The locksmith ... ...

... has come and gone. (Arrived almost two hours after he was originally scheduled. It seems he had to break into a car way up on the north side of town and then fight heavy traffic to get over here in the far southwest.)

While we were waiting, my daughter and I did a walkthrough of whatall *I* wanted him to look at and then we came in here to take a look at the printer. It's making dirty-looking copies. Just recently started that routine.

She tried every which way she knew how to get it to make clean ones, but it was a no go. The upshot of this whole story is that she took the printer with her. My son-in-law will take a look at it, but she thinks he'll end up taking it to a professional. More later, if and when.

But getting back to the locksmith ... boy, I think we got a really good one. An amusing incident occurred when he first came into the house, tho. (I must add that it's only amusing if you have a really weird sense of humor, which I have.)

Those of you who have read my blog more than just a few times know how far down the list housekeeping chores are. In fact, they're so far down the list they don't even make the list, ok? I would rather brush my teeth, go to the bathroom, sit out on the back patio and walk the dog (I don't have a dog) rather than dust or scrub ANYthing!

And as for filing? Give me a break, will you please? Filing??? What the devil's THAT?!?

[Kind of a funny side story here. Julian Barr and I play duplicate bridge fairly regularly. He NEVER remembers our card and a few times - except for the most recent one - I was unable to find ours, which seemed to tick him off. ("Well, tuff titties," as my mother would have said. If he was that ticked, he should have brought HIS, right?) Anyway, when we played Sunday evening I brought our card with me. Guess where I found it? I had filed it, and in the proper place! LOL]

But getting back to the 'amusing incident' with the locksmith. When he came in the front door, he took one look around and asked, "Recycling?" Rrvit! My daughter ignored the question and quickly took him on the tour, showing him the problems that existed.

ALL outside doors, including the garage door - which I recently described in one of my posts as having a mind of its own and coming open whenever it felt like doing so, were in need of attention. However, it was my opinion that nothing could be done about ANY of them w/o incurring major - and I do mean major - reconstruction costs. (The house is coming ever closer, inch by inch, to falling down around me. Think that's a fairly true statement.) Hence the *I* in the second paragraph above.

I had already given my roflol (altho I used different lettering) opinions to my family, trying to get all of the sardonic laughter out of my system before said locksmith arrived, and - I might add - was surprisingly successful.

To make a long story shorter, and without going into whatall is wrong with my house - quite a 'downer', actually, so I'll not bore all y'all with it, I will just say that we had a locksmith extraordinaire. He thinks what he was able to accomplish will 'hold' for the next few months, until I'm out of here. Good news.

Not so good news is that while my daughter and I were sitting out on the patio visiting, my next door neighbor came over to tell me that he is leaving Houston next week. He has sold everything and is relocating back to Florida. While I am not terribly fond of my neighbor, that means I'll have a vacant house next door. He said he's having trouble finding a realtor who will even list the place! Gives you a little better idea of what has happened to this neighborhood, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here unafraid. Really and truly. I don't like some of the things that have been happening and the direction in which they seem to be going, but I've never been one to sit around shaking in my boots.

I thought more than once that I should have a weapon, but just can't bring myself around to purchasing one. A couple of questions present themselves. 1) Would I use it? Probably yes, if I felt that my life was in danger. 2) Where would I keep it? On my body? That question is almost unanswerable. I need a Clint Eastwood-type around. Any volunteers?

Changing computers

For Christmas just passed, I got a new computer from my daughter and her husband. My old one was on its last legs, but I was babying it along .. babying it along .. babying it along ... ... you know how that goes, right?

Well, this new one I have can do all sorts of things that theirs cannot and is almost faster than a bolt of lightning, but .. big "but" here .. you know what else it will do? (And I didn't discover this until yesterday.) It will relegate any and all comments on "Goldenrod's thoughts" to a Zone Alarm trash bin, which I didn't even know existed!

[Btw, Tammy. Your personal e-mail to me of the 19th ended up in that trash bin, as well. If I'd received it via regular channels, you can betcher sweet bippy that I never would have ignored it!]

My my! And so, when I have been tardy or even completely lacking in responding to your comments, that's the reason why. My son-in-law thought he fixed the problem yesterday, but I see I'm still getting e-mails in that trash bin .. most of them junk, I've noticed, but .. oh, well.

Meanwhile, I'll be going through your comments and responding. Playing catchup, as it were. I'll be interested to see if anyone responds to THIS post .. .. AND, if I get notification via regular e-mail, as is supposed to happen, or if the comments still get relegated to Zone Alarm's trash bin.

Hopefully, we'll get all of the bugs worked out of the system ... eventually. It's all in the setup, I'm pretty sure.

An intrusion

I was in here earlier today, working away at the computer - probably updating my latest post - when there was a knock at my front window. I ignored it.

A few minutes later there was a knock at my front door. I ignored it. Then the doorbell rang. I ignored that!

I could hardly believe it when, a few minutes later, there was a knock at my back door. I opened it in my disheveled and now somewhat angry state, a little ticked off at this latest unwelcome intrusion into my life, and said, "Yes? What is it??"

There stood my neighbor, who apologized for the interruption, but then went on to say how his garage had been broken into last night. He had noticed that my gate was ajar (My gate is always ajar!) and my garage door was open. (My garage door seems to have a mind of its own. It comes open when it feels like being open.)

Said I might want to check out my garage. Well, the last thing I wanted to do was check out my garage and so I put it on the back burner. The only thing out there of any value is my car. Well, almost. I've been told that my dad's fishing gear is valuable. (Do thieves bother about such things? Probably not.)

Later, after publishing my much-revised post, I ventured out to the garage and peeked at where my car should have been to see if it was still there. It was. And, it appeared to be intact.

Slowly moving closer towards the vehicle, I looked down towards the tires. Both were still there and fully-inflated. (Keep in mind that I could see only one side of the car at that point.)

I inched forward, hesitant to touch anything, but then finally decided to try and open the driver's side door. It opened too easily. Whomever was in there had not firmly closed it when they left.

I took a quick glance around inside. The glove box was agape, but what was still in there - from what I could see (had not brought a flashlight out with me, and the interior lights did not appear to be on) was what I always have in there ... insurance, registration and deposit slips for the bank. Stuff like that. That's it.

