Neighbors, Neighbors

I have a neighbor that lives around the corner. Sometimes when I see her in her yard heading out, I just go back in the house. And I have seen her notice me first & turn down the other street. Gee that must be intense dislike, right? No, she has a pit bull & I have the chow mix. So rather than have them yanking us around on their leashes growling at each other we the humans just avoid the confrontation.

We both wave nicely & or blow our horns if we pass in the car. She seems pleasant and maybe one of the times I saw her I should have just put the dog in the house and introduced myself. But over the past 5 or 6 months I have only 'known' her from a distance. So go do it now you say...

Well over maybe the past 2-3 weeks her car hasn't been in the driveway there have been about 2 or 3 different cars. And when I am on the street that I can see her back yard, I see her dog laying outside sometimes. When her dog sees us of course he starts barking at us. So I guess when I thought about it (maybe once) I just thought she had someone dog sitting that was like my lazy son. They didn't actually WALK the dog.

However yesterday morning I actually saw a lady come out of her house and get in a car that I had seen a few mornings. The lady that came out was in a nurses' uniform and had a clip board. OMG a home health nurse! So now I'd feel like I'd be perceived as the nosy neighbor if I knocked on the door. If someone else answers the door what do I say? I don't know her name. Hi I'm hear to check on... See if someone came to my door like that I'd look at them like they were strange.

Does concerned = nosey? Do I offer to walk the dog? Not sure if he is people friendly like my dog. Or do I remain me & just wave from a distance at whoever comes out of the house? Maybe I'll see her outside soon. Yeah on one of the 90 degree days, right.

A Little Randomness

I went to a Farmers Market Sunday and I only spent $5 and got quite a bit of veggies and few plantains. I finally successfully fried plantain & it was edible. Yay me! My mistake in the past was that did not use ripe fruit when I fried it before. Hint, when you have to saw through the skin to get to the fruit, it ain't ripe enough. So I bought one that was already ripe & it worked. Of course I still have about 7 lbs of potatoes, so I guess that is a lot of starchy food. But this is the fruit that I like that has potassium.

I typically speak in very general terms about my job. Even in person when asked I just say I work at a call center or a help desk. Most of the time that answer is good enough for people. I never say the name of the company to someone that I am just meeting for the 1st time. Because my pet peeve is usually the reaction that people have...they want a hook up. I met a guy and he seemed pretty nice. I gave him my general answer when he asked what I did. I guess he caught me off guard when he asked where...usually I name the city. But when I said the company name...He predictably asked about a hookup. Unfortunately I had already given him my number...I doubt I'll answer when he calls.

Movie Weekend

I saw "Just Wright" yesterday. Even though many of the people that I am close to think the story has been done many times before. I like Queen Latifah & love Common, so I had to see it.

I really enjoyed the movie. There was a scene or 2 that made me tear up. I'm sure if you saw the movie you're thinking, huh? I'm pretty sure no one else got teary during those scenes. It happened in the scenes with her father. It made me think of my dad especially in a scene where she and her father were painting. I flashed back to helping my father paint our house one summer.

But personal memories aside if you like 'boy meets girl' movie. This is the movie to see.

Random Thoughts

I watched this past weekend's SNL episode online. Betty was funny, and then some skits weren't so funny.

I have a new favorite website. Not everything is something that I would eat, but the photographers make everything look so appetizing. Well, Looking at a dessert IS calorie free.

Mother's Day was nice & quiet. Sundays are my Friday, so I start catching up on my sleep. My son stopped by after he got off from work & we watched a movie, and ate the fast food that he brought me.

The news is on showing a drunk driver that drove into a house & killed a 14 y.o. who was sleeping in his bed. Her blood alcohol was 2x the legal limit. It happened 2 years ago, sometimes it amazes me how long it takes for cases to get to court. She (the drunk driver) got the maximum which is 15 years. The father says the family forgives her but their son is still dead, and they have to live a new "normal."

This is a crazy weather week/month last week I was sweating at about 10 am when I took the dog for a walk. But this morning I was looking for my sweatshirt, because it was a cool morning. But temperature differences is nothing compared to the flooding in TN & the tornadoes in Oklahoma.

I bought 10 lbs of potatoes Sunday. Yeah, it's still just me in the house, I really only wanted to make some garlic mashed potatoes. But I could have bought 3 potatoes for the same price, so I bought the 10 lb bag. If you are in the Atlanta area & want some potatoes, let me know soon :-).

I'll stop rambling now, and go look up some potato recipes.

Midtown Sights & Sounds

Since I no longer work during the day time & also do not work in Atlanta's downtown/midtown, I was reminiscing about when I did.

On the sunny days that I had maybe 15 minutes left on my lunch hour I would sit outside in front of the building. In the distance I'd hear a whistle blowing...is it a police officer directing traffic? No. Well, who's whistling? It's Atlanta's drum major--Baton Bob! Unfortunately, I didn't find a simple video of him on the streets of Atlanta. But the link to his website has photos; there are some videos of him at festivals.

Except for traffic which I could avoid by riding the train, I miss working IN downtown/midtown Atlanta.

Plant Your Feet & Hold Tight!

I am always amazed that it seems animals have a schedule that they are on daily. I guess you can argue that their schedules may be determined by humans having food, letting domestic pets out etc. When I used to live in Texas I saw cattle head in during the evening hours on my long 70 mile drive home from work. (Yeah 70 miles each way.)

But back to the point that I am meandering to. There is a cat in my neighborhood that must cross my yard at about 5 pm each evening. I know when he is passing from front yard to back yard, because it drives my dog CRAZY. The DOG starts whining, barking & pacing from the front door to the back patio door. He looks through the vertical blinds and he sees the cat so he is pretty frantic at that point.

Yesterday, I decided to check my mail and just take the dog out with me. So with slippers on my feet (at 3 pm) I put the leash on the dog and opened the door. Well I what I didn't know was that the cat has taken to laying in the shade under my car. The doggy realized this immediately and took off after the cat that bolted down the street. Fortunately my reflexes were good enough to let go of said leash rather quickly. Because my feet weren't planted and I could have easily been pulled along face first on the pavement, oh that would have hurt.

So now I have to put on real shoes & go find the dog. I grabbed a treat, I know rewarding the dog for running off is not a good thing. But I needed something to distract him from the cat. By the time I got it together and walked back out to the street, the dog was coming home panting. Great! And since there weren't any cat hairs around his mouth, I must assume the cat got away. LOL

So today when we went out for a walk I was ready just in case the cat was on a different schedule today. My feet were planted & I was holding on tight to the leash.

Weekend at Midway

I had a wonderful extended weekend. My friend & I went to visit her younger brother who was recently transferred to Chicago by his job. He was a great host, and she got to make sure her baby brother was settled. And bought him a few things for his apartment.

I love tulips, and was pleasantly surprised to find that on the Magnificent Mile tulips were in bloom. The colors were so vibrant, and really seem to announce that it is springtime. The tulips last the entire month of May.

We also went to the top of the Sears Tower, yes I know the name has been changed (but we're still calling it by it's formerly known as name.) I wonder if it's less crowded on weekdays. Unfortunately, I only had my phone so I don't have great pictures. The attached photo is one taken while I was in the tower.