Moving the Blog

I've decided to move the blog to Wordpress. To visit the blog (and see a few new entries, *gasp!*) visit Brandi's Blog.

No, not dead. Yes, still a liberal.

Nuts about Schroeder

You are Schroeder!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

5 years and counting...

This past Saturday, Chris and I took a day trip down to Nashua, New Hampshire for a local comic book convention. It was smaller than I was used to and not nearly as crowded, but I enjoyed it - probably because it was less crowded. I do hope that it continues to grow, however, so that they can continue to hold it on an annual basis. The people who organized and ran it seemed very professional, helpful and it really seemed like they were having a good time.

The drive was about 6 hours round-trip. We brought a book on tape in case we got bored. However, we never did.

I know it's only been five years, but I've known couples who run out of things to talk about after six months. It might sound mushy, but that car drive affirmed something that I've known since less than a month after I met Chris: I have never known anyone who understands me, stimulates me and allows me to be 'me' as much as Chris.

After college I pretty much dismissed the idea of a 'soul mate' - that there was one person out there for everyone. After these past five years, it's hard for me to keep up with that belief. If there is such a thing as a soul mate, then Chris is mine.

I hope all of you have a safe and Happy Halloween and that you get lots of candy. Like I was just telling my sister-in-law who just stopped by with the nephew and niece - you can never have too much candy.

Again...

I'm feeling very sad, hurt, frustrated and angry. I haven't felt this bad since September of 2001.

Funny, that was the first September of Bush's first term. And here we are in the first September of Bush's second term. History does repeat itself, doesn't it?

No, I'm not saying that the hurricane is Bush's fault. However, I do blame his administration for at least part of the devastation that has occurred as a result. And for anyone who knows me and how I already felt about him before I started reading about the gutting of the New Orleans Corps of Engineer budget to help fund a war based on lies, I'm sure you can imagine how I feel towards the man now. Click here for more details

For those who don't think now is the time to 'politicize' this you may be right, but considering the attention span of the everyday American, this might be the only time they're going to pay attention to the disturbing facts coming forth now. There's no rule that says people can't be compasionate and learn something at the same time. Hell, it might help them become even more compasionate.

Listening to the reports of what is going on down there are very disturbing. Some people are behaving like animals - looting for looting's sake (and not for essentials), shooting at rescue helicoptors, shooting each other, raping 10 year old girls in shelters. And the police are so overwhelmed and under-equipped that they can't do much about it.

A reporter for the Netherlands covering this situation voiced his shock that a country as rich and powerful as the USA could let this happen. It's been four days and some people have received no help whatsoever. We helped Tsunami victims faster than that, and that was in a different freakin' country!

Aargh. I had hoped venting would help, but it's just making me angrier.

Flowers around the house

Earlier this year, at the end of May, I planted some gladiolus flowers in memory of my grandmother who had just passed away. My dad told me that they were one of her favorite flowers. They've been growing pretty fast, and this past week, they finally started to bud.


Yesterday, they started to bloom! It looks like they're going to be beautiful. It's no wonder that Grandma liked these. Next year I'm going to plant some more in different colors. If I remember, I only bought orange back in May.


Back when we first moved here to Maine, I really thought this bush next to the house was dead. And since it took forever for anything to start budding on it, I continued to think this well into April. But now look at it! It's very pretty. I had never even heard of a Smoke Bush before we moved here, and now I have a very nice one in my front yard.

I can't remember what these flowers are called, but they started blooming a few weeks ago. I was told they would start in late July, and they were right on schedule. On the right hand side of the door, the blooms turned out to be white and it took them a couple of weeks longer to bloom.

This past Saturday we took a day trip up to Greenville, a popular spot for vacationers and tourists. It's easy to see why.

These two pictures are of the mountains surrounding Greenville. I didn't get a picture of the lake (which is huge and is the first thing you see right in front of you when you come into Greenville) but I hope to next time we visit.

Down the road from the in-law's camp is a small dam that makes a very picturesque waterfall. So, I took a picture.

And, I finally saw my first moose. On our way back home, just outside of Greenville, a female moose was trying to eat some dinner. I'm afraid we annoyed her when we stopped to take pictures. Sorry Ms. Moose!

A couple of weekends ago we went down to Reid State Park. We've been to this park before, on our honeymoon, and not much has changed. It's still very pretty, despite the fact that we got there at low tide.

The beach looks nice, but I'm sure that if it had been a sunny day instead of chilly and gray, it would have been teeming with peoples.

Some Sea Roses (which smell wonderful) were growing between some rocks on the cliff overlooking the ocean.

On the way there and back, we passed this interesting rock painted like a turtle. I don't think this is the 'turtle of enormous girth' but he'll do for a scenic attratction.

In gardening news, the gladiolus that I planted in memory of my grandmother are growing quite well. They're those green shoots between the hosta and salvia.

In the back yard, the field is full of white daisies, yellow dandelions and orange dandelions, which I had never seen before. There's also plenty of purple clover blossoms and, oh yes, lots of mosquitos. Fortunately, there are still many dragonflies around and they're doing a pretty good job keeping those numbers down during the day. At night however...I think they need to add a graveyard shift to their schedule.

My new hero...

It's been kind of hot here the past couple of days. I know, I used to live in Florida, I should be used to that. However, I was used to living in Florida with the A/C working at all hours.

We don't have A/C up here in Maine. It's really hot right now (about 90) but by Tuesday, it's supposed to be back down in the 60's and low 70's again. Which is nice, and because of that, I don't really think we need heavy duty air conditioning. Maybe a small one for the bedroom, but not much else.

But, why do you ask, is the Dragonfly my new hero?

Easy. We've had a very wet Spring. Since the warm/hot weather hit, the mosquitos came out in droves and have made being outside completely miserable.

Today, when I took China in the back yard to brush out her loose hair, I realized that I wasn't being bitten by the pests despite the fact that I had forgotten to spray myself down with Off.

That's when I looked around and saw that our yard is now full of dragonflies. Anyone who is afraid of Dragonflies would call it a swarm, but fortunately, I've never been afraid of Dragonflies. I've always found them quite pretty.

Dragonflies eat mosquitos and the 'swarm' now inhabiting our yard is doing it's job quite nicely. It's such a nice change from the past few days.

So, you keep on buzzin', you Dragonflies. I swear I'll never squash a one of you.

Hee Hee Hee

A good comic makes you laugh AND think. Medium Large is one of the best.