Not Worth It

 So I almost faced some jail time last night. Facebook jail, that is. Three times I tried to share my blog link and they took it down accusing me of trying to scam people or spam people and coerce them to click on a link.

There are no humans in this process. They just follow some algorithm or something. No person on the other end where I can explain I'm some middle-aged woman in Wisconsin just trying to bring some inspiration or levity to people.

So I haven't decided if I'll even try to share this tonight. It might be too soon.

Also, I really don't want them to cut me off when I have sports to shoot in the coming days and a fantabulous work trip to the West Coast next week.

Just know this is where you'll always find me, whether I post the link on social media or not. Bookmark this site so you won't miss a thing. 

Including any pending time behind bars.

Be careful out there!

Being Strong

A year ago today our favorite part of Maui – historic Lahaina – was basically obliterated from an out of control wildfire. Since my company is a title sponsor of a PGA golf tournament there, all of us employees are pretty tuned into the happenings there. 

So today, on the one year anniversary of the fire, I made sure to wear my "Maui Strong" t-shirt to golf league tonight. 

It did not help my game, but I felt positive, nonetheless.

The past few days have been challenging for a few reasons. One, we're preparing for my mom's memorial service this weekend. Secondly, my good "friends" at Facebook decided to suspend my account again for going against "community standards."

I have no idea why, really. And it's aggravating.

But I do realize that a vast majority of my readers think they can only access my blog via Facebook. So the 8 of you who just follow my blogger website, thank you.

 You inspire me to keep going!

Sunrise, Sunset

I'm back in Wisconsin Rapids after a few days of my Home Health Nurse shift in my hometown. At least Luck treated me to a gorgeous sunrise off of Big Butternut Lake...

 

And a decent sunset off to the west of Rachel's place.

I was also treated to continuous surprises at Rachel's rockstar progress. And a chance to see every single sister over the course of my 3 days there! 

Got home to Rapids tonight and it seems like Facebook has deleted my account forever with no chance to appeal. So maybe no one will even see this blog. I'm pretty frustrated about that right now. I mean, what could a middle-aged woman from Wisconsin of all places do to "go against Facebook Community Standards"? If I didn't have connections with some people for senior portrait sessions this summer, I'd say screw it. But I do. So I'll see what I can do. Grrr. Way to screw up a positive 3 days!

So I guess I'll just hope for a pretty sunset here to ease my stress. I know – first world problems – but still! Ugh.

Why Can't People Be Nice?

After my lovely Mother's Day yesterday, it wasn't long before my world (cyberworld that is) came crumbling down. 

I got a message through Facebook from a friend I saw a few days ago that he wanted my phone number. Not unusual amongst us photographers. Then he asked what my email was for my Facebook account. Again, not unusual since he was going to share photos with me.

But is wasn't him. And it was too late when I figured it out.

Sh*t! Doesn't cover my feelings or response.

So I spent the late hours of last night and the early hours of today trying to gain control of my Facebook (and related social) accounts. While trying to work my normal full-time job. It was awful!

The worst part was knowing that people were thinking I needed help, wanted their phone number, or wanted to buy the dozens of things I had for sale. I felt so bad that they were exposed. While also realizing that my fake hacked friend had done the same to me.

Why can't people just be nice?!

I sure hope this is resolved so I can relax and just watch The Voice tonight. But, I think this might be a bit. In the meantime, if you get any weird message from me, ask how I know you and definitely ask which sports teams I cheer for! 

If you know, you know. And hopefully that's enough to protect you!

Oh Deer

What do you do when two of the top social media platforms are out of commission for the day? You drive around see real-world stuff.

Seriously, it was kind of weird not having any Facebook or Instagram working today. But yet, I probably got a few more things done. Except when I needed to do some legit marketing research for work. Who knew how much we rely on these silly time-suckers!

So I did a spot check on some fall color. And, oh deer, got a few surprises.

There was not any traffic out in the town of Rudolph, so I could slam on my brakes and catch this trio. "You lookin' at me?"

"Run! It's the crazy camera lady!"

They all ran and THEN crossed the road behind me. They did not want to get hit and did not want me to get another picture of them. Maybe they're smarter than we give them credit for. 

Nah.

A little further down the road I drove past this, braked and put my wheels in reverse for a quarter mile. Thank you again for not having traffic on the road.

