Not irked anymore

Sometimes I wonder how my newly ironed clothing comes up with cat hairs.  Well, here is the answer to that query....This is Lucy who is resting on my ironing board.    Now that is one of life's mysteries solved.

I was having trouble (yet again....how do I do this to myself???)  with the cursor, moving around and clicking willy-nilly on things that I didn't want clicked upon.....I called ACER tech support and talked to them (WOW I spoke to a person who's native language was English, and American English to boot)  We tried to download the program with the touch pad and it said the drivers were missing.....I didn't know I had drivers let alone that they could go missing.......   So the solution was to reinstall the whole program......no small task I might add.  

I dutifully got out my flash drive and copied the latest genealogic information and then tried to put my updated photos on their drive (which is full it informed me.)   Then I decided, at last resort,  to install it on my external hard drive,  I had been avoiding doing this because it involved getting up and going to fetch the thing.   So I started opening my files and folder to see what was there and started moving things.   Lo and behold and to my great surprise and amazement was a folder with the drivers with the download.   I had installed this in early May and somehow it disappeared.  I think it had something to do with the damn zip files.  It says zip files but I suppose by ESP a mere mortal is intuitively suppose to know how to unzip the thing.  So, I right clicked on it and a option came up that said install, this may take a few moments.   The few moments was just a fraction of the time it was taking to move all the files to my external hard drive.   I finished moving my pictures and the driver installation was done, and I am happy to report that it has quit jumping all over and auto clicking on things that were not wanted.  I hope it last for a while.  

I think most of the faux paus are operator error.......I did get the book WINDOWS VISTA ANNOYANCES by O'Reilly from the library.    I can spend the rest of the afternoon figuring out how to get myself out of a self inflicted VISTA miasma.

 

Double Irked

I like the glistening color of the tulips.   This is the second entry for the day.   I had clicked on the save button at the same moment that my daughter called and the phone is on the same frequency as the wireless and it got disconnected and lost in cyberspace.  Since the computer got disconnected the entry was lost and I am now tired and frustrated and do not feel like doing this again.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday

 

 

Thank goodness its Friday.    I felt like this week was an eternity.  Chuck said we should stop thinking about retirement because it would make us crazy.   I have to defocus on that topic and think of something else.

This picture was taken at the Mosside Greenhouse.  If you look at the top right hand side you can see how blue the sky was that day.   It was a beautiful sight.  There were so many baskets and I did not buy one.   Maybe I will go back; I did buy a lot of flowers. 

I want to get a light weight bedspread or quilt.  I think I get cold and then pull up the spread and then I am too hot.  If I get a lightweight one I will be just like Goldilocks and be "just right."  I hope so, I spend a lot of time pulling on and pushing off the covers.  I will make that my tomorrow project, along with going to the library.

I seem to have hit an impasse in my reading.   I get a lot of books that seem good at the time; but, I just am having a difficult time getting into them.   If I can't make it past the first chapter I will not punish myself to keep on reading......Maybe I need a hiatus from the novels.   I can get back to doing my crossword puzzles.  I haven't done them for months.

 

GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRR,

I am really irked.   I spent the past 15 minutes typing an entry and the stupid thing said it couldn't connect.   Well that entry is lost.   That is one of my aggravations with AOL.    The main one is that I can't download my pictures to their picture page.  IT DOESN'T DO VISTA.............

I have to jump thru all kinds of hoops to get it one the computer and then cancel it and move to  Pictures which stores the photo entry's.

Does everyone get aggravated or is it just me?????   I am too mad to type it again...........

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Wednesday

This is a basket of flower that I found at the greenhouse.  It is a small greenhouse and their plants and flowers are reasonable priced.  At the local florist their baskets were $30, at Lowe's they were $15 and at this greenhouse they were $10.

I didn't buy the basket but I did buy a lot of flowers.   I usually get geraniums, begonias, portulacas, petunias and some others which I usually vary.  Those above seem to fare the best.  The front of my house faces west and they get the long summer sun, so I need flowers that will tolerate heat and sun.   They usually do well but by August, no matter what, they start to look leggy.

