It's Halloween!

Back to the World of Reality….Bummer!

Last week was my Cinderella week. The trip, the flowers and of course the beautiful gift, plus I got to spend so much uninterrupted time with my very own Prince Charming. Then Friday morning it was back to sweeping the hearth, just like poor Cinderella. But it sure was fun while it lasted and almost like a fairy tale.

No, I haven’t lost my interest in the world of politics and dirty politicians. I kept one eye on the bastards at all times, even during the Cinderella moments.

When I saw the video of Rush making fun of Michael J. Fox, I had an urge to kick that fat bastard right in the teeth. May he slowly melt in hell for all eternity.

Speaking of those who should slowly melt in hell for all eternity, add the person who set the fires last week in California. Son of a bitch killed people with his or her deed. Put that arsonist directly on the conveyer belt to the devils’ door too.

Then the desperation of the Allen camp attacking Webb for the language he had written in his novels. Talk about grasping for straws. This is their best shot? If so, they’re shooting blanks.

I heard a tape of Cheney leaping all around the water boarding question. I think he would probably love to witness a little water boarding. The sick bastard probably gets off on such things.

What can we do right now? Well, we can encourage everyone we know to get their asses off the couch, away from the computer, and go and vote next Tuesday. That’s the most important thing any of us can do right now.

So, Cinderella is back to the grind and household responsibilities. Prince Charming is back at the lab with microscopes and paper work. When I get a little discouraged with the world, I can curl up with my memories of last week and going to the Ball. The carriage has now officially returned to being a great big beautiful pumpkin and just in time for Halloween. Don’t tell anyone, but I kept the glass slippers.

Digging the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Eavesdropping

Hey guys, it’s Fred the Cat here again. It’s amazing what you can hear if you just lay low and listen. The love birds are back from their trip to Amelia Island. From what I have heard they had a great trip and I guess Patricia will post some of the pictures she took. They are all about butterflies and such. On the day of their anniversary they went on their own little nature exploration and saw some pretty amazing stuff, at least from a human’s point of view.

I heard Patricia talking about the vase of twenty long stemmed roses that was waiting for her at their hotel room when they arrived. She got all giddy over that. But there’s more.

She said that the night of their anniversary they were dressed and about to leave for dinner, when Mr. Pop said, “Why don’t you wear this?” Then he handed her a little white leather box. Inside the box was some major bling. I saw this thing and it about made my cat eyes blink out of control. Dude, she has a new ring that is gorgeous even from my point of view. She calls it a diamond. I call it a hell of a piece of rock.

Seems they had fun, good food, and an overall great time. Good for them! Now it’s back to the daily routine and back to working to see that all my feline needs are met.

You guys have a great weekend and I’ll turn the keyboard back over to Patricia on Monday. Be sure to check in then for some of the photos from the trip.

Ps….I’m as sure as a cat can be that the Pops would want me to thank all you guys for your sweet good wishes you left in the comments.

Twenty Years and One Big Surprise

Mr. Pop was away Thursday and Friday of this past week working on a new project his lab is involved with. He got home late Friday afternoon. After he grabbed a quick shower we went out for a very casual dinner. At the restaurant we were sitting at the bar waiting for our table. Mr. Pop turned to me and asked me where I would like to go to dinner next week to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. I told him it didn’t matter to me and he could choose. Then he said, “We won’t be home.” After I realized what he said, I just looked at him and in my most stupid way and I said, “Huh?”. He said it again, “We won’t be home.” Okay, this time I heard him correctly and said, ”Where will we be?” He said, we’ll be here.

In shock, I asked, “ Are you serious?” He smiled and said, “Yes”. Ever the thinker ahead-er, I asked, “What about the pets?” He said, “I’ve already arranged for them to be taken care of at the vets office.” He said, “Everything is taken care of and we will leave Monday morning and return Thursday afternoon.”

Yep, there is a permanent silly grin on my face and I am overwhelmed by all this. So you won’t be seeing a post from me until probably Friday, because I’m off celebrating the 20th year of something they said would never last and I’ll be celebrating with the most wonderful person in my life.

(The picture is a moth we saw on the outside light at his lab when we stopped by Saturday morning. The idea hit me that I am drawn to Mr. Pop just like that moth is drawn to the light. The moth and I know it’s the right thing for both of us.)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SWEETHEART. I LOVE YOU!

