Planning and Psyche

I do a few after work activities.  I generally plan for them, and part of my day is spent "psyching" myself to be prepared to go to these activities.  That makes it easier to go. The ones I really enjoy help to propel me during the day.

After I arrived home tonight, I realized that I had an unexpected errand to run.  I did not want to do it. It was a rough day at work. I had a headache by about 3:30. I worked late. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home. I wanted to just chill.  I had several extra chores to do at the house tonight. 

But, I dragged myself out and ran this errand. And returned home feeling better for it.

How Did I Know That?

At some time, I think in high school, I read the play "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett http://samuel-beckett.net/Waiting_for_Godot_Part1.html http://samuel-beckett.net/Waiting_for_Godot_Part2.html.  I have certainly heard reference through the years. 

In one of my puzzle books, there is a clue asking for the name of a play that a reviewer said "in which nothing happens, twice."  I immediately thought of "Waiting for Godot."  How did I know that.  It has been years since I read the play. Once that also part of the discussion about the play?  Have I heard that reference since? 

How did I  know that?

Mean Comments

We want to think of ourselves as nice people, but many of us make mean comments, usually in an emotional context without really meaning the comment.  It is more an expression of a negative emotion.  And, often the comments are not directed to a specific individual, but are directed at a group that is different from ourselves.

We do it sometimes as gallows humor to cope with a terrible situation. Sometimes we do it to fit in with others around us. 

No circumstance makes a mean comment correct.  Even if it is true, we are not placed here to be judge and jury of others, unless picked for the civil service through a due process system. 

I think I need to be concious of what I think and what I say and to whom I say it.

Tail Mat

Sake is generally resistant to my efforts to comb out or cut out the matted fur on her body.  I persist, and have some success, anyway.  I have a small knife with a clipper option that I use: it does not have sharp points and is easily disguised in my hand, which makes cutting out mats a little less stressful.. Until she catches on. 

Sake has had a mat in her tail for some time.  I decided that it was time to cut the mat out.  It took several tries, and many objections from Sake, but it happened. 

Lubbock Daily Deals

I receive daily announcements from Lubbock Daily Deals http://dailydeals.lubbockonline.com/engine/Splash.aspx?contestid=62192. A colleague told me she uses it regularly and finds lots of savings.  I get a daily email and look at the topic, but do not click on it. 

Until yesterday.  The deal was $10 of food for $5 at The Fortune Cookie http://www.fortunecookielubbock.com/index.html, a Chinese food restaurant not far from my house, and between my house and work. Sometimes, when I need a lift, or want something different for dinner, I stop there on the way home. Every time I do, I tell myself I should do so more often. Well, I bought 2 deals, and redeemed one tonight.

On Friday nights I often get something for dinner: at the deli at the yuppie supermarket, or something special to cook.  So, tonight, I had Chinese food.  And, it was, as always from the Fortune Cookie, good.

I am telling myself I should check out all of the deals, everyday. 

Disassemblage

Today, we cleaned the Occupational Therapy Kitchen at work.  We used to have occupational therapists on staff who taught many life skills, helped patients identify texture differences, and in general gave patients opportunities to learn coping skills.

That was before the spring of 2003, when the therapeutic program at the Montford Unit was gutted by budget cuts. 

Since then, we recovered some social work positions, and were up to 11, then lost 2 to attrition, and 3, last fall, to another reduction in force due to budget cuts.

I helped with the cleaning and even brought some items to a local non-profit agency resale store.  Many other art items will be donated to a local agency that has programs for children.

I was bummed out. I spent about 3 hours on this project, and went back to work, and was able to see patients, which is balm for my soul.  No particular patient,  just being able to see patients.

But, I left early today.  I just could not push myself to do more...