I found Picasa for a program for photo touch ups but it is hard to find it on my hard drive.  Maybe I should have used Flikr instead, then at least I could have easily added them to the journal.  Well, who knows.......I do have a lot of shots I took at the greenhouse, if I find them.

Here is Jenny enjoying a bit of sunshine.   I would like to come back as one of my cats.  LOL

  Today is my last day off; I guess we got a lot of things done around the house.   I still have a few flowers to plant.  I have to do some rearranging of three flower pots.  I had them outside the garage but they do not get much water when it rains.   I guess I should plant cacti there.

Had to set the alarm on the clock for tomorrow..  Boo hoo hoo  Chuck said he enjoyed the time off and he thinks in November he would like to go down to 2/12's.   I would like to do 2/10's myself.

We need to get the kid of the payroll.    Hopefully she is on her way..............................

The chicken and grilled pineapple were delicious.  Chuck preheated the gas grill and when it was time to put the chick on the flame had gone out; so I cooked the entire meal on my new grill pan.    It has ridges and makes the grill marks, what is good is the fact that it is raised and cooks without needing the fat; so the entree will (theoretically) be lower in calories.  

I had downloaded Picasa (Google) and it took me hours to figure out on my computer where the pictures were.  For a free editing program it seems to be good.  If I were a professional I would need a paid one.    I had taken a digital photography class and had Photoshop and low and behold the program WAS NOT COMPATABLE WITH VISTA.   Well, wasn't that a surprise............  They were in the Picasa folder but I couldn't download them to the journal.  But they are in my pictures buried down about 5 layers of folders.   When I clicked on the folder to name it, it would tell me I couldn't use that name..  GRRRRRRRRRRRR

Sunday

 

 

This is a bromeliad, I think they are related to pineapples, but don't quote me on that.

Today is an absolutely beautiful day.   I think it is about 72F.   Went to the greenhouse and bought the flowers for my front yard.   I also took pictures at the greenhouse but didn't get them downloaded yet.    I am contemplating photo editing software.    I had a program but it does not work with VISTA. 

I REFUSE to pay for another program and have been looking at the free programs out there.   So, I have to research it a bit, and then make my decision.  When I download photos now I have a difficult time getting them into a folder.   Maybe it is operator error.............But I don't think so.....................

Am off but on tomorrow.   I am on back up call, and I have a feeling I will be working........No special reason, just I do.  Waiting for the daughter to get home from work and then to cook dinner.   Grilled chicken,  I am marinating it right now.   I saw a recipe for grilled pineapple, thought I would try it too.  They had fresh pineapple already cored and in slices, it cost about $5 for eight slices.   I refuse to pay that.  I bought a can of Dole for $1.29.    I am also having corn on the cob, and a salad.......sounds good !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Niagara Falls for anyone who has never been there.  It is truly an amazing and awesome sight.   I can't imagine who anyone would want to try to go over the falls in some sort of barrel.   We have been there a few times.  It is sort of honky tonk, but the view is worth the trip.   This photo was taken years ago, but I think the view is pretty much the same.

Went to PJChangs for Emily's birthday dinner.  Mine is next and I have a few months to decide on where I want to go.

Today dawned bright and sunny, although still chilly.  It is suppose to go up to 68F; I think it may it is pretty warm.  I spent this morning taking things to the thrift shop.   As I was putting things in the donation basket people were looking over my shoulder to see what I was donating.    My next stop was the Liquor store to see if I could get some sturdy boxes.   I am going to go thru my cookbooks and take them to the used book store.   I will get paid a bit for them.  

Next stop for today is the LDS Church and see what I can find of Footnote.com.   They have a subscription and I do not.  Maybe it will be a fruitful trip but I really do not hold out much home, that is the way my research has been going.

 

Friday

Here is Emily, she is twenty six today.   This picture was taken when we lived in Fort Worth TX.   I imagine she was about two at the time.  Texas was a nice place to live, the only thing I didn't like was the heat, and there was no escaping that at all.

The is the last of my work days off.   The weather  today  is 54 outside, at least it has stopped raining.   I woke up and the sun was shining.  I am still trying to get caught up with housework.    I would rather sit on my butt and do nothing today..............

We are going out to dinner at PFChangs.  That is the choice for today.  I am hungry already.

http://www.pfchangs.com/

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
Leonardo da Vinci

I like things simple yet tasteful.

