My favorite folks ! :)

31 July 2010

Random bits

I've a new game to which i'm addicted.  Virtual Pilot.  I think i'm learning where some of the cities in Europe happen to be.  Some i miss consistently.  I'd do much better if my memory was better, i can forget things 2 minutes apart.  

I'm old enough that i learned in school some of these cities as belonging to countries that no longer exist, such as Belgrade, Yugoslavia (it is Serbia now).  My highest score has been 28,887 out of a possible 30,000.  However, even when i'm spot-on, it usually shows i'm off by 4-8 miles (and usually more like 12), so i'm landing on some poor farmer's fields or on an autobahn or something. 


I'm walking up the stairs more slowly these days.  No, not due to illness.  Jazz.


When Jazz first joined our family, he mostly wanted to spend time with Mac.  He knew people were good for only 2 things:  Feeding, and playing.  He likes us to play with him almost constantly.  Over time he has discovered that being petted is a good thing too, but he only wants to be petted on his terms, at his time.  He'd prefer me to follow him around the house, bent over, petting him as he walks where he wants to go.  That doesn't happen much!  But he has discovered that walking ahead of me on the stairs works too.  So i've slowed my pace going up the stairs so that he gets a thorough petting before we reach the top.  It is probably good for us both.


I've decided i need to work harder at the gardening.  I was out today and  cut all the suckers around the peach, apple, and (non-fruit) plum trees.  I started to clean out the roses, but got fatigued and came in.  We planted the dwarf tree we got last weekend yesterday, and we planted the one grape (i bought 3) that actually leafed out.  I also planted some mint around the base of the plum tree.  After all the roses are cleaned i need to do the lilacs.  And then i need to clean out all the grass that has come up in our rock border.  Oh, and pick up sticks and twigs for fire starter, too.  Also, a few of the trees have dead branches that need to come off.  We need to start some sort of compost bin, too.


N is the woman who has been coming since R moved.  I've only been having her come twice a month.  We are kind of figuring things out between us.  I'm rather discouraged about food in general right now, so we've not been doing that too much.  But she is a wonderful worker and very efficient with housecleaning.  Over all it is working pretty well.  It would be hard for anyone to follow R for we just "fit together" so well.

She is a worker!  Our back deck looks better than it has since we moved in.  She does a wonderful job not only cleaning the house, but helping me with clutter too, which often overwhelms me.  


We hired N's son to come do some clean up in our yard for us, although i think their whole family worked at it.  Weed abatement is very strict and no weeds are allowed to be bigger than 4 inches high.  I told her getting the weeds cut was my big priority, but that raking would be good, but only if they had time.  Over all it looks pretty good (they came Tuesday when we were away).  

But weed abatement was after us too because we'd never stacked most of that huge pile of wood from last fall.  So we asked if they could come help us with that as well.  We had to separate the wood into what will fit into our woodstove as it is, and what is going to have to be cut.  They came yesterday AM and helped us with that.  It looks good all stacked up, and we have a lot!  I'll have to take some pics soon.


They have 3 kids (and J has a son that is with them some too).  So yesterday N and her husband J with their three kids all came.  After we finished the work, which didn't take too long, we played some.  Duane pulled out a parachute he'd gotten for a good price at a yard sale.  We drifted it up and the kids ran under and out again.  And then we bounced a ball on it, trying to keep it inside.  A beach ball would be best, but we don't have one, so a tennis ball had to do.  We had a lot of fun with it and hope they come back again, not just to work!


I got another one of those ugly president-bashing email, again from the same person.  One of the sentences from this email:  "Our dictator jerk off just keeps on walking all over everyone."  This one is claiming that Mr. Obama is refusing to sign the certificates for the Eagle Scouts.  In about two minutes i found the report on this from Snopes.  It is not true. 


