Friday, July 07, 2006

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why do you have a broken gerbil cage under your desk?
A: At one time I did, but I recently threw it away in order to present a more tidy workplace environment. The cage had once held two gerbils that I acquired for my son’s kindergarten class. The gerbils were doing fine, until around Halloween when they both died under mysterious circumstances. I expect foul play. But until they come up with CSI: Elementary School or Cold Case: K-12, we won’t know what really happened.

Q: What have you planted in your “Spring” garden?
A: We are keeping the garden basic this year, just to see how things go. Right now I have a lot of green beans, some Jalapeño peppers, sweet bell peppers, squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I’ve also planted herb seeds, and some are sprouting. Those include parsley and cilantro.
PS: Deer are trying to eat the bean plants. We’ve instructed the dog, as best we can, to keep an eye on the garden. But I’ve also put some fencing to deter pests.

Q: Why do you write on your walls?
A: We are only writing on the walls that will soon be removed or re-covered. We also have written things on exposed boards and old wallpaper. All of which will eventually be removed or covered. Once the construction is done, we will not allow writing on the walls, unless it’s the Hand of God.

Q: Do you have a washing machine and dryer?
A: Not right now. I’m having to go to Laundromats to get clean clothes. This is due to the fact that we do not have city or county water and rely on filling our own cistern with water. We get water from a well across the street. Until we have the water tested and get a better idea about the reliability of the well, we don’t want to hook up a washer. But I’m very hopeful that this fall I will get a new, stackable, washer and dryer. I will probably continue to use the Laundromats because it’s nice to get 10 loads done in under 2 hours.

Any other questions about my life in Creekistan? Just let me know!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Thursday 13: 13 Things Written On The Walls In My Creekistan Home.

It’s an ant – your dream doll. The origin of this phrase has dubious beginnings that I no longer remember, but we continue to use it on occasions.
Where’s Gesualdo? Gesualdo is a long-dead composer. We thought it was a funny parody of the Where’s Waldo craze.
Eat at Ron’s – buy one squirrel git one free. Ron is helping with the construction. He actually eats squirrel, freshly killed.
4 rounds of 5 throws Before the floor was installed, we created a game in the living room we called Rat Tail. It was a tennis ball with a rope stuck into it. We tried to throw it into a box. We had drawn boundaries and points on the floor and the rules on the wall.
3 of 5 for extra throw
String worth ½ For times when the ball missed but the string got into the box.
Cat worth 100 Nicky didn’t like this game, so it was very difficult to score on this.
Divide your flatulence into two partials and you will find great satisfaction Perhaps in the future I will finish this line of “Fortune Cookie Messages You Will Never Receive.”
An electric jolt ripped through my whole clavicle I said that and my husband wrote it down.
For a good time call Amy at 765-4567. $0.99 per minute. Ron said that it should only take a couple of minutes anyway.
What’s under here? Written on a wall with questionable durability. We are almost afraid to look because we may not like what we find. Termites?
Carolina’s Room One of the former residents had marked her territory.
Wow! A quote from my daughter that we wrote on the wall.

NOTE: These are walls that are unfinished, have old wallpaper, or otherwise will be replaced. We don't normally go around writing on our GOOD walls.

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Thursday, June 29, 2006

Thursday Thirteen: Excuses, Excuses!

Everyone, once in a while, seems to post a Thursday Thirteen with excuses why they think their list this week is lame. Now it's my turn!

My eyes hurt. Blame it on allergies or that my contacts are getting old. I could also blame it on the pink-eye infected eye juice, but since I don't use it, I can't.
I am not feeling particularly creative this morning. Perhaps some of the other excuses could explain.
My Mother has been visiting from out-of-town.
We've been staying at hotels for the past three days.
I haven't had access to a computer and the Internet for a few days.
I just got back to work and I have a lot of things to catch up on.
I have so many good topic ideas that I can't pick just one!
I need a vacation from the vacation.
I haven't slept very good lately.
I'm supposed to be doing work right now!
My kids have been spoiled so they've been very difficult to deal with.
Did I mention my Mother is in town? This is her first visit to Creekistan. According to her, "It's not as bad as I thought it would be."
Who can top getting to meet C-3PO? It's been a downer ever since last Wednesday.

Friday, June 23, 2006

My Robot Week

Several people have asked how I happened to meet C-3PO, aka Anthony Daniels. I work for a company that makes robots and robot kits for beginners. I am not an engineer, but I work with them. But I had the opportunity to attend the RoboBusiness conference in Pittsburgh this week. It was really interesting—-the robots, machines, and computer systems that are state-of-the-art.

As part of the RoboBusiness conference, Carnegie Mellon had their induction ceremony for their Robot Hall of Fame Anthony Daniels emceed the event, and was available during the conference to sign autographs.

I did not know that they would have C-3PO there. Imagine my surprise when I came down to the conference after breakfast and saw the actual size C-3PO statue, R2-D2, Gort (from “The Day the Earth Stood Still”) as well as Maria, the art deco robot from the 1927 film “Metropolis”. I was thrilled—I’m a huge Star Wars fan. But I was even more excited when I noticed Anthony Daniels there. So I had him sign a hat for my son.

He was very nice, and his handwriting was excellent. He wrote my son’s name, and “May the force be with you” along with his signature. We will all treasure it and put it in a place of honor, once our home is finished.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Thursday Thirteen (13): My Favorite Robots

In honor of my meeting Anthony Daniels this week (the guy who plays C-3PO in Star Wars), I would like to list my favorite robots:

1. R2D2 from Star Wars – I have a theory that all six movies are actually about him, that he is the catalyst that makes everything happen. I think he knew a lot more than he said.

2. C-3PO from Star Wars – He is the most polite and annoying, but great nonetheless.

3. Twiki from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Always interested in what was going on in the 20th century. Frankly, so am I.

4. Data from Star Trek the Next Generation – He was striving to be more human, not knowing that he was more human than human.

5. Terminator – It was scary how he couldn’t be stopped.

6. Bubo - The Owl from Clash of the Titans. I’d love to have him flying around and helping me out. Besides, if money got tight, I could sell him for the gold.

7. HAL2000 from 2001—A Space Odyssey. What are you doing, Dave?

8. NS-5 from iRobot – Where can I get one of those robots? Cook, clean, carry your purse. Perfect! Except for the whole rounding up humans and trying to protect us from ourselves thing that they did.

9. Bender Bending Rodriguez – from Futurama. I’d love to have a few drinks with him.

10. Mars Pathfinder Sojourner Rover – How cool is it to have a real robot on Mars?

11. The Cylons of Battlestar Galactica – Very cool. Some are even sexy! Some don’t even know they are robots.

12. Bishop from Aliens. He could get chopped in half and still save a human.

13. The giant flying robots in “Sky Caption And The World Of Tomorrow”. They were just cool. I mean, 1940’s Art Deco cool.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Thursday 13: My Favorite Hoaxes

Snopes is one of my favorite websites, and I’m always referring people to the site. Especially after I receive an e-mail with a photo or story that seems too good to be true. I love to debunk hoaxes and let the truth be known.

