"Pouff" Went the Stock Market

This afternoon, the House of Representatives rejected the President's $700 billion bailout plan. As a result the Dow Jones lost 777 points. I read on Yahoo! that this was "its biggest single-day fall ever, easily beating the 684 points it lost on the first day of trading after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks." To further depress myself, I looked at our investments. I must leave now to mourn our money that went "POUFF".

Replica Watches and Wealthy Nigerians

I have four email accounts, which are Yahoo!, Google, AOL and one for work. At my Yahoo account I get spam, but it always seems to be for replica watches. Most of the time it is for r*E**p*L*i**C*a watches. Their attempt to be tricky with the spam filters. A lot of spam makes it to my work account. Glad the college invested in that top-of-the-line spam filter!! However, my AOL account is the proud recipient of email from Okafar Obija--or someone with a similar name--a government official of Nigeria that needs my help getting his millions out of Nigeria. Other people share Mr. Obija's plight for they have also contacted me. It is getting to the point that I get 10-15 of these emails a day. They do land in my Spam file, but still it's annoys me, so much so that I have on occasion responded with a not so nice, not very lady-like, two word email. Hummm....maybe that is why I get so many of those emails.

Anyway, I feel sorry for the people that fall for these scams. When I worked at Spartan Travel, we got scammed by a Nigerian named Prince. He was using stolen credit cards to purchase tickets. He was fortunate to get our most gullible agent. However, the jig was up before too much was lost. Then these scam artists started using TTY relay service via ATT to attempt to book tickets with stolen credit cards. Pretty pathetic when they start using a service for the deaf to scam. To borrow a line from "My Best Friends Wedding" they are "The pus that infects the mucus that cruds up the fungus that feeds on the pond scum."

It's A Very Good Day

Once again, there I was traveling along, singing a song and finding rattlesnakes. I walked over to the entrance to the missile site. I rounded the corner and there was a rattlesnake cooling off in the alcove where the door to the missile site is. Of course, I had no gun in hand because I was hunting for spunky weeds coming up through the asphalt. I ran back to the house to get my snake killer, Rick. I retrieved the shotgun while he got the snake snare. He was going to have to snare them because you do not want to shoot into the concrete alcove. When Rick snared the snake it was then that he realized that there were TWO rattlers in the alcove. So it was a very good day. Two dead rattlesnakes. However, I was once again too shook up to use the shotgun. But I know one thing, I better store up my courage for when Rick is not home and I have to be the snake killer. Here is a picture of the dearly departed.

Debates, Nails, Newman and No-No's

We watched last night's Presidential Debate. I was disappointed that both candidates did the politician non-answer answer when it came to the first few questions regarding the economy. It's rather surreal when I clearly understand the question and the candidates respond by segueing into a different subject. It makes me think what the heck did they hear?

Eric went to the vet Friday. He is back on Rimadyl and Tramadol. His arthritis is getting pretty bad. He also got his rattlesnake vaccination. He returns next Friday to have a cyst removed from his elbow and to get nails clipped. Yes, he has to be knocked out to get his nails clipped. He had a bad nail clipping experience a few years back where the vet clipped too close to the quick. Eric responded by trying to take a piece of her arm.

Today Paul Newman died. He was 83 years old and it is amazing that he was still quite the looker.

This afternoon, Rick and I finally got two of the outer windows back on the house. After the tornado we decided to have all of the windows reglazed. The most time consuming part is getting the glass streak-free. Our windows are not tilt-outs, so if you want to clean between the panes of glass, you have to unscrew the window. Therefore, we make darn sure the windows are sparkling before setting them.

Now on to Katie. Katie had a play date on Friday and she had a great time. At one point, she and her friend played the piano and it actually sounded good. Neither child was banging on the piano keys, but gently tickling them. She was a good friend and willing to share. However, that was yesterday and today Katie was just plain naughty. She took off with the remote control and dumped Rick's water on the floor. That happened in a space of three minutes. She threw her sippy cup out of her playpen with such force that when it hit me on my wrist it made my hand go numb. A few minutes later she launched her play telephone with the same force and it hit the glass top coffee table. Luckily the glass didn't shatter or nick. I had put her in her playpen because earlier she tried to stuff Eric full of Milk Bones. And that is the very abbreviated list. There was so much more that I am almost embarrassed to divulge. It is so exasperating when she does these things, which she knows are no-no's. Why does she do it? Are all little two-year-olds like this? Are little boys like this? I hope and pray this is a phase and she is not a little monster.