I love the person who is sending me these things very much.  I think, however, i'm ready to send a letter/email to her asking her to take me off of her list to send political things out.  She did learn to send her things out blind cc and also to remove all the names from previous recipients.  (It used to drive me nuts to see 50 or 100 names from many, many previous forwards.)  After one particularly virulent email last summer, i got frustrated and hit "reply all" with the Snopes info showing that it was not true.  I didn't get much static for that (tho i think the person sending it to me did), but a couple of ladies wrote and ripped me up over that.  One asked me "how did you intercept private mail between friends?"  ! ! !  I had to write and explain what sending an email without removing names and without using bcc actually does.  So the person i love learned not to send these things this way.  


I think i'll say that i've not written her about this because i was afraid of offending her, but that i'm being offended at receiving these email which are libelous.  (I always have to look these up.  Slander is spoken, libel is written.)  I'm particularly offended because these things most often are LIES and the person doesn't even bother to check it out before hitting the "forward" button.  

What is happening to Christian charity?  What happened to "Love your enemy and  pray for those who hurt you"?  I'm not saying that we have to stand by all that our gov't is doing.  Not at all.  I'm very unhappy with much that our gov't and elected leaders are doing.  In the coming election i plan to vote based on what our leaders have done, in order to try to change what i don't like.  I'd like to do (what little) i can to bring about change. 

But disagreeing with our president does not justify passing on such hate.  Particularly when it is libel.  Especially when it is a lie.

Now, i appreciate the email i get which informs me that our leaders are getting ready to vote on ______ bill and this is what the bill says and this is how that bill might be interpreted and that it would be a good idea to notify my elected leader of my feelings about such a bill.  That is fact.  That is useful info.  It is something i can act upon.  The email i'm complaining of is nothing but rumor, gossip, and lie.   I don't believe that lying, passing on such a lie, or the hate behind the lie has any place in the life of a person truly seeking to honor God and live in the example of Jesus.  


Sorry.  I'm just getting too much hate email.





363

26 July 2010

Some pics, some thoughts

I went on a picture hunt - looking for some i've not posted before.  I got overwhelmed.  Having over 10,000 pics on my computer makes the "overwhelmed" easy.  But i've found some.  I'm not sure if i've shared them before.  I think Duane took all of these (which i've now decided to post at the end of this), but i'm not sure.  


I also went house hunting today.  No, we are not looking to replace Sugarbear.  The very thought of it makes me sad.  This was a different kind of hunting.


I first visited Big Bear many years ago.  I started college the fall of 1989, & this would have been a couple of years before that.


We came up to Big Bear in October.  Rented a small house for the weekend.  It was an older house, i would guess it was built in the 20s.  I wasn't prepared for it to be so cold!  The days were beautiful,crisp, with deep blue skies, the trees turning yellow & red.  But the nights were downright cold & the house was not well-insulated.  Getting up in the morning was like getting up in an ice box!


Anyway, i've long wondered just where exactly that house is at.  I've an idea in my head & certain memories, but memories can be faulty.  I've looked for that house off & on before, & today i spent some time looking again.


What i remember is that it was on a street that runs north/south, north of Big Bear Blvd.  It faced east & was on the southwest corner where another street crossed.  It had 2 dormer windows upstairs & 2 bedrooms upstairs tho we didn't use them.  We stayed in the downstairs bedroom.  I think it was painted a light green.  I keep being sure that i just know where that house is, & yet i keep not finding it.  It is almost as if a wicked witch removed it from the scene. 


It wasn't far from a meadow.  I watched the yellow school bus drop the kids off the first afternoon we were there & the memory is poignant.  I'm not sure why the beauty of that scene & the memory of it are so bittersweet & almost painful.  That is probably why it is seared in my memory.  I think that it was just a piece, a window, of peacefulness that was not part of my daily life.  Everyday life was in fact almost unbearable.  That weekend was a jewel in my memories.  


Memories such as they are, however, tend to be fickle.  I could be looking 5 miles from where the house actually happens to be.  I'm not sure why it seems so important to me to find it.  I'm not going to live there, nor stay there.  Maybe it is just the idea of gazing on a scene from a time when i was still quite young, things weren't happy but the world held so many possibilities, a few days of peace.  


