Timber and I are laaaaaaazzzzy today. He's napping on the floor beside me while I'm on the computer. It's making me kinda sleepy so we may end up on the bed with the fan blowing on us. The sheets are in the wash so that'll be perfect. We have "nap rules" that make the whole nap experience better. For instance, I never get in the bed under the covers for a nap. If the bed is made up I lay crossways on the bed and just pull the corner of the bedspread up over my legs or arms. If, like today, the sheets are not on the bed, I lay crossways across the bed with some kind of little throw blanket across me or nothing across me if it's warm enough. Today it is definitely warm enough not to need a blanket, especially if Timber lays next to me. Naps are also good on the couch. I never, EVER get under the covers as if I were getting in bed for the night. That is totally against all nap rules. I don't know why - it just is. In the summertime it is always a plus to have a fan blowing on ya. That's awesome. In the wintertime, anything with down in it thrown over ya is good. Rain or thunderstorms are always great for napping.

 

#1 Best Nap Scenario:  Saturday or Sunday afternoon, football on the tv, cold and rainy outside, couch, Timber laying at my feet (also on the couch), down-filled throw blanket. Mmmmmm...... I watch through, say, first quarter.....sleep through second quarter.....open one eye at halftime to get the score.....sleep through third quarter.....wake up for fourth quarter.

 

#2 Best Nap Scenario:  Saturday or Sunday afternoon, hot as hell outside, darkened but not real dark room, rotating fan (in addition to air conditioned air), cross-ways across the bed, Timber layin' against my back. Bonus scenario: Thunderstorm. You'll hear it blowing in at first. The sky darkens, trees sway. Something somewhere always blows down or into something else making a loud thud but it's not something that has to be checked on as it's usually just the broom that was leaning against the house by the backdoor or the rake that never got put up, nothing major. Then the rain starts - random drops at first but then it develops into a full fledged storm. These storms don't last very long in the summer so it's important not to get up and check on anything (unless you remember your car windows are down). I can usually be right back to sleep by the time the rain gets loud. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

 

#3 Best Nap Scenario:  After work, no shoes or bra, across the bed, cuddling with Timber after not seeing him all day, watching the news on tv, dozing for about twenty minutes. Greatness.

 

My sister and I used to get on her bed (the bottom bunk) with our books and read on lazy afternoons when it was either too cold or too hot to go outside. That was before air conditioning so either the fan or the space heater was on, and we either had as few clothes as possible on or piled under quilts. When I was little she read to me. She always curled her arm over the top of her head and played with the hair across her forehead as she read (she still does this-there's a funky little curl there as a result). We did this until she left for college. Sometimes I slept with her at night because she would tell me scary stuff until we both knew there was no way I could sleep alone in my bed, then she would let me sleep with her IF I would scratch her back for a certain amount of time. I hated scratching her back, but I was also easily frightened.

 

My sister is five years older than I. I was a bratty baby sister, too. Mother would send us to our room to clean and I would harass, torment, bother my sister until she threw me out. Mother would find me somewhere playing and get onto me for not cleaning my room, to which I innocently replied that my sister kicked me out and poor little me just couldn't do a think about it. Ha! It didn't take Mother long to figure out my scheme and would make us clean our "halves" of the room at different times. My parents finally got sick of our bickering and Daddy built a wall right down the middle of our room. We had maybe a 10X12 room and he put a petition down the middle with a hole cut around the light fixture. It cut down on part of our bickering but didn't do away with it completely. I was a brat and my sister was mean as hell so we were destined not to get along. As my parents left for the hospital to deliver me my sister said, "If it's a GIRL don't bring IT home!!!" She meant it. We loved each other but we didn't get along very well until I was thirty. I guess we finally outgrew the jealousy and resentment that sisters sometimes have.

