Mary Louise Eklund

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Did You Know I…
I often see people do a list of “10 Things You Don’t Know About Me.” I always find at least one thing I have in common with them that I didn’t know about. Since I’ve not been posting for a while (health issues, improving thanks!) I thought a good post to get back into this would be a 10 Things list. So here is my 10 Things You May Not Know About Me.

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1. I love comic books. I always have and always will. **Let the Geek Flag Fly** Actually I have a pull list mailed to me monthly. For those of you not into comic lingo a pull list is a list of comic book titles to which you subscribe. The big companies DC and Marvel aren’t great at managing subscriptions nor do they offer all titles for subscription. The small companies like Dynamite don’t offer subscriptions nor do Indies like Zenotrope. So if you have a local comic shop you go there fill out a pull list and they make a mailbox for you pulling those titles as they come in. Our local comic shop burned so I use Midtown comics for my pull list and they mail them to me monthly. If you want to read my comic book reviews I post them over on my Google+ account.
2. As a rule I don’t like chick flicks. I’ve never liked goody-goody sappy things. I hated Little House on the Prairie and the Waltons. I did like Hot L Baltimore and All In The Family. Just an example from my early days of not liking the sappy movies.
1. I didn’t like My Big Fat Greek Wedding. This doesn’t mean I don’t like love stories or happy endings, I do. I just like a story with meat and realism to it. I find these movies shallow and insulting to women.
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2. I worked in radioactive waste processing. Yep, I was a Regulatory Compliance Specialist. I helped with NRC rules, RCRA rules, EPA rules, OSHA rules, and so on. I taught courses on RCRA compliance. What heck did I just say? Well I worked doing internal inspections of the various processing of radioactive waste for the alphabet soup of laws that applied. Just so you know I went into that job supporting the use of nuclear energy. I left years later thinking until we know what to do with waste beyond make it smaller and leave it sitting in the desert to watch it for thousands of years – we shouldn’t be making radioactive waste for anything except lifesaving medical reasons.
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3. I love the paranormal and fringe stuff. Now I don’t buy all of it nor do I discount all of it. I find it fun to read or listen to radio shows. This is a pretty wide topic to me it can be anything from ghosts, aliens, crypto creatures, time travel, conspiracies, and anything weird. Some of it astounds me people actually believe that stuff. Some of it makes me think about what DO I believe and why. Some of it makes me wonder just how much do we know about physics and such. All of it helps me come up with story ideas.
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4. I don’t like chocolate or sweets in general. Honestly I’d rather have mashed potatoes & gravy, a good au gratin potato or more steak than dessert any day. I don’t like ice cream and for my birthday want to impress me take me out to a Mexican or Sushi place. You won’t see me posing with a cake. I’m all into savory and my aversion to sweet goes as far as not caring for most fruits. Ruby red grapefruit is my favorite with salt is my favorite!
5. I’m sodium deficient most of the time. Yep I salt heavily but when it comes time for my routine blood test I’m deficient. It has to with adrenal malfunction – my body doesn’t absorb salt very well.If you eat dinner with me and see me salting don’t fret my blood pressure when I checked in for surgery last week was 118/62 and I was stressed for surgery but had taken no medication yet. So my heart can take it and my body needs it to avoid pains in my legs and general body pain due to malfunctioning nerves that don’t have enough sodium.
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6. I love true crime/missing person stories. I find nothing fascinating that a good mystery and the best ones come from life. Sure it’s great to learn the end but the others fascinate me too. I’ve read all the books by John E Douglas a famous criminal profiler. My most frequently recorded channel is Investigation Discovery.
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  My heart breaks for the victims and their families. Still I can’t help but be fascinated with how cases are investigated not just the forensic side but all aspects. I’m always intrigued about why someone does such crimes. Why does A react to the situation with crime while B in the same situation doesn’t? Also good plot twists are based on things that can really happen. The plot turns I want to write are inspired by the real twists of life.
7. No animal creeps me out, none. Mike doesn’t like big bears (Kodiak, Grizzly, etc.). Aaron thinks orangutans are creepy. Sara finds Aaron etymology collection gross and creepy. I can’t say any of those things bother me. Sure I respect big bears and hope to never meet one face to face. I find Orangs fascinating as they are one of our closest genetic relatives. Bugs – heck you’re reading the writing of a girl who used to love to play with bugs, especially those roly-poly ones you find under damp rocks or in rotting trees. So no I don’t find rats, bats, snakes, bears, big cats or anything creepy. I do have respect for wild beasts and venomous critters but don’t find them any creepier than people. Actually I find people creepy occasionally.
8. I can read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. I took classes for two years to get the basics of reading it. Why? I figured if it was so important to them to write all over everything the least I could do is read a bit of it to see what’s going on. I’m a writer the biggest thrill for me is to be read I don’t see that being any different 4,000 years ago. I studied Middle Kingdom glyphs and can muddle through the basics of an idea that’s written, stumble through Old or New Kingdom stuff. I love history and I love the beauty of ancient Egyptian designs even their writing was beautiful art. So I satisfied my curiosity about the very lean basics of how to read their hieroglyphs.
9. I enjoy solitude. I think I need more alone time than most people. Not that I’m not a social person, I am, I can be. Yet I love quiet days alone with my thoughts. I think that’s the root of my love of reading, photography, and writing. Those are all things you do alone, just you and your thoughts. I’m not a hermit by any means but for me to travel alone, have dinner out alone, to stay home alone, isn’t a bad thing to me. I just like time to myself to process and create things. I just always enjoyed going my way. Maybe that comes from being an only child raised in area where I didn’t have playmates except in school hours. Maybe it’s just my personality. Either way my good friends concur that I do need more alone time than most people. Too much interaction time makes me grumpy, I feel overwhelmed and become annoyed. I guess it goes without saying I don’t like being in crowds…
So there you go. Did ya learn something about me? Do we have more in common that you knew? Am I an odd bird as they say down South? As always I appreciate you reading and any stars, shares, and/or comment are greatly appreciated. Until next time!
May 10, 2012
Adventures in Grocery Shopping

