Nuts on the Ground

 I met my husband in April of 1987. Two weeks later I moved out of state.

By that fall we had become the best of friends. We talked every day on the phone and when I went back to my hometown we got together and shared on lives and dirt on who we each were dating etc.

The first fall that we knew each other we went down to the Peninsula. 

Presque Isle State Park is it’s official name. 

We put on our fall sweatshirts and headed to the walking trails.

I loved the walking trails at the Peninsula. I would cross country ski these same trails during the winter. Each season these trails were awesome. But Fall was my favorite.

The smells, the colors, and all the critters you’d see that seem to be hidden in the summer while you are sitting on the beach. It was spectacular there in all seasons but Fall was picturesque.

Rick and I went walking and he would point out things to this city girl that I never really paid any attention to.  He knew all the critters prints we saw. For all I know he was lying to me. I wouldn’t know a deer foot print from a fox.

But this really all started with the nuts on the ground. 

That first year we took this fall walk we saw tons of acorns, walnuts etc on the ground. 

"More than normal" I said out loud.   Rick asked me if I knew what that meant.  

 I know I must have looked at him like he was crazy. What that meant?  

 I don’t know, it’s fall, leaves and nuts fall. Nuts feed the critters in the cold weather. 

Hell I had no friggin’ idea and I was soon to learn he was not only critter boy he was nature boy.

Rick began to share a tip he has found to never fail him. He told me that all the nuts, which are more than normal, will tell you that this coming winter is going to be snowy than last year. This takes care of the animals he tells me. And then on and on he goes.   

I laughed at him. I really thought he was full of shit.  

He said to me, “Margaret nature tells you a lot if you pay attention.”

And then he let it go.

That winter was a snowier winter than we had had in a very long time.

Damn!  He may be on to something. 

I began to pay attention to all the things he began sharing with me during the seasons and damn if he wasn’t always correct. So nature boy was on to something. I suggested he write for the Farmers Almanac and he would just laugh at me.

Fast forward 25 years.....Last night we came down to the lake house. 

While at the dock throwing the football into the water for Izzy to fetch, we were hit on the head with walnuts falling.

You could hear all these nuts hitting all the dock roofs around us. It was wild.

Then this morning on my walk with Izzy we saw nuts everywhere. 

The paths and the road were covered, literally covered, in nuts. 

Now if Rick is correct this winter will be a strong one down here. And boy do they need moisture. They are having a drought here and the water is 5 ft. lower than it even was off our dock over labor day. Some people don’t have water at their dock at all. So snow would be good for them.

Up north where I live it’s the same thing with the massive nuts everywhere so I am hoping he is wrong this year. It could happen. He’s been telling me these predictions for 25 years now. 

This could just be the one year he’s wrong couldn’t it?

I don’t want lots of snow or lots of cold. Just fall. I just want a long cool fall.

Or a snow blower, I would love to get a snow blower. Don’t laugh at me.

Some girls like jewelry I have always wanted a snow blower.

And from the look of these nuts on the ground I may just finally get one.

Bad Day in a Bad Bad Year

I have said here in this space time after time how people who call us for service are so incredibily crazy. And yet for some reason this never ceases to amaze me.
Guess I am just a real slow learner huh?

I would never ever consider acting or treating people like they do to me.
And I know as sure as I am typing this on my laptop that in my career no one would have treated me like this  when I had a title. 
A title shouldn't matter when speaking to people damn it. A title didn't make me who I was. A title is just a title and you can be an ass with or without one.
All these people this week have proved it to me.
One should be nice across the board to all people damn it!
When did this become so passe?

Some weeks I deal with a crazy here another week another crazy.
However this week I have had all of these that I spoke of years ago.

Remember this post?
I am putting this post link here again so you can read the kind of week I am having.
All of these crazies called me and were rude unless they were military as you'll read or reread.

I think I need a morphine drip to get through this day, week, year...........

Memories

I was talking with my friend Susan who at the tender age of 12 became my best buddy.
We were talking about our childhoods and laughing about a plethora of things that happened to us and the things we thought were so tramatic.
Funny how age and time makes them seem so trivial.
I can't wait until I feel that with my current situation.

Susan had a small family and she was always so amused by my family.
She would look at them as a science project I swear.
At times I was embarressed by this and at times I was happy that she liked hanging with us because she thought it was so cool that as she said, "it's like you have dozens of brothers and sisters and you all get along"
I had never thought of my family as different until my wasp friends would point it out.
Then I would see how "odd" we were.

When I was a kid my playmates were my family. My family was cousins and sisters.
I now see looking back that my world was very small.
I was always with family. Their homes or ours.
Family was all that seemed to be around us.
All activites centered around family and that was including extended family.
So different from today's world.

There was always a party for some occasion. You know like it was a Sunday.
Oh sure there were birthdays, first holy communions, confirmations, graduations, babies, weddings,anniversarys and holidays. But there were a lot of just "get togethers" for any damn reason and I never thought that was odd.  There was always so much food, drink and people. It was just to be together and have fun. There was not a single weekend when we weren't all together. And we saw them during the week too. Just those days were a bit calmer due to school and work.

Until I was in my mid to late 20's this was my life.
All the cousins began to move away to find careers after college.
It's what was necessary growing up where we did.
It's called the Brain Drain. You get an education and you leave there to find work.
So began a tradition of the cousins getting together on Thanksgiving.
We had a cousins party that was the friday after thanksgiving at someone's house.
Everyone came into our home town to see their parents and of course the whole family visited one another but we cousins wanted our own party.

