Get Busy Livin' or Get Busy Dyin'

My doctor's appointment yesterday was interesting. I don't know how much I am ready to discuss as I am still ingesting what I was told. Only one-and-a-half hands-full of people know the main details of what I was told by the Neurologist yesterday and I think I may take the advise from a couple of close friends (part of the MATTfia) and get a second opinion. I do not want to become Andy Kaufman though and waste all of my time looking for answers that I probably won't find. No MATTer what I hear I am going to take one of the pieces of advise of the doctor for certain and live life to the fullest for awhile. I am not trying to make people try to guess what is going on and I am not trying to worry people; I am just trying to wrap my head around everything before offering full disclosure. It is ALWAYS a good idea to live each day like it is our last because one day we are guaranteed to be correct.

I did something last night that I have not done for maybe four years - I had a beef cheeseburger. I have not eaten red meat in a very long time. I forgot what a MATTster griller I am. I had also forgotten how great cheeseburgers taste. So far my body is welcoming beef back with open arms and intestines. I do not think I am going to take drinking alcohol up again though. Not yet anyway. I won't say anything is 100% though on anything. That is not true - there are several things that are 100% in my mind (maybe 98% - there is always a little wiggle room).

It is remarkable that, no MATTer what  time I go to bed at night, I nearly always wake-up at 0300. I had always heard that 0300 was the witching hour. I guess that was because in the trade market, back in the day, that was the last hour of stock trading before the bond market closed at 0400. It is also, supposedly, exactly twelve hours after Jesus of Nazareth was executed. I guess "crucified" sounds more Biblical. Since Jesus was supposed to be the embodiment of goodness, and he was killed at 1500, shouldn't 3 PM be the witching hour since that is when he was killed? But, his death was supposed to have been for us to cleanse our souls so, the exact opposite of his death would make sense in a way too. All I know is that nearly everyday I, no MATTer what steps I take to fight it, am awake at 0300. Incidentally, I have quit taking the Ambien after some research and some advise from Dr. Shawn Fessenden and then speaking with my Neurologist. It seems like nasty stuff plus it wasn't working anyway. I can sleep without your help Ambien! I had only taken three (three nights).

I may start taking naps like an old Matt. It is just about hammock weather time in the MIDDLEwest. Thank goodness for ear buds and iPods. I wonder if anybody has ever died in a hammock? I think that would be really handy to dispose of a body. You could just cut the strings (pun slightly intended along with the literal meaning), let the body drop to the ground and roll it up like one of those fancy cigarettes all the cool kids are smoking these day. That makes me think of one of the regrets of my life. I really wish I had been a pothead Focker. I have never really even smoked pot. When I was in high school I pretended a few times with friends because of the whole adolescence and wanting to fit in deal but, just like Bill Clinton, I never inhaled. I always believed Bill Clinton when he said he had never inhaled because I could totally relate and understand why he would have said that. The Monica Lewinski thing was another story - I think he inhaled (or she did) on that deal. I am talking about cigars - get your mind out of the gutter. I have smelled marijuana many times and it is a very pleasant smell to me. On the flip-side I do not think I could ever smoke a tobacco cigarette. I certainly do not see the appeal there - the smell is hideous and the cancer deal is a big bummer too though I guess that is actually the carcinogens and nicotine they add to keep their victims customers coming back.

Maybe I need to make a bucket list. Smoking marijuana would be on there I think (probably using a pipe since I have a learning curve with the rolling a blunt deal). I have a problem with being a rule-follower most of the time though; what a conundrum. Do people really make bucket lists? It seemed good for that movie The Bucket List (especially with that being the name of the film) since Jack Nicholson had unlimited funds. I guess a list is just a list though. I make shopping lists all the time and then get home and realize I missed the Tabasco listed between the avocados and the bread. If there is a rich benefactor who is looking to fund a Bucket List Buddy I'm your Morgan Freeman.