Anyway........Family's fed. Katie's asleep. Gate is locked. Eric is walked. Now I can sit back and relax.

Just For A Smile

I received an email from my friend Dana and I have posted it below.

If you need a good laugh, try reading through these children's science exam answers.

Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.

Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q: How can you delay milk turning sour? (brilliant, love this!)
A: Keep it in the cow.

Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature hates a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.

Q: What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.

Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A: He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery

Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.

Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? ( e.g., abdomen)
A: The body is consisted into three parts -- the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain; the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels A, E, I, O, and U.

Q: What is the fibula?
A: A small lie.

Q: What does 'varicose' mean? (I do love this one...)
A: Nearby.

Q: Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarian Section.'
A: The Caesarian Section is a district in Rome

Q: What does the word 'benign' mean?'
A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

Kids Are Quick

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America
MARIA: Here it is.
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered North America?
CLASS: Maria.

TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.

TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'
TEACHER: No, that's wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.


TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.

TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.
WINNIE: Me!

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with I.
MILLIE: I is..
TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.

TEACHER: Clyde, your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?
CLYDE: No, sir. It's the same dog.

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher.

It's A Good Day

Rick and I were in the front yard and I was looking for fire ant mounds. I glanced over to my right about 5' and holy crap there was a rattlesnake. Rick kept an eye on him while I went into the house for the 410. I was shaking because about five minutes earlier I had passed through that area of the front yard on my way to the Quonset hut, and he was most likely there when I did. Rick shot him. The snake was about 3' long with five buttons. What bothers me about the recently deceased is that:

1. He was in the front yard.
2. He was hard to see.
3. Apparently not all of them are taking siestas in their dens when the sun is blazing, so I will not be so confident during the hot days.
   

Rick's only comment was "It's a good day when I kill a rattlesnake."

Happiness is....

...... getting to lick the beaters.

Texas' Public Education

I subscribe to "Texas Monthly", one of the few magazines that I read cover to cover. The new issue that arrived in the mail yesterday had an article "How Well Do You Know Your State Board of Education". It's set up as a quiz about the members of the Board of Education. The answers to the multiple choice questions are at the end of the article. The statements the board members have uttered and their beliefs make me wonder, is this the best that Texas can do?!! These are the people that decide what our little Texans are taught in school. Here is the article so you can be scared too

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2008-10-01/feature5-1.php

Here are some facts about Texas and its public education system.

• Texas is #49 in verbal SAT scores in the nation and #46 in average math SAT scores. (From the Texas Comptroller's Office 2005 report "Texas Where We Stand")
  
• Texas is #36 in the nation in high school graduation rates (68%) (From the Texas Comptroller's Office 2005 "Texas Where We Stand")

Also, Texas' policy is to deny contraceptives without parental consent wherever possible and to push an abstinence-only sex education program in public schools. Since Texas has the highest teen birth rate in the nation (63 births per 1,000 females 15-19) according to the KIDS COUNT Data Book, a national state-by-state report released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. (July 29, 2007) that program is really working out!

Don't get me wrong. I intend to be Katie's first source on sex education and the school as a back up. But many households leave it to the schools to teach and when you leave it to a Texas public school, you are getting a puritanical sex education.

Now my mind has wondered to another thought, we rely on our education system to teach our children a lot of what we as parents should be teaching at home. Why do so many parents demand that the schools teach their children ethics, manners, respect, religion, etc. That is our job as parents!

Happy Birthday to Hubby

Today is Rick's birthday. He was served breakfast in bed, which consisted of toast, bacon and scrambled eggs with a candle in them. As I did last year, I made a flower for the vase on his breakfast tray. The center of the flower is a picture of Katie and I. One other tradition that I began after Katie was born is to write on one of her onesies "Happy Birthday Dada" or "Happy Birthday Daddums" and the year. Below are the picture for the last three years.

