August 30, 2020

 Right now, on this day, people are just too screwed up for anything to work.  Why would anyone say it is ok for a 17 year old who is not old enough to vote to go to another state with a rifle to protect property.  It is not his job.  His job is to be in school as a student and graduate.  If the police in a city cannot get things in control on their own then the police should reach out to the county or/and governor for assistance.  No sent out a call for anyone with a gun.  A well regulated militia is not 17 year old kids with a bunch of other untrained individuals.  That right to own a gun is not covered by the second amendment.

As for the protesters.  Get a permit.  Do the protests in the time limits then go home.  Anything else is just assisting the Idiot far right re elect notably the absolute worst president in my life time.  Trump is nothing but a con artist with rich friends.  Trump proved to be too fu#&ing crooked for any US bank to even deal with him after a certain point.  That a known fact in the banking circles of New York City.  My family friend, Ruth Pittman, worked in the financial circles of New York City for decades.  That is the source of the information.

Rules and regulations within a nation are not some sort of Deep State conspiracy.  I can just hear people saying, "but it goes too far, Janice."  Hmmm let me think.  Of course people will all be honest and do what is best for the protection of the environment, NOT.  People will save money by dumping chemicals because $$$ is god in this nation.  Yes, I am on a rant and it is my blog on which to rant.  Circuit board builders polluted the ground so badly in the Springfield, MO, area that the cave systems are becoming polluted 40+ years later.

The President chose not to use the power he had to force companies to make the PPE items needed. He just knew the manufactured would do it voluntarily.  Nope.  Maybe one or two but insufficient to actually have an impact.  While many people are good at the center we all become distracted with the temptations of life.  Money, success, our own egos needing to be right all the time.  Before we realize it we have left behind the basic goodness within ourselves.  

With the goodness removed we start not caring about anyone beyond like minded people.  We start humans start losing that which sets apart from a hungry bull or rogue tiger.  We start thinking that stuff is more important than people.  We forget the ten rules set out for humans:

In no way do the looters get off any better than the murderers.  As for racism and you who read this that say you are not racist I ask one question.  How do you feel when you encounter a group of black or Hispanic boys or men?  How does that compare to how you feet when you encounter a group of white boys or men?  I have to admit there is a difference for me.  I work at being antiracist but it is a hard habit to break.  But break, I must.  And so must law enforcement.

Things are just messed up and I am worn down by people thinking guns are gonna solve the problem.  That 17 year old is a murdered.  Protesters tried to stop him after he shot the first person.  The protesters giving chase were no different that the man that gave chase to the church shooter in Texas.  The only difference was the protesters had skate boards and their hands.  The 17 year old murderer was armed to kill to protect property, stuff.  No stuff is worth killing to keep.

Janice  

August 17, 2020

 It is funny how sayings get started.  One of Daddy's sayings was said as one word,  Quityourbellyakin".  "Quit your belly aching" I guess came from someone groaning and crying in pain.   Daddy talked of rat killings and goat ropings when talking about parties.  One day I asked what on earth was a rat killing.  He explained that the corn cribs in the farmers barnyards would be full of corn for the farm animals.  The rats would infest the irresistible food supply.  In order to protect the food supply neighbors would gather with their dogs.  The sides of the corn cribs would be removed.  Rats would run in all directions with dogs in pursuit.  The men would move to a different farm and repeat the process.  Often the women would gather at one of the farms.  There would be food for the workers and the women and children.  In rural areas it became almost a sort of party, hence, a rat killing.  

Goat roping were similar to the rat killing.  Neighbors folks gathering helping to catch goats.  Daddy said Uncle Clay brought that expression back from his time in Europe during WWII.  Goat ropings were not part of the rural life in North Texas.  That may have changed now as goats are seen frequently in uncultivated fields or pastures.  I suppose the closest event to these two activities would be the Amish barn-raising gathering.  Men and boys work to build a barn.  Women and girls work to provide needed food and water.

