Sunday, October 26, 2008

ten days left

Only ten days until the election—and despite the polls, I’m still nervous. And I still don’t understand how anyone who is not a millionaire, or a multi-millionaire with his or her mortgage paid off and a big, fat, safe retirement portfolio and lots of money saved for their kids’ college tuition, could even consider voting for a Republican.

The puppies are growing fast. Ruby is now a little over five months old, and Bingo is a little over three months old. After Bingo gets another vaccination on Friday, we’ll be able to take them places where other dogs run around. They get spayed later next month—we’ll also chip them at this time. Not housebroken yet, but they’re getting better and better. I am besotted with them.

bingo and ruby in oscoda, mi, late august 2008
Here they are back in late August in the backyard in Oscoda. (click to enlarge)

office guardians, september 13, 2008
Ruby and Bingo are busy doing their job: guarding our office, and me. They’re on the new nest we got to replace Ginger’s nest, which they managed to demolish beyond my ability (or patience) to repair. (click to enlarge)

Bingo and Ruby in the backyard in Norwalk on October 19, 2008
Stanley took this on October 19—they weren’t cooperating. They love it outside and it’s hard to drag them in after their walks. (click to enlarge)

kitty cats wary of the puppies
Here Slink and Twitch are watching the show in the kitchen. Both of the kitties like to play with Bingo, but Ruby makes them nervous because she’s a lot bigger and she barks at them. (click to enlarge)

Stanley thinks Bingo is part beagle. I don’t know what she is—she has enormous ears and a long, long tail so who knows? She very definitely has shepherd in her—she’s very bossy and insistent about moving us, and Ruby, where she wants us all to go.

It looks like Ruby has some lab mixed in with the doberman, and her coat is thicker than it used to be but we don’t know if that’s because there IS lab or if it’s just a winter coat coming in. Some day, purely out of curiosity, we’ll get the genetic testing done. Maybe.

Have been working like crazy on Surviving Bullies—including installing a store so people could buy the Surviving Bullies VideoBook, which is a PDF that includes videos and interactive forms—very cool. There’s some more stuff I have to add, including a donation button for the charity. I’ve also been working on several other stores and a big research project that I’m helping Stanley with and a big remodel for another site and a few other things (just finished a store that sells basic English courses for Spanish speakers). I’m so behind. What makes it hard is I like each of the projects I’ve got on my plate—don’t know which to start on first each morning, usually. Glad to be so busy!

posted by lee on 10/26/08 at 02:06 AM

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Tuesday, October 07, 2008

portfolio plummet

Wow, our tiny portfolio dropped about $2,400 in the last ten days. But, it’s mostly index funds and fairly sound companies, more or less, so we’ll leave stuff alone—Suzy Orman says investing in the market today is okay if we dollar cost average (we can’t afford otherwise!) and don’t plan on retiring within two years (hah!) Brother-in-law Jeff said we’re actually losing money on our savings account because the interest rate is so low (we’re at Webster Bank, so pay no service fees) that we’re losing money to inflation. But where the hell else can we stash our cash and have it safe?

We’ve been listening to Ira Glass explain things, and Paul Krugman explain things and instead of being a weather junkie, lately I’ve been a meltdown junkie.

Oh, and a political junkie. I’m rearranging my Tuesday evening schedule (I usually go shopping with Helene at 7:30 p.m.) so we can be home early enough to see the debate. I’ve come to loathe Chris Matthews even more than ever, but am glad MSNBC had the sense to put Rachel Maddow in their lineup and let Keith Olbermann handle the post-debate shows.

So the economy is making me a bit nervous, but not too nervous (yet). I won’t freak out unless McCain wins. And just concentrate on paying down our credit cards.

IT’S BEEN THREE WEEKS SINCE WE GOT BACK ALREADY!
Have been crazy busy with work stuff. I’ve wanted to get vacation photos up but I’m usually so tired by the end of the day I’ve been falling asleep on the sofa (with the pups!) So here a few to get me started:

James and Alice Fleming, bingo at the American Legion, Oscoda, MI September 2008
Dad and Mom at Friday night bingo at the American Legion. I really miss going to bingo with them. (click to enlarge)

Stanley at the beach with the puppies, Oscoda, MI September 9, 2008
We introduced the puppies to the water at Three Mile Beach in Oscoda on September 9. The noise made them really nervous. We also learned that dobermans are not very fond of water, though shepherds tend to love swimming. (click to enlarge)

Jim and Alice Fleming at Three Mile Beach, Oscoda, MI September 9, 2008.
Dad and Mom at Three Mile Beach, Oscoda, MI September 9, 2008. What a gorgeous day to sit on the boardwalk. (click to enlarge)

El Rancho Not So Grande, Greenbush, MI, September 2008
This is in Greenbush, Michigan, along one of the side roads. I guess it helps to have a sense of humor about circumstances! (And it wasn’t for sale, like so many other houses around there ... ) (click to enlarge)

Einstein, September 2008, supervising Stanley's work
Einstein managed to get Stanley’s attention. Better by sitting on his keyboard than making him chase her in the pouring rain.  (click to enlarge)

Okay, plenty more to get up, but they will have to wait. I have to go figure out what that load noise was and why the pups have suddenly gotten so quiet. They are getting big fast and I need to get some photos of them tomorrow—they are sooo much trouble but we are crazy about them.

posted by lee on 10/07/08 at 03:59 AM

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