Happy Halloween!

I have to work on Halloween night, so I'm celebrating a little early. Please enjoy this spooky scary video from one of my favorite TV shows as my happy Halloween wishes to you:

Birthday Golf

For Mr. Frisby's birthday, I told him we would go golfing in Pacific Grove. That was back in April. We finally had the chance to go on Saturday and we had a lovely time. Our friend, Aaron, came with us and we hit the links at 8:15 am. We had to leave our house at 6:30 am to make it for our tee time and I was worried that it would be cold and foggy on the coast that early in the morning. When we got there, it was cold and foggy, but we had lots of fun in spite of the weather.

There were deer.


There was fog.


There was lots of walking.


There were bad lies.

Mr. Frisby's

Mine

There were good shots.


And there were bad shots.


There were some good putts, but mostly bad putts.


And in the end, there were happy golfers!


Yay! Let's go again!

Proofreading

Some of you, or all of you, may have noticed some typos in my last couple of posts. During my many years of schooling and writing papers, I have prided myself on handing in assignments with very few, if any, typographical errors. I always proofread my writing to ensure correct spelling and grammar. My last couple of posts were no exceptions. After writing them and proofreading them, I posted them only to realize that there were some typos that had escaped my scrutiny. This is maddening to me! I have never had a need to question my proofreading skills in the past, but I fear that my age is catching up with me and my mind is not as alert and quick as it used to be. I may have to start having Mr. Frisby do a second proofread on my posts. Birthdays and getting older have never bothered me in the past because all of the physical changes that occurred were positive ones. Now I feel that negative changes are starting to take place and I don't want to get older. After my proofreading skills, I can only imagine what will be the next thing to go...

I Looked Out the Window...

...and what did I see?

A GIANT praying mantis looking at me!



Unfortunately, these pictures don't do it justice. The thing was massive! I actually noticed it first when I was walking up to the door after getting home from the gym. I noticed it out of the corner of my eye as I walked by it and nearly had a heat attack! I quickly rushed into the house to escape it's spiny claws. I grabbed the camera and ran to the window to get a good shot and the thing literally turned its head and looked at me when I took the picture. I texted Mr. Frisby to let him know that there was a gigantic bug outside that was probably capable of eating me. Even when I told him that it was 5-6 inches long (not an exaggeration), he did not seem as concerned for my safety as I thought he should be. He thought it was awesome. I told him it was not. I did an internet search to verify that it was, indeed, a praying mantis and to try to find out if praying mantises of that size were an anomaly and if they were dangerous. I learned that praying mantises are carnivorous and that was enough info for me. The thing stuck around for awhile and was still there was Mr. Frisby came home for lunch. When he actually saw it, he was indeed impressed with it's enormous size. But, still not as concerned with my safety as I thought he should be. He still thought it was awesome and wanted to name it Manny. I said no. Fortunately the thing was gone by the time we finished lunch. I have never seen any sort of praying mantis at my house, giant or otherwise, and I hope I never see one again. That thing was GROSS!

Loma Prieta

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, a 7.0 Richter magnitude earthquake that rocked the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas. I remember the day well. I was in the fifth grade and we were studying the Civil War. On October 17, 1989, I was in San Francisco with the fifth grade classes from my school on a field trip to visit Fort Point as part of our Civil War studies. Fortunately, we were on our way home with the earthquake struck at 5:04 pm. On the bus, it felt like all four tires had blown out, one after the other. We weren't sure what had happened, but the bus pulled over and we all got off so they could check the bus. When we got off, our teacher informed us there had been an earthquake. None of us realized had bad it was. My first clue about the intensity of the earthquake came when we passed a sound wall under construction on the way home. On the way up to San Francisco, I noticed the wall was almost finished. When we passed by it after the earthquake, I noticed it was just a pile of rubble. My next clue about how bad the earthquake was came when I got off the bus back at our school and I saw the relief on my mom's face when she saw me. She had no idea where we were when the earthquake hit and was afraid we were part of the damages they were showing on TV. She told me how worried she had been about me. But, I still didn't realize how bad the earthquake was. Then I got home and saw all of the news reports and images of the damage done. It was bad. Collapsed freeways, landslides, fires, etc., etc. Most of the damage happened in San Francisco and Santa Cruz and it was extensive. Fortunately, my neighborhood came through almost unscathed. But, it was quite the event to experience. I can't believe 20 years have gone by since that day.

Where were you when the earthquake hit?

Spoiled

I have been reading on many blogs lately about how excited people are for Fall. Personally, I am a Summer girl. I love Summer and all that comes with it. The heat, the sunshine, the barbecues, the vacations. Yes, Summer is definitely my season. I have been hanging on to it with a white-knuckle grip lately, but I fear that Summer has finally and ruthlessly been ripped from my grasp. And, this is where I realize that I am very spoiled here in California. Because when I say summer is gone and the cold weather has come, I'm talking temperatures of about 68 degrees. I am fully aware that my idea of cold here in the Bay Area is far different from the cold spoken of in other climates. I know this because when I told my mom yesterday that it was getting cold, she laughed in my face (okay, it wasn't really in my face because it was a phone conversation, but you catch my meaning). She is currently in Illinois and says that the rain we are supposed to get tonight will probably be snow by the time it gets there. I know I'm spoiled because I have made brief visits to much colder places and lived to tell the tale while defrosting upon my return home. I have even lived, for short periods of time, in colder areas. Be that as it may, I am currently in the Bay Area, the temperatures have dropped, and now I'm cold. And I miss Summer already! Let the countdown to warmer weather begin...

