I started out to give you the blow-by-blow description of this past week, but I think I’ll spare you. Elegante Mother is recuperating. I need to ride herd on her medications to be sure that she gets them on time, and in the proper amount, but as to the rest, we just need to wait it out. The doc says she will cough for about two more weeks, but that the cough is productive, and that’s good!
Dear Husband must have finally passed a kidney stone. He seems to be feeling better. I’ve passed on to him all your good wishes. I think he’s embarrassed that I’ve told the world he wasn’t at his top form. It gives you a measure of the man that he continued to work while he was waiting for the stone to pass. What a Stoic!
I ran errands this morning. I planned my travels to minimize the miles. Hair cut, dry cleaning, returning clothing that didn’t fit, dropping off goodies for Vacation Bible School, the bank, the post office, the grocery store and the pharmacy. I put things away when I got home, filled the bird feeders, and then dragged a hose around to water three of the gardens.
Either bunnies, or deer stripped an orangy-red lily of all it’s leaves, and tested the leaves of the newly planted rudbeckia. I need to water what’s left of them tomorrow, and put hardware cloth rings around them to save what’s left. Darned livestock!
Ed, the mighty hunter, brought another bunny to the sidewalk this afternoon. This is his third junior bunny in a week or so, plus one chipmunk. I do not care for the mutilated body parts lying around on my doorstep! EYUCK!
I hope to have a quiet day tomorrow. I have the watering to do, but otherwise, I’d like to be inside, quilting. I’ll squeeze in weeding and the last of the planting this week. Dear Husband suggested hamburgers for dinner, so that should be an easy fix.
The iris and peonies have finished blooming. Lilies are opening. I still have to move the dutch iris.
And so it goes……
I hope you’re all having a good weekend!

Elegante Mother is under the weather. She has that dreadful cough, and sinus stuff that laid me flat in April. She’s been sick since last Thursday, with the symptoms increasing each day.
We went to the doc yesterday and he’s put her on a major antibiotic and a puffer. We need to go back on Friday morning for a recheck. She asked him to tell me to STOP NAGGING about eating. He weighed her, noted about a ten pound loss, and just smiled at her. He didn’t encourage me to nag, but he does want her to eat.
Because of the cough and the difficulty breathing, she’s been excused from exercise for the week, but he wants her to get up and move around regularly.
On top of all of this, Dear Husband seems to be dealing with kidney stones again. Poor man.
That makes two. I wonder when the third shoe is going to drop???

It’s rather aggravating when you can’t get into your own comments to make a comment!
I need to talk to the owner of RedEagleSpirit and find out what I’m doing wrong.
I want to direct your attention to a comment made in “To Test or Not to Test,” by my sister.
She works at an Alternative School in Indiana, where kids with all sorts of problems are given a last chance to have a public school education. Of course, one of the problems that the kids are trying to deal with is drugs.
If you read what she has to say, it makes sense for private schools and alternative schools to test their students for drugs, especially if the school is prepared to back up the testing with adequate support and counseling.
Her argument would even be enough to justify testing in public schools, and that may happen one day. Of course, you can imagine the firestorm of litigation when it’s first proposed. I bet in our lifetime we’ll see it happen.
Thank you, sis, for the clear thinking on the subject. I should have realized that YOU would be the expert I should have turned to.

We’re supposed to be in line for thunderstorms this evening.
Elegante Mother is not a happy camper about heavy weather. Luckily, her rooms are on the east side of the house, and most of our weather comes in from the west. And, if we are lucky, she will be in bed, asleep, early enough to miss most of the storms.
The light has changed. We’ve gone from a sunny afternoon, to overcast. The grove behind me is still, but you can see leaves here and there starting to sway. It’s time to check out the radar and batten down the hatches.
I’ve moved most of the container garden in under the overhang of the entryway. I moved the last of the plants to be planted into the garage, and I may encourage my son to put his car in the garage, too. Let’s hope that Dear Husband is fortunate, and that the storms miss the lagoon where he is moored on the Chicago coastline.
I think I’ll go see if Ed is ready to come in! *G*
I hope you’re all safe this evening, and getting as much rain as you need….or would like.

Harrier: “any of several short-winged hawks of the genus Circus that hunt over meadows and marshes and prey on reptiles and small birds and mammals.” *
I was driving home today, and saw a good-sized hawk being attacked by easily a dozen smaller birds. The little birds had banded together to drive it off to save their fledglings. It tickled me to think that the little birds were “harriers!”
There’s a lesson to be learned here. I think homeowners in Illinois need to follow the little bird’s example and harass their state government into restructuring how education is supported. Our property tax system is broken and needs very badly to be fixed! A law was passed roughly 15 years ago that was supposed to cap how much increase there could be per year in property tax. Unfortunately, the assessor gets around the law by re-assessing the value of our property. Soon, we will look very wealthy on paper, and be broke in reality.
I wonder how government believes that it can continue to grow without eventually killing off the hand that feeds it?
I need to ask my sister to direct me to the statistics, but I thought I heard that the State of Illinois was 48 out of 50 in terms of what is given to state education, and this is despite the Lotto, which was supposed to support education, and our gambling casino profits.
As I said….the funding system is broken, and needs to be fixed! Come on, little birds….show us the way!
*harrier. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved June 02, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/harrier

