Earthquake, Arctic melting...The sky is falling!!

Been a little crazy around the Kafe and haven't had time to post. Just about the time I was going to post yesterday, California was hit with an earthquake. I did some checking at my normal spots and saw that CA got a good shake but thankfully no major damage or injuries. I saw this morning that a 7 square mile chunk of ice broke off an Arctic ice shelf near Edmonton, Alberta. It stated that a crack was first noticed in 2002. It's not the first chunk of ice to break off and Greenland has had major melting for several years now. I really believe Mother Nature is trying to tell us 'she's had enough, already!' We have abused our planet and resources. I mean, think about it, floods, droughts, unusual weather, earthquakes, polar melting...she's trying to tell us something, cause and effect. I know, I know, I sound like Chicken Little, "The sky is falling!"

Hubby got to go home early yesterday (work is slow) which made me jealous. I would love to not have to work but again....cause and effect...if we want to eat, we better earn some money. As I'm driving home and get near the house I see our pine tree is gone! Not only did he get another dead tree down but the last of the brush is burning in the fire pit. What a good boy, huh? No sign of Hubby, though. I get into the house and there he is in the bathroom with my baster?! He gets 'swimmer ear' from time to time so we keep ear drops and the little 'squirting thing' (it's like the thing they give you at the hospital after having a baby to suction their nose out) on hand. Seems his ear clogged up and he couldn't find the 'little squirting thing' so he was TRYING to use my baster! Good grief, he had water everywhere but his ear LOL I went and got the squirter and soon things were fine again. Just an other day in the life....
Oh, one more thing! Our gas prices have dropped dramatically! Highest was $4.19 a couple weeks ago and today it's $3.72!! It's sad that $3.72 seems like a bargain!

This Day in History:

July 30, 1932

Disney's first color cartoon

Walt Disney releases his first cartoon in color. The cartoon, Flowers and Trees, was made in three-color Technicolor; Disney was the only studio that used the process for the next three years, because of an exclusive contract.

July 30, 1945

USS Indianapolis bombed

On this day in 1945, the USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sinks within minutes in shark-infested waters. Only 317 of the 1,196 men on board survived. However, the Indianapolis had already completed its major mission: the delivery of key components of the atomic bomb that would be dropped a week later at Hiroshima to Tinian Island in the South Pacific.

The Indianapolis made its delivery to Tinian Island on July 26, 1945. The mission was top secret and the ship's crew was unaware of its cargo. After leaving Tinian, the Indianapolis sailed to the U.S. military Pacific headquarters at Guam and was given orders to meet the battleship USS Idaho at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines to prepare for the invasion of Japan.

Shortly after midnight on July 30, halfway between Guam and Leyte Gulf, a Japanese sub blasted the Indianapolis, sparking an explosion that split the ship and caused it to sink in approximately 12 minutes, with about 300 men trapped inside. Another 900 went into the water, where many died from drowning, shark attacks, dehydration or injuries from the explosion. Help did not arrive until four days later, on August 2, when an anti-submarine plane on routine patrol happened upon the men and radioed for assistance.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, inflicting nearly 130,000 casualties and destroying more than 60 percent of the city. On August 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, where casualties were estimated at over 66,000. Meanwhile, the U.S. government kept quiet about the Indianapolis tragedy until August 15 in order to guarantee that the news would be overshadowed by President Harry Truman's announcement that Japan had surrendered.

In the aftermath of the events involving the Indianapolis, the ship's commander, Captain Charles McVay, was court-martialed in November 1945 for failing to sail a zigzag course that would have helped the ship to evade enemy submarines in the area. McVay, the only Navy captain court-martialed for losing a ship during the war, committed suicide in 1968. Many of his surviving crewmen believed the military had made him a scapegoat. In 2000, 55 years after the Indianapolis went down, Congress cleared McVay's name.

July 30, 2003

Last classic "Bug" rolls off the line

The last “classic” Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the production line at VW’s Puebla, Mexico, plant on this day in 2003. The car, part of the 3,000-unit final edition, was sent to a museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, where Volkswagen is headquartered.

Ironically, the car that became a symbol of flower-power Hippies in the 1960s and inspired Disney’s Herbie the Love Bug has its roots in Nazi Germany. In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler commissioned a design from Ferdinand Porsche for an affordable, efficient “people’s car.” After World War II, the Beetle’s popularity began to grow internationally and by 2002 over 21 million cars had been produced.

In 1977, however, the Beetle, with its rear-mounted, air-cooled-engine, was banned in America for failing to meet safety and emission standards. Worldwide sales of the car shrank by the late 1970s and by 1988, the classic Beetle was sold only in Mexico. Volkswagen decided to discontinue production of the classic bug in 2003 due to increased competition from other manufacturers of inexpensive compact cars. However, this event did not mark the end of the Beetle. In 1998, Volkswagen introduced a redesigned “new” Beetle, which resembles the classic version but is based on the VW Golf; the car is popular in the U.S. and abroad.

Take care...until next post...

Brickyard Debacle

Sunday was a travesty to racing!! From my view this was Goodyear's fault but many are blaming the track, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The track hasn't been changed since 2005 and they had drivers at the track earlier in the year to do tire tests and no problem showed up then. Last Saturday was an eye opener. Dale Jr. was the first to say anything. He went and got a news crew with camera and asked them to follow him. He had something to show them, that's how bad he felt like the situation was. After 7 laps around the track his tires were showing cords!

Even though NASCAR had flown in tires from Pocono overnight, most teams stayed with the Brickyard tires because the harder Pocono tire had the potential to cause other problems resulting in blown engines, So, NASCAR made the decision to throw a caution every 10-20 laps which took all pit strategy and racing out of the game.

I'm very thankful my trip to the Brickyard was last year. Would hate to spend that kind of time and money and not see a race. It was pitiful!! Even I quit watching!! Most drivers issued apologies last night and this morning to their fans for such a poor excuse of a race. Now how sad it that? Ok, I could go on and on once I'm on my Soap Box so I'll step down and move on...but grrrrr anyway :P

This Day in History:

July 28, 1929

Future first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy is born

On this day in 1929, President John F. Kennedy’s beautiful and popular wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, is born into a prominent New York family.

Jacqueline, or “Jackie” as she was called, grew up an avid horsewoman and reader. In 1951, after graduating from George Washington University, Jackie toured Europe with her sister. That fall, she returned to the U.S. to begin her first job as the Washington Times-Herald’s "Inquiring Camera Girl.” Her assignment was to roam the streets of Washington, D.C. asking strangers “man on the street” questions and then snapping their picture for publication. Shortly after her return to the capital, at a dinner party in Georgetown, she met a young, handsome senator from Massachusetts named John F. Kennedy. They dated over the next two years, and in May 1953, Kennedy proposed. Jackie accepted and the couple married on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island. The Kennedys then settled in Washington, D.C., where Kennedy embarked on a meteoric political career. He served as a senator from Massachusetts from 1953 until he was elected president of the United States in 1961. At the time, he and Jackie were the youngest couple ever to reside in the White House.

The couple presented a public facade of a happy marriage--the general public did not know of Kennedy’s affairs with other women—and Jackie was a dedicated wife and civic-minded first lady. She raised two children in the White House and restored the building to historic specifications. She was a popular celebrity and style icon for women around the world. On a trip to France in 1961, President Kennedy once quipped “I’m the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris.”

