Bits and pieces..

I just spent the past 2 1/2 hours drinking in the morning. I woke up at 630 'cause little Miss Sadie had to go pee. I got up took her out, and it was frozen solid out there. 26 F and getting warmer. The sun was just about to peek over the horizon, and the sky was gorgeous. Mauve and Pink and Purple, with the Alder trees still in silhouette against it. I crawled back into my nice cozy bed and lay there watching the day get brighter. Soon the sun was peeking through the trees, around the trunks, and playing peek-a-boo with me. As I moved my head up, it went behind a tree, then when I moved it, the sun would pop out bright and orange and say BOO! We played this little game for a bit. I had not turned on the TV yet, and I just lay there listening.

As the sun went higher, I started hearing the fog horns down on the Strait hooting, and then the one on the Point at Fort Warden answered Toot! Then the one at Fort Flagler answered Boop, Boop! So all morning long it was HOOT, Toot, boop-boop. Then a pause of about 30 seconds, and then they would start all over again. You get so used to hearing them, that when you don't, it seems like something is missing. It is like a heart beat. Hoot, toot, boop-boop, Hoot, toot, boop-boop. It is so comforting.

AS I lay there, I rolled onto my tummy and rested my chin on the window sill, opened the window wider so I could hear the birds and the squirrels, and watched my breath billow out the window like mini-clouds. Ever tried to blow breath rings in the cold air? Ya oughta try it...but then I could never blow smoke rings like my sister could. (She would blow smoke rings, then stick her fingers through them and say "can't die a virgin")

I watched as the Juncos came to the feeder, with their little chippy calls, so cute. My Mom used to call them snow birds. Then the Chickadees with there chick-a-dee-dee-dee call. Soon the Northern flickers found the suet blocks and then the finches woke up and Mr. Robin Red-breast too. It was so comforting laying there with Sadie on my legs, chitters on my back, lint all cozied up to my side, Ethel in the window, and Loki down on the other side. All cozy and warm under the wonderful electric blanket.

Doesn't get much better than that!

I finally got out of bed, and came in to make a pot of coffee, and post. I stopped by the desk and grabbed my address book to look up a phone number, and out fell everything that over the past 35 years, I have stuffed into it. As I was picking everything up, I found this poem, that I had cut out many years ago, I have no clue where it came from, but I think it is from the inside of a book I was reading at the time. Maybe Nora Roberts, or Roseanne Bittner cant remember, but I know that when I read this, I absolutely felt that it said everything about where I belong. I have a note on it that I want it read when My ashes are scattered over the mountains.
(and hopefully no time soon!)


The Mountains rise to protect me,
To hold me fast.
They surround me like a fortress;
Their valleys and canyon floors cradle me.
Their bright colors comfort me, and
Their wildlife sings to me.
I belong here.
My soul comes from these mountains;
And someday, when death claims me,
I will become part of their glory---
Howling with the wolves,
Singing with the birds,
Smiling with the wildflowers.
I belong here.

BRRRRRRR....

Just when we thought the winter was just about over, an Arctic Clipper hit with us with a one-two punch!! The wind hit with a fury, knocking down trees, and power lines, and blowing down old barns, and scattering anything that was not tied down all over the place.

We had winds sustained at over 50 MPH in Oak Harbor, and the Olympic peninsula got hit even harder. Right behind that came the rain, and the snow and the COLD. Then it cleared up and the wind hit again, just as hard!

I got out of the playhouse last night around 900 and headed to the base to get gas, as I was running on fumes. I knew I was in trouble as I headed down the hill from the playhouse to the water, and looked across the marina and saw BLACK! Shoulda been all lit up! The Citgo Gas station Mini mart on Base is usually all lit, and shining over the water. Not last night.

When You approach a Base Gate, you are to turn your headlights down, and roll down your windows, and turn on your dome light so the sentrys can see inside. Well, I turned off my headlights, and could see NOTHING!! Soon there was a teeny tiny little flash light coming from the guard shack. SO I put the done light on and crawled up. Sure enough, I was told that all electricity on base was out, and they could not pump gas. AAAACCCKKKK!!!

I turned around,and headed to the Farm Store, where I was hoping the power was on. Not all of the city was out, and thank GOD it was still on at CENEX. I got out to get my gas, and the wind was whipping so hard that it slammed the gas door shut on the car. SO I had to stop everything and go back to the front and flip the lever again, so I could put the gas in. It was blowing so hard that my hair was blowing straight back from head, and it was so cold that my ears, nose and face turned NUMB, then my hands got so cold that I could not finish pumping the gas. It had to be a wind chill of 50 below zero! (ok JimBob, maybe not,) But it was COLD!! Just as I turned the corner on the highway to head home, the lights across the water along Scenic Heights Road went out. Totally black! It kinda gives you a funny feeling to look over where you normally see lights, and see nothing!

I get on home, fighting the wind the whole way, and made it to my house to see that the trash cans I had just filled, were blown across the street, and all of my old correspondence and bills, and trash were now papering the entire cul-de-sac!! So here I am at 1100 at night in a hurricane, and being pounded with frozen sleet, tip toeing around my neighbors houses and gathering up as much of my garbage as I could find without a flash light. I am toting the trash can, and hurting like hell, but I can not make a noise, as I know that I would wake up everyone, or get shot one or the other.

Finally at midnight, I gave up and came in and took a hot shower hoping to thaw my frost bitten hands. I crawled into bed, after rubbing Icy Hot or Ben Gay all over my back and hips and then relaxed. I just LOVE STORMS!! I really do!! They keep boredom at bay!

Once again I survived with no trees down on the house. WHEW!!

Pollyanna...childrens version.

One of the reasons I have been so sparce lately is that I have been helping out with the kids production of POLLYANNA. It is not my show, but my Firend Rusty was asked to take over directing it and she asked me (ok, I butted in!) to help with the show.




Kids are NOT my thing, because they really bug me when they continually butt in and ask all kinds of questions while I am trying to talk to someone. Drives me CRAZY!

These kids are CUTE!!! I sat through the shows (two different casts) to take candid pictures, and let me tell you, I wanted to giggle! If someone forgot their lines, their eyes got really big and panic took over, until one of the other kids would stage whisper the lines to them. FUNNY!!! And these are all tiny little kids playing adult roles. So Old TOm is sposed to be an old grouchy man and he is played by a 3' high 5 year old. But I mean to tell ya, THey know their lines! And dont stop them for anything, because they will start over and recitethemallatonceagainandnotstopforanything. LOLOLOLOLOL





It is really hard NOT to love working with them. and with only 1 exception they were all really good little kids, and hare having a ton of fun. I forgot how cute Kids plays were! If it has been a long time since you have been to one, do yourself a favor and go to a grade school play! It does your heart good!

He's BAAAAAAACCCKK!!!

This morning about 8:00, cat ran right over the top of me to get to the window in a hurry!! I woke up and said WHAT? There at the feeder was my first Rufous Hummingbird!! He was late!! The males show up first on their very long migration, followed by the females 2-3 weeks later, and then the juveniles a week or so later. They nest from April-July, then start their migration back to southern Mexico/Costa Rica.

I have one feeder up right now, but by next week they will have drained it and I will have to put up the other 6 feeders, and fill them daily, and some twice daily!!
They are hungry little buggers!! We only get two kinds, The Rufous and the Allen's, and the females are indistinguishable from each other. The males however are easy. The rufous has a rufous back and side, and a red irridescent head and throat. The Allen's is the same size and color except that he has a green back.

During the breeding period, there can be 8-10 birds flying around the feeders at a time. They are so much fun to watch. They are VERY territorial over their feeders, and while the males are fighting each other off, the females sneak in and eat their fill.

We are in the midst of another wind storm! The sun is out but the wind is coming in off the Strait/Sound/Inlet about 40 MPH! It is still a cold bitey wind too, and the weather just said possibly snow this weekend!

Damn it, the birds are back, It is supposed to be SPRING!!!! At least it will be in two more weeks.

I have a full days work ahead of me for the playhouse. I am doing the lobby wall for the kids' Show Pollyanna, and I have to get their Bio's and head shots printed out and arranged on the lobby wall for the patrons to read at intermission.
I screwed up taking the re-do's on head shots and forgot to change the setting on the camera so Now I have to get them all AGAIN!!!! Arrgghhh!! And tonight I have to go in to MY show The Caine Mutiny COurt Martial and measure the men for their uniforms. Dottie will be busy blocking the 2nd act so I said I would help her measure!

BUSY BUSY BUSY....

POST SCRIPT:

I just got this in an email and could not resist educating the rest of my readers! You all know I love to educate....

