Totally wasted day...

Today was a total waste. I didn't do one productive thing all day. It was great. Tom came up from Beatrice about 8 and he took us to breakfast because we're keeping his car in our garage while he goes to Alaska for 2-1/2 weeks on a moose hunt. I tried to get Steve to go, believe me, I tried... After breakfast Tom got the wild hair to go garage sale shopping in our neighborhood, there were over a hundred, so we had plenty to choose from. Then we had to take him to the airport, it's always exciting to walk into the airport with a gun case! Heh.

After we dropped Tom off we went to the church bookstore. It's reopened and they have some pretty neat stuff in there now, so I bought a couple books. Just to even out the day a little we then went over to CB to look for some off the wall beer Steve was looking for. He and the guy and Beertopia had a discussion about it last night. For some reason Beertopia can't get it, but the Hy Vee in Council Bluffs carries it. Unfortunately, there are 2 Hy-Vees in Council Bluffs and of course the one that's on the other side of CB is the one that had the stuff. By that time it was after 12 and I was in no mood to drive down to Lincoln. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not. It depends on how much energy I can muster up tonight while I'm sleeping. I didn't fall asleep last night until after 3 and I was up at 7:30 since Tom was supposed to get here at 8. Grrrr. I should have just stayed in bed.

My sister-in-law and her husband came over today. Which really is a shocker, they hardly ever come over here, but we had an okay visit. They had never met Toby before. He impressed them with his good looking teeth... ;-) Silly dog.

Meg came over for her lunch break at work to take care of some laundry. See, I am good for something... After she put her clothes in the dryer and came back upstairs I kept hearing a thumping noise from the dryer, so I asked her what she was drying that was making that noise. She assured me it wasn't the dryer, but a couple minutes later she went down to check and found out she'd washed and was in the process of drying her cell phone. Sigh. She has terrible luck with cell phones. Luckily, this was my old one that I had given her after she lost her old one. BUT, she found her old one, so now she can switch the number back to that one and we can toss this one. Wasn't that clear as mud? And I'm a little annoyed with my new cell. Twice last week I made outgoing calls and I could hear the other person, but they couldn't hear me. And it's dropped about 5 calls this past week too. I'm thinking if this keeps up I may be trying another phone. I haven't listened to my music at all on it, so really, I could probably have gotten a cheaper one. Doesn't matter, it was buy 1 get 1 free, so we both got an upgrade and Steve never, ever uses his. Every time I need him the stupid phone is on his dresser. For this I pay $150 a month? Geez... On that happy note, I'm off to try to sleep. Later.

Would you like a bit of butter for your scone?

Ha ha!

(Okay, so maybe you'd think it was funnier if you knew it was carved out of butter?)

Fair Weather

I just thought this was fun, some kind of corn exhibit.

It can't stand cotton candy, but it was a pretty booth.
It really wasn't Jurassic Park, but I loved the dinosaur.

Yeah, I'll smile all right...

I am going to have one of these pools some day. I am, I am, I am... I've almost figured out how to budget enough to get it next year. Of course I've said that for the past 3 years. Steve says I can go ahead and get it. I'm sure he doesn't realize if I do, he has to pay for the fence to go around it. City ordinance, you know... Heh...

Toby Bares All

I couldn't resist my favorite picture of Toby. Now you know why we had to muzzle him for ear drops!

Freaky Friday

Meg got a promotion! She's the new lead generator at the store. No, she doesn't make electricity! No more commission and no more plumbing, no more paint! Unless she wants to. She stopped by the house tonight because she thought we were in Lincoln and she was going to feed the dogs. Well, she did feed the dogs, only thing is, we didn't go to Lincoln and the dogs had just eaten. Of course, they didn't pass up another meal! Ha ha!

It's not really freaky Friday, I just thought it would be a good name for the post. Talked to an old friend on the phone today, that was nice. We haven't talked in a long while, so I think the conversation was a little stilted, I'm sure it will get better though. I really feel old though, when I think of all that's gone on since we last talked. Whoo! Bring out the cane - better yet, the walker. Oh hell, I'm on a roll, make it a wheelchair...

