bitteroldhag

Bjean and Green--What would I do without those Canadians? I gave away all 8 dogs and am left with my 4 male dogs and Stevie, the female neighbor dog. She seems to have moved in forever, but I'm glad to have a female dog in the house. At least they put some flea medicine on her, she's had her rabies shot for this year, and she's been spayed. Of course, I put the expensive flea and tick medicine on her, but two doses of flea medicine doesn't seem to have affected her though she definitely doesn't have fleas. However, she has what we call beggar lice which are small cockleburrs. They are a pain. I combed about 3 pounds of excess hair off her and she's much more comfortable in the heat. It's hot and humid here but it finally quit raining. Of course, the rain cost me a fortune, but I'll recoup over the next few years. I plan to retire in 4 years if I can. So I bought the new/used RAV 4 which I plan to pay off in my final four years and then I'll coast unless Mother lives the whole time. I've been taking care of Mother for 6 years and I was tired the first year. I'm beyond tired now, but I'm really good on problems of the elderly. I may make that my profession when I retire. Actually I'd like to cook for the local nursing home but I'll have to take a course in chef's school before I can do that. Practically anything would be better than what they serve now.

Holy Smoke! I never heard of such a thing and I've lived in the South most of my life. Luckily, Tahlequah is not on the list. I'd have to move!

I get very tired of this, but the good side is that the fat women are usually men in drag. One wonders why fat men in drag are so funny.

P.S. I had the old car cleaned up and today I had to clean up the stuff they didn't clean up. Lord, the world is weird these days. I managed to figure out how to put the garage door opener in the new car and it worked! I was amazed. Not if I can just figure out how to work the cruise control, I will have it whupped.

Well, I put the old car in the classified ads for $5000. Then I got a pic of it taken by my old student, Eddie Glenn, whom I love and reduced the price to $4500. I felt bad about asking too much. Eddie is off to get his PhD in Communications. I will miss him. He's a good reporter, but I still have Teddye Snell who is also a good writer. I hope I can sell the old car. I'm worried because no one called tonight, the first night of the ad. Bummer!

As I noted in my reply, it has finally quit raining and I gave away all 8 dogs. So I'm left with my 4 dogs and the neighbor dog, Stevie. She has gotten in two fights with my dogs, but I discovered that hitting them in the face with a flyswatter stops the fights. I had my carpets cleaned yesterday and all is well. They were pretty gross what with 7 puppies pooping on them. Some of the puppies worked out that they should go on the puppy pads, but many did not. Apparently there is a dearth of German Shepherds here because I ran an ad in the newspaper and about 50 people called. I gave the last puppy away to a nice teacher and his wife. That dog will be spoiled. Meanwhile, we have peace and I love it. Thanks for the good words.

I live in Tahlequah. It has finally stopped raining and I gave away all 8 dogs. There is a God.

I was lucky to give away 5 dogs to good homes. But I still have three female puppies and Stevie, the neighbor dog. It cost me $185 dollars to have the 7 puppies' shots and wormed. And then the people who apparently "owned" the mother dog sent a note to me that they wanted the dogs back or they would call the police. I sent the remaining dogs back with a note saying I assumed they would reimburse the $185. I haven't heard from them again. Today the kids who supposedly "own" the dogs came down, and I told them to take the puppies home. The little boy took one home but none of his friends would help him take the others. Apparently this story has made the rounds of the neighborhood and folks are on my side. The puppy showed up back here within an hour. So I have 8 dogs and 2 cats and mother. I slept all day today because I was so exhausted and the mold is killing me. But the puppies are really cute and I hope to find good homes for them. I gave the mother and a puppy to some friends who must have spent $500 getting ready for them. They are in hog heaven. My friend's husband was really worried about getting the dogs, but he spends his time hugging them and is clearly enthralled with them. It's nice to know that they got a really good home. Another puppy went to my mother's nurses aide. They were at the creek near their house and a neighbor begged her for the puppy. So she took another puppy after she gave him the first puppy. But I note dog sexism. My remaining dogs are females and no one wants a female. I would love to have a female since all of my dogs are male. Okay, I currently have 4 females and 4 males, but I'd like to reduce the dog population around the house. I am afraid that I will be stuck with 8 dogs and all this rain. Isn't life exciting?

I will have been banded for 1 year on May 11, and I have only lost a little over 40 pounds. Of course, I only weighed 220 when I went so I weigh around 180 now. I hit a plateau several months ago and still haven't broken through. But I have to say I'm happy with the 40 pounds though it's pretty expensive. I figure each pound cost about $300. Luckily, I can afford it. Not all of us lose a huge amount of weight and that's something we should say. My friend had a horrible fill doc who overfilled her band to the point that it was about to burst. Finally she found a doc who discovered this. She's afraid to have the band inflated again and has gained 15 pounds. So her total loss is about 20 pounds. I think she'll get up her nerve eventually and have the band filled to a reasonable amount by a good doc. Mine is at 4.5 cc which is good for me at the moment though I may get 5 ccs this summer and see how that works. Our doc, Dr. Rodriguez, said our bands should never be filled beyond about 7.5 cc and my friend's band was filled to 16 ccs! It's important to find good fill docs.

