a letter to kyle busch

Dear Kyle Busch,

With all due respect, since you don't seem to know it's worth repeating; if the sign say 45 mph it is based on the road conditions and not on the skill or acumen of the driver even if he is famous!

photo from virginia pilot

This car is not a toy as you seem to think and even stated to the officer who gave you a speeding ticket-OMG!. You were driving it down a two lane highway that was near a subdivision, by a popular lake where there is a church and a day care. That means, people use this road for bicycle riding, bus stops, farm equipment, to go about their every day lives.  What were you thinking?

THIS IS NOT A TOY

If I may be so bold I would like to give you a bit of advice. I comes unsolicited but with a good amount of personal experience so listen carefully. People have lost their lives on the roads doing things a heck of a lot  less stupider than you; and you my friend are pretty stupid. 

Driving 128 mph in a 45mph zone shows a pathetic lack of judgment, and your wife was in the car? What in heavens name were you thinking? Do you know how lucky you were you didn't kill someone- or yourselves? 

You do not even want to know the extent of trauma that a vehicular death causes, besides the death alone, what happens to the family. But I do; as the mother of two victims of vehicular deaths.

You need to be punished, to be taught a lesson.  I sincerely I hope you learn from this mistake. If you think your skills are too good to have an accident, that you're too popular, if you think you're too rich or a class above regular justice then the rest of us who break the law, then you're going to hurt someone someday. You are no different, when you get behind the wheel of a car there's always a chance, there's always a chance. Jerk!

As always feel free to comment...

the escape

Write a short piece - 600 words max - that begins with the words, 

"This was absolutely the last time" and ends with "She was wrong."

"This was absolutely the last time," Daisy said to her mother.


"Be quiet you guys and goooo to sleep or eeeelse," she yelled to the kids loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear! 


That was met by a chorus of groans. "I am not going to get up again," she yelled.  


But of course her mother Lily knew she would. 

Mother and daughter had been watching a movie in the living room on the new DVD player. Throughout the movie they kept on hearing the chatter and the giggles and the occasional bang of the kids in the bedroom  near the front of the house. 

"You know how it is when the kids are over tired Daisy," Lily said.


Daisy had told them to settle down more times than she could count. She knew what her mother was saying was true but somehow it didn't help to soothe her frustration.


"Mom I'm getting really tired of this crap; I don't even know what this movie's about," she exclaimed! 

Then came the rattle of the cookie wrapper from the kitchen, the sound was unmistakable. But a quick peek through the door and down the hallway showed no child in sight.

Daisy returned to the couch, closed her eyes for a minute and took a deep breath; when she opened them her mother was grinning.

"Oh Mom, I could have sworn I heard that cookie wrapper rattling  a second ago, really I did!" 

Lilly laughed," oh it's just the boys give them a break Daisy."



Lily was thinking to herself the kids were probably snitching cookies, after all little boys are always hungry for cookies.


"Mom I'm done, I mean it!"  "If I catch the kids out of bed they're in big trouble so you can wipe that smile off your face and it is not funny!" 

Daisy got up off the couch and edged down the hallway and was greeted by an empty kitchen; all she saw was an open package of Oreo Cookies on the counter top.

Then ever so quietly she cracked opened the bedroom door and entered to check on the children.


"They look like they're sleeping," she said to herself in a whisper.


Curious she stepped closer, light streaming thru the curtains she could see each was breathing deeply in and out in and out. Their sleep was sound, the type of deep sleep that cannot be faked by children that young.

Back in the kitchen Daisy called out," Momma, want some cookies and tea?" "Thanks honey," was the reply. 


She picked up the package of cookies with the intention of taking some cookies out of the package when a mouse jumped out from under the cellophane wrapper.

Dropping the cookies she swallowed back a half scream- half laugh as she watched the little mouse escape across the kitchen floor. Daisy then muttered into the air with a grin." If Mom thought the kids were in those cookies I can say with out a doubt that she was wrong."

To those who read this piece
I've never tried my hand at writing fiction.

Fiction is scary to me!

In the interest of full disclosure, we did have an incident at my Mom's house with a mouse in the Oreo's once. So that part of the story is true; the rest if made up completely by me. 

