I spent most of yesterday convinced that the weather and forecasters were taunting us with claims it would rain. But yesterday evening the blessed rain came and brought its friend cool temperatures. So far the clouds are staying, hope they stay all day, and there is a chance we might get some more rain. My guess is that we got in the neighbor hood of half an inch last night. When Mom got home, which was late, we went out on a quick errand and the rain got a bit heavier as we got closer to home. Not only did we need a break from the blast furnace, but we needed the rain.

Mom's birthday is Friday and she managed to get the day off. So we are going to go out and have a little fun, then have dinner at her choice of restaurant.

Part Two of Items Of Mystery.

Items of mystery.

Okay this bigfoot is fake, but still.

I will not complain about yesterday, because yesterday was wonderful. It was about fifteen degrees cooler then what had been expected, we had a little bit of rain and the clouds stayed around most of the day. But, the next few days are supposed to be brutal. The crazy thing is, that on one weather site the forecast is one thing, on another site its close to the first forecast but varies on if we'll get rain and then the news says something else. So whom does one believe? The news says it will be a high of 107, which varies from the two weather sites, which both say the high is to be in the low to mid nineties. Just proves one thing, that they really don't know what they are doing even with all this fancy tools they have at their disposal.

Ken Jennings is a jerk and an idiot.

The past couple days it has looked like rain only we got nothing. We could really use the rain and cooler temperatures, not asking for a lot just want those two things.

Have been able to keep boredom at bay. Can't do to much in this heat, but I have been reading, listening to music and crocheting. If it were a bit cooler I would watch a DVD or two. I am really wanting to watch a Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie. But I don't feel like working the DVD player or VCR to hard in this heat.

Saw "The Devil Wears Prada" on Saturday. It was better then expected. We had lunch before we went, so we wouldn't be tempted by the $9.00 candy (okay that is exaggerated, but the movie candy does cost much more then what grocery stores or even convenient stores charge). After we show the movie, we did a little shopping and then picked up something for dinner before coming home.

The weekend temperatures were very nice. Dealing with the heat and other stresses finally caught up with both of us, so we took the rest of the weekend off. We got a quarter of inch in Friday's rain, not much but we'll take it. Looks like the coming week isn't going to be as bad as last week and at least one weather service mentions rain mid-week.

Kiska's first birthday is tomorrow and Mom's birthday is next week (not telling how old she is, for she would kill me). Franklin turned a year old last month. Haven't taken many photos of Kiska or Franklin lately so will try and do a little catch up.

At this moment we are getting some much needed rain. I hope it continues to rain for a while and if by some chance it stops, I hope it rains at least once or twice more today. The storm front pushed in warmer air last night, so sleeping was made harder by the heat. But at least we will have cooler temperatures for the next couple days and we are getting some rain.

Wednesday had a high of 104 degrees. I felt like I was being baked alive. If I ever win the lotto or come into some money I am buying a house with central air and turn it on so I can sit back and relax and not feel like I being baked.

I believe the heat has resulted in me having some strange dreams, some of which I do remember and have posted here and many I cant remember for more then a fleeting moment or two. But, I can have strange dreams any time of the year though.

Today, I am going to do a couple chores and then have an extended online time. Don't know what I am doing for lunch, its too early to think about that. But after I have lunch, I will sit back, relax and watch some TV and maybe a movie.

The weekend plans are to do a little shopping, see a movie and do some laundry. Will also do a little housework. I have a couple projects I would like to finish. Don't know if I will get to them this weekend. May just put them off until next week.

I have been managing alright in the heat. Yesterday I had a migraine and I lost most of the day because of it. The next couple days are supposed to be worse then what we have had so far. Went out and bought a couple new fans last night, I don't have central air and couldn't afford to run it much even if I did. We need rain and we need cooler temperatures, so if there was a way to bribe Mother Nature I would do it to get those things.

Red buttons passed away a couple days ago. The only movie I have of his is "The Poseidon Adventure", but I have seen some of his other work.

Thursday we went out to do a errand and have some dinner after Mom got off work. When we got out of the restaurant, it was a little cooler and some cloud cover had moved in. Later it started raining and we got have a half inch of rain in total. Some places south of us got a heck of a lot more rain.

Gas prices are on the rise again, as if that's a shock to people. I haven't heard of any drive offs at gas stations recently, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was happening more than we know about. Some people want to blame the owners of gas stations and convenient stores for gas prices and while some may be tacking on a few cents to make a profit, I doubt everyone is doing that. There are some honest station owners out there. Of course, it would be wonderful if a gallon of gas cost no more then a dollar fifty. But those days of cheaper gas are long gone. I do find it interesting though, that the price of gas has gone up while President Bush has been in office. Him being an oil man and possibly making money off doesn't have anything to with it. Or does it? No, we cant say something like that, or can we?

Had a strange dream with a recurring theme last night. Dreamt I was in high school again. The layout of the school was different then it was when I was there. After school was out for the day, I hurried towards the bus. When I got to the area where all the buses wait, I couldn't remember the number of my bus and when I finally did (it was 12 by the way), the buses began to leave which meant that I had to walk home. As I headed home, I repositioned my backpack and heard people behind me making fun of me. It didn't bother me a bit and I kept walking. At some point I realized that not only had it gone from day to night but I was over in Kansas City MO instead of Kansas City KS. It seemed a bit odd to me but almost as if that were normal. As I walked not only did I come up with a better back pack but I saw Melissa Etheridge walking along the street. She came over and started to direct us to the right way home. Even though I was heckled again and came up with a new backpack that I moved my stuff to and saw a famous person, nothing seemed to bug me and I thought it was all normal.

Looks like this is going to be a unusual summer in that it seems to be warmer then normal. Couple years ago it was cooler and wetter then normal so I guess Mother Nature is trying to even things out.

The strange dreams and troubles with sleeping continue. Nothing real bad, just one of the strange sleep cycles I get into from time to time.

Having been trying to find good (or at least entertaining) things to watch on TV in the evening and haven't had much luck. Until last night when there were four shows that overlapped each other were on. Taped one show in the living room, watched two and then caught the last one when it re-aired later that evening. I don't think programmers are trying to annoy us, but they are doing a good job of it.

June Allyson has died. I like a lot of the movies she was in. She will be missed.

The weekend and Monday were quite nice temperature wise and that's going to change this week. Today through the weekend it is going to get warmer. Friday is supposed to be close to 100 degrees and since the humidity is up from the rain and just up in general, that means it will feel every inch 100 degrees. I will say that when it has gotten warm, it wasn't that bad due to the humidity being low. Am not really complaining about the weather, I know it's summer and it's supposed to be warm and uncomfortable.

