Monday, July 30, 2007

SLOWER THAN A SLUG

LH got inspired to get a new digital camcorder in preparation for our fall vacation. And has been hounding me to learn the digital camera we've had for over two years now and has never been used. Ughhhh.......I hate to admit it. I did get so far as to charge it and put in the SD card, and I think I may have taken a picture of the dogs once. So, I brought out the manual and read til my eyes glazed over and I still don't know how to really work it. My mission in August is to learn to take pictures with the thing. I did buy a case and an extra SD card, wow, they come in 512 MB now!!!
Just give the old the 35mm camera and I'm in business! It's just that you can't e-mail the pictures or even post any on the blog. Now that would be a real feat, if I posted a picture on my blog ~ I'm not too sure I could even figure that out. Sighhhh....that's the problem with not having had kids, you just get behinder as technology moves forward.
I'll let you know when I get through that dratted manual!!!!!!!!
FRIDAY FIVE: DROUGHTS AND FLOODS

Due to severe weather experiences in different parts of our world, take a moment and share:

1. Have you ever experienced living through an extreme weather event ~ what was it and how did you cope?
Way back in '67, a major blizzard hit Chicago, closing down the city, closing down our town. I remember going with my Dad using the sled to walk 3 blocks to a Mom and Pop grocery store to buy bread, only they were out. We bought flour instead and my Mom made homemade bread. Took a long time to shovel our sidewalks but most folks didn't have snow throwers back then. There was so much snow, school got cancelled, yipee! And we (my sister and I) built an igloo and even made a mail box for it!!
I was young, it was a cozy time and felt safe and secure with my family.

2. How important is it that we wake up to issues such as global warming?
We should always cultivate awareness of all of creation and our surroundings.
Of course, the world has been warming since the end of the ice age. What should
we expect? Glaciers have been moving for centuries. Why all this hoopla now?
Perhaps, the earth and creation is still in process and we are the ones who
lose sight of that. How arrogant to think we are the only cause of the changing
of the earth. How much can we really do to stop the perhaps inevitable changes
our earth will undergo?

3. The Christian message needs to include stewardship of earth's resources, agree/disagree?
Surely, our stewardship is the right and good care of our lives, our time,
our families, neighbors, our resources, gifts, skills, talent and most assuredly,
the earth's resources. I try to reuse and recycle where I can. Our area doesn't
make it easy to recycle, it would be more convenient with recycle bins on
garbage day.
Just the other day, while in line at the Bull'e Eye Store, a mom ahead of me
bought her kids some candy. By the time, I checked out and walked to my car,
they were gone, but the purple wrapper from the girl's candy was laying there
on the asphalt and I started to boil. Could this mom not have said, "Here give
me the wrapper" to her child and put it in her purse or pocket til she got home?
Such a simple thing, and yet I see people throwing out their trash and litter
so often. I just don't understand. They have no respect for the environment,
for themselves, or for others. It's just so very sad.

And because it's summer and on a brighter note:

4. What is your favorite season and why?
I would guess Autumn. I like the relinquishing of the summer heat, and the
growing coolness. I like the show of beautiful fall colors. I enjoy the smell
of apples and apple ciders, crisp days, foggy evenings, and the garden being
laid to rest and no weeding required!!!

5. Describe your perfect vacation weather.
Easy enough, 70 degrees F, and sunny. What more could I want?
Actually, we are known to bring very hot weather with us every time
we are on vacation! It was 70 + F in Edinburgh the end of Sept. when we
landed. It was 103 F in Rapid City, the hottest days Dawson City, Yukon
probably had all summer long!!! Calgary, WI, IL, MI all have suffered from
heat when we have spent our vacations there - 100 + in St. Louis, not to
mention New Orleans! I have forbidden LH to vacation in the Antarctica for
fear it would spead the melting of the ice caps!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

REV. SWEETCHEEKS

It was mid-morning when I was sitting at the computer playing Write-up the Liturgy for Sunday game which I do every week. I had all the liturgical elements completed and was picking out the hymns. (Yes, the worship committee grants me the luxury of selecting the Sunday hymns - that way they are themed, more or less, to what I am preaching, or the season of the church year, but I digress.) So, I was thumbing through the hymnal when the outer door opens and in wanders a soul you just know is coming in to ask for assistance. His somewhat toothless grin was disarming and his story seemed plausible. On his way, with his uncle, from Texas back to upstate New York and out of fuel, both their truck (which had NY plates) and themselves.
Fortunately this doesn't happen too often, but being on a state route near a major historic highway that runs from New York's Times Square to San Francisco's Lincoln Park, we do have some transients that stop in looking for help. And fortunately, we do have a fund from which to give assistance in the form of gas and meal at the Subway or Wendy's.
So, I hear his story, emphasize with him over his mother's compromised health and offer the help that the church can. He is easy and not once asked for anything but gas and food. Not one appeal for cash money, which makes him more believeable than not.
So, he gets in his truck, where his Uncle was waiting, and I get in my van and off we go to the gas station, where we fill the tank and they get big gulps of pop. (The cups are as large as my Nalgene water bottle!!) Over to Subway, they get the large, hot sandwiches, chips and cookies for dessert. I wish them well on their journey and God's blessing.
I get a "Thanks, Sweetcheeks!" Never been called that before by anyone. So, I guess I'll be called and known as Rev. Sweetcheeks around these here parts!!!!!
Wonder what they would've called me had I been male!!!!
Just call me Rev. Sweetcheeks from now on!!!!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

