Ho Hum Bit Tids

Sorry I haven't been around... Life has been busy and yet not, kinda down but mostly up and over all, overwhelming. Sigh... So here are the high (or low) lights:

• Ms. Mabel Lou is on the mend finally! The licking has subsided... Thank goodness! This is after I figured out I was under-dosing her! (I am so not good with pills!) She finishes her antibiotics tomorrow night and she's off all the other crap that was making her tummy hurt.

 Sizing up the best stick in town!

• For the first time in her life, she would not simply take the piece of cheese or hot dog that had her probiotics in it! Every single time she would find the offensive capsule and spit it at me!  But I quickly found she liked the taste of the insides of the capsule! I pour it on a saucer, dip the end of the hot dog or a piece of cheese in it and feed it to her!

• Ms. Lou has reluctantly started using a ramp to get in and out of the car.... She grouses but then uses it..unless Otto is around. Then she shows off her mad getting-in-the-car-with-a-ramp skills and shoots him a look that tells him he should be impressed!! I don't think he is...

• While the licking has stopped... I swear she's taken on an "old dog" smell! ICK! And my house reeks! I'm wondering if maybe all the wet beds soured??? Tomorrow is bed washing day...we'll see! 

• Work was amazing for a few weeks... shipping lots of beads and rubber stamps every single day until last week... and...nothing. This always sends me into a I'll-never-work-in-this-town-again tailspin.

• My classes are not booking in. I was most excited over a new teaching venue and when I drove up to sign my contracts (odd requirement for any business in Los Angeles), I was most pleased to find a brisk registration. But I logged on to check enrollment yesterday and... there are no new sign ups in over a month! Gee, I wonder if I go into a secondary tailspin, will I create my own tornado???

• My bestie has been out of town a lot and with her recent move down the mountain... I miss her laughter. I'm hoping we get to see more of each other come fall. 

• My brother-in-law...who is the only relative my 90 year old mother actually likes and relies on... had a health scare in the last few days that's had us all fraught with worry. The fact that the tests don't reveal anything scares me even more! 

• I finally got another of the pictures in my head... the beagle with the wheelchair guy. I walked down to Food Truck night last night and strolled the boulevard to check out the offerings. I saw them on the patio of a local restaurant... the dog was trying to get on the wheelchair and causing it to go off balance. The guy was saying to the dog, 'Wait! You're FAT! You're FAT!" and I wanted to say... "Make him walk!" Later they were in a parking lot and I snapped this from a distance:

•  I'm over the moon with our cooler weather! I've been enjoying coffee in the mornings on the "porch sofa." I try to get Mabel up on it too but, she prefers her dog bed.

• I've got a bunch of listings for household goods, collectibles, craft supplies and glass beads going up on ebay. Hoping to get rid of some stuff. Still feeling the need to get rid of anything stored in the guest room.

• I made a new friend hiking by the stream last week. Can you see him??? 

Hope you are having a wonderful fall!!!

Food Scraps

I finally downloaded all the pictures I've been taking on my phone for MONTHS!

This photo was taken on 2/23/11. Because I could never predict traffic, some days I found myself in Santa Monica with an hour or so to spare before work. On this particular morning, it was my co-worker and long time friend's birthday and since I know he HATES having a big to do on his birthday, I wanted to get him a treat well before the rest of the office came in for work.

The only thing open at that hour was a bagel shop. Parking is always a premium in Santa Monica but there was a small parking lot behind the store. It's normal to see trash bins behind shops but this one had an extra bin. They placed expired edibles in plastic bags inside the bin and clearly labeled it.

As a person who has friends that are considered homeless, it's nice to know that some businesses think about what they waste and who in the neighborhood might put it to good use!

Inside Jokes?

My BFF and I make each other laugh a LOT. I swear she's my daily medicine (along with the creek).

I don't know if anyone will find this remotely amusing but us... but this is the highlight reel from our recent road trip:

What Won't I Do for My Dog?