My wonderful Christmas gift from Walter Freitag, my nighttime bridge mentee, was still there - intact, altho the colorful wrap had been strewn all over the back seat - along with a couple of groceries that I had yet to bring in from the car. I think my gift from Walter might be worth a little money, but they must not have known that.

What was it they were looking for, anyway?

I got really nervous about the fact that there were no interior lights on in the car and decided to come back into the house, get the car keys and go back out to see if it started. Did they wear down the battery?

I did and it did. However, this was a few hours ago. I probably need to go out again to see if it starts. Give me a sec here while I do it, ok? ... ... It does. Just as soon as I publish this, I intend to go out for a short drive. See if everything works as it should.

There doesn't appear to have been any damage done to the car. I mean, while they were in there they could have 'keyed' the exterior, slashed the seats and tires, taken my driver's license/Randalls' and Kroger's cards, WellCare identification card, Shell credit card ... who knows whatall damage might have been done?

Kids? Adults? I have no idea. I am thankful that there was no personal ill will.

I had a momentary hard time when I sat in the driver's seat, only to realize that it had been set back farther than I like it. That wasn't a good thing! If it hadn't been for my neighbor alerting me that there had been a break in, I probably would have had a much more nervous reaction that I did. Which reminds me. While I am not fond of my neighbor, I do appreciate his efforts in letting me know about this one! I'm going to have to write a very nice thank you note and leave it at his front door.

Have you ever had a break in? This will be my third time. There really are no words adequate enough to describe the feeling of personal violation.

AAA

I'm talking about the American Automobile Association here, the letters not to possibly be misconstrued as Alcoholics Anonymous or any other such similar-sounding names.

I was a member for years and years, and always thought highly of them. There was a branch office located not far from where I lived here in Houston, and I often went there for free maps and assistance. Wonderful, wonderful!

But then I started driving a taxi, beginning with Yellow Cab. I didn't see the need to continue my relationship with AAA because Yellow Cab could - and would! - respond to my emergency needs much quicker than AAA.

One night, however, after having a most enjoyable game of duplicate bridge with Tom Jahnke - who was one of my regular partners at the time - we came out to the parking lot only to discover that one of the rear tires on my taxi (the right, I think) was flatter than a pancake.

I knew that I couldn't change the tire (I was driving a full-sized Chevrolet Caprice at the time) - I had a good spare in the trunk - and hoped that maybe Tom could help me.

Well no, he really couldn't, he said. I said, "That's OK. I'll call Yellow Cab. They'll come over and change it for me. It'll only cost me $35."

"No, don't do that," he said. "I'm a member of AAA. I'll call them. They'll be here quickly and it will cost us nothing!"

Sure enough, it didn't take AAA very long to arrive at the scene. However, they refused to work on my taxicab because it was a commercial vehicle. !!!!! Nowhere in their literature - even today's, I've checked - does it say that if your vehicle is a commercial one, it is excluded from their services.

And nowadays membership in that (what I call "hoity doity") illustrious organization costs upwards of $100 per year.

The Indiana stop

I just cannot go another second without posting this one, folks!

Years and years ago, when I lived in Indiana, I was often slightly - sometimes more than just slightly - appalled when my dear friend, Jacky, with whom I was riding as a passenger at the time, made what I came to think of as an "Indiana stop".

Do you know what that is? It is what happens when, upon coming to a 4-way stop, you just barely tap on your brakes and then cruise right on through the intersection. She did this more times than I'd care to try and recount. And always without incident!

[She might term it a "rolling" stop, I don't know.]

Well, tonight - coming back home from Randall's and Luby's, where I got some of the world's best vegetable soup to go - I saw the alltime record-holder for rolling/Indiana stops danged near get his comeuppance (and a banged-up car in the process).

The light was red. I was stopped. The person on my right decided to just cruise right on through the intersection, intending to make a right turn, even though the person coming the other way was making a left (on a left turn only green light, I want you to know!)

There was no tap on the brakes, nothing like that, until - all of a sudden - the person 'cruising' decided he'd better stop or he would hit the legal car. (?!?) To compound matters slightly, he had a sheep right behind him, who was hellbent on following him over the cliff.

Lawdy, lawdy! You know what, folks? The very last thing you need when you've made all of the stops on your list and you're really anxious to get back home is to have to stand around and be a witness when the police finally arrive - an hour or two later.

Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Various

This has been a strange week, what with my 'falling off the pottie' episode and whatnot all else.


I just got off the phone with my son-in-law, asking him what his schedule looked like for today. I told him I needed to bring something out there for him to look at. He asked, "It wouldn't be a toilet, would it?" (I could hear a barely muffled 'Hee hee' in the background.) What does he think I am, anyway - some kind of Amazon, that I could pick up and carry a toilet all the way out there to Katy? Give me a break here, would you please?!?

No, the 'problem' I want him to look at and resolve is my weedeater (inherited from my daughter). I can't seem to get it apart to see if the weedeating thingamabop is out of plastic, or if it's just entangled. I did this myself a few years back, but am unable to do it now for some reason. (I tried to reach my neighbor last night to see if he could help me, but was unsuccessful.)

He's going to call me when he gets back from lunch. Meanwhile, my front entry is threatening to become overgrown with grass and weeds and absolutely MUST be trimmed! Elsewise, the homeowner's association will charge me $$ to do it. (I've gone back and forth with the association many times before and would like to avoid this scenario, if possible.)


Meanwhile, I've been called for jury duty again, can you believe it? This one's for traffic court. September 8th. I wrote an extensive post in June of last year "On discharging one's civic responsibilities", which you can read at your leisure if you wish.

I'm tempted to go and 'serve'. I think the likelihood is GREAT that I'll be 'kicked off' of any actual juror's list simply due to my many years of professional driving ... ... still and all, tho, I'm tempted to go. What do you think? Should I?


As a slight follow-up to my 'falling off the toilet' episode, I'll tell you that a very large and colorful bruise on my upper left arm is - as of this writing - disappearing. I'm pretty sure that I was lucky.


Has any of you read any of others' "Transformative moments"? My goodness! Some of them are really difficult to read, while others are downright amusing. It was a glorious idea that you had, Steven, and I'm not the least bit surprised that you had such a wide variety of participants.


All for now, guys. More later, including - as I promised you, Tammy, a wild card post.

Virus alert

I received an e-mail yesterday which warned of a new virus, cited snopes.com for verification and advised me to pass the information along to everyone I know and care about immediately.

