Benjamin

March ~26, 1994 - December 20, 2006. Benjamin Meshach Thompson. dairy cat. moody boy. shower kitty. instigator of fisticuffs. best impressionist of Snoopy pretending to be a vulture. My grand poobah of cats, my lynchpin, my friend. My Benjaminimin.

miss me?

Between a recalcitrant computer and nonstop celebration of the recent elections, I have not had a chance to update this thing in awhile. I suppose I should also blame our past 6 weeks of freaky weather...global warming sucks.

More later. Maybe.

carnage

Three days later, my boys no longer smell of dog spit & blood. I was so proud (of them? of me?) that it had been over 6 weeks since their last "incident". I heard it start in the garage. I ran outside to blast them with the super soaker. No success. I hit them with the super soaker; still no effect (other than to break off a piece of the stupid soaker). So I dragged over the garden hose and turned it on them full bore; I swear it took 15-20 seconds of drenching before they finally broke up. Sopping wet and immensely apologetic, I made them stay outside. (Hold on *they* were wet & apologetic, I was merely pissed. Okay and wet.) No one needed suturing, but for the first time little Yoke got the brunt of it. They *knew* they were in the proverbial doghouse, and for two days it was nothing but "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am".

The morning after the incident, as it is 95.8% of the time, the boys were wrassling in the backyard like happy idiots, the best of buds. Now today is Day 3...let's see how far we get this time.

Bait but no switch

Remember the (not-so-)old jingle, "It's Joe Albertson's supermarket, but the (fill in the blank) department is mine."? Well it ain't ol' Joe's store anymore.

I tend to buy groceries at the end of the advertising week. This is normally a fine thing, unless you want to pick up a good deal at Albertsons: by then, the shelves are totally cleaned out of anything you had wanted that was on sale. Since it's been my fault waiting to go until there was nothing left to restock, I decided to go in yesterday, Day 2 of the weekly sale. My favorite cereal bars were on sale, and I wanted to stock up (otherwise, I probably wouldn't have even gone to A's this week). I was pushing my shopping cart & dutifully patting myself on the back...until I reached the cereal aisle. My favorite cereal bars were on sale, alright. At least they would have been, had there actually been any on the empty (yet still messy) shelves. On Day 2!

Is it me, or is this not very good customer service? Are they lazy about restocking? Accidentally poor planners? (That I doubt, since it happens all the flippin' time at this chain.) What is wrong with Albertsons? My family has always had a soft spot for A's (based in Caldwell, Idaho). Not only is half my family from Idaho, my mom & cousins went to the (formerly*) College of Idaho in Caldwell. So it's a loyalty thing. At least it was, until this whole SavOn/Osco push came in several years ago. It's no longer Joe's family's store, it's morphed into something else. Based on my experience yesterday, no wonder A's is struggling. What a shame.

*Yeah well it's Albertson's C of I now. What possessed the regents is beyond me.

on a happier note

Let's talk about TV. TV critics across the country are opining about the new fall season, so why shouldn't this Opinionated Person add her two cents worth? (Please don't answer the rhetorical question. Thank you.)

First let's back up a bit. It's first season is already over, but psych is pretty darn fun. I'm also happy to see two of my favorite actors, Dule' Hill (Charlie on West Wing) & Tim Osmundson (Sean on Judging Amy) on such a good show. Check it out when it returns in January. Same for Kyle XY, which appear cheesy but is actually a fascinating character study (with the added bonus of Nicholas Lea). Eureka is also a bunch of fun; the premise is far fetched, but the characters are rich and there's lots of good acting (especially the sheriff & his main rival).

The Amazing Race is the only reality show I watch. Period. To give you an idea how good it is: I actually got goosebumps watching the opening credits this year. Phil Koeghan and his arched eyebrow rule. The race this year started in Seattle (I kept exclaiming, "hey I've been there! I know that place!"); it was a brutal first episode, though, wiping out two teams instead of just one. Youch.

The best of the best returning shows: Veronica Mars, 24, Boston Legal, Law & Order: SVU (just when will an Emmy go to Christopher Meloni?!?), Grey's Anatomy (I got hooked on this one over the summer, dammit. The medical stories are often horribly unrealistic (what Izzy did to get Denny a heart? oh puh-LEASE) but the characters are compelling.), Lost, and last but sure as frak not least, Battlestar Galactica.

And an honorable mention to a show that no longer has first-run episodes: The Justice League. I'm still on the first season, but it's definitely not just a kiddies show.

