A Song of Snow and Ice

10 Inches of Snow

From My Valentine

A pretty red box



Full of Godiva chocolates



With a secret surprise



Of love in the middle.

Sunday Stealing: Ology

From Sunday Stealing
OLOGY Meme


MOUTHOLOGY

What is your least favorite salad dressing? I don't know.

What is your least favorite fast food restaurant? McDonalds. They put onion on everything. Or used to. I haven't eaten there in so long I can only guess that this is still a thing.

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Shakers. It's a local chain.

On average, what would cause you to flirt with the server? Absolutely nothing.

What food could you eat every day just to "get along"? Chocolate. (I am not really sure what this question means. Get along with somebody else? Keep going through the day?)

What pizza toppings would make you hurl? I have no idea. Dog food?

What food is likely to get you in the mood? It takes more than food, baby.

What is your favorite type of gum to get off your shoe? None. What, you think I re-chew it or something?
 
TECHNOLOGY
 
Number of contacts you'd never let your significant other see on your cell phone? None.

Number of contacts in your email address book that are exes? None.

Do you judge others about the wallpaper on their computer? No. 

What is your favorite technology from the past that is now obsolete? The ol' Centipede game at the arcade. 

Do you have stuff on your computer that you'd never want someone to see? Not really, no. I have lots of journal entries on here that I would prefer no one see, but if they did all they'd know is that I whine a lot when I write to myself.

BIOLOGY

Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right.

Do you like your smile? I suppose.

What's your best feature? My brain.

Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Lots.

Which of your five senses do you think is keenest? Smell. I can smell snakes when they're nearby. Black snakes smell like cucumber. Other snakes smell like fresh dirt.

When was the last time you had a cavity? When I was a teenager, so about 35 years ago.

What is the heaviest item you lifted last? Laundry basket full of clothes.

Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Not that I recall.

BULLCRAPOLOGY

If you could, would you wanna know the day you were going to die? No.

Is love for real? Yes.

If you could change your first name, what would you change it to? Susan.

What color do you think looks best on you? Blue.

Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? Yes. I don't know why, but I swallowed a fly. I guess I'll die.

Have you ever saved someone's life? Yes. Once an online friend tried to kill herself and I managed to contact her local police department even though she lived on the other side of the country.

Has someone ever saved yours? Yes. I had an infected ovarian cyst burst in my abdomen and would have died if the doctors hadn't performed surgery.

DAREOLOGY

Would you walk naked down a public street for $100,000? Could I wear shoes? I have delicate feet.

Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? Sure. I might even throw in some tongue. ;-)

Would you cut off one of your little fingers for $200,000? No.

Would you never blog again for $50,000? No. Well, maybe.

Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000? Yes. Not that anyone would want me to.

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? No. I have ulcers.

Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000? Yes.

DUMBOLOGY

What is in your left pocket? Nothing, except maybe some lint.

Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house? Both.

Do you sit or stand in the shower? Stand.

Could you live with roommates? I have a husband. You figure it out.

How many pairs of flip flops do you own? None.

Where were you born? In a hospital.

Last time you had a run-in with the cops? When I was a teenager. I ran away from home. They brought me back.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I am grown up. I have held many jobs, including receptionist, secretary, legal assistant, file clerk, news reporter, and freelance writer. I am also the chief cook and bottle washer, personal accountant, and the one who kisses boo-boos when the husband does something dumb like try to cut off  a finger.

LASTOLOGY

Friend you talked to? Leslie

Last person you called? Leslie

Person you hugged? Husband

FAVORITOLOGY

Number? 8

Color? Blue

Season? Fall


CURRENTOLOGY

Missing someone? Yes.

Mood? Sour.

Listening to? Dumbasses who are doing target shooting down the way in 15 degree weather. I hope their weenies are freezing. They've been at it for almost six hours. Gets on my nerves. I know it's their sacred Second Amendment right but I would have liked to have taken a nap this afternoon and who could sleep with that boom boom boom going on?

