Excuse Me,  Mother Nature


You don't seem to realize it's Saturday.  Because if you did, you wouldn't be so cruel as to continue putting a damper on things.

It's been raining for three days.   And it's starting  to ruin  Grandma J's whole life day.

It's wet and cold.  Don't tell anyone but no one is getting dressed.  It's gonna be a PJ  and hot chocolate kind of day.

As Grandma J  hunkers down right here and watches some football.

How is Mother Nature treating you?

When It Rains: Parts I & II




Grandma J loves nothing more that a nice strong rain, falling from the heavens to quench the thirst of Mother Nature's green acres. Yeah, I made that up....




Remember how happy Grandma J was when Mother Nature blessed this sweet little blooming weed, rescuing it from a tragic painful shriveled up death? Of course, flooding the whole friggin' swamp, previously referred to as The Spa, was part of the whole package. And, we survived!

Just as Grandma J was singing the praises of all things holy and good, Mother Nature decided to unload her whole kit and caboodle on the whole friggin' swamp.....







Isn't this special?? The water was flush with Grandma J's patio. Did Grandma J ever tell you her patio was only six feet deep?

Nope, she wouldn't lie about something that important. Looky here! This view is from inside the kitchen door! I think I'm swim on over and see if the neighbor has any extra Haagen Daz.

This is Huey, the man who does it all. Huey thought he was going home because after all it was only 8:30 P.M. Silly Huey....who would have thought the wind would decide that this was a good time to flatten the flag pole?

Things that make me say....
"Thank you"

Mostly simple things....nothing big, but yet to Grandma J, miraculous just the same......



Like a strawberry Fruitista from Taco Bell when it's 102 degrees at eight o'clock in the evening. I sip things like this slowly.....savoring the luxury of this refreshment.




(click picture to enlarge)
Some rain to quench the weeds the parched earth.....but be careful what you ask for. Praying for lots of rain can be taken much too literally. Just saying.







Of course, any body of water, big or small, brings out the neighbor kids.






And of course Phillip Johnny Bob is a follower, not a leader! Just giving the neighbors one more thing to talk about.

(Almost) SILENT SUNDAY

Texas is under a severe drought.....and no one is allowed to water their lawns. People are encouraged to narc on their neighbors.



Despite the drought, Grandma J found this blossom outside her back door this Sunday morning.






It's attached to this weed.....





In the back courtyard that's supposed to have a lush green lawn. So someone who might have some extra rain clouds, please send them to Texas before Grandma J's grandsons arrive from Colorado! Being cooped up with two active boys + A-Ron for a week could have serious consequences.

On a lighter note.....Phillip Johnny Bob talked Grandma J into buy him some new clothes....something from Dollar Tree fashionable.




Some surfer threads. He wanted me to make sure and show his good friend, Little T that he doesn't always wear dorky clothes with his shirt tucked in.

FRIDAY MATINEE
.....on Friday

Yesterday, OK, so it wasn't Friday, I took the kids to see Hotel For Dogs. The theatre is on the sixth level of a center that has three levels of parking below it. It's escalator hell heaven for some of us. Of course, that would only hold true if the escalators are all working because they are outdoors.

I know this sounds confusing to some of you, but picture a big multi-level donut with all the activity accessed from the hole....

If you could see all six levels it looks like a kaleidoscope...which is what the center is called...which is why some tenants are leaving with complaints of terminal vertigo.

The kiddos settled in with drinks, popcorn and M&Ms....with the exception being Little One who insisted on bringing her sippy cup.

Let's review the movie, shall we?

Sixteen year old Andi and her eleven year old brother Bruce live with dysfunctional stepparents who live for nothing other than their defunct rock n roll lifestyle. This is the fourth set of stepparents for Andi and Bruce, so they don't have too many options at their ages to be placed together.

They have a dog named Friday who's been with them for three years. Friday isn't a welcome member of the family, so he sneaks up and down the side of the building in a basket that leads to the window in Andi and Bruce's shared room. After getting captured by animal control, and taken to the pound, clever Friday escapes and happens upon a deserted condemned hotel where two stray dogs live. He leads Andi and Bruce to his new hideaway, which prompts them to adopt the other two dogs.....

