If you couldn’t guess, yes, we had rain here on the Brat Farm today. In fact, at one point it was scary. My weather chirper kept sending up notices of weather alerts. Not only was it for severe weather but also flash flooding possible in the area, too.

We actually had some rather nice weather this morning and the Princess ventured over after discovering that she wasn’t scheduled for work today. That had to be a shock for her. I know she would have loved to sleep in on a morning like this but she was supposed to stop by and pick up her comforter I washed for her and a couple things of the baby’s. As it was, when she got ready to leave, the heaven’s opened up and she didn’t end up taking it. She will come by tomorrow more than likely because she likes her comforter. It’s one I bought for her about five years ago.

The rain stopped for a while and the Beast ventured out with the dog down to the river to let him run and so he (the Beast) could take a few pictures and play with them with his new program. That is when the weather chirper started going nuts. I could hear the thunder coming towards me from the southwest and stepped outside to see what I could see. I saw some really dark black clouds and an occasional lightning strike and it was headed right towards us at a pretty fast clip. All I could think about was the Beast and Baron getting caught in that although they were north of the Farm. The chirper said the storm would have high winds and some possibility of quick tornadoes. Now what the heck a *quick* tornado is I have no clue. Personally, I think they are all too damn quick to tear up anything it touches.

The Beast and Baron made it home just as the storm hit the house. I had turned off the computer and the TV after Bratfink assured me that she would keep the internet going while I was gone. The Beast had heard and seen the same thing *I* had and didn’t want to be caught in it.

It passed us almost as quickly as it came upon us but it was still pouring down rain for a good 10-15 minutes. We got a couple more showers during the evening but none as bad as that particular one. That one was enough to make me get off my computer so there was no chance that something would happen to it. I even turned off the switches on everything. I mean…what would I do if we were struck by lightning and it hurt my baby???? What would I do for the internet? Well, actually we DO have a spare but it wouldn’t be *MY* computer, would it? My computer and I have a special relationship. I understand her and she does me. Pssst…don’t tell anyone but she doesn’t like the Beast.

The bad weather has passed us now and I am going to finally get this posted for your enjoyment or whatever. Love you all. Hope you have a great day. I am not including a thought for the day because I really don’t have one that I feel is interesting today. Instead I will give you a quote I once read but can’t remember who said it…..*Children can ask questions that even a wise man cannot answer.* I find that to be very true. Love, health, laughter and happiness to you all.

When I started this blog, it was really to vent some of my feelings, both pro and con. How it ended up as a chronicle of life at the Brat Farm and the Continuing Saga Of The Beast, I have no idea. It just happened. But that’s really what a blog is supposed to be, isn’t it? You talk about the things that happened to you, the things that interest you, what frightens you or makes you happy. Heck, you even talk about the weather since it affects us all.

With the Beast being retired, it means he is here 24/7. Unless, of course, he takes one of his *trips*. He is a thorn in my side most of the time. He is a bully a lot of the time, not that I mean he gets physical but he IS a psychological bully. I’ve gotten used to it after 45 years of marriage and it doesn’t affect me the way it did when I was younger. But I can tell you this much……once he dies, there will NEVER be another man in my life. And trust me on this point, it sure as hell won’t be because I miss him so much. Off he will go to the Crematorium, his ashes will be scattered in the Gulf with all the kids, friends and relatives that care to attend and then a big party afterward. We WILL be having a nice Irish Wake to toast him into the other world, wherever that may be.

We will be married 45 years on Saturday. Think about how long a time that it. It’s truly a wonder that we have lived together this long without killing each other. He’s been a better companion and husband since his strokes, I will admit. Better….not great. He also had to learn to do certain things and to share more of the things to be done around the house. It used to be that the outside was HIS territory and the inside was MINE. However, when I got sick and wasn’t able to get around, he became a real help with the housework. At least he would load and unload the dishwasher. He would sweep the floor or vacuum. He NEVER learned to change the linens or make the bed up like I like to do every day but, hey, you can’t have everything. Especially if you know the Beast. It’s a miracle what he DOES do. He also will cook nowadays. He likes to make things like his buttermilk pancakes (with real buttermilk), french toast, spaghetti, chili and a few other things that are fairly simple. Its a huge change from the days that he expected me to work 40 hours a week to bring home a paycheck PLUS do everything around the house when we had four kids. And I mean EVERYTHING. It really sucked because he wouldn’t life a hand to help out at all. That’s why it is such a change these days.

