I woke up this morning around 5:45am.  To my complete surprise, the Beast was gone!    I can’t believe he got up so early and got himself off to his brother’s house so early.  I was

All I could think of was…did he remember to grab some shirts?  That was the only thing I didn’t pack for him since he so seldom wears what I think he might.  Besides, he mostly wears his T-shirts that have a pocket in them so he has a place to put his cigarettes and lighter.  If he happened to forget, Oh well!  He will be washing a shirt every night or else he will buy himself some when he gets there. 

So, I am up and pouring myself a cup of coffee (it was lukewarm so I knew he had to have left around 4:30am at the latest.  He does love to drive and see the sun come up.  I imagine he wanted to be through Huntsville before the morning rush started.  With the Space Center there being a big employer, that starts early and he would have to use two roads that carry a lot of that traffic.

I thought, briefly, about returning to bed but had already started drinking coffee so I decided to work on my room and the DVD holder that I ordered from Amazon that arrived yesterday.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Not so.  I realized when I received it that, with the size of the box it came in, it had to have at least a hundred pieces that needed to be put together (that includes the screws).  I was wrong.  It was only 53. 

I laid it out, had the instructions to my left and got started.  I made only a couple mistakes that I easily corrected because I caught them right after I did them.  No swearing was involved and it was too early for alcohol, which might have led to more mistakes anyway.  I stuck with coffee.

Once it was put together, then came the problem of where to put it.  My problem is compounded by Chewlee because she just LOVES to pick and choose DVD’s to watch but hasn’t mastered the art of putting things back in place.  I DO have a system for which DVD’s go where but I don’t think she would *get* it. 

I then decided I would take down my curtains to wash them and possibly leave them off since I ordered some new ones.  Since I was going to have to move my desk, I figured I could also start untangling all the wires from the computer to the power strips.  If I did that, then I should move my printer to it’s new location and…..can you see where I am going with this?  I don’t know what I was thinking when I started all this but I know I didn’t intend to re-do my whole room here.  Not that it couldn’t use it.  My file cabinet in the closet needs to be moved to allow me easier access but I am not up to tackling THAT problem today.  If I can get the few things done that I want done, I will count it a good day.

I don’t have to pick up Chewlee today so I am also going to vacuum the rug good and then clean it.  I have to go out and pick up some rug cleaner first but I will wait until I am closer to that before I address running to the store.  I almost picked up some of that wet/dry rug cleaner advertised on TV the other day.  You know the one I mean….just brush it in and then vacuum it up?  Yeah, that’s the one.  However, since I have my steam cleaner here and it works great (including sucking up the water well so the rug dries quickly) so I thought why invest in something AGAIN.  It’s too much like what the Beast does for my liking.

I know Bratfink will be disappointed that I haven’t tried running with scissors (naked) yet but there are other days.  It will just have to wait. 

Today was the day that the Beast decided he was going to re-sight all his gun sights (did you get it?) to bring them in as close as he could.  Sounds like it should be easy but not with the Beast’s eyesight.   It’s tough to close one eye with his glasses on and try to line everything up.  Then you have to trot down to the target, see where the bullet actually HIT and figure from that what adjustment needs to be made.

He came home extremely pleased with himself for a change.  He got them all adjusted to his satisfaction and had the targets to prove it!  Like I really cared.  Sheesh.  He now feels confident that he can and will hit any deer that comes into his view this fall.  Like I told him, *We shall see.*

He also started looking for another gun, ostensibly for ME.    He just gets this weird look on his face and says, *You just never know…..*.  Hell, I do.  I would have to be pretty damn certain that my life was in danger before I could point a gun at someone, let alone think about actually shooting them.  The idea makes me very nauseous. 

