Farm Tour 2009, Part 3

The last stop on the farm tour last Friday was the Jeter Farm.

This farm is located on US 460 and many of you have probably seen this big red barn on the side of the highway. It was built in 1871.



Below is our host, Ned Jeter. He farms the land with his sons. They have 400 cattle and a vegetable operation. They have 370+ acres around their house and then rent acreage all down the highway.



We had lunch here, sandwiches provided by Bellacino's. Most of the folks then went on a hay ride. I chose to stay in the shade and drink lemonade since I am allergic to hay and it was hot.

Below is my cousin Trudy (on the right) and her mother, Mrs. Lee. Trudy's father was my grandfather's first cousin. I am not sure what that makes us, something like 1st cousin twice removed I guess. We went to school together.



This ol' hound dog made a fool of himself over potato chips. Dreama K. and I had a good laugh as we watched him.



The bus driver (below) and I chatted for a while as we waited on the hay riders to return. He has been driving buses forever and told me that until he retired he always had to work weekends and holidays and take his vacation in the wintertime.



And this is my friend Meg. Without her, I would not have made the farm tour!



And that's the end of the farm tour.

Thursday Thirteen

Today I write about minor (or maybe major) aggravations...

1. about:tabs. Every time I want to go to a new website in Internet Explorer, there it is. Those words show up in the URL area. Sometimes you can go over them without issue, other times you have to stop and delete them. What is up with that?


2. Check-out clerks who hand you your candy bars. What is the deal with this? If I buy one candy bar, they give it to me immediately. Do I look like I'm having a chocolate attack right there? Do they think I can't wait until I get in the car? I know I'm overweight but sheesh. I notice that it is only female clerks who do this. I've never once had it happen with a male check-out clerk.

3. No backwards compatibility. Windows keeps evolving and Microsoft apparently has decided to not care about programs that were created a long time ago. It was bad enough losing all my DOS games but now even Windows games, created for those long-ago operating systems of Windows 3x, Windows 98, and even Windows ME, will not work. That started with Windows XP and is dramatic in Vista. What am I supposed to do with these games?

4. Supposed improvements in software. I wonder how much lost productivity has occurred because Microsoft changed Word 2007 so dramatically? I've been using word processing programs since the 1980s, starting with something called Wordstar. From there I went to WordPerfect (still my favorite) and then finally to MS Word simply because I had to. Word 2007 is substantially different, so much so that for the first time since I switched over I felt compelled to buy a Dummies book to figure it out.

5. Things that don't work very long. My dryer conked out on Saturday. It is a Whirlpool, purchased in 2006. Just three years ago. Fortunately my husband is a great handyman. He tore it apart and found that the heater element had burned in two. He beat the closing time for the parts store and $125 later had the thing running again. We bought it to replace a dryer that I bought in 1983. It ran for 23 years and went through a flood. We only replaced it because we couldn't get parts for it anymore.

6. The weather. This has been the weirdest summer. Cool days, rain. Lots of fog in August which is supposed to mean something about snow in January.

7. Things that don't work like they're supposed to. My printer is an HP Officejet Pro K5400. It is supposed to be able to print front and back on the paper, but I have never been able to get it to work. It always jams up when I try duplex printing.

8. Leftover food. I keep leftovers think I will serve them another day. Sometimes I do, but just as often they end up pushed to the back of the refrigerator. I try not to fix so much food that leftovers are necessary but sometimes it happens.

9. Phone calls from politicians. During the last election I thought I'd go nuts with the phones calls, mostly from Democrats, about the congressional election. Now I'm getting phone calls all the time from Republicans about the governor's race. At least I am annoyed by both parties.


10. Emotional thinking, which isn't really thinking, it is only reacting. This is all the place in the media and this is how our politics are run these days. Whatever happened to rational thinking? When did this become normal?

11. Rising gas prices. What, there's a Labor Day holiday coming up? Of course, let's creep those gas prices higher and higher so that we're at $3 when folks want to travel. Do the oil companies think we don't notice?

12. People who call and don't leave a message. I was in the shower yesterday when the phone rang. The machine kicked in before I could answer. No message. I cancelled call waiting a while back. And I wanted to know who was calling!

13. Ink pens that stop writing even though they have ink. I don't know why this happens. Thankfully it doesn't happen often. I use a specific pen - a Pilot G2 05 (extra fine). I don't care if the ink is blue or black, but I won't use any other kind of pen. Occasionally they just stop writing for no apparent reason.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is number 104!

Farm Tour 2009, Part 2

After the farm tour left Blue Ridge Poultry, we headed just a few miles down the road to the Fincastle Vineyard and Winery.



Here the Sawyers grow a variety of grapes for their wines. I learned that some grapes need warmer air so they are planted higher on the hill so the cold doesn't get them. Variety matters.

Below our host Richard Sawyer explained how he started the vineyard in 1995. It was Botetourt's first winery.




This is the tasting room. It is cozy and comfortable inside. The place is also a bed and breakfast. The attached house features a great porch complete with shade, a breeze and rocking chairs.