I will never see him do a load of wash or fold any clothes because he knows that it is something I could do even when I was sick. It’s also something I don’t mind doing because it’s just the two of us now. I no longer have mounds of clothes from four kids (especially when they were teenagers). I would say get your dirty clothes and put them out in the garage/utility room and I would have to climb over this huge pile to even get to my machine.

It’s been a real adventure. My life, I mean. I loved living in California and being successful as a real estate agent. I was assistant manager in one company and earned an override each month on the whole office’s sales. I was ready to take my brokers test (and that was NOT an easy thing to qualify for since there was schooling involved, too) but we left before I could take it. I would have passed it, I know, because I aced all the practice tests. But I believed that the man of the house had to be happy or the household would not be happy. Wish I had realized that the man of the house COULDN’T be happy. It might have made a big difference. It’s those kind of tidbits of wisdom that you pick up along the road of life that you try to instill in your kids. They, however, think that you are clueless because you are OLD. They also have this idea that your whole purpose in life is to keep them from having fun or enjoying anything. All you are trying to do is keep them safe, teach them some manners and impart some little tidbits of wisdom to keep them from being hurt both physically and emotionally.

But it hasn’t been all bad. I traveled a lot. We once figured out that we had visited 38 of the 50 states. We camped all over the country, including one trip that lasted six weeks where we went from Chicago down to Texas and then slowly made our way to California. It was fun. We lived in Georgia for a couple months in a small town that was almost a caricature of the South. We even had a Sheriff Bufford (my nickname for him) that stopped by and introduced himself. He also sent cars to keep a close watch on our safety when he found out that the Beast was working in Florida during the week and only coming home on weekends. He said they would keep a closer eye on the area since I was there, alone, with four kids. *sigh*

With the Beast’s acidic sense of humor, I was glad to leave the area because I thought he would be found one day hanging from some tree or other. I kid you not.

We were owners of a very successful air conditioning business. We owned some incredibly beautiful homes that we actually OWNED. No mortgage. We had a house built to our specifications on land we had purchased. The business was successful enough that the Beast could buy a new boat every three years and pay cash for it. We owned all our trucks outright. We had cash in the bank. We could buy what we wanted, when we wanted it. The Beast really got *into* that part. I had a harder time with it. I still shopped for bargains. In fact, Cinderella and I had a good time doing that. We also had our weekly shopping days and lunched at TGI Friday’s on the patio (so we could smoke as well as have food and drinks). I couldn’t complain about those days at all. I just wish the Beast really realized that we don’t have that kind of income any more. *sigh*

So, that’s my thoughts for today. Glad you stopped by and hope you weren’t too bored. Love you all and hope you have a great day.

PS: We are going to Mobile and then to Pensacola for our anniversary but won’t leave until Monday I think. I will let you know.

The thought for today is this: Life is easier when you can shrug your shoulders whenever you are confronted by some conflict or event. If you can’t control the things around you, at least learn to look for something positive and accept the way things ARE. Don’t make yourself miserable wishing for the way you would like things to be.

I made a simple observation and I guess the Beast figures it is a good idea because he needs more new photos to *play with* since he has the new program(s). One was the free one I mentioned a few days ago and the other is the one he bought. All I said was, *One of these days, we should take a trip down to Mobile since we’ve driven through it so many times but never actually SEEN it.* That was all he needed. He was checking out the info on the web about the sights to be seen. He then said to me, *Well, we could go to Mobile and then drive over to Pensacola, too.* I have no idea what the big attraction is there since all I can think about is the military base. They both do, however, have some nice beaches that I have seen on TV more than once. Usually AFTER a hurricane has affected the area.

