Country.

Bewick's Wren (Click on the "bird call" button on this page to hear what the bird sounds like. I must have quite a few of these as this is a common call that I hear in my backyard.)

The Carolina Chickadee

The Loggerhead Shrike

The Mockingbird (This is the Texas state bird.)

The House Finch

The Downy Woodpecker

Overhead, gliding through the skies, is the buzzard. Also known as the Turkey Vulture.

Of course I have a multitude of sparrows which help to empty my feeders on a regular basis. I also have a few grackles that show up. And then there are the dreaded Brown-headed Cowbirds that are "brood parasites". This means that they don't make a nest of their own, but instead lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. This reproductive habit of the Brown-headed Cowbird is a serious threat to other bird species as it often leads to the death of one or more of the foster parents' brood.

I believe that I have listed all the birds that I have seen in my backyard to date. I am anxiously keeping an eye out for the mysterious Painted Bunting which is usually only fleetingly spotted in the Texas Hill Country.

I'm also considering purchasing some meal worms so that I can hopefully attract some beautiful Eastern Bluebirds. Mom has quite a few at her house, but she lives in a less wooded area of the Hill Country so I don't know if I'll see any here or not. They like open pastures quite a bit. Mom has also has put out quite a few Bluebird houses out on the fence posts as well. If I see one I might put out a house for them.

In the evenings I get about six or more bats that come to my backyard. Since there are 32 different types of bats in Texas, I cannot tell you which kind I have. I would have to probably capture one and look at it up close to be able to identify it. However, since I live fairly close to Longhorn Caverns the chances are that my bat visitors are the Mexican Free-tailed bat which numbers are in the millions in the areas surrounding my home. I have observed their flight in the evenings and have surmised that they are the type of bat that eats insects. So that's what they probably are, the Mexican Free-tailed bat.


My house is near Ink's Lake. Not at the water's edge of course, I can't afford waterfront property! But nonetheless I can see a small part of the lake from my driveway and the water's edge is about 1/2 of a mile from my house. A very nice walk on a beautiful day. My neighborhood also has two "POA's" (point of access) to the lake where I can access the water free of charge.

Large bodies of water attract all sorts of wildlife. There are deer in my neighborhood which means I will need to be selective on the plants I choose for my landscape. So I think the chances of me seeing a large variety of bird species is pretty good. I live almost directly across from Inks Lake State Park albeit it is on the other side of a narrow part of the 800 acre lake. I can see the park's golf course from my driveway. Here is a neat video put out by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife about Inks Lake State Park.

I am very thankful for the house that I have and consider it to be a wonderful blessing.

Hopefully I will capture some photographs of the critters that visit my backyard. If I do I will most certainly share them with you guys.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

later...

Hey...

Hi all...

I hope that everyone is doing well.

I haven't had internet access for quite some time (four weeks!) and am finally able to sit down and browse for bit.

Our house in Oklahoma was sold and closed on Monday, February 18th. I drove up the Friday before and, with the help of a lot of friends and neighbors, we were able to pack our entire house into a 26' U-Haul truck in just two days.

*whew*

I couldn't have done it without all of you guys. God Bless Each and Everyone of You!!

The weather going into Oklahoma was a little dicey and we ran into some freezing rain. There for a while I wasn't for sure whether or not we were going to make it into Oklahoma City or not. But thankfully we got a break in the precipitation and were able to make it in okay. It rained almost all day on Saturday, but it was better than having the snow that the weatherman was predicting at first. Regardless of the weather, we were able to vacate our beautiful home so that the new occupants could move in.

The kids and I drove back to Texas pulling our car on a trailer behind the truck. This is when I discovered that all of the gas pumps have a $100 limit on them. Boy... did that truck suck down the gas! I estimated that I got about 6 miles to the gallon. Of course, it was probably because the truck was STUFFED full ~and~ was pulling my car as well.

We closed on our new home here, in Texas, on February 20th. Thanks goes to my realtor and the mortgage company for helping to pull that off. I really, really, didn't want to unload our stuff, put it into storage, and then load that truck again. So we were able to unload our stuff directly into the garage of our new home.

*double whew*

Things get done quite a bit slower around here to say the least. Thank goodness that I have a cell phone. While we have been here one month as of yesterday, it seems that I have been meeting installation people every week since we have moved in.

