Fun Monday: Life Highs....

Mariposa asks us to write about 3-5 highs in our lives.

When I read this assignment, I thought, "Ahhh, no problem. Sign me up." Next time, I'll think harder.

It's pretty easy to come up with 3-5....I'm one of those over-educated people (i.e. I couldn't find my path in life so I stayed in school for a long time). Each time I graduated or changed direction and was actually accepted in a school or training program for the next segment of my meandering road to where I am now, there was an incredible thrill. As a person who had (or still has) some self-esteem issues, I was thrilled (no the appropriate term would be shocked) that I had managed to make the next turn in my life's journey. However, a list like this is a little boring

So, the big thrills?

1. Graduating from high school. I don't have a picture, but it was a huge thrill for me. I come from a family where education is highly regarded. Graduating from HS was expected, and a minor milestone in my family, but for me, it meant I was on my way. In my mind, I was finally an adult (ahh, the misconceptions of youth).

2. My first car. Another rite of passage. In my family, one was given a car for completing college. I chose a Toyota Corolla hatchback with sun-roof. That car was mine for the next 13 years. That care gave me independence (with good gas mileage on the side). I wracked up 167,000 miles on it with the maintenance that a graduate student could afford (not much). I replaced the spark plugs for the first time at 105,000 miles. The mechanic told me he didn't see any functional surfaces, but the car had still been running (For some reason, he seemed to be laughing hysterically when he called me to ask when I had last replaced the spark plugs....never?). That car was a good one. They just don't make like that anymore. Of course, when I replaced it, I hadn't realized what a rough I had been experiencing. Those sorts of things creep up on you.

3. Graduating from medical school. This day represented the end of my official schooling, although I still had about 7 years of training ahead of me. When I was in college, I dreamed of medical school, but I lacked confidence. Graduate school prior to medical school gave me that confidence (and also convinced me that medicine was my calling). The medical school road was a good, but bumpy one. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer during my first year. The regular stresses of medical school combined with hormonal stressers....was... interesting (I need a "big grin" emoticon after that one). My treating endocrinologist hooded me at graduation. His picture is to the right. Amazing what one can find on the internet. Note to self: need to scan in some of those graduation pictures.....

4. Buying my first home. I have printed pictures but not many digital pictures. This house was over 50 years old and 1100 square feet with 3 bedrooms (small!) and one bath. These days, it would be advertised as a "cottage." Owning a home meant that I could finally have a dog: something that I had wanted since leaving home. The house was an odd thing. It had been owned by a "contractor" who had jerry-mandered lots of things (oh, the stories I heard from the neighbors about some of the "contracting."). The house had the original tile -- yellow with black trim. At first, I hated that, but grew to kind of like it over time. It was just the right size for me and my 4-legged kids.

So those are some of the thrills.

Finally, for those of you who are dog lovers, I recently experienced the miracle of a litter of pups. The has certainly been a high for me, although I realize that it must pale in comparison to having a child.

Having pups may take more intestinal fortitude than I have -- Gabi failed to dilate and so had to have a c-section. Unfortunately, I HAD to be a work, after being up with her through the night. Through the support of several people, all went well, and Gabi and pups have been doing great. Despite having a c-section, Gabi has bonded well with her pups. She left them for more than 30 seconds when they were 3 days old. We went to the whippet ranch and she knew that she had been left behind (and was not pleased). For those interested in wasting 3:30 minutes watching blind wigglers....click the link (By the way, it is the same one that is on Gabi's blog, so if you have seen that, don't bother. Hopefully, I'll have a new one in a few days).


Now, go check out the others on the list:

1. Beedancer 2. brocasarea 3. Grace 4. Hootin Anni 5. ChrisB 6. SWAMP~WITCH aka: Swampy 7. M (the misanthrope)

8. Mamalang 9. IamwhoIam 10. KarmynR 11. Swampangel65 12. Sarah 13. HulaGirl 14. Jan

15. Faye 16. celeste 17. iPost 18. Margaret, Soon To Be Mama 19. BS 20. Melanie 21. You're next!

Fun Monday: a prized photo or pocession

This week's Fun Monday challenge is hosted by The Lurchers and she has asked us to do the following:

Show me your favourite photograph and tell me why it's your favourite. It can be one you've taken yourself or one someone else has taken, a snapshot or a more professional image. Is there a story behind it? Do you love it for the memories it gives or just because it's pleasing to the eye? Show me and tell me!