There is also a little pool for atmosphere. The sound of the waterfall nearly lulled me to sleep.



Join me Friday for Part 3.

Farm Tour 2009, Part 1

Friday morning at 8 a.m., I was at Lord Botetourt High School ready to board a tour bus with my friend Meg, who is also editor of the Salem-Times Register.

The Cooperative Extension Office was offering up a farm tour, and we decided to go. Well, actually Meg decided we would go and I agreed. Since I live on a farm and I am allergic to things like chickens and hay, I wasn't sure it was a good idea but I went along anyway.

I knew five other people who were on the tour, and it was nice to see them, too.

Our first stop was at Blue Ridge Poultry Farm. It is located in the Nace/Camp Bethel area of Botetourt County.



The house is one of the county's older homes, built in the 1800s (I think they said 1842 but I wasn't taking notes). The bricks were fired right on the premises.



About 60 people were on the tour. My friend Cathy from The Botetourt View came to take pictures and do a story.

Below is Angie Lenoire, our host at Blue Ridge Poultry.



She and Patricia Whitt raise chickens. The birds are raised in a pasture and not kept cooped up like chickens in large establishments.



This is how she keeps the chickens. She does not keep them over the winter so they don't really need a place to stay warm.



The birds are slaughtered and their feathers plucked with a feather-plucking machine. The birds are sold to folks who want to support this kind of farming.

Angie also sells her chickens at the Botetourt Farmers' Market at Ikenberry Orchards on Saturday.

Join me tomorrow for Part 2.

Sultry August day

A storm just blew past. It chugged down from the Catawba Valley, skirting the mountains, unleashing its fury in batches as it neared my house.

Rain struck the windows like a million fingers tapping for entry. Thunder angrily told me that the humidity and heat had reached a boiling point. Lightning tumbled across the sky like a million mean pixies hellbent on vengeance.

I huddled by the window, taking it all in. Within moments the weather cleared and the rain stopped, but not before it dumped a 1/4 inch in my rain gauge.

Moments ago, I stepped outside to get a better view of a doe and her fawn and almost gasped at the temperature change. At 11:30 a.m. when I looked at temperature gauge it said 112 degrees in the sun.

Now it's a pleasant, if slightly damp, 75 degrees.

I wonder if it will heat back up and do it all again.

Today I gave myself permission to stop worrying for a while. I have worried since May 1 pretty much nonstop. What would I do to replace my main client? What about our income? How will I get the house my mother left me rented back out when no one seems to want it? How can it be that I am 46 years old and yet again having to reinvent myself? What are my goals? What is my passion? Do I even have a passion? Would it be enough just to be my husband's wife, and nothing else? What else do I need? What do I want? How can I go after something when I don't even know what the something is?

At least for the morning, I ditched all of those questions. I plunked myself down in front of my old computer, which still works but not like it once did, and played Dungeon Siege. It's an old game and I'd played it before but it had been so long I scarcely remembered it. I'd been playing it in small time increments for a few days prior; this morning into lunch time it was an hours-long marathon of hacking and slashing my way through lava terrors and something called a slek in hopes of gaining the ultimate gamer's victory - the screen that says "you win" and then the game credits. The absorption was such that those worries went the way of the evildoers in the Kingdom of Ehb. Everything was in little bitty pieces and seemed much less threatening that way.

My lunch of chicken salad and the tomato from my garden tastes a lot better when it isn't tainted with concern.

Ah, the sun returns. The wet grass is actually starting to steam as it heats up. It's 2:15 p.m., and the day still has many hours.

I think today I will be the husband's wife, and go and tend the laundry.

Do your homework. Or, writer beware.

Back around July 4, I applied to an advertisement I found on various websites for a contract writer's job in Roanoke.

It was for something called examiner.com. They are still advertising.

When I first saw the ad back in early June, I, of course, visited the website. It appeared to be a type of blog portal, with the focus being writing about your community or topics of interest. There were things about TV shows. Comic books. Politics. News.

I did not apply. The ad kept popping up, and I kept hesitating. I think I did a google search and found nothing on them. Or maybe I did find it and forgot about it.

Finally I answer the ad and asked for more information. I received a prompt reply back. It had a link to a TV news clip on this endeavor. The TV news said a Denver billionaire was creating this site. It gave it legitimacy, so I decided to apply. The application was detailed and they asked for a writing sample and other credentials. That also lended an air of legitimacy to the endeavor.

It was, I figured, a "pay per click" kind of thing. I did not think I would receive much money but thought there may be some potential. It was hard to judge.

I took an afternoon and filled out the application. Then I waited for four weeks for them to get back to me.

When I was finally accepted, I was also told I would have to undergo a background check. I did not like this - giving out my SSN, my driver's license number, etc. etc. but I went ahead and did it anyway.

A week later I was given the "welcome letter" and a URL and password to get into their site.

Before you can sign into the site, you must agree to their independent contractors agreement and license.

