Murphy's law

Well, I have made the trip back and forth to the Doctor's office this last 2 weeks more than I have all year. For the most part we are all very healthy, thank you God. Jessalyn had to get a couple of booster shots last week for school. No big deal, just painful. Afterwards she got an icecream cone, so she was happy (well, as happy as can be). Fast forward to last Sunday. My son "Hong Kong Phooey" decided to see if he could be Bruce Lee and kicked a pile of tires with a "HYYYYY AHHHHHH" and there he went. Suddenly he could no longer walk. By Monday it was so swollen and purple that I figured I'd better take him in. The foot doc was even impressed by the color and swelling. He told him he had earned an xray and sent us down. No fractures that we could see but if it's not better in a couple of weeks we go back. Jake now has this shoe that looks kind of like a cutting board with straps on it and he has to wear it all day. Hd got icecream too. Maybe that's the reason for all of this. Of course if his foot hurts too much then he has to use the crutches. Today was church so his foot hurt so he had to use the crutches. Can you say "milking it for all he's worth"?

Then of all the stupid things on Friday I'm at work and feeling fine. All of a sudden my ear starts to hurt. You know how it feels when you have slept on your ear wrong and it hurts? Well, that's how it felt but I had not been sleeping and it did not hurt all morning until 11:00 or so. The longer I went, the more it hurt and now it was hurting clear down my neck and into my face. I thought, ok maybe an ear infection. Ran up to the doc and he says TMJ, one of the worst cases he's seen and he cannot figure how I am functioning. He insisted that I fill a script for some really strong pain pills (I refuse to take them, I'm fine). No eating crunchy, no eating sticky, no yawning, no talking (yeah right) no singing. Nada. For a couple of days. Fat chance. I've taken a couple of tyl*nol and I'm coping. It's not too bad for the most part and then it will hurt and then my jaw will snap and it won't hurt anymore. I can do this and I don't need those stupid pain pills. I do not have time to be sick.

Working today on finishing cleaning out the blue room to get it ready for new carpeting. Also working on finishing up some Cranfest paperwork and a couple of odds and ends that need to be done before we really start into the last minute stuff. For the most part, I am out of it except for set up and farm market. I gave up most of my stuff so that I can concentrate on the farm market with Gale. It will be different this year. Maybe calmer. I'm not holding my breath.

The kids go back to school Tuesday. Both will be on the bus by 6:30 and then I have over an hour to work on stuff and clean before I go in. Hopefully we can get into a routine and that will help.

Will's allergies are really acting up so he's working as hard as he can, but you can tell that the sneezing etc is really taking it's toll. He is so worn out just from trying to breath. He really fights it though and still gets lots done.

Well, time to get sorting. Have a great day.
dea

Pay attention...

...to what they're saying. If you do,then you can see when it stops making sense. I'm talking about the presidential candidates of course.
Economics is one of the big ones that they talk about as if it's as simple as just turning a couple of faucets to the "on" position and our economy will return to the "spend all you want, we'll make more" mark.
Of course it isn't that easy. There are way too many things that effect our economy, including the way the economy is simply talked about. If everyone you see and hear is talking about how worried they are, then you become worried and stop spending for stuff you don't really need. If you don't spend, then someone else isn't making money. If they don't make money then they can't spend it; and the cycle continues.

The one qoute the keeps coming back to me is the one where Obama claims that McCain's economic plan is the Same as George Bush's. This statement is made with the implication that George is to blame for our current economic situation. Certainly he bears some of the responsibility, As President, that's his job.

However, I would like you to consider that our economy was amazingly in pretty good shape even after 9/11 and then while we were fighting a war in Afganistan and then on two fronts when we invaded Irag. Through all of that, the dollar was still remaining strong and then...and then...The democrats took control of congress. It was all down hill from there.

Remember that we are paying almost a dollar more for a gallon of gas now then we were last year. Fifty cents of that is simply because the U.S. dollar is that much weaker than it was a year ago. They will tell you the price of everything is skyrocketing because of the cost of fuel. They leave out the part about the cost of everything is more because our dollar buys less of everything, not just fuel.
So, when either candidate talks about economic reform. Look to see what their plan is to make the dollar stronger. Return it to the strength it was just a year ago and you can cut the cost of fuel by roughly 50 percent of it's increase. Which means you can spend that money elsewhere. And those people will have more money to spend etc.etc.etc.

