Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Pseudo-July

*-I have a pic to insert here, not letting me yet!-
It's not quite July yet, but it sure feels like it...
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Truckloads of tourists have just arrived in all the window views from my apartment perch. Getting a jump on the traffic rush, no doubt, sure to begin this week-end, while I attempt to get to work on time. I'd left fifteen minutes ahead of schedule Monday, just to get stopped in heavy traffic back-up spilled over onto my secondary route choice because of an accident on a parallel Highway.
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Up the street where they'll have the main 4th party-grounds n flea-market, the carnival ride rigs are already parked in the main lot where the roads will soon be barricaded for foot-traffic only. I'll be missing most of the fun this round. They scheduled fireworks with the annual Summerfest for Saturday, n I gotta work. I have the 4th off, but there's nothing happening Tuesday... it figures!
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Sometimes it feels like everyone has the week off except me, but it's not exactly the case. All the medical, entertainment, n food service workers are doin overtime for sure!
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The weather guys are just guessing the expected conditions on the week-end (Cloudy n maybe afternoon rain). But so far, at least, Saturday looks good. Crowds of summer people get very bored n cranky when it rains alot around here... It's certainly gonna be a drunken neighborhood all week!
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Caught enough news today to hear there's lotsa floodin with heavy rain happenin all over DC, PA (at least 10 deaths reported), Jersey, n MD (Mid-Atlantic region). Just like the situation which occurred here in MA, (NorthEast region) this past Mother's Day Week-end, posted about earlier.
Over a foot of rain'll do it every time!
Mostly because of those darn dams!
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I hope Neo hasn't paddled down-stream yet... Tis the year for flooding... 300-year storms, 100-year storms, PA had a 50-year storm, n there's still desert firestorms around in AZ. So many weather records have been broken within the past year, it's truelly frightening!
We know the planet is a bit off-normal, but how bad it this gonna get? Should life-boats be mandatory house-hold equiptment? We all need to consider what'll make us feel safe, n
*-I have a pic to insert here, not letting me yet!-
houses on stilts with removeable water plugs in the floors are beginnin to look pretty good!

Who Ate the Green?

Photo by SnaggleTooth
The first week of June, these fuzzy caterpillars (Eastern Tent) seen here gathering on my upstairs deck wood to escape the rain, ran out of tree leaves to eat...
I couldn't use the railing, n these are ricketty steps!

Photo by SnaggleTooth

Here's the view of the other end of my street from my deck, appearing almost like it does in winter, except for the evergreens, brush, n bittersweet vine the hungry worms didn't like. Usually the water down the hill isin't visable at all this time of year!

That trailer is a teen-ager's bedroom all summer...
(Blastin the Rap!)
Photo by SnaggleToothSome Maple leaves were spared but all the Oak leaves were decimated upon openning by a new foriegn species of Winter Moth.

Photo by SnaggleTooth

At least toward the ramp corner of the woods triangle the vines are still providing some green cover.

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Yep, rakin will be light this fall...

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Short Mess

Between a Rock n a ...

Many of my reg readers have become very accustomed to finding a week-end post here.

I actually shouldn't be bothering to post an excuse for ya. I really won't have time for a few days yet to attempt to give ya something to check-out. My work schedule has changed n no longer allows free week-end time...
I'm really not used to the long hours yet.
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So, I'm still alive, just not ready to report for posting duty! I still haven't developed my pics-film, either!
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I haven't mowed the lawn or nuttin! Today's been raining n drizzlin, n on the warm side of no jacket required. I'm way too worn out to even be doing this much...

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What I like about my silly little puter banner (up there) is how it reminds me of a clown face, if the light highlights on the balls are percieved as eyes. Another excerpt from my ancient old web page from years ago.

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Have a good week-end.

See ya on the new schedule soon!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Moldy Oldies

My Favorite pic of my Dad, "young Red," he sent to my Mom before they got married. Here he looks so much like my brother, Donald. My mom gave the proof to me when I was a teen-ager. It's a bit worn, n has his handwriting on the back.



