The Courtship

Meet Barack. He's looking for something. The path to a white house, maybe?


Sweetie, where are you? I'm ready for that interview!


There you are, Hillary! Why don't you come when I call?


Okay, sweetie, don't stand so far away. Move closer and maybe I'll name you my VP.


What's the matter with you, Hillary? You're still too far away! Can't you see me strutting my stuff over here? I'm the one with the colors and flash!


That's right. Give it up. I don't care if you are running a tough race. I'm the one with the fan tail.


I've got you now, Hillary. Even if we are nearly even in delegates! You will be mine!


Wait a minute. Where are you going, Hillary?




Damn! I missed her again!

Vertigo Reduz

In 2006, I developed a problem with my ear that scared me. I couldn't lie down without dizziness. Sometimes I couldn't stand up without falling down, either.

I felt like I had a bug in my ear.

It took trips to four different doctors over a very long six weeks before I finally found an ear, nose and throat physician willing to do something other than tell me it was either (a) all in my head or (b) related to my TMJ or (c) something I had to live with it.

While the problem was in my head, it wasn't a mental issue as the doctor implied. In the end, two different allergy medications, a nasal steroid and a steroid shot in the hip fixed the problem.

So too did walking, sitting on an exercise ball and performing balance exercises so I wouldn't feel so out of whack, not drinking caffeine, not eating salt, and sleeping on a 7" wedge so that my head stayed elevated. I also found acupuncture and Chinese herbs helpful.

In recent months I stopped sleeping on the wedge because it makes my back hurt. I am a side sleeper. It's really hard to sleep on your side on a wedge.

Unfortunately, the problem with my ear has returned. The vertigo is not as severe and it so far is only affecting me at night and briefly in the mornings. I am doing everything I did before except for the wedge and the steroid shot, which I would just as soon avoid.

I don't know if it has returned because of the intense pollen this spring or because I stopped the elevated sleeping. Or maybe for some unknown reason, like a new food allergy.

It feels like I have something in my ear all the time. I am convinced it is fluid build up from my allergies.

My acupuncturist/Chinese medicine doctor is sending me a stronger herb formula and I have a needle-sticking scheduled for next week.

The ENT in 2006 offered one other option: have my ear drum punctured and steroids directly dripped into my ear. It is not a choice I have much desire to explore.

I think I would have to be having a much more difficult time before I allowed that to happen.

The ENT also tested me for about 30 different allergy triggers; I reacted to all but one. However, I have not yet resorted to shots. I had them when I was in my teens and 20s and have never been convinced they did much good.

Besides, if I am going to go that route, I would prefer to find an actual allergy specialist, someone who looks at foods, too.

So here's to standing up straight and not falling down! May all my friends stand tall.

I See You!

Help!

If anyone has successfully migrated their blog to a domain name, (i.e., if I went from bluecountrymagic.blogspot.com to bluecountrymagic.com) I have a question.

Can you still access the site from the blogger dashboard, or do you have to do something else to make it work?

I couldn't find the answer to that specific question in the blogger help.

Thanks.

Day Trip

Friday I hit the road with my friend Leslie. We were off to Mt. Crawford.

The trip had an auspicious beginning. Leslie came to my house and we loaded up the car. When I went to start it, the battery was dead.

Thankfully my husband was still at home and he had a battery charger. In a few minutes he had the engine running.

We took a quick side trip to the Advanced Auto store in Daleville so they could check the battery. It was fine but needed recharging. So we headed out, just a half-hour later than anticipated.

I handed Leslie my little Nikon and told her to take pictures. See her reflection in the side mirror?



This was our destination: The Green Valley Book Fair. We are both avid readers. It was like taking two kids and handing them $100 in a candy store.

The store is 25,000 square feet of books. They are not the most current books but it is a vast selection. And I did not see a single book over $10.00. Some were just 99 cents!

I brought home so many that I could not carry them in one trip.


After more than two hours at the book fair, we went through Bridgewater. That's part of the campus above.

We stopped at Hardee's, where we both had a really good grilled chicken sandwich.

There are lots of farms up there. We went next to the Dayton Farmer's Market. Leslie brought home many pounds of dog bones for her pooch. And a lemon pie for her husband.

It was a very nice day.

Birds

So 1984

So after a quick lunch with a friend today, I simply had to go to CVS to see if I could find my husband's cold medication.