Little Feat and Conan

If you like the group Little Feat, they will be performing on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" this evening, Monday, September 22. I'm partial to the band because Bill Payne, considered one of the best keyboardist in the business, is family.

Searching For Spikes and Stars

A few months ago we found the original survey spikes that the US Army Corp of Engineers set when our Atlas F Nuclear Missile Site, Corinth West, was built. This past weekend Rick and I were again pouring over the old blueprints for the missile site. I love studying the blueprints because it makes me understand the missile site better. My husband actually got the blueprints from Dyess. They were in a box in some basement on base and they are a complete set. They have been scanned and put on CD so we don't have to page through the fragile pages.

Anyway, we need to re-stripe the driveway and we also need to cut back the trees and brush so the driveway will have the original 5' shoulder. (Now you may understand why I was complaining about mesquite the other day!) We also called on our knowledge of trig as we figured the angle of the drive in relation to the current position of magnetic north and true north. Rick also figured out the Texas Plane Coordinates for a mystery stake we found in the driveway. It turns out that it is a stake that marks a property line.

It is fascinating that the missile site's orientation is linked to the location of Polaris, the north star. In addition, the Atlas F missiles "knew" their targets based on the targets' position in relation to Polaris' position. As a side note, each Atlas F site had two targets and to this day that information is classified, but it's pretty safe to assume at least one of our site's was in the former Soviet Union.

During the Bay of Pigs, the Atlas F missiles sat out of their holes, as well as when loading exercises were performed. I often wonder what the cows thought when this tall structure in the field next door kept on appearing from and then disappearing into the ground. The first time I saw the inside of the silo I was speechless. The word that immediately came to my mind was ominous. The silo itself is 175' deep--all underground-- with a radius of 52'.

Someday I aspire to know and understand as much as my husband does in regard to Atlas F Missile sites and ICBMs. However, it may be years and years before I do because dear hubby is a smarty pants and knows A LOT about everything and he has the paper to prove it. Gotta tell you it's rough when your husband is a member of Mensa.

Here is an interesting fact about missile that sat in our hole. In January 1968 the Atlas F missile was used to launch a satellite. That bird got to fly.

Someday, I'll post pictures of the site as it is today. We are slowly renovating the LCC (Launch Control Center) into a home and are slowly reclaiming the land from the mesquite. Sometimes when I realize how much we need to do, I feel overwhelmed. When that happens, hubby asks, "How do you eat an elephant?" and my required response is "One bite at a time."

If you want to learn more about Atlas Missile Sites which include D E and F, check out the links on the right rail. There is another site called www.siloworld.com. However, that site has not been updated for over a year and it can be difficult to navigate. Also, the site was created without regard to any browser but Internet Explorer.

Cowgirl and Mesquite

Today Katie insisted on wearing her cowboy hat when we went outside, so I snapped a picture of her by "the herd". She's showing a little bit of attitude in this picture with that hand on her hip.

Regarding yesterday's post about mesquite, I thought I would post a picture of our driveway. I am about 1/3 of the way from the gate and our house is after the bend in the distance. Anywho...so for those that do not know what mesquite looks like, all of the trees lining the drive are mesquite.

Mesquite

We have about 170 acres here in West Texas and about half of our land is covered with mesquite. Now most people love mesquite because of the flavor it lends to barbecued meat. However, I could bet my last bippy that those people don't have mesquite growing on their land.

As mentioned previously, a mesquite tree--they are technically are bushes not trees--will drop it leaves in the fall. The leaves don't turn yellow or red then fall off. They just up and jump off of the tree while still green only to yellow on the ground in a thick mat. They have thorns that take the jump and invariably find their way into the tires on your vehicles and the soles of your shoes. They thrive in dry conditions and poor soil. Their tap root can go down 90' in search of water. Needless to say with a root like that, they are impossible to pull up. Even the tiniest of mesquite seedlings have roots four times their size. The lateral roots grow underground and pop up several feet away as a new mesquite tree. They are prolific to say the least.

