Obama needs to follow his own rules

Well, the "stimulus package" (though I find it very full of earmarks), has finally passed the House and Senate and will be on it's way to the Presidents desk for signing.

I question whether President Obama is going to follow the rules he set up for himself. Or, like some lawyers(not every lawyer) do, they create an out for themselves and only apply the rules to others. He said when a bill comes to him, he will post it on the White House web site for five days to give "the people" a chance to read and comment on it before he signs or vetos. Nice idea. I hope he does it with this piece of legislation. It is one of the most influential pieces of legislation, I think, to ever be created. It is going to affect lives generations from now, and may change our country forever, and not in a good way. Having said that, I doubt he will give "the people" a chance to really read what is in this thing. His back door will be, it's an emergency, and I have to sign it now. Just trust me. So much for transparency in this new presidency.

Here is a big beef I have right now though. I read this on the CNN web site and thought this was kind of setting up a bad presidence.

The vote by the Senate took several hours longer than a simple roll call of its 100 members generally would. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, attended a wake for his mother until about 8 p.m. Friday.

Voting began about 5:30 p.m. Then, the Senate chamber sat nearly empty until Brown arrived to vote about five hours later.

He was flown from Ohio to Washington on a plane provided by the White House, which said no commercial flights were available that would have allowed Brown to cast a vote and return to Ohio in time for his mother's funeral Saturday.

Now remember all the CEO's coming to Washington getting there tongue lashings from the Congress for using private jets, and they were basically told they should use commercial flights or other means to travel? Well....... I guess our government doesn't have to follow it's own recommendations that it has for how private citizens run their business, and they can do private flights any time they want. On our tax dollar dime, I might add. I know, I sound like a hard nose. "The man was at his mother's funeral. How could you be so mean. There was no other way for him to get back to Washington, vote, and then return for the funeral on a domestic flight."

Ya know what, CEO's have emergency meetings too. They have important and vital business to attend to, or have others that work for them that have business to do. Don't they have the right, especially since it is on "their dime" to use their planes how they see fit? Is this a case of "do as I say, not as I do"?

I think it is a case of " you hate in others what you see in yourself".

We really need to keep a really close eye on Washington D.C., and make sure they stick to their rules. Especially the transparency, the chance to read legislation before signing, and ethics.... Now that is another post I may get to sometime.

It's been a long time, but I have something to say now.

I know I haven't been here for a while. Been living on Facebook, but feel this is a better place to put this out there so more people might see it. It is an article I read on CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/02/gop.stimulus.worries/index.html
In case you want to see it yourself. Here is what it is about. The GOP has released the items on the stimulus package they feel shouldn't be in it. I totally agree. The majority of this stuff will not create jobs and will not stimulate the economy.

$2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.

• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.

• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.

• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).

• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.

• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.

• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.

• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD's.

• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.

• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.

• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.

• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.

• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."

• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.

• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.

• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.

• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.

• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.

• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.

• $500 million for state and local fire stations.

• $650 million for wild land fire management on forest service lands.

• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.

• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.

• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.

• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.

• $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

• $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.

• $850 million for Amtrak.

• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.

• $75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.

• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.

• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.

Please people, pay attention to what is going on. Obama said he was against earmarks. What do you call this? He said he was against "political pork". What is all this stuff then? Now "he" is using commercials to try to force the Republicans who represent us to cow down to what he wants.

I say this to Grassley McCain and all the other Republicans in Washington D.C., Keep it up. Don't back down. If it is such a great bill, let the Dems have all the credit. Then when it falls flat on it's face, you can honestly say I told you so. Keep fighting for us, even though some of us don't realize that you are.

I'm sure I'll get some comments from my Democratic friends....... that's why I did it here.

Listen to a brand new citizen of the U.S.

To the National Media: BACK OFF!!

The summer has gone by very quickly, it seems. I haven't touched my blog since mid June.
FYI, didn't get any water in the house. The pump ran a lot for a while, but we stayed high and dry and got the freezers back in the basement. I decided to write something now because of some thing going on with the national media.

McCain has chosen a women as his running mate. This is incredible. History has been and will be made at the end of this election. We will either have the first black president or the first female vice-president.