We had to wait almost three weeks to watch television. We weren't able to pick up any local stations so now we have satellite TV. The kids had quickly found our box of videos and so we watched "re-runs" every night. I have to admit, it was kind of fun, for a while that is.

Yesterday, the installer came and put in a new satellite dish for our internet service. There isn't cable out here and our only other alternative was dial-up, and well you know me... that was like sooo not happening.

;+ )

So now our house looks all "techy" on the outside with two separate satellite dishes. *sigh* I just hope that aliens don't start trying to contact me through them, because if they do they'll have to start contributing and pay on the monthly service bills.

I certainly have my work cut out for me here. Our yard has essentially been neglected for several years. It's full of weeds, grassburrs, thistles, and much more. At some point, someone didn't want to do any yard work and so they filled every spot possible with rocks so they wouldn't have to mow. Come to think of it, our house in Oklahoma was just like that too when we moved in. It also had rocks in the flowerbeds! (I wonder if there's any significance in this coincidence?)

Well... it's going to take a lot of work, but most of these rocks have got to go. It's springtime and I have to have flowerbeds to work in. I bet my daffodils and tulips in Oklahoma are beautiful this year.

I haven't taken one picture of our new house, yard, or anything. I really need to so that I can have before and after pictures. I've just been too busy to stop and take them. Hopefully, the dust will start to settle around here and I will be able to get some up for you guys to see.

later...

Burnet County 4-H and FFA 2008 Livestock Show...

I'm terribly behind on posting on my blog.

And no... I haven't posted lately because of laziness.

;+ )


Yes...

We're doing okay, and thank you for the kind inquiries.


Last week-end we stopped by the Burnet County 4-H and FFA Livestock Show.

It's held in the same barn that I used to show my lambs, pigs, and animals in.

Except for a small addition to the length of the barn, it hasn't really changed much.

I hadn't been there in over 30 years.



The barn isn't that big really...



Although, the place seemed enormous to me when I was a kid.

Bigger than life in my memories.




It was fun to watch the kids show their livestock. This little girl was probably outweighed by her Boer goat at least 2:1. If not more.

She did very well in the show ring as did all of the other exhibitors. These kids will look back on their time in the show ring with fond memories.




The stock show is still alive and well in Burnet, Texas. Thanks to all of the support that it receives from parents, grandparents, adult sponsors, and the local businesses.

It is my understanding that the show was a big success once again this year.

That's good.

It's nice to know that some things really don't change after all.




later...

2007's Top Ten Lists...

The Year of Our Lord, 2007, has come to a close.

Our home in Oklahoma is for sale, and the kids and I are staying with Mom and Dad.

There's a lot of stuff that needs to be done and it seems that I run out of time to do it.

My brother, Don, was able to come up and we all dewormed the cattle yesterday afternoon.

So that is taken care of.

We will need to get the goats all up and take care of them as well. We also need to vaccinate the kids and castrate the billies.

But I don't know when we will do that.


I missed my usual timing for my EOY (end-of-year) post. I always try to get it done on New Year's Eve, but it didn't happen last night.


Mom and Dad are taking a nap right now, so I thought that I would at least pull a few things together, today, on January 1st.



Top Ten Lists


I haven't added too many new photographs to my Flickr page, but I still really do enjoy watching the stats on the pictures.

As of this posting, my photographs have had a cumulative total of 4,611 views.


Top Ten Photos

#10

348 views

Timmy the Chihuahua Celebrates Christmas
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

#9

362 views

Timmy the Chihuahua is a Christmas Angel
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

#8

369 views

Norma Wants to be a Beauty Queen
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

#7

383 views

Surgical exposure of a urinary catheter in a feline bladder.
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

#6

395 views

Timmy the Chihuahua is a Christmas Angel
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

#5

456 views

Norma the English Bulldog wants to be a Beauty Queen
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

#4

567 views

Removing Stone from Incised Bladder
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

#3

661 views

Norma the English Bulldog is Ready for the State Fair
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

#2

1592 views

Norma the English Bulldog Wants to be a Beauty Queen
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

#1

1929 views

Timmy the Chihuahua is a Christmas Angel
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

Timmy the Chihuahua is really excited that he came out as "Numero Uno" this year, beating Norma out by what appears to be a comfortable margin. Of course, he is a lot more excited that he has almost 2000 views as compared to the 144 views that he recieved from last year!

