Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Trips and Birthdays






Time for a new post. Wish I had some beautiful scenes. Recently visited my sis and took some fun pics of her dog, Riley and cat, Boo. They get along very well. I enjoyed watching them chase each other. When tired of the game, Boo calls a halt by putting up a little black paw toward Riley's face. Riley stops immediately. Boo is a perfect Halloween cat with orange eyes. Riley had an eye infection at birth and lost an eye. The other pics are of my GD's 10th B'day and July 4th party. The baby is GGD with blue icing.

170 comments:

jan said...

Middle pic is GD and GS, Sis and Bro. GD is mother of baby with blue icing.

jan said...

Carol, that is Bill in background of middle pic.

jan said...

10 year old is 1/2 sister to girl and boy in middle pic. All 3 are children of my middle son, Terry.

Anonymous said...

So nice to see all the smiling faces...even if I don't know who they are...you have a big
family Jan...

Boo & Riley...cuties...

Carol said...

Nice pics of the fly Jan including the fur babies.

Carol said...

Got home and had 4 and 1/2 inches of rain in the rain gauge. Had a half inch yesterday. I think our drought has broken.

Anonymous said...

Well, always knew I wasn't average...

And yes Carol, just going to make that 'big salad'...

Seems that the avg American eats a salad at mealtime only about 36X a year. Fewer than 1/2 of Americans...49% ate at least one 'leaf
salad' at home in 2 weeks, compared with 75% who ate a potato dish & 81% who ate beef....

Not a fan of those bagged salads, I mix my own, but probably a good idea to expand the ingredients in them with veggies other than lettuce...mentioned I am adding strawberries to my salads this summer...usually apples in the fall/winter...
New bagged sald mixes hopefully will get more buyers

jan said...

Coreen, we don't eat many salads. I love them, but John does not. My favorite salad fixins are dark greens like baby spinach, a fruit of some kind like strawberries or peaches or apples, feta cheese, chicken pieces, and a sweet type dressing like poppyseed. and top it off with some toasted pecans. I am getting hungry - I think we are going out somewhere tonight.

jan said...

The only problem with salads for me is I like a creamy dressing not just oil and vinegar. I love ranch dressing with a veggie salad.

jan said...

Carol, you got a lot of rain. We have been getting late evening showers but not substantial rain falls. We need some heavy snow falls this coming winter to take care of our drought problems.

jan said...

I love my sister's dog and cat. They are both sweet and such fun. I would take them both.

Carol said...

Coreen, there is rarely an evening that I don't have a salad. I get that Marketside Spring Organic Mix at Walmart. I get a container of the Organic spinach every week also but I usually cook it.

I'm OC about my salad. It has to have most of the following ingredients: one chopped up green seeded olive or maybe two, two pepperocine peppers, 6 grape tomatoes sliced in half, 1/2 alvocado but tonight I'm out of ripe avocado. The 4 I have in a flight holding pattern don't yet have the right squish factor. Must cut like butter. And of course my salad must be topped with some Feta cheese. I use the Good Season's Garlic Herb dressing mixed with red wine vinegar and a nice flavorful EVOO. I'm still looking for the best brand.

Last week I was searching thru the Web on Iphony for consumer advice on the best tasting EVOO they had of the Walmart selection offerings. Cook's magazine listed Lucini as the best of the, not so elite, olive oils so I got it. Not bad and was surprised it was amoung the Walmart choices. It's nice to be able to surf the web standing in the aisle at Walmart, holding up traffic. LOL

Carol said...

The Spring mix has a variety of young greens. I just looked and counted 18 differents greens listed including baby Swiss Chard and mustard. What I hate is that it also includes Arugula. I think that one is Obama's favorite. Yuk. I literally have to spit it out. I try to pick it out before I eat it. Some containers have very little and other have a bunch.

Carol said...

I've always had a passion for green seeded olives but I'm really picky about the ones I like. They have to have a certain taste and I've thrown out many a jar of olives.

My mom use to tell me that I was going to pickle in innards eating all those olives but I guess my colon was OK with them since I got compliments on it from my gastroenterologist. But then no one has ever seen my stomach. It might be shredded.

Carol said...

Just as I was getting ready to leave work today, they called me from the other clinic to tell me that I needed to come over to stitch up a guy. He sliced his leg, near the knee. Someone always seems to get cut up just when it is time for me to leave for the day.

I got over to the clinic and the guy said he didn't want to get sewed up if he was going to be charged. When inmates come to medical they are charged 5 bucks unless I call them out for something or it is a work related injury. They still get seen if they have no money but if they have money, it will be deducted from their commisary account and they might miss out on a Honey bun or two.

I told the guy it was fine with me if he didn't want stitches since it was past time for me to leave. I told him that he'd be paying hundreds of dollars at an ER for the same procedure. He did end up changing his mind and I had to stay to zip him up. While I did my sewing, I told him my catfish hook thru my little finger story. I told him that that story was worth at least 10 bucks but I threw it in for free. He left out of there happy.

Anonymous said...

And Carol, never thought of you as average either...

Red lettuce, tomato, mushroom (but not every day) black pitted olives (but only Lindsey---a Seinfeld episode mentions them, had to laugh...Kramer goes to a sam's club type buys huge quantities one being a
gigundo can of lindsey olives & Jerry says are
you insane...Kramer says but their Lindseys Jerry...apples/pears/summer strawberries
must have gorganzola cheese, some oregano,
garlic salt & Maries red wine vinegar dressing or italian...

spring mixes are ok, but I just don't like the
freeze dried nature of the greens, prefer a fresh head, though I wind up wasting a lot...