The where sayings start train of thought came about from an email from a cousin this AM.  I had seen the email several times in the past.  Many of the sayings harken back to hard times and living conditions.  Sayings like peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.  My Sis #2 cringes if we leave food out of proper refrigeration any longer than is required.  Sis #2 was the cafeteria manager for a large elementary school.  Proper food prep and storage was her profession.

All this talk of sayings leads me to wonder something.  Will there be some sort of sayings to come out of the Covid 19 pandemic?  Sis #1 calls it pandamnit.  It may take a while for the sayings to appear frequently enough to become common usage.  Or maybe words will take on different meanings or usage.  40 years ago 'text' were words in print.  Now 'text' is a verb.  Mail was paper notifications like letters and magazines.  Electronic mail became shortened to email.  Fewer letters and magazines.  I read the newspaper from an email just today.

If you would like to share some sayings from your part of the world that could be fun to read.  I need to get the pillows off the patio.  Hear tell we are about to get a gully washer.

Ya'll all take care.

Janice

L to r, Granny C, 76, Grandma R, 72, Sister #1, 23, Aunt Billie, ?

Not sure if this photo from 1959 is a goat roping, rat killing or a barn raising.  Could be Sunday dinner.

August 16, 2020

There is a rather indelicate expression here in Texas to describe how dry it is.  We are dryer than a popcorn fart down here.  Except for a spot or two in the county there has been less than .5 inch (1.27 cm) of rain since early June.   With about 40 days of 100 + F, 37.7 C, temperatures so far this season the earth is baked.  Checking past stats this is no where near the hottest nor driest year so far.  2020 is standing at spot 22 right now.  There have been 15 days straight at 100+.  Longest on record is  42 days straight in 1980 with 40 in 2011.  As the article noted, there is still plenty of summer left to change this.  Forecasts show there will be fewer days with triple digit temperatures.  I am good with that, no need for a record setting year so far as I am concerned.

This time of year the crepe myrtle trees/shrubs are usually covered in blossoms.  This morning as I was walking, I noticed the crepe myrtles in the road median were almost brown.  Certainly no blooms.  With that sort of situation I am not inspired to get out to take photos of dead grass.  I walked across the parking lot and noticed the hair on my arms were sort of crinkled.  My mind thought, dang it is so hot the hair on my arms are singed.  That might be a bit of an exaggeration.  

An update on the chrysalis we had brought into the house.  We apparently killed it.  It never opened up.  We sat the rock table back on the patio.  The chrysalis disappeared in a few days.  The bunnies were showing up looking for something to nibble.  We failed to put lettuce out a couple of days and now I have not seen one for several days.  Of course with the new room arrangement I cannot see the floor of the patio.  The bunny could be there and I would never know it.

7/25/2020 taken through the patio door glass.

  

Oh, another thing we did with our time over the last month was DJ the granddog sitting.  Hubby was beyond diligent making certain she was doing her 'job' outdoors.  We certainly did not want another incident where Robbie the robot vacuum drags poo everywhere.  Nope, not again.  Once in a lifetime is actually one time too many for this old gal!

The reason we were keeping DJ was Son, DIL and 4 of the 5 grands were taking the oldest granddaughter back to college.  Son had rented an Airbnb on Beaver Lake in Arkansas.  They crew enjoyed time in the lake and visiting the area near where Son grew up in Missouri.  When it came time to move Granddaughter into the sorority house, only two people were able to assist carrying items into her room.  That left 3 brothers to entertain themselves for an hour or so.  No blood was drawn nor items broken.  That is always a success.

Oldest Grandson will be attending a local college virtually this year.  He is working at a local restaurant so he did not get to go on the Arkansas trip.  On the nights we took the dog to the house to let her run and play, Oldest sat and visited with us.  Grown grandkids are pretty fun, too.  Conversations about customers to politics to the latest playlist.  

