Wandering, Not Lost

One of my favorite Tolkien quotes goes like this:

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.^[1]

It's a poem in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the movie, I think Gandalf says the line about "not all who wander are lost" and Arwen cites the last part after she convinces her father, Elrond, to reforge the sword of Gondor.

The second line resonates with me, and I suspect many others, because we are wanderers of the world, seekers who are not content to be the best tradesman, musician, writer, or whatever. Instead we are those 'jack-of-all-trades' people who know a lot about many things, and are not experts on anything at all.

Being that type of person can leave one a bit groundless and rootless, however, because that person never really settles down. Even if the wanderer stays in one place, there is always a searching, a something in the soul that is constantly looking about, with eyes on the stars, the trees, the blades of grass - or in this day and age, reading endlessly on the Internet - because the mind never stops wandering even if the body is in stasis.

Elizabeth Gilbert called it a "curiosity driven life" and I think it is much the same thing as a wanderer. Being nomadic of mind means you never stop asking questions, you're always seeking something more - whether that's a sign that one has deep wells within the soul that need filling, I cannot say. I think for me it is - a sense that something is missing, as if my twin were ripped from me at birth. A sense of loss that gives one an intense need to continue searching, pilgrims of religions and politics, vagrants of the world who, while perhaps productive and self-sufficient, are still hobos in the heart.

Many people take sabbaticals and go on long self-exploration journeys, and they are admired for this because it appears they have reached some pinnacle of understanding, and moved on to be firmly planted, trees with deep roots. Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love and Cheryl Strayed's Wild come quickly to mind. And then there was Jesus himself, who took his body off to the desert to confront whatever demons might have been out there.

I don't know though, that those souls are settled. Gilbert claims to have a single passion - writing - but she's built quite a career out of public speaking and jetting about the world, all based on a single book. Strayed, I suspect, is still seeking. I did not find that personality to be one who would dig deep roots. Jesus is whomever one wants him to be - messiah, prophet, soldier. Certainly still wandering and not settled, his message corrupted and regurgitated time and again throughout millennia.

A long time ago I visited a shamaness who insisted I needed to be grounded. I had no roots, she said, (even though at the time I'd lived in the same house for about 20 years)  and I should visualize myself every day growing roots into the ground, so that I might stay put. But this was really her vision for the perfect life, I think - one where a person is grounded, rooted, and satisfied. While this is sometimes something I greatly desire, I do not think it is a satisfaction I shall ever obtain. I am like Galadriel, with the One Ring handed to me, only to turn it away. Or maybe I am Sisyphus, pushing that rock every day, nonstop.
 
Roots such as those the shamaness wanted for me have nothing to do with physical place, but instead deal with the soul. Many people have told me I have an old soul, an earthy soul, even, but my soul is also clouded, dusty, and reeking with despair. There are days when I reel from thought to thought, my wanderings so many that even I cannot keep up. An hour in conversation with me can wear out both me and the person to whom I speak, if they can keep up, when those wanderings are racing through my brain.

I am alone, as we all are, even with someone standing beside us, holding our hand. What these stories of wanderings and finding of selves tell us is that ultimately we are alone - and our journey is ours, and no one else's. These days we are so absorbed in being 'human doings' instead of 'human beings' that we forget sometimes to see the sunset, or see a cloud cross a full blue moon, or watch a blade of grass dance in the wind. So busy looking down that our wandering has ceased.

Sometimes I envy those who do not wander, the ones who appear to have found their lot in life. Those who set goals and work only to achieve them, eschewing all else until their passion has been captured and embraced. I am unable to do that - my mind is to quick to spot the dandelion and forget I need to mow the yard.

The people I love flit through my life, some leaving great, bloody gashes, and others leaving bandages and kisses. Some will be with me until my eyes close and my wandering ends. It is that way for all of us, I think, only we don't take time to stop and recognize that this great adventure, this life, is so very different and yet exactly the same for us all. We are all kindred spirits who long for soulmates and at the same time we are demonic devils who desire to do damage. That is what it is to be human, to be wandering.

Even you, dear reader - whom I may or may not know - have a role in my journey. Your eyes flitting along these paragraphs mean something, even if you leave no comment nor give this no thought. We pass here on this page, on the street, in the shadows of the dawn when we both are asleep and dreaming.

