I Cried - Just Saying

I had recorded the 9/11 shows from Sunday evening while I was watching the Cowboys game.  And no I didn't cry for the game, although it was soooo not the way I wanted it to turn out.  OK, so we are 0-1 right off the bat.  We will get over it.  But it seemed a bit trivial that night, they were in NY, they were playing NY, there were memorials going on all around them.  NY won in NY, on a day when NY was remembering the worst day of all its lifetime.  I'm good.

Later, after that night I watched a couple of the shows, still haven't had time to watch them all.  People connecting with the people who helped them or saved them on that day.  Even soldiers/veterans who went to war after that in Afghanistan and survivors working today together on the rebuilding.  Several times I cried a little, but when I watched the kids who were born after their fathers had died on that day, I cried like a baby. 

Let me tell you, there were several times watching these kids, listening to them, seeing their pics right beside the pics of their dads and how much they looked alike.  It was so cool.  One little girl said, "I love him, I never met him, but I know that I love him."

I really, really cried when they showed the woman and her child that were Muslim and she too had lost her husband in the towers.  He was a waiter in the restaurant on one of the top floors, when he had come to America he was a physicist and gave it up to move his family to freedom in America.  It told how she had been treated badly because she was and they didn't realize she was a widow of the attack with children who had lost their father.  What really got me was that when she lost him she didn't know how to drive a car.  I know, sounds silly, but it showed how she immediately took driving lessons and had film of her getting her first driver's license.  While the man was talking to her, giving it to her, she could not help but cry.  It got me.

I could only imagine how overwhelmed she was living in a new country, then losing her husband, I imagined she felt so alone.  Her children were fatherless, she lost her man, she was receiving anger and she didn't know how to drive.  I imagined that all of that culminated and combined with the joy of getting her first driver's license overwhelmed her at that moment.  Being proud that she had succeeded, being sad that he wasn't there with her to see it or share it with her.  I am sure that is how I would have responded.

Wow, this past week or so we have been inundated with reminders of how precious life is, how short it can be, how trivial some of our worries are and how much we have to be thankful for and really, really important, we are sharing in something that happened to all of us.  Their losses touched us, this thing that happened affected all of us in many different degrees.  I am glad to feel these feelings, to see their feelings to learn more and more each time I watch these shows.  There was much I didn't know and so much going on now and I gain knowledge continually that I am glad that I gain. 

I was in NYC 9 months before 9/11 and I was there 6 months after.  I plan to go after 2012, after they finish the museum and the Transit.  I, like many people I know and I am sure that feel as if they were there, that are proud to be an American during this time and I want to pay my respects to all those who lost their lives and those who lost their loved ones.  It is all a very huge and life altering event that happened in my lifetime, in my country, to my people.  Nothing bad happened to me personally, to my body that day, but I will forever feel that on that day, strangers, people I didn't know, became like family to me.  It happened to them, it happened to all of us.

Just Saying.

Jin, Now John - Lost Is Migrating - But Caan Started It For Me - Hawaii 5-0

Hawaii Five-0 - Redone - I like it a lot.

I started watching it because of Scott Caan, love him, love his father!  Alex O'Loughlin is no slouch either!  But Caan is what drew me.  I remember the old one (100 years ago, my mom watched it, maybe Jack Lord was her "value add"), but this is new and updated and worth the watch.  Using Grace Park as the lead female is a very good choice, she is believable in her role.  Not just a cosmetic add, but a believable part.  I like her demeanor, her facial expressions, her portrayal of the emotions and attitudes are good for the part.

But I watched intermittently and now I will probably watch it much more consistently.  Why?  Because John is joining the cast.  If you haven't noticed, John, Terry O'Quinn from Lost is joining the cast - Yousa!

So if not happy enough that Daniel Dae Kim is on the show already, Jin from Lost, who is great to watch and is great casting.  Now John is on his way!  Yeah, I should be calling him Terry, but no, he is John.

Lost is one of the greatest TV shows ever, the writing was absolutely, insanely genius and John was one of the greatest stars in that show.  From the previews, it appears they are playing to that great role base as he had in Lost and maybe even better.  I will be watching!

I want to see almost every actor from Lost on prime time again.  Wow, needs to be, needs to be.  Can anyone say Yes we want to see Sawyer every week??? 