News broke today that McCain's choice for his running mate has a 17 year old daughter that is 5 months pregnant. This is what I want to say to the national media:

BACK OFF!!! What is your problem? This very young woman has made a life changing decision, a CHOICE for you Democrats and Independents. She didn't have an abortion, she CHOSE to have the baby and is hoping to marry the young man who is the father. You keep harping on about what the conservative Republicans are going to feel about it. Oh, what a horrible thing. I think the Republicans will stand with her and support her in her decision.

Obama has even made a very strong statement that families are off limits. I hope he sticks to that better than he did about campaign financing.

But the media says, Oh, what else hasn't she told us? Ya know, McCain knew about the daughter before he chose Palin as his running mate. If you think you are going to find a squeaky clean candidate, you are living in a fantasy world. Everyone has something, big or small in there closet, including all of you at CNN, NBC, ABC, FOX, and anyone else out there who is waving an "Oh, my God! How can this be." flag.

This young lady made a huge decision that is going to change her life in a major way. She made a CHOICE. That should appeal to a lot of people. She has the support of her family. Hopefully she has the support of the father of her child and his family as well. I do not think this is going to affect Palin's ability to serve as vice-president.

Things happen. A persons integrity is shown and can be judged by what they do after things happen. That goes for Obama, McCain, Palin, Biden, and everyone else in this world of ours.

Rant ended.

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY! FLOOD OF 2008

Well, this has been a he** of a week. It started out all right, I guess. Was painting up in a salon in Cedar Rapids Monday evening. Was in a lot of pain the next day, but good work.

On Tuesday Marco Polo and I went to a gentleman's house to help put his air conditioner back together, and since he was so close, we went to the reservoir to see if it had gone over the spillway. It was inches away. It went over later that night. Thanks Army Cor of Engineers.

Then, Tuesday evening my neighbor who happens to be a deputy sheriff pulled up while I was out in the yard and said we, as in the town of Tiffin, would be getting some water and that sandbagging was going to start on Wednesday.

I live in a duplex type dwelling. Our houses kind of butt up to each other instead of side by side. Makes my place look like a free standing home on the corner. The other part behind me is several yards from this creek that runs the whole length of the street and then some. Usually it is rather quiet and is not much of a threat. Now there is the possibility of the Iowa River backing up into Clear Creek, then backing into this creek and causing a lot of flooding.

During the 500 year flood,(which by the way, happened in 1993. That's a short 500 years.) this area in which I live was still undeveloped. Now, with all the fill and the building and the additional building that Coralville has done. (note: the hill that was moved from the north side of the road to the flood plain on the south so they could build a Lowe's. Plus the mall and other business literally built in the flood plain, not to mention the Marriott) I fear that my street may be in trouble.

Many of us from town helped build a sand bag wall behind the houses lining the creek. Great stretching lifting, cardio and weight workout, but when my heart rate reached 144 I knew I had to stop or drop.

Anyway, the kicker to this is that I have a basement. Not a walk-in, a real basement. We have a sup pump that we recently replaced with a more powerful one, and it is keeping up with the rain water quite well. The problem is that I have two window wells in the basement. If the water starts going through the low place between my house and the house just north of us, it might just think that low spot in the window well would be a great place to go and make an unwanted indoor pool. (no jokes here people, it really isn't funny).

Soooo, I have been sandbagging and putting up plastic. The window well on the north end has coragated steel around it also so that might help. Major kudos to my work buddy Marco Polo who has been helping me in this endevour. He came up with the steel idea. I am hoping we won't have to test it out.

Now, the next job is to get the really important stuff out of the basement. I have two freezers. One if full of beef and the other has home grown chickens, some pork, pizza meatballs pies etc... Those are a priority. Washer/dryer, micro wave oven, actually two, one with a broken door handle,exercise bike, computer, video tapes, books and on and on and on.

I also have a generator to run the pumps in case of a power outage. Yes, I used the plural, pumps. I have a bucket with a whole lot of holes in it in the north window well and if water starts building there, I can pump it out.

My foundation is pretty high, so if I can keep the water from coming into the windows, I stand a real fighting chance. Some other things have been working in the city of Tiffin's favor as well. The Iowa river has a very strong flow and it seems to be literally sucking the water from Clear Creek. The other is not so good for Coralville. A levi was breached near 1st ave so the baseball fields and businesses in that area are getting more water than expected. Bad for them, good for Tiffin. The water can spread out more. At least quite a bit of the area there is baseball and soccer fields.

