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May 2006 - Posts
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I was trying to think of something to write about and decided on an annoyance that I have every Spring. It has to do with our neighbors� cats. (Notice that neighbors� is plural.) For many years, I have tried to grow flowers in my front yard. Every year, the cats would use my flower beds for depositing their gifts to nature. In addition to the flower beds, they have decided to also use under our deck for their littering. I have purchased different mixes to put around plants and even scattered moth balls; all to no avail. I have complained to the neighbors (they�re sorry) and called Animal Control (there is no leash law for cats). My husband has even sprayed them with the water hose on several occasions. They don�t care. They still keep coming back. They do, however, run when they see my husband coming out of the door. As a last resort, the last few years I have just decided to purchase some shepherd hooks and hang pots of flowers rather than go through the aggravation. There is however still one thing that really irritates me. Because of the cats, in addition to ruining my flowers they have also �killed� three rose bushes. Also, a few years ago, my son gave me a beautiful rhododendron plant. My plant has �one� just �one� flower on it. As I look across the street at my neighbors� house, they both have great big beautiful rhododendron bushes. What is wrong with this picture???? With that in mind, I thought I will continue to hang the flower baskets rather than plant them, but I am going to try one more thing. I had heard about using cayenne pepper to scare the cats away because it would burn their feet. I made a purchase of two jars of pepper and sprinkled some around the rhododendron plant (which seems to be a very favorable spot) and under the deck. Would you believe that the next morning when I checked under the deck that there were paw prints in the sprinkled pepper along with a deposit. Are they trying to tell me something or what? I�m sure I have irritated some cat lovers, but if your neighbors have a problem with your pets, they may not be as nice as I am and may harm your little darlings. If there is no leash law in your area, at least try to keep your pet indoors so that it is not destroying other people�s property��. Okay, I�ve vented. Have a nice day.
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Yesterday, our grandson Richard became engaged to Stacy Taddeo. He was very excited. He had bought her a very beautiful ring and planned the special moment so that it would be a surprise to her. Not sure how much of a surprise it was, but from what I understand, when he asked her to marry him that her response was �Of course, I will�. According to my daughter Cathy (Richard�s mom), they have already started making plans for the wedding which should be next June. It will be here before you know it. It is so hard to believe that our �little� grandson will in the very near future become a husband. Another plateau in our lives too as I mentioned to my husband; another extension of our family. Of course, Stacy has been around for a long time, but now it will become �official�. She fits in perfectly and we all just love her. Congratulations Richard and Stacy. We love you both!
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I am going to share my tale of woe with you. It started out last Friday night when I was attempted to make some greeting cards. I was getting black smudges on the side of the card, so I tried to clean the "feedthrough" or whatever it is called on my printer. I tried printing another card and the same smudges. I tried cleaning again and then inserted another card stock piece of paper. At this point, the lights on the printer started to flash and the papers started spitting out with "stupid" markings at the top of each sheet. I turned the printer off for a moment, turned it back on and the papers started spitting out again. I then decided to reboot the system. I did this twice. This did not work either, so I turned the printer and computer off. It was now getting late and I was becoming frustrated by the minute, so I decided to call it a night and try again in the morning. Saturday morning, I decided to try again to make the greeting card that I had started. I went to turn on the printer and there were no lights. I thought that was strange as there were lights the night before. I kept pressing the buttons; nothing. Well, I thought, "The printer has died." It's not that old, but then you just never know how long things will last." I decided I would get a new printer that would have a copier, scanner and printer all in one. I also wanted a printer where I could insert the memory card from my camera into the printer as I was using a USB cable to get pictures from my camera to the computer. After going to my daughter Cathy's house on Saturday afternoon and setting up her new computer and printer, I decided to stop at Office Max to see what they might have. While there, I found a very nice Hewlett Packard All-In-One Printer with the memory card slots for a digital camera. I had a $15.00 discount card for Office Max that I did not have with me so I decided I would go back the next day. Well, that did not happen, so I went there on Monday and made my purchase. As I was making my purchase, the salesman asked if I had a USB cable and I told him that I did and I continued on home. I had worked extra hours on Monday so I thought I would probably wait until Tuesday to put everything together, but being me, as the evening progressed, I decided to set up the new printer. I took everything out of the box, had my directions all set and was ready to put my new printer together. (Keep in mind before I continue that there had been no one there but my husband and myself from the time I turned the printer off on Friday until the next morning on Saturday and the desk that held the printer had not been moved at any time.) I pulled the desk out. You guessed it. The printer was unplugged. How the heck did that happen! The only explanation I could come up with and it wasn't at that moment, was that