I have been kicking this around for some time, and I have decided to move back to my dot com web site and back to WordPress. Here's a screen shot of today's post on the new digs. I hope you'll continue to come visit at my new home on the web!
Do you like Maxine? I love Maxine. Maxine always makes me laugh. I worked in the corporate world for a long time and actually knew a few Maxines! What a riot!
There are a very few things I miss about working in that kind of environment, and some of the people is one of them.
Coincidently, one of the things I miss least… the other people. hahaha!
Did you know Maxine blogs?
I want to thank all of you who took the time to go over and comment on my niece’s blog post/college journalism class assignment. You Rock! If you didn’t happen to stop by yesterday and would like to help a hard working college student make an A on her assignment, take a look at yesterday’s post for the link!
Today I have an amazing amount of laundry to do as well as some shopping. I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Happy Spring! 
My Pecan Trees are leafing out, and if you look carefully, you can also see the male pollen – the dreaded tassels! The tassels fall and get everywhere! If you are foolish enough (or lazy enough!) to let them just sit there, they stain the concrete a rather nasty color and are none too kind to the paint on your car, so my Dad will be constantly blowing them into a pile to throw away once they start to fall.
Soon I’ll be hearing the lovely rustling of the leaves! I just love my Pecan Trees during this time of year.
In other news… I have a favor to ask. My niece needs 30+ comments on a blog post for an actual grade in a journalism class in college! We think the more comments she gets, the better her grade! (Stranger than fiction?)
Holly writes:
"Basically, the "assignment" was to write a blog entry & try to get as many comments on it as possible...We have to get 30+ comments to do well on this "assignment"... Everybody go comment on Kumar joining the White House, and I will bake you all a funfetti cake during finals week."
So, if you have a moment...
Happy Friday, Y'all. Oh, and be sure to stop by Tisha's for more Looking at the Sky on Friday posts!
Some of my neighbors had a visit from their grandchildren last weekend. Her daughter and son-in-law are in the Air Force, stationed in the panhandle of Florida. She’s always so excited to see her grandbabies! The baby is in that swing-a-ma-thingy on the far right.
It was a lovely Spring evening after supper. What better time for a rousing game of Dodge Ball?!
Life's simple pleasures are the best! For instance, while this lively game played out I was sitting on the patio with MotherDear and Dad. We were enjoying a glass of wine and watching them play and listening to them cheer and giggle. Sublime.
Gandalf and Grayson enjoyed the game, too!
PS. My niece needs 30+ comments on a blog post for an actual grade in a journalism class in college! We think the more comments she gets, the better her grade! (Stranger than fiction?)
Holly writes: "Basically, the "assignment" was to write a blog entry & try to get as many comments on it as possible...We have to get 30+ comments to do well on this "assignment"... Everybody go comment on Kumar joining the White House, and I will bake you all a funfetti cake during finals week."
So, if you have a moment...
Hey, Trav! This post is for you, my friend!
April MacIntyre is one of my cousins. Our mothers are sisters. As children we lived close to each other in Massachusetts, but nowadays April resides happily in California as a freelance writer and editor for Monsters and Critics, a UK-based entertainment website. She gets to hang out with all kinds of Hollywood celebrities. Doogie Howser is my personal favorite, so far!
My cousin Michelle, the daughter of my mother and April’s mother’s other sister (did you follow that?), had her daughter send April a Flat Stanley for her class. Yesterday April took Stanley on the adventure of a his flat little lifetime! April took Stanley to the makeup trailer of Dancing with the Stars!
Flat Stanley thought Trav would enjoy a few behind the scene photos!
I think Flat Stanley had a blast!
My city’s little local paper has had a lot of bad news in over the last ten days. We had a deluge of rain, about 10-14 inches of rain over two days, causing rivers to overflow. Many areas that have never flooded were under water. Many homes and businesses had 6 feet of water inside them!
There were many city and county services lost, including my own internet service at my office at the Swamp. A minor inconvenience to me compared to many folks close to the river. I was able to work from home for a week. These folks have to rebuild their homes.
Yesterday’s Headline was Inside the clean-up, A day in the life after the flood. I won’t reprint it all here, but I provided the link for those who care to read some Good News for a change! It is full of good things. Things like neighbors whose names they didn’t know just showing up, youth groups in boots asking “where can we help?”. Chik-Fil-A delivering food in a backhoe, bank Presidents putting out sandbags, a truck rental company just dropping off trucks and leaving them…
Wow. Kindness, compassion and love for others DOES still exist. And it’s a wonderful thing!
Happy Easter!
