A bit of flu

This week our son brought home the stomach flu. Everyone thought it was a toxic reaction to blue-green algae in the lake. Two kids even had an official report written up by the park people to record their illness. I was sure he had the blue-green algae, cyanobacteria, illness too. We were calling it the Elephant Butte Puke. But. What? Then my husband got it, then I got it! It wasn't the water; it was the flu! And an ugly flu it was. Who needs to hear the flu described? I don't. You don't. We all know what the stomach flu does.

Terrible sighting today. We saw a roadrunner eat a Gambel's Quail chick. Horrible. I hope I never see it again. Actually, I think he killed it quick, but it was awful to see. I feed the birds birdseed. I'm not putting out any more birdseed until the babies are bigger. It was awful. I know it's nature doing its thing, but I love the baby quail. They're precocial you know. That means that as soon as they're born they can walk and talk and eat. If they're altricial, that means they're hatched bald, blind, can't walk and have to be fed by their parents. The photo is a baby and a male, daddy probably. See the baby's plume? It's flat on his head. It doesn't stick up yet.


I made a daisy chain bracelet. It's kinda cute. It was going to be an eyeglass chain, but it was coming out too short for that. It's not really made right, but no one has to know that but me. Don't click to enlarge. I need to wax my armies.

I'm slightly annoyed. I went to Classmates.com and added my grandbaby's pic to my profile. What do I see? A guy that I liked added his profile. He was such a nice guy and treated me so well. Hhmph. Does he write me? He does not. You know what I'm sick of. Guys who can't write three decades later because their wives will not like it. What kind of marriage is that, I ask you? My husband doesn't mind if I email a guy that I knew in high school. It's not like I'm leaving my husband. It's not like I'm in love with anyone except him. I think something is drastically lacking if a person can't even write a person from years ago without some kind of weird jealously thing going on. That's just weird. Isn't it? Or is it me? Could be me ya know. Wouldn't be the first time I'm the weird one. Sheesh. I don't know why I bother having good memories about people. I should just throw them all away. They're not worth anything to anyone except me anyways. On the other hand, could be they simply have no inclination to write and that's not necessarily good, bad, or indifferent. In which case, then I'm really full of myself. That's even worse.

On the up side. What is the up side? I gotta think of one. Oh, on the up side, I'm washing my hair tomorrow. And I wore a Jackie Bun to church last Monday night. I was pleased with how it came out. In contrast, I have to try a lot of times to get my Hypno Bun to look like I want. I guess tomorrow is measuring day. I forgot about it till just now.

Going to the library

McKenzie and I are going to the library now!

Sat night

I'm sleepin' outside under the stars and the crescent moon tonight.

Friday

My grandbaby, Lilyana.

Here comes Friday. All day. Goodie!

We have a short homeschool day. He's finishing his outline about Eleanor Roosevelt.

Our son sends me photos from his Blackberry. I like this one a lot. She's a pretty little thing and she's got lips that'd put Angelina Jolie to shame. Boy, if I had lips like that I'd wear lipstick every day.

Our son talked a blue streak on the phone tonight. I miss him.

There was a coyote yapping right outside a few minutes ago. I opened the door quiet as a mouse, but he heard me and stopped. It was pitch black and I couldn't see him. Darn it.

Lately, I've been wishing for an endeavor of my own. Something. But I don't know what so that doesn't help me at all. I love homeschooling, for sure. And this is a season in my life. I know that. But can't some chapters blend a little. I was thinking of offering to do something at church, to serve, but I don't know what they need. Besides, twice I've helped at a church and twice it turned out badly. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.

One time I redesigned a church web site. I improved navigation, made the pages uniform, added some animation, and made it more appealing. The pastor loved it. Their webmaster wasn't happy with it though. He was mean. He was there long before I was and he was not pleased with my enthusiasm. I left and went to a new church up the street because he hurt my feelings so much. And then here, I was the photog for VBS last year and after taking photos of three hundred little kids having fun for five days, I put together a video and on Sunday the sound girl proceeded to play it all the way through on fast forward. I don't even like taking human pictures, but I did it cause they asked me. If I offer to help out at their private school I'm afraid they'll put me in the library entering books into the computer with Dewey decimal numbers. I did it one day just to help Helen out. It was so dull I could hardly stay awake. And once the pastor asked me if I wanted to be in the chorus because he saw I like to sing, but my voice is awful. I don't know how he could think to ask me to do that? And it's a teeny chorus. If someone heard my voice it would be a bad thing. Helen, now she sings pretty.