Wandering together, each of us, alone.

The Wizard and the Peacock

Medium: Crayola Crayons

I had trouble with the peacock. The wizard does not look as nice in the photo as he does on the page.

Wrangling Windows 10

Late last June, my Dell with Windows 7 puked out on me. The hard drive died, much to my dismay. We were only weeks away from the release of Windows 10, but there I was caught between a new Windows 8.1 desktop or nothing at all.

I went to Best Buy and talked to a lad there who said, "Oh, Windows 10 won't be shipping on computers until the fall, at least," when I asked how long before Windows 10 would be on a new desktop. Hearing that, I bit the bullet and bought a Dell with Windows 8.1, knowing I would upgrade immediately.

Windows 8 is on my Surface was I didn't like it much. So I knew I would not like Windows 8.1, either.

Of course the dude at Best Buy lied to me, because Windows 10 was out on new computers nearly the day after Microsoft released its new OS to the public.

I downloaded Windows 10 about three days after it came out. During my initial upgrade, the electricity went out (thank you Appalachian Power). After much cursing, I managed to get the computer back up on Windows 8.1 and tried again.

The second time took. However, Windows 10 has been a nightmare. I know many people upgraded and have had little problem, but I am not one of them. Did the power outage do a warp thingy on me? I will never know.

The main issue I have is something called a "failed group policy client service" which occurs at sign-in, usually after Windows 10 has performed an update. When this happens, the computers thinks I am not its owner anymore, and I cannot perform administrative functions on the darned thing.

Recently, I started experiencing a failure to sign into Microsoft Solitaire (via its new Xbox configuration) and along with that goes the ability to access the Microsoft store.

I used to be very good at computers - when they were DOS based. Yes, that was 25 years ago. Then I was a whiz and could write batch files and code, and take care of most anything. Then along came Windows and I was lost. I think I started out with Windows 3.1 At some point I realized that Windows is really DOS in disguise, and managed to figure out some nifty and necessary things like msconfig and a few other commands that could be helpful in times of need, but mostly I prayed the thing didn't fail me.

Windows 10 fails me constantly. I have performed a "system restore" on this computer more times than on all of the others I've owned put together (and that goes all the way back to a Commodore Vic 20, in about 1980).

It doesn't help that Microsoft's solution to any problem you ask about is "find a friend who is an expert." Like we all know computer whiz's who live down the block or something. Maybe you do, but I do not. Or at least, not any that I would bother. Their other solution is a community forum which may or may not offer you a dozen different things to try, or nothing at all.

During these long and frustrating months, I have discovered a few commands that are helpful. First one must be able to access the command prompt and be the administrator on the computer.

In Windows 10, The easiest way to access the command prompt (what used to be known as the "C" prompt in DOS), is to right click on the start button. You will see a list of items similar to classic Windows. Look for "Command Prompt" (Admin). That's the one you want.

Once that is up, you will see C:\Windows\system32>

To fix many problems, you can type in this after the system32>

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

This will run for a long time. It should come back and say "The operation completed successfully" at the end, whether it found a problem or not.

Check and see if the problem still exists. If it does, you're probably going to have do more googling to find your particular issue.

If you can get your system working with a system restore, then try that. I used system restore this morning to return the computer back to yesterday, and then, since I could now access the Windows store, I uninstalled Microsoft Solitaire and reinstalled it again. Hopefully this will solve that issue but I won't know for a few days - or until the next update, anyway.

You may also want to consider uninstalling whatever junk the seller placed on your computer. Dell, for example, had something called "supportassist" on mine that I recently deleted because it seemed to be at least one of the culprits on my PC. Whether or not I regret that move we will find out in time.

Microsoft, in my opinion, has released its worse OS since Windows ME and Windows 8, which tie for last place in MS operating systems. I don't know what they are thinking, releasing this. It has been, for me, anyway, the most unstable and error-filled OS I have ever used.

At any rate, I hope the above will help someone else out there who is about ready to toss their PC out the window.

Sunday Stealing: Easter

From Sunday Stealing

Easter Meme

Five things I have a passion for: My husband, writing, reading, eating (apparently), thoughtful debates, and correct grammar.

