Not Quite Accurate

Weasel Zippers snagged this tweet today.  It is somewhat...um...how shall I put this...accuracy challenged.  Or it is stupid.  One of the two.  Or both.

Are the people going "Yay!" at this really so dumb that they don't know that SOMEBODY pays for this - the American taxpayer?

"On the road again, I just can't wait to be on the road again..."

Actually, I can.  After virtually living in Baltimore for a while, then heading off to St. Claire Shores, MI, for a while, I still had one more trip to make.

Brief summary, since now I have a lot of catching up to do.  A year ago I agreed to be head of set-up for a directed women's retreat in Howesville, WV.  Getting there as far as team planning (not to mention physically) was another song in itself - "The Long and Winding Road".  Illness and injuries knocked out so many of the original volunteers that kitchen staff was down to 2 people at one point.  But everyone pitched in, and by Wednesday we were on the ground pulling everything together and appreciating all the work the men's group that preceded us had done to get things prepped for us.  By Friday a group of men was also sneaking around, dashing around buildings and hiding behind cars so that the women wouldn't know of their presence and lending a hand wherever needed.

As part of staff and head of a group of very busy (and incredible) volunteers I couldn't be at all the talks and activities, but we still had plenty of opportunities to participate, so it was a much needed spiritual retreat for us as well.  Also a time of much laughter, joking and clowning.  Our spiritual directors are not only holy, deeply spiritual men but completely nuts.  At one point we had our own version of the Popemobile, courtesy of Fathers Arthur and Dennis:

Got back late last night after a delay west of Cumberland, MD.  Keyser's Ridge was blanketed in rain and heavy fog.  One of the crew turned on her wipers only to see the blade on the driver's side go flying off into the gloom.   Fortunately, one of the guys spotted them pulled off by the road.  And had duct tape in his truck.  The passenger side blade was switched over to the driver's side, and they made the rest of the trip with a sock taped around the bare passenger arm to protect the windshield glass.

I think I've about gotten through my e-mail.  Now there's a bunch of other things to catch up on.

Springy

It's always a scramble in the Spring - things grow faster than you can get gardens and flower beds cleaned up and ready.  This year I was away for a lot of the time that the prep work would have been done, so now I'm racing.  Trim, weed, rake, mulch and oh-dang-I'm-not-going-to-get-that-moved-this-year-again.  Yesterday involved some mulch moving, and as I tossed a shovelful into the wheelbarrow, I saw what I thought was a big earthworm.  I hate it when I accidentally whack earthworms apart, so I separated it out to move it to safety.  Except it wasn't an worm - it was an eastern wormsnake.

My neighbor tried to get a pic for me, but the little guy wouldn't hold still and pose:

Very pretty little thing, others out on the web have snapped better pictures than I got:

A rich caramel brown on top, peach pink underneath, and scales that were iridescent in the sun.  I moved him to the woodpile, where he can choose between there, a mulched flower bed, or rocks in which to hunt his buggy meals and where there's less chance of him getting stepped on or having an unfortunate run in with my shovel.

I do love Spring.

Lovely

It's been such a lovely week.  Boston.  Ricin letters.  Now the explosion in Waco, which most likely is an accident but that doesn't make the news any better.  And there's also the trial of Gosnell, abortionist extraordinaire, so carefully buried by the media and ignored by hypocritical pro-choicers.  Not to mention charges lodged against Planned Parenthood mills in various states recently.

Add all that to the unending media and political attack on my beliefs and my integrity (I'm a conservative, therefore I caused and support every evil happening in the world), I'm just sick of it. 

If it wasn't for other obligations I think I'd make a phone call and then go hole up in family place out in the middle of the boonies of Preston County.  No radio, no internet, no bathroom, no problem.

Odds and Ends

Text from daughter:

11:35:  hear suspicious sound emanating from baby.  Discover major poop blowout.  Take 15 min to clean fallout.   11:50:  lift baby to put on clean outfit and feel tell-tale warmth on butt.  Change diaper again and dress baby.  12:05  Baby becomes fussy.  Discover pee leak-out.  Change diaper and outfit again....

That seems to be my daughter's life right now.  I had forgotten how much a parent's life revolved around a baby's butt...

And back here in Grandma's land the other shoe has dropped:  the furloughs the agency was dodging have proved to be unavoidable and the paycheck is going to shrink painfully each payday for a while. Fa.  Guess that takes care of the kayak I was looking at.   I can use an occasional day off but having the money to do something would be nice.

Crispy

A beautiful weekend, and a dash to catch up on yard work delayed by my absence. So this morning I find this appropriate: