LITTLE BOY FOUND

Jordan is in the hospital, but safe. His kidnapper finally turned herself in and is behind bars. I know Kim and the rest of her family are overjoyed.

Nothing is worse than the mistreatment of a small child. To lose a child that you love would be bad enough. To have an abused child rescued, learn to feel safe and loved in new surroundings, and then to be abducted by his former abuser is worse than a nightmare. Thank God they found him.

PLEASE HELP-ABDUCTED CHILD

PLEASE READ THIS AND FOLLOW THE LINK!!
Jordan Rolfe / Jordan Barry
Born: March 10, 1999
Height: 4 feet
Weight: 50 pounds
Hair : Dark Brown, straight, medium-short length
Marks: Scar on middle back, rash (exzema) on right arm and wrist, wart on right thumb.
Last seen wearing a grey shirt with a navy blue collar and blue shorts with orange flames on the sides.

Kim of I Wasn't Always Like This needs all our help. This is Jordan. He is 6 years old. He is missing. He is her child. He was abducted from the city of Strongsville, Ohio and was last seen in Lakewood, Ohio on Clifton Blvd. 9-28-05 at 10:00 a.m. They think the kidnapper is headed to either Mexico or Florida.

Please, go to Kim's blog, read all the details of the kidnapper and the car she was driving. Then leave Kim a message of support and watch for any child who looks like Jordan.

My grandson is the same age and I can't imagine what she must be going through. I guess they would have to sedate me because I'd be hysterical. And if I got my hands on the person who took him I'd be homicidal.

Thanks, everyone for helping.

SPA NIGHT

I've been in a funky, can’t get my butt off the couch mood for the last few days and I'm on my three day break so this is an unforgivable waste of off days! All I've done is read, cuddle with the cat, and watch trash TV. No motivation at all, although I did go for a half hour walk in the city park this afternoon.

So tonight I decided to do one of those at home spa days you see talked about in all the women's magazines. I went the whole nine yards; candles around the tub, good jams on the stereo, good smelling lotions and potions. Even one of those "make you look 10, no 20, years younger" facials with oatmeal and primrose oil and lots of other stuff I can’t pronounce.

So I put my hair up on top of my head and smeared the facial goop all over my face and down my neck. Hey, I’m fixing to hit the big 5 0 and I have to start worrying about the "turkey wattle" neck thing. Sure hope I look better when I wash this stuff off because it ain't making me look any better with it on. What I see in the mirror as I get ready to step into the steaming tub looks like one of those aborigines you see on the National Geographic channel with mud smeared all over them.

I shaved legs and pits and bikini line without nicking myself for once!! I scrubbed and buffed every inch of my body with this stuff that has ground-up almond shells that takes off the first layer of skin and claims to give you a healthy, youthful glow. Let me tell you, there are some places that are hard to reach yourself!! I scrape and grate and pumice the dead skin on my feet. Finally, I washed the "make you look 21 years old" goop off my face.

After I dryed off, I put self tanner on my now exfoliated legs and smeared hazelnut-shea butter over the rest of my body and braced myself to look into the mirror. I’m clean, smooth, smell better, and I’m no longer fuzzy in all the wrong places. But all this spa stuff didn’t do a thing for love handles, sagging boobs, drooping jowls, or freckles (OK, age spots). I don’t look any younger (darn it) and I’m still not motivated. At least I tried.

Think I’ll go see whats on late nite TV. Evening y’all.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

This Should Explain It All...

A lot of folks can't understand
how we came to have
an oil shortage here in our country.
~~~
Well, there's a very simple answer.
~~~
Nobody bothered to check the oil.
~~~
We just didn't know we were getting low.
~~~
The reason for that is purely geographical.
~~~
Our OIL is located in
~~~
Alaska
~~~
California
~~~
Coastal Florida
~~~
Coastal Louisiana
~~~
Kansas
~~~
Oklahoma
~~~
Pennsylvania
and
Texas
~~~
~~~
Our
DIPSTICKS
are located in
Washington DC.~~~
Any Questions?

MUST SEE VIDEO

I followed the links from Courting Destiny to Bring It On and found one of the most touching videos I've ever seen. Regardless of your take on Bush and the War the faces of our fallen heroes tears at your heart strings.

Folks, you gotta go and watch this video.