The rain! The RAIN! The rain is a PAIN! We don't get rain like this. California has two kinds of rain. The "it POURS" variety makes the news. It's the kind that comes suddenly in voluminous amounts and proceeds to move mountains.

The other kind, I call "Pissy Rain." It's kind of like the heavens are spitting on you. When I moved here, it gave new meaning to the old saying "run between the rain drops" because I could! My Jeep's slowest wiper setting is 10 second intervals. I wish it were 30! Ten is way too fast! I drive around turning it on and off, on and off. One more thing to worry about in L.A. traffic!

But the rain we've had since last Thursday night is not common. It has been slow and steady. This kind of rain can also move mountains if you get enough of it... which we have. It reminds me of a rain back home in Louisiana save for the fact it has stayed so long.

And all this being shut in... drives active pups CRAZY! Mabel's shut in days started Wednesday morning when I took a whirlwind road trip with the BFF to see her (our) niece in Nevada. Our hiking buddy fed the girl and put her to bed and fed her breakfast as well. I was hoping to get home Thursday in time to walk her before our storms hit. We were an hour north of home when the rains started.

Steady rain and exhaustion from my trip kept us in on Friday. By Saturday, we were looking for the break that our storms always have to make a mad dash for the creek. Even if we end up getting soaked, it's always nice to start the hike with an illusion of being dry. But it was not to be.

Sunday, we were both nuts! I drove to our favorite breakfast haunt in the pouring rain. I took towels to dry off the picnic table and another to sit on. I also took Mabel's big fuzzy softie and placed it as close to the windows as I could. We were damp but so happy to be out!

Mabel at our favorite restaurant on a dry day. 

Mabel's favorite waitress, Miss Lori, had Christmas gifts for the girl and the eggs and pancakes lifted our spirits. Fortified with lots of hot coffee, I bundled up and headed for a wet hike. Even with multiple layers and an umbrella, I got soaked. 

Mabel is so funny hiking in the rain. She seems to relish it. Unlike being at home, where she looks up at me with her best "Do I HAVE to?" look when I tell her to go out and potty - at the creek, she never minds the rain. But once we are home, she waits patiently on the porch for a towel dry.

So every day since, rain or ... rain, I've grabbed her - and Bart - and taken them out for a very wet hike. And I don't mind a bit. Their smiles keep me warm. 

Staycation Travelogue 10/28/10

We hit Laguna Beach for shopping and lunch and a little ocean-side skygazing.

On the way home, we found ourselves not so happily stuck in traffic on the 5. After an hour, we stopped and decided to explore Downtown Disney. Other than a lame design for handicapped parking... why do they always ASSuME that handicapped people are mobile by wheelchairs? In reality, most handicapped just require closer parking. Downtown Disney gets an F on that design... but the rest was SO inspirational. Everywhere you looked was something interesting and my head was flooded with bead ideas!

Every fountain resembled giant flowers. The wrought iron was glorious! But these candied apples really caught my eye!

My Kind of Traffic Jam

One, two...

three, four, five...

six, seven, eight, nine, TEN!

All ten of these guys were in the street the other night. Usually, it's just the big male stopping traffic. But he had the full harem out for a strut. I raced home to get the camera. I haven't seen baby chicks in a few years. This is the best kind of traffic jam!

I'm Afraid I'm Going to Kill Your Kid...

If not me, then surely someone else. While I'm referring to the kids of Sunland, California, I have no doubt this scene plays out in towns everywhere: pedestrian kids with no respect for motor vehicles.

I understand parents are busy. But shouldn't somebody teach your not-so-little ones about common physics? That the human body is no match for a 2000# SUV? And to respect themselves enough by doing the most basic thing: obeying basic traffic rules.

It's true, teenagers do really stupid things but if you don't think your teen / tween could be this stupid, I challenge you to park at the corner of Woodward and Foothill just after school lets out. This intersection is so well-known for it's short traffic light on the Woodward side, it made the national news.

I promise you will see kids crossing against the light, in front of oncoming traffic, without so much as a glance in the direction of the car that could have plowed them down.

