Weather Break with Signs of Life

A pair of mallards. Trailside, American River Parkway

Moss

Ferns grow on rock too

This tree grows from between two rocks. I can only imagine that after germination, as it grew it pushed its way between the rocks.

Buckeye germination, above and below. Buckeyes drop enormous amounts of huge seeds. It's a strange tree, being the last to bud out and bloom, but the first to drop its leaves at the end of summer, well before fall.

Antique sluice

Ibizan hound (8 mo.old puppy). I just happen to run into an acquaintance on the trail, also enjoying the oh-so-brief respite from the much needed rain.

American river just below the Folsom dam and Folsom prison.

Beautiful greens after a rain. At the end of summer, this will all be brown and dried up.

School Dayz

I love working with kids, and they make me laugh all the time. Here is a short collection from the Forever Unknown Elementary School.

A special needs 4th grader's whispered reaction to me about another kid, a blowhard in training, pontificating on and on about nothing anyone is interested in:

"This guy is making me sick!"

Written by a 5th grader on a test in response to the question, "Do you think Doug could make it across the pass on his own?"

"I think that Doug could of made it across becaus if Charlie a coger (note: that's cougar) made it than a hummen bean could do it."

Overheard exchange between two 3rd graders:

"Your mom is fat!"

"Well your mom doesn't wear a bra!"

In first grade the teacher tells the kids her son turned 21 recently and one of her students (the Hellion, see below) says:

"Wow he can drink beer now!"

This is kind of sad. During Red Ribbon Week (Just Say No!), the second grade teacher was talking to her students about drugs and alcoholic. One boy raises his hand and says,

"My dad is an alcoholic!"

During a 4th grade discussion of geography, specifically the North American continent, a boy raises his hand to explain:

"My dad said we should take over Canada because there are very little people there and nothing but ice."

teacher: "Well I'm sure your dad was kidding."

kid: "No he wasn't."

Just in case you've lost faith, I witnessed an act of kindness yesterday between the current first grade Hellion (multiple suspensions, detensions, you get the idea) and a diminuative Down's syndrome girl in his class. She veered off the path to lunch and he gently put his arm around her and, speaking softly, he directed her back to the cafeteria.

Madonna Visits Northern California

Madonna was spotted hanging out with her BFF, Ignatia, in a posh little northern California town this past holiday season. Er, that would be Madonna the Iguana who needed a place to stay when her folks decamped to the east coast for vacation. Luckily Iggs (as she's commonly known) forgot about the last time Madonna visited and nearly bit her (and only was interrupted by long suffering hubby who received the slashing in her place, but we really shouldn't have mentioned that, ok?).

Madonna the Queen of the World

Ignatia the Sweet Hostess

Iggs heads for a morning drink

Madonna makes sure Iggs is only getting a drink

Jiggs the cat stops in for a snack

Madonna, Iggs and Jiggs all enjoy dark leafy greens

No one was hurt during this visit, unless you count Iggy's pride when Madonna jumped down from on high and climbed on top of her. Both Iguanas are used to cats drinking their water and eating their food (thankfully). The mitigating factor here was that it is winter and the girls are in a kind of slow motion semi-hibernation where they don't eat much and sleep a lot on their heating pads (and get covered up at night and generally spoiled a bit). Madonna left fully refreshed and ready to nap some more when her family picked her up.
Oh, the life of a celebrity...

AVP-R, Keepin' It Real

I often read blogs written by people in the UK and they just don't understand American's obsession with guns. I'm going to explain.
First of all, you never know when Alien monsters will drop by for a visit and want to use your body as an incubator or for food. Predator monsters might be nearby as well chasing the Alien monsters and feel the need to stop and hunt a hapless human.
Most of all, the government might be lying to you. You never know when the government might need to blow your town up to prevent further Alien monster infestations and you might need to fight your way to freedom.

You see, it's all about freedom.

