Old Photo Weekend

Well, it's past 2 am. I can't get to sleep. Finally got up and thought I'd watch some television - Animal Planet was showing "The Ugliest Dog in the World Competition". Since Sam, the world's ugliest dog, died, alot of other dogs were vying for the title.


Then I thought that I might as well get the weekend photo up. This photo is of my hubby Nod (the baby), his brother and parents.

Nod will be up in a few hours to drive south to Maryland. He's taking a lighthouse boat cruise in the Chesapeake. One of the lighthouses that sits far out in the Bay has recently been renovated and the local lighthouse group is showing it off.

Tonight (Saturday), we'll be chaperoning the Marching Band at another TOB. The forecast is for rain, and they'll still march unless it's a total downpour or there's lightening. I'm hoping for neither.

Updates

First, I've been trying to visit and do some commenting lately, but Blogger hasn't been kind to me, so I gave up. Wouldn't let me post anything, either. I'm having some trouble getting this posted, too.

ANYWAY . . .

The lab report came back on the sample from the lining in my uterus. Not cancerous, thank goodness. My hormones are out of whack at the moment, so I'll have to wait and see and if it happens again. If it does, then they'll have to be put back in whack.

And I am officially anemic. surprise, surprise. So I get to take iron supplements (ha ha, not spinach, eh?)

Updates

First, I've been trying to visit and do some commenting lately, but Blogger hasn't been kind to me, so I gave up. Wouldn't let me post anything, either.

ANYWAY . . .

The lab report came back on the sample from the lining in my uterus. Not cancerous, thank goodness. My hormones are out of whack at the moment, so I'll have to wait and see and if it happens again. If it does, then they'll have to be put back in whack.

And I am officially anemic. surprise, surprise. So I get to take iron supplements (ha ha, not spinach, eh?)

I'm Not Whining ...

... REALLY, I'm not.

Just letting y'all know what's up with me.

Besides my family's insanely busy life and my duty in keeping the calendar/clock watch for them and chauffering the Girls, I mean.

My migraines come and go. Too often for days at a time. I'm hoping that menopause will mean the end of migraines, as many women have found.

Speaking of menopause, it may be coming sooner rather than later. Not sure, mind you. I've been menstrating since August 21. Had a pelvic scan last week, which showed that I have a cyst on one of my ovaries and that the lining in my uterus is extremely and unusually thick. Wonderful. The scenario is that my last ovulation was not complete (i.e. the egg may be the cyst) and that my uterus keeps preparing for said egg (i.e. keeps building up the lining). What this means is pure ugh, groan and moan. A sample was taken of the uterine lining to make sure that there aren't abnormal cells. Won't know the results of that for a week or more.

On top of this is my degenerative disc disease. Last year one shot in the spine took care of the pain. Not this year, oh, no. I just had my third shot this morning. If the pain doesn't go away this time, then I'm off to a surgical consult. Whoppeeeeeeeee!

Needless to say, I'm not sleeping all that well. I keep waking up around 1:30 or 2 am and can't get back to sleep. The bags under my eyes look like I've packed for a week away.

The only good news is that I'm really trying to lose weight and I actually have lost at least four pounds.

Well, more good news is that the Marching Band did REALLY WELL at the TOB last weekend - they got first place in their size division and scored unusually high for a first performance. We're all looking forward to a great season.

Okay, I'm done whining now.

Oh, wait, I wasn't whining. really.

No Comment

Taken out of my van window, Lowe's parking lot, Mechanicsburg, PA.

Old Photo Weekend

This photo is dated 1962. I'm sure that this was the last time

that I was seen with cleaning paraphernalia.

Last night we had another football game. Our football team won pretty easily. The other team is from a town about an hours drive away. Very few of their fans came, no cheerleaders and no band. The custom is for the home team band to do a pre-game performance and the guest band to play at halftime. So there wasn't a halftime show last night.

This evening our marching band has their first Tournament of Bands competition. The band seems to be further along at this point in the year than they were last year - it'll be great to see them and all the other bands tonight.

Hopefully it won't rain like the forecast is calling for ...

*Gak*

(Photo by Michael Fernandez of The Patriot-News)

The local arts 'n' crafts show wasn't so good - not much foot traffic and the weather was iffy all day. Many vendors complained, but - hey, that's the nature of the biz.

Unbeknownst to me (and perhaps many others), the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee was meeting nearby. Imagine our surprise - and to some's dismay - when Senator Rick Santorum and his entourage and reporters were seen heading our way. I ducked behind our stand to hide, as did others. A few people tried to speak to him, but he really didn't listen to anyone who was in opposition.

Argh, then he and his crowd came back. I stood my ground and glared, but by then he wasn't talking to anyone anymore.

It was hard not to throw up.

Old Photo Weekend

Nod and I will spend most of Saturday at our town's annual Festival of art, crafts, food and spending. The Bandies will have a three hour mini-band camp. Hopefully it won't rain all day - the forecast was for clear skies earlier this week, but as the week went on the forecast changed.

This photo is of me when I was about 13 or 14. Oliver LaGrone, a sculptor and poet, gave sculpting classes at church.

September 11, 2001

I awoke that morning knowing that my dear Granny would have been 92 years old if she hadn't died the previous February. As I walked towards the door to the building where I work, I burst into tears. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get through my shift, so I asked permission to go home. It was 8:10 am when I got home.