Power Outages

I slept through it, but Lubbock experienced a power outage early Saturday morning, July 21, 2012 http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2012-07-22/lpl-start-investigating-power-fai.   http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Power-Plant-Failure-Leaves-Most-Of-One-Texas-City-In-The-Dark-Overnight-163283846.html   http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2012-07-21/lubbock-restaurants-boiling-water-customers-following-power-outage   When I woke up, the power was on, and the clocks indicated it had been on for about an hour and 40 minutes.  I did not think much about it, and proceeded with my Saturday.  Which was quite busy, and did not include a computer session until about 4 PM. 

I decided to check to see if I could find out more about the power outage, when it occurred and how extensive it was.  I was surprised.  It knew it occurred early Saturday morning, and I learned I was without power for about 2.5 hours.  The outage was spread throughout much of the city, and the water pressure was so low, there was a boil water precaution, as there might have been some backwash in the water purification system. Well, I do not drink tap water, and the minimal contact in the shower and brushing my teeth did not worry me, but I quickly replaced the cat water dishes with boiled water.

The water precautions were lifted mid-afternoon on Sunday, July 22, 2012.  So that was good.

The official explanation had to do with a problem with a lightning arrester.

Today, there were "rolling blackouts" or "rolling brownouts" in the city http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2012-07-21/lubbock-restaurants-boiling-water-customers-following-power-outage.

When I got home, it seemed my house had been spared: The clocks were okay, but the most sensitive surge protector had tripped.  After some time, the official explanation was that while trying to repair the problem that caused the outage on Saturday morning, another problem occurred.

Lubbock used to have two electric power providers: Excel (formerly called Southwestern Public Service) and Lubbock Power and Light (LP&L.)  I have used LP&L at my house for many years.  Before I bought this house, most of the time, I used Southwestern Public Service  (SPS): their rates were lower.  However twice during that time period, when I was without power, SPS was exceedingly slow at restoring power.  I became frustrated, and changed to LP&L.

LP&L has a history of poor performance, and fiduciary mismanagement.  When I first moved into my house, I had regular power outages. Then, a "leg" connecting to my house went out, I called LP&L, they came, replaced the "leg" and my power connection has been reliable since.

Today, the radical media people are making much of the fact that the only electric power service in the city is LP&L.  There is discussion about the lack of competition, and that monopolies or "socialism" breeds poor product or service. I agree with this. I think, though that LP&L has hit a blip, and may have some engineering problems (personnel inadequacies?) If this continues, it is a systemic problem, and our elected officials will need to ask some hard questions.  If it is a fluke, let the professionals do their jobs.

Kayaking

I have not been kayaking after work lately.  I have felt guilty about not getting the exercise.  The place I go after work is in the city limits, but the water is very nasty.  So, when I go kayaking at Lake 6 or Dunbar Historical Lake http://www.playlubbock.com/outdoor/fishBoatING.aspx there is not much shade in the evening, and the water is too polluted to bathe in it.  

Yesterday, I went kayaking in the morning, leaving the house about 8 AM.  By the time I was done kayaking, it was too hot to be out in the sun, especially because the water is to unsafe for bathing and cooling off.  Today, I went kayaking,but did not leave the house until 9 AM. I did okay while kayaking, but when there was no breeze on the water, it was much too warm to be out there, especially because the water is too nasty to get out of the kayak and into the water to cool off.

I have felt almost guilty that I was not getting exercise by kayaking after work, but today, I confirmed that my decision not to go kayaking after work, because of the heat was the best decision to make.

Liver

Sake has been complaining to me that she is not happy with the canned food I have been offering the cats, lately.  This has been going on for a couple of weeks.  I try to buy the flavors that they seem to prefer.  Last Saturday, I could not find the Fancy Feast Liver and Chicken Grilled that they liked, so tried to substitute the Liver and Chicken Classic instead http://www.fancyfeast.com/?dcmp=knc-ff-goog-2010-ff&hbx_pk=fancy_feast&hbx_ou=50.  The grilled version has chunks, the classic version is a paté.  I should have known better:

Years ago, I used to cook chicken liver for Sake and Haiku, before I bought canned cat food. I started off chunking it for them, and they ate it. Then, I mashed it, more like a paté.  They did not like it that way.