I don’t think he found anything that excited him but I reminded him that piers can make neat pictures and he cheered up a bit. I told him that I just had a yen to be at a beach with salt water. So I guess that is where we will be heading next week.

I almost shit when another package was delivered here today. You guessed it. The Beast. This time it was a 110gb hard drive. Supposedly it is so he can mirror a hard drive that will not put certain programs on it unless it is the same size…or some shit like that. I just give up on him. The worst part is that he does NOT see it. He has rationalized what he is doing down to a science. I’ll be lucky if there’s anything left when he dies. I might have to *encourage* that unless I want to starve or have to move in with my kids. No way in hell do I or they want that.

Nothing exciting, as usual, other than the Beast’s antics. It would have been another nice day here at Brat Farm otherwise. We had some overcast this morning but only drizzles and then lots of sunshine. Goes to show you that you can’t even trust weatherbug some days. We could have used some rain but it will happen another day, I’m sure.

The Beast just headed for bed and I think I will take a cue from that. Love you all. Hope you have a wonderful day, now, ya hear!

The thought for today is: Happiness waits for all those who cry, all those who hurt, all those who have searched, and all those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of all the people who have touched their lives.

I couldn’t believe it! The UPS guy knocked and dropped off a box of *stuff* for the Beast. He always does it and I’m not quite sure if it’s because of the dog’s barking or the packages don’t need signatures. When I opened the door to retrieve the package, he waved and said *Have a great day!* which I thought was nice. The UPS people in Florida were a bit on the surly side.

What was the *stuff*? It was the large photographic paper (2 boxes of it), a very expensive program for his pictures and a *shade* for one of his lenses. The program was a whopping $365. The paper per box runs about $35 I think it was. The shade ran about $20. The man is a shopaholic, I swear. This is because we cashed in some of the mutual funds we had. They say to ignore it but we had already lost 50% and it wasn’t looking good. It IS, however, a lot of money that the Beast obviously considers *found*. It makes me glad that I have used some of the IRA money for things *I* wanted. It’s not something I usually do because I just can’t seem to break out of that frame of mind about being *thrifty*. It’s kind of like I have to do things to compensate for the Beast’s shopping and spending. It drives me nuts.

It’s not like he was always this way. It became something that he did when our business became successful and we had lots of *free* money. I remember the first year we grossed a million dollars. He went out and bought his first brand new boat AND a truck to haul it with. I didn’t care about it then because he worked hard. I got my new car every three years and took my trips to Chicago every year with lots of cash and a credit card, too. But we owned a business then. We don’t now and only have our savings and our Social Security. There’s a big difference in our position now. He doesn’t seem to see it in the same way *I* do.

I’ve paid attention to some of the things he’s said about programs for his Photo Shop. That’s what scares me. There are a couple more programs he has his eye on. He says that he only really wants part of them so it’s not worth the money but I have heard that story from him before. He will eventually convince himself that he needs that part to make his pictures *perfect*.

I spent the day washing clothes. I had a bunch of white things that desperately needed bleaching. I don’t do it often because we have a septic tank and bleach kills off a lot of the enzymes needed to keep churning all the stuff we deposit in it. I am still bleaching some of my rags that I use as dish cloths, dust cloths and the Beast uses instead of a hanky. It’s a disgusting habit to me but at least he doesn’t do it in front of anyone else but me.

It was a hot day but we didn’t use the AC today. There was a nice, gentle breeze so we just opened the glass tops of our storm doors, turned on the fans and I put the little fans in my window here. I can change it from exhaust to blowing into the room with just a click of a button on them. I actually have one doing each….LOL. It has kept me from sweating at least.

Tonight we are supposed to be getting rain and possibly heavy thunderstorms. Tomorrow (Tuesday) it WILL be raining most of the day. It’s also supposed to be in the mid-80′s so it will be muggy too, I’m sure. We need the rain so I am not going to complain. It won’t last very long I hope since I am a sun person. If it goes longer than two or three days, I get a bit depressed and have all the lights in the house on. This upsets the Beast because he is SURE that it makes our electric bill much higher. I find that a bit ironic with all his reckless spending.

