What We Fear the Most

I'm really not able to write a blog today.  I received word this morning that my childhood best friend was widowed this past week.  The thing we all fear the most is starting to happen.....our friends are dying.  I've got to give myself time to wrap my head around this.

It seems only yesterday that she and I were little girls having sleep-overs and sharing our secrets.  I'm really sad right now, and I think I'm going to cry.

Will be back tomorrow.

A Loving Reminder For All of Us

From My Observation Tower

Am I correct when I say that most of us average Americans are sick and tired of the way our tax money is being spent?  Well, here's a situation I read about on the Internet this morning.  A 24-year-old gal in Michigan won the Lottery.  She won $1 million, took it in a lump sum, after taxes she pocketed over $500,000, bought a house and a car.

Before winning the lottery, she was receiving $200 a month in state food assistance.......and still is......after winning over a half a million dollars!

What?

Here's what she's quoted as saying, "I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn't, I thought, maybe, it was OK because I'm not working."

Help me out here.  Where are the people who are doling out our money?  Are they sound asleep in a cave in Pakistan?  A Michigan resident who's on the state welfare roster wins a Michigan State Lottery and the Michigan State DHS workers don't hear about it? and don't take her off the welfare roster?

When asked if she thought she had a right to public assistance now, here's what she said:  "I kind of do.  I  have no income, and I have bills to pay.  I have two houses....It's hard.  I'm struggling."

No frickin' wonder we baby boomers are all on blood pressure pills and serotonin reuptake inhibitors.  There are a whole lot of people in this country who need one good, swift kick in the ass!

Whew!  Where are my pills..........

Daffy Dils

This morning I read that Sarah P is backing Newt but is leaving the door open......she may throw her own hat in the GOP ring.....if she's pressed to do so.  

Huh?

If our nation can't find a GOP lineup with more class than Mitt, Newt, Rick, and her ............blah, blah, blah.

Heaven knows I could write a blog that would blow up the Internet if I pursued our political horse pucky.  What's that old saying......if you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything at all.

Sure feels like spring where I live.  Yesterday's temperatures were pushing 70 degrees.  We took a drive that took us to the Mighty Mississippi that was flowing with white caps.  It reminded me of the time years ago when we were Up North at a lake, took one of the resort boats out fishing, and the wind came up to the point that the resort owners were standing on the sandy beach waiting for us to come in.  Being out on the water is great fun, but not when the wind is blowing, the boat is bucking the waves, and water is splashing in the boat.

We stopped to visit our niece on our way home from the river, and her tulips are out of the ground about an inch.  I'm anxious to see the daffodils, tulips, and itty-bitty hyacinths we planted last year.  Hubby loves daffodils.  In fact, he brought some silk ones up from storage and put them in our front window.

Where do the days go.  Already it's Wednesday again.  We've accumulated a list of errands that need tending, so we'll be heading out of here pretty soon.  Seems there's always a grocery list, supplies we need from Wal-Mart, and meds to pick up at the pharmacy.  I can be pretty cagey when it comes to running errands.  If we go in the morning, chances are way good we'll grab a bite to eat out.

That brings back a memory.  Daddy used to talk about how times changed from when he was a little boy.  One time he said:  "When I was a kid, everybody ate their meals inside and went to the bathroom outside.  Nowadays, people are eating their meals outside and going to the bathroom inside."

Have a dilly of a day!

A Sap for Syrup

Tapping a Maple Tree

The sap is drip-drip-dripping from the maple trees.

Yup, the daytime temperatures are above freezing, and the nighttime temperatures are below freezing......time for maples to weep their sappy tears.  How cool is it that we saw our first maple drip of the season.....and spotted our first robin.......yesterday!

There's nothing sweeter (in more ways than one) than pure maple syrup.  Besides making killer pancakes and French Toast, it makes a yummy topping for oatmeal and broiled grapefruit.  We use it in our baked beans, sweet potatoes, and squash recipes instead of brown sugar.

Maple syrup is the essence of Nature and makes a healthy alternative to white sugar.  It's 100% pure and natural and contains more calcium than milk, more potassium than bananas, and is fat free.

• When a maple tree is 30 years old and 12 inches in diameter, it can be tapped.
•  As the tree grows and increases in diameter, more taps can be added, up to four taps at most.
• The tapping doesn't permanently damage the tree.
• It takes 30 to 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of pure maple syrup.  No wonder it's pricey....but worth every drippy sticky drop.
• The sap flows the heaviest for 10-20 days in early spring, and this "run" lasts up to 8-10 weeks.
• Vermont is the largest producer of maple syrup in the U.S.
• It takes four maple trees, at least 40 years old, to produce enough sap over a period of six weeks to make one gallon of maple syrup.
• Imitation maple syrups are mostly corn syrup, and they usually contain only two to three percent real maple syrup. 