So when you read this piece be honest but gentle on this fiction newbie! 

my legs a pain in the ass

About two months ago I took a fall while at the beach on vacation. Really I went ass over tea kettle down the stairs of our condo. Really it was mostly ass but we won't go there. Anyway my leg was really bruised; my leg slipped out from underneath me and scraped against the stair with such friction I developed two blisters on the back. These two blisters have really turned out to be a a real pain in said ass for lack of a better expression. They broke, they developed an infection and the infection and the resulting wound doesn't seem to want to heal.

I am finishing my third course of antibiotics ( he's tried traditional and sulfa ) and it's still not close to being healed. I'm going back to the doctor on Monday and I'd love to hear if anyone has any ideas about what I should do. It should be said I do not have diabetes and I have never had a healing issue before nor have I ever abused antibiotics. Also he tested me for MRSA and  regular staff and they were negative, fungus test is pending. I would love to hear if anyone has any herbal or other home remedies or conventional medical advice.

Your help would be appreciated. Thanks.

tag you're it

    

This week's prompt is- Let's Play your  memories for games you played when you were young.

My summers were filled with glorious days filled with sun, sand, family- the sweetest memories of of our family home at the beach on Long Island. My parents, Aunt & Uncle, brothers, cousins; oh the fun we had.

But just as sweet were the kids on the block...

Oh the games we played! Long days on the beach playing football, playing 'keep away' with a pink pency pinky's (pink rubber ball) in the water until our lips turned blue and our mothers would make us come out of the water. Then we'd stand there on the hard sand with strait faces shivering with blue lips saying" I'mmm noottt ccooolldddd," as they wrapped us in fresh beach towels and made us sit in the sun to warm our cold bodies.

After gobbling down dinner it was back outside to choose sides for whatever game of tag, freeze, ringalevio, T.V tag, hospital tag. ONE- TWO-THREE...... whoever was "it" would call out as the rest of us hid in our favorite hiding places. We scraped more knees then I could count, jumped more fences the I could count, hid in the smallest places I could imagine, played more games of tag the I could count, cried more tears of laughter then I could count.  

Seeing my friends daily, the innocence of being so carefree. I think of those days more than I can count and I miss them more the anyone could imagine.

-from my kitchen- cream of spinach soup

Every once and a while I hit a home run with a recipe that my Mom just loves. Here's one that she raved about the first time I made it for her a few weeks ago on a rainy day. I thought I'd share it. So I decided to  make it again and take some pictures and share it on this blog. Be aware it is far from low calorie due to the butter and the half and half, however if you serve it with some nice crusty bread and a wonderful salad I think it's worth it- and spinach is good for you remember!!

CREAM OF SPINACH SOUP

INGREDIENTS

2 cups chopped fresh spinach - packed - (or 1 10-oz package frozen spinach, thawed)

1 cup chopped onion

·         1/4 cup butter

·         3 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered (about 1 pound)

·         3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarian option)

·         2 cups half-and-half

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1/8 teaspoon pepper

·         3/4 cup sour cream

·          

·         Optional: chopped chives and/or ground allspice for garnish

·          

·        METHOD

·         In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté onion in butter for 3 minutes or until limp.

     Add potatoes, chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

     Add spinach and cook for 2 to 4 minutes longer until spinach is tender.

·         

·         Working in batches, purée soup mixture in a blender – return to sauce pan or you may use an immersion blender.  Whisk in half-and-half, salt and pepper.

·         

·         Over low heat, bring to just before simmering. Whisk in the sour cream. You may want to use an immersion blender to get the sour cream fully incorporated. 

·          

·         This soup can be served hot or chilled.

yummy !

·          

·         Enjoy!

·         Serves 6 to 8.

·          

cleaning house

I'd like one please!

This is what I would like to know. How is it that I live in a house with one other person and it always feels like I can never keep up with the cleaning? We are actually clean people...really we are. I used to have five kids in the house and I didn't need a cleaning lady then, but it sure feels like I wouldn't mind one now!

We don't even use two of the bedrooms unless one of the kids, the grandkids or company comes so its not like there's a lot to do but the cleaning just seems endless. Dusting, vacuuming, washing floors, two bathrooms, windows, dishes (no dishwasher!) laundry, beds, cleaning cat hair, it seems endless.

We have a large piece of property so this time of year my hubby spend many hours on the riding mower doing the grass.  Acres and acres of ours and Moms property needs tending to usually twice weekly so the time he would normally spend helping in the house is reduced. We share the vegetable garden duties though!

I will say he's wonderful, he does do quite a bit of grilling which is a big help since I do all the cooking usually all other times of the year. Ordering out isn't exactly an easy proposition here in the hinterlands. And Mom lives next door so I cook dinner for her every day unless we're out and about.