But, then again, What do I know?
Will

Flowers but not flowers?

Wednesday was my birthday and I specifically told my hubby don't get me anything. Of course he did not listen. He sent me flowers, well sort of. What he sent me was a "bouquet" arrangement of candy bars. Now this is being sent to a woman on a diet. Do you think maybe he had an ulterior motive? I will admit that I loved getting them and I will also admit that I cheated. I thank him for the loving gesture. It really rubs it in the noses of the guys at work when he does that. I think that the guilt may get to them, so some of their wives might get flowers because I did. I think that's a great system.

When it's your birthday at work you are supposed to bring in a treat for everyone (no I am not in kindergarten). It's just a way to celebrate with everyone else. I did not take one in on Wednesday because one of the guys were gone and he had missed it last year. They really enjoy my cooking. I had planned on taking my specialty cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, but realized I did not have any cream cheese. So this morning I threw together: Cherry cobbler, cinnamon bread, brownies and lemon bars. They are all cooking in my oven as I type (I have a very large oven).

Wednesday for my birthday Jessalyn decided to scare us to death. Will and I were in my garden harvesting cucumbers and checking out tomatoes. Jessa was playing with the dog. I heard her start to cry and thought she had fallen. I turned around and she had her hand over her face but her back was to us. When I asked her what had happened she turned to face us and there was blood streaming down her face, arms, legs all over her shirt and pants. She looked like she had gone through a plate glass window. We took off for the house. Will (my hero) carried her with me still clutching the cucumbers. We took her straight to the tub so she could lay down and I could clean her up and see the damage. Bottom line is she's fine BUT she and the dog had reached for something at the same time and crashed heads. He's fine. She had a busted lower lip, busted upper lip and bloody nose. She was very brave and it's all better now. That will sure make your heart pump faster.

I spent yesterday working on Cranfest stuff as well as housework. I am working with the help of two others on a pictorial display of cranberry growing. I have winter sanding, summer blossoms, berries, fertilizing, pest control, flooding beds for harvest, harvesting and the trip they make to the receiving station and Oc*an Spray. We have big pictures with descriptions underneath them. Today I'm hoping to laminate them and then we will put velcr* on them and hang them in the agricultural display building. We also have floating cranberries, the biggest cranberry contest and the veggie contest in there as well as cranberry equipment. Last year we had a 700 lb. pumpkin. Pretty cool.

Aside from a couple of pages put into books, that's it for my set up for a little while. In a couple of weeks I will have to get together the "Count down to Cranfest" with our local radio stations and possibly a state one. We get donations from local businesses and make up gift baskets and give them away on the morning show.

Then I'm pretty much done until law enforcement meetings start and then we will "paint the town orange" again. I and 3 or 4 others pull a 10' square made of pvc pipe around as a template and spray paint around it with orange paint to tell vendors where to set up their booth. Each one is numbered. We will do this almost 1500 times throughout the town. We love it. It's a great time. I look forward to breaking out my 10 year old orange re*boks.

School starts on the second. I am ready to get into a routine again. Both my kids will be on the bus by 6:30 each morning. It will be different having them both here getting ready at the same time each morning. Lots of adjustments. Jessalyn seems excited and Jake is just ready to see his friends, although he seems more interested in the classes he has this year (driver's ed is one of them, sigh)

Well the lemon bars are done. I have to check the brownies and cobbler.
Hope you all have a great day. Pray for Will's folks and all those others in Florida. We had 8 inches here this last summer and it caused havoc. I cannot imagine what 12-30 inches would do.

dea

Did you See??

So, did you see the "political forum" on the Fox News Channel?

I apologize if I offend anyone but this is my blog and I have to call it like I see it.

