(Note: All Visitor Counters were reset in January 2009.)
August 31, 2005 - Wednesday
The levee breaks in New Orleans are a major catastrophe. I'm afraid that the death toll will be higher than what anyone is estimating. Reports from Mississippi and as far east as Mobile Alabama are also pretty grim. Sounds like many of the towns and communities along the Mississippi coastline are just simply gone. I cannot imagine such devastation and tragedy. My heart just aches for those folks.
I alternate between anguish, anger and tears watching the devastation. Many of those people in New Orleans had no choice but to stay. The poverty level prevented many of them from leaving, where would they go, how would they go, can't afford motels, why didn't the city of New Orleans provide buses and transportation to get these folks to safety?
August 29, 2005 - Monday
I've added my Hurricane Hazel page, my Hurricane page, my Tornado page, though I will probably be adding more to these as time goes by. I want to add a page for each hurricane that I remember over the years. I've collected stats on them all, since record keeping began for the Atlantic Ocean, Carribean etc. So will try to eventually add this info to a page also.
Glued to the TV watching the Hurricane Katrina come ashore. Looks like the worst part of it is hitting just to the east of New Orleans, Louisiana and perhaps Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel positioned himself at the bullseye in Gulfport, Mississippi. He's pretty good at being right where the worst of the hurricanes hit. Noticed that last year when the four hurricanes hit Florida. Back to watching.
August 27, 2005 - Sabbath
I didn't go to church today because I have been feeling bad most of the week. Overdid the moving furniture or I'm coming down with something. Usually feel ok until I eat, then it's downhill. Right now, feeling a little better tonight. I fixed spaghetti for a late lunch today and so far haven't felt bad after eating so that's a good thing.
Watching Hurricane Katrina, she's already a killer. Glad I'm not living on the Gulf Coast this week. I don't understand why people go North to escape an oncoming storm. Those storms rarely go West once they make landfall, usually go North and Northeast. I'd be headed for West, if it was me. Our prayers are with all the folks in that area.
I've added more stuff to my webpages. Changed the main page at kayurie.com to delete the little preview pages. They were taking way too long to load. Especially for those of us on dial-up modems. I've added my Budgie page, Backyard page, though links in the Backyard page are not yet active. I also changed some backgrounds in a few other pages, put borders around more photos and did some changing of the scripts on each page, which is basically transparent as far as anyone looking at the pages. You can't see some of the changes, just made some things more automatic for designing purposes etc.
I'm having alot of fun working on the pages and feel like I'm learning some new things too. That I always like to do! Hence all the hobbies that I have! I really like trying new hobbies, learning new things. But the problem I've had, is that once I learn how to do something new, like quilt or crochet, then I put it in a "tub" and start a new thing! I don't lose interest in the quilting or crocheting, just have limited time to work on it, since I start another new project. Jack of all, master of none, I believe is the expression for a person like me.
August 23, 2005 - Tuesday
My youngest son, Jimmy has just had his first 2 days of college. He is doing well, liking it and enjoying the change. We are so very proud of him! He is attending a local college and also working a couple days a week too.
Seth also started classes today and works 3 days a week as part of his graduate program. He is also doing well and enjoying his new location in New Mexico. We are very proud of him! What can I say? I'm so thankful everyday for these blessings.
I've been changing furniture around in the bedroom. Much to Jim's frustration. He hates change and I feel like I can't clean good unless I move the furniture. I guess part of the problem is I have too much stuff and so I keep rearranging it, trying to make it all fit. I swapped bureaus, because the one I have been using was built by Jim's great grandfather. I don't want to tear it up, though it is really heavy and has held up great for years. But still, wear and tear will eventually mar it up, so I swapped it with another one in the house that is not used except for extra storage. So it will do fine for now.
