Now Do You Fell More Secure?

According to a recent Newsweek article the U.S. currently spends over 628 billion dollars on security since the tragedy of 9-11.  This money includes 3 billion for the airport body scanners and the necessary staffing for them over the years.

My recent return from Denver required me to use one of these scanners for the first time as I went through airport security.  This masterful technology designed to keep us safe is a glass (or plastic?) round booth and reminds me of those sound booths they used to have on quiz shows on television, except smaller.  I placed my feet about six inches apart on the stenciled footprints at the bottom of this booth and then the female security person asked that I put my hands above my head, as if I had a gun pointed at me.  The scanner moved around me in a complete circle giving me a dose of  "sub-dangerous' x-rays while someone gets an eye full of my 60+ year old body without the mask of clothes. I am sure she said to herself something like 'What great shape this old lady is in!'  I am guessing this because of what happened later.

After this was all completed she told me she had to run her hands over my abdomen, and she did, ever so gently and carefully, just like a lover.  (Maybe we are almost engaged now?)   I could not resist looking her in the eyes (an attractive 20 something) and saying softly, "I'll bet you just LOVE your job!"

She looked gently into my eyes and said "Yeah" and then grimaced slightly as she walked away.  I guess the romance is now over...so quickly these fickle 20-somethings back away when you try to take the relationship up a notch.

Still Spinning

Trying to slow down now that I am back home.  Bunch of deadline mailings, unpacking, laundry, shopping (since my fridge is still empty from the hurricane visit), emails, land line voice mails, fall stuff and I still have not found time to get outside and check the yard and potted plants.  I hope sometime soon to look at a calendar!

Also trying to get back into the rhythm of being at home.  I am still in rock and roll mode and home is operating on smooth jazz.  Hubby is leaving for a long trip in two days, so trying to get ready for that as well!

I like visiting my relatives every few years.  I do not look forward to it, but once I am there, I realize how important it is to keep in touch with them and how much I do love them with all their idiosyncratic behaviors.  It is so true that ageing hardens your habits and opinions to phobic behavior and I wonder if I appear the same way to them.  They are a mixed troop of conservatives, liberals, shoppers, do-it-yourselfers, rich, poor, hard workers, indoor and outdoor people.  Fortunately disagreements are kept to a minimum when they get together, so they would not make a good situation comedy on fall television.

Weather in Colorado and Utah was lovely with a little more rain than one expects in high desert country.  I took lots of great photos and I will share just a few.

I am still attempting to catch my emotional breath and absorb it all while I push through the errands and tasks of re-opening a house that has been closed for several weeks.  Greeted by a baby black snake at the garage door; just missed running over a tiny box turtle on the driveway; watched a ground-hog devour the clover in the front yard as I drank morning coffee; and am amazed at how many little spiders I keep finding in the corners and fabrics of my house.  It does not take long for the woods to take over once you are gone.  Downed fences and trees still remain for clean-up.

I have been able to catch up on about 60% of everyone's posts, but must admit I cannot finish it all...so if something important happened in your lives (that you want me to know about) let me know in your comments.  You are, after all, my other idiosyncratic family.

(Photo above was taken from my brother's mountain get-away in Colorado.)

Wrong party!

So I have returned and am getting ready to write a new post and find that I am getting a malware message on my site when I try to bring it up and then edit.  I have been told that I have a bad link from imagineomit.blogspot.com".  For some reason Google has flagged it and when I omitted my link to "Imagine" blog from Kenju, it seemed to work. At least I think it is now working and will only know when someone comments.  What on earth have you guys been doing while I was gone??

Solitary Creatures

Alone,
Hearing the sigh of air through the rooms of the house
Feeling the fall of the dust through the sunbeams
Creating the echo of a distant laugh from memory

No other soul to share this faint laughter
No other being to study my countenance
No other person to worry about my sloth

The day moves slowly with no rhythm
Just the length of the shadows skirting the lawn
To remind me of the passing time

Today's solitary activities create
No regrets or anxious goals to be met
or concerns for a different tomorrow

All is at last at an even keel
The balance of a perfect floating bubble
And this I will treasure for the whole of time.

(Oddly enough, this was written before the adventurous weather ride we recently took...perhaps created due to the prior drop in air pressure on my brain, you can see I was in a very different state of mind before the storm.)

Planes, and Trains and Ferris Wheels

I have no idea what the title of this post means...just sounded nice in my mind.  Beginning travel in a few days and not sure if I will have Internet access.  Might be good for me to just deal for a while.

At Last

Power came back on yesterday.  Almost 4 complete days without water and electricity and the loss of hundreds of dollars in food and I am still not complaining...although slowly becoming exhausted.  We brought the Princess (my 4-year-old granddaughter) down here yesterday and she was forced to entertain herself much of the time while I washed out the refrigerator/ freezer and the chest freezer.  The positive side is that both of these fancy appliances are now sparkling clean even if  mostly empty.  We had dragged the old Grumman canoe up into the back yard and tied it to one of the stronger trees.  Hubby left it upright so that the rain filling it would also stabilize it.  That also meant we had lots of water for flushing toilets, rinsing off and washing stuff since we are on a well and there is not water when the water pump is off.

We had also filled several large camping containers for drinking water, although we had enough bottled water to get us through those days.  Two of the days we stayed up at my daughters because she needed someone to watch the little girl while everyone was plugged into jobs and summer camps and that allowed me some computer access.

I think I missed the Blogging and FB and photo access the most.  I will be honest enough to admit that.

There are homes across the big road toward the ocean side that have been completely destroyed by large trees and falling debris.  Some will have to be gutted and completely re-built, so I cannot complain about the inconvenience of the loss of some electricity on my part.

I look around at a house filled with crunchy leaves since a carpet of dead and dying leaves covers all the entry ways and keeps getting dragged inside.  The spiders have recovered the most, as they seem to do after every storm.  There are many large and small ones tucked against window screens and eaves.  I am too tired to move the webs.  Hubby got a new Husqvarna chain saw out of this storm, and he is having fun cutting wood, some of which will go to neighbors who want it and some to the landfill.

I am warmed by all the comments from readers of this blog.  Like good neighbors, you were concerned and had kind words.  May your days be filled with sunny and calm weather.