some way or other the phone cord on the desk must have got wound around the printer cord and apparently one of us moved the phone and when we did, the plug came out of the back of the printer. I had already made arrangements to give the scanner that I had to my grand daughter, the ink cartridges to the "non-working" printer to my niece and there was a new printer sitting there on the floor. My husband said to just keep it and don't get upset about it. At least I would not get smudges on my cards. (By the way, never got smudges on paper; just my expensive card stock.) With that decision being made, I then started to hook everything up. The old printer was connected to the computer via a parallel cable, but I did have a USB cable from my camera that I was not longer using. I know. I know. The USB cable for the printer and the camera are not the same. Did not know this. Do now. I called Office Max to see if they had one available as the closer store to me (Staples) had only six footers. I only needed a 3-ft cable. They did. I called and asked daughter Susan if she would do me a very big favor and go get it and bring it back to me as I was not dressed to go out and "stuff" was all over the floor. She did and returned with the right cable. I started installing right away to the sounds of giggling grand daughter Michelle. That was a mistake. Susan and Michelle left and I continued on. Something was not right. So I uninstalled it and started over again. Finally, everything was completed. I printed a test sheet and everything was fine. Next thing I wanted to do was check out the camera. Well, would you believe it, my memory card would not fit in any of the openings in the printer. I called Office Max. It seems that Hewlett Packard decided not to support the SmartMedia which is what I use for my camera. I looked in the Instruction Guide and you can use a USB cable and make adjustments. Could not get that to work. It turns out that I am getting a new camera sometime soon, so I am not terribly upset over that, but it was just another thing to go wrong. I had enough for one night, so I thought I would check out the scanner another time. On Wednesday, there was an article in the newspaper that I wanted to scan and send to grandson Chris. This did not turn out to be a simple task. The scanner I removed was straight forward and very simple to operate. This is a little more complicated. I thought to myself that I set up my daughter's computer and printer, my sister's computer, my cousin's computer and helped my other daughter with installing Anti-Virus software. What is the problem? I can't seem to help myself. After a few attempts and carefully reading the instructions (which vary from the Guide to the computer instructions), I was finally able to figure out how to operate the scanner. I'm sure I will be happy that I have a new printer in the long run, but it has sure been aggravating getting there. By the way, I still have to find a new home for the perfectly working printer that I replaced provided that some one doesn't want to make cards.
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My friend Becky has sent me lots of e-mails; some are spiritual, some informational and others funny. She sent me one a few days ago that I thought was very appropriate for Mother�s Day. As I read it, I thought of my own mother and all the things that I do every day that are just like my mother. Like���� Fluting the end of pie crust Scalloping the edging of a crotched blanket Mixing flour and water in a small bowl for thickening gravy The way I give the extra pat under the pillows after pulling up the bedspread How I put pillows in their cases Keeping the emptied canned tomato can on the stove to hold my spoon to stir my sauce The way I fold my sheets and towels More importantly, my Mom always made sure family came first. She saw that we knew our prayers and attended church regularly. Also, how she gave me a crucifix to hang in my bedroom for a wedding shower gift. It is still on the wall in my bedroom and is the first thing I see in the morning when I wake to greet the day. Most of all, Mom always made sure that my brother, sister and me knew we were loved. How many times I remember her saying that she may not like us very much for something we may have done, but she always loved us. Can�t tell you how many times, I have said that to my own children. To get back to the e-mail, it is actually the end of the poem, but it really touched me, so I thought I would share it with you. Your Mother is always with you.... She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street; she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks; she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well. Your Mother lives inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in every tear drop. She's the place you came from, your first home; and she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, not space... not even death!
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Grandson Chris tagged me to write about a few things that I know, things I used to know, things I want to know, and things I don�t care about or want to know. Well, Chris, I will give it a try. Things I Know: 1. I have a very loving and caring family 2. Everyone seems to like my meatballs 3. I am a nut about cleanliness and germs 4. Love hot fudge sundaes, carrot cake and coconut cream pie Things I Used to Know: 1. The Greek alphabet 2. How to type math formulas on an Executive typewriter 3. How to produce software that contained computerized artwork 4. How to roller skate Things I Want to Know 1. Why people still smoke and know the dangers 2. Why I can�t seem to get anyone to publish one of my stories 3. Why I have never really had an interest in reading, but like to write 4. Why I am such a worry wart Things I Don�t Want to Know or Care About: 1. Smoking 2. Hard rock 3. Intimate details of one�s personal life (some women are soooo guilty of this) 4. Rare beef (yuck) As I�m not really sure who may read this, it is a little hard to tag someone. Chris, tag someone for me if you like. Thanks for tagging me. It was lots of fun. Took a little bit of concentration of my part.
