Home From Camping

Mirrored entry from http://lori-dustypages.blogspot.com/:

I logged into my email this afternoon and saw that I had 247 waiting for me!  Aaack!

We had a wonderful weekend camping.  I had a few minutes on my computer Saturday, and that was it.  We got home late Sunday night, and all I did yesterday was sleep!   So slowly but surely I'm going to get caught up some today, see where everyone is and what's going on with the "migration", and I'll be back later to make a proper post with some pictures hopefully.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

 

By the way, I was able on Friday to burn my AOL Journal that I'd saved to an eBook onto a CD.

Officially Blogging

Mirror from Blogspot:

I am really wasting a lot of time today, how about everyone else? I’m going to give myself an hour to read and comment in other people’s blogs today, and I’m going to allow myself to play around with my own some more. My kids are on their own this afternoon. Lol<?xml:namespace prefix = o />

I did spend some quality time with Thomas this morning before he left for work, so he can’t complain. But the house and all other responsibilities are going to be neglected today I’m afraid.

EXCEPT that it is a gorgeous day here in Southern Indiana, and I just may have to go outside and do some yard work. We actually got some rain on Monday night/Tuesday morning – our first real rain in weeks. Today it is cool, barely 60°, but sunny with a bit of a breeze. My favorite kind of weather. I guess this is a pretty good way to start out the month of October, all in all.

I'm glad that the weather is so "normal" for October.  I hope it stays this way.  We have our camping trip this weekend.  I won't be there the whole time, though, because someone has to be here to take care of the animals.  I don't want to arrange care for all of them just for the weekend, since we did that not too long ago.  Thomas will be working some of the time too, so I'll be driving back and forth.  Andrew won't be going this year either because he already had something else planned.  But Eler Beth will be there the whole time.  She has lots of friends there, so she won't have to miss out on anything.

I hope everyone is feeling better now about the journal/blog thing.  I am.  I think it's great that Guido has volunteered to be the keeper of the dormant blogs if need be, and he and others have been very helpful, jumping right in and taking charge in helping anyone who needs help.

It is interesting, to say the least.

Moving Along

This is a copy of the post I did at my Blogspot:

I actually got emails that I had comments left here. So at least I figured that part out.

Apparently when our old journals migrate, it has to be in a new blog. I could keep this one as a practice blog, under a different name, and then when the migration takes place, open Lori-DustyPages, migrate AOL Dusty Pages over, and then seriously begin, OR I will just continue with this one and start a new blog called Archive DustyPages for the AOL journal to go into. I can have a link on this journal to the Archive one if anyone should ever need to go there. Hmm, decisions, decisions.  (Any suggestions?)

In the meantime, I'm going to continue as I mean to go on, and go ahead and keep up with everyone who has sent a link to their Blogspot (can I abbreviate it to B/S without anyone taking offense?) location, and hopefully not get behind.

My book journals and "I Stand Corrected" I will wait to move over. There is a way to do shared blogs here at B/S, so Guido, Beth, and whoever else is interested, we can continue to do I Stand Corrected in a shared format.

I can't wait to get this page looking a little neater!!

Okay, well, I'm off to continue copying and pasting into Word. I'm not taking any chances.

I can already see that one thing I don't like about B/S is the fewer fonts to choose from.  Guess I'll have to draft on a word pad or something, then transfer over.

Tags: J-land move, Blogger

Making My Move

I am going ahead and making a place for Dusty Pages on Blogspot.  Just click on that link to check it out.  I'll probably make some changes and some additions, but there it is for now. 

Tags: Dusty Pages on blogspot

Well, Someone Moved My Darn Cheese Again!!

Actually the mood I wanted to choose was "disgruntled".

So, apparently AOL is shutting down journals on November 1st.  They have a migration plan to migrate (copy) us over to (probably) Blogger.  But we should take precautions and start copying our journals to our own hard drive (or other blog spot) ourselves, just in case.

If this is news to you (as it was to me until I opened my email and saw the furiously fast incoming entry and comment alerts from Magic Smoke), then click on the Magic Smoke link at the top of your journals or check out AOL's People Connection. 

I just don't really know what to say.  My daughter is very distraught.  She just started journaling and is having a lot of fun with it. 

