Tuesday Thoughts ...

There's no way I'm committing to ten thoughts today!!

Barky dog is back. And louder than ever. The neighbors got the dogs back from the pound sometime early yesterday. As paybacks they left the *&@%ed dog out all night last night. And of course, it barked! Not sure which of the other neighbors was successful in getting that moron to put the dog inside, but at 3 AM or so all was (finally) quiet.

Yesterday morning, too, Married Son's vehicle was broken into. Looks like they jimmied the lock. They got his GPS and iPod ... they didn't see his digital camera hiding in the door pocket ... and they didn't have time to rip off his stereo system. Hopefully this has taught him a lesson to keep valuables hidden or remove them from the vehicle entirely.

It's a lesson I learned a decade ago when one of the neighborhood kids was caught helping himself to the contents of my vehicle. Of course, I also thought I could leave my car unlocked and not have to worry. I got my stuff back ... and learned a few things that day!

I won't get into the numerous break-ins or the things that have come up missing from the yard or shed ... or the sounds of gunfire close-by late at night. Although one of the break-ins was actually a funny story (in hind-sight that is). Maybe one day I'll blog about it.

I'm really beginning to hate this neighborhood! I'd move in a heart-beat if I could. This part of town has gone to hell in a hand basket in the 15 years I've lived here. I just need to finish my degree ... make more money ... and get that empty nest before I move out. Ya, you know I'm working on that!

Ah well. What do you do? Besides try to make your home a fortress that can't be penetrated. Lock your doors even when you're home ... and double and triple check that you've locked the cars and shed ... and left nothing laying around outside.

Neighbor Wars ... Part 2

So ... I'm sitting playing on Farm Town (a facebook addiction!) and I get a text from Married Son ... "are the cops gone yet?" Ummmm, cops?? Boy was I buried in my Farm Town game, I didn't know the cops where here!!

Seems that Barky Dog was a problem for Married Son. He was in our front yard and saw Barky running loose (a big no-no in this township). He knocked on the neighbor's door to inform them their dogs were running lose and got no answer. Turning around to try to corral the dogs (Barky is a pit bull, not sure the breed of the other, quiet dog) ... so ... he turns around and tries to get the dog when Barky tries to attack him!!

The neighbor on the other side happened to see everything and offered to help collect the dogs and tie them up until the cops could get here. Dogs taken away ... cops left note on the idiot neighbors door telling them where their dogs are (at the pound by now). Married Son didn't stick around to meet the cops though. He had work to do and couldn't wait around.

Thankfully when Married Son first saw the dogs running lose he "barked" orders to DIL to stay in the truck and keep Grandson with her! I hate to think what could have happened.

Now ... I have nothing against pit bulls. One of my bestest friends has one, he's nothing but a big teddy bear. BUT ... neighbor's pit bull is not one of those animals that was trained properly. He's not a dog I really like having next door ...

I just wonder how long they'll keep the dogs in the pound. I'm sure they'll bail the damned things out as soon as they can. At least tonight I'll get a good night's sleep with Barky being gone.

Friday ...

Wow, this is a bad habit isn't it? Blogging once or twice a month anymore.

Sad thing is, it's pretty much same-o, same-o around here. I have to remind myself that I wanted, wished and prayed for mundane. It sure is here!! I'm loving it, but it doesn't make for good blogging material, if ya know what I mean.

Haven't had a Gremlin sighting around here in months!! I guess he got bored and moved on! Yay!!

Well, maybe that's not entirely true. Seems a neighbor and I are feuding. Don't know why. All I know is that he has taken to calling Township Ordinance over the smallest thing. Yet he's the one who lets his front lawn grow almost a foot tall, hasn't mowed his side yard (it borders my lot) or pulled a weed in at least a year ... AND ... he's the idiot who lets his dog out at all hours of the night to wake me up with it's barking ... but I get "turned in"? Stupid things ... like the compost pile we've had for ten years ... or the garbage going out the night before (our garbage collection is in the afternoon so I really don't need to set it out the night before) ... or the cars he claims are junked (not true!! We drive each of them almost daily). Methinks I pissed him off when I had Married Son (after asking neighbor twice and being ignored)  to trim the branches from HIS tree that hung over my driveway and scratched the car!! Not to mention - Grandson could have been hurt had he gotten too close to that d**ned tree!

