HoundBlog

Good morning everyone! Hope you are well and warm this morning — Ken said it was 4º in St Louis according to the computer! We got a tiny bit of snow last night that melted as soon as it hit the ground and stopped soon enough for things to drain/dry off before the freezing temperatures hit. We’re at 28º right now and it’s supposed to get up into the 40’s so we’ll be OK. These guys were just sitting in the cypress tree watching the snow fall last night. Had a Carolina Wren in the oak tree just a fussing as I took photos. I tried to get a snap of him, but it came out too blurry. If you’ll notice, I’ve changed the header of the page to this photo — what do you think?

I uploaded a bunch of pictures to flickr last night of birds that have been visiting us lately. Lots of Goldfinches and House Finches, a few Carolina Wrens, Mockingbirds and the ever present Cardinals along with some Mourning Doves seem to be our every day regulars. I’ve got to put my suet feeder out. I’m hoping to get some other birds come to that one. We bought a new bird feeder — it’s a red schoolhouse and it’s cute! It took the birds a couple of days to decide that it was ok to visit. I need to fill and hang the old one though as they are a bunch of hungry birds out there right now and they are squabbling a bit!

Ken loved the new scent! I have a contest over on the “other” blog to give away some Bath and Body Works items, so if you’re feeling lucky, head over there and enter — it’s easy to do, just write a comment on the post 🙂 I’ll have my Cockatoo, Taji choose the winner — it’s too fun!

Well, that’s all there is to tell you this morning!

Have a great day!

Love to all,

Margaret

Today was South Carolina’s Republican Primary election and, as I’ve done since I turned 18, I went to do my honor and duty and voted for the person I thought should be our next President of the United States.

Turnout was light but steady in a drizzling rain with temps hovering around 40º while I was at the polling place. For most people, the process took less than a minute as the poll workers checked you off the book, you signed the register, were shown a machine and cast your ballot.

It took longer for me (and will for Ken when he goes later today) because, for the second time in a row, we are not on the register.

Two years ago, we received new voter registration cards in the mail moving us from the polling place we’d been going to that was just a mile or so away to the one nearly 10 miles away in Due West. I called Abbeville County voter registration office about it and was told that after the 2000 census, it was determined that our street was in the Due West precinct rather than Donalds. No one else on the street has been moved – only us.

When we went to vote in the election right after this, it really came as no surprise that we weren’t on the register. It was an aggravation, but we voted and went on our merry way.

Today, when I went, I fully expected to finally be on the register, but still was not (neither is Ken) nor are we on the one for Donalds (both precincts are voting at the same polling place this time, so it was easy to check them both).  So, once again, I had to wait while they called the VRO and talked to someone there about the situation, then fill in a paper ballot.

Filling in the paper ballot is truly not the issue I have the most problem with. It’s the not being on the register despite being a registered voter and taxpayer in this county since 1998! It’s the fact that my name and address are on the envelope the ballot went in despite the fact that my vote is supposed to be secret. I have issues and questions about why that is done that way.

I was promised (again) that this situation would be corrected in time for the next election. Pardon me if my scepticism shows.

Well, on with the day. Went to Bath and Body Works in the mall today as someone had sent me a coupon for some stuff. I found this wickedly sexy smelling stuff called Chocolate Amber that I bought and will try out on Ken later this afternoon. I’m hoping he thinks it smells as wonderful as I do, because I bought several products with that scent.

I’m cooking a pork tenderloin in the crock pot for supper tonight. I found this yummy sounding recipe on line and, since I can never follow one exactly, tweaked it a bit to suit me. It calls for onions, apples and mustard. I chopped up an onion and put that in the bottom of the crock pot, then sliced up one Rome apple on top of that and one D’Anjou pear (the recipe calls for two medium apples). I used Spicy Brown Grey Poupon mustard instead of the yellow mustard the recipe calls for and now, after two hours in the pot, the house is smelling really good and my mouth is watering! When you’re ready to serve it, you’re supposed to take the roast out, then take the rest of what’s in the pot, add some water and cornstarch to it to make a sauce to put over the meat when you serve it. I have some baby spinach and grape tomatoes for a salad and I think that will make a wonderful dinner!

Well, I need to get on with mopping ….

Love to all,

Margaret

Ahhh yessssssss mmmmmmm smell it!!! Successs!!!

I am QUEEN of the database!!! Ruler of WORDPRESS!!

WOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

See them — they’re all there! All the posts — at last!

