Grumbleeze

Surfin' the granni39 sites really brought this lady to the realization that she's been spending way too much time on the brand new blogger sites! Grumbles from granni39 my first and best online diary, hasn't been truly updated since early JULY!!! That's despite the fact that some minor tinkering was done - mostly to describe the wonders of blogging!!! Better get on it! Also, promised the heart support group some updates.

Gosh I love summer.... how the mind wanders... all those wonderful trips to the lake.. OH! where was I? Yes. Better remind me to updat the web building tutorial to get into blogging in more detail! Gosh, even the Bug has a blog! That's how easy it is! Anything else? Oh yeah, that index website - my original spot for experimentation - should get it going! Winter's coming... gonna have to stay in by the warm fireside... more time for that kind of stuff then. Meanwhile... thank Ev for Blogger! It's the easiest way in the world to keep current... .

Okay Blogger guys!!! What's this all about!!????! Can't get to this blog any which way!!! Sublime frustration!!! No matter where from or how i try... the only part of "Grumbleeze" i can get to is here!.. in the edit mode...!!! All i get when clicking on Grumbleeze from my various links is a blank page!!!! granni's getting angry!!! ... and just when i've been thinking about the blogger pro thing too! Just curious... wanting to know what... if any... benefite (beyond the "no advertising bit") there is to going "Pro"....

ya win some.... ya lose some.....!

The European paper wasp is not native to the U.S. and therefore has no natural predators here. It's as though all kinds of invasive species have come to our little lake near Lake Michigan! We have the Eurasian milfoil and Purple Loosestrife aquatic plants along with Zebra Mussels.... now I'm looking around to see if any Asian Snakehead Carp have wandered by!!!

At least the paper wasp isn't as bad as our native wasps.... either that or it's because my sting was on the fattest part of my body - the inner thigh!!! Was stung Friday night and it's finally stopped itching!!!!! More later ;-)

This is the place where i've been keeping reminders to myself... but it's also my place for experimentation with Blogger, so just wanted to share the cool effect i attained by changing a really cool and popular standard blogger template into a "granni39 original!" Think I might retitle it "Patchwork Self"... like it?

This evening I was stung by a paper wasp!... may not be earthshaking to most, but I'm really nervous about it. First time I was stung - it was a wasp - on the back of my leg behind my knee - right in my own bed at home! Within a few hours it was swollen all the way to the ankle and turning dark. Was told that's pretty big reaction and since it means an allergy to bee stings I began carrying an epi-pen. Been stung since but did not want to use the epi-pen unless I REALLY needed, so I just took a couple of Benadryl and hoped for the best.

My doctor said I should not bother with the epi-pen since I don't use it anyway and it has to be thrown away after a year. So I no longer carry one. I was stung around 8:30 p.m. The area has grown to about 4 inches in diameter and red. Pam was stung by the same type critter last weekend after the men destroyed their nest under the deck of their travel trailer.Apparently they started up a new nest under the deck in the narrow passageway between our two cottages.

That's where they like to nest - they like the wood - they feast on it! Watching it, hoping it doesn't keep growing - hoping the injury cleaner and it's companion anti-itch stuff combined with the Benadryl will make it stop. Whatta ya gonna do? The first sting was about twenty years ago.... and now all of a sudden I'm a target!

mowing... mind rambling... a few unconnected thoughts..... just so I won't forget them. Why do I blog?... because offspring once encouraged me to "write a book" about my life. Sounds like work to me... save these blogs, print 'em up and voila! a book! ;-) ... a few items:

Chemicals - the same guy who doesn't want us to kill weeds in our small lake will eat way too many fish caught in the big lake which abounds with pcb's and numerous other bad things! The same guy who whined when the feds said we can't use 2,4,5-T, 2,4-D and DDT to kill weeds now whines because trace amounts of dioxin were deposited in river flatlands due to a natural disaster.

People - men, women, children - events - school, divorces, visits - everybody's life is affected by their surroundings! Remember those favorite boyfriends... the babysitters (good and the bad)... women that helped form this personality... the men who were there... and the ones that weren't...

Great weekend!... get-together with one "goddess offspring" and her family... more "goddesses" and their families!... a couple of instant message visits with "goddess offspring number 6"... a hike in the forest... another trip to the beach... "speedboat" ride on our lake... a great and wonderful new heart-smart dessert recipe... a Sunday cool-down... and rain held off until we're home and it's Monday!