This has been quite a week! The flooding rains started a week ago Thursday and ran through early Saturday. We got somewhere between 10-14 inches, depending upon what part of the county you were in. I know that I got at least 10 inches because it filled, and overflowed, the little reflecting pool in my garden. So for this weeks’ Looking at the Sky on Friday I decided to show you a few of the skies over my house this week. I don’t have any of the actual raining, because, well it was pouring! Oh, and the last photo in the bottom right? That's the tiny new leaves just beginning to sprout on my pecan trees. They'll be in glorious full leaf within a few weeks! I can't wait for the color, the shade and the sounds of the leaves rustling in the trees again. 
I drove over to the office yesterday and unfortunately, the internet was still not working. My provider has restored cable TV though. Nice. That doesn’t help me conduct business, people!
Seriously, their main origination spot was under 6 feet of water. The rivers only crested Thursday so there was only so much they could do. Actually, there was really nothing they could do other than assess and prepare for when the water receded. I’m hopeful it will be resolved over the weekend so I can get back to business as usual. And of course, I miss Feather, my geese and The Swamp!
I hadn’t realized that some of you work/worked from home! In yesterday’s comments some of you mentioned some of the benefits of working from home that you enjoyed, such as working in your jammies! Perhaps I should try that! hahaha!
Happy Friday, Y'all! Oh, and be sure to stop by Tisha's for more Looking at the Sky on Friday posts!
Well, yesterday was my third day working from home. It was a good day for business, but I hope I can return to working at the office soon. According to this morning’s papers, most services have been restored but it did not specifically say my internet service has been restored. So the first order of business this morning will be to take a drive over to the office and see for myself. Being the eternal optimist, I will load up all my files and bring them with me, just in case the internet is up and running again. :-D
I will say one thing for working from home, during the lulls it was nice to go outside on the patio with the Gray Boys. I took some cute photos of Gandalf yesterday with my cell phone as well as a few of one of the squirrels.
Believe it or not I had to work late last night! I took a phone call from a customer in Seattle just before 5:00pm and didn’t finish up with him until nearly 6:40pm when all was said and done. Good thing I didn’t have a long drive home, huh?
My wine didn’t mind waiting for me!
Have a wonderful day y’all!
One of the down sides to living in Georgia is that we can’t get our favorite sports team’s games. We love the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots!
With all the technology nowadays, I must say, this drives me nuts. I thought I had it figured out last year. My satellite company had a sports package and I ordered it. Me and my Dad got all comfy, turned on NESN, the sports channel in New England, watched the pre-game show and Voila! As soon as the game was set to begin, it was blacked out. We could get everything on that channel BUT THE GAMES! Are you kidding me?
Fast forward to this week. I have found something I think may actually remedy the problem, thanks to one of my old high school chums I found on FaceBook. He told me about a gizmo called SlingBox that allowed him to watch the Red Sox win the World Series while he was on a cruise! Right on his laptop! How cool is that? I’m looking into it, so if any of you has any experience I would love to hear about it. I also want to be sure it’s legal. Just saying.
So I broke down and went to MLB.TV and ordered their baseball package in High Definition. Yesterday afternoon at 4:00, I pointed my browser to MLB.TV. Then a miracle occurred - Me and my Dad watched the game together!
Finally.
The Red Sox beat Tampa Bay 5-3 on my computer in High Def! Woo Hoo! It was awesome!
They’re playing again tonight, too. But we’ll be able to watch it on the TV. In the comfy chairs. Do you think it will ever be not about the money and all about the ball game again?
Yesterday was my first day working from home. So far, I don’t like it so much. I feel displaced. Nothing is where it’s supposed to be. I’m a creature of habit remember? Or Obsessive-Compulsive! hahaha!
I miss my office desk, which is much more comfortable and, of course, much bigger. I decided to forward my office phone to my cell phone so I wouldn’t inconvenience my mother. I kind of wish I hadn’t done that. I may change that today. Then there’s the whole “mother coming in several times asking if I’m busy” thing. I know this is just temporary, but if I ever decided to work from home on a permanent basis, I already have a pretty good idea of what I’d have to do to make it feasible and productive.
The first quote I tried to print yesterday jammed the carriage in my printer and after clearing it just kept on jamming. I decided to run out at lunch time and pick up a new printer at Sam’s. My friends/neighbors have been down with a cold so I called them to see if they needed anything at the store. As luck would have it, they were driving to Sam’s Club! What about that, huh?! They picked up my new printer so I didn’t have to go out. I’ll hook it up later, because I finally got the old printer’s carriage un-jammed, at least for the time being.
