COPS PATROLLING?

Woke this morning early, 4 [why do I say that when its my usual hour] to witness a police cruiser slowly drive by, with his search light on?


The oddity was seeing a cop!


One looking like he was looking out for the safety of its citizens?



A hour later I saw him drive by AGAIN ?


Found out later that there had been a massive home/garage invasion in Dodge with lots of expensive toys  taken!



One can't say break-in, as most of the homes had left their doors unlocked!


Some were not at home...


Some were!


Beats me how theives can come into someone's home, while the occupants slept, take their BIG flat screen TV and get away...without being heard?


The slightest little noise and I am wide awake!


Most are shocked about the events...


I'm Not!


PoD can attest to my constant harping about unlocked doors in this town. Some even joking state that they're guilty but feel safe enough to do so?


Not this old bird!


I, oddly enough, was raised in a home that NEVER locked it's doors and we lived in the BIG city. Moving out on my own changed that... and add the fact that life has gotten scarier!


I had remarked in older posts about the massive influx of strangers to this town because of the big pipelines going through it. If I was a thief I would have a cover job in the day and scope out places to rob in the night. Boys with expensive toys like to brag...

Small town people like to boast about how they enjoy the safety of small towns...like boasting on how they can live with unlocked doors...


All I can say for the niavety of these people is be REALLY happy that all they took was their toys...


There are sicker monsters out there and they will find these small towns!



Hate to be a doom and gloom nellie...



Locking the barn door after the horse gets out?


Makes no sense...


Hopefully these fine people take heed and see that this is a warning of what this TIGHT enconomy will do to those who will survive any way that they can!



For me...I give-out personal info to no one!

What I do let known is...


I use safeguards while being on my own...it is scary living where your livelyhood is.

Most might think I make tons of money and find out that they are wrong...what they will see is that I am just making ends meet. What strangers [customers] learn is that I carry no excess money...you'd be lucky if I could change a twenty. Orders are dealt through company offices. I personally use a debt card that has a limit & carry no excess cash.

I live in a dark house and can see peepers before they will see me. An obstacle course would await any intruder...ask my ex! Window accesses have noisy traps, doors squeak, floors creak and cat would freak!

It does help that, rumors has it...I am a witch

Or _itch...


I don't live in fear...


I have OTHER reasons to feel safe....



This has brought out PoD's old fears again and finally has her locking her doors again...


That has made me happy!


Yet sad, that it HAS TO BE THAT WAY...;(

Woke this morning [4:30] with the urge to do this

The dream or should I say nightmare converstion with my step-sister, irritated me sooooooo much that I am having a hard time with my thoughts this morning!


What a way to start the day!


I was reliving my last phone conversation with her and I had ended the distasteful thing by wishing that she would never call back!

I know that everyone has their own opinions and they are entitled to them, but when that same person NEVER EVER agrees with me or even comes closed to accepting any of  MY OPINIONS!

If I say the sky is blue then she would tell me that it was something else!

This woman also changes her past stories to suit the moment and leaves me feeling like I know nothing or remember nothing? Buttons had that same problem. She would tell me that she too wished that this person wouldn't call either because she always made her feel like she was retarded?

Her ex boyfriend once stated that he was going to tape record her statements and play them back to her, because she did the same thing to him!

I keep trying to accept that this is the way that she is but I am finding that it is too hard to pretend that she might finally see what she is doing to all around her!


I can't take it any more!


Will she ever change? Can't see that happening! How do you tell a "know-it-all" anything?


Will I change?

NOPE! I am just as stubborn as she is! I probably come off as a "know-it-all" also, but I do try to listen and respect others views even if I don't agree! I have gone this far accepting her for what she is because I do love the irritating brat!


Is the stress worth it?



So I am going to give myself a big

For being so stubborn and letting something irritate me enough to blog to the whole world about childish things!


Am I afraid that she will see this?


NOPE


She isn't interested in the fact that I write one, let alone snoop it out!


If she did...


Then it is time to have this out!


I am also dragging up a thought about this weekend that doesn't make me happy either and it's bugging me too. Something about the honesty of new people I have met and their judgment of me? Hopefully I am just being paranoid?





I'm going out for a walk and hopefully wear off some of the bad karma I am feeling right now!


I better go before I slap myself again...


p.s.

Will I regret this blog?



Probably!


It had to be said!

PoD and I started out at 6:15 am on the 11th after an agonizing week of waiting for our favorite subject to happen! I had been dreaming of soaking in a hot tub [my tub is trailer size...I don't fit] in the early morning hours while waiting for PoD to wake up! Generally just to make it a relaxing weekend...our holiday together.

PoD had even warned her family that she was going no matter what and NO ONE better get sick! As it turned out JD was feeling a little ill when we left but as PoD said...he does have a father.

It was a semi dark when we took off that morning but we knew the road well enough that it wasn't too much of a bother [we are both night blind] and the rising sun wasn't bad either but when we hit the quarter way mark, it got foggy! We figured it to be the river area that it was the thickest.

It was so bad that vehicles startled you when they approached! One of the reasons we had left so early was to take our time and enjoy the scenery. The fog made that impossible! It was a really intense time for both of us and we both tried to make light of the situation, hoping that it would end soon and not last all of the way there.

Until PoD made a creepy remark...

"What if we had died in a car accident in Kindersley and we are now traveling in limbo"?

Seeing tooooooooooooo many creepy shows like that, made that thought toooooooo hard to handle...;)


Try not to think about THAT as one kept moving through that creepy stuff...!



Happily it turned out not to be true!

We did finally get to see some great scenery and even an amusing sign.

The best was the sight of the QuAppelle Valley and its lakes. This photo was taken from their web site.


Our first point of interest was finding the place we were staying at...

