Dreaming

Hey, it's Tuesday!

I had the weirdest dream. In it, Johnny Depp apparently is a really nice guy who smells good but is just friendly. What's wrong with my ID?

He walked down a hall, shook my hand then slung his arm around some other person. I'm right by his ear. I can smell him. I tell him he smells nice. He looks at me and says "That's a bit of an odd thing to say." I feel kind of bad so tell him about a project. He thought the story of Black Elk was moving but doesn't really say anything more. He suddenly left as soon as he appeared. (My mind is a maze.  I watched a story about  the Ponca leader Standing Bear but for some reason I substituted Black Elk. Black Elk might of been mentioned at some point.)

I was in some sort of school going towards my locker. Snow with sunlight behind it came through a cathedral like door. I had to walk through the snow to get to my locker. A photographer had set up his tripod in the hall to get a picture of it. "Sorry, I just got my pearl filters set up!" he said. Meaning he wasn't going to close the door.

I'm so damn nice. "It's OK!" I said. I understood that he had to catch the light while he could and apparently, whatever pearl filters are, they are hard to set up.

I get to the locker. There are only three and they are spaced non uniformly on the wall. I pull on the outer door of mine and it moves down and to the left. In order to get to the inner doors, I have to put the outer one right back where it started. I move it, open it and it falls off. The hinges aren't supposed to do that. I let it drop to the floor anyway. There are two smaller inner doors, like the smaller lockers I got in Jr. High. I open them up and there is a jumble of a mess in there. I start taking out the papers to organize and get something.

That's when Mr. Depp walks in with a false chin, white wig and the Mark Twain outfit.

Just as I'm about to find out if he's truly going to play Mark Twain, my phone wakes me up.

Boys, Me and GAH!

Oldest broke up with his first girlfriend since we moved. He asked another girl out a few days later. That girl said yes so we get to go clothes shopping because his female friends told him a big no to cargo pants, t-shirt and hoodie for the dance. I'm relieved and grateful that they gave him dressing up advice because he won't listen to me, as is normal for any teenaged boy.

I can't say I'm totally broken up about this break up. She lied to her parents about where she was going and what she was doing over the summer. I was never comfortable with that. I told my son I wasn't comfortable with it and eventually they would have to tell her parents about the relationship.  She got caught in a lie, telling her mom she'd be one place when she was actually over here. Her mom went to one place and talked to a certain friend. I suspect the mom probably knew she had a boy somewhere, us mom's can tell these things. The girl was grounded for whenever her parents got sick of her being around the house which was about three weeks, give or take a few days. The relationship didn't survive. Oh, woe the relationship. All hail the new one. heh. 

Youngest is doing much better in the new school. He has even admitted to liking a girl. OMG! He generally keeps that sort of thing to himself. He has tried out for a state honor choir kind of thing. I'm proud he took the initiative to go ahead with it. He has a hard time making decisions sometimes. 

Hubby has had a much needed week off. I haven't killed him... yet. Yesterday was a bit touch and go towards the evening. We both let our inner little brats out to run, never a pretty sight. 

We had a parent teachers conference last night. The wood shop teacher said "It's the same in here as it is out there, play by the rules, put a little effort in it and you'll be all right." I wanted to launch myself at him. Really? Play by the rules? What rules? Buy a house, stay at the same job, and apply for jobs your qualified for? Yeah, that hasn't gotten us anywhere but a short sale house, a costly move, getting screwed by unscrupulous employers, unpaid bills and continuing frustration due to unemployment.  

Wish I could say things are better for me in the job circle. They aren't. They are getting better in the health circle as long as I don't let the stress of unemployment get to me. I'm going to start looking at volunteer opportunities. I've got to have something in my day besides looking up jobs.

AHHHH!

More travesty of being unemployed.