When Nothing Works Out

We returned home from vacation and I saw two little beaks peeking from the bluebird house, but didn't Beau or Belle.
The next morning, I saw the beaks again and watched and out flew two sparrows! Oh no, could the little bluebirds have fledged already? Nope. The nest was empty. I found an empty bluebird egg with a hole and cracked in the lawn. LH told me he found a dead baby bluebird by the bluebird box which I must have missed, or else, LH spared me. It was a depressing day. I opened the box to get rid of those nasty little sparrows. I fed Beau and Belle some mealworms which they ate the next day. They must be so heartbroken. I know I am.
On Sat. am, I slipped into a neighboring town's Arts & Craft's fair hoping to stop by the woodworker's booth and pick up a cute picket gate shelf he had last year, that I've been kicking myself for the last 12 months for not buying. He wasn't there. In the last 4 years, he was there every year. I don't even have his card.
We bought a 3 wheel spinner in Colmar, France two years ago. It goes in my garden each summer until fall. It started getting faded. Just in the past month, it lost two yellow ribbons and more are starting to fray. Right before we left on vacation, a kitschy catalogue had one! Yipeee!!! I ordered it by snail mail with a check and left on vacation. Been thinking it should be arriving any day now. Got a check from the company in the mail, not available anymore! That catalogue was only a couple weeks old. Must have had problems getting them from China. Now, my spinner won't get replaced.
Sometimes, things just don't work out and unravel. And you go on, praying and hoping that sometime soon, things will begin to work out again.
Could I be more boring?

Ran across this over at The Psaltery and thought I'd give it a shot. Now I know how boring I really am!!!!!



Your Score: Linear A


You scored


Not much to say, really. You're Linear A, the first alphabet ever written by the proto-Greeks - at least, as far as survives. Unfortunately, you made a bad career move and ended up being used by accountants and fish mongers, rather than to record epics. However, you did manage all your SEC filings on time.

Link: The Which Ancient Language Are You Test written by imipak on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test


http://www.okcupid.com/tests/13609056050722629996/Which-Ancient-Language-Are-You

Monday, July 16, 2007

VACATION BLUES

I've noticed that it always takes me a day or two to really get back to the "normal" routine after being gone. It's as though I want to make vacation last just a bit longer.
LH and I enjoyed The Beach in Wisconsin. The water was cold though! Sunday was so hot, 90+ degrees (which was true to form for our vacations)that we put plastic chairs in the Lake and sat in them with our legs in the water. Made me feel cool for quite a long while.
My sister has new puppy, part Huskey, part Rottweiler. Cute as a button, but lively and quite a handful. They are also watching my niece's maniac boxer for the next 5 weeks. So, I had some dog therapy while on vacation.
LH enjoyed his kayaking. I strolled the beach. I came in last in the annual Croquet game, which is also true to form, even the Mai-Tai didn't offer me much improvement!
I was sorry to see several shops in the NativeTreeBurg town were closed up or going out of business. The Cheese Shop was closed, the Forest Flower Store was having a sad Going-out-of-Business Sale, they always had the neatest shirts and tops.
Even the Red Closet was up for sale - since the owner wanted to retire.
LH and I got caught in couple of rainstorms and caught a rainbow over Lake Michigan which was really beautiful. The night skies were sprinkled with gazillions of stars.
I never even finished the Ephron Neck Book, which is amusing. Although I should have it finished this week. Too much puppy and doggie distractions.
My Sister and I went for pedicures and my feet felt summer pretty and fabulous!
Had the usual Friday Fish Fry, and the Brats, afterall this is Wisconsin!
Saw part of a muskrat for the first time! And although I spotted deer tracks on the beach, I didn't see one this time.
Could've used another day, just to sit and read.
Fortunately, cicada season was over in Chicago!!
Unfortunately, Japanese Beetle season was in full swing when we returned home and one geranium succombed to the ravishing hunger of the nasty little bugs. I ended up getting Sevin for the first time in 4 years to dust my plants and salvage my geraniums, coneflowers, potentilla bushes, and burning bush as well as my Basil.
The stuff really worked and the beetles are dead and gone.
Now if we could get some rain it would do wonders. When we drove into the subdivision, it looked like something out of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" movie!!!
Everything that yellow brown, everybody's lawn too, except for a couple lawns where folks obviously watered regularly. It is so parched, dry, and the grass is crispy & crunchy. My wee Gingko tree has lost 1/2 of it's leaves and the Birch has several yellow leaves and has also dropped a fair share. Funny, though, how the weeds still remain green, even when the grass and tree leaves and other growing things turn brown and yellow.
It's good to be home and the Boys are thrilled to have their sofas and pillows back which they missed at the boarder's farm. Somehow, a week just doesn't seem long enough to let go, regenerate, and gear up. I think I'm still in regenerate mode.
How are you regenerating this summer?