So it began that once a year this was held at someone house who still lived in our hometown.
Normally a lot of food and booze was taken in and people slept where they fell.
One year while I was still living there I had this event at my home.It was a typical cousins party. Loud, laughter, games, food and drink.

We were all in the dining room and kitchen playing games, laughing, talking, drinking etc.
All of a sudden I notice a cousin was missing.
I went into the living room and saw her out like a light on my sofa.
We just put a blanket on her and continued on.
We partied around her. She never woke up.

When everyone went home. I checked on the cousin on the sofa and she was still sleeping like a baby. I grabbed her keys so she didn't do anything silly like wake up and decide to drive home in the middle of the night. We still give her a lot of grief about that.

Well now we are all over the country. The majority of the parents have passed away so people don't go home over the holidays. They all have their families and new traditions.
I don't get to see them often and I must say I miss all of that a great deal.
I miss all the goofiness. I miss the marathon parties. I miss the hours of volleyball, baseball and games we'd play. Where else will you find a time out to fill up your beer cup in a very competitive volleyball game?

The other night I was watching of all things a show called House Hunters on HGTV.
A couple were looking at moving into this condo and one of the amenities aside from the normal pool and gym was a bocce court. I must say that was a surprise to me.
I mean, how many of you play bocce?  I thought it strange to see that as an amenity in a modern high rise. But I admit it brought back very warm memories to me.
The old men of the family playing horse shoes and bocce. The old men with their stoogies and beers. While we cousins played other games like volleyball and baseball.

I'm getting old now and I look back at my life and realize how good my childhood was.
Oh sure there were issues and bumps with my mom dying when I was 13 but over all it was a good childhood of love and laughter.

Now we only seem to see one another due to a funeral.
While there is still laughter, love and hilarity that will ensue it's just not the same.

Just another sucky thing about getting older.

Blogger Angst

Okay they forced the new blogger on me.
It goes without saying that I hate it.
I hung on to the old as long as I could.
Now I can't find the tab for edit posts.
You know all those lists of posts started that you may want to finish?
I had some posts started and where did they go?
Under the post setting is nothing that pertains to my posts that are saved or that have been written.
Anyone know?
Can you help me?

In other news Izzy had a severe reaction to the anti-vomiting medication.
It was 24 hours of scary hell.
It took about 1 hr for the violent vomiting to subside.
But then she was all goofy.
She was excessively drooling. Like puddles of drool.
At first I thought it was from nausea.
But it was massive.
Because Izzy doesn't normally drool at all this was odd to me.
She was also so adamant about staying outside in the shade as well.
Then when I tried to get her indoors she couldn't walk.
She would stand up and she was trembling. She also behaved like she was mentally challenged.  She was not Izzy.
This really scared me.

I called the vet and they said that a reaction to this medication wasn't normal and she would be fine. Bullshit.

By evening she was all I described but more.  It was so scary.
I called the vet on call because we were scared about the way she was acting.
She said that these were symptoms of the drug given but it normally is only 1%.
Well guess what we hit the jackpot because she is the 1%.
They said it could go into cardiac arrest so to please monitor her.
Great.  And how do we do that?

Rick, myself and Izzy were up all night. Literally all night. She couldn't sleep the poor thing.
She wanted to just stay outside. We allowed that until 11pm. It was to get to 40 degrees and we wanted her inside. We sat out there with her all bundled up for as long as we could stand it. Rick and I picked her up and brought her in side. When she tried to walk she was so wobbly that it scared her and she gave us this look like, "help me!" and she would lay back down.

Izzy sat at the back door all night. It was a cool spot. We sat with her. I would doze off for a few minutes and then it was Rick's turn to doze off.  We took turns. At 8am she finally went to sleep. Rick went to work. Poor guy. I was at least at home working and could look like shit.

Izzy was awake and not so wobbly by 9am. But not herself either. We went outside for a quick walk and she peed and went right back to the house. She didn't act like she was in such a fog but still not mentally our gal.

She slept off and on until noon. Never more than 30 minutes at a time. But that was more than she did all night so I thought that was a good sign. Finally at noon she was a completely a new gal.  Her eyes looked brighter and she wanted food. I was never so happy to feed her in my whole life. I boiled chicken and rice and gave her a very small meal that seemed to satisfy her. She was wagging her tail and I couldn't get enough of her.
By Friday night she seemed to be so much better......but diarrhea. 

We turned a corner on Sunday. She was back to her old self. Wanted to play ball and walk around the neighbor hood. She saw her best pal Libby and they played for a few minutes and then Izzy would just stop and lay down. She isn't playing as long and she seems to be tired quickly but she's so much better. She is eating normally so I imagine she will have her stamina completely back soon. After being up for 24 hrs she seems to be slowing catching up on her sleep. I'm sure this week will be back to a normal schedule and life as usual.

I called the vet to tell them to never ever give her this again. To be sure it was marked on her records that she had a severe reaction because this is not something I want this poor thing to go through again. And I told my vet who was out of town on those days that I didn't like the way I was poo-poo'd regarding this reaction. I just had to let her know that the new vet who was all of 15 looking made it out that we were exaggerating. I took video for some strange reason but I told her I could show her how she was wobbly and acting like she was so drugged and confused. She apologized and said that this medication is known for these exact symptoms so she will talk to the new vet about it. I know I sound bitchy but she needed to know. Besides better they hear this from me and not Rick. He isn't good at saying these types of things nicely. He was very pissed off that we were treated like we didn't know our dog or what we were seeing.

