and the way my family communicates.
Second hand, I have been told that my sister has been released from the hospital to go home to her cat and dog. Apparently, she is on some type of drug, in pill form, for pain management. She is not on steroids. I don’t know if she is still on morphine.
A friend is going to take her to the library so that she will have something to occupy her mind as she sits and waits for this problem to abate. I wonder if I need to make meals for her, of if the effort of reheating a meal will be too much?
I need to heat up the grapevine and see what her kids are doing to help. Wouldn’t you think, with something as serious as this, that someone NOT on drugs should be involved in making decisions about what Sis is doing?
I suspect that there may be blessings in growing older alone, but this is not one of them. When you are ill, you need someone you trust to help you make sensible choices. In our family, Sister #1 probably holds that position, and it’s a good thing she’s coming back from Australia soon!

My mother is addicted to butter!
We happen to be out of butter for the first time in fifteen years. We normally have a back up box of butter, and as soon as someone touches the back up box, Mother announces that it’s time to go shopping.
Well, somewhere along the line, we used all the butter, and now I’M in the dog house. It seems that it is MY responsibility to make sure that we always have butter! (snort!)
When we go grocery shopping we both have lists. I’m surprised that butter doesn’t head her list. I’m not sure why I’m the bad guy here, but I’m not going out to buy a pound of butter right now. It will have to wait until tomorrow, and I bet I will hear about this for the rest of my life!

What’s with men and applesauce??
Is it unmanly to eat applesauce?
Is there some rite of passage where a male child stops eating applesauce to show the world he has become a man??
Last night we prepared an antipasto. There were sliced meats, cheese, a variety of peppers, pickles, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, romaine, eggs, crusty bread and assorted dressings. In addition, I put a dish of applesauce, and one of canteloupe on the table.
Of course, there was too much food, so there was fruit left over. I was talking to Dear Husband about eating up the left overs and he agreed, until I mentioned applesauce.
I swear he has a male union card, and it’s written in the by-laws that any member caught eating applesauce will immediately be ridiculed and ousted from the union, to the accompaniment of loud jeers. They probably let the air out of your truck tires, too.

When you prepare dinner, how long on average does it take you?
I was listening to the radio, and this was being discussed. On average, it takes us close to 45 minutes to prepare dinner. We are now eating mostly fresh veggies and salad, in addition to meat. Salad preparation seems to take the most time, with veggies eating up the rest. And, now I’m getting more help in the kitchen preparing dinner than ever before, and it STILL takes us around 45 minutes.
I use a crockpot occasionally, and we also have a wok. But we eat a lot of soup in the cooler weather, and soup takes time to make.
There are a number of cookbooks out there that feature 30 minute meals. I rejoice when I find a 30 minute meal that is tasty. Unfortunately, a lot of them taste terrible. My palate has passed the point where I see a TV dinner and go “YUUUUUUUMMMM!”
I don’t mind giving up casseroles for healthier eating, but I’m surprised at the time it’s taking us in the kitchen. How long are you willing to spend on meal preparation?

Do you have one family member you call first when there’s a problem?
I have three sisters and a brother. Two of my sisters are older than I am, and so is my brother. The family falls into “girl, girl, boy, girl, girl” formation.
My oldest sister (the nurse) is the one I call when there is a family problem. Unfortunately, right now she is in Australia. She’s a jet setting Gramma. Her daughter, and her daughter’s family are living in Australia, and my sis has been visiting for a month so that her daughter and son-in-law could attend a conference. I can reach her by computer or by phone, but she’ll be home on Sunday, so I hate to ruin her visit.
My second sister was admitted to the hospital Monday night. She is in extreme pain, and the doctors don’t seem to be able to pin down exactly what’s causing the problem. It could be a pinched nerve, or something having to do with spinal nerves. At any rate, she couldn’t deal with the pain and they admitted her to the hospital. She had an MRI and a procedure on Tuesday that didn’t work, and today they have added steroids to the morphine drip that she’s been on since Monday.
I would try almost anything to avoid surgery, but she’s been in so much pain she wants the doctors to take the surgical approach. It sounds to me like they don’t know WHAT to cut…..so I hope they find some alternatives for her.
Normally, I’d be chatting with my oldest sister, trying to find out what she knows about the situation. As a nurse, she usually has a different take, and certainly more knowledge, and it can be reassuring to talk with her.
So, we are in “wait and see” mode, hoping for a miracle to make my sister comfortable.

A for real storm, not one of those man made things. We’ve been without rain for weeks. I’ve been schlepping water to all the container plants, and talking myself out of hooking up the hose. We really NEED the rain, but it’s going to come in hard and fast. What we need is a gentle rain.
The day started sunny and hot, and gradually the cloud cover has come in. It’s rather still right now….the calm before the storm. One of the sites I visit online is the NOAA radar for our area. Based on their information, I’d say the hardest early storms are going to hit north of us…..LOOK OUT WISCONSIN! But, we should see some of that rain, and a bit more, through out the night.
I was a bit under the weather this morning. I think it’s mostly due to allergies; I feel this way each Fall. I spent a quiet morning in the office, tidying up loose ends and getting ready to make a back-up of the company files for the CPA. I need a day to house clean, or maybe that should be “office” clean. I have some filing to do, and I want to pitch some things, and reorganize others.
What I’d really like to be doing is sitting in a comfy chair, wrapped up with a quilt, a mug of apricot tea at hand, and a good book. But, my eyes are scritchy, and I suspect I’d just fall asleep in the chair. Maybe if I blog for a bit, I can stave off snoozing.
I’d like to fall asleep later tonight to the sound of rain on the roof. I miss that sound.