Manure: In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be
transported by ship and it was also before commercial fertilizer's
invention, so large shipments of manure were common.

It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when
wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, it not only became heavier, but the
process of fermenta tion began again, of which a by product is methane
gas. As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what
could (and did) happen.

Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came
below at night with a lantern, BOOOOM!

Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined
just what was happening.

After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the term
"Ship High In Transit" on them, which meant for the sailor s to stow it
high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the
hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of
methane.

Thus evolved the term "S.H.I.T " , (Ship High In Transport) which has
come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.

You probably did not know the true history of this word.

Saturday afternoon...

I was awake all night long with a spasm running down my left side, and to my knee! My back needed to pop, and just would not. I have a pinched sciatic nerve, and MAN it hurts when it wants to. Needless to say I did not get much sleep. I finally fell asleep around 615 and crawled out of ben around 830 when Sadie wanted out to pee. Then I stumbled back to bed, and slept until noon!! I dont like doing this, as I dont get to see much of the day that way.

Last night before I went to bed, I stood out on the back deck, looking at the alder trees. The sky was dark, no moon, but yet was putting out enough starlight I guess that the ALder trees were silouhetted against the dark background. I thought as I stood and looked at them that they looked like giant fish skeletons standing upright on their tails. you could see every branch and they were beautiful. THey are also starting to send out their catkins, which will mean pollen will start flying any day now.

I still have seen no Hummingbirds. ANd no Black headed grosbeaks yet. I did however have a young SEAGULL sit at the feeder and stare down at the peanuts in there. COcking his head and staring down with one eye down and one eye up. Seagulls have webbed feet, so it had to be hard for him to sit on the top of the deck post and perch there. I thought that was rather odd, as I am far enough up the hill away from the water that there is really no reason for him to want to come up there.

Right now the sun is out bright and warm, but the wind has a definate chill to it yet. I had planned to work in the front yard this weekend, but not with my back like it is. NOPE, dont need a chill to settle in back there and really give me fits.

On to other things now...ya'll have fun.

Where are my Hummers?

My Hummingbirds are late! For the past five years I have been keeping tab on when I first see the Hummingbirds at my feeder, and the latest they have been was 4 years ago when they arrived on the 2nd of March. I have had the feeder up for three weeks, because Blogeois said she had them buzzing around and Fran at Northwest notes said She had them in Seattle, so I figured they could be here any day.

I have had the flickers, and the woodpeckers eating the suet like mad, The finches are back in force, the House sparrows and the Red wing Blackbirds are back, but no Hummers!!

We have finally turned the corner to Spring. THe sun has been shining for the past two days, and it is finally warming up!! The Plum tree next door is busting out all over with blossoms, and the crocus are FINALLY coming up through all of the maple leaves that have blown over and covered them up. (hey Free Mulch, ok?)

I am heading over to the Skagit Valley next week and see if the Daffodil Fields have finally popped open. I need me a big big batch of daffodils sitting in my big blue vase on the dining room table!! That always makes me feel like spring has sprung.

What's it like in your neck of the woods?

And on to a lighter note...

I am helping out with the Children's program, Pollyanna, that opens next week. OHMIGAWD!! what a hoot!! The poor little kids are trying very hard, and they just are not ready. I sat through Cast A's rehearsal on Monday night, and "Aunt Polly" could not remember her lines. SHe kept freezing and looking over at the prompter. Meanwhile, there is this teeny tiny little person playing "Old Tom" that has her lines NAILED. unfortunately she says them in monotone and reallyfastcauseifyoustopmeiwillforgetwhatiwassupposedtosay! I laughed and laughed. They are so cute!!! Their costumes have to fit the Cast 1 also, so needless to say, they all fit rather loosely. And watching a 10 yr old try and walk in heels is hysterical! CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP TRIP!

My friend Rusty, got hoodwinked into taking over the show as the former Director was too busy to do it. Rusty is used to working with kids, but not with a show half done already. She will get there, but it is a long reach. I know they will forget their lines...They should have a prompter behind the curtain feeding lines to them. They are going to need it!

Our next Season presentation is The Caine Mutiny COurt Martial which is under way right now. I am producing that, and it is in the first week of rehearsal. This should be an easy one, as the set is simple, and the lighting is all the same except for scene blackouts. Piece of CAKE!! We have several military men playing the roles of the Lawyers, and the defendant and Queeg. It should be a sell out. I HOPE!!

I just finished DOnna's crocheted Bag, and it is really cute!! I may make one for myself!! I tried to post a picture but blogger says NO so I will have to get bloggerbot to do it.


donnas bag

Next on the Agenda is an afghan for Tim. And the picture for that is on it's way too. Then Bill (SIL) wants one too, and then Sherry (SIS IN LAW) wants one, so I will be busy for awhile. I am enjoying this. I did nto think I would, but I am. And then I am going to break out my Cross stitch and try to finish projects there.


Tim's

Meanwhile I am packing my bag to go drag Leslie to the Dr!! (that oughta get her moving huh?) ;)

Judge Not Least ye be Judged...

CAUTION!!! RANT AHEAD!

Religious piety has hit our blog world. At least in my small bit of it. With the firing of D. And the demand that they take their blogs down, two of our own have been censored. All in the name of religion. True, I do not know the whole story, and I probably never will, but for the three years that I have been blogging, K. Has been up beat, above board, and honest! She was a Pastors' wife who was managing to hold on to her own family while having to deal with the problems and frustrations of D's Church families. She did it with class.

D. And K. Brought humanness to the perception of a Man of God. And in fact that is what he is supposed to be. HUMAN! He has a life and failings of his own. The only one who is above human level is GOD! Not a sanctuary full of hypocrites who feel that they are the only type of Christian there should be. BALDERDASH!!

I was a very devote Christian during my growing up years. A member in good standing of the United Methodist Church. Things happened and I fell away from that church and formed my own relationship with God. That does not make me less of a Christian, or less of a person, it just means that things happened that forced me to find another way.

I was becoming cynical at all of the Jesus freaks trying to tell me that His way was the ONLY way. It isn't. I was trying to form a way of reconciling with Christ, when Sept 11, 2001 happened. I was flumoxed! I could not believe that a being could allow that to happen in HIS NAME!! Christian, Jew, or Muslim, we all worship the SAME GOD!! Then other things started happening, and I was becoming less and less enchanted with a belief that would hurt so many innocent people. History goes back and shows you that Christians did the same thing in God's name. THere were the Crusades against the Muslims, There was the Inquisition, (shudder) THere was Hitler, James (WHAT"S HIS NAME and his purple koolaid.) Jones. All in GOD's name!!

Now we have a man of God, trying his darndest to bring people to his congregation, in a way that was different. Not stogy, not all-knowing, but down to earth. Like Man really is. Suddenly he is held to a higher standard because a person calling themselves a good Christian found his blog and was offended at one thing he/she saw on it. Now instead of calling him on the carpet or moving on, it was decided to read ALL of their links and comments. K. has NEVER done anything that I would consider obscene or off color. I Know that D. was having some very difficult times with his depression but I dont think that should be a reason to remove him from his pulpit.

If in fact these GOOD CHRISTIAN people are reading links, and comments, then they are probably reading my blog too, as I commented frequently on K's. To me this is censorship. If you are offended by what you read, then do us all a favor and go elsewhere!

Christian censorship is getting out of hand. TV stations refusing to show a program because it showed a Diety in a bad light. COME ON!! Did any of you watch it? It was GREAT! It showed that a minister and a Bishop have failings too. That should not have been a reason to not show it.

This is now affecting ME and what I want to read, and what I want to watch on TV. And I don't like it one little bit. SO all of you out there that may have come here to see what kind of pornography I may be spewing. check out the archives!! I think I said the word Fuck about 4 times in three years. Maybe a little more. I think I showed my Boobs once. (even though they were covered by a sweater) I talk about my wild life. OOPS that should have been WILDLIFE, and I talk about seeing Lola's backside to see that it really was SAL on the squirrel feeder! and He was eating his nuts! (peanuts)

We in this small community listed on the right hand side bars, are your above average Human beings. We have lives that we talk about, we have hobbies that we show, we talk about our feelings, and hurt when others in our community hurt. We have weight problems and marital problems and kid problems and drinking problems, and some of us even have political problems, but what we dont have is the power to want to censor one tiny little word we read. That is our given right under the US COnstitution. We do have the power to delete, and to not go back to a site that we feel is truely offensive. (Ok, so we do go back to see just how bad DICK can get, but we know he is all bluster!)

You who did have the power to remove a very caring man from his pulpit will get your just due. I hope you sleep well tonight, knowing that you have destroyed a man who really cared about his congregation. You have a woman who is losing faith in her community.