 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do."
Mark Twain

I don't think I will be disappointed that I didn't do the housework today.

 

 

 

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Thursday

Feeling sort of crabby myself.   This is the fourth day of my week off.    I decided that wasn't a vacation.   The weather is still cool, or coldish.   The high today was in the 50's.   This is really weird weather.  The weather people are promising warm for this weekend.   I have a feeling that in two weeks we will be hitting the 90's and I will have to fire up the A/C.

Meteorology is the only occupation that you can be wrong 50% of the time and still have your job.........Nurses can not be wrong at all.

What did I do today.  A whole hell of a lot of nothing I may say.   I am in the midst of getting all my things back where they belong since the carpet cleaning.   I have so much stuff and I am not putting it all back.

Tomorrow is my daughters birthday.  She will be 26, she doesn't know that is the beginning of the road downhill.  LOL LOL  I guess we are on the road downhill since the day we are born.  Our tradition is the take the birthday person out and for them to eat at the restaurant of their choice.   She was six when the BD dinners at McDonalds ended.  That day she wanted to eat at "Casa Lupita"  and it has been expensive ever since.

Went to the Social Security Office to see about benefits. My retirement age is 66.   I will not be working full time at that age.  I can retire at 62, which is not too far away.    My idea now is to slow down and go part time for a while.  I will see how that goes..... 

 

 

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Recycling

Western PA has a hazardous household products recycling center.  This is where you take things that you can't throw in the trash.   Four years ago, when we cleaned out my fathers house he had enough things saved to cause a mini hazmat scare.  Something's were unlabeled and anybodies guess what it was.   This year I have old paint, old car oil and I will probably come up with more.   They are looking for volunteers, you get to pitch 5 gallons of waste for free, and get a few other tidbits, including breakfast, lunch and a free T-shirt.  Plus a $10 gift card, I hope it is from the supermarket and not the health system sponsoring the collection.   Chuck said he would look into the two of volunteering this year.  Spousal quality time.  TA DA  

 Another note on recycling.  I have purchased those new light bulbs, filled with mercury vapor, and are suppose to last years.  Well, that is a down and out lie.  So far, three of them have died and I haven't even had them for one year.  After 2011 these are all they will be selling mind you.   This organization will recycle those light bulbs.   But I have a notion to contact Sylvania.......................I think I will, it will make for a good story...................

http://www.swpahhw.org/home.html

 

 

I also had enquired about recycling CD cases, of which I have plenty.  They are made of polystyrene and ARE recyclable.  I just have to figure out where they would go.

 

http://www.cdrecyclingcenter.org/

 

 

Thought

"Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few."
David Hume

"Never underestimate the power of fools in large groups.

Claudia

Another dreary day here in Western PA.  The temperature is in the 50's.   However, this Saturday it is to go up to 70.   I can't wait for that.  The whole weekend is suppose to be nice........I am off on Monday, Memorial Day but I am on beeper call.   It escapes me how a person gets Holiday Pay and still has to be available to work.  If I can't have a beer with my brats it is no holiday to me.    I have a feeling that I am going to be called in a work.   I have no evidence to base that feeling on, just a feeling.    If I am working I will request to take my 8 hours of Holiday another day.   

I am slowly getting the house back in shape after the carpet cleaning.  This is an opportune time to clean things out and throw away for recycle.   

I forgot to add a picture and felt I needed something warm and sunny. 

This is the Westside Market in Cleveland OH.  This was taken a few years ago when the daughter lived in Cleveland.

Went to the LDS Church and perused the microfilm on the Baptisms/Marriages of Mayo County.   They were printed in a negative picture and very small I wore my reading glasses and had a magnifying glass.  Still, I did not find what I was looking for.  The records started in the 1830's or 1840's; reading was next to impossible.  They were dark and too small.   I don't know if this was the only record or there are others.    The film was copied in 1984 and was 16 mm as opposed to 35 mm.   I think this had something to do with the miniaturization of the documents.   Sorry Thomas and Bridget I could not find you there.   

On the census I did find Nora and Catharine, they are in the same age range as Thomas  I think they were my ggrandfathers sisters.  They had both been sponsors for their wedding and children's baptism.  

