November 2, 2005

  • This is my guilt talking.  Why in the hell I should feel guilty
    about not posting is beyond me but I do.  I think I had 2 previous
    lives, one as a Catholic and one Jewish both master of the guilty
    conscious.  Of course this puts me on my third guilty life, that
    of a lapsed southern baptist.....yup, I'm going to hell.  
    Fire, brimstone and the whole nine yards of guilt.  I can feel my
    blood pressure going up just thinking about it.

    Prague, Czech.

    My favorite picture of the whole weekend.  If you look closely you
    can see an American flag flying from just below one of the
    spires.  That's the American Embassy.  I suggest not going
    there if you need help, the marines won't let you in without an
    appointment.   Maybe they would have let us in if we had
    actually needed help but I find it odd that an American can't look
    around the American Embassy.   What the hell are they hiding
    in there? 
    p.s. If you click on the pic. it shows larger but it's still not as good as the actual print.

October 18, 2005

  • Always steal the good stuff from your kids.

    You are supposed to type your real name followed with needs into google and pick the five things
    you like most that come up.  Funny how accurate they can be......

    My five....and they were all on the first page.

    Elizabeth needs: to call home today or preferably GO HOME!. (How fitting right now)
    Elizabeth needs: to be avoided at all costs.  (Some days this is true)

    both of these are typed exactly the way they are on google including the capitalization and the little comments in parenthesis.

    Elizabeth needs: to be loved, pursued and reassured.
    Elizabeth needs: to be able to express her feelings to someone she trusts.

    Elizabeth needs: an arena for excellence.

    I would love to see Darri, MyKi, Lise, Kat and Heather do this.  And no I won't go peek and see what your name brings up.

    Now before you start bitching I would like to tell you I could have
    written about the incredibly stupid cow comment that irked me so bad I
    couldn't sleep last night.  So count yourselves lucky this was
    just inane and not totally off the wall raving lunatic ville.

October 7, 2005

  • My how time flies.  I didn't realize how long it had been until I
    got a sweet e-mail from Ruth yesterday.  I thought to
    myself,  "it hasn't been that long".   This morning when
    I logged in I realized it's been close to 3 weeks.  Honestly
    I  have a couple of legitimate reasons.   The first is
    our laptop took a nosedive and it took Bear about 2 weeks to fix
    it.   I nearly died when I came in and there was the
    laptop  in about 10 different pieces.  After I got over the
    shock  I thought well what difference does it make, it's not
    working now so  if he can't get it fixed we haven't changed the
    situation and if he can how cool is that?  Well he got it fixed
    but for some reason when he put the keyboard back in the letter I
    doesn't always work.  I try to go back and make sure all the i i i
    I I I's are there but sometimes I miss one or two.  Bear said he
    would take it apart again and fix it but now I don't want him
    too.  I have more to lose.  Stupid huh! 

    The second reason is a bit different.  I'm quitting smoking and so
    I'm also trying to avoid the things that I associate with
    cigarettes.  As odd as it sounds I associate the computer. 
    Why you ask....I'll tell you.  Almost all of my smoking was done
    out of boredom and there is nothing more boring than waiting for a page
    to load on the computer.  We have the slowest internet connection
    known to man, right now I'm connected at 45kbps. and buddy let me
    tell you that's slow.  Xanga has a really bad habit of eating
    posts and taking forever to load anyway, so I think on some level I was
    avoiding it on purpose even after we got the computer running
    again.   The good news is I have been smoke free since
    September 9th.  Since I'm here on xanga today maybe Ruth's email
    brought back to me that I have friends here and you can never have
    enough help from your friends when your trying to give up bad
    habits. 
    Mike gave me some great encouragement the second day I
    quit.  We were on our way to Wuerzburg and I said I was afraid it
    wouldn't last and I'd start again and he says that's too bad you'll be
    smoking and you won't be able to sit anywhere.  Of course I fell
    for it and asked him why I wouldn't be able to sit and he said because
    I will kick your ass!  How's that for encouragement.  Now
    it's been almost a month and I really would feel like I failed so I try
    to avoid stress and boredom. 

    Shout to you Darri    .  The one day I did sign in and try to catch up
    on reading was the day Darri posted about her heartattack. 
    Nothing like a face to face encounter with death to strengthen my
    resolve.    My dad says "your always to young to start
    smoking and your never to old to quit". 