Had a strange dream Monday. I was with a group of people outside some building and we were told that there the bomb (a nuclear bomb) was going to be dropped. As we stood there someone screamed there's the plane now. We looked up and there was a large shiny plane and we became silent for a moment when we realized this was all for real. The guy who told us about the bomb spoke up again and said we needed to drink this juice that would help with the affects of the nuclear winter. I was standing at a desk that had cups set out and also had packages of this juice I was to dispense on top of it. I began to open the juice packs and wondered if I was doing it right, I wasn't sure of it because there was some mushy looking glob still inside some of the packs. After all the juice had been handed out, we headed for the shelters. As I walked to the real shelter, my dream self began to tell people where some of the other shelters were all the while knowing that they were screwed because they either wouldn't find it in time or because they were to close to the surface. As I walked to the real one I could people scrambling to get in to the cement corridors underground and look around for the entrance of the shelter. Some of the people were being to panic. Three other people and myself headed to the real shelter,when we got to the building where it was, we walked in and went to the elevator and headed down. My dream self hoped the bomb wouldn't go off while we were in the elevator. After we got down to the shelter level, the doors opened and revealed that we had to go through several glass doors before we could get into the shelter, we hurried to get through them. As we got closer to the shelter, a groupe of people appeared and asked where we were going. One of the guys I was with and myself managed to deflect there questions enough that they left. Once the last glass door had been opened and the shelter door had also been opened, all the glass doors closed and sealed us off. Once we entered the shelter and found everything alright, we sealed the shelter door and sat down. A few seconds later we felt the earth shake and we knew the bomb had been dropped. That's all I remember.

The past couple days have been pleasant. Cooler temps and a bit of rain will make anyone feel better. I must say that I am very happy I mowed the back yard and took care of some weeds yesterday morning. Although some of my neighbors will mow while its raining or even right after, I hate doing that.

Another plot to attack America was foiled. Idiots. We may get battered and bruised but we will always be ready to kick ass first and ask questions later.

The total rain fall of a couple days ago is one and a half inches.

Yesterday was cooler then Monday and way cooler then Sunday. Sundays high was about 100 degrees. It was cool last night as we sat out and shot of some fireworks. I kept a box of sparklers and a couple other things back for New Years eve.

We got some cooler weather and some much needed rain last night and into the morning. It start some time in the evening and rained heavy for a brief period, after it stopped I thought for sure we wouldn't get anymore rain. Around midnight it started raining and it continued off and on until early morning. From the looks of it we got a little over two inches of much needed rain and cooler temperatures.

Got several things done yesterday, including getting a safe deposit box at a different bank. The bank were we had the old deposit box at was no longer dealing with them, so they sent everyone letters instructing them what to do. So we switched banks and we got the first year free.

Finally saw the movie "The Da Vinci Code" yesterday. I had read the book but for one reason or another, I had just put off seeing the movie. Well the movie sucked. Yes I am going to say it, the book was better. Don't always say it but in this case its true. I was happy when the credits began to roll. What I should have done was just waited until it came out on DVD instead, that way I could have just fast forward through the dull parts, which would have been most of the movie.

This fourth of July is going to be hot. It is usually one of three things, cool, wet or hot. But it is summer so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Have a few chores I need to do today, but will take it easy much of the day. Tomorrow Mom has the day of, so we will do a couple things in the morning and not sure what else we will do. One thing we will take care of is transferring stuff we have in a safe deposit box from one bank to another. We will add a few things to the box before we go to the next bank.

Been having troubles sleeping, mainly being unable to stay asleep for the usual large chunks or all night like I normally do. I sleep hard for an hour and then have trouble getting back to sleep. On top of this I've been having some strange dreams, like the plane dream recently, and I usually don't remember much detail.

Got a brief rain storm last night. It didn't rain enough to fill the gauge. The storm headed southeast, so they probably got more then us.

Allergies have been bothering me a lot lately. My allergies and how bad they are vary with the season and also vary on how the weather is. Like if we are real dry, they might not be as bad or if we get a lot of rain they might get worse. It depends on what is growing and the time of year. Lately I have wanted to take my eyes out and dip them in water because they have felt so gritty. Thank GOD I have eye drops and over the counter stuff to help me combat them. I would like to know what it was like to live without allergies though.

Aaron Spelling passed away after suffering a stroke early last week. I enjoyed some of the shows he was behind.

Patsy Ramsey, who's daughter was murdered and the killer never caught, died from cancer. It seems odd and sad that the killer of her daughter was never caught, then again maybe the killer just died.

We decided that after we got the car worked on, an oil change and a radiator flush, and did a couple errands that we would go to a couple of the antique malls we used to go to. The main reason for going was to look for a replacement ironstone pitcher and bowl set that was broken by Franklin earlier in the week. I know frank didn't mean to break it, he just lost his footing after failure to jump were he had intended.

Anyway, we drove up to one and after walking around a bit, we I didnt find anything and set out to go to the next one. The next mall was closed and had been turned into something else, both of us were shocked it had closed. The place always seemed busy, although the prices some of the dealers were charging for there goods was a bit high. After we drove past the place again just to make sure it was indeed gone, we continued driving north to another antique we hadn't been to in awhile, when we got there it too was gone for good. The three other little antique places near it were gone as well. As we headed back home, we discussed the malls and figured it was due to many factors, including eBay and economy.

While we were out and about, we ran into some rain. I guessed, and guessed wrong, that we didnt get anything at home. When we got home, the rain gauge showed an inch of much needed rain. The rain watered the plants I have sort of neglected for the past couple of weeks as well as cooled things off. The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow before it starts heating back up again.

Have been having some strange dreams lately. Most of them I can only remember just a tiny bit about and a couple I can remember more detail.

One dream involved Mom and me driving to the hardware store, I don't remember what we were going to buy though. I do remember that it was night, there was hardly a person on the road besides us, it was overcast and looked like it had rained and there was just enough ambient light so we could see (for some reason the street lights were out). The biggest thing in the dream is seeing a plane crash. As we drove we could see burn marks on the street and chunks of the plane here and there. I was a passenger in the car and saw the plane shoot up do some acrobat tricks and then crash. Neither of us seemed to be a bit worried about what had just happened. Not sure what the dream means and not sure I want to find out.

Got some rain this morning, not very much but at least it was rain. The rain brought some cooler temperatures with it. Today is much cooler then what it was yesterday. The next few days are supposed to be a little cooler then what its been lately.

Got the Ren & Stimpy DVD set of season one and two as well as the Star Trek Nemesis DVD in today's mail. I had taken advantage of a sale at Deepdiscountdvd.com last week and got twenty percent off the price of both items. Even though I already had the Star Trek disc, I didn't have the collectors edition version of it. Will sell or give away that movie. Am very happy to finally have Ren & Stimpy on disc, the set has some special features and will keep me entertained well into next week.

