Friday, December 12, 2003
It's been cold and rainy here the last couple of days. Today's high temp was 45 degrees. We're in for a cold, wet week ahead. I sure am glad I bought the electric blanket, it just makes it difficult to get out of bed in the mornings when it is so cold.
The landscape crews swept up all the leaves in the apartment complex today with their blowers. Leaves were flying everywhere. I had fun watching them. Every now and then, a gust of wind would pick up the pile they'd just made and blow the leaves right back at them as if it were a snowball fight. If I'd had a video camera, it would make hilarious footage for America's Funniest Home videos. It took 4 truck loads to haul all the leaves away and the trees still aren't through dropping leaves. Should make someone a wonderful compost pile!
I drove around the neighborhood last night to look at all the Christmas decorations. Lots of people decorated this year. One house in particular had the gawdiest decorations. Really tacky nativity scene along with electric Santa and reindeer in floodlights and a huge flashing neon type sign that flashed "JESUS!" on and off. Thought I was in redneck country...
Speaking of the holidays, those of you with a similarly warped sense of humor will enjoy this snow globe. Go ahead and give the snow globe a shake, but also let it run a bit afterwards so you can see the full animation story.
The landscape crews swept up all the leaves in the apartment complex today with their blowers. Leaves were flying everywhere. I had fun watching them. Every now and then, a gust of wind would pick up the pile they'd just made and blow the leaves right back at them as if it were a snowball fight. If I'd had a video camera, it would make hilarious footage for America's Funniest Home videos. It took 4 truck loads to haul all the leaves away and the trees still aren't through dropping leaves. Should make someone a wonderful compost pile!
I drove around the neighborhood last night to look at all the Christmas decorations. Lots of people decorated this year. One house in particular had the gawdiest decorations. Really tacky nativity scene along with electric Santa and reindeer in floodlights and a huge flashing neon type sign that flashed "JESUS!" on and off. Thought I was in redneck country...
Speaking of the holidays, those of you with a similarly warped sense of humor will enjoy this snow globe. Go ahead and give the snow globe a shake, but also let it run a bit afterwards so you can see the full animation story.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Stu's surgery went fine yesterday. Took less than an hour with a couple of hours of recovery time. His doctor said that Stu's knee has gotten worse since last year's surgery. He repeated that Stu eventually will have to get knee replacements but they still want to postpone that for as long as possible, saying that Stu is very young for that. The arthroscopy surgery was to repair a torn medial cartilage, torn lateral cartilage, and clean and scrape loose stuff in knee including debris and osteoarthrosis. Stu had a fair amount of demerol and slept most of yesterday but he's starting to feel the pain from surgery today.
Sure hope this lasts him awhile or the doctors finally give in and do the knee replacement surgery on him. Stu lives in constant excruitiating pain most of the time. Much like my mom. So far, I've been able to escape most of it other then a few aches in joints now and then.
I broke down my resistance to spending $50 on a blanket and finally bought an electric blanket a few days ago. What a difference it makes. Not sleeping under the weight of 4 blankets and a comforter and the extra warmth sure makes it easier getting the stiffness out of my joints in the morning. The blanket should pay for itself in no time too, because I've been able to turn the furnace off completely rather then keeping it at 60 during the night.
Sure hope this lasts him awhile or the doctors finally give in and do the knee replacement surgery on him. Stu lives in constant excruitiating pain most of the time. Much like my mom. So far, I've been able to escape most of it other then a few aches in joints now and then.
I broke down my resistance to spending $50 on a blanket and finally bought an electric blanket a few days ago. What a difference it makes. Not sleeping under the weight of 4 blankets and a comforter and the extra warmth sure makes it easier getting the stiffness out of my joints in the morning. The blanket should pay for itself in no time too, because I've been able to turn the furnace off completely rather then keeping it at 60 during the night.
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Welp, it's official. Today, I joined the ranks of oldfarterdom. Went in for an eye exam and new glasses and came away with my first pair of bi-focals. Had a glaucoma test too. Between the dilated pupils and getting used to the bi-focals, I look like I'm higher then a kite as my head bobs up and down trying to find the right spot in the lenses so I can see anything. Now I don't have to trombone the reading material or take off my glasses to see things up close. My eyes just aren't liking the constantly changing focus.
The good news is that my eyes were pronounced very healthy, no problems at all, and my blood pressure is within normal range. Hear that mom? You can stop worrying now. The low carb diet and extra exercise I've been doing for the last 6 months is paying off. I just wish I didn't have to work so hard at losing a pound or two a week. Rather discouraging how slow the progress is, but at least it's going in the right direction.
My brother goes in for his second or third knee surgery tomorrow. Can't remember which one it is. He's been in a lot of pain and I hope this gives him some relief for a little while. Love you Stu.
The good news is that my eyes were pronounced very healthy, no problems at all, and my blood pressure is within normal range. Hear that mom? You can stop worrying now. The low carb diet and extra exercise I've been doing for the last 6 months is paying off. I just wish I didn't have to work so hard at losing a pound or two a week. Rather discouraging how slow the progress is, but at least it's going in the right direction.
My brother goes in for his second or third knee surgery tomorrow. Can't remember which one it is. He's been in a lot of pain and I hope this gives him some relief for a little while. Love you Stu.
Friday, November 07, 2003
Recently stumbled across this quotation while looking for something else. I like it a lot and used it as a signature line at a few message boards for awhile. Time for a new signature line so I'm archiving the quotation here to share with others.
"Responsible Listening is the speaking we do to prove to the other person that we understand what his or her total message said. It saves us from attacking and defending. It allows for no judgment of the other person's character. Its only function is the present, what the speaker meant at this moment, in this conversation. Listening is the suspension of judgments-until we gain new information."
---Peter deLisser
"Responsible Listening is the speaking we do to prove to the other person that we understand what his or her total message said. It saves us from attacking and defending. It allows for no judgment of the other person's character. Its only function is the present, what the speaker meant at this moment, in this conversation. Listening is the suspension of judgments-until we gain new information."
---Peter deLisser
Sunday, November 02, 2003
Wow, been awhile since I last posted. Took a good month for me to shake that nasty cold and even longer to finally get rid of the lingering dry cough. For you folks not familiar with these blog thingies, there's a comments utility at the end of each post which you can click on and offer your own thoughts if you'd care to. Just click on the word Comment.
Autumn and Halloween
Soooo, autumn is upon us. You'd never know that here in Sacramento. Up until 4 days ago the temperatures were still in the high 80's and 90's. Last Monday it was 93 degrees. Friday, the high was 68 with lows down to 39 degrees in the valley and six inches of snow on the sierra foothills and today the high is 58. I think Mother Nature has decided to skip autumn this year and just go from summer to winter. I think I'm well prepared. Rain gutters were totally clogged and the maintenance guys had to remove them from the house and run a snake through the downspout to clear one of them. Moved all the plants on the balcony in under the eaves. Hopefully that will keep them protected from the high winds and rain.
