Dispatch from the Sofa #2

I did not plan to watch much of the Democratic National Convention. I thought I might check in once in a while to see who was speaking. After all, I am fine with all the candidates and surely I would have better things to do.

Well, it seems that I spent at least 20 hours watching the doggone thing. Now that my nest is empty, I have strong affinity for comatosity on the sofa. There's a big dent in it that mirrors my distinctive shape.

Here are my thoughts on this subject:

-Thank God for C-SPAN

-nutty husband and I agree that it would be fun to be delegates. Maybe in 2012 ...

-Uncle Teddy Kennedy paid a high price in physical discomfort to make the trip and walk up on that stage. That is one serious Democrat. I hope he is able to attend the inauguration with a big fat smile on his face.

-Caroline Kennedy makes me sad, although she is certainly accomplished and poised. How much tragedy should one person have to bear?

-Mark Warner was better than I thought he would be, as was Tim Kaine, although I missed most of his speech when I took a break to floss my teeth.

-Who said it: "that's not a maverick - that's a sidekick." "No way, no how, no McCain", "I want a president who cares more about Barney Smith than Smith Barney." "Before he debates Barack Obama, he should finish the debate with himself." "I thought I'd be standing here with Floyd Little"

-a mass of American flags waving in the evening breeze is quite lovely.

-it was the best lovefest since Woodstock: kissing, hugging, white people dancing crazy dances

-If I were to have a little girl, I'd name her Sasha

-I may have a crush on Michelle Obama. Photos here.

-I really do need to get a life now.

School Supplies

For 23 years I have enjoyed shopping for school supplies. That's right, folks. Twenty-three (23) years of wandering the aisles looking for the perfect ink pens, notebooks, backpack, pencil case, whatever the teacher told us to get. The teachers are all powerful when it comes to following the lists. Not only do I like messing with office supplies, I treasure the time I get to spend with the child whose list we are working on. So, I admit to being a bit sad about being out of the school supply business this year.

The young lad going off to college finally acknowledged a few days before departure that perhaps there were a few things he could use. I grabbed my keys and debit card. "Is there a list?" I asked sarcastically, knowing that there's no list in college. Duh. Wait ... why yes, he had received a list from his major land grant Division 1 university. Yippee! Happy days are here again.

We went to Target because other things were needed, so Office Max alone wouldn't do. I was not impressed with their selection of school supplies, but you know, by this time in the college prep process, I have only a finite amount of energy left for shopping. Whatever we didn't get today can be gotten in Blacksburg.

We didn't find fans at Target (forgot to look actually, my bad), so we stopped at K-Mart near our house. I really really hate this particular K-mart, would rather have a colonoscopy than go there, but the boy needed a fan. We got 2 dinky ones and escaped quickly from this den of retail inequity.


We loaded the car:













Said goodbye the cats:

And took off for college.

All went well. We left him there on Thursday and went to Roanoke to spend the night. After dawdling all Friday morning and visiting my nutty husband's uncle, we called the college boy to set up a farewell visit. "You need anything?", I asked. "Yes, hangers." "They have those in the book store, I saw them yesterday". A long silence ensued. "Do you want me to bring you some hangers?". "Yes".

There are some things best left to mom. Thank God I am still good for something.

Why not cows?

We go to college tomorrow. Yesterday we saw some nice cows. Life is just one thrill after another for us. Please enjoy my bovine subjects.

Red State Update: McCain Can't Work Internet

Dunlap's got it goin' on. This is why I love the Internets.

Dispatch from the Sofa

This morning I am at home, as I don't go to work until 12:30. I am teaching a class this fall for Catholic University's graduate library school, so I am supposed to be working on that. I have done one or two little things, but keep getting stymied as passwords don't work or files aren't where they are supposed to be. My course is mostly online, so all the files have to be online. When I got discouraged with this enterprise, I decided to lie on the sofa for a minute or two. I have recently, and very wisely, decided to locate my office in our living room, which happens to house a fabulously comfortable sofa. Lying there, with my grand-dog nearby, was very pleasant. Until ... WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SMELL? It's making my eyes water. Damn it. The damn dog has gas.

The damn dog is here with us for a week while her parents (my son and his wife) take their 3 precious bundles to the beach. Jake called about 2 weeks ago to tell me they'd rented a beach house. I thought to myself, gosh, he's going to invite us to visit them! Wrong. Could we keep the dog?

My nutty husband loves the dog, and I don't really mind her, so I said yes. Well, the nutty husband is off doing his job which involves watching professional football players knock each other over for fun and profit, which leaves me to deal with the dog and her highly toxic gastrointestinal system. Man, this dog needs one of those nuclear radiation warning signs.

Since I'm not getting any work done, I thought I'd photograph the dog. She is impossible to photograph as she never stays still. Meet Buttercup, radioactive chesapeake bay retriever:











I had to hold her still with my feet.
I was on the sofa.







Hah! Now the crafty dog is on the sofa!

Dispatch from Boat 200

I went kayaking today, at 5:45 am, with my seal team regatta. All of our boats have numbers; mine is 200.

Today we learned some new strokes and just paddled around a bit. There were also seal team swimmers nearby, so we watched what they were doing. We had to get out of our boats and get back in, and go underneath our boats. I had to cheat a little bit. A lot actually. Don't report me.

We rowed over to a scruffy little island and got out of our boats. Actually we got out before reaching the island and pushed the boats to the shore. We left our boats clustered together but not secured. We swam away from them and learned to do the gator. The instructor yells gator and we all scramble to get out of the water as though being chased by a gator. There isn't a beach, mind you, just some shore line without trees. We did pretty well at this (even me, the senior member in the kayaking group); we saw a rope hanging nearby which was very tempting so we swung off of that rope to get back in the water. One at a time, of course. We aren't crazy you know.

hey, look over there ... those swimmers had stolen our little boats and were most of the way to the opposite bank. We swam towards them and guess what, it was gator time again. Back to the shore to scramble out. I was starting to feel my age by then so I was relieved that is was time to get back into the boats and row towards the boat landing. But first we had to learn to turn our boat in circles. I was quite good at that.

We paddled to shore and the sun was coming up over the downtown skyline, making a nice pink and yellow glow over everything. You don't get that at the gym.

Have a great day, no matter what you do.
Janet

It's Official - The Dog Days are Here

If I were a flower, I would look like this:

I feel all whiny and disagreeable, yet I must carry on. My people need me, even when my hair is damp and I've lost the power of coherent thought. Everything in my yard looks dead and crunchy. But wait, maybe I should take a closer look. Could there yet be life amongst the ruins?

thanks, I needed that