Still have to put my bookcase back together and restack all the books in it as well as the trophies on top of it. Actually my "bookcase" is my vanity with a homemade bookcase that I nailed together and another thingy I call a 24 inbox thingy all stacked. Good thing we don't live in earthquake territory! But it works for all my hobby magazines and books.
I hadn't checked my email yesterday and so today I had almost 900 emails. Mostly it's because I subscribe to about 100+ list-servs, which are genealogy emails, so they are not really directly sent to me, but to everyone on the "list". Anyway they do pile up if I don't keep after them! When we went to NM I had unsubscribed so that I wouldn't jam up my mailbox! Still had over 1000 emails when I returned!
August 21, 2005 - Sunday
I worked in the basement today, attacked my rock, shell and sand collections. They were mostly in one large box, which truly had not been repacked in probably 20+ years. When we first were sorting boxes (1996) at the time of moving into our current house, I had opened the box to look at the condition of the collections. I had re-closed it, discouraged, afraid that the sand collection had gotten broken and sand mixed up. Basically I had been putting off dealing with this, because Mom had helped me with these collections, and I knew I would be upset if anything had happened to any of them.
Well, the good news is that most everything was in good condition. The rocks, the shells, had all survived all the years of moving and storage etc. The sand collection had only 2 little vials of sand that the lids had come off and spilled. The real good news is Mom had extra baby food jars full of each kind of sand and so the two little vials are not a total loss! I was so happy! I moved all of the rocks, shells and sand into rubbermaid tubs, and now I can get to them to reorganize them. Hopefully, this fall, I will try to photograph some of them to put on my webpages.
August 20, 2005 - Sabbath
I decided to change the background after all when I was working on some other stuff. I added borders to more photo pages and made some other little corrections here and there. I've set up a log for the counters so that I can see which pages I need to work on next as well as pages that aren't attracting any interest. If I have pages that just don't get the hits, I'll delete them for something else eventually.
Why is it that I'm never bored? I look back at this journal and think that anyone who reads it must think I live a boring life. It's not boring to me....too many hobbies. As far as my personal life goes, I guess there are just some things that I won't write here, since I know some folks are reading it and don't need to know every intimate detail of my ups & downs. Make sense? No, my life isn't boring. But I have way too many hobbies and interests and not enough time to do them all.
And in my "spare" time this summer, I've been catching up on watching some of my DVD's. Just finished watching the First Season of The O.C. It's really a cute show. A 21st Century version of Beverly Hills 90210, I love the characters. Where do they find so many good looking guys and gals? Not normal people, that's for sure! And rich? They show how the rich, though they have everything they need, still aren't happy. Hmmph. Just don't know where to shop, I say! Yeah, yeah, I know money doesn't buy happiness and I'm just kidding. I really think that Hollywood types really don't have a clue how the rest of the world really lives. And people in some big cities also. But here in the country? Well, I'm not rich. But I'm not poor. Well, maybe to the Hollywood types I would be, but I'm not. I feel like I have always been able to get or eventually have almost anything I have wanted, thanks to my wonderful parents, in-laws and husband! But just having a loving family around you, through thick and thin, through all your problems, heartaches, mistakes. Who stand behind you even when they don't agree with you or know you are trotting down the hard road. Who are there to listen when you cry about it, who help, even when you are too proud or ashamed to ask. That's love for you. When you have love, what else could you ever need? That's rich. Like in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life". I feel like the richest woman around.
This is what all the Hollywood types can't figure out. This is what they don't understand. Reality shows? Don't get me started. That's not reality. Not with a camera in your face. Nope, they just don't get it.
This is what happens when I let my mind wander and my fingers do the talking.
August 19, 2005 - Friday
Here it is Friday and I haven't updated my journal in several days. I've been busy working around the house (the usual stuff) and also on my web pages. I've actually fine-tuned several of the pages and put in backgrounds instead of just colors on many pages. Looks better I think. Will probably do that also to this column starting in September. Also decided that in many cases I prefer a border around my photos. Even added borders to some of the slide shows.