I'm not saying my life doesn't have peace now.  It does.  But it has so many fewer possibilities than it did more than 20 years ago.  Many things are set & cannot now be changed.  In looking for the above pics, i looked at a lot of different houses for sale.  Some have a number of things we might like in a house, more room, less money, but the thought of leaving Sugarbear is unbearable.  If we left i think i would look back to our time at Sugarbear with the same sharp memories of the peace we have here.  Humans tend to want something else, not recognizing the treasure they currently have.  I don't want to be caught in that trap, but for some reason the memory of my first visit to Big Bear is very vivid right now.  


The first pic is very much like the house, in color & style but not exact.  The second pic is of the style of house - the dormers & all, but definitely not the house.  The third pic, that of the kitchen, could be an exact replica, except in my memory the checks were blue not red.  That could be the house, except i don't think it has an upstairs & the house of which i'm speaking definitely did.  I'm probably better off not finding it, but i imagine i'll keep on looking. 


We bought some plants that were on sale at the nursery over the weekend.  Mostly herbs.  But we also got a dwarf peach to replace the one that died.  I need to go out & plant some things.

I saw G (pastor) & his family while i was at breakfast this AM.  He said hi, as did i, & i wished them a good day on my way out.  I think it strange that in 3-1/2 years here i never ran into him elsewhere before, but now that we've cut ties i seem to do so frequently.  This is the 3rd time in the last month.  No, i don't think it anything sinister.  Just one of those weird coincidences.  Life is odd.  


I've been tremendously emotional over the weekend.  I cry at the least little thing, from the finishing of a baby blanket for someone (& i hate that blanket - nothing seems to please me these days) i know to the Alfredo sauce that wouldn't thicken.  I don't know what is wrong with me.  Probably a combination of hormones gone whacky & being in pain for several days now.  I'm not normally a tearful person, so i really hate feeling this way.  


Just various pics from around Big Bear, especially the lake, the first year we lived here.  



362

25 July 2010

I AM SICK OF IT !

Inflammatory email.  Please remove me from your list!

This week i received an email entitled What is missing at Obama's press Conference?


(The link will take you to snopes where they give the email in full & then the reality behind it.) 

I went to Google images & looked at "Obama Press Conference" & of the first 10 images that appeared, the American flag was in 6 of them.  Did the same for "Reagan Press Conference" & of the first 10 images that appeared, the American flag was in 3.  Same number for Bill Clinton.  Four for GW Bush.  I only found a couple for GHW, & they usually did not include the flag.  ???

Apples & oranges.  Different conferences have different backdrops for different presidents at different times.  I found a dozen of Mr. Obama with American flags.  I found a dozen of Mr. Bush without.  One such picture means nothing.


I'm getting very impatient with folks who use fear-mongering to try & up the anxiety level of folks about what is going on in our nation.


I was NOT a supporter of Mr. Bush & said at the time things that made this clear.  When i made such statements, i would at times be admonished by Christians who said "it is our God-given duty to support our President, who was elected by the will of God."


I am NOT a supporter of Mr. Obama.  I'm not very thrilled with some of what he has done thus far, but in my eyes he really has not done any worse than did Mr. Bush.  In fact, by this time in office, Mr. Bush had us embroiled in the Iraq war, which i never supported & never will.  The Patriot Act was also passed which did more to restrict our freedoms than any president previously since Abraham Lincoln.  


What i want to know is, where are the Christians who will say, "it is our God-given duty to support our President, who was elected by the will of God," when the president is Mr. Obama instead of Mr. Bush?  Did God abandon us when Mr. Obama was elected?  


Now, frankly, i'm very unhappy with the things going on in this country.  I don't appreciate the idea that "we get the leaders we deserve because we elect them."  First off, i have only ONE vote.  Second, the people do NOT elect their president.  Go look it up.  We have an electoral college who does the voting for us.  Supposedly they go by the will of the people, but that means that if 51% of the vote for an entire state goes to one candidate, ALL the votes of that state go to the one candidate.  And, not many folks are aware, but the electoral college does not have go to by the 51%, although they usually do.  Some states have laws that require them to follow the will of the people, but most do not.  Maine & Nebraska are the only states that have the option to "split their votes" & to date have not done so.  


