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Greetings, Quotaholics:
I
suppose on my first day back from vacation I really should get right back
down to business but I just can’t bring myself to jump into some issue
in the news. So instead I’ll bore you with my travels!
We were scheduled to fly from Little Rock, Arkansas to Dallas, Texas and
from Dallas directly to London, England. The flight from Little Rock left
on time in a plane about the size of your living room!
Once in Dallas it began to snow, very unusual for March. First the pilot
announced that the engines needed to be checked before they were started
since snow was blowing into them. That delayed us about an hour. Then
he announced that we would need to be de-iced before we could take off.
That delayed us about another hour and a half.
The plane we were on was an older plane and the seats wore out about 20
years ago. By the time we finally took off, my back and butt were already
sore and I still had 9 hours of flying ahead of me.
After a very uncomfortable ride and no sleep we arrived in London. We
were taken to the hotel where we met the tour guide, Matt. We spent the
afternoon walking all over London then dinner of bangers and mash. (Sausage
and mashed potatoes)
On Monday we were bused all over town and got to see Buckingham Palace,
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey
(only the outside!), and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Then to Windsor for lunch
and a tour of Windsor Castle.
Since we weren’t totally exhausted yet, after dinner we went to see Sister
Act at the Palladium Theater.
Tuesday was a trip to Stonehenge and Bath.
Wednesday we visited the Tower of London, saw the crown jewels, then took
a boat ride to Greenwich to visit the Royal Observatory. After dinner
we went to see The Lion King at the Lyceum Theater.
Thursday was our "free day". We went to visit the Abbey Road
Studios where the Beatles recorded most of their records. Then a quick
trip to Harrods department store, and the British Museum. That night we
had a Jack the Ripper tour.
Friday was the trip home. Either the plane was much more comfortable,
or I was so exhausted that I could sleep anywhere.
As usual, London was fantastic. I love it there and would love to be able
to stay longer.
The only real problem we had was our cell phones didn’t work. I had called
Verizon to arrange service but upon arrival none of the phones worked.
I borrowed someone’s AT&T phone and called the customer service number
I was given. I was told by Verizon that my style of phone was not compatible
with the system over there, but had I let them know they could have loaned
me a phone that would work. I reminded the customer service person that
I had let them know when they added the extra charges to my bill!
But it was a great trip. I’m lucky my daughters still want to travel with
daddy.
So I’ve bored you enough with my tale. I’ll try to be back to normal by
the next issue.
Thanks so much to Patti for taking care of the comments for me, and Cliff
for making sure each issue got formatted and sent out while I was gone.
Wanderingly,
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“It was a book to kill time for those who like it better dead. - Dame
Rose Macaulay
“Just the omission of Jane Austen’s books alone would make a fairly
good library out of a library that hadn’t a book in it.” - Mark Twain
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The Parrot
[Thanks Tesser]
A woman went to
a pet shop & immediately spotted a large, beautiful parrot..
There was a sign on the cage that said $50.00.
“Why so little,” she asked the pet store owner.
The owner looked at her and said, “Look, I should tell you first that
this bird used to live in a house of Prostitution and sometimes it
says some pretty vulgar stuff.”
The woman thought about this, but decided she had to have the bird
anyway.
She took it home and hung the bird’s cage up in her living room and
waited for it to say something.
The bird looked around the room, then at her, and said “New house,
new madam.”
The woman was a bit shocked at the implication, but then thought “that’s
really not so bad.”
When her 2 teenage daughters returned from school the bird saw them
and said, “New house, new madam, new girls.”
The girls and the woman were a bit offended but then began to laugh
about the situation considering how and where the parrot had been
raised.
Moments later, the woman’s husband Kevin came home from work.
The bird looked at him and said,
“Hi, Kevin!”
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“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at
least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”
“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest
minds of past centuries.”
“An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist
always run to blow it out?” - All from French mathematician Rene Descartes
born on this date in 1596
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OMG!
Where Are The Rest Of Them?