School starts on Monday for Jimmy and Tuesday for Seth. They both will have busy years and I'm so very proud of both of them! College is not easy but very worthwhile.
No active storms right now in the Atlantic. We started the season so active, but that's the way the weather is, you never know. Personally, again, I love the thrill of watching the storms progress and grow. Out in the ocean. I do NOT like to hear of injuries, deaths or damages at landfall. I do NOT wish to experience another hurricane living in the woods, at least until we get trees moved away from the house.
Got to fix some supper for the guys.
August 14, 2005 - Sunday
Well, I guess my song was ok. I thought that I did better on it than the one I did a couple weeks ago. The message in the song was so good, even if the singing wasn't.
I've got the first batch of Language Equations up on the website. Not the answers yet. Still trying to decide how I want to do that.
Irene has decided to move out to sea. Thankfully! TD #10 has decipated, at least for now. Maybe we will make it through this busy season without getting a hit!
Last night I found that I already have many gif and animated files already saved on my system. Cool, so now maybe I can design some variations on them for the webpages!
Well, tired tonight, so will not go further at this point.
August 12, 2005 - Friday
Well, Friday is our preparation day for the Sabbath. That's when I try to get the house in a little better shape, though I'm not often sucessful there! So it was housework and Jimmy and I went to Fredericksburg today for a little shopping. School will be starting August 22nd and we needed to pick up a few things. I practiced my song for tomorrow and just checking my email and will call it a night.
Oh, my brother, Earl, from California called and we talked for awhile. It's always so great to hear from him. And we talked with Seth on the phone briefly today. His girlfriend, Liz, is visiting him in New Mexico this weekend.
Watching Irene in the Atlantic. Most of the computer models are predicting a more northerly turn, missing the East Coast. I love the excitement of a storm brewing in the Atlantic. But never like to hear of damages, injuries or deaths from them, of course! Jim asked me if I was disappointed that we probably won't be affected by Irene. No, actually, I'm relieved. We went through Isabel, and I'm not looking forward to going through another hurricane of any strength. (Isabel was a Category 1 when it passed through our area). I don't look forward to more trees coming down, possibly on the house or vehicles this time. I don't look forward to doing without electricity for 2 weeks or so again. Nope, I'm not disappointed that Irene is not going to visit us here in Virginia!
August 10, 2005 - Wednesday
Today I received a nasty phone call. Some girl called asking for a James, said she'd met him at a strip club. Someone was there telling her what to say so I tried to clarify which James she was trying to reach and she went ballistic. Called me a bitch etc. So I hung up on her. Don't you know she called back, stupid girl, left multiple messages on my anwering machine, calling me all kinds of names, cussing me out for hanging up on her etc. She blocked her number, but the phone company can get it.
Practicing my music and doing housework. Talked to Seth last night for awhile. Things are going well, he got Direct TV basic service installed yesterday, so now he can at least get the news and weather, also the Albuquerque stations. It's pretty isolated out there!
Added some more skeleton surname pages to my genealogy tonight. And I'm tired, trying to get my schedule changed around, before school starts, so will call it a night, tonight.
August 9, 2005 - Tuesday
My song is "ripped" but I'm not real happy with the quality. It has some tremula which is slightly increased when I changed the key to the one I need. But I sing louder than the music anyway, so it will just have to do for this Sabbath. I feel like this is the song I am supposed to sing, even though it is too low and too high in parts. Well, again, I'm supposed to sing this one, so I will. It's really a neat song, very country sounding too. Which is totally me anyway!
I finished Denie's page, which was very difficult. Seems that it wasn't so long ago that she was laughing and alive. Actually it's been almost 14 years now since she died. I will add more photo's to the slide show, as I get them scanned into the computer. But for now, at least her page is online. Mom's page is still being worked on but also online. That page is difficult also. I'm just adding to it as I can, working on some of the photos, looking for others. Brings back so many memories.
