A Delightful Postscript

This is a postscript to the item I posted a short while ago.  The wildlife rehabilitation specialist picked up Millie. She said he is about five weeks old and should be on a special formula until about nine weeks of age.  At about thirteen weeks, he will be ready to be released into the wild and here is the exciting part-- he will be released into our back yard!!! He can live in our pecan trees.  We will also take a couple other squirrels.  We are very happy about this.  DB is counting the days.

Which is the Squirrel and Which is the Nut?

A couple days ago, DB called me out to the front porch.  A very young squirrel was under a chair. He could barely move and his eye was sealed shut.   We could not figure out where he came from as all trees near the house were removed a few months ago.   After a while, when it appeared his mommy was not going to come claim him, DB took it upon himself to care for the squirrel, which he named Millie, after our granddaughter, even though Millie the Squirrel is a male.   Tending to Millie--the squirrel, not the girl-- included the use of a beautiful box in which I had received a Vera Bradley bag; recycling of the paper in the paper shredder for bedding; pilfering a bag of raw walnuts from the kitchen pantry; tapping the supply of sunflower seeds we keep for feeding the birds; and the use of a peanut butter jar lid for a water container.  Later, the use of a small animal carrier would also become necessary.  

Now DB is a sucker for squirrels.  He has always enjoyed them and they enjoy our pecan trees and all the birdfood DB puts out.  Millie is no exception.  DB has been feeding him, bringing him into the house out of the extreme heat and away from neigborhood cats when DB cannot directly supervise him.  This morning, DB was outside playing with Millie the Squirrel and Millie, who has been thriving on his diet of nuts, sunflowers and water, followed DB across the yard.   This afternoon, DB took Millie to work with him so he could tend to him (feed and pet him). 

Meanwhile, I managed to contact a wildlife rehabilitation specialist who is coming by to pick up Millie.  DB brought Millie home and said his goodbyes.  He is a bit sad to give up Millie.  If I thought Millie could learn without professional help whatever it is squirrels need to know in order to thrive on their own , I would say for DB to keep him and let him live happily in our pecan trees.  But I am not sure that we are capable of  giving Millie what he needs.  He does not need to be dependent upon us, but independent and able to hold his own with other squirrels.  DB agrees and knows it would never do to make a pet out of a wild animal.  So Millie the Squirrel is off to a new home.

I guess what I get out of this story is that I have the sweetest husband in the world.  No wonder his daughters love him.  He fed them, cared for them and saw to it that they knew how to hold their own in the world.   He could do no less for Millie the Squirrel.

Liberation

Will traditional books become as obsolete as clay tablets? Probably pretty much so.

Over the past few years we have gone from owning thousands to hundreds of books.  That is, hard copies of books.  Today, after pitching my National Geographic Atlas of the World, I realized how liberating getting rid of these books is.  Don't misunderstand.  We read more than ever, but thanks to modern technology, we can carry all the books we want around "in" our Kindles.  What we do not have there, we can find on the Internet.  With Google maps, who needs an atlas? I am retaining only books I really like that are not yet readily available in digital form.  When they become digitized, if I think I will read them again, I will get them in digital form on my Kindle or whatever electronic device I am using at the time.  This is quite a change for me.   I used to love the feel of a book in my hand .  I thought nothing could or should replace a hard copy of a text.  Then Kindle happened.  I found myself reading more because I take my Kindle everywhere and can always find something on it that I am in the mood to read.  It took a while to get used to the Kindle.  But now I always seek an electronic version of a book first.  If it is not available electronically, I have to really consider how badly I want to read it.  Badly enough to lug a book around or to let it take up more space in the bookcase?  I no longer do research  papers or need books for work,  and many of my interests have changed, so why keep a multitude of books ?  Some of those books have not been read in years and although they are really good books, they are not apt to be read by me again. Time to send them somewhere so others can enjoy them.

An exception to preferring an ebook to a hard copy text, is my quilting books or other books where good color photos are critical.  I still order some magazines in hard copy because of the photos, too.  That may change as technology improves. Already we subcribe to one magazine online.