Many folks believe we live in a democracy.  We do not.  We live in a "democratic republic," meaning that some things are done by election (Congress) but most things (the president, bills/laws) are not.  


I personally think we should go to straight democracy for electing a president.  I think that we should not be pulling "party lines" when electing our representatives but looking at the voting record for incumbents & other issues for new folks running for election.  I think it should be much easier to get an independent into office, congress or president, than it is currently.  


But i'm tired of hearing fear-mongering about Mr. Obama.  Please.  If you have the belief system that everything is ordained & predestined by God (that is not my belief system) then how is it that all this fear is occurring?  How could these things be happening outside the will of God?  


Fear is not part of who we are called to be as Christians.  Fear is not where we should be when voting.  Fear is not good in policy-making.  My favorite quote by Ben Franklin is:  "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."  If you give into fear trying to gain safety, liberty will always lose.  


Sorry for the political rant, but i'm utterly fed up with some of the email i continue to receive.  

_______________________


The UTI is better, if i continue to take most of the items i listed before.  If i miss a dose i'm in pain again.  

We chose not do to any church today.  Looking forward to attending St. James for the Wednesday noon service.  :)





361

21 July 2010

I love sugar!!!

I'm lonely.  Duane is down the hill & no one seems to be "out there" in blogger/internet land.  But, tomorrow is the knitting group & i may go to the cooking demo with Elke (a friend from former church).  

I have lots i should be doing & i probably will, eventually.  


I'm trying to do a few days of simple meals, mostly raw food veggies.  But you know what?  I still am hungry doing that.  AND I WANT SUGAR!  I compromised yesterday by having a little fruit & a small amount of very dark chocolate (88%).  I did not touch the ice cream or the chocolate chip cookies.  I did not eat junk.  Today i'll have my favorite "egg nog" - raw milk with raw eggs, almond flavoring, & a small amount of stevia.  Yum.  :)


Yesterday i woke up with a severe UTI (tho i could feel it coming on the night before).  It was very, very painful & i cried.  Involuntarily.  The tears simply forced themselves out with the pain.  


However, i remembered what dear friend Dawn had told me a while ago:  Baking soda in water takes care of the pain quickly.  (She recommended, if i remember, 1 tsp in 8 oz of water.)   It did help.  I'm amazed at how quickly it worked & worked well.  As there are essentially no antibiotics i can use safely, i'm dosing with a number of herbs & other things.  I've done this before & it is quite effective.  Here is what i'm doing:


  • I mix 2 tsp of baking soda (Bob's Redmill) in 14 oz of water & drink 2-3 oz every couple of hours
  • I'm taking about 2 Tb of Colloidal Silver 3 x per day (probably for 3 days)
  • I'm taking Uristatin (supplement from the chiropractor) 2 caps 3 x per day
  • I'm taking D-Mannose 2 caps 3 x per day
  • I'm drinking appx 3 oz of cranberry juice with 3 oz of tart cherry juice & 2 oz of water (3 x per day with the supplements)


Baking soda is supposedly not contaminated by aluminum, but i'm not sure i trust that report.  I buy huge bags of Arm & Hammer for household cleaning, but i buy Bob's Redmill for baking & consumption.  I have found that i eventually get used to the taste of baking soda in water & i think if i drank a small amount every day, i probably wouldn't even get the infections, but i'm not always good at following thru on this. 


I know that using colloidal silver is considered controversial these days.  In part that is because of the man who turned blue (purple/blue?) by using a silver preparation.  What is rarely said about this, however, was the reality behind what happened.  There are a number of different ways of getting silver into solution.  The blue man made his own concoction.  He also was drinking a huge amount every day.  Taking a small amount of a commercially prepared silver solution for a few days while ill will not turn you blue.  I know the FDA does not support using colloidal silver, but the FDA backs the pharmaceutical companies in all things.   Silver was used in medicine prior to the introduction of antibiotics.  In all cases that i've read about argyria (the turning the skin grey or blue) the person was taking large doses of the solution for a long period of time.  I will need to start using probiotics when i'm done with the silver because it can kill the good gut bacteria just as other antibiotics do.  