Poor Cedar Rapids!! Elis Island just looks like someone just dropped a couple buildings in the middle of a very large river. 380 is the only way to get from one side of town to the other. Highway 30 east is closed, 965 between North Liberty and Swisher is closed, Hwy 1 near Mt. Vernon is closed.... It is very difficult to get around.

I don't know how many people read this, but whoever you are, send up a little prayer for the people effected by this flooding going on in Iowa and pray that the rain will stop for a while so things can settle down. I would really like to keep my basement dry. Thanks so much. ;-)

I will try to keep all of you posted.

MATHMAN IS MOVING TO TWIN CITIES

So, I'm flipping through my favorite blogs, checking up on all my favorite reads. Dweezes said something that really tickled me, so I responded. Went to Law and Disorder to read about the pains of tearing up carpeting. Then I went to Mathman.

His wife got a new position in Minnesota and they will be moving very soon. I wanted to comment, but didn't know what to say. I have never met him, but have enjoyed reading his blog and sharing thoughts about things.

I wish you and your family the best of luck in your new life experience. Oh, are you still going to do the biking across Iowa thing?

Hope you keep up the blog, how else will Space Monkey and the rest of us know how you are doing?

Arby's buying Wendy's

When I am at my job of working with a friend of mine fixing up a house in C.R., we usually go to his favorite place for lunch. Wendy's. Now, I really like Wendy's. They have great food, and good selection and I really like there fries.

Now I read that Arby's parent company has finally succeeded in buying Wendy's. Dave Thomas's daughter doesn't seem too happy about it.

They are a great chain, and have a great story behind there beginnings. I worry that they will loose there uniqueness or disappear totally. I would start going to Burger King before I would start frequenting Arby's or the golden arches of McDonald's.

Arby's is all right if all you want is variations on the same theme. McDonald's though, yuck. The last time I was there to have a meal I was really disappointed. I must say though, the fries are still quite good. But one does not live on fries alone. I'm sure you could, but I don't think I could stand it that long.

Wendy's burgers, Chicken, fish and salads are the tops in my book and I hope this will not change them out of existence.

WHAT THE BLEEP IS GOING ON???

So I am at work earlier this week and I get a call from Side Notes. Had I seen the article about the Englert sending a letter to the Johnson County board of supervisors about there concerns of Coralville building a performance space in there fair city. No, I said, but I will read it and check out your post.

WTF!!! I have also read that the Englert was asked for there input, but I agree totally with Side Notes that the letter did not sound like and expression of opening dialogue and more like a whining threat to force Coralville to not build the space.

ICCT originally pledged IN A CONTRACT an amount of 40K with an additional 10k. Along in THE CONTRACT was the agreement that ICCT would be the in house theater for the space and we would have a special price agreement. Percentage of ticket sales and concessions sales were included IN THE CONTRACT.

Later, when things changed and ICCT got shafted, for lack of a better word, the Englert started asking for that last 10K that was IN THE CONTRACT. If the whole in house theater thing was just an agreement, how did they know the amount. They said there was no contract. HMMMMMMMM.

After the Englert closed as a movie theater and someone was planning on turning it into another bar, I took it upon myself to e-mail all of the members of the Iowa City city council and inform them of the economic benefits of having a large live performance space downtown. It would bring wanted patronage to the local restaurants and hotels and it would give people a good reason to come downtown. I also mentioned the possibility of hosting an IACT theater festival which gets held every other year and in which ICCT had participated and won several times. This would bring in money from out of town and from across the state.

The Englert is a fine performance place. I really enjoy being on that stage, and I also enjoy being in the audience. I especially enjoy working with Chris ( you know who you are). You are a super tech person! But the whining has got to stop.

The Englert is there because of all the people ( not corporations) who worked there buts off to raise money, and the people who have there names on the backs of those theater seats. I have my name on one and my husband has his name on another.

It was meant to be a local artist performance space. Most local organizations cannot afford to perform there. ICCT is on a financial tight wire because of the savings they sunk into a place that they thought they would now be able to call home. A real theater.

Coralville and City Circle are no threat to you. Get over yourself.