The most memorable and tragic images of Jackie Kennedy were captured on film on November 22, 1963, immediately after her husband was shot while the couple was riding in an open-car motorcade through the city of Dallas, Texas. A home-movie camera caught a frantic Jackie scrambling over the back seat of the car and onto the trunk, where it appeared that she tried to retrieve a portion of Kennedy’s brain. Later that day, the press photographers snapped Jackie as she stood--shocked, stoic and solemn in a blood-stained suit—next to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson as he took the oath of office en route to Washington on Air Force One.

July 28, 1945

Plane crashes into Empire State Building

A United States military plane crashes into the Empire State Building on this day in 1945, killing 14 people. The freak accident was caused by heavy fog.

The B-25 Mitchell bomber, with two pilots and one passenger aboard, was flying from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to LaGuardia Airport in New York City. As it came into the metropolitan area on that Saturday morning, the fog was particularly thick. Air-traffic controllers instructed the plane to fly to Newark Airport instead.

This new flight plan took the plane over Manhattan; the crew was specifically warned that the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the city at the time, was not visible. The bomber was flying relatively slowly and quite low, seeking better visibility, when it came upon the Chrysler Building in midtown. It swerved to avoid the building but the move sent it straight into the north side of the Empire State Building, near the 79th floor.

July 28, 1973

Bonnie & Clyde's Ford V-8 sold at auction

Bonnie and Clyde's bullet-riddled 1934 Ford V-8 sedan was sold at auction for $175,000 to Peter Simon of Jean, Nevada. The Ford V-8 model succeeded the new Model A, and it was well received due to its speed and power--perhaps this is why it seemed most popular among the criminal element. Henry Ford first received a personal letter congratulating him on the car's performance from famed outlaw gunman John Dillinger. Dillinger wrote, "Hello Old Pal. You have a wonderful car. It's a treat to drive. Your slogan should be Drive a Ford and Watch The Other Cars Fall Behind You. I can make any other car eat a Ford's dust. Bye-bye." Later, Clyde Barrow wrote a similarly laudatory note to Henry Ford: "Dear Sir, While I still have breath in my lungs I will tell you what a dandy car you make. I have drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one. For sustained speed and freedom from trouble the Ford has got every other car skinned and even if my business hasn't been strictly legal it don't hurt to tell you what a fine car you got in the V8." Almost enough to make you think Ford hired both high-profile criminals for an ad campaign, but alas, Ford made no use of either personal endorsement.

Until next post...

more volcano erutions, perceptions

More volcanoes erupting and on US soil at that. There are now 2 erupting volcanoes in Alaska's Aleutian Islands in less than a months time, Okmok and Mount Cleveland. Here's what Reuters had to say:

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A second volcano (Okmok pictured to left) in Alaska's Aleutian Islands has erupted in less than a month, shooting steam and ash as high as 20,000 feet into the air, officials said on Tuesday.

The eruption on Mount Cleveland on Chuginadak Island took place 90 miles west of Okmok Volcano where ongoing eruptions since July 12 have captured the attention of scientists and forced nearby residents to evacuate.

The initial eruption on Mount Cleveland, a volcano about 940 miles southwest of Anchorage, occurred on Monday, showering ash on nearby fishing vessels, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory, a joint federal-state office that monitors Alaska's plentiful volcanoes.

Mount Cleveland, (pictured at left) one of Alaska's most restless volcanoes, has continued to spew clouds comprised mostly of steam and there is what appears to be a small lava flow trickling from the vent, the monitoring group said.

"It erupts so frequently that it's not a surprise when it erupts," said Peter Cervelli, research geophysicist for the Alaska Volcano Observatory, noting that Mount Cleveland, which rises to 5,676 feet, erupted last year.

Cervelli called the proximity of the two eruptions a coincidence and said the two events are unrelated.

The events at Okmok, a 3,520-foot (1,073-metre) volcano on Umnak Island, have been more dramatic, prompting the Alaska Volcano Observatory to keep staff at work around the clock.

Explosions from Okmok have recurred regularly since the initial eruption on July 12, sending steam and ash up to 30,000 feet in the air and keeping the remote island's 10 evacuees from returning home.

If Okmok remains true to historical patterns, eruptions there are likely to continue for weeks or even months, according to projections from the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

In the fishing hub of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, located 65 miles northeast of Okmok, ash has turned skies hazy and prompted air-quality advisories from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

Airline pilots and mariners passing through the area are also under advisories to avoid the ash.

They make it sound so normal! Kind of like...in other news today, a volcano erupted and we had to evacuate the island that was quickly taken over by martians...Ok, I guess that's a little exaggerated.

Weird fact of the day: 'Dreamt' is the only English word that ends in the letters 'mt'.

Ohhhh....here's a good one LOL:
Couple make burglar clean their home at gunpoint An American couple turned the tables on a burglar they caught ransacking their home by dispensing their own summary justice.

Without waiting for the law to arrive, the pair doled out their own punishment to the surprised criminal - they made him clean up the house at gunpoint!

The unlucky burglar was caught red-handed when Adrian and Tiffany McKinnon returned to their house near Montgomery, Alabama, after a week away.

To their dismay they discovered their home had been plundered.
"Tears just rolled down my face as I walked in and saw everything gone and piles of trash all over my home," Mrs. McKinnon told her local newspaper the Montgomery Advertiser.

When her husband walked into another room to check what was missing he came face to face with the burglar, who was wearing one of Mr. McKinnon's hats.

"My husband Adrian caught the thief red-handed in our home. And what is even crazier, the man even had my husband's hat sitting right on his head," Mrs. McKinnon said.

Mr. McKinnon held suspect Tajuan Bullock at gunpoint and made him sit down until he decided what to do.

"We made this man clean up all the mess he made, piles of stuff, he had thrown out of my drawers and cabinets onto the floor," Mrs. McKinnon said.

When the police arrived the work-shy burglar had the cheek to complain to them - about having to clean up his mess at gunpoint.

"This man had the nerve to raise sand about us making him clean up the mess he made in my house," said Mrs McKinnon.

But the police officer laughed at Bullock when he complained and told him that anybody else would have shot him dead.

Bullock was arrested on burglary and theft charges and was held in Montgomery County Detention Facility.

A police spokesman said the victims were lucky to be able to catch the suspect in the act and hold him until police arrived. It was an unusual case because usually burglars struck while the homeowner was away and were in and out fast so they could quickly sell the stolen items, the spokesman added.

More strange facts:

Blue whale babies weigh up to 7 tonnes at birth. (Glad I'm not a whale mommy!)

A female cod can lay up to 9 million eggs. (You go girl!)

Snakes can see through their eyelids. (creepy!)

Elephants spend 23 hours a day eating. (oink, oink!)

Vultures sometimes eat so much they can't take off again. (Shoot them while they can't move!)

The Amazon 'Jesus Christ lizard' can run across water. (Jesus!)

Time for me to finish up and get out of here, yippee! Have a safe evening all....until next post...

