The Life and Times of Grandma and Papa

Foto Friday - Round House?

2010-07-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

I'll bet the residents ALWAYS feel a bit woozie.

Foto Friday - Tree House

2010-07-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

I wonder what the INSIDE looks like.

Foto Friday - Upside-Down House

2010-06-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

With my luck, a tornado would come along and flip it right-side up again.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-06-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

"I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work."
- Neil Armstrong

"They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
- Andy Warhol

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing."
- Albert Schweitzer

"Happiness, it seems to me, consists of two things: first, in being where you belong, and second - and best - in comfortably going through everyday life, that is, having had a good night's sleep and not being hurt by new shoes."
- Theodor Fontane

"I've never known any trouble that an hour's reading didn't assuage."
- Charles de Secondat
6
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection."
- Sigmund Freud

"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over."
- Aneurin Bevan

"The time to relax is when you don't have time for it."
- Sydney J. Harris

Wordy Wednesday

2010-06-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

indemnity: security against damage or loss.
oscitant: yawning, as with drowsiness.
hegira: a journey to a more desirable or congenial place.
amok: in or into a jumbled or confused state.
couvade: when the husband of a pregnant woman acts as though he were bearing the child.
heliolatry: worship of the sun.
proliferate: to increase or spread at a rapid rate.

Foto Friday - Twisted Chimney

2010-06-18T07:00:00.000-06:00

Do you think this adds an additional twist to the column of smoke?

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-06-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

"Pride, like humility, is destroyed by one's insistence that he possesses it."
- Kenneth Bancroft Clark

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure."
- Helen Keller

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
- Aristotle

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
- James Baldwin

"How often in life it is a truth that we have no time for our friends but all the time in the world for our enemies."
- Leon Uris

"The things that the flag stands for were created by the experiences of a great people. Everything that it stands for was written by their lives. The flag is the embodiment not of sentiment, but of history."
- Woodrow Wilson

"I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work."
- Neil Armstrong

Wordy Wednesday

2010-06-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

noctivagant: pertaining to wandering at night.
ruth: pity or compassion.
kowtow: to act in a subservient manner.
juggernaut: any large, overpowering, destructive force.
vernacular: the plain variety of language in everyday use.
quintessential: being the most typical.
festoon: to adorn with hanging chains or strands of any material.

Foto Friday - Railroad Balcony

2010-06-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

This must be the home of a real railroad nut.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-06-10T07:00:00.000-06:00

"My own view about bringing up kids is praise, praise and praise again."
- Sir Richard Branson

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."
- George Bernard Shaw

"The Interstate highway system has made it possible to go from sea to shining sea without seeing anything."
- Charles Kuralt

"A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her."
- David Brinkley

"Americans have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?"
- Alexis de Tocqueville

"You better live your best and act your best and think your best today, for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow."
- Harriet Martineau

"History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly, it is not a sufficient condition."
- Milton Friedman

Wordy Wednesday

2010-06-09T07:00:00.002-06:00

goad: to prod; incite.
swain: a male admirer or lover.
Manichean: pertaining to a strongly dualistic worldview.
penumbra: an area in which something exists to an uncertain degree.
bathos: triteness or triviality in style.
fathom: to penetrate to the truth of.
Occidental: Western.

The Value of Integrity and Respect

2010-06-05T07:58:00.003-06:00

A manager at work posted this on his blog recently. I thought I'd share it with you.

I realize that not everything on the internet is true, so I am still trying to verify the following stories. Even if they are not true, they still make a great point.

Be sure to read both stories to the end.

STORY NUMBER ONE

Many years ago, Al Capone owned the Chicago crime syndicate. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder. Capone had a lawyer nicknamed 'Easy Eddie.' Eddie was very good. In fact, his skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time. To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money substantial, but Eddie got special dividends as well. He and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago city block. Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocities that went on around him. He did however, have one soft spot. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. Despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie tried to teach his son right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son. He couldn't pass on a good name or a good example. One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify the wrongs he had done. He decided to go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al 'Scarface' Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew the cost would be great. Within a year of testifying Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street. But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine. The poem read:

'The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will. Place no faith in time. For the clock may soon be still.'