They offered us a great price on the rooms [discount if you were there for the symposium] so we booked for 3 days. Mainly because one of the special guest at this symposium was the author of the Saskatchewan Ghost stories, Jo-Anne Christensen. She was speaking late on Sunday, about her new book which was being released on the 12th, and we wanted to be there to hear her.

The first challenge was the stairs and our luggage! Both of us felt like we were going to die by the time we got to our room. The rooms were clean but had a bit of a smokey smell [we did order a smoking room...for PoD] and the view out of the window was of a flag on a hill...closer inspection showed the rooftop and air conditioning units.

The window was clean inside but the outside was pretty grimy and the day always looked gloomy.

 The first point of order was to show our mascots to their warm resting place...

We had no plans on staying in the room. We wanted to tour around, see the town and find the old Fort Sanitarium. This was the sanitarium that the paranormal group had recorded and we wanted to see the site for ourselves...maybe take some pictures?

We never did find the place. We did get to drive part way around the lake but our interest was finding the sanitarium. Seeing as we had planned on stay the 3 days we figured there would be plenty of time to see it...with directions.

We did see lots of gorgeous homes. It's kind of like cabins at the lake but these could never be classified as cabins. I knew PoD would love the area and I even liked it...very scenic.

Driving around the town area we spotted some great gardening/landscaping ideas.

One that appealed to me were my kind of flowers and I thought it looked very creative.

Many will call it tacky.

I like that fact that there would be no bees!

The other point of interest was this sunken yard...

It looks like they removed the dirt, as the places around them were street level, like their house was. The thing against it for me was the fact of no privacy. People walking by could look in...like we did. Another thought was flooding? Other than those things, it did look kind neat seeing it in the middle of town.


Another unusal sight was an unusual looking car...

It looked pretty special from far away but up close...this is one example of detailing gone wrong!

This guy must own shares in the Canadian Tire Auto Accessories! Some of the stuff include those screw-on ovals? What a waste of a nice car. We overheard the guy say that his 4 tires cost him 5000.00! They don't even have much tire to them...they are all rim! This one car that won't be easy to hide...;)

I did take some close-ups for some of the decals looked like ones that I would add to my collection.

We finally went to see where the symposium was being held.
It was on the backside of the inn and no public access through it. One had to go outside and around to the back in order to get in.

Calling Lakes did a wonderful job of setting it up. It takes lots of work to put one of those things together and their group is pretty tiny. We had offered our help but they wanted to do it themselves and that was okay too.

The inn had kept that room decorated [wedding] so it made it look great [in my books...I LOVE lights] they even got to use the head table on a small stage area for the special guests  and authors to sign their stuff. The main center floor held the merchandise booths and the outer areas hosted the booths for the psychics, mediums, etc.

 My only complaint was the lack of total privacy while in the booths. Some people can get pretty upset [me] when doing these session. So, I wanted more privacy. I ended up not going to any of them for that reason.

With time on our hands PoD and I checked out the bars in the inn. We found that it was a rough area of town and hanging out at the bar might be crazy on the weekend with reports of fights, rapes...etc. Of course we found this out after we had checked them out. They did look good during the daylight as I even tried a hard drink. All who know me know I can't drink because of the Diabetes but do manage to have a lite beer once a year.

I had been craving a Caesar!

The first Caesar tasted crappy and I drank maybe half of it. We tried another place and I tried another Caesar. It tasted a bit better but didn't go down well so I didn't finish it either. So I maybe had a full drink. We did meet the paranormal group later for a drink and met some mediums. I think I managed to have a half a beer then.

We made it a short evening as we were tired from the drive and they were tired from the set-up, but we all promised to get together and party the next night.

Too tired to even shower...we hit the sack.

The next morning I was up early [4:00]...not feeling to good and decided to relax with a long soak in the tub. In anticipation of this soak I had brought along bath salts and bubbles for this long awaited event.

Only to find......THERE WAS NO HOT WATER!!!!

WTF!!!

I was some kind of mad person at that point!

Feeling crappy didn't help either!

Sugars were fine, so I figured it had to be because of the alcohol...the symptoms were the same. So I took a gravol and went back to bed.

I couldn't sleep!

I usually spend those early morning hours exploring the town on foot but I didn't feel safe after hearing about the craziness around this place. Besides I was still not feeling that good.

Eventually PoD did get up and wasn't too happy hearing about the NO HOT WATER situation.

How would you like to start the day with a cold sponge bath!

When asked about the NO HOT WATER we heard that their hot water tank was pooched...

Was prosmised that it would be seen to ASAP.

Needing breakfast, we tried to go into the inn's restaurant, only to find it CLOSED...permanently!

One of the reasons we booked this place was that it had a restaurant!

The bar was operational but offered up no meals!

We now had to drive around to find a place in a hurry as the symposium opened up at 9:00 and we didn't want to miss a thing.

Food out of the way we rushed back and got there just in time of the opening.

Here's what it looked like...

The vendor's booths were loaded with books, crystals, rocks, metaphysical supplies, jewelery, tetrahedrons and mystic mirrors. All dealing with the psychic and paranormal. The psychic booths hosted various things such as medium readings, readers using the pendulum or tarot cards, angel readings, palmistry, astrology and spiritual readings.

Also being offered were presentations on these topics: out of body experiences, remote viewing, quantum physics, cattle mutilations slide show, hauntings, channeling, hypnosis, group session on past life regression, Monroe Institute Teachings, crystal therapy, palmistry and astrology.There was a charge of toonie to sit in on a session.

These sessions were spread out over the two day period and we only had to wait for each one's time. The only thing that was of no interest to me was the slide show on the cattle mutilation but it tweeked PoD's interest. It was the first on the agenda so PoD stayed to watch the show and I went to lay down.