I hate mesquite. I even have a file folder in my household filing cabinet called "Mesquite Massacre", which contains various methods of killing mesquite. Even if you cut the mesquite down and saturate the stump with napalm-like chemicals, the kill rate is only 80%. I am convinced if there ever is nuclear annihilation the two things that will survive are cockroaches and mesquite.

Ramblin' Rose

Throughout the day a myriad of blog post topics come to my mind. Often these thoughts are born when I walk up the driveway or when I am pulling or spraying weeds. However, it seems that the daily activities get in the way and the blog topics vanish by the time I sit down at the computer. In any case, here are some random thoughts.

If I had to pick a favorite Texan season, it would be Fall. It's not the color change in the leaves because all we have are mesquite trees and their leaves just fall off of the trees and create a thick mat that chokes out all of the grass and promotes weeds and.... Sorry, I digress. I like Texas in the Fall because of the weather. It will be in the mid 80's during the day and 60's at night. In the Spring, the weather is similar, but Spring also brings horrendous thunderstorms and tornadoes. However, I do miss the brilliant fall colors that I grew up with in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I miss the smell of leaves as you rake them--not the raking, mind you. I miss the sound of leaves crunching under foot. A few years back I went home to my parents' in the Fall. We drove to Copper Harbor and the whole time I was "oowing" and "aahing" like a full-blown tourist as we past the painted hills and mountains. One weakness I strive to change is not living in the moment and not seeing the beauty only after I am not surrounded by it. I guess it could be summed up as not missing what you got until it's gone. (I think that is a line from a song by a 80's glam rock band!)

Here's an observation that I find interesting regarding Texas. High school football is BIG!! It garners more attention from the local papers and T.V. stations than professional football and college football. What is also of note is that most of the schools around here are small, yet the fervor and support surpasses even the largest Michigan school's team spirit. These young men live and breathe football. It's an honor to be on the football team and they are expected to live up to certain standards. It seems rather 1950-ish--long, before Al Qaeda, jihad, planes crashing into buildings and Iraq--and it's comforting to see and experience.

So that's the rambling for today. Enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

Around and Around and Around I Go...

After several layouts and countless hours of testing, I have come full circle to settle on my original template with a few updates. Rick's stated as he saw me obsess about the look of my blog, "It's only a blog." and he is right. (Ssshhhh! Don't tell him that.) Anyway....I lost site of what a blog is about, which is content. Therefore, I am seriously behind in the events at Corinth West. So here they are:

• Our friend Bruce, who works at Lowe's, left a voicemail for Rick on Saturday about a great deal on a generator at Lowe's. The message was rather cryptic. Rick couldn't get a hold of Bruce, so Rick called Lowe's. The lady on the phone advised him that there were no generators to be had from here to the Gulf because of Hurricane Ike. Rick then thought Bruce must have been pulling his leg. Long story short, Bruce finally called back and it was not joke, so off to Lowe's we raced. The generator was a Centurion Standby Generator 7500kw. Why Rick was so hyped-up about getting the generator was not because we suffered from Hurricane Ike, but because we got it at 90% off of its original price of $2500 and he now has power to his shop. As Rick said, "Christmas came early."

• The last few days we have been taking walks with Katie. After her nap, Katie and I walk up to the mail box to get the mail. After dinner, the whole family walks up to the gate to lock it. She loves going for her walks and demands that Eric come also whether the old dog wants to or not. (I think she just likes to yell, "Eric poo poo!" when he poops.) As you may recall from an earlier post, our driveway is 1200' long, so at two round trips a day she walks almost a mile, which is a lot for her little legs.

• Sunday we were invited for lunch at the Seidenbergers. As usual, Marion out did herself and we feasted on turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and the best tasting green beans I have ever eaten. They had a houseful of family who were refugees from Hurricane Ike. We got to see Ginger and Kelly's new baby Mya who is only a week old. Their older daughter Zoe was napping, so Katie didn't get to play with her friend. On a sad note, the Seidenbergers have signed a contract to sell their home. Yes, the teachers of all things Texas are leaving us, their students, to fend for themselves. They are going to move to San Angelo.
  

It has been a busy few days, but all the details escape me.

Here is Katie from this evening's walk. She was peeking through the closed gate.

