67 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-27-15”

  4. three comments and all by Chas!! He must have a lot of energy this morning. There was a funeral today for a long time employee, highly honored. I didn’t go, but I took 5 kilos of rice to the house, as is customary. They closed the schools and departments early to allow everyone to go. Now tomorrow they take his body back to his village, quite a long ways away. I heard they will leave at 3am.

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  5. 😦 Chas is going to a funeral today, Jo.
    I go to lots of funerals in Hendersonville.

    But before your post, I came here to mention that in Hendersonville, a guy gets his picture in the paper when he makes Eagle Scout. 🙂

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  6. Not out here in California, sigh. 😦

    Asleep by 9:15 last night, awake at 3. Maybe I just can’t sleep more than six hours, even when I want to!

    You have to be careful with those type of flamingoes. I saw a picture on the Internet of how they’d picked the bones clean on a Tyrannosaurus Rex minding it’s own business in a museum! 🙂

    Lots to do today, I might as well get started.

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  9. A community west of us has donkeys. It is interesting to see the different ways people decorate them. Ruidoso had bears a few years ago. (Live and decorative )

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  10. The three of us went to dinner to celebrate Mr. P’s birthday. By the time I got home he had already “informed” BG where we where going making it clear she was invited. She went and he make a joke about having a beer because we had a designated driver. It was cool enough to sit out on the deck of the restaurant. She talked quite a bit. We all three had a pleasant time. You gotta love a man who will share his birthday dinner with his temperament stepdaughter. 😉
    Now I understand that what I say next will be disturbing to some of you so do not continue to read if you are one of “those” people…..
    BG and I dropped Mr P off at home and went to Tuesday Morning where I had seem something on Sunday afternoon. I bought 4 boxes of glass Christmas Ornaments. The box says they were made in Poland but most likely Poland, China. Anyway they are a mixture in each box of a shiny white, a matte white, silver, and bronze. I had bought one box of them last year and really liked them. When I saw they had more or still had some from last year I really wanted them but alas only had a dollar left in me blow money account.
    It has been quite a while since I have had a vision of what I wanted my Christmas tree to look like. I am starting to get excited. I bought a huge, quite nice Christmas tree last year and was very pleased with myself. It is a 5 or 6 hundred dollar tree that I got for $99. I also stumbled across a smaller tree for five dollars in January. I will have room this year if all goes well to have more than one tree.
    Wish me well today. I have to start working on a resume. Oh how daunting that is for me.

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  11. Kim, you have me confused about what would be disturbing abut your following post.
    Unless it means you’re going to talk about Christmas when you should be taking football.

    😆

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  13. It’s too early even to be talking about Halloween! I saw a headline the other day about how controversial “Kaitlyn” Jenner’s Halloween costume is, and I thought Quite apart from whether it shows too much of his leg or his surgical cleavage, why on earth should I care, especially in August, what some adult has chosen to wear for Halloween? I didn’t click on the article; I just rolled my eyes at what they come up with for “news.”

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  15. I talked to a man yesterday about Christmas. He and his wife have a limit. They can only spend $35 on each other for Christmas, so they have to really think about it and plan all year long. He said at Valentine’s Day if he buys her perfume and it comes with a “free” gift he puts the freebie away for Christmas. If he travels and gets a “hotel reward” he cashes it in and gives his wife a weekend away for Christmas. Anytime during the year something like that comes along for “free” he puts it away for his wife for Christmas. Remember the limit is all year long they can only spend $35 so it makes them think of each other all year. Considering he was and older man I thought it was quite sweet. They could probably afford to spend quite a bit on each other if they chose, but this seems more special.

    It would do me well to adopt this and I wouldn’t be as caught as I was yesterday, of course I have moved so much I would probably have had it packed away and not able to find it.

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  16. You can talk about any holiday at any time of the year, but don’t decorate for it until the previous holiday is past, or no more than a month before, whichever is later. There. I said it.

    The previous opinion is not necessarily that of the owner of this blog and can be taken for what it’s worth by the reader.

