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	<title>meandthecat.com &#187; Just Blabbing</title>
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	<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog</link>
	<description>The further adventures of a &#039;70 something, tree-hugging, animal advocate</description>
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		<title>Look what the cat dragged in</title>
		<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2011/08/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/</link>
		<comments>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2011/08/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:55:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lorraine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just Blabbing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meandthecat.com/blog/?p=844</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yeah.  How about that?  Ain&#8217;t this something, though?   I never thought I would ever find this place again,  was I lost or WHAT? What?&#8230;..me lost?  Well maybe not actually lost, like in not knowing where I am or anything silly like that &#8212;&#8212; I may have taken a wrong turn a while ago and fell [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><a href="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/militant.gif"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-864" title="militant" src="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/militant.gif" alt="" width="80" height="137" /></a></p>
<h4>Yeah.  How about that?  Ain&#8217;t this something, though?   I never thought I would ever find this place again,  was I lost or WHAT?</h4>
<h4>What?&#8230;..me lost?  Well maybe not actually<em> lost</em>, like in not knowing where I am or anything silly like <em>that</em> &#8212;&#8212; I may have taken a wrong turn a while ago and fell into a<a href="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Answering.mp3"> </a>really deep hole and for some reason I couldn&#8217;t get out of it.     Very bizarre.</h4>
<p><strong>I don&#8217;t have a clue why it&#8217;s been so long since I have tossed my usual mishmosh of words onto this machine.  Not gonna worry about it though.  Why bother?  No matter what I write it won&#8217;t make any sense anyway.   That is what is so nice about this senile dementia thing,  I can use that as an excuse for just about anything stink-o I write about.  Good deal, eh?</strong>  <strong>Har Har</strong></p>
<p><strong>Never a dull moment on Planet Earth, though.   Got my usual quota of  email pleas to send each of those (admittedly) good &amp; dedicated organizations who are still hopeful those inhabitants who actually believe what scientists, astronomers, new outer space discoverers, biologists, geologists,  all engineering disciplines,  and so on and on&#8230;&#8230;.. fan the small spark of interest by humanity to acknowledge the pathetic, but going to happen!!,  death of  this itsy-bitsy planet pretty damn soon.  If not sooner.  </strong></p>
<p><strong>Just about everything that points to Planet Earth&#8217;s demise, along with all living organisms on it, has been noticed by CONCERNED, INTELLIGENT, EDUCATED, DEDICATED, HOMO SAPIENS all over the world.    Let&#8217;s just say, for now anyway, that the general consensus of way too many people is that *stuff* started about 2,000 years ago.    This, of course, makes absolutely no sense but I ain&#8217;t gonna argue about fairytales right now (Like &#8220;Creationism&#8221;,  what a joke on any human being who actually believes in that senseless, willful ignorance of belief that  something  has &#8220;created&#8221; this planet and set it down in a teensy corner of the <span style="color: #ff0000;">15 Billion Year Old Universe</span> === (since the Big Bang.)  Ya know?&#8230;.I hate to admit it but I do not have a clue what the heck the &#8220;Big Bang&#8221; was supposed to be all about.   Does anyone?<br />
</strong></p>
<p><strong>I&#8217;m  just gonna go right on out on a limb.  Of course it will have to be a very strong limb,  I ain&#8217;t no Twiggy, fer shure!</strong></p>
<p><strong>Oh-Oh.  Someone  &#8212;-something?  Is a-knockin&#8217; at my door.   I suppose I should mosey on over there and see what/who is there, eh?  Nah, they&#8217;ll go away sooner or later.  Hell with it.  It&#8217;s past 3:00 in the afternoon at the moment.   I have not eaten any solid food for many hours.  Well, a couple of hours anyway.  Heck, I don&#8217;t remember.    Only joshing about the knock-knock.   It was just the UPS delivery person.   I am a tad addicted to shopping online,  it&#8217;s so easy.    Paying for a shopping spree?&#8230;&#8230;..not so much fun.</strong></p>
<p><strong>This is my cat.   Her name is Snickers.   She already had that name when I adopted her from our Humane Society shelter, and since I knew she would resist having to learn a different name,   I decided I didn&#8217;t want to go thru the bother of rearranging her limited brain cells to accept something &#8220;new&#8221;&#8230;&#8230;..</strong>  <strong>  [actually she's quite intelligent].  She&#8217;s 98%  Maine  Coon]    So it&#8217;s Snickers.  Guess I&#8217;ll be her obedient servant as long as we both live.   Ummmm, don&#8217;t tell Snickers I said this, but I would actually prefer  a Golden Retreiver than this spoiled feline but alas!   &#8212; a small apartment is no place for a big ol&#8217; clump of a dog&#8230;.*snif*  Boo-Hoo</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/snickers.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-862" title="snickers" src="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/snickers.jpg" alt="" width="448" height="336" /></a><br />
</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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		<title>Hey! ~~You a Lurker, or just Bashful?</title>