You have done a good job of making sure that I may NEVER go back to organized religion again. I left it because of people like you and I will probably just stay away because of hypocrites like you. I will instead sit on a bluff or the top of a mountain and talk to my God. He doesn't demand a THING from me, not Money, not nice clothes, nothing, and He does not care that I may say something wrong.

He and ONLY He will be my Judge! I sure hope he judges you as harshly as you judged D.

Ok Rant over!!

Time out!

By Golly! I think it is almost SPRING! It has been roller Coastering here weather wise, Rain, sunshine, cold, rain, cold, SNOW, Cold and now Sunshine again. The Daffodils are popping up all over the fields. My crocus never came up so I guess the squirrels got them.

I have been off the computer most of the time, watching the olympics. SO I need to do some catch up after all the festivities are over. I have not forgotten you, just taking a much needed break from the PC and indulging in the TV and the recliner for a bit! :)

WHY wasn't it ME!!

Can you imagine winning 350 million dollars? Even split 8 ways...Can you? Man I can!! I know that I would make a LOT of people very secure in their lives!! I would first donate 10% to the Neo-natal division of Children's Hospital. Then I would find a nice big farm to move to so I could adopt even MORE critters!

A blog party would be right up there too! I would finally get to meet those that have been loyal readers for the three years that I have been blogging. It would have to be somewhere we could all get to easily...Canada? South Africa? New Zealand? How about RUSSIA? Or Greenland? Where should we all meet?

Then I would take a cruise around the world, so I could see all those places where YOU live. I think I would then hire me a personal trainer/life support person, and a chef.

There is a lot more that I would do of course, but those are the first things that popped into my head when I heard there was a winner.

My kids would be set. They would still have to work or go back to school and earn a degree, but that would be their choice. No free rides. Sorry. Tim would blow it all, SO I would have to make sure that his was in a trust fund and doled out yearly, As long as he worked to improve his life. I know he would, He just needs a big break. I think. Donna would probably quit her job, and move someplace where she could buy a house and go back to school to get her Doctorate. She would Change her Major I think, and instead of Chemistry, and molecular biology she would concentrate on Organics and Community planning. I don't worry about her,at all, she is tough, she will do fine.

My family could all retire. Phyllis would. She is ready. But then she would be worn out trying to squeeze all her friends into all her spare time!! (shaking head)
Mike would be able to retire and not worry about having to work with a bad back. Sherry could quit the job she has, and find one she LIKES close to home. Galen would be able to go to school and get his medical degree, He has always wanted to be a surgeon. He would not get a lump sum either. He is 28 and single and LOVES toys! He works hard, but he has a lot of toys!

Bob would not want anything. He does not like material things. I think for him, I would take him on a cruise with me, then while he was gone, I would have someone clean his place up, finish it, and then put in a well built, ready to plant garden, complete with raised beds, and a 6' chain link fence with a locking gate. Keeps both the 2 footed and 4 footed Deer/dears away. He lives on a very visible piece of land just before the entrance to a very busy State park. Lots of curious eyes.

I think then I would set up a grant program that would help women get back on their feet after finding themselves jobless or homeless. Not a free ride, there would be conditions, but it would be a boot strap. I know I sure could have used one once! I didn't have one, I made it, but It sure would've helped!

AHHHHHH TO dream. How about you? What would you do with your winnings if you won the POWER BALL? I know you have all thought about it...

Still COLD here...

I woke up at least 3 times last night having Power Surges!! Id kick the covers off, then wake up freezing and put them back on, then wake up later sweating again. I did this drill about 3 times, until I realized that it was REALLY cold out side, and all four cats were on MY side of the blanket or on top of me. I evidently turned off their half in my sleep, and cranked mine way up in a chilly moment. They did NOT appreciate that fact. SO they all piled on me, to keep warm, and since I was not comfortable, I cranked their side up and my side down! I also cracked ipen the window and hunkered under the covers with just my nose sticking out. I shone the flash light out the window to see if there was any snow, but there was none. THe owls were taking advantage of the crisp clear night, and hooting back and forth with each other. At one of my conscious moments, they owls were hooting back and forth and then they started their screeching talk. At the same time the COyotes and a dog got in to it and there was yips and barks and howls and hoots and screeching all going on out back. THe cats were growling and Sadie wanted out to take them all on. I just love living in the boonies!

I have a fire built in the wood stove again tonight, and all of the cats and Sadie are lined up in front of it snoring away...oops I lied!! Sadie just moved out on to the bare floor, musta got too warm for her. She'll be back in the middle of the cats before long.

Donna came home today, and we had a nice visit. She polished off the left over birthday cake and almost the rest of the spaghetti. Grabbed her mail, grabbed her new afghan, and headed back home. I get to see her about twice a month. I asked where her husband was, and he had gone to see HIS Mom today. so it must be Mother Sunday! Bill as I have said before is My age, so his Mom is REALLY old.

I am finishing putting together some old Knitted squares, that Mom had made when she was bored. She used old ugly yarn, and each one was a different pattern, and they are all different sizes, but my SIL wanted me to make an afghan out of them so I crocheted a border around each square and then a border of multi-colored yarn around that to hook them all together. It is Butt Ugly, but Sherry wanted it, so I am almost through with that. Then the next project is to try and finish a scrapbook for her, 1 for me and 1 for each of the kids.

I start a new show tomorrow with Auditions for THE CAINE MUTINY COURT MARTIAL. Then all my show projects are done for this year. I have no idea what the schedule will be like for next year. I may not get picked for one, so I may be just kicking back and relaxing some. (ha!)

I can feel the cold coming right through my double paned windows, so you know it is chilly out there again tonight. It is predicted to warm up tomorrow though as the clouds move in. THen the rain will start again.

The birds are starting to come back more and more now. I have red finches, pine siskins, and the red winged blackbirds that have not been around very long. THe Juncos have been around all year, as have the woodpeckers and the chickadees and doves. I have not heard the QUail yet this year. I hope all the coyotes and Owls have not chased them all off.

I will try and get around to everyone's blog before the olympics start tomorrow, I am LOVING the coverage!!! I wait every time for them to come on. Next Winter ones are in Vancouver, BC, and that is right over there, so Maybe I can go see some. That would be so cool!

BRRRRRRR.......

The sun is out bright and warm, but it is very misleading. It is COLD out there. It got down to 20 F last night about 2AM. Miss Coyote and Mr. Owl woke Sadie up with their hooting and howling, so of course she had to go out and see what all the ruckus was about, and sniff all over the yard chasing ghost bunnies. I stepped out on the deck in my barefeet, saw the shimmer of ice and grabbed on tight to keep from falling. No Leslie, I did not!! :)

There is a very deep Jet stream coming down from the Arctic, bringing with it COLD CLEAR air. By tomorrow morning, we should be colder than we have been in many years, according to Jeff Renner our crack meteorologist on KING 5 News. Down into the teens and lower at night and windchills below zero. Along with all of this we are predicted to get strong winds down the Strait! Swell. Wind, Cold, and maybe SNOW! I LOVE the winter weather, and I really get into the COLD CLEAR SUNNY days, and I love the crisp cclear nights. But I am really needing SPRING.

I want to take my coffee out onto the deck and lap up the morning sun. Too cold right now. But SOON.

######################Stuff#######################

THe Moon was absotively GORGEOUS last night and the night before, which brings up a question. DOes the Moon look the same down there as it does up here? I know it is the same full, but do you get to see the same man in the moon, or do you see a slightly different side of the moon? Michelle? EDT? anyone down under?

Does anyone know how much it costs to have a blog template designed? I cant find a price on ones I have looked at. Do you have any people you go through that might be able to help? no commitments yet, but I am looking.

Which one of you has the traveling DVD of BLITHE SPIRIT? Last I heard it was leaving Alaska heading for Canada...but which canadian? And what happened to Mr. NUT?

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines from me and all the critters....


I have been watching all I can of the Olympics and I tell you if I was a youngster today, I would be all over snow boarding the half pipe!!! That looks like sooo much fun!! If I did it now though I would break every bone in my body!! But I am living watching it and actually all of the contests!! The Nordic racing, the Ice racing, the Ice skating, the skiing, everything.

Seattle's Apollo Ohno has started out on the wrong foot, and missed his best race the 1500. He slipped and lost to the Korean. There is still 3 more races for him to medal in though. The Chinese are really up and coming in the ice skating arts!! THey have three pairs in the finals, and 2 of them could medal.

Our weather is getting really weird, It has turned really cold but still clear, and the moon tonight was spectacular. The mainland is getting thundershowers hail and snow right now, we are getting wind and cold. Tomorrow the high is only going to be in the low 30's!! BRRRRRR Snow is even predicted!! Wow!!

