Snowed today…imagine that..I’m starting to get a real “tude” about this winter thing.  Streeets were slick because the temp was about 30-31..all of the grassy areas were covered but it all melted this afternoon…now we have standing water in the ditches…the roads are just horrible.  There are frost boils on 3 sections of gravel that I take every day to get to and from work…one place would be nearly impassable in a low sitting car.

Looking forward to the fishing trip next weekend…we may get some showers one day but the extended outlook looks to be in the high 60’s and 70’s.  Bennett Spring is my calm place..it is where I can go and I’m totally comfortable.   I am guessing it is because of the beautiful area but also very peaceful, I have never seen anyone misbehave…it is serene…he fishes and I can either sit and read and crochet or take a walk in the woods…mmmm just a little piece of heaven right here amongst all of the usual angst. The only place I feel better is on a beach by the ocean early morning or late afternoon.  ahhhhhh

It’s a Saturday night – I’m almost afraid to say “what can happen on a Saturday night”.  I fear the dreary weather will bring on the alcohol which in turn will bring on the drunks and the fights and the domestics after midnight.  That is always something to look forward to…dealing with stupidity enhanced with alcohol…

If it does get up to 70’s this week in Iowa, watch the news, you may see a woman running naked down mainstreet screaming with maniac laughter….

Until next time….

To preface the upcoming rant, let me explain that I smoked cigarettes from somewhere around 20 years old off and on until I was 43 years, 5 months and 7 days…on August 16, 1999, I officially became a self-righteous x smoker.  I hate to be around smokers, I hate the smell, I hate that they may be causing me ill health with second hand smoke, It totally pisses me off to see a mother/father or both smoking in a car with a small child – windows up or down…I don’t even like an obvious smoker to walk past me in the grocery store or the mall because I don’t like the smell.  With that being said:

What happened to free choice.  What happened to me deciding:  I will not eat in a restaurant if there are smokers, I will not be in an enclosed area with a smoker or I will not be in an unenclosed area with a smoker…this is my right and for heavens sake, I certainly don’t want to ride in a taxi cab with a smoking cabbie and I really don’t want to ride in a stinky taxi cab even if he/she doesn’t smoke…but isn’t this my choice?

Now the Iowa legislature has passed a law effective July 1 that cab drivers cannot smoke in their cabs.  Now, I agree that a cab company who provides the actual vehicle to their drivers have the right to tell a cabbie that he cannot smoke in the cab….and it is then, the cabbies choice whether he 1) wants to not smoke in the cab or lose his/her job; 2) work for a cab company that allows smoking; just as the passenger should have the right to request a non-smoking cab the same as I request a non-smoking motel room.  But who in the hell has the right to tell an owner/operator cab driver that he can’t smoke in his own office/the car.  Who has the right to tell a company/bar/restaurant/cab that they must be smoke free.  Isn’t this my right as a non smoker to make the choice and not the government’s decision to make it illegal…This information on the same night that I find out from Katie Couric that that thousands of government employees who have credit cards are using this card to pay for over the top meals, bar bills, lingere and electronics on my dime.  These idiots that we elect are making laws about what we can and cannot do while they have free rein and can do as they please…I’ll bet if there were a lot of cab drivers who were also legislators, there would be no smoking ban on taxi cabs…..restaurant owners/legislators would restaurateurs be allowed to run their restaurants as they choose…as far as I know and please correct me if I’m wrong; the only thing guaranteed in the constitution is the separation of church and state…does it say anywhere that government has the right to control our lives, our private lives, what I choose to do in my bedroom…are we someday going to be governed about how many squares of toilet tissue we use a day?

While all the other critters are sleeping; bless little Benny, he sits up in front of the monitor and helps me read and blog and thoroughly enjoys the cursor moving around.  Right now he is totally focused on my typing.  He doesn’t laugh much, though, so I can’t trust his sense of humor 🙂

It rained and rained today and I hear Wisconsin and parts to the north got more than we did and may have some -************************************************ (Benny) snow tomorrow.  April 8 and 9 of 1973, Iowa was hit with a huge snow storm…it shut everything down for a couple of days.  I’m sure I loved it – I would have been 17.  I remember the snow drifts hanging off the front of our house were enormous and the newspaper today mentioned 16 foot drifts on highways.  I always figure that if we get to March 23…winter is over…that is the last  and latest storm I remember in 1979…this year…who knows…late afternoon, just before it stopped raining, we had huge snowflakes.  I love those in December…hate them in April.

Benny just crawled over to lay next to Billy on the perch so I must be rambling…

Until next time….

WayoftheWolf  First….if you don’t subscribe to WayoftheWolf, you at least need to read her today with her poem reflection…as I told her, she touched my soul.

I have no idea is the answer to my question above…I only have one flesh and blood friend who blogs..in fact he is the one who inspired me.  He moved from xanga over to blogspot.  I have encouraged several others who seem to have a gift for writing or a way with words to try it.  MsKimba actually set up her site but is too afraid to actually blog.  I think most people think that anything “they” have to say is not interesting…well, goodness sake, she reads my blog and I doubt if she really thinks about it that she will find that to be a wholesome excuse…I know there are days when I’m typing and I think…Oh, for crying out loud..I sound like a babbling idiot…(thanks, Jeff, for the new word babbling).  Do we like to live our lives vicariously thru other people, do we not have a life, are we just in need of someone to listen to us, are we just incredibly friendly people and we can’t get enough friends in the flesh where we are planted, are we just trying to make life better for us or someone else…listening to their problems, offering encouragement, do we just like to write, does getting it down on a blog give us a sense that “we’ve been there and made our mark”?

