Grumbleeze

Monday Madness
1. What time is it right now?
11:04pm

2. What are you usually doing at this time on any given day?
turning off my computer

3. Is there a day of the week that time seems to fly by faster than the other days?
not any more... they ALL seem to fly by too fast!

4. If you could make ONE hour of each day twice as long, which hour of the day would you

choose?
probably my last one for the day... 11-ish in the p.m. and no, it's not the same thing to just stay up an hour later and get up an hour later. I think I used to be a night-owl.

5. If you could make one DAY of the week twice as long, which day would you choose?
I think Sunday.

6. If you could make one hour and/or one day HALF as long, which time of the day, and which day of the week would you choose?
uh-uh! not gonna have an answer for this one. Longer = good!

7. Do you agree with the following statement? "The older you get, the faster time goes by."
YUP!

8. What do you usually do during your "down time?"
I chill out in front of the toob! (Fer you yungsters, that would be the tv.)

9. What one thing do you spend more time doing each day than anything else?
playing with my toys. ;-)

Thanks OttO! Those were simply fun!

Gaze backat Love Canal is an editorial in response to the article I wrote as a guest columnist in the Saginaw News. Just humor an old lady... 'google' love canal 2004 and see what you get. Here's a link to my favorite one... Love Canal Revisited by Alan Caruba. Do you see why the uninformed rile me a bit? This kind of garbage is frightening some of our neighbors right here in sunny Freeland. I'm working on my best shot... if you want to give him yours, write your letter in a notepad or whatever, go here... http://www.thesaginawnews.com/emaileditor/ ...fill in the form and send it! Fear not... the News will not share your address & email, etc... only your name is published. They will not publish anonymous letters. Also, the size restriction for letters to the editor of SN is 300 words.

Monday Madness today!
This week, using the letters in your name (real or screen name), list places that you've been to. Be creative! Have fun! =)

S_aginaw in my childhood
H_awaii in my dreams
I_reland in my heart
R_ainbow with my good fortune (as opposed to money)
L_ansing in my new role as 'anti-activist activist'
E_rie (the great lake) in our sailboat
Y_ahoo in my travels around the internet

Hi. Been putting off blogging because I wanted to put a picture up with my blog but that is not to be.
The bad news is:

• I can't walk without a walker!
• I can't put photos up to my websites without help from somebody.
• I can't get my new NEC Mobile Pro 780 linked up, sychronized and all that stuff. I could do this with my desktop but it's too far away... two steps down and across the room is too far when you've just had knee surgery.

The good news is:

• My laptop no longer has problems. Oh! I have a NEW laptop... and it's a beauty!
• Knee replacement on my right leg was done with less invasive surgery... a smaller incision. It should heal quicker and easier!
• When Frank gets the network tweaked a bit more I should be able to work with stuff from my desktop, using my laptop.
• I have no pressures or deadlines right now except to get that knee healed!

Bottomline.... I've got lots of toys and new learning curves to attend. I'm a happy camper.

Yesterday at the Bay City Riverwalk... I really wanted to walk out to the building with the red roof... in middle of the river. Unfortunately, gates prevented us from going out there. I guess it's for safety reasons. Sure we could have walked out on the ice but with my ability to walk in the only dog poop in a 5 mile radius, I'm sure I'd have that same ability to find a bit of weak ice. Oh, well.

It was such a beautiful day and when my 'other' called it 'shirtsleeve weather' and suggested a photo outing, I didn't even hesitate. We stopped several places along the river, then drove on out to a couple of marinas we used back in our big boating days. Bay Harbor has grown since we kept our ketch there. The little place we docked the ketch prior to sailing over to Lake Michigan is now called Sunset Shores and was all fenced in! Although there were a few fishermen who apparently wandered in by way of the ice at the river's mouth, taking photos through a fence isn't all that desirable.

We went out to the State Park... even bought our season ticket already! Yes, because of all the ice fishermen there was a DNR person at the gate collecting fees. By then it was awfully close to dinner time and so we decided not to stop by at Foggy's place because we didn't want them to think we were looking for a handout. I have lots of good sharing pics and will share some of them if I have time before going to the hospital for my second stay at Joint Camp.