STORY NUMBER TWO

World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific. One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that the flight crew had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to the ship. His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, Butch dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet. As he was returning to the mother ship, he saw something that turned his blood cold; a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet nor could he warn them of the approaching danger. There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the American Armada. Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber gun's blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent. Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible, rendering them unfit to fly. Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction. Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. Upon arrival, he reported in and related the events surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft. This took place on February 20, 1942 , and for that action Butch became the Navy's first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man. So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.

SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?

Butch O'Hare was 'Easy Eddie's' son.

Foto Friday - On the Edge

2010-06-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

Watch that first step, it's really a doozie!

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-06-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

"Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinions at all."
- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

"To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it."
- Confucius

"The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership."
- Harvey S. Firestone

"Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism."
- Carl Jung

"And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me."
- Lee Greenwood

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."
- Joseph Campbell

"The trouble with life isn't that there is no answer, it's that there are so many answers."
- Ruth Benedict

Wordy Wednesday

2010-06-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

regnant: prevalent; widespread.
waxing: to increase in extent, quantity, intensity, or power.
ethereal: light, airy, or tenuous.
epoch: the beginning of a distinctive period in history.
scuttle: to run with quick, hasty steps; scurry.
threnody: a poem, speech, or song of lamentation, esp. for the dead.
oleaginous: having the nature or qualities of oil.

Foto Friday - Kid's Playhouse

2010-05-28T07:00:00.000-06:00

I'll bet the kids really like this one.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-05-27T07:00:00.000-06:00

"I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself."
-Aldous Huxley

"Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again."
- Andre Gide

"There is an applause superior to that of the multitudes: one's own."
- Elizabeth Elton Smith

"Common sense is not so common."
- Voltaire

"If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion."
- George Bernard Shaw

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."
- Marcel Proust

"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life."
- Charles Darwin

Wordy Wednesday

2010-05-26T07:00:00.001-06:00

plucky: having or showing courage.
baksheesh: a tip, present, or gratuity.
suspire: to utter with long, sighing breaths.
phlegmatic: not easily excited to action or display of emotion.
adumbrate: to foreshadow; prefigure.
shivaree: a mock serenade with kettles and other noisemakers for a newly married couple.

Foto Friday - Outhouse

2010-05-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

Just make sure you're awake when you have to go in the middle of the night.

"Come to the USA" by Ray Stevens

2010-05-20T17:52:00.002-06:00

A friend sent me a link to this YouTube video. I thought I'd share it.

"Come to the USA" by Ray Stevens

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-05-20T07:42:00.000-06:00

"A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world."
- John le Carre

"All good books have one thing in common - they are truer than if they had really happened."
- Ernest Hemingway

"Not to invent yourself is to be false. To follow preordained rules is a profound betrayal of what it means to be human."
- David Starkey

"Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil."
- Jerry Garcia

"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things."
- Albert Einstein

"I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself."
-Aldous Huxley

"Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again."
- Andre Gide

Remind you of anyone?

2010-05-19T17:55:00.000-06:00

Wordy Wednesday

2010-05-19T08:26:00.001-06:00

afterclap: an unexpected repercussion.
sawyer: a person who saws wood, esp. as an occupation.
kibitz: to chat, to converse.
eidetic: pertaining to visual imagery vividly experienced and readily reproducible.
majuscule: of letters written either as capitals or uncials.
tipple: to drink intoxicating liquor, esp. habitually or to some excess.
habitué: one who frequents a particular place.

Straight Poop from Maxine...

2010-05-18T13:12:00.003-06:00

Maxine tells it like it is!!!!

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. What a beauty of a bird feeder it is, as I filled it lovingly with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.

But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table ... everywhere!

Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own Pocket.

And others birds were boisterous and loud. They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. So I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio.

Soon, the back yard was like it used to be.... Quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now let's see... Our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, and free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen.

Then the illegal came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor; Your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English.

Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to 'press one' to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than 'Old Glory' are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Just my opinion, but maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder.

If you don't agree, just continue cleaning up the poop!

Foto Friday - Sound Barrier Busters

2010-05-14T07:00:00.002-06:00

These were taken at the very instant that the jet broke through the sound barrier. This is actually what it looks like!