1. The 9/11 Tourist Guy – This photo made the e-mail rounds right after 9/11 and fooled a lot of people.

2. The Well to Hell - Scientists drilling in Siberia went too far and ended up punching a hole through to Hell, where the screams of the damned drifted up to them.

3. Gas Pump Prick –Gas station customers are getting stuck by HIV-loaded syringes affixed to gas pump handles.

4. Frank Zappa once won a gross-out contest by eating excrement on stage. "For the record, folks: I never took a shit on stage, and the closest I ever came to eating shit anywhere was at a Holiday Inn buffet in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1973."

5. The Dihydrogen Monoxide Scare. Dihydrogen Monoxide is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the components of which are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol. (Note: Dihydrogen Monoxide is H2O, aka Water.) http://www.dhmo.org/

6. Nigerian E-Mail Scam Help a wealthy Nigerian move millions of dollars and you will get a percentage. - A fraud that has actually cost people thousands of dollars.

7. Y2K – We all remember sitting around in our living rooms, with stockpiles of water and food, generators at the ready, waiting for all the lights to go off, the cars to not work, and even our microwaves to stop working. Nothing happened except that I had to buy new checks because the 19__ part of the date was no longer valid.

8. Bert is Evil - Bert, the Sesame Street muppet, appears on posters carried by supporters of Osama bin Laden. Actually, the joke was on someone in Bangladesh who was looking for pictures of Osama and found this one with Bert. He actually USED this image on thousands of posters that were used in demonstrations. Pictures of the demonstrations were carried by credible news agencies. You go Bert!

9. BBC Interview Guy - A guy that was at the BBC for a job interview, was mistaken as an expert and actually got put live, on camera, in an interview about the Apple computers versus Apple music legal case.

10. Celebrity Mediums – Famous psychics such as John Edwards are using an age-old technique called cold reading where they obtain information by asking questions and guessing rather than "talking to the dead".

11. Movie Ghost #1 – I love to pause movies that are supposed to have dead people or ghosts in them. The Wizard of Oz supposedly captured a munchkin hanging himself and his death was captured on-camera.

12. Movie Ghost #2 - The Three Men and a Baby scene in question really does creep me out. A boy is rumored to have committed suicide a room where they filed the movie and his ghost is supposedly captured on film.

13. Music Hoaxs - such as the woman being murdered during the recording of the Ohio Player’s Love Rollercoaster, and the whole Paul is Dead thing in the Beatles recording.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

“Spring” Garden, aka Hillbilly Archeology

I know, I know. It’s a little late to plant a garden. But it’s not TOO late. There are some things that I can get into the ground that may sprout just fine, like beans, and tomato plants. I recently sustained a knee injury that made walking, let alone planting, painful. But that is getting better.

So we selected a spot across from the Bee House that looked like it would be great for a small garden. In fact, there used to be a chicken house in that location. We can only guess this because of the wood pieces that where piled there from a structure that had fallen a long time ago.

While carefully removing the wood—we had to be careful of any exposed nails and potential snakes—we discovered that the former residents used the structure for storage. Presumably after the chickens had left. We had to perform some Hillbilly Archeology. We removed various old planters, long dried out pieces of plastic, and an old tin wall-hanging of a fiddle (this I kept, once it’s cleaned up and painted, it may be pretty cool!). But striking of all of our finds was about 50 springs. The more we excavated, the more we found.

“Why springs?” you may wonder. Well, we asked our neighbors this very question. Seems that years ago, the grandchildren of the people living in the Bee House had a trampoline. Of course, once that trampoline is broken or the kids get too old, the thing you want to do is bury the springs in your front yard where the chicken house used to be. Then, throw the rest under the house along with the old car parts, satellite dish, and sewing machine.

Needless to say, now that the springs are gone, we should have a nice garden. At least I hope so.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Thursday 13: Phrases That I Find Irritating

Okay, you asked for it!

“Have a blessed day.” –Many things that people do are well intentioned, yet assumes that their audience shares their exact belief. That’s where this phrase comes in. It’s sneaking in a Christian blessing! What if I don’t want me or my day to be blessed? What if I’d rather have a Birkat ha-Hammah (a Jewish blessing) (I am not Jewish). What if I’m just hoping for a good day, let alone a blessed day.
“Enclosed, please find . . . .” (as seen in business letters). What, did you hide something? You mean I have to search for your enclosure?
“Can I ask you a question?” - You just did, but you are more than welcome to ask another question.
“Let’s touch base.” – (Business jargon). Sorry, I don’t play baseball.
“Git-r-done.” – Do I even have to explain?
LOL – Caught you! A lot of people use this, but are you really Laughing Out Loud? How many times have we used this when we really didn’t LOL? Come on, admit it!
“Liberal Media” – I hate the fact that the word “liberal” has become, to some people, a derogative term to label people or institutions that are not conservative. Liberal, in my definition, means “free thinking” or “open minded”. The media, on the other hand, is not liberal in that definition. For the most part, they are more entertainment reporters with a little smattering of news.
“Support our Troops” – I preface this by saying that of course I support our troops, even if I hate the fact that they are forced to go into active duty. But I dislike the magnetic yellow ribbons that people stick to the back of their cars, SIDEWAYS. Stephen T. Banko III http://www.counterpunch.org/banko05252004.html said it better then I can: “We now live in a bumper sticker world where the only truths we accept are those simplistic enough to fit on an 18-inch adhesive placard.”
"Breaking news" – The news media use this too much. In recent times, I’ve noticed that they use this everyday to indicate their most exciting stories, whether or not it is actually “breaking news.” Breaking news should be the news that is happening right then—the kind of news that they don’t have all the information yet but can’t wait to tell you!
“Just you wait” – When strangers are talking to me about my children. I guess they are trying to warn me that things will get bad when my children turn double digits.
“Girlfriend” – Especially said to me by someone I don’t even know! Okay, okay, I know they are referring to the solidarity of the female gender.
“At the end of the day” – Just annoys me, I don’t know why. I am not a fan of unnecessary prepositional phrases.
“Note to self.” – What, are you so stupid that you have to write little notes to yourself? What about love notes? What about Dear John letters to yourself? Actually, I think that whoever says this out loud is actually wanting whoever listens to help them remember something. “Note to self: don’t forget to blog about this topic.”