We still don't know what made her sick. The vet insists she must have eaten something.
The reaction certainly was like she had been poisoned.
We don't know what it could be because I am with her 24/7 and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Unless someone put some fertilizer or some chemicals on their lawn and she ate some of their grass. Would that cause this? We will never know.

All I do know is that I don't want to go through this again!!
And that I hate this new blogger.
That is all I know on this Monday.

Long Day

Oh what a day I have had.
But I think my poor Izzy has had it worse.

It began at 5am.
Izzy was restless and was smacking her lips a lot.
I awoke to all this and thought that she may be going to throw up.
I shooed her off the bed onto her bed just in case.
Her bedding can be washed. Mine isn't so easy.

I laid back down but she was now up so we all got up.
Rick took her out for her morning constitution and I wandered around the kitchen turning the Keurig on and just trying to wake up. I am not the morning person in this family so I tend to wander aimlessly for a bit. I put Izzy's breakfast in her bowl and grabbed my cup of coffee.

Izzy came into the house and went right for her bowl.
Rick and I sat down and Rick and I chatted about the upcoming day.
I made him his lunch and it was just a typical morning.

When Rick leaves I normally will jump in the shower and then walk Izzy before heading to my office upstairs.  I stuck to that routine this morning.
When I went back downstairs to get her for a walk she was acting weird.
She was sitting by the coffee table and then she came to me like she was herding me.
She tends to herd us when she is trying to tell us something or she wants to go upstairs to bed and we're not moving. (God forbid she go upstairs to bed alone like normal dogs!!)
So I followed her like a good member of her pack would.
She takes me to the dining room and then she looks at "it" and then at me.
She then puts her head down like she's been very bad. Oh that look kills me.
Why she does it I don't know. It's a look like she thinks I'm going to beat her.
We have never ever have or would we ever  hit her! 

I see the two big piles of vomit and I also see her being all timid like she's bad.
I went over to Izzy and told her it was okay.
I opened the front door and had her go sit on the stoop for a bit while I cleaned this up.

Here is what I wish she could tell me. What in the hell does she not vomit on the hardwood floors which would be so easy to clean up. No, she goes to the wool carpets which are not so easy to clean up. Honestly it drives me crazy.  But I digress.

After I cleaned this up. She did it two more times. Then we went outside and she did it again. So I thought I would give her a pepcid since that is what the doctor always tells me to do. But as soon as I give it to her she vomits again and there I see the pepcid.
So I call the vet. They told me to give her a pepcid. Aargh! 
Then when I explained that she wasn't holding that down they told me to bring her in.
She did vomit in the car too. Yipee more clean up!
I have a backseat cover and I had a beach towel over that.
But she managed to still make quite the mess.

Now Izzy HATES the vet.
I pull into the parking lot and attempt to get Iz out of the car.
My chubby little gal won't get out of the car.
I pull her and she pushes back. Oh my goodness.
I pick up her 78lb ass and she gives in. 
I have to tell you lifting her is difficult for me and after my 4 back surgery's I really shouldn't even do it but what could I do?

We get inside and the first thing she does is sit down.
She knows this is where they stick things up her butt.
She does not like things up her butt.
They want her to get on the scale.
I have to drag her to the scale all the while she is on her butt.
She remembers the whole butt thing and by God she is not giving it up to them easily.

We get inside the exam room and the vet tech goes through everything with me while we wait for the doctor.  Izzy keeps walking to the door ....I should say sliding on her butt to the door. She wants out of there. When she is not at the door she is trembling by me.
She will not let them see her butt and now I must admit I am giggling that she is so dedicated to this.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that. If she wasn't so sick the whole thing is funny.

The tech puts the cream on the thermometer and I try to distract her.
Normally we do that with a treat, but today of course no treats for her.
She is lying on her tummy so the tech picks up her tail and Izzy jumps up and sits on her butt. We both laugh. This is not going to be easy.
We finally get it. The poor things back leg is shaking. She keeps looking at me as if to say, "How can you do this to me? It's an exit ramp not an entrance. I Hate You!"

They insist on taking her back to be x-rayed. I know she does not have an obstruction.
Izzy doesn't eat things other than food and bunny poop. But they insist.
Great another $183 for xrays and for nothing.
She goes back there with them but only if she can slide back there on her butt which they laugh about as they drag her on her backside to the x-ray machine.
The vets and techs are finding this very humorous that she is so committed to not letting them near her bottom.
Izzy comes out and she is all over me again. She wants me to save her by getting her out of here and it breaks my heart that I can't.

The doctor shows me the x-rays and viola - NO OBSTRUCTIONS. 
The vet then tells me she wants to press on Izzy's tummy.
I make Izzy stand up and as soon as the vet comes around the table Izzy sits. We all laugh.
I try to distract her while the vet lifts her back side.
As she is pressing in different areas of her tummy I can tell Izzy is going to hurl.
Sure enough I jump back in time.

They ended up giving Izzy an injection of an anti-nausea medication and to stop the vomiting. They also gave her fluids which have given her two humps and she looks like a camel. She is not to eat or drink water for 6 hours. 

When we left the exam room she ran to the front door. I made her come with me as I put the leash back on her and we paid. As I was signing my payment slip she vomited all over their floor again. Oh boy this is going to be a fun ride home. They said it may take up to 45 minutes for the medication to really stop everything.

We get home and she jumps out of the car. She vomits all over the grass in front of the house. She does not want to go in the house. I try to see if she will walk. Nope. 
She lies down on the sidewalk and won't budge. Maybe because the sidewalk nice and cool since it's shaded. I have no idea.
Seriously I can't get her to come inside. I leave her there.
I have not even been to the office yet this morning. I had to check voice mails and emails.