Joy joy joy joy joy joy joy joy — doing the happy dance 🙂

Love to all,

Margaret

As you can probably tell, I still have issues with the upgrade. I’ve literally done everything I can think of to resolve this with no success. I’m sorry…it sucks and no one is more in tune with the suckiness of it than I am. I’ll continue to try to fix it, but am not holding my breath that it will ever get accomplished. Three years of blogging is not gone, just invisible to everyone but me and I don’t need to see it 😥

Oh well, life goes on…

NPR does a story every Friday about someone who records their story on Story Corps which is an archive of stories that’s going to end up in the Library of Congress. Today’s interview was a 96 year old woman who’s last comment is “And you get through almost anything and you live to be 96. And sometimes you wonder why. But then … you look up at the blue sky and think it’s going to be alright.”  She made me think of Ma and how she sometimes wonders the same thing. I wanted to share that outlook with you, Ma. It’s going to be alright.

We are slated to get more snow tonight or tomorrow and much colder temperatures. I have to admit that although the snow will be fine, the teens for temps are not. Extremes of temperature in either direction don’t do well with me any more. My knees seem to feel it all and want to ache like a sore tooth.

No plans for this weekend. Just the normal household chores which after days of wet and mud are going to include a fair amount of floor mopping and dog laundry. I also need to groom Payne who is well past needing a clip and bath.

Our next show is Charleston on the 26th & 27th. I think Ken is hoping to get in a round of golf that weekend, too. I hope Johnny can take some time off to go play with him. We show early in the morning, so he could do an afternoon round easily and the we could all have dinner together.

Well, that’s all from South Carolina!

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Love to all,
Margaret

Good morning! It’s Monday and back to the grind.

Spent yesterday evening in bed feeling poorly. My stomach felt like someone had stabbed me with a screwdriver and I was freezing (I’d been cold all day), but I feel OK this morning, so hope it was just something I ate yesterday.

Ken was a sweetheart and did dishes for me last night. I was too sick to properly thank him for it, but I did notice and do appreciate it so.

Needless to say, I didn’t get the pages read yesterday that I wanted to. I managed about 50, but can’t say I was concentrating on them like I should. I’ll have to be better about sticking to my plans if I expect to get it read in a timely manner.

That’s all there is to tell you this morning.

Love to all,

Margaret

Good morning everyone! As you can tell, I’ve been tweaking around the look of the blog. Don’t know why I’m so restless lately — just tired of the same old look, I guess. I’ve also made some changes to the website — nothing more than the look, but cleaned up coding which you can’t see from where you’re sitting but things that make the pages load faster and work better with each other.

I’ve spent most of the day reading — but not the book I was SUPPOSED to be reading, so now must put nose to the grindstone and get ‘er done as they say. I promised myself I would read at least 200 pages this weekend. Yesterday was spent doing household chores, but I’ve been totally lacking today.

Take care!

Love to all,

Margaret

Good morning! I slept in until 7:00 — glorious!

What IS it about men and bathrooms? Until I broke down and literally cried one night after falling into the toilet for the gosh-only-knows-how-many time, Ken’s been putting the seat down pretty faithfully and our life has been pretty good bathroom-wise at any rate. Now, he’s developed this irritating habit of sitting the new roll of tp on top of the dispenser instead of loading the dispenser with it. Of course, it is constantly falling in the floor and, when given the opportunity, I have one dog in particular who will paper the house with it. C’mon honey — it only takes a minute to put it on the roller thingy!

Did I tell you we booked two shows for our Las Vegas trip?? Elton John and Penn and Teller! I’m SO excited! I’ve also got the plans together for us to renew our vows. We’re going to do it at a place called Graceland Chapel and Elvis (well, not the real one for gosh sakes!!) is going to escort me down the aisle and give me away. We’ll get photographs and the package includes a DVD, so it will all be recorded for posterity and hilarity 😛 We’ll do that Tuesday night since that’s our anniversary date. Elton John is on Wednesday and Penn and Teller is on Thursday (or maybe vice versa) — at any rate, we’ll have a week full of stuff to do since we want to see Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon as well as do a bit of gambling — well, it wouldn’t be a trip to Vegas without doing a bit of gambling, now would it??? I do know it will be the first time in I can’t remember when that I took an entire week’s vacation at once. I won’t want to come back to work 😆

Well, laundry and the mundane are calling me, so I had best get on with it.

Have a great day!

Love to all,

Margaret

Good morning everyone! I’m finding I have more free time in the mornings now, so can do extra things like a load of laundry, dishes or, more to my liking, write in my blogs. The reason for the more time is bittersweet, though as you can well imagine.

