Turner - Week One

Turner's been with us one week and I must say, it's been interesting! He's eaten 3 throw pillows, 4 eggs (including the shells) and one squeaky toy. The cats won't come out of the laundry room (Leo won't even come back in the house -- he has to be dragged in!) The obedience trainer really liked Turner, though, and he won't be a puppy forever, so I guess there's hope!

On another positive note, it finally stopped raining! We still can't plant anything tender, though, there are frost warnings for tonight -- and it's almost Memorial Day (isn't Michigan great?)

West Wing is over and I'm very sad. I think the last year was as good as any of the years were; so good, in fact, we were all wondering if they'd change their minds and continue. All of the characters have become so real to me that I almost wonder what's going to happen to them all while we aren't watching anymore. We didn't get the retrospective, either -- we'll all have to wait for the boxed set to come out to see that -- what a disappointment.

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Turner

We have a new dog! He's a 10-month old Border Collie/Lab mix. He's housebroken and (until we undo all his good training) obedience trained. He likes everyone and seems to be a really happy guy. The cats and the chickens don't like him much, though...

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My Mom

This is my favorite picture of my mom and me! She looks so young and happy and it brings back wonderful memories of a very happy childhood, with endless summers of play, swimming and fun. Of course, she'd be an old lady if she were still alive and would have deteriorating health, a desire to keep her independence in spite of her ever-shrinking world and -- probably -- a great amount of CRABBINESS! If Libby was nothing else, she was outspoken!

But today I'm thinking about all the good things. My mom always told us to "stay with the happy people" -- good advise, since discontent is contagious. She was highly competent and organized, two qualities I really admire. She taught me to sew and, later, I taught her to quilt. She could type faster than anyone I've ever known and helped me work my way through many an English paper. She had a great reserve of faith and used it to get through a childhood of poverty & neglect and my dad's terminal illness. She didn't, however, have a reserve of "joy" to keep her from getting angry at those tough things and I've always been sad about that for her.


I think I've got alot of Libby in me. I've got an opinion about everything and seldom back down from an argument (though I DO hope I've learned a little more tact & sensitivity)! I like to organize things and accomplish tasks -- very Libby traits. I enjoy making things and keeping my hands busy. I hope that I have some of her personal strength and ability to get through things. I also hope she'd be proud of some of the things I've done and the way I've dealt with my own blows in life.


I've also been thinking about my grandmother, Ningle. My sister said this weekend that Ning was my "true mom" and in most ways, I think that's true. Ningle taught me to bake and to sew, to iron and play cards. Since she moved in with us when I was just a few weeks old, Ningle was my caregiver and my companion most of the time I was growing up. Her cool, dry hands are the ones I remember on my forehead when I had migraines and she's the one I'd talk to when I was upset. I remember stealing just-made homemade noodles while they dried, licking the beaters when we baked, and sharing many evenings of 500 Rummy, Perry Mason and M&Ms. I also remember Cindy and I writing pretend love-notes from Ningle to Buck, the egg man and to the milk man (very funny!) Ning never minded when we teased her, seeing that it was just another expression of love.

So, this Mother's Day brings a tribute to the two women who helped make me who I am today.

Anyway, thanks for reading to the end of this long post (Charlie says he never finishes them!) -- and... thanks for visiting!

Stupid Person Day

Today was "stupid person day" in our town! I'm sure that local stores were giving a discount to every stupid person who walked through their doors (just like senior citizen discount day) because all the stupid people were here!

I was almost hit twice! One woman in a huge diesel truck backed out of a parking place to within 1 foot of me as I walked past her. She didn't stop until I yelled to her and then she got mad at me -- as though it was obviously my fault! My friend told me she probably couldn't see me. If she hadn't been driving an oversized gas-guzzling truck, she would have been able to see pedestrians.

Then, I almost had the front of my car taken out by an oversized load truck turning left next to me that took up two lanes. If I hadn't swerved out of the way and slammed on the brakes, I'd have been smashed. He couldn't see me either, I guess.

Then, a co-worker (who will NEVER get this web address) called me to help her with her computer because her screen was upside down and she didn't know how she had done it! I'm the "help desk" at my work and that was a new one for me! It turns out that she does it about once a month, NEVER knows how she does it, and always calls another co-worker to fix it. The "helper" had written instructions for fixing it, which my co-worker couldn't find and couldn't remember and couldn't follow anyway because, once the screen is upside down the mouse had to be upside down, too, and she can't figure it out!!!!! After I rotated it back to normal I disabled rotation for her forever.

Stupid person day is fun... I'm glad to be home.

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Kent State

Today is the 36th anniversary of the Kent State shootings. I was telling a co-worker about them (she's 37 and had never heard of them) and have been thinking about them ever since. Now that I have a 19 year old myself, I find I'm even more affected by the 4 deaths there than I was when I was 16. I can't imagine how it would feel to have my son killed by our own troops for protesting. It's like something from fiction or a third world country.

I remember the shootings and all the universities closing down early. I was dating a guy from UC and all my friends were in college and it was a very big deal. There was so much turmoil, even then without around-the-clock meaningless and information-less news coverage! It was about a year after we all marched out of class for Moratorium Day in October, 1969 (either to protest the war or to get out of class -- depending on how you felt). I walked out to get outside! Check out this site to learn about Moratorium Day and other interesting things.

We just had a protest here in a middle school (which started the conversation in the first place) over teachers' contracts -- what a contrast, illustrating how petty and self-absorbed we've become. The funny thing is that the 6th graders were punished and the 7th graders were not...

Nothing else to say about any of that -- just wanted to remind everybody of the anniversary.

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