If I were a mother reading to my child I would want a hard copy.  Somehow, cuddling up with a child and an e-reader does not seem like it would capture the child's imagination the way holding a traditional book does. I think that a child's turning a page and anticipating what will be on it, is more apt to help foster a love of reading than will pushing a button on a machine. I could be wrong.  Perhaps someone will do a study about this.

Today, after getting rid of hundreds of books again, including those space hogging atlases, I felt liberated.  Now I can put other space hogging things on those shelves-- yards and yards of cotton fabric that I use in quilting.  At least the fabric is beautiful to look at.  Dearly Beloved may not agree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2XBYKDawJo

Make Love, Not War... Is Timothy Leary in the Great Protoplasm in the Sky?

I just knocked myself offline in the middle of a rant. That may have been a good thing. I was ranting over the barrage of peace signs on everthing from underpants to sides of boxcars. Go into any store and you are bound to see a peace sign on quite a few items. Who wants this??? Does the fact that I would not be caught dead with a peace sign on anything I own mean I am a war mongering s.o.b.? Should I wear a peace sign to tell the world that I prefer peace to war? This has to be the work of some old hippies or young wannabe hippies who are stupid enough to see some sort of romance or glamor about the 1960s. Take my word for it, you do not want to go back to those times.

The peace sign on people's belongings appeals to me about as much as Miley Cyrus' image on everything. Perhaps designers and manufacturers just lack imagination and cannot come up with anything more creative and appealing. Perhaps that is why about each second or third generation we see a repeat of clothing styles. Of course, it is impossible to completely repeat the clothing. Fabric has changed so much--for the better, I might add--that the clothing just looks and hangs differently now. I notice this in period films all the time. Of course, being a fabricholic, I find it distracting when I watch a current film about 1950s bobby soxers and their blouses are not wrinkled from carrying school books and their cotton socks stay up. Things like this catch my attention and the whole movie just goes down the tube! I know, it is pathetic, but there you are.

Earthquake

Waiting to hear from friends in the DC area.  The earthquake that hit the East Coast has communication channels slowed.  Our friends are okay (their mother called from NC) but they are checking on the baby, who is in daycare.  So far, it looks like the damage from the quake was not too horrific and I have heard of no loss of lives or major injuries. Let's hope that does not change.  Still scary though, especially in a heavily populated area.

I wonder if the President evacuated the White House after the quake.  Oops. He is on vacation. Well, anything to get him out of there works for me.  It would probably take a quake to get some of our senators and representatives off their rumps.  Or maybe that would not even do it!

Bloggin' Babe

I am on a roll!  I have created two other blogs on other blog sites, providers or whatever they are called.  One is public and the other private.   I find this blog was the easiest to set up, but I am still learning.  I am really trying to get the mechanics of blogging down, and decide what I do and do not like regarding creating and maintaining a blog.  So far, DB is my only follower and he doesn't count because he follows out of spousal loyalty.  I started to say "fealty"--I just finished book 5 of the "Game of Thrones" :-) Anyway, I have several ideas for blogging that I will try once I get the process down pat.  By then, blogging will probably be replaced by some other form of communication!

Speaking of forms of communication, I have been back on facebook about a month and am already sick of it.   I  don't know how much longer I will use it.   Besides, when I got back on this time, I said it would be only for family and "adopted" family, but it is pretty hard to ignore friend requests from other people without offending them.  That being said, I have been glad to hear from a couple old friends.  But facebook has a way of growing.  I hate all the emails I receive, notifying me that someone I do not know, who is a friend of someone else I do not know, posted a comment on someone else's wall.  There is no end to it!! I guess I just am not that interested in all this chatter.  And it also is too time consuming.  If I am on the computer, I would rather be doing other things.  I spend way to much time on the computer without facebook.  With facebook, I feel obligated to check on postings, etc.
My only satisfaction is knowing those friends of someone I do not know who posted comments on the wall of someone else I do not know , who posted on someone else's wall, will be getting emails telling them I posted on someone's wall and are getting as irritated about the emails as I am.  Can you follow that??  I think I even lost myself in the mumble jumble.