I did have an incident years ago when I had my four kids at home and the Beast was probably in the Bahamas fishing, when there was a prowler around my house.  At the time, I owned a nice Baretta .38 but had only used it for target practice and even then for a lark.  It was the very first time I considered shooting someone if they came into my home.  I was very angry, upset and more than a little scared.  Scared enough that it kept my adrenaline flowing and I sat up all night long.  I didn’t relax or go to sleep until the sun was fully up in the sky.  But that was the first time I had to consider what I would do if someone actually DID break into my house.

You have to understand that we had already been burglarized twice and the Beast had finally put a security system into the house.  It’s not that we had a lot but we had lost some expensive jewelry and some not so expensive but with sentimental value.  What had upset me most was the vandalism and the feeling of being violated.  It was almost like being raped, it was THAT unsettling.  When you can’t feel safe in your own home, where do you go? 

The prowler wasn’t a one time around thing.  I had called the police since I had a friend on the force who was also a neighbor.  He sent over a car and they checked all the bushes and hiding type places and didn’t find anyone although they did find a couple beer bottles in one of the thicker bushes that had an opening under the branches and made a kind of cave.  My kids used to play hide-and-seek with cousins and fight over who would use it.  One of the girls usually won….LOL

It wasn’t even a half hour later that I caught sight of someone sneaking around out back once again.  They had been able to hide from the cops and were back.  It was another feeling of vulnerability and also a kind of rage that took over so I got my gun out, loaded it and put it on the coffee table, in full view of anyone peeking inside.  All I had to do was lean forward and grab it.  I kept rolling over the possible scenarios in my mind and made a decision that I would protect my family and myself AT ANY COST.  If someone had the balls to try to enter my home without my permission, I WOULD shoot.  I would also do exactly what my friend, the cop, told me to do.  Just go for the center of the body…chest area or below.  Nothing fancy.  Think of it as a target and pull the trigger.

His reasoning was this….if they knew you were home and came in, the outcome would doubtlessly be lethal.  It takes a special kind of criminal to do that.  If robbery were all they had in mind, they would wait for an empty house.  With much life experience behind me now, I know what he said was true.  Pity the person that tries it now.  I’m a lot more peaceful on that point than I was when I was younger.

I swear Baron knows there is a trip in store.  I think the Beast’s bags he uses is a signal he recognizes.  He isn’t letting the Beast out of his sight.  Even when he has to go out to pee or poop, he almost literally runs down into the yard, hurriedly picks a spot and tries to get it over with quickly before he runs back up to the door to be let inside.  You can almost hear his sigh of relief that the Beast is still there when he plops down beside him. 

I don’t have to pick up Chewlee tomorrow because it’s the Princess’s day off and I am considering running through the house, naked, with scissors.    It’s what Bratfink is always telling me I should do while I have the chance.  Heck, I don’t even want to see myself naked!   

When I took Chewlee to preschool this morning, the kids were all on the playground (which is HUGE).  One of the teachers told me they always start off the day with letting the kids run around and blow off some of their energy before they start the day.  I think that is a great idea and has to make their day a lot easier when the kids are not so full of energy and antsy.  They DO have separated areas of play for the smaller kids so they don’t get knocked down by the older ones.  With the way they were throwing balls and running around, I could see accidents happening if they didn’t. 

I’m keeping Chewlee for the night and Bratfink and I were talking about her new preschool (I like the fact that there is a mixed brew of kids unlike the last one).  From there, we talked about kids eating habits and for some reason, I remembered an incident from the other day that I never shared.

We’ve been having a problem with ants here because the Beast neglected to do his spraying under the house and around the perimeter due to his worry over the fruit trees.  I got some stuff I sprayed around the outside of the house and a different spray I use when I find them in the house.

Chewlee is a whiz at spotting ants in the house and was constantly finding some and telling me to *Spray them, Gramma!  Spray them!*  The other day, before I had finished doing around the outside of the house, she found some around the floor trim and she hunkered down to point them out, I guess.  I was talking to the Beast with my back to her when, suddenly, she screamed. 

I had visions of blood gushing out from one of her fingers or other digits.  I whipped around and she was holding out her finger while screaming at the most incredible volume!  I didn’t see any blood but I grabbed the finger and……..