I eat spinach salad, like it with mandarin orange, mushrooms...poppy seed dressing or ranch on that...good to go...I really don't eat
cooked spinach, it is just to mushy for me...same with avacado, don't like the texture...

we always have a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, will have to look at the brand...pretty sure it is italian though...& balsamic vinegar
once in awhile...

Anonymous said...

By the way Carol, the jaywalker prosecuted in GA wound up with probation after her conviction...not sure that was merited, but the problem for me was that a prosecutor even
charged her...that was the real injustice...

Carol said...

Jan, there's a tropical storm Don out in the Gulf and predicted to head to the middle of the southeastern Texas coast. It looks also like if it goes thru Texas it will hit New Mexico. That might give you a good chance of rain next week.

Carol said...

I also like Balsamic vinegar. I like to mix it with a EVOO and dip a nice hearty crusty bread in it.

Carol said...

I agree with you about that prosecutor. I think that woman has had enough punishment for jaywalking. If that case hadn't had so much national coverage she might be serving time.

I think that woman had just gotten off a bus and had three kids in tow. She probably couldn't make it to the intersection. Someone wrote that it was 1/3 mile away to the intersection.

Anonymous said...

Bread...I really like italian bread & if it is good italian bread (like from the Bronx bakeries, delivered fresh to local italian stores) I can eat the whole loaf with nothing,
no dipping, no butter...was just talking about that today with a friend who told me about a local italian deli with great italian bread....

I guess my roots are always there...

Carol said...

My greens aren't freeze dried looking. I'm really picky about my greens also. Don't tolerate any flaws on a leaf.

jan said...

I am enjoying reading about your salads. You both inspire me. I can't give up my ranch or poppyseed dsg for oil and vinegar. We ate a lot of salad (ensalata) in Argentina. Every meal we ate out included enslalata. It was basically greens and tomatos and they would do the dressing at the table - a big Tbls each of oil and vinegar and before the poured the vinegar out of the spoon they would put some sugar over the vinegar.

While on the ship last summer, they always had a cesar salad that a woman behind the bar would prepare while I waited. They had a special dressing she would put on it. I think I had cesar salad 2 X a day - lunch and dinner. It was the dressing that made the salad. Golly it was good.

jan said...

I love bread too - I like an oil with some seasonings on it for dipping.

jan said...

Carol, we have had rain here for 4 out of the last 7 evenings. We will happily take more - thank you.

jan said...

"While I did my sewing, I told him my catfish hook thru my little finger story'

You tell a good story Carol. I can understand him leaving happy.

jan said...

The salads we ate out in Argentinal were often at an outdoor place where they grilled all their meat- usually steak which was pretty cheap there. I don't think the washed the salad greens too much b/c we often found little buggies in ours or some grit which might have been dirt or sand. It was never too light when we ate outside so we didn't much care. We never got sick in the 3 years we were there until we were flying home for good and I had some ham in the airport restaurant the night before we took off - I was sick as a dog all the way home. I think I had some food poisoning.

jan said...

The woman who was charged with jaywalking was Black and lived in Georgia. So what else is new??? If she had been white - probably a different story.

Carol said...

Especially if she was young..white and cutsy Jan. Looks do make a difference in this weird world of ours. But it might depend on the audience and how they define cute.

I wonder how a mostly female jury will do for old Warren Jeffs?? It's 10 women and two men. Hopefully they're not members of the cult.

jan said...

Yeah! I hope they put old Jeffs away for the rest of his life.

jan said...

Yes, research shows even babies prefer looking at attractive people's pictures. They look longer at people with symmetric faces.

jan said...

Just got a text from my niece (sis's daugh) and my bro in law is not doing well. Talked to sis last night. They brought him home sat and took him back to hosp on Sunday - not sure why. My neice texted that his breathing is wet and loud - can hear it out in hallway. Niece is RN who worked in ICU for years - so trust her judgment. I advised her to call a Cath priest - John and I went ahead and John did last rites for Dave with me as proxy.

jan said...

When we saw Dave 2 weeks ago, we could tell that he was withdrawing from the world. He is a real big guy who was a salesman of heavy equipment all his life - very social- outgoing and we could tell he did not want company - only his kids with him. Even then, he would tell them they could go home.

jan said...

The little white dog, Riley is Dave's dog. Boo is my sis's cat. Before Dave went to the hosp, my sis said Riley stayed by Dave's chair (the one you can see next to Riley).

Carol said...

Jan, what your neice described doesn't sound good. When that situation exists, it usually isn't long. Sorry.

Carol said...

Tonight Dr. Drew has Ocotmom on his program, 8p Central time. I think he will be visiting her in her home...with her kids.

I saw her recently on another program and my heart went out to her. I was very critical of her when she was first in the news and I do think that one of her motives was to be notorious even though I didn't think it was a well thought out plan.

Only thing is that she is now getting some of that karma for her decision and it ain't pretty. Even though people do make their own beds, it isn't easy to watch them have to sleep in them.

And I do think there is some mental illness involved. She looks exactly how I felt and must have looked when I had my intermittent thyroid storms. I got short of breath just watching her.

Carol said...

Jan, does your BIL have Hospice. Probably too late now but it can sure make those final days more comfortable even if those final days last a year and a half like they did with mom.

Medicare pays for the service with usually no supplement required. They will even provide certain services for people with no health care financing.

jan said...

Carol, I am going to suggest Hospice to my sis and her daughter. I don't know if they have thought of it even though niece is a nurse.

