I was heading home in the usual direction after the play tonight. I found myself up against some high water that wasn’t there the day before (river crested today). So I backed up and headed down another county road. Low and behold there was water blocking that path too. I never remembered that area with water, but what ever. So back up and down a third road (remember these are 1/2 to 1 mile apart here in NW Ohio) and there was more water!!!

Now I’m somewhat stuck, how can I get home without going back to town. Really there was no way, so I had to do just that. Back to town and head down the main roads. This was a side jaunt of about 5 miles. Water was just under the bridge heading west out of town. The village cemetery was under water, or at least the access roads were. So there is still a lot of water hanging around.

Then I get to my road and I find another spot where water is crossing the road. Lucky for me, that it was only a few inches deep, or it would have been another turn around. And I was only 1 1/2 miles from home…

We haven’t had rain since Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, but in some spots the water is much higher than it as last night. The streams and rivers must be carrying that water from somewhere else.

(From now I won’t add graphics to every post to save on time for me, and prevent scroll-wheel syndrome for my fellow readers with paltry sub-1080p screen resolutions 😛 )

There have been some strange advertisement campaigns in the past, but this is the first time I have heard of one like this.  Usually this sort of thing is left to the commercials on TV, and there have been some really strange ones like this one, this one, this one, and even some of these.  This though is big, it’s live, and you can win a trip to Africa.  I will quote the blog post from Capcom:

Majini *coughZOMBIEScough* have gone through a small part of London, leaving behind a trail of remnant body parts from their victims. Find the bodies on the morning of Thursday March 12th and win a vacation to Africa.

Register at residentevil5@capcomeuro.com to be sure to receive the clues as to where the remains can be found.

Find as many of the bodies as you can, or what is left of them, and return them to Westminster Bridge by 11am.

The body parts will be hidden at locations near Trafalgar Square, within this area.

And this is where you should take them.

Alert us to your presence by standing on the bridge, holding the artificial body parts over your head and shouting “Kijuju!” We will be there, watching you, and will approach when you make yourselves known.

Points allocated for each body part – 2 points for arms, 2 points for legs, 3 points for torsos, 5 points for a head. The more body parts you find and bring to us, the more points you get. The player(s) with the most points by 11am win the trip to Africa.

The game begins at 9am. Good hunting – we will see you on the bridge. Take pictures, take video, have fun. And don’t wear your best clothes – it’s going to be messy.

A little strange this one.  All I have to say is, “Kijuju!” (whatever that means). 

This week certainly had some surprises, starting off on Monday morning.  Having been extremely lucky, or so I thought, with a five-day assignment in 4th grade, I was a little surprised when the phone rang early Monday.  Uh-oh.  Yep, job canceled.  It seems the school decided to use “one of their own” since it was more than a few days- lucky me.  Fortunately the district is good enough to substitute any jobs on hand at the time when they cancel a job, so I was able to pick up two days that way, but not the half-day that was offered for that afternoon- seems the offer is for a short time only.  So, I was up early on Monday and no longer with a job for the day so I started doing my rounds.

This leads to the next part of the story.  Remember when I mentioned a problem with a certain district?  Well, I called last week and was told that there was no problem with my account that would prevent my seeing jobs for them so I was ready to call the sub system company this week to see what their thoughts were about why weeks went by without seeing jobs for the district.  During the rounds a full-day job in this district popped up and even surprised as I was I took it immediately before seeing what it was.  8th grade LD/BD.  Well, it wasn’t fourth grade but it was a full day so a nyah-nyah to the other district’s offered replacement half-day that I didn’t get  😛 . As it turned out, I would have to be there in just over a half-hour so I was off to speedily get ready.  I made it, barely.  It was actually a great day.  The first period- very quiet, the students seemed to be working.  Second period same thing?  These were LD/BD 8th graders??  I certainly couldn’t complain.  These were the only two periods I had by myself too.  All other periods I helped in a mainstream classroom- 1½ language arts blocks with another sub and a math period.  I would sub for this teacher again in a heartbeat.

