Life After Nexcom

Get your vaccinations!

2012-02-08T11:43:00.001-08:00

For the life of me, I do NOT understand the reasoning behind parents now days refusing to get their children their childhood vaccinations. I have heard all the "scare speak" out there, and I still do not understand it. I remember when Polio was a feared thing every summer. And I remember when Dr Jonas Salk came up with the polio vaccine. I was one of the first children in our area to get the shots. A series of shots, scary to an 8 year old, but needed. Then there was the small pox vaccine, the TB test and shots, then the DPT shots, the rubiola shots, etc.

I was a Military child, and every two years we were tranferred across the ocean. And everytime we moved, we all had to spend two weeks getting our shots updated. We were not allowed to travel without our shotcards on hand. (I think I actually still have mine) There was never a time when we were given the choice to get it or not. If we did not have our shots up to date, we did not travel, and we did not get admitted into our new school.

Flu shots were another new thing to us, and I got the Hong Kong flu back in 1958, and was out of school for three months. It was epidemic in Honolulu at that time. After that, I never got the flu again. I do get my flu shots every year. As I get older, I do not want to risk getting really sick and dying over something that can be prevented by a two day sore arm. I have heard "well, I always get the flu after the shot" "I am allergic to eggs" I am afraid of Vaccinations" etc. me? I dont want to die, and I certainly do not want to give something to my grandson, or some other small child.

There is an outbreak of whooping cough here on the island and in several cities and counties in Washington, it is close to epidemic in schools. They are asking EVERYONE to get their whooping cough vaccines updated. I am going to get mine the next time I see the Dr. I just can not imagine how I would feel if I gave something to Patrick, and he died. I could not live.

On the other hand, I just do not understand why any parent when presented with the opportunity to get their child vaccinated to prevent the spread of some disease, will refuse. Do they not realize they are not just putting their own family at risk, but anyone they may come in contact with. Diseases were eradicated in my childhood, and now they are coming back. Mostly from immigration from 3rd world countries, but mostly because parents just do not see the need to expose their children to a sore arm.

I am also stymied why these same parents expose their children to chicken pox and measles so they can get them and get it over with. There is an APP for that folks, it is called VACCINATION! You do not need to go through this anymore. You do not need to expose your family to the side effects of measles...going blind, rheumatic fever etc. or Chicken Pox: horrible scars on your face! or Polio: living your life unable to move or breathe without help. GOOD GOD! Science has created the cure. USE IT! Save your child! PLEASE? or even your parents...or ME!

Busy Body now showing

2012-01-28T14:58:00.002-08:00

MRS. Piper finds her Boss Dead with a knife in his back. So she calls the cops to come investigate.

When They get there, the Body is GONE! She is the only one who has seen it, and no one believes her.

Detectives interview her and discover that there was a lot of bed hopping assumed in the office crowd.

Her Boss's wife is called in and interviewed, as she is suspected of having an affair.

THe Boss's Secretary is also interviewed. She has an enormous crush on the Boss.

THe Boss's partner is accused of having an affair with the boss's wife. HMMMMM Is HE the one?

The Boss mysteriously arrives back at the office alive and well with no hole in his back. WHAT???

The Inspector now has everyone in the office and can not keep cheeky Mrs. Piper from forming her own opinions. As far from His as you can get...Is she right?

Is the inspector wrong? was there really a murder? if so WHO?

THis is one very funny, British comedy/mystery, opening this weekend at The Whidbey Playhouse. Please call the Box Office 360-679-2237 for reserved seating. Tickets are 16.00 for all shows. Dont miss this one.

And even MORE of the most beautiful grandchild ever!

2012-01-13T01:06:00.000-08:00

He has just been awakened from his nap, and he is usually really happy then. Going through his yoga stretches and curling up like a soccer ball.

I dont get to see him as often as I want to, but when I do get up there, I get plenty of face time. I think I will take my pillows up next time and go to the floor with him so we can talk nose to nose, and I can read him a book. 75 miles is a loong way in the ice!

More Patrick....

2012-01-04T12:17:00.001-08:00

Big dimple smile!


Too much Turkey...sleepy now!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T13:25:00.000-08:00

For the first time in our family's history, we had Christmas eve dinner away from Home! Tim and Mistie wanted to do Christmas Eve at their house in Lynden, which is 75 miles away, sop it was literally over the river and through the woods and over the bridges, and up the interstate to Timmy's house we went.

They had Victoria and Owen up for the holiday, and they had no room in their truck for three adults, and 2 babies in car seats! We all piled into our respective cars and went on up!

Mistie went over board and cooked a huge Turkey, stuffing, potato salad, and rolls. She also brought in her Guamanian traditions, and we all sat around and rolled Lumpia! she also made red rice. Her Dad is Guamanian, and that part of her heritage was celebrated. I brought candied Yams and Cranberry sauce, and then we all sat down to feast! and feast we did! Owen did not have a high chair, but he sat on the bench between Tim and Donna, and chewed the heck out of a lumpia!

Patrick was such a good baby and slept or laid there quietly while his mommie got to enjoy her meal.

After Dinner it was gift time. So we all went into the livingroom and opened the gift exchange presents. Owen, who is 14 months old was not really sure what all the fuss was about, but once the paper and ribbon hit the floor, he was ALL INTO THAT! He had a ball playing twith the ribbobs and paper and boxes. THEN he discovered his first gift! OH MY! I had gotten him the Fisher Price Airplane and he really had fun playing eith that and the Playskool little people. He took them over to share them with Patrick and lined all the toys up on his baby bouncer. It was so heartwearming watching my Grandson and my Great Grandson playing under the tree. (I have to footnote this and say that Owen is really my son's stepdaughter's SOn, so technically his my GREAT grandson, and is 1 year older than his uncle Patrick, my GRAND SON!) I know...hard to keep up...but you know these modern families anymore!

We all had a really great time, but had to leave early so I could get Sherry back home in time for Her Church services.

Christmas Day was at my house for those that could make it. I cooked Prime Rib, and Baked potatoes, and it was all really low-key. Such a nice Christmas! ;)

Patrick 7 weeks old!

2011-12-16T13:59:00.000-08:00

Oh Will you tell that old lady to leave me alone! I dont want my picture taken!

Ok, But I am not gonna smile!

Have I got a surprise for YOU!

All snuggly in my little rocker.

PHHHFFFTTTT!!!

Daddy Love! This is my favorite picture!

He is a little CHUNK! 7 weeks old and already about 12 lbs!

ALMOST a smile!

Meet Me In St. Louis Nov 2011

2011-12-14T04:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome Patrick Oscar Chandler 7lbs, 4 oz! Oct 25, 2011

2011-12-14T03:52:00.002-08:00

2011-11-29T01:27:00.001-08:00

2011-10-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

Directorial Team Shines At The Whidbey Playhouse!

Once in a blue moon you will be fortunate enough to see a show where everything is done to perfection. Meet Me in St Louis is just such a show. The cast and Directorial team have been working 5 days a week since the first of May to be sure that this Family Musical is polished and ready for the opening night crowd, Nov. 4-27 2011. Julia Locke is the Assistant Director, and costumer, and has been working hard to coordinate the period costumes from circa 1904. Over 150 costumes have been remade, sized, created from scratch and cleaned and fitted and are now ready for the Costume parade. A hefty job for anyone, but that along with her regular job in charge of Production for all the shows, being on the Board of Directors and heading the Play reading committee, keep her busy indeed! Julia as Assistant Director has scheduled all the rehearsals and is helping the Director Paul Pierce learn how The Whidbey Playhouse works. She is a retired Music Director, trained in dance, art, music, and literature thru college. High school theatre (plays and set painting) wrote, directed church musicals for youth and adults throughout her early adult years. She has composed music for and conducted church choirs for 15 years and worked in a music store for 10 years. Julia and her husband Jack found the theater when they retired here, and it's been their life ever since.

Paul came to us from the Northwest Savoyards in Edmonds. Paul has been part of the American Ballet Theatre New York City, Olympic Ballet Theatre, Syracuse Ballet Company, Mississippi Ballet Company and the New Orleans Jazz Dance Ensemble. Paul been a show director for musical theater and, choreographer for companies located in Upstate New York, the Gulf Coast even Washington State. He has a BA in theater Arts from Michigan State and is a License dance Teacher through dance Masters of America He is choreographing this show, along with Directing it which can be a challenge indeed, when you have a cast that can sing but maybe not dance. They have been rehearsing all summer, and it shows.

Sarah Russell is an old friend who came back into town and found the theater again. Before she left she was the musical director and acted in such musicals as the Mikado, and South Pacific. She is a bundle of energy looking for a place to be. She endlessly directs the cast through their musical numbers, and has put together a great orchestra for our group. Sarah and her husband are now retired here, and it did not take her long to jump back into the frying pan, and start directing again.

Gaye Litka rounds out the Directorial team, as Co-Music Director and also plays the role of the Irish Housekeeper Katie, and she and the girls do a right snazzy Irish jig. She is a veteran of our Stage and has been in numerous musicals in her career. Having to work on this show through the summer was hard on her as she and her husband Tom are out on their bike every chance they get. Gaye was last seen giving musical direction to her grand daughters Sophie, and Sydney in ANNIE, which means Gaye has been working non-stop on shows since last March.These four people have given up their summer to make sure that this musical will be perfect. It has been a hard job trying to fill in the voices, when no one auditioned, and replacing those that quit when they realized how hard this was going to be.

I cannot say enough to help you appreciate just how GOOD this show is going to be, All of our actors and production people are volunteers, giving their time freely to go from a blank cold rehearsal studio, through the directors vision and then onto a partially built stage, to paint, build, and create St. Louis in the early 1900’s for you. No one can say it has been easy. It has not, there is a lot of work that has gone on behind the scenes, and a lot more that is taking place now as the actors move onto the main stage and into their costumes and off their book, and learn their blocking. The songs are lively, the dances are energetic, and the story is wonderful. The Smith Family of St. Louis is excited and eager for the 1904 World’s Fair to open, and allow the whole world to see it as Esther says: “right here where we live! Right here in St. Louis!”

This Play is based on the Movie of the same name, directed by Vincent Minnelli and Starring Judy Garland.Tickets go on sale for this High energy Family Musical on Tuesday October 4th during box office Hours. All tickets are 16.00 and can be purchased by calling 360-679-2237 or by stopping by the Box Office at 730 SE Midway Blvd, Oak Harbor, WA 98277. Please check our website for dates and times. www.whidbeyplayhouse.com

Baby SHower for Mistie and Tim!

2011-09-26T01:41:00.001-07:00

Mistie CHandler at the Baby shower along with "Auntie" Sherry Brett.

Judy Kringler, Donna. Sherry Mistie

Aunt Phyllis and Tim hanging the decorations

Sherry, Penny Zettlemoyer, DOnna Rusty

Sherry. donna, Rusty. Penny mistie

Sherry penny, donna, rusty mistie

Penny

Mistie

Bob. Judy, TIm

Penny, Rusty, Mistie

Tim

Mistie, Rusty and Penny

Aunt Phyylis, Aunt Sherry tim

Donna Judy Kringler, Barb Luther

Barb and Penny

Penny

Penny and rusty

Everyone had a great time, and my two oldest friends came! Barbara and Penny. We have know each other since 4th grade, (Penny) and high school (barb).Lots of gifts, lots of food, lots of cake and punch and lots of laughs and talking. It was lots of fun and I need to give parties like this more!

2011-09-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

A BAD YEAR FOR TOMATOES!! Is the latest offering at The Whidbey Playhouse. It is a funny story about Myra who is a soap star, and wants to be alone to write her memoirs. Unfortunately the ladies of Beaver Haven have other ideas, which prompts Myra to invent a crazy sister that will kill you on sight. When Piney the Backwoodsman meets Sophie, Instant LOVE! finally Myra has to get rid of Sophie in order to get rid of Piney, who is really really Smitten. When Sophie disappears, the ladies of Beaver Haven assume she Murdered her sister and get the Sheriff involved. This is hysterically funny, and you will laugh your socks off. Warning here....this is not a great story, but it is funny, funny funny and you will walk out happy!This is the final weekend of the show, so get your tickets soon! Thursday friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 and Sunday matinee at 2:30! Do NOT miss this one...Dick, you can come up the handicap ramp if Pat can not do stairs! Easy walk,

Piney is played by Kevin Wm. Meyer, Myra is played by Tamra Sipes, Cora Gump played by Allenda Jenkins, Reba Harper is played Shealyn Christie, Sheriff is played by Jeff Lindgren, Tom is played by Sean Hall, ANd the "witch" Willa Mae, is played by Mary K. Hallen

This Hoot is Directed by Linda Walbeck

It is Produced by Allenda Jenkins.

2011-09-17T03:31:00.001-07:00

I am just amazed at how far imaging has come in the past forty years. Tim was born 40 years ago today, and there was no way you could see the fetus in utero, except by x-ray, and then all you saw was the skeleton.

This is yesterday's ultrasound of Patrick, my grandson. you can actually see his cute little face! his face is right in the middle of the picture with him laying on his left side. You can see he has a cleft chin like his Daddy. and his nose and his eyes, and forhead. I could not tell you what the rest of this is, something inside Mistie. But to actually SEE your baby and know what it is MONTHS before it was born is wonderous! I am not sure I would want to know though. I enjoyed the guessing game, and wondering if it was twins or what. They told Mistie that Patrick was over 5 lbs now, and he will be born on October 24, unless he decides to come early. I waited and waited and waited for both of my children. Donna was 6 weeks late and Tim was 7 weeks late. I choose not to have any more for fear I would be pregnant a YEAR with it.

Mistie does not know anyone up here as she met Tim on line, and moved up here to be with him. She left her friends in Oregon, so I am giving the Baby Shower. Things have changed there too. Mom's or family were NEVER sposed to give the shower, only the best friend. and Men were forbidden to come. Now husbands, boyfriends and male friends come and think nothing of it. How things have changed.