Before that, we got to meet Jo-Anne Christensen. PoD bought her book and got it signed. It was nice talking with her as there wasn't a line-up yet and she could spare the time. In her book she does a write-up on the paranoraml hunters and has featured both our friends the Sask Ghost Hunters Society and Calling Lakes Paranormal Investigators in it.

It is a MUST READ!


After my 4 hours nap, I felt much better and well rested. I wanted to have a shower but there still wasn't any hot water!

While I was out PoD was making herself busy doing what ever the hell that she did? She said wasn't too happy with the cattle mutilation slide show and his presentation. She said that this is one guy you don't want to pay to do his presentation...he just ran the slides, offered no commentation on the photos or would take questions.


PoD actually had to wake me up and would have left me sleep, only the Sask Ghost Hunters Society had arrived and wanted to see me. I went down to find that Miles and Chad had climbed up to the top of the hill [not the one with the flag] across the highway from the inn. Chad had told Miles about the old cementery up there and that he had to see it. Personally I would have drove there to see it rather than climb to it, like they did, but then they are much younger than me and in better shape...;)


We had a good chat while standing in the parking lot. They hadn't planned on staying and had only traveled there to meet JoAnne in person. Saying goodbye they left.

PoD and I now had nothing to do.

We did our touring...

I had lost interest in attending any of the presentators...

PoD was tired...

It was supper time, we had made plans to meet up with the Callin Lakes group and a few of the new people later for a few drinks...

We ate...

Had more time on our hands...

PoD was tired...

I wasn't...

She slept...


STILL NO HOT WATER!

I read...

I fell asleep...

Woke-up...woke up PoD...

She didn't want to...

We cancelled...

Next morning...

STILL NO HOT WATER!!!!!


NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!


NO  soaks in the tub!

NO hot showers!

NO close restaurant to go have early morning coffee!


We had planned to stay another day but we had, had it!


So it was a pissed off QoH who did the check out!


Lets say there was some hot tempers, mine and the check out broad!



Lately I have notice [in our town too] that a lot of the inns/motels/hotels are now owned/runned by people who don't speak very good english. They generally have english speaking staff that do the talking them for them and I AM OKAY WITH THAT. This was no different here.

I was looking for finacial compensation for having to live with NO HOT WATER for the entire stay. I was ticked that we were ending our stay due to the inconvience of not being clean!

The snippy little clerk told me that I had already got a discount due to the symposium and that I should be happy with that! Well I told her that it was
a dicount with HOT WATER INCLUDED and that I had paid for the accessability to it! We bickered for quite a bit and she got madder...you figure the place was HERS and it was coming out of her pocket?

She then finally told me that I would have to talk to the owner.

I said "fine, will she be able to understand me"?

The annoying clerk took it the wrong way...saying that it was a prejudical remark...

The whole time we had done business with this clerk upon arriving not once did the owner speak. When spoken to by the staff they just motioned with their hands...

So it was more an observance than a bad remark!


I AM NOT A PREJUDICE PERSON! I lived with prejudism against my family all my growing up years, so I would NEVER IMPLY IT EITHER!

I guess this girl drags the "prejudice" topic when things go bad for her.

I did talk to the owner and she just nodded and handed me 10.00 [should have been 20.00]!

Shaking my head in disbelief I grabbed and left telling them they had lost my business if we come back next year!

It wasn't a great win...but a winanyways!

The trip home wasn't eventful...

Happily NO FOG either...

One on the first things I did when I got home was have a HOT shower!


Next year the group wants us to help out...they really did need it after all!

The First Storm of the Year

This is what my place looked like when our first snow storm hit Oct 8.


I had planned on putting my inflateable cat up on the roof of my garage, so it could look down on anyone walking, by but the fantastic winds that were happening that week made me change my mind. He now sits in a less windy area and so I can keep an eye on him. The first time that I inflated him out front, the material got caught on the mechanism inside that moves the head from side to side. I was even happier that it happen while on the ground so I could remove it before it got torn.


The grave stones that stand in the open area managed to stay put in that fantastic wind and as of now I still haven't had any vandalism done to my place...yet!


I had hoped to get my tree "Creepy Hollow" into the Court House before winter landed but the museum board has put the Halloween/Paranormal room on hold? The supernatural has a hard time in Dodge as it has lots of religious people who don't believe in it or of Halloween and I guess the committee doesn't feel that it has a part of history in this town. How about their "Holy Ghost"?


Someday I vow that I will see that change!



As for our first snow storm, it started out quite nice. The snow fell lightly to the ground as I walked up to the hospital for some blood testing. It was so pretty as the snow drifted lightly to the ground. It hardly covered the ground when I entered the hospital but by the time I got out it had put a blanket of it everywhere and my shoes weren't the kind for walking in it.



The town has been busy filling all of the craters left from our flooding rainstorm and most of the puddles were gone. Somehow I managed to find one little left and it was just like a skating rink so down I went!


Right on my right knee! I sliced it open and it made quite a mess...even tore a hole my pants!


I was already part of the way home so I limped the rest of the way cursing how clumsy and wondering how I managed last year not to fall once!


So now I am afraid to walk again!


So much for getting that exercise...


I did go out and buy some decent winter walking boots...

Maybe that will help?

Our family get together was yesterday and it was hosted/cooked by the Ex.



It was also dress-up day for PoD and her family?


I am trying to get costumes together for the Family Halloween Dance being held on the 30th. This is a fund raiser for the other small park on the opposite side of town. It's nice to see a whole family get together and do this sort of thing in the community. This brings back the fun part of Halloween that I like. Kids get to see their parents act goofy with them. No alcohol is involved and they still have fun?



The committee has asked me to help decorate the hall for this function and I was happy to help out even though the dance is only 2 hours long they want to decorate it a lot. Hope they still feel the same way when its over...


