Waitin' On A Woman

If you like Brad Paisley or if you like Andy Griffith (and maybe even if you don't!) you'll like this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvKgnkIN8C8

From TAGS Rerun Watchers web site:

Brad Paisley says, “One of the greatest moments in my career was getting to shoot this video with Andy Griffith and getting to know him.

 

I’ll cherish this video and opportunity to become friends with this wonderful and influential man for the rest of my life.  ‘Waitin’ on a Woman’ is one of the most important songs I’ve recorded; it’s a masterpiece written by Wynn Varble and Don Sampson, and the video demanded excellence and art to match the composition. 

   Andy was my #1 choice for the video – he is the perfect person that embodies wisdom, years, and personality of the character in the video.” 

Tags: Waitin' on a Woman, Brad Paisley, Andy Griffith, eBullet newsletter, TAGSRWC.com

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Closing Out July

Well, July 2008 comes to a close today.  It's a bit cooler here, but is expected to get steamy again tomorrow.  Local area schools are starting back to class next week and the week after.  I'm glad Eler Beth is home schooled, because I'd hate to think of putting her on a bus (or waiting in line to drop her off or pick her up) in this heat.  I'm adding a subject to her school work next week, so little by little she'll be getting back into the routine.

I had to take her to her doctor today.  She has a cyst on the back of her left wrist, right where the hand and wrist connect.  It is a ganglian cyst, which is benign.  Her doctor says the accepted treatment is to wear a velcro splint for up to 8 weeks and take 600 mg of ibuprofen three times a day.  IF it doesn't go down or isn't gone by the end of 8 weeks, THEN she'll send us to the Hand Center to discuss other options.  Eler Beth was SO relieved that we aren't looking at surgery right now.

As the doctor was leaving the room she said, "I won't tell you how they used to take care of this kind of cyst years ago."

And Eler Beth said, "Oh, I know!  They used to SMASH them!"

Dr. Adams said, "Someone's been doing her research!" lol  That's my girl!

We have one more graduation party to go to this Saturday, and then I think that's the last one for this year!!  I guess Thomas and I will drive down to Mom's at some point this weekend to pick up that A/C.  We'll wrap it up and put it back in its box and store it in our shed until its needed by someone.

Lately I have been enjoying myself doing some proofreading for Distributed Proofreaders.  It took me a little while to get the hang of their guidelines, but I'm used to doing editing from OCR software because that's one of the things I did when I was working.  This is what they do, according to their Home Page:

Site Concept
Distributed Proofreaders provides a web-based method to ease the conversion of Public Domain books into e-books. By dividing the workload into individual pages, many volunteers can work on a book at the same time, which significantly speeds up the creation process.

During proofreading, volunteers are presented with a scanned page image and the corresponding OCR text on a single web page. This allows the text to be easily compared to the image, proofread, and sent back to the site. A second volunteer is then presented with the first volunteer's work and the same page image, verifies and corrects the work as necessary, and submits it back to the site. The book then similarly progresses through two formatting rounds using the same web interface.

Once all the pages have completed these steps, a post-processor carefully assembles them into an e-book, optionally makes it available to interested parties for 'smooth reading', and submits it to the Project Gutenberg archive.

Some of the books they are converting are so interesting!  I've been doing a few pages here and a few pages there, but last night I proofed for 30 minutes because I didn't want to stop reading the story!  I can't remember who pointed me to the Project Gutenberg site.  If it was someone who reads Dusty Pages, then thank you!

Well, I'm off of here for now.  Talk to you guys later!

Tags: Distributed Proofreaders, Project Gutenberg, Ganglian Cyst

This and That on a Wednesday

Boy, the summer sure is going by quickly!  I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of July. 

It rained here today, which we really did need, but I hope it's dry tomorrow.  I want to do some yard work early in the morning.

Eler Beth really enjoyed her shopping trip on Saturday.  She came home with a dress and a blouse and skirt.  She had put together the blouse and skirt outfit herself, and she did a good job.  She also bought a pair of shoes (again, she did a good job of picking them out), and a bracelet.  They had dinner at Panera Bread, and she had the baked potato soup.  After their mall trip she stayed at her cousin's house to play.

