Under The Cue

Under The Cue


Under the Cue is a blog about family, genealogy, emotions, or anything else that suits my fancy.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Carol Ann Wiebe

Carol Ann was my cousin. As children we played together and went to church together. I wanted to honor her memory by uploading some photos of us together and then some of her alone. She died of leukemia at a very young age.


I am the one pouring out the dogs water. Carol is a good girl and not about to pour out the dogs water.


This photo is of our grandparents and their grandchildren. Grandmother Mary Sarah is holding Carol Ann. Laura Jane is standing in front. Skippy is held by grandfather Abraham.


This is Carol Ann's last school picture before she died of leukemia.


This was of her funeral.

I have been weeping over her today. Her short life was hard and sad. I hope to see her one day in heaven.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

It's Cry'en Time Again or "It's Tax Time Again"?

Tax time and I'm feeling ?????? like crying, like hiding, like running away, like, Why me? I have two different taxes to fill out. My mother's and mine. I keep putting it off. I think because it will bring back memories and I'll start to feel sad again. I'm not sure what to do because my mom always used a CPA to fill out her taxes and that costs about $350. She isn't here to pay for it now so I'll have to fill it out. I'm not worried about filling out my taxes but for some reason I want to clean things instead of doing what I know I have to do. I keep putting it off. It's not a pleasant task, it's the last legal thing I must do for my mother, and it's time consuming.

I'll have to drive to the IRS office and find out which forms I need. Yuck. Not looking forward to driving downtown because of all the construction going on all over the city. Parking is soooooooooo much fun. I guess I'll have to force myself to do it. Hopefully I'll get started tomorrow. The question is, what questions should I ask at the IRS office? No idea.

Don't know why I continue to stay up all night? I feel so good when I get enough sleep. I sleep all night when I go there. I think I'm just addicted to this blog. God only knows because I sure don't. Say a prayer for me that I'll go to bed at a decent hour from now on. I sit here sometimes and my head nearly hits the monitor because I'm falling asleep. That's crazy. Totally crazy. What's that saying? "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results." I'm not sure what my expectations are when I stay up all night. I do know that I won't function very well later today.

Good night Seattle. Good night California. Good night Australia. Good night mom. Good night dad. I'll see you later.

Love ya.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Wild Life In Our Yard

Sitting here in my office I happened to look out my window and saw a remarkable sight in a Photinia fraseri tree.

http://www.villagesbotaniques.fr/IMG/jpg/Photinia_fraseri_2-2.jpg


It's really a shrub that has grown as tall as our house. There were at least two dozen Cedar Waxwings flying and hoovering all around this tree.


http://www.birdsandblooms.com/Birds/Most-Wanted-Birds/Cedar-Waxwing

I had just recently ordered a subscription to Birds & Blooms magazine and only yesterday seen the picture of this bird. I watched the birds flutter around this tree for about two minutes and then they flew off.

On Saturday I had seen a hawk sitting in a very tall tree a few houses away. I tried to take his picture but was out of film. I'm wondering if the Cedar Waxwings caught sight of this hawk, who lives in this area, and fled for their lives.

Last summer while taking a walk I saw a bunch of black birds screaming and chasing a hawk through the air. I watched in amazement as they screamed and chased him to one of the very tall trees in the neighborhood. I'm sure it lives here in the neighborhood because I watched him eat and devour one of the doves that lives here too. It happened in my backyard. I have photos to prove it. I'll have to find the pictures and upload them later.

I know there are other wild life here because I've seen them. One night I came home about sundown and my husband was waiting for me. He had been observing a Opossum slinking around our house. He has seen it before and now I got the chance to see it.

Last summer our box turtle who stays outside at night in a well protected corral was found with her front legs bloody and the skin off the top part of them. We called our vet and rushed her over to have a LOT of stitches put in. We will make her corral is much safer and she won't be out at night again. I'm feeling safe to say the Opossum was the one that injured my turtle. The vet, who attends the Bird Club I belong to, said she didn't think it was an animal that caused the turtle's injuries. She came to the house to see the corral and couldn't find any place the turtle would have injured herself. I still have the feeling the turtle was injured by an animal but the vet says it would have been a different sort of injury. Regardless, we will have to protect this little creature from Opossums and Hawks.

I'll try to find those photos of the turtle. I suppose I could take some new photos with my digital camera and upload them sooner than looking through a lot of old photos. I'll get right on it. After I finish sewing a pillow case I'm making for a neighbor's grandson. After I finish the laundry and checking the Craigslist account to see if anyone wants some of my old stuff.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

New Design

Finally it's finished! The new design that is. I've spent far too much time on this but I wanted something to honor my grandparents. The pictures in the header are just some of my grand-parents, and great-grandparents on my father's side. I don't have pictures of all my great-grandparents or I would have added them in the header. It would have been hard to see them if I had to make them any smaller. I'm not totally satisfied with the way it looks but I'll learn more in Photoshop and change it as I get time.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Birthday Dinner etc.

Yesterday was my sons birthday. We went to met him and his family for dinner at a local Italian Restaurant. I made a new version of my recipe for Carrot Cake. It turned out good. I like the old recipe best but I didn't have oil so had to use butter. I used buttermilk for more moisture.

When I got home my husband wanted to know if I had brought him something to eat. I hadn't so we went to get him a steak sandwich at Chuck House. They make the best chicken fried steak sandwich and dinners.

My husband wanted me to go look at some steal posts on a neighbors patio cover. We are planning making a patio cover on our patio. Our patio is on the West side of the house and is VERY hot in the summer. I liked the posts on the neighbors patio cover because they are made of steal and won't have to be replaced like wood will. He said that he would go to some junk yard and try to find steal posts. Then he said that he wanted to find a man who used to work with him that builds patio covers. He also said that this man might be able to help him replace our roof. Glory. I was so happy to hear that. Our roof is soooooo bad. Well, not sooooooo bad but bad enough. I can't wait to have it replaced. I think I'll sleep a lot better when it's done. I'd like to have one of the new steal roofs but I'm sure that would cost more than my current mortgage.