Had a nice Halloween. Quite a number of kids came 'round, my guess would be about 50 kids, enough that they had to take turns climbing the stairs to the apartment. Scared the snot outta one little kid that rang the doorbell. I wore my Cousin It floor-length wig and derby hat and answered the door while on my knees. Didn't say a thing, just sort of muttered like Cousin It does and then parted the curtain of hair from my green painted face with blood dripping from wax fangs and dropped some candy into his goody bag.
The kid whimpered and grabbed mommy's hand before hiding behind her.
I sooooo love Halloween! Hee hee.
Nova, String Theories and WMD's
Anyone else watching the new Nova series? I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the overload of information.
Here's a link to PBS's Nova webpage in case you didn't see the program or wish to learn more. Nova's The Elegant Universe
I'd never heard of Brian Greene before now. Looks like he is the new Carl Sagan.
Here's a link to a series of images to give a sense of the size of strings. It is similar to the Power of 10 demonstration except that it is done in Powers of 100. I especially got a kick out of the last image. :) A Sense of Scale
I'm still not entirely clear on exactly what a string is but am reminded of an often quoted statement by Ralph Waldo Emerson. "This world we live in is but thickened light."
We had quite a scientific night last night on the local PBS station here. They ran both episodes of the Nova show then a bio on Einstein and followed it up with the bio on Einstein's wife.
Rather sad that she gets so little credit for what they both achieved. I think it would be even more fitting if the last picture in the series of images about the scale of strings was one of her rather then Albert.
As one reviewer at www.amazon.com said about Brian Greene's book, "I felt my brain growing while reading this!"
That's what made me think of Carl Sagan while watching the show last night. I had the same eye opening bright flash of light experience while watching many of his shows.
It's truly amazing how they've been able to translate such complicated theories into language and experiences almost anyone can understand.
On that Nova website there's a link to a story about what all went into just one scene of the show.
PBS and Nova really reinforced their reputation for excellent educational television with this show. I really hope the powers in Washington who want to rid the public airwaves of PBS do not succeed
Bucky Fuller, Marshall McLuhan, Einstein etc. I don't understand the mathematics behind it all but really enjoy the concepts and learning about the route taken to get there, especially when it is spoken in a language even I can relate to.
I still have lots of questions about strings. For instance, what about that vast void between quarks and the moment strings become visible (as displayed in Nova's example of scale that I referred to earlier).
Is that just emptiness between strings in a quark or are there larger concepts we haven't put definition to?
Also, how did they make the journey from quarks to strings without any other landmarks along the way to guide their thought process?
The more I read about this, the more confused I get.
It appears to me that scientists needed something to resolve the incompatibilities of quantum mechanics and relativity when they disintegrated into chaos when explaining the existence of black holes.
It looks to me like the urge to find an equation to settle the disruption between the two theories was the priority and strings were invented to heal that disruption. The vast emptiness between quarks and strings in the power of 100 scaled images model is just the cushion of time needed before advancement in optics proves or disproves the string theory.
Is there anything known to science that would lead one to the theory of strings other then the need to bridge that gap between quantum mechanics and relativity with some kind of equation?
Sounds remarkably similar to the hunt for WMD's and how we ended up in Iraq doesn't it?
Memories of Amusement Parks from Childhood
Been doing some reminiscing about old favorite childhood amusement parks in the area. My best memories of local ones are Santa's Village and Frontier Village. My most prominate memory of Santa's Village are of the teacup rides and feeling like my head was going to be ripped from my shoulders by the centrifugal force from spinning around in that cup for so long and so fast!
Sorry to hear that the Santa's Village in Lake Arrowheard fell victim to the southern California wildfires.
We visited Frontier Village long before ever getting to go to Knotts Berry Farm and I think I liked the smaller Frontier Village better in those days.
Southern California Wildfires
I learned from my dad yesterday that an old family friend lost her house to the fires. Such a tragedy and comedy of errors. So many things could of been done to lessen the danger of such fires if politics and profits weren't involved. Everyone is making predictions that the rebuilding will be good for the state's economy. This is true, it's just too bad it will be mostly the corporations doing the benefiting and not the worker bees who suffered the life altering losses. I've been biting nails while watching the progress of one of the fires through Bruce's eyes. I hope he escapes unscathed.
I worry what the future will hold for such large pockets of the population. In both New York and California, a huge number of people have been subjected to very unhealthy air quality in the last few years due to fires and building collapse. My prediction is a steep increase in future lung problems for these groups of people.
Mom
Mom isn't doing too well. She's going through a rough spell of bursitis in her hip and has already had two cortisone injections and is living on codeine while getting about with crutches when necessary. She's still in excrutiating pain and worries that something else might be wrong with her hip. She says she hasn't fallen recently and x-rays don't show anything being broken. She's got another doctor's appointment next week so hopefully she'll have some answers. I may have to make a trip to New Mexico sooner then I expected to.
Keyword Jungle
My brother has a new website business. He's proud of his website. Give it a glance and contact him if you're in need of keywords for your website. KeywordJungle
Holidays
Don't have any plans for the holidays this year. I think they'll be relatively quiet. Will probably drag out the decorations in another couple of weeks if I get in the spirit. Putting them out is lots of fun and I enjoy it. It's the clean up and storing away again that is a pain in the arse. How about you folks? Got any special plans?
Autumn and Halloween
Soooo, autumn is upon us. You'd never know that here in Sacramento. Up until 4 days ago the temperatures were still in the high 80's and 90's. Last Monday it was 93 degrees. Friday, the high was 68 with lows down to 39 degrees in the valley and six inches of snow on the sierra foothills and today the high is 58. I think Mother Nature has decided to skip autumn this year and just go from summer to winter. I think I'm well prepared. Rain gutters were totally clogged and the maintenance guys had to remove them from the house and run a snake through the downspout to clear one of them. Moved all the plants on the balcony in under the eaves. Hopefully that will keep them protected from the high winds and rain.
Had a nice Halloween. Quite a number of kids came 'round, my guess would be about 50 kids, enough that they had to take turns climbing the stairs to the apartment. Scared the snot outta one little kid that rang the doorbell. I wore my Cousin It floor-length wig and derby hat and answered the door while on my knees. Didn't say a thing, just sort of muttered like Cousin It does and then parted the curtain of hair from my green painted face with blood dripping from wax fangs and dropped some candy into his goody bag.
The kid whimpered and grabbed mommy's hand before hiding behind her.
I sooooo love Halloween! Hee hee.
