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Is it just me or is the following just crazy:
I just read where a man from the Florida Keys jumped in to save his pet dog from a shark! He took his dog for a swim and a 5-foot shark paid them a visit. It nearly swallowed the dog whole. Greg LeNoir got his dog back by hitting the shark in the back causing it let go of his dog. He is a carpenter, so I guess he put some serious muscle into his punch.
Now I know we tend to get very attached to “man’s best friend” and will do anything for them, but this one is a little beyond what I imagined someone would do for a dog. Now being a mother, I can’t say that I wouldn’t jump in after my child if they were being attacked in the water, so never say never (I’m not saying that I would punch a shark, but mothers do what they must to protect their young). But his dog? Now, that is a true dog lover. Will he get an award of some sort? He had a news story written about him by CBS News, so maybe he’ll make the “Late Show” with Letterman (whether as a guest or a “mention” remains to be seen).
Fortunately, both Greg and his dog made it safely to shore, so I guess the shark gave up. The dog suffered minor injuries and is not critically injured. No word on the condition of the shark.
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We were having the normal family dinner. You know, the one where the kids really don’t want what you cooked because they were looking for hamburgers or chicken nuggets instead of real food. Of course, we had to go through the normal parent ‘stuff’: “make sure you eat it all; don’t waste food; that costs money” etc, etc.
Well, if you are a parent, you realize that you can’t leave the table until your children finish eating. Otherwise, all that talk about finishing their food ends with them “accidentally” throwing it in the garbage or giving it to the dog as soon as you walk away.
We grew tired of sitting at the table waiting for our girls to finish eating the other night, so we walked away to go start cleaning the kitchen. We still had our eye on the girls’ plates though. Half an hour goes by and we had lost track of those plates and moved on to other things. So my husband asks our youngest daughter:
“Did you eat all of that food?”
She replies: “yes.”
I said “you finished it”
“Yes!”
He says: “You mean to tell me you ate all of the food on your plate?” (at that point we were all looking at the leftover food on her plate that she neglected to clear off to help back her story);
So, she says: “Oh. I thought you said did I eat all that I could eat. Not did I eat it all.”
We had to laugh at that one. I don’t know why we think that once we start raising children, they will be so much different than we were when we were kids. I remember hiding food in my napkin, flushing it down the toilet and giving it to my brother to eat if he liked it. Why do I think my daughter will be any different?
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This story (from earlier this month) comes from a newspaper in Arkansas. A 15 year old boy was out riding on an inner tube in a lake in his area. While being towed by a boat, a silver asian carp (fish) jumped out of the water and smacked the boy in the face. Can you imagine being attacked by a fish while tubing? The fish hit him so hard it knocked him out. He went to the hospital (can you imagine being the parent who explains this story to the hospital staff) unconscious, but he came to, not remembering a thing about what happened to him. This fish literally knocked the sense out of him. Unfortunately, he had to have surgery (the boy, not the fish) to wire several of his teeth together. The fish also caused whiplash.
Many questions come to mind here: How does the hospital file this accident? What medical billing code covers a fish knocking you out? Do you think the hospital staff believed the parents of the boy, or do you think they wanted to call child protective services?
The crazy thing is that this is not the only reported injury in this area. These fish have caused quite a few injuries on the same lake where this young boy was tubing. Guess it’s about time they post the proper signs in the area to warn any boaters/swimmers. What should the sign say?
“Caution: Lake full of jumping fish.”
“Warning: Lake contains jumping fish. Enter at your own risk”
“Seriously, look out for jumping fish”
"We are not responsible for what happens to you out here. People have been known to be injured by fish."
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Many of us might be very good at getting things done, but we
tend to do them at the last minute. We just didn’t plan ahead of time. Well, if
you were able to implement the online calendar (or have some sort of other
great reminder/organization system for yourself) try to put yourself ahead of
the game.
For instance, if you know you have to travel in two weeks,
why not make a list of everything you will need to pack to go on that trip.
Save that list on your computer. Place a reminder in your calendar to let you
know to print that list at least one week in advance. List everything you will need to get done
before you leave town.
