HELLO DOLLY

Yeah... he's a biker!

No, I'm serious.

He rides in a special backpack on the back of a big burly biker.

The goggles protect his eyes.

You never know what you will see in DP's H.

=:]

Two unexpected things happened  yesterday.

I was taken out to lunch.

Nice.

(for a bribe and sneak attack)

I was volunteered to assist a mini older person

in writing a news letter.

What?

Surprise!

Her name is Dolly.

She is so tiny that her head just about reaches my shoulder...

and I am 5'3".

She's so cute that you want to adopt her.

She is a hugger and calls everyone

"Honey."

All her giggles end with an exhaled 

"Oooh..."

To find someone more adorable,

you would have to be looking at a baby.

So we went out to lunch...

Mom, Ron, Dolly and myself.

Dolly drove me home.

It was hard to fit into her car.

Her legs are so short that the car seat is set so far forward

that my knees were at my chin.

(So that's how tall people in my car feel!)

I ran inside and locked the dog door.

Roxy was out back, 

lazing in the sun and 

I hoped that she would not notice.

I didn't want Roxy to do her happy-to-see-a-visitor dance,

which can be quite loud...

and possibly knock tiny, delicate Dolly over.

We wrote the news letter fairly quickly.

It was cute.

This is for a group of elderly RV campers who formed a club.

Most of them have known each other since, at least, high school.

All either grew up here or married someone who did.

The average age is 80.

They are a huge support for each other.

I attend their monthly "fellowship" diners.

Its a simple news letter...

a paragraph for each event, 

past and present, if needed to be mentioned.

It has a humor section,

and a place for club member

medical issues, births, deaths, weddings,

and requests for prayers.

Once they were printed,

I let Dolly out the front door and Roxy in the back door.

Ah...

quiet time to relax and crochet or maybe take a nap.

Then the phone rang.

That is how my entire day went.

I would sit down and the phone would ring.

"Can I borrow an extension cord?"

"Did you get the news letter done?"

"Do you want trade veggie slicer/shredders?"

"I want to talk to my dad... when will he be awake?"

and my favorite...

"Oh, never mind!"

click

I never got my nap.

I didn't finish my crochet as scheduled.

(I tell myself I need to do so many rows per day.)

Things just kept popping up.

Life is fairly boring for a month...

then a pile of things happen all at once.

One last random thought.

Not all elderly people are cute.

Like all people...

some can be totally rotten if they want to.

But you have to like Dolly.

She's so sweet and enjoyable.

It was a real pleasure to help her out with the news letter...

even if it was sprung on me.

Had I known that I had a choice in the matter,

I honestly would have opted out of helping in some polite way.

Sometimes I need a gentle push forward

to do things I would not normally do.

I'm glad that I did this one.

SSS TIME

Yay!

Time for another Sat. Scavenger Shots.

Our word today is TIME.

This fellow is from a long, long time ago.

Time can be measured in years...

Or months, and days.

Ticking off the days on this calendar

was my way of showing that time really 

was passing, even if it didn't feel like it.

Birthdays are a way of showing how much

time has passed in our lives...

and celebrating good times together.

Raising my children took a lot of time.

Or at least it felt like it...

at that point in time.

Above are Squeaky, Bear and Max

(left to right)

and the start of a new generation

little Turkey,

who continues my family's saga in time.

Don't even get me started on days, hours, minutes, seconds...
We don't have enough time!

Have a marvelous weekend!

TIME STORM

What a cool tree pic!

My daughter-in-law took it in her yard 

after a snow and wind storm a week or so ago.

I love how it split down the middle

and fell so neatly to each side.

Time has not been my friend this past week.

One of those weeks where I feel like I am running

and not really getting anywhere.

 

 

Lots of little bits are happening:

 

 

Squeaky sent me a new sci-fi series.

"The Black Company"

is the title of the first book and the series.

The Black Company - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

by author Glen Cook.

I am working my way into that world...

and when I read... I lose all track of time.

 

I have two grand babies due to arrive soon.

Olivia will arrive on March 6th via c-section.

Zoe will arrive in early May sometime.

So being me,

I have to make baby afghans...

which meant a trip to the store and lots of time

wasted deciding which pattern to use...

and what yarn and colors.

My fingers are flying.

 

Very cool:

I can crochet and read my kindle at the same time!

 

I spent 4 and 1/2 hours straight taking assessment tests for a job.

Really people?

Most of them were timed tests too.