Man, it is 0607 already. I appreciate our time together. It is funny how I picture you (everybody who has ever made a comment to me personally or in a text or on Facebook... about the blog or something I have written). Many of you I have not even met in person and many of you I know very intimately. I do not picture you specifically every time but there seems to be a rotation in my head and YOU are regularly in my MATTing order. Some of you have only commented on the blog one time or just hit the "like" button and you are in the rotation of my thoughts. I appreciate you so much  (ha, I am tearing-up just writing those last couple of sentences). That is one thing that really bothers me about me (and our society I think) that I cannot show my true feelings sometimes though often that is a very good thing. I am a very emotional and compassionate person (I know some of you may find that difficult to believe). I tear-up during movies or television shows and when I read or hear things sometimes but I always try to hide it. I have even hid it from Cha Cha most of the time except when she was in the hospital recently when I was unable to hide it. I would not say that I am a crier but I am a tearer-upper and I pretty much always have been. I guess that just makes me sensitive and compassionate or maybe I am just a sissy. I guess that is why I protect baby bunnies with patio chairs. I wouldn't change that about me and I will probably always continue to try to hide it out of habit other than I reveal it in my blog. I yam what I yam and that is probably one of my few good qualities. Weird I try to hide the good ones.

Okay, that's it for today. Thanks a lot for stopping by (I can always use a good tearing-up - it keeps those ducts clear). Have a great whatever day this is (Wednesday I think). I have to continue on cleaning the garage today. I made a lot of progress yesterday but I have a long way to go. We are getting the new door to the patio from the garage installed this morning and the French doors in the Tiki Room installed tomorrow morning. I will feel like I am in a different house for many reasons soon. TTTT...MITM (out) TA!

There May Be Collusion in My Insanity.

I am kind of nervous; I have a meeting with the neurologist this morning to discuss their findings, or the lack thereof, of the EEG and the MRI... I am not sure if I am more worried that they did find something or that they did not find anything. Yesterday I had a few more beginning of my episodes or spells or whatever they should be called. I did not get to the point where I Quantum Leaped. Maybe these were something else? Maybe I have learned to control them? Maybe, like happened in the previous times, these are the the foreshocks that occur before earthquakes? Thankfully, this appointment is right here in town near our local hospital.

There is a lot more money in keeping me sick than making me well

I am not sure if Dreyer Medical Clinic (in Batavia) is trying to rile me to keep me coming back for return business or what. Cha Cha had dropped-off my paperwork last Monday (April 6th) for them to fill-out for my work so I can continue to get paid. Yesterday (4/13)  Dreyer sent me an email, after I had sent them one on April 9th asking when Jill could pick-up my filled-out papers, saying they never got the papers. I copied the message from the bank that said the $25 check to process my order had cleared our bank on 4/10/15. So, today after Cha Cha drives me to the doctor and back home, she will either drop-off or email the papers to the doctor again. I hope they do not mention another $25 fee because I may put this temporary insanity I am experiencing to good use (nothing violent just a lot of ranting and raving). I was going to get dropped-off at the doctor's office on Jill's way to work yesterday and camp-out in their office but the guy came over to quote the new garage door being installed and I had to finish painting the Tiki Room. After my doctor's appointment today (not the one who lost my papers) I have to clean the garage so the door can be installed tomorrow. Then, Thursday, the French doors are getting installed. It had better be resolved by Friday.  I am busier now that when I am well. But, I am home and can sit and rest whenever I feel something weird happening in me gulliver.

Fort Buggs? Fort Cottonwood?

Jeff had been acting weird all morning. He kept running to one tree in our backyard. I thought nothing of it because that is the tree where I have seen him burying bones. Cha Cha said, "I wonder if there are baby bunnies over there?" So, I went out and saw an area that was filled with leaves. It was one of the holes that Jeff had dug to bury a bone awhile back, ironically. I started carefully removing the leaves and, all of a sudden, I felt something very fuzzy wiggling. Jeff watched me intently the entire time. I removed the final leaf and there was a kit (that is the actual name of a baby bunny - it is short for kitten). It was the size of a medium-sized cat kitten - about eight-ten inches long. I did not dig much deeper and I saw at least one more beneath this one. I put the leaves back over the nest and I built a fort around the tree with heavy iron patio chairs so Jeff cannot get to them and the rabbits can get in and the kits can get out. In a couple of months we will be shooing them away from our flowers and vegetation but all creatures are here for a purpose even if it is just for cuteness like bunnies and me. I never thought this would be the kind of fort I would build in our backyard. I have to name the fort - Fort Bunniness? I will work on the that one.

