Life's Future Work

Attitude test….I took one of those test
when I was a freshman in high school.
It was suppose to give you an idea, of
what line of work you were suppose
to go into. Maybe it was suppose to
give you a better idea of what classes
you were to take the rest of high school.

Mine came out with a combo of mechanic
/ journalist? I remember (funny the dumb
unimportant things your remember when
you are older) thinking what does that
mean, I was going to be a writer for
Popular Mechanic's? Is that magazine
still around? Anyway, I could have been
a contender…lol…

But my mother decided that I would
end up a secretary, (why does secretary
have the word secret in it) which I hated…
I worked for the civil service, and talk
about office politics...wow...
I worked for a clothing company, in
the payroll dept. in San Diego. But
I would look out at the shipping and
think, I wish I was out there, as sitting
at the desk, with fingers flying over the
adding machine was boring..I didn't
change as I had got married and
pregnant.

I, later after marriage,became a waitress,
which I didn’t like that very well either…
Then, a short cook for a mom and pop, fast food
and ice cream shop…. Didn’t like that either.
Got sick of my very favorite ice cream really
fast. Lol.

Later I became a dispatcher for a very small
town, Roslyn. Now that was a blast. But then
after 2 years I moved.

Nurses aide… which I enjoy the work and
hated administration at the end. Use to
look forward to working, until the company
became about them and not the residents…

So here I am retired... and finally, have
answered the call, of journalist. Well, as
close as I will ever get to it... which is just
fine with me. I am always amazed that
someone thinks I am worth reading...
Oh, the closest I got to the mechanic part,
was my deceased husband's mechanic shop,
I use to clean the heads with brushes, clean
up parts, and was a darn good parts go -for...
I was told that by the parts dealers. I knew
everything about that car/truck. They even
try to trip me up with, well, what side of the
car is the gas tank. Those guys were a blast
to talk with.
Maybe that is where I got my gift of gab.lol

Alphabet Soup

I got my telephone bill yesterday.
Verizon N. W. I should just look
at the bottom line and make out
the check and save myself stress
time. As you have to be part
lawyer and part CPA to under
stand it. Besides it is a monopoly,
you really don't have a heck
of a lot of choice.

I look at each month anyway.
There is an Alphabet soup of
letters there. There is USBI,
FUSF,and USF which they tell me
is going to change in charges
(of course it is up, but they don't
tell me how much more) and
they informed me that the
FCRA would also turn me
in, if I didn't pay my bill promptly.

Which kind of irritates me, because
so far, I have paid my bill
as soon as it gets here. The money
goes out the next day. So I don't
like being threaten. Bad enough that
they give you less than a week to get
the money to them. Well, it is 10
days, but they want you to pay it
at least 5 days before the due date,
because it has to be in their office
in that 10 days. And they could
care less if your pay day doesn't
come within that time. You just better
know how much it is and save it
from your last payday.

So I play, I can guess what the
bill is... so I save out that much
plus 5 dollars more. And if I gamble
well, I will have enough money.
If not, well, folks there goes the
grocery money.

But having a computer helps give
you better odds, because you can
go to their site and find out 4 days
earlier what the amount is. Oh, they
will send out a computer advance
notice for you if you like. But so far
that has showed up the night before
I get the bill. Big deal.

Anyway, this month I got some
more letters. ZPDI which bills
for AGM. I thought they had to
be kidding. Then I read down the
bill to find out... and did you know,
that Verizon does not handle their
own collection calls? I was surprised.
I called the toll free number to find
out what was the deal. To be told
that ZPDI who handles it for AGM,
handles this for Verizon. Which irritates
me because, why do I need 3 companies
(Verizon is kind enough to collect the
money for these companies) over just
one call. Which the King accepted.

And the deck is stacked. One charge is
Idaho Bill Statement Fee.. $1.45 and
then there is the Operator Assisted Call
which that was $1.91 a minute. Lucky for
us it was only one minute.Then there is
the usually Fed. tax and etc.

See I don't accept collect calls.
Did once it cost us $6.75!!! for a
minute and half. So I hang up
and by some miracle the person calls me
back. Also I have caller Id so I could call
back if it is someone I want to talk to.

So there you are Alphabet Soup.
FCRA = Fair Credit Reporting Act
FUSF = Federal Universal Service Fund
USF = Idaho Universal Service Fund
IUSBI=no words for these letters but
I bet the U stands for Universal. And
isn't it contradicting to have Idaho
and Universal?
And now ZPDI
and AGM no words for them
either. .(althought I thought
of a few)

I really should just pay the bill.

