Hives, Iced tea, my Step-Sister Brenda, Anniversaries, the Pools, Gas Surcharges, Rising Costs of Everything, Humor, a Friend, Scooter and Spike

Okay, I need a diversion for a little while before my head explodes.

At least tonight the hives are at bay. I've been getting hives a lot. Some people tell me they are caused by stress, I'm not entirely convinced that they are.

Some of the Web sites and herbal books I've looked at claim tea is a cause so I stopped drinking tea, just at the time of year I was really enjoying it. I still get hives anyway.

My step-sister got us one of those Mr. Coffee iced tea pots for a wedding present and I normally use it in the summer and store it in the winter. It celebrated it's 12th anniversary recently, stowed away under the counter.

Anyway, here's an issue that's been sort of bothering me, at least since I got my last trash service bill. There was a fuel charge of almost $12 added to it. I was thinking maybe I know how some of the restaurant owners in town feel about the gas surcharges they are paying, the rising cost of raw foods and now added fees for Health Department inspections that, as Tom Martz recently pointed out, are mandated by the government in the first place. Sure, my trash hauler is only charging $12 more, spread out over 3 months of service, but that's not the point. It's the principle of the matter.

My family has to pay more for groceries at the store, too. My family has to pay more for utility service (except last month was a nice break at under $90) and my family has to pay more for gasoline to get around town to take care of important business, too.

If someone else figures out how I can make someone else pay a gas surcharge to offset my cost of living increases, let me know.

In the meantime, tomorrow is Wednesday. The pools will be open all across town and poor, sweaty kids can cool off while their moms or grandmoms or baby sitters drink a glass of iced tea.

I'm thinking now would be a good time to have a sense of humor, not take everything so seriously and move over a bit for the other guy, another task that isn't always so easy.

I'm thinking I need a vacation. It's not like I have a lot to lose or anything.

Oh, one (two or three) more thing(s). My husband and I adopted a 4 year old Boston Terrier from a friend of ours. We just got him last Friday. His name is Scooter.

Scooter.

He's fitting in pretty well. Calming down a lot. He's a beautiful dog. Bostons can look so regal and he's a really nice looking Boston. He has his own blanket. He takes it with him to bed and covers up with it. A real cutey, that Scooter. He loves to play ball and he's nice to have around but we're still sort of adjusting to each other.

Scooter was a nickname I had for Spike, strangely enough. I called him scooter sometimes because he had this habit, silly thing, of scooting around on the floor. He'd even go in circles. I used to sing, "Will he go round in circles? Will he fly high like a bird up in the sky?" to him as he scooted around on the livingroom floor. He was a real ham. I also used to call him Boss Hogg a lot. He truly was the boss of this house and there was no question about him being a hog. :)

I was ready for another dog. I was really missing coming home to that greeting that only a dog can give and Scooter is a great greeter. I already love him.