Lesson learned - the hard way

I have complained about having satellite internet here at the SSB since I first had it installed.  It is slow as molasses in January.  I upgraded a few months ago.  It was a higher speed and more gigs per month.  And they were per month rather than per day.  That was appealing to me because we aren't here for a month solid - just a week.

The "new and improved" is a bit better.  It does go faster.  Google loads well and all.  So where am I going with this pitiful story?  Back in the day, I was still teaching.  That was when the infamous OJ Simpson trial was going on.  I had a small black and white television in my storage room at school.  I would usually eat in my classroom at lunch (the whole, whopping 23 minutes of it).  You get in far less trouble if you stay out of the teachers lounge, and I didn't care to join the kiddos in the cafeteria! But I digress.  I would haul the set out to watch the trial at lunch.  I soon had quite a large gathering joining me for "lunch with the trial."

With the series that is on ( The People vs OJ), I have been interested in it.  It is well acted and closely follows the events.  I record it at home.  I wanted to watch it here, so I went to the On Demand section of Direct Tv and began my download of the show.  I never thought of where the show would come from.

That download ate up my remaining internet time.  When we leave now, I unplug the router.  I turn off the satellite box.  When I began using the computer, I noticed that I had something like 80% of my remaining gigs.  There must have been downloading going on.  The download I chose got rid of the rest of it - overnight!  So now I am "Smart Browsing" on my Bonus bytes -whatever that means.  I DO know it means I am back to a snail's pace trying to navigate the internet!!!

I don't think OJ is/was worth it!

This and that

Here we are again at the SSB.  After the last trip, I see the importance of being here frequently, even though I would much rather be at home.  I just think of how badly the house would smell if that refrigerator had gone out completely.  Of course, that makes me think of what will happen when we are no longer able to make the trip.  Our children manage one trip a year.  This place that we have worked so hard on (and poured so much money into) is going to flat fall apart.  Most of what we have done were to make them happy.  Much bigger house than we first thought of and all.  Oh well.  Can't do anything about it.


Katie and Krissi spent last weekend in California for the Olympic Development Program championship games.  Katie didn't go on, but she was actually happy about not making the team.  The next camp will be when the state championship games will be going on.  She is more excited about that experience.  She was approached by many colleges while there, however.  So there was good that came from the time she was there.  I guess she will go back to Junior Olympics this July.

I was going to add a picture of the "instruments of terror" also known as the meat turner that turned my finger into a blood fountain.  I took pictures with the intent of posting them when I posted here.  My mind wasn't into packing however.  Shadow somehow got the idea he was going to be put in the carrier for the trip and disappeared.  I was more worried about him and didn't think of the camera - so the pictures will have to wait

The man who is supposed to spray to kill off the prickly pear cactus hasn't done it yet.  The winds have been too strong.  He said perhaps it would happen today or tomorrow.  I doubt it.  The weather is turning off to be bad again.  I think there are too many clouds.  And if he sprays the herbicide today, I don't think it will do the job it is supposed to do.

Have a great St Patrick's day.  It's my brother-in-law's birthday.  His name is (wait for it)

PATRICK!!!

Where have I been?

This past week, I have been nursing a cut finger.

Last Saturday night, I was looking in my utensil "junk drawer."  These are the little odds and ends that don't belong to any specific grouping of things.  I thought I knew what was in there, but I had a BIG surprise.

I was looking for the pizza cutter that should have been on the top and in front.  It wasn't.  As I was moving things, I had a problem.  So I reached far into the back of the drawer to pull things to the front.

What I didn't know was G (since he does the dishes) had put a meat turner in that drawer.  It doesn't belong there - at all.  It is a long thing that has a curled end resembling a pig's tail and is VERY sharp.

As I drug my hand forward, my ring finger hit that sharp tip, and it pierced the pad from the tip to the joint.  It bled like "a stuck pig!"

It took forever to get the bleeding to stop.  I bandaged it as well as I could.  The bleeding finally stopped sometime in the night.

I have been afraid to remove the bandage until yesterday.  It seems to be OK.  But it is still sore.  SO typing has not been an easy thing to do.

But I am back.  And I have thoroughly checked that drawer and secured all sharps.  I never got an acknowledgement that he messed up however.

Reality hit

The other night, I was watching the late news when a story came on about an "elderly lady leading police on a 100-mile chase."

The story was amusing.  I was thinking of a fragile little old lady - perhaps in her late 80's leading police about the highways.  I could just see her peeking over the steering wheel - the image I have of an elderly woman.  My mind always sees a short, fragile woman.

Then they gave her age.  She was 74.  That's not elderly!  I am 70 - nearly that old, and I am not elderly.  That shook me to my core.

Being an only child, I spend a lot of my childhood around adults.  I was always the young one.  Many of my friends were older than I.  I was the young one.  My mind holds me in that place - the youngest around.

As I have aged, I still feel that way.  In my mind, I am the youngest in a group.  My mind LIES!