Then the new shows that have me quite intrigued: Studio 60 (stellar cast, Aaron Sorkin, plus in the first hour they call Pat Robertson a bigot? What's not to love?!?), Heroes, and The Nine (John Billingsley & Chi McBride? I am so there!). If I discover any others I will, as part of my sacred TV advisory duty, let you know as soon as I do.

Happy couch potatoing!

curses, foiled again!

Apparently you can tell if you had a good therapy session (e.g., hit some proverbial raw nerves on the head...or something like that) when the next day you have to go back to bed because of a headache. Bah.

Amongst other things...

Civilization can perform at least a small happy dance today: the White House "blinked" first vs. Senators Warner, McCain, Graham, & Collins & former Secretary of State Powell! The administration is backing off of "clarifying" the Geneva Conventions. How horrid is it that we actually have a president of this great nation who wants to torture people. Um excuse me, but Jack Bauer on 24 is fiction... yet the Great Divider seems determined to undermine our moral authority (what's left at this point) as well as expose our own soldiers to the disaster of "clarification" should they become POWs. The shame.

how's that ark coming along?

Rain. Pitter patter. Splish splash. Mixed with the occasional midnight deluge. Yes, rain is back in the Pacific Northwest. Not that I mind (yet). I don't have to worry about the outdoor watering schedule, the rain sounds quite peaceful, and I'm off the hook for any yardwork. (The gray...now eventually the constant gray will be maddening. But not yet.)

The only current drawback is with the dogs. I really had no idea just how much energy 2 young adults & 2 8-month old pups can expend! At least now that the majority of their play time is in the house. There is at least one disemboweled squeaky toy strewn about the living room. Muddy paw prints form a new mosaic on the kitchen floor. The cats all stay at least 3 feet off the ground. And... housetraining issues are exacerbated. I swear, I have never had this problem before with pups this age! Case in point: today the good news was that, for the first time, I saw Yoke lift his leg. The bad news? He did it in the den. Ack! I love my dogs, I love my dogs, I love my dogs. Yeah, that's it.

OUCH

So I am finally on my "permanent" work schedule (now that one doctor is back from her maternity leave), and I think I will like it very much. I work Sunday & Monday nights (6p - 9a) & Friday day (8a-6p). Although Tuesday day is pretty much spent sleeping, it still gives me 3 days off in a row. Plus Saturday.

Now if life would only cooperate with my new schedule. The good news is that B is now back to a normal appetite (keep those drugs a comin') & no longer hiding. But of course I still spent Tues & Wed stressing about it & so didn't accomplish a whole bunch other than a couple loads of laundry. (In my defense, he didn't get back to normal until last night, at which point I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I would have hugged him, but of course B doesn't do hugs.)

So today (Thursday) was supposed to be Run All the Errands Day. Did I mention I actually went an entire 36 hours or so without needing any pain pills for my back? I had nary a twitch, it was wonderful. Not that I was going to make the garbage dump run or any other heavy duty project, I knew better than to trust my back that far. But I'm out of bagels(!), which of course requires immediate correction; a Costco expedition was primed and ready to go. Or so I thought.

The door bell rang late this morning, and I went to get up to answer it. But I did not get up. I could not get up. Each time I tried, my back (figuratively) hollered so loudly that I (literally) could not stand. Sonofabitch! (So my apologies to whoever rang my door bell, I did not mean to be rude.) A few minutes later I did manage to sort of rise & get to the bathroom & the Vicodin, then straight back to bed. So no Costco trip today; not only would I be unable to haul a 36-pack of pop, but I doubt I could even comfortably drive 3 blocks.

So no bagels. No returning the catalog order to JCPenney. No mowing the front yard (yeah like I'm shedding tears on that one). Yes it's inconvenient, but looking on the bright side: it's not a drastic crisis such as occupied so much of the past 3 years, it's manageable with drugs, the critters are happy with mom home for 3 straight days, and there is that mild Vicodin buzz. Now as long as I can make the drive to work tomorrow, the rest will be easy. Gulp.

mish mash

A sunny day, but not hot. Gotta like that. Little bit of a Vicodin buzz, which is nice of course but then there's the reason(s) you had to take it in the first place, which pretty much negates the whole buzz thing.

In the wee dawn-breaking hours this morning, I awoke to my classical Vicodin scenario: yes, the dreaded Early Morning Migraine. (That plus my new cell phone's battery was beeping for my attention.) If left unchecked it would have been a doozy, too: a half hour post pills, it was still gripping my head. (The headache, not the phone. In case that wasn't obvious to the non-Vicodin influenced crowd.) Fortunately I fell asleep shortly thereafter and awoke 8 or 9-ish no longer with a vise clinging to my head. Not that it's over, mind you...I know my body well enough to have already taken a follow-up pill. I can still feel it hovering (the vise, not the pill), especially as I look at my Benjamin. Which, I realized at 5 am whilst waiting for the vise to loosen, is the reason this thing struck in the first place.

