Wow have I been missing forever

It started out as problems with my computer. It moved on to needing to do work outside to get everything as weed proof as I could. This I am most of the way done with. I just need to do a little clean up. Then there is the care for the lawn. It needs a lot of TLC let me tell you. Move one to posting a little more on my flickr account and then someone dragged me over to facebook and got me addicted on games.

I can not believe how fast time has flown. In the time I have been gone I think I only did a small handful of things worth blogging about. Of course if it would be of interest to anyone else I have not a clue.

I have my flower garden coming up and the nice red mulch is keeping most of the weeds away. I do have one puzzle here however. I planted a whole bunch of different colored tiger Lillie's and I do not think a single one came up. I was waiting to see if this one thing that came up was a tiger Lilly or a weed. I think it must be a weed. So what on earth did I do wrong with my tiger Lillie's? I suppose I could have planted them to deep but I thought I got it right. The way I planted them they were all planted at the same depth pretty much which could explain everything failing or making it. I have not watered tons but I have watered and put down some miracle grow fertilizer too. I did put a couple of inches of mulch over the top of the ground. I suppose that could have been a problem. I do have critters in the area but the Iris's all came up and the tulips did well. It just is a mystery to me but then I am not the gardener.

Anyway the tulips are long gone and the iris's are also bloomed out and now I have nothing to look at but green.

The shrubs I planted last fall seem to be doing OK but it will be forever before they look big enough to belong.

My managed to get my garden in order. I planted lots of different peppers and a tomato plant but once again a mystery. The tomato plant wants to lay down on the ground. I am not sure if something got to it or if I should have staked it up sooner. I am not be seeing tomatoes this year. Bummer I like tomatoes. Oh I did try a few things different with the garden. It LOVES to grow weeds, weeds, and MORE WEEDS. This year I put down a weed barrier and placed recycled rubber mulch on top of the barrier. It cost a small fortune but it is not supposed to float away, attract bugs, or fade for a long, long time. We will see how that works. Of course maybe that is what is bugging the tomato plants. I still need to get a small fence around the garden as I have a lot of rabbits in the area. Somehow I do not think I can guard against the few deer I have seen but I do not think they are bothering anything.

That brings me on to other fun projects. I have a window sill under a large picture window that is totally disintegrated. The squirrels did not help and now I have no sill. This mean the wall is exposed to the weather. I guess that will be my next project. I would also like to put in a nice little paver patio. My deck is to hot in the evening plus it is a tiny 10 x 12. I would like a nice area below I can place my grill on and come patio furniture and just relax enjoying the evening. Speaking of my deck, I need to tare about all but the infrastructure and replace it probably with planks that are part wood, part plastic that are suppose to wear for at least 10 years. That will be a bit of work and the bird living under the deck may still be using it for the baby bird and the nest. Oh well I have stuff to do. Speaking of which I also have two pieces of siding to replace. One is about 20 foot off the ground and I do not do well with height. That should be fun.

Since I have been gone I had a mini vacation to Kentucky to visit and do a little bit of Derby. I also have been spending a bit of time with the folks and family because face it, our folks... if they are alive, are not getting any younger. I will be celebrating the 4th with family and hope to take in a parade, a concert, and fireworks. We will see.

OK, about a concert. I had tickets to do the Chicago / Earth, Wind, and Fire concert that came to the Detroit area last month. I had to work and would have missed at least 2/3rds of the concert. I chose not to go. I am bummed. I love Chicago and what I heard of EWF I think I would love them too. The combined bands are simply incredible. I sure regret missing that.

Work has been threatening for possible cuts or furlow days. So far I have had to take 2. We will see what else is in store but I am certainly worried. I do not think I will lose my job but that is always a possibility. What can I say, the world economy is bad but in Michigan it down right stinks.

Well I should end this with two things. First, I will see if I can get some firework pictures and post them for the 4th or 5th. Second, today is not only Canada Day or otherwise known as Canada's birthday but I too share it's birthday. I have heard from several of you and I really want to say thank you. I especially want to say thank you to Mona who I suspect was the birdy letting people know it was my birthday. Mona you are the best. I would love to be half as considerate of other people as you are. Thank you and I love you for that and for being the super person that you are.