And another target of my attention - Sayid??  Oh yeah he needs to be on some show every week, I say NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles or even something to that caliber.

 Even Benjamin has a new show coming this season, wondering... Value add:  Jim Cavezel co-stars.

Off the subject completely, but hello!  Oded Fehr should be on my TV every week also.  Although he is pretty high caliber to the nth and should be in more movies really.

Mummy

Resident Evil

Just had to throw him in the  mix - Value Add!

Remember Jericho and Heroes - I believe those shows were victims of the writer's strike, I liked those.

Back to H50 and John - looking forward to seeing John in a new show, one that I already like!

Be Happy People!  Who or what is your Value Add??  Cinematically speaking, of course!

I Will Never Forget - My 9/11

First of all - today is all about remembering 9/11.  I have several of the television events recording and I haven't watched a whole one yet.  But I am glad of them all and I remember.  I was in Norwich, CT that day, I flew there on 9/10.  At the time I was flying every or every other week and it was sobering to see my form of travel used in this horrible way.  My colleagues, 3 of them, were all flying as much and 2 of them were coast to coast'ers.  They had homes in CA and flew consistently to the East coast.  Their possibility of being on one of those flights were greater than mine flying Texas to East. 

I was in the service desk in Norwich when I walked by a monitor room and saw way too many people in that room staring up at the top monitor, a tv showing the first tower just hit.  I stopped as several others did and my first utterance was "was that a commercial plane?"  My thoughts were fast and scrambled.  I had a conference call meeting just about to start and took off for the conference room, where only one person joined me.  On my way to that room, I got a call on my cel phone.  It was my very upset daughter, my kids knew I flew every week, but I did not send out an itinerary to them every week.  So of course they were panicked about me and where I was this day and was I on a plane.  Reassuring her with instructions to let others know I am ok, I talked to one of the other two, and my mom and sister before the cel phones stopped working.

The meeting didn't last long, only 3 others joined, one to say that our clients, defense companies, were on lock down and business would not go as usual today.  I told the one girl in the room with me to go and connect with her family and I left quickly and went back to my hotel room.  I arrived just in time to see on the news the second plane had hit.  I used the landline phone in my room to speak with family again and try to find out about my colleagues and their safety.

Let's stop a moment for feelings...  I was shocked and scared.  I was very close to NYC and very far from home and my family.  I like millions of others, could not make any sense out of this and had never felt this way before.  No real reasoning, but I wanted to go home, be home already.  I was alone in a hotel room about 45 minutes from Hartford, where my mode of transportation was no more.  Where my twice weekly vehicle was used 4 times, so far, as a shocking, massive weapon against innocent people, against me and my country.  I wanted to be home.

There was so much uncertainty about the events and what was actually happening, and kept happening, one after the other, after the other.  It was more than my mind could compute and I wasn't alone.  I was preparing for the possibility of driving my rental car back to Texas.  As truly an unexpected, unprecedented event, all flights were grounded and airports were closed.  I was booked to fly home on Thursday which wasn't going to happen.  My project manager was from Dallas and talked me into staying one more night and if I had not changed my mind or events escalated, she would drive home with me.

I was glued to the television in my room and told many, I am not working today and I may not work tomorrow.  As it turned out, the next day, events had stopped escalating even though the horror of it all continued.  Of course, all of our flights had been cancelled for the week and none of us went home.  I was safe, my family was safe and we decided to just stay in CT until the next week.

One week and 1 day later, Wednesday night before I was to fly back to Texas on Thursday, I was very nervous.  I wasn't afraid of flying, I was afraid of how I would feel walking through the security, through the boarding line, stepping onto that airplane and ultimately sitting in my seat on that plane.  I truly had no idea how I was going to feel or react.  Was I afraid I was going to die, no.  I was afraid of how I was going to feel, sounds the same, but it is different.

I was not afraid I was going to die, odd, I know.  I was afraid I was not going to be able to fly again.  I flew almost every week with my job, that plane was my car, my commute to work.  I was afraid I would not be able to sit there without all those visions of events on that fateful day running through my mind.  That I would not be able to fly without those things in my head every time, driving me crazy and making this very normal commute impossible for me to continue.