Congratulations Timmy!



I know that I had promised you guys that I would keep a better tally sheet of my top ten posts but...

As ~life~ would have it, I have not been diligent enough to keep up with the sheet.

And...

I'm still too cheap to upgrade my free Sitemeter account to help me keep up with the page rankings.

So I suppose that, in lieu of actual hard core numbers, we will have to go by what I have observed to be the most popular posts that are visited by my search engine visitors. As always, it is my hope that someone was helped in some way or another by the information and/or links that I have provided in these informal articles and blog posts.



2007's Top Ten Posts


#10

FDA Announces: Melamine in Tainted Pet Foods...

In 2007, I followed the unfolding events of the tainted pet foods and had written several posts concerning the tragedy. While this crisis has certainly passed I do still receive a few visitors on these posts. It is quite possible that this series of posts are number one according to visits because there was one day in which I had over 1000 visits. However, the number of consistent visitors on a weekly basis has fallen sharply, so that is why I have placed this post at Number 10.


#9

Swiffer Wet Jet Rumor is an Urban Legend...


#8

Cytauxzoonosis aka Bobcat Fever...



#7

Today's Mailbag...

The National Scholar's Honor Society must have a HUGE direct mail program. I certainly would not be surprised if this post becomes number one for 2008.


#6

Subcutaneous Emphysema in a Canine Patient...


#5

Metropolitan Who's Who aka Metropolitan Registries, Inc.

I still keep loose tabs on these folks. Can you believe that they were able to get themselves off the the Better Business Bureau's list? This observation of mine is a post in and of itself, because I truly do believe that the BBB was paid off (or something) in order to get MWW's information off of the internet.

And this has got me to wondering...

How honest is the Better Business Bureau really?


#4

Commemorative Speech...


#3

A Bite of Reality...


#2

Bladder Stones in the Canine Patient...


#1

Chronic Renal Failure in Dogs and Cats


I haven't been able to do any extensive research and write any new articles lately. Perhaps 2008 will provide me some of that time.



I really don't have the time today to place my top designs from my little online store at CafePress.

Especially since I have already had to save this one post several times today as it is.

But I will tell you that I am very happy with my little store and that I have actually received a few checks in the mail from them this past year!

**woo hoo**


2007 has been quite a year in more ways than one for me and my family. And I will have to say that I am hoping that 2008 will be very quiet and calm for all of us.


I need to find some time to update my links to fellow bloggers on my sidebar. There have been several who have found that 2007 was the year to quit blogging. I truly do understand why a person would do that. Especially if you are a person who doesn't want to throw just anything out there.

Blogging really can take a lot of time and effort.

And to those who have quit blogging, I would like to say that it was really nice to meet you and I wish you the very best.


Happy New Year everyone and I pray that you and your families are richly blessed.


later...

Nana is Out of Town...

Things have been busy around here.






Carrie's choir had their Christmas Concert.

And was I relieved when I learned that they actually DID call it a CHRISTMAS CONCERT.

They even performed REAL Christmas songs that had the word Christ in it.




It was really nice. The choir and band concert were both combined along with the sixth grade and middle school choirs.



Mom has flown the coop, so to speak, and is in Denver right now.

brrrrr...

My sister is due to have her second child by c-section tomorrow morning.

Yes... my sister started late in life to get married and have kids. (She's 44 years old.)


Dad and I took Mom to the airport in Austin. While we were gone Carrie and Parker were left at home to take care of the morning chores.

Yesterday, we had gone into town to pick up some feed for the livestock. It wasn't too much. Less than 1000 pounds that was still in the back of the pick-up.


While we were driving to Austin, Parker called and asked if Carrie could drive the truck to the barn so they could go ahead and unload the feed.

I thought, "What sweet kids thinking of something that needed to be done without being told."


Dad said that would be okay but not to back the truck up to the barn because they might get stuck in the mud there.


(We have had a little bit of rain here.)


Dad and I got home right about noon.


Carrie runs up to me and tells me that she has to tell me something.


From past experience, the use of this phraseology by my teenagers has never been the forbearer of good news.


So Carrie spills her guts...


While she was backing the truck out she caught the post by the cattle guard with the front bumper of the truck.


Oh my.


Dad was upset.