Well, I have double-checked with snopes.com for my own personal satisfaction, and snopes does NOT verify it. Read it for yourselves, if you wish.

Have a bit of patience getting to the site ... all sorts of popups want to appear ... but snopes' central message is loud and clear and one we should all keep in mind:

Never open an attachment from someone or a source you do not know and trust.

So simple.

More scattered thoughts

Well, it's Friday. My cell phone chose to 'give up the ghost completely' mid-afternoon yesterday, and I spent most of the rest of that day stewing and moaning and groaning about that fact. At one point, I even went so far as to go next door to use my 'dreaded' next-door neighbor's phone.

(An aside here. Goldang, but he's good-looking. He's my son-in-law's age, too, for crying out loud! Down, Goldenrod, DOWN!! And don't you dare for even one half of one second try to imagine I feel 'that way' about my son-in-law. I DON'T, OK? I mean, my son-in-law is one heck of a terrific guy, but he's just not 'my type'. "What type is that?" you might well ask. My only answer would be that I know the 'type' when I see it. How do you like THAT answer for nondescript?)

I tried to correspond with my daughter via e-mail, but - as luck would have it - about the same time, she discovered that she was unable to send e-mails. Wouldn't you just know it? Dear lord!

ANYhoo, I traveled west to Katydid-land in the evening and my son-in-law provided me with an "extra" cell phone that he had, along with a new battery and a spare (for 'just in case') ... ... where does he get all these "extras" from, anyway?? (Might this be a case of 'don't ask, don't tell'?) In addition, he was able to re-program my "new" phone to my cell phone number. Sneaky little devil, isn't he? (LUV these sneaky little devils, particularly when they're on my side!)

As an added plus, I was able to watch my Astros soundly defeat the Washington Nationals in the second of two games ... the first one of which was a carryover from an early May suspended game (in Washington) in the bottom of the 11th inning, I think it was, with the score tied at 10 apiece. The game was over within five minutes of its resumed start, when 'Pudge' Rodriguez (our catcher) made an errant throw of what probably would have been an almost 'automatic' double play to end the inning and send the game to the 12th. As it was, however, the 'bad guys' scored the winning run and the game was over. Oh, my!


New topic ... ... I woke up several hours ago and tried to make my usual 'rounds' of the bathroom, fresh coffee, coming in here to see whatall was 'new' and so forth and so on with my computer and e-mails and such, only to discover that - when I tried to flush the toilet, there were these very strange gurgling noises. "Oh, come on now," I thought, "surely they don't have the water turned off!"

But, 'they' did - and for the next at least three hours, as it turned out. I had planned to wash the dishes and do a couple of loads of laundry - not to mention take a shower and wash the stench off of myself! As it was, I found myself in another 'snit' and ready to do battle with the first person/insect/cloud/whatever that appeared. (Fortunately, none appeared.)

My question is, and I put it to you ... ... When you're paying more than $175/month for 'maintenance', is it too much to ask that the Association inform you when they are going to turn your water off?

Water's back on. I'm still in a somewhat-rotten mood, but it's improving even as I write this.


It's going on 3pm. The powers that be have changed "Fantasy Island" to begin an hour later, so I've got to go. It'll be coming on any second now and I need to close and publish this quickly. Later!

Eewww!

I have another dead critter in my back yard. This one's a squirrel (or what's left of one).

I first noticed kind of a 'ripe' smell two days ago. Initially, I thought it was coming from inside the garage, where I had several small plastic bags of garbage just sitting there waiting to be put outside. I had missed two garbage pickups. (They come on Tuesdays and Fridays.) For some reason or another, the garbage people have recently decided that they're going to come early in the morning.

So anyway, last night - when I came back home from mentoring at the bridge studio (We won!) - I decided I'd take out all the smelly stuff. I really don't like putting garbage out for pickup the night before. Too many bad things can happen ... wind, rain, foraging animals and whatnot, but I figured that's where the smell was coming from and thought I'd take my chances with the overnight bit.

Then, I told myself that I'd check for extraneous smells when I got up this morning. Well, I did, and THIS time there was no mistaking the smell. Only it wasn't coming from the garage. It was outside, close to the garage.

I opened the garage overhead door to see if the garbage had been removed yet. It had. Well, shuckeydurn! Then went to inspect the back yard in the full light of day and finally found the rotting carcass. Eewww!

Have a small box all ready to accept the remains. All I have to do now is line it with newspapers and leaves, place the dead body on top - will probably have to encase it in a couple or three plastic bags first (Ugh! Not looking forward to that!!) - and then fill in the rest of the enclosure with more leaves and stuff.

I might just decide to wait another day or two before doing that. I mean, it's not as tho it'll be going anywhere, right? I'll have to do something, however, before the gendarmes decide to enter my back yard with guns drawn, saying, "All right, lady, where's the body?!?"

I am so frustrated!

Some months ago, I tried to reach out to some of those from my past. Have you ever tried to do that?

Well, I've been successful a time or two or three, but this one time I almost wish that I had not been successful!

Who was it? Well, it was the fellow I 'went with' for a couple of years and was subsequently engaged to in college. Then, his father died and I had visions of his mother - who was fairly dependent upon him at the time - living with us. I ended our relationship without giving him an explanation. (I forget how, exactly, I returned his engagement ring, but I know I did.)

It's my fault, I'm pretty sure. I was simply trying to reach out and touch those from my past to see how they were doing, to see if they were "okay", what had been happening in their lives, to try and re-establish some sort of contact, etc.

Well, this fellow's fine, but he's way too interested in getting together again! He wants me to attend a 50th college reunion in the UP in September ... ... I cannot afford to go, but he'll pay my way (he just "wants to see me again", or so he says).

He's called twice already today. Both times I was unavailable. The first time I was in the other room and didn't get to the phone on time. He left a voice message. The second time I was playing bridge with Rick Barrett.

My daughter is out of town and I can't confer with her. I've tried to call Beth, but got her voice mail. I tried to call Jacky and got Al (her husband), who advised me not to return his calls - just to hang up on him should he call again.

Why is he calling now? His wife is out of town, that's why! Yes, you read that right. He's married!! (And going on 50 years, for crying out loud!!!)

Beth sent me a really neat e-mail the other day, one part of which says, "If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it." That's a zinger, isn't it? (Btw, I'll be doing a post soon where I'll be sharing other thoughts from her e-mail. It's a good one. Watch for it!)