I haven't participated in FM for a while, but this one seemed easy and fun (a few of the more recent ones have been HARD :D).

Certainly, as the years have gone by, my favorite photo has changed. Most recently, this has been my favorite: The photo is a picture of Gabi, the Girl Goober. She is about a year old at the time that I shot this, and we had been having a ball chasing fest out in the backyard. She was happy, having been running around, doing her thing, and I think that the photo captures that. Whenever I see this picture, I feel a nice little smile inside.

Now, for much the same reasons, the following two photos will likely also hit that same "This Pictures Just Makes Me Smile Inside Gallery" soon:

Both pictures have some technical faults but who cares! What can I say? I am just a sucker for a smiling dog!

Hug your hounds! Visit the other participants in this Monday's FM at The Lurchers.

Fun Monday #13. Collections

Mariposa tells us that we ALL have collections. Hmmm....really

"We all have them...and if you don't, you do....you just may not realize it. For some reason or another we all collect something and we collect it for reasons that will definitely make for good reading. So on Monday, I want to see your collection. If you don't have or don't want or CAN'T (wink) show us a picture, then tell us what the collection is in 10 words or less. Then tell us why you started collecting it."

When I was younger, I had a LOT of collections: the little porcelain animal collection, the doll house with collector furniture, my stuffed animals, my books. Most of those collections are long gone. I have tried to rid my life of "stuff" and so much of it was just stuff.

Now, I don't seem to have many collections. I rarely have time to read because of work, and I no longer save journals from work because they are all on line.

Those of you who have been to this blog before might say, "You collect whippets!" But there seems something so not right about that. Yes, I am the guardian of quite a few whippet souls, but I don't collect them....they collect me!

Much of my free time is spent with either the dogs or working on my property. My other passion is photography. I think one could call a groups of images a collection I don't know if I am good at photography, but I love capturing that image....the one that talks to me. Some of the pictures make me smile on a bad day. Whether it be a pretty flower, a butterfly, or a dog I truly enjoy the acquisition of images. I wish I was better at capturing pictures of people. For some reason, that talent seems to elude me.

I think the shutterbug might be genetic. There have been shutterbugs on both sides of the family. My great grandmother was a photographer and a dog lover (hows that for genes?). She bred pekingese, though. I wonder what she would have thought of this computer age when we can manipulate images....

So, some pictures from my collection of pictures....








I'll admit it, most of the pictures ARE of dogs, but what better subject?

Check out the other participants

1. Robin (Pensieve) 2. Jennifer 3. Jo Beaufoix 4. Our Happy Happenings 5. Nekked Lizards 6. Swampy 7. Olive 8. Patience-please 9. Planet of Janet 10. shiela c. 11. chrisb 12. chrisb 13. Hootin' Anni's 14. Jenn and the City 15. grace

16. lisa's chaos 17. Kaytabug 18. Aoj & The Lurchers 19. Faye 20. Molly 21. Sayre 22. SwampAngel65 23. rotten correspondent 24. Karina 25. Susan-A Slice of Life 26. Jan 27. Ragracers 28. Sauntering Soul 29. pratap 30. Nikki

31. Tink *~*~* 32. Alison 33. hulagirlatheart 34. Rachel 35. Gattina 36. manilenya 37. ari_1965 38. Insane Mama 39. IamwhoIam 40. Karisma 41. Cricket's Hearth 42. jill 43. CruiseMom 44. You're next!

Fun Monday #12 On Being a Jerk

Geez.

The Sauntering Soul has asked us to 'fess up, and reveal our inner-most jerkisms. Yup.

Well, I haven't fouled a spouse because I live alone and the dogs ain' telling (although great dogs, they do not have the talents of that Golden Retriever in the Baked Beans commercial).