ISOLATION...

As I walked today around the town,
(they are still doing construction on
Hwy 200) I noticed there are a lot of
vehicles with the darken windows.
In fact one person waved at me, and
I didn't know it until they were along
side of me. And, of course, because we
were moving in opposite directions...
I didn't see them until it was too late.
And they probably think I am a blind
or snubbed them.

I don't know why people have full
darken windows. Mine has the one
strip of tint across the top of the
windshield which keeps the glare down.
But these are fully dark windows on
the sides and tinted on the front. Is it
to keep strangers from seeing you? That
is ok, if that is what you want, but you
also keep your friends from seeing you
too. And unless you have done something
to your vehicle to make it stand out, then
you look like every other vehicle that is on
the road like yours. So hopefully, you don't
get upset when your friends don't wave back.

Even houses, as I walk around town.
The yards and the windows.. The older
houses have knick knacks in the windows.
Some times it is just one kind. Lighthouses,
roosters, ducks, mules, windmills and
etc.The newer ones have blinds of some
sort. Some times these follow into the yards.
But I notices a lot of the newer houses,
have very little personal like yards. They
have the usual flower beds, maybe a tree
or bush in the yard. But nothing unusual,
nothing that says this person... as
opposed to the neighbor. The rare
exception is family houses. Meaning kids
toys, the kids make it home, where the
others are houses.

Neighborhoods aren't like they were
when I was a kid. Kids don't get to be kids
like I did or even my kids did. We have to
keep the kids guarded from society, and
that is sad, as these kids will ever know
what freedom is. They will live in guarded
neighborhoods, or apartments as adults.

Where did we go wrong? I don't know
really. They said it was going to be comic
books when I was a kid. They said it was
going to be television and when they were
teens it was the music, when my kids
were kids. (mine were always outside
playing, so maybe that is why mine did so
well) and now they say it is the music and
video games. Maybe it is all of them...
maybe it is none of them.

But it seems the more isolation we have,
the least involved we are, and the other
side of the coin, is the less we have to rely
on. We rather write out a check for strangers
in another state or country, then mow a
lawn for a neighbor who has become disabled.
So while they are in their houses, will anyone
know that something is wrong, will they know
that you need help?
Maybe, but probably not...

Even blogging we hid behind the
screen..

Lost Weekend and Mind Game

I, for all sense and purposes, blew off
this past weekend... I had a 3 day
weekend because the King went
out of town early Friday.

Friday, I recouped from the tests
of Thursday. I did walk on Friday,
but other than that I can't say I
accomplished much. Read magazines,
the paper, and that kind of stuff.

On Saturday, I slept in until 8am.
I thought I should do something.
But with not much in the pocket for
money, I should do something
around the house. So I stripped the
bed and washed sheets. Put the
season sheets on. Flannel. The King
had requested them on Wednesday.
(what is he going to do when it gets cold?)

I went out to the garage and dragged
in the two huge suitcase like things
I have my winter clothes in. After
about an hour and half, I had switched
my summer clothes into the cases,
and my winter clothes were in place.
It dawn on me two things. 1.. 80% of
my clothes are year around. 2. I have
way too much clothes.

I have clothes that pleases me,
I have clothes that people gave me...
I have clothes that I have to keep
because I might go some where nice
and you have to have nice clothes.
So that means 3% of my clothes only
get worn once a year at best and mostly
once every 3 years. Maybe I should get
one of those under the bed boxes and
put them in there.

I can remember as a child I had
probably 3 sweaters. Maybe 4...
two that were button up and two that
where pull over. I had about 3 skirts
(one being the required black) and
about 5 blouses and 3 dresses, and
the required underclothes. And of
course my favorite ..shirts and jeans.
Jeans were for every day around the
house and barn.

Couldn't wear them to school.
Couldn't wear pants of any style to
school. They came out with Bermuda
skirts and shorts. But if you wore them
with the socks that came up to your knees,
to school, you got sent home. Everything
had to be below your knee. And of course,
shorts were out. There were some daring
girls who wore the Bermuda skirts to school
with the knee high socks and loafers.
Kick out...sent home... All you could see
was their knees.