I have no clue which games to play, what gifts to give, what kind of cake to serve, what kind of fingerfood you do. we had mints and peanuts and cake and coffee and tea. Now I guess it is almost like a luncheon, or so I have been told. Where have I been hiding for forty years?

I can't wait to hold the little stinker! I may have to move to Bellingham so I can go see him every day! I know right now I will be putting a lot of miles on my car starting next month! eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Im so excited, He will be my first very own grandchild. He comes into this world already an Uncle! Victoria Misties Daughter had our first GREAT grandson a year ago. this is sure a backwards generation.

2011-09-14T11:30:00.001-07:00

OOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!! LOOKIE at what I just found!!!! I Love this! I had often wondered how we could change our blogs, and now I KNOW!!!! I feel so stupid! It has been right here all the time! So now it is fall and I will leave it this way until Winter!

2011-09-13T01:59:00.000-07:00

2011-09-12T13:00:00.001-07:00

I drove up to Bellingham last Saturday to see Owen while he was here visiting Tim and Mistie. He will be 1 on October 2! I cant believe he is this big already! A happy, active energetic baby, ANd he stood up and WALKED for the very first time while I was there! Just stood right up from a sit, and walked across the room! Like he had been doing it forever! What a sweetie. He goes back to Portland with his Mommie this week. Wish he lived closer. AH well My Patrick will be here in 6 weeks (or less), and I can see him any time I need to! There will be lots of driving in my future! It is a 125 mile round trip, not far if you are a crow, but you have to drive forever to get around all the islands and water! Now if I could have just gotten him to say "Mimi" while I was there......

the kids

2011-08-29T02:38:00.004-07:00

Mistie has had a rough time carrying this baby, She has been in to the ER several times with contractions, and everything seems to be fine with Patrick. It was so good to see these pictures of her looking so GOOD!

Tim and "the Boys"

Mistie and her girl...

Hang on Baby!

2011-08-24T19:06:00.002-07:00

I just found out by reading facebook, that my daughter-in-law and Son rushed to the Labor/Delivery room because she was having problems. Patrick is not due for 10 more weeks! I woke up this morning and felt like there was something wrong. I checked every door, walked the dog outside to see if there was anyone in the yard, came in and fixed a cup of tea and checked my email and computer, and thought I was just being paranoid, so I went back to bed.

Woke up at 730 same thing. Knew there was something wrong, even said, Please Patrick, be ok for Grandma. and shrugged it off. All day I have felt OFF...no reason, but thought of the baby several times.

I finally got a short nap in, woke up feeling much better, came in here and read my face book, to find out that The baby's heart rate had dropped really low, and he was in distress. THey were in there all day, I am 1.5 hours away, and I did not get a call.

My first Grandchild, my only Son, and I did not get a call. I can kind of understand not calling during the crisis, but they are all home now, and she had time to get on the computer and post on facebook. Tim could have called me. I think I am going to cry! Hurts! a LOT!

2011-08-19T20:04:00.002-07:00

Last Weekend was our Annual HISTORIC Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival and we were jammed from wall to wall.

Coupeville holds this festival on Front Street which is 2 small blocks long. It grew in the past 48 years from ten little tables into 220 tents! we have surpassed the capacity of Front street and have now taken over Alexander St also. We block off these roads for three days and become basically a huge store.

The proceeds from this festival ( we get 15% of the Artisans take) go right back into the community in the form of grants and scholarships.

This year just before the festival, the down town businesses, which are mostly art galleries and antiques stores were burgled. Over 25,000 was taken from one store alone, the work of one or two artists who were planning on using these pieces in their booths at the festival. THe word got out to the Seattle News stations that the Festival was robbed, and the artists were all damaged.

Needless to say my office phone started ringing, until I was able to staunch the rumor and explain that it was only a few artists that lost quite a bit. I had several artists from as far away as Olympia, calling and offering to bring their goods up to help us.

All of these artisans were set up in just a few hours by 200 very AWESOME volunteers, who directed traffic to the parking lots, Parked them, directed them to their spots at the proper times, helped them unload, and then get them back out of the way so the next vendor could get in and set up. A Major operation to say the least!

Saturday and Sunday these awesome volunteers were on hand to park and direct the THOUSANDS of cars that came to the Festival. THOUSANDS! the parking lots were full, the school lots were full, and there was a line for a mile down both sides of the highway. We estimate that at least 10,000 were here on Saturday and another good 8,000 on Sunday.

Now we relax for about 2 weeks and then start all over again, planning, executing and dividing up the profits among the many applications that we get every September. This is not an easy job, and our volunteers come back year after year, to do it all over again for absolutley no pay!

What a crew!

The Debt!

2011-07-30T12:41:00.002-07:00

Right now I am so disgusted with our government. ALL Of them. I have been saying for over a year, that we need to pick a panel of disinterested (meaning non-partisan, non pac-paid non re-elect me)people to sit down with the budget and a deadline and come up with a balanced budget. Yes i know it will end up hurting the taxpayers some. But to be fair, it should hurt ALL of the tax payers to the same %! if what is agreed upon hits my gross at 10% then it should hit EVERYONE's Gross at 10%. If they are doing business outside of the US, then there should be a 25% penalty. What I mean by that is, if you are having your goods made by off shore bodies. Bring those jobs back to the US. Yes, the price of buying goods made in the USA will go up, but if we want it, we will pay for it. And If we have a job, then we can.

Diane Sawyer on WOrld News Tonight, showed a group of people from various walks of life sit down and agree to a plan that would allow the economy to grow, jobs to be created, items to be taxed, and everyone to have a share in the pain. I make 42,000 dollars a year, I am comfortable, but I do live on the edge. If I were to lose even a portion of that, ie: Social Security, I would have to give up a lot. No more volunteering, costs me gas money, no more trips in to the store for something I forgot.

Owen!

2011-07-25T15:25:00.006-07:00

I finally got to see Owen. His Mom took him away when he was 3 months old and we really did not know where he was until just recently. His Mom brought her new Boy-friend up to meet her Mom and Tima nd spent the weekend ther. I skipped out of STRIKE and drove up and spent 2 hours just playing with the baby! He will be 10 months old in about a week, has two bottom teetch, and is ALMOST ready to let go and walk. He can crawl faster than I can move, and is really good at giving the raspberries! Such a little DOLL!

Mistie is really starting to show now, with only 15 weeks or so left until Patrick is born! I cant wait for him to get here! My very first Grandchild. He is gonna be one spolied baby! At least if I have any thing to say he wil be.

OK, Off the computer and into the kitchen to make a batch of raspberry jelly!

Talking With...

2011-07-19T13:49:00.004-07:00

Miss Gracie is making her stage debut this weekend in the Play Talking With...by Jane Martin. Eleven different women doing eleven diffferent monolouges. The "Audition" which is what Gracie appears in, is about a young woman who brings her cat to the Audition she is doing. Gracie is perfect there, and is quite the Diva while the spot light is on her. The lights make her eyes look like Demon Eyes though. THe whole cast loves her.

I take her in to the theater in her kennel, and she mellows out with treats and catnip, until the Stage Manager calls "5 minutes" then she comes out of her kennel, does her part, then we go home.

This play runs for three days July 21,22,23, 2011 on stage at the Whidbey Playhouse, tickets are only 12.00. Be sure you get yours today, so you dont miss it!

Gracie comes home and is met at the door by the rest of the gang, who sniff her over and make sure she is ok. I am sure she tells them stories about how mis-treated she was as she waltz'z away with her feasthery tail swishing up over her back.

Sigh. Who knew that I would be a Stage Mother to a DIVA!

A foggy DAY in Whidbey Town....

2011-07-06T13:23:00.003-07:00

As I was coming over the hill from Oak Harbor, I noticed a huge fog bank rolling over the tops of the trees from West Beach. Sunshine and wind in Oak Harbor, so I followed the highway up over the hill and down to the Prairie, where I turned up to the Cemetery and took these pictures. To the Right was the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Penninsula, and to the Left is beautiful Mt. Baker in all of her shing glory! You can tell just by looking how quickly our weather changes here. The water in the Strait is right off the North Pacific, and when the cool breezes from the ocean mix with the warm air from the Mainland, FOG!!!! I Love it.

I came home, watered the roses out front, and then went to bed. Nothing good on TV, so I just lay there with my head sticking out the window, listening to the fog horns as the fog overtakes the Ferries and the Cruise Ships coming up the Sound from Seattle. BOOP, BOOP, BOOP! and then the echos as it bounces back from the land. I love it.

I woke up at 5:00 this morning and the fog was in the back yard, So I let Sadie out and just listened to the trees as the heavy fog hit their leaves. They wer gulping in the moisture like it was raining. I stayed awake for about 3 hours until It started to clear up and sun peeked over the Alders. Ah, the Joys of living in the Pacific Northwest.

Annie!

2011-06-27T18:28:00.002-07:00

We Put ANNIE! to bed yesterday. It was a LOOONG show, and tons of people, but it practically sold out the run, and it was a very successful ending to a great Season of shows. I just Produced this one, but I am tired. Now I am working on "Talking With..." Which is a son season, edgy play about 11 women doing 11 different monologues. Then A bit of a break until August when we start MEET ME IN ST.LOUIS! our holiday musical. Whew!

It's BLUE!

2011-06-17T13:25:00.003-07:00

Mistie and My Son had their Ultrasound done yesterday so here is my GRANDSON: This new technology just amazes me, how they can see what the sex is, and just what he is going to look like, (In a few months) AWESOME!

They are going to name him Patrick Oscar Chandler. (?) THe only Oscar I have on my side is my Great Uncle Oscar, Maybe Mistie has an Oscar on her side? Or maybe they just like the name! So I can call him Patty-O my own little patio! They will KILL me for that!

I'm in PRINT!

2011-06-14T17:32:00.002-07:00

I was just asked by the powers that be if I would be willing to allow my photo to be framed and hung in the new ferry SALISH which starts it's run in Late June! I know it is no big deal to most of the world, but everyone who takes the Ferry from the island to the Olympic Penninsula will see it when they walk the lobby! WOW!
(And I dont even think it is that good a picture!) The CofC thought it was a good indicator of the flavor of the town of Coupeville. I have much better ones, but they liked that one because it showed the two tall ships that came to visit last year.

No, no money, but I get bragging rights!

Annie!

2011-05-30T23:00:00.003-07:00

THis group of young Ladies are putting on one very special musical for The Whidbey Playhouse. We open June 3rd, and it is well worth the trip from Mt. Vernon or The South End or even Seattle to see it.

This is the full cast, and as you can tell, the costume ladies over worked to get this all done! FANTASTIC job Julia and crew!

I got home from a looong day of setting lights ready to just crash into bed and rest and walked in on a regular orgy of sorts! Miss Gracie, the black kitten found the bag of cat nip in the bookcase, and the boys talked her into getting it down for them.

Needless to say, all I could do was snap pictures. I decided that I needed to post these for edt in NZ because he loves to hear about my crew!

Spring? HA!

2011-04-16T13:52:00.003-07:00

Yes, I am better now...sort of. I still have a bit of vertigo, but it appears to be going away. I also am now officially OLD. I have a medicare card and two brand spanking new hearing aids! AMAZING what you can hear again. I have heard the birds in the morning but I had forgotten about the higher tones that some of the early morning birds produce. I have acute hearing loss in the higher ranges in both ears. When I put the hearing aids in it was like fine tuning a radio station that is just a TAD BIT off the station. The ess'es are clearer, the TEE's are more like tees than dees. and I am not yelling into the phone anymore. Did not know I did. Wonderful inventions these little bitty things. Spendy though. Shudder! I heard the Spring Robin singing his little heart out this morning from the top of the cedar tree in the neighbors yard. He was telling Mother Nature that HEY! It is mid-spring! Where the HELL are you! it froze last night, sleeted this afternoon, and My electric heaters are on still. I usually turn them off the first of April and then back on again the first of November. Not this year. I am afraid that we are in the grips of a cold wet spring and summer, and our gardens are all going to be moldy and full of SLUGS!

The photo above is the granddaughters of my blog buddy Robert Brady from PURELAND MOUNTAIN in Japan. He has been blogging extensively about the Earthquake and Tsunami that hit the Northern part of the country where his daughter and her family live. The family is fine, but they had quite abit of damage to their apartment, and it's contents. They live about 30 miles from the Fugusima nuclear reactor, so they all had to leave until they decide what they could do. The powers that be still are not quite certain what they need to do, but the girls all left Bob's place near Kyoto last weekend, to return home and start back to school. If you get a chance, go to his blog and read all about it, it will break your heart, but it will also tell you what a determined people they are, they are rebuilding their lives, and buildings, and starting to get back to normal again. The Heart of the devastation is still a ghost town, and probably will not be re-built, but it is not by lack of fortitude, but by risk of radioactive exposure. This is horrible! What are we to do with a source of energy that burns clean, is effective, and readily available but can cause horrible destruction if not monitored properly. Hard to say.

We are so lucky here in Washington state, as we have an abundant source of hydro electric power, which works great, as long as the reservoirs stay full, but if we go into a drought it is lights out! We also have a lot of wind, and that means a great amount of energy from windmills, which pollute the scenery with their towers. They are also a source of destruction to the migrating birds at night. I do not know what the answer is, but we have to come up with something that is renewable, clean, will not pollute, is cheap and does not create an eyesore. Any ideas?

Something makes the head go around….