I really DON'T like change, but I will deal with it.  Vish and Guido have taken the lead in making sure we know how to save our pics and in getting correct information out to us.  I keep all my pictures and graphics at Photobucket right now anyway, so I don't have to worry about moving them.  I don't know where Eler Beth and I will go right now.  If AOL does migrate everyone over to Blogger, then that's probably where we'll stay for a while, at least.  But I may just start playing around with Blogspot or some other place right now to decide.   I keep all my pictures at Photobucket, so I don't have to worry about moving them.  I can tell you this for sure:  I will keep in touch with everyone I am usually in touch with in J-Land, and they will know where to find me, and I will know where to find them.   We won't have the same type of community we had here, so we're just going to have to re-construct a community as closely resembling J-Land as we can somewhere else. 

As we do this, we need to ask for help from others when we have trouble saving or moving something, and if we find that we actually know what we are doing, then we need to share our knowledge and talents with others in J-Land.  Magic Smoke is the logical place for all of this, so if you aren't a regular reader of it, I'd suggest you become one. 

Please, please, please, if any of you decide to leave AOL completely, then please let your readers (me!) know what your new screenname/email address is.

I'll post a link to my new home as soon as I know what it is. (!!)

Sorry for this bit of jumbled-up thoughts.  Can't seem to smooth them down yet.

Tags: J-Land closing its doors.

Quiet Afternoon

Eler Beth went to The Louisville Zoo with her friend Sarah, and Sarah's parents.  She came home with some great pictures, a fox figurine, and the thrill of the Lorikeet Landing experience.  Then she went to Sarah's house to play, and is still there as I type.

Andrew is off doing his thing, and Thomas worked for a while, so I had a really nice afternoon at home alone.  I didn't really do anything, but I finished my book without interruption.  And then in the mail I got two more crime novels that I'd ordered from PaperBackSwap (an organization I dearly love).  These are Double Jeopardy by William Bernhardt and The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly.  I'm pretty sure I've read the Michael Connelly one before, but I'm up for it again.  I'm not sure why I've been in the mood for crime fiction, but I have.

I did a few piddly things around the house and made some more homemade meat balls as per Thomas' request.  I freecycled a garbage bag full of pears.  Seriously!  A friend had given us a BUNCH of pears.  We ate some and I made a few pints of preserves (most to be given away), and I really didn't want to fool with any more of them.  So I put them on freecycle, and half a dozen people emailed me for them within minutes of the offer posting.  Let's see.  What else did I do today?  I took Thomas lunch, and I served as his own personal spell check.  When he calls me from work and I see that he's calling from his desk phone and not his cell, 9 times out of 10 I know he's checking with me to see if he's spelling something right.  So today every time he called from his desk phone I'd answer, "Hello, spell check here."  (Ha Ha, I'm just so funny.)

When Thomas got home we watched The Long Hot Summer, in honor of Paul Newman.  I was very saddened to hear he lost his battle with cancer at the age of 83. 

Now Thomas is on the phone with his younger brother, and I'm getting ready to go pick up my daughter.  I hope that everyone is having a nice weekend.  I will try to get by everyone's journal tomorrow.  I've been out of the mood for journaling for some reason, but I do want to see how everyone is doing.  Oh yes, I heard from Anne after she got home.  She left a very nice complimentary comment in the entry I posted about our meeting, so I certainly need to stop by her journal to see if she's made an entry yet.  Well, bye for now!

 

Ten more tunes from my iPod:

1)  Into The Great White Open  -- Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

2)  Running Scared -- Roy Orbison

3)  Must You Throw Dirt In My Face -- The Louvin Brothers

4)  Paperback Writer -- The Beatles

5)  Rock Around The Clock -- Bill Haley and The Comets

6)  Cover Of The Rolling Stone -- Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show

7)  I'm Yours -- Jason Mraz (contemporary) {I really, really like this song!}

8)  It's Still Rock And Roll To Me -- Billy Joel

9)  Only In America -- Jay and The Americans

10) Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance) -- Leo Sayer

 

Today's salute goes out to

              Ostfold, Norway, population 265,458

                    4,335 miles from Jeffersonville ~~

                                        Sa-LUTE!!

 

Tags: Ostfold Norway, Louisville Zoo, PaperBackSwap

We've All Been There

A little email meme has been going the rounds of my family.  It's one I've seen in J-Land before, the "3s About Me" meme.  On the list is "Three Places I Have Been." 