The way it was in 1934...abbreviated :P

Here I sit each day with a sweater on and my heater going to keep my feet warm. Where I work wastes so much money on AC! They keep it a toasty 65degrees!!! Brrrrr winter in July!! and I wonder why I have nasal drip and a cold I can't get rid of!! Going from 65 in the morning to 90 for lunch then back to 65 until 5pm.....grrrrr There's only 2 of us that complain lol so it's not going to change any time soon but 65!!!???
On the home front...Yea! We sold the old Allis-Chalmers tractor. The guy came and picked it up last night. He's a very nice man and he and his wife raise beef cows. He told us to let him know if we want to buy some and he'd give us a nice deal. We're thinking about getting a half a beef later on closer to winter. With the tractor out of the big barn it really opens up some space. Sunday we took out one of the stall walls (well, Hubby did ;)..) so we could put firewood in the barn and begin emptying the woodshed. We will get a newer tractor at some point but will look around for awhile. We need one with a front loader and a finish mower wouldn't be turned down. The plan is to empty the woodshed and chicken coup and tear them down. In their place put up a pole barn about the size of a 3-car garage. At that point we would tear down the current 2-car garage leaving the cement floor as it is. Then we would like to add a deck off the back of the house and use the old garage floor as a patio. Sounds like a plan, huh? It will be a work in progress for years but we will get it done. Would rather do it a little at a time and do it ourselves if only to save money. Well, that's the long-term and short-term plan. Want to get some things ready for when we are finally able to retire!
Anyone who has been stopping by here or following Johnny Depp's movie roles will know that today is the 74th anniversary of Dillinger being killed. Here's some other things that happened in 1934:

"Li'l Abner" by New Haven, Conn.-born comic-strip cartoonist Al Capp (Alfred Gerald Caplin), 35, is set in the fictitious hamlet of Dogpatch, Ky. Capp has been ghost-drawing "Joe Palooka" for Ham Fisher, whose eyesight has begun to fail owing to diabetes; the new strip will soon be syndicated to hundreds of papers.

"Flash Gordon" by New Rochelle, N.Y.-born King Features comic-strip cartoonist Alex (Alexander Gillespie) Raymond, 24, is a world-of-tomorrow adventure strip that competes with the popular 25th-century strip "Buck Rogers."

Shirley Temple makes her first full-length film at age 6 and follows Hamilton McFadden's Stand Up and Cheer (in which she steals the show by singing "Baby Take a Bow") with Alexander Hall's Little Miss Marker and David Butler's Bright Eyes (in which she sings "The Good Ship Lollypop"). Born at Santa Monica and now all dimples and curly hair, Temple will go on to star in half a dozen other Hollywood films in the next 4 years.

"The Beer Barrel Polka" ("Skoda Lasky") by Czech songwriters Jaromir Vejvoda, Wiadimir A. Timm, and Vasek Zeman (English lyrics by Lew Brown will appear in 1939).

The Hammond organ patented by Chicago clock maker Laurens Hammond, 39, is the world's first pipeless organ. The 275-pound instrument has a two-manual console with pedal clavier and power cabinet but no reeds, pipes, or vibrating parts; it costs less than 1¢ per hour to operate and will lead to a whole generation of electrically-amplified instruments.

The board game Sorry introduced by Parker Brothers of Salem, Mass., frustrates players under age 8 who cannot bear to have their pieces sent back by rivals. Based in part on pahcheesi, the game will remain popular into the next century.

U.S. men's underwear sales slump after moviegoers see Clark Gable remove his shirt in the film It Happened One Night to reveal that he wears no undershirt. Sales of men's caps have declined because of their association with hoodlums in gangster movies.

The Washeteria that opens April 18 at Fort Worth, Texas, is the first launderette. Proprietor J. F. Cantrell has installed four washing machines and charges by the hour.

And check out these pictures from a Sears Catalog! Love the prices! What a hoot! Open in new window for larger pictures.

On the left, are ladies cotton dresses. I think they look pretty good now-a-days. Yet some things haven't changed all that much. The lounge wear (right) looks pretty much like today's stuff. The Chiffons (bottom) I avoid like the plague! As low as $.20 a pair! (Still can't believe they took the 'cent' key off the keyboard!!)

Working between the rain drops...

Back from the weekend. It almost feels like a vacation to come back to work! Saturday we planned to take down 2-4 trees of the 7 trees that were killed off in the Ice Storm of 2005. The excessive heat caused pop up storms so we didn't get as much done as we planned. Here's a video that was on You Tube of the Ice Storm if anyone wants to check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC59LwSs2zw

BUT it's kind of misleading at the end when it says 'finally help arrived' from out of town. We had help from all over starting on day 2. There wasn't a whole lot anyone could do until the freezing rain stopped. We live out in the country so we had a lot of damage and small trees down. The ones left standing and dead are the 7 we need to take down now. We had no power for 5 1/2 days. The first 3 days we couldn't even get out. All roads had trees/wires down across them. Lost all our freezer meat and most things in frig. I was on my way home on day 6 and saw lights at neighboring farms and when I got to my driveway and saw we had power I just started crying. My hubby thought I was nuts but I was just so happy to have it over with. I was tired of cooking on the camping stove and eating by Coleman Lanterns and constantly feeding the fire to keep the house warm. I was just soooo done!!! lol
Any-who, back to the weekend...Saturday, Hubby cut 2 of the trees down while I was cleaning house. Then we were going to load both in truck and stack in woodshed but Mother Nature was playing with us. Rain moved in and drenched everything. We didn't get anything more done outside that day! I was kind of glad because the rain just made the humidity worse.
Sunday we began picking up the mess. We had decided overnight that we would be better off putting wood in big barn (we have 2 barns, chicken coup and the wood shed) since the cats and kittens had taken over the woodshed. Once we had the burnable sizes in truck, Hubby drove it over to the barn and began to make a space for it while I raked the little stuff up for the burn pile. God, it was hot. After only 15 minutes outside I went in to get a bandanna. My eyes were burning so bad from the sweat running down into them! I was drenched in no time. Any wind we had just felt like you were standing in front of a dryer vent! I got the last of the brush onto the fire as the rain started again. Of course by then I had more laundry to do because we kept taking showers. In the end we only got the 2 trees down and cleaned up so, yippee, still more to do later. I'm thinking early winter sounds good for the job but Hubby goes hunting then....
It's been so hot that the Momma cats have moved the kittens down to the wooded area near the creek. It's close to our small barn so they have shelter available. I try to keep the water bowl full of fresh water even though I know they can get drinks out of the creek but have you thought about how healthy the creek water is now days? Eeeewwww!! God alone knows what is put into it upstream! I tell the cats that but do they listen? :P

This Day In History:

July 21, 365

Tsunami hits Alexandria, Egypt

On this day in the year 365, a powerful earthquake off the coast of Greece causes a tsunami that devastates the city of Alexandria, Egypt. Although there were no measuring tools at the time, scientists now estimate that the quake was actually two tremors in succession, the largest of which is thought to have had a magnitude of 8.0.

The quake was centered near the plate boundary called the Hellenic Arc and quickly sent a wall of water across the Mediterranean Sea toward the Egyptian coast. Ships in the harbor at Alexandria were overturned as the water near the coast receded suddenly. Reports indicate that many people rushed out to loot the hapless ships. The tsunami wave then rushed in and carried the ships over the sea walls, landing many on top of buildings. In Alexandria, approximately 5,000 people lost their lives and 50,000 homes were destroyed.

July 21, 1925

Monkey Trial ends

In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" ends with John Thomas Scopes being convicted of teaching evolution in violation of Tennessee law. Scopes was ordered to pay a fine of $100, the minimum the law allowed.

In March 1925, the Tennessee legislature had passed the anti-evolution law, making it a misdemeanor punishable by fine to "teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." With local businessman George Rappalyea, Scopes had conspired to get charged with this violation, and after his arrest the pair enlisted the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to organize a defense. Hearing of this coordinated attack on Christian fundamentalism, William Jennings Bryan, the three-time Democratic presidential candidate and a fundamentalist hero, volunteered to assist the prosecution. Soon after, the great attorney Clarence Darrow agreed to join the ACLU in the defense, and the stage was set for one of the most famous trials in U.S. history.

July 21, 1944

Hitler to Germany: "I'm still alive."

On this day in 1944, Adolf Hitler takes to the airwaves to announce that the attempt on his life has failed and that "accounts will be settled."