At about 9:30 Saturday night Thomas asked me for my nephew Jamie's phone number, because he wanted to ask him if he'd gotten the job he was going for at the company where Thomas works.  Well I don't have Jamie's number, and since I hadn't made my daily call to Mom earlier in the day I suggested he call Mom's house to get the number.  My Mom answered the phone and Thomas found out that Jamie would be starting on Monday.  Then Mom told him that their A/C had gone out.  He repeated what she said to me, and I could see it in his eyes that he was going to do something about it.  So I got on the phone with her, and she said that the air handler (I think) had stopped working.  Their water is very hard, and the part is copper, so it was all corroded.  (Mosie can sympathize, I'm sure!)  Their A/C guy was trying to find an aluminum one, but didn't know when he'd have the part or when he'd be over to fix it.  I repeated this info to Thomas and he mouthed the words "Road trip!"

So at about 10:30 Saturday night we were at Wal-Mart (had to go to two of them to find a window unit!) buying my Mom a window air conditioner that would cool their house.  It wasn't the largest, but it wasn't the smallest, either.  My Mom's house is not very large, and it is extremely tight.  We figured a window unit would keep the whole house cool through the night and most of the day, and during the hottest part of the day it would at least be better than having nothing, or just having fans.  My mother is 84.  She doesn't need to needlessly suffer in the heat.

When we pulled up in the drive it was after midnight, and there weren't any lights on.  I let myself in the back door, turned on a kitchen light and called quietly, "Hello!  It's me!"  Then I walked down the hall to my Mom's bedroom.  Her door and my sister Lois' door were both open, and I figured all the windows were open, but it was VERY hot in there -- to me, at least!

I lightly tapped on the door frame of my Mom's bedroom and called in a sing-song, "Hel-OH-oh!  I'm HER-ere!"  And Mom said, "Well, you came back up, didn't you?"  She thought I was my sister, Dennice.  Then I said, "And I've brought an air-conditioner!  Which window do you want it in?"  "LORI??"  she said.

She kept protesting that she was okay, that it really wasn't that hot, and that she'd do fine.  I told her that she wouldn't do fine about 4:00 in the afternoon and to hush because it had been Thomas' idea, and he wasn't about to take it back.  So my hubby pretty quickly got it set up and we chatted to Mom and Lois for a few minutes before we headed back home.  We could already feel a difference in the house before we left. 

As long as they kept the bedroom doors open it kept the whole house cool until late in the afternoon on Sunday, and then it wasn't as comfortable as it would have been with the central air, but it was better than if they'd only had fans.  Then on Monday the A/C guy was able to replace the copper air handler with an aluminum one.  He'd found a used one, so he didn't have to charge too much.  Actually the amount he charged for replacing it was about the same as what a new one would have cost without the labor.

My Mom is doing very well.  She is still having spells of breathlessness, but all of her tests so far have come out good.  We (and her doctor) really think it is just anxiety (nerves).  As soon as she starts feeling that way she takes half of a Xanex and it helps.  Her doctor is being very thorough, though, and there are two more tests that she'll be having done.

I realized that I haven't done an entry in I Stand Corrected since May, so I did one today.  I have a couple more entries to make tomorrow.  Reading the weekly newspaper from my Mom's town usually inspires me to write something -- it has to be the most stupidly-written newspaper in the state!

I guess that's about all I have to write about right now.  Everyone seems to be well physically.  Thomas has really been working his butt off this week, and I really haven't!  Shame on me!  He has really found his niche with this QC position.  The only part he hates is having to do reports on the computer, and he really wouldn't mind that except he has to hunt and peck, so it takes a long time.  He said he's going to bring me in there one day to type them up for him!  (Actually he could do them at home -- that is to say, I could type them for him from home.  We just have to get it set up where we can access his work computer from our home PC.

Well, that's all for now I guess.  I hope everyone is having a good week so far.

I Think I'm In A Mood . . . because I don't usually give a political opinion . . .

My comment on an entry Guido made was too long, and I didn't want to break it up, so I'm just going to post it here.  His entry was in response to an entry made by Dirk.  Guido made some very valid points in his entry, and in a comment left on Guido's entry, Dirk also made some interesting points.  Well, here's my own personal take on the issue:

 

I do not condone the attitudes of hatred and bigotry that some Americans display, and I have written about that before.  But unfortunately, it is unlikely that your {meaning Guido's} comments in this entry are going to reach the people with those attitudes, and, if they do, they are the people who are not going to be reasoned with.   Dirk made some reasonable and interesting points in the comment he left you, also.

