Big Ass Dog

Last night all hell broke loose when a Big Ass Dog showed up in our yard after supper. It drove Ghost, our dog, and Dixie (Mr. M's and Mrs. C's dog) crazy. Our dog is an average-sized dog, but this dog made her look little in comparison:

He appears to be a pit bull mix, and like I said, he is one BIG ASS DOG. And he is in heat; and Dixie is not fixed. Now Dixie is a Tsih Tsu as I have mentioned before, or as I like to call her, Little Shit. Big Ass Dog would go to smell her, and she would begin yipping in his face, making him jump straight in the air off his feet.

This dog is somebody's baby. He has been howling and crying all night, scratching at the door, whimpering, and being just pitiful. Trying to find the owner to no avail...

The dog is a ball of energy. I don't think he is much older than a year or two--too much puppy still in him. He won't sit still. The only time I managed to get a good picture of him was when he was flowering the weeds:

As said, Big Ass Dog is a handsome fellow, and someone out there is probably missing him dearly. This county does not have a humane society or a dog pound, so there is really no place to take him. In the mean time, Little Shit is yip-barking non-stop, and Ghost is ready for him to leave her property (she thinks this is her property and runs everyone off: mailmen, garbagemen, and any visitor she hasn't met yet). Having this big brute of a dog in the yard is disconcerting to her.

Hopefully, we will find its home. There are lots and lots of stray dogs and cats in this county, as people tend to just drop them off on the side of the road.

Fingers-crossed that this is not the case with this dog. Seems unlikely, as he is a nice dog. He could have chomped Little Shit in two, but he is actually a little intimidated by Her Highness. Guess we will see....maybe he is an alien....

Giant Woody

Okay, mind out of the gutter for a moment. On this overcast Easter morning, I was reading all the blogs I follow when I caught sight of something BIG out of the corner of my eye.

The computer is in the kitchen, and there is a glass slider door off to the side. The BIG something was one of these:

I tried to take a picture of it, but the bird was camera shy and I couuldn't get a good shot. Soooo, I went to my source for everything, the World Wide Web, and discovered that the huge woodpecker is, in fact, a Pileated Woodpecker. I learned that over the last 2 centuries, their numbers greatly declined with the increase in logging, but the ingenious birds have learned to adapt and are making a comeback. Yeah!

These birds are beautiful, and I am so glad I got to see one up close. It is larger than a crow, but not as big as the buzzards that seem to be everywhere (ugh).

It is wonderfully quiet right now. Not like 3 hours ago at 6am, when the yipping dog from hell woke me up. Dixie is a bona-fide bitch. She is a shih tzu, but I just call her a shit. Grrrrrrrrrr!

I guess I can't complain, as it got my butt out of bed so that I would be up to see the giant woody. And I had computer time to not only post this post, but to get my essay assignment turned in--yay me!

The honeysuckle is in bloom, so I shant stay mad long. I do get grumpy when I miss my beauty sleep....

Happy Easter, everyone.

Beautimus

Okay, so that is technically not a word, but that is what the day was like today. It is sunny and 68 degrees outside as we speak. The trees are starting to bud, and Jonquils are already popping up all over the place.

I took Ms. Carol to Tuscaloosa again today--we joked that the car should know its way by now so we could just put the seats back and nap on the ride. She had her stitches taken out, but had another section that the surgeon decided needed to be stitched up. She has become a human pin cushion. Needless to say, that means another trip back to T-town to get those stitches out.

We saw lots of baby farm animals on the drive as well: lambs, kids, calves and foals. So darned cute when they are that size.

The one thing that was not beautimus is all the litter on the sides of the roads. I have noted that in the South, they just chuck stuff out the car window, or dump unwanted stuff on the side of the road or down in a gully. It sure is an eyesore. While Ms. Carol slept on the way home, I was composing the anti-litter campaign slogan for Alabama: "Give a damn, Alabam'!"