Hope you all are all right with the blizzards that have been happening in the East, and the COLD in the South. Sure will be glad when Spring gets here!!!

Class Act!!!

mk

9 United States Championships, 5 World Championships, a Silver Medal and a Bronze Medal, and absolutely the best overall Ice skater we have ever seen. Yes there have been others that have won the Gold! They have come in, jumped ahead, won the gold, and rightly so, and then dissappeared! Michelle Kwan has had a fantastic career, a steady,consistant ice skater, that has raised the bar so high, that she will be a hard act to follow. THere will be other gold medal winners, and there will be other ice skaters, but none as classy as Michelle has been.

She has retained such a positive attitude through it all, with absolutely no bad press, no temper tantrums, no whining, just great consistant skating. Yesterday she pulled out of the Olympics, ending her dream, but doing it in such a way that another girl's dreams could be realized. Michelle could have stayed in the games, and skated a less than perfect program, and maybe ended up hurting herself far worse than the dissapointment of pulling out did.

Michelle, You are a true STAR, and you are a gold medal winner in my book. You will be missed. Good Luck!

Playing!

For the past three months, Our weather has looked like this:


from this...

And for the past three days it has looked like THIS!


to this!!

So tell me folks, where would YOU be? Sitting on a sunny bluff or sitting behind a computer?

Guess where I was?

Be back tomorrow!!!

AHHHH......

Man, it has been so damn pretty the past two days. I have just slugged and enjoyed it. Yesterday the SUN was coming through the bedroom window and casting a beam right on me. And also on the four cats that were on top of me in it!!

I got up, opened the curtain wider, kicked the cats off the bed, and just spread out with my face upward and just lay there soaking it up until the sun went over the top of the house. Yeah, I Know. It was NOON!! so who cares, I'm retired, I can do that if I want to. It just felt good, and I considered it therapeudic...soaking up Vitamin D ya know.

I then had to go turn in my taxes, photocopy a bunch of scripts at the playhouse, and order the shirts for the CAINE MUTINY COURT MARTIAL. Auditions are Feb 20-21.
I am also Helping out the kids production of POLLYANNA, The original staff all left, and the new staff is picking up the pieces and trudging onward. I am helping out, and creating the posters. etc.

Today, I slugged again, drank a pot of coffee and have spent the day with the windows and doors open and listened to the birds enjoying the sun. I am assembling Donnas Afghan, and hope to have it done by Sunday.

I filled all the feeders, hung the Hummingbird feeder (I know it's early, but I heard they were back already.) I also filled all the suet feeders and watched as woodpecker after woodpecker came to it. The Chickadees were starting to pair up, the Red wing blackbirds are back, the females flocking to the feeder while the male sits on the fence and gurgles. Sadie stayed out most of the afternoon, so there were no Lola's or grey squirrels.

I think I am going to go to bed early tonight as there is not a damn thing on TV worth watching this week, and I have had a really hard day! ( :) ) THere is something about sunshine that just makes you sleepy! Expecting more big winds in the foothills and through the Strait tonite, so I better keep the lanterns handy.

Hope I have a NICE dream tonight...last night it was about a baby Grizzly Bear that I had in my back yard in Greenland. ?????? and how we had to pick it up by helicopter and take it North because my neighbors were complaining....must be the drugs...

Bad dreams....

Last week I said that I was in a rut...And I am, but I also had a few suggestions on what to write about. Ellen wanted to hear about my recurring dreams and what I thought that meant.

I have several, and as with any dream, you just can not verbalize it to match the movie in your head. It always turns out dis-jointed. But I have one that I have had regularly since childhood. I have not had it in awhile though, because my brain is full of soooo much other "stuff".

In this dream, which takes all night to dream ya know, I am a young girl/woman...Probably an older teenager. I am with a boy/man the same age. We are dressed in old time clothes. Which could be anywhere from 1400 to late 1800's...Hard to tell, as I am wearing a long skirt, and he is wearing buckskins, or something like that.

We are running through the woods, running running running, crashing through the brush that is growing under the tall dark forest. I don't know what kind of trees, but I do not think they are fir trees, or evergreens. We are running out of breath as we had been at this for a long while, and there is a fear associated with the running, as if we are being chased or running FROM something. My heart is beating really fast, and I am scared. I am also very cautious. My companion seems to be either a brother or a friend, not a romantic interest I do not think. He is also full of fear. I can feel it now as I type this, but I never know what I am afraid of.

Suddenly we are seeing the edge of the forest, and we slow down, and then we are on our knees and crawling through the last bit of brush and popping through it on to the top of a knoll. The knoll is not high, but overlooks a big green pasture, with a rugged log fence on the far side. The pasture appears to be really really big, and we are resting on our tummys, and looking over the scene. The pasture had sheep in it. But they are all dead! We are laying there looking at all the dead sheep and we are shocked at the sight.

I do not think they are my sheep, but neither one of us knows why they are dead, or who did it.

I wake up at this point, leaving the dream running through my head for the rest of the day. I have mentioned it to two therapists, and neither could give me any answers. I have even tried to analyze it myself and can come to no conclusions. I do feel that we were either in America, in the colonial days, or in England way back. Maybe both...????

I have mentioned before that I think I have possibly lived a life as a pioneer, but I don't know if this has anything to do with that. It is an upsetting dream, and I wonder about it a lot. Sounds kind of innocuous reading back over it, but when I dream it I am THERE and I am running, and I wake up scared and out of breath, and feeling like there is something wrong.

Ok Ellen... Now interpret it for me. :)

WHOA!!! What a ride!

The winds hit about midnight last night, and roared over the house at Storm force winds until about 630AM then calmed down to gale force winds. It sounded like a huge plane going over. Needless to say I got NO sleep until daybreak! The garage door is not air tight, and it kept rattling, I was afraid it was going to blow in, but it held.

I heard branches break and trees fall all night in the woods, but thank GOD the wind blows INTO the trees, so I did not have to worry about them.

Phyllis is still without power, but mine is back on, and has been since 130 this afternoon, although I was gone and did not know that.


after storm

On my way into Oak Harbor, I drove along the beach, and the water was brown out about 200 feet, then it turned the dark blue. That means that the water really was stirred up during the night. THe tide was high just as the winds were receeding, but it still caused flooding over the roads, as you czan tell by the pictures. The yellow line and the white line are the center line of Highway 20 along Keystone Spit!





wet road

Just watched the weather report, and it appears that the Islands got hit the hardest. Whidbey was without power, and some parts will be for several days. I was laying there at 6AM going through the things I had ready, and remembered that I had no ground coffee!! SO I got up ran into the kitchen and ground up some beans so I could make a pot of coffee on my camp stove. WOrked like a charm, as I did not lose power until 1030 this morning. That is usually what happens, the lights will blink but wont go out unless a tree falls across the lines, but when the power company starts putting people back on line, they knock others off. I do not know why Coupeville is without power, I did not see any trees over the lines, must have blown a transformer!

We are due to get about 5 straight days of SUN!!! I am sooo ready!!!

February 4, 1949...She was born!

UPDATE;

We made it through the storm with no damage to our houses, We are all without power, and I am on battery laptop!! LUV technology!!

THe highest winds were 78 MPH and kept me awake all night. THe cats were nervous, and chitters was jumping from one window to the next. Lint, Loki ans Ethel had a warm spot on the blanket and were not moving. I had power all through the storm, but lost it about 3 hours ago. Got out the Coleman Camp stove and set it up to make coffee this morning. THere are times when the power will stay out for several days especially when the whole area is down. I know Oak Harbor has power, as I called to see if my meeting was still on. YEP! so now I have to see how far up the road I can get before I run into a downed tree. We always get so excited when something like this hapens, especially after having called to make sure everyone is safe. THe only one I could not get ahold of was Tim, but He never calls, so I should not worry. HE is used to living in the woods!! Literally, with no power! I called DOnna, and she growled at me, so she is fine too. No Hello Mom, just a WHAT? grrrr I love mannerly children!!! I will update you more when I get back, gotta run into town and see how the rest fared. THe neighbor just drove in with groceries, so obviously SOMETHING is open.




Phyllis Ann

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHYLLIS!!!!!!!

Phyllis Ann Came into my life Feb 4, 1949. Up until that time I had been a spoiled only child, living with my AUnt and my Mother, and for a very short while, my Father.

Dad was gone overseas a lot, and during this time we lived where Mom was raised. Phyllis was born in San Diego, and when she was 6 weeks old we left for Honolulu, T.H. (Territory of Hawaii) to meet Dad and live with him for a full 5 years!! She became Dad's favorite, as he had never been around a baby before, and I stayed Mom's Little Girl.

