THE DREADED VISIT...

Home safe and sound from my trip to Coronation. All went well...drive was long...did get to see some road changes on the sask side that involved removal of curves to intersection. Other than that, it wasn't too eventful. Ran into some areas that had rain but otherwise all was sunny enough for farmers to gather their crops.

Got to the cemetery and spent 1 hour trying to find my sister's grave. I had only see it once before and obviously I wasn't paying attention to where it was and what it looked like. I was getting to the point of going into town, to find out just where it was, when I finally found it. I was shocked to see how badly I had not remembered! Then the shock set in on how badly the shape it was in! It looked like no one was taking care of it and the only sign of affection was our rocks and her daughter's garden stone. No flowers, or signs of old flowers...nothing! It looked obvious that there was no "eternal care" being paid or if there was no one was checking to see that it was being done. The grave had sunk down at least 3-4 inches and was over grown with crab grass. The reason I couldn't find it earlier, was that it was hidden by long grass and couldn't be seen easily. Our stones had sunken with the grave and were over grown with grass...I was so disappointed. So I went into town, bought some grass clippers and a wind chime to brighten up her grave.

The stones needed touching up but weren't as bad as I figured they would be. By the time I had finished all of these things the clouds had started to roll in and the wind got worse. I packed up my stuff and bid her a fond goodbye...making a promise to visit more often.

Also made a note to myself to be cremated when I die and have my ashes spread over a place that I loved...so that my grave wouldn't go unkempt...I'm not say that my kids would, just that why force someone to visit a place that's hard to visit! I would rather that they keep their memories of me in their hearts instead of a piece of ground!

On a lighter note:

The town of Coronation is quite pretty and they have quite a bit of art work shown around town. Their town sign is quite impressive by it's size and how well it is kept up and it's caboose...This town also has some fantastic artwork and I just loved it's mural on the side of their recreational center. I'm sure if it was done by a local artist or not but it sure showed the town's history. There was another mural done on the town's theater wall that showed the coronation of the town's namesake. I wished I had gotten a photo of it as it was quite good but it had a big truck blocking most of the mural. I wished Dodge would do something like this also.

I was able to take another photo of the side of a department store and some other unusual artwork on their fire hydrants. They have done all of their hydrants like this....

I wish our town would do something like this to brighten it up and showcase some of our talented people. Our hydrants are a boring yellow...I would vote for them all to be painted like little firemen...I would even help!

As I drove out of this colorful town the weather started to turn bad and all of the way home I kept in front of the storm that was heading to Saskatchewan! It was really weird to see lightning in clear blue sky!

About 2 hours after I got home the storm hit us real bad and we had power outages that kept one from watching TV. As it was the storm made the teenagers go crazy and I had to contend with a party next door but this also kept me entertained as I got to watch just how crazy kids can get when you mix alcohol with wind/lightning and driving rain! All of them just had to be outside standing in it...they were drenched but didn't care.

It rained so hard that water was coming in from everywhere in my kitchen and I could hear hail hitting the vent pipes! Outside, out front, the water was cascading down the street and trees were bent over from the driving wind...scary part was that it was coming from the direction that they said tornadoes come from!

Eventually even they bored me and I went to bed only to be awaken around 3:00 am by some girl yelling over the wind into her cell phone...right outside my bedroom window...in my yard! I scared the hell out of her when I yelled at her to get out of my yard and that I was trying to sleep...she moved quite fast after that. Listening again the the continuing storm I fell asleep.

This morning I awoke to tree branches all over the place and as I walked to my shop [to check the water levels inside] notice the usual broken beer bottles and garbage from the party laying all over the street. I hope the town makes them clean up the mess...far as I'm concerned the ones hosting the party should be responsible for the mess and maybe they would get the offenders over to help out! Can't see that happening!

Believe it or not the water levels in my indoor water fall weren't as bad as I expected them to be and I only had to empty a few that overflowed. I guess the rain came down to hard and fast to have time to get in the cracks.

