My Back Patio Area - Spring 2008 - (I'll need to do some major pruning and plant some annuals before it looks like that again.)

Word of the Day

Magniphobia - 1. The fear of magnification and anything related to magnifying. 2. The fear that the object in the side mirror is much much closer than it appears.

I'm feeling a bit cranky today. I've decided that I should really stop watching the news because I just get more and more cranky. Please don't call this thing that they passed in congress a "Rescue Bill". As far as I can see, it's still a "Bail-out Bill". Just as a rose is a rose by any other name, a skunk is a skunk by any other name and still stinks to high heaven. It makes me mad that people who don't play by the rules are going to get bailed out of their mortgage woes, have their homes re-evaluated and mortgages lowered according to their newly lowered value, while people that do play by the rules, people like me and HTP who pay their taxes and pay their mortgages on time, and can't afford one of those nifty plasma flat-screen TVs or a regular monthly cell phone plan, will continue to have to tighten their budgetary belts and continue to pay their mortgages as per normal....no rescue for those who play by the rules. If I'd known that the government was going to reward stupidity, maybe I would have maxed my credit cards out and bought big screen TVs and maybe a new car too. I would have gotten one of those sub prime mortgages too. What the heck! The government will step in a rescue me if I find myself in trouble. GRRRRRR!!!!! Meanwhile, AIG employees are spending my tax dollars that were spent to bail out their failing company to take a ritzy vacation that I know that I'd never be able to afford. They borrowed tax-payer money and then celebrated by taking a outlandishly expensive holiday?! I've already decided who I'm going to vote for this November. I'm going to turn off the TV and curl up with a good book and try to pretend that our country isn't rolling down hill to socialism. What do I care? Maybe I'll go out and buy one of those flat-screen TVs and a new DVD player...maybe TiVo...and send the bill to the government. I mean, it's only fair.

OK...done ranting. I just picked the ripest of the limes...at least...I think they're limes. They smell like limes, so I'm going with that. There's still lots of green ones on the tree. Since I don't even know what to do with these ripe ones whose skins have turned brown or the ones that are heading toward brown that I just picked, I decided to leave the green ones on the tree. I'll pick those as I need them. I've got bloody scratches on my arms for my efforts.

We've got someone here right now who is getting our RO system up and running again. Having an RO system is a luxury that we're willing to pay for here in Arizona. The unfiltered tap water from the faucet is nasty. Really nasty. It's good enough to wash up in or water the plants but we'd rather not actually drink it. We haven't had the system cleaned or the filters changed since we moved here. Eventually, you've got to clean the tanks and change the filters or you'd be better off drinking the tap water. HTP decided, after reading up about all the stuff that he'd have to do to clean the system and change the filters, that he'd better get someone who knows what's what to do this. HTP knows his limitations. So...I cleaned out everything that I had stored under the sink so this guy wouldn't have to shove everything out of the way and maybe spill the dish detergent in the process. Be prepared, is my motto. At around 10 AM, this guy rings our doorbell and Gypsy races over to the door to greet the guy...tail wagging furiously. Such a good watch dog! Gypsy wanted to play with him so I finally had to put her in the kennel to keep her out of his way. She would have piddled if he'd patted her. *sigh* That's what she did when my neighbor came over to see me the other day. Thankfully, we were outside and I only had to toss a bucket of water over the piddle stains on front doorway to wash away the spots. I keep hoping that she'll get over her loss of bladder control when she greets people but....

Gypsy doesn't really mind being in her kennel. I noted that she doesn't bark when she's in her kennel. I've got a bark collar for her but so far she hasn't been barking all that much. Maybe it's because I haven't done any home canning...yet.

Murphyism of the Day

Law of Product Testing

A component selected at random from a group having 99 percent reliability, will be a member of the 1 percent group.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes.

- Dag Hammarskjold (1905 - 1961)