We fought like Sisters for most of our lives, and where I was always a lady, or was expected to be anyway, Phyllis was a rebel. ALWAYS. Still is!! She went out of her way to make my life a living Hell. SHe was after all being a little Sister.

It was not until we were grown and married that we became as close as we are right now. Maybe we were too busy trying to live our own lives, but we mixed like oil and water. Now I would not trade her for the world! She is my best friend.

And today she is 57!! So Everybody bee-bop over to her blog and wish her a happy birthday!!!

And don't worry if neither one of us is not around for a few days, we MIGHT be powerless. A HUGE storm is due to hit tonight with winds sustained up to 50-60 MPH and gusts over 80! THey are warning everyone to tie it all down, and prepare to be without power for a few days.

LOLOLOLOL Seattle FINALLY makes it to the Super Bowl, and the Fates are sending a wind storm to cut off our power so no one can see it!!! LOLOLOLOLOL

Needless to say generators are flying off the shelves!!

ARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!

It's true! The Bastard saw his shadow! He ran back into his den and that means we will have 6 more weeks of this shit!!! I soooooo want Spring!!! Nice warm, spring! Flowers blooming, bees buzzing, trees budding warm spring!!!!

We had 13" of rain in January alone, and normally Coupeville and Whidbey Island, being in the banana belt of the Pacific Northwest, only has 17" a YEAR!!! Mt. Baker had over 20 FEET of snow in the last three weeks!! Un real!!

We are expecting a very strong low pressure system to come ashore either tonight or tomorrow morning bringing more high winds and rain!! Yesterday there were over 40000 people with no power! and the really strong spring winds have not even hit yet!! Gonna be a fun year, I can just feel it! THe tides are really high right now, and with the low pressure system hitting just as the tides are their highest, the lowlands are getting tidal overflow, and washing away beachfront homes! (AWWWWWW!!!!!)

My yard is so wet it squishes when I walk across it!! I sure hope my septic system doesnt go south! That would suck big time!!

Once this next series of storms goes through then we are predicted to have a whole week of scattered sunshine!!! oh I can't wait!!!

In the mean time....GO HAWKS!!!!!

Stuck in a rut....

I am sooooo stuck in a rut!! I get up, come in and do my blogwalk, go watch Oprah and the news and then crochet until bedtime, then I go to bed and read, until I get sleepy which can be 4AM, and if I cant get comfortable, I will take 2 excedrin PM which will knock me flat out until noon! Then I get up and start all over again. I am getting only 8 hours of sleep, which is not too much, but I want it to be from midnight until 8 AM!

I have let my brain go to sleep, and I can not get creative. I work so much better under pressure. Of course the stress level was killing me...Now I am a slug. My house is clean though, and I don't sit and do NOTHING, I am busy at home, but I want to WRITE! I can not think of anything to write about except boring rain, and more boring rain, and boring pets and more boring rain! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Somebody give me a subject!!! (no Wanda, I WILL NOT do politics!! )

Busy busy busy...

With all of this rain, there is no way I am getting out and working in the yard. So as I mentioned in previous posts, I drug out my 18 year old box of crochet projects, and almost finished the unfinished projects. I made mine, I made the multigenerational one, I finished the one Bob hates, and now I am working on this one for Donna. This one is actually a brand new project, and I think I may finish this one by the weekend!

I ran out of yarn so Saturday I ran in to walmart and bought 4 more skeins of no dye lot cherry red! And it did not match!! I was pissed!!!! It was just a shade off. So after making two squares and putting them beside the others I had finished, and noticed the shade difference, I switched to another skein, and it was dead on!! WHEW!!!!

Donna wanted either a Sow Thistle pattern which we could not find anywhere or a Log cabin pattern. (YUCK) so I decided I would make the rose bower pattern, only all in cherry red, no other color! It is really cool!! She came over yesterday to collect her mail, and she brought the vogue magazine with both of those patterns she wanted. Too late, but the log cabin that is in there is GORGEOUS!!! So rich and elegant, nothing like the ugly strips of yarn crocheting that I have seen on line. So I may plan another afghan. It keeps me out of trouble.

Rusty was called and asked if she would take over the children's performance of POLLYANNA, as the other director was no longer doing it. So we are again teaming up on a show. It is a show between shows, and should not be a big deal. I am just doing the art work and the photos, so that will be easy. I start full out producing my next show CAINE MUTINY COURT MARTIAL next month. Then there is absolutely nothing on the slate! I am hoping I will be selected as a director for next season, but that is the Board's decision. We shall see.

Oh MAN!! It is getting really dark again, so I guess our sunshine is gone. We had about 2 hours of bright sun in between storm systems. Places are flooding, land is sliding, snow is avalanching, rivers are actually changing their course and some places got over 5 inches of rain last night!! And more today!! And tomorrow!! And the next day!!!!!! Somebody send me a towel...

Storm # 35.....

I swear it feels like it!! I know we have had storm after storm after storm march in here. Last night about 10 pm, the wind started blowing in from the Strait again, and smacked right into the front of the house. By the time I was ready to go to bed at 1130 I noticed that rain was coming in my bedroom window. ODD!! My bedroom faces East! The storm was coming from the West! What had happened was the rain was falling hard, and the wind was blowing just as hard, so it whipped through the 10 feet between the houses, and whipped right around the corner and splatted into my window!

It was 38 degrees STILL! and it was cold again! On went the electric blanket and the afghan! and up came 4 cats! Sadie was in her pen in the bathroom, so she was just fine. I had taken 2 excedrin PM to help the pain in my hip and back, and went right out, and stayed out until Sadie woke me up jumping up and down with her little legs crossed. SHe RAn to the backdoor whinning, and when I got there and opened the door WHOOSH out she ran, and peed for a full 2 minutes!! She was glad to get out. She is Such a good dog!

Right now I have some shortribs thawing in the microwave so I can get them into the oven. I told Bob that I would cook them for dinner tonight, so I guess I had better do so. I know I saw a recipe for some that sounded oh so Nummy, but now I cant remember where it was, Gourmet Magazine I think.

It is sunny and breezy out right now, so I think I am going to take advantage of that fact and head outside for some Vitamin D!! I also need to run to that W store (shudder) and get some more yarn for Donna's afghan! I ran out last night, and I have nothing to crochet!! arrgghhhhh!!!

Catch ya later...

BRRRRRRRRR...

It has gotten so COLD!! Yesterday after my walk the day before, I could barely move, because of my back. I sat and crocheted Donna's afghan most of the day with Icy Hot all over my hips and back. Just as the sky was getting darker, the wind came up, and It blew a cold angry wind. It blew right through the very tight house that I have, and right into my bones! Sadie sat on the chair and shivered, so I got up and built a roaring fire in the wood stove. I used two pieces of seasoned fir, and then as it went down I threw another piece of fir on it and then it got WARM!! It got so warm, from those three pieces of fir, that I actually had to open the window in my bedroom. I usually always have it open a crack, but lately I have closed it when t in there. Last night I opened it, and it sucked the heat right through the house, into my bedroom, and stayed there all night. Now that is what I call an efficient stove!!!

I kicked the covers off about 300 this morning, and woke up in a sweat. That lasted until about 700 and then I was shivering again. The weather has been so weird compared to normal. A month of rain, and then a few days of cloudy dry, and then one day of SUN and then another cold windy storm. The lights flickered several times last night and I just knew the power was going to go out. SO far we have been lucky.

Japan is getting dumped on with snow, unusually heavy snow, and then those storms head east...Right across the pacific ocean and smack right into us. They have warmed up so all we get is wet, but they have not warmed up significantly. It hovered today around 38 degrees, and is not expected to move much one way or the other. 38 is not really that cold, but when you have a 40 mile an hour wind, laced with a lot of mist, the chill factor is down there!! I would look it up but my server wont let me. When I am on this page, I have to stay here and publish or it loses everything and kicks me off line, so as soon as I publish I will look it up and put it in the comments.

just trust me, It is cold!! Time to go build another fire. BRRRRRRR!!!

What a GLORIOUS Day!!!

AHHHHHHH Sunshine!!!! Beautiful warm life sustaining sunshine!! I got up early and was really disappointed that the sky was not clear. It was foggy. But it burned off about noon and the sun was soooo bright!!!

I got dressed, loaded Sadie into the car and headed out with camera in hand. It was time to take some digital therapy!! I ran into the Base and got gas, and headed to Fort Ebby State Park. Washington started charging for the use of the Parks System, 5.00 a day, and I had not been there in a few years. But Bob being the practical person that he is, got me a Yearly pass for my Birthday.!!! WHOOP!!!





