Covered wagons and American Idol

Good morning. As you may have noticed, I haven't written in me blog since the 25th of April. That matters not I suppose. But hey, I needed to start today's somehow, don't ya think? Last week while I was outside, can't remember why exactly, I saw a wagon being pulled by horses coming up the road, so I took a few pictures as they passed, which you can see below. You can see them even better if you click on them to enlarge them to their original sizes which are 640X480.

Other than the above, not really much happening in our world, as usual. On the other hand, we have been getting all of our chores done... for the most part. I sure will be glad when it's really Spring, as opposed to pseudo Spring with the sun shining, but a cool breeze blowing, and often times (at least over the last weekend) cloudy. When it's cloudy like it isn't today, clothes on the line take what seems like forever to dry. Speaking of which, I hung a whole bunch (pretty much every one we have) of towels on the line yesterday, in the wind, and let me tell you, it was pretty difficult. I did get them hung though, and today I will bring them in. The reason I didn't get them in yesterday is because it was late in the afternoon. But they should be dry now, and if not, they will be soon. Then there's only one more load to wash, and that would be our DD's clothes which are in her basket in her room.

So, who's been watching America Idol this year? We have, and we're not impressed so far. I liked the last two that've been voted off. Obviously the speed dialers disagree though. The only one I think has a truly good voice is David Archuleta, but the people who pick his wardrobe need to work with him more and make him look more professional. Anyway, if you have indeed been watching television, you've probably heard Fox exclaim, "The best show ever!" I whole heartedly disagree. I guess I just can't seem to get passed how good Clay Akin and Carrie Underwood were, and compare all others to them. Consequently, no one has measured-up, in my opinion.

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Life and credit cards

Hey! Haven't posted in either of my blogs or Gather for quite a while. Don't know if you care to know why or not. It was because I went into a *major* depressive state of mind where I could not get interested in other peoples problems and also couldn't think of anything interesting in my life to write about.

What's the latest drama? Capital One seems to think that if we're not paying our over priced minimum payment that we just don't want to. Well, I've got news for them. We're not paying and haven't payed for two years because WE HAVE NO MONEY! Since C.O. is such a small company who can't absorb the cost of a debt that can't be paid because THEY raised the minimum payment, they're suing us. Hmm... somehow I think it's going to be VERY difficult for them to get paid that way. For one, our ONLY income is Social Security Disability, which they CAN'T garnish. We were making the minimum payments before they raised the amount by paying that and then using the card to pay for groceries. Once the minimum was raised and the card got maxed out, and we could not use it to buy groceries anymore, we stopped using it. We opted to eat and get the medications I need for my MS. If they can't or won't understand that, then they're nothing more than a heartless, greedy corporation who doesn't DESERVE to be paid. My wife called them before we completely stopped paying them and asked for a lower minimum payment, a reduction in interest, or anything that would help us be able to pay, and they told her they didn't negotiate. That was only after trying several times to find an actual human to talk to. We could ONLY get the automated system. Waiting on the line after the options were told to us via a computer voice didn't get us to 'customer service'. It wasn't until they sent us a letter by snail mail that had a phone number in it, that she was able to talk to them. Apparently that didn't matter anyway. You probably guessed that they haven't been able to get a hold of us since because we started screening ALL of our calls and letting the answering machine take the message 99% of the time. A couple/few months ago I decided that I just answer the phone and deal with the consequences, but then they didn't call or did and just hung-up w/o leaving a message (that we wouldn't have called back anyway) and we returned to screening. Then a couple of days ago I decided that they weren't going to intimidate me and I would just start answering the phone. You know, just in a friend would call or of course a hired lawyer and/or collection agency called. This morning a lawyer that Capital One hired to scare us into paying them called, and I talked with him. He told me that I would need to pay around $500 a month to pay-off the card and the accumulated/ing interest. Which OBVIOUSLY we DON'T have. He tried the, "I have a job and I'm sure you do too and you NEED to make payments". To which *I* replied. Don't have a job, I'm disable and only get Disability money. We tried selling the house to pay the credit card off... nobody wanted it. Tried sell the car... again nobody wanted it, besides, it broke down. Tried selling the gas hog of a van to get money to make a minimum payment on a CAR that could be used to get to and from a job... nobody wanted it and wouldn't trade because of the high and climbing gas prices a couple of YEARS ago. Now that the gas is even more expensive now, the housing market crashed, and the economic depression/recession just keeps getting worse... there's NO WAY we can sell ANYTHING to get the money to pay the credit card company, their lawyers or debt collectors. Getting a job (my wife) in the closest town would pay her just enough to buy the gas for a vehicle that gets 10-15 MPG would be pointless. So we go to court on May 12th so we can explain ONCE AGAIN that we have NO MONEY. And life goes on...

