Missed the USA 193 Satelite

The news said it would be over head around 7:30 and it was really six thirty. I should have checked the internet. It went right over here and we had a clear sky too. Darn. Today is hazy so hopefully it will clear up and give me another chance to see it. They say it will be shot down sometime next week before it enters our atmosphere.

I've been making Hailey work on her school work to catch up with assignments she didn't turn in. So it is war around here. There is one of those little traveling carnivals in Lakeside. They have one every year and she couldn't go with her friends and that made her mad at me. This is a three day weekend and she is going to get that work done!

There was a shooting in Lakeside the other night. A young man who used to live in Lakeside was back here working for the Carnival. He went to a local bar and then decided to walk to get some food. When he was leaving the fast food place some people in a car shot and killed him. They were not caught. As far as I know there has never been a street shooting like that in Lakeside ever. The victim had warrants so must have made some dealers mad at him. This bad stuff seems to be everywhere. Not that Lakeside was ever the average nice little small town. It was a roudy place in the olden days. Shootings at the Lakeside Hotel. The hotel used to be quite notorious with call girls upstairs, but is now a drug rehab. The Tumbleweed bar was also notorious and was said that pot was sold over the bar. The owners made enough money to open up a better place. The new place is now a Mexican restaurant. The old Tumbleweed is part of the hardware store. Things change.

Some people still get that little back street hotel confused with the original Lakeside Hotel. That was a very large posh place near the lake that people from San Diego used to visit in the late 1800s when the train tracks came to Lakeside. Another story is the original hotel burned down...also not true. The original hotel was torn down in the 1920s or '30s. My great uncle helped with the tearing down. Lakeside is really a beautiful place.

Most of the main street named, Maine Street, has old buildings with the false fronts still visible under the plaster and fixing up that has been done over the years. There is a wonderful white frame church, now owned by the historical society too. Best of all there is a park two blocks from Maine Street with a small lake that is truly special for a small town. A few years back sites around Lakeside and the park were used for filming a TV show called Renegade. I was at the doctor's office one day and the nurses were all talking about seeing Lorenzo Lamas. One scene the show did was a car going into the lake. Though I never saw any of the filming I sure heard all about it.

The old church now the Historical Society.

A view of the lake.

Hailey is going to the carnival with her friends this afternoon. She better get her work finished first though.

Sunshine and Frost

After that middle of the night post...well very early in the morning post...I went back to sleep. Woke up to a blue sky sunny day and frost. My car temp said 41 on the way to Hailey's school. As soon as I got back, got my camera and took some photos of the wood pile...the frost was going fast but still got some frosty pics. The cats had to come out to see what I was doing.

Tuxie standing on a frost covered pallet.

Tuffy acting like a panther in the jungle.
Then it was back inside and some warm oatmeal for breakfast. Yes, I'm still eating oatmeal every morning. If I live as long as my great grandfather...the one who ate oatmeal everyday...I have thirty years ahead of me.

I do some searching on Ancestry.com and last evening found another trace of him in a Washington state ...a census from 1883. His name was Dexter Bryon Clark. I know he was in Arizona in 1880 with his father and half brother. I had thought he went to Washington much later than that. He didn't marry for seven or so more years. He is listed with both his half brother, Ruben, sometimes spelled Reuben, and father, John W Clark, and mother, Susan...though I was always told that was his stepmother and his younger brother's real mother. Susan must have stayed in California while they were in Arizona.

Dexter married a half Native American, named Matilda Greenwood. She died when my grandmother was a baby. Later he married his brother's widow.

Elizabeth called and is going to bring me some coffee when she gets off work. She opens the bar early on Friday mornings, and gets off at 10am.

Pouring Rain

Night before last, I said it was going to rain. The weather report on TV said no rain. We wake up to very light sprinkles and the car radio on the way to Hailey's school said not to worry it would be warm and sunny by afternoon.

By mid morning it was pouring. I went to lunch with Janey. I don't mind driving in the rain and my car was getting a free carwash too. She drove from her house to a little Japanese, Thai, and sushi place in Santee. Same place Jackie and I lunched last week. The food was just as good. Janey and I have been friends since college. Her real name is Marna Jayne. She never let any one call her anything but Janey. Time sure changes our looks darn! Janey has a head of long curly, wavy not fuzzy, curls. Hair that is white now... it used to be red. Was the kind of hair people paid lots of money to the beauty shops to get only her's was natural. She keeps an old drivers license in her wallet, there is a good reason for that, and her old photo made her look like a teenager. Our current license photos are dreadful. So we laughed about that. What else is there to do? When Janey's hair first began to lighten up it turned gold red. Someone once asked her where she bought her wig from.

