why women have a soft spot for firefighters

"It was just luck that Oklahoma City fire Cpl. Craig Herrin found the kitten when he returned to Pine Ridge Apartments...to retrieve some of his equipment hours after the deadly blaze Friday. The kitten had suffered smoke inhalation and burned eyes."

There's video here here. Mostly facts and a few 'so cute and sweet' moments.

Then at work I heard it was on another channel. This one has more of the awwww factor.

This has got to be the cutest, most adorable creature ever...oh, and the kitty is cute too.

~~~

Tuesday morning, was it, that a tv crew was out at Yukon along the interstate. Talk about having a story land in your lap. Just sit out there, aim the camera toward the highway and watch the idiots slide off the road and down the embankment.

Fatality on I-35 and Hefner that morning too. I drive that service road to work, it was wierd seeing the turned up dirt on the embankment. Reminded me of the fatality wrecks I covered when I worked for the newspaper back home.

I was more concerned with my own safety going to work so I forgot about that wreck until I came up to Wilshire. Did that person know they only had a few more minutes to live? Were they worried about the road conditions? Were they driving too fast and talking on their cell? A car slid off just moments before, did the doomed driver see that and freak out sealing their own fate? Or as it sometimes happens, just simply caught off guard?

Very sad.

Seems to be more house and apt fires lately now too. Maybe not any more than usual, just the media jumping on the sadness factor so they can tsk tsk and make the public feel fortunate for the gluttony and greed they have now. Although there have been, what? 6 or 7 deaths due to fires in the last few weeks around here (mostly kids), it's just as sad now as if it would have happened in August.


reading: Quiltmaking by Hand by Jenny Beyer
Whiskey is: outside sunning his belly

ohh, a tv, just what I need?

Scott's birthday was Friday. Since my office Christmas party was yesterday and they always cater in a cold fajita bar from Ted's, I took him out to Red Lobster last night before going to the party.

Anyway, after thinking this would be my 7th Christmas party with this company and no winning anything bigger than an alarm clock radio or $25 cash, my number was drawn and I won a 27" flat screen tv.

Wonderful.

I sit back down and said to J, "now I have 2 tvs and no house to put them in".

Called my brother to see if he needed a new tv for Christmas or just wants a second one. He called me back a bit ago. Said he can't afford cable so he only gets the whatever he can pick up on the rabbit ears. He lives with his girlfriend and said they don't watch tv much anyway. If he does watch it's when she's at work or asleep.

He's trying to get into Occupational Therapy school right now so he's more worried about that now than anything.

So the new tv is in the spare bedroom, not far from my other tv, a measly little 20" that isn't fit to grace scott's living room.

Scott's mom called him on his birthday. Then suddenly he thrust the phone at me. "hello?"

"You know that Whiskey is always welcome at my house ANY TIME. Don't worry if he gets excited and pees. It's an accident, I have carpet cleaner, we'll just clean it up and go on. This isn't a fussy house. One day I came home and Rusty just couldn't wait for me to come in from the garage and he dribbled by the door, but it is no big deal. When Molly was a puppy she had her accidents. Life goes on. You don't have to leave him there just because you're worried that he might pee in the house." and on and on and on.

I think she's taking it personally that I'm going to board Whiskey at daycare while we're over there for Christmas. I love my dog. But I'd like to have a 3 day weekend without having to worry about him trashing someone elses house. If they didn't have dogs, I think he'd be ok. But his mom has 2 dogs and 3 cats, his sister has 3 dogs and 2 cats. With them all playing (or Whiskey chasing the cats) it can get a bit stressful.

My parents are the opposite. When I mentioned boarding him for a weekend, they were like, "ok, he's welcome here, ya know. How much will it cost, I'll pay for the boarding."

square fish

My dream life has been very very active lately. I know I dream, but don't remember any of it. I've read that you should keep a pen and paper by the bed and when you wake up out of a dream to write it down, or sketch it. Sounds good in theory. But, honestly, who wants to roll over out of a comfy position, feel around for the paper, knock the pen off the nightstand, fish around under the bed for it, turn on the lamp, get blinded, hang upside down to look under the bed for the pen when it actually just landed at the base of the nightstand and you didn't really need to inhale dust bunnies at 3 AM. Then you wake up read what you wrote and can't make sense of it because you've either written a page full of adverbs or can't read your own writing.

One night I tried to imagine myself writing down a dream thinking it would help me remember it. Didn't work.

I have over the years noticed that if I awake out of a dream and it sorta made sense at the time, I won't remember it in the morning.

The other night I had a dream I was swimming with the fishes. Not like a mobster would have you swim with the fishes. I had no flippers, no oxygen tank, nothing, I'm able to breathe water.

I don't swim. Barely know how. Other than a former Red Cross lifeguard, everyone else who has tried to teach me thinks it is damn funny to get me out there, get me trusting them, then dunk me.

Anyway, I was swiming with at least one of every fish in this reef area. The school was not just a random group, but in a square, about 10 wide, 10, high, 10 deep. Each fish lined up and no one breaking ranks. As the only human, I felt a bit out of place.

Then a shark starts circling, we stay in formation, each fish facing a different direction to be on the look out. A manata ray swims by, since mantas are my favorite fish in the world, I thought we would be safe. The shark bites the manata, I get pissed and after watching the manata swim away injured, I get super angry, break ranks and swim toward the shark. Don't know what else happened because the alarm goes of. Why does the alarm go off just as the dream gets better?








reading: Me by Katherine Hepburne
Whiskey is: sleeping behind the couch