Relationships

I had a whole blog thought out about some relationship stuff, things that pertain to me specifically, but could certainly be of use to someone else.  Then I came across this little gem, and it really says it all.

Relationships should NEVER reduce who you are, what you think, what you feel, or how you express yourself.  People who really love you will do so for who you are, not for who they would like you to be.  They will raise you up, to watch you soar with pride, and never try to hold you back.

This is probably the best thing to pass along to any young women out there.  BE SELFISH.  I don't mean be in a relationship for what you can get out of it financially, or to run roughshod over some poor unsuspecting clod. :)  I mean never lose yourself.  It's something I have been guilty of to many times to count.  It's easy to morph into what someone thinks you are, or should be.  Mostly you don't realize it's even happening until it's to late. 

This is probably the biggest thing I have struggled with over the years, but I think I've got it.  After having so much "me" time over the last...... oh, year and a half I guess, I finally know who I am.  Me, as an individual, not Me as part of a couple.  It's funny, because I am really good at accepting and celebrating people for who they are, especially in a relationship, but I never gave that respect to myself.

I don't know who to credit, but I see this one all over the place. "Take me as I am, or watch me as I walk away."   I've come a LONG way baby!

Rocks and Rainbows

After the Flood

Sometime mid afternoon last Wednesday it stopped raining.  We saw an actual sunset, and folks started assessing the damage left behind by the flood waters.  One of the local news agencies had this picture posted on Facebook.  It's a rainbow over Barkers Island that seems to come right down behind the wall my Dad had built, that was destroyed.  I saw the picture right after I wrote my last blog.

I usually link to my blog on my Facebook page, and my sister in law commented right away that she would get me that rock.  I urged her to wait, like me, until morning, but I should have known better than that.

I got a call after dark asking if it was a brick wall, or a rock wall, because it appeared there was part of a rock wall left leaning at the bottom.  I said,  "Brick surrounding a rock wall is what it actually was."  Then my fifteen year old niece, under the supervision of her Mother, reached out over the rushing water and plucked me a rock.  A rock ( weighing a few pounds) that she proceeded to drop on her Mother's foot before the conversation was over.  A conversation that ended with "Oh crap!  Have to go, the Sherrif is shining us with his flashlight!" *click*

I did wait a full ten minutes before I called her back.  "Please tell me you aren't in the back of a squad?"  They weren't.  They were safe and sound on the way to Culvers, rock in tow.  We decided they would just drop it to me at work the next day.  I thanked my sister in law, and then read her the riot act about the potential danger of what they did.  My niece is infinitely more important to me than a rock!

The next day dawned clear and sunny, and found me super emotional about the wall.  I guess it was just another loss to grieve.  After so many, it surprised me that I was so upset about this, but what can you do?  I asked my sister in law not to bring the rock to me at work because I was just to emotional about it, and all the Goovers happened to be near by at the time, so they drove on over to my apartment with "The Rock" and presented it to me.  The little ones had no idea what was up, and were full of questions.  I shot their mother a look, took a deep breath, and told them the story. 

For whatever reason, the minute I had that rock in hand I was fine.  I don't need to display it, or even look at it.  I know it's here with me, and it's safe.  Something tangeable to hold from something I will never get to see again, built by someone I haven't seen in twenty years, and God willing it will be many more before I do.  I read my sister in law the riot act again, then gave her a big hug and said "Thank you.  You can never know how much that means."  Truth is, she has lost a parent, so she does know.

Like I wrote in my last blog, the legacy my Father left behind is his family.  The wall was just a wall, but it was kinda cool to drive by, point, and say "Hey, my Dad built that." 

Rain Rain Go AWAY!

Barkers Island, Superior Wisconsin

It started raining here in May, and it has rained some every week since.  Memorial weekend was a literal washout.  Last Thursday I had taken the day off of work for a Goover Zoo Day, but I ended up going to work instead, in the pouring rain, and we'll try that one again when the kids are finished with summer school.  I didn't want to cancel, I kept waiting for a break in the weather.....but it never came.

Then yesterday it started to rain, and it wouldn't let up.  Several neighborhoods in Superior are flooded out, and the city across the bay,(that is actually on a hill) Duluth MN got it much worse.  Strangely enough the deepest flooding seems to be on top of the hill.  There are restaurants half drowned, a car dealership where all you can see are very top of some car roofs, people kayaking and jet skiing down streets, and a fan boat like the ones you see down south in hurricane disasters. 

