HOLY CRAP!

I am really tired, but 500 miles closer to my first destination. Tonight I am at a brand new Hampton in Wytheville, VA, but still at least 5 hours from my cousin's house. I didn't think it would be that long, but I talked to her and that's what she told me. I'm ready for a long bath and bed. My crunchy taco bell tacos were not crunchy, so I am still hungry. Too bad. I'm not going out for real food....vending machines will suffice. This will be my last post probably until I get to the hotel on Thursday.

Hello, Alabama

Who knew Alabama's flag looked like this? Sort of strange, I think, but it comes from the Confederate flag. Can't argue with that!!!

I am in for the night..well. except for that OUtback steakhouse next door, somewhere between Birmingham and Huntsville. Everything went smoothly except that after I was too far out to turn around, I realized that I had left my memory foam pillow that I like to sit on when I drive long distances. That has been remedied. The local Wal Mart had one similar, so it is now in the car.

My brother called when I was almost to Jackson and told me my neighbor had called him to tell him they wouldn't be around to take care of things at my house while I am gone. Her husband had a four wheeler accident and was in the hospital awaiting surgery. He broke some vertebrae. He is the one who mowed my yard for me last time I was gone. Great neighbors. I knew something was amiss because their newspaper stayed in the yard all day for 2 days, but it got picked up at night. I am really sorry to hear this. I could be helping them out right now.

Last day....

Since I already had everything done, I slept in this morning. Everything is packed. I turned the sprinklers on the yard and went to see Mom and Dad. Of course, it rained while I was gone, so my yard got a double dose. It really needed it badly, so I'm glad to get that rain before I leave. Most of my hummers are gone and I expect the last two to be gone before I get back. There is still juice in the feeder, so they will be fine until they leave on their journey.

My dad said he would worry the whole time I am gone. He's a worrier! I can't help that. He's always been that way. That's why I used to never tell him when I was gone, but now that I live close I can't do that. I do miss just taking off for a weekend like I used to do without telling anyone.

The purpose of my upcoming travels!

These are the nuptials I will be attending !

SCREW the UN!

This is the most corrupt, useless organization in the world. It needs to be moved OUT of the USA so we don't have to let Iran morons such as Ahmadaabbadabbdo, in the USA.

An UP day!

Some days I am a slug, while others I am energy personified. Today was an energy day. I am almost completely finished packing and that is no easy task since I have to attend different functions requiring different degrees of dress. The only one that I am sure I will be dressed appropriately for is the bar-b-que on Sunday after the wedding on Saturday for the out of town guests who are still in town...jeans!

Mom is doing great after her dental procedure yesterday. She and Dad surprised me with a visit this morning. I have purposely not told Dad about my new computer and it was sitting on the counter in all its pink brilliance. He never even saw it.

I think it will be fun to update this blog whenever I can while I am on the road. I have read several blogs of people who were on trips and enjoyed them immensely. I'm really hoping to get to see some fall foliage before I get home. While I am at my cousin's house in Virginia, I probably will not get to post because she lives out on the Rappahannock River in the country and only has a dial up connection. Those drive me crazy. That's what my brother has as well....only because it is the only thing available where he lives.

AAAAHHHHH!

It's been a very uneventful weekend and I welcomed it. It was nice to kick back and do nothing. Yesterday, I did go to Mom and Dad's and took them to a fund raiser for the youth at their church. The pastor's brother came up from New Orleans and cooked a truckload of jambalaya. Seriously, it wasn't very good. Jambalaya is a Louisiana dish made from rice and sausage. I've never made it, but I think I could and it would taste better than that.

I am once again eating fresh cucumbers from the few plants I planted a few weeks ago. That's a real treat. Those things are 75 cents each in the store.

There are three people that I know who are near death. These are all old people, but I think they will be gone before I get back home off the road. One of them is my friend's father. He is around my father's age.

Whatever!

It's been a lazy, do nothing day and I don't even care...so there!!

My obsession..

Kid Nation
Reality TV! It started years ago with the very first MTV Real World. I have since abandoned that one, but I loved it when it started. Last night Big Brother ended with the worst winner EVER. Tonight Kid Nation started and was really interesting. Tomorrow night Survivor starts, so I guess I will be a TV freak for awhile.

My hummers are swarming...

Every 24 hours I have to refill the sugar water for the hummers. They are fun to watch and usually they don't play nicely, but I guess they know they have a long trip ahead and they need to fatten up...no time to waste...no energy to waste chasing each other away from the feeder. I will hate to see them go.

Yep! I'm happy!

Everything is up and running flawlessly finally. The printer is playing nice and with the wireless mouse, I am getting used to the laptop. The technician put a free program on my computers called "Logmein",which allows me to go to my home PC from anywhere in the world. It's pretty cool. He accessed his office computer from my laptop and was able to print out a bill for me so I didn't have to wait for him to bill me. Once again, I have my faith back in technology and have decided to stay in the 21st century. WooHOO!