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  18. Personally I thought the costume was hilarious. 🙂 It looks like the outfit he wore for that magazine cover. I especially liked the “Call me Caitlyn” sash, like a beauty queen’s. Plus they had a guy with a beard and hairy chest modeling it. Turns out some others don’t find it amusing and the product has been pulled due to backlash from the PC police who found it homophobic and bigoted. Some folks have no sense of humor. 🙂

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  19. Oh great another Anon.

    10:18 and this one is AJ, don’t know about the other.

    And around here we have mules, like the kind that used to pull the boats on the canals. They decorate them too. I’ll have to remember to get some pics next time I’m by one.

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  21. I have been trimming the brushy weeds under that cedar tree that got trimmed so I am all sweaty again. I did find one short poison ivy vine starting up the tree. It is the only thing I did not deal with except to pull it off the tree. Since it started at the base of the tree, how can I really get rid of it? If I just chop it off it will grow back. I can’t use roundup on it can I considering its location. Ideas, anyone?

    Cheryl, I left answers to your question from yesterday at the end of that thread.

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  25. My wife is trying to figure out how to NOT decorate for Christmas. Too bad we have to make plans for someone to take care of the dogs and birds (canaries and Budgies). A son is now back in Oregon. Maybe we can visit him on Dec. 25.

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  26. I think anonymous is one person with split personalities — that even talk to each other, apparently. Scary. (Guess Who is me from another computer and there is just one of me.)

    I was in Tuesday Morning a week ago or so and saw they had their Halloween display out. Didn’t see any Christmas merchandise though.

    Poor michelle. I can typically sleep straight through for 8-9 hours easily (it’s waking up that’s hard for me!), but sometimes I’ll wake up around 2 or 3 which is awful.

    Did some reorganizing of my kitchen countertop space last night to make better use of the limited outlets I do have. I would like to get an outlet added to the island (where the stove is). That way I could plug in the blender, veggie chopper and other small appliances there to use.

    We’re headed into another little heat wave over the next couple days, but today and Friday should be the worst of it (high 80s). August, thankfully, is just about over.

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  31. Yep. I am fine with not decorating for Christmas, as long as I have year round Christmas music to listen to. Actually, I don’t start listening to it until around Easter or New Year’s.

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  32. Ah, I thought by the headline that it was something Jenner was going to wear himself, and I wondered why he’d tell anyone two months in advance and why I should care either way, especially in August.

    My biggest problem with Christmas is that the decorations go in the garage. Usually the tree gets put up right after Thanksgiving, comes down after New Year’s. The last two years it hasn’t come down until March or maybe even April, since the walk has had too much snow and/or ice to be carrying boxes along it. And sorry, I just don’t want a living room rearranged for Christmas stuff for four months. I’d rather not decorate at all than do that. (I can “take it or leave it” on decorating, and “leave it” is kinda my vote with an artificial tree, personally.)

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  33. Now who else do you people know that would plan to decorate the Saturday after Thanksgiving and will make a big pot of gumbo and invite people over? Hmmm. If anyone is in my area at Thanksgiving, the door is open and bowls, spoons, and drinks will be out. Come on by

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  34. I was just out in the backyard to check on our insects. I was afraid the monarch caterpillars had all (both?) been caught, but at least one is still alive, and I think it’s the third instar (the one phase I hadn’t photographed yet–or at least it is definitely in the middle in sizes, distinctly bigger than the first and second, distinctly smaller than the fourth and fifth, so if it’s a fourth it’s a very small one that hasn’t grown yet).

    And both mantises are still alive, so neither one ate the other. (I have a green and a brown, both adult females, and ever since the brown got her wings she has been hanging out in the area where I used to see the green one, and I hadn’t seen the green one. But they’ve just switched their areas within the plants.)

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  36. Our Christmas decorations are generally put up a month before Christmas. It’s the only holiday we do any decoration for, and the decorations signify a lot of family tradition. The artificial tree is really just there as a display stand for all the beautiful ornaments. Since the house has a lot of storage space, the tree is the only thing stored outside.

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  37. I can’t believe those scary flamingoes are still there. Has it only been six hours? It felt like at least a day had gone by since I got up!

    Clever idea on the Christmas gifts–how about one dollar for each year of marriage? I like it. I wonder where my husband is . . . 🙂

    I’m headed to LA on Saturday for a wedding in Agoura Hills. We’re staying at a nice hotel, the location of the wedding, and I was hoping to spend the early afternoon in the pool. But how hot will it be up there? Yikes!