I used to dye my hair red. I had a streak of white on the top that always looked lighter red. I was asked more than once how I did it. Then they changed the dyes and I couldn't get the color right anymore so I quit dying and let it go natural. In the meantime I went even more silver on top. A lady once asked me how I got my hair to look like that. . . at least she didn't ask me where I got my wig!

After lunch we stopped by Barnes and Noble so I could buy a book on algebra. I need to help Hailey with her math. I bought Algebra for Dummies. There is a Dummies book for everything! It was pouring rain so hard Janey didn't want to leave the store. So we watched the rain a few minutes. Finally we just gave up and took off for the car.

Driving home there was lots of water on the roads. I splashed some pretty good puddles. I remember one rainy day my Dad driving us through puddles while Barbie and I had a great time watching the water splash up from the car tires. My Dad didn't often do stuff like that. Guess that's why I remember it so well.

Elizabeth picked Hailey up from school. We have the counseling appointment in El Cajon Thursdays so Hailey and I were off to El Cajon. The road over there is usually bumper to bumper traffic... pouring rain and the roads have a lot less cars. ... Well unless it is rush hour and then it is totally dangerous out there. Some drivers creep along and others drive like it was sunny day on the race track. On the way up the hill from lunch the car ahead of me came to a dead stop in the road because some old dead palm fronds had fallen on the road.

There is no place like Southern California.

Thinking up these titles is hard to do.

This morning is a little foggy. Here the sun is burning the haze away, but will probably find more fog when I drive Hailey off the hill to school. There is a mouse in my kitchen! It poked its little head around the back of the stove when I was cooking bacon...scared me. I scared it too. Now I am going to have to get rid of it. I have five cats. That means no poison. Glue traps work pretty good as long as I can set them where the cats can't get to them. I hate mouses in the house. This one probably came in in a cat's mouth and got away. We've had live birds, and a live squirrel so it is not too far out to think they would bring in a live mouse. Last spring Tuxie brought in a baby sparrow hawk. We saved it...it was taken to a wild life place in San Diego. The next day we found another baby under a tall palm tree by our driveway...taken off to the same center. I like to think they are big birds flying around the county somewhere.

A few days ago I saved a robbin from Tuxie only to have it fly out of my hands when I got it outside and down into the paws of Stormy. It happened so fast. The robbin flew toward the wall of the house and Stormy jumped straight up paws extended and took the bird in the air, and that was the end. I tried to catch Stormy but she ran off.

On the way down the hill, I told Hailey about the mouse. She said not to tell her that, but I said it was really there. Then she said we should give it a name. Hailey is fourteen now...do kids really ever grow up? Anyway she suggested some names, but I said we should call it Timid. She didn't like that so we settled on Timmy. Then she said what if it is a girl...can't name a girl Timmy. Anyway how do you tell if a mouse is a girl or a boy. She said if they start having lots of baby mouses...I really don't like that idea! So I will be off later to the store for glue traps!

Hailey likes to name the stray cats that come around. They might have real names but we know them as Mystery, Spotty, etc.

Another Beautiful California Day

All the girls from Hailey's party were picked by parents by ten am yesterday, except for Haley T. She stayed until this afternoon. Today was a school holiday so she got to spend one more over night. Yesterday afternoon, Hailey and Haley had a good time on iTunes spending some of Hailey's birthday money on more songs. Haley is a sweet girl. She had a hearing problem as a child so her speech is sometimes difficult to understand. She laughs a lot. She talks a lot too. She goes to a different school than my Hailey so the girls don't see each other that often.

Went to Walmart to shop and there was a clean cut young man outside trying to get signatures for a petition to prevent gay marriages. I Was just reading that California wants to tax same sex couples. Marriage is messy. Some people are lucky and it all works out, but most marriages are miserable. I cannot understand why any one these days would want to get married! Times were different when I was young. I guess I would do it all over again maybe. Then maybe not. Marriage is important for economic security when raising children. That is different now too. Mom's are expected to earn a paycheck and pay support when a marriage with children self destructs.

