Home Invasion

July 18th, they arrive. The brood. Emilie and Maddy pictured here with Mommy (Pam).

Babs in Bookland

My very famous author friend Barbara DeMarco Barrett has a local appearance this Sunday July 12th in Fashion Island.

Many of you saw her in the new issue of Orange Coast Magazine listed as Orange County's #1 literary magnet. Quite and honor.

Savannah the Lion Hearted

It's that time of year.

Savannah had a few matts, she was shedding and scratching and quite miserable so I had her cut.

She loves her lion cut. She struts around the house flicking her tail at me. She thinks she's beautiful.

First Tomato at Judy's

First Tomato at Judy's
Originally uploaded by judykay.

July 4th. First Tomatoes on the Roma.

Finally Tomatoes on my balcony

June 27, 2008
Originally uploaded by judykay.

Pictures from June 27th. My earthbox arrived late but the Beefsteak and Brandywine were doing a great job catching up to the Roma (on the left) which was planted 2 weeks earlier.

My Mind's Eye

Bridesmaid at Lisa's Wedding
Originally uploaded by judykay.

Going through some old pictures on Flickr today and came across this picture of me as a bridesmaid 10 years ago.,

FYI - This is what I think I look like now. When I show up in my dreams I look just like this - minus the over-bleached teeth which was a phase in the late 90s.

"What Tim Knew" - Tim Russert

From NBC's Meet the Press:

June 15, 2008 - Remembering Tim Russert

MR. MIKE BARNICLE: ...1977, he (Tim) goes to work for Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who he idolized in the United States Senate. And Tim arrives and is surrounded by charter members of a Mensa society--Yale Law, Harvard Law. And Tim is from Buffalo, and he was always from Buffalo. And Daniel Patrick Moynihan sensed it in him, and they were having a conversation about, you know,

"Don't worry, you're not going to be intimidated by these Mensa members who you're working with."

And Tim acknowledged that. And Pat Moynihan told Tim that day, as Dick Eaton...told me, he told Tim... "You know," he said,

"what they know, Tim, you can learn. But what you know, they can never learn."

___________________________________________________

I was a HUGE fan of Tim Russert. In my opinion, he was the BEST in political journalism.

Fair
Thorough
Clear
Smart
Meaningful
Relevant

His reporting was refreshing, full of content, masterly presented in an easily understood format. Tim took you from A to Z and you actually got it. He was the everyman - Never meant to be on camera. He didn't have the looks nor the slick wardrobe of the network anchorman. It just wasn't his style. He was a boy from Buffalo with a passion for politics, his family, and his country.

Remember Tim the next time you're tempted to get your political FACTS from a blog or a mass forwarded email.

Tim, you will be missed.

Fruits and Veggies

Finally have the first tomatoes I grow at my Mom and Dad's house. I've been able to keep the horn worms off of them so far this year

Tomatoes

It's that time of year again. I go overboard with the tomato plants. This year my 9 year old friend Emilie helped me tear down the old plants and since there were so many left over tomatoes on the Super Cherry plant, we tossed them into the soil and ground them up a bit. We must have had 100 volunteer plants. I've been transplanting and giving away seedlings. They don't look like much now but need I remind everyone what our Super Cherry plant turned into last year...

That's mostly one plant. The Cherry plant grew out of it's cage. I had to tie it to the patio cover and it continued for almost six feet across the patio. Needless to say we had more than enough tomatoes.

California Wildflowers

I've never seen wildflowers like I've seen this year in Southern California. I kept meaning to stop along the side of the road to take pictures and I finally did last weekend - Easter Sunday - probably the last day for wildflowers this year.




I shot these pictures in Canyon Lake, just off the side of Railroad Canyon Road.











Lucky Me. I was there. I had a camera. I didn't break an ankle.

Dalai Lama

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

- Dalai Lama

Miss You Mattie

You may have read his comments on my posts. He was the one person I could count on to read my blog - in addition to my Dad that is. He was my friend Matt Hallstrom and I will miss him.

We're both much younger here but it doesn't matter much since we both thought that we still looked like this. Pretty good looking - huh?

Matt - You were loved by so many and you will be missed.

Talk Radio defines Conservative

I just voted. On my drive home I turned on Sean Hannity to hear first hand what all of the McCain bashing news was about. My polling place is only a mile away so I only got a few minutes of Mr Hannity to my surprise he was NOT bashing Senator McCain, he was bashing Governor Huckabee. Apparently, according to Mr Hannity, Governor Huckabee has been involved in some vote suppression (who knows what he means by this - read on) targeted against Governor Romney. You see, Romeny is the true conservative in the race and Huckabee is too liberal for what Hannity defines as the Republican party. Therefore, Huckabee and McCain have conspired against all conservatives in this primary...

HUH?

I was confused. How could these so called 'experts' and self appointed mouthpieces of the Republican party - my party - say that a Baptist minister is too liberal? How are they getting around the facts?

Here are some of the highly conservative views held by Governor Huckabee that I find far too right wing for my tastes:

1. Support for Constitutional amendments outlawing abortion and gay marriage
2. Belief in Creationism - only. end of story. No primates involved.
3. First Governor in the country to have a concealed handgun license.
4. Consistently opposed banning assault weapons and opposed the Brady Bill.
5. Opposes research on embryonic stem cells

These views are too liberal for:

• Rush Limbaugh
• Ann Coulter
• Sean Hannitiy

and other highly paid lobbyists - ooops, I mean talk show hosts. I'm NOT a listener so I don't want to misquote anyone. These three I've personally heard say that Huckabee is too liberal.

