Friday Night Fish Fry

Barnyard Tragedy

Sundown, yellow moon, I replay the past. I know every scene by heart, they all went by so fast.

Bob Dylan

My Mother's Garden:

Today was hair day.  I decided to leave the salon curly...not straighten my hair for a while.  I also decided I wanted the color more natural and really softened the highlights.  Then I was bummed because I was so what...so "natural"  I like the curls again but when my hair is curly I really prefer a blonder look.  I will be back in a month re-lightening my hair.   I just can't stay "normal" brunette.

My Nephew Soccer Star:

In awful awful news today I came home and noticed one of my chicks out alone in the pasture which struck me as odd.  I rushed to the barn and in the breezeway lay one of my chicks dead.  Stepped on by a horse.  And I know exactly which horse it was too, don't we Spirit? I just cried.  Tonight the remaining two a single hen and a single rooster were just so despondent...they just seemed so sad and pitiful.  The other little hen has been inseparable from the remaining hen from the get go.  They were smaller and always playing, cutting up together.  I just cannot believe this happened.

And I just made their little picture Monday night for the Blog this week:

The front one was the victim.

I threatened all three horses with the glue factory if I ever had another accident like this one happen.  I really am just sick over it and can't imagine how the last two must feel.

The Glamorous Life

"My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took
her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, 'Mom, they
weren't trying to teach you how to swim." - Paula Poundstone

Not only did we paint nails, we painted each one a different color and added glitter polish.  I haven't seen so much pink, glitter and tiaras since...well...since I last walked in my closet.

Izzy in the pink fuzzy crown. 

Notice Izzy's cousin in the background catching a Cheeto in his mouth.  You can actually see the orange Cheeto in the air in the enlarged copy.

Poor little Bear (Seth) is threatened within an inch of his life by his big sister if he blows out her candles.  You can barely see him, the little spot beside his mom in the dark. 

Yes, that is Shishy painting nails up above.  She and Amy and I were nail polishers.   Mel and Amy were tattoo artists.  Temporary only.

In as much as the party was just what you'd expect for little girls the boys crashed the party with jars of dung beetles.  Boys chasing squealing girls around...it was such a stereotypical scene you'd of thought you were watching a Disney production.

Family and friends who'd like more party pics...like those embarrassing ones of Tate with her mouth wide open or Izzy putting stuff in Delane's hair...click HERE.

I rushed home to try to let the chicks out for some fresh air and to clean their cage.  It is getting a little rank.  We've had yucky rainy days with temps not much above 50 for days.  Days!!!  And they can't worm hunt in the rain.  I have to do it for them.  Or they eat only mash and complain.

I got home and was just thrilled to pieces to find Spirit and Freckles eating the tall grass out of my yard.  Raining, no Toonces.  Of course he didn't have his cell because he doesn't carry it with him for this very reason.  I thought maybe if I ignore the situation it will go away.  Or wait five minutes and maybe T will show.  But no.  They started really tearing up the yard so poor Rollie goes out into the rain and nails up the fence and captures the horses.  Toonces came rolling down the driveway right after I picked up the hammer and headed for the house.  I was a pissed off girl at that moment.   The Thugs are just amazing helpers around the farm.  I threatened Earl with trading him for a Border Collie after I came in out of the rain and found him and Eudora snoring soundly on their little beds in the living room. 

You might think it would be a cheap lawn service but their hooves make a mess.

And yes Joe I know it doesn't look like it is really raining in the photos but trust me by the time I changed out of my birthday attire into my farm wife clothes it was.

In yet even MORE Clark farm news Toonces went to get horse feed and ran into the "fish" man at the feed store.  He came back with Bluegill, Red Ears or Shell Crackers, A Hybrid Blue Gill, infant Bass, and minnows.  The trout ate the minnows as soon as they hit the water.  Those are tiny baby Bass in the photo.  I guess we fish for those in like 10 years or something.

If I am still blogging we can track their growth.  I think in the fall I'd like to go get some just a wee bit bigger.

Anyway, the whole thing made T a very happy boy.  It saved him a long trip of having to go get some.

He told me that there is a certain fish that I must go get after my dental appointment coming up...a special fish arriving only that day at Southern States.   I am not sure whether it is the fact that as accident prone as I am I wonder how the fish will make it back here alive with me or whether it is just when all the glamour left my life that concerns me the most.  I guess technically you can count glitter nails as glamour though?  maybe?

Showing Off

A dog owns nothing, yet is seldom dissatisfied.

Irish Proverb

Showing off my Camellia bush.  It is just full of blooms.

Showing off some of my tulips that I am sooo happy the voles didn't get.

(I LOVE white tulips.)

Showing off one of my little chicks.  We had a big day out worm digging together this afternoon.  All five are hanging in there.  I don't let them out of the cage for long without me around.  Darius almost had one for lunch but it isn't really my pets that worry me.  It is the hawks.

Showing off my new lens.  This one is cool enlarged.  You can see the spots in his eyes.

Showing that I have been doing a bit of work.  This one will make a nice 11x14 I think.  Minus the cheery blog frame of course.  I like the lighting I used and the shadows.

Showing off one of the loves of my life, protecting her little chewy thingy.  I loved how she had her legs crossed so I had to make her picture.   This is Eudora btw.  The green dog as Toonces so fondly calls her.  (Earl's collar is red.) 

And just wook at those wittle bwack wips...ahhh.

And somebody has a birthday tomorrow...Happy Birthday Amy!

For my Idol and Rock of Love 2 buddies:  I thought Micheal John's song was hot.  I am actually going to download it from iTunes.  And ROL2 what in the world was up with Daisy?   I have never seen a human being behave the way she did getting that pass...bunch of boo hooing nimrods.  Someone needed to blow in her face.  That was just, well it was pathetic.  But, there I will be, Sunday night, glued to the tube.  Shameful.

Lucky For Whom?

"Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is."
Barbara Bush

It's me!  Me with glasses.  And since I have admitted to friends that yes I do correct imperfections occasionally or glow out my age with Photoshop these were left alone.