All and all though there are a few things that I really hate to do of the housework variety- I won't fill ice trays for the freezer although I drink plenty of tea and am the user of all the ice in the house. And if I can get away with not having to mop the floor in the kitchen, laundry room I am a happy woman. I'm the only one who will but I hate- hate- hate- cleaning the refrigerators; it is the most horrible thing any person has to do as far as I'm concerned.

Ok gals and guys out there who read this blog. Do you have a housekeeper? Do you do it yourself?  Lets here what you like or dislike about house work in your house. Is there anything you just hate?

-from my garden- who says tiny is bad?

plants are full of small fruit and lots of flowers

My cousins JM and Hans from Charlotte swung by to visit with us and Mom on the return leg of their ( visiting family and friends) vaca/trip. We had a wonderful dinner followed by desert and then we watched the Kings Speech,   ( great movie by the way).

Anyway its always nice spending time with my cousins even if its only one night before they have to head on their way back to Charlotte. If you read this blog regularly you'll find my husband and I have a lot of regular company of the cousin kind- our family is quite close. We also are not opposed to road trips to their houses either...

These particular cousins who were here yesterday love tomatoes. They  enjoyed inspecting  seeing my garden; and although they were way too early for real  heart of the harvest time when we have an over abundance of veggies- they know we'll probably visit them some time in July with a care package for them .

What was funny and a bit of a co-inkidinkie was that before they arrived we were checking the plants, we found our first two tomatoes and saved them for Hans, he REALLY loves tomatoes. See below.

our two first cherry tomatoes

Tiny little suckers- but believe me Hans popped those babies in his mouth before heading out this morning! 

I also wanted to show you the wonderful asparagus and strawberries that we were given by two different neighbors- the perks of living in a rural community! 

the blessings of wonderful neighbors

music and memories

My I-Pod is filled with all sorts of music, pretty much everything except rap       ( well one rap song ) I love all music. Different music from different times in my life, my youth, my teen years, high school, songs I like currently; these songs are a musical memory for me.  We don't get to go to concerts very often; to see a band or an artist that you like or admire in person can't be beat.

Amos Lee

The other night my husband and I met our son up in Richmond to go to a concert at The National; its a beautiful venue- a theater of old that fits about 1,500 concert goers per show. One of our favorite's was doing a show there; have you heard of Amos Lee? He does a great show, plays a great guitar- actually he plays many different guitars during the show. If you haven't ever listened to his music I would suggest you give it a try. He has a wonderful voice, kind of bluesy very soulful, and he can at times be very spiritual with his lyrics.

The National- Richmond

Of course my first concert was my most memorable-  I thought I was the coolest. My best friend from grammar school's mother dropped us off at the Nassau Colosseum to see Alice Cooper, I think we were all of 13 years old at the time. Oh my gosh!! He was so gross and he threw dolls with their heads ripped off ( remember the song Dead Babies? ) he sang it with a snake wrapped around his neck. Two young girls out to a concert and we just didn't have a clue. Apparently neither did our parents or we would have not been allowed to go in the first place.

But somehow I remember feeling so grown up  being allowed to go without someone older to watch over us. Then there was the smoking and it wasn't on cigarettes being smoked if you get my drift. Our first taste of freedom even if it was completely tasteless- cool and memorable but tasteless.

Things have changed at concerts now a days- no smoking of any kind- but there are bars for beers and cocktails. It seems much more civilized and maybe that's just because I'm seeing it thru my over fifty eyes.

In any case, I've seen a few decent bands. Surely not as many as my brother Gerard- but he's a freak; I know he's seen Amos Lee at least five times.  I did fit in a few concerts before I got married, and have gotten to go to a few with my husband or my son.

In no particular order here are some of the shows I've seen; the best and most memorable clearly was Paul McCartney; that I did with my older brother Paul before he moved to Hawaii.  Here are the ones I remember- Alice Cooper,The Beach Boys, Paul McCartney & Wings, Black Sabbath, The Steve Miller Band, The Moody Blues, Robert Palmer, Linda Ronstadt, Loggins & Messina and Alice in Chains. There are more I think alas as I am writing this post the memory fails.

What was your first concert when you were a kid? Did you have a favorite band  or artist you like to go see? Or do you now? If so do share...

my unusual wedding favor

This post is inspired by a prompt by The Red Dress Club.

