The Michael Jackson Memorial

Okay, okay.
I watched it.
I really hadn't intended to but hubby was out for the day, I had the TV to myself and I was just surfing through.
I clicked on it, thinking that I would be cynical and have an opportunity to grumble about it.
I am not a Michael Jackson fan.
But interestingly enough, I wound up watching almost the entire thing.
At first, it seemed a little surreal.
It was VERY tastefully done, it was not over the top and I think the church-like atmosphere in the Staples Center was pretty amazing.
You could hear a pin drop.
The talent was heartfelt and the emotions were raw.
The big egos were all put aside and the people who were up there on the stage seemed open and honest in their love, their loss and their grief.
I am not a Michael Jackson fan.
But I must give credit to a pretty amazing memorial.
Crowds were well behaved and respectful.
And there was a unique wliingness of intensely private people to share very personal, intimate feelings with everyone who seemed to genuinely love this man.
The tears were real.

A $2000 Dachshund

well, today was a long and tiring but very interesting day.
Our little dog, Cookie has been having really bad problems with her teeth and gums.
We have been fighting it for 6 months now and it just got to be too much.
Our regular vet said it was too extensive and complicated for her to handle so she referred us to a veterinary dental clinic in Charlotte NC.
We went up there today (we left at 6:00 a.m.).
It is a pleasant drive to Charlotte.
We found the clinic easily (Thank Heaven it wasn't in Charlotte proper but just outside the city).
The vet (veterinary dental medicine is her specialty) was absolutely WONDERFUL.
She was young but very knowledgeable, kind and patient.
She examined the Cookie monster, took her back sedated her did a full set of x-rays which took about 30 minutes.
Then she came out and showed us the x-rays and talked to us about what needed to be done.
It turned out the Cookie had very extensive periodontal disease and needed to have numerous teeth extracted.
We said go for it, that is why we came up here.
The dental surgery took about 2 hours.
We had lunch and shopped, just killing time.
Then it took another 2 hours for Cookie to wake up from the anesthesia.
The vet pulled 16 teeth!
She did a couple of gum flaps (a small surgical procedure to attempt to save a couple of key teeth) and put her on antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medicine and pain medication.
Cookie recovered very well...although our bank account won't.
Everything came to a little over $2000.
It will be worth it if her gums heal and she is happier, healthier and not in constant pain from a low grade infection.
what a long day.

Bathing Cats and Chasing Baby Birds

Well, I did something today that I have never ever done before in my life and frankly, I never imagined I would.
Our little sicky cat who lives outside has been so hot and dirty and miserable, I just felt sorry for her. The dog keeps antagonizing her (I think because she smells bad.) and she has accidentally peed on herself a couple of times. She is skinny as a rail and just pitiful.
So, this morning, I got real brave, filled up the bathtub, brought her inside and gave her a bath.
I never thought that I would ever bathe a cat but she did just fine. She howled a little bit in protest, but she is so small and weak that she that was about all she could do.
I soaped her up real good with doggy shampoo, scrubbed her and then gave her a good rinse.
She cleaned up pretty well.'
She let me towel her dry and we went back outside, smelling MUCH better and I am sure she felt better as well.

And the fun began this morning when a baby blue jay was hopping around outside in the front.
Pesky, our male cat spied him but I was able to distract Pesky with a dish of cat food. The Calico kitty eyeballed him but didn't pursue him It was COOKIE, our little Dachshund who went ballistic. She tried everything she could do to get that baby bird and the poor baby bird was hopping frantically while the mother and father blue jay were dive bombing us, screaming at the tops of their lungs.

I finally got Cookie away and fortunately, the baby bird was unhurt (but certainly shaken). The problem in now, Cookie is frantic to get back outside and look for the baby bird. She has been going to the door and sitting there until someone takes her out.

Once outside, she searches everywhere for the baby bird. Frantically with her nose to the ground. This all happened about 11:00 this morning and she is still worrying about where the baby bird is.

Apparently, she has a much longer memory than the cats.

A Note to Our Governor.

Dear Governor Sanford;
Thank you for making our state the laughing stock of the country.
I guess in these tough economic times, we needed a good joke and you have provided it.
Would you please now do the right thing and resign so we can get on with our lives?

Thank you,
A disgruntled and disappointed South Carolina resident.

Up!

Okay...I went to see "Up!" yesterday.
It was a hot day, I was bored and I was right next to the theater.
After hearing so much about it, I'd been interested in seeing it, so I went.
Frankly, I was left a little flat and vaguely disappointed.
I paid my extra $3.50 and went to the 3D version.
I wasn't impressed (unlike the 3D in Coraline which knocked your socks off..)
It was a very charming love story with a remarkably adult theme while trying to maintain its appeal to kids with goofy animals but like most Pixar films, I was bored after about the first five minutes.
To me, it's much to do about nothing.
I paid $10 to sit in a very comfortable air conditioned theater for 95 minutes.
That was the best part.

Thank you for doing your job...

There's been an awful lot of "thanking" soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines for doing their jobs, for risking their lives and making sacrifices in service to this country.
And I think that's great.
My husband is a retired 20 year decorated Army veteran.
Thanking veterans is wonderful and it took a long time for people to really appreciate what they do and how difficult it is.
BUT>>>>
I can't help thinking.,.....
Wouldn't it be nice if we thanked everyone for doing their jobs?
It would certainly be a much nicer world to live in.
"Oh, you're a doctor....Thank you for being a doctor. It took years of study and dedication. Thank you."
"Oh, you are a waitress. Thank you for being a waitress. it's a tough job and very demanding. Thank you."
"Oh, you're a.......whatever. Thank you for doing whatever it is you do."

Yes, veterans absolutely deserve our thanks and our appreciation and our respect but so does EVERYONE who works hard and earns an honest living.

How can you say such inane things?

Okay... I spent the day with CrazyFriend, something I have not done since I got back from Vegas.
We drove to Rock Hill to visit Cousin Suzie who is at the end of her rope.
They brought her elderly mother-in-law home from the nursing home where she'd been for the last month after a fall.
Poor Cousin Suzie is just not coping well in a very difficult situation.
I tried to stay neutral and not buy into CrazyFriend's crazy ideas.
I did fine until we drove home/.
CrazyFriend was getting very annoying, inane and angry and the aggressive part of "passive-aggressive".
She started preaching about how marriage should be a "team effort".
How you should do things together.
She was talking about how Cousin Suzie and her husband don't "communicate".
(They have been married for 41 years.)
She started in on how my husband and I live in separate worlds.
We have been married for 35 years.
I wasn't going there.
I did all I could to NOT point out to CrazyFriend that her first marriage lasted a miserable, unhappy five years and ended in a horribly bitter divorce.
I did NOT point out to her that the current "relationship" that she is in is with a smarmy con man who is living in her house, driving her cars and spending her inheritance, while he has her jumping through hoops like a trained seal.

It was a fairly pleasant day up until then.