2011-03-19T12:19:00.001-07:00

I have what I think is Vertigo, I wake up and try to sit up and my head starts spinning. I also have bubbles popping like soap suds in my right ear. I have been to the Dr. and he sees nothing, so now I have an appointment with an audiologist next Friday to see what is going on. I was told I have rocks in my head. I know, I know…and yes, you DO have tiny little rocks in your inner ear, that when they get moved around, need to be repositioned. It is called an Epley maneuver. But I don’t want to do it myself in case I get really off kilter and can not get up. There does not appear to be an inner ear infection, HOWEVER when I take an anti histamine, the problem eases up. So maybe there is an allergy connection, after all it is SPRING! or so the calendar says…..

THE INTERMISSION!

2011-02-14T12:38:00.002-08:00

Well the Show has ended! We struck the set last night and will unload the truck this evening. It is so SAD to see something that you have lived with for 3 months get torn down to the bare walls. Our set was SO PRETTY! now it is just bare black walls! SIGH!

The cast was amazing, and there was a reason that they got cast as they did, THEY JUST FIT! they still do, and they are so sad to see it end. It is for the good though, because now they can get back to their lives and move on to bigger and better things. I have a Drama that I want to Direct, but that may not happen for awhile, and unless there is something I am really passionate about, I will not direct again. I am TIRED! I am putting over 40 hours a week into volunteering, and not getting paid a cent. But that is what volunteering is all about. Giving back to the communitee. Thanking them with your talents for the things they gave to you. I get a lot of satisfaction out of it, but I am tired, so I am pulling back just a bit.

Our next big production is ANNIE, which I am producing, and MURDER IN THE MAGNOLIAS which I am doing nothing but the photography for. AHHHH!

I am producing (kinda) our Season Preview in March, but all of that is things I can do from home. With Gas expected to hit 5.00 a gallon by summer, I NEED to stay home! I cant afford that! JEEZ!!

My Kitten Gracie, is growing like a weed, but still a little sweetheart, and WIlls my 10 month old kitten thinks I brounght her in just for him. HE ADORES her! They play so cute together. Sadie just sighed and said oh crap another baby to raise. She is really good with them all. After all she was raised by cats, she does not know she is a dog!

The Philadelphia Story!

2011-02-05T11:53:00.003-08:00

If you are close to Oak Harbor, You really need to come see this show. It is one of the best yet! A great Romantic Comedy written for Kathryn Hepburn in the late 1930's, and co-starring Cary Grant as Dexter and Jimmy Stewart as Mike. Stewart won his only academy award for this role. (That is hard to believe isn't it!)

The acting is fantastic and the set is the prettiest I have ever had! Thank you Dave and Sheila for that!

The show runs through February 13, 2011, thurs, fri and Sat nights at 7:30 and Sunday at 2:30! TICKETS are only 16.00.

It is well worth the drive from Mt. Vernon! ;)

re-run!

2011-01-20T14:49:00.001-08:00

THIS POST IS ONE FROM MY ARCHIVES, I found it and thought it warranted a re-post!
Enjoy!

Driving home...observing...
As I drive, I let my mind wander. Sometimes I talk to myself, asking why or why not A specific incident. Usually it is reliving a situation, and how I SHOULD have reacted, instead of HOW I DID!

Sometimes I sing along to the radio, depending on the mood I am in.

sometimes I just look.

Last night I was just looking...I was heading south out of Oak Harbor, having just come from Albert and noticed just how dark it had gotten while I was in the store. From the parking lot the sky was all dark and cloudy, even though it was only 445! I thought at the time it was unusually dark. AS I topped the hill, I was heading west, and noticed immediately that there was a break in the clouds. Usually when a front moves through, the west clears last, and that is where I was looking. But what I saw was TWO fronts. The first was passing through, and was on it's way out. The 2nd front was just coming in off the Pacific, and was hanging low on the horizon. Right in between, in the light lavender and mauve colored stripe of clear sky was the planet Venus was shining brightly. It was gorgeous, a ray of peaceful hope in a very troubled sky.

The clouds on the receding front had the cottage cheese look, and were back lit ever so slightly by the fading light. Just enough to give them definition, and let you know that it was about to get very windy.

My Father was an outdoors person, with no formal training, just a love for the nature around him. He Read voraciously about it, and LOVED the Weather, the geophysical sciences, and the forests. So naturally as we grew up, and had no Television...(horrors!!), we went out into this vast encyclopedia of living things every weekend, and we observed. Weather was a big interest, as it would adversely affect out lives if we did not watch it carefully. Dad would tell us what the weather was going to do just by looking. We had no weatherman on the 6 o'clock news. He would point out the subtle differences between the clouds, and even though he didn't know the scientific terms for them, he could tell us what they each meant. The Horsetail clouds way up high meant that warmer moist weather was coming in a few days, and it usually did. He could point out where the rain was falling and tell us how much longer we had to walk the beach before we would get wet, SO we always headed back to the car JUST IN TIME!

Last night I saw that one system was moving through and that the end of the system was usually followed by winds, and that the second one was moving in with rain and winds. By the time I had made it to Coupeville, the winds had started, and lasted about an hour, and then it was calm until after midnight.

I know by listening to the sound outside just when it will start to snow, (I have a young lady thoroughly in awe of me!) and I can smell it coming. I really can. I can tell by the way the wind is blowing what might be heading our way. From the south and strong, usually means the storm is going to be warm and wet...A Pineapple express, coming in from Hawaii. From the North usually means that the jet stream has dropped and the lows coming in off the pacific have been diverted to the North, and then whipped down this way, bring cold rain and wind.

I can tell by the moss growing on the North side of everything in my back yard, that we have not had very much exposure to the sun this fall and winter. It will take a lot of scrubbing this spring to get it all clean again.

This is usual weather for the Pacific Northwest. All wet and gray, hardly ever any snow in the lowlands. Dad brought us here in 1954, from sunnier climes, and Both Phyllis and I fell totally in love with the place. It was like living in the middle of a national forest. We learned about nature by observing Dad, and we learned that not all of God's knowledge can be gained by formal schooling. Sometimes the best lessons are ones we observe first hand from someone we trust.

I know I did.

rehearsals continued,

2011-01-17T01:11:00.003-08:00

This was the first rehearsal where almost everyone had a costume. They should all be there by tomnorrow night, but most of the women had them tonight. THe timing is a little off tonight, but for the most part it is just tweaking the lights and adding a few paint drops to a flat. Tomorrow we get to start cleaning the place up and getting it ready for an audience. Everyone was there tonight, and it works so well when they are all on. A little frivolity but that is good. It means the cast is relaxed and ready. Tomorrow I buckle down and will not interupt them at all to see how long the show will run.

This has been such a wonderful ride. This cast is AMAZING! Dick, you and Pat are gonna have to forgo a Sunday afternoon and drive over and see it. It will be worth your time. But get your tickets early as we are expecting these to go fast!

The Philadelphia Story

2011-01-16T13:21:00.002-08:00

These Pictures are of Tara Hizon as Tracy Lord, Jim Reynolds as Mike Connors, Dustin Amunson as C.K.Dexter Haven and Bob Foster as Sandy Lord, During the rehearsal of The Philadelphis Story.

This is a Movie with Kathryn Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, and Cary Grant, that I was in love with as a child, and may have watched it 50 times. I also like the Musical version of it made in the late 50's with Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby. When we had the play selected as a possible addition to our season, I jumped on the chance to direct it. I have LOVED working with this cast, and they are GREAT!

This is the cast that makes a directors job EASY! I just point at where I want them and they do the rest. THe set is GORGEOUS and the costumes are period. What a show. If you are in the neighborhood please come see it. You will not be disappointed.

Tickets are 16.00 and they are reserved seating. THe Play opens January 28, and runs until Feb 13. Hope to see you there.

I will post more as I get them.

Hey Matt! You Dat!

2011-01-11T00:41:00.002-08:00

Rarely do I watch a football game, but I did on Saturday. And what a game it was,Our team went into it with a losing reci=ored, and tghe worst record in the NFC.And they POUNDED the Super Bowl Winners New Orleans Saints! Whoot, All thanks to Matt Hasselback, Lucas and about 9 others but the one that really one for us wasw our "twelfth Man. Our FANS are the noisiest fans in the NFL AND IT EVEN REGISTERED AS AN earthquake under Quest field when Lucas ran his 60 yd TD. THe seismometers under seqattle showed a minor earthquake, Nah just the fans making a lot of noise and jumping up and down. It was an awesome game. Now on to Chi-town and the Bears. I do bot have much hope that they can pull it off again, but if they do!! WHOOOOOOO That 12th man will earn his colors!!!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Seahawks!!!!!!!!!

Meet Gracie!

2011-01-03T15:21:00.003-08:00

As you can see, she RULES the house! Notice there are no ornaments on the bottom of the tree? Wills and Gracie knocked them all off and broke them. They chase each other around like mad cats. I was afraid Gracie would get hurt, but she holds her own!

A New year!

2011-01-02T16:52:00.002-08:00

As a New Year Dawns over Mt Rainier and the Seattle skyline, we are still in the throes if a bitter cold weather system. It has not gotten above the freezing mark,and to make matters worse, we have a stagnant air advisory which means that all that wood Bob chooped, split and stcked for me can not be burned! I have to use my electric heat! GRRRRRRR!

Every New Year's Eve we sit in the living room and watch the events on TV. And every year we wonder if this is the year that the Space needle will finally lift off and head for orbit! Alas, it stayed on the ground, and it was an incredible sight to see it all lit up again.

THis year I will have two new additions to my fur babies. and a few losses too. I lost Lint, and Loki to Either old age or anaphalactic Shock. Sadie is still here and getting older and more crippled. She is going on 8 years old, and her hips are starting to really get to her. She can no longer jump on my bed, and can barely make it on the couch. Schroeder is 3 and still the biggest one, and the biggest WUSS!! He still hides under the bed when anyone besides me is in the house. Will's is 9 months old now and a real love of a ginger tabby. He runs the house. Or he DID until last week when I brought GRACIE home. Gracie is my final cat. unless I live a lot longer than she does! She is 8 weeks old, a long haired Black Calico kitten with a really pretty face. I have wanted one like her for several years, and finally she came into my life! She was an orphan at 7 days old, and one of my cast members was fostering her and her siblings. Bottle feeding them every two hours. So she brought her into rehearsal, and I fell in LOVE! Gracie now runs the house! Schroeder stays under the bed and growls at her, Sadie is not too sure about her and Will's just wants to play like a teenaged cat would, but I wont let him. She is waaay too little still. She sleeps right beside me every night, and purrs me to sleep. Such a love!

I hope all of you and yours have a very happy and healthy New Year too! Herman, Welcome back! (((Hugs)) and et nz enjoy your nice summer weather...

BRRRRRRRRR!

2010-12-17T00:28:00.002-08:00

And you thought it was cold where you live. This was on the TODAY show this morning,. a lighthouse in Cleveland Ohio was sprayed with lake waves and then frozen in ice. WHooo I sure would hate to have to deice that porch!

Coupeville Christmas Parade

2010-12-06T01:10:00.002-08:00

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I sat for an hour in 28F weather waiting for the parade. It was small and full of those things that you would expect to see in a small town, the dog club, the sherriffs possee, the tracktor pulling a flat bed full of boys and girls, the middle school band, and the firetrucks with santa. After the parade every one gathered on the corner of the old highway and main st and sang carols while they lit the city park. It was very nice, and got me right into the spirit, so I stopped ion the local red apple store and got some cookie stuff and listened to some old fart tell how hokey and stupid it was. We dont have a Macy's parade for sure, but for our little historical town, I thought we did guite well. I sent him on his way OUT of down to someplace he might like better. We dont need any more grumps in this town! Especially this time of the year.

BRRRRRRRRR..........

2010-11-22T11:01:00.002-08:00

We now have about an inch of white stuff on the ground. Now mind you, we were expected to get really cold this week, but only locations from Tacoma SOUTH were expecting snow! HRMMMMM They missed again.

I LOVE snow. I love to lay on my stomach and peer out the bedroom window and watch it snow, and watch the birds scratch through it to get to the seeds on the platform feeder. I Love to watch the snow stack up on the backs of the squirrels that are sitting on the feeeder. Nothing keeps the critters from having breakfast.

I am supposed to have taken the TURKEY up to Lynden to my son's house so that they can start it thawing and have it in the oven when we get there on THURSDAY, however, the roads are not conducive to driving 75 miles up and back in a few hours. I thought now how can I get them a turkey? SAFEWAY!!! I bought a gift card, stuck it in the mail, and it should get there tomorrow so they can go 5 miles into Lynden and buy what they need. AND, if the roads are still un drivable, I dont have to worry. They can go ahead and have their own dinner, and Bob and I can go down to the community potluck, and not sweat the drive!

The weather is predicted to warm up by Thursday, but it is cold enough right now, to keep the ground pretty cold for a week or so. Is this La Nina really going to be the worst in 75 years? KEWL!!! I am ready. Plenty of wood, plenty of books, plenty of food, plenty of pet food, and I suppose I should fill the water jugs in case the power goes out and the pump generator (community well) quits working. I am ready! Actually I am looking forward to it.

Yeah, I know! I AM Nuts!!! Must be the Girl Scout in me. BE PREPARED!!

Chilly November.

2010-11-20T22:22:00.003-08:00

BRRRRRRR!! As predicted, La Nina has made our November weather colder and wetter than normal. But it also was unpredictable, in that we just had a very windy few days with one storm system after another coming in off the Pacific and slamming into us.

We had two days of winds over 61 MPH, and trees down, power lines down, lights off, and WET! The rain hit first, pounding down like hail stones, but it was only rain. Then the winds hit. I was driving home in the worst of it, and just as I left Oak Harbor, the lights went out. It is odd driving in the dark, when you know there are homes and businesses out there in the void. As I left city limits, and headed on down the island, the wind buffeted the car around like a toy. It was blowing me into the oncoming lane. Thank Goodness I was driving slow enough to correct with out flipping the car. There was a car right behind me that was tailgating like he was getting ready to pass, when I whipped into the other lane, and the wind hit him too. He backed way off, slowed down and behaved himself the rest of the way.

