There came a knocking....

Three oclock in the morning. A commanding knock on the door. I struggle to grasp some coherence from sleep. Its a policeman. He was wondering if I had called them about the noise. The neighbor is playing her music again. The cop wants it to be okay and since he couldn't hear the music he started to leave. I ask him if he has even talked to the neighbor. "I guess I could do that." Well, I guess he can't.

After beating on the neighbor's door three or four times there was no response. No doubt the neighbor's music was too loud for her to hear the knocking. The cop left. The music continued playing. And here I sit.... sharing it with you at 4am.

I guess this is a demonstration of how .... oh never mind. I should simply be grateful that the cop didn't shoot me. Now that's a sport they are really good at. Killing people. What's the difference between a Crips gang member and a member of the police force? The police have badges. I'm just saying.

Home on the range

Several days of just hanging. I finally restocked the cupboards and freezer. Oh, and I remembered to get some laundry quarters. It wasn't easy. I had to smile sweetly and talk smack. The clerk said she wasn't suppose to sell rolls of quarters... but she would see what she could do. She didn't have a roll so she counted out all the quarters in cash register. Ten bucks on the nose. "Luck be a lady tonight...." Its the small things in life that make it what it is. Wait... my tongue got stuck in my cheek.

One of the tenants on the second floor moved out last night. He had a 'galley of guys' to help. Ah, youth and muscle. Now that's the way to move.

I went out for a quick smoke and found them sweeping down the stairs. Something with a lot of glass had broken. All over. Lots of glass. Down on the sidewalk stood a big screen TV facing towards the street. When I asked if the glass was from the TV (gasp) I was relieved for him. The glass was from a table... a glass table.

Being young guys, their "clean up" was not completely done, but I was impressed that they were cleaning it up at all. "Guys" seems to be a good word to use. They were too old to be boys and not yet mature enough to be men.

Here are some photos, mainly because I don't have anything else to talk about.


No ice crystals, just reflecting shards.


Here are the stairs 'what took the bugger down'. Glass covered every inch of each of these stairs... thick.

Several entries back I mentioned something about helping the neighbor put up some decorations... fake greenery around her door. Here are a couple of pictures. It has red and gold ribbons on it...it doesn't show up well.



Thats about it for today. The weather people are talking 'ice storm' here Sunday evening... could last for several days. Ugh. People have lots of things to do in preparation for the big day. I hope the power doesn't go out. It gets cold.

Thursday's Thirteen #18

Crusty's morsels

1. Surprise. TT13 snuck up on me again. Go figure.

2. Do you think Katie Couric is worth 13 million dollars a year? WTF?! I watched her interview someone yesterday and I wanted to yell "SHUT UP and let them answer the damn question!!" Her new contract is for $13 million.... her current salary is $7 million. News article can be found here.

3. I think I'll start watching CBS in the mornings.

4. I tear up over news stories. Its like crying for the world. We're so screwed up.

5. I ate plain pancakes for dinner last night. Actually, some of them were not "plain"... I put jelly on a couple, rolled them up, and started to speak French as I ate. How do you spell Crapes? Speaking French consists of a horrible accent only.

6. Sometimes its too much effort to cook dinner for one. I often cook enough for the next day. If it lasts that long. There's always breakfast to deal with.

7. I've only got one Christmas present.... ten more to go. Eleven grandkids to buy for with a monetary cap of $25 to $35 dollars. That's the amount that was suggested. Now how many of these presents do you think will end up in the garbage can the minute we leave?

8. I am unable to get through all the TT13 blogs. Is there such a thing as too successful?

9. I'm ending it here because I can't think of any more "morsels".

The Blame Game

Do I know what I'm talking about? No... so take that as a warning. But I do wonder about things.... like the investigation into why the levy broke in New Orleans. The "committee" (aka witch hunt?) seems to be blaming Governor Blanco for not issuing mandatory evacuation orders sooner. WTF?! Whether the order was a day or a week earlier, the folks who had nothing... who had no way or no where to evacuate, would have still been in New Orleans. And here's the biggy for me, my question, I thought they had gotten through the hurricane fairly well considering its strength. It was the flooding that 'done 'em in'. Will they now try to blame Governor Blanco for the levy breach, for the federal cut in the levy budget? Its all so typical of the federal government.

A car situation

I hate "car situations", just hate 'em. Its all I can do just to get gas in the car and air in the tires. I want a car fairy to take care of everything else. I just want to put the key in the ignition and go.... period. But noooooo.... nothing can ever be that simple.