Five things I'd like to learn before I die: What happens after you die, how to cook without calories, how to not take things personally, and how to grow a good tomato.

Five things I say a lot: "That's interesting."/ "F&ck." / "Why did you do that?" / "You can't fix stupid." / "I love you."

Five books and/or magazines I have read lately: 2 a.m. at the Cat's Pajamas, Reader's Digest, O!, The Four Agreements, The Roanoke Times (which is a newspaper but I read it daily).

Five favorite movies: The Lord of the Rings trilogy (actually 3 movies); The Hobbit trilogy (actually 3 movies); Dirty Dancing; Under the Tuscan Sun; Steel Magnolias.

Five places I would like to travel to: Egypt (to see the pyramids); Ireland; Scotland; England; Italy.

Saturday 9: I Don't Know How

Saturday 9: I Don't Know How to Love Him (1971)

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

1) This song is from Jesus Christ, Superstar. Though now a beloved classic, the play was controversial when it first premiered. Can you think of something else that originally made people uncomfortable, but went on to be accepted?

A. Women wearing pants.

2) Jesus Christ, Superstar was originally developed as a "concept album," a collection of songs written to sequentially tell the story of The Crucifixion and Resurrection. Do you remember the first album you bought? Did you download it, listen to it on a CD player, your cassette deck, or record player?

A. I think my first vinyl album was the Captain and Tennille. My first 8-track tape was The Monkees. My first cassette was Linda Rondstadt. My first CD was Melissa Etheridge's Yes I Am. My first download was The Lord of the Rings movie soundtrack.

3) When the album's songs were performed live in concert at the Pennsylvania Civic Arena, producers decided to stage it as a play and the rest, as they say, is history. Tell us about a really good idea you've had recently.

A. I came home Monday, looked at my empty living room, and called the furniture store and told them to bring me a chair to sit in. See The Sofa Saga here if you'd like further explanation.

4) Jesus Christ, Superstar is a truly international phenomenon. During a revival tour that began in 2011, it's been a hit with audiences in the United States, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Brazil, Hungary, India, New Zealand, Italy, France, Mexico, Chile, Bulgaria, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Greece, Australia, The Philippines, South Africa, Panama, Colombia, Croatia, Bolivia, The Netherlands and Portugal. Besides the United States, which of those countries have you visited?

A. France.

5) Peeps are big sellers every Easter. Would you rather have yellow chicks or pink bunnies?

A. I don't like Peeps.

6) Jelly beans are also popular this time of year. One theory says they were introduced in Boston during the 19th century. What else comes to mind when you think of Boston?

A. Baked beans.

7) We've been talking a lot about sweets this morning. The only holiday that generates more candy sales is Halloween. When do you eat more candy: Easter or Halloween?

A. I have no idea.

8) Easter lilies will adorn many churches this Sunday. What's your favorite flower?

A. Rose. 

9) Easter is considered the season of rebirth. What makes you feel refreshed or rejuvenated?

A. A hot shower.

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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.  (This Saturday 9 #120 for me, or least, since I've been labeling them as such.)

The Hawks

Medium: Colored Markers

Thursday 13 #440

Quotes from Friedrich Nietzche

Which is your favorite?

1. There is always some madness in love. But there is always some reason in madness.

2. Love is blind; friendship closes its eyes.

3. That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

4. Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

5. To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.

6. Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler.

7. Without music, life would be a mistake.

8. You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

9. One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

10. There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day.

11. All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses.

12. All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.

13. When marrying, ask yourself this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this person into your old age? Everything else in marriage is transitory.


Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, poet, and Latin and Greek scholar whose work has exerted a profound influence on Western philosophy and modern intellectual history.

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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 440th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Signs of Spring

The Sofa Saga

It started back in the spring of 2015, when the Ashley sectional sofa we had purchased in 2005 began showing signs of wear.

As in, bolts on one side of the recliner broke, tossing my husband into the floor. We replaced them, but after a few weeks they would shear off again.