I have a long history here of running into craziness at the HUMGO-SUPER-DUPER market out by the interstate. I’ve had an old lady tell me what fruits were evil and what ones weren’t. She looked like Bette Davis in Baby Jane.

Another time I saw a manager hit in the face with a clipboard by the woman in front of me who was trying to use a stolen debt card and fake ID. I had to make a police statement in that as I witnessed the whole transaction.

Another time in the parking lot I had to help a grandma with an infant. She was hysterical since her husband collapsed and couldn’t breathe. As I got there the ambulance from her 911 call was roaring into the scene. She was having trouble with the baby seat. I took that over got the baby in the seat in her car. Sat there with the baby amusing it until grandpa was loaded into the ambulance and grandma came back to herself enough to drive the quarter mile to the ER.

I witnessed a car hit a pedestrian there and again another police statement. Another statement to the insurance companies of both parties in that case.

Also I caught a run away dog there. He jumped out of the SUV as the owner opened the door and I caught him by the collar as he came up to check me out. I had fresh meat in the cart.

Needless to say that grocery store can be an adventure for me. Then again I turn grocery shopping into an adventure. In TN I freed a kitten stuck in a Pepsi machine. Today was not so adventurous but did witness stupidity.

Picture an old beat up compact car whose driver front fender is held on by a bungee cord and his headlight affixed on that side with duct tape. Got the image? Good!

Now he’s backing out of a parking spot. He turns to block the whole intersection of two lanes in the large lot. One being the double lane in front of the store that has a stop for pedestrian sign mounted in a concrete buoy looking thing in the middle. This tiny car held together by bungee cords, tape and a prayer almost hits it.

I’m thinking “So that’s how he came to need those super-duper repairs.”

