Odd Newspaper Headlines

I have been running around like a maniac these past few days, but I have also had a few good laughs at newspaper headlines...  I realize that newspaper headers frequently leave out words, and are sometimes worded just to grab one's attention.  My Dad loved to find typo's and would chuckle for hours over them.  The one I remember best was an excerpt from a local police report that stated (and the emphasis is mine, not the paper's):  A woman reported and man and a moustache were peering into her bathroom window.
   Earlier this week there was a headline in a British County paper that I receive that said, "Naked Man in Devizes Found With Cannabis."  I realize that marijuana is illegal in most places, and even while it's legal here in Colorado, the amount one can legally have in one's possession is quite small.  With that headline, I mentally pictured a naked man in the High Street, clasping a whole sheaf (or  even an entire shock) of 6-foot-tall fully leaved marijuana stalks.  All the article said was that police had responded to a phone report of a naked man in a yard.  The man was 25 years old and had "three twists" of marijuana inside a silver-colored tin that was in his possession.   -  I guess I'm weird.  I like the first mental image much better!
  In yesterday's local Boulder paper, the e-version of the paper had the headline, "Man repeatedly stabs car, charged with attempted murder." That one really had me scratching my head, so I had to read it.  At a busy intersection, near the University and opposite a large shopping center, a man was reported to police for stabbing a knife into cars that were stopped for the traffic light.  Police responded, and saw the man stab the knife into the hoods of several vehicles, and slash along the fenders of several others.  The police officer got out of his car, identified himself, and told the man to drop the knife and stand still.  The man turned on the policeman and made jabbing motions with the knife.  (It must be said that the knife in question had a three-inch blade, so it must have been a pocket-knife or a paring knife...) The policeman attempted to use his Tazer on the knife-wielding man.  The suspect had on multiple layers of sweaters and jackets, and the electrodes did not penetrate the materials.  The suspect then leaped at a car stopped for the light, and, according to the female driver, "locked his eyes with hers."  He then began stabbing the hood of the car, and the windshield, with his 3-inch blade, while staring at the woman.  The policeman again tried to Tazer the suspect, without success.  The suspect swung his knife at the officer again.  The officer pulled his service revolver, and the suspect began to run away.  The officer tackled the suspect without firing his weapon, hand-cuffed him, and placed him inside the cruiser. The woman, whose car was attacked, and had "locked eyes" with the suspect swore that she knew the suspect was trying to kill her - therefore the attempted murder charge.  On the way to the police station, the suspect made several statements that he was very disappointed because he had wanted "to commit suicide by cop."  The suspect is a homeless man who claims to be from Utah.  He is undergoing psychiatric evaluation at this time.
   The other local incident didn't have an odd headline - but at the Asian restaurant next door, the female owner/manager fired a waitress on the spot, in front of customers, at a table the waitress was serving.  The waitress ran into the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and threw it at the owner/manager.  The knife grazed the forehead of the lady as she was entering the kitchen - she staggered back out into the eating area with blood pouring down her face.  Several kitchen workers and customers called 911, and the suspect was arrested in our parking lot, where she had sat down and was crying....
   Just another day in Boulder.

Dogs Playing - Photos

Tetherball game!

Mustang Summer - Photos

Mystic and Mythic Horses

Dogs and Things

Well, I pulled out my little black box of hocus-pocus last night, ran a couple of programs, and, so far, my computer hasn't frozen.  Looks like my PC geek friends know their business - and I appreciate them greatly!
   Wow.   Victor and Xena have matured  amazingly since I last cared for them.  I am very impressed by the job that the owners and sons have done with these two dogs.  When they were adopted as puppies from the Humane Society, the family was told that Victor was a shepherd mix and that Xena was a boxer mix.  At that time, Xena had a head that looked as if she was half-boxer, and Victor looked exactly like the streamlined statue of Anubis in The Ten Commandments.  They both had excessive energy and were aggressive friend-seekers - which frightened most people and other dogs.  What a difference a year makes.  They still bark in greeting of arrivals - but they stay seated and calm.  They stay seated for treats and chew each one carefully.  And they have grown into large dogs.  Both now look as if they have a great deal of pit bull blood in them - their body build, their musculature, and the way they move.  Their jaws are most indicative of their ancestors, but they are the biggest love-bugs I've dealt with.  Xena now looks like she's half Anatolian Shepherd and half pittie.  Victor looks as if he's a pittie and Basenji cross.  They have both turned into wonderful companions.
  It's grey and overcast today.  We had a high in the upper 40s yesterday, but I don't think we'll reach 45 today.  Snow is slowly melting off roof tops, and while most major roads in Boulder are snow free, residential areas still have several inches of packed snow and ice on them.  And the Broncos play in Pittsburgh today.  If Denver wins, I will celebrate...  Just because I detest Roethlisberger so thoroughly.
  I slid on the ice yesterday, again, landing on my bad knee.  Took a 3 by 5 inch patch of skin off, through my denim jeans, and broke a blood vessel.  Swelled up to the size of a cantaloupe.  And I made a lemon pound cake last night to help relieve my sorrows.  Bea and I ate half of it after she came home from work last night...  Somehow, I feel better.  (Ha, ha, ha!)