    In other wedding-related news, because I’m the family genealogist, I’m taking a framed crocheted picture off my wall and wrapping it up for a gift. It was made by the bride’s great-grandmother and I think she’ll appreciate the family origins. I’m also writing up a letter explaining why it’s significant.

    I had second thoughts this morning–wait, my mother framed that–but I’m keeping its match, which my mother also framed, which I like better anyway.

    I also just realized, that the bride will have relatives there from her grandfather’s side of the family–which means I’ll see Dennys again. The excitement for that is, I can introduce myself as “Jeanette’s daughter,” and that sounds and feels sweet–if not causing a little tears. My mom died 20 years ago this Christmas.

    Grief is like a sine wave–it comes and goes, but is real.

    Off to read Alcorn’s Heaven for an hour (I use a timer) and then I return to Biddy’s life, also long gone but full of life in that same heaven!

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  42. Frustrating…the same old battle with the school. When we signed them in, we said no computer time for the younger two. They said there is one computer class where they learn how computers work. Now they want the computer access paperwork signed, the children to get emails and other such and on and on. I asked when they will have time for writing and other paper and pencil work. Apparently, there is no time. Still on the same track as public education has been for years, create factory workers rather than thinkers.

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  43. Exactly Mumsee. I have an 18 year old who can’t sign her name. There are certain connections between the hands, the brains, and the rest of the child that helps with reading and comprehension when I dhild writes.
    Hacks me off.

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  45. Crisis. I’m trying to help via email. My daughter needs a long dress for Saturday night’s wedding. What do you think, Donna? Can you help? LOL

    I’ve sent her links to David’s Bridal and another bridal shop near where she is and told her, “Go in, tell the saleswoman you need a long dress for a wedding Saturday night. Try on whatever she suggests. Buy whatever you need, but it needs to look good and feel good to you. Facetime me if necessary. Your father doesn’t care how much you spend. (We can say that because she’s as penny pinching as I am). Go!

    I get there around 10 on Saturday. Wedding is at 5, an hour away. I hope it doesn’t come to me having to intervene at the last minute. I hate to shop . . . My dress is knee length and I’m already getting grief before arriving from some of my relatives. Sigh. I just can’t ever win with those opinionated Sicilians and their mates! Fortunately, they seem to love me despite all my mistakes . . . 🙂

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  46. Sad that many of the modern young people are not getting the experience fo creating the written word. I don’t use a lot of technology in my classroom, as very little of it enhances foreign language acquisition. Yes, there are advantages to hearing the spoken word, but there are ways that don’t involve youtube or other computerized methods.

    And what will happen if there is a major war and nothing electronic works? We’ll have people who cannot communicate because they never learned how to write or speak in coherent sentences, because they were encourages to type everything, letting a computer make sure they use the correct words.

    I am afraid for future generations.

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  48. We had a little crisis around here today. BG broke up with new boyfriend yesterday. He went a little crazy. He harassed her until she blocked him every way she could. She went to school but when she came home she discovered me working from home. She went into melt down because she had been begging me to go to Pensacola to shop for a homecoming dress (Never mind that homecoming will be part one of a three part celebration for my class reunion and I need an outfit) so because of all the drama and her crying I told her to come on and we would go to Pensacola. Something happened on the way over that caused her to start crying again,but I don’t know what. Anyway in the middle of all that Guy ( who is in Atlanta) had some reason his hair was on fire so I was discovered not in the office although I was handling everything that needed to be handled via phone, email, and text from my phone while I was trying to shop with her. (There is a lot more to this than the surface that I am sharing)
    I ended up sending him an email telling him that today I had to make a choice between him and BG and I had to pick being a Mother. I haven’t heard from him.
    I told Mr. P that I have residual guilt from putting working for Guy ahead of BG’s needs in the past and I will NOT do it again.
    As my friend M pointed out not too long ago Guy can sense when I have extra stress in my life and becomes even more demanding.
    Yes, I do realize that I need to make nice until I A. get the house closed, and B. Find another job.

