I had to laugh at the shops. Reminded me of a place of business in the small hamlet of Smokerise, AL. They offer videos, tanning beds, and pizza. They even deliver! ( I am assuming that pizza is all they deliver, not tanning beds )

The "no internet connection" comment is priceless!

I guess Li'l Grits needs a refresher on that bamboozling technology known as "windows?"

And not that Windows, windows, as in the strange transparent thingamajigs you can see the scenery through in your car.

I presume that Grits' car has 7 windows to enjoy the rural vista?

That's Generation Z for ya. Some of us have something to show for being plugged in almost 24/7. Others... not so much.

One of my all time favorites was in Erwin, TN (yes- where they hanged the elephant).

Store with "Gas Food Guns" sign out front.

Hmm I hope that goes for me too?



hehe I could give it a try! My furballs know when it's sleeping time....sort of

The scandinavian (Swedish) winter has been and still is....severe! The snow started to fall in late November and we've had that white stuff ever since!

It's still cold even though we've had some days with temperatures over 0 celsius. The thich snow layer did not melt very much, and there have been refills.

Nope my cats refuse to go outside, no way they'll step out into the great white.

We've had another re-organization at work so now everything is upside down, before it all settles and we could have some peace. I'm sick and tired of re-organizations, blahhh

Need you ask? Good to see you, Minque

I would say that I agree with you Minque...fortunately I've missed the dreadful scandinavian winter for the most part (I've been at sea the last four months)

Still now that I've returned home I spend most of my days wrapped in a thick blanket a few feet away from the oven where I have a continous campfire going on

Well that's me signing off, havesome updates to finish.

They say in Wales there are two seasons. Winter, and July. It's looking to be a bad July.

Ah yes...Monday morning. Property preservation on foreclosed homes is part of our business. A fairly busy day of initial grass cuts (2) and removing a cubic yard of raw garbage from a third property. Nothing better than cleaning garbage that has sat for months to start the week. ACK!!

My husband wants one to teach the dogs not to bark it up when he is trying to sleep in. If you put them outside, although they have an acre fenced to play in - they somehow always find a spot right under his bedroom window to bark like maniacs.

If you bring them in, the female barks her head off at everything:

1. Everytime I step near the kitchen she thinks there is a possibility of a meal or treat - Bark
2. She and the cat don't get along, if the cat makes an appearance it is Bark Time. (and the cat knows the dog will get in trouble and taunts her by walking through the room in places the dog can't reach him)
3. Any sound outside that has the possibility to be interesting - Bark

And she has a deep throaty bay that is meant to carry through a forest to the hunter - believe me, it carries through a house extremely well.

And in Sevierville where they perform weddings in the back of the feed store -

TO DO LIST:
pick up the slop for the hogs, get married, dog chow, sweet feed for the cows and horses -

"Hey, I can do all that at the same place!"

Although I think last year they stopped having weddings there. It is too bad, it was part of the charm of Sevierville (I think).

It has had some time to crust over at least ... gaaak !!

I guess it's a good thing my family doesn't keep their cats in the house, then. We have mix-breed pit-bull and she barks at EVERYTHING.

She is a particular fan of the "lose your head when a random neighbor passes by" bark.. and she jumps and scratches. Our house's front windows are something to behold now.

My cat would not have survived outside - or maybe it would have taken over the world by now. So far it has beaten up and terrorized 1 Rotweiller, 1 Doberman, and 2 Catahoulas.

The cat used to chase the male Catahoula through the house - he (the dog) would be yelping and running with his tail tucked, whites of his eyes showing. He (the cat) would wait till the dog was sound asleep and leap on his head with paws flying like a bad Jackie Chan movie.

They hated each other until I got the female puppy Catahoula. The day I brought her home I saw the cat and male Catahoula sitting side by side staring into the kennel (the guest bathroom fenced off). Obviously they were putting their heads together to try and get rid of the newcomer. They had some kind of truce after that - that still continues.