The Ashley Sectional Sofa

It was a lovely sofa, and we spent many hours watching TV in the recliner/loveseat. The other part had a sleep-sofa on it. It did not sleep well but we did not use it much. The nephews slept on it a few times and found it so lumpy that they gave us an air bed for Christmas so they'd have something else to use.

I was expecting to get 20 years out the Ashley. Apparently, that is laughable in this day of replacement furniture. The recliners were not power, but required us to use a little force and exertion. After my surgery, I had difficulty getting in and out of the sofa and did not sit on it unless my husband was home.

So in July 2015, we went sofa shopping. We had been looking for a while. Ashley had a similar sectional but also there were literally over a thousand complaints against the company online, and we became a bit skittish about purchasing another sofa from them. Brands can drop in quality over the years and from what we were reading, Ashley seemed to be having issues.

Finally, at Grand Valley View, we ran across a brand of sofas called Southern Motion. It sat well and they had what we wanted - a love seat without the cup holder in the middle. We like to sit without something between us and hold hands while we watch TV. Maybe not the most important feature in a piece of furniture, but it mattered to us.

We didn't look the brand up online and made an impulse purchase, more or less, even though we'd been looking a while. We bought two of the love seats to replace the sectional. We don't entertain much and figured we could make the love seats last a while if we swapped them out once a year.

Two months after a late August delivery, the spring came through the back of one of the love seats.

Oops.

 

We called the furniture store and they sent out a repairman. I was not happy with having to have the entire backing of the furniture removed so soon after purchase, but I agreed to the repair. We then sat in the other sofa, the one that hadn't broken.

It broke after two months of use, too, right after the new year. Obviously the furniture style itself was defective. We called Grand, had a chat with the general manager (a very nice man), and he agreed to replace the furniture.

The new furniture finally arrived on March 1.

It stank.

I mean, it smelled like burned rubber tires. Even my husband could smell it and was put off by it, and he can barely smell anything. I was already ill with a cold and whatever was off-gassing from the furniture made me even more ill. My husband could tell my breathing was better every time we went out of the house. I couldn't sit on the furniture and for a week I was trapped in the back part of the house, avoiding the smell, because we have a great room with the kitchen and living room connected. We put out baking soda, activated charcoal, and bowls of white vinegar, and ran two air purifiers in the room. We opened the windows when feasible with the weather.

Finally, my husband brought home a friend and they moved the furniture into the garage.

With the garage door open, I was able to finally inspect the furniture.

I found flaws in the leather in the cushions. It doesn't show up well in the photo, but the leather was thin in two places, and looked as if it would split open about the third time we sat down.

I also noticed that the dye coloring on the leather was uneven. I could have lived with that. But I couldn't live with the thin leather in the cushion and the smell, not for what we paid for this furniture.

So back it went to Grand. I will give Grand much credit, for they have worked with us very well to try to resolve our issues.

Now we had no furniture. We went back to Grand but this time to the Tanglewood store, first, to see if they had anything different on the floor. We knew we would not purchase the same brand.

At Tanglewood, they had this very nice power recliner, but no love seat and sofa. The other store did have the love seat and sofa on the floor where we could see it.

So back to Valley View.

We liked the sofa and the love seat, but they were not power. I could not get the manual recliners to work at all, since I no longer have any abdominal muscles to speak of thanks to my multiple surgeries.

We ordered power furniture. Delivery is 10 to 12 weeks.

That's a long time to sit on the floor, so yesterday I decided to have the power recliner delivered, because they had that in stock. We hadn't planned on buying it but three months of trying to live without furniture when I'm already in pain did not seem like a good idea. I was afraid I'd be a pretzel by the time the love seat and sofa arrived.

One of the morals of the story? Most everything out there that you can purchase today is junk. Expensive junk. If you have your grandmother's sofa, you are better off to refurbish it and have it restuffed or refinished or whatever, if you can find someone to do that and you like the piece. It will last forever but the furniture you buy today will not. I am hoping to get 10 years out of this new furniture, and the sales people told me upfront that would be pushing it. But I have no children jumping around on things, or animals, and no one smokes to put holes in the leather, so maybe we can get the 10 years we want.

