Surprise! Surprise! This month's update is finally early, for a change. Jim mentioned it last night, so I got to work and put together the last few pictures of August and some notes to catch you up on my life in the last couple of weeks. So, without further ado, here are some things that happened in the last week of August.

	While they have been finishing up the paving of the school parking lot and playground across the street, my little yard is green and still growing. The cosmos just keep on blooming. A special thanks out to my mom. She emailed me first with the news that the birds in my cosmos are yellow finches. I haven't been collecting any seeds lately so that my new little friends have something to nibble at - they really love those cosmos seeds and all the little bugs (ants, spiders, flies, etc.) attracted by all the blooming flowers.
MouseOver and Find the Two Birds
Although the morning glories have peaked their height (clear up the pole to the webcam birdhouse!), they have now started their decline into Fall. The last storm beat them back some, and they are starting to die out some.

	Remember this little guy from Feb.? It's 6 months later and Merlin has really grown!

Speaking of cats, I can't leave out my kitty Sheagra. Here's a couple of pictures of her enjoying hanging out on the front porch - happy and content. Until Jim kept putting the camera right into her face. LOL

Two weeks ago, I told you about the cosmos finally coming up along the sides of Jim's driveway. Both sides now are filling right up with little plants and now the first of the blooms has started to appear. WooHoo!

Speaking of Jim, he made me take this picture. What a pervert! LOL MouseOver over for more perversion!!

Unfortunately, it's been chilly and rainy for the last of August, which means some days the pool cleaning got skipped and other days, the pool was cleaned from OUTSIDE the water. Once again, I got to take some snapshots of the pool at night lit up by the lightning.

Ah speaking of lightning and storms, I kept hoping for some hail. Tara and Expert Auto could really use some hail-damaged cars to repair. Not only would it help keep the body shop in business; but Tara's new boyfriend, Jason (the hail damage repair technician), will have to stay around a little longer. ROFL I love you, Tara Shanklin. And to prove it, here's a couple of pictures of Tara hard at work. (Check it out! For a while, Tara even had an assistant; now she's back to having just me helping out. )

Well, now you're all caught up to September. Even though is just the first, I've still got some new news.

My back is nearly back to feeling ok again (Remember. I hurt it a few weeks ago, giving the dogs a bath.), so I played it safe and had Jim help me bathe the dogs again. (Damned fleas!)

I also visited the doctor today. I got a little bad news from him, but I was expecting it. For a couple of weeks, I went AWOL on taking my meds. (My excuse - all my summer and vacation plans got it in the way. I know it's a bad excuse; but it's the only one I got. ) I've been back on my meds though and will have more blood tests at the end of the month. I'm sure I'll get my numbers back to being better. (counts this time were Viral Load up from undetectable to 9575; and the T-cells were down from 179 to 59)

Well, here it is, a week into the month, and I already have another update. Unfortunately, this update follows in the same vein as my last update ended - with some "downer" news.

I have had a computer hardware problem. (Oh NO! ) I normally leave my computer on all the time and when I went to bed the other night, "Reznoir" was happily running a program looking for duplicate images. However, when I woke up in the morning, my computer was completely shut down. After several attempts to restart my machine, the most I could get out of him was to occasionally boot as far as my desktop wallpaper.

Since I had dealt before with a computer repair shop very close to me in downtown Canton, I called them and set up a quick appointment. After explaining the problem, they were able to quickly diagnosis Reznoir's affliction. Upon opening the computer case, we noticed a clip lying on top of my video card. Now, even I know that isn't right. It seems that the plastic ring that the processor and heat sink are clipped to, broke on one corner releasing one of the holding clips. Although the heat sink was barely raised from touching the processor, that was just enough to overheat and shut down my computer by the time it would boot as far as the wallpaper. Of course, this is a discontinued part. Thank goodness they make Super Glue! Soon I'll have to find out what sort of fan/heat sink to get for my processor and get a new one; but for now Reznoir is running fine.

