Moving Again

Ok, just a note to say we're moving yet again. I don't know why I don't remember to blog more often....I guess because I have so many other connections on the internet....facebook and cafe mom to name a couple. And the Yahoo e-mail lists.
Anyway, we're moving about 20 miles but light years away. For the first time in almost 30 years we will have city services and a concrete and asphalt driveway...we are moving to town. Less than a mile from some major shopping and fast food or actual restaurants. We are so excited. And, as much as I hate to admit it, we are finally admitting at this point in our lives we are not mountain people....we are looking forward to no more snow and no more dirt roads. Plus the house is bigger so we can finally unpack boxes from our last move. And, we still will have an acre so will have our privacy and the birds will have their yelling room and the dogs their running room. I think we may have found the perfect place to retire, short of being able to afford our own island in the tropics. AND, it will be closer to the kids and our newest grandson, Cooper, coming at the end of April. All in all, can you tell we are excited? Now if everything would just get settled and we could get on with this. We are just awaiting the finalization on the paperwork as I type....about one more week we think.

The "New" Dog

I see it has been a year since I posted....guess I'm a bit slow. So, first things first....this is the new dog, who we got in August 2007 and is now a year old. His name is Red Buttons, who you who are old enough will remember as a comedian that looked just like this, with curly red hair and little button eyes. He is absolutely precious and we love him to pieces, as does Cookie, our resident pit bull. He has turned into my husband's dog, though, due to the fact that I don't have a lap to sit on. He snuggles with me at night instead.
We have been busy this year making our 'house' a home. Thanks to our youngest son, we have done lots of yard work and added a beautiful patio to go with the Doughboy pool we added last summer. And glad we are that we added it since it has been in the 100s this last week. Not to mention the smoke from the Nor Cal fires.
I've also discovered a new place on the Internet and started a group of fun ladies my age, so we can feel free to discuss our view of the world. It does sometimes seem to be very different from the next generation's. And I'm sure it will become more interesting with the history making presidential election coming up. I have to admit I wish there was a woman person and a black person and an old person running all together....it has been exciting leading up to the primaries. And what happened to the conventions? I remember when they were a big deal and candidates were chosen there....at least I thought they were. Remember Chicago? Oh yeah, I remember Woodstock and The Haight and Barry McGuire too. And 8 tracks. Just thought I would throw that in there while I'm babbling.
Ok, enough. Lord willing, I will be back before another year passes, if I can find this spot again....it only took me an hour this time. A new friend reminded me that I had a blog. Oh, and while I'm waxing poetic, let me add a joke/quote that someone just sent me....I love it......
Powerful Women

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor

in the morning,

Satan shudders and says...

'Oh shit ... she's awake!!!'

Ok, see you next month or year!!!

Decisions, Decisions

I have spent the last week dithering over adding a new animal to the family....specifically a dog. I search on the internet and find myself drawn to the hundreds of pit bull type dogs that need rescuing just in this area. And then have come across one that an acquaintance needs to find a home for. It's all I can do not to say I'll take all of them. Thank goodness Ron and Steven force me to remain sane or I guess I would try to run my own shelter.
Anyway, tomorrow I think we are going to go look at some tiny toy poodles. We have had poodles before and loved them to pieces and would both like a cuddly lap dog, so we'll see if one of them speaks to us. Meanwhile, I guess I will just donate what I can to the shelters and do whatever else I can do for this poor breed of dog that I also love.

Another Year

Wow, it's been a year. I have started a blog elsewhere too, because I couldn't remember how to get to this one. Damn, getting old stinks (that's sux to you youngsters).
In this last year my life has totally changed. We've moved, to the foothills of the Sierra north east of Sacramento. We have a "new" grandbaby who is now almost a year old and the love of our lives. Not to take one tiny thing away from our other grandkids, but we have been physically close to this little angel from the day she was born.....we were there. We're really the only grandparents she has close (her other grandma is in Thailand), so we see a lot of her....she is part of our lives and we, hers.
Now....we've moved to a much smaller home on only an acre of property, but it is a perfectly flat, usable acre, and we are making use of it. We have a greenhouse/shop and a "granny house" which is our guest room. We're working at making it welcoming so that people will feel comfortable staying in it....it's a cute little place with a picture window looking out on the woods and has all the amenities except hot water. And I already have two relatives standing in line waiting to be able to live there full time, but I'm being possessive about it.
Let's see, my last post I had quit smoking for 6 months. So much for that....I've decided it's my vice and I'll die from it!!!! I would like to say I am really not that stupid, just addicted, but you will have to judge that for yourselves.
Ok, enough for now. I am really going to try to keep this more current and am going to update my website while I'm at it, so stay tuned for further updates and check my website for pictures of our new place.