I called sis at 1 pm and they had given BIL Lasix and sis said he sounded better but still not good. He only has one good lung and part of another -

We went to Santa Fe to meet some ARK friends for lunch. I took some pics and do a new post soon.

Thanks for "heads up" on octomom. I will watch the program. I too feel so sorry for her.

jan said...

I don't think Hospice is ever too late.

Carol said...

Hospice also provides all the medications related to his illness and delivers them also. I can't say enough good about their services Jan.

Jan, what you described earlier almost sounded like he might be leaving today. Usually that lung rattling sound is not good.

Carol said...

Heard this shrink on Joy last night talking about that madman who killed all those young people in Norway. He's one shrink who really impresses me. Joy has him on all the time. He has quite impressive credentials and teachings up your way Coreen. Not hard on the eyes either.

Check him out on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d_ofZL7YJM

jan said...

I agree about the rattling sound Carol. My dad had that before he died.

jan said...

I also agree about Hospice. They are one of the best inventions in health care.

Carol said...

And Jeffs trial started today. He fired his attorneys and is going to represent himself. The judge asked them not to leave. When it was time for his opening argument, he just starred down and said nothing. After an uncomfortable while, the judge said she guessed he didn't have anything to say. I think they need to have a competency hearing real quick just so he can't use incompetent counsel as a reason for appeal.

The prosecution must have disclosed in their opening that they have an audio tape of the sexual encounter Jeffs had, after his marriage, with the 12 year old girl. There were other people present on the audio so not only was he raping a underage child, he had an audience. I might be able to relax my opinion of the death penalty for this case.

Carol said...

Jan, the trial is not on TV, thank God!

jan said...

that just makes me sick!

jan said...

Jeffs makes me sick

Carol said...

I couldn't survive one day in Octomom's house. I wonder how long before she totally melts down.

Carol said...

Octomon seems to be a walking dichotomy, if that is the right word. Whew, just watching that interview was almost too much for me.

What did you think Jan?

Carol said...

It costs $18,000 a month and she certainly can't get a job that would make that much. She's stuck doing whatever she can, with the media, to try to keep up. I wish her luck.

Carol said...

I just love Joy Behar. She's not pretentious and she is opinionated... and makes no apologies for that. I can relate to that because I'm opinionated and most of the time I don't apologize for that. And ya'll are welcome to also be opinionated...even when you're wrong. LOL. (insert smiley face here)

Carol said...

Jan, it's too bad we didn't have HLN around when we were taking that abnormal psych class when we were seniors in college. I think I still have that textbook in my library at home. For some reason, I never threw it away. That's what happens when you don't move much, you don't have to lighten your load.

Carol said...

Just heard on the news that Amy Winehouse's parents said that it might have been alcohol withdrawal that killed their daughter. Wouldn't that be ironic if it was getting off of substances that caused of her death??

jan said...

Carol, forgot to watch the show with Octomom last night. Memory not too good.

I too like Joy. If I am home when the View is on, I like it. Would tape it but have too many movies and quilt shows on the DVR.

jan said...

My favorite person on the View is Whoopie. For me, she makes a lot of sense. BaBa WaWa is a little too pretentious for me. The pretty blonde woman is too far right for my tastes.

jan said...

Carol, I have always kept up with psych stuff. I taught psych nursing 2 summers in LA and then again in ARK one year. took several grad courses in counseling that covered some more psych material and a couple of courses in addictive behaviors and worked in a psych mental health unit part time while in Austin doing Doct work, worked one summer in an adoles psyc unit in Dallas. Psych has always fascinated me.

jan said...

Could very well have been withdrawal that killed winehouse.

jan said...

Had a little distraction yesterday. Met some old friends from AR in Santa Fe for lunch. A lovely couple - she is retired nurse- she was nurse for students in a private college in town we lived in. He taught English lit in the college. He is a writer too and he published a novel about 5 yrs ago that I loved. He is now writing a sequel to it. A very interesting couple. We enjoyed our trip and visiting with them. I took lots more pics in Santa Fe and of the scenery on the ride home. I looked him up on Google to see if he was there - and sure enough he was - and his novel. His name is Gary Guinn - if you want to see a pic of him and his book.

jan said...

Carol, talked with sis this morning. Her 2 kids are at hosp with Dave. He is now on cardiac floor as his HR was going up. She wants to call hospice but 2 kids won't hear of it. Sis said Dave told kids to keep him alive as long as possible. Daughter is RN and son is PT. She has given up any control as both kids have taken over.

jan said...

Sis is home taking care of 3 and 15 y/o kids of daughter. So tell me about families LOL.

jan said...

Watching the View. Mario Cantone is on. He is so funny. Do you remember him from Sex ...City? He is doing imitations of everyone from Bill Clinton to Schwarzenegger. He is openly gay. They asked him if he and his partner of 20 years would marry- he said probably but he was not going to tell how wonderful his partner is or celebrate their relationship publicly - he said as sure as you do that - it will be announced that your partner/ spouse has had sex with all these tattoed prostitutes - of course he did it so funny. But that makes a lot of sense to me.

Carol said...

Jan, if the family or Dave is not interested then it wouldn't be a good idea to use Hospice. I think some people think you have to be one your death bed to use Hospice. Usually they do get involved when aggresive medical treatment is no longer warranted. There are people who use Hospice when they are still running the roads. I think it is ordered when predicted life expectancy is around 6 months but mom had them on board for over a year.

Carol said...

I also like The View but like Joy's evening show on HLN better. She has some interesting guests. I'm not a big fan of Bab either.

jan said...