MouseOver to see the clip that popped off

As many of you may remember, way back in Dec. 2000 I was having such problems with my teeth (because of the large amounts of Coke that I drink and the meds that I was taking back then) that I had dentures put in to replace the teeth that were slowly breaking and disintegrating. At that time, the dentist had actually left two of my bottom teeth in as anchors for the bottom dental plate. However, the problems that had been at work on my teeth beforehand, were still there, so over the last couple of years, my last two real teeth have been slowly getting worse. Over a year ago, I had one of these teeth removed. Within the last couple of months though, the last tooth has started to cause me quite a bit of pain, so just before the Labor Day weekend, I finally had this last tooth extracted. Luckily, it didn't hurt too much; although the small surgery seems to have really sapped my strength. It could be that I've just taken a lot of stress lately, knowing that my blood counts aren't so good, and still recovering from straining my back last month. To combat this down news, there is a bright side. Finally, I will never have another tooth ache. Yes, there will be some occasional phantom pain; but nothing real. So after some temporary discomfort, a potential problem is now gone.

Ah, woe upon woe, though. Some of you may have been having problems reaching me through the internet lately. As much as I like to brag about my cable connection vs. DSL, RoadRunner has failed me.

A few days ago, I noticed (while watching the phones for Tara over at Expert Auto) that my webcam at home seemed to be having a problem (the picture kept dropping out). When I got home, I found out why. It wasn't a problem with the cam, it was a problem with the cable ISP. I called RR Service and after only 5 minutes worth conversation (with an operator and a tech) and 2 full hours of being on hold , instead of being transferred to set up a repair call, I got disconnected!! I called back and after a 45 minute wait on hold, I was informed that Repairs closed at 11:00pm (it was 11:05 by this point in the story); but that they would call me back in the morning (the same morning as the dental appointment that I just discussed).

By the time I returned from the dentist, I still had NOT been called, so I figured since I had had to decipher what the RR Operator (obviously an Indian) had been saying to me, then they could just try to understand me as I tried to talk with half my face numb from the Novocain. ROFL After waiting on hold for another hour (during regular cell phone minutes time!!), I hung up. My phone beeped right back. While I had been on hold, RR had been trying to call me. Unfortunately, the number they told me to call back was the number I had just hung up on. I wasn't about to wait on hold any longer, so I quickly went to the RR office downtown, caught my bill up (just to make sure ) and scheduled a repair call. By now it was a Friday and the Labor Day weekend was upon us, so the earliest that I could get a service call wouldn't be until Tues., between 12-2. (I'm writing this now while I'm waiting on a service repair truck to visit. At least, I did get a call confirming the visit a little while ago. )

Well the cable guy showed up (at 1:50 and was gone by 2:00); but my cable still isn't working. This guy claims it's because of a splice in the cable line outside. I'm not certain exactly when this "splice" happened but I'm pretty sure it was during the construction of the school across the street. When they tore down the neighboring block of 6 houses, they had to move and re-hang most of the phone, power and cable lines. I hadn't seen anything happen to my cable line; although I do remember coming home one day and finding my power line lying across my backyard and fence after the construction team had "accidentally" pulled it loose from my house! I'm set up for another repair call (tomorrow 2-4). I'll let you know what happens. I can't wait to get my internet connection back up; but I'm not holding my breath. LOL

At 3:50pm the next day, Cable Guy #2 came and hung new line from the pole to the house; but still no luck. I did feel bad for the guy though. He had to work out in the remains of Hurricane Frances; but not too bad, since I had to set up another appointment for the first tech to come back out.

Of course, the cable tech arrived 10 minutes before the end of their time limit (Sun morning 10-12) and needless to say, I was ready to scream. I tried being very nice to him (I DID want my cable connection back on ); but by the time he left, my cable still wasn't working and I was mad. How many times did I have to tell them that the problem was NOT within the confines of my house?! So after climbing the pole, checking the modem and the cable coming into the house, he left me with ANOTHER appointment on Thurs (4-6) for another cable guy to run new lines in the house to the modem and the cable box. ARGH!