Most people put foreign countries they've visited, big cities, or other states, or perhaps an interesting and well-known place like a national park or museum. 

My sister P.J., on the other hand, went in a totally different direction with her answer  ~~

Three places I have been:

- up the 'creek'

- between a cliff and another cliff

 

- in deep 'cow manure'

 

Yes, those are VERY much "P.J.-answers".

Tags: meme, 3s about me, funny

The Stripped and Shapely Maple Grieves The Ghosts of Her Departed Leaves. . .

. . . The ground is hard, as hard as stone.  The year is old, the birds are flown.  And yet the world, in its distress, displays a certain lovliness ----  (A Child's Calendar by John Updike)

Thomas took off work the whole weekend, and we (the whole family) spent some time in Indianapolis visiting with friends.  We had a great time.  Had dinner at Texas Roadhouse Saturday night, and the food and service were great.  We also got to catch up with some friends we hadn't seen in a long time, and marvel at how fast kids grow up!  We had a wonderful weekend, but I think all four of us were glad to get home Sunday night.

I'm behind reading journals because of being out of town, and then Monday, Tuesday, and even today I just haven't felt like sitting and reading.  Hopefully I'll get back in that mode by tomorrow.

Yesterday morning Thomas and I went car shopping.  Actually it was SUV shopping.  We test drove a Toyota 4-Runner and a Hyundai Santa Fe (both 2004) and liked them both.  One was priced right, but Thomas questioned a few things about it, and the salesman started getting antsy, so Thomas passed on that one.  The other was a bit high, and they didn't want to come down on it at all.  There's no hurry.  We can take the time to be picky and shop around a bit more. 

Made spaghetti with home made sauce and meatballs tonight, something I haven't made in a while.  Eler Beth and I took Clark and the new yellow cockatiel to our friend's pet shop today.  She hadn't been introduced to the 'possum yet, and she was rather surprised at how cute Clark is.  We wanted her to sex the cockatiel, and it turns out that it is a female.  So she has a name now -- Nadia.  The big gray one is still rather hard to handle, although he's tamed down some.  He is still nameless.  He tries to bully the others except Lucy.  Lucy keeps him in line.

Not much else is going on here.  We're preparing for our annual camporee the first weekend in October.  And Andrew is flying down to visit a friend in Florida toward the end of October, and I hope there are no hurricanes forecast for then.  And of course deer season is coming up.  Busy, busy, busy.

I got in the mood to read some crime fiction, so I'm reading Point Blank by Catherine Coulter.  I think that's the only Savitch and Sherlock that I haven't read, and I don't know how I missed it. 

Guess that's all for now.

Ten more songs on my iPod:

1)  Steady As She Goes -- The Raconteurs

2)  Between The Lines -- Sara Bareilles

3)  C'est La Vie -- Emerson, Lake & Palmer

4)  Anna (Go To Him) -- The Beatles

5)  Eight Miles High -- The Byrds

6)  Burning Down the House -- Talking Heads

7)  For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her -- Simon & Garfunkel

8)  Little Red Riding Hood -- Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs

9)  Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow -- The Carter Family

10) Fox On The Run -- The Dillards

 

Today's Salute goes to:

                South Bend, Indiana, population 107,789

                       339 miles from Jeffersonville~~

                                        Sa-LUTE!

National Punctuation Day®

Today is the fifth annual National Punctuation Day®, so I had to do an entry, of course.  I decided this entry would be better suited to I Stand Corrected, so please click on the link and drop by to check it out.   

And Happy Punctuation Day!!

Tags: National Punctuation Day

Meeting Anne and Vivian

Eler Beth was thrilled to meet Anne of Saturday's Child today.  So was I!!

And here you see Anne, Anne's friend Vivian, and ME!

When we got ready to leave today my girl took this picture of me.

Then she told me to take off my glasses.

This is Spring Street looking South toward the Ohio River.  We didn't park close to Schimpff's where we were meeting Anne and Vivian because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to park nearer -- I could see that a part of the street was blocked off.  Do you like the feather in Eler Beth's hair?  She's also wearing her fox earrings and a fox necklace (hand painted on a jasper arrow head).