It was a very "telling" forum. If you haven't seen it, try to find someone who has recorded it. Then you can make up your own mind. For those of you who don't know, Rick Warren author of the book "A Purpose Driven Life" was the host and interviewer. (I have some reservations regarding Mr Warren but that's not the point of this particular post) Mr. Warren's idea was to have first (by coin toss)Mr. Obama come out and spend an hour answering questions that Mr Warren believes America wants to know but are not being answered on the campaign trail. While Mr. Warren was interviewing Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain was in isolation unable to hear Mr Obama's answers. The result: Both Senators only answered the questions without any bias about the others answers. I really liked this format and would love to see more of this. It really limits the posturing and "demonizing" to use Mr Warren's words.

How did they do? Mr. Obama is VERY Charming. His Charisma is something you can almost touch right through the TV screen. I can see why he has so many followers. Unfortunately I was paying pretty close attention to what he was saying. The meaning of the words he used often didn't match what he was implying.

Most importantly, he rarely answered the questions he was asked. Too often he would speak and people would smile but he wouldn't have actually answered the question. For example he was asked "...at what point does a baby receive human rights?" He then proclaimed that while he personally didn't believe in abortion he also agreed with Roe vs Wade and didn't believe it should be outlawed because he believed the women who consider abortion do so with much serious thought and struggle.

What?!?

He then alliterated that the decision was really "above his pay grade"

What??? Huh?? Who??

He never did answer the question "at what point should a human baby receive human rights?"

That was just the most glaring example, but if you saw it you would know that he was that way with most the questions.

In comparison when Mr. McCain was asked the same question, Mr. McCain immediately said: “At the moment of conception.”
I don't think you could have slipped a piece of paper between Mr Warren's question and Mr McCain's answer.

Mr McCain did like to bring up his prisoner of war experiences and perhaps it is getting to be too often but I understand how that experience can be such a large part of your life, even all these years later, so I am forgiving.

Still, Mr McCain was able to impart a good idea of what a Presidency with him would be like: Straight answers, very little rhetoric and just maybe too much reminiscing.

Mr Obama on the other hand, well if I was to go by last night, my impression of his presidency would be one of oily slick charm but never a straight answer.

I'm sorry, but I listened very close and everything he said and did was about manipulation and misdirection. It was scary. In fact the more I think about it and review the recording, the scarier the idea of "President Obama" gets.

Here is a brief description from Fox news website if you desire :
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/16/obama-and-mccain-try-to-woo-conservative-voters-at-forum/

I know that some of you don't care for the Fox News Channel but this particular report is from the Associated Press. Give it a read.

God Bless, and Yes, Your Vote Counts. Do it. If you are an American it is your Duty and Responsibility to Vote. As a Christian, Vote in Accordance with the Scriptures.

Will

My new "Batmobile"

You know that "stupid things rule"? Well the folks at work are enjoying that side of me too.
I went out to get into my jeep yesterday and my door started yelling at me. Well, actually it was squeaking at me. We looked up into the inside edge of the door along the sliding track and there was a bat in there. He was not happy with me. I was messing with his beauty sleep. We tried everything and he was not budging. Finally I just decided to head out and left my window closed on that side. I sure didn't want him to come out and then fly in the open window. I could just imagine me driving and him swooping inside this huge tin can.

Every time I got out of the jeep I checked on him and he would be in some wierd position trying to hang on. I finally started rooting for the little guy and told him to hang in there. I named him "Percy" and we finished the route together. By the time we got back to the post office, he was so wedged up into the crack, I'm not sure he can get back out. He was not letting go. Stubborn little guy.

I'm interested to see if he will still be stuck there when I get back to work.

Cooked "Southern" style last night for supper. We had ham, butter beans (lima beans cooked with ham) and creamed cucumbers. I also tried this recipe that I got off of a Paula Deen show. It was a type of fritter made with black eyed peas and bacon. I of course added junk without trying it first and Will and I were pleased with the results. I made it with ham, bacon and onions. The next time I will try adding green peppers. I wanted to add those this time too, but got sidetracked.

We have been on a cleaning mission around here, with both kids really, really working hard. We also decided to "do the cleaning for Dad". That way it would really make Will smile. Jessalyn deep cleaned the car and the family bathroom. Jacob has been the manual labor for his mother. I clean in the yard and he runs things to where they need to go (compost, garbage, garage etc) Sure saves me time. Hope to get more done today.

