Are We Warm Enough?

July 7, 2012

My goodness, but it is warm everywhere!  The weather man says there may be a bit of relief by Monday with a small drop in the temperatures.  Actually, today some places are getting some badly needed rain.  Colorado, I hope you get a good share of the rain to put out the fires.

Yesterday when I got home from work, there was a message  from the VCA hospital.  Tootsie's ashes were ready for pick up.  I got back in my car, and headed out to bring my little girl home.  I was presented with a beautiful little wooden chest, which now sits next to Papa's photo on top of my little fireplace.

While I was at work, I noticed that some of the flowers near the Mrs' patio had been trampled.  One lone tiger lily was laying flat across the cement amidst some fallen branches and leaves.  But this one flower had a will to live and blossom.  I thought it was inspiring and quite beautiful.

That's it for today's news.  After my laundry is finished and put away, I'm hoping to go over to Deanne's house and do some exercises.  Funny, but I missed not doing them yesterday.  Hmmmm, I never thought I would hear myself say that.  Till tomorrow, Y'all have a wonderful day.

Hugs, Edna B.

Free Kindle For Your PC

July 6, 2012

It's a beautiful sunny morning, and I'm sitting here at work waiting for the Mrs to wake up.  The weather man is promising us a nice day in the mid 80's.  And it is a nice day.  My body isn't aching from yesterday's exercises.  So, tomorrow I shall go to Deanne's and workout some more.  I think three or four times a week should be enough. 

I want to take a moment to thank Janet S. (one of Kyra's blog followers) for the beautiful Rainbow Bridge poem she sent to me.  So many folks sent condolences and prayers for my Tootsie.  Here are two cards that came yesterday from her doctors at the hospital.

I would also like to share a book that I recently finished reading.   Gosh, such a beautiful story.  I won't go into details and ruin it for you, in case you would like to read it too.

This was one of the free books offered by Amazon for my PC Kindle.  Did you know that the PC Kindle is free?  Just go to Amazon and search for the PC Kindle ap.  Once you download it to your laptop (or PC), you will receive a list of free books from Amazon almost every day in your email.

I have not had much response from the animal shelters.  The ones I did get said that the dog was already gone, or that they did not transport pets to different areas.  I'll keep looking though.  I heard of a new place on TV, The Pet Shelter Project, and thought I would look into that. 

The photo theme this week at PDPA is "Architectural".  I'm not one for photographing the angles of buildings, but I did come across a tree with an unusual design.  So this is my entry for this week.  I applied two Photoshop filters to the photo, Watercolor and Poster Edges. 

Now I must start getting busy here.  Till tomorrow, Y'all have a fabulous day.

Hugs, Edna B.

Oh Lordy, I'm Back On My Bandbox!

July 5, 2012

Well, it was a bit of a noisy night last night with all the different fireworks going off everywhere.  We had to keep a watchful eye though, because all it takes is one spark to start a fire.  Obviously, some of the folks who were lighting fireworks in their yards were not worried about fire.  This is sad, because a lot of our homes are surrounded by large trees.  God willing though, everyone had  fun, and all is well this morning.

Yesterday, I saw the darndest commercial on TV.  A new product call Keyser Tube has come on the market.  It's a new way for your children (and you) to have lots of fun.  You attach this tube gadget to the top of your full bottle of soda, add little round discs into the tube, shake the bottle and let it explode throwing soda up into the air and everywhere around.

Now tell me, isn't this the smartest thing to teach your children?  How to waste even more food (soda is edible/drinkable)?   Is learning how to be more wasteful now going to be a new fun game?  Aside from the waste of food and money, how about all the ants and other nasty little buggy creatures the sweet syrups will draw to your yard. (Or wherever you decide to play this game)    If you don't mind being bitten by these bugs, have you no thought for your pet's comfort? 

I have another issue chawing away at me today.  This was my week to post the new Photography Theme in the forum at Hummies World.  My theme was "July 4th" asking for photos showing how you celebrated the day.  My photo was of fireworks that I had photographed. 