Another moral? Do your homework. Southern Motion does not have many complaints listed against it, but there are some. I think that is because it is a fairly new company. Most telling, I think, is the fact that their website doesn't have any contact information listed. They don't even say what state they are in (they're supposed to be a USA company). They have a Facebook page but do not respond to things there (or at least ignored my inquiry). If a company doesn't have a mailing address or other contact information on their Internet information, I think in the future that is not a company with which I will do business, especially for a major purchase.

The other moral? Deal with a reputable, long-standing company. I cannot commend Grand Home Furnishings enough for their customer service. They have been excellent to work with. Of course, I have an empty living room but they have dealt fairly with us as we try to resolve our issues. I feel confident that this time we will get furniture that will hold up and take care of our needs.

And I also feel confident that if for some reason it does not, then Grand will work with us yet again. But I sure hope it doesn't come to that.

I am too old to watch TV from the floor.

Using Photos with Picasa in Blogger (Now that Google no longer supports Picasa)

Google no longer supports Picasa, which I know many of us PC blogger users use to crop, enhance, and post photos.

You can find your old photos on Google photos, supposedly. (However, few of mine are there.)

If you have Picasa already, you can still use the Picasa program to edit and crop your photos, though the program itself will no longer update or have new features. This is how to use the program to upload your photos without going directly through Picasa, but instead saving the photos on your computer and then uploading. There may be other ways to do this, but this is how I do it.

One Way to Use Photos with Blogger in Picasa (now that Google no longer supports Picasa)

1. Open Picasa

2. Find your photo

3. Make whatever artistic/functional changes you need to the photo (straighten, crop, retouch, text, etc.)

4. Go to File (top left)

5. Go to "Export Picture to Folder"

6. Click on "Export Picture to Folder"

7. Choose your "export location" by browsing (I put my in a folder called Blog Pictures, but you can use whatever name you like)

8. Chose the name of the exported folder (by default, it is the date of the photo)

9. Check the image size. You can "use original size" but your pictures will take longer to load. I use "resize to" and in the box I put 640 by sliding the little blue slider to the right in the box. This size allows for decent-sized photos without losing quality, generally.

10. Imagine quality: I leave that on automatic

11. Add a watermark if you so desire.

12. Hit "Export"

13. A window will come up showing you the location of the file folder in your chosen location in #7.

14. Close Picasa.

15. Open your blog.

16. Go to " New Post"

17. In your menu list across the top of the post area, find the little icon for photo (it is right beside the word "link")

18. Click on the photo icon.

19. A box comes up that says "Add Images"

20. Go to "Choose files"

21. Another box comes up. Go to Pictures/[whatever folder you are using] and find your exported photo.

22. Highlight the photo with your mouse (you can do more than one at a time if you wish).

23. The photos will load in the "Add Images" screen.

24. Highlight the images you want by clicking on them. They will have a blue line around them.

25. Hit "add selected"

26. Your photos will be in your blog post.

27. Click on the photo to add a caption or to make them small, large, or original size.

29. Your photos can now be used on your blog.

I hope you find this helpful. If anything is confusing, let me know and I will try to clear it up.

Sunday Stealing: Currently

From Sunday Stealing

Currently Meme

Currently, I am . . . (not doing all of this at one time) . . .

•Reading - The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz. It says if you live your life by these four rules: "Be impeccable with your word;" "Don't take anything personally;" "Don't make assumptions;" and "Always do your best," you will have a good life. What do you think?
•Writing - This meme. But I have also been catching up on my journaling.
•Playing - at coloring.
•Watching - My husband and I have gone back to the 1st season of Downton Abby, since he didn't see it, and have started the series over.
•Trying - to deal with my pain.
•Cooking - we're having chicken and rice for dinner.
•Drinking - water.
•Calling - the cows. (Not really. But you know how you call a cow? Come 'ere, cow! Ha. Actually we go, "WOOO Cow! Wooo!")
•Pinning - ??? What does this even mean?
•Tweeting - I don't tweet.
•Crafting - a secret plan for world domination. Which I suppose is not secret anymore.
•Doing - this meme.
•Going - nowhere about as fast as one can go.
•Loving - my husband.
•Hating - that I am not able to work.
•Re-Discovering - that the grass does come back green in the spring. How about that!
•Enjoying - nothing much.
•Thinking - that 12 weeks is a long time to be without living room furniture.
•Feeling  - tired and achy.
•Missing - my health.
•Hoping - somebody invents a time machine.
•Listening - to nothing. I tend to spend far too much time in silence.
•Celebrating  - the fact that I can still walk.
•Smelling  - nicely, thank you. I showered this morning.
•Thanking - my husband for putting up with me and my crabbiness.
•Considering - how to end my tendency to procrastinate.
•Starting - apparently nothing, since I procrastinate.