Tonight is open house at the Middle School for Jessalyn and her cousin Jessica. Tomorrow is the annual church get together at our friend's house. Sunday is a get together for my Dad and Mom's family at my sister's house. In between it's more work at the P. O., cleaning around the house and more remodeling. Will is going to be siding and staining I guess. Life sure is busy.

Have a great day.
dea

What a time camping!

The kids and I along with a "friend" for each headed out camping to Green Lake this last weekend. What a blast! The weather was perfect 78-80 with a breeze all three days. A little rain on Saturday to cool things off enough for our last night bonfire. What a great time.

We got off to a late start (I knew that was going to happen). Things just did not work the way they were supposed to. We got tons and tons of mail. Have not had any heavy days for weeks and so of course we get some that day when I want to really get out of there. Nothing went right! Really hard not to lose my patience and start snapping. I really tried though. Had to keep taking a moment to regroup. We finally headed out from the house at 4:30 pm. Quick drop off at the bank. Then another stop to get gas and drinks and we were off.

Our cabin at the Lake sleeps six. It pretty much is a room with 3 sets of bunks built into the wall, three closets, a kitchen and then an added on bathroom. It's just about perfect. Not too much cleaning, but you still have all you need to live. Makes me wonder about our 3000 square foot house, with 5 bedrooms, 4 family rooms, soon to be 2 kitchens and 3 bathrooms. I shared the cabin with my cousin Kris and we had a great time. It was just Jessalyn, her cousin Jessica, Kris and I in the cabin. Jacob and Luke and Ryan had a "Man tent" over on the tent area about 150 feet away. It worked out well.

All of the kids were up about 7:00 most days and except for check in points during the day and feeding times, they were out and about. This is a huge gated campground with miles of paved roads/bike paths. I think there are 6 or 7 water towers made of stone that they can go and climb up and look around ( they all have actual steps etc) The kids just take off on their bikes and go exploring. Then they went swimming for much of the 3 days in the lake. By the end of the day they were all worn out. The boys didn't even stay up late each night. They just conked out and slept.

I spent lots of time visiting with my family, playing Pit, Spoons and Nertz. I got a chance to play with my cousin's kids and they are a hoot. It's fun to do that "Gramma thing", play with them and then send them home when they get cranky. They enjoyed eating at my "house" so that was great for me (You gotta train em' up right). I got "some" walking in, but not enough. I have recently bought new tennis shoes and have my brace in them for my torn ligament and my foot is having a hard time adjusting. Of course I took pictures, but forgot my digital so will have to get them developed.

Now I'm back in the real world. Back to my sorting, cleaning and remodeling. We all spent yesterday trying to finish unpacking and getting things organized. Working 6 days a week with 2 kids in summer school, it's hard to get anything accomplished. By the time I'm done working and running us all around, I'm exhausted. BUT we perservere. Hard not to get disgusted and disheartened. Thankfully God has it work that when either
Will or I get overwhelmed, usually the other one is calm and we pull each other through. None of the plans that we had for the summer have come to fruition. It's frustrating. We'll see what happens.

School starts on the 2nd. Cranfest is 43 days away. Time to get busy and get prepared for both. Now if I can just find the energy to do that and to paint the three rooms that need it as well as the other remodeling etc. I've depressed myself just writing it down.

I need a maid.

On that note, I'm going to go clean the bathrooms. Life just gets better and better.

Did I mention it's raining?

Welcome back to the real world. I'm thinking about running away to Green Lake again.

Have a great day.
dea

Some Recommendations

Deanna and the Kids are off to Green Lake this weekend. I have to work, so I couldn't go. It's okay, the dog and the cats need someone to take care of them. I have to leave in a few minutes so I will try to make this brief.

First Recommendation: Click the link I have on the right for Diagonally parked in a Parallel Universe. Look for Rebekah's post about how to catch pigs. It really is worth reading. It is a prime example of what is happening in the United States of America.