Mom called to let us know that she had made it to Denver okay.


I asked Dad if he had told Mom about the fence.

"No, I didn't", he says.


That means that Mom is going to be even more upset.



We're "Home Alone" for the next two weeks now.


I hope that the place is still in one piece when "The Boss" gets back in town.


later...

Bingo at the Nursing Home...

"I-14!"

"I-14!"


First male player, "Can we make substitutions?"


"No. It's I-14."


"N-32!"

"N-32!"


Second male player, "N-22?"

"No. It's N-32."


"O-21!"

"O-21!"


First male player, "Can I play O-31?"


"No. It's O-21."



Boys just never grow up.


later...

Just a Note...

I have had quite a week at work and it's still not over.

No week-end off for me as I will have to work both days.


I have noticed on my site stats that there has been an increasing number of college students looking for help with their commemorative speeches.

It's that time of year and the assignments will soon be due.

It's interesting to me to watch how the timing of class requirements correspond with all of the universities and colleges across the nation. Even in Hawaii!

I get quite an increase in visits to my commemorative speech assignment that I posted on my blog. It has already been two years since I attended that class.

It really doesn't seem that long ago to me.

I've used the internet a lot to help me along with my assignments. Last year I think a visiting student got in trouble because of my speech paper. It seems that my work has possibly been uploaded to turnitin, which is a plagiarism detection software that many universities use. The university I graduated from used it, and several of the professors let us "students" know how much they really liked the program.

**ahem**

Anyway...

This year a professor from the University of Iowa has linked to my speech via her online lecture notes. I don't know how long this link will be good. It's possible that she uses the same link for all of her classes and then updates it to change dates and pertinent information.

Regardless, I was flattered when I discovered that many of my Iowan student visitors were coming to my blog via the English professor's link.

I was then quite shocked when I read what she had written:

Want to see or listen to some other special occasion speeches?

Oprah Winfrey's Eulogy of Rosa Parks
George W. Bush's remarks at the Virginia Tech memorial
John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address
Here is nice student speech posted on a blog--it is from a longer assignment.

Thank you for the kind comments Professor. I really appreciate them!


(I wonder what kind of grade she would have given me?)


So...

I just thought that I would share this little tidbit of information with you guys and let you all know that finally I have been included with a group of individuals that might be able to meet my standards of achievement.

**cough**

That's it for my "short" little note for tonight.

Somehow, everything I write seems to always turn into a "longer assignment".

later...

Two Guinea Chicks...

Two Guinea Chicks
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday.

We had some "not-so-nice" weather here with a lot of cold wind and rain. It was really bad for the new kid goats that were being born out in it.

We spent nearly the entire time slopping through the mud and rain looking for wet newborns, then dragging the nannies and the kids underneath the barn so that the babies could be placed under heat lamps to dry off and warm up.

We lost quite a few kids due to hypothermia.

Carrie and Parker were able to see the birthing of several kid goats for the first time. Having seen many animals being born from a much earlier age than they are I think that it made quite a big impact on them both.

Even though I have witnessed the birthing process many times, there's something about the miracle of birth that is still mind boggling to human reasoning. While watching the kid goats being born my mind could not escape the thought of thousands of human babies that are aborted every year in this country. I just cannot wrap my mind around the excuses (yes, I said excuses) that people use to support and allow such a practice on normal, healthy babies.

As I looked at the lifeless bodies of the adorable kid goats I wondered...

How could anyone be in the abortion business?

There is already a frailty in life that none of us will be able to escape...

Death comes to everyone eventually.


The picture was taken a few weeks ago of some Guinea chicks that were hatched out. Those silly Guinea hens were still laying and sitting on eggs this late in the year. Mom gathered the hatchlings all up and brought them into the house so that they could be under a light for about 10 days. She then moved them out to the barn into a little pen with a light out there.

Aren't they adorable?

When they're grown they won't be near this cute and "innocent" looking.

Maybe that's how some people can support and perform abortions on healthy babies.

They look in the mirror every day and reflect on their inner souls and think that everyone else in this world grew up to be just like them...

...unhappy and miserable.

Later...

Happy Thanksgiving 2007...

I trust that everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

Things have been generally quiet around here.

The goats have started kidding so Mom and Dad are fixing to be inundated with a few hundred kid goats.