Watching? I'm answering these questions, I am not watching anything.

Worrying about? My health.

RANDOMOLOGY

First place you went this morning? The bathroom. Isn't that the first place everybody goes when they wake up?

What can you not wait to do? Feel better.

What's the last movie you saw? Star Wars: The Force Awakens

When was the last time you got caught cheating? Never.

Are you a sexy person? Nope.

Now that the survey's (or meme) done what are you going to do? Eat dinner.

Saturday 9: Love Story

Saturday 9: The Theme from Love Story (1970)
In honor of Valentine's Day. Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.


1) The very popular tagline for this movie is, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Here's your chance to rewrite it. "Love means _____________________."

A. Love means listening with your heart, head, body, and soul.

2) The movie was famous for a montage of the lovers frolicking in the snow. Do you enjoy sledding, skating, skiing, snowball fights, snowmen, etc.? Or do you just want spring to hurry up and get here?

A. Hurry up, Spring!

3) In the movie, Oliver asks his father for $5,000. The money is required for wife Jenny's hospital treatment, but Oliver is too proud to tell his father why he needs it. Adjusted for inflation, $5,000 in 1970 is $30,000 today. How much would you be willing to lend a friend or family member without knowing the reason?

A. It depends on the friend or family member.

4) In the movie, Jenny is the daughter of a baker who owns a little shop in Cranston, Rhode Island. Think of the last baked goods you consumed. Were they home made? Did you buy them from a bakery, the grocery store, or a coffee shop, like Starbucks?

A. If cookies count, then they were store bought Chips Ahoy!

5) In 1970, when the movie was first released, California's First Lady Nancy Reagan said she liked it but was upset to hear Ali MacGraw's character swear. What's the curse word you use most often? (Feel free to spell it with *'s, in case Nancy Reagan stops by Sat. 9.)

A. Muther F*cker, followed closely by goddamnit all to hell, shit, and plain ol' damn. I think I say them all with far too much regularity.

6) Now 75, Ali MacGraw has let her famous hair go gray. She says she's glad to "look like a grown up." Do you feel your age? Or older or younger than your years?

A. I look a little younger than my age (even with the whitening hair, which blends in nicely with my dirty dishwater blond), but I feel my age. I think younger than I am, I hope.

7) MacGraw and her Love Story co-star Ryan O'Neal are currently on tour in the play, Love Letters, and they're drawing big crowds of fans who remember them in their famous film. Tell us of another movie couple you felt had romantic chemistry.

A. Aragorn and Arwen in Lord of the Rings. Also the couples in An Officer and Gentleman and Pretty Woman (whose names I do not know).

8) Red is the signature color of Valentine's Day. Are you wearing red right now?

A. No. I'm all blue today.

9) Because Valentine's Day is such a big day for chocolate . . . would you prefer a large, solid milk chocolate heart or a small box of four assorted chocolates?

A. What, I can't have both? Cheapskate.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

The White Knight is Talking Backwards

What a world we have created, eh?

Thanks to our online lives, we now are a click away from "doing something" - which in reality is nothing at all. It's all garbage.

For example, I don't understand how these "So many people suffer from ... so paste this to support them" posts actually supports anybody (speaking as someone who suffers from some of these maladies, as regular readers may recall). 

I could understand it if it said, "so send a check to ..." whatever agency is working to cure the ailment, or even had a link to a website that offered information. But they don't. They're just posts that are meant to make the poster feel good. They do nothing for the poor ailment sufferer.

Do I feel supported when I see these posts? No. I feel annoyed. If you want to support me, call me. Send me a private message and tell me you're thinking of me. That's support. These silly posts aren't support. They draw attention, perhaps in some general way, to certain ailments, but they are not support. I personally find them irritating, just a confirmation that no one really has time for real support.

Just like we have no time for community, for volunteering, or for dinner. No time for sitting on the porch making home-made ice cream, or feeling the breeze and smelling the freshly cut grass. No time to talk, to listen, or to love.

No time. Hurry, hurry! Always late, always running, always on the move. Even if we're standing still for hours, we're not there, because now our minds are on those damned smart phones. Click. Click.

And what does this device, this White Knight that has changed our world, tell you? My mother used to have a saying that she'd repeat to me when she caught me reading one of her trashy magazines: garbage in, garbage out, she'd say (and I did not dare say, but Mom, you're reading it . . .).

That is what the White Knight has become, a monster that regurgitates to us the things we want to hear. Disagree with the so-called "liberal" media? Ok, I'll only get my news from conservative media only. Disagree with conservatives? I'll only visit the so-called liberal media channels. I won't listen to anything I don't want to hear, because I might learn something or have my opinion changed by something that resembles a fact.

So we have this monstrosity in our back pocket or our pocket book, this thing that was supposed to open up our lives to massive amounts of educational opportunities, give us the Encyclopedia Britannica at our fingertips and allow us to move forward at warp speed.

But we've gone backwards instead. Warp speed has reversed itself, and the White Knight has sent us spiraling down, like Luke Skywalker slipping down the garbage compactor of the Death Star, into an abyss of information overload. Now we don't know what to believe or who to believe.

We don't know what is fact and what is opinion. We take opinions and call them facts. We believe in angels but not in science, because apparently we have no room for both faith and science. The online world is one of either/or and black and white - there's no middle room for the gray. This is, this isn't. Here we are, here we aren't. This is fact but it's a conspiracy by the government and it didn't really happen. Nobody actually died but there they are, coffins lined up and funeral arrangements filled with tears. We were attacked on 9/11 or maybe the towers fell because of this or that and some other thing and the reasoning goes around in circles and there is nothing there, no truth or fact, and even though all of the details are caught on tape and like they say on the X-Files, the truth is out there, nobody can remember what happened yesterday, much less a decade ago.

The recession started under Bush but Obama came in at the tail-end of it so it's his bag of mashed potatoes now, and blame lies where? On Wall Street but they're too big to fail so let's ignore those Occupying the landscape and move on to something else, the next white girl killed or the black man gunned down or the abortion issue or something - anything to keep moving in that direction, that backwards that is not forward, so we're spinning, all of us, because no one now has the time to stop, review, and investigate to see what is really going on. No one cares anyway, that doesn't sell the news - the big story, not the facts, sells the news - so move on and move along, keep going keep spitting out the Facebook posts and the tweets on Twitter, sending the garbage spiraling into outer space and in the minds of the many, the minds so melded now to their White Knight of a device that they can't even add 2+2 without looking it up.

We listen to the likes of the two Bills (O'Reilly and Maher) and wonder who to believe when neither of them is absolutely right, though we might agree with the opinion of one or the other, forgetting again that's only opinion that they spout, because we haven't investigated and we don't know if they have investigated and even if they did, Truth is dead. The White Knight killed it, ran a lance straight through it, and Truth flopped over to be replaced by the giant called Opinion. And there it sits, laughing, Opinion and the White Knight, having beer together and slapping one another on the back because Truth has died and nobody even noticed the blood.

The White Knight is not moving us forward. Technology has stopped us. It is not elevating, it is devaluing. The White Knight only values those zeros and ones that make up its language. It's turned writing into clay, oil painting into watercolors. With the click of a button, the White Knight can bring up a brilliant picture of the Mona Lisa, all while we sit in our comfortable chair in our safe, warm home. No need to visit Paris to see the Louvre, so the White Knight has killed travel, which is just as well because Americans in particular hate to leave their country. If they leave this place they might learn a real fact, like we're not the best or the brightest, maybe never were, and other countries actually have cities and electricity and aren't made of mud and cardboard - but some cities are actually made of just that, and we should be ashamed but that would hurt, so let's not go there.

Spinning and whirling we go on about our days, gasping at the latest headline - two shot in a school in Arizona, the presidential candidate accidentally hired a porn star for his commercial, the other candidate uses email; the other two both need combs for their weird hair. And the White Knight (who is stylish and slick, all smooth and comfy, fitting right there in the palm of your hand, just laying there bringing you joy with its little dings and tones) laughs and laughs. Because the White Knight knows he is passing off garbage - that he is little more than a trash compactor, and we, every single one of us, are fools.




One of those FB posts, for the one or two of my readers who may not
 be on FB. Change "Cancer" to depression or angina or anything else,
 and you'll see some version of this all over FB. How does this support anybody?

 

Thursday 13

These are words from my Shorter Oxford Dictionary, which comes in two volumes. They're chosen at random, using today's day (2nd page, 11th word, hour of day as I work on this, etc.) and the open-the-page-put-a-finger-down style.

1. ABA. abbreviation. American Boxing Association. American Bar Association, American Bookseller's Association (I prefer the last abbreviation, myself!)

2. Kinaesthesia - the faculty of being aware of the position and movement of parts of the body, by means of sensory nerves (proprioceptors) within the muscles, joints, etc.,; the sensation producing such awareness.  (I guess that is like when you're suddenly aware of your tongue. Are you now aware of your tongue?)

3. Paralyse (I think we normally spell it paralyze.) - (1) Wound. (2) Deprive of the power to act; make powerless, helpless, inactive, or ineffective, halt the normal activity of (a factory, community, etc.) (3) Affect with paralysis. (My entire community was paralyzed by the announcement that historic structures would be moved to make way for an industrial prospect building.) 

4. Galore - adverb: in plenty; abundantly. noun: A plentiful supply of. (I have taken pills galore in the last 10 days because of an upper respiratory infection.)

5. Veilleuse - (French). A small and usually highly decorative night-light or night-lamp. Also, a small decorative bedside foot warmer, usu. with an enclosed burner under a bowl or teapot, and made of pottery or porcelain so as to give out some light. (Here's a link to a picture of the teapot kind, if you want to see what that looks like. Go check out your kid's nightlight to see that. )

6. Screamy - Given to screaming; having a screaming voice or sound, violent or exaggerated in expression, color, etc. (The night owl's screech was screamy and scary.)

7. Hyperbola - A conic section consisting of two identical curves formed where a plane intersects . . . (Ok, that's math, so enough of that definition!)

8. Qualified - (1) adj. Posessing qualities or qualifications fitting or necessary for a certain office, function, or purpose. (2) Capable of doing or being something., esp. by law or custom. (3) Possessing certain qualities. (4) Belonging to the upper classes of society (obsolete). (Are any of the current nominees in 2016 qualified to be President of the United States?)

9. Distortion - (1) The action or an act of distorting or twisting out of shape. (2) The actin of perverting words, facts., etc. from their nature interpretation or intent. (3) A distorted form or image. (4) The process of converting repressed elements to an acceptable form before they are presented to the conscious or dreaming mind (that's an interesting definition).  (The psychiatrist distorted the memories pulled from hypnosis before telling the patient what she had learned.) (Did I use that correctly?)

10. Trump - (1) a playing card of a suit ranking above the others. (2) An obstruction, a hindrance. (3) An admirable, excellent, or reliable person. (Well, that explains some things I wasn't understanding before. Hmm. A little psychiatric distortion going on in the minds of the populace, eh?) (His ace trumped my jack and I lost the card game.)

11. Joget - a popular Malay dance in which the dancers improvise to music; a place where such dancing occurs. (Here's a link to a video of that kind of dance. It's like line dancing.)

12. Operon - a unit of linked genes which is believed to regulate other genes responsible for protein synthesis. (Yikes.)

