DynoReads

with Mac and Peterbuilt mentioned I'm surprised you didn't use the last obvious trucker pun. The one of the largest manufacturers of diesel engines for big rigs is Cummins.

So Tallywackers isn't a hoax. Anyone want to meet up in Dallas and check it out? If we do it in the last weekend of September of first few weekends of October, the State Fair is in town too. http://tallywackers.com http://bigtex.com

Happy Birthday

A young man has found a way to clean up the plastic debris in the ocean: https://www.minds.com/blog/view/450715060952633344/the-world039s-first-ocean-cleaning-system-will-be-deployed-in-2016

I saw him perform in the early 90's for a college crowd. He opened with this to give them something to think about. I think it's more true today than 20 years ago.

So my brother's memorial happened, despite mother nature's best effort. The nasty rain here delayed my flight, The unusual snow fall, plus cold wet spring prevent the bush for my brother from being dug until two days before the memorial. Which meant we didn't have the sign ready since we weren't sure what we would be able to get. Rather fitting I think for my brother and our family. We never quite fit the mold that society expected of us, my brother more than the rest of us. Many people who said they would come, didn't. Some I had no idea knew about his passing did. Odd to see my cousin looking so much like my dad, and hear from them how much we all look like dad. No explosions, I held my temper. Some sharing of memories. Today the township sent the family a picture of the plaque in front of my brother's bush. So it's final, and finally done. But it doesn't feel that way. The tears don't fall so often, but I still miss him.

Games belong on sports fields or tables. I absolutely abhor games. I was brought up that manipulating people is disrespectful and just plain wrong. The one girl I work with plays games. Our job description is cleaning cars, we get $3 more an hour than drivers do because it is harder work in less than pleasant conditions. She will do everything possible to get to do customer pick ups and drop offs, including taking 45 minutes to clean a car. She claims she's tired, that's why she's slow, because it is so hard to work open to close. But that's the schedule she wanted, and tried to force the rest of the car cleaners to accommodate. Really tired of it, but don't know what to do. This week my doctor recommended genetic testing due to the prevalence of a specific cancer in one side of my family. The doctor told me to call the lab and they could look up my insurance to see if the specific test is covered. So I did, only to be told that the lab can't do that, but what they can do is call me after the blood is drawn (and costs have been incurred) if it will be more than $375. So I called my insurance, to be told I had to refer to my husband's company's plan document. Called HR to get that, guess what? The rep I was talking to said I should call the insurance. He didn't get why I was mad at the run-around and games. All this I can't give you this information, this person can, but when you contact that person they refer you back to the first person/company? Arg! On top of all that, we still have the cable/phone company saga. The cable company had to replace their cable because it rusted through. In doing so they cut through the phone line to our home. Well today, we found they didn't properly bury the cable anyways, as the boy ran over it with the lawn mower. So more blame game there too.

One piece of advice I got when trying to figure out what to do is that it's easier to find a job while employed. So if you hate it, keep looking for another job. Also ask for some training, never hurts.

I might be remembering high school civics wrong, but I thought retroactive laws were made illegal in the US constitution. So the fear of billions of discrimination law suits probably is not why the laws have not passed.

In college I actually had a classmate, daughter of African refugees, whose given name was Female. She pronounced it Feh-mahl-ye. My sister and I had good southern names, unfortunately we grew up in the north. Also my sister has an unusual spelling.

Walking, swimming, bicycling are all great exercise. As you find walking or biking easier to do, get some ankle weights or heavier shoes (my favorite ankle weights are my hiking/work boots). Grab a basketball and head to the park. Even if you're bad at shooting hoops, someone will come along to play with and maybe help you improve. Find a local dog rescue and volunteer to walk the dogs. You'll get exercise and happy companionship. Keeping a journal helps too.

It's not that Americans trust guns so much as we DO NOT TRUST our own government. By having guns we insure that the government can not over throw the people.

Happy Birthday NS

Happy Birthday - I hope you had time to celebrate!

