Grumbleeze

Hello!
"Today, I will sleep, eat, go potty and fart! We already walked."
---Bravo

Sounds like some people I know!

...and yet ANOTHER!! They're droppin' like flies! Hello there Windy!

Aha! I - the evil BlogSpot/WebSite Builder pusher - hooked another one!!! OttO's BlOggOs Welcome OttO!!!

Updated granni39's KidsPage yesterday! The July 2002 page is kind of cute I admit - featuring July 4 celebration and fireworks. Got some pretty cool links to fireworks sites - even one (from Japan) about photographing fireworks. Even grown-up kids will enjoy these sites. I did!!! Also updated Bicycle Around the World - Traveling through China, up and down a mountain - a bus ride - spending time with a middle school teacher and her students - he's been keeping me up-to-date pretty regularly!.

Busy Morning! Went online to blog a little useful info and ended up dispersing lots of info - what a RUSH! Ran into one of my "best loved" online and we walked right into a couple of brand spanking new Blogs! Alley's Thoughtful Spot and Bravo's ramblings. This blogging really is contagious as well as addictive!

Wanted to tell all you Michigan peeps about The Michigan eLibrary. It's new and useful to all Michigan residents. Will be another good homework tool for kids too! At home or work your "password" is your Michigan driver's license or a state identification number (for those without a driver's license). If you're at the library or school, just type in the library's password.

Half of the system lists over 10,000 books, 45, 000 magazines and 100 newspapers. Once in - type in what you're looking for and you're bound to find it. The other half is "Best of the Internet" arranged by topic. Try it - You'll like it!

Be sure to look at the State of Michigan site too!!! It's open to all and very informative. Even has a kid's section!

Darn! I did it again! FYI, Bravo and anybody else new to blogs - URGENT MESSAGE!!! I just finished typing a new post about Bravo's blog and about a new Michigan site and by the time I was done it was timed out!!!! Bummer! Lost the whole thing!

Do what I DIDN'T do - copy and paste into an unsaved document or notepad before trying to publish.... then if you're timed out you won't lose the whole thing like I did! I find this to be a GIANT flaw in the blogger concept! But don't give up....

The new tires WORK!!! They crawl up and down that hill of sand just like a good all terrain tire was meant to! All American Ford, shame on you for not providing the correct tire replacement! I guess if the original tires hadn't been four years old when you replaced them we really WOULD have complained! Since we were pretty much ready for new tires anyway, we didn't mind buying new ones and getting credit for the almost new replacements..

Muffy is staying with us for a couple of weeks while her family is on vacation. Click on her name to see her BlogSpot where she is keeping notes about her stay with us.

The Chinese Bus Ride... then a little R&R in JaiYuGuan (JYG)... a hotel with hot running water... well, just go ahead and read all about it. Another update from Dale - June 19! Dale's word imagery gives us a pretty good picture of his bicycle tour around the world. I just wish he had a digital camera so he could email a few pictures of his adventure.

NOTE: June 18, 2002 - We bought new tires! Last winter AllAmerican Ford replaced the Firestone Wilderness AT tires on our 1997 Ford Ranger 4WD. With the first snowfall we discovered that our formerly fantastic 4-wheel drive truck would spin tires in one inch of snowfall. What with various trips to hospital, doctors, etc. for grampa, we didn't pursue the matter.

Come spring! Go to lake where we have to drive uphill on sand to get to the road! Can't DO it! Too late to complain about Goodyear replacement not equivalent to Firestones? Don't know. On Tuesday June 18 we bought a beautiful set of new tires from Discount Tire - BF Goodrich all terrain! The guy said they're good for 50,000 miles! Well, we're gonna test 'em!

Here is the mileage on my little truck with the new tires - new out of the driveway at Discount Tire in Midland - 61,993 miles We shall see how they work today!

Forgot to give you a link to shyone's journal yesterday! For all of you "shy" ones out there in bloggerland, if you don't want your real name to show up on your blog you can do what shyone did and just don't put your REAL name anywhere when you sign up for the blog, because whatever you use as your real name will show on the "posted by" portion of your blog!

If you used your real name to sign up - like I did, then you can go into the template when you are editing your blog and delete the part that has $author in the HTML.

Now for my daily blog... What good is high speed cable when... you can't get a connection? This happens, more often than not, with Charter Pipeline! We apparently have many foolish people that accidentally run into the cables with their motor vehicles!!! Anyway, that's the usual excuse when our connection is down. Other times... well who knows? I still like it better than the old-fashioned dial-up connection!!!

Too too cool! I showed Nikki the blogger on Saturday and she just had to have one! With a little guidance on my part, she created one for herself... started customizing it... and got her mother going on one of her own!!! You GO girl!!!

Stop searching forever - happiness is just next to you. That was my little "fortune" for the day. I looked up at the garden window... and there was Bubba! He seems to be next to me a lot these days. He follows me everywhere! He guards me - keeping his rival cats away from me. Sixteen and a half pounds of blonde fur, he just found out that size does matter and uses it to terrorize his competition. This wouldn't be so surprising unless you know that prior to last week Bubba always was the gentle giant, living up to his tiny, quiet voice. I want my old Bubba back!

