HUMANE SOCIETY WEB PAGE WITH PICTURES
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NEW GLASSES
Cameron and Robert have new glasses and pictures will soon be posted. I went into the frame store with them when they picked out what they wanted and tried on some of the more colorful and exotically-shaped frames myself. Pictures of that experience will NOT follow. I have my frames from over a year ago and they are holding up pretty well; my mother thinks they look like my grandmother's glasses that she wore in her graduation of high school picture - that would have been 1904. Maybe I can find it, scan it in and post it here.
ALISON IS CHANGING HER UNDERWEAR
Yes, my grandmother would always change her corset before going someplace in case something happened and she had to go to the hospital - or died and went to the funeral home in an everyday work-at-home corset. Then one day they made a quick trip into LaGrange and she fell in the drugstore on a wet floor and broke her hip. The trip had been so impromptu that she hadn't changed her corset.
So, we are going to Wal-Mart and Alison is changing her underwear . . . and going to kill me when she reads this. Oh, by the way, I already changed mine.
FIRESTARTER - ME
Well, I got up this morning and got a good fire going and no one put any logs on the fire. Nada, zip. No longs; no one trying to put any on. Why is that? Do people think that firewood is suicidal and will roll into the house and throw itself on the fire?
REAR WHEEL DRIVE
This is just a little question that has occurred to me: if you drive backwards in a rear wheel drive car, is it like having front wheel drive? I don't know; I was just thinking about it on the way back from fairground with Sydney.
We saw a policeman at the school crossing again today - the one by North Side where the lady guard was hit. I wonder how she is doing, how it happened, if she was wearing a reflective vest or strap.
TWO-HOUR DELAY
Yes, my little minions, this morning we awoke late, thinking we would have to really hurry to get everyone to school and then I looked at the
East Noble School Corp. site and saw that a TWO HOUR DELAY was in effect. This is normally not good news to me, but today, it came in handy - more time for people to get ready and/or sleep . . . and time to get a fire going.
PHYSICS AND FOOTBALL - THE IMMACULATE RECEPTION
Finally, a reason for physics. According to
THIS, the officials made the correct call on the fabled "immaculate reception" play between Pittsburgh and Oakland. The joke was that someone asked the officials if they knew how many cops were on hand to escort them out of Three Rivers Stadium if they didn't call it a touchdown.
BARBARO DEAD
The horse that won the Kentucky Derby and broke his leg in the first strides of the Preakness was put down today. Sports Illustrated's story is
HERE.
GNOMELAND SECURITY
It would seem that a wave of terrorism has moved into the gnome world, marked by a
decapitation of gnomes; let us hope the Travelocity Gnome is okay.
GETTING SNOW
Lake effect snow. Now this is the northern Indiana I know - cold and snowing and I'll bet those roads are slick. We have a fire going and are ready to hunker down. I am wondering what it would have been like had the Bears/Saints game been this weekend, rather than last. It would have been true Vince Lombardi/John Madden football.
My mother has three outdoor cats that come onto the back porch to sleep; well, Tippy likes to go out and check out the night life, even though he has been "fixed." Probably he is checking out the mouse supply, and apparently partaking since Mother says even often is not hungry for breakfast.
I don't know how much snow is out there - I am working up my courage to go check.
*** Shoot, we may get an inch an hour.
GLASSES
Okay, we have Cameron and Robert in new glasses and both of them have to pretty much wear them all the time, just as I do. Actually, I love my glasses; they help me see and that is great. I don't think people should feel bad about wearing glasses . . . especially with all the cool frames. I'll be certain to post pictures when the glasses come in.
REFUGEE PUP
There has been some question about the Refugee Pup on this page, over on the right sidebar. Yes, he is here; he followed us home and you can play ball with him - toss it up and he will catch it - or give him treats and he will scarf them. Or you can make a donation to his education fund.
LIFE'S LESSON 4792-2
If you are drinking a diet coke and leave it sitting on an end table that has two drawers, make certain they are closed. I just spilled a can and it did not hit the floor . . . it went into the bottom drawer, which is now sitting on the floor with everything, including a lot of wet stuff, out of it.
A Picture Share!
Alison reading a paper. I was sitting on the sofa and bored so I took this picture of Alison. I waited for her to look up, but she never did so I just snapped it anyway.