He uses Drixoral and has for years. It keeps him from snoring, which is a good thing because he can snore long and loud and I do not sleep.

Husband snored a lot last night.

Into CVS I go, only to find they don't have the OTC drug either. Apparently this OTC drug has vanished from local shelves. This was the last place I had to look.

Drugs with pseudoephedrine are now a controlled substance. That is a decongestant, which up until 2005 I could buy as as easily as I could wipe my nose.

You can still buy it without a prescription, but you have to show ID and sign for it.

The pharmacist suggested a very expensive alternative to Drixoral. I had to do that produce your driver’s license and sign for it thing in order to obtain this.

While I was performing that activity, which always angers me and makes me feel like a criminal simply because I need a cold capsule, the PA in the store began blaring.

“There are new rules about passports that will take effect soon. You may not leave or enter the country, including from Mexico and Canada, without a valid passport,” it droned.

I felt like I was in some kind of police state.

I couldn't get out of that store fast enough.

Thursday Thirteen

Today, I present: Thirteen Things You Can Do In Two Minutes

1. Put on your shoes and socks.

2. Read a page (or four) of a book.

3. Type 180 words if you type 90 words a minute or 90 words if you type 45 words a minute.

4. Drive two miles at 60 mph.

5. Empty the dishwasher.

6. Hug somebody.

7. Have a quickie!

8. Heat water in the microwave oven for hot chocolate.

9. Crop a picture and upload it.

10. Play a game of Free Cell or Solitaire.

11. Have a long and passionate kiss.

12. Make a phone call to your best friend.

13. Read the entries for other Thursday Thirteens!


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here.

Bottoms Up

We went to the ball game Friday to watch the nephew again.

The nephew hit another home run.

Our team lost anyway.

We had a good time, though it was chilly and cold. I ended up sitting in the car and watching from the parking lot because the air and the cut grass was giving my asthma fits.

New Specs

Yesterday my husband took the afternoon off, mostly because it was rainy, cold and windy.

We went to Roanoke so I could purchase new glasses. I saw the eye doctor two weeks ago and he gave me a new prescription. Things in the distance had developed a distinct air of fuzziness about them.

We visited the "glasses in about an hour" place. I have generally had good luck with them. However, they are expensive.

They also do something that I think is wrong.

If I have a coupon for $100 off a pair of prescription glasses, then I should get the $100 off right? Well, they give it to you - unless you have insurance. Then you get the option of whichever is cheaper for you.

Don't you think it should go like this?
Glasses cost: $400
Less Coupon: $100
Total: $300
Submission to insurance: $300
Less insurance payment: $100
Equal a $200 cost to you.

But no. They say you either get the $100 coupon or the $100 insurance payment, and you pay $300 either way.

I know some business person will say, oh, the company can't lose their profit. But they are obviously already making a profit with the $100 coupon off, or they would not be offering it. And if the insurance is making up the difference, they are still getting their profit, even if I only pay $200 instead of $300 for the glasses. So essentially they are getting double profit.

I think it is a rip off for both me AND my insurance company. The eye glass company obviously isn't out of anything. Some discount.

Trillium

Trillium grows wild in the wood behind the farm. The land used to belong to a church but has been sold.



I don't believe anyone other myself and a couple of friends know this flower grows back there.



The blooms carpet the forest as far as the eye can see; fairies surely must dance and rest among those flowers. It is a magic land this time of year, and surely stars sing at night to make such beauty burst forth.

The Woods

These woods are directly behind my house.



We do not own them. They belong to my husbands' parents.



Soon loggers will be cutting down many of these mighty trees.



It makes me very sad but there is nothing I can do about it.

The Farm

This is Rose Hill Farm. The property line ends at the tree line.



The land belongs to my in-laws. My husband has always lived here and he helps his father farm it. Of these four houses, the one on the far left is the old homestead, the white one in the middle is a new home on property sold at the request of the paternal grandmother when she passed away, the white house on the hill belongs to the in-laws, and the home behind that in the woods belongs to my husband's aunt.



Some of the fields have been cut for hay. It looks like a good first cutting.



I live back behind the trees. I have walked quite a ways to take this picture.



My husband's grandfather built these small brick houses in the 1960s. He rented them out for a long time then sold them. We lived in one of them when we first married. Then we built on the other side of the farm.



This is the backside of my husband's grandparents' home. It dates back to 1816. The bricks were made by hand on the farm. The walls are 18 inches thick.