I've got the basics for my Favorites page started. So far, just TV shows and movies. Will add more stuff later. Not real happy with the "long list" format, so may work on something different there also.
I have also finally caught up on my contesting for this week so one thing less to do. Just doing housework and trying to stay cool. Today was humid, cloudy, rained for awhile, about .25" and nothing else. No change in the forecast for the next week or so. Just hot, humid, dog days of summer for real. Watching Irene in the Atlantic. She's not doing what they said she would do. If she gets stronger, she will do whatever she wants to do!
August 8, 2005 - Monday
I picked up the cassette of the song I will be singing this Sabbath. I've now got to "rip" it into my computer, then I run it through a music editing program to change it to the key I want it in, then I'll burn it to a CD as an audio file, to be played on the church equipment. I love doing this! I'll get a clip of it later up on my music pages. Cool song!
Did 3 loads of laundry, cleaned out my bureau and put all my old cassettes in a big rubbermaid tub. I'm in the process of "moving" them to the computer. Unlike CD's, cassettes are very slow to convert, since you have to do them in "real-time" speed. And I have alot of them to convert, including many audio books. I used to listen to all of them in my car, driving the long drive to work everyday. (roundtrip was 70 miles daily) Now that I'm home, I like to play stuff on the computer while I'm doing stuff or just on the CD player. So I'm getting there. Big project!
Didn't work in the basement today since I had to run to town, but hopefully I'll get back to it tomorrow. Lot's of paperwork and files to go through and since some are mildewed, not my favorite job, but it will get done! I am determined to succeed!
Actually I did work on Jim's genealogy stuff for abit today also. I subscribe to over 100 of those genealogy mail lists and needed to catch up on some of the incoming data. It's amazing how many people are working on their family histories these days. When we were first doing the "bulletin boards" years ago, there wasn't much info on the internet. Now it's so great, because everyone is posting their data and also sending me wonderful information, when they check out my genealogy pages! They have filled in alot of data for me! And I literally have pages of data to add, so I'm trying to get some of it updated. I just added about 30 new surnames that I'm researching, but haven't gotten the data added to the pages yet. But the basic surname pages are at least up and linked to the index and I will be adding data very soon to each one of them! That's at my uriefamily website.
August 7, 2005 - Sunday
Well, back at the housework. I ironed about 13 shirts this morning, Jim's and Jimmy's. One of my least favorite jobs, that's why it piles up on me! Jim was able to take a load of stuff to the dump this morning, so now I can pile up some more stuff in the basement. The boxes I have to go through now are the slow ones. Lots of papers and stuff that you just have to sit down and go through piece by piece. So I'll start tomorrow on the first box of that stuff. Some of it is old Sabbath School programs that I did years ago, used to write up my own and so I don't want to part with them. Will probably just scan or type them into the computer and throw away the mildewed originals! Don't think I have any of the genealogy papers down there, since I was worried about exposure to dampness and kept them in file cabinets. Had some music books but they didn't get wet, thankfully, since some of them are older books! They were in a file cabinet in the basement, so they are ok. The basement normally isn't damp or wet, just had that one leak that got away from us. Yes!!! Found my rock, shell and sand collections!!! They've been moved about 5 times since I opened the boxes! Hopefully, will get them organized or repacked safely until I can find a way to display them. AWESOME!!! Talked with Seth for awhile tonight. They were getting tons of rain and the streets were flooded. He watched some cars float off the road! Check out his news at his web pages, he took pictures and is supposed to post them later! No storms today, just hot, upper 80's and humid. Dog days.