It's bad enough they do this at a crosswalk but there are others up in the neighborhoods that step out into the street mid-block with no regard for my large SUV doing the speed limit less than 20 feet away. They laugh at the fear on my face as I slam on my brakes.

But the absolute most reckless ones around here are the skateboard boys over on Oro Vista. They are perpetually riding downhill from the church to Hillrose. Heaven help you if you are driving South at dusk. These daredevils weave into your lane and they are doing it so fast, they over-ride the headlights...you can barely see them! I'm not sure if they are playing chicken with my car or if they are just trying to scare me. But it's too close for comfort...one slip, one fall and these boys could be dead!

They may not care about their own lives, but I do. I tried to follow some of these boys home - determined to let ONE of their mother's know about their dangerous game, but the skateboards were no match for my SUV. And once I found the right neighborhood, there were no parents in sight...only more kids.

I really fear it's going to take a tragedy before parents around here wake up and realize that their kids have so little regard for their own lives. And you can bet, they will place the blame on the driver and not their precious, innocent offspring.

The Neutral Answer

Almost a full month after I asked "the neutral question, " I've finally gotten an answer. The question was, when in a runaway vehicle, why couldn't you simply move your transmission into neutral, slow the vehicle and come to a stop?

Yesterday, ABC News reported that, yes, that is the proper and safest way to stop a runaway car. The reporter encouraged viewers to practice, saying it wasn't that easy. Having practiced this since getting my permit at the age of 14, I can say, it's not that difficult either.

They also advised stomping on the brake and not letting up.

So there....keep it in mind if you ever find yourself in a runaway car.

>

The Neutral Question & Advice from an 86 Year Old

I'm still pondering the question (posed in my previous post) of shoving the transmission into neutral while driving. I've tested it while driving my jeep (deserted road; 25 mph) and retained control over steering. Granted 25 mph is a far cry from 120. Ultimately, I agree with Janet: Lawsuits are the main reason car companies won't discuss this. Still, you would think a news - info-tainment show would.

So, I decided to ask the best driver I know: my 86-year-old mom. Surprised by that??? She learned to drive a Model T and a tractor as a young teen. When she went to to work for the phone company in the 1940's, she had to be certified to drive a commercial vehicle. That meant many hours of defensive driving classes every year. She always thought those classes made her a much better driver. I have to agree. Mom has had a few accidents in all her years of driving but she was at fault in none of them.

She's even had to drive in L.A. a few times. Let me tell you, L.A. traffic is a far cry from LA traffic. She's always handled it beautifully.

Mom agreed with me that neutral probably is the safest way out of that situation. She also pointed out that turning that engine off would actually be a pretty dangerous option. That causes complete loss of power steering and sometimes locks the steering wheel. That would not be pretty at 120 mph.

Which led her to digress in a depression era driving tip. Before power steering, you could kill your engine and still drive. My mom came from a poor farm family and they had to make every dollar stretch. So all of her brothers and she quickly figured out that when driving downhill, they would save money by killing the engine and coasting downhill and onto a straightaway. (Although I have to wonder if starting the engine over and over wouldn't burn through the fuel saved.)

I actually remember her doing this with our manual transmission car from my childhood. Our house sat with one street T boning our street and straight into our driveway. That street was long and downhill. She would often kill the car about halfway down the block and coast right into our garage.

It makes me wonder if all of our inventions and improvements have really made driving any safer than the "tanks" my mother learned to drive in her youth.

Riddle Me This

I have a question about a sad situation that no one seems to be able to answer. The situation has to do with the recent Toyota floor mat recall which, in turn, was prompted by the death of CA Highway patrolman, Mark Saylor and his family. Their deaths were so shocking because they called 911 to say their car was going faster and faster, up to 120 mph and that Saylor was applying the hand brake and almost standing on the floor brake before the crash that killed them.

What they did not realize is that the floor mat was caught on the accelerator. And furthermore, their Toyota had a push button start that required a three second depression to turn off. . . three seconds can seem like a lifetime at 120 mph.