		<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2011/05/hey-you-a-lurker-or-just-bashful/</link>
		<comments>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2011/05/hey-you-a-lurker-or-just-bashful/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 May 2011 19:12:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lorraine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just Blabbing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meandthecat.com/blog/?p=820</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I am going to get me something to eat right now.  Sure hope something yummy crawled into the refrigerator while I was piddling around all morning doing absolutely nothing &#8212; neither for me nor the cat.    THEN I am going to really make a  dedicated effort to publish something (using actual words and stuff like [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">I a<a href="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/putercat.gif"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-821" title="putercat" src="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/putercat-96x150.gif" alt="" width="96" height="150" /></a>m going to get me something to eat right now.  Sure hope something yummy crawled into the refrigerator while I was piddling around all morning doing absolutely nothing &#8212; neither for me nor the cat.    THEN I am going to really make a  dedicated effort to publish something (using actual words and stuff like that).  I shall return. </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"> <a class="alignleft" title="Flying High" href="http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/08/flying-high/" target="_self">&#8220;FLYING HIGH&#8221;</a> &#8211; This link won&#8217;t make any sense except to someone from my Facebook wall who discovered I was a  military enlistee  (because Facebook took it upon itself to broadcast that bit of trivia when I updated my profile)  then a new *friend* noticed that item and dropped in on me at FB.  SHE also was over in Germany about the same time as me.  Small world?  You betcha.<span id="more-820"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Well, this is it.  I guess I will finally have to concede that I am completely razzlefratzed at this moment.  At this point in time,  it is the next day.   The second day of  <span style="color: #800000;">HOT</span>.   I really, really hate HOT  &#8212; as in like, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Summer</span> Hot. Actually I hate Summer.    I  hate to SWEAT.   OOooops   Excuse the gaffe.   Horses&#8212;<em>sweat</em>.  Men&#8212;<em>perspire.</em> Women&#8212;<em>glow</em>.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Anyway!  What I am talking about, I think, is emblazoned in that ridiculous title I gave this blog entry.   When I check my site meter I&#8217;m always surprised at the number of  &#8220;visitors&#8221;  recorded for each day of the week.  Plus another chart below which displays &#8220;Number of pages visited&#8221; (and the lengths of the visit)  and so on blah blah blah.   But none of these &#8220;lurkers&#8221; have ever posted a comment for any blog I&#8217;ve slapped on my site.  Thus,  are you a lurker or just bashful??   Oh what the helk.   Who cares.   hahahaha </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">The world of  Blogging, where billions of people have poured their hearts out on their very  own website (usually designed by themselves or with help from platforms like WordPress and the rest of them&#8230;&#8230;.has today been reduced to quickie sound/sight *bytes* on a gazillion topics and it&#8217;s name is FaceBook!   What a phenomenon, eh?   I don&#8217;t care a whit for Facebook, simply because I am way too overbearing and offend many people&#8217;s tender feelings by saying what I feel and WHY&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.If I don&#8217;t see any logic or reasonable hypotheses for an issue others are totally glued to (and it doesn&#8217;t matter a spit whether what they *think* is right is usually way off into what I call the Land of La-La)&#8230;&#8230;.if they are wrong because they are stupid or because they make no effort to LEARN  real truths about what *they* think, in no way can anyone truly contribute anything of  meaning to others. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">My favorite &#8220;never happened that way&#8221;  feeling I always got whenever I&#8217;d hear a misguided (dumb?)  American citizen proudly announce  that  &#8220;<span style="text-decoration: underline;">This country was founded as a Christian nation</span>&#8220;    Did these blockheads  not absorb ANY of the history of  how the  first 13 colonies turned into 13 of the very  first <strong>United States of America</strong>??  Good Grief.   &#8212;-  I&#8217;m a member of the Freedom from Religion Foundation and what a grand and glorious feeling it is to finally admit, once and for  all, that I have not ever believed in some kind of invisible being who supposedly *created* this weenie little planet we call Earth and populated it with billions and billions of human being who apparently sprung from the original four people &#8220;He&#8221; created.   What a bunch of hogwash!   People should take a good long look around  http://nasa.org  and take a few trips with the Hubble telescope which has patiently been cruising around the universe for 20 years now&#8230;.I believe totally in Science.   &#8216;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">&#8220;The religions disperse,  kingdoms collapse, but works of science live on thru the ages.&#8221;   (some really old guy said this eons ago, and it&#8217;s still true!)<br />