I brought B home from the hospital yesterday. Three years ago I diagnosed him with kidney disease, and until now he has done fantastically well. But last Friday he wouldn't eat his breakfast & looked fantastically puny; I hauled him to work w/me & discovered his kidney values had shot sky-high. So the vet had to hospitalize her own cat, hooking him up to IV fluids to flush the toxins out of his system. He was well behaved for everyone (yeah sure he was there, here at home is a different matter). Hopefully the only major "hassle" will be administering his fluid injections & new meds. Although I'd feel much better if he would have lapped up his milk a few minutes ago with his usual gusto; as it was he just took a sip. (Did I mention his superhero name has always been Dairy Cat?) So we'll see if a few injections help his tummy. And me, heh. Meanwhile he's gone back to his nap on top of the fridge. Get your appetite back, dang you.

And here I thought I was done with Vicodin for awhile. Not because of the Current Crisis or from lack of headaches until now (although I am of course grateful for that), but because I had to pop a fair amount of it last week. Do you ever end up with an injury of some sort and wonder what the heck you did? I do that all the time, especially with bruises and the like. This time, though, it was my entire lower back. I have no clue what I did, but lordy I could barely move! So I crawled (or something like that) to the walk-in clinic and was prescribed naproxen (prescription-strength Aleve) & Vicodin. Darn this 40-something body falling apart! Oh well, at least I can move again.

And, of course, a farewell "crikey!" to the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. You know, I never watched his TV shows but I certainly appreciated his enthusiasm and respect for the Animal Kingdom. His sudden departure seems to have hit hard for many of us; we can only hope his outlook inspires a whole new generation of conservationists. RIP, Steve.

Thank the heavens!

They had me worried there for a bit. Scientists were seriously considering letting sentimentality and public opinion decide the facts. Not that I have anything at all against someone considering Pluto one of their favorite celestial bodies, but for pete's sake it's not a planet! Sure it's got its own moon, but c'mon! Its orbit is kattywhumpus to the plane of all the "real" planets, plus it sneaks inside Neptune's orbit for part of its year. And where would it end? Xena? The next dozen objects they find out in the Kuiper belt? Would you seriously want your kid to have to build a solar system model with 10,000 planets?

Okay yes, Pluto has been a planet since the 1930s, but guess what -- the asteroid Ceres was labeled a planet for 50 years before they discovered it was just one component of the asteroid belt. That's how science works: corrections are made as new facts are discovered. For example, Brontosaurus was renamed Apatosaurus when it was realized the same dinosaur had been discovered twice (the official name going to the first find).

So sorry all you Pluto fans, your fav (along with Ceres, Xena, and who knows what all) is now properly called a dwarf planet. Although as a nod to sentimentality, I would have been happy with the proposal to call them all plutoids but that didn't stick. Oh well. Can't win them all.

Lockdown!

So last Friday at work we had a wee bit of excitement. Shots fired, squealing tires, manhunt, lockdown, the whole nine yards. The initial incident happened just across the street from us, so it made for an interesting workday. Especially since (on the lighter side) none of us had brought any lunch, and here we were stuck in lockdown! (Our boss helpfully suggested we had lots of dog food, lol. Thannnnks...)

we are legion

Fortunately for me, I don't suffer from nearly as many migraines anymore now that I have treatment for sleep apnea. But here is the latest info for those who could use it.

My Own Private Dustbowl

We have been fortunate here in the Pacific Northwest not to be slammed with the horrific heat waves that have afflicted much of the rest of our country. We've had some scorchers, mind you, but none of the deadly variety. Yet, anyway.

But what we (okay, I) do have is a dust bowl. In my backyard. Adjacent to the patio. Largely thanks to four wrestling (& occasionally digging) dogs, the grass in that area has vanished and left behind an apparently quite comfy dirt bed. At first, the dust only kicked up when the dogs were on that patch. At this point, though, the slightest breeze will bring up a dusty cloud worthy of The Grapes of Wrath. I suppose this wouldn't be much of a problem except for the garage...or rather everything IN the garage. Which is in the path of the dust cloud. So my nice blue suitcase is no longer blue, etc.

I would wish for rain, but then I would have a plethora of muddy paw prints (and dogs to go with them). I'll just hope I can vacuum my suitcase.

fields of dandelions

They make the back yard quite pretty, actually. And no, I'm not going to mow them down. At least not today. Well unless I get too bored with doing indoor chores. Ah, choices.