Nova, String Theories and WMD's
Anyone else watching the new Nova series? I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the overload of information.
Here's a link to PBS's Nova webpage in case you didn't see the program or wish to learn more. Nova's The Elegant Universe
I'd never heard of Brian Greene before now. Looks like he is the new Carl Sagan.
Here's a link to a series of images to give a sense of the size of strings. It is similar to the Power of 10 demonstration except that it is done in Powers of 100. I especially got a kick out of the last image. :) A Sense of Scale
I'm still not entirely clear on exactly what a string is but am reminded of an often quoted statement by Ralph Waldo Emerson. "This world we live in is but thickened light."
We had quite a scientific night last night on the local PBS station here. They ran both episodes of the Nova show then a bio on Einstein and followed it up with the bio on Einstein's wife.
Rather sad that she gets so little credit for what they both achieved. I think it would be even more fitting if the last picture in the series of images about the scale of strings was one of her rather then Albert.
As one reviewer at www.amazon.com said about Brian Greene's book, "I felt my brain growing while reading this!"
That's what made me think of Carl Sagan while watching the show last night. I had the same eye opening bright flash of light experience while watching many of his shows.
It's truly amazing how they've been able to translate such complicated theories into language and experiences almost anyone can understand.
On that Nova website there's a link to a story about what all went into just one scene of the show.
PBS and Nova really reinforced their reputation for excellent educational television with this show. I really hope the powers in Washington who want to rid the public airwaves of PBS do not succeed
Bucky Fuller, Marshall McLuhan, Einstein etc. I don't understand the mathematics behind it all but really enjoy the concepts and learning about the route taken to get there, especially when it is spoken in a language even I can relate to.
I still have lots of questions about strings. For instance, what about that vast void between quarks and the moment strings become visible (as displayed in Nova's example of scale that I referred to earlier).
Is that just emptiness between strings in a quark or are there larger concepts we haven't put definition to?
Also, how did they make the journey from quarks to strings without any other landmarks along the way to guide their thought process?
The more I read about this, the more confused I get.
It appears to me that scientists needed something to resolve the incompatibilities of quantum mechanics and relativity when they disintegrated into chaos when explaining the existence of black holes.
It looks to me like the urge to find an equation to settle the disruption between the two theories was the priority and strings were invented to heal that disruption. The vast emptiness between quarks and strings in the power of 100 scaled images model is just the cushion of time needed before advancement in optics proves or disproves the string theory.
Is there anything known to science that would lead one to the theory of strings other then the need to bridge that gap between quantum mechanics and relativity with some kind of equation?
Sounds remarkably similar to the hunt for WMD's and how we ended up in Iraq doesn't it?
Memories of Amusement Parks from Childhood
Been doing some reminiscing about old favorite childhood amusement parks in the area. My best memories of local ones are Santa's Village and Frontier Village. My most prominate memory of Santa's Village are of the teacup rides and feeling like my head was going to be ripped from my shoulders by the centrifugal force from spinning around in that cup for so long and so fast!
Sorry to hear that the Santa's Village in Lake Arrowheard fell victim to the southern California wildfires.
We visited Frontier Village long before ever getting to go to Knotts Berry Farm and I think I liked the smaller Frontier Village better in those days.
Southern California Wildfires
I learned from my dad yesterday that an old family friend lost her house to the fires. Such a tragedy and comedy of errors. So many things could of been done to lessen the danger of such fires if politics and profits weren't involved. Everyone is making predictions that the rebuilding will be good for the state's economy. This is true, it's just too bad it will be mostly the corporations doing the benefiting and not the worker bees who suffered the life altering losses. I've been biting nails while watching the progress of one of the fires through Bruce's eyes. I hope he escapes unscathed.
I worry what the future will hold for such large pockets of the population. In both New York and California, a huge number of people have been subjected to very unhealthy air quality in the last few years due to fires and building collapse. My prediction is a steep increase in future lung problems for these groups of people.
Mom
Mom isn't doing too well. She's going through a rough spell of bursitis in her hip and has already had two cortisone injections and is living on codeine while getting about with crutches when necessary. She's still in excrutiating pain and worries that something else might be wrong with her hip. She says she hasn't fallen recently and x-rays don't show anything being broken. She's got another doctor's appointment next week so hopefully she'll have some answers. I may have to make a trip to New Mexico sooner then I expected to.
Keyword Jungle
My brother has a new website business. He's proud of his website. Give it a glance and contact him if you're in need of keywords for your website. KeywordJungle
Holidays
Don't have any plans for the holidays this year. I think they'll be relatively quiet. Will probably drag out the decorations in another couple of weeks if I get in the spirit. Putting them out is lots of fun and I enjoy it. It's the clean up and storing away again that is a pain in the arse. How about you folks? Got any special plans?
Monday, September 01, 2003
Am back from my trip to Boston. Had a nice time and the trip to and from was uneventful, just the way I like to fly. What I thought was just an allergic sneezing fit yesterday has evolved into a full blown head cold so I am going to keep this short and post details in a day or two. Right now, I have all I can do to keep up with the multi-tasking that goes with the beginning stages of a cold...continuous sneezing followed by alternate blowing of the nose to keep from drowning in the post nasal drip.
Houseplants and container garden out on the balcony all survived during my absence. What I did was tear and old towel into long strips and tuck one end of the strip under the pots and the other end into a large bucket of water and then set all the pots into a shallow pan. The water wicked up the strips and kept the plants moist as needed.
Hanover Mass. hasn't changed much since the last time I was there 10 years ago. Folks still keep their cars and houses unlocked most of the time. Quite a few of the townfolk have lived there all their lives for more then 70 years.
Everyone is more then a little concerned and angry about my dad and his housing conditions and the way he is not taking care of himself. They've tried to help as much as he will allow but his pride, stubborn streak and rebellious independent nature gets in the way. He won't let anyone help and won't do anything to help himself and resents that relatives can't be at his disposal to meet his needs for company any time of the week. I spent three days cleaning his house for him. Within 48 hours it already started to look like I hadn't ever been there. He just doesn't care about anything anymore.
At age 84, he's a rather lonely man. He moved back to his childhood home to find that two of his three brothers and most of his friends have passed away. He just sits in his 3 room second floor apartment watching TV and doing crosswords. It's a very frustrating situation for everyone. It is hard to watch, knowing that any minute brings closer that phone call to tell us he's fallen down the stairs or caught the place on fire with his absent mindedness. He's had three chances to move into an assisted living retirement home but refuses to do it.
Wish I had some answers for the situation...
Ah well.... I'm going back to bed to see if I can get a little sleep between sneezes before I drown... Been about 3 years since I last had a cold.
