The Neon Nurse's Charting

I was really beginning to think I had been cursed by the Yard Fairy. We live on a lot that is just under 3 acres, and even though we are a semi-arid tundra in the midst of a drought, there are very well adapted weeds here which somehow manage to thrive on imaginary water or something.

Therefore we have a mini-fleet of Weapons of Grass Destruction (arr-arr!): one riding mower and 2 gas engine pushing types. The riding mower doubles as a small tractor, for very small values of tractor-type work.

All of these needed something done to them to get them ready for the mowing season, which is NOW. Since the riding mower wouldn't start, despite SIL Nigel's best efforts, I couldn't ride it in to town to the small engine shop as I usually do. So I stopped by, and they promised to get to it ASAP. Um, yeah. In a politely indirect way, last week I loaded up the bigger push mower and dropped it by, kind of as a hint. Which DID work. Within the week, I had my push mower back, and they came and picked the Rider up a couple days later!

While I was away frolicking with the Colorado Democrats this past weekend, Caro and Mike tried to do some mowing with the newly souped up machine. One of the wheels promptly broke off. But not a problem. On Sunday I just switched out a wheel from the other (still hibernating) mower, and we were good to go. Mike was all hot to get to mow (he's 12), but when he tried, it kept stalling out on him. I tried to show him what to do, but it wouldn't mow very far for me either.

By removing one of the safety flaps, I got it to work, but Mike had already gotten hot and bored and had gone inside. So I mowed the back yard until I ran out of gas. I had an idea that maybe the shaft of the blade needed lubing, so once it cooled down, I turned it upside down and had a go at doing so. Which resulted in half the oil spilling out and the starter string getting fouled beyond my obviously lame ability to set right. So now he's back at the shop....

Amazingly, they actually brought the riding mower back Tuesday! "Hot dog," I said, "NOW we'll cut us some weeds!!"

Except it was still making the occasional shrieky noise I remember from last year. I pondered as I mowed the next most weedishly out of control area, and then it came to me! The belt that ran the mower deck was the problem!

It came to me because it broke, which meant the blades would no longer turn. Since driving over the weeds hoping to frighten them back into the ground with the load roar of my well-tuned engine seemed kind of, well, stupid, I quit.

Today I took the wrong size wheel (remember the missing wheel?) back to Wal-mart and swapped it for its bigger brother. Once the oldest mower was four-wheelin' again, I firmly grasped the can of carb cleaner and dosed the engine up good.

You won't believe it! It RAN! AND mowed weeds! It's like a fairy-tale or something, where the third and least likely candidate is the one that succeeds!

Now if I just don't catch dust/mold/pollen-induced bronchitis like I did while mowing LAST summer, I'll be tempted to believe the curse has been lifted!

Got this email offer today from MoveOn.org:

"Many of us have felt isolated in the last four years. We've been told that dissent is unpatriotic, that our views are out of whack with the mainstream. By displaying a bumper sticker, you'll help reverse that trend – emboldening other progressives in your community to speak out and demonstrating how many patriotic Americans are working to fire President Bush. Think of it as a grassroots advertising campaign – a way to "brand" the movement to take our country back."

They are giving away FREE bumper stickers, totally free, no shipping or anything! Although you can order extras too, if you want.

Click here to get yours!

This is the one I picked!

Mostly I rested up from the crazy weekend, which is a very pleasant thing to do.

Now I am working on my Plan, which involves a combination of answering email, listing things for sale on line, and rewarding myself every now and then with posting something.

I think these warning signs are one of the better memes I've seen lately!

> WARNING

NeonNurse is radioactive. Wear protective clothing at all times.

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com

Yes, I'm back. The convention was amazing! I did a lot, learned a lot, met a lot of cool folks, took a TON of pictures. Don't worry, I won't clog your FL by posting them all here. Instead, I made a photo essay.

http://neonnurse.net/cdc2004.htm

Some of it is only of interest to Colorado folks, but I think the pics are decent, and fun as well. I'm especially proud of the one of former Texas Governor Ann Richards, who was our special guest speaker. I had to Photoshop some 'red-eye' and flash glare out of it, and was fairly pleased at the result.

OK, I'm off to bed now. More tomorrow!

(Yeah, yeah, you already knew that about me....)