Time for me to get this posted so I will say goodnight and have a great day. I wish you sunshine, laughter and love. The thought for today is this: God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.

Love you all !

That may seem like a strange way to introduce this but, believe me, it’s a huge thing. Every time she’s been here and slept in the guest bed at night (except for once), she’s fallen out of bed. Last night was a big deal. It’s because she wouldn’t let me put pillows next to her to keep her from rolling over. She was VERY insistent on that. Maybe she felt like it was important…who knows? But when I checked on her around midnight, she was sound asleep, on her side and still in the middle of the bed and on the pillow she insisted on using. She looked absolutely adorable. Don’t they all when they are asleep?

She spotted the bananas that papa had bought and wanted some first thing. She ate two of them (and they weren’t small ones) and then had her normal cereal on top of that. I think she really was mad at her mother for leaving her here without telling her because when the Princess called again today to talk to her, she pushed the phone away and yelled *NO* loud enough for the Princess to hear her. But when she showed up to pick her up, she was sure quick to grab her sippy cup and blankey and run up to kiss me goodbye. Good thing they forgive just as quick, isn’t it?

The rest of the day passed quickly for me. I took a nap and played on Pogo for a couple hours, talked to my sister, Bratfink, nibbled on leftovers for dinner and just relaxed. A nice, uneventful day. Tomorrow I have to do some shopping and pick up my prescriptions. I have some cleaning up of the bookcase here in my room to do because I know that painting this room is soon in my future. I also have to get myself up into the attic to get at some of the linens I packed because I have to replace a couple sets of sheets that are falling apart. Well, one set is only doing it because of the dog. Don’t ask me to explain, it’s just too complicated but it’s not from anything recently. I have enough sets that it’s stupid not to get rid of them just because I happen to like the colors.

I need to clean up this fan in here, too, I noticed. It’s turning that gold color that you get from smoking in a small room. I love my Clorox 2 for that. It does a great job. If this were Florida, I wouldn’t be smoking in the house at all but it gets too damn cold in winter here. We have air purifiers we use but they only do so much. I go outside in nice weather but not all the time. It all depends on what I am doing.

This is short and sweet today because my day seems to have been both uneventful and peaceful. I hope your day was as sweet. Love you all. Have a wonderful Monday even if it does mean going to work for you. Hope you have some laughs and lots of smiles in your day.

The thought for today is: When the door of happiness closes, another opens; but, often times, we look so long at the closed door that we don’t even see the new one which has been opened for us.

The Princess dropped off Chewlee (as scheduled) this morning around 8am. Chewlee was in a good mood and just wanted to kind of lay around for a while which told me she didn’t wake up on her own. I turned on SpongeBob for her and she lay on the chair in here for about two hours before she perked up and wanted to eat.

She ate a big bowl of Cheerios with milk and I caught her imitating her grandfather drinking the last of the milk out of her bowl. It was kind of funny because she had milk on her nose even and I don’t know how she managed that without getting milk IN her nose.

She wanted to read some of my catalogs all by herself today so I set her up a little *table* (box) in front of her Dora chair. When she found something in it that she either liked or wanted to know what it was, she would jump up, catalog in hand, and run over to me to tell/ask me. It was really kind of funny because some of the things that she liked are toys and I swear it’s a hint….LOL.

I gave her a pad of paper and a bright blue pen so she could *write*. I figured that it might keep her from trying to sneak one of my pens and then writing on herself, her toys or my walls. She loved it and spent an hour amusing herself while I folded clothes and put them away. She couldn’t quite keep from her mischief because I found two places on her legs where she had scribbled. Luckily, I just slathered the areas with baby lotion and then wiped it away with a rag.

