Ali Cat has her legs back

Today Ali gets her "casts" off. I will pick her up from the vet's office at 3PM. He had to knock her out again and will glue some sort of claw caps onto her back claws that will make her claws dull and prevent her from scratching herself for a bit longer. She will likely still be groggy when I pick her up. I hate to see her that way. But she will be so happy to have access to her fur on her back legs and her feet and her "toes". She has adapted so well to the "casts", even becoming brave enough to jump up onto the bar stools in the dining room. Nevertheless, she couldn't lay the way she preferred with her back feet tucked beneath her body, so having complete flexibility back will surely be a relief to her. I can't wait to take her home. Poor thing couldn't eat last night or this morning. Like humans, cats under sedation can vomit and aspirate, so they have to go in with an empty stomach. She was starving this morning. Oddly, she didn't even fight me when I put her into her carrier. That was a first. I think she's finally resigned herself to these trips to the vet. Maybe she sensed that the end was in sight. I'll take pictures of her claw covers if I can and post them.

First snow

Finally. It's a bit late this year. Usually the first real snow hits just before Thanksgiving. This little snowfall barely qualifies - we maybe got 2 inches - but everything is dusted with a layer of frosty icing so we have to count it. It is 7AM and it is still snowing so who knows what the accumulation will be by the day's end? The falling snow is pretty pathetic though. It's wet and the "flakes" are more like small clumps of snow than the nice flaky stuff we will get later. Driving should be fun today. Somehow, between March and November, everyone forgets how to drive in the snow. People will be sliding through intersections, spinning their wheels at takeoff, slipping onto the shoulders of the road. It's a day to take it r-e-a-l-l-y slowly. Here are some shots of the front yard and of the house. The first one was taken at about 6AM while it was still dark out. I just took the second shot a few minutes ago. They are of the island we have in the front yard taken from the porch.



This is from the porch looking down the street.



The next two photos are of the house. Again, one at 6AM and one at 7-ish. The first one was taken while I was on the porch, the second is from the driveway. By December the pond gets completely iced over. We used to have koi and goldfish in it - that survived the winter beneath the ice - but our daughter accidentally killed them two years ago when she was watching the house while we were on vacation. She put the hose in the pond to top it off and forgot about it. It ran for two hours, filling the pond with chlorinated water. When she remembered and came back to turn off the hose, all four of the 8" long fish were floating upside down. Ooops. Now we just put fountain heads on it during the summer and keep it crystal clear with some decorative accents in it.






We have a squirrel feeder in the island. I know some people hate squirrels, considering them no better than other unpleasant rodents, but I think they are adorable, especially when they're playing with each other. This one squirrel has found the feeder and is a frequent visitor. I love watching him opening and closing the lid, emerging each time with his prize - a piece of corn, a sunflower seed, or the best prize of all, a peanut. Here's a shot of him from a couple of days ago (same scene as above photos before the snow).






Unfortunately, he left the lid open so now it's full of snow. I'll have to go clean it out and refill the feeder. Silly squirrels.

Two Thumbs Up

I have never been a fan of movie critics. It seems to me that their primary function in life is to pan the movies that the masses love and rave about the movies that the average folks won't go near. They are snobs. They are like art critics. The prints that so many people buy and hang in their homes don't qualify as "art" because they are prints, not originals. Even the original from which the prints are made doesn't qualify because it was made into prints. Good grief! Is art only something so bizarre and esoteric you need an interpreter in order to understand it? I love modern art as much as the next guy. I was an art major for crying out loud. But I never quite understood why Jackson Pollock's splattering of paint on a canvas is so valuable while Stephen Lyman's work is not even considered art. I am fortunate enought to own Warmed by the View (the jpeg doesn't do it justice) and marvel at his talent. He was incredible when it comes to painting fire.

Anyway, back to critics. If a critic disses a movie, I am sure to like it. Such was the case this past weekend. My husband, son and I took in National Treasure and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was great entertainment in the purest sense. Nic Cage was his usual semi-neurotic self, which was perfect for the character he was playing. His sidekick almost stole the show, in my opinion. I couldn't help but keep thinking that he reminded me a lot of my son's college roommate (I don't know why exactly, Nathan, but he really did) and it wasn't just his appearance. Something about his grin, his quirky sense of humor, I just kept seeing Nathan in that role. The movie isn't deep, or thought-provoking, it's somewhat predictable, but it's fun. And you get a dose of history as you watch it, which is fun too. It smacked of Raiders of the Lost Ark quite a bit, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it and being entertained. I don't know about you, but I go to the movies to be entertained. Now and then I want to be provoked into thought, as you are while watching Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan, but sometimes I just want good old fun. National Treasure delivers that. I give it two thumbs up.