But yes, hitting the road for the Colorado Democratic Convention! Where, among other things, I have buttons to hand out, with this quote from "Power Dean" (TM Mikespeak) himself:

"My hope is that we'll have a Democratic Administration, and then we'll hold their feet to the fire so they start performing for the people who put them there."

It's the most succinct summing up of what the Democracy for America group is all about that you could ever want!

See us (virtually) on Sunday!

I should be in bed. Tomorrow I am heading off to the Big Sinful City of...uh, Pueblo. But it's for something REALLY exciting, the Colorado Democratic Convention. I think we're all gonna vote for...hmm, some guy...name starts with a K....

But yeah, I think I am too excited to sleep. So maybe if I put in a post about something nice and tranquil, like nature, I will start to feel lulled.

So today when I was watering the Garden of Art, Science and Technology, I saw a little toad. Not REAL little--we've seen brand new ones the size of your thumbnail before. This one was probably from last year's hatch. It was about palm size.

It made me think of this very interesting photo that I got from Neil Gaiman's feed:

A Toad Orgy

Toads are very interesting creatures. I've never seen mating toads, although I did once pull a toad out of the mouth of a snake. You might think that was very unfair to the snake, but see, it only had the toad by one leg, and this was a BIG toad, and I think there was a good chance neither would hop/slither away a winner from that match-up. I only thought later that I really should have taken a picture first. Oh, well.

As you may recall, when I water the GoA,S&T I use the fish pond water, partly to help keep the algae down. We HAVE received and added the snails, but they haven't had a chance to make much of a dent yet. They're working on it.

Today while the water level was low, I took a picture of some of the fish. The big one is Mike's koi, and the white one with the long floofy fins is Ghost, my Mother's Day present. That big round thing is the reflection of the camera lens.

Last Friday was our Stray Day. TWO of those darn birds from our wall nest got into the house. As and others speculated, they do seem to be starlings, with the light spots on the body of the young ones.

The reason it sat so still for me to take its picture is because I am holding it, bird in the handishly.

Not all the creatures around here take well to handling. Back in March, when we were starting to get some mid-day warming, I was digging around and disturbed a skink, a little native lizard. I thought Mike would want to see it, so I brought it inside and slipped it into an empty gallon wine jug. Sitting around breathing wine fumes might have had a negative affect on its personality (kind of like how it works with some people, eh?) because when Mike got home and we got ready to snap a pic for remembrance, THIS happened:



Close-up here, hidden away so as not to be excessively squickifying. Although it didn't break the skin, or even hurt. Much.

# posted by Susan : 1:38 AM

Well, whoops, eBay pulled that auction for the 50+ year old Bush. I did expect them to, as technically the person who ran the auction did not really have the item available to sell. :)

Happily for those of us who appreciate ephemeral art and political satire, I saved off the code when I first saw it, and can thus immortalize it here:

http://neonnurse.net/bushauc.htm

It's been another crazy-busy week, which probably explains why I forgot to get off the bus at Tired and am now going to have to exit at Completely Exhausted. I just hope I don't fall asleep and end up riding all the way to Comatose at the end of the line.

Today's tired story actually began last week when I attended the Prowers County Democratic Assembly. That's the stage between our precinct caucuses and the state convention. It was a dinner, and people were asked to bring a dessert to auction off for the fundraising portion of the event. Most people graciously then laid out their buys for the group to nosh on, at which time I had my first ever piece of $50 pecan pie!

But the important part was the upcoming events. I'll be away from my computer next weekend because I'm going to be a delegate to the Colorado state convention. (Woo!) I'm kind of disappointed that I did not sway a minimum of four other people with my clever, impassioned rhetoric so that I could go and cast a delegate vote for Howard Dean, but such is life. All eight of our county votes will be for Kerry, although in the Senate seat situation the dark horse outsider Mike Miles got two votes from us. Should be a very interesting and educational weekend!

At the meeting, we also made an impromptu decision to have a float in the Lamar Days parade, which was today. Last night a few of us got together to whip up a float. Someone borrowed someone else's yard decoration, a pair of plywood donkeys pulling a cart made from a small metal barrel, and we devised a humorous slogan about giving George a ride back home.

