I am streaming Bucky Covington all day! See Link!!!!

My computer is back up and running but my laptop blew the video card so I am down to one computer again. (My mother board took a dump on my PC.) I spent a week in hell having to sneak onto my husbands computer when he wasn't looking just to read my email. UPS finally showed up with my parts and three days of nagging finally placed my PC back on my desk and another two days of reinstalls and I am good. My pictures are stuck on a hard drive I cant get to so today I will repost from Flickr. I also want to brag a little. Floridashine Team won again when Bucky Hit #15 on the charts. I have a signed t-shirt and a autographed pictured signed 'Kathy Thanks Bucky Covington'. I love them. Bucky is climbing the charts and is approaching # 10 with 'It's Good to be Us'. I am streaming on CMT, YES.com and looking for new places to post the widget. We want another win at #10 so if you haven't voted please do today. Go to amazon buy 'It's Good to be Us' on MP3 only .99 or listen free at CMT. Play Bucky we want him at #!.

Bucky Covington @ Germain Arena 03/15/2008

St Lucie County cuts back.

The fall out from 'The Save Our Homes' legislation has the municipalities and the county government in an uproar. There is no extra money to spend and the powers that be are demanding up to 20% cuts in department budgets. Employees tend to be the largest part of a budget which means the potential loss of 20% of employees from each department being cut. County employees where initially told there would be no layoffs but then the rumors of potential cuts in the IT department and Public Safety have started filtrating into daily conversations in the center. 911 is safe so far but the commissioners are screaming about the overtime. I was told our overtime budget was 5x higher than any other department but we are also the only 24/7 department under the BOCC. E911 is still under staffed and have minimum employee requirements on a daily basis that have to be fulfilled.

The county administrators just finished a two day brainstorming meeting and now the sheriff is threatening to lay off 115 deputies. The clerks office is rumored to being laying off 8 employees based on job performance but I can't find anything to substantiate this rumor. The state has already proposed a drastically reduced budget to the governor and the court system is taking a pretty hefty cut. There will be layoff. It's coming but no one knows when.

I took the liberty of borrowing this list of items in the county from the Ft Pierce Tribune. Maybe it will give an idea of what the county admins are doing to economize. I read the opinions people spew and at one time I put my two cents worth but even I got tired of bantering with idiots how don't research or read before that make stupid comments. I linked this entry to the latest Tribune article. I feel bad for the admins who have to decide who leaves and who stays that can't be easy. The only good thing about this situation that I can think of, is if cuts are based by performance a lot of dead weight is trimmed that needed to be otherwise I feel bad for those who may loose their livelihood.

N THE CHOPPING BLOCK?

•Continue the employee hiring freeze (savings: $2.7 million).

•Stop paying for school resource officers (savings: $600,000).

•Close all libraries (except the main Fort Pierce library) one day per week (savings: $163,752).

•Cut money for outside agencies (such as the Council on Aging and Healthy Start) by 10 percent (savings: $2.2 million).

•Stop mowing medians and county right-of-ways (savings: $620,710).

•Cut money for financial recovery fund (savings: $2.75 million).

•No new capital projects or equipment purchases (savings: $11.8 million).

•No budget increases for clerk of court, supervisor of elections or sheriff's office (savings: $2.7 million).

COUNTY BUDGET NUMBERS

Projected shortfall in all county areas: $29.9 million

Projected shortfall after factoring in money set aside and other cost savings: $15 million

Projected general fund shortfall: $17.3 million

Projected general fund shortfall after factoring in money set aside and other cost savings: $6.3 million

Projected shortfall because of property tax reform over next five years (number provided by the state): $94.9 million

St. Lucie County (numbers subject to change)

The New Microwave!

 

My microwave broke the other day infact my husband accused me of breaking it on purpose because a friend of mine at work is selling her over the counter microwave and her french door refridgorator for a very resonable price. I have been dying for a new fridge and I just drool over the new french door design so when 'Donut" needed to rid herself of these items at more than half the retail price I jumped on it. My hubby was the voice of reason this time even though she is literally giving these items away, we still cant afford them.

Of course when our microwave breaks only 2 days later, it is my fault. I broke it on purpose. The fact that the microve/convection oven is over 13 years old has nothing to do with it's death. I broke it.

My family has suffered with out a microvewave for almost a week. My husband can't heat up water for his tea. My children can not reheat left overs or pizza, no one knows how to defrost meat, and of my goodness how do you cook a bag of popcorn. My hubby broke down and bought a temperary replacement until a new over the counter microwave/convection oven can be replace.

I am next planning the demise of my refridgerator. Please don't tell my husband!

Bucky all night long!

Okay maybe not all night long but I have been sitting at my computer for the last several hours streaming Bucky Covington's new single 'It's Good to be Us' on CMT. My daughter yelled at me because I am also streaming on my husband's computer. I know I'm pathetic but my team 'Floridashine' has won two of the 3 contests the fan club is running. I will be getting another t-shirt and another autographed picture of Bucky. Yeah!!!!!!