Here's a blast at the lake... in the Maine woods at the Camp. My Dad, my German Aunt, (She died right there in the lake last August) , me, n the kids, (you can tell how much I look like my Dad), Barbie, n the old boat.

These are two old photos, that Blogger the Bugger didn't allow to upload for an hour, with the Dad's Day post. So after many tries, it let me put it in a separate post on the third go, but still not in the text where I'd intended to place them... Better than not at all I guess...
So as ya read the post below, mentally insert the images where it mentions them in the text.
Can ya handle it?

Happy Father's Day all!

Snag's Dad
Mine could be Happier.
I'm thankful for the fond memories I can hold in my heart on this widely celebrated holiday. Today I miss the men who taught me the most about patience, kindness, n fun in my childhood.
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My Father was Charles, known widely as "Chuck," n also as "Red." (Never as Charley).
My "Gramps", his dad's name was Donald. Donald's dad's name was Charles. Charles's dad's name was Donald, n on n on.... for hundreds of years for many generations.
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Alas, my bro, Donald the rebel, did not name one of his boys the chosen Charles name, screwing up poor Dad's expectation of family name lineage forever! There's currently just one nephew, who has another last name, with that special name for his middle initial.
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My Dad was the eldest of four brother's who grew up in a paper mill n logging town in Northern Maine. After the birth of the fourth child, when he was eight-years-old, his mother, (my grandmother) had complications n ended up with severe, irreversible brain damage. She spent the rest of her non-functional life in an institution.
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My dear Gramps, Donald, raised the four boys by himself, with the older boys chipping in. It was a tough n humble life they had, with no luxuries.
Four brothers n their Dad...

Note:
When the men all got together again for visits later in life, the activity was always fast n furious card playing: Bridge, Pennuckle, n Cribbage (my fav).
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Red met my Mom at the University of Vermont. After the Army sent him back from Korea they were married. He had no quams about having five children of his own. After moving to the Metro-west region of MA, where I was raised, he worked hard as an Electronics Engineer, n earned his Master's Degree.
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The best part about having my particular Dad, was his corney n playful sense of humor. Silly, stupid sayings were always thrown in the social-gathering-mix. He flirted, teased, n tickled, especially with the pretty women, who often shrieked.
During the collection at Church services n large family dinners he always said, "Please pass the bacon!" N would get a jab from my dis-approving Mom for doing so.
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My Gramps, Donald, had a Camp at a lake near where he raised his boys, where he spent summers. The old house was remodeled n taken over by his youngest n Daughter-in-Law from Germany. In the winter he traveled down to our house with another son n family for Thanksgiving each year, then would stay the winter until it was time to go back to Camp.
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I got to spend time getting to know him well. He had cool, old stories, n silly old scottish songs to sing (that you could barely understand when he was loaded). He'd worked a year to buy a model T-Ford in the early 1900's, just to give it away free to his brother who needed it more. He liked trees better than crowds of people. At the camp I observed him screech "Whooppie!" which echoed across the lake as he ran up the pier n launched a huge "Cannon-ball" leap into the water- Whoosh!
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The man had every reason to be miserable, but he could spontaneously create joy n laughter around him. I used to paint him pictures depicting stories he told me. Gramps was the only person in the house who never told me to stop playing my guitar to watch TV. He listened to hours of my practicing, n always appeared to enjoy it. He became big part of who I am today. I last saw him alive in '88. He never made it back South again after having a heart attack.
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My sister's always quip at me about being Daddy's little girl. I was the quiet, shy one of the whole group. When I got upset in the ruckus of my hyper siblings, my dad could always comfort me n get me to speak. He often took me along on errand rides n to his office on Saturdays.
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He taught me how to drive, n never minded after that allowing me to drive him around at every opportunity. My Mother was much less patient with me. Dad also used to bring me clothes shopping for my birthday every year, to whatever store I wanted. He was a bargain-hunter, n always trusted me to make sensible choices. When I was a teen, he called a friend n got me my first job. He took me to movies n some Red Sox games. He let me use his 8mm movie Camera n editing equiptment. He loved camera work, n so do I. There's so much I wouldn't've done in my life without his influence.
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My children, fortunately, were able to know him more than a decade of their lives before he became ill, n he began his Chemo treatments at the Dana-Farber Institute. In '91 after a year of suffering n near-starvation he had to leave my Mother behind.
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I thought I'd be coming back the next week-end from the Cape to visit him again, n said "See ya later." I will, but looks like it'll be on the other side. I attribute all the electrical appliance odd-glitches around the house, such as the TV turning itself on, changing channels, n volume changes, on his ghost. After all, he knew how all that stuff worked... n who else would know that old film we once saw together was on some channel I'd never watched?
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About one month later, my Gramps, his dad, in the hospital up in Maine left life too. He'd reportedly been pretty depressed about losing Charles. He couldn't go to the funeral. I'd sent him a print of my Dad from the old days, smiling, n waving with a silly grin. There I was, on April Fool's Day, in Northern Maine (nine hours away from Home) at Gramps' funeral, hearing Gramps say in my head, "April Fool! Bet ya didn't think you'd be in Maine today, did ya?" After the service all my cousins went out n got drunk in his honor, n we had a great time! (The cousin's know what I mean by "Flask! Flask!")
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Fifteen years later, I'm still sorely missing Dad n Gramps. To this day I'll still abstain from card-playing, unless I'm visiting with Dad's brothers, of course...