We have had a big weather change in the last 24 hours; a 50 degree drop in temperature and howling northerly winds. Our temperature yesterday was 89 degrees and believe me, I was enjoying it too.

I know, I know...

Our cold weather isn't anything compared to my northern friends, but I just can't stand cold weather.

I have a lot of things to be thankful for so I guess I shouldn't be complaining...

Too much that is.

Christmas is just around the corner.

I had an idea for my three year old nephew who lives in Colorado.

I thought it was a great idea, but I had some technical difficulties, compounded by a slow internet connection, and had just about decided that I was going to have to do something else for his Christmas present.

I have worked on this thing in my spare time for almost two weeks now

So not getting my project uploaded had made me really *sad*.

But after four plus hours this afternoon I was finally able to get my project uploaded.

*whew*


My project was to make a little book with some of the pictures that I have taken around here. I have written a story to go with it as well.


Have you guys heard of blurb.com before?

Well, I just think that it is the coolest idea ever and I can't wait to see what "my book" looks like in print.

A Trip to Nana...

In the Texas Hill C...

By T.J. Morgan

Book Preview

I will do my best to get a picture of it when it comes in and try to get it posted here.


I hope all of you guys have a wonderful day tomorrow and this week-end. I have to go to work, but I don't have to work this week-end. I'll have to work Saturday and Sunday of next week though.

Thanks to all of you who work on the holidays. You guys certainly make our holidays safer and brighter.

later...

Hometown News...

Spider
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

I haven't been spending much time on the computer lately. Part of the reason is because there are so many people sharing internet access on one computer.

It has been too long since my last post so I thought that I would give you guys a bit of an update. I wanted to share some photographs as well. When I sat down at "my" computer to gather some photographs together it wasn't long before I had a "visitor" appear.

Yes... the spider came upon my keyboard with me sitting there.

I thought to myself, "Self, it has been a long time since you've sat down at your computer."


So, of course, I had to document the indisputable proof that had so generously landed, nearly, in my lap.

Then I disposed of the eye witness so that there would be only one story to tell...

Told by one storyteller...

Me.

BTW... there wasn't any torture involved. It was quite painless I'm sure, as he didn't even see it coming because I wanted to avoid any messy cleanups on my keyboard.

Parade Fire Truck
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

I know that you folks may find it hard to believe but this post has been in the making for almost four days now. It has taken three of those days (you know I am at work during the day, so when I say "day" it really means evening, at home, after work) just to get my photographs uploaded.

I had to resort to posting my photos on Flickr and then posting them from there to Blogger.

I just can't seem to get my pictures to hardly upload to Blogger on this low-speed internet connection.

As you know, I am partially relocated to Texas. My kids are attending the same school that I did.

The same school that my Dad attended as well.

Noooo... not in the same building, just the school in the same town of Burnet.

The kids nowadays have a big fancy campus that is absolutely huge and is laid out much like a junior college.

The town still isn't much bigger than it was when I went to school there, but it seems that it has become a sought after public school and there are many parents who pay out of district fees for the privilege of transferring their children into it.

A couple of weeks ago was homecoming and there were a lot of special events to mark the occasion. The pictures are from the Homecoming parade which is always led by a firetruck.

Parade Marchers
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

It is a casual affair and the parade consists of students from the high school all the way down to the kindergartners.

You could say that it's a parade for the students.

Carrie
Originally uploaded by itsmetj

Carrie is in the high school choir. Of course, every organization in the school had to have its own flatbed trailer for them to ride upon. The choir wasn't any different. I was able to catch a quick picture of Carrie on her "float".

Doesn't she have a nice parade wave and smile?

All of the students are known as "Burnet Bulldogs", however the little tykes are known as "Bullpups".

These kids have everything these days. They even have air conditioning in the school buses and paved roads!

Have you ever ridden in the back of a school bus with the windows open on a dry dusty Texas road?


I'm sure you've figured out by now that the school colors are green and white.





I laughed out loud when the little wagon train came along near the end of the parade. It looked so fun.

I wish I had a little wagon train like that when I was a kid.

Heck...

I wish they had had kindergarten when I was a kid.

later...

Busy Week-End...

I have been so busy with schoolwork that I haven't been able to keep up with things around the house like I should have been.

One thing that has been "let go" is the yard. While we have kept the yard mown and the grass generally under control, the little things have been left undone.

