ragingmom

08:57 am: Time To Move On..
I'm trying to set up a new blog. I'm having miserable luck getting it set up, especially with the links. Links are the main reason I'm moving- several people have been kind enough to link this sorry site, and the least I can do is to return the favor. The new site is The Splatter Zone if you care to look or can help me with linky love!!

11:46 am: A Very Proud Day


No, not that guy!



THIS GUY!



Who gets to wear these!

Son, we are all so proud of you, and the outstanding man you have become. You are very loved.
XXOO

09:09 am: Cutest.Spider.Ever

06:26 am: Fingers Crossed
I'm sitting on pins and needles this morning, waiting to hear how my son has made out with the promotion board. I meant to ask everyone to please keep him in your thoughts, and then promptly forgot about the time difference. Do it anyway!

Sgt. Preston. Dang, for those of us old enough to remember, that has a very fine ring to it!

08:11 am: The Haunted (ahem) Mansion


The only thing missing at the moment is the black light, fog machine and various body parts strewn along the porch. Too bad you can't see the green eyed skeleton, shaking ghost and flying bat all hanging from the tree. I'll have more pictures of all our little ghosts and goblins tomorrow.

07:45 am: From my favorite Southern Gentleman comes this quote:
"We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or don't do, and more in the light of what they suffer."
Thanks for a moment of grace, Eric. My armor is burnished, sword at the ready, and several demons were banished this morning.

12:56 pm: Hiatus Not
I was going to quit blogging for a bit due to some unforeseen events that have transpired. My last post about mixing my diazepam with my whiskey turned out to be prophetic indeed, and I am blessed with a DUI. I'm not ready to write about that quite yet, but I do have a few words of wisdom for right now.
*Stop me if you've heard this before but- DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE. When they say it's a matter of when, not if, I am living proof of this since this is not the first one for me.
*If you are feeling crappy for one reason or another,your doc keeps switching around your meds to try to find one that helps, but none are, it might be okay to say, okay, I'd rather just deal with feeling like crap than deal with these God awful side effects. I'm STILL having docs try to convince me I need to take anti-depressants for my non-smoking anxiety, and I swear, their solution has been alot of the problem. Some people just can't take this stuff and I think I'm one.
No pity parties here- I have a huge shit sandwich on my plate right now, and I'm going to have to do say alot of things I don't want to. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, they say, so I think I am fast approaching being an Iron Maiden.
On a lighter note, I was thinking of being one of the patients from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for Halloween.

What, that's not funny?

01:58 pm: ANNOYANCE
I am annoyed. Pretty hard to believe, given this place's name and all.
My first annoyance came at 4:07 a.m.. I usually try to catch the weather channel at least once a morning; since I work in construction, it gives me a heads up on what to expect for the day.
4:08- no weather on the 8's
4:09- still no local weather
4:12- I know all I could possibly need to know about Hurricane Wilma, but have no idea how to dress for work today.
Lest anyone think I am unsympathetic to Bou or anyone else in Florida, I'm not, truly! Don't really understand why anyone would live in Hurricane Alley, but then again, I never expect anyone to ask me why I put up with snow and ice. I just need my weather, okay?

And courtesy of Misha,just to make my head launch off my shoulders:

Cindy Sheehan is going to tie herself to the fence of the White House when the casualty count for Iraq reaches 2000.

You just know what I'm going to post about next time, don't you? AFTER I mix my diazepam with my whiskey?

11:33 am: Pigs are once again flying over the frozen slopes of hell-
I'm wearing a Sox t-shirt!
Sorry to offend anyone, but I'm a Chicago fan period. Not of the city per se, but the sports teams, with the exception of the Bulls. It would have been just as good to me if the Cubs were in it, but since they're not....look folks, since when are we complaining about having an opportunity to have much drinking and partying going on with a local team in the World Series?? Get your priorites straight!

And true love? When you've fallen asleep on the couch, your significant die-hard-Cardinals-fan other has gone on up to bed, but left the Sox game on for you in case you wake up later.

11:33 am: I very rarely have days that I am content with how I look. Hell, I rarely have days when I give a shit about how I look! Come on, I work with truck drivers! Over the years, I have decided that they just aren't worth the effort of trying to not poke my eye out with the mascara wand at 4 a.m., and since I get dressed in the dark, I can only hope that my jeans are clean and my socks match. So it surprizes me when I am wearing clothes that make me happy.
It was cool enough this morning to get out my all time favorite sweater- a black cardigan with autumn leaves appliqued on it. It is definitely an old lady thing, but I make it work for me! And my little black boots! I have missed them so this summer! They are just plain black ankle lace-ups, but I love them. I have more boots than any other type of shoe- ropers, lace-up ropers, fancy cockroach killers, hiking, "combat" in both black and desert. I finally had to part with my quarry boots because they had become too disreputable.....but I digress. My hair actually looks like I have combed it and I found my skeleton pin! Yep, hanging from my granny sweater is a rhinestone skeleton.
Bedrock chic, I am.