Thursday, June 01, 2006

13 Potential Thursday 13 Topics – Help Me Decide What’s Next!

13 phrases that I find irritating – For example: “Have a blessed day.”
13 of my favorite moments – For example: Having a giggle fit during childbirth class.
13 things that people tell me to do that I ignore.– For example: Make your bed.
13 things that chocolate is not good on. – For example: Tailpipe hitch.
13 things that I do not apologize for. – For example: I will not attend a party hosted by a person who got suckered by a pyramid-type marketing scheme, like Mary Kay or Amway, especially if they are trying to get people to become distributors too.
13 of my favorite hoaxes – For example: The Well to Hell - Scientists drilling in Siberia went too far and ended up punching a hole through to Hell, where the screams of the damned drifted up to them.
13 strange medical conditions or terms – For example: Micropenis.
13 parts of my body that have been broken, fixed, or altered: For example: Ear piercing #1.
13 things about PCOS (Poly-Cystic Ovary Syndrome) bad and good: For example: Irregular periods.
13 things that I miss about working for Big Corporation: For example: multiple stalls in the restroom.
13 things on and under my desk at work: For example: Broken gerbil cage.
13 things about the 13-year-old Amy the Black. For example: I tried to die my hair blond with hydrogen peroxide but it turned my hair orange instead.
13 reasons why I should do a Thursday 13 Podcast. For example: I want to do a podcast, and my husband will be teaching about it, so we might as well do one together!

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Behind the Behind

I work at a strange and interesting company. For one of the projects, my company acquired a full-sized mannequin. (Don’t ask me why, I don’t fully understand it myself.) Needless to say, the programmers had a lot of fun dressing him in strange clothes. He is positioned strategically so that he scares unsuspecting victims as they come around the corner. We’ve already had one victim, the cleaning lady, scream and wet her pants when she arrived early one morning.

I took this while they were positing him near my desk.

You can check out more Behinds at http://dumbbuttblog.blogspot.com/. Thanks Angel for the "plug."

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Thursday 13 (Thirteen) for May 25, 2006

13 People I Hope to Meet in the Café at the End of Time

Freddy Mercury– to help entertain the crowd with his singing of We Are the Champions and to sing with guest #2
Galileo– Wouldn’t it be fun to have Galileo sing with Freddy Mercury on “Bohemian Rhapsody”? “Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo Figaro.” I’d also want to know how he feels about being permitted back into the Catholic Church, hundreds of years after his death. That is to say, if he would even care anymore.
John Cage– No, not the strange character from the Ally McBeal TV show, but the American experimental music composer. He was also a great story teller, mycologist and mushroom collector: he co-founded the New York Mycological Society. Under the direction of Yoko Ono in order to improve his health, he ate a macrobiotic diet. Therefore, I’d leave the ordering of food to him.
Red Foxx– He could also help entertain with his comic routine. I would also want to ask if he finally got to see his beloved Elizabeth. “This is the big one...I'm comin' to join ya, honey".
Fred Rogers– I would just want a big hug. Reading about him on Wikipedia, I never realized that he was an early and big supporter of VCR use in the home, even giving testimony in court that he appreciates the use of the VCR so that families can watch shows together at a later time. Besides, I’d live to visit the Neighborhood—the little model one, that is!
Anais Nin– We could dish about the men that she’s met, especially Henry Miller. It would be interesting to see her and the next guest flirting with all the guys!
Cleopatra– I just want to hear her stories about her relationships with Caesar and Mark Antony.
Frank Zappa– There is too much I could say about Zappa that I can’t even begin here. If you don’t know who he is, please click on the link. Needless to say, his presence in the Café would be necessary.
Grandpa Clark – He died when I was 7. I’d like to talk to him and find out about his past and if his family really were part of the Oklahoma Sooners as I suspect.
Mark Twain– Who wouldn’t want him at their party? This is a guy who wrote great books, gave wonder speeches, and hung out with the likes of Nikola Tesla.
Jesus of Nazareth– I know, I know. Everyone would pick this guy. But I’m doing it purely on a historical basis. I’d like to see if what we claim to know about him is correct. Besides, he seems like a really cool dude. With him around, we’d never run out of wine!
W. A. Mozart– Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a thing for composers. Don’t worry, hubby, I can control myself.
Leonardo da Vinci– Yeah, I know. A very timely choice, given the controversy over the movie and book, “The Da Vinci Code.” But this guy is fascinating. Besides, if I seat him and Jesus together, they would probably get along great.

Who would you invite to come crash my party? Leave a comment and let me know!

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

American Idol Style Thursday Thirteen Graphic

Please feel free to use! But don't forget to give me credit!

Sirius - The Black Dog

Anyone familiar with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban will know that Sirius Black can change into an enormous black dog. For a while, Harry thought that the black dog he kept glimpsing was a dark omen called The Grimm. Come to find out, it was his godfather who wanted to save Harry and avenge the death of Harry's parents.

We were watching the movie Saturday afternoon, while the baby was sleeping. We've seen the movie a hundred times. I decided to go downstairs. I heard, out the window, some strange noises. So I opened the front door. A big black dog greeted me. Bandit, our puppy, was playing with this dog. But I thought it was ironic that he should show up while we're watching Azkaban.

So I played a trick on my son: I called him downstairs, opened the door, and said, "It's the Grimm!"

We can't have another dog, especially an adult dog of unknown temperament.

Our friends said that people tend to dump their unwanted dogs where we live. They throw them out of the car and speed off. This dog did not have any ID, but he did have a flea collar. He was nice enough, but very submissive. Not good for a "farm" dog.

He's not around anymore. Thank goodness, because I'd hate to call the dog catcher to come get him. Or, as in Harry Potter, the dementors captured him and took him back to Azkaban. I guess Sirius is off on another great adventure.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Gonzo?

You Are Gonzo the Great

"Is something burning in here? Oh, it's just me."
You're a total nutball who will do anything for attention.
The first to take a dare, you'll pull almost any stunt.
You're one weird looking creature, but your chickens don't mind!