I often like to point out that the USA is NOT a Democracy. It never has been and I am really glad it's not. You should be too. For those that don't know, the USA is a REPUBLIC that uses the Democratic Process of Election. This is an important difference. If we were a true Democracy, than the entire populace would have to vote for everything our Congress does. While we all believe we could do a better job than they do; quite frankly, we don't have the time. Also, the inherent flaw with Democracy is that it falsely presumes there are more geniuses on the planet than there are ignorant people.

2nd Recommendation: Vote for people who have PROVED they have the right character and the same morals and values that you have. (or as close to them as you can get). Because they are going to be Voting in your stead. If a candidate will lie and cheat to his wife, he's going to lie and cheat on you as well. So, their personal life really does matter. It isn't about Charisma or Charm. It's about ability to do the job the way YOU would want it done. Do they have the history and the Character to do it.

3rd Recommendation. Check your history. The history of this USA. What it was designed to be and what it has become. Another inherent flaw with democracy is eventually people realize they can vote themselves "free stuff" paid for by the Government. Only where does the Government get the "free stuff"? Don't become Pigs.

CoolVideo!!

...And now for something completely different...

I've never tried posting a video before but this one seemed worth the effort of trying. Jessalyn showed it to me. The Crantastic Singers (of which Jessa is a part) is going to try this at CranFest. I hope it works and I hope you love it as much as I do!
Will

(by the way, the screen will stay dark for a minute while the music plays;
be patient)

Interesting; Very Interesting...

...It's been a pretty interesting weekend; really! I didn't get much done and quite frankly, I'm still feeling pretty guilty about it but all in all, it was still an interesting weekend.

A couple of weeks ago I pulled a... ahem, a... well, let's say upper thigh muscle that I have been trying to pretend doesn't bother me. I have noticed how things like a pulled muscle takes longer to heal these days than it used to. Once, I strained a back and rib muscle while getting used to a new job position at the factory. I told the doctor that I felt the muscle get sore and thought it would go away after a couple of days; like when you first start a new exercise program. This usually very nice doctor, all of a sudden cuts me wide open (without any anesthesia) by saying "...well you aren't young anymore! My doctor was easily 30 years older than me at the time! Ouch!

That was 8 years ago. Someone get me a crutch okay?

Still, as much as I usually appreciate sympathy, I would rather be pig headed and try to hold onto whatever semblance of youth I may have. I'll settle for not acting like I'm 80 just yet. In fact, I know more than a few 80 year olds I wish I could keep up with. So, I'm not going to make a big deal out of a pulled groi...uh... upper thigh muscle.

Usually.

I did good for a week and a half, but Friday morning it was back in full force and it just sapped all the ambition right out of me. That darn alien chair got the best of my weakened state and I spent way too much time with a remote in my hand. Oh, I got a few things done, like some cleaning around the house and I finally got around to hammering out some of the more noticeable dents and dings the snowplow put in the front of Deanna's car. It's just that I didn't get half of what I had planned accomplished. Deanna was pretty amazing about it. She never said a word even though she out worked me 2:1 I'm sure, maybe more. Perhaps I didn't hide the pulled muscle as well as I'd hoped. Either that, or like most women, she's just used to having to do twice as much work as men...hmmm, Interesting.

In the early mornings and late evenings I try to keep up with the software maintenance on our computers and home network. I'm no geek. I'm not a nerd. You could just say I'm a "dork".
I actually get that one a lot: I try hard, but I usually just end up looking silly. Anyway, I'm proud of my mediocre network made up of aging computers that are better suited to being paperweights or boat anchors. No, scratch that, they're too toxic to use as boat anchors. So, just paperweights then. Anyway. I have a lot of extra programs that I run to protect them. Not just antivirus, but anti spyware and adware programs. I also run what is called registry protection and a few other specialty programs. These programs are part of the reason I've had these computers as long as I have (and can still use them).
The down side is to these programs is they get in the way a lot.
They take up memory space.
They ask you if you really know what you are doing before they let continue.
Then they ask again like they didn't believe you the first time.

It's a pain but they have worked wonderfully for a long time. (if you are a regular reader this may sound like a lie due to the problems I've had with my network/computers and the number of times I've whined and come close to cursing the @#$%^ things, but I maintain that for the majority of the time, the security programs have worked wonderfully)

Until yesterday.