She loved the idea of the baby lotion so we spent the next hour putting that on her *elbows*, *hands* and *knees*. She rubbed the lotion in and demanded more so she could put it on her face and neck and then….she actually put up her feet and wanted me to put some on. Of course, I did and got such a kick out of how much she loved having me do that. Then she wanted to repay me by doing MY feet. Once she peeled off my slipper socks, she kind of had second thoughts about doing it alone. When I put the lotion on my feet, she grabbed my hand and showed me that I should rub the lotion in. I guess she wasn’t sure I would *get it* if she tried to tell me in that baby language she still has….LOL. But once she was sure I could do it on my own, she started in and helped.

My son, Markus, has finally put his family picture album on his site so we spent about two hours going through the pictures. Chewlee got so excited when she recognized someone. She would point and say their name. It was getting late but she fought going to bed until she was yawning about once every two minutes.

I ended up keeping her because Johnnycakes wanted them to join some friends camping after the Princess got off work. He told me they will be getting an air mattress so that the next time they can take Chewlee with them. I used to take my kids camping when they were in diapers and they had a good time. Everything was new and exciting to them and it was fun for me to watch them whenever they discovered something new to them. It should be fun for the Princess and Johnnycakes to see that through Chewlee’s eyes.

Well, I am tired and I am so late getting this posted that I have to apologize. I love you and hope your day is full of sunshine and laughter. Have a laugh or two for me. I’ll be busy chasing Chewlee around while the Beast is trying to take a picture of her. Sometimes she is a doll and loves to have her picture taken, other times you must chase her around and I have a feeling……

The thought for today is this: The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; after all, you can’t go on successfully in life until you let go of your past mistakes, failures and heartaches.

No jokes now. It’s not like I don’t usually think but today was a day to really THINK about things…a lot of things. Oh, I did some other things, too. Like make my bed, do some laundry and even made lunch and dinner. Nothing complicated because I was THINKING about STUFF.

I thought about stuff like living in a cold water apartment when I was a kid. My grandmother had hot water in HER apartment but we didn’t. Yet, I really didn’t think a whole lot about it except that it would have been nice if WE had it instead of having to heat up our water on the stove. Baths were a once a week affair for everyone because it meant filling the big galvanized tub up with water. Little kids first. Only dad got his own water but he took his baths after we kids were in bed for the night.

I remember we had a fridge that required one of those big blocks of ice in it and had a pan to catch the water underneath. One of us kids had to run down to the alley to let the ice man know (he came through every day with his horse drawn cart) we needed a block of ice and he would carry it up the back stairs to the kitchen and Mom would pay him.

I remember the rag man that came around every couple of weeks. He bought rags, which was usually old clothes and linens that couldn’t be used any more. He would weigh them and pay per pound. The going rate I remember was .10 and, with seven kids, sometimes Mom actually made a couple dollars.

We also had a man that came by on different weekends with fruits and vegetables. We kids were as fascinated by his horse as we were anxious to see what Mom would buy from him on those occasions she had extra cash. Fruit was a real treat for us.

I remember Sunday dinners that were always Mom’s special fried chicken, mashed potatoes, creamed peas and carrots and always enough to feed us and any unexpected company. We kids knew that if we had company, we had to be cautious about how much of anything we ate so there was enough to go around. The adults always got first choice on the chicken and we kids would fight over what was left. It was always a treat though and the house always smelled wonderful when Mom was frying the chicken and then would put it in the oven to *degrease* it, she said but it was really to keep it warm until everything was ready.

I remember how my mother loved Christmas and all the decorating. She would go all out and the house would look so wonderful. She would make up little tiny decorated packages to go under the little artificial tree she would have as a centerpiece. The packages would be all different sizes and have tiny little ribbons around them and different paper even. It was a treat for us kids when we were finally deemed old enough to help put the tinsel on the tree. But, for years I remember going to bed on Christmas eve with decorations but no tree and waking up to find a decorated tree with all kinds of presents underneath. How my Mom and Dad managed that in our tiny apartment was a real puzzle but they did it for a long time. I preferred when putting up the tree was a family affair but that came when I was a bit older.