So on that Thursday, September 20, I believe, there were three of us going to the newly opened airport in Hartford, CT.  And as we got there, many hours early on that day, 4, I think, my mind totally and without effort refocused.  Curious of course about the new security measures, standing in line with hundreds of other people that I expected was feeling the tension.  But past security, my mind, my body, all of me, relaxed into normalcy.  I called my mom, as I did before every flight.  And as I did every time, I asked her to pray for my safety and I would call her after I landed.  She said, without any change in her happy self said, I will, I love you, glad you are coming home.

I stepped onto that plane, took my seat and had no fear.  It was like getting into my own car after seeing a bad wreck.  All was normal.  This was a big thing.  Did I look around as I was boarding, looking at the people on my flight, yes.  I think we all knew what each other was thinking, feeling, but with no words.  I flew home that day and regarding flying with my job, I never skipped a beat.

Did it change all of our lives forever, yes.  Did I live in fear, no.  Did my packing and security change forever, yes, but all for the good.  I was with my sister the other day, out and about and I chuckled when I reached into my purse and pulled my zip lock bag out to find my lip stuff.

Times have changed and they will keep changing.  God Bless America, land that I love.  And God bless all those who lost their lives and those who lost loved ones on that day.  I will never forget.

Watch for the commercial with the New York school kids singing "New York" to the firefighters, I cried.  It was great!  Smiles, hope, definitely shows 10 years of moving forward, great.

It is interesting that My Cowboys play their first game tonight in New York.  We're baaaack...  I love the Ryan match up factor, of course Rob is my favorite!!!  More on the Cowboys first regular season game later!

PS:  Jr is in the chase! :)

Happy Labor Day People!

Iconic day and of course, National holiday honoring workers that helped to build a country.  A holiday to commemorate labor forces, economic and social contributions of workers.  There is more history behind it, but let's move on.

Unofficial end of summer, the "official" don't wear white after this day for women.  I am thinking the invention or use of "winter white" came into use as an alternative because of this.  There are many that have rebelled and rallied against this "rule" but, nope, it is still here!

School used to start at or near this day.  Football starts around this time.  And this year even the weather in Texas paid attention to this day, the end of about 68 days of over 100 degree temps ended just yesterday.

This has been and probably for decades to come, a prelude to our now iconic 9/11 anniversary.

I have been recording and have watched several documentaries about the past, present and future of 9/11.  What happened that day, what has been done since that day and the plans for the future.

I was a constant flyer back then and was in CT on that day, so it was, like everyone, a day I won't forget.  No, I am not being morbid, but the memories and seeing facts I did not see or know 10 years ago, I have found very interesting.  I am glad I recorded and watched.  This happened in my lifetime, I will never forget it, nor do I want to.

I really very much enjoyed watching the "Rising:" series about the rebuilding.  If you get a chance to see these, do it.  They were on the Science channel and very good and informative.  So many things I am glad to know now.  And I cannot wait until it is all finished and I plan to go to NYC to see the things shown and talked about on this series.  I will find the pear tree, I want to see it.  I wish I could meet the man that was there when it was found and made sure of its future at the memorial being built.  The new and beautiful Transit Center is going to be amazing.

The way the architects and master planner moved the buildings to align the yearly September 11 sunlight to the North Tower footprint every year and keep the sunlight between the moments of the first tower hit and the last tower's fall unobstructed to the memorial just impressed me.

The pure, near impossible, multi-project choreography in itself is quite impressive.  Definitely a testament to the Labor forces of today.  But then again, so are you and I, right?  At some point, laboring, doing something to help build America.  In some way or another, building or supporting those who are, have been and will be part of the continuous building of America.

God Bless America, land that we love!  Stand beside her and guide her, through the night, with a light from above...

Have a fun, safe and happy holiday people!  Honor your country and the people that labored, that sacrificed to build it!  Whatever country you are from!

Country Strong - I Hope You Dance!

Boy nothing like opening a movie with Silver Wings to grab a girl who grew up on and loves country music and country dancing.  Even showed the old two-step, all be it seriously weak, it was real.  I hate when they do the fake country dancing on shows, movies and even broadway, learn it right or leave it alone!

Movies like this take me back and it was good.  The story base is all too known, the fall from stardom, and all the tawdry side stuff.  But it was a good movie, and the music and the actors were good.  Who doesn't love Tim McGraw acting, standing there, singing, just standing there, smiling, almost crying or just... standing there (he didn't sing in the movie) and I have long since blessed Gweneth's newly introduced singing talent.  And she can act, of course.