And......... As long as I am ranting, what about this state wide ban on smoking in Iowa thing? The state finally passes a higher state tax on cigarettes to help fill the state coffers. (don't let them try to fool you into thinking anything else). And then they ban smoking in public places.

Now, I am not a smoker and I like the idea of going out with friends on a TTT and not have to come home smelling like an ash tray. But there is something about this whole thing that I really don't like.

This is a totalitarian law. Sure, smoking is bad for you, and maybe we can get some people to stop smoking and keep the rest of us from being effected by second hand smoke. But, what could be next? New York is trying to stop the sale of fatty foods. Twinkies really aren't good for you, should the state pass a law banning them? Are we going to start legislating when we should start wearing winter coats? You can only buy state sponsored bio fuels. Better make a law that doesn't allow alcohol of any kind in the state because it is bad for you.

Now you may say, the state passed this law to protect our health. I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure most of the state legislature doesn't really care about our health. This is just the state flexing there power muscles.

I want to end with a quote from Benjamin Franklin: Anyone who give up a little freedom for safety, deserves neither freedom or safety.

Bad Week

last week was pretty bad here in the Iowa City area. I'm sure all of you have read or seen the info about the Sueppel family tragedy. I really don't have much to add here, except to direct you to Side Notes for a wonderful writing she found through State 29 that he found on the PC site.

Yesterday I went across the street from my house to talk to a friend. She works at St. Mary's and does a lot of the singing during services. She is not handling it very well. We talked and I gave her a long hug. Told her if she needed to talk again, come on over. She knew the family. Doesn't understand how someone can snap like that, and has come to the realization that it could possibly happen to any one of us.

That is a frightening thought. I may sound like a fool to some of you, but I put my trust in God's grace and pray for strength everyday. I know that there but for the grace of God go I. I know, sounds corny, but that is what works for me.

That's all for now. Hope this week goes better.

JUST A LITTLE NERVOUS

So, once again eastern Iowa has been "graced" with another coating of the white stuff. This time it came down first as very wet snow. Now, it is starting to fluff up and the wind is picking up.

I have cleaned my driveway twice so far today just to stay ahead of the build up. And as usual, the city road cleaners dump a six inch pile of snow at the end of my driveway. Joy.

My reason for my being nervous, you say? Well, a couple weeks ago we woke up to the sound of the power pack on the computer beeping. Seems we lost power in the middle of the night. Not only that, we only lost one "leg" of our power. That means only half of our house had power coming to it. I know that doesn't sound so bad, but the half that went out was the one with the furnace on it. So my husband calls the power company and actually talks to a real live person and tells them our problem. The next morning, the repair crew came out and hooked up what I call "the box" to the house, so now we have power to everything in the house.

Still don't know why I'm nervous? The power has been blinking on and off several times in the last hour and a half. It's still snowing, with the winds whipping around, we are still hooked up to "the box", and I am just praying that the power doesn't go out.

The one saving grace? I have a generator in my garage. ;-)

To quote a comercial that has been playing on the radio in the state of Iowa:
"It's cold. It's real cold. And now that the holidays are over, winter just isn't cute anymore."

Update: the power blinked twice after I hit publish post. AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!

A concern for my hair

So, last week I get a call from a friend of mine I don't hear from alot unless something is going down. She is going to the La James school of cosmotoligy in Iowa City. She asked me if I would be one of her, how should I say it, guina pigs.

I am getting my hair highlighted at 1 on Saturday afternoon. Now, I don't do a lot to my hair. No perms or colors so there shouldn't be a lot of trouble there. The thing is, I think I am like the second person she will be working on. I'm a little nervous, but I am sure it will go well............
I hope.

Oh, I just read that Side Notes took a spill on the ice. Hope your head is feeling better.

Damn it! My spell check isn't working. Please forgive.

GARY DIETRICH 1934-2008

If you have ever driven through Mt. Vernon, or if you live there, you will know of a grocery store that has been in the town for many years. In 1971, it was named Dave and Gary's. Then, later in 1981 Gary became the soul owner and changed the name to Gary's Foods.

It is unusual in this day and age to find a small grocery store in a relatively small town that is surviving, but this one is. Gary sold the store to his children in 1999 and they are keeping it a running success.