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Noella
has some comments about her experience with Facebook. Here’s your
15 minutes Noella.
I
have a question, actually, I wonder if anyone else has run into this problem
on Facebook.
As most of you know, Facebook is a social networking site where friends
and family can keep up with each other’s goings on via one- or two-line
posts (or "updates") and pictures and notes. It is a place where
one can meet new friends of like interests (and one can have friends of
varying interests and ages). I have around 300+ "friends" and
know most of them. Many are photographers I don’t know personally, but
enjoy looking at their pictures. Some are friends of friends who have
read my posts and requested to by my "friend."
I love getting on Facebook every day to read my "friends" updates
and view any new pictures, etc. that they have posted. I love making my
own posts and checking to see who may have responded. Friends usually
will post updates about their health, what they cooked for supper, getting
a new car, what movie they just saw. Sometimes they’ll post something
political or religious.
The thing I want to mention started a few months ago. My husband loves
to post really silly comments - something like "Bolivar to open new
toll roads. The on ramps at all three intersections to hwy 13 will have
toll booths set up by July." or some other such silly thing about
our tiny town of Bolivar.
What I want to mention is the degree of seriousness that can come about
because of some innocuous post. One young girl - the daughter of one of
Bill’s friends commented on his post that she was tired of hearing about
his silly old town and that he needed to get a life. We both thought this
was really weird that a teenager or 20-something year-old would be so
rude to an older person. Some younger people have responded to Bill’s
posts in a very negative way - so much so that he has actually gone in
and deleted these people that he barely knew. They in turn set up a "fan
page" for those who have been deleted by Bill with very negative
comments about him. He complained to Facebook which made them take the
page down. Needless to say, some of these younger people were my "friends"
also and it was very hurtful to both of us.
A little while later, another friend of mine made a post about a political
rally that he went to and wrote about his very negative experience. I
thought it was interesting, so I reposted it myself. It seemed that out
of the blue another young person started blasting me and the other guy
about how this couldn’t possibly be true. It didn’t matter that he arrived
at the rally around 6:00 a.m. and she didn’t get there until around noon,
just the fact that they opposed each other politically was enough to set
her off. I tried to tell her (by message - which is private) that this
was a repost and that I felt she was being rude to an older man whom she
used to attend church with. It didn’t matter. She decided to "block"
me - which means that I can’t see her or her posts on Facebook. Because
I haven’t had contact with her in some time, I wasn’t really offended,
but surprised. Before she blocked me, she sent me a message about how
she and her friends (some of whom are mutual) would laugh and make fun
of some of my forwarded e-mails. Again, trying to be very hurtful.
More recently, I made what I thought was a funny post about illegal aliens
and the welfare office. Again another daughter of an old friend hopped
onto the wagon to try to publicly humiliate me. Her excuse was she was
studying to be a lawyer, which of course made her much more knowledgeable.
The thing that happened yesterday was a post I made about the seemingly
large rift between liberals and conservatives and how it seemed that there
was an impasse - there doesn’t seem to be room to "reason together."
At that, a friend of mine whom I’ve known for 30+ years, and we’ve agreed
to never discuss politics, just wrote on my page "goodbye" and
deleted me as a friend. I was shocked that someone would throw away a
30-year friendship. Now, Mike is one of my "friends" and he
can attest that I rarely make political statements on Facebook.
While I’ve gotten various kinds of posts, religious, silly, political
(some of which I agreed with and some of which I didn’t), I have never
deleted someone because of what they posted.
What is with people today that there is no room for opposing opinions?
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Die-Back
Last summer, my geocaching friends told me how much they preferred going
out in late fall, winter, and early spring as opposed to summer. Considering
the difference in temperatures, snow, ice, and having to look more like
the Michelin Man than Michael Phelps, I could not quite grasp the concept.
As autumn set in, plants would wither away. Some, like stinging nettles,
would vanish completely as if they never existed. Other similar plants
just poofed. Others simply lost their leaves, like honeysuckle, poison
ivy, most trees, and so on.