While the Ex prepared the meal [with added help from the kids], I got the costumes all decided and the only one not sure of is JD's. He wants to be "The Joker" [the last one] and he couldn't have picked a harder one. This one needs a dark purple long coat /suit with a green vest, happily in not good condition. Deep sigh...


It will be a challenge...

 HOPE ALL HAVE A SAFE & HAPPY HOLIDAY

32 of 365....5 Reasons of Happiness

Been missing this list since April 30!


It has been that long since I have felt well enough to have something to make me happy


1. Body pain is gone!

2. 2 weeks been off of the wacky stuff because pain is gone. No longer need the muscles relaxants either!

3. Been out walking and doing my own stress tests while out there and the heart handled it just fine!

4. Sinus pain almost gone!

5. 24 days until Halloween.....

RECOVERY....at last!


Yesterday was the first day that I went for a three block [long] walk, without any complaints from any parts of my body...including my face!


The air was so cool and fresh!


The early morning mist finally settled the harvest dust down enough for this poor allergy sufferer to like the outdoors again!


This is one of my favorite times of the year...


The sun isn't as hot and the bugs are gone!


I sometimes wonder if I am part night dweller [blood drinking not on my diet] as the sun irritates my skin and the heat makes me nauseous? But, I know this is the results from the meds that I have to take.


So, when Spring & Fall arrive I am sooooooo happy!



I even had enough gumption [slight headache still] to put up some more of my Halloween decor outside.


Sadly, the blow-up cat hasn't landed on the garage roof...this one is afraid of heights!


Son went back to work & Trebor is doing his "honey-to-do-list" work.



This year was a sad year for yard work.
The grass was lucky to even get cut and as for watering...it had to rely on mother nature



I did have the garden tilled with the idea of using the dirt for the garden boxes but needed to have help with building the boxes bigger to hold the dirt... it never happened


Each plot went to weed... told myself that was my "wild flower" beds in honor of mother nature...;)


But now they are great looking, as the flowers/weeds have died and add to my graveyardy look.I used the first stones [1991] that I ever made and they won't mean as much if they get wrecked, only their sentimental value.


I've decided to live dangerously by putting my decor outside this year!


Most people don't have to worry about their decor outside as they live with decent people around them...

I live between two party houses!


Past post on "neighbors" subjects will up date why I say this.


The rumor has it that the house across the street has a new cop moving in but I have also heard that there wasn't...so I eagerly await their arrival. My hope is, they have young toddler type [too young to roam ;)] and are very protective...let them call the cops and get in trouble with the type that likes to get even when you do complain...


I have screwed, wired, staked and covered all easy access to the decorations and they will have to destroy the decor before they will get it free like they did my decorated Xmas tree last year! All extension cords have my name written all over them so they will have to jiffy mark the whole cord before they get own them!

The down side is when they have to be removed...;(


I've taken photos so I have a record of what I've done so far [more to come depending on destruction] and hopefully will be proven wrong...for a change!


As for walking...


I'm starting again this morning, right after this post and hopefully will do so again this evening.


This is a promise I am making to myself, as I feel the "stop walking" that I did, ended me up in this unhealthy mess that my body is in right now! I vow to try to keep it up even when it gets miserable.


I must give a BIG THANK YOU to my daughter PoD who helped me through this whiney mess while sick herself and helping me keep my livelyhood going.










thank you for all of your well wishes too....

HAPPY OCT 1

29 days until Halloween...:)

24 days til Sask Ghost Hunters [www.saskghost-hunterssociety.ca] come to do a "Halloween Special Investigation" involving a contest looking for someone who'd be interested in being a paranormal investigator for the night in our haunted courthouse.


There is another really special reason why I'm excited about that night, besides getting to do another investigation, is a real BIG SECRET...for now



Health:

I just had to share my illness with both my kids and now we are all suffering.


Happily the puking at both ends have stopped!


What still remains...sucks!



I don't remember the bleary eyes and hard to focus, being part of the flu symptoms? Right now I feel some what better for awhile, then a dizzy spell hits me causing nausea but no up-chucking, which is a happier improvement. Driving is strictly a NO right now.


I can now look on the bright side of this illness...saved money, haven't had to buy much in the grocery line [not hungry], sugar levels have been the best ever [sometimes a little on the low side] and tight clothes are now loose again...:)


I've using a nasal spray as I'm sure there is a sinus infection [did go to the doctor but he didn't check that part ?] and the tight head band from the sinus areas is easing up and I have less running of the face...:)


I don't believe I am infectious right now, but have placed a sign on the door warning of the health situation in here and thus they could make their own choice whether they wanted to do business in person or by phone/email.


Work has been rough on the brain as customers want their estimate/design done ASAP. I keep having to remind myself that there has to be an up side to being my own boss/owner and shouldn't have to have my life dictated to, whether I am open to the public or not!




I'm learning that life is TOO short to worry about it!



Other crap:

Today is another WINDY and cold day...makes one want to huddle into a warm blanket and sleep the day away!



Halloween decor has been up for awhile and it's too windy to put my new blow-up cat [with rotating head] on top of my garage today as planned.



One will find that I'm never too sick to decorate for the one occasion I'm crazy about!



Our town is even planning a costume dance this year and I just might do something for that...we'll see




NOW:

The world is spinning and it's time to go...

WHO GAVE ME THE FRACKING FLU!


Haven't been feeling too great since coming back from the Paranormal Symposium held in Fort Qu'apple 12 & 13 [will report about how it went after I get well, if ever do get well] and Friday morning found me puking from both ends at 4:00am!


I could barely move from how dizzy I was feeling and how my body ached all over!


Thursday, PoD had tried nagging me into going to see the doc, but I was too stubborn [as usual] but after that morning incident I gladly let PoD make the appointment.


Seems I have the flu!


Not the swine flu....


One has to go for testing for that one and I guess my symptoms weren't enough to warrant it.