Sugar on Snow is a traditional Vermont dish where freshly boiled syrup is poured on late winter snow, making a taffy-like consistency.  Supposedly, then the Vermontians eat it with a sour pickle to balance the sweet maple flavor.

Here's an idea:  for those people who are difficult to buy gifts for..... how about making a pancake gift basket.  Who wouldn't love that.

Well, I've done it again.  Every time I think, write, or talk about food, I get myself half crazy with hunger.  I'd give anything in the whole wide world right at this very second for a platter of my Mom's homemade (from scratch) pancakes.  I can still see her carrying the platter piled with 'em to our kitchen table.  I'd stack one pancake on top of the other and then pour oozy-goozy syrup on top till they turned into an island.

Why do I do this to myself!

The Sensational 60's

Back in the '60s, we teenagers had our own 'slanguage,' and we're still using it when we joke around with friends our same age.  Just for kicks, let's take a stroll down the lane.  How many of these slang terms do you remember?  or have you heard?

Blast - a lot of fun
Dip - someone not so cool by teenage standards
Something Else - very special
Fuzz - policeman
Right On - good, okay
Bummer - sudden turn for the worse
Scope Out - to check out, look at
Threads - clothes
Cherry - pristine, way cool
Kook - weirdo
Cool it - discontinue
Ditch - dump someone
Shades - sunglasses
Dough - money
Right On - I agree
Lay It On Me - tell me something
Dude - cool guy
Fake it - bluff
Chick - a girl
Flake off - go away.
Four on the floor - 4-speed gear shift
Bone Yard - auto wrecking yard
Gas - having a  riot
Hang out - gather together
Sock It To Me - let me have it
Hood - juvenile delinquent
Punk - bothersome one
Kicks - doing something fun
Clue me in - tell me
Make tracks - to leave
Bug - bother or annoy
Neato Skoreato - something really great
Out of it - not keeping up with things
Groovy - wonderful
Pipe down - be quiet
Stacked - a girl who is well endowed on top
Candyass - a wimp
Rip-city - great time
Split - leave
All show and no go - A car with pretty chrome, but no speed
Badass - tough guy
Riot - having a great time
Burn Rubber - spin tires
Play Chicken - two cars race toward each other, the first to pull to the side is the chicken
Chrome Dome - a bald guy
Stuck Up - conceited
No Biggie - no big deal
Church Key - can opener
Going Steady - dating one person
Cop a Feel - touch a girl, while acting like it was accidental
Main Squeeze - boyfriend or girlfriend
Crash - go to bed
Fox - cool-looking girl
Razz - tease
Cruising - driving up and down the same street looking for chicks
Daddy-O - a man
Unreal - unbelievable
Deuce - a 1932 Ford.  Remember the Little Deuce Coupe?
Vibes - feelings one gets from a person or situation
Dig - understand?
Flee the Scene - leave
Ditz - another word for idiot
Outta sight - awesome
Don't Sweat It - don't worry
With It - in the know
Drag - to race another car a short way
Main drag - main street
A Drag - Boring
Duck Tail - guy's hair slicked back toward the middle
Fab - fabulous
Raunchy - disgusting
Fink - tattle tale
Hip - Way cool
Zits - pimples
Boogie - to dance, to leave
Flat Top - guy's hair cut flat on top
Scarf - to eat real fast
Flip Flops - thongs for feet, we also called 'em Zorries
Dip Stick - an idiot
Funky - could mean something really cool, or something that's gone bad
Passion Pit - drive-in theater
F***in' A - I agree
Glasspacks - mufflers packed with fiberglass to muffle the sound.
Hacked off - mad or ticked off
Decked Out - dressed up
Square - someone who doesn't understand
Hang Loose - take it easy
Rat Fink - tattle tale
Hanky Panky - mischief
Heavy - deep
Kings X - declare a truce or time out
Skuzz Bucket - a not-so-neat car
Make Out - to kiss
On the Make - looking for another someone
Pad - someone's house
Far Out - excellent
Peel Out - lay a patch of rubber
Flake - an airhead
Ripped Off - to have something stolen
Shag Ass - let's get out of here!
Kiss Up - please a teacher
Brown Noser - one who annoyingly sucked up to the teachers
Shot gun - to ride in the front seat of a car nearest the door
Skag - a not-so-pretty girl
The Bird - the finger
A crock - a lie
Souped Up - car modified to go fast
Kibosh - put a stop to
Wedgie - when someone pulls your underwear up from the back
Swampwater - half A&W Root Beer and half Orange drink
Bent Out of Shape - get upset over something
Swapping Spit - French kissing
Freak Out - lose control
Beats Me - I don't know.
The Most - something that's the greatest
Wet Willie - when someone wets their finger and puts it in your ear
Think Fast - someone's gonna throw something at you!