Then on to look for the German side,  why, I want to know, can I not find anyone.   The records are not in the year range that I need.  Some other people doing research find their relatives back to the Stone Age.....   I think I am lucky that I got the great grandparents and the gggrandparents may be the most I can go back.   The Irish census records were destroyed in 1922 in the War of Independence from Great Britain.   So not much luck there, you have to get the information from the Church and a few other documents that relate to taxation.

The carpet is drying nicely with the furnace on.   Tomorrow is still cool, unseasonably so.   On Friday it is to go all the way up to 70F.   

This is day two of my week off; can I classify this as a vacation since I did not go anywhere????  Today I went thru some of the boxes in storage and got rid of some junk.    The plan is: if you will use it, keep it.  If it is usable it goes to the Thrift store (St. Vincent de Paul is the closest.   If it unsalvageable it goes in the trash.   So far most is leaving the house one way or another.  Emily has two boxes of things to go to St Vincent's.

I don't know what I will do tomorrow......I do not that all the little Styrofoam blocks and little foot pads will have to be taken off from under the furniture and the decorations and pictures put back.  I am even debreding them.  

Tomorrows Activities

Basshead Light Acadia Maine.  Long ago and far away.

Tomorrows activity is to sleep in (maybe all the way till 7 am.)  I think I will go to the Family History Center of the nearby LDS Church and look at my ordered microfilm again.   They will keep it until June 12.  If I order it again it will stay at the local branch forever.   Since my ancestors lived about 10 miles from here they may be others who would be interested.

I also have to see what is avaliable from Germany, Bohemia-Austria to continue on my quest.

Chuck said he was going to put the brakes on his car.   Aren't spousal vacations fun?????

 

 

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Carpet Cleaning Day

I love snapdragons.   I plant them every year in my planters.   I wanted to buy and plant my flowers this week (I am off) but so far it is just too cold.

The carpet cleaning crew was here this morning.   First thing they rang the bell and the cats scattered like bowling pins hit by a ball.  They ran in the bedroom and one down into the basement.   They came back out after the noise and men were gone.    The last time it was so traumatic for Molly, I even thought she had escaped.   I didn't see her for hours and even went so far to make LOST CAT  signs for her.   But even after I scoured the neighborhood, she was still missing.

It was about 8 hours later that I saw a gray streak out of the corner of my eye running upstairs and streaking to the bedroom.   I didn't bother with the signs this time and she came out an hour later than the others.

Henry is the hairball king.   The cat food is made with dyes, I guess it is to appeal to the owner.   The stains on the carpet are lessened but not completely gone.   The carpet guy said it saturates like Kool Aid and will not come out.   Never buy carpet lighter than cat hair balls. 

  I wanted to turn on the furnace (it is 45 or 50 outside) to warm up the house and help with the drying of the carpet, and guess what, yesterday it would not go on.    Chuck cleaned and poked a needle to clean the little jet holes but the burner will not light.

   He has to call the furnace guy.   The furnace guy who installed the furnace doesn't like to do repairs, just install.   He must have a lot of cash to avoid what he doesn't like to do.  Chuck said he will call him but I do not think he will come.   Have to find a repair guy, I wanted to call the guy who also does plumbing and unclogged my sewer last year.  

The idiots who installed the sewer did not connect it to the street, they connected it to the neighbors and then it goes to the street which is illegal.   The neighbors have a large tree whose roots routinely grow into the line.   What a pain, we have to get some chemical root rot and add it so the roots won't grown.  I sense a huge bill coming sometime in the future.  If it comes down to that I will feign ignorance about the whole matter. 

He didn't need to call the furnace guy.  Chuck gave it a go again..... The furnace has an automatic igniter.  It seems that the igniter was too close together, I guess you can compare it to a spark plug and when the gas starts to flow it clicks and ignites the pilot and then the burner.  Saved us about $300 I would guess.  I guess we pay those big bucks because they know things about the ignitor.   The house is warm and the carpet is drying nicely.   Tomorrow it may go up to 61.  I read a journal and it is 92 in   Washington State.   WOW, my heat is out west.

Next week it will probably be in the 80's and I will be thinking of turning on the A/C.  LOL

Sunday

I honestly can not remember what pictures I have used before, there is just so many of them.