 

Although we didn't get along a lot of the time, there were times I wouldn't trade. My sister played Barbies with me but she did all the talking. She, as a tomboy, preferred GIJoe back when he was 11 1/2 inches and had all the cool uniform changes. She taught me how to make sweaters for Barbie out of our old socks and Barbie houses and furniture out of boxes of all sizes. I remember baking cookies with her on holidays, both of us wearing Mother's aprons tied up under our armpits. She gave me manicures in exchange for back-scratching, took me out and let me practice driving, and shared my love of kittens and cats and animals.

 

Mother and Daddy loved me best, though. They told me so. She says they told her the same thing but I don't believe her.

 

TWO BOMB-DIGGIDY THINGS:  Naps and Sisters.

DEEP BREATH....whew.......

 

Well, we continue to prepare for the onslaught of students at work. As athletes crap out during two- and three-a-day practices and decide to quit and go home there are scholarships to delete and file, etc. We help international students find their way around campus for entrance/placement exams, registration, housing, and other important places. I've yet to order the textbooks. I hate the f*cking textbooks. The biggest rip-off in education today are textbooks. They cost a fortune and then publishers/bookstores will only give a tiny amount to buy them back, then resale at only a few dollars less than a new book. It's unreal. They change editions every 2-4 semesters, and often that means as little as a different picture on the book cover. I'll stop. I think I've ranted about this before. But it's one of those things that makes  me clench my teeth and make animalistic gutteral noises! Classes begin on Monday. That means parking will be a bitch, especially if I try to breeze in at five minutes til eight. Public school begins on Monday, also, so traffic will also be a bitch. Yeah, instead of my five minute drive to work it'll take me ten. Ha!

 

I had a young man stare at me as if I were from Mars today. He's from northern England or Scotland, I can't tell which as there's such similarity in those accents (especially to an East Texas ear). The kid coughed up a loogi. I took pity and said, "I do not have any Kleenex but run around the corner to the bathroom and grab some toilet paper!" The stare. Then it dawned on me so I translated, "Go to the loo and get tissue." Ah. The light bulb. You're probably wondering why the young man had trouble understanding my direction. Well, imagine it sounding more like this..."I don't have inny Kleenex but run 'round th coner t'the bayathroom 'n grayab sum tawlitt puhaper." See? Even the translation could have used translation, "Go t'the looooooo 'n git tisshew." I ain't gonna lie - I have a big-time drawl. The Texas drawl is different from a Southern drawl in that we leave out letters in some words so we can draw out another and give it extra syllables. For instance... take the sentence "Could you give me a dollar for the store?" Southerner: "Could ewe give me a dollah fuh the stowa?" Texan: "Couldja gimme a doller fer th' storrr?" or "Couldja gimme a doller f' th' storr?" (Depending on which part of Texas a person lives.) I just wish people didn't associate the Southern and Texas drawls with ignorance. That REALLY pisses me off. It's Jerry Springer's fault. He dug around in trailer parks, mountains, and the woods until he found some truly ignorant folks who have Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, etc, drawls and put 'em on tv. Now people think we're all like that. Well, we're not. The South does NOT have the monopoly on ignorance OR bigotry.

 

It was 105 degrees here today. Timber was soooo glad to see me when I got home from work because I let him into the air conditioned house with cool water. We laid on the bed and watched the news and he napped as he has nearly everyday in the past coupla weeks. He is just zapped of energy by the time he spends all day in the heat. He doesn't have it too bad as my backyard is mostly shaded and completely in shade by 2:00, and I'm careful to see that he has a big bucket of fresh water everyday. I was at the vet's office one day when a family brought their Rottweiler in who had heat stroke. He had accidentally tumped his water over [spilled his water] and was in a bad way with seizures and dehydration. The dog died after a couple of hours but he made a lasting impression on me! I felt so sorry for his people. As a result of seeing that dog, though, Timber has a big bucket of water AND two smaller bowls just in case.