Saw the movie "A Prairie Home Companion" on Saturday. It was alright, it was the first movie I've since February because what's come out so far this year has been nothing short of trash. There are a couple more movies I would like to see and I think that will be for movies this year.

We got a little rain both Saturday and Sunday early in the morning. The weather was nice during the weekend for a change, sure it was warm but it didn't feel too bad. The heat returns for the week, the chance of rain is slim. This is turning into a bit of a dry year, although some parts of the country have it worse so I cant complain too much.

Cant seem to get myself motivated to do the things I know I need to do. Although I can try my best and blame the heat, that's only one part of it.

The previous two days were cool and nice, but we are now going back on to the Mother Nature roller coaster ride. The temperatures are going to be all over the map for the rest of the week apparently. I don't know if I put much stock into it though.

Today the movie "The Quiet Earth" is going to be released on DVD and I am very happy. Before long the copy I pre-ordered will arrive. I have been waiting for some years to get my hands on a copy of this movie, so when I found out it was being released on DVD I was overjoyed. The movie is fairly interesting, will watch and see if it holds up to how I remember it. One thing is for certain though, even if I don't like, there is not a chance in Hades that I will EVER sell it. No matter what, that will never happen.

Woke up with a headache and my allergies bothering me. Hopefully some aspirin and a allergy pill will make me feel a tad better, if not I'll just lay on the floor and moan like a three year old.

Yesterday and today have been warmer then normal. The heat is to extend into the weekend. What would be nice is a cool stretch of weather with a bit of rain. But I think this is going to be a warmer then normal summer, somewhat like what last year was like. So I will just have to plan accordingly and be happy when we get cool weather. Good thing is that it cools off a bit at night and the house isn't to bad. You do notice it being warmer when you're a bit sluggish and sweating.

Have not slept well the past couple nights and its not because of the heat, it does cool off a bit at night which helps a lot. Not really sure why I am having troubles sleeping. I am not having nightmares or anything. It could be just one of those normal things.

Have a couple errands to take care of in the morning. Need to go to the bank and the laundromat. Will let Mom catch up on her mail, sleep and a few chores. Next weekend we will go see a movie. The four day July fourth weekend, we plan on seeing a couple more movies and do some shopping.

It never rained here yesterday like had been forecast, though east of here there were thunderstorm warnings. So the total for Monday and the previous rain was three quarters of an inch. Much of that rain came in Monday's thunderstorm.

I don't know why, but I am a bit uneasy today. Could have something to so with it being 06-06-06, but I could be wrong.

Had a severe thunderstorm system roar through the area last night. The power went out for about thirty seconds, thought it would be out for awhile but I was wrong. The power never went out again during the storm. Since it looks like we might get some rain today, I will hold off with the rain tally.

Finished one of the afghans I had put off for months. It was just cool enough yesterday for me to finish it while I watched TV. The other one will wait until fall. Have decided to start another afghan and work on it when I can. Will be using some scrape yarn to create this one. Although I have a large quantity of yarn at my disposal, I want to use up some of this leftover yarn rather then store it.

We got some rain this morning, don't think it was forecast. The day turned out to be cooler then had been forecasted. This week it is supposed to be in the mid to upper eighties, but it cools off at night so it should be fairly nice in the house.

Finally getting around to finishing an afghan I started some months ago. I am very close to the end on it and will push to get it done so that we can wash it the next trip to the laundromat. I have another afghan, this one for a bed, that I need to finish but the thing would have to be covering my legs in order for me to finish it and it's a little warm for that. The thing can wait until fall, or a cool spell this summer. I might end up crocheting a couple small afghans this summer just to keep myself busy. Might even try knitting a scarf, a project I have been putting off. While I may not be very good at crocheting or knitting, my Mom doesn't care and she likes the things I make for her.

I got the MST3K DVD set last week and watched the movies. Loved "Wild Rebels" and "The Sinister Urge", but the "Women on the prehistoric planet" was bad and although I had seen the "Mixed-up Zombie" movie before it was as bad as I remembered. I can never remember the full title so I always call it the "Mixed-up Zombie" flick. I wonder what Rhino will put out for volume 10. Three films I would like are "The Mole People", "Revenge Of The Creature" and "Riding With Death". It wouldn't matter what the fourth film was, so long as I had those three.

We got a little rain on Monday, got a little more rain on Tuesday, got two inches of rain yesterday. It rained hard for about twenty minutes and then slowed done a little. The end result is as I said, two inches of rain. The air smelled great after it rained. I was a little afraid to go downstairs to open the garage door, because I was sure we had a bunch of water in the basement. But alas, the basement was pretty dry. There was a little around one pipe in the basement and a little water around the outtake pipe in the laundry room and that was it. This was despite the fact that we had a flash flood due to so much water in such a short time.

What standing water there had been right after the rain was gone within a couple hours. The fact we haven't had much rain lately was a good thing, the ground just drank the water up because we were a bit dry.

There was a bit of fog this morning, it left once the sun started to rise. I love fog, so I wish it had been thicker and had stayed around awhile longer.

Yesterday was supposed to get into the nineties like it done the previous few days, but we got a reprieve from the heat and got some much needed rain. Although it didn't rain a lot, it at least cooled things off.

Spent much the day watching 'Deadliest Catch' on the Discovery channel. Great program I have seen before, but got caught up with the show during the marathon.

It has been warmer then normal for the past few days. Yesterday you could really feel it, Friday it didn't seem so bad because of some cloud cover. Summer came early and has announced she will be nasty this year. Am hoping we get some much needed rain soon. I know it will raise the humidity, but we do need the rain.

My plans for the rest of the day are to get out and mow, then take a shower and relax. Have already done a couple chores. I'm waiting for Mom to finish her stuff so we can go take care of a couple errands. I am a bit irked at her because I got my chores done earlier thinking we would get the errands done so that I could mow. But she likes to be slow about things some times.

Even though I said I was going to give Resident Evil a rest, I played it again and finished it in a little over nine hours. I will now give it a rest because I would like to give my other games a chance.

Went out an bought an ice cream maker last night. Will probably make ice cream at least once a week.

Got some much needed rain early this morning. I don't know how much yet, but I would guess around half an inch. We could use a little more rain.

It is going to be fairly warm, borderline hot, the next few days. So we really never had a normal spring, at least not so far. But we could get a cooling trend at some point, which would make everyone happy. Of course, a cool wet summer is not a bad thing.

