Is It A Happy July 4th For Everyone?

Today is the day we celebrate the creation of the United States. On July 4, 1776, the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. This document declared the nation free from the rule of Great Britain, and thus independent. And then the people of this country went to war with Great Britain. If we had lost, we would not be celebrating.

The second sentence of the Declaration of Independence is well known. It says: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Apparently, though, given a Supreme Court ruling made earlier this week, that all-encompassing definition of "men" as being all of humanity is still not accepted. The female part of the species once again was given short shrift by the ol' white guys who continue to maintain their hold on the nation.

I'm talking, of course, about the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision of the Supreme Court. (You may read it at the link; it's 95 pages long, and yes, I read it.)

The issue is broad and complicated, and for me to try to sort it out not only for myself but for my readers would be ludicrous. It is the sort of thing that will have lawyers salivating for years.

However, I do have an opinion on it, and that I will share.

In my opinion, this is not about abortion or religious freedom. It is about control. Specifically, it is about control of women. I see this as nothing more than another in a long line of efforts to continue to make women "less than" those who believe the ones with things that dangle between their legs are more important and legitimate than those of us who bring forth the entire species. It is the fight that began in 1776, when the ol' white guys chose to write "all men are created equal" instead "all of humanity are created equal."

Apparently across the waters and in the US in the more left-wing corners, the issue is being regarded by some as "men can screw around, so women should be able to do so, too" issue. I have never seen this as that kind of issue, something that is pushing promiscuity.

As far as I'm concerned, birth control is medication, and to deny it for any reason is a crime. It's as vital to some women as chemotherapy is to some cancer patients. I don't care what your religion thinks of it. Taking it should be my choice, and an issue between me and my doctor. To add in a third party is the same as making me chattel to the third party, whether that's my boss, my insurance company, my father, or the government.

Basically, what it boils down to is this: If my religion doesn't allow me to do XYZ, then that's fine. I live with that. This isn't fine: My religion doesn't allow YOU to do XYZ. That's not okay, fair, or moral. You don't have a say over my life. That's not your call.

Keep your religion to yourself and we'll get along fine.

The can of worms opened by this opinion from the Supreme Court is huge. First, there is the "corporations are people" concern. Corporations have no morals and no religion, nor, in my opinion, can they hold any kind of religious ideals. The stockholders may, but they are not corporations.

In the SCOTUS opinion, there is this:

"HHS [United States Department of Health and Human Services] would put these merchants to a difficult choice: either give up the right to seek judicial protection of their religious liberty or forgo the benefits, available to their competitors, of operating as corporations."

And that, quite frankly, is what they should do. Why shouldn't they have to make a difficult choice? They certainly don't mind foisting difficult choices upon others. These companies should give up their corporate status and become sole proprietors. They would lose tons of tax breaks and benefits, and they should not be allowed those benefits if they intend to make chattel of the female portion of their workforce by forcing their religious views down their throats.

No one has the right to interfere with how you or I use our bodies. Your right to do what you want with your body ends only when whatever you doing interferes with my right to do what I want with mine. Smoking is a good example. You can do that all you want so long as you're not polluting my air. If you want to do it in your own home or car and give yourself cancer, that is not my business. But if you want to smoke in a public place and set off my asthma, then it damn well is my business.

But what goes on in a woman's womb is nobody's business but hers. You can't get more personal and private than that. Why is a woman's vagina better regulated than gun ownership? Can somebody give me a good answer for that one?

Frankly, it would make more sense for society to be proactive with birth control because otherwise we end up with children we need to care for. It would be one thing if these pro-birthers were actually pro-life and would ensure that unwanted children are provided for through tax dollars, but they are the first ones to howl if they think their money is going to pay for somebody else's kid.

The other thing that aggravates me about this is I am a pacifist. I do not believe in war, yet I have no recourse but to pay my tax dollars even though I know that some of my money is going to kill other human beings. Why do these religious zealots who worry about their magical beliefs on abortion get an out but my reasoned and logical faith that tells me killing is amoral does not get me one?

