future plan

On that blessed day when I can leave my job - whether through retirement or winning the lotto - I will wear a t-shirt that says "I see lazy people". Not only will it sum up my feelings for some of my co-workers, it will violate the stupid dress code. It will be a very sweet last day.

Drabble (100 word story)

Driving south on I-77. Stopping for gas in a typical little West Virginia town - a two lane road, railroad track, stream, and small houses in a tiny valley with tree cloaked mountain walls. An acrid scent fills the air.

Memories stir - of chasing ducks in the creek with cousins. A loving uncle's wonderful cornbread baked in an iron skillet. Catching crawdaddies, picking blackberries.Frozen custard. Spring houses. An old gentle mule. Family reunion picnics in the woods by the springs at the top of the hollow. Family. A long vanished slow placed lifestyle.

Childhood memories from the scent of coal.

work: the final destination

hilarious and violent workplace safety video:

autumn rain/zuchini rain

We've been getting rained on by the remains of tropical storm Lee for over a week now. We are not getting the heavy rain or horrible flooding that parts of the east coast states (such as Pennsylvania) are getting, but man it is depressing to have the clouds and chill and rain every day. It is so humid and chilly it just creeps into your bones and joints and makes your body ache! The sun came out for about twenty minutes yesterday and I ran through the house cracking open windows, pulling up the miniblinds, and hopping around with excitement! I opened our patio doors for the cats to sniff the air through the screens, but had to close them again pretty quickly as another band of rain rolled in...

It is also zuchini season in Michigan. That means everyone who grows it in their gardens is looking for victims to dump it on - up to and including sneaking it onto front porches when people are not home!

Now then, I love most vegetables. I even like things many people do not like such as spinach, lima beans, kale, and rutabagas (which are delicious in pasties). But I cannot stand zuchini!

We have been lucky this year. We have been able to escape with only one zuchini dropped off at our house. It was put on top of my husband's truck when we were not home. LOL.

We have been carving off small bits and "hiding" it by putting the bits into spicey Thai stir fry, Hungarian goulash, and other foods which disguise it. I have been tolerating it when well hidden, and feel I deserve brownie points from my doctor for eating this healthy but digusting vegetable.

time for listening bliss

fall is coming

It has been a long hot wet summer. It has been nearly impossible to do anything outside this year, as my days off have been featuring torrential rainfall or ninety plus degree temperatures with high humidity or both. And let's not even discuss the mosquitoes this summer. There are all sorts I have never seen before. There is kind the size of a quarter - the ginormosucker. There is another that is half the size of a normal mosquito but comes at you in clouds and is twice as voracious - and the spray doesn't work on deterring it.

So I am glad autumn is approaching.

Cool temperatures. Low humidity. Skies of a blue you only see in Michigan in the fall. Apples, pears, and peaches. Mums and autumn sedum in bloom. Apple cider and donuts. High school and college football. Marching bands. High School Boys' Soccer. Frosts to kill mosquitoes. Harvest and Hunting Moons bright in the sky. Leaves turning into living jewels fluttering in the breeze. Waterfowl migrations. A world turned to orange and gold with pumpkins and corn shocks in the fields bordered by bright forests.

Beauty.

the worst song EVER

This is the new theme song for my rotten terrible no good job. :-)