So I'm reluctant to take action. I'll just complain to myself some more I guess. This post should be rightly titled "Dissatisfaction with Self," but I like "Goodie, it's Friday" better.

Where's the Press?

I watched a clip of Obama last night and the press were just sitting quietly in their chairs. No yelling out questions, no raising hands. No excitement! They looked like zombies. What's happened to the fourth estate of democracy? (I just learned about that in sixth grade history!) And it's peculiar that a president is commenting on daily news - referring to the incident with the Harvard professor and the police. The professor and the police are both at fault. I think they both could have behaved better. The policeman could have diffused the situation better and the professor should have identified himself as the owner from the git-go and thanked the officer for checking on his house.

At least the moderate Dems are slowing the process down with health care reform. I hope it'll die. It doesn't matter what Republicans think since they have no power anyway. We Republicans are a non-issue! Aaaaugh. I need, I need. . . .

Lenticular beginning

I saw this last month. I thought it might be a lenticular cloud in the process of developing but this was as lens-like as it got. Still, it's an usual cloud.

We have a neighbor boy. He's about five years old and he sees shapes in the clouds. He's so cute. He'll look up and say, "There a kitten and its mama." And my son will look up and sure enough. He can see a kitten and its mama.

I have four passages from the Bible memorized. My husband is impressed. I'm starting a new one tomorrow, Hebrews 4:12!

I still feel well. I am so happy! My husband gave me the okay, and I'm gonna send my doctor and his assistant, Sarah, some flowers. She was so responsive and caring and she answered my questions and called in my prescriptions from several states away. She is one sharp girl.

Our son has one book review to write and he's done with sixth grade composition! And at swim lesson today his teacher invited him to join the swim team next year.

Eeep

This little dog scared me!

We have to be careful because sometimes peoples' dogs want to bite us when we check them in. This little dog gave me a start! Haha! I get a boot out of him! (See, he's a ceramic dog.)

Today

Today I am grateful for moderate Democrats who are reading the proposed health reform bill that Obama is trying to rush through. Obama is not sure of exactly what provisions are in it. That's what he said. Why, why? Why doesn't the media bang on this!? I'll tell you why. Because there is no media reporting the news. Ninety percent of reporting is propaganda.

I'm jumping in the shower and we're going to the library today. I want to get our son Black Beauty. He ate up The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He's never read a novel so fast before!

Pray out LOUD cause it makes the devil nervous. Prayer is the Christian's arsenal. It's a hotline to heaven.

The Holy Spirit put a verse in my mind and I memorized it without even trying. It's Hebrews 13:8 and says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

And I am still well today, thank you Lord. We serve a great and mighty God.

That's what I'm talkin' about

Saw this truck in the parking lot at Wal-Mart today!

Our church designed and is selling some bumper stickers. One says, "Yes, this is a Christian nation." It's in response to Obama's Middle East visit where on two occasions he said we are no longer a Christian nation. Forty-three presidents have called this a Christian nation and now the 44th says we're not. In Turkey on April 6th he continued by saying, “We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world — including in my own country.”

What? I don't think so!

Today I still feel good. Tomorrow's the hump day. I'm expecting to be fine, but I have niggling worry in my mind. All day today I've had a pre-menstrual, perimenopausal headache. I took Tylenol, but I'm afraid to take anything else. I'll take a headache over colitis any day though!

I made tacos for dinner and everyone liked them.

The sky is beautiful and the birds are sweet and I'm storing up God's wisdom in my heart.

We're gonna watch the movie Twister now.

Last pill

I took the last Vancomycin this afternoon. No more pills! I'm anxious and excited. And I hope no evil C. Diff spores will bloom and start taking over again. My body is on its own. I feel so good that I've almost forgotten how bad I felt. I notice I don't feel great if I drink a large glass of milk or eat a big bowl of ice cream, so I'll only have little glasses and little bowls. I love the Lord so much I feel I might burst!

Whuh?

The other day I got a letter in the mail. It started, "We notice you've had a birthday." I quit reading after that because I thought it was a happy birthday business greeting from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Awful nice of them, I thought. My husband asked what it said, and I told him, and he seemed perplexed. I picked it up and read it to him out loud and, oops, I noticed after noticing my birthday they also told me that because I'm now 50 our monthly insurance has an automatic increase. Ouch. Just throw some salt on it why don't they!

