Add in a Little Blue Grass

Posted on May 22, 2014May 22, 2014 by Dusty Roads

I felt like a wimp after the moonshine tasting. I doubt those teeny little shots even equaled one real shot but my insides were now as warm as my outsides and it was 83 degrees! I thought I’d just kick back and enjoy a little local ambiance.

Outside the Moonshine tasting was a stage. The chairs set up were all rockers. I staked out a front row seat and began rocking away. I’d love to take one of these home.

Pretty soon a bearded “hillbilly” with a mandolin climbed onto the stage.

He was followed by a gap-toothed guitar player, a young banjo player and an even younger looking “fiddle” player.

He said usually they had a bass player too but something had come up that day and the bass player couldn’t make it.

I didn’t know any of the songs they played but I sat through the first set with my toe tapping to the music. They were pretty darn good. Turns out they have some CD’s out too. They were hawking them during “intermission”.

I stuck around for the 2nd set when a harmonica player from Pennsylvania sat in. The 2nd set was just as lively as the first but it was time to get moving again. I was getting too comfortable in that rocking chair.

Dick’s Last Resort

Posted on May 18, 2014May 18, 2014 by Dusty Roads

I’ve finally made it to the top of the street. The Skylift is closed for maintenance so that just leaves the Space Needle but I think I’ll have lunch before I take that adventure. If I get dizzy I want it to be from the height not from hunger.

The couple from Chattanooga had told me about Dick’s. They said good food, good prices. They were on their way there when I spoke with them. It seemed as good a choice as any so I started toward the entrance. Almost immediately a young man yelled at me. ” Stop reading the menu and come in, you’re wasting time!” I was surprised and I wasn’t reading the menu. He hopped down from the fence he was standing on, yes he was really standing on the top rail and stepped up to open the door for me. At that moment I heard a huge “Fart”. It came from a cartoonish statue next to the door.

Inside were long tables for family style service. A young man yelled at me from across the room…”Hi Lady”. Soon he came bounding over with the menu. He quickly pointed out that there are only 2 food groups at Dicks’s…meat and fries and he was right, well maybe some fish.

Everyone had these silly paper hats and he asked me if I wanted one. I’ll play along so I said sure. As he was folding the hat for me he asked me how many cats I had. That threw me for a minute because I couldn’t figure out how he knew I had cats. When I admitted I had 2 I became the cat lady for the rest of the meal. It finally dawned on me…my luggage tag on the camera bag is a picture of Rocky. Very observant, my waiter.

So now with my silly paper hat on with the gross comment “I eat my chocolates from the kitty box” (yuck) my meal was delivered.

I ordered the shrimp. Yes , you guessed it, fried again. They were very good but the fries were a bit soggy. Just as well, I didn’t need all that grease.

While I was looking around and eating my meal a couple of the waiters opened the sliding window and climbed outside. My waiter stood on the same railing that the fellow who greeted me had stood on but he tried to perform the crane move made famous by the movie Karate Kid. He seemed pleased when I recognized it.

I was about done at this point so I asked if he would take my picture with my stupid hat so I could share the fun with everyone. As he got started everyone got into the act. Dick’s is a fun, loud and raucous place to be. And yes, the name Dick’s does refer to the male anatomy..not a man’s name.

Life’s Little Ups and Downs

Posted on April 27, 2014April 27, 2014 by Dusty Roads

What a week it’s been so far. Only one more day and I will get a break…sort of.

But really, Monday was marathon Monday and I spent the day at the T- Mobile cell phone store dealing with the first of the technology glitches. That out of the way I don’t even remember Tuesday.

Wednesday was the computer fiasco and I had to deal with that all week.

Friday I had my interview for the new position. My invitation (that’s what they call the appointment) was for 10-10:30. Well it started at 10:00 but I didn’t finish up until 1:30. Interviewed with 3 different people and sat with the person I’ll be replacing so he could give me an “overview”. (Assuming I get the job)

Saturday I was working 9-6 but I didn’t finish up until 9:30 pm. I finally told the last client that I’d have to get back to them in the morning. On an up note, the IT department called me back and finally had time to take over my computer “remotely”. Once they did that they saw what a mess they’d made. It took a good hour for them to go through everything remove junk, add correct stuff and run the security scans but in the end I was back in working order! Yay!