Uristatin is a dietary supplement made by Thorne Research & contains bearberry, short buchu, goldenseal, & echinacea (all herbs).  The D-Mannose i buy is by Solaray & contains "CranActin."  If i would take a couple of caps of D-Mannose daily that would probably be a good preventative, also.  



I buy pure cranberry juice, not a "cocktail" which has little juice & much sweetener.  It is tart!  Even tho what i buy is not concentrated, i still put a little bit of water in it.  It also keeps in the fridge for a long, long time.  (I'm talking months, here.)  The tart cherry i buy (organic) is not nearly as tart as the cranberry.  I like it a lot.  However, i've come to believe that juices are not the best choice of drink.  So i use these juices mostly for treatment.  I'd heard before that cherries, or even specifically tart cherries, are good for inflammation & pain.  When i first heard that cherries were not in season, so my choices were limited.  I don't remember it being particularly helpful for my pain issues, so the cherry juice i had sat on the shelf for quite a while.  About 3 weeks ago i was in quite a lot of pain & thought i'd give it a try again, & to my surprise, it was very effective.  


But, i'd encourage you to figure these things out for yourself.  However, even if you choose to use conventional modern medicine & drugs, taking the baking soda in water will help with the pain issue from UTI quite quickly.  

________________________


I called Lori today to hear the rest of the duck story.  Up & down is that they kept the babies safe over night.  The next AM mama showed up & got them & took them off somewhere.  The lady at the wildlife refuge also told them what Lori & i strongly felt:  You don't take the babies away from mama.   She said that as long as the mama was living - the ducklings were not orphaned or abandoned, that they will not interfere.  So, we think this had a happy ending.  Mama & babies reunited & off somewhere happily.  (At least, not squashed in the street, as far as we can tell.)



360

20 July 2010

Mostly pics


Sugarloaf Mountain

Eva posted some of her pics on FB.  They turned out great (although one of the two she posted of me is absolutely hideous).  She did a good job.


Sugarloaf & Big Bear Lake






 Holcomb Valley




 Mac cat loves to lie like this.  I think that is part of the reason his back was so matted when we had to shave him.  I think he is in this position at least 50% of the time.




 I love this pic of Duane she took thru the screen.  It looks, i don't know, just peaceful.   The screen gives it a natural texture that i didn't add with PhotoShop!




She took this one on Monday PM when we were driving to Orange County.  She has some with the traffic in it as well, but i really liked this one.  Several of her pics capture a lovely quality of light, whether with fireworks, the sunset, or at the ocean.  


We chose to go to OC  early last week, so that i could spend Tuesday AM with her.  We didn't actually get to OC until late evening because of some delays at home.  But she seemed to need the extra time here to rest.  If we had gone down like normal, there only would have been just enough time to rush her to her train & nothing more.  As it was, i got to show her  a tiny bit of OC.  I really really wish we could have had the 3 extra days we asked for.  Oh well.

I took her for a manicure/pedicure.  I figured that was the quintessential thing to do in California.  She wasn't so sure about getting a manicure too, until i told her she'd get a neck/shoulder massage with it.  She chose black & white for her colors.  


There were a couple of things that i saw when she was here which concern me.  I think i need to speak to her mama about them, but that is a challenge.  We are thinking about/praying about it & i'll probably start out with a letter, so Duane can oversee what i write.  Nothing life-threatening or terribly serious.  My sis has labeled her & i find (as a former psych worker) that her label is not at all accurate & i want her to give it up.  Except, i need to be diplomatic.  




Someone i grew up with at school & church posted this on FB recently.  It is half of Brenda, Nancy, Della, & me.  I'd never thought of myself as a scrawny kid until seeing this.  (I did think myself very ugly, but not scrawny.)  I can't help but wonder if they are not standing on something in this pic & i'm not.  I remember Della as being a tiny little thing.  


I don't have many old pics scanned into my computer, but i did find these.