Feasts and Family

Thanksgiving was great! We had the whole gang over and enjoyed great (too much) food and each others' company. I got up at 7AM to get the 25+ pound turkey in the oven so we could eat by 1PM. I had yet to make the stuffing, hence my early rising time.

The stuffing is something that changes from year to year, depending upon my mood. For several years I made a rice stuffing, which was always a big hit, but it seemed like everyone wanted the traditional bread stuffing as well, so I often made both. I was younger then. I have spent far too many Thanksgivings cooking all day so have streamlined my efforts over the past few years. I now make just the bread stuffing. What goes into it is what differs each year. This year it was cornbread with apples, dried cranberries, mandarin oranges, water chestnuts, and pecans. It was seasoned with allspice, nutmeg, thyme, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Most of it goes into the bird, but there are those family members who refuse to eat stuffing from the bird, so a separate dish of stuffing that is baked is prepared for them. It was delicious!

The only other things I make are my "famous" mashed yams with marshmallows on top and the gravy. The kids bring the mashed potatoes, vegetables, pies, fruit salad and rolls. Though we've tried to make more realistic amounts of everything, we always end up with way too much food. It's crazy. This year's turkey was picture perfect - straight out of a magazine. It was in the oven by 8:30AM and ready by 12:30PM.

Here's a great shot of three of the four grandkids enjoying their feast. They are from left to right, Alyssa (2), Tyler (3 1/2), and Olivia (6). Grandpa is behind them.

The weather was gorgeous - sunny, crisp, and clear. We have so much to be thankful for! The Lord has truly blessed us. The only thing missing was my brother and his family. He has come for Thanksgiving for almost as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, he now lives too far away to visit for the holiday. We really missed his presence. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday surrounded by those you love.

Ali loves Jonathan

I've mentioned our cat, Ali, several times. Ali is Jonathan's cat. She adores him - and misses him horribly when he's not here. When he is home, wherever he is, she is. Case in point - he fell asleep on the couch the first day he was home for the holiday. I walked into the living room to find him dozing on the couch with Ali dozing right above him. I had to capture this moment.

Last week Jonathan gave me a pair of his jeans to mend for him. They were sitting on the couch waiting for me to get to them. I was sitting on the sofa reading when I looked up and noticed Ali snuggled up on Jonathan's jeans, as if simply being on something of his, something with his scent, made her feel close to him.

I don't know if you can see the "casts" on her legs or not. She started scratching herself silly late this summer. Apparently she has some allergy to some mites. She got several injections to kill the mites, but she kept scratching at the scabbed up wounds. Finally, as a last resort, the vet bandaged her back legs to keep her from scratching herself until the wounds heal. It has worked great and she will get the "casts" off tomorrow. If she starts scratching again, the only solution will be to declaw her back feet - something we really don't want to do. We're hoping she'll forget she ever itched on her neck!

Well, it's time to get ready for work. After a week off, it is going to be tough getting back into the groove again. At least it's sunny! :)

Thanksgiving break

Tom and I both have this week off so I won't be posting much, if at all. Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday full of the reminders of those things for which we should be and are thankful every single day.

Blessings to you all!

Whose body is this, anyway?

I am, without equivocation, in the worst shape of my life. I am heavier than I've ever been, with the exception of when I was pregnant. I walk by the full length mirror in my bathroom and avert my eyes, not wanting to admit that the body passing in front of them is mine. When did this happen? When did my body become my grandmother's? This is sad. Until about three years ago, I was much fitter than the average woman my age. I worked out 5 to 6 days a week lifting weights and doing cardio. I watched my diet most of the time and maintained the same weight for the past 10 or so years. I've been a size 7/8 or 9/10 for most of my life. The 7/8 was harder to maintain and I usually found myself reverting to a 9/10 each winter. But the difference in weight between those two sizes for me was just 10 pounds, an amount I could usually drop fairly easily with just a little extra effort. Now I'm finding myself pulling 12's off the rack and it is not a good thing.