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-05-13T07:44:00.001-06:00

"The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves."
- Helen Keller

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
- E. B. White

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."
- Henry David Thoreau

"The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people."
- Woodrow Wilson

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

"He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had tried and failed."
- William James

"Nothing is exactly as it seems, nor is it otherwise."
- Alan Watts

Wordy Wednesday

2010-05-12T07:44:00.001-06:00

perpend: to ponder; deliberate.
eristic: pertaining to argument for its own sake.
chevron: a badge or insignia in the form of an inverted V.
muliebrity: womanly nature or qualities.
mugwump: a person who is unable to make up his or her mind on an issue, esp. in politics.
matriculate: to enroll in a college or university as a candidate for a degree.
malapert: unbecomingly bold or saucy.

Foto Friday - Dopey Duplex

2010-05-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

What can I say?

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-05-06T07:38:00.000-06:00

"Whatever we build in the imagination will accomplish itself in the circumstance of our lives."
- William Butler Yeats

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
- C.S. Lewis

"No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be."
- Isaac Asimov

"What people say behind your back is your standing in the community."
- Edgar Watson Howe

"Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed."
- Corita Kent

"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense."
- Gertrude Stein

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him."
- Robert Heinlein

Wordy Wednesday

2010-05-05T07:55:00.001-06:00

valetudinarian: a weak or sickly person.
doula: a woman who assists in childbirth.
omnific: having unlimited powers of creation.
sesquipedalianism: given to using long words.
jnana: absolute insight acquired through study.
iatrogenic: (of a medical disorder) caused by the actions of a physician.
vamoose: to leave hurriedly or quickly; decamp.

Weekend Highs and Lows

2010-05-03T15:04:00.002-06:00

It's been awhile since I've posted anything personal. I thought it was about time I got back to it occasionally.

This past weekend had its highs and lows -- mostly lows.

Saturday morning started out for me at 5:30 in the blessed AM. I had to be up in time to drive to Manti, arriving at 8:00AM for an 8:30AM wedding that didn't actually happen until nearly 9:00AM.

The early "get out of bed" time was a low. The drive to Manti wasn't so bad. The time spent in the temple and the wedding itself were highs.

Then we had an hour and a half to kill before the scheduled wedding lunch, also in Manti. We drove down to Palisade State Park in Sterling, drove a short ways up Six Mile Canyon, then back in Manti we drove around town for a while looking at whatever there was to see (which wasn't much). Then we spent a few minutes in a gift shop next door to the lunch location. This whole time was kind of a low.

Lunch was catered. It wasn't the best and it wasn't the worst. But it was late because the bride and groom didn't show up right away -- apparently they found some sunshine for wedding videos. Lunch was a medium high.

Then we drove to Richfield where we had another four and half hours to kill before we had to be in Monroe so Grandma could do Kaylyn's makeup and hair for the reception. This whole time was a low because we forgot to bring the game we were planning on playing to pass the time. Instead I just read a book I brought and napped in between chapters.

Around 5:00PM we drove to Monroe and found the Stake Center where the reception was to be held. The decorations were interesting, and there was some food available for family who had to be there and not home having their own dinner. It was good, too. That was a high. Waiting another hour and a half for the reception to start was a low. Sitting through the noisy and crowded reception while Grandma and her mother visited with friends and family was definitely a low. I went out to wait in the car for nearly an hour before they came out.

Driving home and arriving around 11:00PM was another real low.

Sunday morning I woke up with a head cold -- coughing and sneezing. That was really a low. I managed to attend Sacrament Meeting but went home afterward so as not to cough and sneeze on everyone else.

But the REAL LOW of the weekend was not being able to hold my grandkids while they were here for dinner. That really sucked.

The weekend ended with a minor high, though. I beat Dan at "Can't Stop" again.

Foto Friday - Dog House

2010-04-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Maybe you really wouldn't mind being in THIS dog house.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-04-29T07:54:00.000-06:00

"We have to believe in free will. We have no choice."
- Isaac Bashevis Singer

"An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less."
- Nicholas Murray Butler

"I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career."
- Gloria Steinem

"Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do."
- Benjamin Spock

"Marriage resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they can't be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them."
- Adam Smith

"Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost."
- Robert Southey

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
- J.K. Rowling

Wordy Wednesday

2010-04-28T08:29:00.001-06:00

wastrel: a person who wastes; a loafer.
moil: to labor; to toil; to drudge.
perforce: by necessity.
sough: to make a soft, low sighing or rustling sound.
quisling: a collaborator; a traitor.
quash: to annul; also, to crush; to subdue.
pellucid: transparent, shining through; also, easily understandable.