As I got into Coupeville, all of the lights there were on. So I drove through the only stoplight in town, and headed on down island. I was approaching a very narrow part of the highway, and there were trees right up to the fog lines on both sides of the road, so I slowed way down, expecting a tree to be down across the road. I rounded a curve and right there was every emergency vehicle in the town of Coupeville, all cleaning up the mess of branches and trees right where I knew they would be. I was waved on through, over the branches, and around the trees, and then on down the road. I was all hunkered down, with my head down below the steering wheel, thinking that if a tree did hit me, maybe I could duck down and be safe.

It was pretty dicey driving the rest of the way home, and there were several more trees down and power lines hanging. I made it the 20 miles home, and pulled into my driveway just in time for the latest gust of wind to take out the power in my neighborhood. I grabbed the flashlight, left my headlights on, and went on in the house, put every thing down, then closed and locked the car, and the front door.

In Our part of the country, you learn to live with emergency supplies as part of the decorations in your livingroom. Hanging from the ceiling right over one of the end tables, was a Coleman Gas lantern, so I grabbed, it, the matches and the flashlight and headed for the bedroom. I lit the lamp, and crawled under the covers, and read a book.

The next morning, When I woke up, the lights were back on, so I put the lantern back on the hook, and brought in two loads of wood, and waited for the next round. It hit the next day, with winds just as bad, but no power outages, and I stayed home.

Tonight we are waiting for the temperature to fall below freezing and stay there for a few days. Snow is predicted in some places, but we hardly ever get it. My Son called last night, to tell me that in Lynden where he lives, about 5 miles from the Canadian border, that the wind was blowing really hard and the snow was blowing sideways. The news/weather man had just showed his town under blizzard conditions!

Novembers here are usually like most of you have Octobers. Chilly, but not extreme, and our cold weather waits until January or February. Tonight I am laying here under the blankets, looking out at the woods at an almost full bright moon showing through the branches of the alders. It is still, and crisp, and the temps are falling. right now the thermometer in my window is registering 35 degree F. so I know it must be about 30. The weather teasers on the TV just said that the temperatures are plummeting, and low land snow is expected tonight. We shall see.
I need to get a turkey up to Tim's house some time really soon, so that they can enjoy their first Thanksgiving as a family. They are safe, and for the moment, warm, and the baby is fine, and they will all remember this.

Phyllis and I grew up here and look forward to the excitement that stormy weather brings us. We have all the right emergency equipment on hand, and can survive for several weeks. It is just another thing to keep boredom at bay. WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!

A touch of the Season

2010-11-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

little bit of natural history.......
Amazing.............

Penguins
Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica - where do they go ?

Wonder no more ! ! !

It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life.
The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintaining a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.
If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into and buried.
The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:

"Freeze a jolly good fellow"

"Freeze a jolly good fellow."

"Then they kick him in the ice hole." !!!

You really didn't believe that I know anything about penguins, did you!

Freedom!

2010-10-24T22:37:00.004-07:00

I just love this picture of Owen. We put this hat on his head and it looks like he is saying''WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!

My wonderful daughter,OBE, came home this weekend, and among otherthings, managed to finish hooking up my home internet,and got my laptop,working on line, while I lay on mu tummy all snug in my bed! I have been wanting to get this done for years, and now I am aable to. WHOO-HOO! Donna, you rock!

I went up to see Owen and of course his wonderful family too, this weekend. Donna went up with me, and we spoiled Owen rotten. He is the happiest baby I have seen in ages. He has gained 6 0z in three weeks, and already smiles at his Mimi! hard to tell he smiles though from these pictures!

I Took him up his first pumpkin, and it was three times as big as he was. Unfortunately I did not get pictures of him with it. I held him on my lap and tickled his tummy and he grinned! I think I am going to enjoy this granda bit!

2010-10-18T14:46:00.001-07:00

My Boys

2010-10-18T14:24:00.002-07:00

edt/nz said that he liked to read about my cats. Alright then. The Big monster is Schroeder, he is two and a half, and still growing. He must weigh close to 20 lbs! He is also the Biggest sissy-boy you can imagine. When anyone or anything makes a noise that he does not recognize he growls and runs under my bed. He has completely torn the gauze off of the bottom of the box springs, and used to crawl up there and hide. I turned the be3d over a few months ago, and finished cutting the gauze off, and then vaccuumed all the cat hair up. What a mess. He is a Lover though. He will get right in my face when I am laying on my stomach in bed reading a book. He curls up right on the book and then purrs and head butts me. Such a love, such a WUSS!!

The little Yellow cat is Wills, officially named Wilson, because there is a pattern on the top of his head that looks like the volleyball on CASTAWAY! He talks. He talks, and purrs at the same time, he follows me everywhere, and meows constantly. He is also the biggest brute you have ever met! He beats up Schroeder, he terrorizes Sadie, he climbs my leg. He is getting calmer now, but when he was a baby he ruled the roost. He came from my son's home where he was used to three full grown St Bernards. He looks at Sadie and I know he is thinking. PHHHH...You have no idea what a dog is! He hides around corner and jumps and tackles Sadie as she comes around the door. He tackles Schroeder, and Rocky my Brother's dog that I take care of during the day. Nothing phases him. He is fearless. He is also taking the place of Loki. HE sleeps right beside me and purrs all night long. All I have to do is reach out in the night and there is a little yellow head under my hand, just waiting to comfort me.

I am looking for a female, but I will take my time, and when it is right, she will appear, and then I will have another fur baby to love!

Owen Wesley Pierce

2010-10-04T13:10:00.002-07:00

I do not have any grandchildren...or I didnt until Tim married Mistie in July, and she came with her 17 year old daughter. AND a Great-Grandson-to-be!

My Son is over the moon with this little doll! As I am! As we ALL are!

Proud Momma and Daddy with little Owen. DId I say Little? oops! 9lbs.3 Oz! and 21" long.

So this little fellow is the first baby in our family, and Tim is the proudest grand father I have ever seen. You would think it was HIS baby! He is already planning fishing trips, and spoiling him rotten. Nana is so excited also, and I am ecstatic! I have not been around a baby in 39 years! so Even though I am kinda down the totem pole in ranking, I am a very proud Mimi! I held him for over 30 minutes, and then he pooped, so back to Dad he went! Hey this is fun!

CHICAGO!

2010-09-08T00:02:00.002-07:00

The Show that opens our 48th season is CHICAGO! The Bob Fosse, Ebb,musical that takes place in Chi-town during the 1920's! The dancing in this show is fantastic, the harmony great, and the story very dark. Foxy ROxie Hart is accused of murdering her lover, and sleazy Billy Flynn the money-mad lawyer concocts a story to get her off. DOes He do It? Does Velma Kelly get off for murdering her husband and sister for doing the Banana Split? Does Amos Hart take pity on his Pregnant wife?

Tickets are on sale now at The Whidbey Playhouse 360-679-2237 Reserved seating only.

All Photos by ME!!!

2010-09-03T14:39:00.001-07:00

EARTHQUAKE!

2010-09-03T13:05:00.001-07:00

THIS IS TO ASK ABOUT MY FRIENDS IN NEW ZEALAND.... edt are you and yours OK? I dont know how to get ahold of you other than this. Keewee, is your daughter safe? Please let me know. I am thinking of you all.

A Heartfelt Loss...

2010-08-17T05:59:00.003-07:00

Every so often in one's life someone, or something will come into it that can have a profound effect on you for years to come. Such was my cat Loki. He was a beautiful creme colored longhaired tabby of questionable parentage. His Mother was found in a dumpster behind Heidi's Restaurant in Fallon, Nevada. She was only a few days old so a good samaritan took her home and nursed her to good health. I met Mrs. Cathay in the vet's office just before I had my last love Rudy put to sleep with severe kidney failure. We were talking in the waiting room about our ginger colored cats. Mine on his way out, hers only just starting her life, but already pregnant by a wandering tom. Queen Heidi (her name)was in to be checked, and if she wasnt pregnant she was going to be spayed. Alas, she was, so her mommie decided to let her have the litter and THEN get her fixed, I did not know at the time that Rudy would die that day. Mrs. Cathay was joking and said if she has a long haired orange one like Yours, I will give him to you! I said no, Rudy was enough. She left without taking my name or address. It was my turn and I went in to have another water trteatment for Rudy, but the Vet said, no, he has had enough, He needs to just go. I bawled my eyes out, had the deed done, and left. I sat in the car in front of the vet's office all dressed for work, crying uncontrollably. I had lost the best friend I ever had. I called my secretary and told her what had happened, and took two days off work.

2 months later I get a call in my office, and Mrs. Cathay said, I have something for you. But he is too little yet, and she put his little mouth up to the phone and pinched his tail. My heart melted, but I said no....no more kitties! Oh yes she said I will bring him to your office when he has his eyes open.

3 weeks later this lady walks into my office with a basket on her arm with the cutest little orange kitten you ever saw. standing right beside her was her 8 year old son, staring daggers at me and saying his name is Tiger and he is my favorite. His Mom very gently told him that he knew they could not keep any of the kittens, and that he was mine since the day he was born. I started crying again. THey left and in another month in walks Mrs. Cathay with her son, and two kittens. one for me and one for my personnel clerk. Her son knew he had to say goodbye to them but he sure did not want to. I think it did him good to know that I had lost my cat and that I would love him very much and take good care of him. He slept on my desk right on top of my budget and my reports until Lunch hour when I took him into the vet to get his first check up.

Loki was so tiny, and my other two cats were big, so I put him in the bathroom, with a box and a litter pan and food and went back to work. When I came home later, both cats and the dog were staring under the door at the kitten. It was then I discovered he was so little that he could crawl right under the door. SO I put books down in front of the door to keep him safe while I was gone. While I was home, he had free run of the house.

I had a black Cocker Spaniel named Mariah who had not been fixed, and never had a litter of puppies, well she adopted Loki, nursed him and even produced milk for him. He grew big and strong. one night I woke up hearing something purring on Rudy's pillow, and looked, it was Loki, he had gotten out of the bathroom found his way into the bedroom crawled up on my big bed and curled up right next to my head. There he slept the rest of his life.

Loki liked to sleep on his back, and he had the prettiest tummy to rub. He had really lite colored fur there, and it was rabbit soft. Loki was no skinny kittie either, a stout Norwegian, big in every respect. He liked to play with his toys, and had 20 little toy mice that he would regularly lose under the furniture. Every week when I vaccuumed, I would collect the mice and put them back into the glass bowl under the coffee table. He would methodically one by one pull them out, throw them up in the air, toss them over his head, bat them across the room and lose then once again under the sofa. THen he would go back and get another one and start all over.

Loki loved sleeping in front of the fireplace. He and Ethel would hog the rug in front and just splay out on their backs and soak up the warmth. About 5 years ago,I heard Loki in the night caklling out with his mouth full of "mouse" and got up to investigate, I surely did not want anything alive or dead in my bed. He had a crocheted fish in him mouth and he carried it everywhere, Talking the whole time.
He would deposit it at night right next to my head, and then go find another toy. I would eventually wake up with 8-10 crocheted "catches" all lined up on my bed and Loki laying on his pillow batting me awake with his paws. Wake up Momma, wake up! then he would get more agressive at it, start licking my face and purring loudly while batting my face. I knew then that it was most definately time to get up and get him breakfast. He understood the difference between words, He knew his name, and would come when called, (cats dont usually do that) He knew what hungry was and would jump off the bed and puuurrrrow to lead me into the kitchen.

Loki wormed his way into my heart and filled the spot that was left by Rudy all those years ago. He loved me, I knew it, and I loved him and he knew it. Two weeks ago he was fine for breakfast, and fine while waking me up, but an hour later he was dead of an acute reaction to some kind of allergy. THe vet was stymied! His lungs had filled with fluid in that hour and he basically drowned. I was devasted and still am. It is so very hard to lose a pet that you have loved for 10 years. I have lost three this year, two were expected to go as they were 17 and 18 years old, but Loki was still healthy and only 10. It hits you harder when you are not expecting it.

I have a new orange kitten now, named Wills and I had him before Loki left, so now Wills is going to have to pick up the slack and become the lover that Loki was. Schroeder is still here, and is a lover too, but he likes to be left alone. Loki was always beside me. I think Wills will be too. He was trained by the best.

Porch Critters?

2010-07-25T02:42:00.002-07:00

Ever since I bought this house 18 years ago, there have been feral cats under the porch, or in the culvert, starving, ragged and looking for food. Sucker that I am, I put left overs out ton the porch and by morning they have all disappearred. Usually it is a big black, badly matted cat, or a gray one with shaggy fur. SOmetimes it is a litter of kittens getting shown the ropes by their mother. Whatever, the food has always been gone.

Thursday I was ready to throw stale cornbread to the birds, and a cat caught the corner of my eye as it scurried under the car. I looked again and it was a raccoon! I have never seen one here! But there she was with three babies shoved up the maple tree for protection. She grabbed a piece of cornbread and headed up the tree, then back down, and behind her came the babies, and one by one they picked up a piece of cornbread and followed her off into the woods.

Last night as I let Sadie out about 230 AM, she went ballistic barking at something. I went out on the deck to see what it was, and up the plum tree with her face hiding behind the trunk was Mama.

I have a garden this year, and my onions were doing great until about two weeks ago, when it looked like someone had been laying on them. I blamed the dogs of course because the cats do not get to go outside. and then I noticed that the onions were dissappearing! I can only guess that Mama found a virtual feast in my backyard, and has been feeding her babies pilferred onions! I told her she was to stay out of my garden! ANd I wagged my findger at her to show her I mean it! She just looked at me until I finally got the dogs to come back into the house, then I went into the house, and as I shut the door, I heard plop, plop, plop, plop! as all of them Mama and 3 babies hit the deck heading for the onion patch! I wonder what onion flavored raccoon tastes like.

this and that

2010-06-28T13:40:00.002-07:00

Last night was the final show of CINDERELLA, and I finished my job at the playhouse, went down to the Ferry Landing to unwind and watch the Sunday Parade.

