7 Quick Takes (Vol 136)

Friday's here. Be of good cheer. For you know that means the weekend’s near. Remember the routine. Read my blatherings and then click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of Herman Cain’s rising poll numbers, over to Conversion Diary to see what has been happening with everyone else.

Now let us blather.

1.
I cannot believe I missed this milestone!

Monday The Dick Van Dyke show turned 50!

You have watched the Dick Van Dyke show right? I mean it is only the most fabulous comedy/sitcom that the 1960’s produced.

Growing up Pilot Man and I were allowed only a certain amount of TV a day. Not a whole lot. And that meant that I needed to carefully plan what was to be watched. And you couldn’t use the old “I was just sitting in here when Bobby had the TV on. Those weren’t the shows I was going to watch” excuse. If you were in the same room as a TV that was turned on then you were technically watching and it counted towards your precious TV minutes. The Dick Van Dyke show was ALWAYS in my TV lineup. And I will admit that I have a number of the episodes in DVD form so I can watch whenever I want.

I can still quote lines from shows. I loved it so.

I think I will go and watch some right now.

2.
Yesterday started out so well. The sun was bright. The temperature was going to be in the 70s. There wasn’t going to be ANY rain. Have I mentioned that we have had 50+ inches of rain this Summer? I had blocked out the day to work outside. You have to take advantage of these days when you have them. You never know around here what is coming down the pike weather wise.

I was just a landscape cleanout machine. I had The Diane Rehm Podcast going, Bob Edwards dulcet tones were coming through my ear buds on my ipod. Pulling up that doggone ivy that I planted in some sort of brain fart. Trimming the Nordic Holly and the Tea Viburnum. Cutting back the hosta. The final thing to do was cut back the spirea. To do that I had to use the electric hedge trimmer. Oh I love that thing. It cuts through bushes like buttah.

I am zooming along. Brrrrrrrrrr. Brrrrrrrr. Brrrrrrrr.  ZAP! And just like that I cut through the extension cord. Not just cut it enough to kill it but all the way through it like I was auditioning for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Well darn it. So I went and got another extension cord to finish the job. The bushes are a trimmed to my satisfaction. I was excited about moving on to the next project and with a last and overly enthusiastic flourish of the hedge trimmer………I cut through the SECOND extension cord.

And about that time the dog comes strolling back into the yard. He isn’t supposed to be able to stroll OUT of the yard but the invisible fence isn’t operating right now and we haven’t had his zappy collar on. I take a cursory look at him and realize he is covered with mud. Dripping with muddy water and covered with mud.

DAMN!!!!!!!!!

I am sorry to the neighbors for saying damn. It slipped out.

So I then had to spend 20 minutes washing the dog. And it took all of that 20 minutes to get the water to stop running muddy. And by the time it was all said and done I was as wet as the dog was.

So I figured that I had better just quit before I cut through something else and cut off all the electricity for the Eastern Seaboard.

3.
HHBL and I are going to make a second attempt at taking our Tow Path bike ride tomorrow. It is supposed to be a beautiful day and I am thinking that the trees are going to have some lovely color. I am sure that I will have some pictures to show next week although I have decided that I am only going to take my little camera with me. The “big girl” camera is just too heavy. I lugged it along the last time.

4.
Remember this sad and wrenching garden event?

Death of a Gnome

Well Mimi has solved that problem. Look what she gave me last weekend!!

My very own Travelocity Gnome!!! He doesn’t have a name yet but he will by the time he takes up residence in the garden next Spring. Until then he will be residing in the garage.

5.
I rely heavily on my Google toolbar (and Swagbucks but that is for another post). And so it is has been a total frustration to me that, with the latest update of Firefox…..

My Google toolbar is incompatible!!!

It is gone. It isn’t there. I need it. I cannot tell you how many times this week I have gone to click on one of my most used icons and realized that it isn’t there because to tool bar isn’t there.

GRRRRRRRRRR

Come on Google and Firefox get your act together. I wouldn’t have done the update had I known this was going to happen.

I don’t like change.

6.
I hate to write this phrase out. I am tired of writing this phrase out.

The dog is wheezing AGAIN and has nasal congestion AGAIN. Just at about the two week mark since he finished his gold plated antibiotic.

Not again. PLEASE not again. We have been dealing with this “little” infection, if you can call pseudomonas little, for around 10 months now. I don’t even know what the next step is as I was afraid to ask after the last medication.

I have been ignoring the signs for several days now. The occasional sneeze. The vague sense that his nose is runny. The occasional wheeze when he sleeps.

But I can no longer deny it. I can hear him wheezy sleeping. He is in his “house” in the laundry room and I am in my office.

DARNIT!!!!

So, I may be having to call Dr. Jeremy on Monday so that we can pay our next installment towards his children’s college fund.

AND the dog is limping again today.

7.
I know I am not alone in mourning the loss of Steve Jobs. I am not sure what I would do without my little ipod touch, which inhabits almost all aspects of my life. That is the only Apple device I own at the moment but it is a significant one for me. I listen to music on it. I read books on it. I keep my calendar on it. I take notes on it. I use it for bible study. I play games on it. I send email on it. I Facebook and Twitter on it. I Google+ on it. I listen to the radio on it. I watch Youtube on it. I take pictures and video with it. I use it when knitting.

You get the picture.

And I am hoping, one of these days, to own an ipad.

I want one BAD.

But that will have to wait for a bit.

So, thank you Steve Jobs for being innovative, for following your goals, for giving me my ipod.