Tomorrow the guy is coming to clean the carpet and I had to move the stuff from two rooms out and into another.  How did  I ever collect so much STUFF?????? I have been trying to give things to the thrift store but not enought of it is leaving the house.  

Going out to dinner tonight.  I haven't decided where as of yet.  I am thinking Red Lobster.....

Even lazier Saturday

Today was even lazier than yesterday.   This morning started out with me trying to figure out if it was to rain or not.   The Geneaology Group went on a field trip to Allegheny Cemetary.   Now, who else in the world would do that???

http://www.alleghenycemetery.com/

Besides a bunch of nuts looking for their roots.   The rain held off, thank goodness.   This cemetery is in the city of Pittsburgh and is 300 acres and only 200 are occupied.  There is a lot of space available.  It was founded in 1844.  It is a Who's Who of Pittsburgh.  I took some photos but haven't downloaded them yet.  This also have two lakes, but, we didn't see them.   We did see deer grazing, guess they were part of the grounds keeping.  Also wild turkeys, they were skittish but the deer were not.  

Buried there were five generals from the Civil War, five Confederate Soldiers, many wealthy industrialists, and many political figures from the city.   It was a good thing to see.

Tomorrow Emily and I will go to the May Market in Mellon Park.  It  is spondored by Phipps Conservatory and they sell plants, gardening items and some food and snacks. 

Spent a lot of time walking and I am here yawning and typing.

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Lazy Friday

Quiet is the word.  I don't think I will ever get the hang of the size of the words.  I think it will type what ever it wants  (the computer that is)  When I click on the #14 I get minuscule letter and when I initially clicked on #18 I got the size of the first sentence of this entry. ??????  What goes on,  is it one of the imponderables and mysteries of life.   I will think about it later.

Today is a quiet day.  That is because Chuck and Emily are at work and all I have to deal with are the cats.  Henry is on my desk and meowing at something I can not see.  Although, I suspect, it is some insect.  I am too lazy to get up and see.

I went to the library and got a new supply of books.  They had a sale.  I am an official "Friend of the Library"  that means I have donated.  But, to my dismay,  the preview sale was yesterday and not today as I had thought.   Tomorrow is the sale for all the rest of the non donators.   It will be teeming  masses of humanity.  They will be bellybutton to butt and climbing over each other and trying to find the best book in a stack of books that are catalogued and shelved by some mysterious code.    The aisles are so narrow that some people have to inch their way sideway and in the process trample people who are under the tables trying to read the titles.

Actually it is a lot of fun.   I haven't decided if I am up for it tomorrow.  It starts at eight.  What I can do is buy books at the library sale, read them, and then take them to Half Price Books and recoup some of my money.  Then I can start the cycle all over again.  TA DA.

Friday and Off

 

 

The flowers from the Flower Show are all gone, at the Conservatory but I have them immortalized on my computer.   There is now a show on Chocolate.   While I LOVE the taste, I can't  imagine that there is much to look at.   Maybe I will go to the show anyway.  I am a member and I can go anytime.

I am off today and for the next week.  On Monday the guy is coming to clean the carpets.  There is so much stuff (junk) sitting around this house I need to go thru it and get rid of it.   Things to go to the thrift store, trash, recycling.   I have stuff in boxes from moves of 20 years ago.   It is very difficult to get the time or the motivation to start analyzing and pitching.    It will be a great "pay back" for the daughter when I die and she has to go thru this stuff.    She will probably just throw them away and not look in the boxes; I honestly do not know what is in them.

Lat night when I was in bed Chuck came to the room and announced the terrible misfortune that had befallen him.  It had only been 10 minutes since I has retired; what could this tragedy be????   He was watching the television and the picture closed into a vertical strip of colors and disappeared into nothingness.   The voice remained behind like the Cheshire Cat.    

My job today is to peruse the Circuit City and Best Buy ads for its replacement.   This TV was only four years old.   A person would spend thousands on a television n a TV only to have it die an untimely death in a few years.  I have old TVs that aren't HD that last longer than that.   My friend Rosemary had a TV from the 1970's that was still working and she could not find anyone to take it.  Wonder if she still has it????    LOL   LOL

 

 

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Reticent

  Word of the Day Reticent (adjective)

Pronunciation:  ['re-tê-sênt]

Definition: Reluctant to speak or say anything; taciturn.