I have tried to explain to this person that I have no intention whatsoever of coming between him and his wife (who I feel has now become my friend), but he simply won't give up.

I don't want to be mean or ugly ... neither of those adjectives really 'fit' me or my 'style', I don't think, but I don't see another way out of this situation.

If you have a recommendation, I'd sure like to hear it!

Good afternoon!

Bridge again ... ... played with Evelyn Berger today, and we had a very nice game - a touch over 58%, and just a whisker (we had 58.17 and the overall winners had 59.13) shy of capturing the whole thing overall. There's a story behind our getting together, and it's a good one.

You might recall that I was looking for someone early last week to make a fourth for our team in the tournament? Well, I called Edna Kelly (a former student), for one. I called several people, actually, and kept getting voice mails. Left a message every time. One of the messages I left was on Evelyn Berger's machine. I listened keenly to her greeting, asking myself the whole time, "Is this the right Evelyn?" I finally decided that it was and left a message, but qualified it with, "If you're the wrong Evelyn, if you're the Evelyn I've reached in error before, I apologize for being in error again and there's no need to call me back."

Well, it was the wrong Evelyn, but she called me back anyway and we had a nice visit. I decided that, as long as we'd had two very pleasant telephone conversations - albeit both as a result of my forgetting Evelyn James' last name, we should really get together for a game and then - hopefully - I wouldn't make that mistake a third time.

Don't you just love that story?

Sweet lady. Only plays during the day. She had cataract surgery on her only good eye last month and has trouble seeing the cards. I've heard this story bunches of times before and I'm tellin' ya, folks, I'm not looking forward to having cataract surgery later on this year or early next. Not the teensiest little bit.


I have one nasty thing to report from today's game. We were defending a contract and I had just taken the last trick. I was taking a little time thinking about what I was going to lead to the next trick when I heard from my left - in a tone of voice I hadn't heard since the last time I was robbed at gunpoint while driving a taxicab - "Let's go, the round's been called!"

When you're driving a taxicab, you never want to hear that tone of voice - it's scary! I wasn't the least bit scared today, but memories just came flooding back over me and I began to shake. I was almost livid with anger. I said nothing and made no comment. Didn't call the director, either, altho I was well within my rights to do so.

(Just took the time to look up what we did against her and her partner ... yes, it was a she who was acting that way! Twelve was "top" on each board, and we had gotten a 9 1/2 on the previous board. I guess she was ticked. "Tough titties," my mother would have said. On the 'tone of voice' board, we got a 10. Ha! Double ha!!)


Tomorrow I'm scheduled to play with Rick Barrett. Now that's a name from my far almost-everyday-bridge-playing past! Am very much looking forward to it. We've exchanged a couple of e-mails already, talking about our general approach to the game and what we prefer, etc. and blah. We'll be playing at a venue that is new to me.


Milwaukee did not lose last night, and so the National League's Central division is not nearly as tight as I optimistically envisioned.


Later, gators!

Sunday morning

[This post has been written in bits and pieces. It's now going on 9am Monday morning. I'm going to leave it pretty much as I initially began it, but I'll be doing little headlines for you. There'll be a Wendy update down towards the bottom and perhaps another little blurb or two, but it's gotten quite long already. I might just decide to do the Wendy one and leave it at that.]

Sunday morning ... Well, there's not much going on, but I thought I'd share with you what little there is.


[I wrote the above over four hours ago. Actually, there's a whole lot more going on now but I'm not sure whatall exactly I'd like to share with you at this point in time. To say that I'm 'ticked' would be accurate. To say more than that? Well, let's see how I feel as I continue to vent.]


Examiner and bridge ... I'm pretty sure I told all of you that I was accepted as an "Examiner" - actually, as a Houston Duplicate Bridge Examiner - within the past month. I published three articles early, but then danged near did myself in (physically) with my 'there and back in one fell swoop' trip to New Orleans almost three weeks ago. I published my 4th and 5th articles with the Examiner yesterday, one of which began what will be a multi-part series on defense.

I don't know how many of you out there who read my blog are bridge players. If you are not, you will not have the vaguest idea what I'm talking about when I say 'defense'. And even if you are bridge players, you might not have the slightest bit of interest in defense unless you are a duplicate bridge player - and then you still might not have the slightest bit of interest. Tsk, tsk, and shame on you, is all that I can (publishably) say.

It's my #1 interest in bridge and so there you have it. Theoretically, half of the hands you are dealt belong to your side (for declaring purposes) and the other half belong to the other side. Why not give it your best shot at defense if that's your only choice?


Scanner problems ... ANYhoo, while trying to find a good pic that I could use for these articles in the Examiner on defense, I remembered an original cartoon-type drawing that one of my Columbus, Ohio bridge friends created for me many years ago when I lived there. It shows a pipe-smoking frog wearing Texas (or maybe granny-type laceup) boots. Well, I don't smoke a pipe (altho I do smoke!) and have never worn boots of the sort shown in his drawing, but I LOVE the cartoon!

The next thing I did, of course, was try and scan it. There's a big yellow vertical line that appears. The same thing now, as well, on the Mother's Day card that I scanned for you just a few days ago. (It wasn't there when I first scanned it, but it is now!)


[A couple of hours later. Actually, that yellow vertical line was there on the scanned copy of the Mother's Day card, but we just didn't notice it -- and of course, it's there on my post as well, but nobody seemed to notice it. Certainly I didn't notice, my daughter didn't notice ... did you??]


Anyway, to make a long story (hopefully) just a little bit shorter, my son-in-law within the past few minutes exited the house going back out to Katy with my scanner and the original cartoon-like drawing in hand. Not a cable problem. Not a connection problem. Not a color problem. Not a black and white problem.

So what's the problem? Boy oh boy, if I knew the answer to that question I'd be the first to tell you! More later on this, of course. Meanwhile, I'm back to being on 'no scanner' status.


AC ... [It's now Monday morning. What happened to the rest of Sunday? Well, what happened was that I played bridge again. Didn't win this time, but had a lot of fun as usual ... that is, until the AC somehow got cranked way up going into the last round - we were playing six-board rounds - and I couldn't wait to get out of there! I hadn't brought a sweater or jacket with me. I'll have to remember to do so next time, won't I? That's a continuing problem in Houston during the warm months. It's hot and humid outside and you're sweating like a you-know-what. Then you go inside and freeze half to death. The next day you're sick, and people wonder why. Well, I don't feel sick today. Don't feel like I'm coming down with something, either, which is a good thing. However, I'll be paying attention all day long and will guzzle down bunches of orange juice and napping as I feel is warranted.]