I took two Benadryl tablets so that I could go to sleep. Later, the ringing phone woke me up. It was my husband, who was talking very excitedly, "The [Navy] base is in lock-down mode. I don't know when and if I'll be able to get home today!"

Confused because I wasn't quite awake, I asked what was going on. "Don't you know?!" he said. "Turn on the television!"

That's how I learned about the attacks. I think that it was between 10 and 11 o'clock. The wierd thing is, I should have been at work, and yet Nod wasn't surprised that I answered the phone at home - it just didn't occur to him until later that the machine should have picked up.

I watched in horror the events unfolding on the TV. Couldn't stop watching. I called the school to ask if they were closing or if they were keeping the kids. The school secretary said that all the televisions were turned off and they would be dismissing at the usual time. However, she added, I was welcome to sign out my daughters if I wanted.

I realized then that I wasn't prepared right at that moment to deal with this event with my two 11 year old girls - it would take time for me to get a hold of myself.

Nod was able to get home for dinner later that day.

And I knew that Granny would have been really, really pissed that her birthday was ruined like that.

Old Photo Weekend

I don't do this anymore.

Mow, I mean. Not that I did alot, anyway. But I'm allergic to grass. So dear ol' Nod gets to do it.

I didn't sleep well last night (restless stomach, I think that I ate something that didn't agree with me) so I slept in this morning.

The football game last night was embarressing for our team. Our school is very small - a "single A" size. Shippensburg HS is a "AAA" - so while their team had about 40 or 50 players to use, we had kids who played both offense and defense most of the game. Ship scored and scored and scored ... ugh, it was ugly. They had two very fast runners. We didn't score until nearly the end. Final tally was 45 - 6.

Swollen Head

Early this morning we woke up to discover that Chatham had a swollen face. Nod took him to the emergency vet clinic, where they examined him and gave him a shot of prednisone. The vet there thought that it was an allergic reaction to something. Chatham has been eating and drinking, and for an old stiff guy, he had a really good stretch. We have an afternoon appointment with his regular vet this afternoon to do a follow-up. At the moment his face is still swollen. We think that it may be a spider bite - we have more spiders in the house than usual this year.

First Game & Performance

Last night our football team had their first game and our band had their first halftime performance. I helped chaperone the band, so I was at the school at 3:30 with the Girls. The band kids got their uniforms and packed the three buses. It was an away game in the next town, so it was a very short ride over. The Band Director was a little nervous because the kids hadn't practiced as a unit for five days - he hoped that the kids had practiced themselves in the meantime.


They practiced when they got there. We Chaperones set out the seat covers - long strips on the bleachers to try and keep their uniforms cleaner - and the water coolers. Some helped unpack the band truck of the big drums and percussion carts (carrying the xylophones, etc.).

We handed out water after they practiced. They went over to the other side to watch the home band play before the game started (this is a courtesy that all high school band around here observe).

Then it was time for the halftime show. We have a dozen freshmen on the band this year, and all were nervous. But they and the rest of the band were great. Mr. Z said that they played with more confidence than was usual for a first season performance (they still have some "drill issues" to work out).

The game itself (which I normally don't pay much attention to) went back and forth with the scoring (there are alot of sophomores on the team this year after losing alot of seniors to graduating last spring). It was even throughout the game, scoring going back and fourth until it ended the fourth quarter in a tie. It was a triple-overtime game, with our team winning it 34-28. (We haven't played this school in 23 years, after 51 years of rivalry.)

Our band wasn't really prepared for such a long game - they hadn't learned all of their "stand" music yet and repeated some of the songs. However, the home band played the same four songs over and over again, so we weren't the only ones short on a playlist.

Steve Irwin, the "Croc Hunter", is dead

I just heard on the news that Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray while filming a documentary:

Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.

Irwin was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called "Ocean's Deadliest" when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous bard on their tails, his friend and colleague John Stainton said.

"He came on top of the stingray and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Stainton, who was on board Irwin's boat at the time.

Crew members aboard the boat, Croc One, called emergency services in the nearest city, Cairns, and administered CPR as they rushed the boat to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later, Stainton said.
(this is from the Associated Press)

I always enjoyed watching Steve Irwin. Seemed like such a fun guy, living the life he loved. I saw his love for animals in many ways.

Old Photo Weekend

This old photo was taken on April 6, 1977 alongside a road through the Austrian Alps. It's faded horribly - I need to find the negatives and reprint it. I couldn't even photoshop it better. The sky was a beautiful dark blue with a hint of purple. Even tho' I took French in high school, I took this trip with the German class. We were in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Lexumbourg.

It has been raining since yesterday evening. The football game was moved to Monday evening. Last night we watched most of the Stargate Fan Favorite Marathon. Silly us - we have most of them on DVD. We're only missing the ninth season, which isn't out yet.

Rabbit Rabbit

Well, I see that I'm a bit late this morning with the Rabbit Rabbit wishes ...

The weather for tonight's first football game and Marching Band performance isn't looking very good, what with Ernesto's path heading this way. It's beginning to look nasty already. Many games have been changed to start earlier in an effort to get it done in time. Nod and I are scheduled to help chaperone the band ... oh, joy, I love getting rained on. ugh.