Did someone ask about our weekend?

So last week was a lazy week. It is vacation after all. I played my video game, A Bard's Tale; read my book, The Yiddish Policeman's Union; exercised, not enough; did a few spring cleaning chores, weeded my bookcase; and took a few naps that I really needed since our cat is on sidereal time, he wakes us up at sunrise no matter the season.

On Sunday night I got ready to make some sugar free Jello for desert. We're both trying to lose weight this summer by changing what, how and when we eat. Jello isn't ice cream, but we can pretend it's desert. Anyway, to get to the point, I was getting some ice out of the freezer to speed up the jelling process and I noticed that the ice was melting! Then I noticed that all the meat in the freezer was thawed out! I turned up the thermostat for the freezer, made sure the door was closed all the way and hoped for the best. The food was still cold, but not frozen, and the food in the fridge side didn't seem as cold as usual. We dusted under fridge and hoped, not really, the we would wake up to frozen food in the freezer.

We have a dentist appointment in Billings tomorrow that can't be rescheduled, so today we drove to Miles City and bought a new refrigerator/freezer. We've gotten appliances there before and know that they deliver and it's cheaper than delivery charges from Billings. I'd read that replacing a fridge made before 1990 is a real energy saver, so we're not as upset by that as we are by the timing. The salesman said, " You're in luck. We can deliver it tomorrow."

Since we won't be home tomorrow, dentist appointment, it will be at least a week before it will be delivered, and next week is the week of July 4th, so who knows?

Right now, we've got the meat in coolers and packed with plenty of ice. The fridge is still cool, not cold, just cool so we'll keep an eye and a nose out to be careful of spoilage. The meat is packed in the coolers with plenty of ice.

Could be worse.

That was our weekend; aren't you glad you asked?

What Punctuation Mark I Am

I am a SEMICOLON

You scored 15% Sociability and 76% Sophistication!
Congratulations! You are the semicolon! You are the highest expression of punctuation; no one has more of a right to be proud. In the hands of a master, you will purr, sneering at commas, dismissing periods as beneath your contempt. You separate and connect at the same time, and no one does it better. The novice will find you difficult to come to terms with, but you need no one. You are secure in your elegance, knowing that you, and only you, have the power to mark the skill or incompetence of the craftsman. You have no natural enemies; all fear you. And never, NEVER let anyone tell you that you cannot appear in dialogue!

It's called Yucca

Kitchen Fini !

Last summer I finished painting the kitchen and yesterday I finished painting the hallway where the washer/dryer are, so now it's FINI !

Happy Father's Day

Oyate

I just returned from a trip to Billings to visit family and attend a conference hosted by our Montana Office of Public Instruction and OYATE. The Office of Public Instruction has finally received funding to implement the Constitutional mandate to educate every student in Montana about the history and culture of its first residents, the Native Americans. Hopefully we can educate a generation of children away from the prejudice and ignorance that many residents have about Native Americans.

The conference I attended was for school librarians and was directed towards criteria for selecting quality children's literature that will accurately portray the past and present lives of Native Americans. In the process, we learned of many things we ourselves were ignorant of and at times it was intense as our favorite books were exposed as frauds and the actions of our country against the Native Nations was exposed. As an example, use Google to find out about the Osage Reign of Terror.

http://www.aspalta.cbc.ca/deaddog_asp/aininfo.asp One of the things we were cautioned against was any use of make believe Indian names or Indians getting names in phony ways. This website is so blatantly random and goofy that everyone was laughing and having more fun with each name. I think the winner of bad "Indian Names" was Evangeline Exotic Biscuit. Mine's Eileen Crinkly Aracnid.

You can link to the title of this post to see their website if you're interested in more info. If you look on the left hand side, click on RESOURCES and read about the Myth of Thanksgiving.

After the Rain

Soggy Drought

The forecast called for rain yesterday so Bill went out early and mowed the yard. It hasn't mowed for several weeks now but it has been too wet out to mow until yesterday. So about an hour or so after he finished it started raining. If he hadn't mowed yesterday it would be another couple of weeks before he could because it rain 3 inches in less than 12 hours. A few weeks ago, when it was warm and dry, we took the storm door off leaving just the

screen. That way when we leave the door open we get a beautiful breeze and lots of fresh air. But because the storm door is not there, the rain beats against closed door and leaks under the door puddles and soaks the carpet. So I stick heavey towels under the door to prevent flooding the entire hallway. I've had to replace the towels and dry them out to reuse.

The sun is starting to come out now, but the forecast is for more rain. We may be in a drought, but it is the muddiest, soggiest, puddliest drought I can remember. This field below our house is flooded this morning, after the rain stopped. The two pictures were taken less than 2 hours apart and it still hasn't started raining again. This is just water that is flowing down from the surrounding hills.


PS I've looked over my previous posts and realize how many times I've posted about weather. I need to get a good hobby.

High School Graduates

When I got Larry's graduation picture, I remembered a project I had planned. I was going to try the "Scrapblog" program I had seen a few months ago and create a scrapbook of all the graduation pictures I've recieved from nephews and nieces. After several frustrating hours I gave up and went back to Picassa. So here they all are, with plenty of room for future graduates.

I realize that it doesn't seem like a big deal that we have all graduated from high school, but I work in a school where it is a big deal. Some of the graduates are first generation graduates and some have taken a lot of trouble to make it to graduation when it would have been easier to just quit, so I know that it is a big deal. Parents who get you to school and encourage you are the most important thing of all, so thanks to all you parents, including mine, for "making" us go to school.