Bo, didn't look up his real name, has that sultry low southern man voice, singing not grand but good, and his acting chops made up for it.  His care and connection to Kelly was so real and believable, it really made up a large part of the movie.

The young girl singer, still no name, played the cliche I wanna be a singing star part, but that is exactly the way is was meant to be in this movie.  So she did well.

It kept turning corners and you can't help but root for all the happy ending pieces... I won't spoil it.

Not a blockbuster, I liked it, I re-wound and got up and living room danced to the good songs.  I think I will buy the CD.

So I am going to take this movie about the fall of a singer, and make it all about me and what I got...  The music, and with country music comes dancing and the memory lane.  I love, love, love country dancing, always have, just don't do it much anymore, at all.  It is riding a bicycle-like, you never forget how. 

But I don't frequent the places I used to so that I can do this.  I remember fondly though, after peanut-harvesting, when I was a kid, all the folks would go to the barn and pull out the guitars, fiddles, mandolins and it was exhilarating to say the least, what a celebration.  Just the beginning.  Stock show every year, in the Roundup, rodeo ok, bull riding good, dancing great!

Now people, don't go putting me in this box or that, I also grew up on american bandstand, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Carol King, Joplin, Ray Price, Steppenwolf, and many, many more.  We would rock at the VA Hall on Friday night after the football game to our own home town rock band.  And go to the nearest town's rodeo and street dance the next night.  Life was a dance and I participated every chance I got.

And I am not that old, I had my own record player when I was 6 and was a true bandstand fan at that time.  So I guess you can say I started young.  At the same time, I also had the pleasure of my parent's old lp's, Lefty Frizell, Jimmy Rodgers, Hank Williams and so many more.

Good times people, good times.  I hope you dance!!!

Step It Up Why Don't I??? I'mmmmm Baaaack!

I just looked and it has been 13 days since I posted!!!  That is soooo not going to do...

I hate that!  I have been under the weather and lately that could mean wrapped by 107 degrees and suffocating!!!

I think I have rounded a corner on this sick spell and feel like accelerating!  Man I hate being down and out and sick and tired, so dustin' off those blues and moving it along, today!

So here is my pic of today...

God is Great!

Life is Good!

Fall is on its way!

Football is back!

Jr is not out of the chase ... yet!

It is going to cool off soon so Vic and I can go rock our new Ranger shirts and caps!

And I probably won't figure out the plot to my life until I am dancing Streets Of Gold!

Speaking of dancing - keep a look out for my Country Strong review!!!

BE HAPPY PEOPLE!!!  EVEN WHEN YOU ARE SIDELINED FOR A BIT OR LONGER!!!

Good Grief - Can We Stop With The 100s Already???

44 days over 100 this year so far, 38 of those days were consecutive...  Can we say dying, dying, dead.

I think I got 3rd degree burns just from my daughter's car seat the other day!

Don't leave kids and animals in the car!!!  Can't believe you actually have to keep saying that out loud.
Even with your normal yard animals, leave big, big containers of water that they cannot turn over outside for them!  My sister has kid pool for her puppies filled all the time, especially because one of them, sweet sweet buddy, doesn't have the sense not to dump his water bowl the second you fill it up for him.

I went to Michigan a couple of weeks ago and they were having a heat emergency for temps in the 90s!  It is all over the place!  It is a lot more humid there than here in FW too.

In Fort Worth, here, I am crying uncle!  I am officially praying for rain and temps under 90!  And will continue to do so until we can actually go outside and play without fear of heat strokes and melting.  Literally, the all natural look is back, you cannot wear makeup out in this!  It just melts away or should I say down your face or on the towel, kleenex, whatever to keep your face dry.  And you might as well start the day with your hair in a pony tail, it will end up in one anyway!

Ok, ok - whoo hoo for the pools but again, seriously 108 outside and even if you are in a pool, you are breathing very bad air.  Not to mention the sun rays.  Even pool time should be minimal for health reasons.  I cannot imagine letting your kiddos stay in the pool for hours in this heat.  I still want a pool in my yard too though.  I would make good use of it I promise!!!!

Water levels are dropping fast...  And soon the sprinklers I see going are going to be forced to stop or at least slow down considerably.

Enough with the negative, we have had record heat, now let's have some record low temps for Aug/Sept!
I believe, I believe, I believe!  I claim lower temps and rain in the forecasts and soon!!!!  Wait for it..., wait for it....