What is my first memory that comes to mind when I see the 

picture.....

I got dressed for the wedding and although it was rainy I was hopeful that the old wives tale was true and that meant good luck for the bride and groom.

They were longtime friends of my husbands. They had lived together for many years and finally decided to make it official. I were shocked and delighted when we received the invitation. Apparently the priest felt the same way because he even commented about it during Mass to the delight and surprise of the many guests

The reception was amazing, music dancers in costumes, drinking merrily; it was all that I had imagined. The food was endless, and without question one of the finest and generous selections of food I have ever seen.  However even then I wished for two things, I could enjoy a few drinks and two that I could get out on that dance floor; but alas I was pregnant and my ankles had other ideas.

 And when it was time for us to say our goodbyes the groom said to me," did you steal an ash tray?"  "No of course not" I replied, "I don't smoke you know that."He then did the funniest thing; he opened my purse and stuck an ashtray from one of the tables deep within it. When we got out to the car I took it out of my purse and looked to see what was so special about it. Turning on the overhead light I inspected it; what I saw was a glass ashtray and at its base in blue writing it said ' Stolen from Tony and Dee's wedding May 20th 1984.’ 

solace

My community is a small one; it is not uncommon for young and old alike to know one another or at least know of one another. My son Eric's second grade teacher and her husband are our friends, my daughter Gretchen even baby sat their children. Her husband’s parents are lovely people; they of my parents’ generation and are the quintessential southern couple. He the gentleman farmer, she the devoted mother-grandmother and both are born and bred in this community. They also have another son and although I had only met him once years ago before he moved away, when he passed away tragically from cancer; my husband and I knew we would go to the funeral.

I must admit I had some concerns that I wouldn't have been strong enough to deal with other grieving parents. I was worried I was too weak to be in the presence of their pain without getting lost in my own; after all this was my first funeral since my own children's some months earlier.

Upon entering their church their son greeted me with a hug so hard he almost crushed my ribs. I think it was when I looked into his eyes and saw just how vulnerable he truly was I knew I would be OK, that I was stronger than I had originally thought. He then said to me, "It will mean so much to Momma that you came today especially considering;" and his words hung but their meaning was clearly understood to me.

Then he guided me through the throngs of people that were crowded around his mother. She stilled for a moment; it was almost as if she sensed my presence, raising her head tears filling our eyes as our gazes met. I stepped closer and we embraced for a moment as I spoke words of comfort to her. Pain and sorrow were etched deep into the expression on her face. Then in a quiet voice almost a whisper cracking with emotion she said to me “I expect we'll be talking soon" and without a thought I nodded my head in agreement to her statement.

I expect we'll be talking soon - powerful words of acknowledgement of a connection that transcended any generational differences, which transcended the fact that she is a southern woman and I am a woman of the north and it transcended the manner in which our children perished.

With those words we recognize our mutual need for the depth of empathy and understanding that comes only from another mother who is grieving.

-from my garden- annuals and aquantances

my flowers & herbs

I finally got to do a few pots of flowers and herbs today. My favorite thing to do is to mix my herbs with some flowers together, but I usually only do one of those on the back deck. We are so behind on our planting and really haven't had the chance to go outside and enjoy getting my hands in the soil because of my leg infection. Even if  just for a little while and a few pots, it felt good to get out there today. Look at what I did....

some of what I started with

my little bike flower stand

 flowers & herbs together

They never forget; my friends that is. They come never fail twice a year on Mother's day and on the anniversary of the kids death to be with me. Always with kind words of comfort, a card and flowers. They came for Mother's Day, this is my fifth since they've been gone. They brought me a beautiful rose to be planted out in the yard; a climbing rose called "stairway to heaven" red and wonderfully fragrant. We'll have to pick a perfect place to plant it; full sun and a place to climb.... I'm blessed to have such good friends.

stairway to heaven rose

How's your garden's growing? Our tomatoes are looking wonderful, so is our lettuce and shallots. But our potatoes went in so late due to the rain they haven't even broken thru yet so we're a bit concerned. Tomorrow we'll get to plant our peppers, melons, cucumbers and eggplants and hopefully a long row of beets; hey better late than never!

a little bit of....

Since starting this blog I have never truly been happy with how my blog looked. After searching around I found a design that I'm very happy with. I love to try new things and when the mood strikes I'll might even change it again.

