Sqirrel Treefrog Random

-Ok I was on the internets for hours trying to identify that frog. I think I'm right, correct me anyone. I was going crazy. I geek out about that kind of stuff. I don't know much about amphibians only that I used to catch them when I was little and try to keep them as pets in my backyard. I would then start to feel sorry for them and let them go after a couple hours.

-Well there's a huge possibility(as in I'm just about positive) that we might be moving. There are a few options in the lurch all in the state of Florida so I'm happy about that. The likeliest of places will be far away from the ocean, though(sniffsniff). With the exception of the times we lived in California and Louisiana, I have never lived more than a few minutes away from the ocean so I get a little separation anxiety. Spoiled right? Oh well. Wherever we end up, I'll still miss my secret beach. I'm not even going to go into how my heart hurts just thinking about that. But I'm happy. I think I would feel a lot worse if we had to move someplace like Connecticut or Boston. Not that I have anything against either of those places, I've never even been there. Those are just examples of cold weather to me. I'm just of the mind that the only places I could leave the state of Florida for not kicking and screaming would be Hawaii or California. Texas maybe. Ok Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada would be fine. Ok just anywhere in the southern part where I could wear shorts most of the time like I do here. I would have to find a new hobby though because I don't think shark teeth can be found in any of those places unless it were the megalodon. But even then , I'm not sure.


-What the hell can be found in Central Florida? Alligator teeth? I guess I could look for other fossils but it wouldn't be the same. Maybe I'd have to start bird watching. Or maybe I should just get a damn job.

-Damn! I hate moving. I'm just going to say that once. Ya'll won't hear me complain about that again. But just for the record, I've moved about 14 times in the past 11 years. OK? yeah.

Our Thanksgiving visitor

There's a frog on the begonias! I hope he's here to stay. I don't have any bug issues with my patio plants but if I did, I'm sure he'd be good (and organic) pest control...

Peanut hasn't seen him and I don't plan on letting him know about our new little friend. So shh!

7 Things meme

I stole it from Heartinsanfransisco......

7 Weird things about moi:


1. That song about West Virginia by John Denver always makes me cry(in a good way). It's not even my home-state, it's my dad's. But when I hear that song, all my summers I spent on Grandparents' farm and all the love I have for my Grandparents, my family there, and my love for West Virginia squeezes my heart and I'll start missing them so much I can't breathe. My dad once told me and my sisters he would hear it when he was in the Navy and away from home and get homesick. I haven't been back there since my Grandpa died. Corny right?

2. If I'm watching an interview on TV and the person being interviewed is sitting in front of a bookshelf, I completely lose interest in the interview and start trying to read the titles of the books. This also goes for any scene in a movie or tv show. I always want to know what kinds of books people are reading.

3. If someone compliments my cooking, they could probably commit murder and I would still find that person charming. The thing is, as I've said before, I hate to cook. HATE to. But I like to hear good things about my cooking.

4. I love my ipod and would voluntarily have it surgically attached to my ears if I could. I also never leave the house without my camera. I also really love to watch old episodes of The Joy of Painting. I guess this is really three things? Oh well.

5. I get scared easily. And I'm scared of just about everything and everyone. My husband and I went to see that movie Scream 2 and the theatre had a guy dressed in that murderer ghost costume scaring everyone and I calmly told him,"Get the F- away from me." I also said this to a clown who tried to give me a balloon....sorry Mr Clown, Angel don't play that.

6. When I was little I had an imaginary friend named Warrwick and in my imagination, he did all the things I was too shy ,too scared, or wasn't allowed to do. Like stay up late and watch The Incredible Hulk. That green man in torn clothing made me cry and still gives me the creeps to this day.

7. I also really loved Big Ben for some reason. When I was in kindergarten I got in trouble for stealing a book from the school library that had pictures of Big Ben in it.

So that's it....I hope everyone is having a fun and safe weekend. Feel free to steal it.

Black Friday...my #$&*!