Am I used to this, yes I am, do I gripe every year, yes I do, will I move - duh - no.  I will just keep living through it and continue to give my opinion on it - every year!

Be happy people, make sure you are safely cool and check on those who may not get the help they need with their air conditioning!  Find a fan or air conitioner donation center and help those who cannot help themselves!!!

Oh yeah and pray for rain and low temps!!!  They are a' comin' !!!!

God Bless Wonderful George

George is our cousin, and he passed away today.  He was truly a wonderful, wonderful good man.  Very surprising, heart issues, but unexpected.  My heart truly hurts for his wife, my cousin Deb and the whole family.  I pray blessings on them and pray for many many needs met that his absence will create.

I love this family very dearly and his smiling wonderful attitude and just plain fun person will leave a hole in a lot of lives.

Love you George!

I'm Kind Of Back

Gone out of state for Project and back now - lots of little things to report like lost luggage - later...

Had a little surgery and that is really affecting me right now.  I am tired of the constant nagging pain and even tired of the pain killer brain.  Good grief, I want my own mind back, but I am getting there.

Just in time to complain about the heat, figure out the whole football thing, etc, etc...

I have had a barrage of friends and family taking care of me during this owie time and I will be thanking them so much from the bottom of my heart for their care!  What a great support group I have.

So, slowly but surely I will rise to my regular Moody self and get to writing again.

Right now Mood is I want to rip this packing out and not have to think about pain or pills anymore for now - sick of it, isn't there like a one week time limit - wouldn't that be nice!  OK one week down, pain stops now!  I cannot eat real food, did good for awhile, now I just don't want to eat at all, nothing tastes good anymore and I am done.

Will try my best not to complain on next blog and will be blogging again, respit is over!

Be happy people!  Great drugs are not near as great as having your own mind in place and working on its own!

TV - BB, Etc...

Yes I admit it, I watch Big Brother...  Do I think it is stupid, ridiculous, aggravating and insane sometimes?  Yes, I do!  But I watch it anyway.  Remember I DVR, so I can FF if I want!

Also Survivor, SYTYCD, Amazing Race and such.  I think it is the competition, the voting and the elimination of it all.

For Drama, I love Bones, Closer, Falling Skies, CSI NY, a few to mention.  I all around love Gary Sinise.

Do I have time to watch them all, all the time, no, that is why I have DVR, so I have to catch up from time to time.  Dramas are off season for the most part right now anyway.

The best ever is gone now, Lost.  Amazing writing.

I am spending way too much time working lately and not seeing any movies of late.  But I will!!!  And I will definitely be critiquing them...

Be patient my Moodier's, work will slow down soon and I will be back to my story telling, editorializing, commentating self!!!

Be Happy People!  If you are in Texas and Arizona, turn up the air conditioning and beware of the bill!!!

Blast! Tire blew!

Darn it, Jr was in 8th and blew a tire and a whole front right of car!  Blast!

Kind of sick today, just watching race...  how exciting am I?

My Take On The Trial

It is typical that I didn't have to say what trial.  First I must say that I am so heartbroken that these circumstances happened to a sweet, beautiful, innocent child.  My heart can barely stand it.  I still have no idea what happened exactly.  And in my opinion, the mass may never know.  And that is a big point.  God knows, someone else knows. 

I have read the posts, the tweets, I have watched the news and many, many opinions on this trial.  I even watched pieces of the trial.

I want to speak from a juror's point of view.  I have been on several juries and it is not something one takes lightly.  In the country we live in we depend on the trials.  We trust in the trials, sometimes we don't agree, but there is a process we believe in, it is our base for justice.  It, at one time, did away with lynch mobs.  There is a reason we have court, judges, lawyers and juries.  We may not always agree with what happens, but it is our way.  The way that we as US citizens, law abiding citizens have chosen.  We don't allow taking the law into our own hands, we cannot shoot the people we hate because of what we think they did.  And even if we know what they did.

The statement of "you know she/he did it" doesn't fly with a jury.  The prosecution has to prove it beyond reasonable doubt.  That is a fact.  "The standard that must be met by the prosecution's evidence in a criminal prosecution: that no other logical explanation can be derived from the facts except that the defendant committed the crime, thereby overcoming the presumption that a person is innocent until proven guilty."