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Lights, Camera, Action...
Over at One Wild and Precious Life, I ran across this posting and * the ones I've seen:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies -- 10th Anniversary Edition:
*1 Citizen Kane (1941)
*2 The Godfather (1972)
*3 Casablanca (1942)
4 Raging Bull (1980)
5 Singin' in the Rain (1952)
*6 Gone With the Wind (1939)
7 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
*8 Schindler's List (1993)
9 Vertigo (1958)
*10 The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11 City Lights (1931)
12 The Searchers (1956)
*13 Star Wars (1977)
*14 Psycho (1960)
*15 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
16 Sunset Blvd. (1950)
*17 The Graduate (1967)
18 The General (1927)
19 On the Waterfront (1954)
20 It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
21 Chinatown (1974)
22 Some Like It Hot (1959)
23 The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
*24 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
*25 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
26 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27 High Noon (1952)
*28 All About Eve (1950)
29 Double Indemnity (1944)
30 Apocalypse Now (1979)
31 The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32 The Godfather Part II (1974)
*33 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
*34 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
*35 Annie Hall (1977)
36 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39 Dr. Strangelove (1964)
*40 The Sound of Music (1965)
41 King Kong (1933)
*42 Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43 Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44 The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45 Shane (1953)
46 It Happened One Night (1934)
47 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
*48 Rear Window (1954)
49 Intolerance (1916)
50 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
*51 West Side Story (1961)
52 Taxi Driver (1976)
53 The Deer Hunter (1978)
*54 M*A*S*H (1970)
55 North by Northwest (1959)
*56 Jaws (1975)
*57 Rocky (1976)
58 The Gold Rush(1925)
59 Nashville (1975)
60 Duck Soup (1933)
61 Sullivan's Travels (1941)
*62 American Graffiti (1973)
63 Cabaret (1972)
64 Network (1976)
*65 The African Queen (1951)
*66 The Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
67 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
*68 Unforgiven (1992)
*69 Tootsie (1982)

*70 A Clockwork Orange (1971)
*71 Saving Private Ryan (1998)
*72 The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
*73 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74 The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
75 In the Heat of the Night (1967)
*76 Forrest Gump (1994)
77 All the President's Men (1976)
78 Modern Times (1936)
79 The Wild Bunch (1969)
80 The Apartment (1960)
*81 Spartacus (1970)
82 Sunrise (1927)
*83 Titanic (1997)
84 Easy Rider (1969)
85 A Night at the Opera (1935)
86 Platoon (1986)
87 12 Angry Men (1957)
*88 Bringing Up Baby (1938)
*89 The Sixth Sense (1999)
90 Swing Time (1936)
91 Sophie's Choice (1982)
*92 Goodfellas (1990)
93 The French Connection (1971)
94 Pulp Fiction (1994)
95 The Last Picture Show (1971)
*96 Do the Right Thing (1989)
97 Blade Runner (1982)
98 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
*99 Toy Story (1995)

100 Ben-Hur (1959)

Wow. Just 39 out of 100. I thought I would have done better than that. Course, there were several movies that didn't make the list. And there are several on the list, that I will not and have no desire to see.
Which have you seen?

Monday, July 02, 2007

I SURVIVED VBS '07:
Yeehaw!! As much fun as VBS is, it sure is exhausting. Back to back to back 12 hour days with lots of energy expended in the space of two hours in the evening. I never got home before 9 pm and then had to water the garden and flower beds!
But we served 61 great and wonderful kids. Everything ran and went smoothly and well and those kids sang out with great enthusiasm.
Ahhh, but I'm glad it's over. I think I'm still tired even though it's Monday and I had my day off on Friday.
I've been blogging just over a year and someday will learn how to use the digital camera and update our computer so that it can do more. Until then, I know, it's plain and simple site. But then, I am in plain and simple country as well.
On the bluebird front, Beau was in and out of the birdhouse this morning, and when I peeked in, Belle didn't flutter out like usual. I'm thinking the eggs are hatching and Beau is helping provide food and Belle wasn't going to leave her new little ones. I put some mealworms out for them to help feed their (hopefully) growing brood.
I will be absent for the next week as we travel to another Great Lake, visit Chicago and head to the Beach in WI. Still have laundry to do and need to start packing tonight. Will leave on Thursday so that LH can march in the 4th of July parade as an SAR Color Guard, decked in his breeches, waistcoat and tricorn hat!!!
So, I'll miss checking in on folks but I plan to catch up on my reading: Nora Ephron's Neck Book (Can't ever remember the name) and Anne Lamott's new one. Can't hardly wait!!!
Have a great week and God's peace be with you all.