Temp agency wants proof that I'm receiving unemployment to prove that I am not sitting on my butt to prospective employers. I have a years worth of rejection letters. That's an average of 3 a week x 4 weeks a month x 12 months = at least 144 rejection letters or job responses. Yeah, 144. Not sitting on my butt, I got your damn proof right here!

It's frustrating to be unemployed because I'm unemployed. Tell me how that makes any sense what so ever?

New Picture!

I really like my old camera. I would like a new one, but I still like my old one. I do like digital because I can immediately see if I took what I was shooting for or not. 

The one lovely thing from the house that never disappointed. 

Pay No Attention To That Man Behind...

.. the state fair.

Special Session Urged Over Pipeline Route

Posted: Sep 02, 2011 3:14 PM

Updated: Sep 02, 2011 3:14 PM

By Steve White swhite@nebraska.tv
Now that Governor Dave Heineman has come out against the proposed route of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, farm groups call for a special session of the unicameral.
Nebraska Farmers Union has been talking with ag producers during the state fair.
They credit the governor for listening to their concerns about putting the pipeline through the Sandhills.
Now NFU President John Hansen calls on the legislature to act.
He said, "The ball really is in the legislature's court. So the legislature needs to go into special session so they can deal with issues and authority of siting and routing."
Officials from TransCanada have said the proposed route is safe. They are calling on the U.S. State Department to OK the plan.
TransCanada is one of the sponsors of this year's state fair.

TransCanadian XL Pipeline

Seeing as how the media is f'ing it all up and trying to politicize the hell out of it I felt the need to clear up what's really going on.

TransCanada proposes to build an oil pipeline across the Ogallalla Aquifer. This is an aquifer that spans from Nebraska to Texas. I think it is the largest aquifer in the world. If not 'the' largest then certainly among the largest. It feeds the farm lands, cattle, people in all these states. These are states that sue each other over water rights. The water cycle is taught  at fairs held for the local children to see how it is cleaned, preserved and used here. It is precious.

It will be a unprecedented disaster if the pipeline pollutes this aquifer.

When I first heard about this proposed pipeline around Feb. or March and saw the route I thought "Are they serious? They can't be that stupid." When the pioneers came to Nebraska, they thought they would have to dig wells a hundred feet or more to get water. I read a story of a guy who took bets on how deep he'd have to go. Imagine his surprise when he hit water at around 20 feet!  This arid, dry grassland with flat water that routinely dried up had easily accessible well water! Not exactly nirvana, but a good thing anyway.

When I was 13 at a family reunion in Halsey, Nebraska, a relative told me they almost lost the sand hills when the ranchers first started out there. They didn't know how to take care of the grass lands yet and they almost lost it all to acres of sand. She told me that it was a delicate balance that they learned to work with to up keep. A DELICATE balance. And they are proposing to build a pipeline right through this balance to carry oil. A pipeline that has had twelve failures in twelve months. 


From the start I think TransCanada knew they were going to get a fight. This is the last bit of pipeline. They were unabashed in the propaganda they tried on the TV. "Midwest" looking folk telling us how the pipeline would be good for Nebraska. Jobs that would be good for Nebraska. Good for the children. It was disgusting and easy to see through. Hell, they even are sponsoring Larry The Cable Guy in order to get on our good side. 


Give me a break. I'm average. I don't play the social game of life too well. Even I can see that they are full of beans. 


This is more than jobs. This is environmental suicide. You pollute that aquifer and you kill agriculture. You kill agriculture and suddenly prices go up at the grocery store. You kill those prices and it gets just that much harder to feed families. Isn't it hard enough already? You poison that much water, you poison the cattle, the plants and the people. You can't put buoys out there to contain it, it's underground! You won't be able to see it until it comes through your pipes and out your faucet. 


Sounds like I'm totally against it? I'm not sure I am. I think the route they choose is ill advised and stupid.  I think the route was chosen because they thought it could be cheaper. They have already put in a pipeline in Eastern Nebraska were there is clay instead of sand. Why the hell don't they just follow what they already did?  Change the route, I say. Just change it.