I go upstairs and check on things. I go back downstairs to bring Izzy in the house.
She is so not happy with me. She won't look at me. 
This is my stubborn dog's way of punishing me for taking her to that awful place that sticks things up her butt. She won't come to my office. She won't sit near me.
She is really giving me the cold shoulder. I wish she could understand I do this to make her feel better. But when Rick took her to the vet last time it took 2 days before she was his dog again. I got all the attention.

I came home and faxed the $350 vet bill to our insurance company because this makes me have $0 dollars right now. I normally get reimbursed in a matter of days so we'll see.

In the mean time I have a dog who is very sick and we don't know why.
Because we can not travel with her like this we rearranged all appointments at the lake.
I suggested I stay home with her. Rick said that wouldn't work.
When money became tight we sold a car. We only have 1 vehicle now and we have Rick's work vehicle. He can't go down in the work vehicle and I can't be without the car should she become worse.

I rearranged the meeting with the gentleman who is so interested in the product.
I rescheduled the meeting with the hardware store where Rick was doing product demonstrations. So everything worked out.
Now if Izzy would just cooperate and get better all will be well.

I've missed a whole day of work for the most part and not for any fun at all.

Happiness in Person

Her name was Happiness and she was cranky as hell.
Am I the only one who finds that damn funny?

I had a group interview the other day and this woman was a car wreck.
I imagine her parents to be from the Woodstock era and when she arrived they looked at her in their birthing haze and named her Happiness.

At the beginning while all mingled she was cranky and made her opinions known loudly.
We were kept waiting while they stressed the importance of promptness.
I am sure that everyone noted that just as I did but we kept it to ourselves.
Happiness had to be miserable and make sure we all knew she was miserable.
When they said to raise your hand for this or that she always had to question them.
It all could be construed as argumentative, certainly not happy. 
Yet she amused me. I couldn't look away.

I wonder if her family sees the humor in the fact that she is now Ms. Cranky Pants who has a constant scowl on her face?
I know I shouldn't have kept staring at her but she was like a car accident in the sense that I knew I should look away but she made it very hard for me to do so.
In all seriousness I was mesmerized by her unhappiness.

There were times when things were said that even I felt were odd or unacceptable but sitting there in front of them I didn't make a face.
I would just jot down another note or reason that this position may not be a good fit.
But when I looked over at Happiness she was making all kinds of faces of disapproval and for lack of a better way to say it, "unhappiness".  I had to stifle a smile or laughter.

The whole event was a waste of my time in so many ways but I had to try.
And if nothing else I got to see 'Happiness' because she was entertaining as hell to me.
She was not pleasant or happy in any way what so ever it appeared
I would sure hate to meet 'Miserable'

Tuesday Tid - Bits

My Yankees are playing terribly.
Watching them play the O's last week my husband looked at me and said, "You know what the O's look like?" 
Geez I was afraid to ask but he just kept going.
"They look like championship Yankees."
Ouch. He's right, damn it!! 
Just goes to show you money has nothing to do with championships people.
We don't always win but my lord I wish we did.

Saturday Rick worked 1/2 a day and I ran errands and did chores.
Oh how I love to wash the 1st level floors. Yea right!
I would rather have a root canal.
Izzy went to play with dogs so one must clean the floors when she is gone.
I came home and had a call from Christina, a neighbor I have met through our dogs.
She asked if I would like to go have a glass of wine at the winery.
Yep, the winery that takes me 12 minutes to get to from my home.
I originally said no because I had so much housework to do.
But I then decided what the hell wine is good for you.
So I grabbed my purse and walked over to her house.

We walked inside and bought a glass of wine each and 2 bars of chocolate and headed out to get a picnic table with an umbrella. It was a gorgeous weather day.
The band that was playing was very good.
People were on the lawn having picnics etc. 
This gal below in the first photo was gettin' down with her bad self.
She kept grabbing the hem of her dress and twirling around.
She was showing her underwear.
At least she was wearing underwear so who the hell cares.
The men enjoyed the show.
She was with 11 other women and Rick kept saying, "Man if I were single."
Yea, right. Men are so damn delusional.

This guy was good. They had a fiddle player and she was great. They played Devil went down to Georgia and she was very good. They were playing ecclectic music of old and new and all good.

The place was packed but it was such a nice day who can blame everyone.
We text Rick to see if he was home and wanted to come by.
He did indeed drive over. One never has to doubt that Rick is up for a drink.
Christina began to tell us about she and her hubby divorcing.
Sad story for all involved but honestly not surprising.
Now we understood the invite because he has already left their home.
She just didn't want to be home alone.

We had some good laughs and maybe a bit more to drink than I should.
No breakfast, just chocolate and a couple glasses of wine.
Not smart.
Here is the photo of Christina I took.

Pretty isn't she? So this picture proves I had enough to drink.
I swore her head was in the shot!
Thankfully she was driving. She stopped drinking.
I had that 3rd glass.
Seriously I can pound down gin like no tomorrow but wine can hit me.
Especially on an empty stomach.

This is the road leaving the winery and heading home.
I love the civil war fence with the vines behind it.
I find it to be a pretty shot.
Not so much my cell phone capturing of it, but the shot in person is very pretty on this rolling hill. I wish I had a home on this plot of land. So tranquil.

And lastly did you all see this Saturday night? This is funny.

Could you go against your beliefs for $200?

I just couldn't do it. Boy I sure do wish I could have.