Here's the answer to that: in a similar ruling on a related matter late this week, Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote: “But thinking one’s religious beliefs are substantially burdened — no matter how sincere or genuine that belief may be — does not make it so.”
 
And I think that this is the case about many of the so-called persecutions many religious zealots (mostly Christians) claim to be subjected to really are: a belief, but not a reality. There was no burden on Hobby Lobby's owners. It only existed in their little minds. (For a great essay on what the Bible has to say about when a fetus becomes a person, check out this link. It's not at conception, biblically speaking. It's at first breath.)

However, religious extremists are working hard to inflict their belief system upon a vast portion of the population - and women are bearing the brunt of it. This ruling has erased the choices of thousands of women. If their boss thinks they should not have a certain drug because of religious conviction, then so be it.  The "closely held" corporate definition is silly: Mars Candy employs 70,000 people and it is a "closely held" corporation. The Supreme Court just gave them the right to tell all of their female employees they will not provide certain medications in their insurance coverage because of their religion.

If the Jehovah's Witnesses had objected because they don't believe in blood transfusions, what would the ruling have been? Other religions don't believe in antidepressants or immunizations. What about those beliefs? Why is the abortion argument the one that is given the most credit? You know why? Because those other kinds of religious convictions would affect males. That is where it stops: when it affects men.

And if this had come from a Muslim-controlled corporation, would the ruling have been the same? I think not. Just look at the religion of the SCOTUS majority and you'll have your answer to that one.

Birth control has many uses. It is not only used by unmarried young women who want to sleep around. Married women use birth control pills for any number of reasons - because of finances, space, housing, health. The pills and the devices have legitimate medicinal uses. They help with migraines. They keep women from being anemic. Are you going to tell a diabetic woman who would die if she were to become accidentally pregnant that she must take that risk? What if an IUD is the only thing she can use because the pills cause side effects or hormone imbalances? Why is it okay to cause her pain or death?

I was on birth control while I was trying to conceive. My doctors would put me on the pill to try to control my endometriosis, then take me off it so we could try to have a child. It didn't work. But it was medicinal. So why shouldn't it be covered medical care?

This is about personal choice, and whether the big white boss's opinion means more than yours. The Supreme Court
just said oh yes, little lady, the big white daddy gets to make the call for you.

If these kinds of rules had been in place 25 years ago, I would be dead.

Fortunately then, and I hope still now, men do not have rule over women and do not have the right to tell us how we can live. Women should have the same right to health care as men. If men can get Viagra so that they can feel manly - and as far as I know that's the only use for that drug - then I certainly don't understand what the issue is with birth control, regardless of form.

Here's another reason to be upset about this ruling. In an article at Medscape.com, the writer noted:

Several medical societies also took umbrage at how the Hobby Lobby decision will affect the practice of medicine. The ruling "intrudes on the patient-physician relationship," said AMA President Robert Wah, MD, in a statement. Likewise, the AAFP's Dr. Blackwelder told Medscape Medical News that physicians should have the freedom to prescribe contraceptives and other medications as they deem fit, and "insurance should cover the right choice."

Another medical society critical of the Hobby Lobby ruling is the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). "[It] inappropriately allows employers to interfere in women's healthcare decisions," said ACOG President John Jennings in a news release.

There's that word "intrusive" that I alluded to earlier. This ruling is nothing but a throw-back to an earlier time, to the very day we are celebrating.

We are celebrating a time when angry white guys ruled the world. So Happy July 4th? Not if you're a woman. It will only be my Independence Day when I have obtained the exact same rights of every man in this country - when all of humanity is acknowledged as being equal. And that is a long way away from happening, given what just happened this week.

Thursday Thirteen

Lines from my Facebook Feed:

1. "You know it's a wicked fart when it wakes people up from a dead sleep."

2. "Lightning is hard to catch."

3. "Somebody please get rid of that chicken fat song."

4. A. "Randy Travis is not Dwight Yoakum."
    B. "How do their butts compare?"

5. "I should add we found the empty champagne bottle behind the rock. It's not ours. Or the baby's."