The dude driving looks like the inspiration for the character Joe Dirt. HONESTLY! He starts back up again and almost hits the car that had the right of way but stopped because some lunatic backed out into the lane. The bungee car hops as the breaks are slammed. Then it goes forward until the car in front of me honks at Joe who is still looking back at the last car he almost hit. Joe hops the car again.

Poor Mr. Dirt is distressed. He’s flipping his head as if he’s watching a grand championship match at Wimbledon. He turns the wheel to get into his lane, gives it gas and BAM! right into the pedestrian sign. The front bumper falls off and the driver quarter panel drops down to the ground.

Well no worries there, out hops Joe with his trusty duct tape. Yes, right there in front us all he starts duct taping the bumper back. There were now seven cars and four pedestrians watching this show. Once that was done he taped up the back of the askew quarter panel, straighten the wonky taped on headlight then jumped back into his car. He’s now in the lane so he heads off leaving the rest of us laughing, shaking our heads in wonder, and thankful we weren’t hit by him.

April 30, 2012
The Nuthatch Got Away With It

It all started when I wanted a big crisp dinner salad. No dinner salad is complete without a boiled egg.

A bowl of boiled and peeled eggs. Some were too fresh so nicked the whites peeling them.

So as afternoon was rolling in it found me standing over the garbage in the kitchen looking out the window peeling boiled eggs. (I always make few extra). Rappy was out in the backyard and I was enjoying the feeling better stage after a week of being ill.

Red Tulip army stands with the Lemon Custard Tulip army.

I noticed how much more had bloomed and greened since the last time I felt well enough to assess the yard. The red tulips had come out and were flanking the yellow custard ones with the same number.

The perennials in the same bed are greening up nicely. Their winter trash getting cleared away. I wondered if Mike had done it this weekend, I bet he did. The purple tulips are just making a showing as the frilly jonquils are doing their finale. The lilac bush Mike had trimmed so harshly not only has leaves but is getting ready to bloom. The cat nip by the fence has grown in leaps and bounds.

perennials return

Purple Tulips make a showing

Jonquils taking their bow

Lilac buds to bloom

Cat mint on the fence

As I stood there watching the wildlife began its activities with no human clamoring around in the small space. Squirrels perched on the back fence running back and forth to keep an eye on Rappy as she romped in the grass. Soon they took a perch up on the peak of the back neighbor’s garage to survey when it was safe to make a run to the currently full bird feeder.

While they wearily watched Rappy a nuthatch landed in the lilac bush. They always make me laugh because they seem to look at the world upside down for most of the time. He’d dart out and land on the feeder to eat a few bite before the chittering of the squirrels made him dart back to the cover of the heart-shaped lilac leaves. It was so loud I could hear them through the glass of the windows. Greedy buggers didn’t want to share with the tiny nuthatch. But remember there’s always someone bigger than you keeping watch, in this case it was Rappy. The chittering would perk Rappy’s ears. She’d prance around looking for squirrels and they’d go silent hunkering down on the shingles of the neighbor’s roof. Then the nuthatch would dart out again to eat. Once Rappy settled down to watch out the gate the squirrels would scold the nuthatch, it would dart for cover and Rappy would prance about on patrol. Then rinse and repeat again.

Squirrel perch to watch Rappy

The bird feeder from which the nuthatch got away with eating the “squirrel’s” food.

As this went on a large robin bopped into the scene. He wasn’t concerned with Rappy, squirrels in the balcony, or nuthatches nibbling birdseed. He was collecting the dried vines from last year’s morning glories. Then he was back to pull out the dried leaves from the perennials. He made several trips to our yard then up to our garage’s peak the off in a Northernly direction to return shortly and clean up my yard some more. So maybe Mike had some help with that.

This was just a moment peeling eggs and looking out the window. Yet it was just what I needed after a week of being in bed ill. The freshness of it all, the simple fun and quiet activity that goes on all the time unnoticed. I’m not up to a full day’s activity yet but it was good to see it go on.

Now excuse me I’ve a dinner salad to make now that the eggs have chilled. As always it’s good to hear from you. Until next time.