We must be doing something right because his single is at number 15 and still climbing. I get to see him again this coming weekend in Estero, Fl., but this time I will take my daughters camera and hopefully I will get better pictures than last time. It would be really great if all my readers would give Bucky your vote for the CMA's and stream 'It's Good to be Us' on CMT. We really want to see him make it all the way to number one.

911 and Advice

 

I will not give advice to the public. I will not give advice to the public. I will not give advice to the public. I will not give advice to the public x1000

One of these days I will learn to keep my mouth shut maybe, hopefully, okay who am I kidding.

I am a mom so naturally advice spews from my mouth. It is very hard to be quiet when a few choice words of wisdom might change the course of history.

Of course this is only in a perfect world and last time I checked I lived in the alternate reality which is Fort Pierce/Port St Lucie area where phrases like "I am educated" issue from someone who can't tell the difference between a real check and loan advertisement and send me the 'PO PO' is more common than I'd like to admit to.

The public wants to know what they should do but I am not allowed to tell people how they shoud live their lives. I know from years of experience that 'Thank Yous' are few and far between and advice is never taken if even listened to. The majority of the public that calls 911 just want the police to make it stop and go away, they dont want excuses, they want it now.

I like to think that I am doing better with my attitude. I am nicer and I listen better and interupt less but trying to damn the advice is almost impossible.

I swear I will learn to keep my mouth shut. Okay realistically, I will try harder to keep my mouth shut. I swear really!!!!!

I love Librivox.org

My daughter will argue that you can't get the same enjoyment from a book by listening to someone read it versus reading it yourself. I have gone around the block with her over this argument and it may not be the same but I still enjoy it maybe even more that actually reading the book myself. I am no longer tied down. I am mobile. I can go anywhere and still reap the benefits of reading. I have listened to more books in the last week than I have read in the last 5 years.

I have read/ been read 'Alexander the Great' and 'Peter the Great' by Jacob Abbott. 'Emma' and 'Sense and Sensibility' by Jane Austen, 'Poetics' and 'Politics' by Aristotle. I am currently downloading Anderson's Fairy tales and looking for more. I think 'A tale of two cities' is next. I never read it in high school. Regardless of my daughter's disdain I love Librivox.org I can read again.

There's a snake on my patio.

 

If you are unlucky enough to find a snake this large on your patio or in your yard then please call 911 and someone will come out and get it. Boa Constrictors and Pythons are not natural predators in the United States. They are also dangerous. Rattle snakes and coral snakes are also dangerous and if one is found in a yard or patio please call 911 especailly if you have children or small pets. However rat snakes, whips and ring necks are not dangerous and if you leave them alone they will leave you alone. They eat mice, lizards and other small rodents. If they are inside your house or an enclosed patio an officer will come and get it but if it is in your yard slithering away from you please do not call 911. First of all by the time the phone call is made and the officer is dispatched the snake has most likely left the area. By the time the officer arrives 15-20 minutes later the snake has long gone. It seems like there are more calls on snake sightings here lately. It could be the rain. The last time I found a snake in my pool I scooped him out, tossed him in the yard and never saw him again. Snakes don't bother me, it's spiders I hate but even then I can deal with them. I don't understand the person who looks out their house window, sees a snake sunning himself then calls 911 in hysterics. I don't get it.

Now if by chance you leave your back door open and a racoon wanders inside and decides to sit down and watch T.V. please call 911. An officer will also come out for this and yes this did happen the other day. However if you get a bat in your house or rats in your attic you need to call an exterminator.

Gators are everywhere and unless they are actively trying to eat your dog or likes watching you eat dinner from your sliding glass door please dont call. Gators live in the canals. It will soon be mating season and they will be moving from their wallows and finding a mate. Gators can and will cross 4 and 6 lane highways. They will walk through your yard to get to the next canal. They will hang out in a retention pond until they decide to move on. If there is a pond in your back yard I can guarantee there is a gator in it. Please don't call 911 if there is a gator in your pond call a trapper.

Panthers and bob cat sighting although rare still occur. Do not call 911 unless the animal is injured. Consider yourself very lucky to have seen one and keep your small pets inside. If a panther or bob cat is near it's probably because they are hungry and house cats are good eating so I have heard.

What do your taxes pay for?

 

I understand that locking your keys in the car is an inconvenience and it can be expensive, but when did it become an emergency. What kind of person calls 911 then complains when refused service because neither a child nor pet was locked inside the vehicle (this is considered an emergency) and infers that this is what they pay taxes for?
A normal person like me would call and have someone bring me a spare. If that is not feasible I would then call a lock smith or a tow company to pop the lock. In the past I have done all three of these things and paid for it like a regular person without complaint. It is my fault I locked my keys in my car therefore I will take care of it. I can think of many things that my taxes should pay for and unlocking a car door is not one of them.

Car Show

 

Fort Pierce has a variety of little shows that are held in the downtown area. Last night I took Ellie and her friends to the car show after feeding them soda and pizza. This little mustang was my favorite car. It is tricked out to the disproval of my mustang crazy daughter. She is such a purest.

I was disappointed wiht the pictures I took. First I grabbed the wrong lens. It was dusk but I did not want the glare of the flash so I used a non flash setting and I ended up with unfocused and smeared pictures.