Hitler had survived the bomb blast that was meant to take his life. He had suffered punctured eardrums, some burns and minor wounds, but nothing that would keep him from regaining control of the government and finding the rebels. In fact, the coup d'etat that was to accompany the assassination of Hitler was put down in a mere 11 1/2 hours. In Berlin, Army Major Otto Remer, believed to be apolitical by the conspirators and willing to carry out any orders given him, was told that the Fuhrer was dead and that he, Remer, was to arrest Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda. But Goebbels had other news for Remer-Hitler was alive. And he proved it, by getting the leader on the phone (the rebels had forgotten to cut the phone lines). Hitler then gave Remer direct orders to put down any army rebellion and to follow only his orders or those of Goebbels or Himmler. Remer let Goebbels go. The SS then snapped into action, arriving in Berlin, now in chaos, just in time to convince many high German officers to remain loyal to Hitler.

Arrests, torture sessions, executions, and suicides followed. Count Claus von Stauffenberg, the man who actually planted the explosive in the room with Hitler and who had insisted to his co-conspirators that "the explosion was as if a 15-millimeter shell had hit. No one in that room can still be alive." But it was Stauffenberg who would not be alive for much longer; he was shot dead the very day of the attempt by a pro-Hitler officer. The plot was completely undone.

Now Hitler had to restore calm and confidence to the German civilian population. At 1 a.m., July 21, Hitler's voice broke through the radio airwaves: "I am unhurt and well.... A very small clique of ambitious, irresponsible...and stupid officers had concocted a plot to eliminate me.... It is a gang of criminal elements which will be destroyed without mercy. I therefore give orders now that no military authority...is to obey orders from this crew of usurpers.... This time we shall settle account with them in the manner to which we National Socialists are accustomed."

Take care....Until next post....

Grandkids and puppets

I got a call at work yesterday afternoon from Amanda to see if we could babysit. She isn't one to ask at the last minute but where Tom works was having a company dinner/meeting. They hadn't realized until the last minute that he didn't know about it. He delivers oxygen to home-patients and is on the road most of the days. Well, of course, I said sure. What kind of Maw-maw would I be if I said no!?

Boy did we have a blast!! We had gotten Faith a Sponge Bob tent when she was little and Tiffany was handing it down to Jack but it never made it past our house. Jack and Maggie had a lot of fun playing in and out of it. Jack saw one of Paw-paw's socks with a thin heel that I had laid over for the rag drawer and asked me 'What's that?' So I told him and then I slipped it on my hand and began talking to him with it like a puppet.

The look on his face was priceless but nothing compared to the look he got when Maw-maw went and got the button jar! We picked out buttons for the 'eyes' and nose', red for the eyes and blue for the nose and I started stitching them on. I don't even have the time to tell you the conversation on why Maw-maw was poking the sock with a needle! While I'm sewing I ask him what the socks name is? Charlie, Andy or Sally, but he says it Sock. So, the socks name is Sock lol! Once Sock has his eyes and nose Jack and I begin to play. I think Jack has a new best friend. Eventually, Jack wants Sock on his hand and watching him play just cracked me up! He and Sock are talking very seriously and then Jack would throw his head back and just laugh and laugh. I laughed so hard at him I thought I'd wet my pants!! What an imagination! When it came time for him to go home I could tell he didn't want to leave Sock. He finally asked if Sock could go to his house and I agreed. I'm still floating around today on last night's happiness...

Why is it that you can spent lots and lots of money on toys and then see them having so much fun with something you had around the house that cost nothing but a little time!? It's kind of like at Christmas, you buy them the toys they ask for and then they play with the box it came in!

Looking forward to the weekend. Nothing much planned so will probably work on house. We need some re-arranging done upstairs but will probably wait for cooler weather for that. The upstairs has no air-conditioning! Any breeze we get up there feels like your standing in front of a dryer vent.

Happy Birthday Hunter S. Thompson wherever you are! July 18, 1929 - February 20, 2005

This Day in History:

July 18, 1939

Sneak previews of The Wizard of Oz

MGM screens a sneak preview of The Wizard of Oz. After the screening, producers debate about removing what will later become the movie's signature song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." When the film was released in August, it contained the song. Some 15,000 people waited in line at the box office for the New York opening at the Loew's Capitol: 37,000 tickets were sold to seven shows on the first day. Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney performed onstage at the premiere, and Garland continued to perform a live stage show for the next several weeks.

Although MGM mogul Samuel Goldwyn had intended the role of Dorothy for Shirley Temple when he bought the film rights in 1934, Temple's appeal was fading fast by the late 1930s, and the role went to up-and-comer Garland instead. The film made the 17-year-old actress and singer an international star and earned her a special Oscar that year for Best Juvenile Performer.

The 101-minute-long film remained a classic for decades. In 1956, an estimated 45 million people tuned in to watch the movie debut on television as part of the Ford Star Jubilee. The movie spawned two sequels, including Journey Back to Oz (1974), an animated film featuring the voice of Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland's daughter, and Return to Oz (1985). A remake with an African American cast, The Wiz, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, was released in 1978 with music arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones.

The movie is still one of America's top-selling videocassettes and one of the first 25 films to be put on the National Film Registry, which is reserved for culturally or historically significant movies. It ranked sixth in the American Film Institute's 1998 poll of America's 100 Greatest Movies.

Guess that's it for now. Take care until next post....

Weather, Johnny Depp Poll

It's a beautiful summer day here. Forecast is calling for 90's the rest of the week and into the weekend. 90's + humidity = hot! I will take that over freezing any day!! The older I get the more I don't like winter. Now that my friend 'Arthur Ritis' is with me everywhere I go it just makes me ache all over.
Monday the hubby had to stay home to meet the John Deere repair man to get our lawn mower running again. It was running along just fine and then died. Come to find out it was the battery, duh, don't we feel stupid! Anyway, when I get home from work I about had a heart attack!. Hubby had the yard done, dishes washed, coffee set for next day and house picked up!! Let me tell you that hasn't happened very often. Or not as often as I would like it too :P

I also added a poll to the right---> Feel free to vote ;)

Flashing back to the 70's yesterday was fun so I checked out my birth year, 1957...

• Soviet Union inaugurates the "Space Age" by launching Sputnik I, the world's first artificial satellite. A month later Sputnik II carries a dog into orbit, making that dog the first living being to enter space.
• Federal troops ordered to enforce integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas
• Teamsters union expelled from the AFL-CIO for failing to deal with organized crime
• New York Giants move to San Francisco; Brooklyn Dodgers move to Los Angeles
• Movies: The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Prince and the Showgirl, Twelve Angry Men, Love in the Afternoon
• Songs: Young Love, Tonight, Wake Up Little Susie, That'll Be the Day, Jailhouse Rock
• Books: On the Road, Jack Kerouac; Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand; The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss
• Theater: West Side Story and The Music Man open in New York
• "Beatnik" enters the vernacular as a description of the emerging "Beat Generation" counterculture movement
• An earthquake in the Soviet Union June 27 leaves 1,200 dead; an equal number die in a quake that rocks part of Iran 5 days later, registering 7.4 on the Richter scale; an Iranian quake that registers 7.3 kills 1,130 December 13.
  

Here's an interesting article about the Frisbee.

