A Plethora of Stuff but no 55

I love doing the 55Flash Fiction Fridays but I am afraid I am out of it and can not get the creative juices flowing. Something about leaving work at 1 am last night just zaps everything.

The last few days have been insane. Work is very demanding and yet we may soon find ourselves working without pay for a little while. At least I will still have a job I think. Oh that and I think I may actually have Sunday off... woohoo.

The grass kept getting longer and longer until finally Wednesday was time to cut the lawn. It normally takes me around 45 minutes or so. This time it took me over 3 hours. Now if I could only get to the trimming. But my now it looks so much more spiffy.

The diet really is not a diet yet but it is going OK. I think I lost about another pound but other than Wednesday I have not been able to find much time to be all that active so it has been tough. I am almost afraid to hit the scales as I ate more than I should yesterday. Oh that and I had a beer. Got to have a beer, the Red Wings were on TV at the bar we took a break at. Beer and hockey, ah!

The glucose numbers have been very good and were even outstanding the day after cutting the lawn. I have never seen them so low. I paid a price however as I think it dipped a little low on Wednesday. Even my number this morning is not bad at all. So yes, I have not been misbehaving. And I have to tell you that is no fun what so ever.

I can not believe I did not even make it around checking everyone out for HNT and probably will not make it around for 55Flash Fiction Friday but I am on my way back into work soon. Tonight with any luck I will probably be off work at 9:00 as the second shift takes over. Maybe I can come out and play later.

Missed the bloggers abuse awareness day (sorry don't know what this was actually called). I need to wander a little and check that out. Such a worthy cause.

My poor game boards are on hold until maybe Sunday when I have some time.

We are just starting to get some color around here as the trees are starting to turn for the fall. Michigan is a lovely area, especially this time of the year. I will see if I can get a few snap shots to post. I need to the sun to be out to get a decent picture and I have been more or less at work all the time when the sun is out so it may not happen until Sunday.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and remember Carpe Diem ... seize the fish or is that sieze the mommy jeans? ... oops, I believe that is Seize the Day! How cool is that? I just found out where that phrase came from. It is from a Latin poem by Quintus Horatius Flaccus , Horace to you and I. Below is the English translation. I believe in planning for the future but I love what this simple little phase says ... live life now more or less.


Leuconoe, don't ask — it's dangerous to know —
what end the gods will give me or you. Don't play with Babylonian
fortune-telling either. Better just deal with whatever comes your way.
Whether you'll see several more winters or whether the last one
Jupiter gives you is the one even now pelting the rocks on the shore with the waves
of the Tyrrhenian sea--be smart, drink your wine. Scale back your long hopes
to a short period. Even as we speak, envious time
is running away from us. Seize the day, trusting little in the future.

They Call Me the Snow Man

Well amazing as it is, I got to take off a little early on Friday and actually have Saturday and most of Sunday off. What a major accomplishment these days. So I should have been cutting the grass which is long over due but instead, I worked on dishes, laundry and my game boards.

The boards are assembled, the 6 inch hole is cut in the boards. The counter sunk screws have been filled in and 3 of the 4 boards have all the sanding done. The last board has about 30 minutes to an hour worth of work to finish before it too will be ready. To get to this part however required a ton of sanding and even using a router to round the edges. If you are at all familiar with the tools used, a router and a random orbital sander, you know no matter what you do, there will be saw dust flying, hence my reference to being a Snow Man. At least one thing is good, I really did look like a snowman on Friday. After that I hooked up a shop vac and it did better catching the sawdust than the bag designed to catch the sawdust.

Next is getting the legs sanded and mounted to the boards and then time for a couple of coats of prime and then painting. Then this winter I will add some sort of logo to the boards. But at last I am getting close to being done. Work has certainly made it hard to get any time in working on the boards.



I go to see the doctor on today (Monday) and we will see what happens. Hopefully I do not get chewed out to much for not eating the way I should. Hopefully the high PSA is a false reading but we will see.


Oh no, say it isn’t so! I just heard that Marsha Brady (Maureen McCormick) had lesbian experiences with her younger sister Jan Brady (Eve Plumb) on the Brady Bunch set. Oh dear, I had such a crush on her when I was growing up. That must be why we never hooked up. Well that and I never met her but that is just a technicality. Next thing you know someone is going to tell me the Farrah Fawcett, who poster I proudly displayed in my bedroom, was smart. Oh wait, that just to much. At least I can hang on to one of my high school fantasies.