I had a notification from the site that I had a new registered user. I didn’t recognize the person, so deleted him/her from the users as anyone with an email address of “xxx@punkass.com” has to be someone I don’t care to have writing here. I also took off user registration. You don’t have to be registered to comment, but you DO have to have two comments I’ve approved before you can comment at large, so if you don’t see your comment right away, that’s why. I think Colin still has to comment one more time before he’s off moderation 😀

I’ve had several products to review for different companies lately. One of the latest is Kraft mustards. I made a glaze for a ham steak last night that was yummy and good for Ken’s diabetes. Even he said it was good so 😛

Well, I guess I should go start the dishwasher — don’t know why I didn’t start it last night — got distracted booking tickets to shows for our anniversary trip probably. We booked tickets to see Elton John and Penn and Teller. I’m getting excited about seeing them! I also called Graceland Chapel out there to find out about renewing our vows with Elvis. They have some pretty nice packages and I think the one we’ll take includes photos and a DVD of the ceremony. Now I have to worry about taking something to wear for a wedding ceremony since it seems a waste to go to all this trouble and not dress for it. Ken sort of went “HUH??” when I mentioned tux, but he did that for the cruise, too, so he’ll come around. So, all that’s left is deciding if we want a morning, afternoon or evening ceremony. Ken keeps saying we will only have ONE 25th anniversary and that we should do all we want to. Well, there isn’t enough time in 5 days to do ALL we want to, but we’ll make a dent 😆 I still am having trouble with the concept of being married to the same guy for 25 years! Where did they go?!?!?

Well, I REALLY need to get off this computer and get ready for work.

Love to all,

Margaret

Good morning everyone! We woke up this morning to thunderstorms and frightened dogs. I have a couple who just freak out over thunderstorms, so had to spend some time this morning reassuring them. Got a bit of a late start for work, but made it here pretty close to my starting time. At least I was the one making coffee this morning, so I know I was earlier than the next usually early person 😛

Ken’s working Saturday, but hasn’t mentioned if he’s also working Sunday. I have all the normal stuff to do this weekend including mopping a muddy floor.

The pay-you-to-blog company I’m doing some work for sent me two bottles of mustard to write a review on. While I may tell you all what we thought, I’ll write the “formal” review on the other blog site (http://eyespi20.com). I videoed Ken eating some with his hamburger steak last night. He gives this thoughtful review of how tasty the mustard is, then, when I’ve cut the camera off says “how nasty!” and I’m totally crestfallen! Man! I  have to give honest review of this stuff, not some namby-pamby crap! Then he tells me he’s kidding — that the mustard is very good. It’s Kraft’s Grey Poupon (Spicy Brown) which I can’t eat because it has horseradish in it which I’m allergic to. The second bottle doesn’t have horseradish in it and is called Coarse Ground. I’m going to have to eat more of it before I can tell you if I like it or not. Well, I didn’t HATE it, but it’s very different flavored — it has a bite to it, I can tell you that! I need to find some recipes using mustard to fix over the next couple of days, so if you have any, send them to me.

Well, now you know what’s going on in my life.

Got to run.

Love to all,

Margaret

Hump Day! It’s Wednesday, so only two more days until a weekend. Nothing planned for this weekend other than a bored board meeting for the Greenville Kennel Club. Our Vice President has resigned and I’m sure the President wants to appoint someone to take her place. She resigned over a policy passed by the board to limit the Show Chair, Judge’s Selection Committee chair and President from showing a dog they own or co-own during the 3 days of our circuit. Well, I don’t remember her voicing any objection to that policy that was voted on during a board meeting she attended. She seems to feel that the policy was aimed at one particular person (and it was brought up because of the actions of one particular person, but since it applies to more people than just her, it’s not aimed specifically at HER, just trying to circumvent the same events from happening again), but as noted before, she made no such objections at the meeting in which the policy was voted in by the board.

The joys of politics!

Woke up this morning to cloudy skies and rain forecast for the next couple of days. We do need more rain as we are still trying to recover from the drought last year. It’s supposed to rain for the next couple of days.

Well, I’m up to 250 pages in my book — think I’ll get all 1200 pages read in 6 more weeks? I’m finally to the section I think will be very interesting and very relevant to my day-to-day job — that may speed up or it may slow down my reading of the book. At any rate, I’m beginning to get a feel for the book and it’s authors. It’s apparent that each one had some input on each section; perhaps each has an area of expertise, but I can see subtle differences in writing styles from chapter to chapter. I’m somewhat gratified to find out that many of the things I’ve been doing all along are in sync with this book’s recommendations — seems I had good teachers and mentors along the way. Some of what I’ve read in the book has held me in good stead with, for example yesterday’s meeting, making recommendations and decisions regarding applications that will be accessing the database going forwards. The developer wanted to put his application on the server that houses the database itself and I recommended we not do that and had solid, reasonable and realistic reasons why we should not. My boss gave me one startled look when I cited my reasons and quickly acquiesced to my recommendations. I was pretty pleased with myself over that as he usually goes along with the vendor’s wishes. In this case, the developer just wanted the application on that server to make it easier for himself and not because it had any importance to his application. Having it on another server also gives me one more level of security and since this is a web application that we are going to put on the public web, it’s paramount that security is pretty high from the starting gate. I don’t need my database exposed like that.

Well, I’m sure I’ve bored you enough for one day.

Love to all,

Margaret