Well I will see if I can check in but I may not be near a computer for several days. Then again I have not posted for months so no one will ever read this anyway.

To those in the states have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend. Happy birthday to Canada and all her citizens especially all those we consider our friends here in blog land. And for everyone else... just have a wonderful weekend, OK?

Conficker

Looks like I got hit. ZoneAlarm is a piece of SHIT and their support is non existant. I have been waiting for going on two hours for a CHAT which is the way they support you. Here is what happened so you do not make the same mistake if you are using ZoneAlarm.

First, dump ZoneAlarm and get something else that REALY WORKS. Anyway here we go.

I have ZoneAlarm Security Suite 1 PC - 1 Year that I updated on March 31. I ran a scan and everything came back fine except it found about 8 malware items, nothing unusual.

Today I received a message box that said there is an update to ZoneAlarm that is important to apply. After I downloaded zaSuiteSetup_80_298_035_en.exe and ran it my machine no longer seems to work proper.

I can not seem to get to some places on the Internet. The ZoneAlarm product icon says protection is up but the UI is initializing and that was for a long time (at least 7 minutes) so I finally restarted. It did not seem better. Then I restarted in Safe Mode and things seem better more or less.

The file I downloaded is 61,024,648 bytes long and says that it is 8.0.298.035.
It says it was signed April 1st at 12:04:12 AM

It did not seem better. Then I restarted in Safe Mode and things seem better more or less but that means ZoneAlarm is not running. I still can not access Windows Update.
The website has encountered a problem and cannot display the page you are trying to view. The options provided below might help you solve the problem.
I also can not get the google updater to get Norton Security Scan and had a problem downloading that.

So it looks like I am infected. It also looks like ZoneAlarm has horribly failed me and they do not even have a message on their front page saying what is going on. I wish I could get this out to the press so they could warn everyone about ZoneAlarm. I guess I will just have to try this instead.

They call me Farmer Barman

Yesterday I was out working my land
The vegetable garden with be big and strong
There were be a decent variety planted
when the time is appropriate

I can not wait for harvest time.

Of course in my mind my garden is huge
In reality it’s only 72 square feet.

I had to continue the green theme...

Since the weather has been mostly decent lately I have been trying to do what I can to get the flower and vegetable gardens ready for the year. The weather did not cooperate over the weekend and since it will be a good size job I decided to move on to the vegetable garden.

Over the last several years I have not done anything with the garden, not even pick the weeds. One year I had a weed that was 6 foot tall. I could not bear to cut it down, I wanted to see how big it could get to be. I did at one point toss a bunch of grass clippings on the garden to choke out the weeds.

Well yesterday was the day to clean that mess up. The chicken wire I use to try and keep the critters out came down and will be replaced with new chicken wire. Next clean all the mess up. I have almost 70 percent cleaned up. The rest I have to move some retainer wall bricks, a couple of tree rings, a couple of down spout splash thingies, and some sand. Then I get to use the tiller. I can not wait. This year I think I will add some onions and cut back on the tomatoes.

I have another small project I may try this year. I have a couple of small planting beds by my front door. The bed on one side has small single layer retaining wall as a border. The other side has a plastic border. I think it may be time to put down the retaining wall on the other side. I will lose a fair amount of space in the bed but it has Hosta plants and I do not need that room if I do not plant any annuals in there. It will not be a ton of work and it will look much nicer.

Yep you can tell spring is hear. My head is thinking outside, outside, outside.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

55Flash Fiction Friday

I peek
I poke
I find my way to the top

I yawn
I stretch
I reach for the sky

I have been asleep
for a very long time
but now I am awake
and raring to go

Soon I will be
strong and tall

Spring has sprung
and the flowers
are on their way


Today at 7:44 am EDT spring has arrived. Happy spring everyone. This particular 55 was inspired by my flower beds. I noticed last Friday I had several things poking out of the earth. By Sunday I actually had a few things sticking out almost a full inch. It would appear my tulips are raring to get out and say high. I can not wait. I just hope the weather does not get to them. I mean this morning it has been 17 F which is well below freezing. Poor flowers.