Just testing...

I am in my house on my new laptop just testing to see if I can post.

Bambi is back!

Since I was so busy today, I didn't look at the yard until tonight. That's when I discovered that Bambi had ventured really close to the house and snacked on some more caladiums. That concerns me because in the same bed with these caladiums are hydrangeas, impatiens, and my beautiful pink sweetheart rose. Sunday morning when I went to church, there was Bambi's sibling dead on the side of the road....apparently the victim of a hit and run driver! The mayor is in my Bible Study class, so I told him about it and he promised it would be gone Monday before it started stinking up the neighborhood. It was gone just like he said. Tonight I have moved the lawn chairs by the flower bed to try to save it from the deer and I have put a radio out there with music playing.

Another busy day!

This morning I went to Mom and Dad's to get some garden work done. We hope to plant some fall vegetables, but we have to get some rain or it will be pointless. I have a place all ready for Dad to grow some strawberries. I don't think they will grow here. He's tried before and failed everytime, but he wants to try again. OK! As I was cleaning out the old garden, I was looking through some volunteer watermelon vines and found several little watermelons. Dad was really excited to see them. We hope they will have time to ripen before the first frost. I was covered in dirt, so I came back to my home to shower before going back to take Mom to the dentist. Unfortunately, they were not able to do the work today because she takes coumadine (blood thinner) and she has to lay off it for 3 days before the dentist can pull her tooth. She lost a crown and beneath the crown was all decayed and it will have to be all dug out. She is really dreading it.

Wow! Hell of a Day!

I spent a good part of the morning taking my friend's son back to the orthodontist, but this afternoon was KILLER! I called a local professional to come see if he could solve my network printer problem. He was here from 2:30 until 6:30. He was a TALKER! He only charged me for two hours because he does talk so much! He finally got the printer to work, but it took some doing. It was kicking his ASS just like it did my little friend on Saturday. We were almost to the point where I was going to buy a new printer that was network capable when the thing decided to print from the laptop. I have tried it since and it did work. Now I have spent a total of $345 to get the damn thing running. $100 on Saturday, which Cody really didn't want to take that much, but I told him it was a retainer fee and I had him on speed dial. Then today was another $120 plus $125 of wireless equipment on Saturday. I am bleeding money!!

Monumental frustration...

Not on my part so much, but for the young man I hired to come set up my wireless router. He had no problem doing that, but he was never able to get the printer recognized by the laptop. It shows that it is in the network, but it won't print. He thinks Norton may be the cause and I tend to agree with him. That poor child spent 4 hours trying to get it to work. I even went and bought a jump drive and an ethernet cord for him to try everything he knew to try. He finally gave up. I found a place in the phone book that I will call on Monday. After he left, I tried to import my address book into the lap top and I failed at that. So I guess I do share in his frustration. I need the GEEK SQUAD! I am not going to enjoy the laptop so much because it is too hard to see even though it has a 17 inch screen.

Bad behavior!

Open letter to Wal Mart shoppers:
I am so tired of going to Wal Mart and hearing screaming kids. Why do kids think Wal Mart is just a place to scream constantly? If you are the parent of one of these screaming curtain climbers, please just park the damn buggy and take that child out of the store. You are being very inconsiderate and your child needs discipline. Please, do something!

Hummers everywhere!

Today has been a virtual circus of hummingbirds in my yard. At one time this morning, I counted 8 trying to eat from my feeder. I think there may have actually been ten, but I couldn't count that fast at one time. The only way to know for sure is to count all the ones I can see at one time. I think they must be tanking up for their trip to South America. We have our first little cold front coming tomorrow. I'll refill the feeder tonight and try to keep them here a little longer.

Pummeled again!

Once again my former home town and my current friends are being pummeled yet again! They have not recovered from Rita yet, but they got off their asses and went to work to help themselves....unlike the New Orleans Katrina people, who are still waiting around for a hand out. In a short time, we here in North Louisiana will be getting some residual effects, but we look forward to some rain and will be grateful for it.

It's beautiful!

This is going to take some serious getting used to. I don't have it configured yet for email and internet because I am just too lazy to figure it out. I'll be calling in some back up. I took a young fellow to Bossier City today to get his braces off. It's his brother that I will be calling for help.

Totally awesome!

Today I made another trek to the airport to pick up my cousin again. She is back to, hopefully, get her mother out of the hospital on Thursday and back to the assisted living facility. Tonight my cousin treated 6 of us to a top notch restaurant in Shreveport, Superior's Steakhouse. It was awesome. She had them use menus with no prices printed on them so no one would feel intimidated. I had steak covered with lump crab meat and it was sensational. I also had a pineapple martini! Wow! Such a good drink! We had a great time and had a world class meal in our own little room. She had everything pre-arranged.

Damn Bambi

I know I have been lucky to have had my caladiums for two seasons considering that there are deer tracks in the vacant lot next door every morning. Last night my luck ran out. I don't really care now because the caladiums are about finished and faded, but I would have been mad if it had happened sooner.