Who knew we even had one?  Oh, and I mentioned the zoo, which is also in Duluth.  Two of their seals got all the way out, and the polar bear was loose inside of the zoo.  Several of the barn animals unfortunately drowned, but the other animals were luckily recovered without too much incident.   A very sad day for the staff over there. 

Things like this just don't happen here.  We usually do get a lot of rain, we all know the Nemaji river is going to flood in some spots, there are country roads might need a little fixing, but the above just does not happen.  It's pretty common for plans to be ruined by rotten weather.........really any time of the year around here.  I should mention that I am fine, my family is fine, some of them are a little basement soggy, but everyone is o.k.  Milkie is a little weirded out, but she'll get over it. 

My co-worker Ann sent a 7:10 text this morning to let me know that the only way to work was to head over to Belknap and then down Highway Two.  She had tried all the other routes and they were flooded over.  I thanked her for the heads up, and got a move on.  It was pouring like an S.O.B. but the drive down Belknap was pretty smooth.  I turned onto Highway Two and we all came to a dead stop.  Why?  What the heck is going on?  HOLY $#%@!  The road was quickly flooding over.  Traffic slowly progressed, but now we were slogging through what quickly became a foot of water. (The area to the right of the pictures above actually.)  All I could hear was last nights weather dude in my head "Do not drive through water.  A car can float in six inches of water."  Panic was setting in.  My car is about the lowest rider I have ever seen.  I did not want to be the car that stalled and stopped all these people in the water.  I did NOT want to float away!  It lasted about two blocks, and thankfully I got out of it alright, but I have driven through much worse things in winter with a slower heart rate! 

I'm fine, but my heart is sad.  The above pictures are of a set of three culverts that go under a road that leads to Barkers Island.  Well......... they used to anyway.  Surrounding these culverts was a decorative wall.  I can't tell if any of it is left, and when I drove home that way this evening it was still flooded.  Why do I care about a dumb brick wall?  Because my Dad built it.  He worked for the city of Superior in the Sewer Department, but he was also a bricklayer.  He was proud of that wall. 

My Dad has been gone for over twenty years, so I guess that wall was something tangible to look at, something that left his mark on this place he called home, something that made me smile every time I drove by, and something that I could point to and say "Hey, my Dad built that!"  I was proud of that wall.

 He left some other marks on this place he called home, my two brothers, my sister, and myself.  He would think I was silly to even care about a stupid brick wall, when my family is all safe and sound.   I'm hoping that something is left. I'm hoping that if anything is there that maybe, just maybe, I could LEGALLY get a piece of it. I probably know better than to go dangling over rushing water just to get a stupid brick, but if any of you know someone who works for the city, you might want to introduce us. :) 

Bazinga! (Ninja Kitty Part Three)

Damn it!  I thought we were clear of the Ninja Kitty problem.  I was even contemplating taking down the chicken wire.  We have had a lot of weather in the last few weeks, and the wire wasn't sitting as perky as it was in the beginning anyway.  No Ninja Kitty sightings at all since my last blog about her.....until tonight. 

She has grown a little bit, but she still has the same dexterity.  Able to clear the chicken wire in a single bound from the front steps.  Luckily she appeared at eight o'clock instead of three a.m. so I ran outside, chased her off, and re bent the chicken wire so it's jutting out again.  Apparently she's just been biding her time for the wire to lower enough.  It wont happen again Ninja Kitty, it wont happen again.

Purple Rain?

Last night we were finally able to take Happy Hour back onto the deck!  Around here we go from freezing to oppressive in 2.5 seconds.  I don't know where all the "nice" weather has gone to.  Give me 75 with a breeze any day!  Yesterday climbed right up to the 80's, with a big glob of humidity on top.

Happy Hour was pretty uneventful, just playing some catch up with Sandy and Boomer.  We grabbed a table that was part shade (for me) and part sun (for Sandy) and despite sitting next to "a prostitution ring" had a good time.  Warm sun, bare toes on the wood deck, Miller light, Malibu diet, and pink lemonade vodka respectively, sun glasses, interesting conversation.  Usually something crazy will happen on the deck, but it was a mellow night.