6. "Cry Freedom cry from deep inside where we are all confined ... Hands and feet are all alike but gold between divides, hands and feet are all alike but fear between divides us.... Hear what I say. Hear what I say. Oh. so be It. Oh, there is a way .How can I turn away? Brother, sister go dancing through my head, human as to human. The future is no place to place your better days."

7. "Well, that was fun. An evening of rampant cynicism and righteous indignation. This program brought to you by Five Old Farts, LLC, the guys that gave you Bush as president and took apart everything we've needed to insure equal protection under the law. Tune in next week when we bring you Tacky Shacky Challenges the 19th Amendment, citing religious differences. It's going to be an exciting program! Don't miss it! You kids get to bed now."

8. "23,380 steps today. I'm one tired puppy!"

9. "My dream? To have an openly gay person on the court. Not a "maybe is, rumor has it" but an OUT gay person.

10. "On this day in the year of our Lord 1776, the Second Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, formally adopted Richard Henry Lee's resolution for independence from Great Britain. The vote was unanimous, with only New York abstaining."

11. "I still prefer hot hot hot to cold cold cold! I didn't spend the day shoveling 22 inches of snow!"

12. "Target became the latest in a series of major national chains to deliver a clear message to customers: Leave your guns at home."

13. "The lights on the carnival midway gate have been updated to all-LED. Also brand new for 2014? Tailgating. At the Fair. At the Civic Center."


I did not write any of these lines; these are the things that greet me in the mornings.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 351st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Books: Search for Love

Search for Love
By Nora Roberts
Performed by Gayle Hendrix
Audio approximately 5.25 hours
Copyright 1991, audio copyright 2009

This book is a romance written nearly 25 years ago. I have been reading later Nora Roberts work and been pleased overall. This book was not disappointing but I did feel like I was reading someone else's work. It doesn't have quite the expertize and command of language of her later writings.

In this story, Serenity Smith, an artist in the DC area, is summoned to Europe by a long-lost grandmother. Upon her arrival, she meets her cousin-by-marriage, the current count of an aristocratic estate.

You know how it goes then. He wants her, she wants him, stuff intervenes, love overcomes, happily ever after.

Easy listening on long drives back and forth to physical therapy. It was also nice to realize that I was right in my earlier thinking that Roberts wrote romances. Some of her later work leaps beyond that category so I was wondering if I was misremembering.

Let Me Out!

She Would Have Been 70

My mother's 70th birthday would have happened on June 20. I let the day go by without commenting here on my blog, but I thought about it.

I've thought about it a lot.

My mother died in 2000 at the age of 56 - just five years older than I am now. She had pancreatic cancer. The disease manifested itself when she was 55, and she spent a year fighting it before it before cancer took her.

I was 37 years old when my mother died. Fourteen years have passed and I have grown considerably in the time, not up (maybe out a little) but inwardly.

I think I have forgiven her.

There was a lot to forgive. I needed to forgive her for dying, for getting sick, and for leaving me. But there was also that first 37 years of my life, which were turbulent and less than delightful. I needed to come to terms with all that took place in that long period of time.

My mother did not want to be a mother - certainly she did not want to be an 18-year-old mother, which is how old she was when I was born. I think she wanted to be a wife, but she wasn't ready to be a mother.

Eighteen is young to have a baby. It happens all the time all over the world, and perhaps there are young women that age who are mature and ready to raise a child. My mother was not one of them.

It didn't help that I was a girl. Girls in the early 1960s were not desirable. A boy, now that would have been something, to have had the first-born be the heir apparent, the male child who could inherit the world. He would come along three years later, a helpless squalling red-faced brat. I would die to protect him even today.

Perhaps I was not cast aside as I felt, but I felt it, nevertheless. I don't think it was my imagination, but I allow that perhaps it could have been. Regardless, I grew up feeling unwanted, unnecessary, and unneeded. I was told, frequently, that I was a burden, followed by endless tirades against the stupidity that comes from being a child. It was a helluva way to be raised.

