Nothing much

Thinking about my upcoming 40th wedding anniversary brought to mind this wedding photo from 1970. That's me and my BFF, looking all young (and skinny). All I remember thinking about during the wedding, was to hand my flowers to the maid of honor, let her lift my veil, and THEN turn back to the new hubby for the "gotcha" kiss. And also, I remember thinking how fast it all seemed to go by--all that effort getting ready (and my wedding was a snap compared to the extravaganzas brides plan now) and over so fast. In and out in 20 minutes.

I don't know what brides are thinking of these days, I really don't. So much money spent!! I'd rather have had the down payment on a house myself. Or half of a new car. Something lasting, not just one frantic day that has to be planned like the invasion of Normandy, and the stress of getting it all to come off, the pressure to get right every little detail. Brides spend more on their gowns than my whole wedding cost! Bizarre.

That photo has been PS'ed a bit, can you tell there was someone there to my right? I can't, now. I love Photoshop, but it has completely eroded my faith in what I believe a photo shows. Given time, you can get photos to show anything from Bigfoot to UFOs, and make it look REAL. I understand that in criminal trials, digital photos are not admissible as proof, but that could be an urban legend too. I don't find it on snopes, but if you want to give it a shot, here is the link to urban legends: Http://snopes.com They are good for a giggle, just to read.

Bumper sticker of the day: "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism."

Perhaps a little premature...

Well, I started out the front door yesterday and it was... sleeting. And only in the 40s, after being 70s the day before. So maybe I am being a little too quick to herald the end of winter, but the daffodils are blooming. So soon it will be warm, and we'll be bitchin' about mowing, and the heat, and the flies (always a consideration with horses). We're never pleased.

The Miata came back with 2 new tires but otherwise passed its 30K mile check up. Even the battery was OK. It is so nice to be driving it again, especially with the top down. I got my first Miata in 1996. The kids were driving, and everyone seems to get a car for the kids to drive; but I said phooey on that--they can take the old Subaru and I'll get what I really want to drive for the first time. That one was blue; then a 1999 green one, and then this 2002 black one. Do you think I'm in a rut? I looked at the new Miata while we were at the dealer's place, and Wow, does it ever look good, with a retractable hard top no less. However I have something the new one lacks -- the title.

Our cruise in June is shaping up nicely. We've selected our shore excursions, and have the flights booked (again), and all that remains is to book a hotel for the Friday night before the cruise, since we will have to fly to Boston a day early. I am really looking forward to it. Our 40th anniversary, what a thought, I don't feel old enough, aren't I still 30? I guess I can't be middle aged unless I live to be 116 years old! Well, like the old Queen song, who wants to live forever?

bumper sticker for the day: "Common sense isn't all that common."

Sniff sniff...

I'm sick again. This time (so far) it all seems to be a head cold, so with luck I can avoid the pneumonia that I had last time. Either way I feel like I may never breathe through my nose again. Thus I have plenty of time to dwell on one my favorite themes, which is Why won't sick people stay home and not spread their germs everywhere healthy people are? There seems to be this abiding attitude that struggling into work when you obviously belong in bed somehow means you are scoring points in the Loyal Employee stakes, showing that come hell or high water you made it into work. Please. Anyone you come in contact with knows just where to put the blame when they too become sick. I guess I got this from my son, who picked it up at work. Ick.

Well, much to my surprise, the health care reform bill passed! Whoot! When I was working in the hospital several years ago, I had a lot of contact with cancer patients who were undergoing bone marrow transplants. And those "lifetime liability" numbers from the insurance companies got crunched up by the expensive procedures to which these poor folks counted on to survive really quickly. Reading back over, this isn't quite what I wanted to say, but anyway, the reform of lifetime caps is a good thing. And yes, cancer patients do cost us all a lot, but hello? They want to live?

My son told me an interesting factoid. He said that $1 billion dollars, in $100 dollar bills, stacked on a regular pallet (4' x 4') waist high, it would take 11 pallets to hold it all. Now our house is pretty crowded these days, but if anyone wants to test this out, I am sure we will find somewhere to stack all those dead presidents. All in the name of scientific discovery, of course.

Bumper sticker of the day: "No one is sure of the age of the human race, but everyone agrees we are old enough to know better."

I think it may be over

I think we have entered Soggy Spring at last. The horses look like woolly mammoths but their blankets are off (and are so dirty they stand up by themselves--sort of like they are on an invisible horse). The grass is non-existent because of the mud, especially where the nags have been "grazing", but it is still better than dirty slippery snow. If everything greens up I'll post pictures here ASAP.

I am also feeling well for a change, over the pneumonia and the mammo trauma. I just finished doing our income taxes (yeah me) and the results are not too bad. They have been e-filed, that much less to worry with, and the checks are in the mail (really). All the cats and dogs are OK, and no new additions, thank god. There is still a massive amount of laundry, but there is no end to that anyway, unless we all give up changing clothes forever. Ick. My Miata has been unwrapped and actually driven, once the battery was re-charged. It goes in the shop Tuesday for its 30,000 mile maintenance, even though it has only 28,000 miles on it, because it has had no service since I purchased it new in 2002 (other than oil changes), so it will be interesting what if anything they discover. I figure it will at least need a new battery. I had it detailed before wrapping it, so it looks pretty good for an 8 year old car.

Norm climbed up on a looong ladder on Friday and repaired the gutters where the massive icicles tore them down as they melted. I checked out the houses of neighbors when we drove by and the gutters are twisted or off on 75% of them, and I understand the local "gutter guys" are backed up unit August. We have had major downstairs flooding in the past when the gutters were too full of leaves, such that all the extra rainwater flooded in through the garage and on into the house, so we can't afford to wait months for functional gutters. what a winter.

So life just rolls on, nothing of vital importance going on here. Which is good. Drama has never been my best coping skill set.

Bumper Sticker: "I used to have a handle on life, but it broke."

It. Is. Still. Winter.

I am so very very sick of winter. We have had continuous snow since mid Dec. Right now there are about 9 inches; they melt down into smaller depths, briefly, and then rise up again, good as new (grrr) with the next snowfall. I WANT SPRING!! Daffodils, wisteria, robins. Please? I have cabin fever very badly.

Of course I had the other kind of fever, the kind that sends you to the clinic without showering first, or brushing your teeth or combing your hair. You just go in all your misery and humbly ask for drugs. After my positive chest xray they sent me home with an inhaler, steroids, antibiotics and cough syrup, and I am now pretty much healed, all except my ears which makes everybody sound like they are talking inside a bucket.

I caught this misery at that best of all places, a hospital. I went on a Friday for my annual mammogram (my friend calls them mammygrams, and that tickles me) and first thing Monday morning they called me to ask me to come in RIGHT AWAY for further films. They whisked me past all the other waiting patients, the receptionist said "they'd heard about ME(??) " They took another 6 films, had me wait, than sent me for ultrasound, and then has me wait until the radiologist came and scanned them himself. Then the next day the surgeon called me to arrange a biopsy, which was done on the Thursday, and then I returned to the surgeon who said the biopsy was benign. Follow up in three months. And from all this office-hospital-waiting area I picked up the damn pneumonia. thanks ever so much

Next time I shall bathe in Purell as I go.

Bumper sticker : "Slogan and rant-free zone"