July 7 - Nothing major.

Just a boring little post to try and keep in the habit of writing.

Since getting some plain ol' grape jelly in the bird feeder we've been having alot of oriole activity.  We had the feeder hanging quite close to my window here by the computer so I could watch easily and try to get some pictures but this morning I moved it farther out into the yard.  We also have a nectar feeder hanging on the pole and while the hummingbirds were much more tolerant of me at the window, the orioles are hyper skittish.  The slightest movement from me would send them flying.  Taking pictures was pretty much out of the question.  Since the pictures I was getting sucked anyway I gave up that idea and moved the feeder so they could have some peace.

It was cool to watch them though because there is a young oriole who shows up and sits there screeching and twitching his wings until the parent comes to get the jelly for him.  I'm not sure if there are two young ones or if this one is being a spoiled child because I have seen a young one getting the jelly himself from time to time.

Anyway, after I moved the feeders I was able to take more pictures but now it's too far away to get clear shots.  The two I'm including are using the max zoom on my crappy point-n-shoot camera and then are cropped down to just the birds.  These are the parent and young orioles doing the screech feeding routine....

I've also found that they don't really like the apple jelly unless the grape is gone and I don't refill it in a timely manner.  Anyone know what they prefer?  Well, besides the obvious grape....lol

We bought our tickets for this year's Vikings game adventure!  (You might remember last year's fun from the THIS post or THIS one.)  Last year we saw the Bears.  This year it will be the Cardinals.  Hubby had really wanted to see them spank the Packers but when he saw the pretty penny we'd be paying for crappy seats at that game he reluctantly reconsidered and we went with a more reasonable option.  We wanted to get as close to the front of the upper level as we could and managed to find some Row 4 tickets.  We also booked our hotel room for the weekend and we are indeed staying at the place across the street from where we stayed last time, just like we'd wanted.  I think we're going alone again.  The boys don't want to go, and people we've mentioned it to....asked if they'd like to go too....seem to react like we're crazy, like we're going to Europe or on a world cruise.  *sigh*  (Or maybe it's because it's the Vikings?  Nah.)

Have you ever bought a present for someone and then want to keep it for yourself?  I bought a birthday card for a coworker, and wanted to get her a little something to go with it.  She loves books and movies so I was just going to get her a gift card but then happened to notice a bargin book that sounded interesting and that was right up her alley storywise.  Then I noticed several other bargin bin books that I wanted for myself and ended up buying two.  When I got home and read the description of the intended gift book more thoroughly I was like 'Heyyyyy, *I* want this!'  So now I just want to keep it.  I'm sure she'd let me read it after she does but, ya know....*I* want it.  Hehe...what to do, what to do....

My mom came over for a visit today.  It's been a week since Al died and she wanted to get away from the house and the dealings with lawyers and all the other things you have to sort out.  So we sat here and watched Casey play Wii and chatted for a while and walked around the yard looking at flowers and things.  I thought she'd stay longer, maybe have supper but there has been a threat of bad weather all day and she wanted to get back home before that happened.  We'll see her again this weekend at my brother's BBQ and I might go hang out with her next week on one of my days off.

We just got back from buying a dehumidifier.  I got so cranky and sick of the terrible humidity we've been having lately.  Our basement is horribly damp (it's an old fieldstone foundation, primitive basement) and the whole house is miserable on days like this.  We've never had a dehumidifier so neither of us is quite sure what to expect.  I've always heard that they are supposed to go in the basement but for now we have it here in the main part of the house.  Will putting it in the basement in turn reduce humidity in the house?  I'm guessing it will be doing all it can just to take care of the nasty basement.  Well, whatever, for now it's up here.

Hubby is about to watch the movie The Crazies.  I suspect it will be a gorefest, and I have no interest in watching that.  Looks like I'll be playing around on the internet for a while.  Or maybe I'll start reading that gift book.....

July 6 - It's been a crazy week.

Al S.

~1927-2010~

My stepdad died last Tuesday, June 29.  He had a massive heart attack Monday morning.  Doctors said there was too much damage and he wouldn't live so he was removed from life support about 10pm Monday night and died around 1pm Tuesday afternoon.  He was 82 years old.

Some people think 'Oh, stepdad?' like it's supposed to hurt less because he wasn't my real dad.  That's kinda harsh.  'Oh, 82 years old...' like it's ok because he was old.  Tell you what, people.  It hurts just the same.

His funeral was Friday.  I used to hate the phrase 'emotionally drained' or 'emotionally exhausted' because I thought it was cheesey and dumb.  I guess I have to take that back because Friday afternoon after everything was said and done and we were back home, I was drained.  It was weird because I had not felt tired or anything in the days leading up to it.  Suddenly though I just sorta felt numb and blank and I was falling asleep on the couch, and then couldn't get going the whole rest of that day.  I still think it's an overused phrase but I guess I can't deny it's real anymore...hehe.

Like the weekdays weren't rough enough, I then worked straight through the holiday weekend.  Today feels like the first day I've really had off in a long long time.  Even my days off last week were filled with running around and phone calls and messages and emotions running high.  Today I'm just lounging around, chillin'.

