Mindless Chatter

Cool pics, Tina!  The honeysuckle in MI sure is different from the honeysuckle around here. Pretty. That bridge is awesome looking. I've been over the Golden Gate bridge and that blew me away.

My car is in the shop. Just for routine stuff but I hate not having a car.

So who is going to start the chat threads every Monday?  

Yesterday I left some food and water for a smallish dog that was curled up in the grassy median at the entrance to our subdivision. I thought the dog was dead when I first walked up to it. I spoke to it and it stood up wagging and all sweet. I planned to pick it up this morning and take it to the shelter but I didn't see it. I did see a different water bucket had been left by someone. The water bowl I left was gone. Weird. I hope someone else picked her up and got her to a shelter. I was going to go at lunch and look for her again but then the car thing came up.  

I hope the little dog is okay. Thank you for trying to help her.

Keep us posted on any more info about the little dog, Jackie.  I hope he's okay, too.  

Your pics are great, Tina.  Holy cow, that bridge is huge!!  Portland has several bridges going over the Willamette River, but nothing like that one!  I think honeysuckle is pretty, too.  You gotta do some of those touristy things -- as my sister tells people who come to Boston for the first time:  "You have to do the Duck Boat tour, even though it's a bit embarrassing -- it's a great way to see the city!"  We've taken visitors to the Ripley's Believe it or Not! museum at the beach here.  It's goofy, but you gotta see it at least once!

SIL, BIL, and niece arrived about dinner time last night.  This morning I waited to go to work until they were heading out to MIL's.  They're having lunch in the dining hall there with her, then they'll do some little projects she needs some help with (cleaning a curio cabinet, rehanging a lamp, etc.).  It'll be so boring for my niece, but they were expecting it this visit.  

We had a cool rainy day yesterday, and another one today (tho' it's due to clear up in the afternoon).  We need rain, and I admit it was nice to wear jeans yesterday!

Neat pics, Tina!  I agree, your Honeysuckle looks different then ours.

We did the tourist thing for our honeymoon.  We live 20ish minutes from Gettysburg and never go, other than driving through.  So we spent our honeymoon walking around, looking at all the shops, doing the ghost tours, checking out restaurants, etc.  It was fun and stuff you don't  think about doing when you live there.

Hope the little dog is ok.

Well, I couldn't go home at lunch. My car needed some minor repair and it so happened that they called and could get it in and out today. They got it in but it wasn't ready by end of day. :( My coworker took me home and I had him stop so I could look around carefully for the dog. The water bucket was gone and I couldn't see the dog anywhere.  I can only hope someone did pick her up. I wish now I'd taken her home with me yesterday evening.

Steph, I think it's fairly common for people to miss "famous" local attractions, despite being close by.  The only time we make the effort to see the popular tourist spots are if we have visitors from out-of-state.  Despite being here 20+ years, there a ton of places we've not been to.  In our defense, Oregon is a huge state, and many of the popular landmarks and landscapes require an overnight stay due to the long drive.

Jackie, hopefully the fact that the other water bucket was gone is a sign that someone else was watching the pup, too, and either brought her home or to a shelter.

Not long after we went to bed last night (DH was asleep, I was reading), the phone rang.  Given my MIL's situation, I assumed it was an emergency with her.  But it was DH's good friend, and I knew as soon as I heard his voice that it was bad news.  Another guy they know dropped dead of a heart attack yesterday -- he was about 55, very fit, active, not a smoker, not overweight, no other apparent health issues.  DH only casually knows this guy, but the friend who called has been friends with him since high school, so he was understandably distraught.  

These kinds of things are so scary.  We do what we can to stay reasonably healthy, and we try hard to save for retirement and whatnot, but it seems like we hear too often how people's lives are cut short way too young . . . and it makes you wonder if you should just quit work and live a life of true enjoyment.  I'm fortunate not to have much job stress, but I worry about DH since he has extremely high job stress.  We should try to make room for more enjoyment in our lives now, instead of saving for the future.  You just never know.  

To avoid ending on a such a low note, I'll say that we've got bright sun and temps in the high 70's today.  Just lovely!

I found this picture on the internet. It is a better shot of what the honeysuckle we found looked like up really close to the blossoms.

That's sad, Tracy. And like you wrote, we hear it too often. Life is so unfair sometimes.

Tina, that's what ours looks like, except white instead of pink.  I had no idea it could come in other colors, very cool!

Tracy, so sad to hear about your DH's friend.  

Thanks, ladies.  

Tina, that close-up shot is so pretty!   I don't think the variety of honeysuckle here looks the same, but I'll take a look in my neighbor's garden this evening . . . I'm 99% sure he has some.  You know, if I remember, I'll take some photos of his flowers while I'm there so I can post them here.  He's got some spectacular things blooming right now -- and thanks to nothing but a chainlink fence between us, we get to enjoy the view without any of the hard work!

Tracy  sorry about you DH's friend.  

Tina we have both varieties in Arkansas.  Although the white is more evasive, I love the scent of honeysuckle.  I have some taking over a flower bed this year , it is almost too much work for me now to try to keep it contained.

Jackie, I am sure someone is taking good care of the little  girl, I am certain they are thankful for the kind stranger that left her water :)

Is it time to head to the Tiki Bar.

Tracy, I so sorry to hear about your DH's friend. What a shock and so sad.  

That looks more like honeysuckle now that I see it up close. We have a white/yellow type and one that's coral colored. I have a coral one. It blooms almost all year and the hummingbirds love it. That pink color is gorgeous.

Tiki bar was good. :)  

Once again trying to catch up on the news. I guess I don't check in often enough and then I have a whole lot of posts to get through.

Jackie so sorry about your BIL. Great way to go for the one that dies but tough for family and friends to deal with the suddenness of it.

Callie glad to hear you got things straightened out with your vehicle. We are at the point now of new vehicle or fix the air conditioning. Traveling a lot to agility trials with the dogs, I really like to have air for them. They are much more comfortable with it. Have 144,000 on it (2003 trailblazer) but it really is still in great shape. But if you are traveling a lot, it can be a worry about things going wrong, as you would expect with an older vehicle. Our last trip we had to take a day to have it worked on.

Enjoyed your pictures Tina. Looked like a nice get away.

Tracy so sorry about your Hubby's friend. That's so sad.

My friend, who just recently lost her Step Mother, lost another of her cats. This is the 3rd cat since January. She has been having such a horrible last several months. Poor thing, she just really needs a break from all of the sadness that has been in her life the last several months.

well guess I best think about bed. It's 11:45.

So sorry to hear of your friend's loss, Maureen. We're going to start a weekly thread so it doesn't take so long to keep caught up. I thought Monday would be a good day to start that.

Please send some good thoughts and vibes for my dear friend's little dog, Chigger. This is Twister's half sister. She's 14 years old. She's been vomiting and off and on feeling bad. Today my friend took her to the vet and it looks like she has a foreign body. They're doing surgery in an hour. This dog has had three previous surgeries for foreign bodies, all of those were back when she was much younger.  The surgery will be more difficult due to the scar tissue from the prior surgeries. I'm so worried for Chigger and my friend.  She was crying so hard when she was giving me the surgery news that I could hardly keep from sobbing myself. I tried to keep it together for her sake but cried like a baby when I got off the phone.  

Crisis averted with little Chigger. My friend called and said they did an ultrasound and nothing showed up. They checked some x rays from three weeks ago of Chigger's chest and the mineralization was showing up then. Probably scar tissue from her previous surgeries. She's on her way home with some anti nausea meds. I'm so relieved.