Thursday Thirteen

Totally random rantings and the kitchen sink.. Lucky you?

Thursday Thirteen:  Since trying to stay positive, I've turned a blind eye to some things that shouldn't have been trusted.  So.... These are The Gripe Sessions, as presented by Major Grump and General Chaos.

But they will be followed by at least a few hurrahs.....Even IF it's only a single last hurrah... *wink*

1.  My Eldest, before she passed away, told me to forget about the gym, to just walk every day and to knit.  I indended to listen, but alas...

I'm now locked into  a seemingly endless series of lessons doing things that could have been learned in half that amount of time.  I'm so done with the gym.  Too be sure, I'm grateful for what I have learned, but I am done.  I have 8 more session and NO idea whether any of them are going to be useful.   I fell a couple of weeks ago, into a big piece of furniture that didn't seem to have the common decency to get out of the way!  Anywho...  I told my trainer I was too stiff and sore to come in and try to work out.  He has me working from the floor, getting up and down on the floor no less!  I asked him to cancel that week's session and to please save a my spot for the next week.  And Boy do I have the TMs to prove this!

Today I went in, and he said," You're here?"  I said yes.  He has scheduled someone else in that slot. He had responded with a "LIKE" which you can now do in messenger. Oh Joy! And, WTH does a LIKE mean, exactly?  Since I still have the text, it makes me very happy.  It's irrefutable PROOF.   Oh Dear God!  I'm SO OVER this gym thinga!

2.  When I drive by the old school yard and see what has been turned into a wasteland, I think of all the little animals that are now buried there, just run over by a bulldozer.  Mr.Z said that the little rabbits there used to go across the street and eat the grass on the lawns.  That's where the little fella who came to our yard for a few days came from.

We tell ourselves that at least it isn't a high rise
 or an apartment complex, which would have been a disaster.

And the birds, who could get away, have to reset a map that has been passed down to them from generations of ancestors that went before.  This must be how the Native Americans felt when they were uprooted and slaughtered.  I wish I'd have fought harder for an urban park in that space!  In-filling might be better than urban sprawl, but it also has it's terrible costs.  At some time, there may be trees, shrubs and lawns again, but that's practically an urban wasteland for the animals displaced, especially the seed eaters.  There was a lot of shrubbery left up there even after the loss of the Big Sycamore trees which gave shelter and comfort to so many other earthlings.

4. Frankly, if I actually DO get the choice, I won't come back to Earth, EVER.  I'm torn.  It's the only place, that we know of, in the Universe that has chocolate.

5. I'm mad at myself for not staying spry.

 It's come on over time and at nearly 75 I should be glad I can walk, but still... I rebuilt my back after getting on a horse that was two "bucks" away from a Rodeo.  I should have known better.  The horse's owner should have known better.  She wouldn't take no for an answer.  I think I've never met a bigger idiot in my life, besides, to be honest, myself, for getting on that horse!

6.  We have a train wreck in Washington and I'm too old and creaking to fight.  I find this very hard to take.  I long for the good old days, when the People had some real clout!  We were listened to in those days!

7.  I can't really think of another gripe!  I've plum run out!

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Seriously, I am looking for positives but finding few.  But they are there.
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 Here are a few:

8. Instagram.  There are so much excellent photograghy on it, from young to seasoned veterans of international stature.  It's like the best Eye Candy in the world is being put up there and you can look at it for as long as you like.  All of this IS concentrated in one place and you can lose yourself for hours in it, seeing this beautiful world full of people who care about it. UNFORTUNATELY it seems like Google now owns Instagram, and everyone who is in Google + and Instagram whom you've "followed", is now in your Google Page feed, too.  There is no way I have found, to divorce the two.

9. Smoothies are a happy thing!
I like them for midday meals.  They are quick to make, and also are a great use of those saved up, over-ripe frozen bananas.   This is better than putting them into the composter!  *BACK TO THE RECIPE*In the blender combine two big soup spoonfuls of greek yogurt, a frozen banana (broken into pieces), some pre-soaked dried mango, (one loosely filled cup of mango pieces pre-soaked in water or almond milk) just pour it in with the liquid it's in.   Add some honey or a couple of dates for sweetness.  Add about a cup of almond milk or water.  Blend. Pour. Enjoy.

10. Happiness is Our own personal little Wolverine.

A few weeks ago after a long hot walk with his Best Bud

He's back from the Groomer's and is sporting a new bandanna.  It's so cute, whoever thought that up for the male dogs is a genius.  Well, I did a little research on origins for bandanna, and the web isn't exactly a text book.  *rolls eyes*  But it does point out that the bandanna is something that has been worn in the West by cowboys, and also by farmers elsewhere, for a couple of centuries.  They are good for keeping necks from getting burnt from the long hours out standing in your fields, or on horseback.  All sorts of workmen wear them now who have to work outside in the sun.  It's also grand to help keeping dust from going your snout, even if you aren't a dog. So what I'm trying to say is that they are useful.  Around a dog's neck they are only ornamental.  But, they do look very cute.

Ok. Nice is over.  Back to grumpy me....

11.  I'm tired enough to sleep for a month.  I'm throwing in a load of wash and going to take a nap in a minute.

12.  I think I've seen about a hundred caribou gutted, cut up and eaten in the last five months.  Yes, I certainly need to get a life. AH, reality TV.  I loathe killing anything, and I just couldn't live that life.  But some of those Alaskans are tough boogers.  I think I like them all, especially the Hailstones,  But, I like Andy because he candidly admitted he hated to kill anything.  I actually liked Kate better, but she's gone. Are you into reality? Just look up, "Life Below Zero", if you do.  It has it ALL but I think it's giving me some terrible nightmares. Oh and I like the new musher.  We could be distant Cousins!  I always wonder about where all my numerous cousins are.  But I hate trapping.  It's cruel and it's for the fur trade.  I hate the fur trade.

13.   Well, lets do something nice again.  I quit the gym.  I'll go back when I'm good and ready.  I feel like what little control over my life I did have is back into my own two hands.