West Virginia wonderings

Sooooo.......it's a new year and I haven't posted yet......

2012-01-12T23:54:00.000-05:00

Well, it's twelve days into the new year and this is the first time I've posted. I don't know if I'm getting forgetful in my old age, or just lazy......a little of both I do believe!

We're suppose to get plastered with the first REAL storm of the year, so far it's just been wind and rain, although it did start snowing a little bit a while ago. Hopefully it won't last long, because, as you all know.....I HATE SNOW!!!!!!

I've been going to sings lately, which is good. I need to get out more, but without a car it's difficult. I'm going to be doing more as the year progresses, but for now, I depend on others to get me where I need/want to go. Anyway, I've gotten some good pictures and I will be posting them soon.

I'll get back to y'all as soon as I have something interesting/funny to say. Or when I have some pictures ready....either way, it won't be too long before you see me again.

Later

Dodadaghovi

In the spirit of the Christmas Season.....

2011-12-14T16:04:00.000-05:00

So, usually I complain, or joke, or bitch or just make you cry, but today I'm asking a HUGE favor!!

I am not able to do much this Christmas for anyone, which I'm sure many of you realize what I mean with things being the way they are in the world today. One thing I CAN do however, is try to make someone's Christmas brighter! Sooooo.....here's what I'm doing!

I visited Wish Upon A Hero and got some names and addresses of people who are wishing for nothing more than a few Christmas cards this season. Most of them are in less than desirable circumstances, a few of the stories will break your heart. What I've done is compiled a list of people to send to, and now I'm asking for assistance in making sure these folks get some cards this year!!

Please, choose someone or everyone from the list, send them a card and then, if you would please, let me know who you are sending to so that I can make sure everyone has at least a few cards this year!! Thank you in advance!! Merry Christmas and God Bless!!

Angela Peddle
Poplar Rd
Corner Brook NL AZH 4T6 Canada

She is home bound and on a feeding tube. She would love some pictures from where ever you are from and letters.

Savanna
670 E Olde Lyme Rd
Shelton WA 98584

She is four years old, her father is a disabled veteran and she told him all she wanted for Christmas was some cards in the mail!

The Bethany Care Center
Level 6
Patricia Stang
916 18 A St
Calgary Alberta Canada T2N 2E5

Patricia has stage 4 liver cancer. Her family is requesting cards, pictures, well wishes to help make her remaining days brighter.

John Bablar
2309 Fairway Dr. N
Moorhead MN 56560

John is turning 70 right before Christmas and a former student, Victoria, is requesting birthday cards and Christmas cards, hopefully he will get 70 birthday cards by his birthday!!

Victoria McWilliams
4566 Doming Road
Fargo ND 58103

Victoria and her husband helped grant over 300 wishes for people that were going through rough times, illnesses, loss.....now her husband has cancer and she is trying her best to care for him. She is asking for some Christmas cards to help cheer him up, she would also like new or used DVD's (I have a list) and a few things for her husband....she has a Wal-Mart wish list, if you're interested....nothing on it is expensive.....she wants, more than anything, to have a "date night" with her husband ....watching a movie they haven't seen before and maybe eating some snacks...while he is still well enough to enjoy it.

The wish list is at:

www.walmart.com/giftregistry/gr_detail.do?registry

The Childress Family
1952Gleaton Rd
Pope MS 38658

Son Larry, 14 and daughter Chloe 10. Mother would like to receive some cards for her children. Violent marriage, messy divorce, trying to raise the kids alone and not having any money....she would love it if there were a surprise or two for the kids, although all she's asking for is maybe a gift card from the dollar tree or somewhere that they could get some things to pack in their school lunches.....she would love to receive a gift card from Wal-Mart to help pay for several electric heaters that they need.

Donna
204 E 15th Ave
Apt 3
Post Falls Idaho 85854

Donna recently lost her father and is suffering from severe depression...she can't go see her remaining family and is facing a Christmas alone thinking that there is no one left on earth that cares. She is disabled and unable to get to her family.

Musser Family
PO Box 629
Piolet Knob MO 63663

They have, I believe 5 children....they lost their home and just now gotten into another one....things are tough and they need some cheer!!!

Todd Beller
126 SW 148th St
C100
Seattle WA 98166

Todd has no remaining family and his girl friend wants to show him that even though there is no family left, there are many people that care. She is requesting Christmas cards.

LIBBY NEWSOME
15445 ROYCROFT ST
ROSEVILLE, MI 48066

Her family surrounds her but ignores her, though her grandson and his wife usually go to visit her. This year they are both working and in school, so they can’t go. She is not in very good health and is alone most of the time. ANY type of card would cheer her day!!

Linda Pumphrey
1713 16th ave
Beaver Falls, PA 15010

Back in April// May, she ended up really sick and in and out of the hospital. Before she went in the last time she was able to walk short distances and such. Now she is total care, she is so depressed and maybe if we sent her a Christmas card to lift up her spirits a bit, it would help her.

Lassiter
4422 Bledsoe Street
Westmoreland, TN 37186

This young woman was in an extremely abusive marriage, abuse to both she and the kids….finally got the courage to leave….is living on assistance and food stamps and hopefully the community assistance will help her with the bills for now. Here is a brief message from her:

Thank you so very much for your offer! You are truly being a hero to my children! It would be great if you could send something small for them...but if not the card itself is wonderful! Elliana isn't old enough to know the difference so my main concern as far as a small gift is more for Devin and Dominick. My children are:

Devin age 8 this Thursday
Dominick age 4 in January
Elliana age 10 months

Hanna Haleigh Cheyenne and Steven Hawkins
1001 Ambrose Ave
E Liveprool OH 43920

Broke mother…kids love cards. The boy is 18 months so he won’t remember but the girls are 6, 4, and 5!!

Logan Long
W5902 Pheasant Dr.
New Lisbon, WI 53950

My youngest will celebrate his 11th birthday...two days after Christmas. With it being so close to the holidays it kinda takes most of the excitement away from his 'special day'. I think it would be fantastic if he could get lots of surprises in the mail! Cards, stickers and such! He checks the mail every day when he comes home from school!!

Christopher Carswell

145 Myers Hill Road

Brunswick, GA, 31523

Christopher is 13 years old. He has been fighting since before he was born...
He has had multiple hand reconstructive surgeries. He has had tonsil and adenoid surgery - it went wrong and he had a feeding tube for a while. At some point in his life he had a stroke. He also has horrible seizures and is on a heavy medication regiment. He received his Service Dog in 2010. Please send this young man some joy for the holidays!!

William Freed

427 N. Pierce St.

Lima OH 45801

He is 71 years old, lives alone and is very ill. Christmas wishes are needed badly!!

Orra Beebe

219 Ming St

Warrensburg MO 64093

This young man doesn’t believe that there is any Christmas Spirit left out there. Let’s prove him wrong.

Sharon Phelps

10419 Tyson Road

Orlando Fl 32832

Message from her daughter:

My mom is getting older and I want to show her that there are still people with the Christmas spirit! I am not telling her they are on the way I just want her to open her mailbox and have Christmas Cards from everywhere! I know this will brighten her season!

Geri LaFauci
103 Whittlesey Ave
West Orange, NJ 07052

Message from the lady requesting this: Yesterday she broke my heart. She asked me if I sent out my Christmas cards yet to family and friends, I have not. Then she went on to say that I am the only one she gets one from and she looks forward to my card, she gets excited when it comes. She is a very nice woman who would do anything she could for anyone and very religious. I do what ever I can for her such as taking her out shopping, to the doctor, over to eat, ect... I would love for her to get flooded with Christmas cards from all over. I know this would be the best Christmas gift anyone could ever give her. Heroes, lets make her Christmas one to remember. Thank you and Merry Christmas to All.

You're gonna laugh till you pee....

2011-12-01T23:37:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine posted the following on our FACEBOOK group!! After rolling around laughing to the point that my dogs were actually worried about me, I left her a message telling her I was going to blog this!! So here it is, in it's entirety. Thanks to Laura for posting!!!

All hair removal methods have tricked women with their promises of easy, painless removal - The epilady, scissors, razors, Nair and now...the wax.

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix dinner, play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours: "Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet." So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom.

It was one of those "cold wax" kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off. No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK!?!)

So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. ("Cold wax," yeah...right!) I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. It works! OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this!

Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire.

With my next wax strip I move north. After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the one strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my hoo-hoo and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (Yes, it was a long strip) I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRIIIPPP!!!!

I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!....OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!! Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the strip. CRAP!!! Another deep breath and RRIIPP!! Everything is swirly and spotted. I think I may pass out...must stay conscious... Do I hear crashing drums???

Breathe, breathe...OK, back to normal.

I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip! There's no hair on it.

Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX???

Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet.

I see the hair.

The hair that should be on the strip.

I touch. I am touching wax.

CRAP! I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair.

Then I make the next BIG mistake...remember my foot is still propped up on the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down.

DANG!!!!!!!! I hear the slamming of a cell door. hoo-hoo?

Sealed shut! Butt?? Sealed shut!

I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself, "Please don't let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off!" What can I do to melt the wax? Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!!!

I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right??? WRONG!!!!!!!

I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit.

Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub...in scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.

So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cement-epoxied my self to the porcelain!!

God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!!

I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter - "So, my butt and 'who-ha' are glued together to the bottom of the tub!"

There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, "Are we talking cheeks or who-ha?"

She's laughing out loud by now...I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box. YEAH!!!!! Right!! I should be the joke of someone else's night.

While we go through various solutions, I resort to scraping the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better then to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!!

By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event.

My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax. What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on and OH MY GOD!!!!!!!

The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend.

It's sooo painful, but I really don't care. "IT WORKS!! It works!!"

I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up.

I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair......... THE HAIR IS STILL THERE......... ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!!

So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now.

Nothing hurts.

I could have amputated my own leg at this point.

Next week I'm going to try hair color......

Later y'all!!

Dodadaghovi

Offensive??

2011-10-24T12:37:00.000-04:00

SOOOOOO, as some of you (all of you??) may know, I can be sort of vulgar, and I have a very twisted sense of humor! There in lays the problem!

I set up a "fictional character" page in the wonderful land of FAKEBOOK (also known as Facebook) in order to NOT offend some of my friends that don't appreciate my sense of humor, sense of the absurd and down right orneriness! On that page, which has a HUGE warning that says "OVER 18 ONLY! DO NOT ENTER if you are under 18 or a PRUDE", I post stuff that I don't post on the personal page. Some of it is down right awful, but not violent or overly sexual....mostly poking fun at the absurdity of people and the way they act/speak.

Anyway....Last night I was spammed by some asshole that thought it would be cool to post something about a new porn site that is opening. As soon as I saw that post, I deleted and blocked him. This morning someone thought that something I had posted was tasteless and sick, which it was, and they reported me. Okay, that's their right. BUT, it is my right to post what I want as long as it isn't in violation of the policies that are listed with FB.

IF SHE DIDN'T WANT TO SEE IT SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE COME TO MY PAGE!!!

Now the fact that I'm blocked from FB doesn't really bother me that badly. What bothers me is that the TROLLS out there randomly pick someone (in this case ME) and go troll their page, purposely LOOKING for something that offends them!! TO ME THAT IS OFFENSIVE!!!

What has this country, hell the world, come to that people are allowed to determine what is or isn't offensive? I don't post anything graphic, I don't insult religions or ethnic groups, I don't pick out ANY groups to insult or make fun of! I find cartoons and/or stupid signs and post them! I make fun of the HUMAN RACE and the depths of stupidity that we have fallen to!!

People that purposely look around for something that offends them need to realize that they are DOING THE SAME THING THE NAZIS DID IN GERMANY! NO ONE has the right, not by law, to decide what is or isn't offensive. The courts can decide, the majority can decide, but NOT ONE PERSON! And for FB to block my account because of ONE complaint....that's friggin' ridiculous!

The person that decided that I offended her was neither ASKED nor INVITED to come to my page nor was she SPAMMED. She came under her own volition, probably because she was looking for someone's cheerio's to piss in! Unfortunately she choose my little corner of the world as the perfect place to pee!

There are MANY things out there that offend me. YES, I do speak my mind about them from time to time, but I don't go looking for things that may or may not be offensive. I am not the WORD POLICE!! If I were there are MANY things that would be BANNED from LIFE, not just from FAKEBOOK!

Somehow I have been left out of the "HOLIER THAN THOU" club, yet another thing that I am thankful to God for, and I don't EVER plan on trying to gain admittance! I believe that as long as you are NOT promoting hate of ANY type then you have a right to say what you think or repeat something that you find humorous.

My page went from having 4 people to having over a thousand in just under14 hours! MOST all of the people that have been there have liked what I say/post and they check back a few times a day in order to see what type of trouble I am in now. THIS ONE SHOULD REALLY CRACK THEM UP! And, unfortunately, it will also piss most of them off. That's the one sad fact that can not be overlooked. This person's actions has affected many more people than her intended target (me) and they will be angry and some may say somethings that even I don't agree with. But everyone has to live with the consequences of their actions.....me included.

Okay, done bitchin!

Y'all have a good one!!

Dodadaghovi

Waking up to a tear stained pillow.....

2011-10-16T10:40:00.001-04:00

I woke up this morning to a tear stained pillow. I lay there, my eyes closes, wishing I were still asleep, because when I’m asleep I feel no pain.

I wish my Mother were still alive, I need to feel her arms around me. But she passed over to the other side many years ago, and no amount of wishing will ever bring her back. I need her right now, I need to hear her voice, I need to feel her love, but all I have is a house empty of people in which four legged creatures run and play, obvious to the dark, tortured thoughts that roam around in my head.

My Mother and I fought a lot, hell, we didn’t fight, we waged war against one another. For many years just being in close proximity of the two of us was enough to cause damage to your ears, and possible to your sensibilities. I never understood, and still to this day don’t understand, why I was bounced around so much when I was growing up. I’m a Mother, I have four children of my own, and I couldn’t send even one of those children away to live with someone else when they were just a child with no understanding of live or how things should be in a family. But through it all I knew that my Mother, although she could be hard and cold and distant, loved me. And when I became an adult, I visited her as often as I could, making certain that she knew I loved her and needed her in my life.

I have four children, and I love each of them for being my children. But the are adults now and they make choices, or do things, that I don’t think is right. I don’t always like the people they have become, I don’t always agree with the choices they make or the things that they do. But I love them, each of them, with a love that I can’t begin to explain.

I am proud of my children, regardless of the things that they do that hurt me or that I disagree with.

I am proud of my oldest son for taking care of his family, for working hard even though he is on a different shift every week or two, and for loving his sons and being there for them. He is a good man, a good husband and most of all a good Father. I know he is busy, I know money is tight and he can’t afford to travel much, being the Father of three sons takes a lot of your time and most of your money. I can accept that, and although it hurts me to never get to see him or his wife or my precious grandsons, the pain is not a sharp, bitter pain, it is a pain accompanied with pride for the man he has become.

My oldest daughter has caused me some emotions that I can’t begin to explain. She is the oldest of them all and I fought to have and to keep her. Although she drives me crazy on more occasions than I care to admit, she holds a special place in my heart that none other could ever fill. And while I’m not always proud of the decisions she makes, I do try to understand why and accept that she is doing what she feels is the best. She is the Mother of four wonderful children and has made some decisions that I would never have made, but she is strong, she is beautiful and she is, at the core of it all, a good Mom. I am proud that she has left an abusive relationship after many years I just wish she could have done it differently. She causes me pain from time to time, but she is, in many ways, a woman that I admire and one that I like. I love her for being who she is, even if I don’t always agree with her. I would love to see her and the grand-kids, but life has taken that possibility from me for now.

My youngest daughter is, although she wouldn’t admit it, more like me than her siblings. She has a tender heart and, unfortunately, it shows more than it should. She’s not afraid to cry, although she gets angry with herself when she does, she works hard and she knows where she is going in life, or at least she has a general sense of the direction in which she is heading. She’s a junior in college and she’s planning on going on for a higher degree, perhaps even a doctorate. She’s tenacious, she’s funny, she has a sense of self that is unwavering. I am so proud of her and all that she is trying to accomplish. I miss seeing her; I wish that I had a way to go to her, or that her schedule allowed her to come home more often. But she works hard, she studies harder and she’s a very busy woman, but she calls when she can and she always makes me laugh. She and I share secrets that no one else is privy to, we will hear or see something that will make us laugh even though everyone else thinks we are crazy. She is my baby girl and, no matter how old she grows, how important she becomes, she will always be my Mouse and I will always think of her as the baby.

Then there is my youngest son. What can I say about him? Well, I’m proud of his talent, he’s a very talented songwriter and singer/musician. He makes a good living and he has a nice wife. He is the reason I woke up on a tear stained pillow. I won’t say anything more about him, because I’m angry and hurt and I don’t want to say something that I can never take back. I will say that I love him and he will always the little boy that sang “Barned in the USA” to the radio every time we went somewhere. I love him.

I realize that I am damaged. I realize that I have expectations that will never be fulfilled, a need for love that causes me to make mistakes that cause me pain and a too tender heart that gets damaged at even the tiniest slight. But I have a core of steel, a will to go on and a never-ending enthusiasm that gets me through even the toughest of times.

But there are days, days like today, when the darkness threatens to swallow me whole, leaving behind not a trace of the woman I try to be. Days like today I feel like the hollowed out shell of a Jack O’ Lantern sitting on a porch in October. It looks as it should, it will entertain you, it will keep you company with it’s warm glow on a cold Autumn night, but it’s empty and hollow inside. The smiling face and warm eyes are only an illusion, a fantasy spun from emptiness and the light from a candle that will soon burn out.

I am that Jack O Lantern, I am empty and hollow inside, there is nothing left. The light that used to be mine has been replaced with an artificial glow that I give to those that expect it. The smile isn’t real, nor is the light in the eyes. My season, like that of the Jack O Lantern, will pass too quickly and fade into memory.

Dodadaghovi

The splendor of Autumn

2011-10-11T15:20:00.021-04:00

The beauty of the mountains splotchy with the colors of Autumn, the way the light plays off of the water, the looking glass clear reflections that seem so surreal, touch my very soul. There is something about the splendor of the mountains that awakens the child in me. I feel younger, I feel invincible……I feel alive.

There is nothing like Autumn in the South, particularly in the mountains, hills, dales and hollers of West Virginia. The Oaks, the Poplars, the Sycamores and the Pines each add their own unique signature to the hillsides as they insist on one last blast of glory before fading into the rest of Winter. The Pines, whose beauty shines year round, display such splendid hues of green they seem to be competing with the amber, gold, auburn, cinnamon, and scarlet of the other less fortunate trees.

Even the water seems to want to play with the hues and textures of Autumn. The greens and browns of the underwater plants and mosses seem to burst forth from crystalline water in an understated symphony for the eyes. One only has to pause for a moment and look into a reflecting pool of water to see the almost imperceptible struggle between the underwater world and the rapidly changing world of trees.

The scenery changes so rapidly that it is possible to miss some of the raging glory of colors unless one is diligent in their observations. Only a few days ago I had the pleasure of taking some wonderful Autumn pictures, yesterday I once again traveled the very same roads only to find that the palette of colors have once again shifted in the continuing dance of death that we call Fall.

Here are a few of my new pictures:

Until next time, Dodadaghovi.

Things my mother never taught me, but should have!

2011-10-09T11:50:00.001-04:00

As I grow older (and older, and older) I realize that there are a few things that my Mother should have taught me, but for some reason she never did! When I have those "Ah-hah" moments, I pause and wonder if I taught my children all of the things that they will need to live a successful, "I refuse to pay a plumber" type of life.

You see, I recently moved. I'm living in a trailer deep in a hollow out in the middle of nowhere in West Virginia. It's not all that bad, except for the "not having a way to the store because I don't have a car" thing. The dogs have plenty of room to run, I can shoot squirrel from my back porch and most people have no idea where I am these days (I count the last one as a plus!).

The only thing I can really complain about is the fact that I have been having issues with water leaks! Lots and lots of water leaks......leaks from the pipes, leaking faucets, and, the one that is really driving me crazy, a leaking bathtub drain!

Hopefully I have all the leaking pipes fixed, and my landlord is suppose to fix the faucets, but he lives in another state and won't be here for a week or so. The one that is driving me crazy (crazier?) is the leaking bathtub drain. For those of you that have lived in a trailer, you realize that there is basically no way to reach the bathroom pipes unless the whole kit and caboodle has been redone so that the pipes are accessible This trailer has not been redone! The leak is right where the actual drain in the tub connects to the short pipe under the tub, yes folks there isn't much room under a tub in the in a trailer. I have tried to caulk it with silicon.....only it wasn't the correct type of silicon....so I had to get a different type of silicon. Once I had gotten the correct type silicon I had to contort myself into a flat pretzel (not only is there not much room to work on bathroom pipes in a trailer, it sort of difficult to stretch out in a comfortable manner to work under the tub) in order to try and caulk the right pipe with the right caulk! It wasn't easy, but I got it done.