Talked to sis this afternoon. Dave has TPN going now - some problems with feeding tube in his stomach. He is taking nothing by mouth. Guess what TV channel he insist on _ The Food Channel. Sis says he pretends to eat - puts bites of pretend food in mouth and chews. How odd is that.

He has 4 brothers who live in Texas - coming to see him tomorrow. He is on cardiac floor. They have put in a cath going to his heart to monitor his blood gases etc. My sis was telling me this and she doesn't know all they are monitoring - I bet You know Carol. He wants to live. They may be doing a tube into his trachea to suction mucus. He is awake and aware. Apparently his memory has improved.

jan said...

Going out to eat. After talking to sis about the food channel and Dave pretending to eat bites, I got hungry.

Carol said...

Is lung cancer his primary problem Jan? Everything you have described sounds like he's close to the end but I don't know. Even sudden improvement can be a sign of that. Some people have a sudden alertness that precedes death.

The catheter sounds like a central venous catheter. It's used for fluids, monitoring central venous pressure, med or electrolyte administration.

What is his prognosis? Doesn't sound like he has any quality of life. When all I can do is pretend to eat, please put me out of my misery. That's when mom called it quits..when she couldn't eat and I'm with her on that.

jan said...

I don't know his prognosis. Yes, it is a CVC based upon what sis said. She said his heart rate went up to 170 today and they were concerned about that. There were problems with his gastric tube so they put in a port to give him TPN. He was getting up to go to BR when we were there but can't do any more activity than that as he gets very SOB. He is on O2 constantly and IV's. He does have insulin dep type II diabetes. They have him on lasix. Apparently that helped the wet lungs. I am sure he has a urinary cath. He had lung CA several years ago and they took out most of one lung and then last year he had chemo and radiation for the lung CA that returned. At one time he was a really big guy - he is 6-4 and is now down to 225 lbs down from probably about 350-375 when he first got lung CA. He is one of those guys that lives to eat.

jan said...

I think his primary problems now are inability to take anything by mouth due to scarring of esophagus - and extreme shortness of breath. He has had O2 at home -as needed since chemo. Did I tell you he has been unable to talk above a squeak or whisper for past 4-5 months. I don't know what caused that.

jan said...

They also have him on pain meds -I don't know where his pain is but he has been on constant pain meds.

Carol said...

I'm sure the pain meds help him tolerate all his misery..probably helps keep him alive. Without them..he may have already been dead.

When a person has Hospice..I'm not sure if they can continue aggressive treatment. I can't remember if mom ever went to a doc after she started with Hospice. There is a doc who is their medical director and can prescribe meds that are needed. If we needed something..I just told them and they brought it. I guess Hospice was more useful for us than for just your average..non medical.. families.

Mom didn't really need a doc..she had me. My knowledge of physical assessment and pathophysilogy really came in handy. You know I taught both. I had a particular passion for endocrinology..which is interesting since that is where mom's problem was. Her cancer involved the adrenal glands and she had multiple adrenal tumors.

Her disease gave her extreme diabetes and fluid and electrolyte problems. I had a pretty good expertise in and also taught both of those subjects. Mom's disease was right up my alley. Strange huh.

Mom's multiple adrenal tumors were pouring out cortisone which caused the edema..ravenous appetite..elevated blood sugar and low potassium.

I used my assessment skills and the blood sugar monitor to determine her needs and adjusted her meds to keep things in check. If she had edema..I had the Lasix. When I could tell her potassium was low..I hit her with KCL. I adjusted her insulin to her blood sugar. She got to eat what she wanted and I gave her what insulin she needed. I kept her blood sugar reading under fairly good control. She way outlived her life expectancy.

Mom did get to eat well until the end. Jeremy and I both love to cook even though I did more of it than he did because he didn't like to clean up after himself. When he cooked..he made a huge mess and left a trail around the house and outside. If flour was involved I could follow the trail.

Eating was about the only good memory of that experience. It's not a good thing to have 5 dysfunctional people all living in the same house. I thought of my sister and her son as my bratty teenagers..mom as my infant and SF as my toddler.

Carol said...

Mom had the standard breakfast. All she wanted for lunch was a beef hot link..tomato and cottage cheese and Jeremy and I would compete to see who could create the most interesting and unique presentation of those offerings.

Supper was a big deal most of the time. It was almost as if we were running a gourmet restaurant. We created some really interesting menus over mom's last year.

Carol said...

Mom's house had a huge living room and we had her in a hospital bed in that room for the last 6 months when she was bedridden. She was right in the middle of whatever was going on. I slept on an old curved sectional couch in the living room.

jan said...

Carol, that was quite a year for you. You gave your mom so much love through your cooking and your knowledge of physiology in managing her drugs. I am sure she was award of that.

jan said...

award=aware

jan said...

What year was that?

jan said...

my dad was on hospice care the last month of his life. They were wonderful. He was cared for at home for about 3-4 weeks and then the last week he was bedridden and needed more care than my stepmother could manage and he went to a hospice facility. It was a house with several bedrooms. He was in his own lovely room. They played his favorite music. I think hospice is amazing.

jan said...

Carol, I see in our sat newspaper that your former gov. E. Edwards is getting married. He is 84 years old, hard to believe. Do you know how long he was in jail?

jan said...