In my old life $200 was no big deal. That would just be a 15 minute trip to Target.
However in this new normal of my life $200 now is a damn big deal for me.
And I could sure use it.
I actually paused for a moment when this offer was made.
The 2 second pause even startled me. But I just couldn't do it.

Joe is a neighbor who we have become good friends with over the last couple of years.
He is a young man who owns an accounting firm.
He called me around 5ish on Friday.
Joe is a big strapping young man who could be Rick younger brother (well more like son) because they both have the same sick sense of humor and a quick retort every time.
I love this kid so I welcomed the call when I saw his name on caller ID.
He asked in his happy tone if I would like to make $200.00

"What are you asking me to do big boy?"

He laughed, "I have a client Peg who needs some people for a commercial they are making. They need people over 55 who don't look old. They seem to have a lot of old looking people.  When he asked me if I knew anyone I thought immediately of you and Rick.

"Oh flattery will get your everywhere Joe. When and where is this?"

"It's in Annandale tomorrow from 10am - 2pm.  They will give you a script to learn so you aren't just talking off the cuff"

"What is the commercial for Joe?"

Joe hesitated and then said, "It's a political commercial."

"Joe, is this for Mitt Romney?"

"Yes", he replied a bit sheepishly.

I paused....I sighed because damn it I could use the $200.

"Joe I just can't do that. I wish to God I could but I just can't. I'm sorry.
I appreciate you asking us and I can even speak for Rick on this one.
I will ask the woman across the street who is over 55 for you if you'd like"

(I did ask Rick after I hung up - he said hell no just like I thought he would)

Joe laughed and told me that he doesn't follow politics but his wife does and said, "Peggy is too open minded to be a Romney supporter. I bet she won't do it"

I laughed and told Joe to thank Nikki for me. That to me was a compliment.

I told him I'd ask Karen across the street and get back to him.
Karen emphatically said a big NO.

So an older retired woman and a woman broke as hell both turned down $200.
I wish I could have brought myself to do it. I hate having principles.

I left Joe with one request, "If you want to pay me $200 for another other type of commercial or for someone who needs health care I'm your gal so please call me!"

Would you take money for something you didn't believe in?

BOOM!

At 3:30a.m. we awoke to a loud boom.
Rick thought it was a pipe bomb. What does that sound like I ask?
He said, "what we just heard"
Okay that was a dumb question as well as his smart ass answer.
But it was 3:30a.m. Give me a break.

The windows were open and the dog was startled. 
She barked once and as the scaredy cat is prone to do she them jumped on the bed.
Oh my big guard dog Izzy.

Rick got dressed because he thought the sound came from the back of the house where our bedroom windows face. It also is where his work vehicle is parked. So he was concerned.

He and Izzy went outside while I stayed in bed.
They were gone for what seemed like a longer time than it should take to check this out.
So now I get up and grab my robe and go downstairs.
I look out the front window and see all kind of commotion.
Lights flashing, people milling around.  
I could see Rick and Izzy talking to a policeman.

When Rick came back he told me what was going on.
Apparently someone hit a car.
They left their damaged car parked and this person was no where to be found. 
The Honda that was hit was parked up the street.
Normally he parks in his garage but this night for some reason which we don't know he was parked out in front of his house. Bet he won't do that again.

The car that hit him was now parked across the street from his car.
For all they knew he was hiding in the woods near by.
The sheriff was talking to people asking what they heard and saw.
Who saw anything at 3:30a.m. on a very early Thursday morning? 
But because Rick was out there with Izzy they asked him some questions too.

The car that was hit was a mess. I am sure it's totaled. It is an older Honda Accord.
The back wheel axial is completely messed up. How's that for a technical explanation?
The tire is going inward and it's also no longer completely on the ground. And that is just one section of the car. The parts that flew off are still on the side of the street on the grass as of this morning when I was walking the dog.

I assume the driver who hit this man was drunk and that was why he ran off.
But how stupid to leave his car because I would assume that would trace right back to him wouldn't it?

I am glad no one got hurt and I am very glad it wasn't my car.
Selfish bitch that I am.
___________________________________________________________
UPDATE:  I was chatting with the neighbor who's car was hit. The person who hit him left him a note on his car. It read, "I'm really sorry I hit you"  Nothing else. So he seemed to have some guilt.  I guess that is something. But he/she ran off. I'm sure he/she knows they will be caught but they will be sober by then.  Only reason I can think of why someone who do that.

Fall in New England

As I have mentioned before in this space I am incredibly smitten with my husband.
Even after 25 years I still like him.  Oh sure he drives me bat shit crazy.
And no one can make me madder but I'm crazy about him.

The two men I would leave him for are Ben and Jerry.
Thought I was going to say Gerard Butler didn't you?
Aah, Gerry is  just a fun weekend.
Ben & Jerry have been in my life so long now I'd have to go with them.
Yet I haven't had B & J ice cream in over a year.  Sad isn't it?
It sucks that it is so bad for me when I love it so.

I LOVE ice cream and I love their ice cream.
Yes, even after the big bad corporation bought them.
I got to visit their corner of the world and their store/factory a few years ago.

There was a section in the Washington Post travel section many years ago that outlined the reporters travels and stops from D.C. to Vermont. 
We read this article and thought it sounded like great fun. 
We took some vacation time in the fall and traced this trip the reporter took.
We stopped at the same stops and some of our own along the way.

