yee haw

This is the only good shot I got at the Franklin, TN rodeo last Friday night, but you get the idea. I love rodeos. There aren't that many here in the east. This was the first one I had ever been to that was indoors. I prefer the outdoors much better, but it was a cool night, so being inside had it's advantages. The hokeyness factor was high, patriotism abounded, but the announcer was very good and the bronc bustin was real. The best part was when they had the mutton bustin'. I had never seen that before. They got 10 little kids, 10 sheep, and put helmets and vests on the kids. Then the kids laid down on top of the sheep hugging the neck, and rode as long as they could. It was great. The roping was not so good, but the fun factor was there. And hotdogs.

side roads

you got your baptists and your side baptists...I guess...whatever that means.

Today's theme is noise. Whenever I have a migraine, I get more sensitive to noise, but I'm pretty sensitive to noise anyway. I listen to TV down really low, unless it's a movie with variable sound and I have to turn it up not to miss the low parts. Really, if I walk out of the room, I can't even hear that I have the TV on from the other room. At work there are loud intercoms, loud buzzers, and loud kids. I can usually tune most of it out except for the intercom and bells that are REALLY loud. Today there was a more subtle noise that persisted all day and drove me NUTS. It was a vibration noise, like an old car that rattles, only it came from the pipes that cross the ceiling. I don't know why they made that noise or why it made that noise more today than other days. I don't know what starts the rattle, where it comes from exactly, or why it drives me NUTS, but there it is. All day long. I think my nerves were jangled, so that now, in the evening, when I should be relaxing after chili and ice-cream, I'm annoyed by the helicopter that just flew over, the airplane I can hear in the distance that seems to be out of tune, the clacking of a calculator, the mutterings of someone as thay clack on the calculator, and the phone ringing that seems inordinately loud. I want to put on earphones. I feel a little autistic. I'm hypersensitive to the point that I can't even watch TV. And I don't even have a migraine.

I can usually tune out things pretty well and I'm not typically easily distracted, but some days the sound of the world is too much. I think sound pollution is way underestimated. That, and light pollution. So many trees have been cut down in my neighborhood that it is much noisier than it used to be. I can hear boats, trains, traffic, dogs, sirens that I couldn't hear before.

One summer in Wyoming I heard two sirens in 6 weeks. It was great. I'm ok with the quiet.

today i've been busy

Ok. Let me catch you up on my life. Here's today. I worked, ate chicken, got an oil change, took my mother to dinner for early mother's day, made about 7 phones calls regarding a day trip tomorrow with friends, played my new favorite game (flood it) and some roof rats, found strawberries to buy, drove about 100 miles although I worked only two blocks from home, reviewed files that were either boring or depressing, wrote emails of sympathy (to a boss), criticism (to a local dj) and praise (for a senator), ate more chicken, apoligized for an unintentional mistake at work, watched and read the news, and had 4 glasses of sweet tea.

The picture was taken by one of my daughters. She was in the southwest last week and took this at the bottom of the grand canyon. it's my new desktop picture. pretty, isn't it?