    I haven't forgotten that I owe you all some more pictures of Prague, I
    will freely admit I am putting that off.  Since I went there I've
    been to Heidelberg and tomorrow were taking our 3 day weekend and
    heading to Berchtesgaden which is almost to Salzburg, Austria.  So
    being like a child I'm on to the new toy before the old one wore out.
    I
    will put this one in because it doesn't fit elsewhere.  This is
    left over from the communist era.  Our friendly guide told us they
    could get a lot of Western things if they had the money.  She also
    told us that there are many things that people miss about
    communism.  When pressed to name one she pointed to a couple of
    young guys panhandling on the bridge and said that before the velvet
    revolution you never saw beggars of any kind because the gov't made
    sure you had a job whether you wanted it or not.  Hmm!


    Later
    when it was almost sunset we were walking back across the same bridge
    when we saw this guy.  He was having a heckuva good time. 
    All his songs were American and sung in English.  The one that
    sticks out in my mind is "Hey there that's my baby, no sir I don't mean
    maybe."  (I know that's not the title but it was before my
    time.)  Anyway, I was thinking about all the money this guy was
    making doing something he obviously enjoyed and I wondered where he
    would work under communist rule and if he would make as much money or
    laugh as much.  Nothing is ever completely black or white. 
    You can find the good or you can find the bad, it's all in what your
    lookng for.  Our guide earlier in the day told us about a lot of
    good the communist government did for the people then she was equally
    honest about the bad.  Now that communism is over she has just as
    clear a picture of the cost of freedom.  I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

September 15, 2005

  • Prague, Czech
     With
    only two days to visit and a plan to go back before we ever left we hit
    the high spots only.  The places you shouldn't miss when you go to
    Prague, though I'm sure there are those out there who would argue with
    our choices.  (but then someone is always willing to argue.)  First
    off for those who don't know, Prague is on the Vltava River, and at one
    time was 5 separate little towns.  Of course those 5 little towns
    merged and became one huge Prague that you literally can't see the end
    of even from the top of the castle.   It's the original old
    towns that are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and that's where we
    spent all our time, in one of those original 5.  Because of the
    sheer volume of pictures I took I'm going to post one section of town
    at a time.  We didn't go to all 5, focusing instead on Hradcany,
    Old Town and The Jewish Quarter.  Next trip we'll see Lesser Town
    and New Town as well as go back to our favorites from the first three.


    This is St. Vitus Cathedral.
    Well it's a tiny part of a huge cathedral.  I mean you know how
    big these things are.  By the time you get far enough back to get
    a picture of the whole thing it looks tiny and you've lost all the
    detail. 
         This is in the Hradcany district.  It is
    where the king built his castle way back when and said this is Prague
    and it's going to be my capitol and the capitol of the country. 
    Now mind you this was like a thousand years before Columbus got a gleam
    in his eye and a hankering to travel.   The castle he built
    has a hall in it that is so big they held jousting tournaments in
    it.    It has a special entrance and stairs built to
    accommodate horses.  All of my pictures inside came out so dark you
    can't see anything.  And if I had lived back then I would have
    killed myself for lack of light.    But in later years
    other kings had palaces built and this is from one of
    those.   The
    funny thing is we never would have seen this if I hadn't wanted to buy
    some postcards.  It's not on any tour.  It's the room leading
    to the gift shop from the ticket area.  You go into this cramped
    room to buy your ticket and there was a dingy sign pointing down an
    equally dingy corridor.

     We went through the door and wow!  The ceilings were at
    least 20
    feet high, everything that could be gilded was  and of course it
    was filled with religious art.  A favorite theme of kings and
    conquerors.  This room was immense, can you see how small the
    woman looks in comparison to the furniture.  We never did find
    out what it was used for, both of us meant to ask but with everything
    there is to see it completely slipped from my mind.   I guess
    that is going to be one of the things for the next trip.  If you wanted to you could spend a whole day just in the Hradcany
    district.  I mean it was its own self-contained little town, so
    there is plenty to see.  And  I know we missed tons of
    stuff. 