Guess who won't be standing in line for hours and rummaging around with thousands of other pushy Holiday shoppers. When I was 18, I worked at the mall during the holiday season and it was enough to make me not want to step foot in any retail business during the months of November to February. I remember feeling shocked when my boss said, "OH gawd, Christmas...another Christmas...I hate the f-ing holiday season." About a week into November I was saying worse. People were fighting over things.....I mean, we sold bikinis and slutty jeans, what could they possibly be fighting over? People got bitchy because we only had one working register and the shoplifters were all filing in like a bunch of roaches. Up until then I thought only men did stuff like that, I was wrong. I caught so many people stealing, it's sad. One woman was actually hiding things in a stroller under her sleeping baby . Another had apparently taught her 7 year old daughter how to take off the security sensors and was using her to do it thinking we wouldn't suspect a little kid. Wanna know how I caught them? The little girl innocently told me what she was doing. My boss and I were threatened by a group of teenage girls who were shoplifting as a team(there's no I in team right?) and had to be escorted to our cars after closing for a month.(mall security policy)
It's not the thieves that turned me off from holiday shopping. It's the crowds and pushiness of it all. It's a cliche topic so I'm not going to try to add anything new to the mix....ya'll know what I'm talking about.

But my dilemma is, those sunglasses I've been pining over are on sale today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

And anyone who doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, Happy Thursday.

I haven't been around much. It's not that I've been busy. It's that SOMEONE who lives here, not Peanut, has been working from home and is hogging the computer.....

Haven't heard from my doc yet

I thought my scary medical procedures were to be done this week. But I never got a phone call so I imagine it'll all begin this Monday. Damn! I was hoping I would have an excuse not to make our Thanksgiving feast....

Which one?

Just for the record Medical Random

-I went to get some blood work done today for the hundred-and-eleventieth damn time. And I just feel like saying in brief bitch mode: I'm sick of needles. I'm sick of doctors' offices. I hate the 'art work' in just about every doctor's waiting room I've ever been in, which has been a lot. I hate how cold it is in waiting rooms and that they always only have Golf magazines,which wouldn't bother me if I didn't hate golf. I hate that waiting room tvs are always tuned to old episodes of,"In the Heat of the Night." (I didn't even know that show was still playing in reruns. ) I hate when people are rough with my arm when taking blood and then look at me like I'm acting like a baby when I wince. I hate the fact that I never stick up for myself when this happens. Ok I'm done bitching. I only let myself do that for 2 minutes a day.

-By the way that didn't happen today. There is a guy who works there who always leaves bruises on my arm every time I get him. Today I got the gentle lady. She is always soft to me and I think it's because of the time I had to go in for blood work two days after my surgery. I had just came home from the hospital the night before and was so obviously not feeling well. I was taking a lot of pain meds and anxiety meds because of all the shit I'd been through(I still never told ya'll about how mean the nurses in the hospital were to me did I?) so I was pret-ty emotional and really couldn't walk much without help. I never cry in front of people I don't know. Ne-ver. But I was so damn not well, when she stuck me with the needle, I started to cry. I was so embarrassed. I sort of passed out in the waiting room on the way out afterwards too. I felt like such a jackass. But ever since then, she always says to me, "I remember you. I had you that day you weren't doing so good. Felt so bad for you dear. We'll try not to hurt you so bad this time. " She reminds me of my Grandma. She has no idea how thankful I am that people like her exist on this Earth.

-I have a couple scary medical things coming up any day now. I'm just waiting for them to call me with my appointment. I try not to be a baby about it but I can't help it. I'm scared of all that stuff. No matter how many times I'm told I'll be fine, there's nothing anyone can ever say to me that makes me feel any better. For 30 years I was able to depend on my body-engine without question and then one day I woke up and one of my parts was broken.
A local news anchor announced a recurrence of cancer. Even though, it's not the same as the one I had, worse and more deadly than the one I had, I got scared. I kept thinking, is this going to happen to me? Am I going to be ok for a while and then get hit in the head with this again and again? I hope not. I'm tired of putting on a brave and happy face all the time. Tired of it.

-Peanut had a, ahem, medical procedure today too. His vet took his temperature and he was so good. His new medicine seems to be working(KNOCK ON WOOD!) so I'm happy about that right now. I was so worried about him. His birthday is on Dec.11 and he'll be 10 years old. I'm not going to have a dog party for him but I want to do something special. Maybe buy him a new bed for one of his hiding spots and take him to the dog park.

Ok these are the last ones I promise

I can't help it. Someone needs to look at all these pictures because they came out so good. And everyone else I know is sick of me pushing them in their face! So you guys are just going to have suffer through one more post with these....


Walking up the stairs I was greeted by this view.




This is the sentry look out point.



I took it upon myself to check if any enemies were coming .





Maybe a few by land!