In happy news... it's now feeling like Spring. The weather has gotten warmer and we no longer *need* to bring in wood to build fires with. YAY! We got some gas (2 gals for $6.60) for the riding mower on Monday and I mower ONLY where we walk and around the pool. So most of our property is being returned to nature because we can't afford the gas for the mower so we could mow as much as we used to. Hopefully the chickens will keep the tick population in check and the cats will keep the rodents and snakes at bay until we can afford a solar powered mower (if they even exist). Since it is warmer though, at least we can stay somewhat cool in the pool, as long as we can afford the electricity to run the pump on the filter. However, just like everything else, the price of electricity will be going up and that will seriously impact our ability to cool ourselves and the kids off. *sigh*

Oh yeah, I have decided that unless I'm totally moved by other people's writing, I won't be commenting on their blogs or Gather articles if they're not commenting on what I write. Just in case you were wondering why I haven't been commenting on a regular basis.

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Visitors and tornado

3 days ago we got to see a family that we hadn't seen for about 6 months (maybe longer) until around 8:30 that night. We had an absolutely awesome time talking, eating, and just hanging-out and even watched a little television. Generally when visitors are visiting we don't watch the TV, but since the TV was on and the last 'Lord of The Rings' came on, we watched a little of it. Obviously didn't pay as much attention to it as we normally would have, but there ya go. Of course when they first pulled up it was sleeting, and continued to do so off & on until they left. I think it even "sprinkled" snow a little. It freaking April! Ah well, it's not unheard of in these here parts.

In local weather, on May March 31, 2008, a tornado went through Buffalo, Missouri. We're about 10 miles from there via the highway. Probably a little closer 'as the crow flies', but we weren't affected. Not that I'm bitter, but guess how many people of our blood-families called or emailed us to make sure we were okay. If you guessed ZERO you'd be correct. How sad is that?

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The U.S. healthcare system has already collapsed

The U.S. healthcare system has already collapsed. Watch a stunning CBS News report at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3898008n

From: Carolyn Baker.net

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Cat-list correction. Weather

Yesterday I wrote that we would be taking Scribbles, Dragoon, and Rocky to the shelter tomorrow. I made a mistake though. I was reminded that it's not Rocky who'll be going with the other two, it'll be Dally. I knew that, but for some reason I didn't think that when I was writing them. Ah well, brain farts happen.

Today it's raining, which means that even if we did have gas for the mower, I couldn't mow. Since it is making all the grass and weeds wet, even after it stop raining, it would be at least a couple of days before I could mow. That's all moot though, at least for now.

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Depression. Van repaired. House de-catting. Spring mowing.

Haven't written for a while, mostly because... I really don't have a good reason, other than I just didn't feel like it. Depressed? Not really. But yesterday... I was feeling really down. Just could not shake the feeling of 'blah, blah, blah, who gives a crap!?' In fact I'm sitting here now thinking that maybe I shouldn't post this. I guess at the very least I should get 'it' down in writting, and then decide. No, I am not looking for, asking for, expecting, or even wanting anyone to try and cheer me up. Basically I'm just venting... sort of.

As for some good news... our van is now MUCH quieter going down the road. It was kind of weird at first because we got so used to the whine in the rear end. Rain and I agreed that it seemed "eerily quiet". *grin* However, we're now getting used to it, as weird as that sounds. We can now actually hear and understand what the person in the other seat is saying. Now all that's missing are some tunes. Our radio is now only good as a clock.

In other news... I am seeing if I can do without taking a prescription 'get to sleep' prescription drug called Trazodone. Haven't taken it since last Wednesday night. The first couple of nights I didn't sleep all that well. Kept waking and getting up every 2-4 hours. Then the next day I would be all shaky, especially my legs. Don't know if it's withdrawal or that my MS is flaring up. Either way it sucks to have my legs feel as though I've got constant restless leg syndrome.

This Thursday we'll be taking the next three cats to the shelter, which will get us down to only 16. They will be Dragoon, Scribbles, and Rocky. Dragoon and Rocky both are in the habit of pawing at our bedroom door really early in the morning just because they want to be let outside. Sometimes though they just want company. Scribbles is just a jerk who really just wants to be the only cat, so messes with all the others, we think he's hoping to drive them away.

Other than the aforementioned stuff, nothing other than normal, every day life is happening (laundry, dishes, showers, grocery shopping, etc.). We (as in me) need to mow, but haven't taken the 5 gallon gas container to get filled yet because we haven't had an extra $15. In the last week the grass has just SHOT UP over night. Guess that means that Spring is really here. YAY!

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