They took out 90% of my dad's stomach (CA) and he could only eat a a couple of bites at a time. We did not ask for TPN due to this age (90). The only thing he liked was a little whole milk and mandarin oranges in a can. He finally just quit eating. I don't know if he knew that was a way he could die faster or if it was just too much trouble. He had always been a hearty eater and loved to eat - but he was never overweight. He was very active and on the go all the time - seldom sat down. He had properties he managed himself and was always doing something with them. He usually stood in the kitchen when he ate - unless we were having a sit down meal.

jan said...

I was not present when my mother died. She had type II DM and had a heart attach and went pretty fast. She was only 68.

jan said...

Can't sleep. Sis called last night. Dave is on a respirator. It was his decision. They tried to suction him, and he wouldn't have it

Carol said...

Ventilators are a wonder when they are used as a temporary measure until a person regains the ability to breath on their own. When it is used at the end of life to give everyone time to prepare..I always felt that it's just a form of torture but it is Dave's decision when he's ready to leave.

The suctioning is one of the worst things about being on a ventilator. I hated having to do it.

Carol said...

But I do not know what his prognosis is...if he has any quality left.

jan said...

Dave's 2 brothers are coming to see him today. Two came to see him yesterday. He has been close to his 4 brothers. He is the oldest. I suppose only Dave knows what his quality of life is. While I was there he indicated he did not want to go home. He was comfortable with being in the hosp where he knew if something happened to him there was medical help there.

jan said...

I apologize to both of you Carol and Coreen. it is hard to focus on anything else for me. Please feel free to change the subject.

It has been cool here this morning. Really cloudy. Our hi daytime temps have been in low 90's which has been a welcome relief. We have had very little rain and I hear we will be having severe water restrictions. I have a few little plants in front of house so we don't use much water. Our washer is a front loader - one that uses little water.

I am annoyed at Univ of NM as they have all this grass I see being watered every day on my walk. They could do what is called xeriscaping which conserves water. It would further help save on the budget too. UNM chose to close the gym and pool on weekends to save $$. This is a great idea considering that Freshmen have been shown to gain an average of 15 lbs their first year of college.

jan said...

I just read the Great Scot's post for today. A lovely story about what is really important in life - at least at this time in life.

jan said...

Sis called this morn. She found a Catholic priest to see Dave. I have been encouraging her to do that. She and her children are of the Jewish faith. Dave was raised Catholic and was an acolyte in childhood. The priest visited Dave and did give him Last Rites. He will continue to visit him. Sis says she feels more at peace now too. She is getting together with her 2 grown kids Monday and talk about what to do.

Anonymous said...

Jan, don't know any words to offer in your time of turmoil, hopefully whatever is going to
happen occurs soon and with as little pain as possible for all involved...

This was on the news yesterday...a feel good
piece that is worth watching...it is 8 min.
long & it did freeze often but I got through it...well worth the effort...a life and death
struggle...some wonderful humans coming to the
assistance of a struggling humpback whale...
Saving Valentina

Carol said...

Jan, don't worry about sharing your grief here. That's one of the things we're here for.

Carol said...

Coreen, that was a super cool whale saving story. Thanks.

Carol said...

Seems I heard a blip on the news this morning about the Yanks scoring 17 points in a game yesterday and then a foul ball smacking some sideliner in the face.

Carol said...

Saw SF today. I got there at lunch this time. It was part of my plan since one of his lunchmates just loves me and SF, who use to love me, always acts so different around those guys. I spent most of the lunch actually talking to his other lunchmate. Both of these guys are in their 80s.

It was a much better visit. It even lasted to getting back to his room. He laid down for a nap so it was quiet time. Most of our visits are usually quiet time, meaning he has nothing to say or nap time or fight time.

When I left I told SF that I really enjoyed the visit and happy it went so well. He did ask me to take him home but he wasn't as committed to that request this time.

jan said...

Coreen, thanks. I loved the whale video. The best trip we took on our cruises was one in Alaska - on a boat to see whales. They are the most amazing creatures. We were on a double decker boat with about 100 or so other folks. At one point we were on the bottom level. The whales were feeding and one of the deck hands opened a door at the back of the boat and there was a little stairway leading down to the door. I managed to get on the stairs and looked out the back of the boat. The whales were so close I could have touched one. I was star struck. I got to see them get in a circle. One whale would go down and chase the fish to to the top of the water and then they would all jump in the air and dive for the fish.

jan said...

Carol, so good you had a pleasant visit with SF. You have discovered the best time to go there. I sure hope SF is adjusting.

jan said...

I read the comments about the whale story and people kept referring to a red speedo. I guess I need to go back and watch it again. I was focusing on the whale.

jan said...

I watched the whale video again. what an amazing story. Those folks are real heros. I don't know what the deal was about that people were talking about the guy in the red speedo. Thanks again Coreen.

Anonymous said...

Thought it might be a good time to give us a little tug at the heart strings...

Carol, glad that the SF visit went mildly ok...
getting old is just no fun...I cringe just
thinking of the possibilities/probabilities we
all face...

Jan, I am jealous of your whale watching cruise...when I saw the clip last evening it just made me feel good....

Also reminded me of an old movie (being a
long-time Star Trekker) the one about Kirk
& the crew having to come back to now to find
humpback whales (which had become extinct because of man's hunting them) in order to
save the future...I think it was Star Trek IV...

I missed the comments, will have to go back
& see...but not sure why a guy (other than like
Mark Spitz) would wear a speedo of any type...but then what do i know!!!...

Carol said...

What I got our of Scottiman's blog today.. is that no matter what you do to find peace and enlightenment, it often comes back to better living thru chemistry.

Carol said...

that was suppose to read out, not our.

Carol said...

