hunting and pecking

I was on a darkish walkabout this morning - a lazy fog making things seem somewhat middle earthy. 

I didn't come across any hobbits or elves that I know of, but did encounter this gaggle of turkeys. I've seen them around before, as have others who chime in on Next Door, Reddit, etc. Is it the same wild group moseying all over town or is there more than one gang?

They look healthy and happy enough, to my untrained eyes.

I recall a boy I knew many years ago, a country boy, who told me how difficult it was to track and nab a wild turkey at hunting time. He told me this while showing me, with pride, one of his turkey feather trophies.

So my first experience of spotting these wild turkeys had me thinking back to that, making the event all, "Wow, a rare sighting!". But now I'm starting to wonder... is it really that difficult?

Recall a while back I admitted to having the odd thought that I would enjoy birdwatching. Now I'm thinking about that again after coming upon this group in the business park. The real appeal to me is to be out in the boonies with a purpose. Hunting has always sounded fun to me - all except the killing part. THAT doesn't appeal to me at all, despite my being a failed vegetarian.

I feel in need of a nature fix, anyway, in the midst of another semester of dealing with students barely keeping their heads above water (how did they even meet the prerequisites?!). I mean, it's only the strugglers who sign up for tutoring, so it's the nature of the beast.

So no nature getaway today. But at least I had wild turkeys by the dumpster.

testing

Before I worked in a testing center, I had no idea the number of professional certification and licensing exams were out there. 

When a tester enters, we all start to mentally make guesses as to what test they're doing. Some are more obvious than others. 

• Dirty fingernails and a shirt with their name on it, usually male = automotive tech
• Early 20's, female = elementary school teacher
• Teen = GED or HiSET
• Broad shouldered, big boots, equally male or female, actually = firefighter or law enforcement
• Lots of tattoos/ piercings, male or female = addiction counselor (probably with a "past")

But really, anything goes. And there are plenty of ambiguous testers. The most ambiguous is probably the insurance people. They are anywhere from dapper law office types to rather rudderless types that were preyed upon with "MAKE A CAREER SELLING INSURANCE! YOUR SKILL SET IS JUST WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR" - yes, I've received those emails...

At home this morning, I was finishing up my breakfast when I heard some chatter outside. Being the nosy neighbor that I am, I peeked out the front window to see what's what. Four young guys exiting a pickup truck.

Tree guys, must be.

There is a test to become a Certified Tree Climber. We get those too 

• Young, male, very tan, agile looking, facial hair, lots of pockets = tree climber

And now, based on my nosy observation

• Taking hits from the vape pen

I'm glad there's a test for such a job. Climbing a tree can be dangerous enough, let alone doing so with an operating chainsaw.

Sure enough. Another pickup with a mulcher attachment pulled up. I was momentarily encouraged, hopeful they were here to prune the neighbor's overly enthusiastic pear tree. It's gotten huge, has some damaged branches, and is flopping over the fence onto our property. 

We've pruned our side, but the rest should probably be done by a certified tree climber, which neither of us is. Magnum mentioned it to the nice neighbor, who rents. She said she'd put in the work order to the property manager, but none of us are holding our breaths.

And now, I can hear the chainsaws sawing, but not next door. 

Maybe by the first day of Christmas.

highest in the room

 Magnum tyically works from home, but yesterday he was onsite. I figured I'd check the Ring® notifications while I was at work.

As expected, nothing exciting - just my own comings and goings. 

I looked a little closer at the scene as I locked the door before heading out. 

Do you see what I see?

Yes! Miniature Batman! On my roof! Stealthfully watching my every move!

Gosh, I thought he only worked nights.

Honestly, though, I have no idea how Neighbor Cat got up there. And how long's he been doing that?

Speaking of high cats... Boss handed out gift bags yesterday for us underlings. He's a very thoughtful person, and each of our gift bags included treats for our pets as well. So, in addition to my little box of See's candies and my Barnes and Noble gift card, I brought home two peanut butter infused dog treats and a little catnip mouse.

I set the gift bag on the shelf after I got home, and went on to other things. 

This morning, I heard rustling rummaging noises. I thought it was pooch Merlin slurping at his feet as he's known to do, but no. Merlin was lazing on the couch. 

I peeked around the corner to find Napolion the cat, frantically nosing around in my little gift bag like a crackhead needing a fix.

I retrieved his catnip toy for him, and he was on it like the crackhead I didn't realize he was.