Well, today, in addition to buying various flavors of grilled (chunked) Fancy Feast, I bought a tub of chicken livers and cooked them.  Both Sake and Haiku were on the kitchen counter, checking out the tub, before I started cooking it.  Sake complained and complained, while it was cooking, and finally got tired of complaining and slunk off. Haiku, who never tries to make her way to the stove from the counter, started that way, and had to be re-directed.

After the liver was cooked and cooled, I put three plates on the floor.  Sake immediately ate her plate.  Haiku ate at her plate, slowly, but did not finish it.  Taki sniffed, but did not eat liver.   Sake did not eat Taki's plate until I offered it to her.  After Haiku left her plate, Sake finished that.  I thought she would be sick and vomit, but it did not happen.

When I got in tonight, Sake wanted more to eat.  I warmed up the liver, and gave some to each kitty.  Sake chowed down. Haiku at more slowly. Taki was not interested.  I tried tuna for her, and she was not interested in that, either. I gave her some treats, and that was fine.

Actually, this is good. After being spayed, Take decided she needed to eat anytime any other cat ate, and she needed to eat what they ate.  She has actually become overweight because of this, although she started out in life developmentally behind. Since I returned from my vacation in May, she has decided that she does not have to eat because someone else does. .  She seems to be much discriminatory about what she  eats and when, instead of eating because someone else is. 

Sake has lost weight in the past year. When she went in for her check up in May, the veterinarian said it was good, as she had been a bit over weight. I appreciate that, but when I hold her and feel her bones and how light she is, I do worry about her.

Haiku has been historically underweight.  Her first home after she was weaned was in a family that struggled financially.  There was a dachshund in the home, who ate dry food. She did not always get dry cat food, but got dry dog food.  Dry cat food is higher in protein that dry dog food. 

Since living with me, she has not always been assertive about her food, and sometimes, let Sake drive her away from the feeding area.  So I set up a separate feeding area for her, and give her what she seems to prefer.

The liver thing has been interesting. Sake really likes the chopped chicken liver. As does Haiku.  But she is sated much before Sake is.  Taki could care less.

Moonlight Musicals

Tonight, I attended the final performance by Lubbock Moonlight Musicals http://www.lubbockmoonlightmusicals.org/ of "Fiddler on the Roof."  I fell in love with the music to this play my freshman year in college, and take opportunities to watch the movie or attend plays as I can.

This was an excellent performance, the final one of this play for this season.  The people who played Golde and Tevya are a married couple, and the people who played Hudel and Percheck are a married couple.  I think that helped generate some emotion and spark on stage.  The choreography was really good.

After a few years of shaky performances and equipment problems, the Moonlight Musicals have a good stage, and quality sound equipment.  Last year, the minor performers could not be heard well. Tonight, everyone could be heard well.   It was a pleasure to watch this performance.

The house was full: there is a terraced area for seating, in the Wells Fargo Amphitheater, http://lmcc.ci.lubbock.tx.us/facilities/amphitheatre.aspx and it was full: the ushers were asking people to move closer to allow for more seating. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets to sit on, but the house does provide some chairs. Tonight, the house chairs were all used. On both sides and behind the terraces there are grassy banks where people had to sit tonight.

Although the program indicated a 15 minute intermission, there was an announcement that the intermission would be 20 minutes.  Having heard the founder speak about the facilities, he was very aware of the need for adequate restrooms (more for women than men) and adequate time at intermission to access restrooms and refreshments. I suspect the extra 5 minutes was in deference to the size of the crowd.

I have not heard how the attendance this year has been.  The first 3 years it was mediocre at best.  But, the quality of the performances, and choosing popular musicals makes this a more popular activity.  I am glad the word is getting out.  I am amazed, though, that some people I know do not know where the amphitheater is .

I did not realize it but this is the 7th year of performances for Moonlight Musicals. The first year, they did one play:  "Oklahoma."  The sound was spotty, the stage bare, with no real facilities for the cast and crew. 

