Month: January 2013

  • YAWN

    Nothing is happening around here unless you count rain and snow.  So, just to keep you coming back until something does happen, here’s a selection of things that made me smile.


     

    You all know cats are among my favorite people.

    I remember the days …

    And for you fellow grammar nazis …

    If any of these are repeats, this explains why.  It hits WAY too close to home.

  • THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES STRIKES AGAIN!

    And why didn’t we see this coming?

  • WE MADE IT ANOTHER YEAR!

    54 and counting

    Today is our 54th anniversary.  Sam is celebrating by doing his usual Thursday Meals on Wheels route.  I cleaned out the lower kitchen cabinets.  Tonight we are going to dinner at the Red Lobster.  A perfect day.

    One thing that I’m very thankful for is that Sam and I have always been faithful to each other.  I’ve told this story before but it fits into this context so here it is again.

    About 18 years ago when we lived in a condo, Sam was riding his bike through the development and came upon a young woman with a flat tire on her bike.  He stopped to fix it for her and went on his way.  He told me about it, and the next time we drove through the complex, he pointed out where the young woman had been.  I said, “Would you recognize her again?”  ”No,” he said, “but I’d recognize the bike.”

    That reinforced the feeling that I have always had - I didn’t have to worry about him being unfaithful.  Over the years we’ve watched the marriages of dear friends break up because of infidelity. I’m so grateful to God to have a husband who never strayed, and that I was never tempted to stray.

    An Internet friend, Betty, directed me to an article written by Anita Staver during the Petraeus scandal.  Here are excerpts. 

    While we await the outcome of the Benghazi investigation and watch the sad demise of another career, recognize that temptation lurks where we least expect it. As Confucius said: “When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.”

    So, what are the practical personal lessons from Petraeus and Broadwell? How can the average Joe (and Jane) flee temptation?

    Strategies that work for losing weight or giving up cigarettes work in other situations. Consider these tips for fidelity and career longevity:

    Control your daydreams

    Never be alone with a temptation

    Avoid alcohol, as it lessens inhibitions

    Enlist a friend to keep you accountable

    Do not test the limits of your willpower

    Stay away from compromising situations

    Rehearse a good reaction to facing temptation

    Focus on positive reasons for your commitment

    Never let your guard down. If a coworker, a friend’s spouse, or your biographer becomes too appealing, take evasive action! Even change jobs to stay safe.

    Recognize the danger signs: If you start spending more time with someone or take extra care of your appearance when they are near, this is a problem. If you become attracted to someone who is off-limits, get out of the danger zone. Don’t walk, RUN!

    Flirting is not a sport for married folks – unless you flirt with your own spouse. No affair has ever “just happened.” Infidelity comes from a series of minor indiscretions and little steps in the wrong direction. Finally, if you are stupid enough to tweet, text, or email threats or revealing photos, no advice will stick, so you are on your own.

    These lessons are obviously ignored by campaign schools, military briefings, and Ivy League curriculum. For this reason – and many more – we haven’t seen the last Clintonesque scandal. Unfortunately infidelity, like abortion, is neither safe nor rare in America. And affairs, like elections, have consequences.

  • THE FOOSES, THE SNOOKS AND THE CENTENARIANS

    Sam had two cousins who were born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and who had rather interesting life stories.  One was Richard Foose who was born with a malformed hip that caused him to have a bad limp all his life.  He met a woman he wanted to marry and she wanted to marry him. But she had been raised by her wealthy aunt and uncle, and they didn’t want her to marry Richard because of his limp.  They told her they would disinherit her if she married him.  The family lawyer took her aside and said, “You know, there’s a lot of money involved here.  Your aunt and uncle are in their 80s and probably won’t live much longer.  Why don’t you wait until they die and then marry Richard?” 