The Muppet Personality Test

13 Albums That I Couldn’t Live Without

Radiohead – Hail to the Thief. They only way that I can describe this album is that it’s like stepping into an audio world and looking around, and instead of eyes, you use your ears. If you haven’t heard it, you should. If you have heard it and didn’t like it, give it another chance in a few years. They are too far ahead of their time to be fully appreciated today.
Tears for Fears – Songs from the Big Chair. To me, the quintessential 80’s album with interesting lyrics and synth sounds. (Aside: I know there isn’t any Duran Duran in this list. I find that I don’t listen to them as much as Tears for Fears.)
Led Zeppelin – IV (Untitled). This album was released when I was almost 2 years old, but it has stood the test of time. Who would disagree that “Stairway to Heaven” is one of the best songs ever? I just want to put a good word in for my older brother who kept the LP around, allowing me to sneak into his room and listen to it. The album cover alone is enough to buy it—I could stare at it for hours. Led Zeppelin IV Art
Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York. When putting this list together I was trying to decide which Nirvana album to include, and kept coming back to this one. I normally don’t like live recordings, but this one is great. Every song is a winner, even if they were just covering another artist’s song, i.e. David Bowie.
Police – Synchronicity. My “first love” and I had “Wrapped Around Your Finger” as our song. “Every Breath You Take” was 1983’s biggest hit song, and I still don’t get tired of it.
Miles Davis – The Essential Miles Davis. All I have to say is “So What.”
They Might Be Giants – Apollo 18. This is one I can listen to with the kids. It has over 30 songs (okay, some of them are around 10 seconds long) but every one is great! Besides, this album teaches what a Palindrome is, all about Mammals, and even has a song that reminds me of Pavlov’s dogs salivating to the “Dinner Bell.”
Madonna – Ray of Light. Madonna is an audio artist. The sounds in this album are a treat the my ears. Especially “Ray of Light” and “Frozen.”
Beck – Guero. I just like Beck. I especially like “EPro”. I went to the Field Day Festival in New York a couple of years ago, with the headliners being Beastie Boys, Beck and Radiohead. Well worth the trip and sitting in the rain all day. Except that Beck fell down offstage just before his performance and broke a rib. I didn’t get to see him.
Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head. This is an album that I say, “Oooh! I love this song!” at the beginning of every song. This album contains the hits, “The Scientist” and “Clocks.”
Pink Floyd – The Wall. The whole story, the content, the movie. All great.
k.d. lang – Ingénue. It’s like eating an entire chocolate silk pie. Every bite is delicious and you let the taste linger in your mouth for as long as you can before taking another bite.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik. If I listen to this when I’m cleaning, everything gets a really good rubdown--if you know what I mean!

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Monday, May 15, 2006

Mother's Day

We don't do "traditional" things on holidays. Especially not on Mother's Day. Some people may frown on the fact that I didn't get a hallmark Card and a wrapped present. But I don't mind much, because my beasts (husband included) instead do a lot of little things for me.

For example, Friday night when I got home from work, my husband took the kids downstairs and let me take a nap while he fed them dinner. That may sound mundane, but I enjoyed it a lot. Actually, I spent a lot of my nap time listening to them. Just their little voices talking and asking questions made tears come to my eyes. My husband was trying to explain sarcasm to my 5-year-old. My 1-year-old was trying to "help" buy pulling things out of cabinets. It was nice to listen too. But I did eventually take a nap. It was great.

Just hearing my childrens' footsteps and voices, and thinking about their outreached arms made me sad for all the children throughout the world who don't have parents. To think that there is a toddler in a crib in an orphanage who is holding out their arms in hopes that someone will pick them up makes me sad that I can't pick them up myself.

I have great respect for those who choose to adopt a child. One family that I've been following is looking forward to meeting and bringing home a toddler from Vietnam. Their emotional plight has been chronicled on their website: Vietnam Addition. This is one child who will no longer have to compete for attention. When her arms reach out, wanting to be picked up, she will have a family to cuddle with her.

Happy Mother's Day!

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Thursday Thirteen (13) for May 11, 2006

13 Things that I Don’t Miss About Working for Big Corporation

Too many useless meetings – Meetings are an alternative to work. But it’s okay if food or snack is provided.
Pre-Meeting Meetings – Let’s discuss what we’re going to discuss. Aka: Let’s get our story straight.
Post-Meeting Meetings – Let’s discuss what we discussed. Basically, I want us to make sure we got out of the meeting what we wanted. Otherwise, we’ll have to call another meeting.
Mandatory Management Training – Another form of meeting, except this one had sign-in sheets and better food.
Non-Persons. When people were fired or quit, we would quickly forget about them. They were practically family when they were with the company, but now they are a non-person. Very Orwellian.
Office Spouses – Male/Female working relationships that mimic a marriage. When you have to remind your office spouse that he’s got an important meeting tomorrow and that he should wear the nicer tie. I would always remind male employees about Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and other events that they might get in trouble for forgetting.
Getting approval signatures. I hated getting signatures of high-ranking officials in the company. My trick was to talk nice to the administrative assistant and make sure they got the signature. Here’s a funny story: I used to have to get approval for expenditures over $1,000 from a high-ranking, very old executive in the company. He should have retired, but it wasn’t the policy of the company to force retirement. There was a nurse working at the company that would give him daily shots of something that made him feel better. I asked her to let me know when she was going to give the shot, and I’d get the signature right after. He was always in a better mood and would sign without much hassle. He worked until 2 weeks before his death.
Corporate dress. Dressing nice or corporate casual, it was always a problem for me. Since I’m a creative individual, my clothes are different, and not very corporate.
Travel expenses. The company I worked at didn’t have credit cards or expense accounts. You were expected to pay for things out of your own pocket or credit card, and submit the expenses at the end of the week for reimbursement. So, basically, I was loaning a multi-million dollar company MY money.
Dilbert (the cartoon) was too close to home to be funny.
Gossip. Who’s doing what, who’s seeing who, who’s getting what. Makes you feel like you’re always under the watchful eyes of people that don’t have anything better to do.
Too many Vice Presidents. Really, at some point, doesn’t it diminish the power a VP has when there are so many? My old company had so many that they all couldn’t fit all of their expensive cars in the executive lot, so they would park in the visitor’s lot. I actually had visitors who couldn’t park because all the VP’s were actually in the office for a meeting.
Not getting credit for finishing a project. Instead, your superior would get the slap on the back for the thing that you did. All he (or she) did was put a fancy cover sheet on it.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Knee Deep in the Hoopla

Last week's Thursday 13 featured songs that I hate. Well, right now, I'm listening to the stupid song "We Built This City." My first reaction was to immediately change the internet radio station I listen to.

But this is a usually a good station. The song before that made my heart leap--it was an old favorite that I almost forgot about: Depeche Mode - "Everything Counts" .

One thing that I remember about the Starship song that I hate is that there is a section that features a DJ speaking about the radio station. Many radio stations took this opportunity to change that section and include their own station identification and tagline.

I guess that is why the radio stations played the song: they made it sound like thier own promotion.

Still, the song sucks.

New look for my Blog

I know that I've been tinkering with the look this week. I finally found something that I can live with--for a month or so. I know I'll be itching to make changes, but I just don't have much time right now. I better get some ~actual~ work done.

Monday, May 08, 2006

The Creekistan-Side Story

I woke up with a dead mouse in my sink.

I was making coffee first thing and looked down . . . Hello! There was water in the sink because I was soaking a dirty dish. I could hardly eat all day. Needless to say, the dish and the sink got a good scrubbing.

Earlier that night, Nicky, our sometimes-indoor cat, ate another mouse. I come into the living room to see him finishing it up—-just the tail and some entrails left. It made a crunching sound. I made a gagging sound and left the room.

My story is that the mice were lovers and when one got killed, the other committed suicide.

Somewhere, a tiny Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim are composing a high-pitched, Alvin and the Chipmonks-style musical:

There's a [mousehole] for us,
A [cheese] and [crum] for us.
Hold my [tail] and we're halfway there.
Hold my [tail] and I'll take you there
Somehow,
Some day,
Somewhere!