    I've never seen stained glass like this before.  It had so much
    blue and purple and red that the whole cathedral had a purplish red
    glow.  It was worth it just to see that.  Most of the
    cathedrals I've seen didn't have all the blue and purple because it was
    so expensive to make back then.  But this cathedral was built
    expressly for the king and his family so no expense was spared. 
    All the kings for the last 1000 years were crowned here.  When
    they died they buried them here too.  Even before it was completed
    they were burying kings inside, because like most cathedrals it took
    about 500 years to get it finished.  Give or take a couple of
    years, lol.  When
    we left Golden Lane, which inexplicably I didn't take one picture of,
    we were in a small courtyard with this bronze statue.  I could not
    figure out why everyone coming from the back of the statue was
    grinning, snikering or just outright laughing.  I mean everyone,
    from little kids to old ladies.  I don't know if you can clearly
    see the looks on their faces but all of the people in this picture are
    smiling.  Kind of like I've got a secret. 

    What I should have done was cup those suckers because that would have
    been the biggest handful of my life.  What's really funny is see
    how shiny his butt and balls are?  Well I don't think some guy
    comes out and polishes them at night, that's from the volume of people that can't
    keep their hands off.    That's what I like
    interactive art.

    One more and that's it from the Hradcany district.   I just
    can't show them all.  This is to give you an idea of how big
    Prague really is.  I took this from the castle wall.

    Czech has a population of over 10 million.  Prague itself has a
    population of over 1.1 million.  Tourism is the number one
    industry of Prague.  What that means nowadays for a traveler is
    everyone you meet speaks English and all the hotels have normal size
    towels. yay!  I have no idea which one of the districts I'll do
    next, i guess it will be a surprise for all of us. 

    The one thing I know for sure is that unless the xanga team gets on the
    stick and fixes my picture uploads you are probably going to wait
    another two weeks.  Half the time my word wrap doesn't work and
    the other half everything is underlined and I can't get the edit to
    work to fix it.  I lost everything in this post twice and finally
    resorted to a crude cut and paste method.  I'm so glad I pay for
    this stellar service.  Is everyone having these problems or is it
    just lucky me?

September 6, 2005

  • I went to Prague this weekend.  It's going to take a couple of days to get my pictures organised but here's a preview.  I've wanted to go to Czech for a long time so this was great.  Actually there aren't a lot of places I don't want to go, so being here is a pretty good way to help out my travel bug.  Bear didn't want to go, he wanted some alone time and more importantly some couch time.  So me and our friend Mike went.  Talk about a great travel companion.  We both are pretty easy going about what to see and when, so it was a very relaxed and comfortable trip.  I hate being pinned to an arbitrary itinerary and so does he, so if we decided on the spur of the moment to turn left instead of right we did.  I swear we had to have walked 10 miles a day.  And that doesn't count the Tram.  We used public transportation instead of cabs.  Not just because it saves money but because you get a truer picture of a place and it's people if your mixing in. 


    I'll get my pictures together and try and post again soon.  I hope all of my Stateside friends had a good labor day weekend.  I know I did, it just wasn't the normal cookout. 


    Oh, and sorry if all the pink and blue freaked you out.....I am just so sick of all the blah!  I don't know how to do any of the fancy pages so I just loaded a pre-made skin.  Who cares if I'm the 50,000 to have used it, lol.

August 26, 2005

  • Luke Air Force Base, Phx, Az.

    Me
    and Captain Quasar.  Of course Quasar was just a nickname, all
    pilots have nicknames.  This is from 1983.  I was the second
    enlisted dependant to ever take a ride in an F-15.  The first was
    my friend Gay and she's the one who did all the work getting "spouses
    day" set up, so it only seemed fair.  There were two available
    rides and there were over 30 spouses there so we all put our names into
    a hat and my name got pulled out.  I was so excited.  We went
    thru a simulater first, did takeoff and landings.  (I kept scraping
    my tail on takeoff.)  Then we went to get our flight suits, you
    can't tell but those boots are two sizes to big and I kept tripping
    over everything. 

    Then it was finally time. 
        He let me taxi down the runway and when he kicked in
    the afterburners we blew a brake stopping.  The g-suit kicked on
    and it was the best feeling ever, a full body hug from ankles to
    neck.   I wanted to go and keep going, I wanted to soar into the
    sky and never come down.  Those planes are awesome, if you ever
    get a chance to fly co-pilot in a fighter jet don't say no.  It's
    an experience you'll never forget or ever regret.

    Oh and check out those 80s glasses, what the hell was I
    thinking?  I wonder where the Tallyho reporters were that day?
    hmm, maybe out having their own party!

August 19, 2005

  • Happy Birthday AllieMcNally!