THe first boat had already gone by, but there were two more in the passage, so While I was waiting for them to come by, I watched the seagulls and shared a bag of Tim's Potato Chips with them.

There were a multitude of young seagulls, and a few of the adults hanging around. The babies were begging as all babies do, and I noticed that one particular Male Adult was just standing on the picnic table out of the way of the young ones. He would occaisionally hop over to the edge and back. Seagulls generally do not hop but waddle, so I looked closer, and this guy obviously was almost dinner for either a seal a sea Lion or an Orca. He was doing quite well though, and I tossed him a chip where the others did not see.

This is one of the castles I made for the Princess Tea center pieces. THey were a BITCH to make, and Judy and I spent hours trying to figure out the non-verbal directions given. JEEZ!!! They were cute though.

Now on to CHICAGO!

Meet Wilson...

2010-06-20T22:05:00.002-07:00

I now have another baby to raise! My son's step-daughter to be, brought home a 7 week old kitten, but Mom said no way, we have a rat, 3 St. Bernards, 2 cats, a Baby on the way and a wedding to plan! So guess who got Wilson? He is a little SHIT!! I have to remember to wear long pants, because he will climb anything he can sink his claws into...including bare legs! (No Joanie, I am NOT gonna show you the scratches!!)

He is now 9 weeks old, has had his first shots, is gaining weight, and is terrorizing poor Schroeder! Sadie and Loki are used to strange things comng n the house, but Schroeder is only 2 and a real wuss!! Wilson found his hiding place under my bed and moved in, and now Schrode does not know where to hide. Poor little thing.

Wilson is a ball of energy looking for somewhere to explode. He also is a real lover when he is ready to go to sleep...He meows like a tiny baby, and kneads my arm until he goes to sleep. AWWWWWWWWW.

Kittens are my most favorite THING!

Kat's DRAWERINGS

2010-06-08T13:03:00.003-07:00

Right after AI started Blogging in 2002, I mat Kat...also known as SPECIAL K. Her blog was very advante Garde, but I loved it. She was not afraid to tell it like it was...and in very graphic terms. She even warned MAMASITA not to read on, as it would embarass her mom. As we all got to know her, and follow her through her life, she started using windows PAINT to draw with and illustrate her blog. Below are just a few, and they are PRICELESS. She was so talented. She could write, she could draw, she was so smart. Even her English Teacher from High School ELLEN said that she was a genius with words. Unfortunately, she did not live long enough to realize how talented she was. She died Yesterday at the age of 39, of Lymphoma I believe, and she will be missed GREATLY!!!

FOr those of you who knew her, take a trip down memory lane. FOr those of you who DIDn't know her. you really missed someone special!

...and a few more from Whidbey Playhouse's CINDERELLA

2010-06-01T12:43:00.002-07:00

a few more pics from Cinderella

2010-06-01T01:40:00.001-07:00

Rehearsal shots

2010-05-25T09:47:00.002-07:00

Last night I had to run in and get a few rehearsal shots of Cinderella for the local newspapers. Half of them are in costume, half are not, but you can tell it is gonna be fun!

WHAT!!!!!!??????

2010-05-23T22:37:00.002-07:00

Is anyone besides me just mad as hell that one political entity in One state can change the wording in History books at their own WHIM? There were wars fought over the fact that someone burned books and covered up the real history, and we are doing it again in TEXAS!! (sorry Donna!) I can understand religious entities wanting to write their own history for their own people, although I personally think it is WRONG, but to change real time school books just because you dont like the way they portray history should be forbidden!

If I had children in school right now, I think I would be jumping up and down on the school board's desks to ensure that our entire history was told correctly! The bad and the good! If we continue covering up the bad, and changing things, then our future generations will NEVER learn from our forefathers misdeeds, mistakes.

I am so sick of the Religious Right dictating things in MY life. Religion has NO PLACE in our governments or in our schools, but in our CHURCHES and Synagogues and other places of worship.

GAK!!!! I am becoming a nasty old lady! And no one hears me scream! Look out! you could be next!

It LOOKS like Spring...

2010-05-20T14:42:00.002-07:00

The Baby Geese are getting bigger, the trees are all in bloom, but I'll be DAMNED if it did not have snow mixed in with the rain yesterday. It was not just me that saw it either!

The wind blew 60+ MPHs, knocked out phone, lights, and cable. Even had a TORNADO in Eastern Washington...RARE indeed.

It is so cold out right now, that I am seriously thinking about building a fire to take the chill out of the house.

I know that if it ever warms up and gets really hot, that I will complain about that too, but Man oh man what I would not give to have some nice summer or even late SPRING weather! I really think we are entering a mini ice-age. no matter what they say about global warming. BRRRRR!!

I have on my fuzzy slippers and nice warm socks. and my feet are STILL cold.

I am so glad I got my garden planted early! PHFFFFTTTTT!!! so much for tomatoes this year I guess!

2010-05-11T19:21:00.001-07:00

spring...finally?

2010-05-11T13:40:00.002-07:00

Well, our weather has sure been strange this year. A warmer and wetter than average winter, and a colder than average Spring! I THOUGHT it was safe to put out bedding plants, but aparently I was wrong, as my lettuce is not doing well, and my spinach is turning yellow! My pumpkins did not thrive, and we had frost last week.

HOWEVER! They are predicting warm and dry for the next few days. in the 70's! Whew! Everything is late growing, but the tulips were really early! The blossoms on the apple and pear trees are setting fruit already also! THe grass is growing like mad! So MAYBE, just MAYBE, we have ventured into SPRING!

I wonder what the summer will bring?

I attended a class on Septic tanks this weekend. We are required to have an inspection before July 1, and hardly anyone has heard of this yet! with over 40 thousand septic tanks in the county, I am sure that they will extend the deadline, as there are very few qualified inspectors. After this class, I supposedly am qualified to inspect my own system, however I am not physically able to. So I have to pay some one to come dig up the cover anyway, so might as well bite the bullet and just have them inspect it for me. That way I know it will be correct.

Egads, There comes the jets!! along with good weather come the Navy jets bouncing off the OLF. Lots of noise! SIGH!!! Sound of freedom!!!

MUD!!!! Oh Boy!!!

2010-04-27T15:32:00.002-07:00

You dont EVEN want to see my Utility room! SIGH!!!!

It's RAINING grandma!

2010-04-26T19:59:00.002-07:00

I could tell the minute it started raining. The BOYS had been sleeping in the snoopy doghouse all day, just laying around being puppies, suddenly, they stood up, looked at the dirt pile and ran full bore toward it. Before I could stop them, they had their muzzles and their elbows in the mud and were having a ball. I just shook my head and grabbed the camera.

I have a better picture, but it is not downloaded yet. I will get to that tomorrow. Right now I have them locked in the utility room with a big blanket on the floor, so maybe they will dry off and shake the mud off. GOD!!!!

They are just adorable! But MAN can they eat! I put them to bed with a big pigs ear apiece, thinking it would last a few nights! WRONG!!! after about 20 minutes all traces of the pig were GONE!! Not even a smear on the floor was left! Each of them gets 4 cups of puppy chow twice a day, and all the water they can suck up! Sadie is in AWE! Loki tolerates them, and Schroeder has not been seen!

Tim and Misty were in Talladega during all of the tornadoes, and now are in Columbus, GA. Having fun and enjoying family. The boys and I are having fun too, before the rain started, we all were laying on the couch watching TV, and relaxing. MY LORD they are heavy!

Bubba and Napolean

2010-04-09T13:08:00.003-07:00

I had to laugh when I saw this picture, as I know exactly what Misty was thinking. OHMIGAWD! They had gone out to potty, and discovered a mole hole, and decided to explore it. The looks on their faces are priceless. SEE HOW DIRTY WE ARE MAMA! We are sooo proud of our muddy feet, and we brought it into you nice clean kitchen too!

THey are 9 weeks old now and getting bigger by the day. I get to babysit while Tim and Misty go to Talladega to NASCAR and then on to Georgia to meet the family. I actually THINK I am looking forward to it. then again.....

Cash On Delivery On Stage Now!

2010-04-02T13:17:00.002-07:00

Air station talent hits stage in ‘Cash on Delivery’

Whidbey Playhouse photo
“Ooh no! Poor Uncle George is dead.” If you’re looking for a good laugh, see “Cash on Delivery” featuring, from left, Kent Peckenpaugh as Eric Swan, Allen Young as Uncle George and Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd Class Dustin Curtis as Norman McDonald.

Thursday, April 1, 2010
A live comedy featuring NAS Whidbey Island military and civilians hits the Oak Harbor Whidbey Playhouse in April.

The show is a full-on farce, complete with slamming doors, dead bodies, bold-face lies, mistaken identities and men dressing as women. This fast-paced physical comedy involves a con artist who has duped the welfare authorities by claiming every type of benefit for the innumerable people he claims lives at his address.

The cast includes Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd Class Dustin Curtis of Fleet Readiness Center Northwest, who plays Norman McDonald.

The audience will also see retired Lt. Cmdr. Kent Peckenpaugh, who works on base with Innova systems Int’l LLC, a software contractor for the Navy. Peckenpaugh is in the role as Eric Swan.

“Following the lost of his job, Eric rectifies his situation by creating fake tenants and submits benefit claims in their names,” said Peckenpaugh. Although in the lead role, Peckenpaugh said. “Dustin Curtis really steals the show, becoming the central character.”

Navy Exchange customer relations employee Joyce Napoletano plays Sally Chessington.

Among those working behind the scenes in lights and sound are Aviation Electronics Technician 1st Class Mike Tucey of FRCNW and Aviation Electrician’s Mate Airman Matt Benson of VAQ-138.

“I’ve been doing live theater since middle school,” said Benson, a native of Wenatchee, Wash. Only arriving here last February, Benson said he originally went to the Whidbey Playhouse to help usher, but the Playhouse decided to use his theater technical expertise instead.

The play directed by Bob Hendrix and Melissa Bridges opens April 9 and closes May 1. Tickets are $16, and groups of 10 or more receive a $1 discount on each ticket. Call the box office at 679-2237 for more information and show dates throughout April.

© 2010 Sound Publishing, Inc.

Poor little Sadie!

2010-03-31T22:32:00.003-07:00

My poor little Sadie bug is a wreck! She has been digging at her neck for 4 days now and it is raw and bleeding. It looked like there was a dog bite on her neck and it could have been Rocky, although I am not sure he has the energy to actually clamp down on anything as he is so old. But they do get into it once in awhile. It is usually Sadie's fault. I held her down and looked at her closely and it looked like there may have been a B-B in her neck and her leg. I would not put it past the wicked Witch of the North to do something to her, so I took her into the Vet today.

No B-B! Whew, I would be in jail right now if there was. But the Dr smiled and said, I know it looks bad, but what she has is an extreme reaction to all the pollen in the air right now.

WHAT???????

He said that they have been so busy the past two weeks with dogs with exactly the same thing. Well....Shut my mouth!

So she had to have pills. She is on Prednisone and Antibiotics for a week. She will not keep a bandage on, and I can not put a CONE OF SHAME on her either, because it would rest right where the sores are.

I tried to get a pill down her today...PHFFFTTT! no way! so I waited awhile, and went in and cut a piece of Zuccini bread and came in here. Sure enough there she is begging for a bite. I put the Prednisone in it and mushed it up and gave it to her. She sniffed it as if to say "I Know you did something to this". But when I put a piece in my mouth, she swallowed hers. So then I did the same with the Antibiotics. So there are two pieces of bread on the desk, one with the pill one for me.

Guess which one she got?

2010-03-29T01:03:00.002-07:00

I worked out in the yard all day Saturday. Cant work hard or fast, but I worked! I pruned all of the wisteria. It has taken over the fence, and has grown roots under the fence and up the trees out back. Si I am trying to get it back into the two spots it was originally planted. I found a yellow climbing rose that the wisteria had covered. so now it will thrive. THe two climbers I planted two weeks are are sending up shoots already. I cleaned up under the bird feeder and now that area is ready for some petunias. 5 of the eight raised beds are planted,. The cabbage is doing great and so is the spinich but the onion sets are wilting down. May have rushed it a bit.

I transplanted the rhubarb and got five plants out of it, so they new plantings should do better in the sun.It too is looking good.

Now to get Tim to come home and move the rest of the dirt into the backyard so I can have my driveway back. (Yeah, THat will never happen!)

Isn't he CUTE?

2010-03-21T23:38:00.002-07:00

His name is Bubba, and he is 6 weeks old. He is my New GrandPuppy! Tim and Misty got him last week. THeir neighbors were raising a litter and mama quit nursing, so they sold them cheap. Tim says he has doubled in size in a week. I told him, Phhft that is nothing compared to what he will be!

I have wanted a St Bernard Puppy ALL MY LIFE!! I wanted a female, and I wanted to name her Heidi. But I love my little Sadie just as much!

Bubba is a rough coat St Bernard, and will soon be HUGE!!! He came and spent the day with me. ANd I get to puppy sit next week and then again in May!

Sprinter?

2010-03-10T13:14:00.003-08:00

I can't really say we have had a bad winter, because we haven't. It has been one of the warmest. driest on record. The snowpack is very low, below normal, which means that there will be a water shortage this summer. We don't run out of water, but our rivers get lower, and our reservoirs behind our dams get really low, and we can not generate enough electricity to sell to California. (oh DARN!) If you watched the Olympics in Canada last month, you saw how very mild our weather is right now.

