Big Storm = Exploding Tree

Early this evening Kaylee and I watered the garden. Kaylee also watered the flowers; the deck; the deck chair; her own feet and my legs. She's got her own pink watering can and she's on a mission!

I had no idea it was going to rain tonight. I know, I know, that sounds really lame considering it's been raining almost every day or night for the last 20 days. But it's true...something happened in my brain when I experienced the sun today. I was convinced the rain was gone forever and the garden needed to be watered.

So I was surprised when we started hearing thunder in the distance. But it was far away and I just knew it wasn't going to amount to anything. A short time later Mark came to pick up Kaylee and they just about flew out the door to get home before the storm started. By this time I've seen the storm warning running along the bottom of the screen on the weather channel. But still I didn't think it was going to be a big deal. Ok, we're going to have a thunder storm...possibly some hail...but I never get hail. It's still no big deal to me. But it IS getting very dark out there....

Apparently I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried. I finally knew this for sure when a huge bolt of lightening lit up the outside like it was high noon and my living room too. And a fraction of a second later I heard a massive crack of thunder that startled me so much I let out a little scream, bolted from my living room chair into the dining room and stood there not know what to do. For some reason I thought the dining room just had to be safer than the living room even though it was only a matter of 4 or 5 steps from one room to the other. I'm guessing how many steps it would be because I'm pretty sure my feet never touched the floor on my way there. At least it felt like I flew there!

Ok, I realized that I was fine, the living room is not being bombed, and there is no reason to be standing in the dining room starring nervously out each window in turn. So I settled back into my chair and decided to watch a little t.v. This was not to be.

It wasn't more than maybe 5 mins later and I started hearing sirens coming down the street. That's fine...nothing new in that...of course there may be some problems with the storm. I'm still watching t.v. at this point. Then I start to see a lot of lights outside...I mean a LOT of lights. As I'm looking out the window I'm seeing three firetrucks coming down the road towards my house. Wow, must be something big that happened I'm thinking. I'm also noticing there are an awful lot of extra lights on firetrucks these days...do they really need all those multicolored lights? Don't we already know you're a firetruck? As I'm thinking this I'm also beginning to notice there are even more firetrucks coming from the opposite direction and the sound of sirens is now so loud it feels like I'm surrounded with it. And in fact I was.

The first line of firetrucks started slowing down just before my house. I'm getting a little nervous again. The first firetruck turns down my little side road and continues down the dead end behind my house. The second firetruck begins to follow him and decides to stop directly across from my kitchen window. I can feel my heart racing and I begin to wonder if my house is on fire and I don't know it. I can see my garage...it looks fine. The third and forth firetrucks are lined up on the main road. There isn't enough room for them to fit down the little side road. I'm glued to my back door at this point starring at the lights that are swirling around behind my house at one of the neighbors houses. I can't see what's going on but I don't see any fire...I don't smell any smoke...but they're not coming back out and now people are starting to wander back there from around the neighborhood. A crowd is forming...people are milling around...what the heck is going on back there?

Justin and KC arrive during all the excitement...quietly freaking out because firetrucks, with an excessive amount of lights going, are surrounding my house...my house looks fairly dark...and Justin doesn't see me outside. I'm sure my tree burning episode is running through his head at this point and he's beginning to think something bad has happened.

Once he finds I'm in the house, peeking outside and wondering what's going on as much as he is...all three of us headed down the dead end to check it out.

The first thing I noticed is the nice fireman that came to my house for my burning tree is there...leaning against a vehicle watching the situation and watching us; giving directions; and generally seemed to be waiting for something.

The second thing I noticed is my neighbor behind me has a very large tree that looks very odd. My neighborhood is full of very large trees. We all secretly want them taken down and none of us can afford to do it. They are some really massive trees.

The neighbor behind me is a D.J....I don't know his name...Mike something. Anyway, it's his tree that's causing all the trouble. Turns out his tree was hit by lightening. And somehow this also caused another neighbors house (next to the tree) to lose all power. I didn't see any lines down and I'm sure we would have been told to get back if there were any lines down...but that house and only that house had no power.