I had a little time to myself this afternoon, and I spent it visiting blogs. I have a short list of blogs that I follow, and I still have time getting to them all regularly. So, it was a pleasure today to check in with everybody, to see how you all are.
Dr. D…..Happy Birthday late, hon. I’m glad to read that your roof held despite all that Ivan threw at you.
WichiDude….Coongratulations on a year of blogging. I thought you had started blogging before I did, so I was surprised to see it was your blog anniversary. Keep up the good work.
Blue Witch has been adding to her foul…er fowl collection. Go see the pictures.
Jamie was sending shouts to missing friends (me included), and they’ve celebrated Q16’s birthday.
Desiree has interviewed for a job, and they are going to sell their house and move.
Bogie and WS are back from a trip to Niagara Falls, and she’s more than busy pet sitting.
PJ has been out living life and painting bedrooms. He’s working on starting a paintball business, but found the time to blog and let us know he’s among the living.
Broad at Bat is making lists, and saving them, and remaking them, and saving them…..
billy is off on a road trip, or will be soon.
RedEagle1 ( who hosts my blog ) is the mom of three boys, and her middle son just learned to water ski!
Legomen IS…..off drinking.
Essay, at Stupid Angry Canajun, has been goaded into recycling newspapers, and is caring for a multitude of creatures while her significant other is away for the weekend. Go give her advice! lol
-=e=- has a DREADFUL post on self dentistry….
Mad Bull and his folk came through the hurricane okay, and kept us posted on Dr. D.
Ms. Roberta has suggested that some of us may need an amnesia pill. to forget political goings on.
Jim at Parkway Rest Stop linked up to a site with complaints about New Jersey tollway collectors that was eye opening.
I still have a few more of you to visit, but I want to thank you all for continuing to visit, even though I have occasionally come up missing this summer. It’s nice to have a feeling of connection.

The City of Chicago has amost 2000 surveillance cameras, and will be adding another 250 by 2006. The cameras are currently set up at O’Hare International Airport, in public housing overseen by the Chicago Housing Authority, on the city transit lines, in parks, and in schools. These cameras will be tied into the 911 center.
The cameras will be checking for bags abandonded in stairwells, for movement in areas off limits to citizens, for a person falling, and for erratic behavior, among other things.
Mayor Daley was quoted as saying “We own the sidewalk. We own the street and we own the alley.” Since these cameras are only in public areas, according to Daley, there will be no invasion of privacy.
In designing the system, representatives studied how the casinos and hotels in Las Vegas used their surveillance cameras. The Pentagon, and London have similar systems. When cameras were installed on the streets of the west side of Chicago last year, drug trafficing cut back, and there were fewer calls to report the sale of drugs on the street.
I’m torn. I can see both sides of this issue. As a law abiding citizen, I don’t mind being watched in a public place. If this were to give law enforcement a leg up on detering the incredible incidence of crime, and it seems to function that way, it should be a good thing.
But…..I worry that this could be the start of the slippery slope. If we are observed as we walk to work, or as we drive past certain intersections, will someone eventually create software that will track our activities? I know that it’s possible for lawyers to petition the tollway for records showing that someone has used the IPass on a certain day, at a certain time, so we can’t be far from it.
How do you feel about it? Give up a little freedom to cut back on potential terrorism and make our streets safer? Or….no cameras….no loss of freedom, but greater risk?

I’m one of those rare women. I really don’t care to shop. Well…..I don’t care to shop for anything other than quilt fabric. But, today was a day of errands and shopping.
Dear Husband is trying to get in all the sailing he can before the ARR!! is brought in for the winter. We know that it will be craned out October 9th, so there isn’t a lot of time left, just a few weekends, really. We went out to breakfast early, and then he drove to Lake Michigan, and I went to the Farmer’s Market.
I picked up veggies to get us through the next four or five days, and six bright sunflowers. I stopped at the bee keeper’s stand, and bought some almond flavored lip balm, and two body bars. A few booths down, I picked up two more cedar planks for grilling salmon. Peaches from SW Michigan, and mini portobellos, and I was loaded down. I hate to have to make two trips, so I called it quits and headed home, filling the gas tank and stopping at the ATM on the way.
Mother was scheduled for a perm. We decided to make a stop at the quilt shop, on the way to the salon. I needed fabric for backing and borders on the batik quilt, and some fabric to make a pink and white quilt for one of my nieces. Mother bought a wild velour for a robe, and material for a 1930’s reproduction quilt. WOW! Has quilting fabric gotten expensive!
So…I dropped Mother off for her perm, and then started my errands:
Bath and Body Shop for shower gel (I’ll be smelling like a peony for a bit.)
Michaels’s (OOOPS….gone out of business sale….nothing left but fixtures!)
Hobby Lobby (Silk flowers for a wreath, candles)
Car wash (Car wash….what else??)
Meat Market (Pork roast, flank steak, cordon bleu chicken)
For a woman who doesn’t care to shop….that was more than enough. I still have most of it to put away. It was a great day. I’ve got enough fabric to hold me for a day or two, I can finish the Fall wreaths, and I’ll smell pretty when I shower. What more can I ask?