When my daughter brought the car back there was a strong smell of hot candle wax coming from it. It was a little low on oil, added a quart, but it didn't make any difference in the smell.

After a couple of days I decided to go to a store close by. I'm very willing for the "situation" to be as simple as a plastic bag caught on the drive line or transmission and it was melting. I am totally willing to have the situation disappear. You laugh. It has happened before. Not often, but enough to know it does happen. Sigh. This was not one of those times.

Did I mention my aversion to car problems... I mean 'car situations'? And the timing is precious, too. The holiday season when you have thousands of errands to run. Baw Humbug!

Tension, Release of

Public Domain Photos

You don't know just how tense you are until something happens and you release it. Without tension you would not know 'relaxation'. Without suffering you would not know joy. The list can go on to infinity. Therefore, so called 'good' and 'bad' cannot exist one without the other. Perhaps that's why spiritual leaders attempt to help us remove the idea of things being good or bad. They just are. But I digress.

Remember my parting words to my daughter as she drove off in my car? "Do not bring it back on empty!" Well, she didn't bring it back at all. No, nothing is wrong. She just needed to keep it another day to finish things up. Okay by me, but today I felt myself becoming more and more tense. I knew she didn't have any money. She had taken my last $5 the day before. (and not to worry, I have everything I need to last me until I get more money in a couple of days, except for petrol.) Tensing up as I expected the worse, I began to collect all the loose change in the apartment. I had enough so I would be able to get a gallon of gas, should it be necessary. Okay... I could loosen my neck muscles a little now.

My daughter called a few minutes ago to give me a status report. She was waiting to hear from someone about moving the heavy things in a pickup. During the conversation she happened to mention she finally got a refund check from the power company. OHMYGOSH... I became a jellyfish. I did not know just how tense I was until I heard her good news. Jellyfish? Make that a puddle of water.

Living on the edge can bring a certain amount of...ah... excitement, but I've been there, done that. I don't want to continue with it. I lived 'on the edge' for several years, but it was just me. My youngest daughter seems to want to live on the edge too, but it impacts her two little boys as well as herself. And I seem to be the fool doing all the worrying. I think its a mother-thing. If you are reading this and you don't have children but are considering it.... my recommendation is DON'T DO IT!

And on to another subject, I just caught the tail end of a program on the public TV channel titled "Color of Infinity". If you have a chance to watch it, check it out. That is, if you're interested in fractal math.... or the patterns of life... or how it is that we are all connected. I couldn't grasp half of what they were saying, but it seems like this is one of those major steps leading us to the understanding of physical life. And you get to see beautiful fractal art with lovely background music.

The close up picture of the broccoli above is as close as I could come to sharing some fractal art.

And I wonder how many people will get 'false hits' to my blog as they look for something about fractals or tension headaches. Snickering softly.

Just some chatting

public domain photos

Nothing much going on here. My youngest daughter is moving into her apartment today. She has my car for the day with my words ringing in her ears. "Do not bring it back on empty!" We shall see. She's very excited about it and is looking forward to being in her own place with two...read it, "two"... bedrooms. One for the boys to be sent to ("go to your room!") and one for her. The rent is hefty for her income.... I hope it doesn't sink her. I'm glad she's moving out of where she's been staying for a couple of months. Its with a friend of hers that I do not care for and that I think treats my daughter shabbily. However, I'm not blind so my daughter may contribute to the treatment a little, herself. Not my problem.

I got a nice 'thank you' email from artist Natalie del Villar after I signed her guestbook. She had updated her web site and is planning on updating it again soon. Fortunately for me, she directed me to her links of 'other artists' and I've just spent some enjoyable time checking it all out. Lots of talent in those links. My personal fave, based on style preference, is Joe Steiner's work. It felt like I could sense the personalities of the models.... and a couple seemed very familiar.

Well, I'm open to the day. I suspect nothing in particular will take place and that makes it hard to come up with blogging fodder, but for an old crusty crone, its right up my alley.

To paraphrase someone I can't remember... 'Be kind, life is hard enough'. Thats a mantra I need to keep at the front of my brain.

Brrrr Baby Brrrrr

public domain photos

Baby, its cold outside... but I don't have to tell those who are living in it. I feel so blessed. My new apartment is tightly made and doesn't have any drafts. Well, there's one very small place, but I can stuff that draft up. This cold weather has me thinking about those who struggle to pay for heat. I encourage you to, if you can, donate some money to your heating company. Most heating/power companies have a program where their customers can donate to a fund for low/no income so their bills can be paid and they don't freeze to death. Even if you can only donate $5 its a big help. If you put lots of $5 together, you'll get a bill paid. I thank you in advance for your consideration.

