Looking out my window

As most of you know AOL has fixed the problem and ALERTS are back on !!  It was a long weekend.

Everyday I look out the little window in my bathroom and see the top of this majestic Douglas Fir tree that is in my neighbor's yard.  Today I went out and took it's picture.  I was thinking that I've seen these trees all my life and I guess take their beauty for granted at times. But for those who live in other parts of the country they'd be a welcome addition to the landscape.  These trees literally grow like weeds in the Pacific Northwest....we cut them down by the thousands and use their wood to build structures and to make paper and in my case to burn in the wood stove during the winter.  The Weyerhaeuser Company owns thousands of acres of fir trees and as they log them off they plant new little tiny ones.  As you drive on Washington highways you'll see signs that read "Logged in 1984 & Replanted in 1985"  or what ever years these events took place.  The new trees grow rather fast compared to some species and eventually they will be logged again.  I've actually got a new tiny one here still in a plastic bag that I got at a booth at The Tall Ships Festival last month.  I don't know where to plant it.  I've already got 2 medium sized ones in my back yard and the big giant cedar tree in the front yard.  Maybe I'll get a big planter and put it in there for now and just let it grow for awhile and then worry about planting it somewhere in a few years.  This tree in the picture is really magnificent though.  I wish you all could see it in person.  Towards the top it is actually covered in cones...full of seeds for new little trees.   I'm glad they don't all germinate and grow otherwise we'd be living in a thick forest.  You can see the cones in the picture if you look real close........                    

                     

As I said at the beginning, alerts are back on.  And my AOL in-box will be backed up soon.  I'm having company for dinner today, Wednesday is Book Club and in between I'll be continuing to get stuff together for the carport/yard sale on Friday & Saturday.  So I can't promise I'll be around on a regular basis.  Have a good week ~ until next time,  Linda

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Somebody's Been Sleeping In My Bed

Last night Gabi and I went down the hall to go to bed and she immediately jumped up on the bed and sat down her blanket.  Later I walked by her and she was all curled up, asleep still on her blanket.

I threw the covers back and was going to lay down and read my book but then decided to come back out to the living room, thinking I forgot to lock the door.  Also I'd forgotten to turn the TV off.....I don't think much more than 5 minutes elapsed when I went back to the bedroom.

Oh my what's this? Someone has changed locations.

            

She stayed there most of the night as far as I know.  However, this morning when I woke up she was sitting down at the end of the bed on her blanket~staring at me. 

Caller ID~My Foot !

I recently had Qwest enable Caller ID on my phone again (cancelled it years ago) because I was sick of all the rude unknown phone calls coming in plus wondering who had just hung up as I'm charging around the house looking for the reciever to my cordless phone.

Well, I just got a call...another rude one.  Here's how it went;

Linda; "hello"

Caller; "hello Linda this is Jackie, how are you today?"

Linda; "fine thank you"

Caller; "well the reason I'm calling is I heard you were interested in making some extra money from home."

Linda; "no, no."  (trying to stop her)

Caller; "fine, I heard you the first time, you don't have to keep repeating it, you dumb b____h ! 

Then she hung up. CLICK!

Ok, so I stand there totally stunned....then walk over to the phone that has the caller ID screen and it says "UNAVAILABLE"     Isn't that special ?  I can't even call this place back and file a complaint.  The only thing I can hope for is that her call was "recorded or monitored for quality assurance." 

No wonder this world is such a mess.....

 

Food Friday

Ahhhh yes, the day that all those working in a cubicle look forward to ~ Friday !

My contribution this week features a way to use up that left over roast beef.  Or if you are expecting a crowd...you can prepare a roast especially for this dish.

BURROS: already cooked roast beef (it helps if you cook your roast in some diluted onion soup), 1 can chopped green chiles (size of can depends on the amount of meat your using), medium picante sauce, flour tortillas.

I use left over roast beef & since I cook mine in a slow cooker with diluted onion soup I have the juice needed for the burros. Shred the meat and put into onion/beef stock.  Add the green chiles (I use mild ones) and picante sauce (again the amount depends on the amount of beef you're using)

Let the mixture cook until the stock cooks down a little. It will still be a little juicy so I use a slotted spoon to remove the meat mixture.

Heat your flour tortillas ( I put mine on a dinner plate in the microwave for use a few seconds) then spoon out some hot beef mixture down the middle of the tortilla, add some grated cheese, sour cream even some guacamole.  Then roll up the tortilla, add a salad and enjoy.  These are really, really good! 

     

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Question on Tipping

For sometime I've wondered about something.  When you go to a hair dresser that owns the salon or has the business in her home should you tip this person ?  They are working for themselves, not someone else.... It seems to me that they are charging what they need to charge to keep their business afloat.  Anyway, tell me what you think.

I saw a nearby Valero station advertising unleaded regular gas for $3.959 today.  Wow~under $4 a gallon.  I'll head over there tomorrow and top of the gas tank.

Since the car port sale was moved to next weekend....I spent most of today re-listing items on eBay. Those auctions will close next Thursday and what's left will be priced and put out for sale on Friday & Saturday. 