Questions in Katy ... Scanner - supposedly - is fixed. My daughter took it apart and cleaned the inside mirrors. Wish that c/would have been done here, but c'est la vie, right? Just as soon as I hit the "Publish Post" button for this entry, I'll be headed out to Katy to pick up the scanner and go over some questions I have for my daughter to try and answer about Examiner submissions. Their criteria and the procedures that must be used to submit articles are much different from these kinds of posts. I'm having trouble getting used to them. In fact, it's a real pain in the neck sometimes. I keep accidentally erasing my entries. Examiner has one-hour phone seminars (conference-call-type dealiebops) that they hold several times each week. Think I've got one scheduled on my calendar for Wednesday.

I might even try to publish my next article while I'm out there. It's all ready to go. The Word text is all set to be copied and inserted and my cartoon frog looks great. (They scanned it using my now-cleaned-up-and-ready-to-go scanner.) The only problem I might run into is my daughter's little dinky keyboard. I've got one of these big old keyboards that sits on top of my computer and I love it! It's not that my fingers are actually 'fat', but it sure seems like it when I try and use her keyboard. I had a terrible time in September when I tried to do posts from out there after Ike ... don't remember if I told you about any of those problems.

Installing scanner ... I'll be doing the re-installing of the scanner myself. Can't you just see it all now? Wires wires everywhere and not a plug-in to be found! (Or, if there is a plug-in to be found, I'll make a wrong attachment and fry everything. Ye Gods!) Good luck to all that, right?

Wendy ... She posted a really long piece on the 24th talking about their last attempt to reach the summit. It gives a lot more of the background about that last day - which was, for them, the 18th. The final straw was her increasing inability to move her arms and legs as quickly as they should in order to cross the Khumbu Ice Falls successfully and safely. She felt that she was putting the other members of her party in danger (and, of course, she was!). It's a good post. Upbeat, for the most part, but realistic. Follow the link if you'd like to read more of the details.

Cartoon for examiner "defense series" ... Thought I'd close this by showing you the cartoon I'll be using for this series of articles on defense in the Examiner ... ...


Isn't it just wonderful? Love the glasses!

Strange noises

I went to sleep last night lying on my left side, as per usual. (I'm deaf in the right ear and like to fall asleep as quickly as possible after I first hit the pillow. If there are no immediate extraneous sounds that are unidentifiable, usually it's "Zingo!" and I'm outa there.)

An hour or so later, however, I must have turned over, becuz all of a sudden I could hear a scratching or chewing sound. That woke me up! Ye Gods!! What could it be? My first thought was that it was the wind blowing the branches of my large water oak tree against the window. I looked. Even though it was fully dark, I could distinguish shadows and shapes. I couldn't see any wind effects outside, nor could I discern any signs of movement (other than my own) in my bedroom.

I lay there, not moving a single muscle except to breathe, wondering if I dared try to get back to sleep knowing there was something strange happening. The noise continued. I gave up on thoughts of sleep. "It" was definitely close by. I decided to get up and grab my flashlight. I thought about finding my old heavy baseball bat so I could club whatever it was, assuming I could locate 'it'.

The light from my flash illuminated a big roach. But, by the time I went out to the kitchen and returned with my killer spray, he had disappeared. Too bad! He lived to see another day. However, it was not a cockroach that was making that noise. At least, I didn't think so! If I'd thought it was, you'd probably still be hearing on the news stories about this berserk woman running down the middle of the street screaming, "Roach! Roach!"

Being deaf in one ear has its advantages and disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is that you cannot pinpoint exactly where a noise is coming from. And so, I began my meticulous search for the source, all the while shining the light suddenly here or there and hoping to find a fleeing culprit.

The noise continued. It seemed to be coming from one of my large dressers. I shined the light behind the dresser. Lots of cobwebs, no critter. I shined the light between the dresser and the back wall. Fewer cobwebs, no critter. I turned all of the overhead lights on. No critter.

I opened no drawers. That, I thought, could wait until daylight. Meanwhile, the noise had stopped. I was tired and went back to bed. Sleep quickly overtook me. Amazing, isn't it?

When I awoke again, my first thought (after a bathroom call and swallowing my weekly calcium pill) was to open the dresser drawers. Which I did. Nothing, except for a couple of little mouse turds in one of them. I guess I was kind of expecting to see a 'nest' of little mouslings. Zip. Nada. I inspected the drawers carefully, looking for signs of gnawing. Found none.

I didn't pull the dresser away from the wall. It's a heavy beast, and takes two pretty good-sized men to move it, even with all of the drawers out. This might or might not be put on my list of "Things to have my son-in-law check out the next time he's over".

Several years ago, when I was driving a taxicab 24/7, teaching bridge classes and almost never home, I had a mouse infestation. In fact, I even had a full-grown rat take up residence! Now, that was scary!! (The rat, not the mice.) Through due diligence - I first had to locate the original attraction (turns out it was a sack of flour that I had carelessly left on a shelf and not paid any attention to for quite a long while) - and then, many traps and poisons later, I managed to rid my house of the vermin. (One committed suicide by chewing through a box of and then swallowing some poison pellets that I had purchased but not yet distributed.)

To this day, as a consequence, I'm very careful about what I leave laying around the house. As I'm home most of the time now, I frequently check boxed items to see if they've been tampered with.

You know what I'm going to have to do, don't you? I'm going to have to start setting mousetraps again. I've got them, I just hate setting them! It's not that I have an abhorrence of killing one (or more) of these critters. It's that I have an abhorrence of smashing one of my own fingers in the process of setting one of the traps!

But, I've gotta do what I've gotta do, right? Wish me luck!

Some are funny, some not so

What kind of c r a p have you guys been getting lately?


This one, which arrived about five minutes ago, made me laugh out loud ...

Request from: Mr mark collin
Director,
West African.
Greetings,

How are you today? Hope all is well. Please be informed that I have decided to contact you for a fund transfer transaction worth the sum of US$9.700,000,00 into your reliable bank account as the sole NEXT-OF-KIN to the foreign deceased customer of our bank MR MORRIS THOMPSON,an American prominent man who unfortunately lost his life with his entire family in the PLANE-CRASH of Alaska Airlines Flight 261,which crashed on January 31st 2000.You may read more about the crash on visiting this C.N.N News internet website below: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/

Since his death occured, no body have show up as his next of kin for the claim because the account is untraceable.Upon the investigation I carried out from his records,I found out that his foreign business consultant who would have trace the account died earlier before the deceased.Therefore,this is a confidential and sealed deal.