I found an ant. 

She was terrified!  I grabbed up the ant (to her complete surprise) and squished it then flicked it down the kitchen drain.  She was both shocked and happy at the same time.  I told her she got too close to the ants if they could crawl up her finger.  She inspected her finger and her hand to make sure there were no more ants crawling on her and has since stayed FAR away from any ants she has seen since.  Somehow, she never considered that an ant might climb on her. 

I have her here for the night because it’s another incredibly early day for the Princess tomorrow.  Her AT&T store finally has the new i-Phones in and they open up early…like 6 or 6:30am so they can start delivering them and getting them up and running.  This way, Chewlee and I can sleep later and I can bring her to preschool at a reasonable time.

The Beast started getting things done for his trip to his brother’s house.  Tonight he packed up a couple of his guns and some ammunition.  He cooked up some chicken to take to supplement the dogs food.  He ran to Pet Depot and bought some of the (very expensive) natural canned dog food plus the special dry food.  I wish he were actually staying as long as the dog food might indicate but I know, at most, he will be gone maybe five days.  If he stays away longer than that, it will be a shock to me even tho’ he IS supposed to help put some vents in the crawlspace under the Brother’s house.  He’ll get that done in one day knowing him.

I have all the wash done so he will pack up his clothes tomorrow (Tuesday) and those will be in the car, ready for him to leave.  I bought him a few things for snacking on while he drives and I have bottles of water for Baron. I offered to make him a couple sandwiches but he prefers to grab something from McDonald’s or Waffle House (as long as the weather isn’t too hot to leave the dog in the car).  It’s about a 7 hour drive even with his stops to let Baron out to run and relieve himself.

The main reason I made sure to have all the wash done is the Beast has favorite things….like we all do.  He has perhaps three pair of jeans he likes to wear.  Of course, he owns about 30 pair.    I started yelling at him to at least rotate them so he can wear out a couple pair that have been hanging in the closet forever!  Sheesh!

The Beast has been listening to all kinds of economists and doing a lot of reading that might have done him well in high school.  All because he has suddenly (by suddenly, I mean the last three or four years) become very concerned about the way our economy (and the economy of the world, truth be told) is going.  He’s become almost fanatical since Obama got into office.  The more he’s listened to him, the more worried he’s gotten.

The lastest information that is circulating about what to do in the upcoming five years is to either invest in US Securities (which won’t earn any money but should be a safe way to keep from losing it) or just put it under your mattress.  I let him talk, roll my eyes and try not to hold my breath worrying about what he’s going to do next.  I figure to just keep to the plan about raising our own fruits and vegetables (I hope) and doing some canning and freezing.  We WILL continue to stock up on things every few months and wait to see how the Beast does with his *hunting* this fall.  We aren’t in a position to change much as far as the economy goes but we can be frugal and cautious.

I mean frugal AFTER I go to Puerto Vallarta.    Yes, that is definitely in the works.  The Princess and I will be making our payments to reserve everything and we will be going down to the courthouse to give our sworn statements to the clerk of the court next week so that our passports can be processed.  We should have them back in time we were told.  With any luck, they should be back to us within 6-8 weeks.  I’m not sure who is going to take Chewlee for the few days we will be gone but she might even get the paternal grandfather to come up here for those few days with enough planning for him.

Speaking of which, he was here this weekend and kept Chewlee from Friday afternoon until noon today (Sunday).  He took her shopping (as all of us grandparents are wont to do….LOL) and bought her a couple things…..like a special DVD keeper for her movies to make it easier for her to take them with her when she’s using her portable DVD player.  It also makes it easier for her to pick out the ones she wants to play at home.  He made some points by buying her some Dora sneakers and Dora socks.  She hated to see him leave but he left shortly after noon to make his way home to Pensacola so he could rest up before going back to work on Tuesday.  He tries to get up here at least once a month or so and spend some quality time with Chewlee.  It IS his only grandchild (and may end up being the only one he ever has, who knows?).