13. Miswrite - Write incorrectly or by mistake. (I miswrite when I am sleepy; when I read it in the morning I wonder what I was thinking.)


Whew. That's actually kind of difficult, looking up all those words before 8 a.m. on a Thursday! :-) But I have increased my knowledge for the day!

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 434rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Now On Wheels

This is a historic structure at Greenfield, a kitchen circa 1830 or so, that is in the process of being moved about 3/4 mile away to a new "historic area" the county supervisors have set aside. They could have torn them down, so I am grateful that they at least recognized that these structures should be moved and not simply flattened.

Logic and Proportion Have Fallen Sloppy Dead

If someone said the sky was green often enough, most of us would believe it, eventually.
 
We are totally brainwashed, those of us who live in the first world countries. Our media is actually censored worse than that of a state-run newspaper, but we don't see it or believe it because we're told it's capitalistic freedom. But what you're really getting is the point of view of a rich old white man who wants to power.
 
Don't believe me? There's Murdoch, who owns Fox. Turner Broadcasting, run by John Martin (CEO), started by Ted Turner. CBS, founded by William S. Paley and now owned by CBS Corporation, President and CEO Leslie Moonves, NBC, founded by David Smarnoff, and it's now a subsidiary of Comcast, President and CEO Brian L. Roberts, ABC, founded by Edward Noble, and now a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (founded, of course, by Walt Disney), and now run by Bob Igar.
 
According to Business Insider, six corporations control 90 percent - pretty much everything - of all of American media.
 
Those six are GE (which owns Comcast), NewsCorp (owns Fox), Disney (ABC), Viacom (MTV, Paramount Pictures), Time Warner (HBO, CNN), and CBS (Showtime).
 
These CEOs control not only the media, they control your mind.
 
When was the last time you had an original thought? Can't remember? But you probably remember when you were affected by something you saw on the media. A sad story brought a tear to your eye, perhaps. You saw another shooting and barely looked up.

Did you stampede out to buy an iPhone? Wait in line to get the favored toy at Target? Hand over your dollar bills for the up-and-coming video game console?
 
Brainwashed. Targeted and brainwashed by the media and its advertisers.
 
Is it a coincidence that the news stories on all the stations are the same? Sure, when we have a 911 everyone covers it. But now the stories all are the same on every major channel. Thank heavens for local news teams who at least report on what happened around the corner.
 
People do not think for themselves anymore. Nor do they question what is going on around them. Stuff happens, and the response is to tweet outrage and think you've done something.
 
Guess what. You've done nothing. You haven't even thought about it, you've tweeted your gut reaction.
 
Before you take any action (including a tweet), you should consider a number of ethical concerns. These include:

• equality and balance
• the best short-term and/or long-term consequence for yourself as well as humanity
• the duties and obligations that surround the issue
• how your response reflects upon your character
• how the action respects the freedom and personal automony of yourself and others
• what you would really do (besides tweet) if you actually cared about the situation
• what is expected of you if you get involved
• what rights (legal, social, moral) apply.

 
The most important thing is to consider fairness and to have empathy. If you haven't those concepts down, and apparently many people don't, then you're just sniffing along the trail laid out for you by the media. Because the media does not promote fairness. It does not even promote objectivity. It only exists to make money for its stockholders. That's it. Media doesn't care if you are informed, only if you keep listening. So it feeds you what it wants you to hear, or what it thinks you want to hear.
 
There is no logical input into what is offered. What is logical about running the same story night after night, until something as dramatic comes along? There is so much going on in the world - so much we are not being told - and we hear the same lines over and over. Hillary's email. Benghazi. Bush did it. Egads. Is any of that logical? The legislators file bill after bill, take vote after vote, and nobody has a clue what they are actually doing. Furthermore, we don't care.
 
This information overload is way out of proportion to reality. The world does not revolve around the United States, nor does it come to a halt when we have riots in a city. It doesn't grind and stop over an email server or a president reading books to children while planes crash into buildings. It the long run, absolutely none of that matters. It is just a circus to keep your attention away from what's really going on.
 