Usage: This word is misused so often to mean "reluctant to do anything" that the errant meaning is creeping into US dictionaries. This adjective has but one meaning: "reluctant to speak or express oneself."

Suggested Usage: The remarkable aspect of this misused term is that it has so many interesting legitimate uses: "Bill was understandably reticent about the lipstick on his collar" or "Hillary became abruptly reticent when asked about the box of chocolates under the couch." Let's restore the original precision of this hapless word's meaning.

Etymology: Latin reticentia "silence" from re-tic-eo "I am silent", based in turn on re + tac-ere "be silent". The stem tac- may also be found in "taciturn" and "tacit."

–Dr. Language, YourDictionary.com

No one has EVER accused me of being reticent.

Just a quick note for today.   Work was long and hard, felt like a hamster on a wheel.    Running and getting nowhere and using up a lot of energy. 

Things I have discovered.  After typing in this journal I have a number of times where my typed things have disappeared.  Well, if that happens to you, you can hit CTRL and then Z.  Some how that makes everything come back.  It doesn't work if you do things after the disappearance.  If you do it immediately things should come back.  I   wonder if we fashion something to make people disappear.  Someone had mentioned cloning and I can not think of anyone I would like to see two of, in fact, I can think of a lot of people that I could do with out one of them.   LOL  LOL

Back to the hamster wheel tomorrow.   Those hamsters really look like they are having a good time.  

This photo was taken Easter  2008  at Phipps Conservatory.

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Medicine

"The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused while nature heals the disease."
Voltaire

 

And that is really the truth, for the most part.   With a lot of illness or aches and pains,  if you wait two weeks it will go away.

 

 

OOPS

OOPS, he did it again.   A while back I had written about how Chuck asked me why I would buy cat food that needed a can opener.    I worked 16 hours yesterday and when I can home the cats were all hanging about, looking quite smug I might add.    My daughter said "Dad fed them the people salmon!!!!!"   He tried that once before.  The discussion on this is in one of the older journal entries.

   "He had the can opener out and everything.   They LOVED it and they ate it all up."   I bet they did.  I think they wanted more of it.  Sorry cats, I gave them a cup of the dry food.

They all just gobbled the salmon up and not a morsel was left.   What a serendipitous occurrence for them.   And the can was left on the sink, rinsed out neatly, I might add.   It was hard to top that with a bowl of dry kibble.

I was going to take it to work to add to a salad,  guess it was best that he did that, because I would not have had a can opener at work   And I would have been quite irked at myself.

Chuck, you are  the cats BFF.   (He won't know what that means.)

 

 

Mutters Tag

This is the wedding picture of Chucks mom and dad.  They were also married in the 1940's.    His dad worked in an ammunition factory and was not in the war.   I wonder if he felt bad that he didn't see action in the war.   Making ammunition was an important things.  

They met in September and married on December 31 of the same year.  That was a long time before people cohabitated before marriage.   I am surprised that they got a formal wedding done in a short period of time.  They both died in 1996,  He, a few months after her.

We went out to dinner.  We tried Outback Steakhouse and it was up to a 50 minute wait.  Max and Ermas was SRO.  So we went to the newly opened Osawa Steak House and there was not a wait at all.   It is a Japanese Steak House.  The food was good and we had no wait at all.

Back to work tomorrow.   I have a student again.  Guess I should teach her all I know since I might need her some day after I have retired.  LOL

 

 

 

 

Mothers Day

Here is the wedding picture of my Mom and Dad.   They are both gone now.   My mother died in 1995 and dad in 2004.   I miss my mother so much and would love to talk to her again.  

I think, for both of them, they raises a good bunch of kids, who are all employed,  never in jail, and paying taxes.    We really all speak to each and disagreements are to a minimum.   I guess if one is acting stupid they other will tell them they are being disagreeable.  But that never really happens.   We even go on vacation together. 