We rented a cabin on a lake (that wasn't in the article) and we rented a little boat. 
Rick fished and I drank wine for a few days.  It was fall in Vermont.
It just doesn't get much better than that.
Fall leaves, the smell of the air, the maple syrup and pancakes and Ben and Jerry's.

One day at the cabin I made some hard boiled eggs.
I put them in the water and turned on the stove.
Rick came in from fishing and said that I really ought to join him because it was just so magnificent outside.
The day had started out being cloudy and damp so I was inside reading and relaxing.
The sun was coming out now he said so I grabbed my sweatshirt and out the door I went.

We were trolling around the lake for over an hour and were approaching our cabin when I saw the man we rented from showing the cabin next door. For some reason that sight reminded me that I left the eggs on the stove. I jumped out of the boat running up to the cabin screaming to Rick to help me like I was on fire.
At that very moment the smoke alarm went off.
Poor guy had no idea what in the hell I was talking about.

I get to the kitchen and there is a little bit of smoke and it smelled oh so foul.
The pan was ruined, black and empty.  Oops! no eggs. 
The eggs had exploded and were all over the walls and ceiling.
Oh Rick was not happy with me. You see I have done this before.
Not to the point that they exploded but I have made them and walked away and started something and just plain forgot them.

I just knew as we were cleaning up that the damn owner would be stopping by.
Sure enough I was right. The smoke alarm is going off - of course he would be alarmed. 
That smell stayed with us for a few days unfortunately.
For some reason the owner was so nice and understanding about it. Blew us away.
Of course we cleaned it up. I even went to town and bought another pan for him.
And lots of candles to burn to rid the house of the smell of these damn eggs.
By the time we left it was gone. Thank goodness!

We continued our tour of Vermont by going to Ben and Jerry's on a dark and rainy day.
We had a ball there. The age group was 35 - 85. No kids at all but it was the middle of the week. Free samples for all. I was in my own personal nirvana.
Happiest place on earth - screw Disney!

My favorite discovery while there was the ice cream koozie in the gift shop.
You know like the ones for beer and pop.


The side of the B & J's ice cream pint states it is for 4 people.
C'mon 4 people?  4 very very small people perhaps?
I get 2 people, but 4?
I am going to confess I can eat a full pint of that stuff while watching TV without a problem.
It actually makes me scream that it says for 4 people.
I get 1 person and 2 sittings but 4 people?
Who the shit you kidding?

To my delight I saw koozies for your pint of ice cream.
That tells me that others eat this too by themselves if they are using a koozies.
You aren't going to share once you've been eating straight out of the pint.
You don't normally share your beverage if it's in a koozie.
Koozies are for 1.
So take that B & J and the food police!
If you are selling a koozie for your product it is not for 4 people!

The trip that we were tracing also had us going to the state capital and a culinary school
The school ran a restaurant and bar. It was great fun.
We thought we'd just have a few drinks at the bar and then have dinner in the restaurant.
But the bartender kept having us try appetizers and asking for our honest opinions.
What fun we had. We drank and had some great appetizers and then met the chefs making them. They came out and asked for input from all of us at the bar sharing these great snacks.
We were so full we never went to the restaurant. And they didn't want a cent for any of this. Needless to say their tips were huge.

It was a great week of a fall vacation in New England.
I would love to go back for another only this time Maine.

Maine was a huge surprise to me when I went for work related events.
I fell in love with Maine and wanted to see more.

I have found that places I have wanted to go have always disappointed me.
(LA and San Francisco were huge disappointments for me)
The places I never gave much thought to have always been such a pleasure.
I truly fell in love with Maine as did Rick.  We both went for work reasons, separately of course, but would call one another raving about what we were seeing.

So maybe next fall I can tell you about my New England trip to Maine.
No Ben and Jerry's but there are blogger friends and water and small mountains.
What more do you need?

Shark Tank Can You Hear Me?!

Sunday we received an email on Rick's new ventures website.
(yes, we are working on an upgraded website like our normal businesses)
The email asked Rick to contact him.
We noticed the address which made our first thought be, 'Oh No.'

You see we did some gorilla marketing while we had that week at the lake.
Rick had post cards made.
We put these postcards advertising our product in these bags, think zip lock for lack of a better description, so that weather did not ruin them.
We hit the water and drove through coves and the like and looked at peoples boats.
Those that needed this product desperately we stapled these onto the columns of their docks. Basically all need it from being in the sun.

We did this very early in the morning. (Like those pictures I posted at the wee hours.)
This way they didn't see us and shoo us away.
So we assumed when this customer asked to speak with us it meant he was going to yell at us for leaving this on his dock.

Rick gave him a call and the man was so excited.
What a great surprise.
I could hear him he spoke so loudly.
But that was great since I could hear the conversation.
His southern  accent was very thick and it was a bit hard for us both to understand him at times.
He told Rick that he immediatley went to the store that we list  on the card that carries our product.
He said he has used these types of things before but they never worked.
The before and after photo of the boat on the postcard made him want to try this again.
He just kept saying how he was "blown away" at how easy and how well it worked.
He told us that he has said something to everyone he has been in contact with  about how great it is. Then he asked about investing. That perked up our ears.

He told us the company that he owned up here in Reston, Virginia.
We are aware of this company. He sold the company for 13.5 million.
(we googled him, it was all true)
He now lives at the lake for 8 months and then Florida for 4 months. 
He has a couple of homes on the lake.
(I would have loved to have asked him to buy ours but it wasn't appropriate, but don't think that didn't go through my mind!)