Once I walked around the tree I could see one side where it had been struck; looked like it had caught fire and also appeared that the opposite side of the tree had just exploded outward, blowing large chunks of tree and bark everywhere. I had all this pointed out to me by another neighbor, an elderly man with a flashlight, wearing flip flops with white socks...so cute! He gave me a guided tour of the damage. A very nice man, Everett was his name.

After the tour and much discussion about how scary it was since it's such a large tree; how much worse the damage could have been; the fact that this was the second time that tree was struck by lightening; how much clean up there will be and many more trees in the area really need to come down...Everett invited me to his house to get the name and number of the tree guy he used a little while ago, for a very reasonable price, to take down the elm tree in his front yard. When I got to his house, a mere hop skip and a jump from where we were already standing, I realized I had met his wife, Martha before. She's the lady that is out walking very early every morning like clock work. We've spoken many times but we both forgot each others names. I had never met her husband but she had spoken of him to me. Now we all know each others names, we know where each other live, (I have a sneaking suspicion that they know where everyone lives) I have the name and phone number of the "tree guy" they used (although Martha warned me the guy works alone and he's trying to cut back on his amount of work); and now that the storm is past and the firetrucks are finally leaving, I can take a shower and go to bed.

And the lesson in this story? Well I think it's obvious.....flaming trees are more likely to be located near exploding trees, which will bring firetrucks with way too many lights on them to your neighborhood, to scare the hell out of you during the middle of a terrible thunderstorm, which will in turn bring all the neighbors outside, enabling you to meet the nice elderly couple that will hook you up with someone that will take care of your flaming trees in the first place so they don't become exploding trees in the next storm!

But of course you knew this, right?

Squash The Show Tunes!

Do you know how frustrating it is to have a garden with many healthy squash plants growing there that are hell bent on putting out only MALE blossoms? I do. Well I did a little studying up on squash. Seems that each plant is supposed to produce male and female blossoms. These blossoms are cross pollinated by bees; flies; butterflies...any variety of flying bugs. Okay, so far so good. I get it. Basically everything takes care of itself. Only I've had problems growing squash for the past two seasons in my little garden. And I know that squash is one of the easiest veggies to grow. So what's the problem? Seems my squash are gay! I had nothing but male blossoms out there for weeks now. And I swear I can hear the faint sounds of show tunes coming from my garden at night! Yup, just a happy little blossom fest going on out there...until...a few days ago. A dramatic turn of events occurred. Three little girls suddenly appeared in the garden and the singing at night stopped. And with the girls arrival, in the form of female blossoms of course, came hope that finally I would get some squash growing out there.

But I wasn't easy with the idea of just letting nature takes it course. That's what I've done in the past and no squash was forthcoming. Perhaps the "boys club" out there was intimidating the girls party and I can't have that now can I? So I took matters into my own hands and I went out to that garden armed with a Q-tip and the determination to make sure the girls didn't end up as wall flowers at the dance.

Yes, I hand pollinated those female blossoms, using the biggest, strongest and freshest male blossoms that were there. In other words I "dittled" the boys with the Q-tip and then "dittled" the girls in turn. And just to be on the safe side, I used more than one male for each female. That means we'll never know who the "fathers" are and there won't be any finger pointing going on or any paternity suits in the future.

And now I wait and I watch...and I listen. I'm going to be very vigilant in keeping an eye on those squash plants. And I better not hear any more show tunes!

Care 2 Make a Difference

Want to make a difference with the cause of your choice? Check out the website link below.
You can choose from a variety of causes and some of them only require that you click a button to make a difference...no donation required.
The animal welfare catagory is my favorite! Check it out.


http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/

The many faces of Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009

Michael Jackson is dead at the age of 50. And his death has created a monumental display of love that Michael himself would have most certainly appreciated. So many feelings swirling around about Michael...the amazing icon he was to us all in the 70's & 80's...no one could come close to him...all the way to the pitiful shell of a man, that he became near the end. Many of his fans stuck with him through it all and these are the people we see now mourning him in such a tremendous way, an outpouring of devotion that hasn't been seen since Princess Diana's death. All across the world Michael Jackson's death is being felt by probably millions of people. The shock is overwhelming to many.