I fed the stray dog in the neighborhood, a German Shepherd. She then brought me 7!!!! puppies. I am still trying to give them away. Amazing how many people don't want pure German Shepherd puppies. I have already spent $185 on them and that was with the vet's discount. I hope to get rid of them soon. Maybe I should charge for them because no one seems to want free puppies.

I don't do any exercise and have lost 66% of excess weight. I still would like to lose 20 more pounds but I don't want to weigh 120 pounds. At my age, I'd look like a mummy if I did that. I'm pretty happy with my weight loss so far.

Altering is a good idea assuming we had any tailors in our town. We don't. We have some women who sew, not very well. So I just look for bargains on new or used clothes.

My back is shot. I went and had an MRI on my back and it turned out that I have four, count them, four back problems in my 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae. I was absolutely freaked out since the "cure" is to shoot steroids in one's spinal Fluid and hope it works. I'm not doing that. The really bad thing is that one vertebrae through which my spinal cord runs is narrowing. That worries me because I can lose control of both bladder and bowels sometime in the future. That would be embarrassing. I also have narrowing in the little holes the nerves come out on the sides, and I have a bulging a disk along with something else that the doc didn't make clear. My back has been hurting for about a year. One of my students had back problems about the same time mine started. She had surgery, and it turned out she had two bone spurs, one sticking right into her spinal cord. She's getting better now, but mine can't be fixed. One of my friends said that at least I was losing weight and that should help. I hope so. I intend to starve from now on. The apparent alternative solutions is steroids which run my blood sugar up and taking a lot of hydrocodone. So I'm doomed to be a drug addict. Has anyone else had these problems? What did you do about it?

God, I'm terrified of those steroid injections. My doc said they last from 2 to 6 weeks and I'm not willing to have them that often. I went to physical therapy and it helped a lot. My back quit hurting all the time. Lately, I've been bad about doing the exercises, but if my back starts hurting, I'm only too willing. I couldn't believe physical therapy helped that much. I love those stretches.

Lord, I feel better. I am still at 180 but I don't exercise. I do some exercises for my back (I have stenosis of the 4th and 5th vertebrae) but I will be 60 years old on July 26 and I hate exercise. I don't want to exercise. I don't have that much life left to worry about that. I currently have 9 dogs and my 87 year old mother to take care of,not to mention the two cats. I am too pooped to exercise. My mother has rarely exercised and she's 87, for God's sake. We have never been all that physical. But I'm happy with my 40 pound weight loss. I would never have managed that without the band. A friend who weighed at least 300 pounds now weighs slightly less than I do, but she had gastric bypass. She's got all sorts of skin hanging from her neck, arms, etc. She had a tummy tuck but I haven't seen her since then. I'm still happy I had the lapband surgery. <u typer 2 diabetes is MUCH better. I take one pill a day and my sugar stays very reasonable. In fact, I don't eat until about 3 p.m. and then I eat all Protein and fat, so I really don't have much diabetes anymore. If I get over that, the whole thing will have been worth it. But I'm glad I'm not the only one who hasn't dropped 100 pounds. Of course, if I had, I'd weigh 120 and be one big wrinkle. Unfortunately, my friend with the 16 ccs in her band has gained 60 pounds. But her husband is dying and she's under serious stress. Stress puts on pounds. She has no restriction in her band because her stomach has to recover from that quack's ministrations. I'd sue the guy, but she's too nice. I hope to lose 20 more pounds someday but if I don't, I don't. I'm happy with the results I have gotten.

I'm so glad to hear that others have the same problem. I am slowly getting clothes that fit, but I watch "What Not to Wear" and it's unnerving me. Our local Goodwill doesn't have much since they ship the good stuff to the cities, but I haven't given up. But my wardrobe has really shrunk. I buy stuff on eBay since we don't have a good Salvation Army place. But I may try the Salvation Army in Tulsa. They have some really nice clothes. I once saw a leather coat there. Unfortunately, it was about a size 5, but there's always hope. Luckily, we have a Goodys here which helps a lot though one never knows what size to buy. It's amazing how sizes differ in women's clothes. Why can't we be like men and just buy whatever fits our necks.

We had steaks cooked on the grill. The problem was that my gas grill wouldn't work. So I got $16 worth of propane and hooked it up. It worked. When it came time to cook the steaks, it wouldn't work. I beat it with a wrench and knocked off a lot of rush, but it refused to work. Luckily my friend had a little charcoal grill so she got it, some charcoal and some lighter fluid and we cooked the steaks. They were wonderful. Very tender so I could eat mine. Of course, I beat the crap out of them with a meat mallet before we cooked them. I now have a little charcoal grill that my friend donated to me, some charcoal and some lighter fluid. I may have steaks again before long assuming I can afford them. I gave the gas grill away and am determined to go low tech in future.