Don't get me wrong - I know that I can be a jerk, and at times, seem to do it quite frequently. The danger zone for me is fatigue. The night that I didn't get to sleep. The little things that should be "let go" tend to come out then. It's usually things that happen at work, and when I know it's bad, I warn people so that we can make it into a big laugh. Hopefully.

One thing, I have found, though, the older I get, the better I can rationalize away all of my jerky actions. With age comes wisdom, or a reason to be a jerk. I do have a way of being too cynical when I am tired and irritated. And there, I think I have written a post without truly revealing how I can be a big jerk (but it is not about cutting off people on the road, cutting in line, or messing with one's spouse).
(Mati says, "Don't let her fool you.....she's a BIG jerk. See me on the other side of the gate? Huh? All I want to do is play!")

Fun Monday #11 Our Super Hero

Kitten wants us to share our super-hero. I almost didn't sign up for FM this week.....because I wasn't certain who that would be. I probably should have stuck with that initial inclination.

There are several people who deserve the award of Super Hero for sticking with me through some very tough times, but some of those relationships are private (i.e. not quite ready for BlogWorld exposure). However, the odd thing is that when I think about those really tough times in my life, the times when something had to change.....there are angels among us, people who become super-heroes, perhaps, without even knowing that they were.

I'll share one of them.

Super hero #1, random nice guy on the street. I went to graduate school before medical school. I had always been interested in medicine, but for several different reasons, did not think that I would make a good doctor, or even be able to get into/through medical school.

Graduate school became my own personal hell. Without airing on the bad and the nasty (but it was not a pretty time in my life....), the process systematically destroyed me as a person. I lost faith in my abilities. I had gone to a program associated with a medical school because I wanted to do basic science research that would hopefully, some day, have an impact on people. As I got further into my graduate program, the link between people and the research seemed too remote. I regretted the fact that I hadn't tried to conquer my fears to go to medical school, yet the systematic destruction of my self-confidence in graduate school, had left me....in a deep hole. While waiting for an appointment, some young, handsome man was sitting next to me. As we were both stuck in the waiting mode, we started talking -- he asked me what I did for a living. I explained that I was a graduate student. Somehow, in a 30 minute conversation, he drew me out. When I told him that I felt like I had made a mistake, that I should have tried to go to medical school rather than graduate school, he gave me a look of incredulity: "If you can be a graduate student in that department, you certainly have what it takes to be a medical student anywhere. Sounds like they are doing a good job of destroying you. You need to go to medical school. Just go to the undergraduate counseling office and ask an undergraduate student counselor to point you in the right direction." And so, I changed the direction of my life. I did complete my graduate career (with the goal of going to medical school afterwards).

I have no clue who that young man was. That simple conversation changed the direction of my life. (BTW, he wanted to become a nurse). You never know when a simple, kind comment may help a person in a hole, change their life and give YOU the designation of super hero.

Random nice guy on the street: You are one of my super heroes.

On a different topic. We traveled this weekend. I needed to get out of town for a break, and marathon drives sometimes do that for me. I no longer wonder why there is dog hair on the roof of my van.....

I hope everyone has a great week. Thanks for coming by and remember, kind words at the right time may make you into somebody's super-hero!

Fun Monday #10

I can't believe it's been a week since I last created a blog entry. However, life at work has been quite....hectic. That's the word!

AOJ has asked us to take the readers on our favorite walk. This FM was supposed to be easy. I was, in some weird way, the first to sign up. However, when it came to doing the deed....not so easy. First of all: I don't really walk, I jog. Also, I jog at dark-thirty (read before the sun comes up). For your Fun Monday pleasure, I present a daylight version of what we do because the night version is boring (except when one notices the phase of the moon). When I jog, I take along the hounds, so my view is something like this (except, of course, it's DARK). My friend Patience has some advice about walking/running with whippets attached to one's body at the waist her book, but I LIKE living life on the edge:
First, we run down the driveway. Not too exciting, especially since the city garbage truck messed up the end of it (I'm the last on the route and they were turning in; they aren't supposed to be on private property with those heavy trucks, but they were. Sigh. Anyway....it's just kind of depressing). The red arrows point out the trees that I planted 18 months ago. They are small -- about 18 inches, now, but I am so proud of them. The tree-lets are really beginning to grow this year. I live in a pasture, but someday, it will be my forest! My contribution to green. My survival rate was low (I started with saplings). I hope to plant again next fall).