April 13, 2012
Christmas at Easter

I found the photos I made back in the Christmas season at the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend,Tennessee. On an usually warm day during the holiday visit my mother-in-law (Donna) and I went over to Townsend to see the decorations in the cabins. Her garden club had done the decorating for a previous year and we were curious to see this year’s decorations. The men were golfing and this would feed my shutterbug. However I downloaded the photos onto my netbook and forgot about them. Until I found them yesterday.

Thus you are getting Christmas at Easter. I have to say much of this isn’t new to me growing up in the Appalachians. Honestly some of the things I’ve seen used or chatted with people that used them in their childhood. Several branches of my family has lived in the Appalachians since receiving land grants for their service in the American Revolution. Much of this speaks to my roots in the area and my genealogy research.

I remember my Granny Rolen (maternal great grandmother) showing me how she spun thread to weave on her loom. I’ve heard stories all my life of her large loom that was in the attic of “the old house.” That house burned, the loom with it I’d guess in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Every time I see a loom in an Smoky Mountain display I always think of the demos she did on how to spin and long to see her loom that burned.

The outhouse. Yes I’ve used them. The church I attended growing up that’s all they had. It wasn’t unusal to see old outhouses going untended among outbuildings at farms when I was growing up. I remember my Nannie’s (maternal grandmother) neighbor kept up their outhouse and turned it into a shed where they kept their lawnmower. That’s always struck me as funny.

I remember a story my Nannie telling that her mother challenged her to learn to harness a team to a carriage like Nannie’s friend could do. Intending to show her mother she could do it without her stinky ole brother showing her how she went out to hook up the team. Well they bolted, Nannie went to the house and left her brother to catch the team. “Served him right for not ever teaching me until Mama said I needed to know.”

Once while visiting my Nannie I went to tour Forbidden Caverns with some cousins. When I got back telling her about all we saw – fish without eyes, neat rock formations, and an old still. To which she said “It was some of your kin that ran that still back in the day.” Truth be told if your roots go back to the depression era or later in the Appalachians the chances are your kin had something to do with bootlegging too. It was a way many families made ends meet in tough time. However be careful of my great-grandpa and his brothers they were revenuers and lawmen.

I’ll just say I’m not sure why they have pine cones on the stove. Putting that decoration choice aside let’s look at the coffee pot. I’ve seen pots like that all my life. I even have one we use camping. Coffee from them is great and always has a distinctive taste, not like drip or even electrically percolated. Use it over an open fire and it’ll have a nice smoky note to the coffee.

I know this isn’t the best picture but I wanted to share. I’ve never seen a tree this big in the Smokies. Back in the early to mid 1900s lumber was a commodity for the Smokies partly from the old growth forest giving large trees to make long run planks. All those are gone now but I found it amazing there were once trees that big in the forests I grew up knowing. I can’t imagine what my great grandparents saw with a forest that contained those trees.

Here’s a few beauty shots I make of the decorations and place. The stagecoach rules amused me. If you want to see more of the pictures from that day click on any of the photos here. That will take you over to my Flickr photo stream where you can surf about.

Hope you enjoyed this Christmas for Easter post. As I always say I love to hear from you here or any where – don’t be shy!

Until next time!

April 6, 2012
What I Would Save From A Fire

Let me first say I’d save all family members – skin covered or fur covered. Then at the top of my list is a little red composition book (that’s what I grew up calling wire bound notebooks) of which we must not speak. I have a treasure trove of family history items in my house but if I had to grab one thing it would be this dog-eared red notebook.

The Book of Aaronisms

I can’t share exactly what’s in it but I can tell you why it’s precious. In this notebook Mike and I recorded the things Aaron said growing up that made us laugh. We were that kind of parents. Mike was better at it than I but now we have snippets of childhood earnest conversations that made us giggle at the honesty and simple logic in his comments. We started the book when he was 4 and tapered off when he was about 10.