Trying to work with two cats sitting on your papers and demanding attention while you’re on the phone with a customer is not as much fun as some would think! Actually, since it was a very nice day for a change, Gandalf and Grayson were outside for a bit during the morning. They are only allowed outside when I am home, so they both reveled in that! They love mornings outside better than almost anything. After going around sniffing everything, they each selected a patio chair and stretched out. Then they both came in and took their long afternoon naps. My cats have it very good, I can tell you!
Gandalf managed to catch one of the baby squirrels yesterday. Don’t worry, he didn’t hurt him. Dad watched the little fella scurry back up into the Hidey Hole in the tree. I keep telling those baby squirrels NOT to come down out of the tree until they are either faster than the boys or smarter. Being both faster AND smarter would be better. Staying up in the tree would be best!
Today's Flooding Update: The local paper’s headline today is Dealing with a deluge. This is a photo taken from the story, depicting Hwy 84 by the Alapaha River. In this particular area, the water is not over the highway anymore, but it’s still very high. We’re not out of this yet. Rats.
All in all, I hope they get the internet back up at the office soon!
Wow. It is actually sunny and 70 degrees here! No rain! Woo Hoo!
Of course now they are forecasting the temperatures to get really cold again for two days, but I'm grateful for no rain. The front page is still full of news and updates on the flooding. I didn’t read much of it today. I’d rather think of bunnies and sunshine and cats!
So far, my septic seems OK, although the septic tank guy still has to come back one day this week to finish pumping it. I may even be brave enough to try a load of laundry tomorrow if this keeps up.
I'm working from home today since the internet will be out indefinitely at the office. Mediacom, my internet provider, says there's nothing they can even try to do until the water recedes. I feel bad for the 18,000 people that have no internet, cable TV or phone service. At least I can work from home, with just a few minor adjustments that I had to make.
My mother wonders why I don't work from home everyday, because I certainly could. True, it would save me thousands a year. However, I really do prefer leaving the house to work. I'm afraid I might become lackadaisical, and before you know it, I'd be working in my relaxing clothes and slippers! Ha!
Don’t you love these sweet bunnies, kittens and puppies? One of my cousins emailed all the photos in an email warning about Easter Identity Theft. I decided to put them all in a collage to warn you. So Beware! :]
Hope your day is fabulous!
Overcome by the waters
Major flooding closes roads and bridges.
LOWNDES COUNTY — Major flooding continued in Lowndes County and surrounding counties Saturday, leading officials to evacuate entire neighborhoods and Gov. Sonny Perdue to declare a state of emergency for the region.
That’s the headline and first paragraph of the lead story in today’s paper. And here’s a link to the photo gallery. More rain is predicted by the National Weather Service, but they are encouraging residents to remain calm as they do not expect the additional rain to have a major impact on area flooding.
The Septic Tank guy was here most of the day yesterday and he will be coming back again one day next week. While he was pumping my tank he blew a pump gasket. It took him and his grandson over an hour to put all that waste back INTO my tank that was still in the hoses running from his truck to my tank. Good Grief. Yesterday was really a No Fun Day here at the Yellow House in the Deep South. I just hope he got enough out that I will not have toxic waste in my tub again before he returns to finish the job.
In other news… my internet is still out at my office.
Mediacom services — which include telephone, Internet and cable — were out to more than 18,000 customers due to the heavy rains and flooding. Sally Bloom, company spokesperson, said that the “head end” or primary transmission point in Valdosta, which is located near Sugar Creek, is under six feet of water and the water is still rising.
“We are bringing in additional equipment as quickly as we can, and we will be working around the clock to resolve this, but there isn’t much we can do until the water recedes,” Bloom said.
So, today I will drive to the office and forward the phone to my house phone, or cell phone, because I will have to work from home until they get the internet back up. I’ll also have to break the news to Feather, my office kitty. She will miss me something awful! Thank goodness I have DSL at home - I never thought that was a good thing before! Ha!
My mother remarked yesterday that I have such a great attitude about things and that she thought it was wonderful that I could laugh about it. Really? ‘Cause I thought I was pretty crabilated about it, especially when ‘stuff’ came up through my tub drain, when I pointed out to the septic tank guy that his pump was smoking and then again when I wrote that check! But, hey -you may as well laugh about it, right? I mean, truly, there’s lots worse stuff going on every minute of every day all over the world.
So, today is Bingo with the Biddies and Forward my Business Phone Day here! Hope your day is lovely!
Well today’s Photo Hunt Prompt is Stripes and of course the first thing I thought of was these stripes! This is my flag at The Swamp. My friend Mike just replaced it for me and properly disposed of the old one. Mike’s a true American Hero and a Purple Heart Recipient. This man seriously loves our Flag, as do I!