So, how did this change come about? I started working two jobs. The library went through a very tough stretch financially and wages were frozen. Not only that, but we were laid off for two weeks one year. The outlook was grim so I knew if I wanted to improve my income level, I had to take on another job. I found I was spending 9 hours a day at work most days, meaning I was putting in 45 hours a week and only getting paid for 40, so I decided to go to 4 ten-hour days at the library, freeing that fifth day to work for a company in town as their network administrator. I was now going to get paid for all the hours I worked. The only problem was, working from 8AM to 6PM every day made getting to the gym a lot harder. By the time my husband left for work and I got my stuff together for the day, I was lucky to get to the gym by 7AM. That left one hour to workout, shower, dress and drive to work. A few weeks of attempting to conform to this schedule left me frustrated and exhausted. I often went back to bed after my husband left for work instead of hitting the gym. Week after week, month after month, the pounds crept up on me. Suddenly I was 20 pounds heavier. I'm lucky - I'm 5' 10" so 20 pounds doesn't look nearly as bad as it would if I were only 5' 4", but it still showed. I started watching my diet carefully and dropped ten pounds, but it was short-lived. The stress of working two jobs and now being on call at two places 12+ hours a day, 7 days a week, made sticking to my diet almost impossible. Back came the ten pounds. It wasn't that bad at first, but the missed workouts have resulted in a radical change in body composition. I have lost a lot of muscle and gained at least as much fat. It's not a pretty picture, especially naked in front of that full length mirror. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would say I look just fine, might find the more voluptuous me more attractive than the thinner me, but that's with clothes on. I get to see the naked version, the pooch in the lower abdomen where there once existed an enviably flat tummy, the cellulite in places I never knew could have cellulite, the double chin if I hold my head just right, the dreaded roll when I put on certain pairs of jeans. It's not a pretty picture.

I could blame genetics. My paternal grandmother (now deceased) and aunt have beautiful, Rubenesque figures. They're Italian, for crying out loud. Neither is what I would call fat. They have hourglass figures. Aunt Enis, for as long as I can recall, has had a voluptuous, Sophia Loren and Gina Lollabrigida figure. Grandma was always busty, even as a young woman. Neither ever had fat bellies. They are not your apple shape, nor pear shaped. They both have broad shoulders, strong thighs, strong backs, and lots of curves. I think I've inherited their shapes, only in a taller package. Grandma was fairly short - maybe 5'3" or 5'4". Aunt Enis is probably 5'5" or 5'6". My youngest sister is built very much like both of them, only much thinner - so far.

I have no idea what my genetics on my mom's side of the family are. My mom died a month after her 40th birthday. Her mother died 5 days before I was born . She was in her 40's as well (both deaths were self-inflicted, sadly). My mom only had brothers, one of whom is still living. He and I do share the same build in our legs and gluteus maximus - and that is not a good thing for either of us. I know my mom struggled with her weight a bit in her mid-30's, but she stayed pretty much the same weight most of her adult life and she was pretty average. She was 5'6" and had a nice, proportionate figure. I find myself wondering if Mom would have gained weight and struggled with losing it once she hit her late 40's and early 50's. She was never one to exercise - she loathed exercise in most any form. I don't loathe it, but unless it's exercise via a sport I like, like golf, I am not thrilled about it most of the time. I view it as a necessary evil. I used to enjoy running, but my knees didn't. I really need to have a bunch of crunchy cartilage removed from both knees, and doing so would likely allow me to run again, but the expense involved in doing so is not something I'm willing to undertake just now. Knowing me, I'll have to find myself unable to walk or get out of a chair before I'll have surgery. Because of my knees, I can't do lunges or leg presses at the gym. I do miss doing those exercises. Lunges are arguably the best leg and butt shapers you can do. I used to do 4 sets of 8 reps of lunges with 185 pounds on my shoulders. That's probably part of the reason my knees are such a mess. But my butt was tiny then, and my thighs were strong and lean.

So, the question is, what will it take to motivate me to go back to the gym regularly and really start eating better (especially when it comes to portion control)? Do I have to go up another size before I do something? Do I have to have some health scare? I hope not. I tell myself every day "okay, today I'm going to go workout" and then I find some other activity to occupy my time, like blogging. Time to stop doing that. I need a workout partner. The times I've been the most consistent, the most successful in the gym and diet areas, are when I've had workout partners that are counting on me to be there, that are holding me accountable. I need to make that happen again. Doing so may entail me switching gyms. The one I go to has a total of 6 people who workout in the mornings and 5 of them are guys. My best friend is the 6th person, but she and I can't workout together. She's 5'3" and I'm 5'10" and I'm a lot stronger than she is. We spend half our workout switching weights and equipment positions. It's just too frustrating and time consuming. No, I need to find someone who will MAKE me workout, and workout hard. That is my goal for the coming weeks. Find a partner, get to the gym regularly, start taking care of Gina. I don't like this hourglass figure. I'd much rather have my long, lean, strong body back.