Now, as I sit here typing my little heart out, there is a small part of my brain (yeah, I know, I have a small brain anyway, so it must be a really small part) wondering what is going to happen when I go in to take my shower. You see, I've put off showering this morning because I don't want to spend the next two hours using my carpet cleaner to suck excess water out of the carpet in my tiny bathroom. It wouldn't be so bad, but I have to move the washer in order to get all of the water....and when I move the washer I have no where to sit the carpet cleaner except in the bathtub which causes a problem because the water is on the FLOOR, not in the tub!! Besides, when I move the washer I am trapped in the bathroom unless I crawl out over the damn thing. And of course, if I move the washer someone will either call or knock on the door, meaning that I HAVE to crawl over the stupid washer, usually spraining, tearing or bruising along on the way!!

So, what does all of this have to do with "things my mother should have taught me, but didn't"? Well, Mom taught me to cook, and how to sew. She taught me how to sight in a rifle, where the best kill shot is on a deer and the easiest way to skin a squirrel. She taught me how to rip down old "horse hair" plaster, put up new roll insulation and then paneling. She taught me how to change an alternator in a 1968 Chevy Impala and that you should never leave on a trip until you've checked the fluids, the lights and the tire pressure. She taught me the importance of believing in God, the joy of singing in Church and that a woman never wears slacks in a Church house. (She was sort of old fashioned on that one.)

But she never taught me how to deal with leaking pipes or how to contort myself into a "flat pretzel" in order to caulk under a tub!! She would have had Dad fix it....or else called someone else to do it....but she never would have called a plumber!! She would have washed with the water hose in the yard before she called a plumber. So I guess you could say she taught me how to be stubborn?? Or would that be tenacious? Or thrifty?

Other things my mother never taught me, but should have.........how to NOT fall in the river when you are trying to get some good reflection pictures, the best way to get rid of a copperhead that lives under your porch without being bitten, how many paw-paws it takes to make paw-paw bread (she didn't like paw-paw bread) and what to do when your fire alarm keeps going off and there is no fire (and the batteries are good, and the button isn't stuck).

I've come into contact with many things that have perplexed me, many things that have made me wonder "Why didn't my Mother teach what to do in a situation like this?". But each time I do have one of those "Oh, shit, now what" moments, I use the one thing that my Mother DID teach me.......A woman can take care of herself, and her family, with dignity, grace and humor, no matter what the circumstances are.

So I'm off to see if there will be a massive amount of water in the carpet around the tub after I take my shower. Even if there is, I know I'll be able to deal with it, hopefully with a little dignity, a little grace and a lot of humor!

Thank you Mom!!! I love you and I miss you more every day!

Dodadaghovi

I hate having a sinus infection.......

2011-10-09T03:41:00.000-04:00

So, I didn't do anything I wanted to do today or tonight! It sucks when I feel like the top of my head is going to blow off, splattering what little brains I have left all over my cream colored ceiling!!

As you may be able to tell, I have a sinus infection....and I'm miserable!! I spent most of the day sleeping, or at least trying to, between yapping dogs and ringing phones it was almost "Mission Impossible" (literal interpretation here, not a reference to an old '70 television show!) I didn't finally managed a short nap around 5:30 or so. I was suppose to go to the Lion's Club Bluegrass Sing tonight, but when my ride showed up at 6:30 I was still asleep (not for long) and grumpier than a short armed monkey with poop stuck to it's butt!! Needless to say, I stayed home......chased away my company, ate some chicken, drank some coffee and chased it down with Tylenol Sinus Formula. (A short word about the a fore mentioned Sinus Formula....it did about as much for my headache as the short arms did for the monkey.....in other words it just pissed me off and didn't relieve the discomfort!!)

So, I've been sitting in the dark, wishing for a cure for sinus headaches and plotting my revenge against any and all things I'm allergic to. (In case you're wondering, allergies are ALWAYS at the root of any sinus infection I have EVER had. So the revenge thing was just mental masturbation, but it was entertaining!) I finally gave up on the sitting in the dark and plotting against things that I can in no effect way eradicate, so I decided to work on some photos that I had taken over the summer and just sort of pushed off into the dark recesses of my hard-drive! (When I say "work on" I mean basically crop, straighten and try to fix any crappy ones that happened to slip by.)

Here are a few of the ones I haven't posted or shown to anyone. Hope y'all like em!!!

Oh yeah, I believe I have the problem with folks not being able to post comments fixed.....hopefully. Try and leave me one, if it doesn't work, let me know by email and I will try and figure out the problem.

Anyway....on to the photos!!

It's amazing how much beauty people miss simply because the have their noses in the air,

looking for something better!

This one sort of looks like a jelly fish in the ocean!

Funky looking spaghetti stuff! LOL It's beautiful!

I was amazed by the size of these toadstools! The turtle seemed to have the same reaction!

This tiny little guy called attention to himself with his glorious show of yellow!

I thought this looked like a wonderful habitat for

"Little People" (woodland fairies)

These two looked like lovers having a spat!

The skies before and after a storm are always so beautiful!

I love the color purple!!

Well, that's all for now! Hope you enjoyed at least one or two of the photos!!

Dodadaghovi

Photo montague

2011-10-08T10:55:00.011-04:00

Had a wonderful day yesterday! I feel in the river! LOL But here are some awesome pictures to prove what a great day it was!!

Enjoy!

Been a long time.......

2011-10-05T06:23:00.001-04:00

Pathways through pain

Hi y'all! Bet ya thought I had forgotten ya, well, I haven't, it's just that real life has been a MESS!!!

I finally found a place and moved, for those of you that don't already know. I'm now in a trailer.....yeah, I know, I hate them and I don't plan on staying too long, just long enough to get my shit together and move on. Now I'm having major water problems.......leaks everywhere and water in the carpet and the whole place smelling musty! Where I live it's always damp and mud is the topic of the day!

For those of you NOT from West Virginia, you probably don't have any real understanding of what West Virginia mud actually is. It's a mixture of clay, tiny gravel, sand and, I'm guessing here, animal feces......at least that's what it always smelled like to me! LOL It's slicker than snot on a marble and it will stain you for life if you are ever unfortunate enough to fall and scrap yourself, which will grind in this wonderful mixture and permanently tattoo you with the mark of a true West Virginian!!

The mud around here seems to take on a life of its' own every Spring and Fall. It will rain for days and the water soaks in the top "soil" turning it into a quagmire of thick, heavy, dense, and slimy "stuff". I would say that mud here is like mud anywhere else, but having lived in other places, I know for a fact that there is something about West Virginia mud that puts it above other mud.....or perhaps it's actually below other mud, depending on how you look at it.

Anyway, the mud here is awful. There is simply no other word for it, well, perhaps horrid, grotesque, glutinous, disgusting, snot like.......maybe there is more than one word to describe it! Hmmmmm.......

But enough of that!

So, I've been thinking. (You should close your mouth, flies are bad this time of year and I'd hate for you to swallow one.) This writing thing is really a pain in the ass, but it's also a way for me to work out all of my anger, fear, frustration and stress, so that makes it a good thing.

I've been having a really rough time lately, there have been so many personal situations, from death to birth and most everything in between, that I've been caldron of emotions. Unfortunately that caldron has been sitting over a roaring fire fueled by my desire to change everything in my life. The results are NOT pretty.

I need to write about LOVE and the JOY of being in a relationship. Sounds easy, right? Yeah, right. I'm sick to death of hearing about other people's PERFECT relationships, especially when I KNOW they are lying through their teeth. NO relationship is trouble free, nor perfect, nor even desirable in my opinion.

Call me jaded, call me bitter, call me whatever your little heart desires, but for me no relationship is WORTH the bullshit you have to deal with in order to make it last.

Now, I realize that many, many couples have long lasting, loving relationships that last their whole lifetimes. At least that's what we, on the outside, SEE. Doesn't mean that it's what is real. I realize that ANY type of relationship, be it a romantic one, one of friendship or even a family relationship, takes compromise, trust, hard work and patience. There in lays the problem.

I am NOT a patient person. Okay, that's an understatement. I am the MOST impatient person you're likely to meet. Not with other people so much, but with myself. I feel that I should be doing better, no matter how well I actually am doing. I feel as though my best is NEVER good enough.

Can we say "self esteem problems"?

I am the walking, talking, poster person for failed relationships. I am a living example of what happens when you repeatedly make bad choices in love. I am a cautionary tale to tell your daughters, DON'T DO WHAT SHE HAS DONE OR YOU WILL END UP JUST LIKE HER!!!

I don't trust men, but I trust myself even less. I have made so many bad choices in my life that I'm beginning to think I have never made a good one!

Okay, enough of me feeling sorry for me.......I can only stand to whine, bitch and moan for so long and then I begin to want to walk away from myself....which is anatomically impossible, but still....

Anyway......

I would like to close this with a funny story.....or at least it's funny now that it's over!

The other night, as I was laying in bed, walking through fields of lavender in my dreams, my youngest cat, Tiver, was hunting! You see, this trailer had sat empty for a while before I moved in......hence the aforementioned water problems......and the mice were used to being able to come in out of the weather so to speak. Well, this one particular mouse was under the kitchen sink, doing whatever it is that mice do when they are under kitchen sinks.

Tiver, being the smart (ha) kitty that she is, pawed at the cabinet door until she got it open, or so I speculate seeing as how at this point I was sound asleep, caught said mouse and decided that she wanted to show me! Which wouldn't have been so bad .....IF I hadn't been asleep and IF the mouse was dead.......but I was asleep and the mouse wasn't dead. To make a long story short, the cat jumped onto the bed with said mouse clinched between her pointy little teeth.

She, thinking whatever evil thoughts cats think at 3 a.m., turned the mouse loose in the bed....the mouse, being very grateful for one last chance to live his/her little mousey life, promptly RAN UP THE BED AND ACROSS MY FOREHEAD!!!

Now, that is NOT the worse of it....the little, clammy mice feet were swiftly followed by equally clammy, but not so little, cat feet!! Cat feet that for some reason needed to dig claws into the smooth surface of my skin!!

I, who was just moments before walking through the dream fields of lavender, awoke with a scream and sat straight up in bed reaching for the light switch. I thought I was being attacked by some lavender field hiding monster that had followed me home!! Bitty, my Jack Russell Terror, was startled awake by my scream and, thinking that her beloved Mistress was being hurt, began barking and peeing all at the same time!!!

Needless to say, the night dragged on as I chased the cat, who was chasing the mouse, who had jumped into the box springs of my bed (yeah, I have old box springs) and then set to changing my sheets, blankets and, oddly enough, my pillow cases because they had Bitty pee and mouse droppings on them!!!

Looking back now it's funny.....but then, not so much!!

And just to round out the night, Tiver, the cat of questionable ethics, went into the bathroom and turned a new roll of Charmin into a massive amount of tissue confetti!! I still don't know how she can do that and not make a sound. The cat has questionable ethics, which is NOT a good thing, but she's got awesome stealth abilities as well.

Well y'all, that's it for me at the moment. I'm going to drag my little tired body into the other room......where I am sleeping on the love seat tonight because I'm too tired to finish putting away all of the clothes/shoes/various and sunder items that I had to take out of the closet today so they could work on the water. I wouldn't be so disgusted about it, but they didn't have to get into the closet to do what they did, so I, on the advice of a MAN, took the stuff out for no reason.

But.....anyway....... until next time....

Dodadaghovi

Good morning and wish me luck.....

2011-07-27T09:16:00.002-04:00

Well, it's another warm morning in Grantsville. It's already 82 degrees and I'm suffocating! But, I've got to walk down to the bank today and beg or cry or whatever I'll have to do to try and get a loan for MY house!

Yes folks, I found a house....or actually it found me!

Last Sept. I really, really wanted this house, but someone else got it first. Now it's for sale again and I'm first in line (now that the other couple backed out) and I'm scared to death that I won't get the loan. I don't know what I'll do if I don't, I'm so nervous that I'm sick.

As soon as I finish my caffeine fix I'm jumping into the shower, getting ready and heading to town. (Yeah, I have to walk, so I am be a little crumpled when I get there, but I can explain that.....hopefully they won't hold it against me....hopefully they will just say, come in, sit down and let's talk!!)

So, y'all keep your fingers crossed, whisper a prayer or two and send me all the good energy and positive thoughts you can spare!

On another note....my poor little socially handicap pup Emmy has finally brightened up some. She ran into the living room and DIDN'T crack her head on anything!! She jumped up on the chair and looked so pleased with herself that it was almost sad. Poor little girl, she knows she's not like the "other dogs" and she knows that they sometimes whisper about her behind her back, but she really is trying. Now I've just got to convince the other dogs that she IS just like them.....even if she's a little slow.

Y'all have a good day!!! Try to stay cool and don't overdue!

Dodadaghovi

Pity??

2011-07-23T01:21:00.001-04:00

You know, sometimes it’s hard to just get up in the mornings. If I didn’t have my fur-babies, I don’t think I WOULD get up most mornings. I guess that’s the reason I actually have them, so that I feel that I have a purpose in this life.

I know what you’re thinking; Teri is feeling sorry for herself again. But it’s actually more than that; I don’t feel sorry for myself, hell I don’t feel much of anything anymore other than pain. And annoyance. I get annoyed because I hear, from people that supposedly know me that I’m STRONGER than that, whatever the hell “that” is. Or that I’m able to get through whatever it is.

Well folks, new flash for y’all. I’m NOT stronger than “that” and I’m NOT able to get through whatever it is. I’m HUMAN, not superhuman. I HURT! I’m tired and I’m alone and I’m just plain sick of it all.

“Oh, you’re just depressed.” YES, I’m depressed. That doesn’t make me special, who ISN’T depressed these days? We have homelessness, abuse, murders, financial difficulties, wars….WE SHOULD ALL BE DEPRESSED!!

“Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself.” I don’t feel sorry for myself; there are many, many, many other people in worse circumstances than I am in. Pity is the WORSE thing anyone can feel for himself or herself or any one else. Pity is a killer!!

What I feel is PAIN and EMPTYNESS. I’m tired of being alone. I’m tired of having no reason to get up other than to take care of my animals. I’m tired of being me.

Sometimes I just want to go to sleep and not wake up. Sometimes I just want it all to STOP!

But God has a plan, or so I’m told. There’s a reason that I’m going through all of this, there’s a lesson to be learned, or a virtue to be developed, or at least that’s what the few people I talk to about how I feel say. I wish they could tell me WHAT lesson or virtue. I wish they knew what REASON I am struggling so violently against what should be the golden years of my life.

I wish someone would just hold me and tell me it’s all going to be okay.

I just wish I felt like I mattered. And no, I don’t need any of you to tell me I matter to you, I know there are more than a few of you that care about me and that love me and think of me as your friend or even your best friend, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about being the first thing someone thinks of in the morning and the last thing they think of at night. I’m talking about being loved and desired by another human being, about someone wanting to just BE with me because I’m me, not because I make them laugh, or because I’m a good listener, or because I can help. I’m talking about someone loving me EVEN THOUGH they know everything about me, not because they WANT to know everything about me.

But, that’s not in my life right now. It may never be again. So, I’m going to curl up with my Jack Russell Terror, hold her tight and go to sleep. And in the morning I’ll get up because she needs to go out or she’s hungry or whatever and I’ll meddle through another day and then another night, and another day…..until I can’t do it anymore.

Dodadaghovi

Dog farts......you just have to read to understand

2011-07-16T15:02:00.004-04:00

So, it’s been about a week now, actually a little over. I’m dealing, I guess. I didn’t realize that I had buried so many emotions over the last few years, but the ugly fact of the matter is that I have and now I am paying for it.

I know that most of you don’t want to hear about my inner turmoil, but, as I have said time and time again, this is my blog and I will damn well write what I want! (Yes, there is some “teenage angst” in that statement, and as we all know I am as far from being a teenager as a lizard is from being a mammal, but so what, we are ALL allowed a little angst from time to time.)

The emotions that are waging war inside me have truly screwed up my concentration and my ability to finish the re-writes on my novel. I know that most people say “Use what you feel, don’t let it get you down, use it”, which is actually good advice, but seeing as how I am trying to do rewrites on an already finished story, using what I feel, which is anger, hurt, abandonment, fear and depression, could very well turn a good story into a very long, very well written suicide note. And that is NOT what I want at this point.

So, I continue trying to write, I continue trying to function, I continue trying to be who I WANT to be and not who I have allowed my feeling to make me into. I don’t always succeed, but as of yet I haven’t totally failed, so I guess I’m doing okay.

Now, on another note, my Jack Russell Terror aka Bitty or Two Bit or Belle or CABELLA if she’s really up shit creek, is once again proving that not only does she believe that she is the Queen of All She Sees, but that most of the creatures living within her sight believe it as well, including me, although I will deny this at some point in the future.

Right now Bitty is laying on the couch, her head hanging down so that the fan is blowing directly in her face, sound asleep and farting like a peasant that has survived on beans for two months. (No, I don’t personally know ANY peasants, let alone one that has lived on beans for two months, and I have no idea how much they would fart, but I’m trying to give you a mental pictures here, so just go with it, K?)

She is so loud and so stinky that the other animals have ALL abandoned the couch for places out of direct line of the fan-blown Bitty farts. Thankfully I’m sitting off to one side and don’t have the “pleasure” of being nasally assaulted by said farts, but I can tell from the way the cat reacted a few moments ago that I am VERY lucky. You see, the cat jumped up on the back of the couch, got herself all comfortable and stuff and started to drift off to sleep only to become the latest victim of Bitty’s rancidness. The poor cat actually gagged! And if you’ve ever seen a cat gag you know how totally gross that is!! Anyway, the cat is now on top of the dryer asleep, and although she is a bit warmer, she is safe from the rancidness that is my darling Bitty.

I’m not sure what exactly has caused this horrid odor to emanate from my little darling, although I do have an idea. My buddy Esther bought my babies some treats, pizza flavored treats, and Bitty has been perfuming the air ever since. It’s been a couple of days since Esther gave them the treats, but I, being the good Mommy that I am, also bought them a bag of said treats because all of the fur babies seem to love them. I think if the rest of them ever figure out why Bitty stinks so badly, they may change their minds.

But for now the babies are all resting. Of course they are all as far away from Bitty as they can get, but it doesn’t seem to bother her any. She is sleeping the sleep of the innocent, her nose twitching slightly from time to time as though she can still smell the pizza treats, her ears perking up each and every time she “toots” a particularly loud one. The fan is blowing away the pungent reminders of what happens when you give her a pizza treat, while she is snoring and dreaming of said treats.

Too bad she doesn’t realize she has had the very last pizza treat that Mommy will ever give her. Maybe we’ll just stick with jerky treats or chew bones.

Dodadaghovi

Love and loss, pain and pleasure.

2011-07-07T11:21:00.001-04:00

Hey y’all. Sorry it’s been so long since I last updated, but real life reared it’s ugly head and has been spitting and lashing at me with a vengeance.

I know many of you read this blog because I spout off about things that have the tendency of pissing most of us off. But today, today I want to pour out my heart to those of you who read this.

As many of you may know, my Mom passed away in 2000. She had been ill for a long time and she was just too tired and beat down to continue to fight this horrifying thing we call life. She left this world rather gently, she was in ICU and didn’t seem to struggle or fight against the decent of that eternal darkness we call Death. A nurse was with her, as my Dad had just left for work and I was driving up from Grantsville. That nurse later told us that my Mom had turned to her and said, “Do you see them? Do you see the Angels?” Then she took one last breath and was gone.

Why am I bringing this up, you ask. Well, this week some one else that I love went Home with the Angels. Jacqueline Daisy Gumm, the mother of a man that I lived with for years, passed away on Tuesday, July 5. She was 79 years old.

I met Jackie not long after my own Mother had passed away. And, although she may never have realized it, she took a place in my heart right next to my own Mom. She and I didn’t always get along, sometimes we didn’t speak, but that is the way it had been with my own Mother as well.

Jackie made the most delicious cinnamon rolls. She could bake anything and it would turn out wonderfully. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners at her house should have been listed as one of the Wonders of the World. The food was always graciously prepared and the atmosphere was warm and loving.

I would sit with Jackie on the back porch and talk of things both trivial and of the utmost importance. She could make me laugh with stories about her children, her childhood and her own Mother. Jackie had seen and experienced things that most of us only read about in books or experience through movies. She was and always will be one of the most interesting people I have ever met.

She raised 5 children that all grew to be wonderful human beings. John is the oldest and the only boy, so growing up with 4 sisters was something that he had to endure, although I know he loves each and every one of them. She was a wonderful mother and doted on her children and grandchildren. I know that each of them are suffering a pain that no one can understand unless that person has lost their own Mother.

Now, you may be wondering why I’m writing all of this. Why is the death of someone who was no longer in my life to the extent that they had once been is so important. It’s simple actually. I love her. She stepped in and took the place of a woman, my own Mother, whom I had never really gotten the chance to know.

Jackie eased some of the pain of losing my own Mom.

There is no way that what I’m experiencing can compare with the pain and suffering her own family is experiencing. I in no way believe that my hurt can ever compare to theirs.

But with the passing of this wonderful lady, many things that I had thought were dealt with have resurfaced. The guilt at not having a better relationship with my own Mother is eating at me with the vicious intensity of a ravenous dog. The pain of never understanding the reasons behind so many of the things that had taken place in my childhood is causing me to imagine the worse possible scenarios, and has always caused me to have a poor self-image. The steel hardened truth of never hearing my Mother’s voice again is turning my heart into tiny pieces of confetti that with every breath scatters and blows farther away.