Tuesday's Snow Photos

Holidays Equal Busy Times

Sorry for the absence from blogging - I'm usually at my busiest over holidays, and this year is no exception.  While I am not staying at any specific house until the 27th, I am caring for 5 houses, 2 with cats, and one with hens and dogs - but am sleeping at home with my kits.  Lovey is currently standing/lying across my chest, while Nedi was seeing if he could chew through some ornament hangers.  We've been rather cold since Tuesday's eleven inches of snow, with lows at night in the single digits (Fahrenheit).  However, we're having some melt, as it was 50 yesterday and 60 today, in the sunshine.  It was odd - one side of the street, in the sunlight said 60 degrees, while the same corner, on the other side of the street, in the shade, said it was 43 degrees.
   I have been experiencing my annual computer difficulties.  The blasted thing keeps freezing on me, and I have to do an emergency shut down and then totally reboot, causing me to lose what I've just been working on.  I've run all of my virus scans, debugging scans, registry, add-ons and problem solving scans; they all say that everything is fine.  Well, if it's fine, then why does it freeze?
  I'm going to wait for a couple of weeks to go see the new Star Wars movie - I saw the first one on opening day down in Gainesville, and saw the second and third ones at the theater, also in Florida.  I think I saw the fourth one in a theater.  Haven't seen the fifth and sixth.  I'll be going just to see Harrison Ford reprise his role as Han Solo in this one....
   It was crazy at one house earlier this week.  I was staying there, with the dog, while the owners were away.  The lady of the house employs two house-keepers - one comes for two hours on each Monday and Friday; the second cleaner is a single mother and she cleans on Wednesday for two hours.  The cleaner who comes twice a week is Hispanic, and frequently uses her "no speaka da English" as a reason to not follow directions.  The husband of the house-owning couple speaks a Mexican, Peruvian, and pure Spanish dialect.  She pretends she doesn't understand him, either.  She is from a small town, just south of the Mexico-Texas border, so she should understand at least one of the dialects.  Anyway, Modesta worked Monday, as usual.  Heather came on Wednesday, but could only stay for one hour, not two, as she had to clean a house she had missed on Tuesday, due to it being a "Snow Day" for local schools.  Heather asked me if she could come back Thursday, or maybe Friday, to make up the hour.  I told her to come Thursday, as the other house cleaner came on Friday, and that Modesta could be very territorial about the house and her cleaning.  Heather left her payment on the kitchen counter, as she hadn't finished her work.  She called and left a message for the owner, telling her that she was doing two one hour shifts.  The owner called both Heather and me to say that Heather should just take her payment and not work on Thursday.  The owner had to leave a message for Heather.  I called Heather and left the same message.  Then I left the door unlocked, so Heather could get her payment, and I left for 70 minutes to walk a neighbor's dog.  When I returned, I could see Heather's tire prints in the snow in front of the house; but Modesta's car was also there.  As soon as I came in, she started yelling at me about the other cleaner - Heather.  Heather's payment was gone.  I just grabbed the dog and left, because I didn't want to hear Modesta's commentary.  She was upset that another house cleaner was there - and she had come a day early, because she didn't want to have to work at the house on Friday.  The only reason she could get inside was because I had left the house unlocked for Heather - neither of them has a house key.  When I returned 90 minutes later, with the dog, Modesta had left and left me a note saying that she was the house cleaner and she would see me Monday.  In the meantime, Heather called the owner because Modesta had scared the daylights out of her...  The owners came home early today, and it seems that Modesta may no longer be cleaning their house....   Weird.