I had someone come out and give me an estimate on some new windows. They said that I would be very happy and surprised at the price. He said he would be my new best friend. Well, the price was not cheap. It would cost $5,487.77. That's cheap??? Not with my bank account. Or should I say the lack of a bank account. If windows are $5,487.77 and a roof $4,000.00 and central heat and air are $3,500.00 and a patio cover is $350.00, That totals $13,337.77. For that amount of money plus my current mortgage I could buy a new house. Well, maybe not a new house but one with fewer problems.

I don't think I'll be doing a lot to this old house right now. I will do what I can when I can but with the TAX KING in office I'll have to hope we still have a home. Here's to making money. The Feds make money out of nothing but paper and ink. Maybe we can too? Really I just want to make money the honest way and wish the Federal Government would do the same. Get a job and leave me alone. If all the senators and representatives had to work for a living they wouldn't have so much time to try to figure out how to rob me of my money. I hope they are all sent packing next election day. All those who stab the American people in the back have the blood of this country on their hands. I just hope they hit the big pit before I do so I can see them go down. God grant me my request. Make the very trap they set for us the poor people be the traps they fall into themselves.

Moderate???

The Case Against Sotomayor by Jeffrey Rosen
Indictments of Obama's front-runner to replace Souter.


These moderate tendencies may explain why some liberals are not cheering her nomination; justices like Sotomayor are not likely to offer the fast track to sweeping change that these activists want. Asked at her 1997 confirmation hearings by then-Senator John Ashcroft if she would "read additional rights into the constitution, like a right for homosexual conduct on the part of a prisoner," Sotomayor responded: "I cannot do it, sir. I cannot do it because it is so contrary to what I am as a lawyer and as a judge. The constitution is what it is. We cannot read rights into" the constitution or its amendments.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Arrogant Men

I had a waiter hit on me while I and my mother dined at a local restaurant. I want to tell the owner but I fear the waiter might be someone who doesn't understand where he ends and I begin. I felt that I should have some privacy even when I'm in public. I have see this man waiting tables there before but never dreamed his mind was in such a state of neediness. He seemed self assured. What on earth could possess a young man to hit on a total stranger who has paid for her meal and is trying to digest food. This is not a place that serves drinks where people might go to "connect". I think he needs to work in a bar so he can hit on women who would be more inclined to take his advances as a compliment.

I don't know this man from a total stranger. I might not even recognize him if I met him on the street. He had just asked me if I and my mother would like tea or coffee. Then when he brought my mother her coffee he asked me if I would go out with him. My mother was filling her plate at the buffet, thankfully. If she had heard him she would have thrown the coffee in his face. Reflecting later I remembered a little saying, "Coffee, tea, or me?" It seems to fit this situation. In essence that is what he was saying.

Makes my skin crawl knowing there are jerks out there who are so bold that they feel free to come on to any woman they pass by. He must be very arrogant to think that a woman who doesn't even know his name would say yes to such a proposal. He could be seriously ill. Like with AIDS or with any number of other sexually transmitted diseases. He could be an ax murderer or an X-convict. He could have a split personality, schizophrenia, or he could be a sociopath. Or he could just be a black racists man who wanted to score points by making a white woman uncomfortable while she was eating dinner. I already have one too many black men in my life. Namely, BO.

I remember years ago when I was going to a new job I parked my car outside the place and started to walk in. A lady sitting in a car outside the business stopped me and asked me if I were the new employee. I said yes. She told me she was the manager's wife. Then she told me a story about him I won't forget. It seemed very unusual that she would be telling me such a private matter because I didn't know her. I know why she told me now.

The story goes like this: One day she was at home with her three children, her husband, and his mother. His mother was visiting. She said that she was making dinner and some boiling rice was on the stove cooking. She said that she said something to embarrass her husband and he picked up the pot of boiling rice and threw it in her face. She said I should be very careful not to do anything to embarrass him or make him mad. I thanked her and told her I would never tell him she had told me. I never told him what she said but some time later he told me the very same exact story. I still didn't tell him I knew about it because his wife told me. I was afraid he would hurt her and her children. This man was from Iran. Ever since the day she told me that story I determined to never have much to do with men from Iran. I just hope she is still alive and not with him.

I read some where that men from Arab countries come here and marry women to have children so they can slowly change this society and culture. They have power over their wives and children. They want to change this country from within slowly. What better way than to brain wash women and the children they have by them. They force the woman to take their religion and then the children must do the same. Look what the new pres wants to do. Change the Constitution. He wants to change from a free society to one like Venezuela has. Chavez is taking over more and more businesses and banks. The pres is following along the footsteps of Chavez. Chavez appears on television constantly and this pres has his daily conferences on television. He is taking over more and more banks and businesses. Will he destroy the whole country so their is nothing left for his children?

What made the pres decide to leave the inmates in Gitmo? Could it be he saw some highly classified documents, video or audio of one or more of them saying they would love to do something to the him? I think so. He seems to be the only person he worries about. He was not worried that the general public would have to deal with people who want to destroy us and this country. What makes me think he cares what happens to us? Hasn't he saddled our children and grandchildren with the most massive debt in the history of the world? Hasn't he signed orders to resume killing innocent unborn babies. Those are the most helpless of us all. Why would I think he cares about the rest of us if he can let tiny babies be butchered? No, he changed his mind to save his own skin. I'm still grateful that he did change his mind. He has made one decision that was good. One in how many?