I had turned on the TV to see what horrible kitties Jackson Galaxy had to deal with in his show “My Cat From Hell”. It’s like the cat equivalent of the Dog Whisperer but I think dogs are much easier to understand than cats. Did you know cats can make 100 different sounds and dogs can only make 10.

Just like in the Dog Whisperer, most of the time the problem is in the owners not the animal. I enjoy both shows but as a Cat Momma I like Jackson’s show best.

Oh Oh, I’m writing this post at 10:30 pm and my phone just chirped. I picked up the email and it was from the client I put off until the morning. She told me to stop working and she’d talk to me in the morning. LOL

Rocky must agree with my client. He just hopped up on my desk and is refusing to sit quietly. Trying to proof my post around his head is a challenge. Now you know why he was named Editor in chief.

I guess I really don’t have anything to say tonight. Just rambling thoughts so I’ll spare you any more for now. Have a great day. 🙂

There’s Something Funny Going On

Posted on April 26, 2014April 26, 2014 by Dusty Roads

It’s been awhile since I paid a visit to the odd and strange going’s on in the news. I confess, I had a long, tough day and my mind would not function hence my desperate search for something to write about.

So a check to my favorite “odd” site did not disappoint. The first story that caught my eye is about a bicycle theft. This just proves that thieves are not smart.

Thief steals pricey electric bike, then accidentally calls owner for help on how to recharge it.

Would you like to know the “rest of the story”? The owner ultimately got the bike back. For more details click here: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/thief-steals-pricey-electric-bike–then-accidentally-calls-owner-for-help-on-how-to-recharge-it-212029453.html

Remember I said before a trip I always start to hear about the place I’m going. Well May is right around the corner and I’ll be heading to Tennessee . So here’s another Tennessee Headline for you : Tennessee man breaks into civil rights museum, then falls asleep.I wonder if that Tennessee moonshine or the “sippin’ whiskey” had anything to do with it. The museum is in Memphis and I don’t expect to be in that area of Tennessee.

Let’s see what else I can find…. This one is right up my alley..cat that is.

Indiana cat missing 5 years reunited with owner

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — A cat that went missing five years ago has been reunited with its owner in Indiana thanks to an implanted microchip.

WOWO-AM and WANE-TV report the 10-year-old cat named Charlie showed up at Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control on Monday. Workers there scanned the cat and discovered Charlie had a microchip that identified Virginia Fryback of Fort Wayne as his owner.

Fryback says Charlie disappeared from her home five years ago and she thought she’d never see him again. She thanks the veterinarian who convinced her to get a microchip when Charlie was a kitten

The last headline is for all the hungry people …

Extra crispy: French fry truck burns in Maine

WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — Bring on the ketchup: A tractor-trailer carrying 40,000 pounds of french fries caught fire in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the Maine city of Waterville.

At least with Walmart right there ketchup would be in good supply.

Well my friends, it isn’t a pretty post but it keeps my “string” unbroken. I hope you got a chuckle out of some of these stories.

A Really Special Lunch

Posted on April 8, 2014April 8, 2014 by Dusty Roads

It’s been pretty quiet around here. The cats play and keep me entertained. The workload has picked up as we move into the spring busy season but the vacation planning seems to be complete and I haven’t started prowling the neighborhoods yet.

But I did have a very special lunch on Sunday. March 3o, 2013 was the day that my department at my old employer was dissolved. Go to Malden, MA or take a lay off they said. I took the lay off along with many others. The ones who stayed have the daily pleasure of commuting from south of Boston through the city to Malden in the north. Not a fun commute even on a good day.

The thing about this department is that we were all “long timers”. I was 6 weeks away from 10 years and one of my co-workers had 25 years in. We were a family and now we were being scattered to the winds. I didn’t mind leaving the company. We were overworked and underpaid while they told us how lucky we were to have a job and what a great place to work, the party line, but I knew I would miss my friends.

We agreed to meet after 1 year to see how everyone was doing and so we did. On Sunday we got together at a nice restaurant for brunch and a chance to catch up. Almost everyone made it. One person had moved away , we didn’t have contact information for another and 2 had conflicts but everyone else was there.

It really did feel like family. Everyone looked great. Everyone seems to be working, maybe not in their favorite job but at least they have landed on their feet. It was a really fun afternoon. There’s talk of doing it again next year. I hope we do. It was really special.