I am trying to process my own pain, my own confusion and my own regrets. I’m not doing such a good job, but I will get through it. Someday.

In the meantime, I sit here and picture my Mom talking and laughing with her own parents, with her beloved brother that was taken from us too soon and with my own Grandson who was snatched from life before he ever had the chance to experience it. In my mind, they are all sitting under a blooming crabapple tree on a blanket made by the Hand of God, talking, laughing and basking in the love of one another and the Everlasting Love Of God.

And sitting hand in hand just a little ways away is Jackie and her wonderful husband, Mutt. They are talking and laughing and are so happy to be together again. They, too, are basking in love and the Glorious Peace of God.

In my mind, I see all the loved ones that I miss so terrible much. Each of them are healthy and whole. Christian is playing with his toys, something he never grew to be old enough to do here on Earth. Taco is playing music, his addictions and pain forever gone. Dave is sitting under a tree, strumming a mandolin, his limbs once again strong and sure, his pain gone forever. Crettie is laughing and telling jokes, her eyes bright and her breathing easy, her smile gloriously beautiful. And my old buddy Johnny, well, Johnny is just relaxing, the pain and trouble of life here on Earth a long forgotten memory.

I think of all of those whom I love that have gone on before me and I am envious.

Dodadaghovi.

Thunderstorms and dog blankets.

2011-06-22T13:27:00.003-04:00

Yeah, well, as you can see by the title of this post, we've been having thunderstorms! Now, some people enjoy them, I however, HATE them with a passion that boarders on near obsession! Yup, I had a traumatic experience in my childhood and I am permanently scared!!

If there could be lightening without the "big boom" it wouldn't be so bad. Yeah, I know, twisted and stupid. I realize that the lightening is what causes the thunder, but.....well, the thunder brings back a brief flash of the terror I felt many years ago. (Don't ask, I won't go into detail, just let it be known that I was SCARED SHITLESS!! Literally!!)

The rain is nice, I really like the sound of rain on a tin roof, and seeing as how I have a tin roof, it's all cool! LOL But when the thunder rumbles and rages, shaking my little white house in the process, shaking it so badly that the clock on the wall rattles and pictures tilt sideways, well, then I'm not even a fan of the rain. But of course, the thunder drowns out the sound of the rain on the tin roof, but hey, you get the point!

Anyway, onward and upward as they say!

Today was the day to clean the dog kennel. Two of my pups sleep in the kennel box (in the house of course) and it is sometimes really hard to keep it clean and smelling, well, NOT doggy! Today I had to take all the blankets out, there are usually three, and wash them and clean and disinfect the box it's self. So.....on with my story.

I drug all of the blankets to the wash room, filled the washer with plenty of soap and smelly good stuff and ran the blankets through the "nasty" cycle! (you know the one I'm talking about....the oil field, mud bog, 4-wheeler riding, just plain yucky cycle that runs for what seems like an hour) So, after the extremely long wash cycle, I pulled the much better smelling blankets out of the washer and threw them into the dryer. About 1/2 way through the cycle, I checked on the blankets to make sure they weren't tangled up so that all of them would get evenly dried.

That's when the fun began! NOT

One of the blankies (yeah I know, baby-ish) had disintegrated into a mass of, well, there is no other word than fluff! Stuck to all the other blankets....plugging up the dryer vent......flying around in the air when I pulled the remaining blankets out of the dryer FLUFF!! So after cleaning out the vent, shaking out the remaining blankets and sneezing forever, I stuffed the blankets back into the dryer and finished the cycle.

When the dryer was done, the two remaining blankets were clean and dry and smelled wonderful. So.....I finished disinfecting the dog box and put the clean blankets inside. Of course the dogs were interested in what I was doing....they are ALWAYS interested in what I'm doing.....and they began investigating the box as soon as the last blanket was laid down. Emmy, the "socially challenged" pup, routed around in the blankets, messing up my perfectly laid dog bed.....she was obviously looking for "her" blanket, which of course was the one that fall apart!

She drug all of the blankets out of the box and stood in the middle of the floor staring at me like I had done it on purpose!! She refused to go into the box for her "nap" (which is code for Mom needs some time without dogs) until I found a "replacement" blanket. That replacement blanket is one of MY blankets....it's the only one she would accept as being "nap-worthy". So, needless to say, one of my blankets, a pretty blue flannel one that I picked up at a yard sale a few years ago for a dollar and that I use to cover up with on the couch when I'm chilly and watching tv, is now in the dog box.

But the upside is so are the pups!!! LOL So now is the time for Mom to take a nap or just chill out with a frozen coffee and a good, trashy romance novel! LOL

Later y'all!!

Dodadaghovi

I'd growl.....but I'm too tired.....

2011-06-15T00:38:00.002-04:00

So, today was,what's the word I'm looking for......ummmmm, interesting perhaps? Yeah, that will work. Today was interesting!

I, along with four other wonderful women, worked the Grantsville Town Election today. And boy, did I get an education!

I would growl and jump up and down and bitch a little bit, but I'm just too damn tired! After being locked in a room with four other smokers for 15 hours or so.....yes being held prisoner in a room and not being allowed to leave even to smoke.....I actually have no words to describe exactly how I feel!

Tired don't begin to cover it. Confused, well yes a bit. Wired, most certainly. Really dazed at seeing a side of some people that I would never have guessed existed.....OH YEAH!

I said I had received an education......MOST CERTAINLY!! For one thing I learned that it is NOT a good idea to keep five smokers away from nicotine for 15 hours!! Not only is it not a good idea, it is potentially dangerous!

Spending hours in a room without television or radio or any other form of entertainment is torture! I never realized how "plugged in" I actually am until today!

I also learned that people in this area take their constitutional right to vote VERY SERIOUSLY! I was/am proud to belong to such a wonderful community, county, state and country! VOTING IS SERIOUS BUSINESS AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH!

I also learned that some people are just spiteful and so full of themselves that there is literally no room left for them to officially be full of shit! (Sorry, had to say it!)

Most importantly I learned that I believe in the power of voters to make their voices heard in a very real, very encouraging way. It was/is a wonderful experience to be able to witness the willingness of our citizens to make changes when they deem that such changes need to be made!

I'm proud of the citizens of Grantsville for coming to the polls in such a large number. The fact that we had such a large turnout for the election speaks volumes. This town has shown one another that when we, the citizens, decide that something needs to be done IT WILL BE DONE!!

A big, warm and very proud THANK YOU to all of the voters who came to the polls today and to the ones who participated in early and/or absentee voting! Each of you have shown a loyalty to your town and a heart-felt desire to make necessary changes to the way we are governed! Give yourselves a big pat on the back because, as the saying goes......YOU DONE GOOD!!

Besides being educated on the ins and outs of elections, I have also learned a few things about myself. The most important one being that I enjoy being active in the community and I plan on continuing to do so! (yeah, yeah...gripe at me later, right now I'm too tired to really respond or even care!)

So, until we have another cyber rendezvous, God bless and keep you all!

Dodadaghovi!

Well hell

2011-06-14T00:11:00.002-04:00

Hi y'all.

All I can say is Well, hell!

I was done with this stupid blog.....I really don't think that many people read it, and it is more time consuming than most people realize. But, after talking to several people and receiving comments and emails, I have decided that I'm going to continue posting, although they may be few and far between. So, no promises as to how many post will be up or how often they will be up, the only promise is that I WILL post when I can.

So, I'm working on this book, as most of you may know, and sometimes I get, well, stressed doesn't begin to cover it so let's go with CRAZED!! I'm at an impasse with the story line right now, and it's driving me insane.....plus there are a few other things with the story that I'm not pleased with...but I'm working on it. Add to that the everyday shit that we all have to put up with and the fact that there are several people that have really hurt and/or angered me in the last week or so and what you are left with is an insane woman that can't seem to do anything right. Like right now....I should be asleep because I have to get up in just over 4 hours....but, because of stuff I would rather not be dealing with, I am wide awake, stressing out and alternately cussing like a sailor or crying like a colicky baby.

Now, under usual circumstances I would rant and rave in this post, telling the world who/what/why I was pissed off/sad/hurt.....but this time I just can't. There is too much at stake for people other than myself for me to open my mouth and spew forth all the tangled emotions that are foaming like a raging tide inside of me. So, for the sake of others more than for my own sake, I will keep all of this shit locked up and try to be a decent person regardless of how I really feel.

Confused yet?

Don't feel like the lone ranger, because it's happening to me and I'm so freaking confused I just want to hide from everyone for the next year or two!

Enough of that shit!

I want to say THANK YOU to those of you that had nice things to say and to thank each of you for your loyalty and friendship! It means more than I have ever expressed and I can't thank you enough!! Especially Boone, Sandy, Esther and Beth. Thank you guys for the encouraging words and the smiley faces!

Since you didn't want me to quit, I haven't......now you just have to put up with me! As the famous saying goes, "I pity the fool".........

Dodadaghovi!

Lack of interest

2011-06-09T00:26:00.003-04:00

Because of lack of interest in this blog, I have decided to leave it be for a while. No more new posts, no more Wordless Wednesdays. Maybe at some point in the future I will begin posting again, but right now it seems pointless.

For the very few of you that noticed the last Wordless Wednesday photo, here is the original.

Thanks to those of you who have read this. I really hope I managed to entertain you at least every once in a while.

If there is ever any interest shown in these hard written pages, I will begin to post again.

Until then, this is goodbye.

Another Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-25T13:28:00.004-04:00

Here's the photo for this week's Wordless Wednesday!!
Please leave a comment with your guess!

Later!!

Answer to Wordless Wednesday photo question

2011-05-19T14:45:00.003-04:00

Well, apparently there isn't too many of you interested in my Wordless Wednesday photo game....but I'm not going to give up yet!

I only received two comments/guesses, and neither of them said to NOT post what they said. So.....

Dickie said : FLOWER BUT DON'T KNOW WHAT KIND

Jean from Prim Crafts said : Looks like it could be a tulip. Maybe an iris.

They are both partially correct. It IS a flower, just not a tulip or an iris. It it what we always called "railroad flowers" because the grew along the railroad tracks in Ohio. They are actually called Tawny or Orange Daylily or the Ditch Daylily. They are wonderful for places that you don't want to hassle with, grow well in poor soil and don't need to be given attention.

Here is the original photo:

I'm going to continue with Wordless Wednesday for a few weeks. I may change the day for the answer to the Wordless Wednesday question from Thursday to Saturday, but I'm not sure.

Please pass on the word about my blog. I really need more readers! More readers will mean more posts!! LOL Plus, if I get more readers I will post more of my manuscript for your comments and opinions!

Blessings y'all!

Dodadaghovi

Something new....

2011-05-18T12:37:00.009-04:00

I'm starting something new today. It's Wednesday, the traditional "hump day" of the week, the middle of the week. What I'm going to be doing every Wednesday for a while is this.

I will post a picture that I have taken. There will be no theme or anything, just random pictures. After today there will be no words at all, only the picture. AND, here's the hook, the picture will be ONLY part of the whole picture.

What I want y'all to do is this, look at the picture and and let me know what you think it is a picture of. Post your guess along with your name. You can make as many guesses as you want.

On Thursday I will post all of the comments.....I won't include your name if you don't want me to, but otherwise I will include your first name.

Let's see how well your eyes and your imagination works!!

Help me out okay??

FIRST WORDLESS WEDNESDAY PHOTO
We will start with an easy one!

Good luck everyone!!

Dodadaghovi

MUD.....what is it?

2011-05-17T18:01:00.013-04:00

Well, this is the second post of the day! LOL

Once again, I am here to discuss MUD.

Here we go~

Mud, what is it? According to Dictionary.com mud is:

noun, verb, mud·ded, mud·ding. –noun

1. soft earth or earthy matter, as on the ground after rain, at the bottom of a pond, or along the banks of a river; mire.

2. scandalous or malicious assertions or information: The opposition threw a lot of mud at our candidate.

3.Slang . brewed coffee, especially when strong or bitter.

Or it could be [muhd] noun, verb, mud·ded, mud·ding.

–noun

1. soft earth or earthy matter, as on the ground after rain, at the bottom of a pond, or along the banks of a river; mire.

2. Informal . scandalous or malicious assertions or information: The opposition threw a lot of mud at our candidate.

3.Slang . brewed coffee, especially when strong or bitter.

–verb (used with object)

5. to cover, smear, or spatter with mud: to mud the walls of a hut.

6.to stir up the mud or sediment in: waders mudding the clear water.

–verb (used without object)

7. to hide in or burrow into mud.

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English mudde, mode < Middle Low German mudde. Compare mother²

—Related forms

un·mud·ded, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011.

World English Dictionary

mud (mʌd)

n
1.	a soft wet deposit that occurs on the ground after rain, at the bottom of ponds, lakes, etc
2.	informal slander or defamation
3.	informal clear as mud not at all clear
4.	drag someone's name in the mud to disgrace or defame someone
5.	informal here's mud in your eye a humorous drinking toast
6.	informal someone's name is mud someone is disgraced
7.	informal throw mud at , sling mud at to slander; vilify
This is what the Merriam-Webster has to say: Definition of MUD 1: a slimy sticky mixture of solid material with a liquid and especially water; especially : soft wet earth 2: abusive and malicious remarks or charges mud at each other> 3: anathema 1b —usually used in the phrase one's name is mud 4: a mixture of water, clay, and chemicals used in oil-well drilling and having various functions (as lubrication and cooling of the bit and flushing of rock particles to the surface)

Both of these definitions are a bit off if you ask me! But then again, I live in West Virginia and it's raining once again.....harder than "kittens and puppies" this time, but still not Cats and Dogs raining.

Anyway, living here has taught me that MUD is simply liquid dirt. Or more accurately it's liquid clay.

I walked out to the mailbox and guess what? My WHITE tennis shoes are now that horrible reddish-brown, baby crap, stained for life color that we are all so familiar with. BUT, the good news is: My shoes had been treated with water resistant stuff and cleaned up very nicely!! They aren't the brilliant white they once were, but at least they are NOT that horrid color that has become the "Color of the Season" here.

But, that's not what prompted me to write this surprising second post of the day! (surprising because I'm lazy when it comes to blogging and usually only put up one a week, if I'm lucky)

What prompted me was the fact that it's raining enough that most of the gravel in my driveway is now in my yard and my driveway is now one big, slimy, goo-ridden, slime pit from Hell! And to make matters worse, if anyone pulls into my drive they will leave behind those wonderful reminders of our Mud Season, RUTS!! Even a two year old on a tricycle could leave a rut in my driveway right now!

I had written earlier that I HATE MUD.....I had strangely forgotten the fact that I hate RUTS more than I hate mud! Although, without the loathsome skin staining slime we call mud there wouldn't be ruts.....so maybe I DO hate mud more.

I'm not sure anymore.

All I know is that my driveway is a mess, which I suppose shouldn't bother me too much since I don't have a car, the road is now a swift running, although very shallow, stream, the ditches along the roadways are filling up and water is still falling from the sky at an amazing rate!!

ISN'T SPRING GRAND????

This is what you step off of my porch into!! One of the miniature great lakes of WV!

My driveway! I jokingly call it a driveway, but it's actually a mud hole!

Close up of one of the ruts left over from last year.

This is what it looks like in front of my mailbox.

Oh yeah, I forgot....besides being cold, damp and muddy....all of what I hate.....this weather makes grass grow faster than most weeds! LOL My grass needs to be mowed....BADLY!

The wet, wet, water running across it street! Notice my grass isn't the only grass that needs to be mowed?

Well, that's enough bitching about mud, rain, water and oh yeah, cold weather! The high today was 57 degrees.....are we having fun yet????

Dodadaghovi

Random Page....questions, rants, photos and one very loud bird

2011-05-17T15:06:00.015-04:00

It's been raining kittens and puppies today. Notice I didn't say cats and dogs? Well, it's not been raining real hard, just a steady, medium hard rain, so it's only rates at the "kittens and puppies" level. Which brings me to my first set of "Teri's Questions that are Just Dying for an Answer".

Why do we say it's raining "cats and dogs" when it rains hard? Has any of us actually witnessed cats and dogs falling from the sky? Wouldn't it at least make the 6 o'clock news if cats and dogs began falling from the sky to splatter on the asphalt? (sorry for the graphic mental image, but let's face it, if animals began falling from the sky it WOULD make a real mess.)

You know the old saying about opening an umbrella in the house being bad luck? Did that start because someone actually opened an umbrella in the house and then began having horrible luck, or was it something as simple as opening the umbrella and then trying to get out of the door that was the bad luck?

Why is it that birds always seem to take a bath in mud-puddles WHILE it's still raining? Is it that they figure "We're already wet, so we might as well be clean" or is it just some type of weird bird behavior that we, as mere humans, will never understand?

Okay now, so much for the first set of questions.....on to the rant! LOL (for those of you who haven't read this blog before, this is where I bitch about things that I have no control over. The only good thing about it is that if I bitch about it I feel that I have a small amount of control....and I, being an oldest child and a type-A personality, NEED that sense of control!)

I'm sick of rain!! (pretty much a sad little rant isn't it?) Actually, I 'm sick of mud....I can put up with the rain, it's not that bad, actually it makes everything seem fresher and cleaner......but the MUD???? The mud just defeats the whole entire idea of Mother Nature washing the hills and valleys with fresh clean water. Usually when you wash something with "fresh, clean water" you don't turn around and dip it in muddy gunk. But that is what happens during this time of year.

It's the month of May. We almost always have rain in May....I mean, this is West Virginia and that equates rain 3 months out of 12, so I don't really mind the rain. It's the fact that the rain turns the usually non-threatening West Virginia dirt into horrifying, skin staining, clothes ruining, shoe sucking red and yellow West Virginia slime. ( the red or yellow part depends on what part of West Virginia you are in at the time)

This horrific sludge that we jokingly refer to as mud has been responsible for some of the worse personal disasters known to woman-kind. Here are a few examples:

West Virginia mud can and will suck the heel off of a $90 pair of stilettos at the very first opportunity! Not only will the mud suck the heel off of ONE of the shoes, yes, it's always only one shoe, it will encase your entire foot in a mixture of cold slime and rough, sharp edged gravel and sand, easily ruining your $20 nylons!

West Virginia mud can and will embed itself into your skin. If you're really unlucky, you will slip and fall or even wreck your four-wheeler and slide along the ground for 5 feet, and be permanently tattooed with a large, reddish-brown swatch of good old West Virginia mud. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the fact that the slime will also carry with it minute pieces of stone, sand and grit that will take years to work out of your body.

West Virginia mud can and will turn your bouncy, fun loving white dog into a mere shadow of itself. He will be permanently stained the color of baby crap and no amount of scrubbing and bathing will ever make his white coat sparkle and shine again. All of the other dogs in the neighborhood will laugh and point at him, make jokes at his expense and never chose him for the neighborhood doggie games. He will become an insecure, quivering, self-loathing excuse of a pet.

Okay, enough of that! LOL

I have a couple of photos to share today. Someone told me where a Hawk was nesting, so I have been taking photos of the Hawk and it's nest. Below are several photos of Momma Hawk sitting on her nest, trying to keep her eggs warm in the wonderful 40 degree weather we've been having lately.

Momma Hawk looking out over her domain!

Momma Hawk trying to decide if I'm a threat!

Baby Hawk taking a look around!

Checking me out to see if I'm a threat.

So that's it for today! Hope you enjoyed!

Dodadaghovi

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2011-05-11T11:40:00.000-04:00

This is my dad, 70 years ago.

Today is his birthday, he will be 71. I haven't gotten to see him in a few years, I don't have a way to go to Ohio and he is in poor health, so he can't travel like he once did. It hurts my heart that I can't spend time with him. It hurts my heart more that I haven't told him that he has always been my hero!

My dad quit school before he finished the 8th grade. He went to work so he could help support the family. I've never really understood that, seeing as how there were only two children and my grandfather worked at Ford Motor Company, but that's what he did.

This is my Dad in Grade School.

Here is another school picture.

Dad had several jobs when he was young. He always worked hard and seemed to enjoy whatever it was that he had to do.

He worked in a grocery store. Here he is in his apron and bow tie!

He also worked at a dairy. He had to wear a bow tie there too!

My Dad had a rough way coming up. He was the youngest and there were some things that just didn't seem, well, "right" about the family dynamic. It seemed as though my uncle was the favorite child, and my Dad was just, well, the youngest.

Daddy liked to hunt and fish. I have several pictures, including the ones below, of him with his hunting dogs or with various other dogs he had. He always had dogs of some sort around.

Here he is as a little boy with his favorite dog!

Here he is as a young man with some of his pups.

Here is one of his favorite dogs.

We had hunting dogs when I was a child too. He even let me play with them. Those puppies always did love to lick my face!

Daddy and Mom met when they were really young. My Daddy was only 17! They fell in love and loved each other until the day my Mommy passed away. She's been gone now for 11 years and we all miss her so very much. I'm sure that Daddy misses her more than all of us put together though. Mommy was the one to throw my Dad his 18th birthday party!