 The quality in them is not very good, but that's not what i'm looking at.  The little girl in blue checks is my sister Larkin.  Our mother made the checked dress & she liked frilly & lacy even when it was no longer in style.  Our dad labeled this as her 6th birthday (it may actually have been her 5th, he sometimes puts the wrong year).  I am almost 4 years older than Larkin, but i'm not all that much taller than she in these pics.  So i guess i was really short.




359

18 July 2010

Look what wandered into our parking lot!

I was on my way out on Wednesday evening when i saw this in the parking lot at work:




 It is a mama duck with three ducklings.  My office is on a busy street & the mama had been out in the street with these three.  A lady from an apartment complex next door shooed them into our parking lot.  



She wanted to catch them & take them to a nearby duck pond, because, frankly, they were going to get smooshed in the busy street.  Lori & i tried to help.  We got the ducklings, but i messed up catching the mama.  Once the babies were caught, she flew away but kept circling the building.  The lady who shooed them said, "Oh well, i can take the babies to the rescue place & they'll raise them."  Lori & i strongly felt that they shouldn't be taken away.  As a compromise, we left them in an open box in the parking lot (it doesn't get any traffic after hours) to see if the mama would come back.  I haven't heard the outcome yet.  




I left when i did so that we didn't all get in an argument about this.  I am an animal lover, but not to the PETA extreme.  I may have strong feelings about something, but i'm not going to argue with a stranger over how to handle the ducks.  I already felt that we messed up & the babies shouldn't be taken from mama.  I meant to call Lori on Friday & find out what happened.  




I've been thinking about something i think is senseless.  In movies or on TV sometimes someone will make someone else angry & they yell, "I'll teach you!" and then they shoot them dead.  "I'll teach you?"  Seriously?  Teach implies that they can learn & change.  Killing is kind of closing the door on teaching.  




Duane sometimes gets upset with our cats or animals in the neighborhood.  He wants to "teach them a lesson" but, i'm sorry, animals don't learn unless you can catch them at that very moment.  Otherwise, it just isn't happening.  Even then it is questionable.  If i see a squirrel chewing on the wood of my deck, i can make him stop by squirting him with water, but i'm not sure it "teaches" him not to do it.  




We have "taught" our cats to not shred toilet paper or paper towels by putting those items in a place where the cats can't get to it.  That won't ever stop them or truly teach them when they have a chance to shred that.  You can't teach a cat not to knock things off a table or shelf if they enjoy doing that.  You can only teach them that if they are caught they will be punished.  




We had loud birds screaming outside our window very early this AM as the bird feeder is now empty.  Duane thinks that "teaching them" will be to never put out food again. 


We attended the Methodist church this AM.  Of all the churches we have visited thus far, i think i like it best for form of service, music, & length of service.  It also was friendly.  I doubt i'll ever really want to "join" a church again, but this is one where i wouldn't mind attending semi-regularly.  Thus far.  Once is not enough to know, i suppose.  Also, i'll be frank, much as i liked a number of good points, the sermon was a bit on the "fluff" side for me.  Now, it spoke to me very much (about letting go, rather than bite down & hang on like a dog on a chew toy), but she carried the analogy all the way thru & only minimally touched on the scripture.  I think i would find that irritating if it was a weekly occurrence.  




I threw in some pics from when Eva & i were down by the Santa Ana River.  Here is another one as well:






It shows how much snow was left on Mount San Gorgonio on 7 July.  Having snow still this late in the season is unusual.  We had a hot week last week, however, & nearly all the snow is gone now.  Our high for the year so far was 84F yesterday.  Lows are still around 50 at night.  We got some rain off & on for a few days, & so it has been more humid than is normal for us.  


The AM i was to put Eva on the train to San Diego, Duane woke up & said, "I miss her already & she's not even gone yet."  Which kind of makes me wonder about re-visiting the adoption issue, but i don't think we can.  



We talked about it, & there are simply too many obsticles in the way of us adopting.  My energy is one.  Eva was very self-entertaining.  I didn't "feel like a mama" while she was with us.  She was a guest, tho perhaps younger than most that we have.  I didn't tell her to help me with making dinner, or that this or that needed to be done.  She read books & went places with us & demanded little to nothing of us & we demanded little to nothing of her.  Parenting would be very, very different.  