I have watched the most genteel of ladies throw a used tissue out the car window. What is up with that? I am baffled at the attitude. Do they not see how ugly the trash looks on the side of the road? Do they not know how beautiful this state could be? It breaks my heart to see such apathy. I have spoke to a few Alabamians who were born and raised here, and it is almost like they are proud of how trashy Alabama looks. One even said it keeps the Yankees out...Wow.

I love Alabama. I really do. I just wish that those who lived here were proud enough of their state to keep it picked up...

Okay, off my soapbox. I need to run to Millport and get Mr. Mike his antibiotics.

Keepin' it real!

Please Let this be the last...

These are pictures from just three days ago. The last of it just melted. Hell, we came to Alabama to get AWAY from this shit! Instead, Alabama is getting more snow than they have in ages. We lived here for 10 years, and we didn't have any snow that actually lasted more than a day during that entire time period, and it was never more than an inch deep; this year, we have had three snows that have stuck around for two days or more. UGH!


We had just returned from taking Ms. Carol to her umpteenth appointment in T-town Wednesday when the skies opened and it began to snow like there was no tomorrow.
Well, there was a tomorrow, and this is what it looked like on Thursday morning:



Sorry for not rotating the last image, but I wanted to include it to show that there was over 4 inches of snow on the ground. Geez!

Carol and I went and got our hair cut in Columbus on Thursday afternoon. She treated as a thank you for all our help. I had the stylist lop off about 4 inches. Sure felt good to have those old dead ends off! My hair is now shoulder length again. I colored it today, so it is like a whole new head of hair!

The boys went off today. I have a ton of reading to do, and Ms. Carol didn't want to go if I wasn't going. I hope they are having fun. I know Mr. Mike can kind of be a demanding pain in the butt, but I think it is good for both of them to have some time away from their "old ladies".

Felt like taking a much needed break before my brain explodes from my statistics chapter on finding margin of error in a sample population. Do I know what that even means?

I made a yummy supper of purple hulls, cornbread, and turnip greens. Mmmmmmmmm. Also made two round white cakes: one plain for Bud, and the other I am going to fancy up with cherry pie filling and whipped cream.

Looking forward to the 70 degrees that is predicted for Thursday. Now THAT is what I am talking about!

Ala-frickin-bama

We made it in one piece, been here a whopping three days, and now it is going to do that 4-letter "s" word. That is why we came back South--to get away from that shit!

We are staying with friends right now, and are darned thankful for it. Carol just had by-pass surgery, and her significant other (common law hubby) is in the hospital recovering from a stroke, among other things. They are obviously worse off than we are, so we are helping them out as much as they are helping us by out by providing a roof over our heads.

Bud is about over the edge because the tv stays on 24-seven, and it is BORING as all get out. He is antsy for me to get a j-o-b so we can get our own place. Speaking of our own place, we no sooner get back in Pickens County and the folks that bought our old house are calling saying that we are back with ulterior motives. PAY THE DAMN MORTGAGE AND YOU WON'T HAVE TO WORRY! Neither one of us want the house back after they have lived their. I cringe when I think of how bad it might be (might? HAHAHAHAHA)

We did talk to a gentleman who has about 7 houses he rents out, but all are occupied at the moment. He said he has a trailer that may come available soon, and he would let us know...hopefully sooner than later!

My back has been giving me fits and starts. Hurts like a son of a b*tch. I spend half of my day on the heating pad, and I am keeping Goody's Powders in business at this point. Not sure what this is, since it is my whole back. Sometimes, it is even my ribcage and neck. I would say pleurisy, but I was JUST at the ER, and had x-rays. Surely they would have seen it if it was pleurisy...ugh. I just know I am tired of hurting and tired of complaining about hurting.

I am going to get my resume out there and keep my fingers crossed. Say a little prayer!

I am hoping we don't get the predicted weather: 2-6 inches of snow, and 1/2 inch of freezing rain on top of it. YEEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWW!!

Something has got to give...