It is Rollie...exposed.

And Toonces made them.

Friday I managed to break 2 vases and fall out of the big tub tearing my big toe nail off, almost breaking my neck, trying to clean out my lucky bamboo vase. 

This blue one is subbing until I can get a new one...I put it right back in it's spot...I don't know what I did to piss off whatever it is that makes the bamboo lucky but I sure did.

I probably have some ancient curse on me now.

The fact that Toonces AND the Labs both ignored my crash-scream-cries bothers me.

Sometimes you just like those blurred shots.

Saturday morning, after a splendid evening and dinner with family/friends Friday night, I went to see Miss Izzy play basketball.  She came home with me to take care of her Webkinz pet and spend all the virtual money I'd made for her. 

I love that her ISABELLE is spelled in glittery silver.

Let me think...in other news...my sister has poison oak and it hasn't even turned Spring yet.  I'm still not sure how she managed that.   I caught another fish and cooked a big old timey Southern Sunday dinner..(not with the fish)....We watched American Gangster....I am having to wear flip flops in the cold because of my toenail....what else happened this weekend of significance?  Hmmm?

Maybe a certain DUKE VS CAROLINA ACC BASKETBALL GAME?  Could that be it?

Sorry Michelle and Shishy...I just couldn't resist.  HA HA HA.

For Isabelle's ball shots go HERE.

The Night The Lights Went Out In Virginia

For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude.

Clarence E. Hodges

Serious thunderstorms hit us last night.  After being forced to the bedroom to watch Idol, as it is the only room not on satellite, we heard a transformer blow and everything went dark right after David A finished his, yet another, sad song.  (I like the kid but I'd like to see him have some fun instead of trying to save the world all the time.)

Everything went pitch black.  We waited for the generator to kick on in vain.  After Toonces rolled out into the night to check on it he found the workers had dismantled the copper tubing to build the brick wall for the new room.  Bummer.  No idol.  No nothing. 

About the time the glow of the candles I'd fired up all over the house hinted to me that maybe it should be a night of romance, Toonces is headed out the door still pulling his boots up.   It seems our neighbor, who works for the power company, was out riding down our drive looking for fallen trees on the line.  T couldn't miss an opportunity of guy bonding time with chainsaws and high voltage I suppose so he left me sitting at home alone in the dark.

After boring myself making candle pictures I just laid in the floor with Earl doing leg lifts.  Which was pretty much my raising one leg up and down and Earl trying to sit on me.  Eudora, like Toonces, was too caught up in the excitement of the balmy night and wanted outside to take in what the night skies had to offer.

When the lights finally popped back on Earl and I were still in the floor and Toonces walked in the door.  "Hey." I shouted.  "Look what Earl and I did!" meaning we fixed the power outage.  "Thanks. Thanks Earl. "  Earl walks proudly to his bed and I decide that I don't really need computers or TV anymore and head off to read my magazines in bed.  "You're welcome." I tell him as I head off up stairs.

Before I go MIA..........

I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.

Mother Teresa

I am working on a project for my photo club and my friend and neighbor Daryl, who is also in the photo club, came up last night with her son and his girlfriend, high school students.  I don't know if they actually volunteered or she made him but I really want to thank those guys for being our models.  I am considering entering the 2 largest black and whites here.   I will also do some of BBelle tomorrow and then another shoot Saturday that maybe they will let me use one for my club too!

It was good to get back into the lighting and portrait work.  My favorite, (close ups),  but I have been slack on that end since right before Christmas.  I took January off people wise and did landscape projects.  Then this month was the magazine, which was so much fun, But it was nice to get back into faces.

One of the problems I run into as far as our little club,   I tend to like dramatics, high contrast black and whites, high key, aged photos with sharp sepia tints.   I like bringing emotion and boldness out.  I like the photography effects of high fashion.  I like making people look like models in their headshots.  In the club you need to stand out but not so much that it all looks Photoshopped.  We still are only allowed to do the very basic touch ups and be eligible for the competitions.   Often the same with parents.  You'll love the artsy shot of their kid that makes them look like a hot model but they like the flatter toned normal sweet shots.  They look for the kids good qualities, you like it when the kid has a mischievous or sassy spark.  And so it goes.....and when you can combine artsy AND get that personality perfectly THEN, well then I've accomplished my goal.  I have no desire to be the camera clicker at Sears.  I want an edgy-ier cookie cutter.

Anyway, I am very pleased with how their shots came out...aren't they both gorgeous people?  Her skin is like an ivory girl, so natural.  Her close ups were amazing.

Did I tell you fellow photo buffs that I had purchased Lightroom?  LOVE it!  Worth the money.

Calista cannot miss her chance in the spotlight.

My sis gave me an itinerary for Izzy.  I don't think I had one of those as a little girl.  Grandma made me do chores, eat supper, wash dishes, read me the Bible and I went to bed. 

Izzy has a field trip today and then I pick her up after work at mom and dad's.  We have to study for a spelling and reading test, take a bath and it is wash hair night.  I have to ask if I need to blow dry it?  At some point we must all eat and I am taking Izzy on a surprise visit after school to get a Webkinz.  So she is going to want to set that up.

So when am I supposed to see who gets kicked off Idol?

Oh and I have to mix medicine.   So nighttime to parents is pretty much kid devotion time right?  Do you have to record your favorite shows unless they come on after bed time hours?  What if you have like 3 kids to study with. 

T and I have it much easier with Earl and the gang.  And they let us watch whatever we want.

I am thrilled it is looking like bad weather Friday so that we don't have to get up so early to get ready for school.  THAT I am dreading.  Neither of us are morning chirpers.

But as Toonces and I said this morning we still have to study for her tests.  Who hasn't had to take a test or gone to work late because they went to a party with their buddies on a night of 100% snow chance....you know for the 12 incher that never happened?

OOOHHH yes, I have looked like a moron before.