 

I don't know if it's weather or hormones or WHAT but I have been Miz Moody-pa-Tooty for a couple of weeks now. People at work cut a wide path around me until they see if I'm happy or grumpy, and then stay posed to bolt as I could change within milliseconds. Or I could be crying. Who knows? You know you have issues when co-workers throw a piece of raw meat into the office before coming in. Sheesh. I tell ya what, tho - I could bite their little heads off and shit down their necks without battin' an eye. I'm getting a lot of work done, tho, because I try to just keep my head down to avoid confrontation. The golf coach told me today that he needed my help on something but figured he might have better luck if he sent one of his young guys over butt-naked to put me in a better mood. I looked directly into his eyes and said, "You should never send a boy to do a man's job." Quite flustered and laughing so hard his knees were weak, he left me alone.

 

The soccer coach got some new shirts. They're that nice "wicking" fabric that pulls sweat away from your skin and keeps ya cool. The fabric feels kinda slinky. Well, soccer coach told basketball coach that the fabric felt s'good it made his nipples hard. Good grief. Now, of course, we're all making a huge deal out of his nipples. If these guys had any sense they'd be dangerous.

 

A guy came by the office the other day selling scoreboards. He's a former Dallas Cowboy but of course his name now escapes me. Jeff something. Anyway, he played back in the 70s so I asked him if he was friends with Charlie Waters (my fave). He said yes, of course, to which I heard myself say, "I stalked him - he's so hot." The guy laughed and said lots of girls did. NOT really what I wanted to hear but very understandable. My boss just shook his head. I apologized to the guy and told him I had just flashbacked to the 70s. He was cool with that. That ol' boy filled his Wranglers out pretty good himself...

 

Oh, goodness. It's after eleven. Fifty-six more minutes and I turn into a pumpkin. Y'all have a good evenin'....

 

 

 

 

Wow. This has been a tough summer around here. There have been nine drownings in area lakes, seven in one lake alone. The most recent was last Sunday when a 14 month old wandered down to the water to see some ducks and disappeared into the water. The parents were unloading groceries from the car and didn't notice the baby wandered off. It's tragic but no charges are being filed against the parents. It was just an unfortunate accident.

 

Last week a father of two forgot he was supposed to drop his 4-month old daughter at the babysitter's. He forgot she was in the backseat in the child carrier. He remembered her about eight hours later on his way back to the office after his truck had been parked in a sunny lot all day. Needless to say, when the temperature is over 100 degrees the temperature inside the truck was hot enough to bake a turkey. This man, a loving father and family man, has had 2nd degree manslaughter charges filed on him. Tragic. The young father is heavily sedated. How do you recover from something like that? How does a marriage survive that? Wow. People all over this area are saying, "That poor family." And then, "How do you FORGET you have a baby in the car?" I'm sure he's asking the same thing. I'm sure he'll be asking that question the rest of his life. It's hard not to write him off as a total sick dumbass, but he wasn't. Isn't. He was probably thinking of the day ahead, the police training he was attending that day. The media never said where his 3-year old was, why he didn't have both of them that morning. Who knows what he was thinking? I know I've zoned out lots of times on my drive to work, but I've never had a baby with me.

 

Both of these stories are horrible. They're the kind of stories that make ya sick t'your stomach. The loss of two innocents. Two families ripped to pieces. Both were cases of "accidental neglect" in my opinion. So here's what I'm gettin' at.....why is one dad charged with manslaughter and the other parents not? It doesn't really matter. All of those parents will visit hell everyday in their minds as they replay the day they lost their babies. They have, by nature of circumstance, sentenced themselves to something much worse than a judge can assign.

 

By writing of these tragedies I've probably sentenced all of you to the same feelings of sadness and sickness and dismay that I haven't been able to shake for over a week. That's why I can't imagine what the parents are going through. Only someone who has been in the same circumstance has any idea what those people are thinking and feeling. I even thought to myself that I would probably have to commit suicide to escape my personal pain if I had done something similar, but then what about the other children in the family? They still need love and care.

 

This morning I was bitchin' and moanin' about not wanting to get up and go to work, and then I remembered...