LABELS DON'T LIE

Stolen Borrowed from Reader's Digest's "Life In These United States" and damn if it ain't true!!

Plastered all over the walls of the junior's section in the department store were suggestive clothing names like "Tempted" and "Hot Kiss". I was appalled. "You certainly won't see that kind of thing where I shop," I commented to my
husband.

How right I was. In the area where they sold clothes for women
my age, I saw above a rack of dresses the words "Sag Harbor." Holly Zwierzynski, Waxhaw, North Carolina

100 THINGS

Everyone says that I need to do a 100 Things list, who am I to argue with the masses. This will be an ongoing project because I don't want to put the same old boring stuff here.

1. I'm the oldest of 5 girls
2. I've had very few "female" jobs. I've been a welder and pipe fitter in a nuclear facility, a carpenter's helper, a house painter, broke and trained horses, and have worked in the power plant of a paper mill since 1979.
3. I was widowed twice by the time I was 21.
4. My eyes change color according to my mood and/or clothing. Hazel with flecks of gold and green most of the time.
5. I have a bad temper, but with a slow fuse. I don't just "go off". The madder I get, the quieter and colder I get. I don't get mad, I get deadly.
6. I love to cook, am actually good at it, but hate to clean the kitchen. I'm the 'Bama version of the Barefoot Contessa.
7. I'm a voracious reader and read over 200 words a minute. I read dictionaries, Encyclopedias, trade magazines about stuff I know nothing about, whatever is handy but my main love is SiFi and mysteries.
8. I have a fairly large vocabulary, but can't spell for shit. I'm just dyslexic that way.
9. When I travel (which I love to do, and I usually travel alone) I don't like to stay in the "tourist" areas. I want to explore, visit the natives, see the "real" what-ever and where-ever and especially sample all the exotic foods that I can't find anywhere else. I've made some wonderful friends and discoveries this way.
10. I can watch a movie with all kinds of blood and gore and eat pizza at the same time, but let a puppy get run over and I squall like a baby. I cried when King Kong died and when I thought ET was dead!

EYE CANDY

Here's a little something for we ladies to look at.

Bush Uses Disaster to Ram Through Low-Wage Work

I'm a union member at work and receive a newsletter from the AFL-CIO (homepage here). This shocked me, I haven't heard anything about it on the news. True, the hurricane victims need help, but if you take a living wage from the people who still have jobs you wind up with the whole country needing assistance.


Bush Uses Disaster to Ram Through Low-Wage Work
Sept. 9: With the federal government poised to spend more than $50 billion to rebuild areas destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the AFL-CIO is calling on Congress to reverse President George W. Bush's Sept. 8 executive order that would allow contractors to pay substandard wages to construction workers in the affected areas.

"Employers are all too eager to exploit workers. This is no time to make that easier," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says. "What a double tragedy it would be to allow the destruction of Hurricane Katrina to depress living standards even further. Taking advantage of a national tragedy to get rid of a protection for workers the corporate backers of the White House have long wanted to remove is nothing less than profiteering."

The executive order came one day after a group of 35 Republican members of Congress led by Reps. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Tom Feeney (Fla.) and Marilyn Musgrave (Colo.) formally requested Bush to temporarily suspend the Davis-Bacon Act for the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.


Davis-Bacon Ensures High Standards, Living Wages
Bush's order repeals the high-quality work standards set by Davis-Bacon, which covers taxpayer-financed reconstruction in the areas affected by Katrina. The Davis-Bacon Act, enacted in 1931, requires federal contractors on federally funded construction contracts to pay workers at least the prevailing wages in the area where the work is conducted. In a notice to Congress, Bush said the hurricane had caused a national emergency that permits him to take such action in ravaged areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

"Suspending Davis-Bacon protections for financially distressed workers in the Gulf states amounts to legalized looting of these workers who will be cleaning up toxic sites and struggling to rebuild their communities while favored contractors rake in huge profits from FEMA reconstruction contracts," says Edward Sullivan, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department.

Laborers President Terence O'Sullivan says Bush's action dashes the hope and opportunity of everyday working people, "those who have built this great nation and those who work to rebuild in the aftermath of disaster."


Suspending Davis-Bacon a "Colossal Mistake"
Congressional Republicans and their Big Business allies have made several attempts to ban prevailing wages on federal contracts, but strong opposition from unions and Democratic lawmakers has kept the law intact. Emergency power to waive Davis-Bacon has rarely been used, for instance, President Nixon suspended Davis-Bacon for 28 days after consulting with labor and President Reagan never suspended it.