We time to get back home and repair the damage done there....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUTTONS

Sadly she's not with us any more to say it to her. She would have been 55.

Today I plan on visiting her grave, in Cornation, Alta, to spend some time with her once again.

For many years [since 1997] we have always planned a get away from our respective families around or on her birthday by going camping. This was a fun time for us and it helped us become closer to each other. Although one year I was ticked off because her friends from Cornation decided to join us and that ruined our special time together...or so I thought. Looking back now I appreciate that time better because it showed me her part of her life that I didn't know and who her friends were. At her funereal I was able to revisit with these people and got to learn even more about her life away from us.

It's been 3 yrs since her death...I still miss her and I believe I always will...time has never healed my pain!

PoD and I painted memorial stones to lay at her grave and I will be checking them out to see how they fared out in the weather. If they are in not too bad of shape I will touch them up and cover with a coat or two of varnish. If they are too bad I will bring them home to be repainted. Hopefully they will be alright as I do not wish to make a return trip...this one is going to be hard enough! The rock that I painted was of an old barn [she farmed] with one white horse in it. This was to represent the horse she always wanted but never got.

Pod's rock was dedicated to her love of her Aunty. PoD and BillyRoo spent many hours at her place getting to know her and their cousins....I know PoD feels her loss as badly as I do.

It's going to be a long 2 hrs getting there but I know I will spend that time thinking of all of the great times that did have together and how happy that we took the time to have these memories.

Happy Birthday Buttons...wish you were here!

Love.....Bones

THE KING HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!

30 years ago today, Elvis Presley passed away. I still remember what I was doing on that fateful day and how it affected me!

It's silly to let something like that bother a person... but it did! I didn't idolize stars like most teenagers do today but I did love to hear that guy sing! They definitely don't have anyone like him today and all 0f his impersonators just want to cash in on his fame. He was also someone who had a long road of trouble caused by stardom! I wonder...was it worth it?

In Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee the have declared Aug. 11 to the 17....Elvis week. Graceland has been one of the places I have always wanted to see....maybe one day!

I still listen to his music and always will!

Long live the King! R.I.P.!

HAVING BLOGGER PROBLEMS....

Lost two efforts at posting today...will try later...sorry!

BAD BOY NEIGHBOR!

This is an update of the "Good or Bad News" [Aug. 5] story.

Remember the 4 teenagers I saw walking away from my home, heading downtown and my fear that they might break into my shop ?

Seems my premonition was right about the "breaking in" only it wasn't my shop that got broken into...it was another place further up the street!

Seems they were hell bent on causing trouble that night and I guess I could count myself lucky that "carroting and banging on my door" was all that they did to me! I haven't heard the nitty-gritty details just yet of what they did when they broke in, but I do know that they all have court dates! One of the kids was semi-related to the owners of this store, so who knows what they did to piss him off and make him want to retaliate? My neighbor's kid was one of the four!

Why do some kids have to be so angry! Makes a person kind of wonder what values these kids were taught...if any!

The sad thing is that the law will probably only give them a slap on the wrist seeing as 3 of them are minors! Goes to show you how much faith I have in the justice system and for what might happen to them at home....10 to 1....nothing! One of the underage kids has been in lots of trouble before and "Mommy Dearest" has always covered for him...so we know what will happen with him!

My judgment would be: restitution to shop owners and make them work with the "Communities in Bloom" organization to help clean up the town. Maybe if they had to put in the long hours that we do to make our living, plus make this town beautiful, they might think twice about their actions!

Sadly I think it's too late for most of them...the dye has already set!

AND.....

I still have no news whether the neighbors are moving or not....

ORBS

Here are some extra photos of the Courthouse before we started setting up for the haunt...

The first photo is of the basement hallway...the second shot is of the Custodial Quarter's Living room. The bottom ones are of the kitchen area and if you read the write-up in Nov., we tell of the sound of something rustling in the tarps and where I thought I saw a ghostly cat!

Creepy huh...and NO they aren't dust motes as we hadn't even walked into those areas to stir up the dust!