I got my three disaster movies this past week, forgot to mention it in an earlier post. Had to watch Earthquake first because I have waited years to get it on DVD. It was great, the picture was clear and it was fun being able to skip ahead or rewatch something easily in a way you cant do with video. Did watch Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventure, but didn't give them my full attention. Both those movies and their extras look great.

Have a headache today. It has been strange lately, I have had mild headaches almost every day for about a week and a half. Generally they have left on their own, but I have a couple that stayed around and were just bad enough for me to need a couple advil and a nap. I just hope this isn't a sign of something much worse. Figure the roller coaster weather we have had lately is the villain in all this.

It was ten+ degrees cooler today then it was yesterday. The forecast for the coming week it supposed to be highs in the eighties. Mom wanted it to be a little warmer, well she got it and then some. I thought the cooler temps were delightful.

Did laundry, bought a quilt and laundry baskets for Mom, washed the car, gassed the car up and rented a couple videos for Mom to watch this morning. I was a bit tired from that, the fits of insomnia I've been having lately and not enough coffee before we left.

Will do some cleaning tomorrow and at least a couple errands. Because Mom will have this coming Friday off, I will need to do a little more around the house this coming week.

Finished the book "All The President's Men" this week. I started the book "The Da Vinci Code" Thursday. So far it is an interesting read.

Finished Resident Evil 4 for the third time and will be giving it a rest, a much deserved rest, for awhile. I would never have guessed that I would love the game so much that I would want to play it that much. So far I have logged in over forty hours on the game, that doesn't include the amount of time I have played the side games. At any rate it will get a vacation.

Earlier in the week there was a woodchuck in the neighbors yard. Have never seen one in the neighborhood before. I have seen them a few times along the roadside as we were traveling, on the way to do some shopping or whatever. But I had never had the chance to get a really good look at one. The poor thing was a bit terrified of the Huskies, even though it wasn't in danger as it was in our neighbors yard. I contemplated calling animal control, but didn't have to. It climbed over the fenced and got into a tree when I went inside to answer the phone. Sometime later I managed to get it to get it out of the tree and realize it wasn't in harms way. It ran like hell once it was out of the tree. Haven't seen it since and probably never will.

Will be ordering the MST3K set sometime next week, will be ordering a book on North American Wildlife with it.

Recently I had pre-ordered both Earthquake and MST3k set 9 DVD's. Last week I found out that there were special editions of The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure coming out. So I cancelled the MST3K set ( I will get it soon) and changed my order to get the other two disaster films. Now I am just waiting for the movies to be delivered.

Have started playing Resident Evil 4 again. I don't know what it is about that game, but I love it. Will get around to playing Eternal Darkness sometime, have had it awhile and haven't done much with it, I need to either play it or sell it.

Had a headache this morning, but managed to kill it. The one I had Saturday just wouldn't let go, it finally left late afternoon. So I didn't get much Saturday as I would have liked.

Beat Resident Evil 4 for the second time. The first time it took me 22 hours 22 minutes and 29 seconds to finish it. This time it took me 13 hours 3 minutes and 11 seconds to clear it. The second time through I had Leon wearing his RPD outfit. I bought another Resident Evil game last weekend and have only given it a quick look. I don't like it, but I am guessing if I play it long enough, I might get into it. I don't know if there is going to be another Resident Evil game, but I would probably buy it. I have another game that I bought last year (can't think of the name off hand) that is in a similar vain as RE that I need to play.

Woke up with a migraine that got worse as the day progressed. I am just starting to feel better. Wonder if something is coming it.

Got the second half of our Michigan Bulb order. Will plant the stuff in the morning and do some yard work.

This evening or Sunday will place a order with Bath & Bodyworks. They finally have their website set up to allow customers to purchase things online. Before they just gave some product information and that was it. Guess they realized how important having a online presence is to a company.

Had to go the Laundromat last night to wash some things the cats hate pissed on. While we were waiting the load to finish, one of the gals that works there said something about a car being on fire. Turned to look out the window, lo and behold across the street a SUV had smoke pouring out from under the hood. One of the attendants called 911 and as Mom and I were leaving, the fire truck had finished putting the blaze out. We figured the vehicle had to be totaled, because the engine was damaged and the tires had been burned a bit.

Today is cooler then it was yesterday and is a bit windy.

Got a little bit of rain this morning, around 1 am. Was awake when it there was some good lightning. Has been mostly cloudy all day. Has looked like it was going to rain several times today.

My weather channel program I have on my desktop stopped working. Have tried reinstalling it to no avail. I hate that it has stopped working, it was a really great program. Guess I'll have to look around for another desktop weather program.

Went to the zoo and a pet expo on Saturday. Both of which involved a lot of walking. We also had a nice lunch out and did some shopping. Although it was good for me, it left me a bit sore.

Sunday we got laundry done, planted some bulbs and mowed in the backyard. Could hardly move after that, but had to so I could take a shower.

Been having some strange dreams lately. Last night I dreamt that I was driving at night and Mom was in the passenger seat. It was a cloudy evening and it looked it had rained earlier. The area looked very much like our town, like so often in my dreams everything I am familiar with changes even in just minor ways. As we headed east, I looked up and saw the Aurora Borealis. At first it looked a bit odd. It started in the north and was brighter then I thought it would be and had strange formations which stopped and began to look like what it should. Then from the south, a band of color began to form and head north. After a few seconds, a band of color began to take shape about in the middle and within seconds everything joined up and put on a brilliant display. That's all I remember.

We got one and a quarter inches of rain yesterday morning in a brief but heavy downpour. It rained very briefly in the afternoon and then just looking like it was going to do something but didn't the rest of the day. Looks like it might do something today as well.

I planted flowers that we purchased Saturday on Monday. Tuesday we bought one more four pack to fill the garden out. Now it looks nice in our little container garden. Also planted some Zinnia and wild flower seeds. Will get the hummingbird feeder cleaned up and put it out this weekend.

Until late afternoon, yesterday was nice. And then it began to rain again. From afternoon until sometime this morning it rained close to two inches. It is cloudy today and it could rain again. Although we do need the rain, I hate when we get some much in such a short period of time. We have a dry period and then we get too much rain.

We got about an inch of rain yesterday, it was a gentle all day sort of rain. Looks like the next few days will be rain filled. Will do a final rain tally once the stuff has cleared out.

Can't mow in the backyard because of the rain, so we'll be getting out and using the weed whip to knock down some of the taller grass. It probably wont be until next week or the weekend before I'll get a chance to mow in the back. With the dogs back there, I can't just go back anytime I want, it has to be a planned thing. Mom has to be home and help with holding the dogs back. I might plan for mowing sometime in the week since there are things to be done over the weekend.