I don't have anything witty to say about these next pictures because even I am starting to get sick of looking at them....well not really, that was a lie. But I have ran out of things to say.

If I remember right, that was the bell tower that was rung if they were under attack.( I looked inside though and I didn't see any bells.







More wonderful patina for all you HGTV addicts out there.



I had a couple more I took walking around the town but blogger is driving me crazy right now......Hope I haven't bored you all with this. If so, too bad! Get used to it. This is the kind of nerdy stuff I love.

On my way out someone asked me if it was worth the 6 dollars. I said yes. What do you think?

My mini trip part 2 (more Castillo)

This was the original coat of arms that was brought from Havana in 1762 and installed over the fortified entrance. They replaced it with a new one in 1958 and put this one on display.


Another view from the courtyard.



The doors to the chapel look magnificently imposing.



Inside was a different story.

I don't remember the name for these, I'm sure it's for Holy water. Up close, I could tell that they were beautifully carved in their day but these pictures don't do it justice.

I suppose I should have been genuflecting like a good Catholic girl but...I felt like giggling, making funny ghoulish faces and taking pictures of myself. None of which will be posted here.

Someone offered to help me out and take a picture for me but I didn't need any help. I wasn't supposed to be taking pictures of myself anyway.

One room looked particularly scary. If I remember correctly this was the room where the arms were kept. I was by myself so, I'll admit, I was a little scared but I forced myself to walk in.

That scary looking doorway led to a scary looking storage room.



Looking down upon entering said creepy storage room one finds this. Another creepy looking entrance at about 2 and a half to 3 feet tall. I'm small enough to fit through if I wanted to.....didn't want to.

I was too scared so I just stuck my arm through and took a picture.


(One of my pictures had a an orb in it which, I've been told is just a reflection off of a floating peice of dust but it's still creepy-if anyone wants to see the pic with the orb in it, let me know and I'll post it. I was too lazy to look for it just now.)



There were a few more rooms with artifacts and historical pictures but there were too many people because of a field trip. They were at the tail end of their tour so I waited to see if they would leave so I could have the rooms all to myself like the others but, I got impatient and went up the stairs to the upper level.

Wait til you see the view, it will blow you away.(I hope....if I'm a decent enough photographer)

My mini trip (part 1)

I had cabin fever on Monday and as I mentioned in my last post, my usual sight seeing partner was under the weather. And dammit I felt like going on a trip so I went out by myself! A couple people told me they felt weird doing stuff like this alone but I have no problem doing fun things by myself. Hell, if I wait around for people, I'll never get anywhere. So I filled up the tank and drove to St. Augustine. I've been there at least a thousand times but I haven't been to the Castillo De San Marcos since I was 10. It was the perfect day for sight seeing.


I got a perfect parking spot and half ran to get my day pass.($6.00 in case anyone wanted to know)



I took some pictures from inside that sentry look out....


There's a small tower located just in front of the drawbridge that, for some reason, I didn't take pictures of. I did take one of the Royal Coat of Arms. If it looks too new to be a few hundred years old to you, you're right. (I thought so, but the old one is in an airtight display inside.)




In case anyone wanted a closer shot of the man in tights:

I was pleased that he did not try to talk to me in a fake old world Spanish accent. I was a little disappointed that he seemed to be the only one in period costume that day though. I was hoping to see some pirate costumes and corsets but no such luck.


No alligators or monsters in this moat.

This is the view once you cross the drawbridge and walk through the entrance. I was told by an old man on a bench that originally, the courtyard would not have St. Augustine grass growing inside it because the soldiers who manned this fort would not have had time to babysit such needy grass or be concerned about making it pretty. I already knew that since I have an IQ of at least over .01 but I did not feel like a smartass so I just smiled.

I don't remember the historical importance of this particular cannon.

My friend Dee always has the Home and Garden Channel on when I come over. Those decorating show hostesses are always talking about patina, patina, what wonderful patina. They're all obsessed with patina. Well here you go. Is that enough patina for you?

How could something designed to cause harm be so beautiful?

Imagine how close to the cannon I had to get to take the above picture. I sort of got in trouble. One of the workers there told me to stop stepping over the rope....oops.

There were about 5 or 6 rooms(what is the correct word for these places? rooms? chambers? suites? I don't know) available for exploration and with the exception of the soldiers' quarters where there were about 10 screaming babies, I pretty much had the place to myself. They all pretty much looked like this one. If you look closely at the wall, there is what appears to be the faded coat of arms on it.