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Thursday 13 (Thirteen) for May 4, 2006

13 Songs I wish I never heard

Muskrat Love - Captain and Tennille

Tubthumping - Chumbawamba. I wish this song would get knocked down and NOT get up again!

The Candy Man - Sammy Davis Jr.

Up-Up and Away - The Fifth Dimension. In case you don’t know this song from the title, perhaps this will jog your memory: “Up-Up and Away in your beautiful balloon.”

I’ve Never Been To Me – Charlene “I've been undressed by kings and I've seen some things that a woman ain't supposed to see” Yeah, thanks for sharing . . . .NOT.

PacMan Fever - Buckner & Garcia. “I got a pocket full of quarters, and I'm headed to the arcade.”

Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus. Talk about Achy Breaky Ears.

What’s New Pussycat – Tom Jones (or Sir Thomas Jones, thank you very much).

Anything by Kenny G

It’s a Small World – Disney. Talk about a song that gets stuck in your head. I think even Disney makes fun of this song!

We Built This City - Starship (or Jefferson Airplane, or whoever)

Macarena - Los Del Rio. Stupid song and stupid dance. What a great way to make Americans look stupid!

Metal Health - Quiet Riot. I don’t even want to go there—the bad, big hair days of the early 80’s. I guess I hate it because my first real boyfriend got grounded for sneaking out of the house and going to a Quiet Riot concert. It put a damper on our dating for a while.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Princess

Friday, I got a rare treat. My sister and I met in Dayton, Ohio to see "Diana, A Celebration", an exhibit from her Althorp Estate, the Spencer FamilyÂ’s 500-year-old ancestral home in England. I personally am not a huge Diana fan, but my sister is. I guess it's because of their similarities: they were the same age and got married during the same year. I remember visiting my sister when I was 11 and we got up early to watch the wedding on her black and white TV. I was 11 or 12 at the time.

It's hard to believe that it as been nearly 9 years since Diana's tragic death. She was 36 when she died--exactly my age right now. Looking at the exhibit, I felt a littlejealouss. What have I done to change the world? Look at what she accomplished in her time. Look at what she could have accomplished if she lived on.

We got to see some of her childhood toys, school uniform, and a few notes written by her. But most importantly, we saw that wedding gown. It gave me chills.

I think there is a little bit of Princess in all of us girls. We need to remember, every once in a while, to bring out our inner Princess and have a royal time.

Caroll Spinney, Voice of Big Bird & Oscar

The same day I listed my Muppets Thursday 13, I found out about Caroll Spinney winning at the Daytime Emmys:

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Caroll Spinney, better known as his Sesame Street self, Big Bird. (He's also the man who puts the stick up Oscar the Grouch's, um, back.)

Visit his website at http://www.carollspinney.com/

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Thursday 13 (Thirteen) for April 27

13 Muppets in Order of Trustworthiness

Kermit – I can’t say enough about the integrity of this muppet. He’s kind, sings pretty good, and he’s green!
Bert – Put aside all the “Bert is Evil” negative propaganda, , Bert is a nice guy who makes a great roommate to Ernie. With all that he has to put up with, I’m amazed that he still has a good sense of humor. Although I suspect he votes Republican, anyone who loves pigeons is a good guy in my book.
Big Bird – He’s an eternal 4-year-old with a heart of gold.
Gonzo – I have a thing for percussionists, and Gonzo plays to gong to officially start the Muppet Show.
Fozzy – He’s always trying to improve himself and his act on the Muppet Show. Even though he’s a comedian, I still consider him trustworthy.
Elmo – Another eternal 4-year-old, I suspect that if you told Elmo a secret, he’d try to keep the secret for as long as he could. But his enthusiasm would get the best of him, and he’d burst.
Grover – He taught me the difference between Near and Far. I’ll never forget him for that!
Ernie – He might have been higher on the list, except for his shady dealings when trying to buy a Q. Perhaps being a rock star (“Rubber Duckie" was released as a single in 1970 and reached the top 40 on the Billboard charts) corrupted him.
Oscar – He may live in a trash can, but I suspect he holds lots of secrets down there.
Count – He’s a vampire, need I say more? But at least he dresses nice.
Cookie – If he can’t be trusted to not eat the letter M, I don’t know what I could trust him with.
Miss Piggy – Her relationship with Kermit does not give her the same trustworthiness status that he holds. She’s likely to karate-chop you at any minute.
Animal – Okay, he’s a percussionist, but he’s crazy!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

UPDATE: Mysterious Mound

During our various mushroom hunts, we have learned quite a bit about our land. During one of our excursions, I was able to show my husband the mysterious mound. After much debate, we have realized that the mound is probably not on our land, but just outside the territory line. We’d have to get a GPS to confirm.

We agreed that the best thing to do is to leave the mound alone and hope for the best.

Sorry to disappoint all of you CSI fans out there, but the investigation is on hold. Perhaps it will become a Cold Case. I just hope it doesn’t require the skill of a Medium.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Thursday 13: My 13 Favorite Song Lyrics

The lyric "One life, with each other, sisters, brothers" came top of a poll of 13,000 British people by music channel VH1. I’m not sure where these people are or what qualifies them to chose top lyrics, but I have to disagree on a few. So, here’s my list of top 13:
Please see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4915848.stm BBC Article

and MTV Lyric Poll

(artist/group - song: "lyric")

Beck - Loser: “And my time is a piece of wax fallin’ on a termite who's chokin’ on the splinters”
They Might Be Giants – Hall of Heads: “Roll out that special head - This is our favorite one - Please don't try to leave - Don't leave the hall of heads.” (Just about any They Might Be Giants lyric should be on this list, but this is my current favorite.)
The Smiths - How Soon is Now?: "So you go, and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home, and you cry, and you want to die." (Actually on the VH1 list, and I have to agree that this is a great lyric and song.)
The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army: “Don't want to hear about it, Every single one's got a story to tell, Everyone knows about it, From the Queen of England to the hounds of hell.”
Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2): “We don't need no education, We don't need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom, Teacher, leave them kids alone.” (Secretly singing this one all though school.)
Outkast - Hey Ya: “Shake it like a polaroid picture” (How brief, yet descriptive.)
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit: “I feel stupid and contagious, Here we are now, entertain us.”
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes: “When two tribes go to war, A point is all you can score”
The Beatles – Yesterday: “Yesterday, All my troubles seemed so far away, Now it looks as though they're here to stay, Oh, I believe in Yesterday.”
Radiohead- Sail To The Moon. (Brush The Cobwebs Out Of The Sky.): - Maybe you'll be president - But know right from wrong - Or in the flood you'll build an Ark - And sail us to the moon” (Packaging all the hopes and dreams we have for our children to do better then us in one song.) The album, Hail to the Thief, is my all-time favorite.
The Police - Synchronicity I: “A connecting principle - Linked to the invisible - Almost imperceptible - Something inexpressible - Science insusceptible - Logic so inflexible - Causally connectable - Yet nothing is invincible” (Their album, Synchronicity, is my second favorite album.)
Sting - Russians: “We share the same biology - Regardless of ideology - What might save us, me, and you Is that the Russians love their children too.” (Written during the mid-80’s and during the cold war, these lyrics still ring true today, even if they so-called “enemy” has changed.)
Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime: “My god!...what have I done.”