Discovery Channel :: News, Photo Zoom :: Jumbo Squid Invade Calif.

Discovery Channel :: News, Photo Zoom :: Jumbo Squid Invade Calif.
This is scary to me....kinds like science fiction coming to life. In fact, this picture doesn't even look real.

Remembering Bad Times

I got this in my inbox this morning, and have been stewing over what to do with it for a while. I decided that maybe this was the place to share it, and my opinion, FWIW.
I think of the late 60s and 70s as being a really Bad Time, for the US anyway, since that is the only place I can speak for. My husband was in Vietnam (but fairly safe on a ship), my mother in law read the Berkely Barb and spouted peace slogans. I watched babies, barely old enough to shave, sent off to die or be maimed, mentally and physically. I was home alone with 2 babies, watching the news and missing their father.
Now, do you wonder where I stand on this? So do I. I know where I stand on WAR....it should be avoided at all costs. I guess maybe anyone would say that, but then why did we elect a moron TWICE. Never mind.....I digress. I just wanted to share this piece of writing I recieved this morning.......

Jane deserves to be thrown in jail- not honored. Subject: Fw: She really was a Traitor - she wasn't a traitor, the bitch IS a traitor. ----- In Memory of my brother -in- law LT. C.Thomsen Wieland who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton She really was a Traitor IF YOU NEVER FORWARDED ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE FORWARD THIS SO THAT EVERYONE WILL KNOW!!!!!! She really was a traitor A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE HONORED KEEP THIS MOVING ACROSS AMERICA This is for all the kids born in the 70's who do not remember, and didn't have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear. Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the "100 Women of the Century." BY BARBRA WALTERS Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat. In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison the "Hanoi Hilton." Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American "Peace Activist" the "lenient and humane treatment" he'd received. He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward on to the camp Commandant 's feet, which ! sent that officer berserk. In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton. From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the "Hanoi Hilton",,, the first three of which his family only knew he was "missing in action". His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a "peace delegation" visit. They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand. When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: "Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?" and "Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?" Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper. She took them all without missing a beat. At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper. Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day. I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam , and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years. I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia ; and one year in a "black box" in Hanoi . My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Ban me Thuot, South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs.) We were Jane Fonda's "war criminals." When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi , I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received... and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as "humane and lenient." Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weights placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane. I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me. These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of "100 Years of Great Women." Lest we forget..." 100 Years of Great Women" should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots. There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer and she needs to know that we will never forget. RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt, USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron, Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343 PLEASE HELP BY SENDING THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK. IF ENOUGH PEOPLE SEE THIS MAYBE HER STATUS WILL CHANGE

Worth Sharing

I had all kind of things to say tonight, then I came across this in my e-mail (from my husband, no less) and thought it worth sharing. I wish I could give credit where credit is due, but I don't know where it originated, I just know I like what it says.....
>>>
>> Subject: Growing old is a choice
>
>> The other day a young person asked me how I felt about being old.
>> I was
>> taken aback, for I do not think of myself as old. Upon seeing my
>> reaction, she
>> was immediately embarrassed, but I explained that it was an
>> interesting
>> question, and I would ponder it, and let her know.
>>
>> Old Age, I decided, is a gift.
>> I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have
>> always
>> wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the
>> wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken
>> aback by that
>> old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I
>> don't
>> agonize over those things for long.
>> I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving
>> family
>> for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more
>> kind to
>> myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.
>> I don't
>> chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed,
>> or for
>> buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so
>> beautiful on
>> my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.
>> I have
>> seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon;
>> before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.
>> Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer
>> until 4 AM
>> and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful
>> tunes of
>> the 40 &50's,and
>> if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.
>> I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging
>> body,
>> and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the
>> pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old. I know
>> I am
>> sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well
>> forgotten. And
>> I eventually remember the important things.
>> Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not
>> break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even
>> when somebody's
>> beloved pet
>> gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and
>> understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and
>> sterile and will
>> never know the joy of being imperfect.
>>
>> I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning
>> gray,
>> and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on
>> my face.
>> So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair
>> could
>> turn silver.
>> As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what
>> other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even
>> earned the
>> right to be wrong.
>> So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free.
>> I like
>> the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while
>> I am
>> still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or
>> worrying
>> about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I
>> feel
>> like it)
>>
>
>