So today we drove to town, and hunted around until we found the Dem float, which was in neither the old Safeway parking lot nor the new one, as it should have been according to the info in the Lamar Daily Snooze. But no worries, Lamar is too small a town for a parade to disappear in, and we soon found our group. My fellow Dems and I had a jolly time sneering at the lame Republican float (same old tired paper maiche elephant on a flat bed, no riders, not even any BUNTING! And yet two of the local GOP candidates for the County Board of Commissioners rented LIMOS. Nice try at the common touch, boys.) and discussing plans for voter registration drives and a booth at the county fair. Mike had a dab of homework to finish, but he managed it in time to be allowed to ride the float too. Another of our riders, a spry 90 year old fella, had not been able to find us and/or the staging area, but spotted us once we were underway. He ran out and caught up with the float, then climbed aboard WHILE WE WERE ROLLING, making me one very Nervous Neon Nurse. But happily, no disasters requiring my professional talents ensued.

The parade route was new this year, but the end of parade traffic snarl was still the same. So in order not to further inconvenience our volunteer driver, we all disembarked at a corner that was handy for our oldest rider. Then we walked back to the lot where our cars were.

So that was four more blocks than I'd PLANNED to walk, on top of an already more active than usual week. But I didn't feel TOO overdone at the time. We even stopped to wander around the festivity area, mainly because I wanted to get a better look at the windmill vane which had been in the parade:



That's Caro and Mike posing in front of the HUGE vane, which yes, was in the parade.

My plan was to sit and rest for pretty much the rest of the day. It was a good plan. Except I thought of a minor little thing I wanted to accomplish out in the Garden of Art, Science and Technology....

Three and a half hours later, I came in and demanded to know why I am an idiot who does not know her own limitations. No one here had a satisfactory answer.

If this keeps up, the nursing home staff is really going to have to keep an eye on me on parade days....

Got a big empty space to fill? Be the first on your block to own an antique whale skeleton!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2241743539

Kind of a bumpy ride this week. I have been torn between posting so that I don't fall further behind with share-worthy news, or NOT posting, so I don't sink even deeper into never-answer-my-email hell....

You can tell what won out by the fact that I sitting here in my hand-basket typing to you.

Downs: Mike had several fairly impressive tantrums, raging against our unreasonableness in setting up expectations for school and personal behavior. Last night I was informed he was going to PUT AWAY the present he made at school, and instead put up a sign: "No Mothers Day!" Ouch.

Also ouch, I slipped in some mud yesterday. I guess some places mud is soft, but here it's just a thin slippery clay layer (hose run-off, in this case). So when I fell, all the little gravel bits and poky last-year weed ends interacted with the skin of my lower leg in much the same way a cheese grater interacts with a nice hunk of aged cheddar.

In a fit of mine-mine, I recently bought a clock on eBay which has a glowing circle of neon AND a Route 66 shield as the face. It came yesterday, but when we hung it and turned it on, the light ring glowed for about 30 seconds, then shorted out. Yep, the magic smoke came out from inside and it didn't work pretty no more. The seller is willing to replace it, but it's still a pain.

The piece of resistance, though, was when I sat down to my MS Money program last night to suss out our current financial picture. Sadly, no matter how much I shook that Polaroid, it stayed black. A combo of errors and stupid situations (long eBay rant snipped here to spare your patience and sanity) have dumped us unceremoniously into Overdraft Lake.

I hate when that happens.

But it's not all gloom and doom and dark despair, or even most. At least we have TONS (literally) of items sitting around here which have a very good potential for turning into quick cash on our assorted internet venues. We virtuously stayed home from the yard sales today, and I've been listing away like a little worker ant on crack.

I had to retrofit the Garden of Art, Science and Technology because I did the plastic sheeting/added topsoil thing wrong, and maybe a quarter of the bedding plants quietly expired. But that means 3/4 did not (yet), and might now thrive and grow.

The ten 'free' flowering trees from arborday.org arrived this week, with no hindrance whatsoever from the PO. Some of them were kinda puny-looking...but some were not. Most of the other trees from the same source are looking reasonably perky--one forsythia seems to be an ex-parrot, but the other is popping out leaves like the current administration is tossing out lame excuses. And the weeping willow is making AMAZING progress!

