Cold Times in Tidy Town

The weather here has taken a nasty turn to the significantly colder side ---- Brrrr! I think I'm finally going to break down this evening and turn on the heat. It was way too cold here today with no warm-up at all. Last night the temps dipped into the 30's and it's supposed to be back there again tonight.

Tomorrow is going to be very busy - Gertie goes to have her surgery first thing in the morning and I go to the doctor's office in the afternoon. In between I need to do a little grocery shopping and have everything set for the following 3 or 4 days as Gertie will be home recouperating and I won't want to leave her alone.

I'm sure the doctor is going to be happy and say that things are beginning to heal. While indeed they are it is very slow progress. I'm a bit self conscious going out as my arms look terrible but certain things have to get done.

Glen Beck Boils Frog on TV Show

I do not watch the Glen Beck, nor am I a big fan of the particular network on which his show airs, but I cannot abide what he did recently. I've seen the clip and it is very disturbing, so I will not post it, nor provide a link. Beck starts by stating that if you throw a frog in boiling water it will jump out but if you put him in a pan of warm water and heat it up to boiling he won't jump out. This is totally untrue. Anyway, he pulls out a plastic container and digs around in it for a bit to catch a frog. He then rails something incomprehensible against the president and promptly throws the frog into a pan of boiling water. Beck looks into the pan and, I'm paraphrasing, says something along the order of "I really thought it would jump out. Oh well, forget the frog."



Since the show aired and the outrage has been building Beck has apparently stated that the frog wasn't real. Yet when he brought out the plastic container - it was a clear plastic - you could see the frogs jumping around in the container and he had a bit of trouble catching one.



I have sent a letter to Fox stating that it would not only be a good idea for the Glen Beck to apologize, but also make a sizeable donation to a frog conservation group, such as the Amphibian Conservation Alliance through Frogs.org. There is no justification for the senseless slaughter of frogs!

Rainy Days

I kind of feel bad for the Academic Foundation here in town - yesterday was their big fundraiser and one of the biggest town festivals - the Appleknocker. It might have started out well, but I think the hail storm, thunder and lightning, and driving rain might have been a bit of a damper on the rows of booths and entertainment. In the midst of all this wonderful weather, my lawn guy showed up to do the lawn - needless to say I said no.

Gertie, who used to run out in the rain just to see how wet she could get, has decided that maybe getting wet is not all what it's cracked up to be. She went out relunctantly and quickly returned.

I'd been hungry for pizza so I ran over to Walmart to pick up one of theirs. They have this new smaller 12 inch pizza, so I picked up a couple of those. Even though I was only gone for about 15 minutes I was exhausted when I got home and went in and took a small nap. I'm in the 2nd week of a 6 week recovery period. It's unbelievable to me that a drug reaction can cause so many problems.

Weekend Dog Blogging

Gertie
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino

I can't believe it's the weekend already. As per the doctor's orders I've been spending a lot of time in bed resting. Gertie's been really good through the whole I'm just not feeling well thing. She likes to curl up on the end of the bed. If I'm in my chair she'll curl up on my lap.

I snapped this picture this morning and she's looking like "It really is time to play now, isn't it?"

Merry Christmas?!?!?!

I'm laying in bed, running a bit of a fever and really tired. I have the television running to keep Gertie occupied while I take a nap. I wake up to "We wish you a Merry Christmas" playing on the television - and the only thought I have is - just how long of a nap did I take? Honestly! Christmas commercials playing in September - that's just sooooo wrong....

Feeling Like Crap

Still feeling a bit under the weather - actually, if I could scratch my skin off at the moment I probably would. I feel like I've been dragged through a nettles patch - twice. I went back to the doctor's office yesterday so they could try drawing bloodwork again. After being stuck so many times last week I wasn't looking forward to it. Needless to say, I went back this morning so they could try again. Finally this morning they got the blood. Of course they had to stick me in a spot that even they said beforehand was going to hurt like hell - and it did. I don't have to go back to see the doctor until next Thursday - hopefully this whole drug induced rash will be mostly healed by then. In the meantime, Gertie and I are going to go take a little nap - I just wanted to update you on what was going on.....

Update

Slowly I'm feeling a bit better. Lots of naps throughout the day help - and Gertie loves that idea a lot! I have to head back to the doctor's office tomorrow for bloodwork and since I'm off all medications at the moment, have them check my blood pressure.

I called the vet office this morning and made the appointment to have Gertie spayed - she'll be going in for her surgery on October 1st.

Did you see the emmy awards last night. I was able to stay up for the most of it. I like Neil Patrick Harris as a host - he did a phenomenal job at the Tony awards - and his opening number last night was quite funny. I was glad to see The Daily Show win another 2 awards. Something tells me the show will be a repeat tonight as I'm sure they all went out and celebrated afterwards.

Time to check out my soap to see what's going on - I've been really tired today so I'm sure I'll be taking a nap afterwards. I'll be so happy when this whole thing is cleared up......

Bed Rest

That's the doctor's orders for now. The last couple of days have been hazy - I hadn't been able to get out of bed for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time. I am exhausted. Yesterday I dragged myself to the doctor's office, where he had an absolute hissy fit over the fact that of the allergy rash that now covered me from head to toe. He agreed that it was a reaction to the Lipitor and it could take another 6 weeks to resolve. In the meantime I was given a steroid shot in the behind and told to take it easy. Today I actually felt like getting out of bed for a bit so the shot must be helping some. I'm not pushing it and will head back to bed after getting something to drink, letting Gertie out, and thinking about lunch but probably not eating anything. Things may be sporadic here for a little bit, but I'll try to keep you apprised of what's going on.....

Musings

I bought a set of Martha Stewart sheets recently - OMG - I've slept on sandpaper that was more comfortable! This was the second MS item I bought and I imagine the last. The other item was a floor lamp. I bought it years ago when she first came out with her K-Mart line. It has a swing arm and reminded me of one my grandmother used to have next to her chair. It is supposed to take a 3-way bulb but it blows out the two lowest settings from the first turn of switch. She may have the name but the quality is poor.

I woke up itching from head to toe and some of the most beautiful welts - I look like I've been running through a nettles patch. I see the doctor on Thursday afternoon and I may be out of my mind by then. I'm not sure what's causing all of this but I hope we get it all straightened out soon.

So last night ended the long national nightmare - Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert came back from their 3 week vacation. Evening television makes sense again.

I was sad to hear that Patrick Swayze passed away - he fought a brave battle against cancer and died way to soon. I liked the fact that he was a Billy Elliot - starting his career learning dance at his mother's studio.

Gertie and I are going to go take an afternoon nap. Next week she's going to be spayed and micro-chipped and something tells me she may be a little mad at me afterwards.....

Weekend Dog Blogging

Gertie
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino

I just got back from the grocery store. They finally got back into stock the chew sticks that Shadow always loved. So I thought I'd get one to see if Gertie would like it and she does. I laughed so hard when I gave it to her. I had bought the small and it's almost as big as she is! LOL But she's carrying it around and is chewing for all she's worth. Even when I went into the bedroom to change back into shorts she brought it along and hopped on the bed and started chewing away - Hey! No eating in bed!!

Cable Issues Again

The cable access for the internet was down again yesterday - they say they're working on it. For as much as they've been working on it - it seems like it could have been fixed a hundred times over. I'm really considering moving to a satellite service.

Yesterday was 9/11 and like every other year I had to turn off the television - the coverage is too much, especially when they re-show all that happened. It was disturbing the first time and I couldn't imagine what someone who lost a loved one in that attack must go through rewatching the coverage.

This afternoon I'm doing two batches of fruitcake so I'll be plenty busy.

The lawn guy showed up just as I was getting ready to head out to run some errands so things have been pushed back a bit. Gertie was so excited and couldn't wait to get out there to see what he lawn looked like. She had lots of fun running around. Now she's taking a nap and I think that sounds like a good idea.....

This month is flying by.....

I can't believe that it's the 10th already. Time is really flying by and I don't seem to be getting anywhere. Today I had plans for a number of errands and before I knew it, late afternoon and no errands. I decided to use the credit I had to order pizza for dinner - Gertie loves the pizza delivery lady.

