Lake Jean in the autumn.

Country rooooads, take me hoooome....

The Real Sting News

UPDATE: The Real Sting is back! Apparently someone submitted a false news item to the main site and it got posted accidentally. The result was a flood of fans wanting to know the story behind the rumor, and that overloaded the server. For the record: Sting will NOT be on WWE this week! It's amazing how a little blurb like that, which was only on the site a short while before the error was caught and removed, could cause such widespread interest in the space of a couple hours. Not to mention crashing the website... but we're up and running now.

In related news: Be sure to watch Praise the Lord on TBN, Thursday December 1st. Steve "Sting" Borden will be hosting Praise for the first time! If you miss it, you can watch a replay online at www.tbn.org

Catch the show, which airs at 10 PM EST (7 PM on Planet California), then join us for a forum party afterward!

Foooooo...

Feathers. Lots of 'em. In the hall, in the kitchen, but mostly in the bathtub.

Why? Because it's dark outside and my darling husband has no place to clean the pheasant he got today. So he's in the tub with the bird. Cleaning it. In the bathtub. Hey, why not? He WAS going to clean it in my kitchen, but after the squirrel episode I said no way.

When he's done I'm going to stick the Shop-Vac nozzle in the bathroom door, turn it on and suck all the floaters out of the air before tackling the tub. It's the least I can do for my hunter guy, who is so happy about his bird... Methinks roasted pheasant on Thanksgiving sounds good! A turkey shall be spared this year.

Thanks, God. Once again you have provided. (Next time, can you send us one that's already nekkid? Just kidding... sort of...)

*fooooo* (blowing feathers a la Hudson Hawk)

Faith, Snow, and Faith

Faith I

I was conversing with a friend on IM the other day. I re-read our conversation afterward, then went back and read some of the others we'd had. One thing struck me, and that was how I come across in (rapid) print as opposed to how I really sound. It's a common thing on the internet, and doesn't generally bother me. However, with the fast pace and randomness of our conversations, he has got to be wondering just what kind of Christian I am due to some of the comments I'd made. So, to explain (more for my own peace of mind than anything else):

1. Verbiage. I use masked cursing online more than I use it verbally (i.e. $#%@!!). It's faster when I'm aggravated about something (namely, my shift key not working) to type that than to say "Oh, gee, my shift key isn't working." I don't type 100+ words a minute so I use shortcuts. So assume it stands for "drat-diddly-dee" or something, OK?

2. The Playboy magazines. I've been an "automatic renewal" subscriber for years now. Why? I like to read them. No, really... I called once to see if it was available without pictures, but it wasn't except in the Braille edition. (I can't read Braille.) I like the interviews, the product reviews, some of the fiction and Raw Data. It's the only thing that might be considered smut that you'll find in our house. The hubby and I read it in turn and discuss articles with each other and I have no problem with that whatsoever. And we hide it when my brother is here.

3. Grade-school grudges. I don't have any, really, life's too short for that. But I refer to those people as I knew them then, since I haven't seen or heard from them since. Maybe they regret treating people like dirt. Maybe they talk about me the same way ("Oh, yeah, the weird chick..."). Maybe they don't think about it at all. I don't have any other points of reference so they're stuck in my memory as the mean girls. I hope we can find some other common ground to discuss besides grade-school history anyway, though I had a great trip down memory lane looking up our former teachers. I'm going to write to one of them.

4. Truck worship. Yeah, I'm just throwing that in there... (This is going out to everyone I've ever IM'd with a photo of myself hugging the truck.) I love vehicles, and I love my truck. I'm not obsessed with it, but since it's the nicest thing we own, I tend to yap about it. I picked him out, I named him, and he's like our first-born child since we don't have any actual ones to spoil. Not worship; unconditional love. Did I mention he's purple? What's not to love?

Snow

It snowed yesterday. Not here, but in the higher elevations. We took above-mentioned truck for a drive today to look at the fall foliage and wound up near Lake Jean. Hubby was surprised to see that there was enough snow to call out the plow trucks! It was the wet, heavy kind that's great for snow sculptures. Unfortunately I was unprepared, having only a long-sleeve shirt and no jacket or gloves, and the wrong shoes. I got out long enough to throw a token snowball at my husband, lost a shoe, and hopped around until I could retrieve it and get back in the truck. The remaining snow was pretty to see among the fall colors, though. The sky was simply incredible today too. Still... snow a week before Halloween? Might not have to move to Canada after all!