"We should have landed in London instead"

PS. My boys made me go see "Aliens vs Predator Requiem" with them. It was gory and I spent at least 1/3 of the movie with my eyes covered. A real mother-sons bonding moment if ever there was one. I still think Diesel could make good caption contest hay with this movie.

What They're Learning at College

Zero Punctuation from Escapist Magazine dot com.
You send your baby off to a nice private school and one day he wanders home. So we've been enjoying some mother-son bonding moments over these crude yet hilarious cartoon offerings that review video games. This guy is the King of Snark. His review of Guitar Hero III was spot-on. I picked one with somewhat less naughty language so as not to give anyone a case of the vapors. Enjoy!

A Romance Reader's Delight: Real Magic

I've never read anything quite like it ... er, because I don't usually read romance novels. But I'm nothing if not a loyal blog-pal so I'm pimping another book, Real Magic.

Real Magic, a romance-fantasy, tells the story of a successful, selfish businessman named Leo and a young, hot, but confused woman named Cassie. Their unlikely meeting and fateful romance is the heart of this novel. The fantasy part occurs via Cassie. Is she a witch who is evil or a victim of evil? Throw in Cassie's annoying mother and a surly, self confident bad guy and presto, you have conflict. Oh yeah, there's lots of sex too (if you like that kind of thing, wink, wink!). So head on over to Brian's place and check it out. I think Chapter 1 is up for free.

Do you think true love is the real magic?

Good Day Sunshine

I went Christmas shopping today. It felt good and I spent a little too much money. I didn't feel impatient with the enormous woman who decided to start looking for her checkbook after her items were rung up and then the register wouldn't read (or accept) her check. I went to four different stores. I wasn't angry when the guy in the big truck went the wrong direction in the parking lot and almost smashed me.

WP washed the dogs and now they smell good again.

FPM comes home next week!

TestCase sold another car!

Hummingbirds are visiting my new feeder.

My Freakin' Recovery, OK?

Here is a photo of Motorcycle Suicide Guy's impromptu memorial. I was effing pissed off about it because I had to drive by it everyday, twice a day. Oh, oh, why be angry with the poor bastard?
I happen to still be mad at my father the alcoholic/drug addicted jerk who offed himself when I was a kid. He terrorized us with his attempts before getting it right.
Motorcycle Suicide Guy also has kids. I found out more about him through a motorcycle forum he was a member of. Dude had a lot of friends. Around 200 people gave his widow $10 grand. He planned it all out right down to a note and a phone call to police at the bottom of the hill at 5:00 am, so that his smashed up remains wouldn't have to be around for too long. I guess he just snapped. So I got over being mad and I started to go around to the side entrance to avoid the giant photo, flowers, teddy bears, bad energy, and other assorted mementos.
Now the Dead Dad Days are nearly over. That would be the anniversary dates of the deaths of my biodad, stepfather and father-in-law: Dec.1, 2 & 3. I liked my FIL the best cuz he actually liked me, daresay, maybe loved me like a daughter.
So after obsessive ruminations, a few bad dreams and a short trip on the crazy train, I got over it. I don't even think "Stupid DoucheBag!" when I might pass the nonworking waterfall. In fact, I'll bet it will be fixed as soon as they can finish cleaning out all of MSG's body bits from the filter. I am so over this.

Now for something completely different. This is the photo that I WON'T be sending out with the Christmas cards:

These are some of my ab fab fav people hamming it up with daddy's cigars. This goes into a 5x7 frame for hubby as a Christmas gift. They are my reasons to be grateful and I never stop knowing that.


AND: Return of the Pomchi, part 2
My friends are going on a Christmas cruise, so I get Maggie for 2 whole weeks!! Yippee!
Everyone around here loves her, even Crystal and Toby the carefree retrievers (well, maybe not long suffering hubby who has had to learn to like living in somewhat of a zoo).

Dispatches from the Back of a Goldwing...

and at the conclusion of the ride I post silly photos.