Thankfully, I took the time to read this document. Here are two (and there are more) of the objectionable parts:

In consideration of the Services, you will be provided exposure of your
name and the Web Page. You understand that you will not initially
receive any other compensation for performance of the Services.
However, if the Web Page obtains traffic levels and/or other performance metrics determined by Examiner.com from time to time, you may be eligible for a performance-based incentive (“Incentive”), which would be paid according to a formula and metrics to be provided to you by Examiner.com, as modified by
Examiner.com from time to time in its sole discretion.

And the most objectionable of them all:

You hereby grant to Examiner.com a non-exclusive, perpetual,
irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to:
i) copy, reproduce, distribute, perform, modify, adapt, create derivative works, use, transmit, and display the Works or any part thereof, in any in any manner, media or format now existing or hereafter devised, whether fixed or interactive, including without limitation in print, audio, on the Internet, via wireless network, in databases
and compilations, via MP3 players and other devices capable of playing audio content, via cell phones and PDAs, in CD-ROMs and DVDs, and in the websites and print newspapers of Examiner.com and Affiliates;
ii) use, copy, transmit, display and otherwise promote your name, image, likeness, and biographic information in connection with the exercise of the rights granted herein, including without limitation in connection with the advertising, promotion, and publication of the Works in any manner, media or format now existing or hereafter devised; and
iii) sublicense, syndicate, or otherwise grant third parties any of the rights described in this subsection 7(b), without any obligation of notice or compensation to you.

I did not press the "I agree" button. Instead, I decided I needed to think long and hard about this. I do not need a self-promotion platform or my name on the web. It's already out there. I need new clients but I like to be paid for my work. If I am going to work for free then I prefer it be for non-profit organizations that I support.

I did visit their "reference and questions" part, which didn't require pushing any "I agree" buttons, and discovered that the money is really in referring other writers to the site. For $50 a pop, if I urge others to sign up, I could become a wealthy woman.

I have never liked things that require referrals. To me these are pyramid schemes; the people at the top get rich, while everyone else ... doesn't. My feeling is, if something is that great, then I should want to share it without compensation.

I called my friend Jules and asked her opinion of the agreement. She's a webmaster. She did not think much of it.

Then I contacted my friend Becky over at Peevish Pen. Becky has a nose for ferreting out things that are unfair to writers. She sent me a link that I wish I had seen before I applied:

http://writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/005364_05132009.html

According to this, most writers for this website earn pennies, something along the lines of $2.49 an article or less. Unless you are writing articles that only take five minutes, in which case you are not writing anything that requires thought or competence, you are earning a great deal less than minimum wage.

I suppose if you are writing on a national topic which has the potential to draw in readers from all over the U.S., you might make money. But if, like me, you are a small niche writer, the odds are against you.

The fact is, if I want to write for pennies, I can write this blog (because google ads don't pay much) or I can create other blogs, or I can create my own website, and at least have a little control over the thing.

If this is the future of journalism, or the future of paid writing, then I need a new career.

Thursday Thirteen

Today, I give you 13 four-letter words.

1. Love. Of course this is the number one favorite four-letter word! What else were you thinking when I wrote "four-letter words," hm? "Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave." - The Song of Solomon viii. 6

2. Blue. My favorite color. Blue is the sky, it is the water. It is symbolic of the air we breathe. It's the color of eyes and flowers. It describes my mood a lot these days. It's a great word.

3. Pink. Okay, it's another color but it is a nice color. It's the morning sky sometimes, it's baby skin, it's kissable lips, it's my eyes after a bad night's sleep.

4. List. As in a Thursday Thirteen! What would I do without my to-do list? My list of groceries? My list of days.

5. Tear. That's "tear" as in the stuff that falls from your eye, not the ripping of paper. A tear, O! A drop of salt water from the eyes of the one you love brings heartache and compassion. A tear is a cleansing, a symbol, a sign of the soul. How can someone watch another sob and not be moved?

6. Eyes. The soul appears when the eyes are open. Look deeply into my eyes and what do you see there? Maybe nothing at all, maybe the depths of the world. Maybe heartache and toil, maybe laughter and smiles. Maybe, if you look long enough, you will see everything you need to see and you will see me as I truly am.

7. What. Ah, a word that means a question. And questions are the way we learn, the way we grow, the way we know we are thinking. If you aren't questioning the world around you, asking "what?" at every opportunity, then you aren't truly using your noodle. My questions these days include "What if I just read a book, will it be the end of the world?" and "What is wrong with this Congress, why aren't they doing anything that makes any sense?" and "What happened to Tuesday?"

8. Talk. Communication is key, and if we don't talk, we don't learn. We don't understand, we don't get it. Talking is how I listen ... by keeping my mouth shut I learn what you need and desire, want, feel or thin. When I talk I am expressing how I feel, my wants, my needs. Sometimes I talk too much. I am pretty sure I don't talk too little.

9. Feel. The things that the world seems to run on these days, feelings. How I feel about something as opposed to how I think about it. I would rather people thought more and felt less about many things, to be honest; that is how we're in the mess we're in nationwide, too much emotion and not enough thinking. But feelings in personal relationships of course are quite necessary. I wouldn't want to go to bed every night with someone for whom I felt nothing, that is certain. They just don't belong in national debates.