Faith II

Faith is a family friend. She and her husband are a truck-driving team; they are long-haul (or over-the-road) truckers and only get home a couple days a month. I missed seeing them this time around but my husband got to see them for a bit. They presented him with a goodie bag full of... drum roll... ELK! We now have elk steaks and elk loin in our freezer. Man, that's even better than venison. I'm stoked (and thankful, since we lost almost all our meat when the freezer quit). Faith, by the way, is the neighbor who invited me to come work for her for a couple weeks 6 years ago. I met my future husband my first day there, and I'm still working there. I'm grateful for the former; the latter is debatable. She was smart enough to get out. I got her job, but still, if a pay raise doesn't come my way soon I'm going to be seeking other employment. Guess I should be happy that I'm employed at all but I'm collecting job applications. (I'm also available for work-at-home computer stuff... hint hint.)
Anyway, Faith and Jeff are wonderful, down-home folks with big hearts and I wanted to give them a shout-out here. Hi y'all! Thanks!!! See you at Thanksgiving and keep the rubber side down!

Day's End

Baggage Claim

Matthew 11:28

Come to me, all of you who are tired
and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest.

Home again home again, draggety-drag

Stayed at a hotel near the airport last night so my sister wouldn't have to get up in the wee hours to drive us. We ended up still awake in those wee hours, since the hotel had an indoor pool and a whirlpool. Then the NASCAR race was on, then I was in that too-tired-to-sleep mode.

Got about 3 hours sleep and also slept through most of our flights in spite of the coffee. I'm pretty disappointed with Starbucks. I thought I'd be wired, but I was out before the first plane even finished boarding. I think I wasted four bucks. (I have a funny Starbucks story to tell later, though!)

Got home about 3 PM, been in a zombie trance since then. But I'm going to bed as soon as I fix some dinner. I'll come back to post pics when I wake up. No more deer shots, I promise!

If you're squeamish, don't look!

Dinner the old-fashioned way... This is the buck my aunt got. I was cutting a shoulder here.

Episcopal Church, near Ridgeland, SC

I never knew there was such a thing. Only in Redneckland, y'all!

Of Mugginess and Meatlessness

Arrived in Savannah in the middle of a tropical storm. (The egg made it safely; they made us take off our shoes and belts in Harrisburg but that was it.) Our checked luggage arrived on the baggage carousel soaking wet. Made me glad I'd kept the ancient vinyl suitcase of my mother's, since nothing in that one got wet.

So it's pouring rain, 94% humidity and 80 degrees. Welcome back to the South. My niece and nephew were happy to see us. We spent the night at my sister's in Savannah. She made tofu curry and rice for dinner; I threw together a passable veggie pizza. Plus she and the kids had made cupcakes. My sister is the Baking Queen, and the cupcakes were great. Almost worth the trip right there! We played with their porch cat and their ferret. (Side note: I was dozing on the couch and was awakened in a jolting hurry when the ferret decided to chew on the instep of my foot. Good MORNING!)

Since then, we've been at Mom's. Went to Charleston one day for shopping and dinner and to give Mom and B a bad case of nerves... We took Mom's little Toyota, and "while in Rome, drive as the Romans do" was my motto. Yee-haa! That city is bananas. B-a-n-a-n-a-s. But we had a good time.

Let's see, what else... dug up some fossils at the shoals, just a handful of teeth and some random pieces. Going back today when the tide turns to hunt bigger sharks teeth. Went to my grandmother's yesterday, watched the Braves choke in the playoffs (of course) although they held on for 18 innings. My aunt decided to go sit in the deer stand for a while. She told me there was a big fox that came up sometimes, so I grabbed the camera and went along, but not until my grandmother had made me put on a pair of cammies (to keep the bugs off). I don't think I've ever sweated so much during hunting season in my life. When we hunt up north, most of the time there's snow on the ground and bugs are nonexistent. We saw five and a half deer (the sixth one didn't come out of the woods) and my aunt bagged a five-point buck. So B helped her husband clean it etc. and we came home with a nice piece of meat for steak sandwiches.

On the way home last night, at one of the backroads turns, we had to stop and wait for what we initially thought was a possum to get out of the way. It was only after we rolled up next to it that I saw my first *live* armadillo. (Only ones I ever saw had tread marks on them.) A younger one, but neat to watch... I tried to get a picture but my camera batteries died again. I know why they call them "possums on the half-shell" because it moved just like one, only faster. ;-P

Today, we go back fossil-hunting; tomorrow, fishing (finally!) and crabbing. Wednesday, if my sister will allow it, we're taking my niece with us to the state fair. I'm going to pull rank (Aunt Privilege) to get her if I have to. Haven't seen the kids in two years and my sister has to pick this week to have an authority struggle with my niece. She can wait a week, dang it. I've missed most of her growing up (she's 10) and left when my nephew was only a couple months old... he's six now and I've seen them both once a year or less since then. Adorable kids, and well-mannered to boot. Even my niece is good compared to most young'uns today.

So that's the update. More later, heading for the beach now!

I'm leaving, on a jet plane
Don't know if I'll be back again

We gone... will post from the islands when we aren't fishing, eating, or beach-ing. Not too worried about the flight; I always did like flying. I'm going to think about Jonathan Livingston Seagull when we're up in the clouds today!