I drove in with the pass in the window and actually got out and walked along the beach for about 200 yds. It got rather rocky, and I was unsteady on my feet, and my back and hip started to go when I rocked on the rugged rocks, so I just stopped and drank it all in... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH




The Bluff had eroded way past where it used to be, and the last time I was here it was not so Rocky, SO Mama has been busy on this side of the Island. If you look closely you can see where the different layers of rocks and ash and silt have been laid down during the Ice Age, and as it was receeding.





This beach is also where during really low tides, Mammoth Molars and skulls have been found. It just sends shivers down my spine to look at that freshly fallen bluff and know that I am probably the very first human being to see those very rocks!! WOW!!





THe fallen tree was way up on the top of the bluff last year. Now you see why I grumble at the idiots that build their trophy houses on the bluff edge and then yell when the rains come and the bluff slides into the sea and takes their land with them. as you look at the picture below, you can see where the bluff used to be three years ago. The entire Puget SOund area is all made of the same Glacial deposits, and if the edge of your land is on a bluff, you can bet your bippy that it will some day be beachfront too!

Starry starry night....

I woke up early this morning, just as it was getting light, and noticed that it was still drippy and drizzly and gray out. It was supposed to be clear and dry today and for the next three days, I was hoping it would be so I could get the lawn mowed, as The grass is tickling Sadies little Hind end when she goes out to pottie. It is a bright bright green, and growing fast!! It is only January, and our coldest weather is still to come!! It usually hits in February, with a snow in March and then it is Spring.

As I went in to the store tonight just as it was getting dark, I looked at the horizon and it was clear! The clouds were just passing over, and the evening was arriving clear and cold! On the drive bam the store, I noticed the stars out. Crisp and clear, and loud! Right on the prairie, where there were no trees blocking the eastern horizon, I noticed that Orion was out bright and beautiful! This was at 630 PM.

Orion is my touchstone, I wait for it every August, and feel like have been reborn when I spot it for the first time each Fall. It usually comes over the top of the trees around 500 AM around the middle of August. Just in time to get lost in the sunrise. I see it and know that the cooler days of fall are coming, and I am at peace.

I have no idea why I am so drawn to this constellation, maybe in another life, I was from a star in that formation.

Each night that I can see the stars, I look for Orion, and it gets higher and higher in the sky earlier and earlier in the evening, on its march across the southern sky and on to oblivion. Soon it will be blanked out by the evening light again. Our nights are getting shorter and shorter, and it is now staying light enough to see until about 600. And it is almost light enough to see at 700AM!

I just let Sadie out for her night time pee, and stood on the deck with my breath heading skyward in huge moist clouds, and looked at the stars. Orion was right up there, and right out of its belt flew a shooting star. Way up high but bright enough to see it's brief light, as it flew over my head and on to the cosmos.

It was if Orion was saying to me..."keep watching Mary Lou, I'm still here for a few more months!"

I will...and I will be watching again in August when you return from your visit to the Southern Hemisphere. Be safe!

I'm here...REALLY!

I am sorry I have been so scarce, But I have had a major melt down stressing over a presentation I had to do for the playhouse last night. I can do behind the scenes just fine! But when I have to get ON STAGE!! I Panic!!!

I have had since November to get this prepared, and I just could not move on it!! I froze in fear!! It literally had me in TEARS, I function, and I could not create! I don't know why this started, because I used to be able to be on stage with others just fine, but about 7 years ago, at an employee award ceremony, I froze, and almost passed out. And ever since I just PANIC. I almost passed out last night, but I made it through, But I did not do as well as I knew I COULD. Ah well, water under the bridge! On to other things!

I had Kim at Bacon and ehs ask me how I knew when everybody's BD were, and several have asked, so...

I have a daytimer that I used when I was working, and I have tabs for every blog I visit, with the names, blog, BD's and Addresses on that page. Every Month I look at the calendar coming up and sit down and make cards for everybody that month. Then I send them out so hopefully they will arrive in time.

Now for those of you that have refused to give your addresses, YOU DON'T GET ONE. NA NANANANA NA!

and I make really pretty Xmas cards too, and some times I send out Valentines! SO make sure you have your address correct in my book!!

I have to go root on those SEAHAWKS! It is the 2nd Qtr, and they are ahead 10-0!! Oh MAN!! They have worked so very very hard to get this far, Let's hope they make it to the super Bowl.

OH!!! 17-0 now!!! Whoot!!!! It is that 12th man that is doing it! Even Hasselbeck says that!

Later.....

Wanna take a test?...

I got this yesterday in an email, and I can not for the life of me remember who sent it. Brenda? ANy way, it hit home...so I decided to post it here. see how good you are...

1895 Eighth Grade Final Exam

Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. - - - This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, KS, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th GRADE FINAL EXAM

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb. Give Principal Parts of. lie, lay and run
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8 Find bank discount on $300 for! 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U. S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U. S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of ?America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour)

1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, sub vocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, si te, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall &Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republic s of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Also notice that the exam took five hours to complete. Gives the saying "she/he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? What happened to us? ?? I have more than a high school education and hold my Associates Degree in business management and computer science (ok it was waay back before computers were really easy...ok?) and I tell you, I would have to do a lot of studying to get this test aced. And I graduated with a 3.8 GPA!!

There is also a new law in the state of Washington that all 8th grade students HAVE to take the WASL test and pass it before they graduate. The hew and cry that is coming out of this law is loud and long!! only about 56% of the students are able to pass it. If they do not pass it, they have 4 more years to retake and pass those sections they did not pass the first time. The parents are all up in arms. I personally think it is about time that we raised the bar on our education levels of our children.

We have become a nation of uneducated, ill-mannered, boorish people, that expect others to take care of them. It is time for a wake up call folks. Teach your children what they need to learn in order to get a job that will pay a living wage! Don't let them settle for good enough. This is one time that good enough IS NOT!!

(and how did you all do on this? )

Ride into yesterday...

I had to take Sadie into the groomer this morning, and I took the road along West Beach. It was a cold, Dark Morning, no rain, but the threat of it was there. As I drove down the road, It was like I was in a time machine, taking me back, back, back into the early 50's when we first came to the Island from Hawaii. I saw Phyllis Ann in her plaid coat, and Dad in his eskimo parka, along the beach and throwing driftwood up on to the berm along the road. We lived in a log cabin with a fireplace, the first we had ever seen. And back then, where we lived was so far out in the boonies, that taking driftwood off the beach was accepted. So every weekend we would pile into the car, put the back seat down in the Nash Rambler station wagon, pile into the front seat, and head to the beach for firewood.

We spent all afternoon walking the beach and throwing the wood up onto the road. We would also be beach combing, and there were some good finds back in those days. We would then turn around and wait at the end of the road, while Dad went back for the car. He drove it up to where we were and then we would open the back end and load up the wood, drive on to the next piece and load it up and so on until we were back at the beginning, and the car was stuffed so full, that sometimes we had to sit on each others lap, as the long pieces rode over the seat back and up onto the dash board.

Once home, we would unload it and then Phyllis Ann and I would grab the 2 man buck saw, and cut it into 2 foot lengths, and Dad would split it and stack it in the wood shed.

We not only brought back wood to keep us warm, but we also brought back memories of runny noses and frozen fingers, and sleet, and misty rain, and fog. But you know what they saw about firewood, it warms you twice. Once when you cut it and once when you burn it. In our case it was many more times than that, as the warm memories of spending an afternoon out in the boonies with your Dad and Sister, keep coming back every time I drive down that road on a dark gloomy cold morning.

Finally!!!

afghan

As you can see the picture does not do this justice, I will try to get a better picture once the sun comes out. My camera is in low light mode, and I cant remember how to get it off. I will play some and hopefully get a close up of one of the squares, so you can see the detail in the black. I am pretty proud of this one too.
Bob told me to auction it off on Ebay, and I told him, I could not get what it cost me to make! He did not understand, until I told him that the YARN itself did not cost much 20.00 total, but the 80 hours plus that I put into it had to be factored in also, and at a low rate of 10.00 an hour, I would have to charge at LEAST 1000.00 for it and NO ONE would pay that much for a hand crafted 30 year old afghan!!

(WOULD THEY? Hmmmmmmm)

33 Years later...

When I was going through some boxes I have carted around for years and years, I found an afghan that I had started for myself out of scraps of yarn. I had totally forgotten about it, and only had 10 squares done. It was going to be a coverlet for our King size Bed. I have a tiny Queen bed now, so I tore it apart and finished it to fit my bed. It is soooo pretty, the picture does not do it justice, and I still have to put fringe on it, but it is finally done. I had started it when my son was a year old. Tim is now 34! I'm surprised the yarn was not rotten. I had started it so that each rose would be a different color, but in rethinking it I decided to just go with the colors that I have and get another project finished. WHEW!!!!