Stay warm and take care of yourself.

Thursday's Thirteen #17

Crusty's Thirteen Morsels

1. I am a dunce. In more ways than one, but right now I'm referring to blogrolling. 'Big wheels keep on turning, Proud Mary keeps on....' something.... I signed up for blogroll, but I am confused about how or what to do next. This could only mean one thing, that its easy. So now I have an account, but don't know what my next move is. I will return later and fiddle with things. Learning by trial and error can be frustrating. And sometimes dangerous, but always exhilarating.

2. I woke up this morning making a list in my head about what to include in this week's TT13 list. What is that telling me?

3. The thirteen "morsels" are suppose to be things that others don't know about me. What do we do when we've told all?

4. When I was in kindergarten I wet my pants. I was too polite and shy to interrupt the teacher while she was reading to ask for permission to go to the bathroom.

5. I didn't believe my 'then' partner thirty years ago when he told me Rock Hudson was gay. 'What are you talking about! He can't be gay...look at all those Doris Day movies!'

6. In case you are wondering, I've had gay friends and I have hired gay people to fill open positions... when I was employed. But I was not a Hudson fan. I didn't see what all the hoopla was about.

7. Doris Day and Rock Hudson movies aren't fun to watch any more. The last time I watched Pillow Talk I picked up on all the innuendoes. DUH... Geesh, am I ever naive. ("And our government and leaders would NEVER do anything like that!")

8. A review shows that all my teenage movie star crushes were homosexual. I've been had! And when I now think of my "crushes", its embarrassing to my good sense. What WAS I thinking!

9. I'm sitting here with two pairs of pants and two tops on.... its cold and windy. Windchill factor has it about 22 degrees. This is going to cut down on the number of cigerettes I have today.

10. I put a site counter on my blog. I wanted to know if anyone ever read it. There must be a couple of people cause the numbers change.

11. I wasn't able to get to all of the people on Leanne's TT13 list last week, but I did make a significant dent. Will try to keep up this week.

12. I've made a couple of blog "acquaintences' via Leanne's TT13. Of course, one stopped blogging all together. Go figure.....

13. I can't spell worth dittly squat. Diddly Squat. I can't spell worth squat. And just how much is a squat worth now days?

Check out Leanne's list of TT13 participants and watch it grow. I think it was over 40 last week.

Holiday verses Christmas

What a big 'ta-do' about nuthin'... but that's just my personal opinion. I do wish, though, that those people who get upset about whether to call the celebration a "holiday" or "Christmas" should seriously look into the history of the celebration. And if they want to still be upset, perhaps they can take on the cause of all the materialism in the celebration. No, wait... they probably own stock in a lot of products. Never mind.

Repaying Student Loans

What do you think? Should Social Security be used to repay student loans? Here is an article about it. Someone who has multiple major health issues has a portion of his $874 Social Security benefits taken to repay his loans. Do you think there are ever personal situations that should be taken under consideration?

What I would like to know is how many practicing doctors have outstanding student loans with no current payments being made. And how does the student loan debt compare to the size of other loans we have made, like for example to other countries that we have written the loan off as a humanitian gesture. In other words, I'd like to see a bigger picture to put things into perspective.

A Word by Any Other Name

First, let me put a picture up... I miss them. This is a quick sketch done many years ago based on a photograph someone shared with me of her mother.


I read an article on MSN's home page and found myself having to use a dictionary. This is not unusual for me. Are you familar with these words? Or should I pull out my stupid hat... again?
~~~
crepuscular

Pronunciation: kri-'p&s-ky&-l&r
Function: adjective
1 : of, relating to, or resembling twilight : DIM
2 : active in the twilight

The subject of the article where I encountered this word was about horrible rental properties being looked at by a Katrina evacuee. This is the sentence:

“"We'll be contacting your previous landlord," they all promise, after showing us their crepuscular, paneled dwellings."
~~~

epistle

Pronunciation: i-'pi-s&l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, letter, Epistle, from Old French, from Latin epistula, epistola letter, from Greek epistolE message, letter, from epistellein to send to, from epi- + stellein to send
1 capitalized a : one of the letters adopted as books of the New Testament b : a liturgical lection usually from one of the New Testament Epistles
2 a : LETTER; especially : a formal or elegant letter b : a composition in the form of a letter