I'm sorry for your loss. The uncertainty, not knowing why a loved one died, is always hard. Take it day by day. I've found comfort in this song lately while arranging my brother's memorial service, I hope it helps you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWV0jpndYbY

https://www.facebook.com/TallywackersOfficial http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/23/tallywackers-dallas-hooters_n_7126080.html http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/male-hooters-style-restaurant-tallywackers-opening-in-dallas-2015244

When I was little, maybe 4 or 5, a new bathroom cleaning product was advertised with animated scrubbing bubbles. I finally convinced my dad to buy a can, and wasted the whole thing looking for the scrubbing bubbles. Around the same time my younger sister, who might have been 2 and I got in a fight over my dolls. She got mad and bit me so hard it drew blood. I was convinced she was a vampire, and couldn't sleep in the same room with her without a red nightlight until I was about 12 or 13. Dad told me the red light would trick her vampire into thinking the sun hadn't set yet, so it wouldn't come out. When my son was 5, he didn't want to sleep in his own room because of monsters under his bed. I told him he didn't need to worry about any monsters under the bed because the cat had eaten all of them. To this day, he's fine if we have a cat, when we don't he's afraid of the monsters in the dark or under the bed.

My favorite story would be Little Man by Mann Ramblings. I've two favorite authors, Bill W and ComicFan. Both write such varied stories that it's easy to find something to fit my mood, and both have unexpected humor hidden in many stories.

I've had good and bad with cops. I was 17 and walking home from a babysitting job at 3am. I didn't have ID yet. A LEO pulled over and started questioning me. I could hear his radio and police were looking for a 13 yo runaway, who was 5 inches shorter, and really didn't match my description at all. The LEO and I were arguing over the fact that I wasn't the girl he was looking for, and that the curfew didn't apply as I was coming home from a job and had been immancipated. Thankfully Dad had been waiting up for me and had his Fire/Police scanner on. He had heard the LEO call in that he had the girl and give my general description. Dad came to rescue me. My second arguement with a cop is kind of my favorite story. I was coming home late from work with a migraine on a 3 lane interstate. The SUV behind me had his brights on, shining directly in my mirrors. I'd move the car and mirrors so the brights weren't reflecting back into my eyes, and the SUV would pull directly behind me. After 5 minutes of this I pulled off the road to let the guy pass, only to have a police officer pull up behind me. He came up to my window with an attitude, expecting a drunk driver. Never gave his name, just told me I'd been weaving for the past 5 miles. I answered, rather rudely, of course I was, the [several choice cuss words] idiot driver behind me had his brights on, wouldn't pass, and every time I moved so his brights weren't reflecting in my mirrors he'd pull directly behind me again. The officer cleared his throat and said he'd been following me the past 5 miles, turned and left.

Tonight while trying to get a date set for my brother's memorial one of his friends messaged me on FB. I thought it was his first girlfriend, but it turned out to have been someone he dated later. In the last couple times my brother and I talked, we finally talked about the foster home, what happened, why people didn't listen. I learned a lot. It wasn't that people didn't listen, they did, and some even reported it, but the people investigating dropped the ball. Tonight I learned that even after he left the foster home where my sister and I were abused he kept running away to come back and get us. He was so angry and frustrated that we were separated. Makes me wonder if he thought leaving/getting kicked out would get all of us moved? I enjoyed talking to her, and learned a lot about my brother that I didn't know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go7gn6dugu0

Very interesting. Write for writings sake, not reader's taste. I wonder how long it will take publish ng to get the big publishing houses to be more fair to authors?

Yeah! Pics - make the firefighters take off their shirts though!

Unfortunately parental rights usually supersede the children's rights. My best advice would be to talk to the biological father, let him know that you want to work with him. Try to get him to let you have custody in exchange for generous visitation with the youngest. This is a traumatic time for the girls and they need to be together. Going with someone who is essentially a stranger, even though he is her father, would be bad for the youngest.

I'm sorry Valkyrie. Death is not easy on those left behind, and harder still when there are other issues too.