Doc's advice...take Tylenol for the aches & pains [allergic -had to use asprin], lots of GatorAde [yuck] to replace the liquid loss, Gravol for the nausea and LOTS of rest.


Shop closed for the day...PoD didn't want to stick around to hopefully not catch what I had!


Aside from annoying phone calls business was nil.


Last night was party night on the block!


Your choice or which party to listen to:
-Loud and rowdy sounding oilmen from the trailer park just down the alley from me
or
-Loud and obnoxious teens from the party next door [my old neighbors from the horrible sounding huskies incident moved back] and into the street out front.


This went on for hours!


Where was the cops you ask?


Well, number one....we only have ONE cop working here right now and if I was him there was NO WAY I would have liked to stop any loudness going on by myself in either places!


All one could do was shut the windows and try to block out the noises.


I finally did get some sleep!


Morning found me not as dizzy and all movements in the tummy were quiet. Food still turns me off and this has wracked havoc on my sugar levels...making them pretty low, which in turn helps make me feel worse.


One day I will get better......






I'm sure of it........?

MINIMUM WAGE JOBS OR EVEN UNSKILLED LABOR WORK ARE GONE!


In the beginning I was all for the removal of plastic bags [grocery store ones] for the sake of the planet's land fills...


Even bought the reusable ones [when these ones die...do they plug up the landfill instead?]and do sometimes remember to bring them when I shop.


My complaint is having to "bag my own groceries" at the check out, as it seems the check out baggers no longer exist!


Why is that?


Where have some of these minimum wage jobs gone?


We even need to have a "loonie" on you in order to use a shopping cart...


NO minimum wage job offered there. Granted they get their carts back...even if the cart line over extends into the parking lot. Not to mention frozen together in the winter!


We have seen the change at the gas pumps....


Full services is gone or are very few around so now one has to pump their own gas! Check the oil? Happily I don't own a car that works but do borrow one once in awhile and it ticks me off having to do those things!


Why are we paying more now at these places yet getting less service?



The people who would fill these positions would be able bodied workers yet have to go on welfare because of these minimal changes!



I for one HATE bagging my own groceries!

I HATE pumping/servicing my vehicle!



MOST OF ALL....


I HATE SUPPORTING THOSE WHO DON'T NEED TO BE ON WELFARE when there should be more work available.


Paying an employee is a write off...?


They don't even have to be full time!


It's time to re think some of those supposed changes!




Of course that's just my opinion!

POST 444...


Last night was the first time I've had a full 6 hours of sleep without waking up from pain!



It's also been 5 days without having to take the muscle relaxant!



The other is down to a lighter dosage....



Maybe it helps not having stressful things weighing me down like what to decorate for now....




Wait a minute....



I've been busy decorating my place with all of my Halloween stuff....



Granted, I've been trying to ease the town into my Halloween quirk little by little and everyday they get to see more and more appear...


A "Blow-Up" cat is even going to land on the roof of my garage Oct. 1!



I hope work still comes in as I can see the electrical bill going up...;(




I know a lot of my pain problem is from not going out walking like I used to do!



It seems I need to stay active!




Why I stopped I don't know?


I like to blame icy/cold conditions in the winter and bugs/allergies/heat in the summer for reasons why I don't walk.


So here's hoping fall will see an improvement...;)




UPCOMING:

I'm almost over my "wedding trauma" and will report soon...?




I do plan on continuing to blog daily so please come back...

2 MONTHS AND COUNTING...


AGAIN.....WHERE HAVE I BEEN...................PART 2




I've been hugging my heating pad and we are now somewhat connected...?



The pain that was in my left side progressed to the right side and the muscles there are now feeling like hot knives stabbing me all over...

From my shoulders to my hips, I'm in constant pain! There is NO place or position where I am comfortable! Standing, sitting, working are hell after 5 minutes and forget sleeping longer than 3 hours!



I've tried all of the pain killers that I can handle and nothing eases it for very long!



PoD has magic fingers and has the natural capability to massage these sore muscles and has managed to break down quite a few of the older ones but this new area is too tender to touch so I have to wait out the pain until she can get to it. Hopefully there will be some relief...?



Sadly I have had to go back on the illegal stuff and it works better than the other crap the doc wants me to take!

I truly believe that going off of it 2 years ago was not a good thing for me. The illegal stuff makes one more relaxed and all of my back aches years ago [same ones as now] had disappeared long enough for me to forget why I was on the anti-inflammatory drugs in the first place! It took forever for me to get that drug into my system enough for it to do its job on those pains, so now it looks like I'm stuck in that hell again one way or another.


I haven't been able to sit at the computer long enough to try and keep up with my work load let alone whine on my blog so I have really appreciated the few that do try to encourage me to write. And I THANK YOU!


My Moods haven't been too good!


Did have the ultra sound done on the 14 but haven't heard anything as yet.


Was surprised to have the colonoscopy done on the 19 and they were able to tell me right then that NOTHING was happening in the large intestine and the pollops that were there 10 years ago are now gone! Finally some happy news! Dodged that bullet!



WORK:
Happily my business has picked up but it has added to keeping my stress factor in over drive! I've been busy designing and the sitting at the computer is a nightmare but has to be done. PoD has been a great help and even having BillyRoo home [still not working] to do the other stuff I can't do has helped keep the mood swings with these pains at an even level.



DECORATING:
Reporting on the wedding on the 15th will have to wait as it will be a LONG tale of what SHOULDN'T happen at a wedding. It's one that made me quit wanting to be a wedding planner as a side line!






This is as long as I can stand sitting here and I hope this doesn't sound too spacey. It's 3:00 am right now, in tons of pain and I need to sleep BADLY!


Here's hoping I can and that it's longer than 3 hours!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUTTONS

You would have been 57 today if you had only lived to see it...