I must say I was shocked myself. Michael had become such a recluse in recent years and the very public accusations of child molestations, plus the fact that we had been told one too many times that he was staging a huge come back..all of this just made it impossible for me to think of him in a serious way.

I can't say I was a true fan anymore. I grew away from Michael through all the bizarre behavior, unbelievable attempts to appear "normal", denied plastic surgeries and skin lightening, and of course the court cases. I just wasn't able to see him the way he wanted the world to see him. Although many people did and still do.

Yes, Michael was a super-star, no doubt about it. He was brilliant and gifted in many ways. But I firmly believe that with brilliance; that blinding light of excellence...also comes the dark side of the star...the side that balances out the public image..the side he didn't want us to know about.

For a long time it was Michael's music that we all danced to. Every song he did was a hit. He could do no wrong. He never failed and never gave us less than his perfect best. But Michael's future was a dark spot on the horizon and he was running towards that future full force.

We started hearing about his terrible childhood, the beatings from his father, being used to support the family, his father demanded perfection from him in every way, and it's also been rumored that his father was sexually molesting Michael's sisters. And through it all his mother did nothing. She didn't protect her children; she didn't leave her husband; she professes to love her children but she never did a thing to protect any of them. As a result there is not a single Jackson out there that is normal....none of them. And eventually Michael told it all to the public...he hated his father..and with good reason.

Michael took the lions share of all of it. He was the main meal ticket and his father never let up on him. He never was allowed to be a child, never had a childhood. Is it any wonder that in his early career he seemed amazingly childlike? A twenty -something year old doesn't normally play with children. And he was really playing with them...enjoying the same things young children do, playing with abandon, like he didn't have a care in the world. And we saw this and we wondered about him....but we chalked it up to being eccentric. We let it go, because he's Michael Jackson and he's wonderful!

It's my belief that Michael buried his resentment and hatred of his father for many years. But over time these things festered in him and still he held it in. He became determined to succeed..without his father, without his family. They had all become a burden to him. A reminder of a painful past and he stepped away from them all. Michael was the main event, he didn't need them anyway.

Long before the first accusation of child molestation ever surfaced Michael was way out there with his behavior. Some of it was for publicity, some of it was real. The costumes became more and more outlandish and we loved it. Designers copied it and we bought it. And Michael felt loved by the world. But that wasn't enough for him for very long. Michael is not mentally stable and no one is addressing that aspect of him. He's surrounded by "yes men" and enablers and manipulators of all kinds. Michael began to see himself as God-like, (never realizing that when Gods fall there is no come back) yet he also wanted desperately to be the child he never got a chance to be. Everything in his life was designed to feed these feelings. It was inevitable that he would continue down the road to destruction.

The skin lightening and plastic surgery started...all denied or explained away by Michael and his people. We let it go...we love Michael...he's not weird, he's just unique. Michael develops an abnormal attachment to Bubbles the chimp; treats the chimp like a playmate; more bizarre behavior surfaces; Michael has tons of kids visiting his ranch, everything is provided for their amusement and these are all things that Michael himself enjoys immensely...and there's more plastic surgery. Now some people are beginning to question Michael's strange little world...the press has a field day over it...and it's either justified by Michael's people or explained away.

Eventually the first accusation of child molestation comes out and Michael's fans are horrified. They don't believe it. Nobody sees that Michael perfectly fits the profile for a pedophile?

There's way more that can be told but not enough space here. The strange marriages (to prove to us yet again that he's normal?); the public kiss with Lisa Marie (most awkward kiss I've ever seen); the sudden marriage to Debbie to justify his first child from her (even though we all thought he paid her for her services)...the list goes on and on.

And while all this is going on Michael's mental state is getting more and more twisted. His behavior is more and more odd and reclusive. At this point we are helpless to do anything but watch and wait to see what happens next. And still, the people closest to Michael never reach out to help him...truly help him. Now it's gone too far. Too many years of self medicating; self soothing behavior; nothing normal to compare himself to....Michael is lost.

