Let Boredom Ring

Happy New Year everyone! We wish everyone the best for the new year. 

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Speaking of boredom, have you ever messed with the Google Assistant, inquiring if she has a boyfriend or if she's doing well? How about telling her to eat your shorts? Terry, Mallory, and I had some fun with her over the transition between our car and the loaner. Hey, when you're bored, you're bored. 

She went into a very Zen-like state over this question. Google is a guru too?

Try telling her to eat your shorts. In response, she goes back to the 80's for fun. 

When asked if she has a boyfriend, her reply tells us that she is whole without one and that by being single, she doesn't have to share dessert. Good point there. What a woman!

 I was bored on my runs. This time I recorded the replies just for the blog. Bugging the assistant really got us laughing on the way home from getting our car back from the Eugene dealership too. A lot of laughter can come from messing with the system. Bored? Bug the assistant. She likes it. 

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Had to pull off the road during a delivery to capture this amazing sight. Maybe it's lighting up the skies to inform us of a great year ahead. Let's hope!

I love the colors of a rainbow against the dark, dramatic skies of a rain storm. Stunning. 

I had driven all day and was getting bored so I snapped these pictures.

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We have found another way of curing boredom. It doesn't matter if you are alone or in a group, watching Whose Line Is It Anyway? is a way to cure those lonely, boring moments. 

Terry and I watched a few of the old shows last night. One of them included Richard Simmons as a guest and oh, my goodness! I forgot just how hilarious this show is and especially this episode. If you don't laugh at one of these episodes, you might want to see a doctor about that. 

Laughing hard is a great way to pick up your mood and get things rocking in your life again. The above video includes the entire skit with Richard Simmons on the Whose Line is it Anyway show. I can't remember laughing so hard over anything else. Richard Simmons is hilarious and the genius of the regulars on the show, Wayne Brady, Ryan Stiles, and Colin Mochrie make me laugh so hard I ache afterward. 

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Waiting for an order to be completed, I found myself staring at the poinsettias in front of my face. Yes, boredom has hit a whole new level of yawn when you are photographing plants. 

The poinsettia is such an interesting plant though, isn't it? Yeah, I agree. I need a freaking life. Actually, I love my life. I do get bored when on the job though so things like how exciting a plant is goes through my head. I'm sorry. 

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Today is Wednesday, January 8, 2025. Wow, it is sure odd to type out 2025. Terry and I are going to one of our favorite eateries in the Roseburg area tonight, but while I'm waiting on him to be ready, I will fill you in on one thing I did today out of boredom. Boredom and of course, my bakery opening in the spring and/or summer. 

As I said in the last post, I received a couple of baking tools that were super nice, so I thought I would try them out. Interesting to say the least. 

These are one type of spritz cookie. Vanilla and almond are the flavors incorporated into the dough for these. I thought of spring when I made these and wanted to use flowers as the theme. I left the dough a little "unworked" for the mix of pink and the white dough. Anyway, I call these "Flower Power." They are fun to make!

I do believe I enjoy the second set of flowers I made over the first set in the Flower Power theme. 

I like the shape of these best. I can say the new baking mat and the cookie press are awesome! I put the baking mat inside of the aluminum pan and the bottom of these cookies were perfect. 

The next time I make them, I will create white petals with a yellow center to give the appearance of daisies. 

A very cold glass of milk and some flower cookies and I feel like a kid again. 

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This is not out of boredom, but I would like to take a stance on the soapbox here today. It is still Wednesday and I have a gripe. For months now I've been hearing our neighbor's dogs barking, whining, and crying. There is a story behind all of this as well and I'll fill you in, quickly. 

A couple of months ago, the people who were renting the building were operating an automotive shop. They had cars all over both sides of the street which is narrow to begin with. While it was a hassle to maneuver around the cars, I ignored it. That is until I heard (and saw) their dogs. 

Behind the building they have several dogs inside a cyclone fence. The yard is postage stamp in size accommodating feature for these babies is a small canopy in the corner of the yard to protect them from rain or other weather issues. Recently I counted them. There are nine dogs in this backyard. Nine. Nine dogs ranging from adult down to puppies that are approximately three to four months old. The dogs are rottweiler in breed. 

I love dogs or animals in general. I'm sure you deduced that Terry and I are animal lovers by our posts about our babies. But now there is an issue I'm very upset about. These nine babies are staying in this run all day and night, without any human interaction that I can see. I'm not a Mrs. Kravitz or now known as a Karen who watches all the time, but the lack of human intervention is very noticeable. I know they at least feed them, as the dogs don't look malnourished. However, the people who rented this shop moved out. Yes, all of their belongings are gone, except for the dogs. 

Like I said above, the dogs are alone, all day and night. They come by apparently, throw food into the pen and give them water. But that's it in terms of care. Nighttime rolls around and I can hear at least one or two of them crying. A few are barking. But there is one that is blind as far as I can tell. I drove by the other night to get a better look at the situation. The back of the building is facing the alley, like our house. The dogs came to the fence in anticipation it was someone they knew. As all of them gathered to see, except one. I noted this dog stood staring at the building. I would assume this means he is blind. He or she had no idea where to look and the other pups were all barking and whining as I sat in my car. The noise seemed to confuse him or her as to which way I was coming from. 

I have watched these pups for quite a while since I'm worried about their home situation. Today I finally took action by calling the animal control center, which is the Douglas County Sheriff's office. A lot of good that did me. 

