Feel Like Complaining

No, this is not another post about my husband. It's the tale of a middle age woman who should know better and has to admit Once In A Blue Moon that she is a BONEHEAD . One Friday recently when I was almost done working at My Lady's house, I was trying to shut the garage after bring groceries in. The door would get hung up from what it looked like on the top. So I took an old golf club and whacked around a bit and kept trying to close it. No go. I looked on one side at the electric eye and knew nothing was blocking it. I went in with the bad news and told her it wouldn't shut and asked if she had a 'garage guy'. Being a recent widow, she really had no clue who her husband would call so I grabbed the phone book and started looking. Being a 3 day weekend, I didn't want the garage door hanging open until her daughter could take a look at it. We found one that did emergency visits 24 hours a day so she gave them a call. He could be there in 30-45 minutes and I of...

If you recall last year about this time I wrote about the neighbors kitty corner across from us and their messy yard. Well, they forced my hand again by setting up shop with a perpetual yard sale. Who doesn't love a yard sale? But when it goes on and on and that's the view we have to look at everyday, I had to do something. I could tell they were making it a permanent situation by putting up wooden signs on both main streets and bring more crap to the house to sell. This wasn't a weekend sale, it was starting to look like a store. They taped a big price sheet on the garage and had large pieces of furniture behind their garage. Crap they weren't selling was stacking up on the corner. That brings more riff-raff around and they start throwing it into the alley and breaking it up. Traffic was getting more congested and their 'customers' were parking on the side of the street where parking is not allowed. Our side streets are very narrow and hard enough to get throug...

A few weeks ago a crazy man named Charlie shot two Sheriff Deputies, accosted an old woman and stole her car and led dozens of officers on a high speed chase which ended in his death--self inflicted. He was a known Heroin addict and was let out of jail to enter a rehab facility, in which he walked away from. Officers were watching him and another man though, and when they spotted him in a SUV, they were pulled over by the two officers. Charlie shot both of them and one would have died if not for the quick thinking of a passerby who applied pressure to his torn femoral artery. He's still in the hospital and his partner has been released. The two men ran and separated and Charlie broke into an 87 year old womans's house, knocked her around and stole her car. But not before she got a few licks in with her cane. Go Granny! He evaded the officers for awhile but then headed out of town. They were waiting for him in a neighboring town with spike strips. He tried to avoid the strip...

I'm going to apologize right off the bat; because I'm writing about my neighborhood....again. I know, it gets old for me too. I really do like some of my neighbors, they are responsible adults who care about the state of their yard and what others have to look at and listen to. Kitty-corner from us is a rental house and I briefly wrote about the new people right after vacation last year. Since last August we've had to listen to their barking dogs and watch their yard fill up with crap. I don't think they work but they come and go more than anyone else in the neighborhood. But can they see and hear? I'm starting to have my doubts. Not this bad, thank God! Why can't people hear that their dogs are barking nonstop when I can hear it just fine clear across the street. And get them fixed for God's sake, they're so busy humping each other I don't think they know which end is up. The yard is so full of crap, the two little girls play in another neig...

Although I didn't say it, I knew it. When I wrote about the Lemonade Kids' house burning down, I knew the older kid had something to do with it. I do like to give people the benefit of the doubt because I know what it feels like to be The Accused. But in my heart I knew he did it. Just this past weekend all of our news channels ran the story that a 13 year-old boy had been arrested at his middle school after confessing to the crime. They can't give his name but did say that 'the renter's son' came to the house through a basement window and started a fire in a bedroom. When it got out of control he ran out of the house. Really? You start a fire and think it's going to stay in a room? He will probably be charged with First Degree Arson. Not a good way to start your teen years young man. After I read the news, hubby and I went for a walk. As we came back to the house, a car parked on the side of our house and a very pretty girl was smiling and coming to our...

My husband's ex-wife lives in as assisted living facility because she can't really take care of herself fully. She's been there about 2 months and has staff come in to do laundry and probably help with bathing also. My step-son came over a week or so ago to take our daughter to a movie and relayed this hilarious but scary story. The day before he had just gotten to work and the facility called him and asked if he was sitting down. He was kind of annoyed that they would bother him at work and thought it was kind of a stupid question. The woman on the phone said that she was very sorry to tell him but his mother had passed away earlier that morning, they just found her in bed with the T.V. on. Of course he started crying immediately and they asked if he wanted them to call his brother in California. He said yes, and proceeded to text his girlfriend to tell her the bad news. They also asked what kind of preparations he had made and who should they call? He had no idea of w...

I saw this press release recently and am still astounded by the amount of people that fall for this scam and others like it. I copied it word for word so you could read along with me. "OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FROM THE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT: On Wednesday Deputy Westlake contacted a County resident on reference to a telephone scam. The victim told Deputy Westlake that at 10:00 a.m. March 13th, he received a phone call from an individual claiming to be his grandson. This individual told the victim he had been arrested and needed $2,400.00 to get out of jail. The caller told the victim if he wired the money to an account in Lima, Peru they would avoid the two day handling time. The victim wired the money via Western Union to Peru. A couple hours later the victim received another call stating the judge increased the bail and requested an additional $6,250.00. The victim completed this transaction as well. Shortly after the victim received a third call requesting an additiona...