The Budding Philosopher

I’ve often said this will be my first New York Times best seller. Aaronisms. However I’ve agreed never to publicly share the contents until I have his consent. Right now it’s just to embarrassing for him to share. Even though I think some of them are the wisdom of a child that grown-ups need. No, I’ll wait. There will be a time when all will be revealed. Until then the book is on the second shelf of my office bookcase at the end near the door so I can quickly grab it in case of fire. Maybe I should move it to the safe deposit box.

Short post today. I’m feeling under the weather. Hopefully I’ll be back on my feet tomorrow.

Love to hear from ya! Feel free to find me here, on Twitter, on Google+, (I don’t go to Facebook any more just notices post there automatically), on Flickr, or e-mail me. I so appreciate all the likes and star reviews. They make my days a bit brighter.

Until next time.

April 4, 2012
Let Me Introduce You to My Husband’s Mistress

She’s a few years younger than me and has had a bit of work done. He goes out with her on weekends. I have to honestly say I don’t mind I enjoy going along sometimes. No, she’s a 1966 Mustang Convertible, a classic car.

Mike’s Mistress

She’s a new addition to the family. Mike’s been wanting a classic car for years. After taking care of what we had to take of and putting a little extra money aside regularly he had enough to go out shopping for what he wanted. When buying a mistress don’t go into debt for her, the wife won’t like it. So when this particular one came onto the market and we drove down to Chicago to see her – well the deal was set!

Mike’s a happy man

I have to admit following him home while he drove the Mustang and I drove his truck (aka the golden barge long bed w/4 door cab) I loved watching men react. They turn their heads to see her just as if she had boobs! LOL! One guy walking down the sidewalk stopped and turned around to watch her go by.

Watching for reactions

Another thing I like is it gives me great gift ideas for Mike. You know anything to please the Mustang pleases him. She’s always wanting little baubles like floor mats, paint job (trying to convince him to change her color to fire engine red), fender cover for when he caresses her engine, car cover to keep her warm in the garage over long winters (YES he wants a cover for IN the garage). Lots of little things like that.

What’s under the hood?

Yesterday he changed her oil and we went for a drive to fill her up with high octane. No she doesn’t eat for cheap. After all how many mistresses do you know that go to McDonalds when there’s a table at a five star restaurant that needs filling?

Oh lookie non-electric windows, work even when the engine is off!

Though there are little things about her that bring back my childhood memories. Crank windows are one of those things. The little front triangle opera windows are another. I was never allowed to open them as a kid but I can remember Mom opening them to get a breeze without blowing her hair. No air conditioning, yes most cars when I was little didn’t have it and really who needs it when you’ve got a convertible.

Still can’t operate it because Mike says it’s sealed now and opening it would make it whistle when closed.

The other thing that pleases me are all the reminders you’re riding in a Mustang. The leather seats have running herds of Mustangs embossed in them. The mats have a Mustang on them. The of course the usual logo locations have the tri-bar and Mustang. Just in case you forgot you’re riding in a classic.

How many Mustang horsepower is that seat?

The mistress and I get along fine. I know if there’s an emergency and the other two vehicles are gone (say one with Mike and one with Aaron) she’ll get me where I need to go. I enjoy riding along and watching the reactions. I can’t wait until warm weather and we actually get to put the top down! Here’s a few more glamour shots of her.

Fuzzy Dice a gift from my Mom & Dad.

When we brought her home

Baby got back while the Buick looks on jealously through the fence.

In case you forget you’re driving a Mustang

As always I love to hear from you! For the gearheads that want more pictures you can go to my Flickr account by clicking on any of the photos then surf around. If you enjoy my posts don’t forget to follow or subscribe by email (upper right there you can sign up) You won’t get any junk mail just notices when I post something. Finally I always welcome stars and likes!

Until next time!