At first, he was like a lion on the Serengeti attacking a little wildebeast. This went on for a few minutes, accompanied by much flopping and rubbing. Then he turned back to my gift bag, still apparently wafting the sweet song of the catnip. He began tearing at the dog treats, which were thankfully individually wrapped so as to not take on much damage before I risked losing my fingers in rescuing them from Napolion's grip.

Then he flopped on this cushion and remained motionless with his mouse in this position for several minutes. 

As far as I know, this is Napolion's first catnip trip. We gave some to our earlier cat, Cookie, and he couldn't care less about the stuff - almost seemed insulted. So I never got into the habit of providing it.

He's acting his normal self now - maybe a little rowdier than usual. What a stoner.

missives and abandonment

Operation go-get-the-new-mailbox-key was a success. Too exciting, right?

Honestly, though, the process was a bit disconcerting. I'll backtrack a bit.

Earlier in the week, there was a note taped to the mailbox explaining that our mail couldn't be delivered, and that the mailbox would be replaced "soon".

Okay, fine. Actually, I was somewhat surprised at how quickly the new mailbox was installed - all shiny and with a new note taped to it:

Our exuberant mail carrier seems to be very happy for us in their correspondence. Three exclamation points!!!

As mentioned, therefore, Magnum and I made the post office our destination for our old folk's walk yesterday, with the added stress of needing to get there before the post office closed on a Saturday. The suspense, right?!

It's about a 2-mile enjoyable trek, and we arrived with plenty of time to spare. 

I stated our purpose for being there, gave the postal person our last name and confirmed the street we lived on.

She left to rummage around in the bowels of the post office for a bit, eventually emerging with three shiny, new keys .

"Here ya go!", she said with a smile while handing over the treasure.

I gave a cordial, "Uh, thanks", and we were outta there. She NEVER asked for any form of ID - as the highly secure correspondence noted would be required.

Should I be concerned?
Eh, I didn't feel like calling her on it. We get so little physical mail of any importance, going as paperless as we can. 

I tested the keys - all three work fine - extracted a pile of junk mail, and we're back in business.

In other excitement, I took delightful morning bike ride today. I ended up near the [Tour de Fat] brewery to see the aftermath. Aw, this poor bicycle left behind - decorations wilting

A little further away, I came across these abandoned reveler bicycles as well

Most likely, the owners felt too inebriated to ride off into the sunset, and left their bicycles to be picked up in a more sober fashion. Seems another successful Tour de Fat for the books.

a trip to anywhere

I've spun the mattress, changed the toothbrush heads, rummaged and found some shorts and short sleeves.  Spring is here for a welcome change!  And this year, it brings a COVID vaccine available to about all who want it (and can get an appointment!).

Change is often a good thing and gives us things to look forward to.  Thought I'd make a small-scale list for near future things.

Warmer, Longer Days
With spring's arrival, I'm ready for stashing the snow shovels and partaking of some warm weather fun.

New Tooth
As I mentioned a while ago, our dog, Penny, mangled my fake tooth - not while it was in my mouth, thankfully.  I take full blame for leaving it laying around.  

I've been living with the void and was fitted for a new one nearly two weeks ago.  I expect the replacement in the upcoming week.  I will take better care of this one!

New Job

I told the Audreys I'd be the new assistant boss.  I'm looking forward to the change, probably because I don't know all that I'm in for.

It's just nice to make a decision now and then.  Once I decided and signed the papers, I felt more centered.  I offloaded my current tutor students - I was down to just two at this point - without hassle.  That feels a bit weird, seems I've been a tutor forEVER.

Home Upgrades
With the pandemic restrictions beginning to lift, I'm looking forward to a few needed updates on our house.  It was a rental for several years before we purchased it.  The appliances are very basic and showing their age, same for the windows and exterior paint.  Time for some TLC.

I'm not necessarily looking for the "journey" to get there in this case, but rather the destination.

So, how boring am I, right?

What's something you're looking forward to?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

4. Write about something you are looking forward to.

signs of summer

I put a "No Soliciting" sign in the front window yesterday.  In the past three days, I've had 4 cold calls ringin' my bell.

Magnum was in favor, although he didn't necessarily agree with including "Please" and "Thank You".

It strikes me as strange that, in this day and age, people still go around knocking on people's doors.  Even local girl scouts don't typically sell cookies door-to-door but rather set up some tables in good and legal locations.  In fact, some enterprising girl scouts set up shop outside marijuana dispensaries.  Now THAT'S good business thinking!

In contrast, to me, people going door-to-door soliciting business strike me right away as either not very skilled business folk or scammers.  The scammers solicitors this week included a house painter, a pest control guy, a church group, and a financial planner.