This afternoon I was drag-assin' because I didn't want to do laundry, and then I remembered...

Today I felt deprived because I don't have more money, and then I remembered...

Today I was glad to be a barren old maid so I would never feel that kind of loss and pain, because I remembered...

Tomorrow I'll tell you some funny stories about some of the happnin's around here, but tonight I want to remember.

 

It sure is hard to feel sorry for myself when I remember those babies and the circumstances of their deaths. I know one sadness doesn't diminish or negate another sadness, but it sure is hard not to recognize how blessed ya are when you see other people suffering at that depth of sorrow. Man!

 

I'll continue to pray for these people as that's all I can do. One of the beauties of religion is that there's always something you can do for others - you can pray for them. We may not all pray the same way, but the religions I know about all have some sort of prayer or meditation to a higher power. Non-believers may poo-poo that, but believe me, it's comforting to feel I'm actually DOING something instead of, well, NOT. I don't judge, tho. Well, I try not to. That, too, is up to a higher power. I'm afraid my house is made of glass so I best not throw any stones.

 

Thanks for allowing me to get this off my chest, and forgive me for burdening you with this knowledge. I hope your lives are tragedy-free...

 

 

 

 

I took advantage of having 90 days accumulated sick leave and used one today. For some strange reason my allergies are going crazy. I'm sneezing and harking as if it were springtime instead of the dog days of summer - an unusually DRY summer. Weird. I didn't feel bad enough that I would have stayed home if I didn't have so many sick days, but I've been drag-assin' for two days now so figured I would stay home and sleep or lay around.

 

Genny and Timber are having a big time. They play like kids, which is hilarious to watch. No matter which toy one picks up, the other will drop their toy and go for the other's. They're napping now, preparing for the next round of tennis ball chasin' and tug-o-war. Genny is not nearly as laid back as Timber. All week Genny has been happy sleeping on the dog bed beside my bed - until last night. For five nights she watched Timber get in bed with me while she slept on the dog bed, so last night she persisted until I got her up in the bed, too. Adding another labbie to the double bed shrunk it considerably. You can tell she's not used to such privileges because she didn't know how to walk on the bed. She stayed glued to my side all night, but she snored like a bulldog. I had made my decision that I definitely didn't want another dog for Timber, but then several of you made comments that made me think maybe I DO need to get a dog for the dog. I don't know...

 

I sure as hell won't be going shopping this weekend. It's Tax-Free-Weekend in Texas. The state sales tax is suspended for two or three days to "help" people who have to buy school clothes and supplies. Only certain items like clothes, shoes, school supplies, etc, are exempt but that's enough to bring shoppers out in droves. Yech. Stores will be so crowded you won't be able to stir them with a stick. My friend loves to get out and shop amidst all that humanity. Her favorite day to shop is the day after Thanksgiving. I think she's frickin' crazy. I tried going shopping the day after Thanksgiving one year. I arrived at WalMart at 4:30 a.m. as they were planning a 6:00 am opening. I had heard it would be crowded but as I lined up at the far end of the parking lot from the door, I wondered if the $30 motorized skate board that my nephew wanted was worth all this. It wasn't. They didn't put in the add that there would only be 50 of the skate boards at the store. After standing in line for an hour and a half, seeing many near-fights for people "cutting" in line, hearing some not-so-Christmas-spirit cuss fights, I made it into the store. I was way out of my league. There were groups of women there with walky-talkies or cellphones who ran interference for each other. I actually had my way blocked in an aisle by a bitch with a buggy holding 3 of the $100 televisions that were in big demand, not allowing me to reach the skateboards in time. There was a look in that woman's eyes that I hope I never see again. {shiver} I turned around and left the damn store, went home and got back in the bed. Ho-ho-frickin' Ho. Never again.

