Good morning. I apparently had a hard time getting on yesterday and didn't get on this thread.

Golfed yesterday and went to lunch with DH and my in-laws. I asked for the salad with dressing on the side, MIL asked for hers tossed (different salads). Mine got tossed. I should have refused it, but the restaurant was understaffed and it took at least 45 minutes to get the food and I was starving. Why is it that restaurants have to be so heavy-handed with dressing?

I was at the grocery store this weekend hoping to find some bulbs in bloom, but found nothing. Bulbs don't grow in the ground here very well as it doesn't get cold enough. I know my Dad said it snowed this weekend in SLC, but so far, no snow has stuck at all this season. That's not good for refilling the reservoirs for water during the summer. We haven't had nearly the rain we're used to, either. Looks like draught will catch up to us.

Alas, winter plumage to be sure. Their feathers know the season even if the temperature doesn't.

Perhaps it takes Maine air to grow the checkerboard, LOL.

I scheduled my mammogram this morning. I'm going in a few weeks. I'm dreading it. For one, I feel well, old. I get anxious merely thinking about it. This will be my second one. I had a baseline one done when I was 35 - a few years back. It's just so darn uncomfortable, lol. I'm not well-endowed at all and I remember the tech pressing on my back trying to smush my small-ish breast down to flatten it. Tears sprang to my eyes, it hurt that much. Suffice it to say, I'm not looking forward to it. :(

fitmom, fortunately it is over in a few minutes.

bargoo: Yeah, but I was bruised for a couple of days afterwards last time. I bruise pretty easily and then the waiting for the results is sheer torture too.

Saef-- hugs to you. I hope your cloudy mood improves.

Fitmom-- I sure hope this mammogram goes better! Mine haven't been too bad at all and I'm not well endowed either. Perhaps it was the tech. You might tell them you had a bad experience the first time so are gentle on you.

It is going to be a VERY long day for me. I had less than 2 hours sleep last night. We had the weirdest night. Went to bed about 10:30, and I woke up a little before midnight hearing someone outside. I was groggy and trying to figure out if it was someone drunk or in trouble. It sounded like they were saying "Help me, someone help me" but I wasn't sure. I woke up dh and he went outside but didn't see anything and we didn't hear her anymore. A few minutes later we heard loud banging like someone was knocking on a door. Again, couldn't see anything. A few minutes later the police arrived and I watched from my bedroom-- the house right across from me had a guy outside and the police were yelling at him to drop the bat! He raised up the bat and started walking towards them and they kept telling him to drop it. He didn't, and we heard a bang (I think it was a taser). He went down and they handcuffed him in the driveway. Then they went in the house-- more and more police were arriving-- the street was blocked office-- paramedics came-- I couldn't go back to sleep so I was reporting to dh who was in bed. I saw someone being brought out of the house on a stretcher, and the guy taken away. I eventually tried to go back to sleep, but I kept waking up as there was noise still in the street. At 2:45 am, there was knocking on our door, and it was a detective to get our witness statements. We told her what we had seen and heard, but apparently the "incident" had started next door to us, and then gone across the street. They were asking questions about our next door neighbors. We say "hi" to them but don't know anything about them. When I said there was a husband, wife, and adult son, she started asking about the husband (there's a husband? are you sure?). I realized that I hadn't seen him in awhile (weeks?). She then assured us there was no danger and the suspect was in custody. Both the house next door and the house across the street had yellow police tape around them. Again, I couldn't go back to sleep. When I got up this morning and left for work, there were still two police cars (one a canine unit) next door, crime scene tape, and the front door was wide open. I turned on the news but there was nothing. We live in a very safe, medium size town. My dd slept through it all. I'm dying to know what happened, and I hope no one was killed. I am so sleep deprived that I know it is going to be a rough day. I forgot my watch at home which is going to make me crazy for one thing!

Michele, how scary and strange! Let us know what happened, if you find out. Do you have time to take a nap later? BF has been gone the last two nights and I sleep much better than I used to when he was gone with Emma curled up next to me. She is usually friendly but not when she thinks her house is being threatened!

Michele, that is scary! At least the suspect is in custody. Hopefully, no one was seriously injured. I don't blame you for having terrible sleep last night. I second the idea for a nap, that would refresh you.

I doubt I could have slept through that, either, Michele. Take care at work today!

While we don't have loons here (can't even say I know what one looks like), we have our fill of ducks, Canada geese and coots on the golf course. We also have an egret or two--I love watching them! Beautiful, graceful birds. Once from my old job, I was at my desk looking out the window when a whole flock of a dozen or more egrets took flight out of a tree, circled around and re-lit on the tree. Amazing!

Michele - wow, I couldn't have slept through all of that either. I hope nothing too serious happened. We had the first murder of the new year in our county back in 2011, someone was killed at a party in the part of the subdivision behind our house at 2:45 in the morning on NYD. We slept right through it.

I've never actually seen a loon.

I ran my half marathon on Sunday, did pretty well I think for almost 40. :) 2:24:35, two minutes and some faster than last year. Woo hoo!

And today I feel like I'm coming down with something.

:wave: to all!

I'll let you guys know what I find out. No time for a nap today. I work my second job tonight. But I seriously doubt I'll make the gym afterwards. I will get to bed early!

I was born and raised in Minnesota where there a lot of loons on the lakes. They are quite beautiful I think, black and white with red eyes and they have some interesting calls. You have heard the expression "crazy as a loon" that refers to one of their calls , to me it sounds like hysterical laughter. Did you ever see the movie"On Golden Pond" ? You can hear the loons in that movie.

Michele, what a frightening night. You just never know what goes on behind closed doors.

saef - sorry to hear your down. At the same time, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who has those off-times. Hang in there!

Michele, how scary! I wouldn't have been able to sleep through that either!

Allison, I read your message "While we don't have loons here" after Michele's and thought by "loons" you were talking about "crazy people" for a minute. :lol:

Megan, I also feel much safer with Carter around. The only problem is that if someone came into my house, I'm 90% sure he would attack, and I'm scared that if he bit someone they would make us put him down. He's not trained to be an attack dog or anything but he is a mix of guard dog breeds and takes his self-appointed job very seriously.

Speaking of Carter attacking ( :lol: well hopefully not attacking) I am working at home again this afternoon, because the piano movers are coming to bring DH's grandma's piano to our house. DH is also working from home. We figured one of us will keep Carter out of the way in the bedroom upstairs and the other will help the movers.

Saef, I said it in another thread, but I think you need a nice long vacation. :hug:

Fitmom, good luck! I had an "OMG I'm old" moment at my physical last week when the doctor asked if my ob/gyn had said anything about starting mammograms when I'm 35 (my mom had breast cancer). It took me a few moments to realize that 35 isn't all that far off. :lol3: