Somoas!

I've Done It AGAIN!

...Caused a controversy with my opinion.

We have a low railroad bridge in our town. For a very long time the clearance was 14 feet. That was low enough as it was, but the highway underneath had drainage problems so TX DOT - the state highway department - raised the level of the highway level with the curbs. Now the clearance is only 13 feet 7 inches.

Guess how many high loads still try to go under the bridge?! It is really amazing! Now we have signs at all points of the compass on the highways coming into town in plenty of time to turn around and take a detour. Still...loads hit the bridge. The worst culprits are the log haulers. They (as are other industries in the trucking business) are paid by the weight of the load, so they pile on another log or two.

My question is "How hard is it to put a tape measure on the load?!"

On our local newspaper's Facebook page, it was reported that on Monday, a guy hauling a piece of equipment (for the log industry) didn't just hit the bridge. Thank God no one was in the other lane.

People were blaming the highway department and the railroad. I basically commented that being from a truck driving family - the fault was the driver's and the driver's alone.

(Note not in my FB comment: After all the bridge does not rise and fall with the pull of the moon!)

OH MY GOODNESS! You would've thought I'd called him a murderer!! I didn't realize that I was being talked about nastily until I was showing someone here at the courthouse the photo the paper posted. Then I saw the comments - a woman (cousin/sister/something) took umbrage that I dare think it was the driver's fault. Then commented that someone who works for the county has no business commenting.

The county has no dog in this hunt. The bridge is within city limits. The highway is a state highway. The bridge is owned by the railroad. I did NOT comment as a county employee. I commented as being in a truckdriving family.

ARGGHHH!!! No one has even said whether the driver admitted being at fault. Of course, we all know whose name the ticket was issued in!

The shame of it is...in about 2001 or 2002 a long hauler hit the bridge and knocked part of his load off his trailer. It landed on top of a jeep driven by a young man who had been married less than a year. He was killed instantly leaving a widow and two small stepchildren to mourn him along with his friends and the rest of his family.

A wrongful death lawsuit was considered, then the mother found out about the driver. He accepted responsibility and was taking it extremely hard - could not work and was barely functioning. In addition, log haulers and the indepent owners of the trucks/log yard/etc. are not rich people. She said that money would not bring back her son and she refused to file the lawsuit.

The point is - the driver took responsibility.

My dad, all three brothers, and my first husband were all truckdrivers. I imagine they had well over 150 years combined experience between them. One brother is still 'trucking.' NOT ONE OF THEM ever swiped a load off their trucks driving under low bridges!

My uncle did. He hauled a few loads of logs. He did hit the bridge with his last load and knocked off a couple of logs. Thank God no one was near enough to be hit. He got out of the log business real quick. He accepted responsiblity.

I decided I needed to label this C.O.W. - Cranky Old Woman 

Now - as soon as my boss returns from continuing education classes, I've got to fess up about the FB post. I will be removing my place of employment from my profile in the near future...but not just yet.

P.S. Found out that the driver received not one but three tickets! I know you are all totally surprised. Now - who was at fault?

Cruisin'

Got reservations made and calendar marked. My friends and I have our deposits down for our next cruise! In a mere 356 days from now the five of us are heading to Galveston to board the Carnival Magic for a SEVEN DAY cruise to Key West then Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas. 

We were on the Triumph last year and swore that we would never sail on it again. Had it been our first cruise - it probably would've been our last. The ship was in major need of an overhaul back then. The crew was excellent - the ship was outdated.

The Magic is their newest having first sailed in 2011. We are so ready. One BFF is already checking weather. ;)

It's Sunday!

Parents, PLEASE! Look at your kids' clothing before leaving the house! Her two sizes too small thong is cutting her hips in half. Then her too tight dress magnifies all the bumps and humps including the fat dimples! And she's really not too big...the clothes are just too tight. (For those of you who remember - looks like she has on a sanitary napkin doesn't it!!)

Cain loves chocolate chip cookies - just further proof that he is my grandson. :D

I made King Cup Cakes for our monthly birthday cake at work. Neither the judge nor I could find purple sugar crystals anywhere (without ordering which we waited too late to do) so she purchased purple cupcake papers. The recipe is on King Arthur Flour's website.

Yippee!!! After 21 hours of hand quilting, I completed the first pass on my applique quilt! The border is 10" x 94"...crosshatched and outlining the vine on both sides.

Next roll on the frame - starting on the blocks. I originally planned on calling this Rose of Sharon variation "Sherry's Rose." But since the death of Mama nearly a year ago now, this will be "Shirley's Rose."

Computers

Sam's computer has been pfffftttt. Working so slow most of the time. It would have a quick moment of sanity and work fast for a short time, then next time it would be back to its same old tricks.

Jonathan decided to downsize to a laptop so sold Sam his pc.

Jonathan and Kirk are visiting this weekend.

Sam and Jonathan are both in bed - still this morning - and I'm playing with Jonathan's laptop. Ssssh. Don't tell him but before he leaves Monday, I'm going to hide this and slip my laptop in his case!

Bwahahahahaha

Just Stuff

Not much going on around here. I've been setting my Kindle to Text to Speech and listening to it while I sit in front of the quilting frame working on a poor red-headed step-child quilt that's been in the frame ever since I started work - TWO YEARS ago! Hmmm...I don't seem to have a full view photo of it. You'll have to wait until I finish the vine and roll the quilt to the next section. 

It's a Rose of Sharon variation. Originally I was going to call it Sherry's Rose, but since Mama's death last March I've decided to name it Shirley's Rose.