I wonder if, in the old days, Indians had the same issues when using smoke signals.  Picture a series of mountain peaks with an Indian on each.  Now think of them trying to answer all of each other's smoke signals! Endless.  Before they know it, the buffalo herd has gone too far away to hunt, night is falling, winter is coming and the teepee still needs to be moved, and those Indians have frittered away all their time waving blankets over their signal fires.

Or jungle drums.  Or...

Remember the Tower of Babel?  Now you know what really happened there. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMxBlxRbBk0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4r3CYLrL1c

In Flanders Field

I have been planning on making a quilt with at least one large applique poppy.  I love poppies for their color and because they can lend a modern feel to a quilt. So Georgia O'Keefe-ish.  I have all I need for the quilt.  However, tonight the thought of poppies has brought to mind the poem, "In Flanders Fields", which I think is so simple and yet so moving.  The poem has saddened me so that I don't think I can do a quilt and enjoy it.  Maybe it is the two fiorinals and lack of sleep. Whatever, this is a new one for me. 

I once did a quilt I call "Appalachian Windows" and all the while I made it, I thought of my father.  That did not make me sad--in fact, I felt quite the opposite.  I cannot look at it without thinking of him. So why this reaction to the poppies? Well, I suppose it has to do with young lives being cut short and in service to us.  This is not a natural death that comes with old age. 
 
I doubt I will ever feel quite the same about poppies again, despite their beauty.

We owe so much to those men and women who gave their lives for our freedom, and to all our wounded warriors and all who continue keep vigilant watch.

Well, now that I have written such a downer blog, I might as well include the poem:

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Exquisite

Turn up the speakers full blast and chill out. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzcpUdBw7gs

No Wonder They Like Their Gampers

Today, I walked in on DB who was having a phone conversation with our six year old granddaughter who lives in Lincoln, NE.  She often calls and we have to talk to her various stuffed animals AKA her babies.  She has adopted them all.  Apparently, during the course of a phone conversation, one of the babies let it be known that their mommy makes them climb a steep ice mountain to get ice cream and that along the way they have to do battle with coconut crabs.  DB said that sounded like child endangerment and "reported" it to child protective services and so when I walked in DB and Granddaughter were "in court".   (How many six year olds have grandfathers who accuse them of child endangerment and take them to court?) DB was the prosecuting attny. and Granddaughter provided her own defense.  Various babies were called to testify.  Court recessed and picked up later this afternoon.  During the course of testimony from Bill the Duck, one of the babies, it came out that when he did not do his chores, his mommy tied a rope around his waist and dipped him up and down in the toilet.  Granddaughter says the toilet does not have an auto flush so there is no real danger.  When I told her she might be facing jail time, she wanted to know which jail.  I replied, "Lincoln City Jail", to which she responded, "Does it have electric gates?"
Court is in recess again and will resume this evening before Granddaughter's bedtime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7gV5C5mB7A

Recycling Creativity

You never know where you will find good reusable objects.   For years I have thought about using parts of used insulin pump infusion sets and reservoirs to make jewelry.  Tonight my DB ordered clams at a restaurant and it occurred to me that I pay for shell earrings.  So I had his clam shells put in a box and brought them home, cleaned and dried them and will add them to my collection of stones and beads that I intend to make earrings with just as soon as I get my left thumb joint reconstructed and healed.  If I decide not to use them for jewelry, I have some things I am collecting for a wall art project and they may fit in there.   I think my asking for the shells was a first for the waitress. 

A girl cannot have too many earrings and the bolder they look, the better.  I have several shell earrings already, including some made from dark brown and white striped land snail shells.  The great thing about shell earrings is you can make pretty large earrings that are very light weight. While I love snail shells, snails are disgusting creatures right up there with slugs and sea cucumbers.  

I've always thought nautilus shells (not huge ones) cut to expose the inside spiral structure would make great earrings.  I also have thought of making a nautilus shell quilt.  The nautilus is a design wonder.
I remember once I had a large live conch and decided to keep the shell.  Have you any idea how long it takes to remove a conch from its shell?  And do you know how stinky a dead conch gets?  This was not one of my better ideas. 