We were a bit early so we crossed the street and got a picture of Schimpff's.  On the left is the store, and the museum part is on the right.  And this is where they have part of the street blocked off.  (As we stood there a man (in his 50s, maybe) came down the street, talking to himself.  He kept pointing at the utility trucks, and when he passed a garbage can he stopped and looked inside, talking the whole time.  Eler Beth said, "I think he's another one who talks to the voices in his head.")

If you look closely you can see the little old lady who sits in the window and makes candy.  (They let her out sometimes, though.)

We enjoyed our visit.  It was very loud in Schimpff's, so after we'd eaten we went down to the little overlook at the river and sat and talked a bit.  Next time Anne comes for a visit, I'm going to have to have her and Vivian to our house, so they can meet all Eler Beth's animals, or we'll meet somewhere else for lunch or dinner.  I was a bit disappointed with Schimpff's today.  I hadn't actually had lunch there for a few years (just go in to get candy or a shake or ice cream), and neither the service nor the food was as good as I'd thought it should be.  (But their candy is still excellent.)  Anne is wonderful!!  She's exactly how she seems in her journal, very classy, funny, and down-to-earth, and her friend Vivian is a classy lady too.

I was very nervous about meeting a fellow J-Lander for the first time.  Seriously!  Eler Beth and I got to Schimpff's first, and we decided we'd go ahead and order some drinks and get a table.  Before we could order I looked up as I heard the door open, and in came a blonde lady with a smile on her face.  I said, "I think this is Anne."  It looked like she looked straight back to me, as if she knew I'd be there, and raised her hand to wave.  So I waved back, and then we met in the middle for a hug.  Then I got a hug from Vivian, too.  I'm sure Anne knew who I was because of that pretty brown girl at my side.

Anyway it went well, and I'm glad we had the chance to meet in person.  I hope she has a safe trip to visit her family in Kentucky, a safe trip back to New Albany, and a safe trip back home. 

Tags: Friends, J-Land Friends, Jeffersonville Indiana, Schimpff's, Spring Street Jeffersonvile Indiana

Looking Forward To Tomorrow

Things seem to be getting closer to normal around here.  Our neighbors across the street have their electricity back on, but I ran into a lot of people in the stores around town today who are still waiting for their power to be restored.

I got to talk to Anne by phone today.  She got safely to her friend's house in nearby New Albany last night, and we are meeting at Schimpff's Confectionary for lunch tomorrow at 12:30.  Eler Beth was talking about it earlier, and I told her that Anne was really looking forward to meeting her, and she said, "She's looking forward to meeting me?"  And I said, "Eler Beth, everyone wants to meet you!"  Which reminds me, she has a couple videos she needs to put in her journal.

We got some new school books in the mail yesterday that I had ordered from Janis.  Eler Beth likes to pretend she's irritated with Janis for having lesson books for sale, but she just jokes with her.  She's very happy with the art book I got her though.  By the way, if anyone out there would be interested this is Janis' site where she has posted the books she's selling.  I have been very pleased with everything I've bought from her -- they are all in good shape and her prices are very reasonable.

Okay, well, nothing more really to write, so I guess I'll close.  I am really looking forward to meeting Anne tomorrow.  She sounded just like I thought she would on the phone.  I'm taking my camera, so hopefully I'll have some good pictures to post tomorrow afternoon.

Today's Salute goes out to:

         Braga, Portugal, population 175,063,

                              4,101 miles from Jeffersonville ~~

                                                 Sa-LUTE!

Tags: Braga Portugal, Brice Bargains, Home schooling

Fiery, But Unbalanced?? Me???

I can't remember where I got this, but here it is.  What my name apparently says about me:

What Your Name Says About You

Your name says that you are mostly: Thoughtful but slow Your name also says you are: Moral but jealous Fiery but unbalanced Artistic but extreme

What Does Your Name Say About You?

 

Just for fun I did my middle name too, and by-dogies if that "fiery but unbalanced" didn't show up in that one too!

 

What Your Name Says About You

Your name says that you are mostly: Compassionate but melancholy Your name also says you are: Fiery but unbalanced Ambitious but stubborn Unconventional but unstable

What Does Your Name Say About You?