What's not to like? I've got the best of all possible worlds! Thank you God!!!

You've just got to read our friend Larry's tribute to his father. It's beautiful! He just set it up this weekend - although it's been incubating for some time now. The only part yet to come is the "Stories" section and I plan to go back to read these stories as they develop!

St. Josaphat's to Close article in The Saginaw News Tuesday, August 6, 2002. A sad commentary on the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw about the way they handle things. I know it's hard to accept but keep the faith people! A church is NOT it's leaders but the people!

This parish had leaders who insisted that the teachers sign a document stating that they would return to school in August! One teacher even turned down a job at another school because she wanted her children to continue going to St. Josaphat and she wanted to continue teaching there. The priest looked my daughter, the 4th grade teacher, in the eye and told her that she would have a job in the fall! So much for my opinion on priests and organized religion. God bless all those who so strongly defended St. Josaphat's to the end. I know in my heart that all will turn out for the best for each of those people personally deceived by the leadership of St. Josaphat's school. The pastor and the principal are definitely not educators!!!

"The task of an educator should be to irrigate the desert not clear the forest" .... siglet of the moment

Didn't write the HLA minutes yesterday... so didn't do any of the other stuff either. Accomplished? Got lots of online data about eurasian milfoil and purple loosestrife! Chilled out... played Spider Solitaire... ran into Windy online and... Windy and I both had a long instant messenger session with the Bug's friend, Susan! Overall a day well spent... plus Windy and I both concur... we like you, Susan ;-)

It's Sunday... raining... up north! What do you do? Thanks to the fact that I've finally reached that stage in life called "spoiled rotten" I have my laptop and fast broadband connection - even here in the "north country" of Michigan! Remember the lake association meeting last Saturday? ... the promise to do a newsletter? ... in cahoots with the website? Well the rain is the impetus I need to work.

Job 1 - Write the minutes while I can still discern what all that scribbling says.
Job 2 - Copy and insert HTML to make it readable by the Angelfire editor.
Job 3 - Upload minutes to the HLA website.
Job 4 - Add a couple of photos to the site.
Job 5 - Upload the meeting photos to DotPhoto.
Job 6 - Update the News & Weather section of HLA website.
Job 7 - Start decisions as to what part goes into newsletter.
Job 8 - Write letter to DNR, DEQ and Sheriff's Dept. on behalf of the association about policing the lake (in relation to article in a police-related magazine about what a great lake it is for boaters!!!?!) as requested by President of association.

Did anybody think that it's easy being an officer of a lake association? Okay, I love it anyway ;-)

Addendum to Love is.....How important is one tiny little character? Well, see this one...... < or this one ... > ? very important! Decided to read the blogger entry from earlier today and noticed a most important portion of it was missing.... that bold statement "love is unconditional!" Went back to edit mode and discovered that I did not complete my HTML coding... for all practical purposes, causing the whole point of the entry to be irrelevant and kind of goofy. I guess it's a good idea to always proofread what you write... unless you don't mind not saying what you meant to say. Know what I mean?

Love is..... a many-splendored thing... in the eye of the beholder... forever... a state of mind... just around the corner... just a bowl of cherries... (NO! Wait a minute - that one is LIFE is just a bowl of cherries!) We say... "I love you just the way you are....." ..."I love you just because you're you....." ..."I love you anyway....." ...I love you!" Oh yes, at least once in your school career you've had an English teacher or professor assign an essay on "What is love?" Well let me tell you. As mother for forty six years, a grandmother for eighteen years and a spouse, lover and significant other for forty seven years, love is all that but more importantly, love is unconditional!

My husband did not become Mr. Brady from the television show of our younger years; nobody could ever confine me to the kitchen; my kids flew from the nest, made their own mistakes and decisions no matter how much I wanted them to learn from mine; my grandkids are growing up and some of them are just beginning to spread their wings, too! Do I love them? You BET I do - each and every one of them. I love them just the way they are!

Alright kiddies, here's the deal: See the new addition to my page? These siglets are FUN always! Every time you come back you will see a new one! You'll want to collect them all! Here's one I saved for you since I'm not sure if Siglets repeats eventually or not:

As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in public schools.

I put this and a few other delightful new things on granni39's KidsPage and just felt compelled to share with my Grumbleeze friends. Coming soon - right here on Grumbleeze - another contemplative dissertation!