Writer's block or lack of talent?

Why is it that, despite a burning desire to write something - a short story, novel, something - I can't ever manage to do it. I start - and stop. I think about it almost constantly, writing little paragraphs in my mind, creating characters, developing scenes, but I never seem to actually get them down on paper - or in my case, onto the hard drive. What is wrong with me? Do real authors struggle like this? Even my blog becomes a source of frustration at times. I don't want to post just random thoughts like so many bloggers do, treating the blog more like a diary than something into which you put at least some thought. Knowing it may/will be read by someone with an education, someone who will spot grammatical errors, misspellings, typos, pushes me to at least attempt to put something of value into my blog. I am not always successful, but I do try. It would be fairly easy to just journal - recap my days, my frustrations, pour out my thoughts - but I want this blog to be something more than a journal. I would like it to be entertaining, informative, interesting to read, insightful, and a host of other adjectives. For example, I really enjoy reading Nathan's blog. Part of the enjoyment is derived from the fact that he's my son's roommate at college and I get a different perspective on what is going on in their lives via Nathan, but part of the enjoyment comes from the fact that he is a very talented writer. His writing is fun to read, even when he's simply relating the events of the week. I was blown away by his initial entry in the NaNoWriMo contest. He hasn't added to it, due to college demands, I'm sure, but what he did post was really well done! I kept asking myself if I am capable of that kind of writing. I'm not sure I am. I do well when it comes to expository writing. I do okay in the poetry department. Yet the thing I long to do, write creatively, is the area in which I feel the weakest. Perhaps I'm being overly self-critical. I suppose that's better than being overly impressed with myself, but maybe not. Perhaps my self-criticism paralyzes me and keeps me from achieving my goal. More likely, it's fear of failure, criticism, and rejection that keeps me from pursuing my dream. Who wants to finally take the chance, pour their energy into creating something, only to find out they are as terrible as they've suspected? I think that is my problem.

I used to think I was smart - and talented. But lately I've begun to suspect I'm just pretty good at a lot of things, just not amazingly good at any one thing. I'm pretty good in math, I'm pretty good with computers, I'm a pretty good photographer, I'm a pretty good writer, I'm a pretty good cook, but I'm not great at anything. I am the epitome of the "Jack of all trades, master of none". I get that from my dad.

Growing up, Dad was always changing jobs. Not because he lost them, he just got bored and found something that interested him more. As a result, we moved every year from first grade through 7th grade. As a kid, I didn't care. It was fun - new city, new house, new school. I have this gregarious nature so making new friends was exciting to me. It became so normal to move that, when we finally settled down in one spot, it was weird. I remember my parents frequently discussing moving somewhere new. I'd get excited, start imagining my life in the new location (once, that location was Australia!), only to have them decide to stay put. How boring. This went on for five years, until my parents divorced and Dad did move again - to Oregon. My mom stayed in the same house for another five years until she died. Dad kept up his rambling ways for another 7 years, moving to various places in Oregon before finally settling in Montana. He has actually lived in the same house for 26 years now. He must have outgrown the wanderlust. After my mom died, I took up where Dad left off. I moved from Southern California to the Bay Area for a year, then to Texas (ugh) for 7 months, then to Colorado for 3 years, and finally to Idaho. I must have grown up - or something - along the way. I have lived in the same home for 20 years and the same town for 22 years!

But back to my "mediocrity". Not only did Dad have a penchant for changing jobs, his hobbies were even more varied and ever-changing. The surprising thing was, he was darned good at everything he did. He has always been an avid hunter and seemed to always fill his tags for as long as I can remember. He's quite a marksman. He taught all four of us kids to shoot at a very young age. I still love target shooting. He is a competitve trapshooter. I remember when it was a big deal when he got 25 in a row, then 50 in a row, then 100. Pretty soon, he pretty much never missed. He'd bring home turkeys and hams that he'd won in competitions. He was the guy to beat. We kids were his reloading slaves. One bedroom was turned into a reloading room and we took turns loading his shells for him for what seemed like hours. It was probably only an hour or two a week, but it seemed like a full-time job.