Clinton lying about oral sex never seemed to be that awful to me. I would have lied too. But let us remember Richard Nixon who committed crimes and was close to impeachment. He resigned rather than be impeached. Also let us remember how absolutely awful the Republican party was during Clinton's presidency. They were witch hunting and finally found a witch. George W. Bush has lied repeatedly to the public about just about everything. If he hasn't lied, he has kept information secret. Scooter Libby was the fall guy for the Bush administration which apparently sees no problem in outing a spy, despite the number of people who can be killed because of this. But then the Bush administration sees no problem with denying liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, no problem with torturing people and certainly no problem with invading a country that has nothing to do with terrorism. Cheney can't decide if his office is a member of the executive or the Congress. He has lied and refused information to Congress. This has got to be the worst administration in my lifetime and I lived through Nixon. I wish Dwight Eisenhower or Barry Goldwater were alive. They were decent Republicans. In fact, they were real Republicans and, though I'm a Democrat, I respected them. I do not respect the current Republican administration.:angry

I highly recommend Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. They are some of the best books I've read recently and I'm an English professor. They are tearjerkers, but have a lot of information on Afghanistan. Hosseini makes his characters so human that the reader can overlook the general chaos in Afghanistan. I'm going to teach a contemporary world literature course because I loved The Kite Runner so much. I also recommend anything by Isabel Allende. We are going to read House of Spirits for the class, but her other books are good too. She's so funny though she wrote a book for her daughter who died of porphyria, and it's a family history. It's still fascinating and one sees how very much she loved her daughter. Sorry, I tend to go for the literary stuff, but these books are not boring and I think people would like them. I read Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels repeatedly. He's a British guy and the Discworld is sort of a fantasy world but not really. His books are hilarious which is why I reread them all the time. His best books are about the Ankh-Morpork police starting with Guards, Guards. He also has some really good books about the witches of Lancre which are hilarious. The first one is a take-off on MacBeth and it's really funny. They feature Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick though when Magrat becomes queen of Lancre, Pratchett adds Agnes Nitt as the third witch. She's sort of fat but has a thin girl named Perdita living in her. Agnes can sing in harmony with herself. I love these books.

It hasn't rained for 2 days! Also I gave away 2 puppies so I only have 5 left. One of my former students and now a colleague is coming tomorrow to get two dogs. They are interested in the mother dog. My own mother suggested we adopt one of the puppies ourselves. Amazing! But my old Jasper isn't going to last forever and Ozzie's mange is not getting better. On the other hand the neighbor dog who spends most of her time here in the air conditioning got in a big fight with my dogs and I forced them to stay outside in the heat for awhile. They are acting much better now. She's a little grouchy, but the poor thing has lots of hair and the humidity is making it really hot now that the temp has hit 90 degrees. I feel really sorry for all the folks with very high temps. I hope it's dry there. It's not so bad if it's dry. Maybe it will dry out here someday. But there is hope that fall will come before long. Of course, my $10,000 garden is ruined. But this fall I will start replanting. There is always hope. I hope everyone's families are okay. It's just disgusting the way some men treat women. I just read Khaled Hosseini's book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and cried buckets at the end. He wrote The Kite Runner which is the best book I've read in years. He's originally from Afghanistan and is a physician in Northern California. At least he was until Kite Runner sold a zillion copies. I recommend it if you are a reader. All the dogs are asleep so I think I'll go to sleep myself.

Devana -- This is the coolest summer we've had in this area since early in the past century. That is nice, but the humidity is a killer. I'm beginning to wonder about this global warming stuff. Apparently global warming means it will be warm in the arctic and cold in Oklahoma.

Carlene -- You are in worse shape than I am. I have just locked the puppies in the garage though I don't know how the older dogs are going to get out to pee tonight. I hope they just hold it. It rained 4 times today, but the weatherman says there is hope. Of course, they've been saying that for weeks. We'll just have to hang in there and hope that it stops raining someday. I saw the pix of the floods in Texas. We have those in Oklahoma now. Coffeyville, KS is flooded. Maybe well can sell all this water to Colorado this year.

NaturalBeauty -- Thanks for this info. I will try liquids not only because my pouch may be stretched, but because I PB a lot. Hopefully liquids will help all of these problems. Thanks, again.

Believe me, fat does make you look younger. I'll be 60 this year and after losing 40 pounds, I'm much more wrinkled than I was. I want to lose 20 more pounds, but no more because I'll look like dried fruit if I lose more.

Apparently you are reading Republican stats. I want good healthcare and I have insurance. I pay and pay and pay. Our insurance is lousy and I work for the state. I want the coverage that Congress has.