Pre-ordered the Mystery Science Theater 3000 volume 9 set and Earthquake DVD's. I have been looking for Earthquake for sometime as it is one of my favorite disaster movies. It had been out on DVD before, but had no luck getting a copy, so I am pleased as hell to finally get a copy. The MST3K set has three movies I have never seen. So I have something to look forward to later next month.

The sun is shining and it is nice out. I really didn't mind the clouds, the rain or the cooler temperatures. Wish the clouds could have hung around a few more days.

Not sure what we will be doing this weekend. I am hoping we can get out and do something a little fun, if it was cheap as well as fun then it would be a bonus. There aren't any movies coming out any time soon that I want to see. Have only seen one movie so far and that is sad. But since Hollywood can't seem to make a decent movie anymore, I am afraid the amount of movies I see in the theaters each year is going to be limited to just a few. Maybe there will be a summer blockbuster or two worth viewing.

Went out to dinner last night. When we were done, I went over to best buy to look at Gamecube games, as I left I looked up and saw a rainbow. It was very beautiful, was able to view it for several minutes. We have gotten, I have not checked how much rain we got last night, a little over an inch of rain since Saturday. The rain has been needed and gentle.

Have been dealing with a nasty case of depression this week.

Had to have the septic tank pumped again, it hadn't overflowed or anything I was just concerned it might.

I finally got my bathroom faucet fixed. Had been putting it off for months, knew it needed done because it was putting a fair amount of water into the septic tank. After I fixed it and the water was turned back on, was relieved to find there was no leak from under the sink and that when I went out to dump some root killer in the septic tank I noticed that the drip that had been there prior to me fixing the faucet was gone. On the plus side I saved us about two hundred bucks fixing the faucet myself. Am happy it is finally done.

The pizza place we went to last weekend is closed for good and that's just sad. Although they didn't have a ton of business, they always had a few customers. But that wasn't enough to keep them going. Now there isn't a good place to get pizza locally. Papa Johns is crap, don't like Dominos and there Pizza Hut is delivery only and isn't good on top of that.

Got a bit of rain last night and we needed it in the worst way. The storm was in and out of the area within about an hour. Am still nervous when it comes to rain and the septic tank but I can deal with that stuff.

Have a couple errands this morning. When we get back, will do some cleaning and see if the lawn mower still works. If by some chance I need to go buy a new mower, I will just buy a cheap and light one.

Had some severe weather sail through the area last night. We were on the outer reaches of the storm and got a little bit of some much needed rain. The sirens did scream due to a tornado warning. We were out doing a couple chores went the storm rolled in, had to return some bad avocados and decided to pick up some pizza for dinner. I was sitting in the pizza place and watched the TV they had tuned to one of the local news channels. They interrupted Americas Most Wanted to start the storm coverage, the weather dude mentioned that a funnel had briefly touched down. Once our pizza was done, I hurried to the car and drove home.

As we were headed home, we kept looking to the sky. The lightning was lighting up the sky as if God was playing pinball. The storm was a nice spring electrical storm. I watched the storm coverage as I ate dinner, while mom sat out in the family room and bitched about the coverage, but she also complains about sports coverage interrupting her shows so I just ignore it.

Have some chores to take care of this weekend. Among them is to clear some debris from the yard and burn it.

The past two days have been fairly windy. Yesterday was cloudy and breezy much of the day and then in late afternoon the clouds left. It warmed up a little and then sometime in the evening the clouds returned. During the evening, I saw lighting and would have sworn it was going to rain. No rain at all. The next few days are supposed to be warmer then should be normal for this time of year and we still haven't had rain in awhile.

Think the bird we saw at the lake Saturday was a Osprey. Not sure yet, will check out our bird books.

Took some pictures of the tulips I planted last year that are blooming. They are very pretty and will post a pic when I can.

Went to the laundromat yesterday morning. It wasn't hard for me to get up early, as I do it every morning. Mom, who can stay up with ease, like usual had a hard time getting up and moving. We did a lot of laundry, lots of towels and sheets.

The power went out twice last night. Its like the fourth time this year we have lost power. Although the wind was a little strong it wasn't so bad that it would cause the power to go out. I don't know what the problem is, but it is getting ridiculous.

We had just come back from doing some shopping and I was downstairs bringing the last of the stuff up, when boom power is out. Mom had to get a flashlight and guide me up the stairs by its light. Everything was put away in very little light and dinner was eaten by candle light, but not because we wanted to. When we were almost done with dinner, the power came back on. About ten minutes later it went out again and stayed of for about half an hour. When the power came back off again, I wondered to myself how long was it going to stay off this time. It stayed on and has been on since then.

Have a project to do today and then this afternoon we are going to go out and try to have some fun. Tomorrow we are going to the Laundromat to get caught up on the laundry that I have been behind on for a couple weeks.

The top pic is of Ashley, he's part Tabby and part Seal Point Himalayan.
The Bottom is of (From left to right) in front Delilah, Montana and Samson. Back row is Tiko, Felix and Zane. On the pillow is Zephyr, he is a Tabby Siamese mix. Franklin is the only one I don't have a good photo of, yet. I plan on taking some pictures this weekend.

Have some chores to do, a few errands and a big project planned for the weekend.

Have a major case of depression. I know I worry too much about things I cant change, obsess about them, get into fits of anxiety over little stuff.

It looks like the laterals from the septic tank are need to be replaced. I am sure that isn't cheap. Don't think we can get that done for fifty bucks. There is a plumber who lives up the street we will talk to Saturday. Until then we are going to do no laundry and conserve water as much as we can. I say that because it looks like we may need to have the septic tank pumped out again and we just had it done Monday. Yes, I realize that doesn't make sense, but the water is coming from some where and then there is the fact that rain is in the forecast and that water will most likely head right to the tank.

You know, I know life isn't supposed to be easy and all, but it seems like we and many others have a more difficult life then others do. An easy solution to some of this crap would be for me to when the lottery. But I don't see me dreaming of the numbers as I sleep or winning the bloody thing ever happening.

Karma, I love you, but you're a flipping bitch.

My baseball teams for the year are---Colorado Rockies, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox and the lowly Kansas City Royals. I did well with the football teams I followed last year, let see how I do with these teams.

The septic tank was taken care of yesterday morning and since then I have been trying to come up with a way to lessen the amount of water that goes into it in the future. One thing I know would help, is if we could divert the washer water elsewhere. Then the only water going into the tank would be shower, kitchen sink, bathroom sink and toilet water, which doesn't add up to a lot of water throughout the day. Have been looking to what how local government has to say about gray water and also looking for grey water tanks.