Houseplants and container garden out on the balcony all survived during my absence. What I did was tear and old towel into long strips and tuck one end of the strip under the pots and the other end into a large bucket of water and then set all the pots into a shallow pan. The water wicked up the strips and kept the plants moist as needed.
Hanover Mass. hasn't changed much since the last time I was there 10 years ago. Folks still keep their cars and houses unlocked most of the time. Quite a few of the townfolk have lived there all their lives for more then 70 years.
Everyone is more then a little concerned and angry about my dad and his housing conditions and the way he is not taking care of himself. They've tried to help as much as he will allow but his pride, stubborn streak and rebellious independent nature gets in the way. He won't let anyone help and won't do anything to help himself and resents that relatives can't be at his disposal to meet his needs for company any time of the week. I spent three days cleaning his house for him. Within 48 hours it already started to look like I hadn't ever been there. He just doesn't care about anything anymore.
At age 84, he's a rather lonely man. He moved back to his childhood home to find that two of his three brothers and most of his friends have passed away. He just sits in his 3 room second floor apartment watching TV and doing crosswords. It's a very frustrating situation for everyone. It is hard to watch, knowing that any minute brings closer that phone call to tell us he's fallen down the stairs or caught the place on fire with his absent mindedness. He's had three chances to move into an assisted living retirement home but refuses to do it.
Wish I had some answers for the situation...
Ah well.... I'm going back to bed to see if I can get a little sleep between sneezes before I drown... Been about 3 years since I last had a cold.
Sunday, August 10, 2003
Happy Birthday, Babs!
By the way, if anyone out there is looking for a message board community to become a part of, this is a fantastic one: Able2know
It has a wide range of posters and views and nearly any category and topic you can think of. It's well managed with very active moderators and posters, and a no-nonsense TOS that keeps the maturity level above par.
Here's a list of the categories from their site map to whet your interest:
Able2know.com
Reference
English
Other Languages
History
Art
Film
Music/Lyrics
Video Games
TV
Performing Arts
Original Writing Forum
Original Art & Photography Forum
Literature
Poetry Forum
Books Forum
Quotes Forum
Philosophy/Debate Forum
Spirituality/Religion Forum
Legal Forum
General News
Politics
Human Interest
International
Business/Science/Technology
Sports/Fitness
Medical News & Health
Technology
Computers
Internet
Web Design
Electronics
Autos
Home & Family
Food/Drink
Pets/Garden
Parenting/Childcare
Relationships/Marriage
Home Improvement
Finance
Aging
Travel
Asia
Africa
Europe
North America
South America
Australia
Wilderness, Wildlife & Ecology
Careers
Life at Work
Teaching
Business & Marketing
Technology Careers
Jokes
Riddles
Trivia & Word Games
Fun & Games category
By the way, if anyone out there is looking for a message board community to become a part of, this is a fantastic one: Able2know
It has a wide range of posters and views and nearly any category and topic you can think of. It's well managed with very active moderators and posters, and a no-nonsense TOS that keeps the maturity level above par.
Here's a list of the categories from their site map to whet your interest:
Able2know.com
Reference
English
Other Languages
History
Art
Film
Music/Lyrics
Video Games
TV
Performing Arts
Original Writing Forum
Original Art & Photography Forum
Literature
Poetry Forum
Books Forum
Quotes Forum
Philosophy/Debate Forum
Spirituality/Religion Forum
Legal Forum
General News
Politics
Human Interest
International
Business/Science/Technology
Sports/Fitness
Medical News & Health
Technology
Computers
Internet
Web Design
Electronics
Autos
Home & Family
Food/Drink
Pets/Garden
Parenting/Childcare
Relationships/Marriage
Home Improvement
Finance
Aging
Travel
Asia
Africa
Europe
North America
South America
Australia
Wilderness, Wildlife & Ecology
Careers
Life at Work
Teaching
Business & Marketing
Technology Careers
Jokes
Riddles
Trivia & Word Games
Fun & Games category
Saturday, August 09, 2003
Welp, today I am tenderly pampering a scorching sunburn over most of my upper body and face. Yesterday I got carried away with feeling so good about my accomplishments in the swimming pool and stayed out way too long. Wish it were easier to pour sunblock on the unreachable parts of my body. I'd really like to be able to stay in the pool longer then a couple hours a day.
To top off the sunburn, I spent the afternoon repotting and rearranging the plants on my balcony. Did I wear a hat? Nooooo... I think this one is going to peel. :(
Discovered something rather nasty in my planters...dozens and dozens of baby slugs. I have no idea how they got there, I'm on the second floor! I think they are attracted to the moisture since it is so arid here in the summer. Soon as the sting from my sunburn tames a bit, I'll be making a trip to the nursery to buy slug killer. Slugs have got to be some of the ugliest creatures on this earth (or should that be in this earth?)! I wonder if the bird poop from the birdies on my feeders contains little sluggetts. Could that be where they are coming from?
Congrats to Tracy on her soon to be addition to her list of degrees and for getting off the unemployment rolls!
And a big congrats to Stef on her new home purchase. Love the pictures of the house. I envy you for your writing discipline.
Had a letter from my brother yesterday. Seems my sister-in-law narrowly escaped being in a neighborhood bank during a robbery. Narrowly escaped by about 2 minutes! She may have even witnessed the robber's car and called the police to give them the details.
My family seems so far to have an amazing track record for narrow escapes. Hope the record holds for a long long time.
To top off the sunburn, I spent the afternoon repotting and rearranging the plants on my balcony. Did I wear a hat? Nooooo... I think this one is going to peel. :(
Discovered something rather nasty in my planters...dozens and dozens of baby slugs. I have no idea how they got there, I'm on the second floor! I think they are attracted to the moisture since it is so arid here in the summer. Soon as the sting from my sunburn tames a bit, I'll be making a trip to the nursery to buy slug killer. Slugs have got to be some of the ugliest creatures on this earth (or should that be in this earth?)! I wonder if the bird poop from the birdies on my feeders contains little sluggetts. Could that be where they are coming from?
Congrats to Tracy on her soon to be addition to her list of degrees and for getting off the unemployment rolls!
And a big congrats to Stef on her new home purchase. Love the pictures of the house. I envy you for your writing discipline.
Had a letter from my brother yesterday. Seems my sister-in-law narrowly escaped being in a neighborhood bank during a robbery. Narrowly escaped by about 2 minutes! She may have even witnessed the robber's car and called the police to give them the details.
My family seems so far to have an amazing track record for narrow escapes. Hope the record holds for a long long time.
Sunday, August 03, 2003
People often ask what is the story behind my use of the screen name Butrflynet. I've been using Butrflynet since February, 1990 when I first signed up on AOL 1.0. At the time, screen names were only permitted 10 characters so I had to shorten butterfly. I've never really used any other name except when playing characters in roleplaying games on the internet. Even then, my account names have always been Butrflynet. It is such an unusual spelling that I've always found it available when creating new accounts at various domains.