Afterwards we wandered into the attached liquor store.  Boomer's new thing is pineapple sangria (gag) so she was after some supplies.  I got to wander around with Sandy after we lost Boomer, and then I got to push the cart.  Crazy things sometimes happen at the liquor store, but it was a mellow night.

Boomer and I had some grocery shopping to do, so we said good night to Sandy and wandered on over to Super One.  I had parked at the very far end of the parking lot, so I went down and moved my car up.  As I am walking up toward Boomer, who is walking slowly, staring off to my left I can hear that she's saying something to me, but I can't understand her.  "What?"  "Hurry up, or you're gonna miss it!"  "What the devil are you talking about?  I can see anything."  "Hurry UP or you're gonna miss it!"  "What are you talking a........" 

Here is what I posted on facebook :

"  Confidential to the African American gentleman on the tiny purple scooter that zipped across the Super One parking lot to the liquor store...... "Dude! NOT cool!" (But I haven't laughed that hard in quite awhile.....) :)"

I did laugh.  I couldn't stop laughing.  I was standing in the street laughing, I walked in to the store laughing, and I laughed all the way to produce.  Yes, I could see you people looking at me, I am not a quiet laughter.  Too bad you didn't get to see what struck me as so funny!

One of the replies to my facebook post was  "Sounds like Prince, only gayer."  That's the best part, this guy was the opposite of Prince, the only thing similar was the color purple.  So that gave me the blog title.  According to another post on my fb  this is not the first Purple Rain sighting either!  So keep your eyes open Superior!  YOU might just spot him zipping along on his little purple scooter!  Please, please, please let me know if you do! 

Now I'm walking around my house singing ♫ Little purple scooter, (woohoohoo) baby you're much to fast (got to slow down) ♫  *eye roll*  Oh brother.......

Winning

I am taking a seat on my Queenly throne for this one.  It is my say, I will have it, and it is not up for discussion.  I'm not debating, because this is my corner of the world and I don't have to.  I'm not linking it to facebook, and I'm not getting into a pissing match about it here, so don't bother.  :)

We all know that Mr. Walker won the recall election yesterday.  I knew that the backlash of commentary, no matter who won would be running rampant everywhere today, and I am sick of listening to it.  I haven't responded to any of the posts, and I haven't posted anything of my own.  This is my reply, and my opinion, which I'm entitled to...without your nonsense, so here we go.  Don't like it?  Don't read it.

You (repub) may have "won"...... but just what exactly did we (dem) lose?  The answer is: nothing.  We won a Democratic majority in the State Senate, so that should curb some of the dark of night, back alley, push it through before they notice, politics that have been going on.  We proved that working people will stand up and fight for our rights, and mobilized thousands of apathetic voters to get out there.

It was a grass roots campaign that took on the corporate machine, and came pretty close to winning.  We are not defeated, we are energized, and this is not over..........not by a long shot.  Let's not forget, in five months every seat in the Assembly is up for re-election.

Well, at least the governor has more time to concentrate on his defense for the criminal investigation that looms. Good luck with that.  I'm hoping the the entire USA has taken a good look at this "Teabag Rock Star" that the Republican party seems to be grooming for bigger things in the future.  God help us if they didn't.

Politics (part 2)

It took me a half hour to find the "Part One" blog.  If I was more tec savvy, perhaps I could attach a link to it here:    http://queenie930.blogspot.com/2011/03/politics.html

OH MY HECK!  I am a fricken genius! :)  We wont tell you how long it took me to hunt down that blog or to figure out on my own how to do that......

Anyway, here it is, the rest of the story.

Voting is a right and a privilege, that I never intend to take for granted again!  About a week ago I was having a conversation with someone about my "blog I write for my friends".  For the purpose of that discussion I didn't really want to point out that my blog is read by a few other people.......all over the world.  A fact that hits home today as I exercise the right that so many people died for, and also that so many women stood up and fought for, so that I, as an American woman, can vote.  Some of the people who read my blog don't have that right......yet. 

Newsworthy

I guess I am not newsworthy.  Meaning I am not worthy of receiving a Sunday paper.  I'm sure I've done a few things that could at least make page five. :) 

First off I have to apologize to my neighbors, whom I thought were sneaking off with my ads.  After all, it's the ads and the crossword that I'm really after.  I get most of my news online, or from the television.  Turns out it was the colossal incompetence of the circulation department at the Duluth News Tribune........again. 