The owner of the forum went in and changed the theme to "Fireworks/Patriotic" and said it was because it was because the forum membership was global and not everyone celebrated July 4th.  As an American, I am really getting tired of people taking my Holiday fun and celebrations away so as not to step on anyone else's toes. 

Aside from that, my theme was not about taking photos of fireworks.  It was about how one celebrated the day.  Cookouts, parades, a day at the beach, etc.  So today, I am going to withdraw from choosing these weekly photo themes before anyone has a chance to tell me I can't post themes about Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations.

Okay, Bandbox closed now.  (For the time being)  Yesterday morning, I went to Deanne's house and we exercised for about an hour.  After that, I went out in her yard to photograph some of her beautiful roses.  Gosh, they are gorgeous.  Have a looksee.

Soon it will be time for me to head on over to Deanne's to do some more exercising.  Even though my great grandson thinks my turkey gobbles that hang from my arms are really awesome muscles, I would like to trim them down a bit.  Flattening out my middle would be a nice plus too.  So, till tomorrow, Y'all have a fabulous day.

Hugs, Edna B.

HAPPY JULY 4TH !!

July 4, 2012

I'm here at work, and the rain is starting to let up.  It's been pouring the past few hours, so maybe it will stop long enough for me to get home without getting drenched.  The Mrs is snoring away, and I will be packing up my work bag shortly and heading out. 

This morning, I am going over to Deanne's house, where we will do our exercises.  She has a nice  exercise room set up with a couple of machines and a TV for our Boom Boom video.  I'm beginning to like my chunkie little behind a whole lot more now that I've done a few of those exercises.  But I will try to keep up with some sort of exercise because I really do feel good after doing them.

Today is Independence Day here in the U.S.A.  My flags have been replaced with nice new ones, and they are looking really nice.  There's even a little flag in my kiln planter outside my door.  I'm thinking that this little flag needs to be replaced too.

Last night I took a couple photos of flowers in the Mrs' garden to share with you.  Things are getting quite overgrown, but a few plants still stand out.

Maybe one of these days, I will go out and weed the garden for her.  It's really quite pretty when it is kept up.

After the Mrs went to bed last night, I spent a few hours online looking up rescue babies.  Now I have a folder filled with photos and info to follow up on.  Plus, I have sent a couple of emails out about two of them.  So we shall see.  Here are a few of the rescue doggies.

Gosh, there are so many of these beautiful doggies (and other animals) out there waiting for forever homes.  It's simply heartbreaking.  It's time for me to go home.

****I'm home now, having a cup of coffee before I go to Deanne's to exercise.  I am so disappointed with the dwarfs this morning.  I have asked them hundreds of times to please close and lock the downstairs windows when they go out or to bed at night.  It's a safety factor.  Yet once again, I come home to find all the windows open and no one is up yet.  I wonder if they would be more careful about security if their name were on the mortgage.

Outdoors is getting a bit grayer, so we must be getting ready for another downpour.  But I suppose the plus side is that our gardens and lawns are enjoying this rain.  So be it.  That's all my news for this morning.  Y'all be safe and have a wonderful day.

Hugs, Edna B.

More Is Not Always Better

July 3, 2012

Good morning.  It's quite lovely outside this morning.  Abut 79 degrees F, heading for the mid 80's.  The weatherman has just now announced that we could have severe thunderstorms tomorrow.  What really concerns me is the fires that are still burning in Colorado. 

People have died, hundreds of homes are gone, and God only knows how many tens of thousands of animals have perished in these fires.  It keeps bringing me back to my old questions "when are we going to put in a water pipeline?"  I sincerely believe that there has to be a way to pipe all the excess water from places being flooded out to the areas that are burning from lack of water.

In the news, they are talking about the huge fireworks display that Washington DC will be putting on.  It makes me wonder why it is so okay with our government to be putting on such a costly, lavish display when we have so many people with no jobs, no home, no food, no nothing.

