kim & i

Okay. Before I start on the shoe story, I need to get the picture of Jesus' birthday cake, & the Dora the Explorer tent on here! (and, yeah, those are my smokes...).

Before Kim & I were driving, we walked EVERYWHERE, just miles, all over town. One day we walked over to the north end, which we really hadn't been that way before. We were almost out of town, right by the railroad tracks, when all of a sudden, Kim grabbed my arm, and said "What the HELL is THAT??" We both stopped, and looked up to the top of a telephone pole out by a field, and, of course, almost got turned into strawberry jam in the middle of the road by the semi we had neglected to look for before we walked out in the middle of the street. (remember the song...'stop, look, and listen before you cross the street'? we didn't...). We walked across the street/road (it's kinda both), and tried to look closer, but the pole was out by a barn in the middle of a field. So we stood there and looked & looked...finally figured out it was a pair of plain brown or black men's workshoes, nailed sideways up there about 4 feet from the top of it! Now THAT was weird! We talked about that forever after that, trying to figure out what the hell was up with that. Finally, one day at school (I was a freshman), I was telling my friends there about it, and one girl started dying laughing. No kidding, she actually DID fall down on the floor in the middle of the hall, and people had to step over her, go around...she said she knew exactly where that was and why they were there! And she would tell us at lunch...

At lunch, she said her brother had told her a few years ago the story behind them. It seems that someone in their family had known the guy whose shoes those were a generation back. They had worked on that farm together for a long time, picking crops, taking care of the animals, all that 'farm stuff'. But one day, 'shoe guy' wasn't working there anymore, and nobody knew why. Until they found out a few days later...the farmer had come outside one night cuz he heard his dogs barking, and found 'shoe guy', ummmm, violating a sheep in the middle of the barnyard!! The farmer kicked 'shoe guy's' ass, and took his shoes, made him leave, fired him, then the next day took the shoes up to the top of the pole beside the barnyard, and nailed them up there, swearing that they would be there forever, as a warning to any other asshole that thought they'd get away with ANY of that shit at HIS farm!! There it is. I know it sounds like an urban legend or something, but, honestly, it's TRUE!!

A couple other monetary thingys to say...

I've been on SS disability since 1999, and usually don't see any kind of check or anything, it's always direct deposited. But I just got a statement last week that I actually looked at! And, lo and behold, they're holding back $84 a month for Medicare! Turns out it's been held out every month since 2001! Cuz I called there last week, and talked to a guy about it. I've NEVER used Medicare, always have had Kevin's good insurance from his job! You're just automatically put on Medicare after you've been on disability for 2 years! So we got it straightened out, he said he'd take the charge off. Then I kinda laughed and said "I s'poze there's no way to get a refund for that, is there?" Nope, there isn't...sure wish there was, though...can you imagine how much that would be? 5 yrs at $84 a month....Arrrrrrrggggghhhh!!

Also...I never bitch about gas prices...why should I give a shit? I can't drive anymore!! But....our gas heating budget went up a couple months ago....from $145/month to...$259/month! Yes, you heard me! That's the budget, which means we pay that every month, all f'n year!! Then we have to add the electric, cable, phones, etc...!! Damn, where's a good cave we could move into?

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!