Here's an action shot of her running.

I.E. Issues With Blog

Have I mentioned that I hate Internet Explorer? I stopped using I.E. months ago. With the security flaws, numerous patches, etc., etc., etc. I switched to Firefox and I love it. However, it came to my attention today that this blog does not display correctly in I.E.--an known issue with I.E. and some blog templates. So I have to redo the template just for I.E. (Gosh Darn Bill Gates!!!)

"If You Don't Vote..."

I like Craig Ferguson. I like the way he thinks and how he expresses those thoughts.

9/11 Rememberances

Like all people, I remember exactly what I was doing this day 7 years ago when the four planes were hijacked.

I worked for Spartan Travel at the time in the Haslett office. I was sitting in my office when Kriste, our accounting person, received a telephone call from her husband about a plane hitting the WTC. I headed to our main office in East Lansing to get more information and to help out. Being the agency's Worldspan pro, I had to perform a queue roll in Worldspan to capture all of our clients' reservations that were scheduled to fly that day. Someone else did the same in Apollo, our main GDS. I recall sitting in Dana's office, our Director of Operations, and going through each record to determine where our clients were. Most of our clients made it to their gateway city, before being grounded. However, my stomach fell as the PNR for my favorite client came up on the screen. He left early that morning on Northwest Airline's first flight for Washington D.C. I saw that he landed in D.C., but knew nothing else. I tried reaching him on his cell phone to no avail. I advised our receptionist to interrupt me no matter what I was doing if he called. He finally called and I remember the receptionist paging me and saying, "Brenda, Ed's on line so-and-so." That was the best page I ever heard. Ed had been in a meeting not too far from the Pentagon when that plane hit. I spoke with him several times during the day and he described what D.C. was like--eerily quiet. I finally secured a rental car for him to drive home the next day.

I also remember the countless times we met in the board room to gather around the T.V. to get the lasted news. Hoping that ATC could get the rest of the planes grounded and praying the WTC was the only target. It was not.

We were fortunate not to have had any clients on any of the four flights, but I recall having clients stranded all over the world. Several were on international flights that got grounded in Canada. We also had three employees that were in Dallas for training. They ended up driving back to Michigan.

9/11 changed this world and changed the travel industry. The agency suffered a major financial hit and we all took days off without pay to help. The financial stress continued for years after and the agency was finally bought out by Passageways Travel. That ended Spartan Travel, which was founded by Bert and Jean Hamilton in the 1960's. Quite frankly, Spartan was the best place I ever worked and I miss Spartan Travel.

Changes

As you may notice, if you pay attention to this blog's look, I have changed the template. I found a template that I liked on www.btemplates.com, but wanted to change a few things, so I unearthed the html/xml knowledge from a cobwebbed corner of my brain. I am still undecided about it, so it may change yet again, as I have actually changed it several times in the last twelve hours.

As a side note, if you are thinking of using a template from btemplates, most of the templates are in Spanish. I had to change headings, etc. to English.

Almost Nude Painting

Since it was a misty and overcast day, we decided to paint some more sun catchers. Being the independent, big girl that she is, Katie likes to have total control over the creation. She is likes to hold the little paint pot, dip her own paint brush and I have taught her to rinse her paint brush off before she uses a new color. However, she sometimes forgets to rinse and she sometimes tilts the paint pot and forgets about gravity. The result is paint on her, the table and floor. That is why she paints in the kitchen, which is not carpeted.

While Renoir painted nudes, Katie likes to paint in the nude. Well, almost nude, she wears a diaper. And it is not necessarily her like, but the fact that Mama can get paint off of her body easier than she can get it out of her clothes.

Our Little Moppet

This weekend was spent outdoors. Rick and I worked outside and Katie either played in her play pen or rode her bike. She is still struggling with riding her Red Flyer Tricycle. She pushes both of the pedals at the same time rather than alternating the pressure from one foot to the other. Therefore, she stays in one spot. A few times she made progress, but it was because she was going down a little slope and her feet followed the pedals. I have tried to teach her how to alternate by pressing on one of her knees then the other. She got confused by this and started pressing on her own knees with her hands.