He proceeded to tell Rick that he really has something here. (we know!)
He kept saying, "Do you realize how big this is?" (we do!)
He then asked if it was patented. (it is)
He and Rick discussed the types of patents and he gave Rick some great advice for free.
(how great is that?)
He then said that it should never sell for less than 10 million because this is big.
(gee that would allow me to sleep at night wouldn't it?)
He asked if he could sell this down in Florida for us? (let's talk)

Bottom line is that we met someone who gets it.
He didn't ask questions about the product and ingredients like he was stealing it.
Oh we've had those too. This was different.
He understood the product and it's uses.
He understood where we need to go next and how we can't afford it.
He wants to meet Rick in 2 weeks when we plan to be there.
Will something come from it? Maybe not.
But if nothing else we get more information on how to get to the next level.
We know we are sitting on a big thing.
We know we need money to go to the next level.
What we don't know is how to get the money and how to get to the next level.

Shark Tank is something we really wanted but we've applied twice.
Is the product not sexy enough for TV?
They made Rick attach a photo of himself with the application.
Was he not good looking enough?
We don't know why we have not been chosen but it doesn't look like it will happen and that bums us out. A "friend" said it wasn't sexy enough for TV but there have been things for toilets and things for eye glasses and things for truck beds. Those are sexy products?
It's so frustrating.

We are running out of ideas and we are out of money.
All idea's welcome!

Beautiful Day

Good Morning Blogger Friends.

I absolutely LOVE this weather. I am on a high!

It is in the 50's at night and this morning and only in the high 70's all day.

It is Peggy weather people!

I get to wear leggings and a big ole sweater and this just makes me damn happy.

I have slippers on here at my desk this morning. Yummy.

I just love love love it like this. 

If only it could be like this for 6 months a year -then winter and spring.

I have to have some winter in there though.

Winter makes you really appreciate perfect days like today.

That's it, just those three seasons would make me a very happy gal. 

If only there was a place on earth that had that weather.

Just skip the 90's, 100's and high humidity. Any ideas?  I'd move there

I have a couple of pictures I wanted to share that I received over the weekend from Joey and Karley's mom, Laura.

This below are the boys with their toys.
Guess which one is the 11 year old? Yep it's that tall one. 

I just love this one of Joey, Izzy and Karley. Izzy was diggin' the attention and love big time.

 Katie got on her knees to say good bye and Iz jumped up and just gave her a hug.
She hated seeing them go.

In other non important news I made a quiche this Sunday and we enjoyed the cool air and sat on the patio with friends and ate quiche and drank coffee. The others had mimosa's but champagne is not my friend so I just had plain juice and coffee.

The new neighbor over the fence that lives in Ugly Carrie's old place is just the nicest guy.
We got lucky or I should say, we're back to normal.

He is older, cute and single. My guess is early 60's. Twinkly blue eyes. I know he works in the government and which division but he can't tell me what he does there or he'd have to kill me.
The only reason I think he is older is he has a full head of white hair.  But then again if I didn't color my hair I would be 100% gray too so he may be my age. Either way he is super nice and cute. He smokes out on his deck which I have the unpleasant pleasure of having to smell in my home but otherwise a super upgrade from Ugly Carrie!! Hell satan would be a super upgrade from Ugly Carrie.

I went outside to my car parked out front of my townhome Saturday early evening and he was standing there on the sidewalk and he startled me. He was just standing out on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets looking down the street. I jokingly asked if he was looking for his date. His face turned red and just said he was 'waiting on a friend' and they were lost so he thought if he stood out there they would see him. 
I laughed and said, "yep we've been there with people to our home. It's like stepfordville and everything looks the same until you get used to it."  He laughed and repeated, "Stepfordville"  as though he was really absorbing the term for the first time on his new development. I got in my car and drove off.
When I got home I said to Rick, I think our new neighbor has a date, let's see if that car is there in the morning.  (wink wink)

Now I know that wasn't nice. Nosey damn neighbor I am huh?
But we live on top of one another you see things. It just is this way.
Last week when we were gone all week the lady across the street said to us upon our return, "Hey where did you go? I didn't see you and Izzy walking all week, it was weird around here" 
So on Sunday morning we saw "her" his date, while we were on the patio eating quiche.
We had 2 good size pieces left in the quiche pan so we offered it to them.

Later that afternoon around dinner time he came over with our plate. 
He's old enough too to know the saying and probably was told by his mama the same the rest of us at that age were taught....never give a plate back empty? Well this man did that.
He made Ratatouille in my quiche plate. OMG did it smell good!!!
We had just been talking about what to have for dinner and he shows up with this!
Bingo!!
He kept saying how good the quiche was and how much they enjoyed it. (it wasn't that great) So he was giving us dinner. Gee that wasn't fair. I only gave him 2 pieces of quiche.
He made us dinner.

The smell of this was so awesome.
Garlic is still reaking from my pores today.
I am thankful I work from home with a garlic day like this that's for sure.
Izzy doesn't mind the smell.
I am sure if I was in a cubicle the man or woman next to me would have to move. I have a sister (Pam) who says that the smell of garlic on a man is sexy. That makes me laugh. While eating it's great, coming out your pores the next day, not so much.

Oh and by the way, Rick found that damn T-shirt.
God help us all.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

As I have shared with you all before Rick loves to mess with Joey's head.
Joey is the young man who comes to our lake home every labor day weekend.
Rick works on the yearly prank all year
In the past Rick has pulled some great pranks on Joey.
My favorite is the pumpkin on the shoe that they thought was dog poo and Rick ate it.
Oh the squeals!
This year not so much.