Anyway, so how did I end up from just
a few things to half a closet of clothes.
(King has the other half. Not counting
his closet full of hunting clothes in the
other room) How do we get attached
to these clothes? I wear 20% of them on
a regular basis. Rest are ones that I like
occasionally. At least 50% of them, were
for a quarter or half a buck. I, yard sale.
And most of them are my favorites.

The rest of the day, and Sunday, I did
nothing. And did it quite well. Read,
drank tea, nothing on the television,
visited my favorite blogs. Started a bit
on my own blog.. Yes, I did go to church
on Sunday morning. And then at 3,
the King was home.

Yesterday, I got a call from my brother.
After we had talked a bit... he said he
read my Hurricane Carol blog. And he
said, "I couldn't believe you forgot the
ice cream. How could you forget the ice
cream?" My mother use to crank up the
freezer during hurricane watch (I do
remember that) in case we lost electricity.
And during Carol we did lose the electric.
We lived across the street from the
First National Store, which at that time
was a big brand of stores. And because
they also lost electric, in their freezers,
they had melting ice cream. Of which
they were giving away. My brother never
one to give up on free ice cream, I guess
we got more ice cream than the mind can
imagine. Of course, Mom's freezer was
cranked. So they slipped it in quickly.
And he said we had ice cream until we
couldn't hardly look at it anymore. Now
usually, I am the one who remembers
things in the past. But he remembered that
like it was yesterday. And I have no memory
of it at all. Guess that must be one of those
guy things.

One of the things I did do over the
weekend, as I commented on blogs,
was seeing the verification spot, you have
letters to copy.... and the mind wanders...
and you see words... not necessarily words
that go to gether... so here were the ones
I choose. And now I am off to work...

ipgsma
I pigs man

isgfzoca
Is golf zone california?

atfkxqc
at flake extra quick

iebwx
ie b wax

ascjmq
as c jam q

njljgbby
no jill jig baby

zlsaphr
zeal sap hour

gtojzvd
gto jazz void

okghvhw
ok go hive how

vvmxqhg
women extra quahog
for those who are not from the East
Coast, quahog is a large clam...
and taste great in clam cakes in the shell

Trying to Bounce Back

The King left town early Friday morning...
I wasn't feeling up to speed yet, so he
went alone.

So I rambled around the house. Got
out and walked to the Post Office
with my walking friend. Made the
trip ok, but still not up to par...

Beginning to feel a little better,
but also feeling a little silly that
this got to me. After all it isn't
that big of a deal. But I think
the part that bothered me the
most is the thought process
was not in tune. Even writing
my blog, I had to keep correcting
my words.

Emails were ok as you have
spell check. But comments on
different blogs, left me out
on left field. Putting words
like socks when it should
have been sox. Built instead
of building. Leaves you
a little off, like you have
dementia starting. And
that scares all of us.

But at the end of the day
I looked forward to having
the remote control to
myself.... Ah, ha...I sat
down to enjoy my choices.
CHOICES??? What choices?
There was nothing on to watch.
What a revolting development
that was.

Not Much Humor in This...

Trying to put a humorous spin
on yesterday. Which is kind of
hard when my back still hurts.
Don't know what that had to do
with yesterday.
And my tail end, is not my friend
today.

This misery, starts the day before.
Your last meal was the night before.
No solid foods today. Just liquids.
"If you can see thru it, you can drink
it"..is what they told me. No reds...

They give you this sweet, yucky tasting
water? And the feel of it in your
mouth isn't much to brag about it.

Then the love affair starts with the
toilet... for about 6 hours. Then
you get to drink some liquid until
the Cinderella hour of Midnight.

Up early in the morning and the
King takes me down to BGH.
Never has the Wordtosser been
so quiet. Every one was great.
A kiss from the King and off I go.

I woke up to my name, and the
King sitting next to me. And a
view of down town Sandpoint.

I am thinking, when can I go home
which must have come out of my
mouth, as the nurse answer with
a great punch line... "When you
can walk and fart, we let you go"

I wasn't feeling too bad actually as
I was wheeled out in a wheelchair.
Don't you just love that. Wheeling
you out...it is like..nope, you aren't
falling down on our shift.

I slept all afternoon, and most of
the night. But the meds. wore off,
and then I knew exactly what they
did. Because it started to hurt.

So what did I have a test for?
well, let's put it this way, I love
taking pictures, but that is not
where I wanted my picture taken.
And sitting is a luxury today.

Colonscopy.

No Blog ..10-06-05

I have to go in first thing in the
morning to BGH, for some test.
And will be there most of the
morning and not sure what
shape I will be in ....in the
afternoon. The King will
be driving me down because
they said to bring a driver.