Then he got into CB radio. This was back before every Tom, Dick and Harry was a CB'er. He had all the latest equipment, high power amplifiers, huge antennas, stuff that let him talk to guys all over the world. We'd listen every night to him talking to people in Germany, Australia, the other side of the US. It was so cool - and so illegal. CB radio is supposed to have a very limited broadcast radius. Using more powerful amps and high gain antennas was against FCC rules. So, all the guys in the CB "club" would talk like mad (much the way we all IM nowadays) until word got out that "Uncle Charlie" was in town. That was the code word for the FCC. Suddenly, the airwaves would "go dark". No one would broadcast for fear Uncle Charlie would find their signal, pay them a visit, and sieze their equipment. Uncle Charlie would leave town and the chatting would resume. The part about his CB hobby I liked the best were the "rabbit hunts". All the guys in the "club" would pack their families into their station wagons at night and meet at some predetermined location. Of course, these station wagons were equipped with CB radios with high-powered amps. One family would be selected as the "rabbit". They would then drive off to hide somewhere in town. There was no limit as to how far they could go to hide, but the amount of time before the "hunters" came looking for them imposed some limitations. Once the rabbit was hidden, he would radio the gang that he was ready. From that point on he had to broadcast non-stop until he was found by the hunters. The hunters drove around using range finder antennas to home in on the signal from the rabbit. The rabbit would often hide behind a metal building that would bounce their signal around, making it harder to locate them. They also tried to find a spot that gave them a clear view of anyone coming toward them so they could escape before being spotted. That was legal - as the rabbit, you could move if you saw a hunter coming before he spotted you. I remember sitting in the car as the rabbit, Dad broadcasting away, seeing a car coming toward us and Dad saying "oh, I may have been found. Blink your lights, blink your lights." I can just imagine "hunters" all over the area blinking their headlights. Of course, the car coming toward us was blinking its lights like mad but Dad would say "oh, no, false alarm, just a passing car" trying to throw the hunter off the scent. It usually worked, and as soon as it was safe, we'd zoom off to a different hiding place. As the hunter, I remember Dad driving and holding the antenna out the window, turning it from side to side as I watched the signal strength indicator. I'd shout "yeah, that way, that way! No, no, it's weaker now. Okay, yeah, that way!" These hunts went on for hours and were one of most fun things we did as a family.

Another hobby of Dad's was scuba diving. He'd go diving and bring back tons of abalone and other "treasure". After that, he got his pilot's license and competed in various flying competitions like dropping a bag of flour onto a target below or doing some stunt stuff. Then he raced sports cars. He started off autocrossing his Jaguar XKE and usually won his events. Then he got an Austin Healy Sprite and raced that in production class races at various tracks in Southern California. He was an excellent driver! Had he had more money for a car and maintenance on it, he could probably have made a living racing cars eventually. It was an expensive hobby and he had to eventually give it up. He became a cop after he moved to Oregon and his driving skills improved even more. He even went to Bob Bondurant's driving school in California at one point.

Dad also took up photography and one of his photos was turned into a postcard by some big company. He became a hair stylist when I was in 6th grade and won tons of awards at hair shows for his styles. He worked for Vidal Sassoon way back when. He took a long hiatus from doing hair, became a cop, then returned to hair styling about 15 years ago, eventually opening a shop not far from my home. He retired a few months ago and now spends his time on the computer, or loading shells for his antelope hunting exploits (he spends tons of time loading for optimum trajectory and such), or concocting his amazing barbecue sauce that he sells in the area, or planting and harvesting his garden, or welding some crazy invention in his shop, or reading up on the latest gizmo that he's purchased, or reading the latest Tom Clancy novel. He's still a jack-of-all-trades, still interested in everything under the sun and willing to attempt almost anything. Growing up, I'd be having a conversation with friends about something and I'd interject "my dad does that" or "yeah, my dad won a trophy in that". After a few of these conversations they'd look at me and say "yeah, right, your dad does everything. You are such a liar!" They found it hard to believe one person could have accomplished all the things my dad had, and can you blame them?

So, I come by my eclectic interests honestly. I sometimes wonder if Dad is ADD and maybe that accounts for his "scattered" interests. Maybe I am too, to some degree. Then again, maybe we're just people who are keenly interested in everything around us and just can't find a way to pack everything we want to do and learn about into one lifetime, so we try do as much as we can, even though that may mean never being the best at anything, but being pretty good at what we do do. Who knows? I do know that my siblings share my frustrations to some degree. My brother is very much like I am. My two sisters are a little less so, but they too share the curse of having widely varied interests. Obviously it's genetic. Maybe we're a perfect composite of our mom and dad, two very different, very intelligent individuals who were very good at a lot of things, not necessarily outstanding at just one thing. I know my mom was a very frustrated writer and artist. Dad has the whole techno-geek thing going on and is excellent at math. I think I have half of each of their brains and they compete for dominance, making me a very frustrated person much of the time.

