Weekend Snapshot: The Swamp Runneth Over

WEEKEND SNAPSHOT

We had 7 inches of rain this weekend which caused a large amount of flooding county wide. My Swamp runneth over. <

175 Words Challenge: It Was October 17, 1967

175 WORDS CHALLENGE

I met him when we moved into our new house. My cousin told me he lived next door to her. He and his older brother were “volunteered” by my uncle to do some of the heavy lifting.

It was the first time I ever noticed a boy!

He was tall and dark, not at all handsome, unless you think dorky and be-speckled is handsome. He was the second oldest in his family of six. I found myself doing stupid things in front of him, tripping, stumbling, dropping, tongue tied and talking too much. I was in crush.

As tired as I was that day, I was sad to see it end because that meant he had to leave my house. I wondered if I’d ever see him again, maybe at my cousin’s house. I wondered if he felt any of the same feelings.

We slept that night on mattresses on the floor. Morning came and my MotherDear came in to wake us for breakfast. She lifted my blanket and said to me “That boy is downstairs asking for you.”

• 175 Words
• 917 Characters

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ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE? YOU CAN DO IT!
DIRECTIONS FOR THE CHALLENGE:

Firstly, click on the link provided below. While there at the site, type your life’s event in the box provided. Total your words. Your entry MUST meet the challenge of 175 words!! NO LESS!!!! Must be 175 words at least!! If it’s not, it doesn’t qualify. Then, copy and paste your life’s event to your blog and place your total of words – the exact count into your blog entry also. That’s it!

If you want to try the challenge go to Hootin Anni’s HERE.

I’d like to know you’ve done the meme challenge for fun. If you do, please come back and tell me in the comments section!! I’ll come by for a visit.

PhotoHunt: Wooden

This week’s Photo Hunter Theme is Wooden.

I decided to use my Tiki Torch for this weeks’ Wooden Theme because it’s may be the only time I’ll ever get to use it!

I’m usually in bed by 8:00, long before dark in the summer!

I usually light it only on the rare evening that isn’t so humid that it drives us back inside to the air conditioning!

The Tiki Torch is never left unattended, and is always extinguished before retiring for the evening.

I has a sad

Here in the Deep South tonight it is cold, dreary and raining. It’s been raining all day. It will rain all day tomorrow. I watched our Canadian Geese standing at the edge of The Swamp today, just waiting it out.

As I was driving home tonight I couldn’t help but wonder where all the homeless people were sheltering, where all the wildlife go to and where so many feral pets were hiding from the cold and damp tonight.

Then I turn on the news and hear that Barack Obama is currently getting 1 million dollars a day donated to his campaign fund. A million dollars a day.

And it makes me terribly sad.

Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

Hello, Cabernet!

Wine is both pleasing to my palate and soothing to my spirit.

Being the wine-lover than I am, I have to say that in my view there is very little that can’t be improved upon simply by pairing it with a nice glass of wine. Reading a book, a small gathering of family & friends, a quiet evening on the sofa, wine chats with the SisterDears, an airplane flight and even blogging all go well with a nice glass of wine.

Planning a great meal? Pair it with a nice wine that will compliment your food. The right wine actually makes the food taste better, and vice-versa. My best advice to new wine drinkers: Give yourself permission to ignore the white meat, white wine/red meat, red wine rule. If you like it, that’s all that really matters. Personally, I drink reds almost exclusively.

Panic Disorder

I have suffered from Panic Disorder since my early teenage years. Of course, at the time I didn’t know what it was, but I found that if I stayed busy cleaning, it helped a lot. Fortunately, being the oldest of eight children, there was always something to clean!

I also realized that if I allowed myself to become over-tired I was more susceptible to having an Attack. That’s just one of the reasons I try to be in bed by 8:00 every night… That, and when I’m well-rested, I also tend to be in a better mood and therefore less apt to bite someone’s head off!

When I first discovered my love of wine, I also discovered a wonderful Perk! Not only did it taste wonderful, but it relaxed me like nothing else ever had!