Foto Friday - Canyon View

2010-04-23T07:02:00.000-06:00

How's that for a backyard? Or, WHAT were they thinking?

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-04-22T07:37:00.000-06:00

"The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants."
- Omar Bradley

"Man and Woman are two locked caskets, of which each contains the key to the other."
- Isak Dinesen

"Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship."
- Benjamin Franklin

"Tragic sins become moral failures only if we should have known better from the outset."
- Jared Diamond

"The destiny of every human being is decided by what goes on inside his skull when confronted with what goes on outside his skull."
- Dr. Eric Berne

"As poetic as it might seem to think so, nothing good comes of victimization."
- Robert Sabbag

"We don't understand life any better at 40 than at 20, but we know it and admit it."
- Jules Renard

Wordy Wednesday

2010-04-21T07:44:00.000-06:00

pelf: money; riches.
oneiric: pertaining to or suggestive of dreams.
transmogrify: to transform.
disport: to frolic; to amuse (oneself).
scapegrace: one who is wild and reckless.
agrestic: pertaining to fields or the country.
empyrean: the highest heaven; the heavens; the sky.

Foto Friday - Homeside Mural

2010-04-16T06:57:00.001-06:00

This is the first of a series of photos of different things. Some people just have too much time on their hands.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-04-15T09:27:00.000-06:00

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine

"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."
- Robert A. Heinlein

"A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants; and secondly, how much more unhappy he might be than he really is."
- Joseph Addison

"It is better to live rich than to die rich."
- Samuel Johnson

"The brain is a three-pound mass you can hold in your hand that can conceive of a universe a hundred billion light years across."
- Marian C. Diamond

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts."
- Richard Feynman

"Nature is man's teacher. She unfolds her treasures to his search, unseals his eye, illumes his mind, and purifies his heart; an influence breathes from all the sights and sounds of her existence."
- Alfred Billings Street

Wordy Wednesday

2010-04-14T07:48:00.000-06:00

interlard: to insert between; to mix.
indefatigable: untiring.
Pyrrhic victory: a victory achieved at great cost.
dishabille: the state of being carelessly or partially dressed.
neologism: a new word or expression; the use or creation of new words or expressions.
ne plus ultra: the acme; also, the most profound degree.
bloviate: to speak or write in a pompous manner.

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-04-08T07:39:00.000-06:00

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."
- Socrates

"I have learned that to be with those I like is enough."
- Walt Whitman

"To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness."
- Bertrand Russell

"Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young."
- Sir Arthur Wing Pinero

"Envy comes from people's ignorance of, or lack of belief in, their own gifts."
- Jean Vanier

"Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others."
- Buddha

"To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom."
- Bertrand Russell

Wordy Wednesday

2010-04-07T07:36:00.000-06:00

hugger-mugger: secret; also, muddled, disorderly.
slake: to satisfy or quench; also, to cause to lessen.
malversation: misconduct in public office.
manumit: to free from slavery or servitude.
grok: to understand.
land of Nod: sleep.
megrim: a migraine; also, a fancy or whim; in the plural, low spirits.

"Our America" Series - Spring Training

2010-04-02T07:00:00.002-06:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-04-01T07:44:00.001-06:00

"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not."
- Andre Gide

"What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do."
- Aristotle

"A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep."
- W. H. Auden

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting."
- e.e cummings

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
- Abraham Lincoln

"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth."
- Mark Twain

"If you want to see what children can do, you must stop giving them things."
- Norman Douglas

Wordy Wednesday

2010-03-31T07:44:00.000-06:00

lucre: money; profit.
impecunious: habitually without money; poor.
sylvan: pertaining to woods or forests.
portentous: foreboding; ominous.
neophyte: a novice.
popinjay: a vain and talkative person.
bedizen: to dress or adorn in gaudy manner.