Last Thursday it was dark, about 7:30 pm or so. Hubby was in the bathroom getting ready for work. Daughter and I were watching TV. I heard glass break and so did hubby. Immediately I knew it was my glass totems. I peered out the window like I had night vision and could see in the dark. I should have gone out then although I know it wouldn't have helped. The next morning I peered out again and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Friday was such a beautiful day that we all decided to go for a walk when I got home from work. Out the front door we go and I look over and see glass in the flower bed. I walk around and see one of my totems broken, which I could not see from the window. Only one piece but it's like a piece of a puzzle. In order to repair the piece I have to take it apart, which I suppose would not be easy because it's held together with A LOT of weatherproof caulk. It could possibly cause breakage of more pieces. So just for kicks and giggles, someo...

Today the fam and I went for a hike at Indian Canyon, a short drive from home. Hubby and Daughter have been there before but I haven't. The weather was nice, not too cold or too hot. It's mostly level ground with some slight hills to get to a stream and then a small waterfall. The last time my husband and daughter were there, she took the hard way to get to the waterfall, down a very steep ravine. If I had been there, I would have said NO to that, especially after I saw it. We're walking along enjoying the day and found a path that lead directly to the water, the easy way. Nellie takes the lead as usual. If you're in her way, she will bulldoze you out of the way to get in front. She goes over and under logs. It's hard to believe that this is the same dog that can't even go twice around the track with me. When we reached the stream, daughter and I took some pictures, then went on down the trail. When we got to another area, it seemed to be the end of trail....

A sad little local tale. A woman from Montana came to town to buy herself a pig to be used for breeding. She planned on hauling the pig back home in her minivan. This was no little cute baby pig, it was a full grown 500 pound one. The story didn't indicate if it was male or female and I really don't know which is bought for breeding but after a crew stuffed this pig in the back off her van, off she went. She was soon spotted driving erratically down the street with the back window broken out. I'm not sure if it was broken before she picked up said pig, but I doubt it. Then the pig was spotted running down a sidewalk by a State Trooper. She chased it into a gas station where some guys asked the trooper if he had some rope. He said "No, I have bullets". The pig wandered out into traffic where the trooper guided it back to the sidewalk with his car. Other people showed up with some rope and the almost owner said the trooper could use his taser to subdue the pig e...

We've probably all seen it by now; the girl in Pennsylvania who was texting and walking at the same time and fell into a mall fountain. Except the girl is 49 year old Cathy Cruz Marrero and she works in the mall. I saw her on Good Morning America this morning with her attorney and they are contemplating suing the Berkshire Mall's security office. Granted, they should not have used the video of her falling and posted it on You Tube. She was squeezing out alligator tears, upset that no one came to her aid after seeing her fall and you can clearly hearing the security officers laughing on the video. She also said that what if a senior citizen had fallen and hurt themselves; would anyone have helped? But.....she is a grown woman who should have known better.  She was not hurt, only embarrassed by her own stupidity. If an elderly person had fallen and been hurt I'm sure many people would have come to his/her aid, as well as security. Clearly if you see a fool texting while ...

I loved Rita. She understood me. She's older than me but we were a lot alike. Yes, I mean crabby. That's why she understood me. She did what I asked and I always went back for more. Rita had been my hairdresser for over two years, and she left me. She retired. We had conversations about Social Security. She had applied for early retirement this Spring so when I saw her last I asked her if she had received her first check yet. She said it would come in October. I assumed she would still work while collecting, it seems like a no-brainer to me. But she didn't, she left. I'm happy for her because I know she was getting burnt out but I saw her last about 5 weeks ago. It bugs me that she didn't warn me that it was something she was thinking about, then I could have been better prepared. I don't think men have the same feeling about who cuts their hair but women can be very loyal. It's almost like a death when you have to switch to someone new. With Rita, I did...

The fruit loops are out in full force. An attorney who was in town to put his hat in the Congressional race to run against our current Republican, was assaulted in a downtown parking lot. When the cops came he told them that he had asked the man (who body slammed and threw him to the ground) if he wanted to perform a sex act on him. He deserved to be body slammed. He was quite puzzled regarding the man's reaction. "I don't understand, I asked him nicely," he told police. He was interviewed on the news and told the reporter that he couldn't comment on advice of counsel, and then told the whole story. "The gentleman sort of made it look like he would go along with that sort of plan," he said. "What's done between two adults is a private act that's not anyone's business." Well yea, that's true, but No means No, even in a McDonald's parking lot. This guy has had brushes with the law before. He was once accused of forci...