This week-end my goal was to edge the yard. While some may not think that this is a huge undertaking it was quite a challenge since this aspect of lawn care has been ingnored here at my house. We also live on a 1/4 acre corner lot, so we have quite a bit of curb between us and the street.

We have been blessed with drought breaking rains and so the grass has really grown. The runners from the Bermuda grass had literally hidden my curb and had taken root in the dirt against the curb and the street.

Yes... my yard had extended itself beyond its normal boundaries and my section of the street was actually turning into turf. Also, my front sidewalk resembled a narrow path and the grass was jumping its boundaries into the flower beds as well.

I worked until the last minute yesterday afternoon because I was due at work at 4:30 to do some ultrasounds.

I took a much needed shower and went to work. I then left work and attended the season's last game of the OKC Yard Dawgz. Just before half-time I went upstairs and got to talk on the radio with Mike Frazer about ultrasounds. My work is a sponsor of the team and so we get some air time when the team plays. Mike is the "voice of the Yard Dawgz" and announces the play-by-play radio broadcast live on KTOK radio.

After the game we went and had a few drinks with Mike.

mmm... Frozen Margaritas!

By the way, Mike is a very generous host.

Of course, it was very, very late when I got home last night. I slept in by quite a bit this morning.

I got up and started working on edging the driveway, the other sidewalk and flower beds. I also have a pecan tree by the driveway and there were a lot of limbs that were hanging so low that they were laying on top of my car. To walk to the door of the house it was like walking through a giant shrub.

So I trimmed a bunch of tree limbs as well and got them bundled up so they can go out with the trash. All in all I scraped up several hundred pounds of dirt and grass from around my curb and I now have quite a pile of bundled tree limbs.

Needless to say, my hands are very sore and tired this evening from the strenous two day work out they have gotten. I can feel my hands complaining now while I type.

Working outside this week-end was also like working out in a sauna. It has been really humid and today was certainly more humid than yesterday.

But I have quite a sense of accomplishment and feel really good "internally".

Of course, the margaritas could have more to do with my sense of well-being than the strenous physical labor and gallons of sweat that streamed from my pores.

Maybe I should do this more often.


The margaritas that is.


later...

Civic Duty...

As Linda in Norman would say:

"Poke me with a fork. I'm done."


We have just been released by the Federal Judge.

We have completed our service as jurors after six days of testimony and deliberations.

All 12 jurors are emotionally and mentally drained beyond description.


Believe me when I tell you that it was an experience like no other.


And no...

I don't want to do it ever again.


later...



Story in the Norman Transcript.

The Latest News...

Linda in Norman e-mailed me the other day to tell me that it has been quite some time since I have posted anything on my blog.

When I looked at the date of my last post, I found it hard to believe that it has been 13 days!

Two weeks without a post?

How unlike me.


*sigh*


Needless to say, I have been inundated with an enormous amount of school work. If I told you guys how many hours I have spent in research and writing for my class assignments alone...

Well, let's just say that I am certain that you would understand why I haven't posted.


For example, in one class alone I have typed 18,772 words. Of course, this is a word count for the finished product as recorded by my Word documents.

Another neat thing about the statistics that Word records on your documents is the amount of time that is spent on editing the document. I think that the amount of time that is spent on projects tells a much clearer story.

In this same class I spent 5478 minutes editing those 18,772 words. This calculates into 91.3 hours of my life that was used to to type these papers up. Of course, this does not include how much time was spent on reading and researching the topics that I was writing about. However, I did not keep a manual record of these efforts.


Albeit, I spent an enormous amount of time on these assignments, I am happy to announce that I did earn an "A" for the class. My professor e-mailed me this afternoon to let me know what my grade was before she was required to post it officially.

She also gave me quite a compliment.

So... In the end, it was all worth it because I achieved my goal!


In other news...

I know that I had a lot of people worrying about me and my ONG bill and the overcharge from my account via the automatic payment plan.

I have been so busy that I haven't been monitoring my bills like I should. I was yanked into reality when they *dinged* my account for an EXTRA $75. Of course, this caused me to pull all my old bills out, go out and read my meter myself, and make a phone call that put me in that endless on hold loop for over 30 minutes.

I won't go into all of the *gory* details of my telephone conversation with the customer service rep when I called about my bill.

