Look out ...

Mew would love to be in this position ... except she couldn't be quiet. She chatters when she sees birds.

Fire 'er up ...

The semi-tropics have moved into my refrigerator and are slowly migrating toward the freezer. I may actually have to wear shoes inside the house. This is a big decision which may be mandated by my not wanting to sneezensniff.

Perhaps cooking something for breakfast which requires preheating the oven is an idea worth considering. Biscuits? The recipe is easy enough. It begins: remove cover and strike the tube against the edge of the counter ...

Roll out the ...

This afternoon, we had an experience that ran counter to our usual one when electric power is lost. We are on a small power grid that is bounded by water on two sides and the end of the grids next to ours, on the third and fourth sides. Because there are about 20 households on our grid, we are among the last in our area to receive attention when our area blacks out.

During infrastructure damage following hurricanes, we can wait for up to two weeks to have power restored. We have experienced this more than once.

However today when a great deal of our state suffered a power outage, we had ours restored in about half an hour. Now we are listening to media coverage of stories such as people in traffic taking two hours to drive14 miles.

This is certainly a reversal of fortune. Or perhaps it was just not our turn to be in the barrel ...

Where's my toy?

We were ten minutes late taking off from Atlanta, today. The crew had to ask cleaners to come and deodorize part of the plane's interior. Not near us, praise be. Seating was three and three across but the flight was not full. J took the aisle seat, I sat window and we lifted the seat-arms between us. We had coffee and biscotti (only two tiny ones apiece) on the center tray table. At least we were seated together.

The plane we took on the way up to Atlanta had a little interactive touchscreen set into the back of each seat. One could watch cable television, listen to music, or follow the progress of the flight on a map which showed the prospective route, airspeed, groundspeed, outside temperature, time remaining to reach the destination, actual time of day at destination, headwind, tailwind, and more. After I found the screen that showed a little icon of a plane moving along the route, I listened to JS Bach on the headset and watched the route countdown to landing. I was really disappointed not to have the new toys on the flight back.

I really have to get out more ...

Update from Atlanta

We flew to Atlanta and drove to Douglasville. The flight up was supposed to leave at seven a.m. Just before take-off, we were told via the PA system that the inspectors had spotted a hydraulic leak and a mechanic would evaluate and repair if possible. Delta, the captain told us, did not have mechanics but contracted out to American Air Lines for their mechanical help.

We waited an hour an a half for the mechanic to arrive and another hour-plus to fix it. We got here okay so I guess they did. As we deplaned, I said to the crew that the Captain had treated the hydraulics very gently with the soft landing. They really thought that was funny.

Us, not so much, considering the long wait. Thank the Lord we flew the early morning flight. We will come home on Monday, on an early afternoon flight.
I will let you know how that goes ...

Any good books, lately ...

I used to check amazon.com, MDPLS bestseller lists, and the nytimes.com "books "section for new books which could be then placed on reserve at the MDPLS web site.

The library web site has been upgraded and I was exploring when I came across an automated system which will email you new book lists for any category you choose. 'Scuse me? I don't have to do the searching? Info is served up on an email platter?

What an idea. New to me, but it probably has been available since the MDPLS went on line. I had not realized the opportunities my mouse glided past.

Periodically, I visit the web sites of favorite authors to see what's new and that's productive sometimes. Also, I maintain a booklist in WordPerfect of what I have read, want to read, and have on reserve.

It is like finding treasure, or free designer shoes ...

An offer you can't refuse?

We got a call last week asking us to come to our doctors' office this afternoon. They are brothers who are in practice together, each with his own specialty. It adds a whole new dimension to the term family practice.

Every month, they ask their patients who are over "a certain age" to come in during their birthday month for lunch and cake. We have never been asked before and it is nice of them.

But, what if you've stopped counting birthdays?

New Daily Checkup ...

You may already know about "I can has cheezburger." It is net-famous but I just found it about a week or so ago. It is now added to the daily checkups and I think I have looked at most of the archives.

I can has laf ut loud. I can has cuteness. I can share wid U.

U can tell me what U think ...

Outa the blue ...

I wonder if anyone has ever had a water bed that froze during a power outage in a blizzard, up no'th. The only real blizzard I ever experienced came in a Dairy Queen cup. Heh.

Icecapades was enough: ice storm, yes, slid off the icy road at a turnpike exit, yes, had coffee dregs freeze and bounce, yes. Blizzard, no.

I have no wish to experience one, either ...

How do you do it?

I am rather ashamed to admit that at my age, I (finally) figured out an easier way to make the bed in the morning. I used to strip off the top covers so I could smooth out the sheets. And sometimes, I admit, I just pulled things back into place. I am not sure exactly how it occurred to me except I was thinking of how beds are sometimes made in hospitals while still occupied by patients. You know: one side and then the other. Flip that around, I thought. Mmm-hm.