Doctor update: I think I want to kill the nurse/receptionist/what ever she is. She is the one that put me in a panic to begin with with the call and call em back then and if not Friday than first thing Monday. I call and I get the feeling the PSA is bad and my sugar not good at all. And she wants to get me in as soon as can be.

So for the last week and a half I have been concentrating on eating good things and eating like I am on a diet. I have been monitoring where I am and writing them down. I did some research on part of why my PSA may be elevated. I come in to the appointment today and they do not weigh me in. They take the blood pressure and were very happy with that. (it had been elevated and he made an adjustment to the medication last time). They almost ignored the paper I had with all my numbers on it. He gave me some additional medication for diabetes but he did not make a big deal about it. And he did a rubber glove exam (yikes) and all was well. Now mind you, I will not complain about the exam as I know the ladies have it much worse for your annual exam.

So all that worrying for basically nothing. Yes I have been bad and I need to be much more careful about the sugar. One thing good... in behaving myself I have lost at least 8 pounds. I plan to keep it going so you will notice the little guy on my side bar reset to 0 and go from there. It is about time he starts being updated. Also my number all look pretty good. So the scare is over and so far good has come from it. Thank Goodness!

Thank you everyone. I have managed to keep myself busy so I could not think about it but over the last few days (especially today) it has been tough getting through. You all have really helped me get through some of the tougher moments. Thanks again.

55Flash Fiction Friday

Here I sit
Staring at the clock all afternoon
Now only minutes from time to go home
It has been such a long day

I have a thousand things to do when I get home
If the clock would only hurry up

Just then the boss walks in
Quitting time is now a distant memory

I sure wish this was fiction but not this week. I just never know what my hours will be this month. Oh well, not getting much accomplished. Not getting to visit many of my friends out here but hey, I am just happy to have a job.


The other day I saw a radio station set up on a lawn somewhere just broadcasting away. They were irreverent as all could be. As I walked past them I got a big smile. They name of the program was The Huge Show. The table they were broadcasting from had a skirt on it that had the word HUGE repeated over and over again. What made me smile is the one corner of the table said HUGE HUG since the E rapped around the table and you could not see it. Well I thought it was funny.


When I look something up I need to on the Internet I need to pay more attention to what I am reading. Here is what I mean. I was looking for a sander. I decided that the 5" variable speed random orbital sander Home Depot had looked like it would work well for me. I showed up at the store only to find a display model only. I went home and looked it up and there it was... ONLINE ONLY. How did I miss that? OK, so I shifted and went over to Lowe's looking for a sander. Their prices were more than I cared to pay plus I was not familiar with the brands. So I went home and had no idea what I was going to do. Then it hit me, I have a Sears near by. I not only found a sander I liked but it was on sale. So I looked up my store hours and, this morning before I started work, I went to the store. There were only 2 cars in the lot and the store was closed. But the Internet said it opened at 8:00. Turns out it said the automotive center opened at 8:00 but the store opened at 9:00. Yep, I need to start paying closer attention.


I have to ask this. It probably will not fly. I just heard a little bit about the "Jena 6." I finally read an article that seems to try and report the facts, not color them. OK, it seems to me the 6 black students should be FAIRLY PROSECUTED. They attacked a white. It should not matter that it was a white student. It should just matter they attacked a someone. Prosecute them, don't turn them into hero's which it seems like what is happening now. As to the various white students involved. Don't look the other way, prosecute them too. I am not sure what the charge is for stringing up the hanging nooses (it seems like it should be some sort of hate crime) but get it sorted out and prosecute them. They are guilty too. So are some other white students involved in this whole mess. It just floors me that this sort of thing happens. Yes I know some of it happens like that all over the place but I had no idea it was so lopsided, so very much demonstrating racism is alive and well. I guess I had no idea.


There, something for everyone. You can ignore what you don't want to read about or type about. If you have not given a 55Flash Fiction Friday before, give it a try. It is not that hard. Put together a small story in 55 words. Have a plot and at least one character and there you are, your first 55. Be sure to tell Suzy if you do post a 55. You can find a link to here on my side bar (look for the carrot next to her name) or click on the 55Flash Fiction Friday badge. It is addictive.

Talk Like a Pirate on the dash

Sorry I have not been posting or making very much of the rounds. Work is driving me nuts the last few weeks with unpredictable hours and just insanity in general.

Speaking of driving me nuts ... Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I am sure everyone has heard this joke but lets just toss it in here before I have to dash off.