The Frisbee is introduced by the Wham-O Manufacturing Co. of San Gabriel, Calif., which has been licensed by Los Angeles inventor Walter Frederick Morrison to produce the plastic "Pluto Platter" devised by Morrison in 1948. New England college students have tossed metal pie tins produced since 1871 by the Frisbie Baking Co. of Bridgeport, Conn. (the company will go out of business next year), Morrison will obtain a patent next year for his faster, more accurate flying disc, Wham-O's Rich Knerr will come up with the registered trademark Frisbee, and his company will sell upwards of 100 million units before Mattel Corp. acquires the toy. The Frisbee launches a new sport whose first world champion will be crowned in 1968.

This Day in History:

July 16, 1951

Catcher in the Rye is published

J.D. Salinger's only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is published by Little, Brown on this day in 1951. The book, about a confused teenager disillusioned by the adult world, is an instant hit and will be taught in high schools for half a century.

The 31-year-old Salinger had worked on the novel for a decade. His stories had already started appearing in the 1940s, many in the New Yorker.

The book took the country by storm, selling out and becoming a Book of the Month Club selection. Fame did not agree with Salinger, who retreated to a hilltop cabin in Cornish, New York, but he continued to publish stories in the New Yorker periodically. He published Franny and Zooey in 1963, based on two combined New Yorker stories.

Salinger stopped publishing work in 1965, the same year he divorced his wife of 12 years, whom he had married when he was 32. In 1999, journalist Joyce Maynard published a book about her affair with Salinger, which had taken place more than two decades earlier.

July 16, 1969

Apollo 11 departs Earth

At 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11, the first U.S. lunar landing mission, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a historic journey to the surface of the moon. After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19.

The next day, at 1:46 p.m., the lunar module Eagle, manned by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, separated from the command module, where a third astronaut, Michael Collins, remained. Two hours later, the Eagle began its descent to the lunar surface, and at 4:18 p.m. the craft touched down on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong immediately radioed to Mission Control in Houston a famous message, "The Eagle has landed." At 10:39 p.m., five hours ahead of the original schedule, Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module. Seventeen minutes later, at 10:56 p.m., Armstrong spoke the following words to millions listening at home: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." A moment later, he stepped off the lunar module's ladder, becoming the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.

Aldrin joined him on the moon's surface at 11:11 p.m., and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, ran a few simple scientific tests, and spoke with President Richard M. Nixon via Houston. By 1:11 a.m. on July 21, both astronauts were back in the lunar module, and the hatch was closed. The two men slept that night on the surface of the moon, and at 1:54 p.m. the Eagle began its ascent back to the command module. Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon--July 1969 A.D.--We came in peace for all mankind." At 5:35 p.m., Armstrong and Aldrin successfully docked and rejoined Collins, and at 12:56 a.m. on July 22 Apollo 11 began its journey home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:51 p.m. on July 24.

There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by, Apollo 13. The last men to walk on the moon, astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of the Apollo 17 mission, left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. The Apollo program was a costly and labor intensive endeavor, involving an estimated 400,000 engineers, technicians, and scientists, and costing $24 billion (close to $100 billion in today's dollars). The expense was justified by President John F. Kennedy's 1961 mandate to beat the Soviets to the moon, and after the feat was accomplished, ongoing missions lost their viability.

July 16, 1999

JFK Jr. killed in plane crash

On July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr.; his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy; and her sister, Lauren Bessette, die when the single-engine plane that Kennedy was piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., was born on November 25, 1960, just a few weeks after his father and namesake was elected the 35th president of the United States. On his third birthday, "John-John" attended the funeral of his assassinated father and was photographed saluting his father's coffin in a famous and searing image. Along with his sister, Caroline, he was raised in Manhattan by his mother, Jacqueline. After graduating from Brown University and a very brief acting stint, he attended New York University Law School. He passed the bar on his third try and worked in New York as an assistant district attorney, winning all six of his cases. In 1995, he founded the political magazine George, which grew to have a circulation of more than 400,000. Unlike many others in his famous family, he never sought public office himself.

Always in the media spotlight, he was celebrated for the good looks that he inherited from his parents. In 1988, he was named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine. He was linked romantically with several celebrities, including the actress Daryl Hannah, whom he dated for five years. In September 1996, he married girlfriend Carolyn Bessette, a fashion publicist. The two shared an apartment in New York City, where Kennedy was often seen inline skating in public. Known for his adventurous nature, he nonetheless took pains to separate himself from the more self-destructive behavior of some of the other men in the Kennedy clan.

On July 16, 1999, however, with about 300 hours of flying experience, Kennedy took off from Essex County airport in New Jersey and flew his single-engine plane into a hazy, moonless night. He had turned down an offer by one of his flight instructors to accompany him, saying he "wanted to do it alone." To reach his destination of Martha's Vineyard, he would have to fly 200 miles--the final phase over a dark, hazy ocean--and inexperienced pilots can lose sight of the horizon under such conditions. Unable to see shore lights or other landmarks, Kennedy would have to depend on his instruments, but he had not qualified for a license to fly with instruments only. In addition, he was recovering from a broken ankle, which might have affected his ability to pilot his plane.

At Martha's Vineyard, Kennedy was to drop off his sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, one of his two passengers. From there, Kennedy and his wife, Carolyn, were to fly on to the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod's Hyannis Port for the marriage of Rory Kennedy, the youngest child of the late Robert F. Kennedy. The Piper Saratoga aircraft never made it to Martha's Vineyard. Radar data examined later showed the plane plummeting from 2,200 feet to 1,100 feet in a span of 14 seconds, a rate far beyond the aircraft's safe maximum. It then disappeared from the radar screen.

Kennedy's plane was reported missing by friends and family members, and an intensive rescue operation was launched by the Coast Guard, the navy, the air force, and civilians. After two days of searching, the thousands of people involved gave up hope of finding survivors and turned their efforts to recovering the wreckage of the aircraft and the bodies. Americans mourned the loss of the "crown prince" of one of the country's most admired families, a sadness that was especially poignant given the relentless string of tragedies that have haunted the Kennedy family over the years.

On July 21, navy divers recovered the bodies of JFK Jr., his wife, and sister-in-law from the wreckage of the plane, which was lying under 116 feet of water about eight miles off the Vineyard's shores. The next day, the cremated remains of the three were buried at sea during a ceremony on the USS Briscoe, a navy destroyer. A private mass for JFK Jr. and Carolyn was held on July 23 at the Church of St. Thomas More in Manhattan, where the late Jackie Kennedy Onassis worshipped. President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, were among the 300 invited guests. The Kennedy family's surviving patriarch, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, delivered a moving eulogy: "From the first day of his life, John seemed to belong not only to our family, but to the American family. He had a legacy, and he learned to treasure it. He was part of a legend, and he learned to live with it."

Investigators studying the wreckage of the Piper Saratoga found no problems with its mechanical or navigational systems. In their final report released in 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the crash was caused by an inexperienced pilot who became disoriented in the dark and lost control.

Take care.....until next post...