Will you need to have your mail held? Go ahead and file the
form with the post office. Will you need to hold the newspaper? Let them know.
Will you need to make arrangements for your pets? Go ahead and call early. This
will come in handy right before holiday trips when spots tend to fill up fast.
Have plans to have laundry washed and ready to pack days in advance of leaving.
Put dry cleaning in early enough to be able to pick it up a few days before
your trip. If you are driving, have the car maintenance done at least one week
in advance as well, oil changes, tire rotation, fluid checks, etc. If you are
flying, be sure arrangements to get to and from the airport are well planned
out. This will save you a lot of frustration.
Hope this helps. Now, even if you don't have a trip planned yet, go start your list!
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We are trying to limit the amount of mail that we receive.
Taking steps to help save that tree, like signing up for e-billing on all of
our accounts and removing our names from the junk mail list. Well, the amount
of mail we get has gone down considerably, but whether that is due to our
efforts to cut it down or to post office “error” we have yet to find out.
We moved into a new home over 2 months ago. We had to “visit”
the prior home at least once each week to get all of our mail out of the box. Although
we did put in our mail forward request a little late (about one week before
moving) we did not expect to have to go looking for mail at both addresses
after their so-called “10” day forwarding time. Two and three weeks went by and
we still had mail at the prior address. The home we moved out of is on the real
estate market to be sold, so it has been vacant since we left. To this day, we
still receive the mail of the homeowner where we currently live and she
forwarded her mail in advance of moving the same way we did. So now, we get her
mail and send it to her. Our mail goes to our previous address. We have left a
note for that mail carrier that the property is vacant, and they still leave
mail in the box. Then, we realized that we should stop taking it out so that it
can pile up enough for the mail carrier to get the point. The only problem with
that is our concern over leaving our mail unattended for that long. Our prior
neighbors were keeping on the lookout, but you still want your mail delivered
to the correct address. Several calls to the post office were no good. No one
wanted to try to track the change of address order, they are trained to tell
you that it takes up to 10 days. Even though we told them it had been more than
10 days, they still tell you it takes up to 10 days. Now I see why people go “postal”.
That place can’t keep it together! And to anyone who works for the post office,
I want my mail sent to the address I moved “to”, not the address that I moved “from”.
What is that form for if you are going to ignore it?
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Every once in a while, it’s nice to get away from it all. We can’t always take a vacation or take time off work when we need it. So how about a few moments of bliss right there in the office? Try using a nice, large, comfortable bean bag chair. One day my boss gave me the ok to try out a new bean bag chair in the office, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. I really liked it and often dream that I am in it while working at my desk and getting fat in my office chair. Then I got our “office” dog (my co-workers sweet puppy) and took him with me. Take a look at what we thought of it (this comfy chair is brought to you by Sumo):
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(You have to read my previous blog to understand this):
Night four came and all was quiet until we heard banging out on the road. Yes, it’s time for the night crew to catch up on some lost time and work on expanding the highway a couple of lanes. This just started, so who knows how long they will be out there. It could be months. It could be over a year. The noise is like rolling thunder, only every night. We think it’s time we start playing soft music at night so we can sleep in peace. No matter where we have lived, it is always something.
Our first home, was next door to a home that attracted non-stop parties that start at 11pm. For those of you who enjoy partying at night, sorry but we old, working folks need sleep. We get very cranky without our sleep! It also leaked every time it rained and those who came to “fix” it, were not very good at their job.
Then, there was our second home. This was more of a family oriented neighborhood, however, we were fortunate enough to have some teenagers directly next door. There were two girls whose boyfriends came to pick them up or drop them off around 2-3 am. This would be ok if it was your average drive up, get in (or out) the car and go event. No, they had to yell at each other, slam doors and “breakup” with each other at least twice a month. No peace there.
So, we move into the current armadillo/highway construction home. We are looking to build in a quiet area with enough property so that our neighbors will not be close by on either side and, of course, it will not be anywhere near the highway.
And what happened to the armadillo? Well, after Tropical Storm Fay came through with all of her rain, it made for double the size puddle we had before I laid out the cardboard. So now we need to come up with a more permanent fix to our problem (more than likely, some sod).