But my question has to do with a driving trick, taught to me by my brother-in-law and step-father when I was learning to drive in backwoods Mississippi in 1978. My brother-in-law and sister were driving Hwy 55 N. to McComb one weekend with their car on cruise control. They were climbing a little hill and the accelerator depressed to give the car more gas. They topped that hill and the accelerator kept right on. My brother-in-law tapped his breaks to turn off the cruise control. The car kept speeding up and they were soon doing over 100. Knowing the brake and hand brake wouldn't help at that speed, my brother-in-law shoved his automatic transmission into neutral. When they reached a safer speed, he slipped it back into drive. This had disconnected the cruise control and he had could operate the car safely. (Now you know why NO ONE in my family wants cruise control in their cars.)

After this, my brother-in-law and step-dad took me out to one of the vacant, straight roads to practice driving and worked that trick into my lesson.

I don't mean this to be accusatory in any way but, can some one tell me if this would have worked in Saylor family's situation? As a highway patrolman, I would think this would be a trick Officer Saylor would have known but in that panic situation, maybe it was impossible think of it.

And if the neutral trick would work, why isn't Toyota talking about it? Wouldn't this be a great way to educate people???

Thoughts anyone???

The Hike Minutia

I have a really hectic several days ahead: Huge cookie bouquet class on Saturday which means huge prep today; Sunday / Monday lampwork class with Leah Fairbanks out in Yorba Linda; Tuesday, I will be playing catch up in my regular jewelry class thanks to it being canceled due to traffic issues yesterday (three hours in traffic and NO class...yeah, that was fun!) and I'm teaching glass fusing Tuesday night. Wednesday, I'm staying in bed!

So, I won't be posting for a bit and I thought maybe you'd be amused with my daily hike stats for today.

Mallards spotted: 11
Blue Herons: 1
Egrets: 1
Lizards: 1*
Runny Babbits: 1*
Snakes: 0 (thank goodness)
Snake sighting total for the year: 2
Things I carried: a nice oval shaped slice of Eucalyptus
Did I bring it home: yes... Hope it'll make the fire smell nice.

*Lizards and runny babbits are the ones I saw. Mabel Lou would probably disagree but you'd have to consult with her on that.


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Driving in L.A.

Law Breakers

Two mornings a week, I have to journey "over the hill" to Santa Monica for my jewelry fabrication class. I sit on the 405 freeway parking lot for an hour and a half - sometimes more.

To entertain myself since I'm on the road well before my normal awake time, I drive in the "fast" lane, next to the car pool lane. I lean my head against my window and watch my side mirror to count the number of cars in violation of the 2 or more people rule. Usually about 10 during my 17 mile drive on this particular freeway.

Speed Demon
So I knew the drive was bad, but I didn't realize how bad until this week. Normally, if I have errands to run, I do them after class. Pacific Artglass had a huge sale and I needed glass for fusing. Or I needed to pick up crystals one day for my wire wrap class; it's easy enough to hit downtown on the way home. But yesterday, I had no errands to run. I came straight home. How long did the same journey take me in reverse at a non-rush hour time? 25 minutes door to door!

Wimpy, Wimpy, Wimpy

What is it I disdain so about a "man" who stands on the side of the freeway, watching another MAN change his tires? I see this often in L.A. and it amazes me every time. Where I come from, a real man would be embarrassed to call a tow truck for that!


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Rain and Mammarygrams (Updated)

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We finally got some much needed rain. The problem with California rain is, it either pours so hard you start to ponder how to build an ark or... it just pisses down... a fine mist for days on end, just enough to make the roads slick and amounting to maybe a quarter inch over 2 days time. We have the latter.

It was the kind of day I don't really mind staying home. But I had plans that involved an hour drive to Anaheim to see a dear friend (and her hubby) from my Carol Duvall days. I saw at least six accidents on the drive down... two of which involved only one car. This was one of them.