I see jewelry possibilities in so many things--mini cd's, empty thread spools, tea infusers.  My design ideas seldom translate into action, however.  That is probably a good thing and helps preserve what little dignity I have.

Here is another use for the conch shell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkuq6prZHoA&feature=related

I Think I'm Going Out of My Head

Crikey! This morning the word "whose" popped into my head and for the life of me, I could not remember how it is used!  Took what seemed ten minutes before I could figure it out.  All I could think of was how to use "who's".  Finally, I got it right and had to repeat "Who is = who's"  and "belonging to, possessive = whose" about three times before I really had it again.   This reminds me of the time I could not figure out how to spell "if".  Not a clue.  It, too, finally came to me.   In both cases, when the problem arose, it was like the words just popped into my mind unrelated to anything I was thinking or doing and I was totally blank as to the answer.  I wonder if these are just random firings or what.  Weird. 
The mind is a terrible thing to waste--oops! Too late!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpXPGQT8zqM

Thanks for the Memory

Playing Rod Stewart's "Thanks for the Memory", one of four disks in his Great American Songbook collection.  Can't get much better than this.  This is Stewart at his best.  I have always been a Stewart fan, but this is really great stuff.
Good thing DB is at work or he would not be safe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVgrNkyzYl0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5NwAPaNmzg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdiMNhTMxtA

Back from the Abyss

Thank the gods, we are back!  We have been without electrical power since yesterday when a storm with 95 mph winds came ripping through, creating havoc.  Compared to our neighbors, we were lucky.  But they can whine on their own blogs.  This is my whine.   When the storm came through, I felt like I was back on Guam facing a hurricane.  Rain driving straight across and stuff flying everywhere.  I am so glad DB sawed down the three trees behind our house last spring.  I am sure they would have been decorating our family room today had he not chopped them down, against the advice of yours truly.  

The electric power went out in our neighborhood.  Lots of fun in 103 degree heat.   How did the pioneers manage without air conditioning??  Those soddies could not have been that cool.  Fortunately for us, we had a friend who loaned us his generator so we used ice in our two refrigerators and one freezer last night and picked up the generator this morning and plugged the appliances in to it.  The last time we had a major outage it lasted ten days in the cold of winter and was caused by an ice storm.  We were lucky to get power after only ten days.  We were headed toward a motel tonight if the power had not been restored. 

On the up side of the storm, we got to sit outside until late last night, chatting with our neighbors.  I noticed this morning they had hooked their RV up to a generator and were staying in it.  (Not  as a result of our chat.)
So many neighbors had generators running that the noise outside this morning was ear splitting.

Oh, another thing DB did that paid off during this storm was using steel uprights placed in conrete, to support our cedar privacy fence.  Our neighbors' cedar uprights snapped right off at the base.   Our fence held and all we lost were a couple slats and one cross board cracked but stayed in place.  I hate working on fences.  They have the right idea out in Anthem, AZ.  They use concrete block walls for privacy.  Of course, here in OK, those blocks might find their way through a window during one of our twisters.

  I wonder what it would cost to build a minimum 2400 sq. ft, fireproof, earthquake proof, tornado proof, floodproof house.  I would be willing to bet someone has tried it.  Maybe an defunct nuclear missile silo would work.  NORAD probably has a building that meets those requirements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPvZYKXGd5A

Lost Week-end

I hate days like today.  First, I got to bed about 3am, tossed and turned with aches and pains until about 6 and then slept like a log until 11.  So half the day was gone when I crawled out of bed.  Then I spent a long time cooking dinner--stuffed pork chops.  I cooked those for almost two hours but they did not cook done.  Anyway, the meal was a huge flop.  And I was faced with a ton of dishes.  And so it went.  I dozed off twice.  And here it is bedtime and I never even got out of my pjs today!!! I feel as if the day was lost.  At my age, I cannot afford to lose too many days. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qu8RPvhP-U