Just like the phone call to let the local police know the biker's across the street were shooting off handmade explosives during the night didn't stir up any action, so this call went today. It's as if everybody can do whatever they want in this city and authorities just don't give a shit. Just don't bug them. Of course, I'm the exception. Since I drive the brightest red car you can drive, they keep an eye on me. 

The woman on the other end of the phone line informed me she would tell the deputy and he may call later to ask more questions if information was needed. As it happened, I was on the phone when he called but he did leave a message. He gave me his name and stated the address given had a welfare check on the animals a while ago. He said he wasn't sure but thought the dogs had the check but he would look again. Then, out of the blue, he found that the check on the pups had happened like he thought but he was still going to drive by and look again. That was it. That's all that was said or done. This breaks my heart. The lies spewing from his mouth were not unnoticeable. I could tell it was a blatant shrug of the shoulders and a definite, "Who cares?" type of attitude. 

Those dogs are fed, I'm certain. But they are all left in that little pen with a tiny canopy for cover. It is dropping in temps tonight, not to mention the owners are never around to comfort the animals or to treat them to a little compassion and love. I can't handle hearing them cry. The barking is annoying, but that cry is truly heartbreaking. Every cell in my body cringes and my heart aches. 

I will not let this drop so easily. Something has to be done. First, nine of them? Nine? I know in Eugene, if it was reported that someone has nine dogs, that alone is enough to be thoroughly checked into. It's illegal to have more than two unless you have a kennel license. 

Secondly, if the barking continued and whining and crying were reported, that is another good reason to investigate deeply. It makes no sense that the police here would do a welfare check, see that the dogs are standing upright and apparently aren't falling over from malnutrition, so all is okay I guess? I'm so flabbergasted and frustrated I could cry. Those poor babies. Give your dogs to better homes if you can't spend some time with them. It's in the same lines as if you bought a dog, took him home, and chained him up in the backyard. Oh, you feed him/her, but that's it. You don't have time to spend petting the dog or play with it. That's out of the question. It's outrageous. 

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Terry and I did go out to dinner tonight. We went to Hacienda Vieja again, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. 

We started the night off with chips and salsa, of course. I had a club soda with lime and Terry had his favorite in a diet soda. Then came the main course. Terry had a nice enchilada and tamale while I munched on a chimichanga. Both meals came with the usual rice and beans. Good stuff!

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Thursday, January 9, 2025

I had my heart jump started this morning. Sound asleep and the phone rang. I can barely hear the ringtone while awake and doing my thing, but it breaks the silence in a room if you're sleeping and it goes off. It was Mallory. 

I jumped out of bed and headed for the office. I gave her a call back while looking at the family chat on my phone. Apparently Marina had taken her puppies out for the bathroom run and her deck was a bit slick. Down she went, scraping her leg on the steps and hitting her back on the main platform. This is the second or third time this month she has fallen or at least over a short amount of time. I began the motherly response. You know, the, "Don't make me bring the wheelchair, walker, and potty riser up there!" 

Marina is okay, but very sore. I can imagine. I'm not sure what is going on with the falls, but each has its own reason for the fall. It's not as though she is walking and then boom, falls on her butt or her face. I'm grateful she is not hurt badly nor does she have stuff going on to cause these falls. My first reaction was, "Oh, my God." But I followed that with, "You're not seriously hurt and for this, I am grateful." 

While I'm reading one daughter has fallen and another has a husband who is sick again, I hear the words, "Mom, I was in a car accident." Of course the first words to follow are, "Are you okay?" while images of bandages and bloody stuff stumbles through my warped mind. Yes, she was fine. Just pissed that her car was damaged. I get it. I understand all of that. Now comes the search for a body shop she trusts to get it repaired. 

She proceeded to let me know she had glanced down to adjust the heater settings. While she reached down toward the knob, the truck in front of her stopped suddenly. The car is now sitting with a hood squished upward and her headlight is gone. I kept thinking, but you're okay. That's all that matters. For this, I am grateful. 

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For the new year, I definitely need to set myself up with a scheduled life as it would help me with things I need to accomplish. First, I do work. Secondly, I still need to and want to clean the house. I'm learning new stuff for the bakery idea and then there is the banjo. My lovely new project. Fitting all of this into a day is going to be difficult, but I need to make it work. I want to make it work. 

I still have the blog to write in, which I love. It's still one of my favorite projects. So I guess I'll give it the old college try and develop a schedule that is flexible, yet strong to help me accomplish all I wish to do. 

We'll see how that goes or at least how well I adhere to the time slots projected for the duties I want to and need to accomplish. This should be good for some laughs. 

Well, I'm going to leave this boring post here. Nothing real important to report. Down a car, but that's nothing new for us over the past few months. Between the illnesses and the falls, the start of the year scares me a bit but it will get better. Now is the best time to test out the theory of creating our own reality. We'll see. If my reality were to come to fruition the way I wish it to, my family would be safe, sound, and feeling better. I have a friend or two not doing well and I would wish miracles upon them to take away their pain and suffering. All of the stray animals would have loving homes. Forever homes. We would have peace in the world. People would be considerate and nice toward one another. Is that too much to ask?

Love to all. Take care and thank you for reading our blog and let boredom ring! 

@psychicpoet0188

Have a wonderful, peaceful, restful new year!