Idol girl chatter-  I LOVE Ramiele, I think she is beautiful.  I also like Asia'H and the rocker girl Amanda.  Brooke and Syesha are good too and I thought Alaina Whitaker did well last night.  I was not at all impressed with Carley.  For all the hype they can send her home now.  Toonces thought Kady Malloy got a bad rap and was voting heavy for her.....yes she is pretty.

Home-  JoAnne was not good at all.  Kristy Lee was a bore.  Amy Davis, blah too.  Alexandria not so hot.

Boys- Luke Perry look alike Luke was the only bad singer.  He just was way below those guys.  ChiKeezee was bad.  Just bad performing.  David Hernadez boring.  Jason Yeager, yawn yawn.  Garret...they have several who could go home.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.  SAY A LITTLE PRAYER FOR MEL AND ERIC TRAVELING.  AND SAY A LITTLE PRAYER THAT IZZY AND I DON'T FUSS!!!

 

The Weekend Post

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.

Lucille Ball

Early Saturday morning my nephew Caleb and I drove to Winston-Salem, NC to the big mall for some shopping.  Hard to believe that at 10 Caleb is in a size 14 and a men's size 8 shoe.  His feet are now as big as mine.  When we were riding down the road he said, "I can't believe my best years are already almost over."  (He sounds especially cute with his retainer in saying all this.)  I replied that he was hardly over "the good years".  He said, "Yeah but I am a pre-teen now and everyone says the teen years are terrible.  I am in my best years right now and there are only 2 left before I become a teenager."

I said, "Caleb the teen years are terrible for your parents, Papa and me...not you.  And those years don't officially start until you get close to 16.  You are just now at a point in your life where as an adult you'll be able to remember with real fondness and detail.  My 9-13 year memories are the best."

He said "Well I just dread being a teenager and not wanting to be around you or papa so much anymore."

I said "Honey you may be a great kid and still love to do things with us.  Not all teenagers are that bad."  "Besides, once you get through the moody years you come back to being fun to be around again."

Then he said..."And in just 10 years I'll be 20 years old!"

"Are you trying to make me depressed Caleb?"  I quickly changed the subject.

After having the teenie boppers in abercrombie (little a for little kids) explain the latest fashion trends and colors to me while Caleb tried on clothes I was delighted when I spotted these walking through Macy's.

I knew even before the tip from the kid cashiers that yellow was going to be huge this season.  As is a turquoise-aqua color.  The turquoise colored jewelry is so popular in fact that Hillary Clinton wore it the other night in her speech.  Rollie is observant.----not the turquoise Native American/sterling silver look from several years ago, but turquoise beads. 

These yellow bangles are perfect.  And royal blue and white and yellow always looks great together. 

Bring on color!  Bring on Spring!

(Rollie also found those hottie hot boots she turned down before Christmas as too impractical on clearance so they are safely tucked in her impractical closet section.)

Caleb and I picked up Izzy on our way back to Mount Airy to see Spiderwick.  It was a big day for the Beasley kids...mom and dad were on their way to pick up their new car.

Spiderwick was pretty good.  Something just wasn't great about it in the end despite the hype of being a BIG movie.  I can't put my finger on what it was but something left me thinking well it was just okay.  Parts of it scared Izzy too.  I loved the kids in the movie and the mom who is from Weeds.

Before I ramble on further here is a video clip of Friday afternoon at the pond.  Those geese finally left.  I was worried they would stay here forever and end up chasing me around the pond.  Those honks are scary.   

This clip shows the pond progress, Earl and Eudora swimming, the visiting geese and Darius the fishercat.

OFTEN YOU HAVE TO CLICK THE ARROW TWICE TO BEGIN. 

 

 

Not The Friday We Planned

"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive." - Gilda Radner

A new act for Floydfest?

This is the time of year we normally take a warm weather, island vacation.  This year in early December we decided against it...for the first time in six years I am not sitting in a pool chair reading today.  But I am happy to be home.  Toonces already had the vacation time marked off so yesterday we planned a day trip.  I'd moved my lunch date with my girlfriends up to Thursday...we had an early vet appointment Friday morning so we had the rest of the day to ourselves.

Then it turned out that one of my assignments was on the mountain so we'd just do it on our way.  Our plan was lunch at Chateau Morrisette and then on to Floyd to browse the latest galleries.   Then things just started popping up.

So here was my Friday:

9am leave to take car to be washed and waxed and detailed, follow T and pups.  Then on to vet with pups.

9:25 drag Eudora in by the hair of her chiny chin chin because they know exactly where they are and that chip installation in the fall really hurt them both.  Now they hate the vet.

9:55 still waiting for our 9:30 opening with the dogs trembling and crying.  Thank goodness I have Toonces with me.

10:20 Eudora breaks her neck to get out the door leaving poor Earl behind.  I have to drag Earl into a cage so that he can be sedated to have his swollen paw x-rayed for a fracture.  He actually growls like he did when he was a puppy as I put him in and I hear all the spoiled comments.  Eudora is home before she realizes she misses her brother and the pacing begins.

11:00 rush up the mountain for my 11:30 photo shoot.  Shoot goes great.  Pics turn out very well.  Rollie is happy and relieved.

12:45 Toonces and Rollie sit down for a long lunch at Morrisette.  Rollie has a salad and mussels.  Toonces has a salad, Manhattan chowder, catfish, a chocolate torte and vanilla coffee....T is a piggie.

2:00 Toonces begs to go have his picture made on the Floydfest dream stage.  He wants to send it to his friends telling them they have announced the main act.  The Floydfest area is right out the parkway from the winery. (We are camping with Dancing Dave this year btw.  No more RVS for Rollie.  And for those with kiddies I understand that this year's theme is a family affair and they are building a new stage for the kid's universe.  For those that hate the ticket prices, buying now will save you beaucoups of cash.)   It does not matter that it is cold and windy and Rollie has no coat on, she has to traipse out through the grass, climbing through ropes to get T on stage.