If you would like to participate in 55Flash Fiction Friday just put together a short story in 55 words. Then go over to G-Mans place and let him know you played so he can bring everyone over to come see. Then go visit some of your fellow 55 writers. It is all fun. Do give it a try.

55Flash Fiction Friday

It was a dark and stormy night
The sky was filled with
mother natures fireworks.

Suddenly a clap of thunder was heard
and the large maple tree
comes crashing through the ceiling.

You were pinned, life threatened
but it was your best day of your life
for today your met your future mate,
the paramedic.




The above is a Flash Fiction. It contains 55 word as they all do. Why don't you give it a go. It actually can be fun. Just write a little mini story in 55 words. Include a plot and a character and there you have it. Once you are done and posted go visit G-Man and tell him you posted a 55 flash fiction. He will be sure to stop by as will others. Go visit their 55s and enjoy all the wonderfully talented people we have out there. I hope you join us.


I had the strangest thing happen this morning. I think I lost an entire week, or was that I gained a weekend?

Works continues to be challenging and kind of draining. When I get home I tend to do very little and time just seems to be flying by as a result. When my alarm went off this morning I thought it was Monday morning. I quickly thought I could not even remember what I did over the weekend and thought there went another wasted weekend. Then the guy doing the news said it was Friday and I thought I can not believe he made a mistake like that. It was then that it dawned on me that it actually was Friday and a weekend was almost here.

Looks like a whole lot of thinking going on in a short period of time with no coffee and a brain that obviously was still asleep. I sure hope the day goes uphill from here. Either was it is almost the WEEKEND and ... AND March is just around the corner. You know what that means? Only about 3 weeks from spring and lately the weather has started to feel like spring. I am sure we will get a ton of snow yet but somehow I can make it knowing there is an end in sight.

So have a wonderful weekend, I know I will. I get a bonus weekend... YEA.

Enough of This Crap Already

The other day I saw a headline that caught my attention so I decided to click and see what it was all about. The article was talking about the fleet of helicopters for the President that were way over budget. I think the 28 helicopters that were ordered 7 years ago were suppose to cost somewhere around 5.4 billion dollars. Now they are coming in at 11.2 billion dollars. After the President talked about going through the budget to remove waist John McCain asked him about the helicopters. I think McCain was being serious about trimming waste in the government but I am sure it was a dig at the new President too.

What really got me however were the comments made by the readers. There were those people blaming Obama. Now Obama has already broken some promises but is that surprising? There was not way he could deliver on what he campaigned on. But to blame him for the helicopters is insane. Now if he allows this to go on then you have something to talk about.

Of course there were those people that were attacking Bush for ordering them to begin with. OK, lets look at that. The fleet of helicopters are at least 30 years old. Even with the most careful maintenance there comes a time when they will no long be safe. That and I am sure they do not have the latest in counter measures to help keep the President safe. So I think the helicopters are probably needed but not at the original 186 million each and certainly not at the current 400 million. And why on earth do we need 28 helicopters. Now I know they need a more than one or two helicopter but couldn’t we make do with maybe 20 or even 14? And why on earth the over-runs? Was it the White House changing the specks? Was it the White House delaying decisions? Was it the fault of the contractors? Regardless of what, common guys.

Was there waste? You bet there was. Was there a need? Again you bet there was and still is. Did Obama have anything to do with this? Well no unless he does not do something about it now that it is out in the open. By the way, when McCain asked him about it, Obama said he had already asked someone to check into it and also said he does not see why he needs new helicopters. Is Obama all about getting rid of pork? Common, did you hear about half the stuff that was included in the latest rescue package? I am sure he could have vetoed portions of the bill or pushed Congress to pass a better bill but he needed this victory bad. Heck we needed this victory bad ... if it actually works.

We need to stop this stupid partisanship in Congress and in the entire United States. Obama is trying hard to do the best for the United States. Regardless if you voted for him or not, he is OUR President now. We need to Congress to do what they were voted into office for, to represent the best interest of the people ... not the best interest of their party. And more importantly, we the people need to get over this Republican vs Democrat, Black vs White, even Man vs Woman and just do what we can do to help out... not make things worse. Aren’t things bad enough already. Don’t we need to need to dig out, not keep burring ourselves even deeper?