Did I mention the one district gave me two days for the price of five (figurative- not five days of pay for working two!)?  I guess I had better correct that to the real offer- one day, not two as when I got home I discovered one of the jobs was canceled like the original, at the same school no less.  This makes me very wary of taking another job at this school in the future.  I was so concerned I worried that my Tuesday jobs (two half-days at the same school in neighboring classrooms) would be canceled as well.  If this were not a different school they may very well have, but come Tuesday morning there was no call, and when I got there the jobs were perfectly valid- I bring this point up because one time in this district a couple of years ago I showed up for a job only to find a very surprised teacher who had not requested the day off- turned out some student was able to get into the system and did some messing around.  So there I was, ready for a day in classrooms with autistic kids.  Not a problem, as long as the assistants in the room weren’t subs too.  I have had that happen too- that day was not easy.  Two regular staff members camped out that day in the room to give the kids familiar faces which autistic kids really need.  Fortunately, I was the only sub.  For the most part this day went fine.  The teachers were even there, just pulling kids out for testing.  The biggest problem was during the morning.  As you already know from my previous post, putting a hand in front of the face of an unwilling autistic learner can lead to consequences.  I was reaching in front of this girl to point out something on the paper and apparently she gave in to the animal instincts we sometimes have and bit into my thumb.  Well, that was the end of working with her.  Good thing she didn’t break my skin or I would have had to get some treatment just in case.  The other kids were more willing to do the assignment.  In the afternoon I did some one-on-one again for math, but there were no incidents here.  One of the kids was actually more of a two-on-one because a concerned assistant stayed to make sure the boy worked okay with me.

So that was Tuesday.  Wednesday I was surprised again.  I had no job lined up again, so once again I was up early looking.  Surprise- another job in that district that was dry for the last month or so came up again.  Unfortunately for me it was a half-day for the afternoon.  Not having anything else show up, I decided to keep it and use the extra time to catch up on some much-needed sleep.  Nothing really to tell about this one.  It was a school I hadn’t been in before, but it was a subject I like, science.  It was a good afternoon.  After I got home I slept for another hour before drama rehearsal at night- the reason this post is dated today, not yesterday.  One of my cast was missing (there are three casts for kids drama) and one poor boy was the sole member of his cast.  At least they still let him rehearse, even if some of us stood in for the other members of his cast.  Neither his cast nor mine perform for another six weeks or so though due to a long break for Eastertime.

I don’t like to complain about ANYONE, but sometimes the need presents itself.  At my fpoe (former place of employment) one of my fellow associates seemed to get more than his fair share of personal phone calls during the day.  One day while at the service desk, I counted at least 10 unnecessary pages to call him to the phone.  Ironically, one of which was his wife calling him to compare the price of an item to another stores price of a similar product.  Needless to say, this genius did not last as long as I.  No, I did not get him in trouble.

I understand the need for a periodic phone call while on the job for important things, but as many as 10 IN ONE EIGHT HOUR SHIFT?!  But it seems to be happening again.  Its as if I can answer the phone and know precisely who it is for even when that person is not working that day.  Of course, I have been known to make a phone call while at the store.  One incident included calling a friend while being alone and not having had a customer for 30 minutes right before closing.

I have already posted on my junior high science teacher’s most famous reprimand for students who step out of line.  Today, I discovered that he may just be getting rather lax in his distributing of “15” in his old age.  I found it ironic that Shelby should bring it up because I thought that he had retired a few years ago… my mistake.

It seems that my oldest niece stayed up WAY too late last night.  She was sleeping in class.  Her friend sitting next to her attempted to revive her to no avail.  Moments later, Mr. Stoll went to her table and (apparently) quite gently nudged her and revived her.  HA!!!! I got fifteen for two separate incidents (and ALMOST a third) in my day for less than that!!!

A few years ago, I had a cousin who passed through the hallowed door of the science teacher.  I would periodically hear her relate tales that would have led to her writing spelling words as well.  I don’t think she ever got the pleasure.  To this day, I think Charnel was his pet.  It sounds like he has another.

What sets him off?  Everything under the sun and even the sun itself.  I’m talking about our lovely scarlet macaw parrot.  I would not recommend these things as pets for ANYONE – it’s true when they say that wild animals cannot be tamed!  Why we have our bird is a long story, and it’s not important now because we’re stuck with him.  I’m not one to just “get rid” of pets unless the circumstances are extreme.  It’s a pet peeve (pun intended) of mine when people get animals and then discard them just because they’re sick of taking responsibility for them.  And in a way (though I can’t dwell on this right now because I’m extremely upset with Squawky – who really lives up to his name), I love our parrot and wouldn’t want to curse see him go to another home.

So that brings me to the point of this post – parrots scream constantly.  They might be beautiful to look at, but their ear-splitting screams are beyond annoying.  They’re unstoppable and headache-producing, and more than once, our parrot’s screams have made our kids cry.  We’ve adjusted our lifestyle to avoid his upsetting the kids, and for the most part that works; it seems to be me who feels the brunt of the negative parrot side effects.  Thank goodness we were able to move into a bigger house a few years ago where Squawky was given his own room.  Unfortunately, he shares the laundry room, and since somehow I was voted the family laundry-doer (gender?), it seems that Squawky’s screaming affects me the most.  I cannot do laundry during the day because I can’t bring my young children in the laundry room  with me.  I  do have a basket of toys in there, and they enjoy playing in there because there’s lots of light and a nice soft carpet to lay on.  But we get screamed at by the parrot.  By nighttime, I’m too tired to do all the laundry, so much of the time, I’m left to worry about when to do it.  Ideally, I’d do some here and there in between kids’ lunches, naps, diaper changes and my errands, but then the parrot gets all riled up and screams me right out of the laundry room.