And what's really going on? They're taking us for fools. They've virtually enslaved us, made us lap dogs to their video games and toys. Bread and circuses. Does anyone remember Rome? I doubt it, because few know their history any more.
 
Our world is totally upside down. We've lost ourselves in this make-believe land of individual reality, a place we each create for ourselves, one by one, by choosing our personalized radio stations and personalized Facebook pages and personalized TV shows.
 
We've taken away the solid foundation upon which community and society stands. It is now rocking violently in the wind and we're all so involved in ourselves and our smart phones that we can't even see that we're about to fall over.
 
When will we look up? When the electric grid fails because we've not taken care of our infrastructure? When our cars are useless because we've let the roads fall into disrepair? Will we notice as the dirt collapses beneath our feet, swallowing us like a sink hole?

It affects me, too. Every day. I fight it, though. I recognize it and I keep my mouth shut, and my opinion to myself, through willful thought. I don't hit Facebook with every thing that comes to mind. I don't tweet at all. Instead I come here, to my blog, to try to sort it out, in long form. In real words, not an emoji.

Will I keep writing into the winds, to the two or three who read this? Does one voice have a chance against millions who cannot hear?

Sunday Stealing: Carry a Tune

From Sunday Stealing
Carry A Tune Meme

1. Do you own a tablet of any kind? A. I have this really nice writing tablet, it has paper with lines on it, and you use a writing utensil called a pencil or a pen. I also have tablets in the medicine cabinet.

2. What’s something people always assume about you that isn’t true? A. That I'm uppity and snooty. I'm really just smart and shy.

3. On a scale of 1-10, how much do elevators scare you? A. About an 8. It used to be a 10 but I got over it by 2 points.

4. When you’re upset, do you vent to people or do you keep to yourself? A. Depends on what I'm upset about. Problems between me and hubby? Keep to myself. Problems with politicians? Blast it all over to anybody who will listen.

5. Have you ever watched a meteor shower? A. Yes.

6. Do you tend to put things off until the last minute? A. Wait, is it Sunday? Some things I do, yes. Some things I don't.

7. How do you react to random strangers suddenly trying to make conversation with you? A. Seeing as it happens all the time, I am pleasant, kind, and offer help if it appears to be needed.

8. Do you have a lucky number? A. It happens to be 8.

9. Would you go out to dinner with Oprah? A. Sure. Especially if she's paying.

10. Did you ever play sports? A. I was in the marching band. Not a sport per se, but you walk around on that field carrying a tuba and see how it feels. Except I played flute, so I always felt sorry for the tuba and drum players.

11. Do you feel guilty if you throw food away? A. Not particularly.

12. Do you think you could make it as a baker? A. No.

13. Are you one of those people who are wearing scarves with everything? A. No.

14. Have you ever been in a castle? A. Does the Biltmore count?

15. When you were little, did you ever play with Playdoh? A. I still play with Playdoh. Don't you?

16. Would you rather write a mystery or love story? A. A mystery.

17. Tell me about your worst fashion mistake. A. Getting a perm in my hair about four days before my wedding.

18. Do you hate it when people smoke around you? A. I will leave if you smoke around me. That's not hate, that's self protection because I have asthma.

19. How are you wearing your hair right now? A. On my head.

20. When’s the last time you were sick? A. I happen to be sick right now, unfortunately.

21. Would you rather have OJ or milk with your breakfast? A. Neither. I'm allergic to them both.

22. What were you doing thirty minutes ago? A. Working on my taxes.

23. Do you own any school related clothing articles? A. I have some things from college. Does that count?

24. Would you rather call people or have them call you? A. I love receiving calls.

25. Can you carry a tune? A. I can, and without a bucket.

26. Who was the last person who unexpectedly texted you? A. I don't text. The last person to call me unexpectedly was my brother.