This word is from the same article as above. Here is the sentence:

“Instead I stood there clammily shaking hands and composing a sh**-eating epistle in my head to our former landlord.”
~~~

Arcadian

Pronunciation: är-'kA-dE-&n
Function: adjective
Usage: often capitalized
1 : idyllically pastoral; especially : idyllically innocent, simple, or untroubled
2 a : of or relating to Arcadia or the Arcadians b : of or relating to Arcadian

“The poet's house is wonderful, the neighborhood is Arcadian, and the rent is comparable to what we would have paid for the stinky-rug place.”
~~~
augury

Pronunciation: 'o-gy&-rE, -g&-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ries
1 : divination from auspices or omens; also : an instance of this
2 : OMEN, PORTENT

“A trailer seemed a good augury”.
~~~
Where IS that stupid hat?

Cancel

Cancel the eye candy. Batteries are dead. It will be next week before I can click the ole shutter again. Maybe I can pilfer...I mean 'borrow'...yeah thats it, maybe I can borrow a few public photos. We'll see.
Please note: I added another HTML resource under "links". See "HTML Tutorial".

Eye Candy...I need eye candy!

I just quickly scrolled down the page and its mostly just text. Rasberry! Blueberry! And Corn!

I like photos in blogs... even if its just a picture of a toe nail. Wait, maybe not a toe nail, but a bowl of cereal. What is it about pictures? Maybe its because we can interpret the picture the way we want to... why am I rambling? Let me find my camera and see what I can do. Check back later for thrilling pictures of everyday life.

RC Gorman

RC Gorman... I just stumbled across an announcement about his death last month. I was a bit surprised but I'm not sure why. I love his art, but its not like I followed his every move.

I remember when I first saw his art. It was in American Artist magazine. (Now I hesitate...was it American Artist or Artist magazine? Oh well, a magazine nonetheless and it was a long time ago.) I remember spending time looking at his paintings, enjoying how much he expressed with a minimum of line and large swatches of color. It is a testimony of the impact he had on me because I never forgot his name... and I'm terrible about names. Okay, once in a while I would get his initials mixed up but I could always recall 'Gorman'. Whenever I say or think that name a mental image pops up...sitting woman, red blanket, elegant profile.

My guess is lots of collectors are counting up their profits. grrrr

You gotta read this....

...if you've ever had a child. Heck, even if you haven't, its still a great read. Its the blog entry for December 1, 2005 "100 Things About Sam".

'ello Wall

Like my British accent in the subject line? Yeah... it needs work.

Its been raining for a week or more around here. The snow didn't materialize for us bottom dwellers (those who live at sea level). The mountain dwellers are getting snow. Its time for a break from the wet stuff, please and thank you.

I stumbled across a blog by artist Nita Leland, which was a very pleasant surprise. If you haven't already done so you may want to check out her web site too...gobs of stuff to scout out and read.

Well, Wall.. just wanted to say 'ello gov in tribute to the movie Shirley Valentine. (no doubt the English like weather made me think of her.) I sure liked how the character turned out. The end of the movie left it open as to whether or not she would actually stay in Greece being her own woman or if she relented and returned to England with her husband Joe. I like to think that Joe returned, sold his company, and came back to reclaim his authentic self and learned how to laugh again.

Another financial rape by Enron

Why is this corporation STILL in business? I guess you can be as crooked as you want to be and steal as much as you want from the little people... but I hope the corporation explodes in the faces of all their executives. "Executives" What is that, another name for THIEF?!!!

It is estimated that Enron has over charged electrical customers by almost a billion dollars, all totaled, since they bought one of our local power companies in 1997. They wanted to give their executives bigger bonuses and boost revenues. Bastards! They just tucked a little extra "tax" on the bills.

The news article can be read here.

I hope those who read about this will share the information with other "little people" so if Enron comes stomping into your city trying to buy up companies that the citizen will band together and try to stop it from happening. Why are rich people so frigging GREEDY?

Thursday's Thirteen #16

Crusty's Thirteen Morsels... one crumb at a time.

1. My two year old grandson has strep throat. I hope to hell I don't get it. The boys always seem to share their colds with me... I don't know why they wouldn't share this, too, but I can hope. The wee one (9 months now) hasn't come down with it yet.

2. The sick boy is sleeping on my couch as I key this. My daughter had to go shopping today so she's using my car. She takes the baby with her because I don't deal well with little kids...so she's keeping it down to one.

3. I'm selfish. I can be generous if I have plenty myself, but when it gets down to the bottom line, I'm selfish as all get out. I may 'give' to others, but I'm bitching about it all the way. Its a side of me I didn't seem to have before menopause.