</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">FFRF is an organization whose basic  purpose is to monitor the constitutional edict that &#8220;State and Religion&#8221;  shall always be SEPERATE.   It is a serious group of many freethinkers who are dedicated to preserving what the founding fathers knew&#8230;&#8230;that *religion* has absolutely no place  in our SECULAR  government,  and the citizens of America should be eternally grateful that it remains this way.    There have been small  &#8220;well, let&#8217;s do this, no-one will notice&#8221;  things.  The latest being our president declaring a &#8220;National Day of Prayer&#8221;  &#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;a total and complete violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.   President Obama should know better, or so one would think.  Prayer&#8230;..what a waste of time.  Prayer always fails. Whatever you want, babies,  or believe you deserve?  &#8212;Ya just gotta work for it yourself.<br />
</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;"><a href="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/adams1.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-836" title="adams" src="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/adams1.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="108" /></a></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span></p>
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		<title>Just JabberJabber</title>
		<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2011/04/just-jabberjabber/</link>
		<comments>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2011/04/just-jabberjabber/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 02:30:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lorraine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just Blabbing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meandthecat.com/blog/?p=714</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[DieHandtasche [this probably won't work, but I'm gonna try anyway--[it's .wmv] Hi there!    It&#8217;s that sweet li&#8217;l old lady from the land of cheeseheads,  endless adoration of Saint Vince Lombardi. (and our beloved Green Bay Packers),  adorably cute dairy  cows gently chomping on whatever it  is they chomp on in their green pastures [grass, I [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><a href="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/DieHandtasche.wmv">DieHandtasche</a> [this probably won't work, but I'm gonna try anyway--[it's<strong> .</strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>wmv</strong>]</span></p>
<p>Hi there!    It&#8217;s that sweet li&#8217;l old lady from the land of cheeseheads,  endless adoration of Saint Vince Lombardi. (and our beloved Green Bay Packers),  adorably cute dairy  cows gently chomping on whatever it  is they chomp on in their green pastures [grass, I believe?) &#8212; topped off in the state&#8217;s biggest city (Milwaukee)&#8230;..with its crowning glory,  Santiago Calatrava&#8217;s  Brisè  Soleil  at our lakefront Art Museum.  Which is, by the way, quite breathtaking.   If I do say so myself.   Which I just did.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>I have come to a momentous decision</strong>~~~I have decided what I want to be when I grow up. Yup.  Since  there are probably thousands of other older faces in the  crowd and it  certainly is no big deal anymore  &#8212; no matter who says so &#8212; I will just have to come  out of my shy, withdrawn persona and claim the most meaningful title I  can think of.   And by golly, what  else would there  be?&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;Well-l-l&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;  I guess I could always<em> claim</em> to  be <em>THE BEST  of the OLD BIDDY BLOGGERS</em>,  but I get tired just thinking about the  tough competition hangin&#8217; around the blogesphere.  just waiting to  knock me off the No. One perch, ya know?    Yeah, right..  Nah, who really cares at this point in time, eh?   Blogging isn&#8217;t the fun it used to be&#8230;&#8230;now it&#8217;s that dumb Facebook thingie.  What exactly is the point of being &#8220;invited&#8221; to be someone&#8217;s *friend*, especially when it is someone you have no idea even existed on this planet before he/she asked to &#8220;be your friend&#8221;.   So silly.</p>
<p>I drop by there once in a while but tell the truth,  I kind of got really  bored looking at someone else&#8217;s family pictures*&#8230;..and how many ways can a person pen a comment on the unbelievable beauty and so on of someone&#8217;s baby/toddler/teenager/all pets/etc etc etc ???  OF COURSE YOUR BABY, TODDLER, TEENAGER, BLAHBLAHBLAH, is amazingly, incredibly gorgeous.  WOW!  All<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong> I</strong></span> regularly do is slap a petition or something similar on my wall to invite anyone accidentally falling into my space there, to take a look at my latest petition and SIGN IT,  for crying out loud !!!</p>
<p>My petitions will <span style="text-decoration: underline;">always</span> be from the  kinds of  activist organizations who honestly give a damn about our country/our citizens/everyone&#8217;s animal welfare guardianship/our slowly dying planet, blah blah blah.  No surprises.there, for sure.</p>
<p>There is, apparently, some kind of very special wedding ceremony going on in a couple of days.   Over in the *Mother Country*, which is inhabited by many folks just like us &#8220;Mericans.   Except they are British, you see.  In fact, the groom, in this case, will one day be the British peoples&#8217;  KING.   And his wife will be, I suppose, the QUEEN?  Is that how it works?   This ain&#8217;t gonna happen, however, until the current Queen (think her name is Elizabeth or something like that) is gone from this earthly realm.  Lizzie is, I believe, 84 years old now so I&#8217;m sure she has a few good years left, eh?  She is in pretty good shape&#8230;&#8230;.my goodness, and why not!  I can&#8217;t even imagine the pampering and care she must get 24/7, right?</p>