I can not believe it. My blackberry has been slowly dying since Monday. I have been so busy at work I could not do anything about it. I have been working late and when I get home I am not even able to do much of anything. I have had that phone just short of 2 months and ... I missed my phone so much. It became even more highlighted today when I was trying to get together with a few people. I did not get my email that we were trying to get together. I also discovered that my phone was not really working so I would not be able to make or receive calls from people. Once we got the phone reloaded and everything was working again I still managed to miss a call because the ringer tone I had selected was now missing after the reload. Anyway now everything is working just fine once again. Of course trying to get people together is about impossible so that still is not happening yet. But at least now when I get a phone call, an email, an IM, or Text Message I can get right back with them. I was not this connected a few months ago. Why on earth do I need all this stuff?


I do not watch the award shows anymore. Most of them are just worthless. The golden globes over the weekend were no different. Now don’t get me wrong I really liked Slumdog Millionaire but did it really deserve 8 awards? I have not seen what the awards were but my bet is no they did not. Once a movie gets on the roll it seems like they sweep everything and those other deserving movies go unrecognized. Now after saying that, congratulations to Slumbdog Millionaire on doing so well. I am so glad I read what Susie had to say about the movie. If she had not I probably would not have went to see it.


Tuesday was fat Tuesday and I brought in Paczki into work. I was bad and had 2. I should not have had any. I must say the Ricotta Cheese one I had was awesome. But now it is time to start being good again and get that exercise in too. With today being dirty forehead day (Ash Wednesday) and the start of lent I guess this works out perfect. I did have one thing funny happen today. I had one of the people I work with tell me I had grease on my forehead. Now some people tease me but I think this person was serious as they tend to fix stuff around the facilities and I would not be surprised if they get themselves into greasy situations all the time. I guess you had to be there.


I had my first veggie max burger today at Subways. Not bad at all. If I am going to forgo meat then I still think I enjoy the seafood sub better however. Of course it is time for me to pick another sub as they did away with the my favorite. Did I mention that when ever I have a favorite TV show it goes off the air. Favorite thing to do, it stops. And now favorite food, it goes away too. I am surprised Slumdog did well as I actually liked it. That should have been the kiss of death.

Well enough pointless banter. We are over the hump. Only 2 more days to the weekend.

55 Flash Fiction Friday

You have admired her
from afar
all your life

It is finally time
you make your move

As you approach
you notice that
Latika and Jimmie
are holding hands

Your whole life is ruined

After a while your
kindergarten teacher,
Miss Kendra,
comes over
and asks you what is wrong

You are in love again

Boy kids are growing up way to early. I found out my niece is on her second, or is that third boyfriend and she is only 13. I know, I need to get with the times.

There was a line above... "Your whole life is ruined". Funny thing about that. Several years back I was listening to a conversation between a child and their parent. Apparently the child had done something wrong and the parent said the child was grounded. It was then that the child said their whole life was ruined. That particular moment stuck in my head. Compared to being worried about a job, paying bills, that child on the way, and oh so many more things happening to people every day this whole grounding seems to be such high melodrama.


I am in such a rut. Every time I do a 55, even when I try and change it up... they all seem to look the same. I would love to be able to write wonderful masterpieces like some of the others I have read but it all seems to escape me. Still it is fun to do and enjoyable to visit everyone's 55's for the week.

I hope you do give this a try. It really is not that hard to do. What I find the most challenging is to develop a little story in 55 words but it can be done. James, Mona, and G-man are three people that come to mind right off that do wonderful things with just 55 words. There are so many more talented people out there too. If you decided to participate just put together a 55 word story with at least one character and a plot. If I can do it I know you can too. Once you post your 55 then go visit G-Man and let him know you have participated so others know to come visit your 55 too. Then take a gander at some of the other wonderful 55ers that participated that week. You won't regret it.

Oh one last thing. I just fell in love with the name Latika when I watched Slumdog Millionaire so I just had to use it here. I guess it just rolls off my tongue so well.

Take care and have a wonderful weekend everyone.