Some people dodge jury duty.  At a space of time in my life, I got called all the time.  And every single time I got picked.  I didn't try to get picked, I was missing my job for days and once, for weeks at a time.  But they ask all the potential jurors a bunch of questions, I answered them and I got picked.  One was a grand jury.  And they weren't simple, a couple were considered controversial.  As a juror, you have to do the job and there are rules to abide by.  I, for one, did not take this job lightly.  It is serious stuff to sit and listen for days or weeks to people talking, people lying, people affirming and swearing.  To this side of the story and that side of the story.  And then decide on someone's fate.

Bottom line is they have to prove the act, they have to present facts, a compelling case is not good enough.  Presenting a theory is not good enough, you have to convince the jury, you have to prove your case.

If people of harsh opinion could put themselves in that juror's shoes, they would blast them less.  You don't convict a person because everyone will hate you if you don't.  There is a reason they sometimes sequester juries.  You cannot allow yourself as a juror to allow hearsay or even person's character to taint the facts or lack thereof.  You cannot convict on assumption of guilt or you feel like they must be guilty or it sounds like they could be guilty, odds are they are guilty, that would be wrong. 

It is a huge responsibility to be one of those jurors.  And pressure from the mass cannot be a deciding factor, not one bit.

Many times, persons have been convicted on assumption and years later DNA proved otherwise.  I love the use of DNA, isn't DNA great!

No one is arguing that the guilty must be punished, but guilt must be proven, not felt.  Circumstantial, possible, theoretic information is not proof.  Burden of proof is on the prosecution, that is why the smart ones wait until they have irrefutable proof before prosecuting a case.  In my opinion, the convicting evidence was long gone, deteriorated, missing.  They gave a theory and circumstantial evidence a shot and it failed.  I would guess they expected this as a posibility, seriously.

Am I sad that no one knows what happened, yes I am.  But fact is we don't.  And if I am a juror, I am not going to guess or assume. 

A person may be crazy, irresponsible, and even a horrible mother or person in the minds of the mass.  Murder wasn't proven, couldn't be proven.  Do I think something is wrong with this girl, yes I do, very much so.  Do I think she murdered her child, I don't know and what I think doesn't matter.  I really don't know and that is the point here, we don't know and the evidence couldn't tell us what happened like it usually does.  Therefore, we still don't know.

Not guilty means not guilty, was there foul play, yes, but she was acquitted.  I hope someone doesn't feel they need to administer their own justice.  It sounds like some want to, I am hearing a lot of vicious hatred spewing around.  But that would be taking the law into their own hands, that would be breaking the law.

I like the suggestion of one person who posted, push for a law that would require a parent, legal guardian, responsible adult to have a set number of hours to report a missing child or they could be convicted of set charges...  This would have produced one conviction in this case besides lying to officials.
That is a good idea.

That is what we do in America, we see a need for a law, we get after getting one set, so it will be in place when we need it.  We see a bad law, we get after getting it changed.

It is hard to say be happy when a child has suffered so horribly.  But try your best not to hate, you are the one that will be harmed by that.  Remember hatred is like cancer, it is hard to get rid of before it consumes you.

Protect your babies, love your kiddos and try not to be the one to introduce them to hatred.

Transformers - They're Back!

I totally let it sneek up on me!

Can we say Whoo Hoo!  Shia

(kind of love him as Mutt)

(come on next Indy)

How about Optimus Prime - kind of hot for a robot...  Big, Strong, Deep Voice...

Or the 88 transformer!

Will I get to go see it this weekend????  I don't know ....  May work....   May travel east ....  May go see Transformers - Dark Of The Moon!

Is it good?  Has anyone seen it yet??  Expect My Review!

Dad, Crazy Kids, A Canal And A Cable

At one point in my childhood we lived in Turlock, CA and we had the best fun in the canals.  This is not something we could do by ourselves, our dad took us there because supervision was required.

Because of the abundant peach orchards in Turlock at the time, the canals were used for irrigation.

As a kid, about 7 or so, they seemed huge and very daunting in my memory.  There were smaller irrigation concrete canals, but there were some that were large, like small rivers.  They had concrete bridges or control systems and as the water went through these, it rushed out the other side into what seemed like a raging river of water headed places unknown at a very fast pace.