Marriage is a romantic ideal that is really all about money.

Last night, I woke up about one am. Two cats were taking up the foot of my bed. When I can't sleep I get on the computer or read. I've been checking my board for the spammer. There he was... same spammer or spam bot using a different name... same stupid movie gif saying "Click to see Movie," as if anyone would. Deleted both post and fake member.

I don't worry when I can't sleep, I just find something to do until I get sleepy again. If I have a tired next day I just go to bed early. It all works out. I don't believe in taking sleeping pills.

The two girls were tired out by this afternoon and both took a nap.

Sunday Morning Early

Another Photoshop gradient sky. Bright peach at the horizon to a deep blue green higher up.

Yesterday was a busy day. Hailey had a performance with the Show Choir from her school. The performance was for the Lion's Club and was over in El Cajon. They let us parents in the room to see the performance. We had to stand along the wall.

Then I picked up most of the girls for Hailey's sleepover birthday party. Jennifer is in Show Choir so she came home with us...though we did have to drive her past her house to change and pick up some stuff. Jasmine and Haley T were picked up too. We went through Jack in the Box before coming home. Jocelyn came over and Ashley. I talked to Jackie, Jocelyn's mom for awhile and she said she would be back later and bring me coffee. Figured that by that time I would need it.

The girls were really good. Ashley's little brother and sister were here too. I have a lot of space for kids to run around and so they all had a great time. Also the girls were on the trampoline. Mostly just sitting and talking. I fixed Hailey's iPod to play on my boombox with my iTrip. Some of the other girls brought their iPods so we listened to everyone's favorite songs. The girls arguing over who they like and don't like. E.R. built a fire in my fire pit. Was a Christmas present from my daughter, Elizabeth. So the girls burnt marshmallows. Ashley's little sister, Carley, liked burning those a lot so we kept a good eye on her to keep her safe. Jackie and Jim, Jocelyn's parents, came about dark and we roasted hot dogs. Jackie brought me cinnimon coffee from 7 11. It was a super nice night. Only a little bit cold so we could stay outside and enjoy the evening.

Elizabeth's son Cody stayed too. Cody is a year or so older than the girls. Most of the girls all have crushes on him, except Jasmine...she spent a lot of time texting her boyfriend. Then we had the cake. E.R. had both Hailey's name and Elizabeth's name written on the cake.

Elizabeth's birthday was yesterday. I gave Elizabeth a silver and cubic zerconia neckless from Lenox. It is a pendant of four hearts in a circle and then it pulls apart and mades a line of four hearts. Sterling silver isn't magnetic so there are tiny magnets to keep it together when worn as a pendant. Very pretty.

Candles and singing and then everyone had cake. I think the girls were stuffed. All the girls and Cody talked around the trampoline for awhile. Everyone had a good time. Of course they stayed up late so expect them to sleep in.

Early Morning Spammers

Was up at 4am working on my Photoshopping board. More spam posts from the same source. I activated the authorizing code...so am pretty sure it is a real person and not a spam bot. And I don't think a spam bot would be back so soon...then could be wrong. I read fast and can zap these very quickly. I will just keep doing that until they get tired of it all. We have a little over 20 members so wonder why anyone would take the trouble to even spam us in the first place. Very strange.

The favorite work of this pill pusher is Viagra. I fixed the board so every time that word is used the board will read iamanidiot.

Now am waiting for Hailey to get ready for school. The news says that the way we usually go is blocked with a very bad accident. A big truck hit a power poll. The driver was arrested for being under the influence. So we need to take off a little early.

Maybe be back a little later.

Wednesday Night

Awhile ago I set up a board for us Photoshoppers from Janee's. So we have a few members now mostly the old gang from Janee's.

Then found we had been spammed by some porn pusher. Rats! So had to find out how to delete unwanted members... took me awhile but I did it! Can't understand why these sneaky people try so hard to spam boards like ours. When everyone knows that anyone who wants to see smut can find all they want all by themselves on the web. Now I feel like I have to keep checking the board all the time.

Hailey called from school. She needed to stay over for a make up exam. She is having some problems with her school work and she was getting really good grades last fall.

We had hamburgers for dinner. I fixed mine and took my plate to the table. Then wondered why it tasted so cold. After three bites realized that I had forgotten to add the hamburger to the lettuce and tomato and bun. ER saw and laughed and so did I!