I have written before that I have a Love/Hate relationship with flying. I love that it can transport me so quickly to someone I wish to spend time with, but I hate that it also will trigger a Panic Attack.

It’s Wine-Thirty somewhere!

Not long after 9-11, I booked the only available flight into SisterDear2’s airport. It happened to be a very early morning flight, which meant I would not have my coping mechanism available. I finally decided to make an appointment with the doctor. I was hoping for a “magic pill” that I could take for the flight up and back. To make a long story short, he told me to disregard the time of the flight. Since wine works so well for me I was to imagine myself to be an International Traveler - and it was Cocktail hour somewhere! That’s how I got my tagline “It’s Wine-thirty somewhere!”

I’ll admit that I felt a little creepy ordering wine so early in the morning, but I’m so glad I did! In fact, I ordered several of those teeny tiny wine bottles! I had a wonderful flight, and while my fellow passengers may have thought me an alcoholic, they were blissfully unaware of the consequence of being in close proximity of a strapped-in woman in the midst of a full-blown Panic Attack! For three hours!!

Bye-Bye Paxil, Hello, Cabernet!

Toxic-Human-Waste-ectomy

Many of you have heard me say many times how much I love, respect and admire my three amazing sisters, and one dear, sweet brother.

I have never mentioned my youngest brother, the baby of the family. He was only two years old when I got married and not quite fours years old when I moved 1,500 miles from home. I couldn’t afford the price of a plane ticket back then and he literally grew up without me ever getting to know him. He’s still a toddler in my brain and heart. During the 35 years since then, he had fallen victim to a series of incredibly unfortunate events in his life. He never had a chance to lead any sort of normal life. When he was about 19 years old he was riding his bike home from work. He was struck by a drunk driver who had no licence or insurance. My brother sustained serious brain injuries and permanent nerve and brain damage. He will always, in some capacity, be a ward of the state.

Which brings me to the remaining two brothers. They both are Toxic Human Waste. Absolute Poison. Long ago I completely removed them from my life. I haven’t seen or spoken to them in years and don’t plan to ever again. They suck the life out of a person. They are users and abusers. Once you have nothing left that they can use, off they go to their next victim. It’s amazing how sneaky and resourceful they can be sometimes. One would think that it would actually be less effort for them to use that energy to make their own way! ::sigh::

It’s difficult to fathom that these two, out of all eight of us kids, were raised by the same parents, in the same home and with the same values. My poor parents had the hardest time recognizing their toxicity and were the last to give up on them, first my Dad letting go, and then finally, MotherDear. However, I’m sure it must always be more difficult for parents.

I certainly know first hand that it is not always easy to turn your back and walk away from a toxic relationship, whether family or friend. It took me 21 years to find the courage to leave a toxic marriage! It took me even longer to walk away from my so-called best friend after 30 years. I was her best friend. Alas, she was not mine. I do know that once you recognize the relationship as toxic, you should walk away from it. It should be done as quickly as possible. I can tell you that I know it is much better on the other side.

Unfortunately, I have never met anybody who has never had at least one toxic relationship in their lifetime. That certainly doesn’t mean you have to keep them in your life. You can walk away, if you respect and value yourself.

After my own life experiences, it’s now easier for me to recognize these users and not ever allow them in. There were people who thought me cold-hearted when I first started culling these users from my life, but I learned to trust my own opinions more.

I encourage each and every person to regard yourself above all others when first developing a relationship. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Your brain will tell you first, and then your heart will agree if a person is someone you should trust before you invite them in. If your brain and your heart are not in agreement, it deserves a closer look.

Thomas gets his first Award

Some of you may recall that my nephew Thomas, twin to Kevin and son to SisterDear3, was accepted into Manville School school in January. Thomas’ diagnosis is PDD/NOS. It had been quite difficult to find a program that was not only a good fit for Thomas but one that also had an opening. His previous placement only reluctantly kept him in due to a “Stay Put” order by the SPED Director.

We were all very excited and relieved when Thomas started at Manville.

