New toy for the girls

Cats have such a happy life, where everything is fun!

Since we just bought new furniture, we thought we would give it a fighting chance, protecting it from the plethora of cat claws we have in our house. So, we recently gave the girls a new scratching post. You would have thought they had never seen one before. Silly me--I thought a scratching post was rather utilitarian. In reality, it is just another cat toy. But then, isn't everything?

Kasey is so aloof
She is also the resident Fraidy Cat

The video at right, reveals the real personalities in three of our four cats. Kasey isn't in it, since she is nowhere to be found at the moment. Wait til she finds out her sister are going to be movie stars and she is left out. I can see the pouty look on her face already. Kasey is generally such a Fraidy Cat. The fourth born, she always follows behind her sisters, never taking that first step. She has apparently seen that no harm has come to them, because she certainly has gone after  that scratching post with a real fervor.

Ryan is the adventurous one. Though Ryan looks very much like Kasey--in fact we call them twins--she is very different. She is the first to try anything. As afraid as Kasey is, Ryan is just the opposite. She is fearless. We named her after Ryan Newman, my favorite NASCAR driver whose nickname is Flyin' Ryan, named for how he drives around a racetrack. That moniker fits his namesake. This cat climbs to the top of everything she sees--the bedroom door, the top of the window, the top of our seven-foot bookcase, etc. 

Then there is Junior, a.k.a. The Bug. She is the smallest, sweetest and most innocent-looking one of the bunch. She was born with a deformed right front paw, so she hobbles on three legs most of the time. She also has a tendency to be a loner, and is seemingly less healthy than her sisters. She is also the most affectionate. She likes to snuggle, with any of her sisters, with me, or with our dog, Shadow, a rescue dog who makes a slight appearance at the end of the video. Shadow and Junior are buddies, although he doesn't really get along with the others consistently. Junior's looks are deceiving. While she looks like a little angel, she can be an attack cat. It is difficult to imagine by looking at her, but she is the bully of the bunch. If she wants a space, for example and one of the others is there, she will chase them away and take it for herself. There are fights, but Junior usually wins them.

Then there is Kenni, the second born. Kenni is far different from the others. If Kenni was a human, she'd be a linebacker. Nuff said. Yet she is a gentle giant. She loves to play. Drag a string along and she will follow you anywhere. 

These cats were born on our front porch. Their mother Timi was a stray that adopted us. She comes in to eat with her kids every morning, as well as whenever she gets the urge. She is an outside cat that spends plenty of time inside. Timi gave birth to the girls on July 11, 2007. It was love at first site. I couldn't part with any of them, so husband John and I have allowed them in to fill our empty nest and our hearts. They bring us joy and laughter. 

This is my first YouTube Video.

NASCAR women from Arkansas have a great day

Mark Martin may be the man but Danica Patrick is the woman!

Not only did we women of Arkansas get to watch our native son, Mark Martin from Batesville, AR win the Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas, but we watched Danica Patrick make NASCAR history.

Mark Martin brings it home

It was great to watch Mark Martin back in victory lane, a place he has been 95 times before.

His #32 Dollar General Chevy owned by Turner Motor Sports finished first at Las Vegas, ending a long winless streak. Martin hasn't won since 2009 at Phoenix. He went without a win during his entire 2010 season.

Martin was in the right place at the right time Saturday, as led only one lap during the race--the only one that really counts. Taking every advantage, he was nearly out of gas when he passed Brad Kezelowski, the race leader, who cut a tire, allowing Martin to cruise to victory.

It was a first win for Turner Motor Sports who enjoyed a good finish last week as well when Ryan Newman brought the #30 car home in fourth place.

And for the ladies, the big news of the day

Saturday's race has made history, as Danica Patrick, driver of the #7 GoDaddy Chevy, finished the race in fourth place. It is a career-best finish for her, and makes her the first woman driver in NASCAR ever to achieve such a finish.

Patrick broke a record that has stood since 1949 when Sara Christian came in fifth.

Patrick said she was secretly hoping for a finish in the top 10, but instead it was in the top five. In reality, what she really accomplished was a history-making fourth.

Unhappy couch potato

 I love Dish Network. But I'm pretty mad at them right now--not a happy couch potato.

For days there has been no surfing, no CNN or MSNBC, no local news, no NASCAR race, and a tropical storm--Hermine--snuck up on us without my even knowing. All I can say is thank goodness for the internet.