My Name is Fred the Cat and I’m Posting Today

Hey guys, I’m Fred the Cat. Patricia is outside reading so I thought I would come in here and do her post today. She’s clueless that I can type and post to Blogger. She’s clueless about a lot of things, as you guys may have discovered by now.

So let me tell you a little about myself. I don’t remember my first months as a kitten but I do have memories, baby. I have some memories to share.

As a mostly grown cat, I found myself roaming the neighborhoods and searching for food. Let me tell you something. We cats don’t eat mice, lizards and birds because it’s like some sort of gourmet food to us. That stuff tastes like hell. We eat it because damn it we’re hungry. Yeah, I know there are sport and trophy hunter cats, but I’m not that kind of guy.

Anyway, one day I’m creeping around this bird feeder. I’m doing my best sneaky cat stuff and all of a sudden, at the house near by, the screen door opens. Damn, now what? This lady walks out, kneels down and calls to me. I’m saying to myself, “What the hell? She doesn’t even know me”. She’s calling me kitty. I kinda like that. She smiles at me and holds out the palm of her hand. She looks friendly enough but can I trust her? Just as I’m about to make my decision she stands back up and goes inside.

Now I don’t know what to do. Should I have gone to her or not? While I’m debating this with myself she reappears and she has something in her hand. She kneels down again and sits a little bowl on the ground. It took about a nanosecond for me to catch the aroma of something that smelled very good. Again, she called to me and held out her hand. Okay, call me a sucker if you want or call me a genius, but I was going to throw caution to the wind and eat whatever the hell it was in that bowl that smelled so good. I decided to take my chances. Oh god, what is that stuff and how do I get more?

I decided to hang around this place ‘cause I’m lovin’ the fare. Each day she repeated the feeding and each day I trusted her more. One day she put the food inside a strange looking contraption and I walked right in to eat. Next thing I know I’m locked in this carrier and I’m traveling to the veterinarian’s office. There I was poked with sharp pins. They called it “given shots” and then I fell asleep. When I woke up I realized I had been robbed. My family jewels were gone. I was crushed. No more sowing of wild oats for this cat.

But you know what? I gave up my family jewels and in return I got a family of my very own. No more trying to avoid cars on the road or animals in the woods. I’ve got it made. These are people who love the hell out of me, feed me well and keep me inside where I can stay healthy and safe. Hell, who needs family jewels when you can live with a jewel of a family? Don’t tell anyone, but when I hear them say I’m “part of the family” it kind of makes me feel like doing a little cat crying..

Okay, yeah I got some shady deals on the side that I can’t discuss with you. I am involved in some things I can’t talk about, but all in all I’m just one happy ex-street cat. Nice to meet you.
.
(that picture at the top is me the first day I was home after the family jewel robbery. I hopped up on the bed and made myself at home. I heard Patricia call out to me, “Get off the bed, Fred” They have called me Fred from that day on.)

Bits and Pieces

We might have a guest blogger here at Morning Martini tomorrow. I’m not sure this is going to happen, but I have a feeling it might. That’s all I’m going to tell you for now.

The fix it guy charged $200.00. I felt it was a fair price and considering the trouble he had taking out the old drains, he earned every penny of it. He is married and a born in the USA, American. I wish I could clone him. I would send copies to everyone as Christmas presents.

The stock market hit a new high yesterday. Feel richer?

The population of the US reached a new high this week. Feel more crowded? And by the way, why was that something to applaud?

The president got his torture permit this week. Feel safer?

One of Those Days

I’m writing this on Tuesday morning as I wait for a “fix it” man who is already almost two hours late. Ya gotta love it.

This man is coming to replace the faucets and drains on our three bathroom sinks, install two light fixtures on the patio, put new cranks on two or our widows so they’ll open, grout some tile and replace one of our closet doors.

When was the last time you removed everything from beneath the sink in your bathrooms? I just finished that little chore and found a lot of stuff I do not need. Hell, I found stuff I didn’t even know I had. So if I didn’t know I had it, I don’t believe I need it. Stuff, meet the trash can.