I wish I had asked my parents about their ancestors.  There is so much they knew and I was not interested in writing down the ancestor information.     I remember my dad mentioning that his grandmother Bridget Naughton had a twin sister, he said he couldn't tell them apart.  I have been searching for that documentation but have not been able to find it.    He also talked about his Aunt Mayme,   I discovered that it was his Aunt Mary, on his fathers side.  

Someone asked what I am going to do with my research information.   I have decided to submit it to the LDS, who keeps that information.  So in 100 years some descendant of mine will find it and be so happy that Claudia had already did some of it.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO MOM AND ALL THE OTHER MOTHERS OUT THERE.

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Geneaology

Went to the LDS Church today and looked for Irish Marriages and Baptisms in Mayo County; that was a waste of my time.    The records were all on a dark background and the writing was white.   I realize that these were from over a hundred years ago.    I could not read them, I needed a brighter light and be able to control the magnification.    I did not  find what I was looking for.  

 I have serious doubts that I will be able to find much further back than my great grandparents, or possibly selective tidbits of one generation before them.    Another thing I found annoying was the news that the Pope declared that the LDS Church would no longer be allowed to copy the records of the Catholic Churches.   It seems that there is opposition of the LDS Churches practice of Baptism of Dead ancestors.   They do this because it is their belief that the family's will be untied and it would good to have them united in heaven all baptized.   As a Catholic I now feel that the Church is composed of Old Men who have control issues.    They should be worried about priest pedophiles and less about Mormon Baptisms.

My friend, who was there too, was researching the German records.   In a typical German fashion, they had their records indexed and indicated with the page number.   That is so German,   I guess I got those genes, or the whole German race is OCD.  

 

 

Random thoughts of the Day

"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be."
Thomas Kempis

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one."
Elbert Hubbard

 

"Scoundrels are always sociable."
Arthur Schopenhauer

 

Tuesday

Off today and got a lot done.    Emily and I went to CCAC.  The problem with them is most of the things they offer you are required to take an "INTRO" course.    She had taken AP Calc in high school and when she needed a college math  she decided to take it during the summer at home.   Would Community College of Allegheny County let her take College Alegbra, no she had to take the Intro Course.   Would they let her take an English Course, no you had to take an Intro. Today we went to sign up for Nutrition  and guess what there was an Intro.

The Vogons  (HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE) are employed by that Community College.   They drive me crazy.....Guess she will take it at Penn State, if she had to take the intro the cost would be what Penn State would charge.

I HATE VISTA

I have been working on this damn posting three times and I hate Vista because it loses my written word, skips around and deletes things that were not meant to be deleted.   Am I the only one in the so called civilized world that is having trouble with this damn system???

On to Verizon.....Emilys phone has been replaced three times.   It is the EnV.    Anyhow, the last straw was yesterday when she disconnected the charger and pulled out the guts of the phone.   

Off to the Verizon store, where John told us that he could get us a replacement or something equal in value.   AT the current value, that phone had been replaced three times so far in the last 12 months.

After looking at the options I told John I wanted to speak to his supervisor.  To make a long story short, the manager told us that when the phones come off the assembly line they are tested and the failures are reconfigured to use as "replacements,"   Well we had two of these so called replacements and neither of them lasted very long.   So in the managers discretion gave us a NEW phone.   I had never known that the replacements were factory rejects.   Well I am  now happy if the phone works.  So far so good.  I spent a lot of time at the Verizon store and I think they wanted to see me go, although, I was very polite and not very loud.

 

 

 

Sunny and warmer

I had tried to do this before but somehow it didn't add the posting.   Today started out on the cloudy, dull and overcast and damp and dreary too.  I had to get out of the house.  So off I went.  First top was to get cat food.  They are having a protest.  It seems they do not like their choices.   Tuna seems to be the stalling block.   Well , they are going to get it and if they don't like it too bad, let them do the shopping. The don't have any money or little wallets to carry the money in anyway. 

I am still perplexed about this "tapping"  Somehow I had it fixed and the problem has resurfaced.   I had remembered that I had typed instructions and what I wrote no longer works.   I followed my own instructions and the menu that I had worked on is no longer there.    I think it was wisked away with one of those updates.   I went into system restore and could not go back to 3/9 the date of my posting.  What is going on?