Just seeing the windmill with fall color bursting behind it was so brake-worthy! 

Maybe experiencing real life isn't that bad. Of course, I do need some social media platforms to work – otherwise how could I share these pictures or my blog? Oh dear, indeed.

All A-Twitter

I've been home 10 days and am still catching up post-trip on some things. I don't know why I hadn't looked at my Twitter alerts before today, but I'm glad I finally did.

First of all, I'm not super active on Twitter. It just happens that when I post on Instagram, I have it automatically post to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, too. So on the soggy day in Seward when Renell and I hiked forever in the rain to Exit Glacier in the morning and had a wet whale watching adventure in the afternoon, I tweeted this – and got the reply below it. 

I don't know about you, but I'm now a big fan of the social media team at Amazon! Their pun-y humor is right up my alley! 

Or should I just say, hearing from them was a real tweet!

If It's On The Internet, It's True

I am not professing to know anything about how artificial intelligence or the manner in which computers can be so intuitive. I just want to know how they just know things. Like when I plug my name in a simple Facebook name test program and get this...

Dang if I'm not on the naughty list already. It has to be true. It's on the internet!

I knew something was up the minute I opened my second delivery of Sweet Potato Pie coffee. It's apparently the 2020 non-contact version of coal. And I don't like it.

Good thing I ordered Christmas cards today (the latest ever) and bought stamps. I can start spreading that Christmas cheer all over the place and maybe, just maybe, I'll move onto the Trying To Be Nice List. Eventually, maybe even the Nice List. 

We've still got 17 days until Christmas Eve, my fellow Naughty Listers. Let's see if we can't help 2020 finish strong – and merry. For crying out loud, it's got to be stinkin' MERRY! 

OK. Maybe the first step is an attitude adjustment. I blame my lack of a chocolate advent calendar or Christmas Cupcake coffee. Let's do this, Grinches!

Q is for Quiet Intentions

I skipped a day because I got home late last night, but alphabetical gratitude month continues today with the letter Q which means I have both quality blessings in quantity.

A = Autumn, Austins, Assumption
B = Ballots, Books, Book Club, Bible
C = Casey, Clay, Carter, Church, Creativity, Camera
D = Dad, Daughters, Deck Chair, Dar, Design
E = Eggs, Election, Energy, Empty Nest
F = Family, Friends, Faith, Flu Shot, FastForward
G = Games, Golf, Guilty pleasures
H = Hugs, Hurricanes, Humor
I = Ice cream, Impromptu Invitations
J = Jim, Jokes, Job, Java
K = Kindness, King Cone, Knock on Wood, Karma
L = Laughters, Love
M = Mom, Masters, Musicals
N = Nieces, Nephews, Neighbors, Norse Force
O = Outage
P = Pigging out, passport, phone

Quiet: I've been a little stressed lately so I decided at the last minute yesterday to use up a vacation (I have plenty still) to take a nice quiet day off today. That was my intention. Per usual, that didn't happen. I mean my schedule was low-key and quiet. There was nothing stressful I had to do. But it got chaotic. Per usual, only inside in my head. 

I got stressed over holiday grocery shopping with hubby. I have waisted a day's worth of frustration trying to upload football photos from last night (they lost) to Facebook. Due to that, I haven't even be online for anything else. Maybe that was the quiet I needed. And the walk around the lake seeing the "resting" geese helped. And the cajun fish fry for dinner helped. And so did the ice cream and Hallmark movie... that I'm about to enjoy, that is! 

Q is for quite a day. And now it really is going to be a quiet day. Thankfully.

#gratitudemonth #gratitudealphabet

The Adventures of Harriet the Duck

If you've never had your ducks in a row, as the saying goes, you'll appreciate this story. We had some excitement in our neighborhood when it seemed a bald eagle had descended on Election Day. How patriotic, right?

Upon closer inspection though, it was actually a duck. Not a goose on the loose. But a duck.

One neighbor and I got pretty close to it yesterday afternoon and he said it was a domestic duck. As in someone's pet? Yep.  So I snapped a photo (of course) and showed it the farm lady around the bend. Without hesitation she said, "That's a Muscovy duck! But she's not ours." 

She? I don't know how you can tell the difference and I probably don't want to know. So I shared the picture on Facebook in case any neighbors knew her or her owners. No luck.