Our government needs to wake up.  More is not always better.  The people in charge of how our money is spent need to learn what priorities are and how to budget.  They need to learn how to work FOR the people.  Goodness me, I thought that was what it was all about anyway.  Somehow, our politicians all yell loud and clear how honest they are and all the wonderful things they will do for us.  But once they get elected to office, they forget about their promises, and just grab all they can for their pet projects. 

Let's get me off this bandbox and look at some photos.  Some of the photos that I took of the  fireworks the other night did not come out so good, but still they were interesting.  Here's a couple to show what I mean.  I think the second one looks like dancing chili peppers.

I also have another pretty shot of the sunset from the other night.  It's amazing how the light and the colors change depending on high or low the sun is and where it is.

Now I think I should do a bit of laundry, and get dressed.  I still have to go back to the hospital and pay the bill from Sunday morning and the cremation, etc.  So I will get that done today too.  I will also be checking all the area pet shelters.  Somewhere there is another little fur baby who needs a bit of loving and a forever home. 

That's my news for this morning.  Till tomorrow, Y'all have a beautiful day.

Hugs, Edna B.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEANNE

July 2, 2012

Good morning.  I want to thank everyone for your wonderful words and prayers.  It is comforting to know that I am surrounded by so much love and caring.  I knew this day would be coming, but I don't think we really are prepared for the pain that comes with it.  But I thank God for sending Tootsie to me.  We had nine fabulous and precious years together.

Today is my daughter Deanne's birthday.  I think I shall take her out to lunch to celebrate her life.  This is one of those big "0" birthdays for her.  I know I'm always saying "Where has the time gone?"  But my goodness, all my babies are almost, right on, or more than fifty.  So tell me, where did it go?

It wasn't so long ago that my last one in school was getting ready to graduate, and I was getting ready to sprout my wings and go back to school.  By the way, that last one to graduate from school has been a  grandfather for a few years now. 

So for my beautiful Deanne, I wish you a long, happy and healthy life filled with love and laughter.  It's also her best friend's birthday.  Now really, can it get any better?  Happy Birthday hugs to both of you.

Let me share a couple more of the fireworks photos from the other night.  I want to try this again soon using a tripod. 

In my mail this morning, there was a beautiful layout in memory of Tootsie.  Thank you so much, Kyra.  This means so very much to me.  This was my favorite picture of Tootsie.  Have you ever seen such a beautiful smile on a little dog's face?

I've finished my coffee, so I think I'll stuff this adorable little body into some clothes and get ready to take my daughter to lunch.  I must remember to ask Eddie to put up my new flag too.  I like to have a flag hanging over my door.  The one that is hanging now is getting very shabby and needs to be put to rest.

Again, my heartfelt thanks to everyone for your comfort and caring.  Till tomorrow, you have a wonderful day.

Hugs, Edna B.

God, Bless My Tootsie

July 1, 2012

This morning at 7:15, my beloved Tootsie passed away.  She was my joy and the light in my life.  I realize that her pain is over now, and that we had nine beautiful years together, but oh Lord, I miss her so.

Last night, Tootsie and I and two of the dwarfs took a ride to the ocean to take photos of the sunset.  Oh, but the sun setting down was glorious.  The photo in the upper right corner shows Tootsie in her stroller watching the sun disappear behind some far a way trees.  I really think that maybe she could see this.

On our way home, we saw some fireworks going off in the sky, and pulled over to try to photograph them.  A little ways further up the road, we pulled into a parking lot to enjoy the rest of the show and I took more photos.  We did not know where the fireworks were being fired from, but they were high enough up for us to watch them. 

I like to think that perhaps the beautiful sunset and the magnificent fireworks were to celebrate my beautiful Tootsie's life.   She was such a blessing and a constant joy for me.  She was my best friend.  I do believe my little girl knew she was leaving.  While I held her in my arms, she licked my hand just before her last breath.

I was supposed to be doing the night photos using my tripod, but was not in a situation to do so.  Therefore, please excuse any fuzz in the fireworks, as all of last night's photos were hand held.  Now I want to light a candle and put it in the window for Tootsie's soul.

Hug your fur babies and love them.  Sometimes tomorrow is already here.

Hugs, Edna B.