The next year, the sound equipment was stolen, and by the end of the season of 3 plays, they had to scale back the music from an orchestra to an ensemble due to budgetary constraints. 
But, the founder, Gerald Dolter http://www.depts.ttu.edu/music/Faculty/GeraldDolter.asp, persisted.

Each year, they get more underwriting from foundations that support the arts.

Part of the plan for this is to support drama students at Texas Tech so they can have summer theater experience, and be paid for it.  They are succeeding at doing this. 

They have added dinner theater during the fall, winter and spring seasons.  I went to the first year performance of "White Christmas" and really enjoyed it. The last season selections did nothing for me, and I did not attend.

Overall, this is a great endeavor for Lubbock.  It will not make Lubbock a destination city for people from across the nation, but for people in the general area, it may someday make Lubbock a destination city.

Hot!

It is hot.  It is suppose to be hot in Lubbock at this time of year. We are drying out.  No rain in sight. For the second year in a row, there are large parts of the nation that are experiencing a drought. Parts of Texas have recovered, but we have not. But, it is not as bad as things were last year. There is little we can do about it.  And complaining will not help.

I saw advertised a book called Global Weirdness http://www.amazon.com/Global-Weirdness-Relentless-Drought-Weather/dp/1455892165 which is about not just global warming, but the changes in weather we can expect as humans overpoweringly influence the climate.

It sounds like a book worth reading.

Overview

There are very few people who view my blog.  But, when I look at the statistics from Blogger, it says that most of my hits are from Russia.  I do not understand that. I think it is a hoax.

Elderly Parents and My Own Future

Some of my coworkers and friends are dealing with elderly and failing parents.  I dealt with that some few years ago, and because of the physical distance between myself and my parents, I was spared the day to day trauma.

But trauma it is.  There are so many factors and facets to dealing with elderly parents:  To name a few: their perception of their capabilities, and their desire not to surrender independence. The reality of their abilities, especially in regards to such things as driving. Their physical strength and stamina. Their physical intactness. Their mental intactness. Their safety when they are not supervised.

As our parents age, as we age, we become less and less capable of doing the day to day tasks that we did without thought in our youth.  We are less capable physically. We forget. We start something and are distracted and can not finish. We have less interest or motivation. We have less physical strength.

Then, our body fails. We cannot walk as far, reach as high or lift as much.  We can not grasp as tightly. We can not move as quickly, or agilely as we once did. We can not stand as easily, or get up from a kneeling or crouching position. We are stiff and sore if we stay in one position too long. We lose feeling in our extremities.  

Life becomes harder in so many ways. We remember somethings, usually things of long ago, that comfort and calm us, or distress and discourage us.  Our physical faculties decline, and we can not care for ourselves the way we used to. We become dependent upon others, hopefully those who love us, and treat us with dignity and respect.

I will become, one day, as frail and infirm as my parents became.  I was not there to care for them on a day to day basis.  I do not have children who can care for me on a day to day basis. I can only hope that someone will be there, to care for me, to supervise my care. To be sure that I am not abused, nor taken advantage of, nor manipulated to my detriment.

Am I afraid? No. I am hopeful.  And I know the full Grace of God who takes care of my soul, whatever happens to my body.

A New Book Club

Diane decided she wanted to start a new book club, and invited many members of the Barnes and Noble Mystery Book Club. She did not invite me, but Susan suggested she might want to, and gave her my contact information. So, Diane invited me.

Tonight was the first meeting. We settled on time, place and book selection process. Diane had refreshments for us. We talked about about "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, (a short story) and decided on the next book:  The Hunger Games.

This was a fun activity for me, and I hope it continues to be fun....

What Did You Do Today?

I read.  I used to make myself get up on a Saturday morning and do chores, including shopping, housework and laundry, yard work as needed before I allowed myself the pleasure of what I wanted to do.

That does not happen any more.  Because of health constraints, I can not do a lot of physical work in one day.  So, I have to spread chores out for several days. 

But, I also do not rush into chores any more.  Sometimes, on Saturday or Sunday I get up and do fun things instead of chores.  