My mother acknowledged a few times that I did not have it easy. She used to say I wasn't raised, I was jerked up. And I think she's right about that. I wasn't given much of a chance to be anything other than an old soul trying to grow into and out of my life long before I even had any idea of what that actually meant.

She loved me as well as she could. I have figured that out in the last 14 years, but it took her dying for me to discover that. My mother did not love me as I needed to be loved - unconditionally and without rancor. She wasn't capable of that with me. I don't know if that is how she loved my brother. You would have to ask him.

Her talents were many - she was crafty, she cooked wonderfully, she made my father a fine house. She threw great parties, she looked after her mother. She helped my father on the farm, she went to aerobics classes, and she took bookkeeping courses at Virginia Western when I was around 12 years old. She worked a 40-hour job for 30 years.

She didn't take me to church but she didn't stand in my way when I asked for a Bible, and she didn't flinch when I questioned things. But she could be mean and spiteful and when it came to her daughter, she was relentlessly difficult and I spent the entire time I knew her trying to understand why she hated me so.

I loved her, of course. She was my mother. I did everything I could possibly think of to please her, and failed every single time. As time passed I came to realize I didn't particularly like her as a person. We had nothing in common, we didn't share similar values (I have no idea where my moral system came from), I disliked her taste in clothes. She passed off love by giving things - material gifts - and I don't recognize that, generally, as a love offering. Material items are not part of my love language though I am trying to do better in seeing it. Materialism is, after all, how many people communicate in this day and age.

Recently I looked my own mortality squarely in the eye. The last year has been a difficult one for me health-wise, and while the doctors didn't think I was dying, I wasn't so sure. It rather felt like it, because I was very sick. I thought a great deal about my mother's cancer diagnosis. Her coming death was a certainty, and she refused to deal with it. She fought it, but she made no amends that I am aware of. I asked her many times over the course of the last year of her life to speak to me, to explain, to tell me what I needed to hear.

She refused. Every time. She would not explain, she would not say she was sorry, and she would not tell me I was loved. She went into her grave without saying the things I desperately wanted to hear.

My aunt told me she said them to her. I will never hear them.

I spent six months of the previous year trying to make sure I left nothing undone. Oh, I'm not going to die now, the doctors were right. But I went to work on the things that mattered most. And that wasn't acquiring more stuff, or making more money. It was being with people I cared about, and working on a broken relationship with my father, and trying to come to grips with my own odd concept of spirituality and what happens to us after we're gone.

And in the process of doing all of that, I realized that sometime in the last fourteen years, I had forgiven my mother.

Forgiving, I think, is one of the hardest things we can do. But it also the most important thing we do. I did not forgive my mother for her - she's not here, after all. I forgave my mother for myself. I think that's really the only reason you can forgive, is to make your own peace.

I learned, too, that time is short. You never know if you will live to be 51, 56 or 70. I might leave here for an appointment in a few minutes and not come back. Grudges are easy; forgiving is hard. I hope I always take the hard road.

With whatever time I have left, I want to always be loving and generous, kind, fun, and courageous. And I hope I have the courage to say "I love you" to the many, many people I would like to say it to.

My New Friends

With a mystery ailment that the doctors can't figure out or do much about comes interesting attachments that they hope will help.

This is Mr. TENS.

 

A TENS unit (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) is used for nerve related pain conditions. The machine works by sending electrical pulses across the surface of my skin and into the nerve strands.

 

It kind of tickles unless I crank it up high. Then it can hurt. It can also cause burns if you're not careful. It's a little bit like being zapped with an electric fence.

 

The pulses prevent pain signals from reaching the brain. Supposedly, these units also stimulate your body to produce higher levels of endorphins. Endorphins are supposed to help you not feel so much pain.

 

 

I attach those funky looking little round pads to my tummy and then push buttons. Note they do not have an easy "belly pain" button as it is not a place one usually requires a TENS unit. I have to manually select what I need.

 

I'm so special.

 

My other new friend is this disability placard:

 

 

It says I can park in the close parking spaces at the supermarket. Let me tell you, that is not necessarily as helpful as one might think. For one thing, there aren't many cart return racks close to the handicapped spots, so you either have to push the cart to the nearest cart return or haul the cart back across the parking lot to the building. What good is that?