There were a couple rooms that were kinda scary but you'll have to check back for them....

(Oh and we haven't got to the photos I took from the upper level so, you know, come back if you want to see them k?)

I love road trips

I'm finally home. Well I haven't really been gone. Monday, I went on a road trip by myself since my regular road trip partner had the tail end of a flu. And oooh I have some gooood pictures to share, my lovely peeps. But I have to sort them out so ya'll have to wait. But I did get a couple today. My friend with the flu(say that out loud, really fast 10 times) called me this morning and said,"Let's drive some place far and go some place weird for lunch." Strange places are not hard to find in the state of Florida. I was thinking maybe she meant some old, southern looking small town diner where the locals will look at us like we're aliens. I was wrong.

Just take a look at this. We stopped in here to use the ladies room and look what greeted us. Would you eat here? I'm not too adventurous when it comes to food. I'm very picky. The pickiest you'll ever meet I promise. But my friend Dee loves these weird places. So I always just tell myself, "if it just feels wrong, I'll order a sweet tea and buy some Doritoes on the way home!" These alligators were fake ones not real, stuffed ones, I'm happy to report. They did not deter Dee. I was weary though.



This view from the patio/dock made me feel better. I'll admit the food wasn't bad .....


Still though, someone tell me those alligators would have made you just turn around and walk out so I don't feel like such a restaurant snob!

Damn I love gifts!

Look what I got! Look what I got!

My friend D went to Michigan recently and brought me back these note cards with bunnies' butts on them. Who doesn't like bunnies? Who doesn't like butts?

Hurricane Noel is moving on up

I'm not afraid of hurricanes anymore. I've been through 6 or 7 so it's still scary, but I'm used to it now. I would pack my dog up and leave if a big one came. The weather right before and immediately after one is usually beautiful in my experience. There was a nasty Nor'easter last week so it was pretty ugly though. This hurricane was too far for anyone to even think about freaking out anyway. But it's been roughing up the beach enough to make some homeowners nervous.

I probably should have stayed home with a hot cup of tea and a blanket wrapped around me because I'm still not feeling well. But that dark sky was beckoning me. I spent the day staggering around the beach but I didn't find much because the ground was covered in dead smelly sea weed and foam. I tried but I'll have more luck tomorrow if the water clears up. The wind was pretty gusty so I probably looked like a drunkard but there was no one there to see or make fun of me anyway. It was scary-foggy in a good way, I felt like I should be in a vampire movie. Beach Blanket Bloody Bingo or something :O) It was beautiful though. And loud, I loved it.

But MrPea is thinking about maybe surfing in this tomorrow morning? Good luck and don't wait for me darling. I'll wave from the shore.


Ok ok enough about the damn beach already! I'm going on a mini road trip next week so I'll have more fun things to brag about.....

- I accidentally interrupted a make-out session the other day at the library.(!) Two teenagers were getting down on some bean bags in the young adult section. They gave me a mean look but I couldn't help but laugh at them. What, was the grocery store too loud for you guys? At least they were being age and section appropriate so I approve. And I didn't tell on them.


-The people who live directly downstairs from us are here. They are snowbirds and usually stay only a few weeks. I feel a little sorry for them living under us because Peanut likes to run back and forth down the hallway and bounces over the bed for extra show off points when he's happy about something. This happens maybe 2 times a week and last for about 2 or 3 minutes. I don't do anything to discourage him when he gets into one of his happy stampedes because although he gets plenty of exercise, he's the only one out of his litter that lives in a condo and not a farm. So I feel like a good 2 minute joy-run is not too much to ask for. He was taking steroids again last week so all kinds of jumping was going on. They still wave and smile to me from the balcony when they see us walking so I don't think it bothers them. Yet.

-I HATE cooking. The thing is, I'm really good at it. But I HATE it. I do. What's funny is I'm really vain about it and like nothing more than hearing my cooking complimented. I really have no point in saying all this, it's just that it was on my mind. :O)

-It's finally clear enough tomorrow for me to get to the beach and I'm excited. My feet are killing me but I don't care. It's going to be windy and probably a little cold and I don't care. The latest red tide report said low to medium and I don't care. I'm going dammit.



I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween yesterday, I was feeling sick so I feel like a total loser for not having any fun, drunken, slutty costume stories(I was planning to be a mouse-not a slutty one just a regular one) but oh well.