4. I use to consider myself a "reader", but not after I met up with the real thing. Those people who's library card is blank because everything has worn away from it except the bar code strip, they're readers. Five to ten books a week... and each Saturday you can bet your bottom dollar they will be at the library.

5. I haven't read a complete book in a very long time. I don't seem to be able to focus like I use to... or perhaps its because I don't believe in fairy tales any more. I've seen too much life.

6. I got my heart ripped up today. On MSN's home page is a link about AIDS Day. I clicked it and on the right side bar is another link right under "World AIDS Day - Dec 1"...it says "picture story: a lost generation". When it opens click on 'Introduction'. Its a very short clip.

7. I have to be in a very good mood to enjoy housekeeping. I've discovered the secret to keeping a home clean, however... I discovered it watching others. It helps to be obsessive/compulsive, but if you're not, the secret is to continuously do things. If you walk into the kitchen for a cup of joe, pick up that piece of paper on the way and toss it as you reach for your cup. Talking on the phone...grab a cloth and dust. Its just one continuous activity. And it never ends.

8. I haven't done laundry in three weeks. The property management people fixed the door to the laundry room but didn't have keys to give to each tenent at the time. Last night I finally got mine. God bless a laundry room. I've lived in apts. most of my life and there have only been one or two that had on-site laundry facilities. Be still my heart.

9. I don't give a shit how I look, but if I'm going to be around family or friends I try to adjust myself a little so as not to embarrass them too much.

10. One time I had someone tell me that if I was lucky I might come across an old codger who was so desparately lonely that he would be willing to even have me keep him company... to take care of him, no doubt. You know, one of those desparate dudes. BWAH HAHAHAHA (that's suppose to sound scary) Fuck an old codger. To be fair, it was worded a little nicer, but that's what was meant. Its things like that that make you have to look reality square in the face.

11. Except for the body not doing things it use to do, I am really enjoying being a senior citizen. I'm thinking of getting a cane so I can hit stupid people up side their heads and get away with it. All I have to do is talk like I'm crazy. That isn't hard to do.

12. I have wide feet.

13. I think it is so fucking kewl that the maiden in Shrek turned into herself when her true love kissed her. What a bummer if she had continued looking beautiful. There's no way a beautiful woman is suppose to be with an ogre...but it happens. (snicker)

Hooray... I've made it to thirteen. Here's Leanne's link to find other participants because I don't have the time or energy to add 40+ links to my blog.

Ohmygosh... do I ever agree with this author!

WE MUST STOP THIS

We Must Stop This Immediately!

Have you noticed that Stairs are getting steeper. Groceries are heavier. And, everything is farther away. Yesterday I walked to the corner and I was dumbfounded to discover how long our street had become!

And, you know, people are less considerate now, especially the young ones. They speak in whispers all the time! If you ask them to speak up they just keep repeating themselves, endlessly mouthing the same silent message until they're red in the face! What do they think I am, a lip reader?

I also think they are much younger than I was at the same age. On the other hand, people my own age are so much older than I am. I ran into an old friend the other day and she has aged so much that she didn't even recognize me.

I got to thinking about the poor dear while I was combing my hair this morning, and in doing so, I glanced at my own refection.........Well, REALLY NOW - even mirrors are not made the way they used to be!

Another thing, everyone drives so fast these days! You're risking life and limb if you happen to pull onto the freeway in front of them. All I can say is, their brakes must wear out awfully fast, the way I see them screech and swerve in my rear view mirror.

Clothing manufacturers are less civilized these days. Why else would they suddenly start labeling a size 10 or 12 dress as 18 or 20? Do they think no one notices that these things no longer fit around the waist, hips, thighs, and bosom?

The people who make bathroom scales are pulling the same prank, but in reverse. Do they think I actually "believe" the number I see on that dial? HA! I would never let myself weigh that much! Just who do these people think they're fooling?

I'd like to call up someone in authority to report what's going on -- but the telephone company is in on the conspiracy too: they've printed the phone books in such small type that no one could ever find a number in there!

All I can do is pass along this warning: We are under attack! Unless something drastic happens, pretty soon everyone will have to suffer these awful indignities.
~~ author unknown (received by email)

Is it any wonder that Crusty sometimes gets cranky. Why do young people think we are stupid? And don't bring up the vhr programming fiasco... it was defective I tell you!