For the success of this transaction,you should apply and act as the only existing NEXT-OF-KIN to the deceased which our bank will replace the deceased account information through proper documentation in position of your own account.This transaction is risk-free,it will never harm your good reputation in your society because no one can trace the account,and on the instant of the transfer of the fund into your account,the chapter of this transaction will be closed entirely. Note that in a business of this nature,the bank dont want to know your difference between the deceased country,religion or believe because our bank inheritance law is against that.So,it is a preference for us to achieve this success without any
problem.Please note down that once the fund get transferred into your account, you will take 40% of the total sum while the rest will be for me as I will arrange myself down to your country to take my share.

I need your urgent response and include your private telephone/mobile numbers for easy communication.
Please reply if you can be trusted in this deal. Email: markcollin185@googlemail.com
Thanks,

Mr mark collin

That one's pretty typical of the ginormous amounts of money to be made if only I would provide them with my bank account, etc. and blah. I see lots of those! What made me laugh out loud was the grammar used. Hilarious!


This next one's not so funny. In fact, in reminds me very much of something that happened many years ago, when someone tried to latch onto my identity.

Natrona County High School

We are currently in the final stages of editing your biographical information to be included in the Natrona County High School Alumni Directory, but we need your help! A brief telephone call will ensure your listing is completely accurate and up-to-date.

Please, give us a call at your convenience this week so that we may verify your information with you.


CALL TODAY - TOLL FREE 1-800-235-8780
(Mountain Time)


Mon. - Fri. 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Sat. 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Sun. 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.


International Residents: You may also call at:
USA Country Code (1) 757.965.8092
Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. UTC/GMT-7
Thank you in advance for your cooperation in making the Natrona County High School Alumni Directory a success. If you have already called, thank you for your quick response and your help. Please do not send updates in response to this message.

They had my name right, including my correct middle name, but the year of graduation from high school was incorrect. And, although I have been to Casper, Wyoming, I didn't go to high school there. Yes, there is a Natrona County High School. I checked. Here's a shot of it ...


taken directly from their web page.

What happened many years ago was that every so often I'd get a postcard in the mail addressed to a "Madeline something-or-another", I forget the name, wanting to verify and update her information for either a high school or college alumni directory. Altho the postcard was addressed to this "Madeline", of whom I'd never heard, the street address was mine. I seem to remember writing them a letter stating my ignorance of any such person, and suggesting they look elsewhere for her. The next thing I knew, her name was showing up on my credit reports.

This one "smells" very similar to me. I'm not going to respond to it, but I'm certainly going to keep an eye out for further developments and any unauthorized or suspicious activity.

Criminals or terrorists?

I could hardly believe my ears today when - while driving to the store - the main question on one of the local radio talk shows was, "Should pirates be treated as criminals or terrorists?" (This in reference, of course, to the Somali situation.)

Give me a break here!

I thought to myself, "What's the difference between a criminal and a terrorist?" Have we now bent so far backwards in our efforts to try and be politically correct that we cannot even say that a bad guy is a bad guy?

Is my question too simplistic?

Just about anything that happens anywhere in the world these days instantaneously becomes news. Some of it is 'raw', as I wrote about here. Some of it is everyone's business and some of it is downright none of my or anyone else's business!

You know, folks, I would sometimes very much prefer to be an ostrich ... one who hides his head in the sand and pretends that nothing bad is happening, but every once in a while I can't. I just can't!

Radio talk shows certainly have their place, particularly here in the Houston area last fall after Ike did his best to try and devastate the entire upper Gulf Coast of Texas. Station after station had lines open 24/7 for distressed citizens to call in and vent their frustrations. That was a good thing. A really good thing.

However, I wonder whether this local station really cares about the difference (I'm assuming there's a difference in re prosecution, detainment and/or penalties) between these two terms - criminal vs. terrorist, or do they care more about their ratings?

Sometimes, it seems to me that it's only "news" if it's utterly absurd, shocking, controversial or particularly gory.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Taking a break ...

Whooftah! Just have to take a break from filling in (what has turned out to be) an extensive application to be a free-lance blogger for the "Examiner", an online news source that launched in April of last year.

I got to the point (almost at the very end) where the application read, "To demonstrate your subject matter expertise, in 200-300 words, please write a brief article within your niche using a local angle," and I thought, "Ye Gods! Now they want me to submit another article, when I have already written* going on 500!!" I - literally - could not continue. I could not bring myself to write another word for that application. I'll come back to it, of course, but it will be later ... much later!

*I'm referring to "Goldenrod's thoughts" here. The 'going on 500' were not all on the subject of bridge, of course, the area of expertise in which I am applying. Most specifically, I would like to submit articles on duplicate bridge in Houston and the surrounding areas. Only 16 of the 485 that I have previously published were labeled "Bridge".


Why am I feeling so frustrated? Well, 1) even tho their ad read that a Bachelor's degree was 'desired', it was not until I reached #4 (see below) that I was asked to state my education credentials. 2) I was asked how long I had lived in Houston and then - to prove how long it had been, I guess! - to provide an 'insider's tidbit of knowledge' about the city. After thinking and thinking and thinking yet some more, I finally wrote, My goodness! You'd think that, especially as a taxicab driver for almost 18 of those years, I could think of something!! Hang on a sec, OK? All right, let's go with this. Houston might be the largest city in the US that has no zoning ... all governed by deed restrictions. Is that lame or what? I mean, I ask you! Lame, right? :(

3) I was asked, "What would you like to write about? Why will readers will be interested and care about what you write? How will you enrich their lives?" My answer? Ever since Warren Buffett and Bill Gates announced their 'love affair' with duplicate bridge and teamed up as partners, the whole world - but most particularly those of us here in the US - has sat up and taken notice. The game of bridge has no age or physical constraints, other than that of mental acuity. Through my own (almost life-long) passion for the game, I can offer hope and encouragement for the timid, insights into the world of duplicate bridge, profiles of the many studios as well as individual teachers here in the Houston area and even post Q&A-type columns once a week if there's a demand. Bridge is a wonderful way to meet people and stretch your mind's capabilities.