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  49. My eight year old writes beautifully in cursive. My fourteen year old writes beautifully in cursive. Some of my boys, not so much. But most of them, yes. I do believe there is a brain connection between hand with paper and pencil and the brain. It is important, but they just think I am anti technology. My husband worked in technology for thirty five years. Three of my adult sons work directly with technology all of the time. They learned it on their own, after graduating from high school. One of them just told me last night about not being able to hire a guy because he could not pass a basic test. He says it happens a lot. They can tweet and twitter and fly in circles but they cannot produce a bit of written communication, a clear concise report, or do mathematics without a device. Sad indeed. I will be fighting this.

    My emotionally disturbed daughter is being yanked all over this place with a constantly disturbed schedule due to their not planning ahead for her. She thrives in a secure constant environment. She loves school but she is not having fun because she is not learning anything. Because she can do the math on paper but not on the computer, she is being put back again. Did I mention frustrating?

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  51. So sorry on the school and boy front.

    I did think of you, Kim . . .

    Crisis averted. She found a dress she likes that even twirls. She texted a photo. I’m not keen, but she’s happy and relieved so I said, “if you like it and it makes you feel good, go ahead.”

    It, of course was at the price limit.

    My husband: “She has a limit?”

    🙂

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  53. I promised her today that one day in the very near future this would all be behind her. High school doesn’t last forever and you mostly never see those people again…even if you live in the same town. Eventually none of it will matter and if it does she can tell them to “kiss her grits”
    I wouldn’t go back to high school for all the tea in China.

    Of course we will need to see photos of the dress even if we don’t see photos of the girl in the dress

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  54. Me either, and my dad does not understand that. He says the high school years were the best years of his life. That is sad! But I did really enjoy a few hours of fortieth class reunion last weekend.

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  55. Happiest years of my life? With two or three exceptions, each year of my life has been happier than the one before. Thirteen didn’t qualify, and neither did a year when I was about 28, and the year before I met my husband probably had more bad than good because of circumstances (death of a beloved sister-in-law, some illness in my own life) . . . but pretty much I can say that for the rest of my life, that each year is better than the one before or at least equally good.

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  56. I enjoyed college, but I am also a lot like Cheryl. I had about 4 or 5 really bad years a while back, but each day got a little better and when I fell back into despair it wasn’t as far as where I started.

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  57. Every try reading cursive writing from say the 1800s, though? It’s hard. Beautiful, but often impossible to decipher.

    Long dress … Haven’t any idea!

    Another long day, the homeless thing still is blowing up as everything builds toward a huge meeting next Thursday night. I spent today reading through homeless studies and am hoping to talk with an expert or two next week. Everyone is on vacation, seemingly.

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  58. All I can say is my FB newsfeed is full of people from your town complaining and outraged about the homeless situation (the doghouses pushed several over Point Fermin, metaphorically speaking.).

    Of course, who is that group? People I went to high school with; could there be a correlation? 🙂

    Good night. I’m done. What a stupid day . . .

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  59. FB has blown up with homeless posts from *our* town, complete now with dueling (for/against) pages and some ugliness on both sides. It’s a mess, people are furious and it’s broken the town into some really passionate factions that are going at it.

    I’m ducking. Posting cat jokes.

    Had a few folks commend my reporting on the issue on various threads, but the liberal alternative paper publisher (who’s right in the middle of the debate) accused our (my) stories of being inflammatory. I’m not really a very inflammatory writer, but there you go.

    I think on a story like this you’ll get criticized from both sides.

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  61. Comparisons to the Salem witch trials and the town hysteria depicted in The Crucible have also come up among homeless supporters pointing to those upset by the encampments. 🙄

    The shouting and finger pointing is reaching a boiling point, maybe it’ll start to die down after next week’s meeting (which will be crazy enough).

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  62. Mumsee, beginning next week I will be doing rhythmic writing with a student, daily, after school. It is basically cursive on a chalkboard done large enough that you have to use the whole arm. The chalk makes me sneeze, but the resistance of using chalk is all part of the sensory input to create patterns in the brain.

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  67. Years ago, “they” tried to put four year old in glasses into a hand harness to train his hand to write. We stopped that. Amazingly, he now holds his pencil just fine. I forgot about the value of the resistance helping the brain, I will ask them about that today, if they will let me have a meeting with them.

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