 

Taking A Dinner Break Now

Today has been a very gorgeous day.  It was cool and foggy this morning, but then the sun came out and burned off the fog.  I suspended lessons for Eler Beth.  The local school system has canceled school for the entire week, so all her friends are home.  We had school yesterday, and we will continue tomorrow morning, but this morning I let her go fishing with Thomas for a couple hours before he went to work.  They didn't catch too much, but they certainly did enjoy themselves.

I did a bit more yard work (cleaning up from the storm), and am getting caught up on some journal reading.  Our neighbors across the street and around that side of the block still don't have any power.  There are 40,000 without power in our county, but 250,000 without power across the river in Louisville.  I took some ice over to Sharon across the street this morning.  She is keeping a few things in a big cooler.  Her next door neighbors have a gas stove and she has taken food over there for them to cook up, then they shared it.  I'm glad it's cool enough to do without air conditioning comfortably.

My mother and sisters and brother are without electricity, too, in Breckinridge County, Kentucky.  Mom has a gas stove, though, and they have both a well and a cistern, so they have water.  With a nice breeze blowing through the house they are making out pretty well.  My sister P.J. in Hardin County hasn't lost any power.

Eler Beth and three other little neighborhood girls started a fire outside in the fire pit, and they are grilling hot dogs and burgers right now.  Well Eler Beth and Brianna are doing the fire and the cooking, the other two are watching.  One little girl said, "But Eler Beth!  Why do YOU have to make dinner for your WHOLE family?"  And Eler Beth answered, "I don't HAVE to, I WANT to!"  I guess if they want anything to go with them I'll provide it, otherwise, we're having hot dogs and burgers (with fixin's), chips, and choice of beverages tonight.  lol  And Momma gets out of cooking!

Don't worry!  Eler Beth is very competent with the fire pit.  I can watch her from my kitchen or back porch, and Andrew is helping keep an eye on it, too.  As a matter of fact, I guess I'll get off here for a little while, because I think we're just about ready to eat.  I'll be back though, to read some more journals.

Today's salute goes out to:  (Question to Guido:  Does "Zuid-Holland" mean "South Holland"?)

     Zoetermeer, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands, 

                    population 119,293,

                               4,350 miles from Jeffersonville ~~ 

                                            Sa-LUTE!

Tags: Zoetermeer Zuid-Holland The Netherlands

Quick Update

We have seen signs bent and broken and trees down all over the place.  I was surprised at how little damage to houses and vehicles I saw when I was out today.  There are still many, many homes in our area without electricity, and in Louisville there are the most homes and businesses without power EVER, three times more than after the '74 tornado.  Schools will be closed all week.

Restaurants are full -- the ones that are open, anyway --, all the local stores are out of ice -- the ones that are open, anyway --, and people are lined up to get gas because some stations aren't open, and the ones that are open are running out of gas.

The oldest steeple in nearby New Albany was just taken down to be repaired because of wind damage.  Power lines are down everywhere across Metro Louisville, and the Kentucky National Guard has been called in to help.

Tags: Wind Storm '08

When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw ~~ Hamlet, Act II, Scene II

The winds have died down.  I went outside with Eler Beth to take a look at things; limbs everywhere!  Two of my neighbors were out.  They have no electricity across the street, but ours is still on.

Our neighbor on one side has several large limbs (I keep wanting to spell that "lymb" -- I don't know why!) down, and on the other side, there is one trunk split from a tree that grows close to their garage. 

I was standing at my kitchen window when I witnessed a tree splitting across the creek from us.  Thomas is going to have to get out his chainsaw, and Eler Beth is going to have plenty of wood for her fire pit.  As a matter of fact, she's off down the street negotiating with some neighbors for their downed limbs.

We have had no rain yet.  It has been a rather restful day, even with all the wind.  I've piddled around, played on the computer, done a little housework, and got dinner going.

Curioser and Curioser

I just heard Western Kentucky has received a lot of wind damage.  I should call and check on my Mom.

Just walked outside again.  In our drive, next to my car, is a piece of broken glass.  It looks like it came from a picture frame -- too thin to be a window, but just to make sure I checked my car windows and mirrors and the windows on the house. 

Why would there be a broken pane of thin glass in my drive?  Wonder if it came from the same place the tree limb came from.  I saw at least two loose shingles on the back of our house.  I can't tell about the front ones without climbing up there. 