So, that's my excuse for not being a successful author yet. It is an excuse, I know. I just need to focus long enough, work hard enough on one thing, and I could write that book that's churning inside me. Maybe when I retire.... :)

Vintage music

I read the blogs of a lot of "kids" - people my son's age - and they almost always mention whatever music they are currently listening to. Despite my "over-the-hill" status, I do like a lot of the music they like. But every now and then I get a "hankering" for some vintage music. I got sucked into the BMG music club - you know, buy one CD, get 12 free - and for the first time in years, I have been buying CDs. I bought some current stuff - Matchbox Twenty, Norah Jones, Josh Groban, Three Doors Down, Sum 41 - but this last batch was comprised of some albums from my college days. I just got Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player by Elton John and have so been enjoying singing along to every track on the CD. Wow, what memories! I also got the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. My girlfriend and I went to lunch the other day and I played that CD. She and I both were just rocking out to Stayin' Alive. Kids do not appreciate that music. The memories that come pouring in... songs can take you back so vividly it's amazing. I remember the parties I threw when I was in college living in married student housing. We had a truly magnificent stereo system with top-of-the-line KLH speakers, a Philips straight-arm turntable, a super expensive cartridge on the turntable, top notch amp and preamp... it was excellent equipment. We'd play our albums once and copy them to tape, then carefully put them away so they didn't get scratched. I was a huge Elton John fan then and DSMIOTPP was a big hit in the early 70's. We played that tape dozens of times. It was especially good dance music and we did a lot of dancing at my parties. Yeah, those were the days - Elton John, Chicago, Cat Stevens, Loggins & Messina, James Taylor, Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan.... good music, good dancing. Cat Stevens should go back to being Cat Stevens. Ah, the memories. Even more vintage is the music my dad played when I was growing up. I bought some of that too - Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, the classics. I have my CD player in the car loaded with Elton John (DSMIOTPP & Love Songs), Rod Stewart's Great American Songbook: Volume II, Norah Jones Come Away with Me, The Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack, and Los Lonely Boys, who I love, by the way! The house CD player had Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Matchbox Twenty, John Mayer, Three Doors Down, and Harry Connick, Jr. Eclectic, eh?

Movies, movies, movies

It seems the theaters are filled with movies I want to see. Why does that happen? When I have time to see movies, there's not a darned thing showing I care to see. When I have zero time to go to the movies, practically every screen is playing something I can't wait to see. We did manage to take in a movie weekend before last. We saw "The Incredibles" (we being my husband, Jonathan, and myself) and thoroughly enjoyed it. I get a kick out of animated films that you have to be an adult to really appreciate. I remember back when The Flintstones first aired on TV. We wanted to stay up and watch the show but my parents told us it was a grown-up cartoon. I remember sneaking down the hall, peering over the sofa from about 8 feet behind it, trying to see the TV and this "grown-up cartoon". I could only imagine what sort of [to my mind] x-rated stuff this cartoon depicted that made it unsuitable for children. My efforts to actually see the TV were futile since my parents' heads made better doors than windows. I would just lay on the floor in the hallway and listen to the show. Of course, it made no sense to me whatsoever in that context, but hey, it was a grown-up cartoon and I was at least listening to it!

Back to The Incredibles. It is definitely not a kid cartoon. It has kids and their mom being shot down by bad buys, bad guys trying to kill them, and various other forms of mayhem that children could have a tough time with. The humor, the obvious parodying of the Bond films, the set designs, all point to an animated film that is directed at adults, not kids. It is a fun flick that I'll likely see again. One of my all-time favorite animated films is Shrek. I had not yet seen Shrek 2 so picked it up at Wal-Mart this past weekend. What a hoot! I love the Shrek franchise! We three watched it Saturday night, although Jonathan fell asleep not far into it (doesn't college life consist of primarily sleeping and eating?) so he took it back to school with him to watch when he's more wide awake, say 2:00 or 3:00 AM some school night. I am also a big fan of Finding Nemo, especially Dori. Ellen DeGeneres does a terrific job with that little fish. Great movie.