4) The next section of the application went on to read, "Examiners (I would be listed as an 'examiner') are credible experts in their chosen topics. They are passionate, dedicated and possess a deep background in the topics they write about. What experience, degree (only mention of a degree!) or background makes you qualified to write about your topic?" I answered, I have been playing bridge for almost 68 years ... ever since I was tall enough to see over the top of a card table while standing! Although I am not playing nearly as often as I once did, I am a Life Master and would rank my game as "A+" on defense, "A" on declarer play and "B+" on bidding. I have taught bridge for many many years. Have one private beginning class going at the present time, and am enjoying 'mentoring' at a bridge studio near my home once or twice each month.

5) Next, the application read, "What insight, perspective or approach can you offer readers that will make what you write more compelling than what they can find elsewhere? What makes you different?" At this point I have to tell ya, guys, that I was waning. Still, however, I made an attempt to answer the question. I wrote, I'm not sure if anything would make me 'different', per se, other than my - or so I've been told by others - unique writing style.

6) I was asked to create three unique headlines I could/would write for my topic. Really searching here, I came up with a) Bridge?? Why me? Why now? b) Join the club! and c) Teaching an old dog new tricks!


I was stopped deader than a doornail by their request for a 200-300 word 'brief article within my niche using a local angle'. I'm telling you, deader than the proverbial doornail! Ugh! Absolutely had to take a break! (Manana es otro dia, right? Right.)


You know what this reminds me of? It reminds me of when - 40+ years ago - my ex-husband, who was teaching at Ohio State University at the time, was asked to fill out an application for a government grant to fund a research project for his department.

He brought it home with him because there were so many pages and so many blanks that had to be filled out. He hadn't wanted to take the time out of his teaching day to do it. Didn't think it was fair to his students, and of course it wasn't!

On about the 35th or 36th page - hope you understand that I'm exaggerating here, but not one whole heck of a lot! - and tired of the same question being asked for the gazillionth time, he finally started making up answers. "Who was your father?" "Santa Claus." "Your mother's maiden name?" "Mary Mary quite contrary." Stuff like that. I kid you not! He had had it up to his eyeballs with the government's bureaucracy, unnecessary forms and paperwork.

The head of his department had to okay the application and really didn't want to send it in. He said, "I can understand how you might feel like this, but really!" My husband insisted, "Send it in just as it is. I'm not spending another second on this worthless piece of ****!"

Do you want to know what became of that application? It was approved!


Now, I certainly have not spent the time on this application that my husband did on his, but I'm going to call it a day. Will tackle it again tomorrow when I have a fresher perspective. Two more essay-type questions to reply to, the second of which is a bio. That one will be easy!

Vernal equinox

I learned something today ... that the first day of each season does not always fall on the same date. That almost blew my mind!

I'm a "first day of summer" gal - June 21st each and every year*, or so I had always thought right up until today. Danged near mind-blowing, as I said. Wiki has a neat chart of the equinox and solstice dates and official 'start' times from 2004 through 2017 here, in case you'd like to spend a few minutes perusing it. (Here in Houston, being as how we're on CST, Spring's 'official start time' was at 6:44 this morning.)

Along the way, while browsing through some more or less official sites on this first seasonal change for 2009, I signed up for a few National Geographic newsletters**. I've decided that I am not as informed as I should be. I'll be sure to share any of the really good info with all of you.


E-mails ...

Meanwhile, back at my e-mail ranch, I seem to have FInally almost completely disappeared from the radar screen of those who are very ill, jobless, dying, or with babies/children/elderly relatives, etc., who are dependent on them and will not survive another day unless I send them money. Yea! (But "Shhh!", don't tell anyone, OK?)

I spent many months and countless hours of not answering/opening - just hitting the "Delete" button, diligently 'unscribing' where possible and reporting to the 'powers that be' when not possible scam artists and fraudulent schemes. For the longest time it seemed like my efforts were going for naught, but maybe, just maybe ... ... again, tho, I whisper, "Shhh!"

Nowadays, my Inbox consists mainly of personal correspondence and that's as it should be. I received one this morning, however, that I have yet*** to delete. It's official-looking and from none other than Kofi Annan. Are you as impressed as I was? In part, here's how it reads (verbatim) ... This email is to all the people that have been scammed in any part of the world, the UNITED NATIONS have agreed to compensate them with the sum of US$450.000.00 -- Your name and email was in the list submitted by our Monitoring Team of Economic and Financial Crime Commission observers and this is why we are contacting you, this have been agreed upon and have been signed ...

A few are trying to loan me money. Perhaps they have had a look at my bank account? However, if they have and took even more than a cursory glance, they should very well know that I do not have the means to pay them back. I'll ignore them. They will go away -- eventually.


I had a really peculiar thing happen a couple of months ago. I woke up after a pretty good night's sleep and came in here only to discover that I had 293 e-mails in my Inbox and 70 or so in my Junk E-mail box. !!

"Ye gods!" I thought. I couldn't automatically delete everything because, interspersed amongst those I thought I had already - some even long ago - relegated to the trash bin were current e-mails, for crying out loud! Have you ever had that happen to you?

My son-in-law told me that it must have been just a "glitch" in the system (he had experienced the same thing about the same time that I had, altho my daughter hadn't -- interesting!?!). In all the years - and he's the expert and I am most definitely the neophyte - he's been working with computers, this was the first time he had come across such a glitch.


My Astros ...

Let me tell ya, folks, y'all had better watch out for the Astros! Danged near close to a 'perfect' grapefruit league season, my guys - except for an almost inexcusable win (opening day, wasn't it?) - now have an enviable**** record of 1-16-3. The third figure refers to tie games where either or both teams have conceded that they no longer have the will, interest, strength or manpower to continue another inning.

And why in the devil would they? Either of them?!? Heavens to Betsy!! In the twenty games played thus far, I think I'm correct in saying that there have been 31 unearned runs scored by the opponents due to errors by 'my team'. :(

[Btw, I just returned home from the store. I was listening to the Astros game on the radio while I was driving. According to the announcers, their projected starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 1.72. Give me a break. Puhlease!]


So what's on TV? ...

NCAA basketball, that's what's on television! Not only is March madness encompassing nearly all of sports enthusiasts' interests at this time, it is most definitely interfering with my enjoyment of "Wheel" and "Ghost Whisperer". So what is a body (such as mine) to do?