Speaking of birds, this goes right along with the theme. I will be hand-transporting an emu egg to my niece. It's boxed and padded but I know I'll have to open it for security and explain just why I'm toting a giant green egg around with me. (I didn't trust putting it in our luggage.) Also in the box with the egg is a figurine of Buddha from a Chinatown shop. (gift for someone else.) This is going to be fun: woman with cowboy hat and sneakers, purse full of hard candy and camera and Christian book, carrying a box of really big egg and Buddha. Accompanied by redneck male. Yeah, I'm gonna get searched.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Fair, enough!

So the fair is going on in the big town. Everyone goes to the fair. The kids are given a few days off school (some of them the whole week so they can work at the fair), the seniors are temporarily employed hawking fudge and candy, traffic is backed up for miles, and of course it rains. It always rains during fair week.

Last year four of us went to a concert at the fair. It was raining and the stage seating (the ground between the stage and the grandstand) was of course muddy. Two of us remembered to bring ponchos and ended up sharing them with the other two. So picture two mud-splattered tent-looking contrivances, each one with two heads sticking out of it, one of those heads wearing an umbrella hat. Yes, I did say umbrella hat!

I bought one at the dollar store for the sole intention of wearing it to the fair. I could take a regular umbrella but it takes one hand to carry it. I need both hands free for the fair; one to bring whatever gastric delight I've just purchased to my mouth, and one to toss dimes and/or play bingo. An umbrella hat was the obvious answer. By the way, I am the dime-toss queen, y'all. That totally goes on the resume if I ever apply for a job in Alabama.

Now picture the umbrella-hat-wearing head holding a fried dill pickle in one hand and flipping dimes with the other. Occasionally interchange "fried pickle" for "cheesecake on a stick" and "flipping dimes" with "playing bingo" and that's pretty much me at the fair.

Oh, and we aren't going this year. It's not raining.

Countdown To Freedom!

Sunday: Invited friend over and baked cookies all afternoon. Subs for dinner, didn't feel like cooking after five hours in the kitchen.

Monday: Got broken fingernail fixed. Mailed cookies to a friend in Mississippi. (He lost everything to Katrina... others were helping with the stuff, but cookies might cheer him up.) Got frantic phone call from stepmother, who had just lost her brakes driving downhill in town. Picked her up and took her to get the truck from Dad. Received a package from Australia... thanks K! Big hugs to you! Ate dinner on the fly.

Tuesday: Worked. Broke another fingernail ($#@!!!) but it wasn't bad so I was able to fix it. Got a letter from the bank stating they were unable to withdraw our loan payment because our account was locked (see earlier rant about Em and Tee). The loan is through the same bank, and they were able to take out other charges, and B can withdraw/deposit money... so why couldn't they take out the payment? It was there! Called and griped about it, decided to switch banks ASAP. They have done nothing but jerk us around since we found out about them paying out of our account for an obviously fraudulent e-check. They don't want to take responsibility. And they owe us a lot of money too. Having tamales for dinner.

Wednesday Plan: I'm going to go to work late so B and I can have a little chat with the bank manager face-to-face. Have to call garage to arrange truck inspection, if Mike will ever answer the phone. Roasting a chicken after work.

Thursday-Saturday Plan: Work, possibly drop truck off at Mike's, call credit union about transferring our loan from Em and Tee, close account and tell manager we'll be looking forward to our reimbursement check. That was supposed to be our vacation money... grr. Now it might be Christmas money. Come home and begin vacation prep: laundry, clean out fridge, begin packing. Actually I'll probably procrastinate until Tuesday night and then run around like a maniac until three in the morning, but at least I'm able to go anywhere with a single duffel bag. Most women can't do that!

Sunday Plan: CARLISLE!!! We were discouraged to find out that the Fall Carlisle car show (one of the biggest of the year) was the weekend before we left, when we're trying to save what money we do have, but it turns out we'll be able to carpool down and spend the day drooling after all. They have worship services on Sunday too. At a car show! How cool is that?!

Politicians At Large?

Romans 1:21-22

Their thinking became useless.
Their foolish minds were filled with darkness.
They said they were wise, but they became fools.

The Irish in me...

My blood runneth green.

Stuff n' Nonsense

Changed my mind on the hunting post, at least for now. Some ultrasensitive animal activist might flame me from here to the Happy Hunting Grounds if I write what I originally intended.

So... work sucks. Everyone's getting shifted or laid off for the rest of the year, which creates scheduling hassles for me. Not to mention fewer people to share the workload. Ah well... T minus 10 days until I forget about it for a couple of weeks. I'll assess the damage when I get back.