April 3, 2012
Let Me Entertain You

I’m here to entertain, you and me. I’m not here to state a political opinion. I’m not here to convert you to any thing. I’m not here to recruit you for any thing. I’m not here to tell you why you should think this way or that. I’m not here to comment on the news in any insightful manner. I’m not here for anything but sheer entertainment. I agree with Craig Ferguson an entertainer’s job is to entertain not lecture, make political commentary, or religious stance.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have political opinions. I do. I will discuss (not argue) them in private. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a religion. I do. I will carry out my worship in private. That doesn’t mean I don’t act on these things in my private life as a private citizen. I do. I have great respect for those whose calling in life are to be activist, politicians, religious leaders, and so forth. That’s not my calling. I’ll leave them to do what they do and I’ll do what I do.

Let’s just enjoy walking and talking together.

I create because I want to share a retreat from the hard things of this world with others. I create to make a connection with another for a moment when we both suspend disbelief and go for a ride on the story. I don’t know if the see the world the same way most of the time but for that moment when hopefully I bring that reader into the world of tale or image or enjoyment of a piece of jewelry, we share common ground.

When you come here or to my Google+ feed don’t expect to any op-ed commentary. You won’t get it. Don’t expect some religious statement or declaration. You won’t get it. What I hope you do get is a smile or at least something that took you away for a moment. I hope for the time we’re together you enjoy it.

Until next time!

April 2, 2012
Building up the Craft Vendor Muscles

Yesterday was our first craft fair of the season. It was a good one to get back in the groove of what to bring, how to display, and the endurance of booth sitting. It wasn’t an expensive booth, it was just a few blocks from our houses, and it didn’t run all day. All good things for the first one of the season. We were close enough to send back stuff we decided not to use, call for stuff we needed. Another good thing is with the very affordable booth fee we didn’t have to sell bunches to pay for the booth. Tho’ honestly I’d love to just break even and support my beading habit by selling my work.

Oh who is ‘we’? No I didn’t slip into the royal pronoun there are two wonderful ladies with which I often share a booth. One is Paula who also does beading but in a style different from mine. The other is Mi who makes the cutest aprons you’ve ever seen! Not gonna post their pictures without their ok. But photos of their stuff SURE!

$5 Treasure Chest

First off I use my leftover beads to make treasure chest necklaces. When I have just one of a bead left I toss into a zip lock bag when it gets full I’ll make unique necklaces with color themes. Thus the $5 Treasure chest was born. So fairs these sell like hot cakes other fairs like this one no one even touches them. Go figure.

Here’s the Treasure Chest at the sale along with Paula’s great selling barrettes. I also made some $2 bracelets and $3 necklaces for little girls. They are there in front of the treasure box. I’m trying to think of how to display them. They are new this year. I don’t want to take up too much table room but I do want to have them marked. Maybe a two sided basket?

Sales!

For me at this particular fair the big seller was earrings. Last sale of the season last year I purchased this turntable earring tree. Since I’ve used it my sales have increased (well in 2 out of 2 fairs can’t say it’s a trend until it’s 3). Which is excellent as I have 100s of pairs to sell.

Earring Tree display and some of my necklaces on the table

My beading hobby is how I pass the winter and enjoy TV. I have bad habit of falling asleep if I sit still. So I bead while we watch evening TV. It gives me something to do that’s not a repetitive motion like my crochet was. In the end of the evening my hands don’t ache and swell as they did with hours of crochet. Originally I started making jewelry that would match my clothes but soon that was done. I continued playing with colors and making pretty sparkly things that satisfied my magpie eye. Eventually it grew from a shoe box to a file box to several boxes of my jewelry. That led to craft fairs hoping to sell enough to support me buying more and doing fairs. I don’t think I could give up beading now I enjoy it too much.

Here’s some of Paula’s work. She does such beautiful organic work with leaves, flowers, and bird designs. Me I’m all over the board with my magpie “OHHH it’s sparkles! Ooh it’s colorful!” approach. I love her work!