1. My next door neighbor paints houses.  I'm pretty sure the solicitor guy saw the neighbor's trucks emblazoned with the company logo and contact info, which is why he didn't ring that door.  I pointed out to him that, if I want my trim done, I'll go to my neighbor.
2. Yes, I know we live among bugs.  I'll deal with it without bug birth control
3. I've heard of Jesus.
4. The financial planner guy struck me as particularly odd.  He showed up in tie and sport coat, as seen in this footage from our Ring®️ doorbell.

I'm not posting his image here to shame him, in fact the angle of his face obscures it pretty well anyway (he looks like he might be praying?).  But he was walking up and down the neighborhood like this, and it was about 80 degrees and sunny out.

I wanted to say something like, "You got your bachelor's in business?  Maybe an MBA in finance?  Is this really what you saw yourself doing after graduation??"

But I just said, "No thanks", and the dogs were all a-bark, and he was probably glad to get out of there.  Merlin is a super sweetheart, but he's got a mighty bark that comes in handy.

Years ago, Chaco advised me to put a "No Soliciting" sign in the front window.  I said I thought it seemed mean, but he reasoned that I was doing them a favor in letting them know that we are a waste of time.  Made sense, but that sign faded and I took it down a short while ago.  Now the solicitors had us back in their sights, so new sign it is.

In the meantime, I'm still chipping away at all our tree damage from that storm a couple of weeks ago.  I'm making manageable limbs from big tangled limbs and it's piles o' pain.

Where's a tree trash hauler to ring my doorbell when I need one??













Do you get solicitors at your home?  Do you listen to their spiel, maybe enlist their services?  

ringing in the season

We got us one of them Ring®️ doorbells.

Magnum wired it up last weekend, and it seems to be doing its thing.  As far as I know, we've not been victims of porch pirates *knock on wood* *throw salt over the shoulder*, but I know it's becoming a pretty common crime with people increasingly shopping online.

So we'd talked about getting a Ring or some such for a while and finally installed one.  I'm happy to say the feed has been quite boring so far.  It's mostly of my comings and goings along with footage of the neighbor cat looking for Napolion, and one entertaining video of magpies either fighting or engaging in foreplay, not sure which.

I've also learned that amazon has lockers to use for deliveries.  There's a Whole Foods about a mile away from our house, so I'm going to try the locker system next time I order something from Amazon.  Anyone need anything? For my experiment?

Maybe I'll order some fish stuff as my aquarium is starting to take shape.  I added three male guppies, a plecostomus, and a little pagoda lantern thing.

It still seems like there's a lot of empty water space in there, but I'm pretending to believe that the plants are growing and bulbs are sprouting.  

Anyone else have some sort of surveillance system for home or work?  Any stories to share?

'til I drop

One of my least favorite but necessary activities is "fetching" groceries. I try not to complain about it because of the starving people out there - first world problem that it is.  But I just typically find it so mundane, traipsing around the grocery store, checking items off my list, dodging the other shoppers.

Then there's the waiting in line to pay for the cartload.  I'm always in the slowest line.  Every.  Time.

However, it's better now than in the "old days".  Now, there are self-serve checkouts.  Plus, I'm old enough to remember when cashiers actually had to punch in prices for every item.  Lovely things, those bar codes!

Monday, I used Walfart's pickup service for the first time.  Go online, fill the cart, pick a time to pick up the stuff, and... voila!  A wonderful Walfart's employee wheels the goods out.

It worked just as planned.  I didn't have to go in the store.  I didn't have to go through any register line.  I still had to drive there, but all in all, it was a wonderful thing and didn't even cost extra.  Really, I had NO problem with the fact that someone else picked my bananas.  

This, I'm sure, is in response to the power of amazon.com.  Many actual retail stores - the ones that have been able to remain open despite the amazon competition - are jokingly referred to as "Amazon Showrooms".

Who here has tried something out in a store, only to go and get it cheaper off amazon?  Anyone?  Admit it?

I have bought groceries from amazon too, but still had to wait a whole two days, so I appreciate that amazon lit a fire under Walfarts, of which there is one about a mile from my house.  About a mile away in the other direction is a Whole Foods - now owned by Jeff Bezos/Amazon.  It's been quite a while since I've shopped at "Whole Paycheck", but I'm curious now to see what's changed.





I remember when amazon first showed up as an online bookseller back in the mid-90s.  What a great thing it was.  I figured it would give used book stores a lot of trouble.

And now look, what an understatement.

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Linking up with Mama Kat again for the prompt:
2.  Write a blog post inspired by the word: books

there goes the neighborhood

The  next door neighbors have been having regular nightly fireside gatherings.