"Our America" Series - Room Service

2010-03-26T07:00:00.000-06:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-03-25T07:40:00.001-06:00

"Deep versed in books and shallow in himself."
- John Milton

"If poverty is the mother of crime, stupidity is its father."
- Jean de La Bruyere

"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"
- Mark Twain

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it."
- Samuel Johnson

"In the field of observation, chance favors the prepared mind."
- Louis Pasteur

"Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern but impossible to enslave."
- Baron Henry Brougham

"Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work."
- J. G. Pollard

Wordy Wednesday

2010-03-24T13:31:00.000-06:00

cozen: to deceive or obtain by deceit.
matutinal: relating to or occurring in the morning.
garrulous: talkative; also, wordy.
fatidic: of, relating to, or characterized by prophecy.
cacophony: harsh or discordant sound.
exiguous: extremely scanty.
defenestrate: to throw out of a window.

Are you ready for this?

2010-03-23T08:06:00.003-06:00

I just saw this on Discover's 80Beats blog...

Google TV Is Coming Soon to a Living Room Near You

"Our America" Series - Resolution

2010-03-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-03-18T07:37:00.001-06:00

"Depend not on fortune, but on conduct."
- Publilius Syrus

"If you're strong enough there are no precedents."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

"One must not always think that feeling is everything. Art is nothing without form."
- Gustave Flaubert

"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."
- Ayn Rand

"What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers."
- Logan Pearsall Smith

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."
- Jack London

"Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge."
- Claude Bernard

Wordy Wednesday

2010-03-17T07:35:00.000-06:00

salient: noticeable; also, projecting; also, leaping.
solecism: a nonstandard usage or grammatical construction.
erudite: characterized by extensive reading or knowledge.
fulminate: to issue or utter verbal attacks or censures.
gravitas: high seriousness.
hirsute: covered with hair or bristles.
potable: drinkable; also, a beverage, especially an alcoholic one.

"Our America" Series - Street Fare

2010-03-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-03-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

"The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances."
- Aristotle

"The one common experience of all humanity is the challenge of problems."
- R. Buckminster Fuller

"Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something."
- Gertrude Stein

"It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required."
- Winston Churchill

"Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open."
- Elmer G. Letterman

"The one thing more difficult than following a regimen is not imposing it on others."
- Marcel Proust

"Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends."
- H. L. Mencken

Wordy Wednesday

2010-03-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

didactic: conveying instruction; teaching some moral lesson.
fealty: fidelity; allegiance; faithfulness.
masticate: to chew.
inveterate: deep-rooted; of long standing.
languor: lack of energy or vitality.
sachet: a small bag containing perfuming powder, to impart a pleasant scent.
phantasmagoria: a shifting series or succession of things seen or imagined.

"Our America" Series - Mail Order

2010-03-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-03-04T07:45:00.002-07:00

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
- Albert Einstein

"The best things and best people rise out of their separateness; I'm against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise."
- Robert Frost

"One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Happiness is the full use of your powers along lines of excellence."
- John F. Kennedy

"Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives."
- William James

"Tis easy enough to be pleasant, when life flows along like a song; but the person worth while is the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong."
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different."
- Aldous Huxley

Wordy Wednesday

2010-03-03T07:33:00.003-07:00

gregarious: seeking and enjoying the company of others.
mulct: to defraud.
supplicate: to make a humble and earnest petition.
quixotic: foolishly impractical; also, capricious, impulsive.
pablum: something (as writing or speech) that is trite, insipid, or simplistic.
temporize: to be indecisive or evasive in order to gain time; also, to go with the times.
eructation: the act of belching; a belch.

"Our America" Series - Table For Two

2010-02-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Wordy Wednesday

2010-02-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

duplicity: deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech.
gastronome: a lover of good food and drink.
egregious: outrageously bad.
bombast: pompous or pretentious speech or writing.
fractious: tending to cause trouble; also, irritable.
fructuous: fruitful; productive.
arcanum: a secret; a mystery.

"Our America" Series - Lunch Break

2010-02-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-02-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

"Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors; they can be smelled."
- Eric Hoffer

"Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble."
- Carl Jung

"The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of."
- Blaise Pascal

"Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties."
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"Great is the power, great is the authority of a senate that is unanimous in its opinions."
- Cicero

"No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother."
- Margaret Sanger

"Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe."
- Oprah Winfrey

Wordy Wednesday

2010-02-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

fulsome: offensive from excess of praise.
constitutional: a walk taken for one's health.
quondam: former; sometime.
sinecure: an office or position that involves little work or responsibility.
vainglory: excessive pride or vain display.
canard: an unfounded or false report.
gainsay: to contradict; to deny.