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Eureka! Morels!

They must have popped up overnight, or we just didn't have our "Mushroom Eyes" on, either way we found 60 beauties last night. With the help of some of our friends who helped us spot these tasty mushrooms, we were finally successful. We had a wonderful and easy dinner of morels cooked in butter over noodles. As long as we can keep poachers away, we should start seeing more on different areas of our property!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

The Hunt for Morels

Okay, I admit it. I was excited about the morels. We have gone mushroom hunting for 4-5 evenings in a row. We have not found one. Our neighbors, on the other hand, said they found 100. Perhaps it's the way our land faces--we don't have much East-facing hills. Or, perhaps, our mushrooms are late bloomers.

But it's good exercise and the dog loves to tag along with us. We're learning more about our property and about how much trash people throw out.

We're still holding out hope that we will find a plethora of these mycological wonders in the near future.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Morels!

Friends had just found a few morels on our property. Looking forward to a bigger and better search for these wonderful and rare mushrooms. I'll take a picture. Morels.com

The Boobie Tree

We took this picture the other day. We saw this tree out of our bedroom window. It looks just like a female bust! Well, except for the long branch growing out of the left breast.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Thursday Thirteen (13) for April 13!

13 things that made my brain hurt recently

Remembering the movie from 1984: The Last Starfighter – About a guy who spends too much time playing a video game and gets recruited by an alien to help fight their war. He actually gets to live his video game fantasy.
Trying to remember all the words in “On Top of Spaghetti”.
Seeing Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. I get a little tear in my eye just about every time he sings his final song.
I realized how much I actually like Barry Manilow.
Why do parents speed through the school parking lot to drop off/pick up their kids? Do they just not care about other kids?
Aerogel – That substance that was recently in the news for helping capture particles from a comet and return them to earth. I recently got to see the stuff and it’s like nearly-transparent Styrofoam. It’s 99.8% air but still considered a solid.
Trying to remember all the characters from The Jeffersons. Mr. Jefferson has been a black neighbor of Archie Bunker in All In The Family. The show was a spinnoff that turned out to be very successful in its own right. I freaked my husband out when I remembered that Mr. Jefferson was in the dry cleaning business.
My 5-year-old sometimes sings songs I didn’t know he would remember. I realize that I occasionally play Nirvana and The White Strips in the car, but I just didn’t expect to hear him singing “Lithium” or “Seven Nation Army” when he is playing Legos.
Assassinations of hip-hop singers. Is it the lifestyle that makes them sing about violence, or is it the violence that makes them sing? Why sing about how things are but then perpetuate it at the same time?
Why hasn’t President Bush been impeached? I mean, he exaggerated facts about weapons of mass destruction in order to justify going to war, performed illegal wiretapping on US citizens, and he authorized leaking the name of CIA operative in order to get back at someone who didn’t support him. Didn’t our last president get impeached for something a lot less worse that didn’t actually get thousands of people killed?
Arnold Schwarzenegger is governor of California. It still blows my mind!
How much you can love your children, especially in the spring when everything is just so beautiful.
Whatever happened to colored toilet paper? It’s all white now. When and why did this happen?

Monday, April 10, 2006

Bandit has Arrived

We have adopted the puppy, Bandit, from a local animal shelter. As I mentioned in an earlier post, his mother was killed by a car when he was just 1 week old. He has fed by hand by a generous lady from the vet clinic and shelter. She kept him at her home until the other day. I could tell that she really hated to see Bandit go, but knew he’d be going to a good family.

Bandit is doing well, and has really taken to my son. They play together, walk together, play together, play together, and play together. Besides the typical puppy problems (i.e, messes), Bandit is doing great at home. I can already tell that he will make a great farm dog.

The cat, on the other hand, does not like this new situation.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Nicky, the Cat

One night when we were still living in the construction trailer, my son mentioned that he heard a kitty under the trailer. Sure enough, a very hungry and small kitten had appeared. It was a little gray ball of fluff, and it didn’t have a tail! It was completely ferial, and wouldn’t come anywhere close to us. But it was hungry and we had food.

The next night I decided to go Cat Fishing. I had found a cage, and attached the lid to a stick and the stick to a string—the typical kind of trap. Inside was some sardines. After a while of sitting by the fire with the string in my hand, the kitten eventually went into the cage and I captured it. Boy was it wild! For such a little thing, it made both me and my husband jump from it! I wanted to capture it so that I could get a good look. It’s definitely a Manx (tailless or nearly-tailless) and seemed to be in good health.

The cat loved to get close to the fire to stay warm. Several mornings I had come out to see the little gray kitten sitting on a rock practically inside the fire ring, trying to stay warm. Eventually, when the cat got hungry and cold enough, we were able to get it into the trailer at night. Inside, it was a very loving and adorable kitten. It always wanted to be petted and loved to sleep on top of me. But once it got outside, it was a completely wild cat again.

After a lot of debate, we had decided it was probably a girl. Because the cat was so wild, with it’s howling and hissing, we named it Maddie.

I wanted to get it to the vet, but it took a couple of different attempts to get it into the cage. Once at the vet, we discovered that she was really a he. We re-named Maddie a more appropriate boy name: Nearly-Tailless Nick. His namesake is the Griffendor house ghost, Nearly-Headless Nick. We call him Nicky.

When he is in the house, he is the best cat. He always uses the litter box. He is a great companion. He would even wake me up when my alarm has gone off and I’ve hit the snooze button. He’ll follow me around in the morning and keep me company. He’s even caught a couple of mice. But if he escapes to the outside, he’s back to being a fertile cat again. It takes days before we can coax him back into the house.

