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Rain, Rain, Go Away....

... and it finally did, after 3 days.

But not before leading to some flooding. Nowhere near what Ike did down south, but exciting for us nevertheless. We've lived here for 6 years now and never seen anything like this. Usually storms blow in, dump some rain, then blow right out. This was pretty darn near constant rain, from mere misting to incredible downpour, since Friday morning.

Here's a local park, just down the road from our house. Normally it's wide fields, commonly used for sports activities and picnics. As you can see, we weren't the only ones out checking the river.

Later, we went to downtown. Unfortunately it was getting dark, so most of the pictures didn't come out too well, but here are a couple of one the many bridges in downtown. The river runs right through the middle of town and usually there's a lovely walkway on either side and several feet of clearance between the river and the bottom of the bridges -- not today.

There were hundreds of people out this evening checking out the river. There were barriers and warning tape everywhere -- and most of it was ignored (we ignored some, too).

And to top it off, whoever programmed the carillon this evening had a sense of humor. The first 3 songs, in order, were:

• Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
• Old Man River
• Somewhere over the rainbow

It was too funny. Especially since I don't think I've ever actually been downtown before when the carillon is playing.

When I was growing up, we did the same thing -- checking out the flooding when the rivers flooded, as soon as it was safe checking out the fire damage from forest fires, when Mt. St. Helens blew we didn't stay home but headed out to the basin where there was more ashfall. We were always completely safe, but in awe of mother nature. I guess I've instilled that in my children now.

I am incredibly glad the rain has stopped. It wouldn't have taken too much more to cause some real damage in the area.

Crazy life

I haven't been posting here much, not because my brain has gone dead and I have nothing to talk about, just that work has been so crazy, with no end in sight, that after spending 9-10 hours working on the computer, it's hard to drag up any enthusiasm to log more time, even in personal pursuits.

I've taken hundreds of pictures since getting the new camera in April, but even that has fallen to the side -- no new pics since August 20th (that's when I took the pic of the butterfly). And I haven't managed to edit anything to make them postable.

\ (my cat just attacked my keyboard). He's going a little stir crazy -- 2 days of almost constant rain have kept him holed up inside.

Ugh. some I'm just too exhausted to do much of anything, besides work, eat, watch TV and sleep. Did cook with DH today, brunch and dinner. Tomorrow is groceries and laundry, plus I need to vacuum our bedroom. Haven't even been doing a lot of reading... Exciting.

Set myself up with Google reader. Allows me to take little breaks to keep up with who's posting what without actually going to the blogs. It's a nice tool.

It's late and I need to shower before bed... too icky to even sleep with myself LOL.

The Trouble with Charlie

This is my cat, Charlie. I am a cat person (so are the kids), my husband is a dog person... but guess who chose the cat. Yep, my husband. Guess who has to take care of the cat and spend money on the cat. Right again -- me.

He is a beautiful cat, half Siamese and half orange tabby, long haired with blue eyes. The cream coat with the orange points is gorgeous. Very loving, sometime excessively so. A wonderful pet...

Except for one thing...

Long hair snarls, knots, mats horribly. Last summer we had him shaved. This summer I should have, but money being especially tight, it didn't happen. So now every chance I get, I go at him with scissors and comb. I've gotten him knot free back to just behind his front legs. He's patient for only a very short while every few days so this is an extremely long, drawn out process.

Charlie is the first long haired cat I've had. And beautiful as he looks, I don't think I'll ever choose to have a long haired ever again -- unless I'm unemployed and can spend plenty of time every day to groom it.

OMG! I am such a retard!

I was on the computer too long, too late yesterday and stupidly decided it would be a good idea to play with my template.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Don't know if you noticed -- if you even care... My nice lists of TV shows and authors are gone... deleted.... I still can't believe I did this.... And I don't have time to fix it right now, or any time soon.

Someday, when the crisis at work is over, and I'm all caught up with the backlog, I'll be able to fix this, but in the meantime...

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy 4th, everyone.

We're planning on going to the local festival -- food, music, fun, and fireworks.

I make sure that I take time every 4th to remember why we're celebrating -- the brave men and women who stood up, at risk of death, against a tyrannical government. I have ancestors who lived in the colonies and I know at least some of them were Revolutionaries. Capt. Pendleton was in the 1st Virginia Artillery, and for his efforts in the War was granted land in Kentucky.

Ancestors came here for different reasons, starting in the 1600s through the early 1900s -- forced as punishment by the British government, for business, to escape brutal conditions in their homeland, just because it was America and they could...

My husband is a first generation American, having come here for education and opportunity, and staying to start a family and get his citizenship.

Through family history research, I have watched as they moved westward (of course, now I'm heading back the other way). One ancestor kenw Wild Bill Hickok, searched for gold, and was quite a rabble-rouser (spent a fair amount of time in jail for drinking and fighting). Most lived quietly, raising families.

So, while I enjoy travelling and seeing other countries and cultures, and admit that there are things I'd like to changed here, America is a pretty wonderful place to live -- still the land of opportunity and hope.

Stuck in my head

Ever get a song stuck in your head? Or just have the odd bit of music pop into your thoughts?

For some reason I generally have "Favorite Things" and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" running through my mind, at totally random times, for no apparent reason.

Since "Favorite Things" starts with "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" rain is definitely a connection between the two songs...

But still, I'm not thinking about rain, wanting it to start or stop, and one or the other just starts up. They're not on my iTunes or iPod so I'm not hearing them there and recalling them later. They're not played on the radion stations I listen to in the car or on any CDs I own. So why? A little disconcerting...