Today, though, after I read a while, I ran errands and did housework.  Then I played on the computer and read. And read. And listened to music while I read.  I finished one book and started and finished a second book. With some computer time in between for variation. And am shortly going to start a third book.

I like to read. Sometimes, I get so caught up in reading I forget to do other things. I hope that does not happen tomorrow, because I want to do other things, too.

The girls seem to like it when I read.  I frequently play music while I read.  But most of it is not jarring (I have some jarring music.)  The girls seem to like music better than NASCAR racing.  I think they probably have better taste than I do. They like to sit with me in the living room. All three of them. Especially when I am reading, and the TV is off.  Even if I have a CD playing. Usually, when I am on the computer, Taki and Haiku will join me, but Sake infrequently does. Although, she has started to join us more and more. That is good. I really like having my three girls around me as I relax in my house.

Hiding in Plain Sight

I while back, I was looking for a CD of Gene Autry music.  I looked through the small stacks of CD I have on the player, and on the bookshelf.  I keep a few in the door of my car.  That CD was no where to be found.   I thought maybe it was one that had been stolen when my house was burglarized in 2001.  But that did not seem right. I knew I had heard those songs more recently.  Was it on KDAV, the radio station I like that sometimes plays cowboy music?  Was it that I had other CDs with his signature songs, but performed by other artists.  Well, that is true, I do have such CDs.  I finally decided that must have been the case.

Today, I was looking for a CD by Andrea Bocelli that was not in its case.  I had last played it using the TV, and that is where it was. But before I was lead to that locale, I pawed through the stacks of CDs on the player, thinking I might have left it loose out of the case. Not so.  But the Gene Autry CD popped up! How does that happen?

Better Reading

On Facebook, a friend posted a list of 100 classic books, to see how many we had read.  I could mark 22 for sure.  Some of the titles were so familiar, I was sure I had read them.  But I was trying to be honest with my self.

I had decided a while back to try to vary my reading and get some non-fiction books.  I read one non-fiction book since then.  I have 5 mysteries sitting in the house now, 4 by one author.  I like to read series in order.

I think I want to work on more classics, too. Even if I read one this summer, one is better than none.

Soapy Water

I don't get it.  Today, as I was cleaning the bathroom, I splashed soapy water over the side of the sink, onto the newspaper under the cat pan.  I was getting ready to wash the floor and change out the newspaper.  But, before I could do that, Taki was in there, licking the wet newspaper.  It must have tasted like soap and bleach. I stopped her, of course, and had to finally close the bathroom door until I could get the newspaper picked up.

I don't get it!

Brain Fart

Tonight was Mystery Book Club night. We usually gather before hand and have dinner at a local restaurant. I made my reservation last weekend.

I left work a little early, having come to a good ending point and having worked more than 8 hours today.

I decided to go to my favorite yuppie upscale supermarket for some goodies for dinner tonight, although I usually do that on Friday, not Thursday.

As I was driving home from the supermarket, I had a local sports talk show on the radio. They were talking about the USA Olympic attire being something out of The Great Gatsby.  I got to thinking about discussing books, because the comments on the radio included surprise that sports writers read such books. Then it dawned on my: This was Mystery Book Club night. I went home, fed the cats, and raced off to dinner with the book club folks.  I had a good dinner, and the Mystery Book Club discussion was good, too.

Pledge

Each month, I send a donation to the local Public Broadcasting System  TV station and National Public Radio station. Both are housed at Texas Tech University, KTTZ http://www.kttz.org/. They used to be separate entities:  KOHM-FM radio and KTXT-TV.  I discovered years ago that I could send one check and they each got the designated share.

I originally had donated through the fund drive, and even received donor gifts.  Then, I kept giving. One year, I received a donor gift that I tried to return, but was not accepted!  The boxes were returned to me as "undeliverable."  So weird. 

So, I keep donating. I do not pledge my donation, and  I do not want to be recorded as making a pledge.  I just want to donate.