Rollie's mussels from lunch.

3:45 We are back down the mountain, pick up the car (Awesome looking btw, reminded me of why I bought it) all clean and sparkly.  T goes home I go to pick up Earl.

4:00 time to pick up Earl but Earl has been so sedated that he hasn't started waking up so Rollie must come back at 5:30 and get T to carry him out.  Poor Earl.  Rollie will never live this one down.

4:30 upload my assignment pics, send a few emails, brush my teeth head back for Earl.  Caleb has a game at 6:15 Rollie needs to make because she has no 2008 basketball pics of him for the year end dvd.

A hawk flying toward the window.

5:30 sitting impatiently at the vet with 200 walk ins at closing time for their rabies vaccines on their pets.  What?  I would have said no.  A poor lady with a herd of dying goats that have eaten something bad is in front of us and I feel terrible for her.  I miss Earl so much I could bust and I know he is going to be crushed and missing me.

6:00 trying to call my sis to tell her I will be late for the game but my phone battery goes dead.  Of course it did. 

6:10 get to see Earl's x-ray.  It is a bad sprain and he must rest.  Earl is brought out and he can't even walk.  He is more drugged than he was from surgery.  WTF?  His little head falls off the backseat going home and T climbs in back to let him ride with his head in his lap.

Caleb, Garrett, Chase..bffs.

6:25 Toonces just drops me off for the game and I ride home with my sister.  Caleb is mad when I get there over some fouls called on him right off the bat but cheers back up and gets back to playing.  They do win the game.

 

7:30? Rollie goes home to find Earl's eyes rolled back in his head.  He has been given enough meds to take out an elephant.  We walk him in the cold air.  I dip water on his tongue.  Eudora thinks her brother is like poor Heath Ledger and worries and licks him.

9:10 Earl finally rouses up and starts to cry.  Not half knowing where he is.  He does go outside for a bit to try to potty.  He is still wobbly but he eats.  We let him eat the cat food...he loves it so...just to get something in his system.

11:00  Rollie makes her bed on the sofa so Earl can sleep beside her.  He cries when they go upstairs to bed and she cannot leave him.  He is trembling like he has been in surgery.  Way too much meds and Rollie is not happy.  Rollie sleeps with her arm over the sofa and on Earl so he will not cry.  Eudora scrunches next to him to make him feel safe too.    Long long night for Rollie and Eudora and Earl.  Toonces was happy as a clam in the big king kicking around taking all the covers. 

In early morning hours Eudora licked my face mask off to let me know she had to pee.

Finally this morning Earl is more alert but I cannot give him those meds for his foot until I think his systems is cleared from the sedation.  He'll just have to make it.

Jackson's basketball championship game was this morning in Mount Airy and we are waiting to hear if he (unlike Brady) made it through the season undefeated.  The auction/dinner for the Caring Hearts Free Clinic is tonight.  I am going to have to add a nap in the day so I can get some beauty sleep!

So that is where I am.  Have a great weekend.  We have more fish arriving Monday and I am very excited.

Caleb scores.

For more basketball shots of Caleb and his friends or winery photos click HERE.

The Wednesday Wrap

They used to photograph Shirley Temple through gauze. They should photograph me through linoleum.

Tallulah Bankhead

Yesterday was beautiful and in the 70s here.  After fishing, refilling feeders and a walk I got the camera out for the "golden" photography evening hour sunlight for some portraits of the critters.   

I also thought it would be sweet to take the horses some peppermint treats.  Toonces sat on the front porch in his white rocker and supervised.

The horses, well mainly my horse Spirit, keep knocking out all these front boards.  More and more he pops them out with a swift kick.  Sometimes he comes right on out and hangs around in the yard. 

So..anyway..yesterday I feed them the treats at the fence, where I always feed them treats.  Several little bits of treats fall to the grass below.  I leave them unless I drop a lot and I pick those up and give them back to the horses.  Yesterday I give the treats to the horses and 5 minutes later Spirit pops the middle board out and what???  Yes, he is going for the treats.   I was snapping this shot when it dawned on me as Toonces was getting up out of his chair and heading toward the barn that my dropping these goody bites along the edge of the fence was probably not a good thing.  In fact, many of the fence poppings occurred on days after I'd treated the horses.

As Toonces passes by me on his way for hammer and nails he sternly but quietly says "How about next time we treat the horses we give it to them INSIDE the fence.  Maybe a good foot or two away from the fence...on the inside."  I didn't say anything back.

Eudora.

She is much sweeter than she looks here. 

They both go early Friday morning for their yearly and Earl has injured his wrist..whatever it is called on a dog.  I am so glad that Toonces is taking time out to go with me.  They can be a handful.

The cats are later this month.

When Earl suffers, Earl suffers.  And he lets everyone know he is suffering.

Earl.

Spring catalogs keep coming and it is driving me crazy...all these pretty colors swirling in my head and I can't afford to be wasteful wanting two new very expensive camera lenses and my Mediterranean cruise in the fall and an upcoming family beach trip with Shishy in May.  I mean Rollie is not made of money so she has to be selective. 

But it is so hard to say no to THESE.  In the sour lemon!  I need those shoes...I know they would sit on the shelf way more than they would be on my feet but I love them so much.  I hate having to be practical.  ...And would the people on the cruise not enjoy me in these shoes?

As much as Aunt Dee loves buying the kids cool clothes she just can't stomach THIS.   I did seriously consider buying Izzy the Crewcut's white capris with glitter elephants but 1: I think she'd get the white dirty in a day and 2:  If it doesn't say Abercrombie around here I doubt people would even know to be impressed. ---- It is probably best we don't have kids.  T man would have a stroke when I took them shopping for clothes...he'd be working until he was 90.

A missed shot but I still like the movement.  No Rollie was not ready for Larry to flap his wings.  That is his latest wife...Ms. Hen...a gift from our friend Daryl.  Though I've told her if she doesn't quit pooping up my porch I am sending her back. 