While I was outside walking around the yard yesterday morning, I noticed that more of our plants budding. In fact, some of the things I planted last year are looking real good and may bloom soon. I might post some photos of them later on.

Lost power last night for more then an hour. The wind was strong, as it has been off and on for a few days.

We also found the septic tank was full, found out when I went downstairs to take care of some laundry and saw a trickle around the out take pipe. Both of us had to wash our hair in the sink and went without showers, Mom cleaned up with a rag and I went to bed a little dirty. I had taken a shower late Saturday so it wasn't as if I was terribly dirty.

We are now waiting for a pumper truck to come and pump out the tank. I know I need to get in the habit of using Rid-X, hopefully this will push me to start doing it. The tank obviously isn't draining right. Of course, neither of us want more digging and more cost to replace drainage pipes. Crossing my fingers everything gets done well and quickly.

I have a slight pet peeve with the post office. Since I sell items on eBay, I need to use the post office to ship my stuff. Yes on occasion I have used UPS, but not that often (in fact I didn't ship with UPS last year but I digress). Since December I have been paying for postage online, which is wonderful because I can walk out to the mailbox and hand the package to my letter carrier or stuff it in the mailbox if its small enough. My peeve lately has been that someone at my local post office isn't scanning the delivery confirmation before it leaves. So I have been nervously wondering where oh where the packages are. One was finally delivered and I got feedback for it. The other is still in transit and FINALLY got scanned in to the system today in Texas. Yes, I know there are last workers all over....BUT I never saw such a display of laziness with two packages in a row. It makes me nervous about shipping another package, even though I shouldn't be. Okay I feel better.

We got some rain on Thursday, the trees and flowers seem to have responded to the rain and showing some signs of life. The bulbs I planted last year have some buds, also two of the plants we planted last spring look really good. A couple up and died, but they will be replaced later in spring. The iris plants are looking good and we have some tulips ready to pop open.

Above is some irises from a couple years ago.

A rain storm rolled through last night while I was asleep and left us with about a quarter inch of rain. We need all the moisture we can get, we have been running a little dry lately.

Did some cleaning today. Did more cleaning during the weekend then I tend to. Friday Mom will be off work and we have some projects lined up. Not sure how much we will get done before the weekend is done.

Did some yard work yesterday, took out a flower bed and put some plastic boarder around the peonies. Also got some branches off the roof. The rocks we took out of the flower bed will be used in some other project this spring. Will order a small amount of plants from the Michigan Bulb company.

While we were out, we looked for a good area to plant some of the things we will be ordering. Also came up with some good ideas to fix our gutter downspout problem.

Buck Owens has died. I remember watching "Hee Haw" when I was a kid. Yes, I was a weird kid and I grew to be a weird adult. But I am comfortable with that.

Last week we had warm temperatures and rain. This week we have cooler temperatures and snow. It is now Spring, and yet we have snow. I am to young to say "When I was a kid...", but when I was a kid the seasons were more normal than this. Yes we did have the occasional weird weather and all, but you still didn't have the overlapping seasons as much. At least they seemed normal.

Had a migraine yesterday. It was a Monday and it was rainy. You know there is that old Carpenters song about rainy days and Mondays....if it is a rainy day and a Monday does something explode?

Have been having some strange dreams lately. Nothing scary, I don't feel upset by them, they are just strange. One I had last night involved Halloween, yes Halloween. Another involved an airplane. I don't remember any detail, just fleeting images. I do remember that when I was dreaming of Halloween, I was smiling for whatever reason.

Looks like we might be getting a late hit of winter weather. I guess Mother Nature wanted to fling one more storm at us before spring started. We were supposed to get some rain yesterday, but it never showed up. We did get a short, but light, snow yesterday. It didn't last very long, though.

I now own "The Sims 2", bought it yesterday. Sold a vase and made enough to buy it. It will take a bit of time to get used to it, just like with "The Sims:Busting Out".

Took some over the counter allergy meds, stuff with antihistimines (not sure of spelling of it), and had to take a nap. I am still feeling a bit groggy from the stuff. Don't thing I am going to be taking anymore of that stuff.

Had a migraine much of the day. Managed to get a few things done.

Maureen Stapleton and Peter Tomarken (he was the host of "Press Your Luck") have died. Peter died in a plane crash. I liked both of them, my favorite Ms. Stapleton movie is "Airport". Both will be missed.

Wow, what a ride weather wise yesterday was. Four storm blew in and out, we got close to two inches. Over an inch was dumped in just one storm. The first storm came through in the morning, the next two in the afternoon and the last one hit in the evening. Street lights were knocked out, cars were damaged by winds, debris or by hail. Some areas had hail the size of eggs or larger. The largest hail we got was no bigger than a pea. The lighting was probably the best in the even, because it was dark and we could see it best. Not sure if anyone died or is any tornados touched down. I do know there were reports of funnel clouds in the afternoon.

Severe weather in the area the past couple days. Just had heavy thunderstorm roar through, it dumped an inch of rain and some hail, it was in and out within about ten minutes.

Went out this morning to wash the car and do a couple errands before another storm was coming in. We got to the car wash when the window picked up and knocked the power out it rained heavy for a couple minutes. As we headed to Kmart, the rain stopped. The clouds were very dark and the wind gusted strong for a bit. Managed to get the errands done and was back home before anything else happened. It looked like everything was going back to normal before this afternoon storm hit.

The sirens are blaring off and on, there's still some thunder out. Not sure we are out of danger yet.

Dana Reeve, Christopher Reeve's wife, has died from lung cancer. Kirby Puckett, has died after suffering a stroke on Sunday. Sad about both, they were in their forties which is too young to die.

We bought a dryer at Lowes. Looked at some of the other dryers, but bought the one we had picked online. It is supposed to be delivered today.

Saw the movie "Mrs. Henderson Presents" yesterday. It was very good, I had heard nothing about it prior to seeing it.

Finally got some rain yesterday and early this morning. The total was about half an inch. There is more rain in the forecast for the coming week and we need everything we can get. It has been rather dry this year so far.

Yesterday was sort of a bad day, glad it's over.

It is, at this moment, like twenty degrees cooler then it was on Wednesday. Rain has been forecast for the weekend, January was the warmest on record and February was the driest on record.

Have to go and buy a new dryer this weekend. Our old one decided it didn't want to live anymore. We are going to try Lowes first, as a last resort we will go to Sears. We usually go to Sears anyway, at least for appliances, but we wanted to do something different this time.

Last night the power went out, not once but twice. About twenty minutes into the first round, we decided to go out for dinner. I wanted to go somewhere where we could sit and chat, but Mom just wanted to get something to eat at home. But the joke was on her, because when we got back home the power had gone out again. So there we were in the family room, eating take out by candle light. When the power finally came back on again, I told Mom that I hoped it didn't go out again and it didn't.

