Slacker Blogger of the Century

Thank you so much to our dear little Carolynn.
She is patient with me when the only blogs that I post are 4 words and, if you're lucky, a picture. I do so enjoy her prose and poetry, pictures and descriptions, her Bunny and her Bear. I accept this humbly and must try harder to be sweet and wordy.

These Blooming Idiots

No, no you guys! My cactus, not McCain and Palin.
For goodness sake.

more animals

And on a little different note:

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

Cell Phone Pictures of Napa

Since I forgot my camera...AGAIN...I am stuck with only a few snaps from my cell phone. Napa last weekend was about as perfect as it could be. Lovely weather, multiple thousands of people going wine tasting. I wasn't. I had business. But I long to go back.

You Are Cowboy Boots

This doesn't mean you're country, just funky. You've got a ton of attitude and confidence. You're unique, expressive, and even a little bit wacky. You wear whatever you feel like – and you have your own sense of style. You are straight shooting and honest. You tell people how it is. Low maintenance and free wheeling, you're always up for an adventure. You should live: Where you can at least get to wide open spaces You should work: In a job that allows you to take change

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Thanks Twinville! That was eye opening and fun to do. Who'd a thunk I was a pair of boots? Seems likely nonetheless.

Floyd's Been Out OvernightAnd to help you get that image out of your mind here is my cactus blooming it's heart out in September! How do the bees find these flowers that don't have any scent at all to us humans? And the bloom only lasts about 12 hours.

Moth Balls

I learned recently from my son-in-law that placing moth balls around the garage would either keep the black widows out or send the current residents on their way. We've had a few in a couple of areas of the garage that just won't move even when I demolish their homes and threaten their first born. They call congress and get low cost loans and rebuild right in the path of my wrath once again. So I liked the idea of making their environment less inviting and went on a hunt for the killer moth balls.

Home Depot employee didn't have any idea but sent us to the Home Defense section. No luck there.

Target Customer Service young women tried to stifle a case of giggles over my noun and had to call for help. They were sure I was teasing them, even though old people don't tend to use foul language in strange company. Yes indeed, they had what I was looking for over in the hanger section. After I snagged the box I took it back to the women so they could see that I wasn't really just sending them on a 'snip hunt.'

I got them home and sprinkled about 20 around the garage. It got quite ripe in there the first few days and almost brought tears to my eyes as I walked through to handle the garbage but the...um...balls have melted away now and I don't see any signs of rebuilding construction workers. I'll keep you updated on widow movement if I see any.

So, I learned that as we age we cannot assume normal everyday objects will carry over to the next generation.

Smack That

Kind of a smack dab in the middle kind of day. Just past the middle of my summer, just before the middle of August, and right in the middle of the week.

A nice little trip up to my daughter's house, whereupon she rescued a new dog. Cutest little Yorkie-poo kind of black dog. Sophie joined a three cat family and she's smaller than them and is already full grown. She now has been spayed and has a hair-cut and is learning to skirt hissing, claw-wielding felines. While I was up there I spoke up about their slow dial-up service and we ordered the DSL to be hooked up. I also gave my son-in-law my old Toshiba laptop that I took 3 days to clean-up. He's not much of a computer man, but with the faster connection and my snappy laptop he is checking out things he never thought he needed.

I'm really enjoying the Olympics, especially all of the equestrian events. Thank you Oxygen Network for giving us frustrated horse people some of the great sport. My friend's son is riding in Stadium Jumping.

I bought some new walking pants on sale and wear them almost to bed they are so comfortable. But now I see the next animal print I should own will be the python hoodie whenever it goes on sale.

Marking Time

We are not standing still. No. Not by a long shot. It may be hot but we are moving fast enough to not notice.

We got FiOS. Fiber Optic bla bla. When I got here a couple of weeks ago I couldn't even watch a great video download because it crawled along like I was on dial-up. I called into Verizon and asked what it would take to connect me to the zippy FiOS. Not bad, not much different, and if I discontinued a monthly fee for long distance I could save that on the monthly bill. Furthermore, I learned from the very pleasant woman on the other end that when we go back to Mexico we can put the whole phone, internet business on vacation and save 75%! Wow! Who knew? The deal now is that once I open iTunes the regular podcasts that I download are just moments from finishing. What a difference. I must really be careful to not get too quick to fall in love with some new music because I can own the album in moments. I bet I could even watch TV shows. Like Weeds if I missed an episode.

I wish I could download Bella because I miss her.

Mamma Mia

I drove up to my home in California late last week. I brought along my cat and a friend that needed a ride up to Arizona. The border was a snap for me and the cat, but we were delayed as we waited for my friend to walk across. I have a "fast pass" and zip across pretty easily but she had to stand in a long line and it took longer than we figured. One of the gates was closed to people walking since the recent rains caused a sink hole in front of it. The sink hole was actually a tunnel that caved in. Don't ask me. I guess it was a drug tunnel, but I don't know. So, the trip took 13 and a half hours, instead of the normal 11. By the time we got to Gila Bend I stopped and bought a double-shot espresso and sailed the rest of the way home.
Now I'm in the land of plenty with movies and groceries and convenience. I went to Mamma Mia today and really enjoyed it. And I went and got a library card. My husband will be along in a couple of days so the girly stuff will come to an end. I think we are going to stay up here until hurricane season is over this year.