    I remember feeling like the only walking whale on the planet stranded in Phoenix Arizona in August.  Praying to God to please just let me have this baby.  We were in the middle of a heat wave, the temperature was hovering at 112 degrees Fahrenheit.  Then after a day spent at what Arizonans laughingly call a lake it happened.  The first twinge.  At first I thought I imagined it, but it didn't stop.  So I gathered my things, told my sister I needed to get going and without saying anything I went home.  I still wasn't convinced it was true labor.  About 5 hours later I was a little more convinced.  Still, I never had those five minute apart contractions that everyone talks about, mine came when they wanted to.  Sometimes every ten minutes, then a minute, then 4 or 5.  Hmm, I thought to myself, is this really it?
    To this day I don't know why I didn't call one of my 3 sisters or my mom, but I didn't, I instead went to a neighbors' house.  She had 2 kids and I figured she would know what was going on.  Bear was working the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Luke Air Force Base and I was to excited to sleep so off I went.  She confirmed what I thought......the dreaded labor.  I immediately started to get scared.  And the bargaining that went on in my head........Dear God, I will gladly stay the size of a whale forever if you don't make me go into labor.  Yes, I was that afraid of the pain I knew was coming.  But God in his infinite wisdom let the pain roll on. 
    Martha was the kind of friend that didn't care that I showed up on her doorstep at 1 a.m. she sat with me and kept me calm until Bear showed up at 7:30, he had got home and figured out pretty quick where I was even though I didn't leave a note.  We went home talking about whether or not it was true labor because I still wasn't having the expected every 5 min contractions.  We decided it wasn't after all.  So he jumped in the shower, I got ready for bed.  He was standing at the foot of the bed and I sat up and said "well I guess I fooled you huh?"  And as soon as the words left my mouth, my water broke.   So that settled the question of labor pretty quick.   Poor man, by then he had already been awake for 16 hours and here we were heading for the Base hospital. 

    Things went downhill from there.  I renewed my bargaining with God.   I went thru all the humiliations they used to do in the dark ages, you know shaving, enema, stupid stuff that women now days don't have to go thru while having contractions.  Then finally I got a bed of my own.   Bear never left my side from that moment on, a better coach and partner could not be found on this planet.  Neither one of us had had any sleep since the day before and I still wasn't having regular contractions so they hooked me up to a monitor and gave me pitocin to speed labor.  I thought great, hell yeah, let's get this over with.  Ha,ha!  What they fail to tell you is it greatly increases contraction strength, thus pain is increased as well.  I stayed in third stage labor for the next 5 hours.  During this time we could hear from across the hallway another woman in labor.  She cussed her husband, the doctor, the nurses and every person that walked by the door.  I remember one good one clearly.  She said to her husband..."If you ever touch me again you son of a bitch, I'll kill you."  For some reason this embarrassed me no end.  I apologized every 5 seconds to Bear, I apologized to the nurses, my mom and both of my sisters.  Every time someone came near me I apologized over the wails coming from the room across the hall.  By 6:15 p.m. I was trying to push.  This time I was telling God, "please get her out of me, please, please!"  So he did.  At 7:14 p.m. on August 19th 1982 in Phoenix, Arizona the best daughter in the world was born.   A gift from God above, a miracle if I've ever seen one.  From the minute I laid eyes on her it was the deepest and truest love I've ever felt in my life.  The only thing that will ever match it was the day my second daughter was born.  I thought my heart couldn't possibly hold anymore love and I was proven wrong.  They are the embodiment of all that is the best and worst of Bear and me.  And we see their flaws and we see their strengths and we love them all the more for them both. 

    My wish for her today is that everyone click on the AlliMcNally link at the top of the page and go wish her a Happy Birthday.  Spread a little cheer and celebrate!

     

    And to you Allison, I wish for you today what I have wished for you every day since that day 23 years ago.  I hope you find happiness and contentment in whatever  you choose to be and wherever you are.   I Love you! mom.

     

August 17, 2005

  • From our fourth president: 


       "I believe there are more instances of
      the abridgement of the freedom of the
      people by gradual and silent encroach-
      ments of those in power than by violent
      and sudden usurpations."
    -JAMES MADISON


    If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
      --  James Madison


     



    "If you establish a democracy, you must in due time reap the
    fruits of a democracy.  You will in due season have great
    impatience of the public burdens, combined in due season with
    great increase of the public expenditure.  You will in due season
    have wars entered into from passion and not from reason; and you
    will in due season submit to peace ignominiously sought and
    ignominiously obtained, which will diminish your authority and
    perhaps endanger your independence.  You will in due season find
    your property is less valuable, and your freedom less complete."