In the end he ends up looking like a freak of nature, unable to love himself, desperately seeking love and reassurance from children (the only people he considers safe and accepting of him); trying endlessly to appear normal; and failing miserably to even come close to what he needs to survive.

It is my feeling that Michael was destined to end his days in a pitiful collapse of his house of cards. There was no other way possible for this to end. He was mentally ill; probably a pedophile; possibly gay; self-hating; narcissistic; an ego maniac; an admitted drug abuser; a closet alcohol abuser; paranoid and a host of other adjectives that escape me at the moment.

Michael Jackson paid the price of his fame with the misery of his personal life and the tragedy of his mental state. No one does that to their face if they respect themselves...if they are participating in the real world...if they even like themselves.

I mourn for Michael as much as anyone else does. But I also feel that he's possibly taken the best route out of the hell he was living in. It's better that he's gone now rather than taking the slide all the way down to the bottom. This way there will be no more law suits, no more children molested, no more surgeries or skin bleaching, no more agony for him trying to stay at the top of his game when he's unable to do so, no more struggle to ensure the world loves him despite his heavily tarnished image. It's over for Michael and I sincerely hope he's found peace at last. I will remember him as the sweet little boy he started as and the dazzling icon he eventually became. I will always dance to his music and remember him as the King of Pop.
I hope Michael is watching us now and finally knows that he's forgiven for his failings and he had our love all along.

***REST IN PEACE MICHAEL***

Just Keeping an Eye on Things.....

What am I keeping an eye on these days? Well, lets see, there's the garden; my Flaming Trees; rainy days that never seem to go away; the very large and healthy FLY that somehow ended up in the tanning bed with me!; the difficult puzzle that Justin and KC set up on the dining room table; the cherry tomato plants growing like crazy on my deck; emails from Carolyn and even better ones from a "certain someone of interest"; the neighbor becoming desperate to sell his Lemon Yellow house; the unknown teenagers that stopped to pee behind the neighbors row of trees without realizing that I could see them..ha ha; and of course YOU!

Cool eye isn't it??

Mouse Haven

This is my mouse. She doesn't have a real name. I call her Miss Mouses or Mousages...I don't know why; it just happens like that sometimes.

She is a wild mouse that I saved from my son's cat. Unlike the other mice I've saved from Lily, this mouse is permanently maimed...she wobbles and falls over. She was only a baby when Lily got a hold of her. I was surprised she lived. I kept her because she is not capable of taking care of herself in the real world and because she is unable to jump to the roof of her house and chew a hole to escape. Her predecessors let me know they were ready to leave by trying to escape that way. (they were all released into the field across the street from me)

Wild mice are not like the mice you buy in a store. Notice how large her eyes are? That's for seeing in the dark. They do not drink from a water bottle with the sipper tube; they don't ever like to be touched and they are a hell of a lot faster moving!

I have never touched Miss Mouses...she's wild and she'll stay that way. But if I move slowly she is not afraid of my hand coming near her anymore. Move too fast, or startle her and she's gone before you can blink.

To clean her home I have to use gloves to remove most of the bedding, then I tip her house so that she slides into a smaller house. It's somewhat upsetting to her but not as much as it would be if I tried to pick her up.

I've read that wild mice usually have a life span of about 15 months. I think she's older than that now. Wild mice probably have a lot of things going against them. Miss Mouses only has Lily...who remembers she's around every once in awhile and tries to get her. Not gonna happen Lily!

I keep the mouse in my bathroom. I can leave the window open for fresh air and yet close the door so the cat can't get in. It works so far.

She eats seeds; raw peanuts; some pet mouse food (but never the colored garbage); small pieces of strawberry & blueberry (she loves berries!); slivers of cucumber and apple. She gets all her moisture from the fresh food she gets. They don't require a lot of water. I try to give her things that she might find in her wild world...small pieces of wood; some leaves & twigs but also the occasional empty t.paper tube. She doesn't hide in it however, she chews it up for bedding. And a lot of her extra food gets hidden too.