Gosh... I hope they don't want me to work as fast as humanly possible

all day long.

By the time I finished...

I was exhausted from hurrying.

 

The man has been working 7 days a week with no days off.

This is our third week of this.

You might think that this would buy me a lot of extra time.

Nope.

What I do is fill it all with busy work...

so now I have rearranged cupboards,

a new filing system in my office space,

several meals frozen into single portions,

etc.

So I have been busy doing those things...

instead of being here.

I think my brain needed a rest.

Sometimes it is good just to be active

and not to think.

 

Can you say AAAAAAA

Rain, rain, rain.

Where I used to live they got one foot of snow last night.

Never thought I would miss that.

But I sort of do.

Now that the man is back on graveyard shift...

I'm back to making diner at 7:00 AM

and pretending to talk to Roxy when I am speaking to myself...

most of the day long.

We have one outing every morning

to our local mini mart that has a drive up window.

They have cheap coffee that is actually good

and if you have a hanker for it...

biscuits and gravy also cheap.

$2.58 will get you a big serving of both.

However,

I avoid the biscuits and gravy.

At any rate...

Roxy has learned that the kid who serves at the 

drive up window keeps dog treats for her there.

As I pull up,

she gets behind my headrest and shoves her big head

as far as she can through the small space...

making loud snuffling noises.

Twice she has startled the girls who fill in 

for the kid on his days off.

But they recover and Roxy gets her happy treat.

So the man sends me to the bank to make a deposit.

Off Roxy and I go.

On the way there I decide not to go inside the bank.

I've got my flip flops on and I don't like the idea of soggy socks.

Its been raining for days.

By now  you've guessed it.

I have to roll my window down entirely just to put the deposit

into the drawer that pops out.

That narrow gap between my headrest and 

potential doggie treat opens wide...

It should have been very funny.

The way she tossed the money and slip into the air

as she screamed and windmilled her arms

to keep from falling over.

Really.

But I felt terrible.

Roxy is not a mean dog.

She's just a goof of a dog who thinks drive up windows have Milk Bones.

The bank lady doesn't know that the bark she heard

was Roxy's higher pitched happy chirp.

She heard the war whoop of a crazed pit bull.

After a moment or two...

when one of the other bank ladies ran over to see what the trouble was...

and that lady laughed.

Roxy had her ears perked up and her tail wiggling for all she was worth...

tongue lolling out of the side of her chompers.

She would have gladly jumped through the thick glass 

and played pick-up with them.

The frightened teller collected herself

and apologized for over reacting.

I apologized for Roxy's behavior.

Then the teller apologized to Roxy for only having suckers,

no Milk Bone biscuits.

I drove away on happy terms with the bank staff.

All the same...

I'm thinking that Roxy isn't going 

to the  drive up window  at the bank again soon.

But...

I did stop on the way home long enough to run into the market...

for some Milk Bone biscuits.

By the way... has anyone seen a show called

Torchwood?

or

Whitechaple?

SSS SHAPE

Saturday Scavenger Shots is back!

Our mission today:

"Shape"

An excellent choice!

I've always enjoyed looking for "shapes"

in the clouds.

This one looks to me like its a sky 

full of ocean waves.

 I enjoy being able to "shape"

things with my hands.

Some clever gardener took the time

to "shape" this plant into a cactus "shape".

This one comes from FB...

It shows the difference between a 

closer to average "shaped" woman...

and a typical "shaped" runway model.

Which reminds me of my plan to 

get back into "shape" this year.

All I need is a pair of these...

Shoes that is...

I do not need an ankle "shaped"

like that again!

Yay!  This was fun.  Hope to see  you next week!

UGH

Roxy Nightingale. 

I've been down with a bug.

Does that imply that quitting smoking is bad for your health?

The man was called back to work.

Yay!  Yay!  Yay!

I immediately became ill.

Because that is the way it goes...

when I need someone to take care of me...

I am left alone.

Sniffle.

I was only feeling sort of crappy when he left for work the first night back.

As soon as I was back inside and checked the door locks

and turned off any lights...

Roxy and I looked at each other and raced to the bedroom.

Not that I'm glad to be alone in the bedroom 

except for foxy Roxy.

But because it is the warmest room in the house.

And because Roxy doesn't get to sleep in there when the man is home.

She was extra psyched.

I just wanted to get warm again.

By morning I felt way beyond crappy.

The man came home to nothing done and no diner.