Added Chucks picture

I have decided to add Chucks picture to the all about me section.   Now, there in living color is Chuck, the man I have been happily married to for 10 years, too bad we have been married for 37.  LOL LOL   That is Chucks joke and I have stolen it.    That is what he says, that he tells people who ask him how long we have been married.    Now, once it is out there on the web it is there forever  and  possibly a day.

When he reads this I expect some comment to be posted,  but I will not offer a retraction......HA   I guess I will have to post one of Emily too.  But, I don't think she reads this journal because she probably thinks my life is too mundane.

Friday

You have heard of cat in the hat, well this is cat in the bag.  This is Jeanne Marie, aka  Jenny.  She belongs to Emily and she was rescued from the Berea Animal Shelter.  People didn't want her because she bit, well, don't all kittens bite?????

My current thought is the tax rebate.   I have a coworker who takes care of her elderly mother and claims her on her income tax.   Well the regulations on the rebate say only a claimed dependant child can get a rebate...............And the mother is not entitled to the refund either because she doesn't file income tax and is a dependant of some else.   Way to go IRS.   My friend was going to take $300 out of her savings and give it to her mom and tell her that the rebate come for her.   At least one portion of the problem was solved.

Dress rehearsal is tonight and the last concert of the season is tomorrow.   Emily will be glad for the respite.  Then it starts again in October 2008.   By then she will be back in school....She said she is looking forward to that.  She said she needs to do something meaningfull in her life.  She also will never be unemployed as a RN.

Tangier Island

This is from Wikipedia, a non-referencece reference

Tangier, Virginia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This was taken a while back.  Went on a little side trip to Tangier Island, VA.   I guess the isolation was amazing and it is unreal that people can still live in a location that is only accessible by boat.  Like the French Island off the coast of Acadia National Park in Maine.

I have been irked to the max, well, not really the max but it was high up on my frustrations list.   I had my credit card number changed so I needed to change the number of EZPASS (PA)  EZPass is a good feature.   For a person who rides the Turnpike you just get on and get off.   Then it is billed to your account. 

The beauty of that is that you don't need to carry cash.  Sometime earlier this year they changed the  user id and password so it had to be reset.   They did not send me an email about this new requirement.   So I get on and find out that I can not log in, bummer number one.   Then I am having great difficult setting up a new account, bummer number two.    So, I want to complain (one of my favorite things I like to do)  and they DO NOT ACCEPT EMAILS ABOUT EZPASS.  I sent one anyway.  They never did respond, but I did mention that they would not be getting paid without the new number.....  Bummer number three....

They had a phone number and and after five minutes time I get a message that I have to call back on Monday.  Bummer number four.

On Monday I get the run around and telephone tag as I complain about the signing up again part.  It wasn't till I   mention that I had a new credit card number and the old one was no longer valid, that I was transferred to the accounting department with the speed of light.  They took that information so fast it made my head spin.

Today, I had to call and get help with setting up the account.   Seems you have to have a combination of UPPER, lower and numericals in this stupid password.   I have lost track of the numbers of bummers.

Let me tell you about the toll collectors on the PA Turnpike.   It is fraught with nepotism; at least that is my suspicion.   The coin collectors are making about $19/hour.   And all you have to be able to do is count money.    When you get on an automated machine spits out your card, and you have to pay to exit.    The collectors are very surly to add to my aggravation, I would like to know why in the world would they get paid so much money.  I guess you have to pay your relatives a lot.  They are always in a foul mood, I would say about 80% of them. 

With EZPASS  I only have to be aggravated when they change my charge account number.  I hope they install it on the whole damn thing and make it mandatory.

What do you think of that Chuck????

Addendum: While I was watching the evening news and eating my dinner, a guy from PENDOT called to inquire about my email to PENNDOT.   I had a nice conversation and told him I had already taken care of the matter (long before his call I must add)  and now everything was fine.   I guess they do read them and do not go to the spamfile.

 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  How about that .......

Tangier Island Guide: Tangier Island - A Chesapeake Bay Island Bed and Breakfasts, Restaurants, Transportation, Marina, Airpo...

 

"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
Winston Churchill

Relating to the entry below, the daughter said I could mention the dad more, she doesn't care..............

Relating to the entry about, I try to find humor in everything I do, because, if I wasn't laughing I would be crying.

Claudia