She's back in KY now.  It was fun to have her while we did.  I hope she knows we care, for i've a feeling that might make a difference to her in the next year or so.  Her family is going thru so much.  



The bumper Duane ordered for That Jeep finally arrived.  It is very heavy & has a hitch mounted in it.  We have had fun trying to get it attached.  (Well, Duane mostly.)  He broke off an internal nut when trying to force a bolt inside.  I kept telling him the bolt was too big for the hole & he kept stubbornly trying to make it work.  I threaded one of the smaller bolts right in & it fit fine.  His side got stuck & it broke something internal he can't fix.  I'm having a hard time not saying "I told you so!"  (I think i have, a couple of times now.)


I think everyone is out enjoying summer, although So Cal has been very hot the last few days.  No one seems to be posting on blogs or FB or commenting.  I tell myself, "they have lives" but i'm lonely.  I miss folks.  :)  Our cell phones were off for 3 days (we think it was after a lightening strike).  Just got back coverage yesterday, but now it won't let me call anyone as "the network is busy."  We are considering changing from Sprint (after almost 10 years) to Verizon.  We'll see.





This was posted on FB by a massage school where i took some classes long ago, so i leave you with this final thought for the day:  Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.  



358

16 July 2010

Funny bits

Well, i don't know about funny.  Do i write funny?  I don't think i do.
 
I was over at Lone Grey Squirrel blog & he posted a link to "I Write Like" that compares your own writing to that of a well-known author. I'm not sure i'll do this right, for i'm very limited in HTML experience.  It is trying to sell stuff, of course, but still fun.  If it doesn't show up here, it says i write like Stephen King.  Which isn't too surprising as i read him.  Currently re-reading The Stand, in fact.  Although, i honestly think i'm more influenced in my writing style by L.M. Montgomery or Agatha Christie. 
In case the HTML doesn't show up, here's the link:  I Write Like
 
(Well, i just put in some text from my other blog & it says i write there like Arthur Conan Doyle, so i don't know about this thing.  Fun to look at maybe.)


I write like
Stephen King
I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

The phone is still down at our house.  When we got home yesterday, neither the phone or internet was working, which meant we have no contact with the outside world as we've never hooked up a land-line.  (Well, we did once, never used it, & eventually dropped it.)  We got the internet issue resolved, but the phones still aren't working.  We drove into town so that we could call & report it.
 
Ok, i've been doing other things today.  It is 20 minutes to 4 & we still have no phone.  For 24 hours that we know about.  We had a thunder storm go thru yesterday, so we're assuming that the cell tower was hit.  We can't get roaming, either.   

I got to go down the hill today for a while & see my friends Jessica & Jerry & their friend Janet.  (I was the only "K" at the lunch table!)  It was a joy all around.  Traffic was a b kitty up & down the hill.  I tried both front & back ways (back way down, front way up) & neither was any good.  Glad to be home.  :)

I've got more to say, & pics to share, too, but we're off the see a movie.  I'd like to see Inception, but Duane is leaning toward The Sorcerer's Apprentice.  We'll probably see that one today, & the other later.

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11 July 2010

Busy, busy

It has been a busy week with Eva here.  Elsa came up on Friday night & will go home later today.
  
We've taken pics, but i've not put them on my computer yet.  

I'm pretty tired.  

Yesterday Duane got a response from the Lutheran church.  It is almost incomprehensible.  I posted it at my other blog & will write of it later.  

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07 July 2010

Random Odd Things

I'm running out of ways to say "This 'n That."

We forgot to take our camera with us on Sunday.  (It seems like we brought everything else, including a folding picnic table & a folding hammock.)  Eva took pics but i've not seen them yet.  We ended up behind some trees & had we had the camera, it could have been a problem.  But we were free to move about in order to see better.  I kind of liked seeing the fireworks thru the silhouetted pines. 