I spent a long time today remembering a lot of things that we did without when I was a kid. It was more than no cell phones, microwaves, computers and TV’s. It was being poor and not realizing it. It was realizing that people are actually able to get along without a lot of things than they might realize. Kids learn to play actual physical games together. They learn to use their imagination. As kids, we did a lot more physical things like bike riding, playing on the monkey bars and parallel bars that were in our city parks. We played baseball (not the little league stuff with all those fancy uniforms and referees). We played handball in the alleys against some building wall. We played hide-and-seek with a twist when we got older. The girls would hide and the guys would seek and the girl they found had to kiss them. It was all innocent fun. What a difference in today’s society.

There’s a lot of talk about people losing their jobs and being in such hardships. I agree that not being able to pay bills that you made while times were good is tough but, if you give up a lot of those things you think are so *necessary*, you might just be surprised. Depending on your age, you might recapture or even discover about what a family is REALLY supposed to be all about.

Those are just some of the stray things I was thinking about. I know. It’s weird but maybe nostalgia for some of those times is something we *old* people do. I was just thinking about my Mother since her birthday was the other day and it kind of steamrolled into this jumble of memories. I hope you have some of your own that bring a smile to your face when you think back on those times.

Time to get this posted. Love you all. Hope you have a wonderful day and remember to smile and laugh for your well-being.

Here’s the thought for today: You should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy

For a long time, the Beast and I were looking for more detailed information about what all was being asked for by President Obama in his *health care* program. I’m sad to say, it’s only recently that actual details about his proposed program are coming out….and it’s scary.

He said a lot of things about the rich, acting like he disapproved of their priviliged status but the parts of his health bill that I have heard of show me that he is going to be giving them even more status and it boils down to money. What it sounds like is not only does he want a system similar to what Canada has but he also wants to deny services to the older population since *they are going to die anyway*. That’s not a quote but IS the message being sent. The example given was *an 80 year old man that needs a kidney, which is an expensive procedure, would be given counseling regarding “end-of-life” hospice services*. That just means that kidney transplants would go to the *young* and those deemed worthy. In other words, somewhere, someone is going to be making those choices for us. How long before *Soylent Green* is an actuality?

Once we are no longer going to be able to get health care services freely and without bias, we are lost. It means that those of us that are older and not able to afford our own health care will not be able to depend on Medicare to provide services to prolong our lives or even to keep us healthy and productive. It will be our age that determines if we are worthy or if we will have to accept the fact that we are *going to die anyway*. Next will be euthanasia whether by choice or by a ruling by some governmental panel.

The rich, however, will be able to go to other countries to get any specialized services they might need. Countries will be more than willing to accept the money and provide the services denied us by our own country. The poor will be as badly off as the old. They, too, will be denied such services but the reasoning may be as simple as the fact that they have nothing to offer due to lack of education or specialized skills. Any services such as knee or hip replacement which, I admit, is more often seen in the elderly but it is also performed on many young people due to accidents or the type of work they have performed that causes problems with joints and hips. How about spinal problems? That is not specifically a problem of the elderly. I have known many young people that have had to have some kind of spinal surgery. Will this also be available to everyone? Or will it have to be decided by men given the power to provide or deny services according to some unspecified qualifications that the person must meet?

We have watched our personal freedoms being eroded bit-by-bit. It is always for some *good reason* that we can *see* and even understand how it could be beneficial to give up for one reason or another. You hear such reasons as *think of our children* or *it will help people be healthier and bring down the costs of health care* or even *it’s safer*. We are rewriting history even by denying the knowledge that there were a lot of bad things that happenedin our past. They are part of how our ancestors dealt with life and living AT THEIR TIME. To deny the fact that there were a lot of unfair and even brutal things that once existed is not only not fair to our children but can lead to future generations that are not informed about how things CAN BE unless we monitor our behavior as a people and learn from the past. How can you learn from a past that is rewritten to wipe out those events?

My sister, Bratfink, has long said that our government is trying to kill off the poor and the old. The poor because they are such a drain on our resources with their need for financial aid as well as health care services and the elderly for some of the same reasons. Even though the elderly worked all their lives and paid money into these government services (Social Security and Medicare), the government is handing out these same services to people who don’t deserve it. You know who I mean. I’m not a racist but I do believe that fair is fair.