This is for ALL the beautiful women in my life! From a beautiful woman that I'm proud to know!

As of June 21, 2002 the beautiful women link no longer works! Too bad because it was kind of cute!

HOT WINGS said the headline of our local newspaper!... and were they ever hot! The Red Wings won a great big cup - it takes three men and a boy to lift it - and the natives are ecstatic! Well, if you don't live in the mid-Michigan area, perhaps you don't even know what I'm talking about... or if you live in a "vacuum cleaner" as Lisa used to say when she was a little kid. Anyway, I'm not in a vacuum cleaner, but I am in mid-Michigan, so it's unavoidable. The Detroit Red Wings (a hockey team) won the Stanley cup (that giant cup I referred to) and mid- Michigan is celebrating! They're partying down in the streets, in their homes, the local bars and even went out and bought brand new red "wings" flags to fly on their car antennas! ...and even though I'm not a hockey fan, I'm glad they won!

I went to a hockey game once. Don't know what's so exciting about it, but I wasn't excited. My mom, who was only in her 60's then, told me that I probably didn't enjoy it because they didn't have any fights during the game... it was only an exhibition game, dont'cha know? I know that wasn't it because I'm not a boxing or wrestling fan either. I guess I just don't get any enjoyment out of watching people hurt people. Anyhow I don't think that most of mid-Michigan was wildly happy and celebrating because of fights!

I think it had something to do with team spirit. When I was in high school back in the 1950's I never missed a football or basketball game. I stood up and cheered when my friends did and booed when they did and was excited when the "Bulldogs" won!!! To this day I can't tell the difference between a touchdown and a basket, but I'm beginning to understand what a goal is...

...yes, I'm becoming a soccer-granni! Nothing more exciting than watching your nine year old grandson do a little victory dance and "high five" his teammates after making a goal. It's really exciting watching your 14 year old granddaughter play such great defensive soccer on her team. I'm even beginning to know a tiny bit about the rules, but you know, I'm learning a lot about team spirit! As I sit there watching, I find myself screaming, "Get it, David!" or... "Go for it, Lisa!" and now I remember something else about that hockey game I went to.

I remember my mom yelling for somebody called "Gordy" to do something! She was identifying with him. She didn't know him from Adam, but she thought he was a good hockey player and she wanted him to win. I love that team spirit thing. It's good to see so many people happy because some guys pushed a puck around on the ice with sticks and into a net often enough to win a great big CUP! We need to win one once in awhile - if only vicariously!

Congratulations, Red Wings! I'm really glad you guys won that cup for all of us here in mid-Michigan!

Why... why... why?!!!!!!!? Everytime I get a really GREAT idea and jump to "Blog This!" I lose the whole thing, so I guess Blogger isn't all it's cracked up to be!

Laws are For Making, Not Breaking - especially if you're a U.S. Senator:
Local news tells us that Michigan's U.S. Senator, Debby Stabenow, is taking seniors across the U.S. border into Canada to buy their prescription drugs because they are so much cheaper there than in the U.S. Sounds very 1960's - cute! A nice gesture, etc. blah blah blah, but since you're a duly elected legislator, why don't you try to CHANGE the law instead of breaking it, Debbie?

Mowin' and Growin'

I LOVE mowing the lawn - the whole acre! Well of course, it's a riding mower; do I look stupid? Okay so I look mindless out there, twisting and turning through the evergreens and dogwoods, the Siberian pea, wild rose and all that stuff we planted years ago - to encourage nature's critters to be comfortable in our yard... and you may think I am.

I scratch myself on the branches and lose my earprotectors, trying to get close in under the Autumn Olive - I suppose it should be trimmed a bit. Set the brake - get the ear-things - darn, they're broken! I see the meter reader for the gas company and think about the way I felt during the five-minute siren test last week. Now, wouldn't I look ridiculous carrying a pistol for protection during this escapade... not to mention how dangerous it could be to ME... clumsy as I just was!

Around the Siberian pea (don't those branches just lean over way too far?) I remember the few years that we put the whole front yard into annual flowers! The crimson and golds of the zinnias, the tall, graceful and fernlike cosmos, with nasturtiums creeping and climbing about. An occasional sunflower would pop up in unexpected places - no doubt from birds dropping the seeds after dining at the feeders. It was beautiful! But then, weeding them became a chore - easier to mow, so now we have grass.

I try to mow around the big old apple tree (wasn't it advertised as a dwarf tree?) and can hardly get between it and the house. Suppose we'll need to trim it or cut it down one of these days. Be careful not to get stuck in that hole the groundhog put in the backyard! Darn thing - the one critter I don't like to have in the yard but short of shooting him, don't know how to get rid of him (and his family). We called a critter-getter once, but he wanted to charge "by the hole" and there are lots of holes - some on the neighboring property, so how does one handle that?

Getting in close to the rhubarb and the perennial onions - trying to get that thistle mowed out. Why is it the thistle always grows in close to something you don't want to get rid of? Anyway, maybe I should leave some of it for the goldfinches. They love the seeds from the purple flower produced by this "weed." Thistle is one of the more expensive bird seeds for the feeder, too! Well, okay, I'll leave some of it.