The turn to run west down my road. Everything is very green right now . Can you feel those allergies kicking in?
Further down the road is the city golf course. Remember, I live in SmallTown America so the golf course is fenced on the one side with barb wire. Skunks and bunnies like to cross the road at about this location....
Turning south.....
The club house for the golf course.
The Big Cities have more amenities but this has always seemed to fit.....The red truck belongs to the maintenance person for the golf course. I see him every morning at dark-thirty. I am not confident he sees me, or perhaps he does and it's game on how close he can come....
The Elks Lodge.
I was driving and someone was behind me when I took these pictures so it isn't the greatest picture. I don't know what they do in an Elk's Lodge, or what you have to do to join. However, there is a LOT of activity at the lodge at dark-thirty in the morning. I used to think "oh, they are going to have some fund-raising breakfast at the lodge. " Now, my inquiring mind (that can think LOTS at dark-thirty when I can't see anything) has come up with all sorts of other activities for the lodge....
Chow dog.
He sleeps in the corner of his fenced in yard. Gabi always wants to go greet him in the morning. I don't think he notices us though, and dark-thirty in the morning is NOT the time to meet and greet.
We turn around to head back home about here. You can see the "Loop." You can't really see it in this picture, but I am not that far from Home Depot. The LaQuinta Inn just opened. The sprawling building is the Toyota dealership. There is a pile of dirt in the foreground of the picture. That belongs to a new construction house. They finished if several months ago (and someone has moved in), but they never landscaped (odd). Odder is the fact that the configuration of the driveway makes it impossible to pull a car into the garage. One would think they would design those things better. But who am I to judge?
Running back down the road. A very nice house (I was driving and shooting so missed the best shot). It's a huge house on about 25 acres. Apparently, it only has two bedrooms. I'm willing to made the sacrifice to move in :D.
A field.
Nothing very exciting. Recently, it was cleared, and I fear that they are going to extend subdivision land closer to my home :( I love the big old tree.
The corner of my road.
The land I live on used to be the Smallwood ranch. Better than a subdivision entry way any old time.
This lot is for sale. When I first moved here, there was a very cute cottage (probably 900 square feet or so). An elderly couple lived there, and frequently, I would see him out on his scooter watering the flowers. Tragically, the couple was murdered by their drug crazed grandson 3 years ago. The home was put up for sale (and didn't sell). Finally, they moved the house off the lot (that was an interesting scene), but still the lot hasn't sold. SmallTown America has a long memory for this sort of tragedy. The red shed sat behind the house.
I purchased my home about this time....I remember the first time I drove down the road with the realtor. I was floored by the vegetation.
The cat house.
When I first moved in, a lady with a gazillion cats lived here. Running by this house, even with sight hounds partially compromised by the lack of early morning light was always a little exciting. Kitties like to live life on the edge, too. About a year after I moved in, the cat lady was cleared out. The home had been obscured by brush and that was cut down. Then, a very odd gentleman moved into the house. He would frequently be out at dark-thirty. He would complement the hounds and then call out ways that we could all be saved. Apparently transport to heaven or hell can be a group event. All of a sudden, he was gone. This house is for sale. It hasn't sold, either :D
Further down the road.
I wish the idiot that owns the lot with that dead tree would have it cut down. Oh, yeah! I'm the idiot! The tree died last summer with the drought. I have GOT to get that thing cut down, but there is a bees nest in the base of the tree. Sigh.
I guess you all are probably tired, now. We have gone about 4 miles (either tired, or bored to tears).
The front view of the house. Notice the little trees again. The double arrow points to my azaleas peeking around the house. I haven't planted my summer flowers, yet. When I moved in, the shrubs were over-grown. Last year, I pulled out the majority of them (I felt like such a Rambo Gardener after that experience), and and I planted a beautiful border of flowers around the house. Some of them are coming back, but they aren't in the blooming mode, yet.
Sometimes, the best part of the "walk" is looking out the south-east from my house....yeah, I like it (the field beyond the fence line to the east isn't mine, and I hope the person that owns it never builds on it).
Waiting for the flowers to bloom.
Feel free to join us again, OK? Sorry it's kind of boring, but we like it that way!
Respectfully submitted by Celeste and the hounds.

