Saturday in the Park - uh, cemetery...

Our day got off to a rushed start today. I had made an appointment to take Toby in to get his nails clipped because he absolutely refuses to let us touch his feet. I guess if you have 4, but only 2 work, you protect them! Anyway, the appointment was for 11:20, which I thought would give us plenty of time to get up and moving, Steve is always up before me. I kept waking up, but Steve was still sleeping, so I assumed it was pretty early. Finally we both managed to be awake at the same time so I asked him what time it was, since the clock is on his side of the bed - Holy Cow, it was 11 o'clock already! We flew out of bed, changed Toby's belly band, and off we flew to the vet's and made it exactly at 11:20. Luckily, the vet is a straight show down Maple Street! They ended up having to muzzle him to get his nails clipped, but I think he's getting around much easier now. We have almost all hardwood floors in the house and his nails were so long he was having trouble getting the traction to pull himself along.





After that, we decided to take a trip down to Lincoln. I had about 6 requests from people at RAOGK to take pictures of graves for them and I decided now was as good a time as any. At Lincoln Memorial Park the office staff was so friendly, giving up maps and directions to find the graves we needed. Steve's great-uncle and aunt are also buried there as well, and we didn't take pictures the last time we were there, so I got some family stuff done too.





Then we went to Wyuka. Oh... my... gosh! The cemetery office is closed on Saturday, which I think is kind of stupid. All their information is on their website, including a map (which I didn't print before we left - idiot), so I guess they don't feel the need to staff the place. I've taken a lot of pictures here before, so I wasn't all that worried about finding everything I was looking for. Only thing is I had a person I was looking for in section 3A. Do you think we could find freaking 3A? Oh no, we could not. And it was hotter than Hades out today (actually cooler than yesterday, but still...) It was humid too, with no breeze at all. At least it was cloudy, which probably helped. It did sprinkle on us, but nothing really amounting to anything. We never did find section 3A, either. Finally, when we got home I looked it up on the Wyuka map. Well, no wonder I couldn't find it! I'll take a trip down again soon and get this poor guy his information.





Before we went cemetery lurking, we stopped to look at some campers. I'd really like to get a motor home, but really, $83,000 is NOT in our budget now or any time in the foreseeable future! Steve found a pop up that he LOVED - and the price was right. I wouldn't be caught dead in the thing... I'm not a snob, really. This is a little too much for me...lol! (I have to admit, the price is right and it has a heater for those cool nights, but, um, no.)

We ended up not living Lincoln until about 6:30 and we were famished! We hadn't even eaten breakfast and Steve had grabbed a PBJ before we left, but that was it. We decided to stop at Legends Bar and Grill. Oh yum! I had the best cheeseburger I have ever eaten in a restaurant - it was great. I'll have to remember to go there next time in Lincoln. Hope I can find the place again! If you're in Lincoln and get a chance to eat there, you should. And the best thing is Lincoln has been smoke free longer than Omaha has, so the place didn't still reek of cigarette smoke. Which is probably why the food tasted so good...

Anyway, we made it back home safe and sound. I downloaded all the pictures, which takes forever since this &^$*# computer doesn't have a high speed port, but I finally got it all done and the photos sent off to everyone who had requested them.

I took a shower (first thing!) and played some Super Scrabble with Meg and now I'm about senseless from being so tired and being in the heat all day. It's not even midnight and I'm ready to call it a day, lazy thing!

Mel had her Boston Terrier Rescue cookout at her house today - I hope they had fun and it didn't rain here. I don't think it did. I should have taken my wieners over! LOL!

What a delicious surprise!

I was having a bad case of the "I don't want to work" Friday blues when I looked outside by office window and saw Mel and her husband pull in the driveway. She brought me a piece of Snickers cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. Oh my, that was good! I have such a good sister... Unfortunately, that did nothing to help my not wanting to work, but life is good!

Now dad, if you want to know why I said something in my blog, all you have to do is ask me. When I said I didn't want Pam to ruin your birthday I was thinking of Amber's wedding and the fact that you missed being in all the wedding pictures. I just wanted to make sure you made it here on time. And that has nothing to do with whether I like Pam or not. I can get along with her fine, I just thought she'd have to work that day and we wouldn't have to worry about you not being here. That's it. Wasn't that simple? All you had to do was ask. I love you dad....

Okay, now back to work. Did I mention that I don't feel like working tonight? ;-)