I made some peanut brittle today for the Beast and made one mistake.  I forgot to make sure I spread it out thin to cool.  It takes a lot longer for it to set when it’s over 1/8″ thick (the brittle part, not the peanuts).  I made it because we had some peanuts here that were going to go stale on us soon and I didn’t want to waste them.  Also, I will admit, I had a taste for a little bit.  I can resist eating a lot of it because I am not fond of peanuts.  If I have a craving for something and have a little bit, that will do me.  The Beast, however, pigs out.  Makes me wonder how come he’s LOSING weight lately.  He’s gone down almost 4″ in waist size from last summer.  I know where it’s gone….straight to mine! 

Tomorrow is picture day.  The local Walgreens makes them up for just $10. so that is where I will be headed to get that over with.  Love you all and hope you have a great day and even better week.  Drive carefully. 

I happened to think of a couple things today that I thought I might pass along for YOU to contemplate.  Do you really understand how Global Warming will lead us to another Ice Age?  Seems weird to think that, if all the ice disappears, it will make MORE ice appear.  I have a DVD with the movie, *The Day After Tomorrow* that really explains it all in ways you can *get* (but, of course, like all disaster movies, it exaggerates what MIGHT be possible).

I got some good news today.  The Beast is going to visit with the Brother next week.  I don’t have a day just yet but he’s going to be gone 4-5 days.  Part of it will probably be spent putting some vents into the crawlspace because that is what is causing the Brother’s house to have some bad mildew problems.  Plus, the Brother borrowed some money from us a while back and he says he has it now.  The Beast knows better than to let the Brother keep it for any length of time.  He’s as bad as the Beast can be about buying *stuff*.  Good thing the both of them have wives that aren’t the same way. 

In preparation for his trip, he started mowing the yard (again) since it means it should then be ready to cut again when he gets home.    That’s his life during the summer.  Mowing the lawn and spraying the trees and grounds will take up all his time for the next several months.  During the *winter* here, such as it is, he can go long periods without having to mow but even then the grass keeps growing. 

I got a birthday call from the Princess and my youngest boy, Marcus, today.  I doubt Buttmunch and Mustachio even remember.  I’m not sure if Buttmunch has her phone working just yet and I am kind of used to Mustachio being oblivious.  He seems to live partly in another dimension most times.  I think that was inherited since his Uncle Icky was/is the same way.

The Beast has been reading a book titled *The Road to Serfdom*.  It was written in 1931 and is an amazing (but difficult) read.  It could apply to things going on here in the USA and around the world TODAY!    It puts together a lot of things that I knew but had never explored and/or put together in the same way.  It’s almost scary because it points out some things that are difficult to accept but are almost inevitable unless more people see it and deal with it.  ‘Nuff said!

I’m looking forward to seeing Chewlee tomorrow.  She tickles the heck out of me most of the time.  I’m going to make some spaghetti for her tonight since that is what she asks for most of the time.  I don’t know if it’s because she likes my spaghetti or if her mother just doesn’t make it much.  I need to get some popsicles today when I go to the store so we have those here, too.  I’ve been out of them for a week now.   Bad grandma!  Bad grandma! 

SyFy channel is airing a made-for-TV movie tonight called *Dinocroc vs. Supergator*, which should be a hoot if you have seen the previous movies (separate).  It means Bratfink will be happy because there will be a lot of satisfying deaths and carnage.  She sent me a movie that she particularly loves to watch and we are supposed to watch it *together*.  That means we both put it in at the same time and make comments about it on an IM while we watch.  I still haven’t watched it yet because she has been either busy with the move-in to the new house or she has been in a lot of pain and spending most of her time in bed.  We will eventually get to that, I’m sure.