I noticed the Speedo but think it was that unusual. I wonder if that might be the preferred swim suit for divers/snorkeling. Probably would fit under a wetsuit better. Even for snorkeling a baggie suit would be ballooning around in the water where other could see up the legs.

Carol said...

Looks like there might be a deal to save the financial industry from death and destruction but rich people aren't going to have to contribute anything to get there. I hope God is working on a plan to get those morons in Washington. I feel certain she is.

Yes..I would like to cut waste and it's everywhere. But I would also like to cut where all those rich people hide their money offshore so they don't have to pay taxes and then they aren't required to pay much from what they aren't hiding.

HLN had this international lawyer on one of their panels last week. They were still talking about CA and the money she's going to make on her involvement in the death of her precious child.

Well this lawyer said she knew how to hide money overseas and do it legally. She makes big money to help rich people do that. She said that CA's lawyers might not know how to do that properly to protect her money from any litigation.

I think she was using her appearance as a commercial for her services. It made me sick to my stomach that they actually have a legal specialty for aiding and abetting criminals and she was smiling big the entire time.

That same creep was on another show where they were talking about this young man who took off with his 5 month old baby. The baby has not been seen again. No one knows what he did with the baby and she said he needs to keep his mouth shut.

The punishment for kidnapping and murder are exactly the same in the state he lives in but she said to keep his mouth shut. Again..she had that demonic smile.

Carol said...

Just heard that CA is ordered back to Florida to serve her 1 year probation. I wondered how in the hell she could have been considered to have served her probation while she was in jail. The probation was for her check fraud conviction.

The purpose of probation is to determine whether someone has actually been rehabilitated. They have to show up every month to their probation officer, pay their monthly dues, have drug tests, etc. No way to do that while you are already incarcerated, at least I've never seen that happen.

Of course nothing else can surprise me with that case. Her attorneys will probably get her out of it. But I'm hoping they don't because that would certainly prevent her from leaving the country to hide any income, she can make exploiting the death of her child, from those with litigation against her.

Please let the justice system get one point in their favor this time.

Carol said...

And if anyone thinks that this poor innocent girl already spent 3 years in jail when she was found not guilty...well that was her fault for lying about what happen to her baby girl, saying it was a kidnapping and then conveniently changing that 3 years later to a drowning.

Carol said...

My secretary showed me this joke today. I loved it:

LITTLE GIRL ON A PLANE

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on a airplane and he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker
if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?" as he smiled
smugly.

"OK," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same
stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."

To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after
death, when you don't know shit?"

And then she went back to reading her book.

“A Wise Girl Knows Her Limits, But A Great Girl Knows She Has None!!”

“You’ll Never Become Old And Wise If You Aren’t Young and Crazy”

God Bless-

Carol said...

How is your BIL Jan?

jan said...

Carol, love the story of the little girl on the plane.

BIL is still on respirator. They did a bronchoscopy today and did not see any sign of CA. I think that is the least of his problems at this time. Talked to my sis late this evening. She said the nurses said they are going to try to wean him off the respirator. Otherwise I guess there is no change.

jan said...

I worked today. It is a full week of training for the staff of the agency. I attended a 2 hour presentation from Child protective services on child abuse. Primarily they talked about recognition and how to contacting them. I have heard it all before, but it is required for all staff and contractors each year. A good review. We also had a 4 hour orientation to a new computer program we will be using for data on families. I would have rather seen families and kids. It is so hard to sit in on these. I did need to know how to access and read the files. I won't be doing much input.

jan said...

Carol, is your sister in WA going to visit this summer?

jan said...

In a sense, it might be good for CA to go back to jail. She might be safer there.

Carol said...

Now I have seen it all.

Holy Smoke will make bullets out of your love ones ashes. Then you can put bit and pieces of your deceased loved ones into whatever you kill for pleasure or food.

http://www.myholysmoke.com/

Nope..your not having a bad dream.

Carol said...

No Jan..big sis missed her window of opportunity. It's way too hot here. I wouldn't come here this time of year if I didn't live here.

And I do have my reservations to spend a long weekend in New Orleans..non-refundable.

jan said...

when are you going to NO?

jan said...

ashes into bullets. What will they think of next?

Carol said...

Jan, if that is the best thing someone can think of...they need to stop thinking. I guess it's hard to come up with a original idea these days but I think that one is original.

Carol said...

And for some people, jail is a better option, at least it seems for many of the peeps I see in the joint. Some seem to be more comfortable with the structure of jail/prisons even though they won't admit it.

For CA, she's a prisoner somewhere, even though more comfortable it's still very restrictive.

If she can continue to hide out, the public will forget her. There are so many just as horrible cases being presented on HLN every week.

Carol said...

I'm still following the Warren Jeff's trial. I still can't believe something like that has been going on in America.

I did find out today that Harry Reid tried several years back to expose what was happening in his state and do something about it but after he exposed what he found out, the bottom dropped out of the economy and Washington's attention drifted elsewhere.

I do hope that enough attention continues to focus on what's happening in these cults so that the public pressures the government to get in there to clean them out. The abuse of children, girls and some of the boys and women is too intolerable to let it go on. We do have to thank Texas for being the most aggressive. God bless Texas.

Carol said...

And the women must be prosecuted also. Yes, they have been raised and trained to act the way they do but so have most of your male and female perps of sexual abuse out in society or in prison today. Most were also victims, as children, but that doesn't give them a pass.

The women in these cults are the enablers. What's happening in these cults is only possible because of the women. There are many more of them than the men. They not only hand their young children over to the abusers, they participate by holding them down for the rapes.

Carol said...