Our city has had a lot of coffee stand robberies lately. I guess people are getting desperate and find them an easy target. But they should really rethink that idea. Earlier this winter after a string of robberies one owner started bringing her gun and some guy found himself looking down the barrel when attempting to rob her. Just this morning one owner sprayed a dude with orange tinted pepper spray when he tried to climb in the window of her stand. And just 5 weeks ago, the same owner's sister sprayed a very similar looking guy at another stand she owns. If it's the same guy, he's not too bright. If it's another guy, they better start getting the word out that espresso stands just shouldn't be messed with.

Last week two WSU students in Pullman, Washington were hit by a car driven by Daniel Noble while walking on campus. He's an employee of another university and was in his jammies at the time when he ran them over in two separate incidents. Then he jumped out of the car and had to be tazed to get him in the patrol car. His attorney now blames a caffeine-fueled mental breakdown for the incident. When he had his first court appearance he was mumbling about his heart rate and blood and was pounding on the desk. His wife and attorney finally had to convince him to sit down. But after he sat down he kept mumbling and at one point asked his attorney if he wanted to sing a duet. “Do you wanna do a duet? Ever done a duet,” Noble asked his attorney. His attorney says that his behavior might be “indicative of delirium” or it could be just too much caffeine. Who knew there actually was a diagnosis for caffeine induced psychosis? He wasn't able to have a mental evaluation before ...

In Tacoma Washington there's an espresso stand which employs bikini baristas to pump up business. But apparently after a two month sting they've been doing more than pumping up business. Five of the baristas were charged with prostitution after they were observed posing naked for customers, letting customers wad up money and try to make a basket in their underwear, licking whip cream off of each other, and playing other grabby games in exchange for some hefty tips. But being half-naked isn't against the law. As long as the hoo-ha and the tee-tahs are covered, police say the stands do not violate indecent exposure laws. Health officials and state Labor and Industries officials say there are no clothing requirements for baristas. So I gets it now; you can be almost nakie to serve coffee, you just can't play any touchy games or let those fine menfolk watch for extra big tips. Well, that makes it all better. In Washington, bikini or lingerie wearing baristas are becoming qu...

Another proud day for our fair city. My daughter and I were watching the news a few nights ago when they interrupted their usually fascinating broadcast to say that a "Killer Escaped From The Fair". I did a quick check of my calendar to make sure it wasn't April Fools Day. Seems like a Mental Hospital was taking a few of their patients (really criminally insane prisoners) for a field trip to the fair. They were all wearing street clothes. Why? Maybe so they wouldn't stand out as mental prisoners and they could blend in better with the crowd. Oh, big mistake. One man who had been found criminally insane for murdering an elderly woman just walked away from his babysitter. He had spent 22 years at the mental hospital but recently had been living downtown and was able to roam around a 6 block radius of his apartment. He recently returned to the hospital to deal with some medicine issues. So this fine hospital took 31 criminally insane prisoners to a fair without notifyi...

Last week I was sitting in my backyard enjoying the beautiful evening. We live on a corner so I'm able to see cars driving by and the alley entrance across the street. I saw this little girl about 4 years old approaching the end of the alley on her bike. She got to the street and yelled back for someone to join her. Then along came this little boy, he was maybe 2 1/2. I thought to myself, "No way are you two little people going to cross the street!" But they sure did; across the street they came, ready to come into my alley. I had never seen them before but several new families had recently moved down the next street. Incidentally, it's the same alley where the moose rested up a bit on the 4th. So I run down my alley and ask them if their mom knew they were down this far. No, they said, she's downstairs. So I told them they better get back home and I was going to walk them home. The little guy's handlebar fell off his trike so I picked it up and carried it. A...

I know you all probably think ALL I do is bitch. Most of the time no, but there are days..... And then I must write before I break a vessel in my head. My husband wrote an ebook about 5 years ago and sales won't pay the mortgage payment but they are slow and steady. He sucks at using the computer and so every time a book is sold I always write and thank them and ask them to please let us know if they run into any difficulty in downloading the book or bonuses. Occasionally someone will ask for a refund for some reason or another but it doesn't happen very often. About a month ago a woman bought the book and wrote that the page wouldn't open on her computer and "What do I do?" I wrote very specific directions on how to get the page to open it, I had no trouble opening it from her email. The email bounced back as undeliverable and no account found. GREAT...I tried again, bounced again and then one more time. Well there's not much more I can do about it. Just tod...

My daughter and I were driving to the store this afternoon and as we got closer to an intersection we could see this guy with a folded up cardboard sign. He was with a woman, maybe his wife, but who knows. He started at the corner, opened up the sign which read: Laid off Two Kids Need Rent Money They then put on their sad face and started walking very slowly down the sidewalk toward us. I suppose when they get so far they turn around and repeat. The sympathetic part of me feels guilty when someone is staring me right in the face asking for help. But then I looked ahead at the other corner of the intersection and there is another guy holding a sign facing traffic coming in the opposite direction. The sign says the same damn thing and is made out of the same white cardboard and written with the same marker. Are you kidding me? I look in the side mirror to see how far away the couple was because I wanted to ask them if the person working the other corner is their kid because it's an a...