Well Hang on! the weather reports have a possibility of SNOW in the next few days. Not at all unusual for this time of year, but the record COLD temperatures are. THe tulips in the Skagit Valley are blooming a whole month early, the fruit trees are all in bloom, the bees are buzzing, and as I have said before, i have mowed my yard three times already this year. The cold will hurt the blossoms on the fruit trees and even though they are loaded with buds, They may not produce fruit if they are frozen in their infancy.

My roses that I just planted, already have new tender shoots on them, and those too will freeze if I dont cover them.

We are a week or so away from SPRING, and have not yet had a WINTER. So I guess we are going to have a SPRINTER or maybe a WING? El Nino is giving up and we are in the middle of a new phenomenon called ( Well, I read it last week, and now I can't find out where I read it, so I can't remember what it is called. Anyway it is between el Nino and La Nina, and affects the weather in the Pacific. Hard to say what we have next.

I wish I had paid more attention to science when I was in school, as I really get into the geo sciences! I love geology, climatology, and earth sciences. It is just awe-inspiring to me, to watch things happen, to walk along a beach and see where the cliffs have fallen away, and realize that I am the first human to EVER see that particular ROCK!

Ah...I digress. I really need to get my taxes done, so I had better stop and go visit taxact.com!

Bad neighbors..

2010-02-26T13:02:00.002-08:00

Anybody got 80' of solid fencing laying around? I have a wicked Witch living next door with two darling children, who love to tease my Cocker Spaniel, My SMALL Cocker Spaniel. Sadie also likes to bark at them when they are teasing her. She also likes to bark at strange people walking on the other side of the chain link fence.

Wicked Witch moved in about 6 months ago, and proceeded to tell me that she works from home, and she is not supposed to. And if they find out she is working from home she will lose her job. She told me she works for a credit card company. She told my other neighbor she sells travel insurance to time-shares. If she hears her kids playing outside she screams at them to be quiet or she will lose her job, then they will lose the house. THe kids stay outside from the time they come home until dark. RAIN OR SHINE! COLD OR WARM! so SAD!

Sadie is used to being out side during the day, but wicked witch called the animal control officer on her. Said officer came to the house, with a citation. I met her on the porch, and asked her if she heard anything, she said NOOOOOOOOO. and rolled her eyes. I said Sadie only barks at strangers, said officer said "that is her JOB!" I said that I am trying to keep Sadie in when the kids are out so she wont bark at them, but it is really hard. She agreed and said just make sure you comply with the noise regs. Which state, "continuous, repetitive, barking..."

I put Sadie out, and when I hear her bark, I bring her In. 7 barks max. It takes me that long to get up and let her in. I have even gone so far as to sit out there and watch her while she is out. Now I am being accused of SPYING on her!

Dear Lord! Will you PLEASE give her laryngitis so she will MOVE! (cant talk, cant work, have to move!) I wonder just what she REALLY does that she has to have complete silence? Wonder how she explains the jets flying over? I wonder what she would do if I sat in the backyard and sang....

I HATE being held hostage by an evil minded Witch who does not even OWN the house! I was here first! GRRRRRRR

Just a simple old woman with no brain...

2010-02-13T13:03:00.002-08:00

I bought a new dryer a few weeks ago, and it came in on Wednesday. I mentioned to Bob that I would like to pick it up on Thursday. (I have to plug into his schedule!) I waited and waited and finally about 230 he shows up. We went in to the Base to load up the dryer, and bring it home. We pulled into the driveway and he said he would off load it into the garage and be back sometime later to hook it up.

NAH NAH says I. Please just set it in the Living room, and I will get the pigtail hooked up. So he brought it in, plopped it right in front of the couch and left for his 5:00 appointment with a beer at the Local Watering hole. He will be 70 next week, and NOTHING stands in the way of his routine.)

I looked at it, and looked at the laundry room (really a wide hall between the living room and the back yard.) and thought....HMMMMMM I can do this. I pulled out the out dryer, unhooked the wiring, and then tried to get it out the back door onto the deck.

It was like a chinese puzzle! this has to move here in order for me to go there, in order to get this over there! Like I said WIDE HALL. just wide enough for for the door and the appliances. Nothing else. and If you dont have it set just right, the door wont close.

After realizing that the dryer would not go through the door unless I took the door knob off, I had to move everything back to square one, to go get the screw gun and bits. Got the door knob off, got the dryer to the deck and then put the knob back on.

Step one done! Now I opened the cardboard box that the dryer was in, got the dryer turned around and went to open the flange that covered the wiring screws. OOPS, the one socket that fits that particular screw, was missing. Off I went to hunt down a pair of pliers. Found one but it was rusted shut. So off I go again looking for the WD-40. Finally got the pliers working and the screw off, got the flange off and hooked up the pigtail from the old dryer unto the new dryer. (Now WHY don't the manufacturers put real plugs on their merchandise?) Then I sat and rested, because my back was starting to spasm. I sat there and looked at it sitting there in my living room and thought, I can do this. So I tried to push the new dryer over the carpet...Nope! So I moved the couch, pulled back the rug and then realized that the really heavy display case that I rescued from the demolition bin at a place I worked, needed to be moved, so that I could fit the dryer through the door into the utility room.

That damned near killed me! But I got that done. Then I pushed the dryer into place. OOPS....gotta put the vent ducting on and plug it in, SO back out it comes, and then I crawled behind it. ( no easy task with a bad back and a giant stomach!)
GOt it hooked up, sorta, and got out, and then pushed everything back into place and turned it on. VOILA!! Step two done

I went out back to see if airflow was coming through the vent to the outside, and it was not. I got a flash light and looked up in there to see it was jammed full of lint and fuzz and more than likely RATS!! I thought the sense was the better choice and left it for Bob. After all he can move a lot faster if there should be something alive in there.

The dryer does not have much clearance between the wall and the vent pipe, and If I did not get it set just right, either the vent would kink up and not blow outside, or I would not be able to get the door shut. I Waited for Bob.

Late yesterday he called and said I am planning on coming over to hook up your dryer does that work? I said it works fine. :) he came over and was shocked that I actually could do something. (after all I have been doing for myself all my life)
I handed him a long wire clothes hanger and took him outside and told him what was left to do. Nothing alive or dead for that matter was in there but it was 6 feet of solid lint and mud! No wonder the old dryer quit!

So to make sure that the vent worked right, he unhooked the dryer and crawled back ther to see how far up the duct the clog went. We got a big sack fuyll of junk out of ther and then said he had to go to ace hardware in oak harbor for some tape and some clamps. I KNEW if he left, it would not be hooked back up until later in the week, so I said WAIT!! and pulled out a package of clamps from the kitchen junk drawer. He gave me one of those looks...You ruined my plans...teehee. He got the dryer hooked Back up and pushed sort of in place and then said he would see me later.

Step three will be to get him to actualy wiggle the dryer back far enough to shut the door and be straight with the washer. That one make take a few years. I now have a dryer again, and the vent is cleaned out and all the clothes are dry and my house no longer looks like a chinese laundry!

Mission accomplished, and once again, I am a simple old woman with no brain. At least that is what he thinks!

Opening Night Friday Feb 6, 2010

2010-02-04T17:08:00.004-08:00

By LIZ BURLINGAME
Whidbey News Times Reporter
Feb 03 2010, 8:34 AM · UPDATED

A feel-good photo that graced the cover of Life magazine in the 1940s turns out to have a dark underside in “The Cover of Life” opening Friday, Feb. 5 at the Whidbey Playhouse.

Kate Miller (Cynthia Kleppang) is our narrator, a Lois Lane-type character and Life correspondent who is thrust into southern women territory.

She’s reporting a “woman’s piece” about three wives who have come to live with their mother-in-law, who goes by Aunt Ola, while the boys are at war.

Apart from a few squabbles, it’s a pretty civil household, until the second half. That’s when the wives’ happy facade breaks down, and bad news and wartime separation takes its toll on the women.

“The newlyweds don’t know what marriage is all about because their husbands quickly moved away,” said director Rusty Hendrix. “It’s a touching story.”

The play is set in a tiny, Louisiana town, and we see Aunt Ola’s early Americana-style home, porch and screen door. The sets were built by Bob Hendrix, Rusty’s husband.

After some insistence, Kate moves in with the wives. She meets the modern and racy Sybil (Amanda McCartney), who describes herself as “hot as a Saturday night and safe as Sunday morning.”

Weetsie (Michelle Hunter) maintains that she’s a plain, common housewife, while Tood (Lisa Datin) just wants to break free of the family and start a life elsewhere.

Mary K. Hallen is the homespun Aunt Ola who has a feisty sense of humor. When the newlyweds spar, Hallen nicely conveys strength as the family matriarch.

Although the script is considered a bit dark, Hendrix said her cast brought some playfulness to the characters.

“What they made is better,” she said.

Rounding out the cast are Judy Hendrix as Addie Mae, the gossipy local reporter who tipped off Life in the first place, and Fernando Duran, who plays Tood’s husband.

“The Cover of Life” is a show (like it’s punning title) that hints that life isn’t always what appears on the outside. It also briefly casts a light on a media that won’t let personal feelings ruin the story it wants.

Part social commentary, humor, drama and hope, it’s a surprising and deep story written by R.T. Robinson. Hendrix said it may touch on some feelings of Oak Harbor’s military families. She adds that a few of the play’s scenes are “too strong” at times, and it is not for children.

DAMN SPAMMERS!

2010-01-23T19:25:00.002-08:00

Well Much to my dismay, I have had to add comment moderation to all comments, which means that your comments will not show up until I say they can. Which in my case may be several days. If I have to go further I will then ask for word verification Which I HATE! or turn on the doo-hickey that says you have to register. All becasue I do not think that my blog should subject all of you to having to read crap that others put on there. ARRRRRRGHHHHH!!! Thank you for sticking with me.

Now on to putting away the crap I bought at COSTCO today! I hate this part of shopping. i want to pay for it and have it magically appear at home and put in it's proper place...Isn't there an App for that?

Next on stage....

2010-01-18T21:12:00.003-08:00

THE COVER OF LIFE

Amanda McCartney from Anacortes is one of the featured women in the WWII story The Cover Of Life. This poignant story is about three women who are married to brothers who have all joined different branches of the Military. Sybil, the Modern one, (Amanda McCartney) is the oldest, and the most worldly.

Tood (Lisa Datin) is the youngest and the one who is most likely to move on.

Weetsie (Michelle Hunter) is the third sister, and wants more than anything to be exactly like Aunt Ola. They all are sent home to live with Aunt Ola (Mary K Hallen) the brothers mother in Sterlington, LA.

Adie Mae MacGough (Judy Hendrix) is the local reporter who sees a story in the women, and forwards her report on to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Eventually Life Magazine gets wind of the story and sends their ace Reporter Kate Miller (Cynthia Cleppang) to Louisiana to interview the girls. The Husbands are all over seas, and only one, Tommy (Fernando Durran), is seen in the Play. Kate befriends Tood, and learns the secrets and the joys and sadness of being left behind while the boys go off to war.

This production, Directed by Rusty Hendrix is not for young children, but is sure to pull everyone into the story, and no one will leave with a dry-eye.
Tickets are now on sale at The Whidbey Playhouse box office, by calling 360-678-2237, or in person during box office hours Tues-Friday 11-3, Wed and Thurs until 6PM. The Playhouse is located at 730 SE Midway Blvd, Oak Harbor. Tickets are Reservation only, and all seats are 16.00. Check out our website www.whidbeyplayhouse.com

2010-01-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, Donna, Is this better?

What did I forget?

2010-01-14T14:36:00.003-08:00

I have had the strangest things happen to me in the past several days. My Calendar is chock-a-block full, and I just turned the page a few days ago. But already I have so much scheduled, that I have to look every single day to figure out where I am supposed to be when!

Lately, I have gotten off a day or two, looking at the calendar, knowing where I am supposed to be and what time I am supposed to be there, only to find out that I was on the wrong day. And in some cases, WEEK! I have no idea what causes this, and I am not at all fond of it.

I think it is tied in to just being really really tired! I need some time to ME! And that may be to just lay in bed all day, or read a book, or listen to absolutely NOTHING!

I forgot to take Sadie in for her hair appointment. I was up in time, I just looked at the wrong day. I think that it is .... Well SHIT!! I forgot what I was going to write!

WAHHHHHHH!!!!

2010-01-12T23:54:00.001-08:00

Spring?

2010-01-11T13:10:00.003-08:00

It is the first of January, 2 weeks into WINTER, and we are the only part of the whole continent(with the exception of Mexico) that is having balmy weather! It is gray and drippy, but it is 50-60 F. We are expecting High winds, which is not so unusual for us, but the balmy weather sure is. We had about 3 weeks of cold freezing weather in November, but no snow! The rest of the country however has had it and then some! We were out trimming the low branches off of the crab apple tree, and the dogwood tree, and they are absolutely LOADED with buds! We may just have another fruit filled summer. Either that or the frost and wind will hit in April just as they are blooming, and kill all the fruit as they are born! Last year we had so much that one of the plum trees actually broke in two parts. Several branches broke on the peach trees. Year before last, NO FRUIT at all! I would kinda like it to meet in the middle. Not so much that I feel it is being wasted if I dont put it all up, but enough so that I can have fresh fruit! I guess I am just not ever happy huh? ;)

Bob just came over and handed me my mail. In the middle of the mail was an envelope with no writing on it. ?? in the envelope was a birthday card with 400.00 in it! WHOOT!! He is buying my swim pass for this year! I told him it was only 309. and he grabbed back 100.00. Now if it is in an envelope and you get it as a gift, shouldn't it ALL be yours? LOLOL He is also loaning me the money to get my brakes fixed. So I am a truly happy girl today! OLD, but Happy!

Funny, I just dont feel like I am 64! The body says I am, but the mind says I am about 20-25! Am I regressing? Maybe I am just a young soul! ANyway. I am off to finish some work for the Playhouse, and then to Swim for 2 hours. (I hope the Lap Nazi isn't there today!)