We hoped for some rain today and it really looked like it was going to bless us for several hours.  However, the skies have brightened and the heat risen so I had to go out and water all my plants instead.  They do so much better with rain water.  I guess the water treatment chemicals, although not very detectable to us, are detectable by the plants.

The Beast is happy because the lack of rain helps the chemicals continue to work on the fungus on the trees and in the ground.  He is, however, buying more chemicals (each is slightly different) and continuing to spray.  I’m not sure if he’s really all that worried or if he just loves that sprayer he bought.  He’s got it secured on his ATV and goes from tree-to-tree and then back and forth along the whole property.  He can’t do anything without *over*-doing it.  Everything becomes an obsession.  *Sigh*

Today dawned bright and already hot when the Beast and I woke up around 8am.  We were in the 90′s most of the day until some clouds drifted in around 5pm.  Even with the AC on, the house was just comfortable, not cool.  At least *I* was comfortable.  The Beast likes a real chill in the air which forces me to dress like it’s winter.  Even though I have put on weight this year, it hasn’t changed my personal thermostat.  I like warm and will manage *hot* pretty well compared to most.  The Beast becomes kind of comatose.    He will spend more time in bed, resting, than on his feet.

He did rouse himself briefly to run out to pick up a few things HE needed….like his pepperoni slices and cheese spread for his Ritz crackers.  It’s one of his favorites and he had been out of them for a while.  That’s when he bought me roses. 

Yes, he bought me a dozen red roses in the neatest vase.  At least, when he gave them to me, he had them in it.  It was actually my antique style metal pitcher.  I have no clue what he had in it for water but the *vase* was actually cold and sweating from the temperature difference.

The roses are actually his present to me for my birthday tomorrow (today when you read this).  That’s his fallback for a *present* for me because he is totally clueless when it comes to buying me a gift.  Someone (other than me) told him that you don’t buy appliances for a birthday gift unless you know for certain that a woman wants it so he’s stopped doing that, thankfully.  I’ve received vacuum cleaners, rug cleaners, crock pots, toasters, irons…..you are seeing where this all leads and how it makes a woman feel, right?

The heck of it is that he KNOWS I love jewelry.  But do you think it would occur to him to buy me something like that?  Or there are DVD’s he could buy me that I would love.  Cripes, even the Boy knew enough to buy Bratfink some Godzilla movies for HER birthday.  But, I can assure you that the Beast has no clue how many of them I have or even what a single title is.

That’s really what makes you want to wring his neck at times.  I can count on flowers for every occasion….from an anniversary to Christmas to my birthday.  Our anniversary is the next big day (and we will be married 46 years!) and I just MIGHT go out to dinner.  He’s just thoughtless about anything that isn’t something HE wants.

I have friends that think his buying me flowers is so wonderful.  How little they know about it.  This IS, however, the first year he’s sprung for roses when other family and friends aren’t going to really see what he’s bought me.  Otherwise, he would normally just run up to Walmart and buy the cheapest bunch of flowers he can which usually is mostly daisies.  Was I surprised?  Heck, yes!  They actually smell wonderful.  I so love the American Beauty roses.

Our day was quiet and all I did was my normal cleaning and straightening up.  My back was killing me for some reason so I had to double up on the pain pills I have now and it helped get me to where I could bear it.  I wish there were something the doctors could do about a spinal bulge that didn’t involve surgery.  No thanks!

Chewlee woke me up around 8am so I got up to fix her some breakfast and get her dressed for preschool.  She tried to say she didn’t want to go and she just wanted to stay with me but I reminded her that she LIKED preschool.  So, she ate, I got her dressed and took her to school.

Now one thing I know for a fact is that Chewlee is NOT a bad kid even at her worst.  She’s not the type of kid to bite, kick or take away a toy from another child unless she has something ready to swap.  She gets stubborn and won’t always do what you want her to do but a time-out usually cures that problem. 