…and women’s too. I am concerned about our ecology. Our household recycles more materials than just about anyone I know. Glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, chipboard…you name it, it goes out in our recycling. We are willing to heat the house to less than 70 degrees in the winter, and cool it to 76-78 degrees in the summer. We do not keep our grass to a regulation 2 inches, and a great deal of our outdoor work is done by hand, where it can be.
I’m contemplating keeping a bucket to catch water as the shower warms up, to be used to water the plants, and we have not let the water run as we brush our teeth for ages. We use hair products that pump, rather than spray. We’ve begun to change our light bulbs to those which are better choices ecologically.
We limit our driving. We have ALWAYS done all our errands in groups, and tried to create the shortest route possible. We’re becoming savvy about eating food grown nearby, so that we’re not adding shipping fuels to the expense of getting them to us.
We have areas where we can certainly do even better, but we try, and we try hard, to avoid making our ecology any worse than it is. But, I think I’ve found the point where I may find it difficult to be a good citizen.
I ran two errands today and when I came home, I felt like I was ready for the paramedics! It was all due to the humidity. We have been in a drought area for a number of years now. We finally got a tiny bit of rain the past few days, and coupled with heat in the 80s, voilà: HUMIDITY!
I’d forgotten just how bad humidity affects me. Unfortunately, I’m one of those people whose head and face perspires buckets when it’s humid. I get to the point where I look like I’m standing in my own private waterfall. There’s no way the perspiration can do it’s job to cool me, because there’s too much of it, and the humidity won’t allow it to evaporate. So, I get warmer and warmer, and can’t find any relief. At least during exercise I can wear a headband, but it’s not realistic to think I could wear one all the time.
So, I cannot give up my air-conditioning. I wonder what would happen to me if our circumstances changed and I didn’t have access to cooler, DRIER, air? I can envision renting a carrel at the library (if they had them). I could haunt the mall, or do a lot of grocery shopping. I could fill the tub with cool water and immerse myself for an hour or so. If I was still working, maybe we could find a small part of an air-conditioned office to sublet. I don’t need a lot of space.
Meanwhile, I pray for enough rain to keep my plants going, but not enough to drown me in my own perspiration the following day. There has to be an answer to this problem!

I can’t file this entry under On The Soapbox, because I don’t intend to solve the world’s problems with my thoughts. Actually, my thoughts are more than a bit scrambled on this issue, so I’m just putting forth information I’ve learned recently, and we’ll see what YOU think about it.
St. Viator, a private school in the Chicago suburbs, which has more than 1,000 students, has announced that this coming fall, EVERY student will be tested for drugs. A student who refuses the test will need to get their education elsewhere. In the past, random testing has been done at school dances, and the boys hockey and football teams have been tested.
Each test will cost $45.00. The Daily Herald states: “Hair samples will be tested for cocaine, opiates, PCP, marijuana, amphetamines and Ecstasy, whose use within 90 days of the test can be detected. It does not detect steroids or alcohol.”
I think testing is a great idea toward helping students get an early start on managing drug problems, and perhaps avoiding addiction. It’s possible that the school’s follow-through on the testing needs to be stronger. Just making the problem known is not going to be enough to end it.
I think it’s appalling the amount of information the school will have on the student, which may possibly follow them in their school record for life.
This is a private school. They have the option to make the rules for their student body, and anyone wishing to attend this school needs to abide by their rules.
It’s possible this will make a safer environment. But, the school says it doesn’t have a drug problem. Are they being pro-active and trying to make sure a problem doesn’t develop. Is the School Board aware of a problem in the community that they want to head off?
Is it fair to test the students and not test the faculty and staff?
I’m not sure where I stand. On one hand, I’m concerned about the loss of rights, and the danger of personal information being stored where it could fall into the wrong hands. On the other, a step toward showing kids that we are serious about the dangers of drugs, and creating a safe environment for the kids, is very appealing.
Any thoughts on this? I’d love to hear more pros or cons on the situation.

Joy, at Joy of Six, was talking about getting relief from her TV addiction with the finales of the past season playing out. I have to admit that over the past 18 months or so, we have watched a LOT more network TV. It all started when I happened to come across Grey’s Anatomy when Grey had her hand inside the chest of a man, next to a live piece of ammunition. I was hooked, and we made sure that we were available on Sunday nights to see what happened over the next few months.
Our son introduced us to Boston Legal and it’s odd stories. We generally watch Monk, and I tripped over House, M.D. on the same channel. Then, our son, (see a pattern forming here??) encouraged us to watch Heroes. My sister likes the criminal investigation shows, and somehow I started watching CSI and CSI New York. I must be the only person who doesn’t like CSI Miami.
I’ve come to determine what day it is by what program is the feature of the evening. When there’s a change in programs, Dear Husband takes over the remote and checks out the guide. He’s likely to settle on one of the Turner Classic movies, or science/history shows.
We really need a break. We have become addicted and lazy, and need to be doing more physical things. I wonder if I could schedule one hour a night in the basement through the summer and get the job done?? *G*
Joy lists four different ways she keeps up with shows that she’s missed. I have two others that work for me. Many of the networks are now making episodes available for you to watch at your computer. I’ve seen back episodes of Brothers and Sisters, and other programs.
The other way to see shows that you’ve missed is to buy the DVD of the season. Usually season one will be available once season two starts. I have Grey’s Anatomy Season 1 & 2, Boston Legal Season 1 & 2, Dead Zone Season 1, House M.D. Season 1 & 2, and 24, Season 1.
I’ve only seen ONE episode of 24, and I’m looking forward to watching the first season. When the summer heat is upon us, I will water my gardens early in the day, and then retire to the cool of my living room and quilt while I watch these shows. If I’m piecing a new quilt, I’ll pop a movie, or one of the reruns into the player while I sew.
I watch for sales and order from Amazon when I feel the price is right. I ordered one of the seasons and discovered that the price had dropped significantly on the day it was mailed. I called to talk to them, and they gave me the discount. You can’t ask for better service than that.
My name is Buffy, and I’m addicted. I’m going to try to keep this addiction corralled to certain times through the summer, and I promise to get up and do something physical after every show!
Joy, call me if you need an update on any of the shows. (What happened on the Boston Legal finale????)