<p>Anyway!   I haven&#8217;t heard a peep from the so-called &#8220;blogger friend&#8221;  who lives over there.   He is probably embarrassed to contact me since he obviously had no intention of inviting me to accompany him to the royal wedding and the swingin&#8217; party afterwards.   Shame on him.   Oh well.   Doesn&#8217;t really matter.   I  don&#8217;t have anything to wear, anyway.  In any case I would be very bored  &#8212; I recall, very vividly, how really, really bored I got watching Diana and what&#8217;s-his-name  (the duke of something) come  tippy-toeing down that long, endless aisle  towards the altar&#8230;&#8230;..Diana&#8217;s wedding dress&#8217; train was so long I fell asleep way before the couple finally arrived in front of the altar where the official whatevers were waiting to commence the ceremony.</p>
<p>Of course there is the possibility the old coot who lives quite some distance from my town wasn&#8217;t invited to the Big Par-tay and he just didn&#8217;t want to embarrass himself by telling me this.   OR he is attending the royal shindig with some cutesy English lassie.  *snif*   Well.  Ask me if I care.   Ha Ha.            Ha Ha. Þ</p>
<p>*Images of my incredibly gorgeous great-grandaughter are, of course, always the most adorable&#8230;&#8230;.teehee.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
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		<title>Welcome home, my sweet baboo</title>
		<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2011/01/welcome-home-my-sweet-baboo/</link>
		<comments>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2011/01/welcome-home-my-sweet-baboo/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 28 Jan 2011 20:53:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lorraine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just Blabbing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meandthecat.com/blog/?p=780</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ummmm, actually I don&#8217;t really have a  &#8220;sweet baboo&#8221; &#8212;-  In what&#8217;s left of my senile mind, I call people and things I love my  &#8220;sweet baboo&#8221; &#8212;  No, it doesn&#8217;t make any sense, but do I care?  Of course not. Oh Joy! Oh Bliss! Oh Happiness!  &#8212;&#8211;well, not really.   Shocking news.   OK, only to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>Ummmm, actually I don&#8217;t really have a  &#8220;sweet baboo&#8221; &#8212;-  In what&#8217;s left of my senile mind, I call people and things I love my  &#8220;sweet baboo&#8221; &#8212;  No, it doesn&#8217;t make any sense, but do I care?  Of course not.</p>
<p>Oh Joy! Oh Bliss! Oh Happiness!  &#8212;&#8211;well, not <em>really</em>.   Shocking news.   OK, only to me, but of course since I am of the opinion that<span style="color: #0000ff;"> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">I AM</span></span> the most important person in my life,  I have to go with my gut instincts&#8230;.<span style="color: #0000ff;">.I AM the </span><span style="color: #0000ff;">most important human being I&#8217;ve ever known.</span> And that is a fact no-one can ever dispute.   Correct?  Of course I&#8217;m correct and 100% right also,  I generally am.</p>
<p>OK then, now that it&#8217;s definitely been established that I have just lived thru the most horrifying, frustrating, boiling mad week of my life (as far as I can remember, there may have been other disgustingly horrific events I have endured in my very long march thru life, but this atrocity&#8230;&#8230;<em>this</em> abomination and destruction of one&#8217;s very humanity&#8230;&#8230;.what happened to ME in the last couple of weeks?? &#8212;- Oh the misery.  The pain.</p>
<p>My life, my heart, my soul (if there is such a thing, which I doubt) and every other nasty thing I can think of&#8230;&#8230;all wrapped up in just a few words.  Words I can only hope I will never have to hear again.</p>
<p>MY COMPUTER FIZZLED OUT ON ME.   WITHOUT ANY WARNING.   YES,  IT GOT REALLY UGLY and even the cat knew enough to stay out of my way.   I don&#8217;t really believe I would have kicked her across the room and  withheld her evening ritual of getting a little nosh of &#8220;kitty cookies&#8221; as her treat of the day.   Felt like hitting <em>something</em>, though.   What I really needed to vent my anger and frustration with anything electronic, cordless, wireless, blah blah&#8230;&#8230;..is an effigy of Sarah Palin* so I could beat the stuffing out of<strong> that</strong> and not suffer any consequences (I don&#8217;t own a gun, don&#8217;t ever wish to own one,  much less use one), &#8212; now that may have alleviated a whole lot of my frustration and bitter feelings towards that guy named Bill Gates.</p>
<p>*You may have heard of that person&#8230;..Sarah Palin?  &#8220;aka Sawdust for Brains&#8221; ??  &#8220;Don&#8217;t retreat, Re-load&#8221;   (Such a cutey, eh?)  Someone sent me a link to a website selling T-shirts, signs, posters&#8211;ad nauseam&#8211;online.  All Sarah Palin, with pithy little silly sayings on the shirt/posters.   Unbelievably vulgar so I won&#8217;t pass along the URL for that stinky site.</p>
<p>Oh nertz.  I haven&#8217;t blogged for so long I have all these words just running around in the big empty spaces in my skull and not getting to the point.  Oh well.  Anyway!   Long story short.  I did what any reasonable person would do when *things* go kaflooey.   I did a simple &#8220;Restore&#8221;,  have done it before thru the years and it always worked just fine.  Not this time.  (My new computer came bundled with Windoz 7 which I loathe with a passion I never knew I had anymore&#8230;.hahaha.   Sure wish I had my Windoz XP back.)   *snif*    Oh yeah,  I even took the final step and did a System Recovery.   It got worse.</p>