10. Feet. Actually this is not a favorite word; I am not a foot fan. My feet have been ignored most of my life and I think most feet are, well, shall we say, not pretty. Having ignored said feet for 46 years, they now complain daily so they are on my mind more than I would like.

11. Will. Nope, not short for "William," but the will of mankind... of me. The power of my mind over what goes on around me. My intentions, my purpose. Dreams and destiny, maybe. What will be will be... but maybe not.

12. Word. Of course something to do with writing has to be on this list! And where we would be without words? Certainly not reading this blog entry, or talking, or doing anything much. Words make us human, whether those words are spoken or unspoken. Yay for words!

13. Poem. I love poetry though I don't read much of it anymore. There was a time when I thought I might become a poetess, but something instead turned me toward nonfiction. My poetry is good when I work at it, lackluster when I don't. My favorite modern poet is Sharon Olds. One of my favorite poems (which has lots of good four-letter words in it) is:

The Passionate Shepherd to his Love
By C. Marlowe

COME live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dale and field,
And all the craggy mountains yield.

There will we sit upon the rocks
And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

There will I make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull,
Fair linèd slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold.

A belt of straw and ivy buds
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my Love.

Thy silver dishes for thy meat
As precious as the gods do eat,
Shall on an ivory table be
Prepared each day for thee and me.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my Love.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is number 104!

Happy anniversary, an award and post no. 991

Three years ago today, I started started this blog. I had no idea what I wanted to do with it except use it as a different venue for writing other than newspaper articles. A creative outlet, as it were.

I knew this anniversary was coming up and I had hoped this would be post 1,000 but I am a few short. So I am celebrating with post number 991. I guess next week I will hit 1,000.

Stopping this blog is not an option. I enjoy writing it, even if sometimes I scratch my head over what to put on here. I have made many friends and have met in person some wonderful ladies I would not have met otherwise. Or maybe I would have - like does attract like. At any rate, I wish to thank you, dear reader, whoever you are. I know many of you don't leave comments and I hope that I don't disappoint you when you visit.

Amy Tate over at The Virginia Scribe earlier this week honored me and my blog with the Premios Dardos Award. This is "an award for bloggers who distinguish themselves for showing cultural values, ethics, great and fun writing skills, as well as individual values, through their creative writing."



I am very grateful to her for nominating my blog for this award. I met Amy in person at a Roanoke Pen Women meeting in June. She is a delightful soul and I wish her much success in her publishing endeavors.

Amy nominated several other blogs I read for the award, blogs that I would have elected to nominate as well. For example, I would have nominated my friend Becky over at Peevish Pen.

At least one blog I would nominate (The Blue Ridge Gal), doesn't accept awards. So I am going to suggest that you, dear reader, slip over to read her blog and also landuvmilknhoney, Loose Leaf Notes and the Blue Ridge Blue Collar Girl, which are three blogs I think worthy of this award. But most of the blogs listed on my blog are good reading.

If you read my blog and would like this award because you think your work meets the qualifications, please accept it and let me know that you have done so. I would like to read your work too, if I don't already!

And as for me, I will be busy thinking about tomorrow, and my next Thursday Thirteen.

Review: Momma Mia

Momma Mia, with Glen Close - I mean Meryl Streep - has been playing on HBO.

I watched the movie in its entirety the night it debuted and I've seen pieces of it several times since then.

Some of the singing is off key. However it is a fun movie with a fairy tale ending. Kind of a modern Cinderella story with a twist, if you will.

The musical features songs by ABBA, and since they were one of my favorite bands growing up, I know every song. That is part of what makes this show so fun. Who hasn't heard those songs?

This is one of two movies I've seen this year that I think were made for sleep overs for women ages 40 and up. Not that I know of women who have sleepovers like that, but if we all did then this is one of the movies I'd offer up. The other is the Sex in the City movie.

The story line for Momma Mia goes like this: young girl on eve of wedding wants to know who her daddy is. She reads Mom's diary and decides it can be one of three guys, so she invites all three to the wedding. They arrive, Mom freaks. Young girl's beau is perturbed. Friends arrive to help out. Wedding day arrives, things don't go quite as planned, lovely happy ending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlPMEdQKzJc

This is my favorite part of the movie. It won't let you embed it. Click it and watch it, though.

The Captain's Helmet

My husband turned 50 on June 2 and I threw him a party at the fire station.

But I did not give him his present because it had yet to arrive.

Yesterday, finally, his helmet (ordered in April) came in.



It is nice and shiny but once it has been in a fire it won't be that for long. It meets all the certifications and specifications for safety and security.



That long thing hanging down is to protect my husband's neck. He has a scar on his neck from a burn he received during an apartment fire about 20 years. A piece of burning wood fell down between his helmet and collar and singed him rather badly.



I hope this new helmet will keep my sweetie safe until he retires, which is still a few years away.