I am getting old now and what is going on is very scary to me. I have no desire to end my life just because it is too expensive to keep me alive. Who decides what is *expensive*? It’s just another freedom we have lost. Oh, don’t say we haven’t lost it yet because we have. Insurance companies have denied payment on many things we may have thought covered by it and left people deeply in debt and despondent. Even our insurance companies have taken away our freedom to choose. Doctors are forced to make many tests to *prove* that surgery is required or a certain treatment needed. Even when all those tests prove the doctors were correct, it doesn’t mean it will automatically be covered. The insurance companies have their own doctors on payroll that can review these tests and deny that such things are *necessary*. These are, for the most part, just puppets to help the companies remain profitable and they get both a salary and a bonus based on the profits. Think I am kidding? Look into how HMO’s get doctors to work for them. The more services can be denied, the higher the profit and the bigger their bonuses. I know. I used to work for an HMO in the administration area.

I was young and thought it helped people since the medications needed were provided at no or little cost. I also thought that the fact that there were no deductibles to be paid out of pocket was a good thing. I didn’t really see the whole picture until many patients were being denied necessary procedures that I was told I couldn’t *know* it was necessary since I was not a medical doctor. When I realized that it was due to the fact that they were always thinking about the *bottom line* and not about the patients well-being, I quit. It was just too hard to bear.

Now here I am. I am not yet Medicare eligible. I pay for private insurance that does not really offer me much but may keep us from having to sell our home to pay for some unforeseen event that I may experience in the interim. Yet I am finding that Medicare, as we know it now, may not exist for me if Obama sells Congress and the House on his *health care reform*. It means that we are one step closer to the world of *Soylent Green*. If you haven’t seen the movie, do so. It’s scary but may have been more prophetic than we ever realized. At least the euthanasia choice when you got old.

I don’t know about you, but this scares the hell out of me. How about you?

As much as I enjoyed the time in the mountains (and it was REALLY in the mountains), I am glad to be home. The falls were a little disappointing because that area of Tennessee is still suffering from a drought. It’s a sad affair but you can see how much grander it would be under normal conditions.

Pikeville is definitely NOT a tourist trap area. It left a lot to be desired and was woefully short on both shopping areas and restaurants. Of course, once you see where the Inn, cabins and camping sites are located in Fall Creek Falls State Park, you can understand why most of the people staying there don’t leave the park much. It’s HUGE and it’s about a 20 mile drive to get to Pikeville. The Inn’s restaurant is more a cafeteria and a bit short on any kind of atmosphere. The food is good, however, and not as expensive as some resort restaurants are.

Our room was really very nice and had a private balcony with a view of the lake. In fact, all the rooms there have a view and a balcony or patio area (ground floor). Our room had two full size beds so I got my own and the Beast had to share with Baron… The beds were very comfortable, thankfully. However, the area was really a place for people with kids who wanted to do things like hike, ride horses (yes, they had a stable there), canoe, fish, swim, play tennis or who enjoyed golf. There was a really nice golf course there.

We watched people fishing but didn’t see anyone catch anything. The hike to some of the other falls was scary although Fall Creek Falls was easily accessible even for someone in a wheelchair. I don’t think they could use the suspension bridge but there was no need for that, really.

We also found a place in the park called George Hole that was a small falls going into a really nice swimming area. It was very popular considering there were several swimming pools available in different areas of the park. The Beast took a really nice picture of it. Again, the small falls were not spectacular but they are neat (to me). I convinced him to print it up for a picture on my *falls* wall. It turned out so well that even he agreed I was right.

It was a nice, peaceful couple of days anyway. I did enjoy it probably more than the Beast did. He was hoping for some good falls pictures but we still have plenty of areas to try here in Alabama. I am going to get this posted and try to get myself back into my *routine* again.

Love you all. The thought for today is this: It is true that we don’t know what we have until we lose it, but it is also true that we don’t know what we have been missing until it arrives.