I have heard Ray is amazing. I am a big fan of Ray Charles anyway, so a bio-pic about him is right up my alley. Friday Night Lights, Shark Tale, Alfie, and Polar Express still await my viewing. I read an article about how Polar Express was made. It is amazing the work that went into its production - and the money. Jonathan saw it and said it was good. I am looking forward to seeing it. But, the way things go, every one of these flicks will be out of the theaters before I get a chance to see them and I'll be waiting for months for Netflix to have them. Isn't that how it goes?

Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!

Yesterday's newspaper alerted me to the fact that we had experienced an amazing display of the Northern Lights Sunday night and early Monday morning. It went on to state that we might expect more of the same last night. Here's the accompanying photo from the paper:

By the time I went to bed at 9:30 they were not visible. I awakened at 1:00AM. The light coming in through the slits in the blinds looked strange. I got up, grabbed my glasses, and tiptoed into the living room to peer out the sliding glass door. Sure enough, the Northern Lights were putting on a fantastic show. I've seen the Northern Lights before but they were never as amazing as they were last night. I'll never forget the first time. Jonathan was an infant. I was sitting on the sofa nursing him when my husband drove up after working out. It was probably about 10PM (back when we were young and kept different hours). He said "Gina, come out here right now!" He sounded strange so I put Jonathan down and ran out into the driveway. He said "Look at the sky. What is that?" There was this bright white light just sort of moving around overhead in waves. I'd never seen anything like it before. We stood there just gawking. He said "maybe the Lord is coming back!" We watched for a few minutes and then it dawned on me that maybe it was the Northern Lights. Neither of us had ever seen them before. All we knew was that they were something you saw in Alaska and the Arctic and were colorful. We'd never heard of them down in the lower 48, nor had we ever heard of them being white. It was pretty amazing and somewhat frightening. Imagine what ancient people must have thought of them!

We did find out in the paper that what we had seen was indeed the Northern Lights, though I kind of liked the idea of the Lord returning better. A couple of years later we were driving through Montana in the middle of the night on vacation headed to Colorado and were treated to an entertaining display of the Northern Lights along the northern horizon for most of the night. Again, they were just white, but they danced and played along the horizon, entertaining us as we trekked along Interstate 90.

Last night the entire sky, from western to eastern horizon, was filled with white dancing lights. The intensity would change from dim to brilliant, as if someone were holding a spotlight and pointing it at Orion, then the light would move, as if being blown by the wind - and it was extremely windy last night. There were bands of this light waving and undulating, dimming and brightening, all across the sky. Fingers of light would reach up from the horizon, shoot straight up overhead, then dim and disappear. When I watched it the light was only white, but a coworker told me that earlier, at about 11PM, it was green and red. If you've never seen them, they are a sight to see. They're nothing like the photos we've all seen from Alaska, but they are no less awesome in their brilliant white splendor. I do think when the Lord returns the sky will be filled with a display that will put the Alaskan Northern Lights to shame. He's just treating us to a glimpse of His glory in the meantime.

The Day After Tomorrow

Well, how psychic of me to predict that half the voters would be happy, half unhappy since the outcome was 51%/48%. Gee, that was a tough call. I am one of the happy voters. My coworkers, on the other hand, were quite grumpy yesterday. Some were even angry. As one of only 3 or 4 conservatives of the 40 employees, I was in an unenviable position. Fortunately, I was consumed with writing a report for the Board yesterday so stayed cloistered in my office most of the day.

The day started off uniquely. My Audi was ready to be picked up from the body shop in Spokane so I rode with my husband to the FedEx station in Coeur d'Alene. It was actually nice to spend that hour with him. We talked about all sorts of stuff we don't usually have time to talk about. We decided that now that Jonathan has gone off to college we really need to spend time together as a couple, not just as parents and grandparents, which has consumed the past 25 years of our lives. We're going to try to go on a "date" one night each weekend. Since we have so little time during the week - maybe an hour each night - after he gets home from work until bedtime, the weekends are usually filled with all the chores we haven't managed to get done all week. Then we visit Jonathan, see the older kids and grandkids, and so on. It's been really hectic, especially since we have three aspen trees that have yet to divest themselves of their leaves. Each day they drop a few thousand leaves onto the lawn and yet they clearly have several million left to deposit. When will it end? Last weekend the yard was leaf free and beautiful. Monday brought a heavy frost. The front lawn was again a carpet of aspen leaves, to Tom's chagrin. He had even mowed our neighbor's front yard (they were out of town) in an effort to keep the maple leaves covering their lawn from blowing into our yard. It too was covered in another round of leaves Monday morning. The mower and leaf blower/vac will get another workout Saturday. But the plan is, after the chores, after the leaf cleanup, we will head to Spokane to visit Jonathan, then take in a movie and dinner, just the two of us. I don't even remember when we did that last. It should be fun.

