Ya Gotta Love T Ball

Why does t ball start at the coldest time of the year? Yesterday was sunny and much warmer - today was the first game so it was really really cold out! Later on, after the 'game' was all over, it got a little warmer!
Next year they will start tball ... right now they can run around, hide from their parents, and have fun trying to stay warm!

Gotta watch out when the geese are dive bombing the field!

Trying to stay warm while watching the game....but sitting on metal bleachers high up just doesnt cut it!

But if you are the littlest one, you can cuddle up and hide in your stroller!

These guys are actually doing better this year! The hitting has improved - and they are watching the ball. But when they get the ball, they still arent quite sure what to do with it! And then, if they do get on base - they tend to bunch up on one base - trying to stay warm??? And every time the coach would yell "Run home" all I could think of was that scene from The Sandlot....

I did forget the funniest story from the knitting show yesterday. It happened in the first 1/2 hour I was there. Over the paging system came "Could Mr. So-and-So please come to such-and-such booth? You have your wife's purse and she needs it!"

Spring

This week has really felt like spring.....and each time, NO CAMERA! Drat it!

• the poppies are blooming! I love them!
• On the drive to Children's Hospital in Oakland, I saw a deer on the hill by the freeway...then a few more....and then a herd of them complete with fawns!!!!!
• yesterday on the way to work - it is getting lighter in the mornings - I saw in the field this HUGE herd of goats - must have been brought in for shrubbery control!
• and today on the drive home, a whole flock of wild turkeys!

Just gotta admire that old Mother Nature.

Walked aroung the Market at Stitches West today. While waiting in the longest line I have ever seen there (and I usually go about the same time on Friday morning) I was talking to some of the other ladies in line while we watched the 'fashion show' going on around us.....and I definitely do not feel bad when one of them was talking about someone she knows who has had to rent storage to contain all her quilting stash - and the other lady told us she met someone last year who admitted she rented an entire seperate apartment for her fiber stash!!! I am not that bad at all....

And I came home with : 2 patterns (one is a gift), 2 notions (1 is a gift), 2 pairs of socks (both are gifts) and 1 ball of yarn for me! That was it!!

Talked myself out of a lot - either because I just dont need it, or because realistically I knew I would never get it done. There were quite a few samples I would have loved to have walked away with!!!!!!

But boy am I tired, and in over load I think....from all the people and all the stuff. Talked with some really nice people!

I just dont get it

Banks are going belly up.
Retailers are closing.
People's savings and retirement accounts have tanked
People are losing their jobs and their homes.

And yet PG&E (for those of you not from around here, that is Pacific Gas & Electric) just posted 4th quarter profits that have DOUBLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yet supposedly all those people with foreclosed homes and all stopped paying their utility bills too.

But their profits went sky high!

And in the paper the next day after they announced this - was the article that PG&E is going to go solar with a lot of their properties - AND EXPECTS THE CONSUMERS TO PAY FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boy, what a great racket.
Guess it makes sense.
Other companies have gotten bailouts that allowed them to pay their bonuses and trips and all.

Criminal mortgage companies are getting bailed out....stupid people are getting bailed out.
No one learning a lesson unless it is if you are stupid or criminal you get a pay out.

And the rest of us who are hunkering down and maintaining are the ones who are hurting in silence - we are not entitled to bailouts - becuase we are the ones who are paying for those bailouts.

So I guess it makes sense that a utility company would jump on the band wagon - making more money than ever - annoucing that - and then asking, no TELLING, their customers that they will be paying for the company to go green by utilizing solar energy for themselves.

I just dont get it.

February Catching Up

Those are the really pretty - and extremely overpriced - flowers my husband sent to my for Valentine's Day. But I am a petty selfish person.....and am still upset that the first time in 36? Valentine's Days, I did not get a card!

And it really surprises me. You see, there are 2 movies that are viewed by this family every year. To the point that we all can do dialogue from them. And one of them is Fiddler On The Roof. (We have seen that movie on the big screen - the little screen - amateur stage - and professional stage). And one of the important songs in that movie is "Tradition". A very important aspect of my husband is tradition. And so, I am so surprised that he forgot this tradition...cards....oh well, I am a big girl and I will deal with it...but the very expensive flowers way overshadows the little gifts I have him...

It has been rainy for days. And that is a good thing. But I wish it would rain at night and be sunny in the day time! But that is just me.

Our oldest grandson (you can see a photo of him behind the flowers), apparently has been pretty sick recently. Strep throat - and he had every symptom you can think of. But 24 hours of antibiotics and he feels better - altho he still has a sore throat!

The economy is getting closer and touching more and more lives. I read other people's blogs and their economic worries. And now my daughter tells me about a friend at work - recently bought a house - pregnant with the first baby - and she will no longer have a job come April. So far, luckily, her husband has a job (and he is the medical insurance provider which is a good thing). But she will be 8+months pregnant when she loses her job...

Oh, do you love babies as much as I do? Then you must go over to this blog and look at the most lovely baby photos...http://getting-stitched-on-the-farm.blogspot.com/...I just want to sit down in the midst of them and play with them!

No AT&T for hubby this year - and he had some wonderful tickets to utilize. The day he would have gone, play was cancelled due to weather.

PS

See the new counter up there? The one with the very pretty sunflowers?

It is up there becuase Mother's Day is the day AFTER I complete the 10K Bras For The Cause walk. So it will be recovery day of some sort!

If you would like to support my team (Team Maternal/Child) please go to http://www.trivalleysocks.org/ and support us.

You can also read about the walk there. This group is an all volunteer organization. This year the money will go to both the Susan B Komen organization as well as the local Axis Community Health Clinic.

I have been touched by many people who have experienced the fear and pain brought about my breast cancer. Have also had my own scares. And so this has become important to me - it can affect anyone, either gender, any race, any age - and I would like to see more and more research about the cures and prevention out there so that just maybe, as the photo above says, we can find a cure before my granddaughter grows boobs! (No, that is not her - just a photo I recived in an email today that I thought was very pertinent!)

Something is wrong here

My son was telling us a story last night. He ran into some old HS buddies of his. And they were talking about life in general and it came down to the foreclosure problems. One of them needed to refinance his house - he was current on all mortgage payments - but was told he did not qualify to refinance.

So when he asked what he needed to do - he was told (according to this story) by the mortgage holder to stop making payments!!!!!!!!!!!! So sure enough, after 3 months of not making the mortgage payments - he was offered a refinancing package!

Does anyone else feel that there is something wrong with the ethics and morality of our financial businesses when this is the advice they are giving out?

Pay your bills and be punished.

Dont pay your bills, and be rewarded.

And people wonder how and why the state and country has become so messed up?

More walking and photos!

These are some of the vines growing on the outside of the old Olivinia Winery building. Looks like a knit cable doesnt it?

I love watching these birds soaring. They make my heart feel light and happy. I wish I had a better lens - he was circling right over me.....hubby told me he was waiting for me to keel over....I think he knew I was envious of him and he was taunting me!

My hubby loves oak trees. I dont. But I do love how they grow in all these interesting shapes!

This is the old Olivinia Winery building. Lots of birds hiding in there!

This is the other building there - a metal building.

I jsut thought this tree looked like a ghost.

Interesting buildings. Wish I knew more about the history - will have to do some research. We also saw some foundations...

This is where we have been walking. We have bought a seasons pass. Today we logged in 5.1 miles. This time we have found lots more walking paths than we ever knew was passable. The walk today was very hilly and we did wimp out on the last part of it cause it was way too steep looking! We decided to do that on the first day of the walk next time, not the second day!