I'm a little off whack today, but at least I'm home. This is a make-up day off because I worked an extra one last week. I guess working Sunday & Monday nights & then Wednesday day this week was just a wee bit too much as well... my circadian clock (or some such body system) is punishing me a bit. Good gravy I may actually have to go take a nap. (Oh DARN!)

At least July is done. Just a few too many (painful) anniversaries; it will get better w/time but there were two new ones this time. (Fireworks were always a big thing for me & my dad when I was a kid, my mom's birthday, and of course the one-year mark for my dad's passing.) Probably a big chunk of why I haven't been blogging much, since I tend to retreat into my cave whenever I am troubled.

Hah of course I've also been getting used to this thing called Full Time Employment again. So between the two, I can't say I've had much energy for much of anything else! But BOY is it an awesome feeling to be able to just go ahead & pay monthly bills without having to double-check the ol' bank account. That's a sense of security that has been missing for a looong time and I LIKE it. I like it a LOT.

So what is new (or old, even) in your world?

Finally, an evangelical leader who makes sense

This isn't the first evangelical leader I have heard take a different tack, but you can read all about it here. (And I'm not sure what's up with the Lutheran church mentioned in the article...)

good news!

The VW Rabbit is back!!!

What, you were expecting world peace?

writer's anti-block

I realized today why I haven't been posting much. It's not that I have nothing to say or nothing's been happening; it's more like I can't decide which of numerous events &/or thoughts to start with. (Yes, a fine example of an ACOA Perfectionist. You so want to get it right the first time that you end up never starting because it must be perfect from the get-go.)

Outside of my new work shoes (stupid bunion), I am really enjoying my new job. I am really enjoying having a job. I am especially enjoying having a regular income and not having to second-guess how many groceries I can buy in a week.

I am not enjoying my neighbors. Just one couple though, all my other neighbors are awesome. The good neighbor behind me just finished replacing the north wall of my 6-foot fence (which was/is ~40 years old, my father & grandfather built it). During the time of No Fence, there was chicken wire in place to keep my dogs from getting out (and by golly it worked). Problem was, Peter had a little problem with barking at everyone he saw...even though he knew them (yeah it's a little embarrassing). When I wasn't home, my good side neighbor kept an eye (& ear) on my dogs. I thought I was staying on top of it enough, and my fence-building neighbor was very understanding.

Yeah. Well not so much the neighbors beside him, who share about 6 feet of my back fence line. These are people I have talked to before. Been quite friendly with. When they had a sweet little Jack Russell that kept getting over the fence (!) and into my yard, we had several pleasant conversations. So you know what my oh-so-friendly neighbors did? They filed a complaint. Didn't talk to me. Didn't so much as give a peep of "Hey you must not know how much your dog is actually barking & it's driving us nuts." Nope. I received a letter from the county. Of course I had assumed it must be some nearby neighbor that didn't know me, that thought I would go ballistic or something if they brought it up. (Honestly, if my dog is creating a nuisance I want to know!) But no. My side neighbor guessed who it was (they are her back neighbor), and my fence-building neighbor confirmed it.

The ultimate irony of all this? For over FIFTEEN YEARS, they left their dog in the back yard all the time by herself. And she barked every evening. And barked. And barked. Did my family or the other neighbors file a complaint? Nuh-uh. (And yes, I do wish now that we had. But honestly I felt so sorry for that lonely dog...) Did I complain when their sweet little dog got over the fence into my yard? Nope. Did my side neighbor turn them in when they had a little yapper that wouldn't shut up? No. (She spoke to them instead, fancy that.) Does any of that give me a legal leg to stand on? Of course not!

All they had to do was talk to me, and it would have been taken care of right then.

Oh, and fyi.... they got rid of the yapper fairly soon. And the sweet, gentle Jack Russell? She developed a knee injury & they didn't want her anymore. Are we surprised? Thought not.

oh please oh please oh please!

WP: Dems eye Obama for 08

Proud of our brain power!

Smartest city in the U.S.? It's Seattle!

Okay, so technically it's the best educated city...but I never object to being called smart.

What dog are you?

You really should take this test, if for no other reason than to see the hilarious pictures. ;)

The Blue Heeler You are 35% Loyal, 16% Aggressive, 75% Intelligent, and 25% Friendly!

Equally loyal and intelligent, the Blue Heeler or Australian Cattle Dog makes the perfect companion. They are fast learners and understand a great deal of what their masters say. They are also excellent at judging people's moods and acting accordingly. The Blue Heeler is generally aloof with strangers and prefers the company of its established friends.

Link: The
What breed of dog are you? Test written by karmagirl84
on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test