I fear.....

This is what I fear IF we ever decide to put in a pool.....LOL. I feel like Stephen Colbert (he has a bear phobia).

Bears....really!

If you know where we live, then you know that we are surrounded by 19 or so acres of pine trees. And when the weather is nice, we like to walk out there. Bruce keeps a clear path cut all around the perimeter, and it makes a nice place to take a stroll. But....we have bear. Is "bear" also plural? Or is it "bears"? I don't know, but whatever. We have black bear all over around this part of the state. People see them all the time right here around our house. And yesterday when I took a nice little stroll all by myself I got to the very back of the property, as far from our house, or civilization, as I could possibly be, where nobody could hear me scream (well, maybe....maybe not, but it IS way back there and its really isolated)...and suddenly I heard a loud crashing through the trees like something quite large was spooked and running away from me. It could have been a deer. We have loads of those too. But a few seconds later I came upon a huge, um, well a ginormous pile O' poop. And it was NOT from any deer, of that I am certain. Nor was it from the multitudes of bunnies we see all over the place. It looked more like an elephant had done its business there at the edge of the woods. I didn't imagine it. Bruce took a walk back there this evening and came back talking about the huge "pile" he saw on the path, too.

And now, I am spooked. Its where I like to walk. But is it safe? I mean, I realize there could be anything or anybody (thinking murderous axe wielding maniacs because I watch WAY too many scary movies) out there hiding in the trees. But the bear thing is NOT my imagination running away with me. They are real and they are out there. I am just trying to guesstimate the risk factor right now. I stay on the path, out of the trees. I walk in daylight. I read that black bears are people-shy and rarely attack humans. And still I am feeling nervous about being back there, especially by myself. Sometimes Bruce walks with me, but not always.......What would you do? I think I need to find a new place to walk.

ETA: After doing a web search of what bear... um, poop actually looks like (yes, I know its such an exciting way to spend an evening, right?), we have decided that it is definitely bear droppings. Or, as I learned tonight, known also as bear scat. Yay! I am already phobic of snakes. At this rate I might never leave my house again.

Allergies are killing me

I wrote a post and then it disappeared. Stupid blogger. Ok, so its been a while since I have gotten any glitches so maybe it is getting better than it used to be. But whatever....

The gist of it is that I am having a fit with allergies right now. Pollen is everywhere outside. There is a yellowish powdery coating on everything. I am so stuffy with itchy eyes, sore throat and these awful sneezing fits that go on forever.
The worst is when I am driving....yikes. Well, thats not necessarily when the worst attacks occur....but it IS the worst most inconvenient time/place to have a sneeze-fest. So scary. I have been taking Claritin for days now but its not doing much. Benadryl at night seems to help me sleep but I can't take it during the day. That stuff knocks me out cold. I am going to pick up some OTC Zyrtec or Allegra today and see if that works any better for me.

I did a web search on allergy medication reviews. Its so confusing because the results are pretty evenly split between Claritin, Zyrtec, and Allegra. It seems to depend on the person. What works for one person just may not work as well for someone else. I guess its going to be a trial and error thing to find the right one for me. I am fairly sure that Claritin is not it though. I can't even tell that I am taking anything. Ugh....this is so not fun. Any suggestions? Anything work really well for you? I am feeling a bit desperate so any help would be appreciated!

WANT!!!!

I SO want the tiny giraffe thats in the the Direct TV commercials. Ok, I realize that its fiction, but honestly? Its so adorable that somebody ought to wreak some serious science-type magic and make some of these little guys.

And as a testament to the fact that I am not the ONLY crazy tiny giraffe coveting sucker out there, you can watch the little guy live on webcam......here! Really. And yes, I have gone on there to watch him, too. LOL. Apparently he is quite the star now.

Schizophrenic weather

The middle of last week had temps into the low 80's here. I was dreaming of shopping for summer clothes, getting ready to drag out some shorts, and starting my annual dilemma of "to tan or not to tan". For the past 3 days its been gray, drizzly, and hovering in the low 40's. Apparently we had a little sleet early this morning. So crazy.

Last night we watched another round of "To Catch a Predator" on Dateline. I swear, I am going to have to stop watching it. I get so angry that I can barely see straight.
To see a never-ending stream of men showing up with the intent to have sex with a minor just makes me enraged. These men are religious leaders, school teachers, and worst of all (to me) fathers. What the hell is wrong with these people?

Some of their (pathetic) excuses for their behavior:

-I was lonely. (go join a club or at least hang out at a sleazy bar and pick up women your own age, loser)

-I'm not a predator since this is the first time I ever did this. (well, predator doesn't have some inherent implication of multiple times, AND this piece of human garbage had an arrest record for the same thing, so he is also a liar.)

-I figured it was my best chance of clean sex. (?? What the hell is wrong with you!!??)

-I wasn't gonna do nuthin' (although you showed up with condoms...a full brand new box still in the paper bag from the drug store....).

I felt like I was going to explode with rage. All of these guys got jail time, but I would be tempted to give them a choice:
Life sentence away from society OR their choice of a death sentence. Harsh, I know, but society would be so much better off without these sick bastards running around. We have "zero tolerance" for kids who bring a knife to school in their lunch box, or ibuprofen for illness....but child molesters get a couple of years in jail and then are set free? How is that even remotely right? Ok, yeah, I gotta stop talking/thinking/writing about this or my blood pressure is going to be through the roof. I have zero tolerance for anybody who would willingly and knowingly harm a child.

Thank Jesus for Steam Cleaners

We have kept a home-type steam cleaner on hand for years. When you have pets, I don't see how you could live without one. When our old one gave up the ghost, we went out and bought another one pretty quickly. And while its true that the cats are much cleaner and I have needed it a whole lot less than when the dogs were running around the house, still....an occasional disaster just requires a steam cleaner. Jesus gave us steam cleaners as soon as man domesticated animals into pets. I am sure of it.

Thursday afternoon, I got home from work and spotted one of those disasters right away. The cats have been having a blast in their new outdoor enclosure, and they eat grass outside. Somebody had puked right in the middle of the hall, a huge brownish green puddle sitting on the carpet. Why does puke or poop or pee never seem to happen discreetly behind a chair? Why is it always smack in the middle of the floor? I tackled it with carpet cleaner, with pet enzyme cleaner and I felt like it was going to be ok. When I got up yesterday morning and could still kind of see where the spot had been I tried to convince myself that it was only because it was still damp from all the cleaning. Surely with another day of drying it would disappear.

No such luck. It was still visible this morning. Bone dry and I could still tell distinctly where it was. Time to drag out the steam cleaner. And now, after running practically a whole entire tank over a small 2 foot by 2 foot square, I think its gone. When I couldn't tell exactly where I was supposed to be cleaning, I declared it good enough.....hopefully when it dries it will stay gone....

I love this

see more Lolcats and funny pictures,

It makes me miss my goats! Don't you just love how the dog in the background is all cool about it like having goats tromp all over you is completely normal? LOL!