They both picked on that poor puppy till one day the male dog suddenly realized he liked the smell of the female puppy. After that the cat was on its own in tormenting the puppy, which he does every chance he gets.

The cat is a "feces stirrer." I've seen him (the cat) stalk the puppy like a normal cat would stalk a bird, then leap on the puppy's head and scratch her half to death if she turns around suddenly.

The cat deliberately goes into the puppy's "kennel" and climbs around on the bathroom counters where (the puppy) can't reach, causing her to go nuts barking. The melee that ensues after the cat enters the "kennel" always ends with loud crashes (shower curtain rod yanked down, torn shower curtains) - and ever since the puppy discovered she could jump up on the toilet seat and get onto the bathroom counters - the flinging of everything up there all over the place.

While up there the puppy discovered the joys of shredding tissue paper, (probably visualizing doing that to the cat). Now we have to hide the TP from her.

Well, they DO say that pets take on the characteristics of their owners...

Are we implying that mALX might be the cat in this story?

Ok...this morning has been a {self-censored}! We woke and found that we have no water! The apartment complex had notified us of this, but said it would be back on by 6:00 AM. It is still off! This means no toothbrush, no morning face wash, and worst of all...NO COFFEE!!

Er...am I the cat...the male dog...or the female dog...or...all of them? GAAAAAH!!!!

The Vet finally called - she was waiting till Dixie was fully out of anesthesia to call me (while I worried myself sick) - but she is okay, they said she came through it like a trooper, her heart never faltered !! WOO HOO !!!

For everyone who has stories up - it may take me a few days, but I will be back and get caught up - just with everything going on right now it is very hard to concentrate.

Whew! That is great news about Dixie! I know you were worried.

I must have missed something, but I am glad to hear Dixie is okay!

@ Acadian - Thank you, Acadian. They are watching her tonight and tomorrow morning, but they said I may be able to take her home tomorrow afternoon if she keeps doing well.

@ TheOtherRick - It is a long story. My puppy's father was a Grand Champion that died ten years ago. They froze his sperm and kept it at a sperm bank in Louisiana - right about the place Hurricane Katrina hit. Because neither the mother or father ever threw a bad litter before, the UT Veterinary Hospital said it is possible the sperm was compromised, (slightly thawed then refrozen). Anyway, the litter had problems.

My puppy was born with a fatal birth defect in her heart - she will not live long, and there is nothing the Vet Hospital can do to save her, it is just a matter of time. There are procedures that can extend her life, though - we have been following these, (and they are quite expensive). (and yes, this is the Bark-aholic car-crapping puppy I wrote about a couple times already on this thread)

The breeder wanted us to return her and he would put her to sleep humanely - we couldn't do it, we were already hugely attached to her. We figured...if she's only got a short time to live, we wanted her to have it, and have as much love as we could give her for that time.

(Hence, she has not heard the word "NO" spoken very often, and is as wild as a banshee. She is just such a sweet dog, that in spite of the fact that she has muddied strangers with her paws and (gaaak) licked their faces - they all fall in love with her pretty quickly. The Vet's office staff is nuts about her, and so is the staff at the UT Veterinary Hospital.

(AND in spite of the fact that she decorates my back seat cabin (and now my husband's SUV) with the biggest hunky-dunk cow patty looking piles of [censored] because she gets nervous riding in a car - we still think she is worth whatever we have to go through for her.

Anyway, she has already lived beyond what the Vets hoped for, in fact reached the age of breeding - but she can't be used for breeding. Even though she didn't inherit the heart defect from her parents, she will still pass it on to her offspring (1) and trying to carry a litter of puppies would kill her (2). - so now we had to have her spayed - but with her heart the Vets were afraid to put her under anesthesia.

We took her out to UT Vet Hospital and they ran every test available on her heart (second time, we had that done last August too) - they said it was a risky procedure, but they felt it could be done CAREFULLY. They had the Cardiologist right there in the surgery room, a team of anesthesiologists, and two surgeons working on her. She was there since the crack of dawn, and they didn't call till 6:30 PM to let me know she made it through the surgery.