Daddy and Mommy at Daddy's 18th birthday party!

The big 18th birthday party!

Daddy cutting the birthday cake!

Mom and Dad when Daddy was 17.

Daddy and Mommy on the day they were married.

Dad and Mom with a friend in 1963.

Dad and Mom in their late 40's.

Daddy loved Mommy with all his heart. He loves his children, me and my sister Elaine, and his grandchildren too!

Daddy, Mommy and Me!!

Daddy teaching Elaine to dance.

Daddy has a strange sense of humor. Mommy had a twisted sense of humor as well. When she asked him what he wanted for his 18th birthday he told her he wanted a little black baby with a red ribbon around it's neck. Guess what he got?

Daddy and his baby doll! Happy birthday!!

Told you he has a weird sense of humor!

I guess I got my twisted sense of humor from both my parents! Here I am trying to pull Daddy's teeth when I was just 3 years old. Notice he went along with it!

Dad was sort of a "hood" when he was younger. He loved his fast cars and his motorcycles. He wore white t-shirts with the sleeves rolled up and peg leg jeans. He also had a "duck-tail"! LOL

My Daddy.....the "hood"

Daddy with his sleeves rolled up and his peg-legged jeans next to his car.

Daddy in front of the garage.

In case you haven't already guessed, I love my Daddy with all of my heart. I miss him and wish that I could be with him today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!! I PRAY YOU'RE STILL AROUND WHEN I GET TO MY 71ST!!

LOVE YOU!

Dogs, dogs, dogs......

2011-05-05T14:38:00.004-04:00

I LOVE animals. Anyone that knows me at all can tell you this. I have more animals than I should, but I can’t help it…it’s a sickness. (Not really, I can and HAVE stopped, it’s just that I can’t get rid of the ones I have. I worry about what type of home they would have if they weren’t with me…would they have their own bed, would they have toys…or would they be tossed outside on a chain and ignored??)

I have several dogs, each with it’s own personality and place within the household. They get along well and I very rarely have to break up any type of physical fighting. My Jack Russell Terror, errr…Terrier, is the Queen of the Pack and she knows it, even if there are times when the others do Not know it. The other dogs indulge her in her fantasies of being a Pitt Bull and they go out of their way to encourage her to be extraordinarily brave. She eats it up! But she is NOT the topic of the day.

You see, I have this other dog…she’s a sweet dog, but….well, she’s, shall we say, socially handicapped. It’s not that she doesn’t play well with others, because she does…she even plays well with herself, it’s just that she isn’t the brightest crayon in the box. But she’s sweet! LOL

She learns tricks really easily, she can sit, sort of stay, shake, high-five, sit pretty, jump, speak and when you point at her and say BANG, she falls over dead! And you can sit a treat on her nose and she will toss it in the air, only to miss it 8 times out of 10! LOL She’s actually smart when it come to learning those time of things.

It’s the other stuff, every day stuff that she can’t seem to get a handle on. You see, this poor dog forgets to duck when she goes under the coffee table, and believe me she HAS to duck or she almost knocks herself out. She’ll come bounding through the living room, drop her head just a little bit and then “THUNK” everything sitting on the table rattles, the table moves a foot or so and the dog stops quickly, looks at you with blurry eyes then shakes her head and tries it again. Usually she “forgets” to duck the first two or three times and then she remembers. USUALLY.

She’ll go running into the kitchen and, just as she reaches the doorway, she’ll turn around really quickly, cracking her head on the door frame with a resounding BANG. Then she’ll sit down, look back at you with a look of confusion that is almost pitiable, turn back to the door frame and GROWL AT IT!! She acts as though the entire structure of the house is out to get her.

Sometimes she’ll be playing with one of the cats and the cat will go under the kitchen table. Emmy, THE DOG, with go running into the kitchen and crash into the table leg as though it had mutinously jumped out in front of her. Once again she’ll look at me with those blurry, confused eyes and turn around and growl at the table leg!!

I’ll ask her if she wants to go outside and she’ll head toward the door at a rapid gallop, usually forgetting to stop before actually slamming into the closed door!! She just shakes her head and sits down, calmly waiting for me to open the door, get her tie-out and hook it to her collar and allow her to go outside with her pride only slightly bruised.
She also gets distracted really easily, so easily that if she’s eating and someone or something walks into the kitchen she will bite her own tongue and then get mad at whomever walked in to distract her.

If she’s outside and a bee flies by, she will trip over her own feet and then start barking at the bee like it planned the whole horrible situation.

She will run into the wall when she’s chasing the laser light then turn around and look at you like it’s all your fault.

Today she caught sight of herself in the mirror. I had the bedroom door open and she sauntered by the door, turned slightly and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She stopped, turned and peeked around the corner. She was so shocked that the “other dog” was peeking around the corner at her that she tinkled just a little bit, ran to her box and hid. After a few moments she poked her head out of her door, looked both ways, you know, just in the case the “other dog” was lurking around somewhere close, and then belly crawled out of the box, across the living room floor and directly to the bedroom door. And what do you think she saw? Well, of course she saw the “other dog” belly crawling toward her!! It scared her shitless!! She stood up, every hair on her body bristling and began to growl and bark at the “other dog” doing her best to frighten it away before it could harm her or anything that “belongs” to her.

She’s a loyal dog! Really she is. But the dog is brain damaged. That’s all there is to it!

For example, Emmy will chase her own tail. No big deal right, lots of dogs chase their tails. Well, do lots of other dogs chase their tail only to catch it, bite it, yelp and then begin barking at the “big mean pain inducing” tail?

Will other dogs toss their rawhide chews in the air, have it come down resoundingly on top of their head only to pick it up again and repeat the process?

Will other dogs pick up a “tugger” that has large knots on each end, shake them so hard that they crack first on one side and then on the other until they are slightly woozy from the hard knocks to the head?

Will other dogs pick up rocks and toss them into the air while standing in the exact spot to be knocked on the head by said stones?

My poor Emily Rose is brain damaged. She will forever be the dog that runs into door frames, cracks her head on coffee tables and throws things into the air only to be knocked silly by them.

God love her, she really needs to be taken care of.

Dodadaghovi

It's Spring! It's Spring????

2011-05-04T12:29:00.005-04:00

So, it's the 4th day of May and it's all of 50 degrees outside. And wet. And windy. And muddy.

So this is Spring? Hmmmmmmm, perhaps someone could explain why we had 90 degree days in March and April and now that it's May it's only 50. We've had days that were so beautiful, when the sun shined so brightly and the air felt so fresh that it was almost impossible to stay inside.

Now, however, it's cold, wet, windy and muddy. It's suppose to be in the 30's tonight. The 30's!!!!!

Is there some type of medication that we can give to old Mother Nature in order to control her schizophrenia? Or maybe get her laid so she'll lighten up?

Sorry, that was uncalled for, but damn, I'm really tired of not knowing if I should put away the winter clothes or just leave them out and toss in a few pair of shorts as a "just in case".

Should I put away the quilts and pray that it's not snowing when I wake up, shivering and cold in my bed?

Should I pack away the coats, only to be caught out in the 30 degree cold in a t-shirt and shorts?

I mean, come on, it IS May after all. Shouldn't I be able to at least decide to put the bulky goose-down coat in the coat bag and hang it at the back of the closet?

Apparently the answer to all of those, and many more, questions is a loud, echoing NO, YOU CAN'T!!!

Did I tell you that I LOVE wind-chimes? (Yeah, I know, abrupt change of subject is the sign of a sick mind.)

Well, I do! I LOVE all wind-chimes! Metal ones, glass ones, wooden ones, ugly ones, pretty ones and surprisingly odd ones too! Any combination that when touched by the gentle breeze that SHOULD be blowing across my porch make the assorted tinkling, chiming, dinging, pealing sound that causes my soul to take a moment just to listen.

Now, that being said, please allow me to say a few things about wind-chimes and wind.

Living on the ridge as I do, I get a nice breeze most of the time. But, since Mother Nature has gone off of her rocker, I have been getting a blasting roar of wind that is intent on knocking over trash cans while turning their lids into flying saucers of death, pushing trees over so that their roots glare at us like dead eyed sharks washed up after an oil spill and rattling my wind-chimes so they make sounds that remind you of a tortured animal caught in a painful trap.

Yes, I have begun to hate my wind-chimes, not only my wind-chimes but the wind-chimes of my neighbors as well. The once lulling sounds that these wonderful inventions sang out over the hillside has become the tortured screams of wood and metal being beaten by the gales of vengeful wind that buffets our homes, our bodies and vicariously our minds.

In just a little while I have to bolster my courage and venture outside. I will dodge the flying dagger of death that is the small twigs and limbs being ripped from the surrounding trees, I will duck the whipping papers that will be grabbed and tossed at me in a feeble attempt to keep me trapped in my house. I will dodge seemingly harmless potholes that are now filled with clammy scum covered water, I will fight my way through mud that will grab at my shoes with every intention of ripping them from my poor tired feet, I will lean into the wind and fight my way off of the hill. All in order to simply get out of my house and away from the tortured screams of the surrounding wind-chimes.

While I'm out today I'm going to investigate what types of medication we can get for Mother Nature. She and Old Man Winter need to come to an agreement and allow us poor hapless humans to get on with our lives without the interference of sleet, hail, wind, tornadoes, rain, floods, mud and flying debris!

Well, I'm going to go slip into a nice hot bath, more for the warmth than to actually get clean (I'm not that dirty to start with, but DAMN I'm cold!!). Then I will get dressed and venture outside, hopefully to safely return in a few hours.

Be good y'all. And stay on the down side of the wind!

Dodadaghovi

FED UP WITH STUPIDITY!!!

2011-04-29T11:03:00.002-04:00

I am ASHAMED of about 2/3 of the people I know and love.

Pretty harsh statement, huh? Well, let me explain. In the past several days we, the United States, have had numerous storms that RAVAGED this country. HUNDREDS have DIED, THOUSANDS are homeless and an UNTOLD number are injured. And the number one topic of DISCUSSION on both the internet and the television is the ROYAL WEDDING!

WE SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT OUR FELLOW AMERICANS!!!

But are we? NO. (Once again a harsh statement.) We are concerned with THE ROYAL WEDDING!!!

News coverage has bumped down the DEVASTATION that has taken place in this country in order to make a big deal of a wedding that is taking place in THE VERY COUNTRY WE HAD TO FIGHT IN ORDER TO WIN OUR FREEDOM!!!

The fact that royal wedding is costing UK citizens OVER $50 BILLION is disgusting!!
I’m sure that money could be put to better use!

The fact that the UNITED STATES was one of the first countries to give financial aid to ENGLAND after the blitzes of WWII and now we sit here IN GREAT NEED OF ASSISTANCE and the majority of the country is MESMERIZE by a wedding…..well, there are no words to even begin to describe how that makes me feel!!

The amount of money that is being spent to televise a wedding is ridiculous. Especially in light of the recent events within the borders of this ONCE great country of ours. Think of how many people could be housed, or treated for injuries, or fed or simply COMFORTED by the ridiculous amount the MEDIA is wasting on something that TAKES PLACE EVERY DAY!!

YES FOLKS, PEOPLE GET MARRIED EVERY DAY!!! HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE GET MARRIED EVERY DAY!!! AND MORE IMPORTANTLY NEITHER THE PRINCE NOR HIS BRIDE WILL BE IN A POSITION TO RUN OUR COUNTRY!!!

FACE IT AMERICA…..we have become a NATION led by our NOSES by the MEDIA!! What the fat-cats in positions of power within the MEDIA think we should be concerned with is WHAT WE ARE CONCERNED WITH!

I’M ASHAMED OF US….all of us. I’m even ashamed of myself, although I have NOT and will NOT watch one damn thing that has to do with some wedding taking place in another country while AMERICAN CITIZENS suffer. I’m ashamed of myself for the mere fact that I haven’t VOICED MY OPINION more LOUDLY and more OFTEN!!!!

Story excerpt....help please!

2011-04-27T11:18:00.004-04:00

So, while waiting on the Muse of Creativity to descend upon my should once again, I have decided to work on the background material that will be included in my book. Nothing exciting, just dull, boring stuff that needs to be included in order to give a sense of atmosphere.

Now, that sounds easy enough, correct? Yeah, right! Ask any writer and they will tell you that sometimes the "dull, boring stuff" is the most difficult to write, especially when it's background material that needs to be incorporated into the story.

Anyway......here's the deal! I would LOVE for y'all to read this small excerpt and leave me comments as to whether or not it sounds okay....well, not just okay, but GOOD! (That's the rub....it has to be more than OKAY!) So PLEASE??? Help a girl out, okay??

Here it goes:

Ryesville was a typical Appalachian town, complete with it’s own sense of time and a convoluted sense of it’s own importance in the world. Barely 800 people lived within confines of the town and only 1500 or so in the rest of the county. There wasn’t much industry here, there never had been, and the mountainous terrain made farming on any large scale unimaginable. The county itself was the largest employer, followed by the school system and the one small packaging plant that sat just outside of town. There were a few small businesses, but nothing that employed more than a dozen people of so.

Strict schedules were only a vague concept in this community. The few small stores operated on more of a “if we’re here we are open” timetable than an exact time for opening and closing. The only schedule in town that could be depended on was the scheduled dates and times of classes at the three county schools, and even they were depended upon the weather and whether or not there was a home football game or festival taking place that day..

Ryesville was a nice place to live. Quiet, for the most part, and relatively crime free. There were a few things that occurred from time to time, some drug problems, kids joy riding, a few fights and several domestic violence problems, but those things always seemed to happen outside of town. The biggest problem in town itself was speeding.

People felt safe here. At least they had until a few weeks before Thanksgiving. That was when things started to change, when people began disappearing. At first it was only a few, but as the weeks passed, more and more people were simply gone.

No one had thought much of it early on, this was a small town with only a limited number of jobs to start with and with the economy getting worse, the jobs were becoming more and more scarce. It was only natural that people would leave in order to try and find work elsewhere.

The initial ones missing were single people, men and women both. They were all people that could have relocated somewhere with more opportunity for employment. The only thing odd about the first ones to disappear was that none of them were originally from Ryesville, although no one made much of that fact other than to comment that it seemed odd.

By the time Christmas rolled around the number and frequency of disappearances had become so high that people were frightened. What had started as an explainable coincidence had now become a frightening shadow. The last to disappear were all respectable people born in Ryesville. They all had families and had, until recently, held steady jobs to support those families. Each of them had recently experienced a layoff or other type of job loss that imposed hardships, but they all seemed to be hopeful of securing future employment. These people ranged in age from early twenties to the late fifties.

Every one of the missing had been simple normal hard-working people. One day they were going on about their lives, looking for work, spending time with friends and family, living a quiet life, and the next day the just seemed to drive off to….well, that was the question. Where had they gone? Why had they gone? And more importantly, were they gone by choice?

So that's it. Let me know what you think, and don't be shy because nothing you can say will be as bad as the things I've been saying to myself!! LOL

Thanks y'all!

Dodadaghovi

Easter, birthday and such

2011-04-25T08:27:00.004-04:00

Okay, here’s the deal.

Yesterday was Easter. You all know that, right? Well, I spent my Easter the same way I spent my birthday, alone. E. asked if I was going to come out there, but I realize that it cost them money each and every time they come to town to get me, take me out there, bring me back home and then go back out there. I don’t want her to have to spend money just for me to visit for a while, it’s not fair and I don’t want to do it. Sooooo….I stayed here and just hung out.

It wasn’t as though it’s a bad thing, not in and of itself. But, after spending holiday after holiday, day after day, sitting here waiting for….well, who the hell knows what I’m waiting for. I don’t. I don’t know why I worry about it, I don’t know why I care one way or another.

But I do.

I’ve been told all of my life that I’m “tougher than that”, meaning that I can, and usually do, survive everything that is thrown at me, that I can muddle through whatever life, and the people in it, decide to throw at me. And so far I have been able to. It hasn’t been easy, I haven’t enjoyed a lot of it, I wouldn’t want to repeat too awful much of it, but I did manage to get through.

But is getting through enough? What about the debris that is left behind by each situation that needs me to “tough” it out? What about the pain that lingers when someone says or does something that cuts to the bone? What about the tears that have been spilled over certain situations? Tears that sometimes seem unending?

Just because I am still here, just because I can get up in the morning and go about my day, just because I can hid my pain, none of that means that I am okay. (Not that I have any idea what “okay” actually is.)

I am lonely. I get tired of not having someone to do things with. I get tired of not having someone to talk to about the things that hurt me, the things that worry me or upset me. I mean, yeah, I have friends that I bitch to from time to time, good, loyal, true, loving friends. But I don’t burden them with the things that hide from the light deep in my heart. I don’t tell them about the terrors that keep me awake at night, or worse the ones that wake me up in the middle of the night.

I guess I try to protect people. I try to help them get through their own “stuff” even if it simply means that I listen. I realize that everyone has their own personal hell that they suffer through every day. To suffer and worry is the nature of mankind. I don’t want to add to anyone else’s suffering or worry.

I believe we, as human beings, are suppose to help one another. We’re suppose to help ease another person’s suffering, which in turn is suppose to ease ours. We are suppose to be kind to one another, to be concerned about one another, to simply “be there” for one another.

I just don’t know how to allow someone to “be there” for me. I don’t know how to allow someone that close anymore. It’s been years since I’ve allowed anyone to be close enough to me to know when I’m in pain, or when I am worried, sad or just simply angry. I mean I have burst of anger from time to time, and believe me people around me know when I’m that kind of angry. But to say that there is anyone alive today that knows my secret dreams, my secret pains, my secret hopes, desires or wishes……..well, I just can’t do that.

I can’t allow anyone to be that close to me. I can’t trust anyone enough to allow them to know what I keep hidden, the fears that I rarely allow myself to admit to. I have trusted in the past, and I have had the very things that I shared with someone used against me. I have been hurt by trusting another person, by trusting a person that I loved, and I don’t know that I can do it again.I guess I could sit here and anonymously share those things with you folks that read this ranting, raving piece of literature. (Yes, I’m using the word “literature” in it’s loosest form.”) But that would add to your problems, at least in the “aww that sucks” sort of way that we all use when we hear that someone is going through a bad time. And I don’t want to do that.

So, I will continue to “elude” to various and sunder things that are bothering me, always be vague, never admit to the intensity of my worry/pain/sorrow. I guess that is my way of trying to protect others.

I want to thank all of you for reading this rambling post. And for reading all of the other stupid things that I have put up over the years. All of you are my sounding board. My safe place to run to when I am so full of pain/confusion/anger or even when I’m irritated at the simple things in life that all of us are bothered by.

All of you have been my friends, my confidants. Even though none of you know what I’m “eluding” to half the time, you still read and a few of you leave me comments letting me know that, even though I get very lonely at times, I am not alone.

Thank you all.

Dodadaghovi

Happy Birthday Me!

2011-04-19T07:38:00.004-04:00

Woke up this morning to the sound of thunder roaring and echoing across the hills. Rain beat down on the tin roof like a thousand little feet marching in time.

Suddenly silence fell, muffling the last of the echoing thunder and marching raindrops. Off in the distance a rumbling sounded, echoed and amplified over and over until finally it reached the house, where it rattled the windows and frightened the pups. One last bright flash of brilliant white, a final explosion of sound and wave after wave of rain beating on the roof.

Sounds like a typical Spring storm in West Virginia, doesn't it? And to must people it would be, but to me it's a wonderful event, even though I'm frightened of storms.

You see, it was 7:23 am when I woke up. I was born exactly 51 years ago at 7:23 this morning!

Our glorious God woke me up to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY CHILD and to remind me of his awesome power.

Thank you God for giving me yet another day, yet another year, to enjoy the wonders that have been created by Your hand.

Dodadaghovi

So, tomorrow is my birthday.......

2011-04-18T17:58:00.002-04:00

Today is April 18 and that means that tomorrow is my birthday. As I sit here thinking about growing older, which we all get to do if we're lucky, I have realized a few things.

I have always made a big deal out of birthdays. Other people's birthdays, not my own. As a matter of a fact, I have planned more parties than I can remember, and I have attended even more than I have planned. However, I have only ever had one birthday party in my life and that was the year I turned 10.

Since then it's been phone calls from family members that I am separated from. First it was from my Grandma Freed and maybe my Mom. After Grandma passed away, it was usually a call from Mom and a few friends. These days it's calls from my children, and usually my Dad.

This year I'll there will be 2, possibly 3 calls from the kids. My oldest son is in Korea for a few weeks and won't be calling, and I'm not sure about the youngest son (and honestly don't care if you want the truth. His not calling is no more painful than his lying to me about stopping when he's in West Virginia, in the same town no less, for a few days, and then doesn't even bother to let me know that he ISN'T coming by. So no call just means one less opportunity to lie to me.)

I'm pretty sure that a few of my friends will call and wish me a Happy Birthday. I know that they love me and will wish me well.

But that isn't what this is about. What it is about is that for some reason I feel as though I am not as important as other people I know/love. It's important for them to have a good day, each and every day, I pray for them, I let them know that I care, I reach out.

