Used Cat - Cheap!

I started the dishwasher. Went on about the business of my clients, completed my workout and decided there was enough time for me to catch the early showing of Star Wars so off I went. I just came home and I hear this buzzing…. I go in the kitchen to put on the kettle for tea and the buzzing is louder. I realize it is the dishwasher. This has me feeling fussed up. I open it up and a blast of heat (about 267 F) comes billowing out. I become more fussed up and now am experiencing a “twilight zone” moment. Plastic utensils and bowls have become reshaped. Everything is hot and the soap tablet is still un-melted. I am still trying to wrap my head around this. What if it caught fire while I was gone? The cats were here alone and even though G-Man has thumbs he cannot open the door. I am still fussed up. Signs from GOD.

Few save the poor feel for the poor. - Letitia Elizabeth Landon

This was a “food for thought” quote in my Devotional reading a few mornings ago. It has been on my mind. I have been playing through events of my life and have come to the conclusion that the quote is true. Not just about money, but yes also money. The quote comes from a poem.

Few save the poor feel for the poor;

The rich know not how hard

 It is to be of needful rest

 And needful food debarr d:

 They know not of the scanty meal,

With small pale faces round;

 No fire upon the cold damp hearth

When snow is on the ground

 LE Landon

                                                                   Letitia Elizabeth Landon, by John Henry Robinson

Letitia Elizabeth Landon was a poet and novelist in England. She lived from 1802 – 1838.  There seem to be several scandals associated with her and things that are just not quite right including her death. 

My cat, the one with the thumbs is screaming at me. Now he is screaming as he wanders the house. There is food in his bowl, and he has water. His problem? He does not like to eat alone. He wants someone in the kitchen while he eats. 

A few days ago he was wandering around at about 4:21 (yes I actually checked the time because I assumed it was about 6)  in the morning screaming. He screamed in here, he screamed as he walked through the house, he sat outside my daughters door and screamed. His problem that morning? He had eaten the food out of the middle of the bowl so the bottom showed but there was food piled up all around the edge of the bowl. I re-shifted the food and he started to eat. I came back to bed and guess what? There he was seconds later screaming because he was alone in the kitchen.

Slightly used cat for sale CHEAP!!!!

Not That Way!!

I turned right and started down the street. It was just after dusk so it was light enough to see yet dim enough that lights showed up brightly. Several blocks ahead of me I saw the twirling angry lights of a police vehicle to the side of the road. 

I started to go another way but as I got closer the lights went out and both cars moved on down the road the ticket apparently written and the incident over. The officer is following the car and then makes a quick U-turn and drives off in the opposite direction. This is where the whole thing goes weird… the car that had just been stopped pulls up to a stop sign. There is no left turn. There is a right turn. The road directly in front of the driver, the one that goes forward or straight is a one-way 

street, single lane and a car with headlights on is coming toward him. There are two huge signs on either side of the one-way street that indicate it is a one-way street but this driver just drives right on through causing the oncoming car to have to swerve off the road. Does the driver stop – No. Does he even slow down – No. Does he even tap or attempt to brake -No? Another car approaches down the one-way street and the driver still does not stop or slow down. At the end of this one-way road is a back road into a little village near here. It is the exit ramp from a main road. Now either the driver was so shaken up by the incident they could not focus, or they were stoned, drunk, lost, or just plain indifferent but maybe they should have taken a moment to collect themselves. What if the officer had not changed direction and driven off? This person’s day would have gone from bad to worse.  I hope the person made it home safely and that everyone they encountered also survived. Had that officer stuck around for a just a few more minutes he could have prevented the entire crazy scene.

I have encountered another odd name I just have to share because it made me laugh and I thought it was brilliant even though it may have been an accident. One morning a girl was born and her parents, the Days name her Dawn O Day. She has a sisters named Crystal Day, Bonnie Day and another named Lovena Day. How fun was this thinking up beautiful Day names?  But not to be outdone here in Texas I have discovered Miss Hazel Dawn Green married Mr. Day making her Hazel Dawn Green Day and then she married Mr. Raspberry making her Hazel Dawn Green Day Raspberry. Imagine all the possibilities for these names? I love it!!!

I want to keep you informed about my situation here. I still have no hot water. 

My mirrors in my bath have not seen steam since August. 

They claim they can find nothing wrong and at this point are blowing me off. I am actively looking for a new place to live. I have realtor looking for me and an apartment hunter. I have bags ready to go to Goodwill. I am ready to go. If you know of something let me know!

I am willing to go over budget by $200 a month for this. 

Crazy Nephew Crazy Driver

I pulled up to the intersection, the light was turning red. I had missed the turn so I waited. I had just gotten in the car and had yet to adjust the radio and the temperature. I reached for the temp knob but hit the radio instead (odd actually as they are on the steering wheel and I did not need to reach anywhere to adjust either). In my bewilderment over what I had just done I looked down at my control consul 

and that was when I heard a car horn beep a couple of polite taps.  I looked up and had a green arrow. I slowly moved into the intersection when a car on the opposite side of the intersection came charging across the road. I had not yet started to make the turn so I was not in his path. I let off the gas and gave him time to clear the road so I could turn. The car behind me who had beeped slammed on his brakes. I completed my turn and continued on my way thankful I had been distracted and had not noticed the light change or I would have been in the middle of the intersection when crazy driver plowed on across running a red light. As for the driver who was behind me? He never caught up to me, never passed me, just hung way back down the road behind me. I think the incident scared him. I think it occurred to him too that I had I gone I would have been hit and he may have felt bad about the car horn.