Dennis Weaver has passed away. I cant say that I saw much of his work, but what I did catch I enjoyed.

Have a headache, its worse then yesterdays. Its a borderline migraine and hard to get rid of.

Random thought Monday.

Good bye and good riddance to the winter Olympics.

Hello early spring.

Die,die,die to all headaches.

Mondays suck.

It was a good day to go to Topeka yesterday. It was cool and windy, but it was also sunny. The only bad thing was that I had a headache, because of it I had Mom drive to and from Topeka. I did some general research, while Mom did census lookups.

Will do a couple errands today,including getting some groceries, and will do some cleaning.

Darren McGavin and Don Knotts have died. I like a lot of the things Mr. McGavin did, I just liked how his personality seemed to bleed through the perfomance and what you were seeing was really what he was like. I was never a Don Knotts fan, I found the Andy Griffith show a tad annoying, but I did like Mr. Knotts performance on Threes Company, which was a bad TV show in its own right.

Will be going to Topeka tomorrow. I don't like going there as much as I used to, simply because we have done it so much. It would be great if we didn't go for a couple years, but I don't think that will ever happen.

The weather has been nice, albeit warmer then it should be for this time of the year. But I will enjoy it while I can. The dreaded summer heat is lurking in the background somewhere and is snickering.

I have pretty much given up watching the Olympics, I doubt I will watch the winter Olympics again. Maybe watch an even here or there, but I am done with them. The coverage sucks, the stories about the athletes suck and the commentators are just awful.

Will probably go to Topeka Saturday. Mom wants to get back into a research groove again, which I don't mind. I just hope it doesn't mean that we have to go every month.

Baseball season will be starting soon. Other then the Cubs and Royals (yes I know the Royals haven't been good in years), not sure who else I will root for this year. It would be nice if the Cubs won the series this year.

The weather is supposed to improve later in the week. Need to get some laundry done, so it would be nice if it were a little warmer.

We are having a bit of a cold spell. The low tonight is supposed to be zero, the high for tomorrow is supposed to be nineteen. I think it was Tuesday we had a high of over sixty degrees and now this. Well that's winter for you, one day you're out and about without a jacket and a couple days later you're wondering if the pipes are going to freeze.

Will get some more straw out for the dogs tonight. The huskies love their straw.

Have a couple errands to do tomorrow. Take two on getting watch batteries and will get some groceries.

So far the Olympics suck. And it's not because the Americans aren't doing well. Most of it is the lousy coverage, also a factor is the repeated watchablity of some of the events. There are only so many times I can watch someone on the luge and so many times I can watch speed skating. Curling is just bloody awful to watch and who the heck decided it should be in the Olympics? Hockey, or any other team sport for that matter ( I do not include the two and four man bobsled in this), shouldn't be in the Olympics.

I also don't want to see boring, so called "touching" stories of some athlete who triumphed over some adversity to get to the Olympics. The commentators need to spend a little more time shutting their mouths when stuff is being shown. Their comments aren't that great and some of those people need a good smacking.

I had been somewhat excited to hear more than one channel was going to be covering the games, that was until I found that curling and hockey was going to shown and that some channels wouldn't have more than an hour or two of events. I say to NBC Sports is "Why flipping bother showing anything if the coverage is going to be so poor". And would it be so hard to stay with one event for like a block of time rather then a few minutes here and there. It makes it hard to want to continue watching when the programming jumps all over.

I feel cheated and I cant get a refund or my time back. But I would waste both on something else anyway.

Okay, I feel better now.

Let's see...I am feeling a little better then I did yesterday, the Olympics suck so far (particularly the coverage,it jumps around like a child with ADD on a sugar binge) and Vice President Cheney "accidentally" shoot a fellow hunter while on a trip in Texas. Also Missouri basketball head coach Quin Snyder left his job. The guy did a decent job, but he seemed to be unstable a few times this past season.

I have the flu, it isn't very bad but I feel awful. Slept most of yesterday afternoon. The streets were clear of snow by afternoon and so in the evening I went out for some orange juice. Just hope this junk doesn't linger around for a while.

We have some snow today. Don't know when it started and not sure if it rained as well or not. Went out to do some errands and wasn't able to do everything because of the slickness beneath the snow. One hill was a bit hard to get up, we did do the slip and slide trick in a couple areas when we tried to brake. We did manage to get to the back, the gas station and the grocery store before coming home. We needed to do a couple other things, but the streets are just to bad in spots, so we opted to scale things back a bit. Getting watch batteries and stamps can wait.

The Olympics started yesterday. Watched most of the opening ceremonies before going to bed. Not sure how much of the events I will watch though.

Chat room intellectuals, don't you just love 'em. They are the people who irk everyone with their thoughts on life and the world. Then they boot you or make fun of you when you ignore them or whatever. Those are the type that make life fun sometimes, especially when you can toy with them.

Just as I had hoped, the Steelers won the Super Bowl. But the game was boring. It was nice not to have the Patriots in the game yet again, though. Three commercials I liked, the rest sucked. The three I liked were: 1) The Aleve commercial starring Leonard Nimoy, 2) The Budweiser commercial with the young Clydesdale trying to pull the wagon and having the two older Clydesdales pushing and the last one was another Budweiser commercial with the horses playing football and the sheared sheep streaking. Over all I was bored by the game and the commercials.

Super Bowl Sunday Baby! I will be watching the game and the commercials tonight. Have the fun of watching the game is watching it for the commercials. Tomorrow I will report which ones I liked and which ones I didn't.

Al "Grampa Munster" Lewis has died. I got the Munsters second season set for Christmas. Will start watching the shows again this week, have been way behind on my DVD viewing. After I finish season one, I'll start on season two.

I want to comment on a rumor that's been going around the area for a few days. It concerns the football player known a T.O., otherwise known as Terrell Owens, and the chance he could become a Kansas City Chief. If the Chiefs are stupid enough to sign this guy, then that's the last time I ever care about the chiefs. I know I am not alone in this. He might be a good player, but he complains more then anything else. He gets a chance to play in a Super Bowl, plays like a baby and blames everyone but himself for the defeat. I just hope the team does NOT sign this moron. Let him go to the Bengals.

Coretta Scott King has died. I was born the year her husband was killed. I wonder what the world would have been like had he survived the shooting.

Went to Topeka yesterday to do some research. Managed to keep myself busy by looking up various dates, like the Shuttle explosion from 1986 and a few other things. Mom kept busy looking at old census files. She did find a few things but not as much as she would have liked.

It was a nice day to go with the rain. We got close to an inch, glad we got some rain since we really needed the moisture.