Yes…I think that is why we blog…

Thoughts?

I’m feeling calm and controlled tonight…this after 5 hours of sleep, a 4 hour discipline hearing where I served as steward, no lunch or supper to speak of and no news…yes.  I have not heard any national news for 24 hours and I”m fine…just fine.  I did read Jeff’s bit on the political front http://thedailygroundhog.blogspot.com/  but, quite frankly, this is not news this is my daily entertainment…

I RE-learned a very valuable lesson today..a lesson that as a union steward, I should not have to re-learn..I actually am not very proud of myself.  Management provided lots of background paperwork ie. interviews, phone calls and videos to substantiate their claim…I read the information and reached a verdict before the fact finding interview.  I was really irritated that I had to get out of bed early afternoon and go to the office to sit in on a hearing.  I had listened to so much gossip, reached my verdict (which isn’t mine to reach) on emotion and not fact.  It was another slap in the face to wake me up and remember that gossip and rumor are very hurtful and wrong and fact is fact.  I’m not sure how this is going to all work out for the employee; but, I know I have a new attitude and have regained my open mind attitude at least until I regress and require another ah ha moment….back-off evil twin!!!

Until next time

I couldn’t go to sleep this morning…I think it is called insomnia…I got up from bed and went to the couch  to watch Monday’s Dr. Phil about the “super bug”….mhrsa…oh goodness…I actually got sleepy.  It is important information but oh, so boring… I slept until around 4pm.  I”ve been having some major issues with my desktop computer…it is slow, been freezing up and slower than molasses in January…I’ve run adware, spyware, norton, deleted stuff, defrag, done about everything I could think of…it also started making a hideous sound that even “he” could hear….So, I went to Wallyworld and bought a new one – a Dell.  You know….Dude, get a Dell…Decided this time I was going to buy a cheap one (cheap being a relative term) instead of a more expensive one…from what I”m told, they last about the same amount of time.  He is home now messing with it and if you are reading this honey, I mean messing with it in only the most affectionate way….I don’t know why I’m so protective of the computer…it used to drive me crazy when K would download something or tell me what I “should” do with it.  Just leave it alone!!!!  Now the problem is – it is his money that paid for it as much as mine …but it still sends shivers down my back when I know he is messing with it.

We went to dinner tonight with Ryan and Jenny and Carl and Jane.  The kids are taking off Sunday for a week in Cancun so we wanted to get together before they left.  I had THE BEST tuna melt at Okoboji grill.  I’ve been craving another one now that I’m at work 8 hours later and can’t have one. 

Alayna just left – I’m working alone until 0700…have lots of magazines and some crocheting to do…also need to focus and worry and obsess and try to figure out how to get Outlook Express on the new computer for my email…

Until next time….

Watching the evening news with Katie Couric got me all stirred up tonight.  So the CEO’s of the large oil companies meet with a senate committee and are asked – with the millions/billions of American Tax payers dollars going for tax incentives for you, have you thought about lowering gas prices…they all looked dumb struck – has this thought never crossed their minds, were they shocked that someone finally said it outloud or did their expensive cars, habits, houses and women pass before their eyes….and then after the “canned” footage”, the reporter says they have been called up by congress twice before and nothing has changed and probably won’t now.  My ears are red, my heart is beating fast, I can hear and feel my blood pressure in my temples, I’m tense, my temp is up, I desperately want to keep my head from blowing off…but what can we do..what can we do tonight…are we all going to watch the nightly news and feel totally at their mercy…we are totally controlled – there are not very many choices here…is this it?

I’m so disgusted, disheartened and totally perplexed about what is happening in the United States…I don’t mean this to be a degradation of George W but what the hell is he thinking.  The war, the economy, gas prices, interest rates and by his smirk, he is confident he is doing what is best for America…. what George W…what have you done….and how is the next president going to get us out of this mess…I guess I agree with those who say the president doesn’t really have as much power as we, Americans, give the credit…and what about these right wings who preach conservatism, yet do exactly as they please whether it be financial, sexual or just fattening.   Where do they get the supporters…or are there not quite so many actual supporters… only that they talk the loudest and they flock together and lead the sheep who are only followers and have no mind of their own…is that it…I maintain that those who have the most to hide blow the most smoke….and those who excel at manipulation have a field of those who want to be manipulated…and my biggest question…where does the crap stop.  Are we content, America…is this the plan we are going to stick to… is there a politician among us who is not a liar, a manipulator, a thug?  With the beating that Americans are taking right now, shouldn’t George W just be referred to as “head thug”.  Are we really to vote for the least evil politician.  Did those who voted, not once but twice, for George W really not think he was  a moron…really, really? is that true?  What now.  Barack, Hillary or John… I can’t vote for more bush politics so John is out…so my two voting choices are Barack and Hillary.  Which is the least evil..this is what we have to figure out between now and election day…I”m worried…very worried.