I continued on my journey. A couple of miles later as I was glancing back at my rear-view mirror I saw a car pull out of a parking lot, cross three lanes of traffic and pull into the lane another vehicle was occupying. That driver ran off the road and stopped. The crazy car who did it kept right on driving in the recently vacated lane as though nothing had happened and then jerked his car back over one lane as though he was avoiding something but it was ¼ mile after the fact.  

Was yesterday drive crazy day?  That was 2 incidents less than 2 miles apart. I could hardly wait to get to my destination.

My nephew and his friend joined me at Noy's Bistro  

last night where I had purchased an excellent bottle of Tierras Altas Malbec.

 The owner, whose taste in wine is extraordinary, prepared another glass for my nephew but when I told him to get Jonah a small taste he looked at Jonah and said he would not like the Malbec and said he would bring him something more pleasing.  He did.  The restaurant owner was an excellent host and would stop by our stools to regale us with a story or impart a joke now and then. I had a magical evening I must partake of more often. 

My nephew is so sweet to humor me like he does. Those boys tell the wildest tales and I have to wonder if all 20 something men are as pleasantly insane? 

What adventure awaits today? 

Two Emmas and A Cripple

I was doing some ghost hunting and came across an Emma Louise. There was plenty of documentation to verify her, 15 sources, 14 records and 18 photographs. I have found that she had 3 brothers. While doing research I have discovered other explorers list 2 more brothers and a sister also named Emma. Emma Frieda. I have been struggling with this for days. There is a photo of her headstone but it is weathered and hard to read so I enlisted the aid of a photographer to help. He saw the dates I saw which are not what were listed on several sites which, created more confusion.

Now, I have seen naming patterns where one child was named the same name as a dead child. For example, if Jo was born in 1811 and died in 1813 and another male child came in 1816 then he would be named Jo also. But Emma F. was born 5 years after Emma L and Emma L. did not die.

 I have also seen a child be given a name carried by a sick child. For example, Mol was born in 1812 and in June of 1818 she was very ill. Also in June of 1818 Mol’s mom gave birth to another daughter. Fearing that her daughter would die she names the newborn daughter Mol also.  Which may have been the case here. But, there is another possibility.

 In many traditions Saints names were used as part of the name. In Germany where Emma is from, it is especially so.  A whole family of male children can be named Johan Peter, Johan Jacob, Johan Henry and Johan Lothar all named for Saint Joannesvan Hoornaar. 

But they are not all called Johan. Their second name is used in private, in public and on legal documents.

Well, guess what I just found. A Saint Emma of Lesum in Breman Germany. 

                                             Saint Emma of Lesum (stained glass window in St. John's Church, Schnoor)

This may be the solution, except, none of the brothers carry multiple Saint’s names. 

Perhaps it is for a different Saint Emma. Saint Emma of Regensburg. 

So maybe the reason there are two Emma’s is not clear but it is clear it can and does happen.

I would love to scream out “Mischief managed” but I somehow am quite confident it is not. There is still a mystery to be solved. 

What mischief will you manage to find today? 

It Was A Creeper

I was stepping off the curb and going into the parking lot of the community I live in when a large SUV rolled up behind me and turned at that same moment.

 They had seen me so they pulled in way to the left so as not to collide with me for which I am grateful. Most people are rather rude when inside the safety of their rolling stereo. The vehicle sped on down the drive leaving me a distant memory when I discovered as I rounded a curve they had stopped at the dumpster. They had hopped back in and were driving away as I rounded another curve and got closer. I kept walking.  Then, as happens when I am walking and giving free reign to my thoughts and emotions it crossed my mind that, that vehicle was not from here. Then as I rounded another curve a car door slammed and someone walked toward a building near another of the dumpsters. That is all my imagination needed and a CSI episode was born regarding the contents of what the SUV had deposited in the dumpster.

 In my mind they had been to several dumpsters not just here but all over the area leaving boxes in dumpsters filled with…..   

use your imagination, it was all very entertaining as I made mental notes, exercising my brain, of the time, direction, color of the vehicle. I no longer was aware of the chill in the air and how many laps I had made and soon I was on the homeward stretch. But as I turned down that same drive and headed back around one more time I heard a vehicle turn in the drive not too far behind me. It was creeping at a very slow pace and never caught up, or passed me or pulled into a parking slot, I moved closer to the edge of the road and kept walking thinking they would move on around if I moved. That did not happen. I walked on around a curve that would give me a chance to turn and look back over my shoulder and I saw nothing. I kept going and I kept hearing a vehicle creeping. But the creepiest thing was they were not any headlights. From the moment I heard a vehicle turn in it dawned on me, I had not noticed headlights. I turned up to the sidewalk to my door and looked back just once more and there it was. No headlights, the roof of a dark grey SUV just sitting on the edge of the drive.

Today is day 10 of the 12 days of Christmas and I am sinking into my normal post-Christmas depression.

 All of the decorations will soon come down and things will move on as though it had never been. If I lived in a larger house, I would keep one room in a state of perpetual Christmas. All is not lost though; I could have my daughter’s fiancé get out my Valentine’s day boxes and dive into decorating for that once again. I used to decorate for that Holiday with all the exuberance I spent on Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas. After the kids all left I just stopped. I should have bought a load of red decorations. I could create a Valentine’s day tree! Hmmmm…. Maybe I still can. I am feeling a wee bit optimistic now.

10 Lords a leaping ….. will I find them today?