Friday Night Fish Fry

The Beach Bums Come Home

“Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach.”

-- Michelle Held

“I have always loved the beach. The smell of the salty water, the wind in my face, the gentle roar of the waves all combine to create a sense of peace and calm.”

--Anonymous

“Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.”--Robert Henri 

I'm home.  My room's wireless access points were down.  I left my cable for downloading pictures.  I went the longest I've gone without reading my emails in quite a while.  It is the longest I've gone without getting online at all in quite a while.

It was nice actually.

Not the part about forgetting my cable to download from my camera so I had it all to do tonight. 

Beach pictures will be coming for days.

Thursday I just had bad luck at every turn but....but the trip turned out to be great.  I just had to let some things go.  Some things I couldn't let go after I got home.  Somebody got a certain ticket and somebody's husband is not happy and well it just sucks.  So on top of the busy week I couldn't figure out how I was going to get done to start with I have to find a lawyer in a section of NC I know nothing about or drive my butt back down to court.....no, no I can't just pay it off or mail it in...somebody wasn't given that option.   And somebody's husband refuses to help her because he constantly harasses her about driving at excessive speeds or not paying attention.

But I can't think of that right now before I go to sleep.  I don't want to have bad dreams.  It is going to be a pitiful summer for shopping for Rollie and a summer of less goodies for the children.....cause somebody's husband is making her pay for her crimes...literally.   Out of my own meager little kitty.  I am so bummed.

I did bring home some photos of the hotties Rollie had surrounding her at the beach. 

Toonces is lucky I came back at all.

Izzy got her first lesson in why we girls hate Speedos.  At least every girl I know hates Speedos.

At least we had Pete to take care of us.

Man I miss those kids when I get home.  But I was sooooo happy to see my Toonces and my Thuggies and Darius and Calista...and my chicks...

Hope you guys are all well and we'll catch up soon!

 

All In The Day Of A Dog

"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive." - Gilda Radner

"They [dogs] never talk about themselves but listen to you while you talk about yourself, and keep up an appearance of being interested in the conversation." - Jerome K. Jerome

We have it good.  I know it.  The dogs know it.  Heck the cats know it. 

Toonces has been gone so we've made sure to take afternoon breaks and roam the property.   When we are out together on a beautiful afternoon like yesterday, everything green and happy you can't help but be optimistic and upbeat.   

We have had terrible winds and lightening but the rain and sun mix have been optimum for our grass, flowers and trees.  Everything is so GREEN.

Eudora by the fence helping me in my flowers and Earl on the pond dam.

Tonight I am having dinner (Chinese) with my nephews Ben and Jackson after an afternoon of candy shopping on Main Street Mount Airy. 

Tomorrow I am off for the beach BRIGHT AND EARLY!  I am excited.  I need some time to play and not think about my schedule and how I am going to get this done by this date and this to this person.....blah blah.  I want some mind free time.  Caleb, Izzy and Seth are on their way now and we will meet up with them by lunch tomorrow.   

Looking forward to soft tees, shorts, flip flops and waves crashing!

And I miss my baby....Toonces I wish you were here.  We all miss you...even Earl.

Speaking of my sweet T...the reviews coming in for his new book The Legal Limit have been just outstanding.  I am so proud of him.  He will probably fuss when he gets home but I linked his info on my sidebar. 

So I am off, I will do a shout out from the beach on Friday so Toonces can see what we're up to.

Are they not adorable?  Little tails sticking up darting around.

Cot Day- Bad Investment

Rule of Feline Frustration: When your cat has fallen asleep on your lap and looks utterly content and adorable, you will suddenly have to go to the bathroom. 

Andree is hosting this week.  Please go over to Andree's and watch the You Tube video on Engineers guide to Cats.  That is so funny...I have laughed so hard.  Cat lovers will adore it.

After all the neat photos and stories of fellow COT Bloggers I was delighted to find this cat gym at Target on a recent shopping outing with mom.  Toonces was not very happy with it and was only concerned with the cost. 

Unfortunately, all the pieces were not in the box and it was made pretty flimsy-ish.  And I could lure the cats in with cat nip but they are too big and heavy to hop through the holes of the gym and play...it couldn't hold their weight.  A kitten would love this but mine were a bit beyond it in years.  They preferred their regular balls and stuffed mice toys to the gym so I took it back to Target....only to have the sales service rep make fun of me for "throwing my hard earned money away on a cat gym" before she dumped it in the trash.

(I'd still like to find them a little tent one day like I've seen at a few of you guys.)

We've been having some seriously bad weather lately.  High winds, tornadoes and constant tornado warnings, thunder storms...no blooms left on my azaleas anymore and my pretty Iris bed is taking a beating.  It has also meant no nightly blog time.  Every time I've sat down to blog lately lightening has come up and I've had to shut down and unplug or the winds have been so high it has actually disrupted our service.  Baby keeps going out and attacking debris such as piles of those maple tree "worms" and the mulch pieces that have washed into the yard like they're prey.

Anything not nailed down is a cat toy.  - cat wisdom.

I made this last week when construction got to the point of putting a roof line up for the new room.  The banging was coming through the wall...another reason I haven't been online, I am avoiding the house and noise.....anyway Calista walks in and just stands there looking at me like "Would you please make them shut up, I can't nap in all this racket!"

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat. -- Robert Heinlein

 

Moms, Charities and Tattoos

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.

Mark Twain

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there.

I thought maybe Earl and Eudora or Darius and Calista might serve me breakfast in bed but I was wrong.  I guess they have a hard time separating coffee filters without thumbs.

We will be visiting my own sweet mom shortly. 

March of Dimes walk in Mount Airy, NC - 5/10/08.

(pictured:  Sharon and Lisa, the trail, Ben coming in (glasses and hat in stroller) with Delane pushing, Amy (far right) Jeff, Megan and Jackson (blue shorts) coming in...and the crowd)

Sadly the crowd was maybe a 1/6th of what it used to be.  The larger manufacturing plants used to have teams the size of yesterday's entire crowd.  Those jobs went out of the country and the plants have all left Mount Airy.   But it is a great town and it will persevere and the people will come back stronger than ever.

And what better time than to show off your tramp stamp?  Mother's Day?

  One, Toonces can't take a picture.  Two, I wouldn't show more than that on this Blog that family and co-workers sometimes read.  (Especially since T put it on a bit LOW...)  But I am ready for the beach.

Real?  No...not that at one time I didn't really want what one of my dear blog friends refers to as the "tramp stamp"  I love that expression.  I wanted the lower back long tattoo but I just never got around to it.   And I don't like pain.   

But thank you to my blog friend Joe in Vegas  who shall remain anonymous. 

I've had alot of fun with my package!