Sorry if I missed anything yesterday. I did not blog, I did not turn the television on and I did not go on the computer other than when my phone told me that I got an email from the useless medical clinic. I would then go onto the computer to check my emails. I pretty much painted and listened to Pandora all day long.

If I only had a brain (that worked properly)

It is 0845 so I need to get ready for my appointment to find-out my level of loonieness. No MATTer what happens I am hopeful and optimistic. I am still convinced (persuaded by Cha Cha mostly) that this is sleep-related and I will learn the most at my sleep study at the end of next week. Last night I took one of my Ambien pills and went right to sleep at 2300 but, I woke-up at 0300 and have been awake ever since. The pill makes me fall asleep but it doesn't keep me asleep. So, it is basically useless to me. Four hours of sleep may be part of the problem huh?

Thank you for stopping in today. Have a great day. I am starting to have one of my weird feelings again right now and I have just realized that I think these are the same feelings I was having awhile back (maybe a couple of years ago) but I cannot remember the specifics of that/those. I am pretty sure that I am going to have to figure it out on my own because there is no money in me being healthy. I am just getting frustrated. Okay, enough. TTTT (about 76% chance)...MITM (out) TA!

Happy Belated Sibling Day

World's Dumbest Holiday Day

I guess someone decided that yesterday was Sibling's Day on Facebook. We are a bunch of lemmings. I missed the memo on this one. What is next? Pets From When You Were Young Day? Oh, that makes me think of something. (Isn't it weird how things will do that?) With the recent tornado in our area there are hundreds of pets that are ownerless - at least for now. I know Cha Cha is putting photograph many photographs of lost dogs on her Facebook page. That is something you never think about. You and I, if we were lost, would at least have some idea where our house was unless we got amnesia like we would if we were in a movie. I did not drink the Sibling's Day Kool-Aid.  It is just Facebook trying to keep itself relevant and I do not blame that for that - it's big bucks!

I was listening to the meteorologist from my work on the radio. He said that he followed this tornado pretty much from its start to finish. He said that the tornado, in it's travel, was on the ground for about an hour. The average tornado is not on the ground for longer than eight minutes. I am happy that we live in a more urban area because tornadoes in larger downtown areas are rare but I did read that it is not unheard of. Windsor, Ontario has been hit four times in 70 years and St. Louis has had tornadoes downtown four times in less that a century. I cannot image the destruction that a downtown tornado would cause in Chicago or New York... Actually, I know Hollywood has done something many natural disaster films that have depicted this horror.

While writing this I am listening to Pandora. It is really funny to me how you can tell which big rock singers were huge partiers just by listening to their early singing (voice) and later in the their career songs. Paul McCartney sounds pretty much the same today as he did when The Beatles began. Then you listen to someone like Steven Tyler and he doesn't like the same singer. David Lee Roth cannot even sing close to what he sounded like when he began with Van Halen.

Now that the laundry room is completed it is time to paint the Tiki Room. Is it a coincidence that paint starts with pain? There are really only three walls in the Tiki Room since one side feeds out to the dining room, one has the patio (French) door and the other two walls are 80% windows. Within the next week we are having the French Doors installed in the Tiki Room and the door installed in the garage going out onto the patio. It is nice to have projects and not be on a timetable. Usually, when we do painting and such it needs to be done by such-and-such a date. I guess this is that way a bit since we are having a graduation party this summer.

I have been writing this blog off-and-on (mostly off) all day long. I would say I have been averaging about a paragraph every one-and-a-half hours. It is 1600 now.