Overall she's interesting to watch and learn about; doesn't require a lot of work to maintain her; doesn't cost much to keep her and she will sometimes look right at me while I'm talking to her as if she's listening. That's very polite of her.

Several other mice were saved from Lily before Miss Mouses. They were all babies when saved and they were all injured...most of them bloodied up. I would put them in the mouse house and feed them. If they lived, (amazingly they all did) I'd care for them until they were old enough to live outside on their own. Then they were released into the field with a small pile of food. I'll never know for sure, but I like to believe they all made it. :)

Hey, do you smell smoke?

Weird things happening around here lately. For the past two days I've had the fire department here..tonight they brought their buddies, the police with them too.

Apparently the huge tree in my front yard has leaves and limbs that are touching the electrical wires. When they touch a particular wire (not sure which one) you can see and hear sparks of electricity and puffs of smoke drift out from the tree. Yesterday a couple was driving by; saw what they thought was a tree starting on fire, and called the fire dept. They came to my front door. I thought it might be somebody selling something so I didn't answer the door. I went to a different room to look out the window. When I saw two people standing on the sidewalk looking up into my tree...well, they got me looking too. Eventually there were three of us standing out there staring up into the tree. I never saw any smoke but I did hear the snapping.

I explained to these two people that I had called CL&P before about my other trees doing the same thing and they didn't seem very concerned about it at all. It took them 7 hrs and two more phone calls to come to my house. The guy said if the tree is alive it won't catch on fire, but he trimmed the offending tree anyway and left.

Yesterday I relayed all that info to the chief of the fire dept. He had a grin on his face the whole time I was talking. I apologized for the wasted trip but he wasn't concerned...said it was his job, no big deal. But he did tell me to call CL&P and tell them the fire dept. thinks the tree needs trimming.

Well I got home from work today and shortly later the fire dept was there and this time the police came too. Now picture this...I'm making out a grocery list and Justin says hey, who are those two guys standing by the side of they road staring at our house? When I looked, sure enough there were two firemen staring at my house..but no one came to the door and I didn't see a vehicle from that window. Take a stroll into another room and the entire picture changes. There is a huge fire truck; an emergency vehicle and a police car all around my house! My tree has alarmed someone else who called them again!

Long story short...CL&P showed up about 20 mins after all the emergency people left. I think somebody got a phone call..ha ha. Hmmmmm...7 hrs to respond when I called and yet only about 20 mins when the fire dept or police call! I guess the next time my trees are sparking I'll call the fire chief and ask him if he'll call CL&P for me. By the time the summer is over we should be good friends!

Today I finally got a look at the tree they trimmed. It's not the worst job I've ever seen but it certainly is not the best either. And there are limbs all over the place. I have no idea how I'm going to get rid of them...way too much for me to handle. No, my friends, they don't clean up after themselves! Little weasels!

Here is a picture of the tree from a couple of different views. I feel sorry for the tree now. I know what it feels like to get a bad haircut. Poor tree!

Farmers are interesting people

I follow two farm blogs on a semi-regular basis. I've found it's really interesting to know what goes on in the life of a farmer. The only thing I just don't get is that they seem to be able to interact with baby animals that will eventually be sold for food, without getting attached to them. I can't help wondering if that's an acquired skill or did they grow up that way or what? I mean it makes perfect sense not to get involved but I couldn't do it. If I ever had a farm (and I would love that!) I wouldn't be able to raise animals for food. Once an animal is in my life they are a friend...it just happens.

This first link is to a farm in Iowa. It's called Sugar Creek Farm:
http://www.osage.net/~themillers92/SCFBlog/scfblog.html
They sell beef, pork and chicken.

The second link is to a farm in Vermont. It's called Old Shaw Farm:
http://www.oldshawfarm.com/
They sell home grown veggies

Check them out. You might enjoy it as much as I do.

The Amish Among Us

Party On Amish Boy

Gym Who??

Well I finally did it. I joined a gym. I've been a guest at Planet Fitness a few times and I enjoyed my time there. But as a guest you are not allowed to use the tanning beds....darn! So I bought a tanning package at one of the nearby tanning salons. I can't tell you how much I enjoy being in a tanning bed...and yes, I do go naked! It's so warm and relaxing in there and I get a feeling of complete freedom being naked in all that heat. It's a lovely feeling! So if you haven't tried it, give it a try...you might be surprised. Unfortunately they don't let you in anymore once your package has been used up and you haven't bought any more time.