In many ways what's happening in the FLDS cults is worse than what happened to poor little Caylee. That sweet baby girl is now out of her misery, hopefully in a better place, but these other children are still being tortured, day in and day out.

What kinda warms my heart is that Jeffs, a man who has controlled and manipulated women all his life, has to listen to a female judge and be judged by 10 female jurors. Is that justice or what? I certainly pray it will be.

Carol said...

And Coreen, I have a crush on that defense attorney, Mark Eiglarsh. He's hot.

jan said...

I hear what you are saying about the women Carol. It is the only way of life they have known. A few women have broken out, but very few.

Carol said...

I just ordered Flora Jessop's book, Church of Lies. She escaped from an FLDS cult and has been working hard to try to bring attention to this horror to save other women.

I'm not sure I can read the book but I do want to support her efforts to help bring attention to this problem.

jan said...

Good idea Carol, I will order her book for my nook (that sounds kinky). She is one of very few (maybe only one) who has broken away from the cult and lived to tell about it. Breaking away is probably like going into a witness protection program. They lose contact with anyone they have ever known and loved.

jan said...

I am sure Jeffs is so deep into his pathology that he has developed defense mechanisms to cope with the women that I hope will put him away for good.

jan said...

Carol, check email

Carol said...

Want to take another opportunity to thank God an the Universe for keeping those pesky hurricanes away.

Anonymous said...

Are they still talking about CA?...

And yes Carol, I told you awhile back that the
hotshot atty from Miami was my kinda guy...

Remember my ideal was the Sonny Crockett character & real life actor Don Johnson from
Miami Vice...smooth, cocky, smart & not bad
looking...can't resist the badboys...
...don't like the 'male model guy type' a bit to perfect for me....I tend to like the guy's guy look...

Carol said...

Yep Coreen, of all the TV attorneys, Mark E is my fav. Not only is he cute as a bug in a rug but I usually agree with everything he says. I think he may have worked as a prosecutor in the past but now is listed as a defense attorney.

Often the defense attorneys on TV support the defense and prosecutors support the prosecution like you see with Dems and Repubs when they support their party's talking points no matter how dumb they sound.

Mark supports the side he thinks is right. He also has a lot of common sense and I like that.
But then again...maybe I'm just distracted by his good looks and good sense of humor.

Carol said...

I see the Yanks are still a win behind Boston. Looking at both of the team's schedule, what do you think is their chance of catching up? And does it really matter?

Carol said...

I've been seeing hummingbirds around more this summer than usual. I wonder if it means anything. I've had to go back to my fill my feeder frenzy again. In this heat, you have to change the water every day.

The heat index here. an hour ago, was 112. It's totally intolerable here..outside.

Carol said...

Just heard on the news that one couch in TX and two football players in Ga died of heat related injuries.

I've had to send notes out with some of my peeps at work for them to get more water breaks.

Carol said...

That was a coach, not couch, that died.

Carol said...

What do ya'll think of that 51 y/o actor, who I've never heard of, who married that 16 year old girl. Kinda gross. The girl does look much older.

What is hard to understand is how a 51 y/o man can find a 16 y/o girl interesting.

Carol said...

And Coreen, I don't want to hear anymore about CA. I now record all my shows so I can FF thru all the CA BS. I do want to keep up with the other cases in the news. Sadly, it's those news people who are still addicted to CA.

jan said...

LOL Carol. I think the only thing a 16 y/o can do for a 51 y/o is make them feel younger themselves again - mostly in bed.

Anonymous said...

Gee like maybe the '16' yr old is looking for 'fame & fortune'...& the 51 yr old well
not to obvious what he's 'up' too, likely with a big assist from some of those ever handy little blue pills that insurance usually covers!!!...ya think this couple makes it through one anniversary....

Anonymous said...

Carol, the Yankees play the Red Sox this weekend 3 in Boston...needs to be better than
this season so far...yankees have lost 8 of the 9 played this year...there are 10 games left between them....

Unfortunately the red sox have been managing to
win so we will just have to see how it plays out...tonite yankees are ahead of the white sox
6 to 1 but the red sox are ahead of the indians 3 to 2...

Carol said...

I checked out both of their schedules Coreen but I don't know s...

Anonymous said...

No magic...just have to keep winning (taking each series) & should be ok...

Carol said...

"...ya think this couple makes it through one anniversary...."

My bet is that if that reality show they are planning is still hot, they will still be together. It's a use/use situation.

With this Warren Jeffs rapatorium situation going on..it just adds to the ick factor of humanity.

Carol said...

And Coreen...what will be kinda fun is that I bet the young sexy thing will be the one who dumps the old man. But who knows.

And my beau is on Dr Drew again tonight.

Carol said...

Today, they played the last of the perv's sex tapes in court. It was the recording of his rape of the 12 year old. Guess who was holding the girl down for her assault?? The sister wives. At one point he had to tell them to back off and let her go. If they can identify them, I think they should prosecute every one of them.

The sex tapes they played in court yesterday were of Jeff's teaching these very young girls how to please him sexually. Gag,gag,gag.

Carol said...

And why did these women, who managed to escape from that hell, know that what this perv was doing was wrong wrong wrong. It may be tough to get out of there and it may be how they were raised but why did these other women, who escaped, know it was wrong when they were raised in the same environment??

Women can also be sexual perverts. I have some in my joint.

jan said...

Something in the news yesterday about college girls having "sugar daddies" who paid their college fees and bills.