Paula’s Necklaces

Paula’s Beautiful Work

I am sorry and ashamed to say I didn’t get any photos of Mi’s lovely aprons without her in the photo! So next fair I’ll be sure to get shots of her aprons for you. Let me tell you her Elvis apron is to DIE FOR! Oh and there’s a hand towel to go with it!

I’ll end with a few shots of my work on display at this fair.

Some of my necklaces on display

Another shot of my display

Now I wish I’d gotten some more shots of the booth. Like I said back to developing those long unused craft vendor muscles. Not only is it preparing, packing, unloading, displaying, packing again quickly, loading, unloading, reorganizing, and packing again for the next one – it’s also remembering what shot I want to make sure I get at the booth. Each booth is unique (like our jewelry we never repeat a design) give size shape and what we have to work with. I’ll do better next time and have this down to a science by November.

As always I love to hear from you. I get a thrill when I have comments, stars, and likes! Follows leave me breathless with glee after I do a little jig and think just like Sally Field “You like me! You really really like me!” So don’t be shy in contacting me.

Until next time.

April 1, 2012
Let Me Introduce My Entourage

Mike says he can always tell when I’m coming into a room because I’m preceded by my furry entourage. Currently there are four members, and yes at home you generally find them with me. Part of that is I work from home and they are social creatures, so we hang together. Part of it I like to think is because I’m the Queen, the leader of the pack, the big honcho of the house, you get the idea. To show no particular favoritism we’ll go in order of age with oldest first.

Miss Mo

Meet Miss Mo. Her name is Mohican because she’s the sole survivor of her litter. I’ll tell her full biography in her own post. However when Aaron was little he dubbed her Kitty Mo. Over the years it has become Miss Mo about the time the furry boys got their Mr. designation. Her position in my entourage is princess. She’s the most verbal of the entourage so she does announcements such as “The stinky dog is getting up and stirring up her doggie smell.” Now that she’s older there’s many “pick me up and put me_____ .” She’s arthritic now being old and can’t jump up on seats or beds as easily as before. So once we settle into a room like my office she might shout to be put on the chair next to me. Generally she brings up the end being knocked kneed and all.

The next two are brothers, litter mates even. So again in no particular order we’ll start with Mr. Boots Red aka Mr. I-eat-it.

Mr. Boots Red

He and his brother were fostered by us and came named Puss & Boots. However when I got collars by chance he got the red one since the brothers look very much alike (more so when they were young) Mike took to calling them by their collar color. Along the years they got full names with Mr. on them.

His job is being the troublemaker. If there’s a crash in the room he’ll be the one casually strolling out tail up trying to look nonchalant. “What crash? You heard a crash?” He’ll dart around the entourage very unregal like – much to the disgust of his very proper brother and Miss Mo. Also if there’s anything new he’ll eat it. You have to put ear buds in drawers because he’ll eat the cords and gnaw the buds. He’s the only cat I’ve ever known that will eat fruit. Thus his nickname is I-eat-it because that’s what he says when he encounters something “I eat it!” then he inspects it. He’s the least verbal of the felines but will speak if he feels he needs my immediate attention.

Mr. Puss Blue

Meet Mr. Red’s brother Mr. Blue our gentleman feline. He’s the alpha among the animals of the house but defers to me or Mike in a very courtly manner when we’re present. He’s very nice and polite. He’s always tried to divide his time evenly among those humans in a room. He’d visit each person to sit with them. When I’m writing like now chances are he’ll be lounging on the back of my chair with his front paw on my shoulder. When he enters a room he always greets me with a short chirped “Meow-meow.” I do the same in return and it’s become a way I can call just him.

Arapaho’s Ace

Finally one you saw yesterday Arapaho’s Ace aka Rappy. She’s a retired racing greyhound. She’s a very timid girl but over the years of retired life she’s come out of her shell. Still she’s the gawky large member of the entourage that always waits for the others to get settled in the room then she settles. She’s bossed about by the felines, yes a dog who made her living chasing small furry things on sticks cowers now follows the small furry ones in our house. Honestly she’s not the smartest animal I’ve ever known. Actually she’s one the slowest and simplest animals I ever met second only to Chatterbox (a cat I’ll tell her tale another day).