I kind of forgot about her because I didn't see her on my noon walk today. But sure enough, this afternoon she was sitting in our front yard. After she had flown (witnesses say) from our back yard to the dog yard next door, then over to our non-dog yard. (Even though I learned later she lives with dogs.)

She let me get close enough take pictures of her and her beautiful feathers. This time I posted the picture on the "nosy site" on Facebook – as in the Wood County scanner followers page. Didn't even know if it was the right forum but I've seen people share "lost dog" photos on there so why not a "lost duck"?

It worked! In about half an hour's time, more than 60 people had shared it out and the owners saw it and contacted me.

Turns out a fox surprised Harriet (best duck name ever) and her duck sister on Monday. Sadly, the fox got the other girl, but Harriet escaped through the woods and headed west. She bypassed Little Red Ridinghood's Grandmother's house and skirted around Hansel and Gretl's candy cottage to get to our yard on the other side of the woods. But she made it. And made the rounds waddling around our subdivision for almost 3 days.

Thankfully she perched on the next-door neighbor's deck after the sun when down so when the owners got here, they could find her and get her. They were ecstatic. She was happy to see them, too, and get her treats! Yes, just like any other pet. 

Her owners had happy tears. They said it was sad to lose the other duck and think they lost Harriet, too. So relieved! And they said Harriet's man at home was extremely distraught. Good thing Harriet was heading back. I've since learned Muscovy ducks don't mate for life so who knows who long he would have waited until he moved on?! Men!

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us, Harriet! Pretty cool that in less than 50 minutes, we went from social media post to happy reunion. Who couldn't use a happy-ending fairy tale like that this week? 

How We Roll

This cartoon always makes me laugh. It's just literally what we moms (and dads) go through with teenagers and beyond. Not that I haven't always deserved it.

This gem came up in my Facebook memories today...

It you can't read the text, my post from 6 years ago today said:

Told Carter to ride the bus home today. Then he calls after school and reminds me there is NO BUS today because public schools weren't in session. ... Which we knew because he needed a ride TO school. Duh me. I guess I do deserve his eye rolls once in a while! (But I'm only admitting that ONCE.)

Some day when our children have their first blonde moment, make that first mistake ever, they'll realize we just try to do our best! I would tell you parents of teens that this magically happens when they go away to college and finally appreciate you. But that would by lying. I mean some do, but I was probably 30 when I finally wizened up that way.

And side note: Even with kids out of the house, hubbies can be pretty talented eye-rollers, too.

Can't wait to read my Facebook "memories" 6 years from now when I hopefully can laugh all my blonde-turned-senior moments! I don't doubt I'll still be the first one to laugh at my own jokes. And honestly won't mind it if I'm lucky enough to have all my eye-rollers still at my side!

Ahhh, memories...

Social Hours

This is my brain right now after two full days of a Digital Summit that focused heavily on social media – trends, content, platforms, you name it. The only thing that wasn't social was me.

I know. Hard to believe. I actually started to feel a bit old when I overheard a "girl" mention her father-in-law is 38 years old. Nope. I take that back. I didn't feel old. I felt ancient!

But not too old to learn. I pride myself that I as familiar (or even use) most of what was talked about. It was a very fast-paced two days. Half-hour sessions with either 10 or 15 minutes between. Believe me. My brain is full! Pretty cool and interesting speakers though.

Enjoyed hearing Randi Zuckerberg yesterday. Her brother is Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. Perhaps you've heard of him. She had her role at that silly start-up years ago, too. And now empowers female entrepreneurs. Very impressive.

Had the evening free last night so walked around downtown Minneapolis, since that's where the conference was  and where I was staying.

Got to bond with my fellow news girl Mary Tyler Moore! Yup. A random stranger took the goofy picture of me and didn't bat an eye.

I wandered a bit and found myself at the downtown Target and naturally found...

All kinds of Vikings and Twins goodies. This is SKOL coffee, which I did not buy. I failed to exercise willpower on a Vikings shirt (or 2) and a Twins license plate holder. What? They're cheaper at Target than at the stadium! (*me justifying*)

Today the conference ended at 4:30 p.m., just in time to head home in rush hour traffic. Certainly makes me appreciate driving in rural Wisconsin – even with the deer. Feels good to be home safely so I can rest my brain and body.

Honestly, other than blogging quick, I have no desire to interact right now. It's anti-social hour now!

