More thoughts....
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Monday, May 29, 2006
I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget about livingitrural and I don't post for awhile, then someone like that nice transcriptionist lady emails me and says, "Are you OK? Haven't seen any posts lately" and then I try to think of something interesting to say.
I could tell you how I broke a finger nail pretty bad, way down deep into my nail, and that it requires me to wear a band-aid on the tip of my finger which means my line counts have dropped dramatically (because when I type an "e" I hit the "r" instead). I think that's somrthinr that only thosr of us that arr strictly by production only can apprrciatr. Onr slip-up with your hand and you'rr out of luck.
I could also tell you that I enjoyed our county's demolition derby this weekend. For some reason though, it brings out all the stereotypes that people may have about those of us who live in the more, um, "rugged" areas of the state. Especially when you go with someone from L.A.
Oh and my kids now have become reptile owners. Funny--no one asked me. I was OK with it till the "they eat live crickets" part came up, and I thought wait a sec--I don't want to deal with live crickets. So $150 later they have their reptile habitat set up, complete with a cricket cage of some sort that's suppose to keep the crickets alive for a couple weeks (till you buy new ones). We started with 30 or so, and then I bought 50 more...and then I fed 2 little lizards a few, and now I'm down to maybe 3 live crickets...wait a sec, this isn't adding up.
Then my son came down to tell me the other day that he saw the girl lizard "carrying" the boy lizard. He showed me what carrying looks like and gave me a clearer description. I'm thinking we may end up with more than 2 lizards one of these days.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
I'm just so excited tonight that I've managed to figure out how to post a video. You know, that's like a huge step for me (see below).
Now, I told a few people I had an Alan Alda story. When I was a young teenager, my mom and brother, cousin and aunt, and I, went to Disneyland. My first big vacation out of Washington state. One of the many fun things we encountered on this trip was a Alan Alda look-a-like (doesn't everyone). I think he was in a wax museum, but anyway who cares, we had our picture taken with him.
I recall a few times after that having laughs over seeing Alan Alda here or there, but little did we know....
Waiting for our bus to leave in Florence (Italy, not Oregon), my aunt (same aunt) looked up and said, "Hey, I think that's Alan Alda's wife."
Of course we were all a bit skeptic. Yeah, she just happens to be here the same time we are.
We all watched as the woman in question walked by.
One of us suggested we walk down to see where she's come from (or where she was going to...this was a long time ago), and sure enough, standing in front of a large camera, talking to a few "crew-looking" people, was the one and only Alan Alda.
As we approached his area, my aunt turned around to me and stuck out her tongue.
And now, with my new-found video capabilities (that I'm guessing a chimpanzee could have figured out just as quickly), here is the video that was apparently very popular in Europe when we visited, because it played over and over and over and over on their video channels. Interesting I had to travel to Europe to see the video of a Seattle band.
Monday, May 08, 2006
I recall driving past this house before, one of the many times I've been subjected to going through that scary part of town. I had no idea it was actually someone's house.
But it is kind of funny because we've teased that if we were to just start building up, we'd have a view of Mount Rainier. It would certainly be possible to have a view, just a short walk from the driveway and there's the mountain. Though for some reason, looking at this house (and the guy's apparent idea to keep building till he had his office way up there), sort of turns me off to the idea. Spontaneous combustion/collapse comes to mind.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Even though my house is located in a pretty rural area, the road that it is located on is a busy one. It's not one that you would let small children ride their bikes on. It's one that you look both ways before walking to your mail box on the same side of the street because you never know who is doing that last minute lane passing right along side of you. The speed limit is around 45 MPH but I believe that to be a suggested speed, because most cars go much faster.
It's also a hilly road. Not huge hills, but you have to watch out for the occasional dog or kid on a skateboard when you're driving because they might be right over the hill.
Then there's wheelchair guy.
The first day I saw him I was taking my kids to school, the sun coming up and shining into my eyes a bit. Just as I got to the crest of a hill, in the road, coming at me in my lane, a man madly using his arms to turn the wheels of his chair.
I swerved and missed him.
It all went really fast. One second I'm driving just as always, the next I'm swerving past what looks like a half-dressed man coming at me from a seat.
I looked in my rear view mirror just as he went over the crest of the hill and disappeared.
It was another week or two before I saw him again, going the other direction. I got a better look at him this time. Mid-50s maybe, white tank top and sweats, manual wheel chair, gaining some good momentum down a small hill near my house towards traffic. He smiled and waved at me as I slowly went past.
I told my husband one night, "I was driving...and...I was going fast...and this guy..."
"The one in the wheelchair?" he interrupted.
So he'd seen him too.
Well spring has returned to Port Orchard and the wheelchair guy has been out almost daily doing his arm workout. I haven't seen any "CAUTION: WHEELCHAIR GUY CROSSING" signs but perhaps someone should put one up. Honestly, I'm scared for that guy. He's like that dog you see running in and out of lanes on the freeway. You know somebody loves him, but he's going to be dead soon.
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Which brings me to one more street observation. The road that intersects with the above-mentioned road is a bit more remote and ends at a pond. Today I saw for the second time this older-style van that pulls up about a quarter mile up this road. I watched him in my rear view mirror as I dropped off my daughter at the bus.
This guy gets out and opens the back doors to his van. A pack of dogs run out. Well, I don't know how many are in a pack, but I'd say 8 or 9 dogs come out, ranging from very small to very large. They all circle around the van as the man gets back inside. The first time I saw this I wondered if he was dumping them off or something, but no.
Apparently he isn't much into fitness and the walking of one's own dog/s. He then starts driving down the road at a very slow speed while the dogs follow his van. Twice now I've watched him do this until the van disappears over the hill. That's some good owner-dog bonding time there.