 

Anyway, these are my new friends. Say hi!

He Could Fix the Big Mess

From Sunday Stealing


IF YOU COULD:

Q. Travel anywhere, where would it be?

A. Ireland, Scotland, and England.

Q. Meet anyone, who would it be?

A. I have a pen pal I've been corresponding with over the Internet for 14 years; it would be really nice to meet her in person.

Q. Bring anyone dead back to life, who would it be?

A. Jesus, so he could fix the big mess that has been made in his name. I am pretty sure he didn't mean for so many of the so-called Christians to honor the wealthy, demonize the poor, not want their tax money to feed children, do away with education, or eliminate other "entitlements." I think, in fact, he says the opposite - help the poor, give away all you have, etc. Somehow people have the Pharisees mixed up with Christ.

Q. Be anyone for a day, who would it be?

A. I'm pretty content to just stay me, if that's Ok.

Q. Get anything for free for the rest of your life what would it be?

A. Food.

Q. Change one thing about your life what would it be?

A. My health.

Q. Have any superpower what would it be?

A. The ability to see very far into the future (not the near future, but the far future, like 250 years from now). I am curious as to how we turn out.

Q. Be any animal for a day which would you be?

A. A human being.

Q. Date anyone who would it be?

A. It is sad no one comes to mind.

Q. Change one thing about the world what would it be?

A. I would eliminate guns. All of them.

Q. Live in any fictional universe which would you choose?

A. Middle Earth, of course.

Q. Eliminate one of your human needs which would you get rid of?

A. The one that deals with, um, elimination.

Q. Change one thing about your physical appearance what would it be?

A. I'd weigh a lot less.

Q. Change one of your personality traits which would you choose?

A. I'd be a little less quick-tempered.

Q. Be talented at anything instantly what would you choose?

A. Playing the piano.

Q. Forget one event in your life which would you choose?

A. Some things are better left unsaid.

Q. Erase an event from history (make it so it never happened) which would you choose?

A. I think if you change one thing you alter a great many others, and I would not want that power. I think, though, if I must choose, that never having slavery, which means going way way way back in time, might be a good thing to eliminate.

Q. Have any hair/eye/skin color, which would you choose?

A. I'm okay with what I have, though a little less "soft white" might be nice.

Q. Be any weight/body type, which would you choose?

A. I would weigh about 100 pounds less than I do now, and be athletic.

Q. Live in any country/city, where would you choose?

A. I am happy where I am.

Q. Change one law in your country, which would you change?

A. I'd make voting mandatory.

Q. Be any height, which would you choose?

A. I would like to be about five inches taller, so I could utilize the top shelves.

Q. Have any job in the world, which would you choose?

A. Head of a publishing company.

Q. Have anything appear in your pocket right now, what would it be?

A. A leprechaun that could then grant me as many wishes as I wanted.

Q. Have anyone beside you right now, who would it be?

A. My husband. Always.

Saturday 9: I Feel the Earth Move

Saturday 9: I Feel the Earth Move(recommended by Blue County Magic) (That's me!)

If you're not familiar with today's song, you can hear it here.

1) This song is from the album Tapestry, one of the all-time best-sellers (more than 25,000,000 copies sold worldwide). Is it in your collection?

A. I have certain songs from it in my Amazon cloud. I also sometimes listen to it on youtube. You can hear the entire album here.

2) It's about that glorious passion you feel when you first fall for someone. How many times have you been in love?

A. I think just once, and it became a 31-year marriage in which I am still involved.

3) San Francisco radio stations briefly removed "I Feel the Earth Move" from their playlists after the 1989 earthquake. Have you ever been in an earthquake and literally felt "the earth move under your feet?"

A. I was disappointed when there was an earthquake here in Virginia on August 23, 2011, and I did not feel it. I was driving down the interstate at the time and missed it completely. However, the thing shook the east coast from New York to North Carolina.

4) Carole King is the first and only woman to win the Gershwin Prize for songwriting from the Library of Congress. Here's your chance to brag a little -- tell us about an accolade you have received.

