Anger management issues.....

We've been doing a multi-week series in church on emotions that get in the way of your relationship with God. This week, the topic was anger. We talked about righteous anger, the kind of anger that is brought on by physical/physiological reasons and destructive anger.

The pastor was telling us about a bumper sticker he saw that said "wag more, bark less." That has stuck with me all morning, and I think it's a great way to tell people to chill out. This is an angry, angry world we live in these days. People have road rage, grocery store rage and cell phone rage. You name it, if it isn't going their way, they have rage about it. I don't know what ever happened to make people so angry in life, but the sad fact is, they are. This simple slogan says it all, and certainly better than any way I could have said it.

I always knew monkeys were smarter than me.....

Well, my suspicions have been confirmed. Monkeys are smarter than me.


I was reading a story this morning on monkeys and basic math skills. Now, for anyone who knows me, you know that I only became a writer because I hate, hate, HATE math. OK, so that's not the only reason, but it's a huge contributing factor! So when I read this story, it really made me chuckle. Apparently, the only thing keeping monkeys from taking over the world is their inability to actually speak English. Let's hope that never happens, or we're all in trouble. Can anyone say Planet of the Apes? :)






http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100233051&gt1=31036

The dark, the windy and the good......

The last 48 hours have been, well, entertaining, to say the least.

First, the dark and windy part.

For the second time in less than 6 months, we had a major wind storm in the area. The last time this happened, Isaak was in Canada for a funeral and it was just me and Connor here. We were without power for 7 days. It was insane. I lost a freezer full of food, and we were refugees at my mom's house for the entire week.

So when I heard we were expected to get wind gusts of up to 50 mph again, I said "well, here goes the electric." Just prior to midnight Wednesday, the lights went out. They stayed out until late Friday night. I had to sleep on the couch because Connor kept waking up and getting freaked out because he couldn't see. At 4 a.m., I heard what I thought was Gabe scratching on the french doors in the diningroom. He does this when he sees our outdoor kitty, Zorro. But I was alarmed to find Gabe on the other end of the couch. I looked with the flashlight, and it was poor Zorro, scratching for dear life. He was trapped against the glass when the wind blew over his bed, and a various assortment of stuff on my porch. I did the only thing I could do, which was to open the door, grab him and lift him to safety. Now, this is a feral cat, who does not like to be touched. Thankfully, he did not claw both my arms off in the process.

When it became obvious the lights weren't coming back on anytime soon, I decided to take Connor to my mom's house again. Isaak stayed here. It was way too cold to try to sit it out. And given our last experience with no power, I wasn't expecting it to be on anytime soon. I figured if I didn't expect it, I wouldn't be disappointed if we went for a week again without lights or heat. The lights finally came back on for good, and now we're all home. But I understand that there are still folks out there without power. Seriously, what is taking so long? Granted, I'm not a line worker, but it just seems to me that Duquesne Light is poorly organized. That's all I have to say about that.

Now for the good. I just got hired to write a chapter for an E-book on single mothers. It is going to be a really great project. I will keep you posted on this, and when the book is available, I'll let you know where to find it. This is the kind of writing I've wanted to do for awhile, so I'm excited.

I love you.....NOT!

So, I was helping Connor to brush his teeth after his bath when it happened. My heart got broken.

I told him: "Mommy loves you with all her heart."

And you know what he said?

"I love grandma with all my heart."

ZING!

I told him that was nice, but did he love mommy with all his heart, too? He said "no, I love grandma with all my heart." Well, now, I guess I know where I stand!

Canned cat food=crack for cats......

I am quite certain that canned cat food is really drugs....for cats.

No, I haven't lost what was left of my mind. I'm basing this theory on the way both my indoor and outdoor cats act when I give them this canned concoction. When Zorro hurt his leg, I had to hide his antibiotics in wet cat food. I couldn't give him some without giving some to my indoor kitty, Gabe, because he got jealous at the very thought. Gabe had already become addicted to canned cat food when we tried the all wet cat food diet our vet suggested in a last-ditch attempt to get Gabe to lose weight. He actually gained weight, but that's a rant for another time.

After 7 days of wet food, now both Zorro and Gabe are addicted to the wet stuff. Gabe will literally trip me in a fit of excitement if I walk anywhere near the kitchen, because in his furry little mind, I'm going out there to get him more wet cat food. Zorro, who I never knew could purr until today, actually purred when I gave him his wet food at lunchtime. And then he nuzzled my hand. Briefly. This is a cat that would rather die than let me touch him, so I was blown away.

I'm telling you, there's something funny in that canned stuff. I wonder if there's a support group for cats who are addicted to canned cat food.........

Tiger, tiger, shining bright.....

We went to the zoo Sunday afternoon since it was a pretty mild day.

Since it was Super Bowl Sunday, there were only about 20 other people in the entire zoo, which made it really nice. No crowds to fight, no noise and confusion. It was great.

But the best part of all, was when Connor got to see the tiger up close. We had been to the zoo about 20 times in the last 2 years, and I don't think we've ever gotten to see the tiger up close like this before. It was neat. It was also scary to see just how large he is. One of his paws was nearly the size of Connor's head!

Welcome to the Berg Petting Zoo.....

WELCOME TO THE PETTING ZOO!

We have feral cats, squirrels, opossums, rabbits, birds, deer, raccoon and even skunks. Yes, that's right, we have it all here. Come on over and pet them all. And while you're at it, bring some food. They are all eating me out of house and home!

The other night, we heard a loud banging on the patio door. I didn't think it was Zorro, as he usually scratches at the side kitchen door if he feels he hasn't been fed enough. So I walked over there and to my amazement, saw the largest raccoon I've ever seen! And it was growling at my indoor cat, Gabriel. It was clearly being aggressive, but I'm not sure if it was just a reaction to Gabe, or if it's rabid. Either way, it freaked me out. I think the only thing we haven't seen in our yard yet has been a bear. I suppose I should say that too loudly or one will appear........