Weekend review, gas prices

I'm finally caught up on work and thought I'd sneak over here for a quick post. Can't believe how far behind everything gets in 1 day!! It wouldn't have to but the other 2 won't do my work while I'm off even though they did it before I was hired.
The rummage sale went pretty good. We sold a total of about $400.00. My share of that was quite small since all I put in this year was books. Most of which went to Goodwill :( Oh well, at least someone else will enjoy them instead of just sitting in my basement. We did sign a pact to never have another rummage sale again! It's just too much work for so little return. Sat. it stormed all morning and into the afternoon. We had decided to close it down for the day about 8am but 'lo and behold, we had customers!! I don't like shopping and there's no way I'd be out rummaging in the rain. Evidently I'm in a small minority! lol Overall, it was a good weekend. Had a lot of quality time with Mom and sisters. Amanda and the kids were there 2 of the days. Some Aunts and Uncles stopped by to say 'Hi' so, like I said, a good weekend.
Kitties are well and growing. The peacock only has about 4 feathers left. Lately he has been sitting atop our 2 story house a plucking the heck out of himself. Have collected a lot of them and took a handful to my sister so she can give them to a friend of hers that makes floral arrangements to use. (Note to self: stick a few in some arrangements I have!) He really looks pretty pathetic and we can't help laughing at how scrawny he looks without the train.
On the news front: I saw 2 more earthquakes occurred. One in Taiwan and one in Greece. I'm afraid I've slacked off my earthquake and volcano watching this weekend. Due to the rummage sale, I don't have a clue as to what all has been going on in the rest of the world. I did see on my way in to work yesterday that gas prices are all over the place here. Of the stations I drove by their prices were: $4.03, $4.19, $4.11 and $4.09.....Today they are $4.02, $4.06, $4.09 and $4.18.
The station that yesterday had $4.03 went up to $4.18....the station that had $4.06 went down to $4.02!?! Tell me someone isn't gouging the prices!!! Normally, they are all about the same price, maybe a penny or 2 difference but today it's crazy!! When I started driving gas was around $.55 cents a gallon! My how times change!! Of course, that was 1974! That's the year Nixon resigns as President. The National speed limit was set at 55 MPH, US Postage rate rose to $.10 and 'Streaking' became popular...them were the days....

This Day in History:

July 15, 1888

Volcano buries victims in fiery mud

The Bandai volcano erupts on the Japanese island of Honshu on this day in 1888, killing hundreds and burying many nearby villages in ash.

Honshu, the main island of the Japanese archipelago, is in an area of intense geological activity, where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are relatively common. The Bandai volcano is a mountain in northern Honshu with a very steep slope. It had erupted four times in the 1,000 years prior to the 1888 eruption, but none of these had been particularly deadly.

At just after 7 a.m. on July 15, rumblings were heard from Bandai. Only 30 minutes after that, an explosion on the north side of the mountain caused powerful tremors. Fifteen minutes later, there was another explosion and, in the next two hours, dozens followed. The explosive eruptions sent debris thousands of feet into the air. The resulting cloud of ash and steam was estimated at 21,000 feet wide.

The giant cloud sent a dangerous rain of burning mud down over the area. Several villages in the Bandai area were buried by a combination of the fiery mud and landslides caused by the tremors. At the Kawakami spa, 100-foot-deep debris covered the ground. Although 100 bodies were recovered there, many were never found.

The best estimate is that 461 people were killed and hundreds more were seriously injured, suffering broken bones and skulls from the rain or flying debris, as a result of the eruption. More than one hundred people were critically burned. The eruption left an 8,000-foot crater in the earth. In the aftermath, the ash from Bandai dimmed the sun slightly worldwide for months.

July 15, 1941

Garbo makes an appearance

On this day in 1941, master spy Juan Pujol Garcia, nicknamed "Garbo," sends his first communique to Germany from Britain. The question was: Who was he spying for?

Juan Garcia, a Spaniard, ran an elaborate multi ethnic spy network that included a Dutch airline steward, a British censor for the Ministry of Information, a Cabinet office clerk, a U.S. soldier in England, and a Welshman sympathetic to fascism. All were engaged in gathering secret information on the British-Allied war effort, which was then transmitted back to Berlin. Garcia was in the pay of the Nazis. The Germans knew him as "Arabel," whereas the English knew him as Garbo. The English knew a lot more about him, in fact, than the Germans, as Garcia was a British double agent.

None of Garcia's spies were real, and the disinformation he transmitted to Germany was fabricated--phony military "secrets" that the British wanted planted with the Germans to divert them from genuine military preparations and plans.

Among the most effective of Garcia's deceptions took place in June 1944, when he managed to convince Hitler that the D-Day invasion of Normandy was just a "diversionary maneuver designed to draw off enemy reserves in order to make a decisive attack in another place"--playing right into the mindset of German intelligence, which had already suspected that this might be the case. (Of course, it wasn't.) Among the "agents" that Garcia employed in gathering this "intelligence" was Donny, leader of the World Aryan Order; Dick, an "Indian fanatic"; and Dorick, a civilian who lived at a North Sea port. All these men were inventions of Garcia's imagination, but they lent authenticity to his reports back to Berlin--so much so that Hitler, while visiting occupied France, awarded Garcia the Iron Cross for his service to the fatherland.

That same year, 1944, Garcia received his true reward, the title of MBE—Member of the British Empire--for his service to the England and the Allied cause. This ingenious Spaniard had proved to be one of the Allies' most successful counterintelligence tools.

That's all the time I have today. Take care...until next post.

Kitty pictures

I'm going to double post today :) Couldn't resist, mate! ;) After work I grabbed the camera and went out to see if I could coax some kitties to play. One was sleeping under the bush by the porch the other 5 were asleep in the woodshed. The gray one hid the minute she saw me but with the help of a peacock feather, I got 3 of them to play and let me pet them. This little fella just watched for awhile.

This boy wasn't shy.

These 2 slept the whole time.

They got it rough, huh?

This is a picture of one of the kittens from the previous litter and the peacock with his thinning tail.

Have a good night all...

Kittens...the only way to start the day!

Maybe I should have named my blog Karen's Kitty Korner of Karen's Kat House! Then again after reading Rob's Blog today maybe not. I don't want his neighbor or someone similar coming after me!! LOL. This morning I got up a little late. I hate to wake up and the first thing that comes to my mind, and/or out of my mouth is "Shit!". I stumble to the kitchen and pour 2 cups of coffee (1 for me and 1 for DH) and grab the cat food. When I open the back door there's all my little babies waiting for me. What the heck, I decide, it's to late to wash my hair but that gave me time to play with the kittens :) I wanna be a stay-at-home cat mom!!

First off, the older cats and the kittens know our feeding routine down to the minute. This morning I saw that Big Bird, the peacock, had left a wing feather on the back porch steps. As I was filling up the food bowls (almost 1 bowl per cat and remember I have a lot of cats!) there where a couple of the kittens checking out the feather. So I calmly reach over and grab the stalk of the feather and start wiggling it back and forth. One little daredevil kitty grabs it and we play tug-of-war for a few seconds when it's momma comes up and starts rubbing against my legs and talking to the kitty. The kitty hesitates as if trying to choose between momma and playing and then grabs the feather again.

Soon it's playing without keeping it's eye on me and having a fun time so I sneakily reach down and pet it. It kind of looks around at my hand like "What the...?" and then continues playing and starts to purr! For the next minute or two I wiggle the feather with one hand and pet him/her with the other. (Can you rub your tummy and pat your head at the same time? LOL Thank God the neighbors didn't go by with me outside in my jammies playing with the kittens!) Two more kitties see the one having so much fun that they join in. Jumping out of the bush to grab the feather or one of the other kittens, they don't care which they get as long as they get something. The 2 new ones aren't to sure about me touching them even though they were watching me pet their litter mate so I back off and just let them play with the feather. It won't be long before they will let me hold and pet them, I think. Besides, I needed to get busy getting ready for work. Will try again when I get home. So far I've had 1 let me pick it up and the 1 this morning let me play and pet it. That's progress.

Everything else is running along smoothly. Work stinks but whats new! Jack is doing better now that we know he had strep throat and he's on meds. Had a big storm go through late last night. Lots of lightning but didn't lose power. Only lost Internet and TV signal off and on.