Speaking of which I went to some garage sales with Mel today and then Steve decided to come along to some after I had to stop home (this was supposed to be a SISTER thing!). Anyway, we went to one garage sale where they did have a walker for sale. Just make a note of this, I tried to get him to buy it. I told him he really should probably get it. I've had surgery 4 times in 3 years and he's had to rent one or get one from somebody, you think he'd learn.... But no...... Just wait. I noticed tonight after I took a shower that where the hardware is still in my leg it's all red and it's really sore to touch. Do you think you can get an infection 4 years after the fact? I guess if it stays like this I'll be heading back to my favorite orthopod next week. Keep your fingers crossed, no more surgeries! Although our deductible is fully met this year, so it wouldn't cost anything... No, really. No more surgery. Besides, I'm too clumsy to have the hardware taken out. I'd have 12 holes in my tibia then, so it would be really, really weak I would think. I'd break it again and then what? No more surgery.

We had dinner with Matt tonight at the Crescent Moon. Nothing to write home about and our waitress was practically non-existent. No good. After dinner though the truth came out, we had dinner there so Steve could make a trip to Beertopia next door. I should have known something was up! Steve actually bought Matt a bottle of really good raspberry beer. You know, I don't drink, so I have no idea what makes beer worth $4 a bottle, but it must be something good. I would hope. It was a nice dinner actually. Matt probably would have rather been sitting at a table - he had to sit sideways in the booth to make enough room for his legs. I gave birth to a giant!

I got the new Family Tree Maker for 2008. It imported my PAF file just great, but my stupid Neanderthal man ex-husband comes up as the preferred spouse. I don't think so. As a matter of fact if he hadn't had a child together I'd like to forget that those 3 or 4 years or whatever never even happened. Ick. I've got to get that mess straightened out.

Well, back to FTM 2008 and see if I can make heads or tails of what I'm supposed to do. Have a good weekend.

Finally Thursday!

It's my 3 day weekend! Whoo hoo! I think Steve and I are going to Lincoln tomorrow when he gets off work. It really depends on the weather. I have a couple requests at Wyuka, but I hate to drive down there by myself. I can't figure out why when I get in the car I immediately want to take a nap - not good when I'm the one driving.

I worked until 5 a.m this morning and then of course couldn't sleep. As soon as I started getting ready to go to bed then all the dogs wanted to go out of course. I had to put Toby's bed in the washing machine, then they all wanted breakfast, but it was really too early for that so I persuaded them all that it was still time to be asleep. Of course Toby incessently whined because he wasn't in his usual sleeping place. Am I really the one who said having dogs was easier than kids? ;-) I didn't want to take an Ambien because I didn't want to sleep the whole day away and I really thought I was tired enough to sleep, which I was I guess. I just dozed off when Steve's alarm went off. Scared the daylights out of me, I usually sleep right though it. Of course I didn't get back to sleep after that, so I've been up since about 10 o'clock yesterday. Oh yes, can we say PUNCHY?! I can't type worth a hill of beans tonight... I want to sleep...

The rain has been great! I love it! It's still been ridiculously hot and humid, but what do I care? I don't have to go out in it. Tomorrow it's supposed to be nice, only in the 70s. I don't really care about the temperature, just get rid of the freaking humidity! I hate that. I know the dogs would love to go out for walks during the day, but they're seriously nuts if they think I'm taking them! Some people from the dachshund meetup group are going to the dog park on Sunday, I don't think I'm going to go though... Really, at 9:30 a.m. they expect me to be up, dressed and out of the house? Probably not going to happen. We're having a weiner roast in September... I guess we're drawing straws to see who sacrifices their dog... Just kidding. I told you I was punchy!