Over the last few weeks, I've been awakened by the smell of campfire smoke, the sight of flickering firelight, and the sound of voices.  One night, I heard what can only loosely be referred to as "music".

What have they been doing?  Are they conjuring up some sort of spirit?  Evil or otherwise?  And the chickens.  What's with the chickens?!

And there was that full moon over the weekend.  Come to think of it, there's been no such gathering since.

Okay, so maybe it's just been the kids next door having friends over for chats around the fire pit late at night.  They're not even technically "kids", as they're all around 19 or early 20s.

And maybe they haven't been dancing or conjuring up anything from beyond, but just hanging out late at night and waking the neighbors who like to sleep with the windows open during summertime.  What is it about people in that age group being so  nocturnal?

But alas, this morning I heard a splashing in the backyard and looked out to see Mrs. Neighbor watering the pet chickens.  Then I saw Mr. Neighbor out front talking with another neighbor.

Looks like Mom and Dad are back home.  I've missed them.

and now... the White-Trashians?

Oh for chrisake, now there's an appliance in our front yard:

Recall that Wolfgang is living back at home temporarily?  He and Chaco had to move out of their old apartment, and we're in this lag time until Wolfgang and his friend/new roomie move into their new apartment?

That's all fine, we've enjoyed having Wolfgang around, and I think it's safe to say that he enjoys having someone do the various tasks of housewench for him.  And while I haven't been thrilled with needing to store all of his stuff, we've managed to live peacefully among the clutter.  

But now... NOW, there's a WASHER adorning our property.  OUTSIDE!  A WASHER!

It was the last of the things the guys needed to move out of the old apartment, and they hauled it over to here.  This was precisely the reason I was reluctant to get them the washer a year ago.  What happens when they move out and have to take it with them??  I'm glad I at least talked them out of getting a dryer too.

I called a guy - one of these "We haul Anything!" guys.  He says he'll get it.  Maybe today.  Maybe not.  I've got some other stuff for him too, while he's at it.  Whenever it happens.

So in the meantime, we are of the appliances-in-the-yard ilk.  I don't want to move it to the backyard in case the hauler guy really will come to get it today.

We told Wolfgang to just leave it in the back of his pickup.  What a chick magnet that would be!

He refused.

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I don't even know her name

I was sitting here writing an absorbing blog entry.  For a class.  Yeah, we have blogs in school now!  Boy, times have changed since the first time I went to college.  I think the computer had just recently been invented then.

Anyway, as I was blogging away, I peripherally noticed a large vehicle slowly going by the house.  I figured it was a trash truck or some other similar thing.  A few minutes later, Magnum came by and says, "What's happening?!", not in the rhetorical way, but like really wondering.

"Huh?", I intelligently responded

"Paramedics and a fire truck", was his incomplete sentence reply.

Sure enough, something was going down at the house across the street.  And once again, I'm reminded how little I know our neighbors across the street, even though they've lived there the whole time we've lived here.

This bothers me because, what I do know about them, I like.  They're a couple, a few years older than us - late 50s I'd guess.  If they have kids, they're up and out of the house.  They've got a couple of dogs they regularly take to the dog park.  He, I think, does contract work.  I have no idea what she does.  In fact, I have rarely talked with her at all other than a wave and such while out collecting mail.

He is very friendly in a neighbor-across-the-street-I-don't-really-know kind of way.  He's often working on something in the garage, or plotting in the early morning hours with a fellow contractor.  I never see them in the evenings, just mainly him in early mornings when I'm coming in from a run.

He teases me with things like, "Y'know, it's easier to drive!", or "If you get hit by a car, it's not because the driver can't see those shoes!"

It seemed like the paramedics were in the house for a long time.  Don't they know that spies like us want answers?  Eventually they emerged, and the woman was loaded onto a gurney and into the ambulance after slowly walking out of the house under her own power.

The fact that she was awake and walking and that the ambulance didn't go speeding off with siren blaring are good signs.  Husband followed in his vehicle.

As for me, the mongrel bit leg is healing nicely.

Magnum asked me this morning, "Did you put hydrogen peroxide on it?"

Me:  No, that stuff stings!

Magnum:  But it prevents infection.

Me:  Oh hell, the rabies is going to kill me anyway.


But now we wait on news of the neighbor,  hoping she's okay.

How well do you know  your neighbors?

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Silver Liningness Sunday

Howdy strangers!  It's been an entire week since I was last here??  Well, I can explain...
My week went pretty much like this;

*sit down to blog*

Backyard's flooded.  Again.