That statement may seem harsh, but I went for years without a paper because of this kind of thing, and now here we go again.  When I moved here five years ago I thought it would be nice to have the paper.  I had no interest in dating, so that's a good way to waste away part of a long drawn out Sunday.  Then  I started seeing someone out of town, and  I was gone every weekend.  I  found that I had no time to catch up with the paper during the week, when it was actually delivered, that is.  I thought the neighbors were grabbing it since I was obviously not there, shrugged it off, and cancelled the paper because they could pay for their own!

A couple of months later the relationship ends, and I'm home on the weekends again.  Every now and then a random Sunday paper shows up, but I don't really think anything of it, until a bill for fifty-some dollars shows up too.  Pardon?  So I call and they tell me I never cancelled.  I ask them if I never cancelled where the heck have most of the papers been??  Long story short, they finally asked me if I knew who I spoke with, like I'm going to remember that, and I said, "I don't know, some guy."  The reply was "Oh, ok.  We'll take care of that bill."  So apparently "some guy" had been screwing a few things up.

Now we'll rewind to a year ago.  I decided that I would try again to have the paper delivered on Sundays, but I would be keeping a close eye on their monkey business.  I'm now on a month to month payment plan that I can yank at any time.  I told them about my past problem with neighbors snagging the paper, and that I want it delivered INSIDE the building AT my door or no deal.  That actually lasted for a few months......... anyway, it went fine for about a year.

It started innocently enough.  They bill my debit card once a month, and the card expired, so of course they weren't able to charge me.  I got the paper, but also a letter in the mail.  I sent them the correct new information and thought that was that.  A week later I got another letter, same as the first.  Checked my online banking.......yep, they've billed me......must have just crossed in the mail.  The weekend arrives, and I'm out of town.  I come home Sunday evening to no paper.  Hmmm......  Now, here we are again.  Did a neighbor snitch it?  Did the DNT not deliver it?  Arg!  So Monday morning I called them, explained the billing part and that I had been out of town so I wasn't sure if it was a snitched paper, or a problem I needed to handle.  The gal was very nice, told me things were all straight billing wise, probably a snitched one, but she would credit me and send another one out.  Very nice change from what I had dealt with years ago! 

Then the next weekend the same thing.  It was Memorial weekend, and I ended up out of town again and didn't get back until Monday afternoon.  No paper.  I shrugged that one off as neighbors.

 I woke up at 7am this morning, ran out my front door to get there first.........no paper.  I thought maybe I was too early, so I went back to bed.  9:30 a.m.  no paper.  Called the Duluth News Tribune and was told that  "On May 27 (last SUNDAY?) there was a vacation hold placed on your paper.  It says you would call when you got back to town."  I did manage to curb my WTF to just "WHAT?"  So.........  here I sit, sippin on vanilla nut coffee, waiting for my replacement paper.  To read after dinner.  Instead of after breakfast when I WANTED to.

Hopefully they will get their stuff straight, or we'll be parting ways again.  :(  Your move DNT. 

Pink Lemons

I'm not sure how clearly this is going to come through.  I pinned it on Pinterest yesterday, but Sandy Hughitt doesn't facebook, and I desperately needed to share it with her, so I used my cell to take a pic.  If the words aren't quite clear (I have dial up, so at the moment the pic doesn't show for me..... I know.) this is what they say.  "Honey,  I'll be honest.....I love Jesus, but I drink a little."  It's by someone named Gladys Hardy.  I have no idea who that is, but I think I'm gonna have to google!  I almost spit coffee through my nose when I read it.  Why it strikes me so funny I don't know, but I love it!

We had a very early and mild spring here in the Northland, but Friday nights have not been quite warm enough to venture out onto a deck for Happy Hour.  Last night was gorgeous, but I would have needed a jacket, and didn't wear one to work.  I don't have monkey around time after work these days, it's out the door and off to the girls!  I'm hoping that next week we can continue our tradition.

Today is the official start of summer for me.  I bought my UV pink lemonade, and am about to crack it open and pour it into some iced tea.  Summertime!  Making the switch from the winter coffee or cocoa drinks to the lemony goodness of UV vodka.  I have had a few wine coolers, and even (gasp) a beer or two (yes...I'm still alive...barely) but nothing says summer like pink lemonade tea!  It's even warm enough to drink outside. :)

Cheers to a fabulous summer!