Jill and I have decided that we are going to take-up birding as a hobby. Some people call it bird-watching but that is very offensive to we birders I am told by the home office. As I write this there is a female cardinal and a red finch on the feeder and I an birding them. The female cardinal's beak is so bright orange. I wonder if the male cardinal's beak is that bright too but it just doesn't look as bright because he is red. I have to refill the feeder but I will wait until they are done with dinner. There is still a little but there.

I am gonna end for the week. I will blog again Monday - maybe from the doctor's office lobby on Batavia. I am tired of paying good money for shoddy service. If I do not get satisfaction Monday I am switching doctors. Cha Cha's doctor is at the same clinic and Cha Cha says she is not as busy as my doctor. Plus, how much more fun is it with a lady doctor at "turn your head and cough" time? I am tired of being held hostage by the medical industry. Maybe it is because of my stupid State of Illinois insurance? Maybe they figure of they are gonna pay slowly they will give service slowly? I am tired of complaining so, have a great rest of your weekend. TTTMonday. Thanks a lot for checking -in. TA!

My Head's All Full of Nuthin'

Please keep my good friend Dee Simpson in your thoughts today as she is having surgery for an injury caused by a fall. If it is possible to target your good thoughts please aim them toward Hot Springs, Arkansas. Another good friend that is struggling with surgeries of late and could use your good thoughts is another very good friend Delores "Ma" Meyer - aim those good thoughts toward the Montgomery/Oswego, Illinois direction. These are two great ladies who I have written about here. Ironically, I wrote about them both in the same blog one time and now they both need our love. Thanks for whatever you can send their ways!

Last night was exciting in this area - not in a good way for many. There were several tornadoes that touched-down in some of the smaller surrounding towns. As far as I have heard so far there has only been one death associated with the storm. Things I have never thought about like a bunch of dogs found together have been posted on Facebook. I noticed Jeff acting very odd yesterday just before the heavy rain and hail came through our area. I am certain that animals can sense the change in barometric pressure. I am very happy that I did not get to use my Weather Spotter secret number to call in sighting a funnel cloud. I hope never having to use that phone number. The area where one of the tornadoes traveled yesterday was hit when I was a kid living in Rockford. Belvidere, IL was hit hard by a tornado then and I guess it had some problems yesterday too. My dad was born in Belvidere so, as a kid in 1967, that made it seem even scarier. The Summerfield Zoo was damaged in yesterday's tornado. It is a small zoo that houses exotic animals. It kind of reminds me of that film We Bought a Zoo. They are looking for donations to help rebuild many of the shelters. The most damage was to their main building which was completely demolished. A lot of the fences and sheds have been destroyed too. They have a GOFUNDME account set-up for donations if you are so inclined. I do not know anyone there - I just like animals. They have already received about $11,000 of the $20,000 they need.

In about seven hours I will be stuffed into a tube for my MRI. I sure hope they find something. Odds are that they will not find anything in my head. They say it will only last an hour since they are only looking for at my brain. Originally, they said it was going to take three hours but, maybe because my brain is only the size of a pea, they called me and said it would probably only take about an hour now. I hope I don't have flashbacks of birth or something being shoved into that tube. Since I have to pay 15% of whatever they do I am happy that they are just doing the brain today. Does anybody in Canada want to adopt a MIDDLEaged person? I know of one who can be easily adopted. I am nearly 70% house-broken.

We are over a year away from the next Presidential election and I am so sick of all of the rhetoric already. I know it is only going to get worse so I am very excited of being adopted of a nice Canadian family. We are taught that America is supposed to be one of the most civilized nations on the planet. If that is the case, I feel really sorry for all of the other parts of the world. Though I dd not vote in this recent election for the councilpersons and the like I believe I will vote in the Presidential election in October 2016 if I am still alive and mentally capable. Do you have to be "of sound mind" to vote? NeverMIND, I just thought about some of the politicians  that have been elected and I answered my own question. How could a person rhyming with Porge Stubbleview Swoosh have gotten elected if one had to be of sound mind to vote.

Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller

I heard that there is a campaign to try to get a woman to replace Andy Jackson on the twenty-dollar bill. It would have to be a younger woman because, in my opinion, Jackson already looks like an old lady on the double sawbuck. It sounds like the top three people being considered so far are: Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman. All fantastic candidates in my opinion. Ironically, to me anyway, another of the finalists is Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller (the fist female Native American Chief). I think maybe she should win just for her name alone (both Wilma and Mankiller) and the symbolism of her replacing a man on the bills. Additionally and ironically (I love irony) she would be replacing the President (Jackson) who signed the "Indian Removal Act" which relocated Native Americans in 1830 when our forefathers wanted their ancestral homelands. The push for the money change is to have the bills replaced in 2020 which will be the 100th anniversary of the Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. There is a site where you can vote for one of these four women. I am leaning toward Harriet Tubman but I will think about it before casting my ballot. I can make a great case for Eleanor Roosevelt too though a woman of hue (the other three) would be fantastic!

I have to get some things around the house done before I find out my heads all full of stuffin'. Thank you for being here on the last day that I thought I had a brain. I hope you are having a great day - the weather is much better today here in my neck of the MIDDLEwest. TTTT...MITM (out) TA!

Off to the Salt Mines with the Man in Black

Congratulations to Mr. & Mr. Manilow or Kief of Manilow-Kief or Kief-Manilow

It always amuses me how clueless people can be when they are in denial when something happens that other people had always known suspected. I guess clueless is not the appropriate word - maybe they are just innocent and/or accepting. I am speaking about Barry Manilow and his long-time manager Garry Kief getting married last year. It just came out in the press that it is official, I just think it's funny that they are Barry and Garry (yes, that is the way this Garry spells his name). I think it is great when people who love each other can be together no MATTer what the circumstances (there are limits in my mind though - having to do with animals and children). When two consensual adults can get married (or, at the very least, be together and be who they are) I am all for it. How could people not have known that Barry Manilow was gay? Why does it make a difference? I hope I am still on this planet when it is okay for people to be who they are and people will accept whatever that happens to be.

 I hope I am the Earth and not the Scum 

The Ambien worked in getting me to sleep last night. I even remember a dream, which I rarely do. I kept seeing a man (assuming it was a man based on his size) wearing: a black trench coat, black slacks, black shoes, black sun glasses (at night), an all-black fedora lurking just out of the light in the shadows. I don't believe it was Joliet Jake or Ellwood because I believe the socks were black too. Maybe it was Johnny Cash? Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones?  It seemed like this figure was just watching me. Of course, I imagine it is death just out of my reach and waiting to pounce if I make one wrong move. I do not feel I slept very well after this initial dream but some sleep is better than what I get most nights. "They" say that dreams last only milliseconds though they seem like they are much longer. Sleeping nights and being awake during the days (like non-nocturnal beings are supposed to be) is helping me more than anything I think. I have the MRI tomorrow and I am excited to see what that discovers. I still think the sleep-study at the end of the month will be the most telling test.

Today I am going to work on the garage a bit. So far, Cha Cha and I have totally redone the laundry room (painting, adding hooks, building shelves, stacking the washer and dryer...), yesterday I reorganized all of the kitchen cupboards. We have no dirty clothes in the house and today I have to try to get the garage back to normal from the laundry room project. I have eight bags of salt I have to lug downstairs to add to the water softener that we were using for weight in the back of one of our vehicles this past winter. We no longer have that vehicle (and it is no longer winter) so we no longer need those bags but, the softener always needs salt. We tell it that too much sodium is bad for you but softeners always think they are smarter than everybody else. I want to be able to get two cars back in the garage this afternoon before these bad storms arrive. After that I think cleaning the entire garage is the next project - we are having a back door added to the garage out to the patio and we need to be able to get to that wall before the door  can be installed.