Now that the dog has arrived, I don’t know if he’ll ever come back into the house. He’s been out for about a week now. I hope he’ll be okay. But we know he doesn’t like the puppy.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Thursday Thirteen for April 6, 2006

13 Silly Names I Have for Everyday Things

Eye Juice = Contact lens solution
Shit Tickets = toilet paper
Pit Stick = Deodorant
Butt Wipes = Baby wipes.
Poop Tacos = Dirty baby wipes. It refers to what the baby wipes look like when you’re done using them.
P.R.B.I. = Puke-Related Belch Incident. Special thanks go to George Carlin for that one. But we use this term on a regular basis.
P.R.F.I. = Poop-Related Fart Incident. (Why do a lot of these relate to excrement and excrement-related things? Guess it comes with raising children—if you don’t have a sense of humor about those things, you could get grossed out.)
Happy Happy Fun Place – This is an area we have cordoned-off in the kitchen to keep the baby safe. We used to call it Baby Jail, but when the Baby cried every time I put her there, I thought the change of name would help. It didn’t.
Ike – A nice way of saying that I’m going to “beat you up.” For example, “You better watch it, or I’m going to Ike you.” This is a reference to Ike and Tina. NOTE: We don’t actually beat each other up. Once you say this phrase, everyone starts laughing and the urge to kill fades.
Hit the Bitch – This phrase refers to going to the ATM to withdrawal money. For example: “I’m going to Hit the Bitch and get $40.”
BeeBee – This is the Baby’s contribution to the list. This is her attempt to say “Baby”. It refers to anything cute or desirable. She’ll point to candy and say “BeeBee” or she’ll point to a bird and say “BeeBee.”
Pee Pants = Diapers
Eat the Peanut = Suicide. We have a friend that is allergic to peanuts. Every time he would joke about killing himself, he would say “I’m going to Eat the Peanut.” Believe me, he was purely joking. He’s alive and well.

Monday, April 03, 2006

The Bee House

Subtitled: How we got our house for such a bargain.

Note: This story is not 100% true. We don’t know all the facts of the matter. This is what we are able to piece together from stories told to us and by some evidence found.

A few years ago, a family lived in Creekistan. There were two houses on the property. In fact, it resembled a small neighborhood. They had lots of dogs, some chickens, and played Bluegrass music. The older folks lived in the house close to the road, and one of their grown children lived in the other house.

They were not rich. In fact, from what I can tell, the people living in the house close to the road, let’s call it House A, were subsidizing their mortgage by charging those living in the other house, House B, rent.

This arrangement seemed to be working fine, until House B became infested with Bees. The bees entered into the house though a hole and made a hive in the insulation. The hive grew rather large.

In order to keep the people in House B on the property, and keep them paying rent, the people in House A decided to build an addition to House A, and have everyone live in House A.

The new arrangement didn’t work. From what I can tell, the family from House B left. Because the people in House A was not receiving rent, they could not afford to stay in House A nor could they pay for the unfinished addition on the house.

Everyone left. Actually, “abandonded” is more like it. They left a lot of things: furniture, clothing, toys, junk, junk, and more junk.

We purchased the house from the bank since the owners had foreclosed.

We got it for a song.

Or should I say, we got it for “Buzz.”

A beekeeper is called an apiarist (say ape-ee-uh-rist). We had tried contacting a local apiarist to move the hive. But it got cold and we did not want to destroy the hive, just move them. We let them remain through the winter. We waited until Spring, which is now! But it seems the Bees have moved on. We hope.

The Bee house is going to be torn down. It is a mess. There are old appliances on the porch. There are piles of clothing in the basement. Everything is covered with bee carcasses.

Whatever history the Bee house had, whatever stories the walls could tell, has been destroyed by neglect of the people previously living there. Mother nature is trying to take it back--and we are probably going to help her.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Creekistan, We Have Puppy

Well, actually, not quite yet. Next week we will be the proud "parents" of a rescued puppy named Bandit. His mother was killed by a car when he and his litter-mates were 1 week old. As far as I can tell, he is the only surviving puppy left. But he's doing great! We met him today at the shelter.

We've got some things to take care of before we can bring him home, but everyone, including my husband, is excited.

Wish us luck!

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Thursday Thirteen (13) March 30, 2006

Thursday Thirteen (13)

Thirteen Things about AMY THE BLACK

My birthday was this week!
My husband's birthday was this week too!
I have two lovely, loud children: A boy who's 5 1/2 and a girl who's 14 months.
During the day, I'm a mild mannered marketing/graphic designer who works for a very small company.
During the night I am a not-so-mild mannered mother and wife.
Until this summer, I worked for a large corporation. Thank God I got away!
My job deals with high-tech software and hardware.
I have a very low-tech home. I can't even get on the internet at home.
I tend to be a hypercondriac. There's always something wrong with me!
I am a tomboy--I play video games, Legos, and I'm not afraid of technology. I like Star Wars, Star Trek, and a lot of other sci-fi stuff.
I sometimes sleep with a large stuffed dog.
I am a Democrat, but I wish the party would do a better job getting their act together and their message straight.
I enjoy hearing about the paranormal, like ghosts, bigfoot, UFOs, and a lot of the things that Art Bell used to talk about on the radio show Coast to Coast.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Vultures

The turkey vultures arrived this week. But isn’t it an omen if they sit in a tree outside your bedroom window and stare at you?

Do they know something we don’t?

After 12+ hours of sitting there, they finally flew away.

I hope they gave up

Friday, March 24, 2006

Exhumation of the "Dead Body" - Your Opinion Matters!

The defination of Exhumation is:

1. Dig up a body – to dig up a corpse from a grave

2. Reintroduce something – to reveal, reestablish, or refer again to something long forgotton or neglected.

If you all haven't read all of my blog, you may not be familiar to the mysterious mound on my property. Read my initial post here: http://http://creekistan.blogspot.com/2006/01/dead-person-buried-on-our-land.html#links

SURVEY
I would like to solicit comments and suggestions on what I should do about this. The weather is getting better. Perhaps it's time to do a little CSI and unravel this mystery!

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Thursday Thirteen - March 23rd

Thirteen Things That Happened to Me This Week

I got my doorknob for the front door!
It snowed and we had a snow day at home--the entire family was home.
I visited the city and did a lot of shopping. Great therapy, but it's good to be back in the quiet country.
I got a Vendi Cafe Moca at Starbucks. A rare treat.
I ran over a cat. I felt terrible, but there was nothing I could do. It literally ran under my car. I'll have to burn some incense in it's memory. In the country, that kind of thing happens a lot.
I killed a mouse. But I didn't feel so sad about it. I gave it a chance to go away--I let it out the back door. But it came back. The cat was in the process of killing it, but I finished the job. So, in a way, it was a mercy killing. I'll burn incense for it too.
I cleaned out my trunk. Now, I'll have to clean out the wheel-barrow that I put all my stuff into.
I signed up to take a class over the Internet. It's in a subject I know very little about, so wish me luck!
I cut some beautiful Daffodils so that we could enjoy them. Again, it was a mercy killing because three days later we had a hard freeze and some snow.
I convinced my husband that we need to get a puppy soon! I better get one before he changes his mind.
I got to watch South Park for the first time in a long, long time. I sure missed Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls, especially since Chef took is Scientology balls and left the show.
I heard from a long lost friend. Hi Sharon!
I took my children to an indoor marching Percussion contest. I think both kids want to be drummers now!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
(leave your link in comments, I'll add you here!)
1. Kidzoo

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. ItÂ’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Friday, March 17, 2006

Houndog Harrison Band

This CD was recorded in my back yard. Okay, maybe a 1/2 mile down the road. But still, very close by!