Poor man.

I felt no remorse at all over my lack of activity.

And I was prepared to be spoiled rotten.

Yeah... that did not happen.

Not to blame the man.

He was back at work and needed to sleep.

He did fix his own meals, ran all the errands, etc.

and checked on me now and then...

as he came and went.

 

 

Those days are a bit of a blur.

I mostly slept.

My stomach hurt so much that I did not think of food.

Yet there was no puking involved.

My joints and bones ached.

A fever came and went.

I had a case of the dreadfuls.

What I do recall is that silly dog up there...

Roxy never left my side.

As I moved from room to room 

for whatever reason...

Roxy padded along and waited until I was 

safely back under the covers again.

Then she would sit next to the sofa

or my bed and lay her big hard head next to me.

I would pet her and scritch her ears.

When I fell asleep...

she would creep to her blanket and lay down.

But if I moved...

she was right back there to poke me with her cold nose.

Just to make sure that I was okay.

Dogs are so funny.

She knew when I was sick.

And she knew as soon as I wasn't.

This morning when I woke up feeling good again...

she took off outside to lay in a sunny spot in the yard.

She's back to coming in and out as she pleases

and growling at squirrels and cats in the yard through the window.

Roxy is still on the job.

Doesn't matter if its as nurse or guard dog.

Whatever the day calls for...

she's right there.

 

TAKING IT SLOWLY

I woke up feeling like a slug today. 

Neither of us has smoked since we decided to quit. I believe its a done deal. Once the mind is made up to quit, you can quit.  Its getting your head into that place where your determination flips the switch in your head
and turns off the part of the brain that wants to light up.  I have to give a big hat tip to the Creator for His help and for all the prayers from those who did that for me.  =:]   Thanks!

Tomorrow I will begin to walk.  I wanted to wait until a week after I quit smoking to start that up again.  I know a week does not heal your lungs.  But I'm not coughing in the morning, so some healing has begun.  And being asthmatic, I really don't like to piss off my lungs.  They can be real creeps when they want to be.

Right now I am looking out the back door to Roxy's yard.  The grass is high and needs a good mow.  Nope.
I just went to look at the grass up close.  Its all wet.  It is unlikely that the sun will be out long enough to dry it.
Maybe I'll do that tomorrow as part of my walking... if its dry enough.  If not, I'll be slogging through the wet when I walk.  Gee I miss my nice warm, dry gym.

That's it from the silly slug today.  What did you folk do for your weekend?  I hope it was more fun than being a slug.

DELUSIONAL THINKING

I bet I could turn him to ash pretty fast!

Three days smoke free.
Hummmm....
Its pretty much like days with smoking
only less aroma and more boring.

The fact is that when you smoke,
there are things that keep your hands, mouth and mind busy.
Patting yourself down to find your smokes or lighter.
Looking for misplaced smokes and lighters.
Dumping and cleaning ashtrays.
No more than 3 butts in an ashtray are allowed
before it must be emptied and wiped clean.
The actual extraction and lighting up of smokes.
And the minutes spent in going to the store for smokes.
Tiny little bits of time that add up over the course of your day.

Not only have I gained money by not smoking...
I am gaining time...
but  mostly small bits of time that do not have much value alone.
I suppose I could switch to picking my nose in those moments...
but I'd rather not be known for this behavior.
Any other suggestions for tiny bits of time filler?

At night I have gained a restlessness.
Between weird, weird dreams
and periods of wide awake-ness in the middle of the night,
I am not getting much rest.
Not that I am getting up in the morning,
which might help after a day or two.
Rather, I flop around in the morning...
watching the tube in bed and dozing off and on
until I look at the clock and yell "Oh crap!"
because it is near or after noon.
I really need to get a grip on my days and nights again.

People have offered interesting suggestions.
One involved cutting a soda straw to cigarette length
and using it as if it was a smoke. 
Really? 
As if my mouth and lungs could not figure out this ruse!
I ended up chewing on this and drooling into
the straw, having to suck it back in or let it drip out.
Eeeewwww
Finally I just crammed it into my mouth and
chewed it up then spit it into the waste basket.

Suckers were suggested.
As a diabetic, this can mean two things;
getting sugar jitters or the runs.
Sugar free suckers are worse...
more than a few of these guarantee the runs.
Forget the sucker idea.

Besides, the point is to break the habit,
not to replace the habit.

Well, bitching aside...
it is day three smoke free.
That's something anyway.