A. I have won eight Virginia Press Association awards for my writing for newspapers. The very first one was for a write-up I did in the first person of a hot-air balloon ride I took in 1986. Another was for a three-part series I did on the failing government in a nearby county. I also have won for sports writing, which is not my specialty. The others have all been in government reporting or feature writing, which are my specialties. A few months ago, I placed in a local poetry contest.

5) Carole wrote "You've Got a Friend," which was a mega hit for her good pal, James Taylor. King and Taylor have known one another for more than 40 years, but have never been romantically involved. Do you have any platonic friends of the opposite sex?

A. Many of my husband's friends are also my friends. One of his cousins is a fellow I can count on if I must. My editor and I are also friends, though there is that business thing going on, but after working together for nearly 30 years how could you not be friends? And there are many others.

6) Like more than 80% of the population, Carole is right handed. Are you right handed, left handed (10%) or that most rare of all, ambidextrous (less than 10%)?

A. I am right handed.

7) One of Carole King's earliest hits was Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion." Little Eva was the teenager King hired to care for her young children. Tell us about a sitter who cared for you when you were little.

A. My grandmother was the babysitter I was with most often. She also had two young boys at home still, including one who was a year younger than I (and he was the youngest of six children; my mother was her firstborn). The other boy was four years older than I was, and then my brother came along, and he is three years younger than I am. So she had her hands full but she took good care of us. When we needed some extra loving, she would pull us into her lap and rock us in her rocking chair, all the while singing, "Daisy, daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy, all for the love of you."

8) Beautiful is the title of the Broadway play about Carole King's life. If we were producing your lifestory, what would you want us to call it?

A. Strong Enough.

9) Carole wrote "Pleasant Valley Sunday," the Monkees' song about conspicuous consumption. When Crazy Sam looks at her crowded shelf of hair products (paraben-free conditioner, keratin-restoring conditioner, hair masque, hot oil conditioner …), she realizes she's guilty of it herself. Have you bought anything recently that you later decided was a waste of money?

A. I have far too many magazine subscriptions. I am trying to either convert them to digital (which is harder than you'd think it would be, especially since many of these were gifts) or let them lapse. The only ones I really want to keep are O!, Writer's Digest, and Reader's Digest. But I also receive the print editions of Redbook, Woman's Day, Taste of Home, Better Homes & Gardens, Progressive Farmer, Onsite Septic Tank Installer (those last two are my husbands, but still), and a few others. They really pile up and I am tired of having to recycle them.

 

Farmer 0, Tractor 1

Or maybe it was the creek that won this round?

 

Not my farmer nor my tractor, but a neighbor's. Oops.

 

Thursday Thirteen #350

1. In 1976, I saw a movie called The Other Side of the Mountain. In one scene, the heroine, who had been paralyzed in a skiing accident, showed her boyfriend/fiancé that she could now retrieve a potato chip from a bowl. The boyfriend stood up, incredulous. "Aren't you going to walk again?" he asked. And when she did not answer, he fled, never to return. That scene has stuck with me all of these years.

2. My favorite scene in Dirty Dancing is the one where Baby is practicing her footwork on the bridge, and we get to watch her progress from being stilted and stiff to free and loose. It helps that she is dancing to the song Wipe Out.

3. In the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, my favorite scene is at the end, when the Italian salesman tells the heroine that she has all she had asked for, it just wasn't in the form she expected.

4. When the heroine in Flash Dance does her thing in front of all the judges, and one of the judges claps for her and looks enthused, I break out in a big grin every time.

5. I always cry when the mother deer dies in Disney's Bambi.

6. Forrest Gump always tears me up when his girl Jenny goes back to her old house and begins throwing rocks at it. Later Forrest Gump tells her, while she is cold in the grave, that he bought the property and had the house torn down.

7. One of my husband's favorite movies is The Replacements, starring Kenea Reeves. My favorite scene in the movie is when the whole ball team is in jail and they start singing and dancing to I Will Survive.