It was a pleasant day here today but now a little after 6pm there's a light rain falling.  The rain we had a couple days ago really did no good, so I had the sprinkler running on the front yard for several hours today.  I guess that may have triggered the showers.  LOL

The local community of Bonney Lake mourns the loss of their fire chief. Chief Dan Packer age 49, was killed last Saturday in the Panther Creek fire in Northern California.  He'd gone there to help those firefighters battle the blaze.  Chief Packer leaves behind a wife, 4 daughters and 2 grand children.  Public services will be held next week.

Well, since I've been sitting here for hours today...I think I'll get up and go vacuum the house. It needs to be done and that will give me a little exercise for today.   Have a good evening.....until next time  Linda

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Movie Extra's

I got a call from Bob's daughter, Hope, down in California this morning.  They had a full day on the set yesterday.  This is a small, private film that will end up at the Sundance Film Festival first...hopefully it will then be picked up by Warner Brothers or one of the big studios.

Yesterday Bob's grand kids, Emil & Nina danced together most of the day for a senior prom scene.  Even during the earthquake...they danced. Hope said the gym at the high school where they are shooting the film (Valencia, CA) was decorated and included a crystal ball hanging from the ceiling.  After the quake she warned the kids to stay away from the crystal ball.

They all were introduced to Hillary Duff and Chevy Chase.  Yes, Chevy Chase was there too, Hope is not quite sure what his role is.  Today, they are filming a graduation scene so Hope is dressed like she's a parent of a graduate attending the ceremony and the kids will be in caps & gowns.

Western Washington like California is situated over some big "faults" in our earth.  We've had some major earthquakes here too.  I remember the first one I ever felt, back in the late 1940's and I was home from school sick that day.  My mom was outside hanging up clothes when it hit.  I was playing on the living room floor and heard this awful sound, I happened to look up and the ceiling light was swaying back & forth.  Mom came running into the house and grabbed me and got me out of the house into the back yard.   The last one I felt was on February 28, 2001. It was a 6.8 in magnitude and lasted about 45 seconds.  However, over 250 people were injured from falling debris and objects.  I was at work and it sounded like a freight train was head our way....and then the building started rolling like you were on a boat out on the ocean. It was really scary....I did a very stupid thing~I grabbed my purse and went out of the building.  That building was above a parking garage and the concrete stairs I ran down, could have collapsed into that garage.  But at the time, that was my first impulse. That quake knocked out the phone lines, so we couldn't work....so the boss ordered pizza and we took advantage of the downtime to do some cleaning.   On the west coast it's not a matter of "will we have the BIG one" but "when will we have the BIG one."  I understand that there are small quakes occuring almost daily that we don't ever feel.

http://www.pnsn.org/recenteqs/

The sun is shining here today (at least right now) so I'm not sure if the paving project is continuing today or not.  I do have to make a trek up to the park office to pay my $3 so I can participate in the sale so will see what's going on, if anything.   The $3 is to help pay for the advertising in local newspapers to bring in the crowds.   My only concern about the sale date being changed is that the crowds are always bigger on the first of the month when lots of people get paid.  But it can't be helped, so we just have to hope that come August 8th & 9th people still have a few dollars in their pockets.  I plan on putting my own ad on Craig's List and a couple other such web sites we have here in the area.

Well that's all for now....hope everyone is having a happy hump day.

                                              

                                             

A Reprieve !

After 26 dry days we are getting some much needed rain today.  But...this has put the paving project behind schedule as they can't lay asphalt in the rain.  There are still two big sections of the park that need paved, so the "powers that be" have decided to postpone the Car Port sale until the weekend of August 8th & 9th.  Good for me, because I'm not ready.  Now I'll have time to get ready....if I don't procrastinate, that is. 

                                     

Today being Tuesday, Barbara and I went to a movie.  We saw "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 3-D.  The ticket price was horrible ($9.25 for seniors~normally we pay $6.25) but I imagine it costs the theater more to have those special films available.  As far as I know this theater in Puyallup is the only one showing it in 3-D.  Oh, we got to keep the special 3-D glasses.  (Big deal, huh?)

I'm hearing on the news that there's been over 30 after shocks in the Los Angeles area.  The only damage I've heard about is stuff falling off shelves, etc. Of course they'll be out checking for structural damages for several days, I would imagine.

               

A couple people said that my mobile home doesn't look very mobile. Well it is...it could actually be split apart and moved to another location.   There's a seam down the middle of the house where it was put together when it was brought to this location.  You can see the molding down the middle of the ceiling where it comes apart.

                              

Mine could be moved if I wanted to do that but it's very expensive and I'd have to buy new carpet because what's here would have to be cut.  The last I heard it's between three and eight thousand dollars to move one of these houses and set it up on a new lot.

Bob's daughter and grand kids spent their first day on the set of a movie that's being made down in southern California.  Her cousin's husband, Mark Polish (Astronaut Farmer) has invited them to be extra's in this new movie starring Hillary Duff (I'm not sure who else is in it).  I haven't got a full report of their day yet but I'm sure they had a good time.  I'll fill you in as the details become available....

Well folks...that's all for now.  Have a good evening...Linda