A Political Viewpoint

I avoid discussions on politics. It's not one of my favorite subjects, so I don't educate myself very well on the issues. That being the case, I can't really carry on a very deep conversation on the subject, so I mostly just avoid the issue. But, at times, it is thrust upon me as in this brief phone conversation I had yesterday:

Her: Hi, I'm blankety-blank (don't remember her name) from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and we need your input.
Me: Okay.
Her: What do you feel is the biggest threat posed by Obama and the Democratic Congress?
Me: What?
Her: What do you feel is the biggest threat posed by Obama and the Democratic Congress?
Me: I don't feel any threat from them.
Her: So, are you a Democrat?
Me: Almost.
Her: Oh, well then thank you for your time.

First off, some background. I am a registered Republican. However, I find myself becoming more and more unhappy with the Republican stance/attitude on many issues. And, I voted for Obama in the last election because I felt he was a much better candidate for POTUSA than McCain. I try to keep an open mind and am not strictly governed by Republican party policies, however my personal affiliation is irrelevant to the point I would like to make.

When the lady asked me what the biggest threat was from Obama and the Democratic Congress, I was so surprised at her use of the word "threat" that I didn't really know how to answer, hence my response of "what?" (Don't think for one minute that I didn't contemplate using Lucille's line from Arrested Development, "I don't understand the question and I won't respond to it." - I was trying to be polite). When she repeated the question word for word, I had a little more time to gather my thoughts and she seemed quite irritated that I didn't feel "threatened" by the Democrats. What she didn't know is that it is precisely that attitude that has inspired me to distance myself from the Republican party and its ideals.

Now for my viewpoint. And, this is my blog, so I can say what I want and you can agree or disagree - I don't really care. But, this is how I feel about the matter. Since when am I supposed to consider the Democrats my enemies? Why should I feel threatened by them? This may come as a shock to some, but Obama is an American citizen. Every Democratic senator or congressman is an American citizen. I highly doubt that their ultimate goal is the downfall of The United States of America, so why should I consider them my enemies? It is my belief that, ultimately, the Democrats and Republicans have the same goal - a better America. Am I wrong? I don't think so. They may have differing opinions on how to get there, but ultimately, I think they're all working for a better America. So, I think it's time for the Republican party to wake up to the fact that we have a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress and that's not going to change anytime soon. And if they would stop considering the Democrats as "the bad guy" and try to work with them, we might actually get some things done in this country. Case in point: we desperately need health care reform in this country. Is it going to happen? I really don't know because too many of our politicians are unwilling to compromise. They don't want to give anything to "the bad guys". If they can't have it their way, they don't want it at all. I'm so fed up with this attitude! Why can't more than one person be right? It's the idea that if two ideas are different, then one has to be wrong. I tend to believe that that is not always the case. We have had Democratic presidents that have made poor decisions and also some very good decisions. And we have had Republican presidents that have made poor decisions and also some very good decisions. I think it's obvious that nobody has all the answers and neither party is perfect. So, maybe if we all work together, we can take everyone's good ideas and decisions and make good things happen. In the words of the Fab Four, "We can work it out!"

And that's enough politics for the week.

Leases and Lions

First off, the lease. My parents come home from their mission in about a month. That means that our awesome housesitting gig is up and it's time for us to get out. We have found an apartment, however, and signed the lease today! We're very excited to have that all taken care of. It's not far from my parents' house, so we will stay in our ward and it will be fun to be close to them. We're not excited about having to pay rent, but we are looking forward to using all of our wonderful wedding gifts and we're stoked about not having a yard to protect from the squirrels anymore.

Speaking of squirrels, that brings me to my next point. Lions. Mountain lions to be specific. Well, one mountain lion. At least, I think it was a mountain lion. It was far too big to be a housecat. Anyway, today I witnessed the murder of a squirrel at the hand (or paw) of a small mountain lion. You might wonder where I was that I would see a mountain lion out hunting in the wild (or urban wild, as the case may be). Well, I was walking to my car after work. Yes, I was in a residential neighborhood at the base of the foothills. I did not expect to witness any bloodshed. But, as I was walking to my car, I heard a commotion in some nearby pine trees. I looked over to see a squirrel hop from one branch to another. Then, I saw the mountain lion. It jumped to the same branch as the squirrel and pounced on it. Then I heard some screeching from the squirrel and then silence. While it was somewhat satisfying to know there is one less squirrel in the world, it was a bit disturbing to witness it's demise. I have decided that I am for the hunting of squirrels by mountain lions, but I am against seeing it happen before my very eyes.