AHA, FINALLY SNOW
A fine snow is falling as I write, apparently it started not too long ago because when Summer saw it she shouted happily, "It's snowing?? When did it start? When did it start?" She ran and got her shoes and followed Sydney's doggie footprints. We were wondering if he had done his morning bathroom visit . . . he had not. Alison gave him a morning snack of freshly-browned hamburger mixed with dog food and she said he ate it and gave her one of his little smiles.
The weather people over at their .com are saying we will get up to four inches today - maybe; another one or two during the night. Do we have wood ready to go in the fireplace? I hope so. Perhaps I will send Sydney out there and and have a bunch of wood carriers follow his doggie prints.
THE MAGIC TONIC
LIES
Summer and I went to the hairshop at Wal-Mart
and found the secret to Spikey's power.
This is a lie. Spikey speaks the truth.
THE MORNING ROUTINE
Sydney and I have started going to the fairgrounds between taking Cameron to the middle school and Summer to North Side. We have about 15 minutes there and in the dark becoming dawn part of the day - at least for this time of year - I think we both find ourselves in a pleasant state of mind. We are unencumbered; our thoughts are our own.
It is often difficult to return, especially when I come in to hear music playing from a personal computer in a public room. Despite requests, despite repeated purchases of earphones the music plays on. At least that is my reaction; I don't know about Sydney - maybe he finds reassurance in this situation - knowledge that dogs are pretty much the moral superior to humans.
ICY BRANCHES
Willow branches covered with ice came down on the the corner sidewalk across Harding Street from North Side Elementary School; a branch came down off one of the maples in front of my house on N. Riley as well. When we lived in West Chester, Ohio, a historian from the area told me that the leading cause of death in pioneer times was falling tree branches; considering how thick the woods were then, I guess I should not have been surprised.
Now, I don't know for certain that she was correct, but that didn't stop me from perpetuating the tale via my daughter-in-law when I pulled in the driveway, saw the fallen branch and saw the hole the end had dug in the yard. Had my head been in that spot, I would have to say The Sopranos hired a "hit" tree.
NO POSTING SINCE THURSDAY?
Ah, well, yes . . . I have been watching every episode of The Sopranos I can get my hands on - short of going out and paying actual money to buy them. Part of it is that after a lifetime of commercial breaks and cliffhanger episodes, it is nice - great - to simple push a couple of buttons and get on with the next part of the story. To be honest, however, part of it may be an attraction to "do what I say" lifestyle of Tony Soprano.
It is a moot point, and the pun is intended, since I cannot carry a tune.
SOPRANOS ON A&E AND MY TV
I do not have HBO and had not seen one single episode of The Sopranos until last night when they were on A&E; perhaps I should say this morning because I fell asleep while reading with the TV on and awoke to catch the end of the first episode being rebroadcast. I started watching.
Now, I have been looking up the series and see this year is the sixth season and it is going to take me a lot of rental fees and time to catch up on all that has gone on. So I want to be like Johnny Five in Short Circuit and put my little hand in a DVD player and absorb the entire lot in one fell suck of information. I know it is supposed to be fell swoop and maybe it's that because a swoop falls, but I have decided to fell suck and so be it.
Now, of course, these high-pitched singing guys - and was this series named because of gangstas testifying against each other and/or Sing Sing? - do not go to fast for me. I believe I can grasp what is going on, but it will take me so many hours to get it all in. I want to know it NOW and then from time to time, sit down and watch some of the acting. Actually, it probably was worth sitting through Tony's description of his dream about screwing off his belly button which released his penis which a bird grabbed and flew away with, rather than reading the synopsis. Maybe there will be more of these moments.
Yesterday I was thinking about the meaning of life and now it is this big goal to learn all the plot twists of The Sopranos - kind of like the "I Love Lucy" episodes. Maybe MacBeth should have been a series, not a play . . . just a thought.
Here's a question: Do I want to be a "made" grandma?
THE??? OSU
What is this with Ohio State now being referred to as THE Ohio State University? I don't remember people saying they were going to The OSU; now, all of a sudden, I see it written in resumes and the NFL players from OSU are calling it "the" when introduced at the beginning of a play-off game. It turns out the "the" was attached in 1878, according to the
Wiki article on the internet. However, the Wiki article address bar has "wiki/Ohio . . ." not "wiki/THE . . ." Maybe OSU is getting a little bit high-faluting, to which this Hoosier says, "HA HA HA HA HA . . ."