The reason for the name Butrflynet has many aspects to it. Butterflies represent nature, peace, freedom, travel, metamorphosis, inner beauty, change. The Net part of the name had to do with my new found interest and love for the internet, and my effort to search for and capture all those aspects of the butterfly. I loved the play on words in my profile when I put "I used to be a c'pillar of the community" as my occupation.
As I mentioned earlier, I'll soon be making a trip back to Boston to visit my dad. I'm looking forward to the trip but also feel rather anxious about it. Because of the distance, cost and my father's age, I believe this will probably be one of, if not the last time I see him alive. How does one prepare themselves for such a visit? I feel under pressure to make sure I say whatever it is I need to say to my dad, although I have no idea what that need is other then to just tell him I love him. Has anyone else knowingly visited a parent or loved one for the last time? How did you prepare yourself for it? What do you say? Do you acknowledge to them that you think it will be the last time you see them or do you carry on as if it is just another visit? What are some of the things to be sure and talk about? What do you do with the angst when it comes time to return home?
The reason for the name Butrflynet has many aspects to it. Butterflies represent nature, peace, freedom, travel, metamorphosis, inner beauty, change. The Net part of the name had to do with my new found interest and love for the internet, and my effort to search for and capture all those aspects of the butterfly. I loved the play on words in my profile when I put "I used to be a c'pillar of the community" as my occupation.
As I mentioned earlier, I'll soon be making a trip back to Boston to visit my dad. I'm looking forward to the trip but also feel rather anxious about it. Because of the distance, cost and my father's age, I believe this will probably be one of, if not the last time I see him alive. How does one prepare themselves for such a visit? I feel under pressure to make sure I say whatever it is I need to say to my dad, although I have no idea what that need is other then to just tell him I love him. Has anyone else knowingly visited a parent or loved one for the last time? How did you prepare yourself for it? What do you say? Do you acknowledge to them that you think it will be the last time you see them or do you carry on as if it is just another visit? What are some of the things to be sure and talk about? What do you do with the angst when it comes time to return home?
Thursday, July 31, 2003
Made reservations to fly back to Boston in a couple weeks to visit with my dad and his side of the family for 10 days. It's been more then 5 years since I last flew on a plane and I'm feeling a little apprehensive about it in light of the recent raised awareness levels for plane hijackings in the Autumn months. Should be interesting to see how drastically security checks have changed since I was last at an airport.
I made arrangements to get picked up at home and taken to the airport by a Super Shuttle service. The drawback is that they will be picking me up at 3 am to get me to the airport for my 6 am flight even though I am only 20 miles from the airport. :( Beats paying $7 bucks a day parking or $50 for the taxi though. Super Shuttle is only $21 from my city. Think I'm going to just stay up all night and catch up with sleep on the plane.
A few weeks after my return from Boston, I'm planning to drive to Albuquerque to visit my mom in her new home. Figured it would be best to drive since I'm pretty confident I will be leaving there with a lot more then I arrive with. That is a standing tradition and joke about visiting my mom. My brother and I never leave empty handed. She's always thinking about us and buys things she thinks we'll have use for or enjoy then loads us up with them when we visit.
Welp, I better get to bed. I have some groceries being delivered in the morning. Anyone else making use of the online ordering and delivery service that grocery chains are providing these days? I find it very convenient and a vital tool in budgeting my grocery expense. Once a month I go shopping down the aisles of item inventory on their website, picking and choosing what I need and doing all the impulse buying that always gets me into trouble, then at the end I review the shopping cart and remove all the impulses and non-necessities until the total is under my monthly budget limit before checking out. It only costs $5 for the delivery fee and is worth every penny as I watch the young muscled guy carry those bags of veggies and fruits up my apartment stairs. :D
I made arrangements to get picked up at home and taken to the airport by a Super Shuttle service. The drawback is that they will be picking me up at 3 am to get me to the airport for my 6 am flight even though I am only 20 miles from the airport. :( Beats paying $7 bucks a day parking or $50 for the taxi though. Super Shuttle is only $21 from my city. Think I'm going to just stay up all night and catch up with sleep on the plane.
A few weeks after my return from Boston, I'm planning to drive to Albuquerque to visit my mom in her new home. Figured it would be best to drive since I'm pretty confident I will be leaving there with a lot more then I arrive with. That is a standing tradition and joke about visiting my mom. My brother and I never leave empty handed. She's always thinking about us and buys things she thinks we'll have use for or enjoy then loads us up with them when we visit.
Welp, I better get to bed. I have some groceries being delivered in the morning. Anyone else making use of the online ordering and delivery service that grocery chains are providing these days? I find it very convenient and a vital tool in budgeting my grocery expense. Once a month I go shopping down the aisles of item inventory on their website, picking and choosing what I need and doing all the impulse buying that always gets me into trouble, then at the end I review the shopping cart and remove all the impulses and non-necessities until the total is under my monthly budget limit before checking out. It only costs $5 for the delivery fee and is worth every penny as I watch the young muscled guy carry those bags of veggies and fruits up my apartment stairs. :D
Monday, July 28, 2003
Okay, guys, this one you might wanna skip. ;) This is for us wimens to discuss.
It is amazing what a little chemistry can do to make you feel like an entirely new person.
I've suffered from heavy bleeding and severe anemia for several years. Currently, I am without medical coverage and no money to spend on tests, doctor visits or hormone therapy.
I saw a Dr. Phil show on natural remedies for perimenopause, ordered progesterone cream and a book to read further on the subject. Almost immediately, I felt a difference in my body. As I described to my mom, it felt like there were cells in my body that were waking up after a very long sleep. I was almost tingling. My skin cleared up, the hair on my upper lip stopped growing as thickly or as rapidly, my blood pressure and heart aren't constant worries anymore, my spirits were uplifted and I have a lot more energy. I eagerly awaited my next period to see if it would be different too.
I have learned that progesterone is the hormone that is supposed to be dominant in the second half of our cycles. Estrogene gets the first half. Progesterone is the one that has control over preparing our bodies for pregnancy and maintaining it until birth. If you're interested in further information, here's one of the many websites with information.
Facts and Myths
It is as if I am in a completely different body. No more extreme pain and cramps from passing very large fibrous clots (sometimes it felt like I was giving birth), no more stained furniture, bedding and clothing, no more feeling my heart struggle to overcome the excessive bleeding. No more spending all that money on products that just get flushed down the toilet and the freedom to be more then a room away from a bathroom! I am a much different woman today then I was three months ago.