Instead of tears of laughter, there is sadness...


I try to celebrate the short good memories but the sadness still gets in the way!


The rock I painted to lay on your grave was forgotten in the rush to do your son's wedding [to be posted about when I've recovered] so it will wait til next time I'm there.


Wishing you were here to celebrate your day....


All my LOVE.................Bones


;(

A TRIP DOWN A DIFFERENT KIND OF MEMORY LANE...


Finally went for the doctor's appointment that every woman hates to go to, on Friday...


And I now have to go through a really CRAPPY procedure AGAIN...



COLONOSCOPY - A direct visualization of the large intestine



Bowel cancer runs in the family and my IBS makes me a prime target!



It's a toss up between the actual procedure or the "cleansing" leading up to the procedure, on which is worse!



For 2 days you get to live next to the toilet then take a 45 minute drive on crappy roads to the hospital for your test.



The other part is the nausea after the test due to an adverse reaction ]happens ever time] to the anesthetic.



No wonder I waited so long to see this doc!



He finally saw that there might be more than a strained/inflamed muscle and noticed that the kidney was tender to the touch....



Means more blood work to be done and an ultra sound done on the kidney...





Wedding decor update...


Future couple finally made it to finalize the decor and take the larger stuff back to Coronation with them...




Which just happened to be in another thunder/lightning episode this afternoon!




Loading up their truck was exciting and we got soaked! The river ran deep as usual past my place so we had to stand in it. Their big dog was terrified of the thunder and kept wanting to hide in the house.


It was hard to believe that it was 38 yesterday with not a cloud in the sky...



And wouldn't you know it...as soon as they drove away it got nice again...?




Hope they made home safely....not to mention the CARDBOARD decor?



I have to get back to painting the goblets they dropped on me while they were at it....

HALLUCINATING...?


Ibprophen isn't working....the pain is getting worse!


The other pain reliever is Tylenol...suggestion by doctor




But.....I'm allergic to it


...it makes me hallucinate?




"Am I sure?" ask doctors






You tell me......




I was looking at this stone trying to see something in it. I wanted to paint another one for my sister's grave as the other one has been deteriorating since my last visit. My intention was to paint a horse [Buttons] and a skeleton [Bones]...


Nothing was there so I turned it over and this vision came screaming me....


So I painted what I saw...


That freaked me out so I added this....


And then this happened...


Total painting time 30 minutes...


Believe it or not...I don't remember painting much of it...

When I was done I was completely worn out....totally drained!




Was this an example of psychic writing/painting?




Or is this me on Tylenol!


Can we say WTF



PoD figures I should put this on her grave as my mind was going in that direction when I did it!



?

WHERE HAVE I BEEN.....YOU ASK?


In heating pad hell with weather temps around 35...!!!!





Why the heating pad?



Four weeks ago I started feeling this pain on one of my ribs, right under the left boob and it has slowly become worse and worse.

Knowing that I had done nothing damaging to it, figured that the bra's under wired had somehow bruised a rib while having too many naps/sleeps on the couch.

I did away with the under wire!



The pain has progressed from that spot and has traveled around to my backbone?



The pain got sooooo bad Tuesday morning that I had to drag BillyRoo out of bed at 4 to take me to the hospital...I thought I was having an angina attack because the pain was in my left shoulder and bicept like before!



Happily the heart is still beating and that wasn't it...!




Seems I might have an inflamed cartlige around that rib and it could have progressed into the backbone?


No cures...


Take 2 Ibprophen per day to try to relax the area and use a heating pad.



Through the years I get these flare-ups that happen to different parts of my body and it was suggested by a doctor in 1972 [after getting whip lash from a car accident] that I have arthris in my shoulders and back? As I get older the joints complain more and more...



So all I can do is hope for the best and get through the pain as best as I can...




Wait a minute...

Ibprophen is an anti-inflamatory drug!


I was taken off this type of medication due to the reactions from the other medication I'm taking for the heart problems I have?



Pain killers and prescribed medications?



Isn't there something about that in the news lately....?









All those years that I eased the pain through natural means.......?








Too bad the best pain relief for me is.......





AGAINST THE LAW!





I'm not a doctor so what do I know.....




I have to have faith that they know what they are doing....







Time to wrap myself in the heating pad, take A pill and listen to the drone of the air-conditioner while I sit at my chair trying to do some work....





The wedding is in 23 days....but who's counting

TORNADO WARNING...

Yesterdays weather matched my mood and even felt a bit satisfying while scary at the same time!

The morning started out fairly muggy as we have had nothing but rain since the last weekend, which I had been griping about how dry it had been. Then by afternoon was changed to a tornado watch!

PoD had finished up her work here and went home.

The first lightning show started around 4:00 or so and became quite a sight to behold...

We had the green sky and terrific wind to add to its drama. BillyRoo and I watched all of its excitement while thunder shook the house....

It was SCARY and exciting all wrapped together!

PoD had emptied my rain gauge earlier, so it was very surprising to see it FULL [40mm] around a hour later! That's how fast and hard the rain came down!

We watched the clouds swirl and were both amazed to see how fast and low they were traveling! We had bets on the huge tree across the street not surviving this storm, as half of it was dead and should have been cut down.

As it turned out we had nothing to worry about... its still standing!

The other exciting part was watching the torrents of water coming down the street!

The photo below shows BillyRoo's car and the roadway which by then was completely covered! The dark stripe is the dirt and gravel being washed from the neighbor's driveway across the street from where ever it was coming from.

We live near the bottom of the hill [PoD lives near the top] and get a lot of the water run-off going by the place. Happily our place kind of sits on a hill so there was no worry of flooding from the run-off but others at the end of the street weren't so lucky...
The poor guy at the corner [white garage] was busy trying to use his truck tires to divert the river away from his house but found it futile as it was coming down the hill to his place too fast to be directed elsewhere. You can see by the photo that the streets are full! You can't see the curb at his place! It didn't help him much that people kept driving by and making large wakes of water as they motored through it.