The big news today is that Tony Stewart is leaving Gibbs Racing! He is going to Haas Racing and will have ownership. Haas team is currently being run by the Gen. Manager because the current owner is serving 2 years in prison for tax evasion! Was so afraid Tony was going to go to the #5 car and that would make him a team mate to Jeff!!! Yuck!! Was so happy when they announced last weekend that Mark Martin is going to drive the #5 car next year! I just can't see myself cheering for Tony...won't happen!

I need to get some work done so I'll quit jabbering and post some the only thing I found interesting in today's history. Again, it's from a time period I love to read and research on:

Today in History:

July 9, 1850

President Taylor dies of cholera

Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, dies suddenly from an attack of cholera morbus. He was succeeded by Millard Fillmore.

Raised in Kentucky with little formal schooling, Zachary Taylor received a U.S. Army commission in 1808. He became a captain in 1810 and was promoted to major during the War of 1812 in recognition of his defense of Fort Harrison (named for William Henry Harrison who would become President one day.) against attack by Shawnee chief Tecumseh. In 1832, he became a colonel and served in the Black Hawk War and in the campaigns against the Seminole Indians in Florida, winning the nickname of "Old Rough and Ready" for his informal attire and indifference to physical adversity.

Sent to the Southwest to command the U.S. Army at the Texas border, Taylor crossed the Rio Grande with the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in 1846. In May, Taylor defeated the Mexicans at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and in September he captured the city of Monterrey. In February 1847, he achieved his crowning military victory at the Battle of Buena Vista, where his force triumphed despite being outnumbered three to one. This victory firmly established Taylor as a popular hero, and in 1848, despite his lack of a clear political platform, he was nominated the Whig presidential candidate.

Elected in November, Taylor soon fell under the influence of William H. Seward, a powerful Whig senator, and in 1849 he supported the Wilmot Proviso, which would exclude slavery from all the territory acquired as a result of the Mexican War. His inflexible responses to Southern criticisms of this policy aggravated the nation's North-South conflict and revealed his political inexperience. Matters were at a stalemate when he died suddenly on July 9, 1850.

Hope to get some pictures of the kitties and get them posted. Have a wonderful evening all! Until next post....

Current news, peacock and kittens

I have most of my work done so figured I'd check in here. Of course, there's only 2 hours of work left and it will be an hour at least until I get the daily invoices to sort and mail. Looking out the window, it looks like we have a storm coming in.
I work on the south side of Muncie but my house is close to the North-eastern county line. I can hear the rumble but the larger radar in motion shows the line of storms reaching from Muncie to Detroit. We are just getting the tip of the tail of it. Doesn't look like it will last long.
I was to cover for one of the women here at work but she decided not to take it off so, I asked if I could have Friday off to help with the family rummage sale and it's a go! Yea!! (Doing anything is better than working!)
Not a very interesting Today in History. Only thing that grabbed my attention was that Paris is celebrating it's 2057th birthday so here's some headlines from today with clickable links:

Magnitude 6 quake startles southern Peru

AREQUIPA, Peru, July 8, 2008 (Reuters) — A magnitude 6.0 earthquake rattled southern Peru early on Tuesday, startling residents in the Andean country's second-largest city, Arequipa, who ran out of their homes into the streets.

The epicenter of the quake was located 33 miles north-northwest of Arequipa, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was recorded at a depth of 46 miles.

Peru's police and civil defense agency said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, but magnitude 6 quakes are capable of causing severe damage.

Bertha strengthens, no threat to Gulf of Mexico

NEW YORK, July 7, 2008 (Reuters) — Hurricane Bertha strengthened over the central Atlantic Ocean Monday morning and could reach Category 2 strength later in the day, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory.

Colorado fire threatens historic Indian sites

DENVER, June 12, 2008 (Reuters) — A lightning-sparked wildfire has blackened 20,000 acres in southeastern Colorado, and was threatening archaeological sites in a national forest, officials said on Thursday.

Indonesian firm denies drilling caused mud volcano

JAKARTA, June 12, 2008 (Reuters) — A volcano that started spewing hot mud in Indonesia two years ago displacing more than 50,000 people was triggered by tectonic activity, experts working for the energy firm blamed by some for the disaster said on Thursday.

Drilling caused Indonesian mud volcano

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2008 (Reuters) — Drilling of a gas exploration well, and not an earthquake, set off a volcano that has been spewing boiling mud for two years and has displaced more than 50,000 people on the Indonesian island of Java, experts said on Monday.

I feel like I'm cheating on a test with so little to blogged about today lol. The peacock is still loosing feathers. We have gathered up about 18 or so. Abby, one of Amanda's friends from high school who is going to art school, said if we get any she would be glad to make something out of them for us. She is very good and very creative. Will be interesting to see what she does with them. I know so little about peacocks. I didn't know they shed their tail feathers. Yikes! Maybe they aren't suppose to? I'd better do some googling tonight! My luck it's the kittens stressing him out LOL That's all we need! A peacock with issues!
Last evening I saw all 3 momma cats lying on the back porch. There were kittens all over the porch steps and a bush we have next to the steps. The bush we had trimmed back so it looks a bit like an over-grown Bonsai tree. There were kittens climbing up from the branches and poking their heads out the top. Other kittens on the porch grabbing their heads as they popped up. It was just hilarious! And the whole time the Mommas just laid there, their tails tapping a slow beat, keeping an eye on the little ones. I still have no clue if it was all the kittens. I know the original 6 from 'old momma' were playing. There were a couple more that were just a little smaller that I think were either from 'Sissy momma' or 'Tiger momma' but I know Tiger momma has another tiger baby and I didn't see that one. There are just sooo many black ones it's hard to tell them apart!
Later, after the kittens had wore themselves out, the old momma laid down and let them nurse but there was 1 black one that had to check out the peacock. To our surprise, the peacock somehow laid down on it's side, kind of, and was trying to play with the kitten, who decided it was time for a dirt bath.
Last weekend, Saturday I think, the old momma came walking up the middle of the horseshoe drive being followed by a doe. Wish I'd had my camera ready. Seriously, the deer followed her through the yard to the woodshed and then got spooked.
See, I just learned something new. I went and googled peacock feathers and found out that the feathers without 'eyes' are called swords.

I didn't see any pricing on that page but I did see an ad for 10 Cut eye feathers for $7.95, doesn't sound like we'll be rich anytime soon. Ok, I gotta get busy and finish up work. Take care....until next blog.....

4th of July weekend!!