This guy needs to be horsewhipped - and then prison

Or maybe vice versa. What an asshat.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Pictures of 11-month-old Aiden are startling, even to investigators. The young boy has a swollen forehead and black and blue circles surrounding his eyes. It's the aftermath of multiple skull fractures.
La Vista police said the injuries were caused by Keith Parker, 28, the live-in boyfriend of Aiden's mother. He was arrested Monday morning on felony child abuse charges. Parker made his first court appearance Thursday, where his bond was set at $250,000.
The boy's mother gave KETV Newswatch 7 permission to use pictures of the injured child. She said the injury didn't appear serious at first and she believed Parker when he told her Aiden bumped his head falling off the couch a week ago. She said three days later, when the bruising deepened, she took the baby to a hospital.
"We have what's called raccoon eyes," said Lt. Kevin Pokorny, who investigates child abuse cases for the La Vista Police Department.
Pokorny said bruises covering the eyes are a telltale sign of abuse.
"That right away tells you this is a severe case and that's what the hospital noticed the moment they walked in," Pokorny said.
Doctors told police the boy will be OK and also said his injuries were not caused by a fall from the couch. Police said there's evidence that Parker was trying to prevent his girlfriend from taking the baby out of the house.
"The boyfriend, from our investigation, was trying to avoid public places, going to the hospital, going to the doctor's office," said Pokorny.
Investigators said Parker was the only adult home when the baby was injured.
It's a case that touched investigators personally.
"You're seeing what's happened to these children, and you're thinking back to your own children and going, how can a person do this to a child?" Pokorny said.
The child was out of the hospital and in emergency protective custody Thursday night. His 19-year-old mother and grandmother are able to visit with the child. A hearing will be held on Monday to determine who will care for the child in the future.

Oh, and the little boy...

I'd like to kill this guy with my bare hands, I really would. This is why I couldn't ever work in Child Victim Unit at the police station.

I did it again - I spent more money

Today I invested in a 22" flat panel monitor for our home computer. Hey, it was on sale! Regularly over $300 and I got it for $220. I'm pretty darn happy with myself. ;-)

Last night I couldn't sleep (no refills on my Ambien and the doctor hadn't called it in yet, even though I called them on Thursday last week to give them p-l-e-n-t-y of time...) so I was working on my Find A Grave stuff and I couldn't read the monitor. Of course the fact that it was 3 a.m. and I had been up since 8 the previous morning and I felt like I had sand in both my eyes had nothing to do with it... The old monitor had been screeching for months now, so a new one was really indicated. I know if anything is going to be purchased in this house that might involve fun at some time or another I'm going to be the one to buy it, so I did. And I like it. The only thing is, it's a wide screen, so I have to get used to that, but otherwise it's great. I CAN READ IT!!!

I didn't have nearly enough time to play with my camera yesterday, but the pictures I did take - wow! Impressive. Now I can't wait to get a new lens. I'm trying to decide what I want first, a macro or a telescopic lens.... I wish I would have had this camera when I went to see Tim and Faith, those would have been kick butt pictures! Next time.

Back to work, the sloth isn't here again tonight. Maybe she's having her surgery. Maybe she's going on disability. Maybe I'm too hopeful...

Whew

What a weekend! We had my dad's party and it was great! He was so thrilled. We also had a little article put in the paper on Sunday in the Celebrations section for his 75th birthday. I got to see people I hadn't seen in years! A woman who is the wife of another retired police officer was here, she used to babysit me when I was younger. She hasn't changed much at all, except she's gotten shorter! It was so good to see her. An old army buddy of dad's came, the Douglas County sheriff even came - he's a retired Omaha police lieutenant. Our old next-door neighbor came too, and we had a chance to sit down and talk. Her daughter and I were the best friends in grade school, but she married and moved to San Antonio after high school and we haven't talked in years, so it was nice to catch up with what's going on in her life. She's a dialysis nurse now, which I think is pretty darn cool. It's kind of funny to think that we couldn't get through the day as kids without seeing one another and now I haven't seen her in over 2 years and it had been about 10 years before that. We had our 30th class reunion last year so that'll give you some idea how long ago we were friends. Life goes on, though.

I got my camera today! Woo hoo! It's a Canon Rebel XT. I didn't get the 10 mp one though, I think 8 mp is enough. My stupid home computer will probably start burping dirt with this one anyway! Next big purchase will be a computer, I'm thinking. I'd like a iMac for my own personal use, to do my genealogy stuff and photo stuff on, but I think we're going to need a desktop before I can indulge myself in a laptop! I did a DVD for dad's birthday, but the stupid program (which I just paid $69 to upgrade thankyouverymuch) couldn't find my DVD writer, then the program would lock up and I've have to restart the whole darn computer to get it to run again. After about 3 times of trying that I decided to just make a copy to put on my blog, but that locked it up too. Ugh. I was annoyed. Anyway! I'm in loooooooove with the camera. Only wish I didn't have to work tonight so I could play with it.

I wish I could be my boss for one day. I'd fire the sloth I work with at night. I've never worked with such a lazy person in my entire life, she's never working. Now she has back problems (welcome to the club, sister) so she's going to be working split shifts, starting at either 5 or 6, work for 4 hours and then take a break and then work her last 4. Yeah, well, it's after 8 and I have yet to see her logged in tonight. Now I know what my mom used to mean when she said someone was "worthless as tits on a boar". Pardon my french. Heh. I know someone who would love to have this job, and she'd kick some serious butt too. She can type like a fiend. It'd sure be nice to work with someone who actually works for a change. Yeah, yeah. I know I'm supposed to be working, but I meet my line count every night and then some, so I'm not to worried about it.

Okay, speaking of the salt mines, since I'm the only one again I better get going!