A pirate walks into a bar, and the barkeep says "Excuse me, cap'n, but did you know that you've got your ship's wheel stuck in your pantaloons?"

"Aye," says the pirate, "that thing be drivin' me nuts! Aaargh!"

I will try and pop in from time to time but the next two weeks are going to be a real challenge.

The Phone Call

Normally I would not write about something like this but since I posted something about my tests on Friday I figure I need to follow through.

First let me say thank you for everyone that left me a message over the weekend. That really did help me get through the weekend. By Sunday I was just saying what will be will be. I pushed forward on making my cornhole boards and doing a little shopping for parts and something to eat. I made some real progress on the boards. Now if only work would cooperate I could get those game boards complete. I am pleased with how they have turned out so far.


The Phone Call

I called in this morning. They said they wanted me to come in and talk about results and also to take a prostrate exam. I guess they did not like the PSA test I took and the other blood test results. At this point I am set to go in next Monday afternoon for the office visit and the test. Hopefully all will be well. If not than I am kind of figuring what ever they see should be early on and I should be OK with what ever course of treatment they choose to follow and OK in the long run. For now at least it helps to know what we are talking about. I will feel even better after the doctor visit. Even if it is bad news, at least I will know what is going on. Not knowing I think is the worst.

Well that is my Monday so far. Time to get ready to tell the folks, this should be fun.

55Flash Fiction Friday

Scared is he, from the phone call he got
Test he did have, why the call, they said not
can not call until Monday,
sure wish it was Sunday

Worry the whole weekend not sure what is wrong
I sure wish it would not be so long
before I could find out what is wrong.

Unfortunately this is all to real. I have had it happen before and here we go again. I had blood work-up yesterday. The doctors office called today about the work-up but said call me back. Of course they called me at home so I did not get it until they let. They say call today before 2:00 or after 8:00 on Monday. I am going to be so worried the entire weekend.

Well I know the work-up was about the heart, diabetes, and prostrate. I guess all I can do is take it easy and check my sugar levels and see what happens Monday. It hate this. Now I will probably get a panic attack.

Well despite my weekend ... I hope yours is much a great one and G, here is hoping for that WIN.

Camping Version 2007

Over Labor Day a group of us went camping like we have been doing for years. The group was a little smaller than usual with only about 35 to 40 showing up but I am getting ahead of myself. Lets start back at the beginning.

I was born on a Monday in a city called Wyandotte... wait, I went back a little to far. Lets try that again.

(Wavy dissolve aka Wayne’s world...)

On the Wednesday before camping I was making a last ditch effort to get my Cornhole boards built when I purchased the needed the paint. That was it. There was not way that I could get the games built AND painted in time. The drying time was just to great so I abandoned any thoughts of getting the game boards done (before Labor Day).

I moved into the next mode of getting ready for camping. Cleaning clothes, getting items out and ready to go and packing. It is amazing how much I had to do and how little time to do it. Friday came and I had to work entire day. In the end I did not make it up camping until 10:00 PM. After unloading everything it was time to get the weekend started.

First the fire was so small, I do not think we have ever had such a small fire. For years we have been telling people they need to bring up wood but each year the same few people brought up wood. Well this year I decided I had enough of that and did not bring any. The end result was an embarrassingly small fire. That was taken care of the next day but not before a parking post was ripped out of the ground and stuck into our fire pit for fire. Did I mention we have a rowdy side of the camping group? I thought for sure we were going to get in trouble but who would have thought when we said go and look for some wood that someone would pull a post out of the ground? We had in mind a fallen tree or scrap wood which we have found in a prior year. Needless to day, we did not ask that person to do anything else.

The fire was nice but way to small. The people were huddled in close to the fire, so close that not everyone could get near the fire. Sucks to be late.

There was a lot of laughing and stories and well just general campfire stuff. There were marshmallows, some hotdogs cooked on a stick, and much alcohol was drank including
the Miller Chills I brought up. Interesting but just OK as far as I can tell. I hear it was an attempt at a Corona knock-off. I suppose I need to try a Corona or three, just for comparison purposes you see.

Well I was going to call it a night but I had a problem. The kids were still up. I could not go to bed before the kids. No way! It was finally about two or so when I get into bed.

Oh my but morning came early. I started out the morning by setting up the satellite dish and ran into trouble.

OK, you may find yourself wondering satellite dish, why a satellite dish? I will get to that, really. Oh and that is not normal but...