*sit down to blog*

"I got a job and need to go to training"

*sit down to blog*

"Come ride and show me the bike route to my job"

*sit down to blog*

"I have a job interview tomorrow, help me pick clothes"

*sit down to blog*

"Hey, I need work clothes too"

*sit down to blog*

"Buy a washer and dryer?  Pleeeeez??"

*sit down to blog*

"The cat killed something and left it on the welcome mat"

*sit down to blog*

"Do me" - laundry

*sit down to blog*

"Cut me" - lawn

*sit down to blog*

"Whack me" - weeds

*sit down to blog*

"Forget this, I need to get outta here" - me

That along with other stuff like the fact that I'm in summer school marketing class and there was the wildly compelling case of the whole grain pizza.

So ANYWAY, hey, I missed you guys!   It's been a busy but productive, consumptive, educative, fluxive, floodive week, and it's all good!

Our backyard continues to flood, so we took a more active role this week in trying to staunch the thing.  Magnum got the ball rolling, and next we knew, we were all rolling in the mud and muck.  Here's the mid-project view:

Okay, so it's pretty much just a ditch in a swamp.  

But we also filled in a lot of places where there was standing water, China has a beach of her own now.  The drainage ditch seems to be helping.  The yard noticeably dried out, and I was able to mow through what had become monstrous grass.  I'd say about 2/3 of the yard looks like yard again, depending on your frame of reference.

Of course, work on The Great Wall of 2015 has been halted through all of this since every time a spot of ground was dug into, it immediately filled with water.

In other news... Meego got a job, which is lovely.  He has connections (Wolfgang) at EduKit, and now he gets to spend the summer in the warehouse too.  

But then Wolfgang got wind of an internship with a local engineering firm, applied and got hired, so he's actually leaving EduKit  to do the internship.  

Oh, and Chaco has been moving into the new apartment in baby steps since's he's also working full-time.  

In the meantime, Magnum brings home the bacon and is king of ditch digging while I am student/maid/cook/chauffeur/queen of the credit card.

And *POOF*, here it is, Sunday again already!

Wolfgang ran in a race this morning, the Garden of the Gods 10-mile.  As anyone who's been to Garden of the Gods knows, the park is very hilly.  I don't think there's a length of flat ground on any part of the course.  So it's a challenging and very popular race.  I've been tempted to do it, but honestly, haven't wanted to deal with parking.  

Find Wolfgang, win a prize!
(okay, you pretty much know by now, there's no prize, right?)

Wolfgang's the type that needs a race to motivate him to train, so he and some high school buddies signed up for a series of three races over the summer.  The GoG10M was first in the series, and they easily met the requirement of  "under 2 hours" to qualify for the next in the series.  His finish time was right about 1:16, and they all had good fun.  

But not to be upstaged, the cat brought dinner home a little while ago.  

Uhm... it's a bird.  You might be glad to know that it got away.  Last I checked...

I've missed you all, really.   It's just been one of those weeks.  Thanks for letting me empty it all over the blog!

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next door

Our neighbors to the south of us.  They've got 5 kids, but it seems as though the oldest has moved somewhere - haven't seen her for a while.  I think she has a bio mom outside the home.  Anyway, they have the five kids, tons of local relatives, also with kids.  They have, I think, three dogs, some chickens, a coupla cats, and some "herptiles".

They can be noisy.  They generate lots of trash.  Their little pomeranian can be a noisy pain in the ass at times...

Today, I noticed a "For Sale" sign up in their yard.

.

.

.

.

Our neighbors to the south of us.  They've got 5 kids.  Four girls and a baby boy.  They're all cute kids.  The girls are active and kind of tomboyish and don't take any crap from the boys in the neighborhood.  When I worked at the elementary school, I worked with two of the girls.  They were funny and friendly and smart and entertaining and never boring.

I always enjoy our brief conversations.  They're just very down-to-earth people. They are animal lovers and their pets are active members of the family.  They're newest pooch has only three legs - a rescue dog, I think.

Today, I noticed a "For Sale" sign in their yard.

are you sure that's a good idea?

It was a 50K bike ride.  That thing.  On Sunday.  Magnum found it after my fail.

It was an event to support [THIS] very friendly looking group that provides services and activities for autistic children and their families.  I'd never heard of them.  I never heard of the event.  Had I known, I would've very possibly done the bike ride.  Maybe next year?

I often hear about these worthwhile events after the fact, much like the Doggie Dash the previous weekend.  But although China's come a long way since her shelter days, she's still not that comfortable in a crowd, so maybe no Doggie Dashes for her.  But I know Alice and Bella would both be up for a Pedal Through the Puzzle!