07:39 am: Another Birthday
My eldest son turns 26 tomorrow. How I ever ended up with 6 kids between the ages of 21-26, I'll never know. 'Specially since I'm only 39.

Yep, going to hell for that one.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Tall Dark Brooding One! You've made it....interesting!!!!

06:57 am: Gratuitous Heiress Pics
God knows I try to keep the readers happy, all four of you, so since I had a request for baby pictures, here she is:



Such a BIG help in the kitchen while I was attempting not to burn dinner or her!

03:09 pm: I think this may be the last good weekend to see all the autumn color. It's not as spectacular as it could be due to being so dry this year, but still very beautiful. I will be out in it as much as possible and hopefully get some good pictures to post.
This is always my favorite time of year; so why this funk I've been in? I can't sleep at night. Should you be in the Northern Regions at night and find beings out wandering in the dark, hey, no worries. Ghosts generally don't wear sweat pants and t-shirts- it's just me and my nocturnal meandering. I'm quitting smoking on a daily basis- bad bad BAD- and I'm realizing the whole summer went by and I didn't do a damn thing around the homestead. Oh well.
Had a girl get together last night. It was actually an audit at one of our homes, that quarterly torture of making the ledger, bank statement, check book and investments all balance for the VFW Auxiliary. Add alcohol. Made for a much more enjoyable evening that lasted well past the paperwork. A few of the girls were telling stories on their husbands that had us all with tears running down our faces. If I can get their voices in my head (and all the other ones out!) I may try to post them. I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time. Stay tuned for tales of Gus the Snake Eating Dog and the Better Mouse Trap.

11:55 am: HIATUS
Years ago when I lived in Cave Creek, AZ, I had a friend by the name of Mick. If you have ever heard of the band Dokken, yes, Wild Mick Brown. Ever so often, Mick would show up at the local drinking establishments wearing a shirt that looked exactly like a White Sox jersey, same colors, style of lettering, everything. 'Cept it didn't say White Sox, it said Fuck You.

Life's message to me, on a baseball jersey.

03:04 pm: Courtesy of my brother, I have moose coming. Mmmmmm.....bullwinkle!

For the guys who want to know this: bull, 1400 lbs. before it was dressed, 42" rack. Oh, Canada.

I have heard elk is better, I don't know because I haven't had it. But moose is just damn tasty IMHO.

07:21 am: GREAT weekend to be a Chicago fan! We watched the end of the Bears game at the Pub; have to admit that I held my breath for the whole fourth quarter. Didn't get to watch the Sox, but I woke up at midnight to check the score and went back to bed with a happy.

Some weekends are great even when nothing earth shaking is going on. Had a few cocktails, um quite a few, with T1G and can honestly say, spending time with him is...intoxicating. Saturday was spent on duties domestic and a terrific phone call with the Germany offspring. He's doing well, getting ready for his promotion board and we're making some good plans for Christmas. Sarge and I went to Menard's on Sunday to pick up some essentials for Halloween: skull head tiki torches, a screaming fog machine and a few more headstones. Bwahahaha! Oldest son has decided on his costume- Captain Morgan. I don't think we can top that, but I'm open for suggestions.