The TV I brought was not set up to connect to the receiver and I needed the remote control to change that. Grrrr because I had none. A short trip into town and I had some batteries and a remote and a nifty 60 percent off hammer. So at least something good came of this whole mess.

Well I set up the dish, pointed the sucker in the general direction and ... amazing!!! I had a picture once the dish initialized itself. No way. I should have run off and bought a lottery ticket right then and there. I did a few things before I had to head home for stuff I forgot. I can not believe I had to make a road trip again. So before heading out I set the TV up to receive the University of Michigan football game. You see we take our college football serious up here in Michigan.

I ran home, with a shopping list for items others had left behind too. After a little shopping and getting one of the main items, a volleyball (I can not believe I brought the volleyball net, bounds marker, stakes, and even a ball pump and needle but no volleyball), I headed home. Since I was at home I thought, why not take a proper shower?

By the time I got back to camp the football game was over. Well actually it was still 4th quarter but it was over. I can not believe I missed almost the whole game. I also can not believe Michigan lost. For what it is worth, that is the last of TV for the weekend. We are on a mini vacation here!

Between trying to get a dish on to pass for the camp meal that night (frozen Lasagna ala crock pot) and trying to take part in a few games it was a busy few hours. You would swear I was trying to get my sister at the balloon toss. I thought I did better at the egg toss but we went out after about two thirds of the others went out. The volleyball, well I decided to sit out of. We had four teams and the two best teams did well but the two worst teams... I think it took 5 minutes just to get the volley off. As a matter of fact I think one side just said go ahead and serve to the other side. If I were playing I so belonged one of those two teams. I used to be much better but not any more.

The dish to pass dinner went off real well. There was tons to eat and some pretty interesting things too. Even my (frozen) lasagna went well. I am so glad ever enjoyed Gordon Foods (GFS) Lasagna.

That night some of the girls disappeared off to the dance. After wards it was time for theme night. The theme was Disney but mostly only kids took part. My niece play Hanna Montana with her best friend Lille and someone else from High School Musical. There was also an alligator (jungle book?), a princess and a few others. It was an interesting distraction for the evening.

Most of us, including the wild side, sat out by the fire after that. Before you know it, the wild bunch almost all disappeared to bed. Well maybe they were not that wild after all. And most of the wild bunch were 20 somethings. Ha, and they think they know how to party? Actually I would not think to try and out drink any one of them. There were a couple of holdouts. There were more stories going around, lots of laughs and lots of drinking. Oh and a much bigger fire as while I was at home shopping they brought back about 2 cords of wood. Now that was much more like our fires.

Normally Saturday night we do hobo pies but our two main pie makers could not come this year because of work. One of the two, my poor cousin, is working swing shift. That is bad enough but Ford found a new way to torture their employees. They work 2 days on days, 2 days on afternoons and two days on midnights. Then they have some time off. I have worked afternoons before and that was no fun but to work a swing and such a crazy one like this... makes me appreciate what I have.

Well this was another late one with me finally calling it a night at 2:30.

Sunday was canoeing however I have not done that in years. It figures, they had a great time out this time and I missed it. 7 canoes went out for a 2 hour tour and did not return for almost 5 hours. At one point I decided to make some hamburgers. I put it on the grill and lets just say I created some burnt sacrifices. The grill caught the grease and that caught on fire and nothing I did would put the fire out. At one point we worried about setting the table on fire so I picked up the grill and moved it to the pile of wood and allowed the fire to go out. In the end we ended up with dinner. One of the hamburgers was dumped on the ground (mine) and one of them was real burnt (mine again). For being the cook I sure did not fair to well. It serves me right.

Bingo came around and I played 4 cards and the horse race. I WON but only $5. And that is one of the bigger pay offs. I did not even break even. They did have one big pot at the end for $138 but I think they should have had the other wins pay off more and lowered the final pot. Oh my, I did come close to winning the final pot. I was two numbers off on 2 of the cards. So close.

That night someone brought a projector and some Disney movies. The intent was for the kids to have something to watch but we could not find something everyone wanted to watch and also could not get the kids all together. So in the end the adults ended up watching a couples wedding video (they were married last year) and that was really something. We followed that up by Wild Hogs. It was a little troublesome at parts as we had kids flying in and out and there are a few parts in the movie that is not exactly kid friendly. I mean it is rated PG-13 but it was certainly a little much in a few spots.

We joined the rest of the crew out at the fire and discovered they had already did what hobo pies there were going to be but they did not turn out all that good. There is a trick to making them and our stand in cooks just need a little more experience. We sure did miss our cooks.