<p>The kidlet  has so often helped me thru crises like this, but in this case the death of the computer (tower)  was beyond her help.  All I had left was &#8220;Games&#8221; and spent five days not  eating, didn&#8217;t sleep, didn&#8217;t do nuthin&#8217; !! &#8212; but play Solitaire.  I tried two of the other games on the big menu of games listed, but they were too hard to me to comprehend.   And that definitely did NOT sit well with my ego <span style="text-decoration: underline;">at all</span> So it was back to Solitaire.  Did I just say I wasn&#8217;t eating during this miserable time?   I only wish.   hahaha  Nothing keeps me from my regularly scheduled rounds to the cupboards and refrigerator daily to see if anything good re-appeared since the last time I looked into the freezer, et al.</p>
<p>Well, this blather is getting much too long, so in as few words as possible,  I will wind it up.   I mean, who really cares anyway, except ME, of course.   It does show however, how much I depend on having  Internet access at my fingertips 24/7 since I renew animal advocacy orgs&#8217;  memberships online,  get my bank biz online, buy stuff online, communicate online with people,  stay in touch with several leftwing liberal websites and hope they&#8217;re trying their best to print more truth than just being irresponsible and yapping about things that have no connection with reality&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..[kind of like another political party I know, the one I was always too poor to belong to.  They're called Rethuglicans]</p>
<p>Oh yeah.  The computer.   Was going to take it in to Best Buy,  I&#8217;d had a member of their &#8220;Geek Squad&#8221; come to my home once and he did a wonderful job straightening out a mess I made when I blundered (as usual) into &#8216;puter mysteries I had no business blundering into.   Now I know better, no more sneaking into the &#8220;basement&#8221; of the Windoz totally non-intelligible directions about Diagnostics and Whirlybirds and ummmm, Windows Configuration and Constipation,  and a brief diagram showing the progression of  the dreaded  &#8220;Diarrhhea Error,  How to Track and Heal&#8221;   &#8212;&#8211; Dat Billy Gates, he don&#8217;t miss a trick when it comes to his Windoz and dat stuff.</p>
<p>Except for Windows 7.   Excuse me while I throw up.</p>
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		<title>Harry S. Truman</title>
		<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/11/harry-s-truman/</link>
		<comments>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/11/harry-s-truman/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:55:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lorraine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just Blabbing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meandthecat.com/blog/?p=686</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many  important decisions regarding our nation&#8217;s history as any of the other 42  Presidents. However, a measure of his     greatness may rest on what he did  after he left the White House.  The only asset he had when he died was the house [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many  important decisions regarding our nation&#8217;s history as any of the other 42  Presidents. However, a measure of his     greatness may rest on what he did  after he left the White House.  The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was  in Independence, Missouri . His wife had inherited   the  house from her mother  and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire  lives there.  When he retired from office in 1953, his income was a U.S. Army pension  reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was  paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an  &#8216;allowance&#8217; and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.</p>
<p>After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to  Missouri by themselves. There were no Secret Service following them.  When offered corporate positions at large  salaries, he declined, stating,  &#8220;You don&#8217;t want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn&#8217;t  belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it&#8217;s not for sale.&#8221;</p>
<p>Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the  Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, &#8220;I  don&#8217;t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for  any award, Congressional or otherwise.&#8221;  As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.  Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the  Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have  found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the &#8220;perks&#8221; of their offices.  Political offices are now for sale.</p>
<p>Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, &#8220;My choices in life  were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to  tell the truth, there&#8217;s hardly any difference.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8212;-I say, dig him up and  clone<img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-693" title="truand" src="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/truand.jpg" alt="" width="207" height="243" /> him!!</p>
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		<title>7 December 1941</title>
		<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/11/7-december-1941/</link>