Let's just say that I became very frustrated with her because she WOULD NOT SHUT UP and listen to my reasoning and logic. While I didn't have all the facts in front of me "like she did", I had a pretty good idea of what had happened to my account. She kept telling me that I OWED Oklahoma Natural Gas money!! She refused to listen to me. I know that she thought I was crazy...

And stupid as well.

BTW... if you really want to make me mad, just ~act~ like you think I'm stupid.

I tried my best to get to a supervisor, but you know how that first line of defense works. They won't let you get past them.

The next day I finally got through to a supervisor. While she didn't quite understand my logic or reasoning, she could tell that something "just wasn't right" with my account. She promised that she would send it over to the "Accounting Department".

Long story short...

ONG ended up crediting my account $318.23.


Oh yeah... uh huh...


That customer service rep was wrong, and I was right.


You know that I really didn't have the time to deal with those people, but for $300 I figure that it's worth it.


HOWEVER... I think I still need to write a letter to ONG because they don't REFUND you the money. They only credit your account.

Which, in my opinion, is wrong, wrong, wrong.


There's a lot of things that I need to share with you guys, but I'll only share a few more things.


One is a new phishing scam. The last couple of weeks I have been getting hit with spam that presents itself as an e-card. It says things like, "Your family member has sent you an e-card!" or "Your friend has sent you a card!". There's one that uses Hallmark's name on it too.

You get the idea.

They're FAKE e-mail greeting cards.

I knew that these cards were probably worse than the annoying spam that we all usually get. But I never took the time to research it. This evening I took a few minutes and I was able to confirm my suspicions.

Anyway, in the body of the e-mail is a link that you click on and it takes you to a website. This website downloads malicious spyware, etc., on your computer when you land on it. With this "mal-ware" the people on the other end can gather your credit card numbers, passwords, or anything else that you type on your computer or online.

So I thought that this was something important for you guys to know. You can read this short article about it.


Let's see...

What else.


Oh yeah...


Do you guys remember me mentioning that I had been summoned as a petit juror to the Federal Court?

Well, I had to show up yesterday morning at 7:30 am. We had orientation, swearing in, and all that stuff. They told us that we had to be available through August 10th. They also said that most trials usually only last about two to three days.


I ended up being selected as a juror for a criminal trial...

And the judge told us that it was certain to last for FIVE days at the very least. Maybe into the following week?


Can you believe this?


So...


What have you guys been up to?


Hopefully, I be back here sooner than...


later...

My Food Pyramid...

Yes...

I'm under a lot of stress here.

Big papers...

Lots of homework...

Lots of material to read.


Then last night my bank account was drafted by ONG (Oklahoma Natural Gas).

It wasn't unexpected since I am on the "automatic bill pay" plan.

But the amount was...


My account was OVERCHARGED!!


Oh yeah...

I'm HOT.

I'm UPSET.


I'm...




Headed for the fridge.


later...

Just Plain Busy...

I've been too busy to blog.

Too busy to visit any of your blogs.

Too busy to scratch my ...


Anyway, I just thought I would let all of you guys know what I've been up to.


This evening I have read an assignment.

Took a test.

And worked on a project.


I have just given myself a "self-reward".

A nice tall glass of ice cold milk and a couple of pieces of chocolate out of my Godiva Box that my oldest daughter, Calais, had given me.

mmm...


I think I deserved it.


And yes.

I'm stressed out.


I feel like I am snowed under right now with class assignments, projects, and papers.


I wasn't able to get as much accomplished this week-end as I had hoped. This has given me the feeling of being even farther behind in my schoolwork.


No TV.

No phone conversations.

No nothing.


Just schoolwork.


Tomorrow my neighbor Sue and I will be working on Part II for my Human Lifespan Development class.


Then I have to get the paper written up and turned in on Friday.

This is certainly not how I like to do my papers. I like to have a lot more time to work on them than just a couple of days. That's basically about all the time I'll have since I have class on Thursday evening.


And so far, my Thursday night classes have been running from 5:30pm up to almost 10pm. We also have a group project and we are required to meet after class.

So then I come straight home and type up my field notes from our group meeting.

Just so that I won't forget anything.


*sigh*


Linda in Norman did give me a call last night.

She thought that I might have died or something.


No, I'm not dead.

But I'm beginning to wonder if this is what it feels like just before you do die.


later...