Three Decades of Hamster Dance and More

Today is allegedly the 30th birthday of the World Wide Web. I say "allegedly" because some experts have different dates in mind. I just can't believe it launched when I was in college and I really didn't see it (in action) or touch it until the mid-1990s.

I want to say we've come along way from the Ooog-a-cha-ka Baby and the Hamster Dance, but have we?

Sure I don't have to use my phone line to dial in on an incredibly slow modem. But now we've got dancing, laughing and pooping babies (and pets). Time wasters called Facebook and Pinterest. An Asian woman telling my how to declutter and organize my house.

And our cat can take a selfie.

Of course that doesn't mean I don't love the Information Super Highway and all it has to offer. Just pointing out a few of the ways it impacts my life.

Today I am thankful for that cyber connection with our friends and family – even across the ocean – and yes, my ability to spout nonsense in a blog and use Facebook to give away fabulous "prizes" cluttering my house. When it doesn't detract me from living my real life, it's a win-win.

We still have glitches, though. I tried downloading Spring two weeks ago and I'm still getting that spinning rainbow.

Frame It

Give me a free night and you know Mizz ADD is going to get restless. And when that happens, I have to shoot photos, write ... or create!

Tonight I decided to create "frames" for all the fall sports at Assumption so Royals fans can make them part of their profile picture on Facebook. Like this...

Why yes, I do have a ton of crap to clean and organize in my office. Thanks for asking. Oh, I could use free time for that, too? Wow. Thanks. I'll note that.

And ignore that.

Hate when the committee in my head tries to over rule me. Ha. They must know it was a busy day at work and then voting. But since I do still have some time before lights out, I guess could get started.

On a new book. G'night!

So This Is Tech-smas...

These days, I can't "do" Christmas without technology. Even though I am trying to be low-tech and support the U.S. Postal Service by mailing out dozens of cards. I need to print out labels (I am not THAT low-tech that I will use a pen) and hopefully print out a letter that I threw together.

So while I try to install a new printer I purchased on Black Friday, I will share this techno treat with you. I hope this works for you.

This is a video of one of the songs from our Christmas Cantata yesterday. It's our version of "O, Holy Night." I'm in the front row, third from right, among the beautiful altos. Enjoy...




And if for some reason it doesn't work, it's probably user error. Sorry. You can find it on my Facebook page or, if you're not on Facebook, just try this link. 

Now back to computing my Christmas cards...

Perceptive Prose

It's been nearly 30 years since I was a camp counselor at Luther Point Bible Camp just outside of Grantsburg, Wis., a mere 20 minutes from home.

I was a counselor and a life guard there the summers of 1987 and 1988. Met some amazing people and made some meaningful memories. Just like college friends, I have stayed in touch with a handful of other staffers through the years. (Thanks, in part, to Facebook!)

One of the counselors, Mike, used to post a poem almost daily in the staff lounge. We recently reconnected and he was asking friends to provide three words/phrases and he'd write a poem.Today, he blessed me with some personal prose based on my three: Faith, Journey, Empty Nest.

I want
What is best
For my children.
But when they journey
Fast and far,
Leaving me
In an empty nest,
I want to get in my car,
Travel over the tar,
Through sun and stars
And hold them
One more time.
But
I don't.
Because I learned
To have faith
In their
Intelligence,
Honesty
And wit.
So I don't hover,
Or follow.
But
It's hard to quit
Wanting
To.

How perfectly appropriate! He is still as talented and insightful as ever. I can imagine he is a wonderful pastor and has a special way of connecting with each member of his flock in western Wisconsin.

It inspires me to keep on writing... and to track down the poem he wrote about me 3 decades ago. You know how I never throw anything away. It has to be here somewhere!

Racing 101

I finally got my photos uploaded from the action at the race track Saturday night. Typically, I just share these on my nephew's Facebook group page on his behalf. But I thought you'd like to see a little bit of the gearhead side of life. A little bit of Racing 101 for you...

 

Colin's car getting ready for qualifying at Marshfield Motor Speedway.

Much like wrestlers before a meet, the cars need to step on the scale, so to speak, before qualifying begins to be sure they are following the rules.

Colin gets some last words of advice from some of his crew, including his dad Baird (right) and Uncle Bryan (left).

During qualifying, also known as time trials, the cars get two full laps and their fastest time is registered.

