Along Came A Spider

I'm back in school and working full-time, so time is precious. I rise at 5 am and return home each evening about 8 pm. Long days make for busy mornings.

Very early Friday morning I noticed a HUGE web out on the back deck as I was feeding the fat cats. I remember thinking how nice it would be to photograph it and share its handiwork. The web must have been at least 3 foot across and hung vertically.

But I got busy with my morning routine. I did switch the outside light on and glance out the door once more when I went to fill my coffee cup. I made a mental note to get the camera out at daybreak and get a photo then. But after my shower-- once the sun had risen--the web was gone without a trace.

Had I just imagined it?

I checked this morning at 4 am and the web was back...


...along with the fat-bodied spider. I did some research and believe this to an Orb Spider. She (again) removed the web at daybreak.

But by nightfall, she rebuilt it. From what I understand, the Orb Spider puts the web up and tears it down everyday.

So we have a new pet--or guest--or something.

I like to use what time I have after work and school each day to catch up on homework, get the occasional look at JB or have some conversation with the oldest daughter.

The oldest daughter shall, from this point forward, remain nameless. I have gotten too much chin music from her for blogging about her. But I am happy (thrilled) to report that she, too, is in school!

Lace And Slingshots

I remember a time when the most important thing to Miss Jessica was getting to wear those rumba panties.

All I had to do was show her the rows and rows of lace on the seat of those panties and she was hooked. I potty trained her in 2 days because she wanted so desperately to wear those pretty pink panties.

So I know she has determination--and follow through. I know when she sets her mind on something, it can happen.
She can make it happen if she truly wants it. She just has to want it bad enough.

I won't even go into what has replaced rumba panties and now covers her bottom. When I do the laundry these days, it looks more like a slingshot.

But the fact still remains, I know what she is made of and I know what she is capable of--when she sets her mind on getting something accomplished.

My only problem these days, is getting her to remember the satisfaction associated with setting goals and reaching them.

It takes patience.

Raisings & Raisins

I know the picture looks like raisins.

The picture is what was left of a container of white grapes that I purchased and put in Miss Jessica's apartment refrigerator when I visited during July 2007.
I took the picture when I visited May of 2008, when I spent a week packing her up and found it still in there where I had placed it almost a year ago.

Do you think she intended to make raisins--naturally? Or maybe cleaning the fridge just wasn't high on her list of priorities...


Watch Post Raisin Bran Cereal at EncycloMedia.com



She's been here long enough to decide she doesn't like it here and misses Texas. But that's today. We all know from a hundred years of experience that tomorrow always presents things in a somewhat different light.

I'm hoping her future here in Virginia will be like the grapes-to-raisins thing and eventually pan out, if given time.

How Late Is Too Late?

JB got this shot of a treed bobcat, compliments of Lucky-- the dog that keeps on giving and giving. Lucky was Miss Jeni's15th birthday gift (she's now 22 ! we brought this dog from Texas 7 years ago when I relocated) and here she is with me in Virginia. She's a beautiful dog, but entirely too temperamental--requiring a kennel during thunderstorms and too much attention from all the family.

Ansd she chases everything in sight-- hence the bobcat!

I must say, in her defense, Lucky hasn't been the same since Jake passed.

Nonetheless. It has been a weekend.

A weekend full of parenting thought long gone. But is there such a thing? Finished parenting?

I think not. I hope so, but I think not.

I find myself facing two semesters of the dreaded math--the math I thought would vanish and not be necessary all of a sudden--but is still there staring me in the face!

So, what better time to educate my offspring on the doing of deeds we would rather not do?

But, as usual with unprovoked wisdom-- it feel on deaf ears.

I hate that, don't you?

So, I busied myself with laundry and the cleaning of floors. We had words..there is a definite communication gap--am I that old and out of touch?

I think not.

Every parent--every generation--is tasked with doing everything within their power to make the path of the next generation more tolerable.

And just when I think all is lost, Miss Jessica phones and tells me she loves me. She tells me she has lived 6 years without me and isn't quite sure how to react with all this up-in-your-face-parenting. Should she call and let me know she is going to be out late and risk waking me up? Or should she just not call at all?

I tell her it is never too late to call a parent and put their mind at ease.

And having said that--
I can now go to bed.

Continuing My Resolve

So, I filed suit against the sorry ass car repairman that kept my car for 4 1/2 years and he delivered it (complete!) just one short hour before our court appearance.

So the TR6 is home again and shining like a new penny...

And I have crossed one thing off of my list of things to do in 2008.

It feels good. I'll enjoy this brief fleeting moment of triumph (no pun intended) before I continue on with the remainder of the list.

It's Not Whether You Win Or Lose...

It's how you play the game.

This evening Miss Jessica challenged JB and I to a game of Scrabble.

JB raised the stakes a bit. He suggested the loser would have to clean the house for a week--to my expectations--

not that I am unusually neat or anything...

At any rate, the game was splendid and the conversation divine!

And the housecleaner for a week?

I'll let you figure that one out...