The much better pump for the fishpond arrived too, so now the filter is actually WORKING, and the waterfall as well. Also I had an STUNNINGLY clever idea which is working a treat. Because I am about as good at waiting patiently as your average 2 year old, I put fish (and water) in the pond before we had a filter in place. So yeah, the algae got a good head start.

BUT while I was looking for something else in the basement, I found our old sump pump, from the (3) basement floods. It still had the hose on and everything. So I've put that down into the little pond. When I want to water the Garden of A, S & T, I just plug it in and use the nutrient rich FISH WATER! Then I fill the pond back up again with nice clean well water. So the clarity is improving daily. I am also getting some *algae eating snails* , which will help.

This year the fancy irises I bought and (more or less kind of going by my usual standards) coddled have bloomed! They are very frilly and fun! I think more may be in the works, but so far we have these:

http://www.neonnurse.net/Blogs/laviris.jpg

http://www.neonnurse.net/Blogs/whiteiris.jpg

Here's the total best thing that has been going on, though. Our oldest boy, Ken, had a little mishap recently. To no one's surprise who knows him, he was having fun doing something mildly risky--in this case, riding a bike while his wife Melissa skated along with him. He lost control going down a hill and was thrown off. Since he wasn't wearing a helmet, which he will NEVER DO AGAIN (or face the Wrath of Melissa), this resulted in a concussion severe enough to warrant hospitalization, surgery, and now a stint of rehabilitation fun.

Melissa came through like the champ she is, sending out updates every evening, keeping Kenny as cheered up as possible, and now helping him with the day to day stuff at home. He was incredibly lucky, first that the injury was treatable, and second, that they actually have good insurance. There may be a few minor changes and challenges, but it looks like most of his non-inconsiderable brain power is still intact.

Which he WILL be using from now on in re protective gear....

(An old pic from their wedding)

http://www.neonnurse.net/Pagepics/Kwk&mlsa.jpg

First off, thank you to everyone who gave my little quiz a try. Don't feel bad if you didn't know most of them. I've now seen a couple dozen of these and in MOST cases I was lucky to know even one song!

I'll begin the musing by mentioning the songs that didn't even get into the running.

Caro and I both like The Chieftains, who seem to have the magic ability to credibly insert traditional Irish sound into almost any musical genre. One of their unusual albums is called Santiago, where they head to South America for some cultural exchange. The song that popped up was "Dum Paterfamilias/Ad Honorem". It has lyrics, but they were in Latin and I knew darn well I couldn't transcribe them myself. Tried and failed to Google. Ah, well. Cool song, though.

The very first CD I ever bought was the Windham Hill Sampler, because at the time I didn't know anything about New Age. It wasn't a mistake; there were several songs I liked quite well. The one my randomizer popped up was "Another Country" by Shadowfax. No lyrics at all in that one.

Here are the answers:

1. Belinda Carlisle - Mad About You, "Couple of fools run wild, aren't we?"

2. Leonard Nimoy - I'd Love Making Love To You, "I know you don't know me, where I've been, or what I've done, and you're not sure that this is right for you to do...."

(Yeah, OK, I've been a geeky fangirl for 35 years, so sue me.)

3. Cyndi Lauper - What's Going On, "War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate." Yes, the original artist is Marvin Gaye. I like both versions!

4. Kingston Trio - Bonnie Hielan' Laddie, "One of these days and it won't be long, and I'm bound for far away. You'll take a look around and find me gone and I'll see you on another day."

I learned a variation of this song, without the Laddie, way back in 4th grade. It was called "Donkey Riding".

5. Debbie Reynolds - Tammy, "When the night is warm, soft and warm, I long for his charms. I'd sing like a violin, if I were in his arms. Wish I knew if he knew what I'm dreaming of...."

I loved this song when I was nine, and named my first dog Tammy. There's a story that goes with this, but it's long and sad, so I'll leave it for now.

6. Beatles - Sie Liebt Dich, "Oh, ja sie liebt dich! Schoner kann es gar nicht sein. Ja, sie liebt dich, Und da solltest du dich freu'n."

When I first got the special CD that had these rare cuts (they learned the German words to their two biggest hits phonetically), I had a hard time making my inner 12 year old not snicker at the faux-pun of the girl of the song loving DICK. Hee.