On the up side, DB moved a large shrank from the family room into the living room to where the piano used to be.  I got rid of most of the contents of the shrank and it will now hold my quilts.  This makes the family room less crowded with furniture.   And it also leaves a blank wall where the shrank used to be.  I think I will hang a quilt there and make that a little reading area.   My problem is I don't have many small quilts.  My quilting projects have a tendency to grow.  I once had to cut one back to 10 ft. x 10 ft. so it could fit on a king size quilting machine!!  So now I need one at least 5ft. by 5ft.   but not so large as most of the ones I already have.  I may have to make a new one. 

On a totally unrelated topic, it was great to see Gabby Giffords made it to the Capitol building today, although I cannot say I approve of the way she voted.  What a miracle she is.  Way to go, gal. 
How her life changed in just a blink of the eye.

The Twilight Zone ala Golden Earring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP05iSzpz94  (Audio, no video, but worth the listen, especially the last half)  Much, much better with earphones.  Golden Earring is a Dutch group.  Some of the early members have left and been replaced and GE's sound has taken a turn for the worse. This is an earlier recording with the original group.
This was an enormously talented band. 

I think "Twilight Zone" and the Eagles'  "Hotel California" have some of the best instrumentation in rock. The drum here is especially well played. 

When I hear "Twilight Zone" I am tranported back to the early 1980s on Tarague Beach, Guam.  This is one of my most favorite places in the world.  I would go to the beach about supper time when it was empty.  I was in my own perfect world with beach towel, headphones and music, a book and a coke.  I would have Twilight Zone blasting over and over again.  It doesn't get any better. I never tired of picking out the many layers of orchestration in that song.   I am not a huge fan of GE's other music although I can listen to it. 

The Old Piano Roll Blues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4XaD_bYKps

Had to say good-bye to the old piano today.  It is on a truck headed to my daughter in Nebraska by way of Colorado, California, Oregon and Utah.  It is a beautiful old upright grand made in 1896 by Shoninger.  The movers kept commenting about what good shape it is in.  I did not tell them what it was like when I found it.
We were living in northern Indiana at the time.  I overheard a man at the shopping mall talking about it to a friend.  So I rudely interrupted them and inquired about the piano. Turns out this guy was a master tuner.  I had been looking for an old piano for a couple of years, but most old ones were in really bad shape.  I did not like the tone of the newer ones.  You just cannot beat the wood used in the well made older uprights.  Anyway, I drove to a little town about twenty-five miles away and bought it for $325 and considered it a birthday present to myself.  I think Dearly Beloved thought I had gone nuts.  It looked awful.  It had layers and layers  of psychedelic paint on it.  Someone had applied stripper and just left it.  However, the internal workings were in tact.  In fact, from a playing standpoint, it was in good condition.  DB and I spent months with parts of the piano strung all over our small dining room in base housing and with a drop light hanging from the chandelier, removing paint only to find the most gorgeous carving and scroll work under all that mess.  I remember sitting at the kitchen sink working with toothpicks and a toothbrush removing paint.  It was like an archeological dig! Then came the staining and coat after coat of varnish.  Did you know those old pianos had fifteen coats of varnish?    I have loved that piano long and well but could never master playing with two hands.  So now it is off to Nebraska.  My daughter and son-in-law play and my granddaughter is learning.  So the old gal will have an appreciative home.  Hope to post photos later.

WalMart

If I get another email about WalMart shoppers I will scream!  Okay, I get the point!  But these slobs and idiots do go to other stores besides WalMart.  What about Target, Aldi's-- I bet they can even be found in Macy's bargain basement.  These emails are depressing, not funny.  We all know there are lots of stupid people, people with mental illnesses, drunks, addicts, etc., that won't make the cover of Vogue.  And they probably don't give a #$%%.  They really are no more disgusting than the Beverly Hills women with fake lips, noses, boobs, etc. who dress like hookers or forty year old teenagers and wear the thick make-up and super long fake fingernails.  At least the WalMart folks are not trying to be something they ain't.  (Sometimes the word "ain't" just seems right.)  Granted, the Beverly Hills crowd may be more sanitary. 
I think I will go squeeze my plus size body into a junior size bikini top and hip huggers and go to Dillards.  First I will have to get my stomach panis hanging over the hip huggers.