I know there's a lot of bad news about tanning. But if you've spent your whole life as the lily white chick in the crowd you'd understand my desire to NOT be white anymore...at least not THAT white. I'm willing to settle for beige...or off white. So, I take it easy; do it in stages; has to be a slow process. And anything worth doing is worth doing right. I won't keep it up all winter (or will I?) but at least for this summer I've made the commitment to not be the one who blinds people with my white skin in the sunlight! Besides, I think there is a subtle prejudice out there against really white people. Have you ever heard someone say "Wow, look at that milky white skin..wish I looked like that!" No. But I bet you have heard "Wow, she's got a nice tan!" or something to that effect. Be honest, you know it's true.

So with the gym package comes the tanning beds and I can't wait. I'm signed up for the personal trainer too but I have my doubts about that at this point. All I really wanted was for someone to take me around to all the machines and show me how they work, give me tips on how to get the best results, make sure I know how to use them without hurting myself. (I excel at hurting myself) Basic stuff. But they seem to want to make a production out of it so I signed up. The part that bothers me is the "trainer" is NOT in shape...or at least not in any shape I would want to be in. Everyone has a shape..but this guys shape is decidedly round! It reminds me of the gym teachers we had in high school..all of them were fat and out of shape. How do they do that?

So my first night really consisted of a lot of time signing up; asking questions; getting my mug shot taken (in case I misbehave in that tanning bed?); picking out a free t-shirt that is only about 7 times too large for me; and signing up for the trainer. I did get a little time on a treadmill but the tanning beds were all signed up until the 9:20 slot and I wasn't up for hanging around just for that. So unfortunately the tanning lotion I put on earlier went to waste tonight. Not to worry, I'll be back tomorrow night and every night until I figure out the best times to get to use the beds. Wednesday is my training session...that should be interesting.

So I've taken the first step..I'm not a guest anymore..now I'm a real member! Next time you see a nicely tanned; toned and well dressed woman walk by, say HI because it could be me. (and if it's not, you'll make a new friend anyway).

Ever Been to Kent?

Kent Falls is the most beautiful set of falls I've seen in Ct so far. The pictures here are just a small sample of the ones I took. Some of my "peeps" are pictured here as well as some very unusual mushrooms growing on a log. I was introduced to mushrooms late in life and I've come love to eat them but somehow these didn't look like the eatin' kind.

The falls here were of course fantastic but the park was packed with people the day we were there. For some reason I didn't think it was as well known as it was...silly me. The surrounding park area was spacious and clean. Fishing is allowed and there was a solitary vendor selling hot dogs and ice cream. We opted for ice cream.

It is a state park so they charge for parking..at least on the weekends. We were able to park up the road a bit, in a field area for free. Saved ourselves $7.00 and the car was perfectly safe.

There is a trail you can follow all the way up the falls; a stairway made of cement material but it still managed to have an overall look of being "natural" and didn't detract from the beauty of the area. It's a steep climb even with the stairs and there are "stations" for viewing at various points along the way. These stations also enable you to catch your breath if you need it. Once you reach the top you can walk a short bit on a roadway and cross to the other side to follow the trail back down on the other side.

We saw a few young guys swimming in various parts of the falls...not allowed of course. And we watched the rangers (looked more like geeky young kids than rangers) go from spot to spot and kick them all out. Everyone that got caught managed to look sheepish, stammer some really lame excuses and left without any protests. It reminded me of my own experiences getting thrown out of Snipsic Lake (repeatedly) many years ago. My friends and I had excuses that were just as lame and getting caught never stopped us from going back and doing it all over again the following weekend. :)

In Other Words....

Victory belongs to the most persevering.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821)


When you have got an elephant by the hind legs

and he is trying to run away, it is best to let him run.
- Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)


Ride the horse in the direction that it's going.
- Werner Erhard (1935 - )