He was very well thought of in Mt. Vernon. Known as one of the "best business men you will ever meet". That is what a Mt. Vernon banker said at Gary's visitation last Friday at St. Jude's in Cedar Rapids. BTW, He was a charter member of St Jude Catholic Church.

Why am I talking so fondly of this man? He was my uncle. The youngest of four boys and one girl on my fathers side of the family.

He had a wonderful sense of humor. Always kept you on your toes as to whether he was pulling your leg, or not. Was very lucky at cards, and just an all out wonderful person.

It was so wonderful to see all the people who came to the visitation. The line was long, and the words from people where very heart warming. I learned some wonderful things about him that night. The funeral was a lovely Catholic mass. They have a very contemporary sanctuary that made you feel welcome.

I went to the internment at the cemetery in Marengo. Boy, was that cold. Leave it to Gary to have his funeral on the coldest darn day he could find. ;-)

So if you find yourself driving through Mt. Vernon, stop in at Gary's Foods. Grab a soda or some snacks. Check out the deli and say hello to Denny or Becky, my cousins. Lucy, Gary's lovely wife might be there as well. Pay honor to a man who, without a college education, created a business and reputation that shall last for years to come. I love you Gary. Rest in peace.

MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Just thought I would do something real quick so it doesn't say Happy Thanksgiving on the top of my page anymore.

Let's see, we have had a very very white Christmas this year in Iowa. We had a wedding to attend the Saturday before Christmas. We took pictures using the grooms camera. After the wedding we drove to a party and ended up staying a little later than we should have. Nasty snow storm that night. I walked to our car about five minutes after my husband and his prints in the snow where almost completely filled up with snow. Driving home to Tiffin from Iowa City was a bit tricky. We had friends who live in Mt. Vernon follow us home and stay overnight. Fun times.

I found out the middle of the week before Christmas that a dear cousin of mine, Brenda, was delivering Christmas baskets to her neighbors and she dropped dead. Her daughter found her. She was already turning blue when she found her. I wonder if someone had been with her...... Anyway, she was three years younger than me. Always so full of life and energy. Really sent me for a bit of a loop. She lived in Utah, so I couldn't make it to the funeral. I haven't talked to her in a while, but I do have some wonderful memories of our times together.

Spent Christmas day with my husbands family. Are there any families out there that aren't going through some kind of crisis at the moment, or are they just hanging around me. It was a nice time, but lets just say not everyone was in attendance.

This Sunday we are having Christmas with my family that got cancelled because of snow last weekend. Just found out tonight that a good friend of ours is in the UIHC. He evidently broke his leg a few weeks ago in a fall and didn't have it checked out. His kidneys shut down. He is on dialysis to get all the toxins out of his blood. Complicating things is the fact that he has had heart failure and he had Polio as a child. Going to go see him Sunday morning before going to family Christmas.

I have a party to go to on New Years Eve. Really looking forward to that. I guess that is it for now. I'll sign off and wish all of you a happy and joyous new year.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. We here in eastern Iowa are getting our first taste of winter with a possible accumulation of 3 to 4 inches of snow.

I am heading out to Williamsburg to my parents house tonight. I, being the one to prepare the turkey, kind of need to get up early to get it started. My hubby is staying home and sleeping in our own bed because of his back. Makes sense.

I got the job of doing the turkey with my family several years ago because I watched Good Eats on the food network and learned about brining. My 22 pounder is now sitting in a concoction of vegetable broth, koscher salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, garlic flakes, and other herbs to give it tenderness and flavor. It works great!! You should try it sometime.

Anyway, I also do the dressing. (stuffing is evil!) ( to understand that, please check out Good Eats on the Food Network web site). One with meat and the other without. We have a family friend who is a vegetarian.

I also bake bread. Well, I have a bread machine. Well, actually I have three bread machines. They are all the same brand DAK. They don't make them anymore, but I think they are the best bread machine out there and they make really large loafs. I make a French bread that calls for two egg whites beaten to soft peaks. Really great bread.

So, I'm getting ready to gather all of my food. The turkey is in the brine inside one of those orange coolers you see at work sites. Dressing is done and ready to transport. Bread is baked and in a zip lock bag. I am also taking along a few movies that we might watch, some music, and clothes of course. No computer, you say? No Internet access at my parents house. Hey, they just got cable for the first time in there lives since moving to town a little over a year ago.

