*Sigh*

School started here yesterday. So, on Sunday, I tried to keep my babies busy outside. I know for me growing up, sleeping before the first day of school was next to impossible. Unfortunately daughter seems to be cursed as most of the women in my family have been – insomnia and being a night owl.

At any rate, we were outside quite a bit Sunday…I was bored and lonely and decided to walk next door and talk to my neighbor. She’d just gotten in from church. We’re catching up and she asks if I knew about Nick – their retired police dog German Shepherd. I said no… I knew I hadn’t heard him bark in a while, but it’s been so hot here, I just figured he’d not been out much.

She said about three weeks ago, he was acting funny so they took him to the vet. They did some blood work and when it came back, they found out he had cancer. He was 15 years old and the vet said there just wasn’t much that could be done. Instead of letting him suffer, they had to put him to sleep.

If you’ve read here for any length of time, I guess you can imagine what I did. Yep, stood in her driveway and sobbed like a five year old. It just broke my heart. She said it about killed her and her husband… He wasn’t my dog and it hurt my heart, so I can only imagine how they feel. Losing Chelsea Dog two years ago about killed me and she was only 11. Fifteen years with a dog – and one that you worked with, trusted your life with and spent 24/7 with – gosh, it’s like losing a member of your family.

It sure made me come in and hug my two. Dharma, our rottie, is nine now. She’s a bit slower than she used to be and gets a little stiff in the hind quarters when she first gets up. Dakota – or Kota as he’s usually called these days is almost two – come November 22nd. He’s still got a lot of puppy in him and since he’s the size of a horse lol, he really needs manners – but gosh they are both so much company for a lonely gal waiting for her husband to come home. Kota is my dog for sure…no matter where I go, that dog is right next to me. I rarely get in the bathroom alone lol. If I go into the kitchen, he’s up and coming along hoping I’ll give him his favorite treat (ice lol). He truly is a huge blessing.

While husband was home, he said, “You know, I wouldn’t joke around with wrestling moves with Dakota around. I really think he’d try to bite me.” Husband is famous for aggravating the babies and I with a wrestling voice and doing slow motion wrestling moves LMAO. It’s funny as hell, but he said he was sure that dog wouldn’t understand he was playing and he didn’t want to get bit lol. Every time husband moved close to me Kota would watch his every move lol. I’m sure once husband gets home for good and he gets used to having him here again he won’t be so protective. Now that I’m thinking about it, he wasn’t even a year old when husband left – so he probably doesn’t really remember what it was like to have a male adult in the house. Makes sense he’d be a bit leary of husband being around and hugging on me and the babies.

Anyhow….

Since I was a little girl I’ve always wanted a German Shepherd and I have to say, I have a pretty special dog who I feel is a damn good friend. He’s still a baby…but he sure has turned into a fine dog. And I can’t help but feel pretty secure with him by my side. Now that we have that Jeep, once it cools off, he’ll start riding with me to take the babies to school. He used to ride a lot before we traded the Explorer for the Mustang. I’m sure the first few trips might be a bit trying, but I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it quickly. He’s so damn smart…

Well, I need to go get groceries. It was a bad weekend here (long story) and I didn’t feel well. We went on Saturday and the line was wrapped around into the freezer section, so I just left. No way was a fighting the crowd to shop and then standing in line for an hour. The prices just aren’t that damn good lol. Anyhow, now I need to get us some vittles though and hopefully going in the morning it won’t be so busy.

Hope everyone has a great day and I’ll be back later this afternoon….

New Look…

It was an accident to be honest. I’d read where you could preview templates now and I went to see what new looks they had. I guess I clicked the wrong thing and unfortunately there was no undo. So I had to find a new template and – I kinda like this one better. More organized or something….

Parents All Over the Country…

Are suffering with me tonight, I’m sure. If you are a parent of a child ages – oh – 5 to 13 or so, you too are probably watching High School Musical II on Disney tonight.

I have to say, the first one was cute – and the music wasn’t half bad if you can stand pop. This one so far – eh. Most sequels aren’t as good as the first and I’m afraid this one is the same.

My babies have looked forward to this for weeks though, so we’re watching it . It’s what makes life good though – sharing in the things that make them happy – even if you’d rather be watching COPS lol!

Advertise He’s Gone or Not….

that is the question (and other ramblings of course).

I took daughter and son to the park last week and met one of daughter’s friends and her mother. Her husband will deploy this fall and in the course of letting them play, we talked quite a bit.

She mentioned that she’s not putting up a blue star banner while he’s gone so as to not advertise that she has a deployed husband. I told her my banner’s been up since the last time he deployed and will stay up until he retires. My neighbor has one – for his son deployed in the Navy and so do a lot of folks in town.

On the back of my car I have a magnet that says “Half of my heart is in Iraq.” It’d been packed up in a box in the basement with other memories from the last deployment and when he deployed again, I dug through the box and put it back on my car. I told her that I probably shouldn’t advertise, but it’s a small town and everyone already knows. That I’m just sure to put the bee in everyone’s bonnet that I’m a hillbilly from Alabama, I’ve been shooting guns since I was old enough to ride a bike, I’m a member of the NRA and I’m a damn good shot. Not sure if it scared her LMAO or she now thinks I’m a nut, but hey – I refuse to allow anyone to think I’d be an easy target.