And because it’s been so rainy, I also included a photo of sunshine and shadow Stripes on the lawn, also taken at The Swamp. The latest update I heard yesterday on rain totals for my area was about 14 inches. Holy Moly, that’s a lot of rain in 2 days. It wasn’t even a hurricane or anything. Just saying.
And finally, what’s a day without the Gray Boys?! I loved this shot. There’s Stripes created by the shadows on the grill cover, on Gandalf and Grayson as well as on the grass. They are sniffing each other’s faces - so cute! They do this about 20 times a day. You know, just in case one of them sniffed something good that the other one didn’t!
I have to share a little thing that happened with Gandalf and Grayson last night that tickled me to no end! Now first I need to remind y’all that I am a creature of habit, something the Gray Boys have learned quite well. And second, the Gray Boys are Not Allowed Outside unless I am home. And third, I always let them Outside through the back patio door. OK, so being reminded of those three things…
I had to go to the grocery store on the way home from the office last night. I went with my friend Allen. We couldn’t carry it all into the house in one trip so I left the front door wide open, ‘cause we were going right back out. We grabbed the rest of the bags and headed back to the front door and then I saw it. The two of them were standing in the doorway looking outside, then at each other and then at the front porch, and back again at each other. They seemed to be saying “Should we go Outside?” “I don’t know, it’s the wrong door. What do you think?” “I don’t know, Mom’s there. I might be OK. What do you think?”. It cracked me up. And so when I reached the door, I said “Who wants to go Outside?”, like I always do, and they both turned around and ran to the back door! Too funny! I wish I had a photo, but my arms were full of grocery bags!
Have a wonderful day, y’all!
PS. I lost my internet at the office yesterday - ALL DAY! I couldn't make it around to visit everyone yesterday. It was still out when I left. They said it was caused by the flooding. But my DSL at home was OK... Sometimes, I miss the big city. Something always seems to be Not Working here at the Yellow House in the Deep South. ::sigh::
PSS. Another Update: I'm waiting for the septic tank guy to get here to pump my tank. There is stuff in my tub that shouldn't be there. Ever. Apparently the 14+ inches of rain in 2 days was much more than my septic tank could take. I'm having all kinds of fun this week!
I took these from my patio Monday morning. It was a glorious sunrise over my Pecan Orchard!
That was before the monsoons came to visit!
Oh my gosh, we've had tons of rain in the last few days - about 10 inches I think. I took this from the patio at the office yesterday afternoon. One of my geese came up and asked for his afternoon bread and I watched the water rolling off of his back (literally) for about 10 minutes! :]
The Swamp and the creek have overrun their banks. Yikes. No blue in these skies!
Yesterday I was delighted to find out that Miss Bee could see my photos again on her Mac! Woo Hoo! It was my first post composed with WLW and photos I had uploaded to Flickr! I'm hoping for 2 days in a row today!
First we thought it was a Firefox recent update issue, then perhaps a WLW issue, or a combination of the two. So I started composing in WLW and uploading my photos to Picasa, but she still couldn't see the photos. Next I composed with Blogger with uploaded Picasa photos with the same results. Sheesh!
What really puzzles me is that when I composed in Blogger and used Picasa uploaded photos Miss Bee still couldn't see them, even though Picasa and Blogger are "buddies" now. Picasa and Flickr aren't so different. They use a similar html coding, so I have no clue what the issue is?!
What I was really happy to discover is WLW was not the problem after all. Yay! Because I love WLW! Miss Bee, do you remember last year at lunch it was you and Charlie that suggested I try it?
I know most of you are going "la la la la la" reading all that, but I need to blog it mostly for my own recollection purposes, because I'll forget the sequence! But hey... Google and Picasa, if you're reading this out there on the RSS waves, you have a glitch for Mac users! Just saying.
Happy Friday, Y'all. Oh, and be sure to stop by Tisha's for more Looking at the Sky on Friday posts!
UPDATE: Just read the front page of the paper and they've closed all the schools in the county due to flooding. We had severe drought last year and now flooding. It's crazy, askeery stuff.
I'm thinkin' it's a pill to pill a cat - especially when you have to pill 2 cats - 2 pills each! Oh, my! Let me tell ya, that was all kinds of fun. I never knew Grayson could drool so good. Not to worry, it's nothing serious. I found the rice-like tell tale-signs of tapeworm on Gandalf and treated them both, just for good measure.
I'm thinkin' we have more than enough water in the swamp, and if it doesn't stop raining soon... I took this yesterday morning, actually after the rain stopped. The water is right up to the back of the shed, and almost up to the detached garage. I hope the water has receded more by the time I get to the office this morning, because there's more rain in the forecast in the next few days. Yikes.
I hope you all have a lovely day!
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