This month I am also cutting way back on the amount of carbs I eat in the form of breads and pasta. No, I'm not doing Atkins, but I am incorporating some of his science into my diet. And, I do feel a whole lot better because of it.
The biggest benefit is the energy I now have. I'm making progress on getting back into physical shape. Starting from a point of having to pull myself up the apartment stairs one leg at a time and then collapsing onto the couch to catch my breath, I'm now climbing the stairs with both legs and no hands (look ma, no hands!) and just this morning I reached a new point in my swimming efforts. I swam 4 continuous laps of breast stroke without having to take a break. The weight and inches are falling off of me! I think I'm just about ready to wear a smaller sized pant (wouldn't be caught dead in public yet though, it's too tight for my tastes).
I'm so damned proud of myself! If this progress keeps up, I'll finally be in good enough shape to start looking for work again.
It's been so hot around here, that swimming is a real treat I look forward to in the mornings. I'm usually the first one there and have to kick mama and her ducklings out of the pool. The ducklings are starting to get their adult feathers so they will probably be leaving soon to start their migration. I have a ball watching all the insects in the area; bumblebees, butterflies and dragonflies abound. Those dragonflies can be ornery suckers. They like to dive-bomb or buzz around my head when I come up for air in the pool.
The finches on my balcony are still fornicating. This crop will be the fourth one of the season. I swear their baby manufacturing rate rivals that of rabbits! I feel sorry for the mama birds. They are starting to look really scrawny and ragged. Motherhood is taking a toll on them. I'm glad I can help them out with the bird feeder and bath I have for them.
It is amazing what a little chemistry can do to make you feel like an entirely new person.
I've suffered from heavy bleeding and severe anemia for several years. Currently, I am without medical coverage and no money to spend on tests, doctor visits or hormone therapy.
I saw a Dr. Phil show on natural remedies for perimenopause, ordered progesterone cream and a book to read further on the subject. Almost immediately, I felt a difference in my body. As I described to my mom, it felt like there were cells in my body that were waking up after a very long sleep. I was almost tingling. My skin cleared up, the hair on my upper lip stopped growing as thickly or as rapidly, my blood pressure and heart aren't constant worries anymore, my spirits were uplifted and I have a lot more energy. I eagerly awaited my next period to see if it would be different too.
I have learned that progesterone is the hormone that is supposed to be dominant in the second half of our cycles. Estrogene gets the first half. Progesterone is the one that has control over preparing our bodies for pregnancy and maintaining it until birth. If you're interested in further information, here's one of the many websites with information.
Facts and Myths
It is as if I am in a completely different body. No more extreme pain and cramps from passing very large fibrous clots (sometimes it felt like I was giving birth), no more stained furniture, bedding and clothing, no more feeling my heart struggle to overcome the excessive bleeding. No more spending all that money on products that just get flushed down the toilet and the freedom to be more then a room away from a bathroom! I am a much different woman today then I was three months ago.
This month I am also cutting way back on the amount of carbs I eat in the form of breads and pasta. No, I'm not doing Atkins, but I am incorporating some of his science into my diet. And, I do feel a whole lot better because of it.
The biggest benefit is the energy I now have. I'm making progress on getting back into physical shape. Starting from a point of having to pull myself up the apartment stairs one leg at a time and then collapsing onto the couch to catch my breath, I'm now climbing the stairs with both legs and no hands (look ma, no hands!) and just this morning I reached a new point in my swimming efforts. I swam 4 continuous laps of breast stroke without having to take a break. The weight and inches are falling off of me! I think I'm just about ready to wear a smaller sized pant (wouldn't be caught dead in public yet though, it's too tight for my tastes).
I'm so damned proud of myself! If this progress keeps up, I'll finally be in good enough shape to start looking for work again.
It's been so hot around here, that swimming is a real treat I look forward to in the mornings. I'm usually the first one there and have to kick mama and her ducklings out of the pool. The ducklings are starting to get their adult feathers so they will probably be leaving soon to start their migration. I have a ball watching all the insects in the area; bumblebees, butterflies and dragonflies abound. Those dragonflies can be ornery suckers. They like to dive-bomb or buzz around my head when I come up for air in the pool.
The finches on my balcony are still fornicating. This crop will be the fourth one of the season. I swear their baby manufacturing rate rivals that of rabbits! I feel sorry for the mama birds. They are starting to look really scrawny and ragged. Motherhood is taking a toll on them. I'm glad I can help them out with the bird feeder and bath I have for them.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Email sent to family at 4:50 pm on Friday:
Just letting you know ahead of time so you don't worry...the huge chemical fire in Sacramento is not near me. I'm about 9 miles to the northeast of it. Am down wind from it but far enough away to not need to worry about it. So far evacuations are limited to a half mile radius.
They don't know yet what is burning, the container explosions are keeping fire fighters and helicopters away from the scene. It has been burning for about 20 minutes now. It is 105 degrees and climbing at the moment so it is going to be a very hot fire for the firefighters to put out.
Email sent to family at 5:05 pm on Friday:
Was just announced on TV that it is a hospital and industry gas tank supply company that sells tanks of propane, oxygen and that type of stuff. Supposedly one of the largest such companies on the West coast. So there shouldn't be too much danger as far as the fumes go.
Email sent to family at midnight Friday:
http://www.thekcrachannel.com/news/2344177/detail.html
This is channel 3's story on the fire. It seems to be mostly out. I am having to keep my doors and windows closed tonight because of the fumes blowing our way. Thank goodness my air conditioner does not draw air from the outside, it gets it from the return vent in the house. At midnight, it is still 84 degrees here. We set a record high for low temperatures today. The low was 74 degrees. We're hoping we don't beat last year's record of 19 continuous days of heat over 100 degrees.
What amazes me is that just yesterday I went up to Orchard Supply Hardware and bought new air filters for the furnace/air conditioner. I got the extra fine ones that cost nearly $20 each instead of the usual $5 ones. Wonder how I knew that I'd be needing the extra filtration of air 24 hours later.
Folks closer to the scene who are still without power must be very miserable. No air conditioning and not able to open windows.
Ah well, just more butrfly wonderings about the odd coincidences in the ebb and flow of my life...
Just letting you know ahead of time so you don't worry...the huge chemical fire in Sacramento is not near me. I'm about 9 miles to the northeast of it. Am down wind from it but far enough away to not need to worry about it. So far evacuations are limited to a half mile radius.
They don't know yet what is burning, the container explosions are keeping fire fighters and helicopters away from the scene. It has been burning for about 20 minutes now. It is 105 degrees and climbing at the moment so it is going to be a very hot fire for the firefighters to put out.
Email sent to family at 5:05 pm on Friday:
Was just announced on TV that it is a hospital and industry gas tank supply company that sells tanks of propane, oxygen and that type of stuff. Supposedly one of the largest such companies on the West coast. So there shouldn't be too much danger as far as the fumes go.
