Cold Shower

OK - I've got the flu and my hair feels like a glue helmet on my head - it's dirty. So my mission, if I choose to accept it, is to wash my hair in the backyard (in the sun for warmth) by hose. Then to transfer myself to the shower for the rest of said freezing shower. It is 50 degrees outside this AM so this should be FUN. Once I do that it's time to straighten up this crazy looking place. And then PRAY for POWER!! Well, off I go for my Clampett morning of fun - wheeeee!

2nd Night as Pioneers

Here I am again on the jury-rigged laptop. Nice and cool outside, smell of gas fumes from the grill in the back yard making my hot tea. Yes - I chose NOW to get the flu. I'm no better, so tomorrow I think we have to find a medical facility so I can get an antibiotic and get better. Meanwhile, it's candles, flashlights, cold water (I WANT a hot bath!!) and waiting. Plus I can't surf the net.......just a few moments on the essentials and then it's back to the 1800's. I feel like Abe Lincoln, but thank GOD I don't look like him....then I'd have some serious problems, especially since I'm female....but I digress. And as I digress, I close. Adieu, dear friends, adieu.....

Day After Wilma

It was a beautiful night last night - no light pollution - we could see the Milky Way! No cars on the road because of the curfew - peaceful! The crisp cool air was wonderful. We have a back yard grill and have heated water on that to make tea of coffee in our french press. Looks like power may be off for a while and there is a lot of damage in Broward and Dade counties. Schools are closed until the weekend, although business are trying to stumble around using generators, if possible. The local Publix is open, on generators, so we got some donuts for breakfast. We cleaned up the back yard a little - have to make some phone calls to insurance companies today, if possible. That's all folks!!

We Made It!!

I'm using this stupid laptop of my husbands with the keyboard for chipmunks......he's got it jury rigged to our car for electricity and our phone lines are not down, so we can have temporary internet until our power is restored. I made a wrong and very wrong statement this AM about Wilma - she was a BITCH!! Lotsa wind, lotsa rain, lotsa trees down, looks like the Russian army marched through our back yard, which they can now since the fences all around are down. Hey Neighbor!! We had steaks cooked on the grill for dinner and since we have a French Press coffeemaker, all we needed to do was boil water on the grill and voila - Starbucks coffee!! Tomorrow we have to try to clean up the yard somewhat, but I still have a bad cold in my chest, so I don't know how far I'll get. Hope all the other great Florida bloggers are ok out there!! Nighty night~~

4:30 AM Wilma Morning

I'm sitting here listening to Wilma outside. It doesn't sound too bad, just some rattly gusts now and then. I looked at an infrared image and saw that the worst angry red clouds are behind the storm, which explains why it doesn't sound so bad right now.

So I'll just say that we still have power (or I wouldn't be able to post this) and I feel lousy. Just took two aspirin and some hot tea - and will wait out this thing. I'm looking forward to some cooler weather - Just wish a hurricane didn't have to bring it through!!

The Sort-of Flu

I think I have something akin to, kinda like, the flu. I took Zicam - and continue to take it (swab up the nose thingy) - and I believe it is lessening the symptoms, but not eradicating them.

I'm also taking generic nyquil pills (the liquid makes me gag) and aspirin as needed.

So, with Zicam, I feel somewhat lousy....bad enough to not do much, but not bad enough to go to bed and die.

And we're waiting for Wilma, here. I'm still saying she will sputter out - and I'm certainly hoping that is what will happen, both for Florida's west coast and us on the east coast. No Category 2, thank you - I'll take just barely over tropical storm strength, but only if absolutely necessary. Broward Schools are closed on Monday, so the kids will be happy to have a day off. The business where I work will also be closed, so that is good. Quite good. I need to win the Lotto so I can quit work!!

On that scintillating note, I'm going to stuff another Q-Tip of Zicam up my nose, sit back in my chair and go into a semi-comatose state for a while......

Children in Adult Bodies

I'm thinking that most adults are really just little kids in adult bodies. Take the way they act, for example. The best place to observe this is at work - interpersonal relations. My mother was a grade school teacher - and she always said she could see what personalities the little rugrats would exhibit as adults. She could tell the catty females, the prissy misses, the bullies, the golden hearts, the heroes......

I'm just saying that, in a reverse kind of way, if you look closely at an adult, you can still see the grade school child inside. You can imagine how he/she might have acted at that age, because they STILL do!!