		<comments>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/11/7-december-1941/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Nov 2010 20:24:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lorraine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just Blabbing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meandthecat.com/blog/?p=675</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Blast from the past~~~I know what I was doing the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941. Oh yes, I was pretty busy. I was &#8220;helping&#8221; my Mom and Dad clean up the &#8220;rec&#8221; room, they&#8217;d had a party Saturday night.  I even remember (nah, not really) the smell of stale cigarette butts in the ashtrays, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-684" title="LADYLIBERTY-706796" src="http://meandthecat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/LADYLIBERTY-7067961-231x300.jpg" alt="" width="231" height="300" />Blast from the past</span>~~~I know what I was doing the morning of Sunday,  December 7, 1941. Oh yes, I was pretty busy. I was &#8220;helping&#8221; my Mom and  Dad clean up the &#8220;rec&#8221; room, they&#8217;d had a party Saturday night.  I even  remember (nah, not really) the smell of stale cigarette butts in the  ashtrays, and the sour odor of equally stale beer. Ah, to a 10-(11 in 3  weeks)-year-old, this was ambrosia. Movie stars smoked like chimneys in  the films then, what did we know?  Ignorance is bliss.</p>
<p>I wasn&#8217;t  really helping. I was sitting at the bar with a cocktail glass that had a  stem and looked groovy, just like in the movies, with soda in it, and a  straw as my cigarette. I was a hep-cat, boogying to the beat. (Only in  my mind though, my folks had polka music playing on the radio).</p>
<p>I  was imagining myself in a sparkly gown with shoulder pads wide as a  Packer defensive end, and an impossibly high swoopy hairdo, with the  back hair captured in an equally sparkly &#8220;snood&#8221;. I was Hedy Lamarr,  Joan Crawford, I was so glamorous, so gorgeous!! I was also in a  &#8220;nightclub&#8221; (whatever that was) and Tommy Dorsey&#8217;s band was a-bumpin&#8217;  and a-jivin&#8217;.</p>
<p>Looking back, I realize how shaken my parents were  with the announcement on the radio by President Roosevelt about the  attack, but it didn&#8217;t mean a heck of a lot to me. Our teacher explained  all that stuff to us, but we just blithely tossed it aside and skipped  home for lunch. Kids really had it made then, I think.</p>
<p>I  consider myself a very lucky American to have grown up in those days of  innocence and <em>patriotic unity</em>. (Not to mention living a good,   middle-class life in America, where people gave their employer a good day&#8217;s work for their wages (instead of sniveling about one darn thing or another?)   &#8212; and a lot fewer citizens had their hands out to  the  government for freebie entitlements!!!   (Yeah, I know &#8212; The Great Depression started not too long after I was born the end of 1930 and it was tough for everybody&#8230;.but it wasn&#8217;t my fault, I swear!!)</p>
<p>My Dad started working at Pabst Brewery in 1926. Before that he delivered milk  around the neighborhoods with a horse-and-wagon.  Then after the Depression got its grip on the         country, <em>he</em> still had a job at Pabst. He firmly believed that &#8220;as long as a man had a nickel to spare he would buy a glass of beer&#8221;.  Well, maybe he was right?</p>
<p>Yup.  The *biggie* breweries are long gone from Milwaukee now.  Pabst Blue Ribbon &#8212; Schlitz &#8212; Miller &#8212; Blatz &#8212; maybe some smaller breweries also that were around.</p>
<p>The only thing I knew about beer when I was very little was when my Dad would walk  to the nearby grocery store to pick up whatever my mother instructed him to pick up&#8230;.lol&#8230;..and inevitably we&#8217;d stop in at the neighborhood tavern so Dad could get a cold draft from the tap.  I was offered a bottle of Orange NeHi soda and a small bag of pretzels.I loved to go with Daddy to the tavern.</p>
<p>My mother always acted a tad miffed because *we* were a little late in getting back from the tavern, but Dad usually smoothed ruffled feathers with a big kiss on her cheek&#8230;&#8230;. she always asked the same question, though.   &#8220;Did you and Daddy go to the tavern?&#8221;   Faithful little daughter always said &#8220;No Mommy, we didn&#8217;t&#8221;.   Alas, my orange soda  &#8220;moustache&#8221;  pretty much gave our secret away.   Daddy and I were busted.</p>
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		<title>Little Bit&#8217;O Nuthin&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/10/little-bito-nuthin/</link>
		<comments>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/10/little-bito-nuthin/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:10:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lorraine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just Blabbing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meandthecat.com/blog/?p=583</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Holy Cow~~I just happened to drop in here on my way to somewhere else and noticed I haven&#8217;t written anything since,  like,  whenever? Is that possible? Well, Yeah&#8230;..Doh! [Caution:  Heavily Medicated]     Hmmmm,  that must be it Then of course, I also have no idea what to write about. I ran head-on into a writing wall. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><strong>Holy Cow~~</strong>I just happened to drop in here on my way to somewhere else and noticed I haven&#8217;t written anything since,  like,  whenever? Is that possible? Well, Yeah&#8230;..Doh!</p>
<h5><span style="color: #ff0000;"><em>[Caution:  Heavily Medicated]</em> </span>    Hmmmm,  that must be it</h5>
<p>Then of course, I also have no idea what to write about. I ran head-on into a writing wall. It really hurt, too. Owww. Unfortunately, it didn&#8217;t jar anything loose so I guess my head is just plain empty. What&#8217;s a girl to do?</p>
<p>Well, Let&#8217;s see. I could design some kind of sandwich, catch a pickle in the jar, throw some chips on a paper plate &#8212; and watch my soap opera. Don&#8217;t need no brains to watch <em>that</em>, fer sure. Hah.</p>
<p><strong>Kathie is going to flip~~</strong> when I tell this story, but I can&#8217;t resist.  A few years ago she had this picture on her blogpage where she is swimming naked. She wonders: &#8220;If I put that picture on this client&#8217;s site instead of a classic car, would anyone notice&#8221;?    Well, of course not!&#8230;..*snicker*</p>