So that’s my in house entourage. From the gentleman feline to the demur simple greyhound. I love them all each has a special place in my heart.

As always thanks for reading. I’d love to hear from you feel free to comment or contact me. Also likes and star ratings make me smile. Until next time!

March 30, 2012
Kenosha’s History on the Beach

Kenosha has some interesting sights that make it Kenosha to me. So many towns are beginning to look one like another – big box stores, national supermarkets, restaurant chains, and fast food places. I like to try to find what makes a place, THAT place. For me one of the things about Kenosha that stood out are the unique buildings. I’ve toyed with the idea of going out to make pictures of various unique buildings in Kenosha to share with friends on-line. Yesterday was my first day.

It was sunny and I was longing to do some photography. I decided to take Rappy down to the beach and make some pictures. She wasn’t so sure of the plan at first.

Is this a trick? Are we going to the vet?

We used to have a small SUV. She liked riding in the back of that but now we have a grandpa sedan (I don’t like sedans). She doesn’t like riding on a seat with a big ledge that falls to the floor. She liked the big platform in the back of the SUV where she could lounge & look out. Here once we start moving she lays down and can’t see out but is terrified to sit up. Any way she’s suspecting a vet visit… even gives me that questioning stare as I go around to get in.

Are you SURE we aren’t going to the vet?

We tool off down the road with no particular place in mind except to pick up my prescription through the drive thru (damn sedan spoils that fun as she hunkers down hugging the back of the seat). Once that’s done I head off down 75th toward the lake.

What lake? Why Lake Michigan of course. We lived just a few miles off of the lake. I wind up at the Southport Public Beach House. Now I know very little about this building but I’ve always liked the looks of it. It seems perched on the edge of decay just a hair past shabby chic yet it has magnificent bones. I have walked around it many times fantasizing about what it looked like in its glory days.

Hey, you didn’t lie! This isn’t the vet’s office!

Rappy was pleasantly surprised we weren’t at the vet’s office. She hopped out and we enjoyed a very brief walk in the park next to the beach house. It has a stunning view of the lake. The walk was brief because she’d already had a walk that day and I wanted to do one around the beach house. She’s not a spring chicken as you see (she’s an old greyhound) and can’t do walks like she used to do. Still she loved it and I took a few nice shots of the park and lake. Enjoy!

Then we took off for my photo expedition around the Southport Public Beach House.

Kenosha’s Southport Public Beach House

It looks a little worse for wear from the last time I circled it. I have to admit though circling it with a camera gives one a more observant eye looking for decent shots. Since I knew I was going to do a post with some of the photos I thought I should do a bit of research about the building. The first thing I learned was you can rent it for functions. Next it is on the National Registry of Historic Places. I’ll summarize a few points for you. It was built 1936-1940 just like the plaque says. It was built as part of the WPA program. The architect was Christian Borggren. It was built from material scavenged from condemned buildings and the post office that was torn town. It has a ballroom inside in addition to the usual beach house showers and snack bar. I’m not sure when it was shuddered off like now. The roof has a large tarp on it. I’m not sure what damage it conceals and what that has done to the interior of the place. There is very little malicious damage such as graffiti and broken windows. This might be because there is video surveillance of the exterior. I’m not sure whose watching the paint peel there but there are signs and camera up around the structure. Most of the images show the need for a good sweeping and paint. Excluding the needed roof repair. Now I’ll stop blabbling and give you some of the pictures. There are more on my Flickr page. You can get there by clicking on any image then moving about my photostream.

Again if you were intrigued and want to see more head over to my Flickr account. There are some detail shots and views of the beach too. In the end Rappy and I had a good time our first day out doing photos of interesting buildings in Kenosha.

That was fun!

As always I’d love to hear from you. If you like give me a like or stars or share with others or do all three! It helps keep me going and doing these sorts of things.

Until next time!

March 29, 2012