BRAIN ALARM CLOCK?

For the second time this month I have had dreams about decorating for Halloween!

I must have forgotten to...or don't remember how to...turn off that time clock in my head!

Ever since I have decorated my house or Courthouse for Halloween, this would be the time I would start my planning for the haunt! The dreams would start first and the building process would start shortly after my plans were made.

I have no plans what so ever about haunting the Courthouse...last year was the final year for me and PoD! After my first dream, I kind of scared PoD, as she figured I might be starting again with the Courthouse...contrary to my final words! I had to reassure her that, NO I wasn't thinking of the Courthouse and that the dream involved the new place where I am living right now.

Yesterday was cool enough for me to be able to tidy up the garage and rearrange the stuff stored in it. I did have a few thoughts at that time about the possibility of having a tiny walk-through for Halloween this year but decided I still wasn't ready to do that again.

I guess my mind had other ideas...hence the dream last night! I do plan on decorating the outside of the house and the thoughts involve how I am going to do that so the vandals in town won't have a hay-day with them. This will be a challenge I'm looking forward to doing!

Anyways...

I figure I should finally post the pics from last years haunt before I start another! My inability to post these pics last year as I was narrating the haunt...was because of all of the blogger problems on photo posting. If you go back to my older posts the story starts then...Friday Nov. 27, 2006. Don't forget to watch for the "Orbs" that appear is some of the shots...

This is the entrance area and was "WoManed by Wilma and Helper" the shots are a little fuzzy as I had to lighten them to be able to see something...

Next is the entrance to the haunt which started at the court room entrance. This area was decorated by PoD and she controlled the pace of the haunt.

This area of the haunt was called the "Time Warp Tunnel" which was a creepy 15' tunnel that led into the main area. I had problems with my camera in that area so there isn't as many shots showing the layout and some of the creatures that inhabited it. Here are the few I got...

Right after that last shot things started to go weird with the camera and after these next 2 photos it quit altogether...it wouldn't let me take any more photos of the courtroom action. The 2 shots that happened next show a weird orange light pattern. There was nothing in this area for the orange to reflect or emanate from and it sure wasn't there for the naked eye to see...

We had "Stairwell Guards" that kept the movement going from one floor to the other. These photos were taken on different nights and the guards where changed. The night that my family came the "Upper Floor Guard" post was womaned by my sister-in-law who also ran the worker's snack & refreshment area. I wasn't able to get a shot of her but this shows the outfit that she wore. The "Main Floor Guard" shown here is her grand daughter and we called her the "Bad Fairy"...as I heard later, after is was over, that she scared a lot of people and most found it difficult to get by her...they didn't know if she was a real person or a dummy as she was so tiny.

The basement was called "The Lost Mine" and the controlling guards were "Conman and Funny Lady". They kept control of the "Evil Midgets" [my grand kids]. I didn't get a shot of "Conman" but was able to get one of "Funny Lady" & the "Evil Midgets".

Saturday night my brother "Tank" ran the "1st Mine Shaft" and controlled the "White Spider" that lived in there. He was assisted by his grandson "Evil Boy"....

Here some shots of the 1st mine shaft...The "White Spider's Lair"

The last photo above is the exit to the spider lair and "Tank" said he had a hard time getting people to go through here and some had to be helped. After this area came the mine shaft #2 which was a long walk way filled with scares...manned mostly by the "Evil Midgets".

The final part of the haunt was "Mine Shaft #3"...this place housed the prison cell, prison cell, electric chair and "Mad Creatures"....

This a cute shot of "J-Rod" as our "Mad Creature

I wasn't able to take pics of the other areas after that as my camera died again. This is the ending shot of the exit of the mine shafts...
See why I don't want to do this again and these are only a few that I can show without exposing my helpers and I'm pushing my luck on the blogging space.

The one shot I do regret not getting was of my scary hair!

TOO OLD TO LEARN NEW TRICKS?

When it comes to most technology I have to admit that I am pretty inept!