So hopefully I will be on
the mends by Friday for
end of the week posting.

Walk to School Day

My fingers are warming up, my
nose is still cold, but it was a great
walk today.

Today is Walk to School Day and I
was one of the lucky ones to walk
with the kids. Here in Kootenai they
had 3 areas. One was the Post Office,
one was from Ponder Point (across the
highway from Kootenia), and one from
Ponderay. I was with the Ponderay group.
We had about 15 children. And the adults
were a mixer of school teachers, school
volunteers, Chief of Police of Ponderay,
2 from the Northside Fire Dept. and an
Engineer from one of the local business,
and then there was I.

At 6:35 a.m. I headed out my door and
walked over to Ponderay to the Post Office,
where we were to gather. This is about 1/3
of my normal walk, so I got there in 15
minutes.

I was just walking up when 3 children,
join me. Then the children started to
gather.. and at 7:15 a.m. the rest of the
adults started to gather as well.

We had a great group of kids, and the
adults had a blast talking to them as
we were led by the Chief of Police thru
Ponderay, crossing Highway 200
(with the traffic stopped by Ponderay's
finest and the flag people) and onward
up the path along Highway 200 to
Hope Street of Kootenai.

Turning up Hope Street the group was
slowing down, I don't know if they were
tired or maybe it was the look of having
to go to school,and the fun was getting
over. But the teacher mention there
was juice inside for all when they got
in, so the steps got faster. So I bid them
goodbye at the door and headed home.

Nothing lifts the spirit like watching
kids having fun...

The Four Letter Word

SNOW!!!!!
Sunday afternoon, we were coming
across the Long Bridge and I
asked the King...is that snow
up there at the ski lodge?
He said, it kind of looks
like it... maybe a skip of snow.

Well, this morning I got my
paper and looked up and that
is no skip now. That is outright
SNOW. That 4 letter word, that
brings thrills to some and dread
to others.

I am an inbetween person. I like
snow. First really good snow
you will find me outside
building the first snowman
of the year. My kids know
about this, as they were
victims of being dragged
out of bed at 1 am or so, as
I gleeful, wake them with the
good news of the first snow...&
let's go. They would drag out of
bed, (in their teens, they just
cover back up, doubting their
mother's sanity) and go with
me.

Well, this morning, I have
COS, that is related to COL.
for those without cats....
that is Cat on Shoulder, (the
other is Cat on Lap). Seems
Rokon is not looking forward
to the cold. And she hasn't seen
snow yet. She is a hunter. Always
bring me gifts of her kill. I think
she like to hear me scream. But 3 days
ago, I saw one of her gifts in the
driveway. A seagull came down
and got it before she could get it
to the door. Seems she puts them there
and when she sees the door open, she
grabs it and runs in.. When I saw
the seagull picking it up on the fly,
I cheered..but poor Rokon, stared
in disbelief.

Keep warm, got your snowboots out?
Me, neither... I had hoped that we
would get a chance to ease into
this.

If you see an old lady laying on
on her lawn in Kootenai... don't fear...
She is just making snow angels...
I have had a lot of practice.

Connecting the Dots....

A several weeks ago, while killing
some time, I Googled my own name
and then I happen to Google my great
grandfather's name. And up popped
a listing for a St. Louis Library. Long
and short of it, it was his obit. in the
St. Louis paper. A place where he passed
away. I emailed them about it. And
for the little sum of $1.25 I had a copy
of it several weeks later. I scanned it
and sent it out to my children.

That little moment of boredom,
brought on a series of connecting dots.
As one of my daughter's friends likes to
do research on ancestry thru the online
sites. She ended up opening a
wonderful series of dots to connect.

See my great aunt and my aunt had
researched my father's side of the family.
So there is all kinds of information there.
But on my mother's side was her parents,
and my grandfather's parents. End of story.

It is truly amazing because of this wonderful
woman, we have the tracing back thru my
grandmother's (whom I am named after)
family. Her mother and father, and going
back about 7 generations.

Also on my grandfather's side it goes
back 7 generations. Even back to a very
old family name in the town of which I
was born. And there are several family
members who fought in the American
Revolution War. Truly Amazing.

And the young lady who did all this
research is truly amazing, to go thru all
this work, just because she enjoys it.
We are truly blessed as she connected
the dots, that open the window to our
lives and let the sunshine in.