    To her credit she ignored the threats and advice and married Richard.  He went on to become a professor of geology at Amherst College in Massachusetts and was quite well known in his field. They had five children, traveled  the world, and had a wonderful marriage.  The aunt lived to be 102.  I don’t know if the aunt and uncle disinherited her, but it wouldn’t have mattered to her anyway. Hurray for love.

    The other cousin, Donald Snook, was a farmer.  An only child, he lived with his widowed mother on the family farm.  In middle age he met a woman he wanted to marry, and she wanted to marry him.  But Donald’s mother didn’t want him to get married.  Out of respect, or whatever, he and his intended decided to wait until Mama died before getting married.  You guessed it.  Mama also lived to be 102.  (What is it about the air and/or water in Lancaster County?)  By the time Mama died, Donald was in his 70s, but he and his ladyfriend did get married.  Donald didn’t live much longer.  But as it turned out, Donald had either inherited or bought a lot of farmland in Lancaster County over the years, and his assets at death were worth over a million dollars.  His wife inherited it all.  Don’t you love a happy ending?  Hurray for love.

    And how many people besides Sam had relatives by the name of Foose and Snook?

  • This is an interesting list of how religions view abortion.  Note the especially wishy-washy policy of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., which was the denomination of my childhood and for many of my adult years.  I didn’t leave it – it left me.

  • So what am I doing on this sad day for America?  Certainly not watching TV.  I decided to do something fun, so I’m cleaning and doing laundry.  If that doesn’t provide enough laughs, I’ll work on taxes.

  • So yesterday I was reading an article titled “Junk Science Exposed in Evolutionary Theory” by Babu Ranganathan for a little light mid-winter relaxation.  You can find it here.  It’s not all that hard a read if you can find your way through amino acids  and protein molecules.

    As a left-hander, I was heartened to read this:

    In nature there are what scientists call right-handed and left-handed amino acids.  However, life requires that all proteins be left-handed.  So, not only do millions of amino acids have to be in the correct sequence, they also all have to be left-handed.  If a right-handed amino acid gets mixed in, then the protein molecules won’t function.  There won’t be any life.

    So to all you right-handers:  NA NA NA NA NA.

    Except.

    The next paragraph reads:

    Similarly, the nucleic acids in DNA and RNA must be in a precise sequence.  The sugar molecules that make up the various nucleic acids in DNA and RNA must be right-handed.  If a nucleic acid with a left-handed sugar molecule gets into the mix, then nothing will work.

    Sigh.  It appears I must learn to tolerate right-handers after all, and they are such a pain to sit next to in a restaurant.

    (I researched Babu Ranganathan, and he seems to be off the wall on some or many things, so we have to be careful about believing what he writes.  But I couldn’t resist commenting on this article.

  • THANKS TO TAMMY P. FOR THIS

  • I HAVE A CLAIM TO FAME!

    And it took me just 76 1/2 years (almost to the day) to get it!

    I like doing Acrostics.  It’s my favorite word game.  I found a place on the ‘net that has a seemingly endless supply of them.  They time you and then tell you how you’ve done – anywhere from Very Slow to Very Fast.  And they tell you the average time of all the people who have done that Acrostic and what the record is.  I’d look at the record every time and long to be recorded as a record breaker, but I honestly thought it would never happen.

    IT HAPPENED!  Yesterday I did a puzzle whose previous record was 229 seconds and I did it in 179!  My name will now appear as the record holder until someone else beats 179 seconds, which will probably happen any day.  But in the meantime, I bask in the glow.

    It takes so little to make an old lady happy.

  • THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

    One of 3,265,835,038

    Wife’s Diary:

    Tonight I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner.  I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn’t flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn’t say much.

    I asked him what was wrong. He said, “Nothing.”  I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset.  He said he wasn’t upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can’t explain his behavior. I don’t know why he didn’t say, “I love you, too.”

    When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep; I cried. I don’t know what to do. I’m almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

    Husband’s Diary:

    A two-foot putt……….who the heck misses a two-foot putt ?

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