"President Bush should immediately realize the colossal mistake he has made in signing this order and rescind it and ensure that America puts its people back to work in the wake of Katrina at wages that will get them and their families back on their feet," says Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.).

"I regret the president's decision," says Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). "One of the things the American people are very concerned about is shabby work and that certainly is true about the families whose houses are going to be rebuilt and buildings that are going to be restored."

More
Find out how you can help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Read AFL-CIO President Sweeney's statement on Bush's executive order. Read congressional Republicans' request to suspend Davis-Bacon rules.
Questions and answers about the Davis-Bacon Act. Updated: September 12, 2005
Copyright © 2005 AFL-CIO

colors

FEAST

Mabon was definitely a feast. There were plenty of food choices: vegetables and dip, honey-baked ham, turkey and dressing, roast turkey, Caribbean fruit salad, German sweet potato salad, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, and wassail {the ratio of rum to apple juice kept getting stronger as the night went by}.

We started with a shot of Captain Morgan's Tattoo Rum placed upon an altar for Papa Legba and then each of us toasted the Loas by stating what we were thankful for in our lives and downing a shot ourselves. Several folks had never drank spiced rum and didn't know the trick of breathing in through your mouth AFTER taking a shot. The ugly faces they made caused a few giggles and got the spirit of the feast moving.

There were only about a dozen people there, but everyone brought food and drink. Magic themed movies {The Craft, 13 Ghosts, Practical Magic} were projected on a wall size screen all during the meal. People were dressed in everything for jeans and T-shirts to capes, including one couple who had went the full Goth Vampire route with white make-up and everything. Although my friend and I were new, non-Wiccans and dressed in street clothes everyone made us comfortable. The event was festive and friendly with no rituals other than the toast.

We had to leave early {10 PM} because my friend had a curfew {a bitch when you're grown, but that's being married gets you}. I hated to go because things were just starting to get interesting. A couple of the girls had just made a run for more rum and had pulled into the parking lot when I left. Everyone was already loose and feeling no pain. I can't wait to hear what happened later that night, if they'll tell that is! I seem to miss all the fun. Next time I'm going alone so I can enjoy myself until all hours. Who knows what rituals and antics happened at the midnight hour.

A paying customer had shown up and wanted one of the owners to work a not-so-nice spell for him (no physical harm, he wanted his wife to leave). He seemed unhappy to find out that he would have to do the spell-working himself with the Wiccan coaching him!! When I left he was on his way to dig up some graveyard dirt and looked thoroughly spooked. Serves him right!

All in all, it was an educational outing. I met some nice people, made a few new friends and got introduced to the world of Hoodoo. I love studing the theology of different beliefs, even though I'm a confirmed agnostic. I said agnostic, not atheist and there is a difference.

MABON

Tonight I go to the Mabon feast at Shadows and Light.

Happy Mabon, Yall!

GAS PRICES

My aunt Pat sent me this.

Vicki,
I would hope you would put this in your blog and ask others to put it in theirs. Single handedly, the blog sphere could be responsible for the lowering of gas prices. This is a logical, simple boycott. And if people would just try it, it would work.

Love ya,
Pat

KEEPING THE PRICE OF GAS DOWN
I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the end of summer.Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth, offered this good idea: This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read it and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.75 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50-$1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace.... not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war. Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year, DON"T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't whimp (sic) out on me at this point... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)...and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 =3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further,you guessed it ..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people and DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from EXXON and MOBIL.

That's all. How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. EXXON AND MOBIL gas isn't any better than the other brands out there.

PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK!

OK, Pat. Here's your message and I hope it does some good.

BIKERS, CONCERTS, AND JAIL

The concert Saturday night was great. There was a local girl opening for the bands that was 14, looked 20 and had a voice as big as all outdoors. Then some guy who was trying to get a record contract, a cover band that kicked ass named CRX, Confederate Railroad, and David Alan Coe. The crowd was huge and fairly well behaved for the amount of drunks there.

