Caution - Misguided Opinion Ahead.

First of all, I must tell you that I hate politics! Hate is not a strong enough word, but it will do. I have been trying to ignore the whole thing, it is ridiculous, beyond ridiculous really. In the whole United States, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were the best people we could come up with? We have made ourselves the laughingstock of the planet. 

I've looked up the other candidates, but I realize that voting for them is the same as not voting. Not enough of the "Big" people are behind them. They cannot afford to campaign the way they should be able to. That anyone can grow up to be President is the biggest joke. I know how Trump got his money, but I am not at all sure where Clinton got hers - probably in a similar fashion of lying and deception. 

I have not formed my opinions from any of the worst mud slinging I have ever seen in my life. That garbage never quits. I have often wondered why Trump wasn't in jail for the debts he incurred and we (the people) have eventually paid for. That man has some serious issues with entitlement. When her husband was unfaithful (and got caught) and Clinton "couldn't believe" I say "Bull!" She weighed her options and decided she liked living in the White House and the limelight. Big deal, she made Bill sleep on the couch for 3 months. I bet that was a lie too. No woman worth her salt, who claims to be for women, would put up with his philandering - unless there was something in it for her. On the other hand, if she could be bamboozled that easily ...

I could go on and on, but it comes down to what we are going to do. Do we vote for an unstable, blowhard or someone that turns a blind eye to things that are just plain wrong?  They are both incessant liars who will bring the White House down, either in shame or shambles. 

Please no arguments, these are just my opinions. If you want to debate there are websites for that. Better to not even comment if you do. Thanks for respecting my right to agree or disagree with what is going on in my country. Your views may vary.

Have a nice weekend! 

Old Photo - Wet Hen

Jogging the memories

Jack

Taking pictures and looking at them years later, brings back memories you hadn't thought about in years. Even the lousy shots that you didn't think were worth keeping because of the extra junk in the picture.

This is a picture of Jack, about two weeks after we found him on the road, sick, scared and alone. We believe he was 'dumped off' far from houses where he could have been found. He had been eating leaves and twigs as was evident in his diarrhea for the next two days. I don't think he would have lasted much longer.

Back to the picture. He's wearing the cat's harness, and laying nearby is the red leash we used to take him for his necessary walks and get him used to the yard. (Also the cat's - I miss her) On the floor behind him - that dull yellow thing - is a rubber snake, one of a bag of them I bought to put in the grapevines to scare away the birds. Shown is the packing slip from eBay. I was heavy into eBay back then, I bought things for the household and sold jewelry. I no longer want anything to do with eBay, the company or some of the participants. Then there is the small doll in front of him. He was much loved by Jack. We named it Geppeto and Jack dragged and ragged on that poor doll. One day, Jack had another bout of the diarrhea and Geppeto caught the worst of it. There was no washing it, so I threw it away. Poor Jack, he missed it for a couple of days, however he was not at a loss for toys. I still have two crates of puppy toys that the two dogs still go 'shopping' in and string them all over. The nasty old carpet is a thing of the past, replaced by washable flooring. How I hated that ugly carpet.

So, you see, this is not just a picture of Jack. It's a journal of the past and things I had shelved in my memory. Take any old picture and see how many things it brings to your memory.

While going through my files, I recollected how old the TV was, how long ago we remodeled the kitchen (thus the flooring change), and a million other little tidbits I hadn't thought about.

Have a good day!

Saturday Night Date Revue

Saturday night arrived and armed with an extra cheese, supreme pizza, we settled in to watch our movie in the dark. I did head for the bathroom, as soon as I saw the bear attack coming. Whew! it lasted a while, didn't it? (If you saw the movie) About half (?) way through, the movie stopped. Had to turn the lights on so DH could see if he could get it going again. Eventually he did and he made a remark about it not taking long for the guy to be walking upright again. (He had been crawling when the thing stalled) We finished watching the movie.

I liked the movie, I was surprised that Amazon folks gave it a 4 star. The scenery (if it was real, and who can tell nowadays) was beautiful, and the story was plausible. 

After it was over and DH went back to football, I took the DVD into my room and stuck it into my TV-player. The movie played all the way through. We have had a couple of the blue-ray disks stall like that and once we had a devil of a time even getting it to shut down to extract the disk. We are of the opinion that the player is not worth the powder etc. DH threw away the box etc the first day, so there is no sending it back. Will have to buy another player and keep all the stuff with it until we know it works. All the disks our son sent are just blue-ray. My TV player is only DVD. I ordered The Revenant in either/or ...

We're looking for a cooler week!

What's on your schedule?

