Average Joe has served it’s purpose. It’s time to go.

Give me a hug good-bye!

Average Joe seems to be in a comatose state. There is no activity.

Joe had a short but meaningful life. It was a great learning experience. 

I want to thank everyone that stopped by and left encouraging comments and offer one last hug to all.

The plug will be pulled on October 13, 2008.

Happy Blogging!

If your dog could talk, he might tell you that he knows his life span will be much shorter than yours, that for every year you live, it is like seven years for him. He knows he is no longer the cute little baby that you first brought home. He is all grown up now and gets aches and pains, has good days and bad, just like you.

He would probably tell you how much he loves you and how he cherishes the time you spend with him. He knows that you have your friends and your work, but all he has is you. He might tell you how depressing it is to be left alone all day, every day. When you leave the house, everything gets turned off, making it so quiet that the ticking of the clocks is the only sound he hears. He can’t even look out the window to watch the occasional car drive down the road because when you leave, you close the blinds and the curtains.

He might tell you how his heart begins to pound with excitement when he hears your vehicle in the drive or your key turn the lock in the door that has been a barrier between him and the world for what seemed like an eternity. And when you walk through the door, he is sitting there patiently and you walk past him without even acknowledging his presence, he might tell you that it’s OK, he is still glad to see you.

When you sit down to relax for the evening, either in front of the TV or the computer, and your dog brings you his favorite squeaky toy or his ball, he is asking for your attention, begging you to play with him for a little while. Why do you buy him toys if you aren’t willing to share a few minutes of your time?

He may not understand every word you say, but he knows your tone of voice. He senses your feelings when you are sad, happy, or depressed. And even if you neglect him once in awhile, he will remain loyal to you.

If your dog could talk, would you listen?

This post is for testing purposes only. I want to see if this pingback will show up at Over Coffee… It seems like we are playing a game of tag!

Me time. Wouldn’t it be nice to have me time. I’m not sure I even know what that is. I work at a job where my hours change from day to day and my days off change from week to week. My job takes 11 1/2 hours of my day - 1 1/2 hours to shower, dress, eat breakfast, etc., 30 minutes drive time each way, and I am there for 9 hours (1 hour for lunch). It is very difficult to schedule any appointments much less set aside time for me.

When I have a day off, I wish for good weather so my yardwork doesn’t get out of control. If it rains, I hope that it is just rain and not a storm so the electric doesn’t go off.

There isn’t a lot of housework and since I live alone, housework is no longer a priority on my list of things to do. My computer takes priority over the housework!

Maybe I will find a little time for me time since the weather will be changing soon and the grass will stop calling my name. I am not thrilled at the idea of cold weather but at least there won’t be any yardwork to do. Did I mention - I HATE YARDWORK!

Kentuckiana is a term used by the local news media when referring to the TV viewing area surrounding Louisville, KY. The area includes southern Indiana. Thus, resulting in the word Kentuckiana.

On Sunday, September 14, 2008, the remnants of hurricane Ike ripped through Kentuckiana leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power and causing wide spread damage. The power outage is being called the worst in Kentucky history with thousands of live wires still on the ground. It may be weeks before it is all restored.

The National Guard was called out to help with clean-up and to direct traffic since none of the traffic signals are working. Police Academy cadets are also being used leaving the local police to take care of more important matters.

Gas stations can’t pump gas without electricity so the few stations with electricity have run out of gas. A few homes have had raw sewage back-up because the pumping stations can’t run without electricity. Tanker trucks are manually pumping out the pumping stations. House fires have been a problem from the careless use of candles. Nine people have suffered carbon monoxide poisoning from having portable generators inside. Most schools in the Lousivile area have closed for the rest of the week.

Below is a slide show of pictures that came from one of our local TV stations, WHAS 11 News. There is an aerial view slide show on the website and a slide show of pictures submitted by viewers.

| View Show | Create Your Own

In October 2002, I lost my baby, Gizmo, due to kidney failure. Two months later, cancer took my husband.

For the next eleven months I lived alone, feeling like I was being punished, surely I had done something wrong. It was lonesome but I adjusted and kept busy with work, learning to use my husband’s computer, and crafts.

My elderly little neighbor felt that I shouldn’t be alone and she was constantly finding dogs that she thought would be right for me. She was persistent with her findings until I agreed to go look at a 3 month old pup she had found advertised on a radio talk show. It was just a few miles from my home and the owners were asking $25.00.