Hmmmm, let's see... What else is going on in this every so exciting life of mine? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. The Nebraska State Fair is going on this week, but we never go to that, so that's not news. Although that does mean there will be more people on the road to Lincoln tomorrow. Oh hey, it's payday! Maybe I can check out some laptops somewhere... I took CBG's advice and checked out the ones on eBay. Steve thinks that's not a good idea, but guess what? It's not Steve's money! BUT - you knew there was one of those in there, didn't you? But, if I do buy one off eBay and something happens I'll never hear the end of it. Of course I'd probably never hear the end of it anyway... I can just hear it now, "I told you not to... blah, blah, blah." Whatever. Oh heck, that won't work. I lost my debit card this week so I'd have to ask him to pay for it with his PayPal account. Never mind, not worth the hassle.

Oh yeah, that freaking debit card. What a pain in the rear that's turning out to be! I know it's here in my house somewhere. As a matter of fact, I really thought I had it in my wallet, but... Anyway, I've looked everywhere. The last time I used it was to order something online, so I've searched all around both computers and can't find it. So I call to get another one. Well, I can call to report it missing, but I have to go to the bank to apply for a new one. What the heck is that about? I lost it, send me a new one, sounds easy enough to me. I'll have to get up early enough tomorrow to go do that and get some money before Steve gets home from work. And here I was planning on sleeping until at least noon!

I have no idea where my family has disappeared to this week. Probably at a party without me. Miss hasn't answered her phone all week - helloooooo sistah! Call me! I guess I have talked to Mel a time or two, but dad has been mysteriously quiet all week. I'll have to call him tomorrow and see what he's been up to. Maybe his electricity is till out from the storms on Monday, that's the last time I talked to him.

Okay, okay, I must get back to work. Somebody has to buy the dog food around here... Woof!

Dog Day Afternoon

Ugh. I sat down to work exactly 20 minutes ago. Toby has been barking for the past 19. He can't go out because it's all wet and it's going to rain again soon and I'm going to be working and I'll forget about him being out... The other dogs are all sleeping at my feet like good dogs. Why is there always one is out to drive me insane?

Weekly tidbits

For the second night in a row we'er having rain! Yay! I can do without the tornado warning tonight though, since I'm heading off to bed. I heard we're in for a cool down too. By Friday it will only be 75! Hallelujah and thank God! Steve thinks this is the end of summer. Uh, Steve, it's August in Nebraska, honey. We're not done with summer.

We're going to Lincoln so we can go to Wyuka again. I've gotten some more requests for grave pictures from there, and since it will be a NICE day, we're going to go. My Aunt Ruth and Uncle Don are buried there also, so I can pay my respects and get some pictures of their grave. I'm loving being a ghoul and I don't care who knows it.

I did some cemetery lurking today too, I got a couple photos I needed, but then a beagle of all things chased me out of the cemetery! Well, not totally out of the cemetery, that would be ridiculous, but I couldn't get to the last grave I was looking for because this stupid dog kept growling at me. I tried to be friendly, you know, "Hey buddy, how ya doing? Good dog", all that stuff, but he just kept showing his teeth and growling. A freaking beagle! Anyway, I finally retreated to the air-conditioned car and gave up for the day. I realized when I got home the heat index aws 104 - no wonder I was sweating like the proverbial pig!

I got an interesting e-mail today from someone I don't know. Whoever it was didn't sign their e-mail, but they said they had read on Find-A-Grave that I had posted an obituary for someone from Harvard, but I didn't have a bio, so they sent it to me! I was kind of surprised, but I was glad they did. The lady had an interesting life and now she's not just a name and some dates on a piece of marble. I hope more people do the same.

I took the day off today. I worked the weekend and even though we're positively buried at work (kind of fits in with the grave chatter, doesn't it?) and overtime is approved I didn't even log in once to check my e-mail or anything. Just took the entire day totally off and didnt' even think about work. Well, until my cell rang about 8:30 tonight and I was sure it was the hospital because someone had forgotten to tell them I was off, but it wasn't so it was only a bad moment!