However, today the Princess got a call from the preschool to say they would, if they had to, keep her for tomorrow but otherwise they didn’t want her back.  The Princess could hardly believe her ears because they tried to say Chewlee was a *serious behavioral* problem.  My thought on that?  I think they took Chewlee in hoping to get the Princess to join their church (it IS a church pre-school) and now that Chewlee has been there for more than six months without the Princess becoming a member, they want to make room for someone else’s child who might join.

But, a funny thing happened today.  Johnnycakes stopped by to see Chewlee.  She was happy to see him but I think he was a bit disappointed that she didn’t just jump into his arms like she once did.  In fact, she was so involved in the cartoon show she was watching that she didn’t even face him when he hugged her.  His face looked sad to me.

When I told him about Chewlee being thrown out of preschool, he got this strange look on his face (kind of a sly-happy) and just shrugged.  It got me thinking…..  This is the church that he used to attend regularly.  IF he has gone back to it and they know about the breakup, it might also have something to do with this whole thing.

Luckily, the Princess found another preschool that she had heard good things about from several people and they had an opening.  So Chewlee will be going there starting on Monday.  Their hours are a little longer and they even start earlier.  There’s no extra money to be spent if you want your child fed.  They get breakfast, lunch and a snack for the tuition and it’s less expensive than the church one is.  All things happen for a reason, I guess. 

The Princess will be turning 21 soon and she’s really looking forward to it.  She and a friend are going to go to Mississippi one weekend to check out the gambling.  She loves the slots (her 18th birthday was spent at Hard Rock Seminole Indian Casino and she got to try them there).  The end reason is because she wants to check out *21* because she intends to make a trip to Las Vegas.  She’s never been and she’s seen the pictures and documentaries.  I enjoyed my trips there when we lived in California and would go back again……as long as the Beast wasn’t along.  He can really take the fun out of everything without even trying.

Now here’s another thing about Chewlee.  If she hasn’t been a good girl, she would tell me when I picked her up.  She would tell me WHY she got in trouble and even how many times she got a time out.  Once or twice she thought SHE shouldn’t have been the one in time out because she was not the one that started something.  But, other times, she admitted she had been *bad*.

When the Princess got here, she walked in and told Chewlee she was in *big trouble* because she had been really, really bad.  Chewlee got this horrified look on her face and was upset that she was *in trouble*.  She looked at me and at the Beast and said in the most pitiful voice, *I am not bad, am I, Gramma?*   I gave her a hug and told her she just needed to learn to listen so she didn’t get into trouble.  She never cried but she clutched her *Ti-ti* to her and followed behind her mother when they left. 

I won’t get to see Chewlee now until Sunday because her paternal grandfather is coming in tomorrow and will be picking her up.  She will spend the night with him while he buys her stuff (as usual) and lets her play on his laptop.  I think he might be surprised at how good she is starting to get and he might be sorry.    But, Sunday, the Princess and the Beast are going to the gun range.  I don’t think the Princess has ever shot any kind of gun or rifle so he’s going to let her start learning.  Wouldn’t it be funny if she’s a natural like her Uncle Mustachio?

Today the Beast started out his day by opening up his gun safe, removing one of his guns and heading for the shooting range to adjust the  scope on it.  He intends for that particular gun to be his *second best* for hunting.  (Insert eye roll here).  His .308 will be the primary.  I know this is boring but bear with me for a minute here.

When he got home from the range, I was treated to a tirade about how he discovered a problem with the scope that was apparent once he removed it from the rifle and could finally hit the target where he wanted.  I sat there, nodded at what I thought were the appropriate places and was glad when he finally left my room.  All I could think of as he left (and I opened my mouth and said it out loud ) was *You had better bring home more than a rabbit after all this money you spent!*  He got a sheepish grin on his face and just shrugged.  In truth, I have never liked rabbit and only like deer made into salami or sausage.