Haven't heard from Alien either in a few weeks. We had a disagreement. I told her that her BF was a loser - she told me that I needn't be bothered with seeing her or the baby. She then hung up the phone. That was on the Fourth of July. Haven't heard from her since. And I'm not gonna sweat it either. She made her decision. I just hope she comes to her senses before that loser does harm to her or the baby.

Speaking of the Fourth of July ... Daddy decided at the last minute that he didn't want to go to the fireworks, that he'd rather have a quiet dinner at Brother Deere's house. No sweat. Single Son had to work so we decided to drive together. I dropped him off at the PD and headed to the grocery store to grab last minute picnic makings. Found a parking spot after about half an hour - boy I tell ya, a small village that puts on the second biggest fireworks display in the state makes for some very difficult to find parking! Estimates were there were over 100,000 people there. I don't doubt it! LOL! Instead of fighting traffic on the way home I moved the car over to the Police Department's lot and waited for Single Son to get off work. At 2:30 AM he pulls in the parking lot with some dude he just arrested! Great ... NOT ... now I have to wait until he processes the paperwork. I tried to nap in the car, but all the fireworks and firecrackers people were lighting off didn't allow a nap to happen! At almost 4 AM he finally came out and said he was ready to go home.

A few days later I went to Port Huron for the day. Alone. Had a great time. Toured three of the four museums in town (so nice to NOT have distractions of "hey Mom check this out" while I was checking out displays) ... had a picnic (gee, I don't like picnics do I?) ... fed the squirrels in the park (gee, surprised?) ... and even got in some ship watching. I'll be adding pics later to my album.

My little friend here got so bold as to jump on the table - with me sitting right there! - and help himself to the in-the-shell peanuts! Later he did let me feed him by hand ... but can't feed a squirrel AND take pictures at the same time!!

Oh ... and got my hair cut. It's supposed to be a textured bob ... but after a few days it had a mind of it's own. I don't know what to call it, but a bob it ain't! LOL! I'm still trying to talk one of the boys into taking pics ... my self portraits stink! LOL!

I'm going to try to do better with blogging. I can't make any promises ... but I will try!!

Port Huron 2009

He obviously trusts humans carrying bags of in-the-shell peanuts!

Miscellanous pictures.

Wednesday Ramblings ...

Wow, it's been a while hasn't it?

Believe it or not, there's not really a lot going on 'round here.

Brother Deere finally had his back surgery last week (herniated disk). He's home and recovering well. Mom's been staying with him, so I've had to go stay with Daddy (stroke patient). Dull and boring around their house. The highlight of the stay was when Daddy would go to bed and relinquish control of the remote to me. Thankfully I'm home now. I love my folks, but I tell ya, watching Daddy sure isn't on my top ten list of favorite things to do. But I do it. I love my Daddy ... I do love Mom, too.

Daddy's birthday is on July 4th. I'll be taking him to the Village fireworks. Mom doesn't want to go. She wants some alone time. Can't say as I blame her, tending to Brother Deere for a few days and Daddy needs constant care ... I'd treasure that alone time, too!

I'm spending a lot of time over on facebook. If you're on facebook I'd love to add you to my friends list. I'm soooo addicted to Farm Town. Thanks to the gals that introduced me to the game. I owe ya one. LOL!

Still working on getting Elsie's Attic over on eBay. I lost all of my files when my computer crashed a while back. Including all my Attic stuff. It was easy enough to replace that information, but the editing has been a bear. I didn't realize how much work I'd done originally. Yes ... I back up all my files now ... in three places. I'm NOT gonna lose all that work again!

It's a chilly, rainy day here today. I've been catching up on some cleaning I've missed lately. It's so nice to almost be caught up with things around here. Now to get DIL and Grandson trained to clean up after themselves and my job will be soooo much easier! I'm getting tired of following DIL around pointing out things she's overlooked (or downright ignored). And yes, I'm working hard on becoming that evil mother-in-law we all dread. Hey, some people just deserve to be on the receiving end of the MIL from hell. Ya know?

So ... that's been my life in a nutshell lately. I do keep up with ya'll in the many emails I get.