The final night is where we decide on the theme for next year. This year was Disney and for some reason the only people that did anything were the kids. So we went with a simple theme, one that could be interesting.

Toga, toga, TOGA!!! So I have from now to next year to put together a costume out of a sheet. I think I will follow the master, John Belushi in Animal House. I can do that. T-shirt, shorts and a sheet over the top. Yep, I am shooting to be Blutarsky (John’s Character). Time to get out the sewing machine and see if I can not come up with something that is not to risky.

Another thing we voted on was a theme for the dish to pass night. We went with Greek food. Oh dear, I have never made anything even close to Greek food. Now I have looked up several recipes. If nothing else I should be able to pull of Avgolemono (lemon rice soup) or a Greek salad I think. I could also attempt baklava. I would love to do Souvlakai (Lamb Shish-Kabob) but I think that may be hard to pull off camping. If nothing else I should be adding some interesting new recipes to my collection.

Well that is basically the camping trip. I am afraid it was not filled with as much excitement as usual. A lot of words, a little action and a we bit of alcohol.

In Memory

I know terrible events happen every day all around the world. But six years ago today it really hit home for me as so many innocent people lost their lives. It hit me hard and I felt more or less numb for almost a month and here it did not even happen anywhere near me and I did not know anyone that died to my knowledge but it still hurt and still does.

Lets just end this with something to remember the day

55Flash Fiction Friday

I used to have it all,
fame, fortune, respect
and now I have nothing
except for Wendy.

We have been through thick and thin together
Here I sit on the street corner
Guitar in hand, case propped open
strumming for all I am worth

Won’t you help a fella out with a buck or two?

Sorry for being a little later with this. I expected to work a midnight shift last night so when I got home I went right to bed. In the end, no midnight was needed but that left me with no 55 too. I pounded one out and decided to sleep on it because it just did not feel right.

This is indeed fiction as I know how to hold a guitar and how to play a cord or two but that is about it. I just could not help but think about the person on the street that I see from time to time in downtown areas.

Time to be off to work. I will try and post this weekend since I did not post much with work getting making it hard to find time. Have a great weekend everyone.

Spanish Inquisition

Sorry, between getting ready for camping and the goings on at work the last little bit, I have been finding it hard to find time to visit let alone post. So without further ado I bring you...

Man that was so much fun yesterday. Things went wrong, nothing major but they did cascade. If you were planning for something to go wrong you almost could not have done better if you tried. I can see it now … (wavey dream sequence like in Waynes World begins here) Wow, that really messed things up. What else can we do? I know, let's put a banana peal right in front of him and see if he slips on it… hahahaha got him.

Well things did not go well and shortly after the event was over we got the call. We were to appear in the principal's office. Actually bosses boss but principal brings up a much better mental picture, don't you think? This was to take place the following morning. Oh joy!

Well last night I decided to stay after work and dig into logs to see if I could document what really happened to make sure no one pointed a finger in our direction. I have been there to often. Actually that is why one of the logs I consulted was created in the first place. I put together a simple table with dates, times and events and another thing that simply said, in technical English more or less what happened. After sending that to my boss and my partner in crime I called it a night.

This morning was when the Spanish Inquisition happened. We all showed up in a mid sized conference room and got started. First a few pointed questions and than finger pointing started. My plan was to keep my mouth shut and not even bring forward the information I had. That lasted like that for about 10 minutes before things started to head my way.

I grabbed my sword and trusty shield and headed off into battle. Luckily everything was glancing blows as they determined I was waiting for the attack. After circling for a little while they went in for the kill. But the other brave knight in the room would have none of that as he fought back in hand to hand combat. After a while my boss stepped in and kind of straightened things out and got us heading in some other direction so the brave knight could free himself.

Unfortunately the wench who was primarily responsible for heading us down the road less traveled yesterday did not say a lot today. Somehow she was escaping fairly unscathed.

The end result I think we are more prepared should some of what happened yesterday ever happen again. But when it comes down to it this was a case of user error that happened in combination with a few other things at the worst possible time. In truth, short of those people that were in charge sharing more with the underlings, there is little that could be done to prevent this from happening again. As it is we already work together as a fairly well oiled machine. Mistakes happen all the time but we do what we can to fix those mistakes we see before they are noticed regardless who is responsible and give each other heads up when appropriate and possible.

So I survived the Spanish Inquisition today… what fun things did you do today?