Well, this next several days I will be focusing on my autobiography as it relates to my cab driving years - 1989-2007. Realizing that I would now have to really concentrate on trying to recapture some of those years, I am not the least bit pleased to tell you that I have been experiencing almost nightly dreams wherein my memoirs almost compose themselves. I wish the 'self-composing' episodes were true, but - unfortunately - they are not, and so I will just have to end this post (have to get on with my memoir writing) in the hope that you are experiencing a most happy first day of Spring!


*In 2008, the 'first day of summer' actually occured on June 20th! Where was I at that time? Probably still asleep, for crying out loud!!

**Just got my first National Geographic newsletter, talking about the undersea volcanic eruptions. Interesting!

***Deleted. (You didn't think I was going to save this piece of ****, did you? Come on, now!)

****Last I listened, the Astros were ahead 2-0. (Don't give up yet, opponents. It's only in the 6th or 7th inning. With any luck at all, after today our record will be 1-17-3!)

Bump keys

Okaaay ... ... this is information I would rather not have had.

What do you know about bump keys? Have you even heard of bump keys? I had not before receiving an e-mail a short while ago from one of my friends. I don't want to go on and on about a topic such as this one, and so I won't. However, it is probably best to be informed.

This is what a typical bump key looks like ...


and its function is to pick open a pin tumbler lock. Isn't that wonderful? I guess we can thank the Danes for this who, in the 1970's, shared a technique for knocking on a lock cylinder while applying slight pressure to the back of the lock plug.

Just in case you are mechanically challenged, as I am, Wiki has a really good explanation of how a pin tumbler lock works. Even I understand it! Wiki goes on to describe some of the various countermeasures, mostly ineffective, that have been tried and are currently being tested to thwart lock bumping.

If you choose to Google "bump keys", you will see that over 9,000,000 others have already done the same thing. There you will find ad after ad after ad trying to lure you into spending your hard-earned $$ on a countermeasure that doesn't work. I find this outrageous!

An article published in 2007 by snopes.com gives you even more information on this subject. In addition to confirming what I have just written, it goes on to suggest what your best options might be. You should probably avail yourselves of the opportunity to read it. It's short and to the point.

Fair warning!

I received an e-mail earlier today from one of my bridge friends, Dianna, alerting me to a potentially deadly virus that might attack your computer if you open the attachment.

Now, I know that all y'all have received (and are receiving daily, whether you like it or not) e-mails with attachments that you are uncertain as to whether or not you should open.


Here's the general guideline you should follow ... ... ... If you are uncertain as to whether or not you should open it, delete it - the whole thing, UNOPENED! If it's the President of the United States, then you can rest assured he will know of and find a better way to personally communicate with you.


The particular attachment that Dianna was referring to was from "Your United Postal Service", but there are many such others out there. Be careful, dear ones. If you do not personally know who the sender is, just delete the whole friggin' thing, OK?

The week that was

I can't title this "Sunday morning", cuz it's now Sunday afternoon (in fact, it's going on towards evening), so I'll just go ahead and briefly recap this past week - other than what you already know from my previous posts - , concentrating more on the past couple/three days, actually. My goodness, my goodness, my goodness!

I haven't posted since Thursday, really, with "My weekend ... #2 ...". Jiminy crickets, that seems like at least a week ago! (My Friday post was a reaction to clicking on the link in that post to Chuck's site, and then discovering that he had pre-empted me by a good four days! Danged near 'blew my mind' is what that did, I wanna tell ya!!)

We (the three of us) had such a wonderful visit a week ago -- was it just a week ago? Seems like a whole lot longer than that! They're no doubt off of their Norwegian cruise liner by now and have already driven east (after first having taken the ferry from Galveston onto the Boliver Peninsula) towards Florida.

I would rather they had not done that, but I think they wanted to see for themselves the utter devastation that Ike caused just four months ago. (They won't have seen the "utter devastation", because so much has been cleaned up, but still! -- let's move on here.)


I have barely read others' posts and commented. Been having my own problems ... *computer-wise, with sound (NO sound whatsoever, including YouTube!) ... and **house-wise, with workers traipsing up/down/around/about.

Haven't gotten my weekly grape salad 'fix', either! (Don't you feel sorry for me? Boo hoo! Poor me!!) Well, folks! Am going to take care of that little item tomorrow, believe you me!!


Battersea

Located in London and founded during Queen Victoria's reign, this animal shelter currently houses some 400 dogs and 150 cats who - by no other admission criteria other than that they simply show up at its doorstep - need a good home.

According to what I remember about this morning's segment, prospective owners are first required to fill out a four-page application. A home visit might then ensue to make sure that accommodations are sufficient to ensure an animal's future well-being.


Woven glass ...

... was another neat feature on Charles Osgood's show this morning. Norris and Markow, the artists, are out of Virginia. To view the 4+ minute clip from this morning's show, go here. I tried to link the video for you directly, but got a message saying it was no longer available. However, that's not really true. Just follow the link, and you'll have it -- first, tho, there'll be like a 15-second commercial.

Steven, this process is something that you would really be intrigued by, I think. Fascinating stuff!


Thank God for my son-in-law!

I spent at least half an hour today listening to a friend complain about her latest purchases/dealings with Office Depot and her computer problems. Seriously here, I don't know what all of you do w/o a son-in-law such as I been blessed with! *It turned out to be a simple connection problem. (No, not as simple as "Is it plugged in?" but close!)


1968

That was a year, was it not? There was an editorial-type comment this morning on that year. The upshot of it was that, perhaps, this (as in the first 'African-American' US President ever!) might provide a healing element to our country.

The comment was made that it took 40 years, from 1968-2008.

That's a sobering thought. And would that Mr. Obama live up to even one quarter of whatall is projected/hoped for!

In education, there's a very old adage that goes (something like) ... "It takes 50 years for a new idea to evolve, another 50 years for it to be recognized as worthwhile, and then another 50 years for it to be incorporated into the system. By that time, it's 150 years out of date!"

[I guess I'd like to interject here that the idea of slavery - or subjugation - did not originate in this country, but I'm not the least bit proud to have to admit that we did, indeed, subscribe to its precepts!]

For my further thoughts on this past election and subsequent inaugural confirmation, please go here.


I spoke way too soon about ...

... my (what I initially thought was) good fortune in getting another good neighbor! I mean, WAAY too soon!! (**More later, undoubtedly!!!)