Virus scare

The other day, I did something stupid. I knew better, I had been told enough, warned my son not to do it, but I blundered in and did it myself without thought. I clicked a link on facebook that was not a known site. It looked harmless enough.
All of a sudden all hell broke loose! My computer was blaring BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP and at the same time a man's voice was telling me that I had a malicious virus. "Don't shut your computer off," he said, "Call the number shown for instructions how to stop damage. If you don't do this, we will have to shut your computer down from here before the virus gets our system!" Meanwhile, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. I was going nuts. Windows defender was displayed on the screen.
I shut the computer off. When I turned it back on - BEEP, BEEP ...
I called my son in a total panic.
He answered the phone, and I hollered, "Help!" as BEEP, BEEP, BEEP continued in the background.
He had me shut the sound off and walked me through getting rid of it, after I explained. I had scared the bejesus out of him. He was in busy town traffic on his way home from work. He was sure I was dying.
I apologized all over the place and we talked after he was home, off the road. 
I scanned the computer, it took over an hour. No virus. Probably would have if i would have called that number. 

Then there was this thing on the news about Yahoo being hacked TWO YEARS AGO! So I had to change my password - I have no idea if that will take care of it or not. I don't trust the things they can send over the internet anymore. More garbage to worry about. 

On another thought, I ordered a movie for DH and I to have a date night. (Yes, we do live daringly) I ordered "The Revenant." When I told him what we were going to do, he said he wanted to see "The Revenant" before he saw anything else. Do great minds think alike or has he hacked into my computer himself? You have to admit that's pretty strange. (I figured I would shut my eyes or go to the bathroom for the bear scene.)

Have a great weekend y'all!

Fear ... Conquered!

Jill's new fave spot.

Jack is is really getting gray.

Jack - 1 yr old

Delusions of Grandeur

I spent the evening with PBS last night until the witching hour. Getting excited about Poldark beginning the new season next Sunday.

I am seriously thinking about a major rewrite of my Julia series. I may make total hash out of it, but I think I could do better. That's where the delusions of grandeur comes in. There were a few things I didn't like, like killing off a main character that I would like to rectify. I'm not making any sales, but I'll leave them where they are until I have a work I like better. Maybe it will keep me going ...

Have a good week!

This and That

It's been a week, probably not by your standards, but busy, tiring, and eventful for me. September is half gone though summer lingers on and on, a little warmer than I would like. I'm ready to sit on my front porch and watch the world go by. 

That guy never did show up to treat our tree. DH hasn't had time to take care of it. People don't seem to really care about what they do anymore. To my face he was almost apologetic, though he didn't seem all that concerned. I suppose he thinks as long as it's out in the country, it doesn't matter all that much. I don't know.

I never got around to making anything with the grapes I picked. Sigh ... there is still plenty of time, but I really have lost my enthusiasm. The steel post on one end of that huge vine was bent from the weight of it. DH must have tried to straighten it - and it snapped. Now, that end of the vine is on the ground and DH has seemed to have lost his enthusiasm as well. Some days it feels like the place is falling down around our ears. I suppose I feel like that because I can't take care of everything as I used to.

The day the car was towed away, I didn't think anything of it until after supper - the driver was supposed to have given me a receipt! All sorts of things went on in my brain like, "Was he really from APT? Did he just take the car, key, and title and leave?" No one would know the difference, I had signed the title and the rest was blank! There are times when I wish that I didn't have such an imagination! It keeps me up many a night. I did call in the morning and the woman emailed me a receipt. Then I called my insurance company and took it off our policy.

What I really want to know: How do you save TV programming? I know that the recorder isn't working properly and I would like to save some things to watch a second or third time. What do you suggest I buy? I was searching how to record from my TV to my laptop and thought I had it figured out. I guess you can do it with Win7 Media Center - only, I don't allow updates anymore because of Win10 - which I am told does not have the Media Center anymore. Oh, for the days of the VHS tapes! 

I am very tired today. Jack and Jill had me up late - again! There I was, holding a squirming Jack, trying to trim whatever nail was clacking on the floor. I'm ready for a little rain one night, so they stay put! I know that sounds mean, but jeesh!

Have a great weekend!

It's over.

Going ...

Going ...

Gone!

Monday ... Wait a minute, it's Tuesday already!

Whilst walking the yard this morning to check on the pecan and clean out my little car, I decided to take some pictures.

 I honestly thought we had finally killed them. The Honeysuckle are back.

 I swear to you, I have been working at trying to kill these, honest!

 They are everywhere around the porch, I hate to resort to poison ...

 Thanks, Bubba! So much for patching up our tree! Lousy crumb!

Any idea what ate theleaves and left this mess hanging on the tree? See pecans? Bet the crows get them first!

Wild Persimmons

 Wild Persimmons, these are on a small tree. There are 3 persimmon trees on our property and another on the other side of the fence. Nearly impossible to get at, they are in the 3-4' strip of property between the horses fence and the idiotic barb wire fence the regular grapes are on. There are also blackberry canes and some kind of spiked Devil's Club trees in the mix. I think we need to rent one of those 'DR trimmers' to even get close! There is no walking in there.

 Tacky and Jill were curious as to why I was out there so long.