Didn't work out

Aw, there will be no photo documenting this hair style. It's only been three hours and from the middle on down it just looks frizzy. Failure.

Sunrays to blog

Monsoon season in New Mexico

On Sunday night I put my hair in six braids like Jen did. Only thing is, I never got around to taking them out today. And boy do I look a fright now. I will take them out in the morning and if I look like anything good I'll have my son take a photo. Son has a swim lesson at noon so I have somewhere to wear them - the city pool!

We had a remarkable sunset yesterday. There was a big hole in the clouds and as I was raking rocks I took a few pics. Lately I've been going everywhere with a camera on my shoulder because so many things have been coming to my eyes. I think it's because I feel good and not bad. I have one and a half days left of medicine. Then! I plan to stay well. Psalm 103:1-4.

I'm making a daisy chain. It was going to be an eyeglass necklace but it's going to be too short. I might make it a bracelet then make a matching necklace. It's bronze and light champagne colored beads, but they sure look nice together. I'm surprised the brown hue looks so pretty.

Homeschooling went well. He will finish grade six Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics (GUM) on Friday. It's his favorite subject. I might, that is, might ask them to plug us directly into 7th grade GUM. Or, he might just take the time to focus on other topics. I'm letting him decide.

Hypno Bun

Hypno Bun?

It's my accomplishment of the day. Well, it is Saturday so I get to do mostly what I want to do today. This is two sides of the same bun. A few hairs escaped staying behind the hair stick, but it's still (I think) a lovely bun. It's so not plain!


The link to the video to create this style by 4ypn0tica which I heard about from Miriam is at The Hypno Bun. She is so talented with the updos. Today I tried multiple times. It kept falling down. But I kept trying till I got it to stay. The design it makes is quite pretty. I was making an extra loop with my extra hair but my son put the kaibosh on it. He didn't like the extra loop. So I'm sticking with Hynotica's instructions. I've had it up for 3 1/2 hours so far and it has stayed!

Gasp! GeoCities?

I got an email last night. GeoCities is closing down all their free sites and deleting the files on October 26th. Horror of horrors! What a bummer. It was 1997 when I set up my first page there. It was a family page. It was hardly legible because I used a purple galaxy background and purple text. I loved that page! I thought it was beautiful and when someone told me it was hard to read I was quite offended. I didn't change it for six months at which time, I did concede it might be a little hard on the eyes. It was purple though! You can't have too much purple. It's impossible. I had so much fun and connected with such nice moms online who helped me tremendously with preschool education and forming my educational philosophy. That very first page is long gone and how I wish I had saved the files. It would be a hoot to see my first page now.

When our son was seven months old I looked into his eyes and knew I would homeschool him. Before that, I regarded homeschooling as being for wackos. I was fortunate that we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and there was an excellent homeschool group that welcomed the littles in the area. The mothers were so nice and helpful and didn't make feel silly for wanting to get involved so soon even though our son wasn't even school age yet.

I'm going to have to download and save all my files from my one, last, free site that still exists http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Forest/2468/index.html. I quit working on it seven years ago because when kindergarten started I no longer had time to work on it. Gee, I worked so hard to get a few links to it. Now it'll be all gone; a whisper in the wind. It's the end of an era.

My first lightning

There was lightning all around us tonight. It's part of what I love about New Mexico and about monsoon season. I think it's my favorite time of year.

I've wanted to photograph lightning for the longest time. I was overwhelmed with finding the settings though and when an awesome storm was nearby I was scared to go out. Plus, who wants to get their camera wet! Guess I had a little confidence going since I captured some fireworks.

My first lightning picture. I caught lightning striking in the town. It started to rain so I had to come inside. This new venture promises to be an exciting endeavor but bein' chicken hearted I'm only willing to get out there ifns the bolts are plenty far away. Not bad for a first try. Actually, a second try. I tried a couple years ago in Moab, Utah, and flopped.

And I've been well for three days in a row. I had no being uncomfortable or tender tummied at all today! I read that buttermilk is good to soothe the colon so my husband bought me some and I drank a glass. I gave it a taste then I had to drink it fast because it tastes horrible. It's like drinking sour cream. Yuk. But I haven't felt this well since June 5th so I will drink some every day if it'll keep me feeling good.