As Time Goes By

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQinY85zlfo&feature=fvwrel

Don't you hate it when you have things that you no longer use or even want, but you have problems letting go of them because they are connected to a long list of good memories, or were given to you by someone you care for?  I have a nice dining room set, made in 1925, that Dearly Beloved bought me for our 25th anniversary.  The set consits of a table, sideboard and six chairs.  It sits in a dining room that is too small for it. There also is an old English sideboard in the room.  There is no room to sit around the table, so the room does not get used except as a place to dump belongings while going from the kitchen to the front entry.   It seems more practical to convert the dining room into an office/spare room.  However, I am having trouble trying to give up the dining room set.

I have thought about other places to use the individual pieces but know they need to go.  Knowing and doing are not the same.   I have no problem giving up the English sideboard.  We picked it up in Germany while stationed at Ramstein AB back in the early 1980s.  It is in need of repair.

I have gone as far as boxing up all the china that was in the sideboards, hoping to eventually have a place in the breakfast nook to store it.   It now looks as if we are in the process of moving. 

One of the issues I am wrestling with is how to get rid of the furniture once I finally commit to doing so.  Neither of my kids want it.  I do not want to give it away because it does have monetary value.  I do not want to have a garage/yard sale because I do not like strangers crawling over my front yard, critiquing my belongings. Besides, it is too hot to have a garage sale.   I do not want to advertise in the paper because I do not want strangers coming into the house.  I have thought about taking the furniture to the thrift shop and selling it on consignment.  But if it doesn't sell within 3 months, I would have to haul it home again. 

I think the hoarder side of me also wants to hang on to it.  I know it is made better than most furniture today.  So what to do.  And if I do get rid of this marvelous table and sideboard, do I replace it with a more cheaply made desk or table?  Seems almost wicked to do so.

I have the same problem with a table we picked up in Germany.  Dearly Beloved rescued it from the trash on base.   It is built solid as a rock.  DB stripped it, stained it and put a butcher block formica top on it.   We used it as a kitchen table for years.  Then Dearly Beloved gave it a third life as a black table with black glass inserts on the top-- a more modern look.   We use it in the breakfast nook.  We will not need it after we remodel the kitchen and breakfast nook.  But it is such a good piece, I cannot bear to part with it.  I am thinking it might make a great sewing table.  Of course, I also considered the dining room table for the same purpose. (Talk about coming full circle.  I use to have to sew on the dining room table and hated it.) Or, perhaps the breakfast nook table could be used as the new office desk/table.  No, not enough space once you add in the filing cabinet, day bed, etc. to the office.  The new office would end up as crowded and useless as the dining room is now.

And then there is the dresser we dragged out of Clay Hall at Phillips University.  The university is my alma mater and no longer exists.  The dresser is solid oak throughout, and has dovetailed drawer joints.  Weighs a ton.  I would like to remove it from my sewing room but where to put it?  Moving it will be a major deal because of its weight.  It is too good a piece to merely get rid of. 

And what about the Heppelwhite/Sheridan chest and the drop leaf table?  Is there  no end to it? 

I suppose if it were possible to get enough out of these pieces to buy a new quilter, any qualms I have would quickly evaporate.  But I don't think they will bring in that much cash.

Of course, the thought has occurred to me that it would be easier to add on a couple of new rooms to the house.  Or move.