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Heatin Up

A Friday full of warmth n sunshine, I had time to clean-up the deck a bit, n sort thru supplies. While sweeping, I moved the small hibachi, which used to winter in the shed instead of outside in the snow, n the rusted legs fell off! Better now than full of fire, but I was a bit depressed about it, knowing I'd have no extra funds for several weeks, n no way to BBQ in the heat. Then about an hour later, I made my calls, n checked in on Buddy, who mentioned he'd just happened to've come across a Little "Miller Beer logo" grille he wanted to drop off today! So Yes! So now I already have a better n sturdier hot weather cooking aid than I began the day with, it was free, n with magical timing!
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BTW - The weather report this week is featuring 80's n 90's for the first time since our warm Mem-Day. It's usually a few degrees cooler here, 90 degrees F without shade trees doesn't sound good even with sea-breezes (the wind, not the drinks). I may hook-up a small, camoflage tarp as an awning, which was done before one-year during a heat-wave to help cool the house from the am sunshine.
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The creepy crawlies are still climbing n growing, now in lesser quantities.
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The next door R's Mom n Family from Vermont are down this week. They got free windows-open concert # 1 last night. About 3 hours of guitar n a little Violin. My hands have been better this week.
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One adult R remarked to me about how many caterpillers were on their porch. When I pointed at the bare trees for them to look n explained What happened to the woods they all gasped, dropped jaws, n exclaimed "OMG!" (just noticing).
That was fun, watching light dawn over Marble-head...
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I took a short tour of my village's uptown area n the bluffs Weds. The trees aren't as bare there as the woods across from my house. The town must've sprayed something on the tree trunks. The small woods across the road is Federally protected land, (why the town did nothing), due to endangered plant species like the Mayberry bush n the Lady-Slipper blossoms . There's also an unusual-looking native Holly vine which turns bright red in the fall before the tree leaves change. The most decimated victims are definately the Oak trees from the Winter moth species. The Tent varieties are on all the trees, but slower on the munching.
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The crawlies have left the abundant, fast-spreading Bittersweet vines n Bamboo weeds totally alone, to run amok unchecked. Without the weeds n Maples, there'd be no green over there at all!
I'll get the pix developed to show ya at some point (disposable cam). Still got a few exposures left.
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Note: I got the cam with the intent of taking "Green" summer shots to compare with the winter ones... So naturally, this crawlie thing happened to upset my plan (Murphy's Law)!
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The good news is no people downstairs yet, maybe I'll get some sleep in - zzzz...