I looked to the Internet for advice, and one site suggested noting his “triggers”.  What sets him off and makes him scream?  Making the list of his triggers hasn’t helped, however.  It’s only made me see that getting screamed out of the laundry room seems unavoidable.  Here are his triggers (if you’re thinking about getting a pet parrot, use this list as reasons on why you should NOT):

the sunrise or light of any kind – it’s a parrot’s natural instinct to be quiet in the dark so predators won’t find them.  But heavy drapes and a sheet over his cage do not block out all the light during the day, and it’s really difficult to do laundry at night in the dark – believe me I’ve tried more than once!

yelling – any yelling in the house gets him going – kids fighting, kids having fun, just raising our voices to hear each other when we’re in separate parts of the house.  He especially likes it when I yell at him for yelling!

singing – if my husband is in a show and needs to practice, everyone has to leave.  And not because my husband is a bad singer – he’s actually very talented.  But the bird will join in, and HE is a BAD singer!

talking on the phone – any time anyone is on the phone, the bird thinks we’re calling out for him I guess, but he takes it upon himself to yell.  So I can forget folding laundry while talking on the phone, which was a great way to pass the time while doing this boring task.

having his door open – closing his door not only muffles his screaming, but it makes him scream less for some reason

something he likes on tv – he has a tv in his room, which was put in there for me to watch while doing laundry.  But I can forget about hearing anything on the tv while I’m in there, thanks to the parrot.  Sometimes Animal Planet or his favorite show, The Price Is Right makes him scream along with the audience.

happiness – if he’s happy, he will get rowdy and play and scream.

anger – if he’s upset about not getting enough attention, he will scream.

hunger – if he’s hungry, he will scream.

thirst – if he’s thirsty, he will scream.

dogs barking – if our 2 dogs bark, which they do at least 4 times per day, the bird will join right in and scream.

So, I guess for now I’ve decided that the laundry must be a family affair.  I’ve gotten upset several times about this same issue and came to this conclusion before, but it’s never worked.  My husband works during the day, and at night, we’re usually  busy or the kids have their own chores or homework to do, so my getting help with the laundry has not been a consistent solution.  The other thing we’ve thought of is to move the parrot out of the laundry room, but if you look at my list of Squawky’s triggers, you’ll see that he must be in a room with a door, which eliminates the other spare room we have on the first floor because it’s doorless.  I can’t imagine that he’d do any better on the second floor closer to the bedrooms either.  The laundry room is right below my bedroom so once he gets going in the morning, I can usually forget about sleeping in anyway.

Well, I guess I’m done venting for now.  I have a good hour to catch up on laundry since we have a meeting tonight and we took the kids to the babysitters early, so I have to make it productive.  I guess I will have to blast my ipod and leave my husband to fend for himself on his business call…  Well, it is HIS bird after all!

Here’s a picture of the jerk:

Don’t let his cuteness fool you.  This is actually a “baby” picture.  He’s much more obnoxious looking now!

For date night on Tuesday, we really enjoy going to the movie theater, and this time we were between the movies Frost/Nixon and Push.  We actually decided to see Frost/Nixon, but we messed up on the movie times and ended up arriving after the movie had already started – so Push it was.

Push is a very unique type of movie.  It is action-packed, and I was never bored, but the intricate plot did tend to go over my head at times.  Not only that, it wasn’t exactly a feel  good type of movie, and it carried a constant theme of doom and gloom.

Dakota Fanning (man has she grown up!) stars as a teenage “watcher” – a type of fictional person with psychic abilities.  “Watchers” can see the future which they draw on paper, and there are also “movers”, “sniffs”, “shadows”, and “pushers” to name a few of the superhero-ish types of characters in this movie.  Dakota Fanning’s character, along with a “mover” named Nick, must find a girl who holds the key to helping their type survive.  And they must constantly stay one step ahead of  The Division, the secret government agency who uses these psychics like lab rats.  The movie is set entirely in China, so the foreign element really helps to establish the complexity of the unknown in this movie.

Like I said, Push is a very different type of movie.  It was both clever and entertaining to see how the different psychics would use their powers to both work together and against each other.  The most intriguing of the psychics to me were the “Bleeders” whose screams could burst blood vessels (creepily done), and the “pushers” who could get inside people’s minds and make them believe things that aren’t true.  “Shadows” could cloak people from “Sniffs” who could smell a person from miles away using just an old toothbrush.