The security programs still did well with the surprise attack but it wasn't a....well...ahem perfect. It was a...ahem...interesting?

Deanna's car has a blocked condensation hose, we think, because when the air conditioning is running it leaks water onto the passenger side carpet. Yesterday, as I was busy hammering dents (and honestly, didn't want to be bothered) Deanna asked if I could look at it. I said sure, but frankly I don't know where to look. Deanna being the industrious woman that she is, went inside to search for it on "Google". She actually used a very specific set of keywords in her search that under normal circumstances would and should have saved her.

They didn't.

She comes back outside to where I'm working and with a rather pale face tells me: "I just got an education."

That line gained her my full and undivided attention.
I will not go into the detail of her education but let's just say that there is no one on the planet that really needs to know what she was taught and certainly not without being asked.

Google came up with a list of legitimate sites. One of my security programs actually checks "links" before you ever click on them and it told her that they were all "okay".

I think that the particular website she was looking for had itself been hacked but when we clicked on it, it tried to take over our computer with all the wrong kinds images and wouldn't take no for an answer.

In military terms, it got past my first and second lines of defense but the big guns I keep in reserve took care of the problem quickly before it really became a problem. Still, I would have been even more annoyed if my children had been around at the time. I thank the Lord that they weren't. These weren't the kind of images you forget too easily.

Deanna doesn't complain about the inconvenience of the security programs anymore. I find it "interesting" that people wonder why I don't like it when they put my email address out there on a forward for all the world to see, instead of using bcc. I don't like it because I don't want the kind of people who hack websites like the one Dea accidentally hit, to get a hold of my email address. I've had that address for over nine years now. I'd kind of like to keep it if I can.

Still, even I get "hit" with something "interesting" every once in a while. If you look to the right of this page (towards the top) there used to be a "sitemeter" that proudly kept count of how many "visitors" we have to this site. It was kind of nice seeing that we had almost 2000 visitors just since April. I had to delete it from our page because of a "glitch" that wouldn't let anyone open our page; including us. I will research it some more to see if I can figure out what happened. Perhaps it will be back.
The sitemeter worked better than our "commentator and guestbook" that you may have noticed is also missing now. I don't foresee that coming back. Those of you who don't want to be labeled a "blog stalker" will just have to leave a comment every once in a while to let us know that you are there. Okie dokie?
(okie dokie?!? see, told you I was a "dork")

Today, the "interesting thing would be that our family of four played 54 holes of miniature golf today. We went to the Wisconsin Dells for the whole and very full day and part of it was spent playing three 18 hole courses.

Other interesting parts of the day would include:

Jacob and I rode a deceptive little roller coaster that didn't look that bad when your feet are on the ground but is a lot faster, higher, and steeper when your strapped to the sled.

We then rode the log flume ride with Deanna and Jessalyn. Jessa wasn't too fond of the ride proclaiming that she isn't too keen on anything with an "incline". That way she doesn't have to admit to fear of heights, falling, speed, or going "splat" like the rest of us mortals. She can just say, she doesn't like rides that have an "incline". Clever I thought. And "interesting" too!

Deanna had a blast on the log ride but not because of the ride but because as they would come down the steep "inclines" she would let out a blood curdling scream you could hear across the park. She wasn't scared she just like the way it made Jacob jump!

True to her word, Jessalyn had no problem with the "bumper boats", and they are pretty fun to drive. They have water guns affixed to the front so we all got wet. After the ride, I was measuring who got the wettest by looking at our clothes and as I was announcing that I thought Deanna was wettest, Jessalyn splashed me with her ice cold bottled water. The shock immobilized me enough that before I could recover, Jacob, from behind me, poured his whole bottle (did I mention "Ice Cold"?) on my head and down my back. The guys who run the bumper boats were cackling and laughing so hard they couldn't stand up and Deanna's burst of laughter was another sound that I'm sure could be heard clear across the park. I couldn't make much noise myself. I was too busy with the worlds largest and longest "inhale"! Wow! that water was cold! Still, I had to admit it was pretty funny. I also had to admit that it was official; I was the wettest.

Well, that's the end of my book for today. I hope you found it "interesting"!
Will.