8. I always cry near the end of Return of the King when King Aragorn sees the Hobbits bowing to him. He bends down and says, "My friends, you bow to no one," and then he and everyone else bows before the Hobbits. Sheesh, makes me cry just to write it out!

9. In The Fellowship of the Ring, when the ring wraiths first appear and one of them sniffs at Frodo and his friends as they hide beneath a stump, I always jump and am surprised. I've seen the movie at least 10 times.

10. In The Two Towers (yes, I am a Tolkien fan, sorry), I always tear up when the elves march into the Keep, coming with their bows and arrows to help the men battle the orcs.

11. The movie Red Dawn, the one with Patrick Swayze, not the remake, made a big impression on me because I was young when I first saw it. The scene I best remember is the one where the boys watch from a distance as members of their families are executed. It was shocking at the time.

12. The movie Secretariat stays with me because of the tenacity of Penny, the horse owner, and her strong desire to win The Triple Crown. She believes in the horse and in her self. I admire that.

13. The movie SSSS was released in the early 1970s. When I stayed at my grandparents house, I would get up after they went to bed and watch it on the late show. The movie was about an evil scientist who turned a man into a king cobra snake. In the last scene as I remember it, the transformation is complete and the cobra's brother arrives in time to see the snake in a deadly fight with a mongoose.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 350th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Turkey Hen

Strange Visitors

Sunday I received a phone call from a neighbor that there were pelicans on the pond.

He wasn't kidding! There is a huge flock of about 20 down there. We've never had pelicans on the farm before.

I have no idea what they are doing here.

Strange happenings.

Sunset on Friday, June 13, 2014

There is nothing is more musical than a sunset. He who feels what he sees will find no more beautiful example of development in all that book which, alas, musicians read but too little - the book of Nature. -- Claude Debussy

Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better. -- Henry Rollins

That Probably Doesn't Count

From Sunday Stealing

90 Questions, Part 3

61. Do you like current pop stars?

A. I am not sure who the current pop stars are, but there are probably a few out there I know and like.
 
62. What is your least favorite chore?

A. Cleaning the toilet.
 
63. Last place you drove your car?

A. To physical therapy.
 
64. Ever been out of the country?

A. Yes. I have been to Spain and France and I think there was a plane layover in England, but that probably doesn't count as a visit to a country. It was 35 years ago.
 
65. Where were you the last time you used a public bathroom?

A. At my favorite restaurant.
 
66. Could you handle being in the military?

A. Not at this age and with my health. Maybe when I was 18.
 
67. What is your average cell phone bill?

A. It's about $65. We don't text, we don't download, we use the things for talking on.
 
68. Who or what are you thinking about right now?

A. Right now I'm thinking about answering these questions.
 
69. When was the last time you laughed REALLY hard?

A. I laugh a lot and have a wicked sense of sarcastic humor that keeps my friends in stitches.
 
70. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

A. I have no clue. I have about 5 pair that I wear, the others are just sort of there. They probably need to be donated. I have problems with my feet and that requires replacing my shoes about every six months.
 
71. Are your toes always painted?

A. Never. I'm allergic to nail polish.
 
72. How many piercings do you have?

A. Just one in each ear.
 
73. What are you doing today?

My plan is to eat breakfast, read the Sunday paper, do a little sprucing up around the house, and then read an exciting book about how to eat properly following the FODMAP diet for IBS. Doesn't that sound interesting?
 
74. Have you ever been gambling?

A. Does playing the state lottery count? If yes, then I have. If you mean in a casino with slot machines, the answer is no. But I would like to.
 
75. When is the last time you updated your blog?

A. I blog every day.
 
76. Do you like roller coasters?

A. No.
 
77. Have you ever been to Disneyland or world?

A. I have been to Disney in Florida. I can never keep it straight whether that's a land or a world, but whichever it is, I was there in 1993.
 
78. Do you have a favorite cartoon character?

A. Captain Planet and Bugs Bunny are tied.
 
79. Last thing you cooked?

A. Eggs.
 
80. How's the weather?

A. We have a lovely morning with azure blue skies and a few fluffy white clouds overhead. The mountains look green and strong, as well as clean from last night's rain shower. A thin veil of fog rises up in the valleys from the creeks, so be careful out there, all of you early-rising motorcycle riders.
 
