A Goodbye To Oscar The Grouch

Oscar the Grouch earned his name, because when they went to pick him out he was mean to his brothers and sisters. He pranced and strutted around the room and growled at everyone. As he grew older he acquired the nickname "Wookie" (for his fuzziness and ability to sound a bit like Chewbacca), and then "Wookie Leg" (if you made the mistake of grabbing his back leg, he would snap at you) and a reputation of not being a dog to mess with.

I met Oscar when he was 1 1/2, and promptly fell head over heels with him. At this time, he would grudgingly allow himself to be groomed, so he was really cute. Soon after we met, I had the honor of carrying him around to the backyard to go to the bathroom(he had to be carried to a fenced area, or else he would take off). He waited until I went to put him down and grabbed my finger. To this day I still have the scar.

As the years passed and I got to know him better, I realized that all of his growling, or at least most of it was his way of talking. He had different tones.

His favorite thing to do these past couple of years was to drag me around the neighborhood barking madly at the neighbors. His last walk was on Christmas Eve. It was snowing, all four of us were bundled up, Feather, Happy and I were freezing to death, but not Oscar. The cold weather seemed to invigorate him. He looked like a Yeti with his shaggy legs coated with snow. Someone had one of those huge inflatable Santa Claus decorations up and he was dead set on attacking it.

Over the past couple of months, he started to really age, then last week, got really sick. He stayed at the vet, and they did their very best. We had hoped that it was just a really bad case of pancreatitis, and then diabetes, but he was not getting better, and yesterday we had to say goodbye.

He was such a difficult dog. You could not get near him with clippers. If he was in a spot you could not move him. He was a grouch, and I am not the only one who bears the scars from his wrath.

Sometimes, it is the most difficult individuals who are the most worth knowing.

American Brain on News TV

Bryan Changed his video again. He is happier with it, but so ready to move on to something else. So here it is ... feed back is very much appreciated! Even if you do not like the video, we are interested in how it plays on different computers, phones, etc.



Here is the link to the youtube page.

http://www.youtube.com/user/myboint

Day Before Spring

Wow, it has been a while! I don't really have time to do this, but I am going to sit here and hopefully not put out completely worthless dribble. lol It is a beautiful day outside! All glorious and sunny. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold and wet maybe snow. What a great first day of Spring! So I will run outside soon to enjoy this weather while I can. Maybe my garage will get clean in the process.

I whacked a lot of my hair off the other day. I was actually planning to go get it cut. I wanted to donate to Locks of Love, but figured that if I waited to get to the salon I would chicken out, so I just gathered it into ponytails measured and snipped. It is a little ragged, but it feels a lot better. I don't think it has been this short since jr. high.

Slowly, I am getting caught up ;). Scratch is now officially a King. Feather's room is just a layer of black fur. The dogs do not shed, so this is taking some getting used to. She is probably the laziest cat that I have ever met. We did find a toy that she likes. It is one of those plastic things that has a ball that can be swatted around and around with a cardboard insert for her nails. She is always getting them stuck and we worry that she is going to hurt herself.

I have decided to just grow vegetables in pots this year after struggling futilely with our horrid ground. We have potatoes sprouting. I had cut up an old trash destined potato, planted the sections in a large pot, now we have new potato plants. Other than that, it is just cilantro for now. My basil did not make it, so I am going to throw some more seeds in the pot and see if they take. Since I did get sunflowers to grow well last year, we will do those again. We are going to try to do The Great Sunflower Project. I think that this will be a neat thing for her to help with.

So this is all for now. Bryan changed his video again, I will do a post about that next, and then I need to get outside while I can.

Turkey Soup

This is a simple soup that I threw together the other night in an attempt to use up left over turkey. Enjoy!

Turkey Soup

Needed:

3 carrots peeled and sliced

1 small to medium onion diced

2 medium to large potatoes diced

1 clove of garlic minced

Turkey (¼ cup - 2 cups what ever your preference)

To Make:

Through everything in a medium size sauce pan fill with water about 1 inch from the brim. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer about 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Snow! & My Baby is Growing Up!

Wow, I thought that it was just supposed to rain today! Before I left the bus lot this morning, the snow started coming down, and just got heavier throughout the morning. It was so pretty! It seems so rare that we actually get snow here. We are usually “lucky” to get ice. I think that it is supposed to do this again on Friday.

Bryan and I dug up the tomato and pepper plants over the Thanksgiving holidays with the hope of keeping them alive through the winter. We will see how that goes. Right now they are in the garage and I am debating dragging them inside by the backdoor.

Feather will be 6 tomorrow. It seems like yesterday that she was born. She is so grown up now. Recently she has decided that she wants to go to bed and sleep at night. A lot of this is to do with the fact that she knows that in order to go on the bus with me she has to go to sleep. She is not making it in time for me to wake her up at 5 yet, but she is getting there.

The fact that Bryan and I have spent a very significant part of the last six years trying to get her to go to sleep at a decent time, and now like a switch being flipped, she has decided to do it on her own, just floors me. Score one for the “unschooling” philosophy. I am not sure if we will put her in school or not. If we do, I am going to do my best to remember this “lesson” that she has taught me, and not get stressed about the little details.

“Scratch” aka “Mittens” aka “Ms. Fuzzykins” aka “Reach Up” is still with us with occasional appearances by “King”. I am assuming that they have been dumped by someone. So hopefully I can find them good homes. Scratch needs a house and a dogless family to rule she tolerates the boys, but if they get close to her little house or food, she gets upset. We think that King would be happiest as a barn cat or inside with time spent in the great outdoors as he seems to be very adventurous.

Very Good Gaza Blog!

I found this blog through Free Gaza. It is written by someone who sailed with them last year I believe, and stayed on to be a witness on the ground. I encourage everyone to take a look.

http://ingaza.wordpress.com/

So We Are Now Ruled By A Cat

Oh, what a week. It has been crazy! I am driving school buses again. I had missed it -- promise I am not completely crazy! I haven't had a set route, so Feather has been at home with Bryan. He was ready for Friday to get here! We are now out for Thanksgiving... A whole week! When I go back, I think that I will get to drive the same route that I had the last part of the week. Then Feather will get to go.

Last year I had a regular bus with 60 elementary kids, and about 40 high school (not at the same time!). For now, I am driving a special needs route. I really like it, and the kids are great, so I hope that I get to stay on this one.

During all of this, the cat that found its way to our backyard is still here. She has taken over everything now and rules the household from her perch by the sliding glass door. It started raining Friday night, and Bryan went out in the middle of the night to fix her house so the rain could not get in. He has also been heating up gel packs and taking them out to her so she can stay warm at night. I hope that we can find a home for her soon. I haven't seen the other cat, but Bryan said that it has stopped by to eat a few times during the day. What makes me so angry about this is that both of these cats are so friendly, that they had to have been some one's cats at some point. Why do people think that they can just dump animals when they get tired of them?!?!

I will stop there and not go off on a rant. I have been putting in close to 12 hour days between training, learning routes, and driving (oh if only I got paid for all of that! lol), so I have not paid attention to what is going on in the world. Maybe that is a blessing :).

I did happen upon Last Call with Carson Daly last night, and Lisa Hannigan and crew were on. She sang Lille, and as always was awesome. Why do we not hear her on the radio here or she her videos on VH1 and MTV? (When they play them that is.)

So I close,

In case I don't get to post anything for a while, Happy Thanksgiving!!!