This is the front of the house. The place is no longer part of the farm, sold per instructions in a will.



This is what we raise. This is the bull and his harem.



This is the farmer, my husband.

Thursday Thirteen

1. I learned last night as I was reading the May issue of The Writer that author Phyllis Whitney passed away in February.

2. She was 104.

3. She started publishing in 1941 and was still knocking out books in 1997 - she would have been 93 when that last one was published.

4. Her website calls her books "adult suspense" but I thought of them as Gothic romances.

5. All in all, she published 76 books and hundreds of short stories.

6. Her book Thunder Heights, written in the 1960s, was one of my favorite books, and my inspiration for being a writer, I think.

7. There aren't many "adult suspense" or Gothic romance writers out and about today. Or if there are, I am not aware of them.

8. My other favorite authors of that genre were Victoria Holt and Barbara Michaels. I think Whitney and these other two were giants of the genre.

9. But Whitney remained my favorite and looking at the very long list of books she wrote I think I have read most of the "adult suspense" ones.

10. Whitney also wrote a book called Guide to Fiction Writing, published in 1982.

11. It sits on my "frequently used" bookshelf.

12. Guide to Fiction Writing has some of the best techniques for creating a notebook of characters and describes how to go about writing a book better than any other book I have ever read.

13. And I have read a lot of other books about how to do it.



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here.

Spring Flowers

First Rose of 2008



Sunshine Pansies



Peters Gold Carpet Biden



Iris



Locust Blossoms

Playing God

An article in yesterday's Roanoke Times highlighted a recommendation from a task force about who lives and who dies in the event of a health crisis.

It ran in other papers, too.

This should open up a dialogue about our health care, and about our values as a society. I daresay that will not happen.

We tend to ignore the things that most warrant our attention, I notice.

In any event, should we have an outbreak of pandemic flu, for example, these people for sure will be left for dead:

Those out of luck are the people at high risk of death and a slim chance of long-term survival. But the recommendations get much more specific, and include:

_People older than 85.

_Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.

_Severely burned patients older than 60.

_Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer's disease.

_Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes.

But I wonder why stop there? Any why just with a pandemic - why not with cancer cures, pneumonia shots, insulin - any of the things that the "lesser" folks need to survive?

After all, we already section out health care based on ability to pay. If you've got the money, you get the best care. If you've served in Congress, you get good care, too.

If you're middle class, you get poor to fair care. You might still get a flu shot.

If you're poor, well, you get the idea. Some hospital might take you in, only to dump you on the street the next day.

If it's the young and vibrant, those with skinny bodies, healthy tans and white teeth that we're looking for, then a pandemic is certainly a good way to root out all of us who miss the mark. Just withhold the drugs and take us all out at one time. It would leave the perfect society, wouldn't it?

The government has touted this pandemic thing very hard in recent years (it was never on my radar until this Administration). So much so, I strongly suspect they are hoping for one in order to wipe out all of us slobs who don't fit their idea of a perfect specimen. It would be a great way to cleanse the population.

This is wrong on so many levels I can't even begin to list them. This is amoral and it shows plainly how little regard that we as a society actually have for one another.

If this is what comes from a supposedly Christian nation, then God help us all.

Around the Woods

*Virginia Creeper* not poison oak. I am very allergic to poison oak and will break out just looking at it.



This is either a wild violet or the common periwinkle, I am not sure which.



Dogwood tree in bloom.



Dogwood blossom.



A fern, perhaps a Royal Fern.



Mayapple



Tree trunk.

* edited per comment from Ron and a check in the field guide*

Around the Yard

Snappy Snapdragons



Dogwoods and redbuds in the forest below the house.



The birch tree. We planted this at least 20 years ago. The mother plant is over at my parents' farm; as a child I played among its branches. It's a huge tree; I think it is very old. This one in our yard is slow-growing.



Birch tree blossoms.



Purple Petunias playing in the yard.

Smashed!

No, not drunk.

More like EEEYOWWW!

I caught my four fingers of my right hand in the garage door this morning. It hit right across the top joint of the longest three fingers and caught the end of my poor pinky.

Thankfully, I can still type!

The Disappearing Book

Today I spent $20 on a book I already have. I couldn't find it when I went to look for it, so I bought a new copy from the local history museum.

Of course I came home and straightaway found my copy. I had been looking for a red jacket hard cover book and not a soft cover. I completely overlooked it.