 It's no secret I'm not big on change....but changing little stuff like this is fun; so for now I hope you like the way it looks!

on mothers day-my mom in pictures

Here is my fabulous Mom 

ah-choo

Today the mold and grass pollen count was thru the roof here in my area and although I don't usually have allergies, I woke up sneezing and by lunch time I was well into a box of tissues and searching my medicine chest  for some type of over the counter medication for my poor runny nose, it was getting sore!

But in any case it reminded me of a cute story about my son M, he was seven years old when this happened......

Eric on left & M on right
my aunt P & uncle R's dog summer

When we lived in NY both my younger boys had allergies and were taking regular allergy shots. When we relocated down here to Virginia we arranged to have their doctor send the ampules to us so that we could get their shots at the medical office here in town; this way they could complete their final year of treatment.

M- our seven year old at the same time was told  by our dentist that his front teeth were very buck and although usually to young for braces we should consider them anyway so he didn't break or damage his teeth. So I made an appointment with an orthodontist up in town; his name was Dr K. He agreed that although M didn't have enough teeth for full braces at seven years of age he was in danger of damaging his teeth. He decided he needed to have his front top four teeth put in braces for safety sake, then he proceeded to take a mold. When all was done M and I got in the car and we were on our merry way home and he looked up with his hazel eyes and said to me with all seriousness:

 "Mommy" he said, "I think you better bring me to the allergy doctor because I'm going to need an extra shot."

 "Why?"  I replied, not understanding allergy shots had to do with his trip to the orthodontist.

 "But Moommmy" he said, " Dr. K just put a mold in my mouth and I'm allergic to mold, I think I'm gonna need that shot!"

keep your thinking cap on mr president

The President of The United States went on TV a few nights ago and stated that bin Laden is dead. Since then it's been reported widely in the press that they used DNA from his family members to confirm his identity and visual as well as other means of identifying him before his burial at sea.

Not long after a statement by Leon Panetta was released that our government had considered releasing their pictures of his dead body to convince those who don't believe he's dead that he is. Or better said to publicly confirm his death for the world to see. Personally I think those people who don't believe it won't be convinced if they aren't already. And I hoped beyond hope that the President would reject it.

I had to ask myself what was the point is for their release; these pictures would be cause to enrage some and just fan the flames of all manner of conspiracy theory as to their authenticity. I know there are many who thrive on conspiracy theories about all manner of subjects especially when it comes to the honesty of our government.I am also convinced that those who engage in this type of behavior are usually not going to be convinced to change their minds when given facts, they believe in conspiracies after all.

We have to consider that there are other governments of our world who have a less than friendly view of the American government and hate Americans, others who don't like our government but like American's. And of course the terrorist and those who sympathize with their cause, we know who they are, nuff said. Would  we really be convincing anyone serving a cause by their release? I seriously doubt it.

I don't know about you but rarely am I convinced to change my mind. I form a decision and that's all she wrote, I'm rather decisive about most things. When the news reported that a US Navy Seal team had found and killed Osama bin Laden I didn't have a doubt. I believe he's dead and I personally believe the release of these pictures would have been a bad move and rather barbaric display an un-American action driven by un-pure motives.  It's time to move on, continue fight the war on terror and most importantly we need to support our troops while doing this.

Over the course of composing this post the President has made his decision that the photo's won't be released and touted as trophies. Way to go Mr President right decision, that thinking cap is working I see!

after my fall- what's a gal to do?

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on this blog about how when we were on vacation at the beach and I fell down the stairs- read here WE DUCKED DOWN TO THE BEACH for that pleasant little story.

Little did I know how much trouble that fall would cause me at the time I considered myself lucky after all I was just bruised and I didn't break a thing. Two blisters developed on the back of my leg below the calf but above the ankle  from the pressure of my leg rubbing on the wooden step in the process of the fall. Needless to say the bruises below healed with time but those blisters got bigger and then they broke and that my friends is when the infection set in and thus my trouble began.

To my disappointment my doctor was on vacation and I had to see a substitute doctor, he didn't exactly inspire confidence in me and told me the bare minimum, I had an infected wound and he gave me a prescription for antibiotics. Further complicating things I am allergic to penicillin and that is always the medication of choice with bacterial infections. I knew I had cellulites although he didn't mention it.  I'd seen it before I was familiar with that redness, the heat, the swelling; my infected wound was surrounded by what I had come to understand as an army of white blood cells trying to fight off my infection.