Although poison ivy retains the capability to inflame the skin of an
unwary passerby, it becomes more difficult to accomplish that nifty
trick. Most other woody plants keep their main root system and resprout
new shoots, with some older branches keeping buds alive for next spring.
Honeysuckle becomes brittle and the branches are often simply broken
away as one brushes past them.
With the dormancy making the forest floor less cluttered with plants,
moving through them becomes a lot easier. Sure, a root, or small twig
near the ground can reach out and grab a shoelace causing one to trip.
Most of the undergrowth, however, has become mulch.
What is most interesting in this process is the perception of what has
occurred. Visually, without the leaves and underbrush, one can see quite
a distance in forests that once prevented a visitor from seeing more
than a couple feet. Animal activity, such as deer and larger animals,
carve trails by breaking off branches, kicking aside debris, and even
eating some of the vegetation.
Here’s your quiz:
What plants in your area disappear completely in the fall & reappear
in the spring?
Can you identify poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac after it loses
it’s leaves?
Which do you prefer, summer or winter?
Die-Back - It Is Not A Method Of Coloring A T-Shirt
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)
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Email Kirsten
“Juvenile
delinquency would disappear if kids followed their parent’s advice
instead of their example”
~ Unknown ~
Today I’m going to tell you about a fourteen-year-old boy who we will
call Steve. I don’t know what his name actually is because the media
is required by law to protect the identities of minors involved in
crimes, and it would make much easier reading for me to say “Steve”
instead of “the boy whose name I don’t know”.
Anyway, Steve had a rough weekend. One minute he was a perfectly normal
fourteen-year-old kid. The next minute he was being charged with a
crime. I can see where the police are coming from, really. If you
are responsible for inflicting stab wounds on your mother, you can
reasonably expect that you will be charged with a crime. And that’s
only right. Law enforcement exists because life would be unbearably
chaotic if we were allowed to just go around stabbing people when
we got ticked off with them. But Steve’s case is different. He stabbed
his mother because he was trying to do the right thing.
It all started in the early hours of Saturday morning, when Steve
and his mother got into an argument. According to the source
article, Steve’s mother had been drinking and decided to go out.
Steve, being a socially responsible kid, did not want his mother driving
drunk, so he grabbed the car keys and stuffed them into the pocket
of his jacket. This made her a bit cranky, and an argument broke out.
She grabbed his jacket - the one that had the keys in the pocket -
and made for the door. She was closer to the door than he was, and
he needed to do something to stop her from walking out and getting
into the car. So he grabbed a knife and threw it at her.
Well, that did the trick, all right. That knife hitting her in the
upper body stopped her right in her tracks. The police were called,
the mother was sent to hospital with serious stab wounds, Steve was
charged with aggravated assault. The mother will be fine: her condition
is currently listed as “stable”. Steve’s fate is unknown.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. I absolutely do not condone people
stabbing their mothers. That is the kind of behaviour that has to
have consequences. But on the other hand, Steve did not actually walk
up to his mother and deliberately stab her. He threw the knife from
a distance, intending to stop her from going out and killing herself
and someone else. The fact that the knife penetrated her flesh to
such an extent was just extremely bad luck. I’m thinking Steve’s jaw
probably dropped when he saw what he had done.
I question whether a charge of aggravated assault is appropriate here.
I mean, Steve may have been guilty of bad judgement, but he was trying
to do the right thing. Is this really someone who should be thrown
into the youth criminal justice system?
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
Comment
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Miscellaneous Tips
For fresh flavor in orange juice add the juice of one lemon.
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Look’s like I really did slow things down again.
Remember if you don’t like the opening line just make up your own like
Anne does.
Next opening line…
There once was an artist from France…
Hints:
Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm
Submit
Opening Line
Submit
Limerick
Mike
just got back to town
While away, we all played the clown
Now he is back, well rested
Our skills will be tested
We’d best get this limerick thing down. - Bonnie |
Mike
just got back into town.