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The other day, my grand daughter Kaysey and her friend Amelia came to visit. To give them something to do, I gave them some pictures that I had selected from many to scan and put on my computer. First of all, there are literally hundreds of pictures that I have taken over the years that are in boxes, envelopes, etc. and stored away. In a perfect world, I would be able to scan them all and put them on discs. I can�t imagine how long it would take as there are so many. Well any how, as I was looking at the pictures with the girls, I noticed all the differences in the quality of the photos as they were taken with different cameras over a period of several years. The really old ones were taken with my Kodak Brownie camera. The pictures are in black and white, but somewhat faded and on the grey side. I received this camera for my 12th birthday. In those days, you did not take all the pictures that people seem to today, so a camera would last for quite a while. I even took it on our honeymoon with us. We took lots of pictures, but I only have one picture to show for. I remember that it was the last one taken on the roll. We had put the camera in the back window of our car and it was very sunny. Something happened with the sun beating on the camera and all of the pictures but one was ruined. The next camera that we purchased was a Polaroid. I remember how excited my husband and I were because he was able to take a picture of our second daughter, Susan when she was only eight hours old. It was big and bulky but we took lots of pictures with it. That too gave black and white photos. A few years passed and color photos were now becoming very popular, so we decided to purchase yet another Polaroid. This one gave us some pretty good colored pictures. Still have that one upstairs in the closet. Wonder if it still works? Wonder if you can even buy film for it? In addition to the Polaroid�s, we have had Brownie Instamatics and a couple of 35 mm cameras. Added to this, we had an 8mm movie camera and a few years ago purchased a Camcorder. So in addition to still photos, we have reels of film converted to a VCR tape and lots of tapes from the Camcorder. Last, but not least, I have my handy dandy digital camera. This camera I purchased four years ago. Every picture that I have taken with it is now computerized. Sad to say, I think it has seen better days, so it is about time to purchase another one. Some day, when I am feeling particularly ambitious, I will scan some more pictures and put them on CD�s. I have a large folder at this time on my computer that is divided into families, occasions, etc. Some are from my digital camera and others are old pictures that I have scanned. My screen saver on my computer is a slide show of the pictures I have stored. It is just one of the best things. I just love watching the pictures go by (old and new). I guess my closing thoughts are that I think photos are wonderful. They provide us with such great memories as we look back and reminisce putting us at a different time and different place if only for a few minutes.
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When I was in school, I was a very good student and had very good grades. However, I did have a problem in that I really did not like to read. (Ha Ha, but yet I am expecting someone to be reading this.) I read lots of books, but never anything very much for enjoyment. I have never cared for Science Fiction, �impossible� fiction, or anything that just could not be real. If I did have to read something for a book report, it was usually a biography or auto-biography. I only ever read very few books and would just use the same one each year for a book report (different teacher, different class). My book report would be different, but the book would be the same. Who would know the difference. When I was a junior in high school, I had already given my book report on Anna Pavlova, the Russian ballerina when Mr. McQueeney wanted another book report. While there I was; I had to read something. Because it was not a favorite thing of mine to do, I procrastinated until it was too late to read a book and then make a report. Right around that same time, my grandfather spent a few days with us. He was not much of a talker, but for some reason or other, he told me about his mother coming here from Ireland; conditions on the ship, etc. That was probably one of the only times that my grandfather and I had ever really talked. Keeping in mind now, that I still had this book report to do and the day to be turned in was approaching soon. I decided to go to the Library and find a book that had something to do with the Mayflower. I did find one. I think it was called �Crossing of the Mayflower�, but that was so long ago that I have forgotten the real title. Well anyways, I copied down the book title, author�s name, dates, etc. I then wrote my book report using the information I copied from the book, but telling my grandfather�s story. I handed in my report on time and that was that, or so I thought. A few days passed, when Mr. McQueeney said he had an exceptional book report that he would like to read to the class. He started by saying �The title of this report is called The Crossing of the Mayflower�. I almost died right there. �Oh my God�, I thought, �Someone really read that book. Now, I am in trouble.� He started to read the report. My heart was pounding, my stomach was aching and then I suddenly realized he was reading my report. You may think I got away with something, but that has stuck with me all these years. Of course, I did not tell Mr. McQueeney the difference, but I still felt pretty guilty just the same. I still don�t read a whole lot, but thank God, I don�t have to do book reports any more.
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A while back I wrote a story that I called �A Spring Surprise�. It is somewhat a story about me when I was in Kindergarten. Wow, that was a long time ago. The story is a little bit long for posting, but I will give the general idea. In my story, I give this explanation of what is referred to as May Day. It is a festival that celebrates spring. In many countries the first day of May is called May Day and special things take place to celebrate this time of the year. One of these special things is to make a maypole. It would be a very tall pole decorated with many beautiful colored streamers. The children would dance around the maypole, each one holding a streamer, each one celebrating spring. Also, there would be a Queen of the May. In my story, there is a little girl that I called Susie who was very excited about May Day. On that day, she was ill. She begged her mother to go to school promising not to be too active. Her mother gave her a note to give to her teacher explaining that she did not feel well but wanted so much to go to school that day. When she arrived at school, she almost forgot about her tummy ache when she saw the beautifully decorated may pole. One more thing had to be done. Who will be the Queen of the May? Everyone sat in silence waiting. The teacher asked Susie if she wanted to be Queen of the May. Susie had to sit in a special place right next to the maypole. She wore a little wreath of paper flowers. Each child took one of the colored streamers and began to dance around the maypole. Around and around they danced to the happy music from the teacher�s piano. Susie sat in her special place and watched the children dance. Surely, this was the best May Day ever. She was Queen of the May, Queen of Spring, and it was her favorite time of the year.
Well, I�m sure you have guessed by now that I was chosen to be Queen of the May; tummy ache and all.
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