Last night we were up until almost 1am watching the Super Tuesday numbers come in.  I have never been so caught up on politics.  I've never known the issues that so many candidates stand for.  But it has gotten exciting...almost like it's own form of reality TV.   As an Independent I went back and forth between Obama and Hillary many times before I made my decision to support Obama.  As much as I think it would be cool to have a woman for president I think he can beat McCain and I am not sure she can.  I also have decided that for a true change we need to get the old out...and Bush and Clinton names have appeared on every ballot in my voting life.  So I am indeed going for change.  And there are plenty of "lie" issues I have with both Clintons.     If only Rollie could get Barack to go for the Fair tax she'd be so very happy. 

Anyway I am not going to talk politics but I am very excited to be voting next Tuesday in my first primary!  Virginia will suddenly be a state being noticed.  I think that is pretty cool.

Just another Monday post

Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it.

Tallulah Bankhead

We are attending an auction for the Free Clinic Saturday night and I was asked to donate a print so I am considering matting and framing this one.  It was done on metallic paper so it has more effect.

---Valentine's Contest---  before the deadline date Toonces and I ended up with over 60 entries!  We have broken it down and 6 pictures will go up the evening of February 13th.  I am going to try to get all the Valentines mailed out today.   There is the winner by kid's choice, Toonces's winner, and 3 finalists that were the total of Toonces and the kid's votes combined.   Then we have also done a prize for "My Funniest Valentine".

We had a lot of fun doing this.

---Superbowl.  So did you have a favorite commercial?  I liked the fire breathing by Bud Light and I liked the horse and Dalmatian that touched paws in the end.

I like Eli Manning so much that I ended up pulling for both teams.  He just seems so young beside the other guys and I thought he really held it together well.  I can't help but be a softie to the underdogs.  I thought the Giants played an incredible game and while I hate that Brady missed the chance to be undefeated I couldn't help but be excited for the Giants.   Brady just had the crap beaten out of him.  It wasn't his fault, his team just didn't defend him well at all.   

I loved the game.  It was exciting...close...good plays.  I didn't miss any of it so it had to be a great game.  Normally I doze off.

Earl and Eudora find hay twine in the hay covering the new grass on our walks back up from the pond and like to play tug of war.

I am a bit surprised that the guys that planted the grass, etc., did not pick these back up.  With this nice break in the weather I've started getting excited over new bushes, bulbs, vines...landscape ideas going down to the pond and on the side I plan to do a picnic area.  But I've tried to not get too excited...we still have a ways to go until planting season and I know Mother Nature has some harsh cold weather still left for us!

Crash- We wreck...Toonces learns his lesson.

There is no such thing as chance; and what seem to us merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny.

Schiller

Following a week of problems (posted last week),  and the fact that Toonces arrived home one evening last week before me to find the boards kicked out of the fence and Freckles munching out in the front yard....to have an amount in taxes due that is so high you have to sit down and do a budget to see how you will pay it ... a week like that and Toonces was about at the end of his rope.

Then came the squirrel, or the rat.  Around 6:00 Wednesday evening a scratching started in over the kitchen ceiling...between the bedroom floor and the kitchen.  A chomping away, bit by bit, particle by particle, of our house. 

Thursday, at 6:00 prompt the munching started in again.  But this time Toonces had the bar stool in the air banging above his head. 

"Have you lost your mind?"  I asked.  "You'll end up knocking a hole in the ceiling." 

"No I won't, that is why I am using the cushioned stool!"

"Stop it!" I looked at him.  He was fed up.   T was pissed.

Hand on his hip, stool finally safely by the bar again, he said those words- those 4 little words that Rollie is so afraid to say...that Rollie has learned the hard way not to say. 

"WHAT ELSE CAN HAPPEN?" 

Whether it be because Rollie was grumpy and complaining on her blog Friday, whether Toonces pulled Rollie into his dark cloud of chance, whether it be because Rollie made fun of Tedd for having bizarre bad luck when his vehicle was stolen from his own driveway and found later with tuna fish and Newports all in it, this after he ran over himself in his SUV only months ago....or whether it be just the color of the gum ball to fall out that day Rollie and Toonces were in a wreck Friday afternoon on their way to Mount Airy.

Debating which vehicle to drive Rollie chose her Sport Track Explorer just in case the roads were icy later that evening.  After several errands they were having dinner with Sharon after she got off work.

That was the first blessing- not the small Mercedes or the small Ranger.  That Explorer took a hit.  The trailer hitch was crushed.  The frame is bent and the bed is crooked now but by gosh that thing took a hit.  The bed cushioned the blow for me and T.

They debated getting gas and decided they should.  Rollie believes timing has to do with everything. 

Waiting for another vehicle to turn off Highway 103, sitting behind the turning vehicle AND a Coke truck.  Yes a big RED Coke truck sitting in a straight.  One of the longest straights on 103....a busy fast straight too.  Sitting there for maybe 15 seconds waiting...

IN A STRAIGHT, on a busy rural highway.....

Suddenly...KABOOM...I can only compare it to this- If you've ever ridden go-carts and come to the stop at the end and your evil sibling or spouse or nephew Caleb hits you full force in the back end while you are stopped- take that and multiply it by a bunch.

Honestly I thought we had been hit by a missile launcher or something.  Maybe because I am reading A Thousand Splendid Suns and there are a lot of stray missiles.  I looked back and didn't see anything and I never imagined that anyone would come down a straight in 103 and hit us sitting still with a big RED Coke truck in front of us.

There was no warning...no squealing brakes.

She never touched the brakes.  She never saw us. 

I saw Toonces's head go up and down sharply.  My knee hurt.  He yelled "OOwww."

I looked back and saw air bags and little white powder particles in the sun.

Toonces assumed someone had a stroke or heart attack or was looped to hit a sitting car in a busy highway.  Cars were zooming around us and I had to get us off the road. 

We had to leave hers there...parts scattered all over the yellow line and black road.

It was cold.