A couple of years ago, I received a thank you note and 12 pre-addressed envelopes "for my convenience."  I used those.

Recently, the two stations have been administratively merged and changed from their old call letters to KTTZ.  This makes sense to me, on many levels.  Also, Texas Tech announced that they will eventually pull their funding from both stations.  That prompted me to decide to redirect my donation:  Per their past instructions, I was sending the donation to the Tech Development Office. The money was being credited correctly, because I received monthly thank you and receipt acknowledgements. So, this past month, I sent my check directly to the station office.

I received back a pledge card for each station, one dating back to a pledge starting last September, one dated as my pledge just started.  This infuriated me.  I am not sure why I was so angry, but I did not make a pledge to either station, and I do not want to be on the books as having made a pledge.

I was ugly:  I returned the pledge cards with a note that I have not made a pledge and if I keep getting pledge cards, I will stop my donation.  I do not want to stop my donation. I just do not want to be told that I have made a commitment that I have not made. I think that is inappropriate. That is like getting a bill for something you did not buy.

I also donate regularly to some charitable organizations and animal welfare non-profits.  From time to time, I donate to other organizations: for a special event or reason, or to acknowledge or honor someone or someone's  pet.   Those organizations sometimes continue to send me requests for money.  I usually ignore them. I have decided that I will answer each one with a request to be taken off their mailing list, noting that if I have a reason to donate to them, I know how to do that. 

I am not trying to be ugly.  I just think that I do not need to receive what I perceive as junk mail, and I am doing the organization a favor by not letting them spend money and resources on trying to get money out of me.

Haircut

I got a professional haircut a few weeks ago.  The stylist was more interested in getting both sides the same length than actually shortening my hair. It was not the best haircut I ever got.  I got tired of looking at the bunches of hair on each side of my face, and two nights ago, I cut it off, and more or less tapered it in.

But the back of my hair was too long.  Last night I chopped it off.  I could not see in the back so I just pulled and chopped.  My thought is that if it is uneven, that is okay, because I wanted my hair to be layered unevenly.  I do not know how it looks. But I have been looking for my hair cut, and I now have it.  I want it layered and thick, but tapered in at the bottom.

I like the look I achieved sort of by accident!

Hot!

It's summer in Texas.  And it is hot.  As my favorite local radio sports talk show host says, this is what happens in Texas this time of year.  Why do people act surprised?

I have not been opening the windows before I go to bed, lately, because it has been too hot, and I did not need to let the hot air in.

This morning, I awoke about 3:40 AM and could not go back to sleep. I checked the temperature and it was 77°.  I opened the bedroom windows, but it did not help much.  The air was too still, and too humid. The bedroom became passing cool, but not the rest of the house.   However, the low this morning was 73°, and I left the house open, and was able to enjoy the cool morning air in my back yard.

For a while.

By about 9:30 AM, it was too hot to sit outside, and too hot to have the windows open. This has been the case recently.  The house just does not cool off much overnight due to the heat. The A/C bill is high, but I deserve the comfort.

 This afternoon, a storm blew in. There were very few big drops of rain, but some thunder and lightning, and wind. For a while. The clouds stayed, so the temperature stayed below 100°.  But it was still HOT.

I went to the brass band concert to night, and for the first hour or so, the air was dead still. Then the breeze picked up. And the temperature dropped. At almost 10:30 PM. the temperature was 78°.  It is not cooling the inside of the house yet, but I have some of the windows open to get some cross breezes and try to cool the inside off.  It will take a while. But hopefully, the house will cool off tonight.

V

Did you know that the Morse code for the letter vee is da da da daaaa.  And, if you think about it there is a very famous symphony that starts with da da da daaaa.  It is Beethoven's 5th Symphony.  Additionally, the Roman numeral symbol for 5 is V.  I do not know what all this means in the grand scheme of things.  But I wonder about it sometimes.  Maybe I have too much time on my hands.

Getting started

I have things I need to do today, and things I want to do today.  So far I have done some of both, but have found I am slow at the chores and quick at the pleasurable  activities. I think that is okay, as long as the chores are done.  There is no deadline and no requirement regarding order of accomplishment.  And the chores will not go away.  