Yesterday was the first day of autumn. We've been complaining about the unseasonably hot weather here, but today it was like Momma Nature flipped a switch and POOF it was fall. Seems like the colors started changing overnight, the weather got cooler and the breeze picked up... I'm loving it. It's my favorite time of year!

I just joined another message forum. After reading the posts and replies for twenty minutes or so, I realized just how good ours is. I was stunned at the things I read. Not one of the members there would last past their first post on our site... they'd get nuked immediately. I decided to unjoin pronto... thought I'd have to claw my eyeballs out for a minute there when I clicked on a topic and was confronted with a picture of... well... never mind, I don't even WANT to go there. Ewwwwww........

Prayers going out to those in Hurricane Rita's path. Y'all bootscootn'boogie on outta there, y'hear?

I'm out.

Hi Y'all!

I had to turn on Comment Verification. This blog doesn't get much traffic, but within 15 seconds of a new post yesterday I had 3 comment spammers. I'm not wasting time going back and deleting them, so CV is on. Sorry to the couple of folks that are nice enough to leave comments.

I should get some self-tanner for my ankles. High heels with a sock tan is not fashionable. It screams Redneck!!! As if anyone needs proof.

Speaking of... you might be a redneck if someone mentions how they wish they had another 2 inches, and the first thing you think of is a lift kit for a pickup truck. You know the speaker is a redneck if that was, in fact, what he was referring to!

One from the Forum: You might be a computer redneck if your username indicates that you are the spouse of another forum member.

You might be a redneck if -ing endings do not exist in your vocabulary; rather, you use -in'.
As in fishin', huntin', swimmin', muddin'...

You might be one if a coworker sees you wearing anything other than your work clothes, and says they've never seen you without a baseball cap on... and you're female.

You might be one if Fireballs just ain't as hot as they used to be... if you know Tootsie Rolls are better after you've softened them up in your pocket for a while... and if you buy Dum-Dum lollipops at Halloween and eat them all yourself.

Coming up: Hunting recap. 'Tis the season soon! Now y'all excuse me, I have to get to the store... I'm out of ammo.

Today's Tidbits

I wrote an article for our company website/newsletter about what the company is doing for Hurricane Katrina victims. Hoping it gets published. I may well be the only person there who can spell, so I think I've got a good shot.

Debating whether to see "Transporter 2" or "March of the Penguins" tomorrow night. It's been a few years since the hubby and I have been to an actual movie theater... am waiting semi-anxiously for "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride." Burton, Danny Elfman, and Johnny Depp... it. must. be. good. (Did anyone else know that Tim Burton was an animator for the Disney movie "The Fox and the Hound?" How cool is that?)

Tomorrow afternoon the hubby is going up to Dad's to do something with the tractor and help clear trees. I might go, but I might also stay here and rearrange some furniture. *scoots wheeled desk chair six inches to the right* Well, that's done. I guess I'll go along.

Two and a half weeks... not another movie title, but the time left until we go on vacation! This is going to be interesting. My husband hates flying, and for the first time since we've been together we're NOT driving. He hasn't been on an airplane since he was in the Marines and said he actually preferred jumping out of one to having to stay in it... I, on the other hand, like to fly. The world looks so different from up there! I hope we aren't over the wing.

I've never been allergic to anything in my life. Suddenly, I have allergies. Might be my place of employment, might not, but either way the doc gave me Allegra. I'm going to lose weight now... about 5 pounds of sinus pressure, that is. I feel like a bobble-head doll. Little body, big ol' heavy head... I think I'm allergic to poinsettias. And I think it's psychological. Bet I feel better after I kick a couple of them.

A funny website: www.stuffonmycat.com A few minutes of mindless entertainment.

I just read Janet Evanovich's latest, "Eleven On Top." It's one of her Stephanie Plum novels. She went full-tilt on this one, laying on the improbability incredibly thick. Wasn't nearly as funny as the first six or seven in the series. I still giggle thinking about Grandma Mazur shooting the turkey. At least Stephanie hasn't blown up the Buick... I'll stop reading them if that happens. The Buick is my favorite part of the series, and IMO the best returning character. A car! Of course!

Have to start thinking about our Christmas card photos soon. Last year we set up the tripod at a scenic spot, only to have power-plant security come check us out and run our license plate. I guess they own the view, along with everything else in the area. The year before, we wanted photos taken in our hunting gear but Wal-Mart wouldn't let us bring our guns in with us. Not even unloaded! People are so suspicious anymore... *grin* It was fun asking, though.

And again with the shoes... made the mistake of driving past Boscov's last Monday and the gravitational pull was too strong to resist. Got a pair of Skechers for 10 bucks. Tres passe, but I needed new sneaks. "You get more mileage from a cheap pair of sneakers..."

I've decided I'm on Team Aniston. Life-altering, isn't it? NOT.

With that, I'm out.

VAROOOOOM!

It ain't practical, but it sure is pretty.