There are lots of limbs in yards and on the street.  The ones in our front yard are not to be wondered at -- we have water maples in the front and they shed limbs like a duck sheds water.  The drive is full of spike balls from the neighbors' sweet gum tree.

Thomas says stop going outside before I get hit in the head with a flying sycamore limb or some glass from a picture frame.

Aaack!

I just walked outside to see what damage the wind might be doing because the dogs started barking and wouldn't stop.

There is a tree limb in the middle of our back yard.  Not huge, but about 8 or 10 inches around at the widest part.  It is, I think, a sycamore limb. 

We don't have any sycamore trees in or around our yard.

Wonder where it came from.

I Like Potato Pancakes

We stayed home this morning, for which I should feel guilty but don't.  Thomas is just plain worn out today.  Andrew got up with a bad headache.  Eler Beth was hard to wake up, and I found out later from her journal alert that she woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep right away.  Usually she wakes me up when this happens.  She told me this morning that she just "doesn't feel well."  I just feel kind of blah.

  So here I sit.  We are getting the remnants of Ike in our area, with high winds between 40 and 60 mph.  We haven't had any rain yet, but I expect it at any time.  Our lights have flickered a few times.

I think I have everything secured outside.  I fed and watered the dogs and have them in their kennels.  I cleaned out the 'possum's and the cats' living quarters, and got some clothes in off the line.  And I have managed to do some more laundry and chop some onions and peppers in preparation for dinner, so I have been busy this morning.

As Eler Beth wrote in her journal, she has custody of two more cockatiels.  A lady whose kids went to school with both of mine and who lives on the other side of the block recently allowed one of her sons to take these two cockatiels from a relative.  Within two weeks the boy decided they were more than he wanted to deal with.  There was a young boy down the street who wanted them, but Evelyn didn't think he'd take care of them.  She told me that she told her sons "I know who'll take care of them!" and sent someone over to our house.  Yes, Ellie Mae has a reputation in our neighborhood!

I have no idea how old they are, although I think the yellow one looks young.  They told us the yellow one is a girl, but we think it's a boy.  His cheek patches are dark like a boy's, and he doesn't have any bars on his tail.  He has lost (or had pulled out) quite a few feathers on his neck, so we're going to have to do something about that.  The gray one looks very much like our Lucy, but it is definitely a boy.  He isn't tame at all!  Eler Beth got them out and clipped their wings last night, and we tried to handle them some.  The yellow one is very sweet, but the gray one had to be handled with leather gloves.  Our birds accepted them, but we have them in a separate cage, of course.  We let them mix a little, just to meet.  Lucy is enchanted with the big gray, just like she was with Schroeder. 

I'm amazed at the pictures and film of the destruction caused by Ike.  I hope that no one in J-Land was affected too badly by it, and I guess I'd better cruise through to check on some journalers.

Well, this is a rather boring post, isn't it? 

Oh wait! 

I just thought about some exciting news.  I'm going to meet a J-Lander this week if all goes well.  This will be my first face-to-face meeting.  Anne, of Saturday's Child, will be in the area visiting relatives and has asked to meet me and Eler Beth at a local candy shop for coffee and ice cream, so be watching for an update on that and perhaps -- dare I say it? -- pictures!!  I'm really looking forward to it.  So Anne, if you're reading this, have a safe trip and I look forward to hearing from you when you get in. 

Okay, ten more tunes on my iPod (see that always comes in handy when you don't have much to write about):

1)  LaGrange -- ZZ Top

2)  Hit the Road Jack -- Ray Charles

3)  Man of Constant Sorrow -- Norman Blake (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack)

4)  I Want You To Want Me -- Lobo (this is "our song"!  Thomas sang it to me before we were married. lol)

5)  Another Postcard -- Barenaked Ladies

6)  I'm Looking Through You -- The Beatles

7)  Celtic Fiddle -- Gaelic Storm

8)  Sylvia's Mother -- Dr. Hook

9)  All The Lonely People -- The Beatles

10) Who's Crying Now? -- Journey

Jammin' On My Snapper

Yesterday was actually cool and rainy here.  I don't think the temp got over 72°.  And today is absolutely gorgeous!  It was crisply cool this morning, and the sun has shone brightly all day long.  It is currently 77°.