I enjoyed Push, which is not normally my type of movie.  I would be careful who I recommend this one to as well.  If you can get past a lot of violence (though worthy of only a PG13 rating), and you like superhero-like tales and/or science fiction, check out Push – you might be pleasantly surprised!

While watching the Jay Walking segment on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, I was chatting with a friend about a device that most people use everyday.  In junior high, I was taught that a gentleman named Sir Thomas Crapper invented the flushing toilet.  I found out today that that bit of useless trivia is in fact incorrect.  It seems that Mr. Crapper was not a knight at all and only has patents that improved upon the device already invented by Sir John Herrington.  Sir John was a 16th Century author who installed a functional prototype in the facilities of his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I.

As for the brilliant contestants on Jay Walking, here is one sterling question and answer:

What did Alexander Graham Bell invent?

A BELL

And another:

What was the Iron Curtain?

The Pittsburgh Steelers offense

Still another:

What is kept in Fort Knox?

Change

Finally:

What U.S. President had polio and needed a wheelchair to get around?

OH… the president in Pearl Harbor…. Churchill (not only a bad answer but another movie that we knew the ending to before it began only with the sappy love story attached)

I could have added this post to increase the genius blog, but hey… I needed one of my own.  And I was seriously fishing which is something I could have done nearly anywhere I looked in our little corner of the world today with all the flooding.

Have we had enough rain yet? It was a downpour last night and I knew that my usual routes to work may have some flooding, so I left a bit early.

I was not prepared for the amount of water on the roads this morning. I had to backtrack twice when I got to places with more water than my truck would handle. Our little bridge (culvert) at the end of the drive was flowing over with water this morning. Of course I did notice there were many places that had water on them earlier, but it went down enough to be off the roadway by the time I passed.

I was worried about one place I didn’t pass this morning, but did this afternoon after the water subsided. I pass one place just outside of a small town, where there is a small donkey and a few goats. When I passed the place this afternoon, I noticed that the goat/donkey pasture was under at least 3 to 4 feet of water. I did not notice any animals standing in the water, so I am assuming the owners got them out and they are all safe.

On the way home from play rehearsal today, I also had to do a couple of bypasses of flooded roads. There were a few places where I had to go through some standing water just to make it home. It felt like one of those “You can’t get there from here” sort of stories.

I’m sure some of the roads I travel on will be better tomorrow, but some will be worse as some of the local rivers have yet to crest.

Stay safe if you are driving in flood prone areas. There is water, water everywhere.

We have the following items from the value menus of the local fast food chains (again Williams Co Ohio)

McDonalds — McDouble (99cents)

Wendys — Jr Bacon Cheeseburger ($1.00)
DoubleStack Burger ($1.00)

Burger King — Junior Whopper (99cents)
Bk Stacker (??)
Double Cheeseburger (??)
A&W — No cheap burgers only KFC has 99 cent snackers (chicken/fish)
Dairy Queen — Double Cheese burgers (2 for price on one day of the week)

I’ve already commented on the McDonalds sandwich. One less slice of cheese than the original Double Cheeseburger at the same old price. It’s exactly what you expect from McDonalds. It isn’t the same comfort food I grew up with, but for the price and speed of delivery, I always thought it was hard to beat. Until….

On a whim, I stopped at Wendys for a DoubleStack and a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger. All I can say is: I think I’m hooked. Little burgers with a big burger taste. Not at all what I expected. I thought they took a quarter pound single or, in the case of the DoubleStack, a half pound Double and shrunk them. Same taste as a regular size Wendys burger. I have a new mini-price comfort burger. When I want a cheap burger, that is where I am going.

One word on Dairy Queen burgers, I’ve had them, and they were OK. Not great, not bad, just OK. If I want onion rings or some specialty burger, that only they carry (The flamethrower or mushroom burgers are good), I will go somewhere else. There cheeseburgers and double cheeseburgers are just ok, and more than the dollar menu values of the other chains.

Burger King, I’ll have to say I’ve only had the Whopper Jr. Burger King has never been my favorite stop for burgers. I’ve always been able to taste the “gas” from the flame broiling. It may just be me, but it wasn’t a pleasant taste. On the bigger burgers the taste is less noticeable, but very strong on the smaller burgers. Not sure why that is. Their Angus Burgers, while not cheap, are quite good.

A&W — Even their Cheeseburger is more than a buck. Even at the old A&W stand in nearby Antwerp OH, I never cared for their burgers. Give me a chili Dog, Onion Rings and mug of root Beer. Great Combination, but it isn’t a cheap burger.

Next Up Franchise burgers — What they sell now (Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Whopper, Grillburgers, Single, Double, Triple) and the winner is….