Full Circle

In general I do not like country and western music.  I do like a lot of Blue Grass and what I call Texas Two Step.  One tune I really enjoy is Faded Love. I think Willie Nelson and Ray Price have the best version of it.  Presley's version sucks.  And Cline is divine.  While searching Youtube for Faded Love tonight, I came across Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.  Wills wrote the song and made it famous.  So, I thought, what the heck, why not check out the Wills and the Texas Playboys version. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FfxsDGHryo&feature=related

Guess what?  It is pretty darn good. I listened several times.  This is really weird because I used to despise and detest Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. In fact, my dislike goes way back. I was newly married back in 1967 (I got married when I was two) and living in a garage apartment with Dearly Beloved in Panama City, Florida.  Each Saturday morning the radio alarm would go off and Bob Wills would be singing.  Now, Bob had a way of making a very nasal sounding "Ah Hah!" as his band played that drove me up the wall.  He sounded just like some little black mice that were in old cartoons I used to watch as a child.  They never spoke but made these irritating little sounds.  For many years, Bob Wills and these mice were closely linked in my mind and the mere thought of them would grate on my nerves.  So here I am 44 years later, actually enjoying Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.  This really bothers me because I am afraid it may be a sign I am getting old, and I absolutely refuse to do so.  I think disliking Wills again may be the only way to get around this.

Heatwave

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe-45dj-aGo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2he3gF5uSM

and on a different note (pun intended) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE2fnYpwrng&feature=related

We are having a heatwave and now you know why!

Water ala Sons of the Pioneers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDtCa8ZgAk4&feature=related
(Notice a young Leonard Slye a.k.a. Roy Rogers in the photo)

All day I face the barren waste
Without the taste of water, cool water
Old Dan and I with throats burned dry
And souls that cry for water, cool, clear, water.

Chorus:
Keep a-movin' Dan don't ya listen to him Dan
He's a devil of a man and he spreads the burning sand with water
Dan can you see that big green tree
Where the water's running free
And it's waiting there for you and me?

The nights are cool and I'm a fool
Each star's a pool of water, cool water
But with the dawn I'll wake and yawn
And carry on to water, cool, clear, water

Chorus:
Keep a-movin' Dan don't ya listen to him Dan
He's a devil of a man and he spreads the burning sand with water
Dan can you see that big green tree
Where the water's running free
And it's waiting there for you and me?

The shadows sway and seem to say
Tonight we pray for water, cool, water
And way up there He'll hear our prayer
And show us where there's water, cool, clear, water

Chorus:
Keep a-movin' Dan don't ya listen to him Dan
He's a devil of a man and he spreads the burning sand with water
Dan can you see that big green tree
Where the water's running free
And it's waiting there for you and me?

Dan's feet are sore he's yearning for
Just one thing more than water, cool, water
Like me I guess he'd like to rest
Where there's no quest for water, cool, clear, water

Chorus:
Keep a-movin' Dan don't ya listen to him Dan
He's a devil of a man and he spreads the burning sand with water
Dan can you see that big green tree
Where the water's running free
And it's waiting there for you and me?

This morning I got up really early and had the sprinklers going to soak the grass before the sun could dry it up.  I loved looking at the water from the sprinklers crisscrossing in the air. It felt so good when the spray hit me when I was adjusting the sprinklers.  Then I used another hose to water the flowers.  Later, I hopped into the shower while a load of clothes was washing in the laundry room.  With the water beating down on me I thought about how much I love water.  I love to swim.  I love the ocean.  I even like rain.  And it occurred to me that I am so lucky to be able to use water as I want and need.  I thought how hard it had to be for the pioneers settling this hot, dry state with no city plumbing. There were years when their crops failed due to drought.  They had no way of watering their crops. Those were hard, hungry times.  And think of people in Africa and other parts of the world who have to walk long distances for water that is not necessarily even fit for consumption.  I am so lucky to live in the United States.  I am so thankful for water. It is not only a necessity of life but also one of the joys of life--unless it is pouring out of the bottom of my dishwasher, washing machine or water heater.  Then it is a pain in the @#$%%.

Toddlers and Tiaras

I was mesmerized and repulsed by a show called Toddlers and Tiaras that I saw today. It is all about beauty contests for little kids.  What are those mothers thinking? ?  Oh, there was a father that was just as bad.  Why would anyone want to dress a little kid up like a whore and teach her to shake her butt and prance around for the judges?  Jonbenet Ramsay all over again.  One mother was so disappointed that her daughter did not win the Glitz competition and her daughter certainly picked up on her mother's disappointment.  Mind you, the mother could not have won any type of beauty contest herself. I guess that says a lot.  These parents should be bitch slapped.