I have been able to teach myself the drawing aspect of the program used in my computer [which I'm pretty proud of] for my business and can manage some other programs, just as long as there isn't a lot of computer technology needed. I rely pretty heavily on my kids for that sort of thing.

It's the start-up needed for doing these things that confuses me and this brain refuses to absorb it! One example is that I would like to start a new blog that involves my cats blogging...you know CWB. Believe it or not I was stopped by needing a URL name...what the hell is a URL? PoD set up this one and I watched her do it but obviously went right over my head! Where does one find that list that explains all of these confusing commands and that it is written in such a way that it is understandable by inept people like me? Example...Wilma gave Blue some info on linking sites....zoom...went right over my head!

At lot of my problem is that I am afraid to try these things because every time I do try, I end up wrecking something! I have to use PoD's computer to blog on, as mine is no longer able to do so...I keep getting "Fatal Error" when I try! That happened after I tried to switch from the "old style blogger" to the "new style blogger" and all hell broke loose...lost commands that caused errors. Since then PoD has told me to leave those things alone and let her or BillyRoo do it for me!

I HATE not being able to do these things for myself...I HATE waiting for someone to help me...it grates against my "Jill" abilities not mention that everyone one else seems capable and I'm NOT! Grrrrrrr!

I guess I should be content with being able to upload a photo even though I'm clueless on how to set them up properly and not having them go all over the place! I'm lucky that I was able to post some kind of picture for my blog...but it didn't go where I wanted it to though! I wanted it to come up when I comment on blogs...just like Wilma's does! Even that's too complicated for me!

So, if someday it looks like I quit blogging...I didn't...it's because I screwed something up so badly that even my kids couldn't fix it!

UPDATES

Weather:

Its been 13 posts since I've talked about the weather and so for the 14th post I think it's safe enough to talk about it...which by the way, right now, is fantastic for me and my cats! I didn't want to jinx it by talking about it on the 13th!

The last few days the heat has dissipated and cooler weather has prevailed! We have even had some rain! I love that fact of waking up to say "brrrr...it's cold in here" and having to put on a sweater!

"Grumble, grumble"....is what you hear from the heat seeking ones now! Taking a page from the "Selfish Book" I say....who cares! At least they can put a sweater on!

All the heat ever did for me was add to my grief! Some of the medication I take, is effected by the heat and this caused me to feel sick with nothing I could do about it but suffer. Being out in the sunlight made it even worse! Either way it was stay out of the sun or suffer in the airless house...I couldn't win! I even had thoughts of moving up north if there is going to be global warming involved!

Air conditioners had problems keeping up to the heat...so BillyRoo says! His ended up not satisfying his need to be cool after long days out in the grilling sunlight [he works the oilfield]!

Around here everything else was suffering also! The leaves on the trees and bushes were starting to show signs of needing water and the greenness of the scenery was fading to yellow! The farmers in the middle of their "Haying" process were complaining about the dangers of machinery causing sparks and the possibilities of field fires was a concern! The oilfield guys liked it and hated it as the heat made them able to work but the excessive heat made the working unbearable!

This morning I awoke to being cold and walking to work I noticed that we had some rain in the early hours. Listening to the birds chirping and smelling the freshness of the morning has put a lightness to my mood and things don't seem to bad right now...it's a good T.G.I.F. day....so far!

Even my cats are happy....

Suki's Health:

I seemed to have found the solution to her problems...because there has been no puking lately! With her age [10 human yrs - 56 cats yrs] the heat might have played a big part in her illness! Although, I did change her food to suit the needs of her age. So either or both could have been the problem...I'm just happy that she's better!

I know the heat affect both of my cats! Because they were both pretty lethargic and all they wanted to do was sleep. Last night was the first time I saw any life in either animal and watching them play like they were kittens again, made my heart a whole lot lighter!

So have a Happy T.G.I.F. Day....I actually feel like working!!! ?

CRAZY?

Just finished reading "Blue's Blog" about her tendency to talk to herself while doing things and reasons why she does it...

I like to believe that we all do it to some point!