11:05 am: Devil's Backbone
It had been a great night so far. The varsity football team had won again, cementing their place in the playoffs Down State, and Jake had played one of his best games ever. Now he was turning off the highway onto a gravel road that served as the local lover’s lane- with the unlikely name of Devil’s Backbone Road- with Claire Benson sitting right next to him in the pickup. Jake glanced behind him at the cooler and sleeping bag. Oh yeah, it was going to be a great night.
The clear night sky with a thousand stars gave way to a thick tangle of branches overhead. Devil’s Backbone made an L between one highway and another, the road hugging close to a ridge of sandstone that erupted from the ground like the twisted spine of giant unearthly beast. Years before, tales had been told of finding arrowheads and beads at the top of the ridge, that the Indians who had lived there so long ago had viewed this rock as sacred ground. In the dark, though, through the trees, it just looked…menacing.
None of that was on Jake’s mind as he backed his truck into an overgrown driveway. He had heard that there had once been a house at the end of this drive, reputed to be haunted. It was gone now, and the drive gave fairly good cover should any other cars come by. Jake slid a CD in the stereo and Kenny Chesney started singing about no shoes, no shirts. Jake was hoping for a whole lot more coming off before the night was over as Claire snuggled closer. He reached behind his seat to grab a couple of beers and handed one to Claire. As he twisted the top off, his gaze passed over the ditch that ran along the road at the end of the drive. Something-someone? - was rising up from the ditch. Jake grabbed Claire tightly as they both watched in terrified silence at what appeared to be young woman climbing up to the driveway. She looked to be about their age, but neither of them had seen her before. Her summer dress blew lightly in the cold autumn air. Slowly she walked towards the pickup until she stood in front of Jake’s window. Just as slowly, Jake turned his head.
“You need to leave here. Bad things happen here,” she whispered.
Jake tried to speak, but his voice shook badly. “Who are you?”
The girl looked troubled, as if the question was beyond her to answer. She shook her head and said, “I’m…I was…my name is Mary. But please! Go now before he comes.”
Tears might have been in the girl’s eyes as she turned back towards the road; it was too dark to tell. But the sound of a car approaching was unmistakable. It stopped at the end of the drive where the girl now stood. What little light there was showed the profile of a bubble rack on top of the car. A police car, it had to be, Jake thought, but the shape looked odd, and wasn’t the county driving SUV’s now anyway?
Claire clung even more closely to him, softly crying. “Jake, are we in trouble? Are we trespassing? Is it the beer?” she sobbed.
At that moment, a man emerged from the car. The girl just stood there, as if this was a scene that had been played through many times before. The man grabbed her by the shoulder and roughly spun her around. His hand came up and the silhouette of a pistol pointed at the back of the girl’s head. There was a flash of light and a sharp crack as he pulled the trigger. The girl fell and tumbled into the ditch.
Pistol at his side, a glint of metal on his chest, the man looked from the ditch to the pickup.
“I think we’re in a lot more trouble than that, Claire,” Jake whispered.

********************************************************************************

from this article published August 25, 2005:

OREGON -- They might never discover who killed Mary Jane Reed 57 years ago, but Ogle County authorities said Wednesday that the process to exhume her body quelled long-standing rumors that have bounced around their small town.


Like rumors that her head wasn't buried with her body or that a gun was buried in the casket. Both proved false when her casket was opened Tuesday after it was exhumed from Daysville Cemetery in Oregon.


Officials were surprised to find her body mostly intact. She was buried with all of her bones; organs and flesh still covered her body.


Mary Jane, then 17, was slain in 1948 along with her date, 28-year-old Rockford Navy veteran Stanley Skridla. The killings were never solved.


There's been no talk of exhuming Skridla's body, which is buried in Rockford, and authorities said Wednesday they didn't find any evidence that pointed them toward Mary Jane's potential killer. Many of the people who knew about the case or potential suspects are dead.


"Even if we came up with something positive, I'm not sure we've got any place to go," said Ogle County Sheriff Mel Messer, who noted that he was 11 years old when Mary Jane was killed.


"I would be extremely happy to walk away and say I was the sheriff who solved the 50-year-old murder case. I'm not sure that's gonna happen or if it ever will."

Some of my story is true, some is pure fiction and some is based on rumor. Devil's Backbone Road is pretty much as I have described it. My mom did find Indian beads there when she was little, and my husband swears that when that house was still standing, he saw a skeleton in the closet. Personally, I think he was either drunk or trying to scare the hell out of a date. Mary Jane Reed's body was dumped in the ditch on Devil's Backbone Road. She wasn't found until 3 or 4 days after she was killed. I've never heard any names mentioned in connection with her murder, but it was widely rumored that either someone in law enforement did it or was covering it up for someone else.

Hope you enjoyed that! I peed my pants writing it!

08:23 am: I've got alot I'd LIKE to post about today, time permitting. But first, the birthday boys!

Eric is celebrating his birthday today. Stop by and wish him a good one. The man's eloquence is legendary!

And tomorrow, Dunklezahn celebrates the 24th year he has blessed my life in so many ways. His past three birthdays have been less than festive, the last one being spent in Iraq, so grab the beverage of choice and say a toast for him! Two more months til I get to hug the stuffin' out of him!

01:11 pm: The Unspeakable!
Oh the travesty! The sense of betrayal! When I came home last night, my granddaughter, my Beloved Heiress was wearing a friggin' PACKERS outfit! IN MY HOUSE!!
How could someone do that to a child?
It's obvious action must be taken and a stern message sent. From now on, there will be extra clothes for the poor little thing at my house, all appropriately Bear emblemed, and should she ever have to suffer the shame of having to wear Packer OR Cardinal Crap ever again, I will be able to send her home dressed as a little girl from HELLO!!! ILLINOIS should be. I can't tolerate such sacrilege!

11:22 am: I was hanging out at Jack Army's and found this little gem. I'm going to give you just a taste, which I know two of my children will appreciate:



(snort)
Ausfahrt!