    - Benjamin Disraeli-1804-1881 Prime Minister of England
           Speech in the House of Commons
      March 31, 1850


    So i say Hmm, what do say?


     



     

August 8, 2005

  • I feel terrible about being such a slug, slow, fat and lazy. not slimy and gross.  (No comment from the peanut section.)   But here it is anyway...the polite way to welcome new subscribers.


    Welcome to randumbness that is indigo.  And like I said sorry for the delay.  I'm pretty sure my middle name is procrastination and on my headstone it will say something along the lines of....scheduled for death Monday, but she was running late. 


    GcHsChEeR          Morgane          soonaquitter         Kallikrates          OneOddFrog     MysteriousKK         redshark1      richskitten


    Some of these fine bloggers I have known and read for a couple of years, some are new to me and I'm glad you found me so I could find you.  New friends are always welcome.


    Beginning randumbness...you were warned.


    Yesterday, Mike and I went to the post furniture store.  He was looking for a bed and I needed a microwave table.  Actually he needed more than a bed because he just moved into an unfurnished apartment and even though we all said we weren't going to spend a lot of money furnishing a place for just three years we all have.  But I digress.


    We were trying out the computer chairs when who walks in but Chief.  He had just spent the last 18 hours being hopped from place to place trying to get from Kandahar, Afghanistan back to Germany.  We haven't seen him for 5 months so it was a surprise to see him back.  He was looking for a bathroom when we ran into him and as we talked he mentioned he was only going to be here until Thursday and then he's going home to Oklahoma permanetly.  Next thing I know, I hear the words "you can stay with us" coming out of my mouth.  Even as I was saying it my brain is screaming, "Oh God you should discuss this with Bear first".  Chief was thrilled and immediatly said yes.....saves a week of gasthaus rent. 


    Mike and I both had left our cell phones at my place so I couldn't call and let Bear know I was bringing home a big Indian, so I had to just hope for the best.  We get home and I ran thru the door cheerily calling out...."Honey, I brought home a house guest."  He warily looks up from his book and then sees Chief behind me.  His face breaks out in a big grin and I knew then everything was going to be okay. 


    Why, oh why can't I seem to find the pause button on my mouth so my brain can catch up.  That's me though always bringing home strays and believe me when I say this, it doesn't always work out this good.


    By the way not only does Chief have 30 years Aircraft experience he also has a masters in American history with a focus on the American Native Tribes.  Bear says that's the reason we get along so well.  I like to think it's because I attract intelligent people. 


    This morning it was 8 celsius.  For those of you who need conversion of the temperature kind that 46.4 degrees farenheit.  I'm starting to wonder if we are going to have a summer at all.  I wish, right now as I sit huddled under my blanket in my warmest pajamas, that I could split the temperature difference between us and Texas.  I hear it's over 100 there.  We could add the two together and come out a cool 73 degrees both places.  Now that would be nice.  Mike has started calling me Nanette when we go out at night, cause I bundle up so heavy.  Nanette as in, the female version of Nanook of the North.  I admit that when I get cold it's hard for me to warm up again, but really the abuse I am forced to put up with.  lol. 



    Bear and Nanette.  Since this was taken in late April I should have had a clue on things to come.  Like I said earlier, I'm a little slow sometimes. 


    Okay here's some real randumbness for you.  File under  "Weird happenings at the house of indigo".  We bought a Braun coffe pot about 5 months ago.  Very nice with a carafe like an insulated thermos so we could just bring the whole thing into the living room.  (portable caffeine ummm.)  Anyway, the other day Bear gets up has his coffee and goes off to work.  A couple hours later at a much more decent hour, I get up go in to make my coffee and find this. 


      Not laying on its side ready for me to take a picture.  It was sitting on the unit.  I assumed Bear had dropped it or banged it against something and then just forgot to leave a note.  When he got home from work I asked "what happened to the coffee pot?"  By his blank look I knew he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.  So I showed him and we're still puzzling over that one.  Weird huh?


    Take some time today to be the one to say I love you.  Or I appreciate you.  Or I'm glad your my friend.  Unless you just can't stand'em and then say, "Skeev off!"    


     

August 5, 2005

  • My uncle died last night.  Please don't send any notes or E-Mails, I just need a couple of days.  I really appreciate every one of your thoughts and prayers.  I know he is in a better place and I think I'm grieving for my loss, not his.  Bear with me just a little longer, and then we won't talk about this again, okay!


     indie.