Packing it away

2010-01-03T02:53:00.001-08:00

Christmas is gone from my house. Packed away and put away into the Christmas closet for another year. I had a big tree this year, and Bob decorated it, so I had 7 strings of lights and all the ornaments in the closet on the tree. Every year I pull out the Christmas egg, the smuckers jelly lid with a picture of Santa glued in the top, the felt and paperclip ice skates, and the little god reindeer with Timmy written across it. Every year when the kids come home they head right for the tree to find their ornaments. I put Timmy up in its usual spot in front and up high, and Timmy Pat could not find it. I told him it was there and had probably slipped down a branch or two. He was here yesterday, and looked for it again, still could not find it. So today I methodically took every ornament off, put them in their boxes and then took each string on=f lights down, looking all the while for Timmy. I could not find it at all. I then decided that since it has been on my tree for over 33 years that I MUST find it. I very methodically cut each branch off the tree and piled it right beside me on the floor, I got down to the bare trunk and still no gold Timmy!!! Now I was starting to panic, even called Tim to make sure he had not pocketed it for his own house and he promised me he had not,
By this time it is midnight, and I was tired, but knew I had to find it before I went to bed or I would not sleep. I went down to the garage, and dumped what little cord wood was still in it out of the wheelbarrow and tugged the empty wheel barrow up the stairs into the house. I sat right beside it and picked up every branch, cutting them into smaller pieces, all the while searching for a glint of gold, I finally got down to the last few branches and still no Timmy. I picked up the last branch remaining on the floor, the very first branch I cut off the tree. And there hanging on the tiny branch was the little gold reindeer named Timmy. I called Tim and told him it was found and he was very pleased!
I finished putting away everything Christmas and got it all stowed back into the closet for another year. I might even get around to taking the boxes of my Christmas village, down to the garage this weekend; they have been sitting in the hall for a year, right where I left them when I took everything down last year. Bob will be over tomorrow to take down the outside lights.
It takes so long to get everything out and ready, and then you are so busy you can’t sit and relax and enjoy it, and then before you know it, it is all over again. Maybe I should think about leaving it up for a whole year. The neighbors would REALLY start wondering about me then!

Awesome CHristmas!

2009-12-26T12:19:00.002-08:00

I had a totally AWESOME Christmas! Not a lot of money spent, Except for the Car repairs that Bob gave me. We all made homemade goodies to give to each other. Freezer Jelly, Zuchhini bread, smoked salmon, cookies, fudge, rouquefort dressing, (my sister's recipe) hand crocheted doilies etc. It was as Christmas should be! No mass amount of monetary crap and greed, just lots of love and good stuff.

My daughter, in her eclectic way again, gave me some totally AWESOME pillow cases! She, as I have told you before, shops at good will, and found hand embroidered pillow cases, that people have decided are not in favor anymore. (May even have been in some one's estate sale) And She knows how I like them So I got 8 sets of pillowcases. She also made candied nuts! OH MY!! My Blood sugar is up today! ;)

Have you ever taken a real hard look at embroidered pillowcases and wondered who did them, or when? I did last night. THere is one set that is almost identical, but one of the cases was not quite finished the same as the other one. I sat and looked at it, and wondered if it was perhaps a Mother/daughter how-to lesson, or maybe it was an elderly woman who just could not see well enough to thread the needle, so set it aside. Or maybe the original owner died mid stream? The stories to tell are in there, I will just have to look harder to see what they are.

Some of the pillow cases are very well done, and others are wrinkled and rough. I know how that can happen. I gave up embroidery when my Mom would look at the back of everything I did, and if it did not look as good as the front, or if the linen was taut under the thread, then I had to rip it all out and start over unti it was done right. Needless to say, I don't embroider anymore. Maybe I will pick it up again, and try and see if I have improved any.

One of the odd pillow cases was embroidered with a very fancy edging and scroll work, and had HIS written in the middle, there is no HERS. Did he maybe die? or did they divorce and she got rid of the HIS and kept the HERS, or was it maybe for a trousseau, and the marriage never happened? Lots to tell in those pillowcases.

Lots of wondering whose heads rested on them. SOme of them look like they were barely used. Maybe it was just busy work. Only they know, and they are not telling. It made a great Christmas Present for ME!!!!

Tim and Mistie came with Molly their St Bernard, and DOnna brought Tilly her AUssie, and Sadie was a yappy little Bitch and did not want to share, so she got locked in my bedroom with the cats, because she would not behave, The others did though.

I cooked Prime rib and it was PERFECT! I even made green bean casserole for Tim, and it al got eaten. Everyone was happy, healthy, and sated when they left, no Alcohol, so they all were safe driving. It was the first CHRISTMAS in over 15 years that both of my kids were home at the same time. It is so nice to have them both happy again. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

I told him I needed a new car!

2009-12-24T10:34:00.004-08:00

When Bob asked what I wanted for Christmas I immediately told him a new VW passat Stationwagon.

He laughed. I was serious. He instead said how about a tune up, brake job and new tires? That'll work! So I make all the appointments. (DId you know that in order to have work done on your car anymore, you have to make an appointment to have it looked at so they can order the parts and make an appointment to work on it?) I called Les Schwab and told them I wanted 4 nes tires and new brakes. So I make an appointment for the appointment, and was told that my brakes are FINE. So during my APPOINTMENT, I had four new tires put on. THen I called Mazda and told them I needed a tune-up and a detailing job. SO I make an appointment to see when I can have an appointment. THen I took the car in for my APPOINTMENT and got a loaner car, because you can not get a detail and a tuneup on the same day.

So after 2 days have gone by, I called Mazda to see when the car will be ready, and was told today sometime. SO here I sit waiting for the appointment to be over. MEANWHILE, he calls and says, you need new brakes, and oh by the way your valve seal is leaking around your valves, and to fix all that it will cost you 875.00 for the seal and labor and then 495 for the Front and Rear rotors and pads for the brakes. Now Bob has already spent 700 for the tires, and the brake inspection (which they said was good) at Les Schwab, and the detail and tuneup is another 900.oo. and then all of this on top of it will be around 1400.00! (which will have to wait for Income tax refund) I TOLD HIM I NEEDED A NEW CAR!!! HEll, by the time all this is done, I just might have one.

So last night I took a load of clothes out of the washer threw them into the dryer and stuck another load in the washer and went to bed. This morning, the clothes in the dryer are still wet. So I trurned the dryer back on, and it sounded like a car trying to run our of gas. (electric dryer) Then NOTHING!!! so now when Mazda calls, I will load the loaner up with wet clothes and take them in to pick up my car, transfer the wet clothes into MY car and go sit in the laundromat for an hour drying all my clothes. What does it cost anymore? last time I was in a laundromat it was .50 to wash and .10 to dry. Must be close to .75 cents to wash and .25 to dry?

To top off everything, This morning I headed into the back yard to pick what little mint I thought I had growing back there (for the Prime rib seasoning) and Jupiter the neighbors cat jumped out and scared me just as I opened the gate, and SWOOSH!!! there went SADIE! Out the gate and down the street with her nose to the ground looking for deer, or raccoons or cats, or bigfoot...who knows, but she will NOT come when called. SO my neighbor and I were running around the neighborhood sreaming for Sadie in barefeet, on frozen ground, and in our nightclothes. Sara finally caught her just as she was about to cross the highway. (Little Bitch!) I HATE kids that won't mind!

So how has YOUR day been?

Winter Solstice

2009-12-21T15:21:00.003-08:00

Today is the shortest day of the year. Or the longest night...It has always been a comforting day for me. Don't know why, but I always want to just stay home and zone all day. It is 3:20 PM and already is getting dark. Then of course it is raining like hell too. Might have snow tonight, mixed with the rain of course.

I have not seen the squirrels in several weeks, they must hibernate, although they were out two years ago playing in all the snow! I wish the sky was clear, so I could look at the moon. I Love a crystal clear, cold still winter's solstice, with all the stars sparkling and the moon a waxing crescent! Been so long since I saw it, I THINK it is that phase now! But then a really full moon on winter's Solstice is pretty too, shing and lighting the woods like a spotlight! So we will be still for a day or so, and then start our tilt to the South, and the days will get longer and longer. Of course those of you in the Southern Hemisphere may be sad, because your days will get shorter and colder! THat must be strange.

I have to go swim, then run to rehearsal and read several parts, as two people will not be there tonight. (GRR) Then Tomorrow I take the car in for a tune up and a detail. (The other 1/2 of my CHristmas Present. Poor Bob had no idea how much this was all going to cost when he mentioned it, but when I said hey, you dont have to do this and I mean it, he said he rides in that car too, and he wants to make sure everything works right. Bless his sweet heart! He is A keeper.

I just about have all my shopping done. I need to find something for TIm, and I have no CLUE what to get him. He could probably use money, so I might just do that. He is now living with Mistie, and she has all of her stuff up here, so I dont think they need any household stuff. SHe seems to be helping him stay clean and sober, and he seems happy! So go for it! She is divorced, and has children, although not with her, and is a devote Mormon, so does not drink or drug! If he is happy and safe, that is all I want!

O Christmas Tree....

2009-12-19T19:06:00.002-08:00

I finally got my lights up outside and finished decorating the tree inside. I told edt I would post a picture of "my wee tree" when it was finished. I always start out wanting a small tree, and by the time I get the thing home, it has grown two feet, and by the time I have it in the stand and the lights on it, it has grown another 2 feet.
You think I would learn, but I never do. Got all the ornaments on it this time too, and fixed the broken ones, and rigged fishing line in the ones with no hooks. (cant find any anywhere to buy!) So now all the ornaments I have are on the tree. All new lights, and all I have left is to put out my Christmas village. Then stand back with a fly swatter and kill schroeder as he tries to play with everything.

Nutcracker

2009-12-14T19:28:00.002-08:00

Meiko Parton as THE NUTCRAKER in Thw Whidbey Playhouse's Production of Nutcracker

Meiko, and Jacey Geragotelis As the Sugar Plum Fairy

I really did not have anything to do with this play other than be the Photographer and do the Bios and the Lobby Wall and the Poster, And the Program...Ok, maybe I DID do something. Meiko was in my show ZOMBIES< and we encouraged him to go try out for Ballet, and Voila. He stuns the audience with his leaps and turns. and only 6 months of formal training too!

This weekend was the reception for the Donors, and I had right at a month notice to plan and pull it off. But I did! WHEW! I am tired. I took today off of rehearsal for Cover of Life to get my house cleaned and rest! I can actually see my dining room now. Now tomorrow I have to go find a tree!

30 Years of WHIDBEY PLAYHOUSE On MIDWAY

2009-11-19T20:01:00.003-08:00

Here is what was presented to the Oak HArbor Chamber of Commerce today. It is 5 minutes but shows a number of productions that I have been involved with!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvjG5DuQPTA

I dont know how to make this an active link, but if you copy and paste it should work it is a you-tube link.

Busy, Busy busy!

2009-11-11T01:23:00.005-08:00

Where has this year GONE? I cant believe that Nov is already 1/2 over and I have not even racked my lawn from August. As usual it has been raining here, and windy, and BLEAK! Typical Fall weather. But it has not been really cold yet. no frost that I can tell.

I had my first Board Meeting with the Whidbey Playhouse Sunday night, and I did a show and tell on the poster restoration that I have been doing, They were amazed!!!
one of my readers here, Karen Twitty-Hartlieb whom I have never met, has offered to start a donation to the playhouse strictly for the restoration and framing of theses posters. THe Board was in awe that someone that DOes not know us would be willing to do that. THey said they would earmark all funds that came in labeled for poster restoration for just that purpose. WHAT A NEAT THING! I was just doing it because I wanted to, and doing them a few each month. This now makes it official! THANK YOU KAREN FOR BEING SUCH A WONDERFUL PERSON!

GODSPELL 1980 Before and after

Camelot 1979 Before and after

The big gray squirrels have found the feeders again, so Schroeder has something to chatter at our my window. I do not let him nor Loki outside at all. THey are inside wussie babies. Big bad nasty things out in the woods, eat cats! So mine each have a window they lay in and watch the wildlife.

Last weekend Bob and I went down Island to W.I>C.A. to see ROcky Horror Picture Show. it was done live and it was a hoot! We dressed casually but everyone else was dressed like the show...transvestites, monsters, weird people. It was more fun watching the audience than the show. We sat in the front row, so needless to say, we were drenched, and covered with confetti! It was fun though. Everyone needs to see it twice in their lives. Once to go see how it is done and the second time to participate! I did the time warp in my seat because my back was hurting so bad.

I have been doing a major spreadsheet for the Coupeville Festival, as we are getting ready to give away the money we made this summer. Our Grant allocation meeting is this Sunday. Man time is flying! I also have a Patron Gala to plan for December 12. and then the WPH Christmas party, then on with COver of Life. Which I am producing. I have some exciting news about next season, but we cant tell anyone yet! HEHEHEHEHEHEHE

My 3 Angels

2009-10-30T22:51:00.002-07:00

THe latest Play on the boards is the Christmas show, My THree Angels. I went last night to get pictures for the scrapbook. It was very funny, and well done.

Fil Baca, Fred Conley, and Jim Ortuba played the convicts, and they were all great!
The story takes place in the early 20th century in French Guianna, in a prison town. The convicts all run free, and do handiman chores for the shopkeepers and the townspeople. Needless to say they mettle where they should not and trouble ensues. It all works out great, and everyone leaves happy.

2009-10-23T12:14:00.002-07:00

I have three more posters done. I am surprised that there were not many pictures taken for these productions. Even the scrapbooks have none. But we had a fire about 40 years ago, so maybe they all got ruined then.

As you can tell, refurbishing them adds a little more life to the already worn pictures. The originals were not behind glass, so they are badly spotted with fly spatter, and water drops. I try to save as much of the originals as I can. I scan them and use the copies on the new poster, and put the originals on the back for posterity!