Have been having some strange dreams lately. Walking in fields, driving in strange towns, driving over odd bridges and going through some odd maze like route to get out of a hotel. The latter usually involves me trying to get away from someone.

My pick for Superbowl winner is Pittsburgh.

Will be going to Topeka again tomorrow so mom can do some genealogy research. It has been awhile since she wanted to go and who knows when we will get another shot.

Kiska has been doing well since her surgery last week. She will need to have her stitches out next week.

A cousin of my moms past away earlier this week. I think I might have met him once or twice at a family reunion, but I don't recall much about him. My mom's side of the family stopped having reunions, so far as I know, years ago. We speculated about his wife. He hadn't gotten married until late in life and was very into African Violets. Not to say that a straight man couldn't wait until late to get married or wouldn't express an interest in African Violets but he may have been pushed to get married. And that's all I'll say about that.

Chris Penn, Sean Penn's brother, died. He was a good actor and sort of lived in his brothers shadow. Sad he died so young.

Kiska had her surgery and is doing fine. Sergi got loose while we were trying to get both dogs in the car, we wanted to go ahead and get Sergei's shots for the year. He ran off but came back quickly. Once he was back, we got him in the car and off to the vet's office we went. It was a lot to have Kiska's surgery, shots, exams and heartguard for both dogs. But if we're lucky, we wont have to take them back again for a year. Although Kiska will need to go in next week to have her stitches removed.

Wilson Pickett, Tony Fransisca and Shelley Winters passed recently.

Will be taking Kiska in to the vet's office tomorrow to be spayed. We will take Sergei in so he cant get his yearly shots, when we pick up Kiska tomorrow evening or Thursday morning we will make sure she gets her yearly shots. Then we can go ahead and license them for the year.

The pictures are of Kiska at five months, the Christmas tree and one of Kiskas favorite hobbies-biting Sergei.

Had a winter weather advisory yesterday. South of us got more snow and a bit more rain then us. We got a little more than a dusting, others got as much as a couple inches. Accidents galore because idiots in SUVs and ugly big trucks think they can drive fast, while they can they just cant stop on a dime if they need to and then they crash. If mom hadn't needed a couple things we wouldn't have gone out after she got home.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Art Bell whos wife has died. May she rest in peace.

/rant on

Pat Robertson a so called man of God is giddy about Sharons' stroke. I don't know how this loser is able to go out and say crap like this without people coming down hard on him and doing protests and what not. I mean this jerk has also called for assassinations of people. Is he getting this message from God? This is why when people ask me about my beliefs in religion I say "I believe in God, I don't believe in religion", and that's the truth. Its bad enough idiots like Robertson have an audience who think he's the greatest thing since sliced cheese, but you have the people in the cult known as Scientology that spout crap like "Aids is a state of mind".

When religions can get there act together and say "Okay, we've worked everything out and we are all together on this. This is what we now are going with as a belief structure and so on" I might listen to them. You have one book called the bible, but you have like (this is an exaggeration) 2,000 religions based on that book.

/rant off.

First tragedy of the year. Several miners in West Virginia die after being trapped in the mines for some hours. One miner survived and the family's of those who died at first thought their loved ones survived only to be told that wasn't the case.

May the miners who died rest in peace. May peace come to their families.

Happy New Year. May this be a better year for us all.

I feel a bit drained after all the plumbing, stress and waiting of the past week. Don't want to talk about the estimator and the other plumbing deal because it will only piss me off again. Am happy the week is over and now looking forward to having a subdued New Years celebration.

Have a good feeling that this coming year will be better. Will be more successful selling on eBay then I was this year. Also feel that maybe some things will o our way more then a few times this year. Will put up my predictions of the coming year up tomorrow.

Have a safe and Happy New Year.

Well that was some Christmas. It started off nice and went down hill from there. Opened gifts and had breakfast before we started doing other things. Mom started some rolls and forgot to take a plastic bowl she had left in the oven when it had been turned off while the dough was rising. So when we opened the warm oven to place the rolls in to bake them, we found a half melted bowl. Good thing was it was easy to get out.

At some point mom went back in to go to the bathroom and noticed her toilet wouldn't flush she began using the plunger on it. As she did that, I went into my bathroom and noticed the sewage back up in the tub and in my toilet. We called a plumbing company we have used many times before and in the afternoon a guy came out. He said it was either the septic tank (which was just pumped this past spring) or it was a clog. If it was a clog he would need to auger and that meant water in the laundry room. So we told we would think about it and have the company come out today.

This morning we were doing some cleaning while we waited to hear from the plumber. Midmorning a guy with a septic pumper arrived and less then a half hour later he was finished. The septic tank was fine, just had some water and no other problems. So we then had to wait for another guy to come out and auger the drain. It wasn't a long wait for him and he got started quickly and was done quickly too. There was a clog where the water goes to the septic tank. The pipe was warped or cracked, because of this toilet paper couldn't go through properly if it was a big wad. And what we had was a large wad of paper. The plumber patched one leaky pipe with some tape and told mom that the pipe leading to the septic tank needed to be fixed. So tomorrow an estimator will come out and check things out. Not sure how much that will cost but to fix the clog and drain the septic tank again cost over three hundred dollars.

We did have a botched Christmas dinner and figured we should get out the house and do something. So while it may not have been the Christmas we had in mind, I guess things could have been worse.

I just need to vent a little about eBay. I do like eBay and have for the seven years I have selling there. While it does have a lot of ups it does have a few downs. What irks me is how somebody can try and make you out to be the bad guy in the situation when you've done nothing. For example, I have a bidder who didn't pay for the item when it closed in October, I left neutral feedback (I save negative for something rather heinous) for her and filed to get my fees back. Well now here it is some two months after the close of auction and absolutely no response from her and she finally shows up to the party and she's seething. She claims she paid (She first said she paid with a check, then a money order and then with cash), but alas I did not get said payment. She says she's angry and that I am a liar and a cheat. Not once did she respond to any emails not did I get payment. I doubt she has any proof that she did ever send payment. So just to make the whole thing go away so we can all move on, I said I'd give her the bloody CD for free. And folks she's getting "angry" over a stupid $3.25 auction for a stupid Sugarhill Gang CD. Well I hope she cuts herself on Christmas with something sharp and rusty and then bleeds to death. I don't see how I am the bad guy when payment was never received and no contact from her at all during those two months but what-bloody-ever. Screw her and her nasty self. She'll probably gloat over it and then try and claim I didn't send it but I will have delivery confirmation to back me up. So screw her to the Nth degree and her stupid parents who didn't use a condom the night she was conceived.

Okay...I feel better now.