The bikers were out in force and I blended right in. I wore my harness boots and my favorite leather biker jacket. I got that jacket for $20 at Unclaimed Baggage over 8 years ago and the more I wear it the better it gets. Unclaimed Baggage sells stuff from luggage that gets lost on trains and airlines and never gets back to the owners. My jacket has leather that’s butter soft and I’ve had to fight with several ex-boyfriends who tried to claim it in the breakup. Everyone loves my jacket!!

Tonight I had to go and bail the son out of jail; they picked him up on an old warrant. There goes another $500 down the drain. What can you do? After all, he’s my son.

Hope y’alls night has gone better than mine.

OVER 40 AND GETTING BETTER EVERY DAY

I have shamelessly stolen borrowed this from Lippy because it hit me right where I live.

This is for all you women 40 years and over... and for those who are turning 40, and for those who are scared of moving into their 50's... and 60's... and for guys who are scared of women over 40. This was written by Andy Rooney from CBS 60 Minutes. He says:

As I grow in age, I value women who are over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think.

If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do.
And, it's usually something more interesting.

A woman over 40 knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom. Few women past the age of 40 give a hoot what you might think about her or what she's doing.

Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive
restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it.

Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.

A woman over 40 has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn't trust the guy with other women. Women over 40 couldn't care less if you're attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won't betray her.

Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40. They always know.

A woman over 40 looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women.

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one! You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of 40+, there is a bald, paunchy relic
in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year-old waitress.

Ladies, I apologize.

MEAN MULE

This may be a first... (Thanks to Hippie for the pics)

A couple from Montana were out riding on the range, he with his rifle and she (fortunately) with her camera. Their dogs always followed them, but on this occasion a Mountain Lion decided that he wanted to stalk the dogs (you'll see the dogs in the background watching). Very, very bad decision...

The hunter got off the mule with his rifle and decided to shoot in the air to scare away the lion, but before he could get off a shot the lion charged in and decided he wanted a piece of those dogs. With that, the mule took off and decided he wanted a piece of that lion. That's when all hell broke loose... for the lion.

As the lion approached the dogs the mule snatched him up by the tail and started whirling him around. Banging its head on the ground on every pass. Then he dropped it, stomped on it and held it to the ground by the throat. The mule then got down on his knees and bit the thing all over a couple of dozen times to make sure it was dead, than whipped it into the air again, walked back over to the couple (that were stunned in silence) and stood there ready to continue his ride... as if nothing had just happened.

Fortunately even though the hunter didn't get off a shot, his wife got off these 4...

The cat was still alive here and trying to fight back.

The mule stomped the cat, then pinned it to the ground and then bit the heck out of the dead cat several more times.

The cat was pretty much dead by now. Then the mule picked up the cat again, whipped it into the air again, then stomped the dead cat again for good measure!

Note the dog audience-gives new meaning to "BAD ASS"

BUSH'S ANSWER TO KATRINA

MAYBE IF HE HAD REELED IN A BODY THE MAGNATUDE OF KATRINA WOULD HAVE HIT HIM.
THEN AGAIN, BUSH ONLY KNOWS WHAT'S WRITTEN IN HIS SPEECHES, WRITEN BY PAID WRITERS.

LOTS TO DO

I've got this coming weekend off and for once there's going to be plenty to do!!

Decatur is having it's 10th annual Bar-B-Que cook off during the Riverfest celebration, held in September. The two-day event is free to the public and features the only barbecue cook off in Alabama sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society and will be held at Rhodes Ferry Park on the south bank of the mighty Tennessee River. It's even going to be on Alabama Public TV! I went last year and had a ball. There's live music, arts and crafts, and vendors of all sorts along with cooks from all over the USA grilling everything from elk to buffalo to emu along with the standard beef , pork, and chicken. You can eat and drink to your heart's content while listening to the jams and watching the boats cruise the river.

This weekend also is the Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride that begins in Chattanooga, TN and ends in Waterloo, AL and honors those poor American Indian souls who were forced to walk the trail during The Indian Removal Act of 1830. On October 8, 1994, eight motorcycles began the ride at Ross' Landing and by 2001 there were a reported 90,000 motorcycles pulling into Waterloo at ride's end, making this event the largest organized motorcycle ride in history.