Oh! ...and I was Guest Columnist in The Saginaw News today, right alongside Dr. Garabrant from University of Michigan and a SN editorial! Read all about it.

..and you are invited to stop by her blog and wish her a happy birthday!
We LOVE you Bug!

Well I'm all set up for the second knee replacement surgery! The date is next Tuesday, February 15. Will find out what time to check in the night before. That means I'll be watching the first Survivor of the next series in hospital. Maybe I'll just watch it at home on the VCR.

Yesterday I blogged a dissertation at TRVoice... Ya just gotta read it! It's pretty interesting. Wanna argue about it? You can find my answers to this week's MondayMadness with the rest of my Stuff.

I baked a pumpkin pie today too! First pie I've baked since our Christmas party of 2003! Can you believe it? Yummy! It is delicious! I've still got it!

Hey OttO!!! I beat you at getting a Frankenmuth Ice Festival photo up!

Yesterday we went to Frankenmuth. This was the first sculpture we saw... a little snowman about 15 inches tall on the wall surrounding one of the chicken restaurants. We viewed and photographed snow and ice sculptures in various stages of construction. I think this was as much fun as the first time we went when all sculptures were complete and rated.

We wandered along the Cass River high above all the sculpturing activity and the other tourists. I know we must bring my pontoon over there this summer... it's another river I want to explore. We walked across the bridge. We walked all over town. My new bionic knee never argued or gave me a problem. The right knee and all it's muscles increasingly reminded me that it was a wise choice to schedule my second knee surgery for later this month. We enjoyed every bit of our experience there. It left me wondering... with such a treasure so close to my own home, why is it we so rarely visit?

Asia from Asia's Life... I feel like I know you. When our children were small my husband worked too much too. In his case, he did construction work evenings and weekends. I was a fulltime mom and felt like the only parent. I usually had a board and oil paints on the kitchen table and made cutout dolls for the girls when I wasn't painting or cleaning.

My husband, realizing my whole life was kids, suggested I go to school at the local community college. Unlike you, I had to begin as a freshman. That was when I discovered I was not only a mom & wife, but a real person!

When our youngest was 4 and oldest 10, I got a job and Frank quit his extra job. Our kids had two parents. On my school night they had dad all to themselves. My job and school completed me. Rejoining the world of grownups was good.

With this new status, I quit the ladies' club I belonged to and quit all volunteer work that did not involve my children. Extracurricular activity for husband & I involved family... we helped out with Girl Scout activities. I taught catechism at our church. We attended school band events. Family dinners were a requirement... that time of day when everybody shared their activities. Of course as they grew into teen age, this part changed somewhat.

Summertime was vacationtime... just about every weekend. First we had a tent for camping. Then we 'graduated' to a previously owned houseboat... and enjoyed most of our warm weather activities on this floating cottage... fishing, swimming and sunning ourselves on the roof.

With these two jobs and our six children we were never rich and still are not... but we were content. We enjoyed our lives instead of always looking to the future when we would be able to enjoy.

As the kids grew up the houseboat 'grew' into a sailboat, which my husband & I sailed alone. We sailed on 3 of the Great Lakes... Huron, Erie and Michigan. We retired, sold that boat, bought lake property where we frequently get together with the family... and just last summer bought a pontoon boat (from one of our sons-in-law) My husband got involved in a computer club and encouraged me to join.

Now I'm President of that club... Saginaw Valley Computer Association... and he is webmaster and facilitates a special interest group. I sort of help him with the website at his request.

Last spring I got involved politically for the first time in my life... and I'm still not really a political person. I just got tired of the way a few people were changing my life and my home with their extremist viewpoints. That's why I created a blog called Tittabawassee River Voice and ultimately with the help of a few new friends, part of a grassroots resident group named after the website... TRVoice.

Now what was the question? Well anyway, there you are... more than you ever wanted to know. Bottomline is.... Life happens; live it and love it.