81. Do you e-mail more than snail mail?

A. Yes. In this day and age, who doesn't?
 
82. What's the funniest picture you ever took with your cell phone?

A. The only pictures I have taken with my cell phone were of my old car before we traded it in. It was the only thing I had to take photos with and I wanted a picture before she was gone.
 
83. Last time you were sick?

A. Sick as in with a cold or flu or something? That would be back in late winter. Sick as in "ya gots sometin' wrong wit ya and the docs don't know what it be" - that's now.
 
84. What states have you lived in?

A. Just Virginia.
 
85. Do you wish you could move?

A. No. Though I would seriously like to declutter.
 
86. Do you take a lot of quizzes?

A. I go through spurts.
 
87. What is your dream car?

A. I am happy with the one I have now, thank you. My husband, however, would like a red Lamborghini.
 
88. Have you ever wanted someone you can't have?

A. I suppose we all think about things that might have been or could have been.
 
89. If you could be anywhere right now where would it be?

A. I'm fine right were I am.
 
90. Are you happy with your life?
A. I am not miserable. I wish my health were better but other than that, I'm content.

I Listen to the Radio

Saturday 9: Little Red Corvette
(recommended by Smellyann) 

No link this week. Prince apparently is very strict about copyright infringement.

1) The subject of this song is frankly sexual. Do you blush easily?

A. Not as easily as I used to. 

2) Prince is his real name (Prince Rogers, to be exact). Growing up, his relatives called him "Skipper." Do you have any nicknames within your family?

A. I do, but if I wrote them out, I'd have to kill all of my readers.

3) Prince says he's "obsessed" with Mozart and reads whatever he can find about the composer. What's the last book you read?

A. Heal Pelvic Pain, by Amy Stein. Not very thrilling, is it. I reviewed it here earlier this week.

4) Between Prince and The Beach Boys, the Corvette is a much sung-about car. Tell us about your vehicle.

 

A. Happy to. I have a brand new 2014 Toyota Camry SE that I purchased in April. It is white with a black and gray interior. It doesn't have quite as much upfront storage as my 2003 Camry but I am adjusting. It has a backup camera and lots of places for connecting computerized gadgets and smart phones. Which would be great except I don't have a smart phone. Maybe one day.

5) In the 1980s, when Prince was popular, MTV could turn a song into a hit. In 2014, how do you hear new music?

A. I listen to the radio. How's that for old fashioned?

6) In 1982, when "Little Red Corvette" ruled the airwaves, Braniff Airways shocked the travel industry and threw passengers into chaos by declaring bankruptcy. When did you last fly? Did your trip go smoothly?

 

A. I last flew in 1993. My father gave my husband and me a free plane trip to Florida to Disney World as a combined gift for my college graduation and 30th birthday. He gave us his frequent flyer miles. The trip was fine. Obviously I am not a frequent flyer. I doubt I ever get back on a plane. That's okay with me.

7) 1982 is also the year Disney opened Epcot. Have you ever been to a Disney park?

A. Yes, see above. In 1993. We were only there for four days which wasn't long enough, but we had a good time.

8) 1982 is the year Cheers premiered. The sitcom was set in a bar where "everybody knows your name." Tell us about your favorite local bar or restaurant.

A. My favorite local restaurant is Shakers, which is in Roanoke near the mall shopping area. They have great baked spaghetti, good sandwiches, and a nice dinner menu. They play 1970s and 1980s music and I feel very comfortable there. I also appreciate that it is not a major chain, so I feel like I'm helping out my community when I eat there.

9) The 1980s were considered a highpoint in professional tennis, with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe dominating the sport. Do you play tennis?

A.  Only on the Wii.

Friday the 13th Honey Moon

This is actually the moon set on Saturday, June 14, but that doesn't sound as interesting as the title. I took these early as the moon was going down. Apparently it will be decades before there is another full moon on a Friday the 13th.