Getting to know you

I swiped this from Facebook. Amy H. tagged me but I decided to answer it on my blog instead.

I am not tagging anyone, but if you wish to answer these questions please do. Leave me a comment if you do that and I will visit to see your answers.


1. What time did you get up this morning: 6:00 a.m., which is the time I rise almost every morning

2. How do you like your steak? Medium-rare, except that I am not supposed to be eating steak these days.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

4. What is your favorite TV show? I don't really have one. I watch Deadliest Catch, Ghost Whisperer, and Real Time with Bill Maher with some regularity. But I wouldn't call any of them a favorite.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Switzerland, Scotland or Denmark.

6. What did you have for breakfast? Scrambled eggs and a banana

7. What is your favorite cuisine? I like spaghetti but it doesn't like me much.

8. What foods do you dislike? Spicy foods upset my tummy.

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Bellacino's.

10. Favorite dressing? Honey mustard

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Toyota Camry

12. What are your favorite clothes? Jeans, T-shirt and sneakers.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Ireland.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? Broken and crushed into little bitty sand-like pieces.

15. Where would you want to retire? Savannah, GA or right where I am.

16. Favorite time of day? 10 a.m.

17. Where were you born? Roanoke, VA

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Women's tennis

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? Nobody, since I didn't tag anyone to start with

22. Bird watcher? Yes, but not that kind that looks up their names.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? Mid-morning person

24. Do you have any pets? 40 cows

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I'm afraid not.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? A writer, a geologist, an archaeologist and a teacher.

27. What is your best childhood memory? Selling lemonade on a roadside stand at my grandmother's house in Salem.

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Dog

29. Are you married? Yes.

30. Do you always wear your seat belt? Yes, even when I'm just going down the driveway.

31. Been in a car accident? Several times. One year I was rear-ended three times.

32. Any pet peeves? The grocery ladies who always want to hand me my candy bar, mints or soft drink at the checkout. I must look like I can't wait until I get to the car.

33. Favorite pizza topping? Mushrooms.

34. Favorite Flower? Iris.

35. Favorite ice cream? Hot fudge sundae. I haven't had one in about 30 years.

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Hardees, if I have to pick one.

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? None.

38. From whom did you get your last email? My closest friend.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? I don't carry a balance on my cards at all, but if I were going to max one out, I would go to Staples.

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? I drove over to my rental property on the spur of the moment to check on it. Boring, eh.

41. Like your job? Yes.

42. Broccoli? Love it. It's very good for you.

43. Kids? None.

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? My husband.

45. What are you listening to right now? The hum of the computer.

46. What is your favorite color? It's a tie between blue and purple.

47. How many tattoos do you have? Nary a one.

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? Nobody.

49. What time did you finish this quiz? 1:52 p.m.

50. Coffee Drinker? Not at all.

Thursday Thirteen

Why The Lord of the Rings trilogy should be counted among the greatest movies of all time.

1. Terrific story. The Lord of the Rings, with its epic good vs. evil clash, brings together all of the necessary qualities of good story telling. The Dark Lord is returning; the good folks must save the day (does that sound familiar, Harry Potter fans?)

2. Characterization. The characters in this story are loveable and likeable. You want to be a hobbit or an elf or a wizard… or a man who may be king.

3. Scenery. The setting Director Peter Jackson chose for these films is superb. New Zealand offers up a great array of landscape, from pristine green fields to sweeping snow-covered mountain ranges.

4. Superb acting. I remember when I heard that Elijah Wood had been chosen to portray Frodo, my response was kind of “eh,” and I wasn’t sure he would do justice to the part. Now I can’t think of a hobbit without seeing his portrayal. The same is true of the other actors. I confess I fell in love with Orlando Bloom in this series.

5. These movies, all three of them, make me cry. Any movie that can do that gets a thumbs up. I started rewatching the trilogy this week during exercise. This morning I was on the treadmill with tears on my cheeks.

6. The death of Borimir. There are few death scenes that stand out for me – the only other one that I recall is in the Little Women movie with Wynona Ryder. Borimir’s death is redeeming and warranted and extremely well-played by the entire cast.

7. The march of the elves. When the elves come to help the men at the Keep in The Two Towers, my heart leaps into my throat every time.

8.  Realistic costumes. Elves look like elves and orcs like orcs and men like men. The behind the scenes work in this movie is obvious. This was not a thrown-together production by any stretch of the imagination.

 

9. The crowning of the king. Another scene that makes me sob, particularly when Aragon tells the hobbits to “bow to no men.” What majesty and glory.

10. The lessons. This is a movie about friendship, courage, love, hope, redemption. Good faces evil and wins. It is uplifting and encouraging.

11. The music. The score to these movies suits it perfectly, from the pipes for the hobbits to the sweeping orchestrations and the drum beats of war.

 

12. The death of the Witch King. When the Lady of Rohan kills this most evil and deadly of the nine, I rejoice and cry at the same time. What a death blow she strikes, and how fitting that it is a woman!