Yep, I had to work on the holiday.  It wasn't so bad.  We usually don't go anywhere or do anything during the day for the 4th of July anyway.  When I get home, shortly after 7pm, it's still light enough outside to do things.  Saturday we decided to go to the nearby town of Ripon to watch their fireworks show.  We couldn't find parking anywhere close and didn't want to walk a million miles and stand around getting eaten by mosquitoes so we headed back home and ended up finding a spot on the country road that allowed us to still see the show.  Hubby and I watched the fireworks from the comfort of the truck.  Sunday, hubby grilled up some brats and burgers just before I got home so I still got to feel like we'd done a holiday cookout.  Ty and his friend Matt were playing around with the fireworks they'd bought.  It was fun to watch their stuff but it was raining off and on and the mosquitoes were out in force.  So overall, even though I worked, we were still able to have a proper 4th of July holiday.

Our gardening and greenhousing have been neglected lately.  Not to mention we had a major heatwave and no rain last week.  I fear the pumpkin patch may have suffered greatly.  Sunday when I looked everything was looking rather dry and limp.  All the lovely orange pumpkin blossoms were droopy and dying.  We got good rain yesterday and last night though, and when I looked this morning the blossoms are perky again and the leaves are looking green and strong.  However, when I looked deeper into the leafy jungle I saw one of the little squash bumps that had been doing nicely last week now looks faintly shriveled.  I didn't look enough to check the other squash or pumpkin bumps though.  Hope they weren't damamged too much!

Some of our scrawny rose bushes have finally bloomed.  Early in the spring we were happy that all of the roses we'd planted last year had fresh new growth.  Then later in the spring they seemed to have all died off.  We almost yanked them all out, thinking we'd just plant new ones while it was still early in the season.  Someone at work told me not to give up so soon, to give them some rose food and maybe they'd come back...if not this season, maybe next spring.  So we bought some rose food and gave each bush a healthy dose.  Coincidence or not, all six bushes started growing again.  Some are doing better than others, but ALL have growth.  Yay!  And even though they're really scrawny, some now have lovely blooms......

(Looking kinda ratty after rain & bugs but I love this tri-color flower.)

(One of our other flowers, can't remember name.)

(One of my marigolds, doing nicely.)

July 1 - Eclipse

I just saw Eclipse, the third movie in the Twilight series.  When I read the books I fell obsessively in love with Twilight, strongly disliked New Moon, liked Eclipse a bit more, then back to near hate with Breaking Dawn.  I loved the Twilight movie even though I was quite disappointed, and loved it in a different way than the book.  I saw it four times in the theater and countless times on dvd.  I liked the New Moon movie way better than the book but it was still only so-so to me.  I saw it once in the theater and bought the dvd but have yet to watch it.  From the clips and bits I'd been seeing about Eclipse I had a feeling it would be good.  My initial reaction after seeing it today: awesome!

My biggest complaint is still the Cullens eyes.  They looked totally different...a lot more more fake...in New Moon than in Twilight and the overdone in-yer-face creepy eye look is there again in Eclipse.  They still look a bit pasty in Eclipse too, my other complaint from New Moon.  The Volturi looked better this time around though.  I thought they looked horrid in New Moon.

The story in movie form seemed to flow a lot easier for me than the book did.

Jasper seemed pretty cool in this one.  Looked better too.  Not his usual strange looking constipated vampire self.

Charlie is so funny in this one again.  The whole "I'm a virgin!" scene was hysterical.  And in the scene when he comes out of the house to break up the brewing spat between Jacob and Edward....LOL!  Here he is all trying to play the Dad In Charge role when he's unknowingly standing between a vampire and werewolf.  Most people don't seem to see why I find that so dang amusing.

Got a little tired of Jacob never having a shirt and it was funny when Edward commented "Doesn't he own a shirt?"  It was also funny in the tent scene when Jacob pointed out to Edward "...I'm hotter than you."  Predictable laughter in the theater for that.

Oh!  Jasper and Alice in fight training was funny too.

I really felt the pain, the struggle in this one when it came to Jacob pleading his case to Bella.  Even though I'm totally Team Edward I felt those first pangs back in New Moon when it was like 'Go with Jacob!  You can still be you that way!'  And it was there in a big big way in this one.  Yeah yeah, she can't just turn off her feelings for Edward and switch to Jacob...I know that.

The look and the music was very cool in this one.  There is a song on the soundtrack that I had told my sister reminded me of The Crow.  That song turned out to be at the opening of the movie and it was indeed rather Crow-ish.  They also used one of the coolest songs on the soundtrack for the cool fight training scenes and it was almost a repeat of the coolness of the Muse song during the baseball scenes in Twilight.

I think my favorite part might have been when the wolves appeared in the big battle.  Awesome!

I didn't think I was going to like any of the newborn stuff, thought it was all a bunch of blah blah whatever get back to the story crap but I actually liked Riley.  And I liked Bree.  Too bad the Bree book was such a sucky waste of time and space.  Her tiny little bits in the movie were way better than the stupid book.

I almost felt bad for Victoria early on when the Cullens were chasing her on one side of the ravine and the wolves were chasing her on the other.  Then all the weaknesses in her story came back to me and I got over it.  Heh.

So overall, yeah, I really liked this one.  I'm already wanting to see it again and I did not have that urge at all with New Moon.  Anyone wanna go with me?