Take my cousin's boss, for example. Let's say he's manager of business "X". As manager, his management skills are zilch. He assumes everyone steals all the time. He assumes the worst about everyone. Everyone is out to get him, as far as he is concerned (which turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy - he makes everyone dislike him). He is a very legalistic sort. Follows ALL the rules ALL the time - no humor, no room for grey areas. Anyone who isn't as priggish and legalistic as he is, is automatically consigned to the ninth level of hell in his mind - and at their jobs under him. His only humor is exhibited when he can laugh at the misfortunes of someone else - or their foibles, because of course, he is perfect and has none.

So, as a grade school child - what would he have been like? The thin-lipped kid with the perfectly combed hair, parted on the side that sits in the corner making careful arrangement of all his blocks. He's Little Lord Fauntleroy, mommy's best boy in his own mind all the time. Let someone come over and touch one of those blocks and the REAL monster comes out. Shrieks and fisticuffs, crying and tattling ensue - by Momma's baby to the teacher. And all the other child wanted to do was participate or help. If the Little Perfect Man sees anyone breaking a rule, he is first to the teacher's desk with a report. He is great in his own little mind and everyone else is stupid. Momma lets him know that "no one is as wonderful as he is." In short, a total brat with a mean streak a mile wide - and someone NO ONE wants to play with EVER.

So he grows up and becomes a manager. Over poor benighted employees. Where he can wreak his brand of stupidity disguised as "Good Citizenship" all day every day.

What kind of grade school child were you?

I was the kind that loved to play outdoors, didn't have patience for WAITING for things, didn't follow rules I didn't like (until I found the consequences worse) - and I thought I knew everything.....I still have my kindergarten evaluation. It's a RIOT. I haven't changed either. Ask my parents - ask my sisters.....ask my husband. It's true.

Wiilma

Well, it is October 19, well past peak hurricane season here in South Florida, but no one told Wilma. She is officially, for a short time at least, the strongest ever recorded storm in the Atlantic Basin at 884 millibars (Gilbert, the old "contender, was 888). Winds sustained at 175 MPH and gusts at 213MPH......why am I not worried? Well, aside from the fact that the Lord promises to either protect me from OR go through with me, anything He lets in the door.......there is a cold front that will shear Wilma down by the time it gets here. Now, how much shear? I'm voting for SO MUCH shear that it's the STRONGEST SHEAR EVER RECORDED. I'm voting (if I'm allowed) for the cold front, whose time in the season is coming into it's own, to "win" over Wilma, who, as a hurricane, is coming to the end of it's season - and is actually being rude and pushing itself into Cold Front's territory. SO - the Cold Front will mess up Wilma so much it becomes a Tropical Storm, drops lots of rain (a nice amount before the dry season sets in), and then rushes out to the Atlantic and death. The bonus is that Mr. Cold Front chases Wilma so fast, he advances over Florida himself, bringing drier and cooler temperatures. Wilma dies in ignominy. That's my forecast - and I'm praying real hard for it.

New Dragonfly

Here is a dragonfly I photographed on Friday, around Lake Okeechobee, not far from Moore Haven. What a beautiful color!!

Oh Yeah - Tube Stuff

I forgot - I promised to explain what "tube stuff" is. It is this disgusting, supposedly salmon flavored (I'M NOT trying it to test) brownish substance in a tube that we buy from Publix. It is supposed to help with fur balls. Whatever. Whenever I go into the kitchen, Neko jumps on the part of the counter over the drawer where the "tube stuff" is kept and Squeebles jumps up on his hind legs and bats at me with one of his free front paws - begging PULLEASE, for some tube stuff. They even know the name, "tube stuff". If they are hiding and I want to get them out the phrase "tube stuff" yelled loud enough and from the proper position in front of the appropriate drawer, will suffice.

Buster does NOT like tube stuff. He prefers mainline cat treats, thank you. And no people food for him, either. Although, I discovered him furtively licking a fork that had been used for fishing out green olives from a jar......what the????

Our last cat is Squeebles. Once we acquired Buster, and my daughter's cat Neko was discovered at the college dorm - Neko came to live here, with Buster. So then we had two cats. No problem.

Then, my daughter left college and came home. With a third cat. Squeebles, AKA Squeedly Spooch after a Grrrrr character in a weird cartoon. His initial name was "Squee", but I lengthened it to "Squeebles". My husband would call him, "Squatlet", Squidlet", etc. - he is part Maine Coone. He has longer fur than the others, and he is definitely NUTTY!! He has what we call a "seizure" every night around 9:30 PM. He begins to race around the house with no particular goal. He'll stop in mid-run, stare around wildly, and then emit "monkey" noises - weird, gutteral snarly sounds - all different. Some are high pitched and some are not. It's like he's talking in some alien cat language. The other two cats just watch him from safe vantage points - and wait for it to pass. Often he tries to enlist one of them in the rampage, leaping on Buster mostly (not too much Neko of the paws of steel). Buster quickly reminds him that he's BUSY, on PATROL, for heaven's sake, has WORK to do.....as my husband says, "Buster is a hard working, blue-collar cat".