My stupid cell phone had NO reception at all.  I dialed 911 in vain.

I feared she might be dead.  She hit our 2007 Sport Explorer running about 50mph in about a 1999 Taurus or mid-size car.  Her radiator was back in her motor.

T went to help her immediately.  She was addled.  Dazed.  Her air bags had deployed but never touched her.  She was all tangled up in them. The powder on her face.  She didn't know what had happened.  The sun in her eyes she never saw us.  She didn't understand the airbags. 

I ran up and down the road with the useless red Razr in the cold.  The closest house was a ways off...trees lined the highway.  A lady stopped to call 911 at the local store.  Another lady called my parents.  A guy who knew us tried my parents.  No one was home.

Suddenly I realized my dogs could've been on the back of that vehicle.  If we'd been stopped they would've been on the sides watching the cars go by with their little black heads sticking up.  They could've been thrown out onto the highway...if not out of the bed then they would've been thrown against the front of the cab and then back.  They could've been killed.  They've traveled from Stuart to Claudville with me along that highway, they love to be in the back and feel the wind on their faces.  

Rollie was very calm.  Had her dogs been on the back it would've been different.  I would've been yelling at the lady, yelling for 911 to hurry and save the Thugs.  It wouldn't have been good.

They won't get to ride anymore except to the store and back.  They'll have to stay in the cab even if they don't like it as much.

Plus T was there.  I had no reason for hysteria.  As I watched him on the side of the road trying to get his flare going from the volunteer who stopped to help direct traffic I thought "Well T now you know what else can happen..."

We could've been hurt badly.  Had we driven the car I am sure T and I would've been taken to the hospital. 

The driver of the other car was also uninjured, just shaken.  83 years old and never had an accident.  And of all people she hits the circuit court judge.  Nice luck of the draw for her.

---With cars passing by I see my mom's little truck coming down the road with dad inside.  "Finally" I thought, thinking someone had gotten them and Rollie wanted to make sure she had a ride home in case the Explorer wasn't drivable.  Dad ignored T waving, red flare in hand.  And he looked at me with an odd expression like "I think that is my daughter on the side of the road."

Dad was just on his way to Stuart for his own business and happened to run up on us. 

Blessing 2 was that just before she hit us the traffic had started moving back up the road and I had just taken my foot off the brakes and started to put them on the gas...so with my foot off the break it lessoned some of the impact too. 

I think my puffy coat helped the seat belt not hurt so much.

We were expecting to be really sore but other than some neck strain we've been pretty much okay.  I have a sore spot in my mid back below my neck (Jump scene to Rollie in court with her neck brace on!)  it still hurts some.  My hand has been sore from the impact of it being shoved into the steering wheel.

Blessing 3 for Rollie was that Toonces was there.  Had I had to call him he would've said..."What did you do?"  "So there are no skid marks, a lady just hit you sitting still in 103?  That is what you want me to believe, in that straight she never saw you?"  Somehow Rollie would've been to blame. 

---While I was watching the wrecker people load her totaled car onto the wrecker truck I wished I'd had my camera.  I told Toonces how cool would it have been to have blogged from the wreck site itself?  With the actual trooper and other cops and helpers posted? 

---Blessing 4 is I am glad I did not see her coming.  I think taking the hit not knowing anything was better than seeing her and freaking out and maybe making it worse by trying to get out of her way.  Like into oncoming traffic.

My purse was in the back seat and I found it lodged under the seat after the wreck.  It must have thrown it up and back hard.  Our seat belts must be really tough.  Oh and yes, Rollie is a BIG seat belt wearer.  I don't care about the one in a thousand wreck that the seat belt does more harm than good.  No seat belt and we'd have been through that window.  Rollie's little face could've eaten the steering wheel.  I could've knocked my teeth out!

That night I told Toonces what if that had been it.  It very well could've been.  What if that morning, a grump at that, had been my last?  If we'd never known what hit us?  The Thugs and cats left orphans for the family to step in and care for.

I told him..."Now do you see why you don't say 'What else can happen'."

Yesterday my sister stopped by to visit with Izzy and Seth.  She said, "Well you are just so calm about it.  I'd think you, being you, would be a bit more animated."  I told her I would miss my vehicle, I hadn't needed it yet but other than that since my dogs weren't there and we weren't hurt badly I felt pretty good about it.

"Besides," I told her "Toonces caused this one.  I just happened to be there for his lesson."

***disclaimer- Please note that in case anyone takes me too seriously, I do not in any way blame or think my husband caused us to be in a car accident.  ***

The Stressed Rollie

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.

Douglas Adams

Last week it was a leak in the new horse watering system.

This week our power bill came and was 3x the normal for us...after having someone over yesterday it turns out our heat pump had a hole in the coil, all the freon had escaped and we were running on auxiliary heat ALL THE TIME...we will probably owe the power company over $700, at least, this next month.  That is fixed but T is still concerned the bars are going to quickly...someone is coming today to check the elements in the hot water heater.

Me, I've decided to take the dogs and get out of Dodge for a few hours.  I'll take them to the bank, dry cleaners and post office with me.  Then I think I'll spend the later part of the day at the gym.  After cleaning ALL day yesterday I just can't take anymore house drama.  Call me a wimp but I just get fed up easily....not with problems, we all  have those, with the effort, time, phone calls, irritated spouse that goes along with REPAIRING the problems.  Toonces has heard me say "At least we have our health" so many times lately that he is going to literally choke me with the words in my throat if I say it again...

Maybe Rollie adds to the high electric bill?

I think these guys have the most stress of all...it's tough.

Is Mom Always Better?

A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away.

Phyllis Mcginley

Our Red-Bellied little buddy snacks on suet in the front yard.

---When I entered the house Monday and walked into the kitchen I was automatically zeroed in to our coffee maker.  It was spotless.  The hard brown stains completely vanished.  At first I thought my mom had bought us a new one.  I inspected it, I was in awe.