Now, go check out where the rest of the FM participants are walking!

Fun Monday #9. Five and five.

The Nekked Lizards (I LIKE that name) have asked to post FIVE pictures with captions of FIVE words. I LOVE this request. The challenge for me was to make it five non-dog pictures (OK, I could have done five dog pictures, but that demonstrates a certain obsessive aspect of my personality that i don't want EVERYONE to know about).

My First Birthday Long Ago:

Butterflies: fragile beauty symbolizing hope

OK. I think two pictures without any reference to a dog is quite enough. What are you expecting of me? See, I AM versatile. Now, to the dog pictures:

Dog feet smell like Fritos

(note: a bi-sensory picture)

Female hormones speak without words
Emma is my parent's clown

Now, go see what the other FM participants shared. There's LOTS this week!

Fun Monday #8;

Jo Beaufoix wants to know about our first celebrity crush.

This was one of only two celebrity crushes in my life. In case you all haven't figured it out, I'm kind of a nerd, geek....card carrying member of the Awkward When Growing Up Society (AWGUS). Yup. Even ran for national office in AWGUS but was too shy (OK....I'm making things up, now).

In high school, that Oh, So Awkward Time That Should NOT Be Remembered, I had a crush on Barry Manilow. Yup. Oh, he could write the songs! During football season, on the way back from the games, we girls would sit on the back of the band bus (only the juniors and seniors could be on the co-ed bus....), and we would sing those songs. Talk about a man who could make a young heart dream.....



Thankfully, I am unable to locate any pictures of me during that time of my life! Use your imagination. (Long hair, pulled off my forehead, braces).

My other crush was also a male musician. Want to hazard a guess?

Now, check out the other brave Fun Monday participants.

Fun Monday #7

Thanks for coming back for more Fun Monday. For anyone wanting to read "How I Met the Smalltown Fire Department" (better known as my most embarrassing moment), that was referred to in the last FM, look here.

Robin, the penseive one has asked us to share words of inspiration.

When I first read the assignment, I was a little.....blank. One of those down times. There are the old tried and true, "one day at a time," "think positive," "I am not adverse to miracles" (and now you appreciate the dark side of an oncologist's life; yeah, that's about as inspirational as it gets on the bad days).

Perhaps, this doesn't even fall under the realm of inspirational, but for me, knowing where I picked up the phrase, it does. My inspirational phrase is: "Just keep on keepin' on." So often that is so right, and since I learned that phrase it has become a mantra for me. I am surprised when I hear patients say it back to me, knowing that they probably picked it up from me (a few of them even preface it with "as you always say, 'Jus' keep on keepin' on'." Right!)

I learned the phrase from a patient. Metastatic cancer had been diagnosed 5 years previously. The odds of this patient being alive at the 5 year mark was less than 1 percent. The patient had initially participated in a clinical trial where a portion of the tumor was taken and used to make a vaccine. About two weeks after the first dose of vaccine, spinal cord compression was diagnosed, and because of "progressive disease"the patient was taken off protocol (two weeks after a vaccination really isn't enough time for the vaccine to have an effect, especially when one is looking for an anti-tumor effect). The patient received radiation therapy, but was left paraplegic despite standard treatments with no sensation or strength in both legs. After failing standard chemotherapy (poor tolerance and progressive disease), the patient was placed on a drug called Iressa. Iressa was taken off the market after review of studies suggested that it did not provide the survival benefit that was initially thought. However, for this patient, the cancer slowly responded.

