Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Toughin' out the cold...

Supposed to be coldest week of the year here so I thought this was appropriate...


60 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Wisconsin plant gardens.

50 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Wisconsin sunbathe.

40 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Wisconsin drive with the windows down.

32 above zero:
Distilled water freezes.
The water in Wisconsin gets thicker.

20 above zero:
Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Wisconsin throw on a flannel shirt.

15 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Wisconsin have the last cookout before it gets cold.

Zero:
People in Miami all die.
Wisconsinites close the windows.

10 below zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico
People in Wisconsin get out their winter coats.

25 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Wisconsin are selling cookies door to door.

40 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Wisconsin let the dogs sleep indoors.

100 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Wisconsinites get upset because they can't start the Mini-Van.

460 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero on the Kelvin scale.)
People in Wisconsin start saying..."Cold 'nuff fer ya?"

500 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Wisconsin public schools will open 2 hours late.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Hooked on The Dog Whisperer

Hubby and I subscribe to Dish Network Satellite TV since we live in the country and are outside of the reaches of cable or DSL. We just get the basic package plus local channels.

Dish is smart though and has free previews of 3-5 channels for a few weeks at a time. Just enough to get you hooked. On the free preview the past few weeks has been The National Geographic Channel. And on this channel is the show "The Dog Whisperer" with Cesar Millan. I am hooked. It worked. I need this channel now. You just have to love a guy who will wag his body like a happy dog on national TV.

We've been trying out some of his techniques on Rico and they work. Consistency is the most important aspect and a difficult one too. It's easy to get lax on the rules and let him do what he wants/has always done. It is an eye opener too. Shows us how well Rico has
US trained.

Now where's that phone number for Dish...


Thursday, January 18, 2007

Rico & Climber

Rico the puppy and Climber the grumpy 17 year old cat. Rico so badly wants to play ball with Climber & the grump lets him know when the line is crossed. (The audio is a bit off from the video. Not sure why.)

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

How To Become A Hot Air Balloon Pilot

This is a tried and proven system. Hubby swears by it. It too can work for you! No money down! Call right now and we'll include the Ginsu knife set...for FREE!

In a nutshell, here's how it happened. We started bailing hay on the back 40 and sold the hay to local horse owners. A couple came to buy hay and as we were loading the bails into their truck, they told us about their hot air balloon and wondered if we would let them use our hay field to launch the balloon. A few weeks later hubby and I took our first ride in their balloon.

We then formed a friendship with the couple and started crewing for them. Fast forward about a year and we have a gathering of 13 hot air balloons, friends and family on our farm. A few months later we bought our first hot air balloon and hubby started his pilot instruction. He earned his private pilot license in 2001.
This last weekend he made the next step and passed his commercial pilot tests. I'm so proud of him.


So if all the stars align, you have a hay field in the back yard and there's a hot air balloon pilot with a horse in the area...well...it could happen!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Aliens in Bed and Gum on the Bedpost

Today is my sister Jeanne's birthday. She is 49 years young. While we lived on the farm she and I shared a double bed from my earliest memories until we moved when I was 10 or 11. A special bond was formed between us in that pink daisy wallpapered bedroom in the late 1960's & early 1970's. Being 6 years older than I, it wasn't until later that I realized how annoying it must have been to have a much younger sister in her hair all the time. I'm sure we had our sibling spats but I mostly recall the good memories. I thought Jeanne would like a little walk down memory lane of things I remember from our upstairs bedroom.

I remember...

...cutting out fashions from the Wards catalog and pinning them up on the bedroom walls.

...saving our wads of bubble gum on the round finial on the bedpost of the headboard only to pop them in our mouths again when we woke up in the morning. (I swear it gained flavor overnight!)

...pushing heels of our shoes around the edge of the room in the summertime to kill the crickets under the linoleum so their chirping wouldn't drive us crazy all night long.

...when I was sick, you would rock the bed by pushing your foot on the footboard until I fell asleep.

...watching "Night Gallery" or "Johnny Carson" from the grate in the floor that looked down into the living room.

...the night you scared me by talking in a monotone voice claiming you weren't Jeanne but insisting you were an alien in Jeanne's body.

...yelling then laughing when Jeff came into our room while sleepwalking and thought our mattress was the toilet seat cover and tried to lift it up.

...giving me sips from the bottle of Boones Farm wine you got for your 16th birthday. (I stole a few when you weren't looking.)

...that fateful night you sat up and then ran downstairs. I sat up listening to what I thought was laughter which turned out to be crying. The night Dad died. After that day there were lots of tears shared in that bedroom. I think I still have one or two of the feather pillows that harbor those tears from long ago.

...there were tears of laughter too. I remember giggling until Mom would yell up the stairwell at us. The threat of "Do you want me to bring the yard stick up there?" would always shut us up. (She never did bring the yard stick upstairs.)

The old house is gone now but our memories will stand as long as we do.

Thanks big sis! I love you, you are beautiful & I wish you a Happy Birthday!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Ol' Green Eyes

"Ol'" being the key word in the title. The eyeballs are aging. I don't know exactly what parts are wearing out in these nearsighted round orbs but bifocals are a necessity now.

I did get a pair of "office" glasses with bifocals at the last eye doctor visit and also a second pair of my signature red glasses without bifocals for every day. The office glasses are on my face most of the time now. The red glasses are getting worn out from constantly lifting them up and peaking under them to focus on things close to my face.

I tried contacts and hated them. Have often thought about having Lasik eye surgery to correct my vision but the cost always stopped that idea. I'll just keep wearing my facial accessory until I'm old and gray, um, older and grayer!

The other day I went out to lunch with a friend and there was a large group of blue hairs getting together for a luncheon. As we walked up to the door a lovely, short statured woman in a luxurious fur coat turned around to look for her companions and she had the wildest glasses. They were very large and very round and very blue and they made me smile. I loved them! Decided I'll be wearing those in red when I'm a blue hair.