7. Neil Diamond - I Am The Lion, "The plains are like a friend, why can't we live on them? And if a flood should come, why can't we run?"

8. Maddy Prior and Rick Kemp - Rose, "...flowers are for picking, life is just to throw away."

9. John Denver & the Chad Mitchell Trio - Your Friendly, Liberal, Neighborhood Ku Klux Klan, "You'll never recognize us, there's a smile upon our face. We're changin all our dirty sheets and a-cleanin up the place."

Not everyone knows John got his first big break getting accepted into the Chad Mitchell Trio. Or wait, maybe the Mitchell Trio--there was some in and out stuff with various members. But anyway, I scooped up a lot of old and/or bootleg stuff from...uh, found 'em laying on the street, I mean. You know. Probably from when some file-sharing person was fleeing the RIAA agents.... In the way they do. Those scofflaws who are CERTAINLY not me.

10. Doors - Light My Fire, "The time to hesitate is through. No time to wallow in the mire."

11. Bert of Sesame Street - Doin' the Pigeon, "Dancing a little smidgeon of the kind of ballet, sweeps me away."

They don't write 'em like that anymore!

12. Michael Feinstien - Not Much of a Dog, "Just shaggy and rough and with all the right stuff..."

Showtunes and old classics for kids, neat CD. Damaris, this was from YOUR CD! :/

13. John Denver & the Chad Mitchell Trio - '68 Nixon, "Now the Reagan can ramble, the Rocky can race...."

More vintage political humor!

14. Michael Martin Murphey - Blue Sky Riding Song, "You must be the one I loved back in another life."

15. Irish Rovers - Black Velvet Band, "So come all you jolly young fellows, I'd have you take warning by me, and whenever you're out on the liquor, beware of the pretty colleens."

16. John Denver & the Muppets - Alfie/It's in Every One of Us, "We can all know everything without ever knowing why." I admit I don't like the Alfie part of this song.

17. Boy George - Miss Me Blind, "Bet you know how to make it last 4 ever. But you know I'm never really sure if you're just kissing to be clever."

18. John Denver - El Paso, "One night a wild young cowboy came in, wild as the West Texas wind. Dashing and daring, a drink he was sharing...."

Yes, written by Marty Robbins. This is one of those rare bootlegs I was...uh.... LOOK! OVER THERE! Uh, Leonard Nimoy! Or something

19. Weird Al - Jeopardy, "You brought shame and disgrace to your family name for generations to come!"

20. John Lennon - #9 Dream, "Magic in the air, was magic in the air?"

21. Lloyd Price - Personality, "They still say I'm a fool. But over and over, I'll be a fool for you."

22. Barry Louis Polisar - I Miss Grandma, "She used to take me shopping, and we'd go out to eat. Buy me a Coca-cola, and complain about the heat."

Barry is a guy who started his own independent music company for kids way back in the 80s, performing at schools and selling via mailed flyers to libraries and such. We had several of his albums when Damaris and Sterling were in grade school, and we had hours of fun with them. He has re-recorded quite a few, and I suppose they might be better technically, but I liked the originals best. This is an unusually sad one, for him. He doesn't say exactly what happened to the grandma, which probably lets more kids relate. He's worth checking out if you have kids: http://www.barrylou.com/

23. Don Edwards - Prairie Lullaby, "The breezes play, the branches sway, somewhere a coyote cries...."

One of the finest performers today of authentic and vintage era cowboy ballads.

24. Johnny Cash - Orange Blossom Special, "Well, I'm going down to Florida, and get some sand in my shoes. Or maybe Californy, and get some sand in my shoes."

One of Mike's favorites! We often sing it on road trips, where I do the words and he does the train sounds.

25. Johnny Cash - Johnny Yuma (The Rebel), "He was panther quick and leather tough and he figured that he'd been pushed enough...."

This was the theme song to an old 50s Western.

Dubya and Dick write slashfic?

I succumbed to the urge to quiz my friends about song lyrics randomly generated from my HUGE and MEGA-ECLECTIC music collection. You know, the one where you give your favorite line from 25 songs and people try to guess the title and artist! I guarantee you, this one is a toughie, although there are a couple easy ones in there too. So if you think people should fear your mad music skilz, read on!