A man here and gone

A lawyer from Colorado visited last month. He lay down on a sheet of plastic. Put on a beanie. Covered his head with a towel. And shot himself dead in the head. It is so sad. It was the neatest and easiest clean up. He must have been a very thoughtful person when alive.

National and state parks seem to be a draw for people who decide to commit suicide. Is it the solitude. The peace? From dust we come and to dust we shall return? I was at another park once. I think it was Joshua Tree National Park which used to be Joshua Tree National Monument when I lived near it in the '70s. I recall a ranger saying they always immediately investigate cars parked near the roadside when they can't see a driver anywhere. Something about parks attracts people bent on ending it.

A bicyclist was riding by and heard a single gunshot. He stopped and told the guy it's not safe to fire a weapon in this area. The guy said he was just testing the gun. Bicyclist went into the bathroom. Heard another gunshot. Went outside and the man was dead. He killed himself.

They said he had a really beautiful truck too.

Bird

Pyrrhuloxia, male
Easy to remember name: Gray Cardinal
Species: Cardinalis sinuatus
Location: Elephant Butte Lake, NM, USA

We have five of them! There's a mama, a daddy, and three babies. I think this is the daddy bird because he has the most color.

I raked our rocks and pebbles into a design. It doesn't show much. Maybe in the morning light it'll show. I told my husband to tell me in the morning if he sees it.

Took our son to the doctor. He couldn't hear out of one ear and turns out it was wax build-up. The doctor got quite a bit out. He cleans his ears well and I couldn't see the wax myself, but it was stuck in there all right. He was on the brink of crying because you know how it hurts to have your ears poked.

There are four bunnies outside my window now. I see two quail making their way over here. They see the seed I put out a little while ago. In a few days bet I'll have lots of quail to watch.

I had a pretty good day. Today I feel like I'm getting better finally, again. Warning: reference to a bodily function follows. I had a normal bm today. Woohoo! Party on! One does not appreciate the fine mechanical aspects of the human body until it does not work right. Then, you appreciate it. I am so proud that I noted it on our wall calendar. Haha! How's that for no more shyness about bodily functions. I had some discomfort, like how it feels when you have a low tummy ache from the flu, so I took it easy because I must still be wimpy. I would like to exercise, but am afraid it will exacerbate things, so I will wait. I hope and I pray tomorrow will be a good day too. Two good days in a row. If I have a third it will be a new record.

Tuesday

It's a Guinea Fowl. Took me two weeks to figure out what it was and it was my mom who told me. About five of them were alongside the road. They're a poultry bird. Poor things. They have a beautiful partridge body and an ugly ol' vulture head. They weren't shy at all.

I've felt fine all day, though somewhat lethargic, so I'm worried tomorrow will be a bad day. We'll see.

I raked the site today and it looks nice. I was inspired by the lady next door named Ann who said she lost two inches from her waistline working here raking sites! She's 70 years old and you'd never know it by looking at her. And she had the most beautiful southern accent. I say had because they left today. Continuing on their travels.

In New Mexico it's too dry for green grass lawns. Everyone has rocks. Many people rake their rocks. Crazy, I know. But for a campsite it really does look nice to pull in to a neatly raked site. It looks clean and fresh and inviting. As I was raking I thought this could be like a total meditative practice. Yes, little Grasshopper, it can. At Huntington Gardens in San Marino there was a Japanese Zen garden and the sand was raked into a wavy design and they rake it into different designs on different days too. I could do that! Wouldn't it cool to pull into a specially designed design in the rocks of your campsite? Oh this has potential. They might come out and see me and ask me how I came up with this idea and they'll want to put a photo of my neatly raked unique designs and patterns in the newspaper with a special inset picture of me. It'll be like those posters where you have to stare and stare to relax your eyes and see the picture. Other people would want to do it too. Pretty soon people in town would do it. Maybe it would spread all over New Mexico. And I would get all the credit for this amazing concept. Maybe my idea would jump continents and Australia will do it too.

But the Japanese already got whole the raking idea in about the tenth century. Details, details, ruining my daydream.

Something about Sarah

In biblical history it only took a handful of people, one imperfect person at a time, to change the world. Remember Esther, Saul who became Paul, Abraham who was first to hear God's voice, Moses, the 12 disciples of Jesus?

What is it about Sarah that the media jumps on her and slanders her so? Why does she frighten the liberal media so much? It is a certain something, for sure. Of 18 legal cases against her, all ethics complaints I think, 17 were dismissed and on one she paid $10,000 back for taking her children traveling with her.