When Mike’s involved, things slow down?
Let see da da dah
Da da da da dah
I guess that’s my brain in mode shutdown. - Anne Onimous |
Mike just
got back to town,
and brought the number of limericks down. - Tazz |
Each March
your Mom comes from Siam.
But she makes us want to scram
Her shrill voice does deafen
She comes in like a lion
And then we go out like a slam. - Anne Onimous |
To impress
the gals with flaxen hair
Your stamp collection with them don’t share.
For they will be bored
Then you will be ignored
Philately will get you nowhere. - Anne Onimous |
For Smith
and Wesson Dad did labor
Then retired to fish in the harbor.
But not long thereafter
They shut down his sector -
Can’t find a man of his caliber. - Anne Onimous |
My life
Congress lives to transform
Laws on toxic plastic they did form
I have just one question:
Is it for protection
Of the earth or credit card reform? - Anne Onimous |
At my age,
gone are the thrills
And in their place are many ills
So the one thing I dread
Is my mailman, Ted
For he leaves me only bills and pills. - Anne Onimous |
There once
was a pig named Lincoln
Who like to spend time in the kitchen
To impress his date.
But tonight he ran late
Serving dinner ’cause he was bakin’. - Anne Onimous |
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Re: George
When I was growing up, sometime
in the late bronze age, the best wisdom was to send kids to the school
for the blind. My eye doctor pointed out to my parents that I would
have to deal with a sighted world when I grew up, and that it would
be counter productive to raise me in a world especially designed for
me. They had to fight every step of the way, and I am terribly grateful
they did. As hard as it can be, and as much resistance as you’ll get
over the years, I just want to tell you how much better your son’s
life will be since you are taking the time to do the right thing.
- Lucille
WHO is not the
save in large group of unknown people? - dEE
Once again you’ve moved
me to tears. You’ve no idea how much I love to read your articles
about your son. I think that you’re a very special woman, and mother
and you should and have been rewarded. I know that it is a reward
every time you see him accomplish something new. I can only imagine
how proud you were when he pointed for that first time.
I remember when I was in the Tennessee School for the Blind that parents
would drop their children off with out so much as a look back. Thinking
that their children were never going to learn a thing. I remember
how some of them turned a corner when they saw how much their children
learned, but then there were others who never came back, and their
children were doomed to lives in foster homes, or worse yet group
homes in the off times of the school. How wonderful it is that you’re
the type of mother that you are. God will richly reward you some day.
Thank you for being who you are. - Tazz
Re: Equipment
I don’t know where
to draw the line between my professions and my hobbies, but the gear
usually takes up half my living space, and seldom produces net income.
I’ve got a spare bedroom dedicated to dusty and smelly work. The centerpiece
there is a better-than-new cast-iron table saw, with a router built
in for precision work. There’s also a dandy disk and belt sander,
also modified, and a bench grinder with one polishing mop. The ex
"living room" has a very versatile "radial" drill
press, a small, industrial-strength bandsaw, the vice and pounding
bench, dozens of power tools, and hundreds of hand tools. When a woodworker
says "I think I might have almost enough clamps" it is nearly
time to buy him flowers. There’s an air compressor tucked away, over
a dozen hammers, some polished to a mirror finish, saws, chisels,
knives, files, torches, wrenches, many drawers full of hardware and
useful scrap, and shelves of various liquids. Those mandate some safety
gear, and it all needs dust control and cleaning stuff. Then too,
there’s a box of obsolete camera gear, and a little digital camera
I do use, along with lots of battery charging gear, and a mess of
computers with 1/2 baked software. I’d have to include a few shelves
of technical catalogs and references, even with the ‘net handy, too.
Then there’s the bikes, trike, boats, and such. These are a few of
my favourite things. - Bob of the North
LOL… There will be no
downsizing of my pool-related equipment, thank you. First, and most
obvious, are the cues. Yep, "cue" plus an "s."