You don't hear about salt mines much anymore

I think I will be able to blog tomorrow morning because my appointment isn't until just after noon. If, for some reason, I don't get it posted I will blog after I get back home. Maybe that will be better anyway since I will be able to talk about being stuck in a tube for an hour. Thankfully, I am not in the least bit claustrophobic. In fact, I like to be in tight places. I could blog before and after too I suppose? There are so many options in every day life. Thank you for stopping-in; I do appreciate most of you (I just thought that sounded funny). Have a great day battening-down your hatches. TTTT (once or twice)...MITM off to the salt mines. TA!

Big Blogger is Watching!

I'm so tingly my body's tinglin'...

I have been pretty busy today which is good though I am just now getting around to blogging. I have been getting a lot done around the house though most of it takes about 30 percent longer than it should. Partly because I am moving kinda slow at the junction and partly because I get distracted with things like blogging and such. I seem to be doing pretty well overall I think. While I was at the store earlier today my entire body fell asleep and I just stood there for a minute or two and it passed. Please don't tell Cha Cha because she will just worry. If it happens again I will tell her. I will know if you tell her - BIG BLOGGER IS WATCHING!  I will tell the doctor about it when I see him next or if it continues. It was not like the other times with the Quantum Leap stuff yet so I am not convinced it is related to my "condition." It probably means something kinda like when your ears ring somebody is supposed to be talking about you. Maybe when your body falls asleep somebody is thinking about you?

I think I slept pretty well last night. The doctor called in some Ambien for me and I took one before bedtime. I had heard the name (Ambien) before and it is a sedative for the short-term treatment of insomnia. I know Jill had some when she was in the hospital. Hers was 5 mg but mine is 10 mg. I must be bigger game than she is so it takes more to bring me down than it does her.

I think the other humans in the house are going to get spoiled by me being around the house. Last night I made a big pot of chicken corn chowder (there are now two medium containers of it in the freezer if you're hungry) and tonight I am going to make lemon garlic shrimp fettuccine (I am using whole wheat pasta so it is a bit healthier). With all that is getting done and all the extra time I get to see Cha Cha I really just want to be well so I can go back to the crappy parts of my life. I don't know why but maybe it's just because that is what we are supposed to do?

It is so odd to watch the Cubs' game on channel 7 (the ABC affiliate in Chicago), They have been on WGN since I remembering watching television back in the 1960's. I kind of like the change but I feel sorry for the people who receive WGN on their televisions in Arizona or Florida or wherever they decide to retire. I bet many people, on retired incomes, will cancel their cable or satellite service now because of this. I am just basing this on my love to guess things without checking facts.

It is now about five hours later than I wrote the previous paragraphs. I got a wild hare on my ass and decided to clean and reorganize the insides of all of the kitchen cupboards. Well, all except two - the spice cupboard and the one housing all of the cookbooks were fine the way they were. Nobody else knows what I moved where but even I, who knows where everything is, will just keep going back to where everything was a few moments ago. I should have waited to do this until it was closer to garbage day because both the recycling and the non-recycling three-foot tall green wheelie things are completely full and the lids don't even close. Apparently, we had a lot of things that we could have lived without.

I was still unable to burn the rest of the leaves today because they are still wet. Now, tomorrow, they are talking about severe weather here in the MIDDLEwest. The news just said that people should start planning their emergency routines. Ummm, go into the basement the same as every other year since I was three-years-old. My main concern is that the WIFI and the satellite television will be out during inclement weather.

It is 1630 now and I have to go shower and then begin cleaning shrimp for dinner. Thanks for hanging-out with me all day (as it turns out). I will try to post the blog earlier tomorrow. Maybe, while the shrimp is getting garlicy and lemony I will start tomorrow's blog tonight. Have a great night and batten down the hatches if weather heads your way. If you haven't got a basement head on over. TTTT (if we have WiFi). I will make sure to have the computers all charged-up just to be prepared. TA!

To Vote or Not to Vote

It is 911 (time not date). I am not sure if that mean anything other than the time but I always thing of the emergency phone number, or course, and the World Trade Center bombing or disaster or whatever the official marketing term is for that terrible day. Just type "911" in your search engine and see what photos come up. I wonder what other numbers cause us to get distracted that way? 411, of course. I am very find of the number 13 so that one always sticks out to me. 123 is a big one the world over probably. I really do just write about nonsense don't I?