Email sent to family at midnight Friday:
http://www.thekcrachannel.com/news/2344177/detail.html
This is channel 3's story on the fire. It seems to be mostly out. I am having to keep my doors and windows closed tonight because of the fumes blowing our way. Thank goodness my air conditioner does not draw air from the outside, it gets it from the return vent in the house. At midnight, it is still 84 degrees here. We set a record high for low temperatures today. The low was 74 degrees. We're hoping we don't beat last year's record of 19 continuous days of heat over 100 degrees.
What amazes me is that just yesterday I went up to Orchard Supply Hardware and bought new air filters for the furnace/air conditioner. I got the extra fine ones that cost nearly $20 each instead of the usual $5 ones. Wonder how I knew that I'd be needing the extra filtration of air 24 hours later.
Folks closer to the scene who are still without power must be very miserable. No air conditioning and not able to open windows.
Ah well, just more butrfly wonderings about the odd coincidences in the ebb and flow of my life...
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Interesting analysis of the known falsehoods about the Iraq war.
Americans are learning a good lesson: to find out what our government is up to, DO NOT go to networks like CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc. In the evening you can surf the channels during network news time and hear almost the exact same story repeated by each "news" agency. The networks just read the copy as it comes off the news wires word for word.
Even the internet's Drudge Report is becoming more and more selective in the news reports and rumors it chooses to highlight from the day's news wires.
Americans are learning a good lesson: to find out what our government is up to, DO NOT go to networks like CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc. In the evening you can surf the channels during network news time and hear almost the exact same story repeated by each "news" agency. The networks just read the copy as it comes off the news wires word for word.
Even the internet's Drudge Report is becoming more and more selective in the news reports and rumors it chooses to highlight from the day's news wires.
Monday, July 14, 2003
Thursday, July 10, 2003
Living in the Sacramento Valley, I'm usually awake to see more sunrises then sunsets, either from waking early or staying up all night. Around here the dozens of nesting birds and birdettes start chirping away at 4 am just as the first bits of darkness are dispelled. Then the turkeys and ducks chime in around 4:30 and the bluejays come a cawing around 5 am followed by mother finches in a hurry to stuff food into the chirping mouths of their babies so they'll shut up. If I'm not already awake by then, the jays insist I wake up and watch them feed at the food I set out for them the night before.
I am in what I call premature retirement and enjoying every minute of it. I've been off work now for 3 years (recovering from a bacterial lung infection and severe anemia), living off the proceeds from selling my home and moving to an apartment. When the money gets low, I'll start looking for work again. I estimate I probably have about another year before that happens. In the meantime I continue to look for work I can do from home. Right now I earn an occasional $50 here and there doing copy editing and answering consumer surveys. I have a few investments that help pay the grocery and utility bills so that helps quite a bit.
Ever since I moved to the new apartment, I've been working on decorating the place on a budget. It gives me a great excuse to work on some crafting projects. I'm also on a kick to win back my health and take long walks every day around the community here. I'm slowly getting some strength back, the endurance is a little slower in improving but it is happening. I neglected my health for a very long time so it is going to take quite awhile to recover it.
I have several families of finches and a family of bluejays that have set up housekeeping on my balcony. Last winter I set out a bird feeder but they pretty much ignored it until I added a bird bath. Now they fight so much over territory on the feeder that I added a second one just to cut down on the squabbles. They're great company and a lot of fun to watch. I'm slowly inching up on them as they get used to my presence and hope to soon be able to sit out there and have them feel comfortable to come munch seeds while I'm out there. Right now they are nesting and busily feeding all those gaping mouths. I figure it is a good time to try to make my presence there when they have more important things on their bird minds then that lady that keeps watching them. :::grin:::
After my trip to the swimming pool this morning I decided to take a few pictures around the apartment complex. You can see the new pictures here.
I've been doing some baking in the early morning hours before it gets too hot. These are a couple of the recipes I've made recently: Next time I make the muffins I think I am going to substitute the regular raisins for a mixture of golden raisins and dried cranberries. The banana bread was some of the best bread I've ever tasted. I substituted Banana Cream Pie flavored yogurt for the plain yogurt and used half the amount of walnuts and added raisins.
Harvest Muffins
2 cups unbleached white flour (white flour is fine)
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups sugar
4 tsp baking soda
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cloves
4 cups shredded apples
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (any cooking oil is fine)
1/2 cup milk
4 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line muffin tins with paper liners.
Whisk together both flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt & cloves. Stir in apples, carrots, coconut, raisins & walnuts.
In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, milk, vanilla & eggs, just until blended. Add to the flour mixture and stir. Do not over mix.
Fill muffin cups 3/4's full with batter. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Check with a toothpick, if the toothpick comes out clean the muffins are done. When done remove muffins immediately from pan.
Depending on the size of your muffin tin, Makes about 24 muffins.
Cool completely, Enjoy!!
For a lighter version, substitute:
1 cup of applesauce for the oil.
Skim Milk for the whole milk
Use eggs substitutes
The Best Banana Bread
(from America's Test Kitchen)
Greasing and flouring only the bottom of a regular loaf pan causes the bread to cling to the sides and rise higher. If using a nonstick loaf pan, on which the sides are very slick, grease and flour sides as well as the bottom.Makes one 9-inch loaf
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups toasted walnuts, chopped coarse (about 1 cup)
3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of regular loaf pan, or grease and flour bottom and sides of nonstick 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. Combine first five ingredients together in large bowl; set aside.
2. Mix mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with wooden spoon in medium bowl. Lightly fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with rubber spatula until just combined and batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan; bake until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
They're forecasting temps of 108 and higher here for tomorrow. Do butterflies melt?
I am in what I call premature retirement and enjoying every minute of it. I've been off work now for 3 years (recovering from a bacterial lung infection and severe anemia), living off the proceeds from selling my home and moving to an apartment. When the money gets low, I'll start looking for work again. I estimate I probably have about another year before that happens. In the meantime I continue to look for work I can do from home. Right now I earn an occasional $50 here and there doing copy editing and answering consumer surveys. I have a few investments that help pay the grocery and utility bills so that helps quite a bit.
Ever since I moved to the new apartment, I've been working on decorating the place on a budget. It gives me a great excuse to work on some crafting projects. I'm also on a kick to win back my health and take long walks every day around the community here. I'm slowly getting some strength back, the endurance is a little slower in improving but it is happening. I neglected my health for a very long time so it is going to take quite awhile to recover it.