It was a busy day today because I had to pack us up and kept adding more things to my list of things to pick up at Walmart. I also started a list of things to make sure I put in the car that I want and/or need. For example, an ashtray. Why they don’t have ashtrays any more in automobiles and trucks is just another example of how our personal freedoms are slowly but surely slipping away. Oh, it’s always *for our own good* or *it’s for the children*. Bullshit. It’s power plays by non-smokers that start screaming about second-hand smoke. We have all heard the surgeon general’s reports on smoking and cancer. But what ticks me off is that the *do-gooders* get so smug when they take another personal choice away from us. I KNOW smoking isn’t good for me but ya know what? I really don’t care. I respect other people’s choices and don’t smoke in a non-smoker’s house. Hell, I don’t even TRY it if I don’t see ashtrays around. I will go outside when I feel the need and leave it at that. I have even been known to put my filter in my purse rather than even drop it in their garbage. I know that non-smokers can smell the residual smoke even when WE can’t.

Anyway, I put the portable ashtray in the car so we have it there. The Beast is used to just flicking his ashes out the window but I’m not. I was forced to when I took my trip up to Chicago because, of all things, I forgot to pick up one of the portable ashtrays I own and put it in the car. *sigh* I did not enjoy flicking my ashes out the window so we ended up using an empty soda can. Any port in a storm.

I checked to make sure the dog’s training collar and leashes were in the car. We have a couple different ones depending on what we are doing with him. We use the short leash for when we are practicing the *heel* command. Then we have the regular leash and the extend/retract leash. I also put down a fresh cover on the back seat.

I got my crocheting together and in the bag I use when we are traveling. I also gathered together our personal products that we will need like shampoo and rinse, brushes, toothbrushes, denture tablets and both our *baths*. I had a nice one that the Beast just took over when he got his lower plate so I bought myself another one. I will share a lot of things but the idea of sharing the denture bath just made me shudder. I know, I know….it’s weird but what can I say? We all have degrees of weirdness that we seldom admit. That is one of mine. I put my travel size deodorant in the bag along with the one the Beast usually takes with him. He’s got his little ditty bag for his shaving stuff and his denture *paste and his meds. It’s MY job to have all the other stuff *just in case*.

The packing part was easy except I couldn’t find the Beast’s bathing suit. I have no clue what he did with it or even when he last used it. I found a pair of denim shorts that he could use and packed that. However, the more I thought about it, the more I figured I would find him a suit at Walmart. The denim shorts are really nice ones and the chlorine would be tough on it. He doesn’t have a whole lot of shorts that he likes to wear (not that he has great legs or anything…they are as wrinkled as the rest of him. I found a pair on sale for only $6 and he likes them so that worked out well.

I just walked everything that was ready out to the car and got it in the trunk (except for my crochet bag which is in front where I will be). So all we have to do is grab our cigs, the Beast’s ditty bag and the laptop and we are good to go. My cell phone is in my purse and the charger is in the car already. The cooler was packed as soon as I got home from Walmart since I brought two bags of ice home with me. It was kind of the smart thing to do because there is NO room in the freezer to keep it if we hadn’t.

I took my shower so I am ready. I will be going to bed VERY early for me because I really didn’t get more than an hour or two of sleep last night. I had taken a nice long nap after the baby left with Johnnycakes so I was wide awake for hours after I should have gone to bed. I finally laid down in the recliner and got a little bit of sleep. I have been fighting the need for a nap all day long and just kept myself busy.

Time to get this ready and finish up the few tasks I still want to get done before I head for bed.  I should only be gone until Friday since I have to be back to take care of Chewlee on Saturday.  I am going to try to let you know what we have done and seen since we will have our laptop with us.  It shouldn’t be a problem at the Inn but you never know.  Any time you are dealing with mountains, it can interfere with reception.

 Love you all. Have a great day! Here’s the thought for the day…it’s a quote from Art Buchwald, the Chicago columnist. : ~I have learned that a person has the right to look down on someone only when they are helping them up. ~

Always tell what you feel and do what you think.