Toonces came bounding back down the stairs from taking the suitcases up and went to the cabinet to get a glass and literally jumped back upon sight of the made-over coffee pot.  We both stood there mesmerized by the sparkling clean glass pot sitting there.

"Whoa...look at that."

"I know, I can't figure out how she got it so clean."

"Man, Wilma Dale's got the coffee pot looking good!"

"How embarrassing that she wouldn't drink coffee out of our pot...I didn't even know that stuff would come off..."

"We'll have to get her back down here."

"I wonder if she'd do the oven..."

And so the saga of mom can one up the daughter on cleaning continues.

---Darius appreciated all the nice comments and attention.  He is just waiting for the mailman to deliver him some food. 

---Friday night Toonces and I watched "Live Free or Die Hard" the latest Bruce Willis thriller.  I really liked it but I like Bruce and I like the Die Hards....I could not believe it when we got to the airport and there was no power.  T and I were trying to figure what are the odds that you watch a movie about a national "fire sale" and the very next day the airport is out of power.  I almost walked right back out...just in case.  But they assured us there had been a drunk driving accident that took out a pole, not a hacker.

---It was bizarre to step off the plane in Greensboro to 70 degree weather.  When we left freezing temps were here.   I can't help but be weary about the damage we've done to our planet.  I will be really happy when we get someone in office willing to take the steps to get us back on track, or at least slow down the process, no matter what sacrifices it is going to force Americans to make.   I just think it is time for us to grow up and realize you can't have it all....we have too many unnecessary luxuries that are killing mother earth and these little hints she keeps giving us are getting much louder and clearer.

HUMP DAY IS HERE...HAVE A GOOD ONE!

The Farmer's Wife

You should not live one way in private, another in public.

Publilius Syrus
(~100 BC)

As much as my husband loves me and as good to me as he normally is there are moments when his selfish "all about him" nature rears its ugly head.  It especially seems to show up when it comes to the horses.  Toonces hates horse duty.

This morning as he was cheerfully darting to and fro in the bedroom for an early day at work and I was trying to actually wake up and get my head off the pillow he enthusiastically blurts out that I, Rollie, have horse duty because he has a long day and I don't have to leave for work until 11:30.  He almost in a sinister way, adds to the sentence "you have blanket duty."

NOOOOOoooo...the voice twirling in my brain is saying.  I am not even out of bed and I am faced with the horror of blanket duty with the temps in the teens.  I have to take my gloves off for the hooks, my little hands always feel like they are going to break off my arms.

Toonces and I are not cold weather folks.

We hate cold weather.

I realized as I dressed this morning that I merely try to exist in harsh cold temps...I just try to get through to the next day and then the next until Spring arrives.  I don't even enjoy clothes in the winter....as I threw on a bright blue bra with bright pink underwear...because normally everything matches.  All are little sets...but not when it is bitch cold.  Then any old thing will do as long as I can stay warm.  If I lived like some of my blog friends, Jade or Sage for example- I guess I would die....or just be very depressed in the winter.

I went out before 8 to get it over with.  Spirit couldn't stay in his stall all day and since we only use blankets in severe weather I had to get his and Ruby's blanket off.  We don't want them to get dependent on the blankets.  Most of our winter is mild enough that they are better off without one.

I did not take Freckles blanket off because one, he is old and his bones get too cold and two, last year he dropped his manhood on me and I don't want to relive that.

I had to climb up onto the hay to throw off a bale because my husband was too selfish last night to not take the last one down...knowing full well that his poor Rollie would not have any hay readily available...but did he care?

--Speaking of manhood, last night Toonces and I watched Eastern Promises and I didn't know Viggo Mortensen was going to do a nude scene.  I squealed like an exuberant 4 year old when he came into view "Ah, I see his p***s!!!"  So loudly in fact that Eudora had to get up out of her soft bed and come check on me.  Toonces just shakes his head.."Well you never see real ones of real actors in the movies..." I explained.

Anyway it is very cold in Southern Virginia right now and we are all trying to make it under one roof.  The cats wanting to go out and play but not making it very long...the Labs sliding across the ice on the pond playing but then coming in to sleep as soon as the sun goes down.  They are all a grumpy bunch together but we are all trying to stay out of each other's way and keep peace.

If I could get Toonces to pull his weight I might could get my 86% score from yesterday up to the 90's!

And I hope that if by chance T reads this post today at work the guilt will work on him.

I've Got It Good

The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.~ Horace Walpole

I realized this morning as I took the sheets off the bed to launder today that 1: I had to get glasses in 2008 because I have a splinter I cannot see at all and my eyes are just shot anymore....no more all night reads, that's for sure.  2: That I had to put my focus back on the house.

I have to find a bed set that I like.  I've been looking for a year.  The duvet cover, quilt, shams that sort of thing.  I have found one group that I liked and it would've been over $2,400...that isn't the sheets either.

Toonces would have stroked out. 

I want something soft, earthy, luxurious but not over the top....neutrals I can throw decorative colorful pillows on.  Clean...not girlie looking.  Nothing too trendy.  Something that I can live with for a long time.   It isn't as easy as it sounds is it? 

When the tree was finally out yesterday and I'd suffered my stab wound (my splinter is a pine needle) I remembered that I had put off buying fabric to recover the cushions for the dining room and the bench and two antique chairs in the living room...so I guess I need to be calling mama to see if she can take a trip to the fabric store with me.

This whole process is so foreign to me that I really dread it.

Your Life is Better Than 86% of All People

You really lucked out. Your life is ideal and practically perfect. You shouldn't have a care or worry in the world... And make sure you remember that when something little gets you down. Most people would kill for your life. So be happy that you're the one living it!

How Does Your Life Compare?

WOW! This was a nice start to the year!

I know, I am very grateful for the nice life I have...and all the love that surrounds me.

And Thug love...I am very grateful for Thug love.

My itinerary for the fall cruise with my mom came this morning...it is pretty exciting.  I am going to add learn some Italian to my to do list of 2008!

What We've Actually Been Doing...