I'm looking at trees from below or beside going along at around 50 mph, somewhere in the foothills of the Sierras. I dare even to take a goofy picture of myself. Thanksgiving day a lost black lab decided my house was the place to hang out. We put up posters in the neighborhood and her freaked out owner came and got her the very next day. That same day Warrior Princess found a wallet with a full compliment of credit cards and a $100 bill while shopping with her dad. Hubby successfully tracked down the grateful owner. A feel-good day all the way around.

But the dead dad days are upon me and a sick bastard killed himself at the waterfall entrance to my housing development, splattering himself and his motorcycle to bits. I am SO conflicted about how I feel about this. I'm going to think (more like ruminate obsessively) some more about this. Bottom line: I feel sorry for his family/the dude totally pisses me off...

Random Bits and Pieces

Hilarious cat emoticons: Just because I feel like it.

Baby Box Turtles! These little darlings are spending the Thanksgiving week with me while school is out. They were brought in by a student whose mom had bought them at a garage sale. The story told was that they had a pair of turtles who were very fertile. Luckily, the babies fell into my sphere of influence and are receiving top notch care and feeding. Yeah, that's my dog's nose at the left edge of the pic.

I'm just guessing, but this seems like phony science to me:



The upside of the Wildcats not making playoffs, is that FPM gets to come home for Thanksgiving. WooHoo!

TestCase got a new job. He is now selling cars for the local VW dealership. When he sold his first car, his boss cut his tie in half. Unfortunately it was borrowed from dear old dad. That is what Christmas is for, right? -to buy the men in the house new ties! Anyway, he has sold 4 cars already in 2 weeks. He is only 22 years old, so it is a good time to try it out.

AND the best news of all. Recent blood tests have revealed that all is well in medland. WooHoo number 2!

I agree that freerice.com is completely addicting.

Finally, if you want to have a good short scare, check out Lady Axe's site, Helltic and check out her short film "Ukoyika". It was chosen for a South African horror short-film festival. It is all good fun and I promise it is not too frightening.

Lightning Strikes FPM Twice

My poor hard working FootballPlayingMan: at the end of summer 'o6 as he was preparing to go away to college for the first time, the dive shop he worked for all summer went out of business. He never got paid. I'm sure the fucktard bankruptcy lawyers got their cut. Added insult: About a month later the former dive shop owner had the nerve to call my hubby and see if he wanted to go on a group dive excursion that he was arranging. Ah, how about NO, fuck no! That's what I said. Hubby politely declined. He felt sorry for the guy cuz he had to sell his house, blah, blah...
FPM has received approximately 2,000 mailings from the bankruptcy court assuring him that there are no assets so, tough shit.

Fast forward to this summer. He works like a dog all summer for Atlas Marketing (Provo, Utah) installing Dish satellite receivers. He has to crawl through attics, fish wires under houses, climb on roofs and deal with the general public Finally, gets his last paycheck at the end of last month. After depositing it into his account it bounces back "reported lost or stolen". Hey that was $528 any hard working college student could use. Especially since he EARNED it. Added insult: His bank charged him $7 for the bounced check and repeated phone calls to his former boss have gone unanswered because he is on an Atlas cruise! Argh! Grrr! I have discovered they are going out of business and many employees' paychecks are bouncing. So he doesn't have to feel like the Lone Ranger, but that is not much comfort.

I think he will work for hubby's company as an intern next summer. Clean and safe office work with no chance of bankruptcy.

Tunnel of Terror Post Halloween Autopsy ...

It was fun!

demon ghoul gate keeper:



Inside the Tunnel other creepy dudes, Kevin, Randy and Gary are waiting to jump out amid the fog, black lights and really, really scary loud noises. If you survive, you can have a bit of candy! That is if the dead monster guy doesn't wake up and grab your hand ...

The Tunnel of Terror was roundly regarded as a stunning, scary success by all students polled at the local elementary school. Personally, I screamed like a little girl. They got me, they got me good, but I won't be trying to get them back anytime soon. For one thing, they are bigger than me and way more frightening.