So do I really care?  I only care because I am so sick and tired of his spending a small fortune on his latest whim and then … nothing happens.  He’s a wonderful photographer.  Has a natural talent for it.  But he’s got over $50K invested in just cameras and he’s done nothing with it.  He hasn’t even taken advantage of it and done up pictures for family and friends except in rare instances.  I can’t even tell you how much he has spent on the special paper for printing out hundreds of pictures that made it mostly onto our walls.  If you figure out the cost of the ink and the several special printers he’s bought over the years, you would probably choke.  I know it does that to me when I think about it.

Now it’s this latest thing with the guns and/or hunting.  I won’t even go into what it’s cost for just two special pair of boots.  And he’s not done yet. 

So when he says he’s going to do this or that, do you think I care?  Really?  I stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago.

I have the baby tonight (Tuesday night) because of the Princess working for AT&T and tomorrow is the special intro day for Apple’s new I-phone.  She has to be at work at 6:30am.  I figured keeping the baby overnight was the lesser of two evils rather than having her bring Chewlee over at oh-god-thirty in the morning.  It wouldn’t be a pretty sight. 

The Princess is not happy about it all because they don’t have any of the I-phones in stock at all and, even worse, they can’t even order any.  So they know the whole day will be customers that ordered their phones three months ago will be very irate and out to chew them new butt-holes.  It won’t be fun.  They will have to do this all over again on Tuesday, which will be the second *intro* day AND when they will have the phones in stock as promised.  It’s not something under their control but a failure on the part of Apple to anticipate the demand.  So I will have Chewlee again on Monday night because they will have to be at work (again) at 6:30am.

The Beast was low on cigarettes today and just couldn’t bring himself to go out and buy four cartons of cigarettes for us (although, truth be told, I still had plenty).    It’s because 4 cartons of cigarettes, with taxes, are costing us $186. each time.  Now, four cartons a month is more than enough for me but the Beast is smoking like there’s no tomorrow and that means an extra four cartons each month.  That means it’s costing us almost $600. a month for cigarettes. 

He figured he’d better go check out the prices on loose tobacco and the tubes for cigarettes.  He was afraid that they might have gone up a lot since we last were rolling our own.  However, he bought enough tubes and tobacco for four cartons and the cost was just a little over $54.  The first thing he did was sit down at the table with our cigarette making machine (we have a really good one he bought last year) and start making cigarettes.

He put them in one of my tupperware containers and I have about 3 packs worth sitting on my desk as I type this.  He didn’t want to wait until I was completely out (which would have been in about a week or so ) but…..the fantastic part about this is that the cigarettes he is rolling do NOT have those damnable fire stopper rings built into them.  I had to smoke one just to remember how great it was.  I kid you not.  Personally, I think the new cigarettes are damned dangerous! 

The chemical they use is bad enough (it’s causing all kinds of problem for people’s respiratory systems) but it also seems to bond the burning tobacco and will fall out in clumps and cause burns on clothing, rugs, whatever you might be wearing or sitting on.  I really and truly hate them.  I think it’s some kind of a government conspiracy to require that to try to disgust people and make them quit smoking.

Probably as a long-term health *fix* and another way to force the loss of personal liberties in the name of *concern*.  I am so tired of the do-gooders and all their *concerns* and forcing people to do without things (like fats in our meats at the loss of taste) because it’s *not healthy*. 

It’s for the same reason that they are re-writing history.  Do you think I am kidding?  They are getting rid of references to any portions of history that even mentions *slavery* because it’s *demeaning*.  Shit, it’s what went on world-wide AT THE TIME.  And isn’t it wonderful that such things don’t exist here any more?  That, as a nation, it was abolished.  No society has ever been perfect.  There are lessons that had to be learned.  Issues that had to be addressed and fought over at times. 

We learned.  Why the need to whitewash history?  Do you know that the history books right now no longer address the establishment of our nation and the whole revolutionary war?  The next target is to skip the Civil War because it had to do with slavery issues.  OMFG!  Censorship in this day and age.  But our children and grandchildren will grow up and never know that all those things happened.  Heck, by the time our grandchildren are in high school, the World Wars will probably no longer be taught.  Think I’m kidding?