Game of Thrones

You know a book is good when you start slowing down your reading near the end of the story because you do not want it to be over.   I am on the fifth book of  "The Game of Thrones" and am hoping the sixth book in the series will be released before I forget all the details of the first five books! I actually am glad I saw the HBO series prior to reading the books because there are so many characters that I needed faces to connect to them in order to keep them all straight. 

Another series I read last year and enjoyed was the "Millenium" series by Stieg Larsson.  I was a little sad when it was finished, also.

I was thinking about the Harry Potter books.  I think the kids who grew up with Harry Potter will always have special memories of waiting anxiously for the next book in the series to come out.  Same with the movies.  It was exciting to see so many kids actually wanting to read.  So much in children's books is just boring pablum.  It is wonderful when really well written books that spur the imagination are available.

The other thing I like about the Harry Potter books is that so many parents were reading them to or with their kids.  Even if the kids grow up and forget the story lines, they will remember sharing the reading experience with their parents.  What a great way to help foster a love of reading in a child.

I think it should be a rule that only after reading or listening to the books can children be allowed to see the movies.

Easy listening

Really nice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDP3lfpr8do

It's Too Darn Hot ala Cole Porter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CYjE9Gv3A4&feature=related  (Ann Miller Version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8akvxDJQVc&feature=related  (2002 Version)

It's too darn hot!
It's too darn hot!
I'd like to sup with my baby tonight,
Refill the cup with my baby tonight.
I'd like to sup with my baby tonight,
Refill the cup with my baby tonight,
But I ain't up to my baby tonight
'Cause it's too darn hot

It's too darn hot!
It's too darn hot!
I'd like to coo with my baby tonight,
And pitch the woo with my baby tonight.
I'd like to coo with my baby tonight,
And pitch the woo with my baby tonight.
But brother you fight my baby tonight
'Cause it's too darn hot

According to the Kinsey Report
Ev'ry average man you know
Much prefers his love-y dove-y to court
When the temperature is low,
But when the thermometer goes 'way up
And the weather is sizzling hot,
Mister pants for romance is not

'Cause it's too, too,
Too darn hot!
It's too darn hot!
It's too, too darn hot!
I'd like to coo with my baby tonight
And pitch the woo with my baby tonight
I'd like to coo with my baby tonight,
Pitch the woo with my baby tonight
But brother, you fight my baby tonight
'Cause it's too darn hot!

According to the Kinsey Report
Ev'ry average man you know
Much prefers his lovey dovey to court
When the temperature is low
But when the thermometer goes 'way up
And the weather is sizzling hot,
Mr. Gob for his squab,
A marine for his queen,
A G.I. for his cutie-pie is not

'Cause it's too, too,
Too darn hot!
It's too darn hot!
It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot!

I think Mr. Porter pretty much sums up the weather here in Oklahoma this summer.  I got up at six this morning trying to get the yard and flowers watered before it gets too hot.  My flowers look like they usually start looking around the end of October.  One of the giant ferns out front died completely. 
Speaking of water, the city has new meters that fit over the water turn offs at the front of people's property rather than at the house.  This is supposed to be a more accurate measurement of water usage and the usage is averaged.  Some folks are receiving six hundred dollar water bills!  No wonder so many lawns are looking so dry.  Who can afford the water bill?  Luckily, we have a pump and well we use for most outdoor watering needs.  We run that pump hours each day and are still having a fight to keep our expensive new sod alive.  It's just too darn hot.

My dearly beloved's mistress. She is hot looking and a lot younger than me! Not as fast, though.

Blogging reminds me of a vanity press.  The only difference is I can blog for free. 
 

Like a virgin--- blogging for the very first time.

I am totally new to blogging and am already totally confused regarding how to set up the blog.
Right at this moment, my thoughts are all about how far behind I am in computer skills.  Hopefully, I will learn by doing.  I consider this a practice blog.