Now here I sit, facing some serious health issues and, quite honestly, feeling sorry for myself. I want my birthday to be a good day, but I know that it won't be. I still don't have a water heater nor the money for one, I don't even have the money to get myself a sandwich and a cupcake as a treat. It's not that I expect anyone to feel sorry for me, or to do those things for me, it's that I can't do them for myself. I hate being broke, I hate not having a job, I hate being alone, I hate not having a car or a decent house to live in.

I hate my life.

So tomorrow, I will get up, let the dogs out, do my yoga, drink some tea and possibly go back to bed. That will be my birthday gift to myself. Sleep through it and when it's over it will be just a bad memory.

Like almost every single one of the last 41.

Dodadaghovi

It's 4 a.m. and I'm awake.

2011-04-17T04:20:00.004-04:00

It's 4 a.m. and I'm awake. Why you may ask, since I DO have plans for something I am suppose to do today?

Well, it all started because I try to be a good friend. I try to be concerned for people that I care about. WHY? Well, it's just who I am.

Someone, who will go nameless, was suppose to call me when they got home. Sooooooo.....I've been sitting here, waiting on a call that has never come.

Should I be worried? Probably not, it's not the first time this particular person has done this, but then again, we just had a young man die trying to drive through high water in Jackson County today. But, of course the person that was suppose to call knows better than to do something like that, right? Yeah.....just like they know better than to tell someone that they will call when they get home.

Should I be angry? Probably, I mean it is now 4:25 and I'm awake, and I'm going to look and feel like shit today because of it, but hey, what are friends for, right? Being angry about this is as much a waste of time as worrying about this person, it does not good, it changes not a damn thing.

Should I stop being this person's friend? Again, probably, but it's kind of ignorant to throw away a friendship because someone doesn't call when they say they will, right? NO, not right. It's not as though this is the first time, hell, this isn't even the first time this WEEK! And the inconsideration doesn't stop at lying about calling when they get home, no not at all. Hell, if it did there wouldn't be any question about dropping a friendship over a missed call. No, the inconsideration is and has been ongoing for years.

By inconsideration, I mean saying that you are going to do something, such as make a call just to set someones mind at ease because you're out driving around, after going to the bar and getting who knows how drunk, in weather that has left high water in some places, mudslides across some roads, not to mention deer that think this is great weather to run rampant or the fact that there is high water in some places and this person probably went over 40 miles away to go to a bar. No, this inconsideration extends to not being on time, not bothering to return the friendship (such as call or check on me when I'm sick, you know, like I do when they are sick), literally lying to other people about things that has or has not happened, "forgetting" plans because something else came up, or even making plans and then "forgetting" them because someone "stopped by" and apparently stole the phone so the "friend" couldn't call and say "Hey, I'm not going to be able to make it".

So, what is the rant about? I guess it's my way of explaining how I feel and maybe even giving a little lesson on what a friend is!

The dictionary defines friendship as:

FRIENDSHIP:

the state of being a friend; association as friends: to value a person's friendship.

a friendly relation or intimacy.

friendly feeling or disposition.

and the definition of friend is:

FRIEND:
–noun

a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.

NO, I didn't post every definition of FRIEND, just the first one.

Since I actually looked up the definitions I realize, once again, that this person is NOT a friend, this person is a waste of time!! And believe me folks, with all the crap that is going on in my life wasting time is the LAST thing I need.

I KNOW I will hear from this person, probably tomorrow or the next day, and they will have some half-ass excuse for why they didn't call. And I KNOW that I will check the local papers, just in case they drove their drunk ass over a hillside somewhere.

I also KNOW that I won't be associating with this person much longer. I HAVE HAD IT. I don't want to stop caring about this person, God knows they need all the concern that they can get because they aren't doing very well right now, but you know what? SO DO I!

I don't need people in my life that don't have any concern for me or for my friendship. I don't mean to be spouting off, but damn it, I AM a good friend. I am always there when my friends need me, even if I can't do anything more than just listen to them, or hold then when they cry, or make them laugh when they are down. I DON'T say I will do something and then just forget about it, I DON'T make promises and then act as though I didn't, I DON'T expect them to forgive me for being an ass because I WANT TO BE AN ASS. Hell, I even apologize for being in a shitty mood when I spout off to my friends.

But this time, this last time, I am not going to apologize for anything, because I have nothing to apologize for. I am also NOT going to accept an apology because I KNOW it will be bull-shit that means nothing because this person will simply do it again at the first chance they are given.

It won't be easy for me to NOT think about my friend, because regardless of the fact that it is quite obvious that we are NOT friends by any definition, I don't turn my back on people. But I'm going to remind myself the next time this person calls, that they are NOT a friend. That I am NOT important to them, that it is NOT important if they cause me worry or pain, that there is nothing nor no one that is as important to them as they are to themselves.

I will remind myself that it's about time for me to care about ME, not about people that don't care about themselves.

I will NOT have respect for someone that has no respect for me.

I will NOT worry about someone that doesn't care if they worry me.

I will NOT concern myself with whatever problem they have, rather I will concern myself with my own problems.

I will NOT waste anymore time on people that are blatantly selfish, inconsiderate, and self absorbed.

I AM a good person, even if I can be a totally bitch sometimes. I DO care about other people, even when I have so much stuff going on that I can't stop for a minute and think about relaxing. I CAN be depended on, even when it inconveniences me. I WILL take time to talk to someone that needs a friend, even if I have other stuff to do.

I DESERVE BETTER!!! And I WILL have better.

Okay, bitching done.

Dodadaghovi

Sometimes I wonder....

2011-04-14T23:14:00.002-04:00

You know, sometimes I wonder why I even bother posting anything here. There area only a couple of people that even bother to comment, I love you both, even though I know there are many more than that who checks out what I write. WHAT'S WRONG PEOPLE??? FORGOT HOW TO COMMENT??

Okay, now that I'm over that, let's move on to Stray dogs and Small towns.

I had to call the city police yesterday! Yes folks, for once I had to rely on the backup and support of our local law enforcement officer. (Who BTW is a real cutey and very, very nice and polite!) You see, yesterday morning I opened the door while holding on to the harness of my little black dog, Loki. I reached out to get the tie-out so that I could let him out for a while. TWO strays ran up onto my porch and attacked me and Loki. Loki ran, they got him down and then he got away again and was gone for an hour. When he came back he was scared and shaking, and he shook for over 2 hours. Thankfully he wasn't hurt too badly, just bruised and sore, so he's doing okay.

But, while the police were here I found out that it is ILLEGAL to fire so much as a slingshot in our little town. Yes folks, we can't shoot a slingshot, let alone a bb rifle or a pellet gun.....I'm surprised that we are allowed to use straws to shoot paper wads at each other! LOL Maybe I should to bring that up at the next city council meeting!

Speaking of the city council, OMG, all I can say is WHY??? WHY did we elect them?? WHY do we RE-elect them??

But, hopefully the law is going to fix the problem with the strays! I HOPE!

Dodadaghovi

Dog troubles, cold weather and busted water heater.

2011-04-13T12:26:00.003-04:00

So, me and my little black dog, Loki, were attacked on our own porch this morning by two of the neighbor's dogs. There have been complaints about these dogs, as they have attacked another neighbor's German Shepard, as well as getting into the trash and just generally causing problems.

I'm not sure what is going to be done, the woman that owns them is not, how should I say it, quite "with it" if you know what I mean. So what will be done about the dogs, and her, is up in the air right now. But when I know I'll let you know.

My dog was more scared than actually hurt, and I was scared and very, very, very angry!! Anyone that knows me knows that I take care of my pets, they aren't allowed to go wandering around at will, and NONE of them have ever threatened or lunged at anyone. These two dogs, however, have caused and are continuing to cause problems. Hopefully they won't have to be put down, but I figure that is what will happen.

I think it's a shame when the animals have to suffer for the stupidity or laziness of the owners. The dogs didn't ask this person to take them in, nor do they have any say in how they are treated. Sometimes it seems as though the ticket a person will get for having vicious dogs at large is more of a joke than an actual punishment.

Enough about that, I'm still angry and I don't need to spout off about what I think.

COLD WEATHER....yes folks, it's a chilly day in old Sunny Cal, but it IS April, so we should expect the unexpected, right? It's finally stopped raining, at least for the moment, but the ground (ie mud) is soaked and slicker than snot on a marble! (Yes, I said snot on a marble. For those of you that don't realize just how slick that is, all I can say is try it for yourself and you'll have a better understanding! LOL)

Now on to the thing that is driving me NUTS!! My water heater has heated it's last drop. Yes, it is headed for the great water heater Happy Heating Ground. After cleaning up about 6 inches of HOT (think par boiled Teri) water out of the laundry room and bath room, I have decided that I really should consider moving. When a person has a lousy landlord, they should stay...I'm just saying.

But, the landlord situation aside, not having hot water is more than a inconvenience for me. I HAVE to have at least one shower a day...preferably a bath AND a shower. But, since there is no hot water, and it's about 40 degrees outside, I can't take either a hot bath or a hot shower. AND IT SUCKS!!!

I have been on a quest to find a good used gas water heater......and like all quests, it has been difficult and unproductive up til now. No, I haven't found a water heater, but the day isn't over and I am not one to quit, so the Quest continues!!

I've been working on the "manuscript"....notice the quotes? Well, there's a reason for them....the stupid thing has taken on it's own life and is making mine more complicated!! I'm not sure who is who anymore, nor what they are doing. So, it's like hunting for pennies in the tall grass at midnight! A lost cause unless you are really, really, really determined! And yes, I am determined!

I will post a few pages now and then for you all to read IF I get comments stating that you all would like to read a few pages. SOOOOOOOO, if you want to read a few more pages of the manuscript, please LET ME KNOW.

Well I'm out for a while!

Dodadaghovi

Soooo.....it's April!

2011-04-12T11:37:00.005-04:00

So, it's April! If you didn't already know that just take a look outside, it's getting green and brown....green because the leaves are popping out and brown because mud is the new favorite color of West Virginia!

I, for one, don't like the weather this month offers us. Although April is one of my favorite months, simply because my oldest daughter, Shan, was born on the 17th and my birthday is the 19th, I could do without the weather that is thrown at us. We have everything from rain, snow, 86 degree days, fog and of course the mud.

It's so bad that I've taught my dogs to wipe their feet before they come inside! LOL I'm sick of everything having that wonderful reddish-brown color that is left behind by the slicker than snot mud of our great state! (For those of you who don't know, West Virginia mud is mostly clay....disgusting, skin staining, slick and slimy mud!)

Anyway....there's nothing I can do about the weather, so I guess I'll just put up with it and complain from time to time about having to scrub and scrub to TRY and get the mud out of the carpet, my shoes, my socks, my dogs, etc.

Speaking of complaining....I've got enough to complain about without worrying about the mud! My water heater took a dump yesterday! Yes folks, I had about 6 inches of HOT water in the laundry room and the bathroom, and of course the floors are simply linoleum covered press board...which means that I will have to replace the floors as well!! JOY JOY! Isn't my life sooooo restful and simple? Yeah...simply a mess!

On top of trying to find a water heater that I can afford....which would be a free one at this point.....I'm trying to figure out how to heat enough water to take a "bird bath".....I don't have any large pans...I live alone, what is the point of having large pans when you live alone, well, other than to heat water when your water heater decides to blowup!

And of course there is the manuscript! LOL That damn thing has not only taken on a life of it's own, but I've discovered that it's schizophrenic as well! Yes, it can't decide what is going to happen from page to page and I lost control of it chapters ago! I actually wrote 21 pages while staring off into space, allowing the Muses to take control....let me tell you that was a mistake! Sometimes the Muses are TWISTED bitches, let me tell you!

So now I'm trying to figure out who is doing what, where and when. I've had to re-read the entire thing and I'm totally lost trying to figure out what I'm suppose to do now! Strange, huh?

But, such is the life of a frustrated author stuck in the center of West Virginia!

I'm out of here for a while.

Dodadaghovi

It has been FOREVER since....

2011-04-09T09:51:00.021-04:00

It has been forever since I've posted anything. Bet y'all thought I had forgotten about you, either that or that I had run away from home and wasn't about to give any clues as to where I was. But, although the running away thing is something I've considered a time or two, I am still here....just haven't been in a blogging mood.

Actually I've been working on a manuscript. Yes folks, Teri has finally decided to stop being such a chicken-shit and actually try to get something published! Yay me!!

A person would think that writing, especially for someone like me that has hundreds of thousands of words doing battle in their head, would be an easy prospect. Well, I'm here to tell you THAT IS SOOOOOO WRONG! I mean, it was easy to start this manuscript....I had a thousand ideas and story lines.....then I made the decision to allow the story to tell it's self. Yes folks, I am just the conduit for a bunch of words that come pouring out like pus from an infected sore. (ECKKKK.....that was just wrong)

What I'm trying to say is this, I sit here and stare off into space, usually listening to the Blues, and type.....I don't even read what I've written until later, sometimes not until the next day.....or else I sit here and watch television, usually some show about history or a Sci-Fi or Horror movie, and just allow the words to flow. I didn't do this at first, at first I struggled for each and every word, now that I've decided to allow the story to tell it's self I can't type fast enough to keep up!!

Sounds easy, huh? Well, I guess it would be except for the fact that the muse, or voice, or whatever that is telling this story is a bit schizophrenic. You see, the story keeps changing.....each and every time I write some new character or situation pops up. Characters that I thought would become a story line unto themselves have died...or turned out to be evil....or become so seriously boring that even I can't stand to read about them. Who knows, maybe I'm the schizo not the voice in my head. (hmmmm...voice in my head...pretty much the definition of schizo.)

Anyway....here is a little bit of the manuscript.....please let me know what you think, k?

He spoke to me of a magical tune

He spoke of a child, born too soon

He danced his finger across my face

He spoke of the magic in this place

She woke up with a start, the soft voice lingering in her ears, or was it lingering in her mind? Running her fingers through her short blond hair, she heaved a bone weary sigh and stretched like a sun-warmed cat.

“Shit, what I wouldn’t give for a full night’s sleep.” Her voice was sultry with just a hint of Southern flavor. Rubbing her fingers across her forehead, she sighed yet again and stood up to face her day.

Stumbling to the kitchen she started the coffee pot and wondered if she had time for a quick shower. Deciding that she did, she headed toward her small, neat bathroom, shedding her pajamas as she went.

Reaching through the shower curtain, she adjusted the water to just barely over lukewarm and stepped in. She grabbed her washcloth and squirted her favorite shower gel onto the cloth. As the aroma of honeysuckle and orange blossoms filled the shower the breathless whisper of a voice invaded the edges of her mind again.

Suddenly, the water felt like shards of glass slicing through her. The washcloth felt like sandpaper stripping off layers of skin.

“Enough of this shit!” Her own voice startled her so badly she almost fell. Reaching out a trembling hand, she shut off the water and grabbed the towel.

In sharp contrast to the biting water, the towel felt like fluffed cotton. Closing her eyes in pleasure, she slowly dried off and slipped into her robe. Wrapping the towel around her unruly hair, she stepped out of the bathroom with only one thought on her mind…..coffee.

So, that was the beginning. Do you think it sounds interesting, or am I just indulging in an act of mental masturbation?

Y'all me the judge!

Later!

Dodadaghovi.

Hello out there.....

2011-03-14T03:48:00.002-04:00

Well, the cell phone is still working! LOL And the best part is that I haven’t had to charge it since the whole microwave thing! It’s been on since Thursday, and it’s still at full charge. Don’t know if the micro waving it has anything to do with it, but hey, I’m not going to complain about it.

Well, I’m not going to complain about the cell phone anyway.

But kiddies, I am going to rant and rave a little bit. I’ve got something to say and I’m going to take this opportunity to say it!

Maybe someone out there can explain a few things to me. Then again, maybe not, who knows.

Anyway, what I’m wondering is why people do such stupid, inconsiderate, hurtful, angry, spiteful things to one another? I mean really, what the hell is wrong with people?

I have several people ask me why they don’t see me out and about too much anymore. Well, I’ll tell you why. I stay home, in my little house on Pine St., with my fur-babies, my TV, my computer and my writing. I read, I cook, I watch television, I write and I only see the people that I want to see, when I want to see them. (Well, that’s not entirely true, because there are some people that I wish I could get to see more often, but time and circumstances prevent it.) What I’m trying to say is that I don’t have to deal with bullshit, so for the most part I don’t. At least I don’t unless it’s forced on me, and then I’m not the nicest person around.

I don’t understand why people can say they are your friend, they can act like a friend, be there in good times and bad, call or come over and spend time or whatever and then…..out of the clear blue sky……..they run their mouths about something that was confidential or they start rumors based on half truths, or else they just stop talking to you even though you call them or try to get a hold of them, and you have no idea why they have done what they have done.

I have a “friend” (yes, I am using that word loosely) that I trusted, a person that I thought was a good person who shared some of my beliefs and ideas. Then, for what reason I don’t know, she decides that she doesn’t have time for me, although she’s on the computer or out doing whatever. She can’t return a call, even when I leave a message. She doesn’t bother to call or even send an email that isn’t some stupid thing she’s forwarding. I don’t know what I’ve done, actually I don’t know that I’ve done anything. I get the feeling that she doesn’t know what I’ve done either, but that’s another story. Anyway, this person has hurt me and I, trying to be a better person that I actually am, haven’t confronted her or even said much about it.

Well ladies and gentlemen, guess what? I’m sick and tired of trying to be a better person. I am who I am and right now I’m pissed!!!

Then there is this other person that only wants to spend time with me when they want to spend time with me. If I’m busy, or if I don’t feel like doing whatever it is they want to do, this person gets an attitude!! WTF?? I’m not allowed to be busy? It’s not like I call them and want to spend time with them and they just drop everything in order to do so. But that’s what is expected of me. I should drop everything and just do whatever simply that’s because this person WANTS me to??

One word answer here….NO! (Actually it’s a two-word answer, but I’m trying to keep the profanity to a minimum.)

So, that’s two of the people that are inconsiderate and spiteful, and I’m one of the angry ones at this point.

There is also the guy that is in a relationship (or marriage…not going to tell you which) and the woman he is with loves him. For whatever reason he wants not only her, but another woman as well. No, he doesn’t want to leave the first woman, but he wants the second woman to be “on call” whenever he has time for her and if she isn’t, if she spends time with friends or has something else to do, he gets pissed. What really sucks is that woman number one is not necessarily a bad person, but she is DEFINITELY a negative person. She whines, she bitches, she blames others for her actions and she is never satisfied with what she has so she uses who ever she can in order to get what she wants.

Woman number two is a cool person. She doesn’t ask for much, just someone to spend some time with, go a few places with and enjoy the company of. She doesn’t want marriage, hell; I don’t even think she even wants a boyfriend. I know she said that she’s had about enough, but I’ve heard that before. I know she’s miserable and, for what reason I don’t know, she’s not doing anything about it. What I don’t know is why she is allowing herself to get caught up in all the damn drama!!

Now, before you jump to conclusions, woman number two is NOT me, although I’ve been there before.

There are so many things I don’t understand. But there is only one that I want to know.

WHAT HAPPENED TO LOVE?

Why does someone throw away 30 years of his or her life in order to “scratch an itch”? Didn’t the person they have been with all these years ever scratch that itch? Why isn’t that person scratching it now??

Why does someone turn their back on their friend? Wasn’t that person always there regardless of what else was going on in their life? Isn’t that person worth anything? Or is it as simple as the fact that the person who turned away is selfish and can’t stand the fact that their friend is actually happy?

Why would a man stay with someone out of pity? Doesn’t he realize that sooner or later it will come to light that they didn’t actually love the person they are with? Doesn’t he realize that pity isn’t an emotion to build a relationship on? Does he not care that the woman will eventually be hurt more than she would be if he just told the truth?

Why does a woman allow herself to be used and cast aside like she is worthless? Doesn’t she know that she is worth more than gold? Is she so lonely and afraid that she will accept any type of attention in order to feel like she’s loved?

Does anyone out there have the answers to these questions? Am I correct in thinking that the one thing that is missing in all of these circumstances is LOVE?

For such a little word LOVE carries a lot of weight. It can mean passion, or desire, or concern. It doesn’t have to be sexual, or even romantic. You can love a friend, a sweetheart, a wife, a child or a dog. You can love the person next door in the sense that you worry about something happening to them or are concerned for a situation that they are involved in.

I don’t understand why we, as human beings, can’t admit to the longing to be loved. I don’t mean romantic love necessarily; I mean love as in being important to another human being. And I really don’t understand how we got to the place where we don’t care about other inhabitants of this planet.

If anyone can help me to understand, please do so. Because I’m getting to the point where I don’t even want to see another person. If I stay totally alone, I don’t have to worry about how I feel versus how someone else feels. I don’t have to worry about someone trying to use to get something they want or simply to keep them from being alone.

Anyway, enough of my bitching. I know that I probably won’t get many comments on this, although there are a few of you that read and comment almost every time. I know that very few, if any, of you will bother reading this entry to this point, let alone try to answer me.

I guess I’m just looking to be reassured, even though I know that there isn’t anyone that is assured enough to reassure me.

Later ya’ll.

Dodadaghovi

It's been way too long!