On a chilly Saturday afternoon in November, my grand-daughter and I went to look at the pup. The address was easy to find but I was extremely hesitant to turn into the dirt drive with a huge rut down the center. The drive went up a hill to a trailer that was in desperate need of repair. I couldn’t see the door of the trailer, only the porch that had been draped with tarps to block the wind. There were numerous make shift storage sheds and junk cars on concrete blocks scattered between the trees, piles of firewood and other piles of junk everywhere.

If you have a visual in your mind as to what a mess this place was, use your imagination to visualize the couple that lived there. I don’t think either of them had any teeth.

When we finally decided to get out of the car, this little mangy looking ragged ball of fur came running out from behind the tarp on the porch. He ran up to me, begging to be picked up and loved. 

Needless to say, I fell in love! But I couldn’t take him home that day. I wasn’t prepared for a new baby in the house so we went home with this picture. The couple agreed to keep him one more day, giving me time to go to the store to purchase everything necessary.

The couple had named him Clyde but as soon as I laid eyes on him, I decided he looked like an Oscar and Oscar was meant to be mine.

This poor little guy had never had a bath or haircut or been to the vet. There were several other dogs there and it was evident they had been fed a low quality dog food. It was evident from piles of you know what in the yard. This little flea infested fur ball wasn’t house broke or paper trained so he did his business when and where he wanted.

Oscar was terrified on the ride home, sitting in my grand-daughter’s lap, wrapped in a towel to keep the fleas on him and not on us or in my car. I didn’t let him in the house until the bath water was ready. At this point, he was probably beginning to hate me.

It was a day of “first” for this homely little thing.

• first car ride
• first bath
• first time to wear a collar or be put on a leash
• first nutritious puppy chow

Trying to break his unacceptable potty habits just about broke me. He had a stubborn streak but so do I and mine proved to be much larger than his.

Anyone who has ever had a puppy knows that they like to chew so I bought him lots of chew sticks and toys. What a waste of money! He preferred to chew on things that got him in so much trouble. Some of his preferences were:

• the night stand by my bed
• any shoe left on the floor for more than a minute
• a book
• a road atlas
• a bookshelf
• a bottle of Elmer’s glue

The night that he chewed my work shoes - both of them - was the night that he almost lost his happy home. I had to use a tube of cement type glue to repair the damage and hope that it wasn’t too noticeable. 

After months of feeling regret about bringing this little monster into my home, Oscar has been reformed into one of the sweetest little guys I could ever ask for. He is now the one with complaints about me. His biggest objection is the amount of time I devote to the computer. He lets me know this by getting in my chair the minute I get up.

Oscar still has one embarrassing problem that he has not been able to overcome. When he gets excitied, he loses control of his bladder. It is embarrassing and funny at the same time, especially when he is standing on his hind legs. Look out! It shoots straight up.

I still can’t leave a pair of shoes sitting on the floor. Why put temptation in his face?

Can you believe that summer is over and we are back in class again already!

Where did the time go? I was always told that the older you get, the faster time goes. I am having a real hard time with this cause I don’t think that I am old yet. Maybe that is what I get for thinking.

There are only 111 shopping days left til Christmas. That also means only 8 more pay days for me!

Oh well, here we are and I have decisions to make. Is this a dying blog that should be put to rest so that I can devote my time to tackling the task of setting up WordPress with my own host. Having a blog hosted by WordPress is fantastic and I do appreciate having a free host, but I feel limited in what I can do with my blog. During my trip through the blogoshpere over the last few days, I stumbled upon several interesting widgets that I would like to use but I am not able to do so with this blog.

I think I have finally found a topic that I can blog about on a regular basis but I am still working on my idea  and I am not ready to say what it is. I would like to be able to embed videos without having to first post them on the web somewhere. With WordPress as my host, I can not do that. The title of this blog definitely will not fit my idea.

Too many decisions with so little time!

Should I take this class again?

Yes, because I need a better understanding of trackbacks and pingbacks. Also, I am not sure how some of the directories work.

No, I am not a writer. I am not an authority on anything. There is barely enough time to do the things I have to do, much less the things I would like to do.

Should I continue with this blog or start a new one?

I still have a few days to decide.

I have had no time for blogs or much of anything except work the last several days.

If I am not at work, I am doing yardwork.

The other day I decided to clean out my extra room that gets used for storage and all of my craft stuff. What a mess! I am reworking some shelves that are in there, so everything that was on the shelves is now scattered all over the place. Maybe I should just throw it all in the trash since I never have time to do crafts anymore. Why am I keeping it?

Then I think maybe I will make some Christmas presents this year. Christmas is five months from today. If I start now, I might have time to finish something! But even that seems like work right now.

All work and no play makes me a very dull person.