BillyRoo just had to go join the thrill seeker too and I was able to get a shot of the driveway with the gravel run-off.


I had to use two cameras as one [BillyRoos] kept focusing on the rain drops making the shots dark and blurry looking. My camera caught all of the "Orbs" dancing in the rain...;)

The storm decided to let up for a bit so PoD & Trebor called and we decided to check out the rest of the town to see how things faired...
Everywhere we had pot holes the water had added to the damage!

The top of the hill was clean with surprisingly hardly any tree damage. But as you drove downward you could see the pavement heaved all over the place! Big chunks of concrete pavement had washed up all over and was laying in the middle of the roads!

We have pipeline workers living in trailer courts around town and they had LOTS of water and muck to contend with. We saw many a resident busy digging trenches worried that the rain wasn't going to stop. We saw lots of low-lying spots full of water and who knows how their gardens faired? We never planted one so we were smiling!

We even drove out to the reservior to see how the run-off faired there and was amazed at the massive amount of water in the fields surrounding it! I know the rain did some major damage to crops!

This was NOT the kind of rain the farmers were asking for! I think some of them had been praying for rain too hard!

Finishing our tour, PoD dropped BillyRoo & me back home only to be met by a cop vehicle parked across the street from my next door neighbors? He was there for a good 10 minutes before another cop car parked behind PoD's car!

What the hell?

The one across the street got out and went to my neighbor place but was stopped by the barking of the mean dog [remember previous story about that dog] and he stopped dead. Mean while the other cop got out of his vehicle and they both stood at the gate keeping their distance from the dog as they yelled for the guy to come out! Which he finally did. The cop patted him down and put him into his vehicle and drove away...

What that was all about....who knows?

They did drop him off 3 hours later?

So that was our exciting evening...


Getting up this morning [4:30] to the sound of wind rattling the window and thought...here we go again...but NOT

It's just windy right now...which I'd rather have than HOT & MUGGY!

My rain gauge registered another 20 mm since the last emptying so the total is now 60mm in less than a 24 hour period!

I did take another shot of the pavement near my place...

48 Years GONE......but NOT FORGOTTEN!

The date stamped on the photo said Apr 1961 [she was 38]...


Who knew that three months later, the smile on my face would be altered forever....


Life as I knew it was never the same....


This was also the day that I found out that I was also different from the rest of my family in that I foresaw her death in a dream...


This was my start into another strange part of my life...


I still can't celebrate "Mother's Day"....it only brings on tears...


I can celebrate that there is a fact that I did have a mother for 10 short years and partly I do...


Yet the sadness stays....



My younger sister [Buttons] and I did honor my step mother....after awhile [when the pain of the loss ebbed]


Until her death 5 years ago when her will stated that everything goes to HER daughter and her only thoughts were of her....


Buttons and I were alone again....



Now she's gone too....





NOT A GOOD DAY.......



SORRY

HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY

PoD & Trebor

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years that they have been married!

Where has time gone?

HERE'S HOPING THERE IS MANY, MANY, MANY MORE YEARS!

Keep up the loving....

A HUNTING WE WILL GO...?

Well, it's been a few days [10] since I last posted...it's taken me that long to recover from grad decorating!


No.....not really


Just been busy catching up with the other parts of my life...like trying to make money in this crappy economy! The work I have right now is keeping me busy but once that's done and nothing else comes in...I will be pooched! Being self employed guarantees that there will be NO EI for me!


Sadly, BillyRoo's job has been at a stand still and the A-holes have been keeping him hanging on with promises of future work. His position and years put in made him want to stick with his company but now he has realized that he has to move on. Selfishly, I've enjoyed the time he has off as he was seldom around when he was working. For his sake I hope things change soon!


What amazed me is that the world has always said that we are depleting our fossil fuel resources and in my mind that should make oil and such, a rare commodity, making it more expensive to buy. Yet here we sit...with oil at an all time low?


Me thinks the MAN is making money by holding the lowly workers a bay without having to pay them...letting unemployment go sky rocketing!


Not much one can do but hold you head above water and hope it changes.....that sucks!


Anyways....


What I have been doing between jobs, is more stuff for the wedding coming up in August. Most of what I have done is on hold until the future couple come here to okay whats been done so far. That has been the hardest part of working for someone who lives a province away [only 2 hrs away] yet been too busy to come see. I have been sending pictures by email but pics seldom do the stuff justice. Hopefully they don't wait too long....I hate rush jobs.


I did have a weekend to look forward to...July 4th!


The Saskatchewan Ghost Hunters Society from Saskatoon arrived here on Saturday around 4:30 to investigate another old building in town, the town Library. Their group this time was made up of their leader Miles and two investigators [from last time here], Yancy and Chad. They also had their new member with them, Dave, who came along to learn the ropes of "ghost hunting".

They had been asked by the mayor and town administrator to investigate this building due to reports of moving chairs by the librarian's operating the place.

The photo below is taken from our town's history book.

Not much is listed there concerning this building, other than the fact it was called a "federal building" and that it was a bank first then the depression hit and all bank joined together. This one became the town post office in 1934. The post office moved in 1961 and it's now the Wheatland Library.


Nothing is mentioned about the residence above the building.

It houses 3 small bedrooms, with the master bedroom having an old access door to what used to be the old fire escape stairs, this was screwed shut as the stairs had long since been replaced by an iron fire escape accessed by a window. The bath/clothes dryer was separate from the toilet by a separate room, which I found strange as the sink was located with the bath? These were located at the back of the building. The front was a living room/kitchen with a fireplace [that had been closed off due to change in the heating system. The windows held a beautiful view of the country side, which was hard to see through all of the grime on them.


I surmise that bankers and their families lived there first, then it became open to other residents after becoming a post office then a library.


Sadly this building is in need of repair from top to bottom.


One of the interesting spots to me was the attic space with the access to it was by a step ladder! This very bad for me as I am not too crazy about heights, let alone standing on the top end of the ladder to see but I just had to get a shot of what was up there!

Anybody see the movie "the Grudge"?


Well there is one scene where the victim does the same thing that I had to do and that was poke my head up [while thinking of that scene] through the hole and hope that when I turned around nothing scary was facing me! Of course that only happens in movies...;) [phew]

I did take a shot....

Upon looking at the results I thought I saw a large ball shaped object [orb?] in the pic [right side], so I quickly took two more shots of the same area....nothing

What was amazing was the lack of stuff in the attic. Aside from an exercise bike and a few old gas lantern holders, an old bug zapper, it was quite empty and not too dusty. The most scary part was the old insulation that was exposed all over in between the floor beams.

So where were all of the "dust motes"?



I say the creepiest area to me was the basement!


I'm not too crazy about basements in the first place and this one held some creepy little rooms. One room was named the "paintball room" as it was obviously used for that! The weird thing about this room was the huge black cross painted on the wall beside the door. Someone had screwed a shelf to the upper half and it was only upon closer inspection showed the painted cross part? The walls surrounding were decorated with the "Blair Witch" symbols? It was a strange room and upheld the creepy end of the scale!

We took lots of photos of the basement and again no large amount of "dust motes" showed? I did find that it wasn't dusty enough to bother my allergies which being an old place it should have?

After the initial tour it was time to set-up the equipment. This being a much smaller space areas than the court house, coverage should be much better. One of the drawbacks was the street lighting around the place and traffic lights not to mention the outside noise.

They set up a camera in the library because of reports of the moving chairs. In the old vault they placed old vintage money with a game camera to catch any activity? That never happened or if it did it wasn't noticeable to the naked eye...maybe the camera might show something?

They set the main command post up in the foyer which really isn't very large but worked out okay. The previous tenant had recently moved out but hadn't cleaned it up and there was this evil crap oozing from the garbage bag! Living just down the street I went home to get a mop/pail/hot water/cleaner to clean the foyer enough so we could venture around without having to walk through it. That messy clean-up was handled by PoD who added her own gagging noises while she did it. It was funny at the time...but not really?

That grossness done we started the hunting.

As I've said before, this group does only the technical end of paranormal hunting, relying only on machines/equipment to tell it's tale! No psychic feelings! For myself, I felt nothing in the place except for this one moment?

The guys did their routine first and PoD and I manned [wommaned] the command center while they researched the basement. When they were done it was our turn and PoD wanted to do the attic which I wasn't too crazy about as that meant actually going INTO the attic! Going up was much easier than coming down!

One thing I do have to add, is the fact that they still had the heat on! It was registering at 90? So it was hot in there! Upon PoDs and my arrival, we had opened windows to let the heat out but only ended in making the heat come on more. Plus we CANNOT have open window during the research due to it causing unwanted contamination to the info.

So imagine the heat in the attic!

I mentioned earlier that there was loose insulation all over up there and I wasn't going to sit in it! PoD wasn't as fussy as me so she sat on the floor while I perched on the exercise bike. We tried to move around as little as possible in order NOT to stir up too much dust as I wanted to take still shots while up there. I found it creepy at first but later became bored as I got NO feelings what so ever. Then after me asking a question...which I can't remember, I suddenly became COLD! I haven't had menopausal [hot flashes, I never got cold ones] feelings in a couple of years, yet this never felt like it!

One moment I was boiling then I went completely COLD!

I told PoD and got her to quickly feel BOTH my arms which were cold to the touch and she could feel goosebumps all over them....then it was gone and I was back to feeling hot again? It never happened again? And NO I didn't have goosebumps when I felt any creepiness about the place! That was the only time that it happened and if I HAD been creeped out enough about it I should have been creeped out constantly after that episode but I WASN'T!

I KNOW IT WASN'T A MENAPAUSE MOMENT!

When a person has had those enough one can tell when it is one or not!

Was I scared at that moment?

NO

Other than that moment all was quiet for me again.

It's this feeling that I was waiting for...it's the response that I go by!


The rest of the evening was uneventful.

There was a few moments where some of the guys heard soft sounds of something, but might be explained away by outside interference. This is where the machines come in handy...hopefully it registers on them?

No chairs moved while we were there!

Around midnight we decided to pack it in!

Before leaving PoD and I both tried to take night shots of the building but the camera wouldn't comply with our wishes and most shots came out blurry? The one shot I did get shows PoD's car window reflecting the flowers on the stairs? Can anyone explain why they appear there when the angle is all wrong?

*DEBUNKED....this is a slap the side of your head moment! Thanks to PoD's memory the flowers in the car window is no mystery...stupid me didn't remember about the flower planter just below the library window on the other side of the car, just happens to hold the same kind of flowers...color my face red!



The guys went home and now have to wade through hours of footage to see if they were successful or not.




Ghost hunting isn't always gratify...it's kind of like watching paint dry. But one does hope for something to appear before ones eyes...yet if it does, one hopes the camera was on because NOBODY believes you otherwise! It's getting the tangible proof that is hard!

So...do I find the boring hours gratify while waiting to see or be touched?

YES!

The unknown is addicting and my curiosity knows no boundary!

I WILL KEEP HUNTING!


My conclusion on whether it's a haunted building is...

YES


But NOT a strong one!


I do believe there is something there, as I used to live next door to the place and many a night I would look out my kitchen window and wave to the imaginary person that I hoped would appear at the library window to wave back at me!

It never did...





THAT I COULD SEE............