The 1960's were sensational.  They were my teenage years.....when I learned the reason that boys were put on earth, danced my heart out at sock hops, studied hard to get good grades, fell in love with my classmate, started my career in the legal field, and we got hitched.  How can I not look back, reminisce, and say, "What an absolute blast!"

President For a Day

163 years ago today, March 4, 1849, the United States didn't have a President.....or, did it?

Outgoing president James Polk's term ended at noon on March 4, which was a Sunday....like today.  Zachary Taylor, his successor, didn't want to be sworn in on a Sunday, and neither did his Vice Presidential running mate, Millard Fillmore.  History holds debatable claims whether that put David Rice Atchison, the Senate President, or President pro tempore, into the Office of  President for that one day.  When interviewed about March 4, 1849, David Rice Atchison himself revealed that he slept most of the day because he was tired after working three or four nights finishing up the work of the Senate.

Atchison was the oldest of six children.  His father came from Ireland, and his mother from Georgia.  He was born in Frogtown, Kentucky, which is now part of Lexington.  He died in 1886, and was buried at his home in Plattsburg, Missouri.  His tombstone reads that he was President for One Day, but notice that it does not have a Presidential Seal.

Atchison, Kansas, is named for him, and the town later gave its name to the famous Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.  A bronze bust of Atchison is on  display in the rotunda of the Missouri State Capitol.  

Atchison, a Democrat from Missouri, was devoted to farming and to slavery.  He managed a 1,500-acre farm, owned 16 slaves and four slave cabins.  He favored secession from the Union, fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, resigned his commission after the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge, and then went to live on his farm in Plattsburg, Missouri.

Was he President for a Day?  or, wasn't he?

Guess it really doesn't matter anymore.  But, it sure makes for interesting historical trivia.  Anyway, I think it does.

Deadly Storms Hit United States

We should all be heartbroken today as we watch the remnants of the storm system that hit a good part of our country.  And, to think we are all sitting ducks for the same to happen to us.

May caring souls around the world see our suffering.  I pray that America gets as America gives.

Why is Mother Nature doing this?  Or, are these violent storms the result of something we humans are doing?  Imagine all the satellite traffic that lets us use cell phones, computers, televisions, and other miracles of communication.  Could all these sky beams be screwing up the atmosphere?

There's an old  saying, "Man will destroy himself with his own intelligence."

If we slow down long enough, and take a good look at what's going on, we can't help but see that man is causing adverse affects to Earth.  On land.  In sky. Put those two together, and maybe that's why we're seeing the undeniable changes in our seasons.  The significant weather changes have happened only in the last fifty years, and that's a millisecond in the Grand Scheme.

Is Mother Nature madder than hell?  Trying to get a point across?  Is she trying to tell us that human survival is #1?  That life was never designed for us to live like royalty?  When I was a little girl, a 120-acre farm sustained a family of four, if the kids were taught to pitch in and help.  Now, the little farms have been sucked up by the big boys, and our families are struggling to survive with two paychecks.  Not only that, but the kids aren't learning that work is necessary for survival.  It's not a gimme world and never will be.  It just might be that Mother Nature is wondering just how much it will take before we realize we are on the wrong track.

Let us bow our heads and talk with Our Creator.......

We come together to pray for our neighbors

south-west-east-north

who are suffering from storms.

Yesterday we saw communities face the fury of wind.

May the winds and the rains spare them

from further suffering

as they come to grips with the storm's aftermath.

Today may they know

the kindness of strangers,

the help of neighbors, 

and the courage to continue.

Be our shield in all the storms of life.

Keep us safe.

We ask all this of your Goodness.

Amen.

Plant a tree.

Feed the birds.

Be kind to animals.

Please do something to save our planet.  It belongs to all of us.      

The Way It Is

Crossword Clue

I am not able to patiently wait in the car, or anywhere else for that matter, without keeping my mind busy.  We keep a book of crossword puzzles tucked in the pouch back of the driver's seat for the times hubby feels like roaming the monotonous aisles at Menard's or making a few casts at a trout stream.

The crossword clue was "make a lap" for a 3-letter word.

Run?

That wasn't going to work because the last letter was a t.  What in the world...a 3-letter word ending in t, that means to make a lap.

Once again our English language tripped me up on such an elementary clue.  The correct answer was "sit."  We make a lap when we sit.

One sentence =  two thoughts.

"I am going to make a lap."

Should I run?

or should I sit?

Silly, isn't it?