I have three - one break stick and two regular cues. I have a collapsible
bridge. Then there is my special-order, purple chalk. A chalk holder.
A glove (I hate talc). The cue tip shaper. The custom-built, wooden
cue case (it is great to have a carpenter for a boyfriend). The Q-Claw
(a hunk of molded rubber that makes it safe to lean cues against the
side of a table). We have some training aides (targets, special cue
balls, etc). We also have a red-circle cue ball for matches (they
have a more consistent roll than the standard cue on a bar table).
I have two pocket markers. There is also a small leather cleaning
cloth.
Then,
since I co-captain one team (with the afore-mentioned carpenter) and
captain another (in the ladies division), I also tote around an APA
rule-book, a booklight and spare batteries (bars aren’t known for
their great lighting), pencils, loose paper and a clipboard. All this,
of course, requires a bag to carry it in.
The boyfriend and I share some other items: DVDs, tip-tools, cleaning
supplies, etc.
And, as of this past weekend, we own an incredible Brunswick pool
table. I live in a one-bedroom apartment. The boyfriend lives in a
rather small mobile home. So, part of the pool table is behind my
couch, part is in my bedroom closet, and other parts are leaned against
various walls until I clear some space in the hall closet. - Tammy
in Alabama
Hobby equipment:
12 Rubbermaid totes, two sizes, two sets of plastic stackable drawers,
a cabinet that used to have shelves and doesn’t now so it can hold
part of a hobby, and a shed full of more totes and hooks on the walls
= containment for two hobbies. The tools inside all that stuff run
from some similar to yours ( too many trowels etc.) to a neat set
of Lady Gardener Tools I treasure, a kneeling bench that flips over
so I can sit on it (love that thing! I can push myself to standing
position) to some mechanized items only my partner can heft and use.
That’s gardening stuff. Two sewing machines, tiny tools in small boxes
relating to sewing (kept in those plastic drawer sets), work tables,
templates and patterns, hot knife and hot tacker, an inventory of
fabrics, and a room that was once a single car attached garage. That
covers my other hobby, mostly.
Storage space for the results of that second hobby are all over the
house. Closet shelves, cabinets, and leaning-against-walls space mostly.
I’ve been downsizing the Stuff concerning that second hobby by means
of auctions put on by groups of like-minded folks. If I do it right,
I should end up with only one six foot bag of items and some empty
shelf space this year. It’s the biggest items I am unloading, and
that’s because I can’t handle them any more. Between the two hobbies,
I’ve managed to erode my arm strength. I’m now working on winning
a decent sized lottery pot so I can hire a part time gardening helper,
the kind of person who is strong and younger than me who will dig
out weeds and anything I point to, and dig holes for new things .
The frustrating
part about a hobby that accumulates Stuff is how it attracts one to
little accessories. Windows covered with sun catchers, window sills
covered with small treasures and long containers full of peat pots
sprouting new items to plant are currently competing. But I have three
under-bed boxes for that. Until the cold frame goes up in the yard,
the other hobby bits and pieces are stashed.
Another frustration is windows. A few years ago we replaced old windows
with Very Good ones. All the new ones have a UV coating on them except
the three in the utility room. Plants need direct, undiluted sunshine.
UV coating deletes that factor! Thankfully, fluorescent lights provide
some and are cheaper than Grow Lights. - Nancy L in Ohio
Re: Where’s Tim?
Deb here. Where’s Tim? Our
computers have been down for over a month and I come back online to
see Tim is not here. Is he okay? Does he need a guest writer? I’m
a bit rusty but might be able to squeek out something useful. *wink*
I hope all is well with you and yours. I also hope that Tim is okay.
Keep me posted. - Deb
[Deb, much to our dismay Tim retired.
Well… Retired might be the wrong term. I mean that implies
that at some point work was actually performed. At any rate,
Tim is no longer with us. He hasn’t even submitted any comments.
Tim, are you still out there??]
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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be
accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly
attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time
to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect
quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.
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and point it out to me. I’m in the process of compiling an e-book
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