Speaking of cell phones, why the heck are people so freaking rude? The other night I was working when my cell rang. I didn't recognize the number, but what the heck, so I answered it and this lady says, "Hi, it's me". I had no idea who she was so I didn't say anything while I tried to place the voice from somewhwere... Then she says, "Is this Karen?" I told her no. "Who is this?" Excuse me, you called my phone, who are you? (I didn't say that, but I should have). I told her who I was and she says, "Why do you have my sister's phone?" What the...? I said, "Maybe you misdialed." Then, she gets this really nasty tone of voice, "It's programmed in my phone, I didn't misdial." Hmm. I asked her what number she called, then she asks me what my number is! I told her I wasn't giving her my number, she could tell me what number she called. Hey, how do I know it was programmed in her phone? Anyway, she rattles off my number and I told her I'd had the number for about 3-4 months and I wasn't Karen. Then she gets all huffy, "I supposed she changed her humber then?" Well duh... I just hung up. Idiot. Apparently she changed her number and sister or not, she didn't share that with you, and that's not my problem. Geez. I thought it was kind of odd, it was her sister, she had the number programmed into her phone, but it had been over 3 months since she talked to her? Plus, how long to they keep a number before they reuse it? I thought it was odd that I hadn't gotten any other calls for this person either. Until tonight. I picked up my phone without looking at the number and this guy was like, "Hey Karen, it's me...." Poor Karen. She has a lot of family and friends who have no names... I'm still ticked about the "sister" though, she was rude. At least the guy tonight apologized for calling the wrong person.

Meg is back at her apartment again. Did I already mention we got the car back? Yeah, another 300 bucks and it's good as new... I wish somebody in this family was an auto mechanic. I think we have too many accountants and not enough mechanics. That was a not so subtle hint to my son, who can't decide what he wants to go to school for...

My father-in-law called the other night to remind me to remind Meg about what a horrible part of town she lives in. Thanks, Bob. I didn't know that. Like I don't worry enough on my own. He said he was down near her apartment and there were some "characters" walking around. Hello, Bob. She lives near downtown. Downtown Omaha is full of "characters". That's why every stupid revitalization attempt has failed. Too many characters. Now that I think about it though, what was he doing in that part of town, anyway?

It's going to take me a while to relax and feel like she might be safe living there. Sending me text messages at 1 in the morning asking me if I'm still up are not relaxing! I can't even remember what she wanted when I called her, I was just relieved she hadn't gotten mugged.

Just when I thought the maybe were really empty-nesters Matt called yesterday, and I shot off my big mouth. His lease is up on their house next month and he and his roommates don't want to continue to be roommates (which is fine with me, I think one of them is a little abrasive - and he's really into body building. Probably taking steroids.... There goes that imagination again...). Anyway he doesn't know for sure where he's going to live, maybe with some friends... Of course I had to tell him he was welcome to come back home. What the hell possesses me sometimes I'll never know. I mean, if he needs to move back home to be able to afford to go to school, that's fine, he can come back home, really, but I just blurt out, "Oh, come on back home if you need to". We must get rid of this 5 bedroom house. It makes me irrational about having my kids live at home. They are adults for Pete's sake! Besides, I have 6 dogs, there isn't any more room for humans!

It nearly killed me at the time, but having him live at Omaha Home for Boys for that year really, really helped him in more ways than one. Obviously when he came back home his behavior was better, he did better in school (until he went back to live with his dad, but that's another story altogether), and he just seemed in better control of himself in general. The thing is now he's eligible for scholarship money just because he is lived there. Not too bad. Of course there are restrictions, he has to keep his grades up, etc., which I think is a good thing. Plus it keeps him in touch with people from the home who had a positive impact on his life when he lived there. I'm really grateful to them and all they do.

Man, I'm rambling. I'm not really tired after the 2 hour nap I took tonight, but I can't keep my thoughts together for anything tonight, as if you couldn't tell. So, later...