I purchased the Outlander series (by Diana Gabaldon) for my Kindle. (Thanks Cody, Brook, and Isabel for the Amazon gift card for Christmas!) I'm reading/listening to it AGAIN! I've lost track of the number of times I've read it or listened to it on audio book from the library. And am anxiously awaiting the next book...Written in My Own Heart's Blood to be released Fall 2013!!! :D

I baked oatmeal-raisin cookies for Sam yesterday afternoon. He kinda got his nose out of joint about the spicy chocolate tart I made. When I offered him a slice of it, he commented Yes, I'd like some oatmeal cookies. eyeroll Men are truly just little boys in grown-up disguises.

The last time I baked the cookies, I pulled the recipe off the internet. It's Quakers Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies. I thought something was different. It called for 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1 stick and 6 tablespoons butter. Hmmm...I didn't remember that. The cookies were different. They were thicker and more cake-like. Later, I found the "original" recipe in my binder. Well HELLOOOO! Quaker changed the recipe and did not call it "Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies - less sugar - less fat." 

I made this batch by the original recipe. Just like we remembered they should be. Perfect!

Here's the updated recipe:
   http://www.quakeroats.com/cooking-and-recipes/content/recipes/recipe-detail.aspx?recipeId=474

Just remember to use 2 sticks of butter a full cup of brown sugar. (I searched the site trying to find the REAL recipe - it's not there!)

John texted to tell me that one morning Colt was singing: Pawpaw Pawpaw Pawpaw Genie Genie Genie Donnie Donnie Donnie...over and over again. Colt can't pronounce Granny yet. Donnie and his wife are friends of John's and Erin's. Sam was visiting with John later in the week. The guys, including Donnie, went to lunch together. That was the first Donnie had heard about the song. Sam said he grinned.

Well - that's about it! Just the "normals" around here. Work - which I love! Work around the house - a necessary evil. Wishing my grands were closer.

Chocolate, Family, Late Winter

 I gathered the supplies for a new dessert from the King Arthur Flour website - Spiced Chocolate Tart
My version was not gluten free - I used my trusty food processor pastry recipe.

 While it was enjoyed - it didn't have enough ginger flavor. The directions said to strain the ginger pieces out, but Jonathan and I decided that I shouldn't do that. Thank goodness! The only ginger taste the tart had was when you bit into the bits of ginger.

 Kirk visited with us too. He is a hoot! I don't do animals in the house so he spent nights on the screen porch. He rather thought he was inside. ;-) Except when night fell...he howled. Jonathan said Kirk didn't howl...he barked and whined a bit...but did not howl. I'm sure he heard the coyotes howling.

The first day while Jonathan was out and about, he clipped a chain to Kirk's collar and put him outside under the pear trees. Kirk was NOT happy. Sam went out to check on him. He had dumped his food and water bowls, flipped his crate upside down and was in the crate barking. Poor darlin'!

My camelia bush is loaded! Won't this be a delightful site when it bursts open in red blooms?!

The first flowers of spring.

Bluebonnets!!

If you look down while walking, you'll see quite a few of these pretty little blue flowers sprinkled around.

The Good and the Pfffftttt

Sam, Jonathan, and I went to see "Parental Guidance" at the movie theater tonight. I haven't laughed that much at the movies in a very long time. 

Now - Jonathan, my 29-year old son, and I are watching television. We just enjoyed two back-to-back commercials. One was for Cialis - erectile dysfunction. The other was for RepHresh - feminine cleanliness.

Not quite as bad as when he was 14 and tampon commercials came on. At least now we can laugh about them.

On to Grander Things

Isabel's second birthday cake! She enjoyed eating the frogs...except for the legs. She gave them to me, I handed them to Colt and told him if he ate them that he would turn into a frog. He ate them, turned to his mommy and said, "Me frog." LOL

Daddy feeding Isabel some cake...see the lily pad in her hand? (LOL That lily pad has legs! Must be a frog on a lily pad.)

Isabel in Granny's arms.

The first gift she opened. She saw the netting sticking out of the top of the gift bag and wanted it. Great Aunt Carol helped her pull it out. She grinned from ear to ear while Carol tied it on her. Throughout the afternoon, every so often she would stop, kick out a leg, and watch the netting flutter. Brought a smile to my face every time I saw it.

Colt and Isabel playing kitchen.

Cain got in on the action too!

The tutu above was just "icing on the cake" so to speak. My former sister-in-law told me she still had MY baby doll bed that I had given to my niece, Lacee...did I want it back. WELL YEAH! Sam repainted it for me. I made the soft-sculpture doll, "mattress," and doll quilt. As the gift opening wound down, I pulled the goodies from a trash bag, placed the mattress in the bed, laid the doll down, and covered completely with the doll quilt. The quilt is made from scraps of Isabel's baby quilt. Isabel pulled the quilt off the doll...looked at the doll...put the quilt over her head and walked off. :D

As an aside: Christmas week, Cody and Brook sold their old home and purchased this new home. John gave or loaned them the bed Sam made for the A-frame John did live in. When he and Erin purchased their new home, the bedroom had 9-foot ceilings. The bed just did not work in there so they purchased another. Brook is very excited about the bed.

 I made the quilt for Brook and Cody when they married. It all looks pretty good together, doesn't it?!

Where?

I heard some absolutely horrible news today. When I walked in the house this evening, Sam asked how my day had gone. I started crying as I told him about the incident. I pulled up the online newspaper so that he could read it.

I think for the first time in my life I asked God "Where were you? What were you doing?!"

But then I knew. He was crying while Satan reared his ugly-ass head back and laughed and applauded at those who would blame God for this horror.