I didn't properly credit the last ones.  Duane took all of these.  I've gotten pretty good with the camera, but i still don't do night shots well.  There are all from 2007, & 2008.
 Duane went down the hill yesterday.  I tried to get him to take That Jeep (y'know, to show it off to the guys at work) but he just laughed.  Eva & i took it to town.  We went to Farmer's Market, & i did banking & we went to a store in the Village to check on some class times (cooking/baking demonstrations).    Then we had lunch at Duane's favorite burger joint.  They do salads, too, & the most wonderful sweet potato fries.  Eva agreed that Duane's choice of burger was good.   
 
 
 
We checked out a couple of thrift stores on the way home, but only found a couple of small items.  Not that i need anything, but i think most of the purchases were mine.  A couple of the stores weren't open.  I forgot that since this is a resort town, many of the stores are closed Tue/Wed, or sometimes Thur as there is not much business then & they need some time off.  
 We got home safe.  That Jeep didn't strand us.  
I made pancakes & scrambled eggs for dinner last night.  Neither of those are Duane's favorites so i don't often make them.  
I tried the scrambled eggs differently as i'd seen a recipe & it sounded good:  Scrambled eggs with cream cheese.  The recipe i saw said to "melt" the cream cheese with butter in the pan before adding the eggs.  Most of the others i saw said to blend room temp cream cheese into the eggs.  I tried the first one.  The cream cheese didn't "melt" much, but it got quite soft.  It took much longer to cook than what i'm used to.  They did taste good, soft & rich & fluffy.  First bite reminded me almost more of a souffle than scrambled eggs, but i got used to it after that.  
 
 
Many of the days i have things planned.  This is a day without too many plans.  I may take her on the "back way" road - 38 - to do some picture hunting.  One of the churches in town with a big youth group has a dinner on Wednesdays, followed by a Bible Study.  I thought i'd take her to that as i don't know many folks in town with kids.  Well, i know a couple of girls her age, but they take summer school classes to lighten their load during the year.    

I'm finding it a challenge to keep up with the prep-work, cooking & kitchen clean up.  I guess i was hoping for something a bit different.  We probably will end up eating at least one meal "out" each day just because i can't do it.  The kitchen is downstairs waiting for me to come clean it from last night.  (Ok, i went & did that.  Still a little left to do, but it wasn't as bad as what was in my head.)

For the past week or so i've been in more pain.  It hasn't been that i've "cheated" on diet, for pain is a wonderful motivator for me.  I've found that taking cherry juice once, or maybe twice a day helps.  Too much of it acts like prune juice & i want to avoid that!  (Studies have found cherry juice as effective an anti-inflammatory as Motrin.)  To my surprise, it has helped.  My legs ache, ache, ache.  I don't think it is just sedentary lifestyle, for i'm not bed bound.  Yesterday at Farmer's Market i bought Emu oil.  I've heard good things about it.  Capsaicin cream works for me, too, however.  I'm not so sure about the Emu oil as a vegetarian.  (Just looked it up.  NOT vegetarian.)

 
 
The past week or so has been a struggle.  Also, while my sis was here, i was "up" much more than i normally am.  I wasn't doing the "Up 20 down 40" or whatever variation of that is appropriate.  So i was pretty exhausted when she left, besides having a huge mess in the kitchen waiting for me.  

I'm finding that Eva is not as apt to get carsick as Larkin had told me to expect.  Nor is she as allergic to cats.  She doesn't seem to be much bothered by the cats at all, except i notice she is careful not to pet them & prefers them not to bother her.  She is very much an introvert & a bit shy.  But she can talk, & if i press the right "button" she will be quite verbal.  She also has quite a sly sense of humor i enjoy.  We're still kind of getting to know each other.  
 
I'm thinking i'll show her my "master list" of food plans & activity & ask her to be honest with me & tell me what she'd like to do & what she'd rather not.  

Just an aside, as i'm being ADD while writing this & off to check all kinds of other things.  One of the blogs where i occasionally comment uses real words that have a black/white dichotomy (& are hard to read) instead of made up words/letters.  Yesterday my words were, "Reality Spleen."  ???  That kind of croggled my mind for a while.  

Ok, i'm simply getting bored with myself & my writing.  Here are the rest of Duane's beautiful pics that i've had waiting to add. 

 
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