I know I have always done it!

It wasn't because I was an only child because I'm over run with siblings! My sister [the one that died] and I did a lot of things together so were constant companions and bouncing ideas off one another was a regular occurrence. But there were times when I was all alone and thoughts still ran out of my mouth! Now that she is dead I talk to her ghost and still bounce ideas off of her...so I guess that part makes me crazy!

I also like to think that it's because my brain is so full of ideas that there is no room left for the thoughts to run around in...so I talk out loud!

Many times I have been caught by my kids, especially BillyRoo, and they have asked me "who are you talking to"? That's when I blame the cats! So I guess I can't blame the kids for not answering when spoken to because of this trait of mine!

I even argue with myself and win all of my fights...so how bad can that be?

So why should one worry about what others might think when one is caught doing this?

I, for one, don't! I stopped caring a long time ago about what everyone might think about anything...after all who are they to judge me or me to judge them!

At least I didn't have an imaginary friend....to me that would be crazy!

I'm now yelling at myself to get some work done as were are busy, busy, busy...no time to be talking to the imaginary people out there reading this.....

GOOD NEWS ? OR POSSIBLY BAD ?

The good news is that the "For Sale" sign is down from the neighbors place!

The bad news might be that they found work here and plan to stay!

I'm hoping for the first scenario...I think that they hated it here too much to want to stay!

AND.....THEY STRUCK AGAIN LAST NIGHT!

I peg this attack on the teenage neighbor....and 3 of his friends!

Around 11:30pm, I was startled by this banging on my front door! I was watching an action type movie at the time [BillyRoo had gone to bed] and thought it was the movie until I heard it again...only louder! I went to see what was up and found no one! I went to the back door thinking that they might have gone around after receiving no answer. Still no one! Thinking not much of it, I went back to watching the movie. A few minutes later it happened again...this time a lot louder like someone was trying to get in! This scared the hell out of my cats! Thumber ran for cover and Suki's hair stood up on her back and she growled! I have never seen her do this before and that scared me!

I ran up the stairs to get BillyRoo as I wasn't facing what might be out there alone! Waking him up we both looked outside and around the place...NO ONE! He even checked out his car to make sure that someone didn't fool with it. Thankfully nothing happened to it!

Looking down the street to downtown we saw 4 guys walking away from this area. They were too far away to make out who they were but at that distance I was still able to make out that they were teenagers. I can't prove that they did it but it seemed too much of a coincidence that they just happened to be there after what had just happened?

It seems bad to blame it on the neighbor's kid...but seeing as I haven't made any other enemies in town...it makes me wonder?

I got BillyRoos camera from him and decided to stay up and try to catch them trying to do it again. I even changed into black clothing so I could hide in the dark!

Seeing them walking downtown reminded me that I had a business down there and thinking of the damage that they could be doing to it made me go and check it out!

Could have been a stupid move on my part! Thankfully it wasn't and all was well...I don't think they know I own a business down there...unless someone told them...which I doubt!

Anyways...I tried to stay up but I figured they were going to someone else's place to party and wouldn't be back until the early morning hours....

I woke up at 6:00 am this morning and the first thing I did was check the front door.

I GOT CARROTED!

YUP...Carroted!

I guess they couldn't find any eggs to throw and someone must have not wanted their vegetables because I found cooked [sliced up] carrots on the screen door, on the front of the house and on the grass and sidewalk!

Kind of made me laugh!

Eggs would have been a mess to clean up whereas carrots could be eaten by the birds or the roaming rabbits! I guess I could thank them for feeding the animals/birds but no sense on rubbing salt into their wounds.

I remember playing "Knock-A-Door Ginger" when I was a kid and I guess I could write that off as a harmless prank but I am pretty sure we didn't do it to scare the hell out of someone...or maybe we did scare someone that badly? So I'll write that prank off as "turn-about being fair play"!

I never, ever "Egged" anyone!

But I will leave this incident alone....

It had been too quiet lately and just gives more reasons to wonder....

What's NEXT......?