Here she is waiting to go outside. She has her purse, which has Pucci the pup in it and her floppy hat.

Below she looks a little grumpy. I think the frustration of learning to ride her bike is showing on her little face.

Here she is hydrating herself at her patio table. You'll note the baby doll enjoying the shade with her. This particular baby doll is a "living" doll. It will cry, giggle and babble depending on whether you are holding her or not. It also opens and closes it eyes and furrows it brow. Rick thinks it creepy because it looks so real.

Unfortunately for Baby, the "living" doll, Katie took a pen to her head. A few days later, Katie bit off a piece of Baby's lip. Yesterday, she put ketch-up on Baby's head. I could not get the ink out or the red stain off of her head. To top it off, Katie prefers Baby to be naked. I have since christened Baby as the Naked New Zealand Maori Warrior With A Cold Sore. Here's a close-up of Baby or a.k.a. NNZMWWCS.

Today Katie and I went to MOPS and Moppets. MOPS is Mothers of Pre-Schoolers. As I mentioned earlier, I am a table/discussion group leader this year. We had a great meeting and I learned how to play Bunko. Katie enjoyed her time in day care and learned that God is with you day and night. They made paper plate fans to demonstrate the point. Katie's is below. She did a decent job coloring her moon and sun. This is the second craft that she has done and the first one she has done in "school".

On The Soap Box At 9 a.m.

I am pissed off. In the news is that the U.S. government may soon take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage companies. As you well may know the mortgage industry is a mess here in the U.S. Companies issued mortgage loans to high-risk clients. Now with the economy the way it is, people are defaulting on their mortgages. What has me pissed off about the whole Fannie/Freddie issue is that it will most likely cost taxpayers $25 billion. In a nutshell, these companies issued mortgages to high-risk clients that they well knew could not afford the mortgages or the balloon payments; the clients defaulted on their mortgages; so now we, the taxpayers have to pay for these idiotic financial decisions!! What about those of us who pay our mortgages? Because we were smart enough to mortgage ourselves within our budget, we have to pay for the idiots that did not?!! Furthermore, what about the common stockholders of Fannie and Freddie? Common stock will be worthless after the government takes them over. I am so sick of the U.S. government i.e. the taxpayers having to pay for others' mistakes. And what is even more irritating is that if the government does not, the consequences are worse, so the government doesn't have a "choice". But didn't these idiots at Fannie and Freddie ever say "What if X amount of people default on their mortgages?" Was the answer, "The government will bail us out."

Here is the link to to the article so you can be pissed too.

Beauty In A Hat

Tonight Katie and I played hair salon. She likes to brush all of my hair over my eyes and then laugh hysterically. She is getting better at brushing my hair, which means it's less painful. After we were properly coiffed, she decided we needed hats. We tried on a few, but Katie seemed to like this one best.

The Horror!

As I previously stated, Katie loves her Baby First TV. One day I thought she needed some variety--in reality I am the one that needed it--so I tuned into "Tom and Jerry". I was busy in the kitchen when I heard Katie whimpering and exclaiming, "Cat!" She was obviously distressed. I checked on her and found her pointing at the TV and getting more and more upset. "Cat! Cat!" she cried. It was then that I realized that in the cartoon Tom's tail had been skinned and he was being hit over the head with a mallet by that rotten little mouse Jerry. Katie was very upset about the abuse to Tom, so I had to change the station. Most kids would find the cartoon entertaining or even funny, but to Katie it was real and horrific what Jerry did to Tom. She is not used to watching violence on TV and has yet to be desensitized to it. I wish I could keep it that way.

Walking In The Rain

Saturday we had an unexpected rain storm. Katie is fascinated when wa-wa falls from the sky. What is even more interesting is that she is not afraid of thunder and takes on the role of comforter. When she hears a clap a thunder she'll put her arm around you and say, "It's okay." Here is picture of Rick and a towel-headed Katie enjoying the summer shower.

Dove season opened today in Texas. As Eric and I walked to the gate this morning, we heard one shotgun blast after another. Even though Eric's hearing is going, he could hear those. We were glad to get back to the house and away from the dove massacre.