Fred is in a carrier so he won’t scoot out while the door is being opened and shut during today’s operations. Nope, he’s not one bit happy about his situation. Little deaf Murphy is all curled up and sleeping on his big pillow so he could care less what’s going on. And me, I’m waiting and writing this because there’s not much else I can do.

I’ll write the rest of this post this afternoon or tonight and let you know how the day went from this point.

* * * * * *

Fix it man is here and he’s like a freakin’ tornado. Both light fixtures are up and he will soon be off to the store for some lines or something he’ll need for the bathroom fixtures. Someone should clone this guy.

He was back within thirty minutes with what he needed and he was done with everything by four o’clock. He was amazing. He was so kind to Murphy and very nice to me.

Finally a good experience with a repairman. How often does that happen?

* * * * * *

Yes, as of this writing (six o’clock, Tuesday evening) I do have all the bathrooms cleaned up and back to normal. Lots of stuff that used to be under those sinks no longer call this place home. Some of those bottles of nail polish were probably old enough to be collector’s items. I’m sort of kidding.

Okay, he was here from ten this morning until four o’clock this afternoon. We had already paid for all the materials he installed. So how much do you think he charged for his labor?

Baker tries to toss in another Life Preserver

Last night on Hardball, Chris Matthews had James Baker on and they talked about the Iraq Study Group, or whatever the hell it is that he’s heading up with Lee Hamilton. This group is trying to figure out how to stop the blood from running so fast and furious in Iraq.

It sounded to me like a crock of fecal matter. Baker said the terrorist want to destabilize Iraq so they can establish a terrorist stronghold there. Sound familiar? That sounds just like a reading of one of bush’s speeches.

When Chris mentioned the number of Iraqis who have been killed in this war, Baker dismissed the latest report of over 600 thousand as the results of a bad study and then referenced what bush said in one of his recent speeches about the subject, as though what bush said was gold.

Seems to me we are hearing the same old tired lies but from a new face. I’m beginning to think that this whole thing with Baker is nothing more than a mission to save george bush’s ass. When the bush family is in trouble who do they call? Yes, the same person they called in 2000 when they needed the recounts in Florida to be stopped and election to be decided in bush’s favor.

So Baker helped Bush Sr. get his idiot son in the white house and now he has been called upon to save that same son’s political ass and name.

Good luck with that Mr. Baker, but I think you are way too late.

***
That little attachment on Fred’s collar is an ID container. If you unscrew it you will find inside a tiny scroll of paper. On that little piece of paper is his address and a promise of a reward if he is found and returned to the Pop home. Not as mysterious as we thought, huh?

On the Lighter Side

Mr. Pop and I experienced football hell on Sunday.

Mr. Pop has been a big Buccaneers fan as long as Tampa Bay has had a football team. As of yesterday morning the Bucs had not won a football game this season.

Yesterday was also one of the rare times the Bucs’ game would be televised in our area. Our day was planned around watching the game. We were ready for some football.

The first half of the game was about like watching grass grow, not much action. The second half of the game was much better. Just before the final two minute warning the Bucs had the ball down in the red zone and were in a position to tie, if not win, the game. Things were exciting and tense.

Then the most frustrating thing that can happen during a football game happened. A voice came over the TV and said that due to their contractual commitments, their coverage of this game would now end and they would move to coverage of the Dolphins game. Two minutes left in the game, the Bucs are on the move and they are going to do what? Sure enough, within seconds we were seeing the beginning of the Dolphins game and the outcome of the Bucs game was left unknown.

As it turns out the Bucs did win the game, their first win of the season, but we didn’t see it. No damage was done here as a result of Mr. Pop’s frustration, but I did hear some unique and rather curious stringing together of curse words.

Friday with Fred the Cat and the Mystery Continues

Yesterday it seems that Senator Ted Stevens got some part of his anatomy stuck in one of the internets' tubes and wrecked Blogger for a while.

Since I couldn’t read any of your sites until this problem was fixed, I took my camera in hand and decided to see what Fred the Cat might be up to.

I sneaked up on him and took this shot. Now you can see his face but something more. Notice that little green and gold thing attached to his collar. What, in his line of work, do you suppose that is used for?

The Religious Right has been Punked?

According to a book that will be coming out soon, it seems these folks have been used by the bush administration. This administration using their base for their own benefit. Who would have imagined? Who wouldn’t have?