I got teary eyed... lol

I used to work with all these guys and now everybody is retiring, if they haven't already gone. Kirk was one of the best, I have to agree. He was so down to earth and never thought he was better than anyone else, which really is a problem now days, whether the upper echelon wants to believe it or not. Of course thinking of Tye and Jimmy makes me sad anyway. I can't believe how long it's been since Jimmy died, 12 years. Or that his dad is gone now too. And Mark Langan, still alive, but retired! He's working at the Humane Society now - He was one of the best sergeants I ever worked for - and funny too, we used to prank each other all the time. He'd be out doing surveillance and call and want to know how to spell something because he and the guys were playing some kind of goofy word game that I never did understand, it was funny though. We'd make up words and then one of the other guys would call wanting me to look up the word because he didn't believe it was a real word - well, duh! He gave me a bunch of grief one time because I forgot to stamp a report "Original". I took a whole pad of post it notes, stamped them "Original" and stuck them all over his office, everywhere... I loved that job! Anyway, back to reality...


OMAHA, Neb. -- The Omaha Police Department saw the retirement this month of a man many said is one of its most respected and popular officers.
For decades, Sgt. Kirk Kunze worked the streets of Omaha, many of those in the Northeast Precinct. Kunze was a police officer for 32 years -- 21 in Omaha.
"Best of times would have been working for Mark Langan in narcotics," Kunze said. "Mark really pushed and instilled to keep moving, to produce and go on to the next one. His look at ethics, his desire to show results -- I carry that with me, too."

Langan said he's a Kunze fan, too. "Kirk's the last of a dying breed, no doubt about it," said Langan. "He nurtured his group, taught them right from wrong, considered them his own kids. He's just a fantastic street sergeant, no doubt about it."
Kunze witnessed tragedy, too. "The worst would have been the night Jason Pratt got hurt, because of the shock of it all. First off, he was one of my guys," Kunze said.
Pratt was shot on duty and later died of his injuries.

Kunze also knew Officer Jimmy Wilson Jr., who was shot and killed in 1995.
"To have worked with Jimmy was wonderful. The excitement of a new career, and his plans to come pheasant hunting at my place. The joy of Jason was infectious, and the healing, to me, was to talk to his wife and children," Kunze said of his fallen comrades.
Kunze said a proud moment was when Officer Zach Petrick was shot after a traffic stop in March 2005. Kunze's team stepped in and took control.
"You've got Matt Worm, who would later say, 'I just remembered my Boy Scout training and applied pressure,' to watching Craig Wiley stand, protecting the scene, and no on was going to come into it. My pride -- I've been honored so much just by watching the men and women here do their job without a flinch," Kunze said.
"We're going to miss him a ton," said Officer Frank Platt. "He was a sergeant that got off half an hour before crews but always stayed to make sure his officers made it home safe."
"I've accomplished what I've wanted to do here," Kunze said. "As I said on my last roll call, now, you teach others. See each other succeed. It's been good. But it's time for another adventure."
Kunze said his future plans include writing a screen play.

Did we have a weekend?

Ha ha! Of course we did, I just spent it working!

We did go to the fair on Friday. The weather in Des Moines was gorgeous. It was sunny, no humidity (Thank GOD!), and about 83-85 degrees. It was a perfect fair day. Apparently everyone else thought so too, because it was really crowded by noon, but we had a fun time. I got sunburned - of course. I got a ballcap to keep my face from getting burned, but forgot the sunblock in the car, so the back of my neck and my arms got toasted, but they're pretty much back to normal. I don't think we even ate too much - which is quite an accomplishment, believe me! I could be Templeton the Rat from Charlotte's Web at the fair and eat everything in sight, but we didn't. I had a diet root beer, lemonade, a pork chop (yummy!), some apples with melted caramel, and a funnel cake on the way out. I split everything with Steve, except the pork chop, so I guess it wasn't too bad.

The rest of the weekend went by pretty quickly. As I mentioned before, I was working. I also stayed up late to work on adding some graves to www.nebraskagravestones.org. I think I've got about 300 or so graves entered there. I just found out that Iowa has a site too, so I could add the information I have from Garner Township Cemetery to that. I've gotten several e-mails from people thanking me for the information, so it must be doing some good!

Well, I have dogs barking outside, so I better go rescue them from the heat. I heard it's only supposed to be 77 here later this week! Oh boy! I can't wait!