27. Who do you text the most? A. Same answer as #26. The person I call the most is my husband.

__________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Sorry

Saturday 9: Sorry (2015)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

I can't believe I had to go listen to a Justin Beanie song. What a way to kill a Friday. 

1) This song is a plea for a second chance. Are you good at forgiving/forgetting?

A. I forgive. I don't forget. You mess with me I'll remember it when I'm 130 years old.

2) Justin asks his girl to "forget this." What have you done/said recently that you wish could just be forgotten?

A. Well, seeing as how I am perfect, I have no answer for this.

3) Mr. Bieber says he needs just 6 hours sleep every night. How about you? How much sleep do you require to feel sharp?

A. I haven't had a full night's sleep in almost three years. A solid six hours without having to wake up to take pain meds would be wonderful.

4) Justin prefers D&G underwear, which can cost as much as $102/pair. Sam may be crazy, but there's no way she'd spend that much on underwear. What's something you're willing to splurge on?

A. If I had it, I would spend the $5,000 it would take to purchase this guitar.

5) He may be picky about underwear but not cuisine. He loves Big Macs. If we were going to McDonald's, what would you order?

A. I haven't eaten at a McDonald's in so long, I don't even know what they serve. If they have a salad, I'd get that.

6) When it comes to healthier fare, Bieber has told fans he enjoys snacking on bananas and grapes. What do you reach for between meals?

A. Almonds.

7) Performing in Germany, Justin Bieber told a girl who approached the stage, "Ich liebe dich” ("I love you") and she fainted. Have you ever fainted?

A. When I was a teenager I did. I have felt faint but now have enough sense to sit down and put my head between my legs.

8) As a kid, Justin was teased for being one of the shortest in his class. What do you recall being teased about in school?

A. This was in the 1970s, now - but I was called "computer head" a lot because I was the straight A student who kept the other kids from getting curves on their papers. It finally reached a point in the 5th grade where I would receive 110 on a paper just so the others could get a curve. I lived for school.

9) Random question: Will you be watching this weekend's Super Bowl?

A. If I do, it will only be for the commercials.

_____________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Thursday Thirteen

Here it is - the great "what's on my kitchen counters" list.


1. An Oster toaster oven. We had one that nearly caught the kitchen on fire right before Christmas. I sent Oster a message, and they sent me a new one, free of charge.

2. A cup of tea, steeping and standing too long because I was taking pictures.

3. An electric tea kettle.

4. That thing under the towel is my Kitchen Aid mixer.

 
5. A Keurig, which I have not yet figured out how to use. My husband uses it for coffee. I know I can use it for tea but so far have not. The one cup I did make tasted like leftover coffee, so I haven't tried again.

6. A combination blender/food processor.

7. An EpiPen kit. My husband is allergic to bees and I'm allergic to everything, so we always keep one right there in the corner where we can find it. No moving of EpiPens allowed.

8. A cordless phone. Because you must talk to your friends whilst you are cooking, you know.

9. A Food Saver. I call it a laminator, because being a writer and bookish person, laminating is more familiar to me than food preparation or storage.

10. A roll of paper towels.

11. A gallon of vinegar, which I used last night to clean out the warm mist humidifier and did not put back.

12. Kitchen scissors.

13. Piles of paper from working on the taxes and not going through the mail for a week.

 

 

 

And obviously much more junk.

What in your kitchen?

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 433rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Hard Heads and Unhappy Hearts

There was an article The Roanoke Times this morning that indicated that two historic structures owned by Botetourt County would not be moved, and work to remove them from their site to a "historic park" area would halt.

Apparently someone misread the paperwork. I took these photos between 5 p.m. and 5:40 p.m. today, Tuesday, February 2, 2016.

Does this look like halted work to you?