Suddenly this Sunday

Had a bit of an event happen this morning. Some guy was hauling an old trailer and as our luck would have it. It landed in our yard.

As you can see, it traveled into the yard before hitting a Pecan tree.

It hit with enough force to bend the frame -

And gouged a goodly chunk out of the tree root.

Surely, it wasn't in good condition to begin with.

Yes, folks, that is our mailbox and post laying on the back.

The man is back, they need to fix the mail box, the post was creamed, but the box itself is fine. Notice: no tag, good thing he didn't hit a person, or a car, or a house! Clearly, the trailer was in no condition to be on the road.

How's your day going?

A pretty day

 The morning was fairly cool and I decided to pick a few grapes. It seems uncle Jimmy had the same idea, he's always welcome to come share anything we have.

Not the best shot - Can you spot all the persimmons?

 The persimmon tree is loaded this year, I would try to make something from some of them, but I would probably botch that up too, so maybe someone else can do something with them.

Uncle Jimmy - picking grapes for jelly

He picked that bucketful in about five minutes. It took me a lot longer to fill mine. I did a lot of talking and gazing though. It's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :-) The neighbor picked 2 - five gallon pails ... must be making a huge batch of wine. She told DH she still had many more to pick. (Glad it's her ...)

I hope you are having a fruitful weekend!

What a night!

I am exhausted and every description of the same. Jack and Jill decided they wanted to do something last night - after midnight. They wanted to go outside to play, and then they decided to traipse up and down the hallway with their nails clicking on the floor. I had to trap them here in my womb. Jack was saying his 'want' word. Gave them food and water, and conned them back to the bedroom with treats. Jill wanted her belly rubbed, she jumped up on the bed and flopped herself over, legs in the air. Jack kept insisting I had more treats in my pocket. They both vied for my attention and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. It is very hard to keep them quiet so DH can get some decent sleep. They can be as bad as a couple of two-year-olds on caffeine! I know what the problem is, it's the heat. They don't like to spend much time outside during the day. I don't blame them, of course, I can't handle it myself. I think it was almost time for DH to get up when they finally settled down.

I found a site for those interested in the PBS fall line-up. I have put a badge on the right side of my page from Willow and Thatch where they have The Period Films List. I think you will find it both interesting and helpful. Just click it and you will be there.

Have a pleasant weekend!

... and it begins ...

Tree across the road.

The Long Weekend

My plan - shoot me - was to record all of the Downton Abbey shows during the marathon. It turned out to be as much show as commercials for donating, so I thought I would wait to watch after it was all done and skip over the pledging ... I should have looked and confirmed that the bleep thing was actually working. The red light was ON the DRV, but it seems nobody was home for the first three seasons. So the recording begins with season 4. ARGH! I cannot imagine what happened. I'll just have to look for a bargain for the whole series. Sigh ... and I just blew a bunch on all things Poldark. Masterpiece Theater has turned into quite an expensive habit!

DH bought us a new TV. It seems to take up the room. I have no idea what he plans on doing with the plasma set, maybe he will sell it and get it off of the living room floor. One can only hope. It's too heavy for mounting and where would there be wall space for it if he could hang it? The bathroom?

I believe hay fever season is upon us. I sneezed - hard - in succession - the other day and hurt myself. It hurts to breathe in, better today, but still there enough to bug me. Back to the Zyrtec, at least I had a slight reprieve since my cold. Sleeping was difficult for a couple of nights.

Something, wind, cat, ? snapped off the tomato plant. I do give up. I know when I'm licked. 

We had a few cooler days and now it's coming in hot and heavy. They say 93 for today, bah. No rain is forecast for a few days. Will be good days for the farmers to get their hay in. The lawn mower is still in the shop, maybe we could get a couple bales from the side yard. Ha Ha.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

How could they?

You know that I am not a huge fan of television, right? Mostly for entertainment, I watch or listen to PBS channels, BUT I did have some favorites on regular TV. Rissoli (sp?) and Isles, which is having their series finale on Monday night, was a favorite. Now, I find out that Devious Maids has been cancelled. How could they? Of all the nerve! Regular TV has nothing to offer me anymore. Yes, I am picky, and I am getting leery of watching anything on Lifetime anymore, if they are going to cancel shows willy nilly.

I really liked Devious Maids, it was adult foolishness where I could laugh and enjoy it for what it was. TV reality shows have pretty much taken over! BLAH!

I'm sure the bell is going to be tolling for NCIS. Everybody is getting old ... I'm sitting here trying to remember what else I watch. It's not all that much. 

On the happy side of things - My PBS channel is going to have a Labor Day weekend marathon of Downton Abby. I missed so many of the shows because of conflict with DH watching one of his favorites and recording another ... Now I can record the whole thing and he will have to relinquish a channel for me for the long weekend. Soon the Poldark series will be on again and they have some neat stuff in this year's line-up. I will not be without entertainment. Of course, I'm still bummed about Devious Maids.