I think I've rambled enough. I hope everyone has safe travel and a very nice Thanksgiving.
Think about all the things you have to be thankful for and don't eat too much bird. ;-)

SNICKERS 1988-2007

I grew up on a farm where the cat was a bigger deal than the dog. Not that we didn't have dogs, we just had a lot of cats and we all really loved them. I always said I would have one of the farm cats as a house cat when I moved away from home.

The spring of 1988, a cute little calico kitten was born in a litter of about four. As soon as I saw her, I said, "That's Snickers and when she is old enough, I'm taking her home." Thankfully, she survived her first 11 weeks on the farm and I brought her home to a "big sister" named Katrina. They got along quite well. A few years later, we got a pure bread cat named Meetawn
(mittens, with an Asian sound to it) Three cats in the house, that made things interesting.

In the summer of 2000, we moved into our own home. The day before we moved, Katrina laid down on the landing of the stairs of the old place and curled up and dyed. I was heartbroken, but she looked so peaceful and content, I was comforted by that.

Now Snickers got sick about 2 1/2 years ago. I nursed her, took her to the vet, gave her antibiotics, bought special food so she could gain back weight, everything. She bounced back. She wasn't as roly poly as she used to be, but her eyes where bright, she was playing and eating and very happy.

Two weeks ago, Snickers finally hit a wall. I had been feeding her baby food for quite some time because she couldn't chew because of the lose of teeth. Now she wouldn't even eat off my finger. She would lay under my dresser in the bedroom and I would check on her to see how she was and give her water. Touch her, brush her, let her know how much I loved her.

Then this week she lost control of her hind legs. I tried to make her comfortable, but she kept dragging herself downstairs. Finally we laid her over the heat vent next to the kitchen table. One of her favorite places. I turned the heat up so the furnace would run and keep her warm.

Her paws were cold, and her breathing was shallow. I laid there with her for several hours on Thursday. Making sure she knew I was there, petting her gently, and again letting her know how much I loved her.

I had to go run some errands and do some work in the afternoon. I thought she might be gone when I got back. When I came back into the house, she didn't seem to be breathing, then she stretched. I bent down and was there with her as she finally let go. She would stretch and do a silent meow. She did that three times and then she was still. She was gone. Off to a yard full of catnip to roll in, grass to chew, and her sister to play with.

Now, you people who don't/didn't have a special relationship with a pet might think I'm a little too sentimental. I never thought of her as a person. She was always a cat, but she seemed to know things that people around me never could sense. When I was down she would cuddle with me. If I was sick, she would lay in bed with me to keep me warm. Or keep her warm, didn't matter. Her purring was a comfort. She loved to play, and was rather insistent in the morning about being fed.

That is why I included this little video. I hope it works. never done this before. It was sent to me be Side Notes a few weeks ago, and it really makes me think of my little Snickers.
I miss you Snickers and I love you very much.

The day after the election

Well, here I am sitting in the, well, used to be small town of Tiffin, wondering what will happen now.

We have a new mayor. Potter lost after 20 some years of serving as mayor of Tiffin. The sad part is that the voter turn out was piss poor. From what I got from the Press Citizen, only around 400 of our 2500 more or less populous voted. That is really sad. A majority of a minority is telling the majority how to run the government. Gee, that sounds like elections for every level of government, doesn't it? My motto is: I voted, so I have the right to complain.

The city of Tiffin also passed a 7% hotel motel tax to begin July 1 2008. WTF!!!!!! We have no hotels. We have no Motels. Hell, we don't even have a simple sit down or fast food restaurant. Well, we used to have a restaurant, but it burned down 8 years ago and the city didn't fight tooth and nail to keep the landmark Lark Supper Club in our town.

I also saw that the 21 only measure was defeated in Iowa City. There is something that can be done to solve this problem that nobody seems to want to address, except maybe State 29. Change the drinking age back down to 18 or 19. They are considered old enough to serve in the military, to go into debt, have a normal drivers license, vote in an election, why can't they have a drink? If you make it not such a 'bad boy/girl" thing to do, they might not do it as much.

Well, that's all I can think of to say about the elections. If I hear more, I might comment again, who know.