"Our America" Series - The Barbeque

2010-02-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-02-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

"The best is yet to be."
- Robert Browning

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others."
- Samuel Johnson

"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means."
- Albert Einstein

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The obstinacy of cleverness and reason is nothing to the obstinacy of folly and inanity."
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

"Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough."
- Groucho Marx

"Adults find pleasure in deceiving a child. They consider it necessary, but they also enjoy it. The children very quickly figure it out and then practice deception themselves."
- Elias Canetti

Wordy Wednesday

2010-02-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

segue: to proceed without interruption.
palimpsest: an object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent.
bete noire: something or someone particularly detested or avoided.
farrago: an assortment; a medley.
expatiate: to speak or write at length.
nadir: the lowest point.
protean: readily assuming different shapes or forms.

"Our America" Series - Rush Hour

2010-02-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-02-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

"Organization can never be a substitute for initiative and for judgement."
- Louis D. Brandeis

"Whenever you see a successful business, someone made a courageous decision."
- Peter Drucker

"If you're strong enough, there are no precedents."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

"A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with the wind."
- John Neal

"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared."
- Eddie Rickenbacker

"To be content with what one has is the greatest and truest of riches."
- Cicero

"The world of politics is always twenty years behind the world of thought."
- John Jay Chapman

Wordy Wednesday

2010-02-03T08:59:00.001-07:00

machination: a crafty scheme intended to accomplish some usually evil end.
verboten: forbidden; prohibited.
rapacious: grasping; greedy.
penchant: a strong liking.
mondegreen: a word or phrase resulting from a misinterpretation, as in misheard lyrics.
gelid: extremely cold; icy.
aubade: a song greeting the dawn.

"Our America" Series - King Of The Road

2010-01-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-01-28T08:56:00.001-07:00

"Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame."
- Alexander Pope

"For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul."
- Judy Garland

"Courage is fear holding on a minute longer."
- George S. Patton

"The love that lasts the longest is the love that is never returned."
- Somerset Maugham

"Employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure."
- Benjamin Franklin

"[The President] shall from time to time give to the Congress information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient...."
- Article II, Sec. 3, U.S. Constitution

"The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they're still alive."
- O.A. Battista Thou

Wordy Wednesday

2010-01-27T08:38:00.001-07:00

bibelot: a trinket.
prevaricate: to depart from or evade the truth.
veritable: real; true; genuine.
frangible: capable of being broken; easily broken.
plenipotentiary: invested with full power.
evince: to show in a clear manner.
panjandrum: an important or self-important official.

"Our America" Series - The Big Game

2010-01-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-01-21T11:25:00.001-07:00

"The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble. They can never be solved but only outgrown."
- Carl Jung

"What is now proved was once imagined."
- William Blake

"All glory comes from daring to begin."
- Eugene F. Ware

"When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love."
- The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters."
- Alan Simpson

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."
- Rudyard Kipling

Wordy Wednesday

2010-01-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

draconian: excessively harsh; severe.
pallid: pale; faint or deficient in color; wan.
countervail: to counteract; also, to offset.
apposite: of striking appropriateness and relevance.
accord: agreement; harmony.
perambulate: to stroll; to walk through or over.
lacuna: a blank space; a missing part.

"Our America" Series - Fuel For Thought

2010-01-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-01-14T13:02:00.001-07:00

True happiness is not made in getting something. True happiness is becoming something. This can be done by being committed to lofty goals. We cannot become something without commitment.
-Marvin J. Ashton

Man does not drift into goodness...the chance port of an aimless voyage. He must fight ever for his destination.
-William George Jordan

Our desires always increase with our possessions. The knowledge that something remains yet unenjoyed impairs our enjoyment of the good before us.
-Samuel Johnson

If you are not doing good with what little you have, depend upon it the more money you get the more selfish you would become...If your real desire is to do good, there is no need to wait for money before you do it.
-James Allen