Taking pictures with my cell phone isn't always a planned event. So, I apologize.
I got to feed the herd last night and asked Bella to give me a hand, please. She thought that meant to taste each armload and be sure it was appropriate for our high society horses.
This is what you get when you try to take a picture of a moving target and don't have any idea what is centered.
Is Bella too plump? She'll grow into her baby-fat, right?
This was taken in Jan. '07. See the loose halter on this baby face? She was still a yearling.
Yesterday, at nearly 3.5 years old. Same halter, same hole. It's getting tight.
I guess I'll have to ride some of that fat off her.

Quiet Sunrise

I was sitting here watching the sunrise unfold and preparing to take a little walk with my husband, when I remembered it is the start of Badwater today. Our son is once again out there proving he can push the endurance limit. He hopes to finish in under 30 hours. Meanwhile, we walked all of 30 minutes and came in sweaty and bitchy. Humpf.
Son called a few minutes ago and said he will start in a few hours. He explained that the Elite runners start later when the sun gets meaner. He's awfully tough.

Palms

Coconuts, Mangos, Iguanas, Bananas, Tequila, Cruise Ships, Lightening, Sunburn, Music, Food, Agave

Jet Skis, Jungle, Muddy Rivers, Parachutes, Silver, Snakes, Mountains, Opulence, Movie Sets, Buses

Statues, Bandares Bay, T-shirt Shops, Talavera Tile, Ice Cream, Multi-lingual, Lichi Nuts, Fruit Stands

Mexican Highway, Mountainous Road, Jungle Canopy, Tour Buses, Water, Water, Water, Water, Wet Socks, Toll Roads, 1600 Miles

Wha'd I miss?

Summer Sunrise

These summer sunrises aren't nearly as dramatic as the colorful winter ones. And once the sun peaks over the hill I have to lean around my big lamp and hide from the eye-blinding rays. Sunrise down here is around 5:30, and sunset is close to 7:30.
We are driving down to Puerto Vallarta this weekend for a week of laziness and civilization. I'll try to capture interesting shots of stuff we don't see around here.

Hot Summer Swim

Since it's really summer now, here is what is going on in our neighborhood. Most Mexicans love their seashore as much as a Tarheel. Enjoy the swim.

Moving Along

My friend is having her 60th birthday today. She is not allowing celebration because today is also a sad day. It was her mother's birthday as well, and mother passed away last December. So it is the first birthday they don't get to have each other. I made a card that says, Happy Summer Day and got her this vase and cut flowers just to liven up the mood.

Meanwhile, Floyd wanted to help me set up the flowers and insisted he stick his nose right in the arrangement. A week ago today we had to put his best buddy, Chester, to sleep. It broke our hearts into a million pieces to lose our Staff Sargent who told us when to get up, eat lunch, serve dinner, and go to bed. Everyday for Chester was a strict schedule of ins and outs and ups and downs. Now we have to go about our days rather lost. But, the fact that Floyd thought he should help with the flowers made me feel better that someone would take up the organization of our little family.

Desk Space

Pony Girl in all her cuteness tagged whoever to post a picture of their spot where they read blogs and otherwise spend too many hours/day. I decided to be honest and not clean up the mess I live around. This picture shows my personality pretty much as you see it. Slightly tilted lampshade and lots of important objects surrounding my very beloved black MacBook. A favorite Lindt Stymeist Button Mug. A big bottle of water. An external hard-drive. Several books including "All The Pretty Horses" that I have in line to read, and a California map book. A pair of scissors. Les Choristes DVD. A telephone. My lovely pink cell phone attached to a charger. A pair of tweezers. A used piece of dental floss. Pens. You don't see the very large surge protector, that includes a voltage regulator so my computer is Protected, behind the chair.

ABC's

Ami tagged me to tell these very interesting facts about me. There might be a quiz later so stay awake and take notes.

A. Attached or Single-I'm married and have been forever

B. Best friend- Sue. She's been my friend since even before I met my husband!

C. Cake or Pie- YES. ok ok, cake I guess.

D. Day of Choice- Thursday, it's right before Friday!

E. Essential item- Tweezers

F. Flavor of Ice Cream- Butter Pecan

G. Gummy bears or Worms- Gummy bears, but I love sour worms

H. Hometown- Atherton

I. Indulgences- My horse

J. January or July- July

K. Kids- 2

L. Last movie I saw in a theatre- Made of Honor (not so bad)

M. This one was missing so let's make one up...Magic Kingdom or Sea
World- Sea World

N. Number of siblings- 2

O. Oranges or Apples- Apples

P. Phobias or Fears- Heights, or falling

Q. Quote- "...bite off the nose to spite the face"

R. Reasons to smile- A really nice deli sandwich

S. Season- Spring

T. Tag-(only if you want to) Pony Girl and Mud Ranch

U. Unknown fact about me- I have seen Milli Vanilli in concert

V. Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals- Meat Eater

W. Worst Habit- Leaving the dishes until morning

X. X-Rays or Ultrasounds- X-rays

Y. Your favorite food- Pasta

Z. Zodiac- Aries

Royal Poinciana

That's the tree that shades my front patio. I finally found the real name of it after several years of calling it just Beauty. Maybe that's the same species that is called a Flame Tree in Africa.