They said they didn't want to call and say she made it through till she was completely out from under the anesthesia because too much could happen in that time. She will stay in the ICC (Intensive Coronary Care) till they are sure she is out of the woods, someone will be with her constantly monitoring her.

My husband needed a cardiologist when he saw the estimate of the bill.

Yikes mALX, I’m glad she’s doing well! I hope she gets to come home today. This is for Dixie:

Wow mALX! That's an amazing story of love for a pet and makes me even more glad that Dixie is ok. Before you know it, Dixie will be once again adding her decorative flair to vehicle apholstery.

Glad to hear about Dixie, mALX. Be sure to give her a doggie treat from Simone once you get her back home!

Hmmm...

sell Husband to pay for Dog's cardiology bills...

...

then sell Dog to pay for Husband's heart attack...


...



I see one good thing to come out of all this: mALX will HAVE to become a professional writer now!!!

@ Grits - Thank you so much! She has been home one day and is still in guarded condition, I have to watch her constantly. She had periods of obviously not feeling well to other times when I had to stop her from doing stuff she is NOT supposed to do (jump, run, etc.)

She is wilder than Cooter Brown and it is really hard to keep her calm when she is feeling good, and really worrysome when she lays down and doesn't look like her normal spunky self.

Anyway, so far so good - my fingers are staying crossed.

***
@ TheOtherRick - SPEW !!! I can't wait ... GAAAAH !!!! Thank you Rick !!!

***
@ Thomas Kaira - I gave her a Busy-Bone (her favorite) and told her it was from Simone - she yanked it from my hand (always a good sign) and grunted her thanks, lol. Thank you TK !!!

***
@ Foxy - If I could find a buyer for my husband I doubt I would sell the dog to buy him back, ROFL !!! This is ETN, the men here do not do housework - or help with sick pups.

He took four days off to "help" me - so far he has cleaned his SUV (not the dog poo, I had to clean that first) - and watched quite a few ball games - some he rewatched on the TIVO.

Don't think I'm being too harsh though, he would sell me for a new John Deere in a heartbeat, lol.

LOL...Here in the south, us men help by staying out of the way, so he was just doing his job.

And again...here in the south, you can say anything about anybody...ans I mean ANYTHING...as long as you follow it with, "God love him/her...Bless his/her heart."

*Snip*

ROFL !!! "She is such a [censored], bless her heart!"

The obligitory two cups of coffee and off to an 8:00 AM meeting with a customer. Wish me luck...we need the work!

My obligatory coffee is more like two quarts, but good luck !!

Can the bladder even handle such vast quantities of caffeine?

(strange sound in background SSSSSSSS) "Huh? What's a bladder?"

*passes clear bottle of yellow liquid to mALX*

WOO HOO !!! Nordic Whiskey !!!

After all, it is Friday night! almost

Will likely be muzzy headed in the morning...

As ... er ... hyper as I am, can you imagine if I was to add any alcohol into this? The explosion may take out a city!!!

ಠ_ಠ

Lol !!!

My prediction came true...let the muzziness begin. Had a great time last night just so I could feel this good in the morning...

*yawn*

Slow day today...

Burgers on the grill, beer in the cooler, and 500 miles of left hand turns at 200 mph...yes folks...racing season is here!!

That's what sundays are for. A fry up, some reading, a film... I tend to catch up on missed sitting-around-doing-nothing on sundays.

Yet another Monday has arrived...everybody ready?

Presidents’ Day means it’s not a real Monday for me. Today is Sunday part 2, but tomorrow will be a rude shock.

Same here- on all counts. But--- the day is beautiful. Got my mile in this morning- necessary after the chocolate-covered breakfast doughnut.....

May do some tree work later- or not. May just be a vegetable in front of the computer.

But just think! Friday will come a day eary!

It’s beautiful here, too. I’m turning off everything that has a switch and dragging everyone outside!

You’re right, Acadian. The early Friday is a good trade for swallowing two days at once. I’m in favor of a four day work week!