2011-03-12T09:01:00.004-05:00

So, it’s been a very long time since I’ve posted anything here. I’ve had people ask me when I was going to put something up again, others have asked if I was okay or if I was having some problems.

Well, I’ve been fine, just busy with a few things that have become a priority in my life. You see, it looks like I’m going to be published very shortly!

Yes kids, I’ve finally gotten off my butt, found my courage and decided to actually do something about getting a manuscript out there for everyone to see! LOL No more fear, yeah right…. I’m scared to death that I will fall flat on my face, No more procrastinating, yeah right…. I’m sort of stuck right now and I’m putting off doing anything about it. But the thing is, I AM doing something about it, I’m working, I’m dreaming, I’m writing, I’m living!!

Other than the manuscript, some of which I will post at some pointing the future, I’ve just been hanging out, taking pictures and just in general being myself. Isn’t that a scary thought, Teri being Teri??

As far as things go in the wonder little corner of the world that is so jokingly called Sunny Calhoun, the weather has finally broken, by that I mean that there is no rain or snow today, and not even a whisper of a thought that there will be. Not just that, but it’s actually suppose to be in the 60’s today!! After days and days of 20’s and 30’s a day of 60-degree weather is truly a Godsend!!

The fur babies are all doing fine! Yeah, I still have my menagerie, way too many fur babies and each and every one of them are spoiled rotten. Oh well, I’ve always been the one to take care of someone else, now that the kids are gone and I’m alone I guess I just need something to take care of…….soooooo, Loki, DeOhGee, Cabella, Emily, PattyCat, Wacker and Tiver, you don’t realize how lucky you are! LOL

One last thing, just to let you know that I’m still me……..the other day I charged my cell phone and then put it on top of the microwave. I didn’t think anything about it, I usually keep it there unless I’m going out somewhere and want to take it with me. Anyway, I got busy doing this and that, and then I finally decided that I was hungry. Just then the phone rang and I ran off to answer it.

While talking to one of my friends, I decided to do something about the hunger thing, so I grabbed some left over chicken, slapped it in a bowl and stuck it in the microwave. Then I wondered off, waiting for the ding that announced that my lunch was ready. Long before that coveted ding, I heard what sound like popping grease. Running into the kitchen, I jerked open the microwave door and there, sitting in the middle of my semi-warm chicken, was my black cell phone!!

Yes folks, I microwaved my cell phone! LOL Now for the best part, once it had cooled down enough to handle, I tried making a call and IT STILL WORKS!! LOL I even plugged it in to see if it would charge, and it does!!

Regardless of what can or cannot be said about Tracphone, they sure make one tough ass phone!!!

Dodadaghovi!

Cars, trucks and idiots

2011-01-28T08:58:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm back! LOL

As many of you know, I do not have a car at the present time. Usually I complain about that fact and act all put out and such...but today, after sitting by the window and watching the way some of these people drive (or try to drive) on my little dead end street I'm actually glad I don't have a vehicle.

Why? Well, for one simple fact...I don't handle stress well, at least I'm not handling it well these days. If I had to go somewhere today, with the roads being the mess they are and these people driving around on them, well, I'm afraid I would suffer from the Mother of all road rages! I would probably end up charged with vehicular homicide (although taking out some of these idiots would be a service to society in general) and spend the rest of my natural life in prison! Just for future reference...I DO NOT WANT TO SPEND MY LIFE IN PRISON!

I've been wanting to take a walk around and get some snow pictures, for all that it's making life rough it sure is beautiful. But as I sat here drinking my tea, I realize that walking on the roads today (or most any day for that matter) would be the same as playing Russian Roulette. I have witnessed folks coming up this road at a high rate of speed, only to stomp on their brakes and slide for 30 feet.....I don't understand this, if you can see well enough to drive, you should be able to see that the street has only been plowed, not treated, and there is ice on it.......I have also witnessed someone sitting in their driveway spinning their tires for 25 minutes trying to get the car to move.....maybe the fact that they almost fell on the way to the car should have enlightened them to the fact that it is slick....not to mention if the tires are blowing black smoke and the odor of burning rubber is heavy in the air you should probably let up on the gas and rethink your actions. And then there was the one that thought she could come off of a gravel road and, apparently just because it's gravel, not slide when she slammed on her brakes at the stop sign. I guess ice doesn't form on gravel.........

Or maybe it's just people don't know how to drive??

Dodadaghovi

Snow, snow.....and bad internet service

2011-01-28T04:55:00.003-05:00

Good Morning, y'all!

Well, for the third day in a row the children of Calhoun County have found a reprieve from school. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our schools are closed once again. If you are wondering why, I will tell you. We have SNOW....yes, that wonderful, wet, cold, frozen water that falls from the sky has graced us with it's presence once again. It's not as though we have a lot of snow....it's just that we had a bunch of rain, followed by wet, heavy snow and freezing (really freezing) temperatures. Then more snow....and freezing temps.....and more snow......and more freezing temps. So our roads are slippery and snow covered, our sidewalks (what few we have) are obstacle courses and it's just plain yuck out there.

The fact that it's cold, snowy and not fit for man or beast out there wouldn't be so bad if those of us that are addicted to the Internet could just stay in and play/blog/facebook all day/night. But NOOOO...not here!

In wonderful Calhoun (which it can be a wonderful place) we have been without internet all night. I guess living in a rural area has it's downfalls, God knows I've lived here long enough to figure that one out on my own, but this is ridiculous.....when we call FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS, our wonderful phone/Internet provider, we are told...."There is no known issue in that area". Okay....maybe mine is an anomaly, I could except that. Except for the fact that when I finally get back on Facebook I find that the WHOLE COUNTY has been without Internet service all night!!

I realize that we are a small county, we aren't heavily populated and we have no thriving cities....but we still have enough people here that SOMEONE should have noticed that the whole county has been offline for the entire night!!! Shouldn't the phone calls have alerted someone to the fact that there was a server problem in this area? Or maybe the fact that no one had heard from any of us all night?

All I can say is that it is humbling to realize that even when the whole county is still and quiet, no one notices. In the great scheme of things, a night without Internet isn't that horrible, but it is annoying. And it's even more unsettling to realize that our whole county can go still and silent and no one really seems to notice.

I'm going to go back in and crawl under the covers. For some reason I suddenly feel very small and almost frightened.

Have a good day y'all.

Dodadaghovi

I'm soooo lazy

2011-01-27T15:18:00.003-05:00

Well, January is almost over and I am just now adding a new post. Seems like I'm either really behind or else just lazy.....I guess I'll go with lazy for the sake of argument.

So, a short update on what's what so far this year......

I'm still here, in my little house on Pine Street with my pets (or is that pests?) and my books. I'm getting more and more adjusted to living alone the longer I live alone. Not that it's not lonely from time to time...it's just that you get used to it after a while. But then again, I had a friend once tell me that you could get used to anything if you had to put up with it long enough.....don't know if that's true or not...but I'm beginning to think it is.

I'm working on a Paranormal Romance. Yes folks, I have decided to prostitute myself out in order to try and make a decent living like a normal (yeah right) person. Anyway...this story started out as one thing and has now taken on a life of its' own and I'm not sure where exactly it is going. Hopefully the place it ends up is in the hands of a generous publisher!! (cross your fingers for me!!)

We've had snow, snow, snow, ice, rain, rain, sleet, snow, ice, rain, snow so far this month! Sounds like fun, huh? Anyway, last night a lot of people in the county lost their electricity...luckily I wasn't one of them, although I did have a few flickers. Most every one has their electric back from what I hear, so hopefully, all is well in the wonderful county of Calhoun!!

Well, you're caught up...well, except for today that is.

Today, I gave blood!! Yes folks, I actually volunteered to have a needle stuck in my arm and a pint of that precious red stuff drawn out! Why you may be asking. Well, I realize that unlike coal and oil, blood is a renewing natural resource that can/will/could save the life of our next president, the person that cures cancer, rock star or Great American Novelist!

I just don't understand why the Red Cross has to beg people to give blood! It's easy, it doesn't hurt and they feed you afterwards! (Hell, that's better than most of the dates I've been on in the last few years!) It doesn't take that long, well, the actual process doesn't take that long, and the best part is that you could be saving the life of someone you know! WE NEED MORE BLOOD DONORS!!!

I just hope that all of those pussies...uh, people, that are afraid to give blood don't ever need to receive blood or blood products. If they do, I just hope that someone who is a fitting donor for them was brave enough and selfless enough to give the blood that saves their life!

Okay...Teri is stepping off of the soapbox!

Oh yeah....I forgot!! I GOT NEW GLASSES!!!! I don't have to wear them to see to read or type of whatever...but if you're more than 10 ft away from me and ask me how you look I WILL LIE unless I'm wearing my glasses. You see, if your 10 ft or more away I'm lucky if I can tell who you are, let alone if you look good or not! LOL

Well, that's it for now! I'm going to go find something to eat! I'm starved!!

I'll try and find my way back soon!!

Thanks kiddies!!

Dodadaghovi

Brrrr....cold, damp....brrrrrr

2010-12-30T23:08:00.008-05:00

I'm sitting here looking at the photos on my wall - all of which I have taken and then "done" something to. (Damn, that makes me sound like some type of photography psycho/rapist/serial killer) I must admit, I'm getting pretty good at the photo thing -YES, that is me contorting myself into the shape of a pretzel in order to pat myself on the back.

Anyway......I'm sitting here when it dawns on my that I hate the cold! Now- those of you that live close realize that it IS 46 degrees - and 46 degrees is NOT that cold. But it's damp. Not just damp - it's seep into your bones and make everything feel brittle and just yucky damp.

There are a few things about he cold that are good - but then again, I can usually find at least one good thing in any situation. But anyway - good things about the cold.

1.) Cold prolongs the shelf life of milk. Sounds simple, right? Everyone knows that cold - not freezing, just cold - keeps milk fresh. But DOES IT REALLY? Yeah, it keeps it liquid, no nasty chunks or funky oily stuff on top. So that's fresh, right? If so, why aren't cows kept cold? (Just asking, don't expect an answer) And it confuses me that milk is warm when it comes out and we call it fresh. It's cold when we buy it - and we call it fresh. And when it's chunky we call it spoiled. So, what about "clabbered milk"? Is it fresh? I could go on, but you get the idea.

2.) Really cold keeps ice cream solid! (Brilliant, aren't I?) Solid ice cream is good - especially Butter Pecan! Although butter, pecans and liquid cream isn't so good. Don't ask, you really don't want to know and you probably wouldn't believe me anyway!

3.) Cold gives us an excuse to have "hat hair". Not that hat hair is good - it's not. But it does serve as an awesome excuse for those days that your hair just won't behave or when you're just too lazy to "do" something to it.

4.) Cold makes it easy to tell if we are still breathing.

Well- that's about it. I guess I could say something about sweaters - but I just did, so we'll leave it alone.

Now for the downfalls of the cold. In my opinion there is really only one - Cold winters are, have been and always will be the downfall of civilized life. People are just not nice in the cold.

Ii know there are those of you who "LOVE" winter. All I can say to you is, I'd pay for your therapy if I could afford to do so. I know you're not bad people, most of you are nice. I just don't understand what a person could enjoy about wet socks, red noses, chattering teeth and numb fingers. It's hard to be attractive when you're bundled up like the Michelin man.

Wet socks make your shoes stink!

Red noses are NOT a fashion statement!

Chattering teeth are fine if you are a squirrel!

And numb fingers make it difficult to type.

That being said, I'm going to go curl up in front of the heater - as soon as I move the cats out of the way- and wish for Spring to hurry up!

Tata

Dodadaghovi

Snow.....what more needs to be said?

2010-12-16T08:17:00.012-05:00

I'm sitting here watching it snow and listening to the wind prowl around the corners of my house, moaning and whining like a hungry wolf looking for a way to get in.

We are at the beginnings of a Winter Storm, or so they tell me. I don't know how much of a storm it is, or will be, but I know it's colder than I care for, and the wind tries to cut you to pieces when you step outside.

So once again, boys and girls, I am trapped in the house. So I thought I would post Version 2 of Teri's Questions that are Just Dying for an Answer!

1.) Why is it that the driver of the snowplow doesn't seem to have a problem getting to work? Has anyone else ever wondered about that? I mean, if the roads are too bad for school, or travel of any type, how does the snowplow driver get to the snowplow? Does he take it home so that it's handy when he needs to clear the roads? Do we have people held prisoner at the State Road Garage and we poke them into snowplows as needed? I mean, they do a pretty good job, the best they can anyway, I'm just wondering how they get to work. If any of you are married to/living with/are related to/know a snowplow driver, please answer this question for me, it's driving me nuts. (or is that nuttier?)

2.) Who is that poor dumb sap that is always sent into the heart of the worse weather ever by his bosses at the Weather Channel? Better yet, what did he do and who did he piss off in order to deserve being sent into the middle of a hurricane/tornado/flood/ice storm. And don't you just love the fact that he aways says the same thing, "It's getting pretty bad down here." Did he piss in someones Wheaties or what?

3.) Why is it that you can try and be nice, send everything your "friends" on Facebook request and still can't get them to send you a single thing? There doesn't seem to be any shame is begging like a bum in the subway for parts, hearts, boxes, nails.....everything, but there must be some type of rule that I'm unaware of, because I send out the things people request almost every time. But, damn it, I still need one heart, 7 nails, 3 paint buckets.....and no one seems to care. I feel so alone and neglected......I think I need an intervention.

4.) What happened to early morning news shows? Is anyone really interested in the latest New York winter fashions? (Which, by the way, look like something you'd wear to a Hustler or Penthouse party, not something you would wear in New York in the winter.) I must be getting old, but I remember when a show had the word NEWS in it you were going to hear what was going on in the world, not what FiFi was wearing when she was carried outside to pee on the curb! Maybe they should change the name to Irrelevant Stuff That No One Cares About Today, instead of just the Today Show.

5.) Will Martha Stewart live forever? Now, I admit I don't like the woman, although she does do some cool stuff with leftover socks, but a person can't help but admire her. She goes to prison for insider trading (like she needed to make any more money), she becomes the butt of way too many emails/stand up comedians/late night talk show host, she gets out of prison and she's still making more money than the Treasury Department! You have to admire that. But damn, how long has this woman been around? I'm 50 and it seems as though there has always been Martha Stewart this, Martha Stewart that. Come on, there is only so many things you can do with a tampon and a glue gun!

Well, that's it for this installment of Teri's Questions that are Just Dying to be Answered. Maybe I'll be back in little while. Right now I'm going to take the pup out to play in the snow!

Dodadaghovi

It is still cold out there......and I'm still trapped in the house.....this can't be good!

2010-12-14T21:04:00.022-05:00

So, it's all of 18 degrees out there.....and it's just now 9 p.m. Bet tonight is going to be cold enough to freeze......well, fill in your own analogy here. Anyway....it's bitterly cold out, and I'm still trapped in the house because it's too cold for a skinny little old woman to go roaming around in the big bad world. Once again my day was filled with the wonder that is living alone, having too many pets and needing to vacuum at least once a day just too keep up with the various and sunder "stuff" that seems to collect on the floor when you have pets.

Oh yeah, and thinking about stuff. And therein lays the problem. Teri home alone, wild eyed and stir crazy, left to her own devices. This is the stuff that physiological thrillers are made of! Or perhaps that should be the stuff slasher films are made of. Although I admit there has not been anymore fantasies of becoming an Uzi toting revenge killer....there have been some strange thoughts going through the cold, dark maze that is my mind.

I'm trying to figure out why I continue this stupid blog for one thing. I know there are a few of you that read this.....mostly my friends, which of course makes me ponder the type of people that I befriend, I mean, I love y'all, but if you can read this stuff and still not be afraid of being left alone with me....well, maybe you should be doing some soul searching as well. (I'm just kidding guys, I love y'all and I think that you're wonderful people without whom I would be a raving lunatic.)

Tonight though I'm going to toss out a few questions for y'all. Hopefully someone out there will do me the courtesy of tossing back a few answers. Who knows, maybe we can get a game of virtual baseball going!

So here it is, Teri's list of questions that are just dying to be answered! (version 1)

1.) Does anyone know what possesses a person to go to the Mall (yes, I used that word....please forgive me. Either that or add it to my ever growing list of sins) on the Friday after Thanksgiving? I mean, are there actually that many masochist out there these days? Although I admit, it does warm my heart a little bit to think that I may be receiving a gift which was wrenched from the trembling hands of some wild eyed little teenager who then, in a fit of rage, pushed a rather large woman into a display of chocolates, sending a cascade of nugget filled goodies skidding across the aisle. I mean, the very thought of something like that happening just makes that gift just a little bit more special, now doesn't it?

2.) Do all homeowners become tasteless, color-blind Nyctophobia suffers when the calender starts nearing Dec. 25? (Don't bother looking it up, it means suffering from an abnormal fear of the dark. Or, if you don't believe me, do look up it. I was just trying to save you some time.) I mean, some of these houses would make a bad Vegas show seem to be in good taste. Please folks, don't mix Santa, the elves, a big inflatable snowman and the Christ child all together in your little 8x8 front yard....it ends up looking like an electrical LSD flashback from the 70's.

3.) Who came up with the brilliant idea of tinsel? Was there once a surplus of tin-foil that fell into a shredder somewhere? Or is it all just an evil plot to wipe out all house cats everywhere? (In case you don't realize what I'm talking about, house cats seems to have an uncontrollable urge to ingest tinsel....it's dangerous, not to mention messy. You think hairballs are gross....wait until you clean up a shiny, tinsel laced ball of.....well I don't know what. It takes gross to a whole new level!)

4.) What the hell is going on with the skinny Santas??? Did I miss a memo or something? Did Santa Claus join the cast of The Biggest Loser and no one told me? If I'm not mistaken, the story goes something like this......"He had a broad little face, and a round little belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly....." Somehow that description doesn't fit with the hollow eyed, peaked, emaciated Santas that are showing up more and more often. (If you want the truth of the matter, I figure that after hundreds of years of delivering toys to screaming brats Santa just needed something to take the edge off.....unfortunately he decided that he needed to do something that would allow him to have the energy to continue with this charade......you know, just a bit of crystal meth from time to time.......now it's too late, Santa has become a shaking, scratching, stick thin shadow of his former self. But that's just my thoughts on the subject.)

5.) Who made the first fruitcake and how long as that sucker been bouncing around the world?? I'm not saying ALL fruitcake is bad....I actually like a good Stollen from time to time. (Once again, don't bother looking it up, it's a German bread that has dried fruit in it....and sometimes a shot or two of 100 proof something.) And the darker varieties of fruit cake, if they are moist, are good once or twice a year. There's nothing like sugar glazed dried fruit to start your day out right!! My question is about that one fruitcake that seems to keep circulating around the world. You know the one I mean, it serves as a door stop the other 11 months of the year, only to be picked up off the floor, brushed off and stuck back into a foil pan and wrapped with disgustingly cute wrapping paper and mailed to you from someone who calls herself your Aunt Milly, although you've never met this person or even laid eyes on a photograph of her. Have you ever tried to cut that fruitcake?? A Ginsu knife would not be up to that job. Actually, most chain saws are not up to that particular task. (If any of you are thinking of sending me the above mentioned fruitcake, please don't. I'd hate to have to write a threatening note, attach it to said fruitcake and toss it through your living room window.)

6.) Who's bright idea was it to have only one showing of "It's a wonderful life" on television this year?? I wait 11 1/2 months to watch that movie! I expect to be able to see it all the way through at least twice. I expect it to be on at least one channel every night for weeks before Christmas. WHO'S EVIL PLOT WAS IT TO PREVENT ME FROM WATCHING THIS MOVIE??? If the guilty party would please just step forward, admit their guilt and do everything in their power to fulfill my wishes, I promise there will be no retribution. Well, not much anyway.

7.) How many times do I have to watch the Hollywood Christmas Parade?? WHO wants to watch it in the first place? I mean, it's not exactly Macy's Parade, not to mention that there is just something wrong with Santa in red boxers with bright blue packages on them. (I'm sure there is some type of sexual innuendo mixed up in there somewhere, but come one SANTA in boxers?? Somethings are best left to the dark realms of the imagination.) Besides, I'm sitting here freezing my substantial ass off in the now 11 degree winter and these idiots are on television in shorts and tank tops with Santa hats. It's just wrong!

8.) Is it just me or are more and more people saying "Merry Christmas" like it's some Gypsy evil eye curse or something? There doesn't seem to be much of that "warm fuzzy" feeling in that particular statement these days. Some woman in the drug store the other day actually made some strange design in the air and muttered under her breath just directly after wishing me "Merry Christmas". It was obvious that what she was wishing for me was definitely a lot less than a warm, glowing holiday season. Maybe it's the Masochist thing again, I'm not sure. But then again, I was just a little frightened and ran away with my tail between my legs. (Believe me, with the tail I have that is NOT an easy feat!)

Okay, that's the first installment of Teri's Questions that are Just Dying to be Answered. Please send me your answers, thoughts, complaints or just your particular take on any subject that crosses your little minds!!

Love y'all!

Dodadagohvi

It's early....but Winter is here and I'm stuck in the house.....you know this can't be good!