This is turning into one of the most divisive issues I've ever seen in Botetourt. But Greenfield has always been an issue ever since the county purchased it back in 1995. Looks like that will continue for some time.

Some Kind of Mushroom

I am not sure when it happened.

Some blame the Internet.

Some blame the 1960s.

Some blame TV.

Maybe today it is still, 15 years later, millennial fever, a virus that has infected massive amounts of people.

Whatever the cause, insanity is rampant.

Maybe it was always there. We had Jack the Ripper the late 1880s. And into the 20th century, we had crazy people - Charles Manson, Ted Bundy. There have always been people who have flourished on conspiracy theories - JFK's assassination, we never really landed on the moon. Those folks have always been on the fringes of our society.

But now? In 2016, everywhere I look there is a whacko. Some unthinking lunatic who is spouting out something so crazy that you blink and can't believe it's actually being said.

We've created a time when anybody can say anything, no matter how bizarre. We have people who are "birthers" who question everyone's birth place/date/heritage/whatever. We have the people who believe the mass murders at Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and other places, never happened, or are a government conspiracy.

Climate change deniers. Holocaust deniers. History re-writers (which might not be so bad except what they are writing never actually happened.)

Crazy people take over federal landholdings and squat there, because they don't like the government. People who don't claim to be crazy (but apparently really are) actually have seats in the government, at all levels.

Scary.

Truly, it is all around me. People who call themselves pro-life but advocate for war. How insane is that? You can't be pro-life and pro-killing-people at the same time. You just can't, not if you have any sense of logic.

Mostly this is on the internet, but also in the mass media. As Bill Maher recently said, the Information Super Highway has become Bullshit Boulevard.

Everywhere I see people spreading lies, and believing them. Truth? Who cares about truth? Truth is boring, and it doesn't fit the current story model.

People used to get their news from real news organizations. Now? You get it from the friend of a friend who doesn't know where s/he heard it, but it is all over Facebook so it must be true.

Facts? Who cares about facts? Nobody cares about facts. Everyone lives in their own little bubble, they believe what they want, they think what they want. If they want to believe the sky is green, they will think that, no matter the evidence that it is blue.

Unfortunately, this doesn't just happen on the fringes anymore. The fringes are no longer fringe. This sort of deranged behavior and the words that go along with it comes out of the mouths of influential people - like people who are running for president, and being taken seriously.

They're all smoking something. They have to be. Either that or the Earth passed through some kind of asteroid trail that left half of the United States in a total state of crazy.

We have become, I fear, the stupidest bunch of people to ever be a first world nation. I haven't been outside of the country in a while, but my friends who live in Europe tell me we're their major source of entertainment. Look at the big fat totally crazed Americans, most of whom believe in angels, and the other half think the world is flat.

Every lie has its believer. It's like Field of Dreams . . . thousands of cars heading to an Iowan farm to watch ghosts play baseball. That's the internet today. Field of Dreams, the place where every nut can go to find another nut to confirm his or her falsehoods.

Every lie becomes truth. Fiction becomes fact.

I wish I were smart enough to come up with some truly creative lie about our farm - something that would bring in thousands upon thousands of visitors, all paying $10 a piece to see a little rock that maybe I claim was brought to me in a dream by a visitor from the Planet Zortania. If you touch the rock and give me $10, you will have good luck for the rest of your life, and pleasant dreams when your eyes close (no guarantees, no warranties).

For another $10, you can join me in my new religion of Zortanimania, where we worship every lie on the Internet, eschew all facts, and drink beer and watch NASCAR. All hail Charlotte Motor Speedway! Of course, we also don't believe in government, but we don't believe in communes either, so I am not really sure yet how we would actually survive. Still working that out, but it's okay. The lie will come to me soon.

Later, you can pay me $10 to buy the Zortanimania Book of Prophecy, which would be of course our guide book to spirituality in the greatest pursuit of Zortanimanian bliss. Which, I suppose, might include the use of mushrooms.