The Beast almost had a heart attack late yesterday when he went out to inspect the peach trees and found them loaded (once again) with Japanese beetles.    Everything he’s used up to now has supposedly had something to combat them included in the blend.  He’s been upset that he couldn’t find something that was JUST a fungicide but now he feels that he was gypped out of some serious money since nothing he’s used thus far has made a dent in the beetles.

His big concern is that the trees are very vulnerable while they are under attack by the fungus so keeping the Japanese beetles at bay is even more important than normal.  When I told him that the very first stuff he had used on the trees three years ago worked wonderful (and he bought it at Lowe’s), he agreed.  He is now set to do battle once again.  He was upset that he couldn’t go out and spray today due to the heat.  You just don’t spray during the hottest part of the day.  Even an idjit knows that and that includes the Beast. 

He was rather frustrated that he couldn’t DO anything because the heat just knocks the s**t out of him and he spends more time in bed than working.  He also hates to pay the utility companies so he didn’t want to have to turn on the AC for the garage, either.  Instead, he went to Lowe’s, got the concentrate that we KNOW works and got it all ready for spraying in the morning.

Then, voila!  His idjit brother (and trust me, he really and truly is an idjit) calls because, once again, he’s screwed up his computer.  Not only does this guy overload his computer with all kinds of programs (and not just the free ones! ) but he doesn’t listen and has them all load up on start-up.  Then he wonders why his computer is so slow and starts looking for another damn program to find out why and/or fix the problem.  He had almost a gig-and-a-half of programs on his computer that the Beast either removed or stored on a separate disk.  I really can’t remember which it was but his dumb brother couldn’t figure out how to do that on his own and had to wait for the Beast to come up and visit.

The worst thing about all this is that he asks for advice; he’ll even write down the instructions.  Then, he totally ignores what he’s told and starts just deleting things BUT he doesn’t use the add/remove program section.  And you can guess the result.  Missing DLL files.  Java gone.  All kinds of pop-ups because the programs that were set to load on start up have all kinds of fragments on the drive and the computer has to tell you it couldn’t be found, etc.  I see the Beast rolling his eyes and taking deep breaths to calm himself before answering his brother’s calls.

The Brother’s wife is a saint, trust me.  She is also the one who has the savvy about using programs, removing them, etc. but she knows better than to even offer advice to her hubby.  Sometimes she waits and then just works on cleaning things up for him…..but she does it when he’s not around.  He is a TRUE, DYED-IN-THE-WOOL chauvinist.  It’s a genetic problem in his family except with his youngest brother who was smart enough to attract a woman with brains and talent. 

She makes a small fortune, which was a good thing since the youngest brother came down with MS in his early 20′s.  She designs computer programs and works for a company that usually gives her a year-end bonus in five figures.  NO ONE, even the Beast brothers, would deny her knowledge outstrips theirs on pretty much anything.  The really cool thing about her?  She is one of the nicest, sweetest people you would ever meet and she adores her husband.  He is also talented and it really is a shame he was affected so badly with MS.  He was and IS a talented artist in many mediums.  I am constantly amazed at some of the more intricate work he’s done just because of his shaking.  But that stops the minute he concentrates on actually DOING something (which I found out is normal for people with MS). 

He has carved some different types of early ships that sailed the high seas.  He’s even put coils of rope, made small barrels and various other things you see on some of the models you can buy but his are from scratch.  When their mind is focused, the shaking stops and doesn’t resume until they stop whatever activity it is they are doing.  Even some of the work he’s done with Photo Shop amazes me because he loves to experiment with some of the photos he’s taken.  None of this is easy because he’s wheelchair bound but he’s learned patience.  This is a far cry from his older brothers.  It sometimes makes me wonder……

Tomorrow (your Tuesday) is the day that the Beast will begin his relentless execution of Japanese beetles that dare to invade HIS trees!    Stay tuned for the further adventures….