Feel Like Complaining

For a few years now, the business of adding a little wine/beer, an instructor and paint, has become popular. A FB friend of mine has done several of them and it looked like a lot of fun. About a year ago, one of the venues was having a 'pet' night where you brought a picture of your pet to paint. I wanted to go sooooo bad and put out a plea on FB for someone to go with me. Ok, I begged. No one wanted to go and I was really bummed. So finally when The Kid turned 21, I knew who I was dragging along with me. I found a place kind of far away across the border into Idaho, but they discount their paintings through the summer. We chose the painting and day we wanted to go and made an appointment. This is what we were going to be painting. It's an abstract using mostly a pallet knife for the butterfly. The room holds up to 40, but we had a small class of 14. The instructor walked us through every step and stroke. The background was no problem, easy peasy. Then came the body....

We've all seen the headlines of babies dying from being left in hot cars. About 37 children die each year in that situation. Some are out-and-out neglect cases which result in much deserved charges for the parent or caretaker. But most seem to be the "I forgot" defense. Busy lives. Both spouses working, swapping who takes the kids to daycare. Running errands, going to meetings or work, etc. Charges generally are not filed against these parents, because it was a mistake. A tragic mistake. And at that point, unless they can prove the action was neglectful, it wouldn't bring the child back. Their child's death is enough punishment. What really baffles me is hearing the parents say, "I forgot little Billy was in the car." How in the world can that even happen? The baby may fall asleep, but at some point they will fuss, cry, laugh, and play with noisy toys.  It's true that rear facing car seats inhibit your view of the baby, but a mirror can eas...

Things are finally starting to ripen in our garden. Cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and cukes are being eaten as fast as we can pick them. The regular tomatoes have been very pokey and we haven't been able to pick ONE of them. This mystery plant started growing out of our compost. We knew it was probably some kind of squash but not sure as to what kind. They got very large and rotund so we picked them and ate them either raw or grilled. One night I noticed the consistency was stringy. Ah ha, mystery solved! We got ourselves some spaghetti squash. It's probably been well over a year since we had put seeds in the compost so that little guy waited all that time before it sprouted. We'll leave them alone now so they can ripen to a golden yellow instead of a pasty green. We've been back to Green Bluff a few times, once to pick beans in a storm. It wasn't planned that way but it was thundering and lightening when we got there. It sure made us pick a lot faster th...

Hey it's me, Nellie! My Mom is pretty tired today after just getting home from our little trip so I thought I'd fill you all in on how it went. Last Sunday morning they loaded the car up and then decided to throw me in the back. They made it all nice looking and comfy but I still didn't like going in that way. I would lay down for awhile, then stand up and pace back and forth. When they stopped at a rest area I tried to get myself out MY way and end up tangled up in the food box. That's when my hip went out. Mom carried me under a shady tree so my Dad could work on me to get it back in. When we finally got to our destination I was tired, hot, and confused. I got caught in between the wall and bed so I just crashed and slept for a long time. That night I slept on the deck just because it was hot in the room. The next day I got to lay here for hours and rest up. My family took turns staying with me while the other two would go out and about. I loved walking arou...

My older brother and I sometimes resort to our childhood shenanigans. It started last summer when I dug out an old plastic spider I used to scare Hubby with. I took it to my Mom's and tied it to the lawnmower that he uses. He retaliated by putting it in the yard shoes I leave there. I'm not really afraid of spiders but it did startle me a bit. Now if he had used a rubber mouse I would have did some dancing and screaming. Since all he does is mow the lawn I didn't have many good hiding spots so on my turn, I hung it from the inside of the shed door. I found it next on the inside of the shed door that I use. Every time I opened that door it got me, even knowing it was there. By then it was fall and he wasn't mowing, but he started it up this summer by putting it above my sun visor when we were there at the same time. I didn't find it until a week later when I was driving down the road. Again, glad it wasn't a mouse! I had to get pretty inventive now so cam...