Well It appears that Blogger is being a SHIT, SO I guess there will be no picture.

Uh Lord? What's a cubit?

27 straight days of Rain, and still coming...

When I was a lot younger, Bill Cosby had an album of comedy out. On it was a monologue he had as Noah, talking to God. And it was so funny, I remember the line in my title and remember laughing at it. Now I am thinking that Maybe I had better start getting my ark ready for travel. It actually did not rain very much right here on Friday, but it dumped on Seattle, which is where they measure the rain at. There is a very slim chance that we will have sun breaks on Sunday, and if it is timed just right, we might break this streak. 33 days is the record from 1953, and if we do break it, we will be the longest period of rain at one stretch. A tad bit wet!

Even with all of the rain down here and the snows in the Mountains, we are still really really dry for the year. Places that usually fill up and form little lakes in the pastures are still dry, and even Hastie Lake is waaaay down still. We need this water to fill our reservoirs back up. We also need it to generate our electricity that we sell to California. ( >:( ) there has been 7 feet of snow dumped on Mt Baker this week, and it still is no where near the record that it set world wide in 1998! So even though we are wet, and some of the lowland creeks lakes and rivers are flooding, we are not yet up to capacity.

Tonight Bob and I went to see Chronicles of Narnia! I highly recommend it to anyone! It was a darling little movie! There were only about 10 of us old farts in there, so it must be on it's way out, it has been here for three weeks already. We left the theater and then went to dinner. I could get used to this eating out all the time stuff. I like not having to cook. We had Pork Tenderloin, with apple chutney, and mashed potatoes and gravy. GOOD STUFF!

I am trying to finish an old afghan that I had started waaay back there, and never finished. I was trying to make each square a different colored flower (cabbage Rose) so I never got very far on it. Since I am going through things and sorting out and stashing away, and organizing, I ran across it, and pulled it out. I should be through with it by the end of next week. I have been a crocheting fool. THe squares are the cabbage rose, with green leaves, and the main color is black which sets it off beautifully. I had planned it for a king size bed, and was going to use it as a bedspread, so I had to deconstruct the ones I had sewed together, and redo the main color. It is impressive! Even if I do say so myself.

I want this year to be the year that I finish projects. Lord knows I have enough of those floating around to last for SEVERAL years. I really need to paint the front porch and the deck. But not until it dries out. I need to finish the floors. the transition strips still are not down from 4 years ago. (ok, ok!) I still have to paint the ceiling in the living room, and I still have to paint my bedroom and install the wallpaper border around the ceiling.

I am finally getting sandy eyes, so I am going to once again try to get some sleep. I went to bed at 1100 and fell right to sleep, and then woke up at 130 wide awake. Pisses me off!! But I am retired, I can do that if I need to. back to bed. See you when the sun comes up. or it gets light.

And STILL it rains...

25 straight days of rain and counting....


This is what some of the roads in Washington and Oregon look like right now. There has been LOTS of water coming out of these systems on THE PINEAPPLE EXPRESS. As soon as this one right now passes, there will be a slight break in the clouds, and it will get colder. But it will still rain, just not as hard, and then MORE rain after that. Sunday we MIGHT get a 24 hour break, but it is not guaranteed.

Last night coming home from Dinner, there was a break in the clouds and we actually saw stars and an almost full moon. After I left Phyllis' place, and headed out across the prairie, I could see the clouds above Everett/Seattle area, all underlit by the lights of the cities. Looked really cool.

THe birds have been going through the suet blocks like there was no more tomorrow! They are even starting to hang on the empty baskets and stare in the window at me as if to say, "get your sorry ass out here and FEED ME!" I do too. The squirrels have not been out lately either. THey have a tendency to stay holed up in inclimate weather. Smart animals. Probably stuffing themselves on all those yummy walnuts and peanuts they carried off this fall. Oh and I should not forget the craisins either, they LOVE those.

THe wind is hitting me pretty hard right now, coming down the STRAIT, out of the West. THe alders are bent over and snapping branches right and left. Just hope I dont get that tall tree aacross the street into my Dining room. I think if it ever does go, it will fall right between mine and Lea's places. hmmmm free cord wood.

SO where ever you are, and you have sunshine, enjoy it. I would love to send some of this reain to you, but alas, my powers are rusting away....

Over the hump!

24 straight days of rain....10 more predicted!

The Weather reports are getting grimmer and wetter! The lakes are filling up and spilling over, and the rivers are all on flood watch. Snoqualmie Falls is at Maximum Flow right now, and is a sight to behold. Normally it is two streams, coming together half way down, bit today it is flowing hard and fast!!

At full flow it is over 36000gallons a second! A lot of water heading down to the lowlands, and into the basements of all the trophy houses that have been built on the 100 year flood plain. The news tonight was full of people bemoaning the fact that their big new houses were all flooding. TSK TSK> come here with all your money, and buy up our cheap farm land to build your trophy houses, without knowing the lay and the history of the land, and you get what you deserve. Yes it is a sad thing to see, and I fully blame the developers who have crossed the local governments palms with money to get the building sites approved. If it was wet 15 years ago, what in God's name makes you think it is gonna be dry forever? We have been in a drought for several years, and right now we are having normal winter. All of the land that used to be available to soak up all the water has now been either clear-cut or paved. The paved land right around the shores, fills up with water and it runs off into the lakes and rivers. DUH!!!! Does not take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. I get so DAMN frustrated at developers and contractors who build on top of each other just to make a quick buck. PLAN the new developments, make them earth friendly, hide them with native trees, leave plenty of room for average year run-off, and stay the HELL AWAY from the salmon streams!!!

OK..Rant over. SIGH!!!

Wow What a birthday!! I opened my blog to see all these comments, even from people I have never seen before. Thank You all!! It really meant a lot to me. Your Birthday is YOURS it belongs to YOU, and no one else in your family can have it. SO Birthdays are the one day a year that you should be treated special!
I Was. Phyllis took me out to dinner tonight, to our local Mediterranean/Greek grill. And I had Veal Parmesan, and Greek Salad, topped off with a piece of Birthday Baklava!! Homemade, fresh Baklava!! ALL MINE!! Man it was all so good!!

I got home and sitting on the porch right in front of the front door was a little tiny mini-muffin. A teeny tiny mini muffin with a HUGE tea candle sitting on top of it!! Under them both was a birthday card from my Baby Bro. FUNNY!!! The candle was almost bigger than the muffin. I am surprised that one of our porch critters did not take off with the muffin.

My daughter, called me tonight to wish me a happy birthday, but Tim did not. This is getting scary. He called on Thanksgiving, but NOTHING since then, and he does not call me when I leave a message on his cell phone. I hope he is alright. He is Probably like most Men....MOTHER? You mean I have a MOTHER? Well When did that happen? (GRRRRRRRR!!)

I want to thank you all once again for all of the nice thoughts and well wishes. It really made my day.

the next Birthdays that I have recorded are: Kim (Canada) on the 21, Valkyrie (brainbubbles) on the 22, Barbara (Purple Moose) on the 27, and TA DA!!! WANDA on the 31!!

By the way, It was Bill's Birthday today too.

ACK!!!!! 60!!! ACK!!!!!!

23rd straight day of rain...Record is 33...Will we make it?



By the time you read this I will be 60 years OLD. What bothers me the most about being this age, is not being able to do the things I dreamt about when I had no time to do the things I dreamt about! The actual YEARS don't bother me as much as my back and my knees do. I have a very young soul, and have never felt like I was an adult. I am very child-like in my actions. I think that if there is such a thing as reincarnation, that I must be on my first or second recycle. If I lived before I think it was late 18th or early to mid 19th century America. Frontier type. I do not think I was poor, but not rich either, maybe a wife of a merchant, or else a native American.

When I first saw the Rocky Mountains, it was late in the day crossing south Dakota on I-90 I believe, and I glimpsed tiny little white mountain tops way off on the western horizon. I was so disappointed, as I expected them to be HUGE. I did not realize we were still miles and miles away from them.

Once we crossed out of south Dakota and were heading through Wyoming into Montana, I had a feeling come over me that I had been there before, and I really never had been. It was a chill running through my blood that I was coming home. I had no idea why, but I knew the higher I climbed into those Mountains that I belonged there. I felt like the mountains themselves were calling to me and that the ghosts of my ancestors (or maybe my own ghost) were trying to tell me that I had lived there before. I don't know why.