Now on to round one of Camelot! (we did it more than once!)

Rain!

2009-10-17T13:48:00.002-07:00

After a summer of nearly no rain at all, and a fall of nearly no rain at all, we are getting all of it at once. We have a front moving in from the Ocean, that is bring tons of rain! We are in flood watch! ON an ISLAND!! weird huh? right now it is ouring rain, and the fog is really getting thick. I know that most of you do not equate fog and rain but here in the pacific Northwest, it is very common! I just ran out during a 10 minute pause in the rain, and filled up the feeders, and suet blocks! Those birds sure get greedy when the weather turns bad! Maybe they know something we don't! I can hear a squirrel in the alders, but so far, it has not come back into the yard! I have not seen the little red squirrels (lola) in almost 6 months. DOnt know if it is kids, dogs, cats, or owls keeping them away, but I miss them. Maybe when all the leaves fall off the trees, they will be able to see the feeders again and come back. Right now I have a flock of doves pigging out! must be 25-30 of them! and the woodpeckers have returned! both the Northern Flickers and the Downey woodpeckers. I have heard the Piliated one fly over, but so far he has not partaken of my hospitality. The Hairy woodpecker should be here soon too.

BAck to my bedroom window to watch the power of nature. AHHHHHHH relaxing!

Restoration in Progress...

2009-10-13T21:23:00.006-07:00

One of the jobs I volunteer to do for the Playhouse is Historian. I keep a photo album of all the shows, and make sure that the lobby posters are stored safely. During my last show, I spent some time up in the balcony and noticed that the Belfry was wet. There is a leak somewhere, that can not be located. So I got all the lobby posters out of there, and brought them and the albums home with me for safekeeping until I can convince someone to build me a cabinet to put them in.

I was looking thought them and noticed that a lot of the older ones are falling apart. Te pictures have paint splattered on them, and they are all of various sizes. All of our posters are 2X3 so they can all be interchanged in frames.

This was the oldest one we have. BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE from 1973. I decided that I would reconstruct it, and the really bad ones, and put them all on standard size cardboard. The picture below is the next oldest one we have. ANASTASIA from 1978.

It too was falling apart. THe pictures were torn, and falling off. I scanned the pictures into my computer, and then used photoshop to retouch them somewhat. NOT like new, but better. Then I used my wonderful new machine THE CRICKET and cut out details to glue on the new poster.

Quite a change huh? I even made the pictures bigger so they can be seen better. So now I need to try and talk the board out of enough money to frame 8 of them, so we can put them in the main staircase going up to the auditorium. This will be an all winter project I am sure, but not all of them need to be rebuilt, just repaired.

Autumnal Equinox

2009-09-22T18:59:00.002-07:00

Well Fall has fell. At least that is what Jeff on Channel 5 said. You would not know it by the weather though! We are having unusually hot and dry weather. The trees are starting to lose their leaves, and the evenings are getting cooler, but today was a gorgeous summer day. I was almost late for my Yoga class this morning. I no longer have an alarm clock. Threw it out when I retired! what wakes me up is the birds at the feeder, and the sun hitting my face, or Loki licking my cheek for breakfast. TOday, they pussy willow tree was still in full leaf, and the birds were not making noise, Loki had decided to sleep on the sofa, and the sun had not hit my face yet. Fall. THe sun moves from way over here, to way over there and back again. My house faces the West, and my bedroom faces East, so my bedroom gets the morning light.

I always note the time and the date that I first notice Orion pop up over the alders each Fall. This year it was way into September, around 4:00AM. The alders are getting taller, so Orion has farther to go to be seen. He is my favorite constellation. I know that once orion is fully risen that the cold and the winter will not be far behind.

This year Fall snuck up on me. I have been so busy with the show that I just did not have time to do all the late summer things I usually do. No apples, No Pears, no peaches no tomatoes canned. just lots of zuchinni bread. THe autumn light is there though. The sun just went down behind the house across the street, and as it went, the sky turned bright gold! I have a feeling that we are going to be paying for all this great weather all winter long! any body wanna take a guess on the first frost?

2009-09-21T11:44:00.003-07:00

Well we are half way through the run of this show and so far we have only hit about 45% of our house. NOT GOOD!! We are getting great publicity, we are getting great comments by those that have seen it, but we just are not getting the people in that usually do not come. I guess it is lack of a NAME BRAND, Iw ould have thought with ZOMBIES in the title we would bring in the young crowd, but so far NOT! Maybe we ought to have a YOUNG PERSON night! Charge 1/2 price for anyone under 19. Might work, Might not, but the seats are empty anyway. BIG SIGH!

I had a picnic last night after the show...TIm and his "family" came down for the show, and to celebrate his birthday. We went down to CIty Beach and roasted hotdogs and cut Chocolate decadance cake! OH YUMMY!!!! I came home knowing that I had NOTHING TO DO for three days! YES!!! I could sleep all day if I wanted!! WHOOT!

I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 630! CRAP! SO I got up ate my yogurt, made a pot of coffee and watched the TOday SHow. Now I am washing clothes, cleaning the kitchen cleaning my bedroom and then vaccuuming the livingroom! SO much for NOTHING TO DO huh?

THere is always tomorrow!!!

Zombies From THe Beyond

2009-09-09T13:00:00.002-07:00

2009-09-08T23:12:00.002-07:00

By LIZ BURLINGAME
Whidbey News Times Reporter
Today, 3:15 PM • UPDATED
The town invasion has begun at the Whidbey Playhouse, which carries a collection of buxom aliens, I-like-Ike Americans and a spy from across the Iron Curtain.
They’re part of the production “Zombies from the Beyond,” the low-budget musical, comedy that opens this Friday.
‘Zombies’ satirizes the sci-fi films of the fifties and pop culture in general, in a time when America’s greatest enemies were imaginary aliens.
Playwright James Valcq created the music and dialogue and used his hometown of Milwaukee for the play’s backdrop.
“(Valcq) thought people could relate to a small town being attacked by aliens,” director Mary Lou Chandler said.
‘Zombies’ is set in the Eisenhower era and the Cold War and space race were the big headlines of the day. The staff at the Milwaukee Space Center is anxious about the arrival of rocket scientist Trenton Corbett. Nathan McCartney plays the stiff, no-nonsence military man named Major Malone, who heads the fictitious center. His overly serious assistant, Rick Jones, is actually a red agent (played by Meiko Parton) and his daughter Mary soon becomes Corbett’s love interest. However, their budding romance is jeopardized when a flying saucer lands in Milwaukee. The craft is piloted by Zombina (Amanda McCartney), a buxom alien bent on gaining he-specimens to repopulate her planet.
Her secret weapon is her high-powered singing, which “zombifies” the unknowing males.
Chandler’s cast is relatively young compared to recent playhouse productions, with most actors in their mid-to-late 20s. The actors’ silly, cartoonish demeanor tenderly mocks the bad acting of space paranoia flicks.
The film nostalgia includes sharp 50s clothing, indoor smoking (it’s fake) and scientific jargon: The reflexive lens must be responding recalcitrantly to post-lunar pressurization, says Corbett (Wes Ralston).
“I just remember those old, horrible sci-fi shows on television back when it was free. I love sci-fi. I’ve been a Trekkie from the get-go,” said Mary K. Hallen, who plays a man-hungry secretary.
The cast used a lot of movie comparisons to describe the play, and ‘Zombies’ truly has the look of a grade-B film. There are scenes where the actors mug at the audience, as if they were staring into a camera lens. It has the feel of “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” “Mars Attacks” and “Flash Gordon,” to name a few.
The trick was to make it look imperfect, Chandler said.
“Everything is tacky and corny. The cues are off in some spots but it’s intentional.”
The play’s score is an homage to ‘50s pop, such as Perry Como and Doris Day. Each of the actor’s vocals are ear-pleasing and McCartney gives a standout performance as the operatic Zombina. It’s paired with over-the-top jazz, swing and Russian dance moves. A lanky Parton manages a one-handed side flip in the dance number “Big Wig” and a Michael Jordon-sized leap across the stage. Young also brings a charming tap number in “Atomic Feet,” as his character flirts with Charlene.
Finally, the set design team did an incredible job of staying true to the cheesy sci-fi style. The Space Center looks like an airport control tower, with geometrical flashing control boards and a giant projector screen. Later, there’s a styrofoam skyline of Milwaukee and a space ship moves across the stage on a visible wire.
This play doesn’t need to be analyzed too deeply; it’s simply fun, clever and hilarious.
“In short, it’s a beautiful disaster. You gotta see it to believe it,” Parton said.
Tickets for “Zombies from the Beyond” are now available. The show runs Sept. 11 to Oct. 3, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. All seats are $16. Contact the Whidbey Playhouse at 679-2237 for more information. The Whidbey Playhouse is located at 730 SE Midway Blvd. in Oak Harbor.

A Corner turned...

2009-09-06T13:17:00.003-07:00

Last week was hot and dry, this week was cooler and moist, and today it is COLD and WET! I think we have taken a turn around that weather corner, and have gone from summer into Fall. The leaves on my Maple tree have started to turn yellow on the west facing side. Soon they will all be on the ground, and have to be raked into piles and loaded into the back of Bob's pick-up, to be carted off to his mulch pile.

I woke up late this morning and it felt so good to be snuggled down under the blankets witha cold wind blowing in the window. Sometime during the night of restless sleep, I must have turned on the blanket, because I was toastey and sure did not want to move. Loki however had other ideas, and kept licking my face and purring into my mouth. MOM wake up!!! WE ARE HUNGRY. I expect that if I had not gotten up that they would have had ME for breakfast! Sadie maybe not, but I have no doubts that my cats would have eaten me starting with my nose!

I got up, fixed a pot of coffee, fixed another batch of zucchini bread, popped that into the oven, and went back to my bed to watch AFFAIR TO REMEMBER for the 35th time! I know that movie by heart.

THe show was WONDERFUL on Family and Press night, so they all got the holiday weekend off. All of the tech is done, the set is finished, the costumes are done and I only have three more portraits to take and then I AM DONE!!!! I almost cried because it was so good! I have put so many many many hours into this show, spending upwards of 8-10 hours a day trying to get all the tech just right, finding people to work backstage, setting the lights, sound, and tweeking everything. It is up to the cast now. My job is done. I have also turned a corner. I actually relaxed for the first time in MONTHS.

THe pool opens again on Tuesday, and Yoga starts up again on Tuesday morning, so I can get back to being healthy instead of stressed out.

My toe is sitting at a cock-eyed angle to the rest of my foot, and it hurts like hell, but it is not black anymore. Just bright CHerry red!

It is pouring rain and dark out and I heard a far off rumble in the distance, so I guess we may get some thunder and lightning. Very unusual for us. LOVE IT!!!

AHHHHHH!!!!!

tonight's Dress Rehearsal!

2009-09-01T23:25:00.003-07:00

As you can see by these photos, it is an hilariously funny, kitschy, tacky,campy show. It was written that way, and it is so corny that you laugh all the time!
I wish you all could come see it. I will get it on you-tube sometime in October!

Rehearsal

2009-08-27T22:58:00.002-07:00

Things are coming together great! After Saturday afternoon, I should have lights done, sound ready, and music all recorded. The set is ALMOSt ready, and the costumes are done. This is a picture of the ZOMBETTE costumes. WHAT A HOOT! I will post more Pictures after Press Night. Then we will have everything done. SO stand by....Sept 3 is Press Night and Family Night. Wanna come?

Flying saucer lands in Oak Harbor!

2009-08-23T13:44:00.002-07:00

A Flying saucer has been seen flying over the Whidbey Playhouse as of late! Word has it that it is inhabited by an alien buxom aviatrix named ZOMBINA played by Amanda McCartney. Terrorizing earth and looking for he-specimens to re-populate her planet X she has ZOMBIFIED Major Malone (Nathan McCartney) and his right-hand man and Russian spy Rick Jones (Meiko Parton). Trenton Corbet (Wes Ralston) is the Young Astronaut trying to save the Probe Seven experiment from total destruction. Alas, he too is ZOMBIFIED . Major Malone’s daughter Mary (Caitlen Lewis), and his man-hungry secretary Charlene Osmanski (Mary K Hallen) along with the lovable Billy, the Tap dancing delivery boy,(Allen Young) create a cacophonous noise on the roof of the Probe Seven Control Room confronting Zombina and her Zombettes. They try to destroy the secret weapon that she keeps in her throat. Her extremely high and obnoxious voice. This Musical Comedy spoof on the 1950’s space movies is a wacky, zany production! The soundtrack may sometimes be off a bit, and the dialogue is really corny, but this is after all a spoof. A hilariously funny and toe-tapping take on the beginning of the Atomic space age. Tickets are 16.00 for all seats and reservations can be made by calling 360-679-2237. Directed by Mary Lou Chandler, Assisted by Kent Peckenpaugh, Produced by Rusty Hendrix, The Vocals Directed by Nathan McCartney and the dance routines by Daunne Zinger and K. Sandra O’Brien, This is one not to be missed!!! Show opens September 11 and runs weekends through October 3, 2009

2009-08-18T14:26:00.002-07:00

I have been up to my ZOMBIE eyeballs trying to get this show on the stage. I think we finally are on the road. No Pianist, no orchestra, can't get the vocals off the CD but we are going to sing over the CD! camp it up and make it really Kitschy and corney! gotta work. My head is starting to ease up a bit. I really need to get back to yoga and swimming. no time!

Get your tickets!!!

Testing new toy

2009-08-12T11:50:00.002-07:00

I just got a new Dell Laptop DUDE!!! Sat on my table and plugged it in said I wanted to do wireless and poof!!! there it is. Now I have NO idea why I am on the internet, but I appear to be. MAGIC!!!

More to come!