13. Watchability. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen these movies in recent years. I watch them while I do housework, when I exercise, when nothing else is on TV. I never tire of them.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is number 103!

Dell called

After all the craziness last week with a computer, I have about settled in with this new Dell.

My only gripe was a big Dell Register window that kept popping up and wouldn’t go away. I had already registered the computer.

So on Monday I sought out a tech at Dell for an online chat, and we resolved the issue. I did all the work myself, choosing not to use the remote assistance thing because the remote assistance thing with Norton appeared to have been the cause of a cut/paste issue with IE8 when I was setting up the computer. Besides, I like doing it.

Last night, a fellow from Dell called to see that all was well with my product. He had an accent and I had to ask him to repeat himself once or twice but mostly I was shocked that I received follow up.

This is great customer service! This is what companies should be doing.

This made me really glad that I bought a Dell. Me and my new computer are going to be very happy together for a good number of years.

Bucks in velvet

Saturday evening my friend B. and I sat on my deck sipping tea and talking.

I heard a shuffle in the woods.

A herd of bucks slipped past my shed and down the fence line. We watched, awed,
as seven deer with velvet antlers moved through the woods.

My camera lay in my office. But Sunday evening my husband and I sat on the deck.

And at about the same time, several bucks moved from the woods into the pasture.





Right now they are running together, but soon they will be shedding their velvet skins and they will fight amongst themselves.

The rut will begin.

Review: Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince

SPOILERS BELOW

What a disappointment.

Of all of the Harry Potter movies, this one is the worst. If you are NOT a Potter aficionado, you will have trouble with this movie.

I consider myself to be a Potter fan of the minor sort, anyway, and I had trouble with it. It has been four years since I read the book upon which this movie is based and it’s been since the last movie was out that I watched any of the movies.

Suffice it to say, I’d forgotten a lot. So a little reminder as to who the characters were and why they mattered or why I should care would have been welcome. The movie instead felt like it simply dumped into the middle of something and good luck to you in trying to catch on.

It was also boring. I started looking at my watch about an hour into the movie.

The teen angst, while well done, I suppose, added nothing to the story. I certainly could have done without that in exchange for some reminders of who was whom.

Perhaps it was because I was anticipating the ending that I did not care for the rest of it. However, even Dumbledore’s death was anticlimactic in the movie.

I also recall that I did not care much for this book. It was not my favorite of the seven. That is not to say that I disliked it so much that I couldn’t read it, I just didn’t think that it held up in measure to the earlier volumes. And the upcoming Deathly Hollows seemed to me to be written with the screen in mind and it suffered for that.

A good movie should be a good movie unto itself, even if it is a series of movies, and this one fails that test. I am sure it will do well at the box office simply because of the name, but that alone does not make for a fine film.

This one was so bad that I likely won’t go see the remaining two at the theater. I may save my $10 and wait for them to come out on HBO.

Good day, Sunshine

It has taken me days to get my computer back to where I feel comfortable with it. Still, I find it so different from what I had used for four years that I am not quite certain all that I lost.

My calendar, for one. My contacts list, for another. Thankfully I had enough sense to print those out and to put them in .pdf format before I disconnected the old computer. The  e-files I emailed to myself. The information is not lost, just not as accessible.

The new and improved Windows offers a lot of stuff. A “Live Blog” feature allows me to write and post to my blog without ever connecting to blogger.com. It formats paragraphs funny and is taking some getting used to.

I imagine young people love it.

Also I have been beleaguered by requests from Windows to “join” various components that would follow how I use windows. They want to track me, as it were, following my every key punch and mouse track to see what I am doing and why.  “We won’t collect your information” the little notes all say, and I decline them all. But I bet they’re collecting information anyway.

I do not trust corporations. Not a single one. The makers of Tylenol may be glad their product kills my pain but they are happier still with the bucks my pain puts in their pocket.

I have a Brita pitcher filter. The filter leaves little black spots of charcoal all over the top of the pitcher. Every filter does this. On the packaging it says a little of this is normal at first. It happens all the time. It’s not harmful, the packaging says.

I don’t believe it but I drink the water anyway because it tastes a little better with the filter. It’s like Coast soap – the smallest soap in the house, not because it’s used to much but because the way it’s made makes it go away very quickly in water. And we swallow the commercial and the claims.

Hopefully I am now back in business and Monday will find me  ready to tackle some  writing projects, my and my little tracking computer.

Just another writer

Last night I ventured to Roanoke for a seminar on magazine writing. The event, sponsored by the Arts Council, was free to the public.

Cara Ellen Modisett, editor of Blue Ridge Country magazine, was the speaker.

She spoke about queries, content, where to find ideas, what type of magazine to write for (BRC is a travel magazine), voice, and lead paragraphs, among other things.

Approximately 20-25 people turned out to hear her talk, including Becky at Peevish Pen, who is a member of the Roanoke Valley Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, as am I.

The event energized me and reminded me why I wanted to be a writer, lo those many years ago, in the first place. It is not to make money (thank goodness) but to tell a story in the way that only I can tell it. My voice is my own and my perceptions belong to me, and no one can tell me that they are right or wrong, though Lord knows they will try.