My nerd/geek like persona was fascinated. The fact that this patient was deemed to have progressive disease after one dose of the vaccine was unfair -- it happened far before one could anticipate there would be a significant immune response to the vaccine. I wondered if the combination of the vaccine followed by the Iressa was the key. I called the study coordinator -- he also seemed interested; thought there might be something to it, but I wander way beyond the realm of most of FM readers. These are the clinical observations that sometimes lead to further study; however, sometimes, what works for one person is unique to that person. The body is a very complex entity -- job security for the scientists. Was this a miracle? Perhaps. As I wrote, I am not adverse to miracles.

This patient was what I consider early middle age when the disease was diagnosed. Because there was no immediate family for support, the patient was residing in a nursing home. When I asked about the cancer journey and the loss of independence, the response was "I just keep on keepin' on; I'll keep on as long as God wants me here." Sometimes, the phrase felt like a eulogy at the end of each visit, "Let's just keep on keepin' on." With time, that became a inspiration for me.

So, although the words "Just keep on keepin' on" may not seem very inspirational on the surface, for me they are inspirational. I know....way more than you probably wanted to know, and a bad foray into the land of cancer and cancer treatment, but....well...that's me. Otherwise, my inspirational quote of the day would be something like, "bark, bark, bark."

Just' keep on keepin' on, OK? We never know where I road might lead.

Peace. (You didn't think I would get through a whole post without somehow getting a dog in there a time or two, did you?)

Now, go visit the others participating in FM.

Janet, From the Planet of Janet
Swampwitch, Anecdotes, Antidotes & Anodes
Lisa, Lisa's Chaos
Jo, This is Jo Beaufoix...
Patience, Patience-Please
ChrisB, Ms Cellania
Ellen, The Happy Wonderer
Kaytabug, Lady K
Swampangel65, A Florida Journal
Mariposa, Mariposa's Tales
AOJ & The Lurchers
Carrie, Carrie & the Koehmstedts
Lisa, The Food Snob
Janjanmom, All in a Day's Work
Jan, The Prytz Family
Karina, Candid Karina
Celeste, Ragracers
Sandy, Myanderings
Alison, RDH Mom
Jenn, Simply Jenn
Pamela, The Dust Will Wait
Alix, DC Days
Deb, Deb's Buzz (One Crazy Stitcher)
Molly, Return of the White Robin
Junebug, God Put a Smile on My Face
Kim, Rainy Day Diamonds
Peculiar, How Do We Get There From Here ** FIRST FUN MONDAY! :)
Jenn V., Jenn's Inklings
Joy T., A Spot of T
Nikki, My Husband Calls Me Weird
Rotten Correspondent, Confessions of a Rotten Correspondent
Sauntering Soul
Jientje, Heaven in Belgium
Tiggerlane, The Neophyte Blogger
Beth, The First of Six
Rose, Rose's Garden ** FIRST FUN MONDAY, new blogger & Karina's mom! :)
Hootin' Anni, Hootin' Anni's
Melanie, Our Happy Happenings
Sayre, SayreSmiles
Jenn, Jenn and the City (FIRST FUN MONDAY!!)
Nutso, House of the Purple Worms

ADDED SUNDAY @ 7:30 p.m. EST

Katie (Kitten), Kitten's Homeschool
Faye, Summit Musings

Hulagirlatheart, Growing Older but Not Up
Kim & Randy, Nekkid Lizard Adventures

FUN Monday # 6 The alphabet

For this week's Fun Monday, the Swampwitch asked us to discuss something using the ABC's. This has not been my best endeavor, but I decided to discuss my "new" (12 year old) house in Smalltown America. It has been a lemon.