No wonder they say McCain is Liberal. It must be the label they through around for anyone that threatens their pocketbooks. Kind of like when the ultra leftist call anyone to the right of them a fascist.

Let's stop the name calling.

Foot Soldiers For McCain

Making GOTV calls today at the VFW in Gardena CA for Senator John McCain when who drops by but the Governator himself - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Here's a picture of him making a campaign call for Senator McCain.

Arnold told the caller, "We're saying hasta la vista to wasteful spending in Washington."

My McCain sign is in my yard. I 'borrowed' the sign from the Nevada Caucus where I was a McCain volunteer, and not the most mature volunteer at that. I had trouble asking people:

"Do you know where your caucus is?"

I had to change the script because I kept giggling like a kindergartner. Not the image Senator McCain is trying to project I'm sure.

2008

I will drink more water
I will take my vitamins
I will eat my vegetables
I will NOT be tricked into singing along to the Viva Viagra commercial.

Why I don't cook OR Why I drink in the kitchen

I thought it would be nice to give cookie packages this year on Christmas Eve. I went to a cookie exchange a few weeks ago and discovered some delicious trailer trash delights made from Ritz crackers and peanut butter dipped in chocolate. Sounds disgusting and yet surprisingly delicious. I wanted to share my discovery with my loved ones. I didn't have a recipe but how hard could this be - right.

I headed for Costco and bought Ritz crackers, organic peanut butter and the industrial sized bag of toll house chocolate chips. I made one hundred peanut butter and Ritz sandwiches and proceeded to dip them in different mixtures of chocolate. The organic peanut butter was to oily. I needed good old fashioned Skippy extra creamy. Good thing I bought the industrial sized box of Ritz. A quick trip to Albertson's for another jar of peanut butter.

When straight toll house chips turned out to be too thick for dipping I found some instructions on the back of the package directing me to add Crisco to the melted chocolate for dipping. Another trip to Albertson's for Crisco and I dipped some more. I waited for the chocolate to set. I'm still kind of waiting.

I went to the Internet for instruction. It referenced 'dipping chocolates'. I went in search of dipping chocolates which after 4 stores and and equal number of hours I found is not sold in the chocolate aisle, nor is it sold in the baking aisle, it is carried in the produce aisle. Don't ask me why, we've already established that I don't cook.

And so I bought the dipping chocolate which came in it's own microwave safe cardboard bowl and I again proceeded to dip. And again I waited for the chocolate to set, but this time it did set. I moved to the next step in the process which was cookie decoration. White chocolate piped on top of the cookies in a decorative fashion. I used the dipping chocolate in white since I knew it would at least harden when done.

My finished cookies are delicious - all 40 of them. No, the chocolate did not set perfectly and yes they do seem to be sweating. You must eat your cookie very quickly once you've chosen it from the plate lest it melt in your hand.

My kitchen is not back to normal. It may never be. Please stop me if I ever mention the desire to make cookies again.

A Boycott you can get behind

Once again I will boycott OJ news coverage. I did it during his murder trial and I'll do it during his already highly over-hyped armed robbery, kidnapping, grand theft -what ever it is he's charged with, I wouldn't know cause I'm boycotting the news coverage -trial.

Nancy Grace, Larry King, Geraldo, I beg of you, please find something more worth while to report.

When your local news leads with an OJ story, change the channel. How can a robbery in Las Vegas be the lead story in your city (unless you live in Las Vegas that is.) Leading the local news with OJ is irresponsible.

Please join me.

Love Walk 2007 - Team Wagner

Today was the second annual Love Walk for Peppermint Ridge. The event was a great success. Everyone had a great time and we raised over $40,000 for the Ridge.

Team Wagner thanks everyone for their generous support. We raised over $4,500 in donations in Paul's memory.

Every year I'm encouraged by the support for this event. Team Wagner received donations for $10 all the way up to $500. Our friends and family seem to give what they can and every little bit matters. And since it's an event directly sponsored by the Ridge, it's refreshing to know that every penny is going to the residents. None of this money goes to future marketing or more fundraising. If you donated $10, then $10 will go straight to the developmentally disabled residents of Peppermint Ridge.

As for the walk, we had a couple hundred walkers and great weather. The Corona High School Junior ROTC handed out water along the course and cheered the walkers. The residents of the Ridge walked with the community - even if they used walkers or needed other help.

After the walk Chick-fil-a and Backwoods BBQ served lunch (yum). That's Backwoods cooking up some burgers and dogs in the picture.

Again, thanks for your support. If you forgot to send your check you can still do so. Also, remember to submit your receipt to your employer if they match charitable donations.

Next year come walk with us. It's fun.

Paul's Memorial

Sunday September 9th at 2:30 pm at

Corona First Baptist Church
111 W 8th St
Corona, CA 92882
(8th and Main)

Casual Attire
Reception with Refreshments following service

We are asking for donations to be made to Peppermint Ridge in Paul's name in lieu of flowers. You can donate in Paul's name at the service or at Paul's Memorial Page for the Love Walk.

If you are unable to attend the memorial and/or would like to join us in honoring Paul at the Love Walk on September 15th, you may register at the following link.
Walk to Remember Paul