Bob Woodruff is on CNN talking about his near death experience. You would be interested in this Carol. Fascinating. There is supposed to be a program where he talks at length about his experience. I did not catch when it is going to be on. Do you all know anything about it?

Carol said...

No..I haven't heard about about Bob's show. I tried to Google it and an ABC program that aired last night came up.

Carol said...

I've seen headlines about the college girls and sugar daddies Jan. I haven't read any of the articles. College tuition is awful leaving these young people with huge debts and then the job market is also horrible. I certainly can't judge girls for doing what they think they have to do to get by. It's sad that it has to come to that. What do the guys do?

Carol said...

Here's a video from Huff Post about the "sugar babies" That's what they label women who use rich men to help pay off their student loans.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/03/arianna-huffington-talks-_n_916980.html

Carol said...

What these women are doing could be very dangerous. It might be that some of these so called "rich" guys could be a serial killer or have some horrible sexually transmitted disease.

jan said...

I don't know what the college males are doing. I bet there are some rich ladies out there who would serve as "honey mamas" LOL

jan said...

Happy Birthday President Obama. He is 50 today. OMG he is so young.

jan said...

Funny, I am home watching TV - I did my 15 hours this week.

Watching a morning show and they are talking about sugar daddies and sugar babies. It is Dr. Nancy Snyderman and another woman and a good looking grey haired man in the middle. The 2 women say these girls are hookers - although one woman says they do not meet the standard definition of prostitutes. The 2 women think its a really bad idea and guess what? The grey haired man thinks its ok - he qualifies that by saying "I have 3 daughters and they will never do that because they will have enough money to go to school" I say "ha" Just wait fella. You never know what your own children will do under certain circumstances. His daughters will surely hear what he is saying - wonder what they will say to that.

jan said...

Would it not be funny if the good looking, grey haired man is supporting a college girl?

jan said...

Carol, I am glad I did not see or hear the video of Jeffs raping the young girls. I cannot watch movies like this - despite the fact I know it is a movie and not real. I know it happens and I hate it. I am against capital punishment - because I think life in prison without parole is a harsher punishment. I would like to see him in prison with a cellmate as the biggest, baddest rapist in prison.

Carol said...

Yep Jan, big bad Bubba. Could happen.

Carol said...

The jury has the case in Warren Jeffs trial. How long will it take to come to a verdict? Just hope no one on that jury is a member of that cult. In that Colorado City town, most of law enforcement are also members of the cult.

This case kind of reminds me of this scary movie I saw in the 70s. The cast included Loretta Swit and Peter Fonda. These two couples took a vacation in a Winnabego and one night when parked out in a scenic area off the road, they witnessed this devil worship ceremony. Some of the members of that cult saw them and the race was on.

The movie was Race with the Devil. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I saw that movie back when I liked to watch scary movies. Can't handle them much any more.

Carol said...

Just heard that the judge gave each side 30 minutes for closing arguements. Jeffs just stood there for his 30 minutes. During some of that time he just starred at each member of the jury, one by one. Went down each row of the jury, starring at each one. Someone observing said the jury members just starred back, they didn't look away. I guess he was trying some mind control or trying to intimidate. Hope it didn't work.

Carol said...

Guilty...Guilty! Whew!

jan said...

I had no doubt they would find him guilty.

jan said...

...with 10 women on the jury and a woman judge. Did you hear that Jeffs put a curse on the judge.

Carol said...

Yes, he put a curse on everyone involved including the judge. I think he told the judge she would die from a crippling disease. She is already crippled.

Carol said...

Dr Drew talked about the sugar babies tonight. Prostitution by any other name is still prostitution but maybe sex with a rich guy who will pay off your college debts is better than sex with the duffus in your Psychology class for free. And eating at a fine restaurant might be better than a meal at Mickey Ds.

And you can't get enough for selling your blood these days to pay the interest on those student loans.

Anonymous said...

Happy camper here...the Yankees head to Boston
tied for 1st place...

Now they really need to play well & make up for the 8 losses this season to the red sox....

Carol said...

Congrats to your Yanks Coreen. I'm now keeping my eye on the game..stick game. I see they just caught up. Hope they can win these games.

jan said...

Coreen, I want to add my congrats also. Go Yanks!

Carol said...

As much as I have watched all this stuff about that FLDS cult, I still have lots of questions that I haven't heard the answer to. Some are:

They say that the children are not adequately educated. Even if children are home schooled don't they have to take those periodic tests to evaluate if they meet the standards at certain levels? Seems that would provide an excellent opportunity to monitor those children.

Who keeps up with the births and deaths in that community? Who delivers the babies there? If a baby is born deformed, and there is probably a higher incidence of that with all the incest, might they just disappear?

They have all these stories about these families abandoning the young boys because the old men don't want to share the young women. Why don't they prosecute these people for child abandonment?

Carol said...

One down Coreen. Whoppee, you win!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, I feel a little better with this win...
I love these guys...

And in the stands tonite...Larry David, Spike Lee & Steve Tyler (still wearing that ridiculous hat)....

Carol said...

What ridiculous hat?

jan said...

Anyone got something for a new post. I have some pics from Alaska that my grandson posted on Facebook. But I don't want to put up something if one of you has something.

Carol said...

Jan, post anything, anytime as long as it isn't copywrite protected.

jan said...

My Brother in law, David died at 3 am this morning. Rest in Peace David.He had been in the hospital for over a month. They tried to bring him home 2 weeks ago on Sat and took him back to hosp next morning. He has been on a respirator for over a week.

He had last rites from a Catholic priest a few days ago. He is with God and in a better place now.

jan said...

NEW POST!