Squeebles favorite way to torment Neko is to sneak up on him and sniff his butt. Neko HATES that!! Neko whirls around, obviously feeling violated, and his face says, "STOP SNIFFING MY BUTT!!" as he takes off, wild-eyed, off for safe places, lying in wait to pay Squeebles back with a swift left hook to the head. When Squeebles gets hit, he shakes his head like a prize fighter that's been hit too many times - and continues on his way a little drunkenly. Squeebles is a very happy-go-lucky cat. He is not afraid of ANYTHING. We had to dogsit my mother's llasa apso for three days once. He LOVED to chase the cats - wait until they got close, and then scramble after them as fast as he could, barking all the way - Neko, especially, would stay on top of the entertainment system for HOURS after that, staring at us accusingly for even allowing such a creature into our home. The ONLY cat not afraid of the dog was Squeebles. He introduced himself immediately and attempted to sniff the dog. If I am running the vacuum I can suck Squeebles' tail right up the tube and get all the excess fur off him - and he just lays there and enjoys it.

The Maine Coone part of Squeebles loves the water. He is our "bathroom buddy". Everytime one of us is in the bathroom, Squeebles cries to come in. Then he jumps up on the sink and waits for the water to be turned on lightly. He puts his nose under the flow to make sure the water is indeed coming out - and then proceeds happily to lap it up. He also loves to play in the tub after one of us has showered.

I am Squeebles favorite. Neko and Squeebles fight over me - rather, Neko fights over me - Squeebles just relaxes and lets Neko be full of angst. At night, Squeebles jumps up on the bed after playing for while, looks for the crook of my arm and plops his fat self in there, up against my chest - and purrs.

Our second cat is Buster. After our daughter left for college - and initially took Neko with her, we were lonely for a kitty. So we went to the local Humane Society and picked out a pretty little orange-nosed male named inappropriately "Todd". The name did NOT fit him at ALL. After a few days, we realized his name was Buster. He started out very timid, hiding behind pillows on our bed. He fit in the palm of one of my husband's hands. He is the king kitty now. He has adopted my husband as his favorite. He follows him everywhere. He needs "rubbies" MANY times a day - often in the middle of the night. And he'll step on you, poke you and meow at you until he gets said rubbies. His purrs could wake up the neighbors. His favorite trick is to sit on the night table next to my husband's side of the bed - and stare at him, purring. If my husband puts a pillow over his head, Buster will poke at it and peek underneath as if to ask, "what are you doing under there, dad?" To show just how sick we are, my hubbie calls Buster, "son" and "honey". Oh yeah - we're normal. He defends Buster at all times, even in Buster's most bratty stages, and often tells me things that Buster has said like, "Buster told me he doesn't like the air conditioning too cold." Ok. Sure. Buster IS a very loving, easy-going cat. No chasing feather dusters for him. He is into serious work. Blue collar work. He patrols our house for lizards all night long. Often over our bodies, using our faces for a hoist up onto the window sill on a quest for.....lizards. Outside. Where he can't get them anyway. Buster is seriously into rubbies. He has his own patented rubbie station. It is a big, wire brush about 2 feet long, bent into a "U" shape and fastened on each end to a piece of wood covered with carpet. That's "base". If you are playing with Buster - and he runs to this little piece of cat furniture - in his head he's "safe". A few Buster favorites. Fresh grass. He eats fresh grass. Lizard chasing - especially at night - especially through the windows over our bed. Rubbies - all rubbies, all the time. All of our cats like to be scratched on the belly - I've never heard of that before, but our cats are weird. As far as inter-cat relations, Buster is the arbitrator. He doesn't get involved, but once he does, his is the ultimate rule. Sometimes he belts Neko for belting Squeebles. Sometimes he growls at Squeebles for being too playful. Sometimes he ignores them all and goes to bed.