Although I didn't touch anything after the cable tech left, two hours later, my cable connection miraculously healed itself and was back on at full speed. Since I know that mechanical things really can't heal themselves, I didn't cancel the next appointment because I figured my good connection was just a fluke. However, my cable connection held! Thursday rolled around and, lo and behold, the cable guy showed up at the start of the time limit! Will wonders never cease? Within a few minutes, he had new lines run inside my house and everything seemed good-to-go. So far, everything has been running fine. Quick! Knock on some wood. ROFL

You know what galls me the most about this whole situation? That TWICE I had RoadRunner representatives tell me that there was nothing more that they could do. What?!? How about if you can't give me service (like I have been receiving for close to 5 yrs.) that you quit charging me, cancel the service and give me a freaking refund? Did they really think that I would continue to pay for a service that they couldn't deliver? Thank goodness the power company doesn't have a policy like that. LOL

After writing all this, I realize that I was really taking the wrong approach to telling you about it all. Although I don't understand why I such problems with the utilities and other things (heck, half of the reason why I even started this log was because of all the problems I had purchasing things with cash and actually getting them after I received money from my father's estate - Feb. 2000), all these things can't be considered as just "down-er" things. Why? Because, with a little determination, some good luck, and usually a lot of complaining, I eventually get things to work out right. I just wish I didn't have to fight so hard to make what "should happen" actually happen. LOL

	And now, another escapade in the life of a deranged idiot. LOL Children should not leave their toys lying around. Not only could these toys be tripped over, but insane adult may be tempted to use them.
Scooter-ing down the road!

Eat my dust!	Where the heck did this truck come from?! Did you see it jump right out in front of me?!?

You all know that I really enjoy my cams (gosh! I sure hope you do too! ); but the problem is that when I'm not home, the kidz aren't always in range of the cam. Well, I've been trying to hack into my Yahoo Messenger some to fix that. I've been testing secret methods of "buzzing" my home Messenger while I'm out-and-about and on other people's computer, to play a sound bite of me calling the dogs. As you can tell from these pictures, it did attract their attention a few times. If you're really nice to me, I just might tell you this secret next month for calling the dogs.

You're probably wondering what this "thing" is in the pool? It's a sign of the saddest day of the year - the day the pool is closed. And that "thing" in the pool is a big pillow holding the cover over the semi-drained pool. You know, I can already feel my tan fading. (Thank goodness for tanning salons in the winter! )

But Old Man Winter has settled down in Ohio just yet! No siree! Jim's cosmos are still growing and blooming and my morning glories are still hanging in there. A little yellow and lackluster, but they are still blooming up a storm.

Since the cosmos have already died out and pulled cleared out (although new plants are already starting to grow from the dropped seeds!); all the bugs have migrated over to the purple morning glories. MouseOver (3 spots) in this picture to see what "friends" are still in my garden.

Could you tell what this picture is? Straight out of a Discover or Animal Planet channel show, it's butterflies doing it! I guess I should have warned you about the "XXX" rating of this picture. Sorry Mom, and kids! LOL

So to sum up this month, I had serious computer and cable troubles, summer ended and I itched the whole month. Oh, did I not mention that? I swear that I've had Hives for nearly 9 months now. Blotches come and blotches go; and I scratch and scratch every day. Yes, I tried everything from Benadryl to cornstarch in the bath water. Some things help; but nothing cures. I could have worse problems, so, believe it or not, I complain very little - otherwise all I'd do is scratch and whine about it. LOL

I have to give myself a little pat on the back here. Not only did I get this month's first update online quickly; but I've even finished up the month on time. LOL And what happens next month? Hopefully, a trip to Nelson Ledges (special guests appearances by ????) and a trip to a haunted house (the fake kind, not like my old 12th St. house - but I will re-tell ghost stories next month ). You'll have to check back next month to see what other trouble happens to me, or what trouble I get into. ROFL