2010-12-14T00:19:00.019-05:00

All I can say is BRRRRR it's cold! The thermometer on the front porch says it's all of 13 degrees out there. That is WAYYY too cold! Time for all of us thin blooded Southern girls to stay inside where it is warm and find something to keep us occupied.

So, what have I been doing to keep myself occupied? Well, housework for one.....you know, that mindless activity that either lulls us into a blank staring Stepford Wife or turns us into an Uzi toting wild eyed homicidal manic. I tend to lean towards the Uzi toter myself, but that is another story entirely.

I have also been trying to figure my tendency toward screwing up everything good in my life. And I'm here to tell you what I have figured out so far. So pull on those hip boots and take one last deep breath of fresh air because the shit is about to get deep!

I have been pondering love, relationships and all things confusing and complicated that are terrifying and heart wrenching as well. In other words I've been trying to decide if I believe in, are you ready?? TRUE LASTING LOVE!! Yes I said it, I said those words that can make a grown man tremble and a young girl faint.

Now, for those of you that have no idea what exactly I mean by TRUE LASTING LOVE, let me elaborate. I mean love between two people that last through thick and thin, good times and bad, rich days and poor night, as well as sickness and health. The type of love that stands strong even when you don't like the person at that moment, the type of love that can withstand those hot, horny nights as well as those days when the closest thing to sex you get is saying screw you as you pass one another in the hallway.

I do know that once upon a time such a love was not an unusual experience. I know that my grandparents went through things that would destroy most relationships these days. I have several friends that have that type of love as well, they have walked through hell together and came out holding hands. So I know it exists. I know that once upon at time a person could find that type of love.

Now a days however, I believe it's an almost extinct experience. I believe that most people don't want to put the work into a relationship that it needs in order to survive all the shit that life can and does throw at us. It's too easy to replace people these days. Once a relationship gets too difficult it's just easier to move on to the next one. I mean, who would want to put out actual hard work, who would want to compromise, who would want to give every ounce of themselves to another person when it's so much easier to move on to someone new. There's even that added bonus of the "new toy" feeling that we all have at the start of a new relationship. When there's a problem, just leave.

Right??

Well, it's not right, but it is reality. At least it's reality for way too many people.

At times I think it's reality for me as well. I have discovered that I have fallen into a pattern of not allowing another person to get close enough to me to cause me any pain. Once they get that close, which is rarely, I do something to make them miserable just so I can be proven correct in my assumption that they were going to leave anyway.

You would think that because I realize this about myself that I could do something to change it. YEAH, RIGHT! Just because I realize it doesn't mean a damn thing other than I realize that I have a particular behavior that needs to be changed. Notice I said needs to be changed. Doesn't mean that I'm going to change it, doesn't even mean that I would if I knew how. Just means that I realize something about myself.

Right?

NO, it means that I'm a chicken shit that has been hurt one time too many by one of those people that find it easier to move on than to work on a relationship. That's what it means. It means that big, bad, "I can handle anything" Teri is too afraid to open herself up in order to give a relationship a chance.

Why is that, you ask.

Well boys and girls, get comfortable and I'll tell you a little story. Maybe it's one you've heard before, as a matter of a fact I'm sure a few of you have heard a similar story, if not lived one yourselves, but this is my blog and I can damn well say what I want.

Once upon a time there was this woman that fall for a wonderful man. (Notice wonderful is in italics? There's a reason for that.) The man supposedly fell for the woman as well. (Once again, notice the italics.) The man was having some problems with depression and such, and wasn't the easiest person in the world to get along with, but the woman was determined to stick it out because she just knew he was the one. ( Notice bold letters)

Well, things went okay for a while. The man got better, the depression slipping away almost as silently as it arrived. And, believe it or not, that is when it all started to go to shit.

Once he wasn't so depressed that he wouldn't leave the house, once he talked and acted more like his old self, the man started running to the bars with his friends. (yes, those pesky italics are still around) He spent less and less time with the woman and she began to feel less and less important and more and more like a convenience instead of someone that is actually loved.

I'm not going to mention the other women, oops, I guess I did, didn't I?

To make a long story short, the woman stayed years longer than she actually should have, ended up having her self esteem and self worth shredded and, in the end, having her believe in love destroyed. Now she is alone and wondering if she will remain that way.

Yes, you guessed it, she is me and I am her. I used to love, may still love, may once again love, may always love this person, and it didn't, doesn't, never will matter. I've accepted that, and actually I'm okay with it. I mean he is the one and all. Of course I thought that meant he was the one that I would be with the rest of my life, the one that I would share that love with. I didn't realize he was the one that would mess me up so bad that I can't seem to break down that wall that suddenly sprang up around my heart.

So kiddies, that is my sad twisted little story. Anyone have any suggestions for this poor screwed up middle aged woman that is getting more and more afraid that she will be alone for the rest of her life?

Or do you think I should just pull up my big girl panties and move on?

Dodadagohvi

So.....here we are again

2010-11-25T03:00:00.033-05:00

As we all know, today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States of America. No surprise, right?

Well, in my not-so-humble opinion, a lot of you reading this would be surprised to find out how many people living in this country view Thanksgiving, myself included. You see, today is one single day that has been appointed as something special by a people that didn’t seem to have understood the very simplest thing about being Thankful. To even think that one, single day has to be appointed in order to remind folks that we should be thankful is, to me at least, an insult.

It all began, in this country, a very long time ago. It all began with one race of people thinking they were superior to another. It all began with a group of people giving thanks in a way that I will never understand.

When the Pilgrims came aground in the “New Land” in 1620 they seemed to have overlooked the fact that the land on which they wanted to settle was already inhabited. But never the less, these men, women and children stayed in makeshift shelters that they hastily built to protect themselves from the harsh winter in what is now New England.

In order to survive the first few weeks, they explored and found “artificial mounds” in which they began to dig. You would think that once they discovered these “mounds” were actually graves of the Native People of the area they would have stopped, but the Pilgrims continued to dig and finally exhumed the offerings of Maize (corn) that had been left behind. They also found several Native built structures from which the inhabitants had run away; from those houses they STOLE more corn and various types of beans.

Then they gave thanks to God for the food that they had "found". (To me this is hypocrisy. To steal from others, be they dead or alive, and then give thanks to God for "blessing" you with the very things that you stole is beyond my comprehension.)

Thus it all began. The White People stepped foot on this land and one of the very first things they did was steal from the Peoples that were already here, both the living and the dead. Do I see a theme developing??

Anyway, shortly thereafter the Pilgrims became ill and more than half of them died that first winter. There were several encounters with Native Peoples during this time. Several times the Pilgrims were fired upon by Natives who had already had some bad experiences with the White People.

(History fact unknown to many: The local people were already familiar with the English, who had intermittently visited the area for fishing and trade before the Mayflower arrived. In the Cape Cod area, relations were poor following a visit several years earlier by Thomas Hunt. Hunt kidnapped twenty people from Patuxet (the place that would become New Plymouth) and another seven from Nausett, and he attempted to sell them as slaves in Europe. Source : Wikipedia)

An ally among the Native People came forward. A Patuxet Native by the name of Tisquantum, now known as Squanto, helped the Pilgrims recover from the bitter and deadly winter they had just survived. Although Tisquantum had been kidnapped by Thomas Hunt for the purpose of being sold into slavery, then rescued by the Monks, thus learning the English language, and had, upon his return to his homeland, found that his People had been wiped out by disease that had been spread by the English, he still found it in his heart to help the settlers. (This very fact makes him a better person than I will ever be.)

Because of his assistance, the Pilgrims were able to not only survive, but to prosper. In 1621 the Pilgrims held a three day feast to celebrate their first successful harvest in the “New World” and to give thanks to God for all of their blessings.

Without the help of Tisquantum, who became the guide and translator for the settlers, the Pilgrims would never have survived. Tisquantum helped them not only learn how to plant, fertilize and harvest the foods that allowed to to feed themselves, but he was also the main reason for the peace between the settlers and the Wampanoag People that lasted for 50 years after his death.

Now, the fact that there was, historically, peace between the two groups for 50 or so years does NOT mean that there were no problems between the settlers and the Native Peoples of the “New World.” There were.

Now that I have given you a brief (or maybe not so brief) history lesson, let me point out a few things.

In return for the assistance the Pilgrims received from the Peoples of this land, their descendants gave assistance in return. They assisted the Peoples by giving them blankets that had been used by victims of smallpox, thus “assisting” the Natives in decreasing their population. They assisted by taking “unsettled” land, thus forcing the Native Peoples to either flee or fight. They assisted by destroying, raping and burning. They assisted by lying, stealing, cheating and murdering. They assisted by destroying the very land they “settled”. All the while, they observed a “day” of Thanksgiving each year.

For the Native Peoples of this land, Thanksgiving is not a noun. It is a verb. Thanksgiving is not a day, it is a concept. The Peoples of this land hold the idea of giving Thanks as a sacred ideal. Every day is a reason for Thanksgiving.

So, as you enjoy your football games, as you complain about how stuffed you are from the turkey, stuffing and gravy, as you enjoy the warmth and comfort of your family and friends, please find time to try one new thing. Try to realize that today is nothing special. It is a LEGAL Holiday, it is a day off of work, a day for friends and family. Thanksgiving, however, is what each and every one of us should do as soon as we wake in the morning. It is something that we should do whenever we see our children, our friends, our family.

Thanksgiving is a way of life. It is NOT a single day to stuff our faces with food and our heads with some mindless game.

Have a blessed day. And remember, I am thankful for each one of you. I am thankful that you allow me to share my opinions with you, that you allow me to rant and rave. I am especially thankful that each and every one of you are alive and well on this not-so-special holiday.

Dodadagohvi (Cherokee (when speaking to many) meaning "Let's see one another again, soon")

Autumn oh don't fall on me!

2010-11-05T09:31:00.009-04:00

The first breath of morning lingers for a moment, crisp, clear and hazy with moisture. Red gold leaves glitter like ruby in the foggy morning light. Crystals of ice reflect a rainbow of colors that shimmer in the chilly breeze. Autumn has arrived on a carriage of leaves drawn by horses of diamond light.

Okay, enough of that. I am in a reflective mood today and I was starting to sound like a stoned philosophy student. Sorry about that, it’s just the way Autumn affects me. I am one of those people that truly understand why they call it Fall…..I fall into a funk every year at this time and I never seem to climb out until after Thanksgiving. Thank God I’m not a Turkey, I’d really be screwed then.

So, it’s obviously turning colder. The days still seem to hold the promise of warmth and sunshine, but the nights show the true bitter heart of Autumn. I do admit that I find the first frost of the year to be beautiful, the way it makes everything shimmer and shine. But that beauty wears off almost as quickly as the frost melts, because I know that one morning soon I will look outside and instead of frost I’ll see snow.

Yes Folks, that awful four-letter word has been uttered. Now I realize that there are those of you who, for whatever reason, really enjoy the Winter and all that comes with it. But I am not one of you. Personally I believe that anyone that professes to enjoy Winter should have their heads “shrunk” by the best Psychiatrist available, but to each their own I guess. The only thing I’m sure of is that I hate the prospect of the coming snow and all the bitter cold dampness that comes with it. Not to mention the ice storms, lack of electricity, colds, flu and just general “brrrrrr” things that are lurking just around the corner.

I will admit that some years Autumn proves to be the most beautiful of our West Virginia seasons, although I don’t think this has proven to be one of those years. Mother Nature dresses her lovely mountains in jewels of maple red and oak gold with trim of dark cedar and pine. Then the vindictive bitch sends cold northern winds to rip and tear the glorious colors away until there is nothing left but dull gray trees that moan and cry in the wind. Let’s hear it for Mother Nature.

Well, I guess I’m done bitching and whining about the change of season and weather. So here are a few pictures for you to enjoy and maybe find some beauty in.

Tata!

Pictures, pictures and more pictures~

2010-08-31T21:33:00.037-04:00

As most of you may know, I am addicted to taking photographs! (Honestly, it is an addiction, I think I need an intervention!) Here is the shocker though, as much as I'm addicted to taking photographs, I believe that I'm more addicted to working with the photos that I take and adding varied and sunder effects to them.

Right now I have a favorite subject as well as a favorite effect. I'm sort of stuck on nature photos, namely the woods that surround those of us that are lucky (cursed?) enough to live in Calhoun County WV. I'm also loving taking photos of any water that shows reflections of it's surroundings.

Anyway, here are a few of the many photos that I have taken recently. Hope you enjoy looking at them, and please, if you get some pleasure from viewing these photos, leave me a comment and let me know. (It gets really depressing when I go to all of the trouble of posting this stuff and no one seems to notice.)

The following pictures were taken in a hollow close to my friend Esther's home. We went for a walk and I saw some things that I thought were beautiful, so I took the pictures.

The first picture in each set is the original picture. The second picture is the one that I have added the effects. I personally like the "soft" look of these pictures, I find them much more interesting than the originals.

Please, if you like any of these photos, leave me a comment and let me know!

Well, it's going to be a busy day today, so I have to get off my butt and get showered and dressed. Maybe I'll be back sooner this time, but then again, maybe it will be a few days/weeks! LOL

Have a wonderful day!!!

Tata!

Something has been bothering me......

2010-08-21T04:42:00.044-04:00

Hi y'all. Sorry I've been MIA for so long, but it's Summertime and I've been busy....and I've also been lazy, and I admit it.

Anyway, it's almost 5 am and I haven't been asleep yet. Why? Well, something has been eating at me for a few days now and the more I think about it the worse I feel, so I decided to sit here and vent for a little bit. So be warned, it's going to be one of those post. (If you read this blog very often you know what I mean)

So, there is this person that I've known for a while, and I like this person (I'm going to refer to this person as "friend 1" for this rant, and I'm going to refer to them as her or she, but that doesn't necessarily mean it really is a woman). I had a lot of respect for her, even though I don't always agree with her thoughts or ideas. But something happened here lately that has caused me to loose bunches of respect for her, and actually question whether or not I really know this person.

Let me sit the situation up for you, it will make it easier to explain that way. We have a good friend in common, actually we have quite a few friends in common but that is neither here nor there. The mutual friend that I'm referring to here is someone that we both love and respect, or at least I thought both of us respected her. Anyway, the mutual friend may be in a situation that could get messy, but that's neither here nor there, and I'm not about to explain any farther because it's none of my business, let alone business of anyone who may be reading this.

Now, before I go on, let me explain a few things about our mutual friend. She is a kind, loving person who is one of the most empathetic people that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She will go out of her way to help anyone that needs help, be that by feeding them, giving them something they need or simply listening to their problems. She has the biggest, softest heart of anyone I know and it's impossible not to love her if you ever get the privilege of meeting her. She is also one of the toughest people I've ever met. She would face down a rabid bear in order to protect someone (or something) that she cares for. She has defended "friend 1" time and time again.

So, as I was saying our mutual friend is a wonderful person. And "friend 1" is a pretty decent human being as well. And this is where it gets to be a confused mess.

"Friend 1" was talking to yet another mutual friend the other day. (All of us were present and heard what all was being said, so please don't think this is second hand gossip or something.) They were discussing a different situation that involves some people we know. Nothing bad or anything, just personal, private stuff that NO ONE, myself included, have any business prying into. So "friend 1" begins to really, really rag on and on about this other situation. She said some pretty rough stuff and just went on and on.........and on and on....and.....well, you get the idea.

Now, under normal circumstances it wouldn't have bothered me too awful much. I mean, the fact that someone Else's private life was being discussed and they weren't there to defend themselves bothered me, but we all have, from time to time, talked about what someone else is doing or has done in the past. What really got to me was that "friend 1" was saying things like "I've lost a lot of respect for them" and "It's disgusting".........well, quite frankly, what is disgusting is the fact that "friend 1" has done the very same thing that these other people are doing and no one among us has told her that we lost respect for her or that she was disgusting, as a matter of a fact, we have all let her know that we love and respect her despite the fact that she, like all of us, has done thing in the past that the rest of us may not agree with.

It wouldn't have been such a big deal to me except for the fact that the whole thing seemed to be aimed at our mutual friend who was sitting there at the time. She ended up angry and hurt, and quite frankly that pisses me off. Not to mention that it was judgemental and just plain mean.

No one among us, not any of the people I'm talking about nor any of you reading this, have the right to pass judgement on another human being. I know we all do it at some point or another, but that doesn't make it right.

Until a person is actually in a given situation, they have no idea of how they would react or what choices they would make. Even being in the exact same situation, no two people will react the same, their actions and reactions depend on their life experience, their emotional state and their emotional involvement with the other person or persons involved. There is NO way that any of us can actually walk a mile in someone Else's shoes, so there is no way that we can actually say what we would or would not do. And there is no way we can know what is actually going on, we can only assume from what we see and/or hear.

Y'all know what they say about making assumptions right?? If we assume something we are only making an ass out of ourselves. That applies to ALL of us, not just the person that I'm upset with.

Now, I know that the person I'm talking about is reading this, and I'm sorry if I've hurt you or pissed you off, but quite frankly we both know that you aimed a lot of what you said at someone that doesn't deserve to be hurt. You have no idea what is going on and quite frankly it's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! If you're pissed at me, well so be it, it's not the first time and probably won't be the last. At least I'm not outing you as far as who you are and what was being discussed, you should be thankful for that. I feel as though you need to apologize to her, and if you would think about it, I believe you'd realize that she deserves your love and understanding. She cares deeply for you and you hurt her and made her feel as though you were judging her. You are not a bad person, you are usually pretty understanding and caring yourself, and I've always respected you for that. I know you wouldn't purposely do or say anything to cause her pain, but people were made to feel that you were talking about them as well. (yes, me too, but it doesn't really matter about that. I can take it, and I know she can too, but that's not the point) Please, just think before you start saying things that can/will cause people that care about you to feel badly, okay?

Alright, enough of that. I know I'm going to catch hell for this, but I feel better and I've not really let any "cats" out of any "bags" so to speak.

Earlier I said I was being lazy, well, that's not quite the truth. I've just had a rough week this week and I've not really done too much that I didn't want to do.

You see, this week is the 10th anniversary of my Mom's passing. She passed away in 2000, just a few days before her birthday. She was laid to rest on a day we should have been celebrating her birth. So this week, when I should have been reaching for the phone to call and wish my Mom a Happy Birthday, I was mourning her loss. It doesn't get easier as time goes by, there are so many times that I catch myself reaching for the phone to call and just talk to her about what is going on in my life and the lives of my children and grandchildren.

Those of you that still have your Mother, please, give her a call today. Go see her and tell her you love her, tell her that you realize how blessed you are to still have her. Give her a hug and a kiss, ask her if there is anything that you can do for her. You never know when you may be the one sitting alone in your house missing your Mom.

I just told y'all about what has been going on with me in order to explain why I said I was lazy. But I haven't just been sitting here doing nothing. I have been working on some pictures. Big surprise, right? LOL Anyway, here are a few of the things I've been doing. Let me know what y'all think.

Bridge at Seneca Rock.

Original photo, no filters.

Bridge at Seneca Rock
Enhanced color and contrast.

Bridge at Seneca Rock.

Black and white, aged.

Bridge at Seneca Rock
Black and white with only bridge in color.
Tintii filter.

Blackwater Falls original.

Blackwater Falls

Enhanced color and contrast.

Blackwater Falls

Watercolor

Blackwater Falls

Oil painting.

Walk bridge at Cedar Creek State Park

Original.

Walk bridge at Cedar Creek State Park.

Enhanced color and contrast.

Walk Bridge at Cedar Creek State Park.

Black and white, soft focus on select parts.

Mills Falls

Original.

Mills Falls

Enhanced color and contrast.

Elk River

Original.

Elk River

Enhanced color and contrast.

Elk River

Tintii

(If you really want to see the detail in these pictures, right click and open image. This will give you a larger view which will show the details.)

Anyway, I have a few dozen more that I've worked on this week. I'm learning as I go, so sometimes I'm pretty slow to get the effect that I want, but once I learn how to do it I remember for a very long time! (I also write down the picture number and what I did, complete with settings, so that if I ever want that effect again I can get it rather easily.)

Hopefully one day I'll be able to actually get paid for doing these photos. I really enjoy doing it and I love messing with the effects. I just need a better camera...........but that's for another day.

Y'all take care of yourselves!!

Till next time....TaTa

Music, Men and Mean People

2010-07-28T14:19:00.031-04:00

To start with I want to warn y'all that there may be some adult topics in this post, so if you are NOT an adult, or if you refuse to act like one, MOVE ON!! Secondly, I want to apologize to any man that may stumble on this and take insult with the title of this post. Now, that being said, if ya would sit down and read a little bit without referring to me as a "stupid bitch" you may just learn something!

You may have noticed that the title of this post is "Music, Mean and Mean People".....odd correct? Definitely NOT my usual stuff, but shit happens and we must all learn to make fertilizer at one point or another.

So onward my twisted little buddies, lets see what dark, angry things we can meet on the way.