 

Here's my take:  I think that introducing our children at a young age to a new language is a very good idea, in and of itself.  Since Hispanics make up the largest migrant/immigrant community here right now, it makes sense that Spanish be that language.  Something that I find interesting is that in the Hispanic communities in my area there are many, many dialects spoken.  At my husband's company, which employs 700-900 people on any given day, there are actually more people from various South American and Central American countries, Puerto Rico and Cuba than there are from Mexico.  They don't all speak the same Spanish dialect; they all have certain words and phrases that are unique to their own area.  A good friend of ours is married to an Hispanic man who actually had to learn Spanish AFTER he came to America.  He is from Mexico, but his birth language was of a Native Mexican Tribe (what we used to call "Indian"). 

 

At Thomas' company you make a big mistake if you call just any Spanish-speaking person "Hispanic" or "Mexican".  They are each very jealous of their own heritage and don't want to be grouped all together (and I don't blame them).  One Panamanian gentleman gets almost violent if someone refers to him as Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican, and there are several Cubans who have been highly offended when they've been referred to as Mexicans.  They want to be recognized for their own heritage.  They have learned, or are learning, English.  We also have large communities of Hindi, Koreans, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Sudanese, Croatians, and Bosnians in our area as well. 

 

I like diversity, and I like having people of different backgrounds and cultures around me.  But I personally have come in contact with some Spanish-speaking immigrants who actually have the attitude that America should change FOR THEM, and I have come to believe, from personal exposure to the evidence, that this group is larger than I had realized. 

 

Yes, I DO think Spanish should be taught in school from an early age.  But I also believe that ESL should be mandatory for immigrant children or immigrants getting monetary aid in any form.  It just makes sense that that would benefit both groups, American and immigrant. 

 

But there are more aspects to this issue that may not be understood by many people outside the US, and these aspects change from one area of the country to another.  Guido, your point about ostracizing a sizeable portion of your community coming back to haunt you in the future is right on.  But I'll tell you right now, most Americans don't like having something FORCED on them, especially in this age where perceptions of what is reasonable and balanced are so skewed, and what is morally correct is usually left in the dust.  (Most often by media outlets, talk show hosts who like to hear themselves talk more than they like to actually understand what they're talking about, and politicians who have over-bred political correctness until it has lost whatever intelligence and usefulness it had in the beginning -- yes, PC has become like a purebred dog that's the result of much in-breeding.) 

 

There is not going to be any smart, reasonable, or easy answer to this issue.  All the various "Listen to Me" groups are not going to let that happen.  The fringe groups are never going to be happy.  The bigots aren't going to be happy (especially the ones who don't even know they're bigots).  The politicians are either going to try to spread solutions too thinly to be of any real benefit for everyone or else they'll glop them up too thickly to the benefit of one group over another and benefit no one in the long run. 

 

Teaching Spanish to everyone in school can never be a bad thing, in and of itself.  It's all the little satellite issues that go along with it and that certain groups and factions are going to use to promote their own agendas, philosophies, and prejudices that are going to leave a bad taste in the mouths of those of us who really do care, and who really do want everyone to "just get along."

They Had Me As Soon As The Door Opened

Eler Beth and I were downtown today doing some shopping, and I decided to stop by a bookshop on Spring St. I'd never been in before, JeffBook.  JeffBook is a not-for-profit store, selling new and used books, and providing employment for clients of Lifespring.  I had never been in, but have been meaning to get in there for a long time.

As soon as I entered the door I was drawn to the Kentucky and Indiana shelves, the first ones I saw as I came in.  I spent about 10 minutes perusing those three shelves, picking out four must-haves pretty quickly.  I'd only stepped about four feet into the store and had already just about blown my "book" budget for the week.  I was lost.

I got Truly Kentucky, A Culinary Gift From The Bluegrass, a slim, elegant little book full of some interesting Kentucky recipes, for only $2.50.  The book looks brand new.

I got a 1912 volume of Lessons in the Speaking and Writing of English, Book Two, Composition and Grammar, by John M. Manly and Eliza R. Bailey.  I couldn't find a picture of the book on line, but I found it in the Indiana State University library catalogue -- they have three copies.  The copy I bought was $7.00.

Also for $7.00 I got a 1921 copy of Everyday Classics, Seventh Reader, American Life and Literature for Grammar Grades and Junior High Students, by Franklin T. Baker and Ashley H. Thorndike.  ISU has three copies of it as well.