This morning early David called me outside to see the sunrise. I got a couple of pretty nice photos. It was cold. We still have some snow on the mountains twenty miles east of us. I came back in feeling like an ice cube.

I thought this looked like a watercolor painting.

Early Morning

The sky looks like a Photoshop gradiant...from a gray blue green to a pinkish red orange above the dark silhouette of hills. It is cold out so the cats are not ready to escape the house. It is going to be a clear day.

Hailey came home from the nurse's office yesterday. I don't think she is still sick but it is going to be hard to get her back to school. Am going to try again this morning. She is behind in her work and is very stubborn. She missed so much school in 6th grade that she almost didn't go on to 7th. The school was upset with me and threatened to turn us over to the sherrif's office if I didn't turn things around. After that she had to go to school even if sick and only if the nurse sent her home could she miss. Last year she only missed two days. Next year she will be in high school. Things are different here than in most places. We have a very large high school district that covers many smaller seperate elementary districts. When my mama went to high school here there was only one high school...that was Grossmont. By the time I went to high school there were two more added then a fourth. The last year my sister was in high school they had opened a fifth high school here in Lakeside. I have no idea how many schools they have now...more than ten.

A few years ago they wanted to separate the high school district and turn the high schools over to the local elementary districts to run. The problem is money. The areas the district covers has some places that are very well off and other places a lot less valuable. So the elementary districts wouldn't all have the same tax money coming in and that would mean some high schools would have a lot more money than they do now and some would have a lot less. So the system we have now is not likely to change over.

Well it is almost time to get Hailey up and moving...

Back again...after some grumbling Hailey is off to school. She says she is going to the nurse and call me to come get her but I told her to stay there! So we will see.

Raising a Teen

Trying this again. Everyone should be asleep...except for me and a cat or two. I did see Fluffy walking through. It rained most of the day. The kitties didn't like that much, and they stayed in.

Yesterday I drove down to the mail boxes and happened to see Tuxie in the neighbors yard. She didn't come in when we called and then later she was making noises outside Hailey's room and scared Hailey. I opened the door and there was Tuxie...she ran inside happy to be home. There is a yard with dogs between us and the place where I saw her. She is taking chances being out so late.

Today Hailey is fourteen years old. I looked at some old photos of her. One shows her in her highchair with chocolate pudding all over her face. It seems such a short time ago she was a cute little girl. I never thought I would be raising another child. It has been fun and sometimes frustrating, but never dull. Children make life interesting. Just think in two years she will be driving a car...I don't even want to think about that. When her father learned to drive I thought thank goodness that was over with. They don't have driver's ed in the high schools here anymore. If someone under 18 wants a driver's license they have to pay to take a class. Once they are 18 they can just take the tests and get a license to drive. Wonder what happened? I always thought driver's ed was important...guess it just isn't. They would rather teach algebra which I took and never once used than something as important as how to drive which most of us need to learn...just think about all those young drivers out there that didn't have to take driver's ed...and I was trying to not be too scared of other drivers on the freeways.

Hailey didn't get to have her friends over...her cold seemed to just hang on. Guess there is a bad one making the rounds. So next week we will have the sleepover. She did get an iPod and fifty dollars to spend on iTunes. After all what good in an iPod without the music. She surprised me and downloaded 50 songs. All in all she had a happy day and she gets another cake in a week too.

If anyone has ever looked at my pages they see I'm a country music fan. I've got music that goes back years and years. When CD players came out I started replacing my records. Vinyl just didn't sound very good. And yes we did have some eight track tapes. They sure didn't last very long. Now I've gone from old 78s my mama had to to 45s and lots and lots of LPs with some tape thrown in and then CDs and now an iPod...can buy music on line so no more CDs. Back in the 1980s I took all my records to a used record store and sold them for about a buck apiece. Some they wouldn't buy. I'm keeping my CDs...at least they don't take up the room my LPs did.

I once had a 78 of Elvis singing Heartbreak Hotel. It got broken...that was the bad thing about those. Very breakable. Anyway I would have kept that! And still I have the Elvis 45s I bought when I was a teen.

Some people are happy about the Super Bowl. I guess a few of us in San Diego enjoyed seeing the team that beat the Chargers get the same back. My daughter had a bet on the Giants so she is a happy camper.

Friday Jackie and I went to a Thai and Sushi resturant in Santee. Very nice people and the food was good though we didn't have any sushi.