MUSIC.....awwww, the music makes MY life worth living! If I DON'T listen to or play something every day I become a real grump. I don't like to go through a day without music, and I WILL NOT go more than a couple of days without it. I enjoy music more than food, and you all know how I feel about food!!! But today I'm listening to some songs that seem to all have the same theme running through them......what theme is that you ask? Well, it's sort of a F*ck off and Die thing going on! Songs like Takin' off this Pain, Let's try Goodbye, and Pain seem to be the ones that reach me the best. Of course, Takin' Off This Pain is about a woman ready to leave her marriage (the pain is her wedding ring) and I'm not married, and I don't believe I'm going to lose my mind and enter into "wedding bliss" (read HELL) anytime soon. But I'm sure y'all understand what I mean, the songs that are appealing to me are all songs that pretty much say "This isn't working out and I'm going to find something else to do". WHAT isn't working out you may ask.....well, quite frankly it's not anyone's damn business what isn't working out and I'm not here to discuss what, I'm here to discuss the ins and outs of....oh who cares?? It's my blog and I'll talk about whatever I feel like talking about!! Yes, this is me working myself up to a real temper tamtrum, and folks, before it's all over with it won't be pretty!!

But enough of that...back to the music thing, I've been listening to a BUNCH of music today and I've noticed that there aren't many "Love has gone right and it's all hearts and flowers" songs coming out anymore! Is that because we have all become cynical or do we just not give a crap anymore? For myself, I'm cynical, I've been handed enough crap in the recent past to put Solar Environmental Corp out of business. (For those of you that DON'T know, Solar Eviromental Corp sells "organic" fertilizer aka feces!) Now, unlike the old saying "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade" which leaves you smelling fresh and clean like lemons, when life hands you (throws at you, shoots at you, drops on your head) enough crap and you try to make fertilizer there's only one thing you end up smelling like, and believe me it's NOT lemons! And it's DEFINITELY NOT a clean smell! Hence, crap = cynasism! I AM CYNICAL!

I DON'T BELIEVE IN LOVE....well, not love between two people that will ALWAYS be there! If you are with someone there will be times you definetly DON'T love him....there will be times when you don't even LIKE him. And I'm sure it's the same for you men, but I'm NOT one of you so I can't begin to pretend to know what goes on in your empty (opps did I say that)heads let alone what goes on in your little black hearts! Now before any of you male readers shut down because of the last statement, let me explain something to you...I KNOW there are good men out there, I KNOW that men love just like women do, I KNOW that not every man is an asshole......I ALSO KNOW I HAVEN'T MET MANY OF THOSE MEN!

I DO believe that a person can love another person, I just DON'T believe that it's all sugar and spice and everything nice that we've been brainwashed into believing! I believe that LOVE, real love, the thing that can and does keep people together for 50 years or more, that LOVE is a JOB!! It doesn't just happen, it's work. That thing that we confuse with LOVE, that "just happens" crap, that's attraction, and attraction CAN and DOES lead to LOVE, but kiddies, it's NOT Love! The songs on the radio, the sitcoms and the movies on TV, they teach us that it's something that happens...that you just LOVE someone, but that's bullshit!

So all of the above explain why I'm attracted to the F-off and die music! LOL Twisted, right?

Now for subject number two......MEN! I suppose I could just say read the above and you'll understand, but there is soooooo much more than that to it! I'm not actually down on men, I LIKE men, honest, I do. I like to talk to them, I like to look at them, I even like to touch one now and again. What I DON'T like to do is excuse their behavior just BECAUSE they are men! That's a cop-out and it sucks! It devalues men.

Look ladies (and I'm using that term loosely) men are people too! Yes, that's what I said, MEN ARE PEOPLE TOO, they are human, they make mistakes, they get confused, they get angry, sad, horny, hungry.....JUST LIKE WE WOMEN DO!!! Hell, most men don't know what they want anymore than we women do!!! To tell you the truth, with only a few exceptions, I like men BETTER THAN I LIKE MOST WOMEN!! Women can be hateful, cold, abusive creatures that make a badger look like a hamster. But that's another subject.........

Most of the hurts in my life can be traced back to a man.....not the same man, but a male none the less. And did you notice I said MOST of the hurts in my life??? Believe me, I have been hurt by women as well, it's just a different type of hurt. Men seem to be able to do things that leave me bewildered, confused, hurt and really, REALLY, REALLY pissed off!

And what pisses me off worse is that IF I complain to another female I hear things like "What do you expect, he's a man" or "They are ALL like that"!!!!

BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT!!!! That's just an excuse!!

The reason men do what they do and act like they act is simple.....WE WOMEN ALLOW AND EVEN ENCOURAGE IT!!!!!

Yes, I said that! I said it's OUR FAULT!! We raise our sons to think a certain way, act a certain way. We expect things from them that we don't expect from our daughters, we tell them "Act like a man"!!

WTF???

We complain about men and then we tell our young sons to ACT LIKE A MAN????? That's like hitting a dog with a rolled up newspaper because he piddled on the floor and then teaching him to piddle on the floor! IT MAKES NO SENSE!!!

I raised two sons. Both of them can be assholes.....but it's not because they are male, it's because I'm their mother and was their role model.....and NOT always a good one!! They are just like me, they have a temper, they are sarcastic, they can and are mouthy a lot of the time.....THEY ARE HUMANS!! And as humans they have faults and things that drive their wives crazy....but so what?? It's not just because they are MEN!!

I will admit though that men and women think differently. They process things differently and they look at things differently. JUST LIKE GOD CREATED US TO DO!! But none of that is the same as saying "He's a man what do you expect?"

Okay, enough of that! I'm tired of MEN....yes I said it, I'm TIRED of men!

Have you seen any angry, scary creatures on our journey yet?? No?? Just wait, it's not over!

Now for the final subject of the day....MEAN PEOPLE!

It's pretty easy to state my feelings on the subject....I HATE MEAN PEOPLE AND THINK THAT THEY SHOULD ALL BE PUT IN STOCKS AND ROTTEN FRUIT (and maybe a few stones) THROWN AT THEM!!

By mean people I mean those of you who sit around and purposely tell lies about other people to ruin their good name (you know who you are.....and so do I), and the ones that just don't give a shit if they cause you harm, and the ones that will abuse a defenseless animal, and most especially the ones of you that are physically, mentally and sexually abusive to other human beings, be they your husband, your wife, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your child, or someone else's child. I HATE ABUSIVE PEOPLE THE MOST!

Abusive people aren't strong, they are little, weak, scared idiots that don't have enough sense to stand up and act like an adult. They are too lazy to actually work at a relationship, they would rather try to force someone to love them.

ABUSIVE PEOPLE SUCK!! Mean people in general suck, but abusive people suck harder, and not in a good way!

I've been having some unwanted experience with mean people, and I know someone else that is having some unwanted experience with abusive people. Neither of us deserve what we are expected to put up with.

The difference is I am NOT AFRAID to tell the liars and sneaks that I don't care what they think, and that maybe they should look in the mirror before they start talking about others, because there is plenty in their life that could be a tat embarrassing!! I'm not afraid to tell em to kiss my ass, AFTER they sterelize their lips!!

The other person just hasn't reached the point where they can stand up. They haven't reached the point where they can take control of their own life. And the fact that they are going through what they are going through is enough to piss off the best of us and make us want to kick her ass, but the fact of the matter is. WE CAN'T FIX IT!

We can ONLY fix ourselves.

Okay, I'm done. Have a good evening kiddies, and remember, keep the night light on because the monster under the bed is real and he is getting REALLY PISSED OFF about all the noise you make in your sleep!!

Summer, Summer......

2010-07-27T11:48:00.006-04:00

I am SOOOOOOO lazy!! It's summertime and I have done NOTHING that I had planned on doing! But I DO have a good excuse!! It's been BLAZING hot around here for the last week or so.....and it's been muggy too....you know what I mean, the type of heat that just drains the energy right out of you.

But today I'm going to DO something! LOL Well, I have PLANS to do something, whether or not it gets done is a totally different story, but I DO have good intentions. (yeah, I know, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.....well, it HAS been hot, just not that hot!)

I'm going to clean and re-arrange my kitchen today. There I said it! Now I just need to DO it! You see, I have an ant problem. I have had an ant problem since the ground thawed out and the little buggers began crawling around. I have tried EVERYTHING, well, everything except an Anteater, and that's ONLY because I don't know where to get an Anteater, (if any of you out there happen to have one laying around gathering dust, please send it my way!!) and nothing has worked. I mean NOTHING!!

It's not those big black ants that are driving me to distraction.....it's those little biting things that have invaded my home. They are not only in the kitchen, the computer room and the bathroom, they are now trooping towards the bedroom. I just don't get it, I mean, I can understand them being interested in the kitchen, there are all kinds of goodies in there, but the bedroom???? There is nothing, and I repeat NOTHING, in my bedroom that any self-respecting ant would have even a glimmer of interest in! At this point in my life there isn't anything in my bedroom that I'M interested in! So I don't understand the ants sudden interest in my bedroom. (Maybe they know something I don't know? It's either that or they figure since I'm not using it to it's fullest extent they should step in and take over???)

Anyway, for whatever reason, the ants are taking over my house and I AM going to do something about it. (Maybe move?) I hate to use poisons, I have WAY too many little furry creatures to risk too much of that crap. And the Boric acid around the windows etc. hasn't worked. Even the outside sprinkle around the foundation stuff hasn't stopped these little invaders. I'm just not sure what else to do, but I'll try any suggestions that y'all may have.

I just don't want to wake up one morning tied up and staked out like Gulliver with thousands of little ants pacing around me trying to figure out exactly what I am and what they should do about me.

Maybe I should just plant a white flag in the middle of the house and try to get them to sign a truce??

Laters!

Hot, hot, hot

2010-07-08T09:04:00.112-04:00

So, Summer is OFFICIALLY here!! LOL

It was awfully hot yesterday.....hazy and muggy. But I was lucky enough to get to fulfill a dream I've had for over 10 years!! I got to go to the MOUNTAINS!!!!!

I've wanted to go up there for years and I've had people promise to take me, but until yesterday I was repeatedly disappointed. When I first got a glimpse of the hazy, blue mountains in the distance I actually cried. (How silly is that?? But it reminds me of HOME so much that I was almost paralyzed with joy!)

We tried to do as much as we could for a day trip, and believe me I think we did very well!

First off, after the crying jag that is, we stopped at Bowden Fish Hatchery. There were so many trout in every size you could imagine!! I know it doesn't sound like something most people would enjoy, but I LOVED it!!

It's not that easy to get pictures under those conditions using my little old camera, but I don't think I did too bad.

Smaller rainbow trout with some golden trout mixed in.

Even smaller golden Trout!! Aren't the just beautiful!!!

One golden trout on top of a bunch of rainbow trout!

Seemed like MILLIONS of baby Golden Trout!

The GOLDEN TROUT are my favorite! The are sooooo beautiful (for fish) and they don't seem as shy as the Rainbow or Brook trout!

Some good sized Rainbow trout.

The BIGGINS!!!!! LOL

Close up of the BIGGINS!!

It was so much fun to watch these fish. I know that sounds weird, but it was relaxing and invigorating at the same time. The little ones, especially the Goldens, were jumping out of the water and acting, well like children! LOL Some of the little Rainbows would actually skim across the water, it almost looked like someone skipping a stone across the surface of the water. I loved it, I could go back every day and I don't believe I'd get tired of it.

Next we went to Seneca Rock. It was getting hotter by then and it was still so hazy. But I got to look at the Rocks through the binoculars and I did get a few pictures (although they aren't the best, but you can see the outline of the rocks.)

I didn't know that the U.S. Army used the rocks to train some of our soldiers! If it had been me, I would still be locked up in a stockade somewhere....there is NO WAY you could get me to climb those rocks!

Seneca Rocks on a hot, hazy day!

Seneca Rocks in the distance.

While we were at Seneca Rocks, we walked down to the river. There hasn't been much rain in good old West Virginia this year, so the water was low. We walked a little ways down stream and I got some pretty pictures. We also seen some native Brook Trout in a deeper hole of water, but I didn't get a picture of them.

A view of the walk bridge that shows how low the water is this year.

Even though the water is down, this is an amazingly beautiful stream.

While at Seneca Rocks discovery center, we decided to visit the Sites Homestead and Heritage Garden. Unfortunately they weren't open, but we walked around the area, looking at the gardens and even looking through the windows of the house. It was cool! I want to go back so that we can go through the house because if it's anything like what we were able to see it will be awesome!

A view of the Sites Homestead and Heritage Garden.

A view of several of the gardens.

A corner of the old kitchen. (Taken through a window)

This room was the original one room cabin. (this picture was also taken through a window) The cabin was expanded around this one room as the family grew and the need for room arose.

HISTORY LESSON:

The Sites Homestead was built in 1839 by James Sites. It was a typical of the homes built by German Settlers in the North Fork Valley. As the family prospered the house grew, expanding to a two-story frame building in sometime in the 1860's or 70's. Four generations of the Sites family called this house their home. It was abandoned around 1950 and used to store hay. In 1968 the Forest Service bought the property. By the early 1980's the house had been vandalized and was falling to ruin, the decision was made to demolish the structure. But the community and family members rallied around a proposal to restore the old home. It was rehabilitated and opened to the public in 1991.

Anyway.....once we left Seneca Rocks, we decided to go to Smoke Hole Caverns. Believe me, the cool damp air in the caverns was a wonderful break from the hot, humid weather. I got some good pictures!

The entrance to the caverns. Boy could you ever feel the cool air coming out of there!!

Ribbon formation! There were a lot of them in the caverns!

I can't remember what this formation is called, I think it's a Cascade, maybe...but there were a lot of these in this one room called the Queen's room. It was beautiful!!

Artisan Well. I took a drink of the water....it tasted like well water and was really, really cold!

Look like pig ears don't they??

A "over-easy egg"! LOL

We enjoyed the caverns, it takes 45 minutes to take the tour, it's 2/3 of a mile underground. It was nice and cool in there, and it felt really hot when we got out of the cavern into the blazing sun!

HISTORY LESSON: (from http://theintermountain.com/page/content.detail/id/504979.html)

"Smoke Hole Caverns formed more than 200 million years ago being carved out by an underground stream. It served as a place for the Seneca Indians to cure meat in the early days, which is how the caverns got its name. Passing settlers frequently saw the smoke billowing out of the top of the mountain, giving rise to the name of Smoke Hole. During the Civil War, the caverns served as a shelter for Union or Confederate soldiers. It gave weary soldiers a protected resting stop and a perfect place to store ammunition. While the cave was being prepared for commercial use during the 1930s, an old ammunition chest was discovered. Moonshiners hid their stills in the cavern’s darkness during the Prohibition era, and one that was abandoned prior to the arrival by Revenue Agents still greets visitors at the entrance to the cavern tour today. The caverns opened to commercial visitors in May 1942."

After the caverns we decided to go to Blackstone Falls. It was a wonderful sight to see all of that water drop 57 feet to the pool underneath! Although the water level is low, it was still a sight!

First view through the trees. We could hear the sounds of water falling and as we rounded one of the switchbacks on the stairs I caught my first glimpse of the falls! BEAUTIFUL!!

The farthest part of the falls from the viewing platform.

As you can tell, the water was very low. This is the "middle" part of the falls.

Full view of the falls from the lowest viewing platform. It's an amazing sight. No wonder people from all over the world come here.

Here is a view from the steps.

My last view of the falls.

Steps, and steps and.....more steps.

Mountain laurel in full bloom! So beautiful!!

After leaving Blackwater we had one more stop to make. Just outside of Thomas, WV, on 219 about 5 miles out, just where you cross the top of Backbone Mountain, sits huge wind turbines. These turbines produce electricity for the surrounding area. There are some people that have a problem with them, but once we had stopped and got out, walking around for a better view and hearing the sound they make, I realized that this is one of the smarter things West Virginia has done. No black coal smoke, no polluted streams.....just some windmills (I believe that there are 9 or 10 of them) sitting on the ridge turning gently in the breeze and sounding like the wind.

Anyway...that's just my outlook.

Here's a few pictures of the wind turbines.

A good shot of the windmills.

A view of most of the wind turbines.

A distant shot of the windmills.

Notice how small the white truck seems? That's a full size pick-up!! These things are HUGE!

Here are a few random pictures to give you an idea of how hazy it was all day and to show you some of the beauty of West Virginia.

All in all it was the MOST amazing day in my recent memory!! I'll never forget my first trip to the mountains of West Virginia!!

This picture shows the way the rocks are all sideways in this part of the country. Isn't it amazing??

Reflection of rock formation in river. Wonderful!

Isn't it just beautiful??

Early Morning Mountains!
Hazy, hazy day!

Well y'all, I'm out of here!!

Have a wonderful week!!

Is it summer yet??

2010-06-16T23:45:00.002-04:00

It has been so hot and muggy here. The last week has been like living in a sauna! And to just make things that much worse, my allergies have been kicking my ass!

So, not much writing today....just some pictures.....enjoy!

So....it's been a few days!

2010-06-08T18:00:00.031-04:00

Well, I think I'm finally recuperated from this past weekend. The Calhoun County Wood Festival was AWESOME this year!!

Of course, the fact that I think it was awesome may have something to do with the fact that my son and his band played on Friday night!! THE ROCKED!!! Everyone seemed to love them and they sold quite a few CD'S!! I'm so proud of him!!

Today's post will be mostly pictures.....y'all don't mind do ya??

Here we go!!!!

Wood Festival, Thurs June 3, 2010

Me and THE SNAKE!!

Esther and THE SNAKE!!

Dave playing BINGO!

Festival Lights!

Thursday Night Crowd!

Wood Festival, Friday June 4, 2010

My baby-boy Will!!! He's the MAN!!

THE WILL FREED BAND!!!

The crowd.....and my "Granddog" Winston!!!!

Will, me and Niki (the youngest of the bunch)

Ashley (My daughter in law), Will and Niki!!

Wood Festival, Sat. June 5, 2010

Saturday afternoon crowd.

BLUEGRASS MUSIC

JAMMIN'!

The DREADED BULL!

The BULL kicking my ass!

Going down!

Out for the count!!

THAT WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN!

The end of the Wood Festival.....FIREWORKS!!!!

All in all it was a great weekend and an amazing festival!!! Can't wait until next year!!

See y'all later!

Good Old Calhoun County.....

2010-06-04T06:29:00.014-04:00

Morning y'all!!

Well, the Calhoun County Wood Festival is officially in full swing! Now "What does that mean?" some of you may be wondering. Well, it means a lot of things, but mostly it means that the carnival is in town and if you go down there you will see people you've not seen since last year, things you may not have wanted to see this year and still other things you hope you never see again! LOL

But all in all it's a good time.

I went down there with Dave and Esther last night for a little while. It was really enjoyable!

Esther and I got our pictures taken with a snake.....not the big one, because it weighs over 200 lbs and the people that own him say he's too big, but with the smaller one. She is a beauty!! And so lovable!! I know, there are a bunch of you out there that say SNAKE??? LOVABLE??? But she is. She loves to be held and petted, and she lets you know it!!

We played BINGO for quite a while. Dave and Esther BOTH called Bingo last night! Several times! NOT ME.....I couldn't win my way out of a paper sack!! But of course I have to act like an idiot!! LOL

There was music on the streets, and people everywhere! It's enjoyable. Tonight will be special to me, my son's band, THE WILL FREED BAND, will be performing! Of course I'm biased, but I think they are awesome!!

Here are a few random pictures from last night!!

Well, that's it until later tonight!

Y'all have a wonderful day and stay safe!!

TATA!

West Virginia wonderings

Sooooo.......it's a new year and I haven't posted yet......

In the spirit of the Christmas Season.....

You're gonna laugh till you pee....

Offensive??

Waking up to a tear stained pillow.....

The splendor of Autumn

Things my mother never taught me, but should have!

I hate having a sinus infection.......

Photo montague

Been a long time.......

Pathways through pain

Good morning and wish me luck.....

Pity??

Dog farts......you just have to read to understand

Love and loss, pain and pleasure.

Thunderstorms and dog blankets.

I'd growl.....but I'm too tired.....

Well hell

Lack of interest

Another Wordless Wednesday

Answer to Wordless Wednesday photo question

Something new....

MUD.....what is it?

Definition of MUD

Random Page....questions, rants, photos and one very loud bird

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Dogs, dogs, dogs......

It's Spring! It's Spring????

FED UP WITH STUPIDITY!!!

Story excerpt....help please!

Easter, birthday and such

Happy Birthday Me!

So, tomorrow is my birthday.......

It's 4 a.m. and I'm awake.

Sometimes I wonder....

Dog troubles, cold weather and busted water heater.

Soooo.....it's April!

It has been FOREVER since....

Hello out there.....

It's been way too long!

Cars, trucks and idiots

Snow, snow.....and bad internet service

I'm soooo lazy

Brrrr....cold, damp....brrrrrr

Snow.....what more needs to be said?

It is still cold out there......and I'm still trapped in the house.....this can't be good!

It's early....but Winter is here and I'm stuck in the house.....you know this can't be good!

So.....here we are again

Autumn oh don't fall on me!

Pictures, pictures and more pictures~

Something has been bothering me......

Music, Men and Mean People

Summer, Summer......

Hot, hot, hot

Is it summer yet??

So....it's been a few days!

Good Old Calhoun County.....