Oh, back to yesterday - the Audi was ready. I rode to CdA with Tom where I was picked up by our oldest son, Tom Jr. He lives in Spokane, about 25 minutes from the FedEx station in CdA. He drove me to the body shop where I learned my car was not quite ready. We were having 3M's "Invisi-shield" applied to the front fenders to help protect them from rock chips (we already have it all over the front end of the car, a sort of invisible bra), and it wasn't done yet. So, I rode to Tom's office, did some work remotely (I love technology!), and waited for the delivery of my car. It was nice to visit with Tom. We talked about the election and how happy we were with its outcome. At 10AM Gary Larson of Precision Collision delivered my car. It looks perfect! He's amazing. The best news was that he asked me to do a website for his company in exchange for the work he did on my car! Yippee! I had been teasing him about not having a website, but I didn't think he was ready to do one yet. That will be my next project. Since I am so impressed with them, their integrity, and their work, doing their site will be a piece of cake.

So, I got my car, had to stop by Appleway Audi to have the headlights readjusted and synched with the computer (one headlight had to be loosened during the body work), was told that my salesman had quit last week - a huge shock since he has worked there for 5 years and has sold us 5 cars - and then headed back to Sandpoint and work. I got to work by 12:30 and jumped right on my report to the Board, spending the rest of the day on that project. Today I must finalize it. Hopefully, the information will be sufficient for the Board to make a decision to allow us to go ahead with the purchase of our replacement computers. Every day that goes by I move that much closer to having to rebuild yet another computer whose demise is imminent. I am beginning to think I should just rebuild every PC in the place and be done with it, removing those that really are in failing health, upgrading the RAM on those that must remain in action for the next two years, and leaving gaping holes where we have no equipment that can do the job. I have yet to decide how to tackle that project.

I'm thinking of doing NaNoWriMo. It's already 4 days into it, but I think I should do it. I have always wanted to write a novel. What a perfect opportunity to try it. I'm pondering it. Jonathan's roommate, Nathan, has begun his and it's quite good. Speaking of Nathan, check out his blog for two measly photos of their dorm room rearrangement. I've chastised him for not putting up more pix. Perhaps he will do so. If not, I'll take my camera and shoot pix myself. Kids. ;)

Election Day

Today dawned wet and dreary. I hope this is not indicative of the outcome of today's election. Well, I suppose half the electorate will say it is and half will say it is not, regardless of the outcome, since this country seems to be pretty well split down the middle politically this year. I voted bright and early this morning and, even in our small town and at my teensy polling place, they had lines before they opened for the first time ever. I'm worried. I wonder how long it will take to finalize the vote this year. Regardless of the outcome there are bound to be doubts as to the validity of the vote. There seem to be even more problems this year than in 2000. I don't get it. We shake our heads at third world countries with all their election fraud and yet, are we really any better? Why is it so hard to make sure that the person voting is entitled to vote, is the person they say they are, and that they haven't already voted? In Idaho you don't have to show any ID. Maybe that's just here in Bonner County, but I just pointed to my name on the list, signed it, got my ballot and voted. No ID. My coworker got an absentee ballot application for her bedridden husband, took it to him to fill out, and returned it for him. She didn't show any ID, no one witnessed to make sure HE voted, and no one asked her for any proof of anything. How easy would THAT be to defraud? In Idaho you can vote absentee up to the day before the election. You don't have to have a reason, you just go vote. I remember in California - maybe it has changed - you had to have a reason to vote absentee, like you weren't going to be in town, and proof of that reason. You couldn't just randomly vote absentee because you didn't want to go to the polls. Now, I am fine with the way we do it here, so long as it's documented. What struck me was that my son's name was listed on the rolls under mine where anyone could have claimed to be him and voted in his stead, and he'd voted absentee yesterday. So, what would happen if someone did come in and pretend to be him? Would they throw out his absentee ballot? They couldn't toss the phony ballot could they? How would they know which one it was? Now that is a problem.

Why don't we have a national database of registered voters using our SSN? You would have to produce photo ID to vote, you could vote anywhere in the country - no need for absentee ballots in most cases - and you would get marked off immediately via computer so you couldn't vote twice. Why is that so hard? Your vote would count for whatever state you lived in regardless of where you voted. Seems pretty simple. This whole issue needs some serious work.

Go vote!