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Caterpillars in the Sun

In my neck of the non-foliated woods Sunshine n window openning weather arrived Monday. When I made a quick stop at the Village Market n the Post Office, everyone (n me, too) outside uptown was squinting, eyes barely able to open n adapt to the bright light.
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It felt like the Morlocks emerging from the underworld, after so long in the darkness ("The Time Machine") . N everyone I encountered went right along with the big local joke about the strange bright light in the sky.
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I remember this feeling from July 1986, when the Helium n Hydrogen solar-engine hid for 30 consecutive days. It hasn't been that long, this round, not consecutive with a couple of decent am's followed by clouded pm's, the very same washed out feelin of having lived thru Noah's flood. But, instead of savin two of every critter, he only saved ten-million Eastern tent caterpillars!
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This does almost seem as tho Biblical plagues are being unleashed. Or maybe more like the "Dr Phibes" (Vincent Price) horror methods of victim disposal... First the cold, then floods, then Caterpilllars (instead of locusts).
What's next? Sceeters n then Moth clouds, with only two more to go... Heat with no shade trees, n then _____???
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I've decided until the crawlies clear out a bit I'm not gonna mow the lawn, cause not only would I have to smoosh tons of them, but they're eating most of it! I'm also having allergy-eye reactions out there, n hope I'll clear up when they do.
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It should be cocoon time soon.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Flying Worms

The caterpillar invasion I earlier posted about made the local paper this week, due to it's unusual severity. It's the worst I've seen here. Wish I had pics developed already (or a digi-cam) to show you just how thick they are. (That chore has to wait a bit).
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It's continued to rain all week since the last post, with few breaks of non-precip inbetween, n zero sunshine. I finally went out on the deck for about a half-hour, n ended up picking off another hundred or more from the higher n drier spots with long-nose pliers.
Talk about skin-crawlin... They're in bunches, now larger n more bloated than last week. I think they're the tent variety out there today, cause most have the spiky-hairs, which can sting n cause allergic reactions. The gross "frass" poop - black, tiny pellets are everywhere. When they're done for the season I'll need to bleach the deck-boards.
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When I put the trash can out last week, the entire handle was covered with them, n I sqwished a few picking it up before finding something to remove them with - yuc!
I was irked, n usually, I'm not bothered by them besides the plant-eating down-side. I'm not afraid of spiders, or mice, or frogs, or garden snakes n will usually pick them up n put them off in the woods to give them a fighting chance. But these swarming crawlers got a jar-full of hot, soapy water to say bye-bye in.
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There are zero oak leaves showing across the road here in the second week of June. According to the paper, it's the new species arrival of Winter Moth (tiny green-looper caterpillars) which have eaten all the newly budded leaves off of all the Oak trees. They're stripped bare! Luckily, some Maples n Beech trees have been spared a few leaves. The Oaks, Crab-apple, n Cherry trees afflicted may yet be able to sprout another round of leaf-buds, but if not, looks like the rakin will be much lighter this fall! It still looks like the winter-woods out there...
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Black wooley moth, Gypsy Moth, Eastern Tent, n Forest Tent species are what we're reported to be dealing with locally (in a bumper crop not seen since the early 80's). Now with all this dampness, we may be saved from another severe year if they catch fungus diseases which is what slowed them down the last time when the Gypsy variety went out of control.
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I may be missin my triangle of woods, the shade, the birds, n the natural privacy screen from the other houses all summer... Ugh!
At least most of my deck plants, n my little evergreen tree collection are not getting chomped badly yet. The annual seedlings are just beginning to sprout up. If it stops drizzlin I'll run out there n powder them all, which is usually done sooner. The rain has really knocked us all off schedule this spring.
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Still waitin on most of the green tho!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Local Flood