In the meantime, we have our own interventions to be concerned with.  It's Meego.  He's kind of started hanging with a different crowd.  Magnum and I aren't too concerned as we trust he has a good head on his shoulders, but Chaco's big brother engines are revving.

Last night, he drilled Magnum and me.  Did we think it was a good idea to allow Meego to do these activities?  What about peer pressure?  He's at that susceptible age.  And just what are they teaching him?  And how?

See, Meego's gone Biblin' again.  He's volunteering all this week at a VBS down the street.  Recall that he did similar volunteer work last summer, but that was at a different church.  That was at the Methodist church UP the street, not the church DOWN the street.

SOURCE

The church DOWN the street is a relatively large evangelical/born again church.  At least it's not THAT Big BIG evangelical/born again church in our fair city that attracts all the (well deserved?) snarky publicity.  If it were there, I might honestly have some motherly concern.

I won't get into a long, drawn out biography of my own church experiences and opinions.  Suffice to say that, like many others, the hypocrites drove Magnum and me away from church.  Suffice it further to say that the biggest examples of the hypocrisy have been a couple of neighbor families who claimed both the most blatant bullies and the most disrespectful kids I've ever known.  This along with both families' hateful stances against homosexuals.  One family went to that big BIG crazy church, the other, the church down the street.  And there've been other examples along the way.  I do get along fine with the families, one has since moved.  Just let's not talk religion, and don't expect me to be best buddies.

And now Meego is a VBS volunteer down the street and I'm fine with it.  Two of his good friends are at the upper age limit and are attending.  They don't belong to the church, they're just doing five fun days of 3-hour VBS, so Meego and another friend his age from the neighborhood decided to volunteer.  The whole gang will likely do similar at the more-acceptable-to-Chaco church UP the street later this month.

"Of all the things a 14-year-old kid could be getting into, I'm okay with it being VBS volunteering", I told Chaco.

But it's nice to know that Chaco cares.
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'tis the season

I drove all over town to get THE perfect pumpkin!




Well, okay, actually, I CALLED all around about a 5-mile radius to find a store that still had ANY pumpkins.  Then I went to the ONE that said, "Yeah, we got a few, but they're being pilfered fast!"





It was slim pickings, but we scored three nice ones!  Nothing like last minute pumpkin gettin' to make Halloween interesting.

Yeah, Halloween is tomorrow already!  I did remember to get candy a few days ago.  But Meego reminded me, I think it was just yesterday, that we didn't have any pumpkins yet, so we went on our pumpkin-gettin' mission after school today.  MINE is carved, what are Meego and Magnum's excuses?

Actually, Magnum's cleaning up dinner - more power to him - and Meego went to go help a friend get the friend's fat suit working.  

Speaking of fat suits, hear about that woman planning to give don't-eat-candy letters to obese trick-or-treaters?  How does that even become a news story without her promoting it?  COUGH*attention hound*COUGH.  And what about the kids dressed in fat suits or other non-revealing costumes??  Meego's fat suit friend, for instance, is actually a little athletic dude.

OH the logistics involved!  I'm dishing out candy.

Years ago, we lived down the street from a dentist.  He gave out toothbrushes.  I, for one, appreciated that and always made sure to hit his house.

I just checked the weather forecast for tomorrow night. and it doesn't look too bad except for maybe people out dressed like Tarzan or Miley Cyrus.

Are you dressing up?  Giving out treats?  Shunning the whole thing as being of the Devil?
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Monday Morning Murder

The thing I found most unexpected was how quiet they were about it.  They made no sound, even as their victim kicked and screamed and protested.  They were perfectly silent.

I witnessed some domestic violence yesterday.  I know these things happen, but I'd never watched it unfold in real time like that.  It was different than on TV and in the movies.

The neighbors to our left are a large and friendly family.  So many live there that sometimes I lose track of them all.

Yesterday started like any other.  I was getting dressed when I heard some squabbling going on in the neighbor's back yard.  From my bedroom window, I can see partially into their yard, and as I glanced over, I saw that, indeed, one of the girls was arguing with a couple of the boys.

Now, this particular girl and her sister have never gotten along with those two boys.  But, they're all in the same family, and have just kept out of each other's way to keep the peace I suppose.  So I don't know what happened.  Someone overstepped the boundaries, clearly.

Next thing I knew, they were on her.  She never stood a chance.

