That Just Burns Me!

Yesterday at work, I was helping a buddy with some soldering he needed done on a handicap door switch. It had been a long time since anybody used the soldering iron I needed. Like a dummy, I picked it up and ran my fingers down the length of the iron. Big mistake. Some Bozo left it plugged in. Smoke rolled off the iron, and I felt that burning sensation aross the tips of 2 fingers and a thumb. Boy, did I feel stupid! I took proper immediate action and ran cold water over my little fingers for about 15 minutes or so to remove the heat before it got too deep. So far, no blistering or anything - and I can still type just fine! :)

Update - Monday, 17 September 2007
Fingers are doing great. I never got any blisters or anything. Healed up really good. All it took was a little first aid - running cold water over them right away. The cold water or ice treatment is not to be trivialized. It works!

Sea Of Flags

Sea Of Flags
Originally uploaded by HighPlainsDox

A memorial was held where I work today. One flag for each victim created a sea of red, white, and blue. The names of each victim is under each flag. It brings a sense of magnitude seeing all of them n one place like this. This is a small section of the sea. May they rest in peace, and may we never forget.

The Nutcracker

Grocery Shopping

Interesting evening at the supermarket. We (my female best friend and I) went after some bath soap, hot dogs, dish soap, etc. - just a few things we were needing. As we were meandering through the aisles of the store, I noticed something a little out of place. One of the other patrons had some loose-fitting, rather short shorts (or maybe culottes) on. Seemed a little inappropriate for the grocery store. Anyhow, I got a bit of an awakening when she took a step or two forward. As she did, a wrinkle (fold?) appeared, and OMG! Her butt cheeks were sticking out!


I started chuckling, and promptly told the story to my shopping companion. Laughter ensued...and of course we shared comments fueling more laughter....followed by more comments. (I thought I could eat two hot dogs, but maybe only one after seeing that.) We got into an endless cycle of laughter as we finished gathering up groceries and proceeded to the checkout counter. As we made the final turn to get in line, we saw the same lady with the butt cheeks - coming towards us. Poor thing. Time hasn't been the best to her - but she had a pair of young-looking butt cheeks! ;) Anyhow, we got the truck loaded, fired it up, and started to pull out. Uh-OH! We forgot something! You'll never believe this. We forgot hot dog............BUNS! (ROTFLMAOPIMP!!!) How could that happen?! How could we possibly forget buns - after half a loaf had just been unwrapped in front of us?!

I backed back into the parking spot I just pulled out of and proceeded back into the store (LMAO the whole time with tears running down my cheeks, BTW). Went past the same young lady that just checked us out (had to tell her why all the laughter when we first went through, so she didn't think we were laughing at her), and she asked me if I forgot something. I quietly told her, "You're not going to believe this! We forgot hot dog buns!" Now she was laughing, and commented, "You've made my day!" She couldn't help laughing any more than I could when I bought the buns through her register.

Timber!!!, Addendum

I hadn't really been hurting at all from my bout with the tree limb, just a little soreness one could expect. Night before last, I must have laid on my right side (the "wrong" side), 'cause I got to hurting a bit more. I took off work today to get it checked, just to be on the safe side. Turns out I cracked the 9th rib on the right side. Got some meds to help the healing, but I guess it will take time. This is my first cracked/broken rib...and it only took me 53 years to do it!

Shooting Stars

We went outside of town tonight to check out the meteor shower. It wasn't extremely active, but we got to see maybe a dozen or so, a few of which were pretty dramatic. One in particular was throwing a lot of sparks behind it, traveling relatively slow - a really nice one! It's been far too long since I've been out seeing the bazillions of stars in our night sky. I think we'll try again tomorrow night.

As we headed home, after 11:30, a state trooper stopped us. We were going at least 5 under the limit, and wondered why he would stop us. Was it a drunk check? Nope, not this time. He told us that my front right headlight was out - just the low beam. I swear I didn't even notice. I'm pretty picky about all of my lights working. If one goes out, I fix it right away. I don't care if it's a little marker light. Anyhow, he was really nice and just gave me a warning. Not a problem. I'll just go to Wally and pick one up. I thanked the trooper and we went our separate ways.