I've designated this weekend fruitcake weekend, so I'll be elbow deep in sticky candied fruit as well as various dried fruits and lots of nuts. I can't wait to get started.

Six months ago the physician's assistant (because you never see a doctor) ordered Lipitor. My cholesterol isn't high but he said it had other properties than that. I've had problems with since the beginning and Monday I had enough and threw the rest away. Only 4 days later and I'm already starting to see improvements from getting that crap out of my system. A fun read sometime is to read the known side effects of this medication - it'll scare the poop right out of you!

Gertie and I are getting ready to watch Keith Olbermann and get the critique of last night's presidential speech. Then tonight is project runway night.......

Back to the grind

Hope you had a nice long weekend and took the opportunity to get away for a bit. Gertie and I stayed close to home - the weather here was a bit rainy and cool. It gave me a chance to do a little baking - Johnny Cake, just the way grandma used to make it. It's made for some great breakfast fare.

Today I have to run to the liquor store to pick up what I need to soak the fruit for the rest of the week for the fruitcake. Then I guess whether I want to or not I'll be at the grocery store getting ingredients so that I can bake the fruitcake and get the wrapped in brandy soaked cheeseclothe so they can be mellowing until Christmas time.

I spent a time yesterday searching for pork tenderloin recipes - hopefully I found a good one. I've got 4 tenderloins in the freezer and I think they need to be used up - dinners for quite some time! Slowly I'm getting my freezer cleaned out and ready for new stuff. I haven't gotten the food co-op much this year and not at all over the summer - and there's still plenty of stuff in the freezer to last a while.

I was flipping through the backed up news stories in my in-box and came across a story about a new frog species found in New Guinea. Researchers descended into a defunct volcanic crater where life has been allowed to evolve on its own over the last two thousand years. The frog had fangs - how cool is that? A lot of other unknown species were also found but the frog was the best. I hope they come out with pictures soon.

What to do over the holiday weekend....

TGIF

It's been a long week here at Frog Central. I think Gertie and I are both happy that the long weekend is here. I don't have many plans - tomorrow is the River Chowder, but I don't think I'm up to eating any stew at the moment. I tried a little of the popcorn last night and that was a BIG mistake! Today I'm sticking with soup.

I've been searching for some new frogs on the internet but nothing really interesting has caught my eye. Radko sales are going on this weekend all over and a good chance to get some ornaments for as much as 40% off. Unfortunately I didn't find anything that I didn't already have. Which is a shame because I have a really long list of Radko frog ornaments that I don't have.

I've needed to go grocery shopping for weeks, but each day the list keeps getting longer and frankly I'm a bit afraid of what this list is going to cost me. I've decided I need to pare things down to the absolute minimum because I need to get the last of the things together to get my fruitcakes made. If I get them made in the next couple weeks they'll be ready around the first of November.

It's Cool Here in Tidy Town

The weather here has been really cool, which has been great for the electric bill. Things are starting to warm up just a bit, but still very comfortable with a ceiling fan going. Remember to turn them of when you leave the room - they don't cool the room down, they cool you by moving the air over you.

I decided yesterday that after being sick I was going to scrub the bedroom from top to bottom. I changed the sheets on the bed and was exhausted! It was all I could do to crawl on top of the bed and take a little nap. Gertie was quite o.k. with that. I was woken up by the doorbell ringing - I received a gift of popcorn from a friend who wasn't sure when my birthday was (October 12th). Nothing wrong with celebrating for a month and half is there? LOL

Today I'm feeling even better and so I sat down and started paying bills. I'm trying to get everything together so I can pay them on-line with a bill paying service. It worked really well this morning - now I just want to double check to be sure everyone actually get paid. If so, this will cut down on the time it takes to pay bills and certainly save a lot on postage.

The soaps are over and I'm going to go try to get a hold of AB. She's been incognito lately and I want to check up on her to see how she's doing.

Alive and Kicking

Like a recurrent nightmare - I'm back. Thankfully I'm feeling a lot better today. Not much has happened in the last couple of days other than sleeping. Although I want to jump right into lots of projects I think I'll take it slow for the next couple of days. If anything exciting happens I'll be sure to let you know, otherwise I'll see you on Friday.