I really do enjoy the feeling that the chores are done, and my time is mine.  But, today, I am a little slow at getting started on chores. 

Hot Wind

Tonight when I left work, the ambient temperature was hot. There were clouds that sometimes blocked the sun, and the wind, although hot, made the air feel fresher.

According to The Weather Channel, the temperature is 88°, and the wind is at 23 MPH.   It seems like in a few minutes, when I have finished with computering, it will be pleasant to sit outside. I hope so.

I would rather be outside than in. I defer to some sporting events, and the weather conditions that make me uncomfortable outside, especially the wind with the blowing dust, that sometimes causes me to have bronchitis.

Sometimes, the hot wind is better than no wind, and really makes it possible to enjoy the outside in the heat of the evening.  I hope so tonight.

Parade and the Fourth of July Festival

Lubbock had an Independence Day parade today, and I attended it.   A Lubbock parade is an unusual creature.  There are few, if any bands.  Today, there was a drum line.  After the parade, there was going to be a festival of mostly music and food, and one of the music venues played recorded patriotic music for much of the parade.  Some of the "floats" included people who were singing.  One of the floats included acrobats performing.

Just about anything qualifies as an entry in the Lubbock parade: Elected or local celebratory individuals of all kinds riding in convertibles; official vehicles from city, state, county, hospital, school entities; vehicles representing churches, schools and businesses; some were real "floats."  Most were decorated vehicles, or vehicles pulling decorated or not decorated flat-bed trailers.  The street sweepers follow the horse group entries. 

Last year, very little was thrown to the participants, and someone said the practice was being discouraged. This year, candy, bagged snacks, T-shirts, wristbands, and flyers were distributed to the crowd.  It was a little more festive with these additions.

I was really distressed when the parade began, and the honor guard came by. This consisted of multiple military groups with flags, each including the American flag.  Only some of us stood and saluted the flag.  I do not blame the children, but I wish the adults knew better.  It was the young adults, probably under 40, who did not stand. This is very disrespectful.

One of the entries to the parade was AeroCare, the air ambulance of the area.  The helicopter flew over twice, which was a nice touch.  I saw the county tactical response vehicle (bombs, SWAT, etc) which I did not know existed, and the county mobile headquarters vehicle, which I vaguely knew existed but had not bothered to consider what it looked like. Someone in the audience commented that he did not know there was a Miss Lubbock County pageant, until Miss Lubbock County went by in a convertible.  (I did not know there was a Miss Lubbock County pageant, either.)

The other distressing thing to me about the parade was the end.  The final entries had not passed us, and spectators were already flooding the street in front of us.  The four motorcylce cops bringing up the rear of the parade were not enough to prevent this. It was not dangerous, particularly, but it was disrespectful of the participants. 

But I saw a lot of disrespect in the spectators this year.  Late comers crowding into areas already occupied by spectators. People standing in front of a spectators, without regard to the fact those seated behind them had been there before the standees arrived. People grabbing gifts from in front of other people.  I had a bag of chips grabbed away from me. My reaction to grab the chips was more defensive than acquisitional.  I think someone saw that because a few seconds later, a bag of chips landed on my shoulder.

The parade was just a parade.  It was okay. It celebrated the country and the service people: military, government, safety and first responders.  So that was good.

The festival was okay.  I think they should bring in a carnival of rides, and have craft and hobby booths as well as food and music, but no one asked me.

I spent most of the day at one particular music venue.  They had jazz, the Westwinds Brass Band, mariachi music (two different groups played, and one played twice), ballet folklorica dancing, the women's barbshop chorus, and an easy listening ensemble.  During the ballet folkorica, I took a break, and got a drink and lunch.  The rest of the time, I sat under the tent, listened and enjoyed the music, and knitted.

I also got to spend some time with a dear friend, which was a bonus.  We were going to go kayaking, but the wind was gusting up 27 MPH, and when it gets above 20 MPH, I try to stay off the lake.