My strength is the strength of ten because my heart is pure.
-Tennyson

Our great object in time is not to waste our passions and gifts on the things external that we must leave behind, but that we cultivate within us all that we can carry into the eternal progress beyond.
-Bulwer

I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail.
-Woodrow Wilson

It is terrible to speak well and be wrong.
-Sophocles

I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.
-John Rockefeller

Wordy Wednesday

2010-01-13T08:05:00.001-07:00

quotidian: occurring daily; also, ordinary.
gesticulate: to make gestures or motions.
nebbish: a weak-willed, timid, or ineffectual person.
onus: burden; also, blame; stigma.
flagitious: grossly wicked; scandalous.
torpor: lethargic indifference; apathy.
lapidary: of or pertaining to stone cutting; also, terse or refined in expression.

Working from Home

2010-01-12T08:44:00.003-07:00

A few days ago, my knee has started HURTING A LOT MORE. I mean A LOT. Granted, the painful episodes may come and go somewhat, but it's gotten a lot worse.

Yesterday, at work, there was a time when I could hardly walk on it at all. So I talked with my manager and with her help, I got permission from the department director and the company HR department to work from home. I still need to go into the office at least one day a week, until my surgery, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Also, last night, at Grandma's suggestion, I went to WalMart and bought a cane. It's one of those with 4 feet for added stability - it also stands up by itself so I don't have to find something to lean it up against.

Only 4 more weeks until my scheduled surgery...

Who's Your Navigator?

2010-01-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

I swear that sometimes this comic strip is about Grandma and me!
Here's another case in point...

"Our America" Series - Waste Lines

2010-01-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-01-07T07:47:00.001-07:00

"Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!"
- William Arthur Ward

"If you want to be happy, be."
- Leo Tolstoy

"The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be."
- Marcel Pagnol

"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things."
- Albert Einstein

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized."
- Sun Tzu

"It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about."
- Dale Carnegie

"There are only two distinct classes of people on this earth: those who espouse enthusiasm and those who despise it."
- Germaine de Stael

THERE'S a word you don't hear every day...

2010-01-06T08:34:00.002-07:00

Did you notice today's word of the day? It's one rarely used anymore but not from any lack of chances.

flibbertigibbet: a silly, flighty, or excessively talkative person.

I don't know about you, but I've seen way too many flibbertigibbets to suit me.

Wordy Wednesday

2010-01-06T08:29:00.001-07:00

vicissitude: a change in condition or fortune.
panacea: a cure-all.
constitutional: a walk taken for one's health.
tortuous: marked by repeated turns and bends.
enjoin: to direct or impose with authority; also, to forbid.
atelier: a workshop; a studio.
flibbertigibbet: a silly, flighty, or excessively talkative person.

"Our America" Series - Midnight Snack

2010-01-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2009-12-31T08:04:00.001-07:00

"Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind."
- Mary Ellen Chase

"Jealousy, that dragon which slays love under the pretense of keeping it alive."
- Havelock Ellis

"Wouldn't life be worth the living
Wouldn't dreams be coming true
If we kept the Christmas spirit
All the whole year through?"
- Author Unknown

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
- Anais Nin

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."
- Winston Churchill

"He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper."
- Edmund Burke

"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us."
- Hal Borland

Wordy Wednesday (a day late)

2009-12-31T08:03:00.001-07:00

lambent: playing on the surface; flickering.
embonpoint: plumpness of person.
hauteur: haughtiness; arrogance.
expatiate: to speak or write at length.
surreptitious: done, made, or gotten by stealth; also, marked by stealth.
cajole: to coax.
presage: an omen; also, to predict.

"Biting the Bullet"

2009-12-28T15:23:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I've written a post of a personal nature. I can't say why. I just haven't. But now I have something that I'd like to share, if you're willing to listen.

I've finally decided it's time to "bite the bullet" (metaphorically speaking) and get my left knee replaced. "Ouch!" you say? Yeah, that's what I say, too. Quite often these days.

I injured it a few years ago climbing off a rock retaining wall at a local park. It was OK for awhile but now it's slowly been getting worse -- more so just recently. The pain and stiffness are just getting too much to bear.

I thought about having it done over the holidays so that I could use the two holidays as days-off that I wouldn't have to use sick or vacation days for. Unfortunately, I didn't think of soon enough. It seems a lot of other people had similar ideas and had them sooner. It took me two weeks just to get an appointment with the doctor, only to find out that he's backed up seven weeks for the surgery.