I have several families of finches and a family of bluejays that have set up housekeeping on my balcony. Last winter I set out a bird feeder but they pretty much ignored it until I added a bird bath. Now they fight so much over territory on the feeder that I added a second one just to cut down on the squabbles. They're great company and a lot of fun to watch. I'm slowly inching up on them as they get used to my presence and hope to soon be able to sit out there and have them feel comfortable to come munch seeds while I'm out there. Right now they are nesting and busily feeding all those gaping mouths. I figure it is a good time to try to make my presence there when they have more important things on their bird minds then that lady that keeps watching them. :::grin:::
After my trip to the swimming pool this morning I decided to take a few pictures around the apartment complex. You can see the new pictures here.
I've been doing some baking in the early morning hours before it gets too hot. These are a couple of the recipes I've made recently: Next time I make the muffins I think I am going to substitute the regular raisins for a mixture of golden raisins and dried cranberries. The banana bread was some of the best bread I've ever tasted. I substituted Banana Cream Pie flavored yogurt for the plain yogurt and used half the amount of walnuts and added raisins.
Harvest Muffins
2 cups unbleached white flour (white flour is fine)
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups sugar
4 tsp baking soda
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cloves
4 cups shredded apples
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (any cooking oil is fine)
1/2 cup milk
4 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line muffin tins with paper liners.
Whisk together both flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt & cloves. Stir in apples, carrots, coconut, raisins & walnuts.
In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, milk, vanilla & eggs, just until blended. Add to the flour mixture and stir. Do not over mix.
Fill muffin cups 3/4's full with batter. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Check with a toothpick, if the toothpick comes out clean the muffins are done. When done remove muffins immediately from pan.
Depending on the size of your muffin tin, Makes about 24 muffins.
Cool completely, Enjoy!!
For a lighter version, substitute:
1 cup of applesauce for the oil.
Skim Milk for the whole milk
Use eggs substitutes
The Best Banana Bread
(from America's Test Kitchen)
Greasing and flouring only the bottom of a regular loaf pan causes the bread to cling to the sides and rise higher. If using a nonstick loaf pan, on which the sides are very slick, grease and flour sides as well as the bottom.Makes one 9-inch loaf
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups toasted walnuts, chopped coarse (about 1 cup)
3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of regular loaf pan, or grease and flour bottom and sides of nonstick 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. Combine first five ingredients together in large bowl; set aside.
2. Mix mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with wooden spoon in medium bowl. Lightly fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with rubber spatula until just combined and batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan; bake until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
They're forecasting temps of 108 and higher here for tomorrow. Do butterflies melt?
Friday, June 27, 2003
Summer has arrived in the Central Valley. Temperatures have been 105+ the last 3 days. Today's forecast is for 106. So far it has been bearable. I just keep all the windows open at night to cool off the house to around 75 then get up and shut windows and blinds around 5am. This keeps the house below 80 until around noon and then the air conditioner kicks in. I never thought I'd ever feel that an indoor temperature of 80 was cool. If I forget, all I need do is open the front door for a few seconds to get a face full of hot air.
Mom sent me lots of letters from her Aunt Luella with a bounty full of family history and ancedotes. I'll be summarizing it all for my website in the near future.
Mom sent me lots of letters from her Aunt Luella with a bounty full of family history and ancedotes. I'll be summarizing it all for my website in the near future.
Saturday, June 21, 2003
Ok, everything is working as it should be. It was my browser cache of the page that was causing the lag in posting updates. Time to go public with the website.
One of the purposes of this website is to leave a history of my family. My brother and I and one cousin are the last in line on my mom's side of the family and neither of us have children of our own. (Not sure about the cousin, have only recently learned of her existance.) For some reason I am feeling this compelling need to document our family and publish it on the internet since there won't be anyone else around to do it once we are gone. My mom's parents both died soon after she was born and she was put up for adoption so we don't have the benefit of that resource for history. I have several hours of an interview with one of my mother's aunts on cassette tape before she passed away at the age of 99. I plan to transcribe it and post it here eventually. There are also many personal letters between her aunt and husband during their world travels in the 40's and 50's that would be of interest to posterity.
That project should keep me occupied for many days.
I'm on the look out for a better photo gallery utility to use. I really don't like the inflexibility of the FrontPage version. Anyone have recommendations? It needs to be a freebie or shareware since I can't afford to put much more money into this at the moment.
One of the purposes of this website is to leave a history of my family. My brother and I and one cousin are the last in line on my mom's side of the family and neither of us have children of our own. (Not sure about the cousin, have only recently learned of her existance.) For some reason I am feeling this compelling need to document our family and publish it on the internet since there won't be anyone else around to do it once we are gone. My mom's parents both died soon after she was born and she was put up for adoption so we don't have the benefit of that resource for history. I have several hours of an interview with one of my mother's aunts on cassette tape before she passed away at the age of 99. I plan to transcribe it and post it here eventually. There are also many personal letters between her aunt and husband during their world travels in the 40's and 50's that would be of interest to posterity.
That project should keep me occupied for many days.
I'm on the look out for a better photo gallery utility to use. I really don't like the inflexibility of the FrontPage version. Anyone have recommendations? It needs to be a freebie or shareware since I can't afford to put much more money into this at the moment.
Friday, June 20, 2003
Thursday, June 19, 2003
Hello family and friends!
Welcome to my corner of the world! Sure feels good to finally have the foundation for this website working. I need to trim down the captions in the photo galleries and do some other tweaking. I got rather verbose with my memories. I'll talk more about that later.
Now that I have a good understanding of how FrontPage works, my next project is to tackle this monster website my mom created. Be forewarned, it is graphic intensive and takes a while to load. It's called What Is Art? and needs to be completely torn apart and put back together in a more efficient manner. Many of the artists are anxiously awaiting the completion so they can have us add pictures of their newest work.
Feel free to offer up any suggestions for improving the site. It's a work in progress and I'm very eager to get it right.
Welcome to my corner of the world! Sure feels good to finally have the foundation for this website working. I need to trim down the captions in the photo galleries and do some other tweaking. I got rather verbose with my memories. I'll talk more about that later.
Now that I have a good understanding of how FrontPage works, my next project is to tackle this monster website my mom created. Be forewarned, it is graphic intensive and takes a while to load. It's called What Is Art? and needs to be completely torn apart and put back together in a more efficient manner. Many of the artists are anxiously awaiting the completion so they can have us add pictures of their newest work.
Feel free to offer up any suggestions for improving the site. It's a work in progress and I'm very eager to get it right.
Yes! It works! Everything works! Comments, blog, FrontPage....it all works! I started with a clean slate, new page, applied the theme, then used an InLine Frame to insert the blogger page into the new page. Blogger ftp's the updates to my blog over to my domain and then FrontPage inserts that page into another one as a special frame and it all seems to work. Don't ask me who what when or why or how....I just stumbled upon the configuration after wrestling with it for a day or two.