Being a writer has been a goal ever since I knew the word. Teachers pointed me in that direction. “You can write,” they said, one after the other. Some pointed me in wrong directions but still down that general avenue.

"Be a writer,” voices whispered to me.

Over the years I trained myself to write first on a typewriter and then on computer, not an easy task. Today I can scarcely read my own hand writing, so writing at the computer has become a near necessity.

Writing is more than fingers to keyboard. It is thinking, dreaming, spending time walking the fields to gather thoughts that otherwise stray. It is listening, listening and listening again to the heart of the voice of the speaker, hearing emotions in voice, seeing desire and passion in body stance. It is asking questions and not thinking the answer in your head is the correct one. It is knowing that minds are not stagnant but changeable and malleable and that what a person thinks one day may be completely different from the next.

Writing is a kind of madness, an adventure of the psyche that stimulates, fascinates, depresses and confounds. It amuses, confuses, bemuses and makes obtuse the things you thought you knew but really did not. It is blue sky, fast cars, wicked women, evil men, blessed priests, laughing children, dancing dames, Christian zealots and atheists who make love in the park. Writing zips around like a firefly on a hot summer night and it lies smoldering on the sidewalk like the flame beneath winter’s fireplaces.

The dance of the keys beneath my fingers sometimes is a slow waltz that makes the box step look like a quick locomotive. It’s a hip hop that boogies, a jazz band that be-bops and a disco that moves quickly from one end of the floor to the next. It is static, erratic, jagged and smooth, and it changes from one moment to the next.

How could I even think of not writing, of not giving life to the words of my brain, the thoughts whizzing breezily between my ears and beneath my graying hairs? What made me contemplate tossing this desire into the trees, to leave it hanging there unnoticed and unwanted like a deflated balloon?

I am just a writer. But a writer is just what I am.

The Agony of it All

Last week, as I minded my own business and began intensive work on a personal writing project that I aimed to finish, my computer decided it had enough.

Enough of me plugging in devices and using it for my own purpose. It wanted no more. The Gateway 830 GM had served me faithfully for over four years and it was sure its time had come.

The USB ports died. I first realized there was a problem Monday evening but thought little about it.

Tuesday morning, the external hard drive would not come up. So I thought it was the external device.

Then the computer wouldn't read my cameras. Or the printer. Or anything else, except for a very old scanner plugged in the back.

About the time I decided to unhook everything and haul it to Best Buy for a check up, everything worked again. So I backed up the hard drive and continued to work.

The next morning when I booted up, she was dead in the water where the USB ports were concerned. So I unplugged and headed to Roanoke.

The Best Buy guy, a young fellow attempting in vain to grow facial hair, said the problem sounded like a mother board issue. Of course while I had it on the counter his wireless mouse device worked properly in all ports so he could not be sure.

I lugged the thing back home. Of course when I set it back up, nothing worked.

A friend offered up her brother-in-law, who is a business computer technician. He could not come by until Friday, so I bid my time, limping along without the USB ports. It worked properly when he first arrive, but after a reboot everything was dead. After an hour he decided it was indeed some kind of serious problem and not a software or driver issue.

I had planned to replace the computer after Windows 7 was issued, (which happens in late October) not before, but since I really need a good working and reliable computer for my work, I knew my wallet would have to be a lot lighter.

Saturday I zipped around looking at computers. I took a little notebook and diligently wrote down model numbers, prices, RAM size, hard drive size, number of USB ports, card reader, etc etc. I visited two Walmarts, Staples, Best Buy, Sam's Club and Office Max.

Then I came home and looked at dell.com and other places.

After much discussion my husband and I decided I would buy an ASUS computer, because the tech guy and the Best Buy salesmen all swore that ASUS was the best component parts maker in the world and thus their computers must be the best on the market. Apparently they have been making computers for just a little while but parts for a very long time.

I ordered the computer online with pick up at Best Buy in Roanoke. Sunday afternoon we picked it up and returned home.

I began setting it up.

I noticed Sunday evening that the graphics looked fuzzy but I thought I simply needed to adjust settings. At one point I was concerned enough that I called the ASUS 24/7 tech hotline. I figured it wouldn't be too busy that time of day.

I received a recording.

The next morning, I began the set up process in earnest. Windows downloaded updates for a very long time. I used up a Norton Antivirus license, my last on a purchase that would let me put the thing on three PCs, and an MS Office license. Things were humming along.

And then I decided to see if the DVD player worked okay.

I put in a Lord of the Rings DVD. It would not show the picture properly. I had lots of pixel boxes all over the video.

Completely unacceptable, of course.

I then checked the device driver on my graphic card, fiddled with its settings, updated the driver - pretty much did everything I could except stand on my head.

Meanwhile, I started receiving a black screen and then it would come back with a notice that my graphics device had recovered from a serious error.