So, I'm now scheduled for knee replacement surgery on February 8, 2010. That's six weeks from today. It's going to be a long six weeks, too.

"Our America" Series - And To All A Good Night

2009-12-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2009-12-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

"Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him and to let him know that you trust him."
- Booker Washington

"He that leaveth nothing to chance will do few things ill, but he will do very few things."
- George Savile Halifax

"Let all the learned say what they can, 'tis ready money makes the man."
- William Somerville

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us."
- Herman Hesse

"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues."
- Cicero

"Eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears."
- Heraclitus

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!"
- Hamilton Wright Mabie

Wordy Wednesday

2009-12-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

paroxysm: an outburst; a fit.
diaphanous: allowing light to pass through.
capricious: whimsical; changeable.
iota: a very small quantity or degree.
dolorous: marked by, causing, or expressing grief or sorrow.
collude: to act in concert; to conspire.
clinquant: glittering; tinsel-like; also, tinsel.

"Our America" Series - Prom Night

2009-12-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2009-12-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

"Nothing great has been and nothing great can be accomplished without passion. It is only a dead, too often, indeed, a hypocritical moralizing which inveighs against the form of passion as such."
- Georg Hegel

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it."
- George Bernard Shaw

"It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact."
- Edmund Burke

"To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects."
- Margaret Thatcher

"Where there is great love there are always miracles."
- Willa Cather

"Prejudice is the child of ignorance."
- William Hazlitt

"Keep thy hook always baited, for a fish lurks ever in the most unlikely swim."
- Ovid

Wordy Wednesday

2009-12-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

cogitate: to think; to ponder.
recalcitrant: stubbornly resistant to and defiant of authority or restraint.
palliate: to make an offense seem less serious; also, to relieve or lessen without curing.
largess: generous giving; also, gifts of money or other valuables.
numinous: spiritual.
appellation: a name, title, or designation.
doff: to take off; to remove; also, to rid oneself of.

"Our America" Series - Wireless Connection

2009-12-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday

2009-12-10T08:17:00.001-07:00

"The most exciting happiness is the happiness generated by forces beyond your control."
- Ogden Nash

"Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them."
- Andy Rooney

"Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me. It is an uncomfortable doctrine which the true ethics whisper into my ear. You are happy, they say; therefore you are called upon to give much."
- Albert Schweitzer

"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it."
- George Orwell

"A time will come when a politician who has wilfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own."
- H.G. Wells

"Fortunately for serious minds, a bias recognized is a bias sterilized."
- A. Eustace Haydon

"The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober."
- William Butler Yeats

Wordy Wednesday

2009-12-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

roborant: restoring strength or vigor; also, a restorative.
gallimaufry: a hodgepodge; jumble; confused medley.
nonplus: to render utterly perplexed; puzzle completely.
bonhomie: a pleasant and easy manner.
fatuous: inanely foolish; stupid; also, illusory.
solicitous: manifesting, expressing, or full of care or concern.
ratiocination: the process of reasoning.

"Our America" Series - Extra Innings

2009-12-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thoughtful Thursday (2 weeks)

2009-12-03T08:09:00.002-07:00

"Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a dangerous enemy indeed."
- Anne Rice

"The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
- Marcel Proust

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
- Henry David Thoreau

"Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody."
- Franklin P. Adams

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."
- Winston Churchill

"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life."
- Charles Darwin

"The efforts which we make to escape from our destiny only serve to lead us into it."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity."
- Irving Kristol

"Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior. Such is the state of mind which creates revolutions."
- Aristotle

"The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious."
- Oswald Spengler

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."
- Thomas Jefferson

"A conscience which has been bought once will be bought twice."
- Norbert Wiener

"Ideas without action are worthless."
- Harvey Mackay

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another."
- John Dewey

Wordy Wednesday

2009-12-02T07:50:00.001-07:00

provender: food or provisions.
gourmand: one who enjoys good food in great quantities.
rusticate: to go or send to the country.
malleable: capable of being shaped; also, adaptable.
couture: the high-fashion clothing created by designers.
intrepid: fearless; bold.
myrmidon: a loyal follower.