__________

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: Kiss from a Rose

Saturday 9: Kiss from a Rose (1996)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here. (I always thought this was a beautiful song.)


1) This song is from the movie, Batman Forever. The movie Batman v. Superman will be out later this month. In that matchup, who do you support -- The Caped Crusader or The Man of Steel?

A. I haven't seen the movie and would prefer they did not fight. These are heroes, and they are not supposed to beat each other up. So I am going to pick Supergirl and Batgirl, even though neither are in the movie, because if they had a falling out, they'd make up and then go shopping.

2) "Rose" became a popular name in the 19th century, when parents also began naming their daughters "Iris," "Violet," "Daisy" and "Lily." Do you know anyone who has a flower name?

A. I have a friend named Holly, another whose maiden name was Lavinder, another whose last name is Woodie, and another whose last name is Wood. That's the best I can come up with and that's scrolling my Facebook list. However, my grandmother's nickname was Rosie, even though her name was Melba. She is no longer with us.

3) This week's artist, Seal, has something to fall back on. At his parents' insistence, before he pursued music he got an associate degree in architecture from a small college in Westminster. What's the last grade you completed?

A. I have a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies with an emphasis on the humanities. Whew, that's a mouthful, isn't it. Basically that means I took mostly English and Sociology classes. I received that degree in 2012, not so long ago. I love college.

4) Seal wrote this song back in the 1980s but didn't really like it very much. His producer discovered it when they were looking for material to complete Seal's second album and the result was several Grammys. Tell us about a time when something turned out better than you thought it would.

A. This is a hard one. I know my minister didn't think my marriage would last, and we'll be married 33 years this year. But that was his doubt, not mine. Hmm. I can think of a few things but none that I would want to publish on my blog.

5) Ex-wife Heidi Klum is not the only model in Seal's life. He also dated Tyra Banks. Can you name another famous model?

A. Christie Brinkley? Yeah, she was a model. I had to look her up to be sure.

6) Seal is currently involved with yet another model, Australian Erica Packer. Between them they have seven children. How many siblings do you have, and are you the oldest, youngest, or in the middle?

A. I am the oldest. I have a brother who is three years younger than I.

7) Seal's birthday was back on February 19. Let's think about your birthday. If you could have any type of cake you wanted, what would you request?

A. I would like to have a cake that looks like a hobbit house. Or Mordor. On some of my blacker days, maybe Mordor would be more appropriate.

8) In 1996, when this song was popular, Lyle and Erik Menendez were found guilty of murdering their parents in a crime and trial that dominated the news in Los Angeles. What are people in your town talking about?

A. This week they are talking about an announcement about an Italian business that is locating in our county. It is supposed to bring in 350 jobs, and apparently the state and county are offering up something like $30 million in incentives to bring in a company with a $133 million profit last year. If that makes sense to you, feel free to explain. I despise corporate welfare. If a company wants to locate here, they should buy the land, pay the fees, build their building, hire people, and not take tax payer money. We are giving this company 53 acres. Giving it away. And waiving all the fees and things, and doing the grading work and other stuff for them, without them paying a dime. I realize 350 jobs is a lot, but taxpayers should not have to foot the bill to bring a company in here. Any company.
 
9) Random question: There's an old saying, "Like nails on a blackboard." Sam can't recall ever hearing nails on a blackboard, but she knows she hates the sound of a dripping faucet. What sound bothers you the most?

A. The sound a stink bug makes when it hits the lights in the kitchen. It's something like "thwap thwap thwap" and then "thud" when it knocks itself cold and lands on the floor.

_____________

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.  (This Saturday 9 #120 for me, or least, since I've been labeling them as such.)

Pileated Woodpecker