We were armed with inner tubes, you know the real ones that you can't just buy at a department store.  The ones that left black smudges on your body after the fun was all done.

Under direction of my father we would stand at the edge of the concrete, gripping the tube we now had around our waist, nervously gazing into what seemed like an impossible precipice and contemplating a seemingly not so intelligent decision to jump.

Dad pushed us as long as I can remember to do things we thought we could not or did not want to do.  I am glad of that now, it bred adventure into us.  A desire to try things we wouldn't normally try, to have the guts to push ourselves and the knowledge to know that when we did, we loved it.

We weren't the only kiddos or persons here at the canal doing this crazy thing, there were lots of people there as I remember.  Dad had not just dreamed this up, he had done it himself and there were times later when he joined us in this feat.  The sight of other kids doing this crazy thing, I knew it wasn't going to kill me.  But the fear was still there to start.  So resolving to not baby out, I took the first jump into the scary rushing water.  It was exhilarating to say the least.  Fun beyond measure but even more than that, I had taken the plunge, I had broken a barrier, I had accomplished something I thought I couldn't.  I overcame fear.

OK, so here is the next seriously scary part.  We are in the rushing water now and we have had the next steps explained to us in great detail.  With a warning that could not be overlooked.  How do we get out of this water that was now carrying us down the river like canal.  Dad had explained with every ounce of you better do what I say or else tone, what we were to do after all the fun of jumping in and floating like crazy fun kids.

He is following us down the side on land, reminding of us now of these details.  Up ahead there was a cable that went across the canal.  (we are going much slower at that point, but scary none the less)  We are to grab that cable as we went under it.  This is how we are going to come out of the canal.  HUH?  I know that my mom was on the sidelines too so I knew I wasn't going to die.  But his warning included things like, "if you miss that cable you will float on down the river and we don't know how you will get out."  Sounds a little mean, but it worked.

He was telling us now from the sidelines, how close we were getting to it.  Giving us the play by play, what to do next, what to expect.  And of course threatening that we had better catch that cable.  Now I know that had one of us missed it, we were not in danger.  He would have jumped in and floated us to safety, but I wasn't thinking that way at the time.  I was now in tunnel vision - the cable!

We got the cable in our sights and I can remember the fear came right back.  It seemed in my mind like a life or death situation.  I was like an athlete in the Olympics, I have one shot at this and I had better ace it!  So we had our eyes riveted on that cable.  Determination abounded.  And I know the first time we did this, we were petrified!

When my hands reached out and grabbed that cable, excitement and relief and pure adulation came over me.  I made it!  We all made it!  We hand walked that cable over to the side, dad pulled us out and immediately we started the run back to the concrete to do it all over again.

We then begged all too often for him to take us to do this thing we now loved over and over and over again.  What an amazing thing to do!

This is not the only irrigation adventure in California, what a playground!

Moody Workin' Blues!

Work Work Work!  I want another Vacation!  or 2 or 3....

If it weren't for the deadlines looming over my head, I wouldn't know what day it was!

But I know too well what day this is and how fast that deadline is zooming its way towards me.  So social life is suffering much!  I definitely don't want to rush that deadline date!  But I cannot wait until it is over and my magnificent creations are delivered and done with!

Of course then starts a new one, but not the same pressure - yet!

So many things I want to be free to do - seeing my family and friends more than 1 second at at time is the first!  Doing some things in my yard, lay out by a pool, get my hair done and a great mani-pedi is on the list!!!  I can't wait to see Cowboys and Aliens - The new Transformers - and I want to see them in the theater!  I rented Sanctum - it was good, but I know it would have been amazing on the big screen!  I want to see Popper's Penguins, Bad Teacher and Bridesmaids too!  There are more new ones coming out but haven't been paying attention lately!  There are even a couple of Omnis I want to see.

And ....   Writing some good Moodies!!!!!  I know I have been falling short in a major way!!  Don't leave me!!

I want to read a new book!!!  Hmmmm which one do I want to read first??  I am soooo behind on reading!  No non-fiction!  I want to go on an adventure, get lost in a mystery or travel to some far away land or let's get the heebie jeebies in a great suspense like Thunderhead!

Can we all say HELLO.... FOOTBALL already!

Needless to say I am working all weekend but about to take a break to go see my Mommie!!!

BE HAPPY PEOPLE - Even if you have to work too much!!!