The Tunnel was constructed by the ever creative TestCase, wearer of the awful, evil t-shirts with naughty messages. Naturally he had the help of his favorite allies (and they had snacks and supplies!).

What he doesn't want you to know: the winged demon ghoul guy kept a secreted bucket of candy to whip out for little kids too horrified to go into the tunnel.

Yeah, he's a demon with a heart of ghould. Boooooo! Hardy, har, har...

I'm tired, ok?

Linfield Wildcats Use Menlo Oaks as a Scratching Post

The Wildcats were victorious over the Oaks 37-6. Pregame, hamburgers were eaten, beer was consumed at our parking lot party. Lots of cheering could be heard. I swear there were more of us visiting fans than Menlo fans. We got to go onto the field afterwards and visit with our ab fab fav FootballPlayinMan, D-end #85.

Road Trip/ Tailgate Party -Wildcat Style-

Linfield College travels to the San Francisco Bay area this weekend to take on Menlo College. That's only about 2.5 hours away. WooHoo! We are taking our RV with lots of people (mostly TestCase and his friends) and we will have an honest-to-goodness tailgate party.
Go Wildcats!

Linfield College vs. University of Puget Sound

Division 3 college football is terrific. I get a little pissed that it doesn't get main stream media coverage. Geez, high school ball gets more press than D3 football. Well I'm going to do my bit here on my little itty bitty blog. Just cuz I can. Photographic diarrhea, D3 style:

Cheerleaders do their part: A partial view of the Catdome:













I'm #85's #1 FAN!
and pregame prayer


Linfield College Family Weekend



#85 was moved back to defense end and he got to play in Linfield's 37-0 victory over UPS. He made several tackles, so I got to hear his name announced. We took him out for a steak dinner after the game.




On the field after the game, all the parents got to visit and hang out with their favorite players.

A very good day indeed.

Navel Gazing 101

I'm getting back to my old self. Test Case turned 22 and he has a new drug that he is taking along with the old one. All seems well with him for now. In one month he will get another blood test to check the theraputic levels (of the drugs) and liver enzymes.

I was quite depressed. For a time I came home from work everyday and slept for one hour until Warrior Princess got home from school. I caught a cold and got over it. I had nightmares. My dark passenger would not leave me alone.

This morning I got my jaw drilled with the titanium implant. In four months I will get the new fake tooth. My friend vicodin and I are staying home today.

Last weekend I got back on the blogsphere and looked around and I laughed and it felt good.
I really don't like descending into the black hole, but the dark passenger drags me down until I can fight him off. I will never do to my kids what was done to me. I hold that truth above all others. It is the steel rod in my spine which will never bend no matter what. And the well- wishings of friends never seen and far away lifts me up...
thank you.

Boom, Boom, Out Go the Lights

Anybody remember this old chestnut? Pat Travers?

I'm taking a slight hiatus. Test Case had another seizure which was the result of an unhappy collision of bad decision making and medication that is no longer working so well. And it happened at an unusual time of day. I hope to get the meds problem resolved this week after the blood tests come back.
I just feel depressed right now and stressed out...

Linfield College: Home of the Wildcats

Linfield College, McMinnville Oregon
As one of the oldest colleges in the west, Linfield recently celebrated their 150th anniversary.
Linfield is a tiny school with under 3,000 students.
They are a perennial football powerhouse at the division III level. In 2004 they won the D3 national championship.






The Wildcats hold the national collegiate record for most consecutive winning seasons at 51.

Their season opener is this Saturday against Western Oregon (nonleague game).

My son (FPM, middle child, age 19) is #85, fighting for playing time at the tight end position. He is a sophomore. He spent his freshman year on the scout team (practice squad) as a defensive end. He was converted to TE at the end of last season and he is now on the varsity squad.
Go Wildcats!
I will give periodic updates and try hard not to bore those of you who don't like sports.