CD Baby Houndog Harrison

I don't normally like this kind of music, but they guys really speak from the heart directly into mine. The have captured the spirit of the area in which I now live.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Thursday Thirteen - March 16, 2006

Thirteen Things I need for my Creekistan Home

1. Doorknob for the front door. The round piece of wood that my husband screwed into the door fell off.

2. Microwave that my cups and plates will fit into.

3. Robotic sweeper to suck up all the mud we track in.

4. House plantsants, since all of ours died over the winter because I left them outside.

5. Dog.

6. Curtains for the windows. But not total coverage--I want to see the beautiful forest outside!

7. Front steps to replace the cement blocks I'm using now.

8. Washer and/or dryer. But that would mean we'd use up more water. Oh well, I'm willing to make my husband fetch water more often!

9. My own truck.

10. Internet access.

11. Satellite TV - yeah, I know I said that I weaned myself away from TV, but I still would like to watch a show here and there!

12. Cement driveway - See item #3 about tracking in mud.

13. Siding. Naked wood just isn't cutting it! Besides, the woodpecker that wakes me up in the morning is no longer charming.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

desertodyssey.blogspot.com

enanddavin

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. ItÂ’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Frequently Asked Questions about Creekistan

Q: Do you have running water?
A: Yes, we do now. We have a full bath with toilet, shower, and sink. We also can do dishes.
Further details: We do not have city/county water. We have to obtain water by whatever means necessary and store it in a large cistern buried in our yard. We recently re-awakened a well and pump water out of that well into the cistern. We lower the pump, with a hose attached, into the well. Then run hose across the street and across our yard into the cistern. We have to do this every 3 weeks or so. The water from the well is fine, but we don't drink the water.
More details then you ever want to know: Getting water into the house was easy. Getting it out was more difficult. "Gray" water is the kind of water that comes out of the tub and sinks. That water drains into a garbage can that we sunk into the ground, and eventually filters out into the ground. The previous owners ran the water directly into the creek. Not nice. "Brown" water is the water from the toilet. It goes into a septic tank. More info here: http://www.inspect-ny.com/septic/lockwood.htm

Q: How do you cook?
A: I'm not a bad cook, I must say. Actually, we have a full kitchen that is better then any we had in the city, except for not having a dishwasher and garbage disposal. We have propane gas (as Hank Hill would say, "Propane is God's gas.")

Q: Do you watch TV?
A: Nope. We can't really get any channels. During the winter Olympics, we managed to get a viewable image, but it didn't last long. We can't get cable, so satellite is the only thing we could get. But right now we are in no hurry to get TV because we've managed to wean ourselves away from it. Instead, we watch videos from Netflix (see our Rental Queue on the right hand?) We also play games, listen to music, go for walks, read, and just plain get goofy.

Q: If you don't watch TV, how do you know what's happening in the world?
A: I read the news on the Internet http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn&q, and I listen to the news on NPR http://www.npr.org/. This way, I still get the real news without all the Hollywood hype.

Any other questions? Just post a comment and I'll respond!

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Chickens

While visiting our friend Widow Bryant (see blog http://creekistan.blogspot.com/2006/02/boyz-from-wood.html#links) we got a glimpse of some baby chickens. She had some fancy chickens that were white with the large headdress feathers. She named them Ike and Tina. She also had some beautiful black chickens with some red feathers. Ike had fathered some chicks with one of the black hens. They were in Widow Bryant's kitchen staying warm under a lightbulb. My son fell in love immediately.

During our visit, we discussed how easy or difficult it is to raise chickens. Since we have plenty of property and no close neighbors, we could easily get some of her chicks and let them free-range in our yard. Zeb didn't like the idea, but I said that some day he'd come home and there would be chickens and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

Before leaving, Widow Bryant gave us some eggs to eat. The next morning, I was about to make the eggs when my son tried to “rescue” one of the eggs so that he could hatch it. He carried it around for a while. I finally convinced him that we cannot have any chicks right now and that we need to eat the egg. He cried. What a hard lesson to learn.

We don’t have a barn and I don’t want the chickens roosting in the “haunted house” that we’re going to tear down, so a hen house is in order. I’ll be seeing what I can do to make one.

But, with bird flu becoming a big problem, we may have to wait until this pandemic is over before getting our own birds. We'll just have to visit Widow Bryant and Ike and Tina.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Waiting Room

One of the adjustments I'm having to make is the fact that there isn't a lot of choice in doctors in this area. I've had to just ask around about some doctors. Others, I didn't have a choice. For my primary physician, I chose the first one on the list: A. Adams. Actually, he turned out to be pretty good.

Friday, I was visiting my OB/GYN. They're nice there. But I do have to wait a lot. I guess with only a few doctors in the area, they have to see a lot of patients.

While going back to my exam room, we ran into an older lady with a Poodle puppy. All jokes aside, the lady's Poodle was rather cute. It reminded me of my childhood dog. We stopped to pet it, and then continued to the exam room.

I sat for a while, thumbing through Country Living magazine and Homes and Gardens. I was beginning to wonder if I'd been forgotten, when I decided to listen to see if the doctor was near.

What I heard told me right away why I was waiting so long: the stupid lady with the Poodle was distracting everyone in the office. They were all cooing and awing at the little dog. They were saying how cute it was and petting it.

Yes, at a OB/GYN office, all the nurses were petting a old lady's Poodle.

I even heard the comment: "We don't even get this excited about a new baby!"

Don't worry. I did eventually get to see the doctor. But I didn't have a cute little poodle for them to look at.

Friday, March 10, 2006

thirty seven seconds

When I'm lonely for the city, I like to check in on my friends and former colleagues in the city. Here is a friend and photographer, Jim, who lives in the city. He is trying to post a photo a day.

Interesting that while I'm looking for glimpses of the city, he's looking at glimpes of nature.

http://www.thirtysevenseconds.com

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Trailer Park

Since we have two construction trailers on our property, do we live in a Trailer Park? If so, will we be in danger of tornados? I hope not.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Tired of Tires

Just a quick note. Starting to do some Spring cleaning. Actually, we're cleaning the creek. Zeb counted no less than 20 used tires on our property. Seems our previous residents loved to roll old tires down the hill into the creek. Yee Haw!

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Funky Sock Exchange

I was recently invited into a funky sock exchange. How ‘90’s! It was given to me on a copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy page explaining the rules of this pyramid scheme.
Should I participate? I normally don’t. But I don’t want to ruin their fun. So, I decided to only send to one friend. Who that will be, I don’t know.

If you want to participate, please let me know.

In the meantime, here’s some information on Ponzi schemes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme
and Pyramid schemes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme
A discussion of the history and various types of chain letters: http://www.snopes.com/luck/chain.asp
FTC Consumer Alert The Gifting Club "Gotcha": http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/giftalrt.htm

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

The Country Living Bible

Everything you ever wanted to know about living in the country is contained in The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157061377X/sr=8-2/qid=1141228091/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-7962018-9924807?%5Fencoding=UTF8