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

Soren Kierkegaard

I've been posting but in seems to be more in review that what is going on with us.  The biggest thing in our lives at the moment are the book galleys for The Legal Limit.  Toonces received those right before Christmas and has been working diligently night and day to get them done.  They must go back to Knopf Wednesday morning.  So it has been a great holiday but he has been stressed and pushed.  I have to pick days and read along with him.  I got a big portion of the book read last night and I have to say I honestly do love it.  Not because he is my husband or that I want to make a spill to promote it but I really do like this novel.  If I had gotten it at Amazon like any other and sat down to read it I would still love it. 

His book takes precedence right now which is another reason I haven't been able to add any new books to my 2007 Book List...it is going to have to end with what its got.

I read it as I was being written so I know the story but I still get lost in the characters and find myself cheering them on and crying with their heartbreaks.

From this point T will send the corrections in...then the book will be printed in the bound galley that he must reread just once more before it goes to print. 

I had no idea writing was so much work until I married an author.  The writing to him is like an extension of himself...he is disciplined and he loves writing.  But once the book is written and goes to the publisher that is when the "work" part begins with him.  We have poster board with time lines and characters in our hallways...stacks of papers and dictionaries surround his desk.  Even I get a little pad and red pen when I read for him...and Rollie is actually a pretty helpful little editor.

As soon as I get the cover from Random House I'll have to make T a widget for my sidebar.

Speaking of books I had to take my Shelfari bookshelf down because that was what was keeping your personal information from being saved in the comments...forcing you to retype your data every time.  So that had to go.

We go to Tunica for a little gambling adventure next weekend and I will be reading A Thousand Splendid Suns.

A group of us were talking the other day and when did writers become such normal people?  I know that many are bratty, and demanding but I'm not talking about strange, introverted or divas here....I mean the mainstream cool guys that everyone else wanted to be.   The big parties serving up gin fizzes?....Where are the Hemingway and Fitzgerald's?  Where is the glamor?  T doesn't take me to sit in the streets of Paris to converse with other artists.....

Earl and Eudora don't lie around the pool while I serve our guest mimosa's and finger sandwiches and gossip about the other up and coming writers.....what a cool time that would have been.  Though I certainly wouldn't trade places with Zelda..no no.

Rollie will just keep it real out her on the farm!

Ooooh I just saw the time, I have to get to church.....

I have my pages up on the sidebar for my 2007 images now...

Here are more chosen for my top 20 2007 Favorite Photographs by me:

Many of these top 20 or Hon. Mentions are framed now in my house.  This pic of the pups is on my fridge and Toonces's was chosen for his jacket photo so it is considered published.  I had a different photograph of Toonces chosen for Publisher's Weekly and I was thrilled to have my work considered good enough.   The manager for American Dumpster wanted the above photograph of the band. 

These pictures are all copyrighted and property of Deana H Clark.

Ain't got nothin'

I like someone who is a little crazy but coming from a good place.  I think scars are sexy because it means you made a mistake that led to a mess.  ~ Angelina Jolie I had a Christmas meme up and lost it because I still can't navigate the new computer well. So I will tell you a story.  A favorite story told to my parents by our neighbor who has sense passed on .  I was eavesdropping as kids will do.  He was a wonderful man that everyone adored. Rollie's tale today: There was a meeting of the WMU in the church that night.  They were electing new officers to fill the spots.  The WMU is a women's ministry group within the church made up of fine Christian women. They still needed to fill the office of Secretary and someone suggested Roberta who was sitting toward the back of the church. "I know what you guys are thinking but Roberta tries so hard, she is always at the meetings, she bakes for the bake sales, she would give anyone the shirt off her back...maybe we should just let her be an officer and try it out." The ladies stiffened..."We just can't have Roberta at the state meetings...Roberta is just, well Roberta just doesn't have any couth!" Roberta was sitting near the back but heard this comment and rose from her seat and made her way toward the women in the front of the church. "Ain't got no COUTH???...I ain't got no couth?"....."Shiiiiit!!!" ________On that nice note I must go get ready for a funeral and errands!

Santa is my Homeboy...(stolen from Jackson) LAST POST #30

Let us not look back in anger, or forward in fear, but around us in awareness.

James Thurber

Martin likes to use the saying "Everyday is Christmas for Rollie."  Even back in July.  This week it has seemed like Christmas everyday for me.   I have a very thick head of hair so no bald spots from the hair pulling, and the new computer is all ready and I am actually posting with it today.  I have my own email...my photo studios have been moved..AND...AND the best thing is that I spent the night playing with my Photoshop upgrades that I'd waited to purchase until I had a "photography" computer.

Notice the new writing style on the frame?  I became so engrossed playing with the thing last night that I later thought "Poor Toonces will never see his wife again."

That was a photo I found going back in my files that I really think is sweet.

---HO HO HO...Santa also delivered Mrs. Rollie a new washing machine and dryer yesterday while she was at work.  We picked it out yesterday morning...they moved quickly.  I'm talking "sweeeet."  T held me back when we put in a new fridge but these are some of the biggest baddest boys around.  Toonces would not allow me the extra grand to go to the steam level but I now own the Whirlpool Duet with all the bells and whistles like wrinkle guard, etc. 

Santa is trading my regular February trip to an island for those suckers though, but that's okay with me.

---More HO HO-  guess what was delivered this week?  The iCoaster.....I danced a little jig.  I can't believe I got one.  I found a small business online that had gotten a few in for Thanksgiving weekend.  I paid through PAYPAL so I wouldn't be robbed blind and I am just still so happy about it I can't stand it.   Aunt Dee is a tenacious little thing.

---I wanted to use AuntDee as my new email address but someone already had it.  Bummer.

---My new business cards came yesterday as well.  (Hey I told you Santa was in the house for Rollie yesterday) They look soooo good.

A tiny glittery silver or pink card holder might be another good gift from little children I know????? 

This girl is so happy to be through with NaBloPoMo.  But I made