Thoughts of,  "Yikes, should I call?  Ring the doorbell?  Alert the parents or someone?", but even as I thought those things, I knew it was too late for her.  Those boys, like I said, were so quiet.  Methodical as they worked as a team and did the deed .  My only hope was that it would be over quickly, for her sake.

And for my sake too, as I listened to her screams.

Later, I investigated to see if Meego knew about what happened.   He rides the school bus with one of the girls.

"So... I think the dogs killed one of the chickens next door...?", I prompted.

"Yeah, one of them got out of the coop or the dogs got in somehow", he confirmed.

It's actually not the first time there's been a murder over there.

But now I must deal inwardly with what I witnessed.

Chicken screams, I keep hearing them!
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mending fences... or not

Yesterday afternoon, I poked at the window blinds to take an assessment.

"Damn clear blue skies", I murmured.

What an ingrate, huh?  But what can I say, it was hot again without a friendly cloud in sight.  We really haven't had much appreciable rain since the mass car-washing ploy that helped put out the Black Forest fire.  While other blog friends are getting more rain and yuck weather than they seemingly deserve, I wish we could organize this weather better and share the "wealth"!

Terri recently shared some photos of her parents' downed tree from a recent storm.  She also noted the neighbor's deteriorating fence.  I'm not trying to pull any one-up-blogship, but I looked at the photos of the deteriorating fence and thought, "oh honey..."

Allow me to share just a couple of deteriorating fences in my neighborhood.  I snapped some pics during this morning's China walk, trying to be incognito.

Exhibit A

Exhibit A is what is left of the poor fence at the house near my former office, the school crossing.   Looking further up the way, we see that there is a slight bend in the road.  An errant driver, however, decided not to follow it and instead, to drive into the now gone fence.

This is actually the second time in about five years that has happened.  Gee, I'm gonna miss that job but not really.

Exhibit B

Exhibit B is my favorite, though.  This photo really doesn't do it justice (incognito, remember?).  If it did, the pile of tree branches placed in line with the gone fence line would be more prominent.  Several sections of fence are missing, and the pile of branches are saving seats?  There is also a utility box in shadow that is covered with graffiti to give it a certain urban feel.

Exhibit B.1

Exhibit B.2

One feature I get a kick out of is how that one section of fence remains standing.  It's like a lone tooth in an otherwise toothless mouth.

Now let me just clarify that I'm not neighbor bashing!  Most of the fences are in decent shape, but weather and traffic and teenagers with spray cans happen.  And some people have things going on in their lives that preempt fixing back fences. 

We live in an HOA-less neighborhood and we like it that way.  If something is a safety issue or such, then there's already a city code for it.  We don't need an HOA to tell us our house isn't beige enough.  

With that comes the potential for tree branch fences and graffiti-ized utility boxes.  Signs of freedom.

HOA's.  Do you have one?   Pro or con?

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my toes didn't curl, but it was still nice

The sequester is happening.  Have you been directly affected?

The Air Force Academy is located "just a little bit over there" from where we live.  Graduation comes every spring, and with it comes the Air Force Thunderbirds.

So every year at this time, on graduation day and the few days leading up to it, our skies are visited by this team of F-16's as they practice and perform and rattle our teeth and window panes and fine china (actually, I can only attest to the teeth and window panes, as we don't own anything resembling fine china, although they do rattle our fine China, the dog).



People stand around outside in their yards or pull over in their cars,  looking skyward, maybe hoping to be fast enough to snag a photo or video.  On the day of graduation, people take long lunches from the office to go outside and set up folding chairs in good viewing spots.  Kids, if they're still in school, get extra recess time to watch from the playgrounds.  Some diehards, who don't even have relatives at graduation, go sit through the looooong graduation ceremony just to get good seats for the show.

(scared the living what out of her?)

This year,  however, because of the sequester, the Thunderbirds are grounded.  I don't know how the cadets felt about it, but us taxpayers in the cheap seats were fine with it, although we would miss the annual exhilaration.

But then, in came the Cavalry!  Or more specifically... The Commemorative Air Force!

Several aviation organizations volunteered, at no cost to the government, to provide flyovers and displays of vintage WWII aircraft.

The kids (for lack of a better word) and I were all home at midday yesterday, so we grabbed a few pairs of binoculars and headed outside to see the graduation flyover.  And y'know?  It was really nice.

It wasn't the pull-your-hair-out-of-its-roots buzz that the Thunderbirds bring.  I don't even think I heard one reactive dog bark.  But it was just really nice.  And poignant.

I was standing in the sandbox at the elementary school, making roads with my feet,  when Wolfgang said, "OH, there they are!" like they just appeared out of nowhere, in beautifully perfect formation.