I had planned on mowing my back yard Monday evening, but my riding mower wouldn't start.  It was just the battery.  Thomas charged it this morning before he left for work, but when I went out to start it later it wouldn't turn over again.  So I took the charger outside and hoped that I remembered which post was negative and which was positive.  I guess I got it right beause sparks didn't fly and it didn't explode in my face!  I was going to just drive it around the yard a bit to let it get a good charge, but it was cool enough and shady enough that I just went ahead and mowed.

I sent Eler Beth inside to get a hair band, my sunglasses, and my iPod.  She told me later it was funny watching me bobbing my head and tapping my foot to the music as I was riding my Snapper.  Now there are some spots we have to get with the push mower and a lot of trimming still needs to be done.  But that's what 19 year-old sons are for! ::grin::

Thomas is working a split shift for a while.  Well, actually he's going in during day shift a couple hours before second shift starts and working a complete second shift.  They don't have enough QC guys for second shift, so he's helping out.  So he's home in the mornings for now.  I kind of like that actually.  No one has to get up extremely early, unless it's Andrew, and that just depends on his schedule. 

My back yard looks like fall.  The trees along the creek always start dropping their leaves before the maples in front do.  Eler Beth walked the yard and picked up shed branches and sticks for me and put them in her kindling pile.  The fire pit is hers.  It was built for her and she maintains it.  She and her friend Brianna will start a fire in it, roast a few hot dogs or marshmallows, and then just sit there by the fire chatting.  It's really pleasant to watch them.  So far this summer it's been too hot for me to join them whenever they've had a fire going, but with cooler evenings coming I'll pull my chair up and join in.

Okay, so 10 more selections from my iPod:

1)  Takin' Care of Business -- Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO)

2)  Calling You -- Blue October (contemporary)

3)  Little Egypt -- The Coasters

4)  In The Air tonight -- Phil Collins and Genesis

5)  For The Longest Time -- Billy Joel

6)  Smiling Faces -- The Undisputed Truth

7)  Ob La Di, Ob La Da -- The Beatles

8)  Radar Love -- Golden Earring

9)  Boats and Birds -- Gregory and the Hawk (contemporary)

10) My Sharona -- The Knack

Today's Salute goes out to

            Leland, Mississippi

                      ~~ population 5,502, and 445 miles from Jeffersonville

                                         Sa-LUTE!

Tags: Snapper riding mowers are the best, Leland Mississippi

I Knew Him When . . .

I wrote about my nephew Jacob last year when he was a member of the film crew shooting Survivor China.  Well, I got an email from my sister Maxine today.  She had been talking to our sister Dennice (Jacob's mom) and checked out the web site for the company Jacob works for. 

Her email:

Hi, PJ, Lori, and Dee,

Maybe you have already checked out the company Jacob works for, but I took a look at it as I was talking with Dee this morning and Jacob is even listed with pictures and all.  I thought it was cool.  Dee said he is off to Africa soon as the youngest sound supervisor in the US.  'And we knew him when...'  Well, I'll close for now.  Love you all and hope that all is well. 

Love, Midge.

 

Cool, huh.  Here's the link to the web site of Adrenaline Films if you're interested.   He has worked on several TV shows and at least one movie.  I wonder what he's going to be working on in Africa.  Guess I'll have to give Dee a call.

If you go to the site, at the bottom of the home page you will see the words "Staff/Production Team".  Three people are viewable at any one time, and by clicking on the left or right arrows you can see more of the team members.  Holding your cursor over the person will show his name.  Jacob is the 11th one, I think.  If you click on his picture it will show more pics of him. 

Jacob is 23 and is my sister Dennice's youngest child.  Now that he's getting a name in the business I can see I'm going to have to start writing some childhood stories about him -- just to keep him humble, you know. 

What always impressed me about Jacob is that he knew at a very young age that he wanted to be a sound engineer.  He started working and saving and investing in sound equipment while he was in high school and hired himself out to film weddings, school plays, community events, etc.  He researched to find the media arts school he wanted to attend, chose Full Sail University in Florida,  visited them while he was a sophomore or junior in high school, and impressed them so much that they wanted him right then!

So yes, we are rather proud that we knew him when . . . .

Tags: Full Sail University, Adrenaline Films, Jacob Smith