Down around the ditch I have to stop and wait for the little garden snake to scurry out of my way. Don't want to be hurting him! He helps keep the bug population down. He's not REALLY scarey when I know he's there, it's when he surprises me that I jump!

Meanwhile Chip, one of our many chipmunks, waits for me to get out of his way so he can get back to the business of raiding the bird feeders. Sometimes he thoughtfully just picks up what's left on the ground. Can't scare them away - they entertain our cats for hours on end - chasing each other back and forth on the deck as the cats watch through the window and make clicking sounds. Those chips are worth every dollars worth of seed they waste! I think they even eat some of it.

The lilacs are done blooming, but the peonies are beginning. They permeate the yard with their delightful aroma! Even though the annuals are gone - replaced with grass - there's a perennial for almost every season - just making the air delightful!

Mowing up close to the road is reality-check time. Trash - burger wrappers, paper cups, cigarette butts - all show that "civilization" has invaded us. Even though we're "out in the country where nobody lives, Burger King and McDonald's are alive and well in our tiny town. Our mobile society buys their food, eating it in their cars and dropping their trash as they go. Can't waste time, you know?

Our road was the "scenic route" when we moved here forty-some years ago. Driving the winding road you were truly "out in the country." The mad rush to "get out of the city" began and now many of our bean fields and meadows have become giant houses where residents can reach out their window and shake hands with their neighbors in THEIR windows! They moved out in the country and began creating what they were escaping... and with them came the traffic and the trash.

Ah, so much for progress.

I'm perturbed! Just got done writing a perfect piece, went to post and publish and it said "This page can not be displayed".
What's with that? ;-(

Life's a Beach!!! So-o-o-o-o beautiful... so-o-o-o relaxing...what a delight! Went to the beach with the twins and part of their families this weekend. Had forgotten what a treat is a beach on the right kind of day. Actual temperature was somewhere around 75 degrees F with a gentle breeze most of the time until it got breezier so Patti could fly her kites.

Not too many people there yet - it's too early in the season for the masses of tourists to arrive I guess. The two other families we saw were locals. We're semi-local - owning property in the next town south on a much smaller lake. I guess most lakes are small compared to Lake Michigan, aren't they?

Nikki and David played in the water. (I found it MUCH too cold yet.) Eventually their moms got wet - especially Patti, who couldn't resist getting right in there with the kids. Pat and Pam played "Monkey in the Middle" with Nikki while David proceeded to bury his wet body in the sand. Mikie basked in the sun and occasionally did his crossword puzzles. Frank taking his pictures and me - just basking in the glory of being a granni. This is my kingdom. This is joy.

The zoo! What a wonderful fun place! We're members! With membership, like other organizations, your get privileges. One of those privileges is VIP invites to special events. It's a young and growing zoo so some of the events are about getting new animals. Got our first invite a couple of weeks ago. Grand opening of the River Otter habitat and what a splendid event! We went yesterday - taking a daughter and granddaughter as our guests, meeting another daughter and a grandson there as well.

Wow!!! Was it busy! Lots and lots of special VIP's attended - not all members either. Saw friends there - some that we see often and some from long ago! Lots of people! The poor otters however were so frightened that I don't think anybody got a good glimpse of them.Never saw so many people there, though. Gotta go back some other time soon when there is not VIP invite attached so we can casually stroll through the zoo and maybe even see those new residents!

It's still going - been happening for about three minutes so far! What? The siren at the prison across the river from us! It goes for about five minutes before shutting off - but not to worry folks. The first time I ever noticed it (after retiring from 20 years work in the neighboring city) - I phoned our police department to find out if there was a prison break.

I was "reassured" by the officer who told me, "Don't worry ma'am It's just a practice to see if the siren works. If there was a real prison break they probably wouldn't even use the siren." WELL! That certainly reassured me!!! So here's my dilemma - Should I carry my pistol when out in my yard today?... should I only carry it when the siren DOESN'T sound?... and more importantly, what are my neighbors doing?

Heard on the news again today - all the weirdos putting photos of abortion clinic patients on the internet. I'm kind of neutral about the whole abortion thing - personally had 5 pregnancies and 6 babies (the middle pregnancy was the "litter" - otherwise known as twins. Wouldn't trade even one of them! Still, who are these men to say what somebody else should do? From the look of some of these guys I'd say there was a bit of inbreeding going on in their own families! Did you notice? There aren't many WOMEN doing this sort of thing! We're the ones who actually give birth so we know what it all involves!

This is just to see if I can blog whatever is frustrating me at the moment - at the moment it happens to be Blogger - will be posted from wherever I am on the internet! Blogger's pretty much pretty good but I'd like my actual BlogSpot page on my journaling website! Any ideas? Let me know.

One of my very most favorite places on the internet - a website created by the guy who finally succombed to building a website - and the perfect student! He started right out using HTML instead of templates. What a guy!http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/frankmon9110/

WoW!!! I thought getting together a blogger would be tougher than this! ..... day 1