I called ASUS again, only to receive another recording. I checked their tech website in hopes of an online chat. No one ever appeared to help me out. I finally found a form I could fill out and request assistance. I sent off the request.

When no assistance was forthcoming after a couple of hours, I unplugged the ASUS and boxed it back up.

My husband and I went back to Best Buy and returned it.

Then I went around to several stores looking at brands and numbers again. I decided I wanted either a Dell or another Gateway.

Best Buy had a Dell and Gateway with similar specifications. The Dell was a little cheaper because it had fewer bells and whistles. I decided on the Dell.

Best Buy Roanoke didn't have it.

So we drove to Christiansburg at 8 p.m. to pick it up. We returned home about 9:40 p.m., because Christiansburg is not close.

So this today for a second time I have been setting up a new desktop. Norton was kind enough to allow me to transfer the license to this computer so I didn't have to pay for that again. I still had one license left on my MS Office so I installed that.

So far, so good. The Dell has withstood me for 7 hours now.

I did receive an email from the ASUS people about mid-day. Their response?

Do a full system restore. Hope that helps.

I do not recommend that brand of computer to anyone. I know parts can fail on any of them but their customer service certainly left me cold.

To the moon

I cannot let the 40th anniversary of the first moonwalk go by without recalling where I was.

At Grandma's house in Salem.

I would have been six years old, and I remember sitting cross-legged in her living room, watching as the astronauts walked on the earth's satellite.

What I can't recall is how I came to be there. I have always been fascinated with space and the space program, so I like to think that little six-year-old me, who by that time was reading the newspaper front to back, just like today, knew that this was a momentous occasion and deemed it worthy of a time-out from playing with action figures and GI dolls with my brother and young uncle.

Most likely my grandmother called us in and told us to watch. Oddly, I don't recall any one else in the room with me at the time. My uncles would have been 5 and 9; surely the older one was there, too. My brother would have only been three, so he may not have been present.

In the past I have had people tell me they remember seeing this at school, which always confuses me. Unless there were a lot of folks in summer school, I think most likely they were at home. Maybe they remember seeing it for the first time during a replay of the event while they were at school?

This made me doubt my own memories of seeing the original actual broadcast at my grandmother's, but these days I am fairly sure my memory is accurate, if old.

We have not made a similar accomplishment since, and indeed we seem to be in a decline, moving from greatness to not-so-great. I am not sure from where this comes but that is my perception, anyway. Seems like all we care about as a people are our individual pocketbooks and not anything as a community or society. There is no collective love of the greater good running rampant around here, anyway.

I hope that someday during my lifetime I will see some other wondrous event that parallels this one, a positive step, a hope and triumph that does not lead to war and violence. Maybe a trip to Mars?

Finding Grace #8

Continuing the countdown toward 100 things for which I am grateful....

81. Tea. I love a good cup of tea first thing in the morning. I like mine with honey these days.

82. Paper. Sorry, computers and bits and bytes. I am still in love with notebooks and composition books. This time of year I grow nostalgic for education as the stores put out school supplies. I love the smell of a new notebook.

83. Public restrooms. Gotta have these when you're out at the mall, you know?

84. Taxes. Bet that got your attention! Why would anyone be grateful because they pay taxes? Well, taxes create roads. They pay for sewer and water. They go toward curing cancer. They pay for new technologies. They PUT A MAN ON THE MOON! Do you think I could do any of that by myself? No way. It takes more than one to create things things.

85. The inside of an Oreo cookie. I have never liked the outside stuff much but I really do like the creamy filling.

86. The letter "A". I don't know why, I just do.

87. Love. Isn't this the greatest feeling? To be in love with someone?

88. Passion. Here's another great feeling. It is so great that we can feel passion for people, pets, things, activities. It is what makes us unique, creative and inventive.

89. Shrimp. I love shrimp, they are one of my favorite seafoods.

90. Storytellers. Where would we be without the folks who can spin a yarn? How boring would it be if we didn't have Shakespeare as a common reference point?

91. Oak trees. I am really grateful for these trees, and particularly the ones outside my window. Their majesty and long life has many lessons for us all. They endure nature's stress, man made stress, hatchets, and insects and yet still stand tall. They also give great shade.

92. Cars. I know they are terrible pollutants but I really like my Toyota. I like getting where I am going, I like moving fast. I won't mind if we find a different fuel or type of engine but I sure don't want to be stuck at home all the time.

93. Email. Okay, a silly thing. But I like writing letters and hearing from friends.

94. Good shoes. Really necessary for walking and less-sore feet.

95. Ice. I like to crunch ice in my soft drinks. I also like to put it on sore, aching muscles. It also keeps the ice cream from melting.

96. Donuts. Fattening, yes! But by golly they are good.

97. Showers. I could stand under the shower for a very long time, but I time myself and keep it to four minutes (five if I have been very good).

98. My husband's heart. I am really humbled that this man loves me.

99. Ketchup. I do not like to eat my french fries unadorned.

100. Being able to come up with 100 things to be grateful and thankful for. It really makes life seem a little less intimidating. I have so much. I am truly blessed.