I hope everyone made it through the evil-number-Damien-day unscathed. I almost was tempted to post on it, but the media already seemed saturated with the movie promo. I saw the original movie way back, not the new one. It's Just another day after all...
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Thought I'd drop in a quick one to report that even though we just got another 5-8 inches of rain (n a rare spring Nor'Easter) today in Eastern MA - in my town (second big rain-storm this week) ,
I haven't floated away yet, n the way to work wasn't badly washed out (darn, I made it to work). n I had to close the windows again cause the temps are back down into the low 50's (F).
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When I left for work I noticed the road next to the boat ramp was baricaded n police were parked across the road. I couldn't tell what was up, though, n didn't have time to check it out.
Had to wait til I saw the late news at 2:30 am to find out the trailer park over there (about 1000 feet away from my house) got 3 feet of flooding in the low spots after getting approx. 8 inches of rain. It's a bowl-shaped topography in there. At least the homes are up on blocks, without basements.
They used a fire truck to pump the area out, saving about 10 of the homes. Saw a few neighbors who're always walking the doggies by on the news, too!
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That park hasn't had that much water in it since '91 after Hurricane Bob...
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But I am fine, n really glad I didn't move over there when it was cheap n I was tempted...
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Maybe I really should get a boat... !

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Murky but Good

June so soon, already beginning to slip by me.
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All week I'd log on n think I should quickly write something else to cover over the flag/Mem-day post, but kept drawing blanks after work. What's wrong with a Mem-Week, anyhow? N I like my abstract flag fragment.
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Sometimes I wanna write what I think, other times I try harder to avoid it. This week, I was still so tired from sleep missed last week-end, I barely had the energy to keep up on my regular blog-reads. It's so easy to get behind on that facet of Blog-land. There's a handful I check every time I'm online, then all the others I rotate through. Somedays I don't even log on, then I'm further behind.
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For the record, I always read through ALL the posts I've missed since the last visit, n try to comment unless I run outa time. Almost every night after work I end up saying "Sh--! It's 4 a.m. again!" in blog-land. (I need to find a job with better hours).
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This week-end it's amazing I'm takin time to blog at all. I've just spent a few hours on the phone answering a lengthy LD call after an afternoon of drivin around to do weekly errands, n here I am wanting to post the minute I get the chance.
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For the first time in weeks there's no demanding disasters to report, yay!
It's rainy n drizzly here this week-end, keeping the loud people away, yay!
It's only pouring intermittently, n stopped during my errands, yay!
I can't mow the lawn in the rain, yay!
The pollen's washed down,
n it's warm enough to keep the windows open a bit for fresh air, yay!
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Theres been millions of gypsy-moth catepillars invading the outdoors here since last week-end. They rapel down long threads n get sticky, spider-web-like-debris all over everything, n crawl everywhere eating leaves off the trees n finding places to put up their cocoons. I must've picked several hundred off the deck already. Even the birds are sick of eating them.
Now they're all getting washed down off the deck with the rainfall.
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It's not raining to the flooding point, only about 4 inches compared to the Mother's Day flood amount of 10 to 14 inches in the worst places.
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Even though I had to get up n out to the Post Office n Bank before they close after only a couple hours of sleep, it still feels restful to lounge-back on a rainy, dreary day of grey...
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It's nice to not hafta rush your sis 1500 miles away off the line for pressing matters. The luxury of her week-end cell-phone plan is the free call, n I had time. It kinda forced me to take a chill-out when other-wise I would've just kept chippin away at the chores. Of course, some putterin got done with one hand, til I got to the point of waiting cause I needed two.
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It takes alot to slow me down once I'm goin. Sometimes I make people nervous because I'd rather not sit down most times. It's a challenge for me to relax n not become lethargic for the rest of the day. A side affect of missed sleep deficit plus allergy meds needed to make it past the pollen season. The exception is needing to rest the pounding soles when they've been bruised on cement.
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I can't stand getting back up once I've planted myself down for the day, n why I try to be finished with the day's important chores before chillin out. It was tough but I got back up n finished the dishes n a few other odds, finally done about 11:30 pm ... time to relax once more n catch my two fav series shows, "24" n "Enterprize," (as I do this post) the only ones I can keep track of with my schedule. I do really miss Prime-time TV, especailly "LOST". It seems the only show I can catch week-nightly is Jimmy Kimmel, which has been on re-runs for the past few weeks, (so I won't watch).
Good thing for blog entertainment!
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N Now, Back to our previous program of:
"murky but good, week-end!"