<p>Anyyyway, for some bizarre reason I flashed back to one of those &#8220;kodak moments&#8221; when Kitty was, oh, about 18 mos. old. I had her in &#8220;training pants&#8221;, and it was kind of an on again, off again process. One day I heard&#8230;..nothing&#8230;&#8230;from her bedroom where she was playing. Total quiet. Every mother knows. This is not normal.</p>
<p>I went in and she wasn&#8217;t there, just hiding behind the door. I asked her if she did poopie in her pants. She solemnly shook her head *no*, but unfortunately, the big wad in her &#8220;training pants&#8221; made them sag almost to the floor with its weight, so she was definitely busted. Now isn&#8217;t that just the most adorable story?</p>
<p>Sorry,  just couldn&#8217;t help myself.    I thought this picture of my grizzly-bear biker son-in-law and Nola (his granddaughter, my great-granddaughter) wouldn&#8217;t take up much room, and I really like the picture.  What the heck.    I will leave the story of the poopie incident to be told to Nola by her grandmother herself.   (*Grandma*   being the  poopy-pants child mentioned above)</p>
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		<title></title>
		<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/05/435/</link>
		<comments>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/05/435/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2010 20:50:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lorraine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just Blabbing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[angry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[give up]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[puzzled]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[resigned]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meandthecat.com/blog/?p=435</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[SIGH! Hello ?   Anybody out there?   Well of course there&#8217;s somebody out there, Good Grief, there&#8217;s visible proof of that in the comments boxes underneath the &#8220;Nothin&#8217; Much&#8221; blog of whatever date it appeared here. On meandthecat.com. Just a short note to explain my lunatic raving about this website (called meandthecat) and how it is [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><strong>SIGH! </strong></p>
<p>Hello ?   Anybody out there?   Well of course there&#8217;s <em>somebody</em> out there, Good Grief,  there&#8217;s visible proof of that in the comments boxes underneath the &#8220;Nothin&#8217; Much&#8221; blog of whatever date it appeared here.  On meandthecat.com.</p>
<p>Just a short note to explain my lunatic raving about this website (called meandthecat) and how it is disappearing.  Whoever accidentally happened to wander onto this blogpage and read my idiot post about this phenomenon will undoubtedly never return but that&#8217;s how it goes.  Win some, lose some.  Am I right?  Of course I am.</p>
<p>Apparently, I am the only person who sees my blogpage in a totally different perspective as anyone else.   My kidlet,  Kathie, aka<a href="http://Ink2art.com"> <strong>Kitty</strong></a>, sees my site as it is supposed to be seen and all is well.   Apparently visitors see a normal page layout as it is and always was intended to be displayed.</p>
<p>For me, however, every time I log on to the splash page, the width of the middle activity portion of the page (framed by the wallpaper on either side) is slowly getting squeezed, or as it appears to me, the right margin of the page is going, going, gone.   The large letters such as CAT in the title are now gone &#8212; some of the &#8220;headers&#8221; (Home&#8211;About Me&#8211;Air Force Life&#8211;blah blah) &#8212; are becoming double-spaced instead of one continuous line of titles !!!</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t mind telling ya&#8230;..it is pretty doggone spooky!  Kathie has never seen anything like this.   And of course I don&#8217;t remember whether this spookiness began <em>before</em> my new computer was installed or WHAT?  I guess I will just have to give ol&#8217; Billy Gates a call and ask him what the heck is goin&#8217; on here.   I am not a big fan of Windows 7 (which came bundled with the new computer) but eventually I suppose I&#8217;ll have to make an effort to learn more about it, since it&#8217;s the OS I am stuck with now, so that&#8217;s that.</p>
<p>And that&#8217;s the way it is.  Today.  Monday (I think).  May 10. 2010.  Or something like that.</p>
<p>P.S.   Did I mention I am really not a very patient person, but in this situation I have absolutely no control over my destiny (re: this dumb blogpage).   My granddaughter&#8217;s baby girl is very close to being born.  So <em>her</em> mother will be going out of town to help Jennie for a little while.  Kathie is really busy at the moment, so I will just have to pout all by myself until my great-granddaughter gets here (Planet Earth), and Jennie &#038; Brian are all ready to lose some sleep over the next few months.  Hah. </p>
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		<title>Nuthin&#8217; Much</title>
		<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/04/nuthin-much/</link>