August 6, 2005 - Sabbath
I'm totally convinced that night time storms are useless. You can't see the storm clouds forming, you can't see the wind blowing the trees, you can't see how hard the rain is coming down, you can't see the hail and your power keeps going off so you can't check the radar on TV or computer. If you open the door the heat and humidity, as well as night bugs come inside so all you can do is try to watch out the windows. All you can see are the flashes of lightning and hear the booming of thunder. Useless. We had storms last night but they split around us. We got .04" rain, had some bright lightning and a few loud cracks of thunder. Power went on and off about 20 times. North and south of us were hit fairly hard, lots of lightning. We could see that much. Later we heard most of the area was out of power for some time and Jim said everyone talked at church today about how bad the storms were last night. Night time storms, useless.
August 5, 2005 - Friday
Must be time for me to break another bone. Tripped again, caught myself, but now my arm has a nice bruise on it. Got to either slow down or speed up. Don't know which. :-/ Slide shows are up and running on a couple of my pages. Will add some to a couple more, but also will use the thumbnail system, so those interested can just open the photos that they might want to see. Well, more laundry and more housework. Hoping to get a step ahead of it one of these days. Don't get me wrong. I really don't spend alot of time on it. Someone sent me this joke, sounds just like my routine day:
I decide to wash my car. As I start towards the door, I notice that there is mail on the hall table. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the trash can under the table and notice that the trash can is full. So I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the trash first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I set down the trash can, I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye, they need to be watered. I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote that someone left on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor. So I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day: the car isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, the trash can is still overflowing, there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, the flowers aren't watered, there is still only one check in my checkbook, I can't find the remote, I can't find my glasses, and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my email!
'nuff said....where is that remote?
August 4, 2005 - Thursday
July 2005 news is now archived! If you want to read it now, you'll have to scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the link.
OK, so I don't journal stuff everyday, but when I do it's hard to get me to stop!
I'm working on something new for some of my webpages. I just have way too many photos to post. It takes too long for some browsers to load, so I think I've found a neat javascript slideshow to try out. Will try it first on my "About Me" pages. Then if it works ok, will incorporate it into some of my other pages too. We shall see.
Well, we got to talk with Seth on the phone this evening. He's doing well and always check his website news to hear the latest! He was telling us about these little 12" snakes they have. Small and friendly, don't bite. Rather see that than the rattlers!!
Worked on catching up my contests today, laundry, mopped the kitchen floor and other mundane housework. It NEVER ends, does it? Well, I'm not a good housekeeper, but occasionally I like to see what color the floor really is! It's still hot and humid here, dog days of summer continue. It was just over 100ºF with a heat index of over 106ºF. They say we'll get some possible strong storms tomorrow which will cool us down to the mid-80's. Don't know why they call that a "cool-down". Man, a cool down is dropping into the 40's or lower, in my mind. Hate, hate, HATE hot weather, but 2nd only to the humidity. Yuck. Hello Fall & Winter. Bring it on. Guess it's good I live where I do. Just when I get sick of hot weather it cools down, and when I get sick of the cold, well, then summer comes once again. Sounds like a country song coming on....... :-)
August 1, 2005 - Sunday
Cool!! I did it myself!! I put stuff on my n4kup website on the religion page and added pop-up windows for the Bible texts!!!! And I figured it out all by myself!!!! OK, I know it's simple for you computer gurus, but hey, not too shabby for an old gal like myself!!!
Jimmy's car is giving him some trouble, almost broke down on the way to work last night. It's growling loudly and no power or acceleration, but then this morning it worked ok. We've got it scheduled at the local garage, but they couldn't take it for a couple weeks, so we're hoping we won't need a tow truck in the meantime!
Talked with Seth yesterday and he was in the process of fixing his lunch. Things are going good with him. You can read all his news at his website, www.n3mra.com then click on his "news" section. He does real good at keeping it up to date! Did it all through college too. It's nice because we don't always get to talk on the phone, so we can hear what's happening that way too!
This page will change periodically, I think I will "archive" each month or so, just so I can change the colors etc. Don't like it to always be the same pink or blue or whatever. I hope to experiment with backgrounds other than just solid colors soon too. It's on the list of "to-do's"!!