1. "Couple of fools run wild, aren't we?"
2. "I know you don't know me, where I've been, or what I've done, and you're not sure that this is right for you to do...."
3. "War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate."
4. "One of these days and it won't be long, and I'm bound for far away. You'll take a look around and find me gone and I'll see you on another day."
5. "When the night is warm, soft and warm, I long for his charms. I'd sing like a violin, if I were in his arms. Wish I knew if he knew what I'm dreaming of...."
6. "Oh, ja sie liebt dich! Schoner kann es gar nicht sein.
Ja, sie liebt dich, Und da solltest du dich freu'n."
7. "The plains are like a friend, why can't we live on them?
And if a flood should come, why can't we run?"
8. "...flowers are for picking, life is just to throw away."
9. "You'll never recognize us, there's a smile upon our face.
We're changin all our dirty sheets and a-cleanin up the place."
10. "The time to hesitate is through. No time to wallow in the mire."
11. "Dancing a little smidgeon of the kind of ballet, sweeps me away."
12. "Just shaggy and rough and with all the right stuff..."
13. "Now the Reagan can ramble, the Rocky can race...."
14. "You must be the one I loved back in another life."
15. "So come all you jolly young fellows, I'd have you take warning by me, and whenever you're out on the liquor, beware of the pretty colleens."
16. "We can all know everything without ever knowing why."
17. "Bet you know how to make it last 4 ever. But you know
I'm never really sure if you're just kissing to be clever."
18. "One night a wild young cowboy came in, wild as the West Texas wind. Dashing and daring, a drink he was sharing...."
19. "You brought shame and disgrace to your family name for generations to come!"
20. "Magic in the air, was magic in the air?"
21. "They still say I'm a fool. But over and over, I'll be a fool for you."
22. "She used to take me shopping, and we'd go out to eat. Buy me a Coca-cola, and complain about the heat."
23. "The breezes play, the branches sway, somewhere a coyote cries...."
24. "Well, I'm going down to Florida, and get some sand in my shoes. Or maybe Californy, and get some sand in my shoes."
25. "He was panther quick and leather tough and he figured that
he'd been pushed enough...."

Of course, sometimes too much amazing fun means you have to take a breather-day. Or at least, I do. I did try to do a big wad of errands yesterday, but only ended up completing a small wad. Oh, well, TODAY is still a viable option for some of those.

One time consuming thing I did yesterday, which now I admit I should have done weeks ago, was go to the doc. Six weeks is too long to have laryngitis. He diagnosed a low-level sinus infection. After just one day of the Keflex, my voice is already nearly intelligible! Yay!

We had another family work weekend where again The Amazing Nigel did the work of three men and a dog. He spread most of eight tons of river rock under the trees by 'my' driveway, and it looks super! He also raked and cleared about, oh, a total of 1/8 of an acre of old dead standing weeds. Then he (with my willing but not so impressive help) piled a bunch of punky old scrap wood on the dead weeds and we had us a huge bonfire! Those are always fun!

But the weekend was not just me working my son-in-law to exhaustion. I spent an idyllic half-hour in the meager shade of the slowly unfurling curly locust as the grand girlies painted my nails. Picture my elegance with glittery chartreuse toenails and glowing grape fingernails with iridescent polka dots! Yes, they are indeed my genetic offshoots....

We also had a grand time shooting off to the picture show (all but Nigel and Caro, who got some well earned 'pieces of quiet'). Disney's Home On the Range was playing. Mike loved it (especially the train part), the grands were tolerably entertained, and Damaris and I had immense fun MST3King it to each other in snarky whispers.

At home, I remembered I was going to find a languishing telescope I'd noticed in the basement. Grandson Zach got that set up, and we had a lovely time sitting on the porch in the dark, looking at the moon and talking about science-y stuff.

The main focus of the weekend, though, was the New Idea. Damaris and Nigel have decided to move back to Lamar and eventually get a place in the country too. Probably, if all goes well, on the plot of land right behind our house!

Of course I am very pleased, since it's hard to be a proper matriarch of a clan when the darn clan is out there all over the place. There's a lot that has to happen, but with moderate luck, they could be in place in time to host the family Thanksgiving at their new house!