Rick bought these vials of fake blood.
While Joey was in the water with Rick he was going to scream and act like he just got bit and then all the blood and you know how this goes.
For some reason it was funny to him that he would scare the bejeebers out of the kid.

Rick was telling Joey the very first night he arrived about this big snapping turtle.
He talked about how big it was, how it was last seen around the shore line by our dock and the like. Joey asks him questions and off the story went.

That night I said to Rick as we lay in bed, "All that stuff about a snapping turtle was the start of this damn trick isn't it? There is no turtle."
Rick says, "As far as Joey knows there is so I am just laying the ground work!"

The following morning on Joey's first day in the water he was being oh so cautious.
He keeps asking about it. Is he far enough out in the lake? Can it get him here? over here?
And on it goes. Rick keeps feeding the poor kid more bullshit that actually sounds plausible.
I can not look at him because I will laugh.

Then as I lower myself into the water I am just pausing on the ladder off the floating dock.
I stop to get used to the cold water (shut up Katie it was too cold)
As I am standing on the ladder rung a fish actually bites my toe! 
I shriek and jump off the ladder and onto the dock.
Of course that plays right into Rick's sinister plan with Joey.
Joey gets out of the water. 

Rick assures him it's just me. That fish don't bite normal people just me.
He tells them all about how a blue gill drew blood on my thigh. Yes it's true.
I hate fish. I prefer pools because the damn fish like me and I don't feel the same about them.  In a pool there are no fish. But I don't have a pool damn it.

Anyway Joey is appropriately leery of getting in the water.
But in a few minutes he is back in the water and being an annoying 11 year boy with more energy than one should have. (seriously I wish I had 1/2 his energy!)

Now let us fast forward to much later that day.
Rick has his blood capsules and blood vials.
But what you really need to know is that at this point Rick has also had quite a few cocktails.
I am sitting next to him with my feet dangling in the water off the dock.
Rick leans to me and says, "look at Joe he's in the middle of the lake I'm going to do this now and freak him out."
I just shake my head at how juvenile this whole thing is.

Rick proceeds to put on a show. His feet are dangling off the dock as are mine.
He let out a scream and yells as he grabs his foot BUT the vial slips and you can see it going up and down as the fake blood runs down his foot and ankle. 
Everyone is laughing including Joey because this was an epic failure.
EPIC FAILURE.  We could all see the blood vial for pete's sake.
Joey wasn't scared, he was laughing and telling Rick it was lame!! 
Joey didn't hurry to get out of the water as Rick had hoped.
He now had something on the old man!
Even Rick was laughing at how he botched this whole thing up so completely.
Note to Rick: Sober would have been better because you wouldn't have lost your balance numbnut!

So this years memory of the the prank is the epic failure he pulled on him instead of the prank. Joey is loving it though. Rick failed and he didn't get Joey.

But messing with Joey isn't enough for my juvenile hubby.
Oh no. The 12 year that I am married had to do more.
I see him putting someone's (camera) phone down the back of his swim trunks while he is sitting at the dock. I walked up behind him and asked what in the hell he was doing.

"Shhhh!!! he says,  that was Katie's phone. When she goes home and looks at her pictures she'll see my ass. "

"Oh for God's sake Richard what is wrong with you?"

"Oh come on that'll be funny as she looks through her camera photo's."

I just walk away because I hate that I laugh it only encourages him. But I imagine if I went home after vacation and was looking through my pictures and saw a butt I'd laugh. I would probably wonder who's butt it was. But being that Rick was the only man all weekend (not counting an 11 year old boy) there is no escaping that it was Rick the immature old man.

One afternoon it rained so we went up to the house and had lunch and then they all played cards.

This is what I did while they played cards......c'mon it was an afternoon game of my Yanks losing yet again. I had to watch I was inside. (talk about epic failure)

The sun came out and they all went back outside. I stayed in for another few innings and I heard Rick in the kitchen. The microwave was on and we had just eaten. I asked him what he was doing.  He looks around like he's a damn spy. I ask him again.
He said, "I saw the Kielbsa in the freezer downstairs when I got the vodka so I am defrosting it."

"You can't possibly be hungry. Really?"

"No I am going to use it for Katie's camera"

"OMG WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO RICHARD?"
He laughs.
I walk away.

Later I saw the photo's when she put her camera down.
OMG they are hysterical. I'd show you if I had them but then again some may find it offensive.I found them funny as hell.
Not funny because it was done but because when she gets home and looks through her photo's I am going to hear her scream curse his name all the way down here in Virginia from Pennsylvania.

I asked her on Tuesday to send me pictures when she goes through hers because unlike previous years I didn't take many.  I was too buys laughing all weekend.
She said she hadn't seen them yet so when she does I will hear her.

I know you are all shaking your head at the juvenile man I am married to.
I do that a lot too but he does make me laugh.
Guess that doesn't say much about me now does it?

I am waiting for some photo's from those that were there.
They said possibly this weekend I'd get them. They have busy weeks.
So in the meantime here are a couple of mine before the outrageous laughter began and the camera was never picked up again. She usually only reads me on M-F so we should be safe.

This is Joey in the afternoon while on a boat ride. He looks dead but he is only napping.  He looks like Rick after one of his rum naps.

This is just some rambling things from a woman who had a bit too much lemonade and gin.

Bad Margaret sounds like an idiot, as usual I suppose.  I got off this raft and lost my grip on it and Laura who was already in the water and she went to fetch it for me. Notice Ms. Katie with her beer bottle while sitting on her noodle. (that sounds dirty doesn't it?) 

 I think I have that same picture from the last 6 years Katie.