I have already blogged about the fireworks and the cats. The fireworks have calmed down, which is a blessing.

Fireworks

It is the Independence Day, and some of my neighbors are celebrating with fireworks, which are illegal in the city of Lubbock.

I can see them, looking askew from my window, better from my front porch.  The air has changed to cool, and I was going to open the house, but Taki and Haiku went to hide when the fireworks started. (Sake was in some hiding place already.  She usually is until she want attention from me at night.) I had the Boston Pops 4th of July concert on TV, and when those fireworks came out, Taki and Haiku came out. They are used to lot of rude and ugly noises coming from the TV.  The concert is done, and I turned on the 1812 Overture, which they are also used to, so maybe that will help.

I would actually like to go outside and see the display, but I am concerned about the cats, and feel it is more responsible to be inside.

Lombardy Poplar

I awoke a little early this morning, and could hear the early morning birds outside the house.  The male cardinal was singing and singing and singing.  He has trained me, and does this when the bird feeder is empty and he is hungry.  The birdfeeder still had some food in it this morning..  But the tree he likes to sit in was gone!

As I pulled out of the garage this morning, I saw several birds, doves and grackles, fly up to the house and sort of stop short.  I think these are birds who used to sit in the Lombardy Poplar that had to come down.

I had considered how much shade I would be loosing.  I had not considered how much of an impact on the birds having the tree downed would cause.

There is nothing I can do about it.  The tree really, really, really needed to be cut down.  It was dead on the south side.  It grew up around the concrete patio on the south side of my house. Part of the tree that overspilled onto the concrete had pulled away, and the tree was leaning. There was a gap of about an inch between the concrete and the tree where it had pulled away.  I asked to have a few feet of stump left, for a "table." The center of the tree seen in the cross section of the table was dead and rotten.  I still plan to coat it with some sort of sealer and use it as a table.

I feel badly for the birds, but there are a lot of other roosts in the area. I needed to get the tree down before it blew down and damaged my house, or that of my neighbor.

The Set Game

One of the games I am currently doing every day  is "The Set Game." Click on http://www.setgame.com/ and go to daily puzzle.  You pick three symbols that complete a "set."  Three of a kind; three of one of each kind. And each kind comes from either three colors, three shapes, or three fills: solid, striped and empty. 

I used to do this regularly, but I sometimes got frustrated. This is sometimes hard for me.  And as is true for many  daily puzzles, as the week progresses, the difficulty increases, and the weekend challenge level is mid-level.  So, I stopped doing this puzzle.  Because it frustrated me more than I enjoyed it.

But, I know that to keep my brain alive, I need to keep it challenged.  I read a lot. I do a daily crossword, word jumble and sudoku in the newspaper.  I do a jigsaw puzzle and sudoku on line. But I was not challenging my brain.  The Set Game challenges my brain.  I need that. I need to do less on auto pilot and more on challenge.

Oh Crap, It's Monday!

I really did not mind that it is Monday.  Monday is a work day, and I have a job that pays the bills, gives me some personal satisfaction, is generally likeable, and I can do with some sense of mastery.  So, going to work is not the worst thing to have to do in my life.

But this morning, when the alarm went off, I shut it off, and rolled over.  And went back to sleep.  Until I woke up an hour and a half later, got my bearings and realized I had to be at work in about an hour.  Which is not a problem.  I can usually do what I need to do to get ready and leave for work in about 45 minutes.  Which I did today.

But, it was the total lack of awareness, at 5:30 AM, when my alarm first goes off, that I had to go to work.   I know why.  My last social interaction of Sunday was to bid goodbye to some friends, after we had shared plans for the 4th of July holiday.  So upper most in my mind was the holiday, not work.

Does that happen to you? Something you have said or done sets your mind and you go that way, without even realizing it.  We are very suggestible creatures, and what we think really influences our actions and responses to life.  We know that, but we do not always protect ourselves against that.

Maybe we need to be more mindful in our lives.