Finding online news is easy. I learned out about Hermine from postings on Facebook from my favorite weather gurus. My NASCAR fix was satisfied by Justin.tv, where I was able to watch the races Saturday and Sunday nights. (See my NASCAR blog).


And I did enjoy catching up on some reading.

Taken by surprise
 
I never thought we would lose service, since we had just gotten a brand new HD system installed about two weeks ago. I couldn't have been happier at the time. We don't have an HD TV, but getting one has moved up on the priority list as something we "need."

Friday night, while watching TV, the screen went blank. We had lost the satellite connection. That was weird, since the upgrade we just got included a new dish, a right out-of-the box receiver, and new connectors at the dish. My husband John, did the techie thing -- he turned the receiver off and then on again. It worked. 

Saturday morning, however, it didn't. He called Dish Network. Customer Service folks are all very nice, and helpful. I was excited because they said they would send out a technician that morning.


Great, I thought. In the past, and we have had this service for years, we had a much longer wait for needed service. 

The tech, a nice young fellow, came out as promised, replaced some things that I don't even care to know about, let alone identify. He said it the receiver was bad and would need to be replaced. He would order it. 

"You should get it tomorrow," he said, giving us his phone number. He instructed us to call him the minute it arrives. He will drop what he is doing and come over to hook it up.

I reminded him that tomorrow was Sunday and Monday was a holiday. I know UPS didn't deliver. He said FedEx might deliver on Sunday. I had my doubts. He said he would call when he found out something. That was the last we heard from him until he stopped by to pick up a tool he left here. He said he would come back Monday and replace all the cables from the dish to the back of the unit. We stayed around the house all weekend, waiting during what was arguably the most beautiful weekend this summer.

John called Dish Network Monday afternoon after not hearing a word from our tech. We now had no satellite service from Friday to Monday. They promised to send a technician out Tuesday between 8 a.m. and noon. It is 10 a.m. and I am waiting, and am not really happy.

If anyone has had a similar experience, leave a comment. Let me know how it turned out.

New Blog about NASCAR

I've started a new blog -- all about NASCAR. It is one of the many things I enjoy writing about. CH on track contains a few stories that I've written. Hopefully I can keep it updated as the racing season progresses.

My favorite driver is Ryan Newman, so there will likely be a disproportionate number of posts related to Newman. However, while Newman will remain my favorite, the more I learn about NASCAR, the more I am interested in racing in general as well as individual drivers.

Homesick just isn't quite right

Chicagoland Speedway in the rain
-- courtesy of Chris Henrichs

Opening my desk drawer to retrieve a nail file, I happened to catch a glimpse of an old press badge. Judging from the name of the newspaper displayed on the yellowed, plastic card with a much younger version of my face on it, I imagine it to be from before 1999.

That badge predated the completion of the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, where I would be right now, if it were possible. I'd love to be at the NASCAR races this weekend. I've never been to a race, though that doesn't detract from my status as an avid fan, even if I must settle for television coverage.

I watched them build the Chicagoland track. It was miles from where I used to live. I even took a picture of the work in progress as the local reporter in a nearby town back then. I remember thinking that it was massive; it rose like a monolith on the flat, fertile land. In those days I didn't understand. I had very limited knowledge of racing. I knew nothing about NASCAR or drivers' personalities, or the speeds at which the cars are driven. I had no idea that this huge endeavor would add to the billion-dollar industry that is NASCAR. I had heard names like Richard Petty and Davey Allison, but knew nothing of who they were.

I recall meeting one of the track promoters at a local gathering, though I can't remember her name. She was very interested to learn that I worked for a newspaper, as she was obviously trying to publicize the track's activities. She offered to show me around the completed race track. And she said to call her if I was interested in press credentials, or if there was anything else she could do for me.

My how things have changed. Somewhere around 2004, I had my NASCAR awakening. My son, Chris introduced me to the sport and to Ryan Newman, his favorite driver. My adoration may have even surpassed that of my son. It didn't take long before I was completely obsessed, like so many others who worship at the oval altar of concrete and asphalt, banked turns, three-wide racing and photo finishes nearly every weekend. Friends and family know not to call me on race day.

Retired now, home is in Arkansas, not Illinois. I love living here, in the beautiful 'Natural State.' I'm not homesick for Illinois, but it sure would be nice to be there, if just for the weekend.