Georgia and Lenny. This hotel becomes a safe haven for other strays, and with the help of two teenagers who work at the pet store, they start bringing more and more strays in.

Eleven year old Bruce is a whiz kid at rigging up different devices for the dogs' entertainment, games, exercise, feeding and....

Yep..potty going.

The movie of course wouldn't be complete without a love connection, and this movie won't disappoint you because it has two!

Andi and David. David works at the pet store and drives a van similar to the one Grandma J will be driving to Virginia in July your local pet store lets their teenage workers drive.

Not to be out done...we have Romeo and Juliette.

Hotel for Dogs is predictable with run-ins with the law, social workers, and animal control....but it's cute and the dogs are adorable and funny. Little One squealed throughout the who movie...especially when the dogs pooped or pee'd barked and howled.

I give this movie five out of five doggie treats if you are under 15 or over 30, like Grandma J.

Oh and let me tell you how much fun we had leaving the Kaleidoscope Center! It was raining cats and dogs... so the escalators were turned off, and the one elevator was out of order. My deep and sincere apologies to the woman with her two children behind me on the very narrow escalator. I couldn't go down any faster with a two year old who was having a hard time on those escalator steps with her short little legs. Crying didn't speed up the process any, and you were so understanding when you explained to your own kids that you would reward them for the drenching torture they had to endure.

WORLD SERIES......GAME THREE

Please don't rain on our parade....por favor!


10:15 PM, EDT......It looks like there's gonna be a game after all.....

At 1:45 AM, EDT, Phillies win!
===================================
WORLD SERIES SCHEDULE

Game 1: at Rays, PHILLIES TAKE IT 3 -2

Game 2: at Rays, RAYS TAKE IT 4-2

Game 3: at Phillies, PHILLIES TAKE IT 5-4

Game 4: at Phillies, Sun., Oct. 26, 8 p.m. ET

Game 5: at Phillies (if nec.), Mon., Oct. 27, 8 p.m. ET

Game 6: at Rays (if nec.), Wed., Oct. 29, 8 p.m. ET

Game 7: at Rays (if nec.), Thurs., Oct. 30, 8 p.m. ET

TROPICAL THUNDER REVIEW

Boy what a day. I had an early morning pre-appointment in Temple...the city south of Wacko Texas. For some reason it takes eighty five hundred pre-appointments to prepare you for the real appointment. Are you wondering why this is necessary? Can you say money...as in co-pay.....like eighty five hundred copays? I'm convinced that the better your medical insurance is, the more pre-appointments you are required to have.

None of these pre-appointments required any lab work or imaging...just take my vitals and chit chat. I think if they had to treat me without insurance, I would have been in and out in one huge appointment. My real appointment is this coming Wednesday night. I'm having a sleepover.

I have to bring my own snacks! No alcohol. microwave popcorn?

I can bring my own Pillow. I want my memory foam topper

bring my own jammies, no silk or satin, baby dolls?

Maintain usual habits, can I bring my laptop?

I leave my appointment and as I step outside, it's raining cats and dogs!

........and I'm wearing flip flops.

I drive back to see Paul before going to the movies. Paul was busy with two women, so Antonio helped me with my GPS functions. Paul came over to say Hi, and seemed pretty excited that some of my readers gave him a shout out! No, not you Nick!

I left for the theatre. Perfect timing.
______________________________

Tropical Thunder was so-so. I hate to say that, because the trailers were so good, and it's been a long time coming to the theatres. Most of the humor was in the trailers, so the rest was redundant. Lots of fart talk, and farts in general.

The attempt at gore was over the top. The fake stuff like blood and guts was too slapstick. What looked like thirty pounds of mangled hot dogs swimming in ketchup doesn't make for good open wounds.

The funny parts were funny, but they kept repeating the same thing. The ending was more than predictable too. I felt sad that Tom Cruise has been knocked down a notch to a cameo, highly masqueraded role.

I did take note that Nick Nolte, one of my favorite actors from years past.....

looked just as bad in Tropical Thunder as he did in his mug shot.

No thumbs, maybe 3 out of 5 stars.