The TOT ride also features the OFFICIAL 1st Annual Trail of Tears Concert features the music of "EASY RIDER" played by Nashville's best session musicians, The Long Players:

Steve Allen-new wave 20/20
John Deaderick - The Dixie Chicks
Steve Ebe, Human Radio
Bill Lloyd, Foster and Lloyd and The Sky Kings
Garry Tallent-Bruce Springsteen's E. Street Band,
Jimmy Hall
& Prisoners of Love - Wet Willie

Shelly Fairchild - "Ride" - Sony Music Nashville Artist & Harley Davidson Model.
Gary Nichols - Nashville Dreamworks Artist & Florence's own.
Also featured is the "CAPTAIN AMERICA" bike replica (soon to be featured in the upcoming motion picture "EASY RIDER: THE SEARCH CONTINUES").

Then there's the concert that I'm going to at Alabama Music Hall of Fame where I'll listen to Confederate Railroad & David Allan Coe.

If that's not enough for you we also have Hartselle's 25th anniversary of Depot Days (once known as Mule Days), a week long event where the streets downtown are blocked off and lined with vendors and exhibits. The festival starts at Railroad Street, with The Station and its gazebo and minipark on one side, beautiful old buildings on the other. Here's a sample of what you can enjoy: Silent Auction, Antique Car & Truck Show , 5K & Fun Run, Children's Art Show, Story Telling , Train & Erector Set Exhibits, Antique Tractor Exhibit, Lots of Entertainment, Lots of Food. Typical small town stuff, but fun anyway. Who said there's anything wrong with small towns, Hartselle was recently named one of the 100 Best Small Towns in America by a nationwide guide.

Y'all come on down and we'll have us some fun! Summer's almost over and we need to get in all the outdoor stuff we can before old man Winter makes us drag out the heavy coats!!

NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN

Sorry I haven’t posted lately, but the new meds kicked my behind big-time!! I took one weeks worth and thought I was gonna die.

I was having chest pains and muscle weakness so bad that I would have to lie down on the couch and recover from just walking to the mailbox. On the 4th day of taking the pills I actually had to sit in the floor of Walmart while trying to shop for groceries because my legs just gave out on me. There’s no way I can take that stuff and function.

So sorry, I’m just going to deal with all the pressures on my own, thank you very much. After all, in the last year I’ve only lost both parents, watched my family go to war with each other, been responsible for all the legal hoo-ha, had major surgery, worked tons of overtime at a high stress job, loaned several relatives and friends money which I may never see again (the lowest amount was $1500) and got dumped by my so-called boyfriend TWICE.

Pills, I don’t need any stinking Pills!

I’m better now; maybe the side effects of the antidepressant made real life seem like a picnic. Anything is better than the way I felt on that junk. Never again. I’ll just do the best I can on my own.

LEXAPRO

Do I seem depressed to y'all? My doctor seems to think so, she's put me on Lexapro, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). I didn't think I needed any medical help, but she talked me into trying it to see if it made a difference. All I told her was that I was sleeping a lot and feeling "blah". Of course, I've been telling her that for most of this year. It's been a bad year with losing both parents, loads of overtime, man problems, and the family feuding. Damn, I hate meds of any kind and I despise being dependent on anything. Old age sucks.

I've been looking on the web and this stuff is scary. The side effects are nausea, insomnia, ejaculation disorder, somnolence, increased sweating, fatigue, decreased libido, and anorgasmia { an inhibition of the orgasmic phase of the sexual response cycle}. SSRIs have a very high incidence of sexual side effects, which can sometimes persist indefinitely after discontinuation. Like I needed that! Wait, it gets better..."patients should be cautioned regarding the risk of bleeding associated with the concomitant use of Lexapro with NSAIDs, aspirin, or other drugs that affect coagulation". And this stuff is supposed to be less invasive that any of the other meds on the market. It also has withdrawal symptoms like possibility of an increased risk for suicidal behavior , somatic and psychological withdrawal symptoms, a phenomenon known as "SSRI discontinuation syndrome. And it's not even going to give me a buzz!

If I start acting crazy y'all let me know. Some of the Lexapro forums sound like there's no up side to taking it, but then again people who are doing well don't seem to post on them. I know lots of folks on SSRIs and they're all doing fine. One of my sisters has been on Lexapro for ages and another one is taking Prozac. Maybe it's genetic, I've been told that my family "ain't right".

So far all I've had is a queasy stomach, but I've been on it less than a week. If I gain much weight I'm getting off of it. I don't any more padding on my ample behind!! I'll let y'all know if anything worth reporting happens.