Better late than never, a Halloween post

Halloween has just past us by less than a week ago. I don't do much on that day. Lately I have taken to leaving the house. We have neighbors across the street that decorate there front lawn like some people do for Christmas. Ghosts, Ghouls, and all sorts of creepy crawlies. I think they just about cover it for the whole neighborhood.

Anyway, in the spirit of the holiday just past, I would like to share one of my favorite quotes from a movie. V for Vendetta seems to have been a popular costume this year. At least I saw it in several stores so I'm guessing it was popular. Anyway the V speech is one of my favorites and I think it would make a great audition speech or a warm up for any actor before a show. Gets the mouth working if you know what I mean.

Without further ado, here is V.

V: [Evey pulls out her mace] I can assure you I mean you no harm.

Evey Hammond: Who are you?

V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.

Evey Hammond: Well I can see that.

V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.

Evey Hammond: Oh. Right.

V: But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona.

V: Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.

[carves V into poster on wall]

V: The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.

[giggles]

V: Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

Evey Hammond: Are you like a crazy person?

V: I am quite sure they will say so. But, to whom am I speaking with?

Evey Hammond: I'm Evey.

V: Evey? E-V. Of course you are.

Evey Hammond: What does that mean?

V: It means that I, like God, do not play with dice and I don't believe in coincidences.

Love it! Love it! Love it!

SORRY!!!!

I know, I missed the whole month of October.
I do hope you will come back and check and see if I wrote anything.

I have several things to talk about, and I promise I will write something soon.

Now I have to go and powerwash a friends house. ???

THE WAR by Ken Burns

At this moment I am watching The War on PBS. I would urge everyone to watch this.

I think our education system is sourly lacking in the telling of this war. Ken Burns seems to make sure to cover all parts of the war that the US experienced. And not just the good stuff. Things like bad armor on the tanks. Vengeance killing of prisoners because of torture and death of Americans.
The internment camps for the Japanese in the US. Prisoners in Japan.

What is incredible and maybe totally unheard of in this day: Manufactures turning there factories over to war production. They only made 134 new cars during the run of WWII. The Ford factory could produce a Fighting Fortress, having over a million parts, every 63 minutes.


I intend to watch all the episodes. We should all watch this and remember the sacrifice our parents and or grandparents made during that time. We really have had it way easy.

9-11 and That Day In September

Six years...... Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday.

I remember the alarm going off that morning. I had planned the night before to get up right with the alarm and get busy right away that morning. I reached up, shut the alarm off, and rolled back over and went back to sleep.

The phone rang. What time is it? I looked at the clock before I answered the phone, it was 9:30.
It was my husband. Did I have the TV on, he asked. I turned the set on and asked why. Because, he said, the twin towers had been hit by planes and both towers where gone. Gone? How could they be gone. I turned to CNN and they were replaying the collapse of the north tower.

My God! All that was left was a pillar of smoke and ash. The whole island of Manhattan was engulfed in this huge cloud of smoke, ash, and fumes from burning plastic and jet fuel.

The eeriest thing I remember seeing on the news coverage that day was when the dust had cleared and you could hear again the sound you heard was the chirping of the fireman's safety alarms. There were so many of these things chirping there warnings of danger. I just knew that a lot of those alarms would be on a lot of firemen who would never be seen alive again.

I remember all the paper falling, the people jumping, the buildings collapsing. After a while, probably in the afternoon, I stepped outside. What a beautiful day. Iowa had as blue a sky as New York City. How could God let something so terrible happen on such a beautiful day??
I just figured that out today. The weather was beautiful all across North America. That is the only way all those 4000 or so planes were able to be put to the ground in an amazing 3 hours. Saved a lot of lives that day.

We need to remember that day. The heroism that took place that day was unprecedented. The lives that were lost of those who where just doing what they did five days a week, going to work.

I will always remember September 11th. It is my Pearl Harbor, my Kennedy assassination.
I will always take the time, the moments of silence to honor those who lost there live that day because of human hate manifested and wrapped in the guise of religious fanaticism.

I am honored to be in the cast of That Day In September. To be able to share this moment in time with an audience and to get people to think... Thank-you Matt, for casting me. I feel that we honor the victims and the survivors with each performance.

Only two more performances to go. September 14th and 15th at Arts a la Carte at Old Brick in Iowa City. Performance starts at 8:00.