NEVER FORGET!!!

Daddy's girl...

Yesterday, I told my dad that I would be at his house tomorrow to do all the spraying of Round UP. When I got there, he wanted me to take him to the bank; then he gave my brother and me each $300. He had told me that he was going to give me $200 for my road trip, but I guess he decided to help me more. Fine by me. I can certainly use it with gas prices rising every day. He has no clue that I have a new computer ordered. He wouldn't understand why I needed a new one when I have one that works fine. He's sensible that way!!! His daughter is NOT!

Problem solved!

The builder and the developer came and looked at the tile. The culprit, which I already knew, is the clay soil that shrinks and expands depending on the moisture. Fortunately, there is a solution. The broken tiles will be removed and a moveable membrane placed over the crack underneath. The tiles will be replaced and there will be some flexible grout used to allow for some movement. The grout gets hard just like the other, but it still allows for some movement. I learn something new about construction all the time and it's fun. I like learning new stuff. The only problem is that by the next day, I forget it!!! Oh, the perils of aging!!!

WooHooo!

I just checked my order status at Dell. My computer shipped today!! 3 to 5 days and I should have my PINK tricked out computer. Now maybe I'll learn how to use it enough to take it on my trip with me.

I'm learning!

Lunch with the ladies today resulted in my learning something new. Obviously, I don't know much about construction or home ownership. One of the ladies is building behind me, so I told her about the tiles cracking in my house. She told me that I should call the builder because there is such a thing as a construction slab warranty. I did that and he said there is indeed such a thing and he will be out next week when the developer gets back in town to take a look. Who knew!!! Well, probably everyone, but ME!

The DRAMA is over...

Animal control came and got the kitty. The kitty came right to the man, so it has been around people. I am convinced someone dropped that kitty off by my house because it is not wild and it is not adventurous. It stayed right here all night. I'm glad it's gone and I hope it gets a nice home and family. I love kittens, but it is just impossible for me to have one.

Damn cat...

That kitten is driving me crazy. It cried most of the night outside my front door, but coming inside is NOT an option. I don't have any cat food, but I took some cream out for the kitten, which it won't touch. I thought maybe it was hungry. Someone had to drop that kitten off close to my house. I can't open the garage door because the cat comes in and tries to get inside. I had to get the garage opener, take the cat outside and hold it until the door was down, then slip around through the back gate and go back inside. I sure don't want that cat in the back yard with its constant crying. I will be calling animal control as soon as they are open.

Damn it again!

I just read on the Dell message board that people who had a 9-12 ship date this morning now have a 9-22 ship date, so I checked mine and YEP there it is.....9-22. There is no way I will get this damn thing before I leave for D.C. Crap!

Seriously, I don't need this!

I was gone for about three hours today and while I was gone there must have been a significant storm. My entire patio is wet and it is a covered patio. When I pulled in the garage and got out of the car, I heard a kitten crying. It was inside the box that houses my hose, then it came in the garage. Of course, I am a sucker for kittens, but I am highly allergic. I got in the car and started to go get some kitten food, but decided against it because I'm afraid all this kitten's homies will come and I will be overcome with cats. I don't know what to do. I picked it up and put it back in the hose keeper box because I think it has fleas. Notice that it doesn't have a tail. I don't know if that is because it is part manx or if something happened to it. If it is around tomorrow, I guess I'll at least put a flea collar on it, but I cannot keep a cat.
Edited to add: Damn cat is getting on my nerves now. I sneaked out the front door with my flashlight to see if the kitten was staying in the hose keeper. Kitty came out and followed me and I could barely get back in the front door without the kitty dashing in. Now it is outside my front door just crying!! I'm glad I can't hear it from my bedroom.

Just as I expected!

My ship date for my new Dell was today, but just as I expected the date changed to the 12th today. Now I am so afraid that it is going to be shipped while I am gone for over two weeks. If that becomes reality, I will have to call them and ask them not to ship until I return. They are so incompetent that getting them to do that will probably fail as well.

Oh..CRAP...here we go again!

Louisiana is notorious for its "good ole boy" politics and here it goes again. Today was the first day of qualifying for Louisiana governor. There should be a lever in the voting booth that just flushes every incumbent. They are all crooks and not looking out for anyone but themselves.If New Orleans was stupid enough to re-elect Ray Nagin, there is no telling what could happen in the governor's race. He may even run for governor. Holy CRAP! I already know who I'm voting for and I dread the long political season of advertisements.

Yeah...it's been crazy!

After retrieving my cousin from the airport on Friday and a late night dinner at a very classy restaurant, we got home after midnight. Her mother is now in rehab and doing better, so we have been out to eat a lot. I am ready to stop eating out and stay home. She is flying back to Virginia on Wednesday and coming back on Monday, so we'll be doing it all over again next week. I am stuffed!