Not much else to tell.  Will leave you with a photo of our living area with the rearranged area.  Hubby likes my chair located close enough for him to reach over and touch me.  This arrangement accomplished that.  He is a happy camper now.  Amateur radio stuff on the right of his chair, remotes and my chair on the left. Everything withing reach.  Now to make him get up and get moving for exercise!

Ya'll all stay safe and healthy!

Janice

August 15, 2020

My goodness.  Over a month since I have taken time to post on this blog.  I have submitted photos to some memes.  Otherwise I am not sure what I have been doing.  I did finish a collage shadow box covering the three trips we did last summer.  The last few days have been about incorporating two three additional photos into our living area.  These photos are memories of trips and loved ones.  

One photo is from around 1918 - 1920.  It is my late MIL and her younger brother.  The frame needed to be cleaned and sort of refurbished.  I took the photo from the frame.  Mom had used the folder to put behind the photo.  The photo did not fill out the frame.  I cut the embossed edges of the folder and used those along the long edges of the photo to "fill out" the frame.  Lots of cleaning to the photo and frame.  Silver rub and buff brought the frame back to a brighter and certainly cleaner. 

Before

After

Picture number two had been stored in the closet with other photos since the move.  The signed print was given to us by a waitress at the Delta Hotel in Canada.  We had told her the story of Hubby's near death experience the year before.  How the doctor that pretty much saved his life encouraged us to continue to travel.  The waitress teared up and walked away.  She returned with this numbered print of Lake Louise with the artist's signature on the matting.  She felt she was supposed to give it to us as she was so touched by the account of Hubby's miracle.  The frame was reclaimed from my items from my Mother's belongings.  We had given her the frame with photos of our two year old son in it.  His photos were faded and the frame was the perfect size, so repurpose!  Rub and buff to the rescue.

From '70's avacado green

Silver rub and buff

Sorry for the blurry photos.  Too lazy to get out the good camera.  Another photo grouping was taking Hubby's treasured photo of his Uncle Trecil's mules, one that was born the same year.  Uncle had written on the back so those words were special.  There was, also, the photo of Uncle Trecil with just Jude, a red mule.  I used the same photo frame that Uncle Trecil had given to Hubby sometime in the early 1980's.  This is how the three worked together with a bit of photoshop work for the matting and bottom photos.  I cut the center out so the pair of mules were visible.

Now we can enjoy these three treasures from the comfort of our easy chairs.

Last year I ordered this photo made into a wrapped canvas.  It is the hills of Wyoming just outside of Laramie.  The area is called The Buttes.  We were heading south on 287 and sunset was approaching.

60 miles an hour on 287.

In addition during the week before I had designed and assembled a collage of photos from our three trips last year.  After assembly I had to redo three different times.  Things kept falling down.  This was my first three dimensional collage.  Anyway I finally was able to hang it and leave it in place.  Thumb tacks did the trick.  And lots of tape.  Lots of hidden tape.  But it is all in place.  As I was brightening the photo I noticed that the "congrats" has fallen.  I am not going to work on it tonight.  I really am sort of done with pictures for awhile.  

In addition I have been catching up on cleaning.  We have a small place but I just could not do the cleaning for almost three quarters a year.  Now I am being able to slowly catch up on just regular housekeeping.  Plus a bit of freshening up like a new bedspread and rearranging the living area.  Cleaning, sorting, and clearing out more unnecessary items.  Like a full size ironing board.  

 

We are staying healthy.  Next week we will be spending a few days with my sisters.  Each of us sisters have been staying closer to home than even before so we further reduce risks.  The sister time has a theme this time.  Even a not too formal invitation.

Yes, we will be dressing in costumes or at least something that represents that country!  Should be fun and have many more fun things to write about afterwards.  Photos will be forthcoming.  Husbands will be dressing, also.  Hope to put a few smiles on some stale faces.

Everyone take care out there.  Stay healthy.

Janice