 

The Redneck Games are this weekend in Alto, TX. They're expectin' about 8,000 rednecks for two days of beer drinkin', four-wheel ridin', mud-floppin', beer-drinkin' fun. I think Alto has, maybe, four cops. They'll probably be busy. [Understatement.] I can't wait to see the winner of the Butt-Crack Contest. I can only imagine what the criteria is for that contest. Ha! These games were in Kilgore, TX last year but all the mud made a mess of some county roads and officials were puh-issed. I used to live close to Alto. There are a lot of rednecks there, but I strongly believe they should consider having this "festival" in Trinity, TX. That place would be a natural for these games. Ever see Deliverance? That could be Trinity county. Scary place for people with all their teeth who don't live in a trailer house.... For more information, visit www.baddrabbit.com. Grab your Rebel flag, tell your wife/girl to put on her tubetop, and get yer ass on down to Alto...

 

Got a big week comin' up next week... Football, soccer, and volleyball will report for physicals on Tuesday. It's starting, people. The 2006-07 school year is here. Ready or not, here they come. Gag. I'm trying to shake this feeling. It's so much more fun when I am excited to see the kids. I can't imagine why I'm dreading it so this semester.

 

I hope all of you are having a good weekend. I'll be here at my crib - chillin' like a villain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aaaaaaaagghhhhhhh..... It's hot. Everything feels like it's in slow motion because of the heat. I know, I know - it's hot all over. I'm selfish and whiney (due to the lack of rain) and I am mostly concerned about my own comfort. Ha! This is horrible but I caught myself wishing for a hurricane to blow in some cool air and rain. I apologize to the people of Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana for even entertaining such a thought, but daaaaaaang!!!!! I just want a little hurricane, maybe a category 2, on the Texas coast somewhere around Houston/Galveston, then I might have a chance at some spin-off storms. As I was typing this I heard a little voice whispering, "Be careful what you wish for...." I'll shit 'n fall in it if anything bad happens and we have another catastrophic hurricane on the Gulf coast. Hell, I'm complaining like I'm a road worker or something. In actuality I trudge from the parking lot to the gym in the morning and then back in the afternoon, then home. If I need to run errands I wait until at least 8:00 pm so it's not as hot. I'm a wuss. I used to love the summertime heat. I would lay out for hours and have a beautiful tan. I was tanorexic before tanorexia was cool Not anymore. Now I'm pale and can't stand to sweat. Yech.

 

I'm dog-sitting for the baseball coach this week while he and his family are in Galveston. He's the guy who owns Timber's girlfriend and former lover. It's so much more pleasant having her here since Timber got "snipped." They actually play and run around instead of doing the humpty-hump 24-7. They're not eating well, tho, so I bought a coupla cans of soft food to mix with their crunchy (I call it Timber's cereal). That will usually get him to start eating again. I would imagine that between the excitement of having a friend over and the heat that the appetite is suppressed. I'm glad Genny is here. I was entertaining thoughts of a second dog to keep Timber company. Now I know that's a stupid idea. If I pet one the other goes crazy and then I have two big dogs vying for petting-position. Not good.

 

This is the time of year when we get tons of calls from moms, dads, and athlete wannabes that realize, hey, it's almost time for school to start back up and I haven't made any plans. They think they can just show up and make the varsity squad, have their tuition paid, and live in the dorm. No clue! If you're reading this and you have a kid that will go to college next year, please know that you need to apply for admission, apply for financial aid, apply for residence halls, seek academic counseling, and you need to start this anytime during your kid's senior year of high school at a minimum. Every year we have a few kids that show up with their stuff to move into a dorm and they've never put down a deposit or made application or anything. Very naive. I feel bad for them but they should have researched things before just showing up.