I had a wonderful dinner at a packed Cheesecake Factory in Brea. We ordered the Factory Favorites: "A Combination of Our Favorite Appetizers including: Avocado Eggrolls, Spinach and Cheese Dip, Pot Stickers, Summer Rolls, Quesadilla, Corn Cakes, Buffalo Blasts and Calamari" and split a vanilla bean cheesecake slice for dessert. Yum.

My friend is in Anaheim for the Craft & Hobby show and has a book signing tomorrow. This is a really big (the biggest) show for craft wholesalers in the country. And I know so many people that will be there, it's good to get out and network and also get a few orders placed (good deals for ordering at the show) for the shop which is frightfully low on inventory. So, I'll be back down there all day tomorrow and dinner with more friends tomorrow night. And then back to the job on Monday...UGH... I really hate working for someone else.

On the way back home, my favorite chat / news channel was talking about the recently released study saying that fewer and fewer women over 40 are getting their mammograms. The male host of this show was pondering why.

Well, buddy, let me tell you. If you had to get your penis smashed flat between to layers of metal not once, not twice, but three times, just how often would you go to your doctor? And we lucky ladies get to do that twice. For you fellas out there, that's horizontal, vertical and diagonal...EACH BOOB. And yes, it hurts!

I myself haven't been in several years. My sister would kill me if she knew. Between trying to find time to schedule it, the pain and fact that my insurance doesn't cover much... it just seems like too much trouble.

And before any one with breast cancer gets all indignant with me... I know the risks. It is very prevalent in my family -- among smokers (men and women), which I am not. I know that doesn't take away my risk. But, I've been through so much with my sister having it.

She was diagnosed in December 1992 and had a radical mastectomy on New Year's Eve that year. 1993, I flew to Baton Rouge many times to help out, taking her to chemo and radiation, cutting her hair to because she was bawling every time she found a clump of hair in the house, helping my mom try and heal the massive burns that Sis got on her chest.

Sis made it 10 years & one month before the darn stuff came back, this time wrapped around her neck. It was paralyzing her. Her only option was proton radiation - A wonderful thing developed for treating prostate cancer. It can get the radiation into the most accurate spot. Since there was a risk of burning a hole in her spinal cord, thus making her a paraplegic with electron radiation, this was her only option. She and Mom moved in with me for almost four months. Within two weeks, I knew the treatment was working.

Now, there's another tumor in the hollow of her back, right above her right butt cheek. They say it does not have a high enough sugar rating to be cancer and it can't really grow where it is but there is nothing they can do. Sis says it's like having a charley horse all the way from her behind to her toes ALL THE TIME. She is only comfortable standing.

After witnessing all this, I can't say any of it is for me. Maybe it's because I never married or had kids and my family is far away but I just wouldn't put myself through all that. I'm not made of the right stuff. Funny thing is, my sister calls me the strong one. She's wrong. She's the steel magnolia. I'm just the wuss who ran away from home.

Do you drive like you love Jesus?

Driving to get on the freeway to go visit my friend, a black truck cut me off, but this is LA...an everyday occurrence.

He throws garbage out of his truck on the on ramp and guns it.

Once on the 210, I survey my surroundings: my lane has a slow truck edging up the mountain as does one lane over... where my friend in black truck is. Lane #3 has a horse trailer coming up fast. I take my foot off my accelerator because it's painfully obvious that I'm going no where fast.

To my surprise, the black truck cuts off the horse trailer. Maybe I'm overly sensitive. It's true, I'm an animal lover but I'm always aware that a horse trailer most likely contains a very large passenger that doesn't like getting tossed about.

I eventually pass the trailer in the far left lane and manage to pass the black truck....he's moving like molasses and is not on the cell phone (the likely cause of fast - slow - oh so fast driving on an LA freeway).

He suddenly speeds up and jumps in front of me...and slows way down. I move and pass. He passes me and cuts off another driver. We do this dance several more times when I notice he's got a Jesus fish on his rear bumper.

And I wonder, is this the way you drive when you love Jesus???

I guess I just better keep driving like Jesus loves me!