Now I begin at the bottom of the bed by folding (tossing really) the comforter and spread toward the top end. Retuck the bottom and top sheets and arrange them nicely as far up as the tossed spread/comforter. Next I pull down and arrange the spread over the neat bottom of the bed and finally arrange the bottom of the comforter over the spread.

At this step, the bottom is neatly finished and the top needs attention. I reverse the process, folding down the comforter and spread, arranging the top ends of sheets and pillows, then pulling up the spread and comforter (tucking and straightening). Add any shams or pillows and voilà.

It takes me half the time it used to take to make the bed in the morning. What's that saying about old dogs and new tricks?

Birthday food ...

Although today is J's birthday, we didn't do a whole lot to celebrate. Big Ed took a trip to slipnfall city so he and I spent most of the afternoon having him evaluated and x-rayed. No broken wrist, which we had feared, but he has to ice it and wear a wrist compression device. Plus take Advil.

Tomorrow we will celebrate with Zeta and M at Joffrey's Coffee and Restaurant. Once we are back home, No Sugar Added chocolate cake is da bomb when the appropriate ice cream is used with it. Plus we have some NSA apple pie to warm up.

Ah so ... birthday goood for all of us.

Caution, graphic material ...

J and Big Ed were watching the noon news today when I heard sounds from them of awww, awww, that's awful, in dual chorus. The noon news had just shown the clip, in slow motion, of ice hockey goalie Richard Zednik whose throat was injured by the blade of a teammate's skate. The station should have issued a caution that "the following scenes are graphic." They sure were.

I googled the clip and the sounds the announcers were making were very similar to the sounds of J and Big Ed.

Poor guy is going to be all right. But, what a shock for his family ...

Looky here ...

Above, the Dad shows off my own personal electronic device. J and I each have one.

We are down to three in residence. Sadly, half our complement left for their homes, this morning. J and I crept out of our room, being sooo quiet so as not to wake anyone. I headed for the coffee pot first and found they had already had breakfast (the best kind of guests: ones who help themselves when invited to do that!) and were waiting for the Dad to come back from Mickie D's. We enjoyed having them and the visit was wayyy too brief.

Big Ed told us he enjoyed his bike rides with Zeta. How nice the weather has been for them. 'Course, yesterday that changed. We were grateful for the rain however, and the grass, the grass, it is a-greening.

I gon' do the nap thing, this afternoon. After a visit to the library ...

Say: Finlandia

Can you tell that the gentleman, above, was (almost) forced to pose with the group before leaving to attend a family event? It is a joy having them here.

I have to ask, do oatmeal and grits mix well? Two out of six of us seemed to think so, this morning.

Accidentally, of course ...

So, I did ...

What father-spider did I kill?
What stickly legs and pudgy, rounded
Body mixed upon the wall,
And have they missed him, yet, at all?

Or worse, arachnid mother gone,
With eggly children in her pouch.
A family outing gone awry?
With just a swat (and no goodbye?)

I'll have no tickley pillow-case,
Or stickly legs across my face.
A mix of spider down the wall,
Then tissue-wiped, beyond recall.

Now, why report that little life
was there - then swiftly swept away.
As mine may be on any day
I venture forth or homely stay.

No guarantees for spider climbly, timely.
01-04-2000

Perfectly ended ...

We just watched the survival of the Dolphin's perfect season record. The Patriots/Giants game had a perfect ending from our perspective. After that last Giants' touchdown, we were yelling at the Toshiba like three banshees.

I thought we might have heard 01 Doc cheering from far, far in the distance.

During the postgame awards, I asked the guys if we shouldn't leave the stadium before the traffic got too bad. It felt as if we had helped Manning play that last 59 seconds personally.

Perhaps we did ...

The contest, tomorrow ...

We have plans to watch the Super Bowl from a warm place. No, not Arizona: our own living room. Not too warm, air conditioning willing. One would think our interest assumed a personal stake in the outcome. Not really, just the eighteen and oh record on the line.

In previous years, I have recorded the SB game and then fast-forwarded from commercial to commercial. This year, having watched the playoff semifinals, I think I'll sit still for the whole thing. But yet, those commercials may be worth watching more than once.

So, I'll set the DVR, just in case ...

Proper planning prevents ...

We had intended to rise early, get the grocery shopping out of the way before crowds gathered, and possibly congratulate our early-bird selves. When the alarm went off, I got up, moved around a little, decided I wouldn't after all, turned off the alarm (ocean sounds) and went back to bed.

We didn't go to the store until this afternoon. Ha, there were few people there. All of the early birds had gotten their worms and left. The shelves were restocked and pristine. Who could have guessed?

Tomorrow's big event: oil changes for both cars. Life in the fast lane ...