Saturday, June 18, 2005
Busted?
First thing Friday at work we had a memo from HR about how we are not supposed to be using the company equipment, and they spelled it out: copier, fax, internet, and telephone for excessive personal purposes that take away from our work! And the memo reminded us that all such activities, even on our own time such as before and after work or while at lunch, are being tracked. Naturally I got horribly paranoid about it all and took it as a personal message to stop blogging at work! I wish I could explain myself to them without sounding all guilty and defensive (like I do here, writing this!) that it really doesn't take away from work because I'm busy on the phone working while reading and commenting on blogs. Hmmmm.
Today I'm driving to my Mom's, I think. She wanted me to swap the days and go with her to her church rummage sale on Saturday. This sounded very fun, and even though I knew she might try to get me to come out both days, I said yes and then asked when she'd like me to show up. 9:00 AM was the answer, and it takes an hour to drive there and some time to get ready to go. I did get up at 8:00 but haven't been able to get myself going yet because I went to bed at 2:30 AM. I called her and she was gone. When my Mom says 9:00, she means at least 15 minutes before 9:00. I'll just have to keep calling her to catch her when she comes back. Not condusive to blogging, as I'm on a dial-up and will need to sign off each time. Oh well, that's what I get for getting up too late! My life and work are interfering with my fun hobby of blogging!
We omitted the walk this morning. Yesterday morning we had barely gotten inside when I looked out the window. It was a b-b-b-bear! A great big one walking right where we had been (with my little dog) only about three minutes earlier! It stopped and sniffed the air near our garbage can with the chicken bones in a hefty-hefty cinch sack but kept slowly walking, looking around. I poked my head out the door, it saw me and didn't show any alarm. I yelled and clapped my hands, still the bear showed no fear or hurry. It's just not true that they are more afraid of you than you are of them! I shudder to think what would have happened if we been had three minutes later in our walk, just coming up over the hill to find this big, black bear between us and the house! And we had my brave little dog who would have tried to protect me, which could have aggravated the bear.
I swear that I'm going to be the worst sissy ever (even though I'm not afraid of snakes, spiders or bugs) if I keep living up here! Last summer it was a mean deer who charged at me (because she had twin fawns) and she considered our back woods and the adjacent lawn her personal territory. I didn't venture into that part of my land unless I had the garden hose to ward her off with an icy cold stream of water. A couple of nights ago when I had the ferrets outside to play in the big dirt pile, I saw a man peeking at me from the woods. I had kept hearing faint crackling noises periodically and was worried that it was the mean deer, but it was a stranger sneaking through the wood spying on me! As soon as he realized I had finally seen him, he disappeared. Yikes! I was alone, away from the house and the door was unlocked. Pretty scary. I was alone up here last night until my son came home from work, early in the morning. But we do have neighbors who aren't too far away.
I grew up in the country but always felt safe there as a child because my Dad was there to protect us. I worry about my Mom, who is all alone in the country, too. She has a shotgun to protect herself and has used it too (but just on wild animals!) She had a bear almost come through her picture window! It was after the suet in the bird feeder. She doesn't put out suet for the birds anymore except in the dead of winter when the bears are hibernating. But it's easy to feel quite vulnerable out here. The same conditions that make country living attractive--quiet and not many people around--can backfire and be detrimental in a situation where you might need some help.
On a lighter note, finally after all of that! Here's a funny from my e-mail (more epitaphs will be coming when I write about the graveyard tours. I haven't forgotten! The first posting was 7 pages from the 18 pages of epitaphs, so there are plenty more.)
Scrabble It
DORMITORY:
When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM
THE MORSE CODE:
When you rearrange the letters:
HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES:
When you rearrange the letters:
CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY:
When you rearrange the letters:
IS NO AMITY
SNOOZE ALARMS:
When you rearrange the letters:
ALAS! NO MORE ZS
A DECIMAL POINT:
When you rearrange the letters:
I'M A DOT IN PLACE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO:
When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE
Can you think of any good scrambles?
_______________________________
Today I'm driving to my Mom's, I think. She wanted me to swap the days and go with her to her church rummage sale on Saturday. This sounded very fun, and even though I knew she might try to get me to come out both days, I said yes and then asked when she'd like me to show up. 9:00 AM was the answer, and it takes an hour to drive there and some time to get ready to go. I did get up at 8:00 but haven't been able to get myself going yet because I went to bed at 2:30 AM. I called her and she was gone. When my Mom says 9:00, she means at least 15 minutes before 9:00. I'll just have to keep calling her to catch her when she comes back. Not condusive to blogging, as I'm on a dial-up and will need to sign off each time. Oh well, that's what I get for getting up too late! My life and work are interfering with my fun hobby of blogging!
We omitted the walk this morning. Yesterday morning we had barely gotten inside when I looked out the window. It was a b-b-b-bear! A great big one walking right where we had been (with my little dog) only about three minutes earlier! It stopped and sniffed the air near our garbage can with the chicken bones in a hefty-hefty cinch sack but kept slowly walking, looking around. I poked my head out the door, it saw me and didn't show any alarm. I yelled and clapped my hands, still the bear showed no fear or hurry. It's just not true that they are more afraid of you than you are of them! I shudder to think what would have happened if we been had three minutes later in our walk, just coming up over the hill to find this big, black bear between us and the house! And we had my brave little dog who would have tried to protect me, which could have aggravated the bear.
I swear that I'm going to be the worst sissy ever (even though I'm not afraid of snakes, spiders or bugs) if I keep living up here! Last summer it was a mean deer who charged at me (because she had twin fawns) and she considered our back woods and the adjacent lawn her personal territory. I didn't venture into that part of my land unless I had the garden hose to ward her off with an icy cold stream of water. A couple of nights ago when I had the ferrets outside to play in the big dirt pile, I saw a man peeking at me from the woods. I had kept hearing faint crackling noises periodically and was worried that it was the mean deer, but it was a stranger sneaking through the wood spying on me! As soon as he realized I had finally seen him, he disappeared. Yikes! I was alone, away from the house and the door was unlocked. Pretty scary. I was alone up here last night until my son came home from work, early in the morning. But we do have neighbors who aren't too far away.
I grew up in the country but always felt safe there as a child because my Dad was there to protect us. I worry about my Mom, who is all alone in the country, too. She has a shotgun to protect herself and has used it too (but just on wild animals!) She had a bear almost come through her picture window! It was after the suet in the bird feeder. She doesn't put out suet for the birds anymore except in the dead of winter when the bears are hibernating. But it's easy to feel quite vulnerable out here. The same conditions that make country living attractive--quiet and not many people around--can backfire and be detrimental in a situation where you might need some help.
On a lighter note, finally after all of that! Here's a funny from my e-mail (more epitaphs will be coming when I write about the graveyard tours. I haven't forgotten! The first posting was 7 pages from the 18 pages of epitaphs, so there are plenty more.)
Scrabble It
DORMITORY:
When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM
THE MORSE CODE:
When you rearrange the letters:
HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES:
When you rearrange the letters:
CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY:
When you rearrange the letters:
IS NO AMITY
SNOOZE ALARMS:
When you rearrange the letters:
ALAS! NO MORE ZS
A DECIMAL POINT:
When you rearrange the letters:
I'M A DOT IN PLACE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO:
When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE
Can you think of any good scrambles?
_______________________________