		<comments>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/04/nuthin-much/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Apr 2010 21:42:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lorraine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just Blabbing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[doctors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rat race]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tests]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meandthecat.com/blog/?p=433</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hello.  It&#8217;s me.   I see by the insidious disappearance of the letters *A* and *T*  which once followed the letter *C* on that line&#8230;..has been consumed by the worsening condition of my blogpage.    I yearn for the simplicity of Blogger.com and wish I could just leave this giant alien platform called &#8220;Word Press&#8221;  and go [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>Hello.  It&#8217;s me.   I see by the insidious disappearance of the letters *A* and *T*  which once followed the letter *C* on that line&#8230;..has been consumed by the worsening condition of my blogpage.    I yearn for the simplicity of Blogger.com and wish I could just leave this giant alien platform called &#8220;Word Press&#8221;  and go back to where I was so happy for nearly nine years.</p>
<p>I regret all the snippy things I&#8217;ve said in the past about Blogger.com,  when its machinations by invisible Webmasters caused, now and then,  an interruption in my pursuit of slapping words down on the monitor screen and hoping something very dazzling and incredibly great showed up on the page.   *SIGH*</p>
<p>My very clever kidlet has never seen anything like this&#8230;&#8230;(my Incredible Shrinking Splashpage)&#8230;&#8230;from her cozy office in her home she does not see the same mess that my page shows right now.  To me.   It looks fine and dandy from her end of the cosmos.  I wish I knew what visitors see when they arrive at the &#8220;home&#8221; page of meandthecat.com.    Do they see the same squishing into a smaller resolution?    Am I even making any sense?   *SIGH*</p>
<p>Oh well.   As soon as I stop cowering in the corner of my closet feeling sorry for myself,   I will think more upon this really stupid problem.</p>
<p>Oh, gotta tell ya.  I had a great time the other day.   I had a date at the Nuclear Medicine clinic at my most favorite Med Center.  To receive a &#8220;bone scan&#8221;.    Somehow I was infused, totally, with radioactive &#8220;stuff&#8221; &#8212;- This stuff had to permeate every nook and cranny of my beat-up old carcass in order for the &#8220;scan&#8221; to see what&#8217;s what.    I sat for<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> three hours</span> in the Nuc Med waiting room with nothing but ancient magazines to keep me company.    Was I bored?   You bet your bippy.</p>
<p>Next Tuesday the Bonecutter and I will face off  and he will tell me what the heck is going on! ! ! !</p>
<p>*SIGH*  [hand me my bottle of Percocet, please? --- Thanx!]</p>
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		<title>Owie Owie</title>
		<link>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/04/owie-owie/</link>
		<comments>http://meandthecat.com/blog/2010/04/owie-owie/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:36:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lorraine</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just Blabbing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[doctors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[getting there]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pills]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sickie]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://meandthecat.com/blog/?p=428</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hello.   This is the &#8220;Me&#8221; part of meandthecat.   I haven&#8217;t produced a stunningly wonderful, peachy-keen blog for a while.   *sigh*   I&#8217;m pretty sure nobody noticed my absence, but what the heck, I thought I might as well announce I haven&#8217;t blogged for a little while because&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..Are you ready for this momentuous news? I ben sik.  [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>Hello.   This is the &#8220;Me&#8221; part of meandthecat.   I haven&#8217;t produced a stunningly wonderful, peachy-keen blog for a while.   *sigh*   I&#8217;m pretty sure nobody noticed my absence, but what the heck, I thought I might as well announce I haven&#8217;t blogged for a little while because&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..Are you ready for this momentuous news?</p>
<p>I ben sik.  &#8212;I mean,  I have been ill.   I really, really hate when that happens,  it is such a total waste of time to feel like a big squishy blob of  &#8220;yes I know I haven&#8217;t taken a shower for two weeks,  just stand upwind of me then.  sheesh&#8221;     My bionic knee was (still is) giving me much pain, which is very annoying.   The Big Important Orthopod Bonecutter took X-rays  (well, HE didn&#8217;t take them, of course)  filled a vial of some icky looking fluid from my knee and after one of the &#8220;techs&#8221; tested it,  he said there&#8217;s no infection, everything is fine.    (And to make a follow-up appointment in two weeks)</p>
<p>HEY!  Hello?   What about the pain?   Alas it was too late, he had already left the exam room.   I decided I do not like Big Important Orthopaedic Surgeons, but when I just casually happened to mention to his nurse as she was helping me slide off the cold metal table,  &#8220;my-my, he certainly is full of himself, isn&#8217;t he?&#8221;    She said, Oh most surgeons are that way, they can&#8217;t help it.</p>
<p>Thank goodness for Internists.   Went whining to my primary care doc the other day, she fixed me up with a &#8216;script that solved [immediately] some discomfort so at least I accomplished something.     I had suggested to the Orthopod that perhaps I needed Physical Therapy???  He grunted, I think it meant &#8220;Sure, good idea&#8221;.   Why didn&#8217;t HE think of that?</p>
<p>So now I have something else to worry about when I start getting pummelled by therapists next Tuesday on my first appointment to their house of horror.  I have no idea what to wear!   Honestly, it&#8217;s always something.</p>
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