 

For some reason I have the feeling this is gonna be a sucky school year. I don't know why. I'm usually beginning to feel some excitement for the coming school year by this time but I just have a sense of  foreboding. I'm usually excited to see the upper returners and eager to meet the newbies, but not this year. Football, soccer, and volleyball report for pre-season workouts next week and classes will start in two weeks. I'm way ahead of where I usually am at this time as far as ordering books, filing scholarship papers, etc, yet I feel like I'm not ready. I feel like I'm watching a big storm cloud just waiting for the bottom to fall out. Not a good feeling. I don't think I'm psychic or anything but I have been doing this for nearly 30 years, enough to pay attention to the foreboding and wonder what's up. We'll see...

 

I've been having trouble with the msn stuff. Last night I couldn't sign in but I see why today with all the changes. When I try to move between my fave spaces my computer tends to freeze up and I have to restart. Very irritating. I'm hoping it's msn and not my computer! I have high speed internet so it shouldn't be doing this crap. Of course, I don't really know shit from shinola about computers. Anything past "power on," type-type, etc, is beyond me.

 

A friend called on Monday to ask if I had seen another friend since her return from a one-week vacation. I had not. WELL, friend1 is sure that friend2 has had a boob job. Did you ask her? Well, no. So I call her..."Did you get a boob job?" Shrieks of laughter. "NO!" Well, friend1 is still not convinced. So I call friend2..."Did you buy a new bra?" Chuckle that is at once curious and a little irritated..."Well, yeah. I bought a nice bra at Victoria's Secret that has A LITTLE padding in it." "Oh, okay. That probably explains it." "So, are you gonna tell me why you keep calling and asking about my boobs?" "Do I have to?" "Yes." "Okay, I keep hearing your boobs are bigger than they were when you went on vacation and just wondered if you really did get new boobs." I'm not sure if we're still friends or not. Hahahaha! Friend1 is going to Victoria's Secret to get herself one of these miracle bras. I think my best bet would be tent poles, but that would make it difficult to walk.

 

Isn't it weird what we wonder about people? It doesn't matter one iota whether friend2 got boobs or not, but inquiring minds wanted to know. I often wonder whether people are gay, or virgins, or gay virgins, or sneaky, or lonely, or obsessed with internet porn, stuff like that. Stuff that ain't NONE o'my business, and that makes it even more fun to know, I guess. I often wonder if people are really as nice as they appear. I'm obviously not. Haha!

 

I went to WalMart this evenin'. I had to have dog food, shampoo, deodorant, etc. It never ceases to amaze me what people will wear in public. Yech. I continue to say to women, "Just because you can buy a tube top in a XXXL does NOT mean you should purchase and wear it!!" Gee-mo-netty. Then we have the women in muu-muus, usually larger women, who wear as little as possible underneath thinkin' all that material will hide a multitude of sins. A saw an ol' girl tonight that looked like she had two wrestlers fightin' under a sheet. Wow. And I especially love the men who wear running shorts - those really short shorts with mesh lining so you don't have to wear underwear. They look really good with black socks. Many of them look like they've never run a step in their lives, and most certainly not in the sun! Of course, my nasty mind immediately figures they don't have much "package" if they can wear shorts that short and not be nervous about it. Another bad apparel choice for men? Gray gym shorts. They're that thin knit like a cheap t-shirt. Those leave NOTHING to the imagination. Believe me, sometimes imagination is much better than reality. I saw a guy on the running track the other day jogging in one of those "girdle" things like football players wear under their pants. Speaking of leaving nothing to the imagination - YECH YECH AND TRIPLE YECH!! He looked like he had stuffed his pants with a litter of tiny kittens that couldn't be still. He thought he looked real good, too. I know I shouldn't have laughed and pointed but I couldn't help it. Hahaha!

 

Tomorrow is hump day. Never fails to give me a chuckle. I'll try again tomorrow to blog-walk as I'm getting sleepy now and frustrated at the freezing up thang. Stay cool and, more importantly, STAY HYDRATED!!

 

Dueces to the heart, everybody! [Translation: While right hand is in "peace sign" mode, touch chest over the heart, then point peace sign at person you are greeting. Kinda like Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire used to do after hitting a home run except with a peace sign. Further translation: Peace from my heart to you.]