It's been said that when God opens the gates of heaven, Satan will open the gates of hell. That's what I think is going on. Forty-three presidents have called the USA a Christian nation. Now the 44th president says this is no longer a Christian nation. The enemy, Satan and his demons, control the media. I can hardly find any truth being reported. Couple days ago read an interview with Colin Powell who noted the obvious saying Obama is spending too much money and his ideas for more government and more taxes are a concern. Yeah buddy, it's a concern. That's an understatement. None of the major media outlets picked it up.

A headline says Michael Jackson is America's Princess Diana. Michael Jackson was a pedophile. He was absolutely gifted with talent, but he mismanaged his money and owed millions. He didn't have God in his life. That's why he went so wrong. Even with all that talent, money, and adoration, without walking in the light of God, look how he ended up. Can't they put entertainment news on the entertainment page instead of making it headline news?

On Saturday our friend, Ben, said he thinks now that he made a mistake voting for Obama. I told him softly, yeah, I think so too. We got quiet for a minute. He kicked a pebble with his toe.

Everyone's watching Sarah Palin. She's had the nerve to say the over spending and governmental growth of Obama's administration is immoral. When people hear the truth even when they don't want to listen, they hear it. That's the thing about Sarah. She says it plain and the media hates her for it.

Some guy in Iowa got his own Sarah Palin 2012 sign made up and he put it on his car. I got a boot out of that, so found one to stick on my blog. I still love Sarah! I guess I'm part of the base. Solidly. The other day I read an article about her and her running and I went out and did a jog walk. It felt great! Man, I love Sarah.

Fireworks pic

On Saturday I drove around for an hour scoping out a site to photograph the show. Spent all that time and ended up walking to the end of the dirt road here. The newspaper guy took photos from the hill, but I went checked it out and if I wanted to include foreground there would be telephone poles in the frame. That's no good. I'm not in favor of telephone wires in photos.

I've been feeling good and bad. I ate one piece of pizza and one brownie last night. Also went on a trash pick-up walk and got hot in the afternoon. Today I had a bad morning. It must be either the pizza, brownie, or walk that my colon didn't like. Am I an Einstein or what. I want another brownie really bad. I made 'em more cakey instead of chewy by using three eggs instead of two, but I like chewy ones better. Maybe it wasn't the brownie that made me feel bad. Maybe it was the pizza? Or the walk? How can I say when I did all three in one day. I've added oatmeal to my diet hoping it'll help. Man, this is pathetic. I'm blogging oatmeal now. Maybe I'll write a book, Me And My Colon. Has it been written already?

The trash left behind by the campers is unbelievable. We even saw a group of about 30 people who were so filthy they camped amidst their own trash. How can anybody do that? They left so much garbage behind that my husband had to rake it. It was too much to pick up piece by piece! Cigarette butts, bottle tops, beer cans, paper towels, toilet paper, plates, fruit rinds, candy wrappers, dog pooh. What I hate most is glass bottles because they break and the babies (or anyone) can cut themselves walking in the sand. I could smell pee in one area which means somebody didn't even bother to walk to the restroom. It's pretty disgusting. Trash pick-up alone will keep all the volunteers busy for a couple weeks. What ever happened to that song, "Please, please, don't be a litterbug!"

I used a new technique to get my fireworks pictures. I got a paper plate and stapled black felt to one side and cut it into a circle. In order to catch more than one burst in a frame you need to leave the shutter open a long time. Problem is, you can easily over expose the photo. When I heard the fireworks being released I opened the shutter and kept it open, then when the sky went dark I covered it and when another firework exploded I moved the plate away to catch the light. I did it on manual setting! That means I told my camera what to do, it didn't tell me what to do. I was on manual setting for exposure, f/11 aperture, 29 second shutter speed, ISO 100, 22mm focal length, Bulb mode which allows longer exposures, and my ultra wide 10-22 mm lens. I had a lot of fun. Too bad 4th of July fireworks happen only once a year. I'm having trouble deciding which of the two above I like best. I think the campers and lake shore are neat to see, but the darker photo makes the fireworks look better. Also, including the foreground makes the fireworks themselves smaller because they're a little farther away.

My oldest aunt has to have surgery. My dad phoned me and told me. I hope they find what's wrong. She's in her mid-80s and she a super neat lady. She's a redhead, or, used to be a redhead and she has the best sense of humor. Her kids, my cousins, they're neat people too.