Get it off your chest day

Aside from the wars, the bush administration, Foley-gate and all things political, what’s bugging you right now?

Playing Outside

Yesterday I read about a study that’s been done on children and playing. Seems they discovered that it’s much healthier for kids to go outside and play than stay inside and be entertained. Who couldn’t agree with that?

I played outside just as much as I could when I was a kid. At four, I wanted to be a “hula girl”. Somewhere there is a picture of me in my grass skirt and my underpants. Topless too.

Then in the third grade I decided my goal was to become a cowgirl. My horse was a bicycle, but it was a horse to me. The sidewalk wasn’t a sidewalk at all, it was a trail through the mountains to some pretend adventure. Dirt was for drawing secret plans to do one thing or another.

I had all sorts of little kid ambitions and they changed over the years, but I gotta tell you I had more fun with my imagination and the kids in the many neighborhoods in which I lived than I’ve ever had in front of a TV or a computer screen. There were no limits to what you could imagine or who you could be or where you could go, when you were a kid who played outside.

Over the Edge

I woke up early this morning, thanks to Murphy, and turned on the TV. The first thing I heard was that N. Korea had reportedly tested an underground nuclear devise. That did it. I realized the I had fallen victim to the dreaded political fatigue bug.

Symptoms of this condition are meltdown and the brain’s refusal to deal with any political matters for a while. The mind just refuses to try to make sense of anything that is going on in the political world.

I don’t know if this condition is contagious or self-inflicted, but I sure do know it hit me this morning.

From a little corner of my world to a little corner of yours

Yes, the orchids are real. Yes, they are just as colorful as they appear in the photo.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Friday with Fred the Cat

Fred the Cat is an only cat. By that I mean he is the only cat we have. I guess he got sort of lonely so he did something about it. As you can see from the photo, Fred the Cat ordered his very own Flat Kitty

The Party will be Delayed

First we hear that Congress set aside twenty million dollars for the “end of war” party. Well thank goodness we have that kind of money to spare for something like that. Wouldn’t want the war to end and not have sufficient funds for a celebration, would we?

I know that has been on my mind since this war started. I kept wondering how will we celebrate the end of it? We’ll need a cake of course and balloons too. Cocktails and soft drinks. Hey, how about a band?

Now it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer to throw the party because we have had to stand down up to seven hundred Iraqi policemen because they may be linked to death squads. Which of course means that American troops will have to stand up for them and take on their duties.

Party hats are put on hold for now.

When Will it End?

“Al-Zaman reports that 21 US troops have been killed in Iraq since Saturday, with 8 killed on Monday alone.

As of Tuesday, 23,416 US troops have been wounded or killed in the Iraq War.”
Link to Juan Cole

When will it end? How can it end? How many more deaths will there be?

This is the way I see it

If someone is a heterosexual, that doesn’t bother me one damned bit.
If someone is a homosexual, that doesn’t bother me one damned bit.
If someone is a pedophile that bothers me all to hell and back.

Now some Republicans are dragging up old stories about Democrats and trying to even the balance in the current news about Congressman Foley. That’s pathetic, and yes it’s lame.

I wouldn’t feel any different about what Foley did if he was a Democrat or an Independent. Yes, his party is the party of “family values” and all that shit, but the bottom line is he is apparently a disgusting pedophile and someone tried to hide that for political reasons. What exactly are those family values? I want a definition. Where is that righteous Rightwing indignation now? Is it okay to allow politics to trump those family values if it helps the party?

For a party who was so angry about two consenting adults having sex and one of them lying about it, they seem much less disturbed when an adult makes sexual overtones to an under aged child. I find that rather hypocritical, myself.

Hot Coat Hangers

“Bush’s first mention in The New York Times, in November 1967, had been as a former Deke president defending the practice of branding new fraternity pledges with a hot coat hanger.”

This quote is from Bob Woodward’s new book “State of Denial”. Deke is short for Delta Kappa Epsilon. Seems bush has been enjoying inflicting pain upon other human beings for a long time.

Sharing An October Smile

You are looking at a table in my living room. Each time I pass by and see that little happy face, I can't help but smile. I wanted to share that smile with you. Did it work? Did you smile for just a moment?