Something to think about
Every so often I come across an article that causes cognitive dissonance. This story at www.livescience.com is one of those.
Self-Cleaning Underwear Goes Weeks Without WashingSelf-cleaning fabrics could revolutionize the sport apparel industry. The technology, created by scientists working for the U.S. Air Force, has already been used to create t-shirts and underwear that can be worn hygenically for weeks without washing.The new technology attaches nanoparticles to clothing fibers using microwaves. Then, chemicals that can repel water, oil and bacteria are directly bound to the nanoparticles. These two elements combine to create a protective coating on the fibers of the material.This coating both kills bacteria, and forces liquids to bead and run off.The U.S. military spent more than $20 million to develop the fabric, deriving from research originally intended to protect soldiers from biological weapons. ...
Another story referenced in this article has relevance to some of the regular readers of this blog:
Carbon Nanofiber Makes Smart Yarn
A Picture Share!
Here is Hibernator at the Fort Wayne airport on his way back to San Diego.
IRONY
It is hard to live with a 10 year old girl and an Easy button from Staples.
FIRST WEEKEND AFTER VACATION - KENDALLVILLE
Well, they went back to school on the third day of the year: Wednesday. And they were there for Thursday and Friday as well; now it is the weekend already and only three days after the end of Christmas vacation, they are here for TWO days. And it is going to continue like this - five days at school and then two here, the same old pattern that has been going on for years.
KENDALLVILLE: ROCKY BALBOA MOVIE
And the series goes on . . .
Rocky Balboa is at the Strand - rating and times:
Rated PG, 1 hr 42 min
Showtimes: 7:00, 9:00
Night at the Museum continues as the other movie. Rating and times:
Rated PG, 1 hr 48 min
Showtimes: 7:00, 9:00
WHERE IS THE GEICO LIZARD?
I have been watching the "It's so easy a caveman can do it" commercials for Geico . . . and enjoying them, but then all of a sudden it occurred to me to wonder, "What the heck happened to the gecko? Can it be that the ad campaign that featured him is over with?" The little devil was getting on my nerves, not that I particularly like the caveman.
Have you thought about the casting call they must have had for that commercial? Neanderthal looking types wanted . . . Calling home: "Mom, they cast me as a caveman."
HIBERNATOR'S LAST DAY
Hibernator is going back to California tomorrow afternoon and then I will be on my own again representing my generation vs. the other bozos here. And on his last full day here, he asked, "How about homemade pizzas for supper?" Now, he and Bozo, as he calls Summer and a name she has come to rather appreciate, are going to the store to get ingredients. Well, as long as they don't get on my case to do any of the greasy,
finky and basically yucky crust mixing and spreading out. I have never liked that job; the only time it was anywhere near acceptable was when I was figuring out the best way to do it - spray your hands with Pam.
I am bummed that Hibernator is going back to San Diego, although I suppose one aspect of my
bumness is jealousy.
INTERESTING ARTICLE
I have to admit that it comes as a surprise to me that a
Muslim has been elected to the U.S. Congress.
TODAY WAS SUNNY
And I like sunny days - not necessarily hot sunny days, but days with lots of blue sky and a warming sun. We worked today cleaning, and on a sunny day, that isn't too depressing. Right now, the sun is slanting in the den windows on the glass Nativity that is still on the mantle, making it seem to catch fire in the light.
JANUARY 2, 2007
Here I am on Day 2 of the New Year . . . and tomorrow, on Day 3, school starts again. Excuse me while I express my emotion about this: YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! But then, better not count my chickens before they hatch, or we might have a fog delay, or maybe snow, or maybe a power-outage . . . . Ack!!! Let's cross our fingers and cheer on the school momentum of 2007.
NEW YEAR'S DAY
It seems as if this day is more than one, that is it has had a lot of different stages - gone from holiday to just a quiet evening by the fire. And, even though it is infinitesimal, the day seems longer, not quite so quick to turn dark at 5 pm. But then, that is the time it is right now and maybe in fifteen minutes I will be looking out into darkness.
So, no real point being made here, but the first day is here and on the way to being gone. Got some cleaning done . . . it's a start.