It's Down

The tree branch in the previous post is down now. When I got home from work, I got out my pole pruner and starting cutting the branches away from the main branch. Carefully, I removed the ones that were not load-bearing. Didn't want to disturb its position until I was ready. After clearing away the obstructing branches, I had one left - the one that was supporting it on the ground. The end up in the tree was wedged in the crotch of a couple other branches. I carefully assessed where I should make a partial cut, how deep to cut it, and how far off the ground. I wanted to shift the position of the main branch, and at the same time free it up so it could be taken down without interference. The partial cut was so I could move the branch when I wanted it to move. It all worked out as I had planned, and didn't take out any of the lines going to the house in the process - phone, cable, or power. Now, I had to find a way to get it dislodged and get it on the ground - without tearing up anything or anybody. With my plan in mind, I enlisted the help of a neighbor friend, and we proceeded to put the plan in action. It went pretty much as I had wanted, except for one little bitty thing. When it came down out of the tree, it rocked up and blind-sided me, throwing me five or six feet from where I started. I know I scared the hell out of a couple people, but it's cool. I only got a bit of an abrasion on my side - the size of a cantaloupe.

I'm fine, but it probably would have made a good one for America's Funniest Videos.

Timber!!!!

Today after work I mowed the lawn, did some edging, and generally got the yard looking nice again. After doing the cutting, I was working on putting the "things" back in place (flower pots, chairs, etc.) when I noticed a 3 or 4' long, 1 1/2" diameter branch that fell out of the tree - right where I mowed in the back yard. There was no wind or anything, no reason for branches to fall out of the tree. Shortly after I found it, I heard a creak and small "crack". A little later, another...then another. I hightailed it for the house, and only got about half way when that branch's mother came crashing down! I looked back to where I was standing, and it would have missed me where I was. I didn't know that when I heard the cracking. Nothing like a large branch in the tree next to you giving way, to get your blood pumping.



I've known it for several years, but to me, this is proof that Someone "up there" is watching over me. Had I been mowing around the tree when it began cracking, I never would have heard it. We were the recipients of a couple of extra blessings today.

Wrong Question!

Today we ate breakfast (late) at a small, cozy, homegrown/hometown restaurant called The Pancake Station. Excellent food, with that homey treatment and feel. As we were seated, a young man met us at our table and handed us our menus. When he asked what we'd like to drink, I asked him what kind of soft drinks they had. He looked at me quite puzzled and said, "What???" What a dope! I'm in the Texas panhandle now, for Pete's sake. Once the realization of what I said hit me, I promptly re-phrased my question. "What kind of Cokes do you have?" This time, a list immediately rolled off his tongue. "Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Mt. Dew,....." You see, here in Texas all "soft drinks" are referred to as "Cokes". I knew that, but why "soft drinks" came out of my mouth, I'll never know! I guess I still have a little bit of assimilating to do.

Another Independence Day

I'm one of the few people that gets to celebrate two Independence Days every July.

After a year and a half of game-playing, lying, and various shenanigans, on this day in 2006, my freedom became a reality. My ex tried everything in the book to try and get me to go back East. (She didn't know me very well, even after 27 years of living with her.) She tried to use sickness, used the grandkids, destroyed or had destroyed one of the vehicles I left behind after she let the insurance lapse, doused my son's new mini van with gasoline for the purpose of burning it up, used everything she could think of to get me to have a change of heart. She even tried some crap about having a brain tumor to try to get me to stop action - I mean, since she's dying anyway, why bother, right? It didn't work. It's been well over a year since she used the brain tumor ruse, and she's still very much alive - and no mention of the brain tumor since. Maybe it miraculously disappeared. Nah. She lied, as with everything else. Numerous delays came because her lawyer couldn't get hold of her. She was "out of pocket" many times at opportune weeks.

This day marks the one year mark, when the judge signed my divorce petition, granting me what I asked for - to get out of that marriage and only keep what I had in my possession when I came here. I gave up everything else for my freedom - my house, land, everything but some of my personal belongings that the judge said I was entitled to. I can celebrate my personal Independence Day every July 26th from here on. It is cause for celebration.

Happy 26th of July!