Denver Post

We watched, mostly in silence.  Then Chaco and Wolfgang started rattling off the names of the different aircraft, while I thought about "The Greatest Generation".

They made a few laps around the stadium, some other aircraft joined in, and then they headed off toward the far horizon.

Thanks guys!  You're still heroes!
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getting out

It's been a busy and productive week and already, here it is, Dumb Friday.  It's all been good and fun stuff, but it has eaten into my blogging time.

Just now, I was preparing some lessons and read:  "When a substance dissolves in H2O..." and at that point the voice inside my head informed me that it was time to switch gears and spend some time in the right brain, lest I become too one-dimensional

When Nerds Play
not my artwork, don't know whose...

Right-O!

Really, I do have a strong urge to draw something, or throw some paint around.  The last time I suppressed that urge for too long, I ended up splattering paint all over a few walls and getting a tattoo! 

Early last week, a neighbor whom I find irritating came over and asked me if I would call her when I go out to take China for her beauty walks.  She wanted to come with us.  "Ugh!" (or something like that), I thought to myself.  But on the outside, I said, "Uhm... yeah, okay"  Inside:  "Shucks!" (or something like that).

If I'd seen it coming, I would have had a ready declining response, but she took me by surprise.  I did manage to tell her that I don't take China out at a necessarily consistent time of day.  "Just whenever I fit it in with other stuff".  That was fine with her.  "Fudge!"

Let me just say that she's not a bad person.  It's just that her personality grates on me.  We're neighbors, she's just a couple of years older than I am, our kids are around the same ages, but our similarities stop with the externals.  Inside, we're nearly polar opposites of each other - something she strangely doesn't seem to notice.  I find it a struggle to chat with her out of neighborliness, let alone go on walks with her.  She can be a bit clingy.

Now I know what you might be thinking.  "Ah, just let her walk with you already!", but I did that before.  Years ago, when we first moved here, I would take Meego out regularly in the jogging stroller for our daily airing outs.  She asked then, like now, if she could come with us.  I said, "Uhm... yeah, okay", then ended up  regretting it.  The walks somehow thankfully stopped.  I don't remember how, but I was very grateful for it.  

Yeah, so anyway, I've just not called her, although I've taken China on usual daily walks each day since her request.  I kind of feel like the sleazy date who says he'll call, but then never does.  

Advice?

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glad I'm not there... oh, wait

Friday night, I was awakened by the cat.

"Some cops are arresting a guy in a truck right in front of our house", she said, standing over me, all big-eyed.

"Really?  What for?", I groggily replied.

"I dunno.  They handcuffed the driver and put him in the back of one of the cop cars.  There's a woman in the passenger seat.  A K-9 unit just arrived", she continued.

"Ah, must be drugs then", I logically concluded while speaking with a cat.

Slowly, my body and mind merged, and I realized Chaco was doing the talking while the cat just hung out in the crook of his arm.  Otherwise, I'd start thinking those were darn good drugs out there.

Saturday morning, the drug truck was still there, right in front of our house.  Large red Ford F-150 with a cap.  I hadn't bothered to get out of my warm bed while getting updates from the cat the night before.  I wonder what the neighbors thought.

"Drug bust?  At the AbbyNormals?  Hmmm..."

It's not so hard to imagine, really.  After all, we have no Christmas decorations up.  Sure sign of a drug operation, right?  *SIGH*

Actually, we DO have some lights UP, they're just not LIT up.  Wiring obstacles.  I've left it to the menfolk to handle the decorating of the exterior of the house.  Me? On the roof?  HaHaHaHaHa!

So there are unlit light bulbs tastefully bordering our roof.  If they were lit up, it might be pretty.  In the meantime, thanks to our trucked in friends, we are the neighborhood drug house.  At least someone eventually came and retrieved the drug truck, but probably not until the damage to our reputation was done.

So today!  Today, I will get this all reconciled.  Nature has gifted us with our first snow day of the year!  There's not much accumulation yet, but it's nasty windy out - blizzardness - snow is falling horizontally.  I was so happy to not have to be at the crosswalk I went out there (??) to capture a photo of where I didn't want to be.  The things I do for this blog...

  


I actually made a video too, but it's pretty boring.  Just imagine the wind a-whipping through your ears, those traffic lights doing their Snow Day Happy Dance, and a few disgruntled commuters slogging by like turtles.








My afternoon tutelage is also cancelled, so I've got the WHOLE  DAY to finally get the house ready for Christmas!  There might even be time left over to set up a meth lab.

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