The qualifying time determines car positioning and heat race grouping.

On Saturday, Colin qualified 6th among the super late models.

Back in the pits for some final tweaking (I am sure that is a race term).

I am not sure who the gentleman is next to Colin's mom Sherry on the end, but rest of the Colin Reffner Motorsports team includes Baird, Colin, girlfriend Amy, Aunt Rene, Uncle Bryan, Grandma Dede and Grandpa Tom.

Some final words of advice from Mom?

The awesome Timing Team. Keeping track of lap times.

As I mentioned in my Saturday blog, the four fastest super late models (with regular attendance at the track) were in the Dash for Cash. Four laps to money!

Colin got an early lead and kept it!

It's a half-mile track so they can really stretch out a four-car race!

Colin taking checkered flag for the Dash for Cash.

In the Winner's Circle!

Greeting the crowd. Tried to get a photo of him posed by the car, too, but I was taking this from the grandstand and the "real" track photographer was in my way.

Before the main feature race, they have heat races (with fastest cars in one and slower in the other) that sometimes are used for positioning of cars in the feature or to eliminate the slowest cars from the feature. I think for Saturday's event, every one of the super late models made the feature. For the fast heat race, Colin lead and just nosed out an opponent for the win.

Another trip to the Winner's Circle!

After the heat races, they always have an intermission and then get on with the feature races for all the categories. By then, it's too dark for my camera to record decent shots. That's why I don't mind those occasional daytime races!

If you are interested in following Colin's season on and off the track, find him on https://www.facebook.com/Colin-Reffner-Racing-117270108283656/. You don't even have to be on Facebook to see the page or photos and posts. Take a look.

See you at the track!

The Early Bird Gets... A Lot

The standing joke at bedtime is hubby asks me if I am getting up early for kickboxing. I typically answer, "Well, my alarm is set for later, but if I happen to wake up, I'll go."

When does one just happen to wake up for a 5:40 a.m. class? Well, today actually.

For some unknown reason I accidentally woke up at 5:19 a.m. Went to the bathroom and decided what the heck, I might as well stay up and go to class! I think the instructor just about passed out from shock, but other than that, it felt great to be kickboxing – with full use of my left leg and now healed psychotic nerve, no less.

Of course, I stopped at Kwik Trip on the route between class and home to get a Red Bull. I told the cashier a million-dollar idea: They should have a drive-thru for people who workout early in the morning and don't want to be seen by the general public! I think she took it under advisement. I was in too much of a hurry to get out of there before I ran into someone I knew!

Was awake enough for work today but the day dragged on. Probably because I could not wait for the end of the day.

Early last week, through some communication on Facebook, a longtime friend of mine and I realized we would be only 15 minutes away today when her daughter played softball in nearby Plover. Laura and I (and our friend Kristin, now living in Seattle) were a pretty tightknit trio of trouble, I mean reporters at the newspapers in Marinette and Menominee (Mich.) in the early '90s. We had a lot of fun, and it didn't always involve beer. Cross stitch, Friends and Knots Landing were also high priorities!

Here are the three of us (Kristin, Laura and me) after a heated broomball match amongst a bunch of newspaper people, circa 1993 maybe. I just know I could hardly get out of bed the next day. Ouch! (Oh. And my hair was not cut short, just in a pony tail of sorts.)

Fast forward to 2016 and we realized we had not seen each other since probably when I stood up in her wedding in 1994. Maybe we saw each other in1995, but either way, it's been 20 years.

So I raced over to Plover after work and got to watch her daughter Emma (a recent grad like Carter) win her softball game while Laura and I caught up on each other's lives, reminisced about old times and yes, thanked god there was no social media back in the day!

We did make sure to take a selfie to prove we haven't aged a bit AND to let our friend Kristin know that maybe this dynamic duo will make our way out to Seattle some day. Lord, is the West Coast ready for that? Not sure Northeast Wisconsin has recovered.

After our enjoyable but brief visit, I headed back to Rapids to meet up with Jim and his parents at Golden Sands Speedway. Our nephew Colin was racing tonight.

He did not have the best outing, with some mechanical issue right at the end of the feature. Still, it was good to see family, friends and this...

Yes, the early bird gets the worm, but she has to stay up to get all the great gifts during the day, plus a sunset.

Still not going to may a habit of this early rising business. But if was definitely worth it today!