I’m proudly armed and as God is my witness, as my two big dogs try to eat your ass off (a rottweiler and my “police dog” aka German Shepherd who sticks by my side religiously) I’ll be taking aim. If you get in, you’re going out toes up. I’ll be damned if I’m going to become a victim in my own home…the ONE place we should be safest. No matter where I am in this house, there’s a firearm within reach and I make NO apologies for that. The world is just a sad, sick place these days and taking chances is not something I do.

Would I suggest that all military spouses advertise they are alone? Of course not. If we were still in Virginia or even North Pole Alaska living out in the woods, I probably would do things differently. Our small town is pretty decent – or was. I’m starting to see a bit of “rough around the edges” folks in our neighborhood and downtown. But, I have a retired policeman living next door and his German Shepherd IS a retired police dog. A local policeman lives a few houses down, a policeman for another small town not far from here lives at the end of the street and a state trooper lives two doors down from him. I have great neighbors who keep an eye on everything and until yesterday I was pretty secure in my feeling safe.

My across the street neighbor is moving however. And she came over to talk yesterday while my babies were outside riding their bikes. We were out from about 4pm until 5:30 – just sitting on my front steps watching our children play and yacking it up. We’d just became pretty good friends right before school got out, so I’m truly sad to see them leave. Her husband is a reserve policeman for a neighboring town too – so that made three policeman and one retired policeman within a block lol. Just super people and it’s just my luck to finally get a great friend about my age in my town – only to have them move. And, just to clarify, they aren’t military and never have been.

At any rate, while we sat outside, these two rough looking characters come schlepping down the sidewalk. They avoid eye contact – which tells me they’re up to no good. One looked like an eighties rocker wannabe reject – the other just a dirty bum. About half an hour later, rocker reject comes back down the block without his buddy, once again avoiding all eye contact. Not twenty minutes later, here comes another guy on a bike…again, we live in a neighborhood with doctors, retired teachers, cops – these people CLEARLY do not live on our street or in our neighborhood.

And what is the ONE thing every fucking bum IS making eye contact with? Yeppers, my mid-life crisis car sitting out front with the big ol’ advertisement on the back of it that I’m living in this old house all by my lonesome. So, I’m guessing after eleven months everyone in town knows and there’s really no point in removing it. But with these characters walking around the neighborhood here lately, I’m starting to lean toward the NOT advertising side of the fence.

I talked to my next door neighbor who is a retired policeman about these two characters and he’s telling me about another regular that he sees snooping around at least once a week when folks are usually at work. He said he makes it a point to come out on the porch and stare at him heh heh. And I’ll be damned if while we’re talking, that fucker doesn’t come slithering by too….

Am I paranoid? Yep, usually am. It’s just my nature I guess…I was bad when I was in my twenties, but have progressively gotten worse after becoming a Mom. I think the fact that I’m not physically able to defend myself like I could have done five years ago also worries me. Where I used to could bench press about 100 pounds, squat 200 to 250 pounds, and worked out six days a week and now a good day is being able to make it through Wal-Mart… Well, it’s a huge adjustment and I’m sure somewhere inside (now that I’m writing and thinking about it), the fact I know I’m not able to fight off someone if needed, most likely impacts my feelings of security too. Probably another reason why I’ve purchased one firearm since husband left and have plans to buy another gun in the next few weeks heh heh.

Well, this got off topic a bit, but the question remains…advertise or not? It’s a personal choice and there’s no right answer per se. However, for most spouses who may be like me and live far from any family, I’d say not. It’s better to be safe, than sorry.

Regardless, watch your surroundings, vary your routine, have a plan of action for everything from a house fire to a home invasion.

Don’t keep the same lights on (or off) when you go to bed or leave your house. Keep outsiders guessing on whether you are in bed asleep or a night owl awake and watching TV. It’s often too easy to pick up on people’s regular habits, so make sure your own routine isn’t clear to outsiders. And as always, above all, whether at home or while you’re out and about, watch your surroundings and listen to your inner voice….we have that “inner voice” for a reason, so pay attention .

A Funny….

My computer is trying to die on me, little by little. Last weekend, my email on Outlook crapped out and it took me until tonight to find the “give a shit” to fix it.

Anywho, my Dad sent me this one and I thought it was pretty damn funny so I’m passing it on. Hope you enjoy!

Political Science for Dummies

DEMOCRATIC

You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
Barbara Streisand sings for you.

REPUBLICAN

You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?

SOCIALIST

You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST

You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain.

AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses.
Your stock goes up.

FRENCH CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.

JAPANESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

GERMAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.

ITALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows but you don’t know where they are.
While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You have some vodka.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You have some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.

TALIBAN CORPORATION

You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.
You don’t milk them because you cannot touch any creature’s private parts.
You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money to buy weapons.

IRAQI CORPORATION

You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.

POLISH CORPORATION

You have two bulls.
Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.

BELGIAN CORPORATION

You have one cow.
The cow is schizophrenic.
Sometimes the cow thinks he’s French, other times he’s Flemish.
The Flemish cow won’t share with the French cow.
The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow’s milk.
The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
The cow dies happy.

FLORIDA CORPORATION

You have a black cow and a brown cow.
Everyone votes for the best looking one.
Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black one.
Some people vote for both.
Some people vote for neither.
Some people can’t figure out how to vote at all.
Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking cow.

CALIFORNIA CORPORATION

You have millions of cows.
They make real California cheese.
Only five speak English.
Most are illegals.
Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.