All of my ancestors lived in either Oregon, North Dakota, Norway, Ireland or Texas/Oklahoma. None that I have been able to find lived in the Rockies.

Reincarnation of course does not mean that you come back into the same family. If it does exist, you may not even have the same genetic material at all. I think it is your soul that changes and grows older with each reincarnation you go through.

I have met people that are old beyond their years, in thinking, and in their actions, and I have met people that were lots older than they acted. I think my Mother was an old soul. My Dad was getting there. I think I am a young soul, and I KNOW my daughter is.

Dreams:

I have been having some weird dreams lately about my house washing away. Now I realize we are being dumped on rain wise, but this is really strange. It is impossible to relate to you what the dreams are all about, and have them make any sense at all, but the first dream was about moving into my brand new house...And then someone built a house right behind me , then the tide came in and washed it away, I stuck my head out the upstairs window, and looked down the street and all the houses were being washed away, like in a hurricane or tsunami, and my house was flooded, but did not wash out to sea. SO strange.

Last night I dreamt that I was walking along West Beach Road before the houses were built wall to wall along it. I was watching the tide, and it was really stormy. I looked over the driftwood and the house that I had loved for years was up to the roof in sand and the tide was coming in fast. I moved up to the road, and it too was underwater, and Swantown lake was full, so basically the water was from the lake to the beach, flooding everything. I was sloshing along it and someone came along and gave me a ride through the water to high ground. WEIRD!

Now You all know that I sleep with my head out the window every night, and with all the wind and rain we have had the past 3 weeks, it is a small wonder that I have dreamt I was drowning!!

WEATHER:

Things are flooding like crazy, all the rivers on the southwest part of the state are on flood watch, and they just now announced that the Skagit is on flood watch too. Hmmm better go to Michaels really soon and stock up on yarn, in case we get stranded. They are expecting us to break the 33 day record. It was set in 1953, and we are already on the 3rd longest stretch ever recorded. It is really something. I read Pureland mountain every evening, and Japan is having record breaking snow fall. SO much that roofs of houses are collapsing under all the weight of the snow. California is being saturated with rain also, while Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas are all under drought and fire watches. Man Mama is really pissed isn't she?

A rerun...and a Sunday funny!!

22nd straight day of rain!!!


No one told me that when I retired, I would start looking really old. I dont have to do my hair everyday. I dont have to wear makeup every day. I dont have to wear panty hose every day, I can wear big baggy clothes and go bra-less. All of the above when added together spells OLD! Now I KNEW my hair was gray, I wanted it to go gray, It is a rite of passage to get gray, and mine is a pretty white gray. It is just in front, and lots of people spend lots of money to frost their hair the way mine looks. sort of. Old!I KNEW I was Fat. But what I did NOT know was that when you go bra-less, it feels really good, you can breath better, your shoulders dont hurt as much, BUT your bust line is now at your waist line. OLD! I KNEW that wearing makeup covered a multitude of sins, but I did Not know that it also covered age spots, double chins, skin tags, sagging eyelids and gray eyebrows that thinned out so far, naturally, that it looks like you shaved 1/2 of them off. OLD!

I KNEW that I should wax my upper lip every so often, but I did NOT know that it would become MORE often as you age. I now have more hair on my upper lip than I have on my legs. OLD! I did not know that my lips would get chapped. I wore lipstick every day, all day, which kept them moist. Now they are chapped. AHA wear lipstick again, I did NOT know that your lips thinned out. I put my lipstick on without a mirror, which is what I have been doing for 38 years, and when I went into the bathroom I noticed that I had lipstick WAAAY outside my lipline. It was there before, why isnt it now? OLD.

I KNEW that my pantyhose were control top, but what I did NOT know was how MUCH they controlled!!! Gravity took over, and now my belly button says Howdy to my twat. OLD!

There are women out there that are in denial of getting OLD, wake up every morning and go through their usual ritual of putting all of the above on. Why? Is it vanity, Denial, or Just not wanting the rest of the world to see the real you? Should I get up and do all of that? Should I live with it and be comfortable? SHould I do SOME of it and skip the rest? What is the pay off? WIll it get me a husband that will take care of me the rest of my life? NO. Will it bring me tons of money to my door? NO! Will it set a great example for other people? NO! Hmmmm....makes ya wonder. I think that growing old gracefully is a blessing. There are real challenges, true, but why try to look 22 when you are pushing 60? Go with the flow, rejoice that you MADE it to 60. Just be really sure that you put all of this stuff on when you go out to meet the world. Scaring little kids is not nice!

Tonight as I d my 25 junk emails, this popped out at me from my next door neighbor! I laughed!! good thing I did not have coffee in my mouth. WARNING BRENDA...Coffee Spewer..

First Date

We have all had bad dates... But this takes the cake.This just tells you how tough it is to be singlenowadays.

This was on the "Tonight Show" with JayLeno. Jay went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had. The winner described her worst first date experience. There was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize!

She said it was midwinter... Snowing and quite cold...and the guy had taken her skiing in the mountains outside Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a day trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, and truly had never met before. The outing was fun but relatively uneventful until they were headed home late that afternoon.

They were driving back down the mountain, when she graduallybegan to realize that she should not have had that extra latte. They were about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room and in the middle of nowhere! Her companion suggested she try to hold it,which she did for a while. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop and let her pee beside the road, or it would be the front seat of his car.

They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself. Her companion stood on the side of the car watchingfor traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. All she could think about was the relief she felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation. Upon finishing however, she soon became aware o fanother sensation.

As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car's fender. Thoughts of tongues frozen to pump handles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem due to the extreme cold.

Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor ofthe moment, she answered her date's concerns about "what is taking so long" with a reply that indeed, she was "freezing her butt off and in need of some assistance!" He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing. She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma. Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem.

They both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal! Thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free. So, as she looked the other way, her first-time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off the fender. As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show prize hands down or perhaps that should be pants down. And you thought your first date was embarrassing. Jay Leno's comment, "This gives a whole new meaning to being pissed off!

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL Now THAT is friendship!

?????

Does it look all right at your end? I THINK I have it all figured out, THanks to both Bill and CJ. Bill left a link, and CJ sent a code. CJ's code worked great, except it put it on top of the main body. so I putzed with the width that CJ sent and that did not work, so I found something that said body and changed the 65% to 60% and it SEEMS to have worked. I will know more when I post.

I tell you! IT RAINED today!! big heavy rain drops!! All day long!! and the clouds were so low that on the higher hills, I was driving through them! We are starting to have mudslides, and already the AMTRAC lines are closed North SOuth because3 of unstable hills.

This is what happens when people move in to the area, see all the beauty and then want to be right up front so they can see it. THey cut down the trees, so they can see their view unobstructed, and then the hillsides become unstable. Now if you throw in the mix of a drain field and no sewer line, and then heavy seasonal rains, you not only have beachfront property, you ARE the beach. Million dollar homes every year slide right into the sound because they thumbed their noses at Mama.

With all the rain we have had this month, the ground is saturated!! It is like walking on a sponge!! so if we were to have a big wind, the tree roots, would not hold, and over they would go onto these homes also. Now really throw in MAMA and have her shake things up a bit, and all these high hills would slide right down the layer of clay that they all have, and right into the SOund.

I am safe, I assume, because I am about 1/2 mile from the water. I am high, but if my hill falls, this whole region is in a world of POOP!

now cross your fingers I am about to publish!!!

well....maybe not! :(

I THOUGHT I was all fixed, but now my sidebar is clear at the bottom!!! WAHHHHH I dont know what I did to get it there. It HAS to be what I thought was the border color...but which one? I wish there was a way you could dink with this stuff OFF-line, and still see it as it would look if ON-line. I am getting really frustrated.

I also do not know why the comments are centering, but we are gonna live with them just the way they are!! At least they are back, and readable!

If anyone knows of any really good tutorials about this stuff, let me know. Meanwhile, Today will be spent trying to fix it, and I will get back to good posting tomorrow. Maybe.

Meanwhile, go read the posting I did yesterday on Life After NEXCOM retirement

STOP!!!!!! I'M FIXED!!!! (I hope...)

(just shush!!!! I am not finished...Wait until the banner gets put up there, then you will see it is not so bad!!!)


It took printing out the copy of my Fall template, and then printing out the copy of the current template, then turning off the radio and the TV and going over it line by line and changing it to match the correct copy. I also had trouble publishing it, because there was an error, but it would not say WHERE, and being the dummy I am, I could not find it. I finally ended up taken out (a spare thingie that this will not let me type because it says it is an error!!!)

and voila! it worked!! So unless I have more problems publishing this,

I'M BAAAACK!!!