Was a different weekend for sure. After burying Baby, the kitty, I wasn't in much of a mood to celebrate a birthday but as with everything, time moves on...Bob did go into town and get us McDonald's for supper that night. I was a mess and knew if I went to town with my red eyes and nose from crying I would probably run into someone I know and I just wasn't ready to do that. I wonder now if her Momma had brought her up to the house to see if we could help Baby. Maybe she had tried everything she knew and was trying to help Baby the only way she knew how. I'll never know but that's what I've wondered.
Birthday day started out quiet. I slept in until 8:30 then about 10 the family began calling to wish me a happy birthday. I had celebrated the weekend before and then Thurs. I met Mom, Dad and Kay for lunch. Between the two days I already had my presents:
Alicia got me a 'sisters' candle, a 3 book series and a huge glass mug with Jeff Gordon 24 on it filled with beef jerky.
Kay got me 3 pairs of sandals...(she's the sis that can never decide LOL) and a book.
Mom and Dad got me a Red, White and Blue stars shirts and a Jeff Gordon wind chime that I hung on my back porch.
My kids had gotten me cards, kisses and hugs and kisses and hugs from grand kids. The kisses and hugs from grand kids are priceless!!
Talked to Amanda and Tom about a cookout on sat. so Bob and I went to town late Friday afternoon (I didn't even get out of my pajama's until 2pm!! LOL) and got some fixings for b-b-q chicken, corn of the cob, potatoes, watermelon and chips. Amanda was going to make dessert and a pasta salad.
At 10pm the phone rang, it was Amanda but I couldn't understand what she was saying. The heart-stopping, brain numbing fear that grips you when you hear your own child in a full-out panic can't be described!! She finally slowed down enough for me to understand that Jack had had a seizure and an ambulance was on the way. I didn't ask a lot of particulars, I just said we would meet them at the hospital. They had been at Tom's Mom's (Juanita) house to watch fireworks which is out by the reservoir. Bob and I were out the door, he drove, mainly because he was afraid for me to drive, it seemed he was driving in slow motion. Nothing would have been fast enough to get me to the hospital. It was just getting dark as we drove west into town and we could see the various firework displays across the horizon of town.
I don't want to offend any readers but, you see, God and I have been having an on-going difference of opinion lately. He wants things His way and I want to know why. Sometimes He tells me but most times He don't. So I didn't think I needed to tell Him how bad I wanted Jack taken care of because I figure He knew. But I told Him anyway. That's just the kind of relationship I have with Him, untraditional.
10:10pm - On the way to town I saw I had missed a call from Kay earlier so I called her back and told her what was going on and asked her to call Mom and Dad. I promised to let her know what was going on and we hung up. 10:20pm - Amanda called back and the ambulance was just leaving Juanita's house. She told me that for 2-3 minutes Jack had been convulsing. When the convulsions stopped his eyes were still rolled back in his head and he felt like he was on fire and he sweat so much that his clothes were soaked like he had been swimming. When they got him in the ambulance he seemed to come to and started fighting the EMT's and yelling no so she knew he was conscience. Tom rode in the ambulance with Jack. Amanda and Juanita rode with an in-law following them in a van. I hung up from her and called Mom and Dad's house to let them know what I had found out so far but no one answered the house phone. I called Mom's cell and they were already at Riggin Road (halfway to hospital!). I thanked God for cell phones and supportive parents. We beat the ambulance to the hospital.
When I first saw Jack he was curled up, almost in a fetal position, on this huge hospital bed looking so tired. He was yawning a lot and his cheeks were fire red. His whole body was shaking, I suppose from shock, but when he saw us he perked up a little bit and said "Mawmaw, Pawpaw" it was music to my ears and I had to fight more tears. I hugged Tom as he let me around him to give Jack a small squeeze, then gave Amanda a hug and a couple Kleenex.
There was a lot of waiting around, of course, and he needed a new diaper but the hospital wasn't getting one very fast so me and Bob ran over to Walgreen's to get some and some wipes. We also picked up some fruit bars and Pawpaw grabbed a little Spiderman truck to keep Jack occupied. The truck was the hit of the night! After tests and a few hours of waiting to hear results they said the seizure was caused by a spike in fever, even though Amanda and Juanita both said they had just checked him for fever because he had said he was cold.The only thing they said to do was alternate between Tylenol and Motrin every 2 hours. It just didn't seem right that they had just checked him and less than 30 seconds later he's having a seizure! She is going to call his regular Dr. today to have him looked at so here I sit....wondering.....waiting...and I'm not good with either one of those things!!! We got home and to bed around 4am
Saturday was much calmer. We had a lazy start since we were up late. I put food out for the cats outside and messed around the house for a while then I went outside, determined to win over some of the kitties. The peacock is shedding his tail feathers and the rest of the kittens play with the ones that fall out. So, I grabbed one of the feathers and was out in the woodshed playing with them. They are pretty skittish around us humans and I am hoping that if I play with them, they will get used to me and we can get them to come up to eat when called. Of course, cats have a mind of their own...but I was able to get 4 of them to play with me :) Bob mowed around the house (It has been too wet to mow for 3 days!)and I prepared food for the cookout while we waited for Amanda, Tom and the kids arrived. We had plenty of food despite Amanda not getting stuff made the night before and no one went away hungry. We had to put one package of drumsticks in the freezer, we had so much. The best thing was Jack ate good, which he hadn't been. He had 2 drumsticks, 2 helpings of Mac & cheese, potatoes and corn of the cob.
Sunday was even calmer, Bob finished the yard and then messed with the tractor. We sold it to a guy from the next own over and he was going to pick it up this week so Bob wanted to get a few things done on it. I spent the day in the basement doing laundry and going through box after box of books. Our yearly family rummage sale is next weekend so I had to get some things done. I had...ahem have... a habit of saving the ones I really, really liked and would re-read them from time to time but it's time they go. It was like visiting with old friends but it's time to let them go to bring memories others. I ended up with 11 boxes of books to sell. I probably won't sell them all but any I do will help and those that don't we can donate to nursing homes or take to the lady that runs our small town video store. She puts them out to sell and all money goes to cancer research.
Well, it's about time for my lunch. I will add more later if I hear anything from Amanda on Jack.
Take care.....until next post

EDIT 4:30 - I just heard from Amanda and Jack has Strep Throat!! I can't believe the hospital didn't see this knowing his white blood count was double!! grrrrrr. So we have all been exposed!! Poor little fella!! The Dr. was trying not to upset him, I suppose, because he didn't really take a good look into his throat, now I wish he had so we could have 2 days of antibiotics in him!!

Ok, I saw this story on the This Day in History and wanted to add it too. My husband's Grandfather and Grandmother went west to work on this project. Harold worked on the Dam and Eloise worked on the cooking, as did most wives that were there. She wrote a journal about her life before she passed away and it was completely fascinating!!


This Day In History:

July 7, 1930

Building of Hoover Dam begins

On this day in 1930, construction of the Hoover Dam begins. Over the next five years, a total of 21,000 men would work ceaselessly to produce what would be the largest dam of its time, as well as one of the largest man-made structures in the world.

Although the dam would take only five years to build, its construction was nearly 30 years in the making. Arthur Powell Davis, an engineer from the Bureau of Reclamation, originally had his vision for the Hoover Dam back in 1902, and his engineering report on the topic became the guiding document when plans were finally made to begin the dam in 1922.

Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States and a committed conservationist, played a crucial role in making Davis’ vision a reality. As secretary of commerce in 1921, Hoover devoted himself to the erection of a high dam in Boulder Canyon, Colorado. The dam would provide essential flood control, which would prevent damage to downstream farming communities that suffered each year when snow from the Rocky Mountains melted and joined the Colorado River. Further, the dam would allow the expansion of irrigated farming in the desert, and would provide a dependable supply of water for Los Angeles and other southern California communities.

Even with Hoover's exuberant backing and a regional consensus around the need to build the dam, Congressional approval and individual state cooperation were slow in coming. For many years, water rights had been a source of contention among the western states that had claims on the Colorado River. To address this issue, Hoover negotiated the Colorado River Compact, which broke the river basin into two regions with the water divided between them. Hoover then had to introduce and re-introduce the bill to build the dam several times over the next few years before the House and Senate finally approved the bill in 1928.

In 1929, Hoover, now president, signed the Colorado River Compact into law, claiming it was "the most extensive action ever taken by a group of states under the provisions of the Constitution permitting compacts between states."

Once preparations were made, the Hoover Dam's construction sprinted forward: The contractors finished their work two years ahead of schedule and millions of dollars under budget. Today, the Hoover Dam is the second highest dam in the country and the 18th highest in the world. It generates enough energy each year to serve over a million people, and stands, in Hoover Dam artist Oskar Hansen's words, as "a monument to collective genius exerting itself in community efforts around a common need or ideal."

Have a great evening all!!