Thursday Thirteen

Apparently I am brain dead, so today these are things that start with the letter "B."

1. Bitch. This word can be a noun or a verb. It is frequently used as a pejorative word to describe women and men who are perceived as acting as women. It is also the name of a female dog and when used as a verb, it is the act of complaining. The fact that this is the first word that came to my mind for the letter B is somewhat troubling.

2. Bastard. This would be the male version of the above word, used as a noun to describe an illegitimate child and as a verb to describe a mean, despicable person, usually a man. I am also troubled that this is the second word that came to mind this morning. Perhaps my day is starting out rough?

3. B-Complex Vitamin. This is a vitamin that encompasses many of the category of vitamins known as "B" vitamins. "B" vitamins are important in cell metabolism. They are good for healthy skin and hair and help the immune system and the nervous system. They are also supposed to help ward off pancreatic cancer. The B vitamins are Vitamin B1 (thiamine), Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), Vitamin B3 (niacin or niacinamide), Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine, pyridoxal, or pyridoxamine, or pyridoxine hydrochloride), Vitamin B7 (biotin), Vitamin B9 (folic acid), and Vitamin B12 (various cobalamins; commonly cyanocobalamin in vitamin supplements).

4. Baggins. Bilbo and Frodo Baggins are the two most famous hobbits from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Bilbo found the ring in The Hobbit (soon to be a major motion picture) and Frodo carried the ring to Mount Doom to destroy it in Lord of the Rings.

5. Bacchanalia. This is a wild gathering or party that involves a lot of drinking and promiscuity. In ancient Greece, wild and crazy boys and girls held such events to honor the god Bacchus (Dionysus). I think I attended a few of these when I was in high school, but my life has been pretty quiet since then.

6. Bag lady. These are those sad looking homeless women who carry their belongings in shopping carts or bags. A 2006 study showed that almost half of all women fear ending up as a bag lady. Ninety percent of women in that study felt financially insecure. What does this say about our society?

7. Barn. This is a place where farmers put things and where animals might live. A barn can hold machinery, hay, cows, chickens, horses, etc., and sometimes people if they have nowhere else to go. Some are red, some are white, some burn down in the dark of night.

8. Bear. Bears are great big carnivorous mammals that we sometimes see on the farm. A bear can also be the state of the stock market (a pessimistic market), something you have or hold, as in to bear a scar or to bear arms, or to hold something up, as in to bear weight, among other things. The bear on the left was in our alfalfa field in 2009.

9. Bewitch. When you bewitch someone, you put a spell or a hex on them, or maybe you magnetize them with your charm. In the late 1960s and early 70s there was a show on called Bewitched that starred Elizabeth Montgomery. She crinkled her nose to cast a spell.



10. Bird. Our warm-blooded feathered friends come in many shapes and sizes. Some can't even fly while others zip around the big blue sky like little mosquitoes. We have many birds around our house, including finches, blue jays, cardinals, robins, and wild turkeys. The picture on the right was shot with a trail camera.

11. Black Death. This was the name given to a period of time in the Middle Ages during which a lot of people died from bubonic plague in Europe. It killed somewhere between 30 and 60 percent of the population. It was thought to have originated in China and then traveled from there along the Silk Road. It took Europe 150 years to recover from this one event.

12. Bleak. How you feel when you have little hope, or maybe how you look if you've been sick for a while. It also is a description for a barren place with little shelter.

13. Bones. Those things that hold up your skin. It is also a color and used as a verb it means to take the bones from, as in boning a fish. Walking bones are called skeletons and you see them a lot around this time as we gear up for Halloween. In Appalachia, you can also play the bones, which is an interesting thing to see and hear.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 213th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.