I have never been a slow healer, nor am I a diabetic but these blisters are far from healed and still infected even though I've had them for almost a month. My doctor is back from vacation so I of course went right back to him concerned about all the redness and yuckiness going on-still. He was not pleased at the passive way in which the other doctor treated me- choice and quantity of antibiotics- no topical antibiotics given either . So now I have to take 2000 milligrams of antibiotics per day, plus I am to apply a stronger- prescription cream, better then the over the counter one I had taken upon myself to use.

If by Monday it hasn't clear up substantially when he calls me then I'll have to go on IV antibiotics. This should be something since I live in a rather rural area and will require some type of home nursing service for that.  I'm quite confident that my insurance policy is a good one so I'm not at all worried that it will be covered. I am however more worried about the availability of a provider to come to the house given my location .

This whole thing just seems so ridiculous don't you think? I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried; all for a couple of blisters!

osama - death of a terrorist

Last night as I was watching one show on the big screen in the living room my husband yelled the news to me from the den; Osama bin Laden is dead. I can vividly recall that day, when the phone rang and my daughter Gretchen called from work in tears to tell me to turn on the TV and in horror I saw the first tower fall as we spoke. Who thought that any human being could conceive of this type of evil, nor would I have ever have dreamed that I would have witnessed such an event in my lifetime.

The days that followed we heard that people we knew lost their lives in those towers, innocent people doing what they do every day working- making a living expecting to see their loved ones at the close of business. And of course we can never forget the fireman, police officers and other emergency persons who lost their lives doing their duty; New York's finest fallen-may you rest a bit easier each and every one of you. Then of course there were the attacks on the plane and the Pentagon.  One can hardly imagine how the families must be feeling right now, reliving their worst days over again with the news of his death.

picture courtesy of mirror.co.uk

I turned on the news after my husband told me of his death, I like every other person on the planet wanted to see what the President Obama  had to say, wanted to know the details of his death. So many American lives and lives of others have been lost at the direction of this man and his cause.

Perversion of the word of God when it is used to generate violence in His name is truly evil. I am relieved that he no longer walks this earth.However I must admit it bothers me- makes me feel a bit uncomfortable when I see others celebrating on the streets that he is dead. I know as American's we are free to gather on the streets and express ourselves, it's our right and we are free to do so as we wish; I cherish that right; please don't get me wrong. But what does the celebrating say about us as Christians?  Any thoughts?

*I have added this Vatican statement after reading it, it was not included in my original post, but I found it to be worthy of sharing.

Today the Vatican's spokesman, Federico Lombardi, S.J., released this statement on the death of Osama Bin Laden.

"Osama bin Laden, as we all know, bore the most serious responsibility for spreading divisions and hatred among populations, causing the deaths of innumerable people, and manipulating religions for this purpose. In the face of a man’s death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred."

my life in the country

When I moved here from Long Island New York there were some startling differences- the slower pace and obvious cultural differences. There were basic things that others may not notice but in fact were rather new to me.

For instance there are no side walks so you can't walk on my road, you either drive or take your life into your own hands by walking in the road where the speed limit is 55 miles per hour. Add to that the issue of the many dogs that hunters use during hunting season and then abandon to the street, they can be a bother to a person walking if they pack up as they frequently do. Dogs like these are responsible for the death of two of my cats, and it makes me soooo mad. There are no street lights so it is very dark here, and it took me years to adjust to driving without street lights on the local roads and highways.

see no place to walk!

When outside even if your just sitting on the deck- dark is really dark. You may not realize just how many stars there are up there until you've taken a trip to the country just what a beautiful show God has provided us by just looking up to His skies. That is until the mosquito's find you and then you have to go into the house and look at them thru the skylights!

No more fire house noise  ( i grew up across the street from one) or police cars racing by on the turnpike or the neighbors yelling or conversing over the fence because the houses are so close together. Here the only thing that keeps us up are the bugs and frogs singing in the night and the troops doing maneuvers at Ft Picket which is located about ten miles west of here- they can sometimes get a bit noisy!

What I did realize today after twenty plus years is that I don't wake up from noise anymore, it's the quiet that wakes me up. We belong to and electric cooperative unfortunately that aren't quite as reliable delivering electric power as Virginia Power although  the bright side is they are cheaper. Early this morning the power went out, it happens frequently and for no apparent reason, hence our generator ownership. Without the hum of the fridge and the ceiling fans the house was so quiet it woke me up. Funny how things and people can change huh?