a. I live in an all red

b. brick home. I chose it because it is

c. close to work and came with

d. dog friendly fencing, a must for someone like me with multiple dogs.. At the time of my purchase, I was also told the home was in

e. excellent condition. I guess. Shortly after I moved in, I noticed cracks in the master bathroom. That was the first sign of the MAJOR

f. foundation issues to come. The cracks

g. grew. The master bathroom began to detach from the house. I repaired the foundation with 18 piers in an effort to keep the bathroom attached to the house. I did not want to be the first on my block with an out-house. Shortly after that (unexpected) major investment I discovered I had sigifnicant

h. hail damage in the roof. This was discovered 5 months after the storm because we had such a severe drought that it hadn't rained enough. Sigh. New roof and repaired foundation. Seemed like the house should be OK? Eh? Or not.

i. I have wondered what disaster will strike next. But that sort of

j. jaded thinking only leaves one open to the inevitable

k. katastrophe around the corner (OK, I’m cheating; I know that should be spelled with a “c”). Recently, I have had to deal my

l. lemon lawn mowers. I purchased a zero turn lawn mower, commercial grade that never has

m. mechanical difficulties. After having it to he repair shop 5 times in one year, it’s a “mairacle.”

n.Never before have they seen a Scagg with mechanical problems, but MINE has MECHANICAL problems. (We need to be a able to repeat letters because I am filled with deep cynicism when I think about my stupid mower.). Still, despite the fact that I live in a lemon house with a lemon lawn mower, I do love it. The house has

o. open spaces both inside and out. It is

p.perfect (almost) for me and the dogs. It is

q. quiet especially at night. I did repair the

r. roof so it should be good for another 20 years. I have come to peace with the the difficulties of having a

s. septic field rather than a city sewer line (even though I live in city limits and pay exorbitant taxes, I have no city water, no city sewage.....do I sound bitter?) Then again, the city has mighty darned cute fireman which I wouldn't have met in my life's most embarrassing moment. But that is the topic for another blog post). Dogs and septic fields WILL meet no matter how much dirt one puts over the holes (get my drift?). Dogs also have something to do with the reason that I met the very cute Fire Department in Smalltown America. Really, polite, too. "Ma'am. Really, it's OK. We like to come before the fire starts." (How's that for a lead-in?)

This house has made me into a stronger person. When I learned that I had

t. termites I didn’t even feel stress because this house had already presented me so many major repairs, that I am constantly prepared for yet another problem. (Sound track from "I am Woman, I am Strong" playing in the background). I have come to terms with

u. unusual décor. I finally painted over the

v. very black ceiling in the dining room and removed the

w. wacky wallpaper (you can barely see the high gloss black ceiling in the picture, but it's there. Weird, eh? One knows that one needs to change the decor when the Cable Guy says, " you are going to paint this room, aren't you?" I don't normally take decorating advice from the Cable Guy, but in this case, I did). Living in a drought prone area of the country, I wish I could have a

x. xeroscape, but since good foundation health mandates a watering of the foundation (who would have known that houses needed to be watered?), I guess that would defeat the purpose of not using water. Sometimes,

y. yearn for a little less excitement, a few fewer repairs. However, if my

z. zero turn lawn mower is finally fixed, that would be a nice thing.

Boring, I know, but else is one supposed to do with the alphabet?

Feel free to visit. For the moment, the sewage system is working and the electricity is on.

Now, go visit the other souls brave enough to enter today's FM challenge.

Robin (the pensieve one) OUR HOSTESS for March 31
Jo Beaufoix OUR HOSTESS for April 7
Nekked Leezards OUR HOST & HOSTESS for April 14
Chris B Gattina
Hula Girl at Heart
Nikki
Carrie
Janet
Jettied
Kaytabug
Aoj & the Lurchers
Junebug
Melanie
Christine
Min
Beckie
Alison
PamelaJamela
Shirley (no link?)
Peter
Celeste
Tiggerlane
Sauntering Soul
Jientje
Sandy
Julie
Sayre
Faye
Karisma
Arkansas Songbird
Simply Jenn (typing with all the fingers on her left hand)
Jan
KarmynR
MamaLang
Ellen B
JulieBug
Chaotic Lisa
Karina
Mariposa
I.T. Guy
My4Kids
Kitten Katie
Hootin' Anni
Molly
Swamp Angel 65
Rachel
Amanda