Cats

We have three cats. The first cat we "acquired" is Neko. A Japanese word that means....you guessed it....."cat". My daughter, like so many of her generation, is into Japanese anime. Neko is a black and white whose most common facial expression is "Oh My God". That's why we call him the "oh my God cat". He is a cat that needs therapy. He has angst. He is Goth. He has issues. He is jealous of the third cat, Squeebles. In fact, he often walks up to Squeebles, stares at him with slit-eyed evil intent (Squeebles usually squints in preparation) and then launches a lightning quick BAP to Squeebles head - just on general principles. Then he continues on his way, satisfied. He has a running hate-fest with Squeebles. When Neko meows, it is a high pitched, "I'm SO depressed, please LOVE me" meow, whiney, yet with subtle overtones of demand. Then he throws himself down on the rug just out of reach of your arm - and stares at you accusingly until you get down next to him and pet him. Usually, just as you get down on the floor, he jumps up and heads to the kitchen, hoping you will hoist yourself up OFF the floor you just got down on - and follow him. He hasn't learned yet after countless "forget it, Neko's" that you are NOT going to follow (and give him some tube stuff - explanation to follow".

The Jewish Bible

I just bought "The Jewish Bible" by a Messianic believer, David Stern. He originally did a translation of the New Testament for Jewish readers, readers who have memories of a lot of centuries of hatred and prejudice from so-called "Christians". So that was why he did the translation - because Yeshua was Jewish - (duh) and because tentative Jewish believers would find a Jewish rendering of the NT less threatening and foreign sounding to read.

I love it. I have to confess - I've been a believer since I was 19 years old. I am now 50. I've studied the Bible through Pastor Teachers who teach the word exegetically, isagogically and categorically - who are also dispensationalists. It is wonderful teaching.

BUT - I've NEVER read the whole Bible for myself. And believe me, I feel GUILTY (which is a sin - sheesh!!) I've read the easy parts of the OT - the story parts like Genesis and Exodus and even parts of Judges and Joshua. I've read parts of Psalms and Proverbs and Isaiah and the stories of David and Saul. But I've never read the WHOLE THING through. I've read parts of the New Testament - the gospels, which I always end up with questions about - and I love the book of Acts. Romans, especially, and Hebrews next - put me in a coma. Mostly Romans - I think Paul was obsessive-compulsive and was afraid to end a sentence with a period. There are SO many commas and clauses in Paul's sentences that I can't follow them. If I tried to diagram them, I'd need a piece of paper approximately the width and length of my backyard - AND a bottle of wine AND a funnel for the wine.......in short, fuggeddaboudit.

But this Bible translation isn't wooden. The formal phrasing is gone, and you can almost hear Yeshua say, "oy!" But, of course, you don't. I know there are other less formal English translations, but this one puts the Jewishness of Jesus in - and that seems totally appropriate.

I'm going to enjoy reading the Bible through for the FIRST time in my life - yikes!! And I bought the NT commentary by David Stern also - he touches on a lot of Jewish things that non-Jews miss in the NT. I know David Edersheim wrote "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah", which I also have - but that is a TOME and not easy reading. David Stern's NT translation and his commentary are easy to read and very enjoyable.

So - I'm going to go off and read now.

OK, There Ain't No Stoppin Me Now!!

This is blurry, but I like it anyway. Call it art. Call it crappy. Call it a couple o' flowers - whatever. I can post pictures!!! Yeehaa!!!

Oh Baby, Have I Got A Dragonfly Fer You!

Okey dokey - I like this guy's face. What looks like his little white nose is cute.

I THEEEEENK I GOT IT

This is one - the next one is even better. I have a Nikon Coolpix 8800 which I haven't figured out yet. Sometimes I get really great photos and other times I get blur after blur after blur. But I'm patient - and I LOVE my camera, so no problemo.

I'm A Tardy Blogger

I READ a lot of blogs and enjoy them, even visit them daily. I rarely write my own stuff. Every once in a while I get a whoosh of motivation that lasts a little while - perhaps a few days or so - and I post many entries.

Or

I have a glass or two of wine and get REALLY maudlin and post depressing grade b or c "poetry".......makes ya wanna burp, doesn't it?

I have to figure out how to post photos - I USED to know how, but I've forgotten. I have a cool picture of a dragonfly......but I may end up ripping my hair out trying to figure out how to post the thing......hmmmmm.

I Got Tagged

I got tagged by Some Cranky Guy - my problem will be with #5 - I don't KNOW 5 blog-people. Sure, I have blogs listed (proper name is a "blog-roll", which sounds REALLY unappetizing) on the right, below - but I like their blogs - they don't KNOW me, or link to me. So I'll do #'s 1-4 - sorry guys, I'm a part time blogger and I'm an unknown - so who are these guys I'm talking to anyway, eh? What a conundrum.

1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Post the fifth sentence (or closest to it).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same thing.


My 23rd post was on August 27th, 2004 - and we were looking forward to a hurricane, as usual down here......

"I sure don't want it to hit squarely over us, but I don't want it to hit anyone else either. I'm nice that way."

I'm not nice anymore - I want NO hurricanes - I want them dissolved. Period.