And lastly I bought The Kentucky Warbler by James Lane Allen, published in 1918.  I found a copy online with a price being asked of $75.00.  I got mine for $2.50.

So I got everything for under $20.00, which is usually what I allow myself to spend on frivolous book purchases a week (as opposed to necessary book purchases, like something for Eler Beth's studies).  If there is something I'm really wanting, book-wise, say something to add to a collection, something that's been on my wish-list for a while, or a rare find that I can't let get away I'll spend much more, but I actually tuck a $20.00 bill away in my wallet for spontaneous book purchasing.  I do try to restrain myself to some extent!

I am very pleased, to say the least.

I can't wait to get back there next week. :)

Tags: Jeffbook, Lifespring, Truly Kentucky, The Kentucky Warbler

Girls' Afternoon At The Mall

Thank you to everyone for the comments in my entries on Julie.  I really appreciate them.  I still don't know what the arrangements are, but I expect a memorial service next week.  My mother will let me know.

My daughter is with a group of friends at the mall!!  She was so excited to be invited.  This is her first mall-roaming trip with friends without me!

Two of my nieces-in-law (married to Thomas' nephews) invited her to be a part of a group they're taking shopping today.  Leah's daughter M is 14, Bonnie's daughter M is 13, and Eler Beth is 12.  Three other friends are going with them, "almost" 12, 13, and 15.  The two moms will be there, but they'll try to stay in the background as much as possible as the girls take the mall by storm.

I thought Eler Beth was never going to go to bed last night she was so excited.  She has some money saved up, and she asked me if I'd "loan" her a bit more.  Don't worry, I made sure she has enough to indulge a bit.  She spent quite a bit of time on her hair getting ready today, and, believe it or not, we acually had to go out to get her a new outfit this morning to wear shopping this afternoon!!  They took off about 3 p.m., and I don't expect them back until around 8.  They're going to get something to eat somewhere.  She hasn't called me, so I guess all is well.

I thought about joining them for dinner, but I'm just feeling kind of tired and blah, and home is really where I want to be right now. 

We have had a fairly nice week weather-wise.  The weather reports have threatened us with rain every day, but aside from a few drops here and there, it has passed us by.  So I've had to water my flowers and plants every day.  Today is a bit steamy.

Well, I'm going to read a few journals now.  I hope everyone is having a nice weekend wherever you are.

Thank you Donna for the beautiful graphics!

Digging Through My Photo Albums

I wondered if I had any good photos of Julie and found a few to share.  It was interesting to me to see how many times she showed up in pictures taken at family get-togethers and summer family reunions at my Mom's house.  Most of those photos weren't clear enough or had too many people in them, but I found a few to share.

 

Julie with her daughter, Zella, in the pool at Dennice's house.

That's me in the white jacket.  On the left is Tim, Zella, and Julie.  Directly behind me are my Mother and my sister Dennice holding her son Jacob.  Friends Mary and Monica are at the very back and on the very right.  Often Julie didn't smile big in posed pictures -- she was always self-conscious of her overbite.

Julie, my sister Lois, and my sister P.J.

Julie with Zella, friends Heather and Kyle, and my Mother on the right.  I don't know what has them all so engrossed.

One year Julie and Dennice made costumes for their kids, Zella and Jamie, and costumes for themselves, did their own and their kids' make up, and decorated Julie's big adult tricycle to ride in the parade during Hardinsburg's Hoedown Days Festival.  "Annie and Andy's Ragmobile" won a prize that year. 

 

In this picture Julie is the rag doll with the parasol striding behind the Ragmobile, Dennice is walking a bit behind.  Zella (Annie) is taking her turn pedaling, and Jamie (Andy) is riding behind.  My niece, Crissie, walked along with them for abit.  Julie made the yarn "wigs"; she and Dennice did the costumes and decorated the trike.

Zella, Julie's daughter dressed as Raggedy Ann; my nephew Jamie as Raggedy Andy; and my niece, Crissie.  I was working for one of the local papers at that time, and if I remember correctly we had this picture on the front page.

In this photo Jamie is pedaling and Zella is riding on the back.  Again Crissie is nearby.  I think they're waiting to take their place in the parade.  There was a story behind why the "e" in "Ragmobile" is leaning, but I can't remember what it is.  I think we put this picture in a collage of festival pictures.  I'm sure I have that paper somewhere.