Yesterday afternoon, into the night, I was burning leaves in the backyard fire pit as Cha Cha raked them into piles. It is great to have so many beautiful trees in the yard but it is always a sad day when I have to cremate all of the fallen heroes (the leaves). Do you think the word "leaves" comes from the fact that they fall from (leave) the trees? I realize the singular form of the word is leaf but, if the leaving part weren't the reason for the plural word "leaves," wouldn't they have just been called leafs? The hockey team isn't called the Toronto Maple Leaves. That could be because the Canadians (not the Montreal ones) seem to be more sensible with their language. I also tend to go off on tangents because I wanted don't I?  I just wanted to tell you about Jeff (our dog) and not the words leaf/leafs/leaves. Jeff was out there with me the entire time. He even ignored his Great Dane girlfriend Kona who eventually went home. I don't think she was a big fan of the burning leaves anyway. Don't worry, they made up - he is over in her house next door right now; I probably won't seem him the rest of the day. Anyway, it was very amusing. Jeff looks like Two Socks from Dances With Wolves (no Wolfs) right down to the two white front paws. He was doing what Border Collies do - he was rounding-up the smoke. He was circling the fire pit over and over while trying to catch the smoke in his mouth. He would jump up about four feet into the air trying to eat the smoke. By the end of the night his tongue was hanging out continuously. I had no idea his tongue was that long. I am glad that he is just a typical boy and loves fires just like me. It is even nicer that he does not have opposable thumbs so he cannot work a lighter or matches. Seriously, opposable isn't a word spell-check? I wanted to finish burning the rest but it rained and now the leaves are wet.

Jeff (Two Socks) and I burning leaves yesterday

Today I am working on the laundry and such. Being a homebody is kind of sucky though I am getting a lot done around here. I just put my event monitor in the mailbox after the ten days with the stings attached. Now, I have no strings attached. That monitor was a total pain and I am not certain that it was anything more than a placebo. I am fairly tech-savvy and it was a a joke many times. I cannot believe they would give this thing to elderly (more than me) people. Some people in my family cannot even figure out a cell phone so this would be a nightmare. There would be messages on the screen that the battery was"critically low" after I had just charged it all night long and the screen read "battery charge 100%" just moments ago.  Hillary Clinton probably has her own monitor she is so tech-savvy. Anyway, now they will tell me what or what not they found. With my luck I will have an episode today, right after I am monitorless.

Today is election day and I may walk over later and vote. Now that I think about it for a second, literally, I may not vote. George Carlin had always said, "if you vote you have no right to complain.  When things get screwed-up by the politicians I, who did not vote, am in no way responsible for what these people have done and  have every right to complain as loud as I want because of the mess you (the voter) created that I had nothing to do with." I believe I will NOT vote because I love to complain. I need more blog MATTerial anyway. Also, I ALWAYS vote and Cha Cha does for the big elections (Presidential...) and Jill gets sent notices for jury duty about three or four times a year and I NEVER get these notices. I would love jury duty. Can you imagine the blog material? It isn't because of where I work because I have only been at this job for about four years and I never got an invite before that either. Is it sexist? Do they just want smart people? Beautiful people only? Based on her getting lots and me getting zero I cannot believe it is random. It is outright prejudice! I am no longer drinking the Kool-Aid starting today!

The dryer is calling again so I will take that as my cue to stop, Thank you for letting me rant for a bit. I keep hearing from people that I never realized read the blog and that always makes me smile. I am sure there are many things that I write that you agree with and many that I write that you don't agree with. I imagine some times you think I am a moron and occasionally you think me wise. I just throw a whole bunch out there and some sticks with some and some sticks with others and some strikes nobody. I think maybe that is life in a nutshell. I am just grateful that you give me a reason to continue to write.  Have a great rest of your day and night. I will find time to blog again tomorrow. TTTT...MITM (out) TA!