Well, when SisterDear3 emptied his backpack last week she found that Thomas had received his very first Award from Manville! What was amazing though was that Thomas did not tear it to bits before arriving home, despite the fact that weather and traffic made his ride home about 2 hours longer than it should be on a normal day and Thomas loves to tear paper almost better than I enjoy a nice glass of wine!

I would be delighted to put the Award up for you all to admire, but unfortunately SisterDear3 is Scanner-Challenged.

Way to go Thomas!!

Weekend Snapshot: Squirrel at Dusk

I snapped about 100 photos of my cats Gandalf & Grayson trying to catch a squirrel this weekend. This is my favorite!

Cheers.

Easy Like Sunday Morning Participants

1. Kimo & Sabi 2. Eric and Flynn 3. Dragonheart & Merlin 4. a simple life 5. liza 6. Parker – Easy Like Sunday 7. napaboaniya 8. SandyCarlson

9. Lynn 10. Carver 11. maryt/the teach 12. Mickey 13. jh 14. Stev & Emz 15. julie 16. Lilli

17. Thess 18. Larawannabe 19. Yen 20. ettey 21. Jen 22. DeLi 23. Natalie

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PhotoHunt: Free

This week’s Photo Hunter Theme is Free.

After Thursday’s post about my love for The Swamp, this week’s Theme Free was an easy choice. I can think of nothing that epitomizes “Free” better than Nature itself.

Our Swamp is completely “unmessed around with”. It is as God and all His wonderful creatures have made it. Free and Natural. So here are a few more photos of my wonderful Swamp.

In this one you can see some of the handy work of our Beavers. Isn’t it nice of them to cut some Free firewood for us? You can also see one of their dams in the top right.

In this one you can see Tucker, off on yet another Purrfect Adventure.

An added Bonus, our view is Free. Can you imagine what it might cost to hire a Landscaper to do this?

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Thursday Thirteen #5 – 13 Things I love about The Swamp

My Valentine’s Day post is about my Love of The Swamp. My Thursday Thirteen is first. Scroll down for Karen’s Photo Contest #6. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Thursday Thirteen – 5th Edition

Thirteen Things I love about The Swamp

As some of you know, I moved to The Deep South, Georgia a few years ago. While my home is in a lovely subdivision built in an old Pecan Orchard, my office is located at The Swamp! My former business partner owns an unoccupied home on two acres overlooking The Swamp. And while he hopes someday to move back into the home, it’s currently my Office! Here’s 13 of the reasons I absolutely love it!

1. Tranquility. It is so peaceful! It even smells quiet.

2. Natural, protected wetlands. Nobody will ever be able to build and obstruct the view!

3. Cypress Trees

4. The pair of Canadian Geese that migrate here to mate each year. They arrived about 10 days ago. We can’t wait to see the Goslings again this Spring!

5. Red-Tailed Hawks

6. Beavers and all 4 of their dams

7. Racoons

8. Woodpeckers. We have 2 different species here, but I’m not sure which ours are. One of them is quite large!

9. The tall Georgia Pine Trees and Pine Cones.

10. No Alligators! Whew.

11. Our great neighbors. Everybody looks out for each other. They are the kind of neighbors that walk around to the back patio or just come in the back door. The kind of neighbors who bring you food when you’re not well. The kind that mow your yard.

12. Many, many kinds of birds: Crane, Egret, Cardinals, Finch, Wrens, Mockingbirds, Dove, Blue Jays, Black Birds, etc…

13. My cats, Gandalf & Grayson, love it here. They take full advantage of the expanded Hunting Ground!! Every day is full of potential for another new Purrfect Adventure!

One of my cats, Grayson and cousin Cosmo Kitty on a “Great Hunt at The Swamp”.

I am entering Karen’s contest and would appreciate your vote when polling starts at 5 PM Central on 2/15/08.

To me, LOVE IS… Spring at The Swamp.. unspoiled, natural, wonderful!

Thursday Thirteen Participants

1. Sanni 2. SandyCarlson 3. Alasandra & The Cats

4. Laura 5. Lynne 6. The Gal Herself

7. Tink 8. Mickey

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