The book I was missing is The Town of Fincastle, by Frances Niederer. It was first published in 1965 and last reissued in 2004 in paperback. It is the most current study of the town, as far as I know.

I have a collection of local history books which I often refer to in my work. I love to write history pieces for the newspaper. So I don't mind dropping $$$ for a local history book every now and again.

While I was there, I also bought Notable Women West of the Blue Ridge, 1850 - 1950. I am looking forward to reading that.

When I went to write this blog entry, I thought I would put the two Fincastle books together. Because really what I was going to do was offer the book to someone for the same price I paid, if they were so inclined. I was going to say, email me if you're interested.

Only now I can't find the books I brought home with me.

The Fincastle book is a slim volume; I can see where I might have put that down. But the other is a good-sized book. It's cover is bluish gray with ladies on the front. I should see it here someplace.

I have searched everywhere I think I have been since I came home, and I can't find either book. I know I brought them in the house and placed them on the kitchen counter but they aren't there now and I haven't the faintest idea where I've stashed them.

I am the only one at home right now.

If I am this bad at 44 years and 11 months old, I will be absolutely in a state of crisis when my birthday rolls around in June!

It is a very good thing I found the original book.

Thursday Thirteen

Today, from the woman who watches very little TV, I present, in no particular order:

My Favorite TV Themes!

1. Cagney & Lacey. This is one of my favorite shows, period, and when I hear that intro, it's time to sit down and spend an hour with my favorite gals.

2. Gilligan's Island. Who can resist this show? Stranded on an island, seven of the most mixed bag of folks you could imagine (in the 1960s) try to get along and get off their little piece of heave.

3. Green Acres. From the first tones, you know you're getting ready to watch two city slickers try to turn themselves into country folk. Always worth a laugh.

4. Xena: Warrior Princess. Another favorite show. Xena lost her way a bit toward the end but she remains in my mind as a staunch example of women who take only "yes" for an answer.

5. The Brady Bunch. I grew up with this show. I never missed it. They were the family I always wanted.

6. MASH. While this wasn't always "must see" TV for me, I enjoyed it and enjoy it even more in reruns. I love the theme but I especially like the theme lyrics, which you can read here.

7. Survivor: Whatever. I am ashamed to say that I have watched this show from its inception and continue to watch it today. It is the only reality show I watch, and I honestly don't know why I watch it. There is nothing appealing about it, and every year I say I'm not going to watch, but I do. When I hear those first jungle noises, I'm in front of the set.

8. Bewitched. I could never resist the magic in this show. Samantha wiggles her nose and poof, stuff happens. A great fantasy.

9. The Carol Burnette Show. I wish there were shows like this on today. Then maybe I'd watch something other than Survivor!

10. Charlie's Angels. More women taking names. I thought Kate Jackson was the greatest actress in the world, when I was 12.

11. Little House on the Prairie. I saw this in rerun as opposed to when it actually ran because we couldn't get the channel. I don't recall it appealing to me as a young person but as an adult I enjoy the wholesome nature of the program.

12. The Facts of Life. Ha. Jo used to crack me up all the time. She was the kid I could never be because I was a goody-goody.

13. The Partridge Family. I admit it. I was in love with Keith. I couldn't help myself. Besides, I was only 9.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here.

Something for Nothing

Monday my email inbox for the account I use for business pronounced itself "full." I could neither send nor receive email.

I called my provider to find out what was going on, as this had never happened before.

Oh, said the kind fellow on the other end of the phone, your mailbox was full (huh?) but now it's not. And I've increased your mailbox size.

Is that going to cost me? I asked, being a little tight in the wallet these days.

Oh no, said the fellow. And did you know we can double your Internet speed? Let me hand you over to a sales person.

Yay. A little something for nothing. Although I wondered why, if my mailbox could have been expanded, it simply wasn't expanded without my having to ask, not to mention experiencing the risk of missing important communication from an editor.

The higher speed - double the rate I have now - could be had for a measly $5 more a month, the chipper sales lady told me.

Do I need a new modem box or something for that?

Oh no. Just pay